Abstract: Typology and originality of female images in the works of IS Turgenev. From the classics of past centuries to the present - the formation of the female image in world literature

A short story Maxim Gorky's "Makar Chudra" is great work about love and lack of will.

Makar Chudra is an old gypsy. He sits on the shore of the already cold autumn sea by the fire and tells his story that love is dangerous, love is lack of will and shackles that destroy freedom. One writer listens to this long and interesting story. His story about the once famous Eastern Europe clever horse thief Loiko Zobar. Zobar was handsome, young, hot and free. Nothing could drive him crazy, neither girls, nor money, except maybe horses. He loved horses, adored their freedom and passion.

That year the camp was in Bukovina. The gypsies lived well, there were endless fields nearby, beauty, warmth and joy in their souls. Radda, a girl, lived there unearthly beauty. Her father was the soldier Danila. You can’t count the men that Radda conquered, you can’t count their wounded hearts. They called her as a wife and offered to make her rich, but the beauty was adamant. She refused everyone. She often spent time with people. So on the day when Loiko Zobar came to the camp, Radda was there.

The young gypsy was handsome both in body and face, he arrived on a beautiful horse, smiling from ear to ear so that others, looking at him, involuntarily began to smile. Zobar took out a violin and played it. His performance was so heartfelt that many began to cry. And then Radda praised the gypsy’s performance. He told her that the violin strings are made from the heart. young girl, to which Radda said that the gypsy is stupid. Their short skirmish bore fruit - Loiko drew attention to the girl and fixed his gaze on her.

I was visiting a gypsy in Radda’s house with her father Danila, and suddenly in the morning he appeared in front of everyone with a bandaged head. He said that his horse was an accident, but the people immediately understood: Radda had killed the guy so as not to interfere. There was talk and gossip. Everyone was talking about only one thing: Loiko was good for a girl, but she was too narrow-minded.

Zobar was a favorite of the gypsies, smart, handsome, and how he sang! One day he sang a song, everyone liked it, and only Radda laughed, not finding anything special in it. The gypsy then asked the girl’s father to give her to him as a wife. Danilo agreed if the girl said yes, and the gypsy could tame her. Zobar then opened up to Radda, told her about his feelings, and instead of answering, he was thrown to the ground with a whip by the legs in front of everyone. Everyone gasped. Radda seemed to laugh at him and at his feelings, then walked away calmly and lay down in the grass. A smile painted her lips. She didn’t care at all, and Loiko turned purple with anger.

The guy jumped up and rushed as fast as he could into the steppe, where he sat motionless for several hours until Radda approached him. A young man in love pointed a knife at her, but she took out a gun, pointed it at him and said that she didn’t want to quarrel and came to talk, to make peace. The girl promised to love him, but on one condition. This condition was humiliation and torture for the gypsy, but he accepted it. She won his soul with her inaccessibility, pride and beauty, Loiko ceased to be himself. In his heart there were no longer any free expanses of the steppes, no majestic horses, but only one dark-haired girl who drove the men around him crazy.

Loiko Zobar decided to fulfill Radda’s will, and her request was this: he needed to kneel in front of her, as before an eldest, and kiss her right hand. This had to be done in front of everyone. For freedom-loving gypsies, kneeling could only be a humiliating position. Once in their lives, for example, at a wedding, they knelt before their elders, but otherwise it was a shame.

In front of everyone, Loiko went to Radda and said that he would now fulfill her request for the sake of love for her, and at the same time he would check whether her heart was as strong as she said. At these words, the gypsy took out his sharp knife and plunged it into the heart of the beautiful Radda. Everything happened so quickly that no one had time to think that a tragedy could happen. Then Zobar knelt before his beloved and kissed her right hand, fulfilling the decree.

Seeing that his daughter was killed, Danilo rushed to Loiko and also plunged a knife into his chest. This is how the story of two lovers who mistook a high feeling for steel shackles or chains ended tragically. Pride is a dangerous feeling that runs in the blood of gypsies.

Old man Makar finished his story. It was already cold in the steppe, a tired herd of horses wandered nearby, and a fire smoldered. The writer who listened to the story was impressed. He still couldn’t fall asleep, he looked at the sea, and before his eyes were Radda and Loiko. Here he is, Loiko, floating in the depths of the sea, and in front of him is Radda’s body. Both of them are young and beautiful, and the gypsy still cannot catch up with his beloved.

“Makar Chudra” is the same story that made Alexei Peshkov famous under the pseudonym Maxim Gorky. He first appeared on the pages of the Kavkaz newspaper in 1892. This story was written based on a story told to him in Tiflis by a certain Alexander Kalyuzhny. Gorky said that Kalyuzhny himself suggested that he write down and publish these tales. This is where the story began creative activity great writer.

History of creation

The story “Makar Chudra” was published in the Tiflis newspaper “Caucasus” on September 12, 1892. For the first time, the author signed himself with the pseudonym Maxim Gorky. This story begins the romantic period in the writer’s work. The romantic works of M. Gorky also include: the story “Old Woman Izergil”, “Song of the Falcon” and “Song of the Petrel”, the poem “The Girl and Death” and other works of the writer.

