Leo Tolstoy - Cossacks. Evgeniya Tour

The story "Cossacks" was published in 1863. The work tells about the stay of a young cadet in the village Terek Cossacks. Initially, the story was conceived as a novel. At the beginning of 1851, Tolstoy, being in the rank of cadet, went to the Caucasus. Here he lived exactly the life that his hero Olenin lived: he communicated with local residents, spent a lot of time hunting, and walked around the surrounding area.

The main characters of the novel were the same as in the story. The only differences were in the names. Dmitry Olenin was called officer Rzhavsky. Lukashka was called Kirka. Work on the novel lasted at least ten years. Most of the material was prepared by the writer in the Caucasus. However, work continued during Tolstoy's travels through Switzerland in the early 1860s. It was during this journey main character and received the last name by which the reader knows him in the story. Then Tolstoy forgot about his novel for a while.

At the beginning of 1862, work resumed. The writer managed to sell the rights to publish a future book. At the same time, Tolstoy decided to abandon the creation of the work and return the money already received for it. However, the writer was refused to terminate the contract, and Tolstoy was forced to turn his novel into a story.

Almost 100 years after the creation of the work, in 1961 the story was filmed.

Juncker Dmitry Olenin lived in Moscow for a long time. However, over time, he got tired of being in this city, and he decided to go to the Caucasus in search of new experiences. Dmitry is going to a new military unit. Arriving at the village of Novomlinskaya, the main character settled near the Terek and began to wait for the arrival of his regiment.

Olenin really likes the nature of the village. He begins to feel disgusted with the civilization in which he spent so much time. Dmitry was able to fall in love not only with nature, but also with the local people. The Cossacks are unlike all those people with whom he is accustomed to communicate. The main character wants to stay in the village forever.

Olenin dreams of marrying Maryana, the daughter of his masters. He really likes the girl, but he is afraid to talk to her. Maryana has a fiancé - the daring Cossack Lukashka. The girl's parents had already given their blessing for marriage. But this doesn’t bother Olenin. By marrying Maryana, he will be able to stay in Novomlinskaya.

Prince Beletsky, who arrived in the village after the main character, is well known to Olenin. There has long been a hostile relationship between the men. The prince organizes a celebration to mark his arrival. During the holiday, the main character finally managed to talk with Maryana. Dmitry persuades the girl to marry him. Olenin also wants to talk to her parents. However, the conversation never took place. Chechens crossed the river, with whom local Cossacks and visiting military personnel were forced to engage in battle. The Cossacks were able to win, but Lukashka was seriously wounded. He was wounded by one of the Chechens. The enemy tried to avenge the death of his brother.

The dying Lukashka is brought to the village, and then sent for a doctor. The further fate of the hero remains unknown to the reader. Having learned about what happened, Maryana refuses to marry Olenin. Dmitry understands that the most prudent thing for him to do would be to leave. He leaves Novomlinskaya.

Dmitry Olenin

In the main character of the story it is not difficult to recognize the well-known Pechorin or Eugene Onegin. Both characters suffer from boredom and the meaninglessness of their existence. Each of them is trying to entertain themselves in one way or another.

Dmitry Olenin also cannot find a place for himself. In Moscow, out of boredom, he became a participant in a love affair, which partly forced him to change his place of residence. After moving to the village, the main character thinks that he has found his “promised land.” Olenin likes absolutely everything here: nature, people, and customs. Dmitry wants to become a Cossack, like the residents of the village.

Juncker returns to what he was trying to escape from: he is again in the center of a love affair. Olenin is not trying to find a free girl. He certainly wants to “beat off” someone else’s bride. For the main character, this becomes a kind of entertainment. When Maryana makes it clear that she does not intend to respond to Olenin’s advances, Dmitry once again runs away, leaving behind everything in which he thought he found his meaning in life.

Cossack Maryana

The image of Maryana is the complete opposite of the image of Olenin. This girl grew up in the wild, far from civilization. The main character was attracted by her naturalness and dissimilarity from the salon young ladies in whose company he had the opportunity to spend time in Moscow. The young Cossack woman does not speak foreign languages, does not know how to “play music” and conduct small talk. Hypocrisy and coquetry are alien to her.

Reasonableness in Maryana’s character

Having no education, Maryana has a decisive and unyielding character, which serves as her life guide. Despite the appearance of a more promising gentleman, the young Cossack woman is in no hurry to agree. Maryana doubts: she has known Lukashka all her life, Olenin is a stranger from an unfamiliar world.

The tragedy that happened to the girl’s fiancé becomes a “sign from above” for Maryana. Being religious and superstitious, the young Cossack woman believes that she and the man who tried to seduce her are to blame for what happened.

The main idea of ​​the story

Having no interest and meaning in life, a person blames the reality around him for this. However, even after a change of environment, a bored person after some time returns to his original state, not realizing that both interest and meaning in life must be sought, first of all, in oneself.

Analysis of the work

One of the most significant works of Russian literature of the mid-19th century was the story “Cossacks” by Tolstoy. Summary This work can be conveyed in a few words. But in order to comprehend his idea, you will probably have to re-read the story several times.

The main character, who is in search of something that he himself cannot understand and describe to himself, becomes the first object that the reader pays attention to. After Olenin moved to the village, the author invites the public to pay attention to the new scenery, among which was his hero. Instead of a dull, dirty city, we see the untouched beauty of nature. Despite the fact that the author does not directly call for abandoning civilization, he does his best to prove the superiority of natural living conditions over artificial ones created by man, and therefore imperfect.

The story reveals to the reader all the difficulties and worries that young people encounter during the period of growing up and developing their personality.

Tolstoy's turn to nature occurred in his youth. As he grew older, he strengthened this connection even more. The great Russian writer loved the simple peasant life and preferred the society of peasants to the elite. Real life, according to Tolstoy, is possible only in the lap of nature, far from the hypocrisy of the secular salons of big cities. This idea found its fans among those who read the story “Cossacks”.

However, there were also opponents to the unity of people and nature. Some literary critics believed that for a modern educated person such aspirations are tantamount to degradation. A person should always go forward and not turn back.

Chapter 1. At night in Chevalier's Moscow establishment, two young men escort a third, nobleman Olenin, to serve as a cadet in the Caucasus.

Chapter 2. On the road, Olenin recalls his chaotic life. Almost a youth, he, however, had already managed to squander half of his fortune, although he never found the passionate love he dreamed of. The Caucasus seems to him a romantic place where one can perform heroic deeds.

Lev Tolstoy. Cossacks. Audiobook

Chapter 3. Olenin reaches the southern provinces, sees unusual nature, people in Cossack outfits and mountains, whose greatness greatly impresses him.

Chapter 4. The Cossack population of the Terek Line comes from Old Believers who once fled here from religious persecution. It is very different from the inhabitants of central Russia - in particular, the position of women, who here enjoys much greater freedom and has a very strong influence in family life. The further action of Leo Tolstoy's story takes place in one of the Terek Cossack villages - Novomlinskaya.

Chapter 5. Ulita, the wife of the cornet of Novomlinskaya, has a beautiful daughter, Maryana. One of the snail neighbors really wants to marry her to her son Lukashka.

Chapter 6. Lukashka is at this time with other Cossacks at one of the posts of the Terek border: they are guarding so that the predatory mountain abreks do not cross it. Tolstoy describes this handsome guy of about 20 years old, who stands out from other peers with his intelligence and authoritative character. An elderly, broad-shouldered Uncle Eroshka, the best hunter of these places, comes to the Cossacks’ outpost.

Chapter 7. Nazarka’s friend tells Luka that his village friend Dunayka went on a spree with the Cossack Fomushkin. Nazar advises Lukashka to break up with Dunayka and “move up” to Khorunzhina Maryanka.

In the evening, the constable sends Luka, Nazarka and the Cossack Ergushov on night watch to the river crossing.

Chapter 8. Luka and his friends come on patrol. When his comrades fall asleep, he notices that one of the large snags floating along the river is moving strangely: not with the flow, but as if against it. Luka guesses: a Chechen abrek is clinging to her from below. Without waking his comrades, he takes aim, and when the head of the robber appears among the branches of the snag, he shoots and kills him.

Chapter 9 At dawn, other Cossacks gather at the patrol where Lukashka was shooting. A murdered Chechen is pulled out of the water. Lukashka's trophy is the abrek's gun and dagger.

Chapter 10. Two days later, an infantry regiment comes to billet in the village of Novomlinskaya. Olenin, who now serves there, and his servant Vanyusha settle with Ulita. On the very first day, the beautiful and slender Maryana catches his eye.

Chapter 11. Sitting by the window in the room rented from Ulita, Olenin meets the hunter Eroshka passing by. He invites him to have a drink and sends Vanyusha to Ulita to buy chikhir (wine).

