Literary fairy tales 19th century authors. Leo TolstoyFairy tales of Russian writers of the 19th century. Mikhail Yurjevich Lermontov

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The opinion has taken root that literary fairy tales about Beauty and the Beast, including “The Scarlet Flower,” have one primary source: the short story “Cupid and Psyche” from the novel “The Golden Ass” by Apuleius (2nd century AD).

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PSYCHE'S CURIOSITY

Psyche was so beautiful that she aroused the jealousy of the goddess of beauty Venus, and she sent her son Cupid to her to inflict a wound on Psyche. But when Cupid saw the girl, he did not harm her, but carried her secretly to his palace and visited her at night, in complete darkness, forbidding her to see his face.

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The insidious and envious sisters taught Psyche to break the ban, and she tried to look at her lover with the help of a night light.

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At night, burning with curiosity, she lights a lamp and looks admiringly at the young god, not noticing the hot drop of oil that fell on Cupid’s delicate skin.

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In the fairy tale “Cupid and Psyche,” the envious sisters assured the beauty that her lover was a real monster. They also described him appearance:

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“We have certainly learned and cannot hide from you, sharing your sorrow and grief, that a huge monster secretly sleeps with you at night, whose neck is filled with destructive poison instead of blood and whose mouth is open like an abyss.”

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S. T. Aksakov in the fairy tale “The Scarlet Flower” literally constructs a monster from fragments of the bodies of various animals and birds: - Yes, and the beast of the forest was terrible, the miracle of the sea: crooked arms, animal nails on the hands, horse legs, great camel humps in front and back , all shaggy from top to bottom, boar tusks protruding from his mouth, a hooked nose like a golden eagle, and the eyes were owl. In all likelihood, the writer himself composed it in purely Russian taste. He himself came up with a name for it: “beast of the forest, miracle of the sea”

Since the middle of the 19th century, the nature of the Russian literary fairy tale has changed significantly. Prose genres are becoming more popular. In a literary fairy tale, certain features of folklore works are preserved, but the author’s and individual principles are enhanced. Russian literary fairy tale begins to develop in line with pedagogical prose, the didactic principle intensifies in it. The main authors of this kind are Konstantin Ushinsky and Leo Tolstoy, who work on folklore subjects.

Ushinsky created two textbooks "Children's World" and "Native Word". The textbook includes many fairy tales ("The Man and the Bear", "The Trickster Cat", "The Fox and the Goat", "Sivka the Burka"). The author included in the books many educational stories of a descriptive nature about animals, nature, history, and work. In some works the moralizing idea is especially strong ("Children in the Grove", "How a Shirt Grew in a Field").

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy created a school for peasant children. For these children, the writer published a textbook “ABC”, which included the fairy tales “Three Bears”, “Tom Thumb”, “The Tsar’s New Dress” (the plot goes back to Andersen). Tolstoy emphasized morality and teaching. The book also contains educational stories (“Bird cherry”, “Hares”, “Magnet”, “Warmth”). At the center of the works is almost always the image of a child (“Philippok”, “Shark”, “Jump”, “Cow”, “Bone”). Tolstoy reveals himself as a subtle expert in child psychology. The pedagogical situation educates taking into account the true feelings of the child.

Another author of the second half of the 19th century is M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, writing in the tradition of satire. His tales are based on the allegory of animals. Shchedrin's main satirical means is grotesque (excessive emphasis on some quality).

Nikolai Leskov wrote a fairy tale “Lefty” for children, which combines literary and folklore traditions. A tale is an oral story, where the function of the narrator is important, and there is an emphasis on the realism of the events described (among the characters are Tsar Alexander I and Nicholas I). Leskov highlights the problem of Russian national character. On the one hand, Alexander I does not consider his people capable of anything useful. On the other hand, General Platov says that there are craftsmen in Russia too. The image of the main character is created in the same way as in epic works. The main feature of character creation is monumentality and typicality (no name). Leskov actively uses stylization to resemble folk speech; it is colloquial with distortion of words (“Melkoscope”).

Problems of formation of children's literature and different periods its development has been studied for a long time, and extensive theoretical and practical material has been accumulated. However, despite a significant amount of work, the nature of the relationship between literature about children and literature for children has not been fully identified, and this issue is still far from any satisfactory solution.

Thus, in relation to the work of L.N. Tolstoy, such attempts were made by A.I. Borshchevskaya and E.Ya. Ilyina, K.D. Ushinsky - D.O. Lordkipanidze, A.F. Uspenskaya, and A.P. Chekhova - V.A.Golubkov, L.P.Gromov, V.F.Rudenko. Despite all this, in none of these works the issue of distinguishing between literature about children and for children is central and is considered fragmentarily, only in one aspect. In addition, a number of researchers, such as F.I. Setin, A.I. Borshchevskaya or V.A. Makarova, do not share the concepts of literature for children and literature about children at all. Thus, V.A. Makarova includes among stories for children not only “Vanka”, but also “The Man in a Case”, “Everyday Trifle”, “The Case of the Classic”, “The Tutor”, “About Drama”.

The conclusion that the researcher draws from his analysis is predictable in advance and does not follow from the content of the work: “Chekhov’s assessment of classical education... helped the progressive public and pedagogy in their struggle against dogmatism and conservatism in teaching the younger generation.”

F.I. Setin, completing the analysis of “Childhood”, “Adolescence” and “Youth”, which he interprets as works for children, and tracing the influence of Tolstoy on the further development of the genre of stories about childhood, notes: “True, democratic writers are not only follow Tolstoy, but often argue with him, creating their own concept of the tragic childhood of the poor, which is far from the picture of “Golden Childhood” in a landowner family, painted by the author of the trilogy.”

