Analysis of the fairy tale dried vobla shchedrin. What is this about? V

Lessons 103-104 FAIRY TALES (FAIRLY AGED CHILDREN)

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Lessons 103–104
"Tales (for children of a fair age)"

Goals : find out the reasons for the writer's appeal to fairy tales; what opportunities this genre opened up for the satirist; highlight the main themes of fairy tales, their ideological orientation; what is the artistic originality of fairy tales.

Course of lessons

Epigraph to the lessons:

Fairy tales are powerful in their thought, amusing and at the same time tragic in their poisonous malice, enchant with their linguistic perfection.

A. V. Lunacharsky

I. introduction teachers.

Tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin

The fairy tale genre attracted the attention of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Back in 1869, he wrote three fairy tales (“The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “ wild landlord"," Lost conscience).

In the 80s XIX years century Saltykov-Shchedrin in a short time created fairy tale book(around 30). “My head is still full of ... by the way, fairy tales. It is necessary to abandon this book, which would not harm me ... ”the satirist wrote.

The 1980s - the "rampant" reaction, censorship persecution, the "Domestic Notes" were closed. The writer, in his words, "was taken away, crumpled and sealed soul." Shchedrin's appeal to fairy tales cannot be explained only by the arbitrariness of censorship; content of fairy tales.

The tales were printed with the significant subtitle: "for children of a fair age." One of the censors said: “What Mr. Saltykov calls fairy tales does not at all correspond to its name; his tales are the same satire, and caustic satire ... directed against our social and political structure. Many fairy tales never appeared in print during the writer's lifetime.

II. Identification of the main themes of fairy tales.

1. People and autocracy. (“The Bear in the Voivodship”, “The Eagle-Patron”, “The Tale of the Zealous Chief.”)

2. The people and the ruling classes. (“The Wild Landowner”, “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “Konyaga”.)

3. The people and the bourgeois philistine intelligentsia. ("The wise scribbler", "Liberal", "Karas-idealist", " Dried vobla».)

III. Work on literary terms.

Questions :

1. Remember what "grotesque" is. Give examples of the grotesque famous works Shchedrin.

2. How do you understand the meaning of the words "satire", "Aesopian language" or "Aesopian speech"?

3. What is "fantasy", "parody", "irony", "sarcasm", "litote"?

(Fantasy- non-existent in reality, invented.

Parody - a work that imitates another work, author or movement with the aim of ridiculing them. Parody consists in "imitation", "reversal" of the original.

Irony – negative evaluation object or phenomenon through its ridicule. The comic effect in an ironic statement is achieved by disguising the true meaning of the event. Irony says exactly the opposite of what is meant.

Sarcasm - caustic sarcastic mockery with frankly accusatory, satirical sense. Sarcasm is a kind of irony.

Litotes - this is a figurative expression, a turnover, which contains an artistic understatement of the size, strength, significance of the depicted object or phenomenon.)

IV. Analysis of the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin.

1. "The wise scribbler" (1882-1883)

The time of writing and publishing a fairy tale is a difficult time of reaction and terror in the country. Saltykov-Shchedrin: "A very bad time is coming." Distrust, suspicion, cowardice, indifference penetrate the moral atmosphere of life.

Questions :

1) How do you understand the meaning of the title of the fairy tale "The Wise Scribbler"? What does the epithet "wise" mean?

2) What advice does the old scribbler give to his son?

3) How are Shchedrin's different narrative plans connected: historical, concrete everyday, fantastic?

4) What is life position scribbler?

5) The result of the life of a scribbler. What kind of thoughts "visit" him before his death?

6) Why, in your opinion, does the satirist resort to allegory and depict not a person, but a fish endowed with philistine features?

M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin writes: “And he lived wise scribbler like this for over a hundred years. Everyone trembled, everyone trembled. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he to anyone, nor anyone to him ... he only trembles and thinks one thought: thank God! seems to be alive! Depicting the pitiful fate of a cowardly scribbler who walled himself up in a tight hole, the satirist expressed his contempt for all those who, submitting to the instinct of self-preservation, left public life in narrow world personal interests. Saltykov-Shchedrin attributed to a small and miserable fish human features and at the same time showed that "fish" features are inherent in man.

The writer reminded his contemporaries about the value of human life, its meaning, human dignity, courage and honor.

2. "Dried vobla"

Questions :

1) How does the story begin? (Everything is dried up, and brains too, everything is weathered.)

2) How did the vobla live? How does he explain his mind-reason? (It’s smart that they withered in time, deprived of thoughts, feelings, conscience. The words sound like a refrain: “Ears do not grow above the forehead.”)

3) What phenomena of modern reality does the satirist ridicule in this tale? (By preaching the ideal of accuracy and moderation in the name of self-preservation, with his salutary speeches, the vobla justifies and glorifies the vile existence of cowardly and pitiful “wise scribblers.” The satirist shows the process of “drying”, necrosis and debasement of souls.

The vulgar speeches and calls of the vobla helped people who had lost their civil dignity to "live", without thinking about anything, without looking into the future.)

3. "Bear in the province" (1884)

Questions :

1) What are your impressions of reading the fairy tale?

3) Tell us about the fate of the Toptygins. What do they need? ("Bloodshed" - that's what you need. The fate of Toptygin I - "got burned on nonsense, though then he smashed everything - was expelled. Toptygin II - unbelted, destroyed everything, but the peasants" blew up ", they taught him a lesson with a horn. Toptygin III chose the gold middle: he did nothing, but he "suffered the fate of all fur-bearing animals.")

The political meaning of the tale was clear to the writer's contemporaries. (The tale was written three years after the assassination of Alexander II.) At the request of censorship, Shchedrin's work was withdrawn from the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine.

4) What phenomena of modern reality did the satirist ridicule? Who is the story directed at? (M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin introduces topical political motives into the world of fairy tales, reveals the complex problems of our time. Under the pen of a satirist, the bear acquires the features of an obscurantist - an administrator who oppresses the people, exterminates sedition, destroys education.)

V. Explanation of new material.

I'm the teacher's story.

Artistic originality fairy tales

Tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are political satire tales, but they are connected with oral folk art. The writer uses traditional fairy-tale images, fairy-tale formulas and beginnings, as well as proverbs and sayings.

As a realist writer, Shchedrin created many typical images and artistic generalizations in fairy tales. Fairy tales combine the real and the fantastic, the fabulous. The writer skillfully used the Aesopian style of writing (“Aesopian language”), resorted to sharpening images with the help of hyperbole, grotesque, irony.

2. Analyze (in writing) one of the fairy tales read by yourself.

Registration: portrait of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin, an epigraph is written on the board; reviews of contemporaries about satirist; exhibition of popular editions of Shchedrin's works.

Lesson Objectives: find out the reasons for the writer's appeal to fairy tales, what opportunities this genre opened up for the satirist; highlight the main themes of fairy tales, reveal their ideological orientation; show originality; repeat the meaning of literary terms ("grotesque", "Aesopian language", "sarcasm", "irony", "litote" and others); identify those positive ideals that the author preaches in fairy tales; develop the ability to analyze fairy tales.

preliminary homework

1. From the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin. Orally prepare an answer to the question: what facts of the satirist's biography influenced the formation of his worldview?
2. Read the fairy tales "The Wise Piskar", "The Dried Vobla", "The Bear in the Voivodeship".
3. Write a review on one of the read fairy tales (optional).
4. Prepare for staging: students who play the role of 2 generals from “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”; student-performer of the role of a wild landowner from the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner".
5. Make costumes for Grinev, Molchalin, Chichikov; ask them to answer the question: what advice did their fathers give their children (Grinev, Molchalin, Chichikov)?

Epigraph to the lesson:

Fairy tales are powerful in their thought, amusing and at the same time tragic in their malice, and enchant with their linguistic perfection. A. V. Lunacharsky

During the classes

I. Homework Survey

1. Back to the portrait Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin.

What strikes appearance writer? (The portrait was created by I. N. Kramskoy in 1887).

