Mikhail Prishvin - Mysterious Box: Fairy Tale. Mysterious box - Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary

In Siberia, in an area where there are a lot of wolves, I asked a hunter who had a large reward for the civil war:
- Do you ever have cases where wolves attack a person?
“They do,” he answered. - What of this? A man has a weapon, a man has strength, but what about a wolf! A dog, and nothing more.
- However, if this dog attacks an unarmed person...
- And then nothing! - the partisan laughed. - A person has the most powerful weapons - intelligence, resourcefulness and, especially, such resourcefulness as to make a weapon out of any thing. Once it happened, one hunter turned a simple box into a weapon.
The partisan told an incident from a very dangerous hunt for wolves with a pig. On a moonlit night, four hunters got into a sleigh and took with them a box with a pig. The box was large, made of half-timber. They put a pig in this box without a lid and went to the steppe, where there are a great many wolves. And it was in winter, when the wolves were hungry. So the hunters went out into the field and began to pull the piglet, some by the ear, some by the leg, some by the tail. Because of this, the piglet began to squeal: the more they pull, the more he squeals, and louder and louder, and throughout the whole steppe. From all sides, in response to this pig's squeal, packs of wolves began to gather and overtake the hunting sleigh. When the wolves approached, suddenly the horse sensed them - and how enough was enough! So the box with the pig flew out of the sleigh, and, worst of all, one hunter fell out without a gun and even without a hat.
Some of the wolves rushed off after the enraged horse, while the other part attacked the piglet, and in an instant there was nothing left of him. When these wolves, having eaten a pig, wanted to attack the unarmed man, they suddenly looked, and this man had disappeared and on the road only one box lay upside down. So the wolves came to the box and saw: the box was not a simple one - the box was moving from the road to the side of the road and from the side of the road into deep snow. The wolves went carefully for the box, and as soon as this box fell into deep snow, before the eyes of the wolves it began to sink and sink.
The wolves were afraid, but after standing, they recovered and surrounded the box on all sides. The wolves stand and think, and the box gets lower and lower. The wolves come closer, but the box does not sleep: lower and lower. The wolves think: “What a miracle? So we’ll wait until the box goes completely under the snow.”
The older wolf dared, approached the box, put his nose to the crack...
And as soon as he put his wolf’s nose to this crack, a breath of air came at him from the crack! Immediately all the wolves rushed to the side, which one got where, and then soon the hunters returned to help, and the man came out of the box alive and well.
“That’s all,” said the partisan. - And you say that an unarmed person cannot go out against wolves. That’s what a person has a mind for, so that he can make a defense for himself out of everything.
“Excuse me,” I said, “you just told me that the man blew something from under the box.”
-What did you blow? - the partisan laughed. - And he blew his human word, and they fled.
- What kind of word did he know against wolves?
“An ordinary word,” said the partisan. - What words do they say in such cases: “You are fools, wolves,” he said, and nothing more.

Mikhail Mikhailovich Prishvin

Mystery box

In Siberia, in an area where there are a lot of wolves, I asked a hunter who had a large reward for the civil war:

– Do you ever have cases where wolves attack a person?

“They do,” he answered. - So what of this? A man has a weapon, a man has strength, but what about a wolf! A dog - and nothing more.

- However, if this dog attacks an unarmed person.

“And that’s okay,” the partisan laughed. - A person has the most powerful weapons - intelligence, resourcefulness and, especially, such resourcefulness as to make a weapon for himself out of any thing. Once it happened, one hunter turned a simple box into a weapon.

The partisan told an incident from a very dangerous hunt for wolves with a pig.

On a moonlit night, four hunters got into a sleigh and took with them a box with a pig. The box was large, made of half-timber. They put a pig in this box without a lid and went to the steppe, where there are a great many wolves. And it was in winter, when the wolves were hungry. So the hunters went out into the field and began to pull the piglet, some by the ear, some by the leg, some by the tail. Because of this, the piglet began to squeal: the more they pull, the more he squeals, and louder and louder, and throughout the whole steppe.

From all sides, in response to this pig's squeal, packs of wolves began to gather and overtake the hunting sleigh. When the wolves approached, suddenly the horse sensed them and suddenly that was enough! So the box with the pig flew out of the sleigh, and, worst of all, one hunter fell out without a gun and even without a hat.

Some of the wolves rushed off after the enraged horse, while the other part attacked the piglet, and in an instant there was nothing left of him. When these wolves, having eaten a pig, wanted to attack the unarmed man, they suddenly looked, and this man had disappeared, and on the road only one box lay upside down.

