The theme of Kuprin's "Olesya" is the immortal theme of heartfelt relationships and burning passions. It is vividly and sincerely shown for its time in Kuprin’s touching story, written in the very center of nature in Polesie.

The clash of lovers from different social groups aggravates their relationships with a hint of sacrifice of themselves, their own life principles and other people’s assessments of them.

Analysis of "Olesya" by Kuprin

A mysterious girl, born surrounded by nature, who has absorbed all the genuine and immaculate traits of a meek and simple character, encounters a completely different person - Ivan Timofeevich, who is considered a spectacular representative of society in the city.

The beginning of a reverent relationship between them presupposes a life together, where, as usual, the woman is obliged to adapt to the new surrounding atmosphere of everyday life.

Olesya, accustomed to her fabulous life in a calm, beloved forest with Manuilikha, perceives the changes in her life experience very hard and painfully, actually sacrificing her own principles in order to be with her lover.

Anticipating the fragility of her relationship with Ivan, she makes a complete self-sacrifice in a ruthless city poisoned by callousness and misunderstanding. However, until then the relationship between the young people is strong.

Yarmola describes to Ivan the image of Olesya and her aunt, proves to him the uniqueness of the fact that magicians and sorceresses live in the world, and encourages him to become extremely fascinated by the mystery of a simple girl.

Features of the work

The writer depicts the habitat of the magical girl very colorfully and naturally, which cannot be ignored when analyzing Kuprin’s “Olesya,” because the landscape of Polesie emphasizes the exclusivity of the people living in it.

It is often said that life itself wrote the stories of Kuprin’s stories.

Obviously, most of the younger generation will find it difficult at first to understand the meaning of the story and what the author wants to convey, but later, after reading some of the chapters, they will be able to become interested in this work, discovering its depth.

The main problems of "Olesya" Kuprin

This is an excellent writer. He managed to express the most difficult, high and tender human emotions in his own work. Love is a wonderful feeling that is experienced by a person, like a touchstone. Not many people have the ability to truly love with an open heart. This is the fate of a strong-willed person. It is precisely people like these that interest the author. Correct people, existing in harmony with themselves and the world around them, are a model for him; in fact, such a girl is created in the story “Olesya” by Kuprin, the analysis of which we are analyzing.

An ordinary girl lives in the surroundings of nature. She listens to sounds and rustling, understands the cries of various creatures, and is very pleased with her life and independence. Olesya is independent. The sphere of communication that she has is enough for her. She knows and understands the forest surrounding on all sides; the girl has a great sense of nature.

But a meeting with the human world, unfortunately, promises her complete troubles and grief. The townspeople think that Olesya and her grandmother are witches. They are ready to blame all mortal sins on these unfortunate women. One fine day, the anger of people has already driven them away from their warm place, and from now on the heroine has only one desire: to get rid of them.

However, the soulless human world knows no mercy. This is where the key problems of Kuprin's Olesya lie. She is especially intelligent and smart. The girl is well aware of what her meeting with the city dweller, “Panych Ivan” portends. It is not suitable for the world of enmity and jealousy, profit and falsehood.

The girl’s dissimilarity, her grace and originality instill anger, fear, and panic in people. The townspeople are ready to blame Olesya and Babka for absolutely all hardships and misfortunes. Their blind horror of the “witches” they have dubbed them is fueled by reprisals without any consequences. An analysis of Kuprin’s “Olesya” makes us understand that the girl’s appearance in the temple is not a challenge to the residents, but a desire to understand the human world in which her beloved lives.

The main characters of Kuprin's "Olesya" are Ivan and Olesya. Secondary - Yarmola, Manuilikha and others, less important.

Olesya

A young girl, slender, tall and charming. She was raised by her grandmother. However, despite the fact that she is illiterate, she has the natural intelligence of centuries, fundamental knowledge of human nature and curiosity.

Ivan

A young writer, looking for a muse, arrived from the city to the village on official business. He is intelligent and smart. In the village he distracts himself by hunting and getting to know the villagers. Regardless of his own background, he behaves normally and without arrogance. "Panych" is a good-natured and sensitive guy, noble and weak-willed.

