A talented publicist, satirist, artist, Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, in his works, tried to direct the attention of Russian society to the main problems of his time. Mikhail Evgrafovich describes in an allegorical form social types Russia, its political mores. A writer who occupied high places in his professional life government posts, dreaming of the prosperity of the Fatherland, most of all hated rigidity, lawlessness, tyranny of the authorities and slavish obedience of the people.
Fairy tale " Selfless hare" - a satire on "the country of slaves, the country of masters." The image of a hare is an allegory. It's not hard to understand that we're talking about about a man. With sarcasm, Saltykov-Shchedrin describes the fears, dreams, hopes and experiences of the hare. It turns out that a hare can love. He knows how to be faithful and honest. It turns out that both the hare and his bride know what happiness is? They know how to rejoice in such a way that “this cannot be said in a fairy tale or described with a pen.”
One problem - the hare is captured by the wolf. The wolf is a tyrant, tormentor and executioner. He mocks the hare and does not allow him to live freely. The image of a wolf is personification Russian authorities: officials, landowners.
Through the irony and sarcasm one can hear the bitter reproach of the author and the hares - the people and the wolves - the authorities: how can you live like this? Is this life? After all, life is God's gift, value! The meaning of life is happiness, joy. You can't live in slavery! Slavery is destructive for both the slave and the master.
Let's listen to the title of the fairy tale, even the title of the fairy tale - a combination of incompatible disharmony, an oxymoron. A slave, a coward, cannot be selfless; he has no self-esteem.
So, satirical meaning fairy tales “The Selfless Hare” - in a truthful depiction of the relationship between the people and the authorities. In folk and literary fairy tale good always defeats evil, in the Saltykov-Shchedrin fairy tale this is impossible, therefore it, the fairy tale, is sarcastic and ironic.
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Updated: 2017-11-05
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Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin
Selfless hare
One day the hare did something wrong to the wolf. He was running, you see, not far from the wolf’s den, and the wolf saw him and shouted: “Bunny! stop, honey! But the hare not only did not stop, but even accelerated his pace. So the wolf caught him in three leaps and said: “Because you didn’t stop at my first word, here’s my decision for you: I sentence you to be deprived of your belly by being torn to pieces. And since now I’m full, and my wolf is full, and we have enough reserves for another five days, then sit under this bush and wait in line. Or maybe... ha ha... I’ll have mercy on you!”
The hare sits on its hind legs under a bush and does not move. He thinks about only one thing: in so many days and hours, death must come. He will look in the direction where he is wolf's den, and from there a glowing wolf's eye looks at him. And another time it’s even worse: a wolf and a she-wolf will come out and start walking past him in the clearing. They will look at him, and the wolf will say something to the wolf in a wolf’s way, and both will burst into tears: ha-ha! And the wolf cubs will immediately follow them; playfully, they will run up to him, caress him, chatter their teeth... And his, the hare’s, heart will just skip a beat!
He had never loved life as much as he did now. He was a thoughtful hare, he looked for a daughter from a widow, a hare, and wanted to get married. It was to her, to his bride, that he ran at that moment when the wolf grabbed him by the collar. Waiting for tea, his now fiancée, thinking: he cheated on me with his scythe! Or maybe she waited and waited and with someone else... she fell in love... Or maybe it was like this: the poor thing was playing in the bushes, and then a wolf... and gobbled her up!..
The poor guy thinks this and chokes on his tears. Here they are, a hare's dreams! He planned to get married, bought a samovar, dreamed of drinking tea and sugar with a young hare, and instead of everything - where did he end up! How many, I mean, hours are left until death?
And so he sits one night and dozes. He dreams that he has a wolf with him as an official special assignments he did it, and while he was running around auditing, he went to visit his hare... Suddenly he heard, as if someone was pushing him in the side. He looks around and it’s his fiancée’s brother.
“Your bride is dying,” he says. “I heard what trouble had befallen you, and suddenly withered away.” Now he only thinks about one thing: am I really going to die without saying goodbye to my beloved!
