Tolstoy than people are alive summary. Our thoughts on the story of Leo Tolstoy and the film “How People Live.” An elderly merchant's wife talks about herself

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers: he who does not love his brother remains in death.

(I last John III, 14)

And whoever has wealth in the world, but, seeing his brother in need, closes his heart from him: how does the love of God abide in him?

My children! Let us begin to love not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth.

Love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.

No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, then God abides in us.

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Whoever says: I love God, but hates his brother, is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?

A shoemaker lived with his wife and children in a man’s apartment. He had neither his own house nor land, and he and his family supported themselves by shoemaking. Bread was expensive, but work was cheap, and what he earned was what he would eat. The shoemaker had one fur coat with his wife, and even that one was worn out into rags; and for the second year the shoemaker was going to buy sheepskin for a new fur coat.

By autumn, the shoemaker had collected some money: a three-ruble note was in the woman’s chest, and another five rubles and twenty kopecks were in the hands of the peasants in the village.

And in the morning the shoemaker got ready to go to the village to buy a fur coat. He put on a woman's nankeen jacket with cotton wool over his shirt, a cloth caftan on top, took a three-ruble note in his pocket, broke out the stick and left after breakfast. I thought: “I’ll get five rubles from the men, I’ll add three of my own, and I’ll buy sheepskins for a fur coat.”

A shoemaker came to the village, went to see one peasant - there was no home, the woman promised to send her husband with money this week, but she didn’t give the money; I went to another man, - the man was proud that he had no money, he only gave twenty kopecks for repairing his boots. The shoemaker thought about borrowing sheepskins, but the sheepskin man didn’t believe in the debt.

“Bring me the money,” he says, “then choose any, otherwise we know how to choose debts.”

So the shoemaker didn’t do anything, he just received twenty kopecks for repairs and took the peasant’s old felt boots to cover with leather.

The shoemaker sighed, drank all twenty kopecks worth of vodka and went home without a fur coat. In the morning the shoemaker thought it was frosty, but after drinking he felt warm even without a fur coat. The shoemaker walks along the road, taps the frozen Kalmyk boots with one hand with a stick, and waves his felt boots with the other hand, talking to himself.

“I,” he says, “was warm even without a fur coat.” I drank a glass; it plays in all veins. And you don't need a sheepskin coat. I go, forgetting grief. This is the kind of person I am! Me, what? I can live without a fur coat. I don't need her eyelids. One thing - the woman will get bored. And it’s a shame - you work for him, and he takes you on. Just wait now: if you don’t bring the money, I’ll take your hat off, by God, I’ll take it off. So what is this? He gives two kopecks! Well, what can you do with two kopecks? Drinking is one thing. He says: need. You need it, but I don't need it? You have a house, and cattle, and everything, and I’m all here; You have your own bread, and I buy it from a store-bought one, wherever you want, and give me three rubles a week for one bread. I come home and the bread has arrived; pay me a ruble and a half again. So give me what's mine.

So the shoemaker approaches the chapel at the turntable and looks - behind the chapel itself there is something white. It was already getting dark. The shoemaker looks closely, but cannot see what it is. “The stone, he thinks, there was no such thing here. Cattle? Doesn't look like a beast. From the head it looks like a person, but something white. And why would a person be here?”

I came closer and it became completely visible. What a miracle: exactly, a man, whether alive or dead, is sitting naked, leaning against the chapel and not moving. The shoemaker became afraid; thinks to himself: “Some man was killed, stripped, and thrown here. Just come closer and you won’t get rid of it later.”

And the shoemaker walked past. I went behind the chapel and the man was no longer visible. He passed the chapel, looked back, and saw a man leaning away from the chapel, moving as if he was looking closely. The shoemaker became even more shy and thought to himself: “Should I come up or pass by? Approach - no matter how bad it is: who knows what he is like? I didn't get here for good deeds. You come up, and he jumps up and strangles you, and you won’t get away from him. If he doesn’t strangle you, then go and have fun with him. What should we do with him, naked? You can’t take it off yourself, give it away. Only God will carry you through!”

And the shoemaker quickened his pace. He began to pass the chapel, but his conscience began to grow.

And the shoemaker stopped on the road.

“What are you doing,” Semyon says to himself? A man in trouble dies, and you become afraid as you walk by. Did Ali get very rich? Are you afraid that your wealth will be robbed? Hey, Sema, something’s wrong!

Semyon turned and walked towards the man.

Semyon approaches the man, looks at him and sees: the man is young, strong, there are no signs of beatings on his body, you can only see that the man is frozen and scared; he sits leaning and doesn’t look at Semyon, as if he’s weak and can’t raise his eyes. Semyon came close, and suddenly the man seemed to wake up, turn his head, open his eyes and look at Semyon. And from this glance Semyon fell in love with the man. He threw his felt boots to the ground, unfastened his belt, put the belt on his felt boots, and took off his caftan.

“He will,” he says, “interpret something!” Put some clothes on, or something! Come on!

Semyon took the man by the elbow and began to lift him up. A man stood up. And Semyon sees a thin, clean body, unbroken arms and legs, and a touching face. Semyon threw the caftan over his shoulders - it wouldn’t get into his sleeves. Semyon tucked his hands, pulled on and wrapped his caftan and pulled it up with a belt.