The events described in the story take place in one of the villages, where a visiting gentleman arrives who has fallen in love with a local witch girl.

The image and characterization of Olesya in the story by A. I. Kuprin is key. Her love could move mountains, but the chosen one could not appreciate the sincerity of the girl’s feelings, exposing her to attack.

Appearance

Olesya's appearance was memorable. Once you saw the girl, her image was etched in your memory forever. Tall, beautiful, with thick, raven-colored hair, soft waves falling onto her shoulders. I wanted to hug the slender and strong body and not let go of it. Even constant work did not spoil the beauty of my hands. The dark eyes looked a little slyly, but at the same time the gaze was open, without pretense or falsehood. The original beauty of her face distinguished her favorably from other village girls. Olesya's approximate age is 24 years.

"...a tall laughing girl"

“...thin black eyebrows knitted in displeasure...”

“...big black eyes with bright moonlight sparkling in them...”

“... the original beauty of her face, once seen, could not be forgotten, but it was difficult, even having gotten used to it, to describe it...”

“... involuntarily I drew attention to these hands: they were roughened and blackened from work, but they were small and of such a beautiful shape that many well-bred girls would envy them...”

"...her strong, strong, hot body..."

Family

The girl did not remember her parents. Grandma Manuilikha, a local healer, took care of her upbringing. She would never trade life in the forest in complete harmony with nature for the bustle of the city. The forest became her home, her support.

Education

The child of nature had no education, but despite this she was quite smart. Curious by nature. Has a broad outlook. The girl didn’t even know how to read, but her speech was refined, like that of real young ladies from high society.

“...you speak so well, no worse than a real young lady...”

“...for her environment, for her upbringing (or, more accurately, the lack thereof) she had amazing abilities...”

Character

Among the main character traits of Olesya are the following:

• courage;
• independence;
• pride;
• determination;
• the ability to stand up for oneself;
• kindness, responsiveness;
• self-confidence;
• tact;
• sincerity;
• delicacy;
• sensitivity.

Love in Olesya's life

Love for a visiting gentleman became the first thing in her life. The girl completely surrendered to the feeling that gripped her. She was ready to give herself all, without demanding anything in return. Knowing in advance that they have no future, she is unable to refuse meetings with Ivan. Fortune telling warned her that this acquaintance would lead to nothing but troubles, that the greatest shame awaited her, but even this did not stop her. At Ivan’s request, she went to church, where she was hated and cursed, but he did not appreciate Olesya’s sacrifice. Although it was his fault that she was beaten and driven out of the temple. Even after this incident, she did not reproach her beloved, considering herself solely to blame for all the troubles, which once again confirms the nobility of her character. Deciding to leave suddenly, she released Ivan from his obligations, so as not to be an obstacle to the well-being of her loved one. Only the red beads she left before leaving reminded of their failed romance with a sad ending.

“...a bright object, obviously deliberately hung on the corner of the window frame. It was a string of cheap, red beads, known in Polesie as corals, - the only thing that remained to me as a memory of Olesya and her tender, generous love...”

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin often in his works painted an ideal image of a “natural” person, one who is not subject to the corrupting influence of light, whose soul is pure, free, who is close to nature, lives in it, lives with it in one impulse. A striking example of the disclosure of the theme of a “natural” person is the story “Olesya”.

The story described in the story did not appear by chance. One day A.I. Kuprin visited the landowner Ivan Timofeevich Poroshin in Polesie, who told the writer the mysterious story of his relationship with a certain witch. It was this story, enriched with artistic fiction, that formed the basis of Kuprin’s work.

The first publication of the story took place in the magazine “Kievlyanin” in 1898; the work bore the subtitle “From Memories of Volyn,” which emphasized the real basis of the events taking place in the story.

Genre and direction

Alexander Ivanovich worked at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, when a controversy gradually began to flare up between two directions: realism and modernism, which was just beginning to make itself known. Kuprin belongs to the realistic tradition in Russian literature, so the story “Olesya” can easily be classified as a realistic work.

The genre of the work is a story, since it is dominated by a chronicle plot, reproducing the natural course of life. The reader lives through all the events, day after day, following the main character Ivan Timofeevich.