The condemned man listened to these words, and his heart was torn to pieces. For what? what did he do to deserve his bitter fate? He lived openly, did not start revolutions, did not go out with weapons in his hands, ran according to his needs - is this really death for this? Death! Think about it, what a word! And it’s not just him who will die, but also her, the little gray bunny, whose only fault is that she loved him, the crooked one, with all her heart! So he would fly to her, take her, a little gray bunny, by the ears with his front paws and would still be kind to her and stroke her head.
Let's run! - the messenger was saying meanwhile. Hearing this word, the condemned man seemed to be transformed for a moment. He completely gathered himself into a ball and laid his ears on his back. Just about to hide - and the trace is gone. He shouldn’t have looked at the wolf’s den at that moment, but he did. And the hare's heart began to sink.
“I can’t,” he says, “the wolf didn’t tell me.”
Meanwhile, the wolf sees and hears everything and quietly whispers to the wolf like a wolf: the hare must be praised for his nobility.
Let's run! - the messenger says again.
I can not! - repeats the convict.
What are you whispering and plotting there? - how a wolf suddenly barks.
Both hares died. The messenger has also been caught! Convincing the guards to escape - what, I mean, is the penalty for this according to the rules? Oh, to be a gray bunny without a groom and without a brother - the wolf and the wolf will eat both of them!
The obliques came to their senses - and in front of them both the wolf and the she-wolf were chattering their teeth, and in the darkness of the night both of their eyes glowed like lanterns.
We, your honor, nothing... so, between ourselves... a fellow countryman came to visit me! - the condemned man babbles, and he himself dies of fear.
That’s “nothing”! I know you! Don't put your finger in your mouth either! Tell me, what's the matter?
“So and so, your honor,” the fiancée’s brother interceded here, “my sister, and his fiancée is dying, so she asks, is it possible to let him say goodbye to her?”
Hm... it’s good that the bride loves the groom,” says the wolf. - This means that they will have a lot of hares, and there will be more food for the wolves. The wolf and I love each other, and we have a lot of wolf cubs. How many of them go by their own free will, and four of them still live with us. Wolf, and wolf, let the groom go and say goodbye to the bride?
But it’s scheduled for the day after tomorrow...
I, your honor, will come running... I’ll turn around in an instant... I have this... that’s how holy I’ll come running! - the condemned man hurried and, so that the wolf had no doubt that he could turn around in an instant, he suddenly pretended to be such a fine fellow that the wolf himself fell in love with him and thought: “If only I had soldiers like that!”
And the wolf became sad and said:
Here you go! the hare loves his hare so much!
There is nothing to be done, the wolf agreed to let the oblique go on leave, but so that he would turn around just in time. And his brother's fiancée was left with him as an amanat.
“If you don’t come back in two days by six o’clock in the morning,” he said, “I’ll eat it instead of you; and if you come back, I’ll eat them both, and maybe... ha-ha... and have mercy!
The scythe shot out like an arrow from a bow. He runs, the earth trembles. If he encounters a mountain on the way, he will take it with a bang; the river - he doesn’t even look for a ford, he just swims and scratches; swamp - he jumps from the fifth bump to the tenth. Is it a joke? V Far Far Away kingdom I need to catch up, go to the bathhouse, and get married (“I’ll definitely get married!” he repeated to himself every minute), and back so that he can get to the wolf for breakfast...
Even the birds were surprised at his speed, saying: “In the Moskovskie Vedomosti they write that hares have not a soul, but steam, and look how... he runs away!”
Finally came running. How much joy there was here - this cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor can it be described with a pen. The little gray bunny, as soon as she saw her beloved, forgot about the illness. She stood on her hind legs, put a drum on herself and, well, beat out the “cavalry trot” with her paws - she prepared a surprise for the groom! And the widow-bunny just stuck in completely; doesn’t know where to seat his betrothed son-in-law or what to feed him. Aunties came running from all sides, godmothers, and sisters - everyone was flattered to look at the groom, and maybe even taste a tasty morsel at a party.
