Black chicken or underground inhabitants number of pages. Black chicken, or underground inhabitants
Once upon a time there lived the owner of a men's boarding house, which to this day, probably, remains in the fresh memory of many, although the house where the boarding house was located has long since given way to another, not at all similar to the previous one. At that time, our St. Petersburg was already famous throughout Europe for its beauty, although it was still far from what it is now. At that time, there were no cheerful shady alleys on the avenues of Vasilyevsky Island: wooden stages, often knocked together from rotten boards, took the place of today’s beautiful sidewalks. Isaac's Bridge, narrow and uneven at that time, presented a completely different appearance than it does now; and St. Isaac's Square itself was not like that at all. Then the monument to Peter the Great was separated from St. Isaac's Square by a ditch; The Admiralty was not surrounded by trees, the Horse Guards Manege did not decorate the square with the beautiful façade it now has - in a word, the Petersburg of that time was not the same as it is now. Cities have, by the way, the advantage over people that they sometimes become more beautiful with age... However, that’s not what we’re talking about now. Another time and on another occasion, perhaps I will talk to you at greater length about the changes that have taken place in St. Petersburg during my century, but now let’s turn again to the boarding house, which about forty years ago was located on Vasilyevsky Island, in the First Line.
The house, which you now - as I already told you - will not find, was about two floors, covered with Dutch tiles. The porch along which one entered it was wooden and overlooked the street. From the vestibule, a rather steep staircase led to the upper housing, which consisted of eight or nine rooms, in which the keeper of the boarding house lived on one side, and classrooms on the other. The dormitories, or children's sleeping rooms, were located on the lower floor, on the right side of the entryway, and on the left lived two old Dutch women, each of whom was more than a hundred years old and who saw Peter the Great with their own eyes and even spoke to him. Nowadays, it is unlikely that in all of Russia you will meet a person who has seen Peter the Great; the time will come when our traces will be erased from the face of the earth! Everything passes, everything disappears in our mortal world... but that’s not what we’re talking about now.
Among the thirty or forty children studying at that boarding school, there was one boy named Alyosha, who was then no more than 9 or 10 years old. His parents, who lived far, far from St. Petersburg, had brought him to the capital two years before, sent him to a boarding school and returned home, paying the teacher the agreed fee for several years in advance. Alyosha was a smart, cute boy, he studied well, and everyone loved and caressed him. However, despite this, he was often bored at the boarding house, and sometimes even sad. Especially at first, he could not get used to the idea that he was separated from his family. But then, little by little, he began to get used to his situation, and there were even moments when, playing with his friends, he thought that it was much more fun in the boarding house than in his parents' house. In general, the days of study passed quickly and pleasantly for him, but when Saturday came and all his comrades hurried home to their relatives, then Alyosha bitterly felt his loneliness. On Sundays and holidays he was left alone all day, and then his only consolation was reading books that the teacher allowed him to take from his small library. The teacher was a German by birth; at that time, the fashion for chivalric novels and fairy tales dominated in German literature, and this library mostly consisted of books of this kind.
So, Alyosha, while still ten years old, already knew by heart the deeds of the most glorious knights, at least as they were described in the novels. His favorite pastime on long winter evenings, on Sundays and other holidays was to mentally transport himself to ancient, long-past centuries... Especially during vacant times, such as Christmas or Easter Sunday, when he was separated for a long time from his comrades , when he often sat for whole days in solitude, his young imagination wandered through knightly castles, through terrible ruins or through dark, dense forests.
I forgot to tell you that this house had a fairly spacious courtyard, separated from the alley by a wooden fence made of baroque planks. The gate and gate that led to the alley were always locked, and therefore Alyosha never had the opportunity to visit this alley, which greatly aroused his curiosity. Whenever they allowed him to play in the yard during rest hours, his first movement was to run up to the fence. Here he stood on tiptoe and looked intently into the round holes with which the fence was dotted. Alyosha did not know that these holes came from the wooden nails with which the barges had previously been knocked together, and it seemed to him that some kind sorceress had drilled these holes on purpose for him. He kept expecting that someday this sorceress would appear in the alley and through the hole would give him a toy, or a talisman, or a letter from daddy or mummy, from whom he had not received any news for a long time. But, to his extreme regret, no one even resembling the sorceress appeared.
