Saltykov Shchedrin wild landowner read contents. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin - wild landowner

In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, he lived and looked at the light and rejoiced. He had enough of everything: peasants, grain, livestock, land, and gardens. And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper “Vest*” and his body was soft, white and crumbly.

One day this landowner only prayed to God:

God! I am pleased with everything from you, I have been rewarded with everything! Only one thing is unbearable to my heart: there are too many peasants in our kingdom!

But God knew that the landowner was stupid and did not heed his request.

The landowner sees that the peasant is not decreasing every day, but everything is increasing, - he sees and fears: “Well, how will he take all my goods?”

The landowner will look into the newspaper “Vest”, as he should do in this case, and read: “Try!”

Only one word has been written, says the stupid landowner, and it’s a golden word!

And he began to try, and not just somehow, but everything according to the rule. Whether a peasant chicken wanders into the master's oats - now, as a rule, it is in the soup; Whether a peasant is going to chop wood in secret in the master's forest - now this same firewood is going to the master's yard, and, as a rule, the chopper is subject to a fine.

Nowadays these fines affect them more! - the landowner says to his neighbors, - because for them it is clearer.

The men see: although their landowner is stupid, he has a great mind. He reduced them so that there is nowhere to stick your nose out: no matter where you look, everything is prohibited, not allowed, and not yours! The cattle goes out to drink - the landowner shouts: “My water!”, the chicken wanders out of the outskirts - the landowner shouts: “My land!” And the earth, and the water, and the air - everything became his! There was no torch to light the peasant's light, there was no rod to sweep out the hut with. So the peasants prayed to the Lord God all over the world:

God! It’s easier for us to perish with our children than to suffer like this all our lives!

The merciful God heard the orphan’s tearful prayer, and there was no more man throughout the entire domain of the stupid landowner. No one noticed where the man had gone, but people only saw when suddenly a chaff whirlwind arose and, like a black cloud, the peasant's long trousers flew through the air. The landowner went out onto the balcony, sniffed and smelled: the air in all his possessions had become pure, pure. Naturally, I was pleased. He thinks: “Now I’ll pamper my white body, my white, loose, crumbly body!”

And he began to live and live and began to think how he could console his soul.

“I’ll run my own theater, he thinks! I’ll write to the actor Sadovsky: come, dear friend! And bring the actors with you!”

The actor Sadovsky listened to him: he came and brought the actors. He only sees that the landowner’s house is empty and there is no one to put up a theater or raise the curtain.

Where have you put your peasants? - Sadovsky asks the landowner.

But God, through my prayer, cleared all my possessions of the peasant!

However, brother, you stupid landowner! Who gives you a wash, stupid one?

Yes, I go unwashed for how many days!

So, are you planning to grow champignons on your face? - said Sadovsky, and with this word he left and took the actors away.

The landowner remembered that he had four general acquaintances nearby; thinks: “Why am I playing grand solitaire and grand solitaire all the time! I’ll try to play a game or two with the five generals!”

No sooner said than done: I wrote the invitations, set the day and sent the letters to the address. Although the generals were real, they were hungry, and therefore they arrived very quickly. They arrived and couldn’t wonder why the landowner’s air was so clean.

And that’s why,” the landowner boasts, “that God, through my prayer, cleared all my possessions of the peasant!”

Oh, how good it is! - the generals praise the landowner, - so now you won’t have that slave smell at all?

“Not at all,” the landowner answers.

They played a bullet, played another; The generals feel that their time has come to drink vodka, they become restless and look around.

You, gentlemen generals, must have wanted a snack? - asks the landowner.

It wouldn't be bad, Mr. Landowner!

He got up from the table, went to the cupboard and took out a lollipop and a printed gingerbread for each person.

What is this? - the generals ask, widening their eyes at him.

Here, have a bite of what God sent you!

Yes, we would like some beef! We'd like some beef!

Well, I don’t have any beef for you, gentlemen generals, because since God delivered me from the peasant, the stove in the kitchen has not been heated!

The generals became angry with him, so that even their teeth began to chatter.

But do you eat something yourself? - they attacked him.

I eat some raw materials, but I still have gingerbread...

However, brother, you are a stupid landowner! - said the generals and, without finishing the bullets, scattered to their homes.

