«The Folk Tales, Navum’s Stories»

Annotation

This is the first edition of the work written in 1857. The poetic story consists of two tales: "A Wicked Wife" and "Halimon at the Coronation".

The Belarusian State Archives-Museum of Literature and Art has a handwritten copy of "Halimon at the Coronation" transcribed by unknown person (the 1920s) and a handwritten transcript of the whole narrative (the 1930s).

A tale "A Wicked Wife" tells how a capricious wife quarrelled her husband with his brother and later because of her carelessness their own child died. The author denounces drunkenness, debaushery, and amoral behaviour.

A tale "Halimon at the Coronation" narrates how a village head Halimon Zabalotny went to Moscow to see the coronation of Emperor Alexander II. Through the words of the main character the author brings the reader to the thought that the "parental care" of the tsar about his subjects is not sincere and the people’s allegiance   is not reliable. The work was banned for publication by the tsarist censors.