Whoever lives well in Russia sins. The ideological meaning of stories about sinners (based on the poem by N. A. Nekrasov "Who Lives Well in Russia"). Chapter vi. difficult year

What is the meaning of the story of sinners. In N. A. Nekrasov's poem, three chapters: "About an exemplary servant - Jacob the faithful", "About two great sinners", "Peasant's sin" - are united by the theme of sin. The author himself considered these parts of the work very important and vigorously objected to the prohibition by the censor

the story "About an exemplary serf - Jacob the faithful." This is what Nekrasov wrote to the head of the press department V.V. Grigoriev: "... he made some sacrifices to the censor Lebedev, excluding the soldier and two songs, but I cannot throw out the story about Yakov, which he demanded under the threat of the book's arrest - the poem will lose its meaning." ...

This chapter shows two images - Mr. Polivanov and his faithful servant Yakov. The landowner "greedy, stingy ... with the peasants was ... cruel ...". Despite this, Yakov "only had ... joy: grooming, protecting, pleasing the master", and not seeing any gratitude from the owner ("In the teeth of an exemplary servant, Yakov the faithful, He blew with his heel while walking"). Jacob forgave everything to his master:

Serf people

Real dogs sometimes:

The heavier the punishment

So much dearer to them, gentlemen.

He couldn’t stand it only when the master gave his nephew to recruits, seeing him as a rival. The author shows that the conflict between the landowner and the peasant cannot be resolved peacefully:

No matter how my uncle asked for my nephew,

The master of the rival in recruits lost.

So cruel is the tyranny of the landlord that even Yakov, slavishly devoted to his master, who has lost his human dignity, decides to take revenge. Revenge is cruel, terrible:

Jacob pulled a tall pine tree,

The reins at the top have strengthened it,

He crossed himself, looked at the sun,

Head into a noose - and lowered his legs! ..

Jacob did not "dirty his hands with murder," but committed suicide in front of the deprived master. Such a protest made the landowner realize his sin:

The master returned home, lamenting:

“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me! "

The chapter "On Two Great Sinners" deals with two sinners: the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. Kudeyar was the leader of twelve robbers, together they "shed much ... Blood of honest Christians." But "suddenly the Lord awakened the conscience of the fierce robber."

Hearing pleas for forgiveness, God showed the way to salvation: with the knife with which he killed, cut an old oak. Years later, Pan Glukhovsky meets Kudeyar at this oak. Hearing the story of the elder, "the pan chuckled:

Salvation

I haven't had tea for a long time

In the world I only honor a woman

Gold, honor and wine.

You need to live, older, in my opinion:

How many slaves I ruin

I torment, torture and hang

And I would have looked at how I sleep!

The hermit, seized with anger, kills the master. What made the robber who repented of his previous murders to take up the knife again? His anger was born of sympathy for the peasants of Pan Glukhovsky, who are forced to endure the bullying of their master. The theme of cruel treatment of peasants is being heard again. But the solution to this problem is different. After killing Pan, Kudeyar receives forgiveness:

Just a bloody pan

I fell my head on the saddle

A huge tree collapsed,

The echo shook the whole forest.

A tree collapsed, a moose skate

With a monk, the burden of sins! ..

The repentant sinner found his salvation by taking the path of intercession for the people.

The hero of the story "Peasant Sins" is the same: the master ("ammiral-widower") and the peasant (his servant, Gleb). But here the master has already done a good deed before his death, signing a free letter to all his peasants:

"From the chains-lashing to freedom

Eight thousand souls are released! "

But Gleb, tempted by the promises of the heir, "ruined" eight thousand souls of the peasants: he allowed the will to be burned.

This chapter already deals with the topic of peasant sin. The headman Gleb, for his own benefit, betrays his fellow countrymen, condemning them to slavery:

For decades, until recently

Eight thousand souls were secured by the villain,

With a family, with a tribe; what to the people!

What to the people! With a stone in the water!

And this sin - the sin of betraying the interests of the people in the peasant environment itself - turns out to be the most serious. The author shows that there will be no "freedom", the people will "forever toil" as long as there are traitors among them and as long as the peasants tolerate them:

Oh man! Man! You are the sinister of all

And for that you will be forever toiled!

NA Nekrasov, trying to answer the question of how to throw off the chains of slavery and oppression, turns to the Orthodox religion, ascribing to Christian ethics completely different features than the official church. The author does not call for forgiving enemies, living in fear and submission, but blesses the great anger of man, born of compassion and sympathy for the oppressed. Having considered the internal unity of all three chapters, one can see the central problem of the poem: the path of the peasants to freedom and happiness. These chapters contain the main idea that the author wanted to convey to the reader: it is necessary to fight for freedom and rights.

Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" was created for more than ten years. It so happened that the last, fourth, was the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World." In the finale, it acquires a certain completeness - it is known that the author was not able to fully implement the plan. This was manifested in the fact that the author indirectly calls himself in Russia. This is Grisha, who has decided to devote his life to serving the people and his native country.

Introduction

In the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" the action takes place on the banks of the Volga River, on the outskirts of the village of Vakhlachina. The most important events have always taken place here: both holidays and reprisals against the guilty. The great feast was organized by Klim, already familiar to the reader. Next to the Vakhlaks, among whom were the elder Vlas, the parish deacon Tryphon and his sons: nineteen-year-old Savvushka and Grigory with a thin, pale face and thin, curly hair, sat down and the seven main characters of the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia." People who were waiting for the ferry, beggars, among whom were a wanderer and a quiet praying mantis, also stayed here.

Local peasants gathered under the old willow tree for a reason. Nekrasov connects the chapter "Feast to the News of the World" with the plot of "The Last One", in which the death of the prince is reported. The Wahlaks began to decide what to do with the meadows that they now hoped to get. Not often, but still it happened that the blessed corners of the land with meadows or fishing line fell to the peasants. Their owners felt independent of the headman who collected the taxes. So the Vahlaks wanted to surrender the meadows to Vlas. Klim proclaimed that this would be enough to pay both the tax and the quitrent, which meant that one could feel free. This is the beginning of the chapter and its summary. "A feast for the whole world" Nekrasov continues with a response speech of Vlas and his characteristics.

A man of the kindest soul

That was the name of the headman of the Wahlaki. He was distinguished by justice and tried to help the peasants, to protect them from the cruelty of the landowner. In his youth, Vlas hoped for the best, but any changes brought only one promise or trouble. From this, the headman became unbeliever and gloomy. And then, suddenly, general joy seized him too. He could not believe that now, indeed, life would come without taxes, sticks and corvee. The author compares the kind smile of Vlas to a sunbeam that has made everything around him gold. And a new, previously unknown feeling gripped every man. To celebrate, they put another bucket on, and the songs began. One of them, "funny", was performed by Grisha - below will be given a brief summary.

"A Feast for the Whole World" includes several songs about the hard life of a peasant.

About the bitter share

At the request of the audience, the seminarians recalled the folk one. It tells how the people are defenseless in front of those on whom they depend. So the landowner stole the cow from the peasant, the judge took away the chickens. The fate of children is unenviable: the girls are waiting for the mongrel, and the boys - a long service. The repetitive refrain sounds bitter against the background of these stories: "It is glorious for the people to live in holy Russia!"

Then the Vahlaks sang their own - about corvee. The same sad one: the soul of the people has not yet invented cheerful people.

"Barshchinnaya": a summary

"A Feast for the Whole World" tells about how the Wahlaks and their neighbors live. The first story about Kalinushka, whose back is "decorated" with scars - often and severely flogged - and the belly is swollen from chaff. Out of despair, he goes to a tavern and stifles grief with wine - this will backfire on his wife on Saturday.

Further, it tells about how the inhabitants of Vakhlachina endured with the landowner. During the day they worked like convicts, and at night they waited for messengers sent for the girls. From shame they stopped looking into each other's eyes and could not speak a word.

A neighboring peasant reported how in their parish the landowner decided to flog everyone who spoke a strong word. They got tired - after all, the peasant can't do without him. But having received freedom, they scolded to their heart's content ...

The chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" continues with a story about a new hero - Vikentiya Alexandrovich. First he served under the baron, then moved to the plowman. He told his story.

About the faithful servant Jacob

Polivanov bought the village for bribes and lived there for 33 years. He became famous for his cruelty: having given his daughter in marriage, he immediately whipped the young and drove away. He did not get along with other landowners, he was greedy, he drank a lot. Kholop Yakov, who faithfully served him from an early age, never hit him in the teeth with a heel, and he did every possible way to petting and pleasing the master. So both lived to old age. Polivanov's legs began to hurt, and no treatment helped. They still have entertainment: to play cards and go to visit the landowner's sister. Yakov himself carried the master and took him to visit. For the time being, everything went peacefully. Yes, only Grisha's nephew had grown up with the servant and wanted to marry. Hearing that the bride was Arisha, Polivanov became angry: he himself laid his eyes on her. And he gave the groom to the recruits. Jacob was very offended and started drinking. And the master felt embarrassed without his faithful servant, whom he called his brother. This is the first part of the story and its summary.

