Illustration for the Belarusian fairy tale boy with a finger. "Tom Thumb"

The woodcutter had five sons. They lived in poverty. Therefore, from a very early age, the Woodcutter took his sons into the forest to help him in his work, collecting firewood. The youngest of the children was called Little Thumb. Although the Boy-with-a-Thumb did not come out, he was the most reasonable and intelligent among his brothers. Once it happened that the children went alone for brushwood. In order not to get lost, the Thumb-Boy began to scatter bread crumbs behind him - the Thumb-Boy hoped that he would easily find his way back from them.

But the forest birds ate the bread crumbs and the children got lost. It was dark and scary. Then Little Thumb climbed a tree and saw a flickering light in the distance.

After a while, tired and hungry, the children reached the forest house.
- Oh, my poor, - exclaimed the hostess of the house. - Do you know that the Ogre lives here? He will eat you!
- Come what may, - decided the Boy-with-finger, - in the forest we will still be lost.
The hostess hid the children in a dark room, and they fell asleep. Only Thumb was awake.

There's someone here! I smell the smell of a man, - growled the Cannibal, who returned home.
Seeing that things were going badly, Little Thumb slowly woke up his brothers, and they got out of the house.

Noticing the fugitives, the Ogre rushed in pursuit. I must say that the Cannibal inherited beautiful walking boots. Therefore, it was very difficult to escape from him. In the meantime, the Thumb Boy hid his brothers in a cave, while he himself, hiding in the stones, began to watch the Ogre.

The cannibal, tired of the useless search, wanted to rest and lay down on the rock, under which the kids hid. Having waited for the Ogre to start snoring, the Little Thumb pulled off his magic boots, which themselves led the children to their parents' house.

Thanks to the unusual walking boots, the Boy with a finger soon became the most glorious royal messenger. He fulfilled the most urgent orders of the King, for which he was adequately rewarded.

Once upon a time there lived a woodcutter with his wife, and they had seven children. All seven are boys: three pairs of twins and the youngest and smallest, who is barely seven years old.

And how small he was! He was born so tiny, well, not more than a little finger at all. And the baby grew very badly. So they began to call him: Boy with a finger.

But how smart and smart boy he was!

They lived poorly and it was hard for the woodcutter to feed his large family. And then there was a lean year, and a severe famine set in throughout the country. And the poor had a really hard time.

One evening, when the sons went to bed, the woodcutter, sitting with his wife by the fire, said:

“Well, what are we to do? You can see for yourself that we cannot feed all the children. And what will happen when our children begin to starve to death one after another before our eyes? It's better to take them to the forest and leave them there. Let them all die together at once, and we will not see their death. And who knows, maybe they will be able to somehow escape - because there is always hope.

- What are you talking about! his wife exclaimed in horror. "Can you really leave your children to die on your own?"

The woodcutter, too, was heartbroken with grief, but he continued to persuade his wife. He said that they all could not escape starvation. May the end come soon.

Gradually the wife had to agree, and she went to bed that night, shedding tears.

And the Boy with a finger did not sleep during the conversation of his parents: he sat under the bench on which his father was sitting, and heard everything. He did not manage to fall asleep that night, he kept thinking and thinking what to do now. And he came up with.

As soon as it was light, a boy with a finger came out cautiously from the house and ran to the bank of the stream. There he stuffed a lot of white pebbles into all his pockets and quickly ran home.

Early in the morning, when the rest of the sons woke up, the father and mother fed them with whatever they could and took them into the forest. The boy with a finger was the very last. Every now and then he took out white pebbles from his pocket and threw them behind him on the road.

They walked for a very long time and went into a dense forest thicket. The woodcutter began to chop wood, and the brothers began to collect firewood. The boys worked hard and did not notice how mother and father began to slowly move away from them until they finally completely disappeared.

Soon the boys noticed that they were alone, and began to cry loudly for help and cry in fear. Only the Boy with a finger was not frightened.

"Don't be afraid, brothers," he reassured. "I know how we'll get back." Follow me. And he led them out of the forest by the same road they had taken there: his scattered white pebbles showed them the way.

But the brothers were afraid to enter the parental home right away. They sat down by the door and began to listen to what their father and mother were talking about.

And it so happened that when the woodcutter and his wife returned from the forest, great luck awaited them.

The wealthy neighbor returned his debt to them, ten gold coins - it was money for the woodcutter's work done for a very long time, he no longer hoped to receive payment.

The woodcutter immediately sent his wife to the butcher. She bought a lot of meat and cooked delicious soup.

Now they, so hungry, would eat their fill, but not a single piece would go down their throats. So my heart felt bad.

“Where are our poor boys now?” cried the woodcutter's wife. "What is the matter with them now?" Alone in the dark forest. Maybe the wolves have already eaten them. And how could we just leave our own children? And why did I listen to you!

The woodcutter was also very bitter in his soul, but he did not say a word.

- Where are you, where are you, my beloved children? his wife repeated, sobbing louder and louder.

The brothers could not stand it and answered all at once:

Mom, Mom, we're here! Here!

The mother rushed to open the door, and, seeing all her children, happily began to hug and kiss them.

“Ah, how glad I am, my dear family! How tired and hungry you must be! Now I will feed you all.

The boys quickly sat down at the table and so pounced on the soup that it was a pleasure for the parents to watch. And after dinner, all seven brothers began vying to tell how they got scared in the forest and how the Little Thumb brought them home.

Everyone was happy: both children and parents.

However, their happiness did not last long.

Soon all the money was spent, and again they began to starve.

The woodcutter and his wife were completely desperate and decided to take the children back to the forest.

