Big birch artyukhov summary. Review of Artyukhova's story “Big birch

Nina Artyukhova

Big birch (short stories)

Quite the same

Mom closed her suitcase and put on her hat.

“Here,” she said, “Nikolai and Andryusha, listen carefully. Here, in the left drawer, are spare ribbons. On purpose today I went to the store, bought four meters.

- Four meters? - Dad was surprised. - Honey, why so much? Is it really a meter in each pigtail?

- They lose very often. I say - this is a stock. Here, Nikolai, look here. Two meters blue and two pink. Pink is for Vari, and blue is for Vali. Please do not mix it up.

- Do not worry, dear, we will do everything. Let me how, how did you say? For Vali? That is, for Varya?

Mom repeated patiently:

- Pink - for Vari, and for Vali - blue.

- Why, mother, I know, - said Andryusha.

- Wait, Andryushka ... - Dad knitted his eyebrows and repeated several times: - Valya is blue ... Varya is pink. Wa-l-la ... goal-lu ... goal-bast ... Var-r-ry - r-pink! Wonderful! Very easy to remember!

- Let's check it out! - said Andryusha. - Dad, who is this?

- With blue pigtails - that means Valya, - dad answered firmly.

- And who is this? - asked Valya, pointing at her sister.

- And this one with pink pigtails means Varya!

- I remember! I remember! - the guys shouted joyfully. - Mother! Finally I remember!

The fact is that Valya and Varya were twins and were so similar to each other that only one mother could distinguish them without ribbons. In addition, dresses and fur coats - they all were the same too.

And dad just recently returned from a distant northern expedition and all the time he confused his little ones. Of course, he knew how similar the twins were, but still, every time he saw them nearby, he shook his head and said:

- No, it's amazing! Well, absolutely, exactly the same!

Dad glanced at his watch and took Mom's coat off the rack.

- Please do not worry, we will not mix anything up, we will do everything right. Besides, you're only leaving for two weeks! If several times we call Valya Varya by mistake, nothing special ...

- Nikolai! - Mom put her right hand past the sleeve and said sadly: - So, you forgot everything, everything! After all, I repeated to you several times: the doctor told Valya to walk as much as possible, but Varya is absolutely not allowed and the medicine three times a day ...

- We will do everything! - finished Andryusha.

And my mother left. It was Saturday. On Sunday, there was no hurry to get up, so everyone slept. The first, however, were the twins, who, even on weekdays, had absolutely no place to rush. By the time dad left the bathroom, smoothing his wet hair, Varya had already lost her left pink ribbon.

“It doesn't matter,” Dad said, “we have a large supply. How much to cut off? Is half a meter enough? Come here girls, I will comb your hair.

- Dad, - asked Andryusha, - and you will be able to braid?

- Hope so. I had to successfully complete more complex tasks.

Soft blond hairs obediently parted.

“You’re not braiding that way, dad,” Andryusha said after a minute.

- No, that's right.

- No not like this. Mom weaves a ribbon with her hair, and you just tied a bow on the ponytail - and okay.

“It doesn't matter,” Dad said, “it's even prettier this way. You see how big my bows are, and my mother has nothing left for bows.

- But stronger.

- That's what, Andrei, it's enough to direct criticism. What did mom say? Walk as much as possible. Drink milk, take Valyushka and go. And Varya and I will take care of the cleaning.

After cleaning and walking, dad and Andryusha cooked dinner, washed the dishes and scrubbed for a long time with knives and cleaned the burnt frying pan. Finally, dad said "phew" and lay down on the sofa with a book in his hands. However, very soon the book slammed shut itself, daddy's eyes closed by themselves, and daddy fell asleep. Loud voices woke him up.

- Dad! - shouted Andryusha. - The twins are lost!

Dad jumped up as if on a battle alarm:

- Who? .. Where? .. But here they are! Well, is it possible, Andryushka, to scare a man like that!

- That is, they are not lost, but messed up. We played hide and seek ... Both under the tables and under the hanger - well, all four ribbons were hitting somewhere. I told you that you are not braiding that way!