♦ A combination of severity, firmness and genuine kindness.

♦ A. V. Lunacharsky (about the portrait of a satirist) wrote with admiration: “Get a feel for this amazing face ... What severity! What eyes of a judge!.. How much suffering that expressed wrinkles on this face, truly the face of an ascetic!

♦ And here is the review of N.K. Mikhailovsky (a contemporary who personally knew the writer): “The appearance reinforced the impression of his rough manner: a sharp perpendicular fold between the eyebrows on the beautiful open high forehead. Strongly bulging, as if protruding eyes, sternly and somehow adamantly looking directly into the eyes of the interlocutor, rough voice, sullen look. But sometimes this stern face was illuminated by such an almost childishly good-natured smile that even people who knew Shchedrin, but who fell under the light of this smile, understood that how naive and kind soul lies beneath his sullen exterior.

2. What facts of the biography of Saltykov-Shchedrin influenced the formation of his worldview?

♦ His childhood was “in the bosom of serfdom”, landlord arbitrariness and family despotism. Here is what the writer recalls about his childhood: “I saw eyes that could not express anything but fear, I heard cries that tore my heart. In the realm of fright, physical suffering and gastric despotism, there is not a single detail that would have passed me by, which would not have caused me pain in due time.

♦ The writer's worldview was influenced by studies, and Saltykov-Shchedrin studied at the Moscow Noble Institute, and then at the Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum, where the great Pushkin once received knowledge. But in the twenty-one years that have passed since Pushkin's graduation, the nature of this educational institution changed: a style of life close to the barracks was implanted. Enlightened teachers were expelled from the lyceum. “A whole lot of Vralmans, Tsyfirkins, Kuteykins were hired for us ... Vralmans stuffed us short knowledge, and the lackey high school inspired that the goal of knowledge is the fulfillment of the boss's plans, ”the satirist recalled about studying at the lyceum.

But, nevertheless, the lyceum students lived an intense spiritual life: they read forbidden literature, listened to the fiery speeches of V. G. Belinsky (“That was the time of worshiping Belinsky”), and argued about the future of Russia. Saltykov's acquaintance with the utopian socialist M. V. Petrashevsky grew into friendship.

♦ It must be said that already the first works (the stories "Contradictions" (1847) and "A Tangled Case" (1848) touched on the topic social inequality. The writer criticized the existing system. Naturally, the progressive ideas in the first works infuriated the reactionary circles of society. And Nicholas I saw in Saltykov's stories "the desire to spread ideas that have already shaken all of Western Europe."

By decision of Nicholas I, Saltykov was arrested and exiled to Vyatka under police supervision. "Vyatka captivity" lasted about eight years! After the death of Nicholas I, Saltykov returned to St. Petersburg with a huge "reserve" of facts and impressions from the life of the ruling classes.

♦ First time alias Nikolai Shchedrin were signed "Provincial essays", published in the journal "Russian Bulletin".

The writer's worldview was influenced not only by his passion for "writing", but also by his work in the Ministry of the Interior. Fair and principled, Saltykov-Shchedrin behaved resolutely, he managed to stop many violations. A contemporary of the writer S. N. Egorov recalled: “Strict in service, he was in the highest degree truthful and humane... He dealt daily with every official and knew everyone. Despite the strict and difficult service, everyone loved him and was not burdened by anything for his sake, because he appreciated everyone at their true worth ... ”(see on the topic Literature No. 4) The service for the writer ended. In the rank of State Councilor M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin resigned. (“I am a writer, this is my calling.”)

♦ Acquaintance with Nekrasov, work in Sovremennik and Fatherland Notes (Shchedrin devoted all his strength, knowledge and talent to journalism).

Saltykov-Shchedrin became an example for his comrades in magazines. (Nekrasov: “Journalism has always been difficult for us ... Saltykov carried it not only courageously, but also valiantly, and we followed him as best we could.”) It was as if mutual influence(Saltykov-Shchedrin - comrades in the magazine).

3. What kind of person do you see Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin as a satirist, critic and publicist?

♦ Saltykov-Shchedrin is a man of extraordinary capacity for work. Work for him is an irresistible need. “He could not help but write: neither any business, nor fatigue and a desire to rest, nor acquaintances and relationships, nor even illness itself could keep him from this ... he sat down to desk and wrote in his concise handwriting “a page - another”, as much as he could” (S. N. Krivenko).

♦ Saltykov-Shchedrin seems to me straightforward, persistent, able to say his own weighty word in defense of the interests of the Russian peasant. It is no coincidence that he aroused the hatred of official circles in Russia, who called him "vice-Robespierre." Shchedrin is the creator of satirical works.

4. How do you understand the word "satire"? (Satire- accusatory literary work, depicting the negative phenomena of life in a funny, ugly way. The satirist is essentially the same doctor. The doctor is looking for ways to improve human body, and the satirist defines the diagnosis of "social-class diseases" that reveal themselves in human characters and relationships.)

Physiologist I. M. Sechenov calls Saltykov-Shchedrin “respected by all diagnostician our public evils and ills."

II. teacher's word

M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin was always attracted by fairy tales with their humor, condemnation of evil, laziness and cowardice, glorification of goodness, nobility.

Back in 1869, Shchedrin wrote three fairy tales (“The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “The Wild Landowner”, “The Conscience Lost”).

staging

1. An episode from the fairy tale "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals" performed by 2 students - two generals.

(From the words “Strange, Your Excellency, I had a dream today - I see that I live on a desert island ...” to the words “The power of the cross is with us! After all, we will eat each other! And how did we get here! Who is that the villain who played such a trick on us!”.)

2. An episode from the fairy tale "The Wild Landowner". A student in the role of a "feral landowner".

"Kshi ... - he rushed to the little mouse ..."

“No, it’s better to be completely wild, it’s better to let me with roam the forests like wild beasts, but let no one say that Russian nobleman... retreated from principles!

Teacher. So you remembered the heroes of Shchedrin's fairy tales.

In the 80s of the nineteenth century, Saltykov-Shchedrin created a book of fairy tales in a short time (about 30). “My head is still full ... by the way, fairy tales ... We must abandon this book, which would not harm me ...” - the satirist wrote.

1980s - “revelry” of reaction, censorship persecution, “Domestic notes” were closed. The writer, in his words, "was taken away, crumpled and sealed soul." Shchedrin's appeal to fairy tales cannot be explained only by the arbitrariness of censorship, more the content possibilities of fairy tales turned out to be important.

The tales were printed with the significant subtitle "for children of a fair age." One of the censors said: “What Mr. Saltykov calls fairy tales does not at all correspond to its name; his tales are the same satire, and caustic satire ... directed against our social and political structure. Many fairy tales never appeared in print during the writer's lifetime.

Notebook entry:

“Tales (for children of a fair age)” is the result of many years of life observations of Saltykov-Shchedrin, the result of his creative path.

IV. The main themes of fairy tales

(Writing on the board.)

People and autocracy. (“The Bear in the Voivodship”, “The Eagle-Patron”, “The Tale of the Zealous Chief.”)
The people and the ruling classes. (“The Wild Landowner”, “The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals”, “Konyaga”.)
The people and the bourgeois philistine intelligentsia ("The wise scribbler", "Liberal", "Karas-idealist", "Dried vobla".)

V. Work on literary terms

Remember what "grotesque" is. Give examples of the grotesque from Shchedrin's famous works.
How do you understand the meaning of the words "satire", "Aesopian language" or "Aesopian speech"?
What is "fantasy", "parody", "irony", "sarcasm", "litote"?

Fantasy - non-existent in reality, invented. By exaggerating or downplaying, inventing an unexpected combination of details, the satirist reveals the hidden in everyday life vices and makes them funny at the same time.

Parody (from Greek. parodia - rehash, countersong) - a work that imitates another work, author or movement in order to ridicule them. Parody consists in “mocking”, “reversing” the original, reducing its “high”, serious figurative language to a low, funny plane.

