About the product
The satirical fairy tale “The Wise Minnow” (“The Wise Minnow”) was written in 1882 – 1883. The work was included in the cycle “Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age.” In Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”, cowardly people are ridiculed who live their whole lives in fear, having never done anything useful.
On our website you can read a summary of “The Wise Minnow”, which will help you prepare for a literature lesson.
The material was prepared jointly with a teacher of the highest category, Kuchmina Nadezhda Vladimirovna.
Experience as a teacher of Russian language and literature - 27 years.
Summary
“Once upon a time there was a minnow. Both his father and mother were smart.” Dying, the old minnow taught his son to “look both ways.” The wise minnow understood that there were dangers lurking around him: a large fish could swallow him, a crayfish could be cut with his claws, a water flea could torment him. The minnow was especially afraid of people: his father once almost hit him in the ear.
Therefore, the minnow hollowed out a hole for itself, into which only he could get. At night, when everyone was sleeping, he went out for a walk, and during the day, “he sat in the hole and trembled.” He didn't sleep enough, didn't eat enough, but avoided danger.
Once a gudgeon dreamed that he had won two hundred thousand, but when he woke up, he discovered that half his head had “poked out” of his hole. Almost every day danger awaited him at the hole and, having avoided another, he exclaimed with relief: “Thank you, Lord, he’s alive!”
Fearing everything in the world, the minnow did not marry and had no children. He believed that before, “the pikes were kinder and the perches didn’t bother with us small fry,” so his father could still afford a family, and he “would just have to live on his own.”
The wise minnow lived in this way for more than a hundred years. He had neither friends nor relatives. “He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls.” The pikes had already begun to praise him, hoping that the minnow would listen to them and get out of the hole.
“How many years have passed since the hundred years is unknown, only the wise minnow began to die.” Reflecting on his own life, the gudgeon understands that he is “useless” and if everyone lived like this, then “the entire gudgeon family would have died out long ago.” He decided to crawl out of the hole and “swim like a goldeneye all over the river,” but again he got scared and trembled.
Fish swam past his hole, but no one was interested in how he lived to be a hundred years old. And no one called him wise - only a “dumb,” “a fool and a disgrace.”
The gudgeon falls into oblivion and then again he has an old dream about how he won two hundred thousand, and even “grew by a whole half a larshin and swallows the pike himself.” In a dream, a minnow accidentally fell out of a hole and suddenly disappeared. Perhaps the pike swallowed him, but “most likely he died, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying gudgeon, and a wise one at that?”
The wise minnow
Keepers of Fairy Tales | Tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E.
Once upon a time there lived a minnow. Both his father and mother were smart; Little by little, the arid eyelids lived in the river and did not get caught either in the fish soup or in the pike. They ordered the same for my son. “Look, son,” said the old minnow, dying, “if you want to chew your life, then keep your eyes open!”
And the young minnow had a mind. He began to use this mind and saw: no matter where he turned, he was cursed. All around, in the water, all the big fish are swimming, but he is the smallest of all; Any fish can swallow him, but he cannot swallow anyone. And he doesn’t understand: why swallow? A cancer can cut it in half with its claws, a water flea can bite into its spine and torture it to death. Even his brother the minnow - and when he sees that he has caught a mosquito, the whole herd will rush to take it away. They’ll take it away and start fighting with each other, only they’ll crush a mosquito for nothing.
And the man? - what kind of malicious creature is this! no matter what tricks he came up with to destroy him, the minnow, in vain! And the seine, and the nets, and the tops, and the net, and, finally... the fishing rod! It seems that what could be more stupid than oud? - A thread, a hook on a thread, a worm or a fly on a hook... And how are they put on?.. in the most, one might say, unnatural position! Meanwhile, it is on the fishing rod that most minnows are caught!
His old father warned him more than once about uda. “Most of all, beware of the oud! - he said, - because even though this is the stupidest projectile, but with us minnows, what is stupid is more accurate. They will throw a fly at us, as if they want to take advantage of us; If you grab it, it’s death in a fly!”
