To the question People, help me arrange punctuation marks and letters, otherwise I’m in trouble for doing it P....L....I....Z.... given by the author Special the best answer is We went narrow path, small red snakes crawled back and forth along it, wriggling under our feet. Thunder rumbled somewhere far away, its grumbling sounds were still heard. were getting closer. Raindrops were falling. The grass rustled metallic. We had nowhere to hide. It became dark, and the rustling of the grass sounded louder, more frightened. Thunder struck and the clouds trembled, engulfed in blue fire. Heavy rain poured down in streams, and one after another, thunderclaps began to rumble continuously in the desert steppe. The grass, bent by the blows of the wind and rain, lay on the ground. Everything was shaking and worried. Lightning, blinding the eyes, tore the clouds. In their blue light, a mountain range rose in the distance, sparkling with blue lights, silver and cold. Everything rattled, shuddered, pushed away sounds and gave birth to them. The wondrous chaos captivated and put me in a heroic mood, enveloping the soul with a formidable harmony.
And I wanted to take part in it, to express in some way the feeling of admiration that overwhelmed me for this power. The blue flame that engulfed the sky seemed to burn in my chest. I sang loudly, at the top of my lungs. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, grass rustled, and I sang and felt completely at home with all the sounds. (According to M. Gorky. “My companion”)

Answer from Flush[newbie]
We walked along a narrow path, along it small red snakes crawled back and forth, wriggling under our feet. Far away, thunder rumbled, its grumbling sounds getting closer and closer. Raindrops were falling. The grass rustled metallic. We had nowhere to hide. It became dark and the rustling of the grass sounded louder, more frightened. Thunder struck and the clouds trembled, engulfed in blue fire. Heavy rain poured down in streams and one after another, thunderclaps began to rumble continuously in the desert steppe. The grass, bent by the blows of the wind and rain, lay on the ground. Everything was shaking and worried. Lightning, blinding the eyes, tore the clouds. In their blue light, a mountain range rose in the distance, sparkling with blue lights, silver, and cold. Everything rattled, shuddered, pushed away sounds and gave birth to them. The wondrous chaos captivated and set me in a heroic mood, embracing the soul with a formidable harmony.
And I wanted to take part in it, to express with something the feeling of admiration for this power that overwhelmed me. The blue flame that engulfed the sky seemed to burn in my chest. I sang loudly at the top of my lungs. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, grass rustled, and I sang and felt completely at home with all the sounds. (According to M. Gorky. “My companion”)

Answer from Dry off[guru]

We walked along a narrow path, along it small red snakes crawled back and forth, wriggling under our feet. Thunder rumbled somewhere far away, its grumbling sounds getting closer and closer. Raindrops were falling. The grass rustled metallic. We had nowhere to hide. It became dark, and the rustling of the grass sounded louder, more frightened. Thunder struck and the clouds trembled, engulfed in blue fire. Heavy rain poured down in streams, and, one after another, thunderclaps began to rumble continuously in the desert steppe. The grass, bent by the blows of the wind and rain, lay on the ground. Everything was shaking and worried. Lightning, blinding the eyes, tore the clouds. In their blue light, a mountain range rose in the distance, sparkling with blue lights, silver and cold. Everything rattled, shuddered, pushed away sounds and gave birth to them. The wondrous chaos captivated and put me in a heroic mood, enveloping the soul with a formidable harmony.
And I wanted to take part in it, to express in some way the feeling of admiration that overwhelmed me for this power. The blue flame that engulfed the sky seemed to burn in my chest. I sang loudly, at the top of my lungs. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, grass rustled, and I sang and felt completely at home with all the sounds. (According to M. Gorky. “My companion”)

absolutely transparent, and the sea, completely blue, enveloped the foggy mountain, and the mountain reeds, in white lace from the frost, became more and more beautiful against the blue. 3) Thunder rumbled and it rained, the sun shone through the rain, and a wide rainbow spread from edge to edge. At this time, the bird cherry tree was blooming, and the wild currant bushes just above the water turned green. 4) The dawn flared up outside the windows, and in its light a garden covered with flowers disappeared wet snow. 5) The rooks screamed across the river, birds began to sing in the branches and everywhere in the bushes and grass, and birds chirped. 6) The snow is trampled, mixed with mud, and only in the gardens and fields, bathed in the radiance of the cold autumn sun, does it sparkle with snowy whiteness. 7) It was probably already dawn behind the mountains, but here, in the deep gorge, the light was slightly refracted, and the darkness became milky.

