Basilio (aka “Vasily”, “Vaska”, but only in the Italian manner) is, of course, one of the most striking and original characters in Tolstoy’s fairy tale “Pinocchio”. In Russia at that time, almost a good half of the cats were called Vaska, so this is a very common name, implying not only cunning, a tendency to fraud, stupidity (the well-known “Vaska listens and eats”), but also the simplicity that often makes us touched by this hero .
Acquaintance with Pinocchio
The cat Basilio, Karabas, Duremar, Alice, of course, personify the so-called "evil forces" in this tale. And Tolstoy continues to make fun of them throughout his tale. We laugh at how annoyed Karabas, having stuck a beard in his pocket, sneezes without stopping. And how the “blind” cat Basilio fights over Pinocchio’s money with his “companion” fox Alice, and how ridiculous these characters sometimes look.
But the actions in the fairy tale are developing so rapidly that sometimes you don’t even know which of the heroes should be considered a villain and who should sympathize with. Even negative characters, such as the bastard Basilio, sometimes cause us sympathy and touch for the living. After all, trying to deceive Pinocchio, the cat Basilio himself often falls into a mess, causing pity and sympathy for the reader. This is because Tolstoy’s fairy tale “Pinocchio” was originally kind. It is read cheerfully and easily, so to speak, “in one breath”.
The cat Basilio and the fox Alice meet on the path of Pinocchio almost at the very beginning of the work and accompany the main character almost to the very end, one way or another participating in the events unfolding in front of us. They are, as it were, secondary heroes, but at the same time, this “sweet couple” with the brightness of their characters makes us draw attention to ourselves. Pinocchio sees two beggars wandering along a dusty road. These are our characters: the cat Basilio, the fox Alice. The boy wants to pass by, but Alice hails him tenderly, calling him "the good-looking Pinocchio."
Country of Fools and Five Gold
When scammers (cat Basilio, fox Alice) find out about gold coins, they suggest that the wooden boy make a trip to the imaginary Land of Fools. There, on the Field of Miracles, you will need to bury Buratino’s money. And in the morning the Money Tree will surely grow out of these denezhek, and on it gold! Pinocchio agrees. But halfway to the Country of Fools, the boy loses his companions, and at night in the forest he is attacked by dressed-in robbers, surprisingly similar to a cat and a fox!
Pinocchio puts coins in his mouth, and to get the gold, the robbers hang the wooden boy upside down on the tree and leave. Here he is discovered by Malvina, who, along with Artemon, fled from Karabas. The girl will try to re-educate the boy, but in vain. After all, the stubborn Pinocchio hardly gives in to any education! And the wooden boy landed in a dark closet, from where a bat rescues him . Here, having met again with a fox and a cat, Pinocchio finally arrives at the Field of Miracles ... In general, the plot is exciting! I advise you to read a fairy tale!
It only remains to add that the role of Basilio in the film “The Adventures of Pinocchio” was brilliantly played by the famous actor Rolan Bykov.