Fairy tale The wise gudgeon. Read online, download. Saltykov-Shchedrin Mikhail Evgrafovich. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The wise minnow With shchedrin the wise minnow

This article will consider one of the pages of the work of the famous Russian writer Mikhail Efgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin - the story "The Wise Gudgeon". The summary of this work will be considered in conjunction with its

historical context.

Saltykov-Shchedrin is a famous writer and satirist who created his literary creations in an interesting style - in the form of fairy tales. The "Wise Gudgeon" is no exception, the summary of which can be told in two sentences. However, it raises acute socio-political problems. This story was written in 1883, during the period of the emperor's repressions against the intensified opponents of the tsarist regime. At that time, many progressive-minded people already understood the full depth of the problems of the existing system and tried to convey this to the masses. However, unlike anarchist students who dreamed of a power coup, the progressive intelligentsia tried to find a way out of the situation by peaceful means, with the help of appropriate reforms. Only with the support of the entire public could it be possible to influence the situation and prevent the existing disorder, Saltykov-Shchedrin believed. "The Wise Gudgeon", a brief summary of which will be given below, sarcastically tells us about a certain part of the Russian intelligentsia, which in every possible way evades public activity out of fear of punishment for freethinking.

"Wise minnow": a summary

Once upon a time there was one minnow, but not a simple one, but an enlightened, moderately liberal one. From childhood, his father instructed: "Beware of the dangers that lie in wait for you in the river, there are a lot of enemies around." The minnow decided: "Indeed, at any moment you are either hooked

caught, or the pike will eat. But you yourself can’t harm anyone.” And he decided to outsmart everyone: he built himself a hole where he lived without getting out, “lived and trembled”, went to the surface only at noon to catch some midge, which was not always possible "But the minnow was not upset, the main thing is that he was whole. And he lived all his life like this, and he had neither family nor friends, and he lived in constant fear for his life, but he was very proud of the consciousness that he would not die in ear or in the mouth of a fish, but by his death, like his venerable parents. lived, did nothing either useful or harmful ... Only translated food. If you die, no one will remember you. For some reason, no one even calls you wise, only a fool and a dumbass. "And then the minnow realized that he himself had deprived himself of all joys, that his place was not in this artificially dug semi-dark mink, but in a natural environment. But it was too late, he lay and fell asleep. And suddenly the minnow disappeared, no one knows how Most likely, he died and floated to the surface, because no one would eat him - old, and even "wise".

This is the summary. "The Wise Gudgeon" tells us about people who are useless for society, who live in fear all their lives, avoiding struggle in every possible way, presumptuously considering themselves enlightened at the same time. Saltykov-Shchedrin once again cruelly ridicules the miserable life and way of thinking of such people, urging them not to hide in a hole, but to boldly fight for a place in the sun for themselves and their descendants. Not only respect, but even pity or sympathy in the reader is not caused by the wise gudgeon, the brief content of whose existence can be expressed in two words: "lived and trembled."

A smart minnow decides that if he lives in a dark hole and trembles quietly, then he will not be touched. Dying alone, he realizes that there was neither love nor friendship in his life, and everyone around him considers him a fool.

The spelling "piskar" is used in the original and is retained in the title and quotations as a tribute to tradition. However, the modern norm is "minnow", this variant is used elsewhere.

There lived a gudgeon. His smart parents managed to live to a ripe old age. The old father told how one day he was caught with nets along with many other fish and they wanted to throw him into boiling water, but he turned out to be too small for the fish soup, and he was released into the river. Then he suffered fear.

“Look, son,” said the old scribbler, dying, “if you want to live life, then look at both!”

The minnow-son looked around and saw that he was the smallest in this river: any fish can swallow him, and the crayfish can be cut with a claw. He will not even be able to repulse his minnow brothers - they will attack in a crowd and easily take away food.

Minnow was intelligent, enlightened and "moderately liberal". He well remembered his father's teachings and decided "to live in such a way that no one notices."

The first thing he came up with was to make a hole where no one else could climb. For a whole year, he furtively gouged it with his nose, hiding in the silt and grass. The minnow decided that he would swim out of it either at night, when everyone was sleeping, or in the afternoon, when the rest of the fish were already full, and during the day he would sit and shiver. Until noon, the fish ate all the midges, there was almost nothing left for the gudgeon and he lived from hand to mouth, but “it’s better not to eat, not to drink, than to lose life with a full stomach.”

One day he woke up and saw that he was on the lookout for cancer. For half a day, the gudgeon's cancer waited, and he was trembling in the mink. On another occasion, a pike guarded him at the hole all day, but he also escaped from the pike. Towards the end of his life, the pikes began to praise him for living so quietly, hoping that he would become proud and lean out of the hole, but the wise gudgeon did not succumb to flattery and each time, trembling, won.

