Compilation, preface, notes and explanations
V.P. Anikina
Artists
S. Bordyug and N. Trepenok
Russian genius
Twenty-year-old Ivan Andreevich Krylov, a still little-known writer, published his first fables in 1788, without a signature, in the St. Petersburg magazine “Morning Hours.” And he published his first book of fables years later - only in 1809. Having worked in various types of creativity, not without success, Krylov realized that he was most successful in the fable genre. The fable became almost the exclusive genre of his work. And soon the fame of a first-class author came to the writer.
The artistic gift of Krylov the fabulist was fully revealed when he combined his extensive knowledge of ancient and modern European literature with the realization that the type of creativity he favored by nature belonged to the type of creativity in which folk morality is expressed. This morality, for example, is revealed in Russian fairy tales about animals, in proverbs, in teachings - in general, in peasant fables. In Rus', an intricate story has long been called fable. “Fables and fairy tales” are inseparable from the living telling of a fictional story, flavored with jokes and teaching. This was something that many of Krylov’s predecessors did not understand for a long time, who failed because they did not realize that the fable is inseparable from the spoken language.
Thus, the hardworking philologist, famous in the 18th century, member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences V.K. Tredyakovsky (1703–1768), long before Krylov, published a retelling of several “Aesopian fables.” Among them was the fable “The Wolf and the Crane.” Its plot is the same as that of Krylov, but in the presentation of the fable almost everything is alien to colloquial speech.
A wolf choked on a sharp bone one day.
So that he was not strong enough to howl, but became completely stumped.
For this purpose he hired a crane at a price
To extract the nose from the throat with longitude.
Tredyakovsky guessed that the fable story should be presented in a folk way, and it was no coincidence that he introduced some colloquial words and expressions into his translation (although not without distortion): “he was not strong enough to howl,” “he became completely stumped,” but the translation remained heavy and bookish.
Let’s compare Krylov’s fable with Tredyakovsky’s translation:
Everyone knows that wolves are greedy:
Wolf, eating, never
Doesn't understand bones.
For that, for one of them trouble came:
He almost choked on a bone.
Wolf can't neither sigh nor sigh;
It's time to stretch your legs!
The whole structure of the presentation is easy, elegant, understandable to any Russian person! This is our living speech. Krylov followed the intonation of the oral story; in the fable story there is not even a shadow of any artificiality.
The famous 20th-century philologist Viktor Vladimirovich Vinogradov specially studied the language and style of Krylov’s fables and noted dozens of folk proverbs in them. The scientist cited a long list of proverbs and sayings that the fabulist used and called them “semantic bonds,” that is, connections that impart semantic unity to the presentation of the fable story. Here are some of them: “There is a black sheep in a family” (“Elephant in the Voivodeship”), “Though the eye sees, the tooth is numb” (“The Fox and the Grapes”), “Poverty is not a vice” (“The Farmer and the Shoemaker”), “Out of the Fire and into the Fire” (“The Lady and the Two Maids”), “Don’t Spit in the Well—You’ll Need to Drink Water” (“The Lion and the Mouse”) and dozens of others. The fabulist relied on the usual in our language designations and comparisons of animals and birds with people: the crow is a prophet, but is susceptible to flattery, the donkey is stubborn, the fox is cunning, the bear is strong but stupid, the hare is cowardly, the snake is dangerous, etc. And they act like people. Proverbs and sayings, proverbs and allegorical words included in fables were developed and semantically clarified by Krylov.
Krylov's primacy among fabulists continues to this day. And in our time, his fables captivate readers. He is placed on a par with the greatest artists of all times and peoples. No one is surprised that he is compared to the ancient Greek Aesop and other world-famous fabulists. But most of all he is valued in Russia as an artist who expressed the common sense and intelligence of our people.
V.P. Anikin
A Crow and a fox
How many times have they told the world,
That flattery is vile and harmful; but everything is not for the future,
And a flatterer will always find a corner in the heart.
___
Somewhere God sent a piece of cheese to a crow;
Raven perched on the spruce tree,
I was just about ready to have breakfast,
Yes, I thought about it, but I held the cheese in my mouth.
To that misfortune, the Fox ran close by;
Suddenly the cheese spirit stopped the Fox:
The fox sees the cheese, and the fox is captivated by the cheese.
The cheat approaches the tree on tiptoe;
He twirls his tail and doesn’t take his eyes off Crow,
And he says so sweetly, barely breathing:
“My dear, how beautiful!
What a neck, what eyes!
Telling fairy tales, really!
What feathers! what a sock!
And surely there must be an angelic voice!
Sing, little light, don’t be ashamed! What if, sister,
With such beauty, you are a master at singing,
After all, you would be our king bird!”
Veshhunin's head was spinning with praise,
The breath stole from my throat with joy, -
And to the fox’s friendly words
The crow croaked at the top of its lungs:
The cheese fell out - such was the trick with it.
Oak and Cane
With Trostinka, Oak once came into speech.
“Truly, you have the right to grumble about nature,”
He said: “The sparrow is heavy for you too.
A slight breeze will make the water ripple,
You will stagger, you will begin to weaken
And so you bend down lonely,
What a pity to look at you.
Meanwhile, on a par with the Caucasus, proudly
It’s not just the sun that I block the rays of,
But, laughing at both whirlwinds and thunderstorms,
I stand firm and straight,
As if surrounded by an inviolable peace.
Everything is a storm to you - everything seems like marshmallows to me.
