home Diagnosis and diseases Who wrote the work of Chelkash. Character history

Who wrote the work of Chelkash. Character history

The story "Chelkash" was written in 1894. M. Gorky heard this story in Nikolaev, when he was in the hospital, from a neighbor in the ward. Its publication took place in 1895 in the June issue of the magazine “Russian Wealth”. This article will analyze the work “Chelkash”.

Introductory part

At the port, under the hot sun, the porters laid out their simple and simple food. The well-worn thief Grishka Chelkash approached them and learned that his friend and constant partner Mishka had broken his leg. This somewhat puzzled Gregory, because that night there was a profitable business ahead. He looked around and saw a stocky village guy, broad-shouldered, with blue eyes. He looked innocent. Chelkash quickly met Gavrila and persuaded him to take part in the night adventure. Familiarity with the story is required for the analysis of the work “Chelkash” to be clear.

Night voyage

At night, Gavrila, shaking with fear, sat on the oars, and Chelkash ruled. Finally they reached the wall. Grigory took the oars, passport and knapsack from his cowardly partner, and then disappeared. Chelkash appeared suddenly and handed his partner something heavy, oars and his things. Now we need to return to the harbor without falling under the lights of the patrol customs cruiser. Gavrila almost lost consciousness from fear. Chelkash gave him a good kick, sat down on the oars, and put Gavrila behind the wheel. They arrived without incident and quickly fell asleep. In the morning, Gregory woke up first and left. When he returned, he woke up Gavrila and gave him his share. Knowledge of the action taking place in the story will help to analyze the work “Chelkash”.

Denouement

When Chelkash was counting out the money, he was unpleasantly struck by the greedy village guy. The peasant begs to give him everything. The hero, with disgust for such greed, threw away the money. Gavrila began collecting them and telling them that he wanted to kill his accomplice because of them.

Grishka simply went wild, took the money from him and went. The stone whistled and hit Chelkash in the head. He fell onto the sand, motionless. The peasant, horrified at what he had done, ran to revive his partner. When Grishka came to his senses, he took a hundred for himself and gave the rest to Gavrila. They went their separate ways different sides. Now, having familiarized ourselves with the content of the story, we can analyze the work “Chelkash”.

Heroes: Chelkash and Gavrila

The spirit of romance and connection with nature permeates everything early works M. Gorky. Chelkash is free from the laws of society.

He is a thief and a homeless drunk. Long, bony, stooped, he looks like a steppe hawk. Chelkash is in an excellent mood - he will earn money at night.

Gavrila, a strong village guy, returns home. He didn't make any money in Kuban. He is in a sad mood.

Gorky describes in detail the thoughts of each of them before they agree on the robbery at night. Chelkash is a proud person; he remembers his former life, his wife, and his parents. His thoughts jump to the downtrodden country boy whom he can help. The main character loves the sea immensely. In his element, he feels free, and thoughts of the past do not bother him there. We are looking at the heroes of the story “Chelkash” (Gorky). An analysis of the work without their characters will not be complete.

Gavrila

Gavrila is not like that. He is immensely afraid of the sea, the darkness, and possible capture. He is cowardly and greedy. These qualities push him to an outright crime when in the morning he saw big money for the first time in his life. First, Gavrila falls to her knees in front of Chelkash, begging for money, because he is just a “vile slave.”

The main character, feeling disgust, pity and hatred for the little soul, throws him all the money. Upon learning that Gavrila wanted to kill him, Chelkash becomes furious. This is the first time he's been so angry. Gregory takes the money and leaves. Gavrila, unable to control her greed, seeks to kill her accomplice, but this makes the insignificant soul afraid. He again begs for forgiveness from the main character - a man of a broad soul. Chelkash throws money to the pathetic Gavrila. He staggers and leaves forever. Having examined the main characters, you can analyze the story as a whole.

Analysis of the work “Chelkash” (Maxim Gorky)

First comes detailed description port and its life. Then the heroes appear. Gorky emphasizes cold gray eyes and nose, humpbacked and predatory, and a proud free disposition. Gavrila is a good-natured guy who believes in God, and, as it turns out, is ready to do anything for money. At first it seems that the villain Chelkash is forcing him to turn off straight path on the thieves' path of the simple-minded Gavrilo. The sea is an important and significant component of the story. It reveals the nature of the heroes.