- Valya! Varya! Come here!

Two completely identical daughters stood in front of dad, looked at him with the same cheerful eyes, and even they were disheveled in exactly the same way.

- No matter! - Dad laughed. - We still have three and a half meters of these ribbons. Now I remember well: blue - Valya, and Varya ...

- Eh, dad, dad! Well, how do you distinguish them now - which one?

- It's very simple! They know how to talk. Big girls ... What's your name?

- And you?

The twins also fought in exactly the same way. Dad thought:

- We do it inaccurately ... How to be, Andryushka? After all, it's time for Varya to take medicine, and Valya - to walk as much as possible!

There was a familiar coughing behind the door.

- Grandpa! - the guys shouted joyfully. Grandpa greeted everyone and began to wipe his glasses:

- You say you need to take a walk? So I came early to take a walk with Valya. I promised mommy too.

- You came just in time, Konstantin Petrovich! - Dad said. “You see, we have… that is… Well, in short, the twins are messed up! - And I told my grandfather what happened.

- How can you do that, Nikolai? - Grandpa reproachfully looked at dad. - Dear, one might say, the father, and relatives, one might say, confused daughters.

- What to do, Konstantin Petrovich, guilty, of course! Why, when I left, they were quite a bit dim. Excuse me, Konstantin Petrovich! And you yourself? Dear, one might say, grandfather? And relatives, one might say, granddaughters ... Come on, where is Valya? Where is Varya? Which one?

Grandfather slowly put on his glasses and looked at his granddaughters:

- Ahem! Ahem! .. Y-yes! That is ... Ahem! .. Ahem! .. My glasses have become rather weak! Not in the eyes already. Now, if I had stronger glasses ...

Andryusha laughed the loudest.

- And already you, Andrei, are completely ashamed, - said dad, - and did not leave anywhere, you see them every day ...

- Yes, yes, - the grandfather supported the dad, - without glasses, and you have young eyes, and relatives, one might say, sisters ...

- What am I? - Andryusha made excuses. - I'm nothing. Before my illness I could distinguish them very well: Varya was fatter. And in the hospital, they lost weight in different ways and became exactly the same!

1. Work on the section "Preliminary reading"

2. Conversation on the content of the text

(Students share their impressions of the story on teacher questions:

Did you like the story? How?

How did you define the topic: what is this story about?

3. Reading text with detailed analysis

(The work is carried out as follows: the student, upon calling the teacher, reads the text and stops at the place where, in his opinion, this or that part should end. Each option is discussed. In the course of reading the story, the teacher gives the children questions and assignments.

What did mom feel after Gleb and Volodya's message? Find the words in the text where the author talks about it.

Did Alyosha's friends do the right thing in this situation? Support your conclusions with examples from the text.

What did they do right and what did they do wrong? How was it necessary?

Read this part by role and convey the feelings of the characters in intonation.

How would you title this part? Define main idea- the micro theme of this part.

2nd part (From the words: “Mom finally understood ...” to the words: “Well, then come down”).

Why did mom send the boys home?

How did mom behave when she went up to the tree? Find this place in the text.

Was she really calm? With what words from the text can you confirm your answer?

How could she behave? How does this characterize her?

And why can't you behave like the summer resident did? Find evidence in the text.

Was it easy for Alyosha to go downstairs?

Why did he manage to land successfully? Read about it.

What did the boy do right and what did not in this situation?

Define the micro theme of this part and come up with a title.

4th part (From the words: “And my mother clasped her thin, tanned ... legs ...” and to the end of the story.)

Why did the boy's mother cry only when he got down from the tree? What about this mom?

What feelings did Alyosha experience?

Do you think the boy will keep his word? What do you conclude from?

Title the last part.

As a result of the work done, a story outline was written on the board and in the students' notebooks:

Alarming message.

Mom saw her son on a birch.

Mom's advice.

Mom's tears.)

Teacher. And why do you need to be able to draw up a plan? Children. - The outline helps to better understand the content of the text.

And also retell it consistently.

The text is better remembered with the plan.

Teacher. You and I have drawn up a plan in our own words. How else can you?

