Snegirev Gennady Yakovlevich (March 20, 1933, Moscow - January 14, 2004)
Gennady Yakovlevich Snegirev - Muscovite, born March 20, 1933. His father died in the Stalinist camps, his mother worked as a librarian at the Oktyabrskaya locomotive depot railway. From childhood, the boy learned what need and hunger are. After elementary school studied at a vocational school (there were then such educational establishments where teenagers were trained in working professions). But I didn’t even have to finish the vocational school: I had to earn a living.
At the age of thirteen, the future writer began working as a preparator's student at the Department of Ichthyology at Moscow University. And here he met a man who replaced his father - the scientist Vladimir Dmitrievich Lebedev.
Together - a teacher and a student - they treated fish, made excavations on Lake Peipsi, at the place of residence of fish-eating tribes of the Quaternary period, studied fish bones and scales (it turns out that scales, like a cut of a tree, can determine how old a fish is). Once, in the absence of a teacher, a student for the first time brought out a Far Eastern shrimp and an Amur goby fish in an aquarium. Here, at the university, G. Snegirev began boxing (boys need to be able to stand up for themselves), and although he was thin, if not skinny, of small stature, he became the champion of Moscow among junior flyweights. But, apparently, malnutrition and great physical exertion had an effect - at the age of sixteen he had a heart defect. The doctors said: lie down. I lay there for a year, then I decided: it was better to go on an ice voyage, where few people went, and went with an ichthyological detachment on the Vityaz expedition ship in the winter of 1951/52 from Vladivostok through the non-freezing Songar Strait in the Pacific Ocean to the shores of Chukotka. The expedition studied deep-sea fish of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Bering Sea. From the expedition, the young explorer returned healthy. Now he was interested in beavers. For a whole year he caught these amazing animals in the dense swamps of Belarus and transported them in freight cars for acclimatization to the tributary of the Irtysh, the Nazym River. He watched how they settled, live, and later described in the cycle of stories "The Beaver Hut", "The Beaver Watchman", "The Beaver". And when he saw the results of his work, he went on a geological expedition to the Central Sayan Mountains, to Tuva.
In 1964, together with his teacher, now Professor Lebedev, Snegirev went on an extraordinary expedition - on a lifeboat, without a motor, under sail, without a supply of food, having only salt, sugar, a spinning rod for fishing and a carbine for hunting. . For two summers, the travelers made an experimental survival flight along the Siberian Lena River, starting from the headwaters and ending with the delta in the north of the Arctic. Experimenters not only survived, but also studied environmental change Yakut taiga and the Lena River. The book "On the Cold River" was later written about this journey. Then there were many more trips: to the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, the White Sea, Teletskoye Lake of the Altai Mountains, to Buryatia, Lenkoransky and Voronezh nature reserves, and there were many professions: Snegirev drove reindeer with the reindeer herders of Chukotka, worked as a huntsman in the Kopetdag nature reserve of southern Turkmenistan, - but none of them became a matter of life, just as observations of the animal world did not result in scientific works, which was predicted by colleagues from the university.
Books that were born from oral stories to his friends and comrades in the sports section became a matter of life. An acquaintance, the poetess Veronika Tushnova, took the stories to the radio. There they were immediately taken and put on the air. At the same time, editors from Detgiz were looking for new interesting writers, they were advised on the radio to pay attention to G. Snegirev.
His first book - "Inhabited Island" - about the fauna of the Pacific Ocean was published in 1954. Since then, there have been many books in various genres - stories, novels, essays, which have enjoyed constant success and have been reprinted many times, because these books are amazing, full of surprise and admiration seen in numerous travels ...
taken

Gennady Yakovlevich Snegirev - Muscovite, born March 20, 1933. His father died in the Stalinist camps, his mother worked as a librarian at the locomotive depot of the October Railway. From childhood, the boy learned what need and hunger are. After elementary school, he studied at a vocational school. But he did not have to graduate from a vocational school either: he had to earn a living. At the age of thirteen, the future writer began working as a preparator's student at the Department of Ichthyology at Moscow University. And here he met a man who replaced his father - the scientist Vladimir Dmitrievich Lebedev. Together - a teacher and a student - they treated fish, made excavations on Lake Peipsi, at the place of residence of fish-eating tribes, studied fish bones and scales (it turns out that by the scales, like by a cut of a tree, you can determine how old the fish is). Once, in the absence of a teacher, a student for the first time brought out a Far Eastern shrimp and an Amur goby fish in an aquarium.

Here, at the university, G. Snegirev began boxing (boys need to be able to stand up for themselves), and although he was thin, if not skinny, of small stature, he became the champion of Moscow among junior flyweights. But, apparently, malnutrition and great physical exertion had an effect - at the age of sixteen he had a heart defect. The doctors said: lie down. I lay there for a year, then I decided: it’s better to go on an ice voyage, where few people went, and went with an ichthyological detachment on the Vityaz expedition ship in the winter of 1951/52. The expedition studied deep-sea fish of the Okhotsk and Bering Seas. From the expedition, the young explorer returned healthy. Now he was interested in beavers. For a whole year he caught these amazing animals in the deaf swamps of Belarus. He watched how they settled, live, and later described in the cycle of stories "The Beaver Hut", "The Beaver Watchman", "The Beaver". And when he saw the results of his work, he went on a geological expedition to the Central Sayan Mountains, to Tuva.

