“Town in a snuffbox” you will learn what Odoevsky’s fairy tale teaches in this article.
What does “Town in a Snuffbox” teach?
The fairy tale “Town in a Snuffbox” teaches us attentiveness and observation. Teaches you to analyze what you see and draw conclusions. Teaches the benefits of learning and knowledge.
This tale about the work of the snuffbox teaches that everything in the world is important and valuable, because everything is connected.
If one thing is removed, everything can collapse. We see this in the example that Misha stopped the spring and the snuff box immediately broke.
“Town in a Snuff Box” is a story about how a father gave his son a snuff box. The boy wanted to find out how it worked and get inside the small snuffbox to examine everything there. And here are the miracles! The bell boy came out to him and invited him to visit. Inside the snuffbox there was a whole town, everything there was new and unknown.
The boy learned a lot and learned a lot about mechanisms before waking up and realizing that it was a dream. And when Misha wakes up, he understands how the music box works. Misha is a very inquisitive, polite, kind and believing boy.
the main idea fairy tales is that everything in the world is interconnected. Any device works thanks to the interaction of all its parts. Every detail in the mechanism is very important.
From the fairy tale we can conclude: when you think about some problem or riddle, the solution will sooner or later come to you, even in a dream.
In the first half of the 19th century. Many writers turned to the fairy tale genre, as this made it possible to embody a romantic combination of two worlds: the real and the magically romantic. In such a “two world”, any hero has the opportunity to deeply reveal his character, and can, as it were, look at himself and the world from the outside. Such examples include fairy tales by A. Pogorelsky, V.A. Zhukovsky and others.
Tale by V.F. Odoevsky’s “Town in a Snuffbox” stands somewhat apart, since the author performs a different task when he connects two worlds. His little hero, finding himself in the romantic world of the snuffbox, perceives it as real and learns a lot of interesting things, first of all, how the snuffbox works. Knowledge through fairy tales and magic is what is most accessible to a child, not an adult.
The child hero is the main link between the two worlds. The world of the snuff box is told from two sides: mechanics and mirror perspective. The author shows the gate and the road to the construction of the snuffbox as a perspective, but at the same time also the “entrance” to the magical town, which seems to reflect the real earthly world: “Gates, turrets, a house, another, a third, a fourth - and it’s impossible to count, and everything is small Mala is smaller, and all are golden, and the sun rises behind the trees, and from it pink rays spread throughout the sky.”
The structure of a musical snuffbox is a functional “arrangement” of the inhabitants of the “through the looking glass”. Each character in a fairy tale is endowed with individual traits that are manifested in appearance, behavior, and speech. Princess Spring, who resembles a snake, constantly moves, behaves imperiously, and pushes the warden Valik in the side. The hammer men are angry, unceremonious, beating the poor bell boys. Speech reflects their characters. The hammer guys say “Knock-knock-knock!”, the bell boys say “ding-ding”, etc.
The boy Misha, as he meets the residents of the “town,” begins to see many things differently. Therefore, a protest awakens in him against the cruel treatment of bell boys and he violates his daddy’s prohibition, as happens with fairy-tale heroes: he “breaks” the spring princess. Misha’s awakening shows that he saw the events in the snuffbox in a dream, but for him “dream” is equal to “reality”, since this is the ability of a child’s imagination, which always strives for knowledge.
Thus, V.F. Odoevsky managed for the first time to combine magic and reason in one conventional fairy-tale narrative and show it to adults little hero. “Town in a Snuff Box” turned out to be a micromodel of the world.
Bibliographic link
Kiseleva E.V. “TOWN IN A TOBACTER BOX” by V.F. ODOEVSKY AS THE FIRST ARTISTIC AND EDUCATIONAL FAIRY TALE FOR CHILDREN // Advances in modern natural science. – 2011. – No. 8. – P. 176-177;URL: http://natural-sciences.ru/ru/article/view?id=27804 (access date: 08/11/2019). We bring to your attention magazines published by the publishing house "Academy of Natural Sciences"
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Papa put the snuff box on the table. “Come here, Misha, look,” he said.
