"Bezhin Meadow" - a story by I. S. Turgenev, included in the collection "Notes of a Hunter". During the creation of this, he spent a lot of time in the village. His main interlocutors were hunters, who were very different from the rest of the villagers. It was these stories, as well as the amazing nature, that served as inspiration for the creation of the "Hunter's Notes" cycle. The story "Bezhin Meadow" is a small work, replete with descriptions of beautiful and serene Russian landscapes.

The story begins with the fact that one warm July day, the hunter is lost in the forest. For a long time he wanders along unknown paths, but he still cannot find his way home. Already completely desperate and almost falling into a cliff, the hunter suddenly notices a fire. Out of nowhere, two big dogs run out to meet him, barking, followed by the village boys. The hunter learns that the guys came at night to graze the horses, because during the day the animals are haunted by insects and heat.

Sitting modestly under a bush next to the fire, the traveler pretends to be asleep, although in fact he is watching the boys. The hunter does not want to embarrass them, and therefore does not show that he sees and hears everything. The guys, having relaxed a little, resume the interrupted communication. The Bezhin Meadow rings and shimmers with their voices.

characteristics of boys. Appearance features

There are five guys around the fire: Fedya, Pavlusha, Vanya, Kostya and Ilyusha. Bezhin meadow - this is the name of the place where they drove the horses to graze. Fedya is the oldest in appearance, he is about 14 years old. At first glance, the hunter understands that the boy is from a rich family, and that he came with the guys not out of need, but for fun. This can be seen in his manner of communication, neat new clothes and fine facial features.

The second boy is Pavlusha. Behind his external unattractiveness lies an amazing strength of character. The boy immediately arouses great sympathy in the hunter. Despite the fact that he is only twelve years old, Paul behaves like the most adult. He reassures the boys when something frightens them, prudence and courage can be traced in his every word. The story "Bezhin Meadow" is a work in which Turgenev describes with special love ordinary peasant children, each of whom represents the future of the country.

Ilyusha is the same age as Pavlusha. He has an unremarkable face, on which lies the imprint of painful concern for something. It is Ilyusha who tells the most stories, he is distinguished by his ability to convey the essence of what happened well and fascinatingly. The work "Bezhin Meadow" consists of such stories. The characteristics of the boys given in the story emphasize the individuality of each narrator.

Kostya is a boy with attentive and sad eyes. His freckled face is decorated with huge black eyes, shining with an incomprehensible brilliance, as if he wants to say something important, but cannot. He is about ten years old.

The last boy, the youngest, Vanya. At first, the hunter does not even notice him, as the child lies, covered with a matting head. He is a seven year old boy with curly hair. He does not tell a single story, but the author admires his childish purity of thinking.

Each of the guys does their own thing and at the same time conducts a conversation. Silence echoes them Bezhin meadow. The stories of the boys are of great interest to the hunter, so he does his best to pretend that he is sleeping.

Brownie

Ilyusha is the first to start his story. He says that he heard the brownie when he and the guys stayed overnight on the roll after work. The spirit rustled, rustled over the heads of the guys, coughed and disappeared.

Mermaid

The next case that Kostya heard from his father. Once Gavrila, a carpenter, went into the forest and met a beautiful mermaid there. For a long time she called Gavrila, but he did not give in. And when he felt that there was no more strength left to resist, he signed himself with the banner of the cross. The mermaid cried and said that he, too, would shed tears with her all his life. After that, no one saw the carpenter cheerful again. Turgenev ("Bezhin Meadow"), as it were, puts the stories of the boys into one big story hunter.

Drowned

Ilyusha tells about the kennel Yermil, who, returning home late, saw a little lamb on the grave of a drowned man. He took it for himself, but it turned out that it was the soul of the deceased who moved into the animal.

Suddenly the dogs jump out of their seats and rush into the darkness. Pavlusha, without hesitation, runs after them to check what's wrong. It seems to him that the wolf has crept too close to them. It turned out that this was not the case. The hunter involuntarily admired the boy, he was so handsome and brave at that moment. With special love draws the image of Pavlusha Turgenev. "Bezhin Meadow" is a story that, although it ends on a minor note, still glorifies the victory of good over evil.

Restless master

Ilyusha continues his story with rumors about the deceased master. Once his grandfather Trofim met him and asked what he was looking for. The dead man replied that he needed a gap-grass. It means that the master lived too little, he wanted to escape from the grave.

Vestibule

Further, Ilyusha talks about the fact that in you can meet those who should die soon. Grandmother Ulyana first saw the boy Ivashka, who soon after drowned, and then herself. Strange and sometimes terrible images are caused by Bezhin Meadow. The stories of the boys are real evidence of this.

Antichrist

Pavlusha picks up the conversation with his story about a solar eclipse. In their village, there was a saying that at the moment when the sun closes in the sky, Trishka will come. This will be an unusual and crafty person who will begin to tempt all believing Christians with sin.

Goblin and water

Next in line is a story from Ilyusha. He tells how a goblin led one village peasant through the forest, and he barely fought him off. This story smoothly flows into the story of the merman. Once upon a time there was a girl Akulina, she was very beautiful. After she was attacked by a merman, she became. Now Akulina walks all black, in torn clothes and laughs for no reason.

The water one also destroys the local boy Vasya. His mother, anticipating trouble from the water, with great excitement lets him go for a swim. However, he still cannot save him. The boy is drowning.

The fate of Pavlusha

At this time, Pavel decides to go down to the river to get water. He returns excited. When asked by the guys, he replies that he heard Vasya's voice, that he called him to him. The boys are baptized, they say it Bad sign. It was not for nothing that Bezhin Meadow spoke to him. The characterization of the boys reveals each individual image, painting children in a veiled way.

Morning and homecoming

Waking up early in the morning, the hunter decides it's time to go home. He silently gathers himself and walks over to the sleeping boys. Everyone is asleep, only Pavlusha raises his head and looks at him. The hunter nods his head at the boy and leaves. Says goodbye to him Bezhin meadow. Characterization of boys requires special attention. After you finish reading, you should review it again.

The story ends with the words that Paul subsequently dies. The boy does not drown, as the stories of the boys predict him, he falls from the horse and breaks to death.

On a beautiful July day, I hunted black grouse in the Chernsky district of the Tula province. It was already evening when I decided to return home. I climbed the hill and instead of the familiar places I saw a narrow valley, against which a dense aspen forest rose like a wall. I went along the aspen forest, rounded the hillock and found myself in a hollow. It looked like a cauldron with sloping sides, at the bottom of it stood several large white stones - it seemed that they had slipped there for a secret meeting. It was so quiet and depressing in the valley that my heart sank.

I realized that I was completely lost and decided to follow the stars. Suddenly I saw a huge plain below me, which was skirted by a wide river. Directly below me in the darkness two fires were burning and smoking. I realized that I went to Bezhin Meadow. My legs gave way from fatigue. I went down to the fires and found there the children who led the horses into the night.

I lay down and began to watch the boys. From conversations, I understood that their names were Fedya, Pavlusha, Ilyusha, Kostya and Vanya. The eldest of them, Fedya, was 14 years old. He was slender, a handsome boy, who, judging by the clothes, belonged to a wealthy family. Pavlusha had an unsightly appearance, but his eyes were smart and direct, and his voice sounded strong. Ilyusha's hook-nosed, elongated and blind-sighted face expressed dull solicitude. Both he and Pavlusha were no more than 12 years old. Kostya, a small, frail boy of about 10, struck me with a thoughtful and sad look. Vanya, who crouched on the sidelines, was only 7 years old.

