Nekrasov prologue summary. Analysis of the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" by chapter, composition of the work
"Who lives well in Rus'": summary. First and second parts
It should be understood that a summary of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by N. Nekrasov will not give such an idea of the work as reading it in full. The poem was written shortly after serfdom was abolished, and has an acute social character. It consists of four parts. The first has no name: in it, on the road, seven men from different villages meet, the names of which speak about the situation of the peasants in them - Dyryavino, Zaplatovo, Neelovo, etc. They discuss who lives well in Rus'.
The men offer different options: priests, landowners, officials, merchants, ministers, the tsar. Without coming to unanimous opinion, they go looking for who can live well in Rus'. A brief summary will not allow us to reveal all the events and dialogues, but it is worth saying that along the way they meet representatives of different classes - a priest, a soldier, a merchant, peasants, but none of them can say that they live wonderfully. Everyone has their own sorrows. This part also discusses eternal question drunkenness in Rus': one of the men I met argues that people don’t drink because they have a good life. In the second part, which is called “The Last One,” the peasants meet the landowner Utyatin: the old man could not believe that serfdom had been abolished. This deprived him of all privileges. The landowner's relatives ask the local men to behave respectfully as before, take off their hats and bow, promising them land for this after the master's death. However, people remain deceived and receive nothing for their efforts.
"Who lives well in Rus'." "Peasant Woman": summary
In the second part, the peasants go to seek their fortune among female population Rus'. Rumor leads them to Matryona Timofeevna, who tells the men the story of her life, which began in serfdom. She completely disabuses them of the possibility of happiness for a Russian woman: after hearing her story, is it even worth asking about who can live well in Rus'? The summary of Matryona's story is as follows. She was married against her will to a hard-working man who beat his wife.
She also survived the harassment of her master's manager, from whom there was no way to save her. And when her first child was born, disaster struck. The mother-in-law strictly forbade Matryona to take the child with her to mowing, since he interfered with her work, and ordered her to leave her decrepit grandfather under the supervision. The grandfather did not pay enough attention - the child was eaten by pigs. And the grieving mother had to endure not only the loss of her son, but also accusations of complicity. Matryona later gave birth to other children, but she was very sad about her firstborn. After some time, she lost her parents and was left completely alone, without protection. Then the husband was taken into the recruits out of turn, and Matryona remained in her husband’s family, who did not love her, with a bunch of children and the only worker - the rest literally sat on her neck. Once she had to watch how her young son was punished for an insignificant offense - they punished him cruelly and mercilessly. Unable to bear such a life, she went to the governor’s wife to ask for the return of her breadwinner. There she lost consciousness, and when she came to her senses, she learned that she had given birth to a son, whom the governor’s wife baptized. Matryona’s husband was returned, but she never saw happiness in her life, and everyone began to tease her about the governor’s wife.
“Who lives well in Rus'”: summary. Part 4: "A feast for the whole world"
Plot-wise, the fourth part is a continuation of the second: the landowner Utyatin dies, and the men throw a feast where they discuss plans for the lands that were previously promised to them by the owner’s relatives. In this part, Grisha Dobrosklonov appears: a young man at fifteen is deeply confident that he will, without any doubt, sacrifice himself for the sake of his homeland. However, he does not shy away simple labor: he mows and reaps together with the peasants, to which they respond to him with affection and help. Grisha, being a democratic intellectual, ultimately becomes the one who lives well. Dobrolyubov is recognized as its prototype: there is a consonance of surnames, and one disease for both - consumption, which will overtake the hero of the poem before Russia reaches a bright future. In the image of Grisha, Nekrasov sees a man of the future, in whom the intelligentsia and the peasantry will unite, and such people, by joining forces, will lead their country to prosperity. The summary does not make it possible to understand that this is an unfinished work - the author initially planned eight parts, not four. For what reason Nekrasov finished the poem in this way is unknown: he probably felt that he might not have time to finish it, so he brought it to the ending earlier. Despite its incompleteness, the poem became a hymn to the love for the people that Nekrasov was full of. Contemporaries noted that this love became the source of Nekrasov’s poetry, its basis and content. The defining character trait of the poet was his willingness to live for others - loved ones, people, homeland. It was these ideas that he put into the actions and actions of his heroes.
Everyone left the house on business, but during the argument they did not notice how evening came. They had already gone far from their homes, about thirty miles, and decided to rest until the sunshine. They lit a fire and sat down to feast. They argued again, defending their point of view, and ended up in a fight.
Prologue
In what year - calculate
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together:
Seven temporarily obliged,
A tightened province,
Terpigoreva County,
Empty parish,
From adjacent villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
The harvest is also bad,
They came together and argued:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass.
To the fat-bellied merchant! -
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Old man Pakhom pushed
And he said, looking at the ground:
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister.
And Prov said: to the king...
The guy is a bull: get involved
What a whim in the head -
Stake her from there
You can’t knock them out: they resist,
Everyone stands on their own!
Everyone left the house on business, but during the argument they did not notice how evening came. They had already gone far from their homes, about thirty miles, and decided to rest until the sunshine. They lit a fire and sat down to feast. They argued again, defending their point of view, and ended up in a fight. The tired men decided to go to bed, but then Pakhomushka caught a chick warbler and began to daydream: if only he could fly around Rus' on his wings and find out; Who lives “fun and at ease in Rus'?” And every man adds that they don’t need wings, but if they had food, they would go around Rus' with their own feet and find out the truth. A flying warbler asks to let her chick go, and for this she promises a “large ransom”: she will give them a self-assembled tablecloth that will feed them on the way, and she will also give them clothes and shoes.
The peasants sat down by the tablecloth and vowed not to return home until they “found a solution” to their dispute.
Part one
Chapter I
The men are walking along the road, and all around is “inconvenient”, “abandoned land”, everything is flooded with water, no wonder “it snowed every day.” Along the way they meet the same peasants, only in the evening they met a priest. The peasants took off their hats and blocked his way, the priest was afraid, but they told him about their dispute. They ask the priest to answer them “without laughter and without cunning.” Pop says:
“What do you think is happiness?
Peace, wealth, honor?
Isn’t that right, dear friends?”
“Now let's see, brothers,
What’s the peace like?”
From birth, teaching was difficult for Popovich:
Our roads are difficult,
Our parish is large.
Sick, dying,
Born into the world
They don’t choose time:
In reaping and haymaking,
In the dead of autumn night,
In winter, in severe frosts,
And in the spring flood -
Go wherever you are called!
You go unconditionally.
And even if only the bones
Alone broke, -
No! Every time it gets wet,
The soul will hurt.
Don't believe it, Orthodox Christians,
There is a limit to habit:
No heart carrying out
Without any trepidation
Death rattle
Funeral lament
Orphan's sadness!
Then the priest tells how they mock the priest’s tribe, mocking priests and priests. Thus, there is no peace, no honor, no money, the parishes are poor, the landowners live in the cities, and the peasants abandoned by them are in poverty. Not like them, but the priest sometimes gives them money, because... they are dying of hunger. Having told his sad story, the priest drove off, and the peasants scolded Luka, who was shouting out to the priest. Luke stood, kept silent,
I was afraid wouldn't have imposed it
Comrades, stand by.
Chapter II
RURAL FAIR
No wonder the peasants scold spring: there is water all around, there is no greenery, the cattle must be driven out to the field, but there is still no grass. They walk past empty villages, wondering where all the people have gone. The “kid” we meet explains that everyone has gone to the village of Kuzminskoye for the fair. The men also decide to go there to look for someone happy. A trading village is described, quite dirty, with two churches: Old Believer and Orthodox, there is a school and a hotel. A rich fair is noisy nearby. People drink, party, have fun and cry. The Old Believers are angry at the dressed-up peasants, they say that there is “dog blood” in the red calicoes they wear, so there will be hunger! Wanderers
walk around the fair and admire different goods. A crying old man comes across: he drank his money and has nothing to buy his granddaughter’s shoes, but he promised, and the granddaughter is waiting. Pavlusha Veretennikov, the “master,” helped Vavila out and bought shoes for his granddaughter. The old man, out of joy, even forgot to thank his benefactor. There is also a bookshop here that sells all sorts of nonsense. Nekrasov exclaims bitterly:
Eh! eh! will the time come,
When (come, desired one!..)
They will let the peasant understand
What a rose is a portrait of a portrait,
What is the book of the book of roses?
When a man is not Blucher
And not my foolish lord -
Belinsky and Gogol
Will it come from the market?
Oh, people, Russian people!
Orthodox peasants!
Have you ever heard
Are you these names?
Those are great names,
They wore them glorified
People's intercessors!
Here's some portraits of them for you
Hang in your gorenki,
The wanderers went to the booth “...To listen, to look. // Comedy with Petrushka,.. // The resident, the policeman // Not in the eyebrow, but right in the eye!” By evening the wanderers “left the bustling village”
Chapter III
DRUNKEN NIGHT
Everywhere men see returning, sleeping drunks. Fragmentary 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, drunk women in the ditch swearing, whose house is the worst - The road is crowded
What later is uglier:
More and more often they 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 bad
That they drink until they are stupefied...”
But one drunk shouted: “And we work harder... // And we work more sober.”
Peasant food is sweet,
The whole century saw an iron saw
He chews but doesn't eat!
You work alone
And the work is almost over,
Look, there are three shareholders standing:
God, king and lord!
There is no measure for Russian hops.
Have they measured our grief?
Is there a limit to the work?
A man does not measure troubles
Copes with everything
No matter what, come.
A man, working, does not think,
That will strain your strength,
So really over a glass
Think about it what's too much
Will you end up in a ditch?
To regret - regret skillfully,
To the master's measure
Don't kill the peasant!
Not gentle white-handed ones,
And we are great people
At work and at play!
“Write: In the village of Bosovo
Yakim Nagoy lives,
He works himself to death
He drinks until he’s half dead!..”
