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Tales of Italy summary strike. Maxim Gorky: Tales of Italy

The cycle "Tales of Italy" can hardly be called fairy tales. The text is closer in style to prose stories combined into one book. 27 short stories-novels do not contain fantastic plots, magic objects. The work of M. Gorky "Tales of Italy" is a journey through the cities of the country. Spiritualized inhabitants symbolize new life and new interests. People unite so quickly that only in fairy tales is possible. Life does not always pass among the townspeople, secrets are also hidden behind the line. The city penetrates the minds, spreading far beyond its borders.

Musicians who dream of creating the image of city life in sounds, the bright Easter holiday, strikers, workers pass from one fairy tale to another. Columbus, the discoverer of the New World, is found in the first and last short stories. The figure helps to understand how wide the dreams of the inhabitants of Italy are. Nature is beautifully described: the rich Earth, the good Sun. Magic emanates from the images of mothers. They serve life, call ordinary people and kings to be fair. We hear the voice of mothers everywhere. One is looking for her son, who has been missing for 4 years, wandering around cities and countries. A tailwind helps her. Another hides her ugly son from the people and works hard to feed him.

Tales of Italy must be read in order to understand the special role that children play in the world. The author has unusual fabulous epithets: the first rays of the sun, the heralds of spring, the freshness of the morning, the play of the sun. Children are the kings of society and the masters of cities. The boy Pepe is smart and direct, dreaming of one pair of trousers. The child enjoys life, he becomes the personification of a renewed Italy, which remembers its past and believes in a brighter future. The literature presented by the classic helps to present reality in all its fabulous manifestations, and the person himself creates the fairy tale.

To the question Please write a summary of the fairy tale about Italy, given by the author I-beam the best answer is TALE IV.
Near a pile of rubble by the road sits a worker black as a beetle with a medal on his chest.
He tells a passer-by that the medal is for the construction of the Simplon Tunnel, during which it was sometimes scary: “When we went deep into it, cutting this wound in the mountain, the earth there, inside, met us severely. She breathed hot breath on us, her heart sank from it, her head became heavy and her bones ached ... Then she threw stones on people and poured hot water over us; this was really scary! »
Together with the worker, his father built the tunnel, who, before his death, said: “You know, Paolo, my son, I still think that this will happen: we and those coming from the other side will find each other in grief, we will meet - Do you believe in that? ... if this happens, if people come together - come to my grave and say: father - it's done! For me to know! »
When the tunnel builders met 13 weeks later, the son came to the grave and said: “Father, it’s done! People have won. Done, father! »
The main idea of the tale is expressed in the words of Paolo: “A man knows how to work! Oh, sir, the little man, when he wants to work, is an invincible force! And believe me: in the end, this little man will do everything he wants.
TALE V is about a young musician who dreams of writing music about a boy on his way to a big city. The city “lay down on the ground with heavy piles of buildings, clung to it and groans and grumbles muffledly ... The boy walks in the twilight of the field along a wide gray ribbon of the road ... And the night silently follows the boy, covering the distance from which he came out with a black mantle of oblivion ... The city is seized by a tormenting desire to see yourself beautifully and proudly raised to the sun. He groans in the delirium of many-sided desires for happiness, he is agitated by a passionate will to live, and in the dark silence of the fields surrounding him, quiet streams of muffled sounds flow, and the black bowl of the sky is filled more and more with a muddy, yearning light.
The boy stopped, shook his head, raising his eyebrows high, and, swaying, walked faster.
And the night in the gentle voice of his mother said to him:
"It's time, boy, go!" They are waiting... "
The musician understands that it is impossible to write such music, but he is worried that he will meet a boy in the city...
TALE VI about two fishermen.
One is an old man, in a straw hat, with a fat face with gray stubble on his cheeks, lips and chin, his eyes are swollen with fat, his nose is red, his hands are bronze from sunburn.
The second is a black-eyed, dark-skinned man, slender and thin, in a red cap on his head, in a white sweatshirt on a convex chest, and in blue trousers rolled up to the knees.
The old one asks, and the young one talks about a rich American woman whom the young one met the day before, rode her in a boat, spoke little - she did not know Italian, sang and thought about happiness. In his opinion, a little happiness is more honest. The old man agrees, but adds: “... a little happiness is more honest, and a big one is better ... Poor people are more beautiful, and rich people are stronger ... "
TALE VII. At a small station between Rome and Genoa, the conductor opened the compartment door and almost carried in a little crooked old man. The old man has 13 sons, 4 daughters, many grandchildren, he is going to his grandson's wedding.
Old man Hugo tells about himself: he lost his eye in childhood, working in the vineyards with his father - the stone flew off; at the age of 13 he was left an orphan, met the same poor, but hard-working and kind girl Ida. They had nothing, but people helped, and on the morning of the wedding day they had everything they needed for the house: a statue of the Madonna, dishes, linen, furniture ... There was also a clean warm sheepshed suitable for habitation, donated by the young old man Giovanni.
The main idea of the tale is expressed in the words of the priest: among working people " good hands and even better their hearts ... "
I retold other tales, since you should keep the previous retellings in the personal account - in deleted questions. Do not write tasks - formulate questions, then they will not be deleted.

Answer from 22 answers[guru]

In a nutshell: The cycle reveals all the charm and beauty Italy, the customs of the southerners, tells about the labor movement at the beginning of the twentieth century and extraordinary life stories.

The epigraph to the cycle is a quote by G. H. Andersen: "There are no fairy tales better than those that life itself creates."

I

“In Naples, tram workers went on strike: a chain of empty cars stretched along the entire length of the Chiaia Riviera.” Soldiers appear and a man in a top hat threatens the striking conductors and carriage drivers. Then the protesters lie down on the rails. People on the streets follow their example and support them.

