719. Followers of Pythagoras

All the mathematicians with whom I had to communicate at school and after school were sloppy people, weak-willed and quite brilliant. So the statement that Pythagorean pants are supposedly equal in all directions is unlikely to be absolutely accurate. Perhaps this was the case with Pythagoras himself, but his followers probably forgot about it and paid little attention to their appearance. And yet there was one mathematician in our school who was different from all the others. (F. Iskander.)

(71 words. Introductory words with the meaning of uncertainty.)

Exercise Write down the function words, distributing them into columns in accordance with the part of the speech. What role do they play in the text?

Educational dictation

720. Apple of discord

All the gods of Olympus feasted on luxurious wedding. Only one goddess of discord, Eris, did not participate in the fun: she was not invited to the feast. She wandered alone near the cave where the gods were having fun, deeply harboring a grudge in her heart. Eris figured out how to take revenge on the gods, how to quarrel between them. She took a golden apple and wrote on it: “To the most beautiful.” The invisible Eris quietly approached the banquet table and threw an apple.

The gods saw the apple and read the inscription. But which of the goddesses is the most beautiful? A dispute immediately arose between three of them: Zeus's wife Hera, the warrior Athena and the goddess of love Aphrodite. None of them wanted to give in to their rival. They turned to the king of gods and people Zeus and demanded to resolve their dispute. (According to N. Kuhn.)

(109 words. Consoles. Unpronounceable consonants. Suffixes of adjectives and verbs.)

Exercise Write down the function words, distributing them into the appropriate parts of speech. What is the meaning of the phraseological unit that names this text?

For information. Apple of discord - reason for the quarrel.

Test dictation

721. Picnic

On Wednesday, already at four o'clock, the station was packed with picnic participants. Everyone felt cheerful and at ease. Vasily Terentyevich's arrival this time ended as happily as no one even dared to expect. There was no thunder or lightning, no one was asked to leave the service, and even, on the contrary, there were rumors about an increase in the salaries of most employees in the near future. In addition, the picnic promised to be very entertaining... The clear and warm weather, which had firmly established itself during the last week, could not in any way interfere with the trip. (A. Kuprin.)

(79 words. Not And neither. Homogeneous members.)

Exercise Write down all the functional parts of speech, dividing them into groups: prepositions, conjunctions and particles.

Prepositions

Educational dictations

722. Enmity

The dogs did not like crows, considered their appearance at their bowl an act of aggression and immediately rushed to protect their food. But a crow rushing towards the dogs led them aside, and they pursued it with a loud bark.

When the woodpecker, far visible due to its variegated red, black and white coloring, approached the dog’s bowl, the dogs did not make any noise, and he, looking around proudly, simply climbed into the dog’s bowl and felt very calm. (According to N. Tikhonov.)

(69 words. Consoles. Possessive adjective. Verb suffixes. Homogeneous members.)

Exercise Write down in two columns - non-derivative and derived prepositions. From what part of speech are derived prepositions formed?

723. Magic gift

For several weeks, the teachers could not praise Alyosha enough. He knew all the lessons perfectly, all the translations from one language to another were without errors, so they could not help but marvel at his extraordinary success. Alyosha was internally ashamed of these praises. He was ashamed that they were holding him up as an example to his comrades, when he did not deserve it at all.

During this time, Chernushka did not come to him, despite the fact that Alyosha, especially in the first weeks after receiving the hemp seed, did not miss almost a single day without calling her. At first he was very sad about it, but then he calmed down, thinking that she was probably busy important matters. Subsequently, the praise that everyone showered on him occupied him so much that he rarely remembered her. (According to A. Pogorelsky.)

(117 words. Consoles. Not with different parts of speech. Vowels at the end of adverbs.)

Exercise Underline the derived prepositions and explain their spelling.

Test dictations

724. Sultry day

The path went along high coastal cliff, twisting in the shadow of hundred-year-old olive trees. Sea Sometimes flashed between the trees, and then it seemed that, leaving into the distance it rises at the same time up a calm, mighty wall. And its color was even bluer, even thicker in the patterned cuts, among silver-green foliage. In the grass, dogwood and wild rose bushes, in vineyards and trees - everywhere The cicadas sang, the air trembled with their ringing, monotonous, incessant cry. The day turned out to be sultry, windless, and the hot earth burned the soles of my feet. (A. Kuprin.)

(78 words. Unstressed vowels in roots. Adjective suffixes. Compound adjectives. Homogeneous members with a generalizing word. Complex sentences.)

Exercise What part of speech do the highlighted words belong to? Name their morphological characteristics.

725. Preparing gifts

For almost a month after we moved to Moscow, I sat on top of my grandmother’s house, at a large table, and wrote poetry. A drawing teacher sat opposite me and was finally correcting the head of some Turk in a turban, drawn with a black pencil. Volodya, craning his neck, stood behind the teacher and looked over his shoulder. This head was Volodya’s first work and now, on the day of the grandmother’s angel, it was to be presented to her. (L. Tolstoy.)