Yakim lived in St. Petersburg, but decided to compete with the “merchant”, so he ended up in prison. Since then, for thirty years, he has been “roasting on the strip in the sun.” He once bought pictures for his son and hung them on the walls of the house. Yakima had “thirty-five rubles” saved up. There was a fire, he should have saved money, but he began collecting pictures. The rubles have merged into a lump, now they give eleven rubles for them.
The peasants agree with Yakim:
“Drinking means we feel strong!
Great sadness will come,
How can we stop drinking!..
Work wouldn't stop me
Trouble would not prevail
Hops will not overcome us!”
Then a daring Russian song “about Mother Volga”, “about maiden beauty” burst out.
The wandering peasants refreshed themselves at the self-assembled tablecloth, left Roman on guard at the bucket, and they themselves went to look for the happy one.
Chapter IV
HAPPY
In a loud crowd, festive
The wanderers walked
They shouted the cry:
"Hey! Is there a happy one somewhere?
Show up! If it turns out
That you live happily
We have a ready-made bucket:
Drink for free as much as you like -
We'll treat you to greatness!..”
Many people gathered “hunters to take a sip of free wine.”
The sexton who came said that happiness lies in “compassion,” but he was driven away. The “old woman” came and said that she was happy: in the fall, she had grown up to a thousand turnips on a small ridge. They laughed at her, but did not give her vodka. A soldier came and said, that he is happy
“...What's in twenty battles
I was, not killed!
I walked neither full nor hungry,
But he didn’t give in to death!
I was beaten mercilessly with sticks,
But even if you feel it, it’s alive!”
The soldier was given a drink:
You are happy - there is no word!
The “Olonchan stonemason” came to boast of his strength. They brought it to him too. A man came with shortness of breath and advised the Olonchan man not to boast about his strength. He was also strong, but he overstrained himself, lifting fourteen pounds to the second floor. A “yard man” came and boasted that he was the beloved slave of the boyar Peremetevo and was sick with a noble disease - “according to this, I am a nobleman.” “It’s called po-da-groy!” But the men did not bring him a drink. A “yellow-haired Belarusian” came and said that he was happy because he had plenty to eat Rye bread. A man came “with a curled cheekbone.” Three of his comrades were broken by bears, but he is alive. They brought it to him. The beggars came and boasted of the happiness that they were served everywhere.
Our wanderers realized
That they wasted vodka for nothing.
By the way, and a bucket,
End. “Well, it will be yours!
Hey, man's happiness!
Leaky with patches,
Humpbacked with calluses,
Go home!”
They advise men to look for Yermil Girin - that’s who is happy. Yermil kept a mill. They decided to sell it, Ermila bargained, and there was only one rival - the merchant Altynnikov. But Yermil outbid the miller. You just need to pay a third of the price, but Yermil didn’t have any money with him. He Asked for a half-hour delay. The court was surprised that he would make it in half an hour; he had to travel thirty-five miles to his home, but they gave him half an hour. Yermil came to the market square, and that day there was a market. Yermil turned to the people to give him a loan:
“Shut up, listen,
I’ll tell you my word!”
“Long ago the merchant Altynnikov
Went to the mill,
Yes, I didn’t make a mistake either,
I checked in the city five times,..”
Today I arrived “without a penny”, but they appointed a bargaining and they laugh, What
(outwitted:
“Cunning, strong clerks,
And their world is stronger...”
“If you know Ermil,
If you believe Yermil,
So help me out, or something!..”
And a miracle happened -
Throughout the market square
Every peasant has
Like the wind half left
Suddenly it turned upside down!
The clerks were surprised
Altynnikov turned green,
When he's a full thousand
He laid it out on the table for them!..
The following Friday, Yermil “was counting on the people in the same square.” Although he did not write down how much he took from whom, “Yermil did not have to give an extra penny.” There was an extra ruble left, until the evening Yermil looked for the owner, and in the evening he gave it to the blind, because the owner could not be found. Wanderers are interested in how Yermil gained such authority among the people. About twenty years ago he was a clerk, helping peasants without extorting money from them. Then the entire estate chose Ermila as mayor. And Yermil served the people honestly for seven years, and then instead of his brother Mitri, he gave the widow’s son as a soldier. Out of remorse, Yermil wanted to hang himself. They returned the boy to the widow so that Yermil wouldn’t do anything to himself. No matter how much they asked him, he resigned from his position, rented a mill and grinded for everyone without deception. The wanderers want to find Ermila, but the priest said that he is in prison. There was a peasant revolt in the province, nothing helped, they called Ermila. 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 onto the road when they saw the landowner.
Chapter V
LANDLORD
This was the landowner Gavrila Afanasyevich Obolt-Obolduev. He got scared when he saw “seven tall men” in front of the troika, and, grabbing 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,
Landowner, are you living?”
“Having laughed his fill,” the landowner began to say that he was of ancient descent. His family began 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 showed them honor, everything around was the property of the family. It used to be that holidays were held for a month at a time. What luxurious hunts there were in the fall! And he talks poetically about it. Then he remembers that he punished the peasants, but lovingly. But in Christ's resurrection kissed everyone, did not disdain anyone. The peasants heard the funeral bells ringing. And the landowner said:
“They are not calling for the peasant!
Through life according to the landowners
They're calling!.. Oh, life is wide!
Sorry, goodbye forever!
Farewell to landowner Rus'!
Now Rus' is not the same!”
According to the landowner, his class has disappeared, estates are dying, forests are being cut down, the land remains uncultivated. People are drinking.
The literate people shout that they need to work, but the landowners are not used to it:
“I’ll tell you without bragging,
I live almost forever
In the village for forty years,
And from an ear of rye
I can’t tell the difference between barley
And they sing to me: “Work!”
The landowner is crying because his comfortable life is over: “The great chain has broken,
It tore and splintered:
One way for the master,
Others don't care!..”
Part two
PEASANT WOMAN
Prologue
“Not everything is between men
Find the happy one
Let’s feel the women!” -
Our wanderers decided
And they began to question the women.
They said how they cut it:
“We don’t have this kind of thing,
And in the village of Klin:
Kholmogory cow
Not a woman! kinder
And smoother - there is no woman.
You ask Korchagina
Matryona Timofeevna,
She’s also the governor’s wife...”
Wanderers go and admire the bread and flax:
All garden vegetables
Ripe: children are running around
Some with turnips, some with carrots,
Sunflowers are peeled,
And the women are pulling beets,
Such a good beet!
Exactly red boots,
They lie on the strip.
The wanderers came across the estate. The gentlemen live abroad, the clerk is dead, and the servants wander around like restless people, looking to see what they can steal: They caught all the crucian carp in the pond.
The paths are so dirty
What a shame! the girls are stone
Noses are broken!
The fruits and berries have disappeared,
Geese and swans have disappeared
The lackey's got it in his craw!
Wanderers went from the manor's estate to the village. The wanderers sighed lightly:
They are after the whining yard
Seemed beautiful
healthy, singing
A crowd of reapers and reapers...
They met Matryona Timofeevna, for whom they had traveled a long way.
Matrena Timofeevna
dignified woman,
Wide and dense
About thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray streaked hair,
The eyes are large, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark
She's wearing a white shirt,
Yes, the sundress is short,
Yes, a sickle over your shoulder.
“What do you need, fellows?”
The wanderers persuade the peasant woman to talk about her life. Matryona Timofeevna refuses:
“Our ears are already falling apart,
There aren’t enough hands, darlings.”
What are we doing, godfather?
Bring on the sickles! All seven
How will we be tomorrow - By the evening
We will burn all your rye!
Then she agreed:
“I won’t hide anything!”
While Matryona Timofeevna was managing the household, the men sat down near the self-assembled tablecloth.
The stars were already seated
Across the dark blue sky,
The month has become high
When the hostess came
And became our wanderers
“Open your whole soul...”
Chapter I
BEFORE MARRIAGE
I was lucky in the girls:
We had a good
Non-drinking family.
The parents cherished their daughter, but not for long. At the age of five, they began to accustom her to livestock, and from the age of seven she was already following the cow herself, bringing lunch to her father in the field, herding ducklings, going for mushrooms and berries, raking hay... There was enough work. She was a master at singing and dancing. Philip Korchagin, a “Petersburg resident”, a stove maker, wooed.
She grieved, cried bitterly,
And the girl did the job:
At the narrowed sideways
I looked secretly.
Beautifully ruddy, broad and mighty,
Rus hair, soft spoken -
Philip has fallen on his heart!
Matryona Timofeevna sings an old song and remembers her wedding.
Chapter II
SONGS
The wanderers sing along with Matryona Timofeevna.
The family was huge
Grumpy... I scratched
Happy maiden holiday to hell!
Her husband went to work, and she was told to endure her sister-in-law, father-in-law, and mother-in-law. The husband returned and Matryona cheered up.
Philip at the Annunciation
Gone, and to Kazanskaya
I gave birth to a son.
What a handsome son he was! And then the master’s manager tormented him with his advances. Matryona rushed to grandfather Savely.
What to do! Teach!
Of all her husband’s relatives, only grandfather felt sorry for her.
Well, that's it! special speech
It would be a sin to remain silent about my grandfather.
He was lucky too...
Chapter III
SAVELIY, BOGATYR SVYATORUSSKY
Savely, Holy Russian hero.
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years uncut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear
Especially in the forest,
He bent over and went out.
At first she was afraid of him, that if he straightened up, he would hit 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 upper room
Didn't like families...
He didn’t let anyone in, and his family called him “branded, a convict.” To which the grandfather cheerfully replied:
“Branded, but not a slave!”
Grandfather often made fun of his relatives. In the summer he foraged for mushrooms and berries, poultry and small animals in the forest, and in the winter he talked to himself on the stove. One day Matryona Timofeevna asked why he was called a branded convict? “I was a convict,” he answered.
