Surely many will be able to recall a gloomy puppet cartoon about a boy who lived a very long time in a private school, about a black chicken and a small folk, who lived somewhere underground.
This cartoon is based on the fabulous story “Black Chicken, or Underground Residents,” a summary of which will be presented in this article. Well, let's get started.
The story "Black Chicken, or Underground Residents." Summary
The author of this work is the famous Russian writer of the first half of the nineteenth century, Alexei Alekseevich Perovsky. His literary pseudonym is Anthony Pogorelsky. "Black Chicken" was written by him in 1829 for his nephew - Count Alexei Konstantinovich Tolstoy (paternal relative of Leo Tolstoy), also a future writer.
The beginning of the story
"Black Chicken, or Underground Residents" begins with a story about the main character - the boy Alyosha, who was a native of a remote province. At the age of 10, he was brought to St. Petersburg to a private boarding school (closed school for boys), where he was left in the care of a teacher with payment for several years in advance. The boy was modest and diligent, so his comrades and mentor loved him.
The plot development of the story "Black Chicken, or Underground Residents"
I would like to continue the summary of the story by describing the following events. It so happened that once Alyosha rescued his darling, the little Chernushka, with whom he played in the poultry yard, from a cook's knife. That very night, Chernushka woke him up and led her along the sleeping house to show something “pretty”. However, due to the negligence of the boy at that time their campaign was not crowned with haste.
The next night, the chicken again came for Alyosha. This time, they eventually ended up in the Underworld, where little people lived.
The king of this people offered Alyosha any reward for saving their first minister, who turned out to be Chernushka. The boy did not come up with anything better than asking for the ability to answer all the lessons without preparing for them. The king did not like the student’s laziness manifested in this request, but he kept his promise: Alyosha was given a hemp seed, which he had to carry with him in order to answer his homework. In parting, the boy was asked not to tell anyone about where he was and what he saw, because otherwise the underground residents would have to leave their homes in new unknown lands and begin to equip life anew. The boy vowed to keep a secret entrusted to him.
Since that day, Alyosha became the best student not only in his boarding house, but throughout St. Petersburg. At first, the boy was awkward at accepting undeserved praise. However, he soon believed in his exclusivity, became proud, began to be naughty. His character deteriorated day by day - he became evil, impudent and lazy.
The teacher no longer praised him, but, on the contrary, tried to reason. Once he asked Alyosha to memorize 20 pages of text. But it turned out that he lost a grain, and therefore could not answer the lesson. He was locked in the bedroom until he was ready. However, a lazy mind refused to remember the task. At night, Chernushka came to him and returned a grain with a request to be corrected, once again recalling his promise to remain silent about the underworld. Alyosha promised both.
Sad denouement
The next day, he brilliantly answered the lesson. However, instead of praising the student, the mentor demanded to explain when he learned the assignment. Otherwise, the poor fellow was threatened with flogging. The boy forgot about everything in the world and spoke about Chernushka, a grain and the Underworld. The result was deplorable: it was considered a liar and still flogged, the inhabitants of the dungeon had to leave, Chernushka was shackled for ever and ever, and the grain disappeared forever. Feeling guilty and remorseful, Alyosha fell ill and lay in a fever for six weeks.
After recovery, the boy again became kind and obedient. He regained the companion and teacher position. He became a diligent, although not an outstanding student.
So ends the amazing fairy tale "Black Chicken, or Underground Residents." You already know the summary, but read the full text, because there is still a lot of interesting and mysterious in it.