Who can live well in Rus', brief, detailed. Analysis of the poem "Who Lives Well in Rus'" by chapter, composition of the work

WHO LIVES WELL IN RUSSIA

The men argue and do not notice how evening comes. They lit a fire, went for vodka, had a snack and again began to argue about who was living “fun, freely in Rus'.” The argument escalated into a fight. At this time, a chick flew up to the fire. I caught him with my groin. A warbler bird appears and asks to let the chick go. In return, she tells you how to find a self-assembled tablecloth. Pakhom releases the chick, the men follow the indicated path and find a self-assembled tablecloth. The men decide not to return home until they find out “for certain,” “Who lives happily, // Freely in Russia.”

Chapter I Pop

The men hit the road. They meet peasants, artisans, coachmen, soldiers, and the travelers understand that the life of these people cannot be called happy. Finally they meet a priest. He proves to the peasants that the priest has no peace, no wealth, no happiness - a diploma is difficult for a priest's son to get, and the priesthood is even more expensive. The priest can be called at any time of the day or night, in any weather. The priest has to see the tears of orphans and the death rattle of a dying man. But there is no honor for the priest - they make up “jokey tales // And obscene songs, // And all sorts of blasphemy” about him. The priest has no wealth either - rich landowners almost no longer live in Rus'. The men agree with the priest. They move on.

Chapter II Rural Fair

The men see meager living everywhere. A man bathes his horse in the river. The wanderers learn from him that all the people have gone to the fair. The men go there. At the fair, people bargain, have fun, walk, and drink. One man is crying in front of the people - he drank all his money, and his granddaughter is waiting for a treat at home. Pavlusha Veretennikov, nicknamed “the gentleman,” bought boots for his granddaughter. The old man is very happy. Wanderers watch a performance in a booth.

Chapter III Drunken Night

People return drunk after the fair.

People walk and fall

As if from behind the rollers the enemies are shooting at the men with grapeshot.

Some guy is burying a little girl, claiming at the same time that he is burying his mother. Women are quarreling in the ditch: who has a worse home? Yakim Nagoy says that “there is no measure for Russian drunkenness,” but it is also impossible to measure the people’s grief.

What follows is a story about Yakima Nagy, who previously lived in St. Petersburg, then went to prison due to a lawsuit with a merchant. Then he came to live in his native village. He bought pictures with which he covered the hut and which he loved very much. There was a fire. Yakim rushed to save not the accumulated money, but pictures, which he later hung in the new hut. The people, returning, sing songs. Wanderers are sad about their own home, about their wives.

Chapter IV Happy

Wanderers walk among the festive crowd with a bucket of vodka. They promise it to someone who convinces him that he is truly happy. The first to arrive is the sexton, who says that he is happy because he believes in the kingdom of heaven. They don't give him vodka. An old woman comes up and says that she has a very large turnip in her garden. They laughed at her and didn’t give her anything either. A soldier comes with medals and says that he is happy that he is alive. They brought it to him.

A stonecutter approaches and talks about his happiness - about his enormous strength. His opponent is a thin man. He says that at one time God punished him for boasting in the same way. The contractor praised him at the construction site, and he was happy - he took the fourteen-pound burden and carried it to the second floor. Since then he has withered away. He goes home to die, an epidemic begins in the carriage, the dead are unloaded at the stations, but he still remains alive.

A servant comes, boasts that he was the prince’s favorite slave, that he licked plates with the remains of gourmet food, drank foreign drinks from glasses, and suffers from the noble disease of gout. He is driven away. A Belarusian comes up and says that his happiness lies in bread, which he just can’t get enough of. At home, in Belarus, he ate bread with chaff and bark. A man who had been killed by a bear came and said that his comrades died while hunting, but he remained alive. The man received vodka from the wanderers. Beggars boast that they are happy because they receive food often. The wanderers realize that they wasted vodka on “peasant happiness.” They are advised to ask Yermil Girin, who owned the mill, about happiness. By court decision, the mill is being sold at auction. Yermil won the bargain with the merchant Altynnikov; the clerks demanded a third of the price immediately, contrary to the rules. Yermil did not have money with him, which needed to be deposited within an hour, and it was a long way to go home.

He went out to the square and asked people to borrow as much as they could. They collected more money than was needed. Yermil gave the money, the mill became his, and the next Friday he paid off the debts. The wanderers wonder why the people believed Girin and gave him money. They answer him that he achieved this with the truth. Girin served as a clerk in the estate of Prince Yurlov. He served for five years and did not take anything from anyone, he was attentive to everyone. But he was kicked out, and a new clerk came in his place - a scoundrel and a grabber. After the death of the old prince, the new owner drove out all the old henchmen and ordered the peasants to elect a new mayor. Everyone unanimously elected Ermil. He served honestly, but one day he still committed a crime - he “shielded” his younger brother Mitri, and Nenila Vlasyevna’s son became a soldier instead.

Since that time, Yermil has been sad - he doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, he says he’s a criminal. He said that let them judge according to their conscience. Nenila Vlasvna’s son was returned, but Mitri was taken away, and a fine was imposed on Ermila. For another year after that, he was not himself, then he resigned from his position, no matter how much they begged him to stay.

The narrator advises going to Girin, but another peasant says that Yermil is in prison. A riot broke out and government troops were needed. To avoid bloodshed, they asked Girin to address the people.

The story is interrupted by the screams of a drunken footman suffering from gout - now he is suffering from a beating for theft. The wanderers are leaving.

Chapter V Landowner

The landowner Obolt-Obolduev was “ruddy-faced, // Stately, stocky, // Sixty years old; // Gray, long mustache, // Well done grips.” He mistook the men for robbers and even pulled out a pistol. But they told him what was the matter. Obolt-Obolduev laughs, gets out of the stroller and talks about the life of the landowners.

First, he talks about the antiquity of his family, then he recalls the old times, when “Not only Russian people, // Russian nature itself // Submissive to us.” Then the landowners lived well - luxurious feasts, a whole regiment of servants, their own actors, etc. The landowner recalls the dog hunt, unlimited power, how he christened himself with his entire estate “on Easter Sunday.”

Now there is decline everywhere - “The noble class // As if everything was hidden, // Died out!” The landowner cannot understand why the “idle scribblers” encourage him to study and work, after all, he is a nobleman. He says that he has lived in the village for forty years, but cannot distinguish a barley ear from a rye ear. The peasants think:

The great chain has broken,

It tore and splintered:

One way for the master,

Others don't care!..

The Last One (From the second part)

The wanderers walk and see hayfields. They take the women's braids and start mowing them. Music can be heard from the river - it’s a landowner riding in a boat. The gray-haired man Vlas urges the women on - they shouldn’t upset the landowner. Three boats moor to the shore, containing a landowner with his family and servants.

The old landowner walks around the hay, complains that the hay is damp, and demands that it be dried. He leaves with his retinue for breakfast. The wanderers ask Vlas (he turned out to be the burgomaster) why the landowner gives orders if serfdom is abolished. Vlas replies that they have a special landowner: when he learned about the abolition of serfdom, he had a stroke - the left half of his body was paralyzed, he lay motionless.

The heirs arrived, but the old man recovered. His sons told him about the abolition of serfdom, but he called them traitors, cowards, etc. Out of fear that they would be disinherited, his sons decide to indulge him in everything.

That’s why they persuade the peasants to make a joke, as if the peasants were returned to the landowners. But some peasants did not need to be persuaded. Ipat, for example, says: “And I am the servant of the princes Utyatin - and that’s the whole story!” He remembers how the prince harnessed him to a cart, how he bathed him in an ice hole - he dipped him into one hole, pulled him out of another - and immediately gave him vodka.

The prince put Ipat on the box to play the violin. The horse stumbled, Ipat fell, and the sleigh ran over him, but the prince drove away. But after some time he returned. Ipat is grateful to the prince that he did not leave him to freeze. Everyone agrees to pretend that serfdom was not abolished.

Vlas does not agree to be burgomaster. Klim Lavin agrees to be it.

Klim has a conscience made of clay,

And Minin’s beard,

If you look, you'll think so

That you won’t find a more dignified and sober peasant.

The old prince walks around and gives orders, the peasants laugh at him on the sly. The man Agap Petrov did not want to obey the orders of the old landowner, and when he caught him cutting down the forest, he told Utyatin directly about everything, calling him a fool. Ducky got the second blow. But contrary to the expectations of his heirs, the old prince recovered again and began to demand the public flogging of Agap.

