"The Blue Cup", Gaidar: a short story

The current young readers, perhaps, do not remember such a name - Arkady Gaidar. And the children of the Land of Soviets once selflessly played in "Timur and his team", wept over the "Military Secret" and rejoiced with Chuk and Huck. Among the author's popular works was the story "The Blue Cup".

A small work first appeared in the magazine "Pioneer" in 1936. A few months later, a separate edition of the story was published. The work of Gaidar is very "cinematic". It easily splits into separate scenes and as if specially created for the film adaptation. We turn over his pages.

The Blue Cup, Gaidar. Summary (introduction)

The story begins with an accurate description of the place and time of events. A small family - father (32 years), mother Marusya (29 years) and daughter Svetlana (6,5 years) at the end of summer rent a dacha in the suburbs. That's where they are going to spend the long-awaited vacation. Dad and his daughter dreamed of a village volnitsa with fishing, swimming in the river and hiking in the forest for mushrooms. But the dacha was in a shabby condition, and my mother always found business matters that needed to be met.

The Blue Cup, Gaidar. Summary (outset)

After 3 days, things are finally redone, and you can go on a joint walk. But it was not there! Mom unexpected guests - her old friend, polar pilot. They talk in the cherry orchard, and the frustrated father and Svetlanka master the turntable with their own hands. Marusya, going to spend a friend at the station, requires that the daughter went to bed. But Dad and Sveta finish the craft and go to the attic - screw the turntable. The returning mother stops this "disgrace".

The next day, she finds her broken blue cup in the closet and asks the household members for a confession: "Who broke it?" However, neither Dad nor Svetlanka did it! The conflict that arose the day before, matured completely. Dissatisfied Marusya goes to the city. And the offended father decides to make an escape with his daughter. "Is this a good life? He asks. "Let's leave this house, where our eyes are looking."

The Blue Cup, Gaidar. Brief contents (trekking)

A further narrative depicts in detail the journey into which the "conspirators" set out. Each event acquires significance. The summary of the "Blue Cup" (Gaidar remains true to himself) still resembles a play, broken into scenes and acts.

The heroes go to the nearest mill and meet the running neighbor's boy - Sanku Karyakin. After him, lumps of earth fly. Sanka claims that he is undeservedly offended by the "pioneer Pasha Bukamashkin."

Further events take place at the mill. Heroes get acquainted with the pugnacious pioneer and learn that Sanka is punished for the case: during the game in the siskin he not only cheated, but also offended the Jewish girl Berta, who recently moved with her father from the fascist-captured Germany.

Then the heroes watch the military exercises, get acquainted with the Red Army man and the bearded collective farm watchman and the formidable dog Polkan, watch the mining of the stone.

Far behind us there was a broken blue cup. Gaidar (a brief retelling is unlikely to be able to convey this fully) draws a world full of detail. The travelers watch closely the life of the small village, the herd of horses, the cemetery, the tree, the chizh. Familiar with the family and the collective watchman - his daughter Valentina and grandson, a funny four-year-old Fedor. Father and daughter almost drowned in the swamp, bought themselves in the river and received as a gift a tiny kitten. In a word, the day turned out to be extremely saturated.

The Blue Cup, Gaidar. Summary (decoupling)

There is no clear culmination in the story. Perhaps the turning point is at the moment when the father tells at the request of Svetlana the story of his meeting with his wife. The heroes understand that they like Marusia, and forgive her for an inadvertently inflicted injury. They go home and see that my mother has already attached yesterday's turntable to the roof of the house. And this act brighter than any words indicates that she understood her guilt. Peace in the family was restored. Late in the evening, father, mother and daughter are sitting in the garden under the cherries, retelling each other's events of the day and realize that "... life, comrades ... very good!".