On a July morning, a shabby chaise leaves the district town of the N province, in which sits the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Kuzmichev, the rector of the N church, Fr. Christopher the Syrian (“little long-haired old man”) and Kuzmichev’s nephew, a boy Yegorushka, nine years old, sent by his mother, Olga Ivanovna, the widow of a college secretary and Kuzmichev’s sister, to enter a gymnasium in the big city. Kuzmichev and Fr. Christopher is on his way to sell wool; Yegorushka is captured along the way. He is sad to leave his homeland and part with his mother. He's crying, but oh. Christopher consoles him, saying the usual words that learning is light, and ignorance is darkness. Fr. himself Christopher is educated: “I was not yet fifteen years old, and I already spoke and wrote poetry in Latin as well as in Russian.” He could have made a good church career, but his parents did not give their blessing to further study. Kuzmichev is against unnecessary education and considers sending Yegorushka to the city a whim of his sister. He could have put Yegorushka to work without training.
Kuzmichev and Fr. Christopher is trying to catch up with the convoy and a certain Varlamov, a famous merchant in the district, who is richer than many landowners. They arrive at an inn, the owner of which, the Jew Moisei Moiseich, fawns over the guests and even the boy (he gives him a gingerbread intended for his sick son Naum). He is a “little man” for whom Kuzmichev and the priest are real “gentlemen”. In addition to his wife and children, his brother Solomon, a proud man who is offended by the whole world, lives in his house. He burned his inherited money and now turns out to be his brother’s hanger-on, which causes him suffering and a semblance of masochistic pleasure. Moses Moiseich scolds him, Fr. Christopher regrets, but Kuzmichev despises.
While the guests are drinking tea and counting money, Countess Dranitskaya, a very beautiful, noble, rich woman, arrives at the inn, who, as Kuzmichev says, is “robbed” by some Pole Kazimir Mikhailych: “... young and stupid. The wind just moves in my head.”
We caught up with the convoy. Kuzmichev leaves the boy with the transporters and sets off with Fr. Christopher on business. Gradually, Yegorushka meets new people for him: Pantelei, an Old Believer and a very sedate man who eats separately from everyone else with a cypress spoon with a cross on the handle and drinks water from a lamp; Emelyan, an old and harmless man; Dymov, a young unmarried guy whom his father sends with a convoy so that he does not get spoiled at home; Vasya, a former singer, who had a cold in his throat and was suffering from the inability to sing anymore; Kiryukha, an unremarkable man... From their conversations at rest stops, the boy understands that they all lived better before and went to work in the convoy because of need.
A large place in the story is occupied by the description of the steppe, which reaches an artistic apotheosis in the thunderstorm scene, and the conversations of the transporters. Panteley tells scary stories around the fire at night, supposedly from his life in the northern part of Russia, where he worked as a coachman for various merchants and always had adventures with them at inns. Robbers certainly lived there and slaughtered merchants with long knives. Even the boy understands that all these stories are half-invented and, perhaps, not even by Pantelei himself, but for some reason he prefers to tell them rather than real events from his obviously difficult life. In general, as the convoy moves towards the city, the boy seems to become reacquainted with the Russian people, and a lot of things seem strange to him. For example, Vasya has such acute vision that he can see animals and how they behave far from people; he eats a live “bobyrik” (a type of small fish like a gudgeon), while his face takes on a gentle expression. There is something animalistic and “not of this world” about him at the same time. Dymov suffers from excess physical strength. He is “bored”, and out of boredom he does a lot of evil things: for some reason he kills a snake, although this, according to Pantelei, is a great sin, for some reason he offends Emelyan, but then asks for forgiveness, etc. Egorushka does not love him and is afraid , how slightly afraid he is of all these men who are strangers to him, except for Pantelei.
