Poor wolf analysis. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin: analysis of the fairy tale "The Selfless Hare"

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

And all his misfortune and guilt is only in the fact that the wolf is a predator, it can only eat meat.

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

And the wolf just lives, he is not a villain, to specifically kill for the sake of killing or for profit. He is not a maniac to enjoy it, he does not want to do harm. And it is very difficult for him. The beast often starves, and therefore howls piercingly, there is food all around, and the wolf is afraid to go hunting, and he often risks his life: they round up him, set traps, and even a larger beast can kill him. But you still have to feed the cubs.

Once, one such hardened predator fell into the clutches of a bear, who also did not have sympathy for wolves. And the bear decided to let the beast go if he repents and promises not to rob again and not to kill anyone.

And the wolf objected that then he would have nothing to feed his family. After all, besides meat, wolves do not eat anything. The wolf is happy not to kill, but how else to get meat? And what should a predator repent of? How is he to blame for being so arranged? What can he promise? Stop eating? A bear, for example, can eat raspberries and honey, but in winter he doesn’t need food at all, since he hibernates. And the bear realized that in front of him was a very unfortunate beast. And he said to the wolf that it is better to die than to live like this.

And this wolf grew old, began to think about his life. And he came to the conclusion that they cursed him unreasonably, because he was a murderer and a villain not of his own free will. 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 about 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 peasants staged a hunt. The wolf did not even try to run, but went to his death, lowering his head. And accepted it as a deliverance.

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

We do not always know (and do not want to know) why someone lives or does wrong, in our opinion. It’s easier to immediately blindly hang a label, without even trying to understand the other, much less help or sympathize with him. Feeling different than everyone else is hard. It is easy to condemn a person and make him an outcast. And general condemnation and rejection can even bring a person to suicide.

The author does not defend murderers and robbers (all the more he explained that the wolf is not such), he calls for understanding and compassion for each other. And in the place of this wolf, “not like everyone else”, anyone can turn out, so society should not be cruel. Society is each of us.

Updated: 2018-02-15

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Many writers and poets have used fairy tales in their work. With its help, the author revealed one or another vice of humanity or society. The tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin are sharply individual and unlike any other. Satire was the weapon of Saltykov-Shchedrin. At that time, due to the existing strict censorship, the author could not fully expose the vices of society, show the entire inconsistency of the Russian administrative apparatus. And yet, with the help of fairy tales "for children of a fair age," Saltykov-Shchedrin was able to convey to people sharp criticism the existing order. The censorship missed the tales of the great satirist, failing to understand their purpose, revealing power, a challenge to the existing order.

To write fairy tales, the author used the grotesque, hyperbole, antithesis. Also, the "Aesopian" language was important for the author. Trying to hide the true meaning of what was written from censorship, he also used this technique. The writer liked to come up with neologisms that characterize his characters. For example, words such as “pompadours and pompadours”, “foam skimmer” and others.

Conventionally, all the fairy tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin can be divided into four groups: satire on government circles and the ruling class; a satire on the liberal intelligentsia; folk tales; fairy tales denouncing egoistic morality and asserting socialist moral ideals.

The first group of fairy tales includes: “The Bear in the Voivodeship”, “The Eagle-Patron”, “The Bogatyr”, “ wild landlord"and" The story of that. how one man fed two generals. The fairy tale "The Bear in the Voivodeship" unfolds a merciless criticism of the autocracy in all its forms. It is told about the reign in the forest of three governor-bears, different in character: the evil one is replaced by the zealous one, and the zealous one is replaced by the good one. But these changes do not affect the general state of forest life. It is no accident that Toptygin was the first to be said in a fairy tale: "He, in fact, was not angry, but just like that, a beast." Evil lies not in the private abuses of individual governors, but in the bestial, bearish nature of power. It is done with some kind of naive, bestial innocence: “Then I began to look for roots and threads, and by the way, I uprooted a whole forest of foundations. Finally, he climbed into the printing house at night, smashed the machines, mixed the type, and dumped the works of the human mind into the waste pit. Having done this, sat down, Son of a bitch, squatting and waiting for encouragement. In the fairy tale "The Eagle-Maecenas" Saltykov-Shchedrin shows the hostility of the despotic power to enlightenment, and in "Bogatyr" the history of the Russian autocracy is depicted in the form of a rotting hero and ends with his complete disintegration and decay.

