A stingy person is a generous person. Miser and stingy. Meaning of the word "stingy"

After this night, the vizier’s daughter told many more tales to the padishah, and he lived with her for a long time and stopped killing girls.

Stingy and generous

Once upon a time there were two people: one of them was stingy, and the other was generous. Having become friends, they went out on the road together. Each of them had a churek. And on the way they both got hungry. Then the stingy one said to the generous one:

“Let’s eat your churek first, and then, when we get hungry, we’ll eat mine.”

Generous agreed to this. After eating the churek, they walked some distance and became hungry again. And so the generous man said to the stingy one:

- Let's eat your churek now.

But he answered:

– I can’t give it away; If we eat my churek, I will then die of hunger.

And then at night he saw that a bear, a wolf and a fox had come to the mill. The fox and the bear were very cheerful, but the wolf was very sad. After they had talked for some time, the bear asked the fox:

- Little fox-sister, why are you so happy?

The fox replied:

- Why shouldn’t I be happy? On the outskirts of such and such a village grows big tree, and under this tree there is a treasure. When necessary, I go, take jewelry from this treasure and spend it. Now tell me why you are happy?

The bear replied:

“Here on the outskirts of that forest, which is located on the mountain, a thick oak tree grows. The inside of this tree is eaten away by worms and full of honey. As soon as I get hungry, I go and eat my fill of this honey.

After this they asked the wolf:

- Brother wolf, why are you so sad?

The wolf replied:

- How can I not be sad: I’ve been hungry for three days now. A herd is grazing on the outskirts of the village. But the herd is guarded by a huge dog. He walks around the herd all night until morning. And because of him I cannot carry away a single ram. The strange thing is that there is no one who would kill this dog. Meanwhile, anyone who killed her would have received great benefit, for the king has a daughter who has been sick for a long time, and all the doctors are powerless to help her. And if someone kills this dog and another black ram from this very herd and, mixing their brains, gives them to the king’s daughter to eat, then she will immediately recover. The king made a vow to marry his daughter to the one who would cure her. But the fact is that among people there is no person who would understand this and save me from this sadness, that is, from hunger.

The generous man heard every single word. And when in the morning the animals left, he, leaving the mill, went to look for the king and, having found him, let him know that he could cure his daughter. Rejoicing at this, the king summoned a generous man. The latter declared that if the king remained true to his promise, then he, a generous man, would heal his daughter. The king agreed. Immediately the generous man went to the herd, and the owner of the herd brought to him that same dog and a black ram. Having killed them both and mixed their brains, he gave them to the king's daughter to eat. And she was immediately healed. And at that very hour the king arranged a wedding and married his daughter to a generous man. After this, the generous man found a treasure, jewelry and honey and, bringing them to the king’s daughter, began to lead a life full of pleasures.

After some time, a stingy man arrived in the same city.

Seeing that his comrade had achieved such a high position, he asked him how he achieved this. The generous man replied:

- In such and such a place there is a mill. Go, spend one night in this mill, and then you will know how I reached this position.

Hearing these words, the stingy man went and, finding that very mill, hid in the corner at night. And then he saw that a bear, a wolf and a fox had come here. The bear and the fox were very sad, but the wolf was cheerful. When the bear asked the fox the reason for her sadness, the fox said that her treasure had been taken away. The bear said that the oak tree had been cut down and the honey that was in it had also been taken away. When after this they asked the wolf what he was happy about, he answered: “The dog was killed and the king’s daughter was cured with its brain, now every day I freely take one ram from the herd and eat it with pleasure.”

Then the fox said:

– Otherwise, who could find out our secret? - answered the bear.

“In that case, let’s search the mill,” said all three and began to search the mill; They found the stingy one and tore him into pieces. Low people always comes to this end.

Lazy Ahmed

One padishah had three daughters. One day he wanted to visit his daughters. First, the padishah told his eldest daughter that he and all the viziers would stay with her. The eldest daughter prepared all sorts of food, rooms, and put everything in order. The padishah and the viziers ate, drank, and before leaving the padishah asked his daughter:

-Where do you get so much wealth?

