Encyclopedic YouTube

1 / 5

✪ Who should live well in Rus'. Nikolai Nekrasov

✪ N.A. Nekrasov "Who should live well in Rus'" (meaningful analysis) | Lecture #62

✪ 018. Nekrasov N.A. Poem Who lives well in Rus'

✪ Public lesson with Dmitry Bykov. "Misunderstood Nekrasov"

✪ Lyrica N.A. Nekrasov. Poem "Who should live well in Rus'" (analysis of the test part) | Lecture #63

Subtitles

History of creation

N. A. Nekrasov began work on the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” in the first half of the 60s of the XIX century. The mention of the exiled Poles in the first part, in the chapter "The Landowner", suggests that work on the poem was started no earlier than 1863. But the sketches of the work could have appeared earlier, since Nekrasov had been collecting material for a long time. The manuscript of the first part of the poem is marked 1865, however, it is possible that this is the date when work on this part was completed.

Shortly after finishing work on the first part, the prologue of the poem was published in the January issue of the Sovremennik magazine for 1866. Printing stretched for four years and was accompanied, like all of Nekrasov's publishing activities, by censorship persecution.

The writer began to continue working on the poem only in the 1870s, writing three more parts of the work: "Last Child" (1872), "Peasant Woman" (1873), "Feast - for the whole world" (1876). The poet was not going to limit himself to the written chapters, three or four more parts were conceived. However, the developing disease interfered with the ideas of the author. Nekrasov, feeling the approach of death, tried to give some "completion" to the last part, "Feast - for the whole world."

The poem “To whom it is good to live in Rus'” was published in the following sequence: “Prologue. Part One”, “Last Child”, “Peasant Woman”.

The plot and structure of the poem

It was supposed that the poem would have 7 or 8 parts, but the author managed to write only 4, which, perhaps, did not follow one after another.

The poem is written in iambic trimeter.

Part one

The only part that doesn't have a title. It was written shortly after the abolition of serfdom (). According to the first quatrain of the poem, it can be said that Nekrasov initially tried to anonymously characterize all the problems of Rus' at that time.

Prologue

In what year - count
In what land - guess
On the pillar path
Seven men got together.

They got into an argument:

Who has fun
Feel free in Rus'?

They gave 6 answers to this question:

• Roman: to a landowner;
• Demyan: to an official;
• Gubin brothers - Ivan and Mitrodor: merchant;
• Pakhom (old man): minister, boyar;

The peasants decide not to return home until they find the right answer. In the prologue, they also find a self-assembled tablecloth to feed them, and set off on their journey.

Chapter I. Pop

Chapter II. Village fair.

Chapter III. Drunk night.

Chapter IV. Happy.

Chapter V. Landowner.

Last (from the second part)

In the midst of haymaking, wanderers come to the Volga. Here they become witnesses of a strange scene: a noble family swims up to the shore in three boats. The mowers, who have just sat down to rest, immediately jump up to show the old master their zeal. It turns out that the peasants of the village of Vakhlachina help their heirs to hide the abolition of serfdom from the landowner Utyatin, who has lost his mind. For this, the relatives of the last-born Utyatin promise the peasants floodplain meadows. But after the long-awaited death of the Afterlife, the heirs forget their promises, and the whole peasant performance turns out to be in vain.

Peasant woman (from the third part)

In this part, the wanderers decide to continue their search for someone who can “live happily, freely in Rus'” among women. In the village of Nagotino, the women told the peasants that there was a "governor's wife" in Klin Matryona Timofeevna: "more wiser and smoother - there are no women." There, seven men find this woman and convince her to tell her story, at the end of which she reassures the men of her happiness and of women's happiness in Rus' in general:

Keys to female happiness
From our free will
abandoned, lost
God himself!

• Prologue
• Chapter I. Before Marriage
• Chapter II. Songs
• Chapter III. Savely, hero, Holy Russian
• Chapter IV. Dyomushka
• Chapter V. She-wolf
• Chapter VI. Difficult year
• Chapter VII. Governor
• Chapter VIII. woman's parable

Feast - for the whole world (from the fourth part)

This part is a logical continuation of the second part ("Last Child"). It describes the feast that the peasants threw after the death of the old man, the Last. The wanderers' adventures do not end in this part, but at the end one of the feasters - Grisha Dobrosklonov, the priest's son, the next morning after the feast, walking along the river bank, finds the secret of Russian happiness, and expresses it in a short song "Rus", by the way, used by V. I. Lenin in the article "The main task of our days." The work ends with the words:

To be our wanderers
Under the native roof
If they could know
What happened to Grisha.
He heard in his chest
Forces are immeasurable
Sweetened his ears
blessed sounds,
Sounds radiant
Noble hymn -
He sang the incarnation
Happiness of the people! ..

Such an unexpected ending arose because the author was aware of his imminent death, and, wanting to complete the work, logically completed the poem in the fourth part, although at the beginning N. A. Nekrasov conceived 8 parts.

List of heroes

Temporarily liable peasants who went to look for someone who lives happily, freely in Rus':

Ivan and Mitrodor Gubin,

Old Pahom,

Peasants and serfs:

• Artem Demin,
• Yakim Nagoi,
• Sidor,
• Egorka Shutov,
• Klim Lavin,
• Vlas,
• Agap Petrov,
• Ipat is a sensitive slave,
• Jacob is a faithful servant,
• Gleb,
• Proshka,
• Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina,
• Savely Korchagin,
• Ermil Girin.

Landlords:

• Obolt-Obolduev,
• Prince Utyatin (late son),
• Vogel (Little information on this landowner)
• Shalashnikov.

Other heroes

• Elena Alexandrovna - the governor who took the birth of Matryona,
• Altynnikov - merchant, possible buyer of Ermila Girin's mill,
• Grisha Dobrosklonov.

To whom in Rus' to live well? This question still excites many people, and this fact explains the increased attention to the legendary poem by Nekrasov. The author managed to raise a topic that has become eternal in Russia - the topic of asceticism, voluntary self-denial in the name of saving the fatherland. It is the service of a high goal that makes a Russian person happy, as the writer proved using the example of Grisha Dobrosklonov.

“Who is living well in Rus'” is one of the last works of Nekrasov. When he wrote it, he was already seriously ill: he was struck by cancer. That is why it is not finished. It was collected bit by bit by the poet's close friends and arranged the fragments in random order, barely capturing the confused logic of the creator, broken by a fatal illness and endless pains. He was dying in agony, and yet he was able to answer the question posed at the very beginning: Who lives well in Rus'? In a broad sense, he himself turned out to be lucky, because he faithfully and selflessly served the interests of the people. This ministry supported him in the fight against the fatal illness. Thus, the history of the poem began in the first half of the 60s of the 19th century, around 1863 ( serfdom canceled in 1861), and the first part was completed in 1865.

The book was published in fragments. The prologue was already published in the January issue of Sovremennik in 1866. More chapters came out later. All this time, the work attracted the attention of censors and was mercilessly criticized. In the 70s, the author wrote the main parts of the poem: "Last Child", "Peasant Woman", "Feast for the Whole World". He planned to write much more, but due to the rapid development of the disease, he could not and stopped at "Feast ...", where he expressed his main idea regarding the future of Russia. He believed that such holy people as Dobrosklonov would be able to help his homeland, mired in poverty and injustice. Despite the fierce attacks of reviewers, he found the strength to stand up for a just cause to the end.

Genre, genre, direction

ON THE. Nekrasov called his creation “the epic of modern peasant life” and was precise in his wording: the genre of the work “Who should live well in Rus'?” - epic poem. That is, at the base of the book, not one kind of literature coexists, but two whole: lyrics and epic:

1. epic component. In the history of the development of Russian society in the 1860s, there was a turning point when people learned to live in new conditions after the abolition of serfdom and other fundamental transformations of the habitual way of life. This difficult historical period was described by the writer, reflecting the realities of that time without embellishment and falsity. In addition, the poem has a clear linear plot and many original characters, which indicates the scale of the work, comparable only to a novel (epic genre). The book also absorbed the folklore elements of heroic songs that tell about the military campaigns of heroes against enemy camps. All these are generic features of the epic.
2. lyric component. The work is written in verse - this is the main property of lyrics, as a kind. The book also contains a place for authorial digressions and typically poetic symbols, means artistic expressiveness, the features of the confession of heroes.

The direction within which the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written is realism. However, the author significantly expanded its boundaries by adding fantastic and folklore elements (prologue, beginnings, symbolism of numbers, fragments and characters from folk tales). The poet chose the form of travel for his idea, as a metaphor for the search for truth and happiness, which each of us carries out. Many researchers of Nekrasov's work compare the plot structure with the structure of the folk epic.

Composition

The laws of the genre determined the composition and plot of the poem. Nekrasov was finishing the book in terrible agony, but still did not have time to finish it. This explains the chaotic composition and many branches from the plot, because the works were formed and restored from drafts by his friends. In the last months of his life, he himself was unable to clearly adhere to the original concept of creation. Thus, the composition “Who is living well in Rus'?”, comparable only to the folk epic, is unique. It was developed as a result of the creative assimilation of world literature, and not the direct borrowing of some well-known model.

1. Exposition (Prologue). The meeting of seven men - the heroes of the poem: "On the pillar path / Seven men came together."
2. The plot is the oath of the heroes not to return home until they find the answer to their question.
3. The main part consists of many autonomous parts: the reader gets to know a soldier, happy that he was not killed, a serf, proud of his privilege to eat out of the master's bowls, a grandmother, in whose garden, to her joy, a turnip mutilated ... While the search for happiness stands still, the slow but steady growth of national self-consciousness is depicted, which the author wanted to show even more than the declared happiness in Russia. From random episodes, a general picture of Rus' emerges: impoverished, drunk, but not hopeless, striving for a better life. In addition, the poem contains several large and independent interstitial episodes, some of which are even placed in autonomous chapters (“Last Child”, “Peasant Woman”).
4. Climax. The writer calls Grisha Dobrosklonov, a fighter for the people's happiness, a happy man in Rus'.
5. Interchange. A serious illness prevented the author from completing his great plan. Even those chapters that he managed to write were sorted and marked by his confidants after his death. It must be understood that the poem is not finished, it was written by a very sick person, therefore this work is the most complex and confusing of Nekrasov's entire literary heritage.
6. The final chapter is called "A Feast for the Whole World". All night the peasants sing about the old and new times. Kind and hopeful songs are sung by Grisha Dobrosklonov.

What is the poem about?

Seven peasants met on the road and argued about who should live well in Rus'? The essence of the poem is that they were looking for an answer to this question on the way, talking with representatives of different classes. The revelation of each of them is a separate story. So, the heroes went for a walk in order to resolve the dispute, but only quarreled, starting a fight. In the night forest, at the moment of a fight, a chick fell from the bird's nest, and one of the men picked it up. The interlocutors sat down by the fire and began to dream in order to also acquire wings and everything necessary for traveling in search of the truth. The warbler bird turns out to be magical and, as a ransom for her chick, tells people how to find a self-assembled tablecloth that will provide them with food and clothes. They find her and feast, and during the feast they vow to find the answer to their question together, but until then they will not see any of their relatives and not return home.

On the way they meet a priest, a peasant woman, a farcical Petrushka, a beggar, an overworked worker and a paralyzed former yard, honest man Yermila Girin, a landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, a survivor of the mind of the Last Duck and his family, a serf Yakov the faithful, God's wanderer Ion Lyapushkin but none of them were happy man. Each of them is associated with a story full of genuine tragedy of suffering and misfortune. The goal of the journey is reached only when the wanderers stumble upon the seminarian Grisha Dobrosklonov, who is happy with his selfless service to his homeland. With good songs, he instills hope in the people, and this is how the poem “Who lives well in Rus'” ends. Nekrasov wanted to continue the story, but did not have time, but he gave his heroes a chance to gain faith in the future of Russia.

Main characters and their characteristics

It is safe to say about the heroes of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” that they represent a complete system of images that streamlines and structures the text. For example, the work emphasizes the unity of the seven wanderers. They do not show individuality, character, they express the common features of national self-consciousness for all. These characters- a single whole, their dialogues, in fact, are a collective speech that originates from the oral folk art. This feature makes Nekrasov's poem related to the Russian folklore tradition.

1. Seven Wanderers are former serfs "from adjacent villages - Zaplatova, Dyryavina, Razutov, Znobishina, Gorelova, Neyolova, Neurozhayka, too." All of them put forward their own versions of who lives well in Rus': a landowner, an official, a priest, a merchant, a noble boyar, a sovereign minister or a tsar. Perseverance is expressed in their character: they all demonstrate unwillingness to take sides. Strength, courage and the pursuit of truth - that's what unites them. They are ardent, easily succumbed to anger, but quickness compensates for these shortcomings. Kindness and responsiveness make them pleasant interlocutors, even despite some meticulousness. Their temper is harsh and cool, but life did not spoil them with luxury: the former serfs always bent their backs, working for the master, and after the reform, no one bothered to attach them properly. So they wandered in Rus' in search of truth and justice. The search itself characterizes them as serious, thoughtful and thorough people. The symbolic number "7" means a hint of good luck that awaited them at the end of the journey.
2. Main character- Grisha Dobrosklonov, seminarian, son of a deacon. By nature, he is a dreamer, a romantic, loves to compose songs and make people happy. In them, he talks about the fate of Russia, about her misfortunes, and at the same time about her mighty strength, which will someday come out and crush injustice. Although he is an idealist, his character is firm, as are his convictions to devote his life to the service of the truth. The character feels a calling to be a people's leader and singer of Rus'. He is happy to sacrifice himself to a lofty idea and help his homeland. However, the author hints that a difficult fate awaits him: prisons, exile, hard labor. The authorities do not want to hear the voice of the people, they will try to shut them up, and then Grisha will be doomed to torment. But Nekrasov makes it clear with all his might that happiness is a state of spiritual euphoria, and it can only be known by being inspired by a lofty idea.
3. Matrena Timofeevna Korchagina- the main character, a peasant woman, whom the neighbors call lucky because she begged the wife of her husband's military leader (he, the only breadwinner of the family, was to be recruited for 25 years). However, the story of a woman's life reveals not luck or good fortune, but grief and humiliation. She knew the loss of her only child, the anger of her mother-in-law, everyday, exhausting work. Detailed and her fate is described in an essay on our website, be sure to look.
4. Savely Korchagin- the grandfather of Matryona's husband, a real Russian hero. At one time, he killed a German manager who mercilessly mocked the peasants entrusted to him. For this, a strong and proud man paid for decades of hard labor. Upon his return, he was no longer good for anything, years of imprisonment trampled on his body, but did not break his will, because, as before, he stood up for justice with a mountain. The hero always said about the Russian peasant: "And it bends, but does not break." However, without knowing it, the grandfather turns out to be the executioner of his own great-grandson. He did not notice the child, and the pigs ate it.
5. Ermil Girin- a man of exceptional honesty, a steward in the estate of Prince Yurlov. When he needed to buy the mill, he stood in the square and asked people to rush to help him. After the hero got to his feet, he returned all the borrowed money to the people. For this, he earned respect and honor. But he is unhappy, because he paid for his authority with freedom: after a peasant revolt, suspicion fell on him in his organization, and he was imprisoned.
6. Landlords in the poem“To whom in Rus' to live well” are presented in abundance. The author depicts them objectively and even gives some images positive character. For example, the governor's wife Elena Alexandrovna, who helped Matryona, appears as a people's benefactor. Also, with a note of compassion, the writer portrays Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, who also treated the peasants tolerably, even arranged holidays for them, and with the abolition of serfdom, he lost the ground under his feet: he was too accustomed to the old order. In contrast to these characters, the image of the Last Duck and his treacherous, prudent family was created. The relatives of the hard-hearted old serf-owner decided to deceive him and persuaded the former slaves to participate in the performance in exchange for profitable territories. However, when the old man died, the rich heirs brazenly deceived the common people and drove him away with nothing. The apogee of the nobility of the nobility is the landowner Polivanov, who beats his faithful servant and sends his son to the recruits for trying to marry his beloved girl. Thus, the writer is far from denigrating the nobility everywhere, he is trying to show both sides of the coin.
7. Kholop Yakov- an indicative figure of a serf, the antagonist of the hero Saveliy. Yakov absorbed the whole slavish essence of the oppressed class, downtrodden with lack of rights and ignorance. When the master beats him and even sends his son to certain death, the servant meekly and meekly endures the offense. His revenge was a match for this humility: he hanged himself in the forest right in front of the master, who was crippled and could not get home without his help.
8. Iona Lyapushkin- God's wanderer, who told the peasants several stories about the life of people in Rus'. It tells about the epiphany of ataman Kudeyara, who decided to atone for sins by killing for good, and about the cunning of Gleb the headman, who violated the will of the late master and did not release the serfs on his orders.
9. Pop- a representative of the clergy, who complains about the difficult life of a priest. The constant clash with grief and poverty saddens the heart, not to mention the popular witticisms against his dignity.

The characters in the poem "To whom it is good to live in Rus'" are diverse and allow us to paint a picture of the customs and life of that time.

