Read the work of a wild landowner. Mikhail Saltykov-Shchedrin - wild landowner
In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, he lived and looked at the light and rejoiced. He had enough of everything: peasants, bread, livestock, land, and gardens. And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper "Vest" [political and literary newspaper(1863-1870), organ of the reactionary-noble opposition of the 60s] and the body was soft, white and crumbly.
One day this landowner only prayed to God:
God! I am pleased with everything from you, I have been rewarded with everything! Only one thing is unbearable to my heart: there are too many peasants in our kingdom!
But God knew that the landowner was stupid and did not heed his request.
The landowner sees that the peasant is not decreasing every day, but everything is increasing, - he sees and fears: “Well, how will he take all my goods?”
The landowner will look into the newspaper “Vest”, as he should do in this case, and read: “Try!”
Only one word has been written, says the stupid landowner, and it’s a golden word!
And he began to try, and not just somehow, but everything according to the rule. Whether a peasant chicken wanders into the master's oats - now, as a rule, it is in the soup; Whether a peasant is going to chop wood in secret in the master's forest - now this same firewood is going to the master's yard, and, as a rule, the chopper is subject to a fine.
Nowadays these fines affect them more! - the landowner says to his neighbors, - because for them it is clearer.
The men see: although their landowner is stupid, he has a great mind. He reduced them so that there is nowhere to stick your nose out: no matter where you look, everything is prohibited, not allowed, and not yours! The cattle goes out to drink - the landowner shouts: “My water!”, the chicken wanders out of the outskirts - the landowner shouts: “My land!” And the earth, and the water, and the air - everything became his! There was no torch to light the peasant's light, there was no rod to sweep out the hut with. So the peasants prayed to the Lord God all over the world:
God! It’s easier for us to perish with our children than to suffer like this all our lives!
The merciful God heard the orphan’s tearful prayer, and there was no more man throughout the entire domain of the stupid landowner. No one noticed where the man had gone, but people only saw when suddenly a chaff whirlwind arose and, like a black cloud, the peasant’s long trousers flew through the air. The landowner went out onto the balcony, sniffed and smelled: the air in all his possessions had become pure, pure. Naturally, I was pleased. He thinks: “Now I’ll pamper my white body, my white, loose, crumbly body!”
And he began to live and live and began to think how he could console his soul.
“I’ll run my own theater, he thinks! I’ll write to the actor Sadovsky: come, dear friend! And bring the actors with you!”
The actor Sadovsky listened to him: he came and brought the actors. He only sees that the landowner’s house is empty and there is no one to put up a theater or raise the curtain.
Where have you put your peasants? - Sadovsky asks the landowner.
But God, through my prayer, cleared all my possessions of the peasant!
However, brother, you stupid landowner! Who gives you a wash, stupid one?
Yes, I go unwashed for how many days!
So, are you planning to grow champignons on your face? - said Sadovsky, and with this word he left and took the actors away.
The landowner remembered that he had four general acquaintances nearby; thinks: “Why am I playing grand solitaire and grand solitaire all the time! I’ll try to play a game or two with the five generals!”
No sooner said than done: I wrote the invitations, set the day and sent the letters to the address. Although the generals were real, they were hungry, and therefore they arrived very quickly. They arrived and couldn’t wonder why the landowner’s air was so clean.
And this is because,” the landowner boasts, “that God, through my prayer, cleared all my possessions of the peasant!”
Oh, how good it is! - the generals praise the landowner, - so now you won’t have that slave smell at all?
“Not at all,” the landowner answers.
They played a bullet, played another; The generals feel that their time has come to drink vodka, they become restless and look around.
You, gentlemen generals, must have wanted a snack? - asks the landowner.
It wouldn't be bad, Mr. Landowner!
He got up from the table, went to the cupboard and took out a lollipop and a printed gingerbread for each person.
What is this? - the generals ask, widening their eyes at him.
Here, have a bite of what God sent you!
Yes, we would like some beef! We'd like some beef!