He lived like this for over a hundred years.

He has no friends, no relatives; neither he to anyone, nor anyone to him. He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls - he only trembles and thinks for one thought: “Thank God! seems to be alive!

Before his death, lying in his hole, he suddenly thought: if all minnows lived like him, then "the whole screech family would have been transferred long ago." Indeed, in order to continue the family, a family is needed, and the members of this family must be healthy, vigorous and well-fed, live in their native element, and not in a dark hole, be friends and learn good qualities from each other. And minnows, trembling in their burrows, are useless for society: "they take up space for nothing and eat food."

The minnow clearly realized all this, he wanted to get out of the hole and proudly swim along the entire river, but before he had time to think about it, he got scared and continued to die: “lived - trembled, and died - trembled.”

His whole life flashed before the minnow, and he realized that there were no joys in it, he did not help anyone, did not console, did not protect, did not give good advice, no one knows about him and will not remember him after death. And now he is dying in a dark, cold hole, and fish swim by and not one will come to ask how this wise gudgeon managed to live so long. Yes, and they call him not wise, but a dunce and a fool.

Here he began to gradually forget himself, and he dreamed that he won the lottery, grew significantly and "swallows the pike himself." In the dream, his nose popped out of the hole and the gudgeon disappeared. What happened to him is unknown, maybe the pike ate it, or maybe he dragged the cancer, but most likely he just died and surfaced. What kind of pike wants to eat an old and sick minnow, “and besides, a wise one”?

The Wise Minnow The Tale of Saltykov-Shchedrin read

Once upon a time there was a piskar. Both his father and mother were smart; Little by little, the Arid eyelids lived in the river and didn’t get into the ear or the pike in the haylo. And ordered the same for my son. “Look, son,” said the old scribbler, dying, “if you want to live life, then look at both!”

And the young scribbler had a mind. He began to scatter with this mind and sees: no matter where he turns, he is cursed everywhere. All around, in the water, all the big fish swim, and he is the smallest of all; any fish can swallow him, but he cannot swallow anyone. Yes, and does not understand: why swallow? A cancer can cut it in half with a claw, a water flea can bite into a ridge and torture to death. Even his brother scribbler - and he, as soon as he sees that he has caught a mosquito, will rush to take it away with a whole herd. They will take it away and start fighting with each other, only they will ruffle a mosquito for free.

And the man? What kind of wicked creature is this! no matter what tricks he invented, so that he, the scribbler, would be destroyed by a vain death! And the seine, and the net, and the lead, and the norota, and, finally ... I will fish! It seems that it can be more stupid than oud? - A thread, a hook on a thread, a worm or a fly on the hook ... Yes, and how are they worn? .. in the most, one might say, unnatural position! And meanwhile, it is precisely on the lure of all that the piskar is caught!

The old father warned him more than once about oud. “Most of all, beware of the oud!” he said, “because even though it is the most stupid projectile, but with us scribblers, what is more stupid is more true. They will throw a fly at us, as if they want to lure us; is death!"

The old man also told how one day he missed a little in the ear. At that time they were caught by a whole artel, they stretched a net over the entire width of the river, and so they dragged it about two miles along the bottom. Passion, how many fish then caught! And pikes, and perches, and chubs, and roaches, and loaches - even couch potato breams were raised from the mud from the bottom! And the scribblers lost count. And what fears he, the old scribbler, had endured while they dragged him along the river - it is neither in a fairy tale to say, nor to describe with a pen. He feels that he is being taken, but he does not know where. He sees that he has a pike on one side, and a perch on the other; he thinks: just about, now, either one or the other will eat him, but they don’t touch him ... "At that time, there was no time for food, brother, it was!" Everyone has one thing in mind: death has come! and how and why she came - no one understands. Finally, they began to lower the wings of the seine, dragged it ashore and began to bring down the fish from the bobbin into the grass. It was then that he learned what an ear is. Something red flutters in the sand; gray clouds run up from him; and the heat is such that he immediately succumbed. Even without water, it's nauseating, and then they give in ... He hears - "bonfire", they say. And on the "bonfire" on this black something is laid, and in it the water, as if in a lake, during a storm, walks with a shaker. This is a "cauldron", they say. And in the end they began to say: put the fish into the "cauldron" - there will be "ear"! And they started throwing our brother there. A fisherman will throw a fish - it will first plunge, then, like a madman, jump out, then plunge again - and calm down. "Uhi" means you tasted it. They felled and felled at first indiscriminately, and then one old man looked at him and said: "What use is he, from the baby, for the fish soup! Let him grow in the river!" He took him under the gills, and let him into free water. And he, do not be stupid, in all the shoulder blades - home! He came running, and his scribbler looked out of the hole neither alive nor dead ...

