"Without a king in the head" - so they say about a frivolous, windy person. Such a person is not inclined to make long-term plans, lives exclusively for today and does not think about the consequences of his actions.
One of the most famous uses of the phraseological phrase "Without a Tsar in the Head" in literature is the comedy of N. V. Gogol's "The Inspector General". This is how the writer characterizes Khlestakov in Remarks for Messrs. Actors. Other author's characteristics clarify this definition: "stupid", "speaks and acts without any consideration."
The origin of the phraseological unit
The emergence of a phraseological phrase "without a king in the head" is a typical example of the origin of a phraseological unit or saying by "folding a proverb".
A proverb is a complete, complete thought, although expressed laconically. A proverb always has the form of a sentence. A proverb, unlike a proverb, is expressed not by a sentence, but by a phrase that organically merges into the sentences that make up someone's speech.
Proverbs-sentences are often split into phrases, or rather, collapse to them, turning into sayings. For example, the proverb “Grandma wondered - she said in two” has become a saying “Grandmother said in two”.
Similarly, the saying "without a king in the head" arose. Its source could be two proverbs: "Your mind is a king in the head" and "Everyone has their own king in the head."
Mind in Russian proverbs
The Russian people have a lot of proverbs dedicated to the mind. In many of them, the mind appears as the greatest value and a guarantee of success: "The mind is more expensive than gold", "Where the mind is, there is good reason", "They meet by their clothes, they see them off in their minds", "A bird is red with a feather, and a man is with a mind." True, there is another proverb - "There is power - no mind is needed", but it is often used ironically, but in general the mind is perceived as something of priority in relation to strength.
In other proverbs, the individuality of such a quality as the mind is emphasized: "You cannot put your mind to everyone," "Everyone lives with his own mind," "A foolish son and his own father cannot sew a mind."
This semantic field also contains the proverb "One's own mind is a king in the head" and a similar one, "Everyone has his own king in his head." "Tsar" in this context is not only an organizing principle, similar to a ruler in a state, it is also something dominant: it is his mind, his way of thinking that has a decisive influence on decision-making. A person who does not have "his own mind" easily falls under the influence of others.
Thus, “without a king in the head” is a characteristic of a person who is not only stupid and frivolous, but also unable to think independently, easily adopting someone else's opinion.