Because he buried the German Vogel, the offender of the peasant, in the ground alive. He said that they lived freely among the dense forests. Only the bears bothered them, but they dealt with the bears. He lifted the bear onto his spear and tore his back. In her youth she was sick, but in her old age she was bent over and could not be straightened. The landowner called them to his city and forced them to pay rent. Under the rods, the peasants agreed to pay something. Every year the master called them that way, beat them mercilessly with rods, but had little to gain. When the old landowner was killed near Varna, his heir sent a German steward to the peasants. The German was quiet at first. If you can’t pay, don’t pay, but work, for example, dig a ditch in a swamp, cut a clearing. The German brought his family and ruined the peasants completely. 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 and escaped; he was returned and beaten mercilessly. He was in hard labor for twenty years and in a settlement for twenty years, where he saved up money. Came back home. When there was money, his relatives loved him, but now they spit in his eyes.
Chapter IV
GIRL
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 down. One little bird was crying,
Yes, I didn’t call the dead
Until white morning!..
Matryona Timofeevna says that she took her little son to work, but her mother-in-law scolded her and ordered him to leave him with his grandfather. While working in the field, she heard groans and saw her grandfather crawling:
Oh, poor young girl!
The daughter-in-law is the last one in the house,
The last slave!
Endure the great storm,
Take the extra beatings
And in the eyes of the foolish
Don't let the baby go!..
The old man fell asleep in the sun,
Fed Demidushka to the pigs
Silly grandfather!..
My mother almost died from grief. Then the judges arrived and began to interrogate the witnesses and Matryona whether she was in a relationship with Savely:
I answered in a whisper:
It's a shame, master, you're kidding!
I am an honest wife to my husband,
And to old Savely
A hundred years... Tea, you know it yourself.
They accused Matryona of colluding with the old man to kill her son, and Matryona only asked that her son’s body not be opened! Drive without reproach
Honest burial
Betray the baby!
Entering the upper room, she saw her son Savely reading prayers at the tomb, and drove him away, calling him a murderer. He loved the baby. Grandfather reassured her by saying that no matter how long a peasant lives, he suffers, but her Demushka is in heaven.
“...It’s easy for him, it’s light for him...”
Chapter V
WOLF
Twenty years have passed since then. The inconsolable mother suffered for a long time. Grandfather went to repentance in a monastery. Time passed, children were born every year, and three years later a new misfortune crept in - her parents died. Grandfather returned all white from repentance, and soon he died.
As ordered, they did it:
Buried next to Dema...
He lived one hundred and seven years.
When her son Fedot turned eight years old, he was sent to help as a shepherd. The shepherd left, and the she-wolf dragged away the sheep. Fedot first took the sheep away from the weakened she-wolf, and then he saw that the sheep was already dead, and threw it back to the she-wolf. He came to the village and told everything himself. They wanted to flog Fedot for this, but his mother did not give it to him. Instead of her young son, she was flogged. Having seen off her son with the herd, Matryona cries, calls out to her dead parents, but she has no intercessors.
Chapter VI
DIFFICULT YEAR
There was hunger. The mother-in-law told the neighbors that it was all her fault, Matryona, because... I wore a clean shirt on Christmas Day.
For my husband, for my protector,
I got off cheap;
And one woman
Not for the same thing
Killed to death with stakes.
Don't joke with the hungry!..
We've barely managed to cope with the lack of bread, and the recruitment has arrived. But Matryona Timofeevna was not very afraid; a recruit had already been taken from the family. She stayed at home because... was pregnant and nursing last days. An upset father-in-law came and said that they were taking Philip as a recruit. Matryona Timofeevna realized that if they took her husband as a soldier, she and her children would disappear. She 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 she can 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 about her misfortune.
I didn't know what did you do
(Yes, apparently gave me some advice
Lady!..) How will I throw myself
At her feet: “Intercede!
By deception not divine
breadwinner and parent
They take it from the kids!”
The peasant woman lost consciousness, and when she woke up, she saw herself in rich chambers, with a “laid child” nearby.
Thanks to the governor
Elena Alexandrovna,
I'm so grateful to her
Like a mother!
She baptized the boy herself
And name: Liodorushka
Chosen for the baby...
Everything was clarified and my husband was returned.
Chapter VIII
Called lucky
Nicknamed the governor's wife
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: - And then, what are you up to
Not the point - between women
Happy searching!
What else do you need?
Shouldn't I tell you?
That we burned twice,
That god is anthrax
Visited us three times?
Horse attempts
We carried; I took a walk
Like a gelding in a harrow!..
I haven't trampled my feet,
Not tied with ropes,
No needles...
What else do you need?
For a mother scolded,
Like a trampled snake,
The blood of the firstborn has passed...
And you came looking for happiness!
It's a shame, well done!
Don't touch women,
What a god! you pass with nothing
To the grave!
One pilgrim pilgrim said:
“The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandoned lost
God himself!”
Part three
LAST
Chapters 1-III
On Peter's Day (29/VI), having passed through the villages, the wanderers came to the Volga. And here there are huge expanses of hayfields, and all the people are mowing.
Along the low bank,
On the Volga the grass is tall,
Fun mowing.
The wanderers could not stand it:
“We haven’t worked for a long time,
Let’s mow!”
Amused, tired,
We sat down to a haystack for breakfast...
Landowners with their retinue, children, and dogs arrived on three boats. Everyone went around the mowing and ordered to sweep away a huge stack of hay, supposedly damp. (The wanderers tried:
Dry senso!)
The wanderers are surprised why the landowner behaves this way, because the order is already new, but he is fooling around in the old way. The peasants explain that the hay is not his,
and “patrimony”.
The wanderers, unrolling the self-assembled tablecloth, talk with the old man Vla-sushka, ask him to explain why the peasants please the landowner, and learn: “Our landowner is special,
Exorbitant wealth
An important rank, a noble family,
I've been weird and foolish all my life...”
And when he learned about the “will,” he was seized with a blow. Now the left half is paralyzed. Having somehow recovered from the blow, the old man believed that the peasants had been returned to the landowners. His heirs deceive him so that he does not deprive them of their rich inheritance in their hearts. The heirs persuaded the peasants to “amuse” the master, but the slave Ipat did not need to be persuaded, he loves the master for his favors and serves not out of fear, but out of conscience. What kind of “mercies” does Ipat remember: “How small I was, our prince
me with my own hand
Harnessed the cart;
I have reached a frisky youth:
The prince came on vacation
And, having taken a walk, redeemed
Me, the latter's slave,
In the winter in the ice hole!..”
And then in a snowstorm he forced Prov, who was riding a horse, to play the violin, and when he fell, the prince ran over him with a sleigh:
“...They pressed their chest”
The heirs agreed with the estate as follows:
“Keep silent, take a bow
Don't contradict the sick man,
We will reward you:
For extra work, for corvée,
For even a swear word -
We will pay you for everything.
The hearty one cannot live long,
Probably two or three months,
The doctor himself announced!
Respect us, listen to us,
We are watering meadows for you
We’ll give it along the Volga;..”
Things almost went wrong. Vlas, being a mayor, did not want to bow to the old man and resigned from his post. A volunteer was immediately found - Klimka Lavin - but he is so thieving and empty man that Vlas was left as bailiff, and Klimka Lavin turns and bows in front of the master.
Every day the landowner drives around the village, picking on the peasants, and they:
“Let's get together - laughter! Everyone has it
Your own tale about the holy fool...”
The master receives orders, 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 in the morning woke up the master, so he ordered the shepherds to “calm down the cows from now on.” 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 got tired of listening to the master’s swearing, he responded. The landowner ordered Agap to be punished in front of everyone. The master could not move from the porch, and Agap in the stable simply yelled:
“Neither give nor take under the rods
Agap shouted, fooled around,
Until I finished the damask:
How they took him out of the stables
He's 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 the stack,
And the master is in a coffin!”
“Get away from the master
The ambassador is coming: we've eaten!
He must be calling the headman,
I’ll go take a look at the gum!”
The landowner asked the mayor whether the haymaking would be finished soon, he replied that in two or three days all the master's hay would be harvested. “And ours will wait!” The landowner spent an hour saying that the peasants would always be landowners: “to be squeezed into a handful!..” The mayor makes loyal speeches that pleased the landowner, for which Klim was offered a glass of “overseas wine.” Then the Last One wanted his sons and daughters-in-law to dance, and ordered the blond lady: “Sing, Lyuba!” The lady sang well. The last one fell asleep to the song, 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 Vakhlatsky
It didn't last long.
With the death of the Last One
The lordly weasel has disappeared:
They didn’t let me get a hangover
Vahlakam Guards!
And for the meadows
Heirs with peasants
They are reaching out to this day.
Vlas we intercede for the peasants,
Lives in Moscow... was in St. Petersburg...
But there’s no point!
Part four
PIR - TO THE WHOLE WORLD
Dedicated
Sergei Petrovich Botkin
Introduction
On the outskirts of the village “There was a feast, a great feast1” His sons, seminarians: Savvushka and Grisha, came with the sexton Tryfon.
...At Gregory's
Thin face pale
And the hair is thin, curly,
With a hint of red
Simple guys, kind.
Mowed, stung, sowed
And drank vodka on holidays
On a par with the peasantry.
The men sit and think:
Own flood meadows
Hand it over to the headman - as a tax.
The men ask Grisha to sing. He sings “happy”.
Chapter I
BITTER TIME - BITTER SONGS
Cheerful
The landowner took a cow from the peasant's yard, the chickens were taken and eaten by the zemstvo court. The boys will grow up a little: “The king will take the boys, // Master -
daughters!”
Then everyone burst into song together
Corvee
A beaten man seeks solace in a pub. A man driving by said that they were beaten for swear words until they achieved silence. Then Vikenty Aleksandrovich, a yard man, 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 and did not know his neighbors, but only his sister. He was cruel to his relatives, not only to the peasants. He married his daughter, and then, after beating her, he and her husband kicked out without anything. The servant Yakov hit his teeth with his heel.
People of servile rank -
Real dogs sometimes:
The heavier the punishment
That's why gentlemen are dearer to them.
Yakov appeared like this from his youth,
Yakov had only joy:
To care for the master, to take care of him, please
Yes, rock my little nephew.
All his life Yakov was with his master, they grew old together. The master's legs refused to walk.
Yakov himself will carry him out and lay him down,
He himself will take the long distance to his sister,
He will help you get to the old lady yourself.