Misha was an obedient boy; He immediately left the toys and went up to daddy. Yes, there was something to see! What a wonderful snuff box! Variegated, from a turtle. What's on the lid? Gates, turrets, a house, another, a third, a fourth - and it’s impossible to count, and all are small and small, and all are golden; and the trees are also golden, and the leaves on them are silver; and behind the trees the sun rises, and from it pink rays spread throughout the sky.
What kind of town is this? - Misha asked.
“This is the town of Tinkerbell,” answered daddy and touched the spring...
And what? Suddenly, out of nowhere, music started playing. Where this music was heard from, Misha could not understand: he also walked to the door - was it from another room? and to the clock - isn't it in the clock? both to the bureau and to the slide; listened here and there; He also looked under the table... Finally Misha was convinced that the music was definitely playing in the snuffbox. He approached her, looked, and the sun came out from behind the trees, quietly creeping across the sky, and the sky and the town became brighter and brighter; the windows burn with a bright fire, and there’s a kind of radiance from the turrets. Now the sun crossed the sky to the other side, lower and lower, and finally completely disappeared behind the hillock; and the town darkened, the shutters closed, and the turrets faded, only for a short while. Here a star began to warm up, here another, and then the horned moon peeked out from behind the trees, and the town became brighter again, the windows turned silver, and bluish rays streamed from the turrets.
- Daddy! papa! Is it possible to enter this town? I wish I could!
- It’s strange, my friend: this town is not your size.
- It’s okay, daddy, I’m so small; just let me go there; I would really like to know what is going on there...
- Really, my friend, it’s cramped there even without you.
- Who lives there?
- Who lives there? Bluebells live there.
With these words, dad lifted the lid on the snuff box, and what did Misha see? And bells, and hammers, and a roller, and wheels... Misha was surprised:
- Why are these bells? Why hammers? Why a roller with hooks? - Misha asked daddy.
And daddy answered:
- I won’t tell you, Misha; Take a closer look for yourself and think about it: maybe you’ll figure it out. Just don’t touch this spring, otherwise everything will break.
Papa went out, and Misha remained over the snuffbox. So he sat and sat above her, looked and looked, thought and thought, why are the bells ringing?
Meanwhile, the music plays and plays; It’s getting quieter and quieter, as if something is clinging to every note, as if something is pushing one sound away from another. Here Misha looks: at the bottom of the snuffbox the door opens, and a boy with a golden head and a steel skirt runs out of the door, stops on the threshold and beckons Misha to him.
“Why,” thought Misha, “daddy said that it’s too crowded in this town without me? No, apparently, good people live there, you see, they invite me to visit.”
- If you please, with the greatest joy!
With these words, Misha ran to the door and was surprised to notice that the door was exactly his height. As a well-bred boy, he considered it his duty first of all to turn to his guide.
“Let me know,” said Misha, “with whom I have the honor of speaking?”
“Ding-ding-ding,” answered the stranger, “I am a bell boy, a resident of this town.” We heard that you really want to visit us, and therefore we decided to ask you to do us the honor of welcoming us. Ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding.
Misha bowed politely; the bell boy took him by the hand and they walked. Then Misha noticed that above them there was a vault made of colorful embossed paper with gold edges. In front of them was another vault, only smaller; then the third, even smaller; the fourth, even smaller, and so on all the other vaults - the further, the smaller, so that the last one, it seemed, could barely fit the head of his guide.
“I am very grateful to you for your invitation,” Misha told him, “but I don’t know if I can take advantage of it.” True, here I can walk freely, but further down there, look at how low your vaults are - there, let me tell you frankly, I can’t even crawl through there. I'm surprised how you pass under them too.
- Ding-ding-ding! - the boy answered. - Let's go, don't worry, just follow me.
