Pushkin's interest in the history of Russia always manifested itself very clearly, most of all the poet was attracted by the theme of popular uprisings, which were led by Emelyan Pugachev and Stenka Razin. The poet's reworking of folk songs about Stepan Razin resulted in his lyric songs about this folk hero. The poet devoted a lot of time to collecting and processing information concerning the personality of Pugachev. Such interest was due to the fact that at the same time a wave of peasant uprisings passed through Russia. The personality of Pugachev was ambiguous, collecting and analyzing historical facts about him, Pushkin tried to figure out what this "villain" and "rebel" was after all. The result of painstaking and many years of work on the "History of Pugachev" was Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter", in which the author vividly depicted the events of the "Pugachev region". On our site, you can read the story "The Captain's Daughter" in full, without abbreviations, and prepare for the analysis of this work.
A painstaking study of historical materials helped Pushkin to reliably recreate the pictures of a bloody war and a peasant revolt, terrible in its mercilessness ("God forbid to see a Russian revolt, senseless and merciless!"). The main character of the story "The Captain's Daughter" is Pyotr Grinev, a young man who is sent to serve in the Belogorsk fortress. On the way, he meets Yemelyan Pugachev, not knowing that in front of him is the very robber about whom there are so many rumors, in gratitude for his help during a storm, Grinev gives him a hare sheepskin coat. Peter, having arrived at the fortress, falls in love with Masha, the commandant's daughter, she reciprocates, but Grinev's parents refuse to accept their son's choice. As a result of a duel with Shvabrin, Peter is wounded. At this time, the flames of riot flare up. Pugachev with his army captures the fortress and executes the nobles who refused to swear allegiance to him. A colleague of Peter, Shvabrin, goes over to the side of the rebels. The victims of the invaders are Masha's parents. Grinev is saved from execution by Pugachev himself, who recognizes in him the one who presented him with a sheepskin coat. He is released, as he honestly explains to Pugachev that he cannot break the oath and go over to his side. He goes to Orenburg and fights on the side of the government. Later he has to return to the fortress to save Masha from the claims of Shvabrin, he succeeds with the help of Pugachev. A former colleague informs the government troops about Grinev, he is arrested. But thanks to Masha, who goes to the Empress herself for pardon, the imprisonment did not last long. Young people return to the Grinevs' estate and play a wedding.
After reading the novel by Alexander Pushkin, the reader remains fascinated by the image of the villain Pugachev, who, on the pages of the story, sometimes looks fair, wise and sincere. This bloody time in the history of Russia is described in great detail by the writer, there is a terrible hopelessness from the futility of this terrible revolt. Even the most noble goals do not justify such a robbery, as a result of which many innocent people suffered. "The Captain's Daughter", according to most programs in literature, is included in the list of works that are studied in grade 8. The result of work with the story should be the implementation of creative work on the development of speech. For a superficial acquaintance with the work, it is enough to read the summary. But to appreciate the book, you must read it in full. On our website you can download and read all the chapters of the story. And also there is an opportunity to read the text of the work of A.S. Pushkin online, this does not require registration and payment.
In this article we will describe the work of A.S. A chapter retelling of this short novel, published in 1836, is here for your attention.
1. Sergeant of the Guard
The first chapter begins with the biography of Pyotr Andreevich Grinev. The father of this hero served, after which he retired. There were 9 children in the Grinev family, but eight of them died in infancy, and Peter was left alone. His father wrote it down even before his birth in Peter Andreevich, before the onset of adulthood, he was on vacation. Uncle Savelich serves as the boy's educator. He supervises the development of Russian literacy by Petrusha.
After a while the Frenchman Beaupré was discharged to see Peter. He taught him German, French, and various sciences. But Beaupre was not involved in raising a child, but only drank and walked. The boy's father soon discovered this and drove the teacher away. Peter in the 17th year is sent to the service, but not to the place where he hoped to get. He goes to Orenburg instead of Petersburg. This decision determined the further fate of Peter, the hero of the work "The Captain's Daughter".
Chapter 1 describes the parting words of a father to his son. He tells him that it is necessary to preserve honor from a young age. Petya, having arrived in Simbirsk, meets in a tavern with Zurin, the captain, who taught him to play billiards, and also gave him a drink and won 100 rubles from him. Grinev seemed to break free for the first time. He behaves like a boy. Zurin demands the proper winnings in the morning. Pyotr Andreevich, in order to show his character, makes Savelich, protesting this, give money. After that, feeling reproaches of conscience, Grinev leaves Simbirsk. This is how chapter 1 ends in the work "The Captain's Daughter". Let's describe the further events that happened to Pyotr Andreevich.
2. Counselor
Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin tells us about the further fate of this hero of the work "The Captain's Daughter". Chapter 2 of the novel is called "The Leader". In it, we first meet Pugachev.
Grinev on the way asks Savelich to forgive him for his stupid behavior. Suddenly a storm begins on the road, Peter and his servant go astray. They meet one person who offers to take them to the inn. Grinev, riding in a booth, has a dream.
Grinev's dream is an important episode of The Captain's Daughter. Chapter 2 describes it in detail. In it, Peter arrives at his estate and discovers that his father is dying. He approaches him to take the last blessing, but instead of his father he sees an unknown man with a black beard. Grinev is surprised, but his mother convinces him that this is his planted father. Brandishing an ax, a black-bearded man jumps up, dead bodies filling the whole room. At the same time, the man smiles at Pyotr Andreevich, and also offers him a blessing.
Grinev, already being on, examines his guide and notices that he is the very person from the dream. This is an average height man of forty, thin and broad-shouldered. In his black beard, graying is already noticeable. The man's eyes are alive, they feel sharpness and subtlety of mind. The counselor's face has a rather pleasant expression. It's cheating. His hair is cut in a circle, and this man is dressed in Tatar trousers and an old Armenian.
The counselor talks to the owner in "allegorical language". Pyotr Andreyevich thanks his companion, gives him a hare sheepskin coat, pours a glass of wine.
An old friend of Grinev's father, Andrei Karlovich R., sends Peter from Orenburg to serve in the Belogorsk fortress located 40 miles from the city. It is here that the novel "The Captain's Daughter" continues. By chapters, a retelling of further events taking place in it is as follows.
3. Fortress
This fortress resembles a village. Vasilisa Yegorovna, a reasonable and kind woman, the wife of the commandant, is in charge of everything here. Grinev the next morning meets Alexei Ivanovich Shvabrin, a young officer. This man is of short stature, superbly ugly, dark complexion, very lively. He is one of the main characters in The Captain's Daughter. Chapter 3 is the place in the novel where this character first appears before the reader.
Due to the duel, Shvabrin was transferred to this fortress. He tells Pyotr Andreevich about life here, about the commandant's family, while speaking unflatteringly about his daughter, Masha Mironova. You will find a detailed description of this conversation in the work "The Captain's Daughter" (Chapter 3). The commandant invites Grinev and Shvabrin to a family dinner. Peter sees on the way how the "exercises" are going on: Ivan Kuzmich Mironov is leading a platoon of disabled people. He is wearing a "Chinese robe" and a cap.
4. Duel
Chapter 4 occupies an important place in the composition of the work "The Captain's Daughter". It tells the following.
The commandant's family really likes Grinev. Pyotr Andreevich becomes an officer. He communicates with Shvabrin, but this communication brings the hero less and less pleasure. Aleksey Ivanovich's sharp remarks about Masha are especially disliked by Grinev. Peter writes mediocre poems and dedicates them to this girl. Shvabrin speaks out sharply about them, while insulting Masha. Grinev accuses him of lying, Alexey Ivanovich challenges Peter to a duel. Vasilisa Yegorovna, having learned about this, orders the arrest of the duelists. The stick, the yard girl, deprives them of their swords. After a while, Pyotr Andreevich becomes aware that Shvabrin wooed Masha, but received a refusal from the girl. He understands now why Alexey Ivanovich slandered Masha. A duel was again appointed, in which Pyotr Andreyevich was wounded.
5. Love
Masha and Savelich are taking care of the wounded. Petr Grinev proposes to the girl. He sends a letter to his parents asking for blessings. Shvabrin visits Pyotr Andreyevich and admits his guilt to him. Father Grinev does not give him blessings, he already knows about the duel that had taken place, and Savelich did not tell him about it at all. Pyotr Andreevich believes that Alexey Ivanovich did it. The captain's daughter does not want to marry without parental consent. Chapter 5 tells about her decision. We will not describe in detail the conversation between Peter and Masha. Let's just say that the captain's daughter decided to avoid Grineva in the future. The chapter retelling continues with the following events. Pyotr Andreevich stops visiting the Mironovs, becomes discouraged.
6. Pugachevshchina
The commandant is notified that a bandit gang led by Yemelyan Pugachev is operating in the vicinity. attacks fortresses. Pugachev soon reached the Belogorsk fortress. He urges the commandant to surrender. Ivan Kuzmich decides to send his daughter out of the fortress. The girl says goodbye to Grinev. However, her mother refuses to leave.
7. Attack
The attack on the fortress continues the work "The Captain's Daughter". Retelling the chapters of further events is as follows. At night, the Cossacks leave the fortress. They go over to the side of Yemelyan Pugachev. The gang attacks him. Mironov, with a few defenders, is trying to defend, but the forces of the two sides are unequal. The one who seized the fortress arranges the so-called trial. The executions on the gallows betray the commandant, as well as his comrades. When it comes to Grinev's turn, Savelich begs Emelyan, throwing himself at his feet, to spare Pyotr Andreyevich, offers him a ransom. Pugachev agrees. Residents of the city and soldiers swear allegiance to Emelyan. They kill Vasilisa Yegorovna, taking her naked onto the porch, as well as her husband. Pyotr Andreevich leaves the fortress.
8. Uninvited guest
Grinev is very worried about how the captain's daughter lives in the Belogorsk fortress.
The content of the chapters of the subsequent events of the novel describes the subsequent fate of this heroine. A girl is hiding with a priest, who tells Pyotr Andreyevich that Shvabrin is on Pugachev's side. Grinev learns from Savelich that Pugachev is their escort on the way to Orenburg. Emelyan calls Grinev to him, he comes. Pyotr Andreevich draws attention to the fact that everyone behaves like comrades with each other in Pugachev's camp, and does not give preference to the leader.
Everyone boasts, voices doubts, disputes Pugachev. His people sing a song about the gallows. Yemelyan's guests disperse. Grinev tells him privately that he does not consider him a king. He replies that luck will be daring, because once Grishka Otrepiev ruled. Emelyan lets Pyotr Andreyevich go to Orenburg despite the fact that he promises to fight against him.
9. Parting
Emelyan gives Peter the order to tell the governor of this city that the Pugachevites will soon arrive there. Pugachev, leaving Shvabrin leaves commandant. Savelich writes a list of Pyotr Andreevich's plundered goods and sends it to Yemelyan, but the latter does not punish him in a "fit of magnanimity" and does not punish the impudent Savelich. He even favors Grinev with a fur coat from his shoulder, gives him a horse. Masha, meanwhile, is ill in the fortress.
10. Siege of the city
Peter goes to Orenburg, to Andrey Karlovich, general. Military people are absent from the military council. There are only officials here. It is more prudent, in their opinion, to remain behind a reliable stone wall than to experience your happiness in the open field. For the head of Pugachev, officials propose to set a high price and bribe Yemelyan's people. The sergeant from the fortress brings Peter Andreevich a letter from Masha. She reports that Shvabrin is forcing her to become his wife. Grinev asks the general for help, to provide him with people in order to clear the fortress. However, he refuses.
11. Rebellious settlement
Grinev and Savelich hurry to help the girl. Pugachev's people stop them on the way and lead them to the leader. He interrogates Pyotr Andreyevich about his intentions in the presence of confidants. Pugachev's people are a hunched, puny old man with a blue ribbon worn over his shoulder over a gray army jacket, as well as a tall, portly and broad-shouldered man of about forty-five. Grinev tells Yemelyan that he came to save an orphan from Shvabrin's claims. The Pugachevites propose with both Grinev and Shvabrin simply to solve the problem - to hang both of them. However, Pyotr Pugachev is clearly sympathetic, and he promises to marry him to a girl. Pyotr Andreevich in the morning goes to the fortress in Pugachev's wagon. He, in a confidential conversation, tells him that he would like to go to Moscow, but his comrades are robbers and thieves who will surrender the leader at the first failure, saving their own neck. Emelyan tells a Kalmyk tale about a crow and an eagle. The raven lived for 300 years, but pecked at the same time. And the eagle preferred to starve, but did not eat. Better to drink living blood once, says Emelyan.
12. Orphan
In the fortress, Pugachev learns that the girl is being bullied by the new commandant. Shvabrin starves her. Emelyan frees Masha and wants to marry her right now with Grinev. When Shvabrin says that this is Mironov's daughter, Emelyan Pugachev decides to let Grinev and Masha go.
13. Arrest
The soldiers on the way from the fortress take Grinev under arrest. They take Pyotr Andreevich for a Pugachev, and lead him to the boss. It turns out to be Zurin, who advises Pyotr Andreevich to send Savelich and Masha to their parents, and Grinev himself - to continue the battle. He follows this advice. Pugachev's army was defeated, but he himself was not caught, he managed to assemble new detachments in Siberia. Yemelyan is being pursued. Zurin is ordered to arrest Grinev and send him under guard to Kazan, betraying the Pugachev case under investigation.
14. Court
Pyotr Andreevich is suspected of serving Pugachev. Shvabrin played an important role in this. Peter is sentenced to exile in Siberia. Masha lives with Peter's parents. They became very attached to her. The girl goes to Petersburg, to Tsarskoe Selo. Here she meets the Empress in the garden and asks to have mercy on Peter. Tells about how he got to Pugachev because of her, the captain's daughter. Briefly by chapters, the novel we have described ends as follows. Grinev was released. He is present at the execution of Yemelyan, who nods his head recognizing him.
According to the genre, the work "The Captain's Daughter" is a historical novel. The chapter retelling does not describe all the events, we have mentioned only the main ones. Pushkin's novel is very interesting. After reading the original "The Captain's Daughter" chapter by chapter, you will understand the psychology of the characters, and also learn some of the details that we omitted.
in Wikisource« Captain's daughter"- one of the first and most famous works of Russian historical prose, the story of Alexander Pushkin, dedicated to the events of the Peasant War of 1773-1775 under the leadership of Yemelyan Pugachev.
It was first published in 1836 in the Sovremennik magazine without the author's signature. At the same time, the chapter on the peasant revolt in the village of Grineva remained unpublished, which was explained by censorship considerations.
The plot of the story echoes the first historical novel in Europe, Waverly, or Sixty Years Ago, which was published without the author's indication in 1814 and was soon translated into the main languages \u200b\u200bof Europe. Some episodes go back to the novel by MN Zagoskin "Yuri Miloslavsky" (1829).
The story is based on the notes of a fifty-year-old nobleman Pyotr Andreevich Grinev, written by him during the reign of Emperor Alexander and dedicated to the "Pugachevshchina", in which a seventeen-year-old officer Pyotr Grinev involuntarily took part in a "strange chain of circumstances".
Pyotr Andreevich recalls with light irony his childhood, the childhood of an ignorant noble. His father, Andrei Petrovich Grinev, in his youth, “served under Count Minich and retired as prime major in 17 ... year. Since then he lived in his Simbirsk village, where he married the girl Avdotya Vasilievna Yu, the daughter of a poor local nobleman. " The Grinyov family had nine children, but all of Petrusha's brothers and sisters "died in infancy." “Mother was still a belly of me,” Grinev recalls, “as I was already enrolled in the Semyonovsk regiment as a sergeant.” Since the age of five, Petrusha has been looked after by the stirrup Savelich, who was given to him as an uncle "for sober behavior". "Under his supervision in the twelfth year I learned to read and write Russian and could very sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound dog." Then a teacher appeared - the Frenchman Beaupré, who did not understand the "meaning of this word", since in his homeland he was a hairdresser, and in Prussia - a soldier. Young Grinev and the Frenchman Beaupre quickly hit it off, and although Beaupre was contractually obliged to teach Petrusha "in French, German and all sciences", he soon preferred to learn from his student "to chat in Russian". Grinev's upbringing ends with the expulsion of Beaupre, who was convicted of dissipation, drunkenness and neglect of the duties of a teacher.
Until the age of sixteen, Grinev lives "undersized, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with the yard boys." In the seventeenth year, the father decides to send his son to the service, but not to Petersburg, but to the army "to sniff gunpowder" and "pull the strap." He sends him to Orenburg, instructing him to serve faithfully "to whom you swear", and remember the proverb: "Take care of your dress again, and honor from your youth." All "brilliant hopes" of the young Grinev for a happy life in St. Petersburg were destroyed, ahead of them was "boredom in the deaf and distant side."
Approaching Orenburg, Grinev and Savelich were caught in a blizzard. A random person who meets on the road brings the wagon, lost in a blizzard, to the exit. While the wagon was "quietly moving" to housing, Pyotr Andreevich had a terrible dream in which fifty-year-old Grinev sees something prophetic, linking it with the "strange circumstances" of his future life. A man with a black beard is lying in the bed of Grinyov's father, and mother, calling him Andrei Petrovich and "the planted father", wants Petrusha to "kiss his hand" and ask for blessings. A man waves an ax, the room is filled with dead bodies; Grinev stumbles over them, slides in bloody puddles, but his “terrible man” “tenderly calls out”, saying: “Don't be afraid, come under my blessing”.
