Leo Tolstoy all fairy tales. Old grandfather and grandson. Tolstoy's works: list

In this book for family reading collected best works Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy, which for more than a century has been loved by both preschool children and demanding teenagers.

The main characters of the stories are children, “troubled”, “dexterous”, and therefore close to modern boys and girls. The book teaches love - for man and for everything that surrounds him: nature, animals, native land. She is kind and bright, like all the works of a brilliant writer.

Artists Nadezhda Lukina, Irina and Alexander Chukavin.

Lev Tolstoy
All the best for children

STORIES

Filipok

There was a boy, his name was Philip.

Once all the boys went to school. Philip took his hat and wanted to go too. But his mother told him:

Where are you going, Filipok?

To school.

You’re still young, don’t go,” and his mother left him at home.

The guys went to school. Father left for the forest in the morning, mother went to daily work. Filipok and grandma remained in the hut on the stove. Filip became bored alone, his grandmother fell asleep, and he began to look for his hat. I couldn’t find mine, so I took my father’s old one and went to school.

The school was outside the village near the church. When Philip walked through his settlement, the dogs did not touch him, they knew him. But when he went out to other people's yards, Zhuchka jumped out, barked, and behind Zhuchka - big dog Spinning top. Filipok started to run, the dogs followed him. Filipok began to scream, tripped and fell.

A man came out, drove the dogs away and said:

Where are you, little shooter, running alone?

Filipok said nothing, picked up the floors and started running at full speed.

He ran to the school. There is no one on the porch, but in the school you can hear the voices of the children buzzing. Fear came over Filip: “What, as a teacher, will drive me away?” And he began to think what to do. To go back - the dog will eat again, to go to school - he is afraid of the teacher.

A woman walked past the school with a bucket and said:

Everyone is studying, but why are you standing here?

Filipok went to school. In the senets he took off his hat and opened the door. The whole school was full of children. Everyone shouted their own, and the teacher in a red scarf walked in the middle.

What are you doing? - he shouted at Filip.

Filipok grabbed his hat and said nothing.

Who are you?

Filipok was silent.

Or are you dumb?

Filipok was so frightened that he could not speak.

Well, go home if you don’t want to talk.

And Filipok would have been glad to say something, but his throat was dry from fear. He looked at the teacher and began to cry. Then the teacher felt sorry for him. He stroked his head and asked the guys who this boy was.

This is Filipok, Kostyushkin’s brother, he has been asking to go to school for a long time, but his mother won’t let him, and he came to school on the sly.

Well, sit on the bench next to your brother, and I’ll ask your mother to let you go to school.

The teacher began to show Filipok the letters, but Filipok already knew them and could read a little.

Well, put your name down.

Filipok said:

Hve-i-hvi, le-i-li, pe-ok-pok.

Everyone laughed.

Well done, said the teacher. -Who taught you to read?

Filipok dared and said:

Kosciuszka. I'm poor, I immediately understood everything. I am passionately so clever!

The teacher laughed and said:

Stop boasting and learn.

Since then, Filipok began going to school with the children.

Disputants

Two people on the street found a book together and began to argue about who should take it.

A third walked by and asked:

So why do you need a book? You are arguing just like two bald men were fighting over a comb, but there was nothing to scratch yourself.

Lazy daughter

The mother and daughter took out a tub of water and wanted to take it to the hut.

The daughter said:

It’s hard to carry, let me add some salt to the water.

Mother said:

You’ll drink it yourself at home, but if you add salt, you’ll have to go another time.

The daughter said:

I won’t drink at home, but here I’ll be drunk for the whole day.

Old grandfather and grandson

Grandfather became very old. His legs did not walk, his eyes did not see, his ears did not hear, he had no teeth. And when he ate, it flowed backwards from his mouth. His son and daughter-in-law stopped sitting him at the table and let him dine at the stove.

They brought him lunch in a cup. He wanted to move it, but he dropped it and broke it. The daughter-in-law began to scold the old man for ruining everything in the house and breaking cups, and said that now she would give him dinner in a basin. The old man just sighed and said nothing.

One day a husband and wife are sitting at home and watching - their little son is playing on the floor with planks - he is working on something. The father asked:

Why are you doing this, Misha?

And Misha says:

This is me, father, making the basin. When you and your mother are too old to feed you from this tub.

The husband and wife looked at each other and began to cry. They felt ashamed that they had offended the old man so much; and from then on they began to sit him at the table and look after him.

Bone

The mother bought plums and wanted to give them to the children after lunch.

