Golden calf novel summary. golden calf summary

The Golden Calf is a famous satirical novel by Yevgeny Petrov, which is a continuation of the novel The Twelve Chairs. The book takes the reader to the early 1930s. The central character of the story is the resilient adventurer Ostap Bender, so beloved by the readers of The Twelve Chairs.

The crew of the Antelope

The first part of the book by Ilf and Petrov "The Golden Calf" is called "The Crew of the Antelope". Having miraculously survived after a sharp razor, the great schemer Ostap Bender appears on the pages of a new novel. Posing as the son of Lieutenant Schmidt, he hopes to receive financial assistance from a representative of the city of Arbatov. He succeeds. The sudden appearance of another "son of Lieutenant Schmidt" aggravates the situation somewhat, but the cunning ones get out of the situation by declaring themselves to be milk brothers. The representative of the authorities no longer believes the third “son” who has appeared. The rogue is thrown out the door.

According to reader reviews of The Golden Calf, the scene in the official's office is one of the funniest in the book.

Ostap meets his second "son" - Shura Balaganov, whom he initiates into his dreams of money and Rio de Janeiro. Balaganov tells Bender about a Soviet underground millionaire living in Chernomorsk.

Ostap and Shura meet Adam Kozlevich, the only owner of the car in Arbatov. And Bender calls the car "Gnu Antelope." Newly made friends are on their way. On the way, they pick up the third "son" - Panikovsky, who stole a goose and escaped from angry pursuers.

From the summary of the "Golden Calf" you can find out that the crew of the "Antelope" accidentally gets on the rally track. In the city of Udoev they are greeted as the winners of the race. The cunning use the benefits and privileges of the winners with pleasure, but soon their deceit is revealed.

Since the Wildebeest is wanted, it is being repainted.

Reviews of the book "The Golden Calf" indicate that the first part is the brightest and funniest, there is no disappointment in future events.

"Two Combinators"

The summary of the "Golden Calf" also tells about the underground millionaire Koreiko - an ordinary petty office worker. He worries that someone knows about his secret wealth. Once, during a walk, Balaganov and Panikovsky rob an underground millionaire, stealing from him a box with ten thousand rubles. The next day, Ostap Bender, dressed up as a policeman, brings the stolen goods to Koreiko, but he claims that this is not his money and he was not subjected to any attack.

In this part of the "Golden Calf" by Ilf and Petrov, Bender, having failed to hurt Koreiko, plays a difficult combination. He rents a room from Vasisualy Lokhankin, abandoned by his wife, in a communal apartment full of quarrelsome neighbors, and opens the Horns and Hooves office. A certain Fuchs becomes the fictitious leader of the latter. Bender collects detailed compromising information on Koreiko and gradually learns the details of life, and most importantly, the story of Koreiko's ten million rubles. It turns out that the modest employee was running big financial frauds.

Balaganov and Panikovsky do not trust Ostap. They break into Koreiko's apartment at night and steal the weights, believing they are gold.

Adam Kozlevich contacts the priests, but Ostap Bender, who arrives in time, drives them away.

Having collected enough information, Ostap Bender blackmails the underground millionaire, as a result of which he agrees to buy dirt on himself for a million rubles. They drive to the train station where Koreiko hides money. But in the city there is a training anti-chemical alarm. Wearing a gas mask, the underground millionaire mingles with the crowd. Ostap ends up in a gas shelter, where he unexpectedly meets Zosya Sinitskaya, with whom Koreiko is hopelessly in love.

When reading the summary of The Golden Calf, it becomes obvious that at this stage Ostap Bender is failing: Koreiko disappeared, a check arrives in Horns and Hooves, Fuchs goes to prison, Ostap's rented room burns down. The grand strategist spends the last money on a bouquet for Zosya. Zosya in a conversation accidentally talks about a letter from Koreiko, which he sent from the construction of the Eastern Highway.

The crew of the Wildebeest again rushes after Koreiko's wealth. But on the way the car breaks down, Panikovsky dies. and Adam Kozlevich are no longer willing to follow the active schemer. Comrades disperse.

