The legacy of the genius of Russian poetry includes five tales studied in elementary school. The final lesson is held in the form of a quiz, where students are offered questions on knowledge of the material. One of them is "Who competed with Balda in Pushkin's fairy tale?" This article is dedicated to the answer to the question.
About the work
The tale of Balda, recorded by the poet in Mikhailovsky from the words of the nanny Arina Rodionovna, has deep Russian roots. In Boldino in September 1830, Pushkin put it on poetry, and a few months later he first read it to N. Gogol, who was completely delighted. Nevertheless, the poet did not have time to publish it during his lifetime. To find out with whom Balda competed, readers were the first to be able to in 1840. This year the work was published by V. Zhukovsky, however, under a different name. The genius teacher did not dare to argue with the church, instead of the priest, he presented to the court of poetry lovers the merchant Kuzma Ostolop.
Only in 1882, the author’s version was published in the collected works, for the manuscripts of the poet were taken as a basis. The whole country laughed at the greedy and stupid priest, who had deservedly deserved three clicks into his chubby forehead.
Who competed with Balda in Pushkin's fairy tale (short summary of the work)
The plot unfolds in the bazaar, where the priest came for goods and met with Balda. It was Balda, who came out of nowhere, who was the first to contact the minister of the church with the question of what matters caused him to rise so early. When he finds out that he is looking for a skilled worker - a cook, a carpenter and a groom in one person, yes for a small fee, he offers his services. And for a year of service he doesn’t ask for money, but only three clicks on his forehead. He doubted the pop, but greed and the Russian "maybe" won. What happened next, who competed with Balda?
In Pushkin’s fairy tale, Balda fulfills the conditions completely: he serves regularly, working for seven. Satisfied with the popovna, glancing at the young worker, the aunt considers him a young chick, the priest will not be praised. But an hour of reckoning is coming, and the wife of the priest advises him to come up with such a service so that the employee could not fulfill it. So the owner sends the hell out to hell, so that he would claim the rent from them in three years. The employee was not at a loss, coped with his inherent resourcefulness and with this task.
Receiving a quit from devils
Who did Balda compete with? At sea, he performs a strange rite: he balamutes water with a rope, so much so that he frightened the elder demon. Having learned about the quitrent, about which no one had heard of the term, he sends him to deal with the person sent by the grandson - the demon. The grandson offers to compete who runs the sea faster. But the winner is not the one who is faster, but who is trickier. Pretending that the task is too easy, Balda sends a smaller brother - a hare for himself, and hides one more in a bag. No matter how briskly the little devil ran, and the second hare is already at the finish. Cleverness helps the employee in the second competition as well.
Who competed with Balda for the second time? Yes, the same little devil, only there was no competition. He offered the little devil a stick to throw, who is farther away, but from the answer of the person he gave up. He promised to throw this thing behind the cloud. And in the third competition, the Balda’s humor arouses the laughter of the reader. The worker proposes to drag a mile on himself. After two steps, the little devil fell off, and the person complicates the task - he promises to carry it between the legs, and he rode a mile and a half, riding the animal. There is nothing left for the devil how to give Balda a bag of money.
Answer to the question
In literary quizzes, the question of who competed with Balda in Pushkin's tale implies an answer of 7 or 8 letters. In the first case, this is a devil, in the second, an imp, which is essentially the same thing. But is everything so simple in the work itself? In fact, Balda also competed with the horse, whose "mind is clever, tricked by cunning." It was she who gave advice to her husband to start a service so that the employee could not cope.
But the whole fairy tale is a confrontation between a priest and a simple Russian peasant, which ended with the victory of the latter. From the third click, the owner lost his mind. This is a payment for the fact that he chased "for cheapness."
But is Balda a simple man? Why does the author give him a name meaning a stupid person? In no situation does an employee show himself as such. Moreover, he possesses inhuman power, since he is capable of “eating for four,” “working for seven,” coping with demons, and depriving the priest of reason. Who did Balda really compete with? Not with the priest? And why is it precisely the clergyman that Pushkin exposes as stingy and stupid?
In a simple Russian fairy tale of questions there are more answers. It can be assumed that the author focuses on the difference between God and his representatives who do not want to live according to God's laws. And Balda is the one in whose authority to arrange the punishment of heaven on earth.