In one of the letters to A.P. Gorky wrote to Chekhov: “Really, the time has come for the need for the heroic: everyone wants something exciting, bright, something that, you know, is not like life, but is higher than it, better, more beautiful. It is imperative that current literature begins to embellish life a little, and as soon as it begins to do so, life will become more beautiful, that is, people will begin to live faster and brighter.”

The title of the story is associated with the name of the main character. Makar Chudra - an old gypsy, a thoughtful philosopher, knowledgeable life, whose camp travels through the south of Russia.

Genre, genre, creative method

Cycle romantic works M. Gorky immediately attracted the attention of critics and readers with his excellent literary language, relevance of the topic, interesting composition(inclusion of legends and fairy tales into the narrative). Romantic works are characterized by a contrast between the hero and reality. This is how the story “Makar Chudra” is structured, genre feature which is a “story within a story.” Makar Chudra acts not only as the main character, but also as the narrator. Such artistic technique gives the narration greater poetry and originality, helps in to a greater extent reveal ideas about the values of life, the ideals of the author and narrator. The action of the story takes place against the backdrop of a stormy sea, a steppe wind, and an alarming night. This is an atmosphere of freedom. The narrator assigns himself the role of a wise contemplator of life. Makar Chudra is a skeptic who is disappointed in people. Having lived and seen a lot, he values only freedom. This is the only criterion by which Makar measures a human personality.

Subject

The theme of the writer's romantic works is the desire for freedom. “Makar Chudra” also talks about will and freedom. The work is based on the poetic love story of Loiko and Radda, told by Makar Chudra. The heroes of the beautiful legend cannot make a choice between pride, love of freedom and love. The passion for freedom determines their thoughts and actions. As a result, both die.

Idea

The short story contains ideas of freedom, beauty and joy of life. Makar Chudra’s thoughts about life testify to the philosophical mindset of the old gypsy: “Aren’t you yourself life? Other people live without you and will live without you. Do you think that someone needs you? You are not bread, not a stick, and no one needs you...” Makar Chudra speaks about the desire for inner freedom, freedom without restrictions, since only free man may be happy. Therefore, the old wise gypsy advises the interlocutor to go his own way, so as not to “perish in vain.” The only value on earth is freedom, it’s worth living and dying for, that’s what the heroes of this story think. This is what dictated the actions of Loiko and Radda. In the story, Gorky spoke with a hymn to the beautiful and to a strong man. The desire for heroism, the worship of strength, and the glorification of freedom are reflected in the story “Makar Chudra”.

Nature of the conflict

For the old gypsy, the most important thing in life is personal freedom, which he would never trade for anything. His desire for freedom is also embodied by the heroes of the legend told by Makar Chudra. Young and beautiful Loiko Zobar and Radda love each other. But both of them have such a strong desire for personal freedom that they even look at their love as a chain that fetters their independence. Each of them, declaring their love, sets their own conditions, trying to dominate. This leads to a tense conflict that ends with the death of the heroes. ,

Main characters

In the story, one of the main characters is the old gypsy Makar Chudra. The gypsy's wisdom is revealed through the legend he conveyed about the lovers Loiko and Radda. He believes that pride and love are incompatible. Love makes you humble and submit to your loved one. Makar talks about man and freedom: “Does he know the will? The expanse of the steppe concept? Does the sound of the sea wave make his heart happy? He is a slave - as soon as he was born, and that’s it!” In his opinion, a person born a slave is not capable of accomplishing a feat. Makar admires Loiko and Radca. He believes that this is how he should perceive life real man, exemplary, and that only in such life position You can maintain your own freedom. As a true philosopher, he understands: it is impossible to teach a person anything if he himself does not want to learn, since “everyone learns by himself.” He answers his interlocutor with a question: “Can you learn to make people happy? No you can not".

Next to Makar there is the image of a listener, on whose behalf the story is told. This hero does not take up much space in the story, but for understanding author's position, design and creative method its significance is great. He is a dreamer, a romantic, who feels the beauty of the world around him. His vision of the world brings a romantic beginning, joy, boldness, and an abundance of colors into the story: “There was a damp blow from the sea, cold wind, carrying across the steppe the thoughtful melody of the splash of a wave running onto the shore and the rustling of coastal bushes; ...the darkness of the autumn night surrounding us shuddered and, timidly moving away, revealed for a moment the boundless steppe on the left, the endless sea on the right...”

Of course, the romantic element lies in the heroes of the beautiful legend - young gypsies who absorbed the spirit of free life with their mother's milk. For Loiko highest value is freedom, frankness and kindness: “He loved only horses and nothing else, and even then not for long - he would ride and sell, and whoever wants the money, take it. He didn’t have what he cherished - you need his heart, he himself would tear it out of his chest and give it to you, if only it would make you feel good.” Radda is so proud that her love for Loiko cannot break her: “I have never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. And I also love freedom! Will, Loiko, I love more than you.” The insoluble contradiction between Radda and Loiko - love and pride, according to Makar Chudra, can only be resolved by death. And the heroes refuse love, happiness and prefer to die in the name of will and absolute freedom.