Semyon took off his torn cap and wanted to put it on the naked man, but his head felt cold, he thought: “I’m bald all over my head, but his temples are curly and long.” Put it on again. “It’s better to put boots on him.”

He sat him down and put felt boots on him.

The shoemaker dressed him and said:

- That's right, brother. Come on, warm up and warm up. And these cases will all be sorted out without us. Can you go?

A man stands, looks tenderly at Semyon, but cannot say anything.

- Why don’t you say so? Don't spend the winter here. We need housing. Come on, here’s my baton, lean on it if you’re weak. Rock it!

And the man went. And he walked easily, he didn’t lag behind.

They walk along the road, and Semyon says:

- Whose, then, will you be?

- I'm not from here.

- I know people around here. So how did you end up here, under the chapel?

– You can’t tell me.

- People must have offended you?

- Nobody hurt me. God punished me.

“We know everything is God, but we still have to get somewhere.” Where do you need to go?

– I don’t care.

Semyon marveled. He doesn’t look like a mischievous person and is soft-spoken and doesn’t talk to himself. And Semyon thinks: “You never know what happens,” and says to the man:

- Well, then let’s go to my house, at least you’ll move away a little.

Semyon is walking, the wanderer is not far behind him, walking next to him. The wind rose, caught Semyon under his shirt, and the hops began to drain from him, and he began to vegetate. He walks, sniffs with his nose, wraps his woman’s jacket around himself and thinks: “That’s a fur coat, I went to get a fur coat, but I’ll come without a caftan and even bring him naked. Matryona won’t praise you!” And when he thinks about Matryona, Semyon will become bored. And when he looks at the wanderer, remembers how he looked at him behind the chapel, his heart will leap within him.

Semyon's wife left early. She chopped firewood, brought water, fed the kids, had a snack and thought about it; I was wondering when to place the bread: today or tomorrow? The big edge remains.


Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich

How people live

L.N. Tolstoy

WHAT MAKES PEOPLE ALIVE

We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers: he who does not love his brother remains in death. (I last John III, 14)

And whoever has wealth in the world, but, seeing his brother in need, closes his heart from him: how does the love of God abide in him? (III, 17)

My children! Let us begin to love not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth. (III, 18)

Love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (IV, 7)

He who does not love has not known God, because God is love. (IV, 8)

No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, then God abides in us. (IV, 12)

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. (IV, 16)

Whoever says: I love God, but hates his brother, is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see? (IV, 20).

A shoemaker lived with his wife and children in a man’s apartment. He had neither his own house nor land, and he and his family supported themselves by shoemaking. Bread was expensive, but work was cheap, and what he earned was what he would eat. The shoemaker had one fur coat with his wife, and even that one was worn out into rags; and for the second year the shoemaker was going to buy sheepskin for a new fur coat.

By autumn, the shoemaker had collected some money: a three-ruble note was in the woman’s chest, and another five rubles and twenty kopecks were in the hands of the peasants in the village.

And in the morning the shoemaker got ready to go to the village to buy a fur coat. He put on a woman's nankeen jacket with cotton wool over his shirt, a cloth caftan on top, took a three-ruble note in his pocket, broke out the stick and left after breakfast. I thought: “I’ll get five rubles from the men, I’ll add three of my own, and I’ll buy sheepskins for a fur coat.”

A shoemaker came to the village, went to see one peasant - there was no home, the woman promised to send her husband with money this week, but she didn’t give the money; I went to another one, - the man became arrogant that he had no money, he only gave twenty kopecks for repairing his boots. The shoemaker thought of borrowing sheepskins, but the sheepskin man did not believe in the debt.

“Bring me the money,” he says, “then choose any, otherwise we know how to choose debts.”

So the shoemaker didn’t do anything, he just received twenty kopecks for repairs and took the peasant’s old felt boots to cover with leather.

The shoemaker sighed, drank all twenty kopecks worth of vodka and went home without a fur coat. In the morning the shoemaker felt frosty, but after drinking he felt warm even without a fur coat. The shoemaker walks along the road, taps the frozen Kalmyk boots with one hand with a stick, and waves his felt boots with the other hand, talking to himself.

“I,” he says, “was warm even without a fur coat.” I drank a glass; it plays in all veins. And you don't need a sheepskin coat. I go, forgetting grief. This is the kind of person I am! Me, what? I can live without a fur coat. I don't need her eyelids. One thing - the woman will get bored. And it’s a shame - you work for him, and he takes you on. Just wait now: if you don’t bring the money, I’ll take your hat off, by God, I’ll take it off. So what is this? He gives two kopecks! Well, what can you do with two kopecks? Drinking is one thing. He says: need. You need it, but I don’t need it? You have a house, and cattle, and everything, and I’m all here; You have your own bread, and I buy it from a store-bought one, wherever you want, and give me three rubles a week for one bread. I come home and the bread has arrived; pay me a ruble and a half again. So give me what's mine.

So the shoemaker approaches the chapel at the turntable and looks - behind the chapel itself there is something white. It was already getting dark. The shoemaker looks closely, but cannot see what it is. “He thinks there was no such stone here. Cattle? It doesn’t look like cattle. From the head it looks like a man, but there’s something white. And why would a man be here?”