I pretended to be asleep and the boys continued talking. Ilyusha began to talk about how he had to spend the night with a group of guys at a paper factory. Suddenly, someone stomped upstairs, then began to descend the stairs, approached the door. The door swung open, and behind it - no one. And then suddenly someone coughs. Frightened the brownie boys.

Kostya began a new story. Once the carpenter Gavrila went into the forest for nuts and got lost. It got dark. Gavrila sat down under a tree and dozed off. He woke up because someone was calling him. Gavrila looks - and a mermaid sits on a tree, calls him to her and laughs. Gavrila took it and crossed himself. The mermaid stopped laughing and began to cry plaintively. Gavrila asked why she was crying. She cries because Gavrila crossed herself - the mermaid answered. If he had not been baptized, he would have lived happily with her, and now he will cry until the end of his days. Since then, Gavrila has been walking sadly.

A long-drawn-out sound was heard in the distance, and thin laughter echoed in the forest. The boys shuddered and crossed themselves. Ilyusha told a story that happened on a broken dam, an unclean place. A long time ago, a drowned man was buried there. Once the clerk sent the kennel Yermila to the post office. He returned through the dam late at night. Suddenly Yermil sees: a little white lamb is sitting on the grave of a drowned man. Yermil decided to take him with him. The lamb does not escape from the hands, it only looks intently into the eyes. Yermil became terribly, he strokes the lamb and says: “Byasha, byasha!”. And the lamb bared his teeth, and answers him: “Byasha, byasha!”.

Suddenly the dogs barked and ran away. Pavlusha rushed after them. Soon he returned and said that the dogs had smelled the wolf. I marveled at the boy's courage. Ilyusha, meanwhile, told about how they met the late master in an unclean place, who was looking for a gap-grass - the grave pressed on him very much. Next story was about Baba Ulyana, who went to parent Saturday at night on the porch to find out who will die this year. Looks - a woman is walking; looked closely - and this is herself, Ulyana. Then Ilyusha told the belief about the amazing man Trishka, who will come at the time solar eclipse.

After a short silence, the boys began to discuss how the goblin differs from the water one. Kostya told about the boy who was dragged under the water by the merman. The guys fell asleep only at dawn. In the same year, Paul was killed by falling from a horse.

The 19th century gave Russian society many celebrities who went down in history, significantly replenished and enriched cultural heritage. Among the entire galaxy of these wonderful people worth highlighting. Literally from the first lines of his works, one can understand how much the author is in love with native nature, appreciates spiritual beauty ordinary people. And shortest content The story "Bezhin Meadow" fully confirms this.

Connoisseurs of Russian literature know about the cycle of stories by I.S. Turgenev's "Notes of a Hunter", which managed to be born as a result of the acquaintance of the author of the story "Bezhin Meadow" with the critic V.G. Belinsky.

In 1845, Turgenev spent the whole summer in a Russian village, where most Leisure time he devoted to hunting and conversations with villagers, most often with children.

After 5 years in St. Petersburg, the Russian classic presented the 8th story "Bezhin Meadow" from the cycle "Notes of a Hunter" to the readers. The role of nature in the story is great and allows the reader to enjoy vivid pictures.

The first publication was in the then popular magazine Sovremennik. In its final form, the collection at the time of 1874 already included 25 stories.

Note! This is how A. I. Nezelenov spoke about the writer: “Turgenev is a great painter of nature, and all his essays folk life, as in a beautiful frame, are inserted into her artistic and living descriptions.

Brief description of the heroes

In July, the weather was excellent, tempted by which the narrator went hunting for black grouse. Having shot a lot of game, the hunter decided to return home, but through the gathering twilight he noticed an unfamiliar aspen forest around him.

The man decided to get out of unfamiliar places and walked first to the left a mile and then to the right. So, together with the dog Dianka, the hunter went to the cliff of the hill, from which, in the valley surrounded by the river, he could see two kindled fires and people around them.

The locals called this plain "Bezhin Meadow". Around the fire, to which the hunter approached, sat five children. The children went out into the night to graze the horses and whiled away the time by the fire. The hunter asked for a lodging for the night, and, pretending to be asleep, began to quietly watch the boys and listen to their terrible stories.

The company consisted of:

• Pavlushi
• Elijah;
• Fyodor;
• Ivan;
• Bones.

The attentive author of the story "Bezhin Meadow" very accurately described the appearance of the guys, allowing the reader to unravel the main character traits inherent in the heroes of the work. It is clearly seen how positively Ivan Sergeevich himself treats the village kids, who amaze him with their spontaneity, diligence and sincerity.

Characteristics of Pavlusha

This guy cannot boast of external beauty, but his voice and gestures give out a strong character in him.

The condition of the clothes confirms that his family lives in poverty.

Patches on pants, skills in cooking, knowledge in the field of birds, animals and fish allow us to conclude that the guy had to grow up early.

A manifestation of his courage was an act when he set off in search of a wolf with one twig. Prefers to treat what is happening with fatalism.

Description of Ilya

Ilyusha appeared before the hunter in a different way. Unusual was his face, on which his nose with a hump was located, and his expression froze. constant anxiety and anxiety.

Presumably, the guy was 12 years old. Tightly compressed lips rarely parted. The eyes were narrowed, and the eyebrows were shifted at the bridge of the nose.

Ilya worked at a paper mill with his brother. Was disposed to believe in everything folk examples and beliefs, to which Pavlusha was condescending.

Characteristics of Fedor

From the first lines of Fedi's description, it becomes clear that the guy is different from the children around him in everything. He turned 14 years old. The guy's facial features are thin, beautiful, betraying his noble origin. Curly hair, light-colored eyes and a wandering smile on her lips.

High-quality expensive clothes, confident and dignified behavior betrayed in him a native of a wealthy family. At night, he got out for the sake of interest and fun, and not for the purpose of earning.

Characteristics of Ivan

Quotes from the author of the work “Bezhin Meadow” help to accurately imagine the image of Ivan: “he lay on the ground, quietly crouched under the angular matting, and only occasionally put his fair-haired curly head out from under it. This boy was only seven years old.

Ivan is 7 years old, which explains his tendency to sleep, and not to talk, which the guys took most of the time. But even a short comparison of night stars with magic bees, which Ivan made, allows us to judge him as a sensitive and inquisitive boy.

Description Dice

Kostya's small and pointed face looked very much like the cute muzzle of a squirrel. Black eyes in a freckled face were very noticeable. Despite being 10 years old, the boy was no different tall and dense physique. Even his voice was thin. The clothes were tattered and worn. The boy's character was cowardly, and he looked thoughtful. But, even in fear, Ilyusha still went with the guys at night.

Useful video: a summary of "Bezhin Meadow"

The further content of Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev's story "Bezhin Meadow" is rather difficult to perform briefly. The guys begin to tell horror stories, cooking potatoes in a pot. Fyodor asked Pavel with lively interest if he had seen the brownie. He replied that no. Immediately, Ilya told how once having spent the night at the factory, they happened to hear something unusual, which was very much like a brownie.