In gratitude for his salvation, Grinev gives the “counselor”, dressed too lightly, his hare coat and brings a glass of wine, for which he thanks him with a low bow: “Thank you, your honor! God reward you for your virtue. " The outward appearance of the “counselor” seemed to Grinev “wonderful”: “He was about forty years old, medium-sized, thin and broad-shouldered. His black beard showed gray; lively big eyes kept running. His face had a rather pleasant expression, but rogue. "
The Belogorsk fortress, where Grinev was sent to serve from Orenburg, meets the young man not with formidable bastions, towers and ramparts, but turns out to be a village surrounded by a wooden fence. Instead of a brave garrison, there are disabled people who do not know where is the left and where is the right, instead of deadly artillery, there is an old cannon clogged with garbage.
The commandant of the fortress, Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, is an officer "from the soldiers' children", an uneducated man, but honest and kind. His wife, Vasilisa Yegorovna, completely manages it and looks at the affairs of the service as if it were her own. Soon Grinev became “native” for the Mironovs, and he himself “imperceptibly [...] became attached to a kind family”. In the daughter of the Mironovs, Masha Grinev "I found a sensible and sensible girl."
The service does not bother Grinev, he was carried away by reading books, practicing translations and writing poetry. At first, he became close to Lieutenant Shvabrin, the only person in the fortress who was close to Grinev in education, age and occupation. But soon they quarrel - Shvabrin scoffed at the love "song" written by Grinev, and also allowed himself dirty allusions about the "temper and custom" of Masha Mironova, to whom this song was dedicated. Later, in a conversation with Masha, Grinev will find out the reasons for the stubborn slander that Shvabrin pursued her: the lieutenant wooed her, but was refused. “I don't like Alexei Ivanovich. He is very disgusting to me, ”Masha admits to Grinev. The quarrel is resolved by a duel and Grinyov's injury.
Masha takes care of the wounded Grinev. Young people confess to each other "in a heartfelt inclination", and Grinev writes a letter to Father, "asking for parental blessing." But Masha is a dowry. The Mironovs have “only one soul, Palashka,” while the Grinyovs have three hundred peasants. Father forbids Grinev to marry and promises to transfer him from the Belogorsk fortress "somewhere far away" so that the "nonsense" will pass.
After this letter, life became unbearable for Grinev, he falls into gloomy reverie, seeks solitude. "I was afraid either to go mad, or to fall into debauchery." And only "unexpected events," writes Grinev, "that had an important impact on my whole life, suddenly gave my soul a strong and good shock."
At the beginning of October 1773, the commandant of the fortress received a secret message about the Don Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, who, posing as “the late Emperor Peter III”, “gathered a villainous gang, stirred up indignation in Yaik villages and had already taken and destroyed several fortresses”. The commandant was asked to "take appropriate measures to repel the mentioned villain and impostor."
Soon, everyone was talking about Pugachev. A Bashkir with "outrageous sheets" was captured in the fortress. But they failed to interrogate him - the Bashkir's tongue was torn out. From day to day, residents of the Belogorsk fortress expect Pugachev's attack.
The rebels appear unexpectedly - the Mironovs did not even have time to send Masha to Orenburg. At the first attack, the fortress was taken. Residents greet the Pugachevites with bread and salt. The prisoners, among whom was Grinev, are taken to the square to swear allegiance to Pugachev. The first to die on the gallows is the commandant, who refused to swear allegiance to the "thief and impostor." Under the blow of a saber, Vasilisa Yegorovna falls dead. Death on the gallows awaits Grinev, but Pugachev has mercy on him. A little later, Grinev learns from Savelich "the reason for the mercy" - the ataman of the robbers turned out to be the tramp who received from him, Grinev, a hare sheepskin coat.
In the evening Grinev was invited to the “great sovereign”. "I have pardoned you for your virtue," Pugachev says to Grinev, "[...] Do you promise to serve me with zeal?" But Grinev is a "natural nobleman" and "swore allegiance to the empress". He cannot even promise Pugachev not to serve against him. “My head is in your power,” he says to Pugachev, “if you let me go - thank you, you will execute me - God is your judge.”
Grinev's sincerity amazes Pugachev, and he lets the officer go "on all four sides." Grinev decides to go to Orenburg for help - after all, Masha remained in a strong fever in the fortress, whom the priest passed off as her niece. He is especially worried that Shvabrin has been appointed commandant of the fortress, who has sworn allegiance to Pugachev.
But in Orenburg, Grinev was denied help, and a few days later the rebel troops surrounded the city. Long days of siege dragged on. Soon, by chance, a letter from Masha falls into the hands of Grinev, from which he learns that Shvabrin is forcing her to marry him, otherwise threatening to hand her over to the Pugachevites. Grinev again turns to the military commander for help, and is again refused.
Grinev and Savelich leave for the Belogorsk fortress, but they are captured by the rebels near the Berdskaya settlement. And again, Providence brings Grinev and Pugachev together, giving the officer an opportunity to fulfill his intention: having learned from Grinev the essence of the matter in which he was going to the Belogorsk fortress, Pugachev himself decides to free the orphan and punish the offender.
I.O.Miodushevsky. "Presenting a letter to Catherine II", based on the story "The Captain's Daughter", 1861.
On the way to the fortress, a confidential conversation takes place between Pugachev and Grinev. Pugachev is clearly aware of his doom, expecting betrayal primarily on the part of his comrades, he knows that he will not wait for "the Empress's mercy" either. For Pugachev, as for an eagle from a Kalmyk fairy tale, which he tells Grinev with “wild inspiration,” “than to eat carrion for three hundred years, it is better to drink living blood once; and there what God will give! " Grinev draws a different moral conclusion from the fairy tale, which surprises Pugachev: "To live by murder and robbery means to peck at the carrion for me."
In the Belogorsk fortress, Grinev, with the help of Pugachev, frees Masha. And although the enraged Shvabrin reveals deception to Pugachev, he is full of magnanimity: "Execute, execute, grant, grant, this is my custom." Grinev and Pugachev part “amicably”.
Grinev sends Masha as a bride to his parents, and he himself remains in the army due to his "duty of honor". The war "with robbers and savages" is "boring and petty." Grinev's observations are filled with bitterness: "God forbid to see a Russian rebellion, senseless and merciless."
The end of the military campaign coincides with the arrest of Grinev. Appearing before the court, he is calm in his confidence that he can be justified, but Shvabrin slanders him, exposing Grinev as a spy dispatched from Pugachev to Orenburg. Grinev was convicted, he was in for shame, exile to Siberia for an eternal settlement.
From shame and exile, Grinev is saved by Masha, who goes to the queen to "ask for mercy." Walking through the garden of Tsarskoye Selo, Masha met a middle-aged lady. In this lady, everything "involuntarily attracted the heart and inspired confidence." Having learned who Masha was, she offered her help, and Masha sincerely told the lady the whole story. The lady turned out to be the empress, who pardoned Grinev in the same way as Pugachev once pardoned both Masha and Grinyov.
Screen adaptations
The story has been filmed many times, including abroad.
- The Captain's Daughter (film, 1928)
- The Captain's Daughter - a film by Vladimir Kaplunovsky (1958, USSR)
- The Captain's Daughter - TV show by Pavel Reznikov (1976, USSR)
- Volga en flammes (fr.)russian (1934, France, directed by Viktor Tourjansky)
- Captain's daughter (ital.)russian (1947, Italy, directed by Mario Camerini)
- La Tempesta (ital.)russian (1958, directed by Alberto Lattuada)
- The Captain's Daughter (1958, USSR, directed by Vladimir Kaplunovsky)
- The Captain's Daughter (animated film, 2005), director Ekaterina Mikhailova
Notes
Links
| Works by Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin | |
|---|---|
| Novel in verse | Eugene Onegin |
| Poems | |
| Poems | |
| Fairy tales | |
| Fictional prose | |
| Historical prose |
Pugachev's story Peter's story |
| Other |
List of works by Pushkin Pushkin's translations from foreign languages |
Take care of honor from a young age.
Proverb
CHAPTER I. GUARD SERGEANT.
- He would have been a guard tomorrow, the captain.
- That is not necessary; let him serve in the army.
- Fairly said! let him bother him ...
…………………………………………….
Who is his father?
The prince.
My father, Andrei Petrovich Grinev, in his youth served under Count Minich, and retired as Prime Major in 17 .. year. Since then he lived in his Simbirsk village, where he married the girl Avdotya Vasilievna Yu., The daughter of a poor local nobleman. There were nine of us children. All of my brothers and sisters died in infancy.
Mother was still a belly of me, as I was already enrolled in the Semyonovsky regiment as a sergeant, by the mercy of the Major of the Guards Prince B., a close relative of ours. If, more than any hope, mother had given birth to a daughter, then the father would have announced where it should be about the death of the sergeant who did not appear, and the case would have ended. I was considered on leave until graduation. At that time we were brought up not in the new way. From the age of five, I was put into the arms of the aspiring Savelich, who was granted my uncle for sober behavior. Under his supervision, in the twelfth year, I learned to read and write Russian and could very sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound dog. At this time, Father hired a Frenchman for me, Monsieur Beaupré, who had been discharged from Moscow along with a year's supply of wine and olive oil. Savelich did not like his arrival very much. “Thank God,” he grumbled to himself, “it seems the child is washed, combed, fed. Where do you need to spend extra money, and hire a monsieur, as if your own people are gone! "
Beaupre in his fatherland was a hairdresser, then a soldier in Prussia, then he came to Russia pour étre outchitel, not really understanding the meaning of this word. He was a good fellow, but windy and dissolute to the extreme. His main weakness was a passion for the fair sex; it was not uncommon for him to receive shocks for his tenderness, from which he sighed for whole days. In addition, he was not (in his words) an enemy of the bottle, that is, (speaking in Russian) he loved to sip too much. But as wine was served here only at dinner, and then by a glass, and the teachers usually carried it off, then my Beaupre very soon got used to the Russian tincture, and even began to prefer it to the wines of his fatherland, as unlike more useful for the stomach. We hit it off immediately, and although under contract he was obliged to teach me in French, German and all sciences, but he preferred to hastily learn from me to chat in Russian, and then each of us went about his own business. We lived in perfect harmony. I didn't want another mentor. But soon fate parted us, and on what occasion:
The washerwoman Palashka, a fat and pockmarked girl, and the crooked cowshed Akulka somehow agreed to throw themselves at mother's feet at the same time, blaming their criminal weakness and complaining with tears about the monsieur who had seduced their inexperience. Mother did not like to joke with this, and complained to Father. His reprisal was short. He immediately demanded a canal for the Frenchman. It was reported that Monsieur was giving me his lesson. Father went to my room. At this time, Beaupré was sleeping on the bed with the sleep of innocence. I was busy with business. You need to know that a geographical map was drawn from Moscow for me. It hung on the wall without any use and has long seduced me with the width and kindness of paper. I made up my mind to make a serpent out of her, and taking advantage of Beaupre's sleep, set to work. Father came in at the same time as I was fitting my wet tail to the Cape of Good Hope. Seeing my exercises in geography, my father pulled me by the ear, then ran up to Beaupre, woke him up very carelessly, and began to shower me with reproaches. Beaupre, in confusion, wanted to get up, but could not: the unfortunate Frenchman was dead drunk. Seven troubles, one answer. The priest lifted him out of the bed by the collar, pushed him out of the door, and on the same day drove him out of the yard, to Savelich's indescribable joy. That was the end of my upbringing.
I lived undersized, chasing pigeons and playing chaharda with the courtyard boys. Meanwhile, I have passed sixteen years. Then my fate changed.
Once in the fall, my mother was making honey jam in the living room, and I licked my lips and looked at the bubbling foam. Father at the window read the Court Calendar, which he received annually. This book always had a strong influence on him: he never re-read it without special participation, and this reading always produced in him an amazing agitation of bile. Mother, who knew by heart all his habits and customs, always tried to shove the unfortunate book as far away as possible, and thus the Court Calendar did not catch his eye sometimes for whole months. But when he accidentally found him, it happened for hours on end that he would not let go of his hands. So Father read the Court Calendar, occasionally shrugging his shoulders and repeating in an undertone: "Lieutenant-General! .. He was a sergeant in my company! ... Both Russian orders kava-ler! .. How long have we ..." Finally, father threw the calendar on the sofa , and plunged into a reverie that did not bode well.
Suddenly he turned to his mother: "Avdotya Vasilievna, how old is Petrusha?"
Yes, now I'm seventeen years old, - answered mother. - Petrusha was born in the same year that Aunt Nastasya Garasimovna gave birth, and when else ...
"Good" - interrupted the priest, - "it's time for him to serve. It is full for him to run around the girls, and climb the dovecote. "
The thought of an imminent separation from me so struck my mother that she dropped the spoon into the saucepan, and tears flowed down her face. On the contrary, it is difficult to describe my admiration. The thought of service merged in me with thoughts of freedom, of the pleasures of Petersburg life. I imagined myself as an officer of the guard, which in my opinion was the pinnacle of human well-being.
Batiushka did not like to change his intentions or to postpone their implementation. The day of my departure was appointed. The day before, Father announced that he intended to write with me to my future boss, and demanded a pen and paper.
“Don't forget, Andrei Petrovich,” said mother, “to bow to Prince B from me too; I hope that he will not leave Petrusha with his favors. "
What nonsense! - answered the father frowning. - Why should I write to Prince B.?
"Why, you said that you would like to write to the head of Petrusha."
Well, what is there?
"But the chief of Petrushin is Prince B. After all, Petrusha is enrolled in the Semyonovsky regiment."
Recorded by! What does it matter to me that it is recorded? Petrusha will not go to Petersburg. What will he learn while serving in St. Petersburg? shake and hang? No, let him serve in the army, let him pull the strap, let him smell gunpowder, let him be a soldier, not chamaton. Enrolled in the Guard! Where is his passport? serve it here.
Mother found my passport, which was kept in her casket along with the shirt in which I was baptized, and handed it to Father with a trembling hand. Father read it with attention, laid it on the table in front of him, and began his letter.
Curiosity tormented me: where are they sending me, if not to Petersburg? I did not take my eyes off my father's pen, which moved rather slowly. Finally he finished, sealed the letter in one packet with his passport, took off his glasses, and calling me, he said: “Here is a letter for you to Andrei Karlovich P., my old comrade and friend. You are going to Orenburg to serve under his command. "
So all my brilliant hopes were shattered! Instead of a cheerful Petersburg life, boredom awaited me in the deaf and distant side. The service, which for a minute I thought with such enthusiasm, seemed to me a grievous misfortune. But there was nothing to argue about. The next morning, in the morning, a road carriage was brought up to the porch; they put in it a chamodan, a cellar with a tea-set, and bundles of rolls and pies, the last signs of home pampering. My parents blessed me. Father told me: “Farewell, Peter. Serve faithfully to whom you swear; obey your superiors; do not chase after their caress; do not ask for service; do not excuse yourself from the service; and remember the proverb: take care of your dress with a new one, and honor from a young age. " Mother, in tears, told me to take care of my health, and to Savelyich to look after the child. They put on me a rabbit sheepskin coat and a fox fur coat on top. I sat down in the wagon with Savelich, and set off on the road, shedding tears.
That very night I arrived in Simbirsk, where I had to stay for a day to buy the necessary things, which was entrusted to Savelich. I stopped at an inn. Savelich went to the shops in the morning. Bored of looking out of the window at the dirty alley, I went to wander through all the rooms. When I entered the billiard room, I saw a tall master, about thirty-five years old, with a long black mustache, in a dressing gown, with a cue in his hand and with a pipe in his teeth. He played with a marker, which, when he won, drank a glass of vodka, and when he lost, he had to climb under the billiard on fours. I began to look at their game. The longer it went on, the more quadruple rides became more frequent, until finally the marker remained under the billiards. The master uttered several strong expressions over him in the form of a funeral oration, and invited me to play a game. I refused out of skill. It seemed to him, invisible, strange. He looked at me as if with regret; however, we got to talking. I found out that his name was Ivan Ivanovich Zurin, that he was a captain of the hussar regiment and was in Simbirsk when he was receiving recruits, but was standing in a tavern. Zurin invited me to dine with him with him than God sent, like a soldier. I willingly agreed. We sat down at the table. Zurin drank a lot and fed me too, saying that I had to get used to the service; he told me army jokes, from which I almost rolled with laughter, and we got up from the table as perfect friends. Then he volunteered to teach me how to play billiards. “This,” he said, “is essential for our servant brother. On a hike, for example, you come to a place - what can you order to do? It’s not all the same to beat the Jews. Inevitably you will go to a tavern and play billiards; but for that you need to be able to play! " I was completely convinced, and with great diligence I set to work. Zurin loudly encouraged me, marveled at my quick successes, and after several lessons, invited me to play for money, one penny at a time, not to win, but so as not to play for nothing, which, in his words, is the worst habit. I agreed to that, and Zurin ordered a punch to be served and persuaded me to try, repeating that I had to get used to the service; and without punch, that is the service! I obeyed him. Meanwhile, our game continued. The more often I sipped from my glass, the more courageous I became. Every minute the balloons flew across the board; I got excited, scolded the marker, who thought God knows how, from hour to hour I multiplied the game, in a word - behaved like a boy who had escaped free. Meanwhile, time has passed quickly. Zurin glanced at his watch, put down the cue, and announced to me that I had lost a hundred rubles. This confused me a little. Savelich had my money. I began to apologize. Zurin interrupted me: “Have mercy! Don't worry too much. I can wait, but for now we'll go to Arinushka's.
What do you want? I ended the day as dissolutely as I began. We dined with Arinushka. Zurin kept pouring me over every minute, repeating that I had to get used to the service. Getting up from the table, I could barely stay on my feet; at midnight Zurin took me to the inn. Savelich met us on the porch. He gasped at the unmistakable signs of my zeal for the service. "What is this, sir, happened to you?" - he said in a pitiful voice, “where did you get it? Oh my god! from such a sin never happened! " - Shut up, bastard! - I answered him, stammering; - you are surely drunk, went to bed ... and put me to bed.
