Yuri Tomin - a wizard walked through the city. A wizard walked through the city. The main characters walked through the city.

“A wizard walked through the city”- a story by writer Yuri Tomin in the genre of a literary fairy tale, telling about a boy who found a box of magic matches. First published in 1963.

Plot

The story consists of two parts.

Small miracles

Tolik Ryzhkov is a simple fourth-grader from Leningrad, who, however, is not alien to negative character traits - laziness, dishonesty, boasting and vanity. One day Tolik breaks traffic rules and, running away from a policeman, he accidentally ends up in a strange courtyard from which there is no exit. In the middle of the yard there is a small building in which Tolik meets a strange boy with cold blue eyes, scrupulously counting boxes of matches. Tolik, trying to attract his attention, accidentally takes one of them, to which the boy unexpectedly reacts aggressively and Tolik, frightened, somehow runs away from the building and from the mysterious courtyard.

After some time, he learns that the box is magical and if you break a match and make a wish, it will immediately come true. Tolik begins to create various small miracles, but because of them his whole life goes awry, he quarrels with his best friend Mishka Pavlov (but later makes peace with him), and all the people around him can no longer communicate with him the same way as before. In the end, he no longer knows how to overcome the tangle of problems that formed as a result of the thoughtless fulfillment of all his desires, but the worst is yet to come - a strange boy with blue eyes, who turns out to be a Wizard, suddenly appears in front of him. He is very angry with Tolik for the stupidity of his desires and announces that he is taking him with him. By chance, the Wizard falls under the “hot hand” of Mishka and his dog Maida, since Mishka, not knowing who is in front of him, speaks unflatteringly about the Wizard’s physically weak appearance. The next second, Tolik, Mishka and Maida feel themselves flying into the air.

Miracles involuntarily

Tolik comes to his senses in the hall of some building, which he later recognizes as the Palace of Pioneers. Going outside, he discovers several more buildings nearby, one of which is Gostiny Dvor. At the same time, Tolik encounters a metal humanoid robot, Dunce. From him and from the Wizard who then appeared, Tolik learns that he is on an island located in a certain parallel dimension called Yesterday. The island is completely filled with various entertainment and pleasures, in the form of attractions, restaurants and shops, but the only people on the island are the Wizard, Tolik and Mishka, not counting Maida and the Goonie. The Wizard announces to Tolik that he must forget Mishka, because Mishka is no longer his friend, his friend is the Wizard, and he can give Tolik much of what Mishka cannot give him (at the expense of matches, of course). The Wizard also explains to Tolik that at one time he liked him because of all the negative qualities of his character, namely envy and flattery, because the Wizard believes that his friend should be someone who will envy him all the time (after all, with magical with matches he can wish for anything). Since the Wizard does not control Tolik’s movements around the island, the boy begins wandering on his own in an attempt to find Mishka. He is silently accompanied by the Dunce, in which, as Tolik finds out, there is only one program: Tolik can go wherever he wants and do what he wants, but he cannot go to where Mishka is being kept. While exploring the island, Tolik notices a bunch of nonsense in the benefits that the Wizard conjured: in the recreation park, the pedestrian path moves on its own and in any direction Tolik wants to go; there is a whole row of fishing rods on the beach, but fishing is useless because the fish itself is ready to jump ashore; swimming makes no sense because it is impossible to drown in the water of Yesterday; and when Tolik comes to the pier, all the boats parked there start up on their own. Meanwhile, Mishka is imprisoned in a room on one of the top floors of a tall building on the shore. From his window, looking at the ocean, he notices that the horizon line is located very close to the shore, as if the water surface ends somewhere. Every time the Wizard enters his room, he makes a wish that Mishka and Maida cannot cause him any harm. The wizard demands that Mishka apologize to him and even promises to let him go home in this case, but Mishka refuses. Firstly, he is not going to leave Tolik (although the Wizard is trying to convince him that Tolik has been indifferent to him for a long time), and secondly, he feels that the Wizard is lying and will not let him go anywhere.

