Poor wolf fairy tale plot idea year of creation. Poor wolf

Another animal would probably be touched by the hare’s selflessness, would not limit himself to a promise, but would now have mercy. But of all the predators found in temperate and northern climates, the wolf is the least susceptible to generosity.

However, it is not of his own free will that he is so cruel, but because his complexion is tricky: he cannot eat anything except meat. And in order to get meat food, he cannot do otherwise than deprive a living creature of life. In a word, he undertakes to commit crime, robbery.

It is not easy for him to get his food. Death is not sweet for anyone, but it is only with death that he gets in everyone’s way. Therefore, whoever is stronger defends himself from him, and someone who cannot defend himself is defended by others. Often a hungry wolf walks around, and with bruised sides to boot. At that time he will sit down, raise his snout up and howl so piercingly that for a mile around every living creature, out of fear and out of melancholy, the soul sank to its feet. And the wolf howls even more sadly, because she has wolf cubs and has nothing to feed them.

There is no animal in the world that would not hate the wolf and would not curse it. The whole forest groans at his appearance: “Damned wolf! murderer! murderer!" And he runs forward and forward, not daring to turn his head, but after him: “Robber! Life cutter! A month ago, a wolf dragged away a woman’s sheep, but the woman still hasn’t dried her tears: “Damn wolf! murderer!" And since then he hasn’t had a drop of poppy dew in his mouth: he ate the sheep, but didn’t have to slaughter the other one... And the woman howls, and he howls... how can you tell!

They say that the wolf deprives the peasant; but the man too, how angry he gets! And he beats him with a club, and fires at him with a gun, and digs wolf holes, and sets traps, and organizes raids on him. "Murderer! robber! - that's all you hear about the wolf in the villages. - slaughtered the last cow! dragged away the remaining sheep!” And what is his fault, if he cannot live in the world otherwise?

And if you kill him, he will be of no use. The meat is unusable, the skin is tough and doesn’t keep you warm. Only for selfishness, that you will have enough fun over him, the damned one, and raise him to the pitchfork alive: let him, the reptile, bleed drop by drop!

A wolf cannot live in the world without losing his stomach - that is his problem! But he doesn’t understand this. If they call him a villain, then he also calls those who persecute, maim, and kill him villains. Does he understand that with his life he is harming other lives? He thinks that he lives - that’s all. A horse carries weights, a cow gives milk, a sheep gives waves, and he robs and kills. And the horse, and the cow, and the sheep, and the wolf - they all “live”, each in their own way.

And then, however, there was one among the wolves, who had been killing and robbing for many centuries and suddenly, in his old age, began to guess that there was something wrong in his life.

This wolf lived very well from his youth and was one of the few predators who almost never went hungry. He robbed day and night, and got away with everything. He stole sheep from under the noses of the shepherds; he climbed into the courtyards of the villages; slaughtered cows; a forester was once mauled to death; A small boy, in front of everyone, was carried away from the street into the forest. He heard that everyone hated and cursed him for these deeds, but these obediences only made him more and more fierce.

“If only you could listen to what’s going on in the forest,” he said, “there isn’t a moment when there isn’t a murder there, so that some animal isn’t squealing, losing its life—so is it really worth looking at it?”

And he lived in this way, between robberies, until those years when the wolf is already called “seasoned.” He became a little heavier, but still did not give up the robbery; on the contrary, it seemed as if he had even flown. Only if he accidentally fell into the clutches of a bear. But bears don’t like wolves, because wolves attack them in gangs, and rumors often circulate in the forest that somewhere and there Mikhail Ivanovich made a mistake: the gray enemies tore his fur coat into shreds.

The bear holds the wolf in his paws and thinks: “What should I do with him, the scoundrel? if you eat it, it will wipe out your soul; if you crush it and throw it like that, you will only infect the forest with the smell of its carrion. Let me see: maybe he has a conscience. If he has a conscience, and he swears not to commit robbery in the future, I will let him go.”

- A wolf, a wolf! - said Toptygin, - do you really have no conscience?

- Oh, what are you talking about, your lordship! - answered the wolf, - is it possible to live at least one day in the world without a conscience!

“So it’s possible, as long as you live.” Think about it: every single day the only news about you is that you either skinned or stabbed to death - does this look like a conscience?