Then there were many more trips: to the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, the White Sea, Teletskoye Lake of the Altai Mountains, to Buryatia, Lenkoransky and Voronezh nature reserves, and there were many professions: Snegirev drove reindeer with the reindeer herders of Chukotka, worked as a huntsman in the Kopetdag nature reserve of southern Turkmenistan, - but none of them became a matter of life. Books that were born from oral stories to his friends and comrades in the sports section became a matter of life. An acquaintance, the poetess Veronika Tushnova, took the stories to the radio. There they were immediately taken and put on the air. His first book - "Inhabited Island" - about the fauna of the Pacific Ocean was published in 1954. Since then, there have been many books in various genres - stories, novels, essays, which have enjoyed constant success and have been reprinted many times, because these books are amazing, filled with surprise and admiration for what he saw on numerous trips .... Then there were many more trips: to the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, the White Sea, Lake Teletskoye of the Altai Mountains, to Buryatia, Lenkoransky and Voronezh reserves, and there were many professions: Snegirev drove with the reindeer herders of Chukotka deer, worked as a huntsman in the Kopetdag nature reserve in southern Turkmenistan - but none of them became a matter of life. Books that were born from oral stories to his friends and comrades in the sports section became a matter of life. An acquaintance, the poetess Veronika Tushnova, took the stories to the radio. There they were immediately taken and put on the air. His first book - "Inhabited Island" - about the fauna of the Pacific Ocean was published in 1954. Since then, there have been many books in various genres - stories, novels, essays, which have enjoyed constant success and have been reprinted many times, because these books are amazing, full of surprise and admiration seen in numerous travels ...

Hungry Bears Hungry Bears In the plague, Chodu's wife began to tell how a hungry man came at night In the plague, Chodu's wife began to tell how a hungry bear came at night, dragged off a deer skin, tore it up and ate it. bear, dragged off the deer skin, tore it up and ate it. The skin was drying very close to the plague, and Chodu's wife was very scared. The skin was drying very close to the plague, and Chodu's wife was very scared, because the bear growled loudly and was not at all afraid of dogs. because the bear growled loudly and was not at all afraid of dogs. Good thing he didn't touch the deer. The bear was hungry, it was very good that he did not touch the deer. The bear was hungry, very hungry! she said. hungry! she said. Chodu began to scold the chipmunks. Chodu began to scold the chipmunks. I did not understand anything: the hungry bear ate the skin, and the fault is I did not understand anything: the hungry bear ate the skin, and the chipmunks are to blame. chipmunks. It turns out that few cedar cones have ripened this year, and even those. The chipmunks stuffed pine nuts on both cheeks and the chipmunk let it down. Chipmunks stuffed pine nuts into both cheeks and dragged them into their closets. There are ten nuts in each kilogram, and these were dragged into their pantries. There are ten nuts in each kilogram, and the chipmunk has several such pantries. The bears will soon have to go to the chipmunk's storerooms for the winter. Bears soon need to go to the den for the winter, but they have not accumulated fat, hungry wander through the taiga. lair, but they have not accumulated fat, hungry roam the taiga. And again, Chodu began to scold the chipmunks, and I found out what the chipmunk had done. And again, Chodu began to scold the chipmunks, and I found out that the chipmunk had stocked up for three years. And I, too, got mad at the greedy chipmunks for having three years worth of supplies. And I, too, got angry at the greedy chipmunks because they stocked up so many nuts, but did not think about other animals. that they stocked up so many nuts, but did not think about other animals.

NORTHERN DEER IN THE MOUNTAINS NORTH DEER IN THE MOUNTAINS We rode horses through the taiga for many days. Either they got stuck in the swamp, or they stumbled on stones and fell. The horses struggled through the thicket, and when we were crossing a mountain river, the horse was knocked down by the current, and I almost drowned. And every time our guide, Tuvan Chodu, said: We would have been in the mountains on reindeer! And I wanted to see the deer as soon as possible: what kind of amazing animals they are without a path through the swamp, they run at a run and do not get stuck, and they swim across the rivers without stopping. For many days we rode through the taiga on horseback. Either they got stuck in the swamp, or they stumbled on stones and fell. The horses struggled through the thicket, and when we were crossing a mountain river, the horse was knocked down by the current, and I almost drowned. And every time our guide, Tuvan Chodu, said: We would have been in the mountains on reindeer! And I wanted to see the deer as soon as possible: what kind of amazing animals they are without a path through the swamp, they run at a run and do not get stuck, and they swim across the rivers without stopping.

PENGUIN BEACH PENGUIN BEACH There is a small island near Antarctica on the African side. It is rocky and covered with ice. And ice floes float around in the cold ocean. There are steep cliffs everywhere, only in one place the coast is low - it is a penguin beach. From the ship we unloaded our things on this beach. The penguins got out of the water, crowded around the boxes. They run around the bags, peck at them and shout loudly, talking to each other: they have never seen such amazing things! One penguin pecked at the bag, tilted his head to one side, stood for a moment, thought, and said something loudly to another penguin. Another penguin also pecked at the bag; they stood together, thought, looked at each other and shouted loudly: “Karr ... Karrr ...” There is a small island near Antarctica on the African side. It is rocky and covered with ice. And ice floes float around in the cold ocean. There are steep cliffs everywhere, only in one place the coast is low - it is a penguin beach. From the ship we unloaded our things on this beach. The penguins got out of the water, crowded around the boxes. They run around the bags, peck at them and shout loudly, talking to each other: they have never seen such amazing things! One penguin pecked at the bag, tilted his head to one side, stood for a moment, thought, and said something loudly to another penguin. Another penguin also pecked at the bag; stood together, thought, looked at each other and shouted loudly: "Karr... Karrr..."

Snegirev Gennady Yakovlevich (March 20, 1933, Moscow - January 14, 2004)
Gennady Yakovlevich Snegirev - Muscovite, born March 20, 1933. His father died in the Stalinist camps, his mother worked as a librarian at the locomotive depot of the October Railway. From childhood, the boy learned what need and hunger are. After elementary school, he studied at a vocational school (there were then such educational institutions where teenagers were taught working professions). But I didn’t even have to finish the vocational school: I had to earn a living.

At the age of thirteen, the future writer began working as a preparator's student at the Department of Ichthyology at Moscow University. And here he met a man who replaced his father - the scientist Vladimir Dmitrievich Lebedev.