Chapter 12. Maryana goes to pour wine for Vanyusha, passing by the window in front of Olenin and Eroshka. Eroshka tells Olenin that this beauty is being wooed to the Cossack Luka. Maryana had already noticed the young officer who had settled with them. While filling the decanter for Vanyusha, she asks if his master is married, and finds out that he is not.

Chapter 13. In the evening, Cossacks gather near the huts to talk, gnawing on sunflower seeds. The tipsy Luka, Nazar and Ergushov approach the company of women and girls. Lukashka, with a sly grin, speaks to Maryana, who is sitting right there. When she goes home, Luka catches up with her at the fence, tries to hug her and asks for love. At first, Maryana sternly distances herself from him: “I’ll get married, but you won’t get any nonsense from me.” But then he kisses her on the lips and runs home.

Chapter 14. Olenin drinks chikhir with Eroshka all this evening. He tells him about his youth, about the old times when he hunted, fought, and walked with girls. Desperate Eroshka has little faith in God. “You’ll die,” he believes, “grass will grow on the grave, that’s all.” Olenin sadly thinks about these words.

Chapter 15. Eroshka talks a lot about animals and their habits. Listening to his stories, Olenin begins to walk around the yard. Suddenly he hears the sound of a kiss at the fence, sees Maryana slipping past, and some Cossack moves away from the fence. A accidentally caught scene of someone else's love arouses a feeling of loneliness in Olenin's soul. He and Eroshka agree to go hunting together the next morning.

Chapter 16. Eroshka lives alone: ​​his wife left him long ago. In the morning, his friend Luka looks into the old hunter’s hut and says that they promised to give him a cross for the killed Chechen, but the greedy centurion took away the expensive gun taken from the dead body. Eroshka advises him not to give in to anyone and always behave like a real horseman. Luka is again preparing to go on patrol at the river crossing.

Chapter 17. His mother and dumb sister gather Luka for the outpost. His mother says that she tried to marry Maryana to him. Grinning, Lukashka goes off into the morning fog.

Chapter 18. Eroshka goes to Olenin early in the morning to take him hunting. Maryana’s father, the cornet, also comes here to negotiate the price that Olenin will pay for renting the hut. After a conversation with the cornet, Olenin privately tells Eroshka about the scene with the kiss that happened in the evening. Eroshka says with laughter that he kissed Maryana, probably his favorite Luka.

Chapter 19. Olenin and Eroshka go into the forest. He and Olenin kill several pheasants, then find the deer's lair, but he runs away from them at the last moment. Eroshka furiously curses himself for approaching the deer from the wrong side. After the hunt, Olenin again thinks about Maryana.

Chapter 20. The next day Olenin goes hunting alone. He enthusiastically searches for pheasants, not paying attention to the huge clouds of mosquitoes. Thoughts flow naturally in his head. In ecstasy, Olenin feels happy, he is suddenly penetrated by the idea that the meaning of life, which he previously sought, is to make other people happy through love and self-sacrifice. Olenin spends the whole day in the thicket and in the evening he loses his way in a dangerous place, where Caucasian abreks often hunt. Olenin does not find the road for a long time and, already in despair, rushes along the edge of a ditch he encounters on the way.

Chapter 21. Soon Olenin is happy to hear Russian speech. It turns out that, having deviated from the road, he went to the very outpost where Lukashka and his comrades were serving. Just at this time, the brother of the Chechen killed by Luka arrived there from the other side of the Terek to ransom his dead body. Olenin watches how this proud horseman looks contemptuously at the Russians. The ransomed body is transported by boat across the river. Lukashka chuckles, standing next to his comrades. “Are you happy? What if your brother was killed? - Olenin asks him. “So what? And not without that! Isn’t our brother being beaten?” - Luka answers.

Chapter 22. Lukashka is sent to accompany Olenin to the village. Along the way, Togo is again overcome by an attack of enthusiastic kindness. Olenin asks why Luka has not yet married Maryana. He replies that he first needs to fix a Cossack horse for himself, but there is no money for that yet. In a fit of generosity, Olenin (a rich man) gives Lukashka one of his horses. Luka, a simple and natural man, like nature itself, is amazed at such generosity: it is difficult for him to understand the strange spiritual impulses of a civilized city officer.

Chapter 23. Olenin little by little gets used to village life, to daily tiring and exciting hunting trips. They erase his spiritual doubts and make his character whole. He no longer thinks of returning to Moscow; sometimes he even dreams of becoming a simple Cossack. One day, his former Moscow acquaintance Beletsky, a secular youth who also came to serve in the Caucasus, appears in his hut. Having settled in the same village, Beletsky behaves very frivolously: he gets local old people drunk, organizes parties for young Cossack women and boasts to Olenin about his “victories” over many of them.

Chapter 24. Olenin becomes dexterous and strong like a Cossack. He notices that Maryana sometimes admires how he rides past her on a horse. He also really likes this serious, hardworking beauty, but constant voltage he does not think of Maryana as a woman, remembering Luka’s feelings for her. Olenin and Maryana hardly speak. Beletsky is surprised how Olenin, living next to such a girl, did not try to get to know her better. Once he invites Olenin to his place for a get-together with the girls, where Maryana will also be. Maryana's cheeky friend, Ustenka, sets a good table.

Chapter 25. At first, Olenin feels very awkward and tries to leave unnoticed, but Beletsky holds him back and places Maryana next to him. Out of embarrassment, Olenin begins to drink a lot. His shyness disappears from the wine, and he finally tries to hug and kiss Maryana. The other girls and Beletsky run out of the room laughing, leaving Olenin and Maryana inside and locking the door from the outside. Maryana smiles at Olenin and playfully reproaches him for the fact that he, a guest in their house, always sits in his room and does not come to her and her parents.

Chapter 26. Olenin is now making close acquaintance with Maryana’s family. He often visits them in the evenings. It becomes increasingly necessary for him to feel Maryana’s presence nearby. Olenin gets used to Cossack life even more, he is enchanted by the Caucasus region. There is no pompous bookish romance here that he had previously expected to meet, but the people here “live as nature lives: they die, are born, copulate, are born again, fight, drink, eat, rejoice and die again.” The old false Moscow life seems funny and disgusting to Olenin.

Chapter 27. Lukashka, who arrived, in gratitude for the donated horse, brings Olenin a beautiful dagger. Luka is going to soon marry Maryana. In the evening, he sneaks under her window and asks the beauty to let him in for the night, but she refuses. Nazark’s friend tells Luka that a “cadet” has started visiting his fiancee’s family. Lukashka is overcome with anger.

Chapter 28. Maryana's parents come to an agreement with Luka's mother about the wedding of their children. Olenin is sad that Maryana is being given away to someone else, but he tries to wish her and Lukashka happiness. In the evening, Uncle Eroshka, who was drunk in an arrangement, comes to Olenin with a balalaika and sings sad songs to him for a long time.

Chapter 29. The village harvests watermelons and grapes. Maryana spends whole days in hard work. Lukashka left for work, and they do not meet. Maryana has become accustomed to Olenin and enjoys feeling his gaze on her. Once the father relays to her and mother his conversation with Olenin’s servant, Vanyusha: he said that his master again received a thousand rubles from Russia.

Chapter 30. In the midst of one hot day, Maryana, lying down under a cart, talks with her friend Ustenka who has come running. She asks how she and Lukashka are doing, and sympathizes with Maryana: she will soon marry a Cossack, “then joy won’t even be a thought, the children will go and work.” “If I were in your place,” says Ustinka, “I would fool your rich guest!” I looked at him, as we had, and it seems that he would have eaten you with his eyes.”

Chapter 31. Olenin comes to Maryana’s vineyard on his way to hunt. “Well, will you soon marry Lukashka?” he asks. - "And what?" - “I’m envious. You are so beautiful! I don’t know what I’m ready to do for you...” At these words, Olenin himself flares up.

Chapter 32. Returning from hunting in the evening, Olenin spends the whole night without sleep out of excitement. More than once he approaches Maryana’s hut, trying to hear her breathing inside, and in the morning, completely distraught, he knocks on her window. Luka's friend Nazarka, passing by, catches him doing this. “Look, what a cornet! One is not enough for her,” he says. Olenin convinces Nazarka that Maryana is honest, but Nazarka that same day, returning to the outpost, tells Lukashka about everything. Olenin completely loses his head from love. For several days he leaves with his regiment to raid the highlanders beyond the Terek, but upon returning, he again sees the beauty and again goes crazy about her.

Chapter 33. Without knowing why, Olenin pours out his soul on paper: he sings of the powerful natural love that he first knew. It cannot be compared with the artificial, feigned feelings of residents of big cities.

