Summary of Prosper Merime Matteo. Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary

Not far from Porto-Vecchio, in the depths of Corsica, there are lands covered with continuous thickets of poppies - a tall young shrub that has grown in fields cleared for grain crops or grazing for livestock. No one lives in maquis, except for shepherds and robbers. It has long been customary that the police do not enter poppies, preferring to keep their distance and wait until the next killer or robber descends into the city to replenish gunpowder, which happens quite rarely, because there is more than enough food and drink in poppies.

locals

They are not afraid of such a neighborhood and even help all criminals, therefore the capture of a fugitive for these lands is considered a significant achievement in the track record of the local police chief.

Not far from the maquis lives a wealthy Corsican, Matteo Falcone, a middle-aged man with a rather stern character. Among the neighbors, Matteo is known as an excellent shooter, as well as an honest and decent gentleman. Despite his fifty years of age, Matteo's hair is still black, and his eyes are still sharp, so not everyone dares to compete with him in accuracy.

Matteo is quite content with his life, his two beautiful daughters

Already married, and the ten-year-old son Fortunato shows considerable ability, both in shooting and in managing the household. The young wife of Matteo loves him unconsciously and is ready to follow the command of her husband in everything, in a word, Matteo's life goes the way he only dreamed of.

One summer morning, Matteo and his wife go to the maquis to visit the herds of cattle grazing there, leaving their young son at home. Left to his own devices, Fortunato stretches out in the hayloft and dreams of the weekend ahead. Suddenly, the boy is brought out of his state of sweet slumber by gunshots coming from the side of the maquis. Some time later, Fortunato appears notorious robber Gianetto Sanpiero caught by soldiers trying to buy gunpowder.

Gianetto knows the boy's father well, therefore he asks him for asylum, to which he receives an indecisive refusal, having heard that the robber first threatens the impudent boy, and then bribes him with a gold coin. Tempted by such a payment for shelter, Fortunato offers the robber to stay in a haystack, for greater persuasiveness, bringing and placing a cat with kittens on top.

As soon as he does this, soldiers appear, whose commander, Sergeant Theodore Gamba, orders to search the house, simultaneously trying to find out from the boy where he hid the bandit. But Fortunato is not so easy to figure out, he is impudent to the soldiers and openly mocks them and their commander, who, by the way, is a distant relative of him. Family ties in Corsica are of great importance, because Fortunato constantly feels pangs of conscience about the deceit he commits, seeing this, Theodore Gamba offers the boy a reward for surrendering the criminal - a beautiful handmade gold watch.

Fortunato simply could not refuse such an offering, moving his hand with a watch several times, he nevertheless took it and reluctantly pointed to the bale of hay to the sergeant.

The soldiers immediately surrounded the hay and dragged out the resisting criminal, tying him securely and throwing him to the ground. Realizing how low he acted, Fortunato gives Gianetto the gold coin he received shortly before, but he refuses to touch it, with all his appearance showing obvious contempt for the boy's act.

While the soldiers were building a stretcher to carry the captured robber, Matteo himself and his wife appeared on the road to the house. Seeing the soldiers, Matteo became alert and prepared a gun, but recognizing his relative in the sergeant, lowered him and entered into a conversation, during which he was told the story of the capture of Gianetto and the role assigned to his son in this. The sergeant was delighted with Fortunato's act, endlessly praising the young man, he does not notice how dejected his father's face becomes.

Coming closer to the house, Matteo is convinced of what happened with his own eyes, which makes him even more despondent. In addition, the bound Gianetto spits on the threshold of Matteo's home and calls him a traitor, refusing to drink the milk served by Fortunato. Instead, the offender drinks plain water served to him by a soldier.

After finishing work on the stretcher, the soldiers take Gianetto away, leaving Matteo alone with his son. The latter, realizing that he has done something terrible, begins to cry, but tears cannot soften the heart of his father, who realizes that a traitor was born in his family for the first time.

Matteo calls his son to the poppies, takes him to a deep ravine and kills him, after which he returns to the house for a shovel to dig a decent grave. When asked by his wife about where he left his son, Matteo replies that he will order a memorial service for him, after which it is necessary to call the husband of the eldest daughter and offer him to settle on the estate, since now he becomes the full heir to all the property acquired by Matteo.

Year of writing: 1829

Genre of work: short story

Main characters: Matteo Falcone is a rich man, father, Fortunato is his son, Gianetto Sanpiero is a bandit, Teodor Gamba is a sergeant.