The whole world begins to persuade the latter. They took him to the stables, put a glass of wine in front of him and told him to shout louder. He shouted so loudly that even Utyatin took pity. The drunk Agap was carried home. Soon he died: “The unscrupulous Klim ruined him, anathema, blame!”

Utyatin is sitting at the table at this time. Peasants stand at the porch. Everyone is putting on a comedy, as usual, except for one guy - he laughs. The guy is a newcomer, local customs are funny to him. Utyatin again demands punishment for the rebel. But the wanderers do not want to blame. Burmistro's godfather saves the situation - she says that it was her son who laughed - a foolish boy. Utyatin calms down, has fun and swaggers over dinner. After lunch he dies. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. But the joy of the peasants was premature: “With the death of the Last One, the lord’s affection disappeared.”

Peasant Woman (From the third part)

The wanderers decide to look for a happy man among women. They are advised to go to the village of Klin and ask Matryona Timofeevna, nicknamed “the governor’s wife.” Arriving in the village, the men see “poor houses.” The footman he met explains that “The landowner is abroad, //And the steward is dying.” The wanderers meet Matryona Timofeevna.

Matrena Timofeevna, a dignified woman,

Wide and dense

About thirty-eight years old.

Beautiful; gray streaked hair,

The eyes are large, strict,

The richest eyelashes,

Severe and dark.

The wanderers talk about their goal. The peasant woman replies that she has no time to talk about life now - she has to go reap rye. The men offer help. Matryona Timofeevna talks about her life.

Chapter I Before Marriage

Matrena Timofeevna was born into a friendly, non-drinking family and lived “like Christ in the bosom.” It was a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. Then Matryona Timofeevna met her betrothed:

There's a stranger on the mountain!

Philip Korchagin - St. Petersburg resident,

Stove maker by skill.

Chapter II Songs

Matryona Timofeevna ends up in someone else's house.

The family was huge

Grumpy... I ended up in hell from my maiden holiday!

My husband went to work

I advised to remain silent and be patient...

As ordered, so done:

I walked with anger in my heart.

And the little girl didn’t say too much to anyone.

In winter Philippus came,

He brought a silk handkerchief and took him for a ride on a sleigh On Catherine’s day,

And it was as if there was no grief!..

She says that her husband beat her only once, when her husband’s sister arrived and he asked to give her shoes, but Matryona hesitated. Philip went back to work, and Matryona’s son Demushka was born on Kazanskaya. Life in her mother-in-law's house has become even more difficult, but she endures:

Whatever they tell me, I work,

No matter how much they scold me, I remain silent.

Of the entire family, only grandfather Saveliy felt sorry for Matryona Timofeevna’s husband.

Chapter III Savely, Holy Russian hero

Matryona Timofeevna talks about Savelia.

With a huge gray mane,

Tea, twenty years uncut,

With a huge beard

Grandfather looked like a bear...<…>

... He's already hit the nail on the head,

According to fairy tales, a hundred years.

Grandfather lived in a special room,

Didn't like families

He didn’t let me into his corner;

And she was angry, barking,

His "branded, convict"

My own son was honoring.

Savely will not be angry,

He will go to his little room,

He reads the holy calendar, crosses himself, and suddenly says cheerfully:

“Branded, but not a slave!”...

Savely tells Matryona why he is called “branded.” During his youth, the serf peasants of his village did not pay quitrents and did not go to corvée, because they lived in remote places and it was difficult to get there. The landowner Shalashnikov tried to collect rent, but was not very successful in this.

Shalashnikov tore excellently,

But I received not so much great income.

Soon Shalashnikov (he was a military man) is killed near Varna. His heir sends a German governor.

He forces the peasants to work. They themselves do not notice how they are cutting a clearing, i.e. it has now become easy to get to them.

And then hard labor came to the Korezh peasant -

Ruined to the bone!<…>

The German has a death grip:

Until he lets you go around the world,

Without moving away, he sucks!

This went on for eighteen years. The German built a factory and ordered the digging of a well. The German began to scold those who were digging the well for idleness (Savely was among them). The peasants pushed the German into a hole and buried the hole. Next - hard labor, Savely tried to escape from it, but he was caught. He spent twenty years in hard labor, another twenty in a settlement.

Chapter IV Demushka

Matryona Timofeevna gave birth to a son, but her mother-in-law does not allow her to be with the child, since her daughter-in-law has started working less.

The mother-in-law insists that Matryona Timofeevna leave her son with his grandfather. Savely neglected to look after the child: “The old man fell asleep in the sun, // Fed Demidushka to the pigs // Silly grandfather!..” Matryona blames her grandfather, cries. But it didn't end there:

The Lord was angry

He sent uninvited guests, Unrighteous judges!

A doctor, a police officer, and the police appear in the village and accuse Matryona of intentionally killing a child. The doctor performs an autopsy, despite Matryona’s requests “without desecration // To give the child // an honest burial.” They call her crazy. Grandfather Savely says that her madness lies in the fact that she went to the authorities without taking with her “neither a ruble nor a new one.” Demushka is buried in a closed coffin. Matryona Timofeevna cannot come to her senses, Savely, trying to console her, says that her son is now in heaven.

Chapter V She-Wolf

After Demushka died, Matryona “was not herself” and could not work. The father-in-law decided to teach her a lesson with the reins. The peasant woman bent down at his feet and asked: “Kill!” The father-in-law retreated. Day and night Matryona Timofeevna is at her son’s grave. Closer to winter, my husband arrived. Savely after the death of Demushka “He lay hopelessly for six days, // Then he went into the forests. // Grandfather sang so, so cried, // That the forest groaned! And in the fall // He went to repentance // To the Sand Monastery.” Every year Matryona gives birth to a child. Three years later, Matryona Timofeevna’s parents die. She goes to her son's grave to cry. Meets grandfather Savely there. He came from the monastery to pray for the “Deme of the Poor, for all the suffering Russian peasantry.” Saveliy did not live long - “in the fall, the old man got some kind of deep wound on his neck, he died with difficulty...”. Savely spoke about the share of peasants:

There are three paths for men:

Tavern, prison and penal servitude,

And to the women in Rus'

Three loops: white silk,

The second is red silk,

And the third - black silk,

Choose any one!..

Four years have passed. Matryona came to terms with everything. One day, a pilgrim pilgrim comes to the village, she talks about the salvation of the soul, and demands from mothers that they not feed their babies milk on fasting days. Matryona Timofeevna did not listen. “Yes, apparently God is angry,” says the peasant woman. When her son Fedot was eight years old, he was sent to herd sheep. One day they brought Fedot and said that he had fed a sheep to a she-wolf. Fedot says that a huge, emaciated she-wolf appeared, grabbed the sheep and started running. Fedot caught up with her and took away the sheep, which was already dead. The she-wolf looked into his eyes pitifully and howled. It was clear from the bleeding nipples that she had wolf cubs in her lair. Fedot took pity on the she-wolf and gave her the sheep. Matryona Timofeevna, trying to save her son from flogging, asks for mercy from the landowner, who orders not the assistant shepherd to be punished, but “the impudent woman.”

Chapter VI Difficult Year

Matryona Timofeevna says that the she-wolf did not appear in vain - there was a shortage of bread. The mother-in-law told the neighbors that Matryona had caused the famine by wearing a clean shirt on Christmas Day.

For my husband, for my protector,

I got off cheap;

And one woman was killed with stakes for the same thing.

Don't joke with the hungry!..

After the lack of bread came the recruitment drive. My brother's eldest husband was drafted into the army, so the family did not expect trouble. But Matryona Timofeevna’s husband is taken as a soldier out of turn. Life gets even harder. The children had to be sent around the world. The mother-in-law became even more grumpy.

Okay, don't get dressed,

Don't wash yourself white

The neighbors have sharp eyes,

Tongues out!

Walk on the quieter streets

Carry your head lower

If you're having fun, don't laugh

Don't cry out of sadness!..

Chapter VII Governor's wife

Matryona Timofeevna is going to the governor. She has difficulty getting to the city because she is pregnant. He gives a ruble to the doorman to let him in. He says to come in two hours. Matryona Timofeevna arrives, the doorman takes another ruble from her. The governor's wife arrives and Matryona Timofeevna rushes to her asking for intercession. The peasant woman becomes ill. When she comes to, she is told that she has given birth to a child. The governor's wife, Elena Aleksandrovna, was very fond of Matryona Timofeevna, and looked after her son as if she were her own (she herself had no children). A messenger is sent to the village to sort everything out. My husband was returned.

