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Tolstoy's original fairy tales are perfect for family reading. The list includes works that are interesting to preschoolers, demanding teenagers and very adult readers. The tales are bright, kind, truly brilliant, like all the works of this outstanding literary figure.

Leo Tolstoy: fairy tales and other works for children

The writer's pen belongs to huge amount works. From the variety of genres in which the great master of words worked, Tolstoy’s original fairy tales can be distinguished into a special group.

Their appearance cannot be called accidental. The writer was very seriously interested folk art. He communicated with storytellers, peasants, and other ordinary people who were experts. From their words, he wrote down proverbs, sayings, folk signs and other works of folklore. This is how Tolstoy’s fairy tales appeared in manuscripts, and later adaptations of Tolstoy’s fairy tales were published. The list of such works is quite large - “The Three Bears”, “The Wolf and the Goat”, “The Waterman and the Pearl”, “The Squirrel and the Wolf”, “The Woman and the Hen” and several dozen other short instructive stories are part of the writer’s legacy. The language of Tolstoy's fairy tales is distinguished by expressiveness and extreme clarity of presentation, which is very important for the consciousness of the young reader. The moral teachings that are necessarily present in fairy tales are very short and precise. This helps the child fully understand and remember the idea of ​​the work.

Pedagogical activity of the writer

The eventful biography of Lev Nikolaevich Tolstoy highlights the period when he actively worked in the field of teaching and raising children. This dates back to 1871, when schools for peasant children were created, and work began on creating books to teach schoolchildren to read. His ABC was published in 1872. Along with other works, the content of the books also includes Tolstoy’s original fairy tales.

In 1874, the article “On Public Education” was published, and a year later “The New Alphabet” and four volumes of “Russian Books for Reading” were published. The table of contents of these collections again contains a list of Tolstoy's fairy tales. Author's and processed folk tales, stories, were, parables introduce readers to the life of peasants and ordinary people. The list of works included in the collections is very large. The most famous are the following: “Swans”, “Kitten”, “Hares”, “The Tsar and the Shirt”, “The Righteous Judge”, “The Girl and the Thieves”, “Reward”, “The Lion and the Dog”, and others. Together with the books of Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky, the collections of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy for a long time were the only books used to teach children to read. Their popularity was so high that they went through over thirty editions. The textbooks were sold in millions of copies throughout all the provinces of Russia.

Publishing house "Posrednik"

In 1884, Leo Tolstoy, obsessed with the idea of ​​enlightening the common people, conceived the idea of ​​opening a special publishing house where works would be published for public reading. The innovative idea was brought to life. The publishing house began to operate and was named "Intermediary".

The author's fairy tales by Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich were written especially for this project - “Two Brothers and Gold”, “How Much Land Does a Man Need”, “Ilyas”, “The Tale of Ivan the Fool”, “Where there is Love, There is God”, “If You Miss you can’t put out the fire”, “Two Old Men”, “Candle” and many others. As you can see, the list is not limited to fairy tales, it includes fables, stories, and parables.

The writer's attitude towards children's literature

The author's fairy tales of Tolstoy Lev Nikolaevich to this day are an example of fiction not only in Russia, but throughout the world. First of all, this became possible thanks to the unique talent of the writer.

But one should not lose sight of the fact that Tolstoy treated the writing of works; he wrote, thinking about every word. Often he had to rewrite them several times. After all, any of his stories, in addition to describing some events or facts from life, also contained a moral and was of an educational nature. The result of the writer’s painstaking work was the appearance of a whole library of works for children, through the reading of which hard work, kindness, courage, honesty and other positive qualities of a small person are brought up.

Leo Tolstoy - an expert on the human soul

Analyzing the content and list of Tolstoy's fairy tales (the author's and folk works retold by him), it is not difficult to conclude that the writer created them taking into account his knowledge of the characteristics. Unobtrusively, correctly, he models the behavior of a small citizen, and gives competent advice to an adult on raising a child. The simple simple stories described in his works always end in such a way that a person wants to express own attitude to the heroes and their actions. It is not difficult for the author to draw his own conclusion, but he deliberately attracts the reader to this work, who to some extent becomes a co-author of the great master of the Russian word.

