The tale "Twelve Months" is a winter story that tells us about good and evil. This is an instructive story about the need to help other people, and then your deeds will return to you a hundredfold. This is a magical play that enchants with a
winter forest and New Year's atmosphere. One phrase can describe its summary. âTwelve monthsâ is a message from childhood, thanks to which we know that bad people will always be punished, and those who bring light and love will find happiness and peace.
The story of writing a fairy tale
The then famous Soviet writer Samuel Marshak wrote Twelve Months. A fairy tale was created not at all in a fabulous time. Outside the window there were volleys of World War II, and nothing reminded of a miracle. But the writer did not hang his nose, he did his job, and on the pages of the manuscript, fictional heroes soon began to live their lives.
Before this, the writer had a grief - his little beloved daughter died. And after this tragedy, he completely devoted himself to children's literature, writing poems and stories for kids. Thus, he seemed to communicate with his daughter, devoting her more and more fabulous stories.
There are several versions of writing the novel Twelve Months. Marshak borrowed the plot from the Czech author, the famous writer Bozena Nemtsova, or he outlined the Greek folk tale in his own way. Like it or not, it no longer matters. Because the world received an unusually interesting and fascinating story about the little girlâs New Year adventures.
Summary of the Twelve Months Tale
First of all, this is a story about hard work. Such conclusions can be drawn by reading its summary. The Twelve Months tells us that everything in the world, even the forces of nature, helps just such people - those who are not afraid of work, who do it with pleasure and do not ask for anything in return.
And it all starts with the fact that on New Year's Eve the princess issues a decree: bring her a basket of snowdrops for a good reward. The evil stepmother and her lazy native daughter want to receive the promised gold coins. They are very greedy, but even more lazy overcomes them. Therefore, in the forest, in frost and cold, they drive out the stepdaughter. âGo, and donât come back without flowers,â they say to her at last and slam the door in her face.
In the forest, a poor girl meets brothers-months near the fire who help her and give her a basket of snowdrops for her kindness and affection. They more than once help the main character. Even when the queen with all her entourage rides into the thicket, finds out that she was deceived, and wants to execute the girl, the months are flying by all the crowd. They punish the stepmother and her daughter, ask a good bashing to the harmful queen, and generously give the little orphan. This is what Marshak wanted to convey to us. "Twelve Months" (a brief summary is given above) - a tale that promotes good, shows that evil and meanness will always be punished.
Positive heroes
Positive is the main character of this story - the stepdaughter, who in the morning is taken to work. âAnd he pulls firewood and draws water,â January says of her. July supports and describes how she works at the garden beds the whole summer day. The girl constantly suffers the insults and ridicule of her stepmother and stepsister, but this does not become evil. On the contrary, her friendliness and kindness illuminate all around even more.
Brothers of the Month are also positive heroes of the fairy tale "Twelve Months". Marshak shows us their justice and honesty. The forces of nature should be like that. Punishing people for their evil activities is what we observe not only in this story, but also in real life. Samuel Marshak put this main idea into his story. "Twelve months" (the summary looks like a simple fairy tale) actually teaches us to be thrifty, disinterested, generous and kind to the world and people. And the positive characters of the story are an example to follow.
Negative characters
Here we have where to roam. Let's start with the stepmother and her daughter. Both are greedy and constantly looking for profit. They are all few, and in the pursuit of wealth they go over their heads.
Obstacles do not exist - you can go to theft, lies and betrayal. The story "Twelve Months" clearly shows how all these negative traits of character they spilled onto an innocent stepdaughter, for which they eventually paid.
The queen is another negative character. Spoiled, accustomed to give only instructions, she does not tolerate when they contradict her. If now she wants April to come, then it will be so. Decrees are issued, heads are cut, executions are appointed only to satisfy her fleeting desires. But pride is punishable - this is what we have already been told the summary of the tale "Twelve Months."
The Queen's retinue - all together and each separately - is also one continuous negative image. They indulge their ruler in everything, turn a blind eye to her whims and unfair decisions. They put up with her actions and became apathetic to everything. Lack of opinion and thoughtless slavish humility are far from positive qualities. It conveys even a brief summary. "Twelve Months" is a fairy tale that, in a simplified version, clearly reveals the main idea of ââthe author.
