Colleagues from the online education publication Newtonew have collected for us 7 passages about school from Russian literature that are still relevant today.
The bitter fate of tutors performed by Fonvizin, the professional burnout of a teacher according to Tolstoy, the burden of paperwork noted by Chekhov.
Literary works are the very mirror that cannot be blamed. The images and scenery, skillfully drawn by talented contemporaries, will tell the attentive reader a lot about people, their relationships, the characteristics of the era and time-tested values.
We have selected several images associated with teaching practice from the works of those writers who are passed through in school and happily forgotten after graduation. These passages may not only revive ambiguous memories from your own school childhood, but also awaken interest in the classics of Russian literature.
Goofy Science in "The Minor"
Denis Fonvizin. "Undergrowth" (1782)
A topical comedy about the provincial nobility. Tsyfirkin is one of the teachers of the lazy Mitrofanushka, a retired sergeant. An excellent illustration of the peculiarities of the time: teachers in many merchant families were hired for show - to teach growing boys compulsory literacy, to receive a “crown letter”, to put them into service and to get married.
Does it look like the late Soviet and post-Soviet “Study, you idiot, otherwise you won’t get into college, you’ll end up working as a janitor”?
Mitrofan. Well! Give me the board, garrison rat! Ask what to write.
Tsyfirkin. Your Honor, please always bark idlely.
Mrs. Prostakova (working). Oh, my God! Don’t you dare elect Pafnutich, little kid! I'm already angry!
Tsyfirkin. Why be angry, is it your honor? We have a Russian proverb: the dog barks, the wind blows.
Mitrofan. Get off your butts and turn around.
Tsyfirkin. All butts, your honor. He stayed with his backside a century ago.
Mrs. Prostakova. It's none of your business, Pafnutich. It’s very nice to me that Mitrofanushka doesn’t like to step forward. With his intelligence, he may fly far, and God forbid!
Tsyfirkin. Task. You deigned, by the way, to walk along the road with me. Well, at least we’ll take Sidorich with us. We found three...
Mitrofan (writes). Three.
Tsyfirkin. On the road, for the butt, three hundred rubles.
Mitrofan (writes). Three hundred.
Tsyfirkin. It came down to division. Think about it, why on your brother?
Mitrofan (calculating, whispers). Once three is three. Once zero is zero. Once zero is zero.
Mrs. Prostakova. What, what about division?
Mitrofan. Look, the three hundred rubles that were found should be divided among the three.
Mrs. Prostakova. He's lying, my dear friend! I found the money and didn’t share it with anyone. Take it all for yourself, Mitrofanushka. Don't study this stupid science.
Love rarely deals with the future tense
Quotes and aphorisms about love from books with meaning
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Love rarely deals with the future tense. Often it remains in the past or persists in the present. If love continues in the future, then its bearers are infinitely lucky... Elchin Safarli “When I am without you...”
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Just try to love a person - and he kills you. Just feel that you can’t live without someone, and he kills you. Colin McCullough "The Thorn Birds"
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Everyone you loved will either leave you or die. Chuck Palahniuk "Fight Club"
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If you want to make people free, first free yourself. If you want to be loved, love yourself first. If you want to receive something, give yours first. Victor Likhachev “Who will hear the linnet?
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Concentrating love in yourself means happiness, concentrating hate means turmoil. Paulo Coelho "Warrior of Light"
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The day you are ashamed of what you love, you are lost... You are lost to yourself. Love can sometimes be defined as the desire to share everything with only one person. Francoise Sagan "A Little Sun in Cold Water"
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When you love someone, you love him, and if you have nothing more to give him, you still give him love. George Orwell's "1984"
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Only a deep feeling can push me down the aisle, so I should be an old maid. Jane Austen "Pride and Prejudice"
If a person is dead, you can't stop loving him, damn it. Especially if he was better than everyone alive, you know? Jerome David Salinger "The Catcher in the Rye"
The authoritarianism of the teacher in "Boyhood"
Lev Tolstoy. "Boyhood" (1852–1854)
We continue our journey through antagonistic teachers. The excerpt describes a lesson for the main character Kolya and his brother Volodya, which is taught to them by St.-Jérôme, a history teacher.
“It was already five minutes to three when I returned to class. The teacher, as if not noticing either my absence or my presence, explained the next lesson to Volodya. When he, having finished his interpretations, began to fold the notebooks and Volodya went into another room to bring the ticket, the gratifying thought came to me that it was all over and they would forget about me.
But suddenly the teacher turned to me with a villainous half-smile.
“I hope you’ve learned your lesson, sir,” he said, rubbing his hands.
“I learned it, sir,” I answered.
“Take the trouble to tell me something about the Crusade of Saint Louis,” he said, rocking in his chair and looking thoughtfully at his feet. “First, you will tell me about the reasons that prompted the French king to take the cross,” he said, raising his eyebrows and pointing his finger at the inkwell, “then explain to me the general characteristic features of this campaign,” he added, making a movement with his whole brush as if he wanted to catch something, “and, finally, the influence of this campaign on European states in general,” he said, hitting the notebooks on the left side of the table, “and on the French kingdom in particular,” he concluded, hitting the right side of the table and bowing his head to the right.
I swallowed my drool several times, cleared my throat, bowed my head to the side and remained silent. Then, taking the pen that was lying on the table, he began to tear it off and remained silent.
“Allow me a feather,” the teacher said to me, holding out his hand. - It will come in handy. Well, sir.
- Ludo... car... Saint Louis was... was... was... a kind and smart king...
- Who, sir?
- Tsar. He decided to go to Jerusalem and handed over the reins of government to his mother.
- What was her name, sir?
- B...b...lanka.
- How, sir? bun?
