Fable is one of the oldest types of works of art dating back to the 3rd millennium BC. from Sumerian and Babylonian literature. The fable is always based on morality and storytelling.

The fable exposes the dark sides of the human character, and since these vices have no power over time, the legends of fables of past years are relevant to this day. They help develop moral and ethical qualities in children and carry a considerable educational role, guiding them on the right path.

The founder of the fable is considered to be Aesop - the ancient poet-fabulist of Ancient Greece (VI-V centuries BC), who wrote his works in prose. The original plots and the wisdom of his works, which have passed through many centuries, served as the basis for the plots of other famous authors-fabulists J. La Fontaine and I.A. Krylov.

Read Fables Online

In this section you will find the best collections of fables by Krylov, Aesop, J. La Fontaine, for children of any age, which will be useful in the process of developing and raising a child.

We love to read 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 every time we do not cease to be amazed at Krylov's insight.

It happens that the Pug will be remembered, which barks at the Elephant in order to give the impression of being brave and fearless, or suddenly a Monkey pops up in front of our eyes, which scoffed at itself, not recognizing the reflection in the Mirror. Laughter, and more! And how often there are meetings that are involuntarily compared with the Monkey, that out of her own ignorance, not knowing the value of the Points, she smashed 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 fables have long turned into winged expressions. Krylov's fables accompany us through life, have become akin to us and at any period will find understanding in us and help us to re-realize the values.

Krylov is a famous writer. Of all the children's poems and fables, Krylov's works are always the best, they are etched into memory and emerge during life when they meet human vices. It is often said that, they say, Krylov did not write for children, but is the meaning of his fables not clear to children? Usually morality is clearly written, so even the smallest child can usefully read Krylov's fables.

On our site, we post the best works of the author in their original presentation, and also separately highlight morality for convenience and better memorization of sometimes philosophical thoughts. Both a child and an adult 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 in that they contain not only text, but also a remarkable picture, easy navigation, cognitive facts and reasoning. After reading, the author will surely 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, talked a lot, printed books one after another and did not shy away from his obesity and laziness. The curiosities that happened to Krylov were expressed by him in instructive scenes, the simplicity of which is deceiving. He was not a fabulist, he was a philosopher-thinker, capable of comically describing the shortcomings of people in an amazing form accessible only to him with childish unobtrusiveness and ease. There is no need to look for only satire in Krylov's fables, their value does not end there. The content and meaning are philosophical rather than humorous. In addition to human vices, truths of being, 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 a child from an early age. They will show him what to watch out for in life, what behavior others condemn, and for what they can encourage. According to Krylov, the laws of life are natural and wise, he despises artificiality and self-interest. Morality, cleansed of any impurities and influences, is clear and laconic, contains a division between the right and the wrong. The remarkable manner of writing has led to the fact that every morality has become a popular proverb or a cheerful aphorism. The works are written in such a language that, although they look like literary forms, in fact they carry intonations and ridicule inherent only to the great popular mind. Krylov's little fables changed the general view of this genre. Innovation manifested itself in realism, philosophical note and worldly wisdom. Fables became small novels, sometimes dramas, in which the accumulated wisdom and cunning of the mind were manifested for centuries. 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 the essence of things, the characters of the characters and became a genre practically unattainable by other authors. Despite the satire, the fabulist loved life in all its manifestations, only he would very much like simple and natural truths to finally be replaced by low passions. The genre of the fable under his pen has become so high and perfected that, after rereading the fables of other authors, you will understand that there is no other such thing, and it is unlikely to be.

In the section of Krylov's fables online, we invite you to get acquainted with folk wisdom. Short philosophical works will not leave indifferent either children or adults.

This article contains summaries of 47 of the most famous fables by Ivan Andreevich Krylov

Krylov, the fable "The Wolf and the Lamb" - a summary

The moral of the fable: "the strong is always guilty of the powerless."

On a hot day, the lamb went to get drunk by the stream. A hungry Wolf ran past, who decided to pick up and eat the Lamb, but "to give the case a legitimate look and sense." Running up to the Lamb, he first began to say that he was muddying his clean drink with an unclean snout. The lamb made excuses that he was drinking a hundred steps below the Wolf's watering hole. The wolf, not embarrassed, immediately accused the Lamb of the rudeness done to him "last summer." But it turned out that the Lamb is not old and old. Then, without listening to further excuses, the Wolf growled: "You are to blame for the fact that I want to eat" - and dragged the Lamb into the dark forest.

Krylov "The Wolf and the Lamb". Artist E. Rachev

Krylov, the fable "The Wolf in the Kennel" - a summary

The wolf, thinking at night to climb into the sheepfold to the sheep, ended up in the kennel, to the hunting dogs. The dogs barked and the hounds came running. Driven into a corner, the Wolf, out of cunning, started negotiations: he offered his friendship, promised not to touch more of the local herds. “You are gray, and I, friend, gray,” interrupted the hunter. - And I know your wolf nature for a long time. I go to peace with wolves only by skinning them off. " And then he released a pack of hounds on the Wolf.

