N m Karamzin read the story poor Lisa.  N.M. Karamzin

Still from the film “Poor Lisa” (2000)

In the outskirts of Moscow, not far from the Simonov Monastery, there once lived a young girl Lisa with her old mother. After the death of Liza's father, a fairly wealthy villager, his wife and daughter became poor. The widow became weaker day by day and could not work. Liza alone, not sparing her tender youth and rare beauty, worked day and night - weaving canvases, knitting stockings, picking flowers in the spring, and berries in the summer and selling them in Moscow.

One spring, two years after her father’s death, Lisa came to Moscow with lilies of the valley. A young, well-dressed man met her on the street. Having learned that she was selling flowers, he offered her a ruble instead of five kopecks, saying that “beautiful lilies of the valley, plucked by the hands of a beautiful girl, are worth a ruble.” But Lisa refused the offered amount. He did not insist, but said that in the future he would always buy flowers from her and would like her to pick them only for him.

Arriving home, Lisa told her mother everything, and the next day she picked the best lilies of the valley and came to the city again, but this time she did not meet the young man. Throwing flowers into the river, she returned home with sadness in her soul. The next day in the evening the stranger himself came to her house. As soon as she saw him, Lisa rushed to her mother and excitedly told him who was coming to them. The old woman met the guest, and he seemed to her to be a very kind and pleasant person. Erast—that was the young man’s name—confirmed that he was going to buy flowers from Lisa in the future, and she didn’t have to go into town: he could stop by to see them himself.

Erast was a rather rich nobleman, with a fair amount of intelligence and a naturally kind heart, but weak and flighty. He led an absent-minded life, thought only about his own pleasure, looked for it in secular amusements, and not finding it, he was bored and complained about fate. At the first meeting, Lisa’s immaculate beauty shocked him: it seemed to him that in her he found exactly what he had been looking for for a long time.

This was the beginning of their long dates. Every evening they saw each other either on the river bank, or in a birch grove, or under the shade of hundred-year-old oak trees. They hugged, but their hugs were pure and innocent.

Several weeks passed like this. It seemed that nothing could interfere with their happiness. But one evening Lisa came to a date sad. It turned out that the groom, the son of a rich peasant, was wooing her, and her mother wanted her to marry him. Erast, consoling Lisa, said that after his mother’s death he would take her to him and live with her inseparably. But Lisa reminded the young man that he could never be her husband: she was a peasant, and he was of a noble family. You offend me, said Erast, for your friend the most important thing is your soul, a sensitive, innocent soul, you will always be closest to my heart. Lisa threw herself into his arms - and at this hour her integrity was to perish.

The delusion passed in one minute, giving way to surprise and fear. Lisa cried saying goodbye to Erast.

Their dates continued, but how everything changed! Lisa was no longer an angel of purity for Erast; platonic love gave way to feelings that he could not be “proud of” and which were not new to him. Lisa noticed a change in him, and it saddened her.

Once during a date, Erast told Lisa that he was being drafted into the army; they will have to part for a while, but he promises to love her and hopes to never part with her upon his return. It is not difficult to imagine how hard it was for Lisa to be separated from her beloved. However, hope did not leave her, and every morning she woke up with the thought of Erast and their happiness upon his return.

About two months passed like this. One day Lisa went to Moscow and on one of the big streets she saw Erast passing by in a magnificent carriage, which stopped near a huge house. Erast came out and was about to go out onto the porch, when he suddenly felt himself in Lisa’s arms. He turned pale, then, without saying a word, led her into the office and locked the door. Circumstances have changed, he announced to the girl, he is engaged.

Before Lisa could come to her senses, he took her out of the office and told the servant to escort her out of the yard.

Finding herself on the street, Lisa walked wherever she looked, unable to believe what she heard. She left the city and wandered for a long time until she suddenly found herself on the shore of a deep pond, under the shadow of ancient oak trees, which several weeks before had been silent witnesses to her delight. This memory shocked Lisa, but after a few minutes she fell into deep thought. Seeing a neighbor's girl walking along the road, she called her, took all the money out of her pocket and gave it to her, asking her to tell her mother, kiss her and ask her to forgive her poor daughter. Then she threw herself into the water, and they could no longer save her.

Liza’s mother, having learned about the terrible death of her daughter, could not withstand the blow and died on the spot. Erast was unhappy until the end of his life. He did not deceive Lisa when he told her that he was going to the army, but, instead of fighting the enemy, he played cards and lost his entire fortune. He had to marry an elderly rich widow who had been in love with him for a long time. Having learned about Liza’s fate, he could not console himself and considered himself a murderer. Now, perhaps, they have already reconciled.