So they lived happily - 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 himself looked for her for himself. He handed over Grisha as a recruit. Yakov was offended and made a fool. “I’m dead drunk...” Those who don’t approach the master, but they can’t please him. Two weeks later, Yakov returned, allegedly feeling sorry for the landowner. Everything went as before. We were getting ready to go to the master’s sister. Yakov turned off-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:
“I found the murderer!
I will dirty my hands with murder,
No, it’s not for you to die!”
Yakov himself hanged himself in front of the master. The master toiled all night, and in the morning a hunter found him. The master returned home, repenting:
“I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!”
Having told a couple more scary stories, the men argued: who is more sinful - the innkeepers, the landowners or the men? We got into a fight. And then Ionushka, who had been silent all evening, said:
And so I will make peace between you!”
Chapter II
Wanderers and pilgrims
There are many beggars in Rus', entire villages went “begging” in the fall, there are many among them rogues who know how to get along with the landowners. But there are also believing pilgrims, whose labors raise money for churches. They remembered the holy fool Fomushka, who lived like a god, and there was also the Old Believer Kropilnikov:
Old man, whose whole life
Either freedom or prison.
And there was also Evfrosinyushka, a townsman widow; she appeared in cholera years. The peasants welcome everyone, and on long winter evenings they listen to the stories of wanderers.
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 Father Pitirtma. There were twelve robbers, their chieftain was Kudeyar. Many robbers robbed and killed people
Suddenly the fierce robber
God awakened my conscience.
The villain's conscience overcame him,
He disbanded his gang,
He distributed property to the church,
I buried the knife under the willow tree.
He went on pilgrimage, but did not atone for his sins; he lived in the forest under an oak tree. God's messenger showed him the way to salvation - with the knife that killed people,
he must cut the oak:
“...A tree has just collapsed -
The chains of sin will fall.”
Pan Glukhovsky drove by and mocked the old man, saying:
“You have to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves do I destroy?
I torment, torture and hang,
I wish I could see how I’m sleeping!”
The enraged hermit stuck his knife into Glukhovsky’s heart, fell
Pan, and the tree collapsed.
The tree collapsed rolled down
The monk is off the burden of sins!..
Let us pray to the Lord God:
Have mercy on us, dark slaves!
Chapter III
BOTH OLD AND NEW
Peasant sin
There was an “ammiral-widower”; the Empress rewarded him with eight thousand souls for his faithful service. Dying, the “ammiral” handed over to the elder Gleb a casket containing freedom for all eight thousand souls. But the heir seduced the headman, giving him his freedom. The will was burned. And until recently there were eight thousand
shower for serfs.
“So this is the peasant’s sin!
Truly a terrible sin!”
The poor have fallen again
To the bottom of a bottomless abyss,
They became quiet, they became humble,
They lay down on their stomachs;
They were lying down thought
And suddenly they started singing. Slowly,
Like a cloud is approaching,
The words flowed viscously.
Hungry
About a man's eternal hunger, work and lack of sleep. The peasants are convinced that everything is to blame “ serfdom" It multiplies the sins of landowners and the misfortunes of slaves. Grisha said:
“I don’t need any silver,
No gold, but God willing,
So that my fellow countrymen
And every peasant
Life was free and fun
All over holy Rus'!”
They saw the sleepy Yegor Shutov and began to beat him, for which they themselves did not know. The “peace” ordered to beat, so they beat. An old soldier is riding on a cart. Stops and sings.
Soldatskaya
The light is sickening
There is no truth
Life is sickening
The pain is severe.
Klim sings along with 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 bed 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 a poor peasant; they did not even have cattle. At the seminary, Grisha was starving; he only ate up on Vakhlatchina. The sexton boasted about his sons, but did not think about what they ate. And I myself was always hungry. His wife was much more caring than him, which is why she died early. She always thought about salt and sang a song.
Salty
Son Grishenka does not want to eat unsalted food. The Lord advised to “salt” it with flour. The mother sprinkles flour and salts the food with her copious tears. Grisha is often at the seminary
remembered his mother and her song.
And soon in the boy's heart
With love to the poor mother
Love for all Vakhlatchina
Merged - and about fifteen years old
Gregory already knew for sure
What will live for happiness
Poor and dark.
Native corner.
Russia has two paths: one road is “hostility-war”, the other is an honest road. Only the “strong” and “loving” follow it.
To fight, to work.
Grisha Dobrosklonov
Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious big name
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
Grisha sings:
“In moments of despondency, O Motherland!
My thoughts fly forward.
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 and sees barge haulers.
Burlak
Grigory talks about the hard lot of barge haulers, and then his thoughts turn to all of Rus'.
Rus
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'!
People's power
Mighty force -
Conscience is calm,
The truth is alive!
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You're downtrodden
You are omnipotent
If only our wanderers could be under their own roof,
If only they could know what was happening to Grisha.
Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” included in the compulsory school curriculum, is presented in our summary, which you can read below.
Part 1
Prologue
Seven men from neighboring villages meet on the highway. They start an argument about who has fun in Rus'. Everyone has their own answer. In their conversations they do not notice that they have already walked thirty miles to God knows where. It gets dark, they make a fire. The argument gradually turns into a fight. But a definite answer still cannot be found.
A man named Pakhom catches a warbler chick. In return, the bird promises to tell the men where the self-assembled tablecloth is, which will give them as much food as they want, a bucket of vodka a day, and will wash and mend their clothes. The heroes receive a real treasure and decide to find the final answer to the question: who can live well in Rus'?
Pop
On the way the men meet a priest. They ask if he has a happy life. According to the priest, happiness is wealth, honor and peace. But these benefits are not available to the priest: in the cold and rain, he is forced to go out to the funeral service, to look at the tears of his relatives, when it is awkward to accept payment for the service. In addition, the priest does not see respect among the people, and every now and then he becomes the subject of ridicule from the men.
Rural fair
Having found out that the priest is not happy, the peasants go to a fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. Maybe they will find the lucky one there. There are a lot of drunk people at the fair. Old man Vavila is grieving that he wasted money on shoes for his granddaughter. Everyone wants to help, but they don’t have the opportunity. Master Pavel Veretennikov feels sorry for his grandfather and buys a gift for his granddaughter.
As night approaches, everyone around is drunk, the men leave.
drunken night
Pavel Veretennikov, having talked with ordinary people, regrets that Russian people drink too much. But the men are convinced that the peasants drink out of despair, that it is impossible to live sober in these conditions. If the Russian people stop drinking, great sadness awaits them.
These thoughts are expressed by Yakim Nagoy, a resident of the village of Bosovo. He tells how, during a fire, the first thing he did was take out popular prints from the hut - what he valued most.
The men settled down for lunch. Then one of them remained to guard the bucket of vodka, and the rest again went in search of happiness.
Happy
Wanderers offer those who are happy in Rus' a glass of vodka. There are many such lucky people - the overstrained man, the paralytic, and even the beggars.
Someone points them to Ermila Girin, an honest and respected peasant. When he needed to buy his mill at auction, people raised the required amount by ruble and by penny. A couple of weeks later, Girin was distributing debt in the square. And when the last ruble remained, he continued to look for its owner until sunset. But now Yermila has little happiness - he was accused of a popular revolt and thrown into prison.
landowner
The rosy-cheeked landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev is another candidate for the “lucky one.” But he complains to the peasants about the misfortune of the nobility - the abolition of serfdom. He was fine before. Everyone took care of him and tried to please him. And he himself was kind to the servants. The reform destroyed his usual way of life. How can he live now, because he doesn’t know how to do anything, he’s not capable of anything. The landowner began to cry, and the men became sad after him. The abolition of serfdom was not easy for the peasants either.
Part 2
Last One
The men find themselves on the banks of the Volga during haymaking. They observe a picture that is surprising to them. Three master's boats moor to the shore. The mowers, having just sat down to rest, jump up, wanting to curry favor with the master. It turned out that the heirs, having enlisted the support of the peasants, were trying to hide the peasant reform from the distraught landowner Utyatin. The peasants were promised land for this, but when the landowner dies, the heirs forget about the agreement.
Part 3
Peasant woman
Happiness seekers thought about asking women about happiness. Everyone they meet calls the name of Matryona Korchagina, whom people see as lucky.
Matryona claims that there are many troubles in her life, and dedicates wanderers to her story.
As a girl, Matryona had a good, non-drinking family. When the stove maker Korchagin looked after her, she was happy. But after marriage, the usual painful village life began. She was beaten by her husband only once, because he loved her. When he left to work, the stove-maker's family continued to abuse her. Only grandfather Savely, a former convict who was imprisoned for the murder of a manager, felt sorry for her. Savely looked like a hero, confident that it was impossible to defeat a Russian man.
Matryona was happy when her first son was born. But while she was at work in the field, Savely fell asleep, and the child was eaten by pigs. In front of the grief-stricken mother, the county doctor performed an autopsy on her firstborn. The woman still cannot forget the child, although after him she gave birth to five.
From the outside, everyone considers Matryona lucky, but no one understands what pain she carries inside, what mortal unavenged grievances gnaw at her, how she dies every time she remembers her dead child.
Matryona Timofeevna knows that a Russian woman simply cannot be happy, because she has no life, no will.
Part 4
Feast for the whole world
Wanderers near the village of Vakhlachina hear folk songs - hungry, salty, soldier's and corvee. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings - a simple Russian guy. There are stories about serfdom. One of them is the story of the Yakima Faithful. He was devoted to the master to the extreme. He rejoiced at the blows and fulfilled any whim. But when the landowner gave his nephew to military service, Yakim left and soon returned. He figured out how to take revenge on the landowner. Enervated, he brought him to the forest and hanged himself on a tree above the master.
A dispute begins about terrible sin. Elder Jonah tells the parable of “two sinners.” The sinner Kudeyar prayed to God for forgiveness, and he answered him. If Kudeyar knocks down a huge tree with just one knife, then his sins will disappear. The oak fell only after the sinner washed it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.
