Wise minnow. The wise minnow Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov Shchedrin fairy tales summary

This article does not have the opportunity to consider the entire “fairytale” legacy of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Therefore, only the most famous “fairy-tale” works by the author of the work “Lord Golovlyov” will be analyzed and retold.

The list is like this:

"The story of how one man fed two generals" (1869).
"The Wild Landowner" (1869).
"The wise minnow" (1883).

"The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals" (1869)

The plot is simple: two generals magically ended up on the island. At first they did nothing, but then they got hungry, and need drove them on reconnaissance. The generals discovered that the island was rich in all sorts of gifts: vegetables, fruits, animals. But, since they spent their entire lives working in offices and didn’t know anything other than “please register,” they don’t care whether these gifts exist or not. Suddenly one of the generals suggested: there must be a guy lying under a tree doing nothing somewhere on the island. Their general task is to find him and make him work. No sooner said than done. And so it happened. The generals harnessed the man, like a horse, to work, and he hunted for them, picked fruits from the trees for them. Then the generals got tired and forced the man to build them a boat and drag them back to So the man did, and received a “generous” reward for this, which he gratefully accepted and departed back to his island. That's how it is summary. Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote inspired fairy tales.

Everything is simple here. M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin ridicules the lack of education of the Russian elite of that time. The generals in the fairy tale are impossibly stupid and helpless, but at the same time they are swaggering, arrogant and do not value people at all. The image of the “Russian peasant,” on the contrary, is depicted by Shchedrin with special love. The ordinary person of the 19th century, as depicted by the author, is resourceful, savvy, knows and can do everything, but at the same time is not at all proud of himself. In a word, the ideal of a person. This is a summary. Saltykov-Shchedrin created ideological, one might even say ideological, fairy tales.

"The Wild Landowner" (1869)

The first and second fairy tales discussed in this article have the same publication year. And this is not without reason, because they are also related by topic. The plot of this story is completely common for Shchedrin and therefore absurd: the landowner was tired of his men, he believed that they were spoiling his air and his land. The master literally went mad over property and kept praying to God to deliver him from the “smelly” man. The peasants, too, were not too happy to serve under such a strange landowner, and they prayed to God to deliver them from such a life. God took pity on the peasants and wiped them off the face of the landowners' land.

At first everything went well for the landowner, but then his supplies of food and water began to run out, and he became more and more wild every day. It is also curious that at first guests came to him and praised him when they learned how he famously got rid of that hated “man smell” in the air. One problem: all the food disappeared from the house along with the man. No, the man did not rob the master. It’s just that the Russian aristocrat himself, by his nature, is not fit for anything and can’t do anything.

The landowner became more and more wild, and the nearby area became increasingly desolate without the man. But then a school of men flew over it and landed their troops on this land. Products appeared again, life went as it should again.

By that time the landowner had gone into the forests. Even the forest animals condemned the landowner for expelling the peasant. So it goes. Everything ended well. The landowner was caught in the forests, cut his hair and even taught to use a handkerchief again, but he still missed his freedom. Life on the estate depressed him now. This is how you can end the summary. Saltykov-Shchedrin created fairy tales that were truthful and filled with moral meaning.

It practically coincides with the previous tale about two generals. The only thing that seems curious is the landowner’s longing for freedom, for the forests. Apparently, according to the author of the work, the landowners themselves unconsciously suffered from the loss of the meaning of life.

"The Wise Minnow" (1883)

Piskar tells his story. His parents lived long life and died a natural death (very rare among small fish). And all because they were very careful. The hero's father told him many times the story of how he almost got hit in the ear, and only a miracle saved him. Under the influence of these stories, our minnow digs a hole for itself somewhere and hides there all the time, hoping “no matter what happens.” It is chosen only at night, when it is least likely to be eaten. That's how he lives. Until he becomes old and dies, most likely of his own accord. This is a summary.