Chapter VIII The Woman's Parable

The men ask if Matryona Timofeevna told them everything. She says that everyone, besides the fact that they survived the fire twice, got sick three times

anthrax, that instead of a horse she had to walk “in a harrow.” Matryona Timofeevna recalls the words of the holy praying mantis who went to the “heights of Athens”:

The keys to women's happiness,

From our free will Abandoned, lost from God himself!<…>

Yes, they are unlikely to be found...

What kind of fish swallowed those sacred keys,

In what seas is that fish walking - God has forgotten!

Feast for the whole world Introduction

There is a feast in the village. The feast was organized by Klim. They sent for the parish sexton Tryphon. He came with his seminarian sons Savvushka and Grisha.

... The eldest was already nineteen years old;

Now I looked at the protodeacon, and Gregory had a thin, pale face and thin, curly hair,

With a hint of red.

Simple guys, kind,

They mowed, reaped, sowed And drank vodka on holidays With the peasantry on an equal basis.

The clerk and the seminarians began to sing.

Bitter times - bitter songs

Merry “Eat the prison, Yasha!” There’s no milk!”

- “Where is our cow?”

Take away, my light!

The master took her home for the offspring.”

“Where are our chickens?” - The girls are screaming.

“Don’t yell, you fools!

The zemstvo court ate them;

I took another cart and promised to wait..."

It is glorious to live in holy Rus'!

Then the Vakhlaks sang:

Corvee

Kalinushka is poor and unkempt,

He has nothing to show off,

Only the back is painted,

You don't know behind your shirt.

From the bast shoes to the collar, the skin is all ripped open,

The belly swells with chaff.

Twisted, twisted,

Flogged, tormented,

Kalina barely walks.

He'll knock on the innkeeper's feet,

Sorrow will drown in wine,

Only on Saturday will it come back to haunt the wife from the master's stable...

The men remember the old order. One of the men recalls how one day their lady decided to mercilessly beat the one “who would say a strong word.” The men stopped arguing, but as soon as the will was announced, they lost their souls so much that “Priest Ivan was offended.” Another man talks about the exemplary slave Yakov the Faithful. The greedy landowner Polivanov had a faithful servant, Yakov. He was devoted to the master without limit.

Yakov appeared like this from his youth, Yakov had only joy:

To care for the master, to take care of him, to please him, and to rock his little nephew.

Jacob's nephew Grisha grew up and asked the master for permission to marry the girl Arina.

However, the master himself liked her. He gave Grisha as a soldier, despite Yakov's pleas. The slave started drinking and disappeared. Polivanov feels bad without Yakov. Two weeks later the slave returned. Polivanov is going to visit his sister, Yakov is taking him. They drive through the forest, Yakov turns into a remote place - Devil's Ravine. Polivanov is frightened and begs for mercy. But Yakov says that he is not going to get his hands dirty with murder, and hangs himself from a tree. Polivanov is left alone. He spends the whole night in the ravine, screaming, calling people, but no one responds. In the morning a hunter finds him. The landowner returns home, lamenting: “I am a sinner, a sinner! Execute me!

After the story, the men start an argument about who is more sinful - the innkeepers, the landowners, the peasants or the robbers. Klim Lavin fights with a merchant. Jonushka, the “humble mantis,” talks about the power of faith. His story is about the holy fool Fomushka, who called people to escape to the forests, but he was arrested and taken to prison. From the cart, Fomushka shouted: “They beat you with sticks, rods, whips, you will be beaten with iron rods!” In the morning, a military team arrived and the pacification and interrogations began, i.e. Fomushka’s prophecy “almost came true.” Jonah talks about Euphrosyne, the messenger of God, who during the cholera years “buries, heals, and tends to the sick.” Jonah Lyapushkin - praying mantis and wanderer. The peasants loved him and argued about who would be the first to shelter him. When he appeared, everyone brought out icons to meet him, and Jonah followed those whose icons he liked best. Jonah tells a parable about two great sinners.

About two great sinners

The story was told to Jonah in Solovki by Father Pitirim. Twelve robbers howled, whose chieftain was Kudeyar. They lived in a dense forest, plundered a lot of wealth, and killed a lot of innocent souls. From near Kyiv, Kudeyar took himself a beautiful girl. Unexpectedly, “the Lord awakened the conscience” of the robber. Kudeyar “He took off his mistress’s head // And spotted Yesaul.” He returned home “an old man in monastic robes” and prayed to God for forgiveness day and night. The saint of the Lord appeared in front of Kudeyar. He pointed to a huge oak tree and said: “With the same knife that you robbed, // Cut it with the same hand!”<…>As soon as the tree collapses, // The chains of sin will fall.” Kudeyar begins to do what he was told. Time passes, and Pan Glukhovsky drives by. He asks what Kudeyar is doing.

The Elder heard a lot of cruel and terrible things about the master, and as a lesson to the sinner, he told his secret.

Pan grinned: “I haven’t been drinking salvation for a long time,

In the world I honor only a woman,

Gold, honor and wine.

You have to live, old man, in my opinion:

How many slaves do I destroy?

I torment, torture and hang,

I wish I could see how I’m sleeping!”

The hermit becomes furious, attacks the master and plunges a knife into his heart. At that very moment the tree collapsed, and the load of sins fell from the old man.

Both old and new Peasant sin

One admiral for military service, for the battle with the Turks near Ochakov, the empress awarded eight thousand souls of peasants. Dying, he gives the casket to Gleb the elder. The casket is ordered to be taken care of, since it contains a will according to which all eight thousand souls will receive their freedom. After the death of the admiral, a distant relative appears on the estate, promises the headman a lot of money, and the will is burned. Everyone agrees with Ignat that this is a great sin. Grisha Dobrosklonov talks about the freedom of the peasants, that “there will be no new Gleb in Russia.” Vlas wishes Grisha wealth and a smart and healthy wife. Grisha in response:

I don't need any silver

Not gold, but God willing,

So that my fellow countrymen and every peasant may live freely and cheerfully throughout all holy Rus'!

A cart with hay is approaching. The soldier Ovsyannikov is sitting on the cart with his niece Ustinyushka. The soldier made his living with the help of a raik - a portable panorama that showed objects through a magnifying glass. But the instrument broke. The soldier then came up with new songs and began to play the spoons. Sings a song.

Soldier's Toshen light,

There is no truth

Life is sickening

The pain is severe.

German bullets

Turkish bullets,

French bullets

Russian sticks!

Klim notices that in his yard there is a log on which he has been chopping wood since his youth. She is “not as wounded” as Ovsyannikov. However, the soldier did not receive full board, since the doctor’s assistant, when examining the wounds, said that they were second-rate. The soldier submits a petition again.

Good time - good songs

Grisha and Savva take their father home and sing:

Share of the people

His happiness.

Light and freedom First of all!

We ask God a little:

Honest work Do it skillfully Give us strength!

Working life -

For a friend there is a direct road to the heart,

Away from the threshold

Coward and lazy!

Isn't it heaven?

Dividing the people

His happiness.

Light and freedom First of all!

Father fell asleep, Savvushka took up his book, and Grisha went into the field. Grisha has a thin face - they were underfed by the housekeeper at the seminary. Grisha remembers his mother Domna, whose favorite son he was. Sings a song:

In the midst of the world below For a free heart There are two paths.

Weigh the proud strength,

Weigh your strong will, -

Which way to go?

One spacious road is rough,

The passions of a slave

It's huge

The greedy crowd is heading towards temptation.

About sincere life,

About a lofty goal The thought there is ridiculous.

Grisha sings a song about the bright future of his Motherland: “You are still destined to suffer a lot, // But you will not die, I know.” Grisha sees a barge hauler who, having completed his work, jingling coppers in his pocket, goes to the tavern. Grisha sings another song.

You're miserable too

You are also abundant

You are mighty

You are also powerless

Mother Rus'!

Grisha is pleased with his song:

He heard the immense strength in his chest, The blessed sounds delighted his ears, The radiant sounds of the noble hymn - He sang the embodiment of the people's happiness!..

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Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” which is included in the compulsory school curriculum, is presented in our summary, which you can read below.

Part 1

Prologue

Seven men from neighboring villages meet on the highway. They start an argument about who has fun in Rus'. Everyone has their own answer. In their conversations they do not notice that they have already walked thirty miles to God knows where. It gets dark, they make a fire. The argument gradually turns into a fight. But a definite answer still cannot be found.