Even if you grew in a circle,
Covered in the thick shadow of my branches,
I could be your protection from bad weather;
But nature has given you your destiny
Brega of the stormy Eolian domain:
Of course, she doesn’t care about you at all.” -
"You are very pitiful"
said the Cane in response,
“However, don’t be downhearted: I don’t have much to lose.
It’s not for myself that I fear the whirlwinds;
Although I bend, I don’t break:
So storms do little harm to me;
They threaten you almost more!
It is true that even hitherto their ferocity
Your strength has not overcome you,
And you did not bow your face from their blows;
But let’s wait for the end!”
As soon as the Cane said this,
Suddenly rushing from the northern sides
And with hail and rain, the noisy aquilon.
The oak is holding on, - Reed fell to the ground.
The wind is raging, it has doubled its strength,
Roared and uprooted
The one who touched heaven with his head
And in the region of shadows he rested his heel.
Musicians
Neighbor invited neighbor to have a meal;
But there was a different intention here:
The owner loved music
And he lured his neighbor to listen to the singers.
The fellows sang: some into the forest, some for firewood,
And who has gained any strength?
The guest's ears began to crackle,
And my head started spinning.
“Have mercy on me,” he said in surprise:
“What is there to admire here? Your choir
He's babbling nonsense! -
“That’s true,” the owner answered with emotion:
“They fight a little;
But they don’t put drunken things in their mouths,
And all with excellent behavior.”
___
And I’ll say: for me it’s better to drink,
Yes, understand the matter.
Crow and Chicken
When the Prince of Smolensk,
Armed against insolence with art,
The vandals installed a new network
And he left Moscow to their destruction:
Then all the inhabitants, small and large,
Without wasting an hour, we got ready
And they rose from the walls of Moscow,
Like a swarm of bees from a hive.
A crow from the roof is here to all this alarm
He looks calmly, cleaning his nose.
“What about you, gossip, are you going on the road?”
The Chicken shouts to her from the cart:
“After all, they say that at the threshold
Our adversary." -
“What does this matter to me?”
The prophetess answered her: “I will stay here boldly.
Here are your sisters, as they wish;
But Raven is neither fried nor boiled:
So it’s no wonder for me to get along with the guests,
And maybe you can still make some money
Cheese, or a bone, or something.
Farewell, little corydalis, happy journey!”
The crow truly remained;
But, instead of all the bait for her,
How Smolensky began to starve the guests -
She herself got caught in their soup.
___
So often a person is blind and stupid in his calculations.
It seems that you are rushing on the heels of happiness:
How do you actually get along with him?
Caught like a crow in soup!
Chest
It often happens to us
And work and wisdom to see there,
Where you just have to guess
Just get down to business.
___
A Casket was brought to someone from the master.
The decoration and cleanliness of the Casket caught my eye;
Well, everyone admired the beautiful Casket.
Here the sage enters the Mechanics room.
Looking at the Chest,
he said: “A box with a secret,
So; it doesn't even have a lock;
And I undertake to open it; yes, yes, I'm sure of it;
Don't laugh so secretly!
I will find the secret and I will reveal the little chest to you:
I’m worth something in Mechanics too.”
So he set to work on the Casket:
Turns him from all sides
And he breaks his head;
First a carnation, then another, then a bracket.
Here, looking at him, another
Shakes his head;
They whisper, and they laugh among themselves.
It just rings in my ears:
“Not here, not like that, not there!” The mechanic is even more eager.
Sweated, sweated; but finally got tired
I fell behind Chest
And I couldn’t figure out how to open it:
And the casket simply opened.
Frog and Ox
The frog, seeing Ox in the meadow,
She decided to match his stature herself:
She was envious.
And well, puff up, puff and pout.
“Look, wah, what, will I get rid of him?”
He says to his friend. “No, gossip, far away!” -
“Look how wide I am now.
Well, what's it like?
Am I replenished? - “Almost nothing.” -
“Well, how now?” - “Everything is the same.”
Puffed and puffed
And my idea ended with
That, not being equal to Vol,
With an effort it burst and died.
___
There is more than one example of this in the world:
And is it a wonder when a tradesman wants to live,
As a distinguished citizen,
And the fry is small, like a noble nobleman.
Wolf and Lamb
The powerful are always to blame for the powerless:
We hear countless examples of this in History,
But we don’t write History;
Here's how they talk about it in Fables.
___
On a hot day, a lamb went to a stream to drink;
And something must happen,
That a hungry Wolf was prowling around those places.
He sees a lamb and strives for the prey;
But, to give the matter at least a legal look and feel,
Shouts: “How dare you, insolent, with an unclean snout
Here is a clean drink
My
With sand and silt?
For such insolence
I'll rip your head off." -
“When the brightest Wolf allows,
I dare to convey: what’s down the stream
From the Lordship of his steps I drink a hundred;
And he deigns to be angry in vain:
There’s no way I can make him drink worse.” -
“That's why I'm lying!
Waste! Such insolence has never been heard of in the world!
Yes, I remember that you were last summer
Here he was somehow rude to me:
I haven’t forgotten this, buddy!” -
“For mercy, I’m not even a year old yet,”
The lamb speaks. "So it was your brother." -
"I have no brothers." - “So this is godfather or matchmaker
And, in a word, someone from your own family.
You yourself, your dogs and your shepherds,
You all want me harm
And if you can, then you always harm me:
But I will clear out their sins with you.” -
“Oh, what’s my fault?” - “Be quiet! I'm tired of listening
It’s time for me to sort through your faults, puppy!
