The museum’s collection features the manuscript of the novella “The Military Secret” by the writer Arkady Petrovich Gaidar.

The manuscript consists of two lined notebooks with black covers. It was created in 1934.

Arkady Petrovich Gaidar managed to write two fairy tales. One of them, “The Tale of a Military Secret, the Kibalchish Boy and His Firm Word, ” was included in the novella “The Military Secret.”

This work was conceived by the writer in the summer of 1932 in the city of Khabarovsk, where he worked as a correspondent for the newspaper “Pacific Star.” On August 1, he noted in his diary,

In the first few days, he wrote 25 pages. Initially, the writer was satisfied with the text, but in the evening, he crossed everything out and rewrote 9 pages.

Arkady Petrovich Gaidar finished the story by the autumn of 1934, while the tale of the Kibalchish Boy was finished a year earlier. The publishing house “Molodaya Gvardiya” released the fairy tale in a separate edition with drawings by the artist and graphic designer Vladimir Mikhailovich Konashevich.

The last time Arkady Gaidar visited his hometown of Arzamas was in 1935, where he stayed from January to autumn. The writer’s younger sister, Maya Petrovna Golikova, recalled how much the local children became attached to Arkady Petrovich. He told them about his days as a soldier, built a snow fortress with them, and played war games. He met with children at school and in the library, and gave them his own books. One day Gaidar brought to the children’s library three copies of the newly published novella “The Military Secret” and inscribed each with a question: “Who among you, kids, wants to be like Alka?“, “Who among you, kids, wants to be like Vladik?“, “Who among you, kids, wants to be like Natka?“.