I came closer and it became completely visible. What a miracle: exactly, a man, is he alive, measures 1000 of you, sits naked, leans against the chapel and does not move. The shoemaker became afraid; thinks to himself: “Some man was killed, stripped, and thrown here. Just come closer and you won’t be able to get rid of it later.”

And the shoemaker walked past. I went behind the chapel and the man was no longer visible. He passed the chapel, looked back, and saw a man leaning away from the chapel, moving as if he was taking a closer look. The shoemaker became even more timid, thinking to himself: “Should I approach or should I pass by? To approach - no matter how bad it is: who knows what he is like? He didn’t come here for good deeds. If you approach, he’ll jump up and strangle you, and you won’t get away from him. If he doesn’t strangle you, then go ahead and get busy with him. What should you do with him, naked? You can’t take him off, only God will take him away!”

And the shoemaker quickened his pace. He began to pass the chapel, but his conscience began to grow.

And the shoemaker stopped on the road.

“What are you doing,” he says to himself, “Semyon?” A man in trouble dies, and you become afraid as you walk by. Did Ali get very rich? Are you afraid that your wealth will be robbed? Hey, Sema, something’s wrong!

Semyon turned and walked towards the man.

Semyon approaches the man, looks at him and sees: the man is young, strong, there are no signs of beatings on his body, you can only see that the man is frozen and scared; he sits leaning and doesn’t look at Semyon, as if he’s weak and can’t raise his eyes. Semyon came close, and suddenly the man seemed to wake up, turn his head, open his eyes and look at Semyon. And from this glance Semyon fell in love with the man. He threw his felt boots to the ground, unfastened his belt, put the belt on his felt boots, and took off his caftan.

“He will,” he says, “interpret!” Put some clothes on, or something! Come on!

Semyon took the man by the elbow and began to lift him up. A man stood up. And Semyon sees a thin, clean body, unbroken arms and legs, and a touching face. Semyon threw the caftan over his shoulders - it wouldn’t get into his sleeves. Semyon tucked his hands, pulled on and wrapped his caftan and pulled it up with a belt.

Semyon took off his torn cap and wanted to put it on the naked man, but his head felt cold, he thought: “I’m bald all over my head, but his temples are curly and long.” Put it on again. “It’s better to put boots on him.”

He sat him down and put felt boots on him.

The shoemaker dressed him and said:

That's it, brother. Come on, warm up and warm up. And these cases will all be sorted out without us. Can you go?

The story of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy tells us about the descent to Earth of an angel of God and how that angel searched for the meaning of human life.

What happened to the poor shoemaker?

The story begins with a story about how one poor shoemaker, who lived in a rented house with his wife, having earned money, went to the village to buy sheepskin for a fur coat. He really needed a fur coat, because the winter was harsh, and he and his wife only had one padded jacket between them. However, having not received money from his debtors in the village, he did not buy any sheepskin, but drank twenty kopecks worth of vodka and went home. He walked and reasoned that he desperately needed a drink to warm up, and his wife, who would now begin to scold him for coming home drunk, without a sheepskin and without money, should try to work hard like he did.

Near the church he saw a naked man sitting hunched over, but he passed by, afraid that he was dead.

A man walked away not far away and his conscience tormented him because he left the unfortunate man on the street to freeze.

He returned back to the church and saw that the man was alive, with a pleasant and tender face, without beatings or abrasions. Semyon asked the unfortunate man where he was from and what he was doing here, and he replied that he was not from here and God had punished him. Then Semyon gave the unfortunate man his padded jacket and felt boots that he had carried home from the village for repairs, and took him to his home.

Matryona, the shoemaker's wife, having finished her housework, thought that it was not worth serving the last piece of bread to the table, it was better to save it for later. Meanwhile, our travelers returned. Matryona saw her husband drunk and without a sheepskin and began to scold him for everything that she could only remember, and for the fact that, of course, when they themselves had nothing to eat, he brought a stranger into the house.

She tore off her husband’s padded jacket and was about to leave the house, when her husband said to her: “Matrona, is there no God in you?!” The woman came to her senses and looked at her husband’s companion, and he was sitting on the edge of the bench, neither alive nor dead, as if something was strangling him, and was silent.

The woman became ashamed, set the table and even served bread to the men. Matryona fed the wanderer, and then gave him clothes and sheltered him for the night. And he looked at her and smiled so much that her heart leaped. She later regretted both the last bread and the clothes she had given away, but she remembered that bright look and let go of her greed.

The wanderer Mikhail began to live in a peasant's house, learned to work and became an apprentice to a shoemaker. He was very quiet, wordless and joyless, he kept looking up and working. He only smiled once when the woman set the table for them for the first time. Our craftsmen worked so well together that they began to be wealthy.