Thus, two trends can be traced in the distinction between literature for children and about children. Some researchers, such as F.I. Setin, V.A. Makarova or A.I. Borshchevskaya, are inclined to classify all works that touch on the theme of childhood as children's literature. It is obvious that this point of view is incorrect. Confusing the theme of childhood in adult literature with the same theme in literature for children seems unfounded. F. M. Dostoevsky’s novel “The Teenager” and V. V. Nabokov’s “Lolita” can be equally well classified as children’s literature, since among their main characters there are children. In general terms, the essence of this trend is that children's literature is being transferred to works that do not relate to it.

On the other hand, the opposite tendency in literary criticism is also erroneous, which consists in ignoring works addressed to children's audiences in the works of classical writers, which leads to significant misunderstanding and even distortion of entire periods of their literary activity. So, for example, Yu.A. Bogomolov and Edgar Broyde, analyzing Chekhov’s story “Kashtanka,” do not take into account at all the fact that this work was classified by Chekhov himself as a children’s work, which, among other reasons, gives rise to a fundamentally incorrect interpretation of the text.

Literature for children usually has a specific addressee - a child, while literature about children, although it can be partially perceived by children, is mainly aimed at an adult reader. It goes without saying that different targeting: to a child or an adult, accordingly requires qualitatively different forms of expression, manifested at the linguistic, plot-compositional and genre levels of perception. In addition, literature for children, in contrast to literature about children, incorporates a number of quite serious moral, ethical and social restrictions, while literature about children, if it has restrictions, is of a qualitatively different kind.

The deeply rooted idea that all or most of the works in which children are the main figures can be classified as children's works is obviously incorrect. Very often, a writer creating a work about a child and his world solves problems that are very far from the problems of children's literature. In this case, the child’s world is interesting to him not as an end in itself, but as a way to look at the adult world in a new way, from a new angle, or to show the formation and development of character. Typically, comments of this kind relate either to works with elements of the memoir genre, or to works that reconstruct the development of a particular personality under the influence of environment and upbringing. An example of such works is “Childhood of the Theme” by N.G. Garin-Mikhailovsky, “In a Bad Society” by V.G. Korolenko, “Childhood” by L.N. Tolstoy, “Childhood of Bagrov the Grandson” by S.T. Aksakov and many other novels and stories with elements of autobiographical prose. However, if the main difficulty were to separate just such works from the general series, we would not feel much need for classification. It would be enough to limit ourselves to the most general set of features that would allow us to isolate these works from the very beginning.

In reality the problem is much more complicated. Most often, the distinction is complicated by the fact that the border - about children or for children - passes not only through the work of different writers, but also through the work of each of them, taken separately. Unfortunately, until now, practically no generalizations have been made on this topic. The best analysis of children's literature of this period is presented in the significant and interesting book by A.P. Babushkina “The History of Russian Children's Literature.” The book examines issues ranging from the origins of Russian children's literature to the literature of the late 19th - first third of the 20th centuries, with the main emphasis placed precisely on the period of interest to us. Extremely sparse information about the role of this period in the history of literature for children could also be gleaned from A.A. Grechishnikova’s textbook “Soviet Children’s Literature.”

In the most general terms, the problem stated in the dissertation research can be expressed as follows:

1. Not all works whose heroes are children are written for children and, accordingly, are for children. On the contrary, works for children can also be works in which children do not participate or even appear (zoo fiction, adventure stories, fairy tales, fables, parables, etc.).

2. Works that are not written for children and, in fact, not for children, can also be actively read and demanded by a children's audience (for example, translated adventure novels by Walter Scott, “ Captain's daughter” and fairy tales by Pushkin, “Childhood” by L.N. Tolstoy, etc.).

3. Very often, multi-level adult works, usually written in the genre of memories of childhood, are mistaken for literature for children (example: “The Childhood Years of Bagrov the Grandson” by S.T. Aksakov, “Childhood” by L.N. Tolstoy). Indeed, due to their specificity and the subject of the depiction (a child in the process of growing up and various encounters with the adult world), these works are very often read by children, but, as a rule, in fragments or in a significantly adapted form. The child returns to these works over time and, as a rule, discovers in them a lot of things that were unread or previously misunderstood.

4. Finally, there are works (and there are many of them) that, having once been created for adults, to a large extent, for one reason or another, very soon became available to children's literature. In our opinion, this is explained not so much by the process of increasing the intellectual level or lowering the threshold of growing up, but by the rapid development of literature and further development genres.

To complicate the classification, we could distinguish the following types of works: a) children's works; b) adults themselves, generally, due to their characteristics, incomprehensible to children and not intended for them; c) “universal” works, most often adventure and fiction; d) works that have passed into children's literature from adult literature; e) “multi-level” works, where there are niches for both adults and children. Usually such works are written in the genre of memoirs. These are numerous “Childhood...”, and besides them there are many more historical, epic, epic or simply action-packed works, in which the plot, however, plays a supporting role.

All of the above creates significant difficulty in distinguishing literature and dividing it into literature for children and literature about children. At the same time, you can often encounter multi-level works that satisfy the requirements of both children's and adult literature.

This sometimes creates the need to abandon classification altogether and not distinguish between children’s and adult literature, once and for all including them in the single concept of “literature.” However, by doing this, we would consciously withdraw from studying those processes, settings, “filters” and visual arts, which determine the “childishness” or “not childishness” of literature and whose roots lie deep in the psyche of an adult and a child.