“Half an hour later, all over Naples, tram cars rushed with a screech and creak, winners stood on the platforms, grinning merrily.”

II

“In Genoa, on a small square in front of the station, a dense crowd of people gathered - workers predominate, but many well-dressed, well-fed people.” Everyone is waiting for the arrival of the hungry children of the Parma strikers. The owners do not give in, it is difficult for the workers, and they send the children here. The children are greeted with the Garibaldi anthem.

"Almost all the children are snatched up, they sit on the shoulders of adults." They are fed on the go, the children rejoice, the crowd rejoices, glorifies Italy and socialism.

III

“The city is festively bright and colorful, like a richly embroidered chasuble of a priest; in his passionate cries, trembling and groans, the singing of life sounds liturgically. People on the sidewalk getting ready for dinner. An old man with a long parrot nose sees drops of wine dripping from the fiasca carried by the boy, like rubies, and shouts to him about it. The old man pours this wine, and a curly-haired girl passing by with her mother throws flower petals into the bowl, and they float, “like pink boats.” The gift of a child is a gift from God, the old man says and blesses the girl.

IV

“A calm blue lake in a deep frame of mountains, winged with eternal snow, a dark lace of gardens descends to the water in lush folds ... A worker, black like a beetle, is sitting near a pile of rubble, he has a medal on his chest, his face is bold and affectionate.” He tells a passerby how he, Paolo, and his father worked - punched through the belly of the mountain to connect the two countries. The father died without finishing the work. Thirteen weeks after his death, people from both sides met. Paolo considers this day the best in his life: “they kissed the conquered mountain, they kissed the earth ... and I fell in love with her like a woman!” Near the grave of his father, he says: “People won. Done, father!

V

A young musician describes what the music he wants to write should be like. The boy goes to the big city: “... the bloody flame of sunset has not yet died out over him ... here and there, like wounds, glass sparkles; the ruined, tormented city - the place of the tireless battle for happiness - bleeds ... "" And the night silently follows the boy, covering the distance from which he came out with a black mantle of oblivion. The boy, alone, small, calmly goes to the city. "The city lives and groans in the delirium of many-sided desires for happiness." What will happen to the boy?

VI

“The sea slumbers and breathes an opal mist, the bluish water glistens with steel, the strong smell of sea salt pours thickly on the shore.” There are two fishermen on the stones: an old man and a young "black-eyed dark man". The young man talks about a rich young American woman, whom he rode until the morning. They were silent during the walk. The old man remarks: "True love ... strikes the heart like lightning, and is silent like lightning." By morning, the young man wanted only one thing: to get her, at least for one night. “It's easier that way,” the old man remarks. “A little happiness is always more honest,” the young man replies.

VII

At a small station between Rome and Genoa, a one-eyed old man enters in a compartment. He talks about his life. He has thirteen sons and four daughters. He lost his eye when he was a child when a stone hit him. At 19, he met his love. The girl, like him, was very poor. But they got married, and kind people helped them all - from the barn, which became a home for the young, to the statue of the Madonna and dishes: “... there is no better fun than doing good to people, believe me, there is nothing more beautiful and more fun than this !"

VIII

Seeing a gray-haired man in his thirties, a friend of the narrator introduces him to the history of this man.

He is an ardent socialist. At meetings, he noticed a girl with whom they increasingly entered into an ideological confrontation. The girl was a devout Catholic, and her religion strongly opposes socialism. They tried to convince each other, to prove their case. And although the girl was touched by his fiery speeches about the liberation of man, she could not renounce God. Love came to them. But she refused to marry in the city hall, and he refused to get married in the church. Soon the girl fell ill with consumption. Before her death, she recognized with her mind that her beloved was right, but "the heart could not agree" with him.

Recently, a man married his student, and together they go to the grave of the deceased.

IX

“Let us glorify the woman - Mother, an inexhaustible source of all conquering life!”

Timur-leng, nicknamed Tamerlane by the infidels, shed rivers of blood, avenging the death of his son Dzhigangir. Feasting, lame Timur asks his court poet Kermani how much he would give for him. Kermani names the price of Timur's belt and says that the khan himself is not worth a penny! “This is how the poet Kermani spoke with the king of kings, a man of evil and horror, and may the glory of the poet, the friend of truth, be for us forever higher than the glory of Timur.”

But now Mother comes to the king - a woman from Italian lands, from near Salerno, she is looking for her son, who is now with the khan. She demands to return it. “Everything beautiful in a person is from the rays of the sun and from Mother’s milk, that’s what saturates us with love for life!” And Timur orders messengers to be sent to all corners of the lands he conquered and to find the woman's son.

X

A gray-haired woman walks along a narrow path between the gardens. She is a widow, "her husband, a fisherman, went fishing shortly after the wedding and did not return, leaving her with a child under her heart." The child was born a freak: “his arms and legs were short, like the fins of a fish, his head was swollen into a huge ball ...” She worked tirelessly to feed him. And he just ate and mumbled. She was beautiful, many men were looking for her love, but the woman rejected everyone, fearing to give birth to a freak again.

One day the child got poisoned by something and died. After that, she became idle, like everyone else.

XI

The city is surrounded by a tight ring of enemies. People are exhausted by labor and hunger. A woman glimpses in the darkness, Marianne, the mother of the traitor who now leads the conquerors. Her heart is like a scale: it weighs the love for her native city and her son, but cannot understand what is easier, what is harder. In the darkness, a woman thanks the Madonna for the fact that her son fell for his native city and curses Marianne's womb, which gave birth to a traitor. Marianne leaves the city and goes to her son's camp. Realizing that she cannot convince him to save the city, where every stone remembers him, Marianna kills her son, who fell asleep on her lap, and then pierces her heart with a knife.

