Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev belongs to the galaxy of remarkable Russian writers of the 19th century, who received world recognition and love of readers during his lifetime. In his works, he poetically described pictures of Russian nature, the beauty of human feelings. The work of Ivan Sergeevich is a complex world of human psychology. With the story "Bezhin Meadow", the image of the children's world and child psychology was first introduced into Russian literature. With the appearance of this story, the theme of the world of Russian peasants expanded.

History of creation

Peasant children are drawn by the writer with tenderness and love, he notes their rich spiritual world, the ability to feel nature and its beauty. The writer aroused in readers love and respect for peasant children, made them think about their future destinies. The story itself is part of a large cycle under the general title "Notes of a Hunter". The cycle is notable for the fact that for the first time in Russian literature types of Russian peasants were brought to the scene, described with such sympathy and detail that Turgenev's contemporaries considered that a new class had appeared that was worthy of a literary description.

In 1843 I.S. Turgenev met the famous critic V.G. Belinsky, who inspired him to create "Notes of a Hunter". In 1845, Ivan Sergeevich decided to devote himself entirely to literature. He spent the summer in the village, devoting all his free time to hunting and communicating with the peasants and their children. For the first time, plans for the creation of a work were announced in August September 1850. Then, on the draft of the manuscript, notes appeared containing plans for writing a story. At the beginning of 1851, the story was written in St. Petersburg and in February was published in the Sovremennik magazine.

Analysis of the work

Plot

The story is told on behalf of the author, who loves to hunt. One day in July, while hunting for black grouses, he got lost and, walking into the fire of a burning fire, went out into a huge meadow, which the locals called Bezhin. Five peasant boys were sitting by the fire. Having asked them to spend the night, the hunter lay down by the fire, watching the boys.

In the further narration, the author describes five heroes: Vanya, Kostya, Ilya, Pavlusha and Fedor, their appearance, characters and stories of each of them. Turgenev has always been partial to spiritual and emotionally gifted people, sincere and honest. It is these people that he describes in his works. Most of them live hard, while they adhere to high moral principles, are very demanding of themselves and those around them.

Heroes and characteristics

With deep sympathy, the author describes five boys, each of whom has his own character, appearance, his own characteristics. This is how the writer describes one of the five boys, Pavlusha. The boy is not very handsome, his face is wrong, but the author notices a strong character in his voice and look. His appearance speaks of the extreme poverty of the family, since all his clothes consisted of a simple shirt and patched trousers. It was he who was entrusted to watch over the stew in the pot. He talks knowledgeably about a fish splashing in the water and a star rolling from the sky.

It is clear from his actions and speech that he is the most courageous of all the guys. This boy evokes the greatest sympathy not only for the author, but also for the reader. With one twig, not being frightened, at night, he rode alone on the wolf. Pavlusha knows all animals and birds very well. He is brave and not afraid to accept. When he tells that it seemed to him what the water man called him, the cowardly Ilyusha says that this is a bad omen. But Paul replies to him that he does not believe in omens, but believes in fate, from which you cannot escape anywhere. At the end of the story, the author informs the reader that Pavlusha died after falling from his horse.

Next comes Fedya, a boy of fourteen “with beautiful and thin, slightly small features, curly blond hair, light eyes and a constant half-cheerful, half-scattered smile. He belonged, by all accounts, to a wealthy family and went out into the field not out of need, but just for fun. " He is the oldest among the guys. He behaves importantly, by right of the elder. Speaks patronizingly, as if fearing to drop his dignity.

The third boy, Ilyusha, was completely different. Also a simple peasant boy. He looks no more than twelve years old. His slight, elongated, hunch-nosed face had a constant expression of dull, painful solicitude. His lips were compressed and did not move, and his eyebrows were drawn together, as if he was squinting from the fire all the time. The boy is neat. As Turgenev describes his appearance, "the rope carefully tied his neat black scroll." He is only 12 years old, but he already works with his brother in a paper mill. We can conclude that the boy is hardworking and responsible. Ilyusha, as the author noted, knew well all the popular beliefs that Pavlik completely denied.