Plot and composition

The traveler meets the old gypsy Makar Chudra on the seashore. In a conversation about freedom, the meaning of life, Makar Chudra talks a beautiful legend about the love of a young gypsy couple. Loiko Zobar and Radda love each other. But both have a desire for personal freedom above all else. This leads to a tense conflict that ends with the death of the heroes. Loiko gives in to Radda, kneels before her in front of everyone, which among the gypsies is considered a terrible humiliation, and at the same moment kills her. And he himself dies at the hands of her father.

The peculiarity of the composition of this story is its construction according to the principle of “a story within a story”: the author puts into the mouth of the main character romantic legend. It helps to understand him more deeply inner world and a value system. For Makar, Loiko and Rudd are ideals of love of freedom. He is sure that two beautiful feelings, pride and love, brought to their highest expression, cannot be reconciled.

Another feature of the composition of this story is the presence of the image of the narrator. It is almost invisible, but the author himself can easily be seen in it.

Artistic originality

In his romantic works, Gorky turns to romantic poetics. First of all, this concerns the genre. Legends and fairy tales become the writer’s favorite genre during this period of creativity.

Diverse palette visual arts, which the writer used in the story. "Makar Chudra" is full figurative comparisons, accurately conveying the feelings and mood of the characters: “... a smile is the whole sun”, “Loiko is standing in the fire of a fire, as if in blood”, “... she said as if she had thrown snow at us”, “He looked like an old oak, burned by lightning...", "... staggered like a broken tree", etc. The peculiarity of the story is unusual shape dialogue between Makar Chudra and the narrator. Only one voice is heard in it - the voice of the main character, and only from the remarks of this one speaker do we guess about the reaction and response remarks of his interlocutor: “Learn and teach, you say?” This peculiar form of phrases serves the author to make his presence in the story less noticeable.

Bitter great attention pays attention to the speech of his heroes. For example, Makar Chudra gypsy tradition interrupts his story by addressing his interlocutor, calling him a falcon: “Hey! It was like a falcon...", "That's what he was like, a falcon!..", "That's what Radda was like, a falcon!..", "That's right, a falcon!.." In circulation "falcon" we see an image close to the gypsy spirit, the image of a free and brave bird. Chudra freely modifies some geographical names those places where the gypsies roamed: “Galicia” - instead of Galicia, “Slavonia” - instead of Slovakia. In his story, the word “steppe” is often repeated, since the steppe was the main place of life for the gypsies: “The girl is crying, seeing off the good fellow! Good fellow calls the girl to the steppe...", "The night is bright, the month has flooded the whole steppe with silver...", "Loiko barked all over the steppe...".

The author makes extensive use of the technique landscape sketches. Seascape is a kind of frame for the whole storyline story. The sea is closely connected with state of mind heroes: at first it is calm, only the “damp, cold wind” carries “across the steppe the thoughtful melody of the splash of a wave running onto the shore and the rustling of coastal bushes.” But then it began to rain, the wind became stronger, and the sea rumbled dully and angrily and sang a gloomy and solemn hymn to the proud couple of handsome gypsies. In general, in nature, Gorky loves everything strong, impetuous, limitless: the boundless expanse of the sea and the steppe; bottomless blue sky, now playful, now angry waves, a whirlwind, a thunderstorm with its rolling roar, with its sparkling shine.

A characteristic feature of this story is its musicality. Music accompanies the entire story about the fate of the lovers. “You can’t say anything about her, this Radda, in words. Perhaps its beauty could be played on a violin, and even then to someone who knows this violin like his own soul.”

Meaning of the work

The role of M. Gorky in the literature of the 20th century. difficult to overestimate. He was immediately noticed by JI.H. Tolstoy and A.P. Chekhov, V.G. Korolenko, endowing the young author with his friendly disposition. The importance of an innovative artist was recognized by a new generation of writers, a wide readership, and criticism. Gorky's works have always been at the center of controversy between supporters of different aesthetic trends. Gorky was loved by people whose names are included in the sacred list of creators of Russian culture.

The origins of romantic works seem clear. What is absent in reality is glorified in legends. Not certainly in that way. In them, the writer did not at all abandon his main sphere of observation - the contradictory human soul. Romantic hero included in an environment of imperfect, and even cowardly, pathetic people. This motif is reinforced by the storytellers whom the author listens to: the gypsy Makar Chudra, the Bessa slave woman Izergil, the old Tatar man relaying the legend “The Khan and His Son,” the Crimean shepherd singing the “Song of the Falcon.”

The romantic hero was first conceived as the savior of people from their own weakness, worthlessness, and sleepy vegetation. It is said about Zobar: “With such a person you yourself become better.” That is why images-symbols of a “fiery heart”, flight, and battle arise. Majestic in themselves, they are also enlarged by the “participation of Mother Nature.” She decorates the world with blue sparkles in memory of Danko. The real sea listens to the “lion’s roar” of the legendary waves carrying the call of the Falcon.

