The Fables of Ivan Krylov — Episode Forty
Disclosure: this performance is narrated by AI-generated voices.
Three fables by Ivan Krylov (1769–1844), in new English verse translations made for this show, read aloud over a gentle instrumental bed.
Wolves and Sheep (Волки и Овцы, Book IX, No. 5) — The Sheep can get no life at all from the Wolves, so the government of the beasts takes kindly measures in their defence and forms a Council for the purpose — a Council whose greater part, in truth, are Wolves. The session in the deep forest judges, thinks and argues, and at last devises a law, given here word for word. Krylov's closing lines report what he has seen ever since, whatever part the Sheep play in court.
The Writer and the Robber (Сочинитель и Разбойник, Book VI, No. 24) — Into the gloomy dwelling of the shades, at the same hour, come a highway Robber who ended in a noose and a Writer covered in glory, who spread a subtle poison through his works, sweet-voiced and dangerous as a Siren. In hell the judgement is swift: two great cast-iron cauldrons on iron chains, and a fire beneath each. Ages pass; the Robber's fire dies out, while the Writer's grows fiercer hour by hour — and when he cries out against the injustice of it, one of hell's three sisters appears to answer him.
The Young Raven (Вороненок, Book II, No. 21) — An Eagle swoops from beneath the heavens and snatches a lamb from the flock, and a young Raven watching nearby is tempted: if he takes, he will take big, and seize a truly royal morsel. He rises over the flock, searches, compares, and chooses the fattest, fullest-grown Ram of all — one even a good Wolf would strain to lift. He drives his claws deep into that shaggy wool, and ends his great feat in a way he never planned. Krylov's closing quatrain is for every small rogue who copies a big one.
Krylov Fables.
KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.