Kostya looked no more than 10 years old, his small freckled face was pointed, like a squirrel, huge black eyes stood out on him. He was also poorly dressed, thin, of a small sprout. He spoke in a thin voice. The author's attention is drawn to his sad, thoughtful look. He is a little cowardly boy, but, nevertheless, he goes out with the boys every night to graze horses, sit by the night fire and listen to scary stories.

The most inconspicuous boy of all five is seven-year-old Vanya, who was lying near the fire, "quietly nestling under an angular mat, and only from time to time exposed his fair-haired curly head from under it." He is the youngest of all, the writer does not give him a portrait characterization. But all his actions, admiring the night sky, admiration for the stars, which he compares with bees, characterize him as an inquisitive, sensitive and very sincere person.

All the peasant children mentioned in the story are very close to nature, they literally live in unity with it. From early childhood, they already know what work is, independently learn the world around them. This is facilitated by work at home and in the field, and during field trips. Therefore, Turgenev describes them with such love and reverent attention. Such children are our future.

The writer's story does not belong only to the time of its creation, to the 19th century. This story is deeply modern and timely at all times. Today, more than ever, a return to nature is required, to the understanding that it is necessary to take care of it and live with it in unity, like a beloved mother, but not a stepmother. To educate our children on work and respect for it, on respect for the working person. Then the world around us will change, become cleaner and more beautiful.

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Goals and objectives of the lesson:

• fostering a reverent attitude towards nature.

Lesson equipment: Presentation, portrait of the writer.

Literary theory: landscape, exposure.

Methodical techniques: conversation, expressive reading, commentary reading, text analysis.

During the classes

1. Organization of the beginning of the lesson.

Welcome guests. The mood for a working mood: we have a lot of work in the lesson. We tune in to a working mood. You know everything and can do everything, and you will definitely succeed, although it will not be entirely easy. But together we will overcome any difficulties.

2. Introductory remarks by the teacher

Guys, the topic of our today's lesson is “Landscape in the story of I.S. Turgenev "Bezhin Meadow".

Write down the topic of the lesson “Landscape in the story of I.S. Turgenev "Bezhin Meadow". (Slide 1)

The purpose of the lesson:

• show the relationship between man and nature in the story;
• identify the role of the landscape in the work;
• development of expressive reading skills, text analysis;
• development of the literary concept of "landscape", acquaintance with the concept of "exposure";
• fostering a reverent attitude towards nature. (Slide 2)

In the last lesson we talked about the main theme of the story - these are peasant children; they are the central image of the work. The writer was interested in their attitude to the world. We learned about the life of adolescents in the 19th century. But Turgenev permeates this image of peasant children with an image of Russian nature. This is what we are going to talk about today. The key words will be the words "landscape", "nature".

3. Learning new material.

What is called a landscape?

A landscape is an artistic description of a picture of nature. Describing nature, the writer shows its features, beauty and greatness. But he doesn't just describe nature. At the same time, he expresses his attitude towards her, conveys his mood, reveals thoughts and feelings, helps to understand the mood of his hero.

The story "Bezhin Meadow" begins with a lyrical landscape, imbued with a sense of the joy of life, - a description of "a beautiful July day."

A) - How does the landscape appear to the hunter at the very beginning of the story? We find this place in the text, read it expressively, so that it is easier to imagine the July day. ( Reading an episode) (Slide)

What are they, the colors of the July day? (the sky is clear; blush, the sun is not fiery, not dull - purple, welcoming - radiant, purple)

Who found in the story what a day in July smells like? ( Wormwood, squeezed rye, buckwheat.)

Output: A July day creates a joyful and calm impression. The landscape "Bezhina Meadows" outlines the theme of the story - the theme of the beauty of nature - and creates a light mood.

- This first part of the story creates a living image of Russian summer nature.