An encounter with an unprecedented harmony of feelings and actions calls for the comprehension of existence in some new dimensions. This is true influence legendary hero to the individual. This must be remembered and not replace the content of Gorky’s romantic works with an unambiguous call for social protest. In the images of Danko, Falcon, as well as in the proud lovers, young Izergil, spiritual impulse and thirst for beauty are embodied.

Gorky was more concerned with thinking about what a person is and should become than the real path that lies to the future. The future was pictured as a complete overcoming of primordial spiritual contradictions. “I believe,” wrote I.E. Gorky. Repin in 1899 - into the infinity of life, and I understand life as a movement towards the improvement of the spirit. It is necessary for intellect and instinct to merge in harmonious harmony...” Life phenomena were perceived from the height of universal human ideals. That is why, apparently, Gorky said in the same letter: “... I see that I do not belong anywhere yet, to any of our “parties.” I’m glad about this, because this is freedom.”

"Makar Chudra"

A damp, cold wind blew from the sea, carrying across the steppe the thoughtful melody of the splash of a wave running onto the shore and the rustling of coastal bushes. Occasionally his gusts brought with them wrinkled, yellow leaves and threw them into the fire, fanning the flames; the darkness of the autumn night that surrounded us shuddered and, timidly moving away, revealed for a moment the boundless steppe on the left, on the right -

the endless sea and right opposite me - the figure of Makar Chudra, an old gypsy,

He was guarding the horses of his camp, located fifty paces from us.

Not paying attention to the fact that the cold waves of wind, having opened the check, exposed his hairy chest and beat it mercilessly, he reclined in a beautiful, strong pose, facing me, methodically sipped from his huge pipe, released thick clouds of smoke from his mouth and nose and, motionless, looking somewhere over my head into the deathly silent darkness of the steppe, he talked to me, without stopping and without making a single movement to protect himself from the sharp blows of the wind.

So are you walking? This is good! You have chosen a glorious fate for yourself, falcon. That’s how it should be: go and look, you’ve seen enough, lie down and die - that’s all!

Life? Other people? - he continued, having listened skeptically to my objection to his “That’s how it should be.” - Hey! What do you care about that? Are you not life yourself?

Other people live without you and will live without you. Do you think that someone needs you? You are not bread, not a stick, and no one needs you.

Study and teach, you say? Can you learn to make people happy? No you can not. You turn gray first, and say that you need to teach. What to teach? Everyone knows what they need. Those who are smarter take what they have, those who are dumber get nothing, and everyone learns on their own...

They're funny, those people of yours. They’re huddled together and crushing each other, and there’s so much room on the ground,” he waved his hand broadly toward the steppe. - And they all work.

For what? To whom? No one knows. You see how a man plows, and you think: drop by drop with sweat, he will drain his strength onto the ground, and then he will lie down in it and rot in it. There will be nothing left for him, he sees nothing from his field and dies as he was born - a fool.

Well, was he born then, perhaps, to dig up the earth, and die, without even having time to dig out his own grave? Does he know his will? Is the expanse of the steppe clear? Does the sound of the sea wave make his heart happy? He is a slave - as soon as he was born, he is a slave all his life, and that’s it! What can he do with himself? He'll only hang himself if he grows a little wiser.

But look, at the age of fifty-eight I have seen so much that if I wrote it all on paper, it wouldn’t fit into a thousand bags like yours. Come on, tell me, what parts have I not been to? You can't tell. You don’t even know the places where I’ve been. This is how you need to live: go, go - and that’s it. Don't stand in one place for a long time - what's in it? Just as they run day and night, chasing each other, around the earth, so you run away from thoughts about life, so as not to stop loving it. And if you think about it, you will stop loving life, this always happens. And it happened to me. Hey! It was, falcon.

I was in prison in Galicia. "Why do I live in the world?" - I thought out of boredom, - it’s boring in prison, falcon, oh, how boring! - and longing took me by the heart, as I looked out of the window onto the field, took it and squeezed it with pincers. Who can say why he lives? No one will say, falcon! And you don’t need to ask yourself about this. Live, that's all! And walk around and look around you, and the melancholy will never take over. Then I almost strangled myself with my belt, that’s how it happened!

Heh! I spoke with one person. A strict man, one of your Russians.

You need, he says, to live not the way you want, but the way it is said in God’s word. Submit to God, and he will give you everything you ask of him. And he himself is full of holes, torn. I told him to let himself new clothes asked God. He got angry and drove me away, cursing. And before that he said that we need to forgive people and love them. He would have forgiven me if my speech offended his lordship. Also a teacher! They teach them to eat less, but they themselves eat ten times a day.

He spat into the fire and fell silent, filling his pipe again. The wind howled plaintively and quietly, horses neighed in the darkness, and a tender and passionate song-thought floated from the camp.