An unprecedented satire on the Russian intelligentsia is deployed in tales about fish and hares. In The Selfless Hare, a special type of cowardice is reproduced: the hare is cowardly, but this is not its main feature. The main thing is different: “I can’t, the wolf didn’t order.” The wolf postponed eating the hare for an indefinite period, left him to sit under a bush, and then even allowed him to go on a date with his bride. What guided the hare when he doomed himself to be eaten? Cowardice? No, not quite: from the point of view of a hare - deep nobility and honesty. After all, he gave the word to the wolf! But the source of this nobility turns out to be obedience erected into a principle - self-sacrificing cowardice! True, the hare also has a certain secret calculation: the wolf will admire his nobility, and suddenly have mercy.

Will the wolf have mercy? This question is answered by another tale called "The Poor Wolf". The wolf is unwillingly cruel, and “his complexion is tricky”, he cannot eat anything but meat. So in the book the satirist's thought about the futility of hopes for mercy and generosity of the authorities, predatory by their nature and their position in the world of people, ripens.

The “sensible hare”, in contrast to the selfless one, is a theorist who preaches the idea of a “civilization of the wolf meal”. He is developing a project for the reasonable eating of hares: it is necessary that the wolves do not immediately cut the hares, but only part of the skin would be torn off from them, so that after a while the hare could imagine another, This "project" is Saltykov-Shchedrin's evil parody of the theory of liberal populists who, in the reactionary era of the 1980s, retreated from revolutionary principles and switched to preaching "small deeds", gradual concessions, and petty reformism.

The “sensible hare”, in contrast to the selfless one, preaches his own theoretical principles. The dried roach does the same in comparison with the wise scribbler. The wise scribbler lived and trembled. Dried vobla translates such a life practice into a reasonable theory, which boils down to the formula: "ears do not grow above the forehead." From this formula, she derives the following principles: "You will not touch anyone, and no one will touch you." But the time comes - and the dried vobla, which preaches "moderation and accuracy", is accused of unreliability and is sacrificed to the "hedgehogs".

Tales about liberals adjoin "Karas-idealist", it is distinguished by a sad satirical tone. In this tale, Saltykov-Shchedrin debunks the dramatic delusions of the Russian and Western European intelligentsia, which is adjacent to the socialist movement. An idealist Karas professes high socialist ideals and is inclined to self-sacrifice for the sake of their implementation. But he considers social evil to be a mere delusion of minds. It seems to him that pikes are not deaf to good. He believes in achieving social harmony through moral regeneration, re-education of pikes.

And now the crucian develops its socialist utopias in front of the pike. Twice he manages to talk with the predator, escaping with minor injuries. The third time the inevitable happens: the pike swallows the crucian, and it is important how she does it. The first question of an idealist crucian is "What is virtue?" makes the predator open its mouth in surprise, automatically draw water into itself, and with it also automatically swallow the crucian. With this detail, Saltykov-Shchedrin emphasizes that it is not a matter of "evil" and "unreasonable" pikes: the very nature of predators is such that they swallow carp involuntarily - they also have a "tricky complexion"! So, all illusions about the peaceful reorganization of society, the re-education of predatory pikes, eagles, bears, wolves are in vain ... Now we will try to consider the main features of the writer's fairy tale genre using the example of several of his works. In The Wild Landowner, the author shows how far a rich gentleman who finds himself without servants can sink. This story uses hyperbole. At first man of culture, the landowner turns into a wild animal that feeds on fly agaric. Here we see how helpless a rich man is without a simple peasant, how unfit and worthless he is. With this tale, the author wanted to show that a simple Russian person is a serious force. A similar idea is put forward in the fairy tale "The Tale of How One Man Feeded Two Generals." But here the reader sees the peasant's resignation, his obedience, unquestioning obedience to the two generals. He even ties himself to a chain, which once again indicates the humility, downtroddenness, and bondage of the Russian peasant.