Well, I don’t have any beef for you, gentlemen generals, because since God delivered me from the peasant, the stove in the kitchen has not been heated!
The generals became angry with him, so that even their teeth began to chatter.
But do you eat something yourself? - they attacked him.
I eat some raw materials, but I still have gingerbread...
However, brother, you are a stupid landowner! - said the generals and, without finishing the bullets, scattered to their homes.
The landowner sees that another time he will be honored as a fool, and was about to think, but since at that time a deck of cards caught his eye, he gave up on everything and began to play grand solitaire.
Let's see, he says, gentlemen, liberals, who will defeat whom! I will prove to you what true strength of soul can do!
He lays out the “ladies’ whim” and thinks: “If it comes out three times in a row, then it’s necessary not to look.” And as luck would have it, no matter how many times he lays it out, everything comes out, everything comes out! There wasn't even any doubt left in him.
If, he says, fortune itself indicates, then we must remain firm to the end. And now, while I’ve had enough of playing grand solitaire, I’ll go and study!
And so he walks, walks around the rooms, then sits down and sits. And he thinks everything. He thinks about what kind of cars he will order from England, so that everything is steam and steam, and so that there is no servile spirit at all. He thinks about what kind of fruit garden he will plant: “Here there will be pears and plums; here there will be peaches, here there will be walnuts!” He looks out the window - and there everything is as he intended, everything is exactly as it is! They're breaking through pike command, under the load of fruits there are pear, peach, apricot trees, and just know he collects the fruits with machines and puts them in his mouth! He thinks what kind of cows he will raise, that there is no skin, no meat, but all milk, all milk! He thinks about what kind of strawberries he will plant, all double and triple, five berries per pound, and how many of these strawberries he will sell in Moscow. Finally he gets tired of thinking and goes to the mirror to look - and there’s already an inch of dust in there...
Senka! - he will suddenly shout, having forgotten himself, but then he will come to his senses and say, - well, let him stand like this for the time being! and I’ll prove to these liberals what firmness of soul can do!
It will loom in this manner until it gets dark - and go to sleep!
And in a dream, dreams are even more fun than in reality. He dreams that the governor himself found out about his landowner’s inflexibility and asked the police officer: “What kind of tough son of a hen do you have in your district?” Then he dreams that he was made a minister for this very inflexibility, and he walks around in ribbons and writes circulars: “Be firm and not look!” Then he dreams that he walks along the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris... [that is, according to biblical legends, in paradise]
Eva, my friend! - he says.
But now I’ve reconsidered everything: I have to get up.
Senka! - he shouts again, having forgotten himself, but suddenly he remembers... and hangs his head.
However, what should you do? - he asks himself, - at least the hard one would bring some devil!
And at this word, the police captain himself suddenly arrives. The stupid landowner was incredibly happy about him; ran to the cupboard, took out two printed gingerbread cookies and thought: “Well, this one seems to be satisfied!”
Please tell me, Mr. Landowner, how is it a miracle that all your temporarily obligated [according to the Regulations of February 19, peasants freed from serfdom were obliged to work for him temporarily, until an agreement on the purchase of land was concluded with the landowner] suddenly disappeared? - asks the police officer.
And so and so, God, through my prayer, completely cleared all my possessions from the peasant!
Yes, sir; But don’t you know, Mr. Landowner, who will pay the taxes for them?
Taxes?.. that's them! it's themselves! This is their most sacred duty and responsibility!
Yes, sir; and in what manner can this tax be collected from them, if, through your prayer, they are scattered across the face of the earth?
This... I don’t know... I, for my part, don’t agree to pay!
Do you know, Mr. Landowner, that the treasury is without taxes and duties, and even more so without wine and salt regalia [ state monopoly for sale, royal right to receive income], cannot exist?
Well... I'm ready! a glass of vodka... I'll pay!
Do you know that, by your mercy, we cannot buy a piece of meat or a pound of bread in our market? do you know what it smells like?
Have mercy! I, for my part, am ready to sacrifice! here are two whole gingerbread cookies!
