The satirical fairy tale The Wise Minnow by the wonderful writer Saltykov-Shchedrin will tell children about how one cowardly minnow lived in the world. He was very afraid of being eaten by fish or getting caught. To avoid death, the gudgeon dug a hole for itself and did not come out of it.
Read online 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 fish soup or in the pike. They ordered the same for my son. “Look, son,” said the old gudgeon, dying, “if you want to chew on 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, everything big fish they swim, and he is the least of them 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 dig into its spine and torture it to death. Even his brother the gudgeon - 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 in order to destroy him, the minnow, in vain! And the seine, and the nets, and the tops, and the net, 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 a most, one might say, unnatural position! Meanwhile, it is on the fishing rod that most gudgeons are caught!
His old father warned him more than once about uda. “Most of all, beware of the fish!” he said, “because even though it’s the stupidest projectile, with us, minnows, what’s stupid is truer. They’ll throw us a fly, as if they want to take advantage of us; "That's death!"
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 loaches - even couch potato bream were lifted from the mud from the bottom! And we lost count of the minnows. And what fears he, the old gudgeon, suffered while he was being dragged along the river - this cannot be said in a fairy tale, nor can it be described with a pen. He feels that he is being taken, but does not 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 “bonfire,” they say. And on the “bonfire” something black is placed on this one, and in it the water, like in a lake, shakes during a storm. This is a "cauldron", they say. And in the end they began to say: put fish in the “cauldron” - there will be “fish soup”! And they started throwing our brother there. When a fisherman slams a fish, it will first plunge, then jump out like crazy, then plunge again and become quiet. “Uhi” means she tasted it. They tossed and tossed at first indiscriminately, and then one old man looked at him and said: “What good is this baby 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...
So what! No matter how much the old man explained at that time what fish soup was and what it consisted of, however, even when brought into the river, rarely did anyone have a sound understanding of fish soup!
But he, the gudgeon-son, perfectly remembered the teachings of the gudgeon-father, and 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: “It seems that I’m alive? Oh, something will happen 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 - and 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 was completely dark, this cancer was waiting for him, and meanwhile he kept trembling, still trembling.
Another time, he had just managed to return to the hole before dawn, he had just yawned sweetly, in anticipation of sleep - he looked, out of nowhere, a pike was standing right next to the hole, clapping its teeth. And she also guarded him all day, as if she had had enough of him alone. And he fooled the pike: he didn’t come out of the bark, and it was a sabbath.
And this happened to him more than once, not twice, but almost every day. And every day he, trembling, won victories and victories, every day he exclaimed: “Glory to you, Lord! Alive!”
But this is not enough: he did not marry and had no children, although his father had big family. He reasoned like this: “Father could have lived by joking! At that time, the pikes 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! Nowadays, as the fish in the rivers have increased, and the minnows are in honor, so there’s no time for family, but how to live for yourself!”
And the wise gudgeon lived in this way for more than a hundred years. Everything was trembling, everything was trembling. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he is to anyone, nor anyone is to him. He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls - he just trembles and thinks one thing: “Thank God! It seems he’s 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 gudgeon began to die. He lies in a hole and thinks: “Thank God, I’m dying by my own death, just like my mother and father died.” And then he remembered the pike’s words: “If only everyone lived like this wise minnow lives...” Well, really, what would happen then?
He began to think about the mind that he had, and suddenly it was as if someone whispered to him: “After all, this way, perhaps, the entire piscary race would have died out long ago!”
Because, to continue the gudgeon 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 native element, and not in the hole, where he was 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 and 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? To whom kind word said? 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, no sunbeam He won’t look in there, and there’s 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 darting past his hole - maybe, like him, gudgeons - and not one of them takes an interest in him. Not a single thought will come to mind: “Let me ask the wise minnow, how did he manage to live for more than a hundred years, and not be swallowed by a pike, not crushed by a crayfish with his claws, not caught by a fisherman with a hook?” They swim past, and maybe they don’t even know that in this hole there is a wise gudgeon life process completes!
And what’s most offensive: I haven’t even heard anyone call him wise. They simply say: “Have you heard about the dunce who doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t see anyone, doesn’t share bread and salt with anyone, and only saves his hateful life?” And many even simply call him a fool and a disgrace and wonder how the water tolerates such idols.
