Poem 10 - The Beggar

Summary

‘The Beggar’, written by Anton Chekhov, is the story of a beggar who transforms into a person of good morals. It tells how the behaviour of a woman led him to leave the consumption of alcohol, which ultimately helped the beggar to lead a good life.

The story revolves around the character of Lushkoff, who was a beggar. When Lushkoff was on and about his routine of begging, he met an advocate named Sergei who gave Lushkoff a job. The work that he was given was to cut wood at Sergei’s house. He asked his cook to show Lushkoff the shed where the wood was kept. However, Lushkoof was weak and fell for liquor. He was always intoxicated, and this made Lushkoff unable to stand on his feet; but Olga, the cook, told Sergei that the wood had been chopped despite knowing that Lushkoff failed to complete his chores.

This made Sergei happy and glad that he hired the beggar to cut the wood. Lushkoff’s salary for chopping wood was around 50 kopeks. Sergei also asked the beggar to shovel the snow that settled on his pavement, to keep the wood in the shed, and even asked him to dust the dirt off the rugs. For this Sergei promised to pay Lushkoff around 20 to 40 kopeks and also give his old trousers.

Sergei employed Lushkoof again when he shifted to a new place; he hired the beggar to help transport the things. On this day, Lushkoff was not under the influence of alcohol and hence was able to complete his work. This left Sergei satisfied with himself and the efforts he took to reform this alcoholic beggar.
Sergei was an educated man who could read and write; he asked for the beggar’s name and offered him a better job opportunity. He also shook hands with the beggar. However, after that day, Sergei never met Lushkoff again.

Two years passed since Sergei met Lushkoff. Then one day, Sergei spotted the beggar Lushkoff when he was buying a ticket for theatre. The beggar was dressed in fine clothing and was purchasing a ticket for the gallery area. Lushkoff was working as a notary, and his income was 35 Roubles per month. Lushkoff thanked Sergei for the kindness that he had shown while helping him through his difficult times. Lushkoff then told Sergei that it was his cook Olga who had brought this change in him. Olga used to scold him and also chopped the wood for him. It was her behaviour towards Lushkoff that brought this change in him.

For more details and explanation of this chapter, you can refer to The Beggar Class 9 Questions and Answers at UrbanPro. You can also download The Beggar NCERT Solutions PDF. It will not only help you understand this lesson better but also help you score well in your examinations.