Chapter 34. In the evening, Olenin goes to Maryana’s house. Her parents say that they wanted to get married to Lukashka that week, but he was “drunk” in his squad, he drinks, they want rumors that he went to the feet to steal horses. In the evening, when everyone has gone to bed, Olenin manages to be alone with Maryana for a minute. “Don’t marry Lukashka. I'll marry you! - he asks her. Maryana looks at him with disbelief.

Chapter 35. The next day a big holiday is celebrated in the village. Dressed people pour out into the streets. Guys and girls dance in circles and sing. Olenin is looking for a new meeting with Maryana.

Chapter 36. Luka and Nazarka come from service to the holiday. Luka gallops up on a horse to a group of girls, among whom stands Maryana. He tries to look cheerful, but it is noticeable that this is just a mask behind which Lukashka hides gloomy thoughts. Realizing this, Maryana is worried.

Chapter 37. Grandfather Eroshka and Ergushov come to Luka’s house to drink chikhir in honor of the holiday. Lukashka with impudent anger tells them how the other day he went with Nazarka and the Chechens of the famous leader Girey Khan to steal Nogai horses. Eroshka praises him for his daring and tells how he himself did the same thing in his youth.

Chapter 38. A tipsy Lukashka goes to the round dances of young people. Olenin is already standing here. Seizing the moment, Olenin takes Maryana aside and again begins to persuade her to marry him. Luke sees this scene. When Maryana returns to the round dance, he reproaches her for betraying her with a cadet guest. “I wanted it, I stopped loving you. I love whoever I want,” Maryana answers and goes to Beletsky’s house, where her friends again started a party. Olenin should also come to it.

Chapter 39. All evening Olenin sits in the corner of Beletsky’s hut in an embrace with Maryana, saying that tomorrow he will come to his parents to woo her. She responds by either laughing or squeezing his hands. Going out into the street at night, Olenin is full of happiness.

Chapter 40. The next morning, a commotion arose in the village: a Cossack patrol found Chechen abreks crossing the Terek several miles away. They were surrounded in the breakers and sent to the village for help. Nine Cossacks, led by Lukashka, arm themselves and go to the rescue. Olenin also follows them.

Chapter 41 Under the cover of a Nogai cart with hay, the Cossacks approach the hole where the Chechens are holed up, then quickly rush in with sabers and chop them all down. The brother of Lukashka, who had been killed earlier, turns out to be here and came to ransom his body. Luka tries to take this abrek alive, but he seriously wounds him in the stomach with a pistol - and he himself dies from a Cossack bullet. The bloodied Lukashka is transported home. Olenin comes to Maryana in the evening, but finds her in tears. “Go away, you hateful one!” - she shouts to him.

Chapter 42. Luka lies dying, they are going to bring him a doctor, an expert in herbs, from the mountains. Olenin, realizing that Maryana will never love him, leaves the village for the fortress where the regiment is stationed. Finally, he says goodbye to Eroshka, who asks him for a gun as a gift. Maryana passes by, bowing indifferently. The troika drives off. Olenin looks around and sees: Eroshka and Maryana are apparently talking about their own affairs, not looking at him.

Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy

Everything became quiet in Moscow. Rarely, rarely, can you hear the screech of wheels on a winter street. There are no longer any lights in the windows, and the lanterns have gone out. The sounds of bells echo from the churches and, swaying over the sleeping city, remember the morning. The streets are empty. Rarely does a night cab driver mix sand and snow with narrow runners and, having moved to another corner, fall asleep while waiting for the rider. The old woman will go to the church, where, reflected in the golden frames, the asymmetrically placed wax candles burn red and sparsely. The working people are already getting up after a long winter night and going to work.

And the gentlemen still have evening.

In one of Chevalier’s windows, a fire glows illegally from under a closed shutter. A carriage, sleigh and cab drivers stand at the entrance, cramped with their rears. The postal service is right there. The janitor, wrapped up and cowered, seems to be hiding behind the corner of the house.

“And why are they pouring from empty to empty? - thinks the footman, with a haggard face, sitting in the hallway. “And all for my duty!” From the next bright room you can hear the voices of three young people having dinner. They are sitting in the room near the table, on which are the remains of dinner and wine. One, small, clean, thin and ugly, sits and looks at the departing person with kind, tired eyes. Another, tall one, lies next to a table littered with empty bottles and plays with the clock key. The third, in a brand new sheepskin coat, walks around the room and, occasionally stopping, cracks almonds in his rather thick and strong fingers, but with clean nails, and everyone smiles at something; his eyes and face are burning. He speaks with fervor and with gestures; it is clear that he cannot find words, and all the words that come to him seem insufficient to express everything that has come to his heart. He smiles constantly.

Now we can say everything! - says the one leaving. “It’s not that I’m making excuses, but I would like you to at least understand me as I understand myself, and not as vulgarity views this matter.” “You say that I am guilty before her,” he turns to the one who looks at him with kind eyes.

Yes, it’s my fault,” the small and bad man answers, and it seems that even more kindness and fatigue are expressed in his gaze.

“I know why you say this,” the driver continues. - To be loved, in your opinion, is the same happiness as to love, and enough for a lifetime if you have achieved it once.

Yes, very pleased, my soul! “More than necessary,” confirms the small and ugly one, opening and closing his eyes.

But why not love yourself! - says the departing man, thinks and seems to look at his friend with regret. - Why not love? I don't like it. No, to be loved is misfortune, misfortune when you feel that you are to blame because you do not give the same and cannot give. Oh my god! - He waved his hand. - After all, if all this was done rationally, otherwise it’s all done in reverse, somehow not our way, but in our own way. It's like I stole this feeling. And you think so; don't refuse, you have to think about it. But would you believe it, of all the stupidities and nasty things that I have done a lot in my life, this is one for which I do not and cannot repent. Neither at first nor after did I lie to myself or to her. It seemed to me that I had finally fallen in love, but then I saw that it was an involuntary lie, that it was impossible to love like that, and I could not go further; and she went. Am I to blame for not being able to? What was I supposed to do?

Well, it's over now! - said the friend, lighting a cigar to disperse his sleep. - There’s only one thing: you haven’t loved yet and don’t know what it means to love.

The one who was wearing a short fur coat wanted to say something again and grabbed his head. But what he wanted to say was not expressed.

Did not love! Yes, I really didn’t like it. Yes, there is in me a desire to love, a stronger desire than which one cannot have! Yes again, is there such a love? Everything remains something unfinished. Well, what can I say! I messed up, I messed up my life. But it's over now, you're right. And I feel that a new life is beginning.

In which you will mess up again,” said the one lying on the sofa and playing with the clock key; but the one driving away did not hear him.

“I’m both sad and glad that I’m going,” he continued. - Why is it sad? I don't know.

And the departing man began to talk about only himself, not noticing that others were not as interested in this as he was. A person is never as selfish as in a moment of spiritual delight. It seems to him that there is nothing in the world at this moment more beautiful and interesting than himself.

Dmitry Andreich, the coachman doesn’t want to wait! - said a young courtyard man wearing a fur coat and tied with a scarf who came in. - Horses since twelve o'clock, and now it's four.

Dmitry Andreich looked at his Vanyusha. In his tied scarf, in his felted boots, in his sleepy face, he heard the voice of another life calling him - a life of work, deprivation, activity.

Indeed, goodbye! - he said, looking for the unfastened hook on himself.

Despite the advice to give the coachman more vodka, he put on his hat and stood in the middle of the room. They kissed once, twice, stopped and then kissed a third time. The one who was wearing a short fur coat came up to the table, drank the glass that was standing on the table, took the small and ugly one by the hand and blushed.

No, I’ll still say it... It is necessary and possible to be frank with you, because I love you... You love her, don’t you? I always thought that... right?

“Yes,” answered the friend, smiling even more meekly.

And maybe…

“Please, the candles have been ordered to be put out,” said the sleepy footman, who had listened to the last conversation and wondered why the gentlemen always said the same thing. - Who would you like to write down the bill for? Behind you, sir? - he added, turning to the tall one, knowing in advance who to turn to.

Follow me,” said the tall one. - How many?

Twenty-six rubles.

The tall man thought for a moment, but said nothing and put the bill in his pocket.

And the two talking had their own way.

Goodbye, you're a great guy! - said the small and ugly gentleman with gentle eyes.

Tears welled up in both of their eyes. They went out onto the porch.

Oh yes! - said the one driving away, blushing and turning to the tall one. - You will arrange the account for Chevalier, and then write to me.

“Okay, okay,” said the tall one, putting on his gloves. - I envy you! - he added completely unexpectedly when they went out onto the porch.