They were on the plate. Vanya never ate plums and kept smelling them. And he really liked them. I really wanted to eat it. He kept walking past the plums. When there was no one in the upper room, he could not resist, grabbed one plum and ate it.

Before dinner, the mother counted the plums and saw that one was missing. She told her father.

At dinner my father says:

Well, children, did anyone eat one plum?

Everyone said:

Vanya blushed like a lobster and said the same.

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Leo Tolstoy is known for his monumental works, but his children's works also deserve attention. The famous classic wrote dozens of excellent fairy tales, epics and stories for children, which will be discussed below.

Fairy tales, fables, there were stories

The famous Russian writer Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy always treated children's literature with special trepidation. The author's long observations of peasant children are reflected in his work. The famous “ABC”, “New ABC” and “Russian books for reading” made a huge contribution to the development children's education. This edition includes the fairy tales “Three Bears”, “Lipunyushka”, “Two Brothers”, “Filipok”, “Jump”, stories about the dog Bulka, which are widely used to this day in preschool and primary school education. Further

Three Bears

Leo Tolstoy's collection includes essays written more than half a century ago for students of the Yasnopolyansky school. Today the texts are not in to a lesser extent are extremely popular among children, thanks to their simple and colorful descriptions of worldly wisdom. Illustrations in the book are provided by famous artist I. Tsygankov. Suitable for senior preschool age. Further

The collected works include such works as “Lipunyushka”, “Shark”, as well as “The Lion and the Dog”, “Two Brothers”, the famous “Bone”, “Jump”, and, of course, “Three Bears”. The works were written for all young students in the estate Yasnaya Polyana, but continue to arouse great interest among young reader and to this day. Further

This publication is a collection of folklore works“The Fox and the Crane”, “Geese-Swans”, “Gingerbread House”, retold by L.N. Eliseeva and A.N. Afanasyeva and the creation of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy “Three Bears”. The works tell about such concepts as kindness, intelligence, justice, and intelligence. Here you will meet everyone's famous fairy-tale heroes: sly fox, evil gray wolf, Mashenka, who loved to eat from someone else’s cup. The publication is accompanied by pictures by artists Sergei Bordyug and Natalia Trepenok. Further

A collection of fascinating fairy tales about animals with many bright images for preschool children: “The Fox and the Mouse” by Vitaly Bianchi, “The Frog the Traveler” by Vsevolod Garshin, “The Gray Neck” by Dmitry Mamin-Sibiryak, “The Three Bears” by Leo Tolstoy and others. Illustrator: Tatyana Vasilyeva. Further

All the best for children

A golden collection of works by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy, which will not leave both kids and older children indifferent. The theme of a carefree childhood will appeal to modern children and their parents. The book calls on the younger generation to love, kindness and respect, which, perhaps, permeate the entire work of the great writer. Further

This is a collection of stories, epics and fairy tales included in the primary school curriculum. A series of stories about Lev Nikolaevich’s dogs – Milton and Bulka – will not leave boys and girls indifferent primary classes. Further

Novels and stories

The publication contains meaningful works by Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy for older children: “After the Ball,” “Kholstomer,” “The Kreutzer Sonata,” “The Death of Ivan Ilyich” and others. Further

Stories for children

A great combination of stories for beginning readers. The text contains many bright pictures, accents are placed and words are divided into syllables, which makes the process of learning to read much easier for both children and their parents. Suitable for preschool children. Further

So, these were the children's works of Leo Tolstoy. Share in the comments which works for children from this writer you remember most. 😉

Tolstoy's original fairy tales are perfect for family reading. The list includes works that are interesting to preschoolers, demanding teenagers and very adult readers. The tales are bright, kind, truly brilliant, like all the works of this outstanding literary figure.

Leo Tolstoy: fairy tales and other works for children

The writer penned a huge number of works. From the variety of genres in which he worked Great master words, Tolstoy’s original fairy tales can be distinguished into a special group.

Their appearance cannot be called accidental. The writer was very seriously interested folk art. He communicated with storytellers, peasants, and other ordinary people who were experts. From their words, he wrote down proverbs, sayings, folk signs and other works of folklore. This is how Tolstoy’s fairy tales appeared in manuscripts, and later adaptations of Tolstoy’s fairy tales were published. The list of such works is quite large - “The Three Bears”, “The Wolf and the Goat”, “The Waterman and the Pearl”, “The Squirrel and the Wolf”, “The Woman and the Hen” and several dozen other short instructive stories are part of the writer’s legacy. The language of Tolstoy's fairy tales is distinguished by expressiveness and extreme clarity of presentation, which is very important for the consciousness of the young reader. The moral teachings that are necessarily present in fairy tales are very short and precise. This helps the child fully understand and remember the idea of ​​the work.

