In 1965, Sholokhov won the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novel The Quiet Don. Unexpectedly, such a great writer almost became a ghost under the knife.
It was 1938, and the Soviet Union was in the midst of a revolution of total purges. At that time, the powers of the purge committee were so great that they could kill people at will. For this reason, many innocent people have been persecuted. Because sholokhov was so arrogant, some people framed him as an enemy of the people and reported him to the purge committee. Because of the importance of the matter, the members of the Purge Committee reported the matter to Stalin. When Stalin learned of this, he decided to personally receive Sholokhov and confront him. Soon Sholokhov was sent to Stalin. As soon as they met him, Stalin questioned him in a loud voice: "Comrade Sholokhov, I have heard that you are doubting the people, the government, and you are also making enemies of the people and the state. ”
After hearing this, Sholokhov smiled bitterly and said, "Comrade Stalin, can I tell you a joke?" Stalin said, "Yes, you say!" ”
Sholokhov said: "In a big forest, there is a rabbit running madly. When a fox saw this, he asked the rabbit very strangely, 'Little rabbit, little rabbit, why are you running so wildly?' The rabbit replied breathlessly, "Because someone is chasing me, trying to catch me and nail me a horse's paw!" When the fox heard this, he felt even more strange, and said, 'You are obviously a rabbit, neither a camel nor a horse, so how could anyone want to arrest you and nail the horseshoe?' The rabbit said, 'Well, it's just that I wasn't caught by them, and if I had been caught by them, whether I was a rabbit or a horse at that time, I wouldn't have thought about it!' Stalin laughed when he heard this, and immediately had Sholokhov's false accusation of "enemy of the people" on his head.
Here, in the face of the sharp questioning of Stalin, the supreme leader of the country, Sholokhov did not rush to defend like ordinary people, but grasped the psychology that everyone likes to listen to jokes, and through the humorous and funny dialogue between the rabbit and the fox, cleverly explained to Stalin that he was framed by others, but did not have the opportunity to defend and clarify the facts, and easily turned his crisis into invisible.
(Author: Huang Longlin)
(Excerpt from Speech and Eloquence)
![Sholokhov's "Quiet Don" can be called an epic[fig]](data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAP///wAAACwAAAAAAQABAAACAkQBADs=)