: A hunter is waiting for a thunderstorm near a forester, whom the neighboring men are afraid of. With him, the forester releases the poacher - a man dying of hunger, and the hunter realizes that the forester is actually a kind person.
The original narration is on behalf of the narrator. The division of the retelling into chapters is conditional.
The narrator gets acquainted with Biryuk
In the evening, the narrator returned from a hunt for tremors - a two-seater open carriage, followed by a tired dog.
The narrator is a hunter with a dog; his name is not mentioned in the story
A strong thunderstorm caught him on the road. Hiding from the rain under a thick bush, he waited for the end of bad weather when, with a flash of lightning, he saw a tall figure on the road.
It turned out to be a local forester. He drove the hunter into his house - a small hut in the middle of a vast courtyard surrounded by wattle fence.
House and family Biryuk
The hut of Biryuk consisted of one room, in the middle of it hung a cradle with a baby, which was shaken by a barefoot girl of about twelve. The hunter realized that there was no mistress in the hut. From all angles poverty looked.
I looked around - my heart ached: it’s not fun to enter the peasant’s hut at night.
The forester was tall, shoulder-length and well-built, his stern and courageous face was overgrown with a beard, small brown eyes boldly looked out from beneath his wide eyebrows. For gloominess and indulgence, the neighboring peasants called the forester Biryuk and feared like fire.
Biryuk (Thomas Kuzmich) - forester, tall strong man with a black beard, severe, thunderstorm poachers
Even the bundles of brushwood could not be taken out of his forest, and it was impossible to bribe a forester, and it was not easy to squeeze from the light.
The hunter asked where his wife had died. Biryuk answered with a cruel smile that she had abandoned the children and fled with a passing city dweller. There was nothing to treat the guest to the forester - there was nothing in the house but bread.
Biryuk catches a poacher
Meanwhile, the storm has ended. Going out into the courtyard, Biryuk heard the distant knock of an ax, took his gun and, together with the hunter, went to the place where the forest was cut.
At the end of the journey, the hunter fell behind and only managed to hear the sounds of the struggle and a mournful cry. He quickened his pace and soon saw a felled tree, near which the forester tied his hands to the poacher: he cut down the tree without the permission of the master.
Poacher - a poor man in rags, with a long disheveled beard
The hunter said he would pay for the tree, and asked to let the unfortunate go. Biryuk said nothing.
Biryuk releases a poacher
It rained again. Biryuk, a hunter and a captive poacher hardly got to the forester's hut. Seeing by the light of the lantern the drunken, wrinkled face and thin body of the thief, the hunter promised himself to free the unfortunate person by all means. He began to ask Biryuk to let him go, complained of poverty, hunger and a greedy clerk who ruined the men, but the forester did not agree.
Suddenly the poor man straightened up, blushed with anger and began to scold Biryuk.
Well, eat, eat, choke on, - he began, squinting his eyes and lowering the corners of his lips, - on, a murderer cursed: drink Christian blood, drink ...
Biryuk got up from the bench and stepped to the poor man.The hunter prepared to defend him, but then the forester grabbed the man, freed his hands in one motion, clutched his hat on his head and pushed him out of the hut, ordering him to go to hell and not get caught another time. The astonished hunter realized that in fact Biryuk is a glorious fellow.
The forester brought the hunter out of the forest and after half an hour said goodbye to him at the edge of the forest.