Alyosha’s other occupation was to feed the chickens, who lived near the fence in a house specially built for them and played and ran around in the yard all day long. Alyosha got to know them very briefly, knew everyone by name, broke up their fights, and the bully punished them by sometimes not giving them anything from the crumbs for several days in a row, which he always collected from the tablecloth after lunch and dinner. Among the chickens, he especially loved the black crested one, called Chernushka. Chernushka was more affectionate to him than others; she even sometimes allowed herself to be stroked, and therefore Alyosha brought her the best pieces. She was of a quiet disposition; she rarely walked with others and seemed to love Alyosha more than her friends.
One day (it was during the holidays, between New Year and Epiphany - the day was beautiful and unusually warm, no more than three or four degrees below zero) Alyosha was allowed to play in the yard. That day the teacher and his wife were in great trouble. They gave lunch to the director of the schools, and even the day before, from morning until late evening, they washed the floors everywhere in the house, wiped the dust and waxed the mahogany tables and chests of drawers. The teacher himself went to buy provisions for the table: white Arkhangelsk veal, a huge ham and Kiev jam from the Milyutin shops. Alyosha also contributed to the preparations to the best of his ability: he was forced to cut out a beautiful mesh for a ham from white paper and decorate six wax candles that had been specially purchased with paper carvings. On the appointed day, the hairdresser appeared in the morning and showed his art on the teacher’s curls, toupee and long braid. Then he set to work on his wife, pomaded and powdered her curls and chignon, and piled a whole greenhouse of different flowers on her head, between which sparkled skillfully placed two diamond rings, once given to her husband by her students’ parents. After finishing the headdress, she threw on an old, worn-out robe and went to work on the housework, watching strictly so that her hair would not get damaged in any way; and for this reason she herself did not enter the kitchen, but gave orders to her cook, standing in the doorway. In necessary cases, she sent her husband there, whose hair was not so high.
About forty years ago in St. Petersburg, on Vasilyevsky Island, in the First Line, there lived the owner of a men's boarding house, which to this day, probably, remains in the fresh memory of many, although the house where the boarding house was located has long been has already given way to another, not at all similar to the previous one. At that time, our St. Petersburg was already famous throughout Europe for its beauty, although it was still far from what it is now. At that time, there were no cheerful shady alleys on the avenues of Vasilyevsky Island: wooden stages, often knocked together from rotten boards, took the place of today’s beautiful sidewalks. Isaac's Bridge, narrow and uneven at that time, presented a completely different appearance than it does now; and St. Isaac's Square itself was not like that at all. Then the monument to Peter the Great was separated from St. Isaac's Church by a ditch; The Admiralty was not surrounded by trees; The Horse Guards Manege did not decorate the square with the beautiful façade it now has - in a word, the Petersburg of that time was not the same as it is now. Cities have, by the way, the advantage over people that they sometimes become more beautiful with age... However, that’s not what we’re talking about now. Another time and on another occasion, perhaps I will talk to you at greater length about the changes that have taken place in St. Petersburg during my century - but now let’s turn again to the boarding house, which about forty years ago was located on Vasilyevsky Island, in the First Line.
The house, which now - as I already told you - you will not find, was about two floors, covered with Dutch tiles. The porch along which one entered it was wooden and overlooked the street... From the entryway a rather steep staircase led to the upper housing, which consisted of eight or nine rooms, in which the owner of the boarding house lived on one side, and on the other there were classrooms. The dormitories, or children's bedrooms, were located on the lower floor, on the right side of the entryway, and on the left lived two old women, Dutch women, each of whom was more than a hundred years old and who saw Peter the Great with their own eyes and even spoke to him...
Among the thirty or forty children studying at that boarding school, there was one boy named Alyosha, who was then no more than nine or ten years old. His parents, who lived far, far from St. Petersburg, had brought him to the capital two years earlier, sent him to a boarding school and returned home, paying the teacher the agreed upon fee several years in advance. Alyosha was a smart, cute boy, he studied well, and everyone loved and caressed him. However, despite this, he was often bored at the boarding house, and sometimes even sad. Especially at first, he could not get used to the idea that he was separated from his family. But then, little by little, he began to get used to his situation, and there were even moments when, playing with his friends, he thought that it was much more fun in the boarding house than in his parents' house.
In general, the days of study passed quickly and pleasantly for him; but when Saturday came and all his comrades hurried home to their relatives, then Alyosha bitterly felt his loneliness. On Sundays and holidays he was left alone all day, and then his only consolation was reading books that the teacher allowed him to take from his small library. The teacher was a German by birth, and at that time the fashion for knightly novels and fairy tales dominated in German literature, and the library that our Alyosha used consisted mostly of books of this kind.