The boy with a finger and this time overheard the conversation between his father and mother. He decided to do the same as last time: run to the stream and pick up white pebbles there. But he couldn't do it. The door to the house was closed tightly.

The little boy didn't know what to come up with. When the mother distributed a piece of bread to all seven sons for breakfast the next morning, the Thumb Boy did not eat his share. He put the bread in his pocket so that he could throw bread crumbs instead of stones along the way.

The boy with a finger was not very sad. He believed that he could easily find his way back through his bread crumbs. But he did not find a single crumb: they were all devoured by birds.

Then the brothers were completely frightened and, sobbing, wandered off wherever their eyes looked. Deeper and deeper they went into the forest thicket.

Night fell, a strong wind arose. The kids got really scared. They could hardly stand on their feet from the cold and fear. It seemed to them that wolves were looking at them from all sides and that now they would pounce on them and tear them to pieces. The poor boys were afraid to say a word and even just look around.

And then came the pouring rain, soaking them to the bone.

They stumbled, fell into the mud, got up, walked, and fell again, but kept going.

A boy with a finger found a taller tree and climbed to its very top. He wanted to see if he could see where there were roads or any human habitation.

Looking in all directions, the Thumb Boy noticed a flickering light in the distance.

He quickly and deftly descended from the tree and led the brothers to the side where the light could be seen.

They walked for a long, long time and finally came out of the forest. At its very edge stood a house, from the window of which a light shone.

The brothers knocked. A woman opened the door and asked who they were and what they needed.

The boy with a finger explained to her that they were brothers who got lost in the forest and asked to let them spend the night with him.

The woman looked closer, saw what nice children they were, and burst into tears.

“Oh, you poor, poor children! she said. You don't even know where you are! After all, the Cannibal lives here, he eats small children!

- What should we do now? If you drive us away, the wolves will eat us in the forest, - answered the Boy with a finger. “Let the Cannibal get us better.” Perhaps he will take pity on us if you, madam, put in a good word for us.

The Ogre's wife thought that she might be able to hide the children from her husband. She led them into the house and sat them down to warm and dry by the fire.

Soon there were loud knocks on the door - it was the Cannibal who returned home. The woman quickly hid the children under the bed and went to open the door for her husband.

Entering the house, the Ogre immediately demanded dinner. His wife put a whole, even a few undercooked sheep and a huge jug of wine on the table for him. The cannibal greedily pounced on food and wine.

Suddenly he sniffed the air.

“I smell something like human flesh,” he said.

“It must be the smell of the calf I just skinned,” his wife answered him.

“No, it smells like fresh human flesh!” shouted the Cannibal. - It's not easy to fool me!

He jumped up from the table and ran straight to the bed.

“Yeah, you wanted to circle me!” he yelled. “For such a deceit, you yourself should have been eaten alive!”

And he pulled out one by one all the brothers from under the bed.

The poor children threw themselves on their knees before him. They begged the Ogre to spare them. But it was a very evil and cruel Ogre. He did not heed their complaints. Grabbing one of the boys by the leg, he was about to deal with him right there.

- Where are you in such a hurry? his wife told him. - It is late now. Tomorrow you will.

“And that’s true,” agreed the Ogre, “I’ll wait until tomorrow.” You feed them better so that they do not lose weight, but put them to bed.

The kind woman was delighted and quickly seated the boys for supper. But they were so frightened that they had no time for food at all. And the Ogre sat down at the table again. Satisfied that the next day he would have such a tasty dish, he drank the entire jug of wine in one gulp and fell asleep.

That Ogre had seven daughters. That evening they had long since slept in the room upstairs, all together on one large bed. There was also a second large bed. On it the wife of the Ogre and laid the boys-brothers.

The little boy couldn't sleep. He was afraid that the Ogre would not decide to seize them at night. What to do? Suddenly the Boy with a finger saw golden wreaths on the heads of the Ogre's daughters. Silently getting out of bed, he removed the caps from himself and his brothers. Then, just as carefully, he removed the wreaths from the sleeping cannibals, put on their caps instead, and put on their wreaths for himself and his brothers.

At midnight, the Cannibal woke up and decided, without putting things off until morning, to drag the boys to the basement. And lock up. And then they run away!

Making his way in the darkness, he somehow reached the bedroom upstairs and immediately stumbled upon the bed where his daughters slept. Feeling the caps on their heads, he said to himself:

“Yeah, that’s where the boys lie!”

Without thinking twice, he pulled his children off the bed and stuffed them into a large bag that he had brought with him. Then he tied him up tighter and took him to the basement.

And then, satisfied, he went to fill up.

As soon as the Little Thumb heard the Ogre's snoring, he immediately woke up the brothers and told them to get dressed quickly. Then they tiptoed out of the house, climbed over the fence and ran as fast as they could.

They ran all night, not knowing where.

And the Ogre woke up in the morning and immediately went to the basement.

He untied the sack, looked - and there were not boy brothers, but his own daughters! He was so taken aback. And then how he yells and stamps his feet with annoyance and anger. He realized that he was deftly deceived.

- Well, okay! he shouted. "You'll pay me for this, you bastards!" Hey wife! Hurry, give me my walking boots!

The cannibal put on his walking boots and set off in pursuit. He roamed the forest for a long time, but at last
followed the trail of the fugitives. And by that time the brothers were already close to their home, only a hundred steps away!

The cannibal ran from one mountain to another, jumped over entire rivers, like streams.

The brothers noticed the Cannibal from a distance. The boy with a finger immediately saw a small cave in the rock, and all the brothers hid in it.

The cannibal is already tired of the long chase - running in walking boots is not as easy as it seems! He decided to stop and rest and accidentally sat down on the very rock, inside which the brothers had taken refuge.

