I hear the rattle of the key in the keyhole, well, that's all. Very soon I will be squealing in pain in the "room under the stairs". I suspect it used to be my parents' bedroom. This is a spacious square room with a beautiful view from the window, decorated with mahogany, it is very quiet in it and the sounds that are heard in this room are not heard anywhere else in our spacious house. It also has its own toilet room.

My father died many years ago, and I hardly remember him - I was only 5 years old when it happened. My mother and I live on the second floor, the servants occupy the left wing of the first floor. And I got acquainted with this room when I went to school, although, however, not quite right away.

It was like this: I received an entry in my diary - I didn’t learn the poem, I couldn’t even imagine what it threatened me with! Mom, of course, warned me that I should study only with "Excellent", that I have all the data and all the conditions for this, that she alone is in business, works hard, does not like her personal life - and all this for me. All that is required of me is excellent study and obedience. The nanny looked after me, she also made me do my homework, although my mother said that I should be independent and scolded the nanny for forcing me, she believed that from childhood I should rely only on myself and learn to allocate my time. So I "distributed" - played too much and forgot! Mother came home from work and checked the diary (she did not forget to do this every day). Then, in a calm voice, she told me that I would be punished now, ordered me to lower my jeans and panties to my knees and lie on the bed with my booty up, and she herself went out somewhere. I am a naive child! And so it did! I thought that this was the punishment - to lie upside down!

But what was my surprise when a few minutes later, the mother came, and in her hands she had a brown strap! She said the first time I'll get 20 strokes! In general, she managed to hit only 1 time. From a terrible, unfamiliar pain, I howled, and quickly rolled to the other side and crawled under the bed. It happened instantly, I did not expect this from myself! And no matter how she screamed, did not threaten - I did not climb out of there until the morning. She slept there. From fear, she did not want to eat, drink, or go to the toilet.

In the mornings, my mother left early, and the nanny took care of me. The nanny fed me and took me to school. The whole day I was gloomier than a cloud, I was very afraid to go home, but I was ashamed to tell my friends about what had happened. Lessons are over, and oh horror! My mother came for me.

After talking to the teacher, she firmly took my hand and led me to the car. We drove in silence the whole way. Arriving home, I, as always, changed into my favorite jeans, washed up and went to dinner, dined in the company of my mother and nanny, and, thinking that everything had been forgotten, went to do my homework. About two hours later, when the lessons were over, my mother came into my room and in a calm voice told me about the system of my upbringing, that I would be punished for all the faults, and the best and most correct punishment for children is spanking, since "Beating determines consciousness", and that my butt was created specifically for this purpose. If I resist it, I will still be punished, but the portion of punishment will be doubled or tripled! And if I piss her off, there'll be brainwashing too.

Then she ordered me to get on all fours, she herself stood over me, squeezed my head between her strong knees, unbuttoned my panties, pulled them together with my panties from my ass and called the nanny. The nanny came in, and I saw in her hands a stick from a cherry tree. Of course, I immediately understood everything! She began to cry and beg her mother not to do this, but all in vain. After a couple of seconds, the cherry rod began to burn my naked, defenseless ass with a terrible fire. Mother used to say - let's beat laziness, beat laziness. And I screamed and begged for mercy! Nobody heard me. But after a while the execution stopped. My butt was on fire, it was very, very painful and insulting, I cried and whined, but no one was going to let me go. Mom took a break, and said that I got 20 hits for laziness, and now there will be another 20 for yesterday's resistance. I just went cold with fear! And the cherry rod whistled again with a loud clapping, falling on my already sore ass. I no longer screamed, it could not be called a scream - it was a heart-rending screech, I squealed and squealed, my mind was clouded by this terrible, burning, unbearable pain. It felt like I was being skinned alive. That I can't take it anymore and I'm about to die!! But I didn't die...

The spanking ended, and I was crying, with my pants down, holding my ass with both hands, and they took me to the bathroom. The nanny told me to lie on my stomach on the couch, I lay down, I thought that she would give me a cold compress, I thought that she would take pity on me, but it wasn’t there.

She pulled off my dangling jeans and underpants and forced me to get on all fours, I begged and howled at the same time! I thought that I would be spanked again.

But, as it turned out, they decided to brainwash me! I got even more scared! I cannot express in words my horror from the unknown and fear of pain! At the same moment, a short thick stick stuck into the hole between the halves of my tormented ass and smoothly slipped inside, I screamed, more from fear than from pain, and my mother and nanny laughed. Warm water flowed into me, I almost did not feel it, it only burst in the pope and lower abdomen, and I cried from shame and resentment. After a while, I really wanted to go to the toilet. But I was not allowed to get up, and this nasty stick was still sticking out of my ass, and the nanny held it with her hand. Finally my mother allowed me to get up and go to the toilet.

I remembered this punishment for a very long time.

I always did my homework on time, memorized everything, learned everything. I sat for hours in class. I have always been tense and afraid. I didn't want to repeat the punishment. So three years passed. elementary school I graduated as a brilliant student with excellent behavior. Mom was happy!

Here I am in fifth grade. New teachers, new subjects. The first two English language…

At home, I honestly told my mother everything, and was ready for punishment. But that evening she did not punish me. I thought that she changed her tactics of my upbringing. I myself began to try very hard and soon got a four and two fives in English!