And then one day a rich gentleman came to the shoemaker on three horses and brought very expensive leather for boots, and kept saying that they needed to be sewn in such a way that they wouldn’t take a year to tear down and would be ready on time. And Mikhail looked behind the master carefully, as if peering into something, and then suddenly his face brightened, smiled and said: “Don’t worry, master, they’ll be there just in time.” The master left, and Mikhail cut and sewed from his material not boots, but barefoot shoes. When Semyon saw this, he almost lost his senses from horror, and was about to reprimand the master when there was a knock on the door. It was the master's servants who came running to tell him that the master had died the day before, and now he needed not the boots he had ordered, but new boots. It was these that Mikhail immediately handed to the servant.

So Mikhail lived in work and care in the family of a shoemaker for six years. And one day a merchant’s wife came to them with two daughters, one of whom was limping. And the woman told her story that these girls were not her own, but adopted ones. About six years ago, she and her husband lived in the peasantry and their little son was born. At the same time, their neighbors also had two girls, but they had a hard time: on Friday their father died, and on Tuesday their mother was buried.

The woman had a kind and generous soul, she took in the orphans and began to raise them together with her son, but it so happened that her son was born in his second year and she only had two adopted girls left, and she had no more children.

She and her husband began to live in abundance, and now they only have wax in the candle that these girls are adopted. Mikhail left his work, folded his hands on his knees and looked and smiled at the woman and the girls.

What truth did the angel tell the man?

He took off his work apron and said to the shoemaker: “God has forgiven me, and forgive me.” Semyon agreed with him and asked only to explain to him why in six years Mikhail smiled only three times: when the woman gave him food, when the master passed away, and when the woman brought the girls, and each time after these smiles his face became brighter.

And his apprentice told him that he was an angel in heaven and one day God sent him to take the soul from a young woman. Mikhail flew to her and saw that she had two newborn girls. And the woman began to ask him to leave her alive so that she could take care of her children. The angel took pity and returned to heaven without the woman’s soul. But the Lord became angry with him and ordered him to take away her soul from the woman, and to go to earth himself and understand what is in people, what is not given to people, and how people live.

This is how the angel came to the church, where the shoemaker found him. There he sat and saw a black man walking along the road, so unkind that you couldn’t even tell if he was alive. But then the traveler returned and picked up the angel and Michael noticed that this man was no longer so scary.

Then, when they came to the shoemaker’s house and the woman began to swear, Mikhail’s blackness began to choke her, and he felt that such an evil woman was about to die.

However, she came to her senses and fed the traveler, then the angel smiled, because he saw God in the woman and understood that there is love in people.

When Mikhail looked at the rich master, he saw a mortal angel behind his back and realized that it was not given to people to know what they needed for their body, and he smiled for the second time. And when the angel saw a woman who had raised orphans, and God’s providence became clear to him, he understood the third truth: that people live not by caring for themselves, but by love. This brought a third smile from him, for the Lord forgave him.

And the angel said to Semyon: “He who is in love is in God and God is in him, because God is love,” wings grew behind his back and he ascended to heaven.

The story of the work tells about one interesting case when an angel descended from heaven to help an ordinary person.

The main character named Semyon is a poor old man who works as a shoemaker. All his income goes to pay for his needs. Because of poverty, he is not able to buy him and his wife one fur coat for two.

Returning home from work, Semyon noticed a naked man who doesn’t even know how he ended up near the chapel. The shoemaker does not pass by, but gives the strange traveler his last clothes so that he does not freeze. After which he took him home. At home, Semyon's wife prepared food for her husband and guest. At first, Matryona felt sorry to give her last meal to her guest, but the hostess’s kind heart took pity on the unusual and strange traveler.

The traveler's name is Mikhail. He began to help Semyon with his work. He coped with his duties very well, and rumors began to spread throughout the city about the two craftsmen. One day a rich merchant came to them, placed an order for very good boots, bringing excellent leather prematurely. Mikhail made ordinary sharkuns, and Semyon soon noticed this and was very upset. The next day the master dies and his servant comes and says that the boots are no longer needed since his master has died. Mikhail turned out to be right that he made the shufflers.

The next time a single mother came, raising two adopted girls; her own son had died. After talking with her, Mikhail discovered the truth about himself, it turns out that he is an angel who angered God and he instructed him to find out how ordinary mortals live. Michael lived on earth for six whole years on earth in human form, the angel understood one very important thing. The most important thing for people is love. At the same time, not knowing how fate will deal with them, they care and love their neighbors. It is only because of this that the human race continues to live.

Having completed your important mission he can finally return to heaven.

Picture or drawing How people live

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| collection website
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| Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy
| How people live
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We know that we have passed from death to life because we love our brothers: he who does not love his brother remains in death.
(I last John III, 14)

And whoever has wealth in the world, but, seeing his brother in need, closes his heart from him: how does the love of God abide in him?
(III, 17)

My children! Let us begin to love not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth.
(III, 18)

Love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
(IV, 7)

He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.
(IV, 8)

No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, then God abides in us.
(IV, 12)

God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
(IV, 16)

Whoever says: I love God, but hates his brother, is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?
(IV, 20).