"Private person"

When reading the summary of the Golden Calf, it becomes obvious that such a desired million does not bring happiness to the protagonist. Ostap Bender is faced with an unexpected problem: he cannot spend money, because it is simply impossible to do this in a socialist state. He can't even get back. To get on the letter train, he has to again impersonate various prominent personalities. Ostap tells his fellow travelers about his wealth, and they disappear with fear. The great schemer is alone. Having met Balaganov at the station, he gives him a large amount of money, but he still steals a miserable women's handbag and ends up in the police.

Ostap remembers Zosa, rushes to Chernomorsk, but she is already married. The Horns and Hooves, founded by Bender, became a large state-owned enterprise. The protagonist feels superfluous in the Land of the Soviets. Anyone who has read The Golden Calf by Ilf and Petrov must have felt the pessimism and disappointment of the last chapters leading to a grim denouement.

Ostap Bender decides to cross the Romanian border. The combinator is wearing two fur coats and a lot of jewelry and currency. But the Romanian border guards rob Bender. Ostap is left with only the Order of the Golden Fleece, which he calls the Golden Calf. The most striking quote from The Golden Calf is the final words of Ostap Bender, who lost all his long-awaited wealth: “No applause! The Count of Monte Cristo did not come out of me. You'll have to retrain as a manager." The thirst for life and indefatigable energy do not allow the great strategist to lose optimism and self-confidence.

Publication

In 1931, The Golden Calf was published in the United States, as well as in Germany, Austria and England. In these countries, they happily printed the continuation of their favorite "The Twelve Chairs". But in the USSR they were in no hurry to print a book. Critics, writers, ideologists and publishers were embarrassed by the fact that the main character Ostap Bender is very sympathetic to the reader, his vivid image leaves no one indifferent, they empathize with him, he is quoted. But he is a swindler and a swindler. Bender was radically different from the ideologically correct literary heroes of the time, who could set a high example for readers. And what could Ostap Bender teach?

The appeal of the authors to the influential Alexander Fadeev did not produce results. Fadeev considered the publication of the novel "The Golden Calf" an ideologically wrong decision. As a result, the “Golden Calf”, the essence of which is that there is no place for millionaires and private capital in the USSR, was finally printed. This happened thanks to the intervention of Maxim Gorky, who returned to the Land of Soviets.

The main characters of the "Golden Calf": Ostap Bender

In The Golden Calf, Ostap Bender is no longer the resilient young man from the novel The Twelve Chairs, who brilliantly emerges from various life conflicts thanks to his optimism, sense of humor and self-confidence. But he is still the same charming, ironic, witty, virtuoso inventor, passionate adventurer, incorrigible dreamer and romantic. But you should not regard the image of Ostap Bender in "The Twelve Chairs" only as an image of a cheerful adventurer. He is very intelligent and capable of deep thoughts and feelings. In The Golden Calf, Ostap Bender becomes deeper, wiser. Toward the end of the work, he even somewhat resembles Pechorin from Lermontov's novel A Hero of Our Time. Two literary heroes are brought together by disappointment in people, boredom, and most importantly, they both feel superfluous in the world. The tragedy of Ostap is the tragedy of an "extra" person.

Wishing for wealth, enterprising and brilliant Bender could become a prosperous person in another time, in another country. An unbridled temperament would surely push him to incredible heights, for example, in the United States of America. It is difficult to find a country more unsuitable for Ostap than the young Land of the Soviets.

In the conflict between the hero and his time, Ostap Bender hoped to emerge victorious, but was defeated. Although his final phrase says that he is not broken and ready to move on, despite the fact that he lost everything. This testifies to the great inner strength of the hero. The reader can hope that the story will continue. Indeed, Ilf and Petrov planned to continue the adventures of Ostap Bender. But the third novel was not written, as the authors at that time were hard at work on another work, which took them a lot of time and effort. In addition, Ilya Ilf soon died. Without his co-author, Evgeny Petrov did not continue the novel.

Mikhail Panikovsky

Mikhail Samuelevich Panikovsky has many features that bring him closer to his father Fyodor and Kisa Vorobyaninov from The Twelve Chairs. Bender characterizes him succinctly and bitingly: "A man without a passport." Panikovsky is a petty crook, he is funny and somewhat pitiful. It is distinguished by Odessa-Jewish flavor.

