26.01.2022

Old Man Hottabych read the full version. Lagin Lazar - Old Man Hottabych: A Fairy Tale

An extraordinary morning

At seven thirty-two minutes in the morning, a cheerful sunbeam slipped through a hole in the curtain and settled on the nose of fifth-grade student Volka Kostylkov. Volka sneezed and woke up.

Just at this time, the mother’s voice came from the next room:

There's no need to rush, Alyosha. Let the child sleep a little more - he has exams today.

Volka winced in annoyance. When will his mother finally stop calling him a child? Jokes - child! The man is fourteen years old...

What nonsense! - the father answered behind the partition. - The guy is already thirteen years old. Let him get up and help put things away. His beard will soon begin to grow, and you are all: child, child...

Put things away! How could he forget this?! Volka immediately threw off the blanket and began hastily pulling on his pants. How could he forget! Such a day!

The Kostylkov family moved to a new apartment today. The night before, almost all things were packed. Mom and grandmother placed the dishes at the bottom of the bathtub in which they once bathed baby Volka, a long time ago. The father, having rolled up his sleeves and, like a shoemaker, had a mouth full of nails, was nailing up boxes of books and hastily hammering a geography textbook into one of them, although even a child can see that it is impossible to pass the test without a textbook.

Okay,” said the father, “we’ll sort it out in the new apartment.”

Then everyone argued about where to put things to make it easier to take them out to the cart in the morning. Then they drank tea in a casual manner, at a table without a tablecloth, sitting on boxes, and Volka sat very comfortably on the sewing machine case. Then they decided that the morning was wiser than the evening, and went to bed.

In a word, it is incomprehensible to his mind how he could have forgotten that they were moving to a new apartment this morning.

Before we had time to drink tea, there was a knock on the apartment. Then two movers came in. They opened both halves of the door wide and asked in loud voices:

Can we start?

Please,” mother and grandmother answered simultaneously and began to fuss terribly.

Volka solemnly carried the sofa cushions and backrest outside to the van. He was immediately surrounded by children playing in the yard.

Are you moving? - Seryozha Kruzhkin, a cheerful boy with black cunning eyes, asked him.

“We’re moving,” Volka answered dryly, looking as if he moved from apartment to apartment every six days, and as if there was nothing surprising in this for him.

The janitor Stepanych came up, thoughtfully rolled a cigarette and suddenly began a serious conversation with Volka, like equal to equal. The boy felt slightly dizzy with pride and happiness. He spoke with respect about the complexity of the janitor's profession, then plucked up his courage and invited Stepanych to visit his new apartment. The janitor said "merci". In a word, a serious and positive conversation between the two men was developing, when suddenly the irritated voice of the mother was heard from the apartment:

Volka! Volka! Well, where did this obnoxious child go?

And everything immediately went to waste. The janitor, barely nodding to Volka, began sweeping the street with ferocity. The guys pretended to be madly carried away by the blind puppy that Seryozha had dragged out of nowhere yesterday on a string. And Volka, hanging his head, went into the empty apartment, in which scraps of old newspapers and dirty bottles of medicine lay lonely.

Finally! - his mother attacked him. - Take your famous aquarium and immediately get into the van. You will sit there on the sofa and hold the aquarium in your hands. Just be careful not to spill the water.

It is not clear why parents are so nervous when they move to a new apartment.

Mysterious bottle

In the end, Volka settled into the van quite well.

Very briefly, the Soviet pioneer releases the genie from his thousand-year imprisonment. After magical and funny adventures, the ancient genie is rehabilitated and finds his place in modern world.

The story begins with an acquaintance with one of the main characters - Vladimir Kostylkov, a simple Soviet pioneer who was lucky enough to get an ancient jug from the bottom while swimming in the lake. Of course, curiosity does not allow him to take the find to the police station without looking inside, and it is from this moment that real miracles begin to happen in Moscow. After all, the real genie Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab has been languishing in a jug for several thousand years, and after his release he swears allegiance to his young savior.