B) - Now let's try to imagine a quiet dewy night; A fire is burning nearby, a river is nearby, horses are nibbling grass a little further. Quiet, comfortable. Several guys are at the fire. Guys unfamiliar to you and me. These are peasant children of the century before last. They graze horses and while away the time telling different stories. They are unusual for us. They are different.

And now let's observe what they see, observe at night, what does the author of the story see? ( Students read an episode describing a summer night.) (Slide)

(Meanwhile, the night approached and grew like a thundercloud ...)

How is the anxious mood of the read fragment created?

Find words and expressions that convey a person's feelings? (Expressions underlined).

The hero's inner monologue, rhetorical questions, vocabulary symbolizing something eerie, dark, ominous, alarming.

What role do ellipses play? (The abundance of dots emphasize the confusion of the hero.)

Output: Under the influence of darkness, a mood of mystery and vague anxiety grows, preparing the reader for the main part of the story - for the boys' conversation about brownies and goblin.

What does a summer night smell like? (“By the fire: the smell of a Russian summer night ... p. 137, slide 6)

Night nature lives its own life. She has her own sounds, inexplicable, mysterious. For the boys, whom the hunter met at the night fire, nature on the one hand is their life, even a holiday. On the other hand, nature for them is full of mysteries, incomprehensible phenomena, which they explain by the action of otherworldly forces: in stories about the brownie, the mermaid, the wood goblin, the water.

Guys, you, too, probably noticed that during the day you feel differently, not like at night? But as?

- Indeed, the nature of the night creates a sad, mysterious mood.

Now let's look at a picture of deep night just before dawn. Let's read the episode describing deep night. ( Learning to read the episode.)

What sounds do we hear here?

The landscape changes when the author moves on to characterize the boys and their "scary stories." Turgenev, on the one hand, admires nature, the beauty of the night, with great interest their mysterious stories, and on the other hand, as if he is experiencing incomprehensible natural phenomena with them, "The night stood solemnly and regally ..." times next to the river and, after a few moments, repeated itself further ... "Slide p. 149)

Find the episode "Brief Summer Nights! .." (Slide p. 155)

The whole story ends with a picture of a summer morning. A picture of the awakening and revitalization of nature was painted with special feeling. Let's find this place in the story. ( Reading an episode.)

"Morning began ..." (Slide p. 155)

In this description, one can hear the noise of awakening life: “... First scarlet, then red, golden streams of young, hot light poured down ... Everything stirred, woke up, began to sing, rustled, began to speak. Everywhere large drops of dew blazed like radiant diamonds; To meet me, clean and clear, as if washed by the morning coolness, came the sound of a bell, and suddenly a rested herd rushed past me, chased by familiar boys. "

Nature in the story, like a living creature, needs to wake up, move, meet a new day.

What colors do we see in the picture of the awakening morning?

And what sounds are heard in the early morning in the meadow?

With love and tenderness, Turgenev draws in the story of peasant children, their rich spiritual world, their ability to subtly feel the beauty of nature.

Therefore, perhaps the story ends with a festive picture of the coming morning.

Try to remove pictures of nature from the story. What will be left?

Teacher: Yes, without pictures of nature, without these landscape sketches, the charm and all the charm of this short, but such a beautiful story will disappear. Pictures of nature helped us to better understand the characters of the characters in the story.

4. Working with the dictionary.

A landscape is a picture of nature in a work of art. The description of nature helps to better understand the characters and their actions, to imagine the scene of the action. (Slides 11-12)

5. What artistic means did the writer use?

Epithets: "The sun is not fiery, not incandescent ... Light and radiant", "playing rays", "endlessly overflowing river", "mighty luminary."

Comparisons: "the shine is like the shine of forged silver", "they themselves are ... azure like the sky", "the last of them, blackish and indefinite like smoke", "like a candle carefully carried" ...

Metaphors: it spreads with a gentle blush "," the sun - peacefully emerges "," playing rays gushed out "...

Impersonations: "the wind accelerates, pushes the accumulated heat", "whirlwinds ... walk along the roads ...", "clouds disappear ..., lie down in pink clubs" .... (Slide 13)

6. - Did you not notice anything fabulous in this story?