Subject

• The main theme of the piece is Liberty- rests on the problem that the Russian peasant did not know what to do with it, and how to adapt to new realities. national character also “problematic”: people-thinkers, people-seekers of truth still drink, live in oblivion and empty talk. They are not able to squeeze slaves out of themselves until their poverty acquires at least the modest dignity of poverty, until they stop living in drunken illusions, until they realize their strength and pride, trampled down by centuries of humiliating state of affairs that have been sold, lost and bought.
• Happiness Theme. The poet believes that a person can get the highest satisfaction from life only by helping other people. The real value of being is to feel needed by society, to bring goodness, love and justice to the world. Selfless and selfless service to a good cause fills every moment with sublime meaning, with an idea, without which time loses color, becomes dull from inaction or selfishness. Grisha Dobrosklonov is happy not with wealth and position in the world, but with the fact that he leads Russia and his people to a brighter future.
• Homeland Theme. Although Rus' appears in the eyes of readers as a poor and tortured, but still a beautiful country with a great future and a heroic past. Nekrasov pities his homeland, devoting himself entirely to its correction and improvement. The homeland for him is the people, the people are his muse. All these concepts are closely intertwined in the poem "To whom in Rus' it is good to live." The author's patriotism is especially pronounced at the end of the book, when wanderers find a lucky man who lives in the interests of society. In a strong and patient Russian woman, in the justice and honor of a hero-peasant, in the sincere good-heartedness of a folk singer, the creator sees the true image of his state, full of dignity and spirituality.
• The theme of labor. Useful activity elevates the impoverished heroes of Nekrasov above the vanity and depravity of the nobility. It is idleness that destroys the Russian master, turning him into a self-satisfied and arrogant nonentity. But the common people have skills that are really important for society and genuine virtue, without them there will be no Russia, but the country will manage without noble tyrants, revelers and greedy seekers of wealth. So the writer comes to the conclusion that the value of each citizen is determined only by his contribution to the common cause - the prosperity of the motherland.
• mystical motif. Fantastic elements appear already in the Prologue and immerse the reader in the fabulous atmosphere of the epic, where you have to follow the development of the idea, and not the realism of the circumstances. Seven owls on seven trees - the magic number 7, which promises good luck. The raven praying to the devil is another guise of the devil, because the raven symbolizes death, grave decay and infernal forces. He is opposed by a good force in the form of a warbler bird, which equips the men on the road. A self-assembled tablecloth is a poetic symbol of happiness and contentment. The “Wide Path” is a symbol of the open ending of the poem and the basis of the plot, because on both sides of the road, travelers open up a multifaceted and genuine panorama of Russian life. Symbolic image of an unknown fish in unknown seas, which absorbed "the keys to female happiness." A weeping she-wolf with bloody nipples also clearly demonstrates the difficult fate of a Russian peasant woman. One of the most vivid images of the reform is the “great chain”, which, having broken, “spread one end along the gentleman, the other along the peasant!”. The seven wanderers are a symbol of the entire people of Russia, restless, waiting for change and seeking happiness.

Issues

• In the epic poem, Nekrasov touched on a large number of acute and topical issues of that time. The main problem is “Who is it good to live in Rus'?” - the problem of happiness, both socially and philosophically. It is connected with the social theme of the abolition of serfdom, which greatly changed (and not for the better) the traditional way of life of all segments of the population. It would seem that here it is, freedom, what else do people need? Is this not happiness? However, in reality, it turned out that the people, who, due to long slavery, do not know how to live independently, turned out to be thrown to the mercy of fate. A priest, a landowner, a peasant woman, Grisha Dobrosklonov and seven peasants are real Russian characters and destinies. The author described them, relying on rich experience of communicating with people from the common people. The problems of the work are also taken from life: disorder and confusion after the reform to abolish serfdom really affected all classes. No one organized jobs for yesterday's serfs, or at least land allotments, no one provided the landowner with competent instructions and laws governing his new relationship with workers.
• The problem of alcoholism. Wanderers come to an unpleasant conclusion: life in Rus' is so hard that without drunkenness a peasant will completely die. Forgetfulness and fog are necessary for him in order to somehow pull the strap of a hopeless existence and hard labor.
• The problem of social inequality. The landlords have been torturing the peasants with impunity for years, and Savelyia has been deformed for the murder of such an oppressor all her life. For the deceit, there will be nothing for the relatives of the Last, and their servants will again be left with nothing.
• The philosophical problem of the search for truth, which each of us encounters, is allegorically expressed in the campaign of seven wanderers who understand that without this discovery their life is depreciated.

The idea of ​​the work

The road skirmish of the peasants is not an everyday quarrel, but an eternal, great dispute, in which all layers of Russian society of that time appear to one degree or another. All its main representatives (priest, landowner, merchant, official, tsar) are called to the peasant court. For the first time men can and have the right to judge. For all the years of slavery and poverty, they are not looking for retribution, but for an answer: how to live? This is the meaning of Nekrasov's poem "Who is living well in Rus'?" - the growth of national consciousness on the ruins of the old system. The author's point of view is expressed by Grisha Dobrosklonov in his songs: “And your burden was lightened by fate, companion of the days of the Slav! You are still a slave in the family, but the mother is already a free son! ..». Despite the negative consequences of the reform of 1861, the creator believes that behind it is a happy future for the fatherland. It is always difficult at the beginning of change, but this work will be rewarded a hundredfold.

The most important condition for further prosperity is to overcome internal slavery:

Enough! Finished with the last calculation,
Done with sir!
The Russian people gather with strength
And learning to be a citizen

Although the poem is not finished, the main idea Nekrasov voiced. Already the first of the songs of “A Feast for the Whole World” gives an answer to the question posed in the title: “The share of the people, their happiness, light and freedom, first of all!”

End

In the finale, the author expresses his point of view on the changes that have taken place in Russia in connection with the abolition of serfdom and, finally, sums up the results of the search: Grisha Dobrosklonov is recognized as the lucky one. It is he who is the bearer of Nekrasov's opinion, and in his songs the true attitude of Nikolai Alekseevich to what he described is hidden. The poem “To whom it is good to live in Rus'” ends with a feast for the whole world in the truest sense of the word: this is the name of the last chapter, where the characters celebrate and rejoice at the happy end of the search.

Conclusion

In Rus', the hero of Nekrasov, Grisha Dobrosklonov, is well, as he serves people, and, therefore, lives with meaning. Grisha is a fighter for the truth, a prototype of a revolutionary. The conclusion that can be drawn on the basis of the work is simple: a lucky man has been found, Rus' is embarking on the path of reforms, the people, through thorns, are drawn to the title of citizen. This bright omen is the great meaning of the poem. For more than a century it has been teaching people altruism, the ability to serve high ideals, and not vulgar and passing cults. From the point of view of literary skill, the book is also of great importance: it is truly a folk epic, reflecting a controversial, complex, and at the same time the most important historical era.

Of course, the poem would not be so valuable if it only gave lessons in history and literature. She gives life lessons, and this is its most important property. The moral of the work “To whom it is good to live in Rus'” is that it is necessary to work for the good of one’s homeland, not to scold it, but to help it with deeds, because it’s easier to push around with a word, but not everyone can and wants to really change something. Here it is, happiness - to be in your place, to be needed not only for yourself, but also for the people. Only together can a significant result be achieved, only together can we overcome the problems and hardships of this overcoming. Grisha Dobrosklonov, with his songs, tried to unite, rally people so that they would meet changes shoulder to shoulder. This is his holy purpose, and everyone has it, it is important not to be too lazy to go out on the road and look for him, as the seven wanderers did.

Criticism

The reviewers were attentive to the work of Nekrasov, because he himself was an important person in literary circles and had great authority. Entire monographs were devoted to his phenomenal civil lyrics with detailed analysis creative technique and ideological and thematic originality of his poetry. For example, here is how the writer S.A. spoke about his style. Andreevsky:

He retrieved from oblivion the anapaest abandoned on Olympus and long years made this heavy, but flexible meter as walking as from the time of Pushkin to Nekrasov, only the airy and melodious iambic remained. This rhythm, chosen by the poet, reminiscent of the rotational movement of a hurdy-gurdy, made it possible to stay on the borders of poetry and prose, to joke with the crowd, to speak fluently and vulgarly, to insert a cheerful and cruel joke, to express bitter truths and imperceptibly, slowing down the beat, with more solemn words, to turn into ornate.

Korney Chukovsky spoke with inspiration about the thorough preparation of Nikolai Alekseevich for work, citing this example of writing as a standard:

Nekrasov himself constantly “visited Russian huts”, thanks to which both soldier and peasant speech became thoroughly known to him from childhood: not only from books, but also in practice, he studied the common language and from his youth became a great connoisseur of folk poetic images, folk forms thinking, folk aesthetics.

The death of the poet came as a surprise and a blow to many of his friends and colleagues. As you know, F.M. Dostoevsky with a heartfelt speech inspired by the impressions of a recently read poem. Specifically, among other things, he said:

He really was in the highest degree original and, indeed, came with a "new word".

The “new word”, first of all, was his poem “Who in Rus' should live well”. No one before him was so deeply aware of the peasant, simple, worldly grief. His colleague in his speech noted that Nekrasov was dear to him precisely because he bowed "to the people's truth with his whole being, which he testified to in his best creations." However, Fedor Mikhailovich did not support his radical views on the reorganization of Russia, however, like many thinkers of that time. Therefore, criticism reacted violently to the publication, and in some cases aggressively. In this situation, the honor of a friend was defended by a well-known reviewer, a master of the word Vissarion Belinsky:

N. Nekrasov in his last work remained true to his idea: to arouse the sympathy of the upper classes of society for the common people, their needs and requirements.

Quite poignantly, recalling, apparently, professional differences, I. S. Turgenev spoke about the work:

Nekrasov's poems, collected in one trick, are burning.

The liberal writer was not a supporter of his former editor and openly expressed his doubts about his talent as an artist:

In white threads sewn together, seasoned with all sorts of absurdities, painfully hatched fabrications of the mournful muse of Mr. Nekrasov - she, poetry, is not even worth a penny ”

He really was a man of very high nobility of soul and a man of great mind. And as a poet he is, of course, superior to all poets.

Interesting? Save it on your wall!

Who lives well in Rus'

Nikolay Alekseevich Nekrasov

“Who lives well in Rus'” is the final work of Nekrasov, a folk epic, which included all the centuries-old experience of peasant life, all the information about the people collected by the poet “by word” for twenty years.

Nikolay Alekseevich Nekrasov

Who lives well in Rus'

PART ONE

In what year - count

In what land - guess

On the pillar path

Seven men came together:

Seven temporarily liable,

tightened province,

County Terpigorev,

empty parish,

From adjacent villages:

Zaplatova, Dyryavina,

Razutova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neelova -

Crop failure, too,

Agreed - and argued:

Who has fun

Feel free in Rus'?

Roman said: to the landowner,

Demyan said: to the official,

Luke said: ass.

Fat-bellied merchant! -

Gubin brothers said

Ivan and Mitrodor.

Old man Pahom pushed

And he said, looking at the ground:

noble boyar,

Minister of the State.

And Prov said: to the king ...

Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya

In the head what a whim -

Stake her from there

You won’t knock out: they rest,

Everyone is on their own!

Is there such a dispute?

What do passers-by think?

To know that the children found the treasure

And they share...

To each his own

Left the house before noon:

That path led to the forge,

He went to the village of Ivankovo

Call Father Prokofy

Baptize the child.

Pahom honeycombs

Carried to the market in the Great,

And two brothers Gubina

So simple with a halter

Catching a stubborn horse

They went to their own herd.

It's high time for everyone

Return your way -

They are walking side by side!

They walk like they're running

Behind them are gray wolves,

What is further - then sooner.

They go - they perekorya!

They shout - they will not come to their senses!

And time does not wait.

They didn't notice the controversy

As the red sun set

How the evening came.

Probably a whole night

So they went - where not knowing,

When they meet a woman,

Crooked Durandiha,

She did not shout: “Venerable!

Where are you looking at night

Have you thought about going?..”

Asked, laughed

Whipped, witch, gelding

And jumped off...

"Where? .." - exchanged glances

Here are our men

They stand, they are silent, they look down...

The night has long gone

Frequent stars lit up

In high skies

The moon surfaced, the shadows are black

The road was cut

Zealous walkers.

Oh shadows! black shadows!

Who won't you chase?

Who won't you overtake?

Only you, black shadows,

You can not catch - hug!

To the forest, to the path

He looked, was silent Pahom,

I looked - I scattered my mind

And he said at last:

"Well! goblin glorious joke

He played a trick on us!

After all, we are without a little

Thirty miles away!

Home now toss and turn -

We are tired - we will not reach,

Come on, there's nothing to be done.

Let's rest until the sun! .. "

Having dumped the trouble on the devil,

Under the forest along the path

The men sat down.

They lit a fire, formed,

Two ran away for vodka,

And the rest for a while

The glass is made

I pulled the birch bark.

The vodka came soon.

Ripe and snack -

The men are feasting!

Kosushki drank three,

Ate - and argued

Again: who has fun to live,

Feel free in Rus'?

Roman shouts: to the landowner,

Demyan shouts: to the official,

Luke yells: ass;

Fat-bellied merchant, -

The Gubin brothers are screaming,

Ivan and Mitrodor;

Pahom shouts: to the brightest

noble boyar,

Minister of the State,

And Prov shouts: to the king!

Taken more than ever

perky men,

Cursing swearing,

No wonder they get stuck

Into each other's hair...

Look - they've got it!

Roman hits Pakhomushka,

Demyan hits Luka.

And two brothers Gubina

They iron Prov hefty, -

And everyone screams!

A booming echo woke up

Went for a walk, a walk,

It went screaming, shouting,

As if to tease

Stubborn men.

King! - heard to the right

Left responds:

Butt! ass! ass!

The whole forest was in turmoil

With flying birds

By swift-footed beasts

And creeping reptiles, -

And a groan, and a roar, and a rumble!

First of all, a gray bunny

From a neighboring bush

Suddenly jumped out, as if tousled,

And off he went!

Behind him are small jackdaws

At the top of the birches raised

Nasty, sharp squeak.

And here at the foam

With fright, a tiny chick

Fell from the nest;

Chirping, crying chiffchaff,

Where is the chick? - will not find!

Then the old cuckoo

I woke up and thought

Someone to cuckoo;

Taken ten times

Yes, it crashed every time

And started again...

Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!

Bread will sting

You choke on an ear -

You won't poop!

Seven owls flocked,

Admire the carnage

From seven big trees

Laugh, midnighters!

And their eyes are yellow

They burn like burning wax

Fourteen candles!

And the raven, the smart bird,

Ripe, sitting on a tree

At the very fire.

Sitting and praying to hell

To be slammed to death

Someone!

Cow with a bell

What has strayed since the evening

Came to the fire, tired

Eyes on men

I listened to crazy speeches

And began, my heart,

Moo, moo, moo!

Silly cow mooing

Small jackdaws squeak.

The boys are screaming,

And the echo echoes everything.

He has one concern -

To tease honest people

Scare guys and women!

Nobody saw him

And everyone has heard

Without a body - but it lives,

Without a tongue - screaming!

Owl - Zamoskvoretskaya

Princess - immediately mooing,

Flying over peasants

Rushing about the ground,

That about the bushes with a wing ...

The fox herself is cunning,

Out of curiosity,

Sneaked up on the men

I listened, I listened

And she walked away, thinking:

"And the devil does not understand them!"

And indeed: the disputants themselves

Hardly knew, remembered -

What are they talking about...

Naming the sides decently

To each other, come to their senses

Finally, the peasants

Drunk from a puddle

Washed, refreshed

Sleep began to roll them ...

In the meantime, a tiny chick,

Little by little, half a sapling,

flying low,

Got to the fire.

Pakhomushka caught him,

He brought it to the fire, looked at it

And he said: "Little bird,

And the nail is up!

I breathe - you roll off the palm of your hand,

Sneeze - roll into the fire,

I click - you will roll dead,

And yet you, little bird,

Stronger than a man!

Wings will get stronger soon

Bye-bye! wherever you want

You will fly there!

Oh you little pichuga!

Give us your wings

We will circle the whole kingdom,

Let's see, let's see

Let's ask and find out:

Who lives happily

Feel free in Rus'?

"You don't even need wings,

If only we had bread

Half a pood a day, -

And so we would Mother Rus'

They measured it with their feet!” -

Said the sullen Prov.

"Yes, a bucket of vodka," -

Added willing

Before vodka, the Gubin brothers,

Ivan and Mitrodor.

“Yes, in the morning there would be cucumbers

Salty ten, "-

The men joked.

“And at noon would be a jug

Cold kvass."

"And in the evening for a teapot

Hot tea…”

While they were talking

Curled, whirled foam

Above them: listened to everything

And sat by the fire.

Chiviknula, jumped up

Pahomu says:

"Let go of the chick!

For a little chick

I'll give you a big ransom."

– What will you give? -

"Lady's bread

Half a pood a day

I'll give you a bucket of vodka

In the morning I will give cucumbers,

And at noon sour kvass,

And in the evening a seagull!

- And where,

Page 2 of 11

little pichuga, -

Gubin brothers asked, -

Find wine and bread

Are you on seven men? -

“Find - you will find yourself.

And I, little pichuga,

I'll tell you how to find it."

- Tell! -

"Go through the woods

Against the thirtieth pillar

A straight verst:

Come to the meadow

Standing in that meadow

Two old pines

Beneath these under the pines

Buried box.

Get her -

That box is magical.

It has a self-assembled tablecloth,

Whenever you wish

Eat, drink!

Quietly just say:

"Hey! self-made tablecloth!

Treat the men!”

At your request

At my command

Everything will appear at once.

Now let the chick go!”

- Wait! we are poor people

I'm going on a long road,

Pahom answered her. -

You, I see, are a wise bird,

Respect - old clothes

Bewitch us!

- So that the peasants' Armenians

Worn, not worn! -

Roman demanded.

- To fake bast shoes

Served, did not crash, -

Demyan demanded.

- So that a louse, a foul flea

I didn’t breed in shirts, -

Luke demanded.

- Wouldn’t the onuchenki ... -

Gubins demanded...

And the bird answered them:

"All the tablecloth is self-assembled

Repair, wash, dry

You will be ... Well, let it go! .. "

Opening a wide palm,

He let the chick go.

Let it go - and a tiny chick,

Little by little, half a sapling,

flying low,

Went to the hollow.

Behind him, a foam rose

And on the fly added:

“Look, chur, one!

