Wise minnow. “The Wise Piskar - characteristics of a literary hero Read the wise gudgeon Saltykov Shchedrin in abbreviation
Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin - writer, journalist, critic. He combined literary work with public service: at different times he was the vice-governor of Ryazan and Tver, and headed the State Chambers in the cities of Penza, Tula and Ryazan.
Mikhail Evgrafovich perfectly mastered a formidable weapon - the word. Life observations formed the basis of his creations; from the pen of the genius of journalism, many texts appeared on the topic of the day. Today we will get acquainted with the work that Saltykov created, “The Wise Minnow”. A summary will be presented in this article.
Preface
The work "The Wise Minnow" (in the modern interpretation - "The Wise Minnow"), which is part of the cycle "Fairy Tales for Children of a Fair Age", was first published in 1883. It ridicules cowardice and touches on the age-old philosophical question of what is the meaning of life.
Here is summary"The wise minnow." It is worth noting that reading the original will not take much time and will bring a lot of aesthetic pleasure, since it was written by a real master of the word, so do not limit yourself to getting to know the “reworked” work.
Once upon a time there was a gudgeon, he was lucky with his parents, they were smart and gave the right life guidelines. They lived for many years (“arid centuries”), avoiding numerous dangers that may lie in wait for small representatives of the underwater world. The father, dying, instructed his son - in order to live a long life, you need to keep your eyes open and not yawn.
The gudgeon himself was not stupid, or rather, he was “smart.” I decided that the surest recipe for longevity is not to provoke trouble, to live without anyone noticing. For a year, he dug a hole with his nose, just large enough for himself to fit in, exercised at night, and at midday, when everyone was full and hiding from the heat, he ran out in search of food. He didn’t get enough sleep at night, the wise minnow wasn’t eating enough, he was afraid... Every day he shook with fear that he would gape and not be able to save his precious life, as his father punished. What did Shchedrin want to say with this work?
"The Wise Minnow": summary - main idea
Having lived “more than a hundred years,” the gudgeon at his deathbed asked himself the question of what would happen if everyone, like him, led a smart life? And he made a disappointing conclusion - the gudgeon race would have been interrupted. No family, no friends... Only impartial epithets: dunce, fool and disgrace - that's all he deserved for his hermit life. He lived and trembled - that’s all, not a citizen, a useless unit who only takes up space for nothing... This is how the author spoke about his hero in the text.
The wise gudgeon died, disappeared, and how this happened - whether naturally or who helped, no one noticed, and no one was interested in it.
This is the summary of “The Wise Minnow” - a fairy tale that the author wrote, ridiculing the mores of society of bygone times. But it has not lost its relevance in our time.
Afterword
Representative of the fishing community main character, having abandoned blessings, left behind him the glory of a trembling creature. The gudgeon, whom the author satirically called wise, chose a meaningless life, filled only with fear and deprivation, and as a result, for a criminally ineffective life lived, punishment followed - death in the insight of his worthlessness and uselessness.
We hope that the summary of “The Wise Minnow” in this presentation will be useful to you.
Intended for adults, the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”, upon careful analysis, demonstrates the typical features of the work of M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin. The writer was a master of subtle irony. Within the chosen style, the author draws very characteristic images, helping himself by using grotesque techniques and exaggerating the figures of the main characters.
Literary criticism of the Soviet school sought to look in Russian classics imperial period features of class confrontation and social struggle. The same fate befell the tale of the wise minnow - in the main character they diligently looked for the features of a despicable petty official, trembling with fear, instead of devoting his life to the class struggle.
However, most Russian writers were still concerned not so much with revolutionary ideas as moral problems society.
Genre and meaning of the fairy tale title
The fairy tale genre has long been attractive to fiction writers. It is interesting because, within the framework of allegory, one can allow oneself to draw any parallels with objective reality and real figures of contemporaries, without skimping on epithets, but at the same time without annoying anyone.
A typical fairy tale genre involves the participation of animals in the plot, endowed with intelligence, agility, and human manner of communication and behavior. IN in this case The work, with its phantasmagorical nature, fits well into the plot of the fairy tale.
The work begins characteristically - once upon a time. But at the same time, it is called a fairy tale for adults, because the author, in allegorical language, invites the reader to think about a problem that is not at all childish - about how to live one’s life so that before death one does not regret its meaninglessness.