Kostya, in turn, told the story of the carpenter Gavril, who happened to meet a mermaid sitting among the branches on a nut hunt in the forest. An unusual creature spoke to Gavrila, who, out of fear, began to cross himself. The mermaid changed her laughter to crying. And when the carpenter asked what had happened, she replied that they could not live together now, and that she would not have to cry alone, Gavrila himself would keep her company. Since then, the man walks gloomy.

Then the guys had dinner with potatoes and continued the conversation about scary characters. The next story was about a broken dam, where a drowned man was buried long ago.

Houndmaster Yermil had a chance to complete the task and keep drunk Return trip through bad place dams.

On the grave of the drowned man, he saw a lamb, which he took with him. The peasant noticed that the lamb was staring at him intently, stroked him, saying "byasha, byasha." And in response, the grinning muzzle of the lamb said: "byasha, byasha."

Immediately after these words, the children's dogs with loud barking broke out of the place and disappeared into the darkness. Following the dogs, Pavlusha went into the darkness, and the guys laid stones around themselves. Some time later, Pashka returned on horseback with the dogs.

Then there was another story about the master and the “gap-grass”, about the woman Ulyana sitting on the porch. Attention was paid to the solar eclipse, the end of the world and the "wonderful" Trishka. After that, we talked about goblin, mermaids, mermen, the crazy girl Akulina and the drowned Vasya.

After three hours of stories, the tired hunter fell asleep and woke up at dawn. All the children except Pavlusha were asleep. Nodding to him, the man went to look for his way home. In the same year, the hunter became aware of the death of Paul. This is where the story "Bezhin Meadow" ends.

The plan of the story "Bezhin Meadow" can be represented as follows:

1. The hunter got lost.
2. Night meeting.
3. Horror stories.
4. Way home.

I. S. Turgenev's contribution to world literature very large.

The Russian classic first introduced the readership to the children's world of ordinary peasant children. In his works, the author encourages children to be educated in love for nature, the world around them and work. The role of nature in the story is great. How vividly and colorfully Ivan Sergeevich describes the dawn, sunset and a simple grove - those natural phenomena which a person sees daily and does not notice their charms.

Useful video: "Bezhin meadow" - in 10 minutes!

Conclusion

The main meaning of the story "Bezhin Meadow" is to convey to the reader the author's admiration for the beauty of life, nature and the surrounding ordinary people.

The story begins with a description of a magnificent summer morning. The author hunts in the woods. Having shot the game, he decides to return home in the evening, but in the ensuing darkness he loses his way and goes to Bezhin Meadow, where he sees a fire, and around it are peasant children who came at night. “Drive out before evening and drive a herd at the morning dawn - big holiday for peasant boys. The author explains to the children where he comes from and sits down by the fire. There follows a description of the night, that special atmosphere of mystery that descends on everything at such a time. There are five boys in total: Fedya, Pavlusha, Ilyusha, Kostya and Vanya. The eldest, Fedya, looked to be about fourteen years old. The author describes in detail the appearance and features of the clothes of all the boys, and in these details the difference in their characters is clearly visible. The boys are cooking potatoes in a pot. The author pretends to be asleep, and the campfire conversation resumes. It turns out that the subject of discussion is the evil spirit and the stories associated with it. Ilyusha tells a story about how he and his friends allegedly saw a brownie at a paper mill. Kostya tells about a suburban carpenter (the rest of the boys know him well), known for his gloominess. His gloomy disposition is explained by an incident that happened to him during a trip to the forest for nuts. The carpenter got lost and by night fell asleep under a tree. Hearing through a dream that someone was calling him, he got up and saw a mermaid. Having taken a few steps towards her, he came to his senses and crossed himself. Then the mermaid stopped laughing and began to cry. To the carpenter's question about the cause of the tears, she replied that it would be better if he lived with her until the end of his days in "fun", but now he crossed himself, and this became impossible. So she cries and kills herself. However, now he is destined to grieve until the end of his days. Since then, the carpenter Gavrila has not laughed or even smiled. Other children react vividly to the story, discussing whether there are mermaids in this area, Fedya, as the eldest, expresses skepticism about the stories being told. However, Ilyusha tells a different story - about a man who drowned in a local pond (the shallow in the middle of the pond allegedly marks the exact place where he drowned). The local clerk sent the kennel Yermila to the post office, who, on the way from the post office, wandered into a tavern, drank and returned at night. Driving past the pond, I saw that a lamb, white and curly, was standing on the shallows. Despite the strange reaction of the horse, Yermil decides to take him with him. On the way, Yermil notices that the ram is looking him straight in the eye. He becomes terrified and, in order to calm down, he begins to stroke the lamb and say "Byasha, byasha." And the ram, in response, bared his teeth and also says: “Byasha, byasha.” At this moment, the dogs jump up and run somewhere. The children are frightened, but it turns out that it was just the horses that were afraid of something - either a night bird, or a wolf. After a few minutes everything calms down. Children start talking about wolves, about werewolves, then the conversation turns to the dead. They say that in one of the surrounding villages the late gentleman appeared and looked for something on the ground, and when he was asked, he replied that he was looking for a gap-grass. Ilyusha says that on parental Saturday on the porch you can see those who are destined to die this year. He mentions a certain woman Ulyana, who saw on the porch a boy who died last year, and herself. To the objection that Ulyana's grandmother is still alive, Ilyosha replies that the year has not ended yet. Then the conversation turns to the doomsday (solar eclipse), which happened not so long ago. The peasants who witnessed this phenomenon were frightened, they decided that "Trishka would come." When asked who Trishka is, Ilyusha begins to explain that this is the kind of person who will come when the end times that he will seduce the Christian people and that nothing can be done with him - neither put him in prison, nor shackle him in chains, nor kill him, since he will be able to look away from everyone. In the village, many expected that it was during the solar eclipse that Trishka would appear. They even ran out into the street and into the field and began to wait. One of the residents, a cooper, played a trick on them - he put an empty jug on his head and frightened everyone. A heron screams over the river, the children react vividly to this, Pavlusha notices that it is perhaps the soul of Akim the forester complaining about the offenders (the forester was drowned by robbers last year). There is an argument between the children evil spirits, found in the swamp, about frogs, goblin and other evil spirits. When it becomes necessary to go for water, I recall stories about mermen who are drawn into water streams people, children remember Akulina the fool, who allegedly went crazy just after she was dragged to the bottom of the water and “spoiled” there. Then they remember the boy Vasya, who also drowned, and whose mother foresaw his death from the water. Returning from the river, Pavel reports that he heard the voice of Vasya on the shore, who called him to him. Children listen to the sounds of the night, the cries of birds. A description of the starry sky, a night forest follows, then a picture of the onset of morning. The author gets up and walks away from the fire. In the same year (the author will learn about this later) one of the boys (Pavel) died, but he did not drown, but hurt himself by falling from a horse.

Turgenev's stories

An interesting story about a hunter who walked through the forest, shot game, but after dark he got lost and went out to the meadow to the fire, near which 5 children were sitting, driving cattle to the morning pasture. The author lay down by the fire, told who he was and where he came from, then pretended to be asleep. And the children started talking about evil spirits: brownies, mermen, mermaids, spirits and ghosts. The story contains detailed description picturesque nature in different times days, as well as a description of the clothes of the guys. In the morning the author wakes up and leaves the meadow. And one of these 5 boys, named Pavel, dies within a year, falling from a horse.