Krylov "Casket". Illustration for the fable

Krylov, the fable "Swan, Pike and Cancer" - a summary

"When there is no agreement among the comrades, their business will not go well." One day Swan, Cancer and Pike took to carrying a cart with luggage and harnessed to it. But "The Swan breaks into the clouds, Cancer moves back, and the Pike pulls into the water." Although they all climb out of their skin, but "things are still there." (See the full text of the fable.)

Krylov "Swan, Pike and Cancer"

Krylov, the fable "Lion fishing" - a summary

The dog, the lion, the wolf and the fox have agreed to divide equally among themselves all the prey that each of them will catch. The first of all the Fox caught the deer. Three of her comrades agreed to divide. The lion tore the deer in four, took the first part for himself "under the agreement", the second - also for himself, "like a lion", the third - because he is the strongest of the four, and about the fourth he warned: he won't get up alive. "

Krylov, the fable "Liar" - a summary

The lover of lies, "returning from distant wanderings", told a friend about the wonders of overseas countries. He assured that there is no night abroad, and in Rome there is a cucumber the size of a mountain. The liar's interlocutor noticed that there are many miracles in Russia. For example, the bridge they are now approaching is special: not a single liar can cross the river on it - he will surely fall into the water. The deceiver who came from abroad immediately began to say that the Roman cucumber might not be as big as a mountain, but the size of a house, and the houses in Italy are very small. Coming even closer to the river, the liar suggested to his friend not to go to the bridge, but rather to look for a ford.

Krylov, the fable "The Fox and the Grapes" - a summary

The hungry Fox climbed into the vineyard, but could not get a single succulent brush: they all hung too high. Having made her way in vain for a whole hour, the Fox walked away, saying that the grapes are sour and unripe - you can only set your teeth on edge.

Krylov, the fable "The Fox and the Marmot" - a summary

Marmot met Fox, who complained to him that she was unfairly deprived of her position in the chicken coop for bribes. Whining, the Fox told how among the chickens she did not sleep enough nights and didn’t eat a piece, but still became a victim of slander. “No, gossip, I have often seen that your stigma is in fluff,” said Marmot.

So, says Krylov, and among the officials, many swear that they are honest, do not steal and live out the last ruble, "and you look, little by little, they will build a house, then they will buy a village."

Krylov, the fable "Sheets and Roots" - a summary

On a beautiful summer day, the lush leaves of one tree boasted of their beauty and density, the fact that they provide shade for the shepherds to rest and attract dancers and singers under their shade. “You could say thank you here and to us,” a voice suddenly sounded from under the ground. The sheets asked who dares to object so haughtily. “We are the roots of the tree that feed you,” was the answer. - Show off, but remember that you are renewed every spring, and if the root dries up, then there will be neither the tree nor you. "

Krylov, the fable "Curious" - a summary

One Curious visited the Kunstkamera (an exhibition of curiosities) and told a friend that he saw tiny insects and boogers there, smaller than a pinhead. “What is an elephant like? - asked a friend. "After all, he is there too." “I didn’t notice the elephant,” Curious threw up his hands.

Krylov, the fable "The Frog and the Ox" - a summary

The frog, seeing a huge Vol in the meadow, wanted to equal him in size. She began to puff and swell with all her might - until she burst.

Moral of the fable: among ordinary people, many want to be like noble nobles and live like them - but they only try in vain.

Krylov, the fable "Frogs Begging the Tsar" - a summary

The frogs in the swamp got tired of the rule of the people, and they began to ask Zeus for a king. The Supreme God responded: the Monarch, a large aspen block of wood, plopped down from the sky into the swamp. Since the block was large, the frogs at first hid in fear, but then, emboldened, began to creep up to him. Some of them began to jump very close to the "king", some even sat on top of him, and he was just silent. Quickly bored with such a king, the frogs began to ask Zeus for another. He sent Crane to them to the swamp. This sovereign did not spoil his subjects. At the trial, his right was not. Declaring everyone guilty, Crane immediately ate everyone. Such a king turned out to be much worse for the frogs than the first. They again began to ask for a new one. But Zeus said that since neither the first nor the second choice pleased the frogs, let them live with the king they are.

Krylov, the fable "Monkey and Glasses" - a summary

By old age, the monkey began to see poorly. Hearing from people that Glasses could help from this, she got herself half a dozen of them. But the Monkey did not know how to use the Glasses: she then pressed them to the crown, then hung them on the tail, then smelled, then licked - and without getting any sense, spitting on human lies, broke the Glasses on a stone.

Likewise, ignoramuses, says Krylov, not knowing the price of a useful thing, cool it, and ignoramuses drive it out to know this thing.

