Vasily Shukshin. Strangers

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

I came across a book that tells about Tsar Nicholas II and his relatives. The book is rather angry, but fair in my opinion. Here's what I’ll do: I’ll make a rather large extract of it, and then I’ll explain why I need it. We are talking about the tsar's uncle, Grand Duke Alexei.

“From childhood, Alexei was appointed by his father, Emperor Alexander II, to serve in the navy and enrolled in the naval school. But he did not go to classes, but was confused in various theaters and taverns, in a cheerful company of French actresses and dancers. One of them, by the name of Mokur, completely shook him.

- Would you advise, - Alexander II asked the Minister of War Milyutin, - how to force Alexei to attend lessons at the school?

Milyutin answered:

“The only remedy, Your Majesty, is to appoint Ms. Mokur as a teacher. Then the Grand Duke from the school and not summoned.

Emperor Alexander III, his own brother, was not afraid to appoint such a learned sailor as admiral-general - the head and master of the Russian fleet.

The construction of battleships and ports is a gold mine for any dishonest person who wants to warm his hands near the people's property. General-Admiral Alexei, always in need of money for the game and women, spent twenty years transforming the Russian fleet. Shamelessly robbed the treasury himself. No less robbed by his mistresses and pimps, who supplied him with mistresses.

Alexei himself did not understand anything in the maritime business and was not at all concerned with his department. An example of him as a chief walked through the fleet from top to bottom. Theft and ignorance of officers grew every year, remaining completely unpunished. The life of the sailors became unbearable. The authorities robbed them in everything: in rations, in a glass, in uniforms. And so that the sailors did not decide to rebel against the general robbery, the officers intimidated them with cruel punishments and rough treatment. And this disgrace continued for no less than twenty years.

Not a single one in a row went through the naval department without Aleksey and his women pinching off (I would say - not grabbing. - V. Sh.) Half, or even more. When the Japanese war broke out, the Russian government thought to buy several battleships from the Republic of Chile. Chilean battleships came to Europe and became near the Italian city of Genoa. Here they were examined by Russian sailors. Our fleet never dreamed of such battleships. The Chileans asked for them cheaply: almost their price. And what? Due to the cheapness, the case was sold out. Russian commissioner Soldatenkov frankly explained:

- You have to ask for at least three times the price. Because otherwise we have nothing to bother about. The Grand Duke will receive six hundred thousand from the sale price of each battleship. Four hundred thousand must be given to Mrs. Balletta. And what will remain for our share - the ranks of the naval ministry?

The Chileans, outraged by the insolence of the Russian bribe-takers, announced that their government refuses to negotiate with mediators who are deliberately dishonest. The Japanese, however, as soon as the Russian deal broke down, immediately bought Chilean battleships. Then these same battleships sank our ships at Tsushima.

Mrs. Balletta, for whom Soldatenkov demanded four hundred thousand rubles from the Chileans, is Alexei's last mistress, a French actress. Without giving a large bribe to Mrs. Balletta, not a single entrepreneur or contractor could hope that the Grand Duke would even accept him and listen to him.

A Frenchman invented an extraordinary naval torpedo. She raises a mighty water tornado and drowns ships with it. The Frenchman offered his invention to the Russian government. He was summoned to Petersburg. But here - just to carry out the experiment in the presence of Alexei - they asked him for Mrs. Balletta twenty-five thousand rubles. The Frenchman did not have that kind of money and went home, eating a lot. A Japanese official came to Paris and bought his invention for a lot of money.

“You see,” said the Japanese, “a few months earlier we would have paid you much more, but now we have invented our own torpedo, stronger than yours.

- Then why are you buying mine?

- Just so that the Russians don't have it.

Who knows if a similar torpedo knocked over the "Petropavlovsk" and drowned its crew together with Makarov, the only Russian admiral who looked like a sailor and knew a lot about his business?

In the last ten years of his life, Alexei turned Balletta like a pawn. Previously, the admiral-general was Zinaida Dmitrievna, Duchess of Leuchtenberg, nee Skobeleva (sister of the famous "white general"). In addition to Alexei, they went to this ranks of the naval department with direct reports. And he carelessly signed everything that his beauty wanted.

The Japanese war put an end to the red days of General-Admiral Alexei. The Japanese had fast cruisers and battleships in the Pacific, and we had old galoshes. How well the admiral general trained his fleet, here is evidence: "Tsarevich" fired for the first time from his own guns in the very battle in which the Japanese pounded him into a sieve. The officers did not know how to command. The ships did not have nautical charts. The guns did not fire. Every now and then they drowned their own, or ran into their own mines. The Pacific squadron stuck in Port Arthur like a crayfish aground. The Baltic squadron of Admiral Rozhdestvensky was sent to the rescue. He, when it came to his own skin, reported to the king that there was nothing to go with: the armor on the battleships was metal only slightly above, and wooden below. They claim that the tsar said then to Alexei:

- It would be better if you, uncle, stole twice, but at least you would build real armor!

