"Widow's Board" () - download the book for free without registration. Read the book "The Widow's Plat" online in full - Boris Akunin - MyBook

27.02.2022

* * *

Part one
There's a storm - open your eyes

In Crosses

In Kresty-village it was the month of November on the tenth day.

In the morning, riders rushed along the Moscow road, about ten people, all on large horses incapable of peaceful work, smartly dressed in crimson caftans with gilding, only very dirty from the autumn slackness. The elder, in a cap with a wolf's tail, called out to the headman. He himself fled from the house, shaking crumbs from his beard (the time was tomorrow).

- Is there a guest house? asked the wolf's tail from above, without listening to the exaltation.

- How not to be, if necessary. - The headman in a hurry did not grab something to cover his head and crushed the empty top of his hand, trying to guess what kind of people and what kind of trouble to expect from them. - But how. We keep it in order. Two roads go through us, one from Pskov to Vologda, the other from Top to Bottom, that's why we are called - Crosses ...

- Who is below, and who is above, it's you, Novgorod chickens, you will soon recognize! - It is not clear what the rider grinned. - Come on, come on! Show!

The guest hut, in which merchants, messengers stayed, or if someone important was driving, was large, but dilapidated. The high porch sagged under the rotten tent, the steps buckled.

The headman minced after the tailed one, who was quickly walking through the upper rooms (he didn’t take off his hat, Herod, he didn’t cross himself on the icon):

- Now I order you to sweep, clean up, fresh hay on the floor, melt the stove, rest from the path ...

Wrinkling his nose in disgust at the mice that jumped from the table, the wolf-man jumped back into the yard where the others were waiting.

“Stand around, don’t let anyone in!” - The headman ordered: - Run around the village, tell them not to stick their nose out of the houses. Come back here to the porch yourself. Wait.

He jumped from the ground, in Tatar, into the saddle - and rushed back to the grassroots, that is, the Moscow side, only splashes of mud from under the hooves.

To ask who is this, why he orders, the headman did not even think. The crosses were a frightened village. And what to ask? Whose Niz, it is known - the Grand Duke, and there was no one to go from that side except for some big Moscow man, a clerk, or even a boyar.

Four years ago, when there was a big war between Nizhny, Moscow, and Verkh, lord Veliky Novgorod, the grand ducal Tatars also flew in from the Moscow road, did business: they burned houses, robbed those who did not have time to hide - they killed the peasants, spoiled the women, now the Tatars are running around the village.

Going around the houses, the headman shouted the same thing: “Moscow is coming! Bury yourself!

And from the back, young women with girls ran to the forest, and the owners quickly hid valuables in hiding places. The village stood in a restless place, but it was brisk and lived well, it’s a sin to complain.

A quarter of an hour later it became quiet in Kresty. The rest were afraid to go home, looking through the crack in the direction of the Moscow road.

A short time later, a gray snake crawled out from there: stuck its head on the top of the hill, descended to the field, stretched out.

The headman was agitated at the porch, looking from under his arm.

No army? Is it war again?

But, seeing carts and carts behind a bunch of riders, three or four dozen, he exhaled. Convoy or caravan.

Just in case, he knelt down and pulled off his hat, which he had picked up during his rounds. However, no one important, to whom it is earthly to bow, did not get out of the approaching wagons. Servants climbed up in identical green caftans, like peas from a torn sack. Something was unloaded, dragged, deployed.

Only once the headman was needed - they asked where the well was and whether the water was clean in it. They scooped it up, tried it - it seemed bad. They dragged a barrel with their water.

Wow! A long red carpet lay on the steps of the porch, stretched straight through the mud, to the very road. Nimble green people, chattering in a fussy, haunting Moscow dialect, were dragging more carpets, heavy chests, carved benches, and a high-backed chair into the house.

Others, in crimson caftans, with a two-headed golden bird on their backs, each with a saber at his side, rode along the street, looking out or checking something.

The elder became anxious again. What will it be, Lord? Who is carrying from Moscow?

However, they arrived from the other side, from above, from Novgorod.

Rolling over from pothole to pothole, a leather box on wide wheels, covered with mud, jumped over the Crosses. On the sides trotted six horse serfs.

The headman marveled: in autumn, no one rode along the broken path in rattles, only in dry summer or winter, on runners, and in autumn and spring - on horseback.