The landowner sees that another time he will be honored as a fool, and was about to think, but since at that time a deck of cards caught his eye, he gave up on everything and began to play grand solitaire.

Let's see, he says, gentlemen, liberals, who will defeat whom! I will prove to you what true strength of soul can do!

He lays out the “ladies’ whim” and thinks: “If it comes out three times in a row, then it’s necessary not to look.” And as luck would have it, no matter how many times he lays it out, everything comes out, everything comes out! There wasn't even any doubt left in him.

If, he says, fortune itself indicates, then we must remain firm to the end. And now, while I’ve had enough of playing grand solitaire, I’ll go and study!

And so he walks, walks around the rooms, then sits down and sits. And he thinks everything. He thinks about what kind of cars he will order from England, so that everything is steam and steam, and so that there is no servile spirit at all. He thinks about what kind of fruit garden he will plant: “Here there will be pears and plums; here there will be peaches, here there will be walnuts!” He looks out the window - and there everything is as he intended, everything is exactly as it is! At the behest of a pike, the pear, peach, and apricot trees are bursting under the load of fruit, and he just collects the fruit with machines and puts it in his mouth! He thinks what kind of cows he will raise, that there is no skin, no meat, but all milk, all milk! He thinks about what kind of strawberries he will plant, all double and triple, five berries per pound, and how many of these strawberries he will sell in Moscow. Finally he gets tired of thinking and goes to the mirror to look - and there’s already an inch of dust in there...

Senka! - he will suddenly shout, having forgotten himself, but then he will come to his senses and say, - well, let him stand like this for the time being! and I’ll prove to these liberals what firmness of soul can do!

It will loom in this manner until it gets dark - and go to sleep!

And in a dream, dreams are even more fun than in reality. He dreams that the governor himself found out about his landowner’s inflexibility and asked the police officer: “What kind of tough son of a hen do you have in your district?” Then he dreams that he was made a minister for this very inflexibility, and he walks around in ribbons and writes circulars: “Be firm and not look!” Then he dreams that he walks along the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris... [that is, according to biblical legends, in paradise]

Eva, my friend! - he says.

But now I’ve reconsidered everything: I have to get up.

Senka! - he shouts again, having forgotten himself, but suddenly he remembers... and hangs his head.

However, what should you do? - he asks himself, - at least the hard one would bring some devil!

And at this word, the police captain himself suddenly arrives. The stupid landowner was incredibly happy about him; ran to the cupboard, took out two printed gingerbread cookies and thought: “Well, this one seems to be satisfied!”

Please tell me, Mr. Landowner, how is it a miracle that all your temporarily obligated [according to the Regulations of February 19, peasants freed from serfdom were obliged to work for him temporarily, until an agreement on the purchase of land was concluded with the landowner] suddenly disappeared? - asks the police officer.

And so and so, God, through my prayer, completely cleared all my possessions from the peasant!

Yes, sir; But don’t you know, Mr. Landowner, who will pay the taxes for them?

Taxes?.. that's them! it's themselves! This is their most sacred duty and responsibility!

Yes, sir; and in what manner can this tax be collected from them, if, through your prayer, they are scattered across the face of the earth?

This... I don’t know... I, for my part, don’t agree to pay!

Do you know, Mr. Landowner, that the treasury cannot exist without taxes and duties, and even more so without wine and salt regalia [state monopoly on sales, royal right to receive income]?

Well... I'm ready! a glass of vodka... I'll pay!

Do you know that, by your mercy, we cannot buy a piece of meat or a pound of bread in our market? do you know what it smells like?

Have mercy! I, for my part, am ready to sacrifice! here are two whole gingerbread cookies!

You are stupid, Mr. Landowner! - said the police officer, turned and left without even looking at the printed gingerbread cookies.

This time the landowner thought seriously. Now the third person is honoring him as a fool, the third person will look and look at him, spit and walk away. Is he really a fool? Could it be that the inflexibility that he so cherished in his soul, when translated into ordinary language, means only stupidity and madness? and is it really, as a result of his inflexibility alone, that both taxes and regalia stopped, and it became impossible to get a pound of flour or a piece of meat at the market?