And what! no matter how much the old man explained at that time what an ear is and what it consists of, however, even if you raise it in the river, rarely does anyone have a sound idea about the ear!

But he, the scribbler-son, perfectly remembered the teachings of the scribbler-father, and he wound it around his mustache. He was an enlightened scribbler, moderately liberal, and he very firmly understood that living life is not like licking a whorl. “You have to live in such a way that no one notices,” he said to himself, “otherwise you will just disappear!” - and began to settle down. First of all, he invented such a hole for himself, so that he could climb into it, but no one else could get into it! He pecked this hole with his nose for a whole year, and how much fear he took at that time, spending the night either in silt, or under water burdock, or in sedge. Finally, however, hollowed out for glory. Clean, tidy - just one fit just right. The second thing, about his life, he decided this: at night, when people, animals, birds and fish are sleeping, he will exercise, and during the day he will sit in a hole and tremble. But since he still needs to drink and eat, and he does not receive a salary and does not keep servants, he will run out of the hole around noon, when all the fish are already full, and, God willing, maybe a booger or two and hunt. And if he doesn’t provide, the hungry one will lie down in a hole, and will tremble again. For it is better not to eat, not to drink, than to lose life with a full stomach.

And so he did. At night he did exercise, bathed in the moonlight, and during the day he climbed into a hole and trembled. Only at noon will he run out to grab something - but what can you do at noon! At this time, the mosquito hides under the leaf from the heat, and the insect buries itself under the bark. Swallows water - and the Sabbath!

He lies all day long in a hole, he doesn’t sleep at night, he doesn’t eat a piece, and he still thinks: “It seems that I’m alive? Oh, will there be something tomorrow?”

He will doze off, a sinful thing, and in a dream he dreams that he has a winning ticket and he won two hundred thousand on it. Beside himself with delight, he will roll over to the other side - lo and behold, he has a whole half of his snout sticking out of the hole ... What if at that time there was a little pup nearby! after all, he would have pulled him out of the hole!

One day he woke up and sees: right in front of his hole is a cancer. He stands motionless, as if bewitched, staring at him with bone eyes. Only the whiskers move with the flow of water. That's when he got scared! And for half a day, until it got completely dark, this cancer was waiting for him, and in the meantime he was trembling, trembling all the time.

Another time, he had just managed to return to the hole in front of the dawn, he had just yawned sweetly, in anticipation of sleep, - he was looking, out of nowhere, at the very hole, a pike was standing and clapping his teeth. And she, too, guarded him all day, as if she were fed up with the sight of him alone. And he blew a pike: he did not come out of the bark, and the Sabbath.

And not once, not twice, this happened to him, but almost every day. And every day he, trembling, won victories and overcomings, every day he exclaimed: "Glory to you, Lord! alive!"

But this is not enough: he did not marry and had no children, although his father had a large family. He reasoned like this: “Father could have lived jokingly! At that time, the pikes were kinder, and the perches didn’t covet us, small fry. And although once he got into the ear, there was an old man who rescued him! now, as the fish have hatched in the rivers, and the piskars have hit in honor. So it’s not up to the family here, but how if only to live oneself!

And the wise scribbler of this kind lived for more than a hundred years. Everyone trembled, everyone trembled. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he to anyone, nor anyone to him. He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls - he only trembles and thinks for one thought: “Thank God! It seems he is alive!”

Even the pikes, in the end, and they began to praise him: "Now, if everyone lived like that, then it would be quiet in the river!" Yes, but they said it on purpose; they thought that he would introduce himself for praise - here, they say, I am! here it and clap! But he did not succumb to this thing either, and once again defeated the intrigues of his enemies with his wisdom.

How many years have passed after a hundred years is unknown, only the wise scribbler began to die. He lies in a hole and thinks: "Thank God, I'm dying my own death, just like my mother and father died." And then he remembered the pike words: "Now, if everyone lived like this wise scribbler lives ..." Well, really, what would happen then?

He began to scatter the mind, which he had a ward, and suddenly, as if someone whispered to him: "After all, that way, perhaps, the whole piskary family would have died long ago!"

Because, in order to continue the scribble family, first of all, a family is needed, but he does not have one. But this is not enough: in order for the Piskar family to strengthen and prosper, for its members to be healthy and vigorous, it is necessary that they be brought up in their native element, and not in a hole where he was almost blind from eternal twilight. It is necessary that the scribblers receive sufficient food, that they do not alienate themselves from the public, that they share bread and salt with each other and borrow virtues and other excellent qualities from each other. For only such a life can perfect the minnow breed and will not allow it to be crushed and degenerate into a smelt.