A man named Pakhom catches a warbler chick. In return, the bird promises to tell the men where the self-assembled tablecloth is, which will give them as much food as they want, a bucket of vodka a day, and will wash and mend their clothes. The heroes receive a real treasure and decide to find the final answer to the question: who can live well in Rus'?

Pop

On the way the men meet a priest. They ask if he has a happy life. According to the priest, happiness is wealth, honor and peace. But these benefits are not available to the priest: in the cold and rain, he is forced to go out to the funeral service, to look at the tears of his relatives, when it is awkward to accept payment for the service. Moreover, the priest does not see respect among the people, and every now and then he becomes the subject of ridicule from the men.

Rural fair

Having found out that the priest is not happy, the peasants go to a fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. Maybe they will find the lucky one there. There are a lot of drunk people at the fair. Old man Vavila is grieving that he wasted money on shoes for his granddaughter. Everyone wants to help, but they don’t have the opportunity. Master Pavel Veretennikov feels sorry for his grandfather and buys a gift for his granddaughter.

As night approaches, everyone around is drunk, the men leave.

drunken night

Pavel Veretennikov, having talked with ordinary people, regrets that Russian people drink too much. But the men are convinced that the peasants drink out of despair, that it is impossible to live sober in these conditions. If the Russian people stop drinking, great sadness awaits them.

These thoughts are expressed by Yakim Nagoy, a resident of the village of Bosovo. He tells how, during a fire, the first thing he did was take out popular prints from the hut - what he valued most.

The men settled down for lunch. Then one of them remained to guard the bucket of vodka, and the rest again went in search of happiness.

Happy

Wanderers offer those who are happy in Rus' a glass of vodka. There are many such lucky people - the overstrained man, the paralytic, and even the beggars.

Someone points them to Ermila Girin, an honest and respected peasant. When he needed to buy his mill at auction, people raised the required amount by ruble and by penny. A couple of weeks later, Girin was distributing debt in the square. And when the last ruble remained, he continued to look for its owner until sunset. But now Yermila has little happiness - he was accused of a popular revolt and thrown into prison.

landowner

The rosy-cheeked landowner Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev is another candidate for the “lucky one.” But he complains to the peasants about the misfortune of the nobility - the abolition of serfdom. He was fine before. Everyone took care of him and tried to please him. And he himself was kind to the servants. The reform destroyed his usual way of life. How can he live now, because he doesn’t know how to do anything, he’s not capable of anything. The landowner began to cry, and the men became sad after him. The abolition of serfdom was not easy for the peasants either.

Part 2

Last One

The men find themselves on the banks of the Volga during haymaking. They observe a picture that is surprising to them. Three gentlemen's boats moor to the shore. The mowers, having just sat down to rest, jump up, wanting to curry favor with the master. It turned out that the heirs, having enlisted the support of the peasants, were trying to hide the peasant reform from the distraught landowner Utyatin. The peasants were promised land for this, but when the landowner dies, the heirs forget about the agreement.

Part 3

Peasant woman

Happiness seekers thought about asking women about happiness. Everyone they meet calls the name of Matryona Korchagina, whom people see as lucky.

Matryona claims that there are many troubles in her life, and dedicates wanderers to her story.

As a girl, Matryona had a good, non-drinking family. When the stove maker Korchagin looked after her, she was happy. But after marriage, the usual painful village life began. She was beaten by her husband only once, because he loved her. When he left to work, the stove-maker's family continued to abuse her. Only grandfather Savely, a former convict who was imprisoned for the murder of a manager, felt sorry for her. Savely looked like a hero, confident that it was impossible to defeat a Russian man.

Matryona was happy when her first son was born. But while she was at work in the field, Savely fell asleep, and the child was eaten by pigs. In front of the grief-stricken mother, the county doctor performed an autopsy on her firstborn. The woman still cannot forget the child, although after him she gave birth to five.

From the outside, everyone considers Matryona lucky, but no one understands what pain she carries inside, what mortal unavenged grievances gnaw at her, how she dies every time she remembers her dead child.

Matryona Timofeevna knows that a Russian woman simply cannot be happy, because she has no life, no will.

Part 4

Feast for the whole world

Wanderers near the village of Vakhlachina hear folk songs - hungry, salty, soldier's and corvee. Grisha Dobrosklonov sings - a simple Russian guy. There are stories about serfdom. One of them is the story of the Yakima Faithful. He was devoted to the master to the extreme. He rejoiced at the blows and fulfilled any whim. But when the landowner gave his nephew to military service, Yakim left and soon returned. He figured out how to take revenge on the landowner. Enervated, he brought him to the forest and hanged himself on a tree above the master.

A dispute begins about the worst sin. Elder Jonah tells the parable of “two sinners.” The sinner Kudeyar prayed to God for forgiveness, and he answered him. If Kudeyar knocks down a huge tree with just one knife, then his sins will disappear. The oak fell only after the sinner washed it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.

The clerk's son Grisha Dobrosklonov thinks about the future of the Russian people. For him, Rus' is a wretched, abundant, powerful and powerless mother. In his soul he feels immense strength, he is ready to give his life for the good of the people. In the future, the glory of the people's intercessor, hard labor, Siberia and consumption awaits him. But if the wanderers knew what feelings filled Gregory’s soul, they would realize that the goal of their search had been achieved.

One of the most famous works of the Russian poet Nikolai Nekrasov is the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” A brief summary of this work will help you study it thoroughly, learn in detail the story of the journey of seven peasants across the country in search of truly happy person. The events in the poem take place shortly after the historical abolition of serfdom, which took place in 1861.

The plot of the story

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” a summary of which is given in this article, begins with seven men meeting on a highway. All of them, quite recently, were still serfs, and now they are temporarily obliged to live in neighboring villages with telling and frankly depressing names - Dyryavina, Zaplatova, Gorelova, Razutova, Neelova, Znobishina and Neurozhaika.

A dispute arises between them about who is living happily and freely in Rus' today. Each of them has their own version. Some people believe that the landowner lives well; versions also include an official, a priest, a government minister, a boyar, a merchant, and the Tsar himself.

You will find out how this dispute will end from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by Nekrasov. You can get acquainted with it very briefly if you read this article. While talking, the men do not notice that they have taken a detour of as much as 30 miles, realizing that it is too late to return home today, they make a fire, pour out vodka and continue to argue. Gradually, the dispute develops into a fight, but even after it it is not possible to decide who is right.

The solution comes unexpectedly. One of the disputants named Pakhom gets a warbler chick in order to free it; the bird tells the men where they can find a self-assembled tablecloth. Thus, all participants in the dispute are provided with bread, vodka and all other food necessary for the journey. Then they decide to find out for themselves who lives well in Rus'. A brief summary of this work will help you quickly remember the main episodes if you read the work itself a long time ago or decided to get acquainted with it in a truncated version.

Pop

The first person they meet is a priest. His men are starting to wonder if he is having a good life. He reasonably replies that happiness is in wealth, peace and honor. He himself does not possess any of these goods.

In the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” a brief summary of which will help you prepare for an exam or test, the priest describes his unenviable fate. In any weather, he is forced to go to where people are sick, born or die. His soul is torn by the sadness of the orphans, the sobs over the coffin, so he does not always decide to take money for his work.

You can't count on more. The landowners who previously lived in family estates lived in them all year round, got married and baptized their children, are now scattered throughout the country, and some went abroad, so you can’t count on rewards from them.

Well, men themselves know that few people respect the priest, he sums up. As a result, the heroes of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (a brief summary of the chapters will help to better understand this work) even becomes uncomfortable when the clergyman begins to remember the insults and obscene songs that are regularly addressed to him.

Country fair

As a result, the heroes of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus',” a summary of which is now in front of you, end up at a rural fair in the village of Kuzminskoye. There they begin to ask people about true happiness.

The village is rich, but dirty. It has a paramedic's hut, a rickety house that once housed a "school", an untidy hotel, and many drinking establishments.

They meet old Vavila, who cannot buy shoes for his granddaughter because he drank everything away. Pavlusha Veretennikov, whom everyone around for some reason calls him “the gentleman,” saves him; he buys a gift for the old man.

The heroes watch the booth Parsley, trying to understand where it is good to live in Rus'. A brief summary of the poem will help you better understand the author’s intention. They see that every trading day ends in drinking and fighting. At the same time, they do not agree with Pavlusha, who proposes to measure the peasant by his masters. The men themselves are sure that it is impossible for a sober person to live in Rus'. In this case, there is no way to withstand either the peasant’s misfortune or the backbreaking labor.