The topic stated in the dissertation covers a period of more than thirty years - from the early sixties of the 19th century to the end of the century. Sometimes the agreed boundaries are deliberately violated, as required by the reconstruction of a holistic picture of creativity for children and about the children of the writers considered in the study, whose years of creative development mainly fell on the period under study. In addition, it has long been noted that the literary age and the calendar age very rarely coincide, and writers who formed and entered literature in late XIX centuries, most often remain faithful to their century and, it seems, should be considered precisely within its boundaries.

So, for example, in the case of A.I. Kuprin, our scope of consideration includes some works created at the beginning of the 20th century. This violation of chronology, however, is justified, since A.I. Kuprin emerged as a writer at the end of the 19th century and continued in his work for children the traditions of A.P. Chekhov and D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak, and the framework of the century, of course, did not separate his work from these names.

The second half of the 19th century was an unusually fruitful period for Russian literature in general and, in particular, for literature for children and about children. This is the period when such writers as K.D. Ushinsky, L.N. Tolstoy, V.G. Korolenko, A.P. Chekhov, A.I. Kuprin, D.V. Grigorovich, D. N. Mamin-Sibiryak, V. M. Garshin and F. M. Dostoevsky.

№8 Fet is one of the most remarkable Russian landscape poets. In his

Russian spring appears in all its beauty in the verses - with flowering trees,

the first flowers, with cranes calling in the steppe. It seems to me that the image

Cranes, so beloved by many Russian poets, were first identified by Fet.

In Fet's poetry, nature is depicted in detail. In this regard, he is an innovator. Before

Fet in Russian poetry, addressed to nature, generalization reigned. In verse

Feta we meet not only traditional birds with the usual poetic

halo - like a nightingale, a swan, a lark, an eagle, but also such as simple and

unpoetic, like the owl, harrier, lapwing, and swift. Traditional for Russian literature is the identification of paintings

nature with a certain mood and state of the human soul. This

the technique of figurative parallelism was widely used by Zhukovsky, Pushkin and

Lermontov. Fet and Tyutchev continue this tradition in their poems. So,

Tyutchev in his poem “Autumn Evening” compares fading nature with

tormented human soul. The poet succeeded with amazing precision

convey the painful beauty of autumn, causing both admiration and

sadness. Tyutchev’s bold but always true epithets are especially characteristic:

“the ominous shine and variegation of the trees”, “the sadly orphaned earth.” And in

human feelings, the poet finds correspondence to the mood prevailing in

nature. Tyutchev is a poet-philosopher. It is with his name that the current is associated

philosophical romanticism, which came to Russia from German literature. And in

In his poems, Tyutchev strives to understand nature by including it in the system of his

philosophical views, turning them into part of your inner world. Maybe

be this desire to fit nature into a framework human consciousness

dictated by Tyutchev's passion for personifications. Let us at least remember the well-known

the poem “Spring Waters”, where streams “run and shine and shout.” Sometimes

this desire to “humanize” nature leads the poet to pagan,

mythological images. Thus, in the poem “Noon” the description of a dozing

nature, exhausted by the heat, ends with the mention of the god Pan. By the end of his life, Tyutchev realizes that man is “only a dream.”

nature." He sees nature as an “all-consuming and peaceful abyss”,

which inspires the poet not only fear, but almost hatred. On top of her

His mind is not in power, “the powerful spirit is in control.”

Thus, throughout life, the image of nature changes in the mind and

Tyutchev's works. The relationship between nature and the poet increasingly resembles

"fatal duel" But this is precisely how Tyutchev himself defined the true

Fet has a completely different relationship with nature. He doesn't strive

“rise” above nature, analyze it from the standpoint of reason. Fet feels

yourself as an organic part of nature. His poems convey the sensual,

emotional perception of the world. Chernyshevsky wrote about Fet’s poems that they

a horse could write if it learned to write poetry. Indeed,

It is the immediacy of impressions that distinguishes Fet’s work. He is often

compares himself in verses with “the first inhabitant of paradise”, “the first Jew at the turn

promised land." This is the self-perception of a “discoverer of nature,” by the way,

often characteristic of Tolstoy’s heroes, with whom Fet was friends. Let's remember though

would be Prince Andrei, who perceives the birch as “a tree with a white trunk and

green leaves." poet Boris Pasternak - lyrical painter. A huge amount of it

poems dedicated to nature. In the poet's constant attention to earthly

spaces, to the seasons, to the sun is hidden, in my opinion, the main

theme of his poetic work. Parsnip exactly the same as in its time

Tyutchev experiences almost religious surprise at the “God’s world.”

So, according to people who knew him closely, Pasternak liked to call boiling water

Life around us is precisely “God’s world.”

It is known that he lived in Peredelkino for almost a quarter of a century.

writer's cottage. All the streams, ravines, old trees of this wonderful place

included in his landscape sketches.

Those readers who, like me, love the poems of this poet, know that

there is no division into living and inanimate nature. Landscapes exist in his

poems on equal terms with genre lyrical pictures of life. For Pasternak

not only his own view of the landscape is important, but also nature’s view of the

Natural phenomena in the poet’s poems acquire the properties of living beings:

the rain stomps at the threshold “more forgetful than timid”, a different rain at

Pasternak walks along the clearing “like a surveyor and a marker.” He may have a thunderstorm

threaten like an angry woman, and the house feels like a person who

afraid to fall.

