Essay “One of my favorite children's books. A. Lindgren

The image of the main character in Astrid Lindgren's story “Emil of Lönneberg”

Completed by: student 5 “A” Kondrashina Lidiya

Scientific supervisor: Romanova Natalya Alekseevna

Goals and objectives of the work

Emil's image

Changes that have occurred in the character of the main character

Conclusion

List of references and other sources of information

Goal of the work:

analyze the image of the main character in Astrid Lindgren’s story “Emil of Lönneberg”

Job objectives:

2. Analyze the image of Emil

3. Note the changes that have occurred in the character of the main character

I became interested in other books by this writer and found the book “Emil of Lenneberga”. And it did not disappoint my expectations, as it turned out to be very interesting.

In my work I want to analyze the image of Emil and consider his character traits.

The name Astrid Annie Emilia Lindgren is well known throughout the world. “Andersen of our days” or “the sorceress from Sweden”, and it is clear to everyone who we are talking about. Lindgren is the author of 35 books and the winner of many national awards. Undoubtedly, today the most famous children's writer. The heroes of her works speak almost 45 languages, including Russian. Astrid Lingren was born on November 14, 1907 in the city of Vimmeberyu into a peasant family. After graduating from school, she left in search of work in Stockholm. Having changed several positions (secretary, stenographer, editor), she successfully got married.

Lindgren's first story, Pippi Longstocking, was published in 1945-1952. Her appearance was facilitated by the serious illness of her beloved daughter, for whom the wonderful fairy tale was created. The reason that prompted the aspiring writer to send her work to the publishing house still remains a mystery. The book became an instant success. She was awarded several prizes, and the stunned author was offered a job in a children's publishing house. Since then, Astrid Lindgren’s stories “one after another, like a dove from the palm of your hand, took off into the world.”

Lindgren has written more than a hundred books, many of which have been translated into many languages of the world. Her works have been published in almost 60 countries. In 1957, Lindgren became the first children's author to receive a medal for literary achievement from the Kingdom of Sweden.

Emil's image

Emil is a ten-year-old boy. He lives with his family on a farm near the small village of Lenneberg. Life on the farm is busy and fun. Emil's dad and his mom, as well as hired help - Alfred and Lina, work all day long on the house. They take care of the livestock, the garden and the house. Emil and his younger sister Ida move between the adults and play pranks. Emil is the main champion in all of Lenneberg and the region in tricks. Everyone knows him and never ceases to be surprised by new stories with this little boy.

Emil's main character traits: courage, perseverance, recklessness, inexhaustible optimism and kindness towards people and animals.

Emil is a very loyal and reliable friend. This can be confirmed by the story of Alfred's rescue. When Alfred became very ill, Emil was not afraid to go with him to the doctor in a strong snowstorm on a horse and sleigh. The boy was very cold and scared, but the desire to save his friend was stronger and he overcame his fear.

Emil is a very energetic person and strives to act without thinking about the consequences of his actions. This led to big troubles for him and his loved ones. For example, having decided to catch a mouse in the house with the help of a mousetrap, he almost lost his father’s leg.

Another time, wanting to boast about his catch of crayfish, he placed a bucket of them near his father’s bed. The crayfish spread and scared the poor man to death.

It was because of such actions that he was often punished and sent to the woodshed for re-education

Emil has a kind heart. People in the village knew about Emil's tricks, but appreciated him for his kindness and responsiveness.

Everyone remembers the story with the old people from the orphanage. Emil decided to give them a Christmas present, cunningly brought them into the house, fed them and sent them home on a sleigh. And he deceived their evil overseer and put her to sleep.

CHANGES THAT HAPPENED IN THE CHARACTER OF THE MAIN CHARACTER

By the end of the story written by Astrid Lindgren about a mischievous boy, the main character has changed. Emil became more cautious in his actions.

His natural kindness and responsiveness earned him great respect in the village. When the boy went to school, he became more serious and showed good academic abilities. Friends and neighbors of Emil’s family watched him and said: “This boy will make a lot of sense.” And they were right. At the conclusion of the book, I learned that as an adult, Emil took the post of chairman and was a very respected person.