The departing man sat in the sleigh, wrapped himself in a fur coat and said: “Well! let’s go,” and even moved in the sleigh to give room to the one who said that he envied him; his voice trembled.

The person who saw him off said: “Goodbye, Mitya, God grant you...” He wanted nothing more than for him to leave as quickly as possible, and therefore could not say what he wanted.

DESCRIPTION OF THE COSSACKS MANUSCRIPTS.

1. Continuation of the story.

A. Autograph 4°, 4 sheets. from two separate folded half-sheets of writing paper (stamp No. 20), written in a sweeping handwriting, without margins (except for the first page, where 1/3 of the width is left for them). Start:“2 years have passed (written in addition to the original: 6 years) since then...” Contains a story about the return of Kirk (Lukashka’s former name) from the mountains. The presentation is concise and the closer to the end, the more concise, so it looks like the first draft of a scene. The hero still bears the name Rzhavsky, therefore, it was written before September 1. 1860 (see next no.). According to the Diary, one can think that the scene was written on May 9, 1858 in Yasnaya Polyana. (“Wrote the return of Kirka.”)

Printed above. (Pages 153-157.)

B. Autograph F°, 6 sheets. Foreign postal paper of large format (in the description of stamps No. 15). Two pages are occupied by the cover, on which is the inscription: “Fugitive. - Jer. September 1, 1860." The handwriting is clear, the margins occupy the entire right half of the pages, there are almost no corrections, so it looks like a whitewashed autograph. Start:"Chapter. Gentlemen, returning from hunting...” Contains a variant of the episode about Kirka's return from the mountains. The hero is already Olenin (for the first time in dated material).

Printed above. (Pages 157-161.)

B. Autograph 4°, 21 sheets. of eleven separate folded writing half-sheets (paper stamp No. 20), written one after another, the last half-sheet, except for a small piece at the bottom, was torn off. Written in a thin, clear, condensed handwriting in several sittings and only on the left halves of the pages, while the right halves are occasionally occupied with corrections and insertions. At the top of the first page on the right is the date: "February 15, 1862." Start:“Part 3. Chapter 1. Three years have passed since then...” Contains the continuation of "Cossacks"; the hero is already Olenin, but the Cossack is still Kirk, and instead of Beletsky - Dampioni.

Printed above (Pages 161-175).

2. Options for Part I.

1. Autograph 4°, 20 sheets. From ten individual folded half-sheets of writing paper (stamp No. 3). Yellowed paper, low, wide handwriting, close to the manuscript of “Childhood”, lack of margins - all signs of the Caucasian group of manuscripts. There are pencil corrections, simultaneous with ink, and erasures. Beginning: “The Fugitive.” Chapter 1. Maryana. You get up late...” Contains three chapters and the beginning of the 4th. Before ch. 3rd “Meeting”, a few lines of notes are scribbled in a different handwriting, already referring to a different form of presentation - a letter from an officer. Also before Ch. 4th and after it - a series of summary phrases are thrown out in large numbers (outlining the further development of the plan in a different situation). The hero's name is Gubkov (and Dubkov). Maryana is already married.

We consider this autograph to be the earliest beginning of the story and date it back to August 28-31, 1853. Soon the work was abandoned, and the author never returned to it, quickly starting to write again according to a different plan. Summary phrases represent an attempt to create a bridge from this beginning of the story to the next version.

Option No. 1, (pp. 176-188.)

2. Autograph 4°, 12 sheets. Old yellowed paper (stamp No. 4), careful handwriting, borderless letter, six full folds, numbered on folds only: 1-6. The amendments are simultaneous with the text.

Start:"Cossacks. Chapter I. Two companies of infantry...” Contains a story about the arrival of Lieutenant Rzhavsky and the old orderly Petrov in the Grebenskaya Old Believer village. Meeting Eroshka. Evening in the village. Maryana with Ustinka on the street with the Cossacks Kirka and Nazarka. Kirk asks for a date.

We attribute the manuscript to 1853 and consider it the first solid beginning of the story after the abandoned attempt of the previous No. 1. It has a direct continuation, now hidden in the middle of the next autograph No. 3 (its second part). This is confirmed by the coincidence of the paper, the method of writing and numbering, the counting of chapters and the direct connection in content. Disunion probably occurred in 1858.

3. Autograph 4°, 22 sheets, numbered by pages (1-44), with the loss of one sheet (pages 31-32), written on both sides, except for pages 33 and 44, where the reverse sides are without text and without numbers. Comprised of four parts: 1) The first 18 pages (4 half sheets and one quarter sheet) are written on paper stamped No. 19, with large margins at the outer edge. 2) Page 19-30 (three half-sheets) written without margins with a slight indentation at the beginning of the lines, in a different handwriting and on paper with the stamp No. 3 or No. 4, with the old numbering crossed out (one number for a whole fold of 4 pages, here: 7, 8, 9) and the old count of chapters, corrected twice (at first it was: 6, 7, 8, then corrected to 5, 6, 7, then both were crossed out). 3) One sheet of page 33, also written without margins, but on different paper and in a different handwriting (paper stamp No. 20). 4) Page 34-44 again with margins at the outer edge, like the 1st part of the autograph and on the same paper No. 19 (stamp preserved at the bottom of pp. 40-44). Page 38-44 are written on two half-sheets, nested one inside the other. Start:"Chapter 2. The day after the described event, two companies...". The content is the same as in the previous manuscript, but Kirka’s meeting with Maryana, an essay about the Grebensky Cossacks and a characterization of Rzhavsky are added.

We explain the composite nature of the manuscript as follows. Having taken up the old papers of “Cossacks” in 1858, Tolstoy rewrote the beginning (the previous manuscript) with processing; this amounted to the first 18 pages of this manuscript; to continue, he took directly old sheets of paper (here is the second part of the manuscript) and then added to the 3rd and 4th parts. Then new alterations began: erroneous pagination on the pages, a new count of chapters, which was not established immediately: number 2 was initially clearly redone from 1 (on page 6 we see the crossed out number of the chapter: 2), then the first phrase was added (the old beginning was: “ Two companies..."). But 3rd ch. (p. 14) was installed immediately and was only moved a few lines lower. There are also very late alterations: replacing Kirka with Lukashka could only have been done in 1862, because in manuscript B with the date February 15, 1862, the Cossack is still Kirka.

Part of the manuscript is printed above. Option No. 2 (pp. 188-190).

4. Autograph 4°, 17 sheets. written on paper with stamp No. 3 or No. 4 without margins, with an indentation at the beginning of the lines (except for the last 4 sheets, where there are margins and paper without a stamp - this is a variant of the previous two sheets). The first 5 liters not numbered: starting from the back of the 6th sheet there is a numbering: 45, 46, etc., ending with 59. Between pages 47 and 48 there is a half-sheet (4 pages) without a number, adjacent in the original text to page 47, but during the rework it fell away and was therefore all crossed out. Between pages 51 and 52, a half-sheet without numbering is again inserted, also directly continuing the text, but when altered, as mentioned above, it was replaced by a more developed version on page 8, but retaining the same phrases at the beginning and at the end. Start:“Mother said to pour...”

We consider the entire manuscript (except for the last 4 pages of the variant) to have appeared in 1853 and processed around 1858. It continues, with some omissions, the second part of the previous manuscript. It is easy to fill in the contents of this gap. The second part ended with Kirka’s meeting with Maryana, which according to the old account occupied chapter 8; This manuscript begins at the end of the 9th chapter, for on the second sheet we read: “10. Rzhavsky woke up in the most cheerful mood.” So the 9th chapter, obviously, contained Kirka’s night drinking after the date and departure at dawn to the cordon, when his mother warned him at parting against drinking. Then there are chapters 11 and 12.

Around 1858, this text was redone, continued numbering and adapted to the new edition, but not completely: page 45 is only 6 pages long, but the previous 11 pages have not been crossed out; it was apparently tacitly assumed that they would not be included in the text. But now many of them are included. A slight reworking and replacement of the name Kirk in 1862 took place here as well.

5. Autograph 4°, 7 sheets. The first four sheets are written without margins on paper from the Reiner factory (stamp No. 20) and are covered with corrections and erasures; There is pagination starting from page 60, but not all sheets are labeled. If you read the main text without corrections, then you need to insert the sheets, contrary to the pagination, in this order: 60, 61, 64, 65, without a number, 66, another without a number. The original text ends at 4 l. along with the end of the letter. The rest will be written later. The next two sheets on another, thicker paper without a stamp, with margins at the outer edge, are marked: 62, 63, the other two pages without numbers. If you insert this fold according to the pagination after page 61 and read with amendments, you will get a new version of the entire episode. But at the same time, you should discard the growth even later by 6 liters. end (from the words: “I approached and saw a strange sight”). Last 7th year again thinner paper, like the first 4, but without a stamp; On it, without margins, the beginning of Chapter 13 is briefly sketched. - Some amendments and additions are close to the time of creation of the original text, others - no earlier than 1862.