(66 words. Vowels after sibilants. nn in passive participles.)

Exercise Underline the derived prepositions with nouns. In what case are nouns used? Compare combinations on top of the house And behind the teacher: which one is with a preposition? Choose a synonym for the word behind.

Educational dictations

726. Animal fish

Animal fish differ from fish that live near the surface in that they live at great depths, that is, they are deep-sea. They often lack a swim bladder, or it is very small. Their buoyancy is provided mainly by fat. Most of these fish, or animals, have large mouths, thanks to which they capture and filter a significant volume of water. Animals that constantly live at great depths often lack visual organs, and therefore they cannot see, but they have organs adapted to enable them to navigate and search for food. In addition, organisms living deep underwater are often colorless or dirty gray in color. This helps them be unnoticeable to their enemies.

(102 words. Vowels in roots. Compound adjectives. Short participles. Participial phrases.)

Exercise Write down the derived prepositions with nouns attached to them. With what cases of nouns are they used? Indicate from which part of speech words they are formed.

727. New acquaintances

Vasya became acquainted with the prisoners only this summer due to the fact that there was no supervision over him. Until that time, he was very afraid of them and, running into the upper garden, he tried to sneak past them at a respectful distance and always at a run. Then he considered all these people in gray hats, digging earth in the garden or transporting sand in wheelbarrows, capable of all sorts of atrocities, even ready, as his nanny Agafya assured him long ago when he was capricious, to take the boy away and then roast and eat him, although If only he were an admiral's son. These words of the nanny at one time made a deep impression on Vasya, despite the fact that he did not hear their confirmation from anyone. (According to K. Stanyukovich.)

(110 words. Consoles. Case endings of nouns. The vowel before the suffix -l- in verbs. Participle suffixes. Participial phrases.)

Exercise Underline the derived prepositions. Select homonym words from which the prepositions are formed. Come up with sentences with homonyms and graphically indicate their syntactic function.

728. Hunting time

The edges turn yellow, and the leaves fall with a quiet sad rustle on the light green winter fields, on the dirt of the rutted forest road. The brother, looking like a Circassian in his sheepskin hunting cap, stands in the middle of the yard and looks first at the sky, then at the dogs. He cheerfully claps his whip and turns to Masha. His black eyes sparkle with merriment. Masha’s face, from under the scarf thrown over her head, seems so sad and sweet in its anxiously attentive expression, with which she looks first at her brother, then at the sky. The dogs, sensing the approach of hunting time, squeal at the porch every morning and ask to go into the fields, among which the farm was located. He was completely hidden in the trees, only the white chimney of the house and the windows with white frames looked out from behind the thick, still green lilacs. (By P. Romanov.)

(106 words. b And ъ. Compound adjectives. Participle suffixes. Personal endings of verbs. Homogeneous members.)

Exercise Choose synonymous ones from the following for the prepositions in the text: between, near, near, near. Compare them. Is there any (semantic or stylistic) difference between synonymous prepositions?

Control dictation

729. Menshikov Tower

During the time when Peter the Great ruled Russia, the name of Alexander Danilovich Menshikov was known to everyone, despite the fact that he was not distinguished by either family nobility or wealth. In Moscow, Menshikov decided to build a temple of unprecedented height towards the sun, three meters higher than the bell tower of Ivan the Great. The temple was not at all like the ancient Moscow churches. In one of the tiers there was an English tower clock that struck every quarter of an hour. This church was nicknamed the Menshikov Tower.

However, on June fourteenth, one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three, the church burned down due to a lightning strike. In Moscow, regarding the fire, they decided that this was a punishment and a warning to the highly risen temporary worker about the impending fall. It must be borne in mind that the prediction subsequently came true. Soon Menshikov was stripped of all titles and wealth and exiled.

(118 words. Uppercase letter. Unpronounceable consonants. Case endings of nouns. Adjective suffixes. I am not with different parts of speech. Derivative prepositions. Homogeneous members. Complex sentences.)

Unions

Educational dictations

730. In Yalta

Chekhov yearned for Moscow, for the north. Apart from the sea and quiet winter Yalta, it seemed that there was nothing left in life. Somewhere very far away, beyond Kharkov, beyond Kursk and Orel, there was snow, the lights of poor villages blinked blindly in the gray snowstorm; she seemed sweet and close to the heart, much closer to the cypress trees and sweet seaside air. This air often gave me headaches. Everything seemed sweet: forests, rivers, and haystacks in deserted evening fields, lonely, illuminated by a dim moon, as if forever forgotten by man.

The sick Levitan asked Chekhov for a piece of cardboard and in half an hour he sketched an evening field with haystacks on it in oil paints... Chekhov inserted this sketch into the fireplace and often looked at it while working. (According to K. Paustovsky.)

(113 words. Case endings of nouns. Adjective suffixes. Homogeneous members after the generalizing word.)