He thus scattered his mind and dozed off. That is, it wasn’t just that he was dozing, but that he had already begun to forget. Death whispers rang in his ears, and languor spread throughout his body. And here he had the same seductive dream. It’s as if he won two hundred thousand, grew by as much as half an arshin and swallows the pike himself.
And while he was dreaming about this, his snout, little by little, came out of the hole entirely.
And suddenly he disappeared. What happened here - whether a pike swallowed him, or crushed a crayfish 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 died himself, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying gudgeon, and what’s more, a “wise” one?
In one river there lived a gudgeon who was afraid of everything. Even before his death in the mouth of a pike, his old father taught him that minnows are small fish and should be afraid of everything and bow to everyone: pikes, crayfish, and crucian carp. So he lived according to his father’s behest, afraid of everything, did not marry, did not have children, because he was afraid of that too. He warned everyone that they needed to live with caution, carefully, as if on the sly.And our wise gudgeon lived to be a hundred years old, because he took care of his lonely life. In his old age, he decided to commit a daring act: to swim along the river during the day, but he got scared and returned to his hole again. There he dies, realizing that his life is completely useless, and if all the fish behaved like him, they would all have died out long ago. And in the end he disappears from the hole to no one knows where, because even the predatory fish no longer wanted to eat him, they called him “hateful” and a “dumb.”
Conclusion (my opinion)
In the image of the wise minnow, the author portrays a man who brought no joy to anyone, did nothing good for society and for people. He was only afraid for his completely useless life, which did not bring him any pleasure. The gudgeon lived to be a hundred years old, but who was better off or worse off?/ / / “The Wise Minnow”
Once upon a time there lived a minnow. His parents were smart; before their death, they bequeathed to their son to always “keep both eyes open” throughout his life.
When the minnow began to “spread out” with his mind, he realized that he was the smallest among the fish and that everyone else could harm him. And also great evil can cause a person. The gudgeon's father told him many times how he was caught and almost had fish soup cooked from him at the stake. Therefore, the father told his son to always be on guard.
The gudgeon-son wound it around his mustache father's instructions. And he decided to live his life so that no one would ever notice him. To do this, he spent a whole year, fearing for his life, building a hole for himself so that no one could climb there. Only he himself could fit into the hole, and no one else could climb in to visit him. Then the minnow decided for himself: he would feed at night, and “sit and tremble” during the day. After all, it is better, in his opinion, not to eat or drink than to lose your precious life.
One day, after sleeping, a minnow saw that a crayfish was watching him with “bone eyes.” He waited for half a day, during which the gudgeon managed to “shudder” a lot.
The next time the minnow noticed a pike, which had been waiting for him all day. But this time too the hero deceived the enemy: he did not go out anywhere, and the pike swam away with nothing.
And this happened every day scary cases. And every time the minnow was glad that he was able to survive.
didn't have main character no wife, no children, no relatives, no loved ones, no friends. He did not play cards, never drank wine, and never smoked tobacco. And he lived like this for 100 years.
Even the pikes began to praise the hero for his silence and calmness. They just wanted to rescue the gudgeon from the hole in this way, but he again does not fall for deceiving his enemies.
And now death is approaching the gudgeon. He begins to think about his long life, about the words that the pikes uttered. The minnow understands that to continue the species of minnows, a family is needed. But he didn’t even have one. It dawns on the minnow that only social life and education not in a hole, but in normal conditions, can prevent the extinction of gudgeons.
Only now does the hero realize that he is one of the useless minnows. All this time he did not live, but only wasted space and wasted food.
The gudgeon finally decides to crawl out of the hole and finally swim across the entire river. But as soon as he thought about it, he began to tremble again, and then began to die. During his life he trembled and, trembling, he died. He had no joys, he never consoled anyone, good advice I didn’t give it to anyone, I didn’t say a kind word to anyone, I didn’t shelter anyone, I didn’t warm me, I didn’t protect anyone. Nobody remembered the minnow. Nobody had ever heard of him. They only said that he was a dunce, a fool, a disgrace and an idiot, who did not understand how the water held him. But the minnow considered himself wise.
The hero lies in a cramped hole, trembling, not even knowing why, and thinks when death will free him from such a meaningless existence.
And so, having dozed off, his body crawled out of the hole. And then no one knows what happened: the pike ate it, whether it was cancer, or whether the minnow died of natural causes.