Conclusion

While collecting material for my work, I learned a lot of interesting things about my favorite writer – Astrid Lindgren. It turns out that almost all the stories written by her took place in her native places: Vimmerbrü, Lönneberg, etc.

In the book “Emil of Lenneberge” I was interested in learning about how people lived at the beginning of the 20th century: what children played, what people ate, what they wore, what their customs were.

Astrid Lindgren has written more than 80 books for children. The cheerful, resourceful and resilient heroes of her stories have found their admirers in 76 countries. And each of them at least once tried to find Carlson’s house on the roof, tie brushes to their feet and wash the floor, as Pippi did, or feed drunken cherries to the rooster, like Emil from Lenneberga.

History of writing

Astrid Lindgren also loves her heroes. But Emil is closest to her. He looks like herself. As for pranks and pranks, she, of course, did not reach such heights as the boy from her work “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberga.” A brief summary of the book will allow you to appreciate the ingenuity of this naughty boy. But the inspiration for these stories came from real life events.

The idea to write about the prankster Emil came by chance. Astrid's three-year-old grandson screamed non-stop. She tried to calm him down and asked a question: “Do you know what Emil from Lenneberg once did?” The baby immediately stopped crying. He really wanted to know what Emil did. This is how the story about the prankster appeared.

Many stories were told by Astrid's father, Samuel Augustus, who was a famous mischief maker in the area. Some hilarious things happened to her brother Gunnar. When Astrid writes about Emil's journey to Vimmerby, she draws on her memories. My father, who had a wonderful memory, helped a lot. Even at the end of his life, he could tell exactly how much a pig, a horse or a fire pump cost at the fair. This information was useful when writing the book “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberga”. They are also mentioned in the summary.

Main character

Emil Svensson is one of Astrid Lindgren's most interesting characters. And the smallest. In the first story, he is only five years old. He constantly gets into trouble. But not all of them are random. Emil is very creative and has a long list of pranks. They are mostly sweet and innocent, although they often make their father blush and get angry. The mother is always sure that this happened by accident.

Where Emil lives is also of great importance. It was not without reason that Lindgren chose the farm in “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberga”. The summary confirms that there is incredible scope for pranks on the farm. Many of Emil's tricks are aimed at saving the people he loves. Sometimes his actions are touching. For example, he distributes food intended for guests to the poor. In his own house it was noted as a "prank", but Emil's intentions are certainly noble.

Emil is actually a very kind boy. He reciprocates the feelings of farmer Alfred, who treats him like a brother. Emil trusts him and even saves his life one day. However, not all pranks are committed with noble intentions. For example, when he made everyone believe that his sister had typhus, and to make her even more convincing, he painted her face purple? It is not surprising that his father is often angry with Emil, and to avoid his anger, the boy locks himself in a barn and makes wooden figurines.

Of course, a summary of the story “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberga” will not describe all the antics of this cheerful boy. But the fact that Emil has more than three hundred wooden old men confirms how often the boy gets into various troubles.

Other characters

Ida, Emil's little sister, is, unlike him, a calm child. But often, and not of her own free will, she finds herself involved in her brother’s tricks. Sometimes she likes it herself, because Emil is such an inventor. When they were playing Indians, Emil, so that she would become red-skinned, like a real Indian, dipped her in a large basin of lingonberry jam. And the game “Wind and Sail” that they came up with? You have to run fast, and when you meet each other, point your finger in the stomach and shout: “The wind is blowing.” It was so much fun! Until Emil ran into Lina with a bowl of dough in his hands. He completely forgot that she was ticklish and poked her in the stomach with his finger. The basin, like a real sail, flew up. And all the potato dough ended up on dad’s head, who entered the kitchen.

Anton Svensson, Emil's father, like many residents of Småland, is very careful with money. And he knows their value. Once the pastor offered him forty crowns for a postage stamp, Anton quickly calculated that he could buy half a cow with it. And when Emil asked which part he was going to buy - the front one that moos, or the back one that beats its tail - his father locked him in the carpentry shop. He is often angry with his son, but swearing is prohibited in the Svensson household. Therefore, it is not surprising that the boy was already on his hundredth wooden man when the dough was poured on his father’s head.