There were brother and sister - Vasya and Katya; and they had a cat. In the spring the cat disappeared. The children looked for her everywhere, but could not find her. One day they were playing near the barn and heard something meowing overhead in thin voices. Vasya climbed the ladder under the roof of the barn. And Katya stood below and kept asking:

- Did you find it? Did you find it?

But Vasya did not answer her. Finally Vasya shouted to her:

- Found it! Our cat... And she has kittens; so wonderful; come here quickly.

Katya ran home, took out milk and brought it to the cat.

There were five kittens. When they grew a little and began to crawl out from under the corner where they had hatched, the children chose one kitten, gray with white paws, and brought it into the house. The mother gave away all the other kittens, but left this one to the children. The children fed him, played with him and put him to bed with them.

One day the children went to play on the road and took a kitten with them.

The wind moved the straw along the road, and the kitten played with the straw, and the children rejoiced at him. Then they found sorrel near the road, went to collect it and forgot about the kitten. Suddenly they heard someone shouting loudly: “Back, back!” - and they saw that the hunter was galloping, and in front of him two dogs saw a kitten and wanted to grab it. And the kitten, stupid, instead of running, sat down to the ground, hunched its back and looked at the dogs.

Katya was scared of the dogs, screamed and ran away from them. And Vasya, as best he could, ran towards the kitten and at the same time as the dogs ran up to him. The dogs wanted to grab the kitten, but Vasya fell with his stomach on the kitten and blocked it from the dogs.

The hunter galloped up and drove the dogs away; and Vasya brought the kitten home and never took it with him to the field again.

When I was six years old, I asked my mother to let me sew.

She said:

“You’re still young, you’ll only prick your fingers.”

And I kept pestering. Mother took a red piece of paper from the chest and gave it to me; then she threaded a red thread into the needle and showed me how to hold it. I began to sew, but I couldn’t make even stitches: one stitch came out large, and the other hit the very edge and broke through. Then I pricked my finger and tried not to cry, but my mother asked me:

- What you?

I couldn’t help but cry. Then my mother told me to go play.

When I went to bed, I kept imagining stitches; I kept thinking about how I could quickly learn to sew, and it seemed so difficult to me that I would never learn.

And now I’ve grown up and don’t remember how I learned to sew; and when I teach my girl to sew, I’m surprised how she can’t hold a needle.

Two girls were walking home with mushrooms.

They had to cross the railway.

They thought that car far away, we climbed down the embankment and walked across the rails.

Suddenly a car made noise. The older girl ran back, and the younger girl ran across the road.

The older girl shouted to her sister:

- Don't go back!

But the car was so close and made such a loud noise that the smaller girl did not hear; she thought that she was being told to run back. She ran back across the rails, tripped, dropped the mushrooms and began to pick them up.

The car was already close, and the driver whistled as hard as he could.

The older girl shouted:

- Throw the mushrooms!

And the little girl thought that she was being told to pick mushrooms, and crawled along the road.

The driver could not hold the cars. She whistled as hard as she could and ran into the girl.

The older girl screamed and cried. All the passengers looked from the windows of the cars, and the conductor ran to the end of the train to see what had happened to the girl.

When the train passed, everyone saw that the girl was lying head down between the rails and not moving.

Then, when the train had already moved far, the girl raised her head, jumped on her knees, picked mushrooms and ran to her sister.

The priest was getting ready for the city, and I told him:

- Dad, take me with you.

And he says:

- You'll freeze there; where are you...

I turned around, cried and went into the closet. I cried and cried and fell asleep.

And I saw in a dream that there was a small path from our village to the chapel, and I saw that my father was walking along this path. I caught up with him, and we went together to the city. I walk and see a stove burning ahead. I say: “Dad, is this a city?” And he says: “He’s the one.” Then we reached the stove, and I saw that they were baking rolls there. I say: “Buy me a roll.” He bought it and gave it to me.

Then I woke up, got up, put on my shoes, took my mittens and went outside. Guys are riding on the street ice rinks and on a sled. I began to ride with them and rode until I was cold.

As soon as I returned and climbed onto the stove, I heard that my dad had returned from the city. I was delighted, jumped up and said:

- Dad, did you buy me a roll?

He says:

“I bought it,” and gave me a roll.

I jumped from the stove onto the bench and began to dance with joy.

