As in most of the works of M. A. Sholokhov, the story “Shibalkovo seed” describes the events of a fratricidal civil war. In a short sketch from the life of the Don Cossack Yakov Shibalk, who fought on the side of the Red Army, love and hatred, friendship and betrayal, cruelty and compassion intertwined. Mikhail Sholokhov's story "Shibalkovo Seed", a summary of which is presented below, was written in 1925 and is part of the author's "Don cycle".
Man with baby
The storyline of the work is built 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 government institution to leave him there to be raised. The woman refuses to accept the baby, referring to the lack of free places. This way you can convey the main meaning andsummary of Sholokhov's story "Shibalkov's Seed".
Yakov, trying to convince the manager, describes the circumstances of the appearance of the child, explains that being in a combat detachment is not safe 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 baby, requiring more and more attention, has become an unbearable burden for his father. We do not know what name the Cossack called his son, but this refers to him in the definition made in the title - "Shibalkov's seed." The summary of Sholokhov's story leads the reader to get acquainted with other characters in the story.
A torn woman on the road
Shibalok describes the story of meeting with the baby's mother. The Cossack Hundred, which adopted the ideas of the October Revolution, was transformed into a special detachment. The fighters were given the task of destroying the White Guard gangs in the Don expanses. Two years ago, the Red Army picked up a woman in the steppe. Yakov was the first to see Daria lying unconscious in the road dust, gave her water to drink, and brought her to her senses.
Here we get acquainted with the second significant character of Sholokhov's work "Shibalkov's Seed". The summary of Daria's story, told by her to her saviors, is as follows: the White Guards took the woman prisoner, and then, having outraged, left her to die on the road.
With the consent of his comrades and the commander, machine gunner Yakov Shibalok took a woman who had suffered at the hands of bandits to his cart. Daria quickly recovered and, having decidedstay in the detachment, took on household duties: she repaired and washed clothes for soldiers, cooked food.
Brave coachman on a cart
The presence of a woman in the detachment was contrary to the laws of war. The hundredth ataman told Shibalka more than once to drive Daria away. Yakov tried to convince his ward to listen to the words of the commander 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 "Shibalkov's Seed". The summary of the plot will be a vivid confirmation of this.
In one of the battles, the driver who drove the machine gunner's cart dies. Daria asks Yakov to entrust this position to her, Shibalok agrees, but warns: “If you let me down, I’ll screw it up with my own hands!” Surprisingly, the woman was very clever with horses, which earned her the favor of the commander and the respect of the rest of the soldiers. “Sometimes, the cart spins so that the horses rear up,” Shibalok admired the abilities of his new coachman.
Love and betrayal
Yakov does not talk about high feelings in his confession. She describes her relationship with Daria in a simple and ordinary way: “We began to get confused with her.” But still, in his words, a tender attitude towards this woman is guessed. Soon it becomes noticeable to everyone that Daria is expecting a baby. The Cossacks chuckled: “The coachman at Shibalka grew fat on state-owned grubs, he barely fits on the goats!”
Several months the detachment drovegang of ataman Ignatiev across the Don steppes. Once it happened that the Red Army ran out of ammunition, and no new ones were brought up. This circumstance was kept in the strictest confidence. The opposing sides are located at different ends of the same farm. There was a terrible betrayal - someone reported to the enemy that the Red Cossacks had no cartridges. In the middle of the night, the White Guards attacked the Shibalka detachment, destroying more than half of the fighters, the rest had to flee.
The birth of a son and the recognition of Daria
The surviving Red Army soldiers set up camp fifteen kilometers from the farm, where they suffered an enemy defeat. Shibalok noticed that Daria, who had been riding a horse all night with the detachment, did not feel well. Without saying a word to anyone, the woman went into the forest, Yakov quietly crept behind her. Watching the suffering of Daria, whose time has come to give birth, the man undertakes to help her. An innocent child is about to be born - "Shibalkov's seed." Sholokhov draws a summary of this scene with warm colors, makes the reader feel a sense of compassion for the heroine. But after a second, the situation changes dramatically.
During labor pains, a woman reveals her secret to Jacob. It turned out that she was sent to the detachment by Ataman Ignatiev specifically to report on all the actions of the Red Army. It was from her words that the White Guards learned that there were no cartridges in the detachment. Jacob at first does not believe in such a heinous betrayal. However, after Daria's regrets that she did not have timelime the entire Cossack hundred, the man does not hold back and strikes the woman in the face with his boot. A few minutes later, the son of Jacob is born. The episode of Daria's repentance can be called the climax of Sholokhov's story "Shibalkov's Seed". The summary of the final part of the work tells of even more tragic events.
Deadly Retribution for Betrayal
Yakov returns to the detachment and talks about Daria's misdeed. The Cossacks boiled up, they wanted to chop their comrade with checkers. But then, directing anger at the woman who had betrayed them, they ordered Shibalka to kill her along with the child. The machine gunner persuades the fighters to leave the baby alive, because this is his native blood - Shibalkov's 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 Daria, and he managed to get out of the child, despite the harsh conditions of camp life.
The head of the orphanage, after listening to the bitter confession of a fighter, agrees to take the orphan under state care. After kissing his son goodbye, Yakov Shibalok returns to the detachment.