In "The Wise Scribbler" we see the life of an inhabitant who is afraid of everything in the world. The “wise scribbler” is constantly locked up, afraid to once again go out into the street, talk to someone, get to know each other. He leads a closed, boring life. With their life principles he resembles another hero, the hero of A.P. Chekhov from the story "The Man in the Case", Belikov. Just before his death, the scribbler thinks about his life: “Who did he help? Whom did he regret that he did good things in life? - He lived - trembled and died - trembled. And only before death does the inhabitant realize that no one needs him, no one knows him and will not remember him.

The moral of the story is: what is human life? How and why to live? What is a sense of life? Don't these questions worry people in our time, however, just as they have worried people at all times? These are eternal and seemingly unsolvable questions. At what time, no matter who they face, these global questions, everyone answers them in their own way. How many people asking themselves these questions, so many answers to them!

The fairy tale takes us from the level of the scribbler to the level human life. From the point of view of the author himself, the wise scribbler, in fact, exposed all his stupid shortcomings in life philosophy aimed at a specific goal: "Live as quietly as possible!" Where is the mind of the "wise man" directed? Just to save his "hateful" life. And the satirist makes him, in the face of death, understand the whole meaninglessness of his life. For all the comical nature of this tale, its ending sounds deeply tragic. We hear the voice of Saltykov-Shchedrin himself in those questions that the scribbler asks himself before his death. All life instantly flashed before the dying. What were his joys? Who did he comfort? Whom did you protect? Who heard about it? Who will remember its existence? And he had to answer all these questions: “no one”, “no one”. So the writer determined for the hero of the fairy tale, the wise scribbler, the most terrible time: later, fruitless insight, realization in the face of death that life was lived in vain, in vain! I believe that this tale is not only the most modern among all the works of Saltykov-Shchedrin, but even eternal.

Terrible narrow-minded alienation, isolation in oneself is shown by the writer in "The Wise Scribbler". M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin is bitter and painful for the Russian people.

With amazing insight Saltykov-Shchedrin shows the inner relationship of socialist morality with the deep foundations of Christian folk culture in the fairy tale "Christ's Night". Easter night. Dreary northern landscape. There is a seal of orphanhood on everything, everything is shackled by silence, helpless, silent and crushed by some formidable bondage ... But the bells ring out, countless lights light up, the golden spiers of churches - and the world around comes to life. Strings of village people, depressed, impoverished, stretch along the roads. At a distance go the rich, the kulaks - the lords of the village. Everyone disappears into the distance of the dirt road, and silence sets in again, but somehow sensitive, tense ... And for sure. Before the east had time to turn red, a miracle was performed: the desecrated and crucified Christ was resurrected for judgment on this sinful earth. "Peace to you!" - Christ says to the poor people: they have not lost faith in the triumph of truth, and the Savior says that the hour of their liberation is approaching. Then Christ addresses the crowd of the rich, world-eaters, kulaks. He brands them with a word of censure and opens the way of salvation for them - the judgment of their conscience, painful, but just. And only traitors have no salvation. Christ curses them and dooms them to eternal wandering.

In the fairy tale "Christ's Night" Saltykov-Shchedrin professes the people's faith in the triumph of truth and goodness. Christ administers the Last Judgment not in the afterlife, but on this earth, in accordance with the peasant ideas that earthed Christian ideals.