Alma Swenson, Emil's mother, adores her boy. The summary of the book “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberg” says that Alma is a wonderful housewife and is known in the area as an unrivaled cook. She writes down all her son's tricks in a blue notebook. However, he writes with errors. But this will not prevent her boy, when he grows up, from reading these notes and remembering his tricks. And although there are soon several notebooks, Alma is sure that Emil is a sweet child.

Worker Alfred is the naughty man's best friend. He loves children and treats Emil like a little brother. He taught him to swim and take care of animals on the farm. Lots more. The maid Lina also lives on the farm. She is sure that Emil is a terrible prankster and is only capable of dirty tricks. Not far from Emil’s house, in a forest hut, lives Kröse-Maia. She often comes to visit them and tells them scary stories.

Meet Emil

Emil Svensson looks like a pure angel - big blue eyes, blond curly hair. But in reality he is a tomboy and stubborn. And the boy knew how to insist on his own. One day dad bought him a cap. Emil did not want to part with the new thing and went to bed in it. His mom didn't like it. But when she tried to take it off, the boy screamed so loudly that she had to give in. For three whole weeks Emil slept in this cap.

The Katthult farm, where Emil lives, is small. Our hero lives with his father Anton, mother Alma Svensson and little sister Ida. The house rises on a hill, among lilacs and apple trees. All around are meadows, fields, a lake and a huge forest. In addition to Emil's family, the worker Alfred and the maid Lina live in Katthult.

Lina believes that Emil does nothing but play pranks. "Here! He chased the cat around the chicken coop,” she complains. Well, how was she to know that Emil just wanted to see who could run faster? But the cat didn’t understand him...

Everyone doesn't understand him. Same Lina. I cooked meat soup on Tuesday and poured it into a beautiful tureen. Emil loved this soup very much; when he wanted more, there was only the very bottom of the soup left. And you could only get it out by sticking your head inside. He did just that. But I couldn’t pull my head back out. Emil stood in the middle of the kitchen, the tureen towering on his head like a tub. And Lina ran around and wailed: “Oh, our tureen! Where are we going to pour the soup?”

Only the mother thought about her son and suggested breaking the tureen with a poker. But then dad protested. I must say that he was very economical and remembered that a tureen cost as much as four crowns. Alfred tried to remove the tureen from Emil's head by pulling up on the handles. But it was not there. Emil also rose with the tureen. He hung, dangled his legs and shouted to the tureen: “Leave me alone! Let me in". It was decided to take the tureen to the doctor. The summary of the work “Emil from Lenneberga”, of course, cannot contain everything that Emil’s family had to endure along the way. But is he to blame?

Welcome to Katthult

Lina is generally unfair to him. On Sunday, many guests were expected at the farm and they prepared various delicacies. Mom said that the holiday would be great. “Yes,” answered Lina. “Only if you lock Emil in the barn.” How can she? After all, Emil immediately rushed to help his dad when he remembered that he forgot to raise the flag. Who is to blame that Alfred called dad, and Ida wanted to see Mariannelund? That’s why, when all the guests had gathered, his sister Ida met them at the top of the flagpole.

As punishment, Emil was locked in the carpentry room. He felt that it smelled very tasty and noticed that the window to the pantry was open - food was stored there. Including the famous blood sausage that his mother prepared. To try this sausage, Mrs. Petrel came from Vimmerby itself. When the holiday was in full swing, mom remembered that Emil was locked up. Dad ran to the carpentry shop, but didn’t find his son there. Where's the fun in that?

Everyone rushed to look for Emil. In the end, they got hungry and sent Lina to the pantry for sausage. She returned quickly. No sausage. Since Lina looked very mysterious, everyone rushed to the storeroom to see what happened there. When they opened the cabinet where the sausage was stored, Emil was sleeping peacefully on the shelf. But there was no sausage. Fru Petrel was upset and pouted. Even little Ida noticed how the noble lady Petrel was disappointed, and told Emil about it. He calmed his sister down. He said that Fru Petrel would quickly get over it as soon as she discovered the little rat in her bag that he had put there.

