Summary Turgenev Ermolai and the miller's wife in 2 minutes retelling the plot

Summary
Turgenev
Ermolai and the miller's wife

The story is included in the collection Notes of a Hunter

The main characters in Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev's story “Ermolai and the Miller's Wife” are hunters. This is Ermolai - a certain unlucky worker who was expelled by the landowner for his inability to do anything properly, and the master, whom the author himself can easily guess. And the miller’s wife is a special female intrigue of the story...

The plot of events is the intention of the hunters to spend the night in an old mill. But since night had already fallen over the estate, the owners did not allow travelers under the roof. They were forced to ask for straw and go to sleep right on the street under a canopy. They lit a fire, baked potatoes, their eyes closed from fatigue...

And then the master, who was dozing off, was awakened by the whisper of the miller’s wife. It was the old courtyard beauty. She came to talk confidentially with Ermolai. Ermolai invited the miller's wife to visit, promising to kick his wife out during this time. The miller's wife brought Ermolai a glass of vodka. They decided that the master was fast asleep, and began to discuss simple household matters, where the pigs died, why you shouldn’t go to the doctors if you have a cough at night...

The master, however, also joined the conversation. The miller's wife Arina said that she served as a maid to a prominent count in St. Petersburg. Everything would be fine, but the count's wife did not allow the maids to get married. The Countess herself was angry, fat, and proud. When Arina, having served for 10 years, finally began to ask permission to become a bride, she was refused rudely and unceremoniously. And then it turned out that Arina was pregnant. The count became angry and ordered her to be dressed in old clothes and expelled to the village.

Arina’s child then died. The miller eventually bought the beauty from the count and married her.

What is the main key of a short story can be judged in different ways. It is typical for Turgenev to write philosophical pictures from nature,” the plots of which the reader can invent on his own at his leisure. And often the meaning of the story remains the high morality of the peasants, ordinary people, who are characterized by the most beautiful and sublime impulses.

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Ermolai and the miller's wife
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Heroes of the work

The narration is told from the first person, the main character, an intelligent gentleman, a lover of hunting. The narrator, Ermolai and the miller's wife are the main characters of the story. In addition to them, there are four minor characters in the plot:

miller;
Parsley;
Count Zverev;
Ermolai's wife.

The narrator explains to the reader what “traction” means - this is when a hunter comes into the forest in the evening and, hiding, waits for all the birds to sleep and for the nightingales to awaken.

It is then that the woodcock appears and is hunted.

What follows is a description of the protagonist’s partner, the avid hunter Ermolai.

This is a 45 year old man:

high;
thin;
grey-eyed;
disheveled;
long-nosed

He wears German-style clothes and carries a gun. Due to excessive love of freedom and laziness, he was expelled by the landowner as a person unsuitable for any work. But still there was one duty: he brought black grouse and partridges for the master’s kitchen.

Ermolai often got into trouble. More than once he took part in fights in which he lost his gun and his dog Valetka, who was constantly hungry and exhausted. The hunter did not feed it on purpose so that the dog could find food on its own. Therefore, the dog always ate wounded game. When all the adventures were over, he returned home with both the dog and the gun.

The hunter was restless, absent-minded and spineless. But with his wife Ermolai was despotic . She lived poorly, in a squalid house. When my husband returned, I didn’t know how to please him, but with the last pennies I bought him wine, and after he fell asleep, I covered him with an old blanket. But the cruelty did not have to be tolerated for long, because Ermolai did not stay at home for more than one day.

The hunter was not a merry fellow, but he was always in a good mood and loved to chat. On the side, he turned from a domestic tyrant and despot into Yermolka, as his friends called him.

A few words about Ermolai

The narrator went into the forest to hunt woodcock. He took with him an experienced hunter named Ermolai, who belonged to a landowner, so to speak, of the old style. The man had:

thin build;
a big increase;
grey eyes;
narrow forehead;
a long nose;
wide lips.

He looked to be about 45 years old. He always wore blue trousers and a German-cut caftan. The owner abandoned the hunter because he believed that he was not suitable for any work. Ermolai had only one duty: once a month to supply the master’s kitchen with black grouse and partridges.

Being as carefree as a bird, the man often got into various troubles, but he always managed to return home unharmed with a gun and a dog. He never fed his dog Valetka; he considered her an intelligent creature who was quite capable of getting food on her own.

It was difficult to call him the soul of the company, but still he loved to chat and was always in a great mood. The hunter had a wife. His wife lived in a dilapidated house and suffered hardships. Ermolai visited her no more than once a week, and behaved rather rudely. The tyrant never stayed with his wife for more than a day. He was real only with her, those around him did not even suspect this trait of his and knew him as a completely adequate, albeit slightly eccentric Yermolka.

Summary of Turgenev's story “Ermolai and the Miller's Wife”

1847 Summary of the story from the series “Notes of a Hunter” Readable in 3 minutes, original - 20 minutes

In the evening, Ermolai and I went to hunt woodcock. Ermolai is a hunter, a man about 45 years old, tall, thin, with a long nose, narrow forehead, gray eyes and wide, mocking lips. All year round he wore a German-cut caftan and blue trousers. Ermolai had an old flintlock gun and a dog nicknamed Valetka, which he never fed. Ermolai belonged to my neighbor, a landowner of the old style. The landowner abandoned him as a person unfit for any work. His only responsibility was to deliver several pairs of black grouse and partridges to the master's kitchen once a month.

