“Childhood Topics” summary: read the retelling in chapters

Briefly about the characters

The summary of the winged story “Tema’s Childhood” presents several characters:

The subject is an eight-year-old boy with a kind heart and ardent disposition, whose childhood the author describes. He cannot sit still and often plays pranks;
Nikolai Kartashev is a retired general, the father of the main character. The man tries to raise his son in strictness and order;
Aglaida Kartasheva is Tema’s mother, a kind woman. She believes that there should be understanding between parents and children;
Zina is the main character’s sister, who often conflicts with her brother. Despite this, she is a diligent student;
Tanya is a maid, with whom Tema has a trusting relationship;
Makhnov is Tema’s classmate and the main bully in the class. His misdeeds lead to the most unexpected consequences;
Ivanov is a well-read and well-mannered boy;
Kasitsky and Danilov are friends of the protagonist, with whom he spent a lot of time.

Retelling briefly

Tema grew up in the family of retired general Nikolai Kartashev and his mother Aglaida Kartasheva. The father raised his son in strictness, and the mother, on the contrary, believed that one should always make contact with the child. One day a boy ruined a flower that his father was growing and was afraid to tell Nikolai Semenovich about it. On this day, the general flogged his son.

One day a boy climbed into a well to save a dog. Due to the fear he experienced, Tema's condition worsened. In order for the child to recover quickly, the Kartashevs allowed him to play with the children from the hired yard.

In the fall, the boy was enrolled in a gymnasium, from which he was then almost expelled. One day, his classmate Makhnov stuck a needle into the teacher’s chair and told Tema and Ivanov about the idea. The main character could not restrain himself under the director's pressure and betrayed his classmate. After which, along with the bully, Ivanov was expelled from the educational institution because he was silent.

Later, the main character made friends with 2 classmates. Due to problems with the exams, the boy almost dropped out of the gymnasium, but later passed with excellent marks.

Nikolai Semenovich's health has completely deteriorated. On the last day of his life, the father blessed the children, and in the morning he fell into eternal sleep.

Nikolay Garin-Mikhailovsky - Childhood Themes

Nikolay Garin-Mikhailovsky

Tyoma's childhood

From a family chronicle

UNLUCKY DAY

Little eight-year-old Tyoma stood over a broken flower and pondered with horror the hopelessness of his situation.

Just a few minutes ago, when he woke up, he prayed to God, drank tea, and ate two pieces of bread and butter with gusto, in a word - having conscientiously fulfilled all his duties, he went out through the terrace into the garden in the most cheerful, carefree mood spirit. It was so nice in the garden.

He walked along the neatly cleared paths of the garden, inhaling the freshness of the beginning summer morning, and looked around with pleasure.

Suddenly... His heart began to beat strongly with joy and pleasure... Dad’s favorite flower, which he had been fussing over so much, finally blossomed! Just yesterday dad examined it carefully and said that it wouldn’t bloom until a week later. And what a luxurious, what a lovely flower this is! No one, of course, has ever seen anything like this. Dad says that when Herr Gottlieb (the head gardener of the botanical garden) sees it, his mouth will water. But the greatest happiness in all this, of course, is that no one else, namely he, Tyoma, was the first to see that the flower had bloomed. He will run into the dining room and shout at the top of his lungs:

– Terry blossomed!

Dad will throw down tea and, with a chibouk in his hands, in his military vice uniform, will immediately go into the garden. He, Tyoma, will run ahead and constantly look around: is dad happy?

Dad will probably go to Ger Gottlieb right now, maybe he will order Gnedko, who has just been brought from the village, to be harnessed. Eremey (coachman, who is also a janitor), a tall, one-eyed, good-natured and lazy little crest, Eremey says that Gnedko runs so fast that not a single horse in the city can catch him. Eremey, of course, knows this: every day he rides Gnedka on horseback to a watering hole. And today they will harness Gnedko for the first time. The nest will run soon, soon! Everyone will chase him - where! The bay is gone.

What if dad takes Tyoma with him?! What happiness! Delight fills Tyoma’s little heart. From the thought that all this happiness came from this wonderful, so unexpectedly blossoming flower, a tender feeling for the flower awakens in Tyoma.

- Mi-and-lazy! - he says, squatting down and reaching out to him with his lips.

His position is the most uncomfortable and unstable. He loses his balance, reaches out his arms and...

Everything is lost! My God, but how did this happen?! Maybe it can be fixed? After all, this happened because he could not resist and fell. If he had rested his hand just a little here, the flower would have remained intact. After all, this is one moment, one second... Wait!.. But time is not worth it. Tyoma feels as if something is circling him, something is as if snatching from him what he would like to keep, and carrying it away on its wings - carrying away the accomplished fact, leaving Tyoma alone with the terrible consciousness of the irreparability of this accomplished fact.

What a sharp, sharp line, what a terrible, inexorable, merciless force suddenly tore him away from everything at once!

What if the birds sing so cheerfully, that the sun breaks through the thick foliage, playing on the soft ground with cheerful light spots, that a carefree midge crawls along a petal, then stops, puffs up, releases its wings and is about to fly somewhere, towards the gentle, on a clear day?

