"On the Count’s Ruins" by Arkady Gaidar, summary

Arkady Gaidar’s novella, written in 1928, depicts the lives of children in the post-Civil War era. The author depicts in detail the everyday lives of village boys confronted with homelessness and the criminal underworld of a devastated country. The action unfolds in a small provincial town, off the beaten path. The story focuses on the formation of a strong friendship between the local children and a homeless teenager who accidentally finds himself in the area.

The story was successfully adapted into a film. The film of the same name, directed by Vladimir Skuybin, was released in 1957 and became widely popular.

Games of village boys

Yashka Babushkin and his friend Valka live in a remote village near an abandoned count’s estate. The estate was burned down by peasants during the Revolution. All that remains of the enormous stone house are dilapidated walls overgrown with weeds. Yashka’s father, Nefedich, once served the count as a gardener and now works as a watchman for the local council. The boys are constantly inventing new amusements. They hunt the neighbors’ cats with bows and raid the huts of local girls.

The peaceful passage of time is disrupted by frightening news. Yashka’s mother reports seeing a scary, grimy boy with a slingshot in his hands. Rumors of a dangerous street child’s appearance spread through the village. Valka assures Yashka that the ragged stranger is a cruel bandit. The village children believe he is armed with a heavy weight and capable of attacking anyone he meets. The children anxiously discuss the disappearance of apples from the orchards and the disappearance of a goat belonging to a local woman, Sychikha.

Meeting with Dergach

Yashka heads beyond the vegetable patch and runs into his enemy, Styopka. A fight ensues between them, but Styopka suddenly takes off running. Yashka turns around and sees a black boy dressed in rags. To Yashka’s surprise, the street kid doesn’t attack. He sits peacefully on the grass, clutching a live sparrow under his shirt and offering Yashka a cigarette butt. The street kid’s name is Dergach. He laughs loudly at the rumors about the goat being eaten.

Dergach explains that the goat simply broke his leg in a ravine. The boys quickly develop a trusting relationship. Yashka offers Dergach friendship and promises to introduce him to Valka. In exchange, Dergach asks for some tobacco. Yashka notices that his new acquaintance’s eyes conceal a deep, hidden sadness. He understands that the life of a street child is full of hardships and deprivations. Yashka decides to help his friend and let him into his group.

The Secret of the Old Basement

The next day, Yashka and Valka sneak a pot of sour borscht out of the house. They make their way through the ivy to the basement of the count’s ruins. Their greatest secret is hidden there: their dog, Wolf. The neighbors accuse the dog of strangling the chickens. The boys hide the dog to protect it from harm. Feeding a growing dog is very difficult. The parents begin to notice food disappearing from the house.

Dergach finds a way out of a difficult situation. At dawn, the boys steal a huge cast-iron laundry kettle and drag it into a deep ravine. In the ravine, Dergach deftly butchers the carcass of a dead goat. The boys build a fire and cook the meat with plenty of salt. Wolf now has enough food for a whole week. The boys lie on the grass, resting after a hearty lunch and admiring the scenery. That same day, Dergach single-handedly drives away Styopka’s hostile company, demonstrating unprecedented courage.

Count’s Palm

Sitting by the fire, Yashka shows Valka an old, faded photograph. It depicts the count’s eldest son in a cadet uniform. A huge, spreading palm tree can be seen next to him. Nefedich once personally tended this tree. The count ordered a glass greenhouse built around it for the winter. Dergach picks up the photograph and suddenly shudders. He recognizes the count. The street kid admits that he ran away from a cruel bandit nicknamed Khryash.

Khryash forced him to stand guard during thefts. Later, Nefedich tells his wife about a visit from a stranger from the city. The man identified himself as a researcher of Russian antiquities and promised five rubles for a photograph of a palm tree. Yashka and Valka run to the ruins to get the photo, but notice a light in an upstairs window. They hear rough male voices. The boys flee the ruins in a panic.

Trial

In the morning, a court hearing is held at the local council. Surkova’s shopkeeper demands compensation for the chickens strangled by the Wolf. Yashka is a witness. He’s cunning and confuses the case. The shopkeeper lets slip that she sold the dead birds at the market. The judge laughs, and the lawsuit is dismissed. The Wolf is officially acquitted. The next night, Valka discovers a wet Wolf in her yard. The dog is breathing heavily.