Approaching the city, they finally meet “that same” Varlamov, who was mentioned so much before and who, by the end of the story, acquired a certain mythological connotation. In fact, he is an elderly merchant, businesslike and domineering. He knows how to deal with both peasants and landowners; very confident in himself and his money. Against his background, Uncle Ivan Ivanovich seems to Yegorushka as a “little man,” just as Moses Moiseich seemed against the background of Kuzmichev himself.
On the way, during a thunderstorm, Yegorushka caught a cold and fell ill. O. Christopher is treating him in the city, and his uncle is very dissatisfied that in addition to all the troubles, he is also taking care of his nephew’s well-being. They are with Fr. Christopher profitably sold the wool to the merchant Cherepakhin, and now Kuzmichev regrets that he sold some of the wool at home at a lower price. He thinks only about money and this is very different from Fr. Christopher, who knows how to combine the necessary practicality with thoughts about God and the soul, love for life, knowledge, almost fatherly tenderness for the boy, and so on. Of all the characters in the story, he is the most harmonious.
Yegorushka is placed with an old friend of his mother, Nastasya Petrovna Toskunova, who signed over a private house to her son-in-law and lives with her little granddaughter Katya in an apartment where “there are a lot of images and flowers.” Kuzmichev will pay her ten rubles a month for the boy’s maintenance. He has already submitted documents to the gymnasium; entrance exams are due soon. Having given Yegorushka a dime each, Kuzmichev and Fr. Christopher is leaving. For some reason the boy feels that Fr. He will never see Christopher again. “Egorushka felt that with these people everything that had been experienced so far had disappeared forever for him, like smoke; he sank exhausted onto a bench and with bitter tears greeted the new, unknown life that was now beginning for him... What will this life be like?”
Retold
In 1888, Chekhov's story “The Steppe” was written. A brief summary of it will be given in this article. The work indicates a new approach to storytelling: the reader sees some of the pictures through the perception of reality by the main character, Yegorushka. They are supplemented by the author's comments, which help to reveal the peculiarities of the world around us and understand the soul of ordinary people.
Chapter 1. The beginning of the journey
Early A dilapidated chaise drove out of the district town, driven by the young coachman Denisk. There were three passengers sitting in it: the rector of the church, Father Christopher, the merchant Kuzmichev Ivan Ivanovich and his nine-year-old nephew Yegorushka. The adults were going to sell wool, and the boy was being taken to enter the gymnasium.
This is how Chekhov's “Steppe” begins. The summary of the story continues with a description of Yegorushka’s feelings. For the first time he was left alone and now, looking around, he remembered how he went to church on Easter. And also how my grandmother died. And suddenly he cried out of self-pity. Uncle and Father Christopher started talking about the benefits of learning. And before the boy’s eyes an endless landscape already appeared (it is not possible to describe it in detail; he notes that after the evaporation of the life-giving dew, everything around was drooping from the heat. Yegorushka was tired and looked indifferently at the monotonous picture. Left behind were mowers and women in the field, a pack of dogs and Varlamov’s sheep. Ahead a windmill appeared, which still did not disappear from sight.
Chapter 2. Halt
By noon we stopped at a stream. We settled down under the wagon train and ate baked eggs and pies. This is how Chekhov's story “The Steppe” continues. The summary introduces the reader to the life of Father Christopher. Since childhood, he spoke several languages, had knowledge of many sciences, and dreamed of studying in Kyiv. But his parents did not bless this decision, and the young man remained at the church, where he spent his whole life. Now Father Christopher did not regret anything, since he did not violate his father’s will, although he was sure that he needed to study. He instilled this thought in Yegorushka. Then they talked about wool and some Varlamov.
After having a snack, the adults went to bed. The boy went to the village and played with the awakened Deniska, who was still a child at heart. Finally we set off, and until the evening the same pictures flashed before Yegorushka’s eyes as in the morning.
Chapter 3. At the inn
Already at dusk we stopped with an elderly Jew. Moisei Moiseich's cordiality knew no bounds, but the guests did not dare to spend the night: they needed to find the mysterious Varlamov. The merchant and the holy father counted the money - Yegorushka had never seen such a pile. We drank tea. We talked with a Jew about life. The owners treated the sleepy Yegorushka to gingerbread - they all lamented that now there was no one to take care of the boy.
