Classic Reading for Youngsters -- Aesop's Fables

Author: (Russian) Krylov, original text by Krylov, compiled by Qi Guizhi
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-06-01
Features: Dear little readers, fable is an important genre in literature: it generally takes the form of short and concise stories, with humans, animals, or even objects as the main characters, depicting vivid tales; using simple and easy-to-understand language to express profound truths. This Fables of Krylov is the work of Ivan Krylov (1769-1844), a 19th-century Russian writer. Krylov was born into a poor military family. His father was a simple and kind-hearted man who was not good at climbing the social ladder but loved reading very much. His collection of books played a great role in Krylov's life. Krylov's father deeply loved his son but did not show it outwardly, and treated him with great strictness. Krylov was exceptionally intelligent and could read fluently at a very young age. His father spoke French, and Krylov also learned French early on. From his father's French books, he read the fable collection of French poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695), which deeply interested him. At that time, he even tried to translate it into Russian in poetic form. Krylov's father passed away when Krylov was only ten years old, leaving the family in extreme hardship. Fortunately, soon after, the provincial assembly where his father had worked hired him as a clerk. This provided temporary stability for the Krylov family, and at the same time, he was exposed to court life at an early age, which was extremely beneficial for his later path in writing. In 1782, Krylov moved from Moscow to St. Petersburg and became an official at the tax office. That same year, at the age of only thirteen or fourteen, he began writing plays. His first play was The Woman Who Divined by Coffee Grounds, which mainly tells the story of a steward who deliberately sabotages the marriage of a young man and woman. Later, he wrote several more plays, satirizing the emptiness and debauchery of the noble life in the capital. In 1789, he founded the magazine The Spirit Post, and in 1792, he co-founded the magazine The Observer. These magazines criticized the autocratic rule of the Tsar, exposed the cruelty of serf owners and the corruption of officials, etc. Later, the magazines were forced to close, and Krylov had no choice but to leave St. Petersburg. In 1806, he returned to St. Petersburg, continuing to write comedies while dedicating his main efforts to writing fables. His first collection of fables was published in 18. After its publication, it was warmly welcomed by readers, who eagerly awaited the second and third collections. Krylov wrote over 200 fables in his lifetime. These fables inherited the fine traditions of Aesop's Fables and La Fontaine's Fables while also making bold innovations. Because Krylov was relatively close to the life of the common people, his fables are filled with the flavor of folk language, and many phrases and expressions in his fables have become Russian folk proverbs. What is more important is the rich ideological content of Krylov's fables. He could see the big picture in the small, using very simple language to explain profound truths. For example, in his fable The Little Box, he describes an arrogant mechanic who wants to open a seemingly mysterious little box. He flips it over and over, presses here and there, and sweats profusely, but "the little box still cannot be opened." He has no choice but to throw it away. Is the little box really as mysterious and complex as he thought? Krylov points out: "There are some things that you can exhaust yourself trying to solve, but in fact, as long as you grasp the key, solving it becomes very easy." Another fable, The Quartet, tells the story of a monkey, a goat, an ass, and a black bear who want to perform a quartet. They pull the bowstrings, but the sound is always harsh. They think the problem is their seating arrangement, so they sit like this and then like that, busily rearranging, but the result is still discordant. Dear children, in our lives, studies, work, and everything else, how often do we waste time on futile efforts because we fail to grasp the essence and key of the problem? Krylov's fables also show deep sympathy for the weak and the kind, and express immense anger toward the tyrannical and the wicked. For example, in the fable The Wolf and the Lamb: the wolf accuses the lamb of daring to muddy the river water, and the lamb replies, "I dare to report to you, Your Majesty, that I am merely drinking water downstream, far from Your Majesty's domain of one hundred paces." How can drinking downstream possibly muddy the water upstream?" The "wolf king" then finds other excuses to torment the lamb, but they are all rejected. Finally, the wolf simply roars, "Your crime is that I want to eat you!" There are many fables like this that expose the law of the jungle. Krylov lived through Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and his fables are filled with patriotic passion. The Wolf in the Dog's Nest and The Crow and the Hen deal with such themes. In The Wolf in the Dog's Nest, the hungry wolf, seeing that the situation is unfavorable, immediately proposes peace, promising that he will no longer raid the flock and will even help them. But the crowd around responds: "One cannot adopt peaceful means with a wolf; one must tear its skin off!" Krylov's fables are not only profound in thought and reflection but also greatly developed in form compared to previous fables. He had written many plays, and his experience in writing plays was very beneficial for his fables at this time. The characters in his fables, whether human or animal, are all written with strong individuality. For example, in the fable Timofey's Fish Soup, the protagonist Timofey's eager persuasion for others to eat fish soup, and the neighbor's flattered and submissive attitude, are truly depicted with great depth. This fable is no less impressive than any short story.