"White Magpie": a summary of an excerpt from the work of Jan Barshchevsky

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Yan Barshchevsky, a well-known Belarusian and Polish writer of the 19th century, comes from the village of Muraga, Vitebsk province. One of his stories is "White Magpie". A brief summary of an excerpt from Barshchevsky's book, which is considered the main literary creation of the writer, clearly demonstrates his passion for Belarusian folklore.

Author in brief

Barshchevsky began his literary activity by writing poetic texts. After graduating from the Polotsk Collegium, he taught children at home, traveled a lot around Belarus and got acquainted with local folklore. For some time he lived in St. Petersburg, where he was engaged in teaching activities. It was then that he met Taras Shevchenko and Adam Mickiewicz. Together with friends - immigrants from Belarus - he published the magazine "Forget-me-not". In the period from 1844 to 1846 he published the story "Shlyakhtich Zavalnya, or Belarus in fantastic narratives." A summary of the "White Magpie" (one of its chapters) will be presented below. Having moved to the city of Chudnov, Yan Barshchevsky continued to writepoems, but died of tuberculosis.

Shlyakhtich Zavalnya, or Belarus in fantastic stories

Yan Barshchevsky began to write the main work of his life when he realized that the poems written by him are liked by readers much less than the ballads, which are based on Belarusian legends. The book contains fourteen stories. One of them is "White Magpie". The summary of this passage gives a general idea of the whole book, its artistic features and literary value. This story, the eighth in a row, tells the story of the greedy Pan Skomorokh.

White Magpie: chapter summary

Pan Skomorokh was very rich and greedy. He treated his subjects very badly, he was not friends with his neighbors. One night, when the full moon was in the sky, and a thunderstorm was raging outside the window, the pan was thinking, sitting in his armchair. Suddenly I noticed a tall figure in the corner of the room.

When the stranger came closer, the pan thought that he had the messenger of the devil in front of him - the guest was so ugly and terrible. He said that he had come on behalf of Mrs. White Magpie, who was looking for true friends. According to the stranger, the White Magpie is beautiful, rich and powerful. The guest told Skomorokh that she would visit him the next day. After that, the stranger said goodbye and disappeared into the darkness.

Pan called the servants and demanded to explain why they did not come to his call. The servants began to tell that suddenlyterrible longing, and terrible visions stood before my eyes. Pan drove them away and thought about what had happened until morning. The next day, he ordered the house to be put in order. In the evening he locked himself in his room and demanded that he not be disturbed. When the White Magpie flew into the room and turned into a beautiful richly dressed woman, the pan was amazed at her greatness. They talked to each other for a long time. Saying goodbye, the pani wanted to get acquainted with Skomorokh's neighbors. As a thank you, the servant of the White Magpie gave the pan a bag of gold. When the guests left the room, the pan called the lackeys and asked if they had visions today. They answered that they were.

The next day, the pan went to the neighbors and began to tell them about the greatness and beauty of the White Magpie. Some were frightened, others gladly agreed to meet the powerful pani. That same evening, like-minded people drank to the he alth of the White Magpie. At midnight she appeared and talked for a long time with the guests, asking them about the household. Since then, the White Magpie has regularly visited her admirers.

At the same time, ordinary people began to notice strange things that were happening around. The servants of the evil sorceress harmed the people in every way, even cast spells on the cows so that they would not give milk. However, soon the people found out where the sorceress was hiding, and decided to take revenge on her. Upon learning of this, the sorceress disappeared. Associates of the White Magpie regretted her departure for a long time, and Pan Skomorokh left this area and turned into a bear. In the form of a beast, he lived in the sorceress's house and guarded her we alth.

Summing up

The story "White Magpie" is very instructive. The brief content of the passage conveys the wisdom of the Belarusian people, which warns people against greed, since the thirst for profit can destroy a person’s soul. Other stories included in the book were also based on Belarusian legends.

Every person will definitely want to read the work in full, scrolling through the summary. "White Magpie" (Yan Barshchevsky) is similar in style to some of the works of N. V. Gogol - a classic of Russian literature.