Ermolai was carefree, like a bird. He constantly got into various troubles, and always returned home unharmed with a gun and a dog. Although not a cheerful person, he was always in a good mood and loved to talk. Ermolai also had a wife, who lived in a dilapidated hut and suffered hardships. He came home once a week and treated his wife cruelly and rudely. He never stayed at home for more than a day, and on the side, from a domestic tyrant, he again turned into Yermolka, who was known a hundred miles around.

We went to hunt in a large birch grove on the banks of the Ista. Wanting to try our luck the next morning, we decided to spend the night at a nearby mill. When we approached the mill, it was already dark, and the owners did not want to let us in. In the end we decided to buy straw from the miller and spend the night outside under a shelter. The miller's wife brought us food. While Ermolai was baking potatoes in the ashes, I dozed off.

A slight whisper woke me up. I raised my head and saw a woman, whose pale face still retained traces of its former beauty. Based on her reprimand, I recognized her as a courtyard woman. It was the miller's wife Arina. She spoke quietly with Ermolai. He invited her to “stay” with him and promised to kick his wife out. I stood up and spoke to her. From Arina I learned that she was a maid for the wife of Count Zverkov.

In St. Petersburg I knew Count Zverkov, who occupied a rather important position. From him I heard Arina’s story. Zverkov's wife was plump, sensitive and angry. She had a firm rule: not to keep married maids. After 10 years of faithful service, the beautiful Arina, the daughter of the headman, began to ask Zverkov for permission to get married. She was refused. After some time, it turned out that Arina was pregnant by the lackey Peter. Zverkov ordered the girl to have her hair cut, dressed in rags and exiled to the village.

From Ermolai I learned that Arina’s child had died. For two years now she had been married to a miller, who bought her from the master. The footman Petrushka was given up as a soldier.

RetellingsSummary of Turgenev's story “Raspberry Water”

RetellingsSummary of Turgenev's story “Khor and Kalinich”

Ermolai and the miller's wife

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From Ermolai I learned that Arina’s child had died. For two years now she had been married to a miller, who bought her from the master. The footman Petrushka was given up as a soldier.

“Ermolai and the miller’s wife” very briefly

I. S. Turgenev “Ermolai and the miller’s wife” summary for the reader’s diary:

The narrator went with the hunter Ermolai on a night hunt. Ermolai was a 45-year-old man who belonged to the narrator’s neighbor – “a landowner of the old style.” A man delivered grouse and partridges to the master's kitchen.

Ermolai was married, but treated his wife rudely. The hunters decided to spend the night in the mill. When the men were sitting by the fire, the miller's wife Arina came to them. Ermolai invited her to visit him, promising to kick his wife out.

The narrator recognized the miller's wife as a girl whom the master had once taken from her family and taken to St. Petersburg to serve as his servant. Arina said that the miller bought her.

Turgenev wrote the story “Forest and Steppe” in 1849 and is a chapter from the series “Notes of a Hunter.” Of course, Turgenev always pays a lot of attention to the beautiful Russian nature, but here there are no heroes at all. Is it a hunter with his senses of nature? Beautiful pictures of all seasons, all states of nature are shown.

A short retelling of “Yermolai and the miller’s wife”

Summary of “Ermolai and the Miller’s Wife” Turgenev:

At the beginning of the work, I will give you a description of Ermolai, he was 45 years old, “tall, thin, with a funny long nose and unruly hair. He wore a yellow caftan and blue pants all the time.

Ermolai himself was a flighty man, all sorts of troubles constantly happened to him, but he, in turn, always came out unscathed. He had a wife, and with her they lived in a shabby hut. Ermolai appeared at home very rarely, but still, during his visits he greatly offended his wife.

One day the author went hunting with Ermolai in a birch grove. In order not to return home, they decide to stay overnight at the mill, which was nearby. But because of the late night, the owners were not going to let them spend the night, and then the comrades were forced to ask for straw and spend the night on the street.

In the morning the narrator was awakened by a conversation; it was Arina, the local miller, she was talking with Ermolai. And he suggested that he come to visit him, that for her sake he would kick out his wife. After talking with Arina, it turned out that she was a maid for the count's wife.

After this story, the author began to remember that he had already heard this from Zverkov himself. The essence of this story was that Arina had previously served as a maid for Zverkov’s wife, but she had her own rules, for example, not to employ married girls.

But one day Arina came to the count to ask permission to marry the footman Peter, since she was pregnant, but he angrily ordered the girl to be kicked out and the footman to be given as a soldier. So Arina ended up in the mill, and her child died.

The story “Khor and Kalinich” by I. S. Turgenev from the series “Notes of a Hunter” was first published in 1847. On our website you can read a summary of “Khor and Kalinich”. It will help you get acquainted with the main plot of the work, as well as prepare for a lesson in Russian literature.

Plot and composition

The story is one of the hunting stories. The narrator, together with the hunter Ermolai, went hunting in the evening. They decided to spend the night in a nearby mill. There the hunter witnessed a conversation between Ermolai and the miller's wife. The narrator learned about the difficult fate of Arina, whom the landowner took as a girl to St. Petersburg, where she was his wife’s maid. Twice the maid was refused when she asked to get married, because the lady did not accept married maids. Having learned about Arina’s connection with the footman Petrushka, she was sent to the village. But the poor girl was bought by a tradesman, a miller, who married her. And Peter was sent to become a soldier.

The story “Ermolai and the Miller's Wife” is compositionally a story within a story. The frame is a story about a spring woodcock hunt and an overnight stay in a mill. In this frame, the hunter first tells about the life of Ermolai, and then conveys the story of Arina, told to him by the landowner Zverkov. The backdrop to everything that happens is the living and harsh spring nature of the middle zone.