Those who think that only those scribblers can be considered worthy citizens who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, believe incorrectly. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless scribblers. No one is warm or cold from them, no honor, no dishonor, no glory, no dishonor ... they live, they take up space for nothing and eat food.

All this presented itself so distinctly and clearly that suddenly a passionate desire came to him: "I'll get out of the hole and swim like a goldeneye across the river!" But as soon as he thought about it, he was frightened again. And he began, trembling, to die. Lived - trembled, and died - trembled.

His whole life flashed before him in an instant. What were his joys? who did he comfort? who gave good advice? to whom did he say a kind word? who sheltered, warmed, protected? who heard about it? who remembers its existence?

And he had to answer all these questions: "No one, no one."

He lived and trembled - that's all. Even now: death is on his nose, and he is trembling, he himself does not know why. It is dark and cramped in his hole, there is nowhere to turn around, neither a ray of sunlight will look into it, nor does it smell of warmth. And he lies in this damp darkness, blind, exhausted, of no use to anyone, lies and waits: when will starvation finally free him from a useless existence?

He hears how other fish darting past his hole - perhaps, like him, piskari - and not one of them will take an interest in him. Not a single thought will come to mind: "Let me ask the wise scribbler, in what manner did he manage to live for more than a hundred years, and neither the pike swallowed him, nor the cancer of the claws did not break, nor did the fisherman catch him on the hook?" They swim past, or maybe they don’t know that in this hole the wise scribbler completes his life process!

And what is most offensive of all: not even to hear anyone call him wise. They just say: “Have you heard about the dumbass who doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t see anyone, doesn’t take bread and salt with anyone, but only saves his hateful life?” And many even simply call him a fool and a shame and wonder how the water tolerates such idols.

He scattered in this way with his mind and dozed. That is, not that he was dozing, but he began to forget. Death whispers rang out in his ears, languor spread throughout his body. And then he dreamed of the former seductive dream. He allegedly won two hundred thousand, grew by as much as half an arshin and swallows the pike himself.

And while he was dreaming about it, his snout, little by little and gently, completely poked out of the hole.

And suddenly he disappeared. What happened here - whether the pike swallowed him, whether the crayfish was killed by claws, or whether he himself died by his own death and surfaced - there were no witnesses to this case. Most likely, he died himself, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow an ailing, dying scribbler, and besides, also a "wise one"?

Dear parents, it is very useful to read the fairy tale "The Wise Minnow" by Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. to children before going to bed, so that a good ending to the fairy tale pleases and calms them and they fall asleep. With the virtuosity of a genius, portraits of heroes are depicted, their appearance, rich inner world, they "breathe life" into creation and the events taking place in it. It is sweet and joyful to plunge into a world in which love, nobility, morality and selflessness always prevail, with which the reader is edified. Of course, the idea of ​​the superiority of good over evil is not new, of course, many books have been written about it, but every time it is still pleasant to be convinced of this. Reading such creations in the evening, the pictures of what is happening become more vivid and rich, filled with a new range of colors and sounds. A small amount of details of the surrounding world makes the depicted world more saturated and believable. Here, harmony is felt in everything, even negative characters, they seem to be an integral part of beingness, although, of course, they go beyond the boundaries of what is acceptable. The tale "The Wise Gudgeon" by Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. should be read for free online thoughtfully, explaining to young readers or listeners the details and words that are incomprehensible to them and new to them.

Once upon a time there was a gudgeon. Both his father and mother were smart; Little by little, but slowly, the Arid eyelids (for many years. - Ed.) Lived in the river and didn’t get into the ear or the pike in the haylo. And ordered the same for my son. “Look, son,” said the old minnow, dying, “if you want to live life, then look at both!”

And the young minnow had a mind chamber. He began to scatter with this mind and sees: no matter where he turns, he is cursed everywhere. All around, in the water, all the big fish swim, and he is the smallest of all; any fish can swallow him, but he cannot swallow anyone. Yes, and does not understand: why swallow? Cancer can cut it in half with a claw, a water flea can bite into the spine and torture to death. Even his brother minnow - and he, as soon as he sees that he has caught a mosquito, will rush to take it away with a whole herd. They will take it away and start fighting with each other, only they will ruffle a mosquito for nothing.

And the man? What kind of wicked creature is this! no matter what tricks he invented, so that he, the gudgeon, would be destroyed by a vain death! And seine, and nets, and administer, and norota, and, finally ... I will fish! It seems that it can be more stupid than oud? - A thread, a hook on a thread, a worm or a fly on the hook ... Yes, and how are they worn? .. in the most, one might say, unnatural position! And meanwhile, it is precisely on the hook of all that the gudgeon is caught!