Yakim Nagoy

These statements are also confirmed by Yakim Nagoy, who came from the village of Bosovo, who, as everyone around them says, “works himself to death, drinks himself half to death.” At the same time, during a fire, he himself saves not the accumulated money, but his favorite pictures, which are completely useless. He believes that when drunkenness ends in Rus', great sadness will come.

Wanderers are trying to continue to find where to live well in Rus'. The summary details their efforts. They promise to give free water to the lucky ones, but there are no such people. It turns out that both a paralyzed street servant and a ragged beggar are ready to declare themselves happy for a free drink.

Ermil Girin

Finally, the heroes learn the story of Yermil Girin. It tells about the mayor, who is known in the area for his honesty and justice in the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by Nekrasov. A summary of the chapters gives a complete picture of the work. For example, the men lent him money when he needed to buy back the mill, without even asking for a receipt. But he is also unhappy now, since he found himself in prison after a peasant revolt.

The poem tells in detail about the nobles, many of whom remained unhappy after the peasants gained freedom. A 60-year-old landowner named Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev says that everything used to amuse the master: fields, forests, serf actors, hunters, musicians, they all belonged to him, he himself was kind to them.

The men themselves understand that serfdom was far from the idyll depicted by Obolduev, but they understand that the abolition of serfdom hit hard both the master, who was deprived of his usual way of life, and the men.

Russian women

Disappointed in finding happy men among men, the heroes begin to ask women who and why it is good to live in Rus'. This episode is also summarized. One of the wanderers recalls that Matryona Korchagina lives in the village of Klin. Everyone around her considers her lucky. But she herself doesn’t think so when she tells the story of her life.

She was born into a wealthy and non-drinking peasant family. Her husband was a stove maker from a neighboring village, Philip Korchagin. But the only happy night for her was when her future husband persuaded her to marry him. Then the monotonous life of a Russian woman in the village began.

At the same time, she admits that her husband loved her, beat her only once, but soon left for St. Petersburg to earn money. Matryona had to get along with her father-in-law's family. Only her grandfather Savely, who returned from hard labor, which he ended up in because of the murder of a manager from Germany, whom everyone hated, felt sorry for her.

Birth of first child

Soon Matryona had her first child, who was named Demushka. But the mother-in-law did not allow him to take the child with him into the field, and old Savely did not look after him, and the pigs ate him. In front of the mother, judges who came from the city performed an autopsy. Afterwards, she had five sons, but she never forgot her firstborn.

A lot of suffering also befell her. One of her sons, Fedot, neglected to look after the sheep and one was dragged away by a she-wolf to protect him; Matryona took the punishment upon herself. Being pregnant with Liodor, she had to go to the city to seek justice when her husband was illegally taken into the army. Then the governor’s wife helped her, for whom everyone in the family now prays.

On the Volga

On the great Russian river, wanderers find themselves in the midst of haymaking. Here they witness another strange scene. A noble family is sailing to the shore on several boats. The mowers, who have just sat down to rest, jump up to demonstrate their zeal to the master.

These are peasants from the village of Vakhlachina, who in every possible way help the heirs to hide the abolition of serfdom from the landowner Utyatin, finally His relatives, in exchange for this service, promised the peasants floodplain meadows. But when the old landowner finally dies, the heirs do not keep their word, and it turns out that the whole performance that the peasants staged was in vain.

Peasant songs

The main characters of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” listen to various peasant songs near this village. A chapter-by-chapter summary will let you know what the book is about without even reading it. Among them are soldier's, corvee, salt, and hunger. All these are stories from the times of serfdom.

One of them is dedicated to an exemplary and honest slave named Yakov. His only joy in life was to please his master. It was the small landowner Polivanov. He was a tyrant, in gratitude for his devotion and faithful service, he knocked out Yakov’s teeth with his heel, arousing even greater love in the lackey’s soul.

In old age, the landowner's legs became weak, then Yakov began to follow him and take care of him like a child. But when the peasant’s nephew decided to marry a local beauty named Arisha, Polivanov himself wants this girl and gives the guy as a recruit. Yakov first started drinking, but soon returned to his master. In the end, he took revenge on Polivanov in the only way that was available to a lackey like him. Yakov took the master into the forest and there he hanged himself on a pine tree right in front of his master. Polivanov had to spend the whole night over the corpse of his servant, driving away wolves, birds and other animals.

Great Sinners

Another story told about sinners. It is told by God’s wanderer named Jonah Lyapushkin to the heroes of the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by Nekrasov. A summary of this story is also given in this article.

One day the Lord awakened the conscience of the leader of the robbers, Kudeyar. For a long time he was forced to atone for his sins, but received remission only when he killed the cruel Pan Glukhovsky.

Another sinner is Gleb the elder. For a monetary reward, he hid the will of a widower admiral, who, after his death, ordered the release of the peasants who belonged to him, but because of Gleb, no one found out about this for a long time.

Grisha Dobrosklonov

In addition to the men who want to find out who lives happily in Rus', the son of the local clerk, Grisha Dobrosklonov, a seminarian, also thinks about people’s happiness. He loves his late mother, this love merges with the love for all of Vakhlachina.

At the age of 15, Grisha already knows for sure who he is ready to die for, in whose hands he is ready to entrust his life. He reflects on the vast, mysterious Rus', thinking of her as a powerful, powerless mother, expecting that the strength that he increasingly feels within himself will still be reflected in her.

Grisha Dobrosklonov is strong in spirit. Fate prepared for him the path of the people's intercessor, as well as Siberia and consumption.

The men do not know what is happening in the soul of this hero, otherwise they would probably understand that they could return home, they learned everything that was necessary.

From 1863 to 1877 Nekrasov created “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The idea, characters, plot changed several times during the work. Most likely, the plan was not fully revealed: the author died in 1877. Despite this, “Who Lives Well in Rus'” as a folk poem is considered a completed work. It was supposed to have 8 parts, but only 4 were completed.

The poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” begins with the introduction of the characters. These heroes are seven men from the villages: Dyryavino, Zaplatovo, Gorelovo, Neurozhaika, Znobishino, Razutovo, Neelovo. They meet and start a conversation about who lives happily and well in Rus'. Each of the men has his own opinion. One believes that the landowner is happy, the other - that he is an official. The peasants from the poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” also call happy the merchant, the priest, the minister, the noble boyar, the tsar. The heroes began to argue and lit a fire. It even came to a fight. However, they fail to come to an agreement.

Self-assembled tablecloth

Suddenly Pakhom completely unexpectedly caught the chick. The little warbler, his mother, asked the man to let the chick go free. She suggested for this where you can find a self-assembled tablecloth - very useful thing, which will certainly come in handy on a long journey. Thanks to her, the men did not lack food during the trip.

The priest's story

The work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” continues with the following events. The heroes decided to find out at any cost who lives happily and cheerfully in Rus'. They hit the road. First, on the way they met a priest. The men turned to him with a question about whether he lived happily. Then the pope talked about his life. He believes (in which the men could not but agree with him) that happiness is impossible without peace, honor, and wealth. Pop believes that if he had all this, he would be completely happy. However, he is obliged, day and night, in any weather, to go where he is told - to the dying, to the sick. Every time the priest has to see human grief and suffering. He sometimes even lacks the strength to take retribution for his service, since people tear the latter away from themselves. Once upon a time everything was completely different. The priest says that rich landowners generously rewarded him for funeral services, baptisms, and weddings. However, now the rich are far away, and the poor have no money. The priest also has no honor: the men do not respect him, as many folk songs testify to.

Wanderers go to the fair

Wanderers understand that this person cannot be called happy, as noted by the author of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'.” The heroes set off again and find themselves along the road in the village of Kuzminskoye, at the fair. This village is dirty, although rich. There are a lot of establishments in it where residents indulge in drunkenness. They drink away their last money. For example, an old man had no money left to buy shoes for his granddaughter, since he drank everything away. All this is observed by wanderers from the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” (Nekrasov).

Yakim Nagoy

They also notice fairground entertainment and fights and argue that a man is forced to drink: it helps him withstand hard work and eternal hardships. An example of this is Yakim Nagoy, a man from the village of Bosovo. He works himself to death and drinks until he is half to death. Yakim believes that if there were no drunkenness, there would be great sadness.