Misha obeyed. In fact, with every step they took, the arches seemed to rise, and our boys walked freely everywhere; when they reached the last vault, then the bell boy asked Misha to look back. Misha looked around, and what did he see? Now that first vault, under which he approached when entering the doors, seemed small to him, as if, while they were walking, the vault had lowered. Misha was very surprised.
Why is this? - he asked his guide.
- Ding-ding-ding! - answered the conductor, laughing. - It always seems like that from a distance. Apparently you weren’t looking at anything in the distance with attention; From a distance everything seems small, but when you come closer it looks big.
Yes, it’s true,” answered Misha, “I still haven’t thought about it, and that’s why this is what happened to me: the day before yesterday I wanted to draw how my mother was playing the piano next to me, and how my father was reading a book at the other end of the room.” But I just couldn’t manage to do this: I work, I work, I draw as accurately as possible, but everything on paper comes out like daddy is sitting next to mummy and his chair is standing next to the piano, and meanwhile I can see very clearly that the piano is standing next to me , at the window, and daddy is sitting at the other end, by the fireplace. Mama told me that daddy should be drawn small, but I thought that mummy was joking, because daddy was much taller than her; but now I see that she was telling the truth: daddy should have been drawn small, because he was sitting far away. Thank you very much for your explanation, very grateful.
The bell boy laughed with all his might: “Ding-ding-ding, how funny! Don't know how to draw daddy and mommy! Ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding!”
Misha seemed annoyed that the bell boy was mocking him so mercilessly, and he very politely told him:
Let me ask you: why do you always say “ding-ding-ding” to every word?
“We have such a saying,” answered the bell boy.
- Proverb? - Misha noted. - But daddy says that it’s very bad to get used to sayings.
The bell boy bit his lips and didn't say another word.
There are still doors in front of them; they opened, and Misha found himself on the street. What a street! What a town! The pavement is paved with mother-of-pearl; the sky is motley, tortoiseshell; the golden sun walks across the sky; if you beckon to it, it will come down from the sky, go around your hand and rise again. And the houses are made of steel, polished, covered with multi-colored shells, and under each lid sits a little bell boy with a golden head, in a silver skirt, and there are many of them, many and less and less.
No, now they won’t deceive me,” said Misha. - It only seems so to me from a distance, but the bells are all the same.
“But that’s not true,” answered the guide, “the bells are not the same.” If we were all the same, then we would all ring in one voice, one like the other; and you hear what songs we produce. This is because the larger of us has a thicker voice. Don't you know this too? You see, Misha, this is a lesson for you: don’t laugh at those who have a bad saying; some with a saying, but he knows more than others, and you can learn something from him.
Misha, in turn, bit his tongue.
Meanwhile, they were surrounded by bell boys, tugging at Misha’s dress, ringing, jumping, and running.
“You live happily,” Misha told them, “if only a century would remain with you.” You do nothing all day, you have no lessons, no teachers, and music all day long.
- Ding-ding-ding! - the bells screamed. - I've already found some fun with us! No, Misha, life is bad for us. True, we don’t have lessons, but what’s the point?
Papa put the snuff box on the table. “Come here, Misha, look,” he said.
Misha was an obedient boy; He immediately left the toys and went up to daddy. Yes, there was something to see! What a wonderful snuff box! Variegated, from a turtle. What's on the lid?
Gates, turrets, a house, another, a third, a fourth - and it’s impossible to count, and all are small and small, and all are golden; and the trees are also golden, and the leaves on them are silver; and behind the trees the sun rises, and from it pink rays spread throughout the sky.
- What kind of town is this? - Misha asked.
“This is the town of Tinkerbell,” answered daddy and touched the spring...