Krylov "Monkey and glasses"

Krylov, the fable "Plague of animals" - a summary

The kingdom of beasts has undergone a terrible plague. Leo, having summoned all the forest and steppe inhabitants, suggested trying to end the pestilence by making a sacrifice to the gods. This sacrifice was to be the most sinful of the beasts. Leo himself immediately confessed his sins: he often innocently tore up the sheep, and sometimes the shepherds. The Fox who ran out said that it was not at all a great sin: the sheep are even honored that they are eaten by the king of beasts himself, and the shepherds are the common enemies of all predators. Other strong animals - Bear, Tiger and Wolf - also repented of their grave sins, however, looking at their claws and teeth, the audience admitted that there were no serious offenses behind them. But when the peaceful herbivorous Ox confessed that once during a famine he had pulled a bundle of hay from the priest, the gathering of animals roared with indignation. The ox was doomed to a sacrifice and was taken up on the fire.

Krylov, fable "Musicians" - a summary

One neighbor, who greatly praised his singers, invited another to listen to them. The musicians began to chant loudly, but without any harmony and order - "some in the forest, some for wood." A neighbor-listener noticed that "the chorus is bawling nonsense." “You're right,” the inviter replied. “But on the other hand, all my musicians don’t take drunken things in their mouths.”

“For me it’s better to drink, but make better sense,” Krylov deduces morality.

Krylov, the fable "Oboz" - a summary

A wagonload of pots descended a steep mountain. The good horse harnessed to the first cart began slowly lowering the steeper load with pots. A young horse walking behind began to scold the good horse: he, they say, walks too carefully, and at the same time sometimes clings to the cart for stones. But when the horse's turn came to go down with his cart, she could not bear the pressure of the load, began to throw herself sideways, fell into the ditch and broke all the pots.

And in people, says Krylov, there is often a noticeable weakness to expose other people's mistakes. And as you yourself get down to business, so "you will do it twice as bad."

Krylov, fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale" - a summary

Hearing that the nightingale is a great master of singing, the donkey asked him to show him his art. The nightingale burst into a wonderful trill, which was heard by people and nature. The donkey restrainedly praised the nightingale and advised him to "sharpen up more" in singing, to learn from the yard rooster.

"Deliver, God, and us from such judges," - Krylov's morality.

Krylov, fable "Parnassus" - a summary

When the pagan gods were driven out of Greece, donkeys began to graze on Mount Parnassus, where the muses (nine goddesses of the arts) used to live. Having learned that the muses used to sing beautiful songs on Parnassus, the donkeys decided to imitate them. The herd of donkeys began to roar at all throats, "as if the wagon train, in which there are thousands of non-oiled wheels, had started." The owner, who came running, hastened to drive the donkeys back to the barn.

Moral of Krylov: "if the head is empty, then the head of the mind will not be given space."

Krylov, the fable "The Hermit and the Bear" - a summary

Moral of the fable: it is good when one tries to serve the other. But if a fool gets down to business, then his services are often more dangerous than enemy intrigues.

The hermit who lived in the desert suffered from loneliness. To make a friend, he went to the forest and met the Bear there. The Hermit and the Bear have become inseparable. One day they wandered together all day. The hermit was tired and went to sleep. The kind, but simple-minded Bear, guarding the dream of a comrade, began to drive away the fly that was landing on him with his paw. She was so obsessive that the Bear decided to kill her. Taking a huge cobblestone, he struck a fly that had landed on the Hermit's forehead - and split his friend's skull.

Krylov, the fable "The Rooster and the Pearl Grain" - a summary

A rooster who found a grain of pearl in a dung heap decided that it was a completely empty thing, much more useless than a nourishing grain of barley.

The moral of the fable: "the ignorant judge exactly like this: what they don't understand, then everything is a trifle with them."

Krylov, the fable "The Choosy Bride" - a summary

The bride girl was looking for a groom, but she was too picky. At first, noble and eminent people wooed her, but she found flaws in everyone: one without ranks, the other without orders, the third had a wide nose ... Two years later, there were fewer suitors - and people of "average hand" began to woo. The discerning bride was in no hurry to answer them in return. As time went. The bride has become a mature maiden. Her beauty faded. The grooms almost stopped wooing - and the bride "was already glad that she had married a cripple."

Krylov, the fable "Pig" - a summary

The pig, having climbed into the manor's yard, according to its custom, rolled there in the slops and returned home head over heels dirty. The shepherd asked what wonders she saw at the rich, where, they say, everything is full of beads and pearls. The pig replied that she did not notice the riches, saw only dung and litter and dug the entire backyard for the bars with its snout.

Krylov compares with this pig a mediocre literary critic who "whatever he tries to analyze, he has the gift of seeing one bad thing."

Krylov, the fable "The Pig under the Oak" - a summary

The pig ate the acorns under the Oak, slept and began to undermine the roots of the tree with its snout. “This can dry up the tree,” a raven sitting on a branch told her. “Let it go,” answered the Pig. - I have no use from him, there would be acorns. “If you lifted up your snout, you would see that acorns are growing on me,” said Oak.