This was sung by the beautiful Nonka, daughter of Makar. I knew her voice with a thick, chesty timbre, always sounding somehow strange, dissatisfied and demanding - whether she was singing a song or saying “hello”. The arrogance of the queen froze on her dark, matte face, and in her dark brown eyes, covered with some kind of shadow, the consciousness of the irresistibility of her beauty and contempt for everything that was not herself sparkled.

Makar handed me the phone.

Smoke! Does the girl sing well? That's it! Would you like someone like you to love you?

No? Fine! That's the way it should be - don't trust the girls and stay away from them. Kissing a girl is better and more pleasant than smoking a pipe for me, but if you kissed her, the will in your heart died. She will tie you to her with something that is not visible, but cannot be broken, and you will give her your whole soul. Right! Watch out girls! They always lie! I love her, he says, more than anything in the world, come on, prick her with a pin, she will break your heart. I know! Hey, how much do I know! Well, falcon, do you want me to tell you a true story? And you remember it and, as you remember it, you will be a free bird throughout your life.

“There was Zobar in the world, a young gypsy, Loiko Zobar. All of Hungary, and the Czech Republic, and Slavonia, and everything around the sea, knew him - he was a daring fellow! There was not a village in those parts in which there were five or two inhabitants did not give an oath to God to kill Loiko, but he lived for himself, and if he liked the horse, even if you put a regiment of soldiers to guard that horse, Zobar will still prance on it! Hey! was he afraid of anyone? May Satan come to him with all his might with his retinue, if he hadn’t thrown a knife at him, he would probably have had a strong fight, and he would have given the devil a kick in the snout - that’s just it!

And all the camps knew him or heard about him. He loved only horses and nothing else, and even then not for long - he would ride and sell, and whoever wants the money, take it. He didn’t have what he cherished - you need his heart, he himself would tear it out of his chest and give it to you, if only it would make you feel good. That's what he was, a falcon!

Our camp was roaming around Bukovina at that time - about ten years ago.

One spring night we were sitting: I, Danilo the soldier, who fought with Kossuth together, and old Nur, and all the others, and Radda, Danilo’s daughter.

Do you know my Nonka? Queen girl! Well, Radda cannot be compared with her -

Much credit to Nonka! You can’t say anything about her, this Radda, in words. Perhaps its beauty could be played on a violin, and even then to someone who knows this violin like his own soul.

She dried out a lot of young people’s hearts, wow, a lot! On Morava, one magnate, an old, brown-haired man, saw her and was dumbfounded. He sits on a horse and looks, trembling, as if in a fire. He was as handsome as the devil on a holiday, the zhupan was embroidered with gold, the saber on his side sparkled like lightning, the horse barely stamped his foot, this whole saber was covered in precious stones, and the blue velvet on his cap was like a piece of the sky - he was an important old ruler! He looked, looked, and said to Radda: “Hey! Kiss me, I’ll give you a wallet of money.” And she turned to the side, and that’s all! “Forgive me if I offended you, look at least kindly,” the old tycoon immediately lowered his arrogance and threw a wallet at her feet - a big wallet, brother! And she seemed to accidentally kick him into the dirt, and that’s all.

Eh, girl! - he groaned, and he hit the horse with a whip - only the dust rose in a cloud.

And the next day he appeared again. "Who is her father?" - thunder thunders through the camp.

Danilo left. "Sell your daughter, take what you want!" And Danilo tell him: “It’s only the gentlemen who sell everything, from their pigs to their conscience, but I fought with Kossuth and don’t trade anything!” He began to roar, and for his saber, but one of us put a lit tinder into the horse’s ear, and he carried away the young man. And we filmed and went. We walked for a day or two, we looked - we caught up! “You are gay,” he says, before God and you my conscience is clear, give the girl to me as a wife: I will share everything with you, I am very rich!” It burns all over and, like a feather grass in the wind, sways in the saddle. We thought about it.

Come on, daughter, speak up! - Danilo said into his mustache.

If the eagle entered the raven's nest of her own free will, what would she become? -

Radda asked us. Danilo laughed, and we all laughed with him.

Nice, daughter! Did you hear, sir? It's not working! Look for the doves - they are more pliable. - And we went forward.

And that ruler grabbed his hat, threw it on the ground and galloped so that the earth shook. That's what Radda was like, the falcon!

Yes! So one night we sat and heard music floating across the steppe.

Good music! The blood burned in her veins, and she called somewhere. All of us, we felt, from that music we wanted something that would make us no longer need to live, or, if we were to live, then be kings over the whole earth, falcon!

Here a horse was cut out of the darkness, and a man was sitting on it and playing, riding up to us. He stopped by the fire, stopped playing, smiling, looking at us.

Hey, Zobar, it's you! - Danilo shouted to him joyfully. So here he is, Loiko Zobar!

