«Town in a snuffbox». A Brief History of the Tale

In 1834 the story of Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky "The Town in a snuffbox" was published. The brief content of the work, which the reader will find in this article, will help you quickly get acquainted with an interesting story. Odoyevsky wrote his story for children, but it will also be interesting for adults.

Papa and Misha

The story begins with the fact that the father calls to his son Misha. The boy was very obedient, so he immediately put his toys aside and walked over. Dad showed him a very beautiful music box-snuffbox. The child liked things. He saw a real town in a snuffbox. The summary of the work can be continued with the description of an unusual thing, which was made of a turtle, and on the lid there were turrets, houses, gates. The trees, like the houses, were gold and sparkled with silver leaves. It was here and the sun with pink beams. Misha really wanted to get into this town in a snuffbox. The short narrative smoothly approaches the most interesting - the way a boy in this amazing city turns out to be.

Bellbells boys

Dad said that the snuffbox is small, and Misha can not get into it, but the child succeeded. He looked closely and saw a little boy beckoning him out of the music box . Misha did not get scared, but went to the call. Surprisingly, it seemed to decrease in size. Misha was not only in the town, but he was able to walk along it with a new friend, overcoming the low vaults. The conductor was a bell-boy. Then Misha saw a few more of the same children, also bell boys. They spoke and made sounds: "Ding-ding."

Such were the inhabitants and the town itself in a snuffbox. The summary goes to a somewhat sad moment. First, Misha envied new friends, because they did not need to learn lessons, do homework. The children objected to this, saying that they would rather work, because without them they are so bored. In addition, bells are very annoying evil guys who periodically knock on their head. These are hammers.

Hammers, roller, spring

That's what the town was like in a snuffbox. The brief content will acquaint the reader with other fairy tale characters.

Misha asked the uncle why they treat bells so? The mallets responded that they were ordered to do so by the supervisor - Mr. Valik. The brave boy went to him. Roller lay on the couch and did nothing, only turned over from side to side. On his robe he had a lot of hooks and pins attached. As soon as Valiku came across a hammer, he hooked it, lowered it and the hammer pounded on the bell. At that time, the children were also supervised by the warders. Misha likened them to Valik and thought that real overseers were much kinder.

The boy went on and saw a beautiful golden tent. Under it lay princess Spring. She then turned, then folded and pushed into the side of the supervisor.

Here such heroes came up with Vladimir Odoevsky. "The Town in a snuffbox" helps children understand the principle of the action of musical boxes. It turned out that all this Misha had only a dream. Father told him about this and praised the boy for his curiosity, delighted that even better he would understand the mechanisms when he began to pass the mechanics.