Chelkash loves its strength, power, vastness and freedom. Gavrila is afraid of him, prays and asks Gregory to let him go. The peasant becomes especially frightened when searchlights illuminate the distance of the sea. He takes the light of the ship as a symbol of retribution and promises himself to order a prayer service to St. Nicholas the Wonderworker. In the morning, a drama plays out due to the greed that has gripped Gavrila. It seemed to him that Chelkash gave him little money. He is on the verge of murder, and no thoughts about God bother him. Wounded by him, Chelkash disgustedly gives away almost all the money, which Gavrila quickly hides. All traces of blood are washed away by the rain. Water is unable to wash away the dirt from the soul of Gavrila, who fears God. Gorky tells how the peasant loses his human image, how low a creature who considers himself human falls when it comes to profit. The story is built on the principles of antithesis. This is where Chelkash ends. The work is briefly analyzed.

Year: 1895 Genre: story

Main characters: Chelkash is a smuggler, drunkard and thief, Gavrila is a peasant guy

“Chelkash” is Gorky’s first work, which was published in the magazine “Russian Wealth” in 1895. The work itself was written in August 1894 in Nizhny Novgorod. The main characters are the complete opposite of each other.

The first is Grishka Chelkash - his author classifies him as a tramp, he is a drunkard and a thief, but at the same time there is something that distinguishes this hero from the crowd like him, the author often compared him to a hawk, his thinness, special gait and predatory look distinguished him from the rest of the people. This hero lives by theft, his main prey are ships, which he cleans and then sells. Apparently, such a life does not bother Chelkash, he enjoys his power, freedom, he likes risk and the fact that he can do whatever he wants.

The second hero is Gavrila, at first glance it seemed that there would be something similar between them, because they are both from the village and both have the same status, but in fact the difference in these two heroes is present and not small. Gavrila is a young and strong guy who dreams of prosperity in life, but his spirit is weak and pitiful. Together with Gregory, they go to work, and then two different characters immediately appear before us, the weak-willed and cowardly Gavrila and the powerful Chelkash.

The main idea. The main idea of the work is the struggle for freedom and equality; the author is trying to convey that tramps have their own values, thoughts and feelings, and to some extent they are even cleaner and more reasonable than people of higher status. Chelkash’s problem as a person is the uselessness of the ideas he strove for, and this is what he pays for his freedom.

The story begins in the morning at the port, a description of what is happening around, people are busy with their own business, there is noise, work is in full swing.

All this continues until lunch, as soon as the clock showed twelve everything calmed down. At this time, a main character-Chelkash, the author describes him as a drunkard, a thief, a thin old man, brave and battered by life, often comparing him to a hawk. He came with the goal of finding his friend and partner Misha, but as it turns out, he ended up in the hospital due to a broken leg. This upsets the hero, because a profitable business was planned for today, for which he needs a partner. Now Chelkash’s goal was to find a person who would help him, and he began to look for passers-by the right person. And then his attention was attracted by a guy who looked very naive and simple. Grigory meets the guys, introducing himself as a fisherman.

The guy's name is Gavrila, he returned from Kuban with very little income, and is now looking for a job. Gavrila himself dreams of a free life, but believes that he will not have one, because he himself was left with only his mother, his father died, and a small piece of land remained. Of course, rich people wanted to take him in as a son-in-law, but then he would have to work all his life for his father-in-law. In general, Gavrila dreams of at least 150 rubles, believing that this will help him create successful life, build a house and get married.

Chelkash, in turn, listened to the guy’s story and offered to make money by fishing, but such a proposal seemed suspicious to Gavrila, because the very appearance of Grigory did not give him a reason to trust him, and therefore Chelkash received a portion of mistrust and contempt from the guy. But the thief is outraged by what this young man thought about him, because what right does he have to judge other people? Ultimately, the love of money in Gavrila’s soul and the offer of easy money made him decide in favor of the thief.

Suspecting nothing and thinking that he is going fishing, the guy goes with Chelkash first to a tavern to “wash” the agreement, this tavern is very full strange people. The thief feels complete power over the guy, realizing that life now depends on him, because it is he who will either help the guy or ruin everything, but still he is full of desire to help the young man.

After waiting until nightfall, they went to work. Chelkash appreciated and admired the sea, but Gavrila, on the contrary, was afraid of the dark; everything seemed very scary to him.

The guy asked where the gear was, because they came for fishing, but instead of an answer he received shouts in his direction. And then he realized that this would not be fishing at all, fear and uncertainty captured the guy, he tried to ask Chelkash to let him go, but he only threatened in response and ordered him to row further.