But it cleared up.

One serf jumped off, removed a wooden chair from the back, put it on the ground; two others, burly ones, opened the door, picked up a fat old man in a silk coat, and sat him down. The old man turned out to be a cripple, and the chair was not easy, on small wheels: they pushed him from behind - he rolled.

This man has been seen in the Crosses before, he traveled. The great boyar, the governor from the Grand Duke under the Lord Veliky Novgorod - Borisov Semyon Nikitich, who does not know him. His legs are sick, not walking, but his hands are raking. It is he who collects the due tribute from all the Novgorod fives for the Moscow sovereign, vigilantly watches.

Bowing earthly to the Moscow boyar, the headman imperceptibly crossed his stomach. Well, if everything is prepared for Borisov, it's okay, it's not scary. Borisov is familiar, almost his own, and will not do any evil.

However, the viceroy, who did not even glance at the headman, was also restless. He sat up in his crippled chair, stretched his neck towards the Moscow road. His thin mustache quivered, his disheveled yellow-gray beard quivered, growing strangely - in tufts around the outline of a puffy face.

- Put it here! Borisov shouted to the servants. - Just turn. Like tsyknu - take me under the arms, and on my knees! Over there, it's cleaner there. And put it gently, damn it, not in a big way.

Everyone is buzzing here:

- They're coming, they're coming!

The headman turned around after the others - Ospodi-Suse!

The Moscow road seemed to be covered by a cloud. On both sides, widely, riders rode, and along the path it kept unwinding, a ribbon of wagons, both horse and foot, unwound, and there was no end to it.

Only now did the headman guess who it was. Dimension: can I really be worthy, I will see with my own eyes? The Grand Duke Ivan Vasilievich himself?

No, I didn't. The man in charge of the green servants looked around - long-bearded, formidable - and ordered:

- Remove this one! No longer needed!

They grabbed the headman by the collar, dragged him away from the yard, gave him a kick - roll, so that there was no spirit.

* * *

First, the crimson ones came in large numbers, up to half a thousand. They got off their saddles and stood along the entire street in a solid palisade, on both sides.

Then a lone rider approached, who seemed to be a giant - he was unreasonably lanky, the meek old horse under him was huge.

The entire long column did not enter the Crosses, and it would not have been accommodated in the village - hundreds of wagons, thousands of people and horses. We set up camp right in the field, quickly and habitually.

Having reached the carpet path, the miracle horseman was in no hurry to descend to the ground. He was not fast at all. First, he looked around everything around, with a glance that seemed to be sliding, but attentive. The man was not to say young, but not at all old - as if without age; not handsome, but not ugly; the beard is not long and not short, sharp; nose slightly cartilaginous, but not hooked; a face devoid of any expression, accustomed to hiding feelings. In addition to his high stature, the only noticeable feature of the Grand Duke was a strong stoop, which gave Ivan Vasilyevich an elusive resemblance to a tortoise, ready to just hide his head in a shell.

The chief green servant, having taken off his hat, bowed flexibly to the ground with his bald head, and, straightening up, repeated:

“Perhaps, sir, to rest and eat… Perhaps, sir, to rest and eat…”

Missing nothing around, briefly keeping his eyes on the kneeling governor, but without even nodding to him, the stooped one finally threw a crane leg over the saddle, leaned on the top of the groom's head, and stepped onto the carpet.

Already on the porch, without turning around, he made a languid gesture with his hand back. Who should - will understand.

And the viceroy, who looked at the emperor's back, understood. He clicked - the serfs grabbed him under the armpits, also carried him into the house, but only up to the steps. There Borisov was received by two scarlet warriors and easily, like a bag of straw, was dragged further.

It was as if a sorcerer had visited the guest hut - he waved his magic wand and turned the wretched kennel into a palace. The smoky walls and crevices of the doors were covered with hanging patterned fabrics, Persian carpets sparkled on the floor, the benches were hunched up with cushions, the table was covered with a velvet tablecloth, and in front of it rose a carved sandalwood chair.

They gave the prince to wash - they poured warm water from a silver jug into a silver basin. So he wiped his face, his hands, his head shaved in the Tatar way, without looking threw a towel and only then looked at the governor, seated at the table, on the bench. But again he didn't say anything.