The daughter replied:

- It's all from your wealth.

The Padishah liked this very much and said:

- Thank you, my daughter!

The next day he informed his middle daughter that tomorrow evening he would be visiting her with the viziers. She also put everything in order. When the padishah and the viziers ate and drank, the padishah asked his daughter before leaving:

-Where did you get your wealth?

She also replied:

- This is from your wealth.

Padishah said:

- Thank you, my daughter!

The youngest daughter found out about this, but when she, in turn, received the notification, she did not prepare, like her older sisters, did not decorate the rooms, and when the padishah came with the viziers, they ate what she had. Before leaving, the king asked:

-Where did you get your wealth from?

She replied:

- God gave all this to me.

- What do you mean, God gave? You eat and live on my means, but you say that God gave it to you!

The daughter said:

- And God gave it to you too! If God had not given it to you, there would have been nothing for me to eat either.

It was morning. The padishah wanted to cut off the head of his youngest daughter. The viziers begged not to do this, saying: “She’s your daughter! Between the padishahs your name will be eclipsed and lose its greatness." The veziers said that it was better to marry the youngest daughter to a poor man so that she would die of hunger. The padishah agreed. They found one poor man in the city who was sitting by the road, his name was lazy Ahmed. Ahmed had an old mother , and they lived in a small hut. He was so lazy that he ate only when passersby put some food in his mouth; if they did not, he remained hungry.

The youngest daughter was married to him. When she came to the lazy man in the evening, he perked up. In the morning the girl gave him a ruble; Ahmed took the ruble and went to the market, where he met a merchant. The merchant asked him:

-Ahmed, where are you coming from?

He said:

– The padishah gave his daughter in marriage to me; she gave me a ruble and told me to go to the market and buy what I needed, but on the condition not to change the ruble. Now I'm at a loss, I don't know what to do!

The merchant told him:

“Come to me, you will work for me, take care of my mules, and I will give you money.”

Ahmed went and cleaned out the stables and mules. Even before evening came, the merchant came and said to him:

“Come tomorrow and make mud from this sand and cover the roof with it.”

Ahmed did all this and fulfilled all the other orders of the merchant. The merchant gave him a large plate of pilaf and bread, various things and money. Thus he worked for several days near the city.

One day a merchant said to him:

“I’m going to a distant city and I want to take you with me.”

Ahmed replied:

– I have to talk to my wife; If she agrees, I'll go.

He went to his wife. The wife agreed. While they were on the road, they had no water. On the way they came across a well, they lowered a bucket with a rope into it, but the bucket was empty. The merchant said:

“Someone will have to go down into the well, there’s someone there who won’t give us water.”

Ahmed had to go down. The merchant tied a rope around him and he went down into the well. Ahmed saw a diva sitting there; he asked the diva:

- Why don’t you give us water?

Div replied:

- Give me sakiz, and I’ll give you water.

Ahmed was pulled out of the well. A piece of sakiz was found in the caravan; Ahmed came down and gave the diva sakiz. Div gave him water and one pomegranate. The whole caravan was given water. Ahmed saw another caravan coming from the other side. He took the sakiz from them, went down into the well and gave water to the whole caravan. Div gave him another pomegranate. So he got two: a grenade. This second caravan just went towards the city where Ahmed lived. Ahmed handed over his money and grenades to this caravan and asked to give them to his wife and mother; he himself went to the city of Isfahan. We spent the night in a caravanserai; Ahmed put the horses in place, fed them and decided to go to the outskirts of the city for a walk. He ran to the outskirts of the city, where there was a swimming pool, undressed and bathed. Then I went to bed near the pool.

At this time three pigeons flew in and sat on a tree. One of them said:

- Sister, do you know this Ahmed?

Another said:

- Is this the Ahmed who had a small hut by the road? He was so lazy that if they put bread in his mouth, he would eat, and if not, he would remain hungry. The padishah of the same city gave his daughter in marriage to him so that she would die of hunger; and Ahmed and the merchant came here. Let's give him something.