Soon they reached the goal, Chelkash took the oars and passport and went to get the goods. Gavrila tried to reassure himself that this would end soon, he had to endure it and do what the thief said. Then they walked through the “cordons”, Gavrila tried to call for help, but got scared. Chelkash promised to pay him decently and this gave the guy a reason to think about a future luxurious life. Finally they reached the shore and went to bed. In the morning Chelkash was unrecognizable; he had new clothes and a wad of money, from which he allocated a couple of bills to the guy.

All this time, Gavrila was thinking about how to get all the money for himself, in the end he tried to knock down the thief and take all the money, but nothing worked out for him, and in the end he still asked for forgiveness for his behavior. After this incident, the heroes' paths diverged.

Picture or drawing of Chelkash

Option 2

Chelkash is the main character of this work. He is depicted as a cunning, resourceful and experienced thief.

Describing his appearance, the author highlights his age as a man of about forty. Approximately the average human age. His physique is quite thin, and his head has tousled jet-black hair streaked with gray. His gray eyes look like a hungry wolf. Nose like bird of prey, pointed and hunchbacked. His clothes had long since become frayed from constant wear. Overall, his figure resembles that of a hungry hawk, watching carefully and prowling cautiously. His hands go down almost to his knees, at the end of which strong fists are clenched.

Despite his advanced years, Chelkash copes well with his thieving activities. The character looks like a charlatan and a ragamuffin, who, however, can become incredibly rich in one theft. However, his problem is that he spends his money almost immediately. Considering his perky and cocky character, he is well known in some gangs and circles of thieves. There they may allow him to borrow lunch, because they know that he will pay for everything in full.

Chelkash is very fond of the beauty of nature, especially the sea element, which has attracted him since childhood.

The hero had a father, a wealthy peasant. When he was young, he served in the army as a guardsman. He also had a wife named Anfisa, whose figure stood out for her plumpness and large braid. However, in this moment Grishka knows very well that he will never return to his old life. She completely disappointed him in every way.

Even though Grisha is a thief and often drinks, he still has human feelings. He is capable of compassion for other people. He also condemns thieves like him. He has his own moral principles by which he lives. He is ready to do a noble and generous act. For example, he can give all the money for a night theft to young Gavrila, so that he distributes the money in his village life.

Gavrila thinks of Grishka as a cunning man from whom you can expect anything.

Essay 3

The image of Chelkash appears almost at the very beginning of the story, immediately after the description of the harbor, where the main character should soon appear. Among local residents, Chelkash is known as an uncontrollable drunkard, a brave thief and a clever sly. Despite his far from young age, he gets things done often and always successfully.

As in other works of Gorky, in this story the hero has an extraordinary personality with an unusual character and a unique destiny. The character is always captivated by the unknown, majestic beauty, and this unaccountable inexplicable love in this work is expressed through the protagonist’s craving for the mesmerizing power of the water element, the sea.

The story deals with the fate of a former military officer, whose life turned into a miserable existence at the very bottom of social space. The author vividly and clearly presents the psychological portrait of Chelkash.

The main feature of the character is the presence of polar, opposing character traits and the basic principles of human essence. The author’s task at this stage is to demonstrate the innate qualities of people who find themselves in a difficult life situation. After all, it is in stressful circumstances that the whole essence is revealed human soul, all its facets are revealed, vices and virtues, true goals and beliefs come to light.

In the story “Chelkash” the aspirations of the main characters boil down to constantly stealing and using the funds received to buy booze, and so on in a circle. Gavrila, Chelkash’s assistant, has a different goal - he dreams of his own farm, his own home, marriage, and, stepping over his pride and pride, he commits a crime.

And here the question arises about that very opposition, as well as about the division of people into “good” and bad,” which are so characteristic of Gorky’s stories. Here the reader is faced with a choice of which of the characters is considered a “midge with guts”, and which should be elevated to the rank of “the best, complex, interesting” in this work. However, it is impossible to give a definite answer to this question, because each of us has both light and dark sides. In the same way, the main characters of the stories are presented as complex and contradictory personalities, who are characterized by both good aspirations and, conversely, negative actions and deeds.