And as stupid a landowner as he was, at first he even snorted with pleasure at the thought of what kind of trick he had played, but then he remembered the words of the police officer: “Do you know what this smells like?” - and got scared in earnest.

He began, as usual, to walk back and forth through the rooms and kept thinking: “What does this smell like? Does it smell like some kind of settlement? For example, Cheboksary? Or, perhaps, Varnavin?”

At least to Cheboksary, or something! at least the world would be convinced of what firmness of soul means! - says the landowner, and secretly thinks to himself: “In Cheboksary, maybe I would have seen my dear man!”

The landowner walks around, sits, and walks around again. Whatever he approaches, everything seems to say: “You’re stupid, Mr. Landowner!” He sees a mouse running across the room and sneaking towards the cards with which he played grand solitaire and has already oiled it enough to whet the mouse’s appetite with them.

Kshsh... - he rushed at the mouse.

But the mouse was smart and understood that the landowner could not do him any harm without Senka. He just wagged his tail in response to the landowner’s menacing exclamation and a moment later he was already looking at him from under the sofa, as if saying: “Wait, stupid landowner! Or else it will happen! I’ll eat not only the cards, but also your robe, like you You'll oil him up properly!"

How much time has passed, the landowner only sees that in his garden the paths are overgrown with thistles, the bushes are full of snakes and all sorts of reptiles, and in the park wild animals are howling. One day a bear approached the estate itself, squatted down, looked through the windows at the landowner and licked its lips.

Senka! - the landowner cried out, but suddenly remembered... and began to cry.

However, the strength of his soul still did not leave him. Several times he weakened, but as soon as he felt that his heart was beginning to dissolve, he would rush to the newspaper “Vest” and in one minute become hardened again.

No, it’s better for me to go completely wild, it’s better for me to wander through the forests with wild animals, but let no one say that the Russian nobleman, Prince Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev, retreated from his principles!

And so he went wild. Although at this time autumn had already arrived and there was a fair frost, he did not even feel the cold. He was all overgrown with hair, from head to toe, like the ancient Esau, and his nails became like iron. He had long ago stopped blowing his nose, but walked more and more on all fours and was even surprised how he had not noticed before that this way of walking was the most decent and most convenient. He even lost the ability to utter articulate sounds and acquired some kind of special victory cry, a cross between a whistle, a hiss and a roar. But I haven't acquired a tail yet.

He will go out to his park, in which he once basked his body, loose, white, crumbly, like a cat, in an instant, climb to the very top of the tree and guard from there. The hare will come running, stand on its hind legs and listen to see if there is any danger from somewhere - and he’ll be right there. It’s like an arrow will jump from a tree, grab onto its prey, tear it apart with its nails, and so on with all the insides, even the skin, and eat it.

And he became terribly strong, so strong that he even considered himself entitled to enter into friendly relations with the very bear who had once looked at him through the window.

Do you want, Mikhail Ivanovich, to go rabbit hunting together? - he said to the bear.

To want - why not to want! - answered the bear, - but, brother, you destroyed this guy in vain!

Why is that so?

But because this man was far more capable than your nobleman brother. And therefore I will tell you straight: you are a stupid landowner, even though you are my friend!

Meanwhile, although the police captain patronized the landowners, in view of such a fact as the disappearance of the peasant from the face of the earth, he did not dare to remain silent. The provincial authorities were also alarmed by his report and wrote to him: “What do you think, who will pay taxes now? Who will drink wine in taverns? Who will engage in innocent activities?” The captain-police officer answers: the treasury should now be abolished, but innocent occupations were abolished by themselves, and instead of them, robberies, robbery and murders spread in the district. The other day, even he, the police officer, was almost killed by some kind of bear, not a bear, not a man, and he suspects that same stupid landowner who is the instigator of all the troubles is the bear-man.

The bosses became concerned and convened a council. They decided to catch the peasant and install him, and to instill in the most delicate manner the stupid landowner, who is the instigator of all the troubles, so that he stops his fanfare and does not interfere with the flow of taxes to the treasury.

As if on purpose, at that time an emerging swarm of men flew through the provincial town and showered the entire market square. Now this grace has been taken away, put in a whip and sent to the district.