Exercise Emphasize coordinating conjunctions. What do they connect: homogeneous members or sentences?

731. Plyos

Levitan was looking for a place for sketches, but good places there wasn't. He frowned more and more often and complained of fatigue. The shores flowed slowly, monotonously, not pleasing with picturesque villages or thoughtful and smooth turns. Finally, in Plyos, Levitan saw from the deck an old small church, cut from pine ridges. It turned black in the green sky, and the first star burned above it, shimmering and shining. In this church, in the silence of the evening, in the melodious voices of the women selling milk on the pier, Levitan felt so much peace that he immediately decided to stay in Plyos. From that moment on, a bright period began in his life. small town was silent and deserted. The silence was broken only by the ringing of bells and the lowing of the herd, and at night by the beaters of the guards. Along the street slopes and ravines, burdocks bloomed and quinoa grew. (K. Paustovsky.)

(125 words. Consoles. Letters k and nn. Verb suffixes. Not And neither. Homogeneous members. Incomplete sentence.)

Exercise Emphasize coordinating conjunctions. What do they connect? What semantic relations (conjunctive, adversative, etc.) do these conjunctions express?

Test dictation

732. Anxiety

The chest breathes calmly, but a terrible anxiety fills the soul. The imagination soars and flutters like a bird, and everything moves so clearly and stands before the eyes. The heart will suddenly tremble and beat, passionately rush forward, then it will irrevocably drown in memories. All life unfolds easily and quickly, like a scroll. A person owns all his past, all his feelings, his strength, his entire soul. And nothing bothers you around: no sun, no wind, no noise... (According to I. Turgenev.)

(69 words. Unpronounceable consonants. Personal endings of verbs. Homogeneous terms in a generalizing word.)

Exercise Emphasize coordinating conjunctions. Which of them have synonyms?

Educational dictations

733. Meeting the stars

Before, Seryozha did not pay attention to the stars; they did not interest him, because he did not know that they had names. But his mother showed him the Milky Way, Sirius, the Big Dipper and red Mars. Seryozha wanted to know all the names, but his mother did not remember them, but she showed him the mountains on the Moon, and it was as if he had touched the stars. (According to V. Panova.)

(56 words. Capital letter in astronomical names. Complex sentences.)

Exercise Underline the coordinating conjunctions with one line and the subordinating conjunctions with two lines. Explain the origin of the union but. What is its function and meaning? What conjunction can replace it in the text?

734. Self-education

Once the thought occurred to me that happiness does not depend on external causes, but on our attitude towards them. A person who is accustomed to enduring suffering cannot be unhappy. And in order to accustom myself to work, despite the terrible pain, I held Tatishchev’s lexicons in outstretched hands for five minutes at a time or went into the closet and painfully whipped myself with a rope on my bare back, so that tears involuntarily came to my eyes. (L. Tolstoy.)

(66 words. Prefix at-. Not. Homogeneous members.)

Exercise Underline coordinating conjunctions with one line and subordinating conjunctions with two. What semantic relationships do these and other unions express? For information. Lexicbn(obsolete) - dictionary.

Selective dictation

735. Truce

Once, during Maslenitsa, Nekhlyudov was so busy with various pleasures that although he visited us several times a day, he never spoke to me. This offended me, so that he again seemed proud and unpleasant person. I was only waiting for an opportunity to show him that I did not value his company at all and that I had no special attachment to him.

The first time he wanted to talk to me again after Maslenitsa, I said that I needed to prepare my homework and left. But after a quarter of an hour, someone opened the door to the classroom, and Nekhlyudov came up to me. "Am I disturbing you?" - he said. “No,” I answered, despite the fact that I wanted to say that I really had a business. (L. Tolstoy.)

(116 words. Not And neither with different parts of speech. Direct speech.)

Exercise Write down subordinating conjunctions in two columns: simple and compound. What semantic relationships do they express between parts of complex sentences? Explain the origin of unions What And to.

Particles

Educational dictations

736. Magic gift

Tell me what do you want? - continued the king. - If I am able, I will certainly fulfill your demand.
- Speak boldly, Alyosha! - the minister whispered in his ear.
Alyosha thought about it and didn’t know what to wish for. If they had given him more time, he might have come up with something good; but since it seemed discourteous to him to make the king wait, he hastened to answer.
“I would like,” he said, “that, without studying, I would always know my lesson, no matter what I was given.”
“I didn’t think you were such a sloth,” answered the king, shaking his head. - But there is nothing to do, I must fulfill my promise.

He waved his hand, and the page brought a golden dish on which lay one hemp seed. (A. Pogorelsky.)

(109 words. Suffix -ets. Indefinite pronouns. Not with different parts of speech. Infinitive. Complex sentences. Skills in writing direct speech without quotes.)

Exercise Underline the particles and indicate their rank by value.

