Episode Details

The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Twenty-Two

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

The Mice (Мыши, Book IX, No. 3) — Aboard ship, one Mouse tells her sister the hull is leaking and the water has nearly reached her snout — though in truth she has only wet her paws. The captain is drunk, the sailors are lazy, the ship will not last an hour: her remedy is to leap into the Ocean at once. The ship, meanwhile, is guided by a skilful hand.

The Miller (Мельник, Book VII, No. 2) — The water has eaten a small leak through the Miller's dam — a trifle, if he would put his hands to it. Instead he sleeps while the leak runs like a bucket, until the millstone stops altogether; then, groaning over his vanishing water, he drives off the hens who came to drink. Krylov's closing stanza is a present for every gentleman who wastes thousands and saves candle-stubs.

Miron (Мирон, Book VIII, No. 14) — The neighbours say Miron has a million in his casket and never gives the poor a kopek. To mend his name, he lets it be known he will feed beggars every Saturday — and the gates stand open, because on Saturdays the fierce dogs are off the chain. Soon Miron is almost a saint: such a pity about the dogs.

The Mirror and the Monkey (Зеркало и Обезьяна, Book V, No. 8) — Seeing her own face in the Mirror, the Monkey nudges the Bear: what a mug, what grimaces — she would hang herself if she looked like that, though she can name five or six gossips who do. The Bear suggests she turn the counting on herself. Krylov closes with Klimych, who hears a reading about his own bribes and slyly nods at Peter.

The Miser (Скупой, Book VII, No. 18) — A house-spirit, ordered away for many years, must find a guard for his buried treasure. Hiring a keeper is costly, so he entrusts the gold to his master the Miser — drink, eat, spend freely; only at the Miser's death does the Spirit inherit. A decade or two later the Spirit returns home to a delightful sight, and a watchman who cost him not a penny.

Krylov Fables.

Intermission: "3-6" — instrumental.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.