Plot

The plot unfolds in the depths of the island of Corsica. Large growths of trees grow there, which the locals call poppies. Criminals often hide in the thickets, the main thing is to have weapons with you, and shepherds can give food. Matteo Falcone is a wealthy man in his fifties. He lives from the income from the herds. There were stories that before his marriage he killed a man. With his wife, Giuseppe, they have acquired one boy and three girls. Once, when their son, Fortunado was left alone at home, shots rang out. Sanpiero, a bandit fled from the Corsican soldiers. Passing by the Falcone house, he wanted to find shelter with a hospitable family. The boy was persuaded to do so by a silver coin. He hid the fugitive in a haystack, but another guest arrived in time - Sergeant Gamba. He bribed Fortunado with a silver watch, and he betrayed the criminal. Seeing this picture, the father decides to kill his son for betrayal. Matteo did not even feel pity, did not look at the corpse.

Conclusion (my opinion)

This is a story about a proud man who hates all enemies. He does not tolerate betrayal even from family members. But Falcone is indifferent to the feelings of his wife, his heart is as hard as a stone.

If you go from Porto-Vecchio deep into Corsica, you can go to the vast thickets of maquis - the homeland of shepherds and everyone who is in trouble with justice. Corsican farmers burn part of the forest and harvest from this land. The roots of the trees left in the ground again start up frequent shoots. This dense, tangled growth several meters high is called maki. If you have killed a man, run to the maquis and you will live there safely with a weapon. The shepherds will feed you, and you will not be afraid of justice or revenge, unless you go down to the city to replenish your gunpowder.

Matteo Falcone lived half a mile from the maquis. He was a wealthy man and lived on the income from his many herds. At that time he was no more than fifty years old. He was a short, strong and swarthy man with curly black hair, an aquiline nose, thin lips, and large lively eyes. His accuracy was unusual even for this region of good shooters. Such unusually high art made Matteo famous. He was considered as good a friend as he was a dangerous enemy; however, he lived in peace with everyone in the district. It was said that he once shot his rival, but that story was hushed up, and Matteo married Giuseppe. She bore him three daughters and a son, whom he named Fortunato. The daughters were happily married off. The son was ten years old, and he already showed great promise.

Early one morning, Matteo and his wife went to the maquis to look at their flocks. Fortunato was left alone at home. He was basking in the sun, dreaming about the next Sunday, when suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a gunshot from the direction of the plain. The boy jumped up. On the path leading to Matteo's house, a bearded man appeared, in rags and a cap, such as mountaineers wear. He was wounded in the thigh, and he could hardly move his legs, leaning on a gun. It was Gianetto Sanpiero, a bandit who, having gone to the city for gunpowder, was ambushed by Corsican soldiers. He fired furiously and eventually managed to get away.

Gianetto recognized Matteo Falcone's son in Fortunato and asked him to hide him. Fortunato hesitated, and Gianetto threatened the boy with his gun. But the gun could not frighten the son of Matteo Falcone. Gianetto reproached him, reminding him whose son he was. Having doubts, the boy demanded payment for his help. Gianetto handed him a silver coin. Fortunato took the coin and hid Gianetto in a haystack near the house. Then the cunning boy brought a cat with kittens and laid them on the hay so that it seemed that he had not been stirred for a long time. After that, he, as if nothing had happened, stretched out in the sun.

A few minutes later, six soldiers under the command of a sergeant were already standing in front of Matteo's house. The sergeant, Theodore Gamba, the menace of bandits, was a distant relative of Falcone, and in Corsica, more than anywhere else, kinship is considered. The sergeant approached Fortunato and began to ask if anyone had passed by. But the boy answered Gamba so boldly and mockingly that, having boiled over, he ordered the house to be searched and began to threaten Fortunato with punishment. The boy, on the other hand, sat calmly stroking the cat, not betraying himself in any way even when one of the soldiers approached and carelessly jabbed a bayonet into the hay. The sergeant, convinced that the threats did not make any impression, decided to test the power of bribery. He pulled a silver watch out of his pocket and promised to give it to Fortunatto if he betrayed the criminal.

Fortunatto's eyes lit up, but still he did not reach out for the clock. The sergeant brought the watch closer and closer to Fortunato. A struggle broke out in Fortunato's soul, and the clock swayed in front of him, touching the tip of his nose. Finally, Fortunato hesitantly reached for his watch, and it fell into his palm, although the sergeant still did not let go of the chain. Fortunato raised his left hand and pointed with his thumb at the haystack. The sergeant let go of the end of the chain, and Fortunato realized that the watch was now his. And the soldiers immediately began to scatter hay. Gianetto was found, captured and bound hand and foot. When Gianetto was already lying on the ground, Fortunato threw back his silver coin to him - he realized that he no longer had the right to it.