Start:"I went for luck."

The information about the manuscript presented above convinces us that the text received pagination only after revision, just as it had happened in two cases before (see the two previous issues). But there we could date the original text to 1853, and the processing and numbering to 1857-1858; here the situation is different: we have no right to attribute Reiner’s paper to 1853. One explanation remains: in the episode of a solitary hunt, what was created in 1853 ended; Five years later, Tolstoy, returning to the old papers, began to continue from where he left off. (Diary entry February 19, 1858: “The old beginning of the Cossacks is good, continued a little”). It is possible that it is this continuation that is before us here. Soon afterwards it was reworked along with other old material, and then everything was completely numbered, but the old sheets that fell off during this work were not thrown away, but were kept nearby.

We print the original text of the passage without amendments from 1862. Option No. 3 (pp. 190-194).

6. Autograph 4°, 6 sheets. Like several previous issues, the issue is divided into two parts: the original text and its revised version - a variant. Here the first part covers 4 sheets of paper by Reiner, there is no numbering, but the title says: 14. (The previous manuscript stopped at chapter 13.) Next to it is written: “Chapter 4.” (This is a remnant of another division into large chapters; in the previous manuscript, on page 4, in the new postscript after the old text we see: “Chapter 3”; therefore, the division into large chapters is younger.) The remaining 2 pp. The manuscripts, in terms of thick, unmarked paper, handwriting and the presence of margins, coincide with the corresponding later parts of several previous manuscripts and contain a more detailed version of 3 and 4 pp. first part. But the version is not fully adjusted, so it is not known where in the original text it could be inserted. At the end of it, several phrases of the summary are thrown in and the summary outlines the content of the chapter. 6th. The handwriting here is even more recent. Start:“Rzhavsky’s 2nd letter to his friend.”

The original text directly continues the material of previous manuscripts and was soon processed after writing; both took place in 1858. Some notes in the margins and phrases of the summary at the end were written already in 1862.

Option No. 4 (pp. 194-198).

7. Autograph 4°, 8 sheets. Four folded half-sheets of paper from the Shumov factory (stamp No. 8) with traces of stitching into three external seams, separate from each other. The handwriting is clear, careful, there are few corrections, the ink is brown, the margins are at the outer edge. On the 1st page above the title there is a small, barely legible entry and in the margins there are three or four later notes in large handwriting.

Start:"Cossacks. Chapter I. There was a holiday in the Grebenskaya village...”

Contains one of the early beginnings of the story: the arrival of two young Cossacks in the village and Kirka’s meeting with Maryana; part of the material was included in Chapter XXXVI. printed text, but here the characters and names are different.

In terms of paper and the method of stitching, the manuscript is the same as the next issue, with one unpublished excerpt from Tolstoy’s papers (see in the description of the stamp), precisely dating from the Diary to February 1855. Therefore, we attribute the manuscript to either this year (then the indication of an empty cover is confirmed - see about this in Chapter II of the article) or by 1856, when the Diary documented a return to the “Cossacks”. In terms of content and the number of chapters, this passage had a direct continuation in the next manuscript; the notes in large handwriting, outlining the further development of the plot, were probably made soon after the passage was written and remained undeveloped, since the entire plan was abandoned. According to this plan, Kirk is a modest, timid fellow, dominated by his older comrade Epishka, a brave, daring Cossack from a rich, distinguished family; he patronizes Kirka's love for Maryana. There is not even a hint of Uncle Eroshka, and according to the plan, it is as if there is not even a place for him here, for this Epishka is nothing more than young Eroshka. We return to this issue below.

Option No. 5 (pp. 198-205).

8. Autograph 4°, 12 sheets. From six half-sheets of the same Shumovskaya paper with the same three seams; The stitching has been partially preserved, but some sheets have been freed, with the 2nd and 5th half-sheets torn along the fold into separate quarters. Written on the left halves of the pages, text without interruption. With 3 l. The handwriting changes, on 6 and 7 pp. especially sharply; from this place there are undoubtedly very late amendments.

Start:"Chapter II. Cordon. The young Cossacks walked until daylight..."

For the reasons given in the description of the previous manuscript, this passage is a direct continuation of it and was written soon. But the plan had already changed significantly: the bright Epishka of the first chapter disappeared, Kirk moved to the first place, the old man Uncle Eroshka reappeared. The chapter “Cordon” here is the earliest version of the episode about the murder of an abrek, still relatively condensed and spare; The characters still have other names (Kirka, Ilyas, Evdoshka). Probably, when working on this chapter, the author remembered that once Epishka in the 1st chapter. discarded, then his name should be erased from there, which is why we see in the previous manuscript once the replacement of Epishka with Kirka, but this work was immediately abandoned. In the same way, taking up this manuscript again. in 1862, the author began to correct Kirk to Jlykashka and Evdoshka to Ergushova, but again did not complete the corrections.

We are printing part II of chapter. Option No. 6 (pp. 205-214).

9. Autograph 4°, 6 sheets. Two folds and two separate quarters of thick writing paper without stamps (in the description No. 9).

Start:“The officer’s influence on Maryana.” It was the month of August...”

In terms of grade and density, the paper is very close to the manuscript “Sevastopol in August” (late 1855) and a fragment of “A Fantastic Story”, precisely dated July 1858. Therefore, the passage can be attributed to that or time; in content it is a development of a condensed sketch of the same scene in the previous issue. Here the text is already very close to the printed one, but the very end of the chapter is different. And the summary notes at the end outline a course of events that does not quite coincide with the current outcome.

10. Autograph F°, 2 sheets.

Start:"Runaway Cossack." Terskaya line. Chervlennaya Stanitsa is the heart of the Grebensky Cossacks...”

Contains a description of the area and Cossack customs. One of the old beginnings of the story. The presentation is in the 1st person or assumes an epistolary form. (The second chapter begins with the words: “I came to live in the village of Chervlennaya.”) The description in the text is very close to the corresponding place in manuscript No. 3, which appeared around 1858. This similar place was probably transferred there from this passage, which according to general appearance manuscript, according to the paper (description of mark No. 9) and according to the 1st person account, it should be attributed to the early stage of the work, from 1853 to 1855 and no later than 1856.

11. Autograph F°, 2 sheets. A large format postal sheet of foreign paper; There are three pages of text, written on the left halves of the pages, while the right halves are occasionally occupied by notes and additions.

Start:“Fugitive. The Cossack Ilyaska had two sons...”

Contains in a brief summary the entire plan of the story in three parts. The course of events, faces and relationships are in many ways different than now. We refer the summary to April 19, 1857, when Tolstoy was in Geneva. Under this number, the Diary entry reads: “Wrote a Note,” which was preceded, starting from the 14th, by repeated reflection, noted daily in the Diary.

Option No. 7 (pp. 214-218).

12. Autograph F°, 8 sheets. The same foreign postal paper as in the previous manuscript; careful handwriting, also written on the left half of the pages.

Start:“Fugitive. I. Old and new."

It also contains a summary, but it is very unique; covering only the first chapter and the beginning of the second, it is much more like the first condensed draft of the exposition itself; then the whole thing is divided into small parts under numbers, there are 43 such parts in Chapter I, and 9 in Chapter 2. Finally, the peculiarity of the summary is that in some places it is written in clearly rhythmic prose, in the size of an anapest. The plan here is completely different from the previous outline. And this form and the plan itself were quickly abandoned.

Based on all these signs, we attribute the manuscript to the last days of April 1857, when the Diary for several days notes work on the “prose” and especially on the “poetic Cossack” and hesitation about which form to give preference to.

Option No. 8 (pp. 218-224).

13. Autograph F°, 10 sheets. Large format postal paper of fine foreign manufacture, for the most part without a mark, but on a few sheets there is an embossed locomotive in relief without any inscriptions. Written on the left half of the pages.

Start:“Fugitive. Chapter 1. Cossack village." Then 1 was changed to 4, the words “Cossack village” were crossed out, and below (in different ink?) it was written: “1. Officer. Two companies of the Caucasian infantry regiment..."

A comparison of the foreign paper and the title of the story “The Fugitive” with the instructions of the Diary for April 1857, where “Cossacks” are called exactly that, then the fact that Maryana’s fiancé here bears the name Tereshka, found only in two more notes of the same time, definitely attaches this manuscript for April 1857, when Tolstoy lived in Geneva. Some details of the story (Khorunzhiy, Maryana’s father, learns that an officer was placed with them from his daughter on the street) connect the manuscript with materials from 1853 (see No. 2 above).