So, Alyosha, while still ten years old, already knew by heart the deeds of the most glorious knights, at least as they were described in the novels. His favorite pastime on long winter evenings, on Sundays and other holidays, was to be mentally transported to ancient, long-past centuries... Especially during the vacant time, when he was separated for a long time from his comrades, when he often sat for whole days in solitude, his youthful imagination wandered through knights' castles, through terrible ruins or through dark, dense forests.
I forgot to tell you that this house had a fairly spacious courtyard, separated from the alley by a wooden fence made of baroque planks. The gate and gate that led to the alley were always locked, and therefore Alyosha never had the opportunity to visit this alley, which greatly aroused his curiosity. Whenever they allowed him to play in the yard during rest hours, his first movement was to run up to the fence. Here he stood on tiptoe and looked intently into the round holes with which the fence was dotted. Alyosha did not know that these holes came from the wooden nails with which the barges had previously been nailed together, and it seemed to him that some kind sorceress had drilled these holes on purpose for him. He kept expecting that someday this sorceress would appear in the alley and through the hole would give him a toy, or a talisman, or a letter from daddy or mummy, from whom he had not received any news for a long time. But, to his extreme regret, no one even resembling the sorceress appeared.
Alyosha’s other occupation was to feed the chickens, who lived near the fence in a house specially built for them and played and ran around in the yard all day long. Alyosha got to know them very briefly, knew everyone by name, broke up their fights, and the bully punished them by sometimes not giving them anything from the crumbs for several days in a row, which he always collected from the tablecloth after lunch and dinner. Among the chickens, he especially loved one black crested one, named Chernushka. Chernushka was more affectionate to him than others; she even sometimes allowed herself to be stroked, and therefore Alyosha brought her the best pieces. She was of a quiet disposition; she rarely walked with others and seemed to love Alyosha more than her friends.
One day (it was during the winter vacation - the day was beautiful and unusually warm, no more than three or four degrees below zero) Alyosha was allowed to play in the yard. That day the teacher and his wife were in great trouble. They gave lunch to the director of the schools, and the day before, from morning until late evening, they washed the floors everywhere in the house, wiped the dust and waxed the mahogany tables and chests of drawers. The teacher himself went to buy provisions for the table: white Arkhangelsk veal, a huge ham and Kiev jam. Alyosha also contributed to the preparations to the best of his ability: he was forced to cut out a beautiful mesh for a ham from white paper and decorate six wax candles that had been specially purchased with paper carvings. On the appointed day, early in the morning, the hairdresser appeared and showed his art on the teacher’s curls, toupee and long braid. Then he set to work on his wife, pomaded and powdered her curls and chignon, and piled a whole greenhouse of different flowers on her head, between which sparkled skillfully placed two diamond rings, once given to her husband by the parents of his students. After finishing the headdress, she threw on an old, worn-out robe and went to work on the housework, watching strictly so that her hair would not somehow get damaged; and for this reason she herself did not enter the kitchen, but gave orders to her cook, standing in the doorway. When necessary, she sent her husband there, whose hair was not so high.
During all these worries, our Alyosha was completely forgotten, and he took advantage of this to play in the yard in the open space. As was his custom, he first approached the plank fence and looked through the hole for a long time; but even on this day almost no one passed along the alley, and with a sigh he turned to his kind chickens. Before he had time to sit down on the log and had just begun to beckon them to him, he suddenly saw a cook next to him with a large knife. Alyosha never liked this cook - angry and scolding. But since he noticed that she was the reason that the number of his chickens was decreasing from time to time, he began to love her even less. When one day he accidentally saw in the kitchen a pretty, very beloved cockerel, hanging by the legs with its throat cut, he felt horror and disgust for her. Seeing her now with a knife, he immediately guessed what it meant, and, feeling with sorrow that he was unable to help his friends, he jumped up and ran far away.
- Alyosha, Alyosha, help me catch the chicken! - the cook shouted.
But Alyosha began to run even faster, hid by the fence behind the chicken coop and did not notice how tears rolled out of his eyes one after another and fell to the ground.
He stood by the chicken coop for quite a long time, and his heart was beating strongly, while the cook ran around the yard, either beckoning to the chickens: “Chick, chick, chick!”, or scolding them.
Suddenly Alyosha’s heart began to beat even faster: he heard the voice of his beloved Chernushka! She cackled in the most desperate way, and it seemed to him that she was shouting:
Where, where, where, where!
Alyosha, save Churnukha!
Kuduhu, kuduhu,
Chernukha, Chernukha!
Alyosha could not remain in his place any longer. Sobbing loudly, he ran to the cook and threw himself on her neck at the very moment she caught Chernushka by the wing.
