"Bumbarash (Talisman)" by Arkady Gaidar, summary

Work on the novella began in 1936. The protagonist, Semyon Bumbarash, a private soldier, returns from captivity and finds himself caught in the maelstrom of the Civil War in southern Russia, struggling to survive between warring armies. The book’s plot bears strong similarities to Valentin Kataev’s "I Am the Son of the Working People," which was published in 1937.

The story was successfully adapted into a film. In 1971, a popular two-part television film starring Valery Zolotukhin was released, making the character a national favorite.

Returning home

Semyon Bumbarash fought against Austria, endured harsh captivity, and is now returning to his native land. The war ended happily. The prisoners were exchanged. He rides home on the roof of a freight car with long-awaited gifts: a pood of sugar, officer’s tobacco, and green tent panels. His native station greets him with maddening confusion, scurrying soldiers, sailors, and red flags. Revolution is raging. A brutal civil war is underway.

Amid the noise of the train station, Bumbarash notices an old beggar woman named Babunikha. The old woman is sitting on broken bricks near a garbage pit, holding a piece of sausage. She indifferently tells the soldier some stunning news. His brother Vasily had long ago held a memorial service for Semyon, believing him dead. His beloved fiancée, Varvara Gordeeva, had not entered a monastery. The old woman pokes Semyon in the chest, grumbling angrily that he should lie quietly in his grave, not disturb the living.

More than twenty kilometers remain to his home village of Mikheyevo. There are no passing carts. Frightened refugees are approaching. People are talking about Colonel Turgachev’s gang. There is also mention of the cruel ataman Dolgunets, who calls himself the grandson of Stenka Razin. Bumbarash travels five kilometers in a truck. He walks the rest of the way through the gloomy, silent forest.

On the way, he narrowly avoids being shot by a strange red-haired woman in a cart. By nightfall, the starving soldier reaches the border guard’s hut. The hut has been hastily abandoned. Newspapers litter the floor, the grass smells of spilled kerosene, but the Russian stove is still warm. Semyon finds food, feeds a shaggy black puppy, and falls fast asleep on a tattered featherbed.

That night, he’s awakened by a rapid knock and a dog’s barking. An unknown man passes a crumpled, rough package through the window. In the darkness, the stranger mistakes Bumbarash for a military commander. Semyon lazily tucks the incomprehensible paper into the cuff of his gray overcoat and goes back to sleep.

A stranger among his own

In the morning, Bumbarash covers the last few kilometers and sees his native Mikheyevo. The familiar streets have changed beyond recognition. His unfinished five-walled log house has been replaced by a field of potatoes. Brother Vasily and his wife Serafima greet Semyon with a wild, animal-like fear. Serafima instinctively grabs a rolling pin. Vasily eagerly shows him an official document from the Belgorod Regiment’s office regarding the death of Private Semyon Bumbarash in battle.

The bitter truth comes to light. Semyon’s house was sold to make way for a new bathhouse. Varvara Gordeeva married Gavrila Poluvalov, who now leads the local self-defense squad. Semyon’s blue formal suit was remade for Vasily. Bumbarash keeps his heavy thoughts to himself and maintains a sullen silence.

The family throws a sumptuous feast. A priest, a crooked deacon, and a tipsy Grandfather Nikolai arrive. The old men drink cloudy moonshine and tell wild stories. Grandfather Nikolai recalls a recent incident. Ataman Dolgunets dispersed a monastery, forcing the monks to ride horses at machine gun point. Childhood friend Yashka Kurnakov appears with a bandaged arm. Yashka takes Semyon to the river. He invites his friend to join him in the Red Army.

Kurnakov recounts Gavrila Poluvalov’s atrocities. The bodies of the food commissar and sailor Vaska Kulikov are found in the area. Yashka plans to disarm Gavrila’s guards at night using the bomb he traded for. Bumbarash flatly rejects this crazy plan. He desires a quiet, peaceful life without bloodshed.

Collision

That evening, a drunk Semyon goes to Gavrila’s house. Armed guards are stationed in the hut. Varvara is frightened by the guest. Gavrila tries to slyly find out if Semyon is working with Kurnakov. Soon, Polvalov is summoned to the local council for an urgent government document. Semyon goes out into the dark garden. There he meets his ex-fiancée.

Varvara cries bitterly. She calls her husband a terrible man and begs Semyon to run away quickly. Bumbarash offers to leave with her. Varvara refuses to face a certain bullet. Suddenly, Gavrila and the senior guard return. They attack Semyon. Bumbarash knees Polvalov in the stomach. Semyon takes a heavy blow to the head with a brass knuckle and tumbles head over heels into a thorny ravine.

That night, the wounded Semyon sneaks into his brother’s hayloft. Serafima gives him cold water, sees dried blood, and promises to keep her mouth shut. The next day, Semyon quietly hides on the roof. Serafima relays new news. Varvara urges him to hide as far away as possible.

