Episode Details

The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Eighteen

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

The Hunter (Охотник, Book VI, No. 8) — Krylov opens with the motto of every procrastinator: "Time enough!" A hunter sets out with his gun, his pouch, and his faithful Hector — but not with a loaded gun; loading can wait, the road is quiet, the place is an hour away. Then, just outside his door, a whole flock of ducks is strolling on the lake, and his fumbling with the charge gives them exactly the warning they need.

The Kettle and the Pot (Котёл и Горшок, Book VII, No. 13) — A clay Pot and a cast-iron Kettle are inseparable friends, bored apart even at the fire. When the Kettle fancies a tour of the world, the Pot rides beside him in the same cart over the jolting pavement — a trifle for cast iron, but not for clay. The Kettle comes home whole; of the Pot, only shards arrive. Krylov's closing couplet is the simplest thought in the world, and the whole fable is in it.

The Kitten and the Starling (Котёнок и Скворец, Book VII, No. 22) — A Starling, a terrible singer but a most eminent philosopher, befriends a quiet, polite, meek Kitten — and, finding him hungry and passed over at table, undertakes his education: conscience, he explains, is a prejudice of feeble souls; the strong may do whatever they will. The first lesson ends with the goldfinch in the cage above the Kitten's nose. The second lesson is shorter, and the teacher does not survive it.

The Knight (Рыцарь, Book V, No. 11) — A Knight of old arms himself against sorcerers and ghosts, and before mounting makes a magnificent speech to his horse: cross fields and mountains, find the temple of glory, and when the Karachuns are quelled, the Chinese princess won, and two or three kingdoms conquered, there shall be a palace of a stable, flooded meadows, barley for feed and mead for drink. Then he leaps into the saddle, drops the reins — and the horse, who has never been anywhere, carries him straight home to the stall.

The Lamb (Ягнёнок, Book VI, No. 25) — Krylov addresses the beauties first: a good name is tenderer than a spring flower, and one careless glance can give slander its opening. Then, for little Anna and her friends, the tale itself: a Lamb puts on a wolf's skin just to show off among the flock, and the sheepdogs, taking him for a wolf out of the forest, nearly tear him to pieces — he drags himself home and pines away, groaning his whole life. He would have feared even the thought of seeming a wolf, had he been wise.

Krylov Fables.

Intermission: "Napoli in Fiamme" — instrumental.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.