Unexpectedly, repairs began in our house, as it turned out, in a room that I did not suspect existed. It was located under the stairs and its door was upholstered in the same material as the walls, so it was not noticeable. A week later, the repair was completed. They brought some strange bed: narrow, convex, with some kind of slots and wide leather cuffs. Then I thought that this was a sports simulator - my mother always took care of her figure.

Three days later I managed to get a triple in mathematics and acquaintance with the "room under the stairs" took place!

In the evening, after my mother had supper and rested, she called me to the new room. The room was beautiful but gloomy. In the middle of the room stood a strange bed. Mom explained to me that now this room will serve for my upbringing, that is, punishment. That this bed is for me. I will lie down on it, my arms and legs will be fixed with leather cuffs so that I will not be able to move, and the butt will be located above the rest of the body. In general, a very convenient design, and even the fact that I will grow is provided. Here's what my mom bought! She was definitely proud of this acquisition, as it turned out, made to order! Then she showed me a wooden stand. He had a whole arsenal of instruments of punishment! A narrow black strap, a red braided belt, a soldier's belt, a brown belt with metal studs, a red wide patent leather belt with a lion-shaped buckle, a yellow thick braided belt, thin strips of leather gathered at one end into a handle (as I later found out - a whip), belt made of coarse, thick khaki fabric.

Then we went to the bathroom. Here my mother showed a transparent beautiful trough in which cherry twigs from our garden got wet - these are rods, she said.

Development of reading skills

Read the text "The Horse and the Toad" by L.N. Tolstoy. Complete the tasks. Mark v statements corresponding to the content of the read text.

horse and frog

After the rain, the children poured out over the outskirts. It's fun for them to spank through muddy puddles. A toad also climbed out onto the road; sits quietly on the edge of a puddle - it's good for her.
The children saw the toad and said: “Oh, what a reptile! Let's make her happy." They broke sharp rods and let's poke the toad with them. All of her was destroyed. A toad jumps, wants to hide, but the boys do not let him in and even laugh.
A horse with a cart, old, thin, is going to this place. It is hard for her to drag a cart along a muddy road. The children have moved aside and are watching what will happen to the toad. And the horse saw the toad and stopped. The peasant shouted angrily at her... The wheels were deeply bogged down in the mud: it was difficult for the horse to turn aside. Still, she gathered all her strength and drove around the toad.
I also saw a man a toad. “Look, the horse took pity on the bastard! Creature, but understands! - he said.
The cart passed. The children again approached the toad. They stood and walked away; they wanted to start a game, but something didn’t work out for them: they were ashamed of something.

1. Define the characters of the work.

a) Children, a toad, a horse;

b) kids, toad, horse, man;
c) children, man.

2. Choose one of the meanings of the word outskirts used in this text.

a) A roundabout, indirect road around the village;
b) a fence around the village;
c) outskirts of the village.

3. What meaning do children put into the word reptile?

4. What meaning does a man put into the word reptile?

a) a disgusting, vile animal;
b) amphibian (animal living on land and in water);
c) a disgusting, vile person.

5. Determine with the help of numbers the sequence of actions of the toad in the text.

a) Sitting __
b) jumping
c) got out
d) wants to hide

6. Use the numbers to determine the sequence of actions of the children in the text.

a) hurt __
b) broke __
c) let's poke__

8. Restore the correct sequence of plan items using numbers.

a) Why are children ashamed?__
b) Meeting a horse with a toad.__
c) How nice after the rain!__
d) Fun for children.__
e) “The horse felt sorry for the reptile.”__

9. Are there characters in the text that you feel sympathy for? Why?

______________________________________________________________________

10. What moral lesson did the children learn?

______________________________________________________________________

Correct answers to tasks

	old, skinny
	toad, horse
	ashamed to offend the weak, defenseless

FI _____________________________________________________

Read the text "Knut" by V. Volkov. Complete the tasks. Mark the statements corresponding to the content of the read text.

Whip

- Grandpa, look what a whip I found! Grandfather raised his glasses to his forehead.

- Look, you are a belt! And, in any way, woven into six ends.
I swung the whip and made a loud crack.
– Clever... And where did you find it?
- And on the road.
“And you don’t know whose whip it is?”
I shrugged as naturally as possible. Although, of course, I knew whose whip it was. Grandfather Egor! He just went to the station yesterday and, apparently, dropped it, returning drunk in the evening. Grandpa sighed.
- The day has just begun, and you have already sinned twice: you took someone else's whip and lied to me.
And again he began to beat off the scythe. When he finished, he called me:
- Hey, Vovk, I keep thinking, where are you going to snap this whip. It's not allowed on the street. Suddenly Egor will see or the guys. And they will tell him. Is it in the garden? But you can’t swing there - there is no space. So it turns out - you need to hide it.
In the evening, at the samovar, grandfather again spoke of the whip.
- Well, have you thought about where you will hide it? Under the pillow, it seems to be the most reliable ...
I blushed. I was just thinking about exactly this - where to hide the whip. And the grandfather continued, slowly sipping from the saucer:
- Taking someone else's thing is a simple matter. But to hide it so that the owner does not see - here you need to think hard. But you are a big head. Mother says - you study for one five ...
Red and sweaty - not from hot tea, but from grandfather's mocking eyes - I slowly climbed down from the bench, took a whip in the entrance hall and went outside the vegetable gardens.
I finally clicked there, and without any pleasure, wandered along the country path to the house of grandfather Yegor. And then he suddenly ran: so I wanted to get rid of this ill-fated whip as soon as possible.

