N. Rubtsov and V. Rasputin

The works of Valentin Grigoryevich Rasputin (1937–2015) have been translated into many languages, and several of his novellas and stories have been filmed and staged. «Уроки французского» is an autobiographical work. The author says he wrote it hoping that the lessons given to him in his time would settle in the soul of the reader. He recalls that his teacher did not remember sending him a parcel of macaroni in a way like the story; “true good has a shorter memory in the one who does it than in the one who receives it”. Plot: in 1948 the boy goes into the fifth class. His village had only a primary school, so he goes to the district centre, 50 km from home. He is the eldest of three children, raised without a father; his mother places him with an acquaintance. He studies well, only his French pronunciation is poor. At home he goes hungry: his mother sometimes sends bread and potatoes, but they quickly vanish. To buy milk he joins a group of boys who play for money; he never wins more than a rouble a day. The others dislike this and beat him. Next day the form teacher Lidia Mikhailovna sees his injuries; Tishkin tells everything. Lidia Mikhailovna says: do not play for money, but she learns why he played: for milk. She invites the boy to her home in the evenings for French and asks him to supper; embarrassed, he runs away. Then a parcel of macaroni arrives at school; the boy guesses that the sender is the teacher and returns it: such things are not found in his village. Later Lidia Mikhailovna switches with the pupil to a game of throwing coins at a wall, which she herself calls “a game for money”; in the game she tries to lose to him, he notices and says “this is not honest”. The director, Vasily Andreyevich, finds them in the middle of the game and says that a teacher must not play for money with a pupil. Three days later Lidia Mikhailovna leaves for the Kuban, telling the boy: “the fault is mine”. In the middle of winter a parcel arrives for the boy by post: inside are macaroni and three red apples. Idea: true goodness asks nothing in return, and the one who receives it remembers it all his life. An important note: gambling is a bad habit; the teacher should have found another way to help, and an adult must not play for money with a child. The story does not excuse this mistake, it shows the kindness behind it.