The clerk's son Grisha Dobrosklonov thinks about the future of the Russian people. For him, Rus' is a wretched, abundant, powerful and powerless mother. In his soul he feels immense strength, he is ready to give his life for the good of the people. In the future, the glory of the people's intercessor, hard labor, Siberia and consumption awaits him. But if the wanderers knew what feelings filled Gregory’s soul, they would realize that the goal of their search had been achieved.
In front of you - summary Nekrasov's poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'." The poem was conceived as a “people's book,” an epic depicting an entire era in the life of the people. The poet himself spoke about his work like this:
“I decided to present in a coherent story everything that I know about the people, everything that I happened to hear from their lips, and I started “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” This will be an epic of modern peasant life.”
As you know, the poet did not finish the poem. Only the first of 4 parts was completed.
We did not shorten the main points that you should pay attention to. The rest is given in a brief summary.
Summary of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by chapter
Click on the desired chapter or part of the work to go to its summary
PART ONE
PART TWO
PART THREE
Peasant woman
PART FOUR
Feast for the whole world
PART ONE
PROLOGUE - summary
In what year - calculate
In what land - guess
On the sidewalk
Seven men came together:
Seven temporarily obliged,
A tightened province,
Terpigoreva County,
Empty parish,
From adjacent villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
There is also a poor harvest,
They came together and argued:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
“Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass.
To the fat-bellied merchant! -
The Gubin brothers said,
Ivan and Metrodor.
Old man Pakhom pushed
And he said, looking at the ground:
To the noble boyar,
To the sovereign minister.
And Prov said: to the king...
The guy's a bull: he'll get in trouble
What a whim in the head -
Stake her from there
You can’t knock them out: they resist,
Everyone stands on their own!
The men argue and do not notice how evening comes. They lit a fire, went for vodka, had a snack, and again began to argue about who was living “fun, freely in Rus'.” The argument escalated into a fight. At this time, a chick flew up to the fire. I caught him with my groin. A warbler bird appears and asks to let the chick go. In return, she tells you how to find a self-assembled tablecloth. Pakhom releases the chick, the men follow the indicated path and find a self-assembled tablecloth. The men decide not to return home until they find out “for certain,” “Who lives happily, // Freely in Rus'.”
Chapter 1. Pop - summary
The men hit the road. They meet peasants, artisans, coachmen, soldiers, and the travelers understand that the life of these people cannot be called happy. Finally they meet a priest. He proves to the peasants that the priest has no peace, no wealth, no happiness - a diploma is difficult for a priest's son to get, and the priesthood is even more expensive. The priest can be called at any time of the day or night, in any weather. The priest has to see the tears of orphans and the death rattle of a dying man. But there is no honor for the priest - they make up “jokey tales // And obscene songs, // And all sorts of blasphemy” about him. The priest has no wealth either - rich landowners almost no longer live in Rus'. The men agree with the priest. They move on.
Chapter 2. Rural fair - summary
The men see meager living everywhere. A man bathes his horse in the river. The wanderers learn from him that all the people have gone to the fair. The men go there. At the fair, people bargain, have fun, walk, and drink. One man is crying in front of the people - he drank all his money, and his granddaughter is waiting for a treat at home. Pavlusha Veretennikov, nicknamed “the gentleman,” bought boots for his granddaughter. The old man is very happy. Wanderers watch a performance in a booth.
Chapter 3. Drunken night - summary
People return drunk after the fair.
People walk and fall
As if because of the rollers
Enemies with buckshot
They're shooting at the men.
Some guy is burying a little girl, claiming at the same time that he is burying his mother. Women are quarreling in the ditch: who has a worse home? Yakim Nagoy says that “there is no measure for Russian drunkenness,” but it is also impossible to measure the people’s grief.
What follows is a story about Yakime Nagom who previously lived in St. Petersburg, then went to prison due to a lawsuit with a merchant. Then he came to live in his native village. He bought pictures with which he covered the hut and which he loved very much. There was a fire. Yakim rushed to save not the accumulated money, but pictures, which he later hung in the new hut. The people, returning, sing songs. Wanderers are sad about their own home, about their wives.
Chapter 4. Happy - summary
Wanderers walk among the festive crowd with a bucket of vodka. They promise it to someone who convinces him that he is truly happy. The first to arrive is the sexton, who says that he is happy because he believes in the kingdom of heaven. They don't give him vodka. An old woman comes up and says that she has a very large turnip in her garden. They laughed at her and didn’t give her anything either. A soldier comes with medals and says that he is happy that he is alive. They brought it to him.
A stonecutter approaches and talks about his happiness - about enormous power. His opponent is a thin man. He says that at one time God punished him for boasting in the same way. The contractor praised him at the construction site, and he was happy - he took the fourteen-pound burden and carried it to the second floor. Since then he has withered away. He goes home to die, an epidemic begins in the carriage, the dead are unloaded at the stations, but he still remains alive.
A servant comes, boasts that he was the prince’s favorite slave, that he licked plates with the remains of gourmet food, drank foreign drinks from glasses, and suffers from the noble disease of gout. He is driven away. A Belarusian comes up and says that his happiness lies in bread, which he just can’t get enough of. At home, in Belarus, he ate bread with chaff and bark. A man who had been killed by a bear came and said that his comrades died while hunting, but he remained alive. The man received vodka from the wanderers. Beggars boast that they are happy because they receive food often. The wanderers realize that they wasted vodka on “ peasant happiness" They are advised to ask Yermil Girin, who owned the mill, about happiness. By court decision, the mill is being sold at auction. Yermil won the bargain with the merchant Altynnikov; the clerks demanded a third of the price immediately, contrary to the rules. Yermil did not have money with him, which needed to be deposited within an hour, and it was a long way to go home.
He went out to the square and asked people to borrow as much as they could. They collected more money than was needed. Yermil gave the money, the mill became his, and the next Friday he paid off the debts. The wanderers wonder why the people believed Girin and gave him money. They answer him that he achieved this with the truth. Girin served as a clerk in the estate of Prince Yurlov. He served for five years and did not take anything from anyone, he was attentive to everyone. But he was kicked out, and a new clerk came in his place - a scoundrel and a grabber. After the death of the old prince new owner drove out all the old henchmen and ordered the peasants to elect a new mayor. Everyone unanimously elected Ermil. He served honestly, but one day he still committed a crime - his younger brother Mitri " fenced off“, and instead of him, Nenila Vlasyevna’s son became a soldier.
Since that time, Yermil has been sad - he doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, he says he’s a criminal. He said that he should be judged according to his conscience. Nenila Vlasvna’s son was returned, but Mitri was taken away, and a fine was imposed on Ermila. For another year after that, he was not himself, then he resigned from his position, no matter how much they begged him to stay.
The narrator advises going to Girin, but another peasant says that Yermil is in prison. A riot broke out and government troops were needed. To avoid bloodshed, they asked Girin to address the people.
The story is interrupted by the screams of a drunken footman suffering from gout - now he is suffering from beatings for theft. The wanderers are leaving.
Chapter 5. Landowner - summary
The landowner Obolt-Obolduev was
... "ruddy,
Stately, planted,
Sixty years old;
The mustache is gray, long,
Well done touches.
He mistook the men for robbers and even pulled out a pistol. But they told him what was the matter. Obolt-Obolduev laughs, gets out of the stroller and talks about the life of the landowners.
First he talks about the antiquity of his family, then he recalls the old days when
Not only Russian people,
Nature itself is Russian
She submitted to us.
Then the landowners lived well - luxurious feasts, a whole regiment of servants, their own actors, etc. The landowner recalls the dog hunt, unlimited power, how he baptized with his entire estate “on Easter Sunday.”
Now there is decay everywhere - “ The noble class // It’s as if everything was hidden, // It died out!“The landowner cannot understand why the “idle scribblers” encourage him to study and work, after all, he is a nobleman. He says that he has lived in the village for forty years, but cannot distinguish a barley ear from a rye ear. The peasants think:
The great chain has broken,
It tore and splintered:
One way for the master,
Others don't care!..
PART TWO
The last one - summary
The wanderers walk and see hayfields. They take the women's braids and start mowing them. Music can be heard from the river - it’s a landowner riding in a boat. The gray-haired man Vlas urges the women on - they shouldn’t upset the landowner. Three boats moor to the shore, containing a landowner with his family and servants.
The old landowner walks around the hay, complains that the hay is damp, and demands that it be dried. He leaves with his retinue for breakfast. The wanderers ask Vlas (he turned out to be the burgomaster) why the landowner gives orders if serfdom is abolished. Vlas replies that they have a special landowner: when he learned about the abolition of serfdom, he had a stroke - the left half of his body was paralyzed, he lay motionless.
The heirs arrived, but the old man recovered. His sons told him about the abolition of serfdom, but he called them traitors, cowards, etc. Out of fear that they would be disinherited, his sons decide to indulge him in everything.
That’s why they persuade the peasants to make a joke, as if the peasants were returned to the landowners. But some peasants did not need to be persuaded. Ipat, for example, says: “ And I am the princes Utyatin’s slave - and that’s the whole story!“He remembers how the prince harnessed him to a cart, how he bathed him in an ice hole - he dipped him into one ice hole, pulled him out of another - and immediately gave him vodka.
The prince put Ipat on the box to play the violin. The horse stumbled, Ipat fell, and the sleigh ran over him, but the prince drove away. But after some time he returned. Ipat is grateful to the prince that he did not leave him to freeze. Everyone agrees to pretend that serfdom was not abolished.
Vlas does not agree to be burgomaster. Klim Lavin agrees to be it.
Klim has a conscience made of clay,
And Minin’s beard,
If you look, you'll think so
Why can't you find a peasant?
More mature and sober .
The old prince walks around and gives orders, the peasants laugh at him on the sly. The man Agap Petrov did not want to obey the orders of the old landowner, and when he caught him cutting down the forest, he told Utyatin directly about everything, calling him a fool. Ducky got the second blow. But contrary to the expectations of his heirs, the old prince recovered again and began to demand the public flogging of Agap.
The latter is being persuaded by the whole world. They took him to the stables, put a glass of wine in front of him and told him to shout louder. He shouted so loudly that even Utyatin took pity. The drunk Agap was carried home. Soon he died: " The unscrupulous Klim ruined him, anathema, blame!»
