Milk rivers, jelly banks, stories. Kiselnye Banks (“Geese-Swans” and other Russian folk tales)
Famine traditionally remained one of the most terrible scourges of the Medieval West. Fear of this disaster gave rise to a rich variety of myths about abundant food among the peasants. In the 13th century, in northern France, tales appeared about the country of Cocaigne, where people were paid for idleness and punished for work. Later, similar myths spread in England and Germany. Folklore legends about endless food go back to the biblical image of manna from heaven, which God fed the Jews during their wanderings after the exodus from Egypt. In addition, one of the gospel miracles of Jesus Christ is feeding thousands of people with just a few loaves of bread. The same miracles were attributed to various saints, the tales of which were included in the collection “The Golden Legend”.
Collecting manna from heaven. Image: thephilosophersmail.com
The German word Schlaraffenland first appears in Heinrich Wittenweiler's poem "The Ring" (early 15th century). The author even indicates the coordinates of the coveted region - somewhere between Prague and Vienna. The heroes of his comedy buffoon are heading there. The legend became truly famous and popular after the publication in 1494 of “The Ship of Fools” by Sebastian Brant, a satirical poem that castigated vices. medieval society. She had many parodies and adaptations that spread throughout Germany and covered all German dialects. Brant also mentions Narragonia, the land of fools. The heroes of the poem never reach Slaraffenland because their ship is wrecked. The country of lazy people was often encountered in schwanks, an urban genre of humorous stories in verse or prose.
Fables about the land of plenty said that pancakes grow on the trees there, and in addition to rivers of milk, there are also rivers of honey. There are also references to Schlaraffenland in those works where this country is not directly mentioned. For example, in the Brothers Grimm fairy tale “Hansel and Gretel,” children find an edible gingerbread house. In "Ditmar's Tale" from their collection they fly belly up fried chicken. In Slaraffenland, such game falls into the mouths of the most notorious lazy people and gluttons.
Fictional map of Schlaraffenland. Johann Baptist Homann (1730). Image: arthistorybabes.com
Although some authors indicated the approximate coordinates of an imaginary country, the common idea was that Slaraffenland was a parallel inverted world with an ideal social structure. That is why the gastronomic myth gained particular popularity during the times of peasant uprisings. Utopia resembles an endless holiday and thus resembles a medieval carnival.
The heyday of literature about the country of lazy people occurred in the 16th - 17th centuries. In modern times, the self-ironic Schlaraffenland gradually acquires the features of a dystopia, and the word itself becomes abusive. The authors of new works began to support their narrative with a moral about how commoners should not behave (be lazy, dream of equality and idleness). This was already ridicule of the naive legend about the Promised Land. There is a desire to prove to the ignorant reader that abundance can only be achieved through hard and persistent work.
"Land of the Lazy" by Pieter Bruegel. Image: dorohins.com
In painting, the country of lazy people is most often associated with the painting of the same name by the Dutchman Pieter Bruegel the Elder (painted in 1567, now kept in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich). The basis for the interpretation most likely served as a fairy tale by Hans Sachs. You could get into this country by cutting a hole through a mountain of porridge. The characters in the picture are an overeating knight, a peasant, a soldier and a schoolboy. There is a version that Bruegel conceived his painting as a political satire. At that time, his compatriots, fighting for independence, fought with the Spaniards, and the country was tormented by devastation and hunger. According to this interpretation, roast goose symbolizes passive nobility.
Sources:
Silantieva O. Yu. The legend of the country of Schlaraffia in German literature
Le Goff J. Civilization of the medieval West
Sachs G. Country of Lazy People
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How can you make banks for milk rivers from liquid jelly? What is the connection between the words “sour” and “jelly”? How many jelly were there in Rus' and what does the seventh water have to do with it? The answers to these questions will not only cause an obsessive “I’ll go and eat,” but will also help you remember, and, if desired, embody the varied and rich Russian cuisine yourself...
In Russian cuisine there are well-known dishes (cabbage soup, porridge, pancakes) and temporarily forgotten ones (kalya, kundyum, levashi). Kissels are at the intersection of these two sets: while remaining a common Russian dish, they are rarely prepared according to original recipes. “Milk rivers, jelly banks” - they ironically speak of fabulous well-being, without thinking about how banks can be built from modern liquid jelly. However, in national Russia Behind this saying there was a specific dish: hardened oatmeal jelly was cut into pieces and consumed with milk.
According to the Tale of Bygone Years (12th century), jelly was included in the Russian diet already in the 10th century. The chronicle describes , used in 997 by the inhabitants of Belgorod during the siege by the Pechenegs. The wise old man ordered the starving Belgorod residents to prepare a mash for jelly from “oats, wheat or bran” and dig a tub with it into the ground. A tub of well-fed water sweetened with honey was placed in the second well. The Pechenegs were invited to negotiations, they cooked jelly in front of them and treated them to food, thereby demonstrating that it was pointless to continue the siege - “We have more to feed from the earth.” On ancient origin Jelly made from grain flour is also indicated by etymology: and are related to the word “kvass”. Unlike unleavened pea jelly, oatmeal, rye and wheat jelly were placed on sourdough or sourdough, and therefore had a sour taste.
The familiar jelly made with potato starch began to enter Russian life at the end of the 18th century. early XIX century, but they became widespread only towards the end of the 19th century. The adoption of potato flour into Russian cuisine as a new thickener caused the natural development of culinary tradition. The first and most popular recipe was cranberry jelly, which became a link between jelly made from grain and potato flour. Remaining jelly in the original sense of the word (cranberry is a sour berry), it belonged to a new variety of this dish - starch jelly, many of which will no longer be sour, but sweet. At the same time, potato jelly remained a food: they were prepared very thick and served chilled with milk (almond or cow) or cream.