A minute later the Ogre fell asleep and snored so terribly that the brothers trembled with fear. Only the Boy with a finger did not get scared and did not lose his head. He told the brothers to run quickly to the house while the Ogre was sleeping, and he himself crept up to him and slowly took off his walking boots.

The boots were, of course, huge, but they were magical. They could change and become either larger or smaller, to anyone on the leg. And the Boy with a finger put them on without difficulty.

Rumor has it that, along with the walking boots, the Boy with a finger also grabbed the Ogre's thick purse with gold coins. Others say that, putting on walking boots, the Boy with a finger flew to the king, and he took him to his service as a messenger. And the Thumb Boy served long and faithfully in the royal service.

But in any case, the Boy with a finger returned home to his parents and brothers alive and well. And not with an empty pocket!

And how happy everyone was!

Since then, the woodcutter with his wife and sons lived happily ever after, knowing neither grief nor need. Here's how it happens.

Thumb boy online

Boy with a finger (Russian folk tale)

How to draw a boy with a finger with a pencil in stages?

In order to draw the Boy-with-Thumb with a pencil and look not just like a boy, but like a real small child that fits almost in the palm of your hand, you need to depict the character against the background of some object with which growth can be compared.

I offer here such a version of the Boy-with-Thumb, whose image was borrowed from the Soviet cartoon of the same name.

We draw an oval of the face, longish hair.

Kind eyes, small eyebrows, a smile.



We finish drawing facial features.



We draw a neck, we start sketching out a shirt in which the kid will be dressed.



We make out the hands, decorate the shirt with details.



Legs in little pants.



The main attribute is a spoon, against which the character's growth is clearly visible.

Well, so that the boy does not hang out in space, draw the line of the table.



Using a computer mouse is not very convenient to depict a character, but I think the idea is clear. And here is the cartoon from which the boy himself is borrowed. Draw!

I would advise you to take a book where the Boy with a Thumb is drawn in order to have an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat he looks like. By the way, there are many options for depicting this fairy-tale character.



And we will draw using auxiliary lines to make it easier, like this:

Draw a circle and divide it with a vertical arc. This is the head of a Thumb Boy.

We draw two letters O at the bottom of the circle on both sides of the vertical arc; - these will be the eyes.



Below we draw an oval - this will be the body. And under it are two dashes - the basis for the legs.

Now you can draw the details. We draw hair, details of the face - a mouth, a nose.



On the oval-body we draw hands, pants, a shirt. Feet can be shod in boots, boots or bast shoes.



And then we color our drawing with pencils or paints, and erase all auxiliary lines with an eraser.

1. Not all and not always outline the vertical and horizontal axes of the elements of the picture. But we will make a conditional cross, around which a drawn image of a boy with a finger will begin to be created. This is necessary in order to leave space on the sheet for a bundle with products and a caption for the figure. The knot, which is a tied handkerchief, in turn, is needed in order to visually illustrate the miniature size of the boy.



2. At the second stage, we will make the face more cheerful.



3. Now let's draw a knot.



4. And decorate it with the simplest strokes.



5. In conclusion, we will revive the picture with blades of grass, flowers and a signature.

Berlin-Pg., Z.I. Grzhebina, 1923. 14 p. from ill. Color. publisher's lithographed cover (cardboard). 30x22.7 cm.

"Thumb boy"- a popular fairy tale story about the adventures of a little boy, the size of a little finger. For the first time in fairy tale literature used by Charles Perrault. It is also known in other, folk, versions. In the collection of the Brothers Grimm it has number 37, in the collection of A. N. Afanasyev it is number 300. The plot of the tale itself is very, very simple:

Poverty and hunger reign in the country. The lumberjack and his wife have nothing else to feed their seven sons. One evening, while the children are sleeping, the parents decide to take them to the forest and leave them there. One of the boys, nicknamed Little Thumb for his small stature, eavesdrops on the conversation and prudently stocks up on white pebbles to throw on the road, and then use them to find his way back home. The next day, the father carries out his sinister plan. But Thumb and his brothers return home thanks to the pebbles. The parents were very happy about this, because during the absence of the children, the village head finally gave the lumberjacks the money that he owed them. But this happiness was short-lived. When the need comes again, the parents again decide to leave the children in the forest, but before that they lock the Little Thumb Boy so that he cannot collect stones, so the brothers can no longer return. Wandering through the forest, they find a cabin and try to find shelter in it. The woman who opens the door tries to convince them to leave, as her husband is a cannibal who eats children. But the seven brothers, more afraid of the forest wolves, enter the house. In the evening the cannibal comes, his wife hides the boys, but he finds them. The wife convinces her husband to postpone his terrible feast until tomorrow. Fearing that the ogre will attack them at night, Thumb-Thumb, while his brothers sleep, exchanges their caps for the golden crowns of the ogre's seven daughters. The ogre enters the bedroom, and believing that boys are sleeping in hats, kills his daughters. In the meantime, the kids run away, and the enraged ogre rushes in pursuit of them in his seven-league walking boots. Tired, he rests on a stone, behind which the children have disappeared. The boy with a finger convinces the brothers to return to their parents' house, and he himself puts on walking boots and runs to the cannibal's hut. He tells the cannibal's wife that the robbers took her husband prisoner, demanding a ransom, and that her husband instructed him to go for money, and in confirmation of the order and for a quick move, he gave his boots. As a result, the Thumb Boy returns with great wealth to his parents, who accept their children with joy and relief.

