Korolenko's story in bad society. IN

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“In a Bad Society” is a story by a Russian writer of Ukrainian origin, Vladimir Korolenko, which was first published in 1885 in the tenth issue of the magazine “Mysl”. Later the work was included in the collection “Essays and Stories.” This work, small in volume but significant in its semantic load, can undoubtedly be considered one of the best in the creative heritage of the famous writer and human rights activist.

Plot

The story was written from the perspective of a six-year-old boy Vasya, the son of a judge in the city of Knyazhye-Veno. The child’s mother died early, leaving him and his younger sister Sonya half orphans. After the loss, the father distanced himself from his son, concentrating all his love and affection on his little daughter. Such circumstances could not pass without a trace in Vasya’s soul: the boy is looking for understanding and warmth, and unexpectedly finds them in “bad society”, having made friends with the children of the tramp and thief Tyburtsy Drab, Valik and Marusya.

Fate brought the children together completely unexpectedly, but Vasya’s attachment to Valik and Marusa turned out to be so strong that it was not hindered by either the unexpected news that his new friends were tramps and thieves, or the acquaintance with their seemingly menacing father. Six-year-old Vasya does not miss the opportunity to see his friends, and his love for his sister Sonya, with whom the nanny does not allow him to play, transfers to little Marusya.

Another shock that worried the child was the news that little Marusya was seriously ill: some “gray stone” was taking away her strength. The reader understands what kind of gray stone it can be, and what a terrible disease often accompanies poverty, but for the mind of a six-year-old child, who perceives everything literally, the gray stone appears in the form of a cave where children live, so he tries to get them out into the fresh air as often as possible air. Of course, this doesn't help much. The girl is weakening before our eyes, and Vasya and Valik are trying to somehow bring a smile to her pale face.

The culmination of the story is the story of the doll that Vasya asked from his sister Sonya to please Marusya. A beautiful doll, a gift from a deceased mother, is not able to cure the baby, but it brings her short-term joy.

They notice a missing doll in the house, the father does not let Vasya leave the house, demanding an explanation, but the boy does not break his word to Valik and Tyburtsy and does not tell anything about the tramps. At the moment of the most intense conversation, Tyburtsy appears in the judge’s house with a doll in his hands and the news that Marusya has died. This tragic news softens Father Vasya, and shows him from a completely different side: as a sensitive and sympathetic person. He lets his son go to marry Marusya, and the nature of their communication changes after this story.

Even as the eldest, Vasya does not forget about his little friend, who lived only four years, or about Valik, who, after the death of Marusya, suddenly disappeared along with Tyburtsy. She and her sister Sonya regularly visit the grave of a little blond girl who loved to sort through flowers.

Characteristics

Speaking about the heroes who appear before us on the pages of the story, first of all we should, of course, dwell on the image of the narrator, because all events are presented through the prism of his perception. Vasya is a six-year-old child, on whose shoulders a burden has fallen that is too heavy for his age: the death of his mother.

Those few warm memories of the boy’s dearest person make it clear that the boy loved his mother very much, and suffered the loss hard. Another challenge for him was the alienation of his father and the inability to play with his sister. The child gets lost, meets tramps, but even in this society he remains himself: every time he tries to bring Valik and Marusya something tasty, he perceives Marusya as his own sister, and Valik as his brother. This very young boy is not devoid of perseverance and honor: he does not break under the pressure of his father and does not break his word. Another positive feature that complements the artistic portrait of our hero is that he did not take the doll from Sonya secretly, did not steal it, did not take it away by force: Vasya told his sister about poor sick Marusa, and Sonya herself allowed him to take the doll.

Valik and Marusya appear before us in the story as real children of the dungeon (by the way, V. Korolenko himself did not like the shortened version of his story of the same name).

These children did not deserve the fate that fate had prepared for them, and they perceive everything with adult seriousness, and, at the same time, childish simplicity. What in Vasya’s understanding is designated as “bad” (the same as theft), for Valik it is an ordinary everyday thing that he is forced to do so that his sister does not go hungry.

