Mikhail Sholokhov, “Shibalkovo Seed”: a summary of the story

As in most of the works of M. A. Sholokhov, the story “Shibalkovo Seed” describes the events of the fratricidal civil war. In a short sketch from the life of the Don Cossack Jacob Shibalk, who is fighting on the side of the Red Army, love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, cruelty and compassion are intertwined. The story of Mikhail Sholokhov “Shibalkovo Seed”, a summary of which is presented below, was written in 1925 and is part of the author's “Don cycle”.

A man with a baby

The storyline of the work is based on the monologue of the protagonist, addressed to the head of the orphanage. The Red Army soldier brought his one-year-old son to a public institution in order to leave him to be raised there. The woman refuses to accept the baby, citing a lack of free places. So you can convey the main meaning and summary of Sholokhov’s short story “Shibalkovo Seed”.

Trying to convince the head, Yakov outlines the circumstances of the appearance of the child, explains that being in a combat detachment is unsafe for his life. The man took care of the baby from the very moment of his birth, despite the ridicule and condemnation of his comrades. The growing baby, demanding more and more attention, became an unbearable burden for his father. We don’t know what name the Cossack called his son, but this is the definition given to him in the heading - “Shibalkovo Seed”. The summary of the Sholokhov story brings the reader to acquaintance with other characters in the story.

Torn woman on the road

Shibalkok describes the story of a meeting with the baby's mother. The Cossack Hundred, which adopted the ideas of the October Revolution, was transformed into a special forces detachment. The fighters were given the task of destroying the White Guard gangs in the Don expanses. Two years ago, the Red Army picked up a woman in the steppe. Jacob was the first to see Daria lying unconscious in the road dust, gave her water to drink, brought to her senses.

Here we get acquainted with the second significant character of Sholokhov’s work “Shibalkovo Seed”. The summary of Daria’s story told to her rescuers is this: the White Guards captured the woman, and then, having abused, threw her to die on the road.

With the consent of the comrades and the commander, the machine gunner, Yakov Shibalok, took the woman injured at the hands of the bandits to his cart. Daria quickly recovered and, deciding to stay in the detachment, assumed economic responsibilities: she repaired and washed clothes for the soldiers, prepared food.

Brave coachman on a cart

The presence of a woman in the detachment was contrary to the laws of wartime. The centenary chieftain repeatedly told Sibalka to drive Darya away. Jacob tried to convince his ward to heed the words of the commander and go home. But a woman with tears in her eyes begged the Cossacks to let her stay. This circumstance played a dramatic role in the subsequent events described in Sholokhov’s short story “Shibalkovo Seed”. The summary of the plot will be a vivid confirmation of this.

In one of the battles, the coachman who controls the machine gunner’s wheelbarrow dies. Daria asks Jacob to entrust her with this position, Shibalok agrees, but warns: “If you fail, I’ll lock it up myself!” Surprisingly, the woman was very clever with the horses, which won the favor of the commander and respect for the rest of the soldiers. “It used to be that the cart is spinning so that the horses stand on their hind legs,” Shybalok admired the abilities of his new coachman.

Love and betrayal

Jacob in his confession does not speak of high feelings. She describes the relations with Daria in a straightforward and ordinary way: "We began to get confused with her." But nevertheless, in his words a tender attitude towards this woman is guessed. Soon it becomes apparent to everyone that Daria is expecting a baby. The Cossacks chuckled: "The coachman at Shibalka got it on the official grub, it barely fits on the goats!"

For several months, the detachment drove the gang of Ataman Ignatyev along the Don steppes. Once it happened that the Red Army ran out of ammunition, but did not bring new ones. This circumstance was kept in the strictest confidence. The warring parties are located at different ends of one farm. A terrible betrayal occurred - someone informed the enemy that the Red Cossacks had no cartridges. In the middle of the night, the White Guards attacked the Shibalka squad, destroying more than half of the fighters, the rest had to flee.

Birth of a son and recognition of Daria

The surviving Red Army camped fifteen kilometers from the farm, where they suffered an enemy defeat. Shybalok noticed that Daria, who had been riding on horseback all night with the squad, did not feel well. Without saying a word to anyone, the woman went into the forest, Yakov quietly crept behind her. Watching the suffering of Daria, who came to give birth, the man undertakes to help her. Just about to be born an innocent child - "Shibalkovo seed." Sholokhov draws a brief summary of this scene with warm colors, makes the reader imbued with a sense of compassion for the heroine. But after a second the situation changes dramatically.

During labor pains, a woman reveals her secret to Jacob. It turned out that she was sent to the detachment by Ataman Ignatiev specifically to report all the actions of the Red Army soldiers. The White Guards learned from the words that the squad was empty. At first, Jacob does not believe in such a vile betrayal. However, after Daria’s regrets that she did not have time to lime the entire Cossack hundred, the man does not hold back and stabs the woman with a boot in the face. A few minutes later, the son of Jacob appears. The episode of Daria’s remorse can be called the culmination of Sholokhov’s short story “Shibalkovo Seed”. A summary of the final part of the work tells of even more tragic events.

Deadly retribution for betrayal

Jacob returns to the squad and talks about the misconduct of Daria. The Cossacks boiled, they wanted to chop their comrade with checkers. But then, sending anger at the woman who had betrayed them, they ordered Shibalka to kill her with the child. The machine gunner persuades the fighters to keep the baby alive, because this is his native blood - Shibalkov seed.

The summary of the Sholokhov story, like the monologue of the Red Army, is coming to an end. Obeying the will of his comrades and revolutionary duty, Jacob shot Daria, and he managed to get out of the child, despite the harsh conditions of camp life.

The head of the orphanage, after listening to the bitter confession of the soldier, agrees to accept the orphan under state guardianship. Kissing goodbye to his son, Yakov Shybalok returns to the squad.