II. 1) From the bench there was a view of the shore, and that’s why there was a feeling of infinity and grandeur sea ​​space increased even more. 2) There is not a cloud in the sky, and the stars move unusually brightly and tremble in their bottomless heights. 3) Here and there a white sail and seagulls, smoothly flapping their wings, descending onto the water, barely touched it and rose up again in circles, and a kite swam high and slowly over the gardens. 4) It’s getting dark outside, and a tallow candle is lit in the upper room. 5) The air is stuffy and smells of herbs. 6) The weather is excellent and, unfortunately, there is no rain. 7) It was warm, and the winter rye gently waved from the midday breeze. 8) The grass is damp and hard to resist fire, and therefore the fiery snakes crawl slowly, now tearing into pieces, now extinguishing, then flaring up again. 9) The bad groddle-wa-i weather, apparently, will not end soon, and I can’t help but feel like I’m in a hurry to leave for the Crimea, where I will stay all autumn and, probably, all winter. 10) It had already become quite warm, and the thunder rumbled still far away, but did not subside even for a moment.

No. 401. We walked along a narrow path, along it small red snakes crawled back and forth, wriggling under our feet. Thunder rumbled somewhere far away, its grumbling sounds getting closer and closer. Raindrops were falling. The grass rustled metallic. We had nowhere to hide. It became dark, and the rustling of the grass sounded louder, more frightened. Thunder struck and the clouds trembled, engulfed in blue fire. Heavy rain poured down in streams, and one after another the blows of 1 Roma began to rumble continuously in the desert steppe. The grass, bent by the blows of the wind and rain, lay on the ground. Weight was trembling and worried. Lightning, blinding the eyes, tore the clouds. In their blue light, a mountain range rose in the distance, sparkling with blue lights, silver and cold. Everything thundered, shuddered, repelled sounds and gave birth to them. The wondrous chaos captivated and put me in a heroic mood, enveloping the soul with a formidable harmony.

OLYMPIAD IN RUSSIAN LANGUAGE and CULTURE OF SPEECH – 2015

Teacher E. D. TKACHEVA

1. Find archaisms and Old Church Slavonicisms in excerpts from Pushkin’s poems,

determine their stylistic role.

Magi are not afraid of mighty rulers...

The coming years lurk in the darkness,

But I see your lot on your glorious brow.

"Song about the prophetic Oleg"

He ascended higher with his rebellious head

Alexandrian Pillar.

“I erected a monument to myself, not made by hands...”

1. Use pronouns as appropriate case form, determine their rank.

To (she), except (they), instead of (he, she), thanks to (he, she, they), from (he) wife, for (it, she),

with (she) mother, in (he) apartment, towards (he, she), by (he).

1. Determine the syntactic role of the highlighted words.

A) Am I in the world of everyone? nicer... (A.S. Pushkin).

B) It thundered in the distance cheers (A.S. Pushkin)

B) Conversations became louder. (A.S. Pushkin).

D) In ​​debt the night sleeps on a branch... (A.S. Pushkin).

4. Choose synonyms for the borrowed words:

Presentation, sponsor, teenager, summit, slogan, image, monitoring.

1. Find the odd one out. Give reasons for your answer.

The sunrise is beautiful. The sky is clear. The sun is gentle. The room is bright.

1. Remember proverbs that have antonyms and write them down.

A) business - fun, b) word - silence, c) old - new, d) learning - ignorance, e) further away - closer.

7. Choose Russian versions of English proverbs and sayings:

A) Not worth gunpowder and shot.

B) Black sheep in the family.

C) Every dog ​​will have its day.

D) A bird in your hand is worth two in the bushes.

D) Call a shovel a spade.

E) Transport coal to Newcastle.

1. Russian poetry often uses outdated names for body parts. Which group of obsolete vocabulary do they belong to? Give modern synonyms for the words below:

forehead, cheeks, mouth, eyes, neck, chest, ramen, right hand, finger.