This is how we can identify the topic of chapter 3 and its summary. Chekhov continues “The Steppe” with a description of the appearance of Countess Dranitskaya, well-known in the area, at the Jew’s, who also hoped to see Varlamov.
Chapter 4. Meeting with the convoy
Half-asleep, Yegorushka sat down next to Deniska. He kept thinking about Varlamov, who was very rich and elusive, and about the beautiful countess. He was lulled by the smells and sounds of the steppe, immersed in darkness. The sleeping boy was awakened by voices. It was Ivan Ivanovich who asked the men accompanying the convoy they had overtaken about Varlamov. Then Yegorushka was transferred to a large bale of wool, and he, glad that he could lie down comfortably, fell asleep. The uncle asked the men not to offend his nephew and promised to pick him up as soon as he visited the Molokan. This is the beginning new chapter and its summary.
Chekhov often describes the steppe in his stories. But in the morning Yegorushka was more interested in the convoy and the people with whom he was traveling further. There were twelve carts in total and five men accompanying them. Next to the cart on which the boy lay was an old man, Panteley, who spoke and jumped up and down as if he were frozen.
When they stopped at the well, Yegorushka saw the rest of the travelers. Strong, self-confident Dymov, who killed a grass snake on the way and displeased the rest of the drivers. Emelyan, a former singer who has now lost his voice. Black-bearded Kiryukha is of short mind. Surprisingly vigilant Vasya, who could see and hear what was inaccessible to others.
Chapter 5. On the river
It became unbearably hot. We stopped by the river. The drivers frolicked in the water. When they caught the crayfish, they ran to the village for some nonsense and caught fish from which they cooked porridge. Egorushka, who also decided to swim, was spoiled by Dymov. The man grabbed him by the leg and nearly drowned him. After that, the boy sat on the shore and watched the others.
What else does Chekhov write about in his story? “The Steppe,” the summary of which you are reading, also includes a description of mass in a village church, where Yegorushka went out of boredom, and a meeting with a shopkeeper who poured him tea.
Returning to the river, the hero ate porridge with everyone else and listened to the men's stories about their former life, which was better than the current one.
Chapter 6. By the fire
In the evening we set off on the road. Yegorushka watched the stars appear in the sky and thought about his grandmother. It seemed to him that he himself would never die. And Panteley continued his endless story.
By midnight the fire was lit. While they were cooking porridge, they started talking about a merchant who was killed not far from this place. The topic was continued by Panteley, who, according to his words, once himself almost became a victim of robbers. And although there was a lot of fiction in the story, Yegorushka listened to him with bated breath.
Later, a stranger approached the fire. His young wife went to her mother, and while he was waiting for her, he did not know what to do with himself. The man's happy appearance made everyone sad. Egorushka was again overcome by boredom, and he climbed onto his cart.
Waking up, the boy finally saw Varlamov, whom everyone was looking for in the steppe. It was a short man on an ugly horse. After talking with the drivers and cursing his horseman, he rushed off along the road. These were two days from Yegorushka’s new life. However, this does not end the summary. Chekhov's "Steppe" continues with the seventh chapter.
Chapter 7. Thunderstorm
At night we sat around the fire again. The conversation didn't work out. In addition, Dymov provoked a quarrel with Emelyan, and Yegorushka, who from the very beginning had disliked the first of them, came to the singer’s defense. The upset boy climbed onto the bale and burst into tears, dreaming of being home.
The distance turned black and it became stuffy. Soon a strong thunderstorm broke out. The convoy moved forward, and Yegorushka sat on the bales, experiencing incredible fear. It seemed to him that a giant was approaching from behind. The hero is all wet and cold. And it was impossible to hide from the roaring thunder and shining lightning. First Yegorushka crossed himself and called Panteley. Then he was overcome by the certainty that the storm would never end and would kill him. This was the most terrible moment in the boy’s life, as the plot of the story and its summary show.
