Composition based on the story of Shemyakin Court. Methodical development on literature (grade 8) on the topic: "The Tale of the Shemyakin Court"

There were two peasant brothers: one rich and the other poor. For many years the rich gave the poor a loan, but he remained the same poor. Once a poor man came to ask a rich horse to bring firewood. He reluctantly gave the horse. Then the poor man asked for a yoke. But my brother got angry and did not give a yoke.

Nothing to do - the poor man tied his logs to the horse's tail. When he was carrying firewood home, he forgot to put out the gateway, and the horse, passing through the gate, tore off its tail.

The poor man brought a horse without a tail to his brother. But he did not take the horse, but went to the city to judge Shemyaka to beat his brother with his forehead. The poor man followed him, knowing that he would be forced to appear in court anyway.

They reached one village. The rich man stayed with his friend - a rural priest. The poor man came to the same ass and lay down on the bed. The rich man sat down to eat with the priest, but the poor man was not called. He watched from the rails what they were eating, fell down, fell on the cradle and crushed the child. Pop also went into town to complain about the poor man.

They walked across the bridge. And below, along the moat, one man was taking his father to the bathhouse. The poor man, foreseeing his death, decided to commit suicide. He threw himself off the bridge, fell on the old man and killed him. He was caught and brought before the judge. The poor man wondered what to give him to the judge ... He took the stone, wrapped it in a cloth and stood before the judge.

Having heard the complaint of a rich brother, Judge Shemyaka ordered the poor one to answer. He showed the judge a wrapped stone. Shemyaka decided: let the poor not give the horse to the rich until it grows a new tail.

Then he brought a petition to the priest. And the poor man showed the stone again. The judge decided: let the priest give the poor priest until he “gets” a new child.

Then the son began to complain, whose poor father had run over him. The poor man again showed the judge the stone. The judge decided: let the plaintiff kill the poor man in the same way, that is, throw himself at him from the bridge.

After the trial, the rich man began to ask the poor for a horse, but he refused to give it, referring to the judge's decision. The rich man gave him five rubles so that he could give a horse without a tail.

Then the poor man began to demand from the priest, according to the decision of the judge. The priest gave him ten rubles, just so that he did not take the priest.

Poor asked the third plaintiff to comply with the judge's decision. But he, on reflection, did not want to rush at him from the bridge, but began to make peace and also gave the poor bribe.

And the judge sent his man to the defendant to ask about the three parcels that the poor man showed the judge. The poor man pulled out a stone. Shemyakin's servant was surprised and asked what kind of stone it was. The defendant explained that if the judge did not judge him, he would have bruised him with this stone.

Having learned about the danger that threatened him, the judge was very glad that he had judged that way. And the poor man, rejoicing, went home.

(No ratings yet)

Other compositions:

1. The story of Eruslan Lazarevich There lived Tsar Kirkous, and he had an uncle Lazar. The prince's son, Eruslan Lazarevich, was expelled from the kingdom at the age of ten. His remarkable strength brought some troubles during games with peers: who would he take by the hand Read More ......
2. The Story of Karp Sutulov The rich merchant Karp Sutulov lived with his beautiful wife, whose name was Tatiana. The couple loved each other very much. Karp had a friend, Afanasy Berdov. Preparing to go to the Lithuanian land, Karp came to a friend and asked him to help Tatiana with money, Read More ......
3. The Tale of Old Taketori Not in our days, but long ago, old Taketori lived, wandered through the mountains and valleys, chopped bamboo and made baskets and cages out of them. And they called him Taketori - the one who chops bamboo. One day old man Taketori came in Read More ......
4. The story of how Ivan Ivanovich quarreled with Ivan Nikiforovich. A wonderful man, Ivan Ivanovich! What a glorious Bekesh he has! When it gets hot, Ivan Ivanovich throws off himself and the bekesha, rests in one shirt and looks at what is happening in the yard and Read More ......
5. The Story of Frol Skobeev Poor nobleman Frol Skobeev lived in the Novgorod district. In the same district was the estate of the steward Nardin-Nashchokin. The steward's daughter, Annushka, lived there. Frol conceived to “have love” with Annushka. He got acquainted with the clerk of this estate, went to him Read More ......
6. The story of a merchant who bought a dead body and became a king Parents love him and constantly pray to God for him. The son grows up and is interested trade, revealing a sound mind and ingenuity in conversations with his father. When Read More ......
7. The Tale of Barlaam and Joasaph At the beginning of the "Tale" the author praises the Indian king Abner, extolling his wealth, strength, military prowess; Abner is stately in body, handsome in face, but, unfortunately, a pagan. Abner has no children (nothing is reported about his wife), and this is Read More ......
8. The Tale of Bygone Years Here are the testimonies of the past years about when the name “Russian land” was first mentioned and from what originates and who earlier begins to reign in Kiev - we will tell a story about this. About the Slavs After the flood and death of Noah, his three Read More ......