The next day I woke up with a headache, dimly remembering the events of yesterday. My reflections were interrupted by Savelich, who came to me with a cup of tea. “It's early, Pyotr Andreevich,” he said to me, shaking his head, “early you start walking. And who did you go to? It seems that neither father nor grandfather were drunkards; there is nothing to say about my mother: from the old days, except for kvass, she did not deign to take anything into her mouth. And who is to blame? damn monsieur. Every now and then, it happened to run to Antipievna: "Madame, woo pri, vodka." Here's to you and woo with! There is nothing to say: he instructed good, son of a dog. And it was necessary to hire a basurman as uncle, as if the master had no more of his own people! "
I was ashamed. I turned away and said to him: Come on, Savelyich; I don't want tea. But Savelich was tricky to appease when he used to start preaching. “You see, Pyotr Andreevich, what it feels like to play around. And the head is hard, and you don't want to eat. A person who drinks is not good for anything ... Drink some cucumber pickle with honey, but it would be better if you drink half a glass of tincture. Would you order? "
At this time the boy entered and handed me a note from I. I. Zurin. I unfolded it and read the following lines:
“Dear Petr Andreevich, please send me and my boy one hundred rubles, which you lost to me yesterday. I am in dire need of money.
Ready to serve
I\u003e Ivan Zurin ".
There was nothing to do. I assumed an air of indifference, and turning to Savelich, who was both money and linen and my caretaker, ordered to give the boy a hundred rubles. "How! what for?" Savelich asked amazed. - I owe them to him - I answered with all possible coldness. - "Must!" Savelich objected, more astonished from hour to hour; “But when, sir, did you manage to owe him? Case something is not right. Your will, sir, but I will not give the money. "
I thought that if at this decisive moment I did not argue with the stubborn old man, then later it would be difficult for me to free myself from his care, and looking at him proudly, I said: “I am your master, and you are my servant. The money is mine. I lost them because I thought so. And I advise you not to be clever, and do what you are ordered.
Savelich was so amazed by my words that he threw up his hands and was dumbfounded. - What are you standing! I shouted angrily. Savelich burst into tears. “Father Pyotr Andreevich,” he said in a trembling voice, “don't kill me with sadness. You are my light! listen to me, the old man: write to this robber that you were joking, that we don't even have that kind of money. One hundred rubles! Good God! Tell me that your parents ordered you not to play hard, except as nuts ... "- Completely lie, - I interrupted sternly, - give me money here, or I'll chase you away.
Savelich looked at me with deep sorrow and followed my debt. I felt sorry for the poor old man; but I wanted to break free and prove that I was no longer a child. The money was delivered to Zurin. Savelich hastened to take me out of the accursed tavern. He came with the news that the horses were ready. With an uneasy conscience and with silent repentance, I left Simbirsk, not saying goodbye to my teacher and not thinking of seeing him someday.
CHAPTER II. Squeezed
My side, side,
An unfamiliar side!
That I did not come to you myself,
What a kind horse brought me:
Drove me, good fellow,
Agility, valiant vigor,
And a hop tavern.
Old song
My road thoughts were not very pleasant. My loss, at the prices of the time, was important. I could not help but admit in my heart that my behavior in the Simbirsk tavern was stupid, and I felt guilty towards Savelich. all this tormented me. The old man sat gloomily on the irradiation, turning away from me, and was silent, occasionally grunting. I certainly wanted to make peace with him, and did not know where to start. Finally I said to him: “Well, well, Savelich! complete, make up, to blame; I see myself that I am to blame. I did something wrong yesterday, but I wronged you in vain. I promise to go ahead and behave smarter and obey you. Well, don't be angry; let's make up ”.
Eh, father Pyotr Andreevich! he answered with a deep sigh. - I'm angry with myself; I myself am to blame. How could I have left you alone in the tavern! What to do? Sin beguiled: I decided to wander to the clerk's wife, to see the godfather. So it was: I went to the godfather, but sat in prison. Trouble and more! How will I show myself to the masters? what will they say, how will they know that the child is drinking and playing.
In order to console poor Savelich, I gave him my word in the future, without his consent, not to dispose of a single kopeck. He calmed down little by little, although he still occasionally grumbled to himself, shaking his head: “One hundred rubles! is it easy! "
I was approaching my destination. Sad deserts stretched around me, traversed by hills and ravines. everything was covered with snow. The sun was setting. The kibitka was driving along a narrow road, or rather, along the trail laid by peasant sledges. Suddenly the driver began to look to the side, and finally, taking off his cap, he turned to me and said: "Master, would you order me to return?"
What is this for?
“Time is unreliable: the wind rises slightly; - see how he sweeps away the powder. "
What a disaster!
"Do you see what there?" (The driver pointed to the east with his whip.)
I see nothing but the white steppe and the clear sky.
"And there - out: this is a cloud."
I saw, in fact, at the edge of the sky a white cloud, which I took at first for a distant hillock. The driver explained to me that the cloud foreshadowed a storm.
I had heard of the fire-makers there, and I knew that whole carts had been brought in by them. Savelich, in agreement with the driver's opinion, advised us to return. But the wind seemed to me not strong; I hoped to get to the next station in advance, and ordered to go quickly.
The driver galloped off; but he kept looking east. The horses ran together. The wind, meanwhile, grew stronger hour by hour. The cloud turned into a white cloud, which rose heavily, grew, and gradually covered the sky. Fine snow began to fall - and suddenly it fell in flakes. The wind howled; it became a blizzard. In an instant, the dark sky blended with the snowy sea. everything has disappeared. "Well, master," - shouted the driver - "trouble: blizzard!" ...
I looked out of the wagon: everything was darkness and whirlwind. The wind howled with such fierce expressiveness that it seemed animated; snow fell asleep on Savelich and me; the horses walked at a pace - and soon they began.
- "Why aren't you going?" I asked the driver impatiently. - “Why go? - he answered, getting off the irradiation; God knows where we have stopped: there is no road, and the darkness is all around. - I began to scold him. Savelich stood up for him: “And the desire was not to obey,” he said angrily, “I would return to the inn, eat tea, rest myself until morning, the storm would have subsided, we would have gone further. And where are we in a hurry? Welcome to the wedding! “- Savelich was right. There was nothing to do. The snow kept falling. A snowdrift was rising near the wagon. The horses stood with bowed heads and occasionally shuddering. The coachman walked around, having nothing to do, straightening the harness. Savelich grumbled; I looked in all directions, hoping to see at least a sign of a vein or a road, but I could not discern anything except the muddy whirling of a snowstorm ... Suddenly I saw something black. “Hey, coachman!” - I shouted - “look: what's that blackening there?” The coachman began to peer. “God knows, sir,” he said, sitting down in his seat: “the cart is not a cart, the tree is not a tree, but it seems that it is moving. It must be either a wolf or a man.
I gave orders to go to an unfamiliar object, which immediately began to move towards us. Two minutes later we caught up with the man. "Gay, kind man!" - the driver shouted to him. - "Tell me, do you know where the road is?"
The road is here; I'm standing on a solid lane, - answered the roadman, - what's the use?
Listen, little man, - I told him - do you know this side? Will you take me to bed?
- "The side is familiar to me" - answered the roadman - "thank God, it is well-trodden, driven up and down. Yes, you see what the weather is: you will just lose your way. It is better to stop here and wait, maybe the storm will subside and the sky will clear up: then we will find our way through the stars. "
His composure cheered me up. I had already made up my mind, surrendering myself to the will of God, to spend the night in the middle of the steppe, when suddenly the roadman sat down nimbly on the beam and said to the driver: “Well, thank God, it was not far away; turn right and go. " - Why should I go to the right? - asked the driver with displeasure. - Where do you see the road? Probably: the horses are strangers, the yoke is not your own, don't stop driving. - The driver seemed right to me. "Indeed," I said, "why do you think that you did not live far away?" - But because the wind pulled away, - answered the roadman, - and I hear it smelled of smoke; know the village is close. - His sharpness and subtlety of instinct amazed me. I told the driver to go. The horses walked heavily in the deep snow. The kibitka moved quietly, now driving into a snowdrift, now falling into a ravine and rolling over to one side or the other. It was like a ship sailing on a rough sea. Savelich groaned, constantly pushing against my sides. I lowered my mat, wrapped myself in a fur coat and dozed off, lulled by the singing of the storm and the rolling of a quiet ride.
I had a dream that I could never forget, and in which I still see something prophetic when I reflect on the strange circumstances of my life. The reader will excuse me: for he probably knows from experience how a person is akin to indulging in superstition, in spite of all kinds of contempt for prejudice.
I was in that state of feelings and soul when materiality, yielding to dreams, merges with them in obscure visions of primordial consciousness. It seemed to me that the storm was still raging, and we were still wandering in the snowy desert ... Suddenly I saw the gates, and drove into the courtyard of our estate. My first thought was the fear that my father would not be angry with me for involuntarily returning under my parent's roof, and would not consider him deliberate disobedience. Anxiously, I jumped out of the wagon, and I see my mother meeting me on the porch with an air of deep grief. "Hush," she says to me, "father is sick near death and wants to say goodbye to you." - Struck by fear, I follow her into the bedroom. I see the room is dimly lit; people with sad faces are standing by the bed. I walk quietly to the bed; Mother lifts the canopy and says: “Andrey Petrovich, Petrusha has arrived; he came back, having learned about your illness; bless him. " I knelt down and fixed my eyes on the sick man. Well? ... Instead of my father, I see a man with a black beard lying in bed, looking at me merrily. In bewilderment, I turned to my mother, saying to her: - What does this mean? This is not a father. And why should I ask a peasant's blessing? “It's all the same, Petrusha,” my mother answered me. “This is your planted father; kiss his hand and let him bless you ... ”I did not agree. Then the man jumped out of bed, grabbed the ax from behind his back, and began waving in all directions. I wanted to run ... and could not; the room was filled with dead bodies; I stumbled over the body and slid in the bloody puddles ... A terrible man tenderly called me, saying: "Do not be afraid, come under my blessing ..." Horror and bewilderment seized me ... And at that moment I woke up; the horses were standing; Savelich tugged at my hand, saying: "Come out, sir: we have arrived."
Where have you arrived? I asked, rubbing my eyes.
“To the inn. The Lord helped, stumbled right into the fence. Come out, sir, hurry up and warm yourself. "
I left the wagon. The storm still continued, although with less force. It was so dark that you could even gouge an eye out. The owner met us at the gate, holding a lantern under the floor, and led me into the upper room, which was cramped but rather clean; a torch illuminated her. A rifle and a high Cossack hat hung on the wall.
The owner, a Yaik Cossack by birth, seemed like a man of about sixty, still fresh and cheerful. Savelich brought in a cellar after me, demanded fire to make tea, which I never thought I needed so much. The owner went to work.
Where is the counselor? I asked Savelich.
“Here, your honor,” a voice from above answered me. I looked at the legs and saw a black beard and two sparkling eyes. - What, brother, stagnant? - “How not to vegetate in one thin army jacket There was a sheepskin coat, but what a sin to conceal? he laid the evening at the tsalovalnik: the frost seemed not great. " At that moment the owner entered with a boiling samovar; I offered our counselor a cup of tea; the man got off the bed. His appearance struck me as remarkable: he was about forty, average height, thin and broad-shouldered. His black beard showed gray; lively big eyes kept running. His face had a rather pleasant expression, but a rogue one. The hair was cut in a circle; he was wearing a tattered army jacket and Tatar trousers. I brought him a cup of tea; he tasted it and winced. “Your honor, do me such a favor - order me to bring a glass of wine; tea is not our Cossack drink. " I willingly fulfilled his wish. The owner took out a bottle and a glass from the stavts, went up to him, and looking into his face: "Ehe" - he said - "again you are in our land! Did God bring the breakaway? " - My counselor blinked significantly and answered with a proverb: “I flew to the garden to peck hemp; grandmother threw a pebble - but by. Well, what about yours? "
What are ours! - answered the owner, continuing the allegorical conversation. - They began to call for vespers, but the priest does not order: the priest is at a party, the devils are at the churchyard. - "Be quiet, uncle", - objected my tramp - "there will be rain, there will be fungi; and there will be fungi, there will be a body. And now (here he blinked again) shut the ax behind your back: the forester is walking. Your Honor! For your health!" - With these words, he took a glass, crossed himself and drank in one breath. Then he bowed to me and returned to the bed.
I could not understand anything then from this thieves' conversation, but after that I guessed that it was about the affairs of the Yaitsk army, which at that time had just been pacified after the revolt of 1772. Savelich listened with an air of great displeasure. He looked with suspicion first at the owner, then at the counselor. The inn, or, according to the local, umot, was on the sidelines, in the steppe, far from any village, and looked very much like a robbery dock. But there was nothing to do. It was not even possible to think about continuing the path. Savelich's concern amused me greatly. Meanwhile I settled down to spend the night and lay down on the bench. Savelich decided to get out on the stove; the owner lay down on the floor. Soon the whole hut began to snore, and I fell asleep like a dead man.
When I woke up quite late in the morning, I saw that the storm had died down. The sun was shining. The snow lay in a dazzling shroud on the boundless steppe. The horses were harnessed. I paid off the landlord, who took such a moderate payment from us that even Savelich did not argue with him and did not bargain as usual, and yesterday's suspicions were completely erased from his head. I called the counselor, thanked him for his help, and ordered Savelich to give him half a dollar for vodka. Savelich frowned. "A half for vodka!" he said, “what is it for? Because you deigned to give him a lift to the inn? Your will, sir: we have no extra fifty dollars. Give everyone to drink vodka, so soon you yourself will have to starve. " I could not argue with Savelich. The money, according to my promise, was at his complete disposal. I was annoyed, however, that I could not thank the person who rescued me, if not out of trouble, then at least out of a very unpleasant situation. Good, I said coolly; - if you don’t want to give half a dollar, then take something out of my dress. He is dressed too lightly. Give him my bunny sheepskin coat.
"Have mercy, Father Pyotr Andreich!" Savelich said. - “Why does he need your rabbit sheepskin coat? He will drink it, dog, in the first tavern. "
This, old lady, is not your sorrow, - said my tramp, - whether I drink it or not. His honor bestows upon me a fur coat from his shoulder: it is his master's will, and your servant is not to argue and obey.
"You are not afraid of God, robber!" Savelich answered him in an angry voice. “You see that the child does not yet understand, and you are happy to rob him, for the sake of simplicity. Why do you need a lordly sheepskin coat? You won't put it on your cursed shoulders. "
Please don't be smart, - I said to my uncle; - Now bring the sheepskin coat here.
"Lord lord!" - moaned my Savelich. - “The rabbit sheepskin coat is almost brand new! and it would be good for someone, otherwise a naked drunkard! "
However, the rabbit sheepskin coat appeared. The peasant immediately began to try it on. In fact, the sheepskin coat, from which I managed to grow, was a little narrow for him. However, he somehow contrived, and put it on, ripped at the seams. Savelich almost howled when he heard the threads crackle. The tramp was extremely pleased with my gift. He accompanied me to the kibitka and said with a low bow: “Thank you, your honor! God reward you for your virtue. I will never forget your favors. " - He went in his direction, and I went further, not paying attention to Savelich's annoyance, and soon forgot about yesterday's blizzard, about my counselor and about the rabbit sheepskin coat.
Arriving in Orenburg, I went directly to the general. I saw a tall man, but already hunched over with old age. His long hair was completely white. The old faded uniform resembled a warrior from the time of Anna Ioannovna, and in his speech a German accent was strongly echoed. I gave him a letter from my father. At his name, he glanced at me quickly: "After that!" - he said. - “Does it matter, it seems, Andrei Petrovich was still your age, but now what a hammer he has! Ah, freem, freem! " He opened the letter and began to read it in an undertone, making his remarks. "Dear sir Andrei Karlovich, I hope that your excellency" ... What are these seremonies? Fuy, how is it not proper for him! Of course: discipline is the first thing, but is that how they write to the old comrade? .. "Your Excellency has not forgotten" ... um ... and ... when ... the late Field Marshal Min ... campaign ... also ... Karolinka "... Ehe, brooder! so he still remembers our old pranks? "Now about the matter ... I'll hang up for you" ... um ... "keep in tight-knit mittens" ... What are yesheva mittens? This should be a Russian proverb ... What is "to tug with your gloves on?" he repeated, addressing me.
This means, - I answered him with an air of as innocent as possible, - to treat kindly, not too severely, to give more will, to keep in black mittens.
“Hm, I understand…“ and don't give him freedom ”… no, apparently yes, her mittens mean something wrong…“ Besides… his passport ”… Where is he? Ah, here ... "write off to Semyonovsky" ... Well, well: everything will be done ... "Let me hug you without ranks and ... an old comrade and friend" - ah! finally figured it out ... and so on and so forth ... Well, father, - he said, reading the letter and putting aside my passport - everything will be done: you will be transferred to the *** regiment as an officer, and so that you do not waste time, then go tomorrow to the Belogorsk fortress, where you will be in the command of Captain Mironov, a kind and honest person. There you will be in the service of the real, you will learn discipline. You have nothing to do in Orenburg; scattering is harmful to a young man. And today we ask you to dine with me. "
Hour by hour is not easier! I thought to myself; why was it that even in the womb I was already a guard sergeant! Where did it take me? To the regiment and to a remote fortress on the border of the Kirghiz-Kaisak steppes! .. I dined with Andrei Karlovich, three of us with his old adjutant. Austere German economy reigned at his table, and I think that the fear of seeing sometimes an extra guest at his bachelor meal was partly the reason for my hasty removal to the garrison. The next day I said goodbye to the general and went to my destination.
