When the songwriter Sergei Mikhalkov asked him, trying to confuse how dare he write “for Stalin,” Anatoly Naumovich Rybakov answered that for him the landmark was Leo Tolstoy, who was not afraid to write about Napoleon. He considered writing the tetralogy "Children of the Arbat" a matter of his life.
The writer already had a number of works that brought him the love of a domestic reader, USSR and RSFSR prizes. Among them are the familiar trilogy of novels “Vacation Krosh”, the novel “Dagger”, “Bronze Bird”, “Shot”. This article is about one of his stories for young people. We present you with its summary. “Bronze Bird” - a story consisting of five parts.
Pioneer camp at the castle of Count Karagayev
Komsomolets Misha Polyakov came to lead a pioneer detachment, which became a camp at the former estate of Count Karagayev. The purpose of the detachment was the fight against illiteracy in a neighboring village and the creation of a pioneer link there. The guys talked with local children. The most friendly was their relationship with Vasya Rybalin, (street nicknamed Zherdyay). Zherdya’s brother, Nikolai, helped the pioneers to equip the village club.
Soon the incident happened: the pioneers Igor and Seva fled. The fugitives were teased by Genka Petrov. The instigator was sent to Moscow, to their parents.
The author of the story “Bronze Bird” does not skimp on the dynamism of the plot. Summary (Rybakova is not constrained by the scope of the genre) of this story is worthy of a novel.
Judge for yourself. Nikolai was in trouble. He agreed to meet with the former Karagayev forester Kuzmin to cross in a boat to Khalzin Meadow. But they shot him. Nikolai was detained while investigating the crime.
Upon learning that a raft was stolen from a local fist Yerofeyev in the village, Misha and his wards, as well as Vaska Zherdyem, went for fugitives. Like it or not, the story “The Bronze Bird” (its summary is an investigation conducted by the boys) takes on the features of a thriller. Move on. The guys learned from the artist-anarchist Kondraty Stepanovich that housekeeper Sofya Pavlovna and the boatman were jointly looking for the count treasure. And here is where the plot, in the words of modern youth, ceases to be languid.
Searching for treasures
They even tried to discourage curious pioneers from the investigation. They received an official letter, signed by the same Serov, to leave the territory adjacent to the castle. Yes, Rybakov tells us not about the fairy-tale world, as evidenced by a brief summary. The “Bronze Bird” tells about the children’s desire to bring scoundrels to the clear, save Nikolai, while the investigator does not want to notice obvious truths point-blank. He considers a well-known recidivist thief, a specialist in currency and jewelry (which the boatman turned out to be) to be incapable of murder. Looking ahead, let us say that Serov was subsequently exposed as a bribe taker.
Misha and Glory in the museum examined the bronze figure of a bird, similar to that seen in the lobby of the castle. The guys suspected the presence of a cache in it, because the countess, having entered the museum, was right next to her. And the boys began surveillance. Two days later, a tall limping man entered the museum and, clicking on the eyes of a bronze statue, opened a cache, and then put a note there. After his departure, the guys took out a piece of paper informing that the stranger would come to the castle next Wednesday.
The secret of Count Karagayev’s treasure
As we recall, the castle also contained a bronze figurine of a bird. And, as the summary hints to us, the bronze bird in the hall was also a cache, and it contained a treasure map, which in fact turned out to be disinformation. Realizing that a fake card would not help, Misha and friends undertook, as they say now, a “brainstorm”. Obviously, Karagaev Jr. killed the former count forest forester Kuzmin, who knew a place on the mound near the Halzan river, where a treasure was hidden, but did not inform the son of the count about this.
The ingenious conjecture of the pioneers is crowned by a summary. The Bronze Bird brings the reader to the moment of truth; the time is ripe for decisive action. Finally, the director of the orphanage became interested in the searches for the guys. Misha and his friends invited him, the chairman of the village council and the investigator, to go to the mound, where a brooch sparkling with precious stones was found in the casket. Karagaev Jr. tried to take possession of her, threatening with a pistol, but he was detained.
The story ends with the fact that the pioneers are sent home, and the pupils of the labor colony moved into the former castle of counts.
Instead of an afterword
The Soviet "thriller" under consideration about the youth of the 1920s by the pen of a talented author was an overwhelming success. In addition, he was filmed, and the film turned out no worse than the story. It remains only to wish our readers to find time and get acquainted with the work of A. Rybakov closer.