XII

When Guido was sixteen years old, he went fishing in the sea with his forty-year-old father. The wind hit them four kilometers from the coast. The father felt that he would not return alive and passed on all his knowledge of the sea and fish to his son while they drifted on the raging waves. They held on to the barge for a long time. Finally, they were swiftly carried to the shore, the father crashed against the black edges of the rocks. Guido was also rather crumpled, but he remained alive. And now, having lived for sixty-seven years, Guido admires his father, who, feeling the approach of death, found the strength and time to convey to him everything that he considered important.

XIII

Giuseppe Chirotta and Luigi Mata are fighting. Giuseppe says that he recognized the sweetness of the caresses of his wife Luigi. Mata's wife cannot prove her innocence, and Luigi leaves her and leaves. The good old women take the woman under their care, and bring the liar to clean water: Chirotta said this from evil. He is on trial for slander and shame for his own wife and children. The people decide that Giuseppe will pay the abandoned woman half of his earnings. Luigi, having learned about the innocence of his wife, asks her to return to him. And Chirrot, he writes a letter: if Giuseppe leaves the island for the mainland, Luigi and his three brothers will slaughter him: “Live without leaving the island until I tell you - you can!”

XIV

Over a decanter of wine, Giovanni, a big-headed, broad-shouldered guy, tells Vincenzo, a bony house painter with a dreamy smile, how he became a socialist and invites Vincenzo to write poems about it.

A company of Giovanni was sent to Bologna - the peasants were worried there. At first, the oppressed poured tiles, stones, and sticks on the soldiers. A doctor came to them with a very beautiful blonde, a noblewoman. She spoke to the doctor in French - Giovanni knew this language. The blonde condemned socialism and did not consider herself equal to people"bad blood". Upon learning what she was talking about, the soldiers gradually went over to the side of the peasants. Soldiers with flowers were escorted from the village. The peasants could teach the blonde how to appreciate honest people.

“Yes, it is very suitable for a poem!” - answers the painter.

XV

A woman appears in the garden of the hotel: "this is an old woman, very tall, dark strict face, sternly knitted eyebrows." Behind her is a hunchback with a square body. They are Dutch, brother and sister. The sister was four years older than the brother. She spent a lot of time with him since childhood. Then the hunchback began to show interest in building houses.

When the hunchback was 13 years old, his whole room was littered with drawings, bars, tools. All this rained down on her sister when she entered. One day my sister said, “You're doing it on purpose, freak! and slapped him on the cheek. The next time, the hunchback offered the girl to touch the rat trap, and she screamed wildly in pain. After that, she began to visit him not so often. "She was nineteen years old and already had a fiancé when her father and mother died at sea."

After the betrothal, the groom built a house. Once he persuaded a hunchback to go see him. When the two of them reached the upper tier of the scaffolding, they fell from there. The brother “only dislocated his leg and arm, smashed his face, and the groom broke his spine and cut his side.”

On the day of his coming of age, the hunchback announced that he would build a house outside the city for all the city freaks, then, perhaps, he would become a happy person. But the sister gave this building to the city for a psychiatric hospital, and her brother became the first patient. Seven years was enough to turn into an idiot. Seeing that “her enemy has been killed and will not rise again,” the sister took her brother into her care.

XVI

In the morning, a fat man, a man in gray whiskers, a red-haired round man with a paunch, and two ladies appear on deck: a young, plump, and an older, pointed-nosed one. They are discussing Italy: there is a lot of disgusting, disgusting coffee, and "everyone looks terribly like Jews." A man appears on deck, "in a hat of gray curly hair, with a big nose, cheerful eyes." Only a fat man answers his bow from Russians. Talking to the footman, this man praises the Russians. The fat man translates his words to his fellow citizens. The redhead remarks: “They are all amazingly ignorant in relation to us ...” - “You are praised, but you find that it is due to ignorance ...” - the fat man answers him.

The sideburner shares an idea with his compatriots: the peasants need to put up several dozen buckets of vodka at the expense of the treasury - they say they will get drunk and kill each other themselves.

“Glittering with copper, the steamer gently and quickly” approaches the shore.

XVII

A 50-year-old "faded" man sits at a table in a cafe. A broad-chested man with agate eyes, Tram, sits down next to him and greets the first, "Mr. Engineer." Trama is looking forward to the engineer's new car. It is clear from the conversation that Trama is a socialist and organizes riots. He notes that people now enjoy the achievements of famous ancestors. The older man, saying goodbye, advises Trama to study: "You would have developed an engineer with a good imagination."

XVIII

If a person does not find a piece of bread in his native land, "driven by need", he leaves for the south of America. A woman, like a homeland, attracts to herself, so many people get married before leaving. The beautiful Emilia Bracco lives in the village of Saracena. The village boys dream of her, but she keeps her honor as a married woman. The old mother-in-law offends her daughter-in-law with suspicions, and one day Emilia kills the old woman with an ax in the forest: “It is better to be a murderer than to be known as shameless when she is honest,” she tells the carabinieri. Emilia is given four years in prison.

To her fellow villager Donato Gvarnachya, his mother writes about the connection between her daughter-in-law and her father. Donato returns to his homeland, and, having found out that this is true, shoots both his father and his wife. At the trial, Donato is acquitted.

Emily is released. A spark flares up between her and Donato, and now they themselves follow the path of criminal passion, destroying the ideals in whose name they shed their blood. They think about running across the ocean.