"A Feast for the Whole World" Nekrasov continues with the story of how Yakov decided to avenge his nephew. After a while he returned to the master, repented and began to serve further. But he became gloomy. Once the servant took the master to visit his sister. On the way, I suddenly turned to a ravine, where there was a forest slum, and stopped under the pine trees. When he began to unharness the horses, the frightened landowner prayed. But Jacob only laughed angrily and replied that he would not stain his hands with murder. He fixed the reins on a tall pine tree and put his head in a noose ... The master screams, rushes about, but no one hears him. And the slave hangs over his head, sways. Only the next morning did the hunter see Polivanov and took him home. The punished master only lamented: “I am a sinner! Execute me! "

The controversy over sinners

The narrator fell silent, and the men argued. Some felt sorry for Yakov, others for the master. And they began to decide who is the most sinful of all: innkeepers, landowners, peasants? The merchant Eremin named the robbers, which aroused the indignation of Klim. Their argument soon escalated into a fight. The mantis Ionushka, who had been sitting quietly until then, decided to reconcile the merchant and the peasant. He told his story, which will continue the summary of the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World."

About pilgrims and pilgrims

Ionushka began with the fact that there are many homeless people in Russia. It happens that whole villages are begging. Such people do not plow or reap, and they call the settled peasants the hump of the granary. Of course, among them there are wicked ones, such as a thief-wanderer or pilgrims who deceived a lady. There is also an old man who undertook to teach the girls to sing, but only spoiled them all. But more often the wanderers are harmless people, like Fomushka, who lives like a god, is girded with chains and eats only bread.

Ionushka also told about Kropilnikov, who came to Usolovo, accused the villagers of atheism and urged them to go into the forest. The wanderer was asked to submit, then he was taken to the prison, and he kept repeating that grief and an even more difficult life awaited everyone ahead. Frightened residents were baptized, and in the morning soldiers came to the neighboring village, from whom the Usolovites also got it. This is how Kropilnikov's prophecy came true.

In "A Feast for the Whole World" Nekrasov also includes a description of a peasant hut in which a visiting wanderer stayed. The whole family is busy with work and listens to measured speech. At some point, the old man drops the bast shoes that he was mending, and the girl does not notice that she pricked her finger. Even children freeze and listen, their heads hanging from the floor. So the Russian soul has not yet been tested; it is waiting for a sower who will show the right path.

About two sinners

And then Ionushka told about the robber and the pan. He heard this story in Solovki from Pitirim's father.

Twelve robbers committed outrage under the leadership of Kudeyar. They robbed and killed many. But somehow conscience woke up in the chieftain, he began to see the shadows of the dead. Then Kudeyar the esaul was spotted, beheaded his mistress, dismissed the gang, buried a knife under an oak tree, and distributed the stolen wealth. And he began to atone for sins. He wandered a lot and repented, and after returning home, he settled under an oak tree. God took pity on him and proclaimed: he will receive forgiveness as soon as he chops down a mighty tree with his knife. For several years, the hermit cut an oak three girths wide. And somehow a rich gentleman drove up to him. Glukhovsky chuckled and said that you need to live according to his principles. And he added that he worships only women, loves wine, has ruined many slaves, and sleeps peacefully. Kudeyar seized anger, and he plunged his knife into the pan's chest. At the same moment, a mighty oak fell. Thus, the poem "Who Lives Well in Russia" shows how a former robber receives forgiveness after the punishment of evil.

About peasant sin

We listened to Ionushka and thought about it. And Ignatius again noted that the most serious sin is that of a peasant. Klim was indignant, but then still said: "Tell me." This is the story the men heard.

One admiral received from the empress for his faithful service in the possession of eight thousand souls. And before his death, he handed the elder a casket in which there was his last wish: to release all the serfs to freedom. But a distant relative arrived, who, after the funeral, summoned the headman to him. Upon learning about the casket, he promised Gleb freedom and gold. The greedy headman burned the will and condemned all eight thousand souls to eternal bondage.

The Wahlaks rustled: "It is indeed a great sin." And all their past and future hard life appeared before them. Then they quieted down and suddenly dragged on Hungry together. We offer its summary ("A feast for the whole world" Nekrasov, it seems, fills the age-old suffering of the people). A tortured peasant goes to a strip of rye and calls on her: "Be on the lookout, mother, I will eat the rug in a mountain, I will not give it to anyone." As if in their gut they sang the song of the wahlaki to their hungry and went to the bucket. And Grisha suddenly noticed that the cause of all sins is the support. Klim immediately cried out: "Down with Hungry." And they began to talk about the support, praising Grisha.

"Soldier"

It was getting light. Ignatius found the sleeping man by the logs and called Vlas. The rest of the men came up, and when they saw a man lying on the ground, they began to beat him. When the pilgrims asked why, they answered: “We do not know. But this is how it was punished from Tiskovo. " So it turns out - since the whole world has ordered it, then there is guilt behind it. Then the hostesses brought out the cheesecakes and the goose, and they all pounced on the food. The Vakhlaks were amused by the news that someone was coming.

Ovsyannikov, familiar to everyone, was on the cart - a soldier who made money by playing on spoons. They asked him to sing. And again a bitter story poured out about how the former warrior tried to achieve a well-deserved pension. However, all the wounds he received were measured in tops and rejected: second-rate. Klim sang along to the old man, and the people collected a penny and a penny for him.

The end of the feast

Only in the morning did the wahlaks begin to disperse. Savvushka and Grisha took their father home. They walked and sang that the happiness of the people lies in freedom. Further, the author introduces a story about the life of Tryphon. He did not run the household; he ate what others would share. The wife was caring, but she died early. The sons studied at the seminary. This is its summary.

"A Feast for the Whole World" Nekrasov ends with Grisha's song. Having brought the parent home, he went to the fields. He recalled in solitude the songs that his mother sang, especially "Salty". And it is no coincidence. Bread could be asked from the Wahlaks, but the salt was only bought. Studies have also sunk into the soul forever: the economist underfed the seminarians, taking everything for himself. Knowing well the difficult peasant life, Grisha, already at the age of fifteen, decided to fight for the happiness of the poor, but native Vakhlachina. And now, being under the influence of what he had heard, he was thinking about the fate of the people, and his thoughts poured into songs about an imminent reprisal against the landowner, about the difficult fate of a barge haule (I saw three loaded barges on the Volga), about wretched and abundant, mighty and powerless Russia, whose salvation he saw in the strength of the people. A spark ignites, and a great army rises, containing an invincible strength.

Lesson topic. Ideological meaning of stories about sinners

Lesson objectives: show how the poem resolves the issue of the path to freedom and happiness; how the poet gives the vague discontent ripening among the people the acuteness and strength of social resonance.

During the classes

Not obedience stupid

A friendly force is needed.

I. Checking homework

1. Tell how the main question is solved in the poem: who has fun ... in Russia?

2. Tell what types of peasants are shown in the poem, why?

3. How does the understanding of happiness and happiness change among the peasants of truth-seekers?

4. Testing the knowledge of the poem "Rus" by heart.

II. Work on the last part of "A Feast for the Whole World"

So, we can say that the reform left the "emancipated peasant" in a state of poverty and lack of rights. At the same time, she contributed to the awakening of the people's consciousness. Nekrasov convinces the reader that it is growing steadily. The images of the "happy" and the dispute about happiness, meetings with landowners lead to the idea of ​​the need for radical transformations of life in order for the people's happiness to become possible.

Exercise.

Briefly retell the chapters: "About an exemplary servant - Jacob the faithful", "About two great sinners", "Peasant's sin" and draw a conclusion about what unites these chapters.

(These legends are united by the theme of sin. Barin Polivanov is so cruel in his treatment of everyone that he even brought to death "like a dog." ruined "eight thousand souls of the peasants. Each of the main characters of these stories committed a grave sin).

N. A. Nekrasov vigorously objected to the ban by the censor of the story "About an exemplary servant - Yakov the faithful" to the head of the press department V. V. Grigoriev: Jacob, what he demanded under the threat of arrest of the book, I can not - the poem will lose its meaning. "

- Why Nekrasov attached such great importance to this story, he never wanted to "throw" it out of the text of the poem.

(All three stories are connected by a single theme of sin. Even a slave from a hard life, humiliation is capable of protest.)

III Analysis of stories

- Why does Nekrasov call Yakov a slave "exemplary and faithful"?

- Why did the conflict between the landowner and the peasant arise and how was it resolved?

(The story shows two close-ups - Mr. Polivanov and his faithful servant Yakov. The landowner is "greedy", "stingy", "cruel".

In the teeth of an approximate servant

Jacob the faithful,

He blew like heel.

About Yakov "the faithful", the serf of the landowner Polivanov, it is said:

People of servile rank -

Real dogs sometimes:

The heavier the punishment

So much dearer to them, gentlemen.

Jacob showed up like this from his youth,

Only Jacob had joy:

Groom the gentleman, take care, please ...