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It was a beautiful July day, one of those days that only happens when the weather has settled for a long time. From early morning the sky is clear; the morning dawn does not burn with fire: it spreads with a gentle blush. The sun - not fiery, not hot, as during a sultry drought, not dull-purple, as before a storm, but bright and welcomingly radiant - peacefully rises under a narrow and long cloud, shines freshly and sinks into its purple fog. The upper, thin edge of the stretched cloud will sparkle with snakes; their brilliance is like the brilliance of forged silver ... But here again the playing rays gushed, - and cheerfully and majestic, as if taking off, the mighty luminary rises. Around noon there usually appear many round high clouds, golden gray, with delicate white edges. Like islands scattered along an endlessly overflowing river flowing around them with deeply transparent sleeves of even blue, they hardly budge; further, towards the sky, they shift, crowd, the blue between them can no longer be seen; but they themselves are as azure as the sky: they are all permeated through and through with light and warmth. The color of the sky, light, pale lilac, does not change all day and is the same all around; nowhere does it get dark, the thunderstorm does not thicken; except in some places bluish stripes stretch from top to bottom: then a barely noticeable rain is sown. By evening, these clouds disappear; the last of them, blackish and indefinite as smoke, fall in rosy puffs against the setting sun; in the place where it set as calmly as it calmly ascended into the sky, the scarlet radiance stands for a short time over the darkened earth, and, quietly blinking, like a carefully carried candle, will light up on it evening Star. On such days the colors are all softened; light, but not bright; everything bears the stamp of some touching meekness. On such days the heat is sometimes very strong, sometimes even "floating" over the slopes of the fields; but the wind disperses, pushes the accumulated heat, and whirlwinds - cycles - an undoubted sign of constant weather - walk like high white pillars along the roads through the arable land. in dry and clean air smells of wormwood, compressed rye, buckwheat; even an hour before night you don't feel damp. The farmer wants such weather for harvesting grain ...
On such a precise day I once hunted black grouse in the Chernsky district, Tula province. I found and shot quite a lot of game; the filled game bag mercilessly cut my shoulder; but already the evening dawn was fading, and in the air, still bright, although no longer illuminated by the rays of the setting sun, cold shadows began to thicken and spread, when I finally decided to return to my home. With quick steps I passed a long “area” of bushes, climbed a hill, and instead of the expected familiar plain with an oak forest to the right and a low white church in the distance, I saw completely different ones, I didn’t Famous places. At my feet stretched a narrow valley; Directly opposite, a dense aspen forest rose like a steep wall. I stopped in bewilderment, looked around ... “Hey! - I thought, - yes, I didn’t get there at all: I took too much to the right, - and, marveling at my mistake, I quickly went down the hill. An unpleasant, motionless dampness immediately seized me, as if I had entered a cellar; thick tall grass at the bottom of the valley, all wet, white as an even tablecloth; It was kind of scary to walk on it. I quickly climbed out to the other side and went, taking to the left, along the aspen forest. The bats were already hovering over its dormant peaks, mysteriously circling and trembling in a vaguely clear sky; a belated hawk flew briskly and straight up in the air, hurrying to its nest. “As soon as I get to that corner,” I thought to myself, “there will now be a road, and I gave a hook a mile away!”
I finally reached the corner of the forest, but there was no road there: some unmowed, low bushes spread wide in front of me, and behind them, far, far away, I could see a deserted field. I stopped again. “What a parable?.. But where am I?” I began to remember how and where I went during the day ... “Eh! Yes, these are Parahinskiye bushes! - I exclaimed at last, - exactly! this must be Sindeevskaya grove ... But how did I come here? So far?.. Strange!” Now you need to take it to the right again.
I went to the right, through the bushes. Meanwhile the night drew near and grew like a thundercloud; it seemed that together with the evening vapors, darkness rose from everywhere and even poured from the heights. I came across some non-torn, overgrown path; I walked along it, carefully looking ahead. Everything around quickly grew black and subsided, - only the quail occasionally screamed. A small night bird, inaudibly and low rushing on its soft wings, almost bumped into me and timidly dived to the side. I went out to the edge of the bushes and wandered along the boundary of the field. Already I could hardly distinguish distant objects; the field was vaguely white all around; behind it, advancing with every moment, gloomy darkness rose in huge clubs. My footsteps reverberated through the freezing air. The pale sky began to turn blue again - but that was already the blue of the night. The stars twinkled, stirred on it.
What I had taken for a grove turned out to be a dark and round mound. "Yes, where am I?" - I repeated aloud again, stopped for the third time and looked inquiringly at my English yellow-piebald dog Dianka, decidedly the smartest of all four-legged creatures. But the smartest of the four-legged creatures only wagged her tail, blinked her tired eyes dejectedly, and gave me no good advice. I felt ashamed in front of her, and I desperately rushed forward, as if I suddenly guessed where I should go, rounded the hillock and found myself in a shallow, plowed hollow all around. A strange feeling immediately took possession of me. This hollow had the appearance of an almost regular cauldron with gently sloping sides; at the bottom of it stood upright several large white stones—it seemed as if they had slipped down there for a secret conference—and before that it was mute and deaf in it, the sky hung over it so flat, so dejectedly that my heart sank. Some animal squeaked weakly and plaintively between the stones. I hurried back to the hillock. Until now, I still did not lose hope of finding my way home; but then I was finally convinced that I was completely lost, and, no longer trying to recognize the surrounding places, which were almost completely drowned in the mist, I walked straight ahead, according to the stars - at random ... For about half an hour I walked like this, with difficulty rearranging my legs. It seemed that I had never been in such empty places: no light flickered anywhere, no sound was heard. One gently sloping hill gave way to another, fields stretched endlessly after fields, bushes seemed to suddenly rise from the ground in front of my very nose. I kept walking and was about to lie down somewhere until morning, when suddenly I found myself over a terrible abyss.
I quickly pulled back my outstretched leg and, through the barely transparent twilight of the night, I saw a vast plain far below me. Wide river skirted it in a semicircle leaving me; the steely reflections of the water, occasionally and vaguely flickering, indicated its course. The hill on which I was suddenly descended in an almost sheer cliff; its huge outlines separated, blackening, from the bluish airy void, and directly below me, in the corner formed by that cliff and plain, near the river, which in this place stood as a motionless, dark mirror, under the very steep of the hill, each other burned and smoked with a red flame. there are two lights near the friend. People swarm around them, shadows wavered, sometimes the front half of a small curly head was brightly lit ...
I finally found out where I went. This meadow is famous in our suburbs under the name Bezhina Meadows ... But there was no way to return home, especially at night; my legs wobbled beneath me from exhaustion. I decided to go up to the lights and, in the company of those people whom I took for herdsmen, to wait for dawn. I descended safely, but before I had time to let go of the last branch I grabbed, when suddenly two large, white, shaggy dogs, barking viciously, rushed at me. Children's sonorous voices resounded around the lights; two or three boys got up quickly from the ground. I answered their questioning cries. They ran up to me, immediately recalled the dogs, who were especially struck by the appearance of my Dianka, and I went up to them.
I was mistaken in mistaking the people who were sitting around those fires for the crowds. They were simply peasant children from neighboring villages who guarded the herd. In the hot summer season, horses are driven out from us at night to feed in the field: during the day, flies and gadflies would not give them rest. To drive the herd out before evening and bring in the herd at dawn is a great holiday for peasant boys. Sitting without hats and in old short fur coats on the liveliest nags, they rush with a cheerful whooping and shouting, dangling their arms and legs, jumping high, laughing loudly. Light dust rises in a yellow column and rushes along the road; a friendly clatter echoes far, the horses run with their ears pricked up; in front of everyone, tail up and constantly changing legs, gallops some red-haired cosmic man, with a burdock in a tangled mane.
I told the boys that I was lost and sat down next to them. They asked me where I was from, kept silent, stepped aside. We talked a little. I lay down under a gnawed bush and began to look around. The picture was wonderful: near the lights, a round reddish reflection trembled and seemed to freeze, resting against the darkness; the flame, flashing, occasionally threw quick reflections beyond the line of that circle; a thin tongue of light licks the bare branches of the vine and vanishes at once; sharp, long shadows, bursting in for a moment, in turn reached the very lights: darkness fought with light. Sometimes, when the flame burned weaker and the circle of light narrowed, a horse’s head suddenly emerged from the approaching darkness, bay, with a winding blaze, or all white, attentively and dully looked at us, deftly chewing the long grass, and, sinking again, immediately disappeared. All you could hear was how she continued to chew and snort. From a lighted place it is difficult to see what is going on in the darkness, and therefore, close up, everything seemed to be covered with an almost black veil; but farther to the sky, hills and forests were dimly visible in long spots. Dark clear sky solemnly and immensely high above us with all its mysterious splendor. Sweetly shy chest, inhaling that special, lingering and fresh smell - the smell of a Russian summer night. Almost no noise was heard all around ... Only occasionally in a nearby river with a sudden sonority would a big fish splash and the coastal reeds would faintly rustle, barely shaken by the oncoming wave ... Only the lights crackled softly.
The boys sat around them; the two dogs who so wanted to eat me were sitting right there. For a long time they could not come to terms with my presence and, squinting sleepily and sideways at the fire, occasionally growled with an unusual feeling of dignity; at first they growled, and then squealed slightly, as if regretting the impossibility of fulfilling their desire. There were five boys in all: Fedya, Pavlusha, Ilyusha, Kostya and Vanya. (From their conversations I learned their names and I intend to introduce them to the reader right now.)
The first, the eldest of all, Fedya, you would give fourteen years. He was a slender boy, with handsome and thin, slightly small features, curly blond hair, bright eyes and a constant half-joyful, half-scattered smile.