Together - a teacher and a student - they treated fish, made excavations on Lake Peipsi, at the place of residence of fish-eating tribes of the Quaternary period, studied fish bones and scales (it turns out that scales, like a cut of a tree, can determine how old a fish is). Once, in the absence of a teacher, a student for the first time brought out a Far Eastern shrimp and an Amur goby fish in an aquarium. Here, at the university, G. Snegirev began boxing (boys need to be able to stand up for themselves), and although he was thin, if not skinny, of small stature, he became the champion of Moscow among junior flyweights. But, apparently, malnutrition and great physical exertion had an effect - at the age of sixteen he had a heart defect. The doctors said: lie down. I lay there for a year, then I decided: it was better to go on an ice voyage, where few people went, and went with an ichthyological detachment on the Vityaz expedition ship in the winter of 1951/52 from Vladivostok through the non-freezing Songar Strait in the Pacific Ocean to the shores of Chukotka. The expedition studied deep-sea fish of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Bering Sea. From the expedition, the young explorer returned healthy. Now he was interested in beavers. For a whole year he caught these amazing animals in the dense swamps of Belarus and transported them in freight cars for acclimatization to the tributary of the Irtysh, the Nazym River. He watched how they settled, live, and later described in the cycle of stories "The Beaver Hut", "The Beaver Watchman", "The Beaver". And when he saw the results of his work, he went on a geological expedition to the Central Sayan Mountains, to Tuva.

In 1964, together with his teacher, now Professor Lebedev, Snegirev went on an extraordinary expedition - on a lifeboat, without a motor, under sail, without a supply of food, having only salt, sugar, a spinning rod for fishing and a carbine for hunting. . For two summers, the travelers made an experimental survival flight along the Siberian Lena River, starting from the headwaters and ending with the delta in the north of the Arctic. The experimenters not only survived, but also studied the ecological changes in the Yakut taiga and the Lena River. The book "On the Cold River" was later written about this journey. Then there were many more trips: to the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, the White Sea, Teletskoye Lake of the Altai Mountains, to Buryatia, Lenkoransky and Voronezh nature reserves, and there were many professions: Snegirev drove reindeer with the reindeer herders of Chukotka, worked as a huntsman in the Kopetdag nature reserve of southern Turkmenistan, - but none of them became a matter of life, just as observations of the animal world did not result in scientific works, which was predicted by colleagues from the university.
Books that were born from oral stories to his friends and comrades in the sports section became a matter of life. An acquaintance, the poetess Veronika Tushnova, took the stories to the radio. There they were immediately taken and put on the air. At the same time, editors from Detgiz were looking for new interesting writers, they were advised to pay attention to G. Snegirev on the radio.

His first book - "Inhabited Island" - about the fauna of the Pacific Ocean was published in 1954. Since then, there have been many books in various genres - stories, novels, essays, which have enjoyed constant success and have been reprinted many times, because these books are amazing, full of surprise and admiration seen in numerous travels ...