Chelkash was a beggar, walked barefoot in shabby old pants and a dirty, torn shirt. He was lonely and no one needed him, he was not interested in his own future, and therefore Chelkash lived for today. He did not have a job because no one wanted to hire such an unreliable person. At the same time, the hero himself did not want to admit his own terrible situation and did not agree with the fact that he was, in fact, the scum of society. And so that, God forbid, he would not think of such a thing, Chelkash clouded his own mind with heavy drinking. Also, the sea saved him from bad thoughts, looking at it, he felt a pleasant warm feeling inside himself, which freed him from the daily bad routine. Here he felt like the ruler of the world, forgetting about his miserable life on land.

Despite difficult circumstances, Chelkash does not lose those positive traits that is and has always been in it. Yes, he is a criminal, he is a thief, but truly humane human values they are not at all alien to him.

Essay Characteristics of Chelkash

In all the works and stories of Maxim Gorky, his heroes are very colorful and extraordinary personalities. Chelkash's story is no exception. In the story, Gorky describes the characters with their life needs and human qualities.

Gorky no longer describes this young man like a tramp. He looks unkempt and tattered. He is wearing some old torn pants and the same dirty torn shirt. Chelkash steals and does it easily; he spends all his profits on booze. Chelkash is an alcoholic, a lost person. In the past he was an officer, but life sent him to the very bottom of the social ladder.

In this story, the writer exposes all sides of people in stressful situations. Chelkash steals not because he wants to improve his social and financial situation, and in order to Once again get drunk He uses people for his own purposes; the story even describes the moment when he feels like a master.

Having met a stranger, Chelkash nevertheless persuades him to go with him on business. He lures the guy by deception, and when he guesses, Chelkash takes away his passport. Still, Chelkash found something to play on so that they would go “fishing” with him. Even though he is a man and lost, he still put pressure on main problem guy, I was able to get him to talk.

Next to an insecure guy, Chelkash behaves confidently and biasedly. Money is not important to him; most likely, he likes the taste of freedom, which, in his opinion, he does not need. He understands perfectly well that he will not change anything in his life. Nobody will hire you lost person, because he is not reliable and irresponsible. His family is lost forever and they will never return to him. When he was a military officer with a wife and child, he did not appreciate this and became what he is now - an ordinary alcoholic and a tramp.

And Chelkash drinks not because he likes it, but to drown out heartache and not admit to himself that he is the scum of society. The only thing that calms him down is the sea, which he loves so much. Chelkash doesn’t want anyone to live like him, because he himself doesn’t want to live out his life like that.

At the end of the story, when his accomplice wanted to take money from Chelkash, he voluntarily gave it away. Chelkash turned out to be not a greedy person, for whom money comes first. The mind of his assistant was eclipsed by the thirst for money, but Chelkash turned out to be above this. For him, these are ordinary pieces of paper that will never make anyone happy. Still, it turned out that Chelkash is not completely lost, there is still hope, but he does nothing for it. Chelkash is not a self-interested person, but simply an alcoholic man confused in this life.

Sample 5

Gorky's works have always been filled with that liveliness, that unprecedented human simple life, and at the same time with all its complexity and originality. By right, Gorky can be called one of the most outstanding Russian realist writers who have ever lived. He wrote like no one else wrote. Describing ordinary everyday situations, ordinary, seemingly ordinary stories, he, with the help of literary techniques, achieved such successes that no one else would have achieved. An example would be the work “Chelkash”.

In the work, the author introduces us to the tragic story of the fall of human personality and virtue into an abyss, into an abyss from which there is no way out - self-destruction. Throughout the entire work, the main character is looking for an increasingly sophisticated way to approach the complete decomposition of the personality, but often in the work it becomes alcohol. The main character of the work is a man named Chelkash.

Chelkash is an elderly man, unkemptly dressed, dirty, with his eyes cast to the floor, walking barefoot on the ground. His main activities, as it was not difficult to guess, are drunkenness and theft, and one cannot do without the other, and that is why many people avoid him, so as not to get into the troubles that haunt this character.

The history of the formation of Chelkash as he appears in the work began a long time ago, even during Chelkash’s dismissal from the fleet. After his dismissal, Chelkash begins to miss the sea very much, as he really loved serving in the navy. Therefore, after his dismissal, Chelkash steps on difficult path independent survival in a world in which he does not like to live. He would like to return to the sea again, but he cannot do this, which is why he takes up alcohol and begins to lead such a lifestyle.