1. Define the heroes of the work.

a) Grandfather, grandson, grandfather Yegor;
b) grandson, grandfather;
c) grandson, grandfather, Vovka.

2. Where do the events described in the text take place? Justify your answer: write down words from the text that confirm your choice.

a) In the city ________________________________________________________________________
b) in the village ________________________________________________________________________

3. At what time of day do the events described in the text take place?

a) in the morning;
b) morning, afternoon, evening;
c) morning and evening.

4. What find does the grandson show off to his grandfather? ______________________________________

5. Where did Vovka find the whip? ______________________________________________

6. What was the joy of owning a whip?

a) click loudly
b) brag to the guys;
c) store under the pillow.

7. What sins did the grandson say the grandson committed? _______________________________________

8. What meaning do you mean by the word sin?

a) Violate religious and moral prescriptions;
b) commit an act worthy of condemnation, censure.

9. Why, according to grandfather, you can’t crack a whip in the street? _________________

10. What advice did the grandfather give to his grandson? _______________________________________________________________

11. What is the meaning of the grandfather in the words:

a) think ____________________________________________
b) big-headed ________________________________________

12. Why did Vovka want to get rid of the ill-fated whip? _____________________________

________________________________________________________________________

13. Restore the correct sequence of plan items using numbers.

a) Grandfather's advice.__
b) Relief from the decision made.__
c) Bragging about a find.__
d) Reluctance to give the whip to the owner.__

14. What moral lesson did the grandson learn? _______________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Correct answers to tasks

			spit, garden, kitchen gardens, country path
	whip
	on the road
	someone else took a whip and lied to his grandfather
	the owner will see
	hide the whip under the pillow
	think	smart

Hearing the familiar clanging and creaking, Natalya tried to brush it off. But this time, instead of food, the sentry brought clean clothes. "Get dressed," he ordered and left.
"That's all," - this guess at the first moment even made me happy - predatory claws will soon release them. But then it got scary. Terribly scary. Scary as hell. She jumped up, measured the prison rectangle with quick steps. She rushed to get dressed. The movements became sprawling, awkward. She convulsively wrapped her hair in a knot and hid it under her cap.
What painful moments. She tried in vain to control her feelings, to calm down. "Why aren't they following me? Rather. If only to see Sasha, ask ... ". But the major did not appear.