Pedagogical activity of the writer

The eventful biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy highlights the period when he actively worked in the field of teaching and raising children. This dates back to 1871, when schools for peasant children were created, and work began on creating books to teach schoolchildren to read. His ABC was published in 1872. Along with other works, the content of the books also includes Tolstoy’s original fairy tales.

In 1874, the article “On Public Education” was published, and a year later “The New Alphabet” and four volumes of “Russian Books for Reading” were published. The table of contents of these collections again contains a list of Tolstoy's fairy tales. Author's and processed folk tales, stories, were, parables introduce readers to the life of peasants and ordinary people. The list of works included in the collections is very large. The most famous are the following: “Swans”, “Kitten”, “Hares”, “The Tsar and the Shirt”, “The Righteous Judge”, “The Girl and the Thieves”, “Reward”, “The Lion and the Dog”, and others. Together with the books of Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky, the collections of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy for a long time were the only books used to teach children to read. Their popularity was so high that they went through over thirty editions. The textbooks were sold in millions of copies throughout all the provinces of Russia.

Publishing house "Posrednik"

In 1884, Leo Tolstoy, obsessed with the idea of ​​enlightenment common people, conceived the idea of ​​opening a special publishing house where works for folk reading. The innovative idea was brought to life. The publishing house began to operate and was named "Intermediary".

Specially for this project, the author's fairy tales by Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich were written - “Two Brothers and Gold”, “How Much Land Does a Man Need”, “Ilyas”, “The Tale of Ivan the Fool”, “Where there is Love, There is God”, “If You Miss you can’t put out the fire”, “Two Old Men”, “Candle” and many others. As you can see, the list is not limited to fairy tales, it includes fables, stories, and parables.

The writer's attitude towards children's literature

The author's fairy tales of Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich are still a model fiction not only in Russia, but throughout the world. First of all, this became possible thanks to the unique talent of the writer.

But one should not lose sight of the fact that Tolstoy treated the writing of works; he wrote, pondering every word. Often he had to rewrite them several times. After all, any of his stories, in addition to describing some events or facts from life, also contained a moral and was of an educational nature. The result of the writer’s painstaking work was the appearance of a whole library of works for children, through the reading of which hard work, kindness, courage, honesty and other positive qualities of a small person are brought up.

Leo Tolstoy - an expert on the human soul

Analyzing the content and list of Tolstoy’s fairy tales (author’s and retold by him folk works), it is easy to conclude that the writer created them taking into account his knowledge of the peculiarities. Unobtrusively, correctly, he models the behavior of a small citizen, and gives an adult competent advice on raising a child. Simple simple stories stories described in his works always end in such a way that a person wants to express his own attitude towards the characters and their actions. It is not difficult for the author to draw his own conclusion, but he deliberately attracts the reader to this work, who to some extent becomes a co-author of the great master of the Russian word.

Recently, the publishing house "Children's Literature" published a wonderful collection of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy "Little Stories". The book contains the works of Leo Tolstoy for children, included in the “ABC”, “New ABC” and “Russian books for reading”. Therefore, the collection is ideal for teaching reading, as well as for independent reading when a child is just entering the world great literature. Many works are included in the program preschool education, as well as in textbooks for primary and secondary schools.

This is a book of stories from our childhood, written in truly “great and mighty” Russian. The publication turned out to be light and very “homey”.

The collection consists of four parts:
1. "From New alphabet" is a part of the book intended for children just learning to read. It includes reading exercises, where the main thing is the language form for getting to know all the letters and sounds. The font in this part is very large.
2. Small stories - the author’s familiar realistic stories, such as Filipok, Kostochka, Shark, Jump, Swans... They are distinguished by an entertaining plot, memorable images and accessible language. As stated in the appeal to parents, after reading more serious and voluminous works on their own, the beginning reader will believe in his own abilities.
3. Once upon a time - includes mainly fairy tales that we remember from childhood - Three Bears, How a Man Divided Geese, Lipunyushka and others.
4. Fables - the fourth part is devoted to fables. “Here we need to help the child comprehend the plot - teach him to see in the text not just a story about animals, but a story about human vices and weaknesses, to draw conclusions about which actions are good and which are not.” The font in these parts is smaller, but still sufficient for children.

There are 14 artists in the book, and what kind (!!!). Colored beautiful work such outstanding masters of children's book illustration, like Nikolai Ustinov, Evgeny Rachev, Veniamin Losin, Victor Britvin - just a gift to our children. The collection also presents M. Alekseev and N. Stroganova, P. Goslavsky, L. Khailov, S. Yarovoy, E. Korotkova, L. Gladneva, N. Sveshnikova, N. Levinskaya, G. Epishin. There are very, very many illustrations, both full-page and small.