Option No. 9 (pp. 224-229).

14. Autograph 8°, 18 pages. Fine foreign-made postal paper of small format without stamps, all 18 separate sheets are numbered, the handwriting is quite small, margins are left at the outer edge, there are corrections in other ink.

Start:“Runaway Cossack. Chapter 1. Holiday. It was a clear evening on Trinity Day.” Then both words of the title are crossed out, each separately, instead of 1, 2 is put, the word “Holiday” and the first phrase are also crossed out and replaced with the words: “The day after the event at the cordon...”.

Contains a detailed story about a festive evening on the street of the village. Kirk, his comrade Ilyas, Maryana and Eroshka are acting; The chapter ends with Kirka and Maryana meeting. The beginning of the second chapter talks about how Eroshka went to Maryana’s parents as a matchmaker for Kirk. Inside: the first chapter contains 9 small divisions under numbers.

By all accounts, the original text of the manuscript appeared in May-June 1857 in Switzerland and then, at least twice, was covered by later amendments (among which the amendments of 1862 occupy a prominent place). Undoubtedly, this option includes the Diary entry on June 24 about reading to Botkin: “He liked the Cossack” and the next day: “wrote a date, good, it seems.”

The original text depicts a completely different type of Kirk from the current Luke; he is modest and timid, as in the sketches of the first half of the 1850s. (cf. above nos. 3 and 7). On the back of sheet 4, in the margins, there is a (later) list of chapters of all three parts of the story, which does not correspond to the original text of this chapter; We consider it to have arisen and written down here later, already in Russia, at the end of the same or at the beginning of the next year, and we print it below in the notes section for 1858.

Option No. 10 is printed in its original form, without later amendments, so we managed to separate them. (Pages 229-245.)

15. Autograph 4°, 35 sheets. sewn into a notebook using an internal seam, with five punctures; At first there were 38 of all sheets, but 3 disappeared: two were torn off, and out of 4 cut out, 3 survived. Paper from two factories (stamps Nos. 18 and 19), clear handwriting, sharper outlines than in manuscripts of the early 1850s; fields at the outer edge, not numbered. The text occupies only the first 10 pages.

Start:“Chapter I. The young Grebenskaya Cossack stood on the tower...”

Contains the chapter “The Secret” or “Cordon” with the murder of an abrek: it ends with how, having seen enough of the body, the Cossacks began to disperse.

We believe that the manuscript was written in 1857-1858, and was corrected (probably completed) in 1862. The first is supported by the following three considerations: 1) Manuscripts No. 3 and No. 17, dating back to this time, were written on the same paper; 2) the third participant in the “secret” is immediately called Ergushov here, whereas in the manuscript of 1856 (No. 8) he is first Evdoshka and only then replaced by Ergushov; 3) the diary of 1858 twice mentions the writing of the “cordon” chapter (in April and in November). The second conclusion is based on the fact that until half of the 5th page the Cossack’s name is Kirka, only changed from above to Luka, and from the end of the 9th page Lukashka is written as the pen is moving (although the author more than once again strays to Kirka); and in the dated manuscript of the continuation of “Cossacks” (February 15, 1862), Kirk is still firmly standing. The text of the episode is not yet final, because in detail the course of events is now somewhat different. The sheets were cut out, obviously, in order to rewrite them, for a white autograph has been preserved (see the next number), beginning with exactly the same words as the first of the sheets cut out from here.

16. Autograph 4°, 4 sheets. Reiner's paper, white manuscript, contains part of the chapter "Cordon", starting from the middle of the phrase:“I spotted a target that was barely visible...”, i.e., exactly with the words that begin one of the cut-out sheets of the previous manuscript, therefore, copied from this sheet. - Refers, like the original, to 1857-1858.

17. Autograph 4°, 8 sheets. Paper stamped No. 18, margins at outer edge, pages unmarked, manuscript whitewashed, corrections and marginal notes in different handwriting and ink.

Start:"Chapter. Next day. There was a holiday in the village...”

Contains a description of the autumn holiday in the village (now chapters XXXV-XXXVIII).

Due to the connection of other manuscripts on the same paper and for other reasons stated below, we assign this chapter to 1858. The text of the chapter is not far from the printed one, but in some ways it is shorter: there is no story about the theft of horses, and two round dance songs are missing. The latter circumstance prompts us to date the manuscript no later than February 1858, because according to the Diary, on February 26, Tolstoy wrote to N.P. Alekseev in the Starogladkovskaya village with a request to send the lyrics. From the surviving reply letters of N. Alekseev to Tolstoy, it is clear that in March he sent him 10 songs, and in April another one and additional passes to those. The songs were enclosed on separate sheets of paper, and only the loose leaf for the April letter survived. Of the rest, five songs reached her in Tolstoy’s autograph (see next number); Among them, two entered the “Cossacks”.

18. Autograph F°, 2 sheets. One sheet of Rayner writing paper (stamp No. 20); A strip has been torn off along the length of the 2nd half-sheet. The handwriting is fast and careless.

Contains the texts of five Cossack songs: 1) “Because of the garden, the green garden”;. 2) “Whoever has not been, has not been beyond the Danube”; 3) “In a field near a valley a tree grew here”; 4) “Chago is pale in the face (soldier’s)”; 5) “As he walked around the garden, the garden, the good fellow walked.” Probably, the songs were copied by the author from a letter from N. Alekseev dated March 1858 (see previous issue). The first and last of these songs are taken into the story (chapter XXXVIII).

19. Autograph F°, 4 sheets. Paper with a vague oval stamp, similar to No. 18, written only on the left halves of the pages.

Start:"2. Letter from an officer. I haven’t written to you for a long time...”

The number at first can only mean the 2nd (letter), and not the 2nd chapter, because until a very late time there were supposed to be at least two letters from Rzhavsky; when, at the end of the work, the author decided to concentrate all the material into one letter, then naturally it was given a place not in the initial chapters, but at the end of the story. We believe that this manuscript refers to the Diary entries dated April 23-25. 1858, from which it is clear that for about three days the author was busy with “Rzhavsky’s letter.”

20. Autograph 4°, 6 sheets. Three folds of thick writing paper without a stamp, margins at the outer edge, rather large handwriting, there are corrections, some in blacker ink.

Start:“I haven’t written to you for a long time...” [Letter from Rzhavsky about love to Maryana].

The text of the manuscript breathes with the hot tone of the first draft, which did not escape the author himself, who wrote in one place in the margin: “Colder and calmer.” Almost entirely included in the printed text. We consider it to have been written in April 1858, when the Diary noted: “Wrote a letter from Rzhavsky.”

21. Autograph 4°, 3 sheets. Breaks down into a half sheet of Reiner paper and a quarter sheet without a stamp; according to the text, each quarter is independent of the others. The first quarter of the entire fold contains, in just 16 lines (crossed out), an excerpt from Rzhavsky’s 2nd letter...

Start:“But to describe to you my pleasures...” The second quarter of the same fold contains an excerpt from the 1st letter. Start:"bending..." From this end of the word it is clear that the passage was supposed to be placed during one of the alterations in 1858 of the old text of 1853 (see option No. 4) after page 47, which ended with the words: “... how can you live there, not there." On the 48th page of this alteration there is a “fold”, but crossed out, and the whole page is so marred that the author obviously decided to rewrite it and used a clean quarter of the fold that occupies us now to cut it and paste it in place. The intention was abandoned, and a secondary “bending” was added to the old page 48. Finally, the 3rd separate quarter contains an excerpt from the current XVI chapter. Start:“Chapter 3. Lukashka walked the whole night...” Lukashka is named so right away, therefore, the passage is not earlier than 1862. The text does not show major differences from the printed one, but there are minor variations; Among them, we note a large number of mountain words in Luka’s conversation with Eroshka ( Kim sung- who's there? Khonchi- neighbour).

22. Autograph 4°, 6 sheets. Three half-sheets of Rayner paper (stamp 20). White manuscript, written on the left halves of each page.

Start:“Chapter 5. It was 5 o’clock in the morning. Petrov was inflating the samovar with the boot...”

The content is close to Chapter XXIV. printed text, but the names are still different: Dampioni comes to invite Rzhavsky to a pie at Ustinka’s. The party itself is not described; the word “Letter” written in pencil in the margins of this place indicates that the description of the party at that time was conceived in the form of a letter from Rzhavsky (as it is in other manuscripts). Based on the paper and the contents of the manuscript, we date it to 1858-1859.

23. Autograph F°, 12 sheets. Six separate writing sheets from the Marshev factory (stamp No. 21), written on the left half of the pages, corrections in very small handwriting. On sheets 9-10 (the 5th whole sheet) the text is torn off, and two too many pages are left blank, as if to end the chapter that has begun, because the next one (the last whole sheet) begins with the next chapter, but the text stops after a few lines.