CHAPTER III. FORTRESS.
We live in a fort
We eat bread and drink water;
And how fierce enemies
They will come to us for pies
Let's give the guests a party:
Let's load the buckshot cannon.
Soldier's song.
Ancient people, my father.
The undersized.
The Belogorsk fortress was located forty miles from Orenburg. The road went along the steep bank of the Yaik. The river was not yet frozen, and its leaden waves were sadly black on the monotonous banks covered with white snow. Behind them stretched the Kyrgyz steppes. I plunged into reflections, mostly sad. Garrison life had little attraction for me. I tried to imagine Captain Mironov, my future boss, and imagined him as a strict, angry old man who knew nothing but his service, and was ready to put me under arrest for any trifle on bread and water. Meanwhile, it began to get dark. We drove pretty soon. - Is it far to the fortress? I asked my driver. “Not far off,” he replied. - "It's already visible." - I looked in all directions, expecting to see formidable bastions, towers and ramparts; but he saw nothing but a village surrounded by a log fence. On one side stood three or four stacks of hay, half-covered with snow; on the other, a twisted mill, with its cheap popular wings, lazily lowered. - Where is the fortress? I asked in surprise. - "Yes, here it is" - answered the driver pointing to the village, and with this word we drove into it. At the gate I saw an old cast-iron cannon; the streets were narrow and crooked; the huts are low and for the most part covered with straw. I ordered to go to the commandant and a minute later the wagon stopped in front of a wooden house, built on a high place, near the wooden church.
Nobody met me. I went into the vestibule and opened the front door. An old invalid, sitting on a table, sewed a blue patch on the elbow of his green uniform. I told him to report me. "Come in, father," answered the invalid: "our houses." I went into a clean, old-fashioned room. In the corner was a cupboard with dishes; an officer's diploma hung on the wall behind glass and in a frame; near it there were popular prints representing the capture of Kistrin and Ochakov, as well as the choice of the bride and the burial of the cat. By the window sat an old woman in a quilted jacket and with a scarf on her head. She unwound the threads that the crooked old man in the officer's uniform was holding, unrolling in her arms. "What do you want, father?" she asked, continuing her work. I replied that I had come to work and appeared on my duty to the master captain, and with this word I turned to a crooked old man, mistaking him for a commandant; but the hostess interrupted my speech. “Ivan Kuzmich is not at home,” she said; - “he went to visit Father Gerasim; all the same, father, I am his mistress. Please love and respect. Sit down, father. " She called the girl and told her to call the police officer. The old man looked at me with curiosity with his lonely eye. “I dare to ask,” he said; - "in which regiment did you deign to serve?" I satisfied his curiosity. "And I dare to ask," he continued, "why did you deign to move from the guard to the garrison?" - I answered that such was the will of the authorities. “Charmingly, for actions that are indecent to an officer of the guard,” continued the indefatigable questioner. - “It's enough to lie nonsense,” the captain said to him: “you see, the young man is tired from the road; he has no time for you ... (keep your hands straighter ...) And you, my father, "she continued, turning to me," don't be sad that you were taken to our backwoods. You are not the first, you are not the last. Will endure, fall in love. Shvabrin Alexey Ivanovich has been transferred to us for murder for five years now. God knows what sin beguiled him; he, if you please, went out of town with a lieutenant, but they took swords with them, and besides, they were stabbing at each other; and Alexey Ivanitch stabbed the lieutenant, and even with two witnesses! What do you want to do? There is no master for sin. "
At that moment the sergeant entered, a young and stately Cossack. "Maksimych!" - the captain told him. - "Give the officer an apartment, but cleaner." “Yes, Vasilisa Yegorovna,” answered the police officer. - "Shouldn't his honor be placed with Ivan Polezhaev?" “You’re lying, Maksimych,” said the captain: “Polezhaev is already cramped; he is my godfather and remembers that we are his bosses. Take Mr. Officer ... what is your name and patronymic, my father? Petr Andreevich? .. Take Pyotr Andreevich to Semyon Kuzov. He, a swindler, let his horse into my garden. Well, Maksimych, is everything all right? "
Everything, thank God, is quiet, - answered the Cossack; - only Corporal Prokhorov had a fight in the bathhouse with Ustinya Negulina over a gang of hot water.
“Ivan Ignatyevich! - said the captain to the crooked old man. - “Sort out Prokhorov and Ustinya who is right and who is wrong. And punish both. Well, Maksimych, go with God. Pyotr Andreich, Maksimych will take you to your apartment. "
I took my leave. The sergeant took me to a hut, which stood on the high bank of the river, on the very edge of the fortress. Half of the hut was occupied by the family of Semyon Kuzov, the other was given to me. It consisted of one room, a rather neat, divided in two by a partition. Savelich began to dispose of it; I began to look out the narrow window. A sad steppe stretched before me. Several huts stood obliquely; a few chickens wandered down the street, an old woman standing on the porch with a trough, calling the pigs, which answered her with a friendly grunt. And this is the direction in which I was condemned to spend my youth! Longing took me; I walked away from the window and went to bed without supper, in spite of Savelich's admonitions, who repeated with contrition: “Lord Vladyka! will not deign to eat anything! What will the lady say if the child gets sick? "
The next morning I had just begun to dress when the door opened and a young officer of short stature came in to me, with a dark complexion and superbly ugly, but extremely lively. “Excuse me,” he said to me in French, “that I am coming to meet you without ceremony. Yesterday I learned about your arrival; the desire to see at last a human face took possession of me so much that I could not bear it. You will understand this when you live here for a few more time. " “I guessed that it was an officer discharged from the guard for a duel. We met immediately. Shvabrin was not very stupid. His conversation was sharp and entertaining. With great gaiety he described to me the commandant's family, his society and the land where fate had taken me. I laughed from the bottom of my heart when the same invalid who was mending his uniform in the commandant's hall came into my room, and on behalf of Vasilisa Yegorovna invited me to dine with them. Shvabrin volunteered to go with me.
Approaching the commandant's house, we saw on the landing about twenty old disabled people with long braids and triangular hats. They were lined up in a frond. Ahead stood the commandant, a tall, vigorous old man in a cap and a Chinese dressing gown. Seeing us, he came up to us, said a few kind words to me and began to give orders again. We stopped to look at the teaching; but he asked us to go to Vasilisa Yegorovna, promising to be after us. "And here," he added, "you have nothing to watch."
Vasilisa Yegorovna received us easily and cordially, and treated me as if she had been familiar for centuries. The invalid and Palashka laid the table. "What is it my Ivan Kuzmich learned so much today!" - said the commandant. - “Palashka, call the master for dinner. Where is Masha? " - Here came a girl of about eighteen years old, chubby, ruddy, with light-brown hair, combed smoothly behind her ears, which burned with her. At first glance, I didn't really like her. I looked at her with prejudice: Shvabrin described Masha, the captain's daughter, to me as a complete fool. Marya Ivanovna sat down in a corner and began to sew. Meanwhile, cabbage soup was served. Vasilisa Yegorovna, not seeing her husband, sent the Palashka for him a second time. “Tell the master: the guests are waiting, the cabbage soup will get a sheet; thank God, learning will not go away; will have time to yell. " - The captain soon appeared, accompanied by a crooked old man. "What is this, my father?" - said his wife. - "The food has been served a long time ago, but you won't get it." - And do you hear, Vasilisa Yegorovna, - answered Ivan Kuzmich, - I was busy with the service: I taught the soldiers.
"And that's enough!" - objected the captain. “It’s only glory that you teach the soldiers: neither they are given service, nor you know the point in it. I would sit at home and pray to God; that would be better. Dear guests, welcome to the table. "
We sat down to dinner. Vasilisa Yegorovna did not stop for a minute and showered me with questions: who are my parents, are they alive, where do they live and what is their condition? Hearing that Father has three hundred peasants' souls, "Is it easy!" - she said; “After all, there are rich people in the world! And we, my father, have only one shower, Palashka; Yes, thank God, we live little by little. One problem: Masha; maid of marriage, and what is her dowry? a frequent comb, and a broom, and an altyn of money (God forgive me!), with what to go to the bathhouse. Well, if there is a kind person; otherwise sit for yourself in girls as an eternal bride. " - I looked at Marya Ivanovna; she blushed all over, and even tears dripped onto her plate. I felt sorry for her; and I was in a hurry to change the conversation. “I heard,” I said rather inappropriately, “that the Bashkirs are going to attack your fortress. - "From whom, father, did you deign to hear this?" - asked Ivan Kuzmich. - I was told so in Orenburg, - I answered. "Trivia!" said the commandant. - “We haven't heard anything for a long time. The Bashkir people are a frightened people, and the Kyrgyz have learned a lesson. Probably, they will not stick at us; but if they poke their heads, I will give such an ostracism that I will calm down for ten years. “And you’re not afraid,” I continued, addressing the captain, “to remain in a fortress exposed to such dangers? “It's a habit, my father,” she answered. “Twenty years ago we were transferred from the regiment here, and God forbid, how I was afraid of these damned infidels! How I used to envy the lynx hats, but how I hear their screeching, do you believe, my father, my heart will freeze! And now I’m so used to it that I won’t budge when they come to tell us that the villains are prowling around the fortress ”.
Vasilisa Yegorovna is a brave lady - Shvabrin remarked importantly. - Ivan Kuzmich can testify to this.
“Yes, hear you,” said Ivan Kuzmich: “the woman is not a timid tenth.”
And Marya Ivanovna? - I asked: - is it as brave as you?
"Did Masha Dare?" - answered her mother. - “No, Masha is a coward. Until now, he cannot hear a shot from a gun: he will tremble. And just as two years ago Ivan Kuzmich invented on my name day to shoot from our cannon, so she, my dear, almost went to the other world out of fear. Since then, we have not fired from the accursed cannon. "
We got up from the table. The captain and the captain went to bed; and I went to Shvabrin, with whom I spent the whole evening.
CHAPTER IV. DUEL.
- Ying if you please, and stand in the pose.
Look, I will pierce your figure!
The prince.
Several weeks passed, and my life in the Belogorsk fortress became for me not only bearable, but even pleasant. At the commandant's house I was received as a family. Husband and wife were the most respectable people. Ivan Kuzmich, who became an officer from the soldier's children, was an uneducated and simple man, but the most honest and kind. His wife controlled him, which was consistent with his carelessness. Vasilisa Yegorovna looked at the affairs of the service as if she were her own, and ruled the fortress as precisely as she did her house. Marya Ivanovna soon ceased to be shy with me. We met. I found in her a sensible and sensitive girl. In an imperceptible way, I became attached to a good family, even to Ivan Ignatyevich, a crooked garrison lieutenant, about whom Shvabrin invented, as if he was in an impermissible connection with Vasilisa Yegorovna, which had no shadow of credibility: but Shvabrin did not worry about that.
I was promoted to officer. The service did not burden me. In the God-saved fortress there were no reviews, no exercises, no guards. The commandant, on his own hunt, sometimes taught his soldiers; but still could not get them all to know which side is right, which is left, although many of them, in order not to be mistaken, put on themselves the sign of the cross before each turn. Shvabrin had several French books. I began to read, and a desire for literature awoke in me. In the mornings I read, practiced translations and sometimes writing poetry. He almost always dined at the commandant's, where he usually spent the rest of the day, and where Father Gerasim sometimes appeared in the evening with his wife Akulina Pamfilovna, the first messenger in the whole district. Of course, I saw AI Shvabrin every day; but hour by hour his conversation became less pleasant for me. I did not like his usual jokes about the commandant's family, especially his sharp remarks about Marya Ivanovna. There was no other society in the fortress, but I did not want another.
Despite the predictions, the Bashkirians were not outraged. Calm reigned around our fortress. But the world was interrupted by an unexpected civil strife.
I have already said that I was engaged in literature. My experiments, for that time, were fair, and Alexander Petrovich Sumarokov, several years later, praised them very much. Once I managed to write a song, which I was pleased with. It is known that writers sometimes seek a supportive listener under the guise of demanding advice. So, having rewritten my song, I carried it to Shvabrin, who alone in the whole fortress could appreciate the works of the poet. After a short preface, I took my notebook out of my pocket and read the following verses to him:
Destroying the thought of love,
I strive to forget the beautiful
And oh, avoiding Masha,
I think the liberty to receive!
But the eyes that captivated me
Every minute before me;
They confused the spirit in me,
Crushed my peace.
You, having recognized my misfortunes,
Take pity, Masha, over me;
In vain me in this cruel part,
And that I am captivated by you.
How do you find it? - I asked Shvabrin, expecting the praise, as a tribute, which I will certainly follow. But to my great annoyance, Shvabrin, usually condescending, decisively announced that my song was not good.
Why is that? I asked him, hiding my annoyance.
"Because" - he answered, - "that such verses are worthy of my teacher, Vasily Kirilych Tredyakovsky, and remind me very much of his love couplets."
Then he took the notebook from me and began to unmercifully analyze every verse and every word, mocking me in the most caustic way. I could not bear it, tore my notebook out of his hands and said that I would never show him my works from my childhood. Shvabrin laughed at this threat too. “We’ll see,” he said, “will you keep your word: poets need a listener, like Ivan Kuzmich needs a decanter of vodka before dinner. And who is this Masha, before whom you express yourself in tender passion and love misfortune? Isn't it Marya Ivanovna?
It's none of your business, - I answered frowning, - whoever this Masha is. I do not demand your opinion or your guess.
“Wow! A proud poet and a humble lover! " Shvabrin continued, irritating me more from hour to hour; - "but listen to friendly advice: if you want to be in time, then I advise you not to act with songs."
What does this, sir, mean? Please explain.
“Eagerly. This means that if you want Masha Mironova to come to you at dusk, give her a pair of earrings instead of tender rhymes.
My blood boiled. - Why do you think so of her? I asked, barely holding back my indignation.
“Therefore,” he answered with a hellish grin, “because I know from experience her disposition and custom.”
You're lying, you bastard! - I cried out in fury, - you lie in the most shameless way.
Shvabrin's face changed. “It won't work for you,” he said, squeezing my hand. - "You will give me satisfaction."
Please; when you want to! - I answered, delighted. At that moment I was ready to tear him to pieces.
I immediately went to Ivan Ignatyevich, and found him with a needle in his hands: as instructed by the commandant, he was stringing mushrooms to dry for the winter. "Ah, Pyotr Andreevich!" - he said when he saw me; - "Welcome! How did God bring you? on what business, dare I ask? " I briefly explained to him that I had quarreled with Alexei Ivanitch, and that I ask him, Ivan Ignatich, to be my second. Ivan Ignatyevich listened to me attentively, goggling his one eye at me. “If you please say so,” he said to me, “what do you want Alexei Ivanitch to stab and do you want me to be a witness? Is not it? I dare to ask. "
Exactly.
“Have mercy, Pyotr Andreevich! What are you up to! You and Alexei Ivanitch scolded? Great trouble! Hard words break no bones. He scolded you, and you scold him; he in your snout, and you in his ear, in another, in the third - and disperse; and we will reconcile you. And then: is it a good deed to stab your neighbor, dare I ask? And good would you have stabbed him: God bless him, with Alexei Ivanitch; I myself am not a hunter before him. Well, what if he drills you? What will it look like? Who will be the fools, dare I ask? "
The reasoning of the prudent lieutenant did not shake me. I stayed with my intention. “As you please,” said Ivan Ignatich: “do as you understand. Why should I be a witness here? Why on earth? People are fighting, what kind of wickedness, dare I ask? Thank God, I went under the Swede and under the Turk: I saw enough of everything. "
I somehow began to explain to him the position of a second, but Ivan Ignatich could not understand me in any way. "Your will," he said. “If I’m already interfering in this matter, then why should I go to Ivan Kuzmich and inform him on duty that a villainy contrary to the state’s interest is being planned in the fortress: would not it be pleasing for the commandant to take appropriate measures ...”
I got scared and began to ask Ivan Ignatich not to say anything to the commandant; persuaded him by force; he gave me his word, and I decided to give up on him.
I spent the evening, as usual, with the commandant. I tried to seem cheerful and indifferent, so as not to give any suspicion and avoid boring questions; but I confess that I did not have that composure that those who were in my position almost always boast of. That evening I was inclined to tenderness and tenderness. I liked Marya Ivanovna more than usual. The thought that perhaps I was seeing her for the last time gave her something touching in my eyes. Shvabrin appeared immediately. I took him aside and notified him of my conversation with Ivan Ignatich. "Why do we need seconds," he said to me dryly: "we can do without them." We agreed to fight for the ricks that were near the fortress, and to appear there the next day at seven o'clock in the morning. We talked, apparently, so friendly that Ivan Ignatyevich blurted out for joy. “How long ago it would be,” he said to me with a satisfied look; - "A bad world is better than a good quarrel, but it is dishonest, so healthy."
"What, what, Ivan Ignatyich?" - said the commandant, who was reading cards in the corner: - "I did not listen."
Ivan Ignatyich, noticing signs of displeasure in me and remembering his promise, was embarrassed and did not know what to answer. Shvabrin arrived in time to help him.
"Ivan Ignatyich" - he said - "approves of our world."
And with whom, my father, have you quarreled? "
"We had a fairly big argument with Pyotr Andreevich."
Why so?
"For a sheer trifle: for a song, Vasilisa Yegorovna."
Found something to quarrel about! for a song! ... but how did it happen?
“Yes, here's how: Pyotr Andreevich recently composed a song and today sang it in front of me, and I pulled on my beloved:
Captain's daughter
Don't go for a walk at midnight.