Shura Balaganov

Shura Balaganov is an ordinary crook. He is a simple and narrow-minded guy. But Shura is still young and naive. Throughout the novel, Ostap Bender teaches him and tries to re-educate him. But in vain. Even after receiving a large amount of money from Ostap, Balaganov commits petty theft, for which he ends up in the police.

Adam Kozlevich

Adam Kozlevich is a character described by Bender as "an angel without wings". Previously, he was an unfortunate thief, and now he took up carting, acquiring a car called the Wildebeest by the great schemer. But Kozlevich is not too lucky.

Alexander Koreiko

Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko is a cunning and clever swindler hiding under the guise of imaginary integrity. His financial scams are massive and daring. He skillfully disguises himself as an ordinary, inconspicuous Soviet citizen. Koreiko is stingy, he is afraid to spend an extra ruble. The underground millionaire is patiently waiting for the onset of capitalism. The authors of The Golden Calf characterize Koreiko as a greedy, boring and gloomy person - the exact opposite of Ostap Bender. Even the description of appearance makes readers disgusted with this hero.

Vasisualy Lokhankin

The image of Vasisualy Lokhankin is a parody of the Russian intelligentsia. He is faint-hearted and melancholic. Vasisualy does not work anywhere. After the departure of his wife, Lokhankin begins to express himself in iambic pentameter, which adds to the comicality of his image.

Best Screen Adaptation

The first film adaptation of The Golden Calf, a photo with frames from which is presented in this article, was released in 1968. It was a black and white film consisting of two episodes. The role of Ostap Bender was played by Sergei Yursky, Shura Balaganov - by Leonid Kuravlev, Panikovsky - by Zinovy Gerdt. This film adaptation is still considered a classic and unsurpassed, thanks to a wonderful cast and successful direction.

The end of spring or the beginning of summer 1930. The office of the Arbatov executive committee includes someone who pretends to be the son of Lieutenant Schmidt and, for this reason, needs financial assistance.

This is Ostap Bender, saved by a surgeon from death after Kisa Vorobyaninov, the hero of the novel "Chairs", slashed his throat with a razor.

After receiving some money and food stamps, Bender sees that another young man enters the office, also introducing himself as the son of Lieutenant Schmidt. The delicate situation is resolved by the fact that the "brothers" recognize each other. Having gone out onto the porch, they see that another “son of Lieutenant Schmidt” is approaching the building - Panikovsky, already an elderly citizen in a straw hat, short trousers and with a gold tooth in his mouth. Panikovsky is thrown into the dust in disgrace. As it turns out, for the cause, because two years before that, all the "sons of Lieutenant Schmidt" divided the whole country into Sukharevka

Operational areas, and Panikovsky simply invaded someone else's territory.

Ostap Bender tells his "milk brother" Shura Balaganov about a dream: to take five hundred thousand at once on a silver platter and go to Rio de Janeiro. “Since some banknotes are roaming around the country, then there must be people who have a lot of them.” Balaganov calls the name of the underground Soviet millionaire living in the city of Chernomorsk - Koreiko. Having met Adam Kozlevich, the owner of the only Lauren-Dietrich car in Arbatov, renamed by Bender into the Antelope-Gnu, the young people take him with them, and on the way they pick up Panikovsky, who stole a goose and escapes from his pursuers.

Travelers get on the rally route, where they are taken for participants and solemnly welcomed as the lead car. In the city of Udoev, a thousand kilometers away from Chernomorsk, they will have lunch and a rally. Bender takes two hundred rubles from two Americans stuck on a country road for a recipe for moonshine, which they are looking for in the villages. Only in Luchansk the impostors are exposed by a telegram that has arrived there, demanding to detain the swindlers. Soon they are overtaken by a column of rally participants.

In a nearby town, a wanted green Wildebeest is repainted egg yellow. In the same place, Ostap Bender promises to heal the monarchist Khvorobyev, suffering from Soviet dreams, rescuing him, according to Freud, from the primary source of the disease - Soviet power.

The secret millionaire Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko was the most insignificant employee of the financial and accounting department of a certain institution called Hercules. No one suspected that he, who receives forty-six rubles a month, had a suitcase with ten million rubles in foreign currency and Soviet banknotes in a storage room at the station.