The essence

The action takes place in the small village of Perebrod, Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie. The young gentleman-writer is bored, but one day fate takes him to the swamp to the house of the local witch Manuilikha, where he meets the beautiful Olesya. A feeling of love flares up between Ivan and Olesya, but the young sorceress sees that death awaits her if she links her fate with an unexpected guest.

But love is stronger than prejudice and fear, Olesya wants to deceive fate. A young witch goes to church for the sake of Ivan Timofeevich, although she is prohibited from entering there due to her occupation and origin. She makes it clear to the hero that she will commit this brave act, which could lead to irreparable consequences, but Ivan does not understand this and does not have time to save Olesya from the angry crowd. The heroine is severely beaten. In revenge, she sends a curse on the village, and that same night a terrible thunderstorm occurs. Knowing the power of human anger, Manuilikha and her pupil hastily leave the house in the swamp. When a young man comes to this home in the morning, he finds only red beads, as a symbol of his short but true love with Olesya.

The main characters and their characteristics

The main characters of the story are the master writer Ivan Timofeevich and the forest witch Olesya. Completely different, they got together, but could not be happy together.

1. Characteristics of Ivan Timofeevich. This is a kind person, sensitive. He was able to discern a living, natural principle in Oles, because he himself had not yet been completely killed by secular society. The mere fact that he left noisy cities for a village speaks volumes. The heroine is not just a beautiful girl for him, she is a mystery to him. This strange healer believes in conspiracies, tells fortunes, communicates with spirits - she is a witch. And all this attracts the hero. He wants to see and learn something new, real, not covered up by falsehood and far-fetched etiquette. But at the same time, Ivan himself is still at the mercy of the world, he is thinking about marrying Olesya, but he is confused by how she, a savage, can appear in the halls of the capital.
2. Olesya is the ideal of a “natural” person. She was born and lived in the forest, nature was her teacher. Olesya’s world is a world of harmony with the surrounding world. In addition, she is in harmony with her inner world. We can note the following qualities of the main character: she is wayward, straightforward, sincere, she does not know how to pretend or pretend. The young witch is smart and kind; one only has to remember the reader’s first meeting with her, because she was tenderly carrying chicks in her lap. One of Olesya’s main traits can be called insubordination, which she inherited from Manuilikha. They both seem to be against the whole world: they live aloof in their swamp, they do not profess an official religion. Even knowing that you can’t escape fate, the young sorceress still tries, consoles herself with the hope that everything will work out for her and Ivan. She is original and unshakable, despite the fact that love is still alive, she leaves, leaves everything, without looking back. The image and characteristics of Olesya are available.

Themes

• The main theme of the story— Olesya’s love, her readiness for self-sacrifice — is the center of the work. Ivan Timofeevich was lucky to meet a real feeling.
• Another important semantic branch is the theme of the confrontation between the ordinary world and the world of natural people. Residents of villages, capitals, Ivan Timofeevich himself are representatives of everyday thinking, permeated with prejudices, conventions, and clichés. The worldview of Olesya and Manuilikha is freedom and open feelings. In connection with these two heroes, the theme of nature appears. The environment is the cradle that raised the main character, an irreplaceable helper, thanks to which Manuilikha and Olesya live away from people and civilization without need, nature gives them everything they need for life. This topic is covered most fully in this one.
• The role of landscape in the story is huge. It is a reflection of the feelings of the characters and their relationships. So, at the beginning of a romance we see a sunny spring, and at the end the break in relations is accompanied by a strong thunderstorm. We wrote more about this in this.

Problems

The problems of the story are varied. Firstly, the writer acutely depicts the conflict between society and those who do not fit into it. So, once they brutally drove Manuilikha out of the village and beat Olesya herself, although both sorceresses did not show any aggression towards the villagers. Society is not ready to accept those who differ from them in at least some way, who do not try to pretend, because they want to live by their own rules, and not according to the template of the majority.