How much food will take

Womb - then ask

And you can ask for vodka

In day exactly on a bucket.

If you ask more

And one and two - it will be fulfilled

At your request,

And in the third, be in trouble!

And the foam flew away

With my darling chick,

And the men in single file

Reached for the road

Look for the thirtieth pillar.

Found! - silently go

Straight, straight

Through the dense forest,

Every step counts.

And how they measured a mile,

We saw a meadow -

Standing in that meadow

Two old pines...

The peasants dug

Got that box

Opened and found

That tablecloth self-assembled!

They found it and shouted at once:

“Hey, self-assembled tablecloth!

Treat the men!”

Look - the tablecloth unfolded,

Where did they come from

Two strong hands

A bucket of wine was placed

Bread was laid on a mountain

And they hid again.

“But why aren’t there cucumbers?”

"What is not a hot tea?"

“What is there no cold kvass?”

Everything suddenly appeared...

The peasants unbelted

They sat down by the tablecloth.

Went here feast mountain!

Kissing for joy

promise to each other

Forward do not fight in vain,

And it's quite controversial

By reason, by God,

On the honor of the story -

Do not toss and turn in the houses,

Don't see your wives

Not with the little guys

Not with old old people,

As long as the matter is controversial

Solutions will not be found

Until they tell

No matter how it is for sure:

Who lives happily

Feel free in Rus'?

Having made such a vow,

In the morning like dead

Men fell asleep...

Chapter I. POP

wide path,

lined with birches,

stretched far,

Sandy and deaf.

Along the side of the path

The hills are coming

With fields, with hayfields,

And more often with inconvenience,

abandoned land;

There are old villages

There are new villages

By the rivers, by the ponds...

Forests, floodplain meadows,

Russian streams and rivers

Good in spring.

But you, spring fields!

On your seedlings are poor

It's not fun to watch!

"No wonder in the long winter

(Our wanderers interpret)

It snowed every day.

Spring has come - the snow has affected!

He is humble for the time being:

Flies - silent, lies - silent,

When he dies, then he roars.

Water - everywhere you look!

The fields are completely flooded

To carry manure - there is no road,

And the time is not early -

The month of May is coming!

Dislike and old,

It hurts more than that for new

Trees for them to look at.

Oh, huts, new huts!

You are smart, let it build you

Not an extra penny

And blood trouble!

Wanderers met in the morning

All more people small:

His brother is a peasant-bast worker,

Artisans, beggars,

Soldiers, coachmen.

Beggars, soldiers

Strangers didn't ask

How is it easy for them, is it difficult

Lives in Rus'?

Soldiers shave with an awl

Soldiers warm themselves with smoke -

What happiness is here?

The day was already drawing to a close,

They go the way,

The pop is coming towards.

The peasants took off their hats.

bow low,

Lined up in a row

And gelding savrasoma

Blocked the way.

The priest raised his head

He looked and asked with his eyes:

What do they want?

“No way! we are not robbers!” -

Luka said to the priest.

(Luke is a squat man,

With a wide beard.

Stubborn, verbose and stupid.

Luka looks like a mill:

One is not a bird mill,

What, no matter how it flaps its wings,

Probably won't fly.)

"We are men of power,

Of the temporary

tightened province,

County Terpigorev,

empty parish,

Roundabout villages:

Zaplatova, Dyryavina,

Razutova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neelova -

Crop failure too.

Let's go on something important:

We have a concern

Is it such a concern

Which of the houses survived

With work unfriended us,

Got off food.

You give us the right word

To our peasant speech

Without laughter and without cunning,

According to conscience, according to reason,

Answer truthfully

Not so with your care

We will go to another…”

- I give you the right word:

When you ask a thing

Without laughter and without cunning,

In truth and reason

How should you answer.

"Thank you. Listen!

Walking the path,

We got together casually

They agreed and argued:

Who has fun

Feel free in Rus'?

Roman said: to the landowner,

Demyan said: to the official,

And I said: ass.

Fat-bellied merchant, -

Gubin brothers said

Ivan and Mitrodor.

Pahom said: to the brightest

noble boyar,

Minister of the State.

And Prov said: to the king ...

Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya

In the head what a whim -

Stake her from there

You won’t knock out: no matter how they argued,

We did not agree!

Argued - quarreled,

Quarreled - fought,

Podravshis - dressed up:

Don't go apart

Do not toss and turn in the houses,

Don't see your wives

Not with the little guys

Not with old old people,

As long as our dispute

We won't find a solution

Until we get it

Whatever it is - for sure:

Who wants to live happily

Feel free in Rus'?

Tell us Godly

Is the priest's life sweet?

You are like - at ease, happily

Do you live, honest father? .. "

Downcast, thinking

Sitting in a cart, pop

And he said: - Orthodox!

It's a sin to grumble at God

Bear my cross with patience

I live ... but how? Listen!

I'll tell you the truth, the truth

And you are a peasant mind

Dare! -

"Begin!"

What is happiness, in your opinion?

Peace, wealth, honor -

Isn't that right, dear ones?

They said yes...

- Now let's see, brethren,

What is the ass peace of mind?

Start, confess, it would be necessary

Almost from birth

How to get a diploma

the priest's son

At what cost popovich

The priesthood is bought

Let's better shut up!

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Page 3 of 11

. . . . . . . . . .

Our roads are difficult.

We have a large income.

Sick, dying

Born into the world

Do not choose time:

In stubble and haymaking,

In the dead of autumn night

In winter, in severe frosts,

And in the spring flood -

Go where you are called!

You go unconditionally.

And let only the bones

One broke,

No! every time it gets wet,

The soul will hurt.

Do not believe, Orthodox,

There is a limit to habit.

No heart to endure

Without some trepidation

death rattle,

grave sob,

Orphan sorrow!

Amen!.. Now think.

What is the peace of the ass?..

The peasants thought little

Letting the priest rest

They said with a bow:

"What else can you tell us?"

- Now let's see, brethren,

What is the honor of the priest?

A tricky task

Wouldn't make you angry...

Say, Orthodox

Who do you call

Foal breed?

Chur! respond to demand!

The peasants hesitated.

They are silent - and the pope is silent ...

Who are you afraid to meet?

Walking the way?

Chur! respond to demand!

They groan, shift,

- Who are you talking about?

You are fairy tales,

And obscene songs

And all the bullshit? ..

Mother-popadyu sedate,

Popov's innocent daughter

Seminarian of any -

How do you honor?

Who is after, like a gelding,

Shout: ho-ho-ho? ..

The kids got down

They are silent - and the pope is silent ...

The peasants thought

And pop with a big hat

Waving in my face

Yes, I looked at the sky.

In the spring, that the grandchildren are small,

With the ruddy sun-grandfather

Clouds are playing

Here is the right side

One continuous cloud

Covered - clouded

She fainted and cried:

Rows of gray threads

They hung to the ground.

And closer, above the peasants,

From small, torn,

Merry clouds

Laughing red sun

Like a girl from sheaves.

But the cloud has moved

Pop hat is covered -

Be heavy rain.

And the right side

Already bright and joyful

There the rain stops.

Not rain, there is a miracle of God:

There with golden threads

Skeins are scattered…

“Not by themselves ... by parents

We are somehow ... ”- the Gubin brothers

They finally said.

And the others agreed:

“Not by themselves, by their parents!”

And the priest said, “Amen!

Sorry Orthodox!

Not in condemnation of the neighbor,

And at your request

I told you the truth.

Such is the honor of the priest

in the peasantry. And the landowners...

“You are past them, the landowners!

We know them!"

- Now let's see, brethren,

Otkudova wealth

Popovskoe is coming?..

During the near

Russian Empire

Noble estates

It was full.

And the landowners lived there,

eminent owners,

Which are no longer there!

Be fruitful and multiply

And they let us live.

What weddings were played there,

What babies were born

On free bread!

Though often cool,

However, well-meaning

Those were the gentlemen

The parish was not alienated:

They got married with us

Our children were baptized

They came to us to repent,

We buried them

And if it happened

That the landowner lived in the city,

So probably die

He came to the village.

When he dies by accident

And then punish firmly

Bury in the parish.

You look to the rural temple

On the funeral chariot

In six horses heirs

The deceased is being transported -

The ass is a good amendment,

For the laity, a holiday is a holiday ...

And now it's not like that!

Like a Jewish tribe

The landowners scattered

Through a distant foreign land

And in native Rus'.

No more pride now

Lie in native possession

Next to fathers, with grandfathers,

And many possessions

They went to the barryshniks.

oh damn bones

Russian, nobility!

Where are you not buried?

What land are you not in?

Then, an article… schismatics…

I'm not sinful, I didn't live

Nothing from the schismatics.

Luckily, there was no need

In my parish is

Living in Orthodoxy

two-thirds of the parishioners.

And there are such volosts

Where almost entirely schismatics,

So how to be an ass?

Everything in the world is changeable

The world itself will pass...

Laws, formerly strict

To the dissenters, softened,

And with them and priestly

Income mat came.

The landlords moved

They don't live in estates.

And die of old age

They don't come to us anymore.

Wealthy landowners

devout old ladies,

who died out

who settled down

Close to monasteries

Nobody is now a cassock

Don't give a pop!

No one will embroider the air ...

Live from the same peasants

Collect worldly hryvnias,

Yes pies on holidays

Yes, eggs oh saint.

The peasant himself needs

And I would be glad to give, but there is nothing ...

And that's not for everyone

And sweet peasant penny.

Our favors are meager,

Sands, swamps, mosses,

The cattle walks from hand to mouth,

Bread itself is born, friend,

And if it gets good

Cheese land-breadwinner,

So a new problem:

Nowhere to go with bread!

Lock in need, sell it

For a real trifle

And there - a crop failure!

Then pay exorbitant prices

Sell ​​the cattle.

Pray Orthodox!

Great disaster threatens

And this year:

Winter was fierce

Spring is rainy

It would be necessary to sow for a long time,

And on the fields - water!

Have mercy, Lord!

Send a cool rainbow

To our skies!

(Taking off his hat, the shepherd is baptized,

And listeners too.)

Our poor villages

And in them the peasants are sick

Yes, sad women

Nurses, drinkers,

Slaves, pilgrims

And eternal workers

Lord give them strength!

With such works pennies

Life is hard!

It happens to the sick

You will come: not dying,

Terrible peasant family

At the moment when she has to

Lose the breadwinner!

You admonish the deceased

And support in the rest

You try your best

The spirit is awake! And here to you

The old woman, the mother of the deceased,

Look, stretching with a bony,

Callused hand.

The soul will turn

How they tinkle in this hand

Two copper coins!

Of course, it's clean

For demanding retribution,

Do not take - so there is nothing to live with.

Yes, a word of comfort

Freeze on the tongue

And as if offended

Go home... Amen...

Finished the speech - and the gelding

Pop lightly slapped.

The peasants parted

They bowed low.

The horse moved slowly.

And six comrades

As if they were talking

Attacked with reproaches

With selected big swearing

On poor Luke:

- What did you take? stubborn head!

Rustic club!

That's where the argument gets in! -

"Nobles bell -

Priests live like princes.

They go under the sky

Popov's tower,

The priest's patrimony is buzzing -

loud bells -

For the whole world of God.

Three years I, robots,

Lived with the priest in the workers,

Raspberry - not life!

Popova porridge - with butter.

Popov pie - with filling,

Popovy cabbage soup - with smelt!

Popov's wife is fat,

Popov's daughter is white,

Popov's horse is fat,

Popov's bee is full,

How the bell tolls!

Page 4 of 11

here's your praise

Pop's life!

Why was he yelling, swaggering?

Climbed into a fight, anathema?

Didn't you think to take

What is a beard with a shovel?

So with a goat beard

Walked the world before

than the forefather Adam,

And it's considered a fool

And now the goat! ..

Luke stood silent,

I was afraid they wouldn't slap

Comrades on the side.

It became so

Yes, fortunately the peasant

The road bent

The priest's face is strict

Appeared on a hillock ...

CHAPTER II. VILLAGE FAIR

No wonder our wanderers

They scolded the wet

Cold spring.

The peasant needs spring

And early and friendly,

And here - even a wolf howl!

The sun does not warm the earth

And rainy clouds

Like milk cows

They go to heaven.

Driven snow, and greenery

No weed, no leaf!

Water is not removed

The earth does not dress

Green bright velvet

And like a dead man without a shroud,

Lies under a cloudy sky

Sad and naked.

Pity the poor peasant

And more sorry for the cattle;

Feeding scarce supplies,

The owner of the twig

Chased her into the meadows

What is there to take? Chernekhonko!

Only on Nicholas of the spring

The weather turned up

Green fresh grass

The cattle enjoyed.

The day is hot. Under the birches

The peasants are making their way

They chat among themselves:

"We're going through one village,

Let's go another - empty!

And today is a holiday

Where did the people disappear to? .. "

They go through the village - on the street

Some guys are small

In the houses - old women,

And even locked up

Castle gates.

The castle is a faithful dog:

Doesn't bark, doesn't bite

He won't let you in the house!

Passed the village, saw

Mirror in green frame

With the edges of a full pond.

Swallows soar over the pond;

Some mosquitoes

Agile and skinny

Hopping, as if on dry land,

They walk on the water.

Along the banks, in the broom,

The corncrakes creak.

On a long, rickety raft

With a roll, the priest is thick

It stands like a plucked haystack,

Tucking the hem.

On the same raft

Sleeping duck with ducklings...

Chu! horse snore!

The peasants looked at once

And they saw over the water

Two heads: a man's.

Curly and swarthy

With an earring (the sun blinked

On that white earring)

Another - horse

With a rope, fathoms at five.

The man takes the rope in his mouth,

The man swims - and the horse swims,

The man neighed, and the horse neighed.

Float, scream! Under the grandmother

Under the little ducks

The raft is moving.

I caught up with the horse - grab it by the withers!

I jumped up and went to the meadow

Child: the body is white,

And the neck is like pitch;

Water flows in streams

From horse and rider.

“And what do you have in the village

Neither old nor small

How did the whole nation die?

- They went to the village of Kuzminskoye,

Today there is a fair

And a temple feast. -

“How far is Kuzminskoe?”

- Yes, it will be three miles.

"Let's go to the village of Kuzminskoye,

Let's watch the holiday-fair! -

The men decided

And they thought to themselves:

Isn't that where he's hiding?

Who lives happily? .. "

Kuzminsky rich,

And what's more, it's dirty.

Trading village.

It stretches along the slope,

Then it descends into the ravine.

And there again on the hill -

How can there not be dirt here?

Two churches in it are old,

One old believer

Another Orthodox

House with the inscription: school,

Empty, packed tightly

Hut in one window

With the image of a paramedic,

Bleeding.

There is a dirty hotel

Decorated with a sign

(With a big nosed teapot

Tray in the hands of the carrier,

And small cups

Like a goose by goslings,

That kettle is surrounded)

There are permanent shops

Like a county

Gostiny Dvor…

Wanderers came to the square:

A lot of goods

And apparently invisible

To the people! Isn't it fun?

It seems that there is no way of the godfather,

And, as if before the icons,

Men without hats.

Such a sidekick!

Look where they go

Peasant hats:

In addition to the wine warehouse,

Taverns, restaurants,

A dozen damask shops,

Three inns,

Yes, "Rensky cellar",

Yes, a couple of zucchini.

Eleven zucchini

Set for the holiday

Village tents.

With each five trays;

Carriers - youngsters

Trained, poignant,

And they can't keep up with everything

Can't handle surrender!

Look what? stretched out

Peasant hands with hats

With scarves, with mittens.

Oh, Orthodox thirst,

How big are you!

Just to douse the darling,

And there they will get hats,

How will the market go?

By drunken heads

The sun is playing...

Intoxicating, loud, festive,

Variegated, red all around!

The pants on the guys are plush,

striped vests,

Shirts of all colors;

The women are wearing red dresses,

The girls have braids with ribbons,

They float with winches!

And there are still tricks

Dressed in the capital -

And expands and pouts

Hem on hoops!

If you step in - they will undress!

At ease, new fashionistas,

You fishing tackle

Wear under skirts!

Looking at elegant women,

Furious Old Believer

Tovarke says:

"Be hungry! be hungry!

See how the seedlings got wet,

What spring flood

Worth to Petrov!

Ever since the women started

Dress up in red chintzes, -

Forests do not rise

But at least not this bread!

- Why are the chintzes red?

Did you do something wrong here, mother?

I won't put my mind to it! -

“And those French chintzes -

Painted with dog blood!

Well… understand now?…”

They hustled on horseback,

On the hill, where they are piled

Roe deer, rakes, harrows,

Bagry, cart looms,

Rims, axes.

There was a brisk trade

With godfather, with jokes,

With a healthy, loud laugh.

And how not to laugh?

The guy is kinda tiny

I went, I tried rims:

Bent one - do not like it

Bent the other, pushed.

And how will the rim straighten -

A flick on the man's forehead!

A man roars over the rim,

"Elm Club"

Scolds the fighter.

Another came with different

Wooden handicraft -

And dumped the whole cart!

Drunk! The axle is broken

And he began to do it -

The ax is broken! changed my mind

A man with an ax

Scolds him, reproaches him,

As if doing the job:

“You scoundrel, not an ax!

Empty service, don't give a damn

And he did not help.

All your life you bowed

And there was no affection!

Wanderers went to the shops:

Love handkerchiefs,

Ivanovo chintz,

Harnesses, new shoes,

The product of the Kimryaks.

At that shoe store

The strangers laugh again:

Here are the goat's shoes

Grandfather traded for granddaughter

Five times about the price

Page 5 of 11

asked

He turned in his hands, looked around:

First class product!

"Well, uncle! two kopecks

Pay, or get lost!" -

The merchant told him.