For some time now, he feels someone's close attention behind him. That beggar with a gold tooth impudently pursues him, muttering: "Give me a million, give me a million!" Either crazy telegrams are sent, or a book about American millionaires. While dining at the old man Sinitsky's puzzle, Koreiko is unrequitedly in love with his granddaughter Zosya. One day, walking with her late in the evening, he is attacked by Panikovsky and Balaganov, who steals from him an iron box with ten thousand rubles.

A day later, putting on a police cap with the coat of arms of the city of Kyiv, Bender goes to Koreiko to give him a box of money, but he refuses to accept it, saying that no one robbed him and he had nowhere to get such money from.

According to a newspaper advertisement, Bender moves to one of the two rooms of Vasisualy Lokhankin, from whom his wife Varvara left for the engineer Ptiburdukov. Because of the squabbles and scandals of the residents of this communal apartment, she was called "Crow Sloboda". When Ostap Bender appears in it for the first time, Lokhankin is being flogged in the kitchen for not putting out the light behind him in the restroom.

The great strategist Bender opens an office for the preparation of horns and hooves for ten thousand stolen from Koreiko. Fuchs becomes the formal head of the institution, whose job is that under any regime he sits for other people's bankruptcies. Finding out the origin of Koreiko's wealth, Bender interrogates the accountant Berlaga and other leaders of Hercules. He travels to Koreiko's places of work and eventually writes up a detailed biography of Koreiko, which he wants to sell to him for a million.

Not trusting the commander, Panikovsky and Balaganov enter Koreiko's apartment and steal large black weights from him, thinking that they are made of gold. The driver of the "Antelope-Gnu" Kozlevich is being seduced by the priests, and Bender's intervention and a dispute with the priests are required for Kozlevich to return to the "Horns and Hooves" together with the car.

Bender ends the indictment in the "Koreiko case". He uncovered the kidnapping of a train with food, and the creation of fake artels, and the ruined power plant, and speculation in currency and furs, and the establishment of exaggerated joint-stock companies. The inconspicuous clerk Koreiko was also the actual head of Hercules, through which he pumped out huge sums.

All night Ostap Bender blames Koreiko. Morning comes, and they go together to the station, where there is a suitcase with millions to give Bender one of them. At this time, a training anti-chemical alarm begins in the city. Koreiko, suddenly wearing a gas mask, becomes indistinguishable in a crowd of his kind. Bender, despite resistance, is carried on a stretcher to a gas shelter, where, by the way, he meets Zosya Sinitskaya, the beloved girl of an underground millionaire.

So, Koreiko disappeared in an unknown direction. A revision arrives at Horns and Hooves and takes Fuchs to prison. At night, Voronya Slobidka, where the companions live, burns down: the tenants, except for Lokhankin and the old woman, who does not believe in electricity or insurance, insured their property and set fire to the dwelling themselves. Of the ten thousand stolen from Koreiko, there is practically nothing left. With the last money, Bender buys a large bouquet of roses and sends it to Zosia. Having received three hundred rubles for the script "The Neck" that had just been written and already lost at the film factory, Bender buys gifts for his comrades and looks after Zosya with style. Unexpectedly, she tells Ostap that she received a letter from Koreiko from the construction of the Eastern Highway, where he works in the Northern laying town.

The accomplices urgently leave for the new address of Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko in their Antelope-Gnu. The car breaks down on a country road. They go on foot. In the nearest village, Bender takes fifteen rubles for an evening performance, which they will give on their own, but Panikovsky kidnaps a goose here, and everyone has to flee. Panikovsky cannot bear the hardships of the journey and dies. At a small railway station, Balaganov and Kozlevich refuse to follow their commander.

A special letter train for government members, shock workers, Soviet and foreign journalists goes to the Eastern Highway to the junction of two rail tracks. Ostap Bender turns out to be in it. Companions take him for a provincial correspondent who caught up with the train on an airplane, feed him homemade provisions. Bender tells a parable about the Eternal Gide, who walked around Rio de Janeiro in white trousers, and after crossing the Romanian border with smuggling, he was cut down by Petliurists. In the absence of money, he also sells one of the journalists a manual for writing articles, feuilletons and poems for significant occasions.