And suddenly there was again a smell of chaff and sheepskins in that district; but at the same time, flour, meat, and all kinds of livestock appeared at the market, and so many taxes arrived in one day that the treasurer, seeing such a pile of money, just clasped his hands in surprise and cried out:

And where do you scoundrels get it from!!

“What happened, however, to the landowner?” - readers will ask me. To this I can say that, although with great difficulty, they caught him too. Having caught it, they immediately blew their nose, washed it and cut their nails. Then the police captain made him a proper reprimand, took away the newspaper "Vest" and, entrusting it to Senka's supervision, left.

He is still alive today. He plays grand solitaire, yearns for his former life in the forests, washes himself only under duress, and moos from time to time.

*Vest - [political and literary newspaper (1863-1870), organ of the reactionary noble opposition of the 60s]

One day this landowner only prayed to God:

- God! I am pleased with everything from you, I have been rewarded with everything! Only one thing is unbearable to my heart: there are too many peasants in our kingdom!

But God knew that the landowner was stupid and did not heed his request.

The landowner sees that the peasant is not decreasing every day, but is still increasing, - he sees and fears: “Well, how will he take all my goods?”

The landowner will look at the newspaper “Vest”, as he should do in this case, and read: “Try!”

“Only one word has been written,” says the stupid landowner, “and it’s a golden word!”

And he began to try, and not just somehow, but everything according to the rule. Whether a peasant chicken wanders into the master's oats - now, as a rule, it is in the soup; Whether a peasant gathers to chop wood in secret in the master's forest - now this same firewood will go to the master's yard, and, as a rule, the chopper will be fined.

– Nowadays these fines affect them more! - the landowner says to his neighbors. – Because it’s clearer to them.

The men see: although their landowner is stupid, he has a great mind. He shortened them so that there is nowhere to stick your nose out: no matter where you look, everything is prohibited, not allowed, and not yours! The cattle comes out to drink - the landowner shouts: “My water!” - the chicken wanders out of the outskirts - the landowner shouts: “My land!” And the earth, and the water, and the air - everything became his! There was no torch to light the peasant's light, there was no rod to sweep out the hut with. So the peasants prayed to the Lord God all over the world:

- God! It’s easier for us to perish with our children than to suffer like this all our lives!

The merciful God heard the orphan’s tearful prayer, and there was no more man throughout the entire domain of the stupid landowner. No one noticed where the man had gone, but people only saw when suddenly a chaff whirlwind arose and, like a black cloud, the peasant’s long trousers flew through the air. The landowner went out onto the balcony, sniffed and smelled: the air in all his possessions had become pure, pure. Naturally, I was pleased. He thinks: “Now I’ll pamper my white body, my white, loose, crumbly body!”

And he began to live and live and began to think how he could console his soul.

“I’ll run my own theater, he thinks!” I’ll write to the actor Sadovsky: come, dear friend! and bring the actors with you!”

The actor Sadovsky listened to him: he came and brought the actors. He only sees that the landowner’s house is empty and there is no one to put up a theater or raise the curtain.

-Where have you taken your peasants? - Sadovsky asks the landowner.

- But God, through my prayer, cleared all my possessions of the peasant!

- However, brother, you stupid landowner! Who gives you a wash, stupid one?

- Yes, I’ve been walking around unwashed for so many days!

- So, you are planning to grow champignons on your face? - said Sadovsky and with this word he left and took the actors away.

No sooner said than done; wrote invitations, set a day and sent letters to the address. Although the generals were real, they were hungry, and therefore they arrived very quickly. They arrived and couldn’t wonder why the landowner’s air was so clean.

During the lesson you will become familiar with the topic of exposing serfdom in the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, using the example of the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner”. You will consider its genre features and highlight the main satirical techniques for creating the image of a landowner.

That is why M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin turned to this genre. His fairy tales are a separate, independent stage of his work, the appearance of which S.-Shch. reasoned like this: “I owe the habit of writing allegorically... to the censorship department. It tormented Russian literature to such an extent that it seemed to vow to wipe it off the face of the earth. But literature persisted in its desire to live and therefore resorted to deceptive means..."