- And you wait! – Admire

An old man with a tiny boot

This is how he speaks:

- My son-in-law does not care, and the daughter will be silent,

Sorry granddaughter! hung herself

On the neck, fidget:

“Buy a hotel, grandfather.

Buy it! - silk head

The face tickles, caresses,

Kissing the old man.

Wait, barefoot crawler!

Wait, yule! gantry

Buy boots...

Vavilushka boasted,

Both old and small

Promised gifts,

And he drank himself to a penny!

How I shameless eyes

Will I show my family?

My son-in-law does not care, and my daughter will be silent,

Wife - do not care, let him grumble!

And I’m sorry for the granddaughter! .. - Went again

About granddaughter! Killed!..

The people gathered, listening,

Do not laugh, pity;

Happen, work, bread

He would have been helped

And take out two two-kopeck coins -

So you will be left with nothing.

Yes, there was a man

Pavlusha Veretennikov

(What kind, rank,

The men did not know

However, they were called "master".

He was much more of a baluster,

He wore a red shirt

Cloth undershirt,

Lubricated boots;

He sang Russian songs smoothly

And I loved listening to them.

It was taken down by many

In the inns,

In taverns, in taverns.)

So he rescued Vavila -

I bought him shoes.

Vavilo grabbed them

And he was! - for joy

Thanks even to the bar

Forgot to say old man

But other peasants

So they were disappointed

So happy, like everyone

He gave the ruble!

There was also a shop

With pictures and books

Ofeny stocked up

With your goods in it.

"Do you need generals?" -

The merchant-burner asked them.

“And give the generals!

Yes, only you in conscience,

To be real -

Thicker, more menacing."

“Wonderful! how you look! -

The merchant said with a smile,

It's not about the build…”

- And in what? kidding, friend!

Rubbish, or what, it is desirable to sell?

Where are we going with her?

You're naughty! Before the peasant

All generals are equal

Like cones on a fir tree:

To sell the shabby one,

You need to get to the dock

And fat and formidable

I'll give it to everyone...

Come on big, portly,

Chest uphill, bulging eyes,

Yes, more stars!

“But you don’t want civilians?”

- Well, here's another with the civilians! -

(However, they took it - cheap! -

some dignitary

For the belly with a barrel of wine

And for seventeen stars.)

Merchant - with all due respect,

Whatever, that will regale

(From Lubyanka - the first thief!) -

Dropped a hundred Blucher,

Archimandrite Photius,

Robber Sipko,

Sold the book: "Jester Balakirev"

And the "English milord" ...

Put in a box of books

Let's go for a walk portraits

By the kingdom of all Russia,

Until they settle down

In a peasant's summer goreka,

On a low wall...

God knows what for!

Eh! eh! will the time come

When (come, welcome! ..)

Let the peasant understand

What is a portrait of a portrait,

What is a book a book?

When a man is not Blucher

And not my lord stupid -

Belinsky and Gogol

Will you carry it from the market?

Oh people, Russian people!

Orthodox peasants!

Have you ever heard

Are you these names?

Those are great names

Worn them, glorified

Protectors of the people!

Here you would have their portraits

Hang in your boots,

“And I would be glad to heaven, but the door

Such speech breaks

In the shop unexpectedly.

What door do you want? -

“Yes, to the booth. Chu! music!.."

"Come on, I'll show you!" -

Hearing about the farce

Come and our wanderers

Listen, stare.

Comedy with Petrushka,

With a goat with a drummer

And not with a simple hurdy-gurdy,

And with real music

They looked here.

Comedy is not smart

However, not stupid

Wishful, quarterly

Not in the eyebrow, but right in the eye!

The hut is full-full.

People crack nuts

And then two or three peasants

Spread a word -

Look, vodka has appeared:

Look and drink!

Laugh, comfort

And often in a speech to Petrushkin

Insert a well-aimed word

What you can't imagine

At least swallow a pen!

There are such lovers -

How does the comedy end?

They will go for screens,

Kissing, fraternizing

Chatting with musicians:

"From where, well done?"

- And we were masters,

Played for the landowner.

Now we are free people

Who will bring, treat,

He is our master!

“And the thing, dear friends,

Pretty bar you amused,

Cheer up the men!

Hey! small! sweet vodka!

Pouring! tea! half a beer!

Tsimlyansky - live! .. "

And the flooded sea

It will go, more generous than the master's

The kids will be fed.

Not violent winds blow,

Not mother earth sways -

Noise, sing, swear,

sways, rolls,

Fighting and kissing

Holiday people!

The peasants seemed

How did you get to the hillock,

That the whole village is shaking

That even the old church

With a tall bell tower

It shook once or twice! -

Here sober, that naked,

Awkward... Our wanderers

Walked across the square

And left in the evening

Busy village...

CHAPTER III. DRUNK NIGHT

Not a barn, not barns,

Not a tavern, not a mill,

How often in Rus'

The village ended low

log building

With iron bars

In small windows.

Behind that milestone building

wide path,

lined with birches,

Opened right here.

Not crowded on weekdays

Sad and quiet

She's not the same now!

All along that lane

And along the roundabout paths,

How far did the eye go

They crawled, they lay, they rode.

Drunk floundering

And there was a groan!

Heavy carts hide,

And like calf's heads

Swinging, swinging

Victory heads

Sleepy men!

People go and fall

As if because of the rollers

Buckshot enemies

Shooting at the men!

The quiet night descends

Already out into the dark sky

Moon, really

Page 6 of 11

writes a letter

Lord of pure gold

Blue on velvet

That wise letter,

Which neither reasonable,

Buzzing! That the sea is blue

Falls silent, rises

Popular rumor.

“And we are fifty kopecks to the clerk:

The request was made

To the head of the province ... "

"Hey! the sack has fallen from the cart!”

“Where are you, Olenushka?

Wait! I'll give you a gingerbread

You are like a nimble flea,

She ate - and jumped.

I didn’t give a stroke! ”

"You are good, royal letter,

Yes, you are not written about us ... "

"Step aside, people!"

(Excise officials

With bells, with plaques

They swept from the market.)

“And I’m to that now:

And the broom is rubbish, Ivan Ilyich,

And walk on the floor

Wherever it sprays!

"God forbid, Parashenka,

You don't go to St. Petersburg!

There are such officials

You are their cook for a day,

And their night is sudarkoy -

So don't care!"

"Where are you jumping, Savvushka?"

(The priest shouts to the sotsky

On horseback, with a government badge.)

- In Kuzminskoye I jump

Behind the station. Opportunity:

There ahead of the peasant

Killed ... - "Eh! .. sins! .."

“You have become thin, Daryushka!”

- Not a spindle, friend!

That's what spins more

It's getting fatter

And I'm like a day-to-day ...

"Hey boy, stupid boy,

tattered, lousy,

Hey love me!

Me, simple-haired,

A drunken woman, an old one,

Zaaa-paaaa-chkanny! .. "

Our peasants are sober,

Looking, listening

They go their own way.

In the very middle of the path

Some guy is quiet

Dug a big hole.

"What are you doing here?"

- And I'm burying my mother! -

"Fool! what a mother!

Look: a new undershirt

You dug into the ground!

Hurry up and grunt

Lie down in the ditch, drink water!

Perhaps, the foolishness will jump off!

"Well, let's stretch!"

Two peasants sit down

Legs rest,

And live, and grieve,

Grunt - stretch on a rolling pin,

Joints are cracking!

Didn't like it on the rock

"Now let's try

Stretch your beard!"

When the order of the beard

Reduced each other

Grabbed cheekbones!

They puff, blush, writhe,

They moo, they squeal, but they stretch!

"Yes, you damned ones!

Don't spill water!"

In the ditch the women quarrel,

One shouts: "Go home

More sickening than hard labor!”

Another: - You're lying, in my house

Better than yours!

My elder brother-in-law broke a rib,

The middle son-in-law stole the ball,

A ball of spit, but the fact is -

Fifty dollars was wrapped in it,

And the younger son-in-law takes everything,

Look, he will kill him, he will kill him! ..

“Well, full, full, dear!

Well, don't be angry! - behind the roller

Heard in the distance. -

I'm okay...let's go!"

Such a bad night!

Is it right, is it left

Look from the road:

Couples go together

Isn't it right to that grove?

Nightingales sing…

The road is crowded

What later is uglier:

More and more often come across

Beaten, crawling

Lying in a layer.

Without swearing, as usual,

Word won't be spoken

Crazy, indecent,

She is the most heard!

The taverns are confused

The leads got mixed up

Frightened horses

They run without riders;

Little children are crying.

Wives and mothers yearn:

Is it easy to drink

Call the men?

Our wanderers are coming

And they see: Veretennikov

(That the goat's shoes

Vavila gave)

Talks with peasants.

Peasants open up

Milyaga likes:

Pavel will praise the song -

They will sing five times, write it down!

Like the proverb -

Write a proverb!

Having recorded enough

Veretennikov told them:

"Smart Russian peasants,

One is not good

What they drink to stupefaction

Falling into ditches, into ditches -

It's a shame to look!"

The peasants listened to that speech,

They agreed with the barin.

Pavlusha something in a book

I already wanted to write.

Yes, the drunk turned up

Man - he is against the master

Lying on his stomach

looked into his eyes,

Was silent - but suddenly

How to jump! Directly to the barin -

Grab the pencil!

- Wait, empty head!

Crazy news, shameless

Don't talk about us!

What did you envy!

What is the fun of the poor

Peasant soul?

We drink a lot in time

And we work more.

We see a lot of drunks

And more sober us.

Did you visit the villages?

Take a bucket of vodka

Let's go to the huts:

In one, in the other they will pile up,

And in the third they will not touch -

We have a drinking family

Non-drinking family!

They don’t drink, and also toil,

It would be better to drink, stupid,

Yes, the conscience is...

It's wonderful to watch how it falls

In such a hut sober

Man's trouble -

And I would not have looked! .. I saw

Russians in the village suffering?

In the pub, what, people?

We have vast fields

And not much generous

Tell me, whose hand

In the spring they will dress

Will they undress in the fall?

Did you meet a man

After work in the evening?

Good mountain on the reaper

Put, ate from a pea:

"Hey! hero! straw

I'll knock you off!"

Sweet peasant food

All century saw iron

Chews, but does not eat!

Yes, the belly is not a mirror,

We don't cry for food...

You work alone

And a little work is over,

Look, there are three equity holders:

God, king and lord!

And there is another destroyer

Fourth, angrier than the Tatar,

So he won't share.

All gobble up one!

We have stuck the third day

The same poor gentleman,

Like you, from near Moscow.

writes songs,

Tell him a proverb

Solve the riddle.

And there was another - inquired,

How much per day do you work

Little by little, a lot

Pieces shove in your mouth?

Another land measures,

Another in the village of inhabitants

Count on fingers

But they didn't count

Because every summer

The fire blows into the wind

Peasant labor?

There is no measure for Russian hops.

Did they measure our grief?

Is there a measure for work?

Wine brings down the peasant

And grief does not bring him down?

Work not falling?

A man does not measure trouble,

Copes with everything

Whatever come.

A man, working, does not think,

What forces will break.

So really over the glass

To think that with too much

Will you fall into a ditch?

And what is shameful to look at you,

How drunks roll

So look, go

Like dragging from a swamp

Peasants have wet hay,

Mowed, dragged:

Where horses can't get through

Where and without a burden on foot

It's dangerous to cross

There is a peasant horde

On the rocks, on the gorges

Crawling crawling with whips -

The peasant's navel is cracking!

Under the sun without hats

In sweat, in dirt up to the top,

Sedge cut,

Swamp reptile midge

Eaten into the blood -

Are we prettier here?

Regret - sorry skillfully,

To the master's measure

Don't kill the peasant!

Not white women are tender,

And we are great people.

In work and in the spree! ..

Every peasant has

The soul is a black cloud -

Angry, formidable - and it would be necessary

Thunders rumble from there,

pouring bloody rains,

And everything ends with wine.

A charm went through the veins -

And kindly laughed

Peasant soul!

No need to mourn here

Look around - rejoice!

Hey guys, hey

Page 7 of 11

young women

They know how to walk!

The bones waved

They roused the darling

And the prowess of the young

They saved the case! ..

The man stood on the roller,

Stamped with bast shoes

And after a moment's silence,

Admiring the fun

Roaring Crowd:

- Hey! you are a peasant kingdom,

Headless, drunk,

Noise - free noise! ​​.. -

"What's your name, old lady?"

- And what? write in a book?

Perhaps there is no need!

Write: "In the village of Basov

Yakim Nagoi lives

He works to death

Drinks half to death!”

The peasants laughed

And they told the barin

What a guy Yakim.

Yakim, poor old man,

Lived once in St. Petersburg,

Yes, he ended up in jail.

I wanted to compete with the merchant!

Like a peeled Velcro,

He returned to his home

And took up the plow.

Since then, it's been roasting for thirty years

On the strip under the sun

Saved under the harrow

From frequent rain

Lives - messes with the plow,

And death will come to Yakimushka -

Like a clod of earth will fall off,

What is dried up on the plow ...

There was a case with him: pictures

He bought his son

Hung them up on the walls

And himself no less than a boy

Loved to look at them.

God's disgrace has come

The village is on fire

And Yakimushka had

accumulated over a century

Ruble thirty-five.

Hurry to take a ruble,

And he first pictures

Began to tear off the wall;

Meanwhile his wife

fiddling with icons

And then the hut collapsed -

So blundered Yakim!

Merged into a lump of tselkoviki,

For that lump they give him

Eleven rubles...

“Oh brother Yakim! not cheap

The pictures are gone!

But in a new hut

Did you hang them up?”

- Hung up - there are new ones, -

Yakim said - and fell silent.

The master looked at the plowman:

The chest is sunken; like a depressed

Stomach; at the eyes, at the mouth

Bends like cracks

On dry ground;

And myself to mother earth

He looks like: a brown neck,

Like a layer cut off with a plow,

brick face,

Hand - tree bark,

And hair is sand.

The peasants noticed

What is not offensive to the master

Yakimov's words

And they agreed

With Yakim: - The word is true:

We need to drink!

We drink - it means we feel the power!

Great sadness will come

How to stop drinking!

Work would not fail

Trouble would not prevail

Hops will not overcome us!

Is not it?

"Yes, God is merciful!"

- Well, have a drink with us!

We got vodka and drank.

Yakim Veretennikov

He raised two scales.

- Hey sir! didn't get angry

Smart head!

(Yakim told him.)

Reasonable little head

How not to understand the peasant?

Do pigs walk on? zemi -

They do not see the sky for centuries! ..

Suddenly the song burst out in chorus

Deleted, consonant:

A dozen or three youngsters

Khmelnenki, not falling down,

They walk side by side, they sing,

They sing about Mother Volga,

About the prowess of the youth,

About girlish beauty.

The whole road was quiet

That one song is foldable

Wide, freely rolling,

As rye spreads under the wind,

According to the heart of the peasant

Goes with fire-longing! ..

To the song of that remote

Thinking, crying

Youth alone:

“My age is like a day without the sun,

My age is like a night without a month,

And I, baby,

What a greyhound horse on a leash,

What is a swallow without wings!

My old husband, jealous husband,

Drunk drunk, snoring snoring,

Me, baby,

And sleepy guards!

So the young woman cried

Yes, she suddenly jumped off the cart!

"Where?" shouts the jealous husband,

I got up - and a woman for a braid,

Like a radish for a tuft!

Oh! night, night drunk!

Not bright, but stellar

Not hot, but with affectionate

Spring breeze!

And our good fellows

You didn't pass for nothing!

They were sad for their wives,

It's true: with his wife

Now it would be more fun!

Ivan shouts: "I want to sleep,"

And Maryushka: - And I'm with you! -

Ivan shouts: "The bed is narrow,"

And Maryushka: - Let's settle down! -

Ivan shouts: "Oh, it's cold,"

And Maryushka: - Let's get warm! -

How do you remember that song?

Without a word - agreed

Try your chest.

One, why God knows

Between field and road

The dense linden has grown.

Wanderers sat under it

And they said carefully:

"Hey! self-assembled tablecloth,

Treat the men!”

And the tablecloth unrolled

Where did they come from

Two hefty hands:

A bucket of wine was placed

Bread was laid on a mountain

And they hid again.

The peasants fortified themselves.

A novel for a sentry

Left by the bucket

Others intervened

In the crowd - look for a happy one:

They strongly wanted

Get home soon...

CHAPTER IV. HAPPY

In the loud, festive crowd

Strangers wandered around

Called the call:

"Hey! is there no happy place?

Appear! When it turns out

that you live happily

We have a bucket ready:

Drink as much as you like -

We will treat you to glory! .. "

Such speeches unheard

Sober people laughed

And drunk and smart

Almost spat in the beard

Zealous screamers.

However, hunters

Take a sip of free wine

Found enough.

When the wanderers returned

Under the linden, calling the call,

People surrounded them.

The deacon, fired, came

Skinny, like a sulfur match,

And loosened the fringes,

That happiness is not in pastures,

Not in sables, not in gold,

Not in expensive stones.

"And in what?"

- In kindness!

There are limits to possessions

Lords, nobles, kings of the earth,

And wise possession -

The whole garden of Christ!

When the sun warms

Let me skip the pigtail

So I'm happy! -

"Where can you get a pigtail?"

- Yes, you promised to give ...

"Get out! you're joking!.."

An old woman came

speckled, one-eyed,

And announced, bowing,

What makes her happy:

What does she have in autumn

Born rap to a thousand

On a small ridge.

- Such a large turnip,

This turnip is delicious.

And the whole ridge is three sazhens,

And across - arshin! -

They laughed at the grandmother

And they didn’t give a drop of vodka:

“Drink at home, old one,

Eat that turnip!”

A soldier came with medals

A little alive, but I want to drink:

- I'm happy! - speaks.