The problem of attitude towards Olesya manifests itself most clearly in the scene of her going to church. For the Russian Orthodox people of the village, it was a real insult that the one who serves evil spirits, in their opinion, appeared in the temple of Christ. At the church, where people ask for God's mercy, they themselves administered cruel and merciless judgment. Perhaps the writer wanted, on the basis of this antithesis, to show that society’s idea of ​​the righteous, the good, and the just has been distorted.

Meaning

The idea of ​​the story is that people who grew up far from civilization turn out to be much nobler, more delicate, more polite and kinder than “civilized” society itself. The author hints that herd life dulls the individual and erases his individuality. The crowd is submissive and indiscriminate, and is often dominated by its worst members rather than its best. Primitive instincts or acquired stereotypes, such as misinterpreted morality, direct the collective towards degradation. Thus, the inhabitants of the village show themselves to be greater savages than the two witches living in the swamp.

Kuprin's main idea is that people must turn back to nature, must learn to live in harmony with the world and with themselves, so that their cold hearts will melt. Olesya tried to open the world of real feelings to Ivan Timofeevich. He couldn't understand it in time, but the mysterious witch and her red beads will remain in his heart forever.

Conclusion

Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin, in his story “Olesya,” tried to create an ideal of man, show the problems of the artificial world, and open people’s eyes to the driven and immoral society that surrounds them.

The life of the wayward, unshakable Olesya was to some extent destroyed by the touch of the secular world in the person of Ivan Timofeevich. The writer wanted to show that we ourselves destroy the beautiful things that fate gives us, simply because we are blind, blind in soul.

Criticism

The story “Olesya” is one of the most famous works of A.I. Kuprina. The strength and talent of the story were appreciated by the writer’s contemporaries.

K. Barkhin called the work a “forest symphony,” noting the smoothness and beauty of the work’s language.

Maxim Gorky noted the youth and spontaneity of the story.

Thus, the story “Olesya” occupies an important place, both in the work of A.I. himself. Kuprin, and in the history of Russian classical literature.

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So, let's begin the summary of “Olesya” by introducing the main character of the story. Having decided to find new ones for his writing, he decides to spend six months in a remote village in Polesie in order to be able to observe the customs of ordinary people, communicate with them and gain new impressions. However, the peasants for the most part turn out to be taciturn and withdrawn, and only out of habit honed over the years, they rush to kiss the master’s hands every time. The hero quickly becomes bored. He had already read all the books brought, he even tried to treat the peasants, but all their complaints were limited to “it hurts in the middle, I can’t drink or eat.” The clerk tells the writer that he himself always gives ammonia for all ailments - they say, they will be cured themselves. There was still hunting left, but the January weather was not conducive to this activity. Out of boredom, the hero tries to teach Yarmola, his servant, to read and write. But in two months he could only learn to sign mechanically. The weather is not getting better, a piercing wind is blowing, and Yarmola believes that this can mean one of two things: either “the witcher is born”, or “the witcher is having fun.” Here the hero became interested in whether the village had its own witch. Yarmola, in turn, says that there was one visiting witch, Manuilikha, but the residents kicked her out, either with her granddaughter or with her daughter; and now women run to her across the Irinovsky Way. The master expresses a desire to meet a real Polesie witch.

Meet the old witch and her granddaughter

The summary of “Olesya” continues three days later. The weather has improved a little, and the hero finally goes hunting. As a result, he misses the hare and follows him across the path towards the Irinovsky Way. Here the master got lost, a hut caught his eye, he went inside and ended up in Manuilikha’s house. Outwardly, she was very similar to the fairy-tale Baba Yaga, but she treated the guest favorably: she allowed him to rest, catch his breath, brought him water and even told him fortunes on cards for a silver quarter. Then the melodic sounds of a song were heard and a dark-haired girl, who looked to be in her early twenties, entered the hut. In her apron the girl held tame finches. The old woman hurries to see the guest out. The master asks the young girl to show him the way, and he admires her beauty and wonders if they are afraid to live in such a wilderness. The girl (the same Olesya) says that wolves don’t wander here, and it would be even better if people left the animals alone. Olesya is uneasy: she is afraid that their guest is from the authorities. The official and the constable had long mocked her and Manuilikha and threatened her with hard labor for telling fortunes, although the granddaughter and grandmother did not harm anyone. The hero calms down his new acquaintance and asks permission to visit them. Olesya allows it, but with one condition - that he does not have a gun with him, since she feels sorry for defenseless hares and birds. The hero returns to his place, and an hour later Yarmola also arrives: he followed the master’s trail and found out that he was “with the witchers.”