The wanderers continue their journey. In the work “Who Lives Well in Rus',” Nekrasov talks about how they want to find happy and cheerful people and promise to give these lucky people free water. Therefore the most different people they are trying to pass themselves off as such - a former servant suffering from paralysis, who for many years licked the master's plates, exhausted workers, beggars. However, the travelers themselves understand that these people cannot be called happy.

Ermil Girin

The men once heard about a man named Ermil Girin. Nekrasov further tells his story, of course, but does not convey all the details. Yermil Girin is a burgomaster who was highly respected, a fair and honest person. He intended to one day buy the mill. The men lent him money without a receipt, they trusted him so much. However, a peasant revolt occurred. Now Yermil is in prison.

Obolt-Obolduev's story

Gavrila Obolt-Obolduev, one of the landowners, spoke about the fate of the nobles after They used to own a lot: serfs, villages, forests. On holidays, nobles could invite serfs into their homes to pray. But after that the master was no longer the full owner of the men. The wanderers knew very well how difficult life was during the times of serfdom. But it is also not difficult for them to understand that things became much harder for the nobles after the abolition of serfdom. And it’s not easier for men now. The wanderers realized that they would not be able to find a happy one among the men. So they decided to go to the women.

Life of Matryona Korchagina

The peasants were told that in one village there lived a peasant woman named Matryona Timofeevna Korchagina, whom everyone called lucky. They found her, and Matryona told the men about her life. Nekrasov continues this story “Who Lives Well in Rus'.”

A brief summary of this woman's life story is as follows. Her childhood was cloudless and happy. She had a hard-working family that didn't drink. The mother cared for and cherished her daughter. When Matryona grew up, she became a beauty. One day, a stove maker from another village, Philip Korchagin, wooed her. Matryona told how he persuaded her to marry him. This was the only bright memory of this woman in her entire life, which was hopeless and dreary, although her husband treated her well by peasant standards: he almost never beat her. However, he went to the city to earn money. Matryona lived in her father-in-law's house. Everyone here treated her badly. The only one who was kind to the peasant woman was the very old grandfather Savely. He told her that he was sent to hard labor for the murder of the manager.

Soon Matryona gave birth to Demushka, a sweet and beautiful child. She could not part with him for a minute. However, the woman had to work in the field, where her mother-in-law did not allow her to take the child. Grandfather Savely was watching the baby. One day he did not take care of Demushka, and the child was eaten by pigs. They came from the city to investigate, and they opened up the baby in front of the mother’s eyes. This was the hardest blow for Matryona.

Then five children were born to her, all boys. Matryona was a kind and caring mother. One day Fedot, one of the children, was tending sheep. One of them was carried away by a she-wolf. The shepherd was to blame for this and should have been punished with whips. Then Matryona begged her to be beaten instead of her son.

She also said that they once wanted to recruit her husband as a soldier, although this was a violation of the law. Then Matryona went to the city while pregnant. Here the woman met Elena Alexandrovna, the kind governor’s wife, who helped her, and Matryona’s husband was released.

The peasants considered Matryona a happy woman. However, after listening to her story, the men realized that she could not be called happy. There was too much suffering and troubles in her life. Matryona Timofeevna herself also says that a woman in Rus', especially a peasant woman, cannot be happy. Her lot is very difficult.

Crazy landowner

Men-wanderers are on their way to the Volga. Here comes the mowing. People are busy with hard work. Suddenly an amazing scene: the mowers humiliate themselves and please the old master. It turned out that the landowner He could not understand what had already been abolished. Therefore, his relatives persuaded the men to behave as if it was still in effect. They were promised for this. The men agreed, but were deceived once again. When the old master died, the heirs gave them nothing.

The story of Jacob

Repeatedly along the way, wanderers listen to folk songs - hungry, soldier's and others, as well as various stories. They remembered, for example, the story of Yakov, the faithful slave. He always tried to please and appease the master, who humiliated and beat the slave. However, this led to Yakov loving him even more. The master's legs gave out in old age. Yakov continued to look after him as if he were his own child. But he received no gratitude for this. Grisha, a young guy, Jacob's nephew, wanted to marry a beauty - a serf girl. Out of jealousy, the old master sent Grisha as a recruit. Yakov fell into drunkenness from this grief, but then returned to the master and took revenge. He took him to the forest and hanged himself right in front of the master. Since his legs were paralyzed, he could not escape anywhere. The master sat all night under Yakov's corpse.

Grigory Dobrosklonov - people's defender

This and other stories make men think that they will not be able to find happy people. However, they learn about Grigory Dobrosklonov, a seminarian. This is the son of a sexton, who has seen the suffering and hopeless life of the people since childhood. He made a choice in his early youth, he decided that he would give his strength to fight for the happiness of his people. Gregory is educated and smart. He understands that Rus' is strong and will cope with all troubles. In the future, Gregory will have a glorious path ahead, the great name of the people's intercessor, “consumption and Siberia.”

The men hear about this intercessor, but they do not yet understand that such people can make others happy. This will not happen soon.

Heroes of the poem

Nekrasov depicted various segments of the population. Simple peasants become the main characters of the work. They were freed by the reform of 1861. But their life did not change much after the abolition of serfdom. The same hard work, hopeless life. After the reform, peasants who had their own lands found themselves in an even more difficult situation.

The characteristics of the heroes of the work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” can be supplemented by the fact that the author created surprisingly reliable images of peasants. Their characters are very accurate, although contradictory. Not only kindness, strength and integrity of character are found in Russian people. They have preserved at the genetic level servility, servility, and readiness to submit to a despot and tyrant. The coming of Grigory Dobrosklonov, a new man, is a symbol of the fact that honest, noble, intelligent people are appearing among the downtrodden peasantry. May their fate be unenviable and difficult. Thanks to them, self-awareness will arise among the peasant masses, and people will finally be able to fight for happiness. This is exactly what the heroes and the author of the poem dream about. N.A. Nekrasov (“Who Lives Well in Rus'”, “Russian Women”, “Frost, and Other Works”) is considered a truly national poet, who was interested in the fate of the peasantry, its sufferings, problems. The poet could not remain indifferent to his difficult lot. The work of N. A. Nekrasov’s “Who Lives Well in Rus'” was written with such sympathy for the people that today it makes us sympathize with their fate in that difficult time.

Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Rus'” tells about the journey of seven peasants across Russia in search of a happy person. The work was written in the late 60s to mid 70s. XIX century, after the reforms of Alexander II and the abolition of serfdom. It tells about a post-reform society in which not only many old vices have not disappeared, but many new ones have appeared. According to the plan of Nikolai Alekseevich Nekrasov, the wanderers were supposed to reach St. Petersburg at the end of the journey, but due to the illness and imminent death of the author, the poem remained unfinished.

The work “Who Lives Well in Rus'” is written in blank verse and stylized as Russian folk tales. We invite you to read online a summary of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” by Nekrasov, chapter by chapter, prepared by the editors of our portal.

Main characters

Novel, Demyan, Luke, Gubin brothers Ivan and Mitrodor, Groin, Prov- seven peasants who went to look for a happy man.

Other characters

Ermil Girin- the first “candidate” for the title of lucky man, an honest mayor, very respected by the peasants.

Matryona Korchagina(Governor's wife) - a peasant woman, known in her village as a “lucky woman”.

Savely- grandfather of Matryona Korchagina’s husband. A hundred year old man.

Prince Utyatin(The Last One) is an old landowner, a tyrant, to whom his family, in agreement with the peasants, does not talk about the abolition of serfdom.

Vlas- peasant, mayor of a village that once belonged to Utyatin.

Grisha Dobrosklonov- seminarian, son of a clerk, dreaming of the liberation of the Russian people; the prototype was the revolutionary democrat N. Dobrolyubov.

Part 1

Prologue

Seven men converge on the “pillar path”: Roman, Demyan, Luka, the Gubin brothers (Ivan and Mitrodor), old man Pakhom and Prov. The district from which they come is called by the author Terpigorev, and the “adjacent villages” from which the men come are called Zaplatovo, Dyryaevo, Razutovo, Znobishino, Gorelovo, Neelovo and Neurozhaiko, thus the poem uses the artistic device of “speaking” names .

The men got together and argued:
Who has fun?
Free in Rus'?

Each of them insists on his own. One shouts that life is most free for the landowner, another that for the official, the third for the priest, “the fat-bellied merchant,” “the noble boyar, the sovereign’s minister,” or the tsar.

From the outside it seems as if the men found a treasure on the road and are now dividing it among themselves. The men have already forgotten what business they left the house for (one was going to baptize a child, the other was going to the market...), and they go to God knows where until night falls. Only here do the men stop and, “blaming the trouble on the devil,” sit down to rest and continue the argument. Soon it comes to a fight.