The title fully corresponds to the genre in which the work is written. The gudgeon is called not smart, not wise, not intellectual, but rather “wise,” in the best traditions of the fairy-tale genre (just remember Vasilisa the Wise).
But already in this title itself one can discern the sad irony of the author. It immediately sets the reader up to think about whether it is fair to call the main character wise.
Main characters
In the fairy tale, the most striking portrait is the image of the wisest minnow. The author not only characterizes his general level of development - “mind chamber” tells the background to the formation of his character traits.
He describes in detail the motives of the main character’s actions, his thoughts, mental turmoil and doubts shortly before his death.
The gudgeon son is not stupid, he is thoughtful, and even prone to liberal ideas. Moreover, he is such a cowardly individual that he is ready to fight even with his instincts in order to save his life. He agrees to live always hungry, without creating his own family, without communicating with his relatives, and practically without seeing sunlight.
Therefore, the son heeded his father’s main teaching and, having lost his parents, decided to take all available measures to never risk his life. Everything he subsequently did was aimed at realizing his plans.
As a result, it was not life itself in its entirety, but precisely the preservation of life that gained highest value, has become an end in itself. And for the sake of this idea, the gudgeon sacrificed absolutely everything, for which, in fact, he was born.
The gudgeon father is the second hero of the fairy tale. He, deserving the positive characterization of the author, lived an ordinary life, had a family and children, took moderate risks, but had the imprudence to scare his son for the rest of his life with the story of how he almost got hit in the ear.
The reader's main picture of his personality is formed mainly through the account of this dramatic incident, told in the first person.
Brief summary of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”
Gudgeon, the son of good and caring parents, left alone after their death, rethought his life. The future scared him.
He saw that he was weak and defenseless, and that the water world around him was full of dangers. To save its life, the gudgeon began to dig a hole for itself to hide from the main threats.
During the day he did not get out of it, he only walked at night, which is why over time he almost went blind. If there was danger outside, he preferred to stay hungry so as not to take risks. Because of his fear, the gudgeon abandoned a full life, communication and procreation.
So he lived in his hole for more than a hundred years, trembling with fear and considering himself wise, because he turned out to be so prudent. At the same time, the other inhabitants of the reservoir did not share his opinion of themselves, considering him a fool and a dunce who lived as a hermit in order to preserve his worthless life.
Sometimes he had a dream in which he won two hundred thousand rubles, stopped trembling and became so big and respected that he himself began to swallow pike. However, in reality he does not strive to become rich and influential, these are just secret dreams embodied in dreams.
However, before his death, the gudgeon comes to mind about a wasted life. Analyzing the years he has lived, thinking that he has never consoled, pleased, or warmed anyone, he realizes that if other gudgeons led the same useless life as he did, the gudgeon race would quickly be extinguished.
He dies the same way he lived - unnoticed by others. According to the author, he disappeared and died as a result of natural death or was eaten - no one cares, not even the author.
What does the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow” teach?
The author uses allegorical language to force the reader to rethink the most important philosophical topic - the meaning of life.
It is precisely what a person spends his life on that will ultimately become the main criterion of his wisdom.
With the help of the grotesque image of a minnow, Saltykov-Shchedrin tries to convey this idea to the reader, to warn the younger generation against the wrong choice of their path, and invites the older generation to think about a worthy ending to their life’s journey.
The story is not new. The Gospel parable about the man who buried his talent in the ground is precisely about this. It gives the very first and main moral lesson on this topic. Subsequently, the problem of the little man—the “trembling creature”—and his place in society was repeatedly raised in literature.
But with all this, a fair part of the generation of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s contemporaries—familiar with the literary heritage of their ancestors, educated, and moderately liberal—did not draw the necessary conclusions, therefore, in their multitude, they were precisely such minnows who had no civic position, no social responsibility, no desire for a positive transformation of society, entrenched in their own little world and trembling with fear of those in power.
It is curious that society itself also considers such individuals to be ballast - uninteresting, stupid and meaningless. The inhabitants of the reservoir spoke extremely unflatteringly about the gudgeon, despite the fact that he lived without disturbing anyone, without offending anyone and without making enemies.
The end of the main character's life is very significant - he did not die, he was not eaten. He disappeared. The author chose this ending to once again emphasize the ephemeral nature of the minnow’s existence.