A long time ago, now I can’t even remember, in a sieve, in straw, when a camel called out for news in a loud voice, when I was my master in the cradle - creaking, creaking! - shook, a huge tree grew near our house. I hired forty people to plan it and another forty people to hollow it out. Then he poured forty cauldrons of wheat pilaf with meat inside, and poured in forty cauldrons of sour milk. I mixed everything and ate it, but neither my lips nor my tongue even felt the taste of the brew. But if I give you a whole river of compote, a whole mountain of pilaf and a bunch of cabbage rolls, each the size of my hand, will you agree to tell a fairy tale? I’ll probably agree and start right away.

Whether it happened or not, the Generous and the Stingy lived in the same country. The person is difficult to recognize immediately. It’s not a melon—you can’t feel it through the skin. And it’s not lemon—you can’t tell by the smell. Everything good and bad is inside him. Be that as it may, the Generous and the Stingy became friends with each other. In addition, both had to go to a foreign country. “Since we have become friends,” they decided, “we will go on the road together.”

Anyone who has traveled knows: to walk alone - the road seems longer, to walk together - the road is shorter, the day flies by like an hour.

The Generous and the Stingy went out early in the morning and walked around talking until almost noon. We were tired from such a long trek and also hungry. As they approached the source, Shchedry suggested:

- Let's stop here, rest and eat a little.

“Okay,” agreed Stingy.

They settled down on a green lawn. The Generous One untied his bag of food, took out everything, laid it out, and began to treat the Stingy One. And Stingy - he is stingy. He didn’t have to ask himself for long, he immediately fell into the food. We ate, drank, rested and hit the road again.

We went through another considerable transition, this time the Miser says:

- I'm tired.

“Me too,” answers the Generous. “I’m tired and hungry.”

“Come on,” suggests Stingy, “let’s stop and eat.”

They reached a stream and settled down near it. The Generous One again untied the knapsack, laid out all his supplies, and treated the Stingy One. He didn’t refuse and quickly grabbed the treat.

- We ate well! - Stingy is happy.

They hit the road again. We walked and walked, walked and walked, we passed another transition. So tired that they fall off their feet.

“I’m dying, I don’t have the strength,” Shchedry admitted. “Let’s stop here, I can’t take another step.”

- Me too.

“I’m so hungry and thirsty.”

- Me too.

“But I don’t have any supplies left,” says Shchedry. “Do you have anything?”

“No,” Stingy got angry.

- Really not? Anyone who is preparing to travel must have everything in place.

- Where from! - Stingy was surprised. “I have nothing.”

Evening came, the waters darkened, the stars lit up in the sky...

People say: drinking twice is the same as eating once. But that's just what they say. But in fact, water has its place, food has its place.

The generous man drank water not only twice, but twenty-two times, but - alas! — my stomach was still rumbling and sucking from hunger. Finally he couldn’t stand it anymore and said to the Miser:

“I’ll take a walk around the neighborhood, maybe I’ll get a piece of bread somewhere.”

He walked and walked in the darkness of the night and came across a mill. I called the miller - no answer. “Let me,” he thinks, “let me go inside, at least I can breathe in the smell of flour and deceive my insides.”

As soon as the Generous One crossed the threshold, such a noise and uproar arose that God forbid! He hid behind the bags and what did he see? A whole crowd of genies staged their nightly Sabbath at the mill. The genies began to play tambourines and drums, began to sing songs and lead round dances. Then we got tired, sat in a circle, and let’s talk. One genie says:

“In the village where I settled, there is a poor blacksmith. He has as many as eleven parasites. The unfortunate man can barely make ends meet. If only he knew that he had a rich treasure buried under his forge! Just dig deeper, there you will find gold and diamonds. I could become rich!

- What is this! - another genie interrupted him. “But in the country where I settled, the padishah went blind in both eyes.” Neither the chief physician nor the chief adviser can help him. But there is a very simple remedy. Every morning a nightingale flies into the padishah’s garden, sits on the stem of a rose and sings and sings. They would catch that nightingale, give him two black mulberries to swallow, then they would say: “Spit it out, nightingale, spit it out!” He would have spat out those berries, their juice would have moistened the padishah’s eyes, and he would have immediately received his sight.