The steward's youths - all naked, green-caftan, almost indistinguishable from each other - silently served food. Everyone was in charge of his own business: one, sharp-nosed and flexible, with unspeakable dexterity scattered the plates, as if they themselves were flying out of his hand. Another unwrapped hot pies-kalachi and beautifully laid out baked meat, chicken, red fish. The third murmured with a spit: from the crystal stand exactly to the edge of the goblet. It seemed that this self-collecting tablecloth was preparing to regale a dear guest, and the fabulous three-young-of-the-same-faces were helping her.

They quickly completed their work and just as quickly disappeared somewhere, as if melted away. But the sovereign did not eat - he waited until the kravchiy tried everything. He - concentrated, strict - bit off a little bit from each piece, sipped sbitnya. Proven put Ivana under the right hand. The prince looked at the food hungry, even swallowed saliva, but did not touch anything. It was necessary to wait half an hour - whether the tester would begin to have colic, whether vomiting would happen. Here the kravchiy, wiping his lips, went out to pray for the sovereign and his health.

The Grand Duke was not used to wasting time. Half an hour before a meal he always set aside for some important conversation.

The prince looked at the viceroy Borisov, who shivered slightly, but did not take his eyes off - Ivan Vasilyevich did not like stealth in servants, and he was supposed to look at the sovereign earnestly, honestly.

- Well, Semyon, tell me. First, about the main thing, - the lord of the Moscow land finally opened his mouth. His voice was very quiet. This happens with people who know for sure that every word they say will be eagerly caught.

The viceroy did without greetings, magnifications, knowing that the Grand Duke does not tolerate superstition in a face-to-face conversation.

- For the four years that you were not in Novgorod, sovereign, we have there ... they have there,” Borisov corrected himself as he went, “much has changed. Novgorodians remember how you taught them with blood, but science did not suit them for the future. They licked their wounds, became rich again, fattened, and populous. Novgorod - he's like a lizard, instead of the old tail, a new one quickly grows. For their dead at Shelon, for the executed boyars, for the burned villages, for the cut off noses, the Novgorodians hate Moscow fiercely.

“Don’t repeat what you already know about,” Ivan interrupted with displeasure. - Talk about Lithuanian lovers. What's new?

The boyar spoke faster:

Boris Akunin is widely known as the author of amazing detective novels, but he is also the author of many historical works, including The Widow's Plaid. The writer gives an opportunity to look at one of the most important historical periods of our country. He introduces fictional characters into the narrative, but only so that the reader's interest is maintained throughout the reading. At the same time, the events are reflected sufficiently reliably to form an opinion about them. You can remember with pleasure what you went through at school, only the attitude to this is now completely different. The described period covers the reign of two kings - Ivan III and Ivan IV. The first was called Grozny during his lifetime, but then the second appeared, and it is he who is called Grozny, speaking about the history of Russia.

Much attention in the book is given to relations with Veliky Novgorod. The fragmentation of Russia weakened her, this was one of the reasons why she could not resist the onslaught of the Tatar-Mongol yoke. The tsar decided to change the situation in the country by uniting the lands around Moscow. Many principalities turned out to be easy to annex, but not Veliky Novgorod. He was very different from the rest of the state. Here they honored democratic traditions in management, there was their own way of life. It is about what the situation of Novgorod was, why it nevertheless fell, and the author of the book writes.

The identity of Ivan the Terrible still causes a lot of controversy. In the short story "The Sign of Cain", which is included in the book, his character is revealed. The information is presented in the form of monologues of the king himself, which looks very plausible and well reflects the reasons for his actions, judgments, and his psychological characteristics. This seems very interesting and, perhaps, will allow us to change our opinion about this bright historical figure.

On our website you can download the book "The Widow's Plat" by Boris Akunin for free and without registration in fb2, rtf, epub, pdf, txt format, read the book online or buy the book in the online store.

The new bestseller of the famous Russian writer Boris Akunin - "The Widow's Clothes" - belongs to the "History of the Russian State" series. Started with semi-fantastic works from the "Fiery Finger" collection, this series opened up new facets of the talent of Grigory Chkhartishvili (that's actually the name of Boris Akunin).

Many are accustomed to seeing this author in the role of the creator of detective stories and only: everyone knows Erast Petrovich Fandorin, the famous imposing detective, official of the Russian Empire and adventurer. In The History of the Russian State, Akunin reveals himself to us as a historian: he frames real historical events into fiction.