A shoemaker lived with his wife and children in a man’s apartment. He had neither his own house nor land, and he and his family supported themselves by shoemaking. Bread was expensive, but work was cheap, and what he earned was what he would eat. The shoemaker had one fur coat with his wife, and even that one was worn out into rags; and for the second year the shoemaker was going to buy sheepskin for a new fur coat.
By autumn, the shoemaker had collected some money: a three-ruble note was in the woman’s chest, and another five rubles and twenty kopecks were in the hands of the peasants in the village.
And in the morning the shoemaker got ready to go to the village to buy a fur coat. He put on a woman's nankeen jacket with cotton wool over his shirt, a cloth caftan on top, took a three-ruble note in his pocket, broke out the stick and left after breakfast. I thought: “I’ll get five rubles from the men, I’ll add three of my own, and I’ll buy sheepskins for a fur coat.”
A shoemaker came to the village, went to see one peasant - there was no home, the woman promised to send her husband with money this week, but she didn’t give the money; I went to another man, - the man was proud that he had no money, he only gave twenty kopecks for repairing his boots. The shoemaker thought of borrowing sheepskins, but the sheepskin man did not believe in the debt.
“Bring me the money,” he says, “then choose any, otherwise we know how to choose debts.”
So the shoemaker didn’t do anything, he just received twenty kopecks for repairs and took the peasant’s old felt boots to cover with leather.
The shoemaker sighed, drank all twenty kopecks worth of vodka and went home without a fur coat. In the morning the shoemaker thought it was frosty, but after drinking he felt warm even without a fur coat. The shoemaker walks along the road, taps the frozen Kalmyk boots with one hand with a stick, and waves his felt boots with the other hand, talking to himself.
“I,” he says, “was warm even without a fur coat.”

I drank a glass; it plays in all veins. And you don't need a sheepskin coat. I go, forgetting grief. This is the kind of person I am! Me, what? I can live without a fur coat. I don't need her eyelids. One thing - the woman will get bored. And it’s a shame - you work for him, and he takes you on. Just wait now: if you don’t bring the money, I’ll take your hat off, by God, I’ll take it off. So what is this? He gives two kopecks! Well, what can you do with two kopecks? Drinking is one thing. He says: need. You need it, but I don't need it? You have a house, and cattle, and everything, and I’m all here; You have your own bread, and I buy it from a store-bought one, wherever you want, and give me three rubles a week for one bread. I come home and the bread has arrived; pay me a ruble and a half again. So give me what's mine.
So the shoemaker approaches the chapel at the turntable and looks - behind the chapel itself there is something white. It was already getting dark. The shoemaker looks closely, but cannot see what it is. “The stone, he thinks, there was no such thing here. Cattle? Doesn't look like a beast. From the head it looks like a person, but something white. And why would a person be here?”
I came closer and it became completely visible. What a miracle: exactly, a man, whether alive or dead, is sitting naked, leaning against the chapel and not moving. The shoemaker became afraid; thinks to himself: “Some man was killed, stripped, and thrown here. Just come closer and you won’t get rid of it later.”
And the shoemaker walked past. I went behind the chapel and the man was no longer visible. He passed the chapel, looked back, and saw a man leaning away from the chapel, moving as if he was looking closely. The shoemaker became even more shy and thought to himself: “Should I come up or pass by? Approach - no matter how bad it is: who knows what he is like? I didn't get here for good deeds. You come up, and he jumps up and strangles you, and you won’t get away from him. If he doesn’t strangle you, then go and have fun with him. What should we do with him, naked? You can’t take it off yourself, give it away. Only God will carry you through!”
And the shoemaker quickened his pace. He began to pass the chapel, but his conscience began to grow.
And the shoemaker stopped on the road.
“What are you doing,” Semyon says to himself? A man in trouble dies, and you become afraid as you walk by. Did Ali get very rich? Are you afraid that your wealth will be robbed? Hey, Sema, something’s wrong!
Semyon turned and walked towards the man.

Semyon approaches the man, looks at him and sees: the man is young, strong, there are no signs of beatings on his body, you can only see that the man is frozen and scared; he sits leaning and doesn’t look at Semyon, as if he’s weak and can’t raise his eyes. Semyon came close, and suddenly the man seemed to wake up, turn his head, open his eyes and look at Semyon. And from this glance Semyon fell in love with the man. He threw his felt boots to the ground, unfastened his belt, put the belt on his felt boots, and took off his caftan.
“He will,” he says, “interpret something!” Put some clothes on, or something! Come on!
Semyon took the man by the elbow and began to lift him up. A man stood up. And Semyon sees a thin, clean body, unbroken arms and legs, and a touching face. Semyon threw the caftan over his shoulders - it wouldn’t get into his sleeves. Semyon tucked his hands, pulled on and wrapped his caftan and pulled it up with a belt.
Semyon took off his torn cap and wanted to put it on the naked man, but his head felt cold, he thought: “I’m bald all over my head, but his temples are curly and long.” Put it on again. “It’s better to put boots on him.”
He sat him down and put felt boots on him.
The shoemaker dressed him and said:
- That's right, brother. Come on, warm up and warm up. And these cases will all be sorted out without us. Can you go?
A man stands, looks tenderly at Semyon, but cannot say anything.
- Why don’t you say so? Don't spend the winter here. We need housing. Come on, here’s my baton, lean on it if you’re weak. Rock it!
And the man went. And he walked easily, he didn’t lag behind.
They walk along the road, and Semyon says:
- Whose, then, will you be?
- I'm not from here.
- I know people around here. So how did you end up here, under the chapel?
– You can’t tell me.
- People must have offended you?
- Nobody hurt me. God punished me.
“We know everything is God, but we still have to get somewhere.” Where do you need to go?
– I don’t care.
Semyon marveled. He doesn’t look like a mischievous person and is soft-spoken and doesn’t talk to himself. And Semyon thinks: “You never know what happens,” and says to the man:
- Well, then let’s go to my house, at least you’ll move away a little.
Semyon is walking, the wanderer is not far behind him, walking next to him. The wind rose, caught Semyon under his shirt, and the hops began to drain from him, and he began to vegetate. He walks, sniffs with his nose, wraps his woman’s jacket around himself and thinks: “That’s a fur coat, I went to get a fur coat, but I’ll come without a caftan and even bring him naked. Matryona won’t praise you!” And when he thinks about Matryona, Semyon will become bored. And when he looks at the wanderer, remembers how he looked at him behind the chapel, his heart will leap within him.