You are stupid, Mr. Landowner! - said the police officer, turned and left without even looking at the printed gingerbread cookies.
This time the landowner thought seriously. Now the third person is honoring him as a fool, the third person will look and look at him, spit and walk away. Is he really a fool? Could it be that the inflexibility that he so cherished in his soul, when translated into ordinary language, means only stupidity and madness? and is it really, as a result of his inflexibility alone, that both taxes and regalia stopped, and it became impossible to get a pound of flour or a piece of meat at the market?
And as stupid a landowner as he was, at first he even snorted with pleasure at the thought of what kind of trick he had played, but then he remembered the words of the police officer: “Do you know what this smells like?” - and got scared in earnest.
He began, as usual, to walk back and forth through the rooms and kept thinking: “What does this smell like? Does it smell like some kind of settlement? For example, Cheboksary? Or, perhaps, Varnavin?”
At least to Cheboksary, or something! at least the world would be convinced of what firmness of soul means! - says the landowner, and secretly thinks to himself: “In Cheboksary, maybe I would have seen my dear man!”
The landowner walks around, sits, and walks around again. Whatever he approaches, everything seems to say: “You’re stupid, Mr. Landowner!” He sees a mouse running across the room and sneaking towards the cards with which he played grand solitaire and has already oiled it enough to whet the mouse’s appetite with them.
Kshsh... - he rushed at the mouse.
But the mouse was smart and understood that the landowner could not do him any harm without Senka. He just wagged his tail in response to the landowner’s menacing exclamation and a moment later he was already looking at him from under the sofa, as if saying: “Wait, stupid landowner! Or else it will happen! I’ll eat not only the cards, but also your robe, like you You'll oil him up properly!"
How much time has passed, the landowner only sees that in his garden the paths are overgrown with thistles, the bushes are swarming with snakes and all sorts of reptiles, and in the park wild animals are howling. One day a bear approached the estate itself, squatted down, looked through the windows at the landowner and licked its lips.
Senka! - the landowner cried out, but suddenly remembered... and began to cry.
However, the strength of his soul still did not leave him. Several times he weakened, but as soon as he felt that his heart was beginning to dissolve, he would rush to the newspaper “Vest” and in one minute become hardened again.
No, it’s better for me to go completely wild, it’s better for me to wander through the forests with wild animals, but let no one say that the Russian nobleman, Prince Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev, retreated from his principles!
And so he went wild. Although at this time autumn had already arrived and there was a fair frost, he did not even feel the cold. He was all overgrown with hair, from head to toe, like the ancient Esau, and his nails became like iron. He had long since stopped blowing his nose; he walked more and more on all fours, and was even surprised that he had not noticed before that this way of walking was the most decent and most comfortable way. He even lost the ability to utter articulate sounds and acquired some kind of special victory cry, a cross between a whistle, a hiss and a roar. But I haven't acquired a tail yet.
He will go out to his park, in which he once basked his body, loose, white, crumbly, like a cat, in an instant, climb to the very top of the tree and guard from there. The hare will come running, stand on its hind legs and listen to see if there is any danger from somewhere - and he’ll be right there. It’s like an arrow will jump from a tree, grab onto its prey, tear it apart with its nails, and so on with all the insides, even the skin, and eat it.
And he became terribly strong, so strong that he even considered himself entitled to enter into friendly relations with the very bear who had once looked at him through the window.
Do you want, Mikhail Ivanovich, to go rabbit hunting together? - he said to the bear.
To want - why not to want! - answered the bear, - but, brother, you destroyed this guy in vain!
And why?
But because this man was far more capable than your nobleman brother. And therefore I will tell you straight: you are a stupid landowner, even though you are my friend!
Meanwhile, although the police captain patronized the landowners, in view of such a fact as the disappearance of the peasant from the face of the earth, he did not dare to remain silent. The provincial authorities were also alarmed by his report and wrote to him: “What do you think, who will pay taxes now? Who will drink wine in taverns? Who will engage in innocent activities?” The captain-police officer answers: the treasury should now be abolished, but innocent occupations were abolished by themselves, and instead of them, robberies, robbery and murders spread in the district. The other day, even he, the police officer, was nearly killed by some kind of bear, not a bear, not a man, and he suspects that same stupid landowner who is the instigator of all the troubles is the bear-man.