The most prolific and significant master of the new generation of children's books, who was strongly influenced by the aesthetics of the World of Art, was V. Konashevich. Illustrating modern and classic works of children's literature has become the main business of his long creative life, relegating other ideas and hobbies to the background. Turning to graphics in the first post-revolutionary years, the young artist quickly attracted the attention of critics and publishers, and in 1921, at the invitation of A. Benois, he took part in the exhibition of the revived "World of Art" and soon became a member of this association. In 1922-1924. Konashevich designed a number of books for Z. Grzhebin's publishing house. The works of this period are spectacular and highly professional, but not yet too independent, they make one recall Knebel's "gift series" (this is quite understandable, since the artistic concept of the publishing house was developed by A. Benois). A colorful book without text "Stuff: Pictures for Children" was addressed to the smallest readers who were just starting to master the world of things and memorize their names. Images of all kinds of objects placed on the pages without any logical connection with each other (a crocodile, a button, a bouquet, etc. side by side on one sheet) are designed in a relatively realistic manner. The Art Nouveau style makes itself felt in the design of the cardboard, in this composition we see a volcano spewing "all sorts of things": animals, fish, flowers, apples, shoes, toys. Illustrations for Ch. Perrault's fairy tales "Little Red Riding Hood", "Thumb Boy", "Puss in Boots" were made under the noticeable influence of M. Dobuzhinsky's work. This is especially noticeable in the drawings for "Puss in Boots", where the figures of the characters (the obligingly bowing Cat; the huge Ogre that does not fit on the page) are modeled with thin, smoothly curved lines and translucent color spots. The book ends with a wedding procession, meandering in the shape of the letter "S", "cutting" the type-setting strip. The title page is interestingly built: the text fits into the opening of a dilapidated arch, the characters turn into hard-to-see details of the bas-relief. The drawings do not give the impression of illustrations, but rather decorative accompaniment of the text. “In terms of the splendor of their decorative decoration, these publications corresponded to high, but already receding ideas about a children's book. It is no coincidence that they were warmly received, mainly by lovers of fine publications, and in those years they made a name for Konashevich as a talented continuer of the traditions of the World of Art graphics. Subsequently, the artist, taking this tradition as a basis, consistently develops his own graphic style: he manifests himself not only as a virtuoso draftsman, witty and inventive interpreter of a literary text, but also as an attentive researcher of the child's psychology. And things went...

Grzhebin Publishing House- created in the spring of 1919, conceived as universal, with broad cultural and educational tasks in order to publish books in all branches of knowledge for readers different levels preparation. Since the publishing house was conceived primarily to work with the Gorky "project" World Literature - the general management of the publishing house was carried out by M. Gorky, A.I. Benois, S.F. Oldenburg, V.A. Desnitsky-Stroev, A.P. Pinkevich, the most prominent scientists were involved in cooperation in it. In 1918-19, Grzhebin bought the rights to publish Merezhkovsky, Gippius, Remizov, Gumilyov, Kuzmin, and others, and began publishing. "Libraries of Russian classics" in 100 volumes, ed. A. Blok, M. Gorky, N. Gumilyov, K. Chukovsky. Zinaida Gippius then wrote in her diaries: “Grzhebin now treats writers like patrons. That is, he keeps himself a patron of the arts. He has, as it were, his own (semi-legal, under the wing of Gorky) publishing house. He is buying up all the writers with names - he is buying up "for the future" - because now it is impossible to publish. In the event of a coup, all Russian literature is in his hands, under contracts, for many years, and how profitably acquired! Literally, literally for a few pieces of bread. Not a single publisher bargained so shamelessly with me and with me as Grzhebin. And it seems that we have seen the publishers in our lifetime. I'm ashamed to say how much he bought Merezhkovsky and me for. We are not ashamed, of course. People with a noose around their neck are no longer ashamed of such things. Publishing house Z.I. Grzhebin on January 10, 1920 concluded an agreement with the State Publishing House for the publication of a number of books abroad. In 1920, Grzhebin legalized his company in Germany, obtained significant benefits and launched extensive publishing activities in Berlin, then in Stockholm and Leipzig. More than 50 books were published at a high printing level, including works by Russian classics and contemporary writers, scientific papers, children's books, popular science literature. In an effort to expand the case, Grzhebin deviated from the agreement with the State Publishing House, for which he was accused of deliberately inflating the prices of books, of financial fraud, etc. On this issue, a special commission of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) headed by G.E. Zinoviev and on 03/02/1921 the State Publishing House liquidated its agreement with the Z.I. Grzhebin". Nevertheless, already on October 3, 1921, the Politburo of the Central Committee, according to a letter from V.R. Menzhinsky gave Grzhebin permission to go abroad with his family, where the publisher continued to work under the same brand until the end of 1923, releasing works on latest issues physics with the involvement of major foreign scientists in editing and authoring, as well as a series of books on Russian art and other publications. From May 1922 to October 1923 Grzhebin published 225 titles. Along with the classics, works by Pasternak, Gumilyov, Khodasevich, Marina Tsvetaeva, Zamyatin, Pilnyak, Remizov and other prominent representatives of the Silver Age were published. And also scientific publications, the ZhZL series, the Chronicle of the Revolution was laid out, etc. In one of the letters, Grzhebin outlined his publishing credo: “A lot of nonsense was written about my publishing house. But one must judge by my deeds... I am ready to print from Lenin to Shulgin and even more to the right, if it is talented and truthful (or rather, sincerely)... I am completely independent and print what I find necessary. I can’t tear myself away from Russia, I want my books to go to Russia ... ”In the book“ My Italics ”, Nina Berberova recalled how, having ended up with Khodasevich in exile,“ they went straight to Grzhebin. At that time, he still lived in hopes that his publications would be allowed into Russia, that the books of Gorky, Zaitsev, Andrei Bely and others would be bought from him in a warehouse, that he would be allowed to publish a magazine, to republish the classics. He even continued to buy manuscripts from the authors, this seemingly experienced businessman could not even allow the thought that nothing would be bought from him, that in three years he would be ruined to the ground, that for non-payment of taxes and debts he would be photographed in a French police station without collar, full face and profile, like a criminal, noting his “special features”, after which he will die of a heart attack, and well-groomed white women - three daughters he adores, a wife, a sister-in-law - the whole huge family with two sons who have not yet grown up will be years fight in dire need, in the fight against poverty. Constant stress eventually overwhelmed Grzhebin - Zinovy ​​​​Isaevich died on his own birthday on February 4, 1929 from a heart attack in Vanves near Paris. He turned 52 on that day.