I smiled somehow crookedly and awkwardly.
- Well, don't you know anything else? - he said with a grin.
I had nothing to lose, I cleared my throat and began to lie everything that came to my mind. The teacher was silent, sweeping dust from the table with a feather, which he took from me, looked intently past my ear and said: “Good, sir, very good.” I felt that I knew nothing, that I was not expressing myself at all as I should, and it was terribly painful for me to see that the teacher did not stop or correct me.
- Why did he decide to go to Jerusalem? - he said, repeating my words.
- Then... because... because, then...
I hesitated resolutely, did not say a word more and felt that if this villainous teacher remained silent for even a whole year and looked at me questioningly, I would still not be able to utter a single sound.”
Quotes from books about love
When love raged in her heart, she was not able to understand him. Now, in the atmosphere of calm friendship established between them, she managed to penetrate his thoughts a little, to understand him a little. Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind"
The only human right that cannot be taken away is to love. The heart cannot be reinstalled... Elchin Safarli “I will return”
True love lasts forever. Nicholas Sparks "Choice"
Love is one world for two, into which reality cannot enter without first knocking on a locked door... Elchin Safarli “Love from the Bottom of the Bosphorus”
There are people who don't hug you endlessly and don't play different games with you, but they still love you. They just don't know how to say it. Cecelia Ahern "Look at Me"
Everything, to love everyone, to always sacrifice oneself for love, meant not loving anyone, meant not living this earthly life. Leo Tolstoy "War and Peace"
I wanted you for myself, all of you. In love there is a bright and quiet jealousy, growing from the desire to belong to all seasons of your other half. It’s like squeezing warm coastal sand that doesn’t belong to anyone in your fist, but feeling it pour out of your hand. Elchin Safarli “They promised me you”
You are more precious to me than life, and I will turn myself inside out just to please you.
She didn't love him, but his love was enough for both. Paolo Giordano "The Loneliness of Prime Numbers"
I love you and will love you until I stop breathing. I know this for sure. You are my horizon, and all my thoughts converge towards you. Whatever happens, everything always revolves around you. Erich Maria Remarque "Arc de Triomphe"
My love is small, but it is big; She doesn’t have a long life, but when she’s there, you feel her with all your bones. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
Neither wine, nor cigarettes, nor fire, nor communication is enough; another intoxication, another flame is needed. Paulo Coelho "Eleven Minutes"
Think of me and I will be with you, because you and I loved each other only for a moment, but forever. Alexander Kuprin “Garnet Bracelet”
- I love you. - This is your problem. Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind"
Love is an endless road along which two people walk towards each other. But it happens that only one goes along this road. And if he loves, he will have to go through the entire infinity of this path. He goes for two. Angel de Coitiers "Confession of Lucifer"
For most people, the problem of love is to be loved, and not to love, to be able to love. Erich Fromm "The Art of Loving"
Love is not the right word. It says too little. It is just a drop in the river, a leaf on a tree. All this is much more... Erich Maria Remarque “Arc de Triomphe”
Instead of wondering how long love lasts, enjoying the minute is not the best way to prolong it? Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
Love cannot prevent a person from following His Destiny. If this happens, it means that love was not true, not the kind that speaks the Universal Language. Paulo Coelho "The Alchemist"
Exiled teacher from "Notes of a Dead House"
Fedor Dostoevsky. "Notes from a Dead House" (1860)
Another story from the “Horrors of Our Town” series. This is an excerpt from a documentary story written by Fyodor Mikhailovich during his exile in Siberia. Conducted on behalf of Alexander Petrovich Goryanchikov, who earns money as a teacher in a Siberian town. Exiled to hard labor for the murder of a nobleman's wife.
“In Siberian cities you often meet teachers from exiled settlers; they are not disdained. They teach mainly the French language, which is so necessary in the field of life and which, without them, in the remote regions of Siberia they would have no idea. The first time I met Alexander Petrovich was in the house of an old, honored and hospitable official, Ivan Ivanovich Gvozdikov, who had five daughters, of different years, who showed wonderful hopes. Alexander Petrovich gave them lessons four times a week, thirty silver kopecks per lesson. His appearance interested me. He was an extremely pale and thin man, not yet old, about thirty-five, small and frail. He was always dressed very cleanly, in a European style. If you spoke to him, he looked at you extremely intently and attentively, listened to every word of yours with strict politeness, as if he were pondering it, as if you asked him a task with your question or wanted to extract some secret from him, and, finally, he answered clearly and briefly, but weighing every word of his answer so much that you suddenly felt awkward for some reason and you yourself finally rejoiced at the end of the conversation. I then asked Ivan Ivanovich about him and found out that Goryanchikov lives impeccably and morally and that otherwise Ivan Ivanovich would not have invited him for his daughters; but that he is a terrible unsociable person, hides from everyone, is extremely learned, reads a lot, but speaks very little, and that in general it is quite difficult to talk to him. Others argued that he was positively crazy, although they found that, in essence, this was not such an important flaw, that many of the honorary members of the city were ready to favor Alexander Petrovich in every possible way, that he could even be useful, write requests, etc. They believed that he must have decent relatives in Russia, maybe not even the last people, but they knew that from the very exile he stubbornly cut off all relations with them - in a word, he was harming himself. In addition, we all knew his story, we knew that he killed his wife in the first year of his marriage, killed out of jealousy and denounced himself (which greatly facilitated his punishment). Such crimes are always looked upon as misfortunes and regretted. But, despite all this, the eccentric stubbornly avoided everyone and appeared in people only to give lessons.”
Quotes from books with meaning
It often happens that from a favorite book we remember most of all a certain phrase that caught our attention, amazed us, or simply came at the right moment.
