The tale was based on a revolutionary idea, where the townsfolk who derive their personal well-being above all else are ridiculed. What does the summary say? “The Selfless Hare” is a tale about enslavers with habits of predators and about their victims, blind in their humility. The selfless hare obediently surrenders himself to the wolf. So Saltykov-Shchedrin ridicules the "well-meaning" intelligentsia, which, abandoning the active methods of struggle, hopes for a peaceful agreement with the autocracy, where the "hare" is the main character and not a noble idealist, hoping for the kindness of insidious predators - "wolves".
Saltykov - Shchedrin: “Selfless Hare”, summary
Once a hare was guilty before a wolf, because he was running past a wolf den. The wolf screamed at him and forced him to stop, but he did not listen and, as much as he could, ran even faster. But the predator caught him in three leaps and sentenced him to death by tearing his stomach apart. However, since he and the wolf and wolf cubs were full, and they still had some supplies, the wolf decided to postpone the meal for five days. Hare also ordered to sit in the bushes and wait for the turn to come for him, and if he behaves quietly, he can have mercy (after these words the wolf grinned).
About these events only a little and the summary is narrated. The “Selfless Hare” further talks about how the poor hare sits in the bushes, fear is present in his soul like never before, and life becomes more and more expensive.
Bride
But this did not end the plot of the tale "The Selfless Hare." The summary describes how he fled to his bride, whom he spotted from a widow-hare, and then his wolf grabbed his collar. The hare thought that now she was sitting and thinking that probably her fiancé cheated on her, if she hadn’t come, or maybe she had found another oblique, or worse, the wolf had eaten her.
He thinks about all this, and he himself is filled with tears from grief. He had his hare dreams, he wanted to marry a young hare and even bought a samovar to drink tea with sugar in the evenings, but instead ... At this point, the hare dozed off, and he saw an unpleasant dream that the wolf made him important an official, and he himself began to visit his hare. And suddenly someone pushed the poor hare sideways, he jumped off and saw his brother-in-law next to him, who told him that his bride was dying of longing, was completely weakened, and only dreamed of saying goodbye to her bridegroom before death.
"Land"
A very interesting summary of the events is described below. The “Selfless Hare” in the plot reveals the honest and humble heart of the hare, which literally was torn to pieces. He thought about what he could deserve such a fate, because he lived openly, did not want revolutions, did not hold weapons in his hands, and now, on you - now death can come for him at any moment. Death is a word! And he himself will die, and his little hare will die due to the fact that he loved him with all his heart. How would he sip her and kiss her now ...
Suddenly his relative suggested that he run away. But he did not want to break the orders of the wolf. And the wolf and the she-wolf, meanwhile, hear this whole conversation and are touched by the hare's loyalty and nobility. The wolf thought: “If I had such soldiers ...” Well, the she-wolf admired the hare's love for her bunny.
Wedding
In general, the wolf pardoned him for this, allowed him to visit his bride, and gave him two days to say goodbye, but he kept his relative as a guarantee. And he promised that if he did everything, the fellow countrywoman would let him go, and he would eat him, or he would have mercy on them.
When the bunny ran to her, joy knew no bounds. The bride immediately forgot about the ailment, her relatives gathered a full house, they do not know where to put her brother-in-law to her native, and he is neither alive nor dead. He told them his story that he urgently needed to go back. Aunts and sisters sympathized with him, but they said that they should keep their word, because in their family their hares never cheat.
Execute or have mercy
And so, the summary is drawing to a close. The Selfless Hare describes how the wedding was played. In the morning, scythe, having said goodbye to his young wife and giving her instructions on raising children in case he was eaten, he recovered.
But as if all nature was against him, and therefore all sorts of cataclysms prevented him from traveling, so he was almost late. Having barely made it to the place, he threw himself head over heels to the wolf, who already wanted to tear the belly of his compatriot slanting. The wolf was delighted, praised him and said that you can trust the hares. And he decided that both of them would sit under the bush for the time being, for a while, and then maybe he would have mercy on them. And then he laughed merrily and playfully.
This is how the great writer Saltykov finished his work. The “Selfless Hare” concludes its summary with an ellipsis, because it is not just a fairy tale, but a whole philosophy, and sometimes, as you think, it becomes incomprehensible that for a person it is better - humility or an implacable struggle?