By nature, Chelkash is a rather unpleasant person. If, while serving in the navy, he was a rather rude, uncouth lout, then after his dismissal and subsequent incessant drunkenness, he became simply unbearable for any person, be it just a passerby or his long-time friend. Nothing else matters in his life, except for the drink he loves so much. He has no moral principles or foundations, which is why he does whatever he wants. This is how the image of Chelkash appears before the reader in Gorky’s work of the same name.

Summer is the most wonderful time of the year. All nature blooms, grows and bears fruit at this time. Insects, birds and animals are busy with their business all day long. Many people stock up for the winter in order to comfortably survive the cold.

Review of the story Poor Liza Karamzina

Four days ago I read a wonderful story called “Poor Lisa.” He impressed me to the point of tears. and there is an explanation for this. Karamzin is the writer who introduced sentimentalism into Russian literature

Realism and romanticism are surprisingly harmoniously combined. Short stories, the orientation of which critics defined as socialist realism, occupy a special place in the writer’s work. The work “Chelkash” is one of them.

History of creation

The essay was written in 1894. As a basis for the story, Gorky took a story given to him by his roommate in a hospital in the city of Nikolaev. A year later, the story was published by the magazine “Russian Wealth”.

The work is permeated with the spirit of romance hidden in the description of nature. This move is typical for everyone early works author. The main character is the homeless thief and drunkard Chelkash. The tramp has an unkempt appearance. In its appearance it resembles a bony hawk. The hero appears before the reader in high spirits, as he anticipates earning money. He and Gavrila, village tough guy, decided on a night robbery. Gorky gives a detailed description of each image before describing their actions.

In contrast to Chelkash, Gavrila is a believer and a kind guy whose greed cancels out everything life values. At first, it seems that the proud and freedom-loving Chelkash is leading the young man astray, but later the true background is revealed. Chelkash recalls his past, his wife and parents. Partly, he sees himself in Gavril, so he decides to help the guy who is returning home, having failed to earn money.

Illustration for the story "Chelkash"

Chelkash loves the sea very much, which gives him a feeling of freedom. The sea allows you to forget about worries and appreciate the real nature of each hero. Chelkash loves the power and freedom of the sea, but Gavrila is afraid. The peasant, accustomed to the land, is afraid of the manifestation of the boundless power of the waves, and a special fear appears in his soul when searchlights illuminate the distance of the sea.

Gavrila regards the light of the ship as a sign from above and renounces ordering a prayer service. But the morning division of the spoils shows that the guy’s fear of God is temporary. He was not happy with how the money was distributed and was ready to kill Chelkash for the sake of profit. The hero wounds his accomplice, takes away all the money and washes away traces of the crime. But the sin cannot be washed away from Gavrila’s soul.

Describing the guy’s action, Gorky shows how easy it is to lose humanity, how quickly you can become a low creature when we're talking about about money. The question of fidelity and betrayal, which Chelkash, who trusted a stranger, faced, is raised here.

The story "Chelkash"

An analysis of the characters is provided at the beginning of the story, following the description of the port. Chelkash is a heavy drunkard, famous for his thieving instincts and dexterity. He is not young, but age and addiction to the bottle do not affect the success of his enterprises. The hero appears as a non-trivial personality, whose fate and character are unique. Gorky's works are characterized by the presence of such characters. They often have an inexplicable craving for the amazing beauty of something all-encompassing. In the case of Chelkash, an unbridled love for the sea is described.

The man has a difficult fate. His childhood was successful, but life was not easy. From a military officer, proud and freedom-loving, he turned into a poor man. The peculiarity of the hero's character lies in the combination of opposing qualities. Gorky described the features inherent in people, who finds himself in a difficult situation, revealing the real essence of the character’s soul. A person's principles and vices are tested in such circumstances.

Chelkash has lost his purpose in life and steals to support his existence. He spends his money on booze and essentials. Gavrila has a dream of his own household and family, so theft for him is a crime for a good purpose. Gorky allows the reader to independently choose which of the heroes is a positive character and which has lost human dignity. The complexity and contradictory nature of the characters depicted do not allow us to answer the question unambiguously. Both men combine negative traits and positive qualities.

The beggar Chelkash, accustomed to walking dirty, ragged and barefoot, is lonely. He has no one, so the man cares little about his own future. He lives in the present day, not caring about work and not recognizing his plight. Having become the scum of society, he drove away thoughts about this, drowning them out with drink. Only the sea gave the hero peace, because in it he was the king of the situation.