The temporary gap between the Soviet Aladdin, Volka, and the ancient Eastern genie Hottabych turns out to be so huge that the two heroes constantly find themselves in the most ridiculous situations. Burning with the desire to help the incomparable Volka ibn Alyosha, Hottabych hurries with him to the geography exam and “amazes” ordinary Soviet teachers with his extensive knowledge of the subject. Examiners are surprised to learn that the main representatives of the fauna in India are gold-bearing ants the size of a dog, the Earth is shaped like a flat disk, and the horizon is called “the edge where the crystal dome of heaven touches the edge of the Earth.” The first miracle created by Hottabych ends with Volka's crushing failure in the exam.

The upset pioneer does not dare to tell the genie that the exam was not passed “excellently”, rightly fearing that the genie’s wrath will fall on the “ignorant teachers.” However, going to the cinema turns into an even greater disaster for Volka. The afternoon show has already ended, and in order to please his saddened master and help him get to the cinema for the evening show for adults, the genie rewards sixth-grader Kostylkov with a thick beard. And Volka’s friend, Zhenya Bogorad, met at the cinema, is sent to distant India to stop the spread of rumors about the bearded boy. But Zhenya does not stay in India for long - Volka forces Hottabych to fly after him on a magic carpet and snatches Zhenya from the embrace of too friendly Indians.

No matter how hard Zhenya and Volka try to accustom Hottabych to the realities of modern life, the genie, accustomed to ancient Eastern orders, continues to get into trouble, causing a commotion near a street kiosk, in a circus, at a stadium... He also has noble deeds to his name: for example, he upsets an inhuman, mercantile foreigner, sends boys who have behaved badly to the police station and even brings justice to Italy.

At the very end of the story, the friends go on a cruise across the Arctic Ocean on the Ladoga steamship. Zhenya finds an old jug and releases Hottabych's brother, Omar Yusuf, from it. The brothers are completely different. If Hassan is a good-natured genie, then Omar is heartless and selfish. According to the custom of the genies, he immediately tries to kill the one who released him, and Zhenya is saved only by the intervention of Hottabych. Omar is stubborn and does not believe in many scientific discoveries, for example, that the Moon is a satellite of the Earth. He goes to check it out and becomes a prisoner in Earth's orbit. After talking with his brother, Hottabych realizes how behind the times he is and begins to make up for lost time.

Time passes. The guys study with straight A's, because they need to pass on all the knowledge they have acquired to Hottabych, who has become a very diligent student. Zhenya chooses to become a doctor, while Volka dreams of becoming a radio designer. Hottabych first dreams of working in the Arctic, but his respectable appearance and a questionnaire in which he writes the honest truth prevent him from getting there. Nothing prevents the genie from turning into a young man, but he no longer wants to deceive. Over time, Hottabych takes Volka’s example and also becomes interested in radio engineering. At this point the author says goodbye to the genie and his young friends.

In the book "A Thousand and One Nights" there is "The Tale of the Fisherman". The fisherman pulled his nets out of the sea, and in them was a copper vessel, and in the vessel was a powerful sorcerer, a genie. He was imprisoned in it for almost two thousand years. This genie vowed to make the one who released him happy - to enrich him, to open all the treasures of the earth, to make him the most powerful of the sultans and, above all, to fulfill three more of his wishes.

Or, for example, “Aladdin's Magic Lamp”. It would seem unremarkable old lamp, one might say - just junk. But as soon as you rubbed it, a genie suddenly appeared out of nowhere and fulfilled any, most incredible desires of its owner. Do you enjoy the rarest food and drink? Please. Chests filled to the brim with gold and precious stones? Ready. Luxurious palace? This very minute. Turn your enemy into a beast or reptile? With great pleasure.

Allow such a sorcerer to gift his master according to his own taste, and the same precious chests, the same Sultan’s palaces for personal use would begin to pour in again.

According to the concept of the genies from ancient fairy tales and those whose wishes they fulfilled in these fairy tales, this was the most complete human happiness that one could only dream of.

Hundreds and hundreds of years have passed since these tales were first told, but ideas about happiness have long been associated, and in capitalist countries, many people to this day are still associated with chests full of gold and diamonds, with power over others people.