A small book of stories will bring great pleasure to both you and your child, and will also bring great benefits.

© Il., Bastrykin V.V., 2017

© Il., Bordyug S. I. and Trepenok N. A., 2017

© Il., Bulay E. V., 2017

© Il., Nikolaev Yu. F., 2017

© Il., Pavlova K. A., 2017

© Il., Slepkov A. G., 2017

© Il., Sokolov G. V., 2017

© Il., Ustinova E. V., 2017

© LLC Publishing House "Rodnichok", 2017

© AST Publishing House LLC, 2017

* * *

Stories

Filipok

There was a boy, his name was Philip.

Once all the boys went to school. Philip took his hat and wanted to go too. But his mother told him:

-Where are you going, Filipok?

- To school.

“You’re still young, don’t go,” and his mother left him at home.

The guys went to school. Father left for the forest in the morning, mother went to daily work. Filipok and grandma remained in the hut on the stove. Filip became bored alone, his grandmother fell asleep, and he began to look for his hat. I couldn’t find mine, so I took my father’s old one and went to school.

The school was outside the village near the church. When Philip walked through his settlement, the dogs did not touch him, they knew him. But when he went out to other people’s yards, Zhuchka jumped out, barked, and behind Zhuchka was a big dog, Volchok. Filipok started to run, the dogs followed him. Filipok began to scream, tripped and fell.

A man came out, drove the dogs away and said:

-Where are you, little shooter, running alone?

Filipok said nothing, picked up the floors and started running at full speed.

He ran to the school. There is no one on the porch, but in the school you can hear the voices of the children buzzing. Fear came over Filip: “What, as a teacher, will drive me away?” And he began to think what to do. To go back - the dog will eat again, to go to school - he is afraid of the teacher.

A woman walked past the school with a bucket and said:

- Everyone is studying, but why are you standing here?

Filipok went to school. In the senets he took off his hat and opened the door. The whole school was full of children. Everyone shouted their own, and the teacher in a red scarf walked in the middle.

- What are you doing? - he shouted at Filip.

Filipok grabbed his hat and said nothing.

- Who are you?

Filipok was silent.

- Or are you dumb?

Filipok was so frightened that he could not speak.

- Well, go home if you don’t want to talk.

And Filipok would have been glad to say something, but his throat was dry from fear. He looked at the teacher and began to cry. Then the teacher felt sorry for him. He stroked his head and asked the guys who this boy was.

- This is Filipok, Kostyushkin’s brother, he has been asking to go to school for a long time, but his mother won’t let him, and he came to school on the sly.

“Well, sit on the bench next to your brother, and I’ll ask your mother to let you go to school.”

The teacher began to show Filipok the letters, but Filipok already knew them and could read a little.

- Well, say your name.

Filipok said:

- Hwe-i-hwi, le-i-li, pe-ok-pok.

Everyone laughed.

“Well done,” said the teacher. -Who taught you to read?

Filipok dared and said:

- Kostyushka. I'm poor, I immediately understood everything. I am passionately so clever!

The teacher laughed and said:

- Do you know prayers?

Filipok said:

“I know,” and the Mother of God began to say; but every word he spoke was wrong.

The teacher stopped him and said:

- Stop boasting and learn.

Since then, Filipok began going to school with the children.

Disputants

Two people on the street found a book together and began to argue about who should take it.

A third walked by and asked:

- So why do you need a book? You are arguing just like two bald men were fighting over a comb, but there was nothing to scratch yourself.

Lazy daughter

The mother and daughter took out a tub of water and wanted to take it to the hut.

The daughter said:

- It’s hard to carry, let me add some salt to the water.

Mother said:

“You’ll drink it yourself at home, but if you add salt, you’ll have to go another time.”

The daughter said:

“I won’t drink at home, but here I’ll get drunk all day.”

Old grandfather and grandson

Grandfather became very old. His legs did not walk, his eyes did not see, his ears did not hear, he had no teeth. And when he ate, it flowed backwards from his mouth. His son and daughter-in-law stopped sitting him at the table and let him dine at the stove.

They brought him lunch in a cup. He wanted to move it, but he dropped it and broke it. The daughter-in-law began to scold the old man for ruining everything in the house and breaking cups, and said that now she would give him dinner in a basin. The old man just sighed and said nothing.