7. Problem question (Slide)

How, throughout the story, does the writer show the connection between man and the nature around him?

Episode analysis.

Reading the first excerpt “A Beautiful July Day”: the beginning of the story before the words “The farmer wants the weather like this for the harvest” and answers to the question: is this part of the story connected with the main plot?

This part of the composition of the story is called the exposition. (Slide)

An exposition is an image of the position of the actors, the circumstances and the environment in which they find themselves before the start of the action.

What function does it perform in this story? (The landscape of the July day serves an aesthetic function.)

What mood does this description create? (Joyful, cheerful, clear.)

Lesson conclusions.(Slide)

What role does the landscape play in the story of IS Turgenev "Bezhin Meadow"?

1. Turgenev, in describing nature, creates an atmosphere of mystery, shows that something mysterious must inevitably happen on such a fantastic night.
2. He peers, observes, not only notices, but also reveals the secrets of the familiar world.
3. The author uses a poetic, fairytale technique: the hunter is lost. Lost…. And, unexpectedly for himself, he discovered a special world of nature, a children's world, a world full of fantastic secrets, beliefs, fairy tales, a world of sincerity and kindness.
4. Pictures of nature in the story reflect the mood of a person, a person is a part of nature.
5. Turgenev's landscape lives the same life with the heroes, as if nature understands people.
6. We can safely say that Turgenev is a master of landscape.

6. Homework: memorize a passage - one of the descriptions of nature - by choice.

Lesson grades.

Composition

The place and meaning of the landscape in the story. (The description of nature in Turgenev's story is given a lot of space; nature here is one of the characters, and this is marked by the title of the story. "Bezhin Meadow" begins and ends with a description of nature, and its central part - the stories of boys - is also depicted against the background of a description of a summer night. )
A beautiful July day. (At the beginning of the story, Turgenev describes a July day when he went hunting and lost his way. The author is an observant person who knows the weather signs well. He writes about a clear sky, a bright and radiant sun, stationary clouds, the invariable clarity of the sky. In everything, Turgenev notes softness of colors and "touching gentleness".)
Description Bezhina meadows.
View of the meadow from the cliff. (A plain surrounded by a semicircle of a river, a bonfire and people by the fire.)

Night in the meadow. (The picture of the night complements the stories of children, gives them special expressiveness and mystery. Turgenev shows how ordinary objects are transformed in the light of a fire; how significant each sound becomes in the silence of the night. Listening to the stories of children, the writer notices how the colors, smells and sounds of summer nights.)
Dawn in the meadow. (Pre-dawn silence, freshness of the morning, a gradual change in the color of the sky, sunrise, the first sounds of the coming day.)
Turgenev is a master of landscape. (Pictures of nature in the story were created by a subtle and observant person with the ability of an artist. He notices the smallest details, changes in shades of colors, halftones and shadows. constantly changing, living its own life. And at the same time - nature occupies a significant place in human life).

Other compositions on this work

In the story "Bezhin Meadow" by Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev, the landscape plays an important role. The story begins with a description of an early July morning, where the narrator describes the beauty of nature. He writes that such a morning is the best, the weather has already settled down and in the mornings it is not cold, but not hot either. The story is led by a hunter who came to the forest and describes the beauty of nature. The narrator describes the clouds so beautifully that the picture is mesmerizing.

He says that the clouds are motionless due to calm weather and form bizarre patterns. According to the description of this picture, one can understand how good the mood of the hunter is, and he admires the surrounding beauty. Then he describes the approach of evening, when these very clouds turn lavender and darkness slowly begins to approach.

Next, a picture is described when a hunter gets lost in the forest and cannot find a way out. He says that he went in the wrong place, and he had to go down to the valley, where the hunter became terrified. Here the narrator describes that the grass in the valley is wet and high, he felt uncomfortable, and he quickly wanted to go to the hill in order to see the further road. Climbing the next hill, the hunter realized that he was completely lost, and he felt uncomfortable.