The example of children shows us that for true sincere friendship, origin, financial status and other external factors do not matter. It's important to remain human.

The opposites in the story are the fathers of the children.

Tyburtsy- a beggar thief whose origins evoke legends. A person who combines education and a peasant, non-aristocratic appearance. Despite this, he loves Valik and Marusya very much and allows Vasya to come to his children.

Vasya's father- a respectable man in the city, famous not only for his occupation, but also for his justice. At the same time, he closes himself off from his son, and often the thought flashes in Vasya’s head that his father doesn’t love him at all. The relationship between father and son changes after Marusya's death.

It is also worth noting that the prototype of Vasya’s father in the story was Vladimir Korolenko’s father: Galaktion Afanasyevich Korolenko was a reserved and stern man, but at the same time incorruptible and fair. This is exactly how the hero of the story “In Bad Society” appears.

A special place in the story is given to the tramps, led by Tyburtsy.

Professor, Lavrovsky, Turkevich - these characters are not the main ones, but they perform an important role for the artistic design of the story: they present a picture of the vagabond society into which Vasya ends up. By the way, these characters evoke pity: the portrait of each of them shows that every person, broken by a life situation, can slide into vagrancy and theft. These characters do not evoke negative feelings: the author wants the reader to sympathize with them.

Two places are vividly described in the story: the city of Knyazhye-Veno, the prototype of which was Rivne, and the old castle, which became a haven for the poor. The prototype of the castle was the palace of the Lubomirsky princes in the city of Rivne, which during the time of Korolenko actually served as a haven for beggars and vagabonds. The city and its inhabitants appear in the story as a gray and boring picture. The main architectural decoration of the city is the prison - and this small detail already gives a clear description of the place: there is nothing remarkable in the city.

Conclusion

“In Bad Society” is a short story that presents us with just a few episodes from the lives of the heroes, just one tragedy of a life cut short, but it is so vivid and vital that it touches the invisible strings of the soul of every reader. Without a doubt, this story by Vladimir Korolenko is worth reading and experiencing.

“In Bad Society” - a summary of the story by Vladimir Korolenko

The hero's childhood took place in the small town of Knyazhye-Veno in the Southwestern Territory. Vasya - that was the boy's name - was the son of the city judge. The child grew up “like a wild tree in a field”: the mother died when the son was only six years old, and the father, consumed by his grief, paid little attention to the boy. Vasya wandered around the city all day long, and pictures of city life left a deep imprint on his soul.

The city was surrounded by ponds. In the middle of one of them, on the island, stood an ancient castle that once belonged to the count's family. There were legends that the island was filled with captured Turks, and the castle stood “on human bones.” The owners left this gloomy dwelling a long time ago, and it gradually collapsed. Its inhabitants were urban beggars who had no other shelter. But a split occurred among the poor. Old Janusz, one of the count's former servants, received a certain right to decide who can live in the castle and who cannot. He left only “aristocrats” there: Catholics and the former count’s servants. The exiles found refuge in a dungeon under an ancient crypt near an abandoned Uniate chapel that stood on the mountain. However, no one knew their whereabouts.

Old Janusz, meeting Vasya, invites him to come into the castle, because there is now “decent society” there. But the boy prefers the “bad company” of exiles from the castle: Vasya feels sorry for them.

Many members of the "bad society" are well known in the city. This is a half-mad elderly “professor” who always mutters something quietly and sadly; the ferocious and pugnacious bayonet-cadet Zausailov; a drunken retired official Lavrovsky, telling everyone incredible tragic stories about his life. And Turkevich, who calls himself General, is famous for “exposing” respectable townspeople (police officer, secretary of the district court and others) right under their windows. He does this in order to get money for vodka, and achieves his goal: those “accused” rush to pay him off.