737. About V. Gilyarovsky

Each time needs its own chronicler, not only in the field of historical events, but also a chronicler of everyday life. To fully understand at least Leo Tolstoy or Chekhov, we must know the life of that time. Even Pushkin’s poetry acquires its full brilliance only for those who know the life of Pushkin’s time. That is why the works of such a writer as Gilyarovsky, a chronicler of everyday life and a commentator of his time, are so valuable to us. (K. Paustovsky.)

(62 words. Uppercase letter. Case endings and suffixes of nouns with the meaning of the doer.)

Exercise Underline the particles and explain their spelling. What meanings do they give to the words in the text?

Not And neither with different parts of speech

Educational dictations

738. Language of Russia

You will never become dull
You won't cool down for a moment.
I bow to you in Russian,
The language of my great-great-grandfathers.
(A. Markov.)

(17 words. Personal endings of verbs. Adverb. Appeal.)

Exercise What parts of speech are the particles used with? Not And neither! Do these particles have the same meaning?

739. Desert

The desert is yellow and blue. The hot sand burns through the soles. In the desert everything is unusual and incomprehensible. Heavy rains that dry out before reaching the ground. Trees with no shade under them. Good weather is not sunny and dry, but cloudy and rainy. An umbrella here protects not from rain, but from the sun. You're going. Streams of sand fall asleep behind your footprint. (According to N. Sladkov.)

(56 words. Double consonants. Personal endings of verbs. Dash between main terms.)

Exercise

740. What is pluralism?

The search for truth is always a choice from many options. The wider the choice, the more difficult it is to do this, but the more accurate it is. Pluralism is plurality, diversity of opinions. However, not everything is simple here. Not everyone can tolerate an opinion that is completely opposite to yours. Moreover, one cannot defend one’s opinion if the forces are unequal. Try going up to the famous bully and strongman at school, tell him that he is wrong. After all, he will screw you up and stay with you. It is clear that this is not pluralism at all, but autocracy, arbitrariness and forced unanimity. (From the almanac “I want to know everything.”)

(90 words. Complex words. Dash in a simple sentence.)

Exercise Label and explain the spelling “Not with different parts of speech.”

741. Far from home

But I lost weight not only because of homesickness. Besides, I was constantly undernourished. In the fall, while Uncle Vanya was transporting bread in his lorry to the grain store, which was located not far from the regional center, they sent me food quite often. But the trouble is that I missed her. There was nothing there except bread and potatoes, and occasionally the mother filled a jar with cottage cheese, which she took from someone for something: she didn’t keep a cow. They will bring it - it seems like a lot, if you grab it in two days - it’s empty. (V. Rasputin.)

(76 words. Compound nouns. Indefinite pronouns. Personal endings of verbs.)

Exercise Underline the particles, determine their rank by value, and explain the spelling.

742. Unusual dispatcher

The tame crane Vasily Ivanovich enjoyed the greatest love and respect in the aviation detachment. It is important, like a manager-dispatcher, he walked around the airfield. One might think that without Vasily Ivanovich not a single plane could depart.

One day the pilot Ermakov was flying over the forests. Suddenly the engine became capricious, and we had to descend into the swamp. He managed to land safely between the trees without damaging the car. The pilot took his failure calmly. He knew well that his comrades would not leave him and would certainly find him soon. He had little provisions with him, but he had a hunting rifle and cartridges. He was not afraid to die.

While wandering through the swamp, he once caught a crane calf. It was a long-legged, already fledgling chick that could not fly. (According to I. Sokolov-Mikitov.)

(105 words. Nn in adjectives and adverbs. b in verbs. Participial and participial phrases.)

Exercise Explain the spelling " Not and not with different parts of speech."

Test dictation

743. Witness of the past

We often say “the times of Chekhov” or “the times of Tolstoy”. But the air of this recent time, its color, its character, made up of innumerable features - all this is almost lost to us. The new generation can no longer experience Chekhov's time as something completely concrete.

Nothing, of course, can give such an accurate sense of the past as meeting with a living witness. Especially with such a unique and talented witness as Vladimir Alekseevich Gilyarovsky was - a man of indomitable energy and indomitable kindness.

He was a cheerful and tireless worker. He worked all his life, and to any work he brought real Russian ingenuity, quickness of mind, even some daring. There must have been not a single phenomenon that did not seem to him mortally curious and worthy of close attention. (TO. Paustovsky.)

(111 words. Adjective suffixes. Case endings of nouns. Short participles. Introductory phrase. Homogeneous members. Complex sentences.)

Exercise Explain the spelling "Not to any different parts of speech."

Hyphenated spelling of particles

Educational dictations

744. Sick cheetah

It's easy to say - feed a sick animal. Well, I knew very well how difficult it was to do this. Try giving him something if he not only doesn’t eat, but doesn’t even get up. And if some measures are not taken, the cheetah may die. It was then that a thought occurred to me: what if I just entered the cage and tried to hand feed him? I had some kind of inner conviction that the beast would not touch me. Still, before entering the cheetah’s cage, I made some preparations. (According to V. Chaplina.)