What does it matter if someday there will again be the same cheerful morning, which he will not spoil, like today? Then there will be another boy, happy, smart, contented. To get to this other, you need to go through the abyss that separates him from this other, you need to experience something terrible, terrible. Oh, what he would give for everything to suddenly stop, for there to always be this fresh, bright morning, for dad and mom to always sleep... My God, why is he so unhappy? Why does some kind of eternal, inexorable fate hang over him? Why does he always want so well, but everything turns out so bad and disgusting?.. Oh, how hard, how deeply he tries to look into himself, to comprehend the reason for this. He wants to understand her, he will be strict and impartial to himself... He is truly a bad boy. He is guilty and he must atone for his guilt. He deserved to be punished and let him be punished. What to do? And he knows the reason, he found it! It's all because of his nasty, nasty hands! After all, he didn’t want to, his hands did it, and always his hands. And he will come to his father and tell him directly:

- Dad, why should you be angry for nothing, now I know well who is to blame - my hands. Cut them off for me, and I will always be a kind, good boy. Because I love you, and my mother, and I love everyone, but my hands make it look like I don’t love anyone. I don't feel sorry for them one bit.

It seems to the boy that his arguments are so convincing, so sincere and clear that they should work.

But the flower still lies on the ground... Time passes... Now the father, getting up before the mother, will appear, see, understand everything at once, look mysteriously at his son and, without saying a word, take him by the hand and lead... He will lead him so as not to wake him up mother, not through the terrace, but through the front door, straight into her office. The big door will close and he will be left alone with him.

Oh, how scary he is, what a bad face he has... And why is he silent, doesn’t say anything?! Why is he unbuttoning his uniform?! How disgusting is this thin yellow strap that can be seen in the fold of his blue pants. Tyoma stands and, as if enchanted, digs into this strap. Why is he standing? He is free, no one is holding him, he can run away... He won’t run away anywhere. He will wait painfully and sadly. The father will slowly take off this nasty strap, fold it in half, and look at his son; the father's face will become filled with blood, and the boy will feel, infinitely strongly, that the person closest to him can be scary and alien, that towards the person whom he should and would only love to the point of adoration, he can harbor hatred, fear, and animalism. horror when his father’s soft, warm thighs touch his cheeks, in which the boy’s head is squeezed.

Little Tyoma, pale, with wide eyes, stood in front of a broken flower, and all the torment, all the horror of the impending retribution was vividly depicted in his head. All his abilities were now focused on finding a way out, a way out at any cost. He heard a rustling sound coming from the terrace. Quickly, before he realizes anything, the boy's foot steps resolutely into the garden bed, he grabs a flower and squeezes it into the ground next to the root. For what? Vague hope to deceive? Wait until the mother wakes up, explain to her how it all happened, and thereby avert the upcoming storm? Tyoma doesn’t understand anything clearly; he headlong, as if he were being pursued by all those witches and wizards that his nanny tells him about in the evenings, runs away from the ill-fated place, passing the terrace that is now terrible for him - a terrace where he can suddenly see the formidable figure of his father, who, of course, one by one his mind will immediately understand what’s going on.

He runs, his legs unconsciously guiding him away from danger. He sees a large area between the trees, in the middle of which there are swings and gymnastics, and where there is a tall, green-painted pole for giant steps, he sees sisters, a German bonna. He makes a volte to the side, quietly bending down, hastily makes his way into the vineyard, goes around the large stone barn, which opens into the garden with its blank walls, climbs over the fence separating the garden from the yard, and finally safely reaches the kitchen.

Here he just breathes freely.

In the smoky, vast, but low kitchen, located in the basement, lit from above by small windows, everything is calm, everything goes on as usual.

The cook, in a dirty white apron, blond, lazy, young, from former serfs, Akim is lazily getting ready to light the stove. He doesn’t want to get down to boring daily work, he pulls, slams the stove doors, looks into the oven drawer, carefully examines the burners, as if seeing them for the first time, snorts, grumbles, moves them twenty times, then puts them back in place...

Dirty plates lie in disarray on a large unpainted table. The maid Tanya, a young girl with a long, not yet combed braid, hastily gnaws at some cold bone from yesterday. Eremey is in the corner silently fiddling with the ends of the harness straps, endlessly adjusting and fitting end to end, intending to sew them together with the prepared awl and dredge. His wife, Nastasya, a fat and dirty dishwasher, loudly and angrily washes the plates, energetically grabbing them from the bottom of the steaming warm tub. Wiped plates noisily fly onto a nearby bench. Nastasya's sleeves are rolled up; the healthy white body in her arms shakes with her every movement, her lips are tightly compressed, her eyes are focused and throwing sparks.

The same age as Tyoma - the work of Nastasya and Eremey - thick-bellied, pockmarked Ioska sits on the bed, dangles his legs and pesters his mother to give him a penny.

- I won’t give it, I won’t give it to you, damn your mother! - Nastasya screams desperately and squeezes her lips even tighter, her eyes sparkling even more energetically.

Summary by chapter

Chapter 1. Unlucky day The day for Theme began in the most ordinary way. As always, he washed his face and ran off to play. On the terrace stood a blossoming flower, which the boy’s father had cultivated for a long time and persistently. Tema accidentally touched a flower, breaking it, and ran away. At this moment, he would give anything to stop time and return everything back. Intuitively, he understood that Nikolai Semenovich would severely punish him.

In the morning, the parents were getting ready to leave, and the child understood that his punishment would be slightly delayed. The boy again began to play pranks: first he saddled a horse and fell from it, and then quarreled with his sister.

Chapter 2. Punishment Upon his return, Nikolai Semenovich discovered a torn flower. In anger, he gave his son a good beating. Tears flowed from the boy’s eyes, and the mother, watching what was happening, wanted to stop the father. She was against domestic violence, believing that it was necessary to find understanding with children.