The leader of the entire community of “dark personalities” is Tyburtsy Drab. His origins and past are unknown to anyone. Others assume that he is an aristocrat, but his appearance is common. He is known for his extraordinary learning. At fairs, Tyburtsy entertains the audience with lengthy speeches from ancient authors. He is considered a sorcerer.

One day Vasya and three friends come to the old chapel: he wants to look there. Friends help Vasya get inside through a high window. But seeing that there is someone else in the chapel, the friends run away in horror, leaving Vasya to the mercy of fate. It turns out that Tyburtsiya’s children are there: nine-year-old Valek and four-year-old Marusya. Vasya begins to often come to the mountain to visit his new friends, bringing them apples from his garden. But he only walks when Tyburtius cannot find him. Vasya does not tell anyone about this acquaintance. He tells his cowardly friends that he saw devils.

Vasya has a sister, four-year-old Sonya. She, like her brother, is a cheerful and playful child. Brother and sister love each other very much, but Sonya’s nanny prevents their noisy games: she considers Vasya a bad, spoiled boy. My father shares the same view. He finds no place in his soul for love for a boy. Father loves Sonya more because she looks like her late mother.

One day, in a conversation, Valek and Marusya tell Vasya that Tyburtsy loves them very much. Vasya speaks of his father with resentment. But he unexpectedly learns from Valek that the judge is a very fair and honest person. Valek is a very serious and smart boy. Marusya is not at all like the playful Sonya; she is weak, thoughtful, and “cheerless.” Valek says that “the gray stone sucked the life out of her.”

Vasya learns that Valek is stealing food for his hungry sister. This discovery makes a grave impression on Vasya, but still he does not condemn his friend.

Valek shows Vasya the dungeon where all the members of the “bad society” live. In the absence of adults, Vasya comes there and plays with his friends. During a game of blind man's buff, Tyburtsy unexpectedly appears. The children are scared - after all, they are friends without the knowledge of the formidable head of the “bad society”. But Tyburtsy allows Vasya to come, making him promise not to tell anyone where they all live. Tyburtsy brings food, prepares dinner - according to him, Vasya understands that the food is stolen. This, of course, confuses the boy, but he sees that Marusya is so happy about the food... Now Vasya comes to the mountain without hindrance, and the adult members of the “bad society” also get used to the boy and love him.

Autumn comes, and Marusya falls ill. In order to somehow entertain the sick girl, Vasya decides to ask Sonya for a while for a large beautiful doll, a gift from her late mother. Sonya agrees. Marusya is delighted with the doll, and she even feels better.

Old Janusz comes to the judge several times with denunciations against members of the “bad society.” He says that Vasya communicates with them. The nanny notices the doll is missing. Vasya is not allowed out of the house, and after a few days he runs away secretly.

Marusya is getting worse. The inhabitants of the dungeon decide that the doll needs to be returned, and the girl will not even notice. But seeing that they want to take the doll, Marusya cries bitterly... Vasya leaves her the doll.

And again Vasya is not allowed to leave the house. The father is trying to get his son to confess where he went and where the doll went. Vasya admits that he took the doll, but says nothing more. The father is angry... And at the most critical moment Tyburtsy appears. He is carrying a doll.

Tyburtsy tells the judge about Vasya’s friendship with his children. He is amazed. The father feels guilty before Vasya. It was as if the wall that had separated father and son for a long time had collapsed, and they felt like close people. Tyburtsy says that Marusya died. The father lets Vasya go to say goodbye to her, while he passes through Vasya money for Tyburtsy and a warning: it is better for the head of the “bad society” to hide from the city.

Soon almost all the “dark personalities” disappear somewhere. Only the old “professor” and Turkevich remain, to whom the judge sometimes gives work. Marusya is buried in the old cemetery near the collapsed chapel. Vasya and his sister are taking care of her grave. Sometimes they come to the cemetery with their father. When the time comes for Vasya and Sonya to leave their hometown, they pronounce their vows over this grave.