There were two brothers. One was poor and the other rich. The poor brother had no more firewood. There is nothing to heat the stove with. It's cold in the hut.

He went into the forest, chopped wood, but the horse was gone. How to bring firewood?

- I'll go to my brother, ask for a horse.

His rich brother received him unkindly.

- Take a horse, but look at the big cart, don't put your hopes on me forward: give it today, give it tomorrow, and then go around the world yourself.

The poor man brought the horse home and remembered:

- Oh, I don't have a clamp! I didn’t ask right away, but now there’s nothing to walk - my brother won’t let me.

Somehow he tied the lumber tighter to the tail of the brother's horse and rode off.

On the way back, the logs caught on a stump, but the poor man did not notice, he whipped up the horse.

The horse was hot, dashed and tore off its tail.

When the rich brother saw that the horse had no tail, he swore and shouted:

- Ruined the horse! I will not leave this business like that!

And he filed a lawsuit against the poor man.

How much or how little time has passed, the brothers are summoned to the city for trial.

They walk, they walk. The poor man thinks:

I myself have not been to court, but I have heard the proverb: the weak do not fight the strong, and the poor do not sue the rich. They will sue me.

They walked just across the bridge. There were no railings. The poor man slipped and fell off the bridge. And at that time a merchant was driving down the ice, taking his old father to the doctor.

The poor man fell down and hit the sledge and bruised the old man to death, but he himself remained alive and well.

The merchant grabbed the poor man:

- Let's go to the judge!

And three went into the city: a poor man, a rich brother, and a merchant.

The very poor man sulked:

Now they will surely be sued.

Then he saw a weighty stone on the road. He grabbed a stone, wrapped it in a rag and put it in his bosom:

Seven troubles - one answer: if the judge does not judge for me and condemn, I will kill the judge too.

Came to the judge. To the previous case, a new one was added. The judge began to judge and interrogate.

And the poor brother will look at the judge, take out a stone in a rag from his bosom, and whisper to the judge:

- Judge, judge, but look here.

So one time, and another, and a third. The judge saw and thinks: Isn't the peasant showing gold?

I looked again - the promise was great.

If there is silver, there is a lot of money.

And he ordered the poor brother to keep the tailless horse until the horse's tail grew.

And he said to the merchant:

- For the fact that this man killed your father, let him stand on the ice under the same bridge, and you jump onto him from the bridge and crush him to death, as he crushed your father.

That was the end of the trial.

Rich Brother Says:

- Well, okay, so be it, I'll take a tailless horse from you.

- What are you, brother, - the poor man answers. - Let it be, as the judge awarded: I will hold your horse until the tail grows.

The rich brother began to persuade:

- I'll give you thirty rubles, just give the horse back.

- Okay, give me the money.

The rich brother counted out thirty rubles, and on that they got along.

Then the merchant began to ask:

- Listen, little man, I forgive you your fault, you still can't turn your parent back.

- No, let's go, if the court has awarded, jump on me from the bridge.

“I don’t want your death, make peace with me, and I’ll give you a hundred rubles,” the merchant asks.

The poor man received a hundred rubles from the merchant. And just about to leave, the judge beckons him:

- Well, come on as promised.

The poor man took out a bundle from his bosom, unrolled a rag and showed the judge a stone.

- This is what I showed you and told you: Judge, judge, but look here. If you sued me, I would kill you.

That's good, - the judge thinks, - that I judged by this peasant, otherwise I would not live to be.

And the poor man, cheerful, with songs, came home.

Today, another work called Shemyakin court fell into my reader's diary... We got acquainted with the Shemyakin court story in the 8th grade at a literature lesson.

the story of the Shemyakin court

The story of Shemyakin's court tells about poverty and introduces an unfair trial, showing us a little man with his ingenuity. The work of Shemyakin Court was written by an unknown author, and this satire dates back to the seventeenth century.

Shemyakin Court summary

In order to get acquainted with the plot of the Shumyakin court work, we suggest what will allow you to work with the work and make it in the future. V old Russian work the second half of the seventeenth century tells of two brothers: the poor and the rich. The poor man constantly asked the rich horse, and once, taking the horse and not receiving a collar from his brother for use, the horse's tail comes off, because the poor man had to attach the logs to the horse's tail. The brother now does not want to take the horse and goes to court. In order not to pay tax for the subpoena, the poor brother follows.