Gennady Yakovlevich SNEGIRYOV
wonderful boat
stories
TABLE OF CONTENTS:
wonderful boat
camel mitten
Starling
Guinea pig
Pelican
chrysalis
Elk
Donkey
Prosha
Uka
Bug
Elephant
Zhulka
Wild beast
Boars
Who plants the forest
Bear
restless ponytail
Cedar
Chipmunk
sly chipmunk
Crow
Butterfly in the snow
night bells
beaver guard
beaver lodge
beaver
In the nature reserve
blueberry jam
Lake Azas
top
In the Sayans
Camel dance
spring
Forester Tilan
Sea carp
In Lankaran
Aral
smart porcupine
In Khiva
little monster
Belek
How a sparrow visited Kamchatka
Bear whaler
lampanidus
inhabited island
Octopussy
Octopus
stickleback
Michael
Crustacean sailor
Bear cubs from Kamchatka
For the first time
________________________________________________________________
WONDERFUL BOAT
I was tired of living in the city, and in the spring I went to the village to the familiar fisherman Micah. Mikheev's house stood on the very bank of the Severka River.
A little light Micah sailed away on a boat to fish. There were huge pikes in Severka. They kept all the fish in fear: they came across roaches right from the pike's mouth - the scales on the sides were torn off, as if scratched with a comb.
Every year, Mikhey threatened to go to the city for pike lures, but he could not get himself together.
But one day Micah returned from the river angry, without fish. He silently dragged the boat into the mugs, ordered me not to let the neighbor's guys in, and left for the city for spinners.
I sat down by the window and watched the wagtail running around the boat.
Then the wagtail flew away and the neighbors guys approached the boat: Vitya and his sister Tanya. Vitya examined the boat and began to drag it to the water. Tanya sucked her finger and looked at Vitya. Vitya shouted at her, and together they pushed the boat into the water.
Then I left the house and said that it was impossible to take a boat.
- Why? - asked Vitya.
I didn't know why myself.
“Because,” I said, “this boat is wonderful!”
Tanya took her finger out of her mouth.
- And why is she wonderful?
- We will only swim to the turn and back, - said Vitya.
It was far from the turn of the river, and while the guys were swimming back and forth, I kept coming up with something wonderful and amazing. An hour has passed. The guys came back, but I didn’t come up with anything.
- Well, - Vitya asked, - why is she wonderful? A simple boat, once even aground and flowing!
- Yes, why is she wonderful? Tanya asked.
- Didn't you notice anything? - I said, and I tried to think of something as soon as possible.
“No, they didn’t notice anything,” Vitya said sarcastically.
- Of course, nothing! Tanya said angrily.
So, you didn't notice anything? - I asked loudly, and I myself wanted to get away from the guys.
Vitya fell silent and began to remember. Tanya wrinkled her nose and also began to remember.
“We saw the tracks of a heron in the sand,” Tanya said timidly.
“We also saw how it swims, only the head sticks out of the water,” said Vitya.
Then they remembered that water buckwheat had bloomed, and they also saw a white water lily bud under water. Vitya told how a flock of fry jumped out of the water to escape the pike. And Tanya caught a big snail, and a small snail was still sitting on the snail ...
- Isn't it all wonderful? I asked.
Victor thought and said:
- Wonderful!
Tanya laughed and shouted:
- How wonderful!
CAMEL MITTEN
My mother knitted me mittens, warm, from sheep's wool.
One mitten was already ready, and the second mother only knitted up to half - there was not enough wool for the rest. It’s cold outside, the whole yard is covered with snow, they don’t let me walk without mittens - they are afraid that I will freeze my hands. I’m sitting by the window, watching the tits jump on the birch, quarreling: they probably didn’t share the bug. Mom said:
- Wait until tomorrow: in the morning I'll go to Aunt Dasha, I'll ask for wool.
It’s good for her to say “see you tomorrow” when I want to go for a walk today! Out from the yard, Uncle Fedya, the watchman, comes to us without mittens. And they won't let me.
Uncle Fedya came in, brushed off the snow with a broom and said:
- Maria Ivanovna, they brought firewood on camels. Will you take? Good firewood, birch.
Mom got dressed and went with Uncle Fedya to look at the firewood, and I look out of the window, I want to see the camels when they leave with firewood.
Firewood was unloaded from one cart, the camel was taken out and tied at the fence. Such a big, shaggy one. The humps are high, like hummocks in a swamp, and hang sideways. The whole muzzle of the camel is covered with frost, and he chews something with his lips all the time - probably he wants to spit.
I look at him, and I myself think: “My mother doesn’t have enough wool for mittens - it would be nice to cut the camel’s hair, just a little so that it doesn’t freeze.”
I quickly put on my coat and felt boots. I found scissors in the chest of drawers, in the top drawer, where all sorts of threads and needles are, and went out into the yard. He approached the camel, stroked its side. The camel is nothing but squints suspiciously and chews everything.
I climbed onto the shaft, and from the shaft I sat astride between the humps.
The camel turned to see who was swarming there, but I was scared: suddenly he would spit or throw him to the ground. It's high!
I slowly took out the scissors and began to cut off the front hump, not the whole, but the very top, where there is more wool.
I cut a whole pocket, started cutting from the second hump so that the humps were even. And the camel turned to me, stretched out its neck and sniffs the boots.
I was very frightened: I thought he would bite my leg, but he only licked the felt boots and chewed again.
I trimmed the second hump, went down to the ground and quickly ran into the house. I cut off a piece of bread, salted it and took it to the camel - because he gave me wool. The camel first licked the salt and then ate the bread.
At this time, my mother came, unloaded firewood, took out the second camel, untied mine, and everyone left.
My mother began to scold me at home:
- What are you doing? You'll get cold without a hat!
And I forgot to put on my hat. I took wool out of my pocket and showed my mother - a whole bunch, just like sheep, only red.
Mom was surprised when I told her that it was a camel who gave it to me.
Mom spun thread from this wool. A whole ball turned out, it was enough to finish the mitten and there was still left.
And now I go for a walk in new mittens.
The left one is common, and the right one is camel. She is half red, and when I look at her, I remember a camel.
STARLING
I went for a walk in the forest. It is quiet in the forest, only sometimes you can hear the trees cracking from the frost.
The Christmas trees stand and do not move, there is snow on the branches of the pillow. I kicked the tree with my foot - a whole snowdrift fell on my head. I began to shake off the snow, I look - a girl is coming. Snow is up to her knees. She will rest a little and go again, and she herself looks up at the trees, looking for something.
- Girl, what are you looking for? - I ask.
The girl shuddered and looked at me.
- Nothing, it's that simple!
And she went on. She is small, but the boots are large.
I went out onto the path, I didn’t turn off the path into the forest, otherwise there was snow full of felt boots. I walked a little, my feet were cold. Went home.
On the way back I look - again this girl ahead of me along the path is quietly walking and crying. I caught up with her.
- Why, - I say, - are you crying? Maybe I can help.
She looked at me, wiped away her tears and said:
- Mom aired the room, and Borka, the starling, flew out the window and flew into the forest. Now it will freeze at night!
Why were you silent before?
- I was afraid, - she says, - that you would catch Borka and take it for yourself.
Together with the girl, we began to look for Borka. It is necessary to hurry: it has already become dark, and at night the owl will eat Borka. The girl went one way and I went the other. I examine each tree, there is no Borka anywhere. I wanted to go back, suddenly I hear a girl screaming: "I found it, I found it!" I run up to her, she stands near the Christmas tree and points up:
- Here he is! Freeze, poor guy.
And a starling sits on a branch, fluffed out its feathers and looks at the girl with one eye.
The girl calls him
- Borya, come to me, good one!
And Borya just clung to the Christmas tree and does not want to go. Then I climbed up the tree to catch him.
He just reached the starling, wanted to grab it, but the starling flew over to the girl's shoulder. She was delighted, hid it under her coat.
- And then, - he says, - until I bring it home, it will freeze.
We went home. It was getting dark, and the lights were on in the houses. I ask the girl:
- How long have you had a starling?
- For a long time.
And she walks quickly, afraid that the starling under the coat will freeze. I follow the girl, I try to keep up.
We came to her house, the girl said goodbye to me.
“Goodbye,” she just told me.
I looked at her for a long time, while she was cleaning snow boots on the porch, waiting for the girl to tell me something else. The girl left and closed the door behind her.
CAVY