Typically, schoolchildren study the work of Viktor Korolenko as part of the program, so writing an essay based on the story “In Bad Society” by Korolenko is an integral part of the educational process. We will now briefly look at the plot of the story, talk about the main character and, in general, perform an analysis of the story “In a Bad Society.”

Plot of the story

On our website you can read a summary of “In Bad Society,” but, nevertheless, let’s briefly analyze the plot now. The main character's name is Vasya, he has a younger sister, and the children live with their father, having been left without a mother at an early age. The father, however, loves the younger Sonya more, but pays almost no attention to Vasya. And then one day Vasya and the boys come across the ruins of an ancient chapel, where an old crypt is abandoned nearby. Mention of this must be included in the essay on the story “In Bad Society” by Korolenko. It turns out that people live in this crypt - they lead the existence of beggars and all of strange origin.

Vasya, whom his friends had long abandoned alone near the chapel, became friends with a boy named Valek. He also has a younger sister who is sick and cannot be cured due to poverty. This acquaintance is key in the analysis of the story “In a Bad Society”, because after this Vasya learns about the father of the children and the leader of the “bad” society - Tyburtsia Drab. This is a mysterious man, many are afraid of him, because despite his good education, his behavior resembles some kind of sorcerer. Drab is against communication between children, but the guys do not abandon their friendship.

Further events develop in such a way that Vasya and his dad, after all, improve their relationship, although this is preceded by sad events - Marusya dies without identifying herself. Since Vasya brought her his sister’s doll, Tyburtsy subsequently goes to Vasya’s father to thank him for his son. When preparing an essay on the story “In Bad Society,” do not forget to provide a number of quotes that more fully reveal the key episodes.

A little about the main character

Thanks to the analysis of “In a Bad Society,” you will notice what character traits are inherent in the main character Vasya. He is brave, kind, sympathetic and generous. The poverty of his new acquaintances did not alienate them; on the contrary, these people became his friends. Of course, Vasya is still very young, and largely for this reason, social status does not play any role for him. Valek, for example, is a beggar. And Vasya’s father has a respected position - he is a well-known judge in the city. But the main character Vasya does not look at this difference in status.

It must be said that Vasya never cared about food, but when his new friends needed food, he stepped into their position and more than once supplied Valka and Marusya with apples. Soon Vasya finds out that Valek is ready to steal for food for his sister, but he does not condemn him. We can conclude that the main character Vasya was not afraid of “bad” society, his friendship is from the bottom of his heart, sincere and real.

Conclusions in the analysis of the story "In Bad Society"

Although this work is most often studied in the fifth grade, it is no secret that the story is interesting to everyone: both children and adults. If any adults didn't read it when they were young, it's definitely worth spending a little time catching up. After all, Korolenko described a strong, true friendship that you don’t see often, but it exists. And it’s unlikely that anyone will remain indifferent after reading this story.

It doesn’t matter whether you are writing an essay on the story “In Bad Society,” or just want to learn something useful for yourself, note the following: the main character Vasya has radically changed his attitude not only towards his own father, but also towards himself. He realized that he was capable of being responsive and kind, understanding and loving.

We hope that the analysis of the story “In Bad Society” by Korolenko was useful for you, visit our Blog more often - there are many articles on literature and analyzes of works.

The story “In Bad Society” by Korolenko was written in 1884, during the writer’s stay in Yakut exile. In his book, the author reveals the topic of social inequality through the prism of a child’s worldview. Later, the story “In Bad Society” was adapted into a more suitable version for children, which was published as the story “Children of the Dungeon.”

To better prepare for a literature lesson, we recommend reading online a summary of “In Bad Society.” Also, a retelling of the story will be useful for the reader's diary.

Main characters

Vasya- a nine-year-old boy with a kind and sensitive heart.

Outrigger- a beggar, homeless boy, independent and responsible, the same age as Vasya.

