Such a genre as a fairy tale is familiar to everyone since childhood. As we grow older, we begin to understand that many of the moments in these magical stories may turn out to be not at all as unambiguous as it seemed to us in our youth. A number of fairy tales, especially copyright ones, and not folk ones, have an obvious deep implication. Writers often turned to this genre in order to be able to convey allegorically to the audience those thoughts and ideas that, if directly expressed, might seem seditious. An example of one of such works is the tale of Saltykov-Shchedrin, “The Athlete,” written in 1886. Like his other works, this one is addressed to children of “fair age” - in other words, adults will get to the bottom of the story. Even a superficial analysis of the Saltykov-Shchedrin fairy tale makes it possible to understand that under the upper “popular-folk” layer, the meaning of a deeper and more exciting author is hidden. The writer in a special manner, rather caustic and clever, ridiculed the vices of the then society and its shortcomings.
Before analyzing the tales of Saltykov-Shchedrin, it is worth recalling that the author lived and worked in Russia in the 19th century, came from a noble noble family. Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov - Shchedrin (1826-1889) for a long time combined writing with the civil service, working as an official. Later, he was a well-known editor and journalist of various publications.
The work “Athlete” itself is small in volume. Therefore, it may seem that the analysis of the Saltykov-Shchedrin tale will be a simple task. But, like other works by the author, this one is not easy at all. Outwardly - this is a story about a strong man who slept all his life in a hollow, instead of protecting his people from the brutal raids of strangers. But under the guise of a Bogatyr, who scared everyone in the district with one snore, another idea embedded by the writer can be seen. Here, the shortsightedness of the ruling class, the inconsistency of the actions of the elite with the expectations and needs of the common people are exposed.
Having begun the analysis of the Saltykov-Shchedrin fairy tale, the reader first of all notes that its outward resemblance to the folded bylins is quite large. Here we meet the familiar fairy-tale heroes - Baba Yaga and her son - the Bogatyr, the owner of the power of the noble, oak forest smasher. We recognize the famous folk motifs, the spirit and speech of the old Russian. We can also recognize the thoughts and actions of “our own people” who are afraid of even heroic snoring, but rely only on its protection. The “adversaries” are also understandable, who were frightened by the sounds of rolling, but they didn’t dare rob the neighbors for a thousand years while the defender was sleeping. In the fairy-tale country, while Bogatyr slept, "their" themselves plagued each other so much that they would not even dream of a "stranger". When enemy forces attacked the country where the strongman rested in the hollow, it turned out that he had died long ago, and the snakes ate his body in the hollow where he slept. The hopes of the people for an unknown hero are not met. No one can save simple people from invaders, as you don’t rely on fabulous defenders.
So, even a superficial analysis of the fairy tale “The Bogatyr” by Saltykov-Shchedrin shows the author’s attitude to the situation in the then Russia. The situation described allegorically reveals the idea: relying on the loud promises of high-ranking intercessors, the people are deceiving themselves. Not the protection, but only the looting is to ordinary people the top of society. Yes, and it is rotten, at its root. And we must not forget about this, so that in the days of disaster not to be unprepared or weakened by their own rulers.
In the days of brutal censorship, through which then any work had to go through to be published, such tales seem bolder than the most frank statements of modern journalists criticizing the current authorities. In addition, wondering if the relevance of Saltykov-Shchedrin’s works has already been lost today, can we give a positive answer without distorting our hearts?