From the earliest years, people who receive classical secondary education are familiar with the names of such writers as Pushkin, Tolstoy, Lermontov, Gogol and others. And today, the all-knowing Literaguru wants to tell about one of these works - the tale "Ivan the Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf". But you will find here not only the plot of this marvelous fairy tale, stated accurately and concisely, the bonus for retelling is a review for your reader's diary, which you can safely use in preparation for your classes.
Summary:
This fairy tale begins with a classic outset: there was a king, and he had three sons, the youngest was called Ivan. The king in the kingdom had a large apple orchard with golden apples, and one fine day these apples began to disappear, and no one could find the culprit. The king asks his sons to figure it out. The first son went to guard the apples in the garden, but fell asleep and did not see anything, the second as well. The third one, Ivan, performed his work and, through simple manipulations, the thief calculated: it turned out to be a beautiful Firebird. He can’t catch her, but in the fight he pulls a feather from her tail. Then he goes to Berendey, talks about his nightly adventure. The king is very glad that the thief was finally found, takes the beautiful feather for himself, he really likes it. After some time, the king, as usual, wants to get the whole bird to his kingdom and sends three of his sons for it.
Well, what can you do, good fellows mounted on horses and parted in three directions. Ivan Tsarevich rode for a long time, through the forests, through the fields, until he was tired. Then he got down from the horse, tied him, and went to bed himself. In the morning, Ivan wakes up, but there is no horse anywhere. Only a bunch of bones remained. Burnt, burnt, Ivan, and then moved on, already at his feet. He walked for a long, long time, very tired, right to death. Then a gray wolf runs out to him from the forest and says that he has been following him for a long time. And he ate the horse. In return, he is ready to serve faithfully.
Ivan Tsarevich mounted astride a gray one and galloped on it further. And the wolf knows where the firebird lives and who its owner is. It turned out to be king Afron. He took the wolf of Ivan to the firebird, and strictly ordered him not to touch the cages. Yes, Ivan could not resist, he touched the cage, and the guard of aphron captured him. After long explanations, he agrees to give the youngster a bird, but in return asks for a horse with a golden mane.
Again, Ivan sits on Sery and they go further than the horse to look for it. The story repeats itself: Ivan secretly sneaks into the stall to the horse, wants to steal it, but grabs the gold bridle with him, which could not be touched. And again he is caught by a guard, this time King Kusman. Kusman, in the same scenario, agrees to give the horse to the prince if he brings him the unearthly beauty girl - Elena the Beautiful, the daughter of Tsar Dalmatia.
So what to do, send Ivan and the Gray Wolf to get the third trophy, but only this time the wolf realized that Ivan would cut it again, so he decided to do all the work himself and finish this adventure. And the wolf successfully steals the princess. They went on the return trip, but only Ivan became sad, did not want him to part with treasures. The wolf helps him again - he is a magical creature. Turns himself into Elena the Beautiful and deceives King Kusman, then turns into a horse and deceives Afron. They go further, but only the wolf should go away, as envious brothers find Ivan sleeping in the forest, they take away all his trophies, and they cut him to death with a knife. But Ivan was lucky - the wolf arrived in time and moistened his wounds with dead water, and he drunk the prince himself with living water, he came to life as if nothing had happened.
After they catch up with the brothers, they take away trophies from them, the wolf of the brothers tears apart. And then Ivan parted with the wolf - this time forever. Ivan arrives home as a hero, brings a bird and a horse to his father, and a bride to himself. This is where the tale ends.
Feedback:
The tale "Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf" seemed to me rather controversial. I explain why. Firstly, this is the main character. What are his impressions of himself? He constantly makes mistakes and makes mistakes everywhere and “leaves” the winners only because he was lucky to meet the Gray Wolf. And in the third test, the wolf does all the work for him, in fact, recognizing his helplessness. But weakness - mental and physical - is not all the negative qualities of the prince. He has absolutely no compassion. He does not bathe an eye and gives his wives to the wolf, without even thinking about forgiveness and pardon. Yes, of course they are also good - they killed him for the sake of profit. But still, it was possible not to kill them. As a result, a completely “no” hero, without any efforts and positive qualities, receives the princess and the kingdom in addition. Question - for what? It seems to me that the ending of the tale is completely unfair.
But he will move on to another hero of the fairy tale, or rather, the heroine. The unearthly beauty girl - Elena the Beautiful throughout the tale betrayed from the hand as if some goods. Nobody asks her anything at all, neither Seryi, nor Ivan say a word to her, she is like a horse or a bird. Either she is with King Afron, then with Ivan, then with his brothers. No one asks if she wants or does not want to marry Ivan. What's the difference. As the saying goes, "Like - don't like, endure, my beauty."
My attitude to the fairy tale was greatly ruined by the theme of family ties. In this tale we see a triple fratricide, and without any remorse and regret on this account, for the sake of trophies, for the sake of money. Ivan does not stop the wolf when he kills his siblings, and the father, learning about the death of his sons, is sad for exactly five seconds, switching to a bird, horse or something else. Just a crazy family.
In general, my impression of a fairy tale is disappointing. I do not see in her a single positive or at least the least pleasant character for me. The wolf, too, comes in rather strange. He is a magical creature, omnipotent, but what is the motive of all his good deeds is not clear. Why is he helping Ivan? What did he get in return? After all, he had to do so much to correct the mistakes of his “friend” and finally complete this chain of his constant failures - you will not wish the enemy. It was easier for him to eat the owner along with his horse at the very beginning of the tale.
But still there is really good morality in this fairy tale. First: not all of the main characters are great. Secondly: the brothers who tried to kill Ivan get what they deserve. They wanted by deception, through a terrible crime, to appropriate his merits. Behave cruelly, meanly, petty. And they wanted to get out of the water dry. And this, as you know, even in fairy tales does not happen.
Yuri Miloslavsky
