Fables

Ivan Andreyevich Krylov (1769-1844) - a Russian poet-fabulist, translator, member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences. He was born into the family of a retired officer. Due to numerous relocations, he rarely attended educational institutions and learned to read and write at home. Later, thanks to his natural inclination for reading, languages, and sciences as well as self-discipline, he became one of the most enlightened people of his time. In 1789, he began publishing the satirical magazine "The Spirit's Post", and from 1792, the magazine "The Spectator". As a fabulist, I.A. Krylov made his mark in 1805 by translating two fables by La Fontaine into Russian. Soon, his own works appeared: "A Lesson for Daughters", "The Slacker", etc. A fable is a poetic or prose literary work of a satirical nature containing a moral - a brief instructive conclusion. In a fable, human vices are mocked in an allegorical form. This is one of the oldest literary genres, with Aesop, who lived in the 6th century BC, being considered the first fabulist. I.A. Krylov was the most famous fabulist in Russian literature; throughout his life, he wrote over 200 fables, the most famous of which are "The Swan, the Pike, and the Crawfish", "The Grasshopper and the Ant", "The Quartet", "The Crow and the Fox". The author, as if incidentally, wittily mocks human shortcomings: pride, selfishness, vanity, foolishness. Many lines from I.A. Krylov's fables have become proverbs and well-known expressions: "And you, friends, no matter how you sit, you are not fit for musicians", "Sing, little light, do not be shy!", "The strong always blames the weak", "The cuckoo praises the rooster for praising the cuckoo" and many others. The text of the works is provided without abridgment.