Oatmeal and other grain jelly
In his “essays on folk aesthetics” “Lad” (1982), Vasily Belov called oatmeal jelly “ " This dish has firmly entered into the figurative structure of the Russian language and into Russian folklore: oatmeal jelly is mentioned in fairy tales (“ », « », « "), folk songs, proverbs and sayings.
The remains of sifted oatmeal (seeding) were poured with water in the evening and fermented; early in the morning the infusion was filtered and boiled until thickened. Wheat and rye jelly was prepared in a similar way using milk or water. The somewhat complicated technology involved (from “drain”): bran or unsown flour was fermented, filled with water and left for several days, changing the water, which became increasingly clear. Thus was born the saying about distant relatives- “seventh water on jelly.” Kissel was usually cooked from raw suloj, but a recipe for drying it to obtain “jelly flour” has also been preserved. They could also cook grain jelly and prepare it with suloi without the fermentation stage - such recipes are given, for example, in “ "(1816) Vasily Levshin.
“The hot jelly thickened before our eyes,” writes Vasily Belov, “you have to eat it - not yawn. We ate a bite with rye bread, seasoned with sour cream or vegetable oil. The cooled jelly froze and could be cut with a knife. It was tumbled from a spilled jug into a large dish and filled with milk or wort. Such food was served at the end of the meal, as they said, “to top up.” Even the most well-fed were obliged to at least take a sip...” This is where the proverb “There is always a place for jelly and the Tsar” came from - in Russian peasant cuisine, oatmeal jelly was considered a delicacy. In the chef's version, it was served "with honey, or almond milk, or nut butter."
There is a similar dish in German cuisine - Haferschleim, which played a well-known role in Russian literature. In 1816, the young romantic Vasily Zhukovsky translated Johann-Peter Hebel's idyll " "(Das Habermuß in Alemannic dialect German language), where this dish symbolizes the idyllic rural life: “Children, oatmeal jelly is on the table; read a prayer; / Sit quietly, don’t get your sleeves dirty and don’t meddle in the potty; / Eat: every gift is perfect for us and the giving is good,” etc. The poem became widely known among readers, becoming the programmatic work of the emerging Russian romanticism, with the attention to the national way of life characteristic of this movement.
Oatmeal jelly with a full meal was a traditional funeral food, served at the end of the table. In this capacity, he appears repeatedly in Pavel Melnikov-Pechersky’s novel “ "(1871–1874): “Nikitishna prepared different jelly: for guests of honor - wheat with almond milk, for the street - oatmeal with honey." The Bolshoi, Maly and Nizhny Kiselny lanes that exist in Moscow are echoes of the Kiselnaya Sloboda, which was located near the Sretensky, Mother of God-Rozhdestvensky and Varsonofevsky monasteries destroyed by the Soviet authorities. In the settlement lived kiselniks who cooked jelly for the funeral.
A dish of peasant cuisine close to grain jelly was salamata - “liquid unleavened jelly made from any flour”, . However, oatmeal and other jelly made from grain flour were not a sign of only peasant household life: in , approved by Mikhailo Lomonosov in 1761, oatmeal jelly with fullness is present in the “Cold” section.
Pea jelly
Another original Russian dish was pea jelly. It was even easier to prepare than oatmeal: pea flour was brewed with water, avoiding the formation of lumps, brought to a boil, poured into containers and cooled. As Vasily Belov notes, “many people loved it and ate it hot and cold on fasting days. When cold, the frozen pea jelly was cut with a knife and poured generously with linseed oil.” More traditional was serving with hemp oil.
In cities, pea jelly was popular as street food, the industry of which Russian Empire was very developed and diverse. Alexander Bashutsky in “Panorama of St. Petersburg” (1834) noted that “Russians do not care at all about the time or place of their breakfasts or lunches. He eats wherever he happens to and when he feels the need for it: a navvy sits down to have breakfast on the bank of his ditch, a coachman eats while sitting on a box, a painter on a roof or forest floor, a cabman on the street next to his horse. In accordance with these habits, in St. Petersburg, in addition to taverns or simple tavern establishments for the people, hundreds of peddlers walk along the streets or stand near bridges with food and drinks corresponding to the seasons.”
The peddling of jelly was called kiselnichanie, and the merchant himself was called kiselnik or kiselshchik. In the book " "(1799) this profession is described in detail:
“Jelly peddlers walk through the streets with a tray on their heads, and when they stand in the market, they place their tray on trestles; which are made of wooden blocks folded crosswise and tied at the top with string. The jelly is placed on a board, covered with a white rag, at the other end of the tray there is a sufficient number of wooden plates, and the same forks or matches; to the one who demands jelly, the peddler cuts off a piece, cuts it into small pieces on a plate, and pours hemp oil from the flask he has for better relish; then the guest, using a sharp wooden match like a fork, eats with appetite. Kiselnik with his movable table moves several times a day from place to place, and stops mostly where he sees enough working people and sailors. Here a tree sawyer appears, having his tool in his hands and an ax in his belt, satisfying his hunger with jelly. Kissel is usually cooked from pea flour, and is mostly consumed during Lent.”
Kiselnikaniye brought a modest income. In the parable " ” by the famous Russian poet of the 18th century Alexander Sumarokov, a merchant of pea jelly, trying to improve his affairs, stoops to stealing icons from the altar. IN satirical poem « “Another 18th-century poet Vasily Maykov cites as deliberate nonsense the scene where “the ministers sell pea jelly.”
