The mischievous, humorous, unfinished poem" Monk " of the Lyceum period (1813) was not published during the poet's lifetime. It describes the confrontation of the monk Pancratius with the" underground sorcerer " Milk. Molok is the French form of the name Moloch. Pushkin learned it from the French translation of Milton's poem Paradise Lost.
The frivolous plot of "The Monk" is not difficult. Monk Pankratius is plagued by a demon named Molok:
Milk came (that's the devil's name),
Pankratia disappeared under the black duckweed.
The holy monk was already praying, praying,
Sighed, sighed, and the devil was right there.
Milk cannot penetrate the monk in any way and finally tempts him with the vision of a"skirt". To get rid of it, Pankratius falls asleep. Milk, however, gives him tempting dreams:
Immediately the milk suddenly turned into a fly
And flew buzzing around him.
Flying, flying, spinning around the room
And I sat on my monk's nose.
Pankratya again he started to seduce.
When Pankratius wakes up, he prays to God and is taught how to defeat the demon. After filling the pitcher with water, he "mumbled over it the words:-
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va prayers". When the skirt that disappeared during the day reappeared in the evening, the monk douses it with enchanted water.:
And lo, before him with horns and a tail,
Like a gray wolf, bristling all over,
Like a good horse with a shod hoof,
Molok appeared, trembling under the table,
Drenched from head to toe in water,
Covering yourself with the hem of your epancha,
He rolled his eyes like lanterns in the night.
"Hurrah! The monk shouted with an evil grin, -
Got you, underground wizard.
You're mine now, you can't escape, villain.
You'll pay for all the pranks with your head.
Go to the bottle, I'll seal you up,
I'm going to throw her into the well..."
So Pankratius gains power over the demon: he intends to drive him forever into a bottle and throw him into a well. Molok admits defeat:
"You've won, venerable old man, -
So answered smyrnehonko Mo ...
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