1. Replace the highlighted words with synonyms - phraseological units, determine which member of the sentence they are (the form of the words included in the sentence can be changed).

A) He worked all quarter diligently.

B) Money in the wallet very little.

B) The neighboring village is located Very close.

D) I ran away from the boys fast.

D) Ivanov works here recently.

1. Indicate which words have the same endings:

Eagles, cows, yards, carpets, foundations;

Batteries, knives, steppes, necks, cakes.

1. Choose at least three synonyms for the words:

Big, brave, run, talk, enemy, young man.

1. Write out the words in groups from the text:

A) words that decline;

B) words that are conjugated;

C) words that do not change.

Indicate which part of speech these words belong to.

We walked along a narrow path, along it small red snakes crawled back and forth, wriggling under our feet. Thunder rumbled somewhere far away, its grumbling sounds getting closer. Raindrops were falling. The grass rustled metallic. We had nowhere to hide. (M. Gorky).

1. Place the missing punctuation marks in the sentence and perform syntactic analysis.

Rising with the first rays, she now hurries into the fields and looks around them with tender eyes and says: Forgive me, dear valleys and you know the peaks of the mountains and you know the forests; sorry heavenly beauty. (A.S. Pushkin).

1. Write down 2 conjugations of verbs from the list below.

Hold, think, shed, press, drive away, sleep, see, knock down, blush, sway, offend, illuminate, run, take away, pick up, depend, tremble, weaken, cherish, pierce.

1. Determine what artistic device underlies these phraseological expressions.

A familiar stranger, young old age, adult children, ringing silence, magnificent fading.

1. Determine which phrases use words in a figurative sense?

Strained nerves, hanging laundry, nagging students for lack of diligence, years flew by, children grew up, toss letters, an interesting book turned up, sawing logs, upturned nose, dregs of society, branch of the plot, deflect accusations, reward for courage, excerpt from an essay, fragment of an old one everyday life, flies stuck around the bread, attacking work, feverish activity.

1. In Russian, words from one part of speech can change to another. What is this method of word formation called? Give examples for each case.

1. Determine the gender of the nouns. To nouns female write three adjectives each.

Alibi, meringue, bra, credo, salami, frau, iwasi, impresario, kiwi.

1. Determine the meaning of the word GRAMOTA in the following sentences:

A) Under his (Savelich’s) supervision, in my twelfth year I learned Russian literacy. (A.S. Pushkin).

B) I couldn’t help but smile several times while reading the good old man’s letter. (A.S. Pushkin)

C) After graduating from school, my sister was awarded a certificate of commendation.

D) I have never written a review in my entire life; for me this is Chinese literacy. (A.P. Chekhov).

D) The Tsar’s manifesto that you are talking about turned out to be a piece of paper.

1. Correct examples taken from modern media:

A) Wind gusts reached fifteen to twenty meters per second.

B) Many people are now talking about what our correspondent noted in his last report.

B) Evgeniy Maksimovich spoke with Mr. Gore.

D) But I will not remove my signature from this document.

D) He voiced his personal point of view rather than that of the administration.

1. What syntactic function does the infinitive perform in each example from A. A. Akhmatova’s poem?

A) But his heart began to feel sad in his chest,

It hurts like an open wound.

B) How I love, how I loved to watch

To the chained shores.

C) Don’t forget how he came to say goodbye to me.

D) It seems futile to dream here.

D) You forbid singing and smiling,

And he forbade praying a long time ago.

1. Determine the gender of indeclinable nouns and use them with an adjective:

Tokyo, Missouri, dandy, madam, coffee, salami, interview, subway, kohlrabi, kangaroo, Limpopo, pani, pony.

1. Correct errors in sentences, edit style.

A) After the examination, the doctor prescribed me medicine.

B) From here the sunset on the sea was clearly visible.

C) The student’s performance at the seminar produced negative effect to the audience.

D) I had to grab the baby with both hands to prevent him from falling out of the stroller.

D) The other day my brother met a terribly beautiful girl.

E) I managed to overcome the feeling of fear.

G) In the theater we watched a performance with the participation of famous artists, their outfits were waist-length.

H) I couldn’t wear my favorite skirt because I was overweight.

I) I presented the paid check to the security guard.

