Mikhail Sholokhov, "Shibalkovo Seed": a short summary of the story

As in most of Sholokhov's works, the story "Shibalkovo Seed" describes the events of the fratricidal civil war. In a short sketch of the life of the Don Cossack Yakov Shibalka, who is fighting on the side of the Red Army, love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, cruelty and compassion were 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 plot line 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 state institution to leave him there for upbringing. The woman refuses to accept the baby, referring to the lack of free places. So you can convey the main meaning and summary of the story Sholokhov "Shibalkovo seed."

Jacob, trying to convince the head, outlines the circumstances of the appearance of the child, explains that staying 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-up kid, who demanded more and more attention, became an unbearable burden for his father. We do not know what name the Cossack named his son, but this refers to the definition given in the title - "Shibalkovo seed." The summary of the Sholokhov story brings the reader to an acquaintance with other actors of the narrative.

Tattered woman on the road

Shibalok describes the story of the meeting with the mother of the baby. The Cossack hundred, who adopted the ideas of the October Revolution, was transformed into a detachment of special purpose. Before the fighters, the task is to destroy the White Guard bands on the Don territory. Two years ago, the Red Army men picked up a woman in the steppe. Jacob was the first to see Daria lying unconscious in the road dust, watered her with water, brought her to life.

Here we get acquainted with Sholokhov's second significant character, Shibalkovo Seed. The summary of Darya's story told to her saviors is as follows: the White Guards took the woman prisoner, and then, outraged, they left him to die on the road.

With the consent of his comrades and commander, the machine-gunner, Yakov Shibalok, took the woman, who had been injured by the bandits, to his tachanka. Daria quickly recovered and, having decided to stay in the detachment, took upon herself the economic duties: repaired and washed the soldiers clothes, cooked food.

A brave coachman on a truck

The presence in the detachment of a woman contradicted the laws of wartime. The hundredth ataman repeatedly told Shibalku that he drove away Daria. Yakov tried to convince his ward to listen to the commander's words and go home. But the 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 story "Shibalkovo Seed." The summary of the plot will be a vivid confirmation of this.

In one of the battles the coachman, who was driving a machine gun cart, was killed. Daria asks Yakov to entrust her with this position, Shibalok agrees, but warns: "If you let me down, I'll lock it up myself!" Surprisingly, the woman treated the horses very cleverly, thus gaining the commander's favor and respect for the other fighters. "It used to happen that the tachanka is spinning, that the horses are lifting themselves up," Shibalok admired the abilities of his new coachman.

Love and betrayal

Jacob in his confession does not speak of high feelings. Relations with Darya outlines plain and simple: "We began to get confused with her." But still, in his words, a tender relation to this woman is guessed. Soon everyone becomes aware that Daria is expecting a baby. The Cossacks chuckled: "The coachman at Shibalka has grown fat on state grub, it's hardly fit on the box!"

For several months the detachment drove the gang of ataman Ignatiev along the Don steppes. Once it happened that the Red Army soldiers ran out of ammunition, and the new ones did not get a lift. This circumstance was kept in the strictest secrecy. The opposing sides are located at different ends of one farm. There was a terrible betrayal - someone informed the enemy that the Red Cossacks had no patrons. In the middle of the night the White Guards attacked the Shibalka detachment, destroying more than half of the men, the rest had to flee.

The birth of a son and the recognition of Darya

Survivors of the Red Army camped at fifteen kilometers from the farm, where they suffered an enemy defeat. Shibalkov noticed that Daria, along with the detachment galloping horseback all night, does not feel well. Without saying a word to anyone, the woman went into the forest, Jacob sneakily crept after her. Watching the sufferings of Daria, who came to give birth, a man undertakes to help her. An innocent child - "shibalkovo seed" - is just about to appear on the light. Sholokhov draws a brief summary of this scene with warm colors, forcing the reader to feel a sense of compassion for the heroine. But within a second the situation changes dramatically.

During childbirth, the woman discovers his secret to Jacob. It turned out that she was sent to the detachment by the ataman Ignatiev specially to report all the actions of the Red Army men. About the fact that the detachment does not have cartridges, the White Guards learned precisely from her words. Jacob at first does not believe in such a heinous betrayal. However, after Darya regretted that she had not managed to lick all the Cossack hundred, the man did not hold back and struck a woman in the face with a boot. A few minutes later the son of Yakov appears. The episode of Daria's remorse can be called the climax of Sholokhov's story "Shibalkovo Seed." The brief content of the final part of the work narrates about even more tragic events.

The death penalty for betrayal

Yakov returns to the detachment and talks about Darya's misdemeanor. The Cossacks were boiling, they wanted to chop their sabers with sabers. But then, having directed anger at the woman who betrayed them, they ordered Shibalka to kill her along with the child. The machine-gunner persuades the fighters to keep the baby alive, because this is his blood-shibalkovo seed.

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

The head of the orphanage, having heard the bitter confession of the soldier, agrees to take the orphan under the state guardianship. After kissing his son's farewell, Yakov Shibalok returns to the detachment.