At the heart of the satirical fable is a small gudgeon who, from childhood, absorbed his father's teaching: life is full of dangers, and in order to survive, one must constantly hide.
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Terrified to death by the possibility of being killed by pike, crayfish, or fishing hooks, he digs himself a tiny burrow within a hollow beneath a stone, barely large enough to contain him.
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He builds his entire life around fear: he ventures outside only at night, when everyone is asleep, never marries, makes no friends, and constantly goes hungry just to avoid taking risks.
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He lives this way for more than a hundred years, taking pride in his 'wisdom' and his ability to avoid danger, but as death approaches, a bitter truth is finally revealed to him.
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Dying alone, the wise little gudgeon realizes that throughout his entire life he has brought neither benefit nor joy to anyone, that no one knows him and no one will remember him.
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Hiding in a crevice out of fear, he had not lived at all, but merely trembled.
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His attempt, just before death, to swim out into the middle of the river ends with the exhausted gudgeon simply disappearing, most likely dying of old age or quietly becoming prey, and remaining a symbol of a meaningless, cowardly, and useless existence.
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This English-Russian bilingual book with parallel text is designed for fans of classic literature and language learners who enjoy reading in the original.
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