1. Add missing punctuation marks. Emphasize conjunctions that serve to connect parts of a complex sentence.

A) On the free path, go wherever your free mind takes you. (N. A. Nekrasov)

B) While he was eating it, Vaska the cat ate all the roast. (I. A. Krylov)

C) His chances were considered insignificant, however, since the king disliked him very much. (M. A. Aldanov).

D) The sun slowly moves the sunset shine from the northwest to the north so that after an hour it rises from the northeast. (K. G. Paustovsky).

D) Bays indented the low coast

All the sails fled to the sea

And I dried the salted braid

A mile from the ground on a flat stone. (A. A. Akhmatova).

E) The dirt is almost invisible on his dirty face, but we look very impressive. (B. L. Vasiliev).

1. Underline in the text and write down the pronouns from the given passage from Lewis Carroll’s book “Alice in Wonderland”, determine their category.

They told me that you are with her

With them on the shore

He was caught. But, alas:

I can't swim!

We give you hers, she gives us theirs,

You give them back to us.

He is with her, to us again for them,

And he and I - to her from you...

Even though I know that it

Loves them more than those -

All this should be a secret

For us and you from everyone.

1. Fill in the missing letters and punctuation marks.

Dropping a leaf.

It was the middle of...Sunday. In l...su (some) where h...dili to...str (in)top occasionally...

per...birds called l...nivo and without (h, s) entirely g...l...sili gr...niks.

(B) in front, slightly protruding towards the other... horn of the.....la (small) large b...cut, all th...crawling from the t...pla and the sun...s.

I…was…excitedly…stopped…noticing (c)in front of the…breathing in…air…b…rezovy l…drain. Slowly (n, nn)o (n...) willingly and triumphantly (n, nn)o he fell (along) his brothers... c... dancing for the branches and oncoming leaves.

The leaf spun and f...n...fell a lot towards the earth...to which it was destined...to decay and itself to...become evil.

I...put my hand and the sheet (behind) the...st...elegant woman...h(?)koy...went down onto my l...bottom.

The elasticity of the sheet lasted (n...) for a long time. (C)started...he...weak. Ra (z, s) stuck to my l...doni and finally (z, s) became lethargic and un(z, zz) defensive.

For a long (long) time I saw...trilled on the...cut. There (up) in the green leaf lived this small(?)leaf. He was destined to be the first to give the forest the first news about the coming autumn. I ra(z, s)zhal l...don. The leaf is still alive, weakly breathing in... a single weave (n, nn) ​​with its w... l... but the strength of its ra(z, s) was spent on this short and (h, s) k... final moment of death.

I’m sad...but I also want to go somewhere or leave, shouting something farewell (in) the wake of the... melting...lonely leaf in another...year of my...life.

(According to V.P. Astafiev)

1. Determine the style of the texts. Give reasons for your choice. (Scientific, artistic, conversational, official - business, journalistic).

A) I send you greetings, greetings and several short stories under the general title “Sounds of the Earth.” I'm afraid that these modest stories are not suitable for a serious, thick magazine. But who knows? Aksakov wrote notes about fishing and birds. If the stories don’t suit you, I won’t be offended by you, believe me. Return them to Misha, whom I instructed to visit you. He will tell you about my life and existence. What is going on in your “New World”? Where is Alexander Trifonovich? I would really like to see you both in the Karacharovo badger hole. Will it succeed? I shake your hand tightly. I. Sokolov - Mikitov.

B) Due to a fight between two of my cows over a stall, I was forced to consult a veterinarian due to the broken horns of one of the participants in the fight, as a result of which I was unable to donate milk on time.

C) Stylistic resources of the modern Russian literary language are available at all levels of the language system and are found in the established generally accepted methods of using linguistic stylistic units. One of the richest means of stylistic expressiveness of speech is the so-called means of verbal imagery, mainly lexical, but also syntactic (metaphors, metonymies, syntactic figures and other means...) (M. Kozhina)

D) Why don’t you raise a powerful voice against the madness that threatens to envelop the world in a cloud of poison? Every moment a person falls somewhere under the scythe of death, and every moment in some other corner of the earth a woman, triumphant in victory over the elements of destruction, gives the world a new person... Thousands and thousands of your sons have covered themselves with splendor and glory throughout the centuries. They enriched our lives with great discoveries, their work, the work of your sons, created man from the beast - the best of all that has been seen on earth. How can you allow the person you have born to degrade again to a beast, to a predator, to a murderer!