Marusya– Valeka’s younger sister, a sickly, weak girl of four years old.

Other characters

Tyburtsy- a homeless man with a pure, kind soul, the adoptive father of Marusya and Valek.

Vasya's father- a middle-aged man, a city judge, a widower, the father of Vasya and Sonya.

Sonya- Vasya’s younger sister.

I. Ruins

Vasya was only six years old when his mother died. After the death of his wife, the father almost forgot about his existence, and in his own way only took care of his daughter Sonya, “because she had the features of her mother.”

In the small town of Knyazhye-Veno, where Vanya’s family lived, an “old, dilapidated castle” served as a local landmark. Among the residents he enjoyed a bad reputation and “there were legends and stories about him, one more terrible than the other.”

At one time, the ruins of the castle served as a free “shelter for every poor person without the slightest restrictions,” but then the former count’s servant Janusz began to sort out the local society, leaving “only “good Christians,” that is, Catholics, in the castle.”

II. Problematic natures

The beggars expelled from the castle sought refuge for several days, and soon “found shelter somewhere on the mountain, near the Uniate chapel.”

Among the outcasts of society there were truly extraordinary personalities. For example, a man nicknamed “the professor,” always muttering something under his breath, who “could not indifferently hear references to cutting and piercing weapons.”

The poor have always stood up for each other, especially Pan Turkevich and the retired bayonet cadet Zausailov. Under the special care of Mr. Turkevich was the drunken official Lavrovsky, who sank to the very bottom because of unhappy love.

Another remarkable personality among the beggars was Tyburtsy Drab, who amazed everyone with his extraordinary learning and encyclopedic knowledge.

With the arrival of Pan Tyburtsy, two children appeared in the company of local beggars: “a boy of about seven, but tall and developed beyond his years, and a little three-year-old girl” - Valek and his younger sister Marusya.

III. Me and my father

After the death of his mother, Vasya was “very rarely seen at home”: from morning until late evening he wandered around the outskirts of the town, carefully studying them.

Vasya’s endless adventures were associated with strained relations with his father, on whose face “lay the stern mark of incurable grief.” Vasya would have been glad to share the bitterness of loss with him, but he was always constrained and cold in communicating with the boy.

IV. I'm making a new acquaintance

Having examined all the sights in the city, Vasya decided to explore the abandoned chapel from the inside, and for this purpose he invited his friends with him. They helped him get inside, but they themselves refused to follow him.

The gloomy situation, barely illuminated by the setting sun, made a strong impression on Vasya - it seemed to him that he found himself in the afterlife.

Suddenly, from the darkness of the chapel, two childish figures came out to Vasya. These were the adopted children of Pan Tyburtsy - Valek and Marusya. The guys quickly became friends and agreed to meet soon.

V. The acquaintance continues

Since then, Vasya’s life has changed. Every evening and every morning he "thought about his upcoming visit to the mountain." He sought to spend as much time as possible in “bad company,” and invariably brought apples and delicacies to his new friends.

Little Marusya, who resembled “a flower that grew without the rays of the sun,” was especially happy with Vasya’s visits. The boy often compared his sister Sonya with Marusya and was surprised at the striking contrast between them. Sonya was healthy, strong and very playful, while Marusya, due to weakness, “never ran and laughed very rarely.”

VI. Among the gray stones

Valek completely trusted his new friend and revealed to him the main secret of the local “bad society” - the dungeon. Its cold gray stones amazed Vasya - “it seemed that this dungeon was sensitively guarding its victim.” He felt bad inside, and he asked Valek and Marusya to quickly go upstairs to the sun.

Valek admitted that he ran to the city for a loaf of bread, which he was forced to steal - he does not have money and never had it, and his sister was very hungry.

VII. Pan Tyburtsy appears on stage

A severe thunderstorm forced children frolicking outside to go underground. During their frisky game of blind man's buff, Pan Tyburtsy came down into the dungeon, who could not understand what the son of the city judge was doing in the company of beggars.