One groom seems to be out of his mind. Before he had time to make amends with the bride, he already stated:
I wish I could go to the bathhouse and get married as soon as possible!
What pain was needed in a hurry? - the mother hare makes fun of him.
We need to run back. The wolf let go only for one day.
He told here how and what. He talks, and he bursts into bitter tears. And he doesn’t want to go back and he can’t not go back. You see, he gave his word, but the hare is master of his word. The aunts and sisters judged here - and they unanimously said: “You, oblique, said the truth: if you don’t give a word, be strong, and if you give, hold on! Never in our entire hare family has it happened that hares deceive!”
Soon the fairy tale will be told, and the matter between the hares will be done even faster. By morning the oblique man had been wounded, and before evening he was saying goodbye to his young wife.
The wolf will certainly eat me,” he said, “so be faithful to me.” And if you have children, then raise them strictly. The best thing to do is send them to the circus: there they will not only be taught to beat a drum, but also to shoot peas into a cannon.
And suddenly, as if in oblivion (again, therefore, he remembered about the wolf), he added:
Or maybe the wolf... ha ha... will have mercy on me! They only saw him.
Meanwhile, while he was chewing with a scythe and celebrating a wedding, great troubles happened in the space that separated the distant kingdom from the wolf’s lair. In one place the rains poured, so that the river, which in a day used to be a hare Jokingly swam across, it swelled and spilled over ten miles. In another place, King Andron declared war on King Nikita, and on the very hare’s path the battle was in full swing. In the third place, cholera appeared - it was necessary to go around the whole quarantine chain for a hundred miles... And besides, wolves, foxes, owls - they were guarding at every step.
He was smart with a scythe; He had calculated in advance that he would have three hours left, but as obstacles came one after another, his heart grew cold. He runs in the evening, runs through the middle of the night, his legs are cut by stones, his fur hangs in tufts on his sides from the thorny branches; his eyes are clouded, bloody foam is oozing from his mouth, and he still has a long way to go! And yet his friend Amanat seems to him as if alive. Now he stands on guard at the wolf and thinks: in so many hours his dear son-in-law will come running to the rescue! He will remember this and let it go even more violently. Neither mountains, nor valleys, nor forests, nor swamps - he doesn’t care about everything! How many times did his heart want to burst, so he took power over his heart so that his fruitless worries would main goal were not distracted. There is no time for grief now, no time for tears; let all feelings be silent, just to snatch a friend from the wolf’s mouth!
Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin is one of the most famous Russian writers of the mid-19th century. His works are written in the form of fairy tales, but their essence is far from being so simple, and the meaning does not lie on the surface, as in ordinary children's analogues.
About the author's work
Studying the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, one can hardly find at least one children's fairy tale in it. In his writings the author often uses this literary device like a grotesque. The essence of the technique is strong exaggeration, bringing to the point of absurdity both the images of the characters and the events that happen to them. Therefore, the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin may seem creepy and overly cruel even to an adult, not to mention children.
One of the most famous works Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin's fairy tale "The Selfless Hare". In it, as in all his creations, lies deep meaning. But before we begin the analysis of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Selfless Hare,” we need to remember its plot.
Plot
The fairy tale begins with the fact that main character, a hare, runs past the wolf's house. The wolf shouts to the hare, calling him to him, but he does not stop, but speeds up his pace even more. Then the wolf catches up with him and accuses him of not obeying the hare the first time. The forest predator leaves him near the bush and says that he will eat him in 5 days.
And the hare ran to his bride. Here he sits, counting the time until death and sees the bride’s brother rushing towards him. The brother tells how bad the bride is, and this conversation is heard by the wolf and the she-wolf. They go outside and say that they will release the hare to the bride to say goodbye. But on the condition that he will return to be eaten in a day. And the future relative will remain with them for now and, in case of non-return, will be eaten. If the hare returns, then perhaps they will both be pardoned.