Finally, at the celebration of the railroad tie in the Thundering Key, Bender finds an underground millionaire. Koreiko is forced to give him a million and in exchange burns a dossier on himself in the stove. The return to Moscow is hampered by the lack of a ticket for a letter train and a special plane flight. You have to buy camels and ride them through the desert. The nearest Central Asian city in the oasis, where Bender and Koreiko end up, has already been rebuilt on socialist principles.

During the month of the road, Bender did not manage to get into any hotel, nor to the theater, nor to buy clothes, except in a thrift store. In the Soviet country, everything is decided not by money, but by armor and distribution. Bender, having a million, has to pass himself off as an engineer, conductor, and even again as the son of Lieutenant Schmidt. In Moscow, at the Ryazan railway station, he meets Balaganov and gives him fifty thousand "for complete happiness". But in a crowded tram on Kalachevka

Balaganov automatically steals a penny handbag, and in front of Bender he is dragged to the police station.

Neither to buy a house, nor even to talk with an Indian philosopher about the meaning of life, an individual outside the Soviet collective has no opportunity. Remembering Zos, Bender takes the train to Chernomorsk. In the evening, his fellow travelers in the compartment talk about receiving millions of inheritances, in the morning - about millions of tons of pig iron. Bender shows the students he has made friends with his million, after which the friendship ends and the students scatter. Ostap Bender cannot even buy a new car for Kozlevich. He does not know what to do with the money - to lose? send to the people's commissar of finance? Zosia married a young man named Femidi. "Horns and hooves", invented by Bender, turned into a large state-owned enterprise. 33-year-old, who is at the age of Christ, Bender has no place on Soviet soil.

On a March night in 1931, he crossed the Romanian border. He wears a double fur coat, a lot of currency and jewelry, including a rare order of the Golden Fleece, which he calls the Golden Calf. But the Romanian border guards rob Bender to the bone. By chance, he only has an order left. We have to return to the Soviet coast. Monte Cristo from Ostap did not work. It remains to be retrained as a manager.

I. A. Shevelev

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- Professional Games. Part 2

Actions take place in 1930. The first scene - Ostap Bender enters the office of the chairman of the executive committee, and, introducing himself as the son of Lieutenant Schmidt, asks for money. Then another man enters the office and also introduces himself as the son of the aforementioned lieutenant. Not at a loss, the young people called themselves brothers. Already leaving the building, they see how another "son" of Schmidt, citizen Panikovsky, is heading to the chairman of the executive committee. A minute later he is kicked out in disgrace.

Soon, setting out to immediately get rich and go abroad, Bender, together with his accomplices, decides to take a car and go in search of one underground rich man from the city of Chernomorsk named Koreiko. It soon turns out that the millionaire works as an ordinary employee, and no one suspects his wealth. From that moment on, Bender and his accomplices begin to shadow him. One evening, Panikovsky and a friend attack him and take away a box of money worth 10,000 rubles. On them, the enterprising Bender opens a business for the preparation of horns and hooves.

He then arrives at the institution where Koreiko works and tries to find out the source of his untold wealth. Asking the colleagues of the secret millionaire and visiting the places of his activity, Bender receives enough information to sell them to Koreiko himself for a million rubles. Later, the two of them go to the train station, where a suitcase with money is kept. However, a training alarm that suddenly began allows Koreiko to hide in the crowd. Having accidentally met the beloved of the millionaire Zosya, Bender learns about the whereabouts of Koreiko. Accomplices are urgently sent on the road to a new address. Circumstances separate friends, and Bender is forced to search for the rich man alone. Finally, he finds him, and Koreiko is forced to give money for compromising information.

Returning to Moscow proved to be a difficult undertaking. Despite the fact that Bender owns a whole wealth, he still has to resort to fraud, deceit and cunning. And it soon turns out that, given the modern Soviet realities, there is nowhere to use money at all. Bender understands that he has nothing to do in the Soviet Union and decides to move abroad. But while crossing the Romanian border, he is robbed by border guards. Bender is left with almost nothing and is forced to return back.