Oh, how those people dream of even the most prolific genie from an ancient fairy tale, who would come to them with his palaces and treasures! Of course, they think, any genie who spent two thousand years in captivity would inevitably be somewhat behind the times. And it is possible that the palace that he will present as a gift will not be entirely landscaped from the point of view modern achievements technology. After all, architecture has stepped forward so much since the time of Caliph Harun al Rashid! There were bathrooms, elevators, large, bright windows, steam heating, electric lighting... Come on, is it worth nitpicking. Let him give such palaces as he pleases. There would only be chests of gold and diamonds, and the rest would follow: honor, power, food, and the blissful, idle life of a rich, “civilized” slacker who despises all those who live on the fruits of their labors. From such a genie you can endure any grief. And it doesn’t matter if he doesn’t know many of the rules of modern society and social manners, and if he sometimes puts you in a scandalous position. These people will forgive everything to a sorcerer who throws chests of jewelry...

Well, what if such a genie suddenly came to our country, where there are completely different ideas about happiness and justice, where the power of the rich has long been destroyed forever and where only honest work brings a person happiness, honor and glory?

And suddenly, just imagine, I find out that Volka Kostylkov, the same one who used to live with us in Trekhprudny Lane, well, the same Volka Kostylkov who was the best diver in the camp last year... However, let me tell you everything better in order.

I. An extraordinary morning

At seven thirty-two minutes in the morning, a cheerful sunbeam slipped through a hole in the curtain and settled on the nose of fifth-grade student Volka Kostylkov. Volka sneezed and woke up.

Just at this time, the mother’s voice came from the next room:

- There’s no need to rush, Alyosha. Let the child sleep a little more - he has an exam today.

Volka winced in annoyance.

When will his mother finally stop calling him a child? Jokes - child! The man is fourteen years old...

- What nonsense! - the father answered behind the partition. – The guy is already thirteen years old. Let him get up and help put things away. His beard will soon begin to grow, and you are all: a child, a child...

Put things away! How could he forget it!

Volka immediately threw off the blanket and began hastily pulling on his pants. How could he forget! Such a day!

The Kostylkov family moved to a new apartment today. The night before, almost all things were packed. Mom and grandmother placed the dishes at the bottom of the bathtub in which they once bathed baby Volka, a long time ago. The father, having rolled up his sleeves and, like a shoemaker, had a mouth full of nails, was nailing up boxes of books and hastily nailing up a geography textbook in one of them, although even a child can see that it is impossible to pass the exam without a textbook.

“Okay,” said the father, “we’ll sort it out in the new apartment.”

Then everyone argued about where to put things to make it easier to take them outside in the morning. Then they drank tea casually, at a table without a tablecloth, sitting on boxes, and Volka sat very comfortably on the sewing machine case. Then they decided that the morning was wiser than the evening, and went to bed.

In a word, it is incomprehensible to his mind how he could have forgotten that they were moving to a new apartment this morning.

Before we had time to drink tea, there was a knock on the apartment. Then two movers came in. They opened both halves of the door wide and asked in loud voices:

-Can we start?

“Please,” mother and grandmother answered simultaneously and began to fuss terribly.

Volka solemnly carried the sofa cushions and backrests outside to the van. He was immediately surrounded by children playing in the yard.

– Are you moving? – Seryozha Kruzhkin, a cheerful boy with black cunning eyes, asked him.

“We’re moving,” Volka answered dryly, looking as if he moved from apartment to apartment every six days and as if there was nothing surprising in this for him.

The janitor Stepanych came up, thoughtfully rolled a cigarette and unexpectedly began a serious conversation with Volka, like equal to equal. The boy felt slightly dizzy with pride and happiness. He spoke with respect about the complexity of the janitor's profession, then plucked up his courage and invited Stepanych to visit his new apartment. The janitor said, “Mercy.” In a word, a serious and positive conversation between the two men was developing, when suddenly the irritated voice of the mother was heard from the apartment:

- Volka! Volka!.. Well, where did this obnoxious child go?

And immediately everything went wrong. The janitor, barely nodding to Volka, began sweeping the street with ferocity. The guys pretended to be madly carried away by the puppy that Seryozha had dragged from out of nowhere just yesterday. And Volka, hanging his head, went into the empty apartment, in which scraps of old newspapers and bottles of medicine lay lonely.

- Finally! – his mother attacked him. – Take your famous aquarium and immediately get into the van. You will sit there on the sofa and hold the aquarium in your arms. Just be careful not to spill water on the sofa...