The scaffold was erected on the bank of the canal near the building of the twelve colleges. They covered the wooden boards with black cloth, spread a red carpet - the execution of noble persons should be carried out with gloss. Theatre!
People rushed to see the show. From early morning on the square is not overcrowded. Resourceful daredevils have chosen excellent places on the roofs of nearby houses.
The owners of the scaffold are already in place, laid out whips and tongs. The audience is roaring with excitement. Interesting, ... and scary, ... and cold. But it attracts like a magnet.
They were led out of the fortress on a bright morning. The light hurt his eyes, accustomed to the dark. A large shaggy cloud, taking pity, covered the sun with its sleeve. Ivan swung to his parents.
“Mother,” his voice sounded soft and hoarse.
- Ah, chick! - menacingly snapped his guard. - Do not dare to talk!
Natasha blinked her son encouragingly with both eyes - Everything will be fine. - Tried to smile. The smile turned out to be pathetic, uncertain, and Lopukhina hastened to turn away from her son. Spiked questions: “What awaits us? What will happen to the children?”, Many other “what?”. She made eye contact with her husband. Now he did his best to calm her down with a glance. And with Bestuzheva - "Annushka, forgive me ..." - tears welled up in my eyes. Anya smiled affectionately, arching her eyebrows in sympathy. "It's not your fault..."
They put them on boats. The guards sat down on benches along the sides, the convicts were left to stand. With a long pole they pushed the boat away from the shore, the rowers leaned on the oars. Light ripples on the water, quiet splashes, fresh, cool morning air. And this wind, touching the thin veils of memory that keeps the delights of childhood and youth, seeks to fill the lungs, break into the soul and fan it with transparent, yellowish-green and greenish-blue. And another time I would take a deep breath, drunkenly, slightly drunk, my heart would beat ... But now it’s not like that: a clean and light stream hits muscle spasm and a dense barrier of anxiety and splashes back. And from that it is even sadder: now this natural grace is not for them. Treacherously pinches in the nose. “Don't panic, just don't give in to it. They failed to force us to incriminate ourselves, to confess to serious ... ”, - the hand involuntarily reached for the aching shoulder,“ they can’t just gossip ..., hopes ... But, after what has already happened ... ”, - teeth are clenched, - “We need to prepare for the worst… Elizabeth made a vow…. So the worst is a whip ... ”, - for the umpteenth time Natalya built the same logical chain, and for the umpteenth time - “For what ?! Not!" - It ached and shrank inside. “If it is possible to call our conversations a crime, then it is insignificant. The verdict shouldn't be so cruel... The verdict! - For what? Unthinkable…. Silly…. Like a bad dream, but too long, impossible... It hurts! It doesn't hurt so much in a dream... I would have woken up long ago... No, everything is in reality - Why, Lord? Have mercy, ”- eyes to the top, - hold on. Why didn't they announce it earlier. After all, it would be easier if we knew in advance ... We have the right to this! Or maybe a pardon? - Airy, light thought! - "And they want to finally hold in fear!". But not for good, the guards closely examine them and look away, as soon as someone tries to intercept him. “No, no, you can’t hope for yourself, suddenly it’s not like that, then it’s too terrible ... Tune in, tune in for the worst ... What could be in the worst case? “Knut… But they didn’t use it even for Osterman, Munnich, Reingold… Reingold, you can’t imagine…”, she closed her eyes, shaking her head negatively to herself. “So, what is it anyway?” - It's time to howl like a dog. “Okay, whatever! We'll survive! Even if the whip, ”she clenched her fists with all her strength,“ With mother ..., with mother it happened ... They say that a shell does not fall twice into the same funnel, ”Lopukhina mentally laughed ironically. - “Not in Russia! Everything happens in Russia! Mother was accused of taking bribes, but in fact she did not interfere with Uncle Willim's love (Poor uncle! ) and Empress Catherine. Like you can stop love! Catherine then returned mother from exile the very next year. Who would have thought that her daughter ... She got on me from childhood, and now she takes her soul away, swaggers! Lord, you see, you see everything!”
The sobs of her soul were interrupted by a jolt. The boat landed on the shore. Lopukhina looked around in fear. Very close, to the left and a little behind rises black, ominous ... Suddenly weakened and bent knees, and a lump to the throat.
- Come out one at a time, as I call, - the head of the convoy shouted menacingly, - Lopukhina Natalya ...
Climbing out, she caught on the side, swung. Stepan twitched towards her, but the escort stopped him with a blow from the butt, the other grabbed Natalya by the arm, helped her to stand on her feet.
- Anna Bestuzheva ..., - they grabbed her by the elbow in advance, there were no stumbling.
- Lopukhin Stepan (he looked calm, no outside help was needed) ..., Lopukhin Ivan (stood as if rooted to the spot, wrapping his arms around himself, the guards impatiently led him under his elbows), Putyatin Ivan ..., Moshkov Ivan ...
Having built, a pale, pitiful line of people was led to the steps of the "theater". Views of the audience greedily dug into their faces, figures, clothes ... Everyone fought with the desire to cover his head with his hands, shirt, hide under his arm ...
The secretary of the Senate, Zamyatnin, approached the barrier of the scaffold, strainingly, loudly began to announce the verdict, signed by Elizabeth:
“We hoped that the shown mercy (in the case of the overthrown ministers) would be received with the most sensitive pleasure not only by the convicts, but also by their names ...
Stepan Lopukhin with his wife Natalya and her son ..., forgetting the fear of God and not being afraid of his terrible judgment, in spite of any dangers, not paying attention to the fact that in the first case they were under suspicion and kept under arrest, despising the favors shown to them, they decided to deprive us of the throne...
Lopukhins Stepan, and Natalya, and Ivan, out of goodwill towards Princess Anna and out of friendship with the former Chief Marshal Levenwolde, made a plan against us, and Countess Anna Bestuzheva was with them, out of kindness to the princes and out of malice for their brother Mikhail Golovkin, which he was exiled into exile, forgetting his villainous deeds and our many worthy favors to her. And all of them for several months often gathered at the house of Countess Bestuzheva, Stepan Lopukhin and the Marquis de Botta, consulting about their plan.
His wife Natalya and Anna Bestuzheva were the masterminds of the entire evil deed and attracted: Prince Ivan Putyatin, who was not only suspected but also wanted in the case of the princess; Sofia Lilienfeld, ...
Natalya Lopukhina, being a lady of state, did not come to court without permission, and although her relatives repeatedly spoke about this, she did not obey. ... "
The convicts listened and did not believe what they heard. So simple, so coherent, as if they really are villains, insidious conspirators. Natalya heard: “... to wheel ...”, - and, as if, she could not remember the meaning of this word. But I didn’t completely forget it, it stood somewhere nearby, heavy, but could not be used in relation to it. “... from that they are most merciful ...”, - yes, it should have been so. Pardon is understandable. But: "... with a whip, cut tongues ..." - and this is a pardon? This is mistake.
The secretary finished reading. The escort nudged Lopukhin on the shoulder. She stepped onto the step of the scaffold, where, with their hands behind their backs, the shoulder masters were waiting for their victim. Half asleep, a glass bubble with ice fell and broke, invisible fragments splashed. She walked without resisting, looking around with a confused look. It was necessary to quickly understand something and do something. But it was impossible to grab the thread... As it happens in a dream: you need to quickly solve the problem, and time is running out, and you are still fiddling, making mistakes...
One of the executioners approached the condemned woman and tore the mantilla from her shoulders.
A long, round-shouldered guy from the front row, chewing on a pie, shouted:
- Well, let's see what kind of lady of state!
Several more chuckles and similar cries were heard from different directions.
- Lopukhina! Don't lie - damn good! - Loudly and juicy said someone's mocking voice.
Natalya Fedorovna turned sharply to the crowd: humiliation, pain, irrevocable .... Publicly! She pressed her hands to her chest, retreating from the executioner and turning pale, whispered hoarsely, - no need. Don't you dare...no!
Ignoring the pleas of his victim, the kat tore at the fabric of the shirt. Lopukhina began to cry and tried to push his hands away from her. Seeing a hitch, a second one came up. But sentenced to execution, not wanting to admit the inevitable, desperately thrashed in their hands: she cried, fought back, contrived, clung her teeth to the brush of one of the tormentors. He cursed, releasing his hand, hissed:
- Well, you will remember me, belle, - and, grabbing her by the hair, he sharply turned her face to his assistant, who took the former lady of state by both hands and, turning abruptly, threw him over his shoulders like a bag.
“Look how quick you are,” laughed the lover of pies.
“And you don’t feel sorry for her,” the woman standing behind him said quietly.
- And what, - answered her, a lively wench with shifty small eyes, - let her try and caress her with a whip. Not all of them are just gingerbread.
- Calm down, shameless, - a hefty bearded man measured her with a heavy look, - well, if you were in their place, would you have fun?
- And that's right. Why are they like that, babe? It’s not even an hour, they’ll be locked up to death ..., - a compassionate whisper swept through the air.
The sharp-eyed merchant, akimbo, was about to answer them all, as expected, but at that moment a heart-rending cry hung over the square, and all other voices died down.