№9 Features of the genre of autobiographical prose

An appeal to autobiographical prose for poets of the second half of the 19th century. not only was it a way to convey one’s experiences, thoughts and emotions, but it was also driven by the desire to capture the panoramic view of Russian life of that period, to portray one’s contemporaries, and to tell the story of one’s family. Of course, poetry and literary criticism were priority activities for them. At the same time, without experiencing a creative crisis, in search of deeper internal introspection, they turned to writing their memoirs. Memoirs are direct evidence of the increased interest of poets in prosaic artistic activity.

Autobiographical creativity has been less studied than poetry. Most prose texts still remain outside the scope of literary literature proper, being of interest, first of all, as an authoritative source of information about the life, belief system and specifics of the creative individuality of poets. Meanwhile, autobiographical prose is an important component of artistic heritage. The authors under consideration are artists who combine several talents - poet, critic, prose writer, memoirist, whose work should not be subject to one-sided definitions and characteristics. The study of autobiographical prose makes it possible not only to identify the characteristics of the era in which they were formed as poets, but also to analyze the structure of such a specific image as the image of an autobiographical hero, formed under the influence of their own lyrical experience. The insufficient development of this problem in domestic literary criticism is of particular research interest and determines the relevance of the topic of this dissertation, aimed at studying the poetics of autobiographical prose.

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Anthony Pogorelsky

Black chicken, or Underground inhabitants

About forty years ago, in St. Petersburg on Vasilyevsky Island, in the First Line, there lived the owner of a men's boarding house, which to this day, probably, remains in the fresh memory of many, although the house where the boarding house was located has long been has already given way to another, not at all similar to the previous one. At that time, our St. Petersburg was already famous throughout Europe for its beauty, although it was still far from what it is now. At that time, there were no cheerful shady alleys on the avenues of Vasilievsky Island: wooden stages, often knocked together from rotten boards, took the place of today’s beautiful sidewalks. Isaac's Bridge, narrow and uneven at that time, presented a completely different appearance than it does now; and St. Isaac's Square itself was not like that at all. Then the monument to Peter the Great was separated from St. Isaac's Church by a ditch; The Admiralty was not surrounded by trees; The Horse Guards Manege did not decorate the square with the beautiful façade it now has - in a word, the Petersburg of that time was not the same as it is now. Cities have, by the way, the advantage over people that they sometimes become more beautiful with age... However, that’s not what we’re talking about now. Another time and on another occasion, perhaps I will talk with you at greater length about the changes that have taken place in St. Petersburg during my century - but now let’s turn again to the boarding house, which about forty years ago was located on Vasilyevsky Island, in the First Line.

The house, which now - as I already told you - you will not find, was about two floors, covered with Dutch tiles. The porch along which one entered it was wooden and overlooked the street... From the entryway a rather steep staircase led to the upper housing, which consisted of eight or nine rooms, in which the owner of the boarding house lived on one side, and on the other there were classrooms. The dormitories, or children's bedrooms, were located on the ground floor, right side the entryway, and on the left lived two old women, Dutch women, each of whom was more than a hundred years old and who saw Peter the Great with their own eyes and even spoke to him...

Among the thirty or forty children studying at that boarding school, there was one boy named Alyosha, who was then no more than nine or ten years old. His parents, who lived far, far from St. Petersburg, had brought him to the capital two years before, sent him to a boarding school and returned home, paying the teacher the agreed fee for several years in advance. Alyosha was a smart, cute boy, he studied well, and everyone loved and caressed him. However, despite this, he was often bored at the boarding house, and sometimes even sad. Especially at first, he could not get used to the idea that he was separated from his family. But then, little by little, he began to get used to his situation, and there were even moments when, playing with his friends, he thought that it was much more fun in the boarding house than in his parents' house.

In general, the days of study passed quickly and pleasantly for him; but when Saturday came and all his comrades hurried home to their relatives, then Alyosha bitterly felt his loneliness. On Sundays and holidays he was left alone all day, and then his only consolation was reading books that the teacher allowed him to take from his small library. The teacher was a German by birth, and at that time the fashion for chivalric novels and fairy tales dominated in German literature, and the library that our Alyosha used, for the most part consisted of books of this kind.

So, Alyosha, while still ten years old, already knew by heart the deeds of the most glorious knights, at least as they were described in the novels. His favorite pastime during long periods of time winter evenings, on Sundays and others holidays, was mentally transported to ancient, long-past centuries... Especially in the vacant time, when he was separated for a long time from his comrades, when he often sat for whole days in solitude, his young imagination wandered through knightly castles, through terrible ruins or through dark, dense forests .

I forgot to tell you that this house had a fairly spacious courtyard, separated from the alley by a wooden fence made of baroque planks. The gate and gate that led to the alley were always locked, and therefore Alyosha never had the opportunity to visit this alley, which greatly aroused his curiosity. Whenever they allowed him to play in the yard during rest hours, his first movement was to run up to the fence. Here he stood on tiptoe and looked intently at round holes, with which the fence was dotted. Alyosha did not know that these holes came from the wooden nails with which the barges had previously been knocked together, and it seemed to him that some kind sorceress had drilled these holes on purpose for him. He kept expecting that someday this sorceress would appear in the alley and through the hole would give him a toy, or a talisman, or a letter from daddy or mummy, from whom he had not received any news for a long time. But, to his extreme regret, no one even resembling the sorceress appeared.