The main moral of the fairy tale is this: if during life a person did not strive to do good and be needed, then no one will notice his death, because his existence had no meaning.
In any case, before his death, the main character regrets precisely this, asking himself questions - to whom did he do a good deed, who can remember him with warmth? And he doesn’t find a consoling answer.
Best quotes from the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow”
This article will examine one of the pages of the work of the famous Russian writer Mikhail Efgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin - the story “The Wise Minnow”. The summary of this work will be considered in conjunction with its
historical context.
Saltykov-Shchedrin - famous writer and a satirist who created his literary creations in an interesting style - in the form of fairy tales. “The Wise Minnow” is no exception, the summary of which can be told in two sentences. However, it raises acute socio-political problems. This story was written in 1883, during the period of the beginning of the emperor’s repressions directed against the intensified opponents of the tsarist regime. At that time many progressive thinking people already understood the depth of the problems of the existing system and tried to convey this to the masses. However, unlike the anarchist students who dreamed of a violent coup, the progressive intelligentsia tried to find a way out of the situation through peaceful means, with the help of appropriate reforms. Only with the support of the entire public could it be possible to influence the situation and prevent the existing disorder, Saltykov-Shchedrin believed. “The Wise Minnow,” a brief summary of which will be given below, sarcastically tells us about a certain part of the Russian intelligentsia who avoid social activities in every possible way for fear of punishment for freethinking.
"The Wise Minnow": summary
Once upon a time there was a gudgeon, but not a simple one, but an enlightened, moderately liberal one. From childhood, his father instructed him: “Beware of the dangers that await you in the river, there are plenty of enemies all around.” The gudgeon decided: “Indeed, at any moment you will either be hooked
will be caught, or the pike will eat it. But you yourself can’t harm anyone.” And he decided to outwit everyone: he built himself a hole where he lived constantly, “lived and trembled,” he came to the surface only at noon to catch some midge, which was not always possible . But the gudgeon was not upset, the main thing was that he was safe. And he lived his whole life like this, and he had neither family nor friends, and he lived in constant fear for his life, but he was very proud of the knowledge that he would not die in ear or in the mouth of a fish, but by his death, like his venerable parents. And here the gudgeon lies in his hole, dying of old age, lazy thoughts run through his head, and suddenly it’s as if someone whispered to him: “But you’re in vain.” lived, did nothing either useful or harmful... He only transferred food. If you die, no one will remember about you. For some reason no one even calls you wise, only a fool and a dunce. “And then the gudgeon realized that he had deprived himself of all joys, that his place was not in this artificially dug dark hole, but in the natural environment. But it was too late, he lay and fell asleep. And suddenly the gudgeon disappeared, no one knows how Most likely, he died and floated to the surface, because no one would eat him - old, and even “wise.”
This is the summary. “The Wise Minnow” tells us about people who are useless to society, who live their whole lives in fear, avoiding struggle in every possible way, while arrogantly considering themselves enlightened. Saltykov-Shchedrin once again cruelly ridicules the pitiful life and way of thinking of such people, calling not to hide in a hole, but to boldly fight for a place in the sun for themselves and their descendants. The wise minnow does not evoke not only respect, but even pity or sympathy in the reader, a brief summary of whose existence can be expressed in two words: “lived and trembled.”
Saltykov-Shchedrin M., fairy tale "The Wise Minnow"
Genre: satirical tale
The main characters of the fairy tale "The Wise Minnow" and their characteristics
- The wise minnow. Stupid, timid, useless. He wished well to no one, no one even remembered him.
- Minnow parents. Smart, careful, taught by bitter experience.
- Other fish. Pike, crayfish.
- Father's advice
- How the father got caught in the net.
- How my father avoided fish soup
- New hole and life plan
- The gudgeon follows the plan
- Dream about two hundred thousand
- Crayfish and pike
- Centennial anniversary
- Reasoning about gender
- Who will remember him?
- Pleasant oblivion
- Death of a Minnow
- Father and mother taught the minnow to be careful
- My father gave an example of an ear he almost hit
- The gudgeon decided to hollow out a hole and leave it only at night and at lunchtime
- Neither crayfish nor pike caught the gudgeon and he lived for more than a hundred years.