The bosses became concerned and convened a council. They decided to catch the peasant and install him, and to instill in the most delicate manner the stupid landowner, who is the instigator of all the troubles, so that he stops his fanfare and does not interfere with the flow of taxes to the treasury.
As luck would have it, at this time provincial town An emerging swarm of men flew and showered the entire market square. Now they took this grace, put him in a whip and sent him to the district.
And suddenly there was again a smell of chaff and sheepskins in that district; but at the same time, flour, meat, and all kinds of livestock appeared at the market, and so many taxes arrived in one day that the treasurer, seeing such a pile of money, just clasped his hands in surprise and cried out:
And where do you scoundrels get it from!!
“What happened, however, to the landowner?” - readers will ask me. To this I can say that although with great difficulty, but he was also caught. Having caught it, they immediately blew their nose, washed it and cut their nails. Then the police captain made him a proper reprimand, took away the newspaper "Vest" and, entrusting it to Senka's supervision, left.
He is still alive today. He plays grand solitaire, yearns for his former life in the forests, washes himself only under duress, and moos from time to time.
Illustrations: Kukryniksy
The story tells about a wealthy landowner who had everything except his mind. What saddened him most in the world were simple men, and he really wanted them not to be on his land. It turned out that his wish came true, and he was left alone on his estate. The landowner, being stupid, could not do anything without his men, and soon his estate became abandoned, and he himself acquired a wild appearance. The higher ranks were alarmed when they learned about this incident and ordered to find the men. They were found, returned to the owner, they began to monitor the house again, the landowner became the same, only he still retained some habits acquired during his “wild” life.
The story teaches the reader that if you don’t work and don’t train your mind, then a person will become lazy and unable to adapt to conditions. Having isolated himself from society and not doing work, a person runs wild.
Read the summary of Wild Landowner Saltykov-Shchedrin
It is said that there lived a landowner who had no intelligence. Everything suited him, except that a lot of men got divorced. He notices that there are more men every day, and he decided to try to do something. The landowner began to impose fines on the men. Whatever the peasants don’t undertake, whatever they don’t do, there’s a fine for everything.
The peasants realized that because of the landowner they had no life, that wherever they went, everything was his, they wanted to disappear rather than live like the stupid landowner.
The peasants have disappeared, the landowner feels that the air has become cleaner, he is delighted and begins to dream of how he will rest, be lazy, and bask in the sun in the garden. He decides to invite the actor Sadovsky and his actors. Sadovsky arrives and sees that there is no one, there is no one to show the play for, there is no one to assemble the theater, and asks the landowner where all his peasants are. The landowner proudly replies that there are no more of them. Sadovsky asks how he washes himself, but when he hears in response that there is no way, the actor calls the landowner stupid and leaves.
The landowner remembers that four generals live next door to him and he invites them to visit. The generals accept the invitation, hoping to have a tasty meal. When they arrive, they decide to play cards. After some time, the generals ask for a drink and a snack. The landowner takes out lollipops and printed gingerbread cookies from his stock. The generals, surprised, ask him to bring them something else. The owner of the house replies that there is nothing more because the peasants have all disappeared and there is no one to light the stove. The generals got angry with him, called him stupid and left.
The landowner was surprised, but still decided to be firm in his intention to do without the peasants to the end. And he begins to walk around the house and dream about how he will order the latest English steam engines so that everything will be done for the slaves. Dreams about orchard how fruits will fall from the trees on their own to the ground, and he will only have to walk and pick them. The landowner looks out the window and sees that everything has come true, that there are already trees with fruits in the yard, fruits are lying in abundance in the alley, and cars are driving, they are being collected, and he is just eating.