There was a mess. Pyotr Andreevich was and got angry; but then he reasoned that everyone is free to sing, whatever they want. And that was the end of it. "
Shvabrin's shamelessness almost infuriated me; but no one except me understood his coarse bluntness; at least no one paid any attention to them. From the songs, the conversation turned to the poets, and the commandant noticed that they were all dissolute and bitter drunkards, and in a friendly way advised me to leave poem, as it was a repugnant matter to the service and leading to nothing good.
Shvabrin's presence was unbearable to me. I soon took leave of the commandant and his family; came home, examined his sword, tried its end, and went to bed, ordering Savelich to wake me up at seven o'clock.
The next day, at the appointed time, I was already behind the stacks, waiting for my opponent. Soon he appeared. “We might be caught,” he told me; - "we must hurry." We took off our uniforms, remained in only coats and drew our swords. At that moment, Ivan Ignatyevich and five disabled people suddenly appeared from behind the rush. He demanded us to see the commandant. We obeyed with vexation; the soldiers surrounded us, and we went to the fortress after Ivan Ignatyevich, who was leading us in triumph, striding with amazing importance.
We entered the commandant's house. Ivan Ignatyevich opened the doors, proclaiming solemnly "brought!" We were met by Vasilisa Yegorovna. “Oh, my priests! What does it look like? as? what? commit murder in our fortress! Ivan Kuzmich, now they are under arrest! Petr Andreevich! Alexey Ivanych! bring your swords here, serve, serve. Stick, take these swords to the closet. Petr Andreevich! I didn't expect that from you. Aren't you ashamed? Good Alexey Ivanovich: he was discharged from the guards for murder and he does not believe in the Lord either; and what are you? are you climbing there? "
Ivan Kuzmich fully agreed with his wife and said: “And hey, Vasilisa Yegorovna is telling the truth. Fights are formally prohibited in the military article. " Meanwhile Palashka took our swords from us and carried them to the closet. I couldn't help laughing. Shvabrin retained its importance. “With all due respect to you,” he told her coolly, “I cannot help but notice that you needlessly deign to worry, subjecting us to your judgment. Leave it to Ivan Kuzmich: this is his business. " - Ah! my father! - objected the commandant; - but aren't husband and wife one spirit and one flesh? Ivan Kuzmich! What are you yawning? Now plant them in different corners on bread and water, so that their nonsense will go away; so let Father Gerasim impose an epitomy on them, so that they pray to God for forgiveness, and repent before people.
Ivan Kuzmich did not know what to decide on. Marya Ivanovna was extremely pale. Little by little the storm subsided; the commandant calmed down and made us kiss each other. The stick brought us our swords. We left the commandant apparently reconciled. Ivan Ignatyevich accompanied us. “Aren't you ashamed,” I told him angrily, to inform the commandant about us after they gave me their word not to do so? - "As God is holy, I did not tell Ivan Kuzmich that" - he answered; “Vasilisa Yegorovna got everything out of me. She ordered everything without the commandant's knowledge. However, thank God that it all ended this way. " With this word he turned home, and Shvabrin and I were left alone. - Our business cannot end with this - I told him. “Of course,” answered Shvabrin; - “you will answer me with your blood for your insolence; but they will probably look after us. We'll have to pretend for a few days. Bye!" - And we parted, as if nothing had happened.
Returning to the commandant, I sat down as usual with Marya Ivanovna. Ivan Kuzmich was not at home; Vasilisa Yegorovna was busy with the farm. We spoke in an undertone. Marya Ivanovna tenderly reprimanded me for the disturbance caused by all my quarrel with Shvabrin. “I died,” she said, “when they told us that you intend to fight with swords. How strange men are! For one word, which they would have forgotten in a week, they are ready to cut themselves and sacrifice not only their lives, but also the conscience and well-being of those who ... But I am sure that you are not the instigator of the quarrel. Alexey Ivanych is truly to blame. "
Why do you think so, Marya Ivanovna? "
“So ... he's such a mocker! I don't like Alexey Ivanovich. He is very disgusting to me; but it’s strange: I would never want him to like me as well. That would bother me with fear. "
What do you think, Marya Ivanovna? Does he like you or not?
Marya Ivanovna stuttered and blushed. “I think,” she said, “I think I like it.”
Why do you think so?
"Because he wooed me."
Wooed! He wooed you? When is it? "
"In the past year. Two months before your arrival. "
And you didn't go?
“As you will see. Alexey Ivanitch is certainly a smart man, and of a good name, and has a fortune; but when I think that it will be necessary to kiss him under the aisle in front of everyone ... No way! not for any well-being! "
Marya Ivanovna's words opened my eyes and explained a lot to me. I understood the stubborn slander with which Shvabrin pursued her. He probably noticed our mutual inclination and tried to distract us from each other. The words that gave rise to our quarrel seemed to me even more vile when, instead of rude and obscene ridicule, I saw in them deliberate slander. The desire to punish the insolent evil-tongued became even stronger in me, and I began to look forward to an opportunity.
I didn't wait long. The next day, when I was sitting at the elegy and gnawing at my pen in anticipation of the rhyme, Shvabrin knocked at my window. I left my pen, took my sword and went out to him. "Why postpone?" - Shvabrin told me: - “They don't look after us. Let's go down to the river. Nobody will bother us there ”. We set off in silence. Going down a steep path, we stopped at the very river and drew our swords. Shvabrin was more skillful than me, but I am stronger and bolder, and Monsieur Beaupre, who was once a soldier, gave me a few lessons in swordsmanship, which I used. Shvabrin did not expect to find such a dangerous enemy in me. For a long time we could not do any harm to each other; Finally, noticing that Shvabrin was weakening, I began to step on him with liveliness and drove him almost into the river. Suddenly I heard my name pronounced loudly. I looked around and saw Savelich running towards me along the mountain path ……. At this very time, I was severely pricked in the chest below the right shoulder; I fell and fainted.
CHAPTER V. LOVE.
Oh, you girl, red girl!
Don't go, girl, married young;
You ask, girl, father, mother,
Father, mother, clan-tribe;
Save up, girl, mind-mind,
Uma-reason, dowry.
Folk song.
If you find me better, you will forget.
If you find me worse, you will remember.
Also.
When I woke up, I could not recover for some time and did not understand what had happened to me. I was lying on the bed, in an unfamiliar room, and felt great weakness. Savelich stood in front of me with a candle in his hands. Someone was carefully developing the sling that tied my chest and shoulder. Little by little, my thoughts cleared up. I remembered my fight, and I guessed that I was wounded. At that moment, the door hid. "What? what?" - a voice uttered in a whisper, from which I trembled. - everything is in one position, - Savelich answered with a sigh; - all without memory, for the fifth day already. “I wanted to turn around, but I couldn't. - Where I am? Who is there? I said with an effort. Marya Ivanovna came up to my bed and bent over to me. "What? How are you feeling?" - she said. “Thank God,” I answered in a weak voice. - Is that you, Marya Ivanovna? tell me ... - I could not continue and fell silent. Savelich gasped. Joy showed on his face. “I came to my senses! came to my senses! " he repeated. - “Glory to you, master! Well, Father Pyotr Andreevich! you scared me! is it easy? the fifth day! .. Marya Ivanovna interrupted his speech. “Don't talk to him a lot, Savelich,” she said. "He's still weak." She went out and quietly closed the door. My thoughts were agitated. And so I was at the commandant's house, Marya Ivanovna came to me. I wanted to ask Savelyich some questions, but the old man shook his head and shut his ears. I closed my eyes in annoyance and soon fell asleep.
When I woke up I called Savelich, and instead of him I saw Marya Ivanovna in front of me; her angelic voice greeted me. I can’t express the sweet feeling that seized me at that moment. I grabbed her hand and clung to her, pouring tears of affection. Masha did not tear her off ... and suddenly her lips touched my cheek, and I felt their hot and fresh kiss. Fire ran over me. "Dear, kind Marya Ivanovna," I told her, "be my wife, agree to my happiness." - She came to her senses. “For God's sake, calm down,” she said, taking her hand away from me. “You are still in danger: the wound may open. Take care of yourself at least for me. " With this word, she left, leaving me in a rapture of delight. Happiness revived me. She will be mine! she loves Me! This thought filled my entire existence.
From then on, I got better from hour to hour. The regimental barber treated me, for there was no other doctor in the fortress, and, thank God, he was not clever. Youth and nature hastened my recovery. the whole family of the commandant looked after me. Marya Ivanovna did not leave me. Of course, at the first opportunity, I set about the interrupted explanation, and Marya Ivanovna listened to me more patiently. She, without any pretense, confessed to me her heartfelt inclination and said that her parents would certainly be glad to her happiness. "But think carefully," she added: "Will there be obstacles on the part of your family?"
I thought about it. I did not hesitate in my mother's tenderness; but knowing my father's disposition and way of thinking, I felt that my love would not touch him too much, and that he would look at her as the whim of a young man. I sincerely confessed that to Marya Ivanovna, and yet I decided to write to the priest as eloquently as possible, asking for parental blessing. I showed the letter to Marya Ivanovna, who found it so convincing and touching that she did not doubt its success, and surrendered to the feelings of my tender heart with all the trust of youth and love.
I made up with Shvabrin in the first days of my recovery. Ivan Kuzmich, reprimanding me for the fight, said to me: “Eh, Pyotr Andreich! I should have put you under arrest, but you have already been punished. And Alexei Ivanitch is still on guard in my bread shop, and his sword is under lock and key with Vasilisa Yegorovna. Let him think for himself, let him repent ”. - I was too happy to keep a feeling of hostility in my heart. I began to ask for Shvabrin, and the good commandant, with the consent of his wife, decided to release him. Shvabrin came to me; he expressed deep regret for what happened between us; confessed that he was guilty around, and asked me to forget about the past. Not being vindictive by nature, I sincerely forgave him both our quarrel and the wound I received from him. In his slander I saw the annoyance of offended pride and rejected love, and I generously excused my unfortunate rival.
Soon I recovered and could move to my apartment. I was impatiently awaiting an answer to the letter sent, not daring to hope, and trying to drown out my sad forebodings. I have not yet had an explanation with Vasilisa Yegorovna and her husband; but my proposal should not have surprised them. Neither I nor Marya Ivanovna tried to hide our feelings from them, and we were already sure of their agreement in advance.
Finally, one morning Savelich came in to me, holding a letter in his hands. I grabbed him in awe. The address was written in the hand of the priest. This prepared me for something important, for usually my mother wrote letters to me, and he added a few lines at the end. For a long time I did not open the package and reread the solemn inscription: "To my son Pyotr Andreyevich Grinev, to the Orenburg province, to the Belogorsk fortress." I tried to guess by handwriting the mood in which the letter was written; finally decided to print it out, and from the first lines I saw that the whole thing went to hell. The content of the letter was as follows:
“My son Peter! Your letter, in which you ask us for our parental blessing and consent to marriage with Marya Ivanovna's daughter Mironova, we received on the 15th of this month, and not only do I not intend to give you my blessing or my consent, but I also intend to get to you, but for your pranks to teach you a lesson like a boy, despite your officer rank: for you have proved that you are still unworthy to wear a sword, which was granted to you to defend the fatherland, and not for dudes with the same tomboy as you are myself. I will immediately write to Andrei Karlovich, asking him to transfer you from the Belogorsk fortress somewhere farther away, where the nonsense would go away. Your mother, having learned about your fight and that you were wounded, fell ill with grief and now lies. What will be of you? I pray to God that you will correct yourself, although I dare not hope for his great mercy.
Your father A. G. "
Reading this letter aroused different feelings in me. The cruel expressions, which the father did not spare, deeply offended me. The neglect with which he mentioned Marya Ivanovna seemed to me as obscene as it was unfair. The thought of transferring mine from the Belogorsk fortress terrified me; but the news of my mother's illness upset me most of all. I was indignant at Savelich, not doubting that my fight had become known to my parents through him. Walking up and down my cramped room, I stopped in front of him and said, glancing at him menacingly: “Apparently it’s not enough for you that, thanks to you, I was wounded and was on the edge of the coffin for a whole month: you want to kill my mother. - Savelich was struck like thunder. “Have mercy, sir,” he said, almost sobbing, “what do you deign to say? I am the reason that you were hurt! God knows, I ran to shield you with my chest from Alexei Ivanitch's sword! Damned old age prevented. But what have I done to your mother? " - What did you do? - I answered. - Who asked you to write denunciations against me? are you assigned to me as a spy? - "I? wrote denunciations against you? " Savelich answered with tears. - “Lord, the heavenly king! So if you please read what the master writes to me: you will see how I reported on you. " Then he took a letter out of his pocket, and I read the following:
“You are ashamed, old dog, that you, in spite of my strict orders, did not inform me about my son Pyotr Andreyevich and that strangers were forced to notify me of his pranks. Is this how you fulfill your office and the will of the lord? I am you, old dog! I will send pigs to herd for hiding the truth and indulging the young man. Having received this, I order you to immediately write to me what his health is now, about which they write to me that he has recovered; and in what place he was wounded and whether he was well healed.
It was obvious that Savelich was right in front of me and that I had in vain insulted him with reproach and suspicion. I asked him for forgiveness; but the old man was inconsolable. “This is what I have lived up to,” he repeated; - “These are the favors he has served from his masters! I am the old dog and the swineherd, and am I the cause of your wound? No, Father Pyotr Andreevich! it's not me, the damned monsieur is to blame for everything: he taught you to poke with iron spits, and stamp, as if by poking and stomping you would protect yourself from an evil person! It was necessary to hire a monsieur and spend extra money! "
But who took the trouble to inform my father of my behavior? General? But he didn't seem to care much for me; and Ivan Kuzmich did not consider it necessary to report on my fight. I was at a loss. My suspicions settled on Shvabrin. He alone had the benefit of denunciation, which could result in my being removed from the fortress and breaking with the commandant's family. I went to announce everything to Marya Ivanovna. She met me on the porch. "What happened to you?" she said when she saw me. - "How pale you are!" - its end! - I answered and gave her father's letter. She turned pale in turn. After reading it, she returned the letter to me with a trembling hand and said in a trembling voice: “I see it’s not my destiny… Your relatives do not want me to join their family. Be the will of the Lord in everything! God knows better than we do what we need. Nothing to do, Pyotr Andreevich; be happy at least ... "- This will not happen! I cried, grabbing her hand; - Do you love me; I'm ready for anything. Let's go, let's throw ourselves at the feet of your parents; they are simple people, not hard-hearted, proud ... They will bless us; we will get married ... and there we are modern, I am sure we will beg my father; mother will be for us; he will forgive me ... "No, Pyotr Andreevich," Masha answered, "I will not marry you without the blessing of your parents. Without their blessing, you will not be happy. Let us submit to the will of God. If you find yourself a betrothed, if you fall in love with another - God be with you, Pyotr Andreevich; and I am for both of you ... ”Then she wept and left me; I wanted to follow her into the room, but I felt that I was not able to control myself, and returned home.
I was sitting immersed in deep thought, when suddenly Savelich interrupted my reflections. “Here, sir,” he said, handing me a sheet of paper covered with writing; - look if I am an informer on my master, and if I am trying to stir up my son and father. " I took the paper from his hands: it was Savelich's answer to the letter he had received. Here it is from word to word:
“Sovereign Andrey Petrovich, our gracious father!
I received your gracious scripture, in which you will be angry with me, your servant, that I am ashamed not to carry out the master's orders; - and I, not an old dog, but your faithful servant, obey the master's orders and have always served you diligently and lived to see gray hair. Well, I didn’t write anything to you about Pyotr Andreich’s wound, so as not to frighten you in vain, and, you hear, our lady, our mother Avdotya Vasilievna, has taken to her bed with fright, and I will pray to God for her health. And Pyotr Andreevich was wounded under his right shoulder, in the chest, just below the bone, a inch and a half deep, and he was lying in the commandant's house, where we had brought him from the shore, and he was treated by the local barber Stepan Paramonov; and now Pyotr Andreevich, thank God, is healthy, and there is nothing but good to write about him. The commanders, you hear, are pleased with them; and for Vasilisa Yegorovna he is like his own son. And that such an opportunity happened to him, then the story of the young man is not a reproach: the horse has four legs, but it stumbles. And if you please write that you will send me to feed pigs, and that is your boyar will. For this I bow slavishly.
Your faithful servant
Arkhip Savelyev ".
I could not help smiling several times as I read the letter of the kind old man. I was not able to answer the priest; and to calm my mother down Savelich's letter seemed to me sufficient.
Since then my position has changed. Marya Ivanovna hardly spoke to me, and tried in every possible way to avoid me. The commandant's house became hateful for me. Little by little I learned to sit alone at home. At first Vasilisa Yegorovna blamed me for that; but seeing my stubbornness, she left me alone. I saw Ivan Kuzmich only when the service required it. I met Shvabrin rarely and reluctantly, especially since I noticed in him a latent dislike for myself, which confirmed me in my suspicions. My life has become unbearable to me. I fell into a gloomy reverie, fueled by loneliness and inaction. My love flared up in solitude and from hour to hour it became more painful for me. I lost my desire for reading and literature. My spirit has fallen. I was afraid either to go crazy or to go into debauchery. Unexpected events, which had an important impact on my whole life, suddenly gave my soul a strong and good shock.
CHAPTER VI. PUGACHEVSHCHINA.
You young guys listen
What are we old old people going to say.
Song.
Before proceeding to describe the strange events that I witnessed, I must say a few words about the situation in which the Orenburg province was at the end of 1773.