Hell is not loving anymore. While we are alive, we can indulge ourselves with the illusion that we love on our own, apart from God. But we are like madmen stretching out their hands to the moon's reflection in the water. Georges Bernanos "Diary of a Country Priest"
Each time his cold beauty pierced my heart like a sharp knife. Stephenie Meyer "Twilight"
The meeting of two is sometimes also a matter of time. You need to find each other at the right moment. Marc Levy "Shadow Thief"
Men love to be needed. Alex Flynn "A Kiss in Time"
I will believe in love. From now on and always, I will believe that you can meet a person whom you will love for the rest of your life and who will love you. And this is not self-deception. Liz Tuccillo "Is it easy to be alone?"
Neither wine, nor cigarettes, nor fire, nor communication is enough; another intoxication, another flame is needed. Paulo Coelho "Eleven Minutes"
I think you're in love. It’s strange, women become prettier with love, but men look like sick sheep. Agatha Christie "White Horse Villa"
Pain and torment justify what should only bring joy - love. Paulo Coelho "Eleven Minutes"
To fall in love with someone who loves you back is a miracle in itself. But it’s even better, even more important, to find a kindred spirit in him. A truly soulmate is someone who understands you like no one else, loves you like no other, who is always there for you, no matter what happens. Cecelia Ahern "PS I love you"
Love is not only an alternative: you suffer or make you suffer. It may well be both together. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
- How do you know that you fell in love? “I’m hungry all the time, and I’m never cold.” Frederic Beigbeder "Ideal"
Love is the work of the heart. Antoine de Saint-Exupery "Citadel"
No matter what happens from “The Man in a Case”
Anton Chekhov. "Man in a Case" (1898)
One of the most famous stories by Anton Pavlovich, the name of which has become a household name. Let us recall the image of the man in the case - the Greek teacher Belikov, a very ambiguous character who is able to simultaneously admire the beauty of Greek speech and the harmonious language structure and have a painful ossification of consciousness, fear of the unregulated aspects of life. The rules of Greek will not let you down, they are understandable and predictable. Unlike children.
“For him, only circulars and newspaper articles were clear in which something was prohibited. When a circular forbade students from going out after nine o'clock in the evening, or some article prohibited carnal love, then this was clear and definite to him; prohibited - that's it. In permission and permission there was always hidden for him an element of doubt, something unsaid and vague. When a drama club, or a reading room, or a tea house was allowed in the city, he would shake his head and say quietly: “That’s the way it is, of course, it’s all wonderful, but it’s as if nothing would come of it.”
All kinds of violations, evasions, deviations from the rules made him despondent, although, it would seem, why should he care? If one of his comrades was late for a prayer service, or heard rumors about some mischief among schoolchildren, or saw a classy lady late at night with an officer, then he was very worried and kept saying as if something would not happen. And at the pedagogical councils, he simply oppressed us with his caution, suspiciousness and his purely case-based considerations about the fact that in men's and women's gymnasiums young people behave badly, are very noisy in the classrooms - oh, as if it didn’t reach the authorities, oh , as if something would not work out - and that if Petrov were excluded from the second class, and Egorov from the fourth, then it would be very good. And what? With his sighs, his whining, his dark glasses on his pale, small face - you know, his small face, like a ferret's - he crushed us all, and we gave in, reduced Petrov and Egorov's score for behavior, put them under arrest and in the end both Petrov and Egorov were excluded.
We teachers were afraid of him. And even the director was afraid. Come on, our teachers are thoughtful people, deeply decent, brought up on Turgenev and Shchedrin, but this little man, who always wore galoshes and an umbrella, held the entire gymnasium in his hands for fifteen years! What about high school? The whole city! Our ladies didn’t give home performances on Saturdays, they were afraid that he might find out; and the clergy were embarrassed to eat meat and play cards in his presence. Under the influence of people like Belikov, over the last ten to fifteen years people in our city have become afraid of everything. They are afraid to speak loudly, send letters, make new acquaintances, read books, are afraid to help the poor, teach them to read and write...”
Interesting quotes from books
As long as you love, you hope. Helen Bronte "The House on Violet Street"
In what trifles does love find happiness! Stendhal "The Parma Monastery"
Love distinguishes shades that are elusive to indifferent eyes, and draws countless conclusions from them. Stendhal "The Parma Monastery"
There are women you need to love in spite of them, and actions you need to do despite yourself. Amelie Nothomb, Winterreise
Only a woman is capable of giving up fame and honors and remaining in the shadow of her beloved man. Janusz Leon Wisniewski “Bikini”
When you put your work into something, you begin to love it. Margaret Mitchell "Gone with the Wind"
They say that Jupiter neglects vows of love. William Shakespeare "Romeo and Juliet"
Love makes people vulnerable. Maria Gripe "Children of Shadows"
Love me. Tell me you love me, it makes me a better person. Erich Maria Remarque "Tell me that you love me"
I hate the tides, they take you away from me!
Anne and Serge Golon "Angelique"
“Bella, I won’t be able to live if I hurt you.” You can’t imagine how I feel when I imagine you, pale, cold, lying motionless on the ground...” Callen lowered his eyes in shame. - Not to see your blush, the sparkle in your eyes when you unravel the deep meaning of my words... What then is there to live for? — A question froze in the sad eyes. “In the whole world there is no one dearer to me than you.” From now on and forever. Stephenie Meyer "Twilight"
You have to fall in love, go crazy, make dates, run out of breath, shaking your chest to the subway! Yes - age, yes - deficiencies of calcium, fluoride, what else... everyone has their own hormonal history. But the soul is still fifteen years old! Dina Rubina “A few hasty words of love...”