Saltykov-Shchedrin's faith in his people, in his history, remained unchanged. “I love Russia to the point of pain in my heart and I can’t even imagine myself anywhere but Russia,” wrote Mikhail Evgrafovich. “Only once in my life did I have to survive for quite a long time in well-disposed foreign places, and I can’t remember a minute when my heart would not be torn to Russia.” These words can be considered an epigraph to the entire work of the satirist, whose anger and contempt were born out of a harsh and demanding love for the Motherland, from a hard-won faith in its creative forces, one of brightest manifestations which was Russian classical literature.

Naive fiction folk tale is organically combined in Shchedrin with a realistic depiction of reality. Moreover, the extreme exaggeration in the description of heroes and situations does not contradict the truth of life, but, on the contrary, makes it possible for the satirist to focus on especially dangerous, negative aspects of the life of Russian society. Tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin had a great impact on further development Russian literature and especially the genre of satire.

POOR WOLF

Another beast, probably, would have been touched by the selflessness of the hare, would not have limited himself to a promise, but now would have had mercy. But of all the predators found in temperate and northern climates, the wolf is the least accessible to generosity.

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

It is not easy for him to get his food. After all, death is not sweet to anyone, and it is only with death that he creeps into everyone. Therefore, whoever is stronger - defends himself from him, and others, who cannot defend himself, are defended by others. Often the wolf walks hungry, and even with crumpled sides in addition. He will sit down at that time, raise his snout up and howl so piercingly that for a mile around every living creature, from fear and from longing, the soul goes to the heels. And the she-wolf howls even more drearily, because she has cubs, and there is nothing to feed them.

There is no animal in the world that would not hate the wolf, would not curse him. The whole forest moans with a groan at his appearance: "Damned wolf! murderer! murderer!" And he runs forward and forward, he does not dare to turn his head, but in pursuit of him: "Robber! Live cutter!" The wolf dragged away, about a month ago, the woman had a sheep - the woman has not dried her tears until now: "Damned wolf! Murderer!" And since then he hasn’t had a poppy dew in his mouth: he ate a sheep, but didn’t have to kill another ... And the woman howls, and he howls ... how can you tell!

They say that the wolf deprives the peasant; but the peasant, too, how angry he gets, where it happens! And he beats him with a club, and fires at him with a gun, and digs pits for wolves, and sets traps, and arranges raids on him. "The murderer! The robber! - only one hears about the wolf in the villages, - he slaughtered the last cow! He dragged the rest of the sheep!" And what is he to blame for, if he cannot live in the world otherwise?

And if you kill him, then there is no use from him. The meat is unusable, the skin is tough - it does not warm. Only self-interest, that you will make fun of him, the damned one, in plenty, but you will raise the pitchfork alive: let the reptile, drop by drop of blood comes!

A wolf cannot live in the world without depriving his stomach - that's his trouble! But he doesn't understand this. If they call him a villain, then he also calls those who persecute him, mutilate him, and kill him villains. Does he understand that his life harms other lives? He thinks he lives - that's all. A horse carries gravity, a cow gives milk, a sheep gives a wave, and he robs and kills. And the horse, and the cow, and the sheep, and the wolf - all "live", each in his own way.

And then, however, he found one among the wolves, who for many centuries killed and robbed everything, and suddenly, in his old age, he began to guess that there was something wrong in his life.

This wolf lived very fast from a young age and was one of the few predators who almost never went hungry. And day and night he robbed, and he got away with everything. He dragged sheep from under the noses of shepherds; climbed into the courtyards of the villages; slaughtered cows; the forester was once bitten to death; he took a little boy, in front of everyone, from the street into the forest. He heard that everyone hated and cursed him for these deeds, but only became fiercer and fiercer from these submissions.

If you would listen to what is happening in the forest, - he said, - there is not a moment when there is no murder there, so that some beast does not squeal, parting with life - so is it really to look at it?

And he lived like this, between robberies, until those years when the wolf is already called "hardened". He got a little heavy, but still did not leave robberies; on the contrary, as if even fell in love. Only if he accidentally falls into the clutches of a bear. But bears don’t like wolves, because wolves attack them in gangs, and often rumors circulate in the forest that Mikhailo Ivanovich has blundered here and there: gray heaps have torn his fur coat to shreds.