On the way to the city, the brother stops at his friend's priest, where he invites him to the table, but the poor are not given dinner and he only has to look out from the bed. And so the poor man accidentally falls on the cradle with the child. The child dies. Now the pop goes to court.

On the way, the poor brother decides to commit suicide and throws himself off the bridge, but just falls on a sleigh with a man. By his fall, he kills the father of one of the townspeople, who at that time is taking his father on a sleigh to the bathhouse.

And now three victims went to court, where the poor man showed ingenuity. During the accusations of all the crimes that fell on the loser, he showed the judge a stone. The judge, thinking about money and the fact that the bundle contains gold, pronounced a verdict in favor of the accused, so the poor man was left with a horse, the priest's wife was sent to him, who was supposed to live on him until the child was born. And in the end, the poor man had to be killed by the injured city dweller, just as he killed his father.

In the end, everyone paid money to the poor brother so that the sentence was not carried out. Moreover, when the judge learned that the poor man had an ordinary stone instead of gold, he was also happy with his decisions, which he awarded in favor of the poor, because otherwise, the poor man would have killed him with a stone.

If we analyze the work, then we can clearly see who and what the Shemyakin court is making fun of. This is both bribery and injustice in judicial decisions during the days of feudalism. Reading the satirical work Shemyakin's court, one involuntarily wonders, and on whose side is the author? And here, just the case when the author does not support anyone, he simply shows all the bitterness of what is happening, where each hero deserves sympathy, although hardly anyone will take the judge's side. The judge can be condemned, because it was he who made unfair decisions that reached the point of absurdity.

Shemyakin Court main characters

In the Shemyakin court, the main characters are the poor and rich brothers, a priest, a city dweller and judge Shemyakin. It was by his name that the court was named.

"Shemyakin's Court" is a satirical work of the 17th century. It does not have one author and does not have a single text - there is a whole range of options.

A humorous work can be soft, good-natured, lyrical. Satirical - never. Satire is always harsh and tough. The satirical author shows people funny, stupid, ugly, evil, etc. Satire always criticizes and castigates human vices, weaknesses and shortcomings. Satire always gives a reduced image of reality. It even looks like an anecdote, which in fact is the most popular and accessible type of satire.

Even if we consider school or "kindergarten" jokes about Piglet and Winnie the Pooh a, then you can see that these characters are more stupid, primitive and less pleasant than in the book of Milne or in the famous cartoons of Khitruk (Fig. 1).

Rice. 1. Winnie the Pooh and Piglet

You can also draw such a parallel as modern newspaper parodies, as a rule, of politicians or other influential people, where they appear ugly and stupid. That is, they often laugh at what actually scares, annoys, and interferes with life.

All over the world, and especially in Russia, such a thing has often been and is the court. The unrighteousness of the Russian court aroused criticism even in the 15th – 16th centuries (Fig. 2).

Rice. 2. Satirical portrayal of judges

The venality of judges, their chicanery and the unfairness of the court, the fact that the poor are always at a loss, and the rich wins, that an unequal, dishonest court is taking place - all Russian literature and numerous historical documents groan about this. The theme of the unrighteousness of the court is the theme of the story "Shemyakin Court".

The popularity and spread of the story about the Shemyakin court

The story "Shemyakin Court" exists in different versions. In the 17th century, you can see two versions - poetry and prosaic, which are also known in the 18th-19th centuries. There were numerous popular prints of the Shemyakin Court.

Popular pictures- uncomplicated, but very colorful, juicy drawings with some text. These are pictures for the people, which were published, and then the peasants (and sometimes the townspeople were not rich) hung them on their wooden walls (Fig. 3).

Rice. 3. Popular print

"Shemyakin's Court" is a popular, beloved storyline that was spread throughout Russia in this way. In the end, the story became so popular that it had already gone into folklore - they began to tell tales about the Shemyakin court. This is an interesting case when not an oral tradition receives written processing, but on the contrary - an oral story that exists among the people without an author is obtained from a book. It turns out that there are many texts of this work, but there is no single, ideal one. It is not the word order that is important here, but the story itself, the plot.

The plot of the "Shemyakin court"

Once upon a time there were two brothers. One is rich, the other is poor, poor. The poor man constantly turned to the rich for help. Once he needed to bring firewood from the forest, but his horse was not there (Fig. 4).

Rice. 4. Firewood

He went to his elder (rich) brother and asked for a horse. He swore, but gave a horse, however, without a collar.

Clamp- a horseshoe-shaped device (wooden arch), which is hung, attached to the back of the horse. Shafts are attached to the yoke so that the weight falls on the yoke and does not put pressure on the horse's neck. It is just as valuable a tool as a wheel. Made it in the Middle Ages. The antiquity of the collar did not know.

