Episode Details

The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Thirty-Seven

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

Two Boys (Два Мальчика, Book IX, No. 7) — Senya and Fedya slip away from class to pick chestnuts in the garden — but the tree is too tall for either boy to climb. Fedya has a plan: let Senya boost him onto the lowest bough, and they will both eat their fill. Senya puffs and sweats and hoists his friend up — and Fedya, perched above more chestnuts than he can count, eats them himself and tosses his friend down nothing but shells.

Two Dogs (Две Собаки, Book VII, No. 23) — Barbos, a faithful yard dog who bears cold, hunger, and beatings guarding his master's house, meets his old acquaintance Zhuzhu, a little curly lapdog now living on a down cushion, eating and drinking off silver. How did so small and powerless a dog get into such favour, while Barbos tears himself to pieces in vain? Zhuzhu's answer, and Krylov's closing couplet, name the whole art of getting on in the world.

Two Doves (Два Голубя, Book I, No. 18) — Two Doves live like own brothers, sharing every joy and grief — until one burns to fly off and see the wonders of the world. His brother begs him to stay, naming every danger of the road; the traveller promises to be gone three days and hurries home. Rain and thunder, a net in the wheat, a hawk, and a boy with a potsherd test that promise — and friendship, waiting at home, is the cure. Krylov's closing stanza speaks to everyone who longs to travel far.

Two Peasants (Два Мужика, Book VII, No. 21) — Gossip Faddey meets gossip Yegor and tells his tale: at a Christmas drinking bout, tipsy and carrying a candle, he went to feed the horses, dropped the candle, and burned his yard to the ground. Yegor's tale answers it: he too had drunk too much, but blew his candle out so as to make no fire — and the dark stairs did the rest, and he has been a cripple ever since. Matchmaker Stepan's verdict closes the fable, and it spares neither man.

The Waterfall and the Brook (Водопад и Ручей, Book VIII, No. 21) — A boiling Waterfall, hurling itself down from the rocks, calls out haughtily to a little healing spring beneath the mountain, scarcely to be seen yet famed for its healing power: you are so small, so poor in water — why do you always have a multitude of guests? The Brook's whole answer is a single humble word, and it is the entire fable.

Krylov Fables.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.