The strongest love is unrequited. I would prefer never to know this, but this is the truth: there is nothing worse than loving someone who does not love you - and at the same time, nothing more beautiful has ever happened to me in my life. Loving someone who loves you is narcissism. Loving someone who doesn't love you, that's love. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
Love is the only thing worth living for. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
Director's honor at the Cadet Monastery
Nikolay Leskov. "Cadet Monastery" (1880)
Those who graduated from school remember Leskov only from the story about the savvy flea. But Nikolai Semenovich is a personality in Russian literature no less resonant than Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin. A former clerical worker and then an employee of an industrial and agricultural company, Leskov became an expert on Russian officialdom, corruption and everyday life, and his quickness of mind and observation allowed him to engage in literary and journalistic activities. This story is truly a processed transcript of the memories of a former cadet. We meet a positive character - Mikhail Stepanovich Persky, director of the cadet corps.
“He was with us in the building continuously. No one remembered such an occasion when Persky left the building, and once, when he was seen with the messenger accompanying him on the sidewalk, the entire corps began to move, and incredible news was transmitted from one cadet to another: “Mikhail Stepanovich walked down the street!”
He, however, had no time to walk around: being at the same time a director and an inspector, for this last duty he certainly visited all the classes four times a day. We had four lesson breaks, and Persky was sure to attend every lesson. He will come, sit or stand, listen and go to another class. Absolutely not a single lesson was complete without him. He made his rounds accompanied by an orderly, a tall non-commissioned officer like himself, the musician Ananyev. Ananyev accompanied him everywhere and opened doors for him.
Persky was exclusively engaged in the scientific part and removed from himself the front part and punishments for discipline, which he could not and did not tolerate. We saw only one punishment from him: he would lightly touch a lazy or careless cadet on the forehead with the tip of his ring finger, as if pushing him away, and say in his clear, distinct voice:
- Du-ur-ry cadet!.. - And this served as a bitter and memorable lesson, from which the one who deserved such censure often did not drink or eat and tried in every possible way to improve and thereby “comfort Mikhail Stepanovich.”
It should be noted that Persky was single, and we were convinced that he would not marry for us either. They said that he was afraid, having committed himself to a family, to reduce his concern for us. And here is the place to say that this seems to be completely fair. At least those who knew Mikhail Stepanovich said that in response to humorous or serious conversations with him about marriage, he answered:
“Providence has entrusted me with so many other people’s children that I have no time to think about my own,” and this, of course, was not a phrase in his truthful mouth.
Persky spent his evenings doing inspection work, drawing up and checking schedules and comparing the students' progress with the uncompleted parts of the program. Then he read a lot, finding this a great help in his knowledge of languages. He thoroughly knew the languages French, German, and English and constantly practiced reading them. Then he went to bed a little later than us, so that tomorrow he would again get up a little earlier than us.”
A selection of excerpts from classical works for the competition “Living Classics 2021” (10-12 years old)
Gudrun Mebs
Sunday child
I am a Sunday child. Because I was born on Sunday. They say that Sunday children are especially happy. But in my opinion, no. It's boring on Sunday at the boarding school. On weekdays, nothing else - you go to school, then do homework, then gymnastics, or a walk, or something else. I love gymnastics, but not school. Or rather, not really.
I only want to go to school sometimes, most often on Sundays. Sunday at the boarding school is terribly boring!
I have been at the boarding school for a long time, one might say, my whole life. My parents couldn't leave me when I was born. Or they didn't want to. Why - they didn’t tell me about it. In any case, they didn’t say exactly... Only something about “this is how the circumstances developed.” What does it mean? Unclear.
At first I was too young to ask questions, and then I simply didn’t have the courage. Now I think they just didn’t want to leave me. They were probably expecting a boy, not a girl. In my opinion, this is unfair. Before, when I was little, I was always looking for my parents. Well, I didn’t look for it in any special way, but just looked at people everywhere – both on a walk and in the store. For couples - married aunties and uncles who looked like their parents.
I was still pretty stupid back then. But then I realized that it’s nonsense to stare around like that, and there’s no point in doing it. Complete zero.
One day - I remember it very well - I saw a couple in the store, an aunt and an uncle, and they looked exactly like my parents. How I imagined them. I broke away from Sister Linda’s arms, rushed towards them and shouted: “Mom, Dad!”
Well, they made faces!
Sister Linda turned red as a tomato, grabbed my hand tightly and apologized to them, and scolded me. I was ashamed. Not because they scolded me, but because I already saw it myself - these people cannot be my parents! Since they looked like that!
I didn't do anything like that again. But then I was still quite a baby. Since then I have changed a lot and I haven’t been looking for my parents for a long time. It's just stupid to look for someone you don't know anyway. And in general, maybe they are already dead. Andrea thinks so too. Andrea and I live in the same room. We are lucky, we have a room for two. With a bunk bed and two tables. For homework. This is cool! I mean bunk beds, not tables. Andrea sleeps upstairs and me downstairs. Sometimes we change – I also want to sleep upstairs.
But Andrea almost never wants to change, she’s so harmful! Simply because she is already ten! Just two years older. In my opinion, this is not a reason not to change places, but it is useless to insist - I will never argue with Andrea in my life.
Her parents died, both dad and mom. And this is very sad, because Andrea managed to recognize them. I don't know my parents at all. Maybe they died too. Although, actually, it doesn’t matter now.
In fact, the boarding school is very good. The boarding school is an old house with a small park around it. Previously, all this was called “villa”. And now - “Orphanage for orphans”, or simply “orphanage”, because there are a lot of orphans here. We are orphans because we have no parents.
Vladimir Zheleznikov “Scarecrow”
A circle of their faces flashed in front of me, and I rushed around in it, like a squirrel in a wheel.
