What is the name of the fairy tale about the little humpbacked horse? Rare editions of the fairy tale P

An annotated edition of a fairy tale beloved by many generations. For primary school age.

• About the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse”

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by liters company.

About the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse”

Father sent Ivanushka to guard the wheat: someone had gotten into the habit of trampling it at night. Ivan obeyed and went on patrol. Nineteen-year-old poet and student at St. Petersburg University Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov spoke about what followed and much more in his fairy tale. The author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” studied at the philosophical and legal department. But Ershov was attracted to poetry, history, and music. He once admitted: “I’m ready to admire everything elegant until I’m dizzy...”

Ershov was a contemporary of the great Pushkin and Zhukovsky. From them he heard praise. The fairy tale was published first in a magazine, and then as a separate book. Since the memorable year 1834 for Ershov, when this happened, the fairy tale about the little humpbacked horse has been known and loved by all reading Russia.

The poet was born in Siberia. As a child, he had to travel a lot: his father served in the hectic position of a volost commissar - the family often moved from place to place. The Ershovs lived in the fortress of St. Peter (now Petropavlovsk), and in Omsk, and in the Far North - in Berezovo (then a place of exile) and in Tobolsk. The future poet learned the life of peasants, taiga hunters, coachmen, merchants, Cossacks, heard stories about Siberian antiquity, and learned fairy tales from old-timers. Ershov, who became a high school student, was lucky again: he settled in Tobolsk with his mother’s relatives, with the merchant Pilenkov - there were different people in the common room here. From them Ershov learned about the Transbaikal region, about distant caravan routes to the south and east. The time has come, and Ershov himself became a storyteller.

Ershov came to St. Petersburg with his parents and his brother, who also became a student. They settled on the outskirts of the city, in a small wooden house. In the evenings, after getting into bed, Ershov loved to tell his family fairy tales. It was here that the poet’s friends first heard his tale about the humpbacked horse. The fairy tale was adopted from Siberian storytellers, but it is not always easy to decide where we see the art of the people and where Ershov’s own creativity is.

Are they traveling close or far?

Do they go low or high?

And did they see anyone -

I do not know anything.

Soon the tale will be told

Things are going wrong.

How can you not recognize the words from folk tales: “Whether it’s close, whether it’s far, whether it’s low, whether it’s high - soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done.” Or here’s another thing - the little humpbacked horse asks the saddened Ivan three times:

“What, Ivanushka, are you unhappy?

Why did you hang your head?

But the fact is that the king sends Ivan to the ocean; The little hunchback invariably consoles his master:

“This is a service, not a service;

The service is all ahead, brother!”

In folk tales, the hero also finds solace in his friends and helpers. They also ask him why he is sad, why he hangs his head below his shoulders, and console him with the same words: “This is not a service - a service, the service will be ahead.” Ershov also took words about Ivan’s transformation from folk tales:

And he became so handsome -

No matter what a fairy tale says,

You can't write with a pen!

It is not difficult to recognize the usual fairy tale ending in the last verses about the wedding feast:

My heart loves it! I was there,

He drank honey, wine and beer;

Even though it ran down my mustache,

Not a drop got into my mouth.

But the poet not only retold folk tales in his poems. Ershov embellished folk fiction, colored it with his own invention, and supplemented it. Here Ivan is watching the wheat at night - sitting under a bush, counting the stars in the sky:

Suddenly, about midnight, the horse neighed...

Our guard stood up,

Looked under the mitten

And I saw a mare.

We can follow all of Ivan’s movements: a sudden neigh struck his ears, he stood up, put his hand to his eyes to better see something in the distance, and he saw a mare. Ershov gives free rein to his imagination:

That mare was

All white, like winter snow,

Mane to the ground, golden,

Curled in chalk rings.

There are many wonderful things in folk tales, but we can guarantee that exactly such a description cannot be found in them.

“The Little Humpbacked Horse” captivates us with its fiction. What we don’t learn and where we go together with Ivan and his little hunchback! In the fairy-tale capital - at the market, in the equestrian row, in the royal stables, by the ocean-sea, in strange lands where firebirds live, on the seashore, at the very edge of the surf, from where a deserted expanse opens up and you can see how “alone” walks » white shaft. Here Ivan rode on his little humpback to the clearing:

What a field! greenery here

Like an emerald stone;

The wind blows over her,

So it sows sparks;

And the flowers are green

Inexpressible beauty.

In the distance rises a mountain, “all made of pure silver” - a dazzling brilliance spreads all around. The beauty of the magical world opens before our mind's eye.

Ershov fearlessly combines magical fiction with humor. A whale lies motionless across the ocean - the miracle Yudo. Smart peasants settled on it:

The men are plowing on the lip,

The boys are dancing between the eyes,

And in the oak grove, between the mustaches,

The girls are looking for mushrooms.

The poet laughs cheerfully at the old fantastic tales that the earth rests on three pillars.

Jocularity never leaves Ershov. It constantly accompanies his most enthusiastic descriptions. Even the princess did not seem beautiful to Ivan: when he saw her, he was disappointed - she seemed pale and thin to him:

“And the little leg, the little leg!

Ugh! like a chicken!

Let someone love you

I won’t take it for nothing.”

While retelling folk tales, Ershov preserved their acute social meaning. The author's sympathies are entirely on the side of the persecuted and despised Ivan. Ivan was already known as a fool in his own family; he really seems like a fool: he lies on the stove and sings at the top of his lungs: “You are beautiful eyes!” But here’s the question: why are his older brothers better than him?... They don’t shout songs, don’t climb onto the stove in bast shoes and malakhai, don’t knock on doors so hard that “the roof almost falls off,” but they have no other merits. On the contrary, there is a lot of bad things in them: none of them is true to their word, they deceive their father, and are dishonest. For the sake of profit, they are ready to do anything - they would be happy to destroy Ivan. On a dark night, they send him into the field for a light, in the hope that it will not come back.

Danilo himself thinks:

“May you be crushed there!”

And Gavrilo says:

“Who knows what’s burning!

Since the villagers have arrived, -

Remember him by his name!”

But everything happens contrary to the wishes of the brothers. Ershov makes Ivan lucky. Why?

Because Ivan does not wish harm on anyone. His “stupid mind” is that he does not steal, does not deceive, and is true to his word. He does not plot against his neighbors. Every time, having done a good deed, Ivan sings carefree: he sings, returning from patrol, “Well done, he went to Presnya”; sings on the way to the booth where he has horses. And the real fun - a general dance - happened in the capital when Ivan was taken into the service of the tsar. We like the cheerful, kind and simple-minded Ivan because he is not like those who consider themselves “smart.”

Despised and deceived by his brothers, Ivan began to live at the royal court. Ivan himself is surprised by the change in his fate. According to him, he “from the garden” became a “royal governor.” The improbability of such a change in Ivan’s fate is ridiculed by the poet himself, but without such a course of action there would be no fairy tale.

Ivan remained the same in the tsar’s service: he negotiated for himself the right to sleep enough (“Otherwise I was like that”). Ershov often says that Ivan sleeps so soundly that they can hardly wake him up. Ivan almost killed himself by falling asleep near the girl’s tent while she was singing and playing the harp. The dissatisfied hunchback nudged him with his hoof and said:

“Sleep, my dear, to the star!

Pour out your troubles!”