It’s your fault that I want to eat.”
He said and dragged the Lamb into the dark forest.
Monkey
When you adopt wisely, then it’s not a miracle
And find benefit from it;
And it’s crazy to adopt,
And God forbid, how bad it is!
I will give an example of this from distant countries.
Those who have seen Monkeys know
How greedily they adopt everything.
So in Africa, where there are many Monkeys,
A whole flock of them sat
Along the branches, along the branches of a thick tree
And she looked at the catcher furtively,
As if he were rolling around on the grass in nets.
Each friend here quietly pushes her friend,
And they all whisper to each other:
“Look at the daredevil;
There really is no end to his undertakings:
It will somersault
It will turn around
It's all in a lump
He'll get it together like that
That there are no arms or legs to be seen.
Are we really not masters at everything?
But we don’t see this kind of art!
Beautiful sisters!
It would be a good idea for us to adopt this.
He seemed rather amused;
Maybe he’ll leave, then we’ll immediately...” Look,
He truly left and left the nets for them.
“Well,” they say, “should we lose time?
Let's go try!"
The beauties have come down. For dear guests
There are a lot of nets spread out below.
Well, they tumble and roll in them,
And wrap up and curl;
They scream and squeal – it’s a lot of fun!
Yes, that's the problem
When did it come to break out of the network!
Meanwhile the owner guarded
And, seeing that it’s time, he goes to the guests with bags,
Let them run away
Yes, no one could unravel:
And they took them all with their hands.
Tit
The tit took off to the sea;
She boasted
What the sea wants to burn.
The speech immediately became famous around the world.
Fear embraced the inhabitants of Neptune's capital;
Birds fly in flocks;
And the animals from the forests come running to watch,
How will the Ocean be, and how hot will it be to burn?
And even, they say, on hearing the winged rumor,
Hunters wander around feasts
Of the first to come to the shores with spoons,
To sip the fish soup of such a rich woman,
What a tax farmer and the most well-packed one
Didn't give it to secretaries.
They crowd: everyone marvels at the miracle in advance,
He is silent and, staring at the sea, waits;
Only occasionally will someone whisper:
“It’s about to boil, it’s about to catch fire!”
Not so: the sea doesn’t burn.
Is it even boiling? – and it doesn’t boil.
And how did the majestic undertakings end?
The titmouse swam away in shame;
The titmouse has made a name for itself,
But she didn’t light the sea.
___
It’s good to keep a speech here,
But without touching anyone's face:
What's going on without reaching an end?
There is no need to boast.
Donkey
When did Jupiter inhabit the universe?
And he started a tribe of various creatures,
That’s when the Donkey was born.
But with intent, or while getting pregnant,
At such a busy time
The cloud chaser made a mistake:
And the Donkey poured out almost as small as a squirrel.
Almost no one noticed the donkey,
At least in arrogance the Donkey was not inferior to anyone.
The donkey would like to boast:
But with what? having such a height,
And it’s a shame to appear in the world.
My arrogant donkey stuck to Jupiter
And he began to ask for more growth.
“Have mercy,” he says, “how can you take this down?
Lions, leopards and elephants are everywhere so honored;
Moreover, from the greatest to the least,
Everything is about them only and about them;
Why are you so daring towards Donkeys?
That they have no honor,
And no one says a word about Donkeys?
And if only I were the height of a calf,
If only I had knocked down the arrogance of lions and leopards,
And the whole world would talk about me.”
What day, then again
My donkey sang to Zeus;
And before that he was tired,
What's finally the donkey's prayers
Zeus listened:
And the Donkey became a great beast;
And on top of that, he was given such a wild voice,
What is my eared Hercules
The whole forest was scared.
“What kind of animal is this? what kind?
Tea, does he have teeth? horns, tea, no number?
Well, the only talk was about the Donkey.
But how did it end? Not even a year has passed
How everyone found out who Donkey is:
My donkey's stupidity has become a proverb.
And they carry water on a Donkey.
___
Highness is good in breed and rank;
But what is gained in it when the soul is low?
Monkey and glasses
The monkey's eyes became weak in old age;
And she heard from people,
That this evil is not yet so big:
All you have to do is get glasses.
She got herself half a dozen glasses;
He turns his glasses this way and that:
Either he will press them to the crown, or he will string them on his tail,
Sometimes he sniffs them, sometimes he licks them;
The glasses don't work at all.
“Ugh, the abyss! - she says: - and that fool,
Who listens to all human lies:
They only lied to me about the Glasses;
But there’s no use for hair in them.”
The monkey is here out of frustration and sadness
Oh stone, they were so enough,
That only the splashes sparkled.
___
Unfortunately, this is what happens to people:
No matter how useful a thing is, without knowing its price,
The ignoramus tends to tell everything about her for the worse;
And if the ignoramus knows better,
So he also drives her away.
Atheists
There was a people in ancient times, to the shame of the earthly tribes.
Who was so hardened in his hearts,
That he armed himself against the gods.
Rebellious crowds, behind a thousand banners,
Some with a bow, some with a sling, rush noisily into the field.
The instigators, from the daring heads,
To incite more riots among the people,
They shout that the court of heaven is both strict and stupid;
That the gods are either asleep or ruling recklessly;
That it’s time to teach them a lesson without rank;
Which, however, is not difficult with stones from nearby mountains
Throw into the sky at the gods
And sweep Olympus with arrows.
