Krylov's fables are familiar to all Russians from childhood. Memorizing poems such as "The Crow and the Fox", "The Wolf and the Lamb" or "The Dragonfly and the Ant" at school or even in kindergarten, few people know that the Russian fabulist was not the creator of these plots.
Fable - a work of a satirical and moral character - has never been widespread in Russian literature. The fables of A. Kantemir, V. Trediakovsky, A. Sumarokov and I. Dmitriev were not included in the “golden fund” of Russian literature, they are now forgotten. It is possible to name only two Russian writers who have clearly shown themselves in this genre: Ivan Krylov in the 19th century. and Sergei Mikhalkov in the 20th century. But only I. Krylov entered the history of literature precisely as a fabulist: his comedies, tragedies and stories are forgotten, fables continue to be published, many quotes from them have become winged words.
The origins of I. Krylov's fables
Contemporaries often called Ivan Krylov “Russian Lafontaine”. The French poet Jean de La Fontaine (1621-1695) also became famous for his fables, and from this point of view, his resemblance to I. Krylov is beyond doubt. But the comparison of the two writers had another important aspect: I. Krylov borrowed the plots of many of his fables from J. La Fontaine.
The fable "The Wolf and the Lamb" is closest to the French source. It is enough to compare the beginning of I. Krylov's fable with the literal translation of the first line of J. La Fontaine's fable: "The strong is always the powerless to blame" - "The arguments of the strong are always the best." Even the details coincide, for example, both poets "measure" the distance between the characters in steps.
Plots of some other fables - "Dragonfly and Ant", "Crow and Fox", "Oak and Reed", "Frog and Ox", "Choosy Bride", "Two Doves", "Frogs Begging the Tsar", "Plague of Animals" - also taken from La Fontaine.
I. Krylov and J. Lafontaine
Borrowing plots from J. La Fontaine is not surprising, because I. Krylov idolized him. And yet the fables of I. Krylov cannot be reduced to a "free translation" of J. La Fontaine's fables. With the exception of "The Wolf and the Lamb", the Russian fabulist places semantic accents in a completely different way. For example, I. Krylov's fable "Dragonfly and the Ant" unequivocally condemns the Dragonfly's frivolity and encourages Ant's diligence and foresight. In J. La Fontaine's fable "The Cicada and the Ant", the lack of "Mistress Ant" (in French this word is feminine), who does not like to lend, even at interest, is also condemned.
However, J. La Fontaine himself, in most cases, was not the author of the plots of his fables. Plots about a wolf and a lamb, a cicada and an ant, a raven and a fox and many others were taken by him from ancient fabulists: Aesop, Babria, Phaedra. Some plots were borrowed directly from Aesop and I. Krylov - in particular, "The Fox and the Grapes".
But I. Krylov also has such fables, the plots of which were invented by the authors themselves and could only have been born “on Russian soil”. The fable "The Grove and Fire" is connected with the meeting of Napoleon and Alexander I in Erfurt in 1808, "The Wolf in the Kennel" - with Napoleon's attempt to offer negotiations for peace at the end of the war of 1812. The fable "The Monkey and Glasses" ridicules the fashionable toilets of the late 18th century, an important detail of which were glasses, "Dog Friendship" alludes to the Vienna Congress of 1815 and disagreements between members of the Holy Union, "Pike and Cat" ridicules General P. Chichagov, who could not stop Napoleon crossing the Berezina. The plots of the fables "Casket", "Quartet", "Swan, Pike and Cancer", "Trishkin's Caftan", "Crow and Chicken" I. Krylov also did not borrow from anyone.