Before us is a voluntary servant, a peasant, slavishly devoted to his master, who has lost his human dignity. But even this creature cannot bear the insult inflicted on him by Polivanov - so cruel is the tyranny of the landowner. Drawing the master Polivanov and the slave Yakov in his direct clash, the author shows that the conflict existing between the landowner and the peasant cannot be resolved "peacefully", according to his conscience:

No matter how my uncle asked for my nephew,

The master of the rival in recruits lost.

The reader learns that the peasants are taking revenge on the master when the slave Jacob “got drunk” and “washed down the dead”:

…It's awkward without Jacob,

whoever serves - a fool, a scoundrel!

Anger - that has long boiled in everyone,

Fortunately, there is a case: be rude, take it out!

Yakov came up with a terrible revenge, cruel: he committed suicide in front of the landowner. Yakov's protest made the landowner realize his sin:

The master returned home, lamenting:

“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!)

"About two great sinners"

- Why did the elder decide to tell the Pan his secret?

(The legend speaks of the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. Kudeyar, who had committed grave sins, aroused his conscience, he repented, and God showed him the way to salvation:

Elder in prayer vigil

A certain saint appeared,

Rivers: "Not without God's providence

You chose an age-old oak,

With the same knife that he robbed,

Cut it off with the same hand! "

He told his secret in a lesson to the sinner.)

- What does Pan's answer testify to?

(The moral influence turns out to be in vain. The pan's conscience remained deaf to the calls of the elder. In turn, the noble pan addresses the following teaching:

You have to live, older, in my opinion:

How many slaves I ruin

I torment, torture and hang

And I would have looked at how I sleep!

These words cause the elder's furious anger, and he kills Pan Glukhovsky.)

- What prompted the repentant robber to this act?

(The anger in the soul of the sinner is born of sympathy for those peasants who endured the cruel bullying of Pan Glukhovsky.)

In this legend, as in the story about Yakov, the theme of cruel mockery of the peasants sounds again. But the solution, the way out, is different. If Yakov does not want to “stain his hands with murder,” the elder kills Pan Glukhovsky. And precisely for the murder, reprisal against the tyrant, the oppressor of the people, he receives the remission of sins:

Just a bloody pan

He put his head on the saddle.

A huge tree collapsed,

The echo shook the whole forest.

The tree collapsed, rolled

With a monk the burden of sins!

- What is the ideological meaning of the legend?

(The repentant sinner found his salvation by taking the path of intercession for the people. The reprisal against the tyrant is affirmed as the only possible way to resolve the irreconcilable conflict between the people and the oppressors. The legend confirms the moral right of the people to punish their enemies: Kudeyar is forgiven all sins for the murder of the cruel oppressor of the people. )

"Peasant sins"

- Who are the heroes of the story? How is this story different from the first stories?

(Before us again are the same heroes - the master and the peasant. But, unlike the first two stories, here the master did a good deed:

From lashing chains to freedom

Eight thousand souls are released!

And a man of the people - the peasant headman Gleb - betrayed his fellow countrymen, ruined eight thousand souls of the peasants. After the death of the admiral, his distant relative:

He tasted everything, gave it to him

Mountains of gold, gave free ...

Gleb - he was greedy - is tempted:

The will is burned!

The theme of the relationship between the oppressed and the oppressor is heard again, but it already raises the problem of peasant sin. Headman Gleb, out of greed, for the sake of his own benefit, doomed his fellow countrymen to the torment of slavery, became the culprit of the people's grief.)

The sin of betraying the interests of the people in the peasantry itself turns out to be the greatest sin. Not to achieve "freedom", but to "forever toil" to the people, as long as there are traitors in their midst and a patient attitude towards them:

Oh man! man! you are the sinister of all

And for that you will be forever toiled!

IV. Lesson summary. conclusions

All three stories have one common problem: how to throw off the chains of slavery and oppression?

Nekrasov turns to the Christian religion. Since for the peasants “God's judgment” is a manifestation of the highest moral justice. From the point of view of "God's judgment," Pan is a greater sinner than Kudeyar, and the reprisal against him provides atonement for all sins. This is how the poem affirms the sanctity of the struggle against the oppressors. That is why the story on the most acute topic of our time is led by Ionushka's "The Humble Mantis". That is why we find in the legend an abundance of words from religious use: the Lord, a sinner, divine providence, a monk, a saint, a mention of the Solovetsky monastery, the father of Pitirim. Nekrasov attributes to Christian ethics completely different features than the official church. He does not call to forgive enemies, to live in fear and obedience, but blesses the great anger of man, born of compassion and sympathy for the oppressed.

So, having understood the inner unity of the three stories, we see in the center of the poem the problem of the era - the question of the ways of peasant life leading to freedom and happiness.

Homework

2. Prepare for the test (at the discretion of the teacher).

3. Individual task: prepare a message "Who is Grisha Dobrosklonov?"

The chapter "A feast for the whole world", originally titled “Who are all sinners. - Who is holy. - The Legend of Serfdom. The analysis of the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" is particularly difficult, and it is associated with the absence of a canonical text. Prepared for the December issue of Otechestvennye zapiski and banned by the censorship, the chapter was thoroughly revised by Nekrasov for the next issue of the magazine, but was not published during the writer's lifetime. In an effort to restore the text, damaged by the censor's scissors or corrected by the poet himself, obeying the will of the censor, the publishers of the poem included lines from different editions - a draft manuscript, a text prepared for typing and forbidden, as well as a text altered by the author after the censor's ban. And this combination of lines from different editions undoubtedly changes the meaning of the images and the pathos of the chapter.

The author himself pointed to the plot connection between the "Feast" and the "Last One". The central event of the chapter is "a feast for the whole world", arranged by the Wahlaks after the death of Prince Utyatin. Not knowing that they received not meadows as a reward for their "gum", but a lawsuit with heirs, they rejoice in a new life. "Without corvee ... without tax ... / Without a stick ... is it really, Lord?" - these thoughts of Vlas also convey the general mood of the Wahlaks:

In everyone's chest
A new feeling played
As if she endured them
Mighty wave
From the bottom of a bottomless abyss
Into the light, where the endless
A feast is prepared for them!

The word "feast" in the chapter has several meanings: it is "a commemoration at the fortifications", a holiday organized by the Wahlak peasants, having learned that the old prince had died. This and, according to N.N. Skatova, "a spiritual feast, the awakening of the peasants to a new life." "Feast" is also a metaphor for the "Wahlak" understanding of life as an eternal holiday - one of the peasant's illusions, which very soon will be shattered by life itself. A "feast", according to popular beliefs, is a symbol of a happy life: it is with a "feast" that many Russian fairy tales end. But, unlike fairy tales, the "feast" of the Vakhlaks in Nekrasov's poem does not mean the end of trials. It is no accident that from the very beginning of the chapter, the author warns that the peasants will soon face a long legal battle over the meadows.

LEGENDS OF CASTLE LAW AND THEIR ROLE IN NARRATION

The chapter is composed of the conversations and arguments of the peasants, the legends they tell, the songs they sing. Recalling the past, various "opportunities" and legends about serfdom, songs born of the most tragic life, the Wahlaks seem to relive long centuries of slavery in one night. But the author's task is not only to show how keenly the peasants remember everything they have experienced, how deeply slavery has affected their souls. Listening to stories about the past, the wahlaks gradually change themselves: sympathy or painful silence after the next story more and more often turns into an argument. For the first time, the peasants ask themselves the question: on whose conscience is the great sin - the people's slavery. "The Russian people are gathering strength / And learning to be a citizen" - these words from Grisha Dobrosklonov's song very accurately convey what is happening in front of the reader's passionate search for truth by the Vahlaks, the difficult work of the soul.

Let us note this feature of the narration: the author describes each narrator in detail, gives a clear idea of ​​both his character and his fate. He is just as attentive to the reaction of men to the story. Taking each story to heart, empathizing with the heroes or condemning them, the men express their innermost thoughts. The combination of three points of view: the author's, the narrator's and the audience's, allows us to understand the task of Nekrasov: he seeks not only to reveal to the reader the popular opinion about the most important issues of life: what is sin and what is holiness, but also to show that this opinion is capable of changing, becoming more complex, approach the true essence of phenomena.

The movement of listeners to the truth is clearly seen from their attitude to the story "About Jacob the Faithful - an exemplary serf." It is known that Nekrasov did not agree with the censor's demand to exclude her from the chapter, even under the threat of arrest of the magazine's book, where the chapter "A Feast for the Whole World" was placed. "<...>Throw out the story of Jacob<...>I can't - the poem will lose its meaning, ”he said in one of his letters. The story of Yakov - “an opportunity”, which “is not more weird”, is told by the former courtyard of Baron Sineguzin (this is how the Vahlaks of Tizengauzen are called). He himself suffered a lot from the eccentricities of the lady, the courtyard, "who jumped into arable farming from the heels", "ran up-martyr", that is. a man who came to Vakhlachina and suffered a lot in his life, he tells the story of the lackey Yakov. The narrator characterizes the master Yakov as “a man of a small family” who bought the estate for bribes. He is stingy and cruel - not only in relation to serfs, but also to those close to him. Jacob got the most from him, but

People of servile rank -
Real dogs sometimes:
The heavier the punishment
So much dearer to them, gentlemen.