And what? Suddenly, out of nowhere, music started playing. Where this music was heard from, Misha could not understand: he also walked to the door - was it from another room? and to the clock - isn't it in the clock? both to the bureau and to the slide; listened here and there; He also looked under the table... Finally Misha was convinced that the music was definitely playing in the snuffbox. He approached her, looked, and the sun came out from behind the trees, quietly creeping across the sky, and the sky and the town became brighter and brighter; the windows burn with a bright fire, and there’s a kind of radiance from the turrets. Now the sun crossed the sky to the other side, lower and lower, and finally completely disappeared behind the hillock; and the town darkened, the shutters closed, and the turrets faded, only for a short time. Here a star began to warm up, here another, and then the horned moon peeked out from behind the trees, and the town became brighter again, the windows turned silver, and bluish rays streamed from the turrets.
- Daddy! papa! Is it possible to enter this town? I wish I could!
- It’s strange, my friend: this town is not your height.
- It’s okay, daddy, I’m so small; just let me go there; I would really like to know what is going on there...
“Really, my friend, it’s cramped there even without you.”
- Who lives there?
- Who lives there? Bluebells live there.
With these words, dad lifted the lid on the snuff box, and what did Misha see? And bells, and hammers, and a roller, and wheels... Misha was surprised:
- Why are these bells? Why hammers? Why a roller with hooks? - Misha asked daddy.
And daddy answered:
- I won’t tell you, Misha; Take a closer look for yourself and think about it: maybe you’ll figure it out. Just don’t touch this spring, otherwise everything will break.
Papa went out, and Misha remained over the snuffbox. So he sat and sat above her, looked and looked, thought and thought, why are the bells ringing?
Meanwhile, the music plays and plays; It’s getting quieter and quieter, as if something is clinging to every note, as if something is pushing one sound away from another. Here Misha looks: at the bottom of the snuffbox the door opens, and a boy with a golden head and a steel skirt runs out of the door, stops on the threshold and beckons Misha to him.
“Why,” thought Misha, “daddy said that it’s too crowded in this town without me? No, apparently, good people live there, you see, they invite me to visit.”
- If you please, with the greatest joy!
With these words, Misha ran to the door and was surprised to notice that the door was exactly his height. As a well-bred boy, he considered it his duty first of all to turn to his guide.
“Let me know,” said Misha, “with whom I have the honor of speaking?”
“Ding-ding-ding,” answered the stranger, “I am a bell boy, a resident of this town.” We heard that you really want to visit us, and therefore we decided to ask you to do us the honor of welcoming us. Ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding.
Misha bowed politely; the bell boy took him by the hand and they walked. Then Misha noticed that above them there was a vault made of colorful embossed paper with gold edges. In front of them was another vault, only smaller; then the third, even smaller; the fourth, even smaller, and so on all the other vaults - the further, the smaller, so that the last one, it seemed, could barely fit the head of his guide.
“I am very grateful to you for your invitation,” Misha told him, “but I don’t know if I can take advantage of it.” True, here I can walk freely, but further down there, look at how low your vaults are - there, let me tell you frankly, I can’t even crawl through there. I'm surprised how you pass under them too.
- Ding-ding-ding! - answered the boy. “We’ll pass, don’t worry, just follow me.”
Misha obeyed. In fact, with every step they took, the arches seemed to rise, and our boys walked freely everywhere; when they reached the last vault, then the bell boy asked Misha to look back. Misha looked around, and what did he see? Now that first vault, under which he approached when entering the doors, seemed small to him, as if, while they were walking, the vault had lowered. Misha was very surprised.
- Why is this? - he asked his guide.
- Ding-ding-ding! - answered the conductor, laughing.
“It always seems like that from a distance.” Apparently you weren’t looking at anything in the distance with attention; From a distance everything seems small, but when you come closer it looks big.
“Yes, it’s true,” answered Misha, “I haven’t thought about it until now, and that’s why this is what happened to me: the day before yesterday I wanted to draw how my mother was playing the piano next to me, and my father was reading a book at the other end of the room.” . But I just couldn’t manage to do this: I work, I work, I draw as accurately as possible, but everything on paper comes out like daddy is sitting next to mummy and his chair is standing next to the piano, and meanwhile I can see very clearly that the piano is standing next to me , at the window, and daddy is sitting at the other end, by the fireplace. Mama told me that daddy should be drawn small, but I thought that mummy was joking, because daddy was much taller than her; but now I see that she was telling the truth: daddy should have been drawn small, because he was sitting far away. Thank you very much for your explanation, very grateful.