Alyosha’s other occupation was to feed the chickens, who lived near the fence in a house specially built for them and played and ran around in the yard all day long. Alyosha got to know them very briefly, knew everyone by name, broke up their fights, and the bully punished them by sometimes not giving them anything from the crumbs for several days in a row, which he always collected from the tablecloth after lunch and dinner. Among the chickens, he especially loved one black crested one, named Chernushka. Chernushka was more affectionate to him than others; she even sometimes allowed herself to be stroked, and therefore Alyosha brought her the best pieces. She was of a quiet disposition; she rarely walked with others and seemed to love Alyosha more than her friends.

One day (it was during the winter vacation - the day was beautiful and unusually warm, no more than three or four degrees below zero) Alyosha was allowed to play in the yard. That day the teacher and his wife were in great trouble. They gave lunch to the director of the schools, and even the day before, from morning until late evening, they washed the floors everywhere in the house, wiped the dust and waxed the mahogany tables and chests of drawers. The teacher himself went to buy provisions for the table: white Arkhangelsk veal, a huge ham and Kiev jam. Alyosha also contributed to the preparations to the best of his ability: he was forced to cut out a beautiful mesh for a ham from white paper and decorate six wax candles that had been specially purchased with paper carvings. On the appointed day, the hairdresser appeared early in the morning and showed his art on the teacher’s curls, toupee and long braid. Then he set to work on his wife, pomaded and powdered her curls and chignon, and piled a whole greenhouse of different flowers on her head, between which shone skillfully placed two diamond rings, once given to her husband by the parents of the students. After finishing the headdress, she threw on an old, worn-out robe and went to work on the housework, watching, strictly, so that her hair did not get damaged in any way; and for this reason she herself did not enter the kitchen, but gave her orders to the cook, standing in the doorway. In necessary cases, she sent her husband there, whose hair was not so high.

In the continuation of all these worries, our Alyosha was completely forgotten, and he took advantage of this to play in the yard in the open space. As was his custom, he first went up to the plank fence and looked through the hole for a long time; but even on this day almost no one passed along the alley, and with a sigh he turned to his kind chickens. Before he had time to sit down on the log and had just begun to beckon them to him, he suddenly saw a cook next to him with a large knife. Alyosha never liked this cook - angry and scolding. But since he noticed that she was the reason that the number of his chickens was decreasing from time to time, he began to love her even less. When one day he accidentally saw in the kitchen a pretty, very beloved cockerel, hanging by the legs with its throat cut, he felt horror and disgust for her. Seeing her now with a knife, he immediately guessed what it meant, and, feeling with sorrow that he was unable to help his friends, he jumped up and ran far away.

- Alyosha, Alyosha! Help me catch the chicken! - the cook shouted.

But Alyosha began to run even faster, hid by the fence behind the chicken coop and did not notice how the tears rolled out of his eyes one after another and fell to the ground.

He stood by the chicken coop for quite a long time, and his heart was beating strongly, while the cook ran around the yard, either beckoning to the chickens: “Chick, chick, chick!”, or scolding them.

Suddenly Alyosha’s heart began to beat even faster: he heard the voice of his beloved Chernushka! She cackled in the most desperate way, and it seemed to him that she was shouting:

Where, where, where, where!
Alyosha, save Chernukha!
Kuduhu, kuduhu,
Chernukha, Chernukha!

Alyosha could not remain in his place any longer. He, sobbing loudly, ran to the cook and threw himself on her neck, at the very moment she caught Chernushka by the wing.

- Dear, dear Trinushka! - he cried, shedding tears, - please don’t touch my Chernukha!

Alyosha so suddenly threw himself on the cook’s neck that she lost Chernushka from her hands, who, taking advantage of this, flew out of fear onto the roof of the barn and there continued to cackle.

But Alyosha now heard as if she was teasing the cook and shouting:

Where, where, where, where!
You didn't catch Chernukha!
Kuduhu, kuduhu,
Chernukha, Chernukha!

Meanwhile, the cook was beside herself with frustration and wanted to run to the teacher, but Alyosha did not allow her. He clung to the hem of her dress and began to beg so touchingly that she stopped.

- Darling, Trinushka! - he said, - you are so pretty, clean, kind... Please leave my Chernushka! Look what I'll give you if you're kind!

Alyosha took out of his pocket the imperial coin that made up his entire estate, which he cherished more than his own eyes, because it was a gift from his kind grandmother... The cook looked at the gold coin, looked around the windows of the house to make sure that no one saw them, and extended her hand behind the imperial. Alyosha was very, very sorry for the imperial, but he remembered Chernushka - and with firmness he gave away the precious gift.

Thus Chernushka was saved from cruel and inevitable death.

As soon as the cook retired into the house, Chernushka flew off the roof and ran up to Alyosha. She seemed to know that he was her savior: she circled around him, flapping her wings and clucking in a cheerful voice. All morning she followed him around the yard like a dog, and it seemed as if she wanted to tell him something, but couldn’t. At least he couldn't make out her cackling. About two hours before dinner, guests began to gather. Alyosha was called upstairs, they put on a shirt with a round collar and cambric cuffs with small folds, white trousers and a wide blue silk sash. His long brown hair, which hung almost to his waist, was thoroughly combed, divided into two even parts and placed in front on both sides of his chest.

This is how children were dressed up back then. Then they taught him how he should shuffle his foot when the director enters the room, and what he should answer if any questions are asked of him.

At another time, Alyosha would have been very happy about the arrival of the director, whom he had long wanted to see, because, judging by the respect with which the teacher and teacher spoke of him, he imagined that this must be some famous knight in shiny armor and helmet with large feathers. But that time, this curiosity gave way to the thought that exclusively occupied him then: about the black chicken. He kept imagining how the cook was running after her with a knife and how Chernushka was cackling in different voices. Moreover, he was very annoyed that he could not make out what she wanted to tell him, and he was drawn to the chicken coop... But there was nothing to do: he had to wait until lunch was over!