Children. - You can use the words of the text.

It is necessary to choose in each part the words that will reflect the main idea.

It can be a whole sentence or a part of it. We have already drawn up such a plan.

Teacher. Yes, we have already done this kind of work. This plan can be called “quotation”, you will make it at home: for each item of the plan that you came up with in your own words, pick up a quote from the text and write it down.

4. Closing conversation

(The conversation takes place on the teacher's questions:

Why did he finish it like that?

What other title for the story would you think of? Which is better? Why?)

Teacher. What does this story teach?

Children. - Take good care of your mother, do not upset her, do not bring her to tears.

- And the story also teaches how to behave in dangerous and through

Extraordinary situations.

Teacher. And how?

Children. - First of all, do not create these situations yourself.

You can't panic, like Alyosha's friends, but you need to behave calmly so as not to disturb your elders, because they can have very weak nerves, heart, health.

Before you commit any act, think about how it all might end.

“Big”, not “tall”, for example, and in this word he put a meaning that can be understood in different ways. And you have already spoken about this: it may be the “big love” of the mother, who helped her son in difficult moment his endurance, self-control, fortitude and his calm wise advice. Or maybe the author under this name means “a big and difficult life”, where there are dangers and difficulties that are still ahead for the boys - the heroes of the story, your peers, and the author suggests that each person should always consider each of his own action and deed, so as not to regret later.

The main thing is that you all learn from this story, too, a "big lesson" for yourself.

5. Comparative work on the stories of N. M. Artyukhova "Big Birch" and Yu. Ya. Yakovlev "Mom"

Teacher. Guys, now let's go back to the text that we read in the last lesson. Let's compare it with the story “Big Birch” and find out how they are similar.

Children. - Both stories are about moms.

And about their great love for their children.

About how mothers help children in life.

And in each of these stories, the meaning of the quote is revealed, which we emphasized in the introductory text: “... it is she who introduces us into the world and helps to get used to it ... mother, like no one else, knows how to love, regret, forgive and help in difficult times”.

We were convinced of this when we read both texts. Teacher. We found the similarity, and now let's see how these texts differ.

Children. - These texts are different in length.

- And they have different content.

Teacher. What else?

(Children find it difficult to answer.)

Teacher. Let's read the questions I wrote on the board. Perhaps they will lead you to new answers.

(The teacher opens the questions on the chalkboard for comparative characteristics stories:

Are there any specific characters in these lyrics? Name them.

Is there a line of development of events in the texts: its beginning and end?

What is more emphasized in the texts: the story of the events and actions of the characters or their feelings and mood? Give examples.

Answering the last question, the children use excerpts from the story "Mom" by Y. Y. Yakovlev, learned by heart at home, and when reading their children are convinced that in this text the feelings of the heroes are put in the first place.)

Teacher. So what does this text look like?

Children. - For a poem.

- For poetry.

Teacher. Let's remember how we called poems in the previous lessons, in which the main place is occupied by the feelings of the author or hero.

Children. - We called such poetry "lyricism."

- And such poems are "lyrical."

(If the children forget this concept, write it down on the chalkboard again and talk about it (see lesson 31).) Teacher. So how can this text be called? Children. - Lyrical.

- Lyric prose.

Teacher. What was a discovery for you in today's lesson?

Children. - That prose can be similar to poetry.

And the fact that prose can be lyrical.

That in prose, as well as in poetry, the feeling of a hero or author can be conveyed.

Teacher (summarizes the work). Yes, guys, in literature you will very often come across such phenomena when, along with a description of events, you will be told in detail about the feelings, experiences, state of mind of the heroes, and in high school you will learn that poems are not only

Rhymed, but also prosaic. Today you have taken the first step towards great literature.

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Mom closed her suitcase and put on her hat.

“Here,” she said, “Nikolai and Andryusha, listen carefully. Here, in the left drawer, are spare ribbons. On purpose today I went to the store, bought four meters.

- Four meters? - Dad was surprised. - Honey, why so much? Is it really a meter in each pigtail?