Utyatin is sitting at the table at this time. Peasants stand at the porch. Everyone is putting on a comedy, as usual, except for one guy - he laughs. The guy is a newcomer, local customs are funny to him. Utyatin again demands punishment for the rebel. But the wanderers do not want to blame. The burgher's godfather saves the situation - she says that it was her son who laughed - a foolish boy. Utyatin calms down, has fun and swaggers over dinner. After lunch he dies. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But the joy of the peasants was premature: “ With the death of the Last One, the lordly caress disappeared».
PEASANT WOMAN (FROM PART THIRD)
Prologue - summary
The wanderers decide to search happy person among women. They are advised to go to the village of Klin and ask Matryona Timofeevna, nicknamed “the governor’s wife.” Arriving in the village, the men see “poor houses.” The lackey he met explains that “The landowner is abroad, //And the steward is dying.” The wanderers meet Matryona Timofeevna.
Matrena Timofeevna
dignified woman,
Wide and dense
About thirty-eight years old.
Beautiful; gray streaked hair,
The eyes are large, strict,
The richest eyelashes,
Severe and dark.
The wanderers talk about their goal. The peasant woman replies that she has no time to talk about life now - she has to go reap rye. The men offer help. Matryona Timofeevna talks about her life.
Chapter 1 – Before marriage. Summary
Matrena Timofeevna was born into a friendly, non-drinking family and lived “like Christ in the bosom.” It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Then Matryona Timofeevna met her betrothed;
There's a stranger on the mountain!
Philip Korchagin - St. Petersburg resident,
Stove maker by skill.
Chapter 2 – Songs. Summary
Matryona Timofeevna ends up in someone else's house.
The family was huge
Grumpy... I'm in trouble
Happy maiden holiday to hell!
My husband went to work
I advised to remain silent and be patient...
As ordered, so done:
I walked with anger in my heart.
And I didn’t say too much
A word to no one.
In winter Philippus came,
Brought a silk handkerchief
Yes, I went for a ride on a sled
On Catherine's day,
And it was as if there was no grief!..
She says that her husband beat her only once, when her husband’s sister arrived and he asked to give her shoes, but Matryona hesitated. Philip went back to work, and Matryona’s son Demushka was born on Kazanskaya. Life in her mother-in-law's house has become even more difficult, but she endures:
Whatever they tell me, I work,
No matter how much they scold me, I remain silent.
Of the entire family, only grandfather Savely felt sorry for Matryona Timofeevna’s husband.
Chapter 3. Savely, the Holy Russian hero. Summary.
Matryona Timofeevna talks about Savelia.
With a huge gray mane,
Tea, twenty years uncut,
With a huge beard
Grandfather looked like a bear...<…>
... He's already hit the nail on the head,
According to fairy tales, a hundred years.
Grandfather lived in a special room,
Didn't like families
He didn’t let me into his corner;
And she was angry, barking,
His "branded, convict"
My own son was honoring.
Savely will not be angry,
He will go to his little room,
Reads the holy calendar, gets baptized
And suddenly he will say cheerfully;
“Branded, but not a slave!”...
Savely tells Matryona why he is called “branded.” During his youth, the serf peasants of his village did not pay rent, did not go to corvée, because they lived in remote places and it was difficult to get there. The landowner Shalashnikov tried to collect rent, but was not very successful in this.
Shalashnikov tore excellently,
And not so great
I received income.
Soon Shalashnikov (he was a military man) is killed near Varna. His heir sends a German governor.
He forces the peasants to work. They themselves do not notice how they are cutting a clearing, i.e. it has now become easy to get to them.
And then came hard labor
To the Korezh peasant -
Ruined to the bone!<…>
The German has a death grip:
Until he lets you go around the world,
Without moving away, he sucks!
This went on for eighteen years. The German built a factory and ordered the digging of a well. The German began to scold those who were digging the well for idleness (Savely was among them). The peasants pushed the German into a hole and buried the hole. Next - hard labor, Savelig! tried to escape from it, but was caught. He spent twenty years in hard labor, another twenty in a settlement.
Chapter 4. Demushka. Summary
Matryona Timofeevna gave birth to a son, but her mother-in-law does not allow her to be with the child, since her daughter-in-law has started working less.
The mother-in-law insists that Matryona Timofeevna leave her son with his grandfather. Savely neglected to look after the child: “The old man fell asleep in the sun, // Fed Demidushka to the pigs // Silly grandfather!..” Matryona accuses her grandfather and cries. But it didn't end there:
The Lord was angry
He sent uninvited guests,
Unrighteous judges!
A doctor, a police officer, and the police appear in the village and accuse Matryona of intentionally killing a child. The doctor performs an autopsy, despite Matryona's requests. without desecration // To an honest burial // To betray the baby". They call her crazy. Grandfather Savely says that her madness lies in the fact that she went to the authorities without taking with her “ not a ruble, not a new thing.” Demushka is buried in a closed coffin. Matryona Timofeevna cannot come to her senses, Savely, trying to console her, says that her son is now in heaven.
Chapter 5. She-Wolf - Summary
After Demushka died, Matryona “was not herself” and could not work. The father-in-law decided to teach her a lesson with the reins. The peasant woman bent down at his feet and asked: “Kill!” The father-in-law retreated. Day and night Matryona Timofeevna is at her son’s grave. Closer to winter, my husband arrived. Savely after the death of Demushka
For six days I lay hopelessly,
Then he went into the forests.
That's how grandpa sang, that's how he cried,
That the forest groaned! And in the fall
Went to repentance
To the Sand Monastery.
Every year Matryona gives birth to a child. Three years later, Matryona Timofeevna’s parents die. She goes to her son's grave to cry. Meets grandfather Savely there. He came from the monastery to pray for the “Deme of the Poor, for all the suffering Russian peasantry.” Saveliy did not live long - “in the fall, the old man got some kind of deep wound on his neck, he died with difficulty...”. Savely spoke about the share of the peasants:
There are three paths for men:
Tavern, prison and penal servitude,
And the women in Rus'
Three loops: white silk,
The second is red silk,
And the third - black silk,
Choose any one! .
Four years have passed. Matryona came to terms with everything. One day a pilgrim pilgrim comes to the village, she talks about the salvation of the soul, demands from mothers that they fast days did not feed babies milk. Matryona Timofeevna did not listen. “Yes, apparently God is angry,” says the peasant woman. When her son Fedot was eight years old, he was sent to herd sheep. One day they brought Fedot and said that he had fed a sheep to a she-wolf. Fedot says that a huge, emaciated she-wolf appeared, grabbed the sheep and started running. Fedot caught up with her and took away the sheep, which was already dead. The she-wolf looked into his eyes pitifully and howled. It was clear from the bleeding nipples that she had wolf cubs in her lair. Fedot took pity on the she-wolf and gave her the sheep. Matryona Timofeevna, trying to save her son from flogging, asks for mercy from the landowner, who orders not the assistant shepherd to be punished, but “the impudent woman.”
Chapter 6. Difficult year. Summary.
Matryona Timofeevna says that the she-wolf did not appear in vain - there was a shortage of bread. The mother-in-law told the neighbors that Matryona had caused the famine by wearing a clean shirt on Christmas Day.
For my husband, for my protector,
I got off cheap;
And one woman
Not for the same thing
Killed to death with stakes.
Don't joke with the hungry!..
After the lack of bread came the recruitment drive. My brother's eldest husband was drafted into the army, so the family did not expect trouble. But Matryona Timofeevna’s husband is taken as a soldier out of turn. Life gets even harder. The children had to be sent around the world. The mother-in-law became even more grumpy.
Okay, don't get dressed,
Don't wash yourself white
The neighbors have sharp eyes,
Tongues out!
Walk on the quieter streets
Carry your head lower
If you're having fun, don't laugh
Don't cry out of sadness!..
Chapter 7. Governor's wife. Summary
Matryona Timofeevna is going to the governor. She has difficulty getting to the city because she is pregnant. He gives a ruble to the doorman to let him in. He says to come in two hours. Matryona Timofeevna arrives, the doorman takes another ruble from her. The governor's wife arrives and Matryona Timofeevna rushes to her asking for intercession. The peasant woman becomes ill. When she comes to, she is told that she has given birth to a child. The governor's wife, Elena Aleksandrovna, was very fond of Matryona Timofeevna, and looked after her son as if she were her own (she herself had no children). A messenger is sent to the village to sort everything out. My husband was returned.
Chapter 8. The Woman's Parable. Summary
The men ask if Matryona Timofeevna told them everything. She says that everyone, besides the fact that they survived the fire twice, got sick three times anthrax that instead of a horse she had to walk “in a harrow.” Matryona Timofeevna recalls the words of the holy pilgrim who went to "the heights of Athens»:
The keys to women's happiness,
From our free will
Abandoned, lost to God himself!<…>
Yes, they are unlikely to be found...
What kind of fish swallowed
Those keys are reserved,
In what seas is that fish
Walking - God forgot!
PART FOUR.
Feast for the whole world
Introduction - summary
There is a feast in the village. The feast was organized by Klim. They sent for the parish sexton Tryphon. He came with his seminarian sons Savvushka and Grisha.
... It was the eldest
Already nineteen years old;
Now I'm an archdeacon
I looked, and Gregory
Face thin, pale
And the hair is thin, curly,
With a hint of red.
Simple guys, kind,
Mowed, reaped, sowed
And drank vodka on holidays
On a par with the peasantry.
The clerk and the seminarians began to sing.
I. Bitter times - bitter songs - summary
CHEERFUL
“Eat the prison, Yasha! There’s no milk!”
- “Where is our cow?”
Take away, my light!
Master for offspring
I took her home."
It's nice to live for the people
Saint in Rus'!
“Where are our chickens?” -
The girls are screaming.
“Don’t yell, you fools!
The zemstvo court ate them;
I took another cart
Yes, he promised to wait..."
It's nice to live for the people
Saint in Rus'!
Broke my back
But the sauerkraut doesn’t wait!