So an ignoramus, notes Krylov, scolds science and learning, not feeling that he is partaking of their fruits.

Krylov "Dragonfly and Ant". Artist O. Voronova

Krylov, the fable "Trishkin Kaftan" - a summary

Trishka's caftan ripped through his elbows. Without thinking twice, he cut off the sleeves and sewed up the hole. However, now everyone laughed at the short sleeves of Trishkin's caftan. “So I’m not a fool and I’ll fix that trouble,” said Trishka. He cut off the folds and hem, adjusted the sleeves, but his caftan is now shorter than a camisole.

Here are some gentlemen, confusing matters, correct them in the manner of Trishkin's caftan, writes Krylov.

Krylov, the fable "Cloud" - a summary

A Big Cloud swept over the region, exhausted from the heat, but then it poured down in a heavy rain over the sea - and boasted of this generosity of its own before the Mountain. “There is enough water in the sea without you,” said Horus. "And so you would save the whole region from hunger."

Krylov, the fable "Fortune and the beggar" - a summary

Poor Man Beggar, looking at the rich, wondered at their greed. Many made huge fortunes, but in order to double them even more, they embarked on risky deals - and in the end they lost everything. The goddess of luck Fortune, taking pity on the Beggar, appeared to him and offered help. Fortune promised that she would pour as much gold into the old bag of the Beggar as it could withstand, but with the condition: if the Beggar himself does not stop this stream in time, and the gold breaks through the bottom with its weight, then, spilling out on the ground, it will turn to dust. Fortune began to pour gold into the bag. It soon cracked from decay, but the Beggar, who had previously condemned the rich, now, out of greed, did not stop the golden rain until the bottom of the bag broke and the waking up gold turned to dust.

Krylov, the fable "Chizh and the Dove" - ​​a summary

Chizh fell into a trap. Young Dove began to laugh at him, saying that he really would not have been cheated, but then he himself got entangled in the snare. “Don't laugh at someone else’s trouble, Golubok,” Krylov concludes.

Krylov, the fable "Pike and Cat" - a summary

"The trouble is, if the shoemaker starts to bake the pies, and the cake-maker starts making boots." No one should take up someone else's craft. Once a Pike, who was good at catching ruff, began to ask the Cat to take her with him on a mouse hunt. The cat dissuaded her, but Pike was stubborn, and the two of them went to the barn. The cat caught a lot of mice there, while the Pike lay without water, and rats had eaten a little live tail. The cat with difficulty pulled the half-dead Pike back into the pond.

Fables usually make fun of our actions, which we do not attach importance to. And it turns out not offensive, but somehow kindly, with animals and plants. Since when reading a fable, first you see animals, and then you imagine people, and only after that you compare them with yourself. It arose four thousand years ago, is a legacy of poetry, and exists to this day.

History

A fable is a short narrative depicting, revealing a certain human flaw, for example, cowardice, greed, anger, hypocrisy. If at the end of the work the vice is written openly, then in this case it is called the moral of the fable, instruction.

The difference between a fairy tale, which also teaches us good deeds, and a fable, is as short and clear as possible. Often it is not a person who acts in it, but animals, thinking and acting like people. A fable is a short instructive story that is written in poetry or prose. It has an allegorical form and exposes human vices.

Biography

Ivan Andreevich was born in Moscow into a captain's family. In 1774, they moved to Tver, since the father of the young writer retired. After the death of her father, mother, who fell into begging and worked as a servant for wealthy people, begged the local authorities to take her son, who was only 9 years old, and who had received a home education, into the service - to rewrite important papers. He read a lot, as a result of self-education, Krylov began to be considered an extremely enlightened representative of that period.

The genre of the fable in the work of Krylov

He composed his first work when he was 11. Books were scattered in gigantic editions for those times, reprinted regularly every 4 years. In the first collection there were 20 fables, in the final - about 200.

The originality of Krylov's fables lies in the fact that he discovered not just human shortcomings, but directly those that a Russian person has. His characters are typical for their period.

Most of the fables tell about a specific real event from history, in particular, there are works about the war of 1812.

A characteristic feature of the style of the poet's fables is the use of a colloquial lexicon. Sentences of various lengths to help show spoken language.

Heroes of Krylov's fable

Even in childhood, we got to know the close-minded crow and cunning cheat from the poet's fable called "The Crow and the Fox". The ingratiating words of the red fox remain in memory for a long time. Why, then, such figures, sinking into the soul almost from infancy, walk alongside us along the path of life?

Even during the life of Ivan Andreevich, his works were called fairy tales. And not only the little ones, but also the big ones begged to tell a new one. Everyone saw a personal meaning in the fable: a child - a moralizing tale, adults - a hidden irony. This was also helped by the preference of the writer to use for the role of heroes of animals who arrived in the work from fairy tales. What is so magical about such images?

Characteristic

Even in childhood, from fairy tales, we know that the fox is cunning, the donkey is stubborn, the wolf is greedy and voracious, the bear is clumsy. Such images were formed by the people for many centuries, were honed from time to time, and eventually turned into concrete prototype characters.