Start:“Maryana. I. Departure...”

Contains the first six chapters of the story according to the plan generally preserved in the printed text, but the 6th chapter is very little advanced, and the 7th has barely begun. The details of the plan and presentation reveal a lot of new things that have now disappeared. One of the surviving clerk's copies of the first chapters of the story (see copies No. 7) shows that this passage was preceded by a lost first draft of the same chapters, shorter and more summary. - We consider the manuscript to have been written no earlier than the end of 1858, and probably even later.

Option No. 11. We print starting from the 2nd chapter (pp. 245-253).

24. Autograph 4°, 2 sheets. Writing paper without stamp. Belova's autograph with a few corrections, two separate quarters.

Based on the hero's surname, the passage is no older than the end of 1858, for even in the summer he bore the name of Rzhavsky. Contains a condensed summary of the current Chapter III. The text is slightly different from the printed one.

25. Autograph F°, 2 sheets. A whole sheet of paper stamped No. 22. The first and second pages are occupied by the text of the story, the third is blank, for the 4th draft of a letter to the publisher. The episode from “Cossacks” begins and ends with the author’s handwriting, in the middle is the hand of S. A. Tolstoy.

Start:“Lukashka just returned from the mountains...”

Contains a version of episode XXXVII chapter. about Lukashka stealing horses from the herd.

The passage was written at the earliest last days before the end of “Cossacks”, for the Diary, under the same date, December 19, 1862, speaks of this end and of the “unpleasant story with the publisher” (F. T. Stellovsky).

Option No. 12 (pp. 253-255).

3. Notes and lists of chapters.

The surviving sheets and scraps of notes can only with difficulty and approximately be distributed chronologically and give an idea of ​​the replacement of one plan by another: most of the sheets have not been preserved or there were no stamps, then the plans are either partial or insufficiently intelligible, and most importantly, they, as can be seen, very little associated the author with creative work and he freely deviated from them both in the course of events and in names. Therefore, comparison of these notes with the presentation of individual scenes or with sketches of a planned nature on manuscripts often fails. Above we print all the notes in their entirety.

1. An excerpt (of lettering paper?) with a list of titles of several chapters of the 1st part, starting with the 4th, very short plan 2nd part and one title from the 3rd part. The number of chapters of the 1st part is difficult to establish, because at least half of them have been crossed out, and in addition, 5, 6 and 7 have two chapters each, and 6 even have three. Probably, the confusion is explained by silent changes in the plan as the pen progressed, which were not completed, since the author hesitated all the time.

We consider this summary to be one of the earliest, for several reasons: in it, the fifth chapter is indicated by only two capital letters: “G. and D.”, which in our opinion can only be deciphered as: “Gubkov and Dampioni”; and then the summary is brought into connection with the very first experience of the beginning of the story in 1853 (see option No. 1); then Eroshka’s name has not yet been fully established: for the first time he is called Epishka, i.e., the true name of the prototype. Finally, Maryana at the end of the 1st part is already Kirka’s wife; This situation was created from the very beginning and persisted during the first stage of the work, ending approximately in 1856.

2. Manuscript F°, 2 sheets. A single sheet of thick writing paper without a stamp, with frayed, crumbling edges and an old, half-lost backing. Only the first page and part of the third are occupied with text, the rest are empty.

On the front page Beginning:“And again the loving spring night came...” Summary of the story, starting from the end of the 1st part, there is no division into parts, but there is an “epilogue”. Written in two columns; the right column represents the addition or processing of the left. All the features of the old plan are present (Maryana is Kirka’s wife, in the end she has a son, the conclusion of the story is the execution of the returned Kirka, Eroshka is also called Epishka).

On the third page. In 8 chapters or paragraphs, the entire plan of the story, ending with the execution, is very briefly outlined, without dividing it into parts. The entire second half (from chapter 4) is conceived in the form of a letter or in the 1st person. Start:"I. Stanitsa. Combs. Eroshka. The owners."

We attribute this entire sheet to the first stage of work (1853-1856).

3. Manuscript F°, 1 sheet. 8-9 lines of text are scribbled on a half-sheet of unstamped writing paper.

Start:“2 hours. Letter, returning from a hike. At Eroshka's."

A sketch of the outline of the 2nd and very briefly the 3rd part. Three letters from the hero are mentioned under separate numbers.

Refers to the same first stage of work. Certain phrases here are taken literally from notes Nos. 1 and 2.

4. Manuscript 4°, 1 sheet. on a separate quarter without a stamp.

Start: "I. The company comes to the village. K[irka’s] date with Mar[yana].”

With this manuscript we enter the second phase of work, the end of 1857 and 1858. (The work abroad in the spring of 1857 went partly in a different direction and two notes from that time are placed higher in the section of options due to their originality. Here the plan for the first time receives clarity and approaches the modern one. 8 or 9 chapters are given. (Two 7th chapters. ) There is no clash between the officer and Kirka, Maryana is not married, the denouement is already approximately the same as now. - On the back of the sheet, in several lines, is a summary of the letter where the hero speaks about his love. This is the second letter, for the first takes up the entire 2nd chapter.

The summary, apparently, corresponds to the moment when the author, after an attempt to radically change the plan and character of the story, returned to the old materials of the first period (Diary of February 19, 1858: “The old beginning of “Cossacks” is good, continued a little”) and began to process them. (See options No. 2-4.)

5. Manuscript F°, 2 sheets. A single sheet of writing paper from the Reiner factory (stamp No. 20); only on the first page are two lists of chapters of the story sketched out in two columns; the rest of the sheet is blank. Although the columns appear to be written at the same time, they come from completely different plans, and the left column appears to have appeared before the right.

Left column. Contains an outline of the 1st and 2nd parts in 14 chapters; the first chapter is called "Cordon". This plan almost entirely coincides with the list sketched on the back of one sheet of the 1857 manuscript, written abroad (see option No. 10): out of 14 titles, 12 are identical, and the first 8 also follow in the same order. We print both together for comparison.

Right column embraces only the first part, and not all of it, and according to a different plan, later and close to the present; here for the first time the story opens with the scene of the hero’s departure from Moscow, and this hero already bears the name Olenin.

We believe that the left column could have been written starting from the second half of 1857, while the right one has to be dated no earlier than the autumn of 1858, because even in the summer of this year the hero was called Rzhavsky in the diary; but it could have been written a little later.

6. A single sheet of writing paper from the Marshev factory, where the first page is occupied by pencil plans of buildings, and a few lines of a synopsis of the beginning of the story are written finely on top without dividing into chapters. Start with “departure”. Of the persons, only Eroshka is named.

Based on the paper and content, we date the passage to 1858.

7. Manuscript 4°, 2 sheets. Represents a folded half-sheet from the Marshev factory. There are only 11 lines of text.

Start:"1. Departure from Moscow, his position in the world...”

Contains in a very condensed form the entire volume of the current story, already with the ending that is now. Of the persons, only Maryana and some Vaska are named, never repeated anywhere in the entire material; According to the summary, most likely this is a designation of a young Cossack that accidentally came under the pen. The hero is called an officer.

We date it back to 1858.

8. Manuscript F°, 1 sheet. Half a sheet of writing paper from the Marshev factory, text on one side. It's written in two columns.

Start(left): “Having returned from the campaign, Olenin was sent...” crossed out and then: “Part 2. Eroshka tells...” (Right): “Part 3, It’s an honor to travel as a courier...”.

Judging by the paper and the name Olenin, the manuscript was written no earlier than the end of 1858. The synopsis, especially detailed for the 3rd part, is distinguished by many unexpected, sharply different features; The horizon of the story is expanded by the introduction of Tiflis and hints at the hero’s complex relationships there; the situation in the village is also complicated. Many of these features go back to the foreign summary of the spring of 1857. On the other hand, the bloody denouement (the Cossack was executed, the officer was killed) brings us to the Diary note for November 14, 1857: “Eureka - both were killed” and to the phrase in the notebook on May 15 of that same year that “the officer will be killed.” All these combinations obviously came to mind a year or two later and are reflected in this summary.

9. A torn piece of paper with a few lines of notes for “Cossacks.” The content is closely related to the previous plan.

Start:“Looking for courage, in Princess Vorontseva...”

4. Clerical copies.

1. Manuscript 4°, 103 sheets, paper from two factories; with amendments by the author. It breaks down into three large passages: 1) 21 pp. Reiner's paper contains the text of chapters 10 and 11. Start:“Chapter 3 (number crossed out) 10. Came for one night from a boring cordon...”. The hero is Lukashka, but in some places Kirushka still survived. 2) 18 ll. Marshev's papers are a copy of the previous one, starting from the last line of the 3rd page. 3) The remaining 64 ll. Reiner's paper again. Contains ch. 13-19: Rzhavsky’s hunt with Eroshka, then Rzhavsky’s letter, which tells about his other hunt alone, about visiting the cordon, about ransoming the abrek’s body, about Rzhavsky’s seeing off with Lukashka to the village and about Eroshka’s playing and singing.