The former officer retained the qualities cultivated by years of service. Despite the lot of thieves, Chelkash retained his humanity. He steals not to get rich, but to maintain a thin but familiar lifestyle. Having deceived Gavrila, luring him into robbery, Chelkash took the guy’s passport. The newly minted accomplice found himself hostage to a man who was pleased with his luck.

Chelkash is attracted by the taste of freedom, so he goes for theft. He is a person lost to society, who, having everything he needed, did not appreciate it. Having lost his family and status, he prefers not to think about what happened, not to change the situation. An alcoholic and a tramp, the man numbs his heartache to avoid admitting his distress. Own life disgusted the hero, but he couldn’t get through to anyone else.

Quotes

Despite the plight of the protagonist, his negative image, sins and misdeeds, Gorky endowed Chelkash with a great character comparable to the greatness of the sea:

“He, a thief, loved the sea. His seething, nervous nature, greedy for impressions, was never satiated by the contemplation of this dark breadth, endless, free and powerful.”

Chelkash realized the seriousness of his fall. He was afraid to remember his past, because the thoughts were oppressive and gave no peace, corroding the man’s soul:

“Memory, this scourge of the unfortunate, revives even the stones of the past and even adds drops of honey to the poison once drunk...”

The man’s spirit was broken by life’s ups and downs; only nobility and human principles remained intact in him. Pride and nobility glowed in his soul, allowing him not to reach the bottom of the abyss into which his human being was rapidly falling. Therefore, Gavrila aroused his dislike.

“It’s always unpleasant to see that a person whom you consider inferior and inferior to you loves or hates the same things as you and thus becomes like you.”

Drawing by D. Bogoslovsky

Morning in the southern port. Huge machines are noisy around and people are bustling around, causing this noise. Pitiful and fussy human figures, bent under the weight of loads, are “insignificant compared to the iron colossi surrounding them.” They fill the deep holds of ships with “the products of their slave labor” in order to buy some bread.

But then the copper bell struck twelve times, and the noise died down - it was time for lunch.

I

Grishka Chelkash, “an inveterate drunkard and a clever, brave thief,” well known to the port people, appeared in the port. This barefoot, bony man in tattered clothes, with a thick and long mustache, stood out among the other port tramps by his resemblance to a steppe hawk.

Chelkash was looking for his friend and accomplice Mishka. A profitable business was planned for tonight, and the thief needed an assistant. From the customs guard, Chelkash learned that Mishka was taken to the hospital - his leg was crushed by a cast iron block. Then the angry watchman escorted Chelkash to the port gate.

Having sat down nearby, Chelkash thought about a matter that required “a little labor and a lot of dexterity.”

He was sure that he had enough dexterity, and, squinting his eyes, he dreamed of how he would go on a spree tomorrow morning, when the credit notes would appear in his pocket...

Then the thief remembered Mishka and cursed to himself - he probably wouldn’t be able to cope with this task without an assistant. He looked around the street and noticed not far from him a broad-shouldered, fair-haired guy in peasant clothes and with a braid wrapped in straw.

Chelkash spoke to the guy, introducing himself as a fisherman. He said that he was coming from Kuban, where he worked as a hired mower. It was not possible to earn much - many starving people came to Kuban, and prices fell.

Chelkash asked the guy if he loved freedom. The guy replied that he loved him - “go for a walk as you please, just remember God.” But the guy himself, who called himself Gavrila, will never have freedom. His father died, he was left with an old mother and a piece of depleted land, but he had to live. Gavrila is called to be a son-in-law in a rich house, but the father-in-law does not want to separate his daughter, which means the guy must work for his father-in-law for many years. If only he had 150 rubles! He would build a house, buy some land, and take the girl he liked as his wife. He thought he would get rich in Kuban, but it didn’t work out.

Trusting and good-natured, like a calf, Gavrila awakened a feeling of annoyance in Chelkash. However, he needed an assistant, and the thief invited the guy to go “fishing” and earn good money in one night. At first he was afraid that he might get into something; Chelkash seemed like a very dark person to him. The thief was offended by Gavrila’s opinion of him, and he immediately hated the guy for his youth and health, because somewhere this calf is wanted as a son-in-law, and he dares to love freedom that he does not need.

It is always unpleasant to see that a person whom you consider inferior and inferior to you loves or hates the same things as you, and thus becomes like you.