The bell boy laughed with all his might: “Ding-ding-ding, how funny! Don't know how to draw daddy and mommy! Ding-ding-ding, ding-ding-ding!”
Misha seemed annoyed that the bell boy was mocking him so mercilessly, and he very politely told him:
- Let me ask you: why do you keep saying “ding-ding-ding” to every word?
“We have such a saying,” answered the bell boy.
- Proverb? - Misha noted. “But daddy says that it’s very bad to get used to sayings.”
The bell boy bit his lips and didn't say another word.
There are still doors in front of them; they opened, and Misha found himself on the street. What a street! What a town! The pavement is paved with mother-of-pearl; the sky is motley, tortoiseshell; the golden sun walks across the sky; if you beckon to it, it will come down from the sky, go around your hand and rise again. And the houses are made of steel, polished, covered with multi-colored shells, and under each lid sits a little bell boy with a golden head, in a silver skirt, and there are many of them, many and less and less.
“No, now they won’t deceive me,” said Misha. “It only seems so to me from afar, but the bells are all the same.”
“But that’s not true,” answered the guide, “the bells are not the same.”
If we were all the same, then we would all ring in one voice, one like the other; and you hear what songs we produce. This is because the larger of us has a thicker voice. Don't you know this too? You see, Misha, this is a lesson for you: don’t laugh at those who have a bad saying; some with a saying, but he knows more than others, and you can learn something from him.
Misha, in turn, bit his tongue.
Meanwhile, they were surrounded by bell boys, tugging at Misha’s dress, ringing, jumping, and running.
“You live a joyful life,” Misha told them, “if only a century would remain with you.” You do nothing all day, you have no lessons, no teachers, and music all day long.
- Ding-ding-ding! - the bells screamed. - I've already found some fun with us! No, Misha, life is bad for us. True, we don’t have lessons, but what’s the point?
We wouldn't be afraid of lessons. Our whole problem lies precisely in the fact that we, the poor, have nothing to do; We have neither books nor pictures; there is neither daddy nor mummy; have nothing to do; play and play all day long, but this, Misha, is very, very boring. Will you believe it? Our tortoiseshell sky is good, our golden sun and golden trees are good; but we, poor people, have seen enough of them, and we are very tired of all this; We’re not even a step out of town, but you can imagine what it’s like to sit in a snuff-box for a whole century, doing nothing, and even in a snuff-box with music.
“Yes,” answered Misha, “you are telling the truth.” This happens to me too: when after studying you start playing with toys, it’s so much fun; and when on a holiday you play and play all day long, then by the evening it becomes boring; And if you take on this or that toy, it’s not nice. I didn’t understand for a long time; Why is this, but now I understand.
- Yes, besides that, we have another problem, Misha: we have guys.
- What kind of guys are they? - Misha asked.
“The hammer guys,” answered the bells, “they’re so evil!” Every now and then they walk around the city and knock on us. The bigger ones, the less often the “knock-knock” happens, and even the little ones are painful.
In fact, Misha saw some gentlemen walking along the street on thin legs, with very long noses, and whispering to each other: “Knock-knock-knock! Knock-knock-knock, pick it up! Hit it! Knock-Knock!". And in fact, the hammer guys are constantly knocking and knocking on one bell and then on another. Misha even felt sorry for them. He approached these gentlemen, bowed to them very politely and asked with good nature why they beat the poor boys without any regret. And the hammers answered him:
- Go away, don’t bother me! There, in the ward and in a dressing gown, the warder lies and tells us to knock. Everything is tossing and clinging. Knock-Knock! Knock-Knock!
- What kind of supervisor is this? - Misha asked the bells.