Ivan would like to remain carefree, but in the royal service it is impossible to be carefree. Ivan must become different. He's learning this. In order not to fall asleep, not to miss the Tsar Maiden again, Ivan collected sharp stones and nails: “In order to prick himself if he takes a nap again.” The faithful horse teaches his master: “Gay! master! Full sleep! It’s time to fix things!” The horse is the embodiment of a wonderful fairy-tale power that comes to Ivan’s aid. This force acts against the courtiers and the king himself. The troubles that Ivan gets into are terrible. The Tsar learned from the denunciation of the sleeping bag that Ivan was hiding the feather of the Firebird. The king is angry. He gets Ivan to confess: “Answer! I’ll screw it up!..” The royal desire to have the Firebird’s feather is just a whim and nonsense. The king is funny: having received a feather, he plays with it like a child with a toy: “He stroked his beard, laughed and bit the end of the feather.” Ordering the Firebird to be caught, the Tsar threatens to impale Ivan in case of disobedience:

“God have mercy, I’m angry!

And sometimes from hearts

I’ll take off the forelock and the head.”

Ivan is a “servant” for the Tsar and should not contradict his words or desires. This is the order to bathe in boiling water:

"If you are at dawn

If you don't fulfill the command,

I will give you to torment

I'll order you to be tortured

Tear it apart piece by piece."

The ingratitude of the Tsar, to whom Ivan rendered so many services, denunciations, the hypocrisy of the courtiers, their clever slander - this is what caused misfortune even to such undemanding, gentle people as Ivanushka.

Ershov contrasted this very real evil with the fabulous power of the humpbacked horse.

The fairytale little humpbacked horse, like any good fiction, contains a serious thought: the power of the king and his courtiers can be crushed by the power of faithful partnership. Ershov poeticized this feeling. Giving Ivan horses, the mare said:

“Sell two horses if you like,

But don't give up your skate

Not by the belt, not by the hat,

Not for a black woman, listen.

On the ground and underground

He will be your comrade..."

Ershov himself revealed the inner meaning of the fairy tale: partnership can work miracles. And in his life, from his student years, Ershov believed in the power of true friendship. At the university he met Konstantin Timkovsky. They became friends. Both dreamed of useful activities for the benefit of Russia: it seemed to them that they could transform life in Siberia, make the region of hard labor and exile prosperous, and the peoples who inhabited it enlightened. The friends vowed to be faithful to this endeavor and even exchanged rings. The first letters of the Latin words Mors et Vita, which meant “Death and Life,” were engraved on the inside of the rings. The friends vowed to remain faithful to their common civic duty all their lives until death. With all his activities after graduating from the university, Ershov - a teacher of Russian literature at the Tobolsk gymnasium, and then an inspector, its director, and after a while the manager of the directorate of schools throughout the vast Tobolsk province, confirmed his loyalty to his oath. The friends' lives turned out differently, but each one's path began with an oath of allegiance to Russia, sealed by a sense of camaraderie. This feeling was sung by Ershov in the fairy tale.

The little hunchback shares all the joys and sorrows of Ivan. When the time came for the most severe test - to jump into a boiling cauldron, the little hunchback said that now all his friendship would be needed:

“And sooner I myself will perish,

I’ll leave you, Ivan.”

This is what gave Ivan determination:

Ivan looked at the horse

And he immediately dived into the cauldron...

A real fairy tale is always close to the truth. The poet has preserved many signs of folk life. When going on patrol, the brothers take with them a pitchfork and an ax - those tools that a peasant could turn into a weapon. Ivan drove the captured mare into a shepherd's shed - a temporary pen under a canopy. Getting ready for the journey, Ivan takes three onions with him, puts bread in his bosom, and puts his modest luggage in a bag. The fairy-tale capital is very similar to a Russian provincial or even district city. The mayor with a detachment of mustaches clears the way in the crowd, scattering blows left and right: “Hey! you barefoot devils! Get out of my way! Get out of my way!" People take off their hats. Trade guests-merchants, in collusion with the overseers, deceive and shortchange customers. At the auction there is not only monetary trade, but also an exchange in kind. The heralds are shouting. The king travels accompanied by archers. Such descriptions really color the fairy tale and give credibility to the fiction.

The tale is also colored by references to time, although brief, but expressive - they talk about the morning light, the daytime shine of the sky, the evening dusk and the darkness of the night: “It has just begun to get dark”, “Clear noon is coming”, “That’s how it just began to get dark”, “ It began to get dark in the sky,” “The West was quietly burning out,” “The cold night has come,” “The night has come, the month is rising.” The vivid picture is sketched in verse:

It was getting late in the evening;

Now the sun has gone down;

With a quiet flame of grief,

The dawn unfolded.

Ershov learned from the speech of the people many words and expressions, such as “staring”, “about midnight” and the like. Everyday speech gave the tale special artistic properties.

Once in heaven, Ivan reflects:

“Eco miracle! Eco miracle!

Our kingdom is at least beautiful...

How can it compare with the sky?

So it’s not suitable for an insole.

What is the earth!.. After all, it

And black and dirty;

Here the earth is blue,

And how bright!..

Look, little hunchback,

You see, over there, to the east,

Like lightning is glowing...

Tea, heavenly light...

Something is painfully high!”

This speech contains delight, reflection, surprise, comparison, speculation, and irony. This is living folk speech with stops and unexpected turns in the flow. It also includes colloquial words: “eco”, “tea”, “hurt”, and they cannot be replaced by any others - instead of “Eco marvel!” say “What a miracle!” or “What a miracle!”, instead of “tea” - “probably”, “probably”, and instead of “painfully high” - “very high”. Replacing words would mean losing the folk flavor in fairy-tale speech.

Ershov had a brilliant mastery of verse. Like any real poet, Ershov's verse was a strong poetic tool. Here is just one example: on the way back from the heavenly kingdom, Ivan reached the ocean -

Here is a horse running along a whale,

A hoof hits the bones.

The rhythm itself becomes an image of the sound of hooves. But then the skate’s run gives way to a jump, and the rhythm becomes different:

He strained himself - and instantly

Jump to a distant shore.

They say that Pushkin was delighted with Ershov’s skill. The young poet studied with the great master. It is believed that the beginning of the fairy tale is four verses “Beyond the mountains, beyond the valleys...” - Pushkin ruled. It is no coincidence that the poems:

“The way is the way, gentlemen!

Where are you from and where? -

inspired by “The Tale of Tsar Saltan”, where there are the lines:

“Oh, you, gentlemen, guests,

How long did it take you to go, where?"

And Ershov’s verse “Guns are firing from the fortress” was composed according to the model of Pushkin’s: “Guns are firing from the pier.”

Ershov's fairy tale is a beautiful and high work of art. The poet felt and conveyed the charm of folk tales, and most importantly, shared folk concepts and ideas.

Like ordinary people, Ershov dreamed of the victory of goodness and justice. This is what made the tale of the Humpbacked Horse a popularly recognized work.

The poet died in August 1869. During Ershov's lifetime, the fairy tale was published seven times and many times after the author's death. Pushkin dreamed of publishing a fairy tale with pictures. But such a book should have been cheap.

The little hunchback in Ershov's tale gallops and gallops from one generation of people to another, and the cheerful clatter of his hooves will sound for many more readers.

V. Anikin

The fairy tale begins to tell.

Behind the mountains, behind the forests,

Across the wide seas

Against the sky - on the earth,

An old man lived in a village.

The old lady has three sons.

The eldest was a smart kid,

Middle son and this way and that,

The younger one was completely stupid.

The brothers sowed wheat

Yes, they took us to the capital city:

You know, that was the capital

Not far from the village.

They sold wheat there

Money was accepted by invoice

And with a full bag

We were returning home.

In a long time al soon

Misfortune befell them:

Someone started walking in the field

And stir the wheat.

Men are so sad

Haven't seen them since birth;

They began to think and guess -

How to spy a thief;

Finally they realized

To stand on guard,

Save the bread at night,

To waylay the evil thief.