Oatmeal and pea jelly were popular common dishes, but, as can be seen from the above quotes, pea jelly was more common in cities and was labeled as food for working people. In particular, cab drivers loved to snack on pea jelly. “It was especially difficult to serve in cab driver’s taverns,” . - There were a lot of them in Moscow. There is a yard with logs for horses outside, and inside there is a “skating rink” with food. Everything is on the rink: jowl, catfish, and pork. In the cold, the cabman loved something richer, and hot eggs, and rolls, and hearth-grass with bran, and then, of course, pea jelly.”
Kissels made with potato starch
First breeding experiments were undertaken privately in the first half of the 18th century in accordance with the pan-European trend. Potato growing began to receive government support in 1765, when the Senate Manual “on the cultivation of earthen apples” was issued. The earliest Russian cookbook that has come down to us, “The Newest and Complete Cookbook” (1790, 2nd ed. 1791) by Nikolai Yatsenkov, already contains a recipe for making potato flour - starch. It is noteworthy that it is proposed to use it for milk jelly (with almond and cow milk), while for cranberry jelly the author recommends flour from “Sarochin millet”, that is, rice. In the “Economic Description of the Perm Province” of 1813, potato jelly is mentioned as a sign of the urban way of life: peasants eat potatoes “baked, boiled, in porridges, and also make their pies and shangi (a type of pastry) from it using flour; and in the cities they flavor soups with it, cook it with roasts and make flour from it for making jelly.”
The production of potato starch on an industrial scale began in the Russian Empire after 1843, as part of a complex of “most energetic measures for the spread of potato crops.” The amount of potatoes sown increased significantly, but still could not compare with grain crops: in 1851–1860, in the Moscow province, 10 times less potatoes were planted than grain crops, and in the Vologda province - 23 times less. Therefore, judging by explanatory dictionaries and encyclopedias, up to late XIX centuries, potato jelly was much inferior in popularity to grain and pea jelly.
IN " "(1789–1794) oatmeal jelly is highlighted as the main one; buckwheat and pea jelly are also mentioned (similarly in the second edition of 1806–1822). IN " "(1847) jelly is defined more broadly as “a food prepared by leavening and boiling from various types of flour,” but only oatmeal jelly is given as an example. A definition of jelly, similar in meaning, as sour mealy jelly (oatmeal, rye or wheat; pea jelly is mentioned separately) is contained in Vladimir Dahl’s Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language, published in 1863–1866 (similarly in the second edition of 1880–1882). But in the one published at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries potato jelly is brought to the fore: “mealy jelly, prepared from potato flour and fruit juices (cranberry, cherry, red or black currant, raspberry, apple, etc.), seasoned with lemon zest or cinnamon, less often with cloves, etc.; served with milk. Prepared without fruit juice, oatmeal, rye, and wheat K. is made with sourdough and sourdough; pea - fresh."
Many Russian cookbooks of the 19th century contain recipes for potato jelly. As Maxim Syrnikov notes, “if you follow any of those recipes by letter, you will end up with a jelly of such density and consistency that you can’t call it a drink.” Indeed, berry, fruit and milk jelly made with potato starch were predominantly cold desserts. Probably, the tradition of eating them with milk (almond or cow) or cream came from grain jelly. Recipes for hot liquid jelly are much less common in cookbooks and are given separately.
Cranberry jelly
Cranberry jelly was probably the first berry to appear in Russian cuisine and was especially loved. At the end of the 17th century, it was served on the table of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus' Adrian, along with grain jelly: “cold” with full, cream or juice and “hot” with molasses or butter. (The fact that in this case we are talking specifically about jelly made from grain flour is confirmed by “ » Vasily Levshin.) Based on the recipe given by N. Yatsenkov, we can assume that initially cranberry jelly was prepared with rice starch. With the assimilation of potato starch into Russian cuisine, cranberry jelly began to be prepared on its basis. It is known that in 1829 " "was served to Pushkin. With the penetration of cranberry jelly into widespread folk life, it received the name “red” in contrast to “white” oatmeal.
This jelly could be served hot as a separate dish or chilled with milk/cream and sugar. According to Saltykov-Shchedrin, in St. Petersburg in the 1870s They served “cranberry jelly with fullness.” Sometimes it was used as a gravy: in the magazine “Moskvityanin” for 1856, along with “various cold jelly with cream”, “boiled cod drenched in hot cranberry jelly with sugar” is mentioned.
Cranberry jelly became a link between jelly made from grain and potato flour, demonstrating the natural development of the Russian culinary tradition. On the one hand, cranberries are a sour berry, and the mealy jelly made from it was jelly in the original sense of the word. Cooking it with sugar reproduced the sweet and sour taste characteristic of oatmeal jelly with a full one. On the other hand, cranberry jelly belonged to a new variety of this dish - on starch, many of which will no longer be sour, but sweet. At the same time, “sweet jelly” as a special dish was already mentioned in “Domostroy” of the mid-16th century. What they were at that time is not known for certain, but it is very likely that this was the name given to grain jelly with sati or molasses.
Almond and milk jelly
Another popular type of jelly made with potato starch was almond jelly, which was made from almond milk. He is mentioned several times in " "(1927–1944) by Ivan Shmelev as a Lenten dish. IN " “At the memorial dinner, Vladimir Gilyarovsky was “surrounded with almond jelly and almond milk.” From cow's milk and cream, milk jelly was also prepared with the addition of bitter almonds.