The old father warned him more than once about oud. “Most of all, beware of the oud! - he said, - because even though it is the most stupid projectile, but with us minnows, what is more stupid is more true. They will throw us a fly, as if they want to take a nap on us; you cling to it - but death is in the fly!

The old man also told how one day he missed a little in the ear. At that time they were caught by a whole artel, they stretched a net over the entire width of the river, and so they dragged it about two miles along the bottom. Passion, how many fish then caught! And pikes, and perches, and chubs, and roaches, and loaches - even couch potato breams were raised from the mud from the bottom! And the minnows lost count. And what fears he, the old gudgeon, had suffered while being dragged along the river, is neither in a fairy tale to say, nor to describe with a pen. He feels that he is being taken, but where he does not know. He sees that he has a pike on one side, and a perch on the other; he thinks: just about, now, either one or the other will eat him, but they don’t touch him ... “At that time, there was no time for food, brother, it was!” Everyone has one thing in mind: death has come! but how and why she came - no one understands. It was then that he learned what an ear is. Something red flutters in the sand; gray clouds run up from him; and the heat is such that he immediately succumbed. Even without water, it's sickening, but here they still give in ... He hears - "bonfire", they say. And on the "bonfire" on this black something is laid, and in it the water, as if in a lake, during a storm, walks with a shaker. This is a "cauldron", they say. And in the end they began to say: put the fish into the “cauldron” - there will be an “ear”! And they started throwing our brother there. A fisherman will throw a fish - at first it will plunge, then, like a madman, it will jump out, then it will plunge again - and subside. "Uhi" means you've tasted it. They felled and felled at first indiscriminately, and then one old man looked at him and said: “What use is he, from the baby, for the fish soup! let it grow in the river!” He took him under the gills, and let him into free water. And he, do not be stupid, in all the shoulder blades - home! He ran, and his gudgeon peeps out of the hole neither alive nor dead ...

And what! no matter how much the old man explained at that time what an ear is and what it consists of, however, even if you raise it in the river, rarely does anyone have a sound idea about the ear!

But he, the minnow-son, perfectly remembered the teachings of the minnow-father, and he wound it around his mustache. He was an enlightened minnow, moderately liberal, and he very firmly understood that living life is not like licking a whorl. “You have to live in such a way that no one notices,” he said to himself, “otherwise you will just disappear!” - and began to settle down. First of all, he invented such a hole for himself, so that he could climb into it, but no one else could get in! He pecked this hole with his nose for a whole year, and how much fear he took at that time, spending the night either in silt, or under water burdock, or in sedge. Finally, however, hollowed out for glory. Clean, tidy - just one fit just right. The second thing, about his life, he decided this: at night, when people, animals, birds and fish are sleeping, he will exercise, and during the day he will sit in a hole and tremble. But since he still needs to drink and eat, and he does not receive a salary and does not keep servants, he will run out of the hole around noon, when all the fish are already full, and, God willing, maybe a booger or two and hunt. And if he doesn’t provide, the hungry one will lie down in a hole and will tremble again. For it is better not to eat, not to drink, than to lose life with a full stomach.

And so he did. At night he did exercise, bathed in the moonlight, and during the day he climbed into a hole and trembled. Only at noon will he run out to grab something - but what can you do at noon! At this time, the mosquito hides under the leaf from the heat, and the insect buries itself under the bark. Swallows water - and the coven!

He lies day and day in a hole, does not sleep at night, does not eat a piece, and still thinks: “It seems that I am alive? ah, what will happen tomorrow?

He will doze off, a sinful thing, and in a dream he dreams that he has a winning ticket and he won two hundred thousand on it. Beside himself with delight, he will roll over on the other side - lo and behold, he has a whole half of his snout sticking out of the hole ... What if at that time there was a little pup nearby! after all, he would have pulled him out of the hole!

One day he woke up and sees: right in front of his hole is a cancer. He stands motionless, as if bewitched, staring at him with bone eyes. Only the whiskers move with the flow of water. That's when he got scared! And for half a day, until it got completely dark, this cancer was waiting for him, and in the meantime he was trembling, trembling all the time.

Another time, just before dawn he had time to return to the hole, he just yawned sweetly, in anticipation of sleep, - he looks out of nowhere, at the very hole, the pike is standing and clapping his teeth. And she, too, guarded him all day, as if she were fed up with the sight of him alone. And he blew a pike: he did not come out of the hole, and the coven.

And not once, not twice, this happened to him, but almost every day. And every day he, trembling, won victories and overcomings, every day he exclaimed: “Glory to you, Lord! alive!"