Just as it was getting dark,

The elder brother began to get ready:

Took out a pitchfork and an ax

And he went on patrol.

The stormy night has come,

Fear came over him

And out of fear our man

Buried under the hay.

The night passes, the day comes;

The sentinel leaves the hay

And, pouring water on myself,

He started knocking on the door:

“Hey you sleepy grouse!

Unlock the door for your brother

I got wet in the rain

From head to toe!”

The brothers opened the doors

The guard was let in

They began to ask him:

Didn't he see anything?

The guard prayed

Bowed to the right, to the left

And, clearing his throat, he said:

“I didn’t sleep all night,

Unfortunately for me,

There was terrible bad weather:

The rain poured down like this,

I wet my shirt all over.

It was so boring!..

However, everything is fine.”

His father praised him:

“You, Danilo, are great!

You are, so to speak, approximately,

Served me well,

That is, being with everything,

I didn’t lose face.”

It began to get dark again,

The middle brother went to get ready:

I took a pitchfork and an ax

And he went on patrol.

The cold night has come,

Trembling attacked the little one,

The teeth began to dance;

He started to run -

And I walked around all night

Under the neighbor's fence.

It was terrible for the young man!

But it's morning. He goes to the porch:

“Hey you, sleepyheads! Why are you sleeping?

Unlock the door for your brother;

There was a terrible frost at night -

I'm frozen to my stomach."

The brothers opened the doors

The guard was let in

They began to ask him:

Didn't he see anything?

The guard prayed

Bowed to the right, to the left

And through clenched teeth he answered:

“I didn’t sleep all night,

Yes, to my unfortunate fate,

The cold was terrible at night,

It reached my heart;

I rode all night;

It was too awkward...

However, everything is fine.”

And his father said to him:

“You, Gavrilo, are great!”

It began to get dark for the third time,

The younger one needs to get ready;

He doesn't even move his moustache,

Sings on the stove in the corner

With all your stupid urine:

“You are beautiful eyes!”

Brothers, blame him,

They began to drive into the field,

But no matter how long they shouted,

He's not moving. Finally

His father approached him

He tells him: “Listen,

Run on patrol, Vanyusha;

I'll buy you some splints

I’ll give you peas and beans.”

Here Ivan gets off the stove,

Malachai puts on his

He puts bread in his bosom,

The guard is on duty.

The night has come; the month rises;

Ivan goes around the entire field,

Looking around

And sits down under a bush;

Counts the stars in the sky

Yes, he eats the edge.

Suddenly, about midnight, the horse neighed...

Our guard stood up,

Looked under the mitten

And I saw a mare.

That mare was

All white, like winter snow,

Mane to the ground, golden,

Curled in chalk rings.

“Ehehe! So this is what

Our thief!.. But wait,

I don't know how to joke,

I’ll sit on your neck at once.

Look, what locusts!”

And, for a moment,

runs up to the mare,

Grabs the wavy tail

And he jumped onto her ridge -

Only backwards.

Young mare

With wildly sparkling eyes,

The snake twisted its head

And it took off like an arrow.

Hovering around the fields,

Hangs like a sheet above the ditches,

Leaping through the mountains,

Walks on end through the forests,

Wants, by force or deception,

Just to cope with Ivan;

But Ivan himself is not simple -

Holds the tail tightly.

Finally she got tired.

“Well, Ivan,” she told him, “

If you knew how to sit,

So you can own me.

Give me a place to rest

Yes, look after me

How much do you understand? Yes look:

Three morning dawns

Set me free

Take a walk through an open field.

At the end of three days

I will give you two horses -

Yes, the same as today

There was no trace of it;

And I’ll also give birth to a horse

Only three inches tall,

On the back with two humps

Yes, with arshin ears.

Sell ​​two horses if you like,

But don't give up your skate

Not by the belt, not by the hat,

Not for a black woman, listen.

On the ground and underground

He will be your comrade:

He will warm you in winter,

In the summer it will be cold,

In times of famine he will treat you with bread,

When you're thirsty, you'll drink honey.

I'll go out into the field again

Try your strength in freedom.”

“Okay,” thinks Ivan.

And to the shepherd's booth

Drives the mare

The matting door closes

And as soon as it was dawn,

Goes to the village

Singing a song loudly

“The good guy went to Presnya.”

Here he comes up to the porch,

Here he grabs the ring,

With all the strength there is knocking on the door,

The roof is almost falling in,

And shouts to the whole market,

It was like there was a fire.

The brothers jumped from the benches,

Stuttering, they cried out:

“Who knocks so hard like that?”

“It’s me, Ivan the Fool!”

The brothers opened the doors

They let a fool into the hut

And let's scold him -

How dare he scare them like that!

And Ivan is ours, without taking off

Neither bast shoes, nor malakhai,

Goes to the oven

And he talks from there

About the night adventure,

To everyone's ears:

“I didn’t sleep all night,

I counted the stars in the sky;

The month, exactly, was also shining, -

I didn't notice much.

Suddenly the devil himself comes,

With a beard and mustache;

The face looks like a cat's

And the eyes are like those bowls!

So that devil started jumping

And knock down the grain with your tail.

I don't know how to joke -

And jump on his neck.

He was already dragging, dragging,

Almost broke my head.

But I myself am not a failure,

Listen, he held him like he was in a jam.

My cunning man fought and fought

And finally he begged:

“Don’t destroy me from the world!”

A whole year for you for this

I promise to live peacefully

Don’t bother the Orthodox.”

Listen, I didn’t measure the words,

Yes, I believed the little devil.”

Here the narrator fell silent,

He yawned and dozed off.

Brothers, no matter how angry they were,

They couldn’t - they laughed

Grabbing your sides,

Over the fool's story.

The old man himself could not help himself,

So as not to laugh until you cry,

At least laugh - that's how it is

It's a sin for old people.

Is there too much time or not enough?

Since this night it has flown, -

I don't care about that

I haven't heard from anyone.

Well, what does it matter to us,

Whether a year or two has flown by, -

After all, you can’t run after them...

Let's continue the fairy tale.

Well, sir, so that's it! Raz Danilo

(On a holiday, I remember it was),

Stretched and drunk,

Dragged into a booth.

What does he see? – Beautiful

Two golden-maned horses

Yes, a toy skate

Only three inches tall,

On the back with two humps

Yes, with arshin ears.

"Hm! Now I found out

Why did the fool sleep here!” -

Danilo says to himself...

The miracle knocked down the hops at once;

Here Danilo is running into the house

And Gavrile says:

“Look how beautiful

Two golden-maned horses

Our fool got himself, -

End of introductory fragment.