Finally the director arrived. His arrival was announced by the teacher, who had been sitting by the window for a long time, looking intently in the direction from which they were waiting for him.

Everything was in motion: the teacher rushed headlong out of the door to meet him below, at the porch; the guests got up from their places, and even Alyosha forgot about his chicken for a minute and went to the window to watch the knight get off his zealous horse. But he did not manage to see him, because he had already entered the house. At the porch, instead of a zealous horse, there stood an ordinary carriage sleigh. Alyosha was very surprised by this! “If I were a knight,” he thought, “I would never drive a cab, but always on horseback!”

Meanwhile, all the doors were opened wide, and the teacher began to curtsey in anticipation of such an honorable guest, who soon appeared. At first it was impossible to see him behind the fat teacher who stood right in the doorway; but when she, having finished her long greeting, sat down lower than usual, Alyosha, to extreme surprise, saw from behind her... not a feathered helmet, but just a small bald head, whitely powdered, the only decoration of which, as Alyosha later noticed, was a small bun! When he entered the living room, Alyosha was even more surprised to see that, despite the simple gray tailcoat that the director wore instead of shiny armor, everyone treated him with unusual respect.

No matter how strange all this seemed to Alyosha, no matter how much at another time he would have been delighted by the unusual decoration of the table, on that day he did not pay much attention to it. The morning incident with Chernushka kept wandering through his head. Dessert was served: various kinds of preserves, apples, bergamots, dates, wine berries and walnuts; but even here he never stopped thinking about his chicken for a single moment. And they had just gotten up from the table when, with his heart trembling with fear and hope, he approached the teacher and asked if he could go play in the yard.

“Come,” answered the teacher, “just don’t stay there for long: it will soon become dark.”

Alyosha hastily put on his red cap with squirrel fur and a green velvet cap with a sable band and ran to the fence. When he arrived there, the chickens had already begun to gather for the night and, sleepy, were not very happy about the crumbs he brought. Only Chernushka seemed to have no desire to sleep: she ran up to him cheerfully, flapped her wings and began to cackle again. Alyosha played with her for a long time; Finally, when it became dark and it was time to go home, he himself closed the chicken coop, making sure in advance that his dear chicken sat on the pole. When he left the chicken coop, it seemed to him that Chernushka’s eyes glowed in the dark like stars, and that she quietly said to him:

- Alyosha, Alyosha! Stay with me!

Alyosha returned to the house and sat alone in the classrooms all evening, while the guests stayed at the other half of the hour until eleven. Before they parted, Alyosha went to the lower floor, to the bedroom, undressed, went to bed and put out the fire. For a long time he could not fall asleep. Finally, sleep overcame him, and he had just managed to talk with Chernushka in his sleep, when, unfortunately, he was awakened by the noise of the guests leaving.

A little later, the teacher, who was seeing off the director with a candle, entered his room, looked to see if everything was in order, and went out, locking the door with the key.

It was a month's night, and through the shutters, which were not tightly closed, a pale ray of moonlight fell into the room. Alyosha lay with his eyes open and listened for a long time as in the upper dwelling, above his head, they walked from room to room and put chairs and tables in order.

Finally, everything calmed down... He looked at the bed next to him, slightly illuminated by the monthly glow, and noticed that the white sheet, hanging almost to the floor, moved easily. He began to peer more closely... he heard as if something was scratching under the bed, and a little later it seemed that someone was calling him in a quiet voice:

- Alyosha, Alyosha!

Alyosha was scared... He was alone in the room, and the thought immediately occurred to him that there must be a thief under the bed. But then, judging that the thief would not have called him by name, he became somewhat encouraged, although his heart was trembling.

He rose a little in bed and saw even more clearly that the sheet was moving... he heard even more clearly that someone was saying:

- Alyosha, Alyosha!

Suddenly the white sheet lifted and came out from under it... black chicken!

- Ah! It's you, Chernushka! - Alyosha cried out involuntarily. - How did you come here?

Chernushka flapped her wings, flew up to his bed and said human voice:

- It's me, Alyosha! You're not afraid of me, are you?

- Why should I be afraid of you? - he answered. - I love you; It’s only strange for me that you speak so well: I didn’t know at all that you could speak!

“If you are not afraid of me,” the chicken continued, “then follow me.” Get dressed quickly!

- How funny you are, Chernushka! - said Alyosha. - How can I get dressed in the dark? Now I won’t find my dress; I can hardly see you too!

“I’ll try to help,” said the chicken.

Then she cackled in a strange voice, and suddenly, out of nowhere, small candles appeared in silver chandeliers, no bigger than Alyosha’s little finger. These sandals ended up on the floor, on the chairs, on the windows, even on the washstand, and the room became so light, so bright, as if it were daytime. Alyosha began to dress, and the hen handed him a dress, and thus he was soon completely dressed.

When Alyosha was ready, Chernushka cackled again, and all the candles disappeared.

- Follow me! - she told him.

And he boldly followed her. It was as if rays came out of her eyes and illuminated everything around them, although not as brightly as small candles. They walked through the front...

“The door is locked with a key,” said Alyosha.

But the chicken did not answer him: she flapped her wings, and the door opened by itself... Then, passing through the hallway, they turned to the rooms where hundred-year-old Dutch women lived. Alyosha had never visited them, but he had heard that their rooms were decorated in the old-fashioned way, that one of them had a large gray parrot, and the other gray cat, very smart, who can jump through a hoop and give a paw. He had long wanted to see all this, and therefore he was very happy when the chicken flapped its wings again and the door to the old women’s chambers opened.