Emil comes to the rescue

In fact, Emil is very kind. And even a brief retelling of “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberg” will help you understand that he considers it his duty to help everyone he knows. Although Lina is sure that Emil is an incorrigible prankster, the boy was the first to rush to her aid when she woke up one morning with a toothache. Looking in the mirror, she discovered that her cheek was swollen and looked like a huge bun. But there was nothing to do, Lina went to milk the cow. As soon as the girl sat down on the bench, a wasp flew up and stung Lina on the other cheek. Her face instantly became equal-cheeked.

Alfred suggested that Lina go to the blacksmith and have her aching tooth pulled out. The girl shuddered at the thought of this. But then Emil came to the rescue, saying that he knew a great way. The pain was so unbearable that Lina agreed to his idea.

The bear's sinew was tied around Lina's tooth, and Emil tied the other end to his belt. He reassured Lina that now all that remained was to hear: “Bang!”, climbed onto the horse and let him gallop. But nothing happened. Because Lina was so afraid of this “bang” that she also started to gallop. And when the horse jumped over the fence, Lina did not lag behind - she, mad with fear, also jumped over it.

Emil sincerely wanted to help the girl. And she knows about it. Therefore, when Emil scared the Lennebergers so much that they immediately decided to send the boy to America, Lina said in fear: “We need to think at least a little about the Americans. They recently had a terrible earthquake, and then there’s Emil to boot.” Mom then became terribly angry, and Lina was perplexed: “I would trade with them.”

How Emil got Lucas

The residents of Lenneberg were very sorry for Emil’s parents, because they believed that nothing good would come of this mischief-maker. They could not even imagine that when he grew up, he would become the chairman of the municipality. But Emil was always inventive. He has not only tricks to his name, but also good deeds. And the real deals. And stunning ones at that. His mother wrote it down in her blue notebook. They say that she later brought these notes to the author of the book “The Adventures of Emil from Lenneberg.” The summary, of course, will not reveal all the talents of the prankster Emil. But it will help you get to know this little naughty girl better.

Emil knew everything there was to know about horses. Alfred taught him everything. And Emil asked his father for a long time to buy a stallion as a mate for Marcus. Once at a fair in Vimmerby, a boy saw a three-year-old dun horse in the pasture. What a horse! But his father said that Emil should not expect to pay as much as three hundred crowns for the horse. In the evening, Emil, on one of the dark streets, saw a large crowd of peasants and heard a loud neighing. The blacksmith was desperately trying to find the one that the mischievous man liked at the fair. The horse reared up and did not give up. The boy, to the loud laughter of those gathered, said that he would cope with him. The owner shouted that then the boy could take it for himself. Emil approached the horse, raised his hind hoof - the horse did not move. They shod him, and the crowd shouted to the owner: “You gave your word. The horse is a boy’s!”

That's how Emil ended up with a handsome horse named Lucas. Emil drove home and thought what a good day it was. Apart from, of course, the fact that he spilled blueberry jelly on Mrs. Petrel, flying into the window like a comet. He rode Lucas into the burgomaster's house and knocked the cake over on him. He scared the residents of Vimmerby to death by setting off fireworks from a whole box of firecrackers. The adventures of Emil from Lenneberga did not end there. A summary of the chapter telling about his successful auction deal is given below.

Successful deal

Once upon a time, an auction took place in Bakhorv. Emil's dad thought that he could buy a cow cheaper, and if he was lucky, a pig. They decided to take Emil with them. But dad didn’t give him any money. What is an auction without money? Emil thought about it. He told us to go without him. Everyone was happy. But it was not there. Emil decided to get some money. He quickly realized that those wishing to get to the auction could not bypass their gate in Katthult. So I earned money by opening and closing gates.

Emil saddled Lukas and rode to Buckhorv. He was only in the mood for big deals and therefore quickly became the owner of a velvet box, a long-handled shovel and a rusty fire pump in twenty-five eras. Everyone laughed at him. But when a real fight broke out, Emil grabbed the pump and forced Lina to pump water. The icy stream quickly cooled the fighters. Emil immediately sold the pump for fifty öre to the owner of Knaschulte, where the next auction will take place in a week.