Semyon's wife left early. She chopped firewood, brought water, fed the kids, had a snack and thought about it; I was wondering when to place the bread: today or tomorrow? The big edge remains.
“If, he thinks, Semyon has lunch there and doesn’t eat much at dinner, there will be enough bread for tomorrow.”
Matryona turned and turned the corner and thought: “I’m not going to put out any bread today. There is only enough flour left for bread. We’ll hold out until Friday.”
Matryona put away the bread and sat down at the table to sew a patch on her husband’s shirt. Matryona is sewing and thinking about her husband, how he will buy sheepskins for a fur coat.
“The sheepskin man would not have deceived him. Otherwise it’s just too simple for me. He himself will not deceive anyone, but his little child will deceive him. Eight rubles is not small money. You can put together a good fur coat. Even if it’s not tanned, it’s still a fur coat. Last winter we fought without a fur coat! Neither go out to the river, nor anywhere. And then I left the yard, I fell all over myself, I had nothing to wear. I didn't go early. It's about time he did. Has my falcon gone on a spree?”
As soon as Matryona thought, the steps on the porch creaked and someone entered. Matryona stuck a needle and went out into the hallway. He sees two people come in: Semyon and with him a guy without a hat and wearing felt boots.
Matryona immediately smelled the wine spirit from her husband. “Well, he thinks he’s gone on a spree.” Yes, when I saw that he was without a caftan, wearing only a jacket and not carrying anything, but was silent, shrinking, Matryona’s heart sank. “He drank the money, he thinks, he went on a spree with some good-for-nothing, and he even brought him along.”
Matryona let them into the hut, went in herself, and saw that he was a stranger, young, thin, and the caftan he was wearing was theirs. The shirt is not visible under the caftan, there is no hat. As soon as he entered, he stood there, did not move and did not raise his eyes. And Matryona thinks: no a kind person- fears.
Matryona frowned and went to the stove to see what would happen from them.
Semyon took off his hat and sat down on the bench like a good man.
“Well,” she says, “Matrona, get ready for dinner or something!”
Matryona muttered something under her breath. As she stood by the stove, she doesn’t move: she looks at one, then at the other and just shakes her head. Semyon sees that the woman is not herself, but there is nothing to do: as if he doesn’t notice, he takes the stranger’s hand.
“Sit down,” he says, “brother, we’ll have dinner.”
The wanderer sat down on the bench.
- Well, or didn’t you cook?
Evil took Matryona.
“I cooked it, but not about you.” You and your mind, I see, have drunk away. He went to get a fur coat, but came without a caftan, and even brought some naked tramp with him. I have no dinner for you drunkards.
- It will be, Matryona, that chattering with your tongue is useless! You ask first what kind of person...
-Tell me, where did you put the money?
Semyon reached into his caftan, took out a piece of paper, and unfolded it.
“Here is the money, but Trifonov didn’t give it back, he’s suing tomorrow.”
Matryona’s evil got even worse: she didn’t buy a fur coat, but she put the last caftan on some naked person and brought it to her.
She grabbed a piece of paper from the table, took it to hide it, and said:
- I don’t have dinner. You can't feed all the naked drunks.
- Eh, Matryona, hold your tongue. First listen to what they say...
- You'll hear enough from a drunken fool. No wonder I didn’t want to marry you, a drunkard. Mother gave me the canvases - you drank it away; I went to buy a fur coat and drank it away.
Semyon wants to explain to his wife that he only drank twenty kopecks, he wants to say where he found the person, but Matryona doesn’t let him get a word in: where does it come from, he suddenly says two words at a time. I remembered everything that happened ten years ago.
Matryona spoke and spoke, ran up to Semyon, and grabbed his sleeve.
- Give me my undershirt. Otherwise there was only one left, and he took it off me and put it on himself. Come here, freckled dog, the shooter will hurt you!
Semyon began to take off his jacket, turned his sleeve inside out, and the woman tugged - the jacket crackled at the seams. Matryona grabbed the undershirt, threw it over her head and grabbed the door. She wanted to leave, but stopped: and her heart was at odds - she wanted to rip off the evil and wanted to find out what kind of person this was.