Upon learning of this, Emilia's mother in the church inflicts two blows on the head to the praying Donato with the letter V, which means vendetta. He remains alive, and the mother is horrified by this. “Soon this woman will be judged and, of course, they will be judged heavily, but what can a blow teach a person who considers himself entitled to strike and wound?”

XIX

"Old man Giovanni Tuba betrayed the earth for the sake of the sea in his early youth." As a boy, he was attracted to the blue eye of the sea. He went fishing on weekends. “Here he is hanging on the edge of a pinkish-gray rock, lowering his bronze legs; black, big as plums, his eyes sank into the transparent greenish water; through its liquid glass they see an amazing world, better than all fairy tales.

But when he has passed eighty, he comes to live in his brother's hut. The brother's children and grandchildren are too hungry and poor to be kind. It is hard for the old man among people, and one evening he goes to the sea, prays, takes off his rags and enters the water.

XX

The ancient elder Ettore Cecco receives a postcard with the image of his sons - Arturo and Enrico. They were arrested for organizing a workers' strike. Cecco is illiterate, the inscription is in a language unknown to him. He feels uncomfortable. The wife of a familiar artist, who speaks English, answers the old man: they are in prison because they are socialists. "It's politics," she explains. With this postcard, the old man goes to the Russian signor, who is reputed to be an honest and kind person, and he says that Checco is a happy father: “they are in prison because they grew up as honest guys.”

XXI

On the night of the birth of the Baby, all people rejoice. Children run around the square, scattering crackers. At the end of the Mass, a “motley lava crowd” of people flows from the church. The manger is being carried to the old church. Children rejoice and look at the figures: what has been added since last year? They sing pagan songs and songs with a biblical story. “In the old temple, children's laughter rings more and more vividly - the best music of the earth.” People celebrate until dawn.

XXII

The main pride of the quarter of St. James is Nuncha, a vegetable seller, the best dancer and the first beauty. Foreigners offered her money, but she did not want to know strangers: Nuncha did not refuse only her own, but she never went against her desires: “you only need to do something reluctantly once, and you will lose respect for yourself forever.”

The day comes when Nunchi's daughter, Nina, is no longer inferior to her mother in beauty, but behaves modestly. "As a mother - she was proud of her daughter's beauty, as a woman - Nuncha could not help but envy her youth." Finally, Nina tells her mother that her turn has come. Enrico, who returned from Australia, likes Nina, and Nuncha plays with him, and this interferes with her daughter. Nuncha steps back from the man.

One day, Nina says to her dancing mother in front of everyone: "... this is beyond your years, it's time to spare your heart."

Nuncha offers her daughter a race: they will run three times to the fountain without rest. Mother easily defeats Nina. It's past midnight and Nuncha is still dancing. Before the last dance, she screams and falls dead.

XXIII

At night, an old fisherman and a young soldier, his nephew, are sitting on the seashore. The old man remarks to him that they loved well in the old days, and women were valued more. The fisherman tells the story of the Gagliardi family, now they bear the nickname of their grandfather - Senzamane (Armless). The middle son, Carlone, was going to marry the smart girl Julia. But the Greek hunter was also in love with the girl. Not having achieved reciprocity, he decided to get her by deceit and presented everything to people as if he had discredited Julia. Carlone believed and hit the girl in the face. Later, having learned the truth, he killed the Greek and cut off his hand: “The hand that innocently hit my beloved offended me, I cut it off ... Now I want you, Giulia, to forgive me ...” Then Carlone married on Julia, and they lived to old age.

The fisherman's nephew thinks Carlone is a stupid savage. The old man replies: “Your life in a hundred years will also seem stupid ... If only someone remembers that you lived on earth ...”

XXIV

Mother and sister escort their son and brother to Rome. The young man is a socialist. He leaves his city because of the strike. His colleague Paolo promises to take care of the mother and sister of the exile and continue their work in the city. It won't disappear, Paolo assures. “He has a good mind, a strong heart, he himself knows how to love and easily makes others love him. And love for people is, after all, those wings on which a person rises above everything ... "

XXV

On an island under a rock, strong men in rags dine. A hook-nosed, gray-haired, middle-aged man tells the story of his youth.

Andrea Grasso came to their village as a beggar, but after a few years he became a rich man. He hired the poor and treated them cruelly. Once between Grasso and the narrator there was a skirmish. He asked this evil and greedy man to leave, and Grasso poked him with a knife, but not deeply. The guy kicked the offender with his foot, "like they beat pigs." The narrator was twice unfairly imprisoned for skirmishes with Grasso. The third time the narrator came to the church. Grasso saw his enemy and was paralyzed. Grasso died seven weeks later. “And people created some kind of fairy tale about me,” the man ends his story.

XXVI

"Pepe is about ten years old, he is fragile, thin, fast, like a lizard." Some lady instructs him to take her friend a basket of apples and promises soldo. Pepe returns to her only in the evening. When he was walking through the square, the boys began to bully him, and Pepe attacked them with beautiful fruits from the garden of the respected lady.

The boy's sister, "much older, but not smarter than him," gets a job as a servant in the home of a wealthy American. Upon learning that the owner has a lot of trousers, Pepe asks his sister to bring him one. The American who found them with cut trousers wants to call the police. But Pepe answers him: “... I wouldn’t do this if I had a lot of trousers, and you didn’t have a single pair! I would give you two, perhaps - three pairs even ... ”The American laughs, treats Pepe with chocolate and gives him a franc.

XXVII

"On the moonless night of Passionate Saturday... a woman in a black cloak walks slowly." The musicians are following her. This is the procession of the last sufferings of Christ. But here ahead flashes a reflection of red fire. The woman rushes forward. Two figures appear in the square in the light of torches: "the fair-haired, familiar figure of Christ, the other - in a blue chiton - John, the beloved disciple of Jesus." A woman approaches them and throws off her hood: this is the luminous Madonna. People praise her.