The minnow probably died a natural death, because why do pikes and crayfish need a sick minnow? And also wise.
| The wise minnow | |
The cover under which the fairy tales appeared in the first edition |
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| Original language: | |
| Year of writing: |
December 1882 - first half of January 1883 |
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| in Wikisource | |
History of creation and publication
Written in December 1882 - the first half of January 1883. First published in September 1883 in No. 55 of the emigrant newspaper “Common Cause” (Geneva), pp. 2-4, as the first issue, together with the fairy tales “The Selfless Hare” and “Poor Wolf”, under the editorial heading “Fairy Tales for Children” of considerable age", without signature. In Russia for the first time - in the journal “Domestic Notes” No. 1, 1884, p. 275-280 (January 16). As a book publication - the third issue in the publication of the free hectograph “Public Benefit”, under general title“Fairy Tales” and signed by N. Shchedrin. Geneva edition during 1883 (before the publication of fairy tales in Otechestvennye zapiski) in different formats released eight times (six with a release date and two without). The publication was distributed by members of Narodnaya Volya, as evidenced by the seal on a number of surviving copies (“Book Agents People's Will"). One of the editions of the collection with the date of release, unlike all the others, contains only one fairy tale - “The Wise Minnow”.
Criticism
According to commentators and critics, the tale is dedicated to satirical criticism cowardice and cowardice that took over the public mood of part of the intelligentsia after the defeat of the Narodnaya Volya.
Writer and critic K. K. Arsenyev noted that the fairy tale “The Wise Minnow” echoes “The Fourth Evening” from “Poshekhonsky Stories”, which appeared in No. 10 of “Domestic Notes” for 1883, where the publicist Kramolnikov denounces liberals hiding from the harsh actually into the “holes”, declaring that they would still not be able to escape in this way.
Subsequently, on the basis of this similarity and considering its appearance in Russia in January 1884 as the first publication of the fairy tale, the writer Ivanov-Razumnik concluded that the idea of “Gudgeon” was originally expressed in the third Poshekhon “evening”. In fact, Kramolnikov’s speech in “Poshekhonsky Stories” does not foreshadow, but repeats an idea already written and published in foreign countries. Common cause» fairy tales “The Wise Minnow”.
Plot
ABOUT, wise minnows the notorious progressive “intelligentsia”! Defense of peaceful renovationists by intellectual radicals, turn central authority k.-d. parties to peaceful renewal immediately after the instructions about the forms, these are all typical examples of liberal tactics. The government takes one step to the right, and we take two steps to the right! Look - we are again legal and peaceful, tactful and loyal, we will adapt even without forms, we will always adapt in relation to meanness! This seems like realpolitik to the liberal bourgeoisie.
V.I. Lenin, The Government’s Forgery of the Duma and the Tasks of Social Democracy, PSS V.I.Lenin, vol. 14, p. 199. Archived from the original on November 21, 2012.
According to " Encyclopedic Dictionary winged words and expressions,” Shchedrin, under the guise of a minnow, portrayed the Russian liberal intelligentsia, concerned only with survival; in an ironic and allegorical sense, the expression is used to mean: a conformist person, socially or politically passive cowardly man, who elevates his conformism to the rank of philosophy.
Film adaptations
In 1979, director V. Karavaev released a cartoon of the same name based on the fairy tale (Soyuzmultfilm studio, duration 9 minutes 23 seconds).