- Your dignity! let me report to you! Should I drink and eat, feed my wolf, raise wolf cubs? What resolution would you like to put forward on this matter?

Mikhail Ivanovich thought and thought, and he sees: if a wolf is supposed to exist in the world, it follows that he has the right to feed himself.

“I have to,” he says.

- But I, except for meat, no, no! If only I could take your dignity, for example: you can feast on raspberries, borrow honey from bees, and suck sheep, but for me at least none of this would happen! Yes, again, your dignity has another perk: in the winter, when you lie down in a den, you don’t need anything except your own paw. And I go through both winter and summer - there is not a moment when I don’t think about food! And all about the meat. So how will I get this food if I don’t kill or strangle it first?

The bear thought about these wolf words, but still wants to try.

“You should,” he says, “at least make it easier, or something...

- I, your lordship, make it as easy as I can. The fox is itching: it will jerk once and bounce off, then it will jerk again and bounce back again... And I grab it right by the throat - it’s a sabbath!

The bear became even more thoughtful. He sees that the wolf is telling him the truth, but he is still afraid to let him go: now he will again take up robbery.

- Repent, wolf! - speaks.

- I have nothing to repent of, Your Excellency. No one is the enemy of their life, including me; so where is my fault?

- At least promise me!

– And I can’t promise, Your Excellency. The fox promises you whatever you want, but I can’t.

What to do? The bear thought and thought, and finally decided.

“You are a most unfortunate beast—that’s what I’ll tell you!” - he said to the wolf. “I cannot judge you, although I know that I am taking a lot of sin on my soul by letting you go.” I can add one thing: if I were you, not only would I not value life, but I would consider death to be a good thing for myself! And think about these words of mine!

And he released the wolf in all four directions.

The wolf freed himself from the bear's paws and now again took up his old craft. The forest groans from it, and so does the Sabbath. Got into the habit of going to the same village; at two or three nights he slaughtered a whole herd in vain - and that was all that mattered to him. He will lie down with a full belly in the swamp, stretching and squinting his eyes. He even went to war with the bear, his benefactor, but he, fortunately, caught himself in time and only threatened him with his paw from afar.

Whether for a long time or for a short time he was so violent, however, old age finally came to him. His strength diminished, his agility disappeared, and in addition the peasant broke his spine with a log; Even though he had been resting for a while, he still didn’t look like the previous daredevil life-cutter. He will rush after the hare - but there are no legs. He will approach the forest edge, try to carry away a sheep from the herd - and the dogs will just jump and jump. He will tuck his tail and run empty-handed.

- No way, have I become afraid of dogs too? - he asks himself.

He returns to the lair and starts howling. The owl is crying in the forest, and he is howling in the swamp - the passion of the Lord, what a commotion will arise in the village!

Only one day he hunted for a lamb and dragged it by the collar into the forest. And the little lamb was the most senseless: the wolf was dragging him, but he didn’t understand. Only one thing keeps repeating: “What is it? what's happened?.."

“And I’ll show you what...rrrrrrrrrrrrrll!” – the wolf became furious.

- Uncle! I don’t want to go for a walk in the forest! I want to see my mother! I won’t, uncle, I won’t! - the lamb suddenly guessed and either bleated or sobbed: - oh, shepherd boy, shepherd boy! oh, dogs! dogs!

The wolf stopped and listened. He had slaughtered a lot of sheep in his time, and they were all somehow indifferent. Before the wolf has time to grab her, she has already closed her eyes, lies there, does not move, as if she is correcting a natural duty. And here comes the baby - and look how he’s crying: he wants to live! Ah, apparently, this greedy life is sweet for everyone! Here he is, the wolf - old, old, and he could still live about a hundred years!

And then he remembered Toptygin’s words: “If I were you, I would consider death, not life, to be a good thing for myself...” Why is this so? Why is life a blessing for all other earthly creatures, but for him it is a curse and shame?

And, without waiting for an answer, he released the lamb from the mouth, and he himself wandered, tail down, into the den, so that he could stretch his mind there at his leisure.

But this mind did not reveal anything to him, except for what he had known for a long time, namely: that there was no way for him, a wolf, to live except by murder and robbery.