Having daydreamed, the stupid landowner approaches the mirror, notices a layer of dust on it, forgets himself, calls out to the servant, but, remembering that there are no more peasants, decides to leave the dust on the mirror.
In his dreams he continues to dream. He dreams that people praise him for the firmness he showed. senior officials, and then he is appointed minister. But it’s time to get up and, having forgotten again, the landowner calls Senka, and remembering, hangs his head.
The police captain comes to the landowner, sees that there are no peasants, and asks the owner who will pay taxes for them. The landowner replies that everyone has disappeared, and he refuses to pay for them. The captain says that there is no more food in the shops, no one goes to taverns, no one pays to the treasury. Having threatened the landowner and called him stupid, the official leaves.
The landowner thought about it, because this was the third time he had been called stupid! But he was more afraid of the police captain’s threats. He walks around, doesn’t know what to do with himself, everything tells him about his stupidity.
Time passes, the stupid landowner sees that the paths are all overgrown with thistles, no one is watching the estate, even wild animals have begun to walk around the yard. Seeing the bear, he called Senka and, remembering that he was gone, began to cry. But the landowner still did not intend to give up; he decided to stick to his principles to the end.
And the landowner went wild, his hair appeared, his claws became longer, he began to move on all fours, wondering why he didn’t walk like that before. A wild landowner began to hunt animals, saw a hare and eats it like a wild animal. He even made friends with the bear and invited him to hunt together. The bear agrees and calls the landowner stupid, because the peasants were tastier than mice. Communicating with wild animals, the stupid landowner forgot how to talk, instead of human speech there were mooing sounds.
The city became seriously worried when they learned about this incident, and decided to return all the peasants because the treasury was empty without them. The police captain says that he was recently almost attacked by either an animal or a man. He thinks that this is that stupid landowner. The peasants are returned, and life becomes the same. Flour, meat, and all kinds of game appear again at the market. The men gather in the taverns after the working day again, and they began to pay so much taxes that everyone is surprised. The stupid landowner was caught, washed, and brought back into human form. The police captain instructed Senka to keep an eye on him. The landowner still likes to play solitaire, rarely washes himself, misses his wild life, and occasionally hums something.
Picture or drawing Wild landowner
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Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin
In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, he lived and looked at the light and rejoiced. He had enough of everything: peasants, bread, livestock, land, and gardens. And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper “Vest” and his body was soft, white and crumbly.
One day this landowner only prayed to God:
God! I am pleased with everything from you, I have been rewarded with everything! Only one thing is unbearable to my heart: there are too many peasants in our kingdom!
But God knew that the landowner was stupid and did not heed his request.
The landowner sees that the peasant is not decreasing every day, but everything is increasing, - he sees and fears: “Well, how will he take all my goods?”
The landowner will look at the newspaper “Vest”, as he should do in this case, and read: “Try!”
Only one word has been written, says the stupid landowner, and it’s a golden word!
And he began to try, and not just somehow, but everything according to the rule. Whether a peasant chicken wanders into the master's oats - now, as a rule, it is in the soup; Whether a peasant is going to chop wood in secret in the master's forest - now this same firewood is going to the master's yard, and, as a rule, the chopper is subject to a fine.
Nowadays these fines affect them more! - the landowner says to his neighbors, - because for them it is clearer.
The men see: although their landowner is stupid, he has a great mind. He reduced them so that there is nowhere to stick your nose out: no matter where you look, everything is prohibited, not allowed, and not yours! The cattle goes out to drink - the landowner shouts: “My water!”, the chicken wanders out of the outskirts - the landowner shouts: “My land!” And the earth, and the water, and the air - everything became his! There was no torch to light the peasant's light, there was no rod to sweep out the hut with. So the peasants prayed to the Lord God all over the world:
God! It’s easier for us to perish with our children than to suffer like this all our lives!