Irony (from Greek. eironia- pretense, mockery) - a negative assessment of an object or phenomenon through its ridicule. The comic effect in an ironic statement is achieved by disguising the true meaning of the event. Irony says exactly the opposite of what is meant.

Sarcasm (from Greek. sarcasmas- mockery) - a caustic sarcastic mockery, with a frankly accusatory, satirical meaning. Sarcasm is a kind of irony. In sarcasm - extreme degree emotional attitude, high pathos of denial, turning into indignation.

Litotes (from Greek. litotes- simplicity) is a figurative expression, a turnover, which contains an artistic understatement of the size, strength, significance of the depicted object or phenomenon.

Aesopian language - forced parable, artistic speech, saturated with omissions and ironic ridicule. The expression goes back to the legendary image of the ancient Greek poet of the VI century BC. e. Aesop, creator of the fable genre. A slave by birth, Aesop, in order to tell the truth about his contemporaries, was forced to resort to allegorical images of animals and birds. Aesop's speech - a form of satire. This is whole system fraudulent satirical devices, designed to express artistic and journalistic thought not directly, but allegorically.

VI. Analysis of fairy tales by Saltykov-Shchedrin

1. "The wise scribbler" (1882-1883)

What impression did this story make on you? (Students read out their impressions of the fairy tale written at home.)

How do you understand the meaning of the title of the fairy tale "The Wise Piskar"? What does the epithet "wise" mean? (Synonym - smart, reasonable. Antonym - stupid, stupid. The meaning that the author puts into the word "wise" is undoubtedly ironic.)

- What advice does the old scribbler give his son? (“Look at both...”)

- And what precepts do other fathers leave their children - the heroes of the classic works of Russian literature?

Chichikov(student in costume): "Copy a penny, a penny will not give out."

Molchalin(student in role); "To please all people without exception..."

Petr Grinev(student in role): "Take care of the dress again, and honor from a young age."

Chichikov, Molchalin and Grinev (students), having bowed, leave.

Which of the "advice" is closer to the teaching of the old scribbler? (The life position of Piskar does not coincide with either the position of Chichikov and Molchalin, or with the position of Grinev.)

- What is the life position of the scribbler? (See the quote in the text.) The result of the life of a scribbler? What kind of thoughts "visit" him before his death?

Why, in your opinion, does the satirist resort to allegory and depict not a person, but a fish endowed with philistine features?

findings (write in notebook):

M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin writes: “And the wise scribbler of this kind lived for more than a hundred years. Everyone trembled, everyone trembled. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he to anyone, nor anyone to him ... he only trembles and thinks one thought: thank God! seems to be alive! Depicting the pitiful fate of a cowardly scribbler who walled himself up in a narrow hole, the satirist expressed his contempt for all those who, obeying the instinct of self-preservation, left public life for the narrow world of personal interests. Saltykov-Shchedrin ascribed human features to the small and pitiful fish and at the same time showed that "fish" features are inherent in man.

The writer reminded his contemporaries (and modern readers) about the price of human life, about its meaning, about human dignity, about courage and honor.

(The “wisdom” of the scribbler, his philistine indifference, cowardice deprive human life any meaning, "mortify the mind, honor and conscience.")

2. Dried roach (1884)

The tale was written for the February magazine "Notes of the Fatherland" for 1884, but was withdrawn at the request of censorship. The writer tried three times (without success) to publish the fairy tale in Russia. It was possible to do this only in 1906 in a softened version under the title "Small fish, but better than a big cockroach."

Where does the fairy tale begin? (Everything is dried up, and brains too, everything is weathered.)

- How did the vobla live? How does he explain his mind-reason? (Clever that they withered in time, deprived of thoughts, feelings, conscience. “Now I don’t have extra thoughts, no extra feelings, no extra conscience- nothing like that will happen!” The words sound like a refrain: "Ears do not grow above the forehead.")

- What phenomena of modern reality does the satirist ridicule in this tale?

Preaching the ideal of accuracy and moderation in the name of preservation, with his salutary speeches vobla justifies and glorifies base existence cowardly and miserable "wise scribblers". The process of "drying", necrosis and debasement of souls is shown by the satirist.

The vulgar speeches and calls of the vobla helped people who had lost their civil dignity to "live", without thinking about anything, without looking into the future.

3. "Bear in the province" (1884)

What are your impressions of reading the story? Read out.

- Tell us about the fate of the Toptygins. What do they need? ("Bloodshed"- that's what you need. The fate of ToptyginI- "got burned on nonsense", even though then he smashed everything- was expelled. ToptyginII- unbelted, destroyed everything, but the peasants "blew up", they taught him a lesson with a horn. TolpyginIIIhe chose the golden mean: he did nothing, but he "was overtaken by the fate of all fur-bearing animals.")

Teacher. The political meaning of the tale was clear to the writer's contemporaries. The tale was written three years after the assassination of Alexander II. At the request of censorship, Shchedrin's work was withdrawn from the Otechestvennye Zapiski magazine.

What phenomena of modern reality did the satirist ridicule? Who is the story directed at?

Findings. M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin introduces topical political motives into the world of fairy tales, reveals the complex problems of our time. The bear, under the pen of a satirist, acquires the features of an obscurantist administrator who oppresses the people, exterminates sedition, and destroys enlightenment.

VII. Artistic originality of fairy tales

(Student report or message.)

♦ Fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are political satire tales, but they are connected with oral folk art. The writer uses traditional fairy-tale images, fairy-tale formulas and beginnings, as well as proverbs and sayings.

♦ As a realist writer, Shchedrin created many typical images, artistic generalizations. Fairy tales combine the real and the fantastic, the fabulous. The writer skillfully uses the Aesopian style of writing (“Aesopian language”), resorts to “sharpening images” with the help of hyperbole, grotesque, irony.

Literature

1. Saltykov-Shchedrin M. E. Collected works in 10 volumes. T. 8. M: Pravda, 1988.
2. Bushmin A.S. Tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin. 2nd ed. L .: Hu-dozh. lit., 1976.
3. Lebedev Yu. V. Literature: Proc. allowance for uch-Xia 10 cells. environments, schools. Part 2. M: Enlightenment, 1996.
4. Prozorov V. V. The works of M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in school learning. L .: Education: Leningrad, 1989.

Vobla was caught, cleaned out the insides (only milk for the offspring was left) and hung on a string in the sun: let it dry. The roach hung for a day or two, and on the third, the skin on her belly wrinkled, and her head dried up, and the brain that was in her head was weathered, became flabby.

And she began to live and live happily [I know that this doesn’t happen in nature, but since you can’t throw out a word from a fairy tale, it’s obvious that this should be the case (author’s note)].

How good it is, - said the dried roach, - that they did this procedure with me! Now I have no extra thoughts, no extra feelings, no extra conscience - nothing like that will happen! Everything superfluous has been weathered out, cleaned out and dried out, and I will slowly and slowly lead my line!

That there are superfluous thoughts in the world, superfluous conscience, superfluous feelings - about this, while still tenacious in the wild, the vobla heard. And I must admit, I never envied those who had such surpluses. From birth, she was a sedate vobla, she didn’t poke her nose into her own business, she didn’t chase after “superfluous”, she didn’t hover in empyreans and removed unreliable companies. Where else, it happened, he would hear that scribblers were chattering about constitutions - now he is turning to the left and hiding under the mug. However, behind all that, she lived not without fear, because the hour is not even, suddenly... , and you _nearly_ hid somewhere, - they will rummage around _nearly! Where were you? on what occasion? in what manner? - Lord, save and have mercy! Therefore, you can imagine how glad she was when they caught her and all her thoughts and feelings were emasculated! “Now you are welcome!” she triumphantly, “come anytime and anyone! now I have all the evidence!”