The hare runs to the bride and comes running quite quickly. He tells her and all his relatives his story. I don’t want to go back, but my word is given, and the hare never breaks his word. Therefore, having said goodbye to the bride, the hare runs back.
He runs, but on his way he encounters various obstacles, and he feels that he is not on time. He fights off this thought with all his might and only gains momentum. He gave his word. In the end, the hare barely manages to save the bride's brother. And the wolf tells them that until he eats them, let them sit under a bush. Maybe he will have mercy someday.
Analysis
In order to give a complete picture of the work, you need to analyze the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” according to the plan:
- Characteristics of the era.
- Features of the author's creativity.
- Characters.
- Symbolism and imagery.
The structure is not universal, but it allows you to build the necessary logic. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” needs to be carried out, often wrote works in hot topics. So, in the 19th century the topic of discontent was very relevant royal power and government oppression. This must be taken into account when analyzing the Saltykov-Shchedrin fairy tale “The Selfless Hare”.
Different layers of society reacted to the authorities in different ways. Some supported and tried to join, others, on the contrary, tried with all their might to change the current situation. However, most people were shrouded in blind fear and could do nothing but obey. This is what Saltykov-Shchedrin wanted to convey. An analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” should begin with showing that the hare symbolizes precisely the latter type of people.
People are different: smart, stupid, brave, cowardly. However, none of this matters if they do not have the strength to fight back against the oppressor. In the form of a hare, the wolf ridicules the noble intelligentsia who show their honesty and loyalty towards the one who oppresses them.
Speaking about the image of the hare, which Saltykov-Shchedrin described, the analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” should explain the motivation of the main character. The hare's word is honest. He couldn't break it. However, this leads to the fact that the hare’s life collapses, because he shows his best qualities towards the wolf, who initially treated him cruelly.
The hare is not guilty of anything. He simply ran to the bride, and the wolf arbitrarily decided to leave him under a bush. Nevertheless, the hare steps over himself to restrain given word. This leads to the fact that the entire family of hares remains unhappy: the brother was unable to show courage and escape from the wolf, the hare could not help but return so as not to break his word, and the bride is left alone.
Conclusion
Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” turned out to be not so simple, described the reality of his time in his usual grotesque manner. After all, there were quite a lot of such people-hares in the 19th century, and this problem of unrequited obedience greatly hampered the development of Russia as a state.
Finally
So, this was an analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” (Saltykov-Shchedrin), according to a plan that can be used to analyze other works. As you can see, the tale, simple at first glance, turned out to be a vivid caricature of the people of that time, and its meaning lies deep inside. In order to understand the author’s work, you need to remember that he never writes anything just like that. Every detail in the plot is necessary for the reader to understand the deep meaning inherent in the work. This is why the tales of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin are interesting.
In the image of a hare, the Russian people are conveyed, who are devoted to the last to their royal masters - the wolves. Wolves, like true predators, mock and eat hares. The hare is in a hurry to get engaged to the hare and does not stop in front of the wolf when he asks. For this, the wolf punishes him to sit under a bush and await his fate, and subsequently imprisons his matchmaker too. The fairy tale shows as much tyranny of the kings as possible.
The main idea of the fairy tale Selfless Hare. Saltykov-Shchedrin:
The tale shows the relationship between the hare slave and the wolf king.
Summary Saltykov-Shchedrin Selfless Hare
The fairy tale is a direct indicator of how the people lived during the revolution (the image of a hare). Cold and mocking attitude royal family in the form of wolves who played with him and punished him. The fairy tale begins with a hare running through the forest, hurrying to a wedding and running past a wolf's den. The wolf shouts at him to stop, but the hare speeds up even more. Then the wolf catches up with him and grabs him. According to the decision of the she-wolf and the wolf, the hare must sit under a bush and wait for his death, because now the wolves are full and do not want to eat.
