Maxim Gorky, “Tales of Italy”
Maxim Gorky (real name Alexey Maximovich Peshkov) was born on 16 March 1868 in Nizhny Novgorod. He lost his parents early and spent his childhood with his grandfather; his grandfather taught him to read, his grandmother gave him a love of folk tales and songs. As a youth Alyosha worked «among people»: in a shop, a bakery, on a steamboat. He read a great deal; he could not enter Kazan University, and his “university” was life itself. His first story «Макар Чудра» was printed in 1892 under the pen name «Maxim Gorky». In 1906 he went to Italy for treatment, to the island of Capri, and lived there seven years; his impressions became the basis of the cycle «Сказки об Италии» (27 short stories). The passage in the book is chapter IX of the cycle (abridged). Content: Timur is feasting with his commanders in the valley of Kanigul near Samarkand, the poet Kermani sitting nearest to him. Since the death of his son Jahangir he has not smiled for thirty years. A poor woman from near Salerno in Italy comes before the ruler and demands her son: sea pirates carried the boy off, and she has been searching for four years. The nobles laugh, while the poet says she is “mad as a mother”. The woman describes her long road and says that as a mother she has the right to demand. Timur thinks it over and sends three hundred riders to find the boy. Main idea: a mother's love is stronger than death, and even a mighty ruler bows before it. Order for a retelling: the place — the characters — the knot (the woman's demand) — the resolution (the ruler's decision) — the idea.
“Tell it in five sentences”. Pairs retell the passage in five sentences of their own words in the order place — characters — knot — resolution — idea; another pair checks whether they can state the idea in one sentence.