Tolik boards one of the boats and decides to sail away from the island. After some distance, Dunce declares that Tolik cannot swim further, and tries to tear his hands off the steering wheel. Tolik screams in pain and Goofy suddenly lets him go. Realizing that Dunce is programmed not to cause Tolik any pain, Tolik begins to non-stop say that he is in great pain, thanks to which the boat floats forward. After some time, Tolik begins to notice a strange swelling of water ahead, and then his city appears from the void for a while, but then the boat automatically reverses and takes Tolik to the Wizard. The wizard persistently asks Tolik what he saw, and Tolik, suspecting something was wrong, lies that he saw nothing. That same evening, the Wizard comes to Mishka and, unable to restrain himself, reveals to him a secret: the world of Yesterday is separated from a certain reality Dash; if you swim up to the Line at sunset, you can see the city, and if you swim up at dawn, you can sail beyond the Line. A little later at night, Tolik, feigning pain in words, manages to find out from Goonie where Mishka is. With the help of a robot, he climbs into his friend's room and helps him and Maida get down from there on a rope. The dunce, who always follows Tolik, instead of using the rope, simply steps over the window sill, falls to the ground and something breaks in him. The friends run to the pier, but then the Wizard wakes up and notices them. Since the Wizard does not have any matches with him, Tolik, despite the fact that the Wizard is older than him, manages to tie up the latter, since he, being very dependent on matches, is physically very weak, and locks him in the restroom. He, Mishka and Maida board one of the boats and sail to the Devil. Broken Dunce slowly follows Tolik, enters the water and gradually disappears into the depths. Having approached the Line, the boat this time floats forward, but when its bow passes the Line, it suddenly floats back - the Wizard is freed. Tolik, Mishka and Maida then jump overboard, falling beyond the Line.

They find themselves right in the middle of the roadway on a busy street, appearing out of nowhere. Tolik does not feel any joy from returning, as he sees around him a bunch of consequences of his desires. In particular, his mother does not scold him for the mysterious disappearance (their absence did not go unnoticed), since earlier Tolik made a wish that his mother would allow him everything. And although he no longer has a box of magic matches and he cannot fix anything, by chance Tolik finds a single match that had previously fallen out of the box and breaks it, making a wish that everything would be in the life of his parents, friends and himself. still the same as before, which is what happens. The book ends with an afterword, in which the author writes that the Wizard still lives in Yesterday (and at any moment can return to reality to find a new friend and take revenge on Tolik), and that Tolik will walk around for a long time, looking around warily along the streets and flinch in fear every time a man with a cold blue gleam of greed in his eyes comes towards him.

Editions

Yu. Tomin. “A wizard walked through the city”, Leningrad: Detgiz (Leningrad branch), Drawings by B. Kalaushin
Bonfire, No. 2, February, pp. 36-46, illustrations by S. Ostrov,
Yu. Tomin. “A wizard walked through the city”, L.: Detgiz (Leningrad branch), pp. 5-140, illustrations by B. Kalaushin and S. Spitsyn

Compared to the 1963 edition, this edition has removed Chapter 9, which tells how a dove stole three rubles from an old woman. The pigeon bought and drank beer for three rubles, which caused a strong nervous disorder in the beer seller. After drinking beer, the pigeon settles down to sleep on the roof, snoring loudly, which confuses the local cats. The boundaries of some chapters have changed. A piece was inserted in Chapter 18 about Mishka's visit to Anna Gavrilovna's house.

Yu. Tomin. “A wizard walked through the city”, Leningrad: Detgiz (Leningrad branch), Drawings by B. Kalaushin
Yu. Tomin. Novels and stories, Leningrad: Children's literature (Leningrad), pp. 5-130, illustrations by S. Spitsin
Yu. Tomin. “A wizard walked through the city”, Leningrad: Children’s literature (Leningrad branch), g., p. 3-127, illustrations by S. Spitsin.
Yu. Tomin. Favorites: Stories. Stories., Leningrad: Children's literature (Leningrad branch), g., p. 89-202, illustrations by V. Topkov.
Yu. Tomin. "A wizard walked through the city"

Yuri Gennadievich Tomin

A wizard walked through the city

A story in which miracles happen

1929–1997

Yuri Gennadievich Tomin (real name - Kokosh) was born in 1929 in Vladivostok. Later the family moved to Leningrad. The boy turned 12 years old when the Great Patriotic War began.

He was evacuated to Stalingrad, then to Gorky. Here I studied at school, then at a vocational school. Only in 1945 did Tomin return to Leningrad. School again - 10th grade.