The old women, although they know that Christ is a carpenter from Pisacane street, John is a watchmaker, and the Madonna is a gold embroiderer, they pray and thank the Madonna for everything.

It's getting light. People go to churches. “And we will all rise from the dead, trampling down death by death.”

In Naples, tram employees went on strike: a chain of empty cars stretched along the entire length of the Chiaia Riviera, and a crowd of carriage drivers and conductors gathered on Victory Square - all cheerful and noisy, mobile, like mercury, Neapolitans. Above their heads, over the grate of the garden, a stream of a fountain, as thin as a sword, sparkles in the air; blame the strikers. Angry words, sharp mockery are heard, hands are constantly flashing, with which the Neapolitans speak as expressively and eloquently as they do with restless language.

A light breeze blows from the sea, the huge palm trees of the city garden quietly shake their fans of dark green branches, their trunks are strangely like the clumsy legs of monstrous elephants. Boys - half-naked children of the Neapolitan streets - jump like sparrows, filling the air with sonorous cries and laughter.

The city, resembling an old engraving, is generously doused with hot sun and sings all over like an organ; the blue waves of the bay hit the stone of the embankment, echoing the murmurs and shouts with booming beats, like a tambourine buzzing.

The strikers sullenly huddle together, almost not responding to the irritated cries of the crowd, climb onto the garden fence, looking restlessly into the streets over people's heads, and resemble a pack of wolves surrounded by dogs. It is clear to everyone that these people, uniformly dressed, are firmly bound to each other by an unshakable decision that they will not give in, and this annoys the crowd even more, but there are also philosophers among it: calmly smoking, they admonish the too zealous opponents of the strike:

- Hey, sir! But what if there is not enough children for pasta?

Smartly dressed municipal police agents stand in groups of twos and threes, making sure that the crowd does not impede the movement of carriages. They are strictly neutral, with the same calmness they look at the blamed and the blamers, and good-naturedly make fun of both when gestures and shouts take on too hot a character. In case of serious clashes in a narrow street along the walls of the houses there is a detachment of carabinieri, with short and light guns in their hands. This is a rather ominous group of people in cocked hats, short raincoats, with red stripes on their trousers, like two jets of blood.

The bickering, ridicule, reproaches and exhortations—everything suddenly subsides, some new, as if reconciling spirit, sweeps over the crowd—the strikers look gloomier and, at the same time, move closer, exclamations are heard in the crowd:

- Soldiers!

A mocking and jubilant whistle is heard at the strikers, shouts of greeting are heard, and some fat man, in a light gray pair and a panama hat, begins to dance, stamping his feet on the pavement stone. The conductors and carriage drivers slowly make their way through the crowd, go to the cars, some climb onto the platforms - they have become even gloomier and, in response to the exclamations of the crowd, sternly snap, forcing them to give way. It gets quieter.

With a light dancing step, small gray soldiers walk from the embankment of Santa Lucia, rhythmically tapping their feet and mechanically monotonously waving their left arms. They seem to be made of tin and fragile, like wind-up toys. They are led by a handsome tall officer, with furrowed brows and a contemptuously twisted mouth, next to him, jumping up, runs a fat man in a top hat and tirelessly says something, cutting the air with countless gestures.

The crowd retreated from the wagons - the soldiers, like gray beads, scattered along them, stopped at the platforms, and strikers stood on the platforms.

The man in the top hat and some other respectable people who surrounded him, desperately waving their arms, shout:

– Last time… Ultima volta! Do you hear?

The officer twirls his mustache boredly, bowing his head; a man runs up to him, waving his cylinder, and hoarsely shouts something. The officer glanced sideways at him, straightened up, straightened his chest, and loud words of command were heard.

Then the soldiers began to jump onto the platform of the wagons, two on each, and at the same time the wagon drivers with the conductors poured out from there.

This seemed ridiculous to the crowd - a roar, whistling, laughter flared up, but immediately died out, and people silently, with long, gray faces, wide-eyed in astonishment, began to heavily retreat from the cars, moving towards the first with their whole mass.

And it became clear that a couple of steps from its wheels, across the rail, was lying, taking off his cap from his gray head, a wagon driver, with the face of a soldier, he was lying chest up, and his mustache menacingly sticking out into the sky. Next to him, another small, dexterous, like a monkey, young man rushed to the ground, after him, slowly, more and more people fall to the ground ...

Then the top hat, surrounded by some obsequious people, rushes towards the carabinieri - so they set off, come up, lean towards those lying on the rails, want to pick them up.

A struggle began, a fuss, but - suddenly the whole gray, dusty crowd of spectators swayed, roared, howled, poured onto the rails - the man in Panama tore off his hat from his head, threw it into the air and first lay down on the ground next to the striker, slapping him on the shoulder and shouting in his face in an encouraging voice.

And behind him they began to fall onto the rails, as if their legs had been cut off - some cheerful noisy people, people who had not been here two minutes before that moment. They threw themselves on the ground, laughing, grimacing at each other and shouting to the officer, who, shaking his gloves under the nose of a man in a top hat, said something to him, grinning, shaking his beautiful head.

And people kept pouring onto the rails, women threw their baskets and some bundles, boys lay down laughing, curling up like cold dogs, rolling from side to side, getting dirty in the dust, some decently dressed people.

The five soldiers from the platform of the first car looked down at the pile of bodies under the wheels and - laughing, rocking on their feet, holding on to the racks, throwing their heads up and arching, now - they do not look like wind-up tin toys.