Saltykov-Shchedrin: fairy tales. Ideological content

The last fairy tale on our list is much richer in its ideological content than the previous two. This is no longer even a fairy tale, but a philosophical parable with existential content. True, it can be read not only existentially, but also psychoanalytically.

Psychoanalytic version. Piskar was scared to death by his father's miraculous rescue from the boiling cauldron. And this traumatic situation cast a shadow over his entire subsequent life. We can say that the minnow was not overcoming his own fear, and it was outlined by someone else’s, parental phobia.

Existential version. Let's start with the fact that the word “wise” is used by Shchedrin in the exact opposite sense. The minnow's entire life strategy teaches how not to live. He hid from life, did not follow his path and destiny, so he lived, although long, but without meaning.

General disadvantage of the school curriculum

When a writer becomes a classic, they immediately begin to study him in schools. It flows into school curriculum. This means that fairy tales written by Saltykov-Shchedrin are also studied at school (short content is most often chosen by modern schoolchildren to read). And this in itself is not bad, but this approach simplifies the author and makes him the author of two or three works. In addition, it creates standard and stereotyped human thinking. And schemes usually do not encourage the development of the ability to think creatively. What should a school ideally teach?

How to avoid this? Very simple: after reading this article and familiarizing yourself with the topic “Saltykov-Shchedrin. Fairy tales. A brief summary of the plot and ideological content”, it is imperative to read as many of his works as possible, which are outside the school curriculum.

The book “Fairy Tales” includes thirty-two works that were created over four years (1883-1886). For Shchedrin's satire, the usual techniques are artistic exaggeration, fantasy, allegory, bringing together those accused social phenomena with phenomena of the animal world. In an environment of government reaction, fairy-tale fiction to some extent served as a means of artistic camouflage for the most acute ideological and political intentions of the satirist. In the complex ideological content of the writer’s fairy tales, three main themes can be distinguished: a satire on the government leaders of the autocracy and on the exploiting classes (“The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “The Wild Landowner”), a depiction of the life of the masses in Tsarist Russia(“The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals”) and an exposure of the behavior and psychology of the philistine intelligentsia (“The Wise Minnow,” “Liberal,” “Crucian Idealist”). In his fairy tales, Saltykov-Shchedrin continues the traditions (folklore, fable, satirical, combination of the real and the fantastic) that were formed in Russian literature before him. In “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals,” Shchedrin, using the techniques of witty fairy-tale fiction, shows that the source of not only material well-being, but also the so-called noble culture is the work of the peasant. The parasitic generals, who were accustomed to living on the labor of others, finding themselves on a desert island without servants, discovered the habits of hungry wild animals, ready to devour each other. The appearance of the man saved them from final brutality and returned them to their usual “general” appearance. With bitter satire, the satirist depicted the slavish behavior of a peasant. By depicting the pitiful fate of the hero of the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”, distraught with fear, who walled himself up in a dark hole for life, the satirist exposed the common intellectual to public shame, expressed contempt for those who, submitting to the instinct of self-preservation, retreated from active social struggle into the narrow world of personal interests .

Summary Once upon a time there lived a minnow. Before his death, his parents bequeathed him to live with his eyes open. The gudgeon feels that trouble awaits him everywhere, which can come from his neighbor gudgeons, from large fish, from humans. The gudgeon's father was almost boiled in his ear. The gudgeon makes himself a dwelling such that only he could fit in it, and in such a place; where no one could reach. At night he goes in search of food. All day he “shivers” in his home, suffers hardships, but tries to save his life. His life is threatened by crayfish and pike, but he manages to stay alive. The minnow cannot start a family for practical reasons: “to survive on his own.” The minnow lived in loneliness and fear for “more than a hundred years.” The pikes praise the gudgeon for its caution, hoping that it will relax and they will be able to eat it. But the minnow values its life and is therefore vigilant. He thinks about the words of the pikes: “If only everyone lived like this wise minnow lives...”, and it becomes obvious to him that if all the minnows lived like him, then there would be no minnows long ago. His life is barren and useless. Such gudgeons “live, take up space for nothing and eat food.” The gudgeon decides to get out of his home and swim along the river once in his life. But he is so scared that he does not carry out his plans. And dying, the gudgeon remains in fear. Nobody asks him how one can live a hundred years. He is called not wise, but “dumb.” The minnow disappears. “Most likely, he himself died, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying gudgeon, and a wise one at that?”