Baba Katerina
I remembered - roars:
In the yard for over a year
Daughter... no dear!
It's nice to live for the people
Saint in Rus'!
Some of the kids
Lo and behold, there are no children:
The king will take the boys,
Master - daughters!
To one freak
Live forever with your family.
It's nice to live for the people
Saint in Rus'!
Then the Vakhlaks sang:
Corvée
Kalinushka is poor and unkempt,
He has nothing to show off,
Only the back is painted,
You don't know behind your shirt.
From bast shoes to gate
The skin is all ripped open
The belly swells with chaff.
Twisted, twisted,
Flogged, tormented,
Kalina barely walks.
He'll knock on the innkeeper's feet,
Sorrow will drown in wine,
It will only come back to haunt you on Saturday
From the master's stable to his wife...
The men remember the old order. One of the men recalls how one day their lady decided to mercilessly beat the one “who would say a strong word.” The men stopped arguing, but as soon as the will was announced, they lost their souls so much that “Priest Ivan was offended.” Another man talks about the exemplary slave Yakov the Faithful. The greedy landowner Polivanov had a faithful servant, Yakov. He was devoted to the master without limit.
Yakov appeared like this from his youth,
Yakov had only joy:
To groom, protect, please the master
Yes, rock my little nephew.
Jacob's nephew Grisha grew up and asked the master for permission to marry the girl Arina.
However, the master himself liked her. He gave Grisha as a soldier, despite Yakov's pleas. The slave started drinking and disappeared. Polivanov feels bad without Yakov. Two weeks later the slave returned. Polivanov is going to visit his sister, Yakov is taking him. They drive through the forest, Yakov turns into a remote place - Devil's Ravine. Polivanov is frightened and begs for mercy. But Yakov says that he is not going to get his hands dirty with murder, and hangs himself from a tree. Polivanov is left alone. He spends the whole night in the ravine, screaming, calling people, but no one responds. In the morning a hunter finds him. The landowner returns home, lamenting: “I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!
After the story, the men start an argument about who is more sinful - the innkeepers, the landowners, the peasants or the robbers. Klim Lavin fights with a merchant. Jonushka, the “humble mantis,” talks about the power of faith. His story is about the holy fool Fomushka, who called people to escape to the forests, but he was arrested and taken to prison. From the cart, Fomushka shouted: “They beat you with sticks, rods, whips, you will be beaten with iron rods!” In the morning, a military team arrived and the pacification and interrogations began, i.e. Fomushka’s prophecy “almost came true.” Jonah talks about Euphrosyne, the messenger of God, who during the cholera years “buries, heals, and tends to the sick.” Jonah Lyapushkin - praying mantis and wanderer. The peasants loved him and argued about who would be the first to shelter him. When he appeared, everyone brought out icons to meet him, and Jonah followed those whose icons he liked best. Jonah tells a parable about two great sinners.
ABOUT TWO GREAT SINNERS
The story was told to Jonah in Solovki by Father Pitirim. There were twelve robbers, whose chieftain was Kudeyar. They lived in a dense forest, plundered a lot of wealth, and killed a lot of innocent souls. From near Kyiv, Kudeyar took himself a beautiful girl. Unexpectedly, “the Lord awakened the conscience” of the robber. Kudeyar " He blew off his mistress's head // And spotted Esaul" Came home with a tartar in monastic clothes y,” day and night he prays to God for forgiveness. The saint of the Lord appeared in front of Kudeyar. He pointed to a huge oak tree and said: “ With the same knife that robbed him, // Cut him with the same hand!..<…>The tree will just fall, // The chains of sin will fall" Kudeyar begins to do what he was told. Time passes, and Pan Glukhovsky drives by. He asks what Kudeyar is doing.
A lot of cruel, scary
The old man heard about the master
And as a lesson to the sinner
He told his secret.
Pan grinned: “Salvation
I haven't had tea for a long time,
In the world I honor only a woman,
Gold, honor and wine.
You have to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves do I destroy?
I torment, torture and hang,
I wish I could see how I’m sleeping!”
The hermit becomes furious, attacks the master and plunges a knife into his heart. At that very moment the tree collapsed, and the load of sins fell from the old man.
III. Both old and new - summary
PEASANT SIN
One admiral for military service, for the battle with the Turks near Ochakov, the empress granted eight thousand souls of peasants. Dying, he gives the casket to Gleb the elder. The casket is ordered to be taken care of, since it contains a will according to which all eight thousand souls will receive freedom. After the death of the admiral, a distant relative appears on the estate, promises the headman a lot of money, and the will is burned. Everyone agrees with Ignat that this is a great sin. Grisha Dobrosklonov talks about the freedom of the peasants, that “there will be no new Gleb in Rus'.” Vlas wishes Grisha wealth and a smart and healthy wife. Grisha in response:
I don't need any silver
Not gold, but God willing,
So that my fellow countrymen
And every peasant
Life was free and fun
All over holy Rus'!
A cart with hay is approaching. The soldier Ovsyannikov is sitting on the cart with his niece Ustinyushka. The soldier made his living with the help of a raik - a portable panorama that showed objects through a magnifying glass. But the instrument broke. The soldier then came up with new songs and began to play the spoons. Sings a song.
Soldier's Toshen light,
There is no truth
Life is sickening
The pain is severe.
German bullets
Turkish bullets,
French bullets
Russian sticks!
Klim notices that in his yard there is a log on which he has been chopping wood since his youth. She is “not as wounded” as Ovsyannikov. However, the soldier did not receive full board, since the doctor’s assistant, when examining the wounds, said that they were second-rate. The soldier submits a petition again.
IV. Good time - good songs - summary.
Grisha and Savva take their father home and sing:
Share of the people
His happiness.
Light and freedom
First of all!
We're a little
We ask God:
Fair deal
Do it skillfully
Give us strength!
Working life -
Direct to friend
Road to the heart
Away from the threshold
Coward and lazy!
Isn't it heaven?
Share of the people
His happiness.
Light and freedom
First of all!
Father fell asleep, Savvushka took up his book, and Grisha went into the field. Grisha has a thin face - they were underfed by the housekeeper at the seminary. Grisha remembers his mother Domna, whose favorite son he was. Sings a song:
In the middle of the world below
For a free heart
There are two ways.
Weigh the proud strength,
Weigh your strong will, -
Which way to go?
One spacious
The road is rough,
The passions of a slave,
It's huge,
Greedy for temptation
There's a crowd coming.
About sincere life,
About the lofty goal
The idea there is funny.
Eternal boils there,
Inhuman
Enmity-war.
For mortal blessings...
There are souls captive there
Full of sin.<…>
The other one is tight
The road is honest
They walk along it
Only strong souls
Loving,
To fight, to work.
For the bypassed
For the oppressed -
In their footsteps
Go to the downtrodden
Go to the offended -
Be the first there.
No matter how dark the vahlachina is,
No matter how crammed with corvée
And slavery - and she,
Having been blessed, I placed
In Grigory Dobrosklonov
Such a messenger.
Fate had in store for him
The path is glorious, the name is loud
People's Defender,
Consumption and Siberia.
Grisha sings a song about the bright future of his Motherland: “ You are still destined to suffer a lot, //But you will not die, I know" Grisha sees a barge hauler who, having completed his work, with the coppers jingling in his pocket, goes to the tavern. Grisha sings another song.
RUS
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'!
Saved in slavery
Free heart -
Gold, gold
People's heart!
People's power
Mighty force -
Conscience is calm,
The truth is alive!
Strength with untruth
They don't get along
Sacrifice by untruth
Not called -
Rus' does not move,
Rus' is like dead!
And she caught fire
Hidden spark -
They stood up - unwounded,
They came out - uninvited,
Live by the grain
The mountains have been damaged!
The army rises -
Countless!
The strength in her will affect
Indestructible!
You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You're downtrodden
You are omnipotent
Mother Rus'!..
Grisha is pleased with his song:
He heard the immense strength in his chest,
The sounds of grace delighted his ears,
The radiant sounds of the noble hymn -
He sang the embodiment of people's happiness!..
I hope this summary of Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” helped you prepare for your Russian literature lesson.
Who can live well in Rus'?
Part one
PROLOGUE
“Seven men came together on a pillared path” and began to argue “who should live well in Rus'.” The men spent the whole day in pores. After drinking vodka, they even got into a fight. One of the men, Pakhom, hugs a warbler bird that has flown up to the fire. In exchange for freedom, she tells the men how to find a self-assembled tablecloth. Having found it, the debaters decide without answering the question: “Who lives happily and freely in Rus'?” - don't return home.
CHAPTER ONE POP
On the road, the men meet peasants, coachmen, and soldiers. They don’t even ask them this question. Finally they meet the priest. To their question he answers that he has no happiness in life. All funds go to the priest's son. He himself can be called to the dying person at any time of the day or night; he has to experience the sorrows of families in which relatives or people close to the family die. There is no respect for the priest, they call him “a foal breed,” and they compose teasing and indecent songs about priests. After talking with the priest, the men move on.
CHAPTER TWO RURAL FAIR
There is fun at the fair, people drink, bargain, and walk. Everyone rejoices at the action of the “master” Pavlusha Veretennikov. He bought shoes for the granddaughter of a man who drank away all the money without buying gifts for his family.
There is a performance in the booth - a comedy with Petrushka. After the performance, people drink with the actors and give them money.
From the fair, peasants carry and printed materials- these are stupid little books and portraits of generals with many orders. The famous lines expressing hope for the cultural growth of the people are dedicated to this:
When will a man carry not Blucher and not my stupid lord - Belinsky and Gogol From the market?
CHAPTER THREE DRUNKEN NIGHT
After the fair, everyone returns home drunk. The men notice women arguing in the ditch. Each proves that her home is the worst. Then they meet Veretennikov. He says that all the troubles are due to the fact that Russian peasants drink to excess. The men begin to prove to him that if there were no sadness, then people would not drink.
Every peasant has a Soul like a black cloud - Angry, menacing - but it would be necessary for Thunder to thunder from there, Bloody rains to fall, And everything ends in wine.