These recipes are close to grain jelly with milk, especially wheat. At the same time, the influence of blancmange, which was widespread in Russia since late XVIII centuries as a dish for the ceremonial table. Compare in " ": "Yes, in a bottle covered with tar, / Between the roast and the blancmange, / They are already carrying Tsimlyanskoe." In Russian cookbooks between almond/milk jelly and blancmange was that the latter used fish glue or gelatin rather than potato starch.
IN " "(1610–1613), compiled for the Polish prince Vladislav, it is said: “On a dish of white jelly, and in it a ladle of unleavened milk, a spoonful of cream.” It is tempting to see “white jelly” as oatmeal with milk, in accordance with popular usage. However, most likely we are talking about one of the variants of blancmange (for example, on rice starch), which at that time was popular in Europe among the upper classes of society. In the 1912 cookbook by Ekaterina Avdeeva and Nikolai Maslov, “ "It's called milk based on potato starch.
Kiseli in Soviet era
At the beginning of the 20th century, jelly in Russian cuisine was presented in all its diversity, including the most exotic options. The above-mentioned cookbook contains recipes not only for “melon” and “chocolate” jelly, but also (a grain made from granular starch extracted from sago palms) with spices, which is recommended to be eaten “hot with raspberry jam.”
In Soviet times there was a familiar fault: if explanatory dictionary Ushakov (1935–1940) is still focused on the system of meanings of imperial Russia, then Ozhegov’s dictionary (1949) records : “a gelatinous food made from some kind of flour” turned into “a gelatinous liquid food” (my italics - M. M.).
In the bible of Soviet cooking, “The Book of Tasty and Healthy Food” (1939), jelly is presented quite fully, including almond and oatmeal (“Oatmeal jelly with milk”). They are suggested to be cooked “medium thick and thick” and served “hot and cold.” At the same time, recipes for berry and fruit jelly are given in the section of sweet dishes, oatmeal ended up in flour dishes along with dumplings and pasties, and pea jelly is not mentioned at all. In the same book of the 1952 edition, which is considered exemplary, almond jelly and oatmeal jelly were excluded, although the oatmeal itself remained and it was proposed to prepare something like salamata from it.
The destruction of a single class of dishes was accompanied by the gradual liquefaction of jelly on starch, turning it into a drink. In “Kitchen on Stove and Primus” (1927) K.Ya. Dedrina gave a proportion of liquid and starch of 6×1, which corresponds to pre-revolutionary standards. In the “Book of Tasty and Healthy Food” of 1939 and 1952, a close ratio is given: two tablespoons of potato flour are placed on one glass of berries. In the same For two tablespoons of starch there are already four glasses of liquid.
By the end of the Soviet period, the idea of potato jelly was reduced to modern level, and for centuries, oatmeal and pea jelly, beloved by the Russian people, were removed from culinary use. It got to the point that in 1992 the doctor managed to patent a recipe for ordinary oatmeal jelly as a medicinal dish.
The originality of Russian jelly
Transforming mealy jelly into hot drink disrupted the natural relationship between Russian cuisine and the culinary traditions of others European peoples. The confusion that has arisen in to the fullest reflects " "(2002, published posthumously) by William Pokhlebkin. He divided jelly into “Russian” (rye, oat, wheat and pea) and “berry-fruit”, which are supposedly “sweet dishes of Western European cuisine.” According to Pokhlebkin, it is customary to prepare thick jelly in Western Europe, but in Russian cuisine, medium-thick jelly is supposedly accepted. The triumph of half-knowledge is the suggestion to eat lean pea jelly with meat broth or gravy.
Gelatinous dishes like jelly are widespread in Western European and world cooking in general. A striking example Rice pudding, which is found in various forms around the world, can serve. However, the similarity of recipes is equally characteristic of oatmeal, pea, milk and berry-fruit jelly, which is natural given the close trade and cultural exchange.
A fairly accurate analogue of jelly made from grain flour can be found in British cuisine of the 17th–19th centuries - . This dessert was prepared from soaked oat or wheat seeds, but without fermentation, and served with honey, cream and other additives. The presence of a fermentation stage in the Russian tradition is noteworthy, since our cuisine in general is characterized by a sour taste. Flummery is considered a type of pudding, of which there are a great variety in English cuisine. Also in Great Britain there was an analogue of our salamata - . It was this dish that formed the basis of the diet of the workhouse inhabitants in the novel “Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens.
German equivalent oatmeal jelly, Haferschleim, has already been mentioned. In addition, in German and Danish cuisine there is a dish completely similar to jelly made with potato starch: - literally “red grain”. This is a sweet dessert with red summer berries originally prepared from grain cereals, then potato starch was used as a thickener. Rote Grütze is also served chilled with milk or cream.
In French cuisine, the closest thing to starch-based jelly are berry and fruit jellies, which were prepared with the addition of fish glue and later gelatin. In Ignatius Radetzky’s “Almanac of Gastronomy” (1852–1855), which presents Russian-French cuisine of the mid-19th century, the names of jelly are duplicated in French as “gelèe (kissel).” At the same time, Radetzky does not mix these dishes: the book contains recipes for raspberry and cranberry jelly and jelly from the same berries, and also separately presents similar recipes for almond jelly and almond blancmange.
It is similar to cold jelly made with potato starch. Turkish delight (Turkish delight), which is prepared with starch with rose water, mastic tree resin or fruit juices as the main flavor essences. An analogue of pea jelly is easily found in Italian cuisine - it is polenta made from corn flour (mamaliga in Eastern Roman countries).