- They lose very often. I say - this is a stock. Here, Nikolai, look here. Two meters blue and two pink. Pink is for Vari, and blue is for Vali. Please do not mix it up.

- Do not worry, dear, we will do everything. Let me how, how did you say? For Vali? That is, for Varya?

Mom repeated patiently:

- Pink - for Vari, and for Vali - blue.

- Why, mother, I know, - said Andryusha.

- Let's check it out! - said Andryusha. - Dad, who is this?

- With blue pigtails - that means Valya, - dad answered firmly.

- And who is this? - asked Valya, pointing at her sister.

- And this one with pink pigtails means Varya!

- I remember! I remember! - the guys shouted joyfully. - Mother! Finally I remember!

And dad just recently returned from a distant northern expedition and kept confusing his little girls all the time. Of course, he knew how similar the twins were, but still, every time he saw them nearby, he shook his head and said:

- No, it's amazing! Well, absolutely, exactly the same!

Dad glanced at his watch and took Mom's coat off the rack.

- Please do not worry, we will not mix anything up, we will do everything right. Besides, you're only leaving for two weeks! If several times we call Valya Varya by mistake, nothing special ...

- We will do everything! - finished Andryusha.

“It doesn't matter,” Dad said, “we have a large supply. How much to cut off? Is half a meter enough? Come here girls, I will comb your hair.

- Dad, - asked Andryusha, - and you will be able to braid?

- Hope so. I had to successfully complete more complex tasks.

Soft blond hairs obediently parted.

“You’re not braiding that way, dad,” Andryusha said after a minute.

- No, that's right.

- No not like this. Mom weaves a ribbon with her hair, and you just tied a bow on the ponytail - and okay.

“It doesn't matter,” Dad said, “it's even prettier this way. You see how big my bows are, and my mother has nothing left for bows.

- But stronger.

- That's what, Andrei, it's enough to direct criticism. What did mom say? Walk as much as possible. Drink milk, take Valyushka and go. And Varya and I will take care of the cleaning.

- Dad! - shouted Andryusha. - The twins are lost!

Dad jumped up as if on a battle alarm:

- Who? .. Where? .. But here they are! Well, is it possible, Andryushka, to scare a man like that!

- Valya! Varya! Come here!

Two completely identical daughters stood in front of dad, looked at him with the same cheerful eyes, and even they were disheveled in exactly the same way.

- No matter! - Dad laughed. - We still have three and a half meters of these ribbons. Now I remember well: blue - Valya, and Varya ...

- Eh, dad, dad! Well, how do you distinguish them now - which one?

- It's very simple! They know how to talk. Big girls ... What's your name?

- And you?

The twins also fought in exactly the same way. Dad thought:

- We do it inaccurately ... How to be, Andryushka? After all, it's time for Varya to take medicine, and Valya - to walk as much as possible!

There was a familiar coughing behind the door.

- Grandpa! - the guys shouted joyfully. Grandpa greeted everyone and began to wipe his glasses:

- You say you need to take a walk? So I came early to take a walk with Valya. I promised mommy too.

- You came just in time, Konstantin Petrovich! - Dad said. “You see, we have… that is… Well, in short, the twins are messed up! - And I told my grandfather what happened.

- How can you do that, Nikolai? - Grandpa reproachfully looked at dad. - Dear, one might say, the father, and relatives, one might say, confused daughters.

Grandfather slowly put on his glasses and looked at his granddaughters:

- Ahem! Ahem! .. Y-yes! That is ... Ahem! .. Ahem! .. My glasses have become rather weak! Not in the eyes already. Now, if I had stronger glasses ...

Andryusha laughed the loudest.

- And already you, Andrei, are completely ashamed, - said dad, - and did not leave anywhere, you see them every day ...

- Yes, yes, - the grandfather supported the dad, - without glasses, and you have young eyes, and relatives, one might say, sisters ...

Dad went resolutely to the sideboard, took a bottle of medicine.

- Come on, Varya, - he said, - come here, it's time to drink the medicine. Girls! Who have I given the medicine to this morning?

Valya and Varya looked at each other and did not answer.

