Russian Fables of Ivan Krylov

RUSSIAN FABLES OF IVAN KRYLOV

With Verse Translation By BERNARD PARES

Russkn ar.d English Text

Other books on Russia by Bernard Pares RUSSIA (Penguin Books) A HISTORY OF RUSSIA {Knopf, New York, and Cape, London) THE FALL OF THE RUSSIAN MONARCHY {Cape) LETTERS OF THE TSARITSA TO THE TSAR {Duckworth Ed.) MY RUSSIAN MEMOIRS {Cape) MOSCOW ADMITS A CRITIC {Nelson) KRYLOV’S FABLES, Full English Edition {Cape) : α r d P : -·7·· ,;.·:· ~·— . * 1 yj H N é <

“ ‘Now listen . . . . 5 whispered Sikes, drawing a dark lantern from his pocket and throwing the glare full on Oliver's face ; ‘I’m a-going to put you through there. Take this light. ”

Characterised by Mazda Even the wicked Sikes knew the value of light. “ Take this light ...” he said, knowing it would help Oliver Twist in more ways than one. Now, more than ever, we need the stimulus of good light in our homes. It is also a comforting reminder of the brighter times which will return. Mazda Lamps give good light at very low cost.

7 /1 6 N d d ii/ m A . L io tr fj Published in Penguin Books, 1942

To Birds and Bears, wherever they be, Especially R., J., S. and C. — Or else, as you might possibly guess, . To P., A., and R., with an E. and an S.

MADE AND PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN FOR PENGUIN BOOKS LIMITED, BY WILLIAMS, LEA AND COMPANY, LTD., LONDON

iv RUSSIAN FABLES

OF IVAN KRYLOV

WITH VERSE TRANSLATION BY BERNARD PARES

Russian and English Texts

PENGUIN BOOKS HARMONDS WORTH MIDDLESEX ENGLAND 300 FOURTH AVENUE NEW YORK U.S.A. < · £ * ,

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v CONTENTS (ALPHABETICAL) Alcides Apelles and the Young Ass Ass, The Ass, The, and his Bell Ass and Nightingale .. Ass and Rustic Author and Robber .. Beasts in Council Boy and Snake Boy, The, and the Worm Bream .. Calumny, A Cat and Cook Cat and Nightingale .. Cloud, A Cock and Cuckoo Crow Crow and Fowl Cuckoo and Eagle Dainty Spinster, The Doe, The, and the Dervish Dragonfly and Ant .. Eagle and Bee Eagle and Fowls Eagle and Mole Eagle and Spider Elephant and Pug Elephant as Governor Elephant in Favour .. Falcon and Worm Feast, A Fishes Dancing Fly and Bee Fly, The, and the Coach vm CONTENTS Page Fox and Marmot ...... 17 Funeral, A ...... 63 Gardener and Wiseacre ...... 31 Geese ...... 36 Godless Tribe, The ·...... 11 Great Lord, A ...... 86 Hare a-Hunting, The ...... 21 Hermit and Bear ...... 45 Kind Fox, The ...... 48 King Lion’s Bed· .. .. , ...... 82 Kitten and Starling ...... 71 Knight, The ...... 52 Leaves and Roots ...... · 41 Liar, The ...... 19 Lion and Fox ...... 55 Lion and Gnat ...... 30 Lion and Leopard ...... 13 Lion and Wolf ...... 53 Lion, The, Grown Old ...... 75 Little Box, A ...... 3 Master and the Mice ...... 27 Merchant, The ...... 79 Mice ...... ·. 84 Mice in Council ...... 65 Mike’s Dinnner Party ...... 88 Miser, The ...... 68 Mouse and Rat ...... 51 Old Man, The, and the Three Young Dandies .. 34 Oracle, The ...... 6 Parnassus ...... 5 Peasant and Death ...... 51 Peasant and Sheep ...... · 67 Peasant, The, and the Snake ...... 47 Peasant, The, in Distress ...... 26 Peasants, The, and the River ...... 47 Pig ...... y .. .. . · 36 Pike ...... ” ’■ ...... 77

IX CONTENTS Page Pike and Cat ...... · · .. 21 Plague of the Beasts, The ...... 14 Poet and Millionaire ...... 69 Pond and River ...... · .. 44 Quartett, A ...... 40 Raven Chick, The ...... 22 Rich Man and Cobbler ...... 24 Sabre Blade, The ...... 78 Sailor, The, and the Sea ...... 60 Sammy’s Coat .. ■ .. .. . · . 45 ' Sheep and Dogs ...... 62 Slanderer and Snake ...... 56 Snake ...... ' .. 80 Soup of Master John ...... 50 Speckled Sheep ...... ·. .. 86 Spider and Gout ...... · 53 Squirrel ...... · .. 76 Starling ...... · · 43 Statesman and Thinker ...... 14 Strong Ant, The ...... 61 Swan, Pike and Crab ...... 43 Three Townies, The ...... 83 Tom-Tit ...... · · · · · · 7 Trigamist, The ...... 11 Two Countrymen ...... 70 Two Dogs ...... · .. 72 Two Pigeons ...... ·. 9 Village Band, The ...... 2 Waterfall and Brook ...... 82 Wolf and Cat ...... 81 Wolf and Fox ...... 42 Wolf and his Cub ...... 28 Wolf and Mouse ...... 70 Wolf and Shepherds ...... 58 Wolf in the Kennels ...... , .. 16 Wolves and Sheep ...... 84 Young Lion’s Education ...... 32

x IVAN KRYLOV Russians retain the freshness of childhood when they are grown up, and they are peculiarly happy in their fables, as in every other kind of peasant lore. Recognised as the best are those of Ivan Krylov (1768— 1844). They are known to all and have practically all passed into proverb. Krylov was the son of an inconspicuous army officer, who served through the great peasant insurrection of Pugachev. The boy lost his father when he was only ten, but his mother was a wise woman and by thrift and care she managed to give him a decent education. He was allowed to share the lessons of some neighbouring children of the gentry, but he was made to feel his social inferiority. To eke out the family budget, he obtained a small post in the provincial town of Tver on the Volga, now renamed after the Soviet President, Kalinin. It was dull office work, but he would constantly stray by the great river, picking up the pithy speech of the bargees and peasants, of which he was later to make such charming use. From Tver he made his way to St. Petersburg, and there he began to write. He had a gift of biting humour, and his promise was such that he won the good opinion of two of the most daring thinkers of the time—Novikov, who may almost be called the founder „of the Russian intelligentsia, and Radishchev, author of the stinging account of a journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow, and they associated him with themselves as junior editor of a literary magazine. Catherine the Great had strongly encouraged social criticism and herself taken part in it, but the outbreak of the French Revolution drove her into sharp reaction. Novikov was suddenly and mysteriously spirited away to the fortress prison of Schliissel- burg. Radishchev was even condemned to death and was lucky to be only sent to Siberia. Krylov, too, hadasharpconfiictwithpoliceandcensorship. He would never speak of it—if not in his fable Cat and Nightingale —but it was a turning point in his life. For years he vegetated aimlessly and uneventfully, but he must have been meditating most profoundly, and he was slowly maturing the talent which was to make him a classic in Russian literature. It was not till he was in the forties that he found his feet in the fable, the only vehicle by which, in the rigid conditions of the censorship, he could carry through what he wanted to the public, and from that time he wrote nothing else.

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