Having read a story about a long-distance sailor in some magazine, Tomin decided to enter the Higher Naval School. After studying for a year, he realized that the wind of romance had taken him to the wrong place. Sailing on ships is a well-trodden path. I wanted something unusual, exciting the mind and imagination. And Tomin moved to the physics department of Leningrad University, which he graduated in 1952, receiving a specialty in geophysics.

Tomin devoted three years to the Far North: Turukhansk, Igarka, Middle Tunguska, Upper Tunguska, Yenisei... Long-distance search parties, difficult expedition routines: overnight stays on bare ground, multi-day treks on foot and on skis, sweat, cold, fatigue, mosquitoes...

It was there, in an atmosphere of hard, intense work, surrounded by stern, silent people, that his life principles were developed: courage, honesty, fidelity to duty, camaraderie, which later formed the moral foundation of the writer’s future works.

Yuri Tomin becomes the head of the geophysical party, enters graduate school, and in 1955–1959. teaches at a university.

His first book, “The Tale of Atlantis,” was written in 1959. The heroes of the story are Siberian boys, dreamers and romantics, captivated by a beautiful legend and setting off in search of an extraordinary country – Atlantis.

The writer’s second book is the collection “Diamond Paths” (1960). These are stories about straightforward and brave people, about honor, loyalty, and devotion to duty.

In his work, Yuri Tomin strove to find the shortest and most reliable path to the soul of a young reader, to talk to him about serious, vital things in an exciting way, without notations and dull teachings.

That is why, after the first two books, written in a realistic manner, the author turns to another type of narration - the so-called non-fantastic fiction (the story “Borka, Me and the Invisible Man,” 1962; “A Wizard Walked Through the City,” 1963; “Nowadays it’s the other way around,” 1968; “Carousels over the city”, 1979; “A, B, C, G, D and others”, 1982).

The essence of this narrative style is that in it fairy-tale fiction does not completely absorb reality, but is present only in the form of a magical element. Thanks to him, certain situations are created in which ordinary life appears from an unusual angle, turns to the reader with its unknown facets, and the characters of the characters are revealed from a very unique side.

Yuri Tomin’s best work, the fairy tale “A Wizard Walked Through the City,” belongs to this genre. In it, the role of a miraculous element is played by a box of magic matches, which is accidentally found by the hero of the story, fourth-grader Tolik Ryzhkov. Once he breaks one, all his wishes come true. The reader, having gone through a whole series of trials with the hero, experiencing shame, fear, horror, ultimately understands that nothing in the world comes for nothing, without effort and mental expenditure.

And if this does happen, it does not bring happiness and very soon begins to become a burden, destroying your old life and your dear relationships with family and friends.

The works of Yuri Tomin were written in the 60-70s. last century, but interest in them does not fade to this day. Smart, funny, fascinating, his stories help the young reader better understand himself and those around him, teach kindness, responsiveness, empathy, and the ability to feel someone else’s misfortune as one’s own.

Part one

Small miracles

The police love children very much. Everyone knows this. They love not only their children, but everyone in a row, indiscriminately. If you don't believe me, watch children's films. In films, policemen always smile at children. And they salute all the time. As soon as the guard sees the boy, he immediately drops his work and rushes to salute him. And if he sees a girl, he also rushes. He probably doesn't care whether it's a boy or a girl. The main thing is to have time to salute.

If anyone comes across a policeman who does not smile or salute, then he is not a real policeman.

Still, it’s good that fake policemen sometimes appear.

There is one like this in Leningrad. And if he had not been there, then nothing would have happened to Tolik Ryzhkov...

And this is what happened.

Tolik was walking along the avenue.

Next to him, on the pavement, a yellow Volga was driving slowly. From the speakers installed on the roof of the Volga, the deafening and joyful voice of the announcer boomed throughout the street: “Citizens, follow the traffic rules! Failure to follow these rules often leads to accidents. Recently, on Moskovsky Prospekt, citizen Rysakov tried to cross the road of a car in front. The driver did not have time to brake, and citizen Rysakov was hit by a car. He was taken to the hospital with a broken leg. Citizens, remember: failure to comply with traffic rules leads to accidents..."

Tolik walked next to the Volga and through the side window saw a police lieutenant with a microphone in his hands. The lieutenant was young and somehow very clean. It was strange that he had such a deafening voice, even on the radio.