All the attention of the crowd turned again to Natalya Lopukhina. The whip, falling heavily and bitingly, dug into the body, and, releasing the victim, emitted an invariable hoarse-chomping sob. His bloody painting on his back, arched in a futile effort, remained a deep furrow. Breathing stopped from each blow to break through with sanious foam with a heart-rending drawling cry until the next count - the next stone on the scales of the royal Themis. Wheezed in anguish vocal cords. Tears covered black, in one pupils, eyes. Before his eyes, blond hair and a thick neck of an executioner-apprentice. They have dirt and Natalia's pink saliva on them. From the pain piercing through, she jerked her head up - a deep blue sky and serene white clouds - a good addition to the picture of injustice and impossibility. The torn consciousness did not give rise to a single word that could be addressed to this bottomless height. Inarticulate, primordial plea, a message about an unreasonably cruel and senseless massacre went there.
There were no thoughts. I didn't think, I didn't wait. Tore, tore and tore. The futility of fighting with formless rags rose in the deafened mind, but the creature obeyed the animal frenzy of instinct. It seemed that there would be no end, or this is the end ....
Then she felt herself sinking down onto the wooden flooring of the platform. The executioner squeezes his throat. The execution is not over yet. I remembered what was yet to be... Clench my teeth, resist. To live…, air… A gray, shimmering mist swirls. I coughed. The rough-woven trap seized and pulled out everything from the collarbones. A sharp, caustic pain slashed and spilled like molten lead. The last cry was choked with blood, and sticky, heavy darkness fell.

Lopukhina lost consciousness and no longer heard how the executioner, shouting: “To whom I will sell my tongue cheaply,” he threw the still hot part of her flesh at the feet of the gathered people. She could not see how a skinny boy jumped aside, he looked like a student, his chalk-pale face and trembling hands. The talkative woman with small evil eyes froze like a stone statue. On the sleeve of the bearded man hung his little, plump wife. The guards shamefacedly pulled a clean, thin cotton shirt over her head, threaded her lifeless hands into the sleeves, stuffed a rag rolled up in a bundle into her mouth, tied the edges at the back of her head, and laid her belly down on the cart. Everyone was having a hard time breathing. And the next victim was already rising to the theater - Anna Bestuzheva.
People felt how their insides were shrinking, in anticipation of a repetition of the performance they had just seen, they looked with pity at the convict: fragile, fair-haired, as if transparent - can she stand it?

Anna Gavrilovna seemed calmly tired. There is sadness in my heart. "Push the guard, jump down the steps and run, run away from here without looking back!" - A childish thought flashed through my head, desperately seeking salvation. But Anna Bestuzheva, daughter of Vice-Chancellor Golovkin, widow of Peter I's favorite Pavel Yaguzhinsky, wife of Chief Marshal Mikhail Bestuzhev, was not a girl, but an adult, sensible woman, moreover, as self-possessed as she herself never expected from herself. Rising to the blood-stained scaffold to the executioner, she openly, with doomed calm, looked into his eyes. He was angry and had a distinct smell of sweat and alcohol. But, meeting the gaze of the victim's large, brown eyes, in which there was neither hatred, nor prayer, nor even obvious fear, but only the question: “Who are you? - After all, a man, not an animal? Shouldn't I be afraid of you?" He suddenly became embarrassed, turned away and again looked askance, frowningly, with an unusual feeling of uncertainty at Bestuzheva. She took off her golden cross sparkling with diamonds and handed it to the executioner. "This is for you," her voice was flat and sad, with a sigh, the kind you say when you give something of value to someone you trust. Her hand did not tremble, the hand of an experienced shoulder master trembled. Driven into distant niches of his soul, his feelings, which seemed long forgotten, constricted his chest. “Finish everything quickly, come home and fill it with wine, drive away from yourself everything that is impossible to live with ...”. For all the time of the execution, he no longer dared to look into those eyes. But the whip fell on her back gently, barely cutting through the skin. Grasping the edge of her tongue in forceps, the executioner mentally pleaded: “Just don’t twitch and don’t scream. For God's sake, don't scream!" Anna Gavrilovna did not cry.
Later on that day, the work of the shoulder master somehow did not go. Neither when punishing the restrained, patient Stepan Vasilyevich, nor his sobbing son in the voice, nor the others sentenced to execution, did the executioner show the usual zeal.
The execution was nearing completion. On the scaffold, Alexander Zybin received his share of whips. Among the crowded people, a pie merchant was briskly pushing his way.
- Pies, pies, with heat, with heat, - he shouted loudly, - with meat, with potatoes, with cabbage, with mushrooms. Who wishes? Pies…. - He was cheerful and agile. A clean apron and white armlets inspired confidence.
- Well, come here, - a well-dressed nobleman called him from an open carriage. - How much pies?
“Any dime, your honor,” the hawker bowed to him.
The nobleman bought a couple of pies, one handed it to his young companion, it seems, to his son. The young man took a bite of a pie and grimaced as he chewed the dough with fried onions.
"Meat pies," he chuckled. - Yes, there is as much meat in them as there is truth in this "Lopukhin case"!
- And you shut up! his father snapped rudely. - Otherwise, the hour is not even, - he pointed with a white finger, - you yourself will fall into such a pie.