(82 words. Not with different parts of speech. Indefinite pronouns. Complex sentences.)

Exercise Explain the spelling "Hyphen spelling of particles." With words of what parts of speech are they used and what shade of meaning do they bring to them (semantic or stylistic)?

745. Family heirloom

At the same time, the sound of droshky, the noise of a country train, and military music could be heard from the street. And suddenly, in the midst of all this hubbub, some terribly familiar hissing was heard, something clicked, started up, and one after another, transparent spring sounds were clearly beating, as if counting something. What is this? Excuse me, but this is a watch! The same famous table clock that, as family legend had it, dad won in the Allegri lottery.

How could Petya forget about them? Well, yes, of course it is them! They were counting down the time. They "beat"! But the boy did not have time to count how many. In any case, it’s a lot: maybe ten, maybe eleven. (V. Kataev.)

(97 words. Consoles. Letters nn in adjectives. Imperative form. Interrogative and exclamatory sentences.)

Exercise Label the spelling “Spelling particle -to”. Find words in the text that are homonymous to this particle and indicate what part of speech they are.

For information.
Relic - a thing kept as a memory of the past.
Allegri- a lottery with immediate distribution of winnings.

Creative dictation

746. Folk wisdom

Going to bed, Vasya said to his mother in a happy, tired, half-asleep voice:
- You know, mom, I love these turtles so much!
“It turns out that the old friend is no better than the new two...” the mother remarked, covering her son with a blanket.

There are words, seemingly simple and harmless, which, once spoken at the right time, appear again and again in your memory and do not allow you to live. In the end, Mashka is not even his friend, Vasya, but just an old, decrepit turtle, and he doesn’t want to think about her at all. And yet he thinks not about what a great fellow he is, that he managed to get two cheerful kids with whom it will be so interesting to play tomorrow, but about the same useless Masha. It seems alarming, not good... (Yu. Nagibin.)

(109 words. Consoles. Personal endings of verbs. Dialogue.)

Exercise Highlight the particles in the text and explain their spelling. What proverb did Vasya’s mother remember? How do you understand it? Is she fair? Write a short essay confirming or refuting this proverb.

Control dictations

747. Kalinich

Kalinich was a man of the most cheerful, meek disposition, constantly sang in a low voice, looked carefree in all directions, spoke slightly through his nose, smiling, narrowed his light blue eyes and often took his thin, wedge-shaped beard with his hand. He walked slowly, but with long steps, lightly supporting himself with a long and thin stick. During the day he spoke to me more than once, served me without servility, but watched the master as if he were a child. When the unbearable midday heat forced us to seek shelter, he took us to his apiary, in the very depths of the forest. Kalinich opened a hut for us, hung with bunches of dry fragrant herbs, laid us down on fresh hay, and he himself went to cut out honeycombs for us. (According to I. Turgenev.)

(105 words. Roots with alternating vowels. Double consonants. Consoles. Complex words. Functional words.)

748. After the earthquake

From the raid, the city of Messina looked beautiful and tempting in a Sicilian way, but for a moment Petya felt something alarming in the location and number of houses. There were far fewer of them than there could have been. Between them, some dead spaces could be discerned, hidden in disorderly thickets. Only when they landed on the pier did Petya see that more than half of the city was ruins.

Then he suddenly remembered the words that three years ago the whole world repeated with horror: the Messinian earthquake.

The destruction of the city and the death of tens of thousands of people occurred within a few minutes and left behind neither fortress towers, nor marble colonnades, nothing but pitiful fragments of apartment partitions with shreds of wallpaper, shingles, broken glass and twisted iron beds, now overgrown with wolfberry and nightshade . This was the first destroyed city that Petya saw. (B. Kataev.)

(119 words. Consoles. Adjective suffixes. Hyphenate spelling of pronouns and adverbs. Functional parts of speech.)

For information.
Dereza - steppe shrub plant.
Nightshade - herbaceous plant with white flowers or green berries.

Creative dictation (for all functional parts of speech)

749. On a sultry afternoon

We sat in the shade, but even in the shade it was stuffy. The heavy, sultry air seemed to freeze. The hot face looked for the wind with longing, but there was no wind. The sun was still beating down from the blue, darkened sky. Directly in front of us, on the other bank, was a yellow oat field, overgrown with wormwood in some places, and at least one ear of corn had moved. A little lower down, a peasant horse stood knee-deep in the river and lazily fanned itself with its tail. From time to time, a large fish surfaced under an overhanging bush, blew bubbles and quietly sank to the bottom, leaving behind a light swell. The grasshoppers were chattering in the reddish grass... We sat motionless, overwhelmed by the heat. Suddenly, behind us, in the ravine, a noise was heard: someone was going down to the source. (I. Turgenev.)

(105 words. Consoles. Suffixes of nouns and adjectives. Adverbs. Not.)