Tolik carefully looked at the pavement as far as he could see ahead, trying to guess at what place all this happened to citizen Rysakov. But it was impossible to guess. Cars rolled in both directions, one after another. The hefty dump truck, its tires slapping on the asphalt, quickly lagged behind the nimble Moskvich, and both of them, snorting disdainfully, were overtaken by the heavy black Chaika. And they all passed, perhaps, over the place where the careless Rysakov “recently” lay...

“What if this happened not “recently”, but now! – thought Tolik. - Only so that the car would go around Rysakov... And - so that it would crash into the tram... But only so that the driver would remain safe... And the tram would go off the rails... But - so that the passengers would all remain safe... And traffic along the entire street would stop... And then it would be impossible to cross street... And I wouldn’t go to school..."

Tolik stopped and began to look at the pedestrians who were crossing the street, deftly dodging cars.

The yellow Volga has gone far ahead. Tolik glanced at her warily and also ran. He dodged between two buses, missed a tram, an ambulance, and flew onto the sidewalk in front of the bakery. Tolik headed towards the door and suddenly saw a policeman right in front of him. He stood and looked at Tolik. He didn't salute or smile.

“Well, come here,” said the policeman.

- For what? - Tolik muttered.

- Go, go.

Clinging to the asphalt with his toes, Tolik came closer.

– Did they explain to you at school how to cross the street? – asked the policeman.

“They didn’t explain it to us,” Tolik said, just in case.

- Don’t you know where you can cross the street?

“I need to go to the bakery,” Tolik said quietly.

The policeman was silent.

- I was in a hurry...

The policeman was silent.

“My mother is sick,” Tolik said more confidently. – And I never go to school at all. I'm taking care of my mother. I just don't have time to go to school.

- What is she sick with? – asked the policeman.

“She has wounds...” Tolik said and sighed. - From shells... and from bombs... and from bullets... She fought at the front. She used to get sick a little, but now she gets sick every day. And dad is also in the hospital. He works for the police. The criminals wounded him.

- What's your last name? – the policeman asked in a voice that was no longer boring.

- Pavlov.

“I think I heard about this,” the policeman said after thinking. “So you don’t have time to go to school either?”

“There’s no time at all...” sighed Tolik.

- Well, run to your bakery.

With his head down, Tolik slowly walked towards the door. He looked very sad. In the bakery, Tolik walked just as slowly between the counters, shuffled his feet, hunched over and thought that, probably, many people noticed how unhappy he looked and guessed that he had a sick mother and his father was wounded by criminals.

Having dropped the loaf of bread into his bag and almost dragging it along the floor, Tolik left the bakery. The policeman stood in the same place. He still did not salute or smile, but slightly nodded his head. Tolik shook his head too. Now he was not at all afraid of the policeman.

A wizard walked through the city

A wizard walked through the city
Cover of the first Soviet edition

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“A wizard walked through the city”- a story by writer Yuri Tomin in the genre of a literary fairy tale, telling about a boy who found a box of magic matches. First published in 1963.

Plot

Tolik Ryzhkov is a simple Soviet fourth-grader from Leningrad, who, however, is not alien to negative character traits - laziness, dishonesty, boasting and vanity. One day, while running away from a policeman, he accidentally ends up in yesterday, where he meets a strange boy with blue eyes counting boxes of matches. Tolik accidentally takes one of them and, frightened by the boy’s unexpectedly strange reaction to it, runs away, ending up again in today.

Yesterday has all the entertainment and pleasure, but there are no people, and Tolik is under the watchful eye of a soulless robot. It turns out that the boy with blue eyes was the first to find the magic box and, being the laziest and greedy person in the world, wished for a million boxes for himself, and then, forgetting all his relatives, settled in yesterday. He wants Tolik to become his friend, because he is also greedy, a liar and a lazy person, and gives him time to think. There is little time left, and Tolik will have to somehow deceive the robot, find a way out of yesterday and at the same time save Mishka, who is also imprisoned by the wizard and whom he wants to turn into a spider.

Screen adaptation

Links

Natalya Dubina. Let it be the way I want // mini-book review

Categories:

Books in alphabetical order
Literary tales
Children's literature
Literature of the USSR
Fantastic stories
Stories from 1963

Wikimedia Foundation.

2010.