They meet a woman. She tells them about her jealous husband, who watches over her even in her sleep. The men miss their wives and want to return home as soon as possible.
CHAPTER FOUR HAPPY
Using a self-assembled tablecloth, the men take out a bucket of vodka. They walk around in the festive crowd and promise to treat those who prove that they are happy to vodka. The emaciated sexton proves that he is happy with his faith in God and the Kingdom of Heaven; The old woman says that she is happy that her turnips are bad - they are not given vodka. The next soldier comes up, shows his medals and says that he is happy because he was not killed in any of the battles he was in. The soldier is treated to vodka. The bricklayer got home alive after a serious illness - and that’s what makes him happy.
The courtyard man considers himself lucky because, while licking the master's plates, he got a “noble disease” - gout. He puts himself above the men, they drive him away. A Belarusian sees his happiness in bread. Wanderers offer vodka to a man who survived a bear hunt.
People tell wanderers about Ermila Girin. He asked people to borrow money, then returned everything to the last ruble, although he could have deceived them. People believed him because he served honestly as a clerk and treated everyone carefully, did not take someone else’s property, and did not shield the guilty. But one day a fine was imposed on Ermila for sending the son of peasant woman Nenila Vlasyevna as a recruit instead of his brother. He repented, and the peasant woman’s son was returned. But Ermila still feels guilty for her action. People advise travelers to go to Ermila and ask him. The story about Girin is interrupted by the screams of a drunken footman who was caught stealing.
CHAPTER FIVE THE LANDSCAPE
In the morning, the wanderers meet the landowner Obolt-Obolduev. He mistakes strangers for robbers. Realizing that they are not robbers, the landowner hides the pistol and tells the wanderers about his life. His family is very ancient; he remembers the luxurious feasts that were held before. The landowner was very kind: on holidays he allowed peasants into his house to pray. The peasants voluntarily brought him gifts. Now the gardens of the landowners are being robbed, houses are being dismantled, the peasants are working poorly and reluctantly. The landowner is called upon to study and work when he cannot even distinguish an ear of barley from a rye one. At the end of the conversation, the landowner sobs.
Last One
(From the second part)
Seeing the haymaking, the men, homesick for work, take the women’s scythes and begin to mow. Here an old gray-haired landowner with his servants, gentlemen, and ladies arrives on boats. He orders one stack to be dried - it seems to him that it is wet. Everyone is trying to curry favor with the master. Vlas tells the story of the master.
When serfdom was abolished, he suffered a blow, as he became extremely furious. Fearing that the master would deprive them of their inheritance, the sons persuaded the peasants to pretend that serfdom still existed. Vlas refused the post of mayor. Klim Lavin, who has no conscience, takes his place.
Satisfied with himself, the prince walks around the estate and gives stupid orders. Trying to do a good deed, the prince repairs the crumbling house of a seventy-year-old widow and orders her to be married to a young neighbor. Not wanting to obey Prince Utyatin, the man Aran tells him everything. Because of this, the prince suffered a second blow. But he survived again, not meeting the expectations of the heirs, and demanded the punishment of Agap. The heirs persuaded Petrov to shout louder in the stable by drinking a bottle of wine. Then he was taken home drunk. But soon he died, poisoned by wine.
At the table everyone submits to Utyatin’s whims. A “rich St. Petersburg resident” who suddenly arrived for a while, couldn’t stand it and laughed.
Utyatin demands that the culprit be punished. The mayor's godfather throws herself at the master's feet and says that her son laughed. Having calmed down, the prince drinks champagne, has a party and after a while falls asleep. They take him away. The duck takes the third blow - he dies. With the death of the master, the expected happiness did not come. A lawsuit began between the peasants and the heirs.
Peasant woman
(From the third part)
PROLOGUE
Wanderers come to the village of Klin to ask Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina about happiness. Some men fishing complain to the wanderers that there used to be more fish. Matryona Timofeevna has no time to talk about her life, because she is busy with the harvest. When the wanderers promise to help her, she agrees to talk to them.
CHAPTER ONE BEFORE MARRIAGE
When Matryona was a girl, she lived “like Christ in his bosom.” After drinking with the matchmakers, the father decides to marry his daughter to Philip Korchagin. After persuasion, Matryona agrees to marriage.
CHAPTER TWO SONG
Matryona Timofeevna compares her life in her husband’s family to hell. “The family was huge, grumpy...” It’s true, the husband was a good one - the husband beat her only once. And he even “took me for a ride on a sleigh” and “gave me a silk handkerchief.” Matryona named her son Demushka.
In order not to quarrel with her husband's relatives, Matryona performs all the work assigned to her and does not respond to the abuse of her mother-in-law and father-in-law. But the old grandfather Savely - the father-in-law's father - takes pity on the young woman and talks to her kindly.
CHAPTER THREE SAVELIY, BOGATYR OF SVYATORUSSKY
Matryona Timofeevna begins a story about grandfather Savely. Compares him to a bear. Grandfather Savely did not allow his relatives into his room, for which they were angry with him.
During Savely’s youth, the peasants paid rent only three times a year. The landowner Shalashnikov could not get to the remote village on his own, so he ordered the peasants to come to him. They have not come. Twice the peasants paid tribute to the police: sometimes with honey and fish, sometimes with skins. After the third arrival of the police, the peasants decided to go to Shalashnikov and say that there was no quitrent. But after the flogging they still gave some of the money. The hundred-ruble notes sewn under the lining never reached the landowner.
The German, sent by the son of Shalashnikov, who died in the battle, first asked the peasants to pay as much as they could. Since the peasants could not pay, they had to work off their quitrent. Only later did they realize that they were building a road to the village. And that means now they can’t hide from the tax collectors!
The peasants began a hard life and lasted eighteen years. Angry, the peasants buried the German alive. Everyone was sent to hard labor. Savely failed to escape, and he spent twenty years in hard labor. Since then he has been called a “convict.”
CHAPTER FOUR GIRL
Because of her son, Matryona began to work less. The mother-in-law demanded that Demushka be given to his grandfather. Having fallen asleep, the grandfather did not look after the child, he was eaten by pigs. The arriving police accuse Matryona of deliberately killing the child. She is declared crazy. Demushka is buried in a closed coffin.
CHAPTER FIVE THE WOLF
After the death of her son, Matryona spends all her time at his grave and cannot work. Savely takes the tragedy seriously and goes to the Sand Monastery to repent. Every year Matryona gives birth to children. Three years later, Matryona’s parents die. At the grave of his son, Matryona meets grandfather Savely, who came to pray for the child.
Matryona's eight-year-old son Fedot is sent to guard the sheep. One sheep was stolen by a hungry wolf. Fedot, after a long pursuit, overtakes the she-wolf and takes the sheep from her, but, seeing that the cattle is already dead, he returns it to the she-wolf - she has become terribly thin, it is clear that she is feeding the children. Fedotushka's mother is punished for her actions. Matryona believes that everything is to blame for her disobedience; she fed Fedot milk on a fast day.
CHAPTER SIX
DIFFICULT YEAR
When the breadless woman arrived, the mother-in-law blamed Matryona. She would have been killed for this if not for her intercessor husband. Matryona's husband is recruited. Her life in the house of her father-in-law and mother-in-law became even harder.
CHAPTER SEVEN
GOVERNOR
Pregnant Matryona goes to the governor. Having given the footman two rubles, Matryona meets with the governor’s wife and asks her for protection. Matryona Timofeevna gives birth to a child in the governor's house.
Elena Alexandrovna has no children of her own; she takes care of Matryona's child as if she were her own. The envoy figured out everything in the village, Matryona’s husband was returned.
CHAPTER EIGHT
THE WINNER'S PARABLE
Matryona tells the wanderers about her present life, saying that they will not find a happy one among the women. When asked by the wanderers whether Matryona told them everything, the woman replies that there is not enough time to list all her troubles. He says that women are already slaves from their very birth.
The keys to female happiness, From our free will, Abandoned, lost from God himself!
Feast for the whole world
INTRODUCTION
Klim Yakovlich started a feast in the village. The parish sexton Trifon came with his sons Savvushka and Grisha. They were hard workers good guys. The peasants argued about how to dispose of the meadows after the death of the prince; they told fortunes and sang songs: “Merry”, “Corvee”.
The peasants remember the old order: they worked during the day, drank and fought at night.
They tell the story of the faithful servant Jacob. Yakov's nephew Grisha asked the girl Arisha to marry him. The landowner himself likes Arisha, so the master sends Grisha to become a soldier. After long absence Yakov returns to the master. Later, Yakov hangs himself in a deep forest in front of his master. Left alone, the master cannot get out of the forest. A hunter found him in the morning. The master admits his guilt and asks to be executed.
Klim Lavin defeats the merchant in a fight. Bogomolets Ionushka talks about the power of faith; how the Turks drowned Athonite monks in the sea.
ABOUT TWO GREAT SINNERS
This ancient story was told to Jonushka by Father Pitirim. Twelve robbers with Ataman Kudeyar lived in the forest and robbed people. But soon the robber began to imagine the people he had killed, and he began to ask the Lord to forgive his sins. To atone for his sins, Kudeyar had to cut down an oak tree with the same hand and the same knife with which he killed people. As he began to saw, Pan Glukhovsky drove by, who honored only women, wine and gold, but without pity he tormented, tortured and hanged men. Angry, Kudeyar plunged a knife into the sinner’s heart. The burden of sins immediately fell.
OLD AND NEW
Jonah floats away. The peasants are arguing about sins again. Ignat Prokhorov tells the story of a will under which eight thousand serfs would have been freed if the headman had not sold it.
Soldier Ovsyannikov and his niece Ustinyushka arrive on the cart. Ovsyannikov sings a song about how there is no truth. They don’t want to give the soldier a pension, but he was repeatedly wounded in numerous battles.
GOOD TIME - GOOD SONGS
Savva and Grisha take their father home and sing a song about how freedom comes first. Grisha goes to the fields and remembers his mother. Sings a song about the future of the country. Grigory sees a barge hauler and sings the song “Rus”, calling her mother.