... Half an hour later, all over Naples, tram cars rushed with a screech and creak, the winners stood on the platforms, grinning merrily, and they walked along the cars, politely asking:

- Billetti?

People, handing them red and yellow papers, wink, smile, grumble good-naturedly.

A blue calm lake in a deep frame of mountains winged with eternal snow, a dark lace of gardens descends to the water in lush folds, white houses look into the water from the shore, it seems that they are built of sugar, and everything around looks like a quiet dream of a child.

Morning. The smell of flowers gently flows from the mountains, the sun has just risen; dew still glistens on the leaves of trees, on the stalks of grasses. The gray ribbon of the road is thrown into a quiet gorge of the mountains, the road is paved with stone, but it seems soft, like velvet, I want to stroke it with my hand.

A worker, black as a beetle, sits near a pile of rubble, he has a medal on his chest, his face is bold and affectionate.

Putting his bronze hands on his knees, raising his head, he looks into the face of a passerby standing under a chestnut tree, saying to him:

“This, signor, is a medal for work in the Simplon Tunnel.

And, lowering his eyes to his chest, he smiles affectionately at a beautiful piece of metal.

– Eh, any work is difficult until you love it, and then it excites and becomes easier. Still, yes, it was difficult!

All these stories are imbued with admiration for the surrounding land and love for honest, hardworking people, as we all should be. “Everything can be said beautifully, but the best thing is a word about a good person...”.

1

The whole of Naples was engulfed in a strike of tram workers. They were watched indifferently by police agents. If the strike develops into unrest, a decent group of carabinieri has already gathered along the houses, ready to use their weapons.

One word instantly spread throughout the crowd. Soldiers. They were sent to replace the carriage drivers. The strikers despondently jumped off the wagons, which were immediately climbed into by the military.

And then an old worker suddenly lay down on the rails. The rest of the people followed him, even those who had nothing to do with the strike. The workers won, and on that day, all the passengers somehow joyfully paid their fares in a special way.

2

A crowd of people had gathered at the station square in Genoa. They all met a train carrying children from Parma, a city in the grip of strikes.

The children who arrived were ill-dressed, tattered and tired, but they rejoiced at the roar of the crowd and the orchestra playing in their honour.

Adults began to put bread in the children, took them to their house to stay. In a short time, all the children were taken apart, and hundreds of heels of expensive or cheap shoes clattered on the pavement, leading the children away. Only crumpled flowers, candy papers and a few people remained on the square.

3

Dull, hot afternoon. The sun warmed up the bright elegant city, piercing its stone pavement. The cannon announced the time for dinner, and after the shot, the smells of oil, garlic and wine became more clearly audible in the air.

Dusty people run to dine, some of them throw themselves into the warm waters of the gentle sea. Four bridgemen are sitting on the road, and an old man gives them bread, cutting off even pieces from a loaf. The boy brought a bottle of wine and a large dish for them. Wine was immediately poured into the dish. A girl passing by with her mother threw a handful of flower petals into the wine, but the bridgemen scooped up the wine with petals, saying that "the gift of a child is a gift of God."

4

Next to a pile of rubble sat a black worker with a medal on his chest. He said that he got it for his work on the construction of the tunnel. It was a difficult task to drill a tunnel in the depths of the mountain, connecting the two countries. But he believed that "a man, when he wants to work, is an invincible force." Hundreds of people crashed into the mountains, breathing hot air, colliding with gushing hot springs. Some went crazy, some died.

The worker's father also fell ill, saying that this is how the mountain punishes me for interfering. But if, nevertheless, the tunnel is broken through and there is a meeting with a group of workers coming from the other side, then let the son come to his grave and tell about it.

When the meeting took place, people wept and kissed the ground. And the worker came to his father's grave and kept his promise.

5

The young musician told what kind of music he wants to write. This music is about a boy going to a big city, red-hot, destroyed. This is a "place of tireless battle for happiness" that bleeds. The boy walks towards him along the road, as if led by someone's hand. The sky is drowned in dark clouds, there are no stars or shadows. In the silence of the coming evening, the light footsteps of the traveler are barely audible.

And after the boy comes the night, covering the distance from which he came with the darkness of oblivion. The dusk destroys houses, trees and pipes, but the boy is in no hurry, as if he knows that he will definitely bring something necessary to the city. And the night gently pushes him in the back, because the time has come and everyone is waiting for his appearance.

6

It was noon. Two fishermen, an old man and a young man, were sitting in the stones near the sea. The young man told how he met a rich American woman, beautiful, but not knowing the local language. They rode the boat until morning. At first, the young man dreamed of how the girl would love him, take him to her country, where he would love her as much as she wanted. And then she will give him money for a boat, gear and land, and he will return to live in abundance in his land.

The young man was thoughtful, and the old man teased him with the remark that true love is sudden and does not need to know the language at all. And then the young man admitted that in the morning he left thoughts about money, and began to dream of getting this girl at least for one night.

7

At the station, an ancient one-eyed old man was brought into a compartment. He said that he had 13 sons and he was going to one of them for a wedding. And he told how he met his wife.

When the father died, everything was taken for debts and the family was left impoverished. The old man worked hard and met a girl who also had nothing. They were going to get married, everyone condemned them. On the first night, the couple decided to spend the night in a field.

But the old neighbor gave them an old sheepshed, the carpenter gave them a bed, the shopkeeper gave them linen and pillows. People carried wine and food. The wedding ended up being fun and dignified.

8

A gray-haired man with a young woman stood out in the bright colors of the Sunday city. He, too, was not old, and his sad face contrasted with the joyful appearance of the inhabitants.