He belonged, by all indications, to a wealthy family and went out into the field not out of need, but just for fun. He wore a colorful cotton shirt with a yellow border; a small new coat, put on in a sledgehammer, barely rested on his narrow coat hanger; a comb hung from a pigeon belt. His low-topped boots were like his boots, not his father's. The second boy, Pavlusha, had unkempt, black hair, gray eyes, broad cheekbones, a pale, pockmarked face, a large but regular mouth, a huge head, as they say, the size of a beer cauldron, a squat, clumsy body. The small one was unsightly, - what to say! - and yet I liked him: he looked very intelligent and direct, and there was strength in his voice. He could not show off his clothes: they all consisted of a simple sackcloth shirt and patched ports. The face of the third, Ilyusha, was rather insignificant: hawk-nosed, elongated, short-sighted, it expressed some kind of dull, sickly solicitude; his compressed lips did not move, his knitted eyebrows did not diverge - he seemed to squint from the fire. His yellow, almost white hair stuck out in sharp plaits from under a low felt cap, which he kept pulling down over his ears with both hands. He was wearing new bast shoes and onuchi; a thick rope, twisted three times around his waist, carefully pulled together his neat black coat. Both he and Pavlusha looked no more than twelve years old. The fourth, Kostya, a boy of about ten, aroused my curiosity with his thoughtful and sad eyes. His whole face was small, thin, freckled, pointed down like a squirrel's; lips could hardly be distinguished; but a strange impression was made by his large, black eyes, shining with a liquid brilliance: they seemed to want to express something, for which in the language - in his at least, - there were no words. He was vertically challenged, frail build and rather poorly dressed. The last one, Vanya, I didn't even notice at first: he was lying on the ground, quietly crouching under the angular matting, and only occasionally sticking out his blond curly head from under it. This boy was only seven years old.
So, I lay under a bush to the side and looked at the boys. A small cauldron hung over one of the fires; “potatoes” were boiled in it, Pavlusha watched him and, kneeling, poked a chip into the boiling water. Fedya lay leaning on his elbow and spreading the flaps of his coat. Ilyusha was sitting next to Kostya and still squinting intently. Kostya lowered his head a little and looked off into the distance. Vanya did not move under his matting. I pretended to be asleep. Slowly the boys started talking again.
First they chatted about this and that, about tomorrow's work, about horses; but suddenly Fedya turned to Ilyusha and, as if resuming an interrupted conversation, asked him:
- Well, and what did you see the brownie?
“No, I didn’t see him, and you can’t even see him,” Ilyusha answered in a hoarse and weak voice, the sound of which corresponded as well as possible to the expression of his face, - but I heard ... Yes, and I'm not alone.
- Where does he live with you? asked Pavlusha.
- In the old roll.
- Do you go to the factory?
- Well, let's go. My brother, Avdyushka, and I are fox workers.
- You see - factory! ..
- Well, how did you hear him? Fedya asked.
- That's how. I had to with my brother Avdyushka, and with Fyodor Mikheevsky, and with Ivashka Kosy, and with another Ivashka from Krasnye Holmy, and even with Ivashka Sukhorukov, and there were other children there; there were ten of us guys - as there is a whole shift; but we had to spend the night in the roller-roller, that is, not that we had to, but Nazarov, the overseer, forbade it; says: “What, they say, you guys should go home; there is a lot of work tomorrow, so you guys don’t go home.” So we stayed and lay all together, and Avdyushka began to say that, they say, guys, well, how will the brownie come? .. And he, Avdey, had no time to say, when suddenly someone came over our heads; but we were lying downstairs, and he came upstairs, by the wheel. We hear: he walks, the boards under him bend and crack; here he went through our heads; the water suddenly rustles along the wheel, rustles; knocks, knocks the wheel, spins; but the screen savers at the palace are lowered. We wonder: who raised them, that the water went; but the wheel turned, turned, and it did. He again went to the door upstairs and began to go down the stairs, and that way he obeyed, as if in no hurry; the steps under him even groan like that ... Well, he came up to our door, waited, waited - the door suddenly flew open all of a sudden. We were alarmed, we looked - nothing ... Suddenly, looking, at one vat the uniform stirred, rose, dipped, looked like, looked like that way through the air, as if someone was rinsing it, and again back into place. Then, at another vat, the hook was taken off the nail and back on the nail; then it was as if someone went to the door and suddenly coughed, how he suffocated, like some kind of sheep, but so loudly ... We all fell down in a heap, crawled under each other ... Oh, how scared we were at that time!
- See how! - said Pavel. - Why did he cough?
- I do not know; maybe from dampness.
Everyone was silent.
- And what, - Fedya asked, - are the potatoes boiled?
Pavlusha felt them.
- No, more cheese ... Look, splashed, - he added, turning his face in the direction of the river, - it must be a pike ... And there the little star rolled.
“No, I’ll tell you something, brothers,” Kostya began in a thin voice, “listen, the other day what my aunt was telling me in front of me.
“Well, let’s listen,” Fedya said with a patronizing air.
"You know Gavrila, the suburban carpenter, don't you?"
- Well, yes; we know.
- Do you know why he is so sad, everything is silent, you know? That's why he's so unhappy. He went once, my aunt said, - he went, my brothers, into the forest for nuts. So he went into the forest for nuts, and he got lost; went - God knows where he went. Already he walked, walked, my brothers - no! can't find the way; and the night is outside. So he sat down under a tree; Come on, they say, I'll wait for the morning, - sat down and dozed off. Here he dozed off and suddenly hears someone calling him. Looks - no one. He dozed off again - they call again. He again looks, looks: and in front of him on a branch a mermaid sits, sways and calls him to her, and she herself dies with laughter, laughs ... And the moon shines strongly, so strongly, the moon clearly shines - everything, my brothers, is visible. So she calls him, and she’s all fair, white, sitting on a branch, like some kind of plotichka or gudgeon, - otherwise crucian carp can be so whitish, silver ... Gavrila the carpenter froze, my brothers, and you know she laughs yes he is all calling to him by hand. Gavrila already got up, he was about to obey the mermaid, my brothers, yes, to know, the Lord advised him: he put a cross on himself ... And how difficult it was for him to lay a cross, my brothers; she says, her hand is just like a stone, it doesn’t toss and turn ... Oh, you’re such a thing, ah! her hair is green, like your hemp. So Gavrila looked, looked at her, and began to ask her: “Why are you crying, you forest potion?” And the mermaid will somehow say to him: “If you didn’t get baptized, he says, man, you would live with me in fun until the end of days; but I cry, I am hurt because you were baptized; Yes, I will not be the only one to be killed: be killed also you until the end of days. Then, my brothers, she disappeared, and Gavrila immediately understood how he should get out of the forest, that is, to get out ... But since then he has been walking around sadly.
- Eka! - Fedya said after a short silence, - but how can such a forest evil spirits spoil the Christian soul, - he didn’t listen to her?
- Yes, there you go! Kostya said. - And Gavrila bailed that her voice, they say, was so thin, plaintive, like that of a toad.
Did your dad tell you this himself? Fedya continued.
- Myself. I lay on the floor, I heard everything.
- A wonderful thing! Why should he be sad? .. And, to know, she liked him, that she called him.
- Yes, I liked it! Ilyusha picked it up. - How! She wanted to tickle him, that's what she wanted. It's their business, these mermaids.
“But there should be mermaids here, too,” Fedya remarked.
- No, - answered Kostya, - this place is clean, free. One - the river is close.
Everyone fell silent. Suddenly, somewhere in the distance, a drawn-out, ringing, almost groaning sound was heard, one of those incomprehensible nocturnal sounds that sometimes arise amid deep silence, rise, stand in the air and slowly spread at last, as if dying away. You listen - and as if there is nothing, but it rings. It seemed that someone shouted for a long, long time under the very sky, someone else seemed to respond to him in the forest with a thin, sharp laughter, and a weak, hissing whistle rushed along the river. The boys looked at each other, shuddered ...
- The power of the cross is with us! Ilya whispered.
- Oh, you crows! cried Pavel. - Why are you excited? Look, the potatoes are cooked. (Everyone moved closer to the cauldron and began to eat the steaming potatoes; Vanya alone did not move.) What are you doing? Pavel said.
But he did not crawl out from under his mat. The cauldron was soon empty.
“Did you guys hear,” Ilyusha began, “what happened the other day at Varnavitsy?”
- On the dam? Fedya asked.
- Yes, yes, on the dam, on the broken one. What an unclean place, so unclean, and so deaf. All around are such gullies, ravines, and in the ravines all kazyuli are found.
- Well, what happened? say...
- And that's what happened. You, perhaps, Fedya, do not know, but only there we have a drowned man buried; and he drowned a long time ago, as the pond was still deep; only his grave is still visible, and even that is barely visible: so - a bump ... Here, the other day, the clerk of the kennel Yermila is calling; says: "Go, they say, Yermil, to the post office." Yermil always goes to the post office with us; he killed all his dogs: for some reason they don’t live with him, they never lived, but he’s a good kennel, he took everything. So Yermil went for the mail, and he hesitated in the city, but he was drunk on his way back. And the night and bright night: the moon is shining ... So Yermil rides through the dam: such is his road. He goes that way, the dog-seller Yermil, and he sees: the drowned man has a lamb on the grave, white, curly, pretty, pacing. So Yermil thinks: “I’ll take him with this - why should he disappear like that,” and even tears, and took him in his arms ... But the lamb - nothing. Here Yermil goes to the horse, and the horse stares at him, snores, shakes his head; however, he rebuked her, sat on her with a lamb and rode again: he was holding a lamb in front of him. He looks at him, and the lamb looks right into his eyes. He felt terrible, Yermil, the kennel: that they say, I don’t remember that rams looked into someone’s eyes like that; however nothing; he began to stroke his wool like that, - he says: “Byasha, byasha!” And the ram suddenly shows his teeth, and he too: "Byasha, byasha ..."
The narrator didn't have time to say it. the last word when suddenly both dogs got up at once, with convulsive barking rushed away from the fire and disappeared into the darkness. All the boys were scared. Vanya jumped out from under his matting. Pavlusha rushed after the dogs with a cry. Their barking quickly moved away ... The restless running of the alarmed herd was heard. Pavlusha shouted loudly: “Grey! Bug!..” After a few moments, the barking stopped; Paul's voice came already from afar... A little more time passed; the boys looked at each other in bewilderment, as if waiting for something to happen ... Suddenly there was a clatter of a galloping horse; she stopped abruptly at the very fire, and, clinging to the mane, Pavlusha nimbly jumped off it. Both dogs also jumped into the circle of light and immediately sat down, sticking out their red tongues.
- What's there? what? the boys asked.
“Nothing,” Pavel answered, waving his hand at the horse, “the dogs smelled something. I thought it was a wolf,” he added in an indifferent voice, breathing quickly with all his chest.
I involuntarily admired Pavlusha. He was very good at that moment. His ugly face, animated by his fast ride, burned with bold prowess and firm determination. Without a twig in his hand, at night, he, without the slightest hesitation, rode alone against the wolf ... "What a glorious boy!" I thought, looking at him.
- Did you see them, or something, wolves? asked the coward Kostya.
“There are always a lot of them here,” Pavel answered, “but they are restless only in winter.