But this is not enough: he did not marry and had no children, although his father had a large family. He reasoned like this:

“Father jokingly could live! At that time, the pikes were kinder, and perches did not covet us, small fry. And although once he was in the ear, and then there was an old man who rescued him! And now, as the fish have hatched in the rivers, and the minnows have hit in honor. So it’s not up to the family here, but how to live on your own!”

And the wise gudgeon of this kind lived for more than a hundred years. Everyone trembled, everyone trembled. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he to anyone, nor anyone to him. He doesn’t play cards, he doesn’t drink wine, he doesn’t smoke tobacco, he doesn’t chase red girls - he only trembles and thinks for one thought: “Thank God! seems to be alive!

Even the pikes, in the end, and they began to praise him: “Now, if everyone lived like that, then it would be quiet in the river!” Yes, but they said it on purpose; they thought that he would introduce himself for praise - so, they say, I’m here and bang him! But he did not succumb to this thing either, and once again defeated the intrigues of his enemies with his wisdom.

How many years have passed after a hundred years is unknown, only the wise gudgeon began to die. He lies in a hole and thinks: “Thank God, I am dying of my own death, just like my mother and father died.” And then he remembered the pike words: “Now, if everyone lived like this wise minnow lives ...” Come on, really, what would happen then?

He began to scatter the mind, which he had a ward, and suddenly, as if someone whispered to him: “After all, that way, perhaps, the entire minnow family would have been transferred long ago!”

Because in order to continue the minnow family, first of all, a family is needed, but he does not have one. But this is not enough: in order for the minnow family to strengthen and prosper, for its members to be healthy and vigorous, it is necessary that they be brought up in their native element, and not in a hole where he was almost blind from eternal twilight. It is necessary that minnows receive sufficient food, that they do not alienate themselves from the public, that they bring bread and salt with each other and borrow virtues and other excellent qualities from each other. For only such a life can perfect the minnow breed and will not allow it to be crushed and degenerate into a smelt.

Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens, who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, believe incorrectly. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows. No one is warm or cold from them, no honor, no dishonor, no glory, no dishonor ... they live, they take up space for nothing and eat food.

All this presented itself so distinctly and clearly that suddenly a passionate desire came to him: “I’ll get out of the hole and swim like a goldeneye across the river!” But as soon as he thought about it, he was frightened again. And he began, trembling, to die. Lived - trembled, and died - trembled.

His whole life flashed before him in an instant. What were his joys? who did he comfort? who gave good advice? to whom did he say a kind word? who sheltered, warmed, protected? who heard about it? who remembers its existence?

And he had to answer all these questions: "No one, no one."

He lived and trembled, that was all. Even now: death is on his nose, and he is trembling, he himself does not know why. In his hole it is dark, cramped, there is nowhere to turn around; not a ray of sunshine will look there, nor will it smell of warmth. And he lies in this damp darkness, blind, exhausted, of no use to anyone, lies and waits: when will starvation finally free him from a useless existence?

He hears how other fish darting past his hole - perhaps, like him, minnows - and not one of them will take an interest in him. Not a single thought will come: come on, I’ll ask the wise minnow, in what manner did he manage to live for more than a hundred years, and neither the pike swallowed him, nor the cancer of the claws did not break, nor did the fisherman catch him on the hook? They swim past, or maybe they don’t know that in this hole the wise gudgeon completes his life process!

And what is most offensive of all: not even to hear anyone call him wise. They just say: “Have you heard about the dumbass who doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t see anyone, doesn’t take bread and salt with anyone, but only saves his hateful life?” And many even simply call him a fool and a shame and wonder how the water tolerates such idols.

He scattered in this way with his mind and dozed. That is, not that he was dozing, but he began to forget. Death whispers rang out in his ears, languor spread throughout his body. And then he dreamed of the former seductive dream. He allegedly won two hundred thousand, grew by as much as half an arshin and swallows the pike himself.