This vast and rich province was inhabited by a multitude of semi-savage peoples who had recently recognized the rule of the Russian sovereigns. Their perpetual indignation, unaccustomed to the laws and civil life, frivolity and cruelty demanded constant supervision from the government to keep them in obedience. The fortresses were built in places recognized as convenient, inhabited for the most part by Cossacks, long-standing owners of the Yaitsk banks. But the Yaik Cossacks, who were supposed to protect the peace and security of this region, for some time were themselves restless and dangerous subjects for the government. In 1772, an outrage broke out in their main town. The reason for this was the strict measures taken by Major General Traubenberg in order to bring the army into due obedience. The result was the barbaric assassination of Traubenberg, a willful change in management, and finally the suppression of the revolt with grapeshot and cruel punishments. This happened some time before my arrival at the Belogorsk fortress. everything was already quiet, or seemed so; the authorities too easily believed the supposed repentance of the crafty rebels, who were malicious in secret and waited for an opportunity to resume the unrest.
I turn to my story.
One evening (this was in early October 1773) I was sitting at home alone, listening to the howl of the autumn wind, and looking out the window at the clouds running past the moon. They came to call me on behalf of the commandant. I set off at once. I found Shvabrin, Ivan Ignatich and a Cossack sergeant at the commandant's. Neither Vasilisa Yegorovna nor Marya Ivanovna was in the room. The commandant greeted me with an air of concern. He locked the doors, sat everyone down, except the police officer who was standing at the door, took a paper out of his pocket and said to us: “Gentlemen, officers, important news! Hear what the general writes. " Then he put on his glasses and read the following:
“To the mister commandant of the Belogorsk fortress, captain Mironov.
"In secret.
“I hereby inform you that the Don Cossack and schismatic Emelyan Pugachev who escaped from the guard, perpetrating an unforgivable impudence in assuming the name of the late Emperor Peter III, gathered a villainous gang, caused indignation in Yaitsky villages, and had already taken and destroyed several fortresses, producing everywhere robberies and deaths. For this sake, with this receipt, you, Mr. Captain, immediately take appropriate measures to repel the aforementioned villain and impostor, and it will be possible to completely destroy him if he turns to the fortress entrusted to your care. "
"Take Appropriate Action!" said the commandant, taking off his glasses and folding the paper. “Hear you, it's easy to say. The villain is evidently strong; and we have only one hundred and thirty people, not counting the Cossacks, on whom hope is bad, do not be told in reproach, Maksimych. (The police officer chuckled.) However, there is nothing to do, gentlemen officers! Be in good order, establish guards, and night patrols; in case of an attack, lock the gates and bring the soldiers out. You, Maksimych, look closely at your Cossacks. Inspect the cannon, and clean it thoroughly. And above all, keep all this in secret, so that no one in the fortress could learn about it prematurely. "
Having given out these orders, Ivan Kuzmich dismissed us. I went out with Shvabrin, discussing what we had heard. - How do you think it will end? I asked him. “God knows,” he answered; - "we'll see. I don't see anything important yet. If… ”Then he pondered and began to whistle a French aria in scattering.
Despite all our precautions, the news of the appearance of Pugachev spread throughout the fortress. Ivan Kuzmich, although he respected his wife very much, would never have revealed to her the secrets entrusted to him in the service. Having received a letter from the general, he quite skillfully dismissed Vasilisa Yegorovna, telling her that Father Gerasim had received some wonderful news from Orenburg, which he kept in great secrecy. Vasilisa Yegorovna immediately wanted to go to visit the priest and, on the advice of Ivan Kuzmich, took Masha with her, so that she would not be bored alone.
Ivan Kuzmich, remaining a complete master, immediately sent for us, and he locked Palashka in a closet so that she could not overhear us.
Vasilisa Yegorovna returned home, not having time to find out anything from the priest, and learned that during her absence Ivan Kuzmich had a meeting, and that Palashka was under lock and key. She guessed that she had been deceived by her husband and proceeded to interrogate him. But Ivan Kuzmich prepared to attack. He was not in the least embarrassed and cheerfully answered his curious concubine: “Hey, mother, our women have taken it into their heads to heat the stoves with straw; and how misfortune can happen from that, I gave a strict order to continue to heat the stoves with straw women, but to heat them with brushwood and dead wood. " - And why did you have to lock the Palashka? the commandant asked. - Why did the poor girl sit in the closet until we returned? - Ivan Kuzmich was not prepared for such a question; he got confused and muttered something very awkward. Vasilisa Yegorovna saw the cunning of her husband; but knowing that she would not get anything from him, she stopped her questions and started talking about pickles, which Akulina Pamfilovna cooked in a very special way. Throughout the night, Vasilisa Yegorovna could not fall asleep, and could not guess what would be in her husband's head that she would not have known about.
The next day, returning from mass, she saw Ivan Ignatich, who was pulling out of the cannon rags, pebbles, chips, grandmothers and rubbish of all kinds, stuffed into it by children. "What would these military preparations mean?" - thought the commandant: - “don't they expect an attack from the Kyrgyz? But would Ivan Kuzmich really conceal such trifles from me? " She called Ivan Ignatyitch, with the firm intention of finding out from him a secret that tormented her ladies' curiosity.
Vasilisa Yegorovna made him a few remarks about the economy, as a judge, starting the investigation with questions from outsiders, in order to first lull the defendant's caution. Then, after a pause for several minutes, she took a deep breath and said, shaking her head: “My God! See what news! What will come of it? "
And, mother! - answered Ivan Ignatich. - God is merciful: we have enough soldiers, a lot of gunpowder, I cleaned the gun. Perhaps we will rebuff Pugachev. The Lord will not give, the pig will not eat!
"And what kind of man is this Pugachev?" the commandant asked.
Then Ivan Ignatich noticed that he had let slip and bit his tongue. But it was already too late. Vasilisa Yegorovna forced him to confess everything, giving him his word not to tell anyone about it.
Vasilisa Yegorovna kept her promise and did not say a single word to anyone except as a priest, and that was only because her cow was still walking in the steppe and could be captured by villains.
Soon everyone started talking about Pugachev. The rumors were different. The commandant sent the sergeant with the assignment to scout out everything in the neighboring villages and fortresses. The police officer returned two days later and announced that in the steppe sixty versts from the fortress he saw many lights and heard from the Bashkirians that an unknown force was coming. However, he could not say anything positive, because he was afraid to go further.
In the fortress, an extraordinary excitement became noticeable between the Cossacks; in all the streets they crowded in small groups, talked quietly among themselves, and dispersed when they saw a dragoon or a garrison soldier. Spies were sent to them. Yulai, a baptized Kalmyk, made an important report to the commandant. The testimony of the sergeant, according to Yulai, was false: upon his return, the crafty Cossack announced to his comrades that he was with the rebels, introduced himself to their leader himself, who allowed him to his hand and talked to him for a long time. The commandant immediately put the sergeant under guard, and Yulai appointed him in his place. This news was accepted by the Cossacks with obvious displeasure. They murmured loudly, and Ivan Ignatyevich, the executor of the commandant's order, heard with his own ears how they said: "That’s too much for you, garrison rat!" The commandant thought of interrogating his prisoner that very day; but the sergeant escaped from the guard, probably with the help of his associates.
The new circumstance increased the commandant's anxiety. A Bashkir with outrageous sheets was captured. On this occasion, the commandant thought to gather his officers again, and for this he again wanted to remove Vasilisa Yegorovna under a plausible pretext. But as Ivan Kuzmich was the most straightforward and truthful man, he did not find another way, except as he had already used once.
“Hey, Vasilisa Yegorovna,” he told her, coughing. - "Father Gerasim received, they say, from the city ..." - Completely lie, Ivan Kuzmich, - interrupted the commandant; You know, you want to convene a conference and talk about Yemelyan Pugachev without me; but you can't cheat! - Ivan Kuzmich widened his eyes. “Well, mother,” he said, “if you already know everything, so perhaps stay; we will talk in front of you too. " - That's it, my father, - she answered; - you shouldn't be cunning; send for the officers.
We gathered again. Ivan Kuzmich, in the presence of his wife, read to us Pugachev's appeal, written by some semi-literate Cossack. The robber announced his intention to go immediately to our fortress; invited Cossacks and soldiers to his gang, and exhorted commanders not to resist, threatening execution otherwise. The proclamation was written in crude but strong terms, and should have made a dangerous impression on the minds of ordinary people.
"What a crook!" - exclaimed the commandant. - “What else dares to offer us! Go out to meet him and put his banners at his feet! Oh, he's a son of a dog! But doesn't he know that we have been in the service for forty years and, thank God, have seen enough of everything? Could it be that there were such commanders who obeyed the robber? "
It seems that it shouldn't, - answered Ivan Kuzmich. - And I hear that Elodey has already taken possession of many fortresses. "
“Apparently he is really strong,” said Shvabrin.
But now we will find out his real strength - said the commandant. - Vasilisa Yegorovna, give me the key to the anbar. Ivan Ignatyich, bring the Bashkir, and order Yulai to bring whips here.
"Wait, Ivan Kuzmich" - said the commandant, getting up from her seat. - “Let me take Masha away from home; otherwise he will hear a scream and get scared. And, to tell the truth, I am not a huntress for the search. Happy to stay. "
Torture, in the old days, was so rooted in the customs of legal proceedings that the beneficial decree that destroyed it remained for a long time without any action. They thought that the criminal's own confession was necessary for his complete denunciation - a thought not only unfounded, but even completely contrary to common legal sense: for if the denial of the defendant is not accepted as proof of his innocence, then his confession should be even less proof of his guilt. Even now it happens to me to hear old judges regretting the destruction of the barbaric custom. In our time, no one has hesitated about the need for torture, neither the judges nor the defendants. So the commandant's order did not surprise or alarm any of us. Ivan Ignatyich went to fetch the Bashkir, who was sitting in the barn under the key of the commandant's, and after a few minutes the slave was brought into the hall. The commandant told him to introduce himself.
The Bashkir with difficulty stepped through the threshold (he was in the shoe) and, taking off his high cap, stopped at the door. I looked at him and shuddered. I will never forget this man. He seemed to be over seventy years old. He had neither nose nor ears. His head was shaved; instead of a beard, there were several gray hairs; he was short, thin and hunched over; but his narrow eyes still sparkled with fire. - "Ehe!" - said the commandant, recognizing, by his terrible signs, one of the rioters punished in 1741. - “Yes, you can see the old wolf, visited our traps. It’s not the first time you’re rebelling, if your head is cut so smoothly. Come a little closer; tell me who sent you? "
The old Bashkir was silent and looked at the commandant with an air of complete absurdity. "Why are you silent?" - continued Ivan Kuzmich: - “Ali belmes you don’t understand Russian? Yulai, ask him in your opinion, who sent him to our fortress? "
Yulai repeated Ivan Kuzmich's question in Tatar. But the Bashkir looked at him with the same expression, and did not answer a word.
"Yakshi" - said the commandant; - “You’ll talk to me. Guys! Take the stupid striped robe off him, and stitch his back. Look, Yulai: good it! "
Two disabled people began to undress the Bashkir. The unfortunate man's face showed concern. He looked in all directions, like an animal caught by children. When one of the disabled took his hands and, putting them around his neck, lifted the old man on his shoulders, and Yulai took the whip and swung: then the Bashkir moaned in a weak, pleading voice and, nodding his head, opened his mouth, in which, instead of a tongue, a short stump.
When I remember that this happened in my lifetime, and that I have now lived up to the meek reign of Emperor Alexander, I cannot but marvel at the rapid success of enlightenment and the spread of the rules of philanthropy. Young man! if my notes fall into your hands, remember that the best and most lasting changes are those that come from improved morals, without any violent upheavals.
Everyone was amazed. "Well," said the commandant; - “we can’t get any sense from him. Yulai, take the Bashkir to the anbar. And we, gentlemen, what else will we talk about. "
We began to talk about our situation, when suddenly Vasilisa Yegorovna entered the room, gasping for breath and with an air of extremely anxious.
"What happened to you?" asked the astonished commandant.
Fathers, trouble! - answered Vasilisa Yegorovna. - Nizhneozernaya was taken this morning. Father Gerasim's employee has just returned from there. He saw how they took her. The commandant and all the officers were suspended. All the soldiers were taken in full. Just look, the villains will be here.
The unexpected news struck me greatly. The commandant of the Nizhneozernaya Fortress, a quiet and modest young man, was familiar to me: two months before that, he was driving from Orenburg with his young wife and staying with Ivan Kuzmich. Nizhneozernaya was about twenty-five versts from our fortress. From hour to hour we should have expected an attack by Pugachev. The fate of Marya Ivanovna vividly presented itself to me, and my heart sank.
Listen, Ivan Kuzmich! - I said to the commandant. - It is our duty to defend the fortress until our last breath; there is nothing to say about it. But we need to think about the safety of women. Send them to Orenburg, if the road is still clear, or to a remote, more reliable fortress, where the villains would not have time to reach.
Ivan Kuzmich turned to his wife and said to her: "Do you hear, mother, and in fact, shouldn't we send you out until we have dealt with the rioters?"
And, empty! - said the commandant. - Where is such a fortress where the bullets would not fly? Why is Belogorskaya unreliable? Thank God, we have been living in it for twenty-two years. We saw both the Bashkir and the Kirghiz: maybe we’ll sit out from Pugachev too!
“Well, mother,” objected Ivan Kuemich, “stay, perhaps, if you hope for our fortress. What are we to do with Masha? Well, if we sit out, or wait for the sicurs; well, and if the villains take the fortress? "
Well, then ... - Here Vasilisa Yegorovna stuttered and fell silent with an air of extreme excitement.
“No, Vasilisa Yegorovna,” the commandant continued, noting that his words had an effect, perhaps for the first time in his life. - “Masha is not good to stay here. Let's send her to Orenburg to her godmother: there are enough troops and guns, and a stone wall. Yes, and I would advise you to go there with her; even though you are an old woman, but look what will happen to you if they take the fortune by storm. "
Good, - said the commandant, - so be it, we'll send Masha. And don't ask me in your sleep: I won't go. There is no need for me to part with you in my old age, but to look for a lonely grave on a strange side. Live together, together and die.
"And that's the case," said the commandant. - “Well, there’s nothing to hesitate. Go get Masha ready for the road. Tomorrow we will send her off, but we will give her an escort, even though we have no extra people. Where is Masha? "
At Akulina Pamfilovna's, - answered the commandant. - She felt ill when she heard about the capture of Nizhneozernaya; I'm afraid that I will not get sick. Lord Vladyka, to what we have lived!
Vasilisa Yegorovna went to plead for her daughter's departure. The commandant's conversation continued; but I didn’t get in the way and didn’t listen to anything. Marya Ivanovna came to supper pale and tear-stained. We dined in silence, and got up from the table rather than usual; Saying goodbye to the whole family, we went home. But I purposely forgot my sword and went back for it: I had a presentiment that I would find Marya Ivanovna alone. Indeed, she met me at the door and handed me the sword. "Goodbye, Pyotr Andreevich!" she said to me with tears. - “I am being sent to Orenburg. Be alive and happy; maybe the Lord will lead us to see each other; if not ... ”Then she sobbed. I hugged her. - Goodbye, my angel, - I said, - goodbye, my dear, my desired! Whatever happens to me, believe that my last thought and last prayer will be about you! - Masha sobbed, clinging to my chest. I kissed her warmly and hurriedly left the room.
CHAPTER VII. ATTACK.
My head, little head
Serving head!
My little head has served
Exactly thirty years and three years.
Ah, the little head has not served
No self-interest, no joy,
No matter how good a word to yourself
And not a high rank to myself;
Only the little head has served
Two tall posts,
Maple bar
Another silk loop.
folk song
That night I did not sleep or undress. I intended to set off at dawn to the fortress gates, from which Marya Ivanovna was to leave, and there to say goodbye to her for the last time. I felt a great change in myself: the excitement of my soul was much less painful to me than that despondency in which until recently I was immersed. With the sadness of parting merged in me and vague, but sweet hopes, and an impatient expectation of dangers, and feelings of noble ambition. The night passed unnoticed. I was about to leave the house, when my door opened and a corporal appeared to me with a report that our Cossacks had left the fortress at night, taking Yulai forcibly with them, and that unknown people were driving around the fortress. The thought that Marya Ivanovna would not have time to leave terrified me; I hastily gave the corporal several instructions, and at once rushed to the commandant.
It was already dawn. I was flying down the street when I heard my name. I stopped. "Where are you going?" - said Ivan Ignatich, catching up with me. “Ivan Kuzmich is on the rampart, and he sent me for you. The pugach has come. " - Has Marya Ivanovna gone away? I asked with heartfelt trepidation. - "I didn't have time" - answered Ivan Ignatyich: - "the road to Orenburg is cut off; the fortress is surrounded. Bad, Petr Andreevich! "
We went to the rampart, an elevation formed by nature and fortified by a palisade. All the inhabitants of the fortress were already crowded there. The garrison stood with a gun. The cannon had been dragged there the day before. The commandant paced in front of his small formation. The proximity of danger inspired the old warrior with extraordinary vigor. On the steppe, not far from the fortress, twenty people rode on horseback. They seemed to be Cossacks, but among them were the Bashkirs, who could easily be recognized by their lynx hats and quivers. The commandant walked around his army, saying to the soldiers: "Well, children, today we will stand up for Mother Empress, and we will prove to the whole world that we are brave people and a jury!" The soldiers loudly expressed zeal. Shvabrin stood beside me and stared at the enemy. The people driving around the steppe, noticing the movement in the fortress, gathered in a group and began to interpret among themselves. The commandant ordered Ivan Ignatyevich to aim the cannon at their crowd, and he put the wick on. The cannonball whirred and flew over them without doing any harm. The riders, scattering, immediately galloped out of sight, and the steppe was empty.