The limit of Yakov's patience came only when the master sent his beloved nephew into the army. The servant took revenge on the master: he took him to the Devil's ravine and hanged himself before his eyes. The death of a faithful servant, a night spent by a helpless master in a ravine, made him realize for the first time the sinfulness of his life:

The master returned home, lamenting:
“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me! "

The last words of the “opportunity”, undoubtedly, express the opinion of the former courtyard: “You will, master, an exemplary servant / Jacob the faithful / Remember until the day of judgment!” But for the author, the essence of this story is not only to show the ingratitude of the gentlemen leading faithful servants to suicide, i.e. to remind about the "great master's sin". There is another meaning in this story: Nekrasov again writes about the boundless patience of "slaves" whose affection cannot be justified by the moral qualities of their master. It is interesting that, after hearing this story, some men feel sorry for both Yakov and the master ("What an execution he took!"), Others - only Yakov. "Great sin of the nobility!" - say the sedate Vlas, agreeing with the narrator. But at the same time, this story changed the train of thought of the men: a new topic entered their conversation, a new question now occupies them: who is the sinner of all. The dispute will make the story about Yakov rethink: returning later to this story, listeners will not only feel sorry for Yakov, but also condemn him, they will speak not only about the “great sin of the nobility”, but also about the sin of “Yakov the unfortunate”. And then, not without the help of Grisha Dobrosklonov, they will also point out the true culprit: “for all the blame,“ strengthen ”:

The snake will give birth to snakes
And the support is the sins of the landowner,
The sin of unfortunate Jacob<...>
No support - no landowner,
Up to the leading loop
A diligent slave
No support - no yard,
By the suicide of the avenger
To your villain!

But in order to come to this idea, to accept it, the Wahlaks had to listen to other, no less sad stories about serfdom, to understand them, to realize the deep meaning of the legends. It is characteristic that the story of the faithful servant and the ungrateful master is followed by the story of two great sinners - the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. She has two storytellers. The pilgrim wanderer Ionushka Lyapushkin heard her from the Solovetsky monk, father Pitirim. Thanks to such storytellers, the legend is perceived as a parable - this is what Nekrasov himself called it. This is not just an "opportunity", which "is not more wonderful", but a story filled with deep wisdom, which has a universal human meaning.

Two fates are contrasted and juxtaposed in this legend-parable: the fate of the robber Kudeyar and Pan Glukhovsky. Both are great sinners, both are murderers. Kudeyar - "villain", "beast-man" who killed many innocent people - "a whole host - you will not count." "A lot of cruel, terrible" is known about Pan Glukhovsky: he kills his slaves, not considering it a sin. Researchers rightly point out that the surname of Pan is symbolic: he is "deaf to the suffering of the people." The lawless robber and the rightful owner of serf souls are equal in their atrocities. But a miracle happens to Kudeyar: “suddenly the Lord has awakened the fierce robber / Conscience”. For a long time Kudeyar struggled with the pangs of conscience, and yet "the conscience of the villain overpowered." However, no matter how hard he tried, he could not atone for his guilt. And then he had a vision: to cut with that knife, "that he robbed," an age-old oak: "The tree will just collapse, / The chains of sin will fall." Many years go by in hard work: but the oak collapsed only when the monk kills Pan Glukhovsky, who boasts that he “longed for” salvation, does not feel the pangs of conscience.

How to understand the meaning of this legend? Researchers see here a call for a peasant revolution, "for reprisals against the oppressors": the chains of sin from the peasants will fall when they finish with their tormentors. But Glukhovsky is not just an "oppressor", and it is not a serf or a peasant who kills him (Nekrasov, by the way, removed from the text all references to Kudeyar's peasant past), but a monk. Glukhovsky is a great sinner, not only because “slaves ruin, torment, torture and hang”, but also because he does not recognize mockery of serfs and even the murder of peasants as a sin, he is devoid of pangs of conscience, “has not longed for salvation”, that is. e. does not believe in God and God's judgment - and this is truly a mortal, great sin. The monk, who atoned for his sins by killing an unrepentant sinner, appears in the parable as an instrument of God's wrath. It was precisely noted by one of the researchers that the monk at the time of the murder is “a passive figure, he is controlled by other forces, which is emphasized by the“ passive ”verbs:“ became ”,“ felt ”. But the main thing is that his desire to raise a knife against Glukhovsky is called a "miracle", which directly indicates divine intervention.

The idea of ​​the inevitability of a supreme, God's judgment over unrepentant criminals, with whom landowners who did not admit their sin, who killed or tortured serfs who legally belong to them, are on a par with the final words of the parable: "Glory to the omnipresent Creator / Now and forever!" Nekrasov was forced to change these final words after the head was banned by the censor. New ending: "Let's pray to the Lord God: / Have mercy on us, dark slaves!" - sounds less strong - this is a call to the mercy of God, an expectation of mercy, and not an unswerving faith in a speedy judgment, although the thought of God as the supreme judge remains. The poet “deliberately violates the church norm for the sake of, as it seems to him, the restoration of the“ Christian ”norm and Christian truth, which does not differ from human truth. This is how the murder is justified in the legend, which is given the meaning of a Christian feat. "

The story of two great sinners is included in the "Wanderers and Pilgrims" section. As noted by the researchers, Nekrasov attached particular importance to this section: there are five variants of it. The section itself reveals another side of the grandiose picture of folk life created by Nekrasov. The Russian people are truly multifaceted and contradictory, the soul of the Russian people is complex, dark, often incomprehensible: it is easy to deceive, easy to pity. Whole villages were sent "to begging in the fall." But the poor people gave to the false bearers: “In the people's conscience / There is a decision, / That there is more misfortune here than lies<...>". Talking about wanderers and pilgrims wandering the roads of Russia, the author reveals the "front side" of this phenomenon: among the wanderers one can meet those who are "all saints" - ascetics and helpers to the people. They remind of the true purpose of man - "to live in a divine way." What is “holiness” in the understanding of the people? This is the life of Fomushka:

Board and a stone in the head,
And food is one bread.

The “Old Believer Kropilnikov,” “the obstinate prophet,” the old man, “whose whole life / Now will, now prison,” also lives “like a god”. Living according to the laws of God, he and "the laity reproaches atheism", "calls the dense forests to be saved" and does not retreat before the authorities, preaching God's truth. Efrosinushka, the widow of the townspeople, also appears as a truly saint:

As God's messenger
The old lady appears
In the cholera years;
Buries, heals, tinkers
With the sick. Almost praying
Peasant women on her ...

The attitude of the peasants to the wanderers, to their stories reveals not only the compassion of the Russian people, his understanding of holiness as a life "divinely", but also the responsiveness of the Russian soul to the heroic, sacred, sublime, the need of the Russian people in stories of great exploits. The author describes only the perception by the peasants of one story: the heroic death of the Athos monks who took part in the uprising of the Greeks against the Turks. Telling how shocked all the members of a large peasant family - young and old - by this heroic tragedy, the author says the words about the soul of the people - good soil waiting only for the sower, about the "broad path" of the Russian people:

Who has seen how they listen
Of his visiting wanderers
Peasant family,
Understand that neither work,
Not eternal care
Not a yoke of long slavery,
Not by the pub itself
More to the Russian people
No limits are set:
Before him is a wide path.

The story of peasant sin told by Ignatiy Prokhorov also fell on this "good soil". Ignatius Prokhorov was already familiar to readers: he was first mentioned in the chapter "The Last One". A former wahlak who became a "rich Petersburger", he did not take part in the "stupid gum". A peasant by origin, he knows about all the hardships of the peasant's share firsthand and at the same time looks at peasant life from the outside: much, after life in St. Petersburg, he knows and understands better. It is no coincidence that this former peasant was entrusted with the story of the peasant's sin - the right of trial over the peasant himself. The story of the elder Gleb, who burned a will, according to which eight thousand souls received will, is compared by the narrator with the betrayal of Judas: he betrayed the most precious, most sacred - freedom.

