In this article we will describe the story "White Steamboat". A summary of this work will be presented in it. The story was written in 1970 by Chingiz Aitmatov.
The following way begins the "White Steamboat" (summary). A boy and grandfather lived on a forest cordon. There were three women here: a grandmother, the wife of the Orozkul rider, the main man on the cordon, the grandfather's daughter, Aunt Bekey. There was also the wife of Seydahmat, an auxiliary worker. Aunt Bekey is the woman who is the most miserable in the whole world, since she has no children. Orozkul beats her drunk for this. These are the main characters of the story, written by Chingiz Aitmatov.
"White ship". Grandfather Momun
Agile Momun was nicknamed Momun's grandfather. He received such a nickname for his constant friendliness, as well as his willingness to help. He knew how to work. And Orozkul, his son-in-law, although he was considered the boss, mostly traveled to guests. Momun kept an apiary, went for cattle. Chingiz Aitmatov notes that he was all at work from morning to evening, all his life, but he did not learn to force self-respect.
Boy dream
Neither the mother nor the father remembered the boy. He did not see them even once, but he knew that his father served as a sailor in Issyk-Kul, and his mother left for some distant city after the divorce.
The boy loved to climb a nearby mountain and look at Issyk-Kul with grandfathers binoculars. Towards evening, a white steamer appeared on the lake.
Beautiful, powerful, long, with pipes in a row. Aitmatov's story "The White Steamboat" is named after this ship. The boy wanted to turn into a fish, with only his head, large, on a thin neck, with protruding ears. He dreamed that he would swim to his father and tell him that he was his son. The boy wanted to tell how he lives with Momun. This grandfather is the best, but not at all cunning, because of which everyone laughs at him. And Orozkul often shouts.
A tale told by Momun
Grandfather told a fairy tale to his grandson in the evenings. Her description continues the work "White Steamboat".
In ancient times, the Kyrgyz tribe lived on the banks of the Enesai River. Enemies attacked him and killed everyone, there was only a girl and a boy. However, then the children were in the hands of enemies. The pockmarked Lame Old Woman gave them the khan and ordered them to end these Kirghiz. But when she had already brought the children to the bank of the Enesai River, the Ryabaia Lame Old Woman, the uterine maral came out of the forest and asked for the children to give her. The old woman warned that these are human children who will kill her deer when they grow up. After all, people do not even spare each other, not like animals. However, the mother-deer still begged the old woman, and brought the children to Issyk-Kul.
They got married when they grew up. The woman began giving birth, she suffered. The man was frightened, he began to call the mother-deer. Then an iridescent ringing was heard from afar. She brought a horned mother a baby cradle on her horns - beshik. The silver bell on his temple rang. Immediately a woman was born. They named the first-born Bugubai in honor of the deer. Rod Bugu went from him.
Then one died richer, and his children decided to install the maral horns on the tomb. Since then, deer have not had mercy in the forests, and they have not died. The mountains are empty. When the deer mother left, she said that she would never return. So ends the description of the Aitmatov tale. The “White Steamboat” continues with a story about further developments on the forest cordon.
Orozkul works with Momun
Autumn again fell in the mountains. For Orozkul, along with the summer, it was time for visits to herdsmen and shepherds - it was time to pay for the offerings. Together with Momun, they dragged two pine logs in the mountains, and therefore Orozkul was angry with the whole world. He wanted to settle down in a city where people are respected, cultural people live. Then you don’t have to carry logs for receiving a gift. But an inspection is coming to the state farm, the police - they will suddenly ask where the forest comes from. In Orozkul, anger boiled at the thought. He wanted to beat his spouse, but the house was far away. In addition, the grandfather noticed the deer and almost came to tears, as if he had met siblings.
Orozkul quarrel with Momun
The White Steamboat, which we describe in brief, continues with Orozkul's quarrel with Momun. Orozkul finally quarreled with the old man when it was very close to the cordon. He kept asking for his grandson from school. It came to the point that he threw the logs stuck in the river and went for the boy. The orozkul hit him several times on the head, but this did not help - the old man broke free and left.
When the boy and grandfather returned, they found out that Orozkul drove his wife out of the house and beat her. He said that he was dismissing his grandfather from work. Bekey cursed his father, howled, and the grandmother itched that it was necessary for Orozkul to obey, ask for forgiveness from him, otherwise there would be nowhere to go to old age.
The boy wanted to tell his grandfather that he had met deer in the forest — they had returned. But the old man was not up to it. The boy again left for the imaginary world, began to beg the deer mother to bring the cradle on the horns of Orozkul and Bekei.
People came for the forest
Meanwhile, people came to the cordon behind the forest. While they were pulling the log, Grandfather Momun followed Orozkul, like a loyal dog. Arrivals also noticed deer. These animals , apparently, were from the reserve, not frightened.
Momun kills deer mother
The boy saw in the evening a cauldron boiling over a fire in the yard, from where the meat spirit came. Grandfather stood by the fire. He was drunk. His boy had never seen him like that. One of the visitors, as well as a drunken Orozkul, shared a pile of fresh meat, squatting by the barn. The boy saw a deer head under the wall of the shed. He tried to run, but his legs did not obey him - he just stood and looked at the head of the one that was yesterday the deer mother.
The boy goes to the river
Everyone soon sat down at the table. The boy was troubled all the time. He heard people, drunk, sniffling, gnawing, champing, devouring a deer mother. Saydahmat later told how he had forced her grandfather to be shot: he was frightened that Orozkul would expel him if he did not.
The boy decided to become a fish and never return to the mountains. He went to the river and stepped into the water.
So ends the story "White Steamboat", a brief summary of which we have described. In 2013, this work was included in the list of "100 books for schoolchildren", recommended for independent reading by the Ministry of Education and Science.