- Oh, man, man! - the genies sighed. - Truly a strange creature!

While they were talking like this, the fatigue passed, and the genies began to sing and dance again. And as soon as dawn broke, they instantly disappeared. They scattered like dust, disappeared like smoke - and there was no trace left.

The generous man waited for this and immediately ran to the village where the poor blacksmith lived. I found him and asked:

- Hurry up and get the shovel!

- Why do you need a shovel? — the blacksmith was surprised.

- Get the shovel, don’t let the rest worry you.

“It looks like this man knows some secret,” the blacksmith decided to himself and gave him a shovel.

The generous one turned the entire forge upside down, but got to the bottom of the treasure. There was a lot of gold, silver, and various jewelry. The blacksmith, for joy, did not feel his feet beneath him, he threw himself on the Generous One’s neck:

- You found out about the treasure, you found it, take half for yourself.

- Thank you! - Shchedry answers. “I don’t need anything.” I have no family, no one to feed or drink. I am alone in the world. Take the treasure and arrange your affairs.

He said so and left.

After some time, the Generous One comes to the country where the padishah is blind in both eyes, and comes straight to the palace:

“Sir, I have brought you deliverance from your misfortune.”

- Tell me quickly, what needs to be done?

—You have a garden, don’t you?

- Yes, of course. Each padishah has his own garden.

— Is there a rose bush growing in the garden?

- Certainly! All padishahs love roses.

“Does the nightingale sit on this rose bush in the morning?”

- The rose loves the nightingale, and the nightingale sighs for the rose. Everyone knows this.

- Order to catch the nightingale and let him swallow two black mulberries. Then say: “Spit it out, nightingale, spit it out!” And when he spits it out, apply the juice of these berries to your eyes.

- And then?

“Then your eyes will see clearly, sir.”

They did everything as the Generous One ordered. As soon as they smeared the padishah’s eyes with mulberry juice, he immediately regained his sight.

“Ask me for whatever you want,” says the padishah to the Generous.

- I want you to be healthy!

- My health is of no use to you. Ask for whatever you want.

- I want you to be healthy!

The padishah sees that in front of him is a generous, modest, magnanimous man.

“I cannot remain indebted to your kindness,” he says. “I will give you my daughter as a wife, I will place you in the most honorable place in the palace.” What is your answer to this?

The generous one lowered his head:

- Whatever you say, whatever you do, everything is fine.

The padishah gave his daughter to the Generous One, ordered the festive lights to be lit and the wedding celebrated.

While the Generous and the daughter of the padishah are feasting at the wedding and treating themselves to sweet pilaf with fragrant saffron, let’s see what happened to our Stingy.

He waited, waited for his comrade, and a suspicion crept into his soul: since the person left and did not return, it meant that he had probably found something. “Let me go,” he thinks, “and I’ll go there and find the same thing that he found.”

The Miser wandered randomly in the dark. He walked and walked and came across a mill. As soon as I stepped over the threshold, there was such a roar and noise that it is impossible to describe. The stingy one immediately hid in a corner and looked - a whole crowd of genies had gathered. And these were the same genies as the previous night. And they began to play songs again, lead round dances, dance and stamp their feet. Then we got tired, sat down on the floor and started talking.

“Remember,” one began, “last time we sat here, talked, and I told you about a poor blacksmith who had a treasure buried under his forge?” I also said then that if he had dug deeper and found this treasure...

- We remember, we remember! - the genies interrupted him. “So what happened to him?”

- Here's what. Someone came and told the blacksmith about this, they dug up all the ground under the floor and found the treasure. Now the blacksmith is no longer an unfortunate poor man, but has become a rich man on our heads!

- Ay-yay-yay! - the genies screamed.

“What’s that,” says another genie. “Remember, that same night I talked about the padishah who was blind in both eyes?”

- I told you, we remember it well! Did something really happen to him too?

- It happened. Someone came, taught the padishah, and they did everything as I said. Now the padishah has become sighted.