Behind our garden is a fence. Who lives there, I did not know before. Just recently found out. I caught grasshoppers in the grass, I look - the eye from the hole in the fence is looking at me.
- Who are you? - I ask.
And the eye is silent and keeps looking, spying on me. Looked, looked, and then said:
- I have a guinea pig!
It became interesting to me: I know a simple pig, but I have never seen a sea pig.
- I have, - I say, - the hedgehog was alive. Why a guinea pig?
“I don't know,” he says. She must have lived in the sea before. I put her in a trough, but she is afraid of water, escaped and ran under the table!
I wanted to see a guinea pig.
- And what, - I say, - is your name?
- Seryozha. How about you?
We made friends with him. Seryozha ran after the guinea pig, I look through the hole for him. He was gone for a long time. Seryozha came out of the house, carrying some kind of red rat in his hands.
“Here,” she says, “she didn’t want to go, she will have children soon: and she doesn’t like to be touched on her stomach, growls!”
- And where is her piglet?
Seryozha was surprised:
- What piglet?
- Like what? All pigs have a snout on their nose!
- No, when we bought her, she didn’t have a patch.
I began to ask Seryozha what he feeds the guinea pig.
- She, - she says, - loves carrots, but she also drinks milk.
Seryozha did not have time to tell me everything, he was called home.
The next day I walked near the fence and looked through the hole: I thought Seryozha would come out, take out the pig. And he never came out. It was raining, and, probably, my mother did not let him in. I began to walk in the garden, I look - under the tree something red lies in the grass.
I came closer, and this is Seryozha the guinea pig. I was delighted, but I don’t understand how she burst into our garden. I began to inspect the fence, and there was a hole below. The pig must have crawled through that hole. I took her in my hands, she does not bite, she only sniffs her fingers and sighs. All wet. I brought the pig home. I searched and searched for a carrot, but did not find it. He gave her a cabbage stalk, she ate the stalk and fell asleep under the bed on the rug.
I sit on the floor, look at her and think:
"But what if Seryozha finds out who the pig lives with? No, he won't find out: I won't take it out into the street!"
I went out onto the porch, I hear a car rumble somewhere nearby. I went up to the fence, looked into the hole, and it was in Seryozha’s yard that a truck was standing, things were being loaded onto it. Seryozha fumbles with a stick under the porch - probably looking for a guinea pig. Serezha's mother put pillows in the car and says:
- Seryozha! Get your coat on, let's go!
Seryozha cried:
- No, I won't go until I find a pig! She will have children soon, she probably hid under the house!
I felt sorry for Seryozha, I called him to the fence.
- Seryozha, - I say, - who are you looking for?
- My mumps is gone, and then you still have to leave!
I tell him:
- I have your mumps, she ran into our garden. I'll take it to you now.
- Oh, - he says, - how good! And I thought: where did she go?
I brought him a pig and slipped it under the fence.
Mom is calling Seryozha, the car is already buzzing.
Seryozha grabbed the pig and said to me:
- You know? I will definitely give you when she gives birth to children, a little pig lady. Goodbye!
Seryozha got into the car, his mother covered him with a raincoat, because the rain began to drip.
Seryozha also covered the pig with a cloak. When the car was leaving, Seryozha waved his hand at me and shouted something, I didn’t make out - probably about the pig.
PELICAN
When I was very young, my mother and I went to the zoo. Mom bought me a bun.
- You will, - he says, - feed the animals.
I pinched off pieces from the roll and gave them to all the animals.
The camel ate his piece, sighed and licked my hand - apparently, he didn’t eat enough; but I didn’t give him any more: the other animals wouldn’t have enough then.
I threw a piece to the bear, and he lies in the corner and does not notice the rolls. I shout to him:
- Bear, eat!
And he turned over on the other side, as if he did not hear.
I gave the whole bun to the animals, there was only one crust left.
Mom says:
- Let's go home, the animals are already tired, they want to sleep.
We went to the exit.
- Mom, - I say, - there is still a crust left, you need to give it to the pelicans.
And pelicans live on the lake.
Mom says:
- Well, hurry up, I'll wait for you here.
I ran to the pelicans, and they are already sleeping. They crowded on the shore and hid their heads under their wings.
Only one pelican does not sleep, stands near a tree and washes before going to bed: it cleans its feathers. The beak is large, and the eyes are small and cunning.
I slipped him a crust through the bars.
- Hurry, - I shout, - eat, otherwise my mother is waiting for me!
The pelican stopped washing, looked at the humpback, slowly approached me and pecked!
Before I had time to pull my hand away, he grabbed it, along with the crust.
I screamed, and he released his hand, raised his beak up and swallowed the crust.
I looked at my hand, and there was a scratch on it. This pelican scratched his hand, he wanted to swallow it along with the pink salmon.
- Why are you standing there, go quickly! - Mom calls me.
And the pelican hid behind a tree.
Mom asks me:
- Did you give the bun to the pelican?
“I gave it,” I say.
- What do you keep in your pocket?
- Nothing, never mind.
And I hid the scratched hand in my pocket so that my mother would not see it.
We came home. Mom never noticed that the pelican bit me, but I don’t tell my mother about it - I’m afraid, what if she will scold the pelican so that she doesn’t peck in vain.
PUPPET
One day I was walking in the forest. It was quiet, only a woodpecker was pecking a tree somewhere far away and tits were squeaking. And the grass and branches on the trees were white with frost. The water in the river was black. I stood on the shore, watched the white snowflakes melt in the black water, and thought: “Where are the fish now? And the bat? And the butterflies? The fish are sitting in the pits at the bottom. Bat sleeping somewhere in a hollow. But butterflies in winter cannot sleep: they are small and tender, they will freeze immediately. "And I began to look for butterflies. Let them not live, but which died from the cold. And I looked in the grass. I searched in a bump, there are no dead butterflies anywhere.
Under the pines, in the moss, there was a mushroom, all shriveled. I began to dig it out and in the ground I found a brown, like a knot, chrysalis. She just doesn't look like a bitch. It looks like a butterfly without wings, without legs and hard.
At home, I showed the doll to my father. He asked where I found it. I said under the pine.
- This is a pine silkworm chrysalis, - said the father.
I asked:
Is she completely dead?
- No, not at all. She was alive, now she's dead, but in the spring... you'll see.
I was very surprised: "She was alive, now she is dead, and in the spring ... Do the dead come to life?"
I put the doll in a matchbox, and hid the box under the bed and forgot about it.
In the spring, when the snow melted and the forest turned green, I woke up in the morning and heard someone rustling under the bed. I thought mouse. I looked under the bed, there was no mouse there, only a matchbox was lying around. In the box, someone rustles, rustles. I opened the box. A golden butterfly, like a pine scale, flew out of it. I didn't even get to catch it. I didn't understand where she came from. After all, in the box was a dead doll, hard as a knot.
The butterfly flew out the window and flew to the pine trees on the river bank. Birds sang in the forest, there was a smell of grass, a rooster crowed, and I looked at an empty matchbox and thought: "She was dead, dead!"
ELK
In the spring I was at the zoo. The peacocks screamed. The watchman drove the hippopotamus into his house with a broom. The bear on its hind legs begged for pieces. The elephant stamped his foot. The camel molted and, they say, even spat at one girl, but I didn’t see it.
I was about to leave when I noticed a moose.
He stood motionless on a hill, far from the bars. The trees were black and wet. The leaves on these trees have not yet blossomed. The elk among the black trees, on long legs, was so strange and beautiful.
And I wanted to see the moose in the wild. I knew that elk can only be found in the forest. The next day I went out of town.
The train stopped at a small station. There was a path behind the switchman's booth. It led straight into the forest. It was wet in the forest, but the leaves on the trees had already blossomed. Grass grew on the mounds.
I walked along the path very quietly. It seemed to me that the elk was somewhere close, and I was afraid.
And suddenly in the silence I heard: shadow-shadow-shadow, ping-ping-shadow...
Yes, it's not a drop at all; a small bird sat on a birch and sang as loudly as water falls on an ice floe. The bird saw me and flew away, I did not even have time to see it.
I was very sorry that I had frightened her away, but again, somewhere far away in the forest, she began to sing and shade.