- Eh, dad! - whispered Andryusha. - Will they say? Who wants to drink medicine? It's bitter.

- Well, - said dad, - let's try differently. Come on, daughters, who is now going to walk with grandpa as much as possible? Valya, come here, I'll braid your braids and put on a fur coat.

He waved blue ribbons. The girls looked at each other again, their faces became sad, but both were silent.

- What's the matter, Andryusha? - Dad asked quietly. - Why isn't Valya responding now? After all, they love to go out with their grandfather?

“Of course they do,” Andryusha answered. - That's why Valya is silent. Varya remains at home, but Valya feels sorry for her!

Mom stood in the kitchen with a towel over her shoulder and wiped off the last cup. Suddenly the frightened face of Gleb appeared at the window.

- Aunt Zina! Aunt Zina! He shouted. - Your Alyoshka has gone crazy!

- Zinaida Lvovna! Volodya looked through another window. - Your Alyoshka climbed a big birch!

- After all, he can break! - Gleb continued in a crying voice. - And it will crash ...

The cup slipped out of my mother's hands and fell to the floor with a clang.

- To smithereens! - finished Gleb, looking with horror at the white shards.

Mom ran out onto the terrace, went to the gate:

- Where is he?

- Yes, on the birch!

Mom looked at the white trunk, at the place where it split in two. Alyosha was not there.

- Silly jokes, guys! - she said and went to the house.

- No, we are telling the truth! - shouted Gleb. - He's there, at the very top! Where the branches are!

Mom finally understood where to look. She saw Alyosha. She measured the distance from his branch to the ground with her eyes, and her face became almost as white as this even birch trunk.

- You are crazy! - repeated Gleb.

- Shut up! - said my mother quietly and very sternly. - Both go home and sit there.

She went to the tree.

- Well, Alyosha, - she said, - is it good with you?

Alyosha was surprised that his mother was not angry and spoke in such a calm, gentle voice.

“It's good here,” he said. - Only I'm very hot, Mom.

- It's nothing, - said my mother, - sit down, rest a little and start going down. Just take your time. Little by little ... Have a rest? She asked after a minute.

- I rested.

- Well then, come down.

Alyosha, holding on to a branch, was looking for where to put his foot. At this time, an unfamiliar fat summer resident appeared on the path. He heard voices, looked up and shouted, frightened and angry:

- Where have you got to, you worthless boy! Get off now!

Alyosha shuddered and, not calculating the movement, put his foot on a dry twig. The twig snapped and rustled down to Mom's feet.

“Not like that,” Mom said. - Go to the next branch.

Then she turned to the summer resident:

“Don't worry, please, he's very good at climbing trees. He's done for me!

A small, light figure of Alyosha slowly descended. It was easier to climb up. Alyosha is tired. But my mother stood below, giving him advice, speaking gentle, encouraging words. The earth was approaching and contracting. Now you can no longer see either the field behind the ravine, or the factory chimney. Alyosha got to the fork.

“Take a break,” Mom said. - Well done! Well, now put your foot on this twig ... No, not there, that dry one, here, right here ... So, so, do not rush.

The ground was very close. Alyosha hung in his arms, stretched out and jumped onto a high stump, from which he began his journey.

The fat unfamiliar summer resident chuckled, shook his head and said:

- Oh well! You will be a parachutist!

And my mother grabbed her thin, tanned, scratched legs and shouted:

- Alyoshka, promise me that you will never, never climb so high again!

She walked quickly to the house. Volodya and Gleb were standing on the terrace. Mom ran past them, through the vegetable garden, to the ravine. She sat in the grass and covered her face with a handkerchief. Alyosha followed her, embarrassed and confused. He sat down next to her on the slope of the ravine, took her hands, stroked her hair and said:

- Well, mommy, well, calm down ... I won't be so high! Well, calm down!

- They're coming! Come on! - Gleb shouted and began to descend from the tree, puffing and breaking branches.

Alyosha looked down. Summer residents were walking from the train. Long-legged Volodka, of course, walked ahead of everyone.