In the Russian culinary tradition of the 19th century, jelly was perceived as a unique dish and was not mixed with related jellies, blancmange, puddings and other foreign dishes. There is no reason to single out potato starch jelly from this series as a “dish of Western European cuisine.” Starch (rice, potato, maize) was used as a thickener in many European countries, and Russian cuisine, with its assimilation, kept pace with the times, maintaining its originality.
Kissels in modern Russian cuisine
Nowadays, the ironic saying “there is jelly seven miles away” (that is, going on a long journey for what is at hand) can be safely used in the literal sense. Even liquid berry jelly is rarely found in cafes and restaurants, not to mention other varieties of this dish.
In a number of establishments, oatmeal and/or pea jelly appeared thanks to Maxim Syrnikov. These are the Russian cuisine store “Dobryanka” in Novosibirsk, the Moscow restaurant “Voskresenye” and “Russian Village” in Vladimir. In St. Petersburg, oatmeal jelly can be found at the Pomorsky restaurant.
Special Interest present their own versions of traditional Russian jelly. Chef and co-owner of the Moscow restaurant Delicatessen Ivan Shishkin successfully : “I brought it almost to perfection, although it only contains pea flour, water and vegetable oil. But I smoke the flour, cook the vegetable broth, use marmite (a British paste made from yeast extract with a strong salty taste - M.M.) for the sauce, which gives the dish, excuse me, the taste of meat. I fry pickled cucumbers in a special way and make decorations from fresh shoots.” Shishkin presented his own pea and oat jelly at the Moscow gastronomic festival Omnivore 2013 and subsequently introduced pea jelly into the spring 2014 menu. The Lenten 2014 menu of the St. Petersburg restaurant of new Russian cuisine “CoCoCo” also included a signature pea jelly from the establishment’s chef Igor Grishechkin - with “smoked carrot puree, fried onions and Borodino bread chips.” Unfortunately, the history of rethinking jelly in modern Russian cooking is limited to these two examples.
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Maxim Marusenkov
"Last night interesting thing happened. I was about to go to bed when
suddenly I had pain in my stomach. But what! Cold sweat
appeared on my forehead."
M.A. Bulgakov, Notes of a Young Doctor. Morphine"
When I happen to remember the years that some hypocritical scoundrel cheerfully and optimistically called “perestroika,” then every time I remember the same story. It was 1991 then. I don’t know how or why, but I just became ill—for no apparent reason, my stomach ached, so much so that I was completely bent over. How can one not remember Bulgakov? And no one in our student dormitory had any stomach medicine, except No-Spa, which, as you know, doesn’t help anyone with anything. And from this fact there was no relief on the horizon and was not expected.
Well... So I’m lying on the bed, pulling my legs to my chest, and trying to relieve the sharp cutting pain with the power of thought. And she, the infection, cuts harder and harder. So sometimes you grind your teeth, and sometimes you quietly howl... I was tormented all night, I couldn’t find a place... I really didn’t want to call an ambulance, although my imagination painted the most terrible pictures... And then, in the morning, unexpectedly and as if out of nowhere, an insight came about what However, you can still relieve the pain. No, no... this is no longer according to Bulgakov, although if I happened to have this with me then, I think everything could have happened differently... But it didn’t... Thank God it wasn’t...
And the insight, picture, vision, whatever you call it, came in the form of a large faceted glass full of something white and warm... Milk!... I remember how absolutely clearly and clearly I understood that if I had the chance to take this saving glass of white warm milk, as the hellish pain tormenting me immediately fades away and goes into oblivion... The vision was so clear that I almost saw with my own eyes how a blessed white stream, like living water, flows down the esophagus and spills, envelops the painfully irritated trembling scarlet wound, hides it from my eyes with a warm lake, and when it disappears into the underground kingdom, it leaves healthy, calm, pink, smooth flesh...
But, naturally, there was no milk in our empty student refrigerator. Moreover, I could not even remember the day when it was there for the last time. But somehow you have to save yourself. Moreover, when the compassionate gods, seeing my suffering, mercifully indicated a remedy. All that remained was to get it. Gathering the remaining strength, I rose from the bed, pressing my hands to my solar plexus and wincing with every movement, slowly got dressed, went out into the street and wandered wherever my eyes led me. And the eyes looked towards the nearest grocery store.
Deli is such an exquisite word... delicious... it smells of smoked fine-grained sausages, delicate cheeses, red caviar, beluga balyk and a lush wheat loaf with a lump and a crispy crust... I am writing and swallowing saliva... It seems like right now go to the supermarket and take what you want, but everything is not the same... Not the same taste, not the same aroma, and, most importantly, not the same expectation, not the same anticipation, not that almost sacred awe... Everything is not the same... yes, sir.... But at that moment, the acute shortage of raw smoked sausage with small beads of fat could only intensify the already terrible pain, and therefore dreams about it did not even arise. And I imagined only the most simple cow's milk in a glass bluish bottle with foil instead of a cap, on which the freshest date of its production appeared with tubercles knocked out from the inside. And it was stupid to doubt the freshness of the date, because the precious milk was instantly sold out in the first half hour of delivery to the grocery store by mothers with strollers in which pale babies born at the dawn of perestroika were sleeping or crying... Poor babies... And poor mothers who got up before the light not dawn, they showed miracles of perseverance, quick wits, rare fighting qualities and the ability to simultaneously find themselves in several points of space, managing to buy milk here, butter there, bones for a soup set here, and in the grocery store of a neighboring microdistrict, by a lucky chance, grab frozen pollock for dinner. A real hunt in the concrete jungle to feed your cub and not stretch your legs yourself.