Their political tales S.-Sch. writes from 1883 to 1886. In them, the writer truthfully reflected the life of Russia, in which despotic and all-powerful landowners destroy hardworking men. A striking example was the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner,” which was written in a very sarcastic and witty manner.

Analysis of the fairy tale by S.-Shch. "Wild Landowner"

In this tale, the landowner dreamed of getting rid of the “servile spirit” in his possessions. Finally, all the men “miraculously” disappear. At first the landowner enjoys the clean air, but then the farm declines, and the landowner himself becomes completely wild, descends, and turns into an animal.

Reading the work “The Wild Landowner”, we immediately attribute it to the fairy tale genre:

Fairytale beginning: “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner.”
The middle “fairy-tale” formulas: “How much or how little time has passed”; "No sooner said than done…".
Fantastic elements: “suddenly a chaff whirlwind arose and, like a black cloud, the peasant’s long trousers flew through the air”; talking bear, "swarm of men."
Hyperbole (exaggeration): “And the earth, and the water, and the air - everything became his (the landowner’s)!”; “He thinks what kind of cows he will raise, that there is no skin, no meat, but all milk, all milk!”

The presence of fairy-tale elements does not prevent us from understanding the full depth of the conflict raised by the author in this work. This conflict is realistic and acutely social. It is connected with the political situation in Russia after the abolition of serfdom in 1861. The peasants were still largely dependent on the landowner. This is how S.-Shch describes it. their life: “He [the landowner] has reduced them so that there is nowhere to stick your nose out: no matter where you look, everything is forbidden, not allowed, and not yours! The cattle goes out to drink - the landowner shouts: “My water!”, the chicken wanders out of the outskirts - the landowner shouts: “My land!” And the earth, and the water, and the air - everything became his! There was no torch to light the man’s light, there was no rod with which to sweep out the hut.”

The landowner can be called cruel, greedy, despotic. This attitude of the landowner towards the peasants was not unique. It is no coincidence that the fairy tale mentions the newspaper “Vest”, which the landowner reads. It is its materials that he takes as a basis as a guide to action: “The landowner will look into the newspaper “Vest”, as he should do in this case, and read it.”

The newspaper "Vest" was the printed organ of a part of the nobility who were dissatisfied with the peasant reform. Many nobles saw a mistake in the fact that the legislature chose a system of peasant self-government, instead of leaving administrative power in the hands of the landowners. They believed that as a result of this the ruin of the landowners was occurring. By the way, this newspaper was published first weekly, and then daily with a circulation of 4,000 copies.

And so the landowner reads the newspaper and worries, “that the peasant is not decreasing every day, but everything is increasing,” he sees and fears: “Well, how will he take all my goods?”

So, from the very beginning we begin to perceive the image of the landowner as collective, containing the typical features of this class.

The name of a hereditary Russian nobleman is by no means Russian - prince Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev. Before us is one of the techniques of allegory: speaking surname. This Turkic surname did not arise by chance. Only the Horde yoke can be compared with the yoke of serfs, only the enemy will come up with the idea of “reducing” the population, destroying the Russian breadwinner.

When reading a fairy tale, what catches your eye is the one most often used by the author. epithet:stupid landowner. But if in Russian folk tales Ivanushka the Fool is not a fool at all, then the landowner in S.-Shch. really stupid. After all, he does not understand the obvious: his whole life depends on the peasants. Let's see what the life of a landowner became without a hard-working man:

Can't really receive guests.
He cannot take care of himself (neither wash, nor dress, nor cook food).

As a result, the house and farm fell into disrepair. But, despite all this, the stupid landowner continues to stand his ground, so to speak, developing “firmness of soul” in himself. And he dreams of how he will live without peasants: “He thinks what kind of cars he will order from England, so that everything will be steam and steam, and so that there will be no servile spirit at all.”

Rice. 2. Illustration ()

If earlier he “had a soft, white and crumbly body” and “lived and rejoiced at the light,” now he is unrecognizable: “He was all overgrown with hair, from head to toe, like the ancient Esau, and his nails became like iron. He had long since stopped blowing his nose, and was walking more and more on all fours... He had even lost the ability to utter articulate sounds and had adopted some kind of special victory cry, a cross between a whistle, a hiss and a roar. But I haven’t acquired a tail yet.”