This story crowns the stories of the past. The author pays special attention to the perception of this story: several times Ignatius tried to start this story, but the very idea that a man could be the greatest sinner provoked a protest from the Vakhlaks, especially Klim Lavin. Ignatius was not allowed to tell his story. But the controversy about "who is the sinner", the legends heard about serfdom prepared the souls of the Wahlaks for the story of peasant sin. After listening to Ignatius, the crowd of peasants does not answer with silence, as for the story of two great sinners, not with sympathy, as for the story of Jacob. When Ignatius Prokhorov ends the story with the words:

God forgives everything, but Judah's sin
Not forgiven.
Oh man! man! you are the sinister of all
And for that you will be forever toiled! -

the crowd of peasants "jumped to their feet, / A sigh was carried by, they heard: /" So here it is, the sin of a peasant! Indeed, a terrible sin! " / And indeed: we are forever toil<...>". The story also made a heavy impression on the Vakhlaks, and these words of Ignatiy Prokhorov, because each of the listeners begins to think about his own guilt, to himself, to his participation in the "stupid gum", applies these words. As if by magic, the expressions on the faces of the peasants, their behavior, change:

The poor fell again
To the bottom of a bottomless abyss
Quieted down, became pretentious<...>

Of course, it is important to answer the question: does the author agree with the opinion of his hero? It is interesting that not only the cunning and greedy Klim Lavigne, but also Grisha Dobrosklonov, is the opponent of Ignatius. The main thing that he inspires in the Vahlaks is "that they are not the defendants / For the accursed Gleb, / Strengthen it all with the blame!" This idea is undoubtedly close to Nekrasov, who showed how "strong the habit" of slavery over the peasant is, how slavery breaks the human soul. But it is not by chance that the author makes this story the final among the legends about serfdom: recognizing oneself not only as a victim, but also as responsible for "negligence", if we use the Nekrasov word, leads to purification, to awakening, to a new life. The motive of a clear conscience - a recognized responsibility for the past and present, repentance - is one of the most important in the poem. In the final song “Rus” for the chapter, it is precisely the “calm conscience” along with the “tenacious truth” that are recognized as the source of the “people's strength”, “the mighty power”. It is important to note that in the creations of the Russian righteous, which the seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov should have known, the condition for the "return of bliss" to the life of mankind was considered "the contrition in the hearts of human beings of a life contrary to God, and the implantation of a new, holy and God-pleasing life." A clear conscience of the people, their golden heart, "tenacious truth" that evokes readiness for sacrifice, are asserted as a source of the people's strength, and therefore, its happy future.

Everyone left the house on business, but they did not notice during the dispute, as evening came. They had already gone far from their homes, about thirty versts, decided to rest until the sun shone. They lit a fire, sat down to feast. Again they argued, defending their point of view, they argued before a fight.

Prologue

In what year - count

In which land - guess

On a pole track

Seven men came together:

Seven temporarily liable

Tightened province,

Terpigorev County,

Empty parish,

From adjacent villages:

Zaplatova, Dyryavina,

Razutova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neyolova -

Bad harvest too,

Agreed - and argued:

Who has fun

Is it at ease in Russia?

The novel said: to the landowner,

Demyan said: to the official,

Luke said: ass.

To the fat-bellied merchant! -

The brothers Gubins said,

Ivan and Mitrodor.

Old man Pakhom strained

And he said, looking into the ground:

To the noble boyar,

To the Sovereign Minister.

And Prov said: to the king ...

Man what a bull: will get lost

What a whim in the head -

Colom her from there

You can't knock it out: they rest,

Everyone stands his ground!

Everyone left the house on business, but they did not notice during the dispute, as evening came. They had already gone far from their homes, about thirty versts, decided to rest until the sun shone. They lit a fire, sat down to feast. Again they argued, defending their point of view, they argued before a fight. The tired peasants decided to go to bed, but then Pakhomushka caught a chick of a warbler and began to dream: if only he could fly around Russia on his wings and find out; who lives "merrily, freely in Russia?" And each peasant adds that wings are not needed, but there would be food, they would go around Russia with their own feet and learn the truth. The arriving warbler asks to let her chick go, and for this she promises a “big ransom”: she will give a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed them on the way, and even give clothes and shoes.

The peasants sat down at the tablecloth and gave a vow not to return home until they “found a solution” to their dispute.

Part one

Chapter I

The peasants are walking along the road, and around them there is an “uncomfortable”, “abandoned land”, everything is flooded with water, and it’s not without reason that “it was snowing every day”. They meet the same peasants along the way, only in the evening they met a priest. The peasants took off their hats and blocked his way, the priest was frightened, but they told him about their dispute. They ask the priest to answer them “without laughing and without cunning”. Pop says:

“What is happiness in your opinion?

Peace, wealth, honor?

Isn't that so, dear friends? "

“Now let's see, brothers,

What is the rest of the ass? "

From the very birth, the teaching of the priest is difficult:

Our roads are difficult

We have a big parish.

Sick, dying

Born into the world

Do not choose time:

In the harvest and in the haymaking,

On a dead autumn night,

In winter, in severe frosts,

And in spring floods -

Go where the name is!

You go unreservedly.

And even if only the bones

Broke alone, -

No! Every time he will be

The soul will overpower.

Do not believe, Orthodox,

There is a limit to the habit:

No heart enduring

Without a certain thrill

Death wheeze

Funeral sob

Orphan sorrow!

Then the priest tells how they mock at the priest's tribe, mocking the priest and priest. Thus, there is no peace, no honor, no money for the priest, the parishes are poor, the landowners live in cities, and the peasants abandoned by them are in poverty. Not that they, but the priest sometimes gives them money, tk. they are dying of hunger. Having told his sad story, the priest drove off, and the peasants scold Luka, who shouted the priest. Luka stood silent,

I was afraid would not impose

Comrades in the sides.

Chapter II

RURAL FAIR

No wonder the peasants scold the spring: there is water all around, there is no greenery, the cattle must be driven out into the field, but there is still no grass. They walk past empty villages, wondering where all the people have gone. The "fellow" who met, explains that everyone went to the village of Kuzminskoye for the fair. The men also decide to go there and look for someone happy. A commercial village is described, rather dirty, with two churches: Old Believer and Orthodox, there is a school and a hotel. A rich fair is nearby. People drink, walk, have fun and cry. The Old Believers are angry with the dressed-up peasants, they say that the red calico they wear has “dog's blood”, so there will be hunger! Wanderers

go to the fair and admire different goods. A crying old man comes across: he has spent money on drink and has nothing to buy shoes for his granddaughter, but he promised, and the granddaughter is waiting. Pavlusha Veretennikov, "master", rescued Vavila, bought shoes for his granddaughter. The old man, with joy, even forgot to thank his benefactor. There is also a bookstore that sells all kinds of nonsense. Nekrasov exclaims bitterly:

Eh! eh! will the time come

When (come, desired! ..)

They will make it clear to the peasant

What a portrait of a portrait,

What is the book of the book?

When a man is not Blucher

And not my foolish lord -

Belinsky and Gogol

Will they carry it from the bazaar?

Oh, people, Russian people!

Orthodox peasants!

Have you ever heard

Are you those names?

Those are great names

Wore them glorified

People's defenders!

Here you have their portraits

Hang in your chambers,

The wanderers went to the booth “... Listen, take a look. // A comedy with Petrushka, .. // To the poor, quarterly // Not in the eyebrow, but right in the eye! " Wanderers by the evening "left the turbulent village"

Chapter III

DRUNK NIGHT

Everywhere men see returning, sleeping drunks. Fragmented phrases, snatches of conversations and songs rush from all sides. A drunk guy buries a zipun in the middle of the road and is sure that he is burying his mother; there are men fighting, drunken women scolding in a ditch, whose house is the worst - the road is crowded

What is more ugly later:

More and more often come across

Beaten, crawling

Lying in a layer.

At the tavern, the peasants met Pavlusha Veretennikov, who bought the peasant shoes for his granddaughter. Pavlusha recorded peasant songs and said, what

“Russian peasants are smart,

One thing is not good

What they drink to the point of stupor, .. "

But one drunk shouted: "And the more we work, .. // And the more sober us."

Peasant food is sweet,

The iron saw the whole century

Chews, but does not eat!

You work alone

And as soon as the work is over,

Look, there are three equity holders:

God, king and lord!

There is no measure for Russian hops.

Have we measured our grief?

Is there a measure of work?

A man does not measure trouble,

Cope with everything,

Whatever you come.

A man, working, does not think

That will tear the strength,

So recklessly over the charka

Ponder what is superfluous

Will you get into a ditch?

Pity - pity skillfully,

To the master's measure

Don't measure the peasant!

Not gentle white-handed

And we are great people

At work and in fun!

“Write: In the village of Bossove

Yakim Nagoy lives

He works to death

Drinks half to death! .. "

Yakim lived in St. Petersburg, but he decided to compete with the "merchant", so he ended up in prison. Since then, thirty years "fried on the strip under the sun." He once bought pictures for his son and hung them on the walls of the hut. Yakim had accumulated “thirty-five rubles”. There was a fire, he would have saved money, but he began to collect pictures. Rubles have merged into a lump, now they give eleven rubles for them.

The peasants agree with Yakim:

“We drink - it means we feel strength!

Great sorrow will come

How can we stop drinking! ..

The work would not fail

The trouble would not prevail

Hops won't prevail over us! "

Then the daring Russian song "about the Volga-mother", "about the girl's beauty" burst out.

The peasant wanderers refreshed themselves at the self-assembled tablecloth, left Roman on guard at the bucket, and went to look for the happy one themselves.

Chapter IV

HAPPY

In a loud crowd festive

Wanderers walked

They cried out the cry:

"Hey! is there no happy one?

