Summary of the "White Poodle". A simple story that touches the soul

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

Before describing the summary of the "White Poodle", you need to get acquainted with the main characters of the work. In the center of the story is a small itinerant troupe, consisting of only three members. Its oldest member is grandfather Martyn Lodyzhkin, an organ grinder. Martyn is invariably accompanied by a twelve-year-old acrobat Seryozha, a goldfinch trained to pull out multi-colored fortune sheets from a special box, and a white poodle named Arto, trimmed like a lion.

Meet the characters

The barrel organ was almost Martyn's only material we alth. Although the instrument had long since fallen into disrepair, and the only two melodies that it could somehow reproduce (Launer's dull German w altz, as well as the gallop from Journeys to China) were in vogue thirty or forty years ago, Martyn treasured it. The organ grinder tried more than once to hand over the barrel organ for repair, but everywhere he was told that it would be better to turn in such an ancient thing to the museum. However, Seryozha Martyn often repeats that the hurdy-gurdy fed them for more than one year, and will feed them for more.

As much as his instrument, the organ grinder loved, perhaps, only his eternal companions, Seryozha andArtaud. The boy appeared in his life unexpectedly: five years before the beginning of the story, Martyn took him from a bastard, a widowed shoemaker, “for rent”, and paid two rubles a month for it. However, the shoemaker soon died, and the boy remained connected with his grandfather and soul, and household chores.

Summary of The White Poodle begins on a hot summer day. The troupe travels around the Crimea in the hope of earning some money. On the way, Martyn, who has already seen a lot in his lifetime, tells Seryozha about unusual phenomena and people. The boy himself listens to the old man with pleasure, and never ceases to admire the rich and diverse Crimean nature.

Trying to earn money

However, the day did not work out for our heroes: from some places the owners drove them away, and in others servants came out to meet them and said that the owners were absent for the time being. Lodyzhkin, a good-natured and modest man, was happy even when he was paid a little. And even if they persecuted him, he did not begin to grumble. But one magnificent, beautiful and seemingly very kind lady still managed to get the old man crazy. She listened to the sounds of the barrel organ for a long time, looked at the acrobatic numbers that Seryozha showed, asked questions about the life of the troupe, and then asked to wait and retired to the rooms. The lady did not appear for a long time, and the artists already began to hope that she would give them something from clothes or shoes. But in the end, she simply threw an old one, worn on both sides, and even a holey dime, into Seryozha’s substituted hat, and immediately left. Lodyzhkin was extremely indignant that he was considered a rogue who was able to lower sucha coin to someone at night. The old man tosses a worthless coin with pride and indignation, which falls right into the dust of the road.

Already desperate to earn something, the heroes stumble upon the Friendship dacha. Martyn is surprised: he has been to these parts more than once, but the house has always been empty. However, now the old organ grinder senses that they will be lucky here, and sends Seryozha ahead.

Meet the inhabitants of the Druzhba dacha

Describing the summary of the "White Poodle", it should be said about a few more characters. The heroes were just getting ready to perform, when suddenly a boy in a sailor suit flew out of the house, followed by six adults. There was a complete turmoil, people were shouting something - it was immediately clear that the same boy was the cause of the anxiety of the servants and masters. All six tried in different ways to persuade the boy to drink the potion, but neither the reasonable speeches of the gentleman in gold glasses, nor the mother's lamentations, nor the screams helped the cause.

Martyn ordered Seryozha not to pay attention to what is happening and start performing. False, hoarse notes of an old gallop began to spread through the garden near the dacha. The hosts and servants rushed to drive away the uninvited guests. However, here again the boy in the sailor's suit reminded himself of himself (it turned out that his name was Trilly) and said that he did not want the beggars to leave. His mother, without stopping lamenting, orders to fulfill the wish of her son.

The performance took place. Artaud carried Martyn's hat in his teeth so that the hosts would reward the artists. But here the summary of The White Poodle again takesunexpected twist: Trillie begins to demand a dog in a squeaky voice. Adults call Lodyzhkin and try to bargain with him, but the old man proudly declares that the dog is not for sale. The owners continue to insist, Trilly bursts into hysterical cries, but Martyn, in spite of everything, does not give up. As a result, the entire troupe is kicked out of the yard.