Matryona stopped and said:
“If he were a good man, he wouldn’t be naked, otherwise he doesn’t even have a shirt.” If he had gone after good deeds, you would have said where you brought such a dandy from.
- Yes, I’m telling you: I’m walking, this guy sits by the chapel, undressed, completely frozen. It's not summer, naked. God put me on it, otherwise it would have been an abyss. Well, what should we do? You never know what happens! He took me, dressed me and brought me here. Quiet your heart. Sin, Matryona. We will die.
Matryona wanted to swear, but she looked at the wanderer and fell silent. The wanderer sits and does not move, as he sat on the edge of the bench. His hands are folded on his knees, his head is lowered to his chest, his eyes do not open and everything is wincing, as if something is strangling him. Matryona fell silent. Semyon says:
- Matryona, is there no God in you?!
Matryona heard this word, looked at the stranger, and suddenly her heart sank within her. She walked away from the door, went to the corner of the stove, and took out dinner. She put the cup on the table, poured some kvass, and put out the last edge. She handed me a knife and spoons.
“Have a sip or something,” he says.
Semyon moved the wanderer.
“Climb through,” he says, “well done.”
Semyon cut the bread, crumbled it, and began to have dinner. And Matryona sat down on the corner of the table, propped herself up with her hand and looked at the wanderer.
And Matryona felt sorry for the wanderer, and she fell in love with him. And suddenly the wanderer became cheerful, stopped wincing, raised his eyes to Matryona and smiled.
We had dinner; The woman removed it and began to ask the wanderer:
-Whose will you be?
- I'm not from here.
- How did you end up on the road?
– You can’t tell me.
- Who robbed you?
- God punished me.
- So you were lying there naked?
“So I lay there naked, freezing.” Semyon saw me, felt sorry for me, took off his caftan, put it on me and told me to come here. And here you fed me, gave me something to drink, took pity on me. God save you!
Matryona got up, took Semenov’s old shirt from the window, the same one that she had paid for, and gave it to the wanderer; I found some more trousers and handed them over.
- Well, I see you don’t even have a shirt. Get dressed and lie down where you like - on the choir or on the stove.
The wanderer took off his caftan, put on a shirt and trousers and lay down on the choir. Matryona turned off the light, took the caftan and climbed towards her husband.
Matryona covered herself with the end of her caftan, lay there and did not sleep, the wanderer was still on her mind.
As soon as she remembers that he has eaten the last bit and there is no bread for tomorrow, as soon as she remembers that she gave away her shirt and trousers, she will become so bored; but she will remember how he smiled, and her heart will leap within her.
Matryona had not slept for a long time and heard that Semyon was not sleeping either, he was dragging his caftan over himself.
- Semyon!
- A!
“They ate the last bread, but I didn’t put it on.” For tomorrow, I don’t know what to do. I’ll ask godmother Malanya for something.
“We’ll be alive, we’ll be full.”
The woman lay there and was silent.
“But he’s obviously a good man, but why doesn’t he say anything about himself?”
- It must, it cannot.
- Sam!
- A!
- We give, but why doesn’t anyone give to us?
Semyon didn’t know what to say. He says: “He will interpret something.” He turned over and fell asleep.

The next morning Semyon woke up. The children are sleeping, the wife went to the neighbors to borrow bread. One yesterday's wanderer in old trousers and a shirt sits on a bench, looking up. And his face is brighter than it was yesterday.
And Semyon says:
- Well, dear head: the belly asks for bread, and the naked body for clothes. We need to feed. What can you do?
- I can’t do anything.
Semyon marveled and said:
- There would be a hunt. People learn everything.
– People work, and I will work.
- What's your name?
- Mikhail.
- Well, Mikhaila, you don’t want to talk about yourself - it’s your business, but you need to feed. If you work as I command, I will feed you.
- God bless you, but I will study. Show me what to do.
Semyon took the yarn, put it on his fingers and began to make the end.
- It’s not a tricky thing, look...
He looked at Mikhail, put it on his fingers, immediately adopted it, and made the end of it.
Semyon showed him how to brew. I also immediately understood Mikhail. The owner showed how to insert the bristles and how to stitch, and Mikhail also immediately understood.
Whatever work Semyon shows him, he will immediately understand everything, and from the third day he began to work as if he had been sewing forever. Works without bending, eats little; Interspersed with work, he remains silent and keeps looking up. He doesn’t go outside, doesn’t say unnecessary things, doesn’t joke, doesn’t laugh.
The only time we saw him smile was on the first evening when the woman prepared dinner for him.