- Ay-yay-yay! - the genies shouted again. “After all, these are all things that a person cannot think of on his own.”

- Of course he can’t!

- Means…

“So someone got in here and found out our secrets.” Well, let's search the mill.

The genies pushed away the bags of flour, and behind them the Miser sat, trembling with fear. The main genie did not allow him to say a word, he ordered the others:

- Beat this scoundrel thoroughly so that he will be smarter in the future!

The genies attacked the Miser, kicked him and slapped him in the face and left him lying there, while they themselves disappeared.

What else can I say? Fairy tale after fairy tale, everything in order, the tongue is loose, but the palate is sweet. Let's leave it at that.

This adjective goes back to the common Slavic skompb, from which the stem skom was derived, present in words such as oskomina, to infringe. Krylov's etymological dictionary

Stinginess, which devalues ​​the very gift of life, takes away air, light, hope, corrodes the soul like rust and offends the higher principle; blind, senseless and terrible stinginess - at the same time endlessly funny - that’s what Semyon Furman plays. Furman in the play “The Miser,” written by Molière, translated by Bulgakov and staged by Gennady Trostyanetsky at the Liteiny Theater.
The performance, in which the tinsel and cutesy, mocking and brilliant era of Moliere flashes like sunlight, makes us recall such a half-forgotten category in the theater as “grace.” The laconic and slightly crafty image of the performance, found by artists Ekaterina Shaposhnikova, Vladimir Anshon and Mark Brikhman, is elegant. The young and lovers Eliza, Marianna, Cleant (Elena Nemzer, Nadezhda Burdukova, Andrei Smirnov) are graceful. Sharp, grotesque and terribly graceful characters-shifters - broker Simon (performed by Tatyana Shchuko) and Lafleche (Alexander Zhdanov) - servant and friend, an innocent scoundrel and a shameless rogue, a certain creature of the third gender, whose slightly sinister “entertainment” casts a shadow on other times, suddenly reminiscent of the cabaret of the thirties.
And finally, the final scene is melancholic and enlightened, where Mr. Anselm (Ivan Mokeev) first remembers the storm that swallowed up the ship with his family, and then blesses the double betrothal of his children to the children of the Miser. Fragile, bright dolls, as if obeying the effort of the rememberer, rise from the darkness of a huge chest, as if from the depths of memory, and unexpectedly introduce a touching and painful note into this scene, and the majestic image of Anselm makes him similar to the heroes of Shakespeare, with their nobility and sadness of the humanistic age ...
And in the midst of this stylish fragility main character of the play Harpagon (The Miser, performed by Semyon Furman) exists as if according to different laws. It is extremely real, tangible, full-blooded. Billiardno - round-headed, thick-set, wearing wine-colored clothes made of cloth and leather - a French jacket? Circassian? Medieval merchant's dress? - He easily and swiftly carries a body bursting with the frantic energy of possession. To have and to preserve is what every step is subordinated to. The rhythm increases all the time: the miser bargains and argues with God (“send me ten thousand crowns!”), rummages around the servant who allegedly hid the coin, tearing off his clothes.
Unceremonious and flattering, tenacious and suspicious - he passionately defends his right to never, ever, pay anything to anyone. Before us is a person who has understood himself and serves this understanding. He sleeps with his passion and is frighteningly whole. And besides, he is incredibly passionate.
He is excited when he passionately talks with his money, when he plays with his bride at the fair, when he teaches a servant with his pants torn at the back to serve water to guests. And this may be the main thing discovered by the actor in the hero: his Harpagon is greedy, passionate, inspired. And - scary.
The miser is hostile to life, the authors of the play tell us. His essence subtly flows from selfishness to inhumanity, from mania to madness. A money-grubber, in other eras he is capable of voluntarily taking on the function of an executioner. Suddenly discovering money missing. Harpagon will rush towards the audience (“I suspect everyone!”), a drumbeat will be heard, and a frantic hysteria will break out with shouts of “sit down! stand up!”, and behind Molière’s hero the shadow of Beria, the shadow of fascism, flashes. And this slightly too obvious meaning of what is happening (which always harms the art of the theater) will be saved by the amazing artistic ease with which the actor rises to a sharp, acute protest.
In another scene - the explanation with Cleanthes - the horror that Harpagon will inspire is almost irrational. Having thrown off his clothes to wash himself, remaining naked to the waist (“Did you think I couldn’t get married, son?”), powerful, monstrous, with an elusively quick, almost affectionate movement, he rips the glasses off Cleanthe’s face and disarms him. And with a cruel grin he will watch his “big boy”, blind and helpless, who will leave, bursting into laughter, similar to sobbing.
At times, Furman's Harpagon looks so alive, as if he has drunk all the air of life, and next to him on stage the rest - household members and servants - seem a little like puppets, characters in a street theater. And only Baler, the sharp-nosed, flexible Baler (Alexander Lykov), also full of passion, but something else - the passion of love, the desire to gain the upper hand in the fight, to triumph over the escheat of Unlife - opposes Harpagon. The servants are remarkable, creating a motley, full of comic background - the background of life, taking flight from the Miser...
Acting success is a companion to talented directing. The farcical beginning of the square performance is combined in the play with the techniques of sharp and precise psychologism, and Molière's comedy comes close to Bulgakov's favorite tragic farce, and then returns to a happy ending. And it’s also important: at this serious and subtle performance, the audience laughs - easily and happily - because the laughter born of Moliere is eternal, and Semyon Furman, who played “The Miser,” is amazingly generous.