The gate creaked. Gleb rushed to meet him.

Alyosha pressed his cheek to the trunk of the linden tree. He immediately became small and unnecessary. Gleb and Volodya will talk about books that Alyosha has not read, about films that are still too early for Alyosha to watch. Then they will go to the forest. Together. Alyosha will not be taken, although he picks mushrooms better than Gleb, runs faster than Gleb, and climbs trees so well that he was even nicknamed a monkey for his agility. Alyosha became sad: the days off brought him nothing but grief.

- Hello, Glebushka, - said Volodya. - Where is the lick?

"Monkey" was an honorable nickname, but every word can be distorted in such a way that it turns out offensive.

- Sits on a linden, - Gleb laughed. - Volodya, I also climbed this linden, almost to the very top.

- I willingly believe, - Volodya answered mockingly. - Even babies can climb this linden without assistance!

After such words, it became uninteresting to sit on a linden tree. Alyosha went down to the ground and went to the house.

- Here is a birch growing behind your fence, - continued Volodya, - this is really a real tree.

Volodya went out the gate.

- Hey you, Alyoshka! He shouted. - You can't climb the big birch!

- Mom does not allow me, - answered Alyosha gloomily. - She says that sooner or later you will have to descend from each tree, and descending is often more difficult than climbing up.

- Oh, you mama's son!

Volodya threw off his sandals, jumped on a high stump near a tree and climbed up, clasping the trunk with his hands and feet.

Alyosha looked at him with undisguised envy. Lush green branches grew on the birch only at the very top, somewhere under the clouds. The trunk was almost smooth, with sparse protrusions and fragments of old branches. High above the ground, it split into two trunks, and they rose to the sky, straight, white, slender. Volodya had already reached the fork and was sitting, swinging his legs, clearly "showing himself".

- Get in here, licks! - he did not calm down. - What kind of monkey are you if you are afraid to climb trees?

- He has no tail, - said Gleb, - it is difficult for him.

“Tailless monkeys are good climbers too,” objected Volodya. - It's good to cling to the branches with your tail, but here there are almost no branches. Alyoshka cannot climb without branches.

- Not true! - Alyosha could not resist. - I climb up to half on the pole.

- Why is it only half?

- His mother does not allow him.

Alyosha flared his nostrils and walked away to the far corner of the garden.

Volodya showed off a little more on the birch. But there was no one else to tease, and he did not dare to climb higher along the smooth trunk and began to descend.

- Let's go for mushrooms, Gleb, okay? Get the baskets.

Alyosha silently looked after them. So they crossed the ravine and ran to the forest, cheerfully waving their baskets.

Mom went out onto the terrace:

- Alyosha, would you like to come with me to the station?

It would be nice to walk around and see the steam locomotives. But Alyosha has just been called a mother's son. He could not walk through the whole village almost by the hand with his mother, when Volodya and Gleb went together into the forest, like real men!

“I don’t want to,” he said. - I'll sit at home. Mom left. Alyosha looked at a large birch, sighed and sat down on a bench near the fence.

Volodya and Gleb returned only for dinner. After dinner, they made a blanket in the garden and lay down to read. Mom went to the kitchen to wash the dishes.

“You would lie down too, Alyosha,” she said. Alyosha sat down on the end of the blanket and looked into the book over Gleb's shoulder.

“Don't breathe in my ear,” he muttered. - And it's hot without you!

Then Alyosha got up, went out the gate and went to a large birch. Looked around. There was no one on the path. He climbed up the tree, clinging to every protrusion of the bark, to every twig. At the bottom, the trunk was too thick, Alyosha could not wrap his legs around it.

“It’s good for him, long-legged! He thought angrily. - Still, I will climb higher! "

And he moved higher and higher. The tree was not as smooth as it seemed from the ground. There was something to get hold of with your hands, something to put your foot on.

A little more, just a little more - and he will get to the fork. There you can rest.

Now you're done! Alyosha sat astride, as Volodya sat in the morning. However, one cannot sit very much. They can see him, call his mother. Alyosha got up and looked up. The right barrel was higher than the left. Alyosha chose him, grabbed him with his arms and legs and climbed further.

