The novel is based on the memoirs of the fifty-year-old nobleman Pyotr Andreyevich Grinev, written by him during the reign of Emperor Alexander and dedicated to the “Pugachevschina”, in which the seventeen-year-old officer Pyotr Grinev involuntarily took part.
Pyotr Andreyevich with a slight irony recalls his childhood, the childhood of a noble undergrowth. His father Andrei Petrovich Grinev in his youth “served under Count Minich and resigned as prime major in 17 ... year. Since then he lived in his Simbirsk village, where he married the girl Avdotya Vasilyevna Yu., The daughter of the poor nobleman there. ” The Grinev family had nine children, but all the brothers and sisters of Petrusha "died in infancy." “Mother was still my belly,” recalls Grinev, “as I was already enlisted as a sergeant in the Semenovsky regiment.”
From the age of five, Petrusha has been looked after by the stirrup Savelich, who has been granted him as an uncle “for sober behavior”. “Under his supervision, in the twelfth year I learned Russian literacy and could very sensibly judge the properties of a greyhound male.” Then came a teacher - the Frenchman Bopré, who did not understand the "meaning of this word", as in his own country he was a hairdresser, and in Prussia - a soldier. Young Grinev and the Frenchman Bopré quickly got along, and although Bopré was obliged to teach Petrush “French, German, and all sciences” under the contract, he preferred to soon learn from his student “to chat in Russian.” Grinev’s upbringing ends with the expulsion of Beaupres, convicted of lack of substance, drunkenness and neglect of the duties of a teacher.
Until the age of sixteen, Grinev lives "undergrowth, chasing pigeons and playing leapfrog with yard boys." In the seventeenth year, the father decides to send his son to the service, but not to Petersburg, but to the army “smell the gunpowder” and “pull the strap”. He sends him to Orenburg, instructing him to serve faithfully “to whom you swear”, and remember the proverb: “take care of the dress again, and honor from the youth”. All the "brilliant hopes" of young Grinev for a fun life in St. Petersburg collapsed, ahead of them was "boredom in the side of the deaf and distant."
Approaching Orenburg, Grinev and Savelich fell into a blizzard. A random person who met on the road takes a lost wagon in a snowstorm to a wither. While the wagon was “quietly moving” toward housing, Pyotr Andreyevich had a terrible dream in which fifty-year-old Grinev saw something prophetic, linking him with the “strange circumstances” of his future life. A man with a black beard lies in Grinev’s father’s bed, and his mother, calling him Andrei Petrovich and “planted father,” wants Petrusha to “kiss his pen” and ask for blessings. A man waves an ax, a room is filled with dead bodies; Grinev stumbles about them, slides in bloody puddles, but his "terrible man" "affectionately cries", saying: "Do not be afraid, come under my blessing."
In gratitude for the salvation, Grinev gives the “counselor”, dressed too lightly, his hare coat and brings a glass of wine, for which he, with a low bow, thanks him: “Thank you, your nobleness! God bless you for your virtue. ” The appearance of the “counselor” seemed to Grinev “remarkable”: “He was about forty years old, medium growth, thin and broad-shouldered. His black beard showed gray hair; living big eyes and ran. His face was rather pleasant, but roguish. ”
The Belogorsk fortress, where Grinev was sent to serve from Orenburg, does not meet the young man with formidable bastions, towers and ramparts, but turns out to be a village surrounded by a wooden fence.Instead of a brave garrison, there are people with disabilities who do not know where the left is, and where is the right side, instead of deadly artillery - an old cannon clogged with garbage.
The commandant of the fortress, Ivan Kuzmich Mironov, is an officer from among the soldiers’s children, an uneducated man, but honest and kind. His wife, Vasilisa Egorovna, completely controls him and looks at the affairs of the service as at his own. Soon Grinev became “native” for the Mironovs, and he himself “in an inconspicuous manner‹ ... ›became attached to a good family.” In the daughter of the Mironovs, Masha Grinev "found a sensible and sensitive girl."
The service does not bother Grinev, he became interested in reading books, practicing translations and composing poems. At first, he draws close to Lieutenant Shvabrin, the only person in the fortress who is close to Grinev by education, age and occupation. But soon they quarrel - Shvabrin mockingly criticized the love "song" written by Grinev, and also allowed himself dirty clues about the "mores and customs" of Masha Mironova, with whom this song was dedicated. Later, in a conversation with Masha, Grinev will find out the reasons for the stubborn slander that Schwabrin pursued her: the lieutenant wooed her, but was refused. “I do not like Alexey Ivanovich. He is very disgusting to me, ”Masha Grinev admits. The quarrel is resolved by a duel and injured Grinev.
Masha is caring for the wounded Grinev. Young people confess to each other "in a hearty inclination," and Grinev writes a letter to the priest, "asking for parental blessing." But Masha is a dowager. The Mironovs “have only one soul of a girl, Broadsword,” while the Grinevs have three hundred souls of peasants. Father forbids Grinev to marry and promises to transfer him from the Belogorsk fortress “somewhere far away” so that the “nonsense” will pass.