Then Vasilisa Yegorovna appeared on the rampart, and with her Masha, who did not want to lag behind her. - "Well?" - said the commandant. - “What is the battle going on? Where is the enemy? " - The enemy is not far off, - answered Ivan Kuzmich. - God willing, everything will be fine. What, Masha, are you scared? “No, papa,” answered Marya Ivanovna; - "at home alone is worse." Then she looked at me and smiled with an effort. I involuntarily squeezed the hilt of my sword, remembering that the day before I had received it from her hands, as if in defense of my dear one. My heart was burning. I imagined myself as her knight. I longed to prove that I was worthy of her power of attorney, and looked forward to the decisive moment.
At this time, from behind the height, which was half a verst from the fortress, new horse-drawn crowds appeared, and soon the steppe was dotted with many people armed with spears and sideaks. Between them on a white horse rode a man in a red caftan, with a naked saber in his hand: it was Pugachev himself. He stopped; he was surrounded and, apparently, at his command, four people separated and galloped at full speed to the very fortress. We recognized them as our traitors. One of them held a sheet of paper under his cap; the other had Yulai's head stuck on a spear, which, shaking it off, he threw over the palisade towards us. The poor Kalmyk's head fell at the commandant's feet. The traitors shouted: “Don't shoot; go out to the sovereign. The Emperor is here! "
"Here I am!" - shouted Ivan Kuzmich. - "Guys! shoot! " Our soldiers fired a volley. The Cossack, who was holding the letter, staggered and fell off his horse; others galloped back. I looked at Marya Ivanovna. Struck by the sight of Yulai's bloody head, stunned by the volley, she seemed unconscious. The commandant called the corporal and ordered him to take the sheet from the hands of the killed Cossack. The corporal went out into the field and returned, leading the dead man's horse under the mouth. He handed the letter to the commandant. Ivan Kuzmich read it to himself and then tore it to shreds. Meanwhile, the rebels were apparently preparing for action. Soon bullets began to whistle near our ears, and several arrows stuck near us into the ground and into the palisade. "Vasilisa Egorovna!" said the commandant. - “This is not a woman's business; take Masha away; you see: the girl is neither alive nor dead. "
Vasilisa Yegorovna, quieted by the bullets, looked at the steppe, on which there was a great deal of movement; then she turned to her husband and said to him: “Ivan Kuzmich, in the stomach and death, God is free: bless Masha. Masha, come to your father. "
Masha, pale and trembling, went up to Ivan Kuzmich, knelt down and bowed to him in the ground. The old commandant baptized her three times; then he picked it up and kissed it, said to her in a changed voice: “Well, Masha, be happy. Pray to God: he will not leave you. If there is a kind person, God grant you love and advice. Live as we lived with Vasilisa Egorovna. Well, goodbye. Masha. Vasilisa Yegorovna, take her away as soon as possible. " (Masha threw herself on his neck and burst into tears.) “Let's kiss, too,” the commandant said, crying. - “Goodbye, my Ivan Kuzmich. Let me go if I annoyed you in what! “Farewell, goodbye, mother!” Said the commandant, embracing his old woman. “Well, that's enough! Go, go home; but if you have time, put on a sundress on Masha. " The commandant and her daughter left. I looked at the trail of Marya Ivanovna; she looked around and nodded her head to me. Then Ivan Kuzmich turned to us, and all his attention was directed to the enemy. The rebels gathered around their leader, and suddenly began to dismount from their horses. "Now stand firm," said the commandant; - "" there will be an attack ... "At that moment there was a terrible screeching and screams; the rebels ran to the fortress at a run. Our cannon was loaded with buckshot. The commandant let them go as close as possible, and suddenly blurted out again. The shot was enough in the very middle of the crowd. The rebels swept in both directions and backed away. Their leader was left alone in front ... He waved his saber and seemed to be persuading them with ardor ... The scream and squeal, which had ceased for a minute, immediately resumed again. “Well, guys,” said the commandant; “Now open the gate, beat the drum. Guys! forward, on a sortie, after me! "
The commandant, Ivan Ignatich and I instantly found ourselves behind the rampart; but the shabby garrison did not move. "Why are you, kids, standing?" - shouted Ivan Kuzmich. - "To die, so to die: a service job!" At that moment, the rebels ran up to us and broke into the fortress. The drum is silent; the garrison threw down their guns; I was knocked off my feet, but I got up and entered the fortress with the rebels. The commandant, wounded in the head, stood in a group of villains who demanded keys from him. I was about to rush to his aid: several stalwart Cossacks seized me and tied me up with sashes, saying: "That will be too much for you, the sovereign disobedient!" We were dragged through the streets; residents left their homes with bread and salt. Bells were ringing. Suddenly they shouted in the crowd that the sovereign was expecting prisoners in the square and was taking the oath. The people poured into the square; they drove us there.
Pugachev was sitting in armchairs on the porch of the commandant's house. He was wearing a red Cossack caftan trimmed with braids. A high sable hat with gold tassels was pulled down over his sparkling eyes. His face seemed familiar to me. Cossack elders surrounded him. Father Gerasim, pale and trembling, stood at the porch, with a cross in his hands, and, it seemed, silently pleaded with him for the upcoming sacrifices. A gallows was hastily set up in the square. When we approached, the Bashkirs dispersed the people and introduced us to Pugachev. The bells died down; there was a deep silence. "Which Commandant?" the impostor asked. Our sergeant stepped out of the crowd and pointed at Ivan Kuzmich. Pugachev looked menacingly at the old man and said to him: "How dare you oppose me, your sovereign?" The commandant, exhausted from the wound, gathered his last strength and answered in a firm voice: "You are not my sovereign, you are a thief and an impostor, do you hear!" Pugachev frowned gloomily and waved his white handkerchief. Several Cossacks grabbed the old captain and dragged him to the gallows. A mutilated Bashkir, whom we had interrogated the day before, found himself astride its crossbar. He was holding a rope in his hand, and a minute later I saw poor Ivan Kuemich pulled up into the air. Then they brought Ivan Ignatyich to Pugachev. "Swear" - Pugachev told him - "to Tsar Peter Feodorovich!" "You are not our sovereign," answered Ivan Ignatich, repeating the words of his captain. - You, uncle, a thief and an impostor! - Pugachev again waved his handkerchief, and the good lieutenant hung by his old boss.
It was my turn. I looked boldly at Pugachev, preparing to repeat the answer of my generous comrades. Then, to my indescribable amazement, I saw Shvabrin among the rebellious elders, cut into a circle and in a Cossack caftan. He went up to Pugachev and said a few words in his ear. "Hang it up!" - said Pugachev, without looking at me. They put a noose around my neck. I began to read a prayer to myself, bringing to God sincere repentance for all my sins and praying to him for the salvation of all those close to my heart. They dragged me under the gallows. “Don't bang, don't bang," the destroyers repeated to me, perhaps really wanting to cheer me up. Suddenly I heard a cry: “Wait, damned people! wait! .. ”The executioners stopped. I looked: Savelich was lying at Pugachev's feet. "Dear father!" - said the poor man. - “What is to you in the death of a master's child? Let him go; for him they will give you a ransom; and for an example and for fear's sake, tell me to hang an old man! " Pugachev gave a sign, and they immediately untied me and left me. “Our father has mercy on you,” they told me. At this moment I cannot say that I was delighted at my deliverance, but I cannot say that I was sorry about it. My feelings were too vague. I was again brought to the impostor and put on my knees before him. Pugachev extended his sinewy hand to me. "Kiss your hand, kiss your hand!" - they were talking about me. But I would have preferred the cruellest execution to such dastardly humiliation. "Father Petr Andreevich!" Savelich whispered, standing behind me and pushing me. - “Don't be stubborn! what does it cost you? spit and kiss the villain ... (ugh!) kiss his hand. " I didn't move. Pugachev lowered his hand, saying with a grin: “His noble nobility went crazy with joy. Raise it up! " - I was raised and left free. I started looking at the sequel to the horrible comedy.
Residents began to swear allegiance. They approached one by one, kissing the crucifix and then bowing to the impostor. The garrison soldiers stood right there. A company tailor, armed with his blunt scissors, cut their braids. They, dusting themselves, approached the hand of Pugachev, who announced forgiveness to them and accepted them into his gang. all this lasted for about three hours. Finally Pugachev got up from his chairs and went down the porch, accompanied by his elders. A white horse decorated with rich harness was brought to him. Two Cossacks took him by the arms and put him on the saddle. He announced to Father Gerasim that he would dine with him. At that moment a woman's cry was heard. Several robbers dragged Vasilisa Yegorovna onto the porch, disheveled and stripped naked. One of them had already dressed up in her jacket. Others carried featherbeds, chests, tea utensils, linen and all the junk. "My priests!" shouted the poor old woman. - “Let your soul go to repentance. Dear fathers, take me to Ivan Kuzmich. " Suddenly she glanced at the gallows and recognized her husband. "Villains!" she screamed in a frenzy. “What did you do to him? My light, Ivan Kuzmich, a dashing soldier's little head! Neither Prussian bayonets nor Turkish bullets touched you; you did not lay down your belly in a fair fight, but disappeared from a fugitive convict! " - To appease the old witch! - said Pugachev. Then the young Cossack hit her on the head with a saber, and she fell dead on the steps of the porch. Pugachev left; the people rushed after him.
CHAPTER VIII. UNINVITED GUEST.
An uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar.
Proverb.
The square is empty. I all stood in one place, and could not put my thoughts in order, embarrassed by such terrible impressions.
Uncertainty about the fate of Marya Ivanovna tormented me most of all. Where is she? what's wrong with her? did you manage to hide? Is her refuge safe? .. Full of disturbing thoughts, I entered the commandant's house ... everything was empty; chairs, tables, chests were broken; the dishes are broken; everything is taken apart. I ran up the small staircase that led to the loft, and for the first time, when I was old, entered Marya Ivanovna's room. I saw her bed, dug by robbers; the cupboard was broken and robbed; the lamp was still glowing before the empty ark. The mirror that hung in the wall also survived ... Where was the mistress of this humble, girl's cell? A terrible thought flashed through my mind: I imagined it in the hands of the robbers ... My heart sank. ... ... I wept bitterly, bitterly, and loudly pronounced the name of my dear ... At that moment a slight noise was heard, and from behind the cupboard appeared Sword, pale and trembling.
"Ah, Pyotr Andreevich!" she said, clasping her hands. - “What a day! what passions!.."
And Marya Ivanovna? - I asked impatiently, - what Marya Ivanovna?
"The young lady is alive" - \u200b\u200banswered Broadsword. - "It is hidden at Akulina Pamfilovna."
At the priest! I cried in horror. - Oh my God! yes there is Pugachev! ..
I rushed out of the room, instantly found myself on the street and rushed headlong into the clerk's house, not seeing or feeling anything. There were shouts, laughter and songs ... Pugachev feasted with his comrades. The broadsword ran to the same place for me. I sent her to quietly summon Akulina Pamfilovna. A minute later, the priest came out to me in the entrance with an empty bottle in her hands.
For God's sake! where is Marya Ivanovna? I asked with inexplicable emotion.
“Lies, my dear, on my bed, behind the partition,” the priest answered. “Well, Pyotr Andreevich, there was almost a trouble, but thank God, everything went well: the villain had just sat down to dinner, when she, my poor thing, wakes up and groans! .. I just died. He heard: "And who is that groaning with you, old woman?" I am a thief in the belt: my niece, sir; fell ill, lies, that's already another week. “Is your niece young?” “Young, sir. - "And show me, old woman, your niece." - My heart skipped a beat, but there was nothing to do. - Please, sir; only the girl won't be able to get up and come to your grace. “Never mind, old woman, I'll go and see it myself.” And the accursed one went behind the partition; what do you think! for he drew back the curtain, looked with his hawkish eyes! - and nothing ... God endured! Believe it or not, my dad and I were so prepared for a martyr's death. Fortunately, she, my dear, did not recognize him. Lord Vladyka, we have waited for the holiday! Nothing to say! poor Ivan Kuzmich! who would have thought! .. And Vasilisa Yegorovna? And Ivan Ignatyevich? For what? .. How were you spared? And what is Shvabrin, Alexey Ivanovich? After all, he cut his hair into a circle and now we have a feast with them right there! Agile, there is nothing to say! And as I said about my sick niece, do you believe he looked at me like a knife through and through; however, he didn’t, thank him for that. ” - At that moment the drunken cries of the guests and the voice of Father Gerasim were heard. The guests demanded wine, the owner called the concubine. The ass got loose. “Go home, Pyotr Andreevich,” she said; - “now it's not up to you; the villains have a drinking bout. Trouble, you will fall under a drunken hand. Goodbye, Pyotr Andreevich. What will be will be; maybe God will not leave! "
The butt is gone. Somewhat reassured, I went to my apartment. Passing the square, I saw several Bashkir men crowding around the gallows and pulling the boots off the hanged; I could hardly restrain the outburst of indignation, feeling the futility of intercession. The robbers ran around the fortress, robbing the officers' houses. The cries of drunken rebels were heard everywhere. I came home. Savelich met me at the door. "Thank God!" he cried when he saw me. - “I thought the villains caught you again. Well, father Pyotr Andreevich! do you believe? Everything was plundered from us, the swindlers: dress, linen, things, dishes - they left nothing. What really! Thank God they let you go alive! Did you recognize the chieftain, sir? "
No, I didn't; and who is he?
“How, father? Have you forgotten the drunkard who lured your sheepskin coat from you at the inn? The hare's sheepskin coat is absolutely new, but he, the beast, ripped it open, putting it on himself! "
I was amazed. Indeed, Pugachev's resemblance to my counselor was striking. I made sure that Pugachev and he were one and the same person, and then I understood the reason for the mercy shown to me. I could not help marveling at the strange combination of circumstances; the children's sheepskin coat presented to the tramp relieved me of the noose, and the drunkard, staggering around the inns, besieged the fortresses and shook the state!
"Would you please to eat?" Savelich asked, unchanged in his habits. - “There is nothing at home; I’ll go and rummage around and make something for you. ”
Left alone, I lost myself in thought. What was I to do? It was indecent to an officer to remain in a fortress under the control of the villain, or to follow his gang. The duty demanded that I appear where my service could still be useful to my fatherland in real, difficult circumstances ... But love strongly advised me to stay with Marya Ivanovna and be her protector and patron. Although I foresaw a quick and undeniable change in circumstances, I still could not help but tremble, imagining the danger of her position.
My reflections were interrupted by the arrival of one of the Cossacks, who came running with an announcement, "that the great sovereign demands you to come to him." - Where is he? I asked, preparing to obey.
"In the commandant's office" - answered the Cossack. “After dinner, our father went to the bathhouse, and now he is resting. Well, your honor, it is evident that the person is noble: at dinner he deigned to eat two fried pigs, and steamed so hot that even Taras Kurochkin could not stand it, gave the broom to Fomka Bikbaev, and pumped it out with cold water. There is nothing to say: all the techniques are so important ... And in the bath, you can hear, showed his royal marks on his breasts: on one a two-headed eagle, the size of a penny, and on the other his personage.
I did not consider it necessary to dispute the Cossack's opinions and went with him to the commandant's house, imagining in advance a meeting with Pugachev, and trying to predict how it would end. The reader can easily imagine that I was not completely cold-blooded.
It was getting dark when I arrived at the commandant's house. The gallows with its victims turned terribly black. The body of the poor commandant was still lying under the porch, where two Cossacks were on guard. The Cossack who had brought me went to report on me, and immediately returning he led me into the room where the day before I had so tenderly said goodbye to Marya Ivanovna.
An unusual picture presented itself to me: at a table covered with a tablecloth and set with shtoffs and glasses, Pugachev and about ten Cossack elders sat, in hats and colored shirts, flushed with wine, with red faces and sparkling eyes. Between them there was neither Shvabrin, nor our sergeant, the newly recruited traitors. "Ah, your honor!" - said Pugachev, seeing me. - "Welcome; honor and place, you are welcome. " The interlocutors made room. I sat down silently on the edge of the table. My neighbor, a young Cossack, slender and handsome, poured me a glass of plain wine, which I did not touch. I began to examine the assembly with curiosity. Pugachev sat in first place, leaning his elbows on the table and propping up his black beard with his wide fist. His facial features, regular and rather pleasant, did not show anything fierce. He often turned to a man of about fifty, calling him now a count, now Timofeich, and sometimes dignified him as an uncle. All treated each other as comrades, and did not show any particular preference for their leader. The conversation was about the morning attack, about the success of the indignation and about future actions. Everyone boasted, offered their opinions and freely challenged Pugachev. And at this strange military council it was decided to go to Orenburg: a daring movement, and which almost ended in disastrous success! The hike was announced by tomorrow. “Well, brothers,” said Pugachev, “let’s drag my favorite song to sleep. Chumakov! start! " - My neighbor sung a mournful burlak song in a thin voice, and everyone picked up in chorus:
Don't make noise, mother green oak tree,
Do not bother me to think about the good fellow.
What a good fellow in the morning to go to interrogation
Before the formidable judge, the king himself.
The Tsar-Tsar will also ask me:
Tell me, tell me, little peasant son,
How with whom did you steal, with whom you kept the robbery,
How many comrades were with you?
I tell you, hope is an Orthodox tsar,
I'll tell you the whole truth, the whole truth,
That I had four comrades:
Still my first friend is a dark night,
And my second friend is a damask knife,
And as a third comrade, then my good horse,
And my fourth friend, then a tight bow,
As my messengers, so are the hardened arrows.
What will the Orthodox tsar say of hope:
To fulfill you, little peasant son,
That you knew how to steal, you knew how to keep the answer!