“The Steppe” Chekhov A.P. continues with a description of the hero’s illness. Already in the village hut, he still could not warm up and was delirious. And early in the morning we set off on the road again. Egorushka, with a confused mind, was shaking from the cold on his cart.
Chapter 8. The end of the road
Finally they entered a large courtyard, and the boy heard Denis’s voice. Father Christopher rubbed the sick Yegorushka, then covered him with a blanket and sheepskin coat. From the conversation between the adults, the boy realized that the deal with the wool was a success.
The next morning the hero felt healthy. And after breakfast they found N.P. Toskunova, her mother’s friend. Ivan Ivanovich agreed with her about accommodation, enrolled his nephew in the gymnasium, and the very next day, together with Father Christopher and Deniska, went home. Yegorushka, with sadness and tears, welcomed life in someone else's house.
This is how A.P. Chekhov ends “The Steppe”. A summary of the chapters made it possible to convey only the key points of the story.
On a July morning, a shabby chaise leaves the district town of the N province, in which sits the merchant Ivan Ivanovich Kuzmichev, the rector of the N church, Fr. Christopher the Syrian (“little long-haired old man”) and Kuzmichev’s nephew, a boy Yegorushka, nine years old, sent by his mother, Olga Ivanovna, the widow of a college secretary and Kuzmichev’s sister, to enter a gymnasium in the big city. Kuzmichev and Fr. Christopher is on his way to sell wool; Yegorushka is captured along the way. He is sad to leave his homeland and part with his mother. He's crying, but oh. Christopher consoles him, saying the usual words that learning is light, and ignorance is darkness. Fr. himself Christopher is educated: “I was not yet fifteen years old, and I already spoke and wrote poetry in Latin as well as in Russian.” He could have made a good church career, but his parents did not give their blessing to further study. Kuzmichev is against unnecessary education and considers sending Yegorushka to the city a whim of his sister. He could have put Yegorushka to work without training.
Kuzmichev and Fr. Christopher is trying to catch up with the convoy and a certain Varlamov, a famous merchant in the district, who is richer than many landowners. They arrive at an inn, whose owner, the Jew Moisei Moiseich, fawns over the guests and even the boy (he gives him a gingerbread intended for his sick son Naum). He is a “little man” for whom Kuzmichev and the priest are real “gentlemen”. In addition to his wife and children, his brother Solomon, a proud man who is offended by the whole world, lives in his house. He burned his inherited money and now turns out to be his brother’s hanger-on, which causes him suffering and a semblance of masochistic pleasure. Moses Moiseich scolds him, Fr. Christopher regrets, but Kuzmichev despises.
While the guests are drinking tea and counting money, Countess Dranitskaya, a very beautiful, noble, rich woman, arrives at the inn, who, as Kuzmichev says, is “robbed” by some Pole Kazimir Mikhailych: “... young and stupid. The wind just moves in my head.”
We caught up with the convoy. Kuzmichev leaves the boy with the transporters and sets off with Fr. Kuzmichev leaves the boy with the transporters and sets off with Fr. Christopher on business. Gradually, Yegorushka meets new people for him: Pantelei, an Old Believer and a very sedate man who eats separately from everyone else with a cypress spoon with a cross on the handle and drinks water from a lamp; Emelyan, an old and harmless man; Dymov, a young unmarried guy whom his father sends with a convoy so that he does not get spoiled at home; Vasya, a former singer, who had a cold in his throat and was suffering from the inability to sing anymore; Kiryukha, an unremarkable man... From their conversations at rest stops, the boy understands that they all lived better before and went to work in the convoy because of need.