The landscape in the story conveys not only the beauty of Russian nature, but also the feelings of the heroes themselves. Here the hunter sees a fire and decides to ask for a night's lodging, local boys were near the fire, who drove a herd of horses for the night. The boys accept the hunter and he calms down. Here the landscape takes on a different picture and plays with different colors. The narrator listens to the stories of the guys in which they talk about goblin, werewolves and mermaids.

The hunter opens up another picture of swamps and trees, on which mermaids are sitting and killing people. Next, the narrator describes the dawn, which has just begun and a cool breeze began to walk between the leaves of trees and bushes. The narrator is going home and leaves the children, after walking a little, morning came and again warm rays lit up the earth.

Composition Landscape in the story of Turgenev Bezhin meadow

Turgenev's stories are always full of colorful descriptions of nature, especially in the series "Notes of a Hunter". The author skillfully paints landscapes, in the smallest detail. When you read the works of Ivan Sergeevich, you completely immerse yourself in the atmosphere of what is happening.

Reading the story "Bezhin Meadow", you clearly imagine the forest through which the hunter walked. You can almost hear the rustle of foliage. Imagine a clear blue sky, and the gentle spill of dawn over it. At the beginning of the story, the description of nature grabs attention and conveys the beauty of the views that surround the protagonist, as well as the mood of the hunter.

At the beginning it is about summer in general. Sunny July days are described, lightness, warmth, serenity are felt. When it tells about the hunter himself and how he walks happily with his prey, slightly tired, his fatigue just makes one feel the outline of the landscape: "The air is still light, but no longer illuminated by the sun", "Cold and thickening shadows."

Further, when the hunter realizes that he has lost his way, the author again conveys his anxiety through nature: "Darkness is pouring," "Night is like a thundercloud," "Gloomy gloom." Immediately you understand how the protagonist is going through, how slowly his feeling of fear grows, because of the likelihood of being left on a dark night in the middle of an unfamiliar forest. When the hunter went out into the meadow and met the shepherd boys sitting by the fire, again the nature around him describes his condition. The hero feels calm, the fear of staying in the forest in the middle of the night has receded and now he can not worry, relax and listen to the stories of the guys.

The boys told various mystical stories and fables, and here nature gives these stories mystery and mystery. Now out of nowhere, a dove appeared and abruptly flew past, then something rang. At the end of the story, the writer shows us again how the hero feels when dawn begins and he goes home. In the words: "Everything stirred, woke up, began to sing, rustle, began to speak," together with the hunter, you feel relief that just about, very soon he will be at home. Nothing more threatens the hero of the story.

The role of the landscape in this work is very important, it allows readers to penetrate deeper into the plot and feel like a participant in the events described by the author. As if you are sitting next to the guys and the hunter, by the fire on Bezhin Meadow and listening to various interesting stories.

Several interesting compositions

• Composition based on the epic Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich

  In this epic, two epic heroes are opposed to each other. Both are good and strong, both are glorious heroes. One of them is Prince Volga, and the second is the peasant Mikula.

Everyone loves to dream, regardless of age, gender, employment and financial situation. And if someone says that he prefers tangible reality to a ghostly dream, no one will believe him anyway.

• The composition of Pierre and Dolokhov in the novel War and Peace

  Everyone knows Leo Tolstoy's novel War and Peace, which contains conflicting characters. They can not be attributed to either positive or negative characters, since in any hero there are various qualities

• One day in the life of a peasant 6, 7 grade history essay

  I think that the day in the life of a peasant begins early - right at the dawn of the sun. These people are close to nature, they know when and what to plant, collect ... They know how to predict the weather better by signs

At the mention of the word "Motherland", pictures of everything that is most important to me, beautiful, dear and beautiful, instantly appear before my eyes.

It was a beautiful July day, one of those days that only happens when the weather has settled for a long time. From the very early morning the sky is clear; the morning dawn is not ablaze with fire: it spreads with a gentle blush. The sun - not fiery, not incandescent, as during a sultry drought, not dull-purple, as before a storm, but bright and welcomingly radiant - peacefully rises under a narrow and long cloud, shines freshly and plunges into its purple fog. The upper, thin edge of the stretched cloud will sparkle with snakes; their shine is like the shine of forged silver.