In the novel The Widow's Clothes, Boris Akunin refers to the times of the 1470s in the history of Russia. For a long time fragmented into many small principalities, Russia was not strong. Due to the fact that many Rurikids - princes of the same dynasty - reigned in different cities, and practically did not submit to the Moscow kingdom, as happened later, the country easily fell under the Tatar-Mongol yoke, and tribute was paid to the invaders for many years.

However, Ivan the Terrible, the famous Tsar of Moscow, and his predecessors, decided to change the situation in the name of absolute power in a single country: and if the subjugation of countless city-kingdoms was not very difficult, Veliky Novgorod, an ancient city with democratic traditions and its own way of life, for a long time did not submit to the Muscovites.

This is precisely what Boris Akunin describes in his historical novel The Widow's Plaid. The clash of monarchical interests and the ancient Novgorod Republic, which does not want to obey a single prince, the clash of strong characters of great historical figures, bright fictional characters introduced into the narrative, real historical heroes vividly and in detail described - all this in the new novel by Boris Akunin.

The author immerses the reader in the incredible, amazing atmosphere of old Russia, reacquaints us with events known from the school curriculum, and reveals the motives of the characters from new sides. Despite some of the author's assumptions necessary to make the novel more entertaining, The Widow's Garment paints a fascinating picture of the most important historical processes in his native land. The totalitarian Moscow state system and the democratic, based on popular votes - veche - Novgorod faced in a fierce struggle.

Boris Akunin in the "History of the Russian State" series, and in particular in the novel of the "Widow's Plaid" series, follows the paths of such eminent writers as Alexandre Dumas père and Maurice Druon: the writer dresses the history of the motherland in the colorful clothes of fiction. Akunin brings us closer to our antiquity, allowing us to get acquainted with important moments of history in more detail.

One of the most famous domestic fiction writers of our time, Boris Akunin, continues his most interesting series of books “History of the Russian State”. Being not only a fan of postmodernism, but, among other things, also an excellent historian, Akunin in his works mixes a great cocktail of unique historical facts and non-trivial author's fiction, which allows the reader to fully enjoy the delightful works.

Here you will find a collection of the author's works, which is called "The Widow's Board". The collection consists of two stories: "The Widow's Wrap" and "The Sign of Cain". The first describes the life and events taking place in Russia in the 15th century, and the second life and events a century later. And where is fiction here, and where is reality, it is almost impossible to determine without special knowledge on this topic.

The story "The Widow's Board" Akunin shone the description of the collision of two systems of government totalitarian and democratic, Moscow and Novgorod. Introducing readers to the reign of the cunning power-hungry ruler Ivan III, who sacrificed an entire country for the sake of the idea of absolute power, the author tried to draw parallels between that time and the present, between the ruler Ivan III and his modern incarnation, the president of Russia. Although, perhaps the author did not plan anything like that, but after reading, this thought seemed to haunt. In addition, in this story, Akunin assigned the main storyline to the opposition of the positions of women of the 15th century in Novgorod and in Moscow. Thus, once again, closely linking politics and gender issues.

The second story of the collection - "The Sign of Cain" tells about the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible and one of the brightest events of his reign - the oprichnina. Having set a goal to reveal the essence of this phenomenon and the repressions that accompanied it, Akunin decided to do this through the brightest and most realistic descriptions of torture, atrocities and violence, as well as the theme of religiosity. And, indeed, the description turned out to be incredibly impressive. After reading such historical stories, there is an irresistible desire to get acquainted in detail with this historical period and finally find out the reliability of the most shocking facts.

The collection "Widow's Placards" by Boris Akunin will be a little unexpected for fans of his work and will not look like anything they have read before. The new Akunin with a new author's view and innovative approach allows its readers to take a different look at familiar things and rethink already seemingly familiar things. Enjoy reading wonderful works.

On our literary site books2you.ru you can download the book by Boris Akunin "The Widow's Board (collection)" for free in formats suitable for different devices - epub, fb2, txt, rtf. Do you like to read books and always follow the release of new products? We have a large selection of books of various genres: classics, modern science fiction, literature on psychology and children's editions. In addition, we offer interesting and informative articles for beginner writers and all those who want to learn how to write beautifully. Each of our visitors will be able to find something useful and exciting.