- The gudgeon began to regret that no one respects or loves him
- He had a pleasant dream, he leaned out of the hole and died.
You need to live doing good and bringing benefit, so that people have something to remember about you.
What does the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow” teach?
The fairy tale teaches people not to be afraid of difficulties and dangers. Teaches you to live boldly and confidently. Teaches you to do good to people. Teaches you to be useful. Teaches you to continue your family line. Teaches that a long life is not the key to a useful life. Teaches you to take risks, lead an active lifestyle, and enjoy life.
Review of the fairy tale "The Wise Minnow"
This is a very edifying story. The gudgeon thought only that no one would eat him; he trembled and was afraid all his life. And it turned out that although he lived for more than a hundred years, he just never saw real life. He has nothing to remember before dying, only his own fears. I don't feel sorry for him at all.
Proverbs for the fairy tale "The Wise Minnow"
To be afraid of wolves, do not go into the forest.
A timid person is afraid of his own shadow.
Two deaths cannot be seen, but one cannot be avoided.
You live once, not later, but now.
He who loves people is loved by life.
Read summary, brief retelling fairy tales "The Wise Minnow"
The gudgeon's father and mother were smart. They advised the gudgeon to live carefully so as not to get caught in the teeth of pike and other predators.
And the gudgeon began to scatter with its mind. He sees that he gets swear words everywhere. Big fish can swallow it. The gudgeon is also offended by his brother - as soon as he catches a mosquito, the whole herd rushes to take it away.
And man is generally a terrible creature. How many different devices for killing he invented! Seines, nets, nets, fishing rods.
My father especially warned me about oud. Although he almost hit himself in the ear.
At that time, fishermen caught fish with a seine. And the minnow was hooked. He feels that he is being pulled somewhere. Then they pulled him out of the water, and the father gudgeon immediately became soft in the heat. All you can see is a fire, and something black bubbling on the cauldron. And they put fish in it - they make fish soup.
But the father gudgeon was lucky then. They released him for a little.
And so the gudgeon decided to follow the advice of his parents and his own reasoning. And the first thing he did was to dig out a comfortable and deep hole for himself. And the second thing I decided to do was go out for exercise only at night, when all the fish are sleeping. And in order to get food and drink, run out for half an hour at lunchtime, when the other fish are already full.
And so the gudgeon began to live. During the day he trembled and at night he exercised. At lunchtime it will jump out, swallow some water and return to its burrow.
One day the minnow dreamed that he had won a winning ticket. So he leaned out of the hole almost half his muzzle, and there was just a little brother sitting there. I would have gotten there.
Another time, the crayfish settled down opposite the hole and began to guard the gudgeon. But the gudgeon is cunning; it sat in the hole all day. And another time, too, when a pike was guarding him.
So the gudgeon lived for more than a hundred years, and every day he trembled, and every day he thought that thank God he was still alive. He didn’t have a family or children.
And now the pikes began to praise him for his prudence, but with a selfish goal. They thought to lure the minnow out with flattery. But the cunning gudgeon did not give in.
Several more years passed. The gudgeon began to die, but suddenly a thought occurred to him. That if all minnows lived like he did, their race would have ended long ago.
The minnow felt sorry for his worthless life. I wanted to crawl out of the hole for the last time, but I got scared and trembled. His whole life flashed before the gudgeon. He realized that he had brought no benefit, had not said a kind word to anyone, and no one would remember him.
No one comes to him for advice on how to live a hundred years, no one even calls him wise. Only a dunce. And the gudgeon began to forget himself, but in his oblivion he only saw that same pleasant dream that he won two hundred thousand, but grew by half a darshin, so that he could swallow a pike himself.
And little by little the gudgeon began to crawl out of the hole, but suddenly disappeared. Either a pike gobbled it up, or cancer, or he just died. After all, what pike would want to swallow a dying gudgeon, and a wise one at that?
Drawings and illustrations for the fairy tale "The Wise Minnow"
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 ear 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, and 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 trap, and, finally... the fish! 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 “a fire,” 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 to the river, rarely did anyone have any sound ideas about 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 - but 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 hole, 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 too many 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...” Come on, 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. His hole 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 too many hundred years without being swallowed by a pike, or killed by a crayfish with his claws, or 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 of all is that 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 a whole half a larshin 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 minnow, and besides, wise?