The merciful God heard the orphan’s tearful prayer, and there was no more man throughout the entire domain of the stupid landowner. No one noticed where the man had gone, but people only saw when suddenly a chaff whirlwind arose and, like a black cloud, the peasant's long trousers flew through the air. The landowner went out onto the balcony, sniffed and smelled: the air in all his possessions had become pure, pure. Naturally, I was pleased. He thinks: “Now I’ll pamper my white body, my white, loose, crumbly body!”
And he began to live and live and began to think how he could console his soul.
“I’ll run my own theater, he thinks!” I’ll write to the actor Sadovsky: come, dear friend! and bring the actors with you!”
The actor Sadovsky listened to him: he came and brought the actors. He only sees that the landowner’s house is empty and there is no one to put up a theater or raise the curtain.
Where have you put your peasants? - Sadovsky asks the landowner.
But God, through my prayer, cleared all my possessions of the peasant!
However, brother, you stupid landowner! Who gives you a wash, stupid one?
Yes, I go unwashed for how many days!
So, are you planning to grow champignons on your face? - said Sadovsky, and with this word he left and took the actors away.
The landowner remembered that he had four general acquaintances nearby; thinks: “Why am I playing grand solitaire and grand solitaire all the time! I’ll try to play a game or two with the five generals!”
No sooner said than done: I wrote the invitations, set the day and sent the letters to the address. Although the generals were real, they were hungry, and therefore they arrived very quickly. They arrived and couldn’t wonder why the landowner’s air was so clean.
And this is because,” the landowner boasts, “that God, through my prayer, cleared all my possessions of the peasant!”
Oh, how good it is! - the generals praise the landowner, - so now you won’t have that slave smell at all?
“Not at all,” the landowner answers.
They played a bullet, played another; The generals feel that their time has come to drink vodka, they become restless and look around.
You, gentlemen generals, must have wanted a snack? - asks the landowner.
It wouldn't be bad, Mr. Landowner!
He got up from the table, went to the cupboard and took out a lollipop and a printed gingerbread for each person.
What is this? - the generals ask, widening their eyes at him.
Here, have a bite of what God sent you!
Yes, we would like some beef! We'd like some beef!
Well, I don’t have any beef for you, gentlemen generals, because since God delivered me from the peasant, the stove in the kitchen has not been heated!
The generals became angry with him, so that even their teeth began to chatter.
But do you eat something yourself? - they attacked him.
I eat some raw materials, but I still have gingerbread...
However, brother, you are a stupid landowner! - said the generals and, without finishing the bullets, scattered to their homes.
The landowner sees that another time he will be honored as a fool, and was about to think, but since at that time a deck of cards caught his eye, he gave up on everything and began to play grand solitaire.
Let's see, he says, gentlemen, liberals, who will defeat whom! I will prove to you what true strength of soul can do!
He lays out the “ladies’ whim” and thinks: “If it comes out three times in a row, then we must not look.” And as luck would have it, no matter how many times he lays it out, everything comes out, everything comes out! There wasn't even any doubt left in him.
If, he says, fortune itself indicates, then we must remain firm to the end. And now, while I’ve had enough of playing grand solitaire, I’ll go and study!
And so he walks, walks around the rooms, then sits down and sits. And he thinks everything. He thinks about what kind of cars he will order from England, so that everything is steam and steam, and so that there is no servile spirit at all. He thinks about what kind of fruit garden he will plant: “Here there will be pears and plums; here are peaches, here are walnuts!” He looks out the window - and there everything is as he intended, everything is exactly as it is! At the behest of a pike, the pear, peach, and apricot trees are bursting under the load of fruit, and he just collects the fruit with machines and puts it in his mouth! He thinks what kind of cows he will raise, that there is no skin, no meat, but all milk, all milk! He thinks about what kind of strawberries he will plant, all double and triple, five berries per pound, and how many of these strawberries he will sell in Moscow. Finally he gets tired of thinking and goes to the mirror to look - and there’s already an inch of dust in there...
Senka! - he will suddenly shout, having forgotten himself, but then he will come to his senses and say, - well, let him stand like this for the time being! and I’ll prove to these liberals what firmness of soul can do!
It will loom in this manner until it gets dark - and go to sleep!