He crouched again in front of the fire. Sitting on the ground, he mutilated his hand on the shaggy neck of one of the dogs, and for a long time the delighted animal did not turn its head, glancing sideways at Pavlusha with grateful pride.
Vanya again huddled under the matting.
“And what fears you told us, Ilyushka,” said Fedya, who, as the son of a rich peasant, had to be the leader (he himself spoke little, as if afraid to lose his dignity). - Yes, and the dogs here are not easily pulled to bark ... And for sure, I heard that this place is unclean with you.
- Varnavitsy? .. Of course! what an unclean thing! There, more than once, they say, they saw the old master - the late master. He walks, they say, in a long-brimmed caftan and all this groans like that, looking for something on the ground. Once Grandfather Trofimych met him: “What, they say, father, Ivan Ivanovich, would you like to look for on earth?”
Did he ask him? interrupted the astonished Fedya.
- Yes, I asked.
- Well, well done after that Trofimych ... Well, what about that one?
- Gap-grass, he says, I'm looking for. - Yes, he speaks so deafly, deafly: - Gap-grass. - And what do you need, father Ivan Ivanovich, gap-grass? - Presses, says, the grave presses, Trofimych: out I want, out ...
- Look what! - Fedya noticed, - it’s not enough to know, he lived.
- What a marvel! - said Kostya. - I thought you could only see the dead on parental Saturday.
- You can see the dead at any hour, - Ilyusha picked up with confidence, who, as far as I could see, knew all the rural beliefs better than others ... - But on parental Saturday you can see a living one, for whom, that is, in that year there is a turn die. One has only to sit down at night on the church porch and look at the road. Those will go past you along the road, to whom, that is, to die in that year. Here, last year, Baba Ulyana went to the porch.
Well, did she see anyone? Kostya asked with curiosity.
- How. First of all, she sat for a long, long time, she didn’t see or hear anyone ... only everything seemed to be barking like a dog, barking somewhere ... Suddenly, she looks: a boy in one shirt is walking along the path. She liked - Ivashka Fedoseev is coming ...
- The one that died in the spring? interrupted Fedya.
- The one. He walks and does not raise his little head... And Ulyana recognized him... But then she looks: the woman is walking. She peered, peered, - oh, you, Lord! - she goes along the road, Ulyana herself.
- Really itself? Fedya asked.
- By God, by myself.
Well, she's not dead yet, is she?
- It hasn't been a year yet. And you look at her: what keeps the soul.
Everyone was quiet again. Pavel threw a handful of dry branches on the fire. They turned black sharply on the suddenly flashing flame, crackled, smoked and began to warp, lifting the burnt ends. The reflection of the light hit, trembling impetuously, in all directions, especially upwards. Suddenly, out of nowhere, a white dove flew right into this reflection, shyly turned around in one place, all bathed in a hot brilliance, and disappeared, ringing its wings.
“I know, I’ve strayed from home,” Pavel remarked. - Now it will fly, as long as it stumbles upon something, and where it poke, it will spend the night there until dawn.
- And what, Pavlusha, - said Kostya, - didn’t this righteous soul fly to heaven, eh?
Pavel threw another handful of branches on the fire.
"Perhaps," he finally said.
“But tell me, Pavlusha,” Fedya began, “did you also see heavenly foresight in Shalamovo?”
How can you not see the sun? How.
- Chai, are you scared too?
- We're not alone. Our master, hosha, told us ahead of time that, they say, there would be a foresight for you, but as soon as it got dark, he himself, they say, got so scared that he would. And in the yard hut, the woman-cook, so as soon as it got dark, you hear, she took and broke all the pots in the oven with a fork: “Whoever eats now, she says, the end of the world has come.” So shti flowed. And in our village, brother, there were such rumors that, they say, white wolves would run across the earth, people would be eaten, a bird of prey would fly, or even Trishka himself would be seen.
- What is this Trishka? - asked Kostya.
- Do not you know? - Ilyusha picked it up with warmth. - Well, brother, you don't know Trishka, do you? Sidneys are sitting in your village, that's for sure Sidneys! Trishka - this will be such an amazing person who will come; but he will come when the end times come. And he will be like this amazing person that it would be impossible to take him, and nothing could be done to him: he would be such an amazing person. If the peasants want to take it, for example; they will come out at him with a cudgel, cordon him off, but he will avert their eyes - he will avert their eyes so that they themselves will beat each other. They will put him in prison, for example, - he will ask for some water to drink in a ladle: they will bring him a ladle, and he will dive there, and remember your name. Chains will be put on him, and he will tremble in his hands - they fall off him like that. Well, this Trishka will walk around the villages and cities; and this Trishka, the cunning man, will seduce the Khrestian people ... well, but nothing will be done to him ... He will be such an amazing, cunning person.
- Well, yes, - Pavel continued in his unhurried voice, - like that. This is what we were waiting for. The old people said that, they say, as soon as the foreknowledge of heaven begins, so Trishka will come. This is where the prediction began. He poured all the people out into the street, into the field, waiting for what will happen. And here, you know, the place is prominent, free. They look - suddenly from the settlement with the mountains are coming some kind of man, so tricky, his head is so amazing ... Everyone is shouting: “Oh, Trishka is coming! oh, Trishka is coming!” - but who where! Our elder climbed into the ditch; the old woman is stuck in the doorway, screaming with a good obscenity, her own door dog is so frightened that she is off the chain, and through the wattle fence, and into the forest; and Kuzka's father, Dorofeyich, jumped into the oats, sat down, and let's shout like a quail: "Perhaps, they say, at least the enemy, the murderer, will take pity on the bird." Everyone was so alarmed! .. And the man was our cooper, Vavila: he bought himself a new jug and put an empty jug on his head and put it on.