What exactly the dried-up roach meant by the name of "superfluous" thoughts and feelings is unknown, but that, indeed, before our very eyes a lot of superfluous started up - I cannot but agree with this. No one has yet called the essence of this superfluous by name, but everyone vaguely feels that no matter where you turn, some kind of appendage peeps out everywhere. And no matter what you want, you must either take this addition into account, or avoid it in such a way that he does not even think that he is being swindled. All this gives rise to the darkness of new worries, complications and worries in general. I would like, in the old way, to go straight, but it filled up straight with a windbreak, distorted it with gullies - well, go for seven miles of kissel there is. Every particular person today is already aware of this burden, and what a burden it is for the authorities - this cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor described with a pen. The states are old, but things are new; Yes, and in the states, in the very same pendants wound up. Previously, an official had a cast-iron lower back: as he sat down at ten in the morning, he does not get up until four - everything serves! And now he will come at one o'clock, having already had breakfast; he smokes a cigarette for an hour, sings couplets for an hour, and the rest of the time he chirps around the tables. And he doesn't keep clerical secrets at all. One thing will begin to leaf through: "Look, what a curiosity!" - he will take on another: "Look! After all, this is - give everything, and even a little!" Pick up curiosities from three boxes and have lunch with Palkin. And how can you resist not to announce the walls of Palkin's tavern as a curiosity! - Yes, if, I will report to you, hard labor is promised for every clerical indiscretion, then you won’t get away from indiscretions!

The question is: with whom is the authorities to rise here! Everyone has accomplices, but he does not; everyone has hiders, but he doesn't! How can one stop the influx of "superfluous" in the particular world, when in one's own citadel, wherever one looks, everything superfluous and inappropriate is gushing over the edge!

It is difficult, oh, how difficult it is to live among this mass of appendages! you have to grope all the way. You think that you found the real place, but it turns out that you were rummaging around "about". Useless, fruitless, cruel, shameful. Let's suppose that it's not a big problem, that an innocent person has passed for a guilty person - there are many of them, these innocent ones! today he is not to blame, but tomorrow who knows? - yes, that's the real trouble: after all, there is no genuine guilty person! Therefore, it is necessary to grope again, and again - by! That's where all the time goes. It is clear that even the most wise particular people (those who do not eat tallow candles and do not wipe themselves with glass) - and they are at an impasse! And since no one wants to sit on a hedgehog with a naked body, everyone cries out: "Lord! carry it!"

No, as you wish, but someday you need to count these pendants, and even look at them. Find out: where did they come from? why? where do they want to go? Not everyone is impudently climbing forward - something else that is useful is found.

However, it is very possible that these questions did not come to mind at all. However, I repeat: she, along with others, felt that either from the weight gain, or about the weight gain - she was obscene in every possible way. And only when she was thoroughly dried and weathered in the sun, when she was convinced that there was nothing left inside her but milk, - only then did she cheer up and say to herself: "Well, now I don't give a damn about anything!"

And for sure: now she, even against the former, has become more solid and trustworthy. Her thoughts are reasonable, her feelings are not hurting anyone, her conscience is worth a nickel. He sits on the edge and speaks as he writes. A beggar will come up to her - she will look around, if there are outsiders - she will put a penny into the hand of a beggar; if there is no one, he will nod his head: God will give! Meet someone - will certainly enter into a conversation; frankly expresses his opinion and will delight everyone with thoroughness. It doesn’t tear, it doesn’t rush about, it doesn’t protest, it doesn’t curse, but it’s reasonable to scribble about reasonable deeds. About the fact that you drive more quietly, you will continue, that a small fish is better than a big cockroach, that if you hurry, you will make people laugh, etc. And most of all, the ears do not grow above the forehead.

Ah, bastard! how boring you breed beans! definitely makes you sick! - the interlocutor will exclaim, if he is from fresh.

And everyone is bored at first, - the voblushka will bashfully answer. - First - boring, and then - good. That's how you live in the world, let them rummage around _around_ you enough - then you will remember about the vobushka, you will say: "Thank you for teaching the mind!"

Yes, it’s impossible not to say thank you, because, if you judge in truth, that’s exactly how only one bug hit the real center. There are situations when you can’t even hear a genuine mind-mind, but there is only a voblushkin mind-mind [advice of a dried roach allegorically reflects the decline public consciousness in a setting political reaction 80s, when "wide scope for applications" received "the theory of small deeds" ("voblushka doctrine")]. People walk around as if sleepy, they don’t know how to start anything, they rejoice at nothing, they don’t grieve at anything. And suddenly a soothing seductive whisper is heard in my ears: "Slowly and gently,

There are no two deaths, one cannot be avoided ... "It's her, it's a bugger whispering! Thank you, bugger! You said the truth: there are no two deaths, but one walks behind your shoulders from time immemorial!

Do not come to the rescue voblashka, one thing would be left - the abyss. But she not only pointed to the shelter, but created an entire citadel. Yes, not such a citadel in which mischievous people sit and look for curiosities, but a real citadel, when looking at which the thought of breaches will not come to anyone! That’s where everything is sewn and covered, there’s nothing about any pendants and you can’t even hear about it! If you want to eat - eat! you want to sleep - sleep! Walk, sit, roll! Nothing can be attached to this. Be happy - that's all.

And you yourself will be happy, and those who are around you - all will be happy! You will not touch anyone, and no one will touch you. Sleep, friends, rest! And there is no reason to fumble around you, because everywhere the path is hard and all the doors are wide open. "Forward without fear and doubt!" [the opening line of A. N. Pleshcheev's poem, which has become a student song, is ironically used by Saltykov-Shchedrin], or, in other words, march to the proper place!

And where did you, voblushka, such a crazy chamber come from? - ask her grateful scribblers, who, by the grace of her advice, remained unmutilated.

From birth, God rewarded me with reason, - modestly replies the little girl, - and besides, even during drying, the brain in my head disappeared ... Since then, I began to scatter my mind ...

And indeed, as long as naive people they hover in empyreans, and the evil ones poison life with the poison of editorials, the voblaka only scatters the mind and thereby benefits. No slander, no misanthropy, no serpentine leading articles act as educationally as the modest example of Voblushkin does. "Ears do not grow above the forehead!" - after all, this is what the ancient Romans said: "Respice finem!" [Think about the consequences! (lat.), popular expression antiquity; full text aphorism: "Quidquid agis, prudenter agis et respice finem" ("Whatever you do, do it wisely and consider the result")] Only more to our court.

Slander is good, and misanthropy is even better, but they hit the nose so hard that not every simpleton can accommodate them. It all seems that one half here is nadlen, and the other is nalgan. And most importantly, the end of the edge is not in sight. You listen or read and you keep thinking: "Smartly, cleverly, but what's next?" - and then again slander, again poison ... This is what confuses. Whether business modest voblushkina reasonableness? "You don't touch anyone - and no one will touch you!" - it's a whole poem! True, this notorious reasonableness is dim, but look how tenaciously it gropes a person, how carefully it polishes him! First, slander will torment you, then the poison of the stable will stupefy, and when the process of torment completes its cycle, when a person feels that there is no place in his whole body that would not ache, and there is no other sensation in his soul than boundless longing, then voblushka with his modest aphorisms. She silently sneaks up on the crippled man and painlessly intoxicates him. And, leading him to the wall, he says: "Look how many astrakhan writing is written there; take it apart all your life - you won't make it out!"

Look at these scribbles, and if there is a hunt, look for their meaning. Here everything is crowded into one place: the precepts of the past, and the poison of the present, and the mysteries of the future. And over everything lay a thick layer of all kinds of dirt, riddles, spring streams and traces of bad weather. And if there is no desire to understand the scribbles, then even better. Take my word for it that the essence of these scrawls can be expressed in a few words: ears do not grow above the forehead. And then live.

The dried roach understood all this very well, or, to put it better, it was not she who understood it herself, but the process of drying through which she went through brought this understanding to her. And later, time and circumstances adopted her and gave her a wide scope for applications.

All fields in turn opened before her, and in each she performed a service. Everywhere she said her word, an empty word, a junk word, but just such that, according to the circumstances, it is better not to.