One day a husband and wife are sitting at home and watching - their little son is playing on the floor with planks - he is working on something. The father asked:

- Why are you doing this, Misha?

And Misha says:

“It’s me, father, who’s making the basin.” When you and your mother are too old to feed you from this tub.

The husband and wife looked at each other and began to cry. They felt ashamed that they had offended the old man so much; and from then on they began to sit him at the table and look after him.

Bone

The mother bought plums and wanted to give them to the children after lunch.

They were on the plate. Vanya never ate plums and kept smelling them. And he really liked them. I really wanted to eat it. He kept walking past the plums. When there was no one in the upper room, he could not resist, grabbed one plum and ate it.

Before dinner, the mother counted the plums and saw that one was missing. She told her father.

At dinner my father says:

- Well, children, didn’t anyone eat one plum?

Everyone said:

Vanya blushed like a lobster and said too:

- No, I didn’t eat.

Then the father said:

– What any of you ate is not good; but that’s not the problem. The trouble is that plums have seeds, and if someone doesn’t know how to eat them and swallows a seed, he will die within a day. I'm afraid of this.

Vanya turned pale and said:

- No, I threw the bone out the window.

And everyone laughed, and Vanya began to cry.

Jacob's dog

One guard had a wife and two children - a boy and a girl. The boy was seven years old and the girl was five years old. They had a shaggy dog ​​with a white muzzle and big eyes.

One day the guard went into the forest and told his wife not to let the children leave the house, because wolves had been walking around the house all night and attacking the dog.

The wife said:

“Children, don’t go into the forest,” and she sat down to work.

When the mother sat down to work, the boy said to his sister:

- Let's go to the forest, yesterday I saw an apple tree, and apples were ripe on it.

The girl said:

- Let's go to.

And they ran into the forest.

When the mother finished working, she called the children, but they were not there. She went out onto the porch and began calling to them. There were no children.

The husband came home and asked:

- Where are children?

The wife said she didn't know.

Then the guard ran to look for the children.

Suddenly he heard a dog squealing. He ran there and saw that the children were sitting under a bush and crying, and the wolf had grappled with the dog and was gnawing at it. The guard grabbed an ax and killed the wolf. Then he took the children in his arms and ran home with them.

When they arrived home, the mother locked the door and they sat down to dinner.

Suddenly they heard a dog squealing at the door. They went out into the yard and wanted to let the dog into the house, but the dog was covered in blood and could not walk.

The children brought her water and bread. But she did not want to drink or eat and only licked their hands. Then she lay down on her side and stopped squealing. The children thought the dog had fallen asleep; and she died.

Kitty

There were brother and sister - Vasya and Katya; and they had a cat. In the spring the cat disappeared. The children looked for her everywhere, but could not find her. One day they were playing near the barn and heard something meowing overhead in thin voices. Vasya climbed the ladder under the roof of the barn. And Katya stood below and kept asking:

- Found? Found?

But Vasya did not answer her. Finally Vasya shouted to her:

- Found! Our cat... And she has kittens; so wonderful; come here quickly.

Katya ran home, took out milk and brought it to the cat.

There were five kittens. When they grew a little and began to crawl out from under the corner where they had hatched, the children chose one kitten, gray with white paws, and brought it into the house. The mother gave away all the other kittens, but left this one to the children. The children fed him, played with him and took him to bed.

One day the children went to play on the road and took a kitten with them.

The wind moved the straw along the road, and the kitten played with the straw, and the children rejoiced at him. Then they found sorrel near the road, went to collect it and forgot about the kitten. Suddenly they heard someone shouting loudly: “Back, back!” - and they saw that the hunter was galloping, and in front of him two dogs saw a kitten and wanted to grab it. And the kitten, stupid, instead of running, sat down to the ground, hunched its back and looked at the dogs.

Katya was scared of the dogs, screamed and ran away from them. And Vasya, as best he could, ran towards the kitten and at the same time as the dogs ran up to it. The dogs wanted to grab the kitten, but Vasya fell with his stomach on the kitten and blocked it from the dogs.

The hunter galloped up and drove the dogs away; and Vasya brought the kitten home and never took it with him to the field again.

How my aunt talked about how she learned to sew

When I was six years old, I asked my mother to let me sew.

She said:

“You’re still young, you’ll only prick your fingers.”

And I kept pestering. Mother took a red piece of paper from the chest and gave it to me; then she threaded a red thread into the needle and showed me how to hold it. I began to sew, but I couldn’t make even stitches: one stitch came out large, and the other hit the very edge and broke through. Then I pricked my finger and tried not to cry, but my mother asked me:

- What you?