“And this is Mr. Valik,” they rang, “a very kind man, he doesn’t leave the sofa day and night; We can't complain about him.
Misha - to the warden. He looks: he is actually lying on the sofa, in a robe and turning from side to side, only everything is face up. And his robe has pins and hooks, apparently or invisibly; As soon as he comes across a hammer, he will first hook it with a hook, then lower it, and the hammer will hit the bell.
Misha had just approached him when the warden shouted:
- Hanky panky! Who walks here? Who's wandering around here? Hanky panky! Who doesn't go away? Who doesn't let me sleep? Hanky panky! Hanky panky!
“It’s me,” Misha answered bravely, “I’m Misha...”
- What do you need? - asked the warden.
- Yes, I feel sorry for the poor bell boys, they are all so smart, so kind, such musicians, and at your order the guys constantly knock on them...
- What do I care, you guys! I'm not the big one here. Let the guys hit the boys! What do I care? I’m a kind warden, I always lie on the sofa and don’t look after anyone. Shura-murah, Shura-murmur...
- Well, I learned a lot in this town! - Misha said to himself. “Sometimes I get annoyed why the warden doesn’t take his eyes off me...
Meanwhile, Misha walked further and stopped. He looks at a golden tent with pearl fringe; At the top, a golden weather vane is spinning like a windmill, and under the tent lies Princess Spring and, like a snake, it curls up and then unfurls and constantly pushes the warden in the side.
Misha was very surprised by this and told her:
- Madam princess! Why are you pushing the warden in the side?
“Zits-zits-zits,” answered the princess. - You are a stupid boy, a foolish boy. You look at everything, you see nothing! If I didn't push the roller, the roller wouldn't spin; if the roller did not spin, it would not cling to the hammers, the hammers would not knock; if the hammers did not knock, the bells would not ring; If only the bells did not ring, there would be no music! Zits-zits-zits.
Misha wanted to know if the princess was telling the truth. He bent down and pressed her with his finger - and what?
In an instant, the spring developed with force, the roller spun violently, the hammers began to knock quickly, the bells began to play nonsense, and suddenly the spring burst. Everything fell silent, the roller stopped, the hammers hit, the bells curled to the side, the sun hung down, the houses broke... Then Misha remembered that daddy didn’t order him to touch the spring, he got scared and... woke up.
- What did you see in your dream, Misha? - asked daddy.
It took Misha a long time to come to his senses. He looks: the same papa’s room, the same snuffbox in front of him; Mama and Daddy are sitting next to him and laughing.
-Where is the bell boy? Where is the hammer guy? Where is Princess Spring? - Misha asked. - So it was a dream?
- Yes, Misha, the music lulled you to sleep, and you took a good nap here. At least tell us what you dreamed!
“You see, daddy,” said Misha, rubbing his eyes, “I kept wanting to know why the music was playing in the snuffbox; So I began to diligently look at it and make out what was moving in it and why it was moving; I thought and thought and began to get there, when suddenly, I saw, the door to the snuffbox had dissolved... - Then Misha told his whole dream in order.
“Well, now I see,” said papa, “that you really almost understand why the music is playing in the snuffbox; but you will understand this even better when you study mechanics.
The work “Town in a Snuffbox” belongs to the pen of Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky. This is one of the first Russian writers who can be counted among the founders of the Russian
Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky
Prince, senator, Russian writer, thinker and philosopher, translator, art critic - this is not a complete list of titles, titles, and professional skills that Vladimir Fedorovich possessed.
Odoevsky’s literary work is characterized by innovative ideas and research. This was immediately noticed by the writer’s contemporaries and highly appreciated by his descendants.
Odoevsky’s works make you think; they allow you to look differently at the usual phenomena of life, moving the reader forward in his development. Everything that has been said fully applies to what was created by the writer specifically for children. The fairy tale “Town in a Snuff Box” is considered to be the writer’s unsurpassed work. Its author is still among the best children's writers in world literature to this day.