Roman is pushing Pakhomushka,
Demyan pushes Luka.

The fight alarmed the whole forest, an echo woke up, animals and birds became worried, a cow mooed, a cuckoo croaked, jackdaws squeaked, the fox, who had been eavesdropping on the men, decided to run away.

And then there’s the warbler
Tiny chick with fright
Fell from the nest.

When the fight is over, the men pay attention to this chick and catch it. It’s easier for a bird than for a man, says Pakhom. If he had wings, he would fly all over Rus' to find out who lives best in it. “We wouldn’t even need wings,” the others add, they would just have some bread and “a bucket of vodka,” as well as cucumbers, kvass and tea. Then they would measure all of “Mother Rus' with their feet.”

While the men are interpreting this, a warbler flies up to them and asks them to let her chick go free. For him she will give a royal ransom: everything the men want.

The men agree, and the warbler shows them a place in the forest where a box with a self-assembled tablecloth is buried. Then she enchants their clothes so that they do not wear out, so that their bast shoes do not break, their foot wraps do not rot, and louses do not breed on their bodies, and flies away “with her birth chick.” In parting, the chiffchaff warns the peasant: they can ask for as much food from the self-assembled tablecloth as they want, but you can’t ask for more than a bucket of vodka a day:

And once and twice - it will be fulfilled
At your request,
And the third time there will be trouble!

The peasants rush into the forest, where they actually find a self-assembled tablecloth. Delighted, they throw a feast and make a vow: not to return home until they find out for sure “who lives happily and at ease in Rus'?”

This is how their journey begins.

Chapter 1. Pop

A wide path lined with birch trees stretches far away. On it, the men come across mostly “small people” - peasants, artisans, beggars, soldiers. Travelers don’t even ask them anything: what kind of happiness is there? Towards evening, the men meet the priest. The men block his path and bow low. In response to the priest’s silent question: what do they want?, Luka talks about the dispute that started and asks: “Is the priest’s life sweet?”

The priest thinks for a long time, and then answers that since it is a sin to grumble against God, he will simply describe his life to the men, and they will figure out for themselves whether it is good.

Happiness, according to the priest, lies in three things: “peace, wealth, honor.” The priest knows no peace: his rank is earned by hard work, and then an equally difficult service begins; the cries of orphans, the cries of widows and the groans of the dying contribute little to peace of mind.

The situation is no better with honor: the priest serves as an object for the witticisms of the common people, obscene tales, anecdotes and fables are written about him, which do not spare not only himself, but also his wife and children.

The last thing that remains is wealth, but even here everything has changed long ago. Yes, there were times when the nobles honored the priest, played magnificent weddings and came to their estates to die - that was the job of the priests, but now “the landowners have scattered across distant foreign lands.” So it turns out that the priest is content with rare copper nickels:

The peasant himself needs
And I would be glad to give it, but there’s nothing...

Having finished his speech, the priest leaves, and the disputants attack Luke with reproaches. They unanimously accuse him of stupidity, of the fact that it was only at first glance that the priest’s housing seemed comfortable to him, but he could not figure it out deeper.

What did you take? stubborn head!

The men would probably have beaten Luka, but then, to his happiness, at the bend of the road, “the priest’s stern face” appears once again...

Chapter 2. Rural fair

The men continue their journey, and their road goes through empty villages. Finally they meet the rider and ask him where the villagers have gone.

We went to the village of Kuzminskoye,
Today there is a fair...

Then the wanderers decide to also go to the fair - what if it is there that the one “who lives happily” is hiding?

Kuzminskoye is a rich, albeit dirty village. It has two churches, a school (closed), a dirty hotel and even a paramedic. That’s why the fair is rich, and most of all there are taverns, “eleven taverns,” and they don’t have time to pour a drink for everyone:

Oh Orthodox thirst,
How great are you!

There are a lot of drunk people around. A man scolds a broken ax, and Vavil’s grandfather, who promised to bring shoes for his granddaughter, but drank away all the money, is sad next to him. The people feel sorry for him, but no one can help - they themselves have no money. Fortunately, a “master” happens, Pavlusha Veretennikov, and he buys shoes for Vavila’s granddaughter.

Ofeni (booksellers) also sell at the fair, but the most low-quality books, as well as thicker portraits of generals, are in demand. And no one knows whether the time will come when a man:

Belinsky and Gogol
Will it come from the market?

By evening everyone gets so drunk that even the church with its bell tower seems to be shaking, and the men leave the village.

Chapter 3. Drunken night

It's a quiet night. The men walk along the “hundred-voice” road and hear snatches of other people’s conversations. They talk about officials, about bribes: “And we give fifty dollars to the clerk: We have made a request,” women’s songs are heard asking them to “love.” One drunk guy buries his clothes in the ground, assuring everyone that he is “burying his mother.” At the road sign, the wanderers again meet Pavel Veretennikov. He talks with peasants, writes down their songs and sayings. Having written down enough, Veretennikov blames the peasants for drinking a lot - “it’s a shame to see!” They object to him: the peasant drinks mainly out of grief, and it is a sin to condemn or envy him.

The objector's name is Yakim Goly. Pavlusha also writes down his story in a book. Even in his youth, Yakim bought popular prints for his son and he loved looking at them just as much as the child. When there was a fire in the hut, the first thing he did was rush to tear pictures from the walls, and so all his savings, thirty-five rubles, were burned. Now he gets 11 rubles for a melted lump.

Having heard enough stories, the wanderers sit down to refresh themselves, then one of them, Roman, remains at the guard’s bucket of vodka, and the rest again mix with the crowd in search of the happy one.

Chapter 4. Happy

Wanderers walk in the crowd and call for the happy one to appear. If such a one appears and tells them about his happiness, then he will be treated to vodka.

Sober people laugh at such speeches, but there is a considerable queue of drunk people. The sexton comes first. His happiness, in his words, “lies in complacency” and in the “kosushechka” that the men pour out. The sexton is driven away, and an old woman appears who, on a small ridge, “up to a thousand turnips were born.” The next to try his luck is a soldier with medals, “he’s barely alive, but he wants a drink.” His happiness is that no matter how much he was tortured in the service, he still remained alive. A stonecutter with a huge hammer also comes, a peasant who overstrained himself in the service but still made it home barely alive, a yard man with a “noble” disease - gout. The latter boasts that for forty years he stood at the table of His Serene Highness, licking plates and finishing glasses of foreign wine. The men drive him away too, because they have simple wine, “not for your lips!”

The queue for travelers is not getting smaller. The Belarusian peasant is happy that here he eats to his fill rye bread, because in their homeland they baked bread only with chaff, and this caused terrible cramps in the stomach. A man with a folded cheekbone, a hunter, is happy that he survived the fight with the bear, while the rest of his comrades were killed by the bears. Even beggars come: they are happy that there is alms to feed them.

Finally, the bucket is empty, and the wanderers realize that they will not find happiness this way.

Hey, man's happiness!
Leaky, with patches,
Humpbacked with calluses,
Go home!

Here one of the people who approached them advises them to “ask Ermila Girin,” because if he doesn’t turn out to be happy, then there’s nothing to look for. Ermila is a simple man who has earned the great love of the people. The wanderers are told the following story: Ermila once had a mill, but they decided to sell it for debts. The bidding began; the merchant Altynnikov really wanted to buy the mill. Ermila was able to beat his price, but the problem was that he didn’t have the money with him to make a deposit. Then he asked for an hour's delay and ran to the market square to ask the people for money.

And a miracle happened: Yermil received the money. Very soon he had the thousand he needed to buy out the mill. And a week later there was an even more wonderful sight on the square: Yermil was “calculating the people”, he distributed the money to everyone and honestly. There was only one extra ruble left, and Yermil kept asking until sunset whose it was.

The wanderers are perplexed: by what witchcraft did Yermil gain such trust from the people. They are told that this is not witchcraft, but the truth. Girin served as a clerk in an office and never took a penny from anyone, but helped with advice. The old prince soon died, and the new one ordered the peasants to elect a burgomaster. Unanimously, “six thousand souls, the whole estate,” Yermila shouted - although young, he loves the truth!

Only once did Yermil “betray his soul” when he did not recruit his younger brother, Mitri, replacing him with the son of Nenila Vlasyevna. But after this act, Yermil’s conscience tormented him so much that he soon tried to hang himself. Mitri was handed over as a recruit, and Nenila’s son was returned to her. Yermil, for a long time, was not himself, “he resigned from his position,” but instead rented a mill and became “more loved by the people than before.”