But here again the playing rays gushed out - and the mighty luminary rises merrily and majestically, as if taking off. Around noon there is usually a multitude of high, round clouds, golden gray with delicate white edges. Like islands scattered on an endlessly overflowing river, flowing around them with deeply transparent sleeves of even blue, they hardly budge; further, towards the sky, they move, crowded together, the blue between them can no longer be seen; but they themselves are as azure as the sky: they are all imbued with light and warmth through and through.

The color of the sky, light, lavender, does not change all day and is the same all around; nowhere does it get dark, the thunderstorm does not thicken; except in some places bluish stripes stretch from top to bottom: then a barely noticeable rain is sown. By evening these clouds disappear; the last of them, blackish and vague like smoke, lay in pink clouds against the setting sun; in the place where it set as calmly as it calmly ascended into the sky, a scarlet radiance stands for a short time over the darkened earth, and, quietly blinking, like a candle carefully carried, the evening star will light up on it.

On days like these, the colors are all softened; light, but not bright; everything bears the stamp of some kind of touching meekness. On such days the heat is sometimes very strong, sometimes even "soars" over the slopes of the fields; but the wind scatters, pushes the accumulated heat, and whirlwinds - an undoubted sign of constant weather - walk in tall white columns along the roads through the arable land. The dry and clean air smells of wormwood, squeezed rye, buckwheat; even an hour before the night, you do not feel dampness. A farmer wants such weather for harvesting bread ...

The moon has risen at last; I did not notice him at once: he was so small and narrow. This moonless night, it seemed, was still as magnificent as before ... But many stars, which had recently stood high in the sky, were already leaning towards the dark edge of the earth; everything was completely quiet around, as usually everything calms down only towards morning: everything was asleep in a sound, motionless, before dawn sleep. The air no longer smelled so strong, it seemed to be damp again ... The summer nights were short! .. The boys' conversation faded away along with the lights ... The dogs even dozed; the horses, as far as I could discern, in the slightly dawning, faintly pouring light of the stars, also lay with their heads bowed ... A faint oblivion attacked me; it passed into slumber.

Matsuo Basho

Hint: Turgenev in his description of nature creates an atmosphere of mystery, shows that something mysterious must inevitably happen on such a fantastic night. He peers, observes, not only notices, but also reveals the secrets of the familiar world. The author uses a poetic, fairytale technique: the hunter is lost. I got lost ... and unexpectedly discovered a special world of nature, a children's world, a world full of fantastic secrets, beliefs, fairy tales, a sincere and kind world. Pictures of nature in the story reflect the mood of a person, a person is a part of nature. Turgenev's landscape lives the same life with the heroes, as if nature understands people. We can safely say that Turgenev is a master of landscape.

Matsuo Basho is a recognized Master of Japanese poetry. Basho's Hokku (three lines) are truly masterpieces. Hokku teaches to look for hidden beauty in the simple, imperceptible, everyday. “Basho is considered the First Great Master of Hokku. In Basho's opinion, the process of writing a poem begins with the poet's penetration into the "inner life", into the "soul" of an object or phenomenon, with the subsequent transfer of this "internal state" in a simple and laconic form of a three-verse. Basho associated this skill with the principle-state of "sabi" ("sadness of loneliness", or "enlightened loneliness"), which allows one to see the "inner beauty" expressed in simple, even mean forms. " (V. Markova)

"Autumn has already come!"

The wind whispered in my ear

Sneaking up to my pillow.

What freshness blows

From this melon in drops of dew,

With sticky wet earth!

Evening bindweed

I am captured ... motionless

I stand in oblivion.