That is why milk evaporated from the shelves by half past eight in the morning. And at nine o'clock you are welcome to the store only with the return of containers - empty milk bottles. Here... And I, due to my then childish naivety, inexperience and ignorance of the laws of the jungle, crawled out of the house at ten in the morning... And naturally, going around store after store, I saw only empty gray wire boxes that the movers were rattling around. In every store I encountered a depressing picture of empty counters, behind which plump blondes in lace caps and white robes, hugging their lush busts and powerful folds on their backs, sat bored, leaning on their elbows. From time to time, I remember, the thought arose about a special breed of people, specially bred for the joy of others, who, even during a total lack of food, manage to look prosperous and seem to be day by day not only not losing weight, but, on the contrary, filling up with juices and ruddy health . They harmonized strangely and whimsically with empty stainless steel pallets where they should please Soviet man stiff burgundy meat of the deepest freeze, let it be all in tendons, let most of it be a hefty split bone or an old callus, let it be. But it must be. Together with the blondes... But there are blondes, but for some reason there is no meat... And I really wanted to ask the blondes about this secret, but it was a shame - perestroika... everyone is suffering, and they too... You just have to wait, be patient, and everything will work out... and everything will appear ... maybe even right now... you just have to believe... But the same empty pallets were waiting for me and pricked my eyes with their stainless steel in the dairy department of this fourth grocery store. My hopes for milk were fading, and I was already dreaming of at least a spoonful of sour cream or a glass of kefir, fermented baked milk, yogurt... anything... just milk...
In one store I saw a huge dark line of women different ages, looking with hostility at everyone who, curious, approached the counter, seeing in the curious person an arrogant lover of jumping the line. I was also curious, although at that time the rules were to first get in line and then ask stupid questions like “what do they give?” But it was impossible to waste time on some kind of soup set from someone’s gnawed cow bones - dangerous sparks flashed in the eyes from time to time, or began to darken from pain. Therefore, I, still just a girl, plucked up courage, approached the counter, stood on tiptoes and looked behind the heads... I wanted to write “customers”... But “customer” is such a noble word, meaning something cultural and endowed with dignity. The “customer” is the one who buys - comes to the store, takes out her wallet, counts out the money, receives a package in return and, smiling kindly, thanks the seller... And here there were not “customers” at all, but she-wolves, real ones... who must at all costs bring prey in their teeth to their hungry wolf cubs...
But I didn’t hear their threatening growl. Not because he wasn’t there, but because my eyes were glued to the cutting tables on the other side of the counter. And there, in the meat department, lay something completely incomprehensible and unfamiliar to me. Something big... yellow... elastic... round... in cross section with some kind of hollow vessels... strange... And next to it is an equally strange bloody bubbling thing, which was slashed with a knife, swatting away small portions, by two dashing augurs. I was brought out of my stupor by the shrill voice of my aunt from behind the counter (“seller” is also, perhaps, too noble a word for this breed): “Woman, what are you doing here for me?... She chooses... It is said that in one hand - half a kilo of udder and half a kilo lung!...Are you deaf or something?..."
My God... My God... so this... udder... Huge... yellow... you can say that... breast…
My vision grew dark, but I still didn’t faint - I heard swearing in the queue, flattering, fruitless fawning in the hope of the best piece of those whose turn had finally come, eyed from afar... Nobody paid any attention to me, but I took a couple of steps back and rested my back against a rectangular column covered with cold oil paint...
Oily... Butter... Lord... at least butter....
Coming out into the chilly November air from a stuffy grocery store, I clearly and clearly understood that if I didn’t find at least something dairy, I simply wouldn’t live until the morning. All that remained was the largest, farthest and most stupid grocery store, on Mira Avenue. Tight, inhospitable doors reluctantly let me inside the long room, which began with a department in which the only counters were filled with anything. Something cheerfully green and colorful. It turned out to be a department with the delicious capitalist name “Grocery”, where on the shelves in three rows, as if covering a gap in the side of a sinking ship, there were green cardboard boxes with the proud name “Golden Label Cocoa”. All the other colorful products turned out to be bay leaves, suneli hops and sweet peas. You won’t be full with bay leaves, like sweet peas and peppers, and I wandered further along the long store that occupies the entire first floor of a residential building... Just as empty as all the previous ones, except for the vegetable department, where they sold mutilated carrots, with lumps of dirt stuck to it... or lumps of dirt in which there were crippled carrots.... And suddenly...
Suddenly... I saw a queue... in the very direction where the dairy department was located... The queue... I rushed there... And they really are giving something... Hurry to the end, take it, otherwise there won’t be enough.... Having already stood in line and taken a fighting stance in case a competitor appeared like “I stood here before you,” I began to find out “what are they giving?”... Oh miracle of miracles!... They gave oil!... Butter!.. .. Oh gods! Gods!... Tender... creamy yellow... it will gently descend down my exhausted esophagus along with the bread and mercifully cover the irritated, trembling red wound, and then, when...
“Girl!... De-woosh-ka!... Do you hear?... Salted butter... “Peasant”... salted butter!”
Salted?... Can butter be salted?... Out of place, the corned beef that Jack London fed his sled dogs appeared... and then huge barrels of blubber appeared, which the brave Captain Gull, who never parted with his pipe, appeared, poured it into the raging salt sea to calm the waves for a moment so that the whaling ship could glide into the bay... Salted butter... Salted... On my scarlet, irritated wound...
Oh gods! Gods! Yes, even if it’s bitter, as long as it’s oil...