Works for children
In 1833, the first ones for children were published. The collection was called "Motley Tales". In 1834, “The Town in a Snuffbox” was published as a separate edition. The genre of this work was also defined as a fairy tale.
N.V. Gogol gave a high assessment to literary fairy tales for children written by Odoevsky. He believed that the imagery of the language, tonality and melodiousness are unparalleled not only in Russian, but also in world children's literature. Perhaps, only the works of the great storyteller Hans Christian Andersen can be compared.
Over the subsequent years of working on writing works intended for children's reading circles, Odoevsky tried to maintain the bar he set. A true connoisseur of literature, V. Dal, showed great interest in the writer’s work, who considered the language of his works to be the standard of Russian literature.
In 1838, “Fairy Tales and Stories for the Children of Grandfather Irenaeus” was published. Many works from the collection immediately entered the list of textbooks and remain so 177 years later. It is this fact that is an indicator of the literary talent of V. F. Odoevsky.
Odoevsky successfully used the mask of Uncle Irenaeus (and later grandfather) throughout the entire period when he was engaged in children's literature. Thanks to a well-chosen image that children loved, the author was able to talk about the complex phenomena of life with the children in a language they could understand.
"Town in a snuffbox" Genre of the work
The cycle under the general title “Tales of Grandfather Irenaeus” includes several works for children. "Town in a Snuff Box" is also included here. The genre of the essay is defined as an educational fairy tale.
While reading the work, the child not only gets acquainted with the fabulous inhabitants of the musical snuffbox, but also learns about the mechanism of its work. The process is described absolutely accurately without distortion of facts, the work contains a large amount of educational material. The entertaining form of description that Odoevsky uses allows us to classify the work as a fairy tale.
The combination in one work of scientific encyclopedic information and magic, fiction, inherent only in fairy tales, was unusual for the literature of the first half of the 19th century. V.F. Odoevsky managed to put this together. The reception turned out to be very successful; it was appreciated not only by young readers and their parents, but also by literary critics.
The main characters of the work
Main actor fairy tale is a boy Misha, to whom his father gave a musical snuffbox. At the beginning of the story, the boy's father talks about how to use the box. Misha learns that the thing is very complex and requires careful treatment.
Like any other boy his age, Misha wants to understand the secrets that are hidden inside the snuff box. It is from this moment that miracles begin. Thanks to them, the boy meets the unusual inhabitants of a magical land, which the author calls the Town in a Snuff Box.
The fairy tale, its magic captivates not only Misha, but also every reader. There are more and more heroes in the work - these are the inhabitants of a fairy-tale country. Each of them has their own responsibilities that they must strictly fulfill, otherwise the way of life of the town will be destroyed.
Fairy tale idea
Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky, understanding the important role literature plays in people’s lives, sought to develop the best character traits of young readers through his works written for children. “Town in a Snuff Box” fully meets this task.
The genre of educational fairy tales is the best way to develop a child’s curiosity and provide an opportunity to acquire new knowledge. For example, Misha, traveling around the city, learns some laws visual arts and prospects. He understands how the box works, where music is born.
In addition, throughout the entire work the author points out important qualities Misha's character. The boy is persistent, inquisitive, obedient, polite. Odoevsky appreciates this in a child. The author also draws attention to the fact that everything in life is interconnected. Only with coordinated work and complete mutual understanding can you achieve certain successes in life.
Modern edition of the work
Perhaps none of Odoevsky’s fairy tales had such large quantity publications such as "Town in a Snuffbox".
Cartoons, filmstrips based on the fairy tale, and illustrated editions of the book are still very popular among children today. That is why the fairy tale is included in many literary collections, and it is also published as a separate book.
Some authors of modern literature textbooks have included V. F. Odoevsky’s fairy tale “Town in a Snuff Box” in the list of works intended for compulsory study in school lessons. When working together on a fairy tale, children learn the world, learn to understand beauty native language, express your attitude to what you read.