The use of these types in the future to depict not only a specific situation, but also people instantly conveyed a clear assessment of the situation. It turns out that such images were made colorful and visual details for any fable. And just such types are taken by Krylov from folk tales that protected the precious experience of their ancestors.

Figures from fairy tales are noticed by young readers. Animals and objects are a prism for understanding the text of the poet's fables. The works contain images invented by Krylov himself. Like a restless ("Mirror and the Monkey") and inquisitive ("Monkey and Glasses") monkey, a snake snake ("The Slanderer and the Snake"). They were formed by the writer on the type of magical heroes, for which the most typical lines were assigned, both in actions and in figurative assessment.

Such newly minted animal prototypes, created similarly to fantastic characters, found widespread among the people in the future.

Both the types that the author created and the heroes from fairy tales have one more thing they instruct, but not a burden. The curious cases in which animals find themselves, non-intrusively present the reader with a certain way out. But he sometimes has a contradictory interpretation, due to those who read the fable. For example, in the work "The Dragonfly and the Ant" a child sympathizes with the fidget dragonfly and condemns the ruthless ant, while the adult scolds the dragonfly's frivolity and understands the reaction of the working ant.

Take also the fable "The Frog and the Ox". Her moral is that envy is a negative feeling. You need to soberly assess your own potential. A person must have justified ambitions, set possible goals for himself and achieve them. The heroes of Krylov's fable are not negative.

Such a contradiction, made intentionally or accidentally, then helps to perceive in a duality every circumstance in life. This teaches a person to constantly and in everything to look for the reverse side of the object.

And the heroes of Krylov's fables are rarely bad. There are simply two antagonistic morals, and the truth remains controversial.

Popular works

Almost any poet's fable is elementary and clear to a person of any age. She acts as a true didactic lesson. Among the most famous works of the author in question are:

• "A Crow and a fox".
• "The Frog and the Ox".
• "Swan, Cancer and Pike".
• The fable "Tit".
• "Dragonfly and Ant".

Krylov put an individual secret meaning into his works, revealing questions that are significant for a person about lies and hypocrisy, stupidity and obstinacy. A variety of events in society inspired the poet to work: the act of tsarist rule and the facts of the Patriotic War, pressure on serfs and policy innovations.

Drafting, preface, notes and explanations

V.P. Anikina

Artists

S. Bordyug and N. Trepenok

Russian genius

Twenty-year-old Ivan Andreevich Krylov, still a little-known writer, published his first fables in 1788, without a signature, in the St. Petersburg magazine "Morning Hours". And the first book of fables was published years later - only in 1809. Not without success, having worked in various types of creativity, Krylov realized that the genre of the fable is best for him. Fable has become almost an exclusive kind 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 vast knowledge in the field of ancient and new European literatures with the realization that the type of creativity he chose by nature belongs to the genus of creativity in which folk morality is expressed. This morality, for example, is manifested in Russian fairy tales about animals, in proverbs, in teachings, - in general, in the peasant fables... In Russia, an intricate story has long been called fable... "Fables-fairy tales" are inseparable from the lively conduct of a fictional story, spiced with a joke, a teaching. For a long time this was not understood by many of Krylov's predecessors, who failed because they did not realize that the fable is inseparable from the spoken language.

Thus, a well-known hardworking philologist, a member of the 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 bone on a certain day.
So that he was not able to howl, but became all in a stump.
For that he hired a crane at a price,
To remove that nose from the throat in a long time.

Tredyakovsky guessed that the fable story should be told in the folk way, and it was no accident that he introduced some colloquial words and expressions into his translation (although not without distortion): remained heavy, bookish.

Let us compare Krylov's fable with Tredyakovsky's translation:

That wolves are greedy, everyone knows:
Wolf, have eaten, never
Can't make out bones.
For one of them trouble came:
He nearly choked on a bone.
Can't Wolf neither gasp nor sigh;
It came at least to stretch your legs!

The whole structure of presentation is light, 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 kind of artificiality.

The famous scientist-philologist of the XX century Viktor Vladimirovich Vinogradov specially studied the language and style of Krylov's fables and noted dozens of folk proverbs in them. The scientist gave a long list of proverbs and sayings that the fabulist used, called them "semantic braces", that is, connections that convey semantic unity to the presentation of a fable history. Here are some of them: "The family has its black sheep" ("An elephant in the voivodeship"), "Though the eye sees, but the tooth is numb" ("The fox and the grapes"), "Poverty is not a vice" ("The farmer and the shoemaker"), "Out of the fire into the fire" ("Lady and two maids"), "Do not spit in the well - it will be useful to drink water" ("Lion and Mouse") and dozens of others. The fabulist relied on the designations and comparisons of animals and birds with people that are familiar in our language: the crow is a prophet, but greedy for 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, sayings and allegorical words included in the fables, were developed and clarified by Krylov.