Valka and Yashka hide the dog in the bathhouse. Suddenly, there’s a loud barking and noise. Someone enters the bathhouse and stabs the dog. Nefedich fires his Berdan rifle, but the intruder escapes under the cover of darkness. In the morning, Yashka examines Volk’s collar and finds a bloody fragment of a photograph. Dergach is not in the basement. Yashka throws the fragment of a photograph into the yard. Later, he sees his father handing this scrap of paper to a stooped stranger with a bandaged right arm. Yashka realizes that the supposed researchers are dangerous criminals.

Death trap

Meanwhile, Dergach was experiencing terrifying hours. While spending the night in the basement, he heard the voices of the Count and Khryashch returning. The bandits were searching for a palm tree to dig up hidden treasure. Dergach wrote a warning for Yashka in pencil on the back of a photo. He tied the photo to Wolf’s collar and pushed the dog toward the pond. Khryashch noticed the dog, chased him, and stabbed him, but was only able to tear off half the photo.

The criminals find Dergach in the hay. Khryashch brutally beats the boy. The bandits take their captive seven kilometers from the village to an abandoned stone hunting lodge. The building stands on the edge of a deep swamp. Khryashch plans to drown Dergach in the fetid quagmire. The bandits leave the boy tied up in a room with a dilapidated window wide open. Dergach grinds the ropes against a shard of glass.

With remarkable agility, the street kid climbs the flimsy window frame to the dormer window. The frame crashes into the swamp. Corncrake manages to climb into the dusty attic. The door is bolted from the outside. Khryash and the Count hear a splash and assume the boy has drowned. Corncrake is left without food or water for several long days.

The Kite and the Search

Yashka’s parents leave for the city, leaving their son in the care of his hard-of-hearing aunt, Darya. Yashka and Valka are making a huge kite with a rattle. While working, Yashka notices an old newspaper ad. Peasants from the Saratov province are looking for their son, Dmitry Yolkin, who disappeared during the famine. Yashka realizes that this is Dergach’s real name.

The kite flies away and crashes in the forest behind the count’s estate. The boys take Wolf and go looking for the missing item. In the thicket, the dog finds Dergach’s dirty cap. The dog picks up the scent and confidently leads the boys deeper into the forest. Soon they reach a stone hunting lodge. Yashka enters the empty rooms. He sees safe-cracking tools and bottles. Suddenly, Dergach’s voice is heard from above. The street kid asks them to run for help immediately.

Fire in a hunting lodge

Dergach spots the returning bandits through the window. Khryashch and the Count are leading a loaded horse. They’re bringing a heavy steel box dug from under a palm tree. The criminals fiddle with their tools for a long time and finally crack the safe. The tired bandits go out to a forest spring for a drink of water. Dergach decides to act. He climbs down a rope from the attic, leaps into the room, and firmly locks the heavy oak door behind him with an iron bolt.

The bandits return to find themselves locked out. The Count reaches his revolver through the window bars and shoots Dergach. The boy falls to the floor and crawls behind a stone wall. Realizing Dergach’s bullets won’t reach him, Khryash sets fire to the hay. He throws the burning wisps through the bars. The fire engulfs the spilled flammable liquids. The room is filled with thick, toxic smoke. Dergach suffocates, falls to the floor, and loses consciousness.

Liberation

Rescue comes at the very last minute. Loud gunfire erupts from the forest. The policemen Yashka managed to bring open fire on the bandits. Khryashch tries to shoot back, but is fatally shot. The Count is arrested at the scene of the crime. The treasures of an old noble family are returned to the state thanks to the courage of a simple street child. Dergach comes to in a bright, clean hospital room. A woman in a white coat gently comforts him. Soon, Yashka and Valka come to visit.

They’re dressed in funny hospital gowns. Yashka tells of Khryashch’s death and the Count’s arrest. Valka breaks the biggest news: Dergach’s parents have been found through a newspaper ad. The Young Pioneers are raising money for a ticket to the Red Plowman state farm. Dergach closes his eyes and smiles happily. The faithful dog Wolf awaits his savior in the village.