The poor brother does not have a collar, and he does not think of anything better how to tie a sled with wood to the tail of a horse (Fig. 5).

Rice. 5. The poor man leads the horse by the reins

With this load (with firewood), he tries to drive into his yard and breaks off the tail of the unfortunate horse. Then he tries to return the horse with the torn off tail to his brother. The rich brother is angry and hits the court with his forehead - he decides to sue his younger brother.

The brothers go to the city where the judgment will take place. For the night they settle in the house of a priest. While the rich brother and the priest eat and drink, the poor man lies on the stove and eats nothing. He is jealous, he is interested in what his rich brother eats with his priest buddy. A hungry, curious poor man hangs from the stove, cannot hold himself, falls and hurts the owner's little child to death. After which the unfortunate priest also goes to beat his forehead to the judge.

Then they are three of them. The poor man thinks that this will be his end - he will be sued. To bring all matters together, he throws himself upside down from the bridge - he wants to commit suicide. And again he becomes an involuntary killer. The fact is that a sled is passing just under this bridge. A certain young man is taking his old father to the doctor (or, according to another version, to the bathhouse). The old man dies. After that, the son of the murdered man is sent to the same court.

The situation becomes completely hopeless for the poor man, who is a muddle-headed and dull-witted and always unwittingly commits some ugly deeds.

All these three appear in court, where judge Shemyaka is sitting, and present their case. The poor man thinks: "Well, what can I do?" He takes a stone, ties it with a handkerchief and puts it in his bosom. The rich brother presents the case to the judge. Shemyaka asks the respondent: "Tell me how it was." He pulls out a stone hidden in a handkerchief from his bosom and says: "Here you are, judge." The judge thinks that this is a bribe and there is gold or silver. After that, the judge interrogates the next plaintiff - the priest. Pop sets out the case. The judge asks the poor man again: "How was it?"... He again does not answer, but only shows the stone. The third plaintiff also tells his story, and everything is repeated anew.

What was the Shemyakin court like? What did an experienced and wise judge awarded? Regarding the horse, he said this: "Let the horse stay with the younger brother, and as the tail grows back, let him return it to the older brother." Regarding the son of the priest, he says the following: "Let the wife of the priest live with the younger brother, give birth to a child from him and return back to her husband with the child." Regarding the third case, the judge was also not at a loss: “The murder has been committed, it is necessary to take revenge in the same way. Let the poor man stand under the bridge, and the son of the deceased old man rush at him from above and beat him to death. "

Having listened to the wise judge, naturally, the plaintiffs got scared. Everyone began to promise the unfortunate poor man money so that he would not carry out the judge's decisions. The poor man takes the money and, joyful, goes home. But not right away, because a person sent from Judge Shemyaka comes and says: "Give what you promised the judge." The poor man unfolds his handkerchief, shows a stone and says: "If the judge judged not in my favor, I would have hit him with this stone." The answer is passed on to the judge. The judge is glad, he offers a prayer of thanks to God: "It's good that I was judging by him, otherwise he would have hurt me to death."

As a result, everyone is more or less happy that they got off cheaply. But most satisfied is the poor man who leaves singing songs because his pockets are full of money. And it could have turned out very badly.

Perception of the story "Shemyakin Court"

This story evoked a lively reaction among the people of the 17th-18th centuries, namely, great pleasure - they laughed. If you take this story realistically, as a life story, then you get continuous troubles and stupidity. It's time to cry, not laugh. But all the same it is satire, farce, clownery, farce. This should be understood as an anecdote, as a kind of deliberately distorted, comic and, in its own way, a funny way of life.

Also, this text should have been accepted with joy, because it has a certain pathos - the victory of the weak over the strong. The poor man got into trouble, but he happily got out.

Most of the people to whom this text has been addressed are simple people (people who are poor and weak in social terms). In life, everything was not so, but here the poor man wins. Moreover, he wins not because he has a mind, or money, or strength - he has none of this. He is generally a rolling need. He's even stupid. But he becomes a simpleton-dodger, beloved by the people. He somehow turns out everything by itself in a certain magical way, he triumphs. Its simplicity turns out to be stronger than worldly customs, worldly wisdom, cunning and experience of a judge. This caused unconditional joy.

The topic of judging in literature

At the center of the story is the ridicule of the judicial order, judicial chicanery and pharisaism. This topic is as old as the world. Many peoples were engaged in this to one degree or another - both in folklore and in the theater.