The mustache lay on the shoulders and mixed with the curls, the eyes glow like clear stars, and the smile is the whole sun, by God! It was as if he had been forged from one piece of iron along with the horse. He stands covered in blood in the fire of the fire and his teeth sparkle, laughing! I'll be damned if I didn't already love him as I loved myself, before he said a word to me or simply noticed that I, too, live in this world!

Look, falcon, what kind of people there are! He will look into your eyes and fill your soul, and you are not at all ashamed, but also proud for you. With such a person you become a better person. There are few such people, my friend! Well, okay, if it’s not enough. If there were a lot of good things in the world, it would not be considered good.

Radda says: “You play well, Loiko! Who made your violin so sonorous and sensitive?” And he laughs: “I made it myself! And I made it not from wood, but from the breast of a young girl whom I loved dearly, and I twisted the strings from her heart. The violin is still lying a little, well, I know how to hold a bow in my hands!”

It is known that our brother tries to immediately cloud the girl’s eyes, so that they do not set his heart on fire, and they themselves would be filled with sadness for you, and so does Loiko.

But I came across the wrong one. Radda turned to the side and, yawning, said: “They also said that Zobar was smart and dexterous - that’s how people lie!” - and walked away.

Hey, beauty, your teeth are sharp! - Loiko’s eyes sparkled, getting off his horse. - Hello, brothers! Here I come to you!

Guest welcome! - Danilo said in response to him. We kissed, talked and went to bed... We slept soundly. And the next morning, we see, Zobar has a rag tied around his head. What is this? And this horse killed him with a sleepy hoof.

Eh, eh, eh! We realized who the horse was and smiled into our mustaches, and Danilo smiled.

Well, wasn't Loiko worth Radda? Well, I do not! No matter how good the girl is, her soul is narrow and shallow, and even if you hang a pound of gold around her neck, it doesn’t matter better than that, what she is, not to be her. Oh, okay!

We live and live in that place, things were good for us at that time, and Zobar is with us. It was a comrade! And he was as wise as an old man, and knowledgeable in everything, and understood Russian and Magyar letters. It used to be that he would go talk and wouldn’t sleep for a long time listening to him! And he plays - God bless me if anyone else in the world played like that! He used to draw a bow along the strings - and your heart would tremble, draw it again - and it would freeze, listening, and he plays and smiles. I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time while listening to him. Now someone is moaning bitterly to you, asking for help and cutting your chest like a knife. But the steppe tells tales to the sky, sad tales. The girl is crying, seeing off the good fellow!

A good fellow calls the girl to the steppe. And suddenly - gay! A free, live song thunders, and the sun itself, just look, will dance across the sky to that song!

That's it, falcon!

Every life in your body understood that song, and the whole of you became a slave to it. And if Loiko had then shouted: “To the knives, comrades!” - then we would all go to the knives, with whom he would indicate. He could do anything to a person, and everyone loved him, loved him deeply, only Radda is the only one who doesn’t look at the guy; and it’s okay, if only this, otherwise he’ll laugh at him. She touched Zobar's heart firmly, so tightly! Loiko grinds his teeth, tugging at his mustache, his eyes look darker than the abyss, and sometimes there is such a sparkle in them that you become afraid for your soul. Loiko will go far into the steppe at night, and his violin will cry until the morning, crying, burying Zobarov’s will. And we lie and listen and think: what to do? And we know that if two stones roll towards each other, you cannot stand between them - they will mutilate you. That's how things went.

Here we sat, all assembled, and talked about business. It got boring. Danilo asks Loiko: “Sing, Zobar, a song, cheer your soul!” He pointed his eye at Radda, who was lying face up not far from him, looking at the sky, and struck the strings. And so the violin began to speak, as if it really was a girl’s heart!

And Loiko sang:

Gay-gay! There is a fire burning in my chest, And the steppe is so wide!

Like the wind, my greyhound horse is fast, my hand is firm!

Radda turned her head and, standing up, grinned into the singer’s eyes. He flared up like the dawn.

Gay-hop, gay! Well, my comrades!

Let's jump forward, shall we?

The steppe is dressed in harsh darkness, And there the dawn awaits us!

Gay-gay! Let's fly and see the day.

Soar to the heights!

But just don’t touch the Beauty Moon with your mane!

He sang! Nobody sings like that anymore! And Radda says, as if he were straining water:

You wouldn’t fly so high, Loiko, you’ll fall unevenly, yes, your nose will fall into a puddle, you’ll get your mustache dirty, look. - Loiko looked at her like a beast, but didn’t say anything.

The guy endured and sang to himself:

Gay-hop! Suddenly the day comes here, And you and I are sleeping.

Hey gay! After all, you and I will then burn in the fire of shame!

Is a song! - said Danilo. - I have never heard such a song; Let Satan make a pipe out of me if I'm lying!

Old Nur twirled his mustache and shrugged his shoulders, and we all liked Zobar’s daring song! Only Radda didn't like it.

“That’s how a mosquito hummed once, mimicking the screech of an eagle,” she said, as if she had thrown snow at us.