Krylov's primacy among fabulists continues to this day. And in our time, his fables captivate readers. He is put on a par with the greatest artists of all times and peoples. No one is surprised that he is equated with the ancient Greek Aesop, with other world famous fabulists. But most of all he is appreciated in Russia as an artist who expressed the common sense and mind of our people.

V.P. Anikin

A Crow and a fox

How many times have they told the world
That flattery is vile, harmful; but everything is not for the future,
And a flatterer will always find a corner in his heart.
___
God sent a piece of cheese to a crow somewhere;
Perched on a Crow spruce,
For breakfast, I was really getting ready,
Yes, she became thoughtful, and kept cheese in her mouth.
To that misfortune, Fox ran shortly;
Suddenly the cheesy spirit stopped Lisa:
The fox sees the cheese, - The fox is captivated by the cheese.
The cheat approaches the tree on tiptoe;
He twirls his tail, does not take his eyes off the Crow,
And he speaks so sweetly, barely breathing:
“My dear, how lovely!
What a neck, what eyes!
Tell, really, fairy tales!
What pears! what a sock!
And surely there should be an angelic voice!
Sing, light, do not be ashamed! What if, sister,
With such beauty, and you are a craftswoman to sing,
After all, you would have had a king-bird! "
Veshchunina's head was dizzy with praise,
From joy in the goiter the breath stopped, -
And the fox's words are friendly
The crow croaked into the crow's throat:
The cheese fell out - there was a cheat with it.

Oak and Cane

With the Reed, Oak once entered the speech.
"Truly, you grumble in the right to nature",
He said: “A sparrow, and that one is hard for you.
A little breeze will ripple the water
You stagger, start to weaken
And so bend over lonely
What a pity to look at you.
While, along with the Caucasus, proudly,
It is not only the sun that I obstruct the rays,
But, laughing at the whirlwinds and thunderstorms,
I stand firm and straight
As if shielded by an inviolable world.
Everything is like a storm to you - everything seems to me like a marshmallow.
Although you would grow in a circle,
The dense shade of my branches covered,
From bad weather I could be your protection;
But nature has given you your lot
The shores of the stormy Aeolian domain:
Of course, she has absolutely no zeal for you. " -
"You are very compassionate"
said Cane in response,
“However, do not crash: I don’t have so much thinness.
It is not for myself that I fear the whirlwinds;
Even though I bend, I don't break:
So storms do me little harm;
They threaten you almost no more!
It is true that their ferocity is still
Your fortress has not overcome
And from their blows you did not bow your face;
But - let's wait for the end! "
As soon as the Cane said that,
Suddenly rushes from the northern sides
And with hail, and with rain rustling aquilon.
The oak is holding on, - Reed has fallen to the ground.
The wind is raging, he doubled his strength,
Roared and uprooted
The one who touched heaven with his head
And in the area of ​​shadows he rested with his heel.

Musicians

The neighbor's neighbor called for a bite;
But there was another intent here:
The owner loved music
And he lured his neighbor to listen to the singers.
The fellows sang: some to the forest, some for firewood,
And who has that strength.
The guest's ears crackled,
And my head started spinning.
“Have mercy on me,” he said with surprise:
“What to admire here? Your choir
Shouting nonsense! " -
“That’s true,” replied the owner with affection:
“They fight a little;
But they do not take intoxicated into your mouth,
And all with excellent behavior. "
___
And I will say: for me it is better to drink,
Yes, it's a matter of understanding.

Crow and Chicken

When the Smolensk Prince,
Using art against insolence,
Vandals set a new network
And left Moscow for their destruction:
Then all the inhabitants, both small and large,
Without spending an hour, gathered
And they rose from the walls of Moscow,
Like a swarm of bees from a hive.
The crow from the roof is here for this whole alarm
Calmly, brushing his nose, he looks.
"And what are you, gossip, on the road?"
The Chicken shouts to her from the cart:
"After all, they say that at the doorstep
Our adversary. " -
"What does it matter to me?"
The prophet answered her: “I will boldly stay here.
Here are your sisters, as they wish;
But the Raven is neither fried nor boiled:
So it's not surprising for me to get along with guests,
And maybe you can still profit
Cheese, or a bone, or something.
Goodbye, crested, happy journey! "
The crow truly remained;
But, instead of all the gains for her,
How Smolensky began to starve guests -
She herself got into their soup.
___
So often a person is blind and stupid in calculations.
For happiness, it seems that you are rushing on the heels:
And how can you really reckon with him -
Got caught like a crow in soup!

