Saltykov Shchedrin fairy tales summary. Wise minnow. The last years of the writer's life

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.

The wolf is the most terrible predator in the forest. He spares neither hares nor sheep. He is able to kill all the livestock of an ordinary man and leave his family to starve. But a man who gets angry with a wolf will not leave it without punishment.

Bogatyr

A hero was born in a certain country. Baba Yaga gave birth to him and raised him. He grew tall and menacing. His mother went on vacation, and he received unprecedented freedom.

Faithful Trezor

Trezor was in guard duty with the merchant Nikanor Semenovich Vorotilov. It’s true that Trezor was on duty and never left his guard post.

Raven petitioner

Once upon a time there lived an old raven, he remembered with longing the ancient times when everything was different, ravens did not steal, but honestly got their food. His heart ached from such thoughts.

Dried roach

Dried vobla is the work of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov - Shchedrin, a Russian writer with great satirical talent.

Hyena

The story - lesson "Hyena" is a discussion about how some people are similar to hyenas.

Messrs. Golovlevs

The author in his work showed what outcome “Golovlevism” leads to. Despite the tragic outcome of the novel, Saltykov-Shchedrin makes it clear that the awakening of conscience is possible in the most degraded, deceitful and out-of-mind person.

Village fire

The work “Village Fire” tells us about the tragic events that occurred in the village of Sofonikha. On a hot June day, when all the women and men were working in the fields, a fire broke out in the village.

Wild landowner

The story is about a wealthy landowner. What saddened him most in the world were simple men. It turned out that his wish came true, and he was left alone in his estate

Fool

This story happened in ancient times. Once upon a time there lived a husband and wife, they were quite smart, but their son was born - a fool. The parents argued about who he was born like and named the baby Ivanushka.

The story of one city

Over its hundred-year history, 22 mayors have changed. And the archivists who compiled the chronicle wrote truthfully about all of them. The city traded in kvass, liver and boiled eggs.

Crucian idealist

There was a dispute between the crucian carp and the ruff. Yorsh argued that you cannot live your whole life without cheating. Karas is an idealist main character story. Lives in a quiet place and conducts discussions about the fact that fish cannot eat each other.

Kissel

The cook cooked jelly and called everyone to the table. The gentlemen enjoyed the food and fed their children as well. Everyone liked the jelly, it was very tasty. The cook was ordered to prepare this dish every day

Horse

A horse is a tortured nag with protruding ribs, a matted mane, a drooping upper lip, and broken legs. Konyaga tortured to death by hard labor

Liberal

In one country there lived a liberal who, due to his own whims, was very skeptical about many things. Personal views and beliefs forced him at times to express incredulous judgments about what was happening around him.

Bear in the province

The fairy tale consists of short stories about three heroes - the Toptygins. All three were sent by Leo (essentially the monarch) to the distant forest for the voivodeship.

Eagle Patron

In this work, the Eagle seizes power in the forests and fields. It is clear that he is not a lion, not even a bear, that eagles usually live by robbery... But this Eagle decided to give others an example, to live like a landowner.

The story of how one man fed two generals

IN this work it tells how two generals, accustomed to living without worries and not knowing how to do anything, ended up on a desert island. Hunger overcame them, they began to look for food, but since they were not adapted

The wise minnow

The wise gudgeon lived his entire life in a hole that he built himself. He feared for his life and considered himself wise. I remembered the stories of my father and mother about the dangers.

Conscience gone

A story about how people suddenly lost their conscience. Without her, as it turned out, life became better. People began to rob, and eventually went frantic. Conscience, forgotten by everyone, lay on the road

Christmas tale

At the Christmas holiday, the priest in the church said wonderful words. He told the essence of the truth, that it was given to us with the coming of Jesus and manifested itself in his every situation in life.

Selfless hare

In the image of a hare, the Russian people are conveyed, who are devoted to the last to their royal masters - the wolves. Wolves, like true predators, mock and eat hares. The hare is in a hurry to get engaged to the hare and does not stop in front of the wolf when he asks.

Neighbours

In a certain village there lived two Ivans. They were neighbors, one was rich, the other poor. Both Ivans were very good people.

about the author

Saltykov-Shchedrin's childhood was not fun, since his mother, having married early, turned into a cruel teacher of six children, the last of whom was Mikhail. However, thanks to this rigor, he managed to learn several languages ​​and, having received a good education at home to go to college. It is thanks to this educational institution Upon graduation, he received a government rank, and subsequently worked as a journalist, then as an editor.