Chapter 3. Forgiveness The boy held a grudge against his father for a long time and did not even touch food. The mother prepared a bath for him and put a piece of bread in the room so that her son would eat at least a little. Later, she explained to the boy that he needed to be held accountable for his actions, and if he had confessed to his father about his offense, no spanking would have occurred.

Chapter 4. The Old Well From the maid, the boy heard that someone had thrown his dog into the well. Despite his fear, he rushed to the rescue. Tema went after Zhuchka and saved her, but due to the stress he suffered, the boy developed a severe fever. For several weeks the illness did not let him go, and his loved ones thought that he was on the verge of death.

Tema and Zhuchka are sitting near the old well from which the boy rescued his dog

Chapter 5. The hired yard So that their son could recover faster, the Kartashevs let him go to play with the guys from the hired yard. The general rented this yard to a Jew. Tema often spent time with the neighboring boys and over the course of the year he became much stronger physically and mentally. One day Tema wandered into someone else's yard and almost fell under the hooves of a ferocious bull. The butcher, who arrived in time, saved him, finally cutting off the boy’s ears. The main character harbored a great grudge against the butcher and soon took revenge: he threw a stone at the offender and broke his face. The mother was very upset and angry with her son, but the father, on the contrary, took the boy’s side.

Chapter 6. Entering the gymnasium The year flew by unnoticed, and now it was time for Tema to enter the gymnasium. His parents bought him a nice suit, but the uniform was stolen when Tema and the neighboring boys were swimming in the sea. Therefore, new clothes were sewn for him.

Things didn't work out right away for Tema and his classmates. Makhnov, a big 14-year-old man, began to bully him.

Chapter 7. Everyday life Tema's sister entered the same school as her brother, so the two of them attended lessons together. Tema continued to receive bad marks for his behavior, but he did not want to give Makhnov away. In addition, a classmate constantly insulted his terminally ill German teacher.

Tema and Zina did their homework together. Only the boy studied reluctantly, while Zina, on the contrary, was a capable and diligent student.

Chapter 8. Ivanov When the German teacher died, a new teacher was sent to replace him. Unexpectedly, Tema became close to his classmate Ivanov, who was a well-mannered and smart boy. Tema idealized his new friend, trying to imitate him. Ivanov even invited Tema to the village for the holidays.

Chapter 9. Snitch To get even with the teacher, Makhnov planted a needle in his chair. He shared this with Tema and Ivanov, but the guys condemned him.

When the children were called to the director, Tema, unable to withstand the pressure, betrayed the offender. After this, Makhnov, and with him Ivanov, had to be expelled from the educational institution. The second was expelled only because he hid the truth.

Chapter 10. To America Unexpectedly, Tema began to be friends with Kasitsky and Danilov. These guys did not turn away from him after his classmates were expelled. All three dreamed of conquering America and even began collecting funds for the trip. However, they could not leave because difficult exams awaited them.

Chapter 11. Exams Tema lied to his parents, saying that he had no problems with the exams. The truth was that the boy failed three subjects at once, and his parents had to go to the gymnasium and negotiate a retake.

Tema even tried to commit suicide by swallowing pills, but nothing dangerous happened. He spent a whole week preparing for the retake and passed the exams with excellent marks.

Chapter 12. Father The elder Kartashev’s health was deteriorating. Apparently, sensing the imminent end, he became softer towards his family and tried to spend more time with them. He even supported Tema’s idea of joining the navy and told the boy about his service.

The brief description of the book ends with how Nikolai Kartashev, having finally lost his health, took to bed. Before his death, he blessed his children, and died in the morning. Thus the boy’s childhood came to an end.

Text of the book “Childhood of Theme (Chapter)”

N. Garin

(Mikhailovsky Nikolai Georgievich)

Tyoma's childhood

(Chapters)

Unlucky day

Little, eight-year-old Tyoma stood over a broken flower and pondered with horror the hopelessness of his situation.

Just a few minutes ago, when he woke up, drank tea, and ate two pieces of bread and butter with appetite - in a word, having conscientiously fulfilled all the duties that fell upon him, he went out through the terrace into the garden in the most cheerful, carefree mood. It was so nice in the garden! He walked along the neatly cleared paths of the garden, inhaling the freshness of the beginning summer morning, and looked around with pleasure.

Suddenly... His heart began to beat strongly with joy and pleasure... Dad’s favorite flower, which he had been fussing over so much, finally blossomed! Just yesterday dad examined it carefully and said that it wouldn’t bloom until a week later. And what a luxurious, what a lovely flower this is! No one, of course, has ever seen anything like this. Dad says that when Herr[1] Gottlieb (the head gardener of the botanical garden) sees it, his mouth will water. But the greatest happiness in all this, of course, is that it was not anyone else, but he, Tyoma, who was the first to see that the flower had bloomed. He will run into the dining room and shout at the top of his lungs:

– Terry blossomed!

Dad will throw down tea and, with a chibouk in his hands, in his military uniform, will immediately go into the garden. He, Tyoma, will run ahead and constantly look around: is dad happy?

Dad will probably go to Herr Gottlieb right now, maybe he will order to harness Gnedok, who has just been brought from the village. Eremey (coachman, who is also a janitor), a tall, one-eyed, good-natured and lazy little crest[2], Eremey says that Gnedko runs so fast that not a single horse in the city can catch him. Eremey, of course, knows this: every day he rides Gnedka on horseback to a watering hole. And today for the first time Gnedko will be harnessed, Gnedko will run soon, soon! Everyone will chase him - where! The bay is gone.