Confused by the insolence of madmen and blasphemies,
All Olympus approached Zeus with prayer,
So that he averts trouble;
And even the whole council of the gods of those thoughts was,
Which, to the rebels’ conviction, is not bad
Show at least a small miracle:
Or a flood, or thunder with a coward,
Or at least hit them with stone rain.
"Let's wait"
Jupiter river: “and if they don’t reconcile
And in a riot they will abuse, not fearing the immortals,
They are executed for their deeds.”
Then it soared into the air with a noise
Darkness of stones, cloud of arrows from the rebel troops,
But with a thousand deaths, both evil and inevitable,
Chapters fell on their own.
___
The fruits of unbelief are terrible;
And know, peoples, you
That the supposed sages of blasphemy are bold,
What do they arm you against the deity?
Your hour of destruction is approaching,
And they will all turn into arrows of thunder for you.
Eagle and chickens
Wanting to fully admire the bright day,
An eagle flew in the sky
And I walked there
Where lightning is born.
Having finally descended from the cloudy heights,
The King Bird sits on a barn to rest.
Although this is an unenviable perch for the Eagle,
But the Kings have their own quirks:
Perhaps he wanted to honor the barn,
Or if he wasn’t nearby, he should sit down according to his rank,
Neither oak nor granite rock;
I don’t know what this thought is, but just Eagle
Didn't sit much
And then he flew to another barn.
Seeing that, the crested hen
He talks like this to his godfather:
“Why are the Eagles so honored?
Is it really for the flight, dear neighbor?
Well, really, if I want,
From barn to barn I will fly too.
Let's not be such fools forward,
To honor the Eagles who are more noble than us.
They have neither legs nor eyes larger than ours;
Yes, you saw it now,
That below they fly like chickens.”
The eagle answers, bored with the nonsense:
“You're right, but not quite.
Eagles sometimes descend lower than chickens;
But chickens will never reach the clouds!”
___
When you judge talents, -
Do not waste your labors in vain by counting their weaknesses;
But, feeling that they are both strong and beautiful,
Know how to comprehend their different heights.
We love reading Krylov's fables since childhood. Krylov’s images are stored in our memory, which often pop up in our heads in various life situations; we turn to them and each time we never cease to be amazed at Krylov’s insight.
It happens that I remember the Pug, who barks at the Elephant in order to give the impression of being brave and fearless, or suddenly the Monkey pops up before my eyes, who mocked himself, not recognizing the reflection in the Mirror. Laughter, and that's all! And how often do encounters occur that are involuntarily compared to the Monkey, who, out of her own ignorance, not knowing the value of the Glasses, broke them on a stone. Krylov’s little fables are short in size, but not in meaning, because Krylov’s word is sharp, and the morals of the fables have long turned into popular expressions. Krylov's fables accompany us through life, have become close to us and at any time will find understanding in us and help us re-realize our values.
Krylov is a famous writer. Of all the children's poems and fables, Krylov's works are always the best, they are etched in the memory and emerge throughout life when encountering human vices. It is often said that Krylov did not write for children, but isn’t the meaning of his fables clear to children? Usually the moral is clearly written, so even the smallest child can read Krylov’s fables with benefit.
On our website we post the best works of the author in their original presentation, and also highlight morality separately for convenience and better memorization of sometimes philosophical thoughts. Both children and adults will find a lot of meaning in these little life stories in which animals symbolize people, their vices and ridiculous behavior. Krylov's fables online are remarkable because they contain not only text, but also a remarkable picture, easy navigation, educational facts and reasoning. After reading, the author will probably become your favorite, and his life essays in the form of humorous fables will be remembered for many years.
The fabulist led an absolutely open life, communicated a lot, published books one after another and did not shy away from his obesity and laziness. The oddities that happened to Krylov were expressed by him in instructive scenes, the simplicity of which is deceptive. He was not a fabulist, he was a thinker-philosopher, capable of, with childish unobtrusiveness and ease, comically describing the shortcomings of people in a stunning form accessible only to him. There is no need to look only for satire in Krylov’s fables; their value does not end there. The content and meaning are more philosophical than humorous. In addition to human vices, the truths of existence, the foundations of behavior and relationships between people are presented in a light form. Each fable is a combination of wisdom, morality and humor.
Start reading Krylov's fables to your child from an early age. They will show him what to watch out for in life, what behavior others condemn and what they can encourage. According to Krylov, the laws of life are natural and wise; he despises artificiality and self-interest. Morality, cleared of any impurities and trends, is clear and concise, containing the division between right and wrong. The remarkable manner of writing led to the fact that every moral became a folk proverb or a cheerful aphorism. The works are written in such a language that, although they look like literary forms, they actually carry intonations and ridicule inherent only in the great national mind. Krylov's little fables changed the general view of this genre. Innovation was manifested in realism, a philosophical note and worldly wisdom. Fables became small novels, sometimes dramas, in which the accumulated wisdom and cunning of the mind over centuries was revealed. It is remarkable that with all this, the author did not turn the fable into a satirical poem, but managed to preserve a deep meaningful part, consisting of a short story and morality.
Krylov's fable penetrated into the essence of things, the characters' characters, and became a genre practically unattainable by other authors. Despite the satire, the fabulist loved life in all its manifestations, but he would really like simple and natural truths to finally replace base passions. The fable genre under his pen has become so high and refined that, after re-reading the fables of other authors, you will understand that there is no other like it, and there is unlikely to be one.