You can read Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Wild Landowner” in its entirety online on our website. Like many others satirical works author, she ridicules the autocracy and serfdom, in which the common people are oppressed.
In the image of a landowner, to whom the writer did not even give specific details (he has no name), everything is revealed negative sides ruling power. Three times in the tale the master's stupidity, his short-sightedness, and hatred of the peasants are pointed out. He dreams of getting rid of the “servile spirit” and replacing peasant labor with machines. But having gotten rid of the peasants, the landowner’s life does not get better. On the contrary, he becomes wild, grows hair, and develops long nails, with which the landowner tears his food. The master cannot do basic things - wash his face, comb his hair, since the servants did it for him. Everything falls into place only with the return to the men’s estate. Taxes are paid again, the peasants supply their masters with food, and everything goes on as usual. Even the landowner was returned to his house. Describing the peasants, Saltykov-Shchedrin admires their hard work, but cannot agree with their slavish obedience. With his works the author expresses a protest social order who oppresses the peasants. Mikhail Evgrafovich wants to reach people and show them who is really in charge, and on whom the well-being of the landowners depends. He does this with the help folklore genre fairy tales that contain elements of fantasy, allegory, and hyperbolization. Saltykov-Shchedrin writes in understandable to the common man language, using popular expressions and phraseological units.
The story “The Wild Landowner” is relevant at all times, as long as ordinary people suffer from the willfulness of their masters. Download text of this work available for free on our website.
Fairy tale "Wild Landowner"
In the fairy tale “The Wild Landowner,” written in 1869, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin summarizes his thoughts on the reform of the “liberation” of peasants, contained in all his works of the 60s. He poses an unusually acute problem of the post-reform relationship between the serf-owning nobles and the peasantry devastated by the reform, and the exploitation of the peasant.
The work begins like an ordinary fairy tale: “In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived a landowner, he lived and looked at the light and rejoiced.” Here and further the tales of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin are quoted from the publication: N. Shchedrin (M.E. Saltykov). Complete collection essays. GIHL. Moscow, 1937. T.16.. But immediately after this beginning, setting the mood for the usual fairy tale, elements of the real one appear modern life: “And that landowner was stupid, he read the newspaper “Vest” and his body was soft, white and crumbly.” The landowner stupidity, betrayed by reading the reactionary-serf newspaper “Vest”, and the landowner stupidity are both folklore-comic and social-satirical characteristics. Next, the story is comically presented real relationships landowners and peasants after the abolition of serfdom.
The stupid landowner is full of fear that the peasants will “take all his goods”; he doesn’t like the fact that “there are too many peasants in our kingdom!” The landowner complained to God, but He knew that the landowner was stupid, and therefore did not listen to him. Then the landowner decided to kill them himself and began to oppress them in every possible way. The “liberated” peasants “no matter where they look, everything is impossible, not allowed, and not yours!” The man died. Finally, the desperate peasants prayed to the whole world: “Lord! It’s easier for us to perish even with small children than to suffer like this all our lives!” The following sentence is very important in the overall compositional structure of the fairy tale: the peasants’ wish was fulfilled, “the merciful God heard the orphan’s tearful prayer, and there was no more peasant throughout the entire domain of the stupid landowner.” From these lines, the reader becomes a living witness to the fantastic, fairy-tale “experiment” that the satirist proposed: what could happen to the landowner if he was deprived of the peasants, left alone with himself, in complete self-sufficiency.
Further in the work unfold comic scenes and dialogues describing the transformations happening to the stupid landowner. The stupidity of the landowner is constantly emphasized by the writer. The peasants themselves were the first to call the landowner stupid; representatives of other classes called the landowner stupid three times: the actor Sadovsky (“However, brother, you are a stupid landowner! Who gives you a wash, stupid?”), the neighbors-generals, whom he treated instead of “beef” printed gingerbread cookies and candies (“However, brother, you’re a stupid landowner!”) and, finally, a police captain (“You’re stupid, Mr. Landowner!”). The landowner's stupidity is visible to everyone, but he indulges pipe dreams that English machines will replace serfs and he will achieve prosperity for his lands, he plays grand solitaire all day long and continues to read the newspaper “Vest”. His dreams are absurd, because he cannot do anything on his own, and even the little mouse is not afraid of him.