In the first room Alyosha saw all kinds of antique furniture: carved chairs, armchairs, tables and chests of drawers. The large couch was made of Dutch tiles, on which people and animals were painted in blue tiles. Alyosha wanted to stop to examine the furniture, and especially the figures on the couch, but Chernushka did not allow him.

They entered the second room - and then Alyosha was happy! A large gray parrot with a red tail sat in a beautiful golden cage. Alyosha immediately wanted to run up to him. Chernushka again did not allow him.

“Don’t touch anything here,” she said. - Be careful not to wake up the old ladies!

Only then did Alyosha notice that next to the parrot there was a bed with white muslin curtains, through which he could make out an old woman lying with eyes closed: she seemed to him like wax. In another corner there was an identical bed where another old woman was sleeping, and next to her sat a gray cat and washed itself with its front paws. Passing by her, Alyosha could not resist asking her for her paws... Suddenly she meowed loudly, the parrot became ruffled and began to shout loudly: “Fool! fool! At that very time it was visible through the muslin curtains that the old women sat up in bed. Chernushka hurriedly left, Alyosha ran after her, the door slammed hard behind them... and for a long time the parrot could be heard shouting: “Fool! fool!

- Aren `t you ashamed! - said Chernushka when they moved away from the old women’s rooms. - You probably woke up the knights...

- Which knights? - asked Alyosha.

“You will see,” answered the chicken. – Don’t be afraid, however, nothing; follow me boldly.

They went down the stairs, as if into a cellar, and walked for a long, long time along various passages and corridors that Alyosha had never seen before. Sometimes these corridors were so low and narrow that Alyosha was forced to bend down. Suddenly they entered a hall illuminated by three large crystal chandeliers. The hall had no windows, and on both sides hung on the walls knights in shiny armor, with large feathers on their helmets, with spears and shields in iron hands.

Chernushka walked forward on tiptoe and ordered Alyosha to follow her quietly and quietly.

At the end of the hall there was a large door made of light yellow copper. As soon as they approached her, two knights jumped from the walls, struck their spears on their shields and rushed at the black chicken.

Chernushka raised her crest, spread her wings... suddenly she became big, tall, taller than the knights, and began to fight with them!

The knights advanced heavily on her, and she defended herself with her wings and nose. Alyosha became scared, his heart fluttered violently, and he fainted.

When he came to his senses again, the sun was illuminating the room through the shutters and he was lying in his bed: neither Chernushka nor the knights were visible. Alyosha couldn’t come to his senses for a long time. He did not understand what happened to him at night: did he see everything in a dream or did it really happen? He got dressed and went upstairs, but he could not get out of his head what he had seen the previous night. He was looking forward to the moment when he could go play in the yard, but all that day, as if on purpose, it was snowing heavily, and it was impossible to even think about leaving the house.

During lunch, the teacher, among other conversations, announced to her husband that the black chicken had hidden in some unknown place.

“However,” she added, “it wouldn’t be a big problem even if she disappeared: she was assigned to the kitchen a long time ago.” Imagine, darling, that since she has been in our house, she has not laid a single egg.

Alyosha almost began to cry, although the thought occurred to him that it would be better for her not to be found anywhere than for her to end up in the kitchen.

After lunch, Alyosha was again left alone in the classrooms. He constantly thought about what happened the previous night, and could not in any way console himself with the loss of his dear Chernushka. Sometimes it seemed to him that he would definitely see her the next night, despite the fact that she had disappeared from the coop. But then it seemed to him that this was an impossible task, and he again plunged into sadness.

It was time to go to bed, and Alyosha eagerly undressed and went to bed. Before he had time to look at the next bed, again illuminated by the quiet moonlight, the white sheet began to move - just like the day before... Again he heard a voice calling him: “Alyosha, Alyosha!” - and a little later Chernushka came out from under the bed and flew up to his bed.

- Ah! Hello, Chernushka! – he cried beside himself with joy. “I was afraid that I would never see you.” Are you healthy?

“I’m healthy,” answered the hen, “but I almost fell ill due to your mercy.”

- How is it, Chernushka? - Alyosha asked, frightened.

“You are a good boy,” the hen continued, “but at the same time you are flighty and never obey the first word, and this is not good!” Yesterday I told you not to touch anything in the old women’s rooms, despite the fact that you couldn’t resist asking the cat for a paw. The cat woke up the parrot, the old women's parrot, the old women's knights - and I managed to cope with them!

“I’m sorry, dear Chernushka, I won’t go forward!” Please take me there again today. You will see that I will be obedient.

“Okay,” said the chicken, “we’ll see!”

The hen cackled as the day before, and the same small candles appeared in the same silver chandeliers. Alyosha got dressed again and went to get the chicken. Again they entered the old women's chambers, but this time he did not touch anything.

When they passed through the first room, it seemed to him that the people and animals drawn on the couch were making various funny faces and beckoning him to them, but he deliberately turned away from them. In the second room, the old Dutch women, just like the day before, lay in their beds as if they were made of wax. The parrot looked at Alyosha and blinked, the gray cat again washed itself with its paws. On the cleared table in front of the mirror, Alyosha saw two porcelain Chinese dolls, which he had not noticed yesterday. They nodded their heads at him; but he remembered Chernushka’s order and walked on without stopping, but he could not resist bowing to them in passing. The dolls immediately jumped off the table and ran after him, still nodding their heads. He almost stopped - they seemed so funny to him; but Chernushka looked back at him with an angry look, and he came to his senses. The dolls accompanied them to the door and, seeing that Alyosha was not looking at them, returned to their places.