Having hastily prepared dinner, Pan Tyburtsy invited Vasya to the “feast”, having previously made him promise that he would not tell anyone where he was going.

Vasya realized for the first time that he had become involved with a caste of outcasts, but he could no longer “change this society, change Valek and Marusa.”

VIII. in autumn

With the onset of autumn cold, “Marusya began to get sick” - she did not complain of feeling unwell, but every day she became thinner and paler. The cold and damp stones of the underground did their "horrible work, sucking the life out of the little body."

Vasya and Valek tried to take Marusya out into the fresh air more often, where she felt a little better. But the girl’s recovery quickly passed.

IX. Doll

Marusya’s illness progressed rapidly, and the girl looked at the world “indifferently with her large, darkened and motionless eyes.” In order to distract her at least a little from her sad thoughts, Vasya brought her a doll, which he begged from Sonya for a while.

When looking at the large doll “with a brightly painted face and luxurious flaxen hair,” Marusya noticeably came to life - never before in her tiny life had she seen such an amazing beauty.

A few days later, Vasya’s father, having learned about the disappearance of the doll, decided to severely punish his son for theft. But at that moment Tyburtsy appeared in their house with a doll in his hands. He spoke privately with Vasya’s father, and then approached the boy and asked him to come say goodbye to Marusya, who had died.

After talking with the beggar, Vasya saw his father completely different for the first time in a long time - he looked at his son with loving, kind eyes.

Conclusion

After the girl's death, "the members of the 'bad society' scattered in different directions." Every spring, Marusya’s small grave “was green with fresh turf, full of flowers,” and Vasya, his father and Sonya often came here.

Conclusion

In his work, Vladimir Korolenko demonstrated the tragedy of the division of society into higher and lower classes, from which children suffer the most.

For a quick introduction to the plot, a brief retelling of “In Bad Society” is suitable, after reading which we recommend reading the story in its full version.

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Korolenko Vladimir Galaktionovich

In bad company

V.G.KOROLENKO

IN BAD SOCIETY

From my friend's childhood memories

Preparation of text and notes: S.L. KOROLENKO and N.V. KOROLENKO-LYAKHOVICH

I. RUINS

My mother died when I was six years old. My father, completely absorbed in his grief, seemed to completely forget about my existence. At times he would caress my little sister and take care of her in his own way, because she had her mother’s traits. I grew up like a wild tree in a field - no one surrounded me with special care, but no one constrained my freedom.

The place where we lived was called Knyazhye-Veno, or, more simply, Knyazh-gorodok. It belonged to one seedy but proud Polish family and represented all the typical features of any of the small towns of the South-Western region, where, among the quietly flowing life of hard work and petty fussy Jewish gesheft, the pitiful remains of the proud lordly greatness live out their sad days.

If you approach the town from the east, the first thing that catches your eye is the prison, the best architectural decoration of the city. The city itself lies below sleepy, moldy ponds, and you have to go down to it along a sloping highway, blocked by a traditional “outpost”. A sleepy disabled person, a figure browned in the sun, the personification of a serene slumber, lazily raises the barrier, and - you are in the city, although, perhaps, you do not notice it right away. Gray fences, vacant lots with heaps of all sorts of rubbish are gradually interspersed with dim-sighted huts sunk into the ground. Further, the wide square gapes in different places with the dark gates of Jewish “visiting houses”; government institutions are depressing with their white walls and barracks-like lines. A wooden bridge spanning a narrow river groans, trembles under the wheels, and staggers like a decrepit old man. Beyond the bridge stretched a Jewish street with shops, benches, little shops, tables of Jewish money changers sitting under umbrellas on the sidewalks, and with awnings of kalachniki. The stench, the dirt, the heaps of kids crawling in the street dust. But another minute and you are already outside the city. The birch trees whisper quietly over the graves of the cemetery, and the wind stirs the grain in the fields and rings with a sad, endless song in the wires of the roadside telegraph.