- Dear, dear Trinushka! – he cried, shedding tears. – Please don’t touch my Chernukha!
Alyosha threw himself so suddenly on the cook’s neck that she lost Chernushka from her hands, who, taking advantage of this, flew out of fear onto the roof of the barn and continued cackling there.
But Alyosha now heard as if she were teasing the cook and shouting:
Where, where, where, where!
You didn't catch Chernukha!
Kuduhu, kuduhu,
Chernukha, Chernukha!
Meanwhile, the cook was beside herself with frustration and wanted to run to the teacher, but Alyosha did not allow her. He clung to the hem of her dress and began to beg so touchingly that she stopped.
- Darling, Trinushka! - he said. - You are so pretty, clean, kind... Please leave my Chernushka! Look what I'll give you if you're kind.
Alyosha took out of his pocket the imperial coin that made up his entire estate, which he cherished more than his own eyes, because it was a gift from his kind grandmother... The cook looked at the gold coin, looked around the windows of the house to make sure that no one saw them, and extended her hand behind the imperial. Alyosha was very, very sorry for the imperial, but he remembered Chernushka and firmly gave the precious gift.
Thus Chernushka was saved from cruel and inevitable death. As soon as the cook retired into the house, Chernushka flew off the roof and ran up to Alyosha. She seemed to know that he was her savior: she circled around him, flapping her wings and clucking in a cheerful voice. All morning she followed him around the yard like a dog, and it seemed as if she wanted to tell him something, but couldn’t. At least he couldn't make out her cackling sounds.
About two hours before dinner, guests began to gather. Alyosha was called upstairs, they put on a shirt with a round collar and cambric cuffs with small folds, white trousers and a wide blue silk sash. His long brown hair, which hung almost to his waist, was thoroughly combed, divided into two even parts and placed in front on both sides of his chest.
This is how children were dressed up back then. Then they taught him how he should shuffle his foot when the director enters the room, and what he should answer if any questions are asked of him.
At another time, Alyosha would have been very happy about the arrival of the director, whom he had long wanted to see, because, judging by the respect with which the teacher and teacher spoke of him, he imagined that this must be some famous knight in shiny armor and helmet with large feathers. But this time this curiosity gave way to the thought that exclusively occupied him then: about the black chicken. He kept imagining how the cook was running after her with a knife and how Chernushka was cackling in different voices. Moreover, he was very annoyed that he could not make out what she wanted to tell him, and he was drawn to the chicken coop... But there was nothing to do: he had to wait until lunch was over!
Finally the director arrived. His arrival was announced by the teacher, who had been sitting by the window for a long time, looking intently in the direction from which they were waiting for him.
Everything was in motion: the teacher rushed headlong out of the door to meet him below, at the porch; the guests got up from their places, and even Alyosha forgot about his chicken for a minute and went to the window to watch the knight get off his zealous horse. But he did not manage to see him, because he had already entered the house. At the porch, instead of a zealous horse, there stood an ordinary carriage sleigh. Alyosha was very surprised by this! “If I were a knight,” he thought, “I would never drive a cab, but always on horseback!”
Meanwhile, all the doors were opened wide, and the teacher began to curtsy in anticipation of such an honorable guest, who soon appeared. At first it was impossible to see him behind the fat teacher who stood right in the doorway; but when she, having finished her long greeting, sat down lower than usual, Alyosha, to extreme surprise, saw from behind her... not a feathered helmet, but just a small bald head, whitely powdered, the only decoration of which, as Alyosha later noticed, was a small bun! When he entered the living room, Alyosha was even more surprised to see that, despite the simple gray tailcoat that the director wore instead of shiny armor, everyone treated him with unusual respect.
No matter how strange all this seemed to Alyosha, no matter how much at another time he would have been delighted by the unusual decoration of the table, on that day he did not pay much attention to it. The morning incident with Chernushka kept wandering through his head. Dessert was served: various kinds of preserves, apples, bergamots, dates, wine berries and walnuts; but even here he never stopped thinking about his chicken for a single moment. And they had just gotten up from the table when, with his heart trembling with fear and hope, he approached the teacher and asked if he could go play in the yard.
Sometimes he intended to improve, but, unfortunately, his pride was so strong in him that it drowned out the voice of his conscience, and he became worse day by day, and day by day his comrades loved him less.
Moreover, Alyosha became a terrible naughty man. Having no need to repeat the lessons that were assigned to him, he was engaged in pranks while other children were preparing for classes, and this idleness spoiled his character even more.