Maybe you, Radda, want a whip? - Danilo reached out to her, and Zobar threw his hat to the ground, and said, all black as the earth:

Stop, Danilo! A hot horse has a steel bit! Give me your daughter as a wife!

Here's a speech! - Danilo grinned. - Yes, take it if you can!

Good! - said Loiko and said to Radda: - Well, girl, listen to me a little, but don’t be arrogant! I've seen a lot of your sister, hey, a lot! And no one has touched my heart like you. Eh, Radda, you have filled my soul! Well?

Whatever happens, so it will be, and... there is no horse on which you could gallop away from yourself!.. I take you as my wife before God, my honor, your father and all these people. But look, my will cannot be contradicted - I am a free person and I will live the way I want! - And he approached her, gritting his teeth, sparkling his eyes. We look, he extended his hand to her, - so, we think, she put the bridle on the steppe horse Rudd! Suddenly we see him wave his arms and hit the ground with the back of his head - bang!..

What a miracle? It was as if a bullet had struck the little one’s heart. And it was Radda who grabbed the belt whip around his legs and pulled him towards her - that’s why Loiko fell.

And again the girl lies motionless and smiles silently. We watch what will happen, and Loiko sits on the ground and clutches his head with his hands, as if he is afraid that it will burst. And then he stood up quietly and walked into the steppe, without looking at anyone.

Nur whispered to me: “Watch him!” And I crawled after Zobar across the steppe in the darkness of the night. That's it, falcon!"

Makar knocked the ashes out of the pipe and began filling it again. I wrapped myself tightly in my overcoat and, lying down, looked into his old face, black from the sun and the wind. He shook his head sternly and sternly, whispering something to himself; his gray mustache moved, and the wind ruffled the hair on his head. He looked like an old oak tree, burned by lightning, but still powerful, strong and proud of his strength. The sea still whispered to the shore, and the wind still carried its whisper across the steppe. Nonka no longer sang, and the clouds that had gathered in the sky made the autumn night even darker.

“Loiko walked foot by foot, hanging his head and lowering his arms like whips, and, coming to a gully near a stream, he sat down on a stone and groaned. He groaned so much that my heart bled with pity, but still did not approach him. You can't help grief with a word - right?! That's it! He sits for an hour, he sits for another, and for a third he doesn't move.

And I'm lying nearby. The night is bright, the month has filled the entire steppe with silver, and everything can be seen far away.

Suddenly I see Radda hurrying away from the camp.

I had fun! “Oh, it’s important! - I think, - the daring girl Radda!” So she came up to him, he didn’t hear. She put her hand on his shoulder; Loiko shuddered, unclenched his hands and raised his head. And how he jumps up and grabs the knife! Wow, he’ll cut the girl, I see, and I was just about to shout to the camp and run to them, when suddenly I heard:

Give it up! I'll break your head! - I look: Radda has a pistol in her hand, and she’s aiming it at Zobar’s forehead. That's Satan girl! Well, I think they are now equal in strength, what will happen next?

Listen! “Radda tucked the pistol into her belt and said to Zobar: “I didn’t come to kill you, but to make peace, drop the knife!” - He gave up and frowns into her eyes.

It was wonderful, brother! Two people are standing and looking at each other like animals, and both are such good, brave people. The clear moon looks at them and I - and that’s it.

Well, listen to me, Loiko: I love you! - says Radda. He just shrugged his shoulders, as if he were tied hand and foot.

I’ve seen some great guys, but you are more daring and more beautiful than them in soul and face. Each of them would shave off his mustache - if I blinked his eye, they would all fall at my feet if I wanted it. But what's the point? They’re not too daring anyway, but I would beat them all up.

There are few daring gypsies left in the world, not many, Loiko. I have never loved anyone, Loiko, but I love you. And I also love freedom! Will, Loiko, I love you more than you. And I can’t live without you, just as you can’t live without me. So I want you to be mine, body and soul, do you hear? - He grinned.

I hear you! It makes my heart happy to listen to you speak! Come on, say it again!

And one more thing, Loiko: no matter how you turn, I will defeat you, you will be mine. So don’t waste time - my kisses and caresses await you ahead... I will kiss you deeply, Loiko! Under my kiss you will forget your daring life... and your living songs, which so delight the young gypsies, will no longer sound across the steppes - you will sing love, tender songs to me, Radda... So don’t waste time,” she said I mean, tomorrow you will submit to me as a senior fellow young man. Bow down at my feet in front of the whole camp and kiss my right hand - and then I will be your wife.

That's what the damn girl wanted! This was unheard of; Only in the old days was it like this among the Montenegrins, the old people said, but never among the Gypsies!

Come on, falcon, come up with something funnier? You'll be scratching your head for a year, you won't be able to make it up!

Loiko jerked towards him and shouted throughout the steppe, as if wounded in the chest.

Radda trembled, but did not give herself away.

Well, goodbye until tomorrow, and tomorrow you will do what I told you.

Do you hear, Loiko?

I hear you! “I’ll do it,” Zobar groaned and extended his hands to her. She didn’t even look back at him, but he staggered like a tree broken by the wind and fell to the ground, sobbing and laughing.