It was Seryozha’s birthday, and they gave him many different gifts: tops, horses, and pictures. But the most valuable gift of all was Uncle Seryozha’s gift of a net to catch birds. The mesh is made in such a way that a board is attached to the frame, and the mesh is folded back. Place the seed on a board and place it in the yard. A bird will fly in, sit on the board, the board will turn up, and the net will slam shut on its own. Seryozha was delighted and ran to his mother to show the net.

Mother says:

- Not a good toy. What do you need birds for? Why are you going to torture them?

- I'll put them in cages. They will sing and I will feed them.

Seryozha took out a seed, sprinkled it on a board and placed the net in the garden. And still he stood there, waiting for the birds to fly. But the birds were afraid of him and did not fly to the net. Seryozha went to lunch and left the net. I looked after lunch, the net had slammed shut and a bird was fluttering under the net. Seryozha was delighted, caught the bird and took it home.

- Mother! Look, I caught a bird, it’s probably a nightingale!.. And how his heart beats!

Mother said:

- This is a siskin. Look, don’t torment him, but rather let him go.

- No, I will feed and water him.

Seryozha put the siskin in a cage and for two days he poured seed into it, and put water in it, and cleaned the cage. On the third day he forgot about the siskin and did not change its water. His mother says to him:

- You see, you forgot about your bird, it’s better to let it go.

- No, I won’t forget, I’ll put some water on now and clean the cage.

Seryozha put his hand into the cage and began to clean it, but the little siskin got scared and hit the cage. Seryozha cleaned the cage and went to get water. His mother saw that he forgot to close the cage and shouted to him:

- Seryozha, close the cage, otherwise your bird will fly out and kill itself!

Before she had time to speak, the little siskin found the door, was delighted, spread its wings and flew through the room to the window. Yes, I didn’t see the glass, I hit the glass and fell on the windowsill.

Seryozha came running, took the bird, and carried it into the cage. Siskin was still alive; but lay on his chest, his wings spread, and breathing heavily. Seryozha looked and looked and began to cry.

- Mother! What should I do now?

“There’s nothing you can do now.”

Seryozha did not leave the cage all day and kept looking at the little siskin, and the little siskin still lay on his chest and breathed heavily and rapidly. When Seryozha went to bed, the little siskin was still alive. Seryozha could not fall asleep for a long time. Every time he closed his eyes, he imagined the little siskin lying and breathing. In the morning, when Seryozha approached the cage, he saw that the siskin was already lying on its back, curled its paws and stiffened.

All kids like to read Tolstoy's bedtime stories. It is at this time, before bed, that children want something good and fabulous, to find themselves in a completely different world, where magic and celebration reign. Children need fairy tales. These are their little steps into adult life, which bright stories are very helpful in learning. Moreover, it is in this form that children are best taught morality, life principles and good. This is a very important process in shaping their personality. Therefore, the presence of fairy tales in childhood is simply necessary.

We offer you Tolstoy's fairy tales, which are perfect for reading to children at night, or in other free time. Leo Tolstoy made a huge contribution to children's literature by writing such original masterpieces. This writer tried very hard to make the stories so exciting and educational that children would not only find it interesting, but also remain pleasant impressions after reading.

Plunging into a serene world, without unsolvable problems, will be interesting not only for young readers, but also for adults along with them. Tolstoy's fairy tales for children are filled with instructive stories, exciting plots, funny but visual characters, as well as bright representatives of good and evil. The writer tried very hard to fit everything beautiful into these small works, which show the reality of that time, but in a fairy-tale form and with a ray of hope.

Among the huge list of wonderful works there is also the famous “Golden Key” - everyone’s favorite fairy tale that cannot leave anyone indifferent. The difficult adventures of Pinocchio and his current circumstances make you deeply empathize with the hero in your imagination. The help of his true friends and the happy ending show the victory of good. This tale remains a priority for the most impressive.

Also on the list is “Magpie Tales,” which consist of many short and long stories about various animals, people, good, evil, victories and defeats. They are filled with instructive meaning and will be very interesting to children. There are many other, no less interesting fairy tales by Tolstoy, which you can read on our website.

You can choose for your child any suitable work by this author that he likes, and go with him into a world filled with goodness and miracles.

You can find fairy tales for every taste and with any plot in this section of our website andfor freeRead them to your child any time. Hopefully reading fairy talesonlineIt will bring you and your children nothing but pleasure.