I sat down on a stump and began to listen to her. There was a forest puddle near the stump. The sun illuminated it, and one could see how some kind of spider with a silver belly was swarming at the bottom. And as soon as I carefully looked at the spider, when suddenly a water strider beetle on its thin legs, as if on skates, quickly glided through the water. He caught up with another water strider, and together they rode away from me. And the spider went up, took air on the shaggy belly and slowly sank to the bottom. There he had a bell tied to a blade of grass. The spider pawed the air from the abdomen under the bell. The bell swayed, but the web held it back, and I saw a balloon in it. This is a silver spider with such a house under water, and the spiders live there, so he brings them air. Not a single bird will reach them.
And then I heard someone fussing and rustling behind the stump on which I was sitting. I quietly looked in that direction with one eye. I see a mouse with a yellow neck sitting and tearing off dry moss from a stump. She grabbed a patch of moss and ran away. She will lay moss in the hole for the mice. The earth is still damp.
Behind the forest, the locomotive hummed, it's time to go home. Yes, and I'm tired of sitting quietly, not moving.
When I approached the station, I suddenly remembered: after all, I never saw an elk!
Well, let it be, but I saw a silver spider, and a yellow-throated mouse, and a water strider, and heard how the Chiffchaff sings. Aren't they as interesting as moose?
DONKEY
As a child, I read in some book that the guys had their own donkey. They fed him and rode him wherever they wanted. And since then I only dreamed of my donkey, I even saved up money to buy it.
When acquaintances came to us, drank tea and talked with my mother about their adult affairs, I always asked: how much does a donkey cost, what do they feed him, can he live with us in Moscow, what if he doesn’t like the snow? Everyone laughed, and my mother put me to bed early.
Now I have become big and recently traveled to Tajikistan. I lived in a village. The host where I was staying had a donkey, gray and small. The donkey stood near the barn and waved away the flies with its tail.
I really wanted to ride on it. The owner allowed me
- How much you want to ride, just take a stick.
I did not take the stick and regretted it. The donkey stopped all the time, roared and did not go further. I begged him and pushed him from behind - he still stands in one place. And then suddenly he quickly ran, I firmly grabbed the mane.
He drove me to the middle of the stream and stopped. The water in the stream is icy, far from the shore, and then I regretted that I did not have a stick.
I no longer called him a donkey, but scolded him at random. It's good that the owner got tired of waiting for me. He came to the stream, broke the rod, and we drove back quickly. The owner laughed at me. I didn't know the donkey was so stubborn. After all, in the book they talked about an obedient donkey, and it was a long-eared, stubborn donkey, not at all the one for which I saved money in childhood.
PROSHA
One boy, his name was Prosha, did not like to go to Kindergarten. Mom takes him to kindergarten in the morning, and Prosha asks:
- Why are you leading me?
Mom says:
"Because you're the only one who gets lost!"
- No, I'm not mistaken!
- No, you'll get lost!
Prosha argued with his mother every day. One morning his mother says to him:
- Go alone to kindergarten!
Prosha was delighted and went alone, without his mother. And my mother walked along the other side of the street and looked - where would he go? Prosha did not see his mother. He walked a little down the street, stopped and looked out the window. He loved to look into other people's windows.
There was a dog in that window. She saw Prosha and began to bark. And Prosha was not at all afraid of the dog. True, he was afraid, but a little: he knew that the dog was behind glass!
Prosha became more and more brave. At first he showed the dog his tongue, and then he began to throw stones. The dog was angry with him. She wanted to bite him, but the glass wouldn't let her in. Someone called the dog. She wagged her tail and jumped into the room.
Prosha stood by the window and waited. And suddenly he sees: the door opens, this dog comes out and with it a girl. She took her on a chain for a walk.
Prosha wanted to run - his legs do not move from fear. Wanted to scream too can not!
And the dog saw Ask and how it growls, bared its teeth!
The girl holds the dog with all her might and shouts: Please:
- Run! Run!
Prosha covered his face with his hands and roared:
- I won't do it again! I won't tease!
Then Prosha's mother ran up, took him in her arms, and they quickly went to kindergarten.
UCA
I went to the swamp to collect cranberries. I scored half a basket, and the sun was already low: it was peeking out from behind the forest, it was about to disappear.
My back was a little tired, I straightened up, I looked - a heron flew by. Probably sleep. She has been living in the swamp for a long time, I always see her when she flies by.
The sun has already set, but it is still light, the sky in that place is red-red. It is quiet around, only someone is shouting in the reeds, not very loud, but heard far away: "Uk!" Wait a little and again: "Uk!"
Who is this? I've heard this scream before, but I didn't pay attention. And now I was somehow curious: maybe this is the heron screaming like that?
I began to walk near this place, where the cry is heard. Close to screaming, but no one is there. It will be dark soon. Time to go home. Only a little passed - and suddenly the screaming stopped, you can't hear it anymore.
"Aha, - I think, - so here!" I hid, I stand quietly, quietly, so as not to frighten. He stood for a long time, finally on a hummock, very close, he answered: "Uk!" - and again silence.
I sat down to get a better look, I look - the frog is sitting and not moving. Little at all, but screaming so loud!
I caught her, I hold her in my hand, but she doesn’t even break out. Her back is gray, and her belly is red-red, like the sky above the forest, where the sun has set. I put it in my pocket, took a basket of cranberries and went home. Lights were turned on in our windows. Probably sat down to dinner.
I came home, my grandfather asked me:
- Where did you go?
- I caught a pole.
He does not understand.
- What, - he says, - for such a trick?
I reached into my pocket to show it, but the pocket was empty, only a little wet. "Oh, - I think, - a nasty uka! I wanted to show her grandfather, but she ran away!"
- Grandfather, - I say, - well, you know, such a thing - she always screams in the swamp in the evening, with a red stomach.
Grandpa doesn't understand.
“Sit down,” he says, “eat and go to bed, we’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
I got up in the morning and walked around all day, thinking about Uka: did she return to the swamp or not?
In the evening I went again to the same place where I caught the uku. He stood for a long time, listening to everything: would he scream.
Finally quietly: "Uk!" She screamed somewhere behind her and started screaming again. I searched and searched and couldn't find it. You come closer - it is silent. You walk away - it starts again. She probably hid under a hummock.
I got tired of looking for her, I went home.
But now I know who in the swamp screeches so loudly in the evening. It's not a heron, but a little bitch with a red belly.
BEETLE
I have a sister, Galya, she is a year younger than me, and such a crybaby, I must definitely yield everything to her. Mom will give something tasty, Galya will eat hers and ask me for more. If you don't, he starts crying. She only thought of herself, but I weaned her from this.
I once went for water. Mom is at work, I had to bring water myself. Scooped up half a bucket. It was slippery around the well, the whole earth was icy, I could hardly drag the bucket to the house. I put it on a bench, I look, and a swimming beetle swims in it, a big one, with furry legs. I took the bucket out into the yard, poured water into a snowdrift, and caught the beetle and put it in a jar of water. The beetle in the jar is spinning, can't get used to it.
I went again to fetch water, brought pure water Nothing happened this time. I undressed and wanted to see the beetle, but there was no jar on the window.
I ask Gali:
- Galya, did you take the beetle?
- Yes, - he says, - I, let him live in my room.
- Why, - I say, - in yours, let the beetle be common!
I take a jar from her room and put it on the window: I also want to look at the beetle.
Galya cried and said:
- I'll tell my mother how you took the beetle from me!
She ran to the window, grabbed a jar, even splashed water on the floor and put it back into her room.
I got angry.
- No, - I say, - my beetle, I caught it! - I took the jar and put it back on the window.
Galya began to roar as she began to dress.
- I, - he says, - will go to the steppe and freeze there because of you.
"Well, - I think, - and let it be!" It is always like this: if you don’t give something, then it immediately starts to scare that it will freeze in the steppe.
She slammed the door and left. I watch from the window what she will do, and she goes straight to the steppe, only quietly, quietly, waiting for me to run after her. "No, - I think, - you won't wait, that's enough, I ran after you!"