Z. Grzhebin's publishing house in Berlin arose in connection with organizational difficulties (in Soviet Russia there was devastation, there was not enough paper and consumables) headed by M. Gorky, the World Literature publishing house, which planned to create a pantheon of world literature. Z. Grzhebin proposed organizing another enterprise that could print the books of World Literature abroad. M. Gorky supported the undertaking and headed the editorial board of the new publishing house. However, the project of Z. Grzhebin caused a sharp reaction in the leading circles. The publisher received permission to print books abroad, but was forced to bear all the costs on his own, as Gosizdat violated the contract. And more about it.

1) On the publishing house "World Literature": "To recognize as undesirable the transfer of the book publishing house" World Literature "of the publications of Russian classics and contemporary writers. Instruct V. V. Vorovsky and A. M. Peshkov to consider the list of books prepared and scheduled for publication to establish in which order, it is desirable to publish them.

2) About the publishing house “3.I. Grzhebin”: “Reject state subsidies for private publishing house “3.I. Grzhebin". Offer the publishing house "3.I. Grzhebin" to take over the printing of books prepared by the book publishing house "Vsemirnaya Literatura" in Finland on the terms of payment by the State Publishing House of all actual printing costs and providing 3.I. Grzhebin with 5% of this amount for to cover overhead expenses Instruct VV Vorovsky, together with the technicians of the State Publishing House, to develop conditions that guarantee the actual receipt of books from Finland.

Much has been written and is being written about the grandeur of the concept of World Literature, but this publishing house is only fiction, while Grzhebin took upon himself the obligation to publish almost everything that was written by mankind. That is why Vorovsky was perplexed by this plan and suggested that Grzhebin apply his energy primarily to printing the books of World Literature. However, Grzhebin completely removed himself from the affairs of World Literature and began to conclude agreements with various government agencies and receive advances for non-existent publications. He managed to collect such advances for several million rubles. In the end, this attracted the attention of Soviet and party circles. Regarding some orders to Grzhebin from the Supply Department of the Petrograd Kompros, the former member of the Compros collegium Z. G. Grinberg had to give explanations to the chairman of the Petrograd Soviet. On August 25, 1919, Grinberg wrote to him: “I consider it necessary to inform that Z.I. Grzhebin really turned to me and presented a letter from Comrade. Lunacharsky that the Grzhebin publishing house plans to publish a number of publications in which outstanding scientists and writers take part, that some of the publications have already been approved by the Commissariat for Press, Propaganda and Agitation, that the State Publishing House does not put obstacles to the publishing house, and therefore invites the Compros Supply Department to find out what books of Grzhebin's publishing house and in what quantity are needed for schools, reading rooms and libraries. In a personal conversation with Grzhebin, it was about the book by N. Leskov "The Sealed Angel" with a preface by M. Gorky, which Aleksey Maksimovich drew my attention to, and two books by Gorky "Memories of Tolstoy" and "Tales of Italy". I considered it desirable to purchase of these books and made an inscription on a copy of Comrade Lunacharsky's letter: "Please order according to the relationship and issue an advance payment in the amount of 50% of the availability." Of course, as Grinberg explained further, there were no specific negotiations on a subsidy to the publishing house from Kompros, and he hears for the first time about the amount of one and a half million allegedly promised to Grzhebin. Gosizdat also received some kind of request, possibly from the People’s Commissariat of Workers’ and Peasants’ Inspection, since in the minutes of the meeting of the Editorial Board of Gosizdat on August 27, 1919, a laconic entry was preserved: “The State Publishing House did not conclude an agreement with Grzhebin’s publishing house and no one signed this agreement empowered." At this time, Grzhebin began to publish the first books. One of these books was Lunacharsky's The Great Revolution, where for the first time a plan for the publication of the library Life of the World was printed as a separate insert. Shortly after the publication of this book, on the front page of Pravda on November 9, 1919, an article entitled “A Strange Misunderstanding” appeared under the caption “Communist-Worker”. The note began with the words: "Before me lies the catalog of the publishing house 3. I. Grzhebin - a publishing house that is clearly adventurous." The author of the note paid special attention to last page catalog, where the program of the Chronicle of the Revolution series was printed, announcing the forthcoming publication of the memoirs of "outstanding figures of the revolution" ... F. Dan, M. Lieber, L. Martov, A. Potresov and V. Chernov. The author asked Lunacharsky, whose book opened the series, "how did he get into this respectable warm company" of open enemies Soviet power and why his book had to be published by a private publisher, and not by the State Publishing House. It was immediately indicated that, having released this book, Grzhebin used the name of the most popular party writer for his own selfish purposes. Maxim Gorky comes to the defense of Grzhebin. Gorky stated that “by calling the publishing house of 3. I. Grzhebin ‘adventurist’, the author of the letter grossly insulted us, the undersigned.” The letter contained a demand to give the name of the author of the note in order to bring him to trial for insult. January 10, 1920 Vorovsky, on the one hand, and Gorky and Grzhebin, on the other, signed the first agreement between Gosizdat and Grzhebin's publishing house, exactly the same as dozens of other agreements previously concluded by Gosizdat with other private and cooperative publishing houses.Under this agreement, Gosizdat ordered Grzhebin 16 books of Russian classics (selected works of Pushkin, Lermontov, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Nekrasov, etc.), 34 popular science books with illustrations and 4 books of pedagogical literature.All editions ordered by Grzhebin were to be printed abroad on foreign paper, matrices and cliches were allowed in Russia. nyh from the sale price of the entire circulation. In 1920 he went to Berlin as a foreign representative of the International Book. The literature sometimes indicates that Grzhebin has been in exile since 1921, since he left as a Soviet citizen. In Berlin, Grzhebin founded a branch of his publishing house and published some of the manuscripts purchased from the authors in 1918-1920. In May 1922, as a result of a conflict with the authorities, Z. Grzhebin finally moved to Germany. In Berlin, he continued to take orders for the printing of Russian literature and textbooks. During the year of work, the publishing house of Z. Grzhebin published 225 books. The subjects are the most diverse: fiction, scientific, popular science literature, books for children. The publishing house partially carried out the release of selected works of Russian classics (M. Lermontov, A. Chekhov, N. Leskov, etc.), planned by M. Gorky, published works of modern Soviet writers(M. Gorky, B. Pilnyak, A. Tolstoy, S. Yesenin, A. Bely, F. Sologub, etc.). Poetry collections by A. Blok, N. Gumilyov, V. Khodasevich, publications on art, geographical atlases, and textbooks were published under the brand name of Z. Grzhebin. A number of children's books were published, including fairy tales by A. Pushkin and H.K. Andersen, novels by F. Cooper. Z. Grzhebin attracted M. Dobuzhinsky and V. Konashevich as illustrators of a children's book. One of our writers wrote:

