Episode Details

The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Sixteen

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

Golik (Голик, Book VII, No. 16) — A dirty, worn-out broom — a golik — is suddenly promoted: no more kitchen floors for him, he is put in charge of beating the master's fine caftans. He threshes away with all his might, and the harder he cleans, the more spots he leaves. Krylov's closing moral is for every ignoramus who takes to correcting learned men's work.

The Good Fox (Добрая Лисига, Book IV, No. 19) — A marksman shoots a robin in spring and leaves her three nestlings orphaned, hungry, and cold. The Fox, seated on a stone before the nest, delivers a tender sermon to the birds: let the Cuckoo give feathers, the Lark fetch food, the Dove sit in the mother's place, the Swallow and Nightingale do their parts. The chicks, mid-sermon, tumble down to her — and she does not even finish the sermon.

The Gout and the Spider (Подагра и Паук, Book V, No. 16) — Hell's two children are sent out to divide the earth: the Spider claims the splendid palaces, the Gout chooses humble village huts, far from doctors. In the palace every web is swept away by brush and broom; in the village the Gout is worked half to death by a peasant who ploughs, mows, and chops with her. Brother and sister trade places — and both, Krylov concludes, do wisely.

The Grasshopper and the Ant (Стрекоза и Муравей, Book II, No. 12) — Krylov's most famous fable. The Grasshopper has sung the whole red summer away; winter rolls in, the field is dead, and hungry and cold she crawls to the Ant to beg food and shelter till spring. "Did you work in the summer?" — "I sang, without a soul, all summer long." — "You sang? Then off you go — and dance!"

The Grove and the Fire (Роща и Огонь, Book I, No. 11) — A little Fire, forgotten by travellers, is dying under a winter Grove, and makes a splendid offer: "I am the sun's own brother — give me a corner, and you shall green in winter as in spring." The bargain is struck, flame runs from branch to branch, and where a traveller once found shade on hot days only charred stumps remain. Krylov opens with the moral: choose your friends with care.

Krylov Fables.

Intermission: "Before the Pines End" — instrumental.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.