A large place in the story is occupied by the description of the steppe, which reaches an artistic apotheosis in the thunderstorm scene, and the conversations of the transporters. Panteley tells scary stories around the fire at night, supposedly from his life in the northern part of Russia, where he worked as a coachman for various merchants and always had adventures with them at inns. Robbers certainly lived there and slaughtered merchants with long knives. Even the boy understands that all these stories are half-invented and, perhaps, not even by Pantelei himself, but for some reason he prefers to tell them rather than real events from his obviously difficult life. In general, as the convoy moves towards the city, the boy seems to become reacquainted with the Russian people, and a lot of things seem strange to him. For example, Vasya has such acute vision that he can see animals and how they behave far from people; he eats a live “bobyrik” (a type of small fish like a gudgeon), while his face takes on a gentle expression. There is something animalistic and “not of this world” about him at the same time. Dymov suffers from excess physical strength. He is “bored”, and out of boredom he does a lot of evil things: for some reason he kills a snake, although this, according to Pantelei, is a great sin, for some reason he offends Emelyan, but then asks for forgiveness, etc. Yegorushka does not love him and is afraid , how slightly afraid he is of all these men who are strangers to him, except for Pantelei. Yegorushka doesn’t love him and is afraid, just as he is slightly afraid of all these men who are strangers to him, except for Pantelei. Approaching the city, they finally meet “that same” Varlamov, who was mentioned so much before and who, by the end of the story, acquired a certain mythological connotation. In fact, he is an elderly merchant, businesslike and domineering. He knows how to deal with both peasants and landowners; very confident in himself and his money. Against his background, Uncle Ivan Ivanovich seems to Yegorushka as a “little man,” just as Moses Moiseich seemed against the background of Kuzmichev himself. On the way, during a thunderstorm, Yegorushka caught a cold and fell ill. O. Christopher is treating him in the city, and his uncle is very dissatisfied that in addition to all the troubles, he is also taking care of his nephew’s well-being. They are with Fr. Christopher profitably sold the wool to the merchant Cherepakhin, and now Kuzmichev regrets that he sold some of the wool at home at a lower price. He thinks only about money and this is very different from Fr. Christopher, who knows how to combine the necessary practicality with thoughts about God and the soul, love for life, knowledge, almost fatherly tenderness for the boy, and so on. Of all the characters in the story, he is the most harmonious. Yegorushka is placed with an old friend of his mother, Nastasya Petrovna Toskunova, who signed over a private house to her son-in-law and lives with her little granddaughter Katya in an apartment where “there are a lot of images and flowers.” Kuzmichev will pay her ten rubles a month for the boy’s maintenance. He has already submitted documents to the gymnasium; entrance exams are due soon. Having given Yegorushka a dime each, Kuzmichev and Fr. Christopher is leaving. For some reason the boy feels that Fr. He will never see Christopher again. “Egorushka felt that with these people everything that had been experienced so far had disappeared forever for him, like smoke; he sank exhausted onto the bench and with bitter tears welcomed the new, unknown life that was now beginning for him... What will this life be like?”
At the end of the 19th century, many Russian writers experienced a creative crisis. This was facilitated by social and political events taking place in the country. Anton Chekhov did not escape a spiritual crisis, which is confirmed by one of the works created in the late eighties.
The story “The Steppe” by Chekhov, a summary of which is presented in this article, at first glance may seem like a simple story. It tells about only one trip, there are only four characters, not counting the minor ones. In reality, this is a deep philosophical work, filled with symbols, metaphors, and personifications.
Features of the work
It is more convenient to present a summary of Chekhov's "Steppe" chapter by chapter. Although this is a small work. A summary of “The Steppe” by A.P. Chekhov, in fact, can be conveyed in just one sentence: the boy goes to study and is very worried, because he does not want to leave his native place. But let's repeat. The story discussed in today's article has deep philosophical implications. There are many symbols in it, and the main one is the steppe itself. Why did the author name his work this way? Both Turgenev and Gogol sang the endless Russian expanses, but Anton Pavlovich Chekhov managed to look at them differently.