But here the priest intervenes in the conversation: all this is true, but going to Yermil Girin is useless. He is sitting in prison. The priest begins to tell how it happened - the village of Stolbnyaki rebelled and the authorities decided to call Yermil - his people will listen.

The story is interrupted by shouts: they caught the thief and flogged him. The thief turns out to be the same footman with the “noble illness”, and after the flogging he runs away as if he had completely forgotten about his illness.
Meanwhile, the priest says goodbye, promising to finish telling the story the next time they meet.

Chapter 5. Landowner

On their further journey, the men meet the landowner Gavrila Afanasich Obolt-Obolduev. The landowner is frightened at first, suspecting them to be robbers, but, having figured out what the matter is, he laughs and begins to tell his story. He traces his noble family back to the Tatar Oboldui, who was skinned by a bear for the amusement of the empress. She gave the Tatar cloth for this. Such were the noble ancestors of the landowner...

The law is my desire!
The fist is my police!

However, not all strictness; the landowner admits that he “attracted hearts more with affection”! All the servants loved him, gave him gifts, and he was like a father to them. But everything changed: the peasants and land were taken away from the landowner. The sound of an ax can be heard from the forests, everyone is being destroyed, drinking houses are springing up instead of estates, because now no one needs a letter at all. And they shout to the landowners:

Wake up, sleepy landowner!
Get up! - study! work!..

But how can a landowner, who has been accustomed to something completely different since childhood, work? They didn’t learn anything, and “thought they’d live like this forever,” but it turned out differently.

The landowner began to cry, and the good-natured peasants almost cried with him, thinking:

The great chain has broken,
Torn and splintered:
One way for the master,
Others don't care!..

Part 2

Last One

The next day, the men go to the banks of the Volga, to a huge hay meadow. They had barely started talking with the locals when music began and three boats moored to the shore. They are a noble family: two gentlemen with their wives, little barchat, servants and a gray-haired old gentleman. The old man inspects the mowing, and everyone bows to him almost to the ground. In one place he stops and orders the dry haystack to be swept away: the hay is still damp. The absurd order is immediately carried out.

The wanderers marvel:
Grandfather!
What a wonderful old man?

It turns out that the old man - Prince Utyatin (the peasants call him the Last One) - having learned about the abolition of serfdom, “beguiled” and fell ill with a stroke. It was announced to his sons that they had betrayed the landowner ideals, were unable to defend them, and if so, they would be left without an inheritance. The sons got scared and persuaded the peasants to fool the landowner a little, with the idea that after his death they would give the village flood meadows. The old man was told that the tsar ordered the serfs to be returned to the landowners, the prince was delighted and stood up. So this comedy continues to this day. Some peasants are even happy about this, for example, the courtyard Ipat:

Ipat said: “Have fun!
And I am the Utyatin princes
Serf - and that’s the whole story!”

But Agap Petrov cannot come to terms with the fact that even in freedom someone will push him around. One day he told the master everything directly, and he had a stroke. Having woken up, he ordered Agap to be flogged, and the peasants, so as not to reveal the deception, took him to the stable, where they placed a bottle of wine in front of him: drink and shout louder! Agap died that same night: it was hard for him to bow down...

The wanderers attend the feast of the Last One, where he gives a speech about the benefits of serfdom, and then lies down in a boat and falls asleep in eternal sleep while listening to songs. The village of Vakhlaki sighs with sincere relief, but no one is giving them the meadows - the trial continues to this day.

Part 3

Peasant woman

“Not everything is between men
Find the happy one
Let’s feel the women!”

With these words, the wanderers go to Korchagina Matryona Timofeevna, the governor, beautiful woman 38 years old, who, however, already calls herself an old woman. She talks about her life. Then I was only happy, as I was growing up in my parents’ house. But girlhood quickly flew by, and now Matryona is already being wooed. Her betrothed is Philip, handsome, ruddy and strong. He loves his wife (according to her, he only beat him once), but soon he goes to work, and leaves her with his large, but alien to Matryona, family.

Matryona works for her older sister-in-law, her strict mother-in-law, and her father-in-law. She had no joy in her life until her eldest son, Demushka, was born.

In the whole family, only the old grandfather Savely, the “hero of the Holy Russian”, who is living out his life after twenty years of hard labor, feels sorry for Matryona. He ended up in hard labor for the murder of a German manager who did not give the men a single free minute. Savely told Matryona a lot about his life, about “Russian heroism.”

The mother-in-law forbids Matryona to take Demushka into the field: she doesn’t work with him much. The grandfather looks after the child, but one day he falls asleep and the child is eaten by pigs. After some time, Matryona meets Savely at the grave of Demushka, who has gone to repentance at the Sand Monastery. She forgives him and takes him home, where the old man soon dies.

Matryona had other children, but she could not forget Demushka. One of them, the shepherdess Fedot, once wanted to be whipped for a sheep carried away by a wolf, but Matryona took the punishment upon herself. When she was pregnant with Liodorushka, she had to go to the city and ask for the return of her husband, who had been taken into the army. Matryona gave birth right in the waiting room, and the governor’s wife, Elena Alexandrovna, for whom the whole family is now praying, helped her. Since then, Matryona “has been glorified as a lucky woman and nicknamed the governor’s wife.” But what kind of happiness is that?

This is what Matryonushka says to the wanderers and adds: they will never find a happy woman among women, the keys to female happiness are lost, and even God does not know where to find them.

Part 4

Feast for the whole world

There is a feast in the village of Vakhlachina. Everyone gathered here: the wanderers, Klim Yakovlich, and Vlas the elder. Among the feasting are two seminarians, Savvushka and Grisha, good, simple guys. They, at the request of the people, sing a “funny” song, then it’s their turn for different stories. There is a story about an “exemplary slave - Yakov the faithful,” who followed his master all his life, fulfilled all his whims and rejoiced even in the master’s beatings. Only when the master gave his nephew as a soldier did Yakov start drinking, but soon returned to the master. And yet Yakov did not forgive him, and was able to take revenge on Polivanov: he took him, with his legs swollen, into the forest, and there he hanged himself on a pine tree over the master.

A dispute ensues about who is the most sinful. God's wanderer Jonah tells the story of “two sinners,” about the robber Kudeyar. The Lord awakened his conscience and imposed a penance on him: cut down a huge oak tree in the forest, then his sins will be forgiven. But the oak fell only when Kudeyar sprinkled it with the blood of the cruel Pan Glukhovsky. Ignatius Prokhorov objects to Jonah: the peasant’s sin is still greater, and tells a story about the headman. He hid the last will of his master, who decided to set his peasants free before his death. But the headman, seduced by money, tore up his freedom.

The crowd is depressed. Songs are sung: “Hungry”, “Soldier’s”. But the time will come in Rus' for good songs. This is confirmed by two seminarian brothers, Savva and Grisha. Seminarian Grisha, the son of a sexton, has known for sure since the age of fifteen that he wants to devote his life to the people’s happiness. Love for his mother merges in his heart with love for all Vakhlachin. Grisha walks along his land and sings a song about Rus':

You're miserable too
You are also abundant
You are mighty
You are also powerless
Mother Rus'!

And his plans will not be lost: fate is preparing for Grisha “a glorious path, a great name for the people’s intercessor, consumption and Siberia.” In the meantime, Grisha sings, and it’s a pity that the wanderers can’t hear him, because then they would understand that they have already found a happy person and could return home.

Conclusion

This ends the unfinished chapters of the poem by Nekrasov. However, even from the surviving parts, the reader is presented with a large-scale picture of post-reform Rus', which with pain is learning to live in a new way. The range of problems raised by the author in the poem is very wide: the problems of widespread drunkenness, ruining the Russian people (no wonder a bucket of vodka is offered as a reward to the happy one!), problems of women, ineradicable slave psychology (revealed in the example of Yakov, Ipat) and the main problem of national happiness. Most of these problems, unfortunately, to one degree or another remain relevant today, which is why the work is very popular, and a number of quotes from it have entered everyday speech. The compositional method of the main characters' journey brings the poem closer to an adventure novel, making it easy to read and with great interest.

A brief retelling of “Who Lives Well in Rus'” conveys only the most basic content of the poem; for a more accurate idea of ​​the work, we recommend that you read full version“Who lives well in Rus'.”

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