New fortune telling for the master

And time moves on. Now the summary of “Olesya” immerses us in the spring festival of nature. The hero is haunted by thoughts of Oles. He likes her mystery and external beauty, and, of course, the mystical reputation of a witch. As soon as the opportunity arises to walk along the forest paths, he goes to visit his friends. Both the old woman and Olesya herself find themselves at home. The guest greets them and asks Manuilikha if she recognizes him. However, the old woman says that she does not remember him and does not know that he has completely forgotten here, that they are ordinary people, and he has nothing to do here at all. The master was stunned by such a reception, but then Olesya stood up for him and told the grandmother that he was a kind man and would not do anything bad to them. The grandmother's attitude towards the guest is slightly softened by his gift - tea and sugar. Olesya invites the master to sit down. The girl herself is spinning at this time - her hands have become rough and blackened from work, but they still remain so beautiful that any girl could envy. Olesya reminds the guest that he never told her what his grandmother told him. The master asks her to tell her fortune, but the girl does not agree: she has already thrown cards at him, but she cannot do it a second time. Fate doesn't like being questioned, and that's why many fortune tellers are unhappy. Then the hero asks Olesya to say what the cards said last time. but he admits that it didn’t turn out too well - a sad life, the hero will not love anyone and will not marry, he will live in need, although at the end of his life everything will change through the death of a loved one. But this year he will receive great love from the lady of clubs, with dark hair like Olesya herself. However, this prediction does not please the hero: according to the young sorceress, the “queen of clubs” will receive great shame through the hero and experience sadness, but nothing bad will happen to him. The master doubts that, in principle, he is capable of causing so much harm to someone, but Olesya tells him that he will not do this on purpose. The girl is able to see the imminent death of a person, although she does not consider it necessary to talk about it, because in any case you cannot escape from fate. Her ability disgusts her, but it’s in her blood.

Ivan Timofeevich doubts that Olesya is a real witch

Summary of “Olesya”, as you may have guessed, is a story about a real witch. However, the main character doubts the abilities of the girl he likes to the last. Olesya, in turn, demonstrates to him what she can do: she cuts the master’s hand and quickly speaks - stops the bleeding. Then he follows him closely and, without touching him, makes him fall. He says that even being far away, he can send fear to a person. The hero is surprised by how expressive the speech of Olesya, a girl who grew up in the forest, is. Olesya says that all this comes from her grandmother. Only at this moment does the master introduce himself to the girl. His name is Ivan Timofeevich. The girl asks her new friend to come in, and he becomes a frequent guest in the hut. The old woman muttered, and Olesya rejoiced at his visits every time. And every time Ivan Timofeevich headed home, the girl volunteered to accompany him, and they talked for a long time. Olesya's integral and original nature attracts the master. He tells her about learned people, cities, the secrets of the universe - and she listens to him with pleasure. Having heard about St. Petersburg with its multi-story buildings, Olesya says that she would never trade the forest for life in the city. To which Ivan Timofeevich answers her that if her husband is from the city, he will have to. Here he learns that Olesya cannot get married in church: her family was cursed, and her power is not from God. Ivan Timofeevich, an educated man, often tried to explain his girlfriend’s abilities from a physiological point of view, but much still remained incomprehensible. Yarmola began to move away from his master, which very much resembled a hidden enmity.

Conflict with a police officer

One day a guest comes and sees that both women are depressed and upset about something. The story “Olesya,” a brief summary of which we are considering, takes a new turn: a constable came into the hut. He ordered his granddaughter and grandmother to leave within twenty-four hours, explaining that the house had previously belonged to the old landowner, but had now gone to the new one. Manuilikha asks Ivan Timofeevich to help, since the police officer does not agree to give up even for money. Olesya is against this. Nevertheless, the hero meets with the constable, but he says that he cannot do anything: the charter orders that everyone go to the temple, and predictions, according to the same charter, are prohibited. However, the policeman liked the gun, and the owner gives it in exchange for a promise that at least for a while he will not touch women.