Day by day, week by week, the year turned around. Mikhaila still lives with Semyon and works. And fame spread about Semenov’s worker that no one could sew boots as clean and strong as Semenov’s worker Mikhail, and they began to go from the neighborhood to Semyon for boots, and Semyon’s wealth began to increase.
Once in the winter, Semyon and Mikhaila are sitting, working, and a troika of carts with bells drives up to the hut. We looked out the window: the cart stopped opposite the hut, a young man jumped off the hut and opened the door. A gentleman in a fur coat gets out of the cart. He got out of the cart, went to Semenov’s house, and entered the porch. Matryona jumped out and opened the door wide. The master bent down, entered the hut, straightened up, his head almost reached the ceiling, he took over the entire corner.
Semyon stood up, bowed and marveled at the master. And he had never seen such people. Semyon himself is lean and Mikhaila is thin, and Matryona is as dry as a sliver, and this one is like a person from another world: a red, plump muzzle, a neck like a bull’s, as if cast from cast iron.
The master puffed out, took off his fur coat, sat down on the bench and said:
- Who is the owner of the shoemaker?
Semyon came out and said:
- I, your lordship.
The master shouted at his little one:
- Hey, Fedka, bring the goods here.
A guy ran in and brought in a bundle. The master took the bundle and put it on the table.
“Untie,” he says.
The little one untied it. The master poked his finger at the shoe item and said to Semyon:
- Well, listen, shoemaker. Do you see the product?
“I see,” he says, “your honor.”
- Do you understand what kind of product this is?
Semyon touched the goods and said:
- Good merchandise.
- That's good! You, fool, have never seen such a product before. The product is German, it costs twenty rubles.
Zarobel Semyon says:
- Where can we see?
- Well, that's it. Can you make boots for my feet from this product?
- Yes, your honor.
The master shouted at him:
- That’s “possible.” You understand, for whom are you sewing, from what product. I made these boots so that they could be worn for a year without getting crooked or frayed. If you can, go ahead and cut the goods, but if you can’t, don’t go ahead and cut the goods. I tell you in advance: the boots will rip and become crooked. earlier this year, I will put you in prison; They won’t crook or tear apart for a year, I’ll give you ten rubles for the work.
Semyon became worried and didn’t know what to say. He looked back at Mikhail. He nudged him with his elbow and whispered:
- Take it, or what?
Mikhail nodded his head: “Get a job.”
Semyon listened to Mikhail and undertook to sew such boots so that they would not become crooked or flogged for a year.
The little master shouted, ordered to take off the boot from his left foot, and stretched out his leg.
- Take your measurements!
Semyon sewed a piece of paper ten vershoks, ironed it, knelt down, wiped his hand well on his apron so as not to stain the master’s stocking, and began to measure it on. Semyon measured the sole, measured it in the instep; I started measuring the caviar and the piece of paper didn’t match. The legs in the calf are as thick as a log.
- Look, don’t be a burden in your boot.
Semyon began to sew on some more paper. The gentleman sits, moves his fingers in his stocking, and looks around at the people in the hut. I saw Mikhail.
“Who is this,” he says, “with you?”
- And this is my master, he will do the sewing.
“Look,” the master says to Mikhail, “remember, sew it so that the year will fly by.”
Semyon also looked back at Mikhail; He sees - Mikhail doesn’t even look at the master, but stares at the corner behind the master, as if he’s peering at someone. I looked and looked at Mikhail and suddenly smiled and brightened up all over.
- Are you baring your teeth, you fool? You better make sure you're ready on time.
And Mikhaila says:
“They’ll just be in time when needed.”
- That's it.
He put on the master's boots and fur coat, wrapped himself up and went to the door. Yes, he forgot to bend down and hit his head on the ceiling. The master swore, rubbed his head, got into the cart and drove away.
The master Semyon drove off and said:
- Well, he’s flinty. You can't kill this anymore. He dropped the joint with his head, but he doesn’t have enough grief.
And Matryona says:
“It’s impossible for someone like him to have a smooth life.” Even death will not take such a rivet.

And Semyon says to Mikhail:
“They took the job, so as not to get us into trouble.” The goods are expensive, and the master is angry. How not to make a mistake. Come on, you have sharper eyes, and your hands have become more dexterous than mine, by the yardstick. Cut the goods, and I will finish the heads.
I did not disobey Mikhail, knitted the master’s goods, spread them out on the table, folded them in half, took a knife and began to cut.
Matryona came up, looked at how Mikhaila was cutting, and wondered what Mikhaila was doing. Matryona is already accustomed to shoemaking, she looks and sees that Mikhaila does not cut the goods like a shoemaker, but cuts them into round ones.
Matryona wanted to say, but she thought to herself: “I must have not understood how to sew boots for a master; Mikhaila must know better, I won’t interfere.”
Mikhail cut a pair, took the end and began to sew not like a shoemaker, in two ends, but with one end, like barefooters sew.
Matryona was also surprised at this, but she also did not interfere. And Mikhaila does all the sewing. It was noon, Semyon got up and looked - Mikhaila had sewn boots from the master's goods.
Semyon gasped. “How is it, Mikhaila thinks, a year a whole vein, I was not mistaken in anything, and now I have caused such trouble? The master ordered boots with a welt, but he sewed the boots without soles and ruined the goods. How can I deal with the master now? You won’t find a product like this.”
And he says to Mikhail:
“What have you done,” he says, “dear head?” You stabbed me! After all, the master ordered boots, but what did you sew?
As soon as he began to reprimand Mikhaile, there was a knock on the ring at the door, and someone was knocking. We looked out the window: someone had arrived on horseback and was tying up the horse. They unlocked it: the same fellow from the master comes in.
- Great!
- Great. What do you want?
“Yes, the lady sent me about boots.”
– What about boots?
- What about boots! The master doesn't need boots. The master ordered me to live long,
- What you!

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