Exercise Write down the auxiliary parts of speech in three columns: prepositions, conjunctions, particles. What parts of speech words can they be homonymous with?

Interjections

Educational dictation

750. Tea room

The house where the tearoom was located is perhaps an exception. Nothing new is visible in it. We rushed through the door, but, alas, it was locked from the inside. Then, in despair, I climbed out the open window and saw an empty room covered with newspapers. A woman stood on a stool and moved a large brush across the ceiling. (V. Soloukhin.)

(46 words.)

Exercise Underline the interjection and indicate the purpose for which it is used in the text. Give more interjections that express different emotions

“I give you my word of honor that I will never talk about you to anyone,” Alyosha interrupted him. “I now remember that I read in one book about gnomes who live underground. They write that in a certain city one shoemaker became very rich in a very short time, so that no one understood where his wealth came from. Finally, somehow they found out that he sewed boots and shoes for the gnomes, who paid him very dearly for it.

“Perhaps this is true,” answered the minister.

“But,” Alyosha said to him, “explain to me, dear Chernushka, why do you, being a minister, appear in the world in the form of a chicken and what connection do you have with the old Dutch women?”

Chernushka, wanting to satisfy his curiosity, began to tell him in detail about many things, but at the very beginning of her story, Aleshina’s eyes closed, and he fell fast asleep.

When he woke up the next morning, he was lying in his bed. For a long time he could not come to his senses and did not know what to do...

Chernushka and the minister, the king and the knights, the Dutch women and the rats - all this was mixed up in his head, and he mentally put in order everything he had seen last night. Remembering that the king had given him hemp seed, he hastily rushed to his dress and actually found in his pocket a piece of paper in which the hemp seed was wrapped. “We’ll see,” he thought, “if the king keeps his word!” Classes start tomorrow, and I haven’t learned all my lessons yet.”

The history lesson particularly bothered him: he was asked to memorize several pages from Shrek's world history*, but he still didn't know a single word!

Monday came, the boarders arrived, and classes began. From ten o'clock to twelve o'clock the owner of the boarding house taught history. Alyosha’s heart was beating strongly... By the time it was his turn, he several times felt the piece of paper with a hemp seed in his pocket... Finally they called him. With trepidation, he approached the teacher, opened his mouth, not yet knowing what to say, and... unmistakably, without stopping, he said what was asked. The teacher praised him very much; however, Alyosha did not accept his praise with the pleasure that he had previously felt in such cases. An inner voice told him that he did not deserve this praise, because this lesson did not cost him any work.

For several weeks, the teachers could not praise Alyosha enough. Without exception, he knew all the lessons perfectly, all the translations from one language to another were without errors, so one could not be surprised at his extraordinary success. Alyosha was internally ashamed of these praises: he was ashamed that they were setting him up as an example to his comrades, when he did not deserve it at all.

During this time, Chernushka did not come to him, despite the fact that Alyosha, especially in the first weeks after receiving the hemp seed, did not miss almost a single day without calling her when he went to bed. At first he was very sad about this, but then he calmed down with the thought that she was probably busy with important matters according to her rank. Subsequently, the praise that everyone showered on him occupied him so much that he rarely remembered her.

Meanwhile, rumors about his extraordinary abilities soon spread throughout the whole of St. Petersburg. The director of the schools himself came to the boarding house several times and admired Alyosha. The teacher carried him in his arms, for through him the boarding school entered into glory. Parents came from all over the city and pestered him to take their children into his home, in the hope that they too would be scientists like Alyosha. Soon the boarding house was so full that there was no longer room for new boarders, and the teacher and teacher began to think about renting a house, much larger than the one in which they lived.

Alyosha, as I said above, at first was ashamed of the praise, feeling that he did not deserve it at all, but little by little he began to get used to it, and finally his pride reached the point that he accepted, without blushing, the praise that was showered on him . He began to think a lot about himself, put on airs in front of other boys and imagined that he was much better and smarter than all of them. As a result, Alyosha’s character completely deteriorated: from a kind, sweet and modest boy, he became proud and disobedient. His conscience often reproached him for this, and inner voice He said to him: “Alyosha, don’t be proud! Do not attribute to yourself what does not belong to you; thank fate for giving you advantages against other children, but do not think that you are better than them. If you don’t improve, then no one will love you, and then you, with all your learning, will be the most unfortunate child!”

Sometimes he intended to improve, but, unfortunately, his pride was so strong that it drowned out the voice of his conscience, and he became worse day by day, and day by day his comrades loved him less.

Moreover, Alyosha became a terrible naughty man. Having no need to repeat the lessons that were assigned to him, he was engaged in pranks while other children were preparing for classes, and this idleness spoiled his character even more. Finally, everyone was so tired of him with his bad temper that the teacher seriously began to think about ways to correct such a bad boy and for this purpose gave him lessons twice and three times greater than others; but this didn’t help at all. Alyosha did not study at all, but still knew the lesson from beginning to end, without the slightest mistake.