While the soldiers were constructing a stretcher on which the criminal could be carried to the city, Matteo Falcone and his wife suddenly appeared on the road. At the sight of the soldiers, Matteo became alert, although for ten years he had not pointed the muzzle of his gun at a man. He took aim at the gun and began to slowly approach the house. The sergeant, too, felt somewhat uneasy when he saw Matteo with a gun at the ready. But Gamba boldly went out to meet Falcone and called out to him. Recognizing his relative, Matteo stopped and slowly drew back the muzzle of his gun. The sergeant reported that they had just covered Giannetto Sanpiero and praised Fortunatto for his help. Matteo whispered a curse.

Seeing Falcone with his wife, Gianetto spat on the threshold of their house and called Matteo a traitor. Matteo raised his hand to his forehead like a heartbroken man. Fortunato brought a bowl of milk and, lowering his eyes, handed it to Gianetto, but the arrested man angrily rejected the offering and asked the soldier for water. The soldier gave a flask, and the bandit drank the water offered by the hand of the enemy. The sergeant signaled, and the squad moved towards the plain.

A few minutes passed, and Matteo remained silent. The boy glanced nervously at his mother and then at his father. Finally, Matteo spoke to his son in a calm voice, but terrible for those who knew this man. Fortunato wanted to rush to his father and fall on his knees, but Matteo screamed terribly, and he, sobbing, stopped a few steps away. Giuseppa saw the watch chain and asked sternly who had given it to Fortunato. "Uncle Sergeant," the boy replied. Matteo realized that Fortunatto had become a traitor, the first of the Falcone family.

Fortunato sobbed aloud, Falcone did not take his lynx eyes off him. At last he slung his gun over his shoulder and went down the road to the maquis, ordering Fortunato to follow him. Giuseppa rushed to Matteo, glaring at him, as if trying to read what was in his soul, but in vain. She kissed her son and, crying, returned to the house. Meanwhile, Falcone descended into a small ravine. He ordered his son to pray, and Fortunato fell to his knees. Stumbling and crying, the boy read every prayer he knew. He begged for mercy, but Matteo threw up his gun and, taking aim, said: "God forgive you!" He fired. The boy fell dead.

Without even looking at the corpse, Matteo went to the house for a shovel to bury his son. He saw Giuseppa, alarmed by the shot. "What did you do?" - she exclaimed. “Did justice. He died a Christian. I'll order a memorial service for him. I must tell my son-in-law, Theodore Bianchi, to move to live with us, ”Matteo replied calmly.

The short story "Matteo Falcone" by Mérimée, written in 1829, tells the story of the wealthy Corsican Matteo Falcone, for whom honor and dignity are above other life values. The narration is conducted on behalf of the author-narrator, who met Matteo two years after the story happened.

Main characters

Matteo Falcone- a middle-aged man, honest, principled, decent.

Fortunato- the ten-year-old son of Matteo, who turned out to be a traitor.

Other characters

Giannetto Sanpiero- a fugitive.

Theodore Gamba- Sergeant, an experienced soldier who caught a lot of robbers.

Giuseppa wife of Matteo.

There is a place in Corsica called maquis which is the home of "Corsican shepherds and all those who are in trouble with justice". Cultivators regularly set fire to patches of forest in order to get "a good harvest on land fertilized with the ashes of burned trees". Undisturbed tree roots sprout dense shoots in spring, which quickly grow, forming dense thickets - poppies. In such a thicket, one can easily hide from justice for a long time, having only the bare necessities in reserve.

Matteo Falcone was a "rather rich man in the area" whose house stood half a mile from the maquis. He lived a comfortable life “on the income from his numerous herds”, and even among the locals, who had been trained to shoot since childhood, he was known as an excellent shooter. Due to his amazing accuracy, Falcone was well known in these parts. In addition, he was considered a good friend and "lived in peace with everyone in the district of Porto-Vecchio".

One morning, Falcone and his wife Giuseppa went to check on the herds, leaving their ten-year-old son Fortunato to guard the house. In the absence of his parents, the boy lay in the sun, making plans for the near future and indulging in dreams.

Suddenly, Fortunato's rest was interrupted by rifle shots that came closer and closer. Soon before the eyes of the boy "a man appeared, covered with rags, overgrown with a beard." Wounded in the leg, the stranger turned out to be a gangster named Giannetto Sanpiero, who was trying to escape justice in the maquis. He asked the boy to cover him, but he did not agree. Only at the sight of the silver coin Fortunato decided to help the robber, and hid him in a haystack.