Retold

N. M. Karamzin’s story “Poor Liza” was first published in the June issue of the Moscow Journal for 1792. It marked the beginning not only of Karamzin’s original prose, but also of all Russian classical literature. Before the appearance of the first novels and short stories by Pushkin and Gogol, “Poor Liza” remained the most perfect work of art.

The story was extremely popular among Russian readers. Much later, critics will reproach the author for excessive “sentimentality” and “sweetness,” forgetting about the historical era in which Karamzin lived.

“Poor Liza” became a necessary transitional stage in the formation of the modern Russian language. The story is strikingly different from the ponderous style of the 18th century and anticipates the best examples of the golden age of Russian literature.

Meaning of the name

“Poor Lisa” is the name and at the same time a figurative characteristic of the main character. The definition of “poor” refers not only to the girl’s financial situation, but also to her unhappy fate.

The main theme of the work

The main theme of the work is tragic love.

Lisa is an ordinary peasant girl who, after the death of her father, is forced to support herself and her mother. Running a peasant farm requires male strength, so until Lisa gets married, she takes on any feasible female work: weaving, knitting, picking and selling flowers and berries. The old mother is eternally grateful to her only nurse and dreams that God will send her a good man.

The turning point in Lisa’s life is a meeting with the young nobleman Erast, who begins to show her signs of attention. For a simple peasant woman, an elegant and well-mannered young man appears to be a demigod, strikingly different from his fellow villagers. Lisa is not a fool after all, she does not allow her new acquaintance anything unnecessary or reprehensible.

Erast is a flighty and careless young man. He had long been tired of the entertainment of high society. Lisa becomes for him the embodiment of an unfulfilled dream of a patriarchal love idyll. At first, Erast really does not have any low thoughts towards the girl. He is happy from innocent meetings with a naive peasant woman. Due to his carelessness, Erast does not even think about the future, about that insurmountable gulf that separates the nobleman and the commoner.

Erast’s modest behavior and respectful attitude towards Lisa conquer the girl’s mother. She treats the young man as a good family friend, and does not even know about the romance that has arisen between the young people, considering it impossible.

The purely platonic relationship between Lisa and Erast could not last forever. The reason for physical intimacy was the mother’s desire to marry her daughter. For the lovers, this was a heavy blow of fate. Hugs, kisses and passionate vows of fidelity led to Lisa losing her virginity.

After the incident, the nature of the relationship between the lovers changes dramatically. For Lisa, Erast becomes the closest person, without whom she cannot imagine her future life. The nobleman “descended from heaven to earth.” Lisa lost her former magical charm in his eyes. Erast began to treat her as a familiar source of sensual pleasure. He is not yet ready to abruptly break off relations with Lisa, but he begins to see her less and less.

The further course of events is not difficult to predict. Erast does not deceive Lisa that he is going to war. However, he returns quite soon and, having forgotten his beloved, finds a rich bride equal to him in social status.

Lisa continues to believe and wait for her loved one. A chance meeting with Erast, the news of his engagement and imminent wedding, and finally, a humiliating monetary alms for love cause the girl enormous emotional trauma. Unable to survive it, Lisa commits suicide.

Thus ends a short romance between a nobleman and a peasant woman, which from the very beginning was doomed to a tragic ending.

Issues

Karamzin became one of the first writers to raise the problem of love between representatives of different classes. Subsequently, this topic received great development in Russian literature.

Love, as we know, knows no boundaries. However, in pre-revolutionary Russia such borders existed and were strictly protected by law and public opinion. The physical relationship of a nobleman with a peasant woman was not forbidden, but the fate of the seduced woman was unenviable. At best, she became a kept woman and could only hope for the master’s adoption of the children they had together.

At the beginning of the love story, Erast behaves simply stupidly, dreaming that he will “live with Liza like brother and sister,” take her to his village, etc. In the finale, he forgets about his promises and does as he says he is of noble origin.

Deceived and dishonored, Lisa prefers to die and take her love and shameful secret to the grave.

Composition

The story has a clear classical structure: exposition (the author's lyrical digression, smoothly transitioning into Lisa's story), beginning (Lisa's meeting with Erast), climax (physical intimacy between lovers) and denouement (Erast's betrayal and Lisa's suicide).

What the author teaches

Lisa's story evokes great pity for the unfortunate girl. The main culprit of the tragedy is, of course, the careless Erast, who had to seriously think about the consequences of his love interest.