(M. Gorky)

D) The sea hummed menacingly beneath them, standing out from all the noises of this anxious and sleepy night. Huge, lost in space, it lay deep below, far away whitening through the darkness with manes of foam running towards the ground. The chaotic hum of the old poplars outside the garden fence, a gloomy island growing on the rocky coast, was also terrifying. It was felt that in this deserted place the night of late autumn now reigned powerfully, and the old big garden, the house packed for the winter and the open gazebos at the corners of the fence were eerie in their abandonment. However, the sea hummed smoothly, victoriously and, it seemed, more and more majestic in the consciousness of its strength. The damp wind knocked us off our feet on the cliff, and for a long time we were not able to get enough of its soft, penetrating freshness to the depths of our souls. (I.A. Bunin).

We walked through the Terek region. Shakro was disheveled and incredibly ragged and was damn angry, although he was no longer hungry now, since he had enough income. He found himself unable to do any work. Once I tried to go to the thresher to rake straw and after half a day I got off, having rubbed bloody calluses on my palms with a rake. Another time they began to uproot a tree, and he tore off the skin from his neck with a hoe.

We walked quite slowly - you work for two days, then walk for a day. Shakro ate extremely incontinently, and, by the grace of his gluttony, I could not save enough money to be able to buy him any part of the suit. And all his parts were a host of various holes, somehow connected by multi-colored patches.

One day in some village, with great difficulty, he pulled out of my knapsack, secretly from him, five rubles that had been accumulated and in the evening he appeared at the house where I was working in the garden, drunk and with some fat Cossack woman, who greeted me like this:

Hello, damned heretic!

And when I, surprised by such an epithet, asked her, “why am I a heretic?” - she answered me with aplomb:

And because, devil, you forbid a guy to love a woman! Can you prohibit if the law allows?.. You are anathema!..

Shakro stood next to her and nodded his head affirmatively. He was very drunk, and when he made any movement, he swayed all over. His lower lip drooped. Dull eyes looked into my face with senseless stubbornness.

Well, why are you staring at us? Give him his money! - shouted the brave woman.

What money? - I was amazed.

Come on, come on! Otherwise I’ll take you to the military! Give me the hundred and fifty rubles I took from him in Odessa!

What was I supposed to do? A damn woman with drunken eyes could actually go to a military hut, and then the village authorities, strict with various wandering people, would arrest us. Who knows what could have come out of this arrest for me and Shak-ro! And so I began to diplomatically walk around the woman, which, of course, did not cost much effort. Somehow, with the help of three bottles of wine, I pacified her. She fell to the ground between the watermelons and fell asleep. I put Shakro to bed, and early the next morning he and I left the village, leaving the woman with the watermelons.

Half-sick with a hangover, with a crumpled and swollen face, Shakro spat every minute and sighed heavily. I tried to talk to him, but he did not answer me and only shook his shaggy head like a ram.

We walked along a narrow path, along it small red snakes crawled back and forth, wriggling under our feet. The silence that reigned around plunged me into a dreamy, drowsy state. Behind us, black flocks of clouds slowly moved across the sky. Merging with each other, they covered the entire sky behind us, while ahead it was still clear, although wisps of clouds had already run into it and were briskly rushing somewhere forward, overtaking us. Thunder rumbled somewhere far away, its grumbling sounds getting closer and closer. Raindrops were falling. The grass rustled metallic.

We had nowhere to hide. It became dark, and the rustling of the grass sounded louder, more frightened. Thunder struck and the clouds trembled, engulfed in blue fire. Heavy rain poured down in streams, and one after another, thunderclaps began to rumble continuously in the desert steppe. The grass, bent by the blows of the wind and rain, lay on the ground. Everything was shaking and worried. Lightning, blinding the eyes, tore the clouds... In their blue shine, a mountain range rose in the distance, sparkling with blue lights, silver and cold, and when the lightning went out, it disappeared, as if falling into a dark abyss. Everything rattled, shuddered, pushed away sounds and gave birth to them. It was as if the sky, cloudy and angry, was clearing itself with fire from dust and all abominations that had risen before it from the earth, and the earth seemed to tremble in fear of its anger.

