Episode Details

The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Fourteen

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

The Fox and the Grapes (Лисица и Виноград, Book VI, No. 17) — A hungry Fox slips into a garden where the grape clusters redden like rubies — but they hang too high. An hour of striving brings her nothing, and she walks away with the most famous consolation in all fable: to look at, they are fine, but green — not a berry ripe. The eye sees it; the tooth cannot reach it.

The Fox Builder (Лиса-Строитель, Book V, No. 24) — The Lion's hens keep vanishing, so he commissions a grand new hen-yard, and the contract goes to the Fox, a noted mistress of building. The finished yard is a marvel — feed underfoot, perches everywhere, shelter from cold and heat — and the Lion pays her richly. Yet hour by hour the hens grow fewer, behind a fence no thief could possibly breach.

The Frog and Jupiter (Лягушка и Юпитер, Book V, No. 23) — A marsh Frog moves up the mountain in spring and sets up her little house in a damp dell — but summer dries her estate until flies stroll across it on dry feet. She begs the gods to flood the whole earth level with the hill so her water never fails, and ends by scolding Jupiter himself for having neither pity nor sense. Jupiter's answer is short, and Krylov's closing moral is for everyone who would let the whole world burn.

The Frog and the Ox (Лягушка и Вол, Book I, No. 6) — On the meadow a Frog sees an Ox and, green with envy, sets out to match him bulk for bulk. "Look, shall I be as big as he?" — "No, gossip, far from it." She puffs and puffs, asks again, puffs again — and ends exactly as you fear. Krylov's closing quatrain aims her fate at every small soul aping a grand one.

The Frogs Seeking a Ruler (Лягушки, просящие Царя, Book II, No. 1) — The Frogs tire of ruling themselves and beg the gods for a King. Zeus sends one who crashes down so hard the marsh kingdom shakes — an aspen log, grave, silent, and huge. In three days they are sitting on him, and petitioning for a real king "for glory." Jupiter obliges with a Crane, whose breakfast, dinner, and supper are all the same trial — and the voice from heaven has the last word.

Krylov Fables.

Intermission: "La Rive des Esprits" — instrumental.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.