When consciousness returned to Natalya and the ability to distinguish the surroundings through the veil that covered her eyes, she found herself lying on a cart, which, swaying with a creak, was slowly moving somewhere. A hand gently ran through her hair. What a strange and unexpected feeling. “Maybe it’s all a dream? Or have I already died, and this angel came for me and stroked me with his wing? But could the Lord accept me after everything that happened because of my stupidity? She turned her head - it was her husband. The face is pale gray, black circles under the gentle brown eyes, gray damp hair stuck to the forehead and temples. She wanted to ask him where they were being taken, what happened to her son, something else, but she couldn’t: slipping, she could hardly stay on the edge of the cliff, from which heavy stones rumbled, trying to drag her down to where, like quicksand, swoon spread its soft, suffocating embrace. Clenching her teeth, with the help of Stepan, she sat down, pressed her forehead against his shoulder. “This is what they doomed us to: really, I will never be able to ask anything again, I will never be able to say anything again. Never - what a terrible word, ”she swallowed convulsively - no, she would not cry. Irritated by a soaking wet, useless bandage. Natasha pulled it out of her mouth with a groan, pulled it over her head, and threw it away, trying not to look.

Scene:

Collective farm "Forward" Novopokrovsky district

Krasnokamensk Territory

Today Lyudka - a woman of about thirty and five - was beaten to a pulp.

Just. Never.

It's just that Ritka Goja, nicknamed Treason, wanted a fierce spanking.

Lyudka was removed from work, released from the cart and, chained to a pole in the “frontal place”, for an infinitely long time, Treason beat her with a whip, taking out her bad mood on this beast - she beat the unfortunate woman on her back with a whip, breaking it into perfect tatters, each time extracting screams from her and splashes of blood - she didn’t know how many whips she received - she just flogged her, and when she fell into oblivion, she poured saline solution over her and continued torturing her ...

When the hand got tired, there was a sure sign that this animal had received at least one hundred and twenty whips, but Treason did not want to stop - deciding to take a break, she tore the remains of the unfortunate slippers from the unfortunate feet and ordered her apprentices to try, sat down to rest, watching how they made the unfortunate suffer with wire whips her heels, turning each of them into a piece of bloodied meat and then they stopped the blood with salt ... and then the torture continued until at least one hundred and thirty lashes landed on each foot ... then Treason ordered them to go out and continued torturing Lidka beating her on the pope with the same whip, periodically dousing again ...

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when Treason brought red-hot pitch... which poured into her deepest wounds under the incredible squeal of the tortured...

And then, after giving the unfortunate woman a little rest, Treason returned by evening and, hanging her on the rack on her twisted arms, continued torturing her all the same confidently and cruelly working with a whip - she beat her so cruelly as she had not flogged a single cattle for life, beat her planted with her power and her screams, beaten simply because she wanted to turn someone into a piece of bloodied, bleeding screaming, even wheezing with pain, coming out screams and tears ...

Ludka was for her a beast for beatings, a beast for a flogging - they were all slaves for her as a beast...

Lyudka had long ceased screaming, she was only wheezing, and she was still playing with her - when they unhooked the unfortunate woman, they dragged her away, leaving a bloody trail in the punishment cell. Then Treason figured out for the sake of interest - she only received no less than three hundred blows from her, and also her guardsmen beat that heel that she couldn’t see for a long time ... stop! Can't walk? He can ... On the coals he can ... but if not, then let him blame himself!

Lydia ... the same unfortunate friend of Lidka’s misfortune, filled with suffering and torment - Lidka was ten years older according to the calendar, but ... they couldn’t even tell how many years before that the convicts looked terrible ... she didn’t look like yesterday the first month she worked "on a cart" - she was sent to hard labor for six months for this backbreaking work - they were used instead of horses.

Of the fifteen slaves who then managed to fall out of favor with Treason on the farm for the crime of which they did not commit now in the ranks - that is, the unfortunate saw each other at least once a day or slept in the same barn - there were no more than ten people left.

Slaves were strictly forbidden to talk to each other - Treason, having learned about each such conversation, beat both of them, beat them with a whip, not sparing the unfortunate, as if it was the worst offense in their lives.

It was summer and after the beating, the unfortunate were left chained in the sun, they could be put in that stinking barrel or chained on a red-hot iron roof ...

Yesterday Lidka was personally beaten by Treason - she, as a senior warden, from early cheers until late in the evening dangled in her UAZ through the fields and construction sites, catching horror and fear on the slaves exhausted by work ...

Overseers watched the work - hefty guys armed with whips and clubs that never remained idle.

The only condition was not to be beaten to death every day - the slaves themselves gave up the ends from overwork, bullying, hunger and disease ...