And no matter how much parents explain to their child how difficult every penny is for them, the child understands this only when he himself begins to bear the “burden of responsibility” for the money he earns. But does a person’s stinginess depend on how much money he has and how he gets it? And where does the line of sound calculation end and unhealthy greed begin?

By what signs do we generally determine whether a person is greedy or, on the contrary, generous? An example of a first date would be successful in this regard. Let's say a guy or man you don't know well invites you on a date to a mid-level cafe. You, being a well-bred girl and not having much idea about the income of the person who invited you, for the sake of decency, order a cup of coffee. Those with a sweet tooth may not be able to resist a small cake.

A generous man will inevitably ask you something like “why so modest?” and, in turn, will offer several more options in addition to your truly modest order. For example, juice, a glass of wine or something more substantial, assuming you may be hungry.

And even if you, being, nevertheless, a very, very well-mannered girl, refuse a tempting offer, you still won’t care, in addition to coffee and cake, they will serve something else at the customer’s discretion.

An indicator of generosity is also the tip left - not so much the amount of the tip itself, but the incentive to do so. When walking you home, a generous man will not be able to pass by the grandmother selling lilies of the valley near the metro station.

And, naturally, a generous man will never allow a girl to buy a travel ticket herself or, even worse (!), pay for a taxi. You will not be allowed to take a taxi at your own expense, even if you have made it clear to the generous man that a second date is out of the question. True, life shows that we women know how to appreciate generosity in men, so such a date is unlikely to be our last.

But if your meeting in a cafe was limited to only a small cup of coffee (if, of course, you were invited there at all), the grandmother with lilies of the valley was completely ignored, and, having missed the last train in the metro, you went home by taxi at your own expense, then completely It is obvious that you were not dealing with a manifestation of generosity. By the way, in a cafe you may also be asked to pay for yourself (such examples are increasingly taking place in an “equal” society).

An indicator of stinginess on first dates, among other things, may be a question from the series “what should I give you?” Questions of this kind are natural when we are talking about an already established couple, where in addition to the sign of attention, the rationality of the gift, its significance in everyday life or the degree of necessity for the partner are also taken into account.

And at first, a girl may be embarrassed by such a question and answer that she doesn’t need anything. As a rule, such questions have such a goal.

At the same time, it is quite obvious that we all always need something. But it’s not for nothing that the bouquet-candy period is called that, since it is at this time that you can open up and get to know each other through pleasant surprises in the form of flowers, sweets, souvenirs and other little things, gradually learning the tastes and preferences of everyone.

And the more reasons there are for pleasant surprises, the more confidently we can assume that you are dealing with an attentive and generous person.