The old man also told how he once almost hit his ear. At that time they were caught by a whole artel, the net was stretched across the entire width of the river, and they were dragged along the bottom for about two miles. Passion, how many fish were caught then! And pikes, and perches, and chubs, and roaches, and char - even lazy bream were lifted from the mud from the bottom! And we lost count of the minnows. And what fears he, the old minnow, suffered while he was being dragged along the river - this cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor described with a pen. He feels that he is being taken, but he doesn’t know where. He sees that he has a pike on one side and a perch on the other; he thinks: just about now, either one or the other will eat him, but they don’t touch him... “There was no time for food at that time, brother!” Everyone has one thing on their mind: death has come! but how and why she came - no one understands. Finally they began to close the wings of the seine, dragged it to the shore and began to throw fish from the reel into the grass. It was then that he learned what ukha was. Something red flutters on the sand; gray clouds run upward from him; and it was so hot that he immediately became limp. It’s already sickening without water, and then they give in... He hears “bonfire,” they say. And on the “bonfire” something black is placed on this one, and in it the water, like in a lake, shakes during a storm. This is a “cauldron”, they say. And in the end they began to say: put fish in the “cauldron” - there will be “fish soup”! And they started throwing our brother there. A fisherman will sear a fish - it will first plunge, then jump out like crazy, then plunge again - and become quiet. “Uhi” means she tasted it. They kicked and kicked at first indiscriminately, and then one old man looked at him and said: “What good is he, a kid, for fish soup! let it grow in the river!” He took him by the gills and let him into free water. And he, don’t be stupid, goes home with all his might! He came running, and his minnow was looking out of the hole, neither alive nor dead...
And what! No matter how much the old man explained at that time what fish soup was and what it consisted of, however, even when brought into the river, rarely did anyone have a sound understanding of fish soup!
But he, the gudgeon-son, perfectly remembered the teachings of the gudgeon-father, and he even reeled it into his mustache. He was an enlightened minnow, moderately liberal, and very firmly understood that living life is not like licking a whorl. “You have to live so that no one notices,” he said to himself, “or else you’ll just disappear!” - and began to get settled. First of all, I came up with a hole for myself so that he could climb into it, but no one else could get in! He dug this hole with his nose for a whole year, and during that time he took on so much fear, spending the night either in the mud, or under the water burdock, or in the sedge. Finally, however, he dug it out to perfection. Clean, neat - just enough for one person to fit in. The second thing, about his life, he decided this way: at night, when people, animals, birds and fish are sleeping, he will exercise, and during the day he will sit in a hole and tremble. But since he still needs to drink and eat, and he doesn’t receive a salary and doesn’t keep servants, he will run out of the hole around noon, when all the fish are already full, and, God willing, maybe he’ll provide a booger or two. And if he doesn’t provide, he will lie down in a hole hungry and tremble again. For it is better not to eat or drink than to lose life with a full stomach.
That's what he did. At night he exercised, swam in the moonlight, and during the day he climbed into a hole and trembled. Only at noon will he run out to grab something - what can you do at noon! At this time, a mosquito hides under a leaf from the heat, and a bug buries itself under the bark. Absorbs water - and the Sabbath!
He lies in the hole day and day, doesn’t get enough sleep at night, doesn’t finish eating, and still thinks: “Does it seem like I’m alive? oh, will there be something tomorrow?
He falls asleep, sinfully, and in his sleep he dreams that he has a winning ticket and he won two hundred thousand with it. Not remembering himself with delight, he will turn over on the other side - lo and behold, half of his snout has stuck out of the hole... What if at that time the little puppy was nearby! After all, he would have pulled him out of the hole!
One day he woke up and saw: a crayfish was standing right opposite his hole. He stands motionless, as if bewitched, his bony eyes staring at him. Only the whiskers move as the water flows. That's when he got scared! And for half a day, until it got completely dark, this cancer was waiting for him, and meanwhile he kept trembling, still trembling.
Another time, he had just managed to return to the hole before dawn, he had just yawned sweetly, in anticipation of sleep - he looked, out of nowhere, a pike was standing right next to the hole, clapping its teeth. And she also guarded him all day, as if she had had enough of him alone. And he fooled the pike: he didn’t come out of the bark, and it was a sabbath.
And this happened to him more than once, not twice, but almost every day. And every day he, trembling, won victories and victories, every day he exclaimed: “Glory to you, Lord! alive!