Lyudka, Lidka managed to try a lot on themselves - for some reason the team of Treason hated them especially fiercely and the young daughter of Lyudka Lariska.

They were treated much worse than the most cruel owner treat his cattle.

Slaves were forced to work sixteen hours a day - at least. There was always a reason to leave them at work again and again - several times Lyudka simply met the next working day still harnessed to the cart.

Lidka was subjected to sophisticated punishments from Treason, turning into torture - for her, for any slightest offense, there was only one punishment of a hundred blows with a whip - it didn’t matter if she was beaten yesterday or in the morning - Treason never spared the unfortunate woman, enjoying every cry of being on the verge of insanity about suffering , pain and backbreaking work of a woman.

Lydia walked almost naked - an old smelly rag smeared with mud dangled from her belt in which it was no longer possible to guess anything what it was before.

Lyudka was dressed a little better - the rotten remnants of a dressing gown dangled on her thin shoulders, which they did not even cover, but on the contrary only gave a more terrifying look to her appearance.

A couple of times they were even - rather entertainment of Treason - allowed to walk in old, completely broken, completely worn down and turned into a pile of dirt, scraps of leather, ropes and wire slippers

They fell off the feet of the unfortunate slaves as soon as they took a wider step or did not keep them on dirty legs with cracked heels - for each such violation there was a punishment.

Treason liked this entertainment and soon she was going to put all the slaves in the same trampled, completely broken, torn slippers.

Lidka... Lidka hasn't lost her slippers for three days already - the decayed sole with several equally dilapidated straps that so desperately thrashed her overworked heels held tight... Treason ordered to sew the slippers to her feet so that they would not go anywhere...

Each step now additionally gave her pain in her legs, which were sewn with coarse stitches of an equally coarse thread.

It was a recent invention of Ritka Goji, nicknamed Treason - before that, Lidka tried her perverted imagination on herself - Lidka was beaten with a whip from morning to evening and there was not a single living place on her body - she was like one big constantly bleeding wound.

She liked to make the unfortunate woman walk on hot coals - just like that, she took her off work and chased her until she fell and started bouncing, gasping for screams and screams, and then, when Lidka crawled out, they burned her heels with those very coals;

She made Lidka stand just like that, holding two buckets of mortar in her hands, and whenever buckets fell from the hands of the unfortunate woman, she was beaten so that she fell to the ground, and then again they forced her to rise with a whip and everything started anew;

Lidka, clinging to the next nonsense, was chained next to the anthill there so that her heels would be in it, and after being tortured with a whip, they were left to lie doused with honey and watching the convulsions of the unfortunate woman;

She was harnessed to a cart which, even empty, was difficult to budge, and having loaded her beyond measure, they drove her with the same whip, and when she fell, they were forced to continue on her way and there was no end to this;

Having beaten Lidka once again, Treason chained her to an iron roof heated by the sun and left it like that for a day...

She was starving and falling from fatigue, falling asleep every second of rest that fell to her share.

And the bullying of Treason became more and more sophisticated and with more and more cruelty she took out her anger on the unfortunate woman.

Lidka was forced to work for twenty hours and shackled in stocks at night, Lidka was starved and tormented with thirst, or vice versa, they were fed with salted herring and doused with the same solution and left in the morning in the sun - she prepared the most terrible tortures for her for the winter when a barefoot naked woman could be spread rot and spread rot at some construction site, beating in the cold so that the snow will be red around, torturing her heels to see the bloody traces of her steps ...

Treason was already pounding from such dreams - she herself did not know why exactly she wanted to torment her for so long and sophisticatedly. And now it was important not to crush this slave to death, prolonging the agony of her life ..

But Lidka did not think ... she had neither the strength nor the desire to think how life was still glimmering in her - her brain, dulled from work and constant beatings and humiliations, was not able to think and decide anything except for the simplest commands. She did not know how long it would last, but ... But every day was replaced by a new one and brought her more and more suffering.

Today, she again mocked the unfortunate woman all day long, taking her off work and sending her to a construction site - she drove her into a trough with mortar, ordering her to work in it all day.

All this fit in a month since the flogging of Lariska and the torture of Lyudka on barbed wire.

Night was falling, but before returning to her hut fifteen kilometers from this place, Treason decided to look at the farm where only young - no older than sixteen - slave girls worked, and among them was that Lariska because of which her mother suffered so much.

Lariska was there - Treason even heard it from the bells that were on hooks attached to the breasts of that girl.

She wanted just as cruelly, but now differently to have fun with her daughter.

She opened the door loudly shouting “Cunts! Line up!"

To be continued.

The main element of the whip is a long braided leather belt of round section, which is divided into the actual braided part (or whip body), foul and cracker. The body is woven from long strips of leather and gradually thins towards the end, on which a narrow belt is attached - foul; a cracker consisting of horsehair or synthetic materials is attached to the foul. When struck with a backswing, as it thins, the tip of the whip, and especially the foul, can develop supersonic speeds, which causes the cracker to produce a characteristic loud sound, reminiscent of a click or pop. This click scares the cattle, which is what the shepherds use. Whips can also be made from other materials, such as synthetic rope or ribbon, other materials are less common.