I couldn’t help but cry. Then my mother told me to go play.

When I went to bed, I kept imagining stitches; I kept thinking about how I could quickly learn to sew, and it seemed so difficult to me that I would never learn.

And now I’ve grown up and don’t remember how I learned to sew; and when I teach my girl to sew, I’m surprised how she can’t hold a needle.

Girl and mushrooms

Two girls were walking home with mushrooms.

They had to cross the railway.

They thought that car far away, we climbed down the embankment and walked across the rails.

Suddenly a car made noise. The older girl ran back, and the younger girl ran across the road.

The older girl shouted to her sister:

- Don't go back!

But the car was so close and made such a loud noise that the smaller girl did not hear; she thought that she was being told to run back. She ran back across the rails, tripped, dropped the mushrooms and began to pick them up.

The car was already close, and the driver whistled as hard as he could.

The older girl shouted:

- Throw the mushrooms!

And the little girl thought that she was being told to pick mushrooms, and crawled along the road.

The driver could not hold the cars. She whistled as hard as she could and ran into the girl.

The older girl screamed and cried. All the passengers looked from the windows of the cars, and the conductor ran to the end of the train to see what had happened to the girl.

When the train passed, everyone saw that the girl was lying head down between the rails and not moving.

Then, when the train had already moved far, the girl raised her head, jumped on her knees, picked mushrooms and ran to her sister.

How the boy talked about how he was not taken to the city

The priest was getting ready for the city, and I told him:

- Dad, take me with you.

And he says:

- You'll freeze there; where are you...

I turned around, cried and went into the closet. I cried and cried and fell asleep.

And I saw in a dream that there was a small path from our village to the chapel, and I saw that my father was walking along this path. I caught up with him, and we went together to the city. I walk and see a stove burning ahead. I say: “Dad, is this a city?” And he says: “He’s the one.” Then we reached the stove, and I saw that they were baking rolls there. I say: “Buy me a roll.” He bought it and gave it to me.

Then I woke up, got up, put on my shoes, took my mittens and went outside. Guys are riding on the street ice rinks and on a sled. I began to ride with them and rode until I was frozen.

As soon as I returned and climbed onto the stove, I heard that my dad had returned from the city. I was delighted, jumped up and said:

- Dad, did you buy me a roll?

He says:

“I bought it,” and gave me a roll.

I jumped from the stove onto the bench and began to dance with joy.

Birdie

It was Seryozha’s birthday, and they gave him many different gifts: tops, horses, and pictures. But the most valuable gift of all was Uncle Seryozha’s gift of a net to catch birds. The mesh is made in such a way that a board is attached to the frame, and the mesh is folded back. Place the seed on a board and place it in the yard. A bird will fly in, sit on the board, the board will turn up, and the net will slam shut on its own. Seryozha was delighted and ran to his mother to show the net.

Mother says:

- Not a good toy. What do you need birds for? Why are you going to torture them?

- I'll put them in cages. They will sing and I will feed them.

Seryozha took out a seed, sprinkled it on a board and placed the net in the garden. And still he stood there, waiting for the birds to fly. But the birds were afraid of him and did not fly to the net. Seryozha went to lunch and left the net. I looked after lunch, the net had slammed shut and a bird was fluttering under the net. Seryozha was delighted, caught the bird and took it home.

- Mother! Look, I caught a bird, it’s probably a nightingale!.. And how his heart beats!

Mother said:

- This is a siskin. Look, don’t torment him, but rather let him go.

- No, I will feed and water him.

Seryozha put the siskin in a cage and for two days he poured seed into it, and put water in it, and cleaned the cage. On the third day he forgot about the siskin and did not change its water. His mother says to him:

- You see, you forgot about your bird, it’s better to let it go.

- No, I won’t forget, I’ll put some water on now and clean the cage.

Seryozha put his hand into the cage and began to clean it, but the little siskin got scared and hit the cage. Seryozha cleaned the cage and went to get water. His mother saw that he forgot to close the cage and shouted to him:

- Seryozha, close the cage, otherwise your bird will fly out and kill itself!

Before she had time to speak, the little siskin found the door, was delighted, spread its wings and flew through the room to the window. Yes, I didn’t see the glass, I hit the glass and fell on the windowsill.

Seryozha came running, took the bird, and carried it into the cage. Siskin was still alive; but lay on his chest, his wings spread, and breathing heavily. Seryozha looked and looked and began to cry.

- Mother! What should I do now?

“You can’t do anything now.”