It is not clear why parents are so nervous when they move to a new apartment.

II. Mysterious bottle

In the end, Volka settled into the van quite well. Of course, it’s more pleasant in a truck, but the whole road would fly by too quickly. Plus, whatever you say, a ride in a covered wagon is much more romantic.

A mysterious, cool twilight reigned inside. If you closed your eyes, you could freely imagine that you were driving not along Nastasinsky Lane, where you had lived your whole life, but somewhere in America, on the harsh desert prairies, where Indians could attack every minute and scalp you with warlike cries. Behind the sofa stood a dining table that had suddenly become unusual and turned upside down. A bucket filled with some kind of bottles rattled on the table. A nickel-plated bed gleamed dully in the corner. The old barrel in which grandmother fermented cabbage for the winter was surprisingly reminiscent of the barrels in which the pirates of old Flint kept rum.

Thin columns of sunlight penetrated through the holes in the wall of the van.

And finally we stopped at the entrance to the new house where we were to live. The movers deftly and quickly dragged things into the apartment and left in a cheerfully rattling van.

The father, having somehow arranged things, said:

“We’ll finish the rest after work.”

And he went to the factory.

The mother and grandmother began unpacking the dishes, and Volka decided to run to the river in the meantime. True, his father warned Volka not to dare go swimming without him, because it was terribly deep here, but Volka quickly found an excuse for himself.

“I need to bathe,” he decided, “so that I have a fresh head. How can I show up for the exam with a stale head!”

It was simply amazing how Volka could always come up with an excuse when he wanted to break a promise to his parents.

This is a great convenience when a river is not far from home. Volka told his mother that he would go ashore to study for geography. Having run to the river, he quickly undressed and threw himself into the water. It was eleven o'clock, and there was not a single person on the shore. This circumstance had its good and bad sides. The good thing was that no one could stop him from taking a bath and having a good swim. It was a shame that for the same reason no one could admire how beautifully and easily Volka swam and, especially, how wonderfully he dived.

Volka swam and dived until he literally turned blue. Then he began to crawl ashore. He was about to crawl out of the water, but changed his mind and decided to dive once again into the gentle, clear water, permeated to the bottom by the bright midday sun.

And at that very moment, when he was about to rise to the surface, his hand suddenly felt some oblong object at the bottom of the river. Volka grabbed him and surfaced near the shore. In his hands was a slimy, mossy clay bottle of a very strange shape. The neck was tightly covered with some kind of resinous substance, on which something vaguely reminiscent of a seal was squeezed out.

Volka weighed the bottle. The bottle was heavy, and Volka froze.

“Treasure! – instantly flashed through his brain. – Treasure with ancient gold coins. This is great!”

Having dressed hastily, he rushed home to unseal the bottle in a secluded corner.

When Volka reached the house, a note had already finally formed in his head, which would appear in all the newspapers tomorrow. He even came up with a name. It should have been called: “An Honest Deed.” Its text should have been something like this:

“Yesterday, pioneer Volodya Kostylkov came to the 24th police station and handed the officer on duty a treasure of ancient gold coins that he had found at the bottom of the river. According to reliable sources, Volodya Kostylkov is an excellent diver.”

Volka ran into the apartment and, slipping past the kitchen where his mother and grandmother were preparing dinner, he dashed into the room and, first of all, locked the door. Then he pulled a penknife from his pocket and, trembling with excitement, scraped the seal off the neck of the bottle.

At the same instant, the whole room was filled with acrid black smoke and something like a silent explosion of great force threw Volka to the ceiling, where he hung, clinging with his pants to the hook on which his grandmother’s chandelier was supposed to be hung.

III. Old Man Hottabych

While Volka, swinging on the hook, tried to find a more or less plausible explanation for everything that had happened, the smoke gradually cleared, and Volka suddenly saw that there was another living creature in the room besides him. He was a skinny old man with a waist-length beard, wearing a luxurious silk turban, the same caftan and trousers and unusually elaborate morocco shoes.

- Apchhi! – the unknown old man sneezed deafeningly and fell on his face. – Greetings, O beautiful and wise youth!

– Are you a circus illusionist? – Volka guessed, looking at the stranger with curiosity from above.