One day the teacher, not knowing what to do with him, asked him to memorize about twenty pages by the next morning and hoped that he would at least be calmer that day.

Where! Our Alyosha didn’t even think about the lesson! On this day he deliberately played more naughty than usual, and the teacher vainly threatened him with punishment if he did not know his lesson the next morning. Alyosha laughed internally at these threats, being sure that the hemp seed would certainly help him.

For several weeks, the teachers could not praise Alyosha enough. Without exception, he knew all the lessons perfectly, all the translations from one language to another were without errors, so one could not be surprised at his extraordinary success. Alyosha was internally ashamed of these praises: he was ashamed that they were setting him up as an example to his comrades, when he did not deserve it at all.

During this time, Chernushka did not come to him, despite the fact that Alyosha, especially in the first weeks after receiving the hemp seed, did not miss almost a single day without calling her when he went to bed. At first he was very sad about this, but then he calmed down with the thought that she was probably busy with important matters according to her rank. Subsequently, the praise that everyone showered on him occupied him so much that he rarely remembered her.

Meanwhile, rumors about his extraordinary abilities soon spread throughout the whole of St. Petersburg. The director of the schools himself came to the boarding school several times and admired Alyosha. The teacher carried him in his arms, for through him the boarding house entered into glory. Parents came from all over the city and pestered him to take their children into his home, in the hope that they too would be scientists like Alyosha.

Soon the boarding house was so full that there was no longer room for new boarders, and the teacher and teacher began to think about renting a house, much larger than the one in which they lived.

Alyosha, as I said above, at first was ashamed of the praise, feeling that he did not deserve it at all, but little by little he began to get used to it, and finally his pride reached the point that he accepted, without blushing, the praise that was showered on him . He began to think a lot about himself, put on airs in front of other boys and imagined that he was much better and smarter than all of them. As a result, Alyosha’s character completely deteriorated: from a kind, sweet and modest boy, he became proud and disobedient. His conscience often reproached him for this, and an inner voice told him: “Alyosha, don’t be proud! Do not attribute to yourself what does not belong to you; thank fate for giving you advantages against other children, but do not think that you are better than them. If you don’t improve, then no one will love you, and then you, with all your learning, will be the most unfortunate child!”

Sometimes he intended to improve, but, unfortunately, his pride was so strong in him that it drowned out the voice of his conscience, and he became worse day by day, and day by day his comrades loved him less.

Moreover, Alyosha became a terrible naughty man. Not having the need to repeat the lessons that were assigned to him, he was engaged in pranks while other children were preparing for classes, and this idleness spoiled his character even more.

Finally, everyone was so tired of him with his bad temper that the teacher seriously began to think about ways to correct such a bad boy and for this purpose gave him lessons twice and three times greater than others; but this didn’t help at all. Alyosha did not study at all, but still knew the lesson from beginning to end, without the slightest mistake.

One day the teacher, not knowing what to do with him, asked him to memorize about twenty pages by the next morning and hoped that he would at least be calmer that day.

Where! Our Alyosha didn’t even think about the lesson! On this day he deliberately played more naughty than usual, and the teacher vainly threatened him with punishment if he did not know his lesson the next morning. Alyosha laughed internally at these threats, being sure that the hemp seed would certainly help him.

The next day, at the appointed hour, the teacher picked up the book from which Alyosha’s lesson was assigned, called him over and ordered him to say what was assigned. All the children turned their attention to Alyosha with curiosity, and the teacher himself did not know what to think when Alyosha, despite the fact that he had not taught the lesson at all the day before, boldly stood up from the bench and approached him. Alyosha had no doubt that this time he would be able to show his extraordinary ability; he opened his mouth... and could not utter a word!

- Why are you silent? - the teacher told him. - Say a lesson.

Alyosha blushed, then turned pale, blushed again, began to knead his hands, tears welled up in his eyes from fear... Everything was in vain! He could not utter a single word, because, hoping for hemp grain, he did not even look into the book.

- What does this mean, Alyosha? - the teacher shouted. - Why don’t you want to talk?

Alyosha himself didn’t know what to attribute such strangeness to; he stuck his hand into his pocket to feel the seed... But how can one describe his despair when he didn’t find it! Tears poured out of his eyes like hail... He cried bitterly and still could not say a word.

Meanwhile, the teacher was losing patience. Accustomed to the fact that Alyosha always answered accurately and without hesitating, he considered it impossible that Alyosha did not at least know the beginning of the lesson, and therefore attributed the silence to his stubbornness.

“Go to the bedroom,” he said, “and stay there until you know the lesson completely.”

Alyosha was taken to the lower floor, given a book and locked the door with a key.

As soon as he was left alone, he began to look everywhere for hemp seeds. He rummaged in his pockets for a long time, crawled on the floor, looked under the bed, sorted through the blanket, pillow, sheets - all in vain! There was no trace of the dear grain anywhere! He tried to remember where he could have lost it, and finally became convinced that he had dropped it the day before while playing in the yard. But how to find it? He was locked in the room, and even if he had been allowed to go out into the yard, it probably would have been of no use, for he knew that the chickens ate hemp and probably one of them managed to peck the grain of it ! Desperate to find him, he decided to call Chernushka to his aid.