“And it’s not at all difficult…” he said through clenched teeth. - And at all, Glebushka, I don't need a tail! But you, Glebushka, it would not hurt to have a ponytail!

It was fun to look down at the roof of the cottage, at the trees in the garden, at the beloved linden, which seemed small, soft and fluffy from here. The earth moved down and opened in breadth. Behind the garden, a ravine became visible, and a field after a ravine, and a forest. A chimney of a distant brick factory emerged from behind a hillock. And only when he reached the first green branches on the top of the birch, Alyosha felt that he was very hot and that he was very tired.

Gleb looked up from the book and lazily raised his head: "Again this Alyoshka got somewhere!"

He looked at the linden tree, at the roof of the house.

"No, this is somewhere much higher." Gleb got up, interested.

“Let's go, Volodya, we'll look for him,” he said.

- Come on! - Volodya dismissed. Gleb went to the fence.

He looked at the birch - and gasped.

Mom was standing in the kitchen with a towel over her shoulder and wiping off the last cup. Suddenly the frightened face of Gleb appeared at the window.

- Aunt Zina! Aunt Zina! He shouted. - Your Alyoshka has gone crazy!

- Zinaida Lvovna! Volodya looked through another window. - Your Alyoshka climbed a big birch!

- After all, he can break! - Gleb continued in a crying voice. - And it will crash ...

The cup slipped out of my mother's hands and fell to the floor with a clang.

-… to smithereens! - finished Gleb, looking with horror at the white shards.

Mom ran out onto the terrace, went to the gate:

- Where is he?

- Yes, on a birch.

Mom looked at the white trunk, at the place where it split in two. Alyosha was not there.

- Silly jokes, guys! - she said and went to the house.

- No, we are telling the truth! - shouted Gleb. - He's there, at the very top! Where the branches are!

Mom finally understood where to look. She saw Alyosha.

She measured the distance from his branch to the ground with her eyes, and her face became almost as white as this even birch trunk.

- You are crazy! - repeated Gleb.

- Shut up! - said my mother quietly and very sternly. - Both go home and sit there.

She went to the tree.

- Well, Alyosha, - she said, - is it good with you?

Alyosha was surprised that his mother was not angry and spoke in such a calm, gentle voice.

“It's good here,” he said. - Only I'm very hot, Mom.

- It's nothing, - said my mother, - sit down, rest a little and start going down. Just take your time. Little by little ... Have a rest? She asked after a minute.

- I rested.

- Well, then come down.

Alyosha, holding on to a branch, was looking for where to put his foot.

At this time, an unfamiliar summer resident appeared on the path. He heard voices, looked up and shouted, frightened and angry:

- Where have you got to, you worthless boy! Get off now!

Alyosha shuddered and, not calculating the movement, put his foot on a dry twig. The twig snapped and rustled down to Mom's feet.

“Not like that,” Mom said. - Go to the next branch.

Then she turned to the summer resident:

“Don't worry, please, he's very good at climbing trees. He's done for me!

A small, light figure of Alyosha slowly descended. It was easier to climb up. Alyosha is tired. But my mother stood below, giving him advice, speaking gentle, encouraging words.

The earth was approaching and contracting. Now you can no longer see either the field behind the ravine, or the factory chimney. Alyosha got to the fork.

“Take a break,” Mom said. - Well done! Well, now put your foot on this twig ... No, not there, that dry one, right here, right ... So, so. Do not rush.

The ground was very close. Alyosha hung in his arms, stretched out and jumped onto a high stump, from which he began his journey.

He stood red, flushed and with trembling hands shook the white dust of birch bark from his knees.

The fat unfamiliar summer resident chuckled, shook his head and said:

- Oh well! You will be a parachutist!

And my mother hugged her thin, tanned, scratched legs and shouted:

Seryozha and Yura went to the forest for mushrooms. The day was hot, to the forest "it was necessary to walk almost the entire village, and Seryozha had to take his three-year-old little sister Lyalya with him - there was no one to leave her at home with.