Seryozha did not leave the cage all day and kept looking at the little siskin, and the little siskin still lay on his chest and breathed heavily and quickly. When Seryozha went to bed, the little siskin was still alive. Seryozha could not fall asleep for a long time. Every time he closed his eyes, he imagined the little siskin, how it lay and breathed. In the morning, when Seryozha approached the cage, he saw that the siskin was already lying on its back, curled its paws and stiffened.

Since then, Seryozha has never caught birds.

How a boy talked about how a thunderstorm caught him in the forest

When I was little, I was sent to the forest to pick mushrooms. I reached the forest, picked mushrooms and wanted to go home. Suddenly it became dark, it began to rain and there was thunder. I got scared and sat down under a large oak tree. Lightning flashed, so bright that it hurt my eyes, and I closed my eyes. Something crackled and rattled above my head; then something hit me in the head. I fell and lay there until the rain stopped. When I woke up, trees were dripping all over the forest, birds were singing and the sun was playing. A large oak tree broke and smoke came out of the stump. Lying around me scraps from oak. The dress I was wearing was all wet and sticking to my body; there was a bump on my head and it hurt a little. I found my hat, took the mushrooms and ran home.

There was no one at home, I took out some bread from the table and climbed onto the stove. When I woke up, I saw from the stove that my mushrooms had been fried, put on the table and were already ready to eat. I shouted:

- What are you eating without me?

They say:

- Why are you sleeping? Go quickly and eat.

Fire

To Zhnitvo the men and women went to work. Only the old and the young remained in the village. A grandmother and three grandchildren remained in one hut. Grandma turned off the stove and lay down to rest. Flies landed on her and bit her. She covered her head with a towel and fell asleep.

One of the granddaughters, Masha (she was three years old), opened the stove, heaped coals into a crock and went into the hallway. And in the entryway lay sheaves. The women prepared these sheaves for connected.

Masha brought coals, put them under the sheaves and began to blow. When the straw began to catch fire, she was delighted, went into the hut and brought her brother Kiryushka by the hand (he was one and a half years old and had just learned to walk), and said:

- Look, Kilyuska, what a stove I blew up.

The sheaves were already burning and crackling. When the entryway was filled with smoke, Masha got scared and ran back to the hut. Kiryushka fell on the threshold, hurt his nose and began to cry; Masha dragged him into the hut, and they both hid under a bench. Grandmother heard nothing and slept.

The eldest boy Vanya (he was eight years old) was on the street. When he saw smoke coming from the hallway, he ran through the door, jumped through the smoke into the hut and began to wake up his grandmother; but the grandmother went crazy from her sleep and forgot about the children, jumped out and ran through the courtyards after the people.

Masha, meanwhile, sat under the bench and was silent; only a little boy I screamed because I had broken my nose painfully. Vanya heard his cry, looked under the bench and shouted to Masha:

- Run, you'll burn!

Masha ran into the hallway, but it was impossible to get past the smoke and fire. She came back. Then Vanya raised the window and told her to climb in. When she climbed through, Vanya grabbed his brother and dragged him. But the boy was heavy and did not give in to his brother. He cried and pushed Vanya. Vanya fell twice while he was dragging him to the window; the door to the hut was already on fire. Vanya stuck the boy’s head through the window and wanted to push him through; but the boy (he was very frightened) grabbed hold of it with his little hands and did not let them go. Then Vanya shouted to Masha:

- Pull him by the head! – and he pushed from behind. And so they pulled him out the window onto the street and jumped out themselves.

Cow

The widow Marya lived with her mother and six children. They lived poorly. But with the last money they bought a brown cow so that there would be milk for the children. The older children fed Buryonushka in the field and gave her slops at home. One day, the mother came out of the yard, and the eldest boy Misha reached for bread on the shelf, dropped a glass and broke it. Misha was afraid that his mother would scold him, he picked up the large glasses from the glass, took them out into the yard and buried them in manure, and picked up all the small glasses and threw them into the basin. The mother grabbed the glass and began to ask, but Misha didn’t say; and so the matter remained.

The next day, after lunch, the mother went to give Buryonushka slop from the pelvis, she saw that Buryonushka was boring and did not eat food. They began to treat the cow and called the grandmother. Grandma said:

- The cow will not live, we must kill it for meat.

They called a man and began to beat the cow. The children heard Buryonushka roar in the yard. Everyone gathered on the stove and began to cry.

When they killed Buryonushka, skinned her and cut her into pieces, they found glass in her throat. And they found out that she died because she got glass in the slop.

When Misha found out this, he began to cry bitterly and confessed to his mother about the glass. The mother said nothing and began to cry herself. She said:

- We killed our Buryonushka, now we have nothing to buy. How can small children live without milk?