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The given introductory fragment of the book Little Humpbacked Horse (P. P. Ershov, 1834) provided by our book partner -

Bibliographical sources:

1. Smirnov–Sokolsky N.P. My library, T.1, M., “Book”, 1969, No. 700 - An extraordinary rarity!

2. The Kilgour collection of Russian literature 1750-1920. Harvard-Cambridge, 1959, No. 300

3. Library of Russian poetry I.N. Rozanova. Bibliographic description. Moscow, 1975, No. 600

4. Collection of S.L. Markova. St. Petersburg, Globus Publishing House, 2007, No. 412

5. Gift of Gubar. Catalog of Pavel Vikentievich Gubar in museums and libraries of Russia. Moscow, 2006, No. 474

6. Gauthier V.G. "Catalog of mostly rare and wonderful Russian books." Moscow, 1887, No. 1658

Ershov, Petr Pavlovich (1815-1869) was born in Siberia, studied at the Tobolsk gymnasium, then at St. Petersburg University; was a teacher, inspector and, finally, director of the Tobolsk gymnasium. He entered Russian literature exclusively as the author of the poetic fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse.” He was only 19 years old when he wrote this fairy tale, which was destined to become one of the most glorious, most popular works of Russian literature. In our time, it is probably impossible to calculate how many editions and copies this famous fairy tale has circulated throughout our country. The first edition of 1834 was published with censored notes and went through seven editions during the author’s lifetime, and the 1856 edition was heavily revised by the author and is today the canonical text. “The Little Humpbacked Horse” is a folk work, almost word for word, according to the author himself, taken from the lips of the storytellers from whom he heard it; Ershov only brought it into a more slender form and supplemented it in places. The unique style, folk humor, successful and artistic paintings (the horse market, the zemstvo fish court, the mayor) made this fairy tale widespread. As we already wrote above, the banknotes were restored by the author in the fourth edition of the fairy tale in 1856. However, here is what the famous folklorist M.K. Azadovsky wrote about this in the edition of “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” published in 1934, on the centenary of the first edition: “The tale of 1834 was written by a young enthusiastic student; the 1856 edition came from the pen of the director of a provincial gymnasium. True, there are no censorship points in the text anymore, but this does not mean at all... that censorship gaps have been restored in this edition... In fact, they have been restored only partially, in most cases they have been replaced by others, and these replacements are no longer dictated by censorship considerations , but by the changed moods of the author himself...” Ershov conceived his fairy tale when he read Pushkin’s fairy tales that had just appeared. Many critics believe that the first four verses do not belong to the young Tobolsk poet and that they were sketched by Alexander Sergeevich himself, who was still reading Ershov’s handwritten texts. Whether this is so is unknown, but the words with which Pushkin rewarded the author of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” are known: “Now I can leave this type of writing to me.” The work is based on folk tales, and, apparently, not only Russian ones; Thus, there is a well-known Mongolian folk tale with an almost identical storyline. Ershov combined individual episodes of fairy tales into one story rich in adventures. The lightness of the verse, many apt expressions, and elements of caustic social satire determined the popularity of this fairy-tale poem among adults. An excerpt from “The Little Humpbacked Horse” appeared in 1834 in the magazine “Library for Reading.” In the same year, the fairy tale was published as a separate edition, but with amendments at the request of censorship; It was only in 1856 that the tale was published in full. A. S. Pushkin praised The Little Humpbacked Horse. At the same time, V. G. Belinsky wrote in his review that the fairy tale “has not only no artistic merit, but even the merit of a funny farce.” They tried to ban the fairy tale at least three times. From the first edition of 1834, at the request of the censor, everything that could be interpreted as satire against the tsar or the church was excluded. In 1922, The Little Humpbacked Horse was declared “unacceptable for release” because of this scene:

There is a detachment behind the king of archers.

Here he rode into a row of horses.

Everyone here fell to their knees

And they shouted “hurray” to the king.

The Little Humpbacked Horse

Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov (1815-1869) was born in Siberia.
As a child, he listened to the tales of Siberian peasants, remembered many of them for the rest of his life and told them well himself.
Ershov was very fond of folk tales. In them, the people wittily ridiculed their enemies - the tsar, boyars, merchants, priests, condemned evil and stood for truth, justice, and goodness.
Ershov was studying at St. Petersburg University when he first read Pushkin's wonderful fairy tales. They had just appeared then.
And he immediately decided to write his own “The Humpbacked Horse” - a funny fairy tale about the brave Ivanushka, a peasant son, about the stupid king and about the magical little humpbacked horse. Ershov took a lot for “The Little Humpbacked Horse” from ancient folk tales.
The tale was published in 1834. A. S. Pushkin read and spoke with great praise about “The Little Humpbacked Horse.”
After graduating from university, Ershov returned from St. Petersburg to Siberia, his homeland, and lived there all his life. For many years he was a teacher at the city gymnasium
Tobolsk. Ershov passionately loved his harsh land, studied it and knew it well.
In addition to “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” he wrote several more works, but they are now forgotten. And “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” which appeared more than a hundred years ago, still remains one of the favorite fairy tales of our people.
V. Gakina

PART 1

The fairy tale begins to tell

Behind the mountains, behind the forests,
Across the wide seas
Against the sky - on the ground
An old man lived in a village.
The old lady has three sons:
The eldest was a smart kid,
Middle son and this way and that,
The younger one was completely stupid.
The brothers sowed wheat
Yes, they took us to the capital city:
You know, that was the capital
Not far from the village.
They sold wheat there
Money was accepted by invoice
And with a full bag
We were returning home.

In a long time al soon
Misfortune befell them:
Someone started walking in the field
And stir the wheat.
Men are so sad
Haven't seen them since birth;
They began to think and guess -
How to spy a thief;
Finally they realized
To stand on guard,
Save the bread at night,
To waylay the evil thief.

Just as it was getting dark,
The elder brother began to get ready,
Took out a pitchfork and an ax
And he went on patrol.
A stormy night has arrived;
Fear came over him
And out of fear our man
Buried under the hay.
The night passes, the day comes;
The sentinel leaves the hay
And, pouring water on myself,
He started knocking on the door:
“Hey you sleepy grouse!
Unlock the door for your brother
I got wet in the rain
From head to toe."
The brothers opened the doors
The guard was let in
They began to ask him:
Didn't he see anything?
The guard prayed
Bowed to the right, to the left
And, clearing his throat, he said:
“I didn’t sleep the whole night;
Unfortunately for me,
There was terrible bad weather:
The rain poured down like this,
I wet my shirt all over.
It was so boring!..
However, everything is fine.”
His father praised him:
“You, Danilo, are great!
You are, so to speak, approximately,
Served me well,
That is, being with everything,
I didn’t lose face.”

It began to get dark again,
The middle brother went to get ready;
I took a pitchfork and an ax
And he went on patrol.
The cold night has come,
Trembling attacked the little one,
The teeth began to dance;
He started to run -
And I walked around all night
Under the neighbor's fence.
It was terrible for the young man!
But it's morning. He goes to the porch:
“Hey you, sleepyheads! Why are you sleeping?
Unlock the door for your brother;
There was a terrible frost at night -
I'm frozen to my stomach."

The brothers opened the doors
The guard was let in
They began to ask him:
Didn't he see anything?
The guard prayed
Bowed to the right, to the left
And through clenched teeth he answered:
“I didn’t sleep all night,
Yes to my unfortunate fate
The cold was terrible at night,
It reached my heart;
I rode all night;
It was too awkward...
However, everything is fine.”
And his father said to him:
“You, Gavrilo, are great!”

It began to get dark for the third time,
The younger one needs to get ready;
He doesn't even move his moustache,
Sings on the stove in the corner
With all your stupid urine:
“You are beautiful eyes!”
Brothers, blame him,
They began to drive into the field,
But no matter how long they shouted,
They just lost their voice;
He's not moving. Finally
His father approached him
He tells him: “Listen,
Run away to patrol, Vanyusha;
I'll buy you some popular prints,
I’ll give you peas and beans.”
Here Ivan gets off the stove,
Malachai puts on his
He puts bread in his bosom,
The guard is on duty.

The night has come; the month rises;
Ivan goes around the entire field,
Looking around
And sits down under a bush;
Counts the stars in the sky
Yes, he eats the edge.
Suddenly, about midnight, the horse neighed...
Our guard stood up,
Looked under the mitten
And I saw a mare.
That mare was
All white, like winter snow,
Mane to the ground, golden,
The rings are curled in chalk.
“Ehehe! so this is what it is
Our thief!.. But wait,
I don't know how to joke,
I’ll sit on your neck at once.
Look, what locusts!”
And, for a moment,
runs up to the mare,
Grabs the wavy tail
And I’ll jump onto her ridge -
Only backwards.
Young mare
With wildly sparkling eyes,
The snake twisted its head
And it took off like an arrow.
Hovering in a circle over the fields,
Hangs like a sheet above the ditches,
Leaping through the mountains,
Walks on end through the forests,
Wants by force or deception,
Just to cope with Ivan;
But Ivan himself is not simple -
Holds the tail tightly.