Illustrations
The tale has been illustrated many times, incl. such artists as Kukryniksy (1939), Yu. Severin (1978), M. Skobelev and A. Eliseev (1973)
Notes
| Saltykov-Shchedrin | |
|---|---|
| Novels and Chronicles |
Messrs. Golovlevs · The story of one city · Poshekhonskaya antiquity · Monrepos Asylum |
| Fairy tales | Conscience gone · Faithful Trezor · Wild landowner · Crucian idealist · The Tale of a Zealous Boss · Bear in the voivodeship · Eagle Patron · The wise minnow · The story of how one man fed two generals · Selfless hare · Poor wolf · Sane Hare · Liberal · Horse · Adventure with Kramolnikov · Christ's night · Christmas Tale · Dried roach · Virtues and Vices · The deceiving newspaperman and the gullible reader · Unsleeping Eye · Fool · Ram-Nepomnyashchy · Kissel · Idle talk · Bogatyr · Raven petitioner · Toy business people · Neighbours · Village fire · By the way |
| Stories | Anniversary · kind soul · Spoiled Children · Neighbours · Chizhikovo mountain |
| Essays | In a mental hospital · Gentlemen of Tashkent · Lord Molchalin · Provincial essays · Diary of a provincial in St. Petersburg · Abroad · Letters to Auntie · Innocent stories · Pompadours and pompadours · Satires in prose · Modern idyll · Well-Intentioned Speeches |
| Comedy | Death of Pazukhin · Shadows |
Once upon a time there lived a minnow. Both his father and mother were smart; Little by little, the arid eyelids lived in the river and did not get caught either in the fish soup or in the pike. They ordered the same for my son. “Look, son,” said the old minnow, dying, “if you want to chew your life, then keep your eyes open!”
And the young minnow had a mind. He began to use this mind and saw: no matter where he turned, he was cursed. All around, in the water, all the big fish are swimming, but he is the smallest of all; Any fish can swallow him, but he cannot swallow anyone. And he doesn’t understand: why swallow? A cancer can cut it in half with its claws, a water flea can dig into its spine and torture it to death. Even his brother the gudgeon - and when he sees that he has caught a mosquito, the whole herd will rush to take it away. They’ll take it away and start fighting with each other, only they’ll crush a mosquito for nothing.
And the man? - what kind of malicious creature is this! no matter what tricks he came up with to destroy him, the minnow, in vain! And the seine, and the nets, and the tops, and the net, and, finally... the 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 fish!” he said, “because even though it’s the stupidest projectile, with us, minnows, what’s stupid is truer. They’ll throw us a fly, as if they want to take advantage of us; "That's death!"
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 loaches - even couch potato 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 does not 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 “bonfire,” they say. And on the “bonfire” something black is placed on this one, and in it the water, like in a lake, shakes during a storm. This is a "cauldron", they say. And in the end they began to say: put fish in the “cauldron” - there will be “fish soup”! And they started throwing our brother there. When a fisherman slams a fish, it will first plunge, then jump out like crazy, then plunge again and become quiet. “Uhi” means she tasted it. They tossed and tossed at first indiscriminately, and then one old man looked at him and said: “What good is this baby 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...
So what! No matter how much the old man explained at that time what fish soup was and what it consisted of, however, even when brought into the river, rarely did anyone have a sound understanding of fish soup!
But he, the gudgeon-son, perfectly remembered the teachings of the gudgeon-father, and he even reeled it into his mustache. He was an enlightened minnow, moderately liberal, and very firmly understood that living life is not like licking a whorl. “You have to live so that no one notices,” he said to himself, “or else you’ll just disappear!” - and began to get settled. First of all, I came up with a hole for myself so that he could climb into it, but no one else could get in! He dug this hole with his nose for a whole year, and during that time he took on so much fear, spending the night either in the mud, or under the water burdock, or in the sedge. Finally, however, he dug it out to perfection. Clean, neat - just enough for one person to fit in. The second thing, about his life, he decided this way: at night, when people, animals, birds and fish are sleeping, he will exercise, and during the day he will sit in a hole and tremble. But since he still needs to drink and eat, and he doesn’t receive a salary and doesn’t keep servants, he will run out of the hole around noon, when all the fish are already full, and, God willing, maybe he’ll provide a booger or two. And if he doesn’t provide, he will lie down in a hole hungry and tremble again. For it is better not to eat or drink than to lose life with a full stomach.
That's what he did. At night he exercised, swam in the moonlight, and during the day he climbed into a hole and trembled. Only at noon will he run out to grab something - 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: “It seems that I’m alive? Oh, something will happen 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 - and 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 was completely dark, this cancer was waiting for him, and meanwhile he kept trembling, still trembling.
Another time, he had just managed to return to the hole before dawn, he had just yawned sweetly, in anticipation of sleep - he looked, out of nowhere, a pike was standing right next to the hole, clapping its teeth. And she also guarded him all day, as if she had had enough of him alone. And he fooled the pike: he didn’t come out of the bark, and it was a sabbath.
And this happened to him more than once, not twice, but almost every day. And every day he, trembling, won victories and victories, every day he exclaimed: “Glory to you, Lord! Alive!”