All stories about judges can be roughly divided into two groups: stories about judges wise and right and stories about judges stupid and dishonest. The ideal and wise judge is the biblical Solomon. Solomon is a sage judge and virtuoso who acts paradoxically. The most famous story is when two women quarreled about whose child. Solomon, not knowing the truth, made a wonderful decision: since they are arguing for him, let no one get it, let each get half, let the warrior cut the child in half. Then one of the mothers, who claims to be mother, says: "Okay, let neither me nor her get it."... The second with a cry says: "No, I refuse, then let the second woman take him." After which Solomon gives the child, naturally, to the one who wanted to save his life. It was a real mother (Fig. 6).

Rice. 6. Solomon's judgment

Solomon acts in an unexpected, paradoxical way and in such a crooked, roundabout way he achieves truth and truth. And we, listeners of this story, admire his skill and virtuosity.

In any case, the story of the court should be intricate, intricate, with unobvious behavior of the judge. He can be an evil bribe-taker, he can be righteous and wise, like Solomon, but he must act in a non-standard, paradoxical way.

Analysis of the story "Shemyakin Court"

Shemyaka's solution is an example of casuistry. He seems to be acting logically, but in fact he makes absurd decisions, acting against obvious things, against common sense. But this is how the whole story is structured. After all, this is a series of all sorts of tricks and paradoxical events, some kind of clown antics of the poor man and Judge Shemyaka.

But Shemyaka outwitted himself, was too smart, fell on his own hook. And his paradoxical decisions serve the cause of truth. Because a poor man, of course, is a loser and a fool, but he has no evil intention, everything that he does, he does involuntarily. And the rich peasant (his brother) and the priest, it would seem, are normal people who personify the normal course of things and worldly order, the reliability of social life. But they act very badly. They actually drag an innocent person to court, because he does all his deeds unintentionally. And their deeds are shown to be morally condemnable, because they wanted to rip off the last of the poor man and punish him for what he was essentially not guilty of. Strictly speaking, the poor man deserved a slap in the face. It is impossible to live like that, he is generally dangerous for peaceful people by his strange ways of living, lying on the stove, throwing himself from bridges, etc. But he has no ill intent, which means that there is no corpus delicti, which means there is nothing to be judged for.

Extravagance in folklore

If we summarize all of the above, it turns out that we are dealing with an unbelievable. In the ordinary world, everything happens differently: of course, the court had to be on the side of the priest and the rich, of course, the judge cannot be fooled, you cannot outwit, of course, the poor man had to lose.

Extravagance- this is a genre of folklore where incredible things happen: bears fly across the sky (Fig. 7), cows jump over the moon, as in English folklore.

Rice. 7. Bear flying across the sky

This is a world that does not exist, but you want it to exist. Everything in it is upside down: the weak wins, the court turns out to be right. This is a fabulous world of folk desires, folk fantasies about life. That is why he is so beautiful.

There is a lot of extravagance in Russian folklore. And not only in Russian.

The plot of "Shemyakin's court" in the traditions of other nations

This is a borrowed story, borrowed, that is, taken from the neighbors - from the Europeans. Similar stories are found in German and Polish literature of the time. Scientists have also found a large number of parallels in the East. There are similar stories in Indian, Tibetan and Muslim traditions. This so-called wandering plot is one of those stories that wander from people to people, reflecting something very important and typical for people.

There is one Tibetan story that almost coincides with the story "Shemyakin's Court". It is about a poor brahmana asking another man for a bull for work. A similar story happened: the bull fled from the yard when it was already returned. On the way to the court, a brahmana falls from the wall of a weaver who dies, then he sits on a baby, which is covered with clothes. The judge decides to gouge out the bull's owner's eye, because he “did not see” the bull, when he was brought, the weaver's widow must marry a brahmana, and the child returns to the unfortunate mother in the same way as in the “Shemyakin court”.

It seems that the story is the same, but the horse is not a bull, and the Russian peasant is not an Indian brahmana. The detail and intonation of the narrator creates different images. As a result, there are completely national characters that bear the imprint of the local area, the local features of the language, worldview, etc.

Therefore, the story "Shemyakin's Court" is very local, all grown on Russian soil, although the seeds were brought in from abroad. This story is reflected in our language. Until now, when it comes to an unfair, bad, crooked court, they say: "Shemyakin court."

The Story of Ruff Ershovich

"The Tale of Ruff Ershovich" is an unnamed work of the 16th-17th centuries. This is also a satirical story.

Namelessness was a common thing in literature of that time, at least in Russia. Especially when the story is based on folklore.

This is a story about what was happening in Russia at that time. Again, the theme of this story is judgment.