“No, my lord,” the old man continued, “I am not a circus illusionist.” Know, O most blessed one, that I am Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab, or, in your opinion, Hassan Abdurrahman Hottabovich.

And it happened to me - apkhi! – amazing story, which, if it were written with needles in the corners of the eyes, would serve as an edification for students. I, an unfortunate genie, disobeyed Suleiman ibn Daoud - peace be with them both! - me and my brother Omar Hottabovich. And Suleiman sent his vizier Asaf ibn Barakhiya, and he brought me by force, leading me in humiliation against my will. And Suleiman ibn Daoud - peace be with them both! - ordered to bring two vessels: one copper, and the other clay, and imprisoned me in a clay vessel, and my brother, Omar Hottabovich, in a copper one. He sealed both vessels, imprinting on them the greatest of the names of Allah, and then gave the order to the jinn, and they carried us and threw my brother into the sea, and me into the river from which you, O blessed savior, are apchhi, apchhi! - pulled me out. May your days be long, oh... I apologize, what is your name, lad?

“My name is Volka,” answered our hero, continuing to swing from the ceiling.

- And the name of your father, may he be blessed forever and ever?

- My dad’s name is Alyosha... that is, Alexey.

“So know, O most excellent of the youths, the star of my heart, Volka ibn Alyosha, that from now on I will do everything that you command me, for you saved me from a terrible imprisonment, and I am your slave.”

- Why are you sneezing like that? – Volka inquired out of the blue.

– Several thousand years spent in dampness, without fertile sunlight, in the depths of the waters, they rewarded me, your unworthy servant, with a chronic runny nose. But all this is sheer nonsense. Command me, oh my young master! – Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab finished passionately, raising his head up, but continuing to remain on his knees.

“I want to immediately find myself on the floor,” Volka said uncertainly.

And at the same moment he found himself downstairs, next to old man Hottabych, as we will later call our new acquaintance. The first thing Volka did was grab his pants. The pants were absolutely intact.

Miracles began.

IV. Geography test

- Command me! - continued old Hottabych, looking at Volka with devoted eyes. - Do you have any grief, O Volka ibn Alyosha? Tell me, I'll help you. Are you feeling sad?

“It’s gnawing,” Volka answered shyly. – I have a geography test today.

- Don't worry, oh my lord! – the old man shouted excitedly. “Know that you are incredibly lucky, O most beautiful of youths, for I am richer than all the genies in knowledge of geography, I am your faithful slave Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab.” You and I will go to school together, may its foundation and roof be blessed! I will invisibly tell you the answers to all your questions, and you will become famous among the students of your school and among the students of all schools in your magnificent city.

- Amazing! - Volka said.

He had already opened the door to let Hottabych through, but immediately closed it again.

- You'll have to change your clothes.

– Don’t my clothes please your eyes, O most worthy of Volek? – Hottabych was upset.

“Of course they delight,” Volka answered diplomatically, “but still they will be too conspicuous in our city.”

Two minutes later, our hero came out of the house in which the Kostylkov family lived from today, holding old man Hottabych by the arm. Hottabych looked magnificent in a new pair of white linen jackets, a Ukrainian embroidered shirt and a hard straw boater hat. The only part of his wardrobe that he would never agree to change were his shoes. Referring to calluses from three thousand years ago, he remained in elaborate shoes, richly embroidered with gold and silver, which at one time would probably have driven the biggest fashionista at the court of Caliph Harun al Rashid crazy...

– Kostylkov Vladimir! - they solemnly proclaimed at the table where the commission was sitting.

Volka reluctantly got up from his desk, walked up to the table with an uncertain step and pulled out ticket No. 14 - “Shape and movement of the Earth.”

“Well,” said the director, “report.”

“Okay,” said the member of the commission, exhausted from the heat, and wiped his sweaty face with a handkerchief. - Yes, yes, Kostylkov. What can you tell us about the horizon?

Old man Hottabych, hiding behind the doors in the corridor, heard this question and silently whispered something.

And Volka suddenly felt that some unknown force had opened his mouth against his will.

“The horizon, my venerable teacher,” he began and immediately broke out in a cold sweat, “with your permission, I dare to call the line where the crystal dome of heaven touches the edge of the Earth.”