“Grzhebin now treats writers like patrons. That is, he keeps himself a patron of the arts. He has, as it were, his own (semi-legal, under the wing of Gorky) publishing house. He is buying up all the writers with names - he is buying up "for the future" - because now it is impossible to publish. In the event of a coup, all Russian literature is in his hands, under contracts, for many years, and how profitably acquired! Literally, literally for a few pieces of bread. Not a single publisher bargained so shamelessly with me and with me as Grzhebin. And it seems that we have seen the publishers in our lifetime. I'm ashamed to say how much he bought Merezhkovsky and me for. We are not ashamed, of course. People with a noose around their neck are no longer ashamed of such things.

In 1923, a circular was issued in Soviet Russia prohibiting the import and distribution of Z. Grzhebin's books from abroad. The Berlin publishing house lost its sales market and ceased to exist. Grzhebin himself went bankrupt, “Publishing house Z.I. Grzhebin" has sunk into oblivion ...

Once upon a time there lived a woodcutter and a woodcutter, and they had seven children, all seven sons. The oldest was ten years old, the youngest seven. It will seem strange that the woodcutter has made so many children in such a short period of time, but his wife was in full swing, and she did not give birth otherwise, like twins.

They were very poor and seven children were a burden to them, because none of the children could still go to work. They were also distressed by the fact that the youngest was of a very delicate build and kept silent. They considered him a fool, because they took for stupidity what, on the contrary, proved the mind.

This junior was very short. When he was born into the world, he was all no more than a finger. That's why they called him the Boy-with-Thumb. The poor thing was in the corral near the whole house and is always to blame for everything without guilt. But he was the most reasonable, the most intelligent of all the brothers: he spoke little, but listened a lot.

There was a lean year and such a famine that these poor people decided to abandon their children.

One evening, having put them to bed, the woodcutter warms himself with his wife by the fire and says to her, and at the very heart it whines:

Wife, we are no longer able to feed the children. I can't bear it if they starve to death before our very eyes. Let's take them tomorrow, take them to the forest and leave them there: while they play, collecting firewood, we will slowly leave.

Ah, - the woodcutter cried out, - aren't you ashamed to plot the death of your own children!

The husband began to persuade his wife, imagining how poor they were, but she did not agree, because, although she was in poverty, she was the mother of her children. However, realizing how sad it would be for her if they all died of hunger before her eyes, she finally agreed and went to bed all teary-eyed.

The Thumb-Boy did not utter a single word of what they were saying, for hearing from his bed that his father and mother were talking about something important, he slowly got up and hid under the bench, from where he heard everything.

Lying down again in bed, he did not close his eyes all night, he kept thinking about what he should do now. In the morning he got up early, went to the river, filled his pockets with small white pebbles, and then returned home.

Soon we went to the forest. Little Thumb told the brothers nothing of what he had learned.

They went into a dense forest, where they could not see each other for ten steps. The woodcutter began to cut trees, the children began to collect firewood. When they were deep in their work, father and mother moved a little away from them and then suddenly ran away along a secret path.

Left alone, the children screamed and burst into tears. Little Thumb did not interfere with them: he knew how to return home, for, going into the forest, he threw small white pebbles from his pockets all the way. So he began to say to them:

- Do not be afraid, brothers! Father and mother left us, but I will bring you home; just follow me.

They all followed him, and he brought them home by the same path that they had taken to the forest. They were afraid to go straight into the hut, but they all leaned against the door and began to listen to what their father and mother were saying.

And you need to know that when the woodcutter and the woodcutter returned from the forest, the landowner of that village sent them ten rubles, which he had owed them for a long time and which they had already given up on. This saved them, for the poor were already completely dying of hunger.

The woodcutter has now sent his wife to the butcher shop. As they had not eaten anything for a long time, the wife bought three times more meat than was needed for two people.

