Marina has math homework at home that she does to music. Sonya is nine years old; she has headphones in one ear and the phone is on the lowest volume; she swears that she thinks better that way. Marina is tired of arguing. Instead, one evening she took out Nosov’s book and read the «Fedya’s task» aloud. No comments; she just read it.
For the first few minutes, Sonya listened half-heartedly. The boy’s mom had left, the sister had left; she had to solve a problem. It was boring. Then Fedya, realizing that no one was at home and that no one would interfere, picked up the phone and turned it on louder. Then Sonya snorted and put down the phone.
The mill was delivered to the site
Fedy's task is the most ordinary one, from the taskbook, number six hundred and thirty-nine. A mill: four hundred and fifty bags of rye, each weighing eight hundred kilograms. Out of six kilograms of grain, five kilograms of flour is produced; the machine takes three tons; the question is how many machines are needed. Fedya manages to read about the bags, and then on TV they start singing about the beetle.
Fedy is much more willing to think about a flea than about rye. What kind of a king is he? Why does he need a flea? Then he comes to his senses and starts the task again, but the song is still going on, and he is carried away again. By this point, Sonya already knew what would happen next, and she still laughed when the phrase «they brought the flour mill to us» was heard again.
In total, this beginning appears five times in the story. The songs change: one about the titular advisor, one about a cheerful song, two about the bell, and one about diamonds. Fedya either discusses the song or taps his pencil in time. At some point, he even accidentally reads the next task, about the blankets and sheets, and only then returns to his bags. He himself complains that he has already read the condition twenty times. Not twenty, of course. But it seems that that is how he thinks it is.
Towards the end, the song and the task just blend together. «It’s a tiring song… in every bag…» Then Fedya gets confused about where the grain is and where the flour is, corrects himself and sits over the task notebook completely confused.
Who is hindering whom?
Marina then asked Sonya one thing. At what point did Fedya stop noticing that he was hindering himself?
Sonia at first confidently said that at the end, when he was already mixing the bags with the bells. Then she thought and flipped the page to the beginning. No, she says, it was before. He himself said that no one would get in the way, and he turned it on right away. That's when he stopped.
It was difficult to argue with her, and Marina did not continue.
Fedy himself, let's say, at the end understands something after all. He decides to go to Yura Sorokhin, let him explain it. He takes the notebook, turns off the TV and leaves. What happened to Yura, Nosov does not write about. Whether they decided or not is unknown.
But we do know about Sonya. She picked up a pencil and solved the problem right there on the field while Marina was pouring tea. Thirty tons of flour, ten cars. By the way, that night the earplugs were still lying on the table. For how long, Marina doesn’t specify.
Anyone who started the series with us remembers «Living Hat,» where we discussed how to retell what happened, and «Fantaseros,» where someone lied and because of that someone else got hurt. At Fedi, no one lies and no one gets hurt. It’s just that the song makes the task louder.
Where Fedya got distracted
For the first two tasks, the story itself, «Fedina's task,» is needed; for the third, a sheet of paper will suffice. You can answer orally. One task is enough for one go.
The first break
The child finds a place where Fedya first stops reading the task. It is necessary to show on which words the child has stopped and what distracted him.
Where the song fit into the task
The child is looking for a place where the words of the song have already merged in Fede’s mind, with the condition that the task be completed, and explains which words came from the song and which from the workbook.
Decide for Fedyu
The child solves task № 639 on his own. The mill received 450 bags of rye weighing 80 kilograms; 5 kilograms of grain yield 5 kilograms of flour; the machine takes 3 tons. How many machines are needed to transport all the flour?
Zoshchenko's stories for children
A free PDF collection of Mikhail Zoshchenko's stories for bilingual children and teenagers: short texts for reading and discussion. Leave your contact information—the file will open immediately after submitting the form.
In literary reading classes at Palme School, children read stories in Russian, notice how the author makes something funny or sad, and learn to explain it in their own words based on the text.
You can start with two free lessons: Introductory class with a methodologist and a trial lesson in a group with a teacher.
Frequently asked questions about «Fedina Task»
What does the story by Nosov «Fedina task» tell about?
Fedya stays home alone and starts solving a math problem. He decides that no one will get in his way, and turns on the TV himself. The songs on TV keep distracting him, and he starts the problem over again over and over again, eventually asking a friend for help.
What task is Fedya solving?
This is task № 639. 450 bags of rye weighing 80 kilograms were delivered to the mill; 5 kilograms of grain yield 5 kilograms of flour; the machine can hold 3 tons of grain. We need to find out how many machines will be needed for all the flour.
How many times does Fedya start the task from the beginning?
The beginning of the task about the mill is mentioned five times in the story: the first reading and four retellings. Fedya himself says that he has read the conditions about twenty times, but this is his own exaggeration.
What songs are featured in the story?
In order, there is a song about the king and a joke, a song about the titular advisor, a cheerful song, two songs with a bell, and a song about diamonds. At the end of the song, Fede mixes the words with the conditions of the task.
Did Fedya solve the problem?
There is no mention of this in the story. Fedya decides to go to Yuriy Sorokin so that he can explain the task to him; he takes out the notebook, turns off the TV, and leaves. No matter how it ends for Yuri, Nosov does not tell.
What is the correct answer for problem 639?
Ten machines. The grain is 450 × 80 = 36,000 kilograms, the flour from it is 30,000 kilograms, that is, 30 tons, and the machine takes 3 tons.
Does Fedyu turn off the TV or the radio?
TV. Fedya turns it on himself and turns it off at the end; the story describes the screen, the announcer, and the singers. In one of the publications, the word «radio» appears once in the middle of the story, but the plot is about a TV set.