- What is it, Kostylkov? – the examiner was surprised. – How should we understand your words about the crystal vault of heaven and the edge of the Earth: figuratively or literally?

“Literally,” old man Hottabych whispered behind the door.

And Volka, feeling that he was talking utter nonsense, then answered:

– Literally, oh teacher!

He didn’t want to say this, but the words came out on their own, despite his desire.

The examiner instantly lost his sleepy mood, and the students, languishing on their desks waiting for their turn, perked up and buzzed like bumblebees.

“In a figurative way,” Seryozha Kruzhkin told him in a tragic whisper.

But Volka again said loudly and clearly:

- Of course, literally.

- So, how? – the examiner became worried. – So the sky is a solid dome?

- And that means there is a place where the Earth ends?

“There is such a place,” our hero continued to answer against his will, feeling that his legs were literally giving way from horror.

“Yes...” the examiner drawled and looked at Volka with curiosity. – What can you say about the shape of the Earth?

Old man Hottabych muttered something laboriously in the corridor.

“The earth has the shape of a ball,” Volka wanted to say, but due to circumstances beyond his control he answered:

– The earth, O most worthy of teachers, has the shape of a flat disk and is washed on all sides by a majestic river – the Ocean. The earth rests on six elephants, and they, in turn, stand on a huge turtle. This is how the world works, O teacher!

Old man Hottabych nodded his head in approval in the corridor.

The whole class was dying of laughter.

– You are probably sick, Volya? – the school director asked him sympathetically and felt his forehead, wet with sweat.

“Thank you, oh teacher,” Volka answered him, exhausted from the feeling of his own powerlessness. - Thank you. I, praise Allah, am completely healthy.

“You’ll come when you get better, Volya,” the director told him softly and led him out of the classroom by the arm. – Come when you get better, and I myself will test your knowledge of geography.

On the other side of the door, Volka was met by a beaming Hottabych. He was as cheerful as a lark, very pleased with himself.

“I conjure you, oh my young lord,” he said, turning to Volka, “have you shocked your teachers and your comrades with your knowledge?”

“Shocked,” Volka answered with a sigh and looked at old Hottabych with hatred.

Old man Hottabych grinned smugly.

V. Hottabych acts with all his might

I didn't want to go home. Volka felt disgusted in his soul, and the cunning old man felt something was wrong. For a good three hours he told his savior, sitting on a bench on the river bank, about his various adventures. Then Volka remembered that his mother gave him money for a movie ticket. It was assumed that he would go to the cinema immediately after passing geography.

“You know what, old man,” Volka said, lighting up, “let’s go to the movies!”

“Your words are law for me, O Volka ibn Alyosha,” the old man humbly answered. - But tell me, do me a favor, what do you mean by this word, incomprehensible to me: “cinema”? Isn't this a bathhouse? Or maybe this is what you call a market, where you can walk and talk with your friends?

There was a long line at the box office near the cinema.

There was a sign above the cash register: “Children under sixteen are not allowed in.”

“What’s the matter with you, O most handsome of handsome men?” – Hottabych was alarmed, seeing that Volka had suddenly become gloomy again.

“The thing with me,” Volka answered with annoyance, “is that because of your stories we were late for the afternoon session.” Now they are allowed only from the age of sixteen. And then you see what a line there is. I really don’t know what to do now... I don’t want to go home...

-You're not going home! - old man Hottabych shouted throughout the square. - Not even one moment will pass before we are allowed into your cinema, and we will go into it, surrounded by attention and admiration.

"Old braggart!" – Volka cursed to himself, clenching his fists. And suddenly I found two tickets in the eighth row in my right fist.

While swimming in the lake, the young pioneer Volka finds a jug in which the real wizard Hottabych is imprisoned. The boy's curiosity leads to the fact that a wide variety of miracles begin to happen in Moscow. Volka and his friend Zheka find themselves in amazing, fabulous situations, from which they emerge with honor, because it’s not for nothing that these boys are pioneers. The friends fly on a magic carpet, travel on an icebreaker across the Arctic, save Hottabych’s brother and figure out how to pacify him, that is, they lead an active, adventurous life.

This fairy tale tells the story that true friendship and faith in yourself and your friends conquers everything.