He was a socialist, a newspaper editor and a simple worker. As a propagandist, he led explanatory work against the church in circles. Once he met a girl who turned out to be a worthy opponent and their disputes lasted almost a year. But he noticed how stories about the “shameful modernity” and the plight of people evoke a response in it.

This served as an occasion to get closer, and soon they fell in love with each other. But the girl agreed to marry only if they got married in a church. So a new confrontation arose.

Once she fell ill and, dying, admitted that her faith was the fear of the incomprehensible.

9

For fifty years Tamerlane conquered the earth, killing and devastating, full of evil and longing for his dead son. He did not know pity and did not bow to anything.

Only before the Mother did he bow. Having overcome the sea, mountains and rivers, she came to the leader with a demand to give her son, who was stolen by pirates a few years ago. And now Tamerlane has defeated Bayazet, the leader of the pirates.

Then the leader ordered the best riders to find and bring the woman's son. Rising, he bowed to her, who cast aside fear in the name of great love.

10

The child is the happiness of the mother. Widowed almost immediately after the wedding, one woman was looking forward to the appearance of her son. But when he was born, she was embarrassed to go out and show him to her neighbors. The child was born deformed.

Out of pity, they knocked together a box, softly covered its bottom, and put the boy there. The freak grew up and knew only one feeling - hunger. As if into a bottomless abyss, everything that his mother earned flew into his mouth. When there was no food, he began to mumble.

Through the fence, people saw a freak, and, horrified, looked away. Somehow foreigners saw him. The woman heard and remembered their words and asked a friend to translate. The foreigners said that Italy was dying out.

The next day, the freak ate something and died.

11

The city has been under siege for a long time. People were doomed to the superior force of the enemy.

In the night, sometimes, the figure of a woman who was passed around like a leper flickered. She was the mother of the warrior who led the siege, the mother of the traitor. Once she saw a woman crying over the body of her son and cursing the enemies and the one who gave birth to their leader. Until that time, a sense of duty to her native city did not allow her to leave. Now she has made up her mind.

The son was glad that his mother had changed her mind, and decided to destroy the city tomorrow.

When he fell asleep, his mother stabbed him. Saying that this was her payment as a person, she stabbed herself to death, calling it payment for the name of her mother.

12

An old fisherman sat on the seashore and recalled the past. When he was 16, he and his father swam into the sea. The light coastal wind turned into a real snowstorm, the flimsy boat staggered and there was no way to land on the shore. The father said that he would not return to earth and began to teach his son the wisdom of fishermen and how to live. The main thing is to treat everyone as equals and not think about people worse than they are. And also to believe that all good things come from a person.

The barge was overturned and carried to the reefs. The son escaped, but the father crashed on the coastal rocks. He carried his words through life.

13

The driver Giuseppe insulted his colleague Luigi by claiming that he had seduced his wife. No one could prove otherwise, and Luigi left, leaving his wife and child.

The women did not believe the brawler's words and decided to help. Approaching the cab, they began to ask how it all happened. Giuseppe said that it was early evening. Then they asked him what the body of Luigi's wife looked like, but he did not find an answer.

Everyone understood Giuseppe's deceit and wanted to drive him out of the commune, depriving him of his land. But then they changed the punishment to a monthly cash payment in the form of half of Luigi's earnings for his family.

But this was not necessary - having learned about the honesty of his wife, Luigi took her away, warning Giuseppe that he would be stabbed if he ever left the island.

14

The painter Vincenzo and the locksmith Giovanni were talking over a decanter of wine. The painter told how, as a soldier, he was sent to Bologna to put down a rebellion. The demands of the peasants seemed to him inappropriate, because they introduced landowners into spending.

People did not like the soldiers either, and tiles, branches, and stones often fell on the soldiers. There were always wounded in the hospital. Got there and Vincenzo.

One day he heard a lady discussing soldiers with the doctor, calling them half-animals, fit only to subdue such animals with bad blood.

Vincenzo told his comrade what he had heard, and by evening all the soldiers knew these words. And the soldiers became deaf and blind to the actions of the peasants, allowing them to win.

When the detachment left, they showered it with flowers.

15

A rich old woman came out onto the terrace of the hotel, followed by an ugly hunchback in expensive jewelry.

They were brother and sister. From an early age, the girl declared that in their family there should be either smart or beautiful. My brother was only interested in construction. Then the sister decided that he would become an architect. But since the boy was ugly, he should not receive ordinary education, so as not to disgrace the family. So he studied at home.

When the parents died, the brother decided to build a house outside the city at his own expense and bring all the freaks there and live with them. My sister thought it was a stupid waste of money. When the house was almost finished, she declared her brother crazy. He became the first guest of the new house, from which the sister made a psychiatric hospital. For seven years, he turned into an idiot there.

16

A company of Russian aristocrats was sitting on the ship. They resented everything around them, the dirt and the similarity of local residents with Jews. Even the merry dolphins looked like pigs to them.

A gray-haired Italian came on deck. Only one of the Russians answered his bow. The Italian began to talk with two acquaintances. The Russians were eavesdropping, one of them was translating. The aristocracy believed that the local language is poor, therefore it is supplemented with gestures. But their "expert" of the language could not translate the third part correctly, thinking out everything else.

17

The engineer and the socialist Trama met at a cafe table. The engineer believed that Trama should study, because his brain works great. But he was also an idealist, believing in strange ideas of universal equality.

The engineer refused the offer to become a socialist, because he preferred his own workshop with smart workers, such as Trama. And he did not believe in the promises of a brighter future.

And so the two stubborn people parted ways. One did not want to become an idealist, the other wanted to learn the wrong thing, preferring propaganda work.