In the section of Krylov's fables online, we invite you to get acquainted with folk wisdom. Short philosophical works will not leave either children or adults indifferent.
Krylov Ivan Andreevich (1769-1844) - Russian poet, author of more than 200 fables, publicist, was engaged in publishing satirical and educational magazines.
Childhood
Father, Andrei Prokhorovich Krylov, was a poor army officer. When the Pugachev rebellion was pacified in 1772, he served in a dragoon regiment and proved himself a hero, but did not receive any ranks or medals for this. My father did not study much science, but he knew how to write and read. After retiring, he was transferred to the civil service as chairman of the Tver magistrate. Such service did not bring good income, so the family lived very poorly.
The poet's mother, Maria Alekseevna Krylova, became a widow early. The husband died at the age of 42, the eldest son Ivan was only 9 years old. After the death of the head of the family, the Krylovs’ life became even poorer. Ivan's early childhood years were spent on the road, as the family moved very often due to his father's service.
Education
Ivan Krylov did not have the opportunity to receive a good education. When he was little, his father taught him to read. The elder Krylov himself loved reading very much and left his son a large chest full of books as an inheritance.
Wealthy neighbors lived nearby and allowed the boy to attend the French lessons taught to their children. So Ivan gradually learned a foreign language. In general, Krylov received his entire education mainly due to the fact that he read a lot.
But what attracted him greatly in adolescence were noisy fairs and fist fights, shopping areas and public gatherings; he loved to hang around among ordinary people and listen to what they were talking about. At one time he even took part in street fights, which were called “wall to wall”; the guy himself was very strong and tall, so he often emerged victorious.
Labor activity
Due to the fact that the family was in need, Krylov began working very early. In 1777, he was taken to the magistrate of Tver, where his father served until his death, to the position of sub-office clerk. They paid pennies there, but at least the family didn’t die of hunger.
In 1782, the mother and her sons moved to St. Petersburg to seek a pension. Here Ivan got a job in the state chamber with a salary of 80-90 rubles.
In 1788, his mother died, and Krylov took full responsibility for raising his younger brother Lev. All his life, Ivan Andreevich took care of him as if he were his own son. Work in the state chamber no longer suited Krylov and he went to work in the Cabinet of Her Majesty (it was an institution like the personal office of the Empress).
Literary activity
In 1784, Krylov wrote his first work - the opera libretto “The Coffee House”. In the next two years, he composed two more tragedies, “Cleopatra” and “Philomela,” followed by the comedies “The Mad Family” and “The Writer in the Hallway.” So the young playwright began to work closely with the theater committee, receiving a free ticket.
The next comedy, “The Pranksters,” was different from the previous two; it was already bold, lively and witty in a new way.
In 1788, Krylov’s first fables were published in the magazine “Morning Hours”. Caustic and full of sarcasm, they did not receive approval from readers and critics.
Krylov decided to abandon public service and engage in publishing. For several years he was engaged in the production of satirical magazines:
- "Spirit Mail";
- "Viewer";
- "St. Petersburg Mercury".
In these magazines he published his fables and some prose works.
The authorities were not too fond of Krylov’s sarcasm; the Empress even invited him to go abroad for a while. But Ivan Andreevich refused and moved to Zubrilovka - the estate of Prince Golitsyn. There he worked as a secretary, taught children, and also wrote plays for home performances.
Krylov returned to active literary activity in 1806. He came to St. Petersburg, where he staged two comedies, “Fashion Shop” and “Lesson for Daughters,” one after the other, which were a huge success.
And in 1809, Krylov’s rise as a fabulist began. The first collection of his fables included 23 works, among them the famous “Elephant and Moska”. The book turned out to be very popular, and readers began to look forward to new fables by Krylov.
Along with this, Ivan Andreevich returned to public service; he worked at the Imperial Public Library for almost 30 years.
More than 200 fables came from Krylov’s pen, in which he exposed both human vices and Russian reality. Every child knows these works of his:
- "The Wolf and the Lamb";
- "A Crow and a fox";
- "Dragonfly and Ant";
- "Swan, Cancer and Pike";
- "The Monkey and the Glasses";
- "Quartet".
Many expressions from his fables have firmly entered into colloquial Russian speech and have become popular.
last years of life
In the last years of his life, Krylov was in good standing with the tsarist authorities, received the position of state councilor and had an ample pension benefit. He became lazy and did not hesitate to be known as a slob and a glutton. We can say that at the end of his life all his talent dissolved in gourmetism and laziness.
Officially, Krylov was never married, but his contemporaries claimed that he lived in a civil marriage with his cook Fenya, and from him she gave birth to a daughter, Sasha. When Fenya died, Sasha lived in Krylov’s house, then he married her off, nursed the children, and after her death he transferred his entire fortune to Sasha’s husband.
Ivan Andreevich Krylov was born in February 1769 in Moscow, into the family of a poor army officer. Having shown heroism and courage during the pacification of the Pugachev rebellion, Andrei Krylov did not receive any awards or ranks. After retiring, he entered the civil service and moved with his wife and two sons to Tver. The position of chairman of the magistrate did not bring any significant income, the family lived in poverty. Krylov Sr. died in 1778 with the rank of captain. The life of the widow and children (the eldest son Ivan was only 9 years old) became even poorer.