"Well, open up, old lady,

What is the happiness of a soldier?

Don't hide, look!"

- And in the first place, happiness,

What in twenty battles

I was, not killed!

And secondly, more importantly,

Me and during peacetime

Walked neither full nor hungry,

And death did not give!

And thirdly - for faults,

Great and small

Mercilessly I beat with sticks,

And at least feel it - it's alive!

"On the! drink, servant!

There is nothing to argue with you:

You are happy - there is no word!

Came with a heavy hammer

Olonchanin stonemason,

Shouldered, young:

- And I live - I do not complain, -

He said, - with his wife, with his mother

We do not know the need!

"Yes, what is your happiness?"

- But look (and with a hammer,

Like a feather, waved):

When I wake up to the sun

Let me unwind at midnight

So I will crush the mountain!

It happened, I do not brag

chipping stones

A day for five silver!

Pahom raised "happiness"

And, grunting decently,

Give the worker:

“Well, weighty! but will not

Carry with this happiness

Under old age is it hard? .. "

- Look, do not brag about your strength, -

Said the man with shortness of breath,

Relaxed, thin

(The nose is sharp, like a dead one,

Skinny hands like a rake

Like the spokes of the legs are long,

Not a man - a mosquito). -

I was no worse than a bricklayer

Yes, he also boasted of strength,

So God punished!

I realized

Page 8 of 11

contractor, beast,

What a simple kid,

Taught me to praise

And I'm foolishly happy

I work for four!

One day I wear a good

I laid bricks.

And here it is, damned,

And apply a hard one:

"What is this? - speaks. -

I don't recognize Tryphon!

To go with such a burden

Aren't you ashamed young man?

- And if it seems a little,

Add by the master's hand! -

I said, angry.

Well, with half an hour, I think

I waited, and he laid,

And planted, scoundrel!

I hear myself - a terrible craving,

I didn't want to back away.

And brought that damn burden

I'm on the second floor!

The contractor looks, marvels,

Screaming, scoundrel, from there:

“Ah well done, Trofim!

You don't know what you did

You took down one at the extreme

Fourteen pounds!

Oh, I know! hammer heart

Knocking in the chest, bloody

There are circles in the eyes

The back looks like it's cracked...

Trembling, weak legs.

I've been dying since then! ..

Pour, brother, half a cup!

“Pour? But where is the happiness?

We will treat the happy

And what did you say!”

- Listen! there will be happiness!

“Yes, in what, speak!”

- And here's what. me at home,

Like every peasant

I wanted to die.

From St. Petersburg, relaxed,

Crazy, almost without memory,

I got into the car.

Well, here we go.

In the car - feverish,

hot workers

We got a lot

Everyone wanted one

How do I: get to my homeland,

To die at home.

However, you need happiness

And then: we drove in the summer,

In the heat, in the heat

Many are confused

Completely sick heads

In the car hell went:

He groans, he rides,

Like a catechumen, by gender,

He raves about his wife, mother.

Well, at the next station

Down with this!

I looked at my comrades

I myself was on fire, I thought -

Bad for me too.

Crimson circles in the eyes,

And everything seems to me, brother,

That I cut peuns!

(We are also peuniatniks,

Happened to fatten a year

Up to a thousand goiters.)

Where do you remember, damned!

I have tried to pray

No! everyone is going crazy!

Will you believe? the whole party

Trembling before me!

Larynx cut,

The blood is gushing, but they sing!

And I with a knife: “Yes, you are full!”

How the Lord has mercy

Why didn't I scream?

I sit, I strengthen myself ... fortunately,

The day is over, and by the evening

It's cold, sorry

God over orphans!

Well, that's how we got there.

And I made it home

Here, by the grace of God,

And it became easier for me ...

- What are you bragging about?

With your manly happiness? -

Screaming broken to his feet

Yard man. -

And you treat me:

I'm happy, God knows!

At the first boyar,

At Prince Peremetiev,

I was a favorite slave.

Wife is a beloved servant

And the daughter, along with the young lady

Studied French too

And every language

She was allowed to sit

In the presence of the princess...

Oh! how prickly! .. fathers! .. -

(And started the right foot

rub palms.)

The peasants laughed.

- Why are you laughing, stupid -

Angered unexpectedly,

The doorman screamed. -

I'm sick, but can I tell you

What do I pray to the Lord?

Getting up and lying down?

I pray: "Let me, Lord,

my honorable illness,

According to her, I am a nobleman!

Not your vile sickness,

Not hoarseness, not a hernia -

noble disease,

What only happens

From the first persons in the empire,

I'm sick man!

Yes, the game is called!

To get it -

Champagne, Burgundy,

Tokay, Hungarian

You have to drink for thirty years ...

Behind the chair at the brightest

At Prince Peremetyev's

I stood for forty years

With French best truffle

I licked the plates

Foreign drinks

Drinking from glasses...

Well, pour it! -

"Get out!

We have peasant wine,

Simple, not overseas -

Not on your lips!

Yellow-haired, hunched,

Crept up timidly to the wanderers

Belarusian peasant,

It also reaches for vodka:

- Pour me a manenichko too,

I'm happy! - speaks.

“And you don’t go with your hands!

Report, prove

First, how happy are you?

- And our happiness is in bread:

I am at home in Belarus

With chaff, with a bonfire

Chewed barley bread;

Like a woman in labor you writhe

How to grab the bellies.

And now, by the grace of God! -

Filled with Gubonin

Give rye bread

I chew - I do not wait! -

Came some cloudy

A man with a twisted cheekbone,

Everything looks to the right:

- I go after bears.

And my happiness is great:

Three of my comrades

Bears broke,

And I live, God is merciful!

“Well, look to the left?”

I did not look, no matter how I tried,

What scary faces

The man writhed:

- The bear turned me

Manenichko cheekbone! -

“And you measure yourself with another,

Give her your right cheek

Correct ... "- Laughed,

However, they brought it up.

ragged beggars,

Hearing the smell of foam,

And they came to prove

How happy they are

- We have a shopkeeper on the doorstep

Meets with alms

And we will enter the house, so from the house

Escorted to the gate...

Let's sing a little song

The hostess runs to the window

With edge, with a knife,

And we are pouring:

“Come on give - the whole loaf,

Doesn't wrinkle or crumble

Hurry for you, but we argue ... "

Our wanderers have realized

That they spent vodka for nothing,

By the way, and a bucket

End. “Well, it will be with you!

Hey, happiness man!

Leaky with patches

Humpbacked with calluses

Get off home!"

- And you, dear friends,

Ask Ermila Girin, -

He said, sitting down with strangers,

Villages of Dymoglotov

Peasant Fedosey. -

If Yermil does not help out,

Lucky will not be declared

So there is nothing to stumble...

“And who is Yermil?

Is it a prince, a noble count?

- Not a prince, not an illustrious count,

But he's just a man!

"You speak smarter,

Sit down and we'll listen

What is Ermil?

- And here's one: an orphan

Yermilo kept the mill

On Unzha. By court

Decided to sell the mill:

Yermilo came with others

To the auction house.

Empty buyers

They fell off quickly.

One merchant Altynnikov

He entered into battle with Yermil,

Do not lag behind, traded,

He puts on a penny.

Yermilo how angry -

Grab five rubles at once!

The merchant again a pretty penny,

They went to battle;

The merchant with his penny,

And that one with his ruble!

Altynnikov could not resist!

Yes, an opportunity came out here:

Immediately began to demand

The makings of the third part,

And the third part - up to a thousand.

There was no money with Yermil,

Did he himself screw up

Did the clerks cheat

And it turned out to be rubbish!

Altynnikov cheered up:

“My, it turns out, a mill!”

"No! Ermil says

Approaches the chairman. -

Can't your grace

Intervene for half an hour?

What will you do in half an hour?

"I'll bring the money!"

- Where can you find it? Are you in your mind?

Thirty-five versts to the mill,

And an hour later the presence

The end, my dear!

“So, will you allow half an hour?”

“Maybe we’ll skip the hour!” -

Yermil went; clerks

exchanged glances with the merchant,

Laugh, scoundrels!

To the market square

Yermilo came (in the city

That market day was

He stood on a cart, we see: he is baptized,

On all four sides

Shouts: “Hey, good people!

Shut up, listen

I'll tell you a word!"

The crowded square has become silent,

And then Ermil about the mill

He told the people:

"For a long time the merchant Altynnikov

Wooed to the mill

I didn't make a mistake either

Five times consulted in the city,

They said with

Page 9 of 11

rebidding

Bidding has been scheduled.

Nothing to do, you know

Carry the treasury to the peasant

Country road is not a hand:

I came without a penny

But look - they pissed off

Without rebidding bargaining!

Vile souls cheated

Yes, and non-Christs laugh:

“What are you going to do about the hour?

Where will you find money?

Maybe I'll find it, God bless!

Cunning, strong clerks,

And their world is stronger

The merchant Altynnikov is rich,

And he can't resist

Against the worldly treasury -

Her like a fish from the sea

To catch a century is not to catch.

Well, brothers! God sees

Sharing that Friday!

The mill is not dear to me,

The insult is great!

If you know Yermila

If you believe Yermil,

So help me out, eh! .. "

And a miracle happened:

All over the marketplace

Every peasant has

Like the wind, half left

It turned over suddenly!

The peasantry forked out

They bring money to Yermil,

They give who is rich.

Yermilo is a literate guy,

Put on a full hat

Tselkovikov, Lobanchikov,

Burnt, beaten, ragged

Peasant banknotes.

Yermilo took - did not disdain

And a copper nugget.

Still, he would begin to disdain,

When I got here

Other hryvnia copper

More than a hundred rubles!

The sum has already been fulfilled

And the generosity of the people

Grew up: - Take it, Ermil Ilyich,

Give it up, it won't disappear! -

Yermil bowed to the people

On all four sides

He went into the ward with a hat,

Keeping the treasury in it.

The clerks were surprised,

Altynnikov turned green,

How he is full of the whole thousand

They put it on the table!

Not a wolf's tooth, so a fox's tail, -

Went to bustle clerks,

Congratulations on your purchase!

Yes, Ermil Ilyich is not like that,

Didn't say too much.

I didn't give them a penny!

Look the whole city came together

Like on market day, Friday,

After a week of time

Yermil on the same square

The people counted.

Remember where everyone is?

At that time it was done

In a fever, in a hurry!

However, there were no disputes

And give a penny extra

Ermil did not have to.

Also, he himself said

An extra ruble, whose God knows!

Stayed with him.

All day with a purse open

Yermil walked and inquired:

Whose ruble? didn't find it.

The sun has already set

When from the marketplace

Yermil was the last to move,

Giving that ruble to the blind...

So this is what Ermil Ilyich is like. -

“Wonderful! the strangers said. -

However, it is desirable to know

What sorcery

A man over the whole neighborhood

Have you taken that kind of power?

- Not witchcraft, but truth.

Heard about Hell

Yurlov prince patrimony?

"Heard, so what?"

- It has a general manager

There was a gendarme corps

Colonel with a star

With him five or six assistants,

And our Yermilo is a clerk

Was in the office.

Twenty years old was small,

What is the will of the clerk?

However, for the peasant

And the clerk is a man.

You approach him first,

And he will advise

And he will provide information;

Where there is enough strength - will help out,

Don't ask for gratitude

And if you give it, you won't take it!

A bad conscience is necessary -

Peasant from peasant

Extort a penny.

In this way, the whole estate

At the age of five, Ermila Girina

Got to know well

And then they kicked him out...

They felt sorry for Girin,

It was difficult to new

Grabber, get used to,

However, there is nothing to do

Fitted in time

And to the new scribe.

He is not a line without a triplet,

Not a word without a seventh worker,

Burnt, from kuteynikov -

And God told him!

However, by the will of God,

He reigned for a short time,

The old prince died

The young prince came

Chased that colonel out.

Chased away his assistant

He drove the whole office

And he ordered us from the patrimony

Choose a Burmese.

Well, we didn't think long

Six thousand souls, all fiefdom

We shout: - Yermila Girin! -

How one man!

They call Yermila to the master.

Talking to a peasant

From the balcony the prince shouts:

“Well, brothers! be your way.

My princely seal

Your choice is approved:

The man is agile, literate,

I’ll say one thing: aren’t you young? .. "

And we: - There is no need, father,

And young, but smart! -

Yermilo went to reign

Over the whole prince's patrimony,

And he reigned!

At seven years of a worldly penny

Didn't squeeze under the nail

At the age of seven, he did not touch the right one,

Did not allow the guilty.

I didn’t bend my heart…

Stop! - shouted reproachfully

Some gray-haired priest

Narrator. - You're wrong!

The harrow went straight

Yes, suddenly waved to the side -

Hit a rock with a tooth!

When I started to tell

So don't throw away the words

From the song: or wanderers

Are you telling a fairy tale?

I knew Ermila Girin ... "

“But I didn’t know?”

We were one estate,

of the same parish,

Yes, we have been transferred...

“And if you knew Girin,

So I knew brother Mitrius,

Think, my friend."

The narrator became thoughtful

And, after a pause, he said:

- I lied: the word is superfluous

It went off the rails!

There was a case, and Yermil-man

Gone Crazy: From Recruitment

Little brother Mitrius

He improved.

We are silent: there is nothing to argue,

The master of the elder's brother himself

Would not order to shave

One Nenila Vlasyev

Weeping bitterly for her son

Shouts: it's not our turn!

Known to have screamed

Yes, I would leave with that.

So what? Ermil himself,

Done with recruiting

Began to grieve, grieve,

Doesn't drink, doesn't eat: that's the end

What's in the stall with a rope

Stopped by his father.

Here the son repented to his father:

“Since the son of Vlasyevna

I put it out of line

The white light is disgusting to me!”

And he reaches for the rope.

They tried to persuade

His father and brother

He is all the same: “I am a criminal!

The villain! tie my hands

Take me to court!"

So that it doesn't get worse

Father tied the heart,

Posted a guard.

The world has come together, making noise, clamoring,

Such a wonderful thing

never had to

Neither see nor decide.

Ermilov family

That's not what they were trying to do

So that we can reconcile them

And judge more strictly -

Return the boy to Vlasyevna,

Otherwise Yermil will hang himself,

You can't look after him!

Yermil Ilyich himself came,

Barefoot, thin, with stocks,

With rope in hand

He came and said: "It was time,

I judged you according to your conscience,

Now I myself am more sinful than you:

Judge me!"

And bowed at our feet.

Neither give nor take holy fool,

Stands, sighs, crosses himself,

We were sorry to see

As he is in front of the old woman,

Before Nenila Vlasyeva,

Suddenly fell on his knees!

Well, things worked out

With a strong lord

Everywhere hand; Vlasyevna's son

He returned, handed over Mitriy,

Yes, they say, and Mitriya

It's easy to serve

The prince himself takes care of him.

And for the fault with Girin

We have fined:

Penalty money recruit,

A small part of Vlasyevna,

Part of the world for wine...

However, after this

Yermil did not soon cope,

I've been walking like crazy for a year.

No matter how the patrimony asked,

Resigned from office

Rented that mill

And he became thicker than before

All the people love:

I took it for a prayer in good conscience.

Didn't stop the people

clerk, manager,

Wealthy landowners

And the poorest men

All queues obeyed

The order was strict!

I myself am in that province

Haven't been in a while

And I heard about Yermila,

People don't brag about them.

You go to him.

- In vain you pass, -

Said once arguing

Grey-haired pop. -

I knew Ermila, Girin,

I ended up in that province

Five years ago

(I traveled a lot in my life,

Our Grace

translate priests

Loved)… With Ermila Girin

We were neighbors.

Yes! there was only one man!

He had everything he needed

For happiness: and peace,

And money and honor

Honor enviable, true,

Not purchased either

Page 10 of 11

money,

Not fear: strict truth,

Mind and kindness!

Yes, I repeat to you

In vain you pass

He sits in jail...

"How so?"

- And the will of God!

Have any of you heard

How the patrimony rebelled

Landowner Obrubkov,

frightened province,

County Nedykhaniev,

The village of Stolbnyaki?..

How to write about fires

In the newspapers (I read them):

"remained unknown

Reason" - and here:

So far unknown

Neither the zemstvo police officer,

Nor the higher government

Not tetanus themselves,

What happened to the occasion.

And it turned out to be rubbish.

It took a military.

The Sovereign himself sent

He spoke to the people

That curse will try

And shoulders with epaulettes

Raise high

That kindness will try

And chest with royal crosses

In all four directions

Will start turning.

Yes, the scolding was superfluous here,

And the caress is incomprehensible:

Orthodox peasantry!

Mother Rus'! king-father!

And nothing more!

Having beaten enough

They wanted the soldiers

Command: fall!

Yes to the parish clerk

A happy thought came here

It's about Yermila Girin

The chief said:

- The people will believe Girin,

The people will listen to him ... -

"Call him alive!"

…………………………….

Suddenly a cry: “Ai, ai! have mercy!"

Breaking out unexpectedly

Disrupted the priest's speech

Everyone rushed to look:

At the road roller

They flog a drunken lackey -

Caught stealing!

Where he is caught, here is his judgment:

Three dozen judges met

We decided to give a vine,

And everyone gave a vine!

The footman jumped up and, spanking

skinny shoemakers,

Without a word, he gave cravings.

“Look, he ran like a disheveled one! -

Our strangers joked

Recognizing in him a baluster,

that boasted of some

Read this book in its entirety by purchasing the full legal version (http://www.litres.ru/nikolay-nekrasov/komu-na-rusi-zhit-horosho/?lfrom=279785000) on LitRes.

Notes

Kosushka is an old measure of liquid, approximately 0.31 liters.

The cuckoo ceases to crow when the bread is scorched ("choking on an ear," the people say).