Having eaten plenty, the woodcutter says:

Ah, where are our poor children now! How nicely they would have eaten the leftovers! And we are all, we are the reason for everything! After all, I told you that we will cry after! Well, what are they doing now in this dense forest! Oh my God, maybe the wolves have already eaten them! And how you had the courage to ruin your own children!

The woodcutter finally became angry, for she repeated twenty times that he would repent, and that she had warned him. He threatened to beat her if she didn't stop.

And the woodcutter himself was annoyed, perhaps even more strongly than his wife, but he was tired of her with her reproaches. The woodcutter, like many other people, liked to ask for advice, but he could not stand to be pricked in the eyes with advice that he did not listen to.

The woodcutter burst into tears.

Lord, she cried, where are my children now, where are my poor children!

And finally she spoke these words so loudly that the children standing at the door heard her and shouted at once:

We are here! we are here!

The woodcutter rushed to open the door for them and, kissing them, said:

How glad I am to see you, my dear children! You must be very tired and very hungry. And you, Petrusha, how dirty you are! Let me wash you.

Petrusha was the eldest son, whom she loved most of all, because he was reddish, and she herself was a little reddish.

The children sat down at the table and ate with an appetite, which gave their father and mother great pleasure. Then they described how scared they were in the forest, telling it almost all at once.

Good people did not get enough of the return of their children, and their joy continued until the money was spent. But when ten rubles were spent on expenses, the woodcutter and the woodcutter were seized by the same grief, and they decided to leave the children again; and in order not to miss this time, lead them away from the previous one. No matter how secretly they talked about it, however, the Boy-with-Thumb overheard them. He hoped to wriggle out the same way; but although he got up early, early, he could not pick up white pebbles, because the doors in the hut were locked ...

Thumb was still thinking about what to do when his mother handed out a piece of bread to the children for breakfast. Then it occurred to him whether it was possible to use bread instead of pebbles and scatter it over crumbs along the way. With this thought he hid the bread in his pocket.

Father and mother took the children into the thickest, most impenetrable thicket of the dense forest, and as soon as they found themselves there, they immediately abandoned them; and they left by a secret path.

Little Thumb was not too sad, for he hoped to easily find his way through the crumbs of bread that he scattered everywhere. But how surprised he was when, starting to look, he did not find a single crumb anywhere! - birds flying by flew by and ate everything.

The children are in trouble. The more they fought their way through the forest, the more they strayed, the more they went into the thicket. Night fell, a strong wind arose and brought terrible terror to them. It seemed to them that wolves were howling and rushing at them from all sides. They did not dare to say a word or turn their heads.

Then pouring rain poured down and soaked them to the bone. At every step they stumbled, fell into the mud, and when they got up, they did not know where to go with their soiled hands.

The Thumb-Boy climbed a tree to see if there were any human habitations nearby. He looks in all directions, and sees - like a candle glows, but far, far beyond the forest. He got down from the tree. He looks: nothing is visible from the ground; this upset him.

However, they went in the direction from which the light was visible, and having got out of the forest, they saw it again. At last they reached the little house where the light was on—not without new passions, for the light was often out of sight—every time they fell into some slum.

The children knocked on the door. An old woman came out and asked what they needed.

The boy-with-finger replies that so and so, they are poor children, lost in the forest, asking to be sheltered for Christ's sake.

Seeing how young they all were, the old woman began to cry and said to them:

Oh, my poor children, where has this taken you! Do you know that the Cannibal lives here? He will eat you!

“Ah, madam,” answered the Boy-with-Thumb, trembling all over - his brothers were trembling too, - what should we do? After all, if you drive us away, the wolves will still eat us in the forest! So let your husband eat us. Yes, he, perhaps, will have mercy on us, if you kindly ask him.

The old woman, thinking, perhaps it would not be possible to hide the children from her husband until morning, let them in and sat them down to warm themselves by the fire, where a whole ram was roasted on a spit, for supper to the Cannibal.

As soon as the children began to warm themselves, a loud knock was heard at the door: the Ogre was returning home. The wife now hid them under the bed and went to open the door.

The ogre asked if dinner was ready and if the wine was strained, then he sat down at the table. The ram had not yet been fried, it was covered in blood, but this made it seem even tastier to him. Suddenly, the Ogre let's sniff right and left, saying that he hears human meat ...

It must be that calf, - answered the wife, - I just took off his skin.

They tell you, I hear human meat, - the Ogre shouted, looking askance at his wife. - There's someone here.

With these words, he stood up and went straight to the bed.

A! - he yelled, - so that's how you fool me, damned woman! So I'll take you and eat you! You're lucky you're such an old bastard! Ege-ge, by the way, this game came up: there will be something to treat my friends whom I invited to dine the other day.

And one by one he pulled the children out from under the bed.

The children threw themselves on their knees, began to beg for mercy; but they fell into the hands of the most evil of all Cannibals, who had no pity and was already devouring them with his eyes, saying that with a good sauce they would be tidbits ...

He already took a large knife and, going up to the children, began to sharpen it on a long whetstone ...

He had already grabbed one, when his wife intervened.

And why are you in a hurry, she said. - It's already late. Won't there be time tomorrow?

Be quiet! shouted the Cannibal. - I want them to be more annoying today.

Why, we still have a whole heap of meat, ”the wife continued. - Look here: a calf, two rams, half a pig ...

Truth is yours, - answered the Ogre. - Well, so feed them closely so that they do not lose weight, and put them to bed.

The kind old woman, beside herself with joy, served the children an excellent supper, but their stomach did not take food, they were so frightened.

And the Cannibal himself began to draw wine, delighted that there would be something to treat his friends to fame. And he grabbed twelve glasses more than usual, so that his head was a little dizzy, and he went to bed.