The bear holds the wolf in its paws and thinks: “What should I do with him, with the scoundrel? If he eats, he will stomp from the soul, if you crush and quit like that, you will only infect the forest with the smell of his carrion. Let me see: maybe he has a conscience. If there is a conscience, let him swear not to rob ahead, I will let him go.

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

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

So, you can, if you live. Think about it: every single day there is only news about you, that you either skinned or stabbed - does that sound like a conscience?

Your degree! let me tell you! should I eat and drink, feed my wolf, raise cubs? what resolution would you like to put on this score?

Thought and thought Mikhailo Ivanovich, - he sees: if a wolf is supposed to be in the world, therefore, he has the right to feed himself.

Must, he says.

But I, except for meat, - no, no! Here, if only to take your degree, for example: you will feast on raspberries, and borrow honey from bees, and suck on sheep, but for me, at least none of this would exist! Yes, again, your degree has another freedom: in winter, as soon as you lie down in a lair, you don’t need anything but your own paw. And I have both winter and summer - there is not a moment that I do not think about food! And all about the meat. So what kind of food will I get if I don’t slaughter or strangle it first?

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

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

Even that, your degree, as much as I can, make it easier. The fox - it itches: it will explode once - and it will bounce, then it will explode again - and it will bounce again ... And I grab it right by the throat - the coven!

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

Repent, wolf! - speaks.

There is nothing for me, your degree, to repent. No one is the enemy of his life, including myself; so what is my fault here?

Yes, you promise!

And promise, your degree, I can not. Here is a fox - she promises you whatever you want, but I can’t.

What to do? I thought, thought the bear, and finally decided.

You are the 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 take a lot of sin on my soul, letting you go. I can add one thing: in your place, I would not only not value life, but would consider death for myself as a blessing! And you over these my words think!

And released the wolf on all four sides.

The wolf has freed itself from the bear's paws and is now back to the old craft. The forest groans from him, and the coven. I got into the habit of going to the same village; at two or three nights he slaughtered a whole herd in vain - and nothing for him. Lies with a full belly in the swamp, stretches and closes his eyes. Even the bear, his benefactor, went to war, but he, fortunately, caught himself in time and only threatened him with his paw from afar.

How long, how short, he raged like that, however, old age finally came to him. His strength diminished, his agility disappeared, and besides, the peasant broke his spine with a log; although he had retired, he still did not look like the former daring live-cutter. He will rush after the hare - but there are no legs. He will come to the edge of the forest, he will try to carry away a lamb from the herd - and the dogs are jumping and flooding. He will turn his tail, and he runs empty.

No way, I'm already afraid of dogs began? he asks himself.

Returns to the lair and begins to howl. The owl sobs in the forest, but he howls in the swamp - the passions of the Lord, what a commotion will rise in the village!

Only once he provided for a lamb and drags him by the scruff of the neck into the forest. And the little lamb was still the most stupid: the wolf drags him, but he does not understand. Only one repeats: "What is it? What is it? .."

And I'll show you what it is ... mmmerrrza-vets! - freaked out the wolf.

Uncle! I don't want to go to the forest! I want my mom! I won't, uncle, I won't! - the little lamb suddenly guessed and either bleated or sobbed, - oh, shepherd boy, shepherd boy! ah, dogs! dogs!

The wolf stopped and listened. He had slaughtered a lot of sheep in his lifetime, and they were all somehow indifferent. Before the wolf had time to grab her, she had already screwed up her eyes, she lay there, not moving, as if correcting her natural duty. And here is the baby - and go and cry: he wants to live! Ah, it is clear that this hateful life is sweet to everyone! Here he is, the wolf, - old, old, and all would have lived a hundred more years!

And then he remembered the words of Toptygin: "If I were you, I would not consider life, but death for my own good..." Why is that? Why is life good for all other earthly creatures, and for him is she a curse and a disgrace?