We see the complete physical and spiritual savagery of a person: “He will go out to his park, in which he once lived, his body is loose, white, crumbly, like a cat, in an instant, he will climb to the very top of the tree and guard from there. The hare will come running, stand on its hind legs and listen to see if there is any danger from somewhere - and he’ll be right there. It’s like an arrow will jump from a tree, grab onto its prey, tear it apart with its nails, and so on with all the insides, even the skin, and eat it.”

Thus, The main idea of the fairy tale was that the landowner cannot and does not know how to live without the peasant. In addition, the author wanted to show the importance of the peasantry in the economy of all of Russia. After all, the disappearance of peasants in the landowner’s domain led to sad consequences throughout the province. The police captain comes to the landowner. He is very concerned that « You can’t buy a piece of meat or a pound of bread at the market.” “The bosses became concerned and called a council. They decided: to catch the peasant and settle him, and to instill in the most delicate manner the stupid landowner, who is the instigator of all the troubles, so that he stops his fanfare and does not interfere with the receipt of taxes to the treasury.”

The tale ends with the fact that the wild landowner was caught, returned to his human form and forced to lead his former way of life. What about the peasants?

“As if on purpose, at that time a swarm of men flew through the provincial town and showered the entire market square. Now this grace has been taken away, put in a whip and sent to the district.” It is no coincidence that the peasants are shown through metaphor of a “swarm of men.” The reader immediately has an association with a swarm of bees. And as you know, a bee is a symbol of a worker. Of course, this is a grotesque image, but the bitter truth is expressed in a fantastic form. Men are likened to dumb creatures living a herd life. Shchedrin sincerely complains that the people are too patient, downtrodden and dark.

Contemporaries of S.-Sch. the satirical gift was highly valued. For example, Sofia Kovalevskaya wrote: “His name will remain in history not only as the name of the greatest pamphleteer that Russia has ever known, but also as the name of a great citizen who gave neither mercy nor rest to the oppressors of thought. Shchedrin really lived only for his time, but as Goethe said well: “Whoever lived for his time lived for all times.”

Literary theory

In fairy tales, Shchedrin proved himself to be a brilliant artist. He showed himself to be a master Aesopian language, with the help of which he knew how to convey a sharp political thought to the reader.

The expression is associated with the name of the legendary Greek fabulist Aesop, who, according to legend, lived in the 6th century BC. Aesop, being a slave, could not speak freely and openly about many things. He was forced to resort to an allegorical (allegorical) fable form of expressing his thoughts. Hence, any ability to speak or express one’s thoughts allegorically, in parables, allegories, received the name Aesopian language.

Satire (lat. satira) is a comic manifestation in art, which is a poetic denunciation of phenomena using various comic means: sarcasm, irony, hyperbole, grotesque, allegory, parody, etc.

Didactic materials on literature grade 7. Author - Korovina V.Ya. - 2008
Homework on literature for grade 7 (Korovina). Author - Tishchenko O.A. - 2012
Literature lessons in 7th grade. Author - Kuteinikova N.E. - 2009
Textbook on literature 7th grade. Part 1. Author - Korovina V.Ya. - 2012
Textbook on literature 7th grade. Part 2. Author - Korovina V.Ya. - 2009
Textbook-reader on literature 7th grade. Authors: Ladygin M.B., Zaitseva O.N. - 2012
Textbook-reader on literature 7th grade. Part 1. Author - Kurdyumova T.F. - 2011
Phonochrestomathy on literature for the 7th grade for Korovina’s textbook.

FEB: Dictionary of literary terms ().
Dictionaries. Literary terms and concepts ().
Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language ().
S.-Sch. Wild landowner ().
S.-Sch. Biography ().

Compare the fairy tales “The Wild Landowner” and “The Tale of How One Man Fed Two Generals.” What do they have in common?
Read the fairy tale by S.-Shch. (optional). Find the features of the fairy tale genre in the text. Determine the theme, idea, conflict. Give examples of satire and irony.
Think about the relevance of S.-Sch.’s fairy tales?

The landowner, who was not very intelligent, decided to get rid of ordinary men. His wish came true - he was left completely alone on his estate. The landowner did not know how to take care of himself, look after the garden, and became completely wild from loneliness.

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