Despite all the efforts of his parents to make him into the elite of society, Saltykov did not succumb to this and grew up to be a foul-mouthed and reckless guy. However, he excelled in his studies, for which he received the title of college secretary, then promoted to adviser, which cannot be said about the poems that were written free-thinking.

The writer continued his writings in the office of the military department, in the stories of which he raised questions of the revolution, after which he ended up in exile.

Mikhail was a writer of satire, able to skillfully express himself in Aesopian language, whose works are still relevant in their content.

After being exiled to Vyatka, he miraculously returns to St. Petersburg and becomes an official of internal affairs, without stopping in his creativity, he writes stories “Provincial Sketches”, which became the basis in intensive development literature in Rus'.

Knowing well the officials and representatives, he created images in which he described the characters and moral qualities nobles compared to vagabonds. For example, “The History of a City” was written in high level, full of satire and grotesque, citing facts of that time.

In the fairy tale " The wise minnow"The story about the fish characterizes bribe-takers, careerists and fools, followed by crowds of people who senselessly follow them and their actions.

“The Wild Landowner” again talks about cynicism, where comparisons are made with ordinary working people.

The satirical fairy tale “The Wise Minnow” (“The Wise Minnow”) was written in 1882 – 1883. The work was included in the cycle “Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age.” In Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”, cowardly people are ridiculed who live their whole lives in fear, having never done anything useful.

Main characters

The wise minnow- “enlightened, moderate liberal”, lived more than a hundred years in fear and loneliness.

Father and mother of the gudgeon

“Once upon a time there was a minnow. Both his father and mother were smart." Dying, the old minnow taught his son to “look both ways.” The wise minnow understood that there were dangers lurking around him - a large fish could swallow him, a crayfish could be cut with his claws, a water flea could torment him. The minnow was especially afraid of people - his father once almost hit him in the ear.

Therefore, the minnow hollowed out a hole for itself, into which only he could get. At night, when everyone was sleeping, he went out for a walk, and during the day, “he sat in the hole and trembled.” He didn't sleep enough, didn't eat enough, but avoided danger.

Once a gudgeon dreamed that he had won two hundred thousand, but when he woke up, he discovered that half his head had “sticked out” from the hole. Almost every day danger awaited him at the hole and, having avoided another, he exclaimed with relief: “Thank you, Lord, he’s alive!” "

Fearing everything in the world, the minnow did not marry and had no children. He believed that before, “the pikes were kinder and the perches didn’t bother with us small fry,” so his father could still afford a family, and he “would just have to live on his own.”

The wise minnow lived in this way for more than a hundred years. He had neither friends nor relatives. “He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls.” The pikes had already begun to praise him, hoping that the minnow would listen to them and get out of the hole.

“How many years have passed since the hundred years is unknown, only the wise minnow began to die.” Reflecting on his own life, the gudgeon understands that he is “useless” and if everyone lived like this, then “the entire gudgeon family would have died out long ago.” He decided to crawl out of the hole and “swim like a goldeneye all over the river,” but again he got scared and trembled.

Fish swam past his hole, but no one was interested in how he lived to be a hundred years old. And no one called him wise - only a “dumb,” “a fool and a disgrace.”

The gudgeon falls into oblivion and then again he had an old dream about how he won two hundred thousand, and even “grew by as much as half a larshin and swallows the pike himself.” In a dream, a minnow accidentally fell out of a hole and suddenly disappeared. Perhaps the pike swallowed him, but “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?” .

Conclusion

In the fairy tale “The Wise Piskar” Saltykov-Shchedrin reflected contemporary social phenomenon, common among the intelligentsia, who were concerned only with their own survival. Despite the fact that the work was written more than a hundred years ago, it does not lose its relevance today.

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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, and bringing together the exposed 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 .

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, and bringing together the exposed 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 complex ideological content

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.

Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote: “...Literature, for example, can be called Russian salt: what will happen if salt ceases to be salty, if to the restrictions that do not depend on literature, it also adds voluntary self-restraint...”

This article is about Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Horse”. In a brief summary we will try to understand what the author wanted to say.

about the author

Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E. (1826-1889) - an outstanding Russian writer. He was born and spent his childhood on a noble estate with many serfs. His father (Evgraf Vasilyevich Saltykov, 1776-1851) was a hereditary nobleman. Mom (Olga Mikhailovna Zabelina, 1801-1874) was also from a noble family. Having received elementary education, Saltykov-Shchedrin entered the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. After graduation, he began his career as a secretary in the military office.