The hare is shaking with fear, but he is unable to escape, since the wolf will catch up with him in a couple of jumps. All this time, the wolf and she-wolf joke and mock him, walking imposingly past him and discussing what they will do with him. One night, his godfather comes running to the bunny and persuades him to run away, but the hare gave his word that he will not run away. The wolf hears all this and grabs them both. He decides to eat them, but his godfather told him that his daughter-in-law is waiting for the hare and he needs it for the wedding. The she-wolf persuades the wolf to let the scythe go for a couple of days, and he agrees, leaving his godfather as collateral. The hare rushes to the bride and upon arrival they immediately celebrate the wedding. They beg him to stay, but the hare refuses, because he gave his word to return and save his godfather. On his way back, he encounters many obstacles that delay him and force him to make a long detour to get back to the swamp.
From last bit of strength The hare runs to the wolf's lair, where he left his godfather and sees how they are about to kill him. Then the hare shouts at the top of his lungs that he has come. The wolf laughs at them and leaves them both sitting under a bush. According to him, they say, sit here, and maybe I’ll let you go later. The author wants to tell how difficult the life of a revolutionary is, and that the tsarist regime mocks common people their decisions and sentences. In the form of a wolf there is a king, and in the form of a hare there are people. Despite all their fears, the people are honest and true to their word. Even when under oppression, he is slavishly devoted to his master.
Picture or drawing Selfless hare
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One day the hare did something wrong to the wolf. He was running, you see, not far from the wolf’s den, and the wolf saw him and shouted: “Bunny! stop, honey! But the hare not only did not stop, but even accelerated his pace. So the wolf caught him in three leaps, and said: “Because you didn’t stop at my first word, here’s my decision for you: I sentence you to be deprived of your belly by being torn to pieces. And since now I’m full, and my wolf is full, and we have enough reserves for another five days, then sit under this bush and wait in line. Or maybe... ha ha... I’ll have mercy on you!”
The hare sits on its hind legs under a bush and does not move. He thinks about only one thing: “In so many days and hours, death must come.” He will look in the direction where the wolf’s lair is located, and from there the luminous wolf’s eye looks at him. And another time it’s even worse: a wolf and a she-wolf will come out and start walking past him in the clearing. They will look at him, and the wolf will say something to the wolf in a wolfish way, and both will burst into tears: “Ha-ha!” And the wolf cubs will immediately follow them; playfully, they will run up to him, caress him, chatter their teeth... And his, the hare’s, heart will just skip a beat!
He had never loved life as much as he did now. He was a thoughtful hare, he looked for a daughter from a widow, a hare, and wanted to get married. It was to her, to his bride, that he ran at that moment when the wolf grabbed him by the collar. Waiting for tea, his now bride thinks: “He cheated on me with his scythe!” Or maybe she waited and waited, and then fell in love with someone else... Or maybe it was like this: she was playing, poor thing, in the bushes, and then a wolf... and gobbled her up!..
The poor guy thinks this and chokes on his tears. Here they are, a hare's dreams! He planned to get married, bought a samovar, dreamed of drinking tea and sugar with a young hare, and instead of everything - where did he end up! How many, I mean, hours are left until death?
And so he sits one night and dozes. He dreams that the wolf has made him an official on special assignments, and while he is running around on audits, he is visiting his hare... Suddenly he hears as if someone had pushed him in the side. He looks around and it’s his fiancée’s brother.
“Your bride is dying,” he says. “I heard what trouble had befallen you, and suddenly withered away.” Now he thinks only about one thing: “Am I really going to die without saying goodbye to my beloved!”
The condemned man listened to these words, and his heart was torn to pieces. For what? what did he do to deserve his bitter fate? He lived openly, did not start revolutions, did not go out with a weapon in his hands, ran according to his needs - is this really death for this? Death! Think about it, what a word! And it’s not just him who will die, but also her, the little gray bunny, whose only fault is that she loved him, the crooked one, with all her heart! So he would fly to her, take her, a little gray bunny, by the ears with his front paws, and would still be kind to her and stroke her head.