Show up! If it turns out

That you live happily

We have a bucket ready:

Drink for free, as much as you like -

We will treat you to the glory! .. "

There were many “hunters for a drink of free wine” gathered.

The sexton who came said that happiness was in “complacency,” but they drove him away. The “old old woman” came and said that she was happy: in the fall she had a turnip of up to a thousand on a small ridge. They laughed at her, but no vodka was given. A soldier came and said that he is happy

“...That in twenty battles

I was, not killed!

I walked neither full nor hungry,

But death was not given!

I beat mercilessly with sticks,

And at least feel it - alive! "

The soldier was given a drink:

You are happy - there is no word!

“Olonchanin stonemason” came to boast of strength. They brought it to him too. A peasant came with shortness of breath and advised the resident of Olonchan not to boast of strength. He, too, was strong, but overstrained, lifting fourteen poods to the second floor. A "courtyard man" came and boasted that the boyar Peremet'eva had a beloved slave and was sick with a noble disease - "for her, I am a nobleman." "Yes, it is called!" But the peasants did not bring him a drink. The “yellow-haired Belarusian” came and said that he was happy that he was eating enough rye bread. A man came "with a bent cheekbone." Three of his comrades were broken by bears, and he is alive. They brought it to him. The beggars came and boasted of the happiness that they were served everywhere.

Our pilgrims realized,

That they spent vodka for nothing.

By the way, and a little bucket,

End. “Well, it will be with you!

Hey, muzhik happiness!

Leaky with patches

Humpbacked with calluses

Get out home! "

They advise the peasants to look for Yermil Girin - that's who is happy. Yermila kept the mill. They decided to sell it, Yermila was bargaining, one rival, the merchant Altynnikov, was a donkey. But Yermil outbid the miller. You only need to pay a third of the price, and Yermil had no money with him. He interrogated a half-hour reprieve. In court, they were surprised that he would have time in half an hour, to drive him thirty-five miles to the house, but they gave him half an hour. Yermil came to the marketplace, and that day there was a market. Ermil turned to the people to give him a loan:

“Be quiet, listen,

I'll tell you a word! "

“Long time merchant Altynnikov

Tied to the mill

Yes, I didn’t do it either,

Five times inquired in the city, .. "

Today I arrived “without a penny,” but they set a bargaining and laugh, what

(outsmarted:

“Cunning, strong clerk,

And the world is stronger than theirs, .. "

“If you know Yermila,

If you believe Yermila,

So help out, eh! .. "

And a miracle happened -

Throughout the marketplace

Every peasant

Like the wind half left

Suddenly spun!

The clerk was amazed,

Altynnikov turned green,

When he is full of the whole thousand

I put them on the table! ..

On the following Friday Yermil “people were counting on the same square”. Although he did not write down from whom he took how much, "Yermil did not have to give an extra penny." There was an extra ruble left, until the evening Yermil was looking for the owner, and in the evening he gave it to the blind, because the owner was not found. Wanderers are interested in how Yermil won such authority among the people. About twenty years ago he was a clerk, he helped the peasants without extorting money from them. Then the whole estate chose Yermila as the steward. And Yermil served the people honestly for seven years, and then, instead of his brother Mitri, he gave the widow's son to the army. Out of remorse, Yermil wanted to hang himself. They returned the boy to the widow so that Yermil would not do anything on himself. No matter how they asked him, he resigned from his post, rented a mill and grinded everyone without cheating. The wanderers want to find Yermila, but the priest said that he was in prison. There was a peasant revolt in the province, nothing helped, they called Yermila. The peasants believed him, ... but without finishing the story, the narrator hurried home, promising to finish it later. Suddenly a bell was heard. The peasants rushed to the road when they saw the landowner.

Chapter V

LANDMARKER

This was the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev. He got scared when he saw “seven tall men” in front of the troika, and, drawing out a pistol, began to threaten the men, but they told him that they were not robbers, but wanted to know if he was a happy person?

“Tell us in a divine way,

Is the life of a landowner sweet?

How are you - at ease, happily,

Landowners, do you live? "

“Having laughed to his fill,” the landowner began to say that he was of an ancient family. His family originated two hundred and fifty years ago through his father and three hundred years ago through his mother. There was a time, says the landowner, when everyone honored them, everything around was the property of the clan. It used to be that they had holidays for a month. What splendid hunts there were in the fall! And he poetically talks about it. Then he remembers that he punished the peasants, but lovingly. But on Christ's Resurrection he kissed everyone, did not disdain anyone. The peasants heard the funeral bells ringing. And the landowner said:

“The call is not for the peasant!

According to the landlord's life

They call! .. Oh, life is wide!

I'm sorry, goodbye forever!

Farewell to landlord Russia!

Now not that Russia! "

According to the landowner, his estate has been transferred, the estates are dying, forests are being cut down, the land is not cultivated. The people are drinking.

The literati shout that they need to work, but the landlords are not used to:

“I will tell you without bragging,

I live almost without a break

In the village for forty years

And from a rye ear

I do not distinguish barley,

And they sing to me: "Work!"

The landowner is crying, because the free life is over: “The great chain has broken,

Torn - jumped:

One end for the master,

The other is a peasant! .. "

Part two

PEASANT

Prologue

“Not everything between men

To look for the happy

Let's touch the women! " -

Our pilgrims decided

And they began to interrogate the women.

They said how they cut it off:

“We don't have such a thing,

And there is in the village of Klinu:

Kholmogorskaya cow

Not a woman! smarter

And smoother - there is no woman.

You ask Korchagin

Matryona Timofeevna,

She is: the governor's wife ... "

Wanderers go and admire the bread, flax:

All vegetable garden

Has arrived: children are running

Some with turnips, some with carrots,

Sunflower is husked,

And the women pull the beets,

Such beets are kind!

Exactly red boots,

Lie on the strip.

The wanderers came across the estate. The gentlemen live abroad, the clerk is at death, and the courtyards wander like restless people, looking at what can be pulled: All the crucians have been caught in the pond.

The paths are so dirty

What a shame! stone girls

Broken noses!

Fruits and berries are gone,

Gone are the swan geese

The lackey has a goiter!

Wanderers went from the manor house to the village. The wanderers sighed lightly:

Im after the courtyard whining

She looked beautiful

Healthy, singing

A crowd of reapers and reapers, ..

They met Matryona Timofeevna, for whom they had traveled a long way.

Matryona Timofeevna

A dignified woman

Wide and dense

About thirty years old.

Beautiful; gray hair,

Eyes are large, stern,

The richest eyelashes

Severe and dark

She is wearing a white shirt,

Yes, a short sundress,

Yes, a sickle over his shoulder.

"What do you want, young fellows?"

Wanderers persuade the peasant woman to tell about her life. Matryona Timofeevna refuses:

“We already have an ear of wheat,

There are not enough hands, dear ones. "

And what are we for, godfather?

Come on sickles! All seven

How will we become tomorrow - By the evening

We'll squeeze all your rye!

Then she agreed:

"I won't hide anything!"

While Matrena Timofeevna was managing the household, the peasants sat down by the self-assembled tablecloth.

The stars are already seated

Across the dark blue sky

The month has become high,

When the hostess came

And she became our wanderers

"Open my whole soul ..."

Chapter I

Before marriage

Happiness fell to me in girls:

We had a good one

Non-drinking family.

Parents did not live their daughter, but not for long. By the age of five, they began to accustom themselves to cattle, and from the age of seven she herself went after the cow, carried dinner to her father in the field, grazed ducklings, went for mushrooms and berries, stirred up hay ... There was enough work. She was an expert in singing and dancing. Philip Korchagin, a “St. Petersburg worker”, a stove-maker, got involved.

I grieved, cried bitterly,

And the girl did the thing:

On a narrowed sideways

I looked in secret.

Prigozh-blush, wide-powerful,

Rus hair, quietly speaking -

Philip fell on the heart!

Matryona Timofeevna sings an old song, recalls her wedding.

Chapter II

SONGS

Wanderers sing along with Matryona Timofeevna.

The family was huge,

Grumpy ... I stomped

Happy girlish holi to hell!

The husband went to work, and she was told to endure her sister-in-law, father-in-law, mother-in-law. The husband returned and Matryona cheered up.

Philip on the Annunciation

Gone, and on Kazan

I gave birth to a son.

What a handsome son! And then the lord's manager tortured him with his courtship. Matryona rushed to Grandfather Savely.

What to do! Teach!

Of all her husband's relatives, one grandfather felt sorry for her.

Well, that's it! special speech

It's a sin to keep silent about grandfather.

The lucky one was also ...

Chapter III

SAVELIY, BOGATYR SVYATORUSSKY

Savely, the bogatyr of the Holy Russian.

With a tremendous gray mane,

Tea, twenty years old, uncut

With a huge beard

Grandfather looked like a bear,

Especially as in the forest,

Bending over, he went out.

At first, she was afraid of him that if he straightened up, he would pierce the ceiling with his head. But he could not straighten up; he was said to be a hundred years old. Grandfather lived in a special room

He disliked families ..