Ivan Andreevich Krylov did not have the opportunity to get a good education. From his father, he adopted a great love of reading, inheriting only a huge chest of books. The Krylovs' wealthy neighbors allowed Ivan to be present at the French lessons that were given to their children. Thus, Ivan Krylov learned French tolerably.
The future fabulist began work very early and learned the hardship of life in poverty. After the death of his father, Ivan was hired as a sub-office clerk in the provincial magistrate of Tver, where Krylov Sr. had previously worked. The meager allowance only made it possible not to die of hunger. After 5 years, Ivan Krylov’s mother, taking her children, went to St. Petersburg to seek a pension and get her eldest son a job. So Ivan Krylov received a new position, becoming a clerk in the treasury chamber.
Young Krylov, without receiving any systematic education, persistently engaged in self-education. He read a lot and taught himself to play various instruments. At the age of 15, Ivan even wrote a short comic opera, composing couplets for it and calling it “The Coffee House.” This was his first, albeit unsuccessful, but still debut in literature. The writing language was very rich, which Krylov owed to his love of hustling among the common people at fairs and various common entertainments. “Thanks to” poverty, Ivan Andreevich was well acquainted with the life and customs of ordinary people, which was very useful to him in the future.
Creation
Ivan Andreevich Krylov's move to St. Petersburg coincided with the appearance of a public theater in the city. The young man, drawn to art, immediately visited the newly opened theater. There he met some artists and from then on lived in the interests of this temple of art. Krylov did not want to seriously pursue a career in the new government service; all his interests were directed in a completely different direction. Therefore, the 18-year-old boy resigned and took up literary activity.
At first it was unsuccessful. Ivan Krylov wrote the tragedy “Philomela”, imitating the classics. There were some glimpses of the talent and free-thinking of the novice author, but in literary terms, Philomela was a very mediocre work. But the young writer had no intention of stopping.
The tragedy was followed by several comedies. “The Mad Family”, “The Pranksters”, “The Writer in the Hallway” and others also did not impress readers and critics with their talent. But the increase in skill in comparison with “Philomela” was still noticeable.
The first fables of Ivan Andreevich Krylov were published without a signature. They appeared in the magazine "Morning Hours" in 1788. Three works, called “The Shy Gambler,” “The Fate of the Gamblers,” and “The Newly Granted Donkey,” were almost unnoticed by readers and did not receive critical approval. There was a lot of sarcasm and causticity in them, but no skill.
In 1789, Ivan Krylov, together with Rachmanin, began publishing the magazine “Mail of Spirits”. He seeks to revive the strong satire that Novikov's magazines previously demonstrated. But the publication was not successful and ceased publication that same year. But this does not stop Krylov. After 3 years, he and a group of like-minded people create another magazine, calling it “Spectator”. A year later, the magazine “St. Petersburg Mercury” appeared. These publications published some of Krylov’s prose works, the most striking of which were the story “Kaib” and the article “A Eulogy to My Grandfather,” which was quite bold for its time, denouncing landowner tyranny.
Ivan Krylov's magazine "Spirit Mail" It is not known for certain what caused Ivan Krylov’s temporary withdrawal from literary activity, and why he left St. Petersburg. Perhaps some kind of harassment began from the authorities, or maybe a literary failure pushed the writer to leave the city, but until 1806 Krylov almost abandoned writing. In 1806, Krylov returned to active literary activity.
He writes rather talented translations of La Fontaine’s fables “The Oak and the Cane,” “The Picky Bride,” and “The Old Man and the Three Young People.” Translations with a flattering recommendation from Ivan Dmitriev are published by the capital’s magazine “Moscow Spectator”. Also in 1806, Ivan Krylov returned to St. Petersburg and staged the comedy “Fashion Shop”. Next year there will be another one – “A Lesson for Daughters”. Society, which experienced an upsurge of patriotic feelings in connection with the Napoleonic Wars, greets the productions with great enthusiasm. After all, they ridicule Frenchmania.
In 1809, the real creative rise of Ivan Krylov began. The first edition of his fables, consisting of 23 works (among which is the well-known “Elephant and Pug”), is extremely popular. Since then, Krylov has become a famous fabulist, whose new works are eagerly awaited by the public. Ivan Andreevich returns to public service. First, he took a prominent position in the Coinage Department, and after 2 years - in the Imperial Public Library, where he worked from 1812 to 1841.
During this period, Krylov also changed internally. Now he is complacent and reserved. Doesn't like to quarrel, is very calm, ironic and increasingly lazy. Since 1836, Ivan Krylov no longer writes anything. In 1838, the literary community solemnly celebrated the 50th anniversary of the fabulist’s creative activity. The writer died in November 1844.
More than 200 fables came from the pen of Ivan Andreevich Krylov. In some he denounced Russian reality, in others - human vices, and in others - simply poetic anecdotes. Over time, many apt Krylov expressions entered colloquial speech and enriched the Russian language. His fables are very popular and generally understandable. They are aimed at everyone, not just the highly educated intelligentsia. During the author's lifetime, almost 80 thousand copies of published collections of fables were sold. At that time - an unprecedented phenomenon. The popularity of Ivan Andreevich Krylov can be compared with the lifetime popularity of and.
Personal life
Legends circulated and jokes were made about Ivan Krylov’s absent-mindedness, careless sloppiness and incredible appetite. It was quite in his spirit to put a night cap in his coat pocket instead of a handkerchief, pull it out while in society and blow his nose. Ivan Andreevich was absolutely indifferent to his appearance. It would seem that such a man could not possibly command the attention of the ladies. Nevertheless, information from his contemporaries has been preserved, claiming that Ivan Krylov’s personal life, although not stormy, was certainly not absent.