What if dad takes Tyoma with him? What happiness! Delight fills Tyoma’s little heart. From the thought that all this happiness came from this wonderful, so unexpectedly blossoming flower, a tender feeling for the flower awakens in Tyoma.

- Mi-and-lazy! - he says, squatting down and reaching out to him with his lips.

His position is the most uncomfortable and unstable. He loses his balance, reaches out his arms and...

Everything is lost! My God, but how did this happen?! Maybe it can be fixed? After all, this happened because he could not resist and fell. If he had rested his hand a little here, the flower would have remained intact. After all, this is one moment, one second... Wait!.. But time is not worth it. Tyoma feels as if something is circling him, something is as if snatching from him what he would like to keep, and carrying it away on its wings - carrying away the accomplished fact, leaving Tyoma alone with the terrible consciousness of the irreparability of this accomplished fact.

What a sharp, sharp line, what a terrible, inexorable, merciless force suddenly tore him away from everything at once!

What does it matter if someday there will again be the same cheerful morning, which he will not spoil, like today? Then there will be another boy, happy, smart, contented. To get to this other, you need to go through the abyss that separates him from this other, you need to experience something terrible, terrible. Oh, what he would give for everything to suddenly stop, for there to always be this fresh, bright morning, for dad and mom to always sleep... My God, why is he so unhappy? Why does some kind of eternal, inexorable fate hang over him? Why does he always want so well, but everything turns out so bad and disgusting?.. Oh, how hard, how deeply he tries to look into himself, to comprehend the reason for this! He wants to understand her, he will be strict and impartial to himself... He is truly a bad boy. He is guilty and he must atone for his guilt. He deserved to be punished and let him be punished. What to do? And he knows the reason, he found it! It's all because of his nasty, nasty hands! After all, he didn’t want to, his hands did it, and always his hands. And he will come to his father and tell him directly:

“Dad, why do you need to be angry for nothing? Now I know well who is to blame - my hands. Cut them off for me, and I will always be a kind, good boy. Because I love you, and my mother, and I love everyone, but my hands make it look like I don’t love anyone. I don’t feel sorry for them one bit!”

It seems to the boy that his arguments are so convincing, so sincere and clear that they should work.

Oh, how scary he is, what a bad face he has!.. And why is he silent, doesn’t say anything?! Why is he unbuttoning his uniform?! How disgusting is this thin yellow strap that can be seen in the fold of his blue pants! Tyoma stands and, as if enchanted, digs into this strap. Why is he standing? He is free, no one is holding him, he can run away... He won’t run away anywhere. He will wait painfully and sadly. The father will slowly take off this nasty strap, fold it in half, and look at his son; the father's face will become filled with blood, and the boy will feel, infinitely strongly, that the person closest to him can be scary and alien, that towards the person whom he should and would only love to the point of adoration, he can harbor hatred, fear, and animalism. horror when his father’s soft, warm thighs touch his cheeks, in which the boy’s head is squeezed.

He heard a rustling sound coming from the terrace. Quickly, before he realizes anything, the boy's foot steps resolutely into the garden bed, he grabs a flower and squeezes it into the ground next to the root. For what? Vague hope to deceive? Wait until the mother wakes up, explain to her how it all happened, and thereby avert the upcoming storm? Tyoma doesn’t understand anything clearly; he headlong, as if he were being pursued by all those witches and wizards that his nanny tells him about in the evenings, runs away from the ill-fated place, passing the terrace that is now terrible for him - a terrace where he can suddenly see the formidable figure of his father, who, of course, one by one he'll immediately understand what's going on.

He runs, his legs unconsciously guiding him away from danger. He sees a large area between the trees, in the middle of which there are swings and gymnastics and where there is a tall, green-painted pole for giant steps, he sees the sisters, Bonna [3] - a German woman. He makes a volte[4] to the side, quietly bending down, hastily makes his way into the vineyard, goes around the large stone barn, which opens into the garden with its blank walls, climbs over the fence separating the garden from the yard, and finally safely reaches the kitchen.

Here he just breathes freely.

In the smoky, vast, but low kitchen, located in the basement, lit from above by small windows, everything is calm, everything goes on as usual.

The cook in a dirty white apron, blond, lazy, young, former serf, Akim, is lazily getting ready to light the stove. He doesn’t want to get down to boring daily work, he pulls, slams the stove doors, looks into the oven drawer, carefully examines the burners, as if seeing them for the first time, snorts, grumbles, moves them twenty times, then puts them back in place...

Dirty plates lie in disarray on a large unpainted table. The maid Tanya, a young girl with a long, not yet combed braid, hastily gnaws at some cold bone from yesterday. Eremey is in the corner silently fiddling with the ends of the harness straps, endlessly adjusting and fitting end to end, intending to sew them together with the prepared awl and dredge. His wife Nastasya, a fat and dirty dishwasher, loudly and angrily washes the plates, energetically grabbing them from the bottom of the steaming, warm tub. Wiped plates noisily fly onto a nearby bench. Nastasya's sleeves are rolled up; the healthy white body in her arms shakes with her every movement, her lips are tightly compressed, her eyes are focused and throwing sparks.

The same age as Tyoma - the work of Nastasya and Eremey - thick-bellied, pockmarked Ioska, sits on the bed, dangles his legs and pesters his mother to give him a penny.

- I won’t give it, I won’t give it to you, damn your mother! - Nastasya screams desperately and squeezes her lips even tighter, her eyes sparkling even more energetically.