He lay flat on the ground and could not lie down. The mind says one thing, but the inside lights up with something else. Whether illnesses have weakened him, whether old age has ruined him, or whether hunger has tormented him, he just can’t take back the former power over himself. It’s thundering in his ears: “Damned! murderer! Life cutter! What's wrong with the fact that he doesn't know his own free guilt? After all, you still can’t drown out curses! Oh, apparently the bear said the truth: all that remains is to lay hands on yourself!

So here again, grief: the beast - after all, he doesn’t even know how to lay hands on himself. The beast cannot do anything by itself: neither change the order of life, nor die. He lives as if in a dream, and he will die as if in a dream. Maybe the dogs will tear him to pieces or the man will shoot him; so even here he will only snore and writhe for a moment - and he’ll be gone. And where and how death came - he will not even guess.

Is it possible that he will starve himself... Nowadays he has stopped chasing hares, he only walks around the birds. He catches a young crow or a bird - that’s all he gets. So even here the other vitupers shout in unison: “Damned! damn! damn!"

Precisely the damned one. Well, how can one live only then to kill and rob? Let us suppose that they curse him unfairly, unreasonably: he does not commit robbery by his own will, but how can one not curse him! How many animals has he killed in his lifetime! How many women and men have he deprived and made unhappy for the rest of their lives!

For many years he suffered in these thoughts; only one word thundered in his ears: “Damned! damn! damn!" And he repeated to himself more and more often: “Exactly the damned one! damned is; murderer, life-cutter! And yet, tormented by hunger, he went after the prey, strangled, tore and tormented...

And he began to call for death. "Death! death! I wish you could free the animals, men and birds from me! If only you could free me from myself!” - he howled day and night, looking at the sky. And the animals and men, hearing his howl, screamed in fear: “Murderer! murderer! murderer!" He couldn’t even complain to the sky without curses raining down on him from all sides.

Finally, death took pity on him. “Lukashi” appeared in that area, and neighboring landowners took advantage of their arrival to organize a wolf hunt. One day a wolf lies in his lair and hears his name. He got up and went. He sees: the path ahead is marked with milestones, and from behind and to the sides the men are watching him. But he no longer tried to break through, but walked, head down, towards death...

And suddenly it hit him right between the eyes. Here it is...death the deliverer!

The wolf is the most terrible predator in the forest. He spares neither hares nor sheep. He is able to kill all the livestock of an ordinary man and leave his family to starve. But a man who gets angry with a wolf will not leave it without punishment. This is how wolves and people fight among themselves. But animals are also capable of hatred towards people.

Once upon a time there lived a wolf. He was a real predator: he killed cows, killed a huntsman and killed a little boy. He did not feel hungry. This all went on for a long time. One day fate brought him to a bear. He didn't hate wolves for their actions. The bear did not want to kill the terrible beast, but wanted his conscience to awaken. He started talking about how killing everyone is bad and it’s impossible. The wolf told him that he simply couldn’t live any other way since he was a predator. He needs to feed his own family, and this cannot be done without killing anyone. The bear agreed that it was impossible not to kill and released him. The wolf repented of what he had done and said that he would kill less than before. The bear said that the best deliverance is the death of the wolf.

But the wolf deceived the bear and began to kill more than ever. He began to go to the village alone every night and hunt domestic animals. He eats until he is full, sleeps the rest of the time, and at night he takes up his atrocities again. He did this for a long time, but he became old. Running harder and harder. A man also damaged his spine with a stick. Getting food now became harder and harder each time. He understands that he is no longer able to defeat the dogs. He couldn’t kill a sheep either, and he began howling all night from hunger.

One day he finally managed to pull one lamb out of the herd. He drags him in his animal jaws, and he asks to let him go, he wants to live. Before this, all the sheep were silent and did not resist, but this one really wants to live. The wolf remembered the bear and his words that death would be his deliverance. He took pity and released the lamb.

The wolf brought him to his den and began to wait for his death. He cannot lay hands on himself, but death does not come to him. He can only die from hunger. He's been hungry for a long time now. It is not capable of catching any prey except small crows. Lezha thinks that they cursed him because of his murders. The words that he is a damned murderer are still spinning in my head. He killed countless animals, and also made many people unhappy. He lies there waiting for death.

Hunters came to the forest to hunt. The wolf specifically approached them and bowed his head. Feeling his skull split from the bullet, he realized that that was it, his death had come and would finally relieve him of his suffering.