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

But this mind did not find out anything for him, except for what he had long known, namely: that he, the wolf, could not live otherwise than by murder and robbery.

He lay flat on the ground and could not lie down in any way. The mind says one thing, but the inside lights up with something else. Illnesses, perhaps, have weakened him, whether old age has ruined him, or hunger has tormented him, but he cannot take the former power over himself. And so it rattles in his ears: "Damned! Murderer! Live cutter!" What is the fact that he does not know free guilt behind himself? after all, curses still cannot be silenced! Oh, apparently, the bear told the truth: the only thing left is to lay hands on yourself!

So after all, here again grief: the beast - after all, he does not 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 dies as if in a dream. Maybe the dogs will tear him to pieces or the peasant will shoot him; so here he will only snore and writhing for a moment will reduce him - and the spirit will be out. And where and how death came - he will not guess.

Isn't he going to starve himself to death ... Today he has stopped chasing hares, he only walks around birds. If he catches a young crow or a female crow - that's the only thing he's fed up with. So even here the other vityutni shout in chorus: "Damned! damned! damned!"

It's the damned one. Well, after all, only then to live in order to kill and rob? Let's suppose that they curse him unjustly, unreasonably: it is not by his own will that he robs - but how not to curse! How many animals he killed in his lifetime! how many women, how many peasants he has destitute, he has made unhappy for the rest of his life!

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

And he began to call death. "Death! death! if only you freed the beasts, men and birds from me! If only you freed me from myself!" - day and night he howled, looking at the sky. And the animals and peasants, hearing his howl, screamed in fear: "The murderer! The murderer! The murderer!" He could not even complain to the sky without curses falling on him from all sides.

Finally, death took pity on him. Appeared in that area "Lukashi" ["Lukashi" - peasants from the Velikolutsky district of the Pskov province, who are engaged in the study of the habits and customs of forest animals and then offer their services to hunters for raids. (Note by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.)] and the neighboring landowners took advantage of their arrival to hunt the wolf. One day a wolf lies in its lair and hears its name. He got up and went. He sees that the path ahead is marked with milestones, and behind and to the side 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-deliverer!

Notes

POOR WOLF
(Page 39)

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

Preserved draft manuscript of an early edition (IRLI).

The tale was written in January 1883 (see p. 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 carried out stylistic corrections and excluded from the text the phrase “It’s not that he is to blame, but his very life is hell,” which concluded the paragraph “And then he was found ...” (see p. 40).

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

In The Poor Wolf, Saltykov embodied one of his constant ideas about the socio-historical determinism of human behavior. The writer touched on this idea in the “Provincial Essays” (see the present edition, vol. 2, p. 302), in the last chapter of “Gentlemen Golovlevs”, in “ All year round"(Vol. 13, p. 505), in "The Adventure with Kramolnikov" and in many other works, and in the fairy tale gave her the most profound philosophical development. The Predator cannot change its nature. Hence the original modification of the main image of the tale under the pen of Saltykov. IN folklore tradition many peoples "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 she is ... death is the savior!” The zoological, "wolf" parallel to the exploiters with exceptional relief outlined the power of the power of the general "order of things" over the souls and actions of people. Some critics have seen 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". Avoiding violent methods of struggle, Saltykov constantly doubted the possibility of doing without them. The tragic reflections of the writer about the choice of ways to fight social evil were expressed in the "Poor Wolf" as well as in "Karas the Idealist" especially strongly. Saltykov did not make a final choice in a positive form. 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,” “The 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.

The wolf is the most feared predator in the forest. He spares neither hares nor sheep. He is able to kill all the cattle of an ordinary peasant and leave his family to starve. But the peasant, angry wolf without punishment, will not leave. This is how wolves and humans fight. But animals are also capable of hating people.

