Once a lonely old man lived in a village. He guarded the orchard of a collective farm.
The old man had come to the village long ago, and was quiet and reserved...
Based on a story by Arkady Gaidar A HOT STONE
A production of Soyuzmultfilm studio
screenwriter Anatoliy Aleksin
director, art director Perch Sarkisyan
composer Aleksey Nikolayev
assistants G. Arkadyev, L. Kovalevskaya Y. Prytkov, V. Turubiner
camera Nina Klimova sound Boris Filchikov
script editor Aleksandr Timofeyevskiy production director G. Kruglikov
animators Viktor Shevkov, Anatoliy Petrov, Vladimir Krumin,
Yuriy Butyrin, Oleg Safronov, Konstantin Chikin, S. Zhutovskaya,
L. Popov, Erast Meladze, Sofiya Mitrofanova, Mihail Pershin,
Tatyana Kazantseva, G. Chernikova backgrounds Irina Svetlisa
voice artists Lev Sverdlin, Mariya Vinogradova, Klara Rumyanova
You've done a bad thing, Ivashka.
Now go, and think!
"You've done a bad thing, Ivashka. Now go, and think!
"Now go, and think!"
Strange old man.
He didn't lay a hand on me...
...or even yell.
"If you think your life is bad, carry this stone up a hill,
smash it to pieces there,
and you will regain your youth and start life all over again."
The stone is magic, that much is clear.
But what's it good for?
To start life all over from the beginning...
So you'd have to go to first grade again.
Why would anyone want to be stuck in the same grade for a second year?
I know! I know!
I know who needs this stone!
Grandpa! Grandpa!
I know how to bring back your youth.
I'm not telling a fib!
You only need to drag that rock up a hill! And smash it there!
No, Ivashka, today there's too much work to do in the garden.
Looks like you'll have to drag it to the hill yourself.
Then I'll drop by, for a short while,
and bang it with something.
Well, all right.
Good enough, Ivashka! Leave the stone alone.
You've already made it here.
But grandpa, why didn't you bring... a hammer of a crow-bar?
Are you thinking to smash the stone with a stick?
I'm not gonna smash it at all!
Yes, I'm old and lame.
I've been wounded many times.
But I'm happy,
because I lived my life in such a way
that there's no need to start all over.
And, so you can understand better,
I'll just tell you about my youth...
It was very long ago...
Long, long ago.
[Russian Empire]
At that time, we common people lived so badly,
so badly, things just couldn't get worse!
Oh, things were bad, really bad!
But the dawn of the revolution wasn't far off.
We were all just plain folk...
But we put all our rage, all the strength of our people...
into the mighty blow that overthrew the double eagle,
which meant we overthrew the Tsar and the capitalists.
And I, kids, had the fortune to take part..
in that most wonderful revolution in the world!
But the workers' and peasants' authority was not to the liking of the capitalists!
From all ends of the earth...
they sent armies that advanced against our young republic.
More frightening than death to me sounded the words
that our country was ringed by hostile forces
bent on destroying us!
But one and all we rose to the defense of our motherland!
We defeated the capitalists and cast them out from our land!
In our darkest, remotest battles, still we cherished the dream
that our country would become as great and powerful as it is now!
This is a great joy, my children!
As for the stone, heck, let it lie there in plain sight!
Maybe someone else will want to smash this stone...
but I don't need it!
Why would I want another life,
another youth,
when, even though mine was... hard, it was clear... and honest.
The End