Beloved moves away from Ivan Timofeevich

Ivan Timofeevich solved the problem, but relations with Olesya changed dramatically from that moment. Not a trace remained of her trusting affection, and was replaced by awkwardness and compulsion. At times she fell into thoughtfulness. The hero thought that the girl could not forgive him for interfering in the story with the policeman. However, the girl herself avoided frank conversations, and their walks stopped. Ivan Timofeevich continues to be drawn to Olesya. Once he even spent the whole day in their house, however, upon returning home, he realized that he was sick and lay in bed for almost a week. Having become a little stronger, the master returns to Olesya and sees that her eyes are shining with love. Despite Manuilikha’s objections, the girl agrees to go for a walk. Ivan Timofeevich understands what was the reason for such severity, why his granddaughter argued so often with her grandmother. The lovers confess their feelings to each other, and the next night becomes a fairy tale for them. Olesya says that she does not regret anything, and that she is the same queen of clubs, and it is with her that misfortune will happen, but she does not agree to give her joy to anyone. A vague premonition of trouble arises in the girl’s heart.

Tale of love

The time for the hero's departure is approaching. Their fairy tale of love has been going on for a month now; they often meet in the forest, as old Manuilikha greets her guest with open anger. The hero, although he can hardly imagine Olesya among the wives of his colleagues, starts talking to his beloved about leaving and getting married. She, in turn, is wary of his words - she does not want to bind him with a promise, but would like to go with her beloved. She needs time to think things over and talk to her grandmother. The girl, as before, is afraid of the church.

Shocking news

On Trinity Sunday, Ivan Timofeevich was forced to go on business to a neighboring town. On the way back, he is pursued by hostile glances from all sides, and the drunkard shouts obscenities. The hero becomes furious. Yarmola meets the master with an evil grin and talks about today’s “fun”: the Perbrod girls caught a witch in the square and beat her. Ivan Timofeevich asks which witch, although he already knows who he is talking about. It was Olesya. Having overcome her fear, the girl came to church and, trying to ignore the sidelong glances, stood through mass. On the way out, she was rude to her, laughed at, and then some old woman shouted that the witch needed to be smeared with tar. Everyone began to catch Olesya. The girl managed to escape, although stones were flying after her. Finally, she turned around and shouted to the crowd that they still had to remember this and “cry their fill.”

Sad parting

How does the story “Olesya” end? The summary shows us the last scenes. Ivan Timofeevich, feeling that something irreparable has happened, runs into the forest to his beloved. Olesya lies on the bed unconscious, facing the wall. Manuilikha cries for her granddaughter and scolds the guest. The girl comes to her senses, but is afraid to look at the guest for a long time - her face is completely covered with abrasions and bruises. Ivan Timofeevich, not holding back his tears, kisses her hand. Olesya says that she and her grandmother will have to leave in a couple of days so as not to become victims of the villagers’ anger. And when the beloved asks how he is, he answers that they are not destined to be together and nothing but grief awaits them. Olesya asks Ivan Timofeevich to kiss her goodbye, saying that her grandmother will allow it.

A thunderstorm breaks out over the village and hail begins to fall. Yarmola tells the hero that he needs to leave - the hail, they say, was sent by a witch, and there are bad rumors about Ivan Timofeevich himself. The hero wants to warn Manuilikha, but he finds only an empty house and Olesya’s red beads, which the girl left him as a keepsake of her tender love.

The story “Olesya” by Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin was written in 1898. The work was first published in the newspaper “Kievlyanin”. The leading theme of the story “Olesya” is the tragic love of Panych Ivan Timofeevich and the young girl Olesya. In the image of the main character, Kuprin embodied the type of “natural person” characteristic of many of the author’s works.

Main characters

Ivan Timofeevich- panych (young master), writer, storyteller, the story is narrated on his behalf.