I should stop and leave.
The boys attacked me.
“For her legs! - Valka yelled. - For your legs!..”
They knocked me down and grabbed me by the legs and arms. I kicked and kicked as hard as I could, but they grabbed me and dragged me into the garden.
Iron Button and Shmakova dragged out a scarecrow mounted on a long stick. Dimka came out after them and stood to the side. The stuffed animal was in my dress, with my eyes, with my mouth from ear to ear. The legs were made of stockings stuffed with straw; instead of hair, there was tow and some feathers sticking out. On my neck, that is, the scarecrow, dangled a plaque with the words: “SCACHERY IS A TRAITOR.”
Lenka fell silent and somehow completely faded away.
Nikolai Nikolaevich realized that the limit of her story and the limit of her strength had come.
“And they were having fun around the stuffed animal,” said Lenka. - They jumped and laughed:
“Wow, our beauty-ah!”
“I waited!”
“I came up with an idea! I came up with an idea! - Shmakova jumped for joy. “Let Dimka light the fire!”
After these words from Shmakova, I completely stopped being afraid. I thought: if Dimka sets it on fire, then maybe I’ll just die.
And at this time Valka - he was the first to succeed everywhere - stuck the scarecrow into the ground and sprinkled brushwood around it.
“I don’t have matches,” Dimka said quietly.
“But I have it!” - Shaggy put matches in Dimka’s hand and pushed him towards the scarecrow.
Dimka stood near the scarecrow, his head bowed low.
I froze - I was waiting for the last time! Well, I thought he would look back and say: “Guys, Lenka is not to blame for anything... It’s all me!”
“Set it on fire!” - ordered the Iron Button.
I couldn’t stand it and screamed:
“Dimka! No need, Dimka-ah-ah!..”
And he was still standing near the scarecrow - I could see his back, he was hunched over and seemed somehow small. Maybe because the scarecrow was on a long stick. Only he was small and weak.
“Well, Somov! - said the Iron Button. “Finally, go to the end!”
Dimka fell to his knees and lowered his head so low that only his shoulders stuck out, and his head was not visible at all. It turned out to be some kind of headless arsonist. He struck a match and a flame of fire grew over his shoulders. Then he jumped up and hurriedly ran to the side.
They dragged me close to the fire. Without looking away, I looked at the flames of the fire. Grandfather! I felt then how this fire engulfed me, how it burned, baked and bited, although only waves of its heat reached me.
I screamed, I screamed so much that they let me out of surprise.
When they released me, I rushed to the fire and began to kick it around with my feet, grabbing the burning branches with my hands - I didn’t want the scarecrow to burn. For some reason I really didn’t want this!
Dimka was the first to come to his senses.
“Are you crazy? “He grabbed my hand and tried to pull me away from the fire. - This is a joke! Don’t you understand jokes?”
I became strong and easily defeated him. She pushed him so hard that he flew upside down - only his heels sparkled towards the sky. And she pulled the scarecrow out of the fire and began waving it over her head, stepping on everyone. The scarecrow had already caught fire, sparks were flying from it in different directions, and they all shied away in fear from these sparks.
They ran away.
And I got so dizzy, driving them away, that I couldn’t stop until I fell. There was a stuffed animal lying next to me. It was scorched, fluttering in the wind and that made it look like it was alive.
At first I lay with my eyes closed. Then she felt that she smelled something burning and opened her eyes - the scarecrow’s dress was smoking. I slammed my hand down on the smoldering hem and leaned back onto the grass.
Then the voice of the Iron Button reached me.
There was a crunch of branches, retreating footsteps, and then there was silence.
A. Pogorelsky
Black chicken, or Underground inhabitants
Alyosha, left alone, began to examine his grain and could not stop admiring it. Now he was completely calm about the lesson, and yesterday’s grief did not leave any traces on him. He happily thought about how everyone would be surprised when he spoke twenty pages without a mistake, and the thought that he would again gain the upper hand over his comrades who did not want to talk to him caressed his vanity. Although he did not forget about correcting himself, he thought that it could not be as difficult as Chernushka said. “As if it’s not up to me to improve! - he thought. “You just have to want it, and everyone will love me again...”
Alas! poor Alyosha did not know that in order to correct himself it is necessary to begin by putting aside pride and excessive arrogance.
When the children gathered in their classes in the morning, Alyosha was called upstairs. He entered with a cheerful and triumphant look.
- Do you know your lesson? - asked the teacher, looking at him sternly.
“I know,” Alyosha answered boldly.
He began to speak and spoke all twenty pages without the slightest error or stop. The teacher was beside himself with surprise, and Alyosha looked proudly at his comrades.
Aleshin’s proud appearance did not hide from the teacher’s eyes.
“You know your lesson,” he told him, “it’s true, but why didn’t you want to say it yesterday?”
“I didn’t know him yesterday,” Alyosha answered.
- It can not be! - the teacher interrupted him. “Yesterday evening you told me that you only knew two pages, and even then poorly, but now you’ve spoken all twenty without a mistake!” When did you learn it?
Alyosha fell silent. Finally, in a trembling voice, he said:
- I learned it this morning!
But then suddenly all the children, upset by his arrogance, shouted in one voice:
“He’s not telling the truth, he didn’t even pick up a book this morning!”
Alyosha shuddered, lowered his eyes to the ground and did not say a word.
- Answer me! - continued the teacher. - When did you learn your lesson?
But Alyosha did not break the silence: he was so amazed by this unexpected question and the hostility that all his comrades showed him that he could not come to his senses.
Meanwhile, the teacher, believing that the day before he did not want to answer the lesson out of stubbornness, considered it necessary to punish him severely.