Today in class we will talk about the story by N.M. Karamzin “Poor Liza”, we will learn the details of its creation, the historical context, we will determine what the author’s innovation is, we will analyze the characters of the heroes of the story, and also consider the moral issues raised by the writer.

It must be said that the publication of this story was accompanied by extraordinary success, even a stir among the Russian reading public, which is not surprising, because the first Russian book appeared, the heroes of which could be just as empathized with as Goethe’s “The Sorrows of Young Werther” or “New Héloïse" by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. We can say that Russian literature has begun to become on the same level as European literature. The delight and popularity were such that even a pilgrimage began to the place of the events described in the book. As you remember, this is happening not far from the Simonov Monastery, the place was called “Lizin Pond”. This place is becoming so popular that some evil-tongued people even write epigrams:

Drowned herself here
Erast's bride...
Drown yourself, girls,
There's plenty of room in the pond!

Well, is it possible to do it?
Godless and worse?
Fall in love with a tomboy
And drown in a puddle.

All this contributed to the extraordinary popularity of the story among Russian readers.

Naturally, the popularity of the story was given not only by the dramatic plot, but also by the fact that it was all artistically unusual.

Rice. 2. N. M. Karamzin () Here's what he writes: “They say that the author needs talents and knowledge: a sharp, insightful mind, a vivid imagination, etc. Fair, but not enough. He must also have a kind, gentle heart if he wants to be a friend and favorite of our soul; if he wants his talents to shine with an unflickering light; if he wants to write for eternity and collect the blessings of nations. The Creator is always depicted in creation, and often against his will. In vain does the hypocrite think to deceive his readers and hide his iron heart under the golden robe of pompous words; in vain speaks to us about mercy, compassion, virtue! All his exclamations are cold, without soul, without life; and never will a nourishing, ethereal flame flow from his creations into the gentle soul of the reader...", "When you want to paint your portrait, then look first in the right mirror: can your face be an object of art...", "You take up the pen and want to be an author: ask yourself, alone, without witnesses, sincerely: what am I like? for you want to paint a portrait of your soul and heart...", "You want to be an author: read the history of the misfortunes of the human race - and if your heart does not bleed, leave the pen - or it will depict to us the cold gloom of your soul. But if the path is open to everything that is sorrowful, everything that is oppressed, everything that is tearful; if your soul can rise to a passion for good, can nourish within itself a sacred desire for the common good, not limited by any spheres: then boldly call on the goddesses of Parnassus - they will pass by the magnificent palaces and visit your humble hut - you will not be a useless writer - and none of no good person will look with dry eyes at your grave...", "In one word: I am sure that a bad person cannot be a good author." Here is Karamzin’s artistic motto: a bad person cannot be a good writer.

No one in Russia had ever written like this before Karamzin. Moreover, the unusualness began already with the exposition, with the description of the place where the action of the story will take place.

“Perhaps no one living in Moscow knows the outskirts of this city as well as I do, because no one is in the field more often than me, no one more than me wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal - wherever the eyes look - through the meadows and groves, hills and plains. Every summer I find new pleasant places or new beauty in old ones. But the most pleasant place for me is the place where the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Sin...nova Monastery rise.”(Fig. 3) .

Rice. 3. Lithograph of the Simonov Monastery ()

There is also something unusual here: on the one hand, Karamzin accurately describes and designates the location of the action - the Simonov Monastery, on the other hand, this encryptedness creates a certain mystery, understatement, which is very consistent with the spirit of the story. The main focus is on the non-fictional nature of events, on documentary evidence. It is no coincidence that the narrator will say that he learned about these events from the hero himself, from Erast, who told him about this shortly before his death. It was this feeling that everything was happening nearby, that one could witness these events, that intrigued the reader and gave the story a special meaning and a special character.

Rice. 4. Erast and Liza (“Poor Liza” in a modern production) ()

It is curious that this private, simple story of two young people (the nobleman Erast and the peasant woman Liza (Fig. 4)) turns out to be inscribed in a very broad historical and geographical context.

“But the most pleasant place for me is the place where the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Sin...nova Monastery rise. Standing on this mountain, you see on the right side almost the whole of Moscow, this terrible mass of houses and churches, which appears to your eyes in the image of a majestic amphitheater»

Word amphitheater Karamzin singles out, and this is probably no coincidence, because the place of action becomes a kind of arena where events unfold, open to everyone’s gaze (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. Moscow, XVIII century ()

“a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays glow on countless golden domes, on countless crosses ascending to the sky! Below are lush, densely green flowering meadows, and behind them, along the yellow sands, flows a bright river, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats or rustling under the helm of heavy plows that sail from the most fertile countries of the Russian Empire and supply greedy Moscow with bread.”(Fig. 6) .