Finally, everyone was so tired of him with his bad temper that the teacher seriously began to think about ways to correct such a bad boy and for this purpose gave him lessons twice and three times greater than others; but this didn’t help at all. Alyosha did not study at all, but still knew the lesson from beginning to end, without the slightest mistake.
One day the teacher, not knowing what to do with him, asked him to memorize twenty pages by the next morning and hoped that he would at least be more subdued that day.
Where! Our Alyosha didn’t even think about the lesson! On this day he deliberately played more naughty than usual, and the teacher vainly threatened him with punishment if he did not know his lesson the next morning. Alyosha laughed internally at these threats, being sure that the hemp seed would certainly help him.
The next day, at the appointed hour, the teacher picked up the book from which Alyosha’s lesson was assigned, called him over and ordered him to say what was assigned. All the children turned their attention to Alyosha with curiosity, and the teacher himself did not know what to think when Alyosha, despite the fact that he had not taught the lesson at all the day before, boldly stood up from the bench and approached him. Alyosha had no doubt that this time he would be able to show his extraordinary ability; he opened his mouth... and could not utter a word!
Why are you silent? - the teacher told him. - Say a lesson.
Alyosha blushed, then turned pale, blushed again, began to knead his hands, tears welled up in his eyes from fear... Everything was in vain! He could not utter a single word, because, hoping for hemp grain, he did not even look into the book.
What does this mean, Alyosha? - the teacher shouted. - Why don’t you want to talk?
Alyosha himself didn’t know what to attribute such strangeness to; he stuck his hand into his pocket to feel the seed... But how can one describe his despair when he didn’t find it! Tears poured out of his eyes like hail... He cried bitterly and still could not say a word.
Meanwhile, the teacher was losing patience. Accustomed to the fact that Alyosha always answered accurately and without hesitating, he considered it impossible that Alyosha did not at least know the beginning of the lesson, and therefore attributed the silence to his stubbornness.
Go to the bedroom,” he said, “and stay there until you know the lesson completely.”
Alyosha was taken to the lower floor, given a book and locked the door with a key.
As soon as he was left alone, he began to look everywhere for hemp seeds. He rummaged in his pockets for a long time, crawled on the floor, looked under the bed, sorted through the blanket, pillow, sheets - all in vain! There was no trace of the dear grain anywhere! He tried to remember where he could have lost it, and finally became convinced that he had dropped it the day before while playing in the yard. But how to find it? He was locked in the room, and even if he had been allowed to go out into the yard, it probably would have been of no use, for he knew that the chickens ate hemp and probably one of them managed to peck the grain of it ! Desperate to find him, he decided to call Chernushka to his aid.
Dear Chernushka! - he said. - Dear Minister! Please appear to me and give me another seed! I really will be more careful in future...
But no one answered his requests, and he finally sat down on a chair and again began to cry bitterly.
Meanwhile, it was time for dinner; the door opened and the teacher entered.
Do you know the lesson now? - he asked Alyosha.
Alyosha, sobbing loudly, was forced to say that he didn’t know.
Well, stay here until you learn! - said the teacher, ordered to give him a glass of water and a piece of rye bread and left him alone again.
Alyosha began to repeat it by heart, but nothing entered his head. He has long been unaccustomed to studying, and how can he proofread twenty printed pages! No matter how much he worked, no matter how much he strained his memory, but when evening came, he did not know more than two or three pages, and even then poorly. When it was time for the other children to go to bed, all his comrades came into the room at once, and the teacher came with them again.
Alyosha, do you know the lesson? - he asked. And poor Alyosha answered through tears:
I only know two pages.
“So, apparently, tomorrow you will have to sit here on bread and water,” said the teacher, wished the other children a good night’s sleep and left.
Alyosha stayed with his comrades. Then, when he was a kind and modest child, everyone loved him, and if he happened to be punished, then everyone felt sorry for him, and this served him as a consolation. But now no one paid attention to him: everyone looked at him with contempt and did not say a word to him.
He decided to start a conversation with one boy, with whom he had previously been very friendly, but he turned away from him without answering. Alyosha turned to another, but he didn’t want to talk to him either and even pushed him away when he spoke to him again. Then unfortunate Alyosha felt that he deserved such treatment from his comrades. Shedding tears, he lay down in his bed, but could not sleep.
He lay like this for a long time and remembered with sorrow the happy days that had passed. All the children were already enjoying a sweet sleep; he was the only one who could fall asleep! “And Chernushka left me,” thought Alyosha, and tears flowed from his eyes again.