Having wormed her way into the ranks of the bureaucracy, she insisted above all on clerical secrecy and on rounding off periods. “The main thing,” she repeated, “is that no one knows anything, no one suspects anything, no one understands anything, that everyone walks like drunks!” And it really became clear to everyone that this was exactly what was needed. As for the rounding of the periods, the voblushka reasonably asserted that without this it would be impossible to cover up the traces. There are many kinds of words in the world, but the most dangerous of them are direct, real words. You never need to say real words, because because of a sneeze, flaws peek out. And you take an empty word and start circling it. And circle, and circle; and look on one side, and run on the other; be able to "unfortunately confess" and at the same time do not weaken hope; agreed on the spirit of the times, but do not lose sight of the unbridled passions. Then the flaws fade away by themselves, and only Voblushka's truth remains. That longed-for truth, which helps to survive today, and not to think about tomorrow.

Dried roach climbed into the ranks of "favorites" [in common law - elected to a public position] - and then served the service. At first, the beloved ones behaved rather proudly: "We are a hundred, yes you are a hundred ... to throw our smart thoughts to the feet!" Only and words. And the voblushka sits modestly in the corner and thinks to himself: "My speech is still ahead." And indeed: once they plunged, in another - they plunged, in the third - they were going to plunge again, but they could not make ends meet. One shouts: "Not enough!", the other shouts over: "A lot!", and the third one directly declares a riot: "Let's go, brothers, straight ahead ..." - so they let you in! It was here that the voblachka showed itself. She waited a moment, when everyone’s throat was dry, and said: “We can then cast down, if they ask us, and if they don’t ask us, then we must sit still and receive the appropriated content.” - "How so? why?" - "That's why, he says, it's been done this way from time immemorial: if they ask - throw it! But if they don't ask - sit and remember that ears do not grow above the forehead!" And suddenly, from these simple words, it was as if a veil had fallen from everyone's eyes. And beloved people began to praise the vagrant and marvel at her wits.

Where did you get such a crazy chamber from? - they surrounded her from all sides, - after all, if not for you, we probably would have met Makar, who does not drive calves!

And the voblushka modestly rejoiced at her feat and explained:

That's why I'm so smart that I was shrugged off in a timely manner. Since then, the light has just shone on me: no extra feelings, no extra thoughts, no extra conscience - there is nothing in me. About one thing I keep repeating to myself and to others: ears do not grow higher than the forehead! don't grow!

Correctly! - the beloved people agreed and immediately decided once and for all: - If they ask - to plunge! instead of asking - to sit and receive the appropriated content ...

Which rule is followed to this day.

I tried dried roach and judged human delusions - and it also turned out well for her. Here she clearly proved that if superfluous thoughts and superfluous feelings unnecessarily complicate life, then an extra conscience and even more so not to the court. An extra conscience fills hearts with timidity, stops a hand that is ready to throw a stone, whispers to the judge: "Check yourself!" And if someone has a conscience, along with other offal, cleaned out of the inside, he has no timidity in the factory, but on the other hand, stones are full of bosoms. The dried roach looks at himself, without blinking, at human delusions, and you know yourself throwing pebbles. Each delusion is listed under her number, and against each pebble is in store - also under the number. All that's left to do is to keep the hard-hitting bookkeeping. An eye for an eye, a number for a number. If it is necessary to cripple completely - completely cripple: it's your own fault! If it is necessary to cripple in particular - to cripple a particle: forward science! And everyone liked her so much with her reasonableness that soon no one could even remember about conscience without laughing ...

But most of all, Voblushka's volunteer activities to spread sound thoughts in society were rich in consequences. From morning to evening she tirelessly walked through the towns and villages and sang one song all the time: "Do not grow your ears above your forehead! Do not grow!" And not that she sang with passion, but solidly, judiciously, so there was nothing to be angry with her for. Unless, in a fever, someone shouts: "Look, you bastard, you've sung!" - well, but in the matter of spreading sound thoughts, it’s impossible without someone cursing a foul ...

Dried roach, however, was not embarrassed by these parting words. She said to herself, not without reason: "Let them first get used to my voice, and then I will achieve my goal ..."

I must tell the truth: the society to which the teachings of the vobla were addressed did not represent particular stability. There were also convinced people in it, but a motley man predominated [In November 1884, in Vestnik Evropy (for the first time after the closure of Otechestvennye Zapiski), Saltykov-Shchedrin began to print Motley Letters. In the IX letter, he gave the following description of the "variegated people": " Common feature, by which it is possible to distinguish motley people, is that they wore out their conscience to holes ... They were everything during their lives: and advocates of a tight iron, and liberals, and Westerners, and populists, even "Sicilists", as now they say "(M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. Collected works in 20 volumes, vol. 16, book I, p. 376)]. This, let's say, happens everywhere, but in other places for convinced people stand out fairly bright intervals, and here they are short. Please, all at once put this whole mass of motley people on the right path, please make sure that they learn for themselves the idea of \u200b\u200btheir right to life, but not just mechanically learned, but with so that, in case of need, they were able to defend this right. One can affirmatively say that this is a painful task. And meanwhile, in its name, how many lives are lost, how much sweat and blood are shed, how many mournful and heavy thoughts are changed! And if as a result of these efforts, one single minute of joy will flash (in addition, imaginary), then this is already a reward that is considered sufficient to justify the whole years of subsequent poisoning ...

And besides, the time was vague, unfaithful and cruel. Convinced people toiled, tormented, tossed about, asked questions and, instead of answering, they saw a locked door in front of them. The motley people followed their attempts in bewilderment and at the same time sniffed the smell in the air. It didn't smell good; the presence of an iron ring was felt, which every day more and more contracted. "Someone will help us out? someone the right word will he say?" - the motley people yearned every moment and were glad, gladly, when sobering sounds rang out in their ears.

A short period of thought sets in: the motley people have already made up their minds, but are still ashamed. Then the motley mass begins, little by little, to get agitated. More, more, and suddenly a cry: "Ears do not grow above the forehead! do not grow!"

Society has sobered up. This spectacle of complete liberation from superfluous thoughts, superfluous feelings and superfluous conscience is so touching that even slanderers and misanthropes fall silent for a while. They are forced to admit that a simple roach, with dried milk and a weathered brain, has performed such miracles of conservatism that they did not even dare to guess. One thing consoles them: that these feats are raised by a roach under the guise of their misanthropic cries. And if they did not appeal to the mediation of hedgehogs, if they did not threaten to be bent into a ram's horn, could the vobla successfully conduct its peaceful revival propaganda? Wouldn't they peck her? wouldn't they laugh at her? And, finally, didn’t the prospect of scorpions and wounds, shown every minute by them, slanderers, influenced the decision of motley people?

Some of the slanderers even arranged a loophole just in case. Praise was praised, but the stone in the bosom was still reserved. “Fine,” they said, “we are pleased to admit that society has sobered up, that the chimera has been abolished, and a healthy, unpainted life has come into its place. But for how long? But is our sobering up durable? peaceful character, which marked the process of our rebirth, leads to very serious thoughts. Until now, we knew that delusions are not so easy to lay down weapons even in the face of the evidence of accomplished facts, and then suddenly, unexpectedly, thanks to the authority of a proverb, let's put , well-intentioned and sanctified by centuries of experience, but still no more than a proverb - is a radical and universal sobering up! Is it complete, is it true? Is the conversion that took place before our eyes sincerely? Is it not an artful compromise or a temporary modus vivendi lat.)], admitted as a distraction? And are there not in the very methods that accompanied the revival, signs of that lightweight liberalism, which, avoiding such and tried and tested means iron gloves dreams of dispersing the gloom gravitating over us with meek measures? Isn't it too easy to forget that our society is nothing but a motley and characterless agglomeration of all possible influences and stratifications, and that it is possible to successfully act on this agglomerate only when the various elements that make it up are previously reduced to the same denominator? "

Be that as it may, but a real, healthy tone was found. At first it was adopted in the salons; then he entered the taverns, then ... The ladies rejoiced and said: "Now our balls will begin." The Gostinodvorets deployed materials and expected the revival of industry.