“The more abilities and gifts you have by nature,” he said to Alyosha, “the more modest and obedient you should be.” The mind was not given to you so that you could use it for evil. You deserve punishment for yesterday’s stubbornness, and today you have increased your guilt by lying. Gentlemen! - the teacher continued, turning to the boarders, - I forbid all of you to speak with Alyosha until he completely reforms. And since this is probably a small punishment for him, order the rod to be brought.
They brought rods... Alyosha was in despair! For the first time since the boarding school existed, they were punished with canes, and who - Alyosha, who thought so much about himself, who considered himself better and smarter than everyone else! What a shame!..
He, sobbing, rushed to the teacher and promised to completely improve.
“You should have thought about this before,” was the answer. Alyosha's tears and repentance touched his comrades, and they asked for him. And Alyosha, feeling that he did not deserve their compassion, began to cry even more bitterly. Finally the teacher took pity.
- Fine! - he said, - I will forgive you for the sake of the request of your comrades, but so that you admit your guilt in front of everyone and announce when you have learned the given lesson.
Alyosha completely lost his head... he forgot the promise given to the underground king and his minister, and began to talk about the black chicken, about knights, about little people...
The teacher did not let him finish...
- How! - he cried with anger. - Instead of repenting of your bad behavior, you decided to fool me by telling me a fairy tale about a black hen... This is too much. No, children, you see for yourself that he cannot but be punished!
And poor Alyosha was whipped!
With his head bowed and his heart torn to pieces, Alyosha went to the lower floor, to the bedrooms. He felt like he was dead... Shame and remorse filled his soul. When, after a few hours, he calmed down a little and put his hand in his pocket... there was no hemp seed in it! Alyosha cried bitterly, feeling that he had lost him irrevocably!
In the evening, when the other children came to bed, he also went to bed, but could not sleep. How he repented of his bad behavior! He resolutely accepted the intention to improve, although he felt that it was impossible to return the hemp seed!
Around midnight, the sheet next to the bed moved again... Alyosha, who had been happy about this the day before, now closed his eyes: he was afraid to see Chernushka! His conscience tormented him. He remembered that just yesterday he had so confidently told Chernushka that he would certainly improve - and instead... What would he tell her now?
For some time he lay with his eyes closed. He heard the rustling of the sheet rising... Someone approached his bed, and a voice, a familiar voice, called him by name:
- Alyosha, Alyosha!
But he was ashamed to open his eyes, and meanwhile tears rolled from them and flowed down his cheeks...
Suddenly someone pulled the blanket. Alyosha involuntarily looked: Chernushka stood in front of him - not in the form of a chicken, but in a black dress, in a crimson cap with teeth and in a white starched neckerchief, just as he had seen her in the underground hall.
- Alyosha! - said the minister, - I see that you are not sleeping... Farewell! I came to say goodbye to you, we won’t see each other again!
Alyosha sobbed bitterly.
- Goodbye! - he exclaimed. - Goodbye! And, if you can, forgive me! I know that I am guilty before you, but I am severely punished for it!
- Alyosha! - the minister said through tears, - I forgive you; I can’t forget that you saved my life, and I still love you, although you made me unhappy, perhaps forever!.. Farewell! I am allowed to see you for the shortest possible time. Even during this night, the king and his entire people must move far, far from these places! Everyone is in despair, everyone is shedding tears. We lived here so happily, so peacefully for several centuries!..
Alyosha rushed to kiss the minister’s little hands. Grabbing his hand, he saw something shiny on it, and at the same time some extraordinary sound struck his ear...
- What it is? he asked in amazement. The minister raised both hands up, and Alyosha saw that they were chained with a gold chain... He was horrified!..
“Your immodesty is the reason that I am condemned to wear these chains,” said the minister with a deep sigh, “but don’t cry, Alyosha!” Your tears can't help me. You can only console me in my misfortune: try to improve and be again the same kind boy as you were before. Goodbye for the last time!
The minister shook Alyosha's hand and disappeared under the next bed.
- Chernushka, Chernushka! - Alyosha shouted after him, but Chernushka did not answer.
Gabriel Troepolsky
White Bim Black Ear
Oh, if only Bim could have a few sips of water now! But he probably didn’t
I would never have gotten up if... A woman came up. She was wearing a cotton jacket and cotton trousers, and had a scarf tied around her head. Strong, big woman. Apparently, at first she thought that Bim was already dead - she leaned over him, knelt down, and listened: Bim was still breathing. He had weakened so much since saying goodbye to his friend that, of course, he should not have made such a run as he did behind the train - it was reckless. But does reason really matter in such cases, even in humans!
The woman took Bim’s head in her hands and raised it:
- What's wrong with you, doggy? What are you, Black Ear? Who were you running after?
poor fellow?
This rough-looking woman had a warm and calm voice. She
went down the slope, brought water in a tarpaulin mitten, again
raised Bim's head and brought a mitten, wetting his nose. Bim licked
water. Then, shaking his head helplessly, he stretched his neck and licked it again. AND
began to lap. The woman stroked his back. She understood everything: someone she loved had left forever, and it was scary, terribly difficult—to see her off forever, it was like burying a living person.
She repented to Bim:
- Me too. She saw off both her father and her husband to the war... You see, Black
Wow, I'm getting old... But I won't forget everything... I, too, ran after the train... And too
fell... And asked for death... Drink, my dear, drink, unfortunate one...
Bim drank almost all the water from the mitten. Now he looked at the woman
eyes and immediately believed: a good person. And licked, licked her rough,
cracks, hands, licking droplets falling from the eyes. So for the second time
life, Bim recognized the taste of a person’s tears: the first time - the owner’s peas, now
these, transparent, shining in the sun, thickly salted with the inescapable
grief.