Picture or drawing Ilf and Petrov - Golden calf

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Late spring or early summer 1930. A citizen posing as the son of Lieutenant Schmidt enters the office of the Arbatov executive committee and, for this reason, needs financial assistance.
This is Ostap Bender, saved by a surgeon from death after Kisa Vorobyaninov, the hero of the novel "The Twelve Chairs", slashed his throat with a razor.
After receiving some money and food stamps, Bender sees that another young man enters the office, also introducing himself as the son of Lieutenant Schmidt. The delicate situation is resolved by the fact that the "brothers" recognize each other. Having gone out onto the porch, they see that another “son of Lieutenant Schmidt” is approaching the building - Panikovsky, already an elderly citizen in a straw hat, short trousers and with a gold tooth in his mouth. Panikovsky is thrown into the dust in disgrace. As it turns out, for the cause, because two years before that, all the "sons of Lieutenant Schmidt" divided the whole country into operational areas on Sukharevka, and Panikovsky simply invaded someone else's territory.
Ostap Bender tells his "milk brother" Shura Balaganov about a dream: to take five hundred thousand at once on a silver platter and go to Rio de Janeiro. “Since some banknotes are roaming around the country, then there must be people who have a lot of them.” Balaganov calls the name of the underground Soviet millionaire living in the city of Chernomorsk - Koreiko. Having met Adam Kozlevich, the owner of the only Lauren-Dietrich car in Arbatov, renamed by Bender into the Antelope-Gnu, the young people take him with them, and on the way they pick up Panikovsky, who stole a goose and escapes from his pursuers.
Travelers get on the rally route, where they are taken for participants and solemnly welcomed as the lead car. In the city of Udoev, a thousand kilometers away from Chernomorsk, they will have lunch and a rally. Bender takes two hundred rubles from two Americans stuck on a country road for a recipe for moonshine, which they are looking for in the villages. Only in Luchansk the impostors are exposed by a telegram that has arrived there, demanding to detain the swindlers. Soon they are overtaken by a column of rally participants.
In a nearby town, a wanted green Wildebeest is repainted egg yellow. In the same place, Ostap Bender promises to heal the monarchist Khvorobyev, suffering from Soviet dreams, rescuing him, according to Freud, from the primary source of the disease - Soviet power.
The secret millionaire Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko was the most insignificant employee of the financial and accounting department of a certain institution called Hercules. No one suspected that he, who receives forty-six rubles a month, had a suitcase with ten million rubles in foreign currency and Soviet banknotes in a storage room at the station.
For some time now, he feels someone's close attention behind him. That beggar with a gold tooth impudently pursues him, muttering: "Give me a million, give me a million!" Either crazy telegrams are sent, or a book about American millionaires. While dining at the old man Sinitsky's puzzle, Koreiko is unrequitedly in love with his granddaughter Zosya. One day, walking with her late in the evening, he is attacked by Panikovsky and Balaganov, who steals from him an iron box with ten thousand rubles.
A day later, putting on a police cap with the coat of arms of the city of Kyiv, Bender goes to Koreiko to give him a box of money, but he refuses to accept it, saying that no one robbed him and he had nowhere to get such money from.
According to a newspaper advertisement, Bender moves to one of the two rooms of Vasisualy Lokhankin, from whom his wife Varvara left for the engineer Ptiburdukov. Because of the squabbles and scandals of the residents of this communal apartment, she was called "Crow Sloboda". When Ostap Bender appears in it for the first time, Lokhankin is being flogged in the kitchen for not putting out the light behind him in the restroom.
The great strategist Bender opens an office for the preparation of horns and hooves for ten thousand stolen from Koreiko. Fuchs becomes the formal head of the institution, whose job is that under any regime he sits for other people's bankruptcies. Finding out the origin of Koreiko's wealth, Bender interrogates the accountant Berlaga and other leaders of Hercules. He travels to Koreiko's places of work and eventually writes up a detailed biography of Koreiko, which he wants to sell to him for a million.
Not trusting the commander, Panikovsky and Balaganov enter Koreiko's apartment and steal large black weights from him, thinking that they are made of gold. The driver of the "Antelope-Gnu" Kozlevich is being seduced by the priests, and Bender's intervention and a dispute with the priests are required for Kozlevich to return to the "Horns and Hooves" together with the car.