Summary Two generals found themselves on a desert island, who spent their whole lives “in some kind of registry; They were born there, raised and grew old, and therefore did not understand anything. They didn’t even know any words except: “Accept the assurance of my complete respect and devotion.” Waking up, the generals tell each other that they dreamed that they were on a desert island.

Konyaga’s life is not easy; all she has is hard everyday work. That work is tantamount to hard labor, but for Konyaga and the owner, this work is the only opportunity to earn a living. True, I was lucky with the owner: the man doesn’t hit in vain, when it’s really hard, he supports him with a shout. He releases the skinny horse to graze in the field, but Konyaga takes this time to rest and sleep, despite the painful stinging insects.

For everyone, nature is a mother, for him alone she is a scourge and torture. Every manifestation of her life is reflected in him as torment, every flowering is reflected in him as poison.

His relatives pass by the dozing Konyaga. One of them, Pustoplyas, is his brother. The horse's father prepared a hard fate for his uncouthness, and the polite and respectful Pustoplyas is always in a warm stall, feeding not on straw, but on oats.

Empty Dancer looks at Konyaga and marvels: nothing can penetrate him. It would seem that Konyaga’s life should already end from such work and food, but no, Konyaga continues to pull the heavy yoke that has befallen him.

Brief summary of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Horse”

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Everyone knows that children enjoy reading fairy tales, but the fairy tale genre exists not only for children. Lighting different social problems, Saltykov-Shchedrin resorted to the fairy tale genre. Let's get acquainted with the fairy tale for adults The Wild Landowner, which will be useful for our reader's diary.

A summary of Saltykov-Shchedrin's tale introduces the reader to a prince who was rich, but too stupid. Every now and then I leafed through the newspaper Vest and played my solitaire games, thinking about how useless the man was. Often he asked God to rid the estate of the peasant, but the Almighty did not heed his request, realizing how stupid the landowner was. To achieve his goal, he begins to crush the men with fines and taxes. They asked God that there would not be a single man on the estate. And this time the Lord granted the request.

The landowner lives and cannot be happier clean air. True, everyone called him a fool because of such a desire. Now there was no one to cook or clean. I decided to invite the theater to my place, but there was no one to raise the curtain. The actors left. I decided to invite guests who came hungry, but the prince had nothing but gingerbread and candy. Dissatisfied guests fled, calling the landowner a stupid fool.

The prince stands his ground, constantly thinking about English cars. Dreaming of a garden that will grow near the house, and of cows that he will breed on his estate. Sometimes the landowner forgets, calls a servant, but no one comes. One day a police officer came to the landowner, complaining that there was no one to pay taxes now, there was no man. The market is empty, the estate is falling into disrepair. And he also calls the landowner stupid. The landowner himself began to think whether he really was stupid, but he still stuck to his guns.

Meanwhile, the estate became overgrown, deserted, and even a bear appeared. The landowner himself became wild, overgrown with hair, so that even in the cold he was not cold. Human speech has already begun to be forgotten. He began to hunt a hare, and like a savage, eat the prey right from the skin. He became strong and even made friends with the bear.

At this time, the police officer raised the issue of the missing men and at the council they made a decision to catch the man and bring him back. The prince should be put on the right path, so that he does not create obstacles in the future and does not create obstacles regarding the receipt of taxes to the treasury. And so it was done. The man is now at the estate, the owner has been put in order. The estate immediately became profitable. Products appeared on the markets. The owner was entrusted to the supervision of his servant Senka, and his favorite newspaper was taken away from the prince. The landowner lives to this day, occasionally washing his face under duress and at times moaning and regretting the wild stage of his life.