Finally she got tired.
“Well, Ivan,” she told him, “
If you knew how to sit,
So you can own me.
Give me a place to rest
Yes, look after me
How much do you understand? Yes look:
Three morning dawns
Set me free
Take a walk through an open field.
At the end of three days
I will give you two horses -
Yes, the same as today
There was no trace of it;
And I’ll also give birth to a horse
Only three inches tall,
On the back with two humps
Yes, with arshin ears.
Sell ​​two horses if you like,
But don't give up your skate
Not by the belt, not by the hat,
Not for a black woman, listen.
On the ground and underground
He will be your comrade:
He will warm you in winter,
In summer it will be cold;
In times of famine he will treat you with bread,
When you're thirsty, you'll drink honey.
I'll go out into the field again
Try your strength in freedom.”

“Okay,” thinks Ivan.
And to the shepherd's booth
Drives the mare
The door is closed by matting,
And as soon as it was dawn,
Goes to the village
Singing a song loudly
“The good fellow went to Presnya.”

Here he comes up to the porch,
Here he grabs the ring,
With all the strength there is knocking on the door,
The roof is almost falling in,
And shouts to the whole market,
It was like there was a fire.
The brothers jumped from the benches,
Stuttering, they cried out:
“Who knocks so hard like that?” -
“It’s me, Ivan the Fool!”
The brothers opened the doors
They let a fool into the hut
And let's scold him, -
How dare he scare them like that!

And Ivan is ours, without taking off
Neither bast shoes, nor malakhai,
Goes to the oven
And he talks from there
About the night adventure,
To everyone's ears:
“I didn’t sleep all night,
I counted the stars in the sky;
The month, exactly, was also shining, -
I didn't notice much.
Suddenly the devil himself comes,
With a beard and mustache;
The face looks like a cat's
And the eyes are like those bowls!
So that devil started jumping
And knock down the grain with your tail.
I don't know how to joke -
And jumped on his neck.
He was already dragging, dragging,
Almost broke my head.
But I myself am not a failure,
Listen, he held him like he was in a jam.
My cunning man fought and fought
And finally he begged:
“Don’t destroy me from the world!
A whole year for you for this
I promise to live peacefully
Don’t bother the Orthodox.”
Listen, I didn’t measure the words,
Yes, I believed the little devil.”
Here the narrator fell silent,
He yawned and dozed off.
Brothers, no matter how angry they were,
They couldn’t - they laughed
Grabbing your sides,
Over the fool's story.
The old man himself could not restrain himself,
So as not to laugh until you cry,
At least laugh - that's how it is
It's a sin for old people.

Is there too much time or not enough?
Since this night it has flown, -
I don't care about that
I haven't heard from anyone.
Well, what does it matter to us,
Whether a year or two has flown by, -
After all, you can’t run after them...
Let's continue the fairy tale.

Well, sir, so that's it! Raz Danilo
(On a holiday, I remember it was),
Stretched and drunk,
Dragged into a booth.
What does he see? – Beautiful
Two golden-maned horses
Yes, a toy skate
Only three inches tall,
On the back with two humps
Yes, with arshin ears.
"Hm! now I know
Why did the fool sleep here!” -
Danilo says to himself...
The miracle knocked down the hops at once;
Here Danilo is running into the house
And Gavrile says:
“Look how beautiful
Two golden-maned horses
Our fool got himself:
You haven’t even heard of it.”
And Danilo and Gavrilo,
What urine was in their feet,
Straight through the nettles
That's how they blow barefoot.

Stumbling three times
Having repaired both eyes,
Rubbing here and there
The brothers enter the two horses.
The horses neighed and snored,
The eyes burned like a yacht;
Curled into chalk rings,
The tail flowed golden,
And diamond hooves
Upholstered with large pearls.
Lovely to watch!
If only the king could sit on them.
The brothers looked at them like that,
Which almost got twisted.
“Where did he get them? -
The eldest said to the middle one, -
But the conversation has been going on for a long time,
That treasure is given only to fools,
At least break your forehead,
You won't get two rubles that way.
Well, Gavrilo, that week
Let's take them to the capital;
We'll sell it to the boyars there,
We'll split the money evenly.
And with the money, you know,
And you will drink and take a walk,
Just slap the bag.
And to the good fool
Guess won't be enough,
Where do his horses visit?
Let him look for them here and there.
Well, buddy, deal!”
The brothers agreed at once
We hugged and crossed ourselves
And returned home
Talking to each other
About horses and about the feast,
And about a wonderful little animal.

Time rolls on,
Hour after hour, day after day, -
And for the first week
The brothers are going to the capital city,
To sell your goods there
And at the pier you will find out
Didn't they come with ships?
The Germans are in the city for canvases
And is Tsar Saltan still missing?
To fool Christians?
So we prayed to the icons,
Father was blessed
They took two horses secretly
And they set off quietly.

Evening was creeping towards night;
Ivan got ready for the night;
Walking down the street
He eats the edge and sings.
Here he reaches the field,
Hands on hips
And with a spring, like a gentleman,
He enters the booth sideways.

Everything was still standing
But the horses were gone;
Just a hunchbacked toy
His legs were spinning,
Flapping his ears with joy
Yes, he danced with his feet.
How Ivan will howl here,
Leaning on the booth:
“Oh, you horses of Bor-Siva,
Good golden-maned horses!
Didn’t I caress you, friends?
Who the hell stole you?
Damn him, the dog!
To die in a gulley!
May he in the next world
Fail on the bridge!
Oh, you horses of Bura-Siva,
Good horses with golden manes!”
Then the horse neighed at him.
“Don’t worry, Ivan,” he said, “
It’s a great misfortune, I don’t argue;
But I can help, I'm burning
Don't give a damn about it:
The brothers brought the horses together.
Well, what's the use of idle chatter?
Be at peace, Ivanushka.
Hurry up and sit on me
Just know yourself to hold on;
At least I'm small in stature,
Let me change the horse to another:
As soon as I set off and run,
That’s how I’ll overtake the demon.”

Here the horse lies down in front of him;
Ivan sits on his skate,
He rakes his ears,
What is mochki roars.
The little humpbacked horse shook himself,
He stood up on his paws, perked up,
He clapped his mane and started snoring.
And he flew like an arrow;
Only in dusty clouds
The whirlwind curled under my feet,
And in two moments, if not in an instant,
Our Ivan caught up with the thieves.

The brothers, that is, were afraid,
They itched and hesitated.
And Ivan began shouting to them:
“It’s a shame, brothers, to steal!
Even though you are smarter than Ivan,
Yes, Ivan is more honest than you:
He didn’t steal your horses.”
The elder, writhing, said:
“Our dear brother Ivasha!
What to do is our business!
But take it into account
Our belly is unselfish.
No matter how much wheat we sow,
We have a little daily bread.
And if the harvest fails,
So at least get into the noose!
In such great sadness
Gavrila and I were talking
All last night -
How can I help the grief?
This way and that we decided
Finally they did it like this,
To sell your skates
Even for a thousand rubles.
And as a thank you, by the way,
Bring you a new one -
Red hat with a vertebra
Yes, boots with heels.
Besides, the old man can’t
Can't work anymore
But you have to wash your eyes, -
You yourself are a smart person!” -
“Well, if that’s the case, then go ahead,”
Ivan says, sell it
Two golden-maned horses,
Yes, take me too.”
The brothers glanced painfully at each other,
No way! agreed.