But this is not enough: he did not marry and did not have children, although his father had a large family. He reasoned like this: “Father could have lived by joking! At that time, the pike were kinder, and the perches did not covet us small fry. And although once he was about to get caught in the ear, there was an old man who rescued him! And now, as the fish in the rivers have increased, the gudgeons are in honor. So there’s no time for family here, but how to just live on your own!”
And the wise minnow lived in this way for more than a hundred years. Everything was trembling, everything was trembling. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he is to anyone, nor anyone is to him. He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase hot girls—he just trembles and thinks only one thing: “Thank God! seems to be alive!
Even the pikes, in the end, began to praise him: “If only everyone lived like this, the river would be quiet!” But they said it on purpose; they thought that he would recommend himself for praise - here, they say, I am! then bang! But he did not succumb to this trick either, and once again, with his wisdom, he defeated the machinations of his enemies.
How many years have passed since the hundred years is unknown, only the wise minnow began to die. He lies in a hole and thinks: “Thank God, I’m dying by my own death, just like my mother and father died.” And then he remembered the pike’s words: “If only everyone lived like this wise minnow lives...” Well, really, what would happen then?
He began to think about the mind that he had, and suddenly it was as if someone whispered to him: “After all, this way, perhaps, the entire piscary race would have died out long ago!”
Because, to continue the minnow family, first of all you need a family, and he doesn’t have one. But this is not enough: in order for the gudgeon family to strengthen and prosper, for its members to be healthy and vigorous, it is necessary that they be raised in their native element, and not in a hole where he is almost blind from the eternal twilight. It is necessary that the minnows receive sufficient nutrition, so that they do not alienate the public, share bread and salt with each other and borrow virtues and other excellent qualities from each other. For only such a life can improve the gudgeon breed and will not allow it to be crushed and degenerate into smelt.
Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, believe incorrectly. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows. They give no warmth or cold to anyone, no honor, no dishonor, no glory, no infamy... they live, take up space for nothing and eat food.
All this seemed so clearly and clearly that suddenly a passionate hunt came to him: “I’ll crawl out of the hole and swim like a goldeneye across the entire river!” But as soon as he thought about it, he became frightened again. And he began to die, trembling. He lived - he trembled, and he died - he trembled.
His whole life flashed before him instantly. What joys did he have? Who did he console? Who did you give good advice to? Who did you say a kind word to? whom did you shelter, warm, protect? who has heard of him? who will remember its existence?
And he had to answer all these questions: “No one, no one.”
He lived and trembled - that's all. Even now: death is on his nose, and he is still trembling, he doesn’t know why. In his hole it is dark, cramped, there is nowhere to turn, not a ray of sunlight can look in, and there is no smell of warmth. And he lies in this damp darkness, blind, exhausted, useless to anyone, lying and waiting: when will starvation finally free him from a useless existence?
He can hear other fish scurrying past his hole - perhaps, like him, gudgeons - and not one of them takes an interest in him. Not a single thought will come to mind: “Let me ask the wise minnow, how did he manage to live for more than a hundred years, and not be swallowed by a pike, not crushed by a crayfish with his claws, not caught by a fisherman with a hook?” They swim past, and maybe they don’t even know that in this hole the wise minnow completes its life process!
And what’s most offensive: I haven’t even heard anyone call him wise. They simply say: “Have you heard about the dunce who doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t see anyone, doesn’t share bread and salt with anyone, and only saves his hateful life?” And many even simply call him a fool and a disgrace and wonder how the water tolerates such idols.
He thus scattered his mind and dozed off. That is, it wasn’t just that he was dozing, but that he had already begun to forget. Death whispers rang in his ears, and languor spread throughout his body. And here he had the same seductive dream. It’s as if he won two hundred thousand, grew by as much as half an arshin and swallows the pike himself.
And while he was dreaming about this, his snout, little by little, came out of the hole entirely and stuck out.
And suddenly he disappeared. What happened here - whether the pike swallowed him, whether the crayfish was crushed with a claw, or he himself died of his own death and floated to the surface - there were no witnesses to this case. Most likely, he himself died, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying gudgeon, and what’s more, a “wise” one?
Keepers of Fairy Tales | Tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin M.E.