GENNADY YAKOVLEVICH SNEGIRYOV

Life dates: March 20, 1933 - January 14, 2004
Place of Birth : Moscow city
Russian Soviet writer
Notable works : "Inhabited Island", "About Deer", "About Penguins", "In the Reserve", "First Sun", "Beaver Hut"

Gennady Yakovlevich Snegirev - Muscovite, born March 20, 1933. His father died in the Stalinist camps, his mother worked as a librarian at the locomotive depot of the October Railway. From childhood, the boy learned what need and hunger are. After elementary school, he studied at a vocational school (there were then such educational institutions where teenagers were taught working professions). But I didn’t even have to finish the vocational school: I had to earn a living.
At the age of thirteen, the future writer began working as a preparator's student at the Department of Ichthyology at Moscow University. And here he met a man who replaced his father - the scientist Vladimir Dmitrievich Lebedev.
Together - a teacher and a student - they treated fish, made excavations on Lake Peipsi, at the place of residence of fish-eating tribes of the Quaternary period, studied fish bones and scales (it turns out that scales, like a cut of a tree, can determine how old a fish is).
Here, at the university, G. Snegirev began to box, although he was thin, if not skinny, of small stature, he became the champion of Moscow among junior flyweights. But, apparently, malnutrition and great physical exertion had an effect - at the age of sixteen he had a heart defect. The doctors said: lie down. I lay there for a year, then I decided: it’s better to go on an ice voyage, where few people went, and went with an ichthyological detachment on the Vityaz expedition ship in the winter of 1951 from Vladivostok through the non-freezing Songar Strait in the Pacific Ocean to the shores of Chukotka. From the expedition, the young explorer returned healthy. Now he was interested in beavers. For a whole year he caught these amazing animals in the dense swamps of Belarus and transported them in freight cars for acclimatization to the tributary of the Irtysh, the Nazym River. He watched how they settled, live, and later described in the cycle of stories "The Beaver Hut", "The Beaver Watchman", "The Beaver". And when he saw the results of his work, he went on a geological expedition to the Central Sayan Mountains, to Tuva.
In 1964, together with his teacher, now Professor Lebedev, Snegirev went on an extraordinary expedition - on a lifeboat, without a motor, under sail, without a supply of food, having only salt, sugar, a spinning rod for fishing and a carbine for hunting. . For two summers, the travelers made an experimental survival flight along the Siberian Lena River, starting from the headwaters and ending with the delta in the north of the Arctic. The experimenters not only survived, but also studied the ecological changes in the Yakut taiga and the Lena River. The book "On the Cold River" was later written about this journey.
Then there were many more trips: to the Kuril Islands, Kamchatka, the White Sea, Teletskoye Lake of the Altai Mountains, to Buryatia, Lenkoransky and Voronezh nature reserves, and there were many professions: Snegirev drove reindeer with the reindeer herders of Chukotka, worked as a huntsman in the Kopetdag nature reserve of southern Turkmenistan, - but none of them became a matter of life, just as observations of the animal world did not result in scientific works, which was predicted by colleagues from the university.
Books that were born from oral stories to his friends and comrades in the sports section became a matter of life. An acquaintance, the poetess Veronika Tushnova, took the stories to the radio. There they were immediately taken and put on the air. At the same time, editors from Detgiz were looking for new interesting writers, they were advised to pay attention to G. Snegirev on the radio.
His first book - "Inhabited Island" - about the fauna of the Pacific Ocean was published in 1954. Since then, there have been many books in various genres - stories, novels, essays, which have enjoyed constant success and have been reprinted many times, because these books are amazing, full of surprise and admiration seen in numerous travels ...

