What is the story "Emelya and the Pike" about and who is its author? The fairy tale "At the command of the pike" will tell about Emelya and the pike

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

The main character of the tale - Emelya - absorbed both negative and positive qualities of an ordinary Russian guy of his time.

Unknown author

Some fairy tales appear on their own, others are invented by writers. How did the story called "By the Pike" come about? The fairy tale, the author of which is still unknown, is a product of folk art. It had several variations and was told differently in different regions.

The Russian ethnographer Afanasyev, following the example of the Brothers Grimm or Charles Perrault, decided to organize a voyage around the country and collect scattered legends into one voluminous work, so to speak, to systematize the national heritage. He slightly changed the title of the story and generalized the individual elements that differed depending on the region. Thanks to this, the fairy tale "Emelya and the Pike" gained popularity.

The next one who undertook to cut a familiar plot was Alexei Tolstoy. He added literary beauty to the folk epic and returned the old name "By the Pike's Command" to the work. Fairy tale, the author of which tried to make it more interestingfor children, quickly scattered around Moscow and St. Petersburg, and local theaters even added a new play to their repertoire.

Main characters

The main character of this legend is a certain not very efficient young guy Emelya. It contains those negative qualities that prevent him from leading a good life:

• laziness;
• self-interest;
• frivolity;
• indifference.

However, when he shows his intelligence and kindness, he comes across a real fortune - a pike from an ice-hole.

The second character, literally the opposite of Emelya, is the pike. She is smart and fair. The fish is designed to help the young man in his personal development, to direct his thoughts in the right direction. As expected in such situations, Emelya and pike became friends.

The third hero acts as a villain. The tsar is a busy man who leads a state of many millions, whom Emelya forces with his antics to descend to a commoner. The tale "About Emelya and the Pike" endowed him with an envious character.

The Tsar's daughter is a prize for the main character for taking the path of correction.

History

The fairy tale "Emelya and the Pike" begins with an acquaintance with the main character. He is so unintelligent and extremely lazy that everything entrusted to him has to be redone by other people.

Emelya's daughters-in-law interrogated him for help with long persuasion. Nevertheless, as soon as someone promises him a reward for whathe does, immediately set to work with double strength.

And suddenly one fine day Emelya pulls out a magic pike from the hole. She offers him her service in exchange for her life. The guy immediately agrees.

Magic help

After the pike becomes his magical subordinate, Emelya's life is even better than before. Now he doesn't even have to do very simple tasks.

Magical powers cut wood, walk on water and even beat up his enemies. Emelya remains very pleased with what is happening. He is so lazy that he does not even want to get up from the stove. Pike helps him do just that, turning the stove into the first prototype of a mechanical vehicle.

During such walks astride her, Emelya can crush several peasants who come across on the way. He justifies himself by the fact that people themselves jumped under his stove.

He doesn't seem to have any remorse for what he's done. The tale "About Emelya and the Pike" contains a hidden moral.

Tsar and Emelya

Having heard about an unprecedented miracle, a self-propelled stove, and even about the cool temper of its owner, the king decides to call Emelya to him.

Reluctantly "hero" is to look at the master's mansions. But this trip changes the guy's whole life.

In the royal palace, he meets with the queen. At first, she also seems rather wayward and lazy. But Emelya decides that it's time for him to settle down and wants to ask her to be his wife.

The master's daughter disagrees at first. The monarch himself opposessuch a union, cherishing the hope that his daughter would marry only a noble person or a foreign king.

Emelya asks the pike to bewitch the naughty princess. In the end, the young man gets his way. The girl agrees. They are getting married.

The angry king locks the couple forever in love in a barrel and throws them into the sea. Emelya asks the pike to save them. She makes the barrel come to the shore, they get out of it.

The guy asks the pike to build a huge palace for himself, and turn him into a hand-written handsome man. The magic fish grants a wish.

Happy newlyweds live in clover until an angry king comes to them. His palace is much smaller than that of Emelya. The protagonist graciously forgives the sovereign for all the past. He invites him to dine with them. During the banquet, Emelya confesses to him who he really is. The king remains amazed by the dexterity and intelligence of the young man. Now he understands that this is the kind of guy who should have married his daughter.

"At the command of the pike" - a kind and instructive fairy tale. Its end does not leave a concrete guide to action. On the contrary, everyone should think for himself and decide for himself what is right in life and what is not worth doing.

“By the Pike” (Russian fairy tale): analysis

This story is somewhat reminiscent of the dream of the Slavic peoples to get everything they want with the help of magical powers, without straining too much.

At the same time, Emelya managed to catch a pike only on his own, when he began to doat least something for the conscience.

A complete quitter before the eyes of readers evolves into a hardworking, decent person. Having received enough motivation in the form of love for the princess, he forgets about the desire to remain lazy, live only for his own pleasure and gets down to business.

If the pike does not impress him much, he initially takes it for granted, then the girl's first refusal awakens feelings in him.

At the moment when Emelya on the stove begins to crush passers-by, according to many researchers of the tale, the guy shows royal features. After this incident, even the monarch turned his attention to him.

It is possible that our ancestors, who created the fairy tale, saw in the last external transformation of Emelya and internal changes for the better.

When he became more beautiful, he managed to forgive and understand the king, became kinder and more attentive to others. People with visible facial markings were generally considered bad or even familiar with evil spirits.

While Emelya looked like an ordinary, not too nice guy, he could not become a king. With the acquisition of inner beauty, everything immediately changed.

Traditional Russian fairy tales always end hopefully. Most likely, the peasants of that time imagined the happiest day in this way.

By the Pike

The catchphrase of the whole fairy tale is "At the command of the pike, at my will". This is a kind of spell that summons a magical pike. Saying these words, Emelyagets whatever he wants. "By the pike command", that is, just like that. Without putting any effort into it. Despite the fact that the fairy tale is called "Emelya and Pike", among the people it was renamed in honor of these magic words.

If you read the meaning of this phrase, it turns out that it is the magic fish that still commands, in whose fins the real power lies.

Pike teaches the guy this secret spell. And as soon as it sounds, the magic begins to act, wherever Emelya is. Though on the stove, even under water. In the barrel, he is saved by the phrase "at the command of the pike." The fairy tale holds its main thread.

These words immediately became a proverb among the people. They mean an attempt to do something not with your own hands, but for someone else's, most often magical, account.

A tale in pop culture

When the story was first published in large numbers and read by many, it immediately became popular.

The fairy tale "Emelya and the Pike" even became the basis for the film of the same name. A children's film was made in 1938. The well-known at that time Alexander Row was responsible for directing. Separate elements of the script were taken from Elizaveta Tarakhovskaya's play "Emelya and the Pike". The fairy tale in her interpretation was adapted to modern realities, but the moral remained the same.

Director Ivanov-Vano made a cartoon based on the same fiction in 1957. And once again, Tarakhovskaya's play was taken in 1970, for a new film adaptation by Vladimir Pekar.

Third cartooncreated by Valery Fomin, already in 1984.

The fairy tale "Emelya and the Pike" was immortalized on the stamps of the GDR in 1973. Each of the six stamps depicts one of the scenes.

Emelya's mentions themselves have also become popular. The protagonist of the story began to be associated with a lazy person who wants to get rich without doing anything.

"Emelya and the Pike" - a fairy tale, the author of which is not known, did not want to perpetuate himself and remain in the memory of his descendants, not striving for fame, we alth, fame. Nevertheless, his image perfectly demonstrates what a good person should be.