It began to get dark in the sky;
The air began to grow cold;
So that they don't get lost,
It was decided to stop.
Under the canopies of branches
They tied up all the horses,
They brought a basket with food,
Got a little hangover
And let's go, God willing,
Who is good at what?
Danilo suddenly noticed
That the fire lit up in the distance.
He looked at Gavrila,
Winked with his left eye
And, coughing lightly,
Pointing the fire quietly;
Here I scratched my head,
“Oh, how dark! - He said.-
At least a month like that as a joke
He looked at us for a minute,
Everything would be easier. And now,
Really, we are worse than aunts...
Wait a minute... I think
That light smoke curls there...
You see, Avon!.. It is so!..
I wish I could light a cigarette!
It would be a miracle!.. And listen,
Go run, brother Vanyusha.
And, I must admit, I have
No flint, no flint."
Danilo himself thinks:
“May you be crushed there!”
And Gavrilo says:
“Who knows what’s burning!
Since the villagers have arrived -
Remember him by his name!”
Everything is nothing for a fool,
He sits on his skate
Kicks the sides with his feet,
Tugging at him with his hands
Screaming with all his might...
The horse took off and the trail disappeared.
“Godfather be with us! -
Then Gavrilo shouted,
Protected by the holy cross. -
What kind of demon is under him!

The fire burns brighter
The little hunchback runs faster.
Here he is in front of the fire.
The field shines as if during the day;
A wonderful light flows all around,
But it doesn’t heat, it doesn’t smoke,
Ivan was amazed here:
“What,” he said, “what kind of devil is this!”
There are about five hats in the world,
But there is no heat and no smoke;

Eco miracle light!
The horse tells him:
“There really is something to marvel at!
Here lies the feather of the Firebird,
But for your happiness
Don't take it for yourself.
Much, much restlessness
It will bring it with it.” -
"You speak! How wrong!” -
The fool grumbles to himself;
And, raising the feather of the Firebird,
Wrapped him in rags
I put rags in my hat
And he turned his skate.
Here he comes to his brothers
And he answers their demand:
“How did I get there?
I saw a burnt stump;
I fought and fought over him,
So I almost got fed up;
I fanned it for an hour,
No, damn it, it’s gone!”
The brothers didn't sleep the whole night,
They laughed at Ivan;
And Ivan sat down under the cart,
He snored until the morning.

Here they harnessed the horses
And they came to the capital,
We stood in a row of horses,
Opposite the large chambers.
In that capital there was a custom:
If the mayor does not say -
Don't buy anything
Don't sell anything.
Now mass is coming;
The mayor leaves
In shoes, in a fur hat,
With a hundred city guards.
A herald rides next to him,
Long mustache, bearded;
He blows a golden trumpet,
He shouts in a loud voice:
"Guests ! Open the shops
Buy, sell;
And the overseers sit
Near the shops and look,
To avoid sodomy
Neither pressure nor pogrom,
And so that no one is a freak
I didn’t deceive the people!”
Guests open the shop,
Baptized people cry out:
"Hey, honest gentlemen,
Come join us here!
How are our container bars?
All sorts of different goods!”
The shoppers are coming
The goods are taken from the guests;
Guests count money
Yes, the supervisors are blinking.

Meanwhile, the city detachment
Arrives in a row of horses;
They look - a crush of people,
There is no exit, no entrance;
So the crowds are teeming,
And they laugh and scream.
The mayor was surprised
That the people were cheerful,
And he gave the order to the detachment,
To clear the way.
“Hey you devils, barefoot!
Get out of my way! Get out of my way!"
The barbels screamed
And they hit the whips.
Here the people began to stir,
He took off his hats and stepped aside.

Before my eyes there is a row of horses:
Two horses stand in a row
Young, black,
Golden manes curl,
Curled into chalk rings,
The tail flows golden...
Our old man, no matter how ardent he was,
He rubbed the back of his head for a long time.
“Wonderful,” he said, “God’s light,
There are no miracles in it!”
The whole squad bowed here,
I marveled at the wise speech.
Meanwhile the mayor
He punished everyone severely
So that they don’t buy horses,
They didn’t yawn, they didn’t scream;
That he is going to the yard
Report everything to the king.
And, leaving part of the detachment,
He went to report.

Arrives at the palace
“Have mercy, Tsar Father! -
The mayor exclaims
And his whole body falls. -
They didn't order me to be executed
Order me to speak!”
The king deigned to say: “Okay,
Speak, but it’s just awkward.” -
“I’ll tell you as best I can:
I serve the mayor;
By faith and truth I am correcting
This position...” - “I know, I know!” -
“Today, having taken a detachment,
I went to the horse row.
I arrive - there are tons of people!
Well, no exit, no entrance.
What to do here?.. Ordered
Drive out the people so as not to interfere,
And so it happened, king-hope!
And I went - and what?..
In front of me is a row of horses:
Two horses stand in a row
Young, black,
Golden manes curl,
Curled into chalk rings,
The tail flows golden,
And diamond hooves
Upholstered with large pearls.”

The king could not sit here.
“We need to look at the horses,”
He says, “It’s not bad”
And having such a miracle.
Hey, give me the cart!” And so
The cart is already at the gate.
The king washed and dressed up
And off he went to the market;
There is a detachment behind the king of archers.
Here he rode into a row of horses.
Everyone here fell to their knees
And “hurray!” they shouted to the king.
The king bowed and instantly
Well done jumping off the wagon...
He doesn’t take his eyes off his horses,
From the right, from the left he comes to them,
With a kind word he calls,
It hits them quietly on the back,
Ruffles their steep neck,
Strokes the golden mane,
And, having seen enough,
He asked, turning around
To those around: “Hey, guys!
Whose foals are these?
Who's the boss? Ivan is here,
Hands on hips like a gentleman
Because of the brothers he acts
And, pouting, he answers:
“This couple, king, is mine,
And the owner is me too.” -
“Well, I’m buying a couple;
Are you selling? - “No, I’m changing it.” -
“What good do you take in exchange?” -
"Two to five caps of silver" -
“That means it will be ten.”
The king immediately ordered to weigh
And, by my grace,
He gave me an extra five rubles.
The king was generous!

Led the horses to the stables
Ten gray grooms,
All in gold stripes,
All with colored sashes
And with morocco whips.
But dear, as if for a laugh,
The horses knocked them all off their feet,
All the bridles were torn
And they ran to Ivan.
The king went back
He tells him: “Well, brother,
Ours are not given a pair;
There's nothing to do, you have to
To serve you in the palace;
You will walk in gold
Dress up in a red dress,
It's like rolling cheese in butter,
My entire stable
I give you an order,
The royal word is a guarantee.
What, do you agree?” - “What a thing!
I will live in the palace
I will walk in gold
Dress up in a red dress,
It's like rolling cheese in butter,
The entire stables
The king gives me an order;
That is, I'm from the garden
I will become a royal commander.
Wonderful thing! So be it
I will, king, serve you.
Just don't fight me, please.
And let me sleep
Otherwise I was like that!”

Then he called the horses
And he walked along the capital,
Waving my mitten myself,
And to the song of a fool
The horses dance the trepak;
And his horse is humpbacked -
So it’s bursting squatted,
To the surprise of everyone.