At the age of 22, he fell in love with the daughter of a priest from the Bryansk district, Anna. The girl reciprocated his feelings. But when the young people decided to get married, Anna’s relatives opposed this marriage. They were distantly related to and, moreover, wealthy. Therefore, they refused to marry their daughter to the poor rhymer. But Anna was so sad that her parents finally agreed to marry her to Ivan Krylov, which they telegraphed to him in St. Petersburg. But Krylov replied that he did not have the money to come to Bryansk, and asked to bring Anna to him. The girls' relatives were offended by the answer, and the marriage did not take place.
Contemporaries of Ivan Krylov wrote that eminent ladies were not indifferent to the sloppy and extravagant fabulist. Allegedly, he was loved by a ballerina who was the kept woman of Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich. But the fabulist joked that he was unsuitable for marriage. They say that the empress herself was very sympathetic to the charming fat man. And this despite the fact that Ivan Andreevich dared to appear in front of her in a holey boot from which a finger was sticking out, and even sneeze when he kissed the empress’s hand.
Ivan Krylov never married. Officially, he has no children. But the fabulist’s contemporaries argued that Ivan Andreevich still had a common-law wife. It was his housekeeper Fenya. Krylov could not marry her, since society would condemn him. Nevertheless, Fenya gave birth to a girl, Sasha, who is considered Krylov’s illegitimate daughter. That this may be true is evidenced by the fact that after Feni’s death, Sasha remained to live with Krylov. And after her marriage, Krylov happily nursed her children and transferred all his property to the name of Alexandra’s husband. At the time of the death of Ivan Krylov, Sasha, her husband and two children were at his bedside.
Fables
- Dragonfly and Ant
- Swan, Crayfish and Pike
- A Crow and a fox
- Wolf and Lamb
- Monkey and Glasses
- Quartet
- Pig under the Oak
- Demyanova's ear
- Leaves and roots
- The picky bride
Ivan Krylov
M. A. Melnichenko
The path to the fable
I. A. Krylov, “grandfather Krylov,” entered Russian literature as a great fabulist. Neither before him nor after him has anyone surpassed him in this genre. However, he himself did not immediately find his niche, and his path to fame turned out to be long and difficult.
Ivan Andreevich Krylov was born on February 2 (13), 1769 in Moscow in the family of an army officer. Unlike other poets of the early 19th century, G. R. Derzhavin, A. S. Pushkin, V. A. Zhukovsky, I. A. Krylov did not receive a good education, but since childhood he read a lot, and also spent a lot of time among ordinary people, noticing customs, morals, absorbing the living Russian language. When his father died, Krylov and his mother moved to St. Petersburg. Here he became interested in theater, wrote plays, published magazines and earned a reputation as a scoffer and freethinker. In the spirit of the ideas of the Enlightenment, he believed that human vices, like diseases, needed to be identified and eradicated, and he hoped that the reader, seeing his vices in the mirror of satire, would laugh at them and become a little better. However, obviously, not everyone liked their reflection, and Krylov had to spend several years away from the capital.
In 1806 he returned to St. Petersburg, and then luck finally smiled at him. Almost forty-year-old Krylov took up fables: first he translated several works by the French fabulist La Fontaine, and soon began to create his own. Light, witty, wise, they brought the poet real national fame. Until his old age, Krylov served in the Public Library, wrote fables and created more than two hundred of them. He died on November 9, 1844, and in 1855 a monument to Krylov was erected in the Summer Garden of St. Petersburg, which still exists to this day. And it was produced with the money of grateful readers who loved his fables with all their souls, as you will probably love them too.
Cuckoo and Rooster
“How, dear Cockerel, you sing loudly, it’s important!” -
“And you, Cuckoo, are my light,
How do you pull smoothly and slowly:
We don’t have such a singer in the whole forest!” -
“I’m ready to listen to you, my kumanek, forever.”
“And you, beauty, I promise,
As soon as you shut up, I’m waiting, I can’t wait,
So that you can start again...
Where does such a voice come from?
And pure, and gentle, and tall!..
Yes, that’s how you come from: you’re not big,
And the songs are like your nightingale! -
“Thank you, godfather; but, according to my conscience,
You sing better than the bird of paradise,
I refer to everyone in this.”
Then Sparrow happened to say to them: “Friends!
Even though you become hoarse, praising each other, -
All your music is bad!..”
Why, without fear of sin,
Does the Cuckoo praise the Rooster?
Because he praises the Cuckoo.
Dragonfly and Ant
Jumping Dragonfly
The red summer sang;
I didn’t have time to look back,
How winter rolls into your eyes.
The pure field has died;
There are no more bright days,
Like under every leaf
Both the table and the house were ready.
It's all gone: with the cold winter
Need, hunger is coming;
The dragonfly no longer sings:
And who cares?
Sing on a hungry stomach!
Angry melancholy,
She crawls towards the Ant:
“Don’t leave me, dear godfather!
Let me gather my strength
And only until spring days
Feed and warm!
- “Gossip, this is strange to me:
Did you work during the summer?” -
Ant tells her.
“Was it before that, my dear?
In our soft ants
Songs, playfulness every hour,
So much so that my head was turned.”