A summary of "The Steppe", like a condensed summary of any work of art, does not, of course, convey the richness of the author's language. It is impossible to read in it what the writer said between the lines. The summary of Chekhov's "Steppe", presented in just a few sentences, does not allow us to understand how important the landscape is in this work. Events take place not in a city, not in a village, but in the endless steppe. In Western Europe, people die from overcrowding, in Russia - from too much space. Chekhov once said something similar. “The Steppe,” a summary of which is outlined below, is a short story about how easy it is for a small person to get lost in a huge space, how difficult it is for people to find themselves in a country that seemingly has everything for a happy life.
Main characters
The heroes head to the big city, each on their own business. Both are in a good mood - exactly the kind that usually visits people before the road. In addition, before leaving, they had a hearty breakfast and, despite the early hour, drank a lot. In addition to these characters, it is also worth mentioning the coachman Deniska, as well as the main character of this work, ten-year-old Yegorushka. The boy is Kuzmichev’s own nephew and goes to the city to enter the gymnasium.
Yegorushka
Why did we call this character the main one? The author does not talk about the further fate of the boy; the work does not say anything about whether he entered the gymnasium or whether his studies benefited him. But the story tells about Yegorushka’s experiences, nothing is said about the thoughts that visit his companions. Sister Kuzmichev is a simple woman, but she has great respect for educated people. She asked her brother, who was going on a trip on his merchant business, to take Yegor with him, so that he could become a high school student and someday, perhaps, make it into the people. But the boy makes no plans for the future. He is frightened by the unknown, the long road, unfamiliar people and the foreign word “gymnasium”.
Leaving his native place on the hated chaise, Yegorushka seemed to be looking at the landscapes dear to his heart for the last time. He saw cherry trees next to the cemetery where his father and grandmother were buried. I remembered how the cherry blossoms in early June and merges with the white gravestones. He also remembered his grandmother, who died not so long ago: she was always so lively, carrying soft bagels from the market, and suddenly fell asleep...
The boy burst into tears, and from the reaction of the priest and the merchant it becomes clear to the reader that it was not the first time that tears flowed from his eyes that day. The stern uncle began to scold Yegorushka, and Father Christopher began to calm him down. And then the companions of the ten-year-old boy began to talk about the need for teaching. The conversation was of little substance, like any conversation conducted by people with completely different views on life, finding themselves in the same chaise or compartment.
Scenery
From the heroes, the author transfers the reader's attention to the main image of this work - the steppe. Chekhov emphasizes the diversity of the endless plain. Somewhere small hills peek out, somewhere the travelers can see mills that from a distance resemble little men. By including a landscape in his work, the writer adds some optimistic notes to the narrative. There are weeds, spurge, and wild hemp everywhere. All this turned brown from the heat, but the dew seemed to revive the steppe again. However, a little time passed and she disappeared. The steppe again took on its characteristic dull appearance.
Halt
The travelers decided to stop at a small river. In the second chapter, the author reveals in more detail the characters' characters. They are not at all similar to each other. Kuzmichev always, no matter what he does, thinks about his own affairs. And even now, having taken a break on the way, he does not pay any attention to the picturesque expanses, but thinks about his bales of wool, and about Varlamov, an elderly and powerful merchant, whom he should definitely meet.
After the meal, Father Christopher discusses teaching. He tells Yegorushka about his childhood and adolescence, about how he studied Latin, mathematics and other sciences. The priest is already in his eighties. But over his long life, he did not lose the ability to enjoy every day. A light smile almost never disappears from his face, and this long road pleases him with the opportunity to have leisurely conversations, have lunch at the wrong time, and admire the beauty of nature.
At the inn
Kuzmichev is trying to find a certain Varlamov. It turns out that this person is quite famous. Yegorushka’s uncle knows him, as does Father Christopher, and Moisei Moiseevich, the owner of the inn where the travelers make their next stop. Guests relax and drink tea. Suddenly another character in the story appears - Countess Dranitskaya - a beautiful, rich lady who, according to Kuzmichev, became a victim of a Polish swindler. Moisey Moiseevich is a small man, for him even such seemingly insignificant personalities as Uncle Yegor and Father Christopher are gentlemen who require special respect.