There was once a wolf. He was a real predator: he killed cows, killed a huntsman and killed a little boy. He did not feel hungry. This went on for a long time. One day fate brought him to a bear. He did not hate wolves for their actions. The bear did not want to kill the terrible beast, but wanted his conscience to awaken in him. He began to talk about the fact that killing everyone in a row is bad and so it is impossible. The wolf told him that he simply could not live differently because 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 his deed 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 hunts domestic animals. He eats to satiety, and sleeps the rest of the time, at night he again takes up his atrocities. He did this for a long time, but he became old. Running is getting harder and harder. Also, one man injured his spine with a stick. Getting food is now harder and harder each time. He understands that dogs are no longer able to overcome. He cannot kill a sheep either, and he began to howl all night long.

Once he still 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. Prior to this, all the sheep were silent and did not resist, but this strongly wants to live. The wolf remembered the bear, and his words that death would be his deliverance. He took pity and let go of the lamb.

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

Hunters came to the forest to hunt. The wolf approached them specially and bowed his head. Feeling how his skull was split from a bullet, he realized that everything, his death had come and would finally save him from suffering.

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

A picture or drawing of a poor wolf

poor wolf

POOR WOLF

It is not easy for him to get his food. After all, death is not sweet to anyone, and it is only with death that he creeps into everyone. Therefore, whoever is stronger defends himself from him, and others, who cannot defend himself, are defended by others. Often the wolf walks hungry, and even with crumpled sides in addition. He will sit down at that time, raise his snout up and howl so piercingly that for a mile around every living creature, from fear and from longing, the soul goes to the heels. And the she-wolf howls even more drearily, because she has cubs, and there is nothing to feed them.

There is no animal in the world that would not hate the wolf, would not curse him. The whole forest moans with a groan at his appearance: "Damned wolf! murderer! murderer!" And he runs forward and forward, he does not dare to turn his head, but in pursuit of him: "Robber! Live cutter!" A wolf dragged away, about a month ago, a sheep from a woman - a woman has not dried her tears until now: "Damned wolf! Murderer!" And since then he hasn’t had a poppy dew in his mouth: he ate a sheep, but didn’t have to kill another ... And the woman howls, and he howls ... how can you tell!

They say that the wolf deprives the peasant; but the peasant, too, how angry he gets, where it happens! And he beats him with a club, and fires at him with a gun, and digs pits for wolves, and sets traps, and arranges raids on him. "A murderer! a robber! - only one hears about the wolf in the villages - he slaughtered the last cow! He dragged the rest of the sheep!" And what is he to blame for, if he cannot live in the world otherwise?

And if you kill him, then there is no use from him. The meat is useless, the skin is tough - it does not warm. Only self-interest, that you will make fun of him, the damned one, in plenty, but you will raise the pitchfork alive: let the reptile, drop by drop of blood comes!

A wolf cannot live in the world without depriving his stomach - that's his trouble! But he doesn't understand this. If they call him a villain, then he also calls those who persecute him, mutilate him, and kill him villains. Does he understand that his life harms other lives? He thinks that he lives - that's all. A horse carries weights, a cow gives milk, a sheep gives a wave, and he robs and kills. And the horse, and the cow, and the sheep, and the wolf - all "live", each in his own way.

And then, however, he found one among the wolves, who for many centuries killed and robbed everything, and suddenly, in his old age, he began to guess that there was something wrong in his life.

If you would listen to what is happening in the forest, - he said, - there is not a moment when there is no murder there, so that some animal does not squeal, parting with life, - so is it really to look at it?

The bear holds the wolf in its paws and thinks: “What should I do with him, with the scoundrel? If he eats, he will steal from the soul, if you crush and quit like that, you will only infect the forest with the smell of his carrion. Let me see: maybe he has a conscience If there is a conscience, let him swear not to rob ahead - I will let him go.

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

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

So, you can, if you live. Think about it: every single day there is only news about you that you either skinned or stabbed to death - does that sound like conscience?

Your degree! let me tell you! should I eat and drink, feed my wolf, raise cubs? what resolution would you like to put on this score?