Once upon a time there was a piskar. Both his father and mother were smart; Little by little, the Arid eyelids lived in the river and didn’t get into the ear or the pike in the haylo. And ordered the same for my son. “Look, son,” said the old scribbler, dying, “if you want to live life, then look at both!”
And the young scribbler had a mind. He began to scatter with this mind and sees: no matter where he turns, he is cursed everywhere. All around, in the water, all the big fish swim, and he is the smallest of all; any fish can swallow him, but he cannot swallow anyone. Yes, and does not understand: why swallow? A cancer can cut it in half with a claw, a water flea can bite into a ridge and torture to death. Even his brother scribbler - and he, as soon as he sees that he has caught a mosquito, will rush to take it away with a whole herd. They will take it away and start fighting with each other, only they will ruffle a mosquito for nothing.
And the man? What kind of wicked creature is this! no matter what tricks he invented, so that he, the scribbler, would be destroyed by a vain death! And the seine, and the net, and the lead, and the norota, and, finally ... I will fish! It seems that it can be more stupid than oud? - A thread, a hook on a thread, a worm or a fly on the hook ... Yes, and how are they worn? .. in the most, one might say, unnatural position! And meanwhile, it is precisely on the lure of all that the piskar is caught!
The old father warned him more than once about oud. “Most of all, beware of the oud!” he said, “because even though it is the most stupid projectile, but with us scribblers, what is more stupid is more true. They will throw a fly at us, as if they want to lure us; is death!"
The old man also told how one day he missed a little in the ear. At that time they were caught by a whole artel, they stretched a net over the entire width of the river, and so they dragged it about two miles along the bottom. Passion, how many fish then caught! And pikes, and perches, and chubs, and roaches, and loaches - even couch potato breams were raised from the mud from the bottom! And the scribblers lost count. And what fears he, the old scribbler, had endured while they dragged him along the river - it is neither in a fairy tale to say, nor to describe with a pen. He feels that he is being taken, but he does not know where. He sees that he has a pike on one side, and a perch on the other; he thinks: just about, now, either one or the other will eat him, but they don’t touch him ... "At that time, there was no time for food, brother, it was!" Everyone has one thing in mind: death has come! and how and why she came - no one understands. Finally, they began to lower the wings of the seine, dragged it ashore and began to bring down the fish from the bobbin into the grass. It was then that he learned what an ear is. Something red flutters in the sand; gray clouds run up from him; and the heat is such that he immediately succumbed. Even without water, it's nauseating, and then they give in ... He hears - "bonfire", they say. And on the "bonfire" on this black something is laid, and in it the water, as if in a lake, during a storm, walks with a shaker. This is a "cauldron", they say. And in the end they began to say: put the fish into the "cauldron" - there will be "ear"! And they started throwing our brother there. A fisherman will throw a fish - it will first plunge, then, like a madman, jump out, then plunge again - and calm down. "Uhi" means you tasted it. They felled and felled at first indiscriminately, and then one old man looked at him and said: "What use is he, from the baby, for the fish soup! Let him grow in the river!" He took him under the gills, and let him into free water. And he, do not be stupid, in all the shoulder blades - home! He came running, and his scribbler looked out of the hole neither alive nor dead ...
And what! no matter how much the old man explained at that time what an ear is and what it consists of, however, even if you raise it in the river, rarely does anyone have a sound idea about the ear!
But he, the scribbler-son, perfectly remembered the teachings of the scribbler-father, and he wound it around his mustache. He was an enlightened scribbler, moderately liberal, and he very firmly understood that living life is not like licking a whorl. “You have to live in such a way that no one notices,” he said to himself, “otherwise you will just disappear!” - and began to settle down. First of all, he invented such a hole for himself, so that he could climb into it, but no one else could get into it! He pecked this hole with his nose for a whole year, and how much fear he took at that time, spending the night either in silt, or under water burdock, or in sedge. Finally, however, hollowed out for glory. Clean, tidy - just one fit just right. The second thing, about his life, he decided this: at night, when people, animals, birds and fish are sleeping, he will exercise, and during the day he will sit in a hole and tremble. But since he still needs to drink and eat, and he does not receive a salary and does not keep servants, he will run out of the hole around noon, when all the fish are already full, and, God willing, maybe a booger or two and hunt. And if he doesn’t provide, the hungry one will lie down in a hole, and will tremble again. For it is better not to eat, not to drink, than to lose life with a full stomach.
And so he did. At night he did exercise, bathed in the moonlight, and during the day he climbed into a hole and trembled. Only at noon will he run out to grab something - but what can you do at noon! At this time, the mosquito hides under the leaf from the heat, and the insect buries itself under the bark. Swallows water - and the Sabbath!
He lies all day long in a hole, he doesn’t sleep at night, he doesn’t eat a piece, and he still thinks: “It seems that I’m alive? Oh, will there be something tomorrow?”
He will doze off, a sinful thing, and in a dream he dreams that he has a winning ticket and he won two hundred thousand on it. Beside himself with delight, he will roll over to the other side - lo and behold, he has a whole half of his snout sticking out of the hole ... What if at that time there was a little pup nearby! after all, he would have pulled him out of the hole!