But this is not enough: he did not marry and did not have children, although his father had a large family. He reasoned like this: “Father could have lived by joking! At that time, the pikes 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! Nowadays, as the fish in the rivers have increased, and the minnows are in honor, so there’s no time for family, but how to live for yourself!”
And he lived wise minnow it's been like this for over a hundred years. Everything was trembling, everything was trembling. He has no friends, no relatives; neither he is to anyone, nor anyone is to him. He doesn’t play cards, doesn’t drink wine, doesn’t smoke tobacco, doesn’t chase red girls - he just trembles and thinks one thing: “Thank God! I think he’s alive!”
Even the pikes, in the end, began to praise him: “If only everyone lived like this, the river would be quiet!” But they said it on purpose; they thought that he would recommend himself for praise - here, they say, I am! then bang! But he did not succumb to this trick either, and once again, with his wisdom, he defeated the machinations of his enemies.
How many years have passed since the hundred years is unknown, only the wise minnow began to die. He lies in a hole and thinks: “Thank God, I’m dying by my own death, just like my mother and father died.” And then he remembered the pike’s words: “If only everyone lived like this wise minnow lives...” Well, really, what would happen then?
He began to think about the mind that he had, and suddenly it was as if someone whispered to him: “After all, this way, perhaps, the entire piscary race would have died out long ago!”
Because, to continue the minnow family, first of all you need a family, and he doesn’t have one. But this is not enough: in order for the gudgeon family to strengthen and prosper, for its members to be healthy and vigorous, it is necessary that they be raised in their native element, and not in a hole where he is almost blind from the eternal twilight. It is necessary that the minnows receive sufficient nutrition, so that they do not alienate the public, share bread and salt with each other and borrow virtues and other excellent qualities from each other. For only such a life can improve the gudgeon breed and will not allow it to be crushed and degenerate into smelt.
Those who think that only those minnows can be considered worthy citizens who, mad with fear, sit in holes and tremble, believe incorrectly. No, these are not citizens, but at least useless minnows. They give no warmth or cold to anyone, no honor, no dishonor, no glory, no infamy... they live, take up space for nothing and eat food.
All this seemed so clearly and clearly that suddenly a passionate hunt came to him: “I’ll crawl out of the hole and swim like a goldeneye across the entire river!” But as soon as he thought about it, he became frightened again. And he began to die, trembling. He lived and trembled, and he died - he trembled.
His whole life flashed before him instantly. What joys did he have? Who did he console? Who did you give good advice to? Who did you say a kind word to? whom did you shelter, warm, protect? who has heard of him? who will remember its existence?
And he had to answer all these questions: “No one, no one.”
He lived and trembled - that's all. Even now: death is on his nose, and he is still trembling, he doesn’t know why. In his hole it is dark, cramped, there is nowhere to turn, not a ray of sunlight can look in, and there is no smell of warmth. And he lies in this damp darkness, blind, exhausted, useless to anyone, lying and waiting: when will starvation finally free him from a useless existence?
He can hear other fish darting past his hole - maybe, like him, gudgeons - and not one of them takes an interest in him. Not a single thought will come to mind: “Let me ask the wise minnow, how did he manage to live for more than a hundred years, and not be swallowed by a pike, not crushed by a crayfish with his claws, not caught by a fisherman with a hook?” They swim past, and maybe they don’t even know that in this hole the wise minnow completes its life process!
And what’s most offensive: I haven’t even heard anyone call him wise. They simply say: “Have you heard about the dunce who doesn’t eat, doesn’t drink, doesn’t see anyone, doesn’t share bread and salt with anyone, and only saves his hateful life?” And many even simply call him a fool and a disgrace and wonder how the water tolerates such idols.
He thus scattered his mind and dozed off. That is, it wasn’t just that he was dozing, but that he had already begun to forget. Death whispers rang in his ears, and languor spread throughout his body. And here he had the same seductive dream. It’s as if he won two hundred thousand, grew by as much as half an arshin and swallows the pike himself.
And while he was dreaming about this, his snout, little by little, came out of the hole entirely.
And suddenly he disappeared. What happened here - whether a pike swallowed him, or crushed a crayfish 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 died himself, because what sweetness is it for a pike to swallow a sick, dying gudgeon, and what’s more, a “wise” one?