Bender ends the indictment in the "Koreiko case". He uncovered the kidnapping of a train with food, and the creation of fake artels, and the ruined power plant, and speculation in currency and furs, and the establishment of exaggerated joint-stock companies. The inconspicuous clerk Koreiko was also the actual head of Hercules, through which he pumped out huge sums.
All night Ostap Bender blames Koreiko. Morning comes, and they go together to the station, where there is a suitcase with millions to give Bender one of them. At this time, a training anti-chemical alarm begins in the city. Koreiko, suddenly wearing a gas mask, becomes indistinguishable in a crowd of his kind. Bender, despite resistance, is carried on a stretcher to a gas shelter, where, by the way, he meets Zosya Sinitskaya, the beloved girl of an underground millionaire.
So, Koreiko disappeared in an unknown direction. A revision arrives at Horns and Hooves and takes Fuchs to prison. At night, Voronya Slobidka, where the companions live, burns down: the tenants, except for Lokhankin and the old woman, who does not believe in electricity or insurance, insured their property and set fire to the dwelling themselves. Of the ten thousand stolen from Koreiko, there is practically nothing left. With the last money, Bender buys a large bouquet of roses and sends it to Zosia. Having received three hundred rubles for the script "The Neck" that had just been written and already lost at the film factory, Bender buys gifts for his comrades and looks after Zosya with style. Unexpectedly, she tells Ostap that she received a letter from Koreiko from the construction of the Eastern Highway, where he works in the Northern laying town. The accomplices urgently leave for the new address of Alexander Ivanovich Koreiko in their Antelope-Gnu. The car breaks down on a country road. They go on foot. In the nearest village, Bender takes fifteen rubles for an evening performance, which they will give on their own, but Panikovsky kidnaps a goose here, and everyone has to flee. Panikovsky cannot bear the hardships of the journey and dies. At a small railway station, Balaganov and Kozlevich refuse to follow their commander. A special letter train for government members, shock workers, Soviet and foreign journalists goes to the Eastern Highway to the junction of two rail tracks. Ostap Bender turns out to be in it. Companions take him for a provincial correspondent who caught up with the train on an airplane, feed him homemade provisions. Bender tells a parable about the Eternal Gide, who walked around Rio de Janeiro in white trousers, and after crossing the Romanian border with smuggling, he was cut down by Petliurists. In the absence of money, he also sells one of the journalists a manual for writing articles, feuilletons and poems for significant occasions. Finally, at the celebration of the railroad tie in the Thundering Key, Bender finds an underground millionaire. Koreiko is forced to give him a million and in exchange burns a dossier on himself in the stove. The return to Moscow is hampered by the lack of a ticket for a letter train and a special plane flight. You have to buy camels and ride them through the desert. The nearest Central Asian city in the oasis, where Bender and Koreiko end up, has already been rebuilt on socialist principles. During the month of the road, Bender did not manage to get into any hotel, nor to the theater, nor to buy clothes, except in a thrift store. In the Soviet country, everything is decided not by money, but by armor and distribution. Bender, having a million, has to pass himself off as an engineer, conductor, and even again as the son of Lieutenant Schmidt. In Moscow, at the Ryazan railway station, he meets Balaganov and gives him fifty thousand "for complete happiness". But in a crowded tram on Kalachevka, Balaganov automatically steals a penny handbag, and in front of Bender he is dragged to the police station. Neither to buy a house, nor even to talk with an Indian philosopher about the meaning of life, an individual outside the Soviet collective has no opportunity. Remembering Zos, Bender takes the train to Chernomorsk. In the evening, his fellow travelers in the compartment talk about receiving millions of inheritances, in the morning - about millions of tons of pig iron. Bender shows the students he has made friends with his million, after which the friendship ends and the students scatter. Ostap Bender cannot even buy a new car for Kozlevich. He does not know what to do with the money - to lose? send to the people's commissar of finance? Zosia married a young man named Femidi. "Horns and hooves", invented by Bender, turned into a large state-owned enterprise. 33-year-old, who is at the age of Christ, Bender has no place on Soviet soil. On a March night in 1931, he crossed the Romanian border. He wears a double fur coat, a lot of currency and jewelry, including a rare order of the Golden Fleece, which he calls the Golden Calf. But the Romanian border guards rob Bender to the bone. By chance, he only has an order left. We have to return to the Soviet coast. Monte Cristo from Ostap did not work. It remains to be retrained as a manager.

Portal for the student. Self-training