Each episode of meetings with other characters in a fairy tale represents a complete anecdotal plot, the full comedy of which becomes understandable only in the general context of the fairy tale.
The wild landowner had no idea about labor. Left without his peasants, he, a Russian nobleman, gradually turns into a dirty and wild animal, becomes a forest predator. Fantastic changes happen to Shchedrin’s hero: “He stopped blowing his nose a long time ago, he walked more and more on all fours and was even surprised how he had not noticed before that this way of walking was the most decent and most convenient. He even lost the ability to utter articulate sounds and adopted some kind of special victory cry, a cross between a whistle, a hiss and a roar.” This life is, in essence, a continuation of his previous predatory existence, but only in more naked forms.
The landowner became so wild that he “even considered himself entitled to enter into friendly relations” with the bear, Mikhailo Ivanovich. In depicting animals, Saltykov-Shchedrin follows the folklore tradition: animals speak and act on a par with humans. For example, a bear enters into a conversation with a landowner, calls him a friend and even gives advice. But at the same time, the animals also act in their original role: a bear eats men, a beast lies in wait for a hare, a mouse eats oily cards.
The wild landowner again acquires a human appearance only after his peasants return. The police captain reported to the provincial authorities about the depopulated land, the starving county town, and it decided “to catch the peasant and install him, and to instill in the most delicate manner the stupid landowner, who is the instigator of all the troubles, so that he stops his fanfare and does not interfere with the receipt of taxes to the treasury.” “As if on purpose, at that time a swarm of men flew through the provincial town and showered the entire market square. Now this grace has been taken away, put in a whip and sent to the district.”
With the help of an exaggerated antithesis, Saltykov-Shchedrin shows the paradox of mixing valuable, vital necessary qualities peasant and humility bordering on dementia, long-suffering and bee-like industriousness. By likening the people to a “swarm”, the satirist emphasizes the people’s resignation and depersonalizes them, presenting them as a single labor force. This is precisely why the “Shchedrinsky” man differs from the fairy tale one, because in folk tales the man is smart, resourceful, dexterous, capable of outwitting a stupid master. And in “The Wild Landowner” there arises collective image worker and sufferer.
The image of the Shchedrin landowner, on the contrary, is very close to folk tales, which is clearly seen when comparing “The Wild Landowner” and many famous folk tales. Despite the fact that the action takes place in “a certain kingdom, a certain state,” the tale depicts a specific type of Russian landowner. The whole meaning of his existence comes down to “pampering his white, loose, crumbly body,” and he considers himself a true representative of the Russian state, its support, and is proud that he is a hereditary Russian nobleman, Prince Urus-Kuchum-Kildibaev.
The fairy tale "The Wild Landowner" is closely related to the Russian folklore tradition, but the author, as in all his other works, does not borrow the plot from folk tales. The bright grotesque images and sarcastic situations described by the satirist are inseparable from elements of folklore: the beginning (“In a certain kingdom, in a certain state, there lived…”), troecracy (three people “honor” the landowner as a fool), sayings and sayings (“and he began to live long live”, “no sooner said than done”, “what God sent”, “hard things brought”, “snakes and reptiles”), borrowing proper names from folklore (Mikhailo Ivanovich).
Saltykov-Shchedrin also paid great attention to such means artistic expression, How permanent epithet(“crumbly body”, “bad life”, “printed gingerbread”, “wild beasts”), metaphor (“a ball of fire” - the sun) and comparison (“like a black cloud, a man’s long trousers flew through the air”).
Keeping the spirit and style folk tale, Saltykov-Shchedrin in “The Wild Landowner” talks about real events his contemporary life. The plot of the fairy tale is based on a grotesque situation in which it is easy to guess the real social-serf relations.