Rice. 6. View from the Sparrow Hills ()

On the other side of the river one can see an oak grove, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of trees, sing simple, sad songs and thus shorten the summer days, so uniform for them. Further away, in the dense greenery of ancient elms, the golden-domed Danilov Monastery shines; even further, almost at the edge of the horizon, the Sparrow Hills are blue. On the left side you can see vast fields covered with grain, forests, three or four villages and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace.”

It’s curious why Karamzin frames private history with this panorama? It turns out that this story becomes part of universal human life, belonging to Russian history and geography. All this gave the events described in the story a general character. But, giving a general hint of this world history and this extensive biography, Karamzin still shows that private history, the history of individual people, not famous, simple, attracts him much more strongly. 10 years will pass, and Karamzin will become a professional historian and begin working on his “History of the Russian State,” written in 1803-1826 (Fig. 7).

Rice. 7. Cover of the book by N. M. Karamzin “History of the Russian State” ()

But for now the focus of his literary attention is the story of ordinary people - the peasant woman Lisa and the nobleman Erast.

Creating a new language of fiction In the language of fiction, even at the end of the 18th century, the theory of three calms, created by Lomonosov and reflecting the needs of classicism literature, with its ideas about high and low genres, still dominated. The theory of three calms- classification of styles in rhetoric and poetics, distinguishing three styles: high, medium and low (simple). Classicism- an artistic direction focused on the ideals of ancient classics. But it is natural that by the 90s of the 18th century this theory was already outdated and became a brake on the development of literature. Literature demanded more flexible linguistic principles; there was a need to bring the language of literature closer to the spoken language, but not the simple peasant language, but the educated noble language. The need for books that would be written as people speak in this educated society was already very keenly felt. Karamzin believed that a writer, having developed his taste, could create a language that would become the spoken language of noble society. In addition, another goal was implied here: such a language was supposed to displace the French language, in which predominantly Russian noble society still spoke, from everyday use. Thus, the language reform that Karamzin is carrying out becomes a general cultural task and has a patriotic character.

Perhaps Karamzin’s main artistic discovery in “Poor Liza” is the image of the storyteller, the narrator. This is coming from the perspective of a person interested in the fates of his heroes, a person who is not indifferent to them, who sympathizes with the misfortunes of others. That is, Karamzin creates the image of the narrator in full accordance with the laws of sentimentalism. And now this is becoming unprecedented; this is happening for the first time in Russian literature.

Sentimentalism- this is an attitude and a tendency of thinking aimed at identifying, strengthening, emphasizing the emotional side of life.

In full accordance with Karamzin’s plan, it is no coincidence that the narrator says: “I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!”

The description in the exhibition of the decayed Simonov Monastery, with its destroyed cells, as well as the crumbling hut in which Lisa and her mother lived, introduces the theme of death into the story from the very beginning, creating the gloomy tone that will accompany the story. And at the very beginning of the story, one of the main themes and favorite ideas of the figures of the Enlightenment sounds - the idea of ​​​​the extra-class value of man. And it will sound unusual. When the narrator talks about the story of Liza’s mother, about the early death of her husband, Liza’s father, he will say that she could not be consoled for a long time, and will utter the famous phrase: “...for even peasant women know how to love”.

Now this phrase has become almost a catchphrase, and we often do not correlate it with the original source, although in Karamzin’s story it appears in a very important historical, artistic and cultural context. It turns out that the feelings of common people and peasants are no different from the feelings of noble people, nobles, peasant women and peasants are capable of subtle and tender feelings. This discovery of the extra-class value of a person was made by figures of the Enlightenment and becomes one of the leitmotifs of Karamzin’s story. And not only in this place: Lisa will tell Erast that nothing can happen between them, since she is a peasant. But Erast will begin to console her and say that he does not need any other happiness in life except Lisa’s love. It turns out that, indeed, the feelings of ordinary people can be as subtle and refined as the feelings of people of noble birth.