I’ll give you, kiddie,
In the middle of the field in high mansions,
Whether with two pillars with a crossbar.
It is impossible to tell what effect this folk song about the gallows, sung by people doomed to the gallows, had on me. Their menacing faces, slender voices, the dull expression that they gave to words that were already expressive - everything shook me with some kind of piitical horror.
The guests drank another glass, got up from the table and said goodbye to Pugachev. I wanted to follow them, but Pugachev told me: “Sit down; I want to talk to you. " - We stayed eye to eye.
Our mutual silence lasted for several minutes. Pugachev looked at me intently, occasionally squinting his left eye with an amazing expression of trickery and derision. Finally he laughed, and with such unfeigned gaiety that I, looking at him, began to laugh, not knowing why.
"What, your honor?" he said to me. - “Did you get cold feet, confess, when my fellows threw a rope around your neck? I had tea, the sky seemed like a sheepskin ... And I would have swayed on the crossbar, if not for your servant. I immediately recognized the old bastard. Well, did you think, your honor, that the man who brought you to the knowledge was a great sovereign himself? (Here he assumed an important and mysterious look.) You are deeply guilty before me, ”he continued; “But I pardoned you for your virtue, for doing me a favor, when I was forced to hide from my enemies. Or else you'll see! Will I still welcome you when I get my state! Do you promise to serve me with diligence? "
The swindler's question and his insolence struck me as so amusing that I could not help but grin.
“Why are you grinning? he asked me with a frown. “Or don’t you believe that I am a great sovereign? Answer directly. "
I was embarrassed: to recognize the vagabond as a sovereign - I was not able to: this seemed to me unforgivable cowardice. To call him a deceiver in the face was to expose oneself to destruction; and what I was ready for under the gallows in the eyes of all the people and in the first heat of indignation, now seemed to me useless boastfulness. I hesitated. Pugachev grimly awaited my answer. Finally (and even now I remember this moment with complacency) a sense of duty triumphed in me over human weakness. I answered Pugachev: Listen; I'll tell you the whole truth. Judge, can I recognize the sovereign in you? You are a clever man: you yourself would see that I was cunning.
"Who am I, in your understanding?"
God knows you; but whoever you are, you are joking a dangerous joke.
Pugachev glanced at me quickly. “So you don’t believe,” he said, “so that I should be Tsar Peter Fyodorovich? Well, good. Is there no luck to the daring one? Didn't Grishka Otrepiev reign in the old days? Think what you want about me, and keep up with me. What do you care about anything else? Whoever is a priest is a dad. Serve me with faith and truth, and I will grant you both field marshals and princes. What do you think?"
No, I answered firmly. - I am a natural nobleman; I swore allegiance to the Empress Empress: I cannot serve you. If you really wish me well, then let me go to Orenburg.
Pugachev thought about it. "And if I let go," he said, "do you promise at least not to serve against me?"
How can I promise you this? - I answered. - You know, it is not my will: they tell me to go against you - I will go, there is nothing to do. You are now the boss yourself; you yourself demand obedience from your own. What will it be like if I give up the service when my service is needed? My head is in your power: let me go - thank you; you execute - God will judge you; and I told you the truth.
“Pugachev was struck by my sincerity. “So be it,” he said, hitting me on the shoulder. - “Execute so execute, have mercy so mercy. Go to yourself on all four sides and do what you want. Tomorrow come to say goodbye to me, and now go to sleep, and I am already tending to sleep. "
I left Pugachev and went out into the street. The night was calm and frosty. The moon and the stars shone brightly, illuminating the square and the gallows. Everything was calm and dark in the fortress. Only in the tavern was a fire shining and shouts of belated revelers were heard. I looked at the priest's house. The shutters and gates were locked. Everything seemed quiet in him.
I went to my apartment and found Savelich grieving over my absence. The news of my freedom delighted him indescribably. "Glory to you, master!" he said, crossing himself. - “Than light let us leave the fortress and go wherever our eyes look. I have something prepared for you; eat, father, and rest yourself until morning, like Christ's in the groove. "
I followed his advice and, having dined with great appetite, fell asleep on the bare floor, mentally and physically tired.
___________________________________________________________
About the work
The idea of \u200b\u200bthe novel "The Captain's Daughter" was born during Pushkin's trip to the Orenburg province. The novel was created in parallel with The History of the Pugachev Revolt. It was as if Pushkin was taking a break from the "condensed and dry presentation of History." In "The Captain's Daughter" they found a place for "the warmth and charm of historical notes." The History of the Pugachev Rebellion and The Captain's Daughter were completed in 1833.
"The Captain's Daughter" was written in between affairs, among the works on the Pugachevism, but it has more history than the "History of the Pugachev Revolt", which seems to be a long explanatory note to the novel, "wrote Klyuchevsky.
The novel was first published a year before the death of Pushkin in Sovremennik, but not under the authorship of Pushkin, but as family notes of a certain nobleman Pyotr Grinev. For censorship reasons, the chapter on the riot of the peasants in the Grinev estate was removed from the novel.
Almost 80 years after the release of The Captain's Daughter, an unknown young man who dreamed of becoming a writer came to St. Petersburg from the outback. He chose Zinaida Gippius, a well-known symbolist poet at that time, as his mentor and critic.
It was to her that he brought his first literary tests. The poet, with undisguised irritation, advised the ambitious writer to read The Captain's Daughter. The young man left, considering the advice offensive to himself.
And a quarter of a century later, having gone through difficult life trials, Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin wrote in his diary: “My homeland is not Yelets, where I was born, not Petersburg, where I settled down to live, both are now archeology for me ... my homeland, unsurpassed in simple beauty combined with kindness and wisdom - my homeland is Pushkin's story "The Captain's Daughter".
In 1836, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin wrote the story "The Captain's Daughter", which was a historical description of the Pugachev uprising. In his work, Pushkin was based on the real events of 1773-1775, when, under the leadership of Emelyan Pugachev (the False Tsar Peter Fedorovich), the Yaik Cossacks, who took fugitive convicts, thieves and villains as their servants, began a peasant war. Petr Grinev and Maria Mironova are fictional characters, but their fates very truthfully reflect the grievous time of the brutal civil war.
Pushkin designed his story in a realistic form in the form of notes from the diary of the protagonist Pyotr Grinev, made years after the uprising. The lyrics of the work are interesting for their presentation - Grinev writes his diary at a mature age, rethinking everything he has experienced. At the time of the uprising, he was a young nobleman loyal to his Empress. He viewed the rebels as savages who were fighting with particular cruelty against the Russian people. In the course of the narrative, it can be seen how the heartless chieftain Pugachev, who executed dozens of honest officers, eventually, by the will of fate, wins favor in the heart of Grinev and acquires sparks of nobility in his eyes.
Chapter 1. Sergeant of the Guard
At the beginning of the story, the main character Pyotr Grinev tells the reader about his young life. He - the only survivor of 9 children of a retired major and a poor noblewoman, lived in a middle-class noble family. An old servant was actually engaged in raising the young master. Peter's education was low, because his father, a retired major, hired the immoral French hairdresser Beaupré as a tutor. For drunkenness and depraved actions he was expelled from the estate. And his father decided to send 17-year-old Petrusha to serve in Orenburg (instead of St. Petersburg, where he was supposed to serve in the guard) through old connections, and attached Savelich's old servant to him for supervision. Petrusha was upset, because instead of partying in the capital, he was waiting for a dull existence in the wilderness. During a stop on the way, the young master made an acquaintance with the rake-captain Zurin, because of whom, under the pretext of training, he became involved in playing billiards. Then Zurin offered to play for money, and as a result, Petrusha lost as much as 100 rubles - a lot of money at that time. Savelich, being the keeper of the lord's "treasury", is against Peter paying the debt, but the master insists. The servant is indignant, but he gives the money.
Chapter 2. Counselor
In the end, Peter is ashamed of his loss and promises Savelich not to gamble anymore. There is a long road ahead of them, and the servant forgives the master. But because of Petrusha's indiscretion, they again find themselves in trouble - the approaching storm did not embarrass the young man and he ordered the driver not to return. As a result, they lost their way and almost froze. For good luck, they met a stranger who helped the lost travelers to go to the inn.
Grinev recalls how then, tired of the journey, he had a dream in the wagon, which he called prophetic: he sees his house and his mother, who says that his father is dying. Then he sees an unknown man with a beard in his father's bed, and his mother says that he is her named husband. The stranger wants to give the "father's" blessing, but Peter refuses and then the man takes up the ax, and corpses appear around. He does not touch Peter.
They drive up to an inn that looks like a thieves' haven. The stranger, frozen in the cold in one army jacket, asks Petrusha for wine, and he treats him. A strange conversation took place between the man and the owner of the house in thieves' language. Peter does not understand the meaning, but everything he heard seems to him very strange. Leaving the shelter, Peter, to Savelich's next displeasure, thanked the guide by presenting him with a hare sheepskin coat. To which the stranger bowed, saying that the age will not forget such mercy.
When Peter finally gets to Orenburg, a colleague of his father, having read the cover letter with instructions to keep the young man "in tight knit gloves", sends him to serve in the Belgorod Fortress - an even greater wilderness. This could not but upset Peter, who had long dreamed of a guards uniform.
Chapter 3. Fortress
The master of the Belgorod garrison was Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, but his wife, Vasilisa Yegorovna, actually ran everything. Grinev immediately liked the simple and sincere people. The middle-aged couple Mironovs had a daughter Masha, but so far their acquaintance has not taken place. In the fortress (which turned out to be a simple village), Peter meets the young lieutenant Alexei Ivanovich Shvabrin, who was exiled here from the guards for a duel that ended in the death of the enemy. Shvabrin, having a habit of speaking unflatteringly about others, often spoke sarcastically about Masha, the captain's daughter, making her a complete fool. Then Grinev himself meets the commander's daughter and questions the lieutenant's statements.
Chapter 4. Duel
By his nature, kind and complacent Grinev began to become more and more friends with the commandant and his family, and he moved away from Shvabrin. The captain's daughter Masha, had no dowry, but turned out to be a charming girl. Peter did not like Shvabrin's sharp remarks. Inspired by thoughts of a young girl on quiet evenings, he began to write poems to her, the content of which he shared with a friend. But he ridiculed him, and even more began to humiliate Masha's dignity, assuring that she would come at night to the one who would give her a pair of earrings.
As a result, the friends quarreled, and it came to a duel. Vasilisa Yegorovna, the commandant's wife, found out about the duel, but the duelists pretended to make up, deciding to postpone the meeting for the next day. But in the morning, as soon as they had time to draw their swords, Ivan Ignatyevich and 5 invalids were led out under escort to Vasilisa Yegorovna. After scolding them properly, she let them go. In the evening Masha, alarmed by the news of the duel, told Peter about Shvabrin's unsuccessful matchmaking to her. Now Grinev understood his motives for behavior. The duel did take place. Confident swordsman Peter, taught at least something worthwhile by Beaupre's tutor, turned out to be a strong opponent for Shvabrin. But Savelich appeared in the duel, Peter hesitated for a second and was eventually wounded.
Chapter 5. Love
The wounded Peter was nursed by his servant and Masha. As a result, the duel brought the young people closer together, and they kindled with mutual love for each other. Wanting to marry Masha, Grinev sends a letter to his parents.
Grinev made up with Shvabrin. Peter's father, learning about the duel and not wanting to hear about the marriage, was furious and sent his son an angry letter, where he threatened to transfer from the fortress. Perplexed how his father could find out about the duel, Peter lashed out at Savelich with accusations, but he himself received a letter with the owner's displeasure. Grinev finds only one answer - Shvabrin reported about the duel. The father's refusal of the blessing does not change Peter's intentions, but Masha does not agree to secretly marry. For a while they move away from each other, and Grinev understands that unhappy love can deprive him of reason and lead to debauchery.
Chapter 6. Pugachevshchina
Anxiety begins in the Belgorod Fortress. Captain Mironov receives an order from the general to prepare the fortress for an attack by rioters and robbers. Emelyan Pugachev, who called himself Peter III, escaped from custody and terrified the surroundings. According to rumors, he had already captured several fortresses and was approaching Belgorod. It was not necessary to count on victory with 4 officers and army "invalids". Alarmed by rumors about the seizure of a nearby fortress and the execution of officers, Captain Mironov decided to send Masha and Vasilisa Yegorovna to Orenburg, where the fortress is stronger. The captain's wife speaks out against leaving, and decides not to leave her husband in difficult times. Masha says goodbye to Peter, but she fails to leave the fortress.
Chapter 7. Attack
Ataman Pugachev appears at the walls of the fortress and offers to surrender without a fight. Commandant Mironov, learning about the betrayal of the sergeant and several Cossacks who joined the rebel clan, does not agree to the proposal. He punishes his wife to dress Masha as a commoner and take the priest to the hut, and he himself opens fire on the rebels. The battle ends with the capture of the fortress, which, together with the city, passes into the hands of Pugachev.
Right at the house of the commandant, Pugachev inflicts reprisals on those who refused to give him the oath. He orders the execution of Captain Mironov and Lieutenant Ivan Ignatyich. Grinev decides that he will not swear allegiance to the robber and will accept an honest death. However, Shvabrin approaches Pugachev and whispers something in his ear. The ataman decides not to ask for an oath, ordering all three to be hanged. But the old faithful servant Savelich throws himself at the feet of the chieftain, and he agrees to pardon Grinev. Ordinary soldiers and residents of the city take the oath of allegiance to Pugachev. As soon as the oath ended, Pugachev decided to dine, but the Cossacks dragged the naked Vasilisa Yegorovna by the hair out of the commandant's house, where they were robbing property, who was shouting for her husband and cursing the convict. Ataman ordered to kill her.
Chapter 8. An uninvited guest
Grinev's heart is out of place. He understands that if the soldiers find out that Masha is here and alive, she cannot avoid reprisals, especially since Shvabrin took the side of the rebels. He knows that the beloved is hiding in the house of the priest. In the evening, the Cossacks came, sent to take him to Pugachev. Although Peter did not accept the Liar's offer of all kinds of honors for the oath, the conversation between the rebel and the officer was friendly. Pugachev remembered goodness and now granted Peter freedom in response.
Chapter 9. Parting
The next morning, Pugachev, in front of the people, called Peter to him and told him to go to Orenburg and report his offensive in a week. Savelich began to bother about the plundered property, but the villain said that he would let him go to the sheepskin coats for such insolence. Grinev and his servant leave Belogorsk. Pugachev appoints Shvabrin as commandant, and he himself sets off for another feat.
Pyotr and Savelich are walking, but one of Pugachev's gang caught up with them and said that His Majesty favored them with a horse and a sheepskin coat, but half a dollar, but he allegedly lost it.
Masha took to her bed and lay in delirium.
Chapter 10. Siege of the city
Arriving in Orenburg, Grinev immediately reported on Pugachev's deeds in the Belgorod fortress. A council was convened, at which everyone except Peter voted for defense, not attack.
A long siege begins - hunger and want. Peter, on his next sortie into the enemy's camp, receives a letter from Masha, in which she begs to save her. Shvabrin wants to marry her and holds her captive. Grinev goes to the general with a request to give half a company of soldiers to save the girl, which is refused. Then Peter decides to help out his beloved alone.
Chapter 11. Rebellious settlement
On the way to the fortress, Peter falls into the guard of Pugachev and is taken for interrogation. Grinev honestly talks about everything about his plans to the troublemaker and says that he is free to do whatever he wants with him. Pugachev's thugs advisors propose to execute the officer, but he says, "have mercy, so mercy."
Together with the robber chieftain, Peter goes to the Belgorod fortress, on the way they have a conversation. The rebel says that he wants to go to Moscow. Peter in his heart pity him, begging him to surrender at the mercy of the empress. But Pugachev knows that it is too late, and says, come what may.
Chapter 12. Orphan
Shvabrin holds the girl on water and bread. Pugachev has mercy on the self-willed, but from Shvabrin he learns that Masha is the daughter of a non-sworn commandant. At first he is furious, but Peter, with his sincerity, and this time gains favor.
Chapter 13. Arrest
Pugachev gives Peter a pass to all the outposts. Happy lovers go to their parents' house. They confused the army convoy with the Pugachev traitors and were arrested. Grinev recognized the head of the outpost as Zurin. He said that he was going home to get married. He dissuades him, assuring him to stay in the service. Peter himself understands that duty calls him. He sends Masha and Savelich to their parents.
The military actions of the detachments that came to the rescue broke the bandit plans. But Pugachev could not be caught. Then there were rumors that he was raging in Siberia. Zurin's squad is sent to suppress another outbreak. Grinev recalls the unfortunate villages plundered by the savages. The troops had to take away what the people were able to save. The news came that Pugachev was caught.
Chapter 14. Judgment
Grinev, on the denunciation of Shvabrin, was arrested as a traitor. He could not justify himself by love, fearing that Masha would also be interrogated. The Empress, taking into account the merits of her father, pardoned him, but sentenced him to exile for life. My father was on fire. Masha decided to go to Petersburg and ask the Empress for her beloved.
By the will of fate, Mary meets the Empress in the early autumn morning and tells her everything, not knowing who she is talking to. On the same morning, a cabman was sent after her to the house of a society lady, where Masha settled for a while, with the order to deliver Mironov's daughter to the palace.
There Masha saw Catherine II and recognized her as her interlocutor.
Grinev was freed from hard labor. Pugachev was executed. Standing on the block in the crowd, he saw Grinev and nodded.
The reunited loving hearts continued the Grinyov family, and in their Simbirsk province, under glass, was kept a letter from Catherine II pardoning Peter and praising Mary for her intelligence and kind heart.