This is how the damned Radda loomed. I forced him to come to my senses.

Ehe! What kind of devil wants people to grieve? Who loves to listen to how he groans, bursting with grief, human heart? So think here!..

I returned to the camp and told the old people about everything. We thought about it and decided to wait and see what would come of it. And this is what happened. When we all gathered around the fire in the evening, Loiko also came. He was confused and lost terribly weight overnight, his eyes were sunken; he lowered them and, without raising them, said to us:

Here's the thing, comrades: I looked into my heart that night and found no place in it for my old free life. Radda only lives there - and that’s it!

Here she is, the beautiful Radda, smiling like a queen! She loves her will more than me, and I love her more than my will, and I decided to bow at Radda’s feet, as she ordered, so that everyone could see how her beauty conquered the daring Loiko Zobar, who before her played with the girls like a gyrfalcon with ducks . And then she will become my wife and will caress and kiss me, so that I won’t even want to sing songs to you, and I will not regret my will! Is that right, Radda? - He raised his eyes and looked at her dubiously. She silently and sternly nodded her head and pointed to her feet with her hand. And we looked and did not understand anything. I even wanted to go somewhere, just not to see Loiko Zobar fall at the feet of a girl - even if this girl was Radda. I was ashamed of something, and sorry, and sad.

Well! - Radda shouted to Zobar.

Hey, don’t rush, you’ll have time, you’ll get tired of it... - he laughed. “It was as if steel rang,” he laughed.

So that's the whole point, comrades! What remains? All that remains is to try whether my Radda has such a strong heart as she showed it to me. I’ll try, forgive me, brothers!

Before we even had time to guess what Zobar wanted to do, Radda was lying on the ground, and Zobar’s curved knife was sticking out to the hilt in her chest. We were numb.

And Radda snatched the knife, threw it to the side and, holding the wound with a strand of her black hair, smiling, said loudly and clearly:

Goodbye, Loiko! I knew you would do this!.. - and I died...

Did you understand the girl, falcon?! That's what a devilish girl she was, damn me forever and ever!

Eh! and I will bow at your feet, proud queen! - Loiko barked across the entire steppe and, throwing himself to the ground, pressed his lips to the feet of the dead Radda and froze. We took off our hats and stood in silence.

What do you say in such a matter, falcon? That's it! Nur said: “We need to tie him up!” No one would have raised their hands to tie Loiko Zobar, and Nur knew it. He waved his hand and walked away. And Danilo picked up the knife thrown to the side by Radda and looked at it for a long time, moving his gray mustache; Radda’s blood had not yet frozen on that knife, and it was so crooked and sharp. And then Danilo approached Zobar and thrust a knife into his back, right against his heart. The old soldier Danilo was also Radde’s father!

Like this! - turning to Danila, Loiko said clearly and left to catch up with Radda.

And we watched. Radda lay with her hand with a lock of hair pressed to her chest, and open eyes she was in blue sky, and the daring Loiko Zobar stretched out at her feet. His curls fell over his face, and his face could not be seen.

We stood and thought. Old Danila’s mustache trembled, and his thick eyebrows frowned. He looked at the sky and was silent, and Nur, gray-haired like a harrier, lay down face down on the ground and cried so that his old man’s shoulders shook.

There was something to cry about here, falcon!

You go, well, go your own way, without turning to the side. Straight ahead and go.

Maybe you won’t lose your life in vain. That's it, falcon!"

Makar fell silent and, hiding his pipe in his pouch, wrapped the checkmen around his chest.

It began to rain, the wind became stronger, the sea rumbled dully and angrily. One after another, the horses approached the dying fire and, looking at us with large, intelligent eyes, stopped motionless, surrounding us in a dense ring.

Gop, hop, egoy! - Makar shouted to them affectionately and, patting the neck of his beloved black horse with his palm, said, turning to me: “It’s time to sleep!” -

Then he wrapped his head in the checkmen and, stretching out mightily on the ground, fell silent.

I didn't want to sleep. I looked into the darkness of the steppe, and the royally beautiful and proud figure of Radda floated in the air before my eyes. She pressed her hand with a lock of black hair to the wound on her chest, and through her dark, thin fingers blood oozed drop by drop, falling to the ground in fiery red stars.

And at her heels floated the daring fellow Loiko Zobar; his face was covered with strands of thick black curls, and from under them frequent, cold, and large tears dripped...

The rain was getting heavier, and the sea was singing a gloomy and solemn hymn to the proud couple of handsome gypsies - Loiko Zobar and Radda, the daughter of the old soldier Danila.

And they both circled in the darkness of the night smoothly and silently, and the handsome Loiko could not catch up with the proud Radda.

Maxim Gorky - Makar Chudra, read the text

Abstract: Typology and originality of female images in the works of IS Turgenev. From the classics of past centuries to the present - the formation of the female image in world literature

"Makar Chudra"

See also Gorky Maxim - Prose (stories, poems, novels...):