Grandfather Agafon and the boy Andreika are fishing at sea in a boat. They pull out fish caught in the net. The boy inadvertently releases a carp into the water, for which his grandfather painfully hits him with a tarred rope.
Andrei is an orphan. When his father went to the Kuban and disappeared, his mother, together with little Andreika, went in search of. In winter, she was very cold and died in the hut of Grandfather Agathon and his wife, who sheltered a woman with a child. His children of grandfather Agathon died at the time of the epidemic. Grandfather and his wife left the boy a welcome. When Andreika was 4 years old, Agathon's wife died. At the age of 7, Andrei began to help the old man fishing. Agafon often told the boy about what is happening in the depths of the sea, what kind of fish swim there.
All that they earned by fishing, grandfather drank. Often, Agathon severely punished the boy for disobedience. Andreika loved to visit Spiridonikhi - Agumon's coum. She fed the boy pies. Andreika complained about the grandfather who beat him. To this Spiridonikha replied: "It’s good for you, you fool - you beat him and you will regret it, he teaches you good in favor, but you listen and don’t cross it." "Grandma Spiridonikha was the only person whose Andreyka felt warm."
Andreika was angry with his grandfather for the beatings and even thought of running away from him: “What am I to him, or what, if he’s a serf, that he’s beating me up, no matter what he gets? I’m drowning to pull, he’ll turn around without me. he’ll stomp. He’ll stomp and scream: "Andrei, I’ll drown. And I will scream to him:" Aha! ... but remember how you beat me, it’s important to cut a shirt "...
Suddenly, the grandfather orders to turn to the shore. But they do not have time, the storm begins. Grandfather ordered that all the fish be thrown out so that the boat would be lighter and sail along the shore, but that would not help. Andreika becomes scared, he screams and cries. Grandfather put Andreik on the wheel and said that he would rule the willow, but he crossed himself and rushed overboard. The boat went easier.
"Andrejka was overwhelmed with delight from the knowledge that he was saved." Looking around, he saw his grandfather's head blackened in water. “Andrei’s idea of grandfather was combined with the idea of a harsh, unreasonable force, and now the sight of this helplessly rising and falling head along with the waves hit him. Andreika shouted in a piercing childish voice: “De-caustic! De-caustic! ” Swallowing tears, Andreika turned the boat back to his grandfather in the sea, where "waves were menacingly."