Throughout his life, moving up his career, he traveled a lot to the provinces and observed the desperately distressing situation of the peasantry. Having a pen as a weapon, the author shares with his reader what he sees, denouncing lawlessness, tyranny, cruelty, lies, and immorality. By exposing the truth, he wanted the reader to be able to see the simple truth behind the huge shaft of lies and myths. The writer hoped that the time would come when these phenomena would decrease and disappear, since he believed that the fate of the country was in the hands of the common people.

The author is outraged by the injustice happening in the world, the powerless, humiliated existence of serfs. In his works, he sometimes allegorically, sometimes directly denounces cynicism and callousness, stupidity and delusions of grandeur, greed and cruelty of those who had power and authority at that time, the disastrous and hopeless situation of the peasantry. There was strict censorship then, so the writer could not openly criticize the established state of affairs. But I couldn’t endure in silence how “ wise minnow", so he framed his thoughts in a fairy tale.

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

The author writes not about a slender racer, not about a submissive horse, not about a fine mare, and not even about a working horse. And about the goner, the poor fellow, the hopeless, the uncomplaining slave.

How does he live, Saltykov-Shchedrin wonders in “The Horse,” without hope, without joy, without the meaning of life? Where does one get the strength for daily hard labor and endless labor? They feed him and let him rest only so that he does not die and can still work. Even from the brief content of the fairy tale “The Horse” it is clear that the serf is not a person at all, but a labor unit. “...It is not his well-being that is needed, but a life capable of bearing the yoke of work...” And if you don’t plow, who needs you, only damage to the farm.

Weekdays

In the summary of “The Horse,” first of all, it is necessary to tell how the stallion monotonously does his job all year round. Day after day, the same thing, furrow after furrow, with all my strength. The field does not end, there is no plowing left. For someone a field-space, but for a horse - bondage. Like a “cephalopod”, it sucks and presses, taking away strength. Bread is difficult. But he’s not there either. Like water in dry sand: it was and is not.

And there probably was a time when the horse frolicked on the grass as a foal, played with the wind and thought how beautiful, interesting, deep life is, how it sparkles with different colors. And now he lies in the sun, thin, with protruding ribs, shabby fur and bleeding wounds. Mucus flows from the eyes and nose. There is darkness and lights before my eyes. And all around there are flies, gadflies, hanging around, drinking blood, getting into my ears and eyes. And we need to get up, the field is not plowed, and there is no way to get up. Eat, they tell him, you won’t be able to work. And he no longer has the strength to reach for food, he can’t even move his ear.

Field

Wide open spaces, covered with greenery and ripe wheat, conceal a huge magical power life. She is chained in the ground. Freed, she would heal the horse’s wounds and take the burden of worries off the peasant’s shoulders.

In the summary of “The Horse,” one cannot help but tell how, day after day, a horse and a peasant work on it, like bees, giving away their sweat, their strength, time, blood and life. For what? Wouldn't they have had at least a small share of the enormous power?

Idle Dancers

In the summary of “The Horse” by Saltykov-Shchedrin, it is impossible not to show the dancing horses. They consider themselves the chosen ones. Rotten straw is for horses, but for them it is only oats. And they will be able to justify this competently and convince that this is the norm. And their horseshoes are probably gilded and their manes are silky. They frolic in the wild, creating a myth for everyone that the horse father intended it this way: for some everything, for others only the minimum, so that the labor units do not die. And suddenly it is revealed to them that they are superficial foam, and the peasant and horse who feed the whole world are immortal. “How so?” - the idle dancers will cackle and be surprised. How can a horse and a peasant be eternal? Where do they get their virtue from? Each idle dancer inserts his own. How can such an incident be justified for the world?

“But he’s stupid, this guy, he’s been plowing in the fields all his life, where does his intelligence come from?” - that’s what one says. In modern terms: “If you’re so smart, why don’t you have money?” What does the mind have to do with it? The strength of spirit is enormous in this frail body. “Work gives him happiness and peace,” another reassures himself. “Yes, he won’t be able to live any other way, he’s used to the whip, take it away and he’ll disappear,” develops a third. And having calmed down, they joyfully wish, as if for the good of the disease: “...This is who we need to learn from! This is who you should imitate! B-but, convict, b-but!”

Conclusion

The perception of the fairy tale “The Horse” by Saltykov-Shchedrin is different for each reader. But in all his works the author regrets common man or exposes the shortcomings of the ruling class. In the image of the Horse and the Peasant, the author has resigned, oppressed serfs, a huge number of working people earning their little penny. “...How many centuries he has been carrying this yoke - he does not know. He doesn’t calculate how many centuries he will have to carry it ahead...” The content of the fairy tale “The Horse” is like a short excursion into the history of the people.