We consider the copy to have appeared no earlier than 1858. It was copied from old material dating back to 1853 and processed in 1858. Author's corrections to the copy were made later; In the 3rd passage they etched the form of the letter and, by means of large notes and additions, brought the text much closer to the printed one.

2. Manuscript 4°, 14 pages. Marshev's papers, 6 half-sheets folded into a notebook and 2 separate. Copy without corrections.

Start:“Chapter I. In 184, in the month of July, two companies of the Caucasian Infantry Regiment...”.

Persons: Lieutenant Rzhavsky and old orderly Petrov.

Copy of an original from the early 1850s. We date it back to 1858.

We refer to the same time approximately as the previous one.

4. Manuscript 4°, 4 sheets. There are actually only two covers: the top one (from paper from the Novikov factory in Tambov) has two titles in the hand of S. A. Tolstoy: “Fugitive Cossack” and “Demoted”. The second cover (from the Reiner paper mill) with the inscription on the front side in Tolstoy’s hand: “Fugitive Cossack”, and inside and on the last page there is a clerk’s copy of the beginning of “Cossacks” with the chapter “Cordon”. At first it was: “Chapter I.”, then the number was rewritten in other ink to 3. Then both were crossed out, and below it began: “6. Kar (i.e. Cardon). A few author's amendments turned Kirk into Luka.

Start: “Young Grebensky Cossack...”

5. Manuscript 4°, 6 sheets. Paper from the Marsheva factory; with copyright amendments.

Start:“Maryana. Part I. Chapter I. Arrival in the village. In 185.. in the month of May, a cross-over three...”

Contains the scene of the cadet Olenin’s arrival in the village with his young servant Vanyusha. The text differs sharply from the printed version and from everyone who started with his arrival.

Based on the names and title, we assign the copy to 1859-1860.

We print it above. (Pages 261-263.)

6. Manuscript 4°, 6 sheets. Marshev's paper, copy with corrections by the author.

Start:“Maryana. I. Departure. Night. Moscow has fallen silent...”

Contains the 1st chapter. Copied from the original described above under No. 23.

7. Manuscript F°, 9 sheets. Paper factory F. Nikiforov B. Novikov.

Large clerk's copy with rare corrections by the author. It is clear from the text and numbering that after the first sheet 3 sheets have been lost.

Start: «<Марьяна.>Chapter 1. Dmitry Olenin. In 1850, on February 28, a travel document was issued...”

The first three chapters are given. The content is compared with the same original, and it turns out that the 1st chapter here is very different, the 2nd and 3rd in content are covered by the 2nd chapter of the autograph, here divided into two, and are close to it in text.

The time of the copy is determined approximately in the fall of 1862, when several copies were hastily made for printing one after another (two of them survived and are described below, and the final one was lost for the editors of the Russian Messenger). We think so because one of the initially missing sheets of our manuscript (namely the 2nd) ended up in the most recent copy even before numbering and was numbered there with the number 5. But the lost original of our copy undoubtedly preceded autograph No. 23, for the first chapter of the departure it is given much shorter and more sparingly, having the appearance of an initial sketch: there is still no picture of Moscow at night, no conversations with the Chevalier.

8. Manuscript F°, 102 sheets. Paper from the Nikiforovsk factory. Novikov No. 5 (stamp No. 22). Large clerk's handwriting with corrections by the author. Numbering by sheet, i.e. two numbers per single sheet of paper. The copy was partly assembled from previous copies or was corrected by the author during the work of the copyist, and individual sheets were moved, since some sheets are numbered twice - next to the crossed out number there is another; The heterogeneity of the manuscript is also visible in the fact that, for example, between ll. 141 and 142 there is a gap in the text. The preserved sheets are: 1-75 in a row, moreover, sheets are given twice: 27-28, 57 and 142-143; This is not a pagination error; in these places the manuscript contains sheets of the previous copy (usually with crossed out text). After 75 years go: 104, 109-116, 119-428, 138-147 and 153-155. With these spaces, the copy covers the entire content of the story except for the few final lines.

The text, in general, is quite close to the current one; nevertheless, it is far from final, especially if we leave aside the author’s edits and deletions, which greatly bring the copy and the printed text closer together. But even beyond that, a number of small variations remained throughout the story.

We believe that the copy was written in the fall of 1862, when it was decided to suddenly speed up the finishing and printing of “Cossacks.”

From here we print detailed talk about Olenin in Moscow society and in the village after his departure. (Pages 263-266.)

9. Manuscript F°, 79 sheets. Written on the same paper as the previous one, in the same handwriting and also with amendments by the author. (In two places - l. 101 and l. 144 - the hand of S. A. Tolstoy.) The numbering is the same, and the copy also gives the impression of a team: there are sheets bearing two, even three numbers. Extant sheets: 1, 2, 5, 6, 13-14, 19-24, 27-30, 33-42, 49-50, 76-103, 105-106, 128-129, 131-132, 134-139 , 142-145, 147, 152-155. At the same time, ll. are given twice. 96, 98 and 135 (i.e., sheets of the old copy are included). The division into chapters in the first half of the story is sharply different: the chapters are almost half as long as the current ones, then after a large gap (ll. 50-76) the division immediately approaches the printed form, usually still not coinciding with it.

The copy was written in the same period as the previous one, but, apparently, after it, because the text here is in some places even closer to the printed one and something crossed out by the author in that copy was not included here (for example, the place that we are printing from the previous one). Nevertheless, even after this copy there should have been another one (which did not reach), assigned to the editors of the Russian Messenger.

We print from here the beginning of Chapter 13, which survived in both copies. with a song about the “King of Lithuania”. (Pages 266-268.)

The work begins from the moment when the main character Dmitry Olenin early in the morning goes to his place of duty with the rank of cadet. Dmitry Andreevich, a carefree young man, an orphan, currently has not studied anywhere or served. At the age of 24, he managed to squander all his inheritance, and therefore, heading to the Caucasus, he hoped to correct his life mistakes. On the road, he remembers his days spent in the capital and admires the beauty of the mountains flashing before his eyes.

Soon he arrives in the village of Novomlinskaya, where he stays with a school teacher, who is only at home on holidays. His wife Ulita and daughter Maryanka take care of household chores. The girl was expected to marry the bravest Cossack, Lukashka. On the eve of the arrival of Russian soldiers, Lukashka kills a Chechen, for which he received praise from his superiors. The owners received the venison with great dissatisfaction, but after a while they treated him with good nature. Dmitry Andreevich made friends with one of the oldest and respected Cossacks in the village of Eroshka, so they began to look at his stay in the house calmly. And Olenin himself committed such actions that those around him considered him the simplest person. He agreed to pay more for the apartment than he had previously agreed with the owner, and he gave Eroshka a horse as a gift.

The young man spent all his free time with the old Cossack. He was interested in him, because Eroshka talked a lot about the life of his fellow countrymen and mountaineers. Olenin finally understands what it is like to be happy, he is overwhelmed by this feeling. After some time, Dmitry Andreevich received the rank of officer for participation in one of the expeditions. His life is changing. He no longer plays cards, and does not party with his army friends. Almost every day, admiring the mountain ranges and Maryanka, he then went hunting. And upon his return, Olenin spent the evenings with Eroshka. Every day the young man notices how beautiful the girl is, and unnoticed by himself he fell in love with her. However, Prince Beletsky, known for his riotous behavior, invades his measured and romantic life. He persuades Olenin to attend one party, where Maryanka will also be present. There he was able to kiss the girl, and his feelings flared up even stronger. But Maryanka is making wedding preparations. Dmitry Andreevich wants to marry a girl, and tells her about it. But Maryanka does not dare to take such a step without her parents’ consent.

When Olenin wanted to go to her relatives in the morning, he saw Cossacks on the road who were going to intercept the Chechens on the other side of the river. Among them was the girl's fiancé. In one of the battles, Lukashka dies. When Olenin tries to console Maryanka and continue the conversation about their future, she rejects him contemptuously and angrily. The saddened officer leaves for the regiment. And he no longer had such a joyful feeling as before, and he was disappointed in the changes for the better. At the moment of farewell, Eroshka expressed his regret to him.

The story teaches us to be friendlier and kinder to each other. It doesn’t matter, representative, what rank or nationality you are, you need to be simpler and more tolerant.

Picture or drawing of Cossacks

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