Meanwhile, two brothers
The royal money was received
They were sewn into girdles,
Knocked on the valley
And we went home.
They shared the house together
They both got married at the same time
They began to live and live,
Yes, remember Ivan.
But now we will leave them,
Let's have fun with a fairy tale again
Orthodox Christians,
What has our Ivan done?
While in the royal service
At the state stable;
How did he become a neighbor?
Like a feather, I slept through a thunder cloud at my side;
A cloud walks and sparkles,
Thunder scatters across the sky.
This is a saying: wait,
The fairy tale will be ahead.
Like on the sea-ocean
And on Buyan Island
There is a new coffin in the forest,
The girl lies in the coffin;
The nightingale whistles over the coffin;
A black beast is prowling in the oak forest.
This is a saying, but here it is -
The fairy tale will take its course.

Well, you see, laymen,
Orthodox Christians
Our daring fellow
He wormed his way into the palace;
Serves at the royal stables
And it won’t bother you at all
It's about brothers, about father
In the sovereign's palace.
And what does he care about his brothers?
Ivan has red dresses,
Red hats, boots
Almost ten boxes;
He eats sweetly, he sleeps so much,
What freedom, and that’s all!

Here in about five weeks
I started to notice the sleeping bag...
I must say, this sleeping bag
Before Ivan there was a boss
Above the entire stable,
From the boyars he was reputed to be children;
It's no wonder he was angry
I swore against Ivan
Even if there is an abyss, there is an alien
Get out of the palace.
But, hiding deceit,
It's for every occasion
The rogue pretended to be deaf,
Myopic and dumb;
He himself thinks: “Wait a minute,
I’ll move you, you idiot!”
So, in about five weeks,
The sleeping bag began to notice
That Ivan doesn’t care for horses,
And he doesn’t clean, and he doesn’t school;
But for all that, two horses
As if only from under the ridge:
Washed clean,
The manes are twisted into braids,
The bangs are gathered in a bun,
The wool – well, it’s shiny, like silk;
There is fresh wheat in the stalls,
As if he would be born right there,
And the big vats are full
As if it had just been poured.
“What kind of parable is this? -
The sleeping bag thinks, sighing. -
Isn't he walking, wait?
A prankster brownie is coming to us?
Let me keep watch
And anyway, I shoot a bullet,
Without blinking, I know how to drain, -
If only the fool would leave.
I will report to the royal Duma,
What is the state's stablemaster -

Today marks the 200th anniversary of the birth of the Russian writer Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov (1815 - 1869). Ershov became famous for his fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” which he wrote during his student years.

On the eve of Ershov's anniversary, we studied the history of the publication of his fairy tales and found some of them in our collection of the rare books department.
Ershov's fairy tale was published as a separate book in 1834 and went through seven editions during the author's lifetime, with the fourth edition of 1856 being heavily revised by the author and is today the canonical text.

How did Ershov - an unknown, ignorant 19-year-old student at St. Petersburg University - rise to the pinnacle of literary fame? It turned out that he had patrons: poet V. A. Zhukovsky, professor P. A. Pletnev, censor A. V. Nikitenko.
Pletnev was the first to publicize Ershov's fairy tale, reading it at the beginning of 1834 during classes at the university instead of a lecture. Zhukovsky contributed to its appearance in print, and Nikitenko was the censor of the tale. His role in the publication of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” was very important: although he removed a lot from the fairy tale, leaving ellipses, he preserved it as a whole. Another censor might not have let it into print.

But A.S. Pushkin took the greatest part in the fate of the fairy tale. He was delighted with The Little Humpbacked Horse and said to Ershov: “Now I can leave this type of writing to me.” Pushkin wanted to assist Ershov in publishing this fairy tale with pictures and publish it at the cheapest possible price, in a huge number of copies, but due to the author’s insufficient funds and on the occasion of Pushkin’s death, this intention was not fulfilled.

The first part of the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse” was published in volume 3 of the magazine “Library for Reading” with a laudatory foreword by the editor of the magazine O. I. Senkovsky. And already on October 5, 1834, an announcement appeared in the newspaper “Northern Bee” about the release of Ershov’s fairy tale as a separate edition. Photo from a newspaper from our fund:

“The Little Humpbacked Horse” immediately gained wide popularity. The circulation was sold out, and lists began to be compiled from the fairy tale. In 1840 and 1843, Moscow bookseller K.I. Shamov published the second and third editions of The Little Humpbacked Horse without changes. After this, “The Little Humpbacked Horse” was not published for a long time: censorship did not allow it to be published as a work that “does not correspond to modern concepts and education.” And when, at the end of the 1840s, Nicholas I approved the rules of book publishing, which stipulated that in books “intended for reading by the common people... there should not only be no unfavorable, but even careless touch on the Orthodox Church and its institutions, government and all the authorities and laws assigned by it,” the publication of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” was out of the question.

In 1856, after the death of Nicholas I, “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” with the help of the Minister of Public Education, hero of the Patriotic War of 1812 A. S. Norov and with the assistance of A. V. Nikitenko, who by this time had become a full member of the Academy of Sciences, was published fourth edition, supplemented by the author. Ershov restored or rewrote passages removed from the first edition and marked with dots.

In 1861, the fifth edition of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” was published with a minor addition by the author. The last 6th and 7th editions during the author’s lifetime were published in 1865 and 1868; they repeat the 5th edition.

Until 1917, the fairy tale was published more than 30 times, repeating the 4th and 5th editions.

One of the features of the pre-revolutionary editions of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” is the parallel release of many fakes of this fairy tale. The first of them came out after the first publication of the fairy tale: in 1835 and was called “The Crooked Demon,” a Russian fairy tale, op. A. Ya-va, St. Petersburg. Since the late 1860s, many unsuccessful imitations of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” have appeared; according to rough estimates, more than 200 such fakes have been produced.
We also have one “remake”: a book from the Yudinsky collection “The Little Humpbacked Horse, or the Tsar Maiden: a theatrical play for children in five acts and nine scenes, with 50 characters, adapted from a fairy tale written by P. Ershov "(Moscow, 1868). The text is very different from Ershov's.

Standing apart is “The Jumping Horse” by the revolutionary poet S. A. Basov-Verkhoyantsev - an illegally published political pamphlet calling the people to an irreconcilable struggle against tsarism. In a short time, up to half a million copies of this tale were distributed; it remained in the history of the Russian revolutionary movement. We found such a book in our collection:

After the October Revolution, everyone’s favorite fairy tale was published annually in many cities in large editions.

It is interesting that at different times the fairy tale had different readers. In the first decades of its existence, “The Little Humpbacked Horse” was not perceived as a children’s fairy tale; critics angrily ridiculed those who tried to even timidly suggest that Ershov’s fairy tale could be offered to children. And only nowadays it has become a favorite book of children.

In the last quarter of a century, the press began to highlight the problem of the authorship of The Little Humpbacked Horse. Among literary critics there is a debate about the role of Pushkin in the creative history of Ershov’s fairy tale, about the participation of the great poet in the first publications of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” in 1834. There are suggestions that Pushkin is either the author of the fairy tale, or he carefully revised it. As arguments, arguments are given that there are no drafts and white manuscripts of Ershov, his closest friends at the university did not know about Ershov’s writing, evidence is given from letters of Pushkin, Ershov and their entourage. Thus, some of the views of literary critics on the problem of authorship of “The Little Humpbacked Horse” are highlighted in the articles of A. Latsis and A. Tolstyakov in the 1997 edition of the fairy tale (2). This edition reproduces the first edition of the fairy tale by P. P. Ershov, introduces the reader to the original, previously unknown version of the fairy tale.