- Dear Chernushka! - he said. - Dear Minister! Please appear to me and give me another seed! I really will be more careful in future...

But no one answered his requests, and he finally sat down on a chair and again began to cry bitterly.

Meanwhile, it was time for lunch; the door opened and the teacher entered.

– Do you know the lesson now? – he asked Alyosha.

Alyosha, sobbing loudly, was forced to say that he didn’t know.

- Well, then stay here until you learn! - said the teacher, ordered to give him a glass of water and a piece of rye bread and left him alone again.

Alyosha began to repeat it by heart, but nothing entered his head. He has long been unaccustomed to studying, and how can he proofread twenty printed pages! No matter how much he worked, no matter how much he strained his memory, but when evening came, he did not know more than two or three pages, and even then poorly. When it was time for the other children to go to bed, all his comrades came into the room at once, and the teacher came with them again.

- Alyosha, do you know the lesson? – he asked. And poor Alyosha answered through tears:

– I only know two pages.

“So, apparently, tomorrow you will have to sit here on bread and water,” said the teacher, wished the other children a good night’s sleep and left.

Alyosha stayed with his comrades. Then, when he was a kind and modest child, everyone loved him, and if he happened to be punished, then everyone felt sorry for him, and this served him as a consolation. But now no one paid attention to him: everyone looked at him with contempt and did not say a word to him.

He decided to start a conversation with one boy, with whom he had previously been very friendly, but he turned away from him without answering. Alyosha turned to someone else, but he didn’t want to talk to him either and even pushed him away when he spoke to him again. Then unfortunate Alyosha felt that he deserved such treatment from his comrades. Shedding tears, he lay down in his bed, but could not sleep.

He lay like this for a long time and remembered with sorrow the past. happy days. All the children were already enjoying a sweet sleep; he was the only one who could fall asleep! “And Chernushka left me,” thought Alyosha, and tears flowed from his eyes again.

When the children gathered in their classes in the morning, Alyosha was called upstairs. He walked away with a cheerful and triumphant look.

Do you know your lesson? - asked the teacher, looking at him sternly.

“I know,” Alyosha answered boldly.

He began to speak and spoke all twenty pages without the slightest error or stop. The teacher was beside himself with surprise, and Alyosha looked proudly at his comrades!

Aleshin’s proud appearance did not hide from the teacher’s eyes.

“You know your lesson,” he told him, “it’s true, but why didn’t you want to say it yesterday?

“I didn’t know him yesterday,” Alyosha answered.

It can't be! - the teacher interrupted him. “Yesterday evening you told me that you only knew two pages, and even then poorly, but now you’ve spoken all twenty without a mistake!” When did you learn it?

I learned it this morning! But then suddenly all the children, upset by his arrogance, shouted in one voice:

He’s not telling the truth; he didn’t even pick up a book this morning!

Alyosha shuddered, lowered his eyes to the ground and did not say a word.

Answer me! - the teacher continued. - When did you learn your lesson?

But Alyosha did not break the silence: he was so amazed by this unexpected question and the hostility that all his comrades showed him that he could not come to his senses.

Meanwhile, the teacher, believing that the day before he did not want to teach the lesson out of stubbornness, considered it necessary to punish him severely.

The more natural abilities and gifts you have, he said to Alyosha, the more modest and obedient you should be. God did not give you a mind so that you could use it for evil. You deserve punishment for yesterday’s stubbornness, and today you have increased your guilt by lying.

Gentlemen! - the teacher continued, turning to the boarders. “I forbid all of you to talk to Alyosha until he completely reforms.” And since this is probably a small punishment for him, order the rod to be brought.

They brought rods... Alyosha was in despair! For the first time since the boarding school existed, they were punished with canes, and who - Alyosha, who thought so much about himself, who considered himself better and smarter than everyone else! What a shame!..

He, sobbing, rushed to the teacher and promised to completely improve...

“You should have thought about this before,” was his answer.

Alyosha's tears and repentance touched his comrades, and they began to ask for him. And Alyosha, feeling that he did not deserve their compassion, began to cry even more bitterly.

Finally the teacher was brought to pity.

Fine! - he said. - I will forgive you for the sake of the request of your comrades, but so that you admit your guilt in front of everyone and announce when you have learned the given lesson.

Alyosha completely lost his head: he forgot the promise he made to the dungeon king and his minister, and began to talk about the black chicken, about knights, about little people...

The teacher did not let him finish.

How! - he cried with anger. - Instead of repenting of your bad behavior, you still decided to fool me by telling me a fairy tale about a black hen?.. This is too much. No, children, you see for yourself that he cannot but be punished!

And poor Alyosha was whipped!