They again went down the stairs, walked along passages and corridors and came to the same hall, illuminated by three crystal chandeliers. The same knights were hanging on the walls, and again - when they approached the door made of yellow copper - two knights came down from the wall and blocked their way. It seemed, however, that they were not as angry as the day before; they could hardly drag their feet like autumn flies, and it was clear that they held their spears with force...

Chernushka became big and ruffled. But as soon as she hit them with her wings, they fell apart, and Alyosha saw that they were empty armor! The copper door opened of its own accord, and they moved on.

A little later they entered another hall, spacious, but low, so that Alyosha could reach the ceiling with his hand. This hall was lit by the same small candles that he had seen in his room, but the candlesticks were not silver, but gold.

Here Chernushka left Alyosha.

“Stay here a little,” she told him, “I’ll come back soon.” Today you were smart, although you acted carelessly by worshiping porcelain dolls. If you had not bowed to them, the knights would have remained on the wall. However, you didn’t wake up the old women today, and that’s why the knights had no power. - After this, Chernushka left the hall.

Left alone, Alyosha began to carefully examine the hall, which was very richly decorated. It seemed to him that the walls were made of marble, such as he had seen in the mineral cabinet in the boarding house. The panels and doors were pure gold. At the end of the hall, under a green canopy, on an elevated place, there were armchairs made of gold. Alyosha really admired this decoration, but it seemed strange to him that everything was in the smallest form, as if for small dolls.

While he was looking at everything with curiosity, a side door, previously unnoticed by him, opened, and many small people, no more than half an arshin tall, in elegant multi-colored dresses, entered. Their appearance was important: some looked like military men by their attire, others looked like civil officials. They all wore round hats with feathers, like the Spanish ones. They did not notice Alyosha, walked sedately through the rooms and spoke loudly to each other, but he could not understand what they were saying.

He looked at them silently for a long time and just wanted to approach one of them with a question, when a large door opened at the end of the hall... Everyone fell silent, stood against the walls in two rows and took off their hats.

In an instant, the room became even brighter, all the small candles burned even brighter, and Alyosha saw twenty little knights in golden armor, with crimson feathers on their helmets, who entered in pairs in a quiet march. Then, in deep silence, they stood on both sides of the chairs. A little later, a man with a majestic posture entered the hall, wearing a crown glittering with precious stones on his head. He wore a light green robe, lined with mouse fur, with a long train carried by twenty little pages in crimson dresses.

Alyosha immediately guessed that it must be the king. He bowed low to him. The king responded to his bow very affectionately and sat down in the golden chairs. Then he ordered something to one of the knights standing next to him, who, approaching Alyosha, told him to approach the chairs. Alyosha obeyed.

“I have known for a long time,” said the king, “that you are a good boy; but the day before yesterday you rendered a great service to my people and for that you deserve a reward. My chief minister informed me that you saved him from inevitable and cruel death.

- When? - Alyosha asked in surprise.

“It’s yesterday,” answered the king. - This is the one who owes his life to you.

Alyosha looked at the one to whom the king was pointing, and then only noticed that between the courtiers stood small man, dressed all in black. On his head he had a special kind of crimson-colored cap, with teeth at the top, worn slightly to one side; and on his neck was a white scarf, very starched, which made it seem a little bluish. He smiled tenderly, looking at Alyosha, to whom his face seemed familiar, although he could not remember where he had seen him.

No matter how flattering it was for Alyosha that such a noble deed was attributed to him, he loved the truth and therefore, bowing deeply, said:

- Mister King! I can't take it personally for something I've never done. The other day I had the good fortune to save from death not your minister, but our black hen, which the cook did not like because she did not lay a single egg...

- What are you saying? – the king interrupted him with anger. - My minister is not a chicken, but an honored official!

Then the minister came closer, and Alyosha saw that in fact it was his dear Chernushka. He was very happy and asked the king for an apology, although he could not understand what this meant.

- Tell me, what do you want? - continued the king. – If I am able, I will certainly fulfill your demand.

- Speak boldly, Alyosha! – the minister whispered in his ear.

Alyosha thought about it and didn’t know what to wish for. If they had given him more time, he might have come up with something good; but since it seemed discourteous to him to make him wait for the king, he hastened to answer.

“I would like,” he said, “that, without studying, I would always know my lesson, no matter what I was given.”

“I didn’t think you were such a sloth,” answered the king, shaking his head. - But there is nothing to do: I must fulfill my promise.

He waved his hand, and the page brought a golden dish on which lay one hemp seed.

“Take this seed,” said the king. “As long as you have it, you will always know your lesson, no matter what you are given, with the condition, however, that under no pretext do you say a single word to anyone about what you saw here or will see in the future.” The slightest immodesty will deprive you of our favors forever, and will cause us a lot of trouble and trouble.

Alyosha took the hemp grain, wrapped it in a piece of paper and put it in his pocket, promising to be silent and modest. The king then got up from his chair and left the hall in the same order, first ordering the minister to treat Alyosha as best as possible.

As soon as the king left, all the courtiers surrounded Alyosha and began to caress him in every possible way, expressing their gratitude for the fact that he had saved the minister. They all offered him their services: some asked if he wanted to take a walk in the garden or see the royal menagerie; others invited him to hunt. Alyosha didn’t know what to decide. Finally, the minister announced that he himself would show the underground rarities to his dear guest.