Much is incomprehensible to the modern reader in this story, because a lot of the realities of that time are described. To fully understand it, you need to know the social relations of that time: who is who, what the names of certain estates mean, etc. ...

Humanized animals - fish - act in the story. We all know fairy tales and fables in which a similar thing happens: a bear is a big boss, a domineering person; the fox is the sly one who represents the characteristic social elements, and the like. This principle is simple and straightforward.

In this story, the action takes place among fish in the Rostov Lake. There really is such a lake, on its shore there is the city of Rostov the Great. In the story, big people gather there for judgment - judges. Sturgeon, Beluga, Catfish - all these are large, venerable, imposing fish. They represent the boyars (chiefs). Smaller fish, worse - these are people who are more flattering, respectively. Perch represents the forces of law and order. He is something of a police force, and he has a corresponding stigma. The smallest, lousiest, most worthless fish, representing the smallest, lousy, worthless person, is the Ruff fish.

Ruff is a small, bony and prickly fish. He has needles on his back with which he pricks the enemy. Ruff represents in this story the type of plebeian (pugnacious, annoying, sneaky) - such a very disrespectful and dashing type.

This Ruff is accused of having survived the lake of its rightful owners by deception, cunning, by all sorts of machinations. Naturally, Ruff unlocks. On the contrary, he wants to accuse, denigrate, call his accusers more unpleasant.

This story was read and listened to with pleasure by the "small" people - the poor, who did not like rich and staid people and annoyed them in every possible way. Therefore, sympathy may have been on the side of Ruff. Although it is difficult to figure out which of them is right.

There are different manuscripts that have different alternative endings. In one version, Ruff is condemned and whipped, and the lake is returned to its true owners. In another ending, Ruff spits in the eyes of his judges and hides in the brushwood (in the thickets).

Such a duality in the ending shows the duality of this story, because it is impossible to say for sure which side the author's sympathy is on. Everyone looks silly, depressed, as it should be in satire.

Ruff is a deliberately dashing, unpleasant, antisocial character, but he has the charm of a rogue, a rogue, a clever and very cocky guy who succeeds in everything. And this charm partly speaks in his favor. This story and the position of the narrator are ambivalent - dual.

Ruff in the "Little Humpbacked Horse"

The composition "The Little Humpbacked Horse" is well known to everyone. This is a funny verse in the spirit of the people, where the dashing Little Humpbacked Horse, a mythical character, acts with his master, the simpleton Ivan, who becomes a prince.

Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov (Fig. 8), a younger contemporary of Pushkin, when he wrote this work, drew inspiration from folk poetry and from Russian classics, including pre-Petrine classics.

Rice. 8. Pyotr Pavlovich Ershov

The action takes place in some conventional pre-Petrine antiquity. Presented the Muscovy before any innovations and reforms on the Western model. Accordingly, there are many realities of that time in the story, including literary ones.

It is quite natural that Ershov turned to the literature of the past and, in particular, to the well-known "The Tale of Ersh Ershovich". Ershov has his own fish court, which reproduces the judicial procedure of that time.

Let's consider what is the difference between the fish court in "Ruff Ershovich" and in "Little Humpbacked Horse". Everything is serious in the folk tale. Of course, everything is funny and comical, but the procedural norms of that time are seriously discussed. The detailed listing, the realism of the description of the judicial procedure, combined with the fact that the characters are fish, creates the main comic effect.

Ershov's comic effect is created according to the same laws, but he does not intend to seriously describe the judicial procedure. His description is purely decorative. That is, there is no element of satire, social criticism and serious content are completely absent. He uses it to draw a funny, bright picture and entertain the reader.

In "The Little Humpbacked Horse" in the course of the action, the hero Ivan arrives at the court of the fish king (Fish-Whale). He needs to find some thing buried at the bottom of the sea. He comes to the decision to send a ruff for this thing (the chest with the queen's ring). Because he is a walker, runs everywhere along all sea (and not only sea) coasts, knows every bottom. He will surely find what he needs.

“Bream, hearing this order,
He wrote a decree in his own name;

Catfish (he was called an adviser)

I signed the decree;
Black cancer decree folded
And attached the stamps.
Two dolphins were called here
And, having given the decree, they said
So that, on behalf of the king,
Ran all the seas
And that ruff-reveler,
A screamer and a bully,
Wherever they are found
They brought me to the sovereign.
Then the dolphins bowed
And they started looking for the ruff. "

In this passage we meet a catfish and a ruff, which are also in the folk tale, but at the same time, dolphins, which are not and cannot be in it. Dolphins carry out the order rather stupidly, because it is useless to search for such a bum as a ruff in the seas. Of course, he is in a simpler place - in a pond, where they find him doing his favorite pastime - he fights and swears. Here's the scene:

“Look: in the pond, under the reeds,
Ruff fights with a crucian carp.