There was only one thing left: to find a real, healthy "case" to which a "healthy" tone could be applied.

However, something extraordinary happened here. It turned out that until now everyone had only tight-fisted gloves on their minds, and so little thought was given to the matter that no one could even call him by name. Everyone says willingly: "We need to do something," but they don't know what kind. Meanwhile, the vobla is pacing among the revived crowd and smugly cries out: "Ears do not grow higher than the forehead! do not grow!"

Have mercy, bastard! but this is only a “tone”, and not a “deed,” they object to her, “what kind of business is ahead of us, tell me!

But she's done one thing and won't give up an inch! So they didn't learn anything about the case from anyone.

But, in addition, another question immediately popped up from the side: what if the real case is finally opened - who will do it?

Will you, Ivan Ivanovich, do business?

Where am I, Ivan Nikiforovich! My hut is on the edge ... are you really ... [it is common for Saltykov-Shchedrin to use the literary types of other writers (Lermontov's Pechorin, the characters of Griboedov's Woe from Wit, the heroes of Fonvizin, Turgenev, in this case Gogol's characters "The Tale of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich")]

What do you! what do you! but am I talking about two heads! because I, father, have not forgotten ...

And so everything. One has a hut on the edge, the other has more than two heads, the third hasn’t forgotten something ... everyone is looking, as if to slip through the doorway, everyone’s heart is out of place and their hands are like whips ...

"Ears do not grow above the forehead!" - well said, strong, and then what? Reading scribbles on the wall? - let's say, and that's good, but then what? Don't move, don't utter a word, don't poke your nose, don't talk? That's great, but what's next?

And the more diligently the logical consequences deriving from the Voblushka doctrine were deduced, the more and more often the question became in the throat: "And then what?"

The slanderers and misanthropes volunteered to answer this question.

“Taken in itself,” they said and wrote, “the doctrine known as the doctrine of dried roach, not only does not deserve reproach, but can even be called quite trustworthy. But the point is not in the doctrine and its provisions, but in those methods which were used to carry it out and about which we, from the very beginning, warned those who should know about it. These methods were positively unsuitable, as it already turned out now. They bore the stigma of that foul liberalism, which has been so many times led us to the edge of the abyss, so that if we are not yet at the bottom of it, it is only thanks to common sense, which has always been at the foundation of our life. common sense and will now do his usual service for us. Let him suggest to everyone who seriously understands the interests of his fatherland that the only expedient method by which we can achieve any result is to use iron gloves. Traditions of the past remind us of this; the confusion of the present testifies to the same. This turmoil would not have been in sight if our warnings had been timely heard and taken into account. "Caveant consuls!" [Let the consuls be vigilant! (lat.)] - we repeat, and at the same time we add for those who do not know Latin, that in Russian translation the expression means: do not yawn!

Thus, it turned out that although the roach was dried, and her insides were cleaned out, and her brain was weathered, but still, in the end, she had to unbelt. She went from triumphant to suspect, from well-intentioned to liberal. And the more dangerous the liberal, the more trustworthy was the thought that formed the basis of her propaganda.

And then, one morning, an unheard-of atrocity happened. One of the most zealous slanderers grabbed a dried roach under the gills, bit off its head, tore off its skin and ate it in front of everyone ...

The motley people looked at this spectacle, clasped their hands and yelled: "Long live the iron fists!" But History looked at the matter differently and secretly put in her heart: "In a hundred years, I will certainly emboss all this!"

Dried vobla

***

And the vobla began to live and live.

That there are superfluous thoughts in the world, superfluous conscience, superfluous feelings - about this, while still tenacious in the wild, the vobla heard and, frankly, never envied those who possessed such surpluses. From birth, she was a sedate vobla, she didn’t poke her nose into her own business, she didn’t chase after the “superfluous”, she didn’t hover in the empyrean, unreliable companies were removed. Where else, he used to hear that the scribblers were chattering about constitutions - now he is going around to the left and under the burdock will be buried. However, behind all that, she lived not without fear, because the hour is not even, suddenly ... “Wise times today! she thought. - So tricky that an innocent person will pass for a guilty one! They will start rummaging around, and you hid somewhere nearby - and they will rummage around! Where was? on what occasion? in what manner? - Lord, save and have mercy! Therefore, you can imagine how glad she was when they caught her and all her thoughts and feelings were emasculated! “Now you are welcome! she triumphed. - Whenever and whoever come! Now I have all the proof!

What exactly the dried-up roach meant by the name of "extra thoughts and feelings" is unknown, but that really before our eyes a lot of superfluous started up - I cannot disagree with this either. No one has yet called the essence of this superfluous by name, but everyone vaguely feels that, wherever you turn, some kind of appendage peeps out everywhere. And no matter what you want, you must either take this addition into account, or avoid it in such a way that he does not even think that he is being swindled. All this gives rise to the darkness of new worries, complications and worries in general. I would like, in the old way, to go straight, but it filled up straight with a windbreak, distorted the gullies - well, go seven miles of jelly. Every particular person today is already aware of this burden, and what a burden it is for the authorities - this cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor described with a pen. The states are old, but things are new; and in the states, in the very states, pendants have already been wound up. Previously, an official had a cast-iron lower back: as he sat down at ten o'clock in the morning, he did not get up until four - everything served! And now he will come at one o'clock, having already had breakfast; he smokes a cigarette for an hour, sings couplets for an hour, and the rest of the time he chirps around the tables. And he doesn't keep clerical secrets at all. He will start flipping through one thing: “Look, what a curiosity!” - he will take on another: “Look, this is - give everything and even a little!” Pick up curiosities from three boxes and have lunch with Palkin. And how can you resist not to announce the walls of Palkin's tavern as a curiosity! Yes, if, I will report to you, hard labor is promised for every clerical indiscretion, then there is no escape from indiscretions!

It is difficult, oh, how difficult it is to live among this mass of appendages! you have to grope all the way. You think that you found the real place, but it turns out that you were rummaging around "about". Useless, fruitless, cruel, shameful. Let us suppose that it is not a great misfortune that an innocent person has passed for a guilty person - there are many of them, these innocent ones! today he is innocent, but tomorrow who knows? - Yes, that's the real trouble: after all, there is no one who is truly guilty! Therefore, it is necessary to grope again, and again - by! That's where all the time goes. It is clear that even the most wise particular people (those who do not eat tallow candles and do not wipe themselves with glass) - and they are at an impasse! And since no one wants to sit on a hedgehog with a naked body, everyone cries out: Lord! carry it!

No, as you wish, but someday you need to count these pendants and take a closer look at them. Find out: where did they come from? why? where do they want to go? Not everyone is impudently climbing forward - something else that is useful is found.

However, it is very possible that these questions did not come to mind at all. However, I repeat: she, along with the others, felt that either from the weight gain, or about the weight gain, she was obscene in every possible way. And only then, when she was thoroughly wilted and weathered in the sun, when she was convinced that there was nothing left inside her but milk, - only then did she cheer up and say to herself: “Well, now I don’t give a damn about anything!”

And for sure: now she, even against the former, has become more solid and trustworthy. Her thoughts are reasonable, her feelings are not hurting anyone, her conscience is worth a nickel. He sits on the edge and speaks as he writes. A beggar will come up to her - she will look around, if there are outsiders - she will put a penny into the hand of a beggar; if there is no one, he will nod his head: God will give! Meet someone - will certainly enter into a conversation; frankly expresses his opinion and will delight everyone with thoroughness. He doesn’t tear, he doesn’t rush about, he doesn’t protest, he doesn’t curse, but rationally scribbles about reasonable deeds. About the fact that you drive more quietly, you will continue, that a small fish is better than a big cockroach, that you hurry - you make people laugh, etc. And most of all, that ears do not grow above the forehead.