Read a summary of the fairy tale Old Man Hottabych

An adventure lover and great dreamer, Volka Kostylkov, while swimming in a pond, found an amazing vessel. Diving for the third time, he pulled out from the bottom a slippery object, greenish with mud. It was all covered with amazing writing.

Without thinking twice, the boy opened it and with noise, dirt and sparks, the genie Hassan Abdurrahman ibn Hottab emerged from it. He spent many thousands of years in a jug. Evil spirits conspired to imprison him there, since he often showed good feelings. The old wizard, as a token of gratitude, swore eternal friendship and devotion to Volka. From this moment, in Moscow, and in the life of the boy, various miracles begin to happen. Dishes begin to fly and furniture begins to move without permission.

The boy does not hide anything from his new “old” friend. She tells him about her life, school, friends. And the genie, having largely made his conclusions, begins to act. Trying to help his young friend, the wizard interferes in the life of Volka ibn Alyosha, as the genie calls the boy, and creates so many absurd situations that life is interesting and fun not only for Volka, but also for many of his friends. So, during the exam in geography, Hottabych instilled in the boy such knowledge that horrified not only the teachers, but also Vladimir Kostylkov himself. A boy, during an exam, declares that in India there live ants the size of a dog, and the Earth is a disk, and so on. The student fails this test and is very upset. But he, fearing that Hottabych would take revenge on the teachers taking the exam, did not tell the old man anything about the problem that had arisen.

What happened next was even worse. Helping Volka get to an evening movie show, the wizard “rewards” him with a big beard, which greatly surprised and amazed the boy’s friend, and so that his friend does not spill the beans, the genie sends him further away - to India, where the locals receive him very warmly: they feed him deliciously and treat him amazing fruits, ride on an elephant. Volka rushes to save his friend: he flies with Hottabych on a magic carpet and returns with his friend.

It is difficult for an old wizard to live in the modern world. He does not understand the actions of people or their deeds. The genie does not know what many household items are for. Explaining their functional purpose to him is often very difficult. It is sometimes impossible for Volka and his friend Zhenya to introduce the old magician to the realities of our time. He doesn't know what a metro and trolleybus are. I have never seen such tall buildings and noisy streets, so many smartly dressed people before.

But Hottabych really likes the events he unexpectedly became a participant in. He “has fun” in the circus and shows such miracles that magicians cannot do different countries. At the stadium, “helping” Volka’s beloved team, at the wizard’s request, goal after goal flies into the opponents’ goal. The players themselves, of both teams, do not understand what is happening, because the balls fly by themselves, the players don’t even touch them.

Volka is not only frightened by what is happening, but also simply does not agree with this turn of events. Near the bookstall, Hottabych creates a noisy commotion, that is, he is doing weird things with all his might. It is impossible to stop and persuade the genie not to help and change anything. It takes a lot of work for both Volka and his friends to be able to save some of the unwanted or “offending” people, in the genie’s opinion, from the wizard’s spells here and there.

Then the friends go on a journey across the Arctic Ocean. Everything around surprises and amazes the guys. White silence surrounds them. From the deck of the ship "Ladoga" they see polar bears slowly wandering in the distance. The boys are in a great mood and eager for adventure. Unexpectedly, they manage to save Hottabych’s brother, Omar Yusuf, who, according to ancient tradition, must kill his savior. Genie and Volka barely have time to save Zheka from big trouble. After all, it was he who opened the next jug where this evil wizard, completely unlike Hottabych, lived. He was not only heartless, but also loved only himself, moreover, he does not believe in progress and scientific discoveries. To save the world and everyone around him from the disaster in the person of Omar, the wizard brother turns Omar into a satellite of the Moon and “sends him to surf the expanses of the starry ocean.”

Day after day passes, and the boys, friends, study well, gain deep knowledge in order to pass it on to Hottabych, who, with their help, masters and assimilates everything new and interesting that the boys tell him. The boys and the genie have an interesting, multifaceted life, full of adventures, exploits and fantasies. They live an interesting and fun life. They have big life plans. Each of them has chosen for themselves a further path and a dream to which they will strive and achieve their goal.

This fairy tale book tells the story that dreams definitely come true, you just have to want it and, of course, make an effort.