"Attention! The devil take you!
See, what sodom they raised
Like important fighters! "-
The messengers shouted to them.

"Well, what do you care? -
Ruff shouts out to the dolphins boldly. -
I don't like to joke,
I'll chop everyone at once! "-
"Oh you, eternal reveler
And a screamer and a bully!
All, rubbish, you have a walk,
All would have to fight and shout.
At home - no, it’s not sitting! .. "

Everyone knows this type in life: a screamer, a bully, a bully, a fighter.

In the end, the ruff is sent for the chest, and he honorably fulfills the assignment. But before executing, it acts as follows:

“Here, having bowed to the king,
Ruff walked, bent over, out.
I swore at the royal courtiers,
I dragged myself for the roach
And six herring
He broke his nose on the way.
Having done such a thing,
He rushed into the pool boldly. "

Ruff, of course, is a stupid character, but there is a benefit from him - he fulfills the order. There is some charm in him in this work, as well as in a folk tale.

There is also a duality of views on characters in the Russian literary tradition - both folk and author's. It seems that he is a dashing person and a petty hooligan, but at the same time he is brave, savvy and understands the matter when necessary.

It is worth paying attention to a funny moment: the author Pyotr Ershov could not help but think about the correspondence of his surname and his character. His literary son is Yersh Ershovich doubly.

Questions for notes

1. Explain why the story "Shemyakin's Court" is a satirical work.

3. Analyze the image of the poor man in the story. What attitude does it evoke in you? Why?

41. The peculiarity of the language of democratic satirical literature on the example of "The Tale of the Shemyakin Court"

Satire of the second half of the 17th century. represents a qualitatively new phenomenon in the general course of literary development Ancient Rus... Certain satirical episodes are found, of course, in the literature of the preceding time - in the chroniclers, in Daniel the Zatochnik, in journalistic genres, in polemical works. But satire like literary genre, first appears in the posad environment during the period of aggravation of its hostile attitude towards many aspects of the social system of the Russian state. The opposition only in exceptional cases took the form of popular uprisings: the balance of real forces and the lack of organization prevented an open struggle against the ruling elite. The growing resistance to the authorities on the part of the broad masses of the population was also reflected in the increased number of court cases on the "word and deed of the sovereign", in which an individual or group protest against feudal exploitation was opened. "Letters of thieves" - agitation appeals that named the main culprits of abuse, betrayal and direct relations with external enemies of the homeland, were unstuck before the uprisings, appeared in court cases, reflecting the growth of public consciousness. If it is impossible to always join open struggle with the power, the oppositional strata of the population make the image of serf oppression and the resulting "disorder" the theme of literary satire.

Already by its very content and sharply anti-government sentiment, the satire of the 17th century. was a kind of underground literature that could hardly be disseminated openly. The lists were passed from hand to hand, but they were not entered into that authoritative book, which the Russian reader, brought up with the words "about reverence for books," was accustomed to keeping carefully. This is probably one of the reasons for the poor preservation of this peculiar literature. The stability of its artistic form, which often reveals great literary skill, makes it possible to think that at one time the satirical genre was sufficiently developed in a certain circle of authors, responding to an urgent need. The few that survived from this genre - and that for the most part in the later copies of the 18th century - did not, of course, exhaust the entire presence of satirical works of the 17th century.

"The Tale of the Shemyakin Court"- satire on bribery of judges. Her peculiar semi-book, semi-national make-up, motives consonant with her in the oral and book work of many peoples have long attracted the attention of literary historians.

The plot of the story is a litigation between two brothers-farmers, rich and poor. Once "a poor man came to a rich man to ask for a horse, on what he could bring firewood from the forest." The rich gave a horse, but without a collar. The poor man tied the logs to the horse's tail "and go into the forest and the cart is great, the horse can be carried with great strength." Having approached the gate of his yard, the poor man forgot to put out the gateway; the horse darted over it and ripped off its tail. The rich man, “considering that his horse was without a tail,” did not agree to take it back and went to judge Shemyaka to “beat his forehead” at his brother. Along with him went the poor man, "knowing that there would be a dispatch from the city for him," and he had nothing to pay for the bailiffs ("commonplace") for the "ride".

On the way, the brothers stopped for the night with a rich man (or a priest). The owner "began with the rich to have supper and drink and eat", and the poor, lying on the beds and staring at the suppers, "suddenly snatched from the beds" and crushed the child who was sleeping in the cradle. The child's father also went with them to Shemyaka with his petition.