Ah, bastard! how boring you breed beans! definitely makes you sick! - the interlocutor will exclaim, if he is from fresh.

And everyone is bored at first, - the voblushka will bashfully answer. - First - boring, and then - good. That's how you live in the world and let them rummage around you enough - then you will remember about the voblushka, you will say: thank you for teaching the mind!

Yes, it’s impossible not to say thank you, because if you judge in truth, that’s exactly how only one bug hit the real center. There are such situations when you can’t even hear the true mind-reason, but there is only a mind-reason. People walk around as if sleepy, they don’t know how to start anything, they rejoice at nothing, they don’t grieve at anything. And suddenly a soothing seductive whisper is heard in the ears: “Slowly and gently, there are no two deaths, one cannot be avoided ...” This is she, this is whispering! Thank you, voblushka, you said the truth: there are no two deaths, but one walks behind your shoulders from time immemorial!

Do not come to the rescue voblashka, one thing would be left - the abyss. But she not only pointed to the shelter, she created an entire citadel. Yes, not such a citadel in which mischievous people sit and look for curiosities, but a real citadel, when looking at which the thought of breaches will not come to anyone! That’s where everything is sewn and covered, there you can’t even hear about any pendants! If you want to eat - eat! you want to sleep - sleep! Walk, sit, roll! Nothing can be attached to this. Be happy - that's all.

And where did you, voblushka, such a crazy chamber come from? - ask her grateful scribblers, who, by the grace of her advice, remained unmutilated.

From birth, God rewarded me with reason, - modestly replies the voblushka, - and besides, even during drying, the brain in my head disappeared ... Since then, I began to scatter my mind ...

And indeed: as long as naive people hover in empyreans, and the evildoers poison life with the poison of editorials, the bastard only scatters the mind and thereby benefits. No slander, no misanthropy, no serpentine leading articles act as educationally as the modest example of Voblushkin does. “Ears do not grow above the forehead!” - after all, this is what the ancient Romans used to say: respice finem! Only more to us to the yard.

Slander is good, and misanthropy is even better, but they hit the nose so hard that not every simpleton can accommodate them. It all seems that one half here is nadlen, and the other is nalgan. And most importantly, there is no end in sight. You listen or read and you keep thinking: cleverly, cleverly, but what's next? - and then again slander, again poison ... This is what confuses. Whether business modest voblushkina reasonableness? “You don’t touch anyone - and no one will touch you!” - it's a whole poem! True, this notorious reasonableness is dim, but look how tenaciously it gropes a person, how carefully it polishes him! First, slander will torment you, then the poison of the stable will stupefy, and when the process of torment completes its cycle, when a person feels that there is no place in his whole body that would not ache, and there is no other sensation in his soul than boundless longing, then voblushka with his modest aphorisms. She silently sneaks up on the crippled man and painlessly intoxicates him. And, leading him to the wall, he says: “Look how many scribbles are written there; disassemble all your life - you can’t make out everything! ”

Look at these scribbles and, if you feel like it, look for their meaning. Here everything is crowded into one place: the testaments of the past and the poison of the present, and the mysteries of the future. And over everything lay a thick layer of all kinds of dirt, riddles, spring streams and traces of bad weather. And if there is no desire to understand the scribbles, then even better. Take my word for it that the essence of these scrawls can be expressed in a few words: ears do not grow above the forehead. And for that - live.

All fields in turn opened before her, and in each she performed a service. Everywhere she said her word, an empty word, a junk word, but precisely such that, given the circumstances, it would be better not to.

Having wormed her way into the ranks of the bureaucracy, she insisted above all on clerical secrecy and on rounding off periods. “The main thing,” she repeated, “is that no one knows anything, no one suspects anything, no one understands anything, that everyone walks around like drunk!” And it really became clear to everyone that this was exactly what was needed. As for the rounding of the periods, the voblushka reasonably asserted that without this it would be impossible to cover up the traces. There are many kinds of words in the world, but the most dangerous of them are direct, real words. You never need to say real words, because they show flaws. And you take an empty word and start circling it. And circle, and circle; and look on one side and run on the other; know how to “unfortunately confess” and at the same time do not weaken hope; agreed on the spirit of the times, but do not lose sight of the unbridled passions. Then the flaws fade away by themselves, and only Voblushka's truth remains. That longed-for truth, which helps to survive today, and not to think about tomorrow.

Dried roach climbed into the ranks of the "favorite" - and then served. At first, the beloved ones behaved rather proudly: we are a hundred, yes you are a hundred ... to throw our smart thoughts to the feet! Only and words. And the voblushka sits modestly in the corner and thinks to himself: my speech is still ahead. And indeed, once they plunged, in another - they plunged, in the third - they were going to plunge again, but they could not make ends meet. One shouts: not enough! another shouts over: a lot! and the third one directly announces a riot: let's go, brothers, they let you in just like that! This is where the bug showed itself. She waited a moment, when everyone’s throat was dry, and said: “We can then cast down, if they ask us, and if they don’t ask us, then we must sit still and receive the appropriated content.” - “How so? why?" - “Therefore, he says that it is so from time immemorial: if they ask, throw it down! but do not ask - sit and remember that ears do not grow above the forehead! And suddenly, from these simple words, it was as if a veil had fallen from everyone's eyes. And beloved people began to praise the vagrant and marvel at her mind-reason.

Where did you get such a crazy chamber from? surrounded her on all sides. - After all, if not for you, we probably would have met with Makar, who does not chase calves!

And the voblushka modestly rejoiced at her feat and explained:

Correctly! - the beloved people agreed and immediately decided once and for all: if they ask - to plunge! instead of asking - to sit and receive the appropriated content ...

Which rule is followed to this day.

I tried dried roach and judged human delusions - and it also turned out well for her. Here she clearly proved that if superfluous thoughts and superfluous feelings unnecessarily complicate life, then an extra conscience and even more so not to the court. An extra conscience fills hearts with timidity, stops a hand that is ready to throw a stone, whispers to the judge: check yourself! And if someone’s conscience, along with other offal, has been cleaned out of the inside, he doesn’t have timidity even in the factory, but on the other hand, his bosom is full of stones. The dried roach looks at himself, without blinking, at human delusions and, you know, throws stones at yourself. Each delusion is listed under her number, and against each pebble is in store - also under the number. All that's left to do is to keep the hard-hitting bookkeeping. An eye for an eye, a number for a number. If it is necessary to cripple completely - completely cripple: it's your own fault! If it is necessary to cripple in particular - to cripple a particle: forward science! And everyone liked her so much with her reasonableness that soon no one could even remember about conscience without laughing ...

But most of all, Voblushka's volunteer activities to spread sound thoughts in society were rich in consequences. From morning to evening she tirelessly walked through the towns and villages and sang one song all the time: “Do not grow your ears above your forehead! don't grow up! And not that she sang with passion, but solidly, judiciously, so there was nothing to be angry with her for. Unless, in a fever, someone shouts: “Look, you bastard, you’ve sung!” “well, in the matter of spreading sound ideas, it’s impossible without someone to scold them with foul language…”

Dried roach, however, was not embarrassed by these parting words. She said to herself not without reason: let them first get used to my voice, and then I will achieve my goal ...

I must tell the truth: the society to which the teachings of the vobla were addressed did not represent particular stability. There were also convinced people in him, but a motley man predominated. This, let's say, happens everywhere, but in other places, for convinced people, fair gaps of light stand out, but here they are short. If you please, overnight, put this whole mass of motley people on the right path, if you please, ensure that they learn the idea of their right to life, and not only mechanically learn it, but so that, if necessary, they know how to defend this right. It can be said in the affirmative that this task is painful. And meanwhile, how many lives are lost in her name, how much sweat and blood are shed, how many mournful and heavy thoughts are thought over! And if as a result of these efforts one single minute of joy flashes (in addition, imaginary), then this is already a reward that is considered sufficient to justify the whole years of subsequent poisoning ...