The woman took him in her arms and carried him off the road downhill.
- Lie down, Black Ear. Lie down. I’ll come,” and went to where several
women were digging on the tracks.
Bim looked after her with dull eyes. But then with great effort
he stood up and, staggering, slowly walked after her. She looked back and waited
his. He trudged over and lay down in front of her.
- Did the owner leave? she asked. - Left?
Bim sighed. And she understood.
A. Chekhov
Vanka
Vanka sighed convulsively and again stared at the window. He remembered that his grandfather always went into the forest to get a Christmas tree for the masters and took his grandson with him. It was a fun time! And the grandfather quacked, and the frost quacked, and looking at them, Vanka quacked. It used to be that before cutting down the tree, the grandfather would smoke a pipe, take a long sniff of tobacco, and laugh at the chilled Vanyushka... Young trees, shrouded in frost, stand motionless and wait, which one should die? Out of nowhere, a hare flies through the snowdrifts like an arrow... Grandfather can’t help but shout: “Hold it, hold it... hold it!” Ah, the short devil! The grandfather dragged the cut down Christmas tree to the manor’s house, and there they began to clean it up... Young lady Olga Ignatievna, Vanka’s favorite, was the one who bothered the most. When Vanka’s mother Pelageya was still alive and served as a maid for the gentlemen, Olga Ignatievna fed Vanka with candy and, having nothing else to do, taught him to read, write, count to one hundred and even dance a square dance. When Pelageya died, the orphan Vanka was sent to the people’s kitchen to his grandfather, and from the kitchen to Moscow to the shoemaker Alyakhin... “Come, dear grandfather,” Vanka continued, “I pray to you by Christ God, take me from here.” Have pity on me, an unfortunate orphan, because everyone beats me and I want to eat my passion, but I’m so bored that it’s impossible to say, I keep crying. And the other day the owner hit him on the head with a block, so that he fell and barely came to his senses. Wasting my life is worse than any dog... And I also bow to Alena, crooked Yegorka and the coachman, but don’t give my harmony to anyone. I’m staying with your grandson Ivan Zhukov, dear grandpa, come.” Vanka folded the scribbled sheet of paper into four and put it in an envelope he had bought the day before for a penny... After thinking a little, he wet his pen and wrote the address:
To grandfather's village.
Then he scratched himself, thought and added: “To Konstantin Makarych.” Satisfied that he was not prevented from writing, he put on his hat and, without throwing on a fur coat, ran out into the street in his shirt... The butcher's shopkeepers, whom he questioned the day before, told him that letters were dropped into mailboxes, and from the mailboxes They are transported all over the world in postal troikas with drunken drivers and ringing bells. Vanka ran to the first mailbox and put the precious letter into the slot... Lulled by sweet hopes, an hour later he was fast asleep... He dreamed of the stove. The grandfather sits on the stove, his bare feet dangling, and reads a letter to the cooks... Loach walks near the stove and twirls his tail..
M. Zoshchenko
Nakhodka
One day Lelya and I took a box of chocolates and put a frog and a spider in it.
Then we wrapped this box in clean paper, tied it with a chic blue ribbon and placed this package on the panel facing our garden. It was as if someone was walking and lost their purchase.
Having placed this package near the cabinet, Lelya and I hid in the bushes of our garden and, choking with laughter, began to wait for what would happen.
And here comes a passerby.
When he sees our package, he, of course, stops, rejoices and even rubs his hands with pleasure. Of course: he found a box of chocolates - this doesn’t happen very often in this world.
With bated breath, Lelya and I watch what will happen next.
The passerby bent down, took the package, quickly untied it and, seeing the beautiful box, became even more happy.
And now the lid is open. And our frog, bored with sitting in the dark, jumps out of the box right onto the hand of a passerby.
He gasps in surprise and throws the box away from him.
Then Lelya and I began to laugh so much that we fell on the grass.
And we laughed so loudly that a passerby turned in our direction and, seeing us behind the fence, immediately understood everything.
In an instant he rushed to the fence, jumped over it in one fell swoop and rushed towards us to teach us a lesson.
Lelya and I set a streak.
We ran screaming across the garden towards the house.
But I tripped over a garden bed and sprawled out on the grass.
And then a passerby tore my ear quite hard.
I screamed loudly. But the passer-by, giving me two more slaps, calmly left the garden.
Our parents came running to the scream and noise.
Holding my reddened ear and sobbing, I went up to my parents and complained to them about what had happened.
My mother wanted to call the janitor so that she and the janitor could catch up with the passerby and arrest him.
And Lelya was about to rush after the janitor. But dad stopped her. And he said to her and mother:
- Don't call the janitor. And there is no need to arrest a passerby. Of course, it’s not the case that he tore Minka’s ears, but if I were a passer-by, I would probably have done the same.
Hearing these words, mom got angry with dad and said to him:
- You are a terrible egoist!
Lelya and I also got angry with dad and didn’t tell him anything. I just rubbed my ear and started crying. And Lelka also whimpered. And then my mother, taking me in her arms, said to my father:
- Instead of standing up for a passerby and bringing children to tears, you would better explain to them what is wrong with what they did. Personally, I don’t see this and regard everything as innocent children’s fun.
And dad couldn’t find what to answer. He just said:
“The children will grow up big and someday they will find out for themselves why this is bad.”
Nedotykomka in "Small Demon"
Fedor Sologub. "Little Demon" (1902)
A poignant novel about the cynical Russian language teacher Peredonov and the not-so-rosy reality of a provincial town surrounding him. If a film were made based on this novel, then its director would have to be the master of the “Russian black and white” genre, Alexander Balabanov, or, say, the slightly more surreal Vasily Sigarev. Peredonov is haunted by the joylessness of life, dislike and eternal weariness of himself, his life, work and people, precisely expressed in the mysterious word “nedotykomka”.