Vasily Shukshin The sun, the old man and the girl Days burned with white fire. The ground was hot, the trees were hot too. Dry grass rustled underfoot. Only in the evenings came the coolness. And then an ancient old man would come out onto the bank of the swift Katun River, always sit down in one place - by the driftwood - and look at the sun. The sun was setting behind the mountains. In the evening it was huge, red. The old man sat motionless. His hands were in his lap, brown, dry, and horribly wrinkled. The face is also wrinkled, the eyes are moist and dull. The neck is thin, the head is small, gray. Sharp shoulder blades stick out under the blue chintz shirt. Once the old man, when he was sitting like that, heard a voice behind him: - Hello, grandfather! The old man nodded his head. A girl with a flat suitcase in her hands sat next to him. - Are you resting? The old man nodded his head again.

Said; - Resting. I didn't look at the girl. - May I write you? the girl asked. - Like this? - the old man did not understand. - Draw you. The old man was silent for a while, looked at the sun, blinked reddish eyelids without eyelashes. “I'm ugly now,” he said. - Why? - The girl was somewhat confused. - No, you are beautiful, grandfather. - In addition, sick. The girl looked at the old man for a long time. Then she stroked his dry, brown hand with a soft palm and said: - You are very beautiful, grandfather. Truth. The old man grinned weakly: - Draw, since such is the case. The girl opened her suitcase. The old man coughed into his palm: - City, I guess? - he asked. - City. - They seem to be paying for this? - When, as a matter of fact, I'll do it well, they'll pay. - We must try. - I am doing my best. They fell silent. The old man kept looking at the sun.

The girl painted, peering into the old man's face from the side. - Are you from here, grandfather? - Local. - And were you born here? - Here, here. - How old are you now? - Godkov? Eighty. - Wow! “A lot,” the old man agreed, and again grinned weakly. - Twenty five. They were silent again. - What a sun! the old man exclaimed softly. - Which? - the girl did not understand. - Great. - Ah ... Yes. Generally beautiful here. - And the water is out, you see, what ... On the other side ... - Yes, yes. - Exactly blood added. - Yes. - The girl looked at the other side. - Yes. The sun touched the peaks of Altai and began to slowly plunge into the distant blue world.

And the deeper it went, the more clearly the mountains were drawn. They seemed to move closer. And in the valley - between the river and the mountains - the reddish gloom was quietly fading away. And a brooding soft shadow was advancing from the mountains. Then the sun completely disappeared behind the sharp ridge of Buburkhan, and immediately a swift fan of bright red rays flew out into the greenish sky from there. It did not last long - it also quietly faded away. And in the sky in that direction the dawn went to blaze. - The sun is gone, - the old man sighed. The girl folded the sheets into a drawer. For some time they sat just like that - they listened to the small hurried waves bursting at the shore. Fog crept in large wisps in the valley. In a forest nearby, a night bird cried out timidly.

She was loudly answered from the shore, from the other side. “All right,” the old man said quietly. And the girl thought about how she would soon return to a distant sweet city, bring many drawings. There will be a portrait of this old man. And her friend, a talented, real artist, will certainly be angry: “Again the wrinkles! .. And for what? Everyone knows that Siberia has a harsh climate and people work a lot there. What's next? What? .. ”The girl knew that she was not as talented as God knows. But she thinks about what a difficult life this old man has lived. There he has what hands ... Again wrinkles! “We have to work, work, work ...” - Will you come here tomorrow, grandfather? she asked the old man. - I'll come, - he answered. The girl got up and went to the village. The old man sat a little longer and went too. He came home, sat down in his corner, near the stove, and sat quietly - waiting for his son to come home from work and sit down to supper.

The son came always tired, unhappy with everything. The daughter-in-law was also always unhappy with something. The grandchildren grew up and left for the city. Without them, the house was dreary. We sat down to supper. The old man was crushed bread into milk, he sipped, sitting from the edge of the table. Gently rattled the spoon on the plate - trying not to make any noise. They were silent. Then we went to bed. The old man climbed on the stove, and the son and daughter-in-law went into the upper room. They were silent. And what to talk about? All the words have long been said, The next evening the old man and the girl were again sitting on the shore, by the driftwood. The girl drew hastily, and the old man looked at the sun and said: - We always lived happily, it's a sin to complain. I did carpentry, there was always enough work. And my sons are all carpenters. A lot of them were beaten in the war - four. Two left. Well, now I live with one of them, with Stepan.