Age: Family:

father Anton
mother Alma
sister Ida

Nickname:

Emil from Lönneberga

Role played by: K:Wikipedia:Articles without images (type: not specified)

Emil Svensson is a “little tomboy and stubborn”, a cheerful, curious and resourceful five-year-old village boy who constantly gets into various comical troubles. The boy is very smart and knows how to earn money himself without asking his parents. He has the makings of a good businessman, which his father is partly jealous of.

Emil has a younger sister, Ida, who, against her will, also often becomes involved in her brother’s pranks.

Already at this age, Emil has his own livestock - the stallion Lukas, the pig Zamorysh (Piglet - in Lungina Lane) and the chicken Lotta-Chronozhka.

Carpentry stands out among the boy's hobbies. Every time he is locked in the carpentry workshop for pranks, Emil carves one wooden man, and their total number eventually exceeds 300 pieces.

Anton, Emil's father, is a church elder, distinguished by his careful attitude to money. He works a lot in the field along with the hired worker Alfred. He loves his son, but most often it is the father who unwittingly finds himself at the center of the heir’s tricks, which happen to Emil by pure chance. And, if the son hears his father scream: “Emil!!!” - then he runs as fast as he can into the carpentry workshop, locking himself from the inside, where he waits out his parents’ wrath, cutting out wooden figures.

Alma, Emil's mother, is a housewife who knows many different recipes. He keeps records of his son's misdeeds in special notebooks, for which there is no longer room in the drawers. Writes with many spelling errors. But this does not stop her from being the best mistress of Katkhult. She is especially good at blood sausage - Emil's favorite dish.

Emil's best friend is the worker Alfred. It was thanks to him that the little daredevil learned to understand horses well, handle cattle and swim. Alfred has no wife or children, so he treats the prankster as his own son.

Also in Katkhult there is a maid Lina, who does not like Emil and constantly talks about what a tomboy he is.

In addition, not far from Katkhult, in a house in the forest, lives the old woman Kruse-Maia, who sometimes comes to visit to help with the housework and look after the children. Loves to tell scary stories to children.

Books

The cycle of works about Emil includes three novellas (usually combined into a collection), three short stories (also usually combined into a collection) and four picture books:

"Emil of Lenneberga"(Emil i Lönneberga) (1963)
"New tricks of Emil from Lenneberga"(Nya hyss av Emil i Lönneberga) (1966)
“Emil from Lönneberga is still alive!”(Än lever Emil i Lönneberga) (1970)

Stories:

"Ida Learns to Play Pranks"(När lilla Ida skulle gora hyss) (1984)
"Emil's 325th trick"(Emils hyss nr 325) (1985)
“‘The more the merrier,’ said Emil from Lönneberga.”(Inget knussel, sa Emil i Lönneberga)(1986)

Picture books:

“Oh, this Emil!”(Den där Emil) (1972)
“How Emil pulled out Lina’s tooth”(När Emil skulle dra ut Linas tand) (1976)
"How Emil Poured Dough on Dad's Head"(Emil med paltsmeten)(1995)
“How Emil landed his head in a tureen”(Emil och soppskålen) (1997)

Collections:

"The Adventures of Emil from Lönneberga"(Stora Emilboken) (1984) - includes all three stories.
"Emil and Little Ida"(Ida och Emil i Lönneberga) (1989) - includes all three stories.

Translation:
Retelling of all three stories into Russian has been completed Lilianna Lungina. Three stories included in the collection “Emil and Little Ida” were retold by Marina Boroditskaya.

There is also a translation of three stories by Lyudmila Braude together with Elena Paklina, as well as a translation of three stories done separately by Lyudmila Braude.

In 2010, all four picture books were published in Russia for the first time. Translation of the picture book “Oh, that Emil!” completed By Lyubov Gorlina, the remaining three books - by Lilianna Lungina (they are excerpts from stories translated by her earlier).