Poemnye meadows - located in the floodplain of the river. When the river that flooded them during the flood subsided, a layer of natural fertilizers remained on the soil, which is why tall grasses rose here. Such meadows were especially valued.

This refers to the fact that until 1869 a graduate of the seminary could receive a parish only if he married the daughter of a priest who left his parish. It was believed that in this way the "purity of the estate" was maintained.

The parish is an association of believers.

The schismatics are opponents of the reforms of Patriarch Nikon (XVII century).

Parishioners are regular visitors to the church parish.

Mat - zd.: the end. Checkmate is the end of a game of chess.

Air - embroidered bedspreads made of velvet, brocade or silk, used in the performance of church rites.

Sam is the first part of invariable complex adjectives with ordinal or quantitative numbers, with the meaning "so many times more." Bread itself is a friend - a crop twice as large as the amount of grain sown.

Cool rainbow - to the bucket; sloping - to the rain.

Pyatak is a copper coin worth 5 kopecks.

Treba - "the administration of a sacrament or a sacred rite" (V.I. Dal).

Smelt - cheap small fish, lake smelt.

Anathema is a church curse.

Yarmonka - i.e. fair.

Spring Nikola is a religious holiday celebrated on May 9 according to the old style (May 22 according to the new style).

Procession - a solemn procession of believers with crosses, icons, banners.

Shlyk - “hat, hat, cap, cap” (V.I. Dal).

A tavern is “a drinking house, a place for selling vodka, sometimes also beer and honey” (V.I. Dal).

A tent is a temporary space for trade, usually a light frame covered with canvas, later with tarpaulin.

French chintz - crimson calico, usually dyed using madder, a dye from the roots of a herbaceous perennial plant.

Equestrian - part of the fair, where horses were traded.

A roe deer is a type of heavy plow or a light plow with one share, which rolled the earth in only one direction. In Russia, roe deer were usually used in the northeastern regions.

Cart machine - the main part of a four-wheeled cart, cart. It holds the body, wheels and axles.

Harness - part of the harness, fitting the sides and croup of the horse, usually leather.

Kimryaks are residents of the city of Kimry. At the time of Nekrasov, it was a large village, 55% of the inhabitants of which were shoemakers.

Ofenya is a peddler, “a petty merchant peddling and carting around small towns, villages, villages, with books, paper, silk, needles, cheese and sausage, with earrings and rings” (V.I. Dal).

Doka is “a master of his craft” (V.I. Dal).

Those. more orders.

Those. not military, but civilian (then - civilian).

A dignitary is a high-level official.

Lubyanka - street and square in Moscow, in the XIX century. wholesale center for popular prints and books.

Blucher Gebhard Leberecht - Prussian general, commander-in-chief of the Prussian-Saxon army, which decided the outcome of the battle of Waterloo and defeated Napoleon. Military successes made the name of Blucher very popular in Russia.

Archimandrite Photius - in the world Pyotr Nikitich Spassky, leader of the Russian church in the 20s. XIX century, repeatedly joked in the epigrams of A.S. Pushkin, for example, “Fotiy's conversation with gr. Orlova", "On Photius".

Robber Sipko - an adventurer who pretended to be different people, incl. for retired captain I.A. Sipko. In 1860, his trial attracted a lot of public attention.

"Jester Balakirev" - a popular collection of jokes: "Balakirev's complete collection of jokes of a jester who was at the court of Peter the Great."

“The English Milord” is the most popular work of the 18th century writer Matvey Komarov “The Tale of the Adventures of the English Milord George and his Brandenburg Mark-Countess Frederick Louise”.

Goat - this is how an actor was called in the folk theater-booth, on whose head a goat's head made of burlap was fixed.

Drummer - drumming at performances attracted the public.

Riga - a sheaf drying and threshing shed (with a roof, but almost no walls).

A fifty-kopeck coin is a coin worth 50 kopecks.

Royal letter - royal letter.

Excise is a type of tax on consumer goods.

Sudarka is a mistress.

Sotsky - elected from the peasants, who performed police functions.

The spindle is a hand tool for yarn.

Tat - "thief, predator, kidnapper" (V.I. Dal).

Kocha is a form of the word "bump" in the Yaroslavl-Kostroma dialect.

Zazhorina - snowy water in a pit along the road.

Scourge - in the northern dialects - a large tall basket.

Pastures - in the Tambov-Ryazan dialects - meadows, pastures; in Arkhangelsk - belongings,

Page 11 of 11

property.

Compassion is a state of mind that disposes to mercy, goodness, goodness.

The Vertograd of Christ is synonymous with paradise.

Arshin is an old Russian measure of length, equal to 0.71 m.

Olonchanin - a resident of the Olonets province.

Peun is a rooster.

Peunyatnik - a person who feeds roosters for sale.

Truffle is a mushroom that grows underground. The French black truffle was especially highly valued.

Bonfire - lignified parts of the stems of flax, hemp, etc.

End of introductory segment.

Text provided by LitRes LLC.

Read this book in its entirety by purchasing the full legal version on LitRes.

You can safely pay for the book with a Visa, MasterCard, Maestro bank card, from a mobile phone account, from a payment terminal, in an MTS or Svyaznoy salon, via PayPal, WebMoney, Yandex.Money, QIWI Wallet, bonus cards or another method convenient for you.

Here is an excerpt from the book.

Only part of the text is open for free reading (restriction of the copyright holder). If you liked the book, the full text can be obtained from our partner's website.

Nikolay Alekseevich Nekrasov

Who lives well in Rus'

PART ONE

In what year - count

In what land - guess

On the pillar path

Seven men came together:

Seven temporarily liable,

tightened province,

County Terpigorev,

empty parish,

From adjacent villages:

Zaplatova, Dyryavina,

Razutova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neelova -

Crop failure, too,

Agreed - and argued:

Who has fun

Feel free in Rus'?

Roman said: to the landowner,

Demyan said: to the official,

Luke said: ass.

Fat-bellied merchant! -

Gubin brothers said

Ivan and Mitrodor.

Old man Pahom pushed

And he said, looking at the ground:

noble boyar,

Minister of the State.

And Prov said: to the king ...

Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya

In the head what a whim -

Stake her from there

You won’t knock out: they rest,

Everyone is on their own!

Is there such a dispute?

What do passers-by think?

To know that the children found the treasure

And they share...

To each his own

Left the house before noon:

That path led to the forge,

He went to the village of Ivankovo

Call Father Prokofy

Baptize the child.

Pahom honeycombs

Carried to the market in the Great,

And two brothers Gubina

So simple with a halter

Catching a stubborn horse

They went to their own herd.

It's high time for everyone

Return your way -

They are walking side by side!

They walk like they're running

Behind them are gray wolves,

What is further - then sooner.

They go - they perekorya!

They shout - they will not come to their senses!

And time does not wait.

They didn't notice the controversy

As the red sun set

How the evening came.

Probably a whole night

So they went - where not knowing,

When they meet a woman,

Crooked Durandiha,

She did not shout: “Venerable!

Where are you looking at night

Have you thought about going?..”

Asked, laughed

Whipped, witch, gelding

And jumped off...

"Where? .." - exchanged glances

Here are our men

They stand, they are silent, they look down...

The night has long gone

Frequent stars lit up

In high skies

The moon surfaced, the shadows are black

The road was cut

Zealous walkers.

Oh shadows! black shadows!

Who won't you chase?

Who won't you overtake?

Only you, black shadows,

You can not catch - hug!

To the forest, to the path

He looked, was silent Pahom,

I looked - I scattered my mind

And he said at last:

"Well! goblin glorious joke

He played a trick on us!

After all, we are without a little

Thirty miles away!

Home now toss and turn -

We are tired - we will not reach,

Come on, there's nothing to be done.

Let's rest until the sun! .. "

Having dumped the trouble on the devil,

Under the forest along the path

The men sat down.

They lit a fire, formed,

Two ran away for vodka,

And the rest for a while

The glass is made

I pulled the birch bark.

The vodka came soon.

Ripe and snack -

The men are feasting!

Seven owls flocked,

Admire the carnage

From seven big trees

Laugh, midnighters!

And their eyes are yellow

They burn like burning wax

Fourteen candles!

And the raven, the smart bird,

Ripe, sitting on a tree

At the very fire.

Sitting and praying to hell

To be slammed to death

Someone!

Cow with a bell

What has strayed since the evening

Came to the fire, tired

Eyes on men

I listened to crazy speeches

And began, my heart,

Moo, moo, moo!

Silly cow mooing

Small jackdaws squeak.

The boys are screaming,

And the echo echoes everything.

He has one concern -

To tease honest people

Scare guys and women!

Nobody saw him

And everyone has heard

Without a body - but it lives,

Without a tongue - screaming!

Owl - Zamoskvoretskaya

Princess - immediately mooing,

Flying over peasants

Rushing about the ground,

That about the bushes with a wing ...

The fox herself is cunning,

Out of curiosity,

Sneaked up on the men

I listened, I listened

And she walked away, thinking:

"And the devil does not understand them!"

And indeed: the disputants themselves

Hardly knew, remembered -

What are they talking about...

Naming the sides decently

To each other, come to their senses

Finally, the peasants

Drunk from a puddle

Washed, refreshed

Sleep began to roll them ...

In the meantime, a tiny chick,

Little by little, half a sapling,

flying low,

Got to the fire.

Pakhomushka caught him,

He brought it to the fire, looked at it

And he said: "Little bird,

And the nail is up!

I breathe - you roll off the palm of your hand,

Sneeze - roll into the fire,

I click - you will roll dead,

And yet you, little bird,

Stronger than a man!

Wings will get stronger soon

Bye-bye! wherever you want

You will fly there!

Oh you little pichuga!

Give us your wings

We will circle the whole kingdom,

Let's see, let's see

Let's ask and find out:

Who lives happily

Feel free in Rus'?

"You don't even need wings,

If only we had bread

Half a pood a day, -

And so we would Mother Rus'

They measured it with their feet!” -

Said the sullen Prov.

"Yes, a bucket of vodka," -

Added willing

Before vodka, the Gubin brothers,

Ivan and Mitrodor.

“Yes, in the morning there would be cucumbers

Salty ten, "-

The men joked.

“And at noon would be a jug

Cold kvass."

"And in the evening for a teapot

Hot tea…”

While they were talking

Curled, whirled foam

Above them: listened to everything

And sat by the fire.

Chiviknula, jumped up

Pahomu says:

"Let go of the chick!

For a little chick

I'll give you a big ransom."

– What will you give? -

"Lady's bread

Half a pood a day

I'll give you a bucket of vodka

In the morning I will give cucumbers,

And at noon sour kvass,

And in the evening a seagull!

- And where, little pichuga, -

Gubin brothers asked, -

Find wine and bread

Are you on seven men? -

“Find - you will find yourself.

And I, little pichuga,

I'll tell you how to find it."

- Tell! -

"Go through the woods

Against the thirtieth pillar

A straight verst:

Come to the meadow

Standing in that meadow

Two old pines

Beneath these under the pines

Buried box.

Get her -

That box is magical.

It has a self-assembled tablecloth,

Whenever you wish

Eat, drink!

Quietly just say:

"Hey! self-made tablecloth!

Treat the men!”

At your request

At my command

Everything will appear at once.

Now let the chick go!”

- Wait! we are poor people

I'm going on a long road,

Pahom answered her. -

You, I see, are a wise bird,

Respect - old clothes

Bewitch us!

- So that the peasants' Armenians

Worn, not worn! -

Roman demanded.

- To fake bast shoes

Served, did not crash, -

Demyan demanded.

- So that a louse, a foul flea

I didn’t breed in shirts, -

Luke demanded.

- Wouldn’t the onuchenki ... -

Gubins demanded...

And the bird answered them:

"All the tablecloth is self-assembled

Repair, wash, dry

You will be ... Well, let it go! .. "

Opening a wide palm,

He let the chick go.

Let it go - and a tiny chick,

Little by little, half a sapling,

flying low,

Went to the hollow.

Behind him, a foam rose

And on the fly added:

“Look, chur, one!

How much food will take

Womb - then ask

And you can ask for vodka

In day exactly on a bucket.

If you ask more

And one and two - it will be fulfilled

At your request,

And in the third, be in trouble!

And the foam flew away

With my darling chick,

And the men in single file

Reached for the road

Look for the thirtieth pillar.

Found! - silently go

Straight, straight

Through the dense forest,

Every step counts.

And how they measured a mile,

We saw a meadow -

Standing in that meadow

Two old pines...

The peasants dug

Got that box

Opened and found

That tablecloth self-assembled!

They found it and shouted at once:

“Hey, self-assembled tablecloth!

Treat the men!”

Look - the tablecloth unfolded,

Where did they come from

Two strong hands

A bucket of wine was placed

Bread was laid on a mountain

And they hid again.

“But why aren’t there cucumbers?”

"What is not a hot tea?"

“What is there no cold kvass?”

Everything suddenly appeared...

The peasants unbelted

They sat down by the tablecloth.

Went here feast mountain!

Kissing for joy

promise to each other

Forward do not fight in vain,

And it's quite controversial

By reason, by God,

On the honor of the story -

Do not toss and turn in the houses,

Don't see your wives

Not with the little guys

Not with old old people,

As long as the matter is controversial

Solutions will not be found

Until they tell

No matter how it is for sure:

Who lives happily

Feel free in Rus'?

Having made such a vow,

In the morning like dead

Men fell asleep...

Chapter I. POP

wide path,

lined with birches,

stretched far,

Sandy and deaf.

Along the side of the path

The hills are coming

With fields, with hayfields,

And more often with inconvenience,

abandoned land;

There are old villages

There are new villages

By the rivers, by the ponds...

Russian streams and rivers

Good in spring.

But you, spring fields!

On your seedlings are poor

It's not fun to watch!

"No wonder in the long winter

(Our wanderers interpret)

It snowed every day.

Spring has come - the snow has affected!

He is humble for the time being:

Flies - silent, lies - silent,

When he dies, then he roars.

Water - everywhere you look!

The fields are completely flooded

To carry manure - there is no road,

And the time is not early -

The month of May is coming!

Dislike and old,

It hurts more than that for new

Trees for them to look at.

Oh, huts, new huts!

You are smart, let it build you

Not an extra penny

And blood trouble!

Wanderers met in the morning

More and more people are small:

His brother is a peasant-bast worker,

Artisans, beggars,

Soldiers, coachmen.

Beggars, soldiers

Strangers didn't ask

How is it easy for them, is it difficult

Lives in Rus'?

Soldiers shave with an awl

Soldiers warm themselves with smoke -

What happiness is here?

The day was already drawing to a close,

They go the way,

The pop is coming towards.

The peasants took off their hats.

bow low,

Lined up in a row

And gelding savrasoma

Blocked the way.

The priest raised his head

He looked and asked with his eyes:

What do they want?

“No way! we are not robbers!” -

Luka said to the priest.

(Luke is a squat man,

With a wide beard.

Stubborn, verbose and stupid.

Luka looks like a mill:

One is not a bird mill,

What, no matter how it flaps its wings,

Probably won't fly.)

"We are men of power,

Of the temporary

tightened province,

County Terpigorev,

empty parish,

Roundabout villages:

Zaplatova, Dyryavina,

Razutova, Znobishina,

Gorelova, Neelova -

Crop failure too.

Let's go on something important:

We have a concern

Is it such a concern

Which of the houses survived

With work unfriended us,

Got off food.

You give us the right word

To our peasant speech

Without laughter and without cunning,

According to conscience, according to reason,

Answer truthfully

Not so with your care

We will go to another…”

- I give you the right word:

When you ask a thing

Without laughter and without cunning,

In truth and reason

How should you answer.

"Thank you. Listen!

Walking the path,

We got together casually

They agreed and argued:

Who has fun

Feel free in Rus'?

Roman said: to the landowner,

Demyan said: to the official,

And I said: ass.

Fat-bellied merchant, -

Gubin brothers said

Ivan and Mitrodor.

Pahom said: to the brightest

noble boyar,

Minister of the State.

And Prov said: to the king ...

Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya

In the head what a whim -

Stake her from there

You won’t knock out: no matter how they argued,

We did not agree!

Argued - quarreled,

Quarreled - fought,

Podravshis - dressed up:

Don't go apart

Do not toss and turn in the houses,

Don't see your wives

Not with the little guys

Not with old old people,

As long as our dispute

We won't find a solution

Until we get it

Whatever it is - for sure:

Who wants to live happily

Feel free in Rus'?

Tell us Godly

Is the priest's life sweet?

You are like - at ease, happily

Do you live, honest father? .. "

Downcast, thinking

Sitting in a cart, pop

And he said: - Orthodox!

It's a sin to grumble at God

Bear my cross with patience

I live ... but how? Listen!

I'll tell you the truth, the truth

And you are a peasant mind

Dare! -

"Begin!"

What is happiness, in your opinion?

Peace, wealth, honor -

Isn't that right, dear ones?

They said yes...

- Now let's see, brethren,

What is the ass peace?

Start, confess, it would be necessary

Almost from birth

How to get a diploma

the priest's son

At what cost popovich

I'm not sinful, I didn't live

Nothing from the schismatics.

Luckily, there was no need

In my parish is

Living in Orthodoxy

And there are such volosts

Where almost entirely schismatics,

So how to be an ass?

Everything in the world is changeable

The world itself will pass...

Laws, formerly strict

To the dissenters, softened,

And with them and priestly

The landlords moved

They don't live in estates.

And die of old age

They don't come to us anymore.

Wealthy landowners

devout old ladies,

who died out

who settled down

Close to monasteries

Nobody is now a cassock

Don't give a pop!

Live from the same peasants

Collect worldly hryvnias,

Yes pies on holidays

Yes, eggs oh saint.

The peasant himself needs

And I would be glad to give, but there is nothing ...

And that's not for everyone

And sweet peasant penny.