See what “A wizard walked through the city” is in other dictionaries: - “THE WIZARD OF OUR CITY”, Russia, 2000, color. Documentary video. A visual that reflects a person’s love for his city, realized in his work. Director: Romil Rachev (see RACHEV Romil). Scriptwriter: Romil Rachev (see RACHEV... ...

Encyclopedia of Cinema

Cover of the 1900 edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, a book by American writer Lyman Frank Baum. In the countries of the former USSR, the retelling of Alexander Volkov, “The Wizard of the Emerald ... ... Wikipedia” is widely known

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Genre fantasy Director Otis Turner Producer William Nicholas Selig ... Wikipedia

Encyclopedia of Cinema

This term has other meanings, see The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (meanings). Cover of the 1900 edition of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (English ... Wikipedia

- (pseudonym of Yuri Gennadievich Kokosh; b. 1929). Rus. owls novelist, screenwriter, journalist, more famous product. det. lit ry. Genus. in Vladivostok, graduated from physics. ft Leningrad State University, participated in geophysics. expedition, studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Metrology named after... ... Large biographical encyclopedia

- “THE SECRET OF THE IRON DOOR”, USSR, film studio named after. M. Gorky, 1970, color, 72 min. Fairy tale. Based on the story “A Wizard Walked Through the City” by Yu. Tomin. Fourth-grader Tolik Ryzhkov met a wizard and became the owner of matches that performed all his... ... - “THE WIZARD OF OUR CITY”, Russia, 2000, color. Documentary video. A visual that reflects a person’s love for his city, realized in his work. Director: Romil Rachev (see RACHEV Romil). Scriptwriter: Romil Rachev (see RACHEV... ...

Yuri Gennadievich Tomin

A wizard walked through the city

A story in which miracles happen

1929–1997

Yuri Gennadievich Tomin (real name - Kokosh) was born in 1929 in Vladivostok. Later the family moved to Leningrad. The boy turned 12 years old when the Great Patriotic War began.

He was evacuated to Stalingrad, then to Gorky. Here I studied at school, then at a vocational school. Only in 1945 did Tomin return to Leningrad. School again - 10th grade.

Yuri Tomin becomes the head of the geophysical party, enters graduate school, and in 1955–1959. teaches at a university.

The writer’s second book is the collection “Diamond Paths” (1960). These are stories about straightforward and brave people, about honor, loyalty, and devotion to duty.

And if this does happen, it does not bring happiness and very soon begins to become a burden, destroying your old life and your dear relationships with family and friends.

Part one

Small miracles

If anyone comes across a policeman who does not smile or salute, then he is not a real policeman.

Still, it’s good that fake policemen sometimes appear.

There is one like this in Leningrad. And if he had not been there, then nothing would have happened to Tolik Ryzhkov...

And this is what happened.

Tolik was walking along the avenue.

Yuri Gennadievich Tomin (real name - Kokosh) was born in 1929 in Vladivostok. Later the family moved to Leningrad. The boy turned 12 years old when the Great Patriotic War began.

He was evacuated to Stalingrad, then to Gorky. Here I studied at school, then at a vocational school. Only in 1945 did Tomin return to Leningrad. School again - 10th grade.

Yuri Tomin becomes the head of the geophysical party, enters graduate school, and in 1955–1959. teaches at a university.

The writer’s second book is the collection “Diamond Paths” (1960). These are stories about straightforward and brave people, about honor, loyalty, and devotion to duty.

And if this does happen, it does not bring happiness and very soon begins to become a burden, destroying your old life and your dear relationships with family and friends.

Part one

Small miracles

If anyone comes across a policeman who does not smile or salute, then he is not a real policeman.

Still, it’s good that fake policemen sometimes appear.

There is one like this in Leningrad. And if he had not been there, then nothing would have happened to Tolik Ryzhkov...

And this is what happened.

Tolik was walking along the avenue.

Tolik stopped and began to look at the pedestrians who were crossing the street, deftly dodging cars.

“Well, come here,” said the policeman.

- For what? - Tolik muttered.

- Go, go.

Clinging to the asphalt with his toes, Tolik came closer.

– Did they explain to you at school how to cross the street? – asked the policeman.

“They didn’t explain it to us,” Tolik said, just in case.

- Don’t you know where you can cross the street?

“I need to go to the bakery,” Tolik said quietly.