At the beginning of the story another very important topic will be heard. We see that in the exhibition of his work Karamzin concentrates all the main themes and motifs. This is the topic of money and its destructive power. When Lisa and Erast meet for the first time, the guy will want to give her a ruble instead of the five kopecks Lisa requested for a bouquet of lilies of the valley, but the girl will refuse. Subsequently, as if paying off Liza, from her love, Erast will give her ten imperials - one hundred rubles. Naturally, Liza will automatically take this money, and then try through her neighbor, the peasant girl Dunya, to transfer it to her mother, but her mother will have no use for this money either. She will not be able to use them, since upon news of Lisa’s death she herself will die. And we see that, indeed, money is the destructive force that brings misfortune to people. It is enough to recall the sad story of Erast himself. For what reason did he abandon Lisa? Leading a frivolous life and having lost at cards, he was forced to marry a rich elderly widow, i.e. he, too, is actually sold for money. And it is this incompatibility of money as an achievement of civilizations with the natural life of people that Karamzin demonstrates in “Poor Liza.”

Despite a fairly traditional literary plot - a story about how a young rake-nobleman seduces a commoner - Karamzin still solves it in a not entirely traditional way. It has long been noted by researchers that Erast is not at all such a traditional example of an insidious seducer; he really loves Lisa. He is a man with a kind mind and heart, but weak and flighty. And it is this frivolity that destroys him. And he, like Lisa, is destroyed by too much sensitivity. And here lies one of the main paradoxes of Karamzin’s story. On the one hand, he is a preacher of sensitivity as a way of moral improvement of people, and on the other hand, he also shows how excessive sensitivity can bring disastrous consequences. But Karamzin is not a moralist, he does not call to condemn Liza and Erast, he calls on us to sympathize with their sad fate.

Karamzin also uses landscapes in his story in an unusual and innovative way. For him, the landscape ceases to be just a scene of action and a background. The landscape becomes a kind of landscape of the soul. What happens in nature often reflects what happens in the souls of heroes. And nature seems to respond to the heroes’ feelings. For example, let us remember the beautiful spring morning when Erast first sails down the river on a boat to Lisa’s house, and vice versa, the gloomy, starless night, accompanied by storm and thunder, when the heroes fall into sin (Fig. 8). Thus, the landscape also became an active artistic force, which was also Karamzin’s artistic discovery.

Rice. 8. Illustration for the story “Poor Lisa” ()

But the main artistic discovery is the image of the narrator himself. All events are presented not objectively and dispassionately, but through his emotional reaction. He turns out to be a genuine and sensitive hero, because he is able to experience the misfortunes of others as if they were his own. He mourns his overly sensitive heroes, but at the same time remains true to the ideals of sentimentalism and a staunch supporter of the idea of ​​sensitivity as a way to achieve social harmony.

Bibliography

1. Korovina V.Ya., Zhuravlev V.P., Korovin V.I. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Education, 2008.
2. Ladygin M.B., Esin A.B., Nefedova N.A. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Bustard, 2011.
3. Chertov V.F., Trubina L.A., Antipova A.M. Literature. 9th grade. M.: Education, 2012.

1. Internet portal “Lit-helper” ()
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3. Internet portal "KlassReferat" ()

Homework

1. Read the story "Poor Liza."
2. Describe the main characters of the story “Poor Lisa”.
3. Tell us what Karamzin’s innovation is in the story “Poor Liza.”

Perhaps no one living in Moscow knows the surroundings of this city as well as I do, because no one is in the field more often than me, no one more than me wanders on foot, without a plan, without a goal - wherever the eyes look - through the meadows and groves , over hills and plains. Every summer I find new pleasant places or new beauty in old ones.

But the most pleasant place for me is the gloomy, Gothic towers of the Si...nova Monastery. Standing on this mountain, you see on the right side almost the whole of Moscow, this terrible mass of houses and churches, which appears to your eyes in the image of a majestic amphitheater: a magnificent picture, especially when the sun shines on it, when its evening rays glow on countless golden domes, on countless crosses ascending to the sky! Below are lush, densely green flowering meadows, and behind them, along the yellow sands, flows a bright river, agitated by the light oars of fishing boats or rustling under the helm of heavy plows that sail from the most fertile countries of the Russian Empire and supply greedy Moscow with bread. On the other side of the river one can see an oak grove, near which numerous herds graze; there young shepherds, sitting under the shade of trees, sing simple, sad songs and thus shorten the summer days, so uniform for them. Further away, in the dense greenery of ancient elms, the golden-domed Danilov Monastery shines; even further, almost at the edge of the horizon, the Sparrow Hills are blue. On the left side you can see vast fields covered with grain, forests, three or four villages and in the distance the village of Kolomenskoye with its high palace.