Varlamov
The name of this man is mentioned several times in the story. He, as already mentioned, is a fairly well-known person in the area. Who is he? Who is this person that Kuzmichev is eager to meet? On this day, Yegorushka received as many impressions as he had never received in his entire short life. He had heard about Varlamov more than once, but it was only on the way to the gymnasium that he saw this mysterious and legendary man.
He was an elderly, but very successful merchant. Next to him, Kuzmichev was as small a man as Moisei Moiseevich next to his modest guests. These complex relationships between adults did not go unnoticed by the ten-year-old boy. He was also impressed by the countess whom he saw at the inn.
New life
Yegorushka no longer missed home; his childhood fears dissipated. And soon he suddenly fell ill. Kuzmichev placed him in the house of his distant relative, and he himself undertook to pay 10 rubles a month for the boy’s maintenance. Meanwhile, Yegor was already enrolled in the gymnasium. The boy said goodbye to Father Christopher, and then realized that he would never meet this man again. A new period in his life began.
Chekhov Anton Pavlovich
Anton Chekhov
(THE HISTORY OF ONE TRIP)
From N., the district town of the Z-th province, early on a July morning, a springless, shabby britzka, one of those antediluvian chaises that are now used in Rus' only by merchant clerks, herd workers and poor priests, left and thundered along the postal route. She rattled and squealed at the slightest movement; she was gloomily echoed by a bucket tied to her backside - and from these sounds alone and from the pitiful leather rags dangling from her shabby body, one could judge her dilapidation and readiness to be scrapped.
In the britzka sat two ordinary people from N: the N merchant Ivan Ivanovich Kuzmichov, shaven, with glasses and a straw hat, looking more like an official than a merchant, and the other, Father Christopher the Syrian, rector of the N St. Nicholas Church, a small a long-haired old man in a gray canvas caftan, a wide-brimmed top hat and an embroidered, colored belt. The first one was thinking intently about something and shaking his head to drive away drowsiness; on his face the usual businesslike dryness struggled with the complacency of a man who had just said goodbye to his relatives and had a good drink; the second, with moist eyes, looked in surprise at the world of God and smiled so widely that it seemed that the smile even captured the brim of his top hat; his face was red and had a chilled look. Both of them, both Kuzmichov and Fr. Christopher, we were now on our way to sell wool. Saying goodbye to their household, they had just had a hearty snack of donuts with sour cream and, despite the early morning, had a drink... Both were in a wonderful mood.
In addition to the two just described and the coachman Deniska, who was tirelessly whipping a pair of nimble bay horses, there was another passenger in the chaise, a boy of about nine, with a face dark from the sun and wet from tears. It was Yegorushka, Kuzmichov’s nephew. With my uncle's permission and with the blessing of Fr. Christopher, he was going somewhere to enroll in a gymnasium. His mother, Olga Ivanovna, the widow of a college secretary and Kuzmichov’s sister, who loved educated people and noble society, begged her brother, who was going to sell wool, to take Yegorushka with him and send him to the gymnasium; and now the boy, not understanding where and why he was going, was sitting on the irradiator next to Deniska, holding on to his elbow so as not to fall, and bouncing up and down like a teapot on the burner. From his fast ride, his red shirt bulged on his back and his new coachman's hat with a peacock feather kept sliding down the back of his head. He felt extremely unhappy and wanted to cry.
As the chaise passed the prison, Yegorushka looked at the guards walking quietly near the high white wall, at the small lattice windows, at the cross glittering on the roof, and remembered how a week ago, on the day of the Kazan Mother of God, he went with his mother to the prison church for the patronal feast; and even earlier, on Easter, he came to the prison with the cook Lyudmila and Deniska and brought here Easter cakes, eggs, pies and fried beef; the prisoners thanked and crossed themselves, and one of them gave Yegorushka tin cufflinks of his own making.