Shakro grumbled like a frightened dog. But I had fun, I somehow rose above the ordinary, observing this mighty gloomy picture of the steppe thunderstorm. The wondrous chaos captivated and put one in a heroic mood, enveloping the soul with a formidable harmony...

And I wanted to take part in it, to express in some way the feeling of admiration that overwhelmed me for this power. The blue flame that engulfed the sky seemed to burn in my chest; and - how could I express my great excitement and my delight? I sang - loudly, with all my strength. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, grass rustled, and I sang and felt in complete kinship with all the sounds... I went crazy; this is excusable, because it did not harm anyone but me. Storm at sea and thunderstorm in the steppe! I do not know of more grandiose phenomena in nature.

So, I shouted, firmly convinced that I would not bother anyone with such behavior and would not put anyone under the need to severely criticize my course of action. But suddenly there was a strong tug on my legs, and I involuntarily sat down in a puddle...

Shakro looked into my face with serious and angry eyes.

You are crazy? Ne gone? Nat? Well, shut up! Don't shout! I'll rip your throat out! Are you panning?

I was amazed and first asked him why I was bothering him...

You're scary! Understood? Thunder rumbles - God speaks, and you are talking... What do you think?

I told him that I had the right to sing if I wanted, and so did he.

Do not sing! - I agreed.

And don't sing! - Shakro strictly inspired.

No, I'd rather be...

Listen, what do you think? - Shakro spoke angrily. - Who are you? Do you have a house? Do you have a mother? Father? Do you have any relatives? Earthly? Who on earth are you? You are a human, do you think? I'm the man! I have everything!..- He tapped himself on the chest. - I am a prince!.. And you... you - now! Why no! And Kutais, Tyflys knows mene!.. Are you panymaic? You ne go protyv mene! Are you serving me? - You will be pleased! I will pay you ten times! Are you barking at me? You cannot do anything else; You yourself said that God ordered to serve everyone without reward! I'll reward you! Why are you torturing me? Are you teaching or scaring? Do you want me to be like you? This is not harasho! Eh, eh, eh!.. Fu, fu!..

He spoke, smacked his lips, snorted, sighed... I looked into his face, my mouth open in amazement. He, obviously, poured out in front of me all the indignation, resentment and dissatisfaction with me, accumulated throughout our journey. For greater persuasiveness, he poked his finger in my chest and shook me by the shoulder, and especially strong places climbed onto me with his whole body. Rain poured down on us, thunder rumbled continuously above us, and Shakro, in order to be heard by me, shouted at the top of his lungs.

The tragicomic nature of my situation stood out to me most clearly and made me laugh as loud as I could...

Shakro, spitting, turned away from me.

Thunder rumbled somewhere far away, its grumbling sounds getting closer and closer. Raindrops were falling. The grass rustled metallic.

We had nowhere to hide. It became dark, and the rustling of the grass sounded louder, more frightened. Thunder struck and the clouds trembled, engulfed in blue fire. Heavy rain poured down in streams, and one after another, thunderclaps began to rumble continuously in the desert steppe. The grass, bent by the blows of the wind and rain, lay on the ground. Everything was shaking and worried.

Lightning, blinding the eyes, tore the clouds... In their blue shine, a mountain range rose in the distance, sparkling with blue lights, silver and cold, and when the lightning went out, it disappeared, as if falling into a dark abyss. Everything rattled, shuddered, pushed away sounds and gave birth to them. It was as if the sky, cloudy and angry, was clearing itself with fire from dust and all abominations that had risen before it from the earth, and the earth seemed to tremble in fear of its anger.

Shakro grumbled like a frightened dog. But I had fun, I somehow rose above the ordinary, observing this mighty gloomy picture of the steppe thunderstorm. The wondrous chaos captivated and put one in a heroic mood, enveloping the soul with a formidable harmony...

And I wanted to take part in it, to express in some way the feeling of admiration that overwhelmed me for this power. The blue flame that engulfed the sky seemed to burn in my chest; and - how could I express my great excitement and my delight?