The essence of the story is that a predator cannot live without killing, but he also has the right to life.

Picture or drawing Poor wolf

About the author's work

Studying the work of Saltykov-Shchedrin, one can hardly find at least one children's fairy tale in it. In his writings, the author often uses such a literary device as the grotesque. The essence of the technique is strong exaggeration, bringing to the point of absurdity both the images of the characters and the events that happen to them. Therefore, the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin may seem creepy and overly cruel even to an adult, not to mention children.

One of the most famous works of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin is the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare”. It, like all his creations, has a deep meaning. But before we begin the analysis of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Selfless Hare,” we need to remember its plot.

Plot

The fairy tale begins with the main character, a hare, running past the wolf's house. The wolf shouts to the hare, calling him to him, but he does not stop, but speeds up his pace even more. Then the wolf catches up with him and accuses him of not obeying the hare the first time. The forest predator leaves him near the bush and says that he will eat him in 5 days.

And the hare ran to his bride. Here he sits, counting the time until death and sees the bride’s brother rushing towards him. The brother tells how bad the bride is, and this conversation is heard by the wolf and the she-wolf. They go outside and say that they will release the hare to the bride to say goodbye. But on the condition that he will return to be eaten in a day. And the future relative will remain with them for now and, in case of non-return, will be eaten. If the hare returns, then perhaps they will both be pardoned.

The hare runs to the bride and comes running quite quickly. He tells her and all his relatives his story. I don’t want to go back, but my word is given, and the hare never breaks his word. Therefore, having said goodbye to the bride, the hare runs back.

He runs, but on his way he encounters various obstacles, and he feels that he is not on time. He fights off this thought with all his might and only gains momentum. He gave his word. In the end, the hare barely manages to save the bride's brother. And the wolf tells them that until he eats them, let them sit under a bush. Maybe he will have mercy someday.

Analysis

In order to give a complete picture of the work, you need to analyze the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” according to the plan:

Characteristics of the era.
Features of the author's creativity.
Characters.
Symbolism and imagery.

The structure is not universal, but it allows you to build the necessary logic. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” needs to be carried out, often wrote works on topical topics. So, in the 19th century, the topic of dissatisfaction with the royal power and oppression by the government was very relevant. This must be taken into account when analyzing the Saltykov-Shchedrin fairy tale “The Selfless Hare”.

Different layers of society reacted to the authorities in different ways. Some supported and tried to join, others, on the contrary, tried with all their might to change the current situation. However, most people were shrouded in blind fear and could do nothing but obey. This is what Saltykov-Shchedrin wanted to convey. An analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” should begin with showing that the hare symbolizes precisely the latter type of people.

People are different: smart, stupid, brave, cowardly. However, none of this matters if they do not have the strength to fight back against the oppressor. In the form of a hare, the wolf ridicules the noble intelligentsia who show their honesty and loyalty towards the one who oppresses them.

Speaking about the image of the hare, which Saltykov-Shchedrin described, the analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” should explain the motivation of the main character. The hare's word is honest. He couldn't break it. However, this leads to the fact that the hare’s life collapses, because he shows his best qualities in relation to the wolf, who initially treated him cruelly.

The hare is not guilty of anything. He simply ran to the bride, and the wolf arbitrarily decided to leave him under a bush. Nevertheless, the hare steps over himself to keep his word. This leads to the fact that the entire family of hares remains unhappy: the brother was unable to show courage and escape from the wolf, the hare could not help but return so as not to break his word, and the bride is left alone.

Conclusion

Saltykov-Shchedrin, whose analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” turned out to be not so simple, described the reality of his time in his usual grotesque manner. After all, there were quite a lot of such people-hares in the 19th century, and this problem of unrequited obedience greatly hampered the development of Russia as a state.

Finally

So, this was an analysis of the fairy tale “The Selfless Hare” (Saltykov-Shchedrin), according to a plan that can be used to analyze other works. As you can see, the tale, simple at first glance, turned out to be a vivid caricature of the people of that time, and its meaning lies deep inside. In order to understand the author’s work, you need to remember that he never writes anything just like that. Every detail in the plot is necessary for the reader to understand the deep meaning inherent in the work. This is why the tales of Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin are interesting.