Casket

It often happens to us
And labor and wisdom to see there,
Where one has only to guess
It's easy to get down to business.
___
They brought a Casket from the master to someone.
The decoration, the cleanliness of the Casket threw himself into the eyes;
Well, every Casket admired the beautiful.
Here comes the sage into the Engineer's room.
Looking at the Casket,
he said: “A box with a secret,
So; he is without a lock;
And I undertake to open; yes, yes, I am sure of that;
Don't laugh so surreptitiously!
I will find the secret and I will tell you the Casket:
In Mechanics I am also worth something. "
Here he began to work on the Casket:
Turns it around from all sides
And breaks his head;
Now a carnation, then another, then a bracket shakes.
Here, looking at him, another
Shakes his head;
Those whisper, and those laugh among themselves.
In the ears, it just gives off:
"Not here, not so, not there!" The mechanic is more torn.
Sweated, sweated; but finally tired
I lagged behind Casket
And how to open it, I did not guess in any way:
And the Casket just opened.

Frog and Ox

The frog, seeing Vol in the meadow,
She started to catch up with him in her maternity:
She was envious.
And well, puff up, puff and puff up.
"Look, wah, what, shall I be with him?"
He says to a friend. "No, gossip, far away!" -
“Look how I am swelling wide now.
Well, how does it feel?
Have I replenished? " - "Almost nothing." -
"Well, how now?" - "That's all."
Puffed and puffed
And my entertainer ended on
That, not equal to the Ox,
With a strain, she burst and - numb.
___
There is more than one such example in the world:
And is it any wonder when a philistine wants to live,
As an eminent citizen,
And the fry is small, like a noble nobleman.

Wolf and Lamb

The strong is always to blame for the powerless:
We hear a lot of examples of that in History,
But we do not write History;
But about how they say in Fables.
___
On a hot day, the lamb went to the stream to drink;
And trouble must happen,
That a hungry Wolf was prowling around those places.
He sees the lamb, strives for prey;
But, to give the case, although a legal form and sense,
Shouts: "How dare you, impudent, with an unclean snout
It's pure to stir up the drink here
My
With sand and silt?
For such insolence
I'll rip your head off. " -
"When the lightest Wolf allows,
I dare to convey: what's down the stream
From the Grace of his steps I drink a hundred;
And he will deign to be angry in vain:
I can’t stir up his drinking in any way ”. -
“That’s why I’m lying!
Waste! Have you ever heard such audacity in the world!
Yes, I remember that you are still in the last summer
Somehow he was rude to me here:
I have not forgotten this, buddy! " -
"Have mercy, I am not a year old yet",
The lamb speaks. "So that was your brother." -
"I have no brothers." - "So this is a godfather il swat
And, in a word, someone from your own family.
You yourself, your dogs and your shepherds,
You all want me to hurt
And if you can, then you always harm me:
But I will divorce you for their sins. " -
"Oh, what am I to blame?" - “Shut up! I'm tired of listening
Leisure for me to sort out your guilt, puppy!
You are to blame for the fact that I want to eat. "
He said and dragged the Lamb into the dark forest.

Monkey

When to adopt wisely, then it is not a miracle
And to find benefit from that;
And crazy to adopt,
And God forbid, how bad it is!
I will give an example of that from distant countries.
Those who have seen Monkeys know
How eagerly they all take over.
So in Africa, where there are many Monkeys,
A whole flock of them sat
By the boughs, by the branches on a thick tree
And furtively looked at the catcher,
He rolled around like on the grass in nets.
Each friend here is quietly talking to a friend,
And everyone whispers to each other:
“Look at the daredevil;
There is really no end to his ventures:
It will somersault
It will unfold
Then all in a lump
He'll get away with it like that
That there are no arms or legs to be seen.
We are not craftswomen at all,
And this art is not to be seen in our country!
Beauties-sisters!
It would not be bad for us to adopt this.
He seemed to amuse himself rather;
Perhaps it will leave, then we will immediately ... ”Look,
He really left and left their nets for them.
“Well,” they say: “and we waste time?
Let's go try! "
The beauties are gone. For dear guests
Scattered below are many nets.
Well, in them they tumble, roll,
And wrap and curl;
Screaming, screaming - fun anywhere!
Yes, that's the trouble,
When, it came from the network to get out!
The owner, meanwhile, has erased
And, seeing that it's time, he goes to the guests with bags,
They, in order to run away,
Yes, no one could unravel:
And they took all of them with their hands.

Tit

The titmouse set off to the sea;
She boasted
That the sea wants to burn.
Immediately became glorified about that in the world speech.
Fear embraced the inhabitants of the Neptune capital;
Birds fly in flocks;
And animals from the woods come running to watch
How will the Ocean be, and is it hot to burn.
And even, they say, by hearing winged rumor,
Hunters haunt the feasts
From the first with spoons came to the shores,
To sip on fish soup so rich,
What kind of tax farmer and the most tedious
Didn't give the secretaries.
They crowd: everyone marvels at the miracle in advance,
It is silent and, staring at the sea, waits;
Only occasionally another whispers:
"It will boil, it will immediately catch fire!"
Not so: the sea does not burn.
Does it boil though? - and does not boil.
And how did the grandiose ventures end?
The titmouse swam away with shame;
Gave Tit of glory
But the sea did not light up.
___
It is good to speak to speech here,
But without touching anyone's face:
What a deed, without ending,
There is no need to boast.