All the boys laughed and fell silent again for a moment, as often happens with people who speak English. outdoors. I looked around: the night stood solemnly and regal; the damp freshness of the late evening was replaced by midnight dry warmth, and for a long time it was to lie in a soft canopy on the sleeping fields; there was still a lot of time left before the first babble, before the first rustles and rustles of the morning, before the first dewdrops of dawn. The moon was not in the sky: at that time it rose late. Countless golden stars seemed to be flowing silently, vying with each other, flickering in the direction Milky Way, and, really, looking at them, you yourself seemed to vaguely feel the impetuous, unstoppable run of the earth ...
A strange, sharp, painful cry suddenly rang out twice in a row over the river and, after a few moments, was repeated further ...
Kostya shuddered. "What is it?"
“It’s a heron screaming,” Pavel objected calmly.
“Heron,” repeated Kostya ... “What is it, Pavlusha, I heard last night,” he added, after a pause, “perhaps you know ...
- What did you hear?
- That's what I heard. I walked from the Stone Ridge to Shashkino; but at first he walked through our hazel, and then he went through the meadow - you know, where he goes down with a blight - there is a bog there; you know, it's still overgrown with reeds; so I went past this thump, my brothers, and suddenly from that thrashing someone groaned, so pitifully, pitifully: woo ... woo ... woo! Such a fear took me, my brothers: the time is late, and the voice is so sick. So, it seems that he himself would cry ... What would it be? es?
“Thieves drowned Akim the forester in this buchil last summer,” Pavlusha remarked, “perhaps his soul is complaining.
- But even then, my brothers, - objected Kostya, widening his already huge eyes ... - I didn’t even know that Akim was drowned in that bouchil: I wouldn’t be so frightened yet.
- And then, they say, there are such tiddly frogs, - Pavel continued, - that scream so plaintively.
- Frogs? Well, no, these are not frogs ... what are they ... (The heron again shouted over the river.) Ek her! - Kostya involuntarily said, - he screams like a goblin.
- Goblin does not scream, he is dumb, - Ilyusha picked up, - he only claps his hands and cracks ...
- And you saw him, the goblin, or what? Fedya interrupted him mockingly.
- No, I didn’t see it, and God save him to see; but others have seen it. Just the other day, he walked around our peasant: he drove, drove him through the forest, and all around the same clearing ... He barely made it home to the light.
Well, did he see him?
- Saw. He says that this one stands big, big, dark, shrouded, as if behind a tree, you can’t make out well, as if hiding from the month, and looks, looks with eyes, blinks them, blinks ...
- Oh you! exclaimed Fedya, shuddering slightly and shrugging his shoulders, “pfu!..
- And why did this trash get divorced in the world? Pavel noted. - I do not understand, right!
- Do not scold, look, he will hear, - Ilya remarked.
There was silence again.
- Look, look, guys, - Vanya's childish voice suddenly rang out, - look at God's stars, - that the bees are swarming!
He pushed his fresh little face out from under the bast mat, leaned on his fist, and slowly raised his large, quiet eyes upwards. The eyes of all the boys rose to the sky and did not soon fall.
- And what, Vanya, - Fedya spoke affectionately, - is your sister Anyutka healthy?
- Healthy, - answered Vanya, slightly burr.
- You tell her - that she is to us, why does not she go? ..
- I do not know.
- You tell her to go.
- I'll tell you.
- You tell her that I will give her a present.
- Will you give it to me?
- I'll give you one too.
Vanya sighed.
- Well, no, I don't need to. Give it to her, she's so kind with us.
And Vanya again laid his head on the ground. Pavel got up and took the empty cauldron in his hand.
- Where are you going? Fedya asked him.
- To the river, to scoop up water: I wanted to drink some water.
The dogs got up and followed him.
- Don't fall into the river! Ilyusha called after him.
Why would he fall? - said Fedya, - he will beware.
- Yes, beware. Anything can happen: he will bend down, begin to draw water, and the waterman will grab him by the hand and drag him to him. Then they will begin to say: fell, they say, a small one into the water ... And what kind of fell? .. Over there, climbed into the reeds, ”he added, listening.
The reeds, moving apart, “rustled”, as we say.
“Is it true,” Kostya asked, “that Akulina the fool has gone crazy since then, as she was in the water?”
- Since then ... What is now! But as they say, before the beauty was. The merman ruined it. I know, I did not expect that she would be pulled out soon. Here he is, there at his bottom, and spoiled it.
(I myself have met this Akulina more than once. Covered in rags, terribly thin, with a face as black as coal, a blurred look and eternally bared teeth, she tramples for hours on end in one place, somewhere on the road, tightly pressing her bony hands to chest and slowly waddling from foot to foot, as if wild beast in a cage. She does not understand anything, no matter what they say to her, and only occasionally giggles convulsively.)
- And they say, - Kostya continued, - Akulina rushed into the river because her lover deceived her.
- From the same one.
- Do you remember Vasya? - sadly added Kostya.
- Which Vasya? Fedya asked.
- But the one that drowned, - answered Kostya, - in this one in the river itself. What a boy it was! and-them, what a boy was! His mother, Feklista, how she loved him, Vasya! And as if she, Feklista, sensed that death would happen to him from the water. It used to happen that Vasya would go with us, with the guys, in the summer to swim in the river, - she would tremble all over. Other women are fine, they walk past with troughs, roll over, and Feklista puts the trough on the ground and starts calling him: “Come back, they say, come back, my little light! oh, come back, falcon!" And how he drowned. The Lord knows. He played on the bank, and his mother was right there, raking hay; suddenly he hears, as if someone were blowing bubbles on the water - look, but only one Vasya's little hat is floating on the water. After all, since then Feklista has not been in his right mind: he will come and lie down in the place where he drowned; she lies down, my brothers, and she sings a song - remember, Vasya used to sing such a song all the time - so she sings it, and she cries, cries, bitterly pities God ...
“But Pavlusha is coming,” said Fedya.
Pavel approached the fire with a full cauldron in his hand.