Our favors are meager,

Sands, swamps, mosses,

The cattle walks from hand to mouth,

And if it gets good

Cheese land-breadwinner,

So a new problem:

Nowhere to go with bread!

Lock in need, sell it

For a real trifle

And there - a crop failure!

Then pay exorbitant prices

Sell ​​the cattle.

Pray Orthodox!

Great disaster threatens

And this year:

Winter was fierce

Spring is rainy

It would be necessary to sow for a long time,

And on the fields - water!

Have mercy, Lord!

Send a cool rainbow

(Taking off his hat, the shepherd is baptized,

And listeners too.)

Our poor villages

And in them the peasants are sick

Yes, sad women

Nurses, drinkers,

Slaves, pilgrims

And eternal workers

Lord give them strength!

With such works pennies

Life is hard!

It happens to the sick

You will come: not dying,

Terrible peasant family

At the moment when she has to

Lose the breadwinner!

You admonish the deceased

And support in the rest

You try your best

The spirit is awake! And here to you

The old woman, the mother of the deceased,

Look, stretching with a bony,

Callused hand.

The soul will turn

How they tinkle in this hand

Of course, it's clean

Popov's wife is fat,

Popov's daughter is white,

Popov's horse is fat,

Popov's bee is full,

How the bell tolls!

- Well, here's your praise

Pop's life!

Why was he yelling, swaggering?

Didn't you think to take

What is a beard with a shovel?

So with a goat beard

Walked the world before

than the forefather Adam,

And it's considered a fool

And now the goat! ..

Luke stood silent,

I was afraid they wouldn't slap

Comrades on the side.

It became so

Yes, fortunately the peasant

The road bent

The priest's face is strict

Appeared on a hillock ...

No wonder our wanderers

They scolded the wet

Cold spring.

The peasant needs spring

And early and friendly,

And here - even a wolf howl!

The sun does not warm the earth

And rainy clouds

Like milk cows

They go to heaven.

Driven snow, and greenery

No weed, no leaf!

Water is not removed

The earth does not dress

Green bright velvet

And like a dead man without a shroud,

Lies under a cloudy sky

Sad and naked.

Pity the poor peasant

And more sorry for the cattle;

Feeding scarce supplies,

The owner of the twig

Chased her into the meadows

What is there to take? Chernekhonko!

The weather turned up

Green fresh grass

The cattle enjoyed.

The day is hot. Under the birches

The peasants are making their way

They chat among themselves:

"We're going through one village,

Let's go another - empty!

And today is a holiday

Where did the people disappear to? .. "

They go through the village - on the street

Some guys are small

In the houses - old women,

And even locked up

Castle gates.

The castle is a faithful dog:

Doesn't bark, doesn't bite

He won't let you in the house!

Passed the village, saw

Mirror in green frame

With the edges of a full pond.

Swallows soar over the pond;

Some mosquitoes

Agile and skinny

Hopping, as if on dry land,

They walk on the water.

Along the banks, in the broom,

The corncrakes creak.

On a long, rickety raft

With a roll, the priest is thick

It stands like a plucked haystack,

Tucking the hem.

On the same raft

Sleeping duck with ducklings...

Chu! horse snore!

The peasants looked at once

And they saw over the water

Two heads: a man's.

Curly and swarthy

With an earring (the sun blinked

On that white earring)

Another - horse

With a rope, fathoms at five.

The man takes the rope in his mouth,

The man swims - and the horse swims,

The man neighed, and the horse neighed.

Float, scream! Under the grandmother

Under the little ducks

The raft is moving.

I caught up with the horse - grab it by the withers!

I jumped up and went to the meadow

Child: the body is white,

And the neck is like pitch;

Water flows in streams

From horse and rider.

“And what do you have in the village

Neither old nor small

How did the whole nation die?

- They went to the village of Kuzminskoye,

Today there is a fair

And a temple feast. -

“How far is Kuzminskoe?”

- Yes, it will be three miles.

"Let's go to the village of Kuzminskoye,

Let's watch the holiday-fair! -

The men decided

And they thought to themselves:

Isn't that where he's hiding?

Who lives happily? .. "

Kuzminsky rich,

And what's more, it's dirty.

Trading village.

It stretches along the slope,

Then it descends into the ravine.

And there again on the hill -

How can there not be dirt here?

Two churches in it are old,

One old believer

Another Orthodox

House with the inscription: school,

Empty, packed tightly

Hut in one window

With the image of a paramedic,

Bleeding.

There is a dirty hotel

Decorated with a sign

(With a big nosed teapot

Tray in the hands of the carrier,

And small cups

PROLOGUE

In what year - count
In what land - guess
On the pillar path
Seven men came together:
Seven temporarily liable,
tightened province,
County Terpigorev,
empty parish,
From adjacent villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
Crop failure, too,
Agreed - and argued:
Who has fun
Feel free in Rus'?

Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
Luke said: ass.
Fat-bellied merchant! -
Gubin brothers said
Ivan and Mitrodor.
Old man Pahom pushed
And he said, looking at the ground:
noble boyar,
Minister of the State.
And Prov said: to the king...

Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya
In the head what a whim -
Stake her from there
You won’t knock out: they rest,
Everyone is on their own!
Is there such a dispute?
What do passers-by think?
To know that the children found the treasure
And they share...
To each his own
Left the house before noon:
That path led to the forge,
He went to the village of Ivankovo
Call Father Prokofy
Baptize the child.
Pahom honeycombs
Carried to the market in the Great,
And two brothers Gubina
So simple with a halter
Catching a stubborn horse
They went to their own herd.
It's high time for everyone
Return your way -
They are walking side by side!
They walk like they're running
Behind them are gray wolves,
What is farther is faster.
They go - perekorya!
They shout - they will not come to their senses!
And time does not wait.

They didn't notice the controversy
As the red sun set
How the evening came.
Probably b, whole night
So they went - where not knowing,
When they meet a woman,
Crooked Durandiha,
She did not shout: “Venerable!
Where are you looking at night
Have you thought about going?..”

Asked, laughed
Whipped, witch, gelding
And jumped off...

"Where? .." - looked at each other
Here are our men
They stand, they are silent, they look down...
The night has long gone
Frequent stars lit up
In high skies
The moon surfaced, the shadows are black
The road was cut
Zealous walkers.
Oh shadows! black shadows!
Who won't you chase?
Who won't you overtake?
Only you, black shadows,
Can't be caught!

To the forest, to the path
He looked, was silent Pahom,
I looked - I scattered my mind
And he said at last:

"Well! goblin glorious joke
He played a trick on us!
After all, we are without a little
Thirty miles away!
Home now toss and turn -
We're tired - we won't get there
Sit down, there's nothing to do
Let's rest until the sun! .. "

Having dumped the trouble on the devil,
Under the forest along the path
The men sat down.
They lit a fire, formed,
Two ran away for vodka,
And the rest for a while
The glass is made
I pulled the birch bark.
Vodka soon ripened
Ripe and snack -
The men are feasting!
Kosushki drank three,
Ate - and argued
Again: who has fun to live,
Feel free in Rus'?
Roman shouts: to the landowner,
Demyan shouts: to the official,
Luke yells: ass;
Fat-bellied merchant, -
The Gubin brothers are screaming,
Ivan and Mitrodor;
Pahom shouts: to the brightest
noble boyar,
Minister of the State,
And Prov shouts: to the king!
Taken more than ever
perky men,
Cursing swearing,
No wonder they get stuck
In each other's hair...

Look - they've got it!
Roman hits Pakhomushka,
Demyan hits Luka.
And two brothers Gubina
They iron Provo hefty -
And everyone screams!

A booming echo woke up
Went for a walk, a walk,
It went screaming, shouting,
As if to tease
Stubborn men.
King! - heard to the right
Left responds:
Butt! ass! ass!
The whole forest was in turmoil
With flying birds
By swift-footed beasts
And creeping reptiles, -
And a groan, and a roar, and a rumble!

First of all, a gray bunny
From a neighboring bush
Suddenly jumped out like a disheveled
And off he went!
Behind him are small jackdaws
At the top of the birches raised
Nasty, sharp squeak.
And here at the foam
With fright, a tiny chick
Fell from the nest;
Chirping, crying chiffchaff,
Where is the chick? - will not find!
Then the old cuckoo
I woke up and thought
Someone to cuckoo;
Taken ten times
Yes, it crashed every time
And started again...
Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!
Bread will sting
You choke on an ear -
You won't poop!
Seven owls flocked,
Admire the carnage
From seven big trees
The night owls are crying!
And their eyes are yellow
They burn like burning wax
Fourteen candles!
And the raven, the smart bird,
Ripe, sitting on a tree
By the fire itself
Sitting and praying to hell
To be slammed to death
Someone!
Cow with a bell
What has strayed since the evening
From the herd, I heard a little
human voices -
Came to the fire, tired
Eyes on men
I listened to crazy speeches
And began, my heart,
Moo, moo, moo!

Silly cow mooing
Small jackdaws squeak,
The boys are screaming,
And the echo echoes everything.
He has one concern -
To tease honest people
Scare guys and women!
Nobody saw him
And everyone has heard
Without a body - but it lives,
Screams without a tongue!

wide path,
lined with birches,
stretched far,
Sandy and deaf.
Along the side of the path
The hills are coming
With fields, hayfields,
And more often with inconvenience,
abandoned land;
There are old villages
There are new villages
By the rivers, by the ponds...
Forests, floodplain meadows,
Russian streams and rivers
Good in spring.
But you, spring fields!
On your seedlings are poor
It's not fun to watch!
"No wonder in the long winter
(Our wanderers interpret)
It snowed every day.
Spring has come - the snow has affected!
He is humble for the time being:
Flies - is silent, lies - is silent,
When he dies, then he roars.
Water - wherever you look!
The fields are completely flooded
To carry manure - there is no road,
And the time is not early -
The month of May is coming!
Dislike and old,
It hurts more than that for new
Trees for them to look at.
Oh, huts, new huts!
You are smart, let it build you
Not an extra penny
And the blood trouble! ..,

Wanderers met in the morning
More and more people are small:
His brother is a peasant-bast worker,
Artisans, beggars,
Soldiers, coachmen.
Beggars, soldiers
Strangers didn't ask
How are they - is it easy, is it difficult
Lives in Rus'?
Soldiers shave with an awl
The soldiers warm themselves with smoke, -
What happiness is here?

The day was already drawing to a close,
They go the way,
The pop is coming towards.
The peasants took off their hats,
bow low,
Lined up in a row
And gelding savrasoma
Blocked the way.
The priest raised his head
He looked and asked with his eyes:
What do they want?

“No way! we are not robbers!” -
Luka said to the priest.
(Luke is a squat man,
With a wide beard
Stubborn, verbose and stupid.
Luka looks like a mill:
One is not a bird mill,
What, no matter how it flaps its wings,
Probably won't fly.)

"We are men of power,
Of the temporary
tightened province,
County Terpigorev,
empty parish,
Roundabout villages:
Zaplatova, Dyryavina,
Razutova, Znobishina,
Gorelova, Neelova -
Crop failure too.
Let's go on something important:
We have a concern
Is it such a concern
What got out of the house
With work unfriended us,
Got off food.
You give us the right word
To our peasant speech
Without laughter and without cunning,
According to conscience, according to reason,
Answer truthfully
Not so with your care
We will go to another ... "

I give you the right word:
When you ask a thing
Without laughter and without cunning,
In truth and reason
How should you answer
Amen! .. -

"Thank you. Listen!
Walking the path,
We got together casually
They agreed and argued:
Who has fun
Feel free in Rus'?
Roman said: to the landowner,
Demyan said: to the official,
And I said: ass.
Fat-bellied merchant, -
Gubin brothers said
Ivan and Mitrodor.
Pahom said: to the brightest,
noble boyar,
Minister of the State,
And Prov said: to the king...
Man what a bull: vtemyashitsya
In the head what a whim -
Stake her from there
You won’t knock out: no matter how they argued,
We did not agree!
Argued - quarreled,
Quarreled - fought,
Podravshis - dressed up:
Don't go apart
Do not toss and turn in the houses,
Don't see your wives
Not with the little guys
Not with old old people,
As long as our dispute
We won't find a solution
Until we get it
Whatever it is - for sure:
Who wants to live happily
Feel free in Rus'?
Tell us in a divine way:
Is the priest's life sweet?
You are like - at ease, happily
Do you live, honest father? .. "

Downcast, thinking
Sitting in a cart, pop
And he said: - Orthodox!
It's a sin to grumble at God
Bear my cross with patience
I live ... but how? Listen!
I'll tell you the truth, the truth
And you are a peasant mind
Dare! -
"Begin!"

What is happiness, in your opinion?
Peace, wealth, honor -
Isn't that right, dear ones?

They said yes...

Now let's see brothers
What is the ass peace of mind?
Start, confess, it would be necessary
Almost from birth
How to get a diploma
Popov's son
At what cost popovich
The priesthood is bought
Let's better shut up!
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Our roads are difficult
We have a large income.
Sick, dying
Born into the world
Do not choose time:
In stubble and haymaking,
In the dead of autumn night
In winter, in severe frosts,
And in the spring flood -
Go where you are called!
You go unconditionally.
And let only the bones
One broke,
No! every time it gets wet,
The soul will hurt.
Do not believe, Orthodox,
There is a limit to habit.
No heart to endure
Without some trepidation
death rattle,
grave sob,
Orphan sorrow!
Amen!.. Now think
What is the peace of the ass?..

The peasants thought little.
Letting the priest rest
They said with a bow:
"What else can you tell us?"

Now let's see brothers
What an honor to the priest!
A tricky task
Wouldn't it make you angry?

Say, Orthodox
Who do you call
A foal breed?
Chur! respond to demand!

The peasants hesitated
They are silent - and the pop is silent ...

Who are you afraid to meet?
Walking the way?
Chur! respond to demand!

They groan, shift,
Silent!
- Who are you talking about?
You are fairy tales,
And obscene songs
And all the bullshit? ..

Mother will fall sedate,
Popov's innocent daughter
Seminarian of any -
How do you honor?
Who is after, like a gelding,
Shout: ho-ho-ho? ..

The kids got down
They are silent - and the pop is silent ...
The peasants thought
And pop with a big hat
Waving in my face
Yes, I looked at the sky.
In the spring, that the grandchildren are small,
With the ruddy sun-grandfather
Clouds are playing
Here is the right side
One continuous cloud
Covered - clouded
She fainted and cried:
Rows of gray threads
They hung to the ground.
And closer, above the peasants,
From small, torn,
Merry clouds
Laughing red sun
Like a girl from sheaves.
But the cloud has moved
Pop hat is covered -
Be heavy rain.
And the right side
Already bright and joyful
There the rain stops.
Not rain, there is a miracle of God:
There with golden threads
Skeins scattered...

“Not by themselves ... by parents
We are so ... ”- Gubin brothers
They finally said.
And the others agreed:
“Not by themselves, by their parents!”
And the priest said: - Amen!
Sorry Orthodox!
Not in condemnation of the neighbor,
And at your request
I told you the truth.
Such is the honor of the priest
in the peasantry. And the landowners...

“You are past them, the landowners!
We know them!"

Now let's see brothers
Otkudova wealth
Popovskoe is coming?..
During the near
Russian Empire
Noble estates
It was full.
And the landowners lived there,
eminent owners,
Which are no longer there!
Be fruitful and multiply
And they let us live.
What weddings were played there,
What babies were born
On free bread!
Though often cool,
However, well-meaning
Those were the gentlemen
The parish was not alienated:
They got married with us
Our children were baptized
They came to us to repent,
We buried them.
And if it happened
That the landowner lived in the city,
So probably die
He came to the village.
When he dies by accident
And then punish firmly
Bury in the parish.
You look to the rural temple
On the funeral chariot
In six horses heirs
The deceased is being transported -
The ass is a good amendment,
For the laity, a holiday is a holiday ...
And now it's not like that!
Like a Jewish tribe
The landowners scattered
Through a distant foreign land
And in native Rus'.
No more pride now
Lie in native possession
Next to fathers, with grandfathers,
And many possessions
They went to the barryshniks.
oh damn bones
Russian, nobility!
Where are you not buried?
What land are you not in?

Then an article ... schismatics ...
I'm not sinful, I didn't live
Nothing from the schismatics.
Luckily, there was no need
In my parish is
Living in Orthodoxy
two-thirds of the parishioners.
And there are such volosts
Where almost entirely schismatics,
So how to be an ass?
Everything in the world is changeable
The world itself will pass...
Laws, formerly strict
To the dissenters softened,[ ]
And with them and priestly
Income mat came.
The landlords moved
They don't live in estates.
And die of old age
They don't come to us anymore.
Wealthy landowners
devout old ladies,
who died out
who settled down
Close to monasteries.
Nobody is now a cassock
Don't give a pop!
No one will embroider the air ...
Live from the same peasants
Collect worldly hryvnias,
Yes pies on holidays
Yes eggs oh Saint.
The peasant himself needs
And I would be glad to give, but there is nothing ...

And that's not for everyone
And sweet peasant penny.
Our favors are meager,
Sands, swamps, mosses,
The cattle walks from hand to mouth,
Bread itself will be born,
And if it gets good
Cheese land-breadwinner,
So a new problem:
Nowhere to go with bread!
Lock in need, sell it
For a real trifle
And there - crop failure!
Then pay exorbitant prices
Sell ​​the cattle.
Pray Orthodox!
Great disaster threatens
And this year:
Winter was fierce
Spring is rainy
It would be necessary to sow for a long time,
And on the fields - water!
Have mercy, Lord!
Send a cool rainbow
To our heaven!
(Taking off his hat, the shepherd is baptized,
And listeners too.)
Our poor villages
And in them the peasants are sick
Yes, sad women
Nurses, drinkers,
Slaves, pilgrims
And eternal workers
Lord give them strength!
With such works pennies
Life is hard!
It happens to the sick
You will come: not dying,
Terrible peasant family
At the moment when she has to
Lose the breadwinner!
You admonish the deceased
And support in the rest
You try your best
The spirit is awake! And here to you
The old woman, the mother of the deceased,
Look, stretching with a bony,
Callused hand.
The soul will turn
How they tinkle in this hand
Two copper coins!
Of course, it's clean
For demanding retribution,
Do not take - so there is nothing to live,
Yes, a word of comfort
Freeze on the tongue
And as if offended
Go home... Amen...