The river over which the aforementioned bridge was thrown flowed from a pond and flowed into another. Thus, the town was fenced from the north and south by wide expanses of water and swamps. The ponds became shallower year by year, overgrown with greenery, and tall, dense reeds waved like the sea in the huge swamps. There is an island in the middle of one of the ponds. There is an old, dilapidated castle on the island.

I remember with what fear I always looked at this majestic decrepit building. There were legends and stories about him, one more terrible than the other. They said that the island was built artificially, by the hands of captured Turks. “On human bones stands an old castle,” the old-timers said, and my frightened childhood imagination pictured thousands of Turkish skeletons underground, supporting with their bony hands the island with its tall pyramidal poplars and the old castle. This, of course, made the castle seem even more terrible, and even on clear days, when sometimes, encouraged by the light and the loud voices of birds, we came closer to it, it often brought on us fits of panic horror - the black hollows of the long-dug out windows; There was a mysterious rustling in the empty halls: pebbles and plaster, breaking off, fell down, awakening a echo, and we ran without looking back, and behind us for a long time there was knocking, stomping, and cackling.

And on stormy autumn nights, when the giant poplars swayed and hummed from the wind blowing from behind the ponds, horror spread from the old castle and reigned over the entire city. "Oh-vey-peace!" [Oh woe is me (Heb.)] - the Jews said fearfully; God-fearing old bourgeois women were baptized, and even our closest neighbor, the blacksmith, who denied the very existence of demonic power, went out into his courtyard at these hours, made the sign of the cross and whispered to himself a prayer for the repose of the departed.

Old, gray-bearded Janusz, who, for lack of an apartment, took refuge in one of the basements of the castle, told us more than once that on such nights he clearly heard screams coming from underground. The Turks began to tinker under the island, rattling their bones and loudly reproaching the lords for their cruelty. Then weapons rattled in the halls of the old castle and around it on the island, and the lords called the haiduks with loud shouts. Janusz heard quite clearly, under the roar and howl of the storm, the tramp of horses, the clanking of sabers, the words of command. Once he even heard how the late great-grandfather of the current counts, glorified forever for his bloody exploits, rode out, clattering the hooves of his argamak, to the middle of the island and furiously swore:

“Keep quiet there, laidaks [Idlers (Polish)], psya vyara!”

The descendants of this count left the home of their ancestors long ago. Most of the ducats and all sorts of treasures, from which the chests of the counts were previously bursting, went over the bridge, into the Jewish hovels, and the last representatives of the glorious family built themselves a prosaic white building on the mountain, away from the city. There their boring, but still solemn existence passed in contemptuously majestic solitude.

Occasionally only the old count, the same gloomy ruin as the castle on the island, appeared in the city on his old English nag. Next to him, in a black riding habit, stately and dry, his daughter rode through the city streets, and the horsemaster respectfully followed behind. The majestic countess was destined to remain a virgin forever. Suitors equal to her in origin, in pursuit of the money of merchant daughters abroad, cowardly scattered around the world, leaving their family castles or selling them for scrap to the Jews, and in the town spread out at the foot of her palace, there was no young man who would dare to look up at beautiful countess. Seeing these three horsemen, we little guys, like a flock of birds, took off from the soft street dust and, quickly scattering around the courtyards, watched with frightened and curious eyes the gloomy owners of the terrible castle.

On the western side, on the mountain, among decaying crosses and sunken graves, stood a long-abandoned Uniate chapel. This was the native daughter of the philistine city itself, which was spread out in the valley. Once upon a time, at the sound of a bell, townspeople in clean, although not luxurious, kuntushas gathered in it, with sticks in their hands instead of sabers, which rattled the small gentry, who also came to the call of the ringing Uniate bell from the surrounding villages and farmsteads.