Meanwhile, the greed in Gavrila’s soul overpowered the fear, and he agreed, naively thinking that he and Chelkash would go fishing. The agreement was washed in a dimly lit tavern full of strange personalities.

Chelkash understood that now the guy’s life was in his hands, he felt like his master, he thought “that this guy would never drink such a cup as fate gave him to drink,” and this made him a little jealous of Gavrila. Finally, all Chelkash’s feelings merged into one, “fatherly and economic.”

II

At night we went out to sea on a boat. Chelkash loved the sea, which was now black, calm, thick like butter. Gavrila was frightened by this dark mass of water, which seemed even more terrible because of the heavy lead clouds.

The guy asked Chelkash where the fishing tackle was. The thief was embarrassed to lie to this boy, he got angry and shouted fiercely at Gavrila. He realized that they were not going to be fishing at all, he was very frightened and began to ask Chelkash to let him go so as not to ruin his soul. The thief pointed at the guy again, and then he rowed silently, only crying and fidgeting in fear around the bench.

Meanwhile, Chelkash brought the boat close to the granite wall of the pier extending into the water. Taking the oars and Gavrila’s passport so that he would not escape, Chelkash climbed the granite wall and soon was lowering bales of stolen goods into the boat. Having experienced such great fear, the guy decided to follow all the thief’s orders in order to part with him as quickly as possible.

Chelkash was pleased with his luck, with himself and with this guy, who was so intimidated by him and turned into his slave.

Now the accomplices had to guide the boat through customs cordons. Hearing the word “cordons,” Gavrila decided to call for help and had already opened his mouth, when suddenly a fiery blue sword rose from the water, “lay on the chest of the sea,” and its wide stripe illuminated ships invisible in the darkness. Out of fear, Gavrila fell to the bottom of the boat. Chelkash picked it up and angrily hissed that it was just an electric lantern from a customs cruiser.

The cordons were passed. Relaxing a little, Chelkash said that in one night he “took half a thousand.” Gavrila dreamed of a farm that could be run with this money.

Chelkash also became carried away and remembered his father, a wealthy peasant. Gavrila sincerely felt sorry for him, who left the earth without permission and “suffered due punishment for this absence.” Anger flared up in Chelkash - his “conceit of a reckless daredevil” was hurt by someone who had no value in his eyes.

Then they sailed in silence. Chelkash recalled his childhood, his mother and father, his beautiful wife. He remembered how the whole village greeted him from the army - a handsome and tall guardsman, how proud his gray-haired father, hunched over from work, was proud of him.

Memory, this scourge of the unfortunate, revives even the stones of the past and even adds drops of honey to the poison once drunk...

Chelkash felt lonely, forever thrown out of the order of life in which he grew up.

Soon the boat moored to a low ship. Non-Russian, dark-skinned people took the goods and put the accomplices to bed.

III

In the morning, Gavrila did not recognize Chelkash - so different, slightly worn, but still strong clothes had changed him. The guy recovered from the fright and was not averse to working for Chelkash again - after all, you may not lose your soul, but you will definitely become a rich man.

They got into the boat and went to the shore. On the way, Chelkash gave Gavrila his share, and the guy saw how much money he had left.

Gavrila came ashore very excited. He fell at Chelkash’s feet and began to beg to give him all the money. The thief will walk them away, and he, Gavrila, will manage the household and become a respected person in the village. The amazed and embittered Chelkash took the bills out of his pocket and threw them to Gavrila.

- On the! Eat... - he shouted, trembling with excitement, acute pity and hatred for this greedy slave. And, throwing the money, he felt like a hero.

Chelkash felt that he, a thief and reveler, “will never be so greedy, low, and not remembering himself.”

Gavrila collected the money and admitted that he was ready to hit the thief with an oar, rob him and drown him in the sea - anyway, no one would miss such a missing person. Hearing this, Chelkash grabbed the guy by the throat, took the money and turned to leave. And then Gavrila threw a large stone hard at the thief’s head.

Chelkash fell. Mortally frightened, Gavrila rushed away, forgetting about the money, but soon returned and began to bring the thief to his senses. He kissed Chelkash’s hands and asked for forgiveness, but he spat in the guy’s eyes, then contemptuously threw him money and walked away, staggering, along the shore. Gavrila sighed, collected the bills and walked with firm steps in the opposite direction from Chelkash.

Soon the rain and the tide washed away the footprints and the blood stain on the sand, and nothing reminded “of the little drama that played out between two people.”

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