Artists:
All existing books about Emil were illustrated by a Swedish artist Björn Berg. It is his illustrations that are most famous throughout the world.

Film adaptations

Year	A country	Name	Director	Emil	Note
	Sweden Sweden Germany	Emil from Lönneberga ( Swede. Emil i Lönnenberga)	Olle Hellbom	Jan Olsson
	Sweden Sweden Germany	New tricks of Emil from Lönneberga ( Swede. Nya hyss av Emil i Lönneberga )	Olle Hellbom	Jan Olsson	Television feature film.
	Sweden Sweden Germany	Emil and Pig ( Swede. Emil och griseknoen)	Olle Hellbom	Jan Olsson	Television feature film.
-	Sweden Sweden Germany	Emil from Lönneberga ( Swede. Emil i Lönnenberga)	Olle Hellbom	Jan Olsson	TV series (13 episodes). It came to Russia in the German version, the premiere took place on April 3, 1992. All the characters speak German, and the character's name is Michel, but in the Russian translation he is still called Emil
	USSR USSR	Tomboy Pranks	Waris Brasla	Maris Sonnenbergs-Zambergs	Feature television film filmed on Riga Film Studio

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing Emil from Lönneberga

- Why did you climb during the day? Cattle! Well, didn't you take it?..
“I took it,” said Tikhon.
- Where is he?
“Yes, I took him first at dawn,” Tikhon continued, moving his flat legs turned out wider in his bast shoes, “and took him into the forest.” I see it's not okay. I think, let me go and get another more careful one.
“Look, you scoundrel, that’s how it is,” Denisov said to the esaul. - Why didn’t you do this?
“Why should we lead him,” Tikhon interrupted hastily and angrily, “he’s not fit.” Don't I know which ones you need?
- What a beast!.. Well?..
“I went after someone else,” Tikhon continued, “I crawled into the forest in this manner, and lay down.” – Tikhon suddenly and flexibly lay down on his belly, imagining in their faces how he did it. “One and make up,” he continued. “I’ll rob him in this manner.” – Tikhon quickly and easily jumped up. “Let’s go, I say, to the colonel.” How loud he will be. And there are four of them here. They rushed at me with skewers. “I hit them with an ax in this manner: why are you, Christ is with you,” Tikhon cried, waving his arms and frowning menacingly, sticking out his chest.
“We saw from the mountain how you asked a line through the puddles,” said the esaul, narrowing his shining eyes.
Petya really wanted to laugh, but he saw that everyone was holding back from laughing. He quickly moved his eyes from Tikhon’s face to the faces of the esaul and Denisov, not understanding what it all meant.
“Don’t even imagine it,” Denisov said, coughing angrily. “Why didn’t he do it?”
Tikhon began to scratch his back with one hand, his head with the other, and suddenly his whole face stretched into a shining, stupid smile, revealing a missing tooth (for which he was nicknamed Shcherbaty). Denisov smiled, and Petya burst into cheerful laughter, which Tikhon himself joined in.
“Yes, it’s completely wrong,” said Tikhon. “The clothes he’s wearing are bad, so where should we take him?” Yes, and a rude man, your honor. Why, he says, I myself am the son of Anaral, I won’t go, he says.
- What a brute! - Denisov said. - I need to ask...
“Yes, I asked him,” said Tikhon. - He says: I don’t know him well. There are many of ours, he says, but all of them are bad; only, he says, one name. “If you’re fine,” he says, “you’ll take everyone,” Tikhon concluded, looking cheerfully and decisively into Denisov’s eyes.
“Here, I’ll pour in a hundred gogs, and you’ll do the same,” Denisov said sternly.
“Why be angry,” said Tikhon, “well, I haven’t seen your French?” Just let it get dark, I’ll bring whatever you want, at least three.
“Well, let’s go,” Denisov said, and he rode all the way to the guardhouse, frowning angrily and silently.
Tikhon came from behind, and Petya heard the Cossacks laughing with him and at him about some boots that he had thrown into a bush.
When the laughter that had taken over him at Tikhon’s words and smile passed, and Petya realized for a moment that this Tikhon had killed a man, he felt embarrassed. He looked back at the captive drummer, and something pierced his heart. But this awkwardness lasted only for a moment. He felt the need to raise his head higher, cheer up and ask the esaul with a significant look about tomorrow's enterprise, so as not to be unworthy of the society in which he was.
The sent officer met Denisov on the road with the news that Dolokhov himself would arrive now and that everything was fine on his part.
Denisov suddenly became cheerful and called Petya over to him.
“Well, tell me about yourself,” he said.