He did not let anyone in, and his family called him “branded, convict”. To which the grandfather answered cheerfully:

"Branded, but not a slave!"

The grandfather often made fun of his relatives. In the summer he caught mushrooms and berries, poultry and small animals in the forest, and in the winter he talked to himself on the stove. Once Matryona Timofeevna asked why he was called a branded convict? “I was a convict,” he replied.

For the fact that the German Vogel, the offender of the peasant, buried in the ground alive. He said that they lived among the dense forests at ease. Only the bears bothered them, but they coped with the bears. He, lifting a bear on a spear, tore his back. When she was young she was sick, but when she was old she bent down so that she could not bend. The landowner called them to his town and forced them to pay their rent. Under the rods, the peasants agreed to pay something. Every year the master called them that, tore them mercilessly with rods, but had little. When the old landowner was killed near Varna, his heir sent a German ruler to the peasants. The German was quiet at first. If you can't pay, don't pay, but work, for example, dig a swamp with a ditch, cut a clearing. The German brought his family, and ruined the peasants to the bone. They endured the steward for eighteen years. The German built a factory and ordered to dig a well. He came to dinner to scold the peasants, and they pushed him into a dug well and buried him. For this Savely ended up in hard labor, fled; they returned him and beat him mercilessly. For twenty years I was in hard labor and twenty years in the settlement, I saved up money there. Returned home. When there was money, his relatives loved him, but now they spit in his eyes.

Chapter IV

DEMUSHKA

It is described how the tree burned, and with it the chicks in the nest. The birds were there to save the chicks. When she arrived, everything had already burned out. One bird was crying

Yes, the dead did not come

Until white morning! ..

Matryona Timofeevna says that she was carrying her son to work, but her mother-in-law scolded him and told him to leave him with her grandfather. While working in the field, she heard moans and saw her grandfather crawling:

Oh, poor young lady!

The last daughter-in-law in the house,

The last slave!

Endure the great storm

Take the unnecessary beating

And with the eye of the unreasonable

Don't let the baby go down! ..

The old man fell asleep in the sun,

Fed the pigs Demidushka

Silly grandfather! ..

Mother nearly died of grief. Then the judges came and began to interrogate the attesting witnesses and Matryona, whether she was in connection with Savely:

I replied in a whisper:

It's a shame, sir, kidding!

I am an honest wife to my husband,

And old man Savely

A hundred years ... Tea, you know yourself.

They accused Matryona of killing her son in collusion with the old man, and Matryona only asked not to open the body of her son! Led without desecration

Honest burial

Betray the child!

Entering the upper room, she saw the son of Savely reading prayers at the coffin and chased him away, calling him a murderer. He loved the baby. Grandfather reassured her that no matter how much the peasant lived, he was tormented, and Demush was in paradise.

"... Easy for him, light for him ..."

Chapter V

Wolf

Already twenty years have passed since then. The inconsolable mother suffered for a long time. My grandfather went to repentance at a monastery. As time went on, children were born every year, and three years later a new misfortune crept up - her parents died. Grandfather returned all white from repentance, and soon he died.

As ordered - executed:

Buried next to Demoy ...

He lived for one hundred and seven years.

Her son Fedot turned eight years old, they gave him up as a caretaker. The shepherd left, and the she-wolf took the sheep away, Fedot first took the sheep from the weakened wolf, and then saw that the sheep had already died, he threw it back to the she-wolf. I came to the village and told everything myself. For this they wanted to flog Fedot, but the mother did not give it up. Instead of a young son, they whipped her. After seeing her son with the herd, Matryona cries, calls out to her dead parents, but she has no intercessors.

CHAPTER VI

HARD YEAR

There was hunger. The mother-in-law told the neighbors that she, Matryona, was to blame. put on a clean shirt for Christmas.

For a husband, for an intercessor,

I got off cheaply;

And one woman

Not for the same

Killed to death with stakes.

Don't joke with the hungry! ..

We barely coped with the lack of bread, the recruitment came. But Matryona Timofeevna was not very afraid, a recruit had already been taken from the family. She was sitting at home, because she was pregnant and was taking care of the last days. A frustrated father-in-law came and said that they were taking Philip to recruit. Matryona Timofeevna realized that if her husband was taken as a soldier, she and her children would disappear. Got up from the stove and went into the night.

Chapter vii

GOVERNOR

On a frosty night, Matryona Timofeevna prays and goes to the city. Arriving at the governor's house, she asks the doorman when to come. The doorman promises to help her. Having learned that the governor's wife was coming, Matryona Timofeevna threw herself at her feet and told her misfortune.

I didn't know what did

(Yes, it can be seen advised

Lady! ..) How will I throw myself

At her feet: “Step up!

Deception, not godly

Breadwinner and parent

They take from the kids! "

The peasant woman lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she saw herself in rich chambers, next to the "rash child".

Thanks to the governor,

Elena Alexandrovna,

I am so grateful to her

Like a dear mother!

She baptized the boy herself

And the name: Liodorushka

She chose the baby ...

They found out everything, the husband was returned.

Chapter viii

Banished by a lucky woman

Nicknamed the governor

Matryona since then.

Now she rules the house, raises children: she has five sons, one has already been recruited ... And then the peasant woman added: what are you up to

Not business - between women

Happy to seek!

What else do you want?

Shouldn't I tell you

That we got burned twice

That god is anthrax

Have you visited us three times?

Horse attempts

We carried; I took a walk

Like a gelding in a harrow! ..

I'm not trampled underfoot,

Not knitted with ropes,

Do not prick with needles ...

What else do you want?

According to the abused mother,

Like a trampled snake,

The blood of the firstborn is gone, ..

And you - for happiness poked!

It's a shame, well done!

But don't touch women, -

Here is God! pass with nothing

Until the grave!

One pilgrim pilgrim said:

“The keys to women's happiness,

From our free will

Abandoned lost

God himself! "

Part three

THE LAST

Chapters 1-III

On Peter's day, (29 / VI), passing the villages, wanderers came to the Volga. And here there are huge hay fields, and all the people are mowing.

Along the low-lying shore

On the Volga, the herbs are tall,

Cheerful mowing.

The wanderers could not resist:

“We haven't worked for a long time,

Let's mow! ”

Having amused, tired,

We sat down to breakfast ...

The landowners arrived in three boats with their retinue, children, dogs. Everyone went around the mowing, ordered to scatter a huge haystack, supposedly damp. (The wanderers tried:

Dry senzo!)

The wanderers are surprised why the landowner behaves this way, after all, the orders are already new, and he is fooling in the old way. The peasants explain that the hay is not his,

and “fiefdoms”.

The wanderers, having unfolded a self-assembled tablecloth, talk with old man Vla-drying, ask him to explain why the peasants are pleasing the landowner, and learn: “Our landowner is special,

The wealth is exorbitant

An important rank, a noble family,

The whole century freaked out, fooled ... "

And when he learned about "will", he had a blow. Now the left half is paralyzed. Having somehow recovered from the blow, the old man believed that the peasants were returned to the landowners. He is deceived by his heirs, so that in their hearts he does not deprive them of a rich inheritance. The heirs persuaded the peasants to "amuse" the master, but the slave Ipat did not need to be persuaded, he loves the master for mercy and serves not for fear, but for conscience. What kind of “mercies” does Ipat recall: “How small I was, our prince

Me by my own hand

Harnessed to the cart;

I have reached a frisky youth:

The prince came on vacation

And, having played around, redeemed

Me, the slave of the latter,

In the winter in the hole! .. "

And then in a blizzard, he made Provo, who was riding on a horse, play the violin, and when he fell, the prince ran over him with a sleigh:

"... They crushed my chest"

The heirs agreed with the patrimony as follows:

“Be silent, bow down

Yes, do not contradict the sick,

We will reward you:

For extra work, for corvee,

For even an abusive word -

We'll pay you for everything.

Do not live long for the heart

Hardly two or three months

The doctor himself announced!

Respect us, obey,

We will give you meadows

We'll give you along the Volga; .. "

It almost went wrong. Vlas, being a bailiff, did not want to bow to the old man, left his post. There and then a volunteer was found - Klimka Lavigne - but he is such a thieving and empty person that Vlas was left as the steward, and Klimka Lavigne turns and bows in front of the master.

Every day the landowner travels around the village, finds fault with the peasants, and they:

“Let's get together - laugh! Everyone has it

Your tale about the holy fool ... "

Orders are coming from the master, one more stupid than the other: to marry the widow Terentyeva Gavrila Zhokhov: the bride is seventy, and the groom is six years old. A herd of cows passing by in the morning woke up the master, so he ordered the shepherds to "continue to calm the cows." Only the peasant Agap did not agree to indulge the master, and "then in the middle of the day he was caught with the master's log. Agap tired of listening to the master's abuse, he answered. The landowner ordered Agap to be punished in front of everyone. The master could not move from the porch, and Agap simply shouted at the stables:

“Neither give nor take under the rods

Agap shouted, fooling around,

Until he finished the damask:

How they carried out of the stable

His dead drunk

Four men

So the master even took pity:

"It's your own fault, Agapushka!" -

He said kindly ... "

To which Vlas the narrator remarked:

“Praise the grass in a haystack,

And the master is in the coffin! "

“Get out of the master

The ambassador goes: ate!