Nobody likes wolves, they call them both murderers and murderers, and they curse them in every possible way. On the one hand, this is true, because wolves actually kill both wild animals and domestic animals, and even attack people. But in this work, the author shows the life of a forest predator and really sympathizes with this beast, without any irony calling it poor.

And his whole trouble and guilt is only that the wolf is a predator and can only eat meat.

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He is forced to kill because he cannot exist any other way, but in the eyes of his victims he looks like a robber and a villain.

But the wolf just lives, he is not a villain to specifically kill for the sake of murder or for profit. He is not a maniac to enjoy it, he does not want to cause harm. And it’s very difficult for him. The animal is often hungry, which is why it howls piercingly, there is food all around, and the wolf is afraid to go hunting, and he often risks his life: they organize raids on him, set traps, and even a larger animal can kill him. But the wolf cubs still need to be fed.

One day, one such seasoned predator fell into the clutches of a bear, who also had no sympathy for wolves. And the bear decided to let the beast go if he repented and promised not to rob or kill anyone anymore.

And the wolf objected that then he would have nothing to feed his family. After all, wolves eat nothing but meat. The wolf is happy not to kill, but how else can he get meat? What does a predator have to repent of? What is his fault for being this way? What can he promise? Stop eating? A bear, for example, can eat raspberries and honey, but in winter it doesn’t need food at all, since it hibernates. And the bear realized that this was a very unhappy animal in front of him. And he told the wolf that it was better to die than to live like this.

And this wolf grew old and began to think about his life. And he came to the conclusion that they were irrationally cursing him, because it was not by his own will that he was a murderer and a villain. And the wolf began to suffer from these thoughts. And he became so sick that he was tired of living. No one sympathized with him, no one understood, there was no one to complain to how hard it was for him. He was tired of self-hatred, tired of himself, and began to call for death. And soon an opportunity presented itself when the men started a hunt. The wolf did not even try to run, but walked to his death with his head down. And he accepted it as deliverance.

In this tale, the wolf is opposed to society as “not like everyone else.” In every society, there is probably a person who is laughed at or offended. And why? Because he is “bespectacled”, “fat”, “big”, listens to the wrong music, dresses the wrong way, etc.

We don't always know (and don't want to know) why we think someone lives or acts wrong. It’s easier to immediately blindly attach a label, without even trying to understand the other, much less help or sympathize with him. Feeling different from everyone else is very difficult. It is easy to judge a person and make him an outcast. And general condemnation and rejection can even drive a person to suicide.

The author does not defend murderers and robbers (especially since he explained that a wolf is not one), he calls for understanding and compassion for each other. And in the place of this wolf, “not like everyone else,” anyone can find himself, so society should not be cruel. And society is each of us.

Updated: 2018-02-15

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POOR WOLF

There is no animal in the world that would not hate the wolf and would not curse it. The whole forest groans at his appearance: “Damned wolf! murderer! murderer!” And he runs forward and forward, not daring to turn his head, but after him: “Robber! life-cutter!” About a month ago, a wolf dragged away a woman's sheep, but the woman still hasn't dried her tears: "Damned wolf! Murderer!" And since then he hasn’t had a drop of poppy dew in his mouth: he ate a sheep, but didn’t have to slaughter another... And the woman howls, and he howls... how can you tell!

They say that the wolf deprives the peasant; but the man too, how angry he gets! And he beats him with a club, and fires at him with a gun, and digs wolf holes, and sets traps, and organizes raids on him. “The murderer! the robber!” - that’s all one hears about the wolf in the villages, “he killed the last cow! He dragged away the remaining sheep!” And what is his fault, if he cannot live in the world otherwise?

And if you kill him, he will be of no use. The meat is unusable, the skin is tough and does not warm. Only for selfishness, that you will have enough fun over him, the damned one, and raise him to the pitchfork alive: let him, the reptile, bleed drop by drop!

A wolf cannot live in the world without losing his stomach - that is his problem! But he doesn’t understand this. If they call him a villain, then he also calls those who persecute, maim, and kill him villains. Does he understand that with his life he is harming other lives? He thinks he lives - that's all. A horse carries weights, a cow gives milk, a sheep gives waves, and he robs and kills. A horse, a cow, a sheep, and a wolf - they all “live”, each in their own way.

And then, however, there was one among the wolves, who had been killing and robbing for many centuries, and suddenly, in his old age, he began to guess that there was something wrong in his life.