After the death of "Petropavlovsk" Alexei had the stupidity to appear in one of the St. Petersburg theaters together with his mistress Balletta, hung with diamonds. The audience almost killed them both. They threw orange peels at them, posters, whatever. Shouted:

- These diamonds were bought with our money! Give it back! These are our cruisers and battleships! Submit here! This is our fleet!

Alexei stopped leaving his palace, because in the streets they whistled at him, threw mud at the carriage. Balletta hurried to get abroad. She took with her several million rubles in clean money, almost a mountain of precious stones and a rare collection of Russian antiques. This must be in memory of the Russian people, which they robbed together with Alexei.

Tsushima finished Alexei. Never since the day has stood, no fleet has experienced a more stupid and pitiful defeat. Thousands of Russian people went to the bottom together with galoshes-ships and cannons, which did not reach the enemy. A few hours of Japanese firing was enough to leave only chips on the waves of Alexei's twenty years of thieves' work with the company. Everything immediately showed itself: the plundering of the scoundrels-builders, and the ignorance of incompetent officers, and the hatred of the exhausted sailors towards them. The Tsar's uncle fed the fish of the Yellow Sea with Russian peasant bodies in sailor shirts and soldier's greatcoats!

After his resignation, Alexei migrated abroad with all his prized riches, under the barrel to his Balletta. He bought palaces in Paris and other pleasant cities and littered the gold stolen from the Russian people for girls, drunkenness and gambling, until he died of an "accidental cold."

I read this, and I remembered our shepherd, Uncle Emelyan. In the morning, even before the sun, his kind, slightly mocking strong voice was heard from afar:

- Women, cows! Women, cows!

As this voice began to be heard in the spring, in May, the heart beat so joyfully: summer is coming!

Then, later, he was no longer a shepherd, he became old, and loved to go fishing on the Katun. I also loved to fish, and we used to stand side by side in the backwater, silent, each watching his own lines. It is not customary for us to fish with floats, but you need to watch the line: how it strikes in the water, it trembles - hook it, eat it. And the fishing line was made of horsehair: it was necessary to contrive to pull the white hair from the horse's tail; horses were not given, some gelding strives to throw backwards - to kick, dexterity is needed. I got Uncle Emelyan's hair, and he taught me how to twist the forest on my knee.

I loved fishing with Uncle Yemelyan: he did not indulge in this business, but seriously, smartly fished. It’s not worse when adults begin to play around, gag, make noise … They come with a whole crowd of seines, yell, make a sensation, they will grab a bucket of fish in three or four tons, and - satisfied - in the village: they will fry and drink there.

We went somewhere farther and there stood barefoot in the water. You deserve so much that your legs will bend. Then Uncle Emelyan said:

- A smoke break, Vaska.

I collected dry wood, lit a light on the shore, warmed my legs. Uncle Emelyan smoked and talked about something. It was then that I learned that he was a sailor and fought with the Japanese. And he was even held captive by the Japanese. That he fought, it did not surprise me - almost all of us old people have fought somewhere at some point, but that he is a sailor, that he was a prisoner of the Japanese - it's interesting. But for some reason he did not like to talk about this. I don't even know which ship he served on: maybe he spoke, but I forgot, or maybe he didn't. With questions, I was ashamed to climb, it’s like that for me all my life, I listened to what he said, and that was all. He was not willing to talk a lot: so, remember something, tell it, and again we are silent. I see him as I see him now: tall, thin, wide in bones, wide cheekbones, a piebald, matted beard … He was old, but he still seemed powerful. Once he looked, looked at his hand, with which he held the rod, grinned, showed me at it, at his hand, with his eyes.

- Shaking. Dead … I thought I won't wear out. Oh, and he was healthy! The guy drove rafts … From Manzhursk they hired and drove to Verkh-Kaitan, and there the townspeople took them home on carts. And in Nuyma I had an acquaintance burglar … an intelligent woman, a widow, but better than another girl. And the Nuima ones - across the throat, INTO I’m going to her … well, I’ll see her. The men were mostly sulking. But I didn’t care about them from the bell tower, about the fools, I went, and that was all. As I float past, I moor the raft, tie it with ropes - and, therefore, to it. She welcomed me. I would have married her, but soon they shaved off at the service. And why are the men angry? Some stranger has got into the habit … She looked at everyone, but everyone was married, but all the same - don't go. But they got it wrong. Once they docked somehow, my partner was to one nimble grandmother, that good moonshine harp, and I - to my sweetheart. I went up to the house, and there they were waiting for me: about eight people were standing. Well, I think I'll scatter so many. I walk straight at them … Two met me: "Where?" They are a bunch of them at me, my heart played, I went to shove them: as soon as I get which one, it flies across the road, it is already joyful to look. Then they ran up to them, but they couldn't do anything … They grabbed the stakes. I, too, had time, pulled the rail out of the spinner and fought. The battle was whole. I have a long pole - they can't reach me. They started with stones … Shameless. They, Nuima, are always shameless. The old people, however, began to calm them down - with stones, then: who is doing this! And so there are twelve people to one, and yes with stones. We fought so long, I was sweating … Then some woman from the side shouted: the raft!.. They, the dogs, cut the ropes - the raft was carried away. And below - the rapids, there it will tremble on a log, all the work for nothing. I threw the pole - and catch up with the raft. From Nuima to the Fast Exodus I drove without a break - fifteen miles. Where on the road, and where on the stones straight - I'm afraid to miss the raft. You will overtake, and you will not know, so I really tried to shore. I ran away!.. Never in my life did I run like that again. Like a stallion. Caught up with. Swam, climbed onto the raft - thank God! And then soon and the rapids; there two of them could hardly manage, but I was alone: from one oar to another, like a tiger I run, I threw off my shirt … I did it. But I ran tada!.. - Uncle Emelyan grinned and shook his head. - Nobody believed that I had caught up with him at the Fast Exodus: I could not, they say. If you want, you can.