Calling, must be, the headman,

I'll go take a look at the gum! "

The landowner asked the steward if the haymaking would be finished soon, he replied that all the master's hay would be removed in two or three days. "And ours - will wait!" The landowner spent an hour saying that the peasants would be landowners for a century: “I’ll be squeezed in a handful! ..” The bailiff makes loyal speeches, which the landowner liked, for which Klim was presented with a glass of “overseas wine”. Then the Latter wanted his sons and daughters-in-law to dance, ordered the blond lady: "Sing, Lyuba!" The lady sang well. To the song the last one fell asleep, they carried him sleepily into the boat, and the gentlemen sailed away. In the evening, the peasants learned that the old prince had died,

But their joy is Vakhlak

It was short.

With the death of the Follower

The gentleman's caress has disappeared:

They didn't let me get drunk

Guardsmen for the Wahlaks!

And beyond the meadows

Heirs with peasants

They are being pulled up to this day.

Vlas is an intercessor for the peasants,

Lives in Moscow ... was in St. Petersburg ...

But there’s no point!

Part four

PIR - FOR THE WHOLE WORLD

Dedicated to

Sergei Petrovich Botkin

Introduction

On the outskirts of the village “There was a feast, a great feast1” With the deacon Trifon came his sons, seminarians: Savvushka and Grisha.

...At Gregory

The face is thin pale

And the hair is thin, curly,

With a touch of red

Simple guys, kind.

They mowed, reaped, sowed

And drank vodka on holidays

Equally with the peasantry.

The men sit and think:

Its meadows are dry

Hand over to the headman - for taxes.

The men ask Grisha to sing. He sings "merry."

Chapter I

BITTER TIME - BITTER SONGS

Cheerful

The landowner brought a cow from the peasant's yard, took the chickens and ate the Zemstvo court. The guys will grow up a little: “The king will take the boys, // Barin -

daughters! "

Then all together a song burst out

Barshchinnaya

The beaten man is looking for consolation in a tavern. A man who was driving by said that they were beaten for swear words, until they achieved silence. Then Vikenty Aleksandrovich, a courtyard, told his story.

About an exemplary slave - Jacob the faithful

He lived for thirty years in the village of Polivanov, who bought the village with bribes, who did not know his neighbors, but only his sister. He was cruel to his family, not only to the peasants. He married his daughter, and then, after beating her, kicked him out with her hubby without anything. Yakov's servant beat him in the teeth with his heel.

People of servile rank -

Real dogs sometimes:

The heavier the punishment

So much dearer to them, gentlemen.

Jacob showed up like this from his youth,

Only Jacob had joy:

Groom the gentleman, take care, to please

Yes, a young nephew to swing.

All Jacob's life with the master, they grew old together. The master's legs refused to walk.

Jacob will carry him out himself, lay him down,

He will take him to his sister on a long-term trip,

Himself to get to the old woman will help.

So they lived okay - for the time being.

Yakov's nephew, Grisha, grew up and threw himself at the master's feet, asking to marry Irisha. And the master looked at her for himself. He turned Grisha into recruits. Offended by Jacob, he made a fool of himself. "I washed down the dead ..." Who does not come up to the master, but they cannot please him. Two weeks later, Yakov returned, allegedly taking pity on the landowner. Everything went as before. We were going to go to the master's sister. Yakov turned off the road, into the Devil's ravine, unharnessed the horses, and the master was afraid for his life and began to beg Yakov to spare him, he replied:

“Found a murderer!

I'll get my hands dirty with murder,

No, you don't have to die! "

Yakov himself hanged himself in front of the master. All night long the master toiled, in the morning the hunter found him. The master returned home, repenting:

“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me! ”

After telling a couple of scary stories, the peasants argued: who is the sinner - innkeepers, landlords or peasants? Argued to a fight. And then Ionushka, who had been silent all evening, said:

And so I will make peace with you! "

Chapter II

Wanderers and Godmothers

Many beggars in Russia, whole villages went “for alms” in the fall, there are many crooks among them who know how to get along with the landowners. But there are also believing pilgrims, whose labors collect money for churches. They remembered the holy fool Fomushka, who lives in a divine way, there was also the Old Believer Kropilnikov:

Old man, whose whole life

Now the will, then the prison.

And there was also Euphrosyne, the widow of the township; she appeared in the cholera years. All the peasants receive, on long winter evenings they listen to the stories of pilgrims.

Such soil is good -

The soul of the Russian people ...

O sower! come! ..

Jonah, the venerable wanderer, told the story.

About two great sinners

He heard this story in Solovki from Pitirtm's father. There were twelve robbers, their chieftain was Kudeyar. Many robbers robbed and killed people

Suddenly the cruel robber

The Lord awakened the conscience.

The villain's conscience overpowered

He dismissed his gang,

Gave up property on the church,

He buried the knife under the bush.

I went on a pilgrimage, but did not pray for my sins, I lived in the forest under an oak tree. The messenger of God showed him the way to salvation - with the knife that killed people,

he should cut the oak:

“... The tree has just collapsed -

The chains of sin will fall. ”

Pan Glukhovsky passed by, mocking the old man, saying:

“You have to live, older, in my opinion:

How many slaves I ruin

I torment, torture and hang

And I would have looked at how I sleep! "

The enraged hermit stuck his knife in Glukhovsky's heart, fell

pan, and the tree collapsed.

The tree collapsed rolling down

With a monk, the burden of sins! ..

Let's pray to the Lord God:

Have mercy on us dark slaves!

Chapter III

BOTH OLD AND NEW

Peasant sin

There was an "ammiral-widower", for his faithful service the empress rewarded him with eight thousand souls. Dying, "Ammiral" handed over to the elder Gleb a chest with a free man for all eight thousand souls. But the heir seduced the headman, giving him freedom. The will was burned. And until the last time there were eight thousand

souls by serfs.

“So here it is, the sin of the peasant!

Indeed, a terrible sin! "

The poor fell again

To the bottom of a bottomless abyss

Quieted down, became pretentious,

They lay down on their bellies;

Lay, thought

And suddenly they began to sing. Slowly,

As a cloud approaches

The stringy words flowed.

Hungry

About eternal hunger, work and lack of sleep of a man. The peasants are convinced that "serfdom" is to blame. It multiplies the sins of the landowners and the misfortunes of the slaves. Grisha said:

“I don’t need any silver,

No gold, but God forbid

So that my fellow countrymen

And to every peasant

Lived freely and cheerfully

In all holy Russia! "

They saw sleepy Yegorka Shutov and began to beat him, for which they themselves do not know. It was ordered by the "world" to beat, so they beat me. An old soldier is riding the cart. Stops and sings.

Soldier's

Sickened by the light

There is no truth

Life is sick

The pain is intense.

Klim sings along to him about the bitter life.

Chapter IV

GOOD TIME - GOOD SONGS

The "Great Feast" ended only in the morning. Some went home, and the wanderers went to sleep right there on the shore. Returning home, Grisha and Savva sang:

Share of the people

His happiness

Light and freedom

First of all!

They lived poorer than the poor peasant, did not even have cattle. In the seminary, Grisha was starving, only in the wahlach land he ate. The sexton boasted of his sons, but did not think about what they were eating. And he himself was always starving. His wife was much more caring than him, and therefore died early. She always thought about salt and sang a song.

Salty

Sonny Grishenka does not want to eat unsalted food. The Lord advised to “salt” with flour. The mother pours flour, and her food is salted with abundant tears. In the seminary, Grisha

recalled his mother and her song.

And soon in the heart of a boy

With love for poor mother

Love for all wahlatch

Merged - and fifteen years old

Gregory already knew for sure

What will live for happiness

Poor and dark.

A native corner.

There are two ways for Russia: one is “enmity-war”, “the other is honest. Only“ strong ”and“ loving ”go along it.

For battle, for work.

Grisha Dobrosklonov

Fate prepared for him

Glorious path loud name

People's defender,

Consumption and Siberia.

Grisha sings:

“In moments of despondency, O Motherland!

I fly forward with a thought.

You are still destined to suffer a lot

But you won't die, I know.

She was both in slavery and under the Tatars:

“... You are also a slave in the family;

But the mother is already a free son. "

Grigory goes to the Volga, sees the barge haulers.

Burlak

Gregory talks about the heavy share of the barge haule, and then his thoughts spread to the whole of Russia.

Rus

You and wretched

You are abundant

You and mighty

You are powerless

Mother Russia!

Strength of the people,

Power is mighty -

A calm conscience

The truth is tenacious!

You and wretched

You are abundant

You and downtrodden

You are omnipotent

To be our wanderers under their own roof,

If only they could know what happened to Grisha.