The lady orders to bring Artaud

Finally, the heroes get to the sea and bathe in cool water with pleasure, washing off sweat and road dust. Having got ashore, they notice that the same janitor from the Druzhba dacha is approaching them, who just a quarter of an hour ago drove them in the neck.

It turned out that the lady sent the janitor to buy Artaud for any price - the boy did not let up. Lodyzhkin repeats to him several times that he will never give up his faithful dog. Then the janitor tries to bribe the animal with sausage, but Artaud does not even think of leaving with a stranger. Martyn says that the dog is his friend, and friends are not for sale. Despite the fact that the frail and weak old man can barely stand on his feet, he radiates pride and dignity. The heroes gather their modest belongings and leave the shore. The janitor, however, remains standing in the same place and looks after them thoughtfully.

Further on, Kuprin's story "The White Poodle" takes us to a secluded place near a clear stream. Here the heroes stop to have breakfast and drink. The summer heat, the recent bathing and a meal, albeit a modest one, exhausted the artists and they lay down to sleep right under the open sky. Before finally falling asleep, Martyn dreams ofhow his young friend would eventually become famous and perform in one of the luxurious circuses in some big city - Kyiv, Kharkov or, say, Odessa. Through his sleep, the old man managed to hear Artaud growling at someone or something, but then drowsiness finally took over the organ grinder.

When the heroes woke up, the dog was nowhere to be found. The old man and the boy vied with each other to call for their faithful four-legged friend, but Artaud did not answer. Suddenly, the old man found a half-eaten piece of sausage on the road, and next to it, dog tracks stretching into the distance. The heroes understand what happened.

Hope is fading

Seryozha is ready to rush into battle, to sue to get Artaud back. However, Martyn sighs heavily and says that this is impossible - the owners of the Druzhba dacha have already asked if he has a passport. Martyn lost his long time ago, and when he realized that it was useless to try to return the document, he took advantage of the offer of a friend and made himself a fake passport. The organ grinder himself is not a bourgeois Martyn Lodyzhkin, but an ordinary peasant, Ivan Dudkin. In addition, the old man fears that a certain Lodyzhkin may turn out to be a criminal - a thief, an escaped convict, or even a murderer. And then a fake passport will bring even more problems.

The artists didn't perform anymore that day. Despite his young age, Seryozha understood perfectly well how many problems someone else's "patchport" could bring (this is how the old man pronounced this word). That is why Artaud did not stutter about turning to the world, or about the search. However, it looked like the boy was concentrating on something.

Notconspiring, the heroes once again pass by the ill-fated dacha. But the gates of Friendship are tightly closed, and not a sound comes from the courtyard.

Seryozha takes matters into his own hands

For the night, the heroes stopped at some dirty coffee shop, where, besides them, Greeks, Turks and several Russian workers spent the night. When everyone was asleep, the boy got out of bed and persuaded the owner of the coffee shop, the Turkish Ibrahim, to let him out. Under the cover of darkness, he left the city, reached the "Friendship" and began to climb over the fence. The boy, however, could not resist. He fell and was afraid to move, fearing that a commotion would now rise, a janitor would run out. For a long time Seryozha wandered around the garden and around the house. It began to seem to him that not only would he not be able to find the faithful Artoshka, but he himself would never get out of here. Suddenly, he heard a soft muffled squeak. In a whisper, he called his beloved dog, and he answered him with a loud bark. Simultaneously with a joyful greeting, this barking was accompanied by anger, a complaint, and a feeling of physical pain. The dog struggled to free himself from something that kept him in the dark basement. With great difficulty, the friends managed to break away from the janitor who woke up and became furious.

Returning to the coffee shop, Seryozha almost immediately fell into a deep sleep, not even having time to tell the old man about his nightly adventures. But now everything was fine: Kuprin's work "The White Poodle" ends with the troupe, as at the very beginning, assembled.