And besides, the time was vague, unfaithful and cruel. Convinced people toiled, tormented, tossed about, asked questions, and instead of an answer, they saw a locked door in front of them. The motley people followed their attempts in bewilderment and at the same time sniffed the smell in the air. It didn't smell good; the presence of an iron ring was felt, which every day more and more contracted. Someone help us out? someone say the right word? the motley people were instantly saddened and glad-joyed when sobering sounds resounded in their ears.

There comes a short period of reflection: motley people have already decided, but are still ashamed. Then the motley mass begins, little by little, to agitate. More, more, and suddenly a cry: “Ears do not grow above the forehead, do not grow!”

Society has sobered up. This spectacle of complete liberation from superfluous thoughts, superfluous feelings and superfluous conscience is so touching that even slanderers and misanthropes fall silent for a while. They are forced to admit that a simple roach, with dried milk and a weathered brain, has performed such miracles of conservatism that they did not even dare to guess. One thing consoles them: that these feats are raised by a roach under the guise of their misanthropic cries. If they did not appeal to the mediation of hedgehogs, if they did not threaten to be bent into a ram's horn, could the vobla successfully conduct its peaceful revival propaganda? Wouldn't they peck her? wouldn't they laugh at her? And, finally, didn’t the prospect of scorpions and wounds, shown every minute by them, slanderers, influenced the decision of motley people?

Some of the slanderers even arranged a loophole just in case. Praise was praised, but the stone in the bosom was still reserved. “Great,” they said. - We are pleased to admit that society has sobered up, that the chimera has been abolished, and healthy, unpainted life has taken its place in its place. But for how long? but whether our sobering up is lasting - that is the question. In this sense, the peaceful character that marked the process of our revival suggests very serious thoughts. Until now, we knew that delusions do not so easily lay down weapons even in the face of the evidence of accomplished facts, but then suddenly, unexpectedly, thanks to the authority of a proverb - let’s say, well-intentioned and consecrated by centuries of experience, but still no more than a proverb, - is a radical and widespread sobering up! Complete, is it? Is the conversion that took place before our eyes sincere? does it not represent an artful compromise, or a temporary modus vivendi allowed to divert attention? And are there not in the very methods that accompanied the revival signs of that light-hearted liberalism, which, avoiding such tried and tested means as iron gloves, dreams of dispersing the gloom weighing over us with meek measures? Isn't it too easy to forget that our society is nothing but a motley and characterless agglomeration of all kinds of trends and stratifications, and that it is possible to successfully act on this agglomerate only when the various elements that make it up are previously reduced to the same denominator? ?

Be that as it may, but a real, healthy tone was found. At first it was adopted in the salons; then he entered the taverns, then ... The ladies rejoiced and said: now our balls will begin. The Gostinodvorets deployed materials and expected the revival of industry.

There was only one thing left: to find a real, healthy "case" to which a "healthy" tone could be applied.

However, something extraordinary happened here. It turned out that until now everyone had only tight-fisted gloves on their minds, and so little thought was given to the matter that no one could even call him by name. Everyone says willingly: it is necessary to do business, but what - they do not know. Meanwhile, the vobla is pacing among the revived crowd and cries out smugly: “Ears do not grow higher than the forehead! don't grow!

Have mercy, bastard! but this is only a “tone”, and not a “deed,” they object to her. - What business is ahead of us, tell me!

But she's done one thing and won't give up an inch! So they didn't learn anything about the case from anyone.

But, in addition, another question immediately popped up from the side: what if the real case is finally opened - who will do it?

Will you, Ivan Ivanovich, do business?

Where am I, Ivan Nikiforovich! My hut is on the edge ... are you ...

What do you! what do you! but am I talking about two heads! because I, father, do not. forgot…

“Ears do not grow above the forehead” - this is well said, strong, and then what? Reading scribbles on the wall? - let's say, and that's good, but then what? Don't move, don't utter a word, don't poke your nose, don't talk? That's great, but what's next?

And the more diligently the logical consequences deriving from the Voblushka doctrine were deduced, the more and more often the question became in the throat: what next?

The slanderers and misanthropes volunteered to answer this question.

“Taken in itself,” they said and wrote, “the doctrine known as the doctrine of dried roach, not only does not deserve censure, but can even be called quite trustworthy. But the point is not in the doctrine and its provisions, but in those methods that were used for its implementation and about which we warned from the very beginning those who should know about it. These methods were positively useless, as it already turned out to be now. They bore the stigma of the same foul liberalism that has so many times brought us to the edge of the abyss. So if we are not yet at the bottom of it, then it is only thanks to common sense, which from time immemorial has been at the basis of our life. Let this common sense now serve us its usual service. Let him suggest to everyone who seriously understands the interests of his fatherland that the only expedient method by which we can achieve any result is the use of iron gloves. Traditions of the past remind us of this; the confusion of the present testifies to the same. This turmoil would not have been in sight if our warnings had been timely heard and taken into account. “Caveant consules!” - we repeat, and at the same time we add for those who do not know Latin that in Russian translation this expression means: “Do not yawn!”

Thus, it turned out that although the roach was dried and its insides were cleaned out, it was weathered into the brain, but nevertheless, in the end, it had to unbelt. She went from triumphant to suspect, from well-intentioned to liberal. And the more dangerous the liberal, the more trustworthy was the thought that formed the basis of her propaganda.

The motley people looked at this spectacle, clasped their hands and yelled: “Long live the iron fists!” But History looked at the matter differently and secretly put it in her heart: in a hundred years I will certainly press all this!

I know that this does not happen in nature, but since you cannot erase a word from a fairy tale, then, apparently, this should be the case. (Author's note.)

"Forward without fear and doubt!" - a line from a poem by A. Pleshcheev, which later became the song of progressive youth

“The vobla was caught, the insides were cleaned (only milk was left for the offspring) and hung on a string in the sun: let it dry. The roach hung for a day or two, and on the third, the skin on her belly wrinkled, and her head dried up, and the brain that was in her head was weathered, became flabby.

“How good it is,” said the dried roach, “that they did this procedure with me! Now I have no extra thoughts, no extra feelings, no extra conscience - nothing like that will happen!

The roach was always afraid to get in the wrong place, not by chance. Therefore, she was very happy when they caught her “and all her thoughts and feelings were emasculated!” . The following is about the officer. Previously, he worked a lot, but now he comes to work only at one o'clock, "having already had breakfast." Then he smokes for a long time, and then it's time to "dine with Palkin."

Palkin has a tavern. Everyone is happy to listen to curiosities. “... Everywhere, the superfluous and the inappropriate are whipping over the edge!” And wobble now does not care at all! And she has nothing to talk about. It's boring to talk to her. “And everyone is bored at first,” the voblushka will bashfully answer. - First - boring, and then - good. That's how you live in the world, let them rummage around you enough - then you will remember about the voblushka, you will say: “Thank you for teaching the mind!”

Voblushkin's philosophy: “Slowly and slowly, there are no two deaths, one cannot be avoided ...” Do whatever you want, just be happy.

Every area of life has its own pitfalls. “There are many different words in the world, but the most dangerous of them are direct, real words. You never need to say real words, because because of them flaws look out. And you take an empty word and start circling it.

When a voblushka appears in the company of “chosen for a public position”, “beloved ones”, she advises: “... If they ask, throw it down! but they don’t ask - sit and remember that ears do not grow above the forehead! This is the most important thing to know. And there is no need to understand the rest.

“That’s why I’m so smart that I was put through in a timely manner,” she explains to the astonished listeners.

“An extra conscience fills hearts with timidity, stops a hand that is ready to throw a stone, whispers to the judge: “Check yourself!”

And if someone has a conscience, along with other tripe, cleaned out of the inside, he does not have timidity in the factory, but on the other hand, stones are full of sinuses.

So the vobla convinced everyone that only she knows what the meaning of life is.

Yes, only, despite the fact that the roach was dried, and her insides were cleaned out, and her brain was weathered, but still, in the end, she had to unbelt. She has become a liberal.