- G-e?! – Ioska draws a whiny monotonous note. - Give me a penny!

- Get off, damn it! Be told! - Nastasya screams, as if she were being cut.

Tyoma looks at this simple, uncomplicated relationship with envy. So she seems to be screaming and swearing, but Ioska is not afraid of her. If his mother wants to beat him - Ioska knows very well when she wants this - he will break free and run into the yard. If the mother rushes after him and, not catching up, begins to scream in her loud voice, screaming so loudly that her belly will jump up every now and then: “Come here, bisova dytyna!”, then “bisova dytyna” understands that he should not walk , because they will beat him, and since this is exactly what he doesn’t want, he doesn’t go, but he doesn’t hide, instinctively realizing that he shouldn’t be too annoying. Ioska stands somewhere at a distance and whines lazily and feignedly, while he vigilantly watches his mother’s every movement; his legs are spread, he leans forward, just about ready to give a new streak.

The mother will stand, stand, promise herself another hundred devils and go into the kitchen. Ioska is wandering around, having fun, playing pranks, but hunger finally forces him to return to the kitchen. He will approach the door and release a test balloon:

- G-e?!

This is something between an impudent demand and a request for mercy, between a whimper and a scream.

- Just come up, butt the devil! - rushing from the kitchen.

- G-e?! – Ioska repeats more persistently and boldly. It all ends with the door noisily opening, Ioska running away with the speed of the wind, a formidable mother appears on the threshold with the first log she comes across in her hands, which flies after the prodigal son.

It’s up to Ioska to dodge the log, but after that the path to the table with the scraps of the master’s food is considered free.

Ioska immediately sheds his modest appearance and, with the air of a business man who has no time to waste time on empty formalities, directly and boldly heads to the table.

If along the way he did receive a slight slap on the wrist, he did not pursue it and, snapping back with some stubborn sound like “oooh!”, he energetically began to eat.

- Eremey, lay down the Bulanka! – the nanny shouts from above. - In the droshky!

- Who's going? - the perked up Tyoma shouts from below.

- Mom and Dad are going to town.

This is a whole event.

- Are they leaving soon? - asks Tyoma.

- Getting dressed.

The subject realizes that the father is in a hurry, which means he won’t go to the kindergarten before leaving, and, therefore, until his parents return, he is free from any penalties. He feels an instant rise in spirit and shouts with inspiration:

- Yoska, play!

He runs out into the garden again and now boldly and confidently heads towards the sisters.

- Let's play! - he shouts running up. - To the Indians?

And Tyoma, out of excess of feelings, makes a quick jump in front of the sisters.

While the bonna and the sisters, led by their older sister Zina, are discussing his proposal, he is already rummaging around, looking for suitable material for bows. It’s too far to run to the fence, I want to hurry, now... Tyoma grabs several rods that for some reason were sticking out of the barrel, tries their flexibility, but they break and are no good.

- Subject! – a friendly cry is heard. The theme freezes for a moment.

- These are daddy's vines! What did you do?!

But Tyoma had already figured everything out without this; A whirlwind of consciousness flashes through his mind of the need to stretch out the time before leaving, and he casually shouts:

- I know, I know, dad ordered them to be thrown away - they are no good!

And to be more convincing, he picks up the broken vines and, with the help of Ioska, carries them to the backyard. Zina suspiciously follows him with her eyes, but Tyoma skillfully plays his role - he walks quietly, slowly, right up to the gate. But behind the gate he quickly throws the vines; despair grips him. He runs quickly, runs away from the gloomy thoughts of a difficult denouement, from clouds accumulating above his horizon from nowhere. One thing is painfully clear in my head: I wish my father and mother would leave as soon as possible.

Eremey stands with a worried look near the droshky, hesitantly scratches his back, looks gloomily at the unwashed carriage, at the dried mud, and is completely lost in thoughts of what to do now: should he start washing it, should he lubricate it, or should he start harnessing it? Tyoma worries, fusses, drags the collar, forces Eremey to lead the horse, and Eremey, under such energetic pressure, finally begins to harness.

- Not like that, sir, not like that! - the phlegmatic Eremey remarks loudly, burdened by this fussy, stormy help.

It seems to Teme that time is passing unbearably slowly. Finally the crew is ready.

Eremey puts on his coachman's canvas caftan with a huge greasy stain on his stomach, an oilcloth hat with a broken brim, sits on the box, touches, always touches the gate that separates the dirty yard from the clean one, and rolls up to the porch.

Time drags on endlessly. Why don't they come out? What if they don’t go?! Tyoma is going through painful moments. But then the front doors open, father and mother come out.

The father, gray-haired and gloomy as usual, in a white tunic, is worriedly thinking about something; mother in a crinoline[6], black thread gloves without fingers, and a hat with wide black ribbons. The sisters are running from the garden. The mother quickly baptizes and kisses them and remembers Tyoma; the sisters look for him with their eyes, but Tyoma and Ioska are hiding around the corner, and the sisters tell their mother that Tyoma is in the garden.

- Be kind to him.

Tyoma, who wisely decided not to show himself, quickly jumps out of the ambush and quickly rushes to his mother. If it weren't for his father, he would have told her everything now. But he only kisses her especially hotly.

- Well, that's enough! - the mother says affectionately and vaguely realizes that Tyoma’s conscience is not entirely clear.

But the thought of forgotten keys distracts her.

- Keys, keys! - she says, and everyone quickly rushes into the rooms to get the keys.