- Let's run! - the messenger was saying meanwhile. Hearing this word, the condemned man seemed to be transformed for a moment. He completely gathered himself into a ball and laid his ears on his back. Just about to hide - and the trace is gone. He shouldn’t have looked at the wolf’s den at that moment, but he did. And the hare's heart began to sink.
“I can’t,” he says, “the wolf didn’t order.”
Meanwhile, the wolf sees and hears everything, and quietly whispers with the wolf like a wolf: the hare must be praised for his nobility.
- Let's run! - the messenger says again.
- I can not! - repeats the condemned man,
- What are you whispering there, plotting? - how a wolf suddenly barks.
Both hares died. The messenger has also been caught! Conspiracy of the guards to escape - what, I mean, is the punishment for this according to the rules? Oh, to be a gray bunny without a groom and without a brother - the wolf and the wolf will eat both of them!
The obliques came to their senses - and in front of them both the wolf and the she-wolf were chattering their teeth, and in the darkness of the night both of their eyes were glowing like lanterns.
- We, your honor, nothing... so, between ourselves... a fellow countryman came to visit me! - the condemned man babbles, and he himself is dying of fear.
- That’s “nothing”! I know you! Don't put your finger in your mouth either! Tell me, what's the matter?
“So and so, your honor,” the fiancée’s brother interceded here, “my sister, and his fiancée is dying, so she asks, is it possible to let him say goodbye to her?”
“Hm... it’s good that the bride loves the groom,” says the wolf. “This means that they will have a lot of hares and more food for the wolves.” The wolf and I love each other, and we have a lot of wolf cubs. How many of them go by their own free will, and four of them still live with us. Wolf, oh wolf! should I let the groom go and say goodbye to the bride?
- But it’s scheduled for the day after tomorrow...
“I, your honor, will come running... I’ll turn around in an instant... I have this... that’s how holy I’ll come running!” - the condemned man hurried, and so that the wolf had no doubt that he could turn around in an instant, he suddenly pretended to be such a fine fellow that the wolf himself fell in love with him and thought: “If only I had soldiers like that!”
And the wolf became sad and said:
- Here you go! the hare loves his hare so much!
There is nothing to be done, the wolf agreed to let the oblique go on leave, but so that he would turn around just in time. And his fiancée kept his brother as an amanat.
“If you don’t come back in two days by six o’clock in the morning,” he said, “I’ll eat it instead of you; and if you come back, I’ll eat them both, and maybe... ha-ha... and have mercy!
The scythe shot out like an arrow from a bow. He runs, the earth trembles. If he encounters a mountain on the way, he will take it with a bang; the river - he doesn’t even look for a ford, he just swims and scratches; swamp - he jumps from the fifth bump to the tenth. Is it a joke? I need to get to the distant kingdom in time, go to the bathhouse, get married (“I’ll definitely get married!” he repeated to himself every minute), and back so that he can get to the wolf for breakfast...
Even the birds were surprised at his speed - they said: “In the Moskovskie Vedomosti they write that hares have not a soul, but steam - and how... he runs away!”
Finally came running. How much joy there was here - this cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor can it be described with a pen. The little gray bunny, as soon as she saw her beloved, forgot about the illness. She stood on her hind legs, put a drum on herself, and, well, beat out the “cavalry trot” with her paws - she prepared a surprise for the groom! And the widow-hare just got involved completely: she doesn’t know where to seat her betrothed son-in-law, what to feed. Aunties came running from all sides, godmothers, and sisters - everyone was flattered to look at the groom, and maybe even taste a tasty morsel at a party.
One groom seems to be out of his mind. Before he had time to make amends with the bride, he already stated:
“I wish I could go to the bathhouse and get married as soon as possible!”
- What was the need for such a hurry? - the mother hare makes fun of him.
- We need to run back. The wolf let go only for one day.