Misha began to cry even more and did not get off the stove while they ate the jelly from the cow's head. Every day in his dreams he saw Uncle Vasily carrying the dead, brown head of Buryonushka by the horns. with open eyes and red neck.

Since then the children have had no milk. Only on holidays there was milk, when Marya asked the neighbors for a pot.

It happened that the lady of that village needed a nanny for her child. The old woman says to her daughter:

“Let me go, I’ll go as a nanny, and maybe God will help you manage the children alone.” And I, God willing, will earn enough for a cow a year.

And so they did. The old lady went to the lady. And it became even harder for Marya with the children. And children without milk whole year lived: one jelly and prison They ate and became thin and pale.

A year passed, the old woman came home and brought twenty rubles.

- Well, daughter! - speaks. - Now let's buy a cow.

Marya was happy, all the children were happy. Marya and the old woman were going to the market to buy a cow. The neighbor was asked to stay with the children, and the neighbor, Uncle Zakhar, was asked to go with them to choose a cow. We prayed to God and went to the city.

The children had lunch and went outside to see if the cow was being led. The children began to judge which cow would be brown or black. They began to talk about how they would feed her. They waited, waited all day. Behind a mile away They went to meet the cow, it was getting dark, and they came back. Suddenly they see: a grandmother is riding along the street in a cart, and a motley cow is walking at the rear wheel, tied by the horns, and her mother is walking behind her, urging her on with a twig. The children ran up and began to look at the cow. They gathered bread and herbs and began to feed them.

The mother went into the hut, undressed and went out into the yard with a towel and milk pan. She sat down under the cow and wiped the udder. God bless! - began to milk the cow; and the children sat around and watched as milk splashed from the udder into the edge of the milk pan and whistled from under the mother’s fingers. The mother milked half the milk pan, took it to the cellar and poured a pot for the children for dinner.

old horse

We had an old man, Pimen Timofeich. He was ninety years old. He lived with his grandson without anything to do. His back was bent, he walked with a stick and quietly moved his legs. He had no teeth at all, his face was wrinkled. His lower lip trembled; when he walked and when he spoke, he slapped his lips, and it was impossible to understand what he was saying.

There were four of us brothers, and we all loved to ride horses. But we didn’t have any quiet horses to ride. We were allowed to ride only one old horse: this horse was called Voronok.

One time my mother allowed us to ride horses, and we all went to the stable with the uncle. The coachman saddled Voronok for us, and the elder brother rode first.

He traveled for a long time; drove to the threshing floor and around the garden, and when he drove back, we shouted:

- Well, now skip ahead!

The older brother began to kick Voronok with his feet and a whip, and Voronok galloped past us.

After the eldest, another brother sat down, and he rode for a long time and also dispersed Voronok with a whip and galloped out from under the mountain. He still wanted to go, but the third brother asked him to let him in as soon as possible.

The third brother rode to the threshing floor, and around the garden, and even through the village, and galloped quickly from under the mountain to the stable. When he drove up to us, Voronok was snoring, and his neck and shoulder blades were darkened with sweat.

When my turn came, I wanted to surprise my brothers and show them how well I ride, - Voronok began to drive with all his might, but Voronok did not want to leave the stable. And no matter how much I hit him, he didn’t want to jump, but walked at a walk and then kept turning back. I was angry with the horse and hit it as hard as I could with the whip and kicks.

I tried to hit her in those places where it hurt her most, I broke the whip and began to hit her on the head with the rest of the whip. But Voronok still didn’t want to jump.

Then I turned back, drove up to the guy and asked for a stronger whip. But the guy told me:

- You will have a ride, sir, get off. Why torture a horse?

I was offended and said:

- How come I didn’t go at all? Look how I ride now! Please give me a stronger whip. I'll light it up.

Then the uncle shook his head and said:

- Oh, sir, you have no pity. What to kindle it? After all, he is twenty years old. The horse is exhausted, has difficulty breathing, and is old. She's so old! Just like Pimen Timofeich. You would sit on Timofeich and forcefully drive him with a whip. Well, wouldn’t you feel sorry?

I remembered Pimen and listened to the guy. I got off the horse, and when I looked at how she was running around with sweaty sides, breathing heavily through her nostrils and wagging her mangy tail, I realized that the horse was having a hard time. Otherwise I thought she was having as much fun as I was. I felt so sorry for Voronok that I began to kiss his sweaty neck and ask him for forgiveness for beating him.

Since then I have grown up and always feel sorry for the horses and always remember Voronok and Pimen Timofeich when I see horses being tortured.