The father looks disdainfully at his son’s caresses and thinks that this upbringing will eventually turn his son into some kind of nasty slobber. He takes out his irritation on Eremey.

– Is the bun shackled on the right front leg again? - he says.

Eremey leans over from the seat and carefully peers at Bulanka’s outstretched leg.

Tyoma watches them with concern. Eremey clears his throat and says in a somewhat choked voice:

- Perhaps I stumbled.

The lie outrages and enrages the father.

- Blockhead! - he says, as if he were firing a gun.

Eremey energetically clears his throat, fidgets on the box and is silent. Tyoma does not understand why his father scolds Eremey, and a sad feeling covers him.

- You're a slob, you're lazy! There was such mud that it was impossible to sit down!

Tyoma quickly glances around at the crew.

Eremey remains calmly silent. Tyoma sees that Eremey has nothing to say, that his father is right, and, sighing with relief, feels satisfaction for his father.

The keys were brought; mother and father are sitting in the carriage, Eremey has picked up the reins, Nastasya is standing at the gate.

- Touch it! - the father orders.

The mother baptizes the children and says: “Tyoma, no shawls,” and the carriage solemnly rolls out into the street. When he disappears from his eyes, Tyoma suddenly feels such a surge of joy that he wants to throw out something so that everyone, everyone - the sisters, and Bonnie, and Nastasya, and Ioska - will gasp. He stands there, searches his mind for a few moments for something suitable, and can’t think of anything else than running headlong into the street to cut off the path of some speeding carriage. A general desperate cry is heard:

- Tyoma, Tyoma, where to?!

- Tema-a! - the piercing cry of the bonna rushes and reaches the sensitive ear of the mother.

From the cloud of dust suddenly the mother’s voice is heard, immediately understanding everything:

- Topic, go home!

Tyoma, who has managed to run halfway, stops, covers his mouth with both hands, freezes in place for a moment, then rushes back headlong.

- Do you want me to ride on Gnedka, like Eremey? - a new idea flashes in Tyoma’s head, with which he turns to Zina.

- Well, yes! Gnedko will throw you off! - Zina says dismissively.

This is absolutely enough for Tyoma to have an irresistible desire to carry out his plan. His heart beats intensely and freezes at the thought of how amazed everyone will be when they see him riding on Gnedka, and, after waiting for the moment, he feverishly whispers something to Ioska. They both disappear unnoticed.

There are no obstacles.

In the empty stable, Ned's lazy, loud eating is heard. Tyoma hastily unties the reins with trembling hands. The handsome stallion Gnedko sniffs the small figure disdainfully and reluctantly trails behind Tyoma, who is pulling him with all his might.

- But, but! - Tyoma excitedly urges him, trying to act with his lips like Eremey when he leads a horse.

But from this sound the horse gets scared, snorts, lifts its head and does not want to leave the low doors of the stable.

- Yoska, push her from behind! - Tyoma shouts.

Ioska climbs between the horse’s legs, but at this time Tyoma shouts to him:

- Take the whip!

Having received the blow, Gnedko flies out of the stable like an arrow and almost escapes from Tyoma’s hands.

Tyoma notices that Gnedko immediately went into a gallop from the blow of the whip, and orders Ioska, when he sits down, to hit the horse again.

It’s a pleasure for Yoska to whip his horse once again.

The bay is solemnly led out of the backyard into a clean yard and pulled up to a nearby water barrel. At the last moment, Ioska regains prudence.

- You'll fall, sir! – he says hesitantly.

“Nothing,” Tyoma answers, his throat dry from excitement. “Just as soon as I sit down, hit her hard so that she immediately goes into a gallop.” Then it is easy to sit.

Tema, standing on a barrel, picks up the reins, rests his hands on Gnedok’s withers and easily jumps onto his back.

- Children, look! - he shouts, choking with pleasure.

- Ay, ay, look! – the sisters squeal in horror, rushing to the fence.

- Hit! - Tyoma commands, not remembering himself with delight.

Ioska pulls the stallion with his whip with all his strength. The horse, as if stung, instantly picks up and makes the first involuntary leap towards the street where its muzzle was placed, but then, realizing, it rears up, makes a sharp turn on its hind legs and rushes back to the stable at full speed.

Tyoma, who miraculously survived this maneuver, has no time to reason. In front of him is the gate of the black courtyard; he manages to tilt his head in time to avoid breaking it on the crossbar, and flies like a whirlwind into the back yard.

Here the horror of his situation is outlined to him with inexorable clarity.

He sees, ten fathoms in front of him, a high stone wall of a stable and a small, dark, open door, and realizes that he will crash against the wall if a horse flies into the stable. The instinct of self-preservation increases his strength tenfold, he pulls the left rein as hard as he can, the horse turns off the straight path, runs into a protruding pole, stumbles, falls headlong to the ground, and Tyoma flies further and lies flat against the wall, on a soft, warm heap of manure. . The horse jumps up and runs into the stable. Tyoma also jumps up, locks the door behind her and looks around.

Now that everything has passed safely, he wants to cry, but he sees the lady and the sisters at the gate and realizes from their long faces that they saw everything. He is cheerful, but his hands are shaking; there is no face on him, the smile comes out as some kind of pitiful, painful grimace.

A hail of reproaches rains down on his head, but in these reproaches he feels some respect for himself, surprise at his youth and puts up with the reproaches. The unusual gentleness with which Tyoma accepts reprimands calms everyone down.

-Are you scared? – Zina pesters him. -You are as pale as a wall. Drink water, wash your head.