He told here how and what. He talks, and he bursts into bitter tears. And he doesn’t want to go back, and he can’t help but go back. You see, he gave his word, but the hare is master of his word. The aunts and sisters judged here - and they unanimously said: “You, scythe, said the truth: if you don’t give a word, be strong, and if you give, hold on! Never in our entire hare family has it happened that hares deceive!”
Soon the fairy tale will be told, and the matter between the hares will be done even faster. By morning the oblique man had been wounded, and before evening he was saying goodbye to his young wife.
“The wolf will certainly eat me,” he said, “so be faithful to me.” And if you have children, then raise them strictly. The best thing is to send them to the circus: there they will not only be taught how to beat a drum, but also how to shoot peas into a cannon,
And suddenly, as if in oblivion (again, therefore, he remembered about the wolf), he added:
- Or maybe the wolf... ha ha... will have mercy on me!
They only saw him.
Meanwhile, while the scythe was chewing and celebrating the wedding, in the space that separated the distant kingdom from the wolf’s lair, great troubles happened. In one place the rains poured, so that the river, which the hare had jokingly swam across a day earlier, swelled and overflowed ten miles. In another place, King Andron declared war on King Nikita, and on the very hare’s path the battle was in full swing. In the third place, cholera appeared - it was necessary to go around the whole quarantine chain a hundred miles... And besides, wolves, foxes, owls - they were guarding at every step.
He was smart with a scythe; He had calculated in advance that he would have three hours left, but as obstacles came one after another, his heart grew cold. He runs in the evening, runs at midnight; His legs are cut by stones, his fur hangs in tufts on his sides from the thorny branches, his eyes are clouded, bloody foam is oozing from his mouth, and he still has a long way to go! And yet his friend Amanat seems to him as if alive. Now he stands on guard by the wolf and thinks: “In so many hours, my dear son-in-law will come running to the rescue!” He will remember this and let it go even more violently. Neither mountains, nor valleys, nor forests, nor swamps - he doesn’t care about everything! How many times his heart wanted to burst, he took power over his heart so that fruitless worries would not distract him from the main goal. There is no time for grief now, no time for tears; let all feelings be silent, just to snatch a friend from the wolf’s mouth!
Now the day has begun to study. Owls, owls, the bats pulled in for the night; there was a chill in the air. And suddenly everything around became quiet, as if dead. And the scythe keeps running and keeps thinking: “Can’t I really help my friend out!”
The east turned red; At first, on the distant horizon there was a light splash of fire on the clouds, then more and more, and suddenly - flame! The dew on the grass caught fire; the birds of the day woke up, ants, worms, and boogers crawled; there was smoke coming from somewhere; in the rye and oats it was as if a whisper was going on, more audibly, more audibly... But the scythe does not see anything, does not hear, only one thing repeats: “I have destroyed my friend, I have destroyed!”
But here, finally, is the mountain. Behind this mountain is a swamp and in it is a wolf’s lair... I’m late, I’m late, I’m late!
He strains his last strength to jump to the top of the mountain... jumped up! But he can no longer run, he falls from exhaustion... will he really never make it?
The wolf's lair is in front of him as if on a silver platter. Somewhere in the distance, in a bell tower, six o'clock is striking, and each strike of the bell strikes like a hammer into the heart of the tormented beast. With the last blow, the wolf rose from the lair, stretched and waved its tail with pleasure. So he approached the amanat, grabbed it in his paws and plunged his claws into the stomach to tear it into two halves: one for himself, the other for the wolf. And the wolf cubs are here; They settled around their father and mother, clicking their teeth, studying.
- Here am I! Here! - shouted the scythe, like a hundred thousand hares together. And he rolled head over heels down the mountain into the swamp.
And the wolf praised him.
“I see,” he said, “that you can trust hares.” And here is my resolution for you: sit, for the time being, both under this bush, and later I will... ha ha... have mercy on you!
Saltykov-Shchedrin