Bumbarash eats apples from a branch hanging over the broken roof. He longingly recalls the Austrian front. His memory returns to the fateful night of the retreat from Lombez. Back then, he got lost in the field, guided by three guiding stars, and fell right into the clutches of an Austrian outpost.

That night, a deafening bomb blast is heard. Rapid gunshots ring out. Serafima runs into the hayloft. Varvara tells her that Yashka Kurnakov threw the bomb, killed the guard Shurka Plyusnin, and took three rifles. Gavrila blames Bumbarash for everything. Semyon takes his bag and leaves across the shallow river. Gavrila’s angry men burst into the house. Serafima furiously drives the intruders away.

Meetings in Katryomushki

In the morning, Bumbarash washes himself with cold water. He experiences a strange sense of indifferent peace. Near the village of Katryomushki, he sees a tall, broken birch tree. A boy at the very top is nailing a large red flag. Semyon helps the youth retrieve a fallen iron hammer.

The village of Katryomushki is occupied by a detachment of Red Army soldiers. Bumbarash stays with a hospitable pockmarked woman. While he sleeps in a wicker cage, the woman washes his dirty clothes. Semyon dons the holey rags of her late father-in-law.

In the courtyard, a young boy named Irtysh persuades a Red Army commander to take him into a combat unit. This spirited young man used to be called Vanka. Irtysh pretends to be a fearless hero. The commander flatly refuses. However, he instructs the young man to deliver a package to the military commissar in the town of Rossoshansk.

A sullen Red Army soldier enters the kitchen. The woman takes Semyon’s greatcoat to mend the torn collar. The soldier finds an overnight package from the forest outpost in his sleeve. After reading the letter, the soldier breaks into a sweat. He leads Bumbarash to headquarters at gunpoint. Near headquarters, Semyon kicks the young guard, Sovkov, in the stomach. The fugitive quickly disappears into the dense forest.

Late in the evening, he approaches a campfire. Two monks are sitting by the fire. The fugitives from Semikrutovo are discussing the death of their drunken brother, Simon, who fearlessly walked along the ledge of the church. Bumbarash frightens the monks, claiming the forest belongs to the bandit Ivanyuk. Seeing a signal fire in the distance, the monks panic completely. Semyon whistles loudly. The monks drop their belongings and flee. Taking the black cassock of the deceased Filimon, the soldier goes to bed.

Irtysh’s order

With his commander’s pack tucked under his arm, Irtysh strides briskly toward Rossoshansk. In his pockets are an empty magazine and a bomb safety ring. Irtysh dreams of owning a genuine Italian or Russian rifle. In one of the villages along the way, he stops for the night with a deaf old woman and a girl named Valka.

Irtysh calms the owners. He takes a pencil and draws a beautiful portrait of Valka with gold earrings. Valka’s father soon returns. The man is angry after a dangerous encounter with the armed men of the bandit Dolgunets.

In the morning, the cheerful Irtysh River approaches Rossoshansk. The city is defended by eighty-two Red Army soldiers against two hundred infantrymen and fifty Cossacks under Colonel Turgachev. The Irtysh knocks on the heavy gates of the old stone prison. His older brother, Pashka Trubnikov, is on duty there. Special hostages are held in the cell: Colonel Turgachev’s wife and his son, Styopka.

Irtysh teases the red-haired young master Styopka through the iron bars. The kitchen hand Motka Zvonarev stands guard. He’s angry at the prisoners for their generous meals. The guard doesn’t dare shoot without a direct order. Irtysh walks out the prison gates. He heads for the military commissariat, housed in the pink house of the merchant Penkov.

Commissioner Greenwald

The corridors of the commissariat are crowded. Irtysh insists on personally delivering a secret package to Commissar Greenwald. The stocky Kapiton Babushkin, recently appointed platoon commander of the guard company, emerges from his office. Inside, the bearded merchant Lyapunov complains about the heavy military requisitions, the walls breached with crowbars, and the merciless arrests of civilian hostages.

Greenwald responds sternly to Lyapunov. He accuses the wealthy townspeople of secretly supporting the White forces. The commissar recalls the rifles stolen by officer Tiunov and the treacherously drained water at the mill. Greenwald sternly demands that forty pairs of old soldiers’ boots be urgently repaired. He advises removing the preaching elder from the local monastery.

A broken Lyapunov walks away. Greenwald carefully reads Irtysh’s important report. The boy asks for a rifle so he can go to war. Greenwald refuses, citing a severe weapons shortage. Irtysh offers to paint a beautiful new sign with a star for the commissariat. The pleased commander immediately agrees.

The Irtysh returns to his native Vorobyova Slobodka. His mother, a washerwoman, greets her son with a heavy rolling pin. Irtysh suddenly sits down on the bare ground. He begins telling confused tales about a divine radiance in Katryomushki. Having distracted his mother with absurd conversations, he takes the buckets and runs for water. The woman lowers the rolling pin. She is genuinely amazed at her restless son’s ingenuity.