When Petya left Moscow, leaving his relatives, he joined his regiment and soon after that he was taken as an orderly to the general who commanded a large detachment. From the time of his promotion to officer, and especially from his entry into the active army, where he participated in the Battle of Vyazemsky, Petya was in a constantly happily excited state of joy at the fact that he was great, and in a constantly enthusiastic haste not to miss any case of real heroism . He was very happy with what he saw and experienced in the army, but at the same time it seemed to him that where he was not, that was where the most real, heroic things were now happening. And he was in a hurry to get to where he was not.
When on October 21 his general expressed a desire to send someone to Denisov’s detachment, Petya asked so pitifully to send him that the general could not refuse. But, sending him, the general, remembering Petya’s crazy act in the battle of Vyazemsky, where Petya, instead of going along the road to where he was sent, galloped in a chain under the fire of the French and shot there twice from his pistol - sending him, the general namely, he forbade Petya to participate in any of Denisov’s actions. This made Petya blush and became confused when Denisov asked if he could stay. Before leaving for the edge of the forest, Petya believed that he needed to strictly fulfill his duty and return immediately. But when he saw the French, saw Tikhon, learned that they would certainly attack that night, he, with the speed of transitions of young people from one glance to another, decided with himself that his general, whom he had hitherto greatly respected, was rubbish, the German that Denisov is a hero, and Esaul is a hero, and that Tikhon is a hero, and that he would be ashamed to leave them in difficult times.
It was already getting dark when Denisov, Petya and the esaul drove up to the guardhouse. In the semi-darkness one could see horses in saddles, Cossacks, hussars setting up huts in the clearing and (so that the French would not see the smoke) building a reddening fire in a forest ravine. In the entryway of a small hut, a Cossack, rolling up his sleeves, was chopping lamb. In the hut itself there were three officers from Denisov’s party, who had set up a table out of the door. Petya took off his wet dress, letting it dry, and immediately began helping the officers set up the dinner table.
Ten minutes later the table was ready, covered with a napkin. On the table there was vodka, rum in a flask, white bread and fried lamb with salt.
Sitting with the officers at the table and tearing the fatty, fragrant lamb with his hands, through which lard flowed, Petya was in an enthusiastic childish state of tender love for all people and, as a result, confidence in the same love of other people for himself.
“So what do you think, Vasily Fedorovich,” he turned to Denisov, “is it okay that I stay with you for a day?” - And, without waiting for an answer, he answered himself: - After all, I was ordered to find out, well, I’ll find out... Only you will let me into the very... main one. I don’t need awards... But I want... - Petya clenched his teeth and looked around, jerking his head up and waving his hand.

History of writing

Main character

Other characters

Meet Emil

Welcome to Katthult

Emil comes to the rescue

How Emil got Lucas

Emil knew everything there was to know about horses. Alfred taught him everything. And Emil asked his father for a long time to buy a stallion as a mate for Marcus. Once at a fair in Vimmerby, a boy saw a three-year-old dun horse in the pasture. What a horse! But his father said that Emil should not expect to pay as much as three hundred crowns for the horse. In the evening, Emil, on one of the dark streets, saw a large crowd of peasants and heard a loud neighing. The blacksmith was desperately trying to shoe the horse. The same one that attracted the mischief-maker at the fair. The horse reared up and did not give up. The boy, to the loud laughter of those gathered, said that he would cope with him. The owner shouted that then the boy could take it for himself. Emil approached the horse, raised his hind hoof - the horse did not move. They shod him, and the crowd shouted to the owner: “You gave your word. The horse is a boy’s!”