A donkey

When Jupiter inhabited the universe
And the tribe led various creatures,
And then the Donkey was born.
But with intent, or, having things to do,
At such a busy time
The fire-extinguisher has blundered:
And the Donkey spilled out almost like a squirrel small.
Almost no one noticed the donkey,
Even in arrogance, the Donkey was not inferior to anyone.
The donkey would like to be glorified:
But with what? having such growth,
And I'm ashamed to appear in the light.
Stuck to Jupiter My arrogant donkey
And he began to ask for more growth.
“Have mercy,” he says: “how can you take it down?
Lions, leopards and elephants are so honored everywhere;
Moreover, from the great to the smallest,
All the talk about them is only about them;
Why are you so dashing to the Donkeys,
That they have no honor,
And not a word about Donkeys?
And if I was only as tall as a calf,
Then I would be arrogant from the lions and from the leopards,
And the whole world would have spoken about me. "
That day, then again
My donkey sang to Zeus;
And before that he got bored
That finally the supplication of the donkey
Zeus obeyed:
And the Donkey became a great beast;
And besides that, he was given such a wild voice,
That my eared Hercules
The whole forest was scared.
“What kind of beast? what kind?
Tea, is he toothy? horns, tea, no number? "
Well, only the speeches went about the Donkey.
But how did it end? Not even a year has passed
How did everyone know who the Donkey is:
My donkey has entered the proverb with stupidity.
And the Donkey is already carrying water.
___
Highness is good in breed and rank;
But what comes in her when the soul is low?

Monkey and glasses

By old age, the monkey has become weak with eyes;
And she heard from people
That this evil is not yet such a big hand:
It is only worth getting the Glasses.
She got herself half a dozen glasses;
Turns the Glasses this way and that:
Now he will press them to the crown, then he will string them on the tail,
He sniffs them, then licks them;
The glasses do not work in any way.
“Ugh, abyss! - she says: - and that fool,
Who listens to all human enemies:
Everything about the Glasses just lied to me;
And hair is useless in them. "
The monkey is here with vexation and sorrow
Oh the stone so grabbed them,
That only the spray sparkled.
___
Unfortunately, it happens with people:
No matter how useful a thing is, without knowing the price,
The ignorant about her is all the worse for the worse;
And if an ignoramus is more cognizant,
So he also drives her away.

Atheists

There was a people in ancient times, to the shame of earthly tribes.
Which hardened in hearts before,
That he armed himself against the gods.
Rebellious crowds, for a thousand banners,
Some with a bow, some with a sling, noisy, rush into the field.
Instigators, from daring heads,
To set fire to bole among the people,
They shout that the judgment of heaven is both strict and stupid;
That the gods either sleep, or rule recklessly;
That it is time to teach them a lesson without ranks;
Which, however, is not difficult with stones from the nearby mountains
Throw into the sky at the gods
And sweep Olympus with arrows.
Confused by the audacity of madmen and blasphemy,
All Olympus approached Zeus with a prayer,
To avert trouble;
And even the whole council of the gods of those thoughts was,
What, to the conviction of the rioters, is not bad
Show at least a small miracle:
Or a flood, or a thunder with a coward,
Or at least hit them with a stone rain.
"Let's wait"
Jupiter ryok: “and if they don’t humble themselves
And in a riot they will oppress, without fear of immortals,
They are executed from their deeds. "
Then with a noise in the air soared
The darkness of stones, a cloud of arrows from the godly troops,
But with a thousand deaths, both evil and inevitable,
Heads fell upon their own.
___
The fruits of unbelief are terrible;
And know, peoples, you,
That the imaginary sages of blasphemy are bold,
Than they arm you against the deity,
Your deadly hour is drawing near,
And all will turn into arrows of thunder for you.

Eagle and chickens

Wishing to completely admire a bright day,
The eagle flew in the sky
And walked there,
Where lightning will be born.
Finally descending from the cloudy heights,
The Tsar Bird sits down on the barn to rest.
Although this is an unenviable perch for the Eagle,
But the Kings have their own quirks:
Perhaps he wanted to do honor to the barn,
Or was it not close, for him to sit in order,
No oak, no granite rock;
I don't know what the thought is, but just now the Eagle
Didn't sit a lot
And then he flew to another barn.
Seeing that, a crested hen
He interprets this with his godfather:
“Why are the Eagles so honored?
Really for the flight, dear neighbor?
Well, really, if I want to,
From barn to barn and I will fly.
Let's not go ahead such fools
To honor Orlov more noble than us.
They have neither legs nor eyes greater than ours;
You saw now
That from below they fly like chickens. "
The eagle replies, bored with nonsense:
“You're right, just not quite.
Eagles happen to descend below the chickens;
But chickens will never rise to the clouds! "
___
When you judge talents -
Consider their weaknesses of labors do not waste in vain;
But, feeling that they are both strong and beautiful,
Be able to comprehend their different heights.