Honestly, I remember everything as if in reality... I remember the cold November day... Despair... I even remember that pain... But I absolutely cannot remember how exactly this coveted tiny package of parchment paper ended up in my hands... I don’t remember if that augursha full and whether she was blonde... and how many grams of the elixir of life, solidified in the refrigerator, they gave me in one hand... I don’t remember that’s all...
But I remember how with sacredly lustful trembling hands I smeared this salty, already softened gold onto a modest porous rectangle of black bread, how I mentally conjured it: “Help... help”... How I imagined his way down... that soft featherbed that covered and muffled the throbbing pain … I lay down on the bed, assumed the fetal position, pulling my knees up to my chin, and began to wait…. wait…
“I cannot help but praise the one who first extracted morphine from poppy heads. A true benefactor of humanity. The pain stopped seven minutes after the injection. It’s interesting: the pain came in a full wave, without giving any pauses, so that I positively suffocated, as if a red-hot crowbar had been stuck into my stomach and rotated. About four minutes after the injection, I began to notice the wave-like nature of the pain. After the injection, I slept deeply and well for the first time in recent months.”
Ah... dear... dear Mikhail Afanasyevich... poppy heads... morphine... If only you knew what healing effect a small piece of ordinary salted butter... the simplest... peasant butter can produce... It’s a pity that you didn’t know, Mikhail Afanasyevich... it’s a pity that you didn’t know...
milk rivers, jelly banks
Alternative descriptionsAntonym of poverty
An annual income that is at least one hundred dollars higher than the income of your wife's sister's husband. Henry Mencken
Golden Abyss
Abundance of material assets
It makes men arrogant and self-confident
Wealth
Abundance of money
The savings of many in the hands of one
What was Plutos the god of?
Abundance of values
Golden Mountains (colloquial)
Those who have it also cry
Financial well-being
Roman by Valentin Pikul
Security rhymes with brotherhood
Having 6,500 rubles is what it is... according to Shura Balaganov
The ancient sages believed that it “does not reduce greed”
Financial well-being
Wealth
The savings of many in the hands of one
Luxury and security
Wed. multitude, abundance, abundance, excess, superfluity. The wealth of the harvest. Wealth of thoughts. Abundance of property, bellies, money, yars. bonfire rich, arch. wealth, lower wealth, ryaz. Bogatel zh., zap. wealth avg. (see also wealth), bellies, estate, property, wealth, wealth, condition; sufficiency, prosperity; objects that constitute a person’s property, and everyday life itself, the state of a prosperous person; opposite sex poverty, lack, squalor, misery, need, want. Wealth is akin to arrogance. Wealth sweeps away, and poverty oppresses. Wealth masturbates (swells), but squalor crushes. The man in wealth is not the same as in poverty. Wealth is water, it came and went. Riches are no help to a foolish son. You don’t live with wealth, you don’t live with a person, they say. about marriage. Neither a horse without a bridle, nor wealth without a mind. The mind gives birth to wealth (the mind gives). Poverty cries, wealth gallops. There will be no hell, there will be no wealth. Stinginess did not come from poverty (squalor), but from wealth. Splendor, splendor, luxury. The temple decorations are famous for their opulence. Rich, rich northern, rich Ryaz. plentiful, plentiful, abundant, many. Rich harvest. Rich copper ore . Rich imagination. Possessing great property, estate, wealth. The guy is as rich as a horned bull and arrogant. The rich live, and the poor howl. A rich man saves his face (in a fight), and a poor man saves his clothes. The richer (richer), the stingier. rich, but stingy. The rich will buy the mind; the poor man would sell his own, but they wouldn’t buy it. A husband loves a healthy wife, and a brother loves a rich sister. He who is too expensive is not rich. What do I need (or: I don’t need) a rich one, give me a cheap one. Don't ask from the rich, ask from the rich. It is not the rich who feeds, but the fat one. The rich devil gives rides to children. If you are rich, you will also be horned. He who is rich is horned and proud. The rich man cannot sleep: the rich man is afraid of the thief. Not rich, but overpriced. You won't be rich by looking at people. After all, I don’t fall for a rich man, but for God, they say, if they don’t believe God. Snow and rain on the wedding train live richly. The devils forge money for the rich. The rich man does not need a friend. If you are not strong, do not fight; if you are not rich, do not be angry. If you are rich, you will also be stingy. It is difficult to be rich, but to be well-fed (and satisfied) is not difficult. Richly adv. excessive, abundant, ardent, luxurious, magnificent; Ryaz. tul. good, nice, eminent, wonderful; thief. eagle Little Russian many. We are rich in sheep. Rich man, rich man, sib. richer m. rich woman, rich woman, rich woman, arch. rich woman vol. hero of the south zap., a person rich in property; prosperous, prosperous, very sufficient, wealthy, moneyed. Rich man, fire, see wealth. Rich people are paunchy; shanks, ankles. There is a lot of rich beer and honey, but it would be thrown into the water with a stone. We praise God, we magnify Christ, we curse the rich man. Rich Wed. collect rich people, rich people. So rich people have gathered here that it’s scary. Bogatich m. bogatichna f. son or daughter of a rich man. The rich people live poorly; needy people who are not spoiled are better. Rich people like popovichs and blue horses: they rarely succeed. Rich, rich, belonging to a rich man. In front of the gate, in front of the rich, a song. To enrich someone, to enrich, to endow with wealth. What makes you rich is what shines, trade. To get rich or get richer, to get richer, to profit; to be enriched. I didn’t get rich when I was young, but in my old age I wanted to. Getting rich cf. action of enriching, enrichment. Wealth, the state of a person becoming rich. He got rich, he made money, and he enriched me, and he became rich himself. Bogatelnitsa m. bogatelnitsa f. enriching someone, giving wealth. Our rich mother earth. Rich woman, rich woman, rich woman. hard resin plant Conyza; komornik, flea beetle; plant guns, Erigeron, flea beetle, unfading; on Ivan Kupala they tell fortunes with it: they stick a kidney into a crack in the hut, or put it under icons; will blossom, for good; will dry out, for worse. Difficult words: rich-loving, richly gifted, etc. are understandable in themselves, but heavy and rarely used
Security, capital, condition
The article examines the meaning of the phraseological unit “milk rivers and jelly banks”. It is told how and when this expression appeared, in which fairy tales and other sources of world literature it can be found. Examples from texts will be given.