And he lived in this way, between robberies, until those years when the wolf is already called “seasoned.” He became a little heavier, but still did not give up the robbery; on the contrary, it seemed as if he had even flown. Only if he accidentally fell into the clutches of a bear. But bears don’t like wolves, because wolves attack them in gangs, and rumors often circulate in the forest that somewhere and there Mikhailo Ivanovich made a mistake: the gray enemies tore his fur coat to shreds.

The bear holds the wolf in his paws and thinks: “What should I do with him, with the scoundrel? If he eats him, he will steal from his soul, if he crushes him and throws him like that, he will only infect the forest with the smell of his carrion. Let me see: maybe he has a conscience. If he has a conscience, and he swears not to commit robbery in the future, I will let him go."

Wolf, oh wolf! - said Toptygin, - do you really have no conscience?

Oh, what are you, your dignity! - answered the wolf, - is it possible to live at least one day in the world without a conscience!

Therefore, it is possible, if you live. Think about it: every single day the only news about you is that you either skinned or stabbed to death - does that look like a conscience?

Your dignity! let me report to you! Should I drink and eat, feed my wolf, raise wolf cubs? What resolution would you like to put forward on this matter?

Mikhailo Ivanovich thought and thought and saw: if a wolf is supposed to exist in the world, it follows that he has the right to feed himself.

“I have to,” he says.

But I, except for meat, no, no! If only I could take your dignity, for example: you can feast on raspberries, borrow honey from bees, and suck sheep, but for me at least none of this would happen! Yes, again, your dignity has another perk: in the winter, when you lie down in a den, you don’t need anything except your own paw. And I go through both winter and summer - there is not a moment when I don’t think about food! And all about the meat. So how will I get this food if I don’t kill or strangle it first?

The bear thought about these wolf words, but still wants to try.

Yes, you should, - he says, - at least take it easy, or something...

I, your lordship, make it as easy as I can. The fox is itching: it will jerk once and bounce off, then it will jerk again and bounce back again... And I grab it right by the throat - it’s a sabbath!

The bear became even more thoughtful. He sees that the wolf is telling him the truth, but he is still afraid to let him go: now he will take up robbery again.

Repent, wolf! - speaks.

There is nothing for me, your lordship, to repent of. No one is the enemy of their life, including me; so where is my fault?

At least promise me!

And I can’t promise, Your Excellency. The fox promises you whatever you want, but I can’t.

What to do? The bear thought and thought, and finally decided.

You are a most unfortunate beast - that’s what I’ll tell you! - he said to the wolf. “I can’t judge you, although I know that I’m taking a lot of sin on my soul by letting you go.” I can add one thing: if I were you, not only would I not value life, but I would consider death to be a good thing for myself! And think about these words of mine!

And he released the wolf in all four directions.

The wolf freed himself from the bear's paws and now again took up his old craft. The forest groans from it, and so does the Sabbath. Got into the habit of going to the same village; at two or three nights he slaughtered a whole herd in vain - and it was no good for him. He will lie down with a full belly in the swamp, stretching and squinting his eyes. He even went to war with the bear, his benefactor, but he, fortunately, caught himself in time and only threatened him with his paw from afar.

No way, have I become afraid of dogs too? - he asks himself.

He returns to the lair and starts howling. The owl is crying in the forest, and he is howling in the swamp - the passion of the Lord, what a commotion will arise in the village!

Only one day he hunted for a lamb and dragged it by the collar into the forest. But the little lamb was the most senseless: the wolf was dragging him, but he didn’t understand. Only one thing repeats: “What is it? What is it?..”

And I’ll show you what it is...mmmerrrrr-vets! - the wolf became furious.

Uncle! I don’t want to go for a walk in the forest! I want to see my mother! I won’t, uncle, I won’t! - the lamb suddenly guessed and either bleated or sobbed, - ah, shepherd boy, shepherd boy! oh, dogs! dogs!

And, without waiting for an answer, he released the lamb from the mouth, and he himself wandered, tail down, into the den, so that he could stretch his mind there at his leisure.

But this mind did not reveal anything to him, except for what he had known for a long time, namely: that there was no way for him, a wolf, to live except by murder and robbery.