The Ogre had seven daughters, still in their infancy. These little cannibals had a beautiful complexion, because they ate human flesh, in imitation of their father. But their eyes were barely noticeable, gray, round; a hooked nose, a mouth of exorbitant size with long, sharp, sparse teeth. They were not yet very angry, but already showed a ferocious character, for they bit small children and drank their blood.

They were put to bed early. All seven were lying on a large bed, and each of the seven had a golden wreath on their heads.

In the same room there was another bed of the same size. On this bed the wife of the Cannibal laid seven boys, after which she herself went to sleep with her husband.

The Thumb Boy noticed that the Ogre's daughters had golden wreaths on their heads. He was afraid that the Cannibal would suddenly have a fantasy of slaughtering them right now. So he took it and got up in the middle of the night, took off the night caps from his brothers and from his head, also removed - slowly - golden wreaths from the daughters of the Ogre and put caps on their heads, and wreaths on his brothers and himself - so that the Ogre would accept the boys for his daughters, and his daughters for the boys he wanted to cut.

The trick worked as he had hoped. The ogre woke up and began to regret why he put off until tomorrow what he could do today.

He now jumped out of bed and, grabbing a large knife, said:

And let's see what our little boys are doing. - There is nothing to stand on ceremony here: to settle with them now.

He groped his way into his daughters' room and went to the bed where the boys were. “They were all asleep, except for Little Thumb, who was terribly frightened when the Ogre, having felt the heads of other brothers, began to feel his head.

Feeling the golden wreaths, the Ogre said:

Here you go! I almost did something stupid! - I must have had too much to drink yesterday.

And he went to the bed of his daughters. Feeling the hats of the lumberjack children, he said:

Ah, that's where my fellows are. Download them bolder!

And with these words, he, without hesitation, cut the throats of his seven daughters ...

Then, pleased with his feat, the Ogre went to sleep with his wife.

As soon as the Boy-with-Thumb heard that the Ogre was snoring, he now woke the brothers and ordered them to dress quickly and follow him. They went out quietly into the garden, jumped over the wall, and all night they ran wherever their eyes looked, trembling all over and not knowing where they were going.

Waking up, the Cannibal says to his wife:

Go upstairs, clean up yesterday's little boys.

The cannibal was very surprised at such solicitude, for, not understanding in what sense her husband was ordering her to remove the children, she thought that this meant dressing them up. She went upstairs - and with amazement she sees that all seven daughters were slaughtered, swimming in blood. She fainted: in such cases, all women resort to this maneuver.

The ogre, fearing that his wife would not take too long, also went upstairs to help her. And he was as amazed as his wife at the sight of a terrible sight.

Oh what have I done! he cried. - I'll get to these scoundrels, but this very minute!

He has now sprinkled a handful of water into his wife's nose and, bringing her to her senses, says:

Give me quick seven-league boots; I'm going to catch up with the kids.

He ran; I searched here and there, and finally got on the road that the poor children were walking. And they had only a hundred steps to their father's house!

They see - the Ogre flies from hill to hill, jumping over large rivers, as if through small grooves ...

The Little Thumb noticed a cave in the rock nearby, hid his brothers in it, and hid himself there; sits and watches what the Ogre will do.

The cannibal was tired of vain running around (for seven-league boots are very tiring for a person), he wanted to rest and sat down just on the very rock under which the boys hid.

As he was completely exhausted, after a while he fell asleep and began to snore so terribly that the poor children were less afraid when he threatened them with his big knife.

However, Thumb-Thumb did not lose his head. He told the brothers that while the Ogre was sleeping, they would run home quickly and not worry about him. The brothers heeded the advice and quickly made their way into the hut.

The boy with Thumb crept up to the Cannibal, slowly pulled off his boots and now put them on.

These boots were very large and very wide, but as they were bewitched, they increased or decreased according to which foot they were put on, so that the Boy-with-Thumb fit them just right, as if they were specially ordered for him.

The Thumb-Boy went straight to the Ogre's house, where his wife was weeping over her slaughtered daughters.

Your husband, Thumb told her, is in great danger. Robbers attacked him and threatened to kill him if he did not give them all his gold and all his silver. They had already begun to cut him, but he saw me and asked me to inform you of his misfortune, and to say that you would give me everything that was valuable in the house, sparing nothing, otherwise the robbers would kill him without mercy. Since time does not endure, he put these seven-league boots on me so that the matter would be done sooner, and also so that you would not consider me a deceiver.

The poor old woman was frightened and gave everything she had, for the Cannibal, although he ate small children, was good husband and she loved him.

Having taken all the treasures of the Cannibal, the Thumb-Boy returned home, where he was greeted with great joy.

Historians disagree on this last point. Some of them claim that Thumb never robbed the Ogre; True, he did not think about taking the seven-league boots from him, but this was only because the boots served the Cannibal for chasing small children ...

These historians claim that they know the work from faithful hands, for they happened to eat and drink at the woodcutter's. They also assure that, putting on cannibal boots, the Thumb-Boy went to the court, where then they were very worried about the fate of the army, which was a thousand miles from the capital, and about the outcome of the battle that was to take place.

The Little Thumb, these historians say, came to the king and announced that, if you like, he would bring news from the army by evening. The king promised him a big sum of money if he fulfilled the order by the deadline.

By evening, the Thumb-Thumb brought the news ... From that time on, he began to earn a lot of money, because the king generously paid him for his assignments to the army, and besides, he received the abyss from the ladies for news from their suitors. This, in particular, brought him great profits. True, sometimes his wives sent him with letters to their husbands, but they paid so cheaply and these commissions brought him so little that the Boy-with-Thumb did not even want to count his marital income.

Illustrations: Studio "Filmstrip". Boy with a finger 1959 Artist: Savchenko A.