Soon soldiers arrived under the command of Teodoro Gamba, a sergeant who "was a distant relative of Falcone." He was a brave warrior, a real thunderstorm of all the bandits, whom he caught a lot in his lifetime.

Gamba began to question the boy, but he, assuming an ingenuous air, replied that he had not seen anyone. Nevertheless, the experienced sergeant was sure that Gianneto was somewhere nearby - wounded, he could not go far, and traces of blood broke off near Matteo's house.

Over all the threats of Gamba, the boy only chuckled, and frankly "sneered at the confusion of the voltigeurs and uncles." Seeing that nothing could be achieved from Fortunato by force, the sergeant "decided to make one last attempt and test the power of affection and bribery." He offered the boy his own silver watch in exchange for information about the criminal. Gamba began to colorfully paint how much envy among his peers a luxurious watch would cause, and Fortunato at that moment “looked like a cat who is being offered a whole chicken.”

The temptation was so great that the boy could not stand it, and pointed with his finger at the haystack in which Giannetto was hiding. Having received the treasured watch, he immediately ran away from the snow stack, which the soldiers were already searching.

The robber tried to resist, but the wound on his leg was too serious, and he, exhausted, fell on his back. The soldiers, without delay, tied him hand and foot. Gianneto looked contemptuously at the boy, and did not pay attention to the coin that he threw to him.

The soldiers began to prepare a stretcher to carry the wounded robber, and at that moment Matteo and his wife appeared in the yard. At first, the man thought that they had come to arrest him, but immediately calmed down - his conscience was completely clear.

The sergeant, seeing Matteo with a gun at the ready, decided that the robber was his relative, and he intended to protect him. Gamba carefully approached the armed Matteo and told him everything as it was. He only cheated when he said that the criminal was found thanks to Fortunato's ingenuity, for which the boy should be presented with "a good gift as a reward."

At the sight of Matteo, Giannetto "smiled in a strange way", spat in the direction of the threshold and shouted out that this was "the house of a traitor". For such an insult, Matteo would have repaid with blood, but he only turned pale and raised " his hand to his forehead, like a heartbroken man" - he understood everything.

Fortunato, seeing his angry father, began to sob, but he was inexorable - his son turned out to be the first traitor in the Falcone family. Giuseppa's desperate pleas did not soften the stern heart. Matteo took the sobbing boy to the poppies, and ordered him to pray, after which he killed him with one well-aimed shot.

Conclusion

Novella Marime teaches you to follow your ideals to the end, without making exceptions to the rules. The betrayal committed for the sake of personal gain turned out to be unacceptable for the protagonist, who, for the sake of his principles, did not spare his own son.

After reading brief retelling"Matteo Falcone" we recommend that you read the short story in full.

Novel test

Check the memorization of the summary with the test:

Retelling rating

Average rating: 4.1. Total ratings received: 394.

If you go from Porto-Vecchio deep into Corsica, you can go to the vast thickets of maquis - the homeland of shepherds and everyone who is in trouble with justice. Corsican farmers burn part of the forest and harvest from this land. The roots of the trees left in the ground again start up frequent shoots. This dense, tangled growth several meters high is called maki. If you have killed a man, run to the maquis and you will live there safely with your weapons. The shepherds will feed you, and you will not be afraid of justice or revenge, unless you go down to the city to replenish your gunpowder.

Matteo Falcone lived half a mile from the maquis. He was a rich man and lived on the income from his many herds. At that time he was no more than fifty years old. He was a short, strong and swarthy man with curly black hair, an aquiline nose, thin lips, and large lively eyes. His accuracy was unusual even for this region of good shooters. Such unusually high art made Matteo famous. He was considered as good a friend as he was a dangerous enemy; however, he lived in peace with everyone in the district. It was said that he once shot his rival, but that story was hushed up, and Matteo married Giuseppe. She bore him three daughters and a son, whom he named Fortunato. The daughters were happily married off. The son was ten years old, and he already showed great promise.

Without even looking at the corpse, Matteo went to the house for a shovel to bury his son. He saw Giuseppa, alarmed by the shot. "What did you do?" - she exclaimed. “Did justice. He died a Christian. I will order a memorial service for him. I must tell my son-in-law, Theodore Bianchi, to move to live with us, ”Matteo replied calmly.

Summary short stories by Merimee "Matteo Falcone"