Episode Details

The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Fifteen

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

The Funeral (Похороны, Book VI, No. 22) — In ancient Egypt, hired mourning-women wail behind a rich man's coffin, loud enough to break your heart. A passing traveller-magician offers to raise the dead man on the spot. They beg him to do it — with one small favour attached: in five days' time, the gentleman must die again.

The Gardener and the Philosopher (Огородник и Философ, Book III, No. 10) — A sturdy gardener digs fifty cucumber beds in a spring morning; his neighbour, a half-taught Philosopher, mocks him for knowing no science, then settles down to read up whether beds are best dug with spade, hoe, or plough. One of them ends the summer with a profit. The other ends it without cucumbers.

The Geese (Гуси, Book III, No. 15) — Driven to market with a long switch, a flock of Geese accosts a passer-by: the peasant owes them reverence, for their noble line descends from the Geese that once saved Rome, and feasts are held in their honour. The passer-by has read it all. He asks one question only: what use have you brought?

The Godless (Безбожники, Book I, No. 21) — An ancient people, hardened to the shame of all the tribes of earth, takes up bows and slings against the gods themselves: heaven's court is harsh and senseless, and stones from the nearby hills can surely reach Olympus. All Olympus begs Zeus for a small miracle. Jupiter answers: "Let us wait."

The Gold Coin (Червонец, Book I, No. 19) — Krylov opens with enlightenment itself: a good thing, he says, unless the polishing strips away more than the roughness. Then a simple peasant finds a dirty gold coin, is offered three handfuls of small change for it, and decides to make it shine like fire first — with sand, grit, chalk, and a brick.

Krylov Fables.

Intermission: "The River's Dying Vision" — instrumental.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.