Episode Details

The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Thirty-Three

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

The Siskin and the Dove (Чиж и Голубь, Book V, No. 3) — The villain trap snaps shut on a Siskin, and the poor thing thrashes inside it while a young Dove mocks him: caught in broad daylight — shame! They would never catch him so, he vouches boldly. Then he looks — and is tangled in a snare himself. Krylov's closing line is the whole moral, in a single sentence.

The Siskin and the Hedgehog (Чиж и Еж, Book I, No. 12) — Loving solitude, a timid Siskin chirps at dawn just for himself — not for praise, and there is no cause for praise; he simply sings. Then Phoebus rises radiant from the seas, and a loud choir of nightingales greets him through the thick woods. The Siskin falls silent, and the Hedgehog asks, mockingly, why. Krylov's closing lines turn the little scene on himself — and on a song he did not sing.

The Slanderer and the Snake (Клеветник и Змея, Book V, No. 21) — Men say the devils know no justice, but Krylov opens by insisting they often watch the truth. In hell, in solemn procession, a Snake and a Slanderer dispute precedence — and in hell, precedence goes to whoever has done his neighbour the most harm. The Slanderer puts out his tongue; the Snake boasts of her sting. Beelzebub himself steps in to judge which of them is truly the more harmful.

The Snake (Змея, Book VIII, No. 18) — A Snake begs Jupiter for a nightingale's voice: wherever she shows herself, the weaker flee and the stronger she must flee. If she sang in the forest like a nightingale, she would win love, and perhaps respect, and be the soul of merry company. Jupiter grants the plea, and she sings beautifully from a tree — and the birds who flock to hear her see the singer, and fly away like rain. The Starling's closing words tell her exactly why.

The Snake and the Sheep (Змея и Овца, Book VII, No. 12) — A Snake lies under a log, raging at the whole world: she has no other feeling, for nature made her so. Nearby a Lamb frolics and leaps, never thinking of her at all. She crawls out and stings him — out of caution, she hisses, in case he came to crush her. Krylov's closing quatrain is for every heart that feels neither friendship nor love, and counts everyone its villain.

Krylov Fables.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.