So the wolves came to the box and saw that the box was not an ordinary one, the box was moving from the road to the side of the road and from the side of the road into deep snow. The wolves went carefully for the box, and as soon as this box fell into deep snow, before the eyes of the wolves it began to sink and sink.

The wolves were timid, but after standing, they managed and surrounded the box on all sides. The wolves stand and think, and the box gets lower and lower. The wolves come closer, but the box does not sleep: lower and lower. The wolves think: “What a miracle? So we’ll wait until the box goes completely under the snow.”

The older wolf dared, approached the box, and put his nose to the crack.

And as soon as he put his wolf’s nose to this crack, a breath of air came at him from the crack! Immediately all the wolves rushed to the side, which one got where. And then the hunters soon returned to help, and the man came out of the box alive and healthy.

“That’s all,” said the partisan. – And you say that an unarmed person cannot go out against wolves. That’s what a person has a mind for, so that he can make a defense for himself out of everything.

“Excuse me,” I said, “you just told me that the man blew something from under the box.”

-What did you blow? – the partisan laughed. - And he blew his human word, and they fled.

- What kind of word did he know against wolves?

“An ordinary word,” said the partisan. – What words are spoken in such cases? “You are fools, wolves,” he said – and nothing more.

Year of writing: 1843

Genre: story

Plot

Plot: a hunter told the author a story about hunting wolves. A group of hunters went hunting in winter, taking a pig in a box for bait. In winter, when the wolves are hungry, this is quite dangerous fun. The piglet squealed constantly, and the wolves came out of the forest, and the horse, sensing their scent, bolted.

At this time, one of the hunters fell out of the sleigh without a gun, but with a pig in a box. The wolves attacked the pig, and the resourceful man took cover under a box and began to slowly move towards the side of the road, where there were deep snowdrifts. The wolves approached the box with caution and tried to stick their nose into it, but at that time the man blew and screamed. The predators got scared and ran away, and at that time the other hunters returned for their fallen comrade.

Conclusion (my opinion)

Wolves are just animals, and a person in any circumstances must remain a person - smart, quick-witted and resourceful. Then he doesn’t care about anything, and he can cope with any trouble.

M. M. Prishvin is a writer with a masterful command of words. He was excellent at creating completely different artistic images and interesting descriptions of nature. The story “The Mysterious Box,” a brief summary of which is offered in this article, is part of the “Beasts” series of works. Its writing was the result of Prishvin’s trip to the northern forests.

M. M. Prishvin, “Mysterious Box”: summary

The narration is told on behalf of the author, who, under the guise of a narrator, told a story he heard from an old hunter in the Siberian forests. This hunter was a former partisan who received an award for his service. So, what does The Mystery Box tell us about? The summary begins with a conversation between the narrator and an experienced hunter about how often wolves attack people and how scary it is for humans.

The hunter, grinning, says that for a person a wolf is like an ordinary dog. With the proper intelligence and courage, even an unarmed person can escape from a pack of these animals. The summary of “The Mysterious Box” conveys the idea that this is the main difference between a dangerous Siberian predator and a vulnerable person.

A story about hunting wolves with a pig

To support his words, the former partisan tells a story about how four hunters went to the steppe to hunt wolves. They took with them a piglet in a large box without a lid to attract the attention of the animals. It is known that wolves are especially hungry in winter, so they will definitely react to the squeal of a pig. When they went out into the field, they began to pinch the piglet so that it would squeal louder and attract hungry animals. A pack of wolves followed the sound. The hunters' horse got scared of the predators and rushed away. A box with a pig and one of the men fell from the sled.

Miraculous Rescue

Part of the flock went to chase the horse, while the other dealt with the piglet. Deciding to eat a defenseless man, the wolves saw that he had disappeared, and in his place an upside-down box was moving through the snow. The animals were puzzled by this phenomenon.

After the box rushed towards the snowdrift, the leader decided to check what was there. He got closer and touched the box with his paw, tilting his muzzle towards the crack. The hunter sitting inside was not taken aback and blew on him. The wolf jumped back, and the whole flock ran away in fear. His comrades returned for the hunter. So an unarmed man escaped from a whole flock of hungry predators.

Human word

In Prishvin’s story “The Mysterious Box,” a summary of which is offered here, a human word is mentioned, which the wolf hunter “blowed.” These are the words “You are fools, wolves.” Superior intelligence and the use of improvised means were able to help the hunter out of a seemingly hopeless situation.