Basically, the whip has a solid handle (for example, made of wood). Whips with a missing handle are sometimes called a "snake" (eng. Snake), sometimes a bag of shot is added to the beginning for weighting.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the whip, which was used in Russia until the middle of the 19th century as an instrument of punishment and torture. According to N. N. Evreinov (“History corporal punishment in Russia", 1913) the whip for punishment consisted of three parts: a wooden handle about 0.35 m long, attached to a woven leather column about 0.7 m long, ending in a copper ring, a "working" part long was already attached to the ring also about 0.7 m. The last, “working” part was made from a wide strip of thick cowhide (about one centimeter thick), bent to give additional rigidity with a corner (a corner along the skin strip) and bent at the end in the form of a claw. Sometimes the edges of the working part were sharpened. This part of the whip was previously soaked in special solutions, for example, boiled in wax or milk, and dried in the sun [ ] . The “working” part of the whip could be additionally braided with thin wire to give the whip additional rigidity. Thus, the executioner's whip was a heavy percussion weapon [ ] . Correct hit the whip was supposed to cut the skin and underlying tissues to the bones - this served as an indicator that the executioner was hitting with full force (in the time of Ivan the Terrible, if the executioner beat weakly, he risked taking the place of the punished) [ ] . During the blows, the whip became damp in the blood and lost its rigidity, therefore, after every 10-15 blows, the whip was changed to a new one.

The use of the whip

Instrument of corporal punishment

Throughout almost its entire history, the whip has also been used as a powerful tool of punishment, and as such is used in a number of countries even in our time. The punishment was carried out very slowly and required a lot of effort from the performer. According to Kotoshikhin, “in a combat hour there are 30 or 40 blows,” and according to Count Mordvinov, dating back to the 19th century, “a whole hour is needed for 20 blows.” The whip was also used as an instrument of torture: the defendant, tied by the wrists, was pulled up on a rope in the air on the rack and in this position received blows with a whip. The fatal outcome of whipping was a very common phenomenon; this is unanimously testified by all Russian and foreign writers of both the 17th century and the later era. According to Prince Shcherbatov [ check link(already 847 days)], almost all those punished with a whip die either during the punishment itself, or after that, " some of them are in the most severe suffering than a beheading, or a gallows, or the very five".

The severity of punishment with a whip depended not so much on the number of blows, but on the strength of them and the method of application. Howard, one executioner confessed that with three blows of the whip he could cause death, penetrating to the lungs. There were examples, says Jacob (1818), that the executioner interrupted the spine from the first three blows, and the criminal died on the spot; on the contrary, there were examples that 100 and even 300 blows did not cause noticeable harm to the health of the criminal. Thus, the abolition of the death penalty by Elizaveta Petrovna and its replacement with a whip punishment actually came down to the establishment of a qualified execution instead of a simple one; there are even indications that such a frequent expression "beat mercilessly with a whip" was understood by the performers of the XVIII century, as an order to flog the criminal to death. In the old days, to heal wounds from a whip, a warm skin of a freshly killed sheep was put on the back of the punished (healer of the 17th century, Olearius).

The Sudebnik of 1497 already mentions punishment with a whip, but it reached its special distribution in the 17th century, in the terminology of which it was also called "cruel punishment" and "commercial execution". According to the Code of 1649, most of the criminal acts, even the most insignificant, entailed punishment with a whip either separately or in combination with other punishments. Later decrees of the 17th century expand the use of the whip to the extreme limits, appointing him for work on Sundays (1668), for begging (1691), for throwing out into the street or accumulating against the yards (in Moscow) of manure and all kinds of droppings (decrees of 1686, 1688 and 1699).

Further expansion of the scope of the whip was the result of the abolition of the death penalty under Elizabeth Petrovna. Whip punishment was accompanied by nostril cutting, branding, and exile; in those cases when, since 1753, it replaced the death penalty, this was also accompanied by the erection on the gallows or the position of the head on the chopping block. The Code of Laws of 1832 and 1842, according to which punishment with a whip was an additional punishment to exile in hard labor, largely narrowed the scope of the whip, leaving it only for those crimes that before Elizabeth Petrovna entailed the death penalty, in all other cases replacing his whips.

The number of blows with a whip was never determined by law, which in the 17th century distinguished only simple and “merciless” beatings and only for torture determined the maximum number of blows at 150 (a boyar sentence of 1673, which, however, was not respected in practice); in the 18th and 19th centuries this number reached 400 or more. In the 17th century, the number of blows was not determined even in the judge's verdict, but was provided for the consideration of the performers; according to Prince Shcherbatov, even in the 18th century punishment with a whip was prescribed "without an account." The Code of Laws prescribed that the number of blows with a whip, according to guilt, should be exactly indicated in the court verdict, but there were no limits to judicial arbitrariness.

The question of abolishing the whip was raised by Emperor Alexander I, who established a special committee in Moscow to discuss it; to the latter, the Highest announced that "punishment with a whip, being an inhuman cruelty, which amplification depends on the arbitrariness of the executioner, should be abolished." The Committee also expressed itself in this sense, but the matter ended only with the decree of 1817 on the abolition of cutting out the nostrils, while the destruction of the whip was postponed until the issuance of a new Criminal Code, as they feared that the announcement of this in the form of a separate decree would arouse in the people the thought, “as if and all criminal punishment is canceled with this. For the same reasons, it did not lead to practical implications and a second discussion of the question of the whip in 1824 by the State Council, which almost unanimously adopted the opinion, already previously approved by the Highest, on the destruction of the whip.