“Peredonov went to the all-night vigil at the gymnasium church. There he stood behind the students and carefully watched how they behaved. Some, it seemed to him, were playing pranks, jostling, whispering, laughing. He noticed them and tried to remember them. There were many of them, and he complained to himself that he had not thought of taking a piece of paper from home and a pencil to write down. He felt sad that the schoolchildren behaved so badly and no one paid attention to it, although the director and the inspector with their wives and children were standing right there in the church.
But in fact, the schoolchildren stood decorously and modestly - some crossed themselves unconsciously, thinking about something extraneous to the temple, others prayed diligently. Rarely, rarely does anyone whisper something to a neighbor - two or three words, almost without turning his head - and he answers just as briefly and quietly, or even with just a quick movement, a glance, a shrug of the shoulders, a smile. But these small movements, unnoticed by the class teacher's assistant on duty, gave Peredonov's alarmed but dull feelings the illusion of great disorder. Even in his calm state, Peredonov, like all rude people, could not accurately assess small phenomena: he either did not notice them or exaggerated their significance. Now, when he was excited by expectations and fears, his feelings served him even worse, and little by little all reality became clouded before him in a haze of nasty and evil illusions.
Yes, however, even before, what were high school students for Peredonov? Isn’t it just a device for spreading ink across paper with a pen and retelling in cloth language what was once said in human language! Throughout his teaching career, Peredonov quite sincerely did not understand and did not think that high school students were the same people as adults. Only bearded high school students with an awakened attraction to women suddenly became equal to him in his eyes.”
Quotes about love with meaning from books
- Fell in love? You only met a couple of weeks ago! - What difference does it make, because it only takes one moment. Cecelia Ahern "PS I love you"
Listen to your heart, follow your natural instinct, and it will lead you where you need to go. Cecelia Ahern "Where the Rainbow Ends"
Even though we didn't take our clothes off, and I didn't possess you, or even touch you, we loved each other. Paulo Coelho "Eleven Minutes"
My beloved Holly! I don't know where you are or when exactly you are reading this. I just hope you are healthy and doing well. Recently you whispered to me that you wouldn’t be able to go on living. You can. You are strong and brave. You can handle this. We spent many wonderful moments together, and you made my life... No, you were just my life. Cecelia Ahern "PS I love you"
I am a Spartan boy, but there is no fox under my tunic, there is only my heart, and it eats itself. Angela Carter "Love"
Love itself is equality - it does not seek it. Stendhal "The Parma Monastery"
It turns out funny: many people live next to a person and do not notice at what moment they began to love him. Fannie Flagg "Fried green tomatoes at the Polustanok cafe"
Love doesn't often take the form of romance. Although sometimes, of course, it happens. And it confuses everyone. In a sense, the universal formula “this also happens” is automatically replaced by the obviously erroneous “this is always the only way it happens.” Max Fry "Yellow Metal Key"
I fell in love - it was like I was sick. Without wanting it, without believing it, against his will, without being able to defend himself, and then... - He cleared his throat. “And then I lost her.” Just as suddenly. Anna Gavalda “I loved her. I loved him"
Love is like capricious dogwood jam. Either it will ferment on the third day after cooking due to a lack of sincerity, or it will definitely become sugary from an overabundance of feelings. The latter is okay... Elchin Safarli “Love from the Bottom of the Bosphorus”
There will be different men in my life, and each of them will evoke new shades of love, just like another petal opens on a flower. And when he leaves, this new thing will remain with me forever, and I will become brighter, more receptive, stronger. Martha Ketro “About love for all living things”
For love to live forever, it is enough to forget about time. It is the modern world that kills love. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
It's strange, sometimes the heart continues to beat even when it's broken. Fannie Flagg "Fried green tomatoes at the Polustanok cafe"
He heard that women often love ugly, simple people, but he did not believe it because he judged it by himself, since he himself could only love beautiful, mysterious and special women. Leo Tolstoy "Anna Karenina"
Of all things eternal, love has the shortest duration. Janusz Wisniewski “Loneliness on the Internet”
You can’t tell a girl such things - that a person’s position is more important than his feelings. Nicholas Sparks "The Notebook"
Even if I know that love is a fairy tale, I will still probably be proud in a few years that I believed in it. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
The ancients called it a gift, the medieval mystics called it a curse, but we call it love. Elena Usacheva “Prisoners of Twilight: Revelation”
Those who deny love are precisely those who need it most: in every Valmont there is hidden an incorrigible romantic, whom do not feed with bread, let him strum on the mandolin. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
After all, it doesn’t matter at all what you look like, there will still be a person who considers you the most beautiful creature in the world. Fannie Flagg "Fried green tomatoes at the Polustanok cafe"
- He is not my fan at all! - Yes? And I'm not a dog at all. You can't fool your nose. Pheromones. Good old sexual alchemy. Terry Pratchett "To Arms! To arms!
Go out to the open sea, spread your wings and indulge in love at other latitudes. Anna Gavalda “I loved her. I loved him"
Love ends when you can't go back. Frederic Beigbeder “Love lives for three years”
When you scream “I hate you!” in your hearts, it means that inside you scream “I love you!” even louder. Elchin Safarli “If you knew...”
Only women to whom we pay little attention love us dearly. Honore de Balzac, "Elixir of Longevity"
Love is an eternal topic that excites the minds and hearts of both the authors of works and their readers. We present sayings about love that will touch your soul and make you think. Quotes about love in books are always deep thoughts that make the reader think. We see in them a reflection of life situations, experienced feelings, and also learn important lessons for the future.