Ershov's fairy tale was illustrated by various artists. Of the numerous illustrations for “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” the most interesting and best are considered to be the drawings of A. F. Afanasyev (1850 - 1920), which make up a large album. In the 1920 edition, the drawings were published for the first time together with the text, but not all are reproduced, but only part of the drawings prepared for this purpose by the artist himself.

The miniature edition of 1984 (1) (size 10x7 cm) was illustrated by the world famous illustrator Gennady Konstantinovich Spirin (b. 1948). The illustrations are done in watercolor and reproduced in life-size.

Used sources:
1. Ershov, P. P. Little Humpbacked Horse / P. P. Ershov; will enter. article, dictionary, appendix. V. G. Utkova; artist G. K. Spirin. - Moscow: Book, 1984. - 128, p.
2. Ershov, P. P. The Little Humpbacked Horse: a Russian fairy tale / P. P. Ershov; artist E. Sokolov. - Moscow: Coincidence: Sampo, 1997. - 245 p.

The magnificent fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse” has been known to us since childhood. Some may mistakenly think that its author is A. S. Pushkin, but it was created by the Russian writer Pyotr Ershov in 1830. Only at the end of the work did Pushkin act as a proofreader for the text and spoke very approvingly about it. This work was folk, as Ershov himself believed. “The Little Humpbacked Horse,” a brief summary of which was heard by everyone, is a fairy tale in poetic form. The writer heard this story from the mouths of the storytellers, and then expanded it and brought it into harmonious form.

Ershov. “The Little Humpbacked Horse”: summary

One old man had three sons. The eldest was called Danila, and he was a smart kid, the middle one was Gavrila, they say about such people - neither fish nor fowl, and the youngest Ivan turned out to be a complete fool. The brothers grew wheat and sold it in the capital. But one day trouble happened: someone got into the habit of trampling their crops. The brothers immediately wanted to find out who was doing this and decided to take turns keeping watch every night. The two older brothers decided not to bother themselves, they were scared and cold, and so they returned home without finding out anything.

Uninvited Guest

This is the summary of this popular fairy tale. “The Little Humpbacked Horse” has a very interesting plot. Then the writer tells that it was the turn of the younger brother. However, he sat in ambush until midnight and did not sleep a wink, when suddenly he saw a white mare with a golden mane. Ivan was not taken aback, saddled her backwards and started galloping, holding tightly to the tail. Soon the mare got tired of resisting and asked to let her go, promising that in return she would give birth to three horses. But she immediately warned that two horses could be sold, but the third two-humped horse could not be given away for anything.

Golden-maned horses

Ivan was delighted and took the mare to the stables. After a while, she got two golden-maned stallions and one “toy” horse. One day, drunken brother Danilo accidentally noticed the horses in the stall. Having agreed with Gavrila, secretly from their younger brother, they decided to sell the animals in the capital. But Ivan discovered the loss in the evening.

What follows is a very fascinating summary of the events. The Little Humpbacked Horse tells the owner what happened and offers to catch up with the brothers. Ivan instantly overtook the brothers, they immediately repented, and then he allowed the horses to be sold. They go to the capital.

Ill-fated feather

The summary of the fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse” further tells that night overtook the brothers in the field, and then some kind of light flashed in the distance. Ivan went to look on his skate and saw that it was the feather of the magical Firebird that was blazing. But the horse advised not to take it, as it could bring a lot of trouble. Ivan did not listen, picked up the feather and put it in his hat. He did not say anything to his brothers about his mysterious find.

In the morning, in the capital, the horses were put up for sale by the brothers. The Tsar himself bought the stallions and offered Ivan the job of head of the Tsar's stables. He agreed and walked into the palace.

The treachery of the king's servant

And the brothers, dividing the money equally, went home and lived happily ever after. Ivan served in the stables for the time being, until the Tsar’s sleeping bag wanted to kick him out. He decided to follow the groom and hid in the stall. At midnight, Ivan comes, takes out the feather of the magical Firebird from his hat, and in its bright light begins to wash the horses. The sleeping bag reported everything to the Tsar and added on his own that Ivan boasted that he could get the Firebird itself.

Firebird

Soon they found themselves in the forest in the middle of a clearing on which was a mountain of silver. The horse immediately explained that the Firebirds fly here at night and instruct him to put a trough with millet covered in wine, and hide under another, and when one of the birds pecks at the food, he must have time to catch it. That's exactly what happened. Ivan caught the firebird and brought it to the king, who, in gratitude, appointed him as the king’s stirrup. Further even more amazing events are described by a brief summary of Ershov’s fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse”.

The insidious sleeping bag prepared a new test for Ivan, having heard the story that a beautiful Tsar Maiden lives on the ocean shore, who sings, plays the harp and floats in a golden boat, he goes and reports to the Tsar that Ivan can bring her to the Tsar as his wife. The Tsar immediately sends guards after Ivan. Again the summary is filled with intrigue. This time the Little Humpbacked Horse undertakes to help his master. He says that for the business he needs to take a golden tent, two towels, cutlery and a bunch of different sweets from the king.

Tsar Maiden

They traveled for a whole week, and finally found themselves on the ocean shore. Ivan pitched the tent as the horse told him, placed cutlery and sweets on towels, and hid himself.

Having waited until the princess entered the tent, treated herself to delicious food and began to play the harp, he immediately ran in, grabbed her and took her to the king. And he, seeing the unearthly beauty, immediately wanted to marry her. But the princess demanded her ring from the bottom of the ocean. The Tsar again calls Ivan, and he again sets off on his horse. And the princess also asked us to stop by on the way to worship the Moon and the Sun.

Visiting the Moon and the Sun

Near the ocean, they suddenly saw a huge whale with an entire village on its back. Having learned that they were going to the Sun, the whale asked to ask what sins he was suffering so much for. Ivan promised to find out and moved on. Soon they discovered the tower of the Tsar Maiden, in which the Moon rested during the day, and the Sun at night.

Ivan found the Month at home and conveyed greetings to him from the Tsar Maiden, he was glad to hear the good news, but when he found out that the seventy-year-old Tsar wanted to marry her, he said that this would not happen, and she would have a husband - a young handsome man. And about the whale, the Moon said that he once swallowed thirty ships, and would be forgiven if he released them.

Ivan is driving back home. On the way, he conveys the words of the Moon to the whale, he releases the ships, and the villagers hastily leave the village. The free whale, in gratitude, wants to oblige, and then Ivan asks to get him the treasured ring from the bottom of the ocean. After a long search, the whale finds this jewel.

Wedding

Ivan hurries to the capital with the ring. The happy king presents him to the princess, but she refuses to marry him and says that he is old, but with the help of one means he can immediately become younger. You just need to put three boilers: two with cold and hot water, the third with boiling milk, and take turns plunging into them.

The Tsar became thoughtful, calls Ivan again and orders him to be the first to bathe in the cauldrons. The horse tells him to jump into the cauldron only after he waves his tail, then dips his muzzle into the cauldron, sprinkles on it twice and hangs down. Only after this can Ivan jump into boiling water. He did everything according to the rules and became a handsome man.

P. Ershov came up with such a beautiful fairy tale. "The Little Humpbacked Horse". Its summary ends with the fact that the king, having seen such miracles, hastened to jump into boiling water, and there he was boiled.

Since there is no king, the people recognize the maiden as their queen, and the one who transformed Ivan as their king. The newlyweds go down the aisle and throw a feast for the whole world.

“The Little Humpbacked Horse”: a summary for the reader’s diary

In the reader's diary, only the most important events of the plot read are usually recorded in order to remember them at any time when necessary. After reading “The Little Humpbacked Horse” (summary), for the reader’s diary you need to note all the main characters and their actions, but no less important is the need to understand the whole meaning of the fairy tale, contained in a deep satire that exposes human vices.