Olesya- a young girl 20-25 years old, the granddaughter of Manuilikha, who has supernatural abilities.

Other characters

Yarmola- forest worker, servant of Ivan Timofeevich.

Manuilikha- old witch, Olesya’s grandmother.

Nikita Nazarych Mishchenko- clerk of a neighboring estate, clerk.

Evpsikhy Afrikanovich- police officer.

Chapter 1

According to the plot of the work, fate threw the narrator “for six whole months into a remote village in the Volyn province, on the outskirts of Polesie” Perebrod, where hunting becomes his main occupation and entertainment. Out of boredom, the hero tried to treat the locals, and then teach the forest worker Yarmola to read and write.

Chapter 2

One day on a bad evening, when a strong wind was blowing outside the windows, Yarmola said that five years ago the witch Manuilikha lived in their village, but she and her granddaughter were kicked out of the village into the forest because the old woman was witching. Now they live near the swamp behind the Irinovsky Way.

The narrator becomes curious to meet the witch, and he asks Yarmola to take him to the old woman, but the woodsman, very angry with the hero, refuses, because he does not want to meet the witch.

Chapter 3

Soon, while hunting, chasing a hare, the narrator got lost. The man went out to the swamp and saw a hut, which he mistook for the home of a local forester - “it wasn’t even a hut, but a fairy-tale hut on chicken legs.”

Entering the dwelling, the narrator realized that he had come to the local witch, Manuilikha, whose appearance had “all the features of Baba Yaga, as the folk epic depicts her,” her “faded, once blue eyes looked like the eyes of an unprecedented ominous bird.” . The old woman tried to send the narrator away as quickly as possible, but the man persuaded her to tell his fortune for money.

Before she had time to finish her fortune-telling, a “tall, laughing girl” entered the hut with her tame finches. “There was nothing like the local “girls” about her.” She was a tall brunette with large, shiny, dark eyes, “to which thin eyebrows, broken in the middle, gave an elusive shade of slyness, power and naivety.” Her name was Olesya. The girl explains to the man how to get home and allows him to visit them some other time.

Chapter 4

In the spring, “as soon as the forest paths dried out a little,” the narrator again “went to the hut on chicken legs.” The girl greets him much more affably than old Manuilikha. Discussing fortune telling with Olesya, the man asks to tell his fortune, but the girl refuses and admits that she has already laid out cards for him. According to fortune-telling, he is “a kind man, but only a weak one,” “not a master of his word,” “loves to take over people,” and “has a deep desire” for women. His life will be sad, that he will “not love anyone with his heart,” and he will “bring a lot of grief” to those who love him. And this year he was waiting for “great love from some lady of clubs” with dark hair, to whom this love would bring “long sadness” and “great shame.” The narrator is surprised because he does not believe that he can “cause so much trouble” for someone. But the girl assures him that when her words come true, he will see for himself. Olesya admits that she sees many things without cards: for example, the imminent death of a person, and these abilities are passed down in their family from mother to daughter.

Chapter 5

After dinner, Olesya herself volunteered to accompany the narrator. The girl says that Manuilikha used to know how to heal people, look for treasures and much more. The man, not quite believing in such abilities, asks Olesya to show her something of what she can do. The girl took out a knife, severely cut the narrator’s hand and immediately the wound began to heal, stopping the bleeding. Then she told him to walk ahead of her without turning around. Olesya conjured a spell so that a man, after walking a few steps, would stumble out of the blue and fall. Saying goodbye, the girl asks the name of the narrator (here it appears for the first time in the story) - Ivan Timofeevich.

Chapter 6

From that day on, the narrator became a frequent visitor to Manuilikha; he spends a lot of time with Olesya - they “became more and more attached to each other.” Ivan Timofeevich, asking Olesya about her abilities, tried to understand their nature. A man once told a girl that if she fell in love, she would need to get married in a church. Olesya replied that she would not dare to appear in church, because “from birth” her “soul was sold to him [the devil].”

Chapter 7

One day, having come to Manuilikha, the narrator immediately noticed the “dejected mood of spirit” of the old woman and Olesya. The girl refused for a long time, but Manuilikha could not stand it and she herself told the man that yesterday a local policeman came to them and demanded that the women quickly leave the village, otherwise he would send them according to the “staged order”. The old woman tried to pay him off, but the policeman did not want to take the money.