Thought and thought Mikhailo Ivanovich, - he sees: if a wolf is supposed to be in the world, therefore, he has the right to feed himself.

Must, he says.

But I, besides meat, - no, no! Here, if only to take your degree, for example: you will feast on raspberries, and borrow honey from bees, and suck on sheep, but for me, at least none of this would exist! Yes, again, your degree has another freedom: in winter, as soon as you lie down in a lair, you don’t need anything but your own paw. And I have both winter and summer - there is not a moment that I do not think about food! And all about the meat. So what kind of food will I get if I don’t slaughter or strangle it first?

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

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

Even that, your degree, as much as I can, make it easier. The fox - it itches: it will explode once - and bounce, then it will explode again - and bounce again ... And I grab it right by the throat - coven!

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

Repent, wolf! -- speaks.

There is nothing for me, your degree, to repent. No one is the enemy of his life, including myself; so what is my fault here?

Yes, you promise!

And promise, your degree, I can not. Here is a fox - he promises you whatever you want, but I cannot.

What to do? I thought, thought the bear, and finally decided.

You are the 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 take a lot of sin on my soul by letting you go. I can add one thing: in your place, I would not only not value life, but would consider death for myself as a blessing! And you over these my words think!

And released the wolf on all four sides.

The wolf has freed itself from the bear's paws and is now back to the old craft. The forest groans from him, and the coven. I got into the habit of going to the same village; in two or three nights he slaughtered a whole herd in vain - and nothing for him. Lies with a full belly in the swamp, stretches and closes his eyes. Even the bear, his benefactor, went to war, but he, fortunately, caught himself in time and only threatened him with his paw from afar.

How long, how short, he raged like that, however, old age finally came to him. His strength diminished, his agility disappeared, and besides, the peasant broke his spine with a log; although he had retired, he still did not look like the former daring live-cutter. He will rush after the hare - but there are no legs. He will come to the edge of the forest, he will try to carry away a sheep from the herd - and the dogs are jumping and flooding. He will turn his tail, and he runs empty.

No way, I'm already afraid of dogs began? he asks himself.

Returns to the lair and begins to howl. The owl sobs in the forest, but he howls in the swamp - the passions of the Lord, what a commotion will rise in the village!

And I'll show you what it is ... mmmerrrza-vets! the wolf snapped.

Uncle! I don't want to go to the forest! I want my mom! I won't, uncle, I won't! - the little lamb suddenly guessed and either bleated or sobbed, - oh, shepherd boy, shepherd boy! ah, dogs! dogs!

And then he remembered the words of Toptygin: "If I were you, I would not consider life, but death for my own good..." Why is that? Why is life a boon for all other earthly creatures, but for him it is a curse and a disgrace?

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

But this mind did not find out anything for him, except for what he had long known, namely: that he, the wolf, could not live otherwise than by murder and robbery.

Isn't he going to starve himself to death ... Today he has stopped chasing hares, he only walks around birds. If he catches a young crow or a young crow, he is only fed up with this. So even here the other vityutni shout in chorus: "Damned! damned! damned!"

It's the damned one. Well, after all, only then to live in order to kill and rob? Granted, they curse him unjustly, unreasonably: it is not by his own will that he robs - but how not to curse! How many animals he killed in his lifetime! how many women, how many peasants he has destitute, he has made unhappy for the rest of his life!

Finally, death took pity on him. There appeared in that area "Lukashi" ["Lukashi" - 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 raids. (Note by M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin.)] and the neighboring landowners took advantage of their arrival to hunt the wolf. One day a wolf lies in his lair and hears his name. He got up and went. He sees that the path ahead is marked with milestones, and behind and to the side 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-deliverer!

Women's Portal Flero

Poor wolf analysis. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin: analysis of the fairy tale "The Selfless Hare"

A picture or drawing of a poor wolf

Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary

poor wolf

Women's Portal Flero

A picture or drawing of a poor wolf

Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary

poor wolf

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