They all walked across the bridge "over a deep ditch." The wretched man, thinking that “he will not be alive from Judge Shemyaka,” threw himself off the bridge, “although he would commit himself to death,” fell on the sick old man, whom his son was carrying on a sled to the bathhouse, and beat him to death. The son also went with them to the judge.

Having listened to the first petitioner, Shemyaka invited the poor man to answer the accusation of damaging the horse. Instead of answering, he showed a stone wrapped in a scarf; the poor man raised this stone on the road, thinking, "how would he get rid of troubles." The judge took what was shown as a "promise" and ruled that the horse should remain with the poor man until it grows a tail. The second petitioner took the floor; the poor man again showed the judge his bundle, and the judge "think what he promised him from another court", ordered the peasant to give the poor wife his wife, "in those places until she has a child", and to the third plaintiff, in the hope of one more promise, he said: "go up to the bridge, and you are poor, stand under the bridge, and you rush from the bridge at that wretched one, as if you threw yourself at your father."

All the plaintiffs gave the wretched compensation to make peace with him, without fulfilling the orders of the judge. The judge began to demand the promised "promise". The poor man, having unrolled the knot, showed the judge a stone and explained that he "wanted to bruise him with that stone." "The judge has begun to be baptized: thank God that I judged by him."

The first researchers of the story about Shemyak recognized it as an independent Russian work, and the only dispute was whether to connect its plot with the judicial order of the 17th century. or with that Dmitry Shemyaka of the 15th century, about which the Russian Chronograph of the 17th century. notes: "From this time in great Russia on every judge and admirer in reproach she was nicknamed Shemyakin's court" (Shemyaka is the brother of Vasily the Dark). Subsequently, the similarity of the story about Shemyak with the cycle of legends about the courts, widespread in the East and West, was noted, and the question was raised about the nearest source of the Russian story.

Elements of satire were layered on the legend gradually, as it approached the conditions of reality, and the legend of the wise and incorruptible judge eventually turned into one of many stories about the greed and addiction of individual representatives of the judiciary. Such stories have long existed in all literatures. So, for example, the Persian version of the legend "About Krivosud" (formed in the XIII century), depicting the objective justice of the sentences, gives a sharply accusatory characterization of the judge.

In handwritten collections of the late 17th and 18th centuries. "The Tale of the Shemyakin Court" is often read alongside anecdotes and "ridiculous" stories received through Polish mediation. This circumstance and the direct indication of one of the lists - "Shemyakin's court is written out from Polish books" - gave the researchers a reason to attribute the story of Shemyakin's court to translated works and look for its original in Polish literature. The Russian story was compared with the Polish folk joke "about showing the judge a stone", literally processed in the middle of the 16th century. Nikolay Rey from Naglowice.

However, the attempts of representatives of the comparative historical method to establish a direct genetic link between the Russian story about Shemyak and foreign-language versions of legends about a wise and incorruptible judge, turning over time into satire on selfish judges, should be recognized as deeply erroneous. The source of the Russian story about Shemyak is in Russian reality itself, and the literary design of impressions from this reality took place under the direct influence of Russian folk tales about the litigation of the poor with the rich.

The story of the judicial procedure is full in the story of realities, reproducing the situation of the city court of the second half of the 17th century. (“A parcel from the city” for the defendant, “driving a bailiff to pay”, “petition for claim”, “beat the judge's head”, “judicial decree”, etc.). The events preceding the court are taking place in the concrete situation of the Russian peasant economy (drovni, gateway, yoke, bed, shallow, bathhouse, etc.).

The literary processing of the oral fairy tale kept the name of the rich and wretched by the brothers, retained the very nature of the sentence, but by including the episode with the stone turned the "righteous judge" of the fairy tales into a mercenary bribe-taker Shemyaka. The name of Shemyak, unknown to the folk tale, could be a memory of the historical Shemyak, the brother of Vasily the Dark (the nickname “Shemyakin” was also known in the 17th century, when it was worn by a peasant from Usolsk, a boyar son, and a Cossack). The combination of the vernacular with the bookish manner (“and after some time the poor man came to his rich brother to ask for a horse, on what he could bring firewood from the forest”, etc.) created individual style story; Her "true hero", according to Academician N. Tikhonravov, "remains a wretched one, whose resourceful mind triumphs over the accidents of life, and over the material strength of the rich man, the plaintiffs and the judge Shemyaka himself."

With such an explanation of the origin of the literary story about Shemyakin's court, the expression of one of its lists - “written from Polish books” - should be understood only in the sense that the genre of this short story reminded the scribe of translated novellas that really came to us “from Polish books”.