He lay flat on the ground and could not lie down. The mind says one thing, but the inside lights up with something else. Whether illnesses have weakened him, whether old age has ruined him, or whether hunger has tormented him, he just can’t take back the former power over himself. It’s thundering in his ears: “Damned! Murderer! Life-cutter!” What's wrong with the fact that he doesn't know his own free guilt? After all, you still can’t drown out curses! Oh, apparently the bear said the truth: all that remains is to lay hands on yourself!

Is he going to starve himself... Nowadays he has stopped chasing hares, he just walks around the birds. If he catches a young crow or bird - that's all he gets. So even here the other vitupers shout in unison: “Damned! damned! damned!”

For many years he suffered in these thoughts; only one word thundered in his ears: “Cursed! damned! damned!” And he repeated to himself more and more often: “Exactly the damned one! The damned one is; a murderer, a life-cutter!” And yet, tormented by hunger, he went after the prey, strangled, tore and tormented...

And he began to call for death. “Death! death! If only you could free animals, men and birds from me! If only you could free me from myself!” - he howled day and night, looking at the sky. And the animals and men, hearing his howl, screamed in fear: “Murderer! murderer! murderer!” He couldn’t even complain to the sky without curses raining down on him from all sides.

Finally, death took pity on him. “Lukashi” appeared in that area [“Lukashi” are peasants from the Velikolutsky district of the Pskov province who study the habits and customs of forest animals and then offer their services to hunters for roundups. (Note by M. E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.)] and neighboring landowners took advantage of their arrival to organize a wolf hunt. One day a wolf lies in his lair and hears his name. He got up and went. He sees: the path ahead is marked with milestones, and from behind and to the sides the men are watching him. But he no longer tried to break through, but walked, head down, towards death...

And suddenly it hit him right between the eyes.

Here it is...death the deliverer!

Notes

POOR WOLF
(Page 39)

First - OD, 1883, September, No. 55, pp. 6-9, as the third issue (see above for details, p. 450). For the first time in Russia - OZ, 1884, No. 1, pp. 270-275, number two.

A draft manuscript of an early edition has survived (IRLI).

The tale was written in January 1883 (see page 451), typed for the February issue OZ, but for censorship reasons it was removed from it.

When preparing a fairy tale for publication in OZ Saltykov made a stylistic edit and excluded from the text the phrase “It’s not that he is to blame, but his life itself is absolute hell,” which concluded the paragraph “And then I was found...” (see page 40).

The fairy tale "Poor Wolf" continues the fairy tale "Selfless Hare". This is confirmed both by the writer’s indication that there is a connection between the named fairy tales, and by the first phrase of the fairy tale about the “poor wolf.”

In “Poor Wolf” Saltykov embodied one of his constant ideas about the socio-historical determinism of human behavior. The writer touched on this idea in “Provincial Sketches” (see this edition, vol. 2, p. 302), in the last chapter of “The Golovlevs,” in “All the Year Round” (vol. 13, p. 505), in “Adventures with Kramolnikov” and in many other works, and in the fairy tale he gave her the most profound philosophical development. A "predator" cannot change its nature. Hence the peculiar modification of the main image of the fairy tale under the pen of Saltykov. In the folklore tradition of many peoples, the “wolf” is a symbol of evil. Saltykov gives the “wolf” the epithet “poor” and makes the “poor wolf” exclaim with relief at the moment when he is killed: “Here it is...death the deliverer!” The zoological, “wolf” parallel to the exploiters depicted with exceptional clarity the power of the power of the general “order of things” over the souls and actions of people. Some critics saw in the tale a pessimistic “philosophy of the fatality of mutual devouring.” Meanwhile, Saltykov was not a supporter of absolute determinism; in solving social problems, he attached great, and sometimes exaggerated, importance to the moral factor; he preferred and considered possible the path of “bloodless” movement towards “social harmony.” Shunning violent methods of struggle, Saltykov constantly doubted the possibility of doing without them. The writer’s tragic thoughts about the choice of ways to combat social evil were expressed especially strongly in “Poor Wolf,” as in “Karas the Idealist.” Saltykov did not make a final choice in a positive manner. But with the whole meaning of an objective picture showing that “the beast cannot do anything by itself: neither change the order of life, nor die,” “Poor Wolf” exposed the failure of naive hopes for the mercy and generosity of the exploiters, for their peaceful and voluntary social and moral rebirth.