Scarecrow (story)

The writer in a letter to the publisher A.S. Suvorin dated November 9, 1887, speaks of him:

“ I have a half-childish, half-popular story“ Scarecrow ”, which was published three years ago in Wolf’s magazine as a“ holy story ”. He represents a kind, honest man, an “innkeeper” ^[1] , who was considered a thief and a robber for no other reason, except that he was terrible and unsociable, and also hid his wife, the daughter of a retired executioner. This is a true Crimean case ... The story was read with pleasure by both large and children ... " ^[2]

First published in the magazine " Sincere Word ", 1885, No. 19–39 with the subtitle “A Story for the Young” ^[3] . After the initial publication, the story was not corrected by the author.

In preparing the lifetime edition of the Complete Works, Leskov included “The Scarecrow ” in the series “Sacred Tales”, which was included in Volume 7 of the Meeting. At the reissue of the Collected Works in 1989, the story is preserved in its place, in volume 7. The story was also present in the collected works of 1902-1903.

Leskov in the story gives realistic pictures of the landlord and serf life of those years when he was a child (early 1840s). A certain place is given to popular beliefs and legends, about which the author writes: “All these lively and entertaining stories then had a complete probability for me, and their rich, imaginative content overwhelmed my imagination to such an extent that I myself was almost a spirituality”.

The action takes place in the Kromsky district of the Oryol province. The main character is a tradesman Selivan, whom rumors and peasant fantasy have christened as a sorcerer and a robber and thus turned into a “scarecrow” for those around him, until the case revealed to everyone the kindness and justice of his nature. Trinity, Vsevolod Yuryevich in the preface to the collected works of 1989 mentions this story as an illustration of Leskov’s talent to show the hidden greatness of the human soul: “The evil forest spirit embodied by rumors in the forester Selivan disappears without a trace after meeting this incomparably honest and compassionate“ scarecrow ” “...” ^[4]

The boy’s family, on behalf of whom the story is being narrated, moves from the city of Orel to the village, where he “immediately made extensive and curious acquaintances with the peasants.” The old miller, grandfather Ilya, tells the story of the local "terrible man", Selivan. Orphan Selivan in his youth worked at a kalachik - he sold kalachi. Once he mysteriously disappears from the city, leaving all the money earned that day from the sale intact. At the same time, another orphan disappears - the girl, the daughter of the executioner, whom no one wanted to let into the house or feed.

Selivan appears again after three years. The merchant whom he saved on the road, having pulled out from under the overturned cart, permits him to settle in an empty coaching inn for rent. Despite the apparent non-profitability of the yard on a little-used road, Selivan agrees and brings his sick wife, who, as it turns out only at the end of the story, is the executioner's missing daughter. “Talkativeness and generally pleasant sociability were not in Selivan; he avoided people, and even seemed to be afraid, and didn’t show up in the city, and no one had seen his wife since he brought her here in a manure cart. ”

Many years passed, and “Selivan and his miserable cripple all lived here and, to everyone’s surprise, paid a fee to the heirs of the merchant.” Knowing that there was no place to take income from this inn, and "meanwhile, Selivan, although he lived in poverty, but still did not die of hunger," the peasants decided that he had sold his soul to evil spirits. After that, all misfortunes and loss were blamed on Selivan.

The true face of the hero is revealed after one incident. The narrator’s aunt, due to a blizzard, was forced to stop at the Selivan's inn. But at night the commotion rises, and the aunt with her nephew and servants hurriedly leaves. Having reached the estate of the nephew's parents, he finds out that there is no casket with money in place. It is jointly decided that she was stolen by Selivan. However, exactly at that moment when the police officer was going to arrest the thief, he himself is with a forgotten casket and at the same time refuses reward. Then the attitude of others towards him completely changes and Selivan’s life goes on differently.

Summing up the moral outcome of the story, Leskov says: “Distrust and suspicion on the one hand aroused distrust and suspicion, on the other, and it seemed to everyone that they were all enemies and they had every reason to consider each other people prone to evil. Thus, evil always gives birth to another evil and is overcome only by good, which, according to the Gospel, makes our eye and heart pure. ”

• The text of the story on Lib.ru
• Story text