One day he woke up and sees: right in front of his hole is a cancer. He stands motionless, as if bewitched, staring at him with bone eyes. Only the whiskers move with the flow of water. That's when he got scared! And for half a day, until it got completely dark, this cancer was waiting for him, and in the meantime he was trembling, trembling all the time.
Another time, he had just managed to return to the hole in front of the dawn, he had just yawned sweetly, in anticipation of sleep, - he was looking, out of nowhere, at the very hole, a pike was standing and clapping his teeth. And she, too, guarded him all day, as if she were fed up with the sight of him alone. And he blew a pike: he did not come out of the bark, and the Sabbath.
And not once, not twice, this happened to him, but almost every day. And every day he, trembling, won victories and overcomings, every day he exclaimed: "Glory to you, Lord! alive!"
But this is not enough: he did not marry and had no children, although his father had a large family. He reasoned like this: “Father could have lived jokingly! At that time, the pikes were kinder, and the perches didn’t covet us, small fry. And although once he got into the ear, there was an old man who rescued him! now, as the fish has hatched in the rivers, and the piskaries have hit in honor of. tales.!"
And the wise scribbler of this kind lived for more than a hundred years. Everyone trembled, everyone trembled. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he to anyone, nor anyone to him. He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls - he only trembles and thinks for one thought: “Thank God! It seems he is alive!”
Even the pikes, in the end, and they began to praise him: "Now, if everyone lived like that, then it would be quiet in the river!" Yes, but they said it on purpose; they thought that he would introduce himself for praise - here, they say, I am! here it and clap! But he did not succumb to this thing either, and once again defeated the intrigues of his enemies with his wisdom.
How many years have passed after a hundred years is unknown, only the wise scribbler began to die. He lies in a hole and thinks: "Thank God, I'm dying my own death, just like my mother and father died." And then he remembered the pike words: "Now, if everyone lived like this wise scribbler lives ..." Well, really, what would happen then?
He began to scatter the mind, which he had a ward, and suddenly, as if someone whispered to him: "After all, that way, perhaps, the whole piskary family would have died long ago!"
Because, in order to continue the scribble family, first of all, a family is needed, but he does not have one. But this is not enough: in order for the Piskar family to strengthen and prosper, for its members to be healthy and vigorous, it is necessary that they be brought up in their native element, and not in a hole where he was almost blind from eternal twilight. It is necessary that the scribblers receive sufficient food, that they do not alienate themselves from the public, that they share bread and salt with each other and borrow virtues and other excellent qualities from each other. For only such a life can perfect the minnow breed and will not allow it to be crushed and degenerate into a smelt.
Those who think that only those scribblers can be considered worthy citizens who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, believe incorrectly. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless scribblers. No one is warm or cold from them, no honor, no dishonor, no glory, no dishonor ... they live, they take up space for nothing and eat food.
All this presented itself so distinctly and clearly that suddenly a passionate desire came to him: "I'll get out of the hole and swim like a goldeneye across the river!" But as soon as he thought about it, he was frightened again. And he began, trembling, to die. Lived - trembled, and died - trembled.
His whole life flashed before him in an instant. What were his joys? who did he comfort? who gave good advice? to whom did he say a kind word? who sheltered, warmed, protected? who heard about it? who remembers its existence?
And he had to answer all these questions: "No one, no one."
He lived and trembled - that's all. Even now: death is on his nose, and he is trembling, he himself does not know why. It is dark and cramped in his hole, there is nowhere to turn around, neither a ray of sunlight will look into it, nor does it smell of warmth. And he lies in this damp darkness, blind, exhausted, of no use to anyone, lies and waits: when will starvation finally free him from a useless existence?
He hears how other fish darting past his hole - perhaps, like him, piskari - and not one of them will take an interest in him. Not a single thought will come to mind: "Let me ask the wise scribbler, in what manner did he manage to live for more than a hundred years, and neither the pike swallowed him, nor the cancer of the claws did not break, nor did the fisherman catch him on the hook?" They swim past, or maybe they don’t know that in this hole the wise scribbler completes his life process!
And what is most offensive of all: not even to hear anyone call him wise. They just say: “Have you heard about the dumbass who doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t see anyone, doesn’t take bread and salt with anyone, but only saves his hateful life?” And many even simply call him a fool and a shame and wonder how the water tolerates such idols.
He scattered in this way with his mind and dozed. That is, not that he was dozing, but he began to forget. Death whispers rang out in his ears, languor spread throughout his body. And then he dreamed of the former seductive dream. He allegedly won two hundred thousand, grew by as much as half an arshin and swallows the pike himself.
And while he was dreaming about it, his snout, little by little and gently, completely poked out of the hole.
And suddenly he disappeared. What happened here - whether the pike swallowed him, whether the crayfish was killed by claws, or whether he himself died by his own death and surfaced - there were no witnesses to this case. Most likely, he died himself, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow an ailing, dying scribbler, and besides, also a "wise one"?

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