- “Oh, so you ...” - “I am without a soul
I sang all summer long.” -
“Have you been singing everything? This business:
So come and dance!”
Monkey and Glasses
The monkey's eyes became weak in old age;
And she heard from people,
That this evil is not yet so big:
All you have to do is get glasses.
She got herself half a dozen glasses;
He turns his glasses this way and that:
Either he will press them to the crown, or he will string them on his tail,
Sometimes he sniffs them, sometimes he licks them;
The glasses don't work at all.
“Ugh, the abyss! - she says, - and that fool,
Who listens to all human lies:
They only lied to me about the Glasses;
But there’s no use for hair in them.”
The monkey is here out of frustration and sadness
Oh stone, they were so enough,
That only the splashes sparkled.
Unfortunately, this is what happens to people:
No matter how useful a thing is, without knowing its price,
The ignoramus tends to tell everything about her for the worse;
And if the ignoramus knows better,
So he also drives her away.
It often happens to us
And work and wisdom to see there,
Where you just have to guess
Just get down to business.
A Casket was brought to someone from the master.
The decoration and cleanliness of the Casket caught my eye;
Well, everyone admired the beautiful casket
Here a sage enters the mechanics room.
Looking at the Casket, he said: “A casket with a secret,
So; it doesn't even have a lock;
And I undertake to open it; yes, yes, I'm sure of it;
Don't laugh so secretly!
I will find the secret and I will reveal the little chest to you:
In mechanics, I’m also worth something.”
So he set to work on the Casket:
Turns him around from all sides
And he breaks his head;
First a carnation, then another, then a bracket.
Here, looking at him, another
Shakes his head;
They whisper, and they laugh among themselves.
It just rings in my ears:
“Not here, not like that, not there!” The mechanic is even more eager.
Sweated, sweated; but finally got tired
I fell behind Chest
And I couldn’t figure out how to open it:
And the casket simply opened.
Elephant and Moska
They led an Elephant through the streets,
As you can see, for show -
It is known that Elephants are a curiosity among us -
So crowds of onlookers followed the Elephant.
No matter what, Moska will meet them.
When you see an Elephant, well, rush at it,
And bark, and squeal, and tear,
Well, he gets into a fight with him.
“Neighbor, stop being ashamed,”
The mongrel says to her, “Should you bother with the Elephant?”
Look, you’re already wheezing, and he’s walking away
Forward
And he doesn’t notice your barking at all.” -
“Eh, eh! - Moska answers her, -
This is what gives me spirit,
What am I, without a fight at all,
I can get into big bullies.
Let the dogs say:
“Ay, Moska! know she's strong
What barks at the Elephant!
Naughty Monkey,
Donkey,
Goat
Yes, clubfooted Mishka
We decided to play a Quartet.
We got sheet music, bass, viola, two violins
And they sat down on the meadow under the sticky trees, -
Captivate the world with your art.
They hit the bows, they fight, but there’s no point.
“Stop, brothers, stop! - Monkey shouts. -
Wait!
How should the music go? That's not how you sit.
You and the bass, Mishenka, sit opposite the viola,
I, the prima, will sit opposite the second;
Then the music will be different:
Our forest and mountains will dance!”
We settled down and began the Quartet;
He still isn't getting along.
“Wait, I found a secret! -
The Donkey shouts, “We’ll probably get along,”
If we sit next to each other."
They obeyed the Donkey: they sat down decorously in a row;
And yet the Quartet is not going well.
Now they're getting even more intense than ever
And disputes
Who and how to sit.
The Nightingale happened to fly to their noise.
Here everyone asks him to resolve their doubts.
“Perhaps,” they say, “take patience for an hour,
To put our Quartet in order:
And we have notes, and we have instruments,
Just tell us how to sit down!” -
“To be a musician, you need skill
And your ears are gentler, -
The Nightingale answers them, -
And you, friends, no matter how you sit down,
You’re still not fit to be musicians.”
Fox and Grapes
The hungry godfather Fox climbed into the garden;
The bunches of grapes in it were red.
The gossip's eyes and teeth flared up,
And the brushes are juicy, like yachts, burning;
The only problem is, they hang high:
Wherever and however she comes to them,
At least the eye sees
Yes, it hurts.
Having wasted a whole hour,
She went and said with annoyance: “Well, well!
He looks good,
Yes it is green - no ripe berries:
You’ll set your teeth on edge right away.”
A Crow and a fox
How many times have they told the world,
That flattery is vile and harmful; but everything is not for the future,
And a flatterer will always find a corner in the heart.
Somewhere God sent a piece of cheese to a crow;
Raven perched on the spruce tree,
I was just about ready to have breakfast,
Yes, I thought about it, but I held the cheese in my mouth.
To that misfortune, the Fox ran close by;
Suddenly the cheese spirit stopped the Fox:
The fox sees the cheese, the fox is captivated by the cheese.
The cheat approaches the tree on tiptoe;
He twirls his tail and doesn’t take his eyes off Crow
And he says so sweetly, barely breathing:
“My dear, how beautiful!
What a neck, what eyes!
Telling fairy tales, really!
What feathers! what a sock!
And, truly, there must be an angelic voice!
Sing, little light, don’t be ashamed! What if, sister,
With such beauty, you are a master at singing, -
After all, you would be our king bird!”
Veshhunin's head was spinning with praise,
Joy took my breath away from my throat,
And Lisitsyn’s friendly words
The crow croaked at the top of its lungs:
The cheese fell out - such was the trick with it.