Science Fiction and Life Truth
A lot of life shows us the story "Twelve months." The fairy tale embodied a real life - people who are ready to betray for the sake of gold, unjust managers who do not spare mere mortals and play with them like pawns. All the characters described in the story are certainly taken from life and revealed in their entirety. In addition, the truth is shown in the actions of the heroes. For example, the kind gesture of a soldier who is ready to freeze for an orphan, only to make her warm in his overcoat. It is such trifles that show us what kind of person this is, both in a fairy tale and in life.
Despite the true descriptions, there are many fictional, magical moments. The physical shell of the brothers of the months and their namesakes in heaven, the conversations of animals and birds - do not exist in ordinary life. The same can be said about the abrupt change of seasons - spring covers winter, a minute later summer, then fall breaks into their shift, and another minute later winter again takes over.
With this combination of the fantastic and the real, Marshak created an indescribable atmosphere in the work âTwelve Monthsâ. The tale is not like other stories, it instills in us the belief that the brothers-months really exist.
The theme of the struggle between good and evil in the tale "Twelve Months"
It is she who goes through the whole story, and this clearly shows us a brief summary. "Twelve months" shows that the author did his best to answer the question: "Is humility the embodiment of kindness or evil?" Indeed, at first glance it seems that it is more related to the first manifestation of a human character, but this is not at all the case. In the tale we see that the submission of the stepmother and retinue to the queen only leads to tyranny of the ruler. Seeing that no one will reread to her, she issues decrees one dumber than the other, why ordinary people suffer.
The same submissiveness of her stepdaughter to her stepmother also did not lead to anything good. If not for the brothers-months, the girl would have simply frozen in the forest and died. Therefore, Marshak answers his own question: humility is not always a good quality, sometimes it is a manifestation of weakness, which ultimately gives rise to evil. He condemns her. The struggle of good in the guise of wisdom and industriousness, fidelity and affection opposes the story of evil, as the embodiment of humility, greed and selfishness.
The use of folklore in the speech of characters
Samuel Marshak used interesting speech turns, a folklore dialect in the story "Twelve Months".
Heroes speak in vivid phrases, the fairy tale is filled with lively cues. His animals communicate using characteristic interjections and epithets. If it is a raven, then its monologue is necessarily decorated with the traditional "Carr!"
The true skill is shown by the author, too individualizing the speech of his characters. This we clearly trace to the stepdaughter's monologues. They have a pronounced folk poetic core. Words flow like a song. The phrases are very melodic and rhythmic. Each dialogue in the story breathes folk art.
Many literary critics believe that it is in Slavic folklore that the children's story "Twelve Months" originates. The tale reveals to us the beliefs of our distant ancestors - that the seasons have a human appearance, that animals in the forest can speak our language, that the forces of nature are punishment for bad deeds.
"Highlight" tales
Have you ever noticed the name of the heroes of the story "Twelve Months"? I think no. And this is not at all surprising - the author did not give a single name to his characters. Counselor, queen, stepdaughter, stepmother - all of them without their own name. Marshak wanted to show society as a whole, without passing to the individual. Each hero embodies one layer of society: an orphan - a people, poor and hardworking, a queen - rulers, ruthless and often stupid, an adviser - officials, sneaks and cowards, a stepmother - managers who are ready to cross out everything human for the sake of profit.
Only twelve months have names. The forces of nature in the image of the brothers are shown only on the positive side. And this is understandable, because the world around us gives a person life. Thanks to him, we breathe, grow crops, continue our family. But often people donât appreciate it. They are unhappy that it is winter, not summer, they do not like rain, they are disappointed due to severe frost outside the window. Although we know that nature does not have bad weather. Each of its manifestations is an obligatory link in the chain, without which life on Earth would be impossible.
Film adaptation
After the general success of the printed story written by Marshak, we finally saw âTwelve Monthsâ on television. The reviews of people indicate that the cartoon, which was published in 1952, broke records in its popularity. Children appreciated the wonderful New Year's story.
The full-length animated picture was created by the director Ivan Ivanov-Vano. The scenery of the cartoon and its heroes, known to us all from childhood, were painted by the master of his craft Anatoly Sazonov. The tale was also released as a feature film for children.
"Twelve months" is a moral story that teaches us to be sensitive and kind, to love work and to remain human in any situation. For more than half a century, she belongs to the classics of her genre. Both children and adults all over the world love to read this work and watch its adaptation. In the coming New Year holidays, be sure to see her again this fairy tale with the whole family.