The boy peered at familiar places, and the hated chaise ran past and left everything behind. Behind the prison flashed black, smoky forges, behind them a cozy, green cemetery, surrounded by a cobblestone fence; White crosses and monuments, hidden in the greenery of the cherry trees and from a distance appearing as white spots, peeked out cheerfully from behind the fence. Yegorushka remembered that when the cherry blossoms, these white spots mix with the cherry blossoms into a white sea; and when she sings, white monuments and crosses are strewn with crimson dots, like blood. Behind the fence under the cherry trees, Yegorushka’s father and grandmother Zinaida Danilovna slept day and night. When my grandmother died, they put her in a long, narrow coffin and covered her eyes, which did not want to close, with two nickels. Before her death, she was alive and carried soft bagels sprinkled with poppy seeds from the market, but now she sleeps, sleeps...
And behind the cemetery the brick factories were smoking. Thick, black smoke came in large clouds from under the long reed roofs, flattened to the ground, and lazily rose upward. The sky above the factories and the cemetery was dark, and large shadows from clouds of smoke crawled across the field and across the road. In the smoke near the roofs, people and horses, covered with red dust, moved...
Behind the factories the city ended and the field began. Yegorushka looked back at the city for the last time, fell his face to Deniska’s elbow and cried bitterly...
Well, I haven’t cried yet, pJva! - said Kuzmichov. - Again, the spoiled one, he started drooling! If you don't want to go, then stay. No one is trying to force it!
Nothing, nothing, brother Yegor, nothing... - Fr. mumbled quickly. Christopher. - It’s okay, brother... Call on God... You don’t go for bad, but for good. Learning, as they say, is light, and ignorance is darkness... This is true.
Do you want to come back? - asked Kuzmichov.
Ho... I want... - answered Yegorushka, sobbing.
And I would return. You're still driving in vain, trying to get jelly seven miles away.
Nothing, nothing, brother... - continued Fr. Christopher. - Call on God... Lomonosov also rode with the fishermen, but he became a man for all of Europe. Mentality, perceived with faith, produces fruits pleasing to God. What does the prayer say? For the glory of the Creator, for the consolation of our parents, for the benefit of the church and the fatherland... That’s it.
There are different benefits... - said Kuzmichov, lighting a cheap cigar. - Some people study for twenty years, but it’s no use.
This happens.
Who benefits from science, and who only has a confused mind. My sister is a woman who doesn’t understand, strives for everything in a noble way and wants Yegorka to become a scientist, but she doesn’t understand that even with my studies I could make Yegorka happy forever. I explain this to you because if everyone becomes a scientist and a noble, then there will be no one to trade or sow bread. Everyone will die of hunger.
And if everyone trades and sows grain, then there will be no one to comprehend the teachings.
And thinking that both of them said something convincing and weighty, Kuzmichov and Fr. Christopher made a serious face and cleared his throat at the same time. Deniska, who had been listening to their conversation and did not understand anything, shook his head and, rising, lashed both bays. There was silence.
Meanwhile, before the eyes of those traveling, a wide, endless plain, intercepted by a chain of hills, spread out. Crowded and peeking out from behind each other, these hills merge into a hill that stretches to the right of the road to the very horizon and disappears into the purple distance; you drive and drive and you can’t figure out where it begins and where it ends... The sun had already peeked out from behind the city and quietly, without any fuss, it began its work. First, far ahead, where the sky meets the earth, near the mounds and the windmill, which from afar looks like a little man waving his arms, a wide bright yellow stripe crawled along the ground; a minute later, the same stripe appeared a little closer, crawled to the right and enveloped the hills; something warm touched Yegorushka’s back, a stripe of light, creeping up from behind, dashed through the chaise and horses, rushed towards other stripes, and suddenly the entire wide steppe threw off the morning penumbra, smiled and sparkled with dew.