What, guys, - he began after a pause, - something is wrong.
- And what? Kostya asked hurriedly.
- I heard Vasya's voice.
Everyone was so startled.
- What are you, what are you? murmured Kostya.
- By God. As soon as I began to bend down to the water, I suddenly heard Vasya’s voice call me that way and, as if from under the water: “Pavlusha, and Pavlusha!” I'm listening to; and he again calls: "Pavlusha, come here." I walked away. However, he scooped up water.
- Oh, you, Lord! oh you, Lord! the boys said, crossing themselves.
- After all, it was the waterman who called you, Pavel, - Fedya added ... - And we just talked about him, about Vasya.
"Ah, that's a bad omen," Ilyusha said deliberately.
- Well, nothing, let it go! - Pavel said decisively and sat down again, - you can’t escape your fate.
The boys quieted down. It was obvious that Paul's words made a deep impression on them. They began to lay down in front of the fire, as if about to sleep.
- What is it? Kostya suddenly asked, raising his head.
Pavel listened.
- These are the Easter cakes flying, whistling.
- Where are they flying?
- And where, they say, winter does not happen.
- Is there such a land?
- There is.
- Far?
- Far, far, beyond the warm seas.
Kostya sighed and closed his eyes.
More than three hours have passed since I joined the boys. The moon has risen at last; I leaned towards the dark edge of the earth, many stars did not immediately notice: it was so small and narrow. This moonless night, it seemed, was still as magnificent as before ... But already, until recently, standing high in the sky; everything was completely quiet all around, as usual everything calms down only towards morning: everything slept in a strong, motionless, pre-dawn sleep. The air no longer smelled so strongly - dampness seemed to be pouring in it again ... Not for long summer nights!.. The boys' conversation faded away along with the lights... The dogs even dozed off; the horses, as far as I could distinguish, in the slightly glimmering, weakly pouring light of the stars, also lay with their heads bowed ... Sweet oblivion attacked me; it passed into slumber.
A fresh stream ran over my linden. I opened my eyes: the morning was beginning. The dawn had not yet blushed anywhere, but it was already turning white in the east. Everything became visible, although vaguely visible, all around. The pale gray sky grew lighter, colder, bluer; the stars now twinkled with a faint light, then disappeared; the earth was damp, the leaves were sweating, in some places living sounds, voices began to be heard, and a thin, early breeze had already begun to roam and flutter over the earth. My body responded to him with a light, cheerful shiver. I quickly got up and walked over to the boys. They all slept like the dead around a smoldering fire; Pavel alone raised himself halfway up and looked intently at me.
I nodded my head to him and went home along the smoky river. Before I had gone two versts, they were already pouring all around me along a wide wet meadow, and in front, along the green hills, from forest to forest, and behind along a long dusty road, along sparkling, crimson bushes, and along the river, bashfully blue from under the thinning fog, - first scarlet, then red, golden streams of young flowed, hot light ... Everything stirred, woke up, sang, rustled, spoke. Large drops of dew blushed everywhere like radiant diamonds; towards me, clean and clear, as if also washed by the morning coolness, the sounds of a bell came, and suddenly a rested herd rushed past me, driven by familiar boys ...
Unfortunately, I must add that in the same year Paul passed away. He did not drown: he killed himself by falling off his horse. Too bad, he was a nice guy!

The story of Turgenev I.S. "Bezhin meadow" is included in

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