Chapter 8

Ivan Timofeevich invites the police officer, Evpsikhy Afrikanovich, to visit him and, treating him to starka (strong vodka), asks him to leave Manuilikha and Olesya alone. In exchange, the narrator has to give him his gun.

Chapter 9

After the incident with the policeman, “some kind of insurmountable awkward compulsion appeared in the communication between Ivan Timofeevich and Olesya,” and their evening walks stopped. The narrator thought about the girl all the time, but was “timid, awkward and unresourceful” next to her.

Unexpectedly, Ivan Timofeevich falls ill - he was “stricken by the relentless, terrible Polesie fever for six days.”

Chapter 10

Five days after recovery, Ivan Timofeevich went to Manuilikha. Seeing Olesya, the man realized how “close and sweet” she was to him. This time the girl went to see him off and admitted that she was cold towards him because she was afraid of the future - she thought that she could “escape fate.” Olesya confesses her love to Ivan Timofeevich, kisses him, the man says that he loves her too. “And this whole night merged into some kind of magical, enchanting fairy tale.” “Separation is for love what the wind is for fire: it extinguishes small love, and fans the big one even stronger.”

Chapter 11

“The naive, charming fairy tale” of love between Olesya and Ivan Timofeevich lasted for almost a whole month. However, the time has come for the narrator to leave the village. The man increasingly thinks that he would like to marry Olesya.

In mid-June, Ivan Timofeevich confesses to the girl that he is leaving soon and offers to become his wife. Olesya says that this is impossible, since she is uneducated and illegitimate. The narrator understands that the girl is actually afraid of the church wedding. Olesya says that for the sake of their love she is ready to overcome herself and makes an appointment at church the next day.

Chapter 12

The next day was the feast of St. Trinity. Ivan Timofeevich stayed until the evening on official business in a neighboring town and was late for a church service. Returning home, from the clerk Mishchenko, the man learns that during the day there was “fun” in the village - “the Perebrod girls caught a witch here in the square. They wanted to smear it with tar, but somehow it turned out and ran away.” As it turned out, Olesya went to church. During the service, everyone looked at her, and when the girl came out, the women surrounded her and began to insult and ridicule her in every possible way. Olesya broke through the crowd, and people started throwing stones after her. Having run away to a safe distance, Olesya stopped and, turning to the crowd, promised that they would still “cry their fill” for this.
After listening to the clerk, Ivan Timofeevich quickly went into the forest.

Chapter 13

Arriving at Manuilikha, the narrator found Olesya unconscious. The old woman began to scold the man that it was he who was to blame for what had happened - it was he who “encouraged” the girl to go to church. Having woken up, Olesya says that they need to separate, since she and her grandmother will now have to leave the village. Saying goodbye, the girl admits that she would like a child from Ivan Timofeevich and is very sorry that he is not there.

Chapter 14

In the evening, a strong thunderstorm with hail passed over the village, which knocked out people's lives. In the morning, Yarmola advised the narrator to leave the village as quickly as possible, because the community, confident that this was the work of a witch, was “rebelling” in the morning, making bad mentions of Ivan Timofeevich himself.

The narrator hastily got ready and went into the forest to warn Manuilikha and Olesya. However, their hut was empty, there was “a mess that always remains after a hasty departure.” The man was about to leave when he saw a string of cheap red beads “known in Polesie as “corals” - the only thing that remained in my memory of Olesya and her tender, generous love.”

Conclusion

Even from the brief retelling of “Olesya,” it is clear that Kuprin was able to introduce into a traditionally realistic narrative (the story was written within the framework of the literary movement of neorealism) a romantic heroine - the granddaughter of the sorceress Olesya, who is contrasted in the work with the rest of the heroes. Unlike the educated Ivan Timofeevich, the girl grew up outside of society and civilization, but by nature she is endowed with spiritual wealth and inner beauty, which attracted the main character. The tragic love story described in the story inspired many directors - the work was filmed three times.

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