GENNADY YAKOVLEVICH SNEGIRYOV

Gennady Snegirev is considered a naturalist, a master of cognitive literature. In fact, he is a real poet, only he writes his poems in prose. There are no works in our children's literature of such crystal purity and touching transparency as Snegiryov's. He was able to use simple means, briefly, without deliberate prettiness to create such an unusual and memorable picture that you see far into the depths, much more than what has been said.
Gennady Snegirev was born in Moscow, on Chistye Prudy. The child, apparently, was unusual, as they used to say, "difficult" - he finished three classes, but "they counted me four, if only I left the evening school." During the evacuation he was a shepherd. There, near Chapaevsk, he forever remembered the beauty of the Volga steppe.
Returning to Moscow, he accidentally got a job at the Department of Ichthyology of Moscow State University. There he received an education - communicating with the old intellectuals, scientists, sages, experts in everything in the world. Among them was Professor Lebedev, the famous polar pilot, Hero of the Soviet Union, an outstanding personality. “Somehow I was traveling with him without a ticket, he put a mattress on me, and he lay down on it,” Snegiryov recalled with delight. Do not get lost, do not despair, look for a way out of any situation - these lessons came in handy for the young man very soon. He was engaged in boxing, and once he went to the fight with a sore throat, after which he received a serious complication in his heart. I lay in bed for two years, then I got up, I decided: “pan or disappear” - either I will recover or I will die. He took a job as a laboratory assistant on the Vityaz, a research vessel that was sent to study the deep-sea fish of the Kuril-Kamchatka depression. The disease receded, and numerous impressions from this and other travels soon became books for children. Among them are "Inhabited Island", "Beaver Hut", "Pinagor", "Kachurka", "Lampanidus", "Smart Porcupine", "Cunning Chipmunk", "Little Monster" and others.
In stories about an old hunting dog, about her amusing friendship-enmity with a little boy, the characters of the main characters are drawn with short strokes. Here is Chembulak, a smart dog, a hunting professional: “Chembulak, as soon as he sees a gun, immediately starts walking around his grandfather and shows his teeth.
This is how he smiles.
Grandfather is cleaning his gun, and Chembulak is always smiling, because he is always taken hunting, but I am not.”
Also, according to one expressive detail, you can get an idea of ​​the character of the protagonist, a brave and inquisitive boy:“I helped my grandfather pack things into a bag. First we put a blanket, then millet, and on top - a saucepan and a kettle. Grandfather put bread in a saucepan, and salt and an iron jar with matches in a teapot.
I asked why the matches were in the jar.
Grandpa said:
- If the bag falls into the river, everything will get wet, and the matches will be dry. You can light a fire and dry everything.
- Grandpa, are we going to fall into the river too?
Grandfather thought and said that we, too, can fall into the river. Twhen I wanted to hunt even more.”
The relationship between the boy and the dog does not just develop, the hero understands that friendship must be earned, and in the end they become friends.
Each new encounter with animals and birds gives the child hero new knowledge and impressions. He saw a camel - he wanted to borrow wool from him for mittens, but it's scary: the camel is “such a big, shaggy one. The humps are high, like hummocks in a swamp, and hang sideways. The whole muzzle of the camel is covered with frost, and he chews something with his lips all the time - he probably wants to spit. The boy overcame fear, climbed onto the camel and carefully cut off a little wool - trimmed both humps. Then he thanked the camel by bringing him bread and salt. And he got a new mitten - half red. “And when I look at her, I remember a camel,” the boy ends the story with a feeling of warmth.
Meetings with the inhabitants of the animal kingdom are unexpected, and the words that the author finds for them are also unexpected. I saw a frog in the swamp: “It’s quite small, but it screams so loudly! I caught her, I hold her in my hand, but she doesn’t even break out. Her back is gray, and her belly is red-red, like the sky above the forest where the sun has set.
The writer believes: "In order to write for children, and for adults, you need to know life very well and have an ear for the language."
Korf, O.B. Children about writers. XX century. From A to Z / O.B. Korf.- M.: Sagittarius, 2006.- S.32-33., ill.

I met him at Murzilka almost forty years ago. For almost forty years I have been listening to this incomparable storyteller, for almost forty years I have experienced difficult happiness, drawing illustrations for his books.
Snegiryov is an experienced person. He sailed as a sailor on the scientific ship Vityaz, sailed the Siberian Lena River on a boat, participated in many expeditions. He had to ride a reindeer, a horse, a donkey, a camel, a yak. He saw and experienced a lot - in the sea, in the taiga, in the tundra, in the steppe. But in order to turn the impressions accumulated during travels into literary work, you need to be Prishvin or Bianchi - or Snegirev. Since Snegiryov has not yet written about nature, Paustovsky said. He writes very responsibly, very capaciously. There are few words, but each is used in such a way that neither subtract nor add, so the prose of this writer fascinates like music.
Many remarkable artists illustrated Snegirev's books and, above all, of course, Mai Petrovich Miturich, who was with him on Far East, and in the Siberian taiga, and in Central Asia. I am grateful to fate that I also had to draw quite a lot for the stories of Gennady Yakovlevich. I had to go with him on an unforgettable trip to Turkmenistan, where the red earth, thickets of pistachios, goitered gazelles, porcupines, the cry of jackals at night ... And the stars are huge!
Snegiryov writes how beautiful and powerful nature is, and how, in essence, it is fragile and defenseless, how it should be protected.
“Admire nature, but do not harm it! Use her gifts, but take care of her." he tells his readers.

Nikolay Ustinov, folk artist Russia