18

Sometimes a hard life separates families, and people leave in search of work. The beautiful Emilia's husband left for America. The beauty of a woman attracted many to her, but she did not cross the boundaries of decency. The mother-in-law watched every step of the daughter-in-law, inventing all sorts of abominations and telling everyone in a row.

Once she promised to write to her son about the shamelessness of his wife. But she was not to blame, because she cut down the old woman in the forest, preferring to be a murderer than a stipulated shamelessness. The woman was acquitted.

Another resident learned that his wife was seduced by his father. Despite the fact that the father took the woman by force, the man killed them both. And he was also justified.

The two killers began to meet and were about to run away together. Their act was contrary to past deeds, so Emilia's mother hit her daughter's lover with an ax. He did not die, but the woman was convicted.

19

Old Tuba was in love with the sea since childhood. He mined corals by casting his net to the very bottom and looking with interest at the colorful life caught along with the precious rose branches. He could talk about what he saw for hours.

Time passed, years melted in changeable water. Tuba became eighty years old, and now he, sick, could no longer fish for his large family. Then he entered the house, but the poor relatives seemed to be watching every piece of bread that he ate.

One morning the old man was able to slide down the mountain to the seashore. Throwing off his rags, he swam on his back into the distance and never returned.

20

Old Cecco once again looked at the letter with the postcard. On the cardboard were his sons and an incomprehensible inscription in English. Anticipating something was wrong, he went to the people. The artist's wife said that the guys were arrested for political reasons. They were socialists. Then the old man went to the priest, and he spoke negatively about the socialists.

And then he came to a dying Russian, and he said that the old man could die in peace: when the Madonna asked him about the children, he could say that they "understood well main commandment her son: they love their neighbors with a living love.” The sons were arrested as fighters for the interests of the workers who had achieved a wage increase for them.

21

Christmas starts at midnight. Children run around, setting off fireworks, and the night sky is lit up with lights. Sometimes some joker launches a joker around the square, and then she chases sedate men, and they run away, dancing funny and losing their importance. This day is the only one when no one will scold children because of tricks.

The birth of Christ is greeted by the hum of the organ, accompanied by the roar of the waves crashing on the shore. Children carry a small doll of the Madonna to an old abandoned church. Here everything is ready for the holiday - a manger, figurines, candles are lit and adults are standing around. Everything around is filled with songs, children's laughter, lights. The holiday will last until dawn.

22

The quarter had two prides - the fountain and Nuncha, a beautiful, cheerful vegetable vendor. At 23, she was left a widow with a daughter in her arms. But even then the woman did not lose heart, and her laughter and kind heart attracted many men. She could make a lot of money, but she respected her body too much to sell it, so she did everything, guided by sympathy. The daughter blossomed, eclipsing her mother with beauty. She also began to like the attention of men. Somehow, out of rivalry, she hooked her mother, saying that it was harmful for her to dance so much because of her age. She was offended and offered to run three times to the fountain and back. My daughter was able to run twice.

Nuncha laughed and danced until midnight. And during the last dance, she died of a broken heart.

23

At night, an old fisherman and a soldier were sitting on the seashore. The old man told how many years ago a family of Greeks lived on the mountain, and the richest people were Gagliardi. Once Carlone Gagliardi fell in love with Giulia, the daughter of a blacksmith. But the choice of the son of the Greek fell on her. Competing, he slandered the girl, promising to marry her in front of everyone. Carlone was a witness to this. With one hand he hit the bride, with the other he began to choke the Greek.

But the truth is coming out. For Christmas, Giulia's family received a basket of pine cones as a gift, in which lay Carlone's hand, the one with which he hit the bride. He killed the deceiver and, having served his sentence in prison, married the chosen one.

24

Three people entered the night city - a young man with a girl and their mother. The guy accompanied his relatives to his brother. They were both socialists and now their paths were to go to different cities. They were not afraid of parting, because "when a person carries in his heart a word that unites the world, he will find people everywhere who can appreciate it ...". Mother rejoiced at the meeting and saw how dozens of people respect and love her second son. And she believed that with such people a better life would soon come.

25

A team of quarries settled down for lunch, and one of them told about Andrea Grasso. He came to their village as a beggar, but in a short time he became rich. Grasso valued people less than animals, which seemed offensive to the narrator and his friend Luchino. They once met Andrea in a vacant lot and asked to be more polite. But Luchino was in debt to this rich man, and since then it has become worse for them to live.

The narrator was alone, therefore he was not afraid to speak out against Grasso. But he hit him with a knife, and then he was knocked down and the narrator kicked him. He spent almost two years in prison for this. When he returned, he again went to Andrea. He fired a shot, and in the fight broke his arm. The man was imprisoned again, already for 4 years.

But he returned to the village again. Seeing the enemy, Grasso began to shout, and immediately he was paralyzed. Soon he died.

26

Little Pepe loved to look around. Once, the signora promised him a coin for taking a basket of apples. The boy returned in the evening and told how the boys wanted to take away the apples, but he began to throw them over them. Those apples that did not break, they ate when they reconciled. He wondered why the hostess did not give him the promised coin.

And he also begged his sister, a former maid for a rich American, to take trousers from him for him. Having cut it with scissors, he adjusted them to fit himself and did not understand why the American was angry - because if he had so many things, he would give him three trousers.

The adults shook their heads and said that Pepe would either grow up to be an anarchist or a poet.

27

On the night before Easter, people gather in the square. Particularly prominent are the figures depicting the risen Christ and his disciple John. A strange dark figure in a cloak also attracts everyone's eyes.

Accompanied by the orchestra, she approaches Christ and throws off her cloak. Now everyone can see that this is the Madonna, and dozens of white doves are flying from under her cloak. This picture is so exciting that people sing songs, some pray. And everyone believes in their own resurrection.