Episode Details

Five fables by Ivan Krylov (1769–1844), in new English verse translations made for this show, read aloud over a gentle instrumental bed.

The Comb (Гребень, Book VI, No. 3) — A little boy adores his fine new comb: it glides through his golden curls and never pulls. Then the comb is lost for a day, the curls are tangled into a mop, and the very same comb suddenly "tears." Its answer — and Krylov's closing moral about truth — tells us who really changed.

The Community Meeting (Мирская сходка, Book IV, No. 20) — The Wolf applies to be elder over the sheep, and the Fox whispers a word for him to the Lioness. To avoid any talk of favouritism, all the beasts are summoned to vote — and not one word is raised against him. Krylov opens with the moral; the sting waits in the last lines, where somebody important was never asked at all.

The Cornflower (Василёк, Book I, No. 10) — A cornflower wilting in a lonely spot begs the sun to rise and revive it. A beetle digging nearby scoffs: the sun has oaks and cedars and fragrant flowers to care for — it will never cast a ray on so plain a thing. Then the sun rises. Krylov's closing address turns the tale toward everyone born to a high station.

The Council of Mice (Совет Мышей, Book VII, No. 1) — The mice resolve to win glory, and decree that only a mouse whose tail is as long as its body may sit in the Council — the surest sign of wisdom. The session opens in a flour bin… and there sits a rat with no tail at all. The young mouse demands her expulsion; the old mouse's closing answer explains everything.

The Crow (Ворона, Book VII, No. 27) — Krylov opens with the moral: keep to the station you were born to. A crow sticks a peacock's feather in her tail and struts off among the peahens, certain her hour of glory has come. Plucked bare by them and pecked by her own, she ends between two worlds — and Krylov illustrates the fable with the true story of Matryona, the merchant's daughter who married a baron.

Krylov Fables.

Intermission: "The Longest Night by the River 2" — instrumental.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.