- And then why didn't you marry?

- When?

- Well, I came from the service …

- Yes where! Tada served for how long!.. I came earlier, with captivity with this, and then … it was already thirty-five years - will she wait, or what? Oh, and she was smart! When you grow up, take the smart one. The beauty of a woman, for the first time it is only for the peasant - to puff up, and then … - Uncle Emelyan paused, looking pensively at the light, hissed "like a goat's leg." - Then something else is required. I and this woman was wise, why sin in vain.

I remembered Grandma Emelyanikha: she was a kind old woman. We were neighbors with them, our fence and their garden were divided by a wattle fence. Once she calls me from behind the wattle fence:

- Go court something!

I went.

- Your chicken has inflicted - see how much! - shows a dozen eggs in the hem. - You see, I blew a hole under the fence and rushes here. Take that. Give the mat (mother) from the heels, and give the heels, - the grandmother looked around and quietly said, - take this to the sasha (highway).

At that time, prisoners were working on the highway (on the highway), and we children were allowed to approach them. We brought them eggs, milk in bottles … Someone, in a jacket in this one, will immediately drink milk from the neck, wipe the neck with his sleeve, punish:

- Give it back to your mother, say: 'Uncle told me to say thank you.'

“I remember my grandmother,” I said.

- Nothing … she was a good woman. She knew conspiracies.

And Uncle Emelyan told the following story.

“We snapped her up - we went with her elder brother, with Yegor, she’s over there Talitsky (this is across the river), -we brought her … Well, Svalba (wedding) … We take a walk. And they just sewed a new pinzhak for me, a good one, a beaver one … Just in time for the wedding they did it, Yegorka gave some money, I came like a falcon. And right from the wedding, this pinjak was stolen from me. I was overwhelmed by grief. And mine says: "Wait a minute, do not twist yet: will they return it." Where, I think, will be returned! There have been so many people … But I know that it’s not someone from Nashenski, but from Talitskiy, probably: where will ours go with him? And they sewed tada straight at home: a tailor came with a typewriter, cut it right there and sewed. For two days, I remember, I sewed: immediately I ate and slept. My cho are doing: they took a flap from sewing - there are a lot of scraps left - wrapped it in birch bark and smeared it with clay into the mouth of the stove, just where the smoke turns into the chuval, the thickest goes. I didn’t understand at first: “What, they say, are you?” - “But, he says, now he will be screwed up every morning, a thief. As we flood the stove, it will begin to twist, like that birch bark. " And what do you think? Three days later, a peasant comes from Talitsa, some kind of her relative, my woman … With a bag. He came, put the bag in the corner, and he himself - boo, on his knees in front of me. “Forgive me,” he says, I got it wrong: I took the pinzhak away. Looked ". He pulls out my pinjak and a goose with wine from the sack, now - a quarter, and before they called it - a goose. Here, you see … "I can't, he says, live - I'm worn out."

- Beat him? I asked.

- Oh, come on!.. He came himself … Why then? We drank this goose of his, but I got one and drank that one. Not alone, obviously the case: I called Yegor with a woman, and the men came up - almost a new wedding!.. I'm glad crazy - a good pinzhak. For ten years he wore it. This is what my old woman was. She was not an old woman, but … she knew. Kingdom of heaven.

They had five sons and one daughter. Three were killed in this war, but these left for the city. Uncle Emelyan lived alone. Neighbors came in turn, stoked the stove, gave food … He lay on the stove, did not moan, only said:

- God save you … It will be read.

One morning they came - he was dead.

Why did I make such a large extract about Grand Duke Alexei? I don't know myself. I want to spread my mind like arms - to embrace these two figures, to bring them closer, perhaps, to reflect, - to think something at first and I wanted to - but I can't. One stubbornly sticks out somewhere in Paris, the other - on the Katun, with a fishing rod. I repeat to myself that after all, they are children of the same people, maybe even if they take anger, they will not take anger either. Both of them have been in the ground for a long time - and the incompetent general-admiral, and uncle Emelyan, a former sailor … And what if they were somewhere THERE - would they meet? After all THERE I suppose there are no epaulets, no jewelry. And palaces too, and mistresses, nothing: two Russian souls met. After all, THERE they would have nothing to talk about, that's the thing. So strangers are so strangers - forever and ever. Great Mother Russia!

Vasily Makarovich Shukshin. 1974 year.