Origin
“Milk rivers and jelly banks” is a fairly well-known expression, which owes its origin to Russian folklore. For example, the Russian folk tale “Three Kingdoms - Copper, Silver and Gold” talks about a long, unusual, abundant time:
In that ancient time, when the world of God was filled with goblins, witches and mermaids, when the rivers flowed milky, the banks were jelly, and fried partridges flew through the fields, at that time there lived a king named Pea with the queen Anastasia the Beautiful...
It is characteristic that not only these rivers and banks are unique “markers” of that time, but also King Pea. This character personifies the distant past of years, literally meaning - it was unknown when, but a very long time ago.
Thus, milk rivers and jelly banks symbolize abundance and prosperity - such that there is no need to work, everything will come into your hands. In addition, it is implied that prosperity and carefreeness, since the rivers are magical, will never dry up. And in the context of the above-mentioned fairy tale, such a time once happened a long time ago, it existed, but it has passed.
"Vasilisa the Wise and the Sea King"
True, folklore sources mention this expression in various variations. In the Tale of Vasilisa the Wise, the heroine turns horses into a honey river and the banks of jelly - after all, folk tales existed in an oral version, if the narrator did not like milk, he could replace it with honey.
By the way, please note that we are not talking about the familiar beekeeping product - thick honey, in which sometimes a spoon stands (it will be difficult to imagine this in the form of a river), but about the Russian national drink - honey. This is a non-alcoholic or alcoholic drink based on honey. He was known and trained, however, not only in Rus', but also in almost all of old Europe. There are quite a few types of drink: honey, mead, sbiten, etc. But in the fairy tale it could not be honey that was mentioned, but, for example, sata - water simply sweetened with honey.
"Geese-swans"
And in this Russian folk tale, a milk river with jelly banks occurs in a completely different context: it appears on the path of a girl who has lost her little brother. It appears twice - and both times not as a symbol of abundance and prosperity, but as a kind of pass to the world of the dead. After all, oatmeal jelly and milk are traditional “funeral” and “funeral” food, in particular in the Russian North. Refusing to taste this treat, the heroine entered the “interworld,” located in a special space - neither in the world of the living nor in the world of the dead. There is Baba Yaga's hut, in which a boy, the girl's brother, is in captivity.
And in order to return to the “world of the living,” the heroine has to taste both the jelly bank and the milk river. This is a kind of sacrifice made to the ancestors.
An apple tree with apples in the Russian folk tale "Geese and Swans" personify vitality, and bread and oven act as a symbol human society- sitting in the oven, the girl and boy seem to be hiding from the bird messengers from the world of the dead among people.
In fairy tales of other peoples and in mythology
In Romanian folk tales, rivers of milk were enclosed within banks of hominy (the name given to a hard-boiled porridge made from cornmeal).
And the Bulgarian legend tells how St. George cut off the heads of the three-headed snake Lamy, and milk, wheat and wine flowed from these places.
The Slovenian legend is interesting in its content: it tells that a long time ago there was such a fertile time when the udders of cows were so huge that it was not difficult to get milk. There was a lot of it, and women even bathed their children in it and washed themselves. Because of such abundance, people became completely lazy, which is why the Creator became angry with them and took away this mercy of his. But at the request of the cat, who loved milk very much, he left several teats for the cow.
The medieval epic of the Armenian people “David of Sasun” tells about an extraordinary milk spring flowing on the top of a mountain. According to the story, David drank from this source, and his strength increased so much that he was able to enter into battle with the troops of Melik.
Milk rivers can be called a kind of symbol " upper world", if we are talking about a mythological tradition. For example, Yakut myths will tell about upper rivers, personifying contentment and abundance, and about the lower ones - dirty, which are filled with blood and tar.
In the Bible
But here’s what you can read in the Bible, in the Book of Exodus: God told Moses that he would lead the people of Israel out of Egypt and bring them “to a land boiling with milk and honey” - that is, to where there is eternal abundance and wealth.
By the way, later the biblical expression was picked up with pleasure by writers. For example, M.E. Saltykov-Shchedrin in the collection “Well-Intentioned Speeches” (essay “Father and Son”, 1876) writes:
At that time... the general's house was boiling with milk and honey.
In addition, the Old Testament apocryphal Book of Enoch and the Koran mention heavenly blessed rivers of honey and milk.
On the farm
Finally, we can mention a traditional treat of Russian cuisine - hearty milk jelly or an oat-based dish drenched in milk. It is worth mentioning that livestock, in particular the cow, was the basis of the peasant economy. But not all families had it.
Therefore, a dish of milk and jelly, served to guests as a treat, testified to the well-being of the host home. Perhaps it was thanks to this culinary tradition that the expression “rivers of milk and banks of jelly” appeared - that is, everything one could wish for.