After this letter, for Grinev life became unbearable, he falls into gloomy reverie, seeking solitude. "I was afraid either to go crazy or to get into debauchery." And only “unexpected incidents,” writes Grinev, “which had an important influence on my whole life, suddenly gave my soul a strong and good shock.”
In early October 1773, the commandant of the fortress received a secret message about the Don Cossack Yemelyan Pugachev, who, posing as the "late Emperor Peter III", "gathered a villainous gang, made indignation in the egg villages and already took and ruined several fortresses." The commandant was invited to "take appropriate measures to repulse the mentioned villain and impostor."
Soon everyone was talking about Pugachev. In the fortress, the Bashkir was captured with "outrageous sheets." But it was not possible to interrogate him - the tongue was pulled out from the Bashkir. From day to day, residents of the Belogorsk fortress expect Pugachev’s attack,
The rebels appear unexpectedly - the Mironovs did not even have time to send Masha to Orenburg. At the first attack, the fortress was taken. Residents greeted the Pugachevites with bread and salt. Prisoners, among whom was Grinev, are taken to the square to swear allegiance to Pugachev. The first commandant to die on the gallows, refusing to swear allegiance to the "thief and impostor." Under the blow of a saber, Vasilisa Egorovna falls dead. Grinev is also waiting for death on the gallows, but Pugachev has mercy on him. A little later from Savelich Grinev finds out the “reason for mercy” - the chieftain of the robbers turned out to be the tramp who received from him, Grinev, a hare sheepskin coat.
In the evening, Grinev was invited to the "great sovereign." “I have mercy on you for your virtue,” Pugachev says to Grinev, “‹ ... ›Do you promise to serve me with zeal?” But Grinev is a “natural nobleman” and “swore an oath to the empress”. He cannot even promise Pugachev not to serve against him. “My head is in your power,” he says to Pugachev, “let me go - thank you, execute me - God will judge you.”
Grinev’s sincerity amazes Pugachev, and he releases the officer "on all four sides." Grinev decides to go to Orenburg for help - after all, Masha remained in the fortress in a strong fever, which she pretended to be her niece.He is particularly worried that Shvabrin was appointed commandant of the fortress, swearing allegiance to Pugachev.
But in Orenburg, Grinev was denied assistance, and after a few days, rebel forces surrounded the city. The long days of the siege dragged on. Soon, by chance, a letter from Masha falls into Grinev’s hands, from which he learns that Shvabrin is forcing her to marry him, threatening to otherwise extradite her to the Pugachevites. Again Grinev turns to the military commandant for help, and again receives a refusal.
Grinev and Savelich go to the Belogorsk fortress, but they were captured by the rebels at the Berdskaya settlement. And again, Providence brings Grinev and Pugachev together, giving the officer an opportunity to fulfill his intention: having learned from Grinev the essence of the matter by which he goes to Belogorsk fortress, Pugachev decides to free the orphan and punish the offender.
On the way to the fortress between Pugachev and Grinev, a confidential conversation takes place. Pugachev clearly realizes his doom, expecting betrayal primarily from his comrades, he knows that he cannot wait for the “grace of the empress”. For Pugachev, as for an eagle from a Kalmyk fairy tale, which he, with “wild inspiration”, tells Grinev, “than eating carrion for three hundred years, it’s better to get drunk with living blood; and then what God will give! ” Grinev draws a different moral conclusion from the fairy tale, which surprises Pugachev: “Living with murder and robbery means pecking carrion over me.”
In the Belogorsk fortress, Grinev with the help of Pugachev frees Masha. And although the enraged Shvabrin reveals a fraud to Pugachev, he is full of generosity: "To execute, to execute, to favor, so to favor: this is my custom." Grinev and Pugachev break up "friendly."
Grinev sends Masha as a bride to her parents, and he remains in the army out of “honor debt”. The war "with robbers and savages" is "boring and petty." Grinev’s observations are filled with bitterness: “Do not bring God to see the Russian rebellion, meaningless and merciless.”
The end of the military campaign coincides with the arrest of Grinev. Having appeared before the court, he is calm in his confidence that he can justify himself, but he is stipulated by Shvabrin, exposing Grinev as a spy detached from Pugachev to Orenburg. Grinev was condemned, shame awaits him, exile to Siberia for eternal settlement.
From shame and exile Grinev rescues Masha, who goes to the queen "to ask for mercy." Walking through the garden of Tsarskoye Selo, Masha met a middle-aged lady. In this lady, everything "involuntarily attracted the heart and inspired a power of attorney." Upon learning who Masha was, she offered her help, and Masha sincerely told the lady the whole story. The lady turned out to be an empress, who had mercy on Grinev just as Pugachev had mercy on both Masha and Grinev.