The subject is solemnly led back to the barrel and his head is washed. Friendly, peaceful relations are established between him, Bonnie and his sister.

“Tema,” Zina says affectionately, “be a smart boy, don’t let yourself go.” You know your character, you see: as soon as you break up, then you won’t be able to restrain yourself and will do something that you yourself won’t be happy with later.

Zina speaks kindly, softly, and asks.

Tyoma is pleased with this; he realizes that everything in his sister’s words is the naked truth, and says:

- Okay, I won't be naughty.

But little Zina, although only a year older than her brother, already understands how difficult it will be for her brother to keep his word.

“You know, Tyoma,” she says as ingratiatingly as possible, “you best promise yourself that you won’t be naughty.” Say: loving dad and mom, I won’t be naughty.

The topic winces.

- Tema, you better! – Zina drives up. “After all, dad and mom have never come without punishing you.” And suddenly they come today and find out that you weren’t naughty!

The pleading form captivates Tyoma.

“As much as I love my dad and mom, I won’t be naughty.”

“Well, smart girl,” says Zina. “Look, Tyoma,” the sister continues in a stern voice, “it will be a sin for you if you deceive.”

- But can we play?

“Everything is possible, what the Fraulein [7] says is possible, but what the Fraulein says is impossible, then it’s already a sin.”

Tyoma looks at the lady incredulously and mockingly asks:

- So, Fraulein is a saint?

“You see, you’re talking nonsense!” - the sister notes.

- OK then! Let's play Indians! - says Tyoma.

- No, it’s dangerous to be among the Indians without your mother: you’ll get separated.

- And I want to join the Indians! - Tyoma insists, and capricious irritation can be heard in his voice.

- OK then! Ask the fraulein - you promised, as much as you love mom and dad, to obey the fraulein?

Zina positions herself so that only the fraulein can see her face, but Tyoma cannot.

- Fraulein, is there really no need to play Indians?

Tyoma still sees Zina making impossible grimaces to the fraulein; he laughs and shouts:

- Eh, you can’t do that!

He rushes to the fraulein, grabs her by the dress and tries to turn her away from her sister. Fraulein laughs.

Zina energetically runs up to her brother, shouts: “Leave the Fraulein,” and at the same time she tries to position herself so that the Fraulein sees her face, but her brother does not. Tyoma understands the maneuver, laughs, grabs her sister’s dress and tries to turn her face towards him.

- Let me go! – the sister screams desperately and pulls at her dress. Tyoma laughs even more and does not let go of her sister’s dress, holding on to the bonna’s dress with her other hand. Zina breaks out with all her might. Suddenly the Fraulein's skirt is torn in half, and the enraged lady shouts:

– Dummer knabe![8]

Tyoma believes that, except for his mother and father, no one dares scold him. Puzzled and confused by the unexpected turn of events, but indignant, he answers without hesitation:

- You yourself!

- Ah! – the fraulein squeals.

- Subject, what did you say?! - my sister flies up. – Do you know how you will get for this?! Ask for forgiveness now!!

But the demand is a bad weapon with Theme; he finally resists and refuses to ask for forgiveness. Arguments don't work.

- So you don’t want to?! – Zina asks in a threatening voice.

Tyoma is a coward, but pride takes over.

“So this is it: let’s all leave him, let him remain alone.”

Everyone except Ioska leaves Tyoma.

The sister walks and constantly looks around: has Tyoma repented? But Tyoma shows no obvious repentance. Although the sister sees that the cats are scratching Tyoma, this, in her opinion, is not enough. She is annoyed by Tyoma's persistence. She feels that just a little more and Tyoma will give in. She quickly returns, grabs Ioska by the sleeve and says imperiously:

- Go away too, let him be left all alone!

Unsuccessful maneuver. Tyoma rushes at her, pushes her so that she flies to the ground, and shouts:

- Get the hell out!

Zina lets out a terrible scream, rises to her hands, and for some time cannot continue screaming from the throat spasms that have seized her and only moves her eyes convulsively.

Tyoma backs away in horror. Zina finally lets out another desperate cry, but this time it seems to Tyoma that the cry is not entirely natural, and he says:

- Pretend, pretend!

Zina is picked up and taken away; she's limping. Tyoma watches closely and remains in painful uncertainty: is Zina really limping or is she just pretending?

- Let's go, Ioska! - he says, suppressing a sigh.

But Ioska says that he is afraid and will go into the kitchen.

“Ioska,” says Tyoma, “don’t be afraid: I’ll tell my mother everything myself.”

But Tyoma’s credit[9] is undermined in Ioska’s eyes. He is silent, and Tyoma feels that Ioska does not believe him. Tyoma cannot remain without the support of a friend in such a difficult moment for himself.

“Ioska,” he says excitedly, “if you don’t leave me, I’ll bring you sugar after breakfast.”

This changes things.

- How many pieces? – Ioska asks hesitantly.

“Two, three,” Tyoma promises.

-Where should we go?

“Over the hill,” Tyoma answers, choosing the farthest corner of the garden.

He understands that Ioska would not want to meet the young ladies now.

They go around the yard, climb over the fence and walk along the most distant path.

Tyoma is excited and filled with all sorts of feelings.

“Ioska,” he says, “how happy you are that you don’t have sisters!” I wish I didn't have a single sister. If they all died suddenly, I wouldn’t cry a bit for them. You know, I would ask you to be my brother. Fine?

Ioska is silent.

“Ioska,” continues Tyoma, “I love you terribly... I love you so much that, whatever you want, do with me...

Tema is thinking hard about how to prove his love to Ioska.