In this work, which one cannot dare to call a fairy tale, the narrative turned out to be too sad, Saltykov-Shchedrin describes the life of a peasant horse, Konyaga. Symbolically, the image of Konyaga refers to peasants, whose work is just as exhausting and hopeless. The text can be used for a reader's journal, shorten it a little more if necessary.

The tale begins with Konyaga lying by the road after plowing a difficult rocky strip and dozing. His owner gave him a break so that the animal could eat, but Konyaga no longer had the strength to eat.

The following is a description of Konyaga: an ordinary work horse, tortured, with a matted mane, sore eyes, broken legs and burnt shoulders, very thin - the ribs stick out. The horse works from morning to evening - it plows in the summer, and in the winter it delivers goods for sale - “carries works.”

They feed and care for him poorly, so he has nowhere to gain strength. While in summer you can still pluck grass, in winter Konyaga feeds only on rotten straw. Therefore, by spring he is completely exhausted; to work in the field, he has to be lifted with the help of poles.

But still, Konyaga was lucky with his owner - he is a kind man and in vain “doesn’t hurt him.” They both work until exhaustion: “they will go through the furrow from end to end - and both tremble: here it is, death, has come!”

Further, Saltykov-Shchedrin describes a peasant settlement - in the center there is a narrow road (country road) that connects the villages, and on the edges there are endless fields. The author compares the fields with a motionless bulk, inside of which there should be a fabulous power, as if imprisoned. And no one can free this power, since after all, this is not a work of fairy tales, but real life. Although the man and Konyaga struggle with this task all their lives, the strength is not released, and the man’s bonds do not fall away, and Konyaga’s shoulders do not heal.

Now Konyaga is lying in the sun and suffering from the heat. Flies and gadflies bite him, everything inside hurts, but he cannot complain. “And God denied this joy to the dumb animal.” And rest for him is not rest at all, but agony; and sleep is not a dream, but an incoherent “khmara” (this word symbolically means oblivion, but in fact in Old Russian it meant cloud, cloud, fog).

Konyaga has no choice, the field in which he works is endless, although he radiated it in all directions. For people, the field is space and “poetry,” but for our heroes it is bondage. And nature for Konyaga is not a mother, but a torturer - the hot rays of the sun scorch mercilessly, frost, wind and other manifestations of the natural elements also torment him. All he can feel is pain and fatigue.

He was created for hard work, this is the meaning of his existence. There is no end to his work, so he is given food and rest exactly at the level so that he can still somehow continue to live and can work physically.

Idle dancers pass by him, lying and exhausted - this is what the author calls horses that have a different fate. Although they are brothers, Konyaga was born rude and insensitive, and Pustoplyas, on the contrary, sensitive and courteous. And so the old horse, their father, commanded that Konyaga work, eat only rotten straw and drink from a dirty puddle, and the other son was always in a warm stall, on soft straw and ate oats. As you might guess, in the image of idle dancers Saltykov-Shchedrin portrays other strata of society - nobles and landowners who do not need to work so hard.

Later in the tale, the empty dancers discuss Konyaga, talk about the reasons for his immortality - although they beat him mercilessly, and he works without rest, for some reason he still lives. The first empty dancer believes that from work Konyaga developed common sense, which he simply resigned himself to. The second considers Konyaga to be the bearer of the life of the spirit and the spirit of life. These two spiritual treasures supposedly make the horse invulnerable. The third says that Konyaga found meaning in his work, but idle dancers have long lost such meaning. The fourth believes that the horse has long gotten used to pulling its strap, although there is barely a glimmer of life in it, but you can always cheer it up with a whip. And there are many such Horses, they are all the same, use their labor as much as you like, they will not go anywhere.

But their argument is interrupted interesting place— the man wakes up, and his shout wakes up Konyaga. And then the empty dancers burst out with delight, admire how the animal is trying to get up, and even advise learning from it. “B-but, convict, b-but!” - the fairy tale ends with these words.