I often come to this place and almost always see spring there; I come there and grieve with nature on the dark days of autumn. The winds howl terribly within the walls of the deserted monastery, between the coffins overgrown with tall grass, and in the dark passages of the cells. There, leaning on the ruins of tombstones, I listen to the dull groan of times, swallowed up by the abyss of the past - a groan from which my heart shudders and trembles. Sometimes I enter cells and imagine those who lived in them - sad pictures! Here I see a gray-haired old man, kneeling before the crucifix and praying for a quick release from his earthly shackles, for all the pleasures in life had disappeared for him, all his feelings had died, except for the feeling of illness and weakness. There a young monk - with a pale face, with a languid gaze - looks into the field through the lattice of the window, sees cheerful birds swimming freely in the sea of ​​​​air, sees - and sheds bitter tears from his eyes. He languishes, withers, dries up - and the sad ringing of a bell announces to me his untimely death. Sometimes on the gates of the temple I look at the image of miracles that happened in this monastery, where fish fall from the sky to feed the inhabitants of the monastery, besieged by numerous enemies; here the image of the Mother of God puts the enemies to flight. All this renews in my memory the history of our fatherland - the sad history of those times when the ferocious Tatars and Lithuanians devastated the environs of the Russian capital with fire and sword and when unfortunate Moscow, like a defenseless widow, expected help from God alone in its cruel disasters.

But what most often attracts me to the walls of the Si...nova Monastery is the memory of the deplorable fate of Lisa, poor Lisa. Oh! I love those objects that touch my heart and make me shed tears of tender sorrow!

Seventy yards from the monastery wall, near a birch grove, in the middle of a green meadow, there stands an empty hut, without doors, without endings, without a floor; the roof had long since rotted and collapsed. In this hut, thirty years before, the beautiful, amiable Liza lived with her old woman, her mother.

Lizin's father was a fairly prosperous villager, because he loved work, plowed the land well and always led a sober life. But soon after his death, his wife and daughter became poor. The lazy hand of the mercenary poorly cultivated the field, and the grain ceased to be produced well. They were forced to rent out their land, and for very little money. Moreover, the poor widow, almost constantly shedding tears over the death of her husband - for even peasant women know how to love! – day by day she became weaker and could not work at all. Only Lisa, who remained after her father for fifteen years, only Lisa, not sparing her tender youth, not sparing her rare beauty, worked day and night - weaving canvases, knitting stockings, picking flowers in the spring, and taking berries in the summer - and selling them in Moscow. The sensitive, kind old woman, seeing her daughter’s tirelessness, often pressed her to her weakly beating heart, called her divine mercy, nurse, the joy of her old age, and prayed to God to reward her for all that she does for her mother. “God gave me hands to work with,” said Lisa, “you fed me with your breasts and followed me when I was a child; Now it’s my turn to follow you. Just stop breaking down, stop crying; Our tears will not revive the priests.” But often tender Liza could not hold back her own tears - ah! she remembered that she had a father and that he was gone, but to reassure her mother she tried to hide the sadness of her heart and seem calm and cheerful. “In the next world, dear Liza,” answered the sad old woman, in the next world I will stop crying. There, they say, everyone will be happy; I will probably be happy when I see your father. Only now I don’t want to die - what will happen to you without me? To whom should I leave you? No, God grant that we get you a place first! Maybe a kind person will soon be found. Then, having blessed you, my dear children, I will cross myself and calmly lie down in the damp earth.”

Two years have passed since the death of Lizin's father. The meadows were covered with flowers, and Lisa came to Moscow with lilies of the valley. A young, well-dressed, pleasant-looking man met her on the street. She showed him the flowers and blushed. “Are you selling them, girl?” – he asked with a smile. “I’m selling,” she answered. - “What do you need?” - “Five kopecks.” - “It's too cheap. Here's a ruble for you." - Lisa was surprised, she dared to look at the young man, she blushed even more and, looking down at the ground, told him that she would not take the ruble. - “For what?” - “I don’t need anything extra.” “I think that beautiful lilies of the valley, plucked by the hands of a beautiful girl, are worth a ruble. When you don’t take it, here’s your five kopecks. I would like to always buy flowers from you; I would like you to tear them just for me.” “Lisa gave the flowers, took five kopecks, bowed and wanted to go, but the stranger stopped her by the hand. - “Where are you going, girl?” - “Home.” - “Where is your house?” – Lisa said where she lives, she said and went. The young man did not want to hold her, perhaps because those passing by began to stop and, looking at them, grinned insidiously.