- If you want, bury me in the ground... or, if you want, spit on me.

Ioska looks at Tyoma, puzzled.

- Darling, darling, spit... Darling, dear...

Tema throws herself on Yoska’s neck, kisses him, hugs him and begs him to spit.

After much hesitation, Ioska carefully spits on the tip of Tyomina’s shirt.

Tyoma lifts the edge of his shirt with spit to his face and rubs it over his cheek.

Ioska looks amazed and confused...

Tema says with conviction:

- That's... that's how I love you!

Friends approach the cemetery wall that separates the house from the old, abandoned cemetery.

- Yoska, are you afraid of the dead? - asks Tyoma.

“I’m afraid,” says Ioska.

Tyoma would prefer to boast that he is not afraid of anything, because his father is not afraid of anything and that he wants not to be afraid of anything, but at such a solemn moment he frankly admits that he is also afraid.

– Who isn’t afraid of them? – Ioska bursts into an eloquent tirade[10]. “Even if the very first general comes here, when they crawl out at night and sit on the walls, he will run away.” Everyone will run away. Then you’ll run, and he’ll grab you by the legs and shoulders, or jump on you, and even kick you with his legs to carry him, and even bend over, and bare his teeth; the other half of his face is rotten, his eyes are gone. You'll get scared here! At least some, and then...

- Artemy Nikolaich, have breakfast! – the young, ringing voice of the maid Tanya is heard throughout the garden.

Tanya's dress flashes from behind the trees.

“Please have breakfast,” says the maid, hugging Tyoma affectionately and familiarly.

Tanya loves Tyoma. She is in a clean, light cotton dress; she smells of freshness, her thick braid is neatly combed, her kind brown eyes look cheerful and soft.

She leads Tyoma by the shoulders in a friendly manner, leans towards his ear and says in a cheerful whisper:

- The German woman was crying!

The servants do not like the German woman, despite her complete harmlessness.

Tyoma remembers that in his clash with the Bonn, all the servants were his allies - this is pleasant for him, he feels uplifted in spirit.

“She called me a fool.” Does she dare?

- Of course he doesn’t dare. Your dad is a general, but what about her? Some kind of rubbish. I'm arrogant!

– Is it true that when I tell my mother everything, they won’t punish me?

Tanya doesn’t want to upset Tyoma; she leans down again and kisses him again, stroking his thick golden hair.

At breakfast, the usual story: Tyoma eats almost nothing. A cutlet lies on a plate in front of him, he glances sideways at it and lazily plucks the bread. Since no one talks to him, Tanya voluntarily takes on the responsibility of persuading him to eat.

- Artemy Nikolaich, eat!

Tyoma only furrows his eyebrows.

In Zina, anger towards Tyoma struggles with the desire for him to eat. She looks out the window and, not addressing anyone in particular, says:

- Looks like mom is on her way!

“Artemy Nikolaich, eat quickly,” Tanya whispers in fear.

At the first moment, Tyoma succumbs to the bait and grabs the fork, but, making sure that the alarm is false, he puts the fork on the table again.

Zina looks out the window again and notices:

– After breakfast, everyone who ate well will have something sweet.

Teme wants something sweet, but doesn’t want cutlets.

He starts to get picky. He wants to pour Provençal butter on the cutlet.

Tanya persuades him that the butter does not go to the cutlet.

But that’s exactly what he wants, and since they don’t give him a bowl of butter, he goes after it himself. Zina cannot stand it: she cannot digest his whims, she quickly jumps up, grabs a container of butter and holds it in her hand under the table.

Tyoma sits down and pretends that he forgot about the butter. Zina watches vigilantly and finally puts the bowl on the table next to her. But Tyoma seizes the right moment, quickly rushes to the container, Zina grabs it from the other side, and the container flies to the floor, breaking into pieces.

- It's you! - the sister shouts.

- No you!

“God punished you for not loving your mom and dad.”

- It’s not true, I love you! - Tyoma shouts.

“Lyasen zi in!”[11] says Bonna and gets up from the table.

Everyone stands behind her, and the distribution of marshmallows begins. When it’s Tyoma’s turn, Bonna hesitates. Finally, she breaks off a smaller portion than the others and silently places it in front of Tyoma.

Tyoma indignantly pushes his portion, and it flies to the floor.

“Very nice,” says Zina. - Mom will know everything!

Tyoma is silent and begins to walk around the room. Zina is interested in: why doesn’t Tyoma run away today, as usual, now after breakfast? At first she thinks that Tyoma wants to ask for forgiveness from the lady, and she is already coming into her own: she proves that it is too late now, that so much more has been done after this...

- Go away! - Tyoma interrupts rudely.

- And mom will know this! - says Zina and finally becomes perplexed: why doesn’t he leave?

Tyoma continues to stubbornly walk around the room and finally achieves his goal: everyone leaves, he is left alone. Then he instantly rushes to the sugar bowl and puts his hand into it...

The door opens. Bonna and Zina appear on the threshold. He throws the sugar bowl and rushes headlong onto the terrace.

The main idea of the story

In the work, the author teaches that all events from childhood, both positive and unsuccessful, create a human personality. Therefore, you need to learn to deal with life’s difficulties and be responsible for your actions, because if the boy had confessed to his father in time that he had ruined the flower, he would not have been punished so much.

In a brief retelling of the book “Childhood of Theme” by Garin-Mikhailovsky, only the main events were covered. Therefore, it is recommended to read the entire work to better understand the author's idea and enjoy the work.