And Vanka lives in the city, in Biysk. A foreman at a new building. Writes; nothing, really live. We came here and stayed. I have many grandchildren, they love me. In the cities, everything is now ... The girl painted the hands of the old man, was in a hurry, was nervous, often washed. - Was it difficult to live? she asked out of place. - Why is it difficult? - the old man was surprised. - I’m telling you: we lived well. - Do you feel sorry for the sons? - And how? - the old man was surprised again. - To put four of these - isn’t a joke? The girl did not understand: either she felt sorry for the old man, or she was more surprised by his strange calmness and serenity. And the sun was setting behind the mountains again.

The dawn was quietly burning again. “There will be bad weather tomorrow,” said the old man. The girl looked at the clear sky: - Why? - Breaks me everything. - And the sky is completely clear. The old man said nothing. - Will you come tomorrow, grandfather? “I don’t know,” the old man didn’t answer right away. - Breaks something all over, - Grandpa, what do you call such a stone? The girl took out a white pebble with a golden tint from her jacket pocket. - Which? - asked the old man, continuing to look at the mountains. The girl handed him a stone. The old man, without turning, held out his palm. - Such? - He asked, glancing briefly at the pebble, and turned it over in dry, twisted fingers. - This is a strap. It was during the war, when there were no seryankas, they made fire from it. The girl was struck by a strange guess: it seemed to her that the old man was blind. She did not immediately find what to talk about, was silent, looking from the side at the old man. And he looked to where the sun had set.

Calmly, thoughtfully, he looked. “On… a pebble,” he said and handed the stone to the girl. - They are not like that yet. There are: all white, already shining through, but inside there are some specks. And there are: testicle and testicle - you cannot tell. There are: it looks like a magpie's testicle - with specks on the sides, and there are, like starlings, blue ones, also with a mountain ash with such. The girl kept looking at the old man. I didn’t dare to ask if it was true that he was blind. - Where do you live, grandfather? - And here it is not very far. This is Ivan Kolokolnikov's house, - the old man showed the house on the shore, - then the Bedarevs, then the Volokitins, then the Zinovievs, and there, in the side street, is ours. Come in if you need anything. We had grandchildren, so we had a lot of fun. - Thanks. - I went. Breaks me down.

The old man got up and walked up the hill. The girl looked after him until he turned into an alley. The old man never stumbled, never hesitated. He walked slowly and looked at his feet. "No, not blind," the girl realized. "Just poor eyesight." The next day the old man did not come ashore. The girl sat alone, thinking about the old man, There was something in his life, so simple, so ordinary, something difficult, something big, significant. "The sun - it also just rises and just sets, - thought the girl. - Is it easy!" And she stared at her drawings. She was sad. The old man did not come both on the third day and on the fourth. The girl went to look for his house. Found it.

In the fence of a large five-walled house under an iron roof, in the corner, under a canopy, a tall man of about fifty was cutting a pine board on a workbench. “Hello,” the girl said. The man straightened up, looked at the girl, ran his thumb over her sweaty forehead, nodded: - Great. - Tell me, please, grandfather lives here ... The man looked attentively and somehow strangely at the girl. She fell silent. - He lived, - said the man. “I’m making a domino for him.”

The girl opened her mouth: - He died, right? - Dead. - The man again bent down to the board, shuffled the plane a couple of times, then looked at the girl. - And what did you want? “So… I drew it. - Oh. - The man sharply shuffled his plane. - Tell me, was he blind? the girl asked after a long silence. - Blind. - And how long? - Ten years already. And what? - So ... The girl went out of the fence. In the street, I leaned against the fence and cried. She felt sorry for her grandfather. And it was a pity that she could not tell about him in any way. But now she felt some deeper meaning and mystery of human life and heroism, and, without realizing it herself, was becoming much more mature.