I sang – loudly, at the top of my lungs. Thunder roared, lightning flashed, grass rustled, and I sang and felt in complete kinship with all the sounds... I went crazy; this is excusable, because it did not harm anyone but me. Storm at sea and thunderstorm in the steppe! “I don’t know of more grandiose phenomena in nature.”

So, I shouted, firmly convinced that I would not bother anyone with such behavior and would not put anyone under the need to severely criticize my course of action. But suddenly my legs were pulled strongly, and I involuntarily sat down in a puddle...

Shakro looked into my face with serious and angry eyes.

- You are crazy? Ne gone? Nat? Well, shut up! Don't shout! I'll rip your throat out! Are you panning?

I was amazed and first asked him why I was bothering him...

- You're scaring me! Understood? Thunder rumbles - God speaks, and you are talking... What do you think?

I told him that I had the right to sing if I wanted, and so did he.

- Do not sing! – I agreed.

- And don’t sing! – Shakro strictly inspired.

- No, I’d rather be...

- Listen, what do you think? – Shakro spoke angrily. - Who are you?

Do you have a house? Do you have a mother? Father? Do you have any relatives? Earthly? Who on earth are you? You are a human, do you think? I'm the man! I have everything!.. - He tapped himself on the chest.

- I am a prince!.. And you... you - now! Why no! And Kutais, Tyflys knows mene!.. Are you panymaic?

You ne go protyv mene! Are you serving me? - You will be pleased! I will pay you ten times!

Are you doing this to me? You cannot do anything else; You yourself said that God ordered to serve everyone without reward! I'll reward you! Why are you torturing me? Are you teaching or scaring? Do you want me to be like you? This is not harasho! Eh, eh, eh!.. Fu, fu!..

He spoke, smacked his lips, snorted, sighed... I looked into his face, my mouth open in amazement. He, obviously, poured out in front of me all the indignation, resentment and dissatisfaction with me, accumulated throughout our journey. For greater persuasiveness, he poked his finger in my chest and shook me by the shoulder, and in especially strong places he pressed his entire bulk on me. Rain poured down on us, thunder rumbled continuously above us, and Shakro, in order to be heard by me, shouted at the top of his lungs.

The tragicomic nature of my situation stood out to me most clearly and made me laugh as hard as I could...

Shakro, spitting, turned away from me.

VIII

...The closer we came to Tiflis, the more concentrated and gloomy Shakro became. Something new appeared on his emaciated, but still motionless face.

Not far from Vladikavkaz, we went to a Circassian village and contracted to collect corn there.

After working for two days among the Circassians, who, hardly speaking Russian, constantly laughed at us and scolded us in their own way, we decided to leave the village, frightened by the growing hostility towards us among the villagers. Having walked about ten versts from the village, Shakro suddenly pulled out a bundle of Lezgin muslin from his bosom and triumphantly showed it to me, exclaiming:

– You don’t have to work harder! We sell - we buy everything! Enough until Tyflys!

Are you panning?

I was indignant to the point of fury; I tore out the muslin, threw it to the side and looked back. Circassians don't joke. Not long before this, we heard the following story from the Cossacks: one tramp, leaving the village where he worked, took with him an iron spoon. The Circassians caught up with him, searched him, found a spoon on him and, ripping open his stomach with a dagger, stuck the spoon deep into the wound, and then calmly left, leaving him in the steppe, where the Cossacks raised him half-dead. He told this to them and died on the road to the village. The Cossacks more than once sternly warned us against the Circassians, telling instructive stories in this spirit - I had no reason not to believe them.

I began to remind Shakro about this. He stood in front of me, listened, and suddenly, silently, baring his teeth and narrowing his eyes, he rushed at me like a cat. We beat each other thoroughly for about five minutes, and finally Shakro shouted to me with anger:

- It will be!..

Exhausted, we were silent for a long time, sitting opposite each other... Shakro looked pitifully at where I threw the stolen muslin and spoke:

-What were they fighting for? Fa, fa, fa!.. Very stupid. Did I steal from you? Why are you sorry? I feel sorry for Mine, he stole the Patama... You work, I can’t... What should Mine do? I wanted to help you...

I tried to explain to him that there was a theft...

- Please, ma-alchi! You’ve got hair like a tree...” he treated me with contempt and explained: “If you’re going to die, you’re going to steal?” Well! Is this life?