Finished the speech - and the gelding
Pop lightly slapped.
The peasants parted
bow low,
The horse moved slowly.
And six comrades
As if they were talking
Attacked with reproaches
With selected big swearing
On poor Luke:
- What did you take? stubborn head!
Rustic club!
That's where the argument gets in! -
"Nobles bell -
Priests live like princes.
They go under the sky
Popov's tower,
The priest's patrimony is buzzing -
loud bells -
To the whole world of God.
Three years I, robots,
Lived with the priest in the workers,
Raspberry - not life!
Popova porridge - with butter,
Popov pie - with filling,
Priest cabbage soup - with smelt!
Popov's wife is fat,
Popov's daughter is white,
Popov's horse is fat,
Popov's bee is full,
How the bell tolls!
- Well, here's your praise
Pop's life!
Why was he yelling, swaggering?
Get into a fight, anathema?
Didn't you think to take
What is a beard with a shovel?
So with a goat beard
Walked the world before
than the forefather Adam,
And it's considered a fool
And now the goat! ..

Luke stood silent,
I was afraid they wouldn't slap
Comrades on the side.
It would be like this
Yes, fortunately for the peasant,
The road bent
The priest's face is strict
Appeared on the hill...

Pity the poor peasant
And more sorry for the cattle;
Feeding scarce supplies,
The owner of the twig
Chased her into the meadows
What is there to take? Chernekhonko!
Only on Nicholas of the spring
The weather turned up
Green fresh grass
The cattle enjoyed.

The day is hot. Under the birches
The peasants are making their way
They chat among themselves:
"We're going through one village,
Let's go another - empty!
And today is a holiday.
Where did the people disappear to? .. "
They go through the village - on the street
Some guys are small
In the houses - old women,
And even locked up
Castle gates.
The castle is a faithful dog:
Doesn't bark, doesn't bite
He won't let you in the house!
Passed the village, saw
Mirror in green frame
With the edges of a full pond.
Swallows soar over the pond;
Some mosquitoes
Agile and skinny
Hopping, as if on dry land,
They walk on the water.
Along the banks, in the broom,
Corncrakes hide.
On a long, rickety raft
With a roll, the priest is thick
It stands like a plucked haystack,
Tucking the hem.
On the same raft
Sleeping duck with ducklings...
Chu! horse snore!
The peasants looked at once
And they saw over the water
Two heads: male,
Curly and swarthy
With an earring (the sun blinked
On that white earring)
Another - horse
With a rope, fathoms at five.
The man takes the rope in his mouth,
The man swims - and the horse swims,
The man neighed, and the horse neighed.
Float, scream! Under the grandmother
Under the little ducks
The raft is moving.

I caught up with the horse - grab it by the withers!
I jumped up and went to the meadow
Child: the body is white,
And the neck is like pitch;
Water flows in streams
From horse and rider.

“And what do you have in the village
Neither old nor small
How did the whole nation die?
- They went to the village of Kuzminskoe,
Today there is a fair
And a temple feast. -
“How far is Kuzminskoe?”

Yes, there will be three miles.

"Let's go to the village of Kuzminskoye,
Let's watch the holiday-fair!
The men decided
And they thought to themselves:
Isn't that where he's hiding?
Who lives happily? .. "

Kuzminsky rich,
And what's more, it's dirty.
Trading village.
It stretches along the slope,
Then it descends into the ravine,
And there again on the hill -
How can there not be dirt here?
Two churches in it are old,
One old believer
Another Orthodox
House with the inscription: school,
Empty, packed tightly
Hut in one window
With the image of a paramedic,
Bleeding.
There is a dirty hotel
Decorated with a sign
(With a big nosed teapot
Tray in the hands of the carrier,
And small cups
Like a goose with goslings,
That kettle is surrounded)
There are permanent shops
Like a county
Gostiny Dvor...!

Wanderers came to the square:
A lot of goods
And apparently invisible
To the people! Isn't it fun?
It seems that there is no way of the cross,
And, as if before the icons,
Men without hats.
Such a sidekick!
Look where they go
Peasant hats:
In addition to the wine warehouse,
Taverns, restaurants,
A dozen damask shops,
Three inns,
Yes, "Rensky cellar",
Yes, a couple of zucchini
Eleven zucchini
Set for the holiday
Village tents.
With each five trays;
Carriers - youngsters
Trained, poignant,
And they can't keep up with everything
Can't handle surrender!
Look what stretched out
Peasant hands with hats
With scarves, with mittens.
Oh, Orthodox thirst,
How big are you!
Just to douse the darling,
And there they will get hats,
How will the market go?

By drunken heads
The sun is playing...
Hmelly, loudly, festively,
Variegated, red all around!
The pants on the guys are plush,
striped vests,
Shirts of all colors;
The women are wearing red dresses,
The girls have braids with ribbons,
They float with winches!
And there are still tricks
Dressed in the capital -
And expands and pouts
Hem on hoops!
If you step in - they will undress!
At ease, new fashionistas,
You fishing tackle
Wear under skirts!
Looking at elegant women,
Furious Old Believer
Tovarke says:
"Be hungry! be hungry!
Marvel that the seedlings are wet,
What spring flood
Worth to Petrov!
Ever since the women started
Dress up in red chintzes, -
Forests do not rise
But at least not this bread!

Why are the chintzes red
Did you do something wrong here, mother?
I won't put my mind to it!

“And those French chintzes -
Painted with dog blood!
Well… understand now?…”

Wanderers went to the shops:
Love handkerchiefs,
Ivanovo chintz,
Harnesses, new shoes,
The product of the Kimryaks.
At that shoe store
The strangers laugh again:
Here are the goat's shoes
Grandfather traded for granddaughter
Asked about the price five times
He turned in his hands, looked around:
First class product!
"Well, uncle! Two kopecks
Pay, or get lost!" -
The merchant told him.
- And you wait! - Admire
An old man with a tiny boot
This is how he speaks:
- My son-in-law does not care, and my daughter will be silent
, Wife - do not care, let him grumble!
Sorry granddaughter! hung herself
On the neck, fidget:
"Buy a hotel, grandfather,
Buy it! - silk head
The face tickles, caresses,
Kisses the old man.
Wait, barefoot crawler!
Wait, yule! gantry
Buy boots...
Vavilushka boasted,
Both old and small
Promised gifts,
And he drank himself to a penny!
How I shameless eyes
Will I show my family?

My son-in-law does not care, and my daughter will be silent,
Wife - do not care, let him grumble!
And sorry for the granddaughter! .. - Went again
About granddaughter! Killed!..
The people gathered, listening,
Do not laugh, pity;
Happen, work, bread
He would have been helped
And take out two two-kopeck pieces,
So you will be left with nothing.
Yes, there was a man
Pavlusha Veretennikov.
(What kind of title,
The men did not know
However, they were called "master".
He was much more of a baluster,
He wore a red shirt
Cloth undershirt,
Lubricated boots;
He sang Russian songs smoothly
And I loved listening to them.
It was taken down by many
In the inns,
In taverns, in taverns.)
So he rescued Vavila -
I bought him shoes.
Vavilo grabbed them
And he was! - For joy
Thanks even to the bar
Forgot to say old man
But other peasants
So they were disappointed
So happy, like everyone
He gave the ruble!
There was also a shop
With pictures and books
Ofeny stocked up
With your goods in it.
"Do you need generals?" -
The merchant-burner asked them.
- And give the generals!
Yes, only you in conscience,
To be real -
Thicker, more ominous.

“Wonderful! how you look! -
The merchant said with a smile. -
It's not about the complexion ... "
- And in what? kidding, friend!
Rubbish, or what, it is desirable to sell?
Where are we going with her?
You're naughty! Before the peasant
All generals are equal
Like cones on a fir tree:
To sell the shabby one,
You need to get to the dock
And fat and formidable
I'll give it to everyone...
Come on big, portly,
Chest uphill, bulging eyes,
Yes, more stars!

“But you don’t want civilians?”
- Well, here's another with civilians! -
(However, they took it - cheap! -
some dignitary
For the belly with a barrel of wine
And for seventeen stars.)
Merchant - with all due respect,
Whatever, that will regale
(From Lubyanka - the first thief!) -
Dropped a hundred Blucher,
Archimandrite Photius,
Robber Sipko,
Sold the book: "Jester Balakirev"
And the "English milord" ...

Put in a box of books
Let's go for a walk portraits
By the kingdom of all Russia,
Until they settle down
In a peasant's summer goreka,
On a low wall...
God knows what for!

Eh! eh! will the time come
When (come, welcome! ..)
Let the peasant understand
What is a portrait of a portrait,
What is a book a book?
When a man is not Blucher
And not my lord stupid -
Belinsky and Gogol
Will you carry it from the market?
Oh people, Russian people!
Orthodox peasants!
Have you ever heard
Are you these names?
Those are great names
Worn them, glorified
Protectors of the people!
Here you would have their portraits
Hang in your boots,
Read their books...

“And I would be glad to heaven, but where is the door?” -
Such speech breaks
In the shop unexpectedly.
- Which door do you want? -
“Yes, to the booth. Chu! music!.."
- Come on, I'll show you!

Hearing about the farce
Come and our wanderers
Listen, stare.
Comedy with Petrushka,
With a goat with a drummer
And not with a simple hurdy-gurdy,
And with real music
They looked here.
Comedy is not smart
However, not stupid
Wishful, quarterly
Not in the eyebrow, but right in the eye!
The hut is full-full,
People crack nuts
And then two or three peasants
Spread a word -
Look, vodka has appeared:
Look and drink!
Laugh, comfort
And often in a speech to Petrushkin
Insert a well-aimed word
What you can't imagine
At least swallow a pen!

There are such lovers -
How does the comedy end?
They will go for screens,
Kissing, fraternizing
Chatting with musicians:
"From where, well done?"
- And we were gentlemen,
Played for the landowner
Now we are free people
Who will bring, treat,
He is our master!

“And the thing, dear friends,
Pretty bar you amused,
Cheer up the men!
Hey! small! sweet vodka!
Pouring! tea! half a beer!
Tsimlyansky - live! .. "

And the flooded sea
It will go, more generous than the master's
The kids will be fed.

He winds blow violent,
Not mother earth sways -
Noise, sing, swear,
sways, rolls,
Fighting and kissing
Holiday people!
The peasants seemed
How did you get to the hillock,
That the whole village is shaking
That even the old church
With a tall bell tower
It shook once or twice! -
Here sober, that naked,
Embarrassing... Our wanderers
Walked across the square
And left in the evening
Busy village...

"Step aside, people!"
(Excise officials
With bells, with plaques
They swept from the market.)

“And I’m to that now:
And the broom is rubbish, Ivan Ilyich,
And walk on the floor
Wherever it sprays!

"God forbid, Parashenka,
You don't go to St. Petersburg!
There are such officials
You are their cook for a day,
And their night is sudarkoy -
So don't care!"

"Where are you jumping, Savvushka?"
(The priest shouts to the sotsky
On horseback, with a government badge.)
- I jump to Kuzminskoye
Behind the station. Opportunity:
There ahead of the peasant
Killed ... - "Eh! ., sins! .."

“You have become thin, Daryushka!”
- Not a spindle, friend!
That's what spins more
It's getting fatter
And I'm like a day-to-day ...

"Hey boy, stupid boy,
tattered, lousy,
Hey love me!
Me, simple-haired,
A drunken woman, an old one,
Zaaa-paaaa-chkanny! .. "

Our peasants are sober,
Looking, listening
They go their own way.

In the very middle of the path
Some guy is quiet
Dug a big hole.
"What are you doing here?"
- And I'm burying my mother! -
"Fool! what a mother!
Look: a new undershirt
You dug into the ground!
Hurry up and grunt
Lie down in the ditch, drink water!
Perhaps the foolishness will jump off!

"Well, let's stretch!"

Two peasants sit down
Legs rest,
And live, and grieve,
Grunt - stretch on a rolling pin,
Joints are cracking!
Didn't like it on the rock
"Now let's try
Stretch your beard!"
When the order of the beard
Reduced each other
Grabbed cheekbones!
They puff, blush, writhe,
They moo, they squeal, but they stretch!
"Yes, you damned ones!"
Don't spill water!

In the ditch the women quarrel,
One shouts: "Go home
More sickening than hard labor!”
Another: - You're lying, in my house
Better than yours!
My elder brother-in-law broke a rib,
The middle son-in-law stole the ball,
A ball of spit, but the fact is -
Fifty dollars was wrapped in it,
And the younger son-in-law takes everything,
Look at him, he will kill him, he will kill him! ..

“Well, full, full, dear!
Well, don't be angry! - behind the roller
In the distance, one hears
I'm fine...let's go!"
Such a bad night!
Is it right, is it left
Look from the road:
Couples go together
Isn't it right to that grove?
That grove attracts everyone,
In that grove vociferous
Nightingales sing...

The road is crowded
What later is uglier:
More and more often come across
Beaten, crawling
Lying in a layer.
Without swearing, as usual,
Word won't be spoken
Crazy, indecent,
She is the most heard!
The taverns are confused
The leads got mixed up
Frightened horses
They run without riders;
Little children are crying here
Wives and mothers yearn:
Is it easy to drink
Call the men?

At the road post
A familiar voice is heard
Our wanderers are coming
And they see: Veretennikov
(That the goat's shoes
Vavila gave)
Talks with peasants.
Peasants open up
Milyaga likes:
Pavel will praise the song -
They will sing five times, write it down!
Like the proverb -
Write a proverb!
Having recorded enough
Veretennikov told them:
"Smart Russian peasants,
One is not good
What they drink to stupefaction
Falling into ditches, into ditches -
It's a shame to look!"

The peasants listened to that speech,
They agreed with the barin.
Pavlusha something in a book
I wanted to write
Yes, the drunk turned up
Man - he is against the master
Lying on his stomach
looked into his eyes,
Was silent - but suddenly
How to jump! Directly to the barin -
Grab the pencil!
- Wait, empty head!
Crazy news, shameless
Don't talk about us!
What did you envy!
What is the fun of the poor
Peasant soul?
We drink a lot in time
And we work more
We see a lot of drunks
And more sober us.
Did you visit the villages?
Take a bucket of vodka
Let's go to the huts:
In one, in the other they will pile up,
And in the third they will not touch -
We have a drinking family
Non-drinking family!
They don’t drink, but they also toil,
It would be better to drink, stupid,
Yes, conscience is...
It's wonderful to watch how it falls
In such a hut sober
Man's trouble -
And I would not have looked! .. I saw
Russians in the village suffering?
In the pub, what, people?
We have vast fields
And not much generous
Tell me, whose hand
In the spring they will dress
Will they undress in the fall?
Did you meet a man
After work in the evening?
Good mountain on the reaper
Put, ate from a pea:
"Hey! hero! straw
I'll knock you off!"

The peasants noticed
What is not offensive to the master
Yakimov's words
And they agreed
With Yakim: - The word is true:
We need to drink!
We drink - it means we feel the power!
Great sadness will come
How to stop drinking!
Work would not fail
Trouble would not prevail
Hops will not overcome us!
Is not it?

"Yes, God is merciful!"

Well, have a drink with us!

We got vodka and drank.
Yakim Veretennikov
He raised two scales.

Hey sir! didn't get angry
Smart head!
(Yakim told him.)
Reasonable little head
How not to understand the peasant?
And pigs walk on earth -
They do not see the sky for centuries! ..

Suddenly the song burst out in chorus
Deleted, consonant:
A dozen or three youngsters
Khmelnenki, not falling down,
They walk side by side, they sing,
They sing about Mother Volga,
About the prowess of the youth,
About girlish beauty.
The whole road was quiet
That one song is foldable
Wide, freely rolling,
As rye spreads under the wind,
According to the heart of the peasant
Goes with fire-longing! ..
To the song of that remote
Thinking, crying
Youth alone:
“My age is like a day without the sun,
My age is like a night without a month,
And I, baby,
What a greyhound horse on a leash,
What is a swallow without wings!
My old husband, jealous husband,
Drunk drunk, snoring snoring,
Me, baby,
And sleepy guards!
So the young woman cried
Yes, she suddenly jumped off the cart!
"Where?" - shouts the jealous husband,
I got up - and a woman for a braid,
Like a radish for a tuft!

Oh! night, night drunk!
Not bright, but stellar
Not hot, but with affectionate
Spring breeze!
And our good fellows
You didn't pass for nothing!
They were sad for their wives,
It's true: with his wife
Now it would be more fun!
Ivan shouts: "I want to sleep,"
And Maryushka: - And I'm with you! -
Ivan shouts: "The bed is narrow,"
And Maryushka: - Let's settle down! -
Ivan shouts: "Oh, it's cold,"
And Maryushka: - Let's get warm! -
How do you remember that song?
Without a word - agreed
Try your chest.

One, why God knows
Between field and road
The dense linden has grown.
Wanderers sat under it
And they said carefully:
"Hey! self-assembled tablecloth,
Treat the men!”

And the tablecloth unrolled
Where did they come from
Two hefty hands:
A bucket of wine was placed
Bread was laid on a mountain
And they hid again.

The peasants fortified themselves
A novel for a sentry
Left by the bucket
Others intervened
In the crowd - look for a happy one:
They strongly wanted
Get home soon...