Krylov's Fable: Donkey and Nightingale

Donkey and nightingale - Krylov's fable

Donkey saw the Nightingale
And he says to him: "Listen, buddy!
You, they say, are a great master of singing.
I would really like
Judge for yourself, hearing your singing,
Is your skill really great? "
Here the Nightingale began to show his art:
Clicked, whistled
A thousand frets, pulled, poured;
Then gently he weakened
And languid in the distance with a pipe he gave,
It suddenly crumbled in small fractions across the grove.
All listened then
Favorite and singer of Aurora;
The breezes died down, the choir birds fell silent,
And the flocks lay down
Breathing a little, the shepherd admired him
And only sometimes
Listening to the Nightingale, he smiled at the shepherdess.
The singer died. Donkey, staring at the ground with his forehead,
"Fairly," he says, "it's not right to say,
You can listen to you without boredom;
It's a pity that I'm unfamiliar
You are with our rooster;
You would have perked up more,
Whenever I could learn a little from him, "
Hearing such judgment, my poor Nightingale
He flew up - and flew over the distant fields.
God save us from such judges.

I. S. Turgenev wrote: “From childhood, Krylov was a typical Russian person all his life: his way of thinking, views, feelings and all his writings were truly Russian, and it can be said without any exaggeration that a foreigner who thoroughly studied Krylov's fables, will have a clearer idea of ​​the Russian national character than if he reads many essays on this subject. "

In this lesson, you will learn about another vice of Russian society, exposed by the great fabulist.

The fable, which will be discussed, was written more than a hundred years ago, but has not lost its relevance to this day.

Rice. 1. O. A. Kiprensky. “Portrait of I.A. Krylov ", 1816 ()

The reason for the creation of the fable was an incident from the life of Krylov (Fig. 1): “A nobleman (according to some - Count Razumovsky, according to others - Prince AN Golitsyn), perhaps following the example of Emperor. Maria Feodorovna, who patronized the poet, or perhaps sincerely wishing to make acquaintance with him, invited him to her place and asked him to read two or three fables. Krylov artistically read several fables, including one borrowed from La Fontaine. The nobleman listened to him favorably and thoughtfully said: "That's good, but why don't you translate like Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev?" “I don’t know how,” the poet answered modestly. That was the end of the conversation. Returning home, touched to the quick, the fabulist poured out his bile in the fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale." Kenevich V.F. From "Bibliographic and Historical Notes to Krylov's Fables"

After the publication of the fable, Krylov began to be called "The Nightingale". This nickname has entered the literature.

Let's turn to the text of the fable.

Donkey and Nightingale (fig. 2)

Rice. 2. A still from an animated film based on the fables of I.A. Krylov "In the world of fables" ()

Donkey saw the Nightingale

And he says to him: “Listen, buddy!

You, they say, are a great master of singing.

I would really like

Judge for yourself, hearing your singing,

Is your skill really great? "

Here the Nightingale began to show his art:

Clicked, whistled

A thousand frets, pulled, poured;

Then gently he weakened

And languid in the distance I gave myself a pipe,

It suddenly crumbled in small fractions across the grove.

All listened then

To Aurora's favorite and singer:

The breezes died down, the choir birds fell silent,

And the flocks lay down.

Breathing a little, the shepherd admired him

And only sometimes

Listening to the Nightingale, he smiled at the shepherdess

The singer died. Donkey staring at the ground with his forehead;

“Fairly,” he says, “it's not right to say,

You can listen to you without boredom;

It's a pity that I'm unfamiliar

You are with our rooster;

You would have perked up more,

Whenever I could learn a little from him. "

Hearing such judgment, my poor Nightingale

He fluttered and - flew over the distant fields.

Deliver, God, and us from such judges.

Vladislav Feofilovich Kenevich, a contemporary and the first systematic researcher of Krylov's literary activity, wrote in his Bibliographic and Historical Notes to Krylov's Fables: “It is known that Krylov was incomparably stricter towards himself than his readers: he copied the same fable many times , each time he altered it and was satisfied only when not a single word remained in it, which, as he put it, “was boring to him”. That is why we can assert that every word in I.A. Krylova carries a certain semantic load.

So, there are two key images in the fable: the Donkey and the Nightingale.

What words and phrases does the fabulist use to create the image of the Donkey? Let's turn to the dictionary.

"Buddy"- a familiar appeal to a friend (note that the Nightingale was not a friend of the Donkey, which makes his address even more familiar and negligent, which allows us to conclude that the Donkey is ill-mannered).

Further - the word "Master" seems to convey admiration. A master is a master, a virtuoso in his field, and even to a superlative degree. But the consonance with the word "friend", and even the obvious tautology "great master" again negatively characterizes the Donkey, testifying to his ignorance.

TAUTOLOGY(from the Greek tauto - "the same" and logos - "word, concept") - repetition of the same thing in different words. As a stylistic device, it belongs to the genus of pleonasm (excess).

"Considerably",- says the Donkey, after listening to the singing of the Nightingale. "Fairly" means "significant, excellent." However, in explanatory dictionaries, this word is always accompanied by the mark "colloquial", which means "colloquial". The same can be said for words "Staring" and "Perked up".

Participial turnover "Staring at the ground with his forehead" reminds us of donkey stubbornness. And right behind him is the advice to “learn a little” from the rooster, which, judging by the pronoun “our”, is a close friend of the Donkey. Now let's remember the famous proverb: "Tell me who your friend is, and I will tell you who you are." The limited cock is a friend of the same ignorant Donkey.

The image of the Donkey makes the reader laugh. This image is called COMIC.

With what artistic means does Krylov convey the beauty and charm of the Nightingale's singing?

The Nightingale's singing resembles a whole concert. For this, Krylov uses a number of homogeneous members: verbs "Clicked", "whistled", "gave up", "crumbled"... And also a comparison with a pipe, a metaphor "Crumbled in small fractions", epithet "Languid" flute.

The singing of the Nightingale has a wonderful effect on all who heard it. He charmed everyone with his singing. He brought tranquility both to nature and to the life of people: "The breezes died down", "the birds fell silent", "the herds of animals lay down," "the shepherd admired the singing."

All listened then

To the favorite and singer of Aurora ...

AURORA- the goddess of the morning dawn (ancient Roman mythology).

Let's pay attention to one detail: the Nightingale does not speak at all, only sings, by this the author shows that the ignorant (vernacular and colloquial) is alien to this hero, unlike the Donkey, who constantly says something, while using mainly colloquial and vernacular vocabulary.

The author uses the technique antitheses, contrasting the Nightingale, a master of his craft, a true singer of nature, who captivates with his singing, and the Donkey, stupid, ignorant, ill-mannered, who does not understand anything in real art.

ANTITHESIS- a stylistic device based on a sharp opposition of concepts and images.

The fable describes a situation that often arises in real life. Someone self-confident and ignorant undertakes to judge what he has no idea about.

The moral of the fable lies in the words: "God save us from such judges too." With the help of allegory, the fabulist conveys to his reader the idea that if real art is often judged by those who do not understand anything about it, like the Donkey, then true masters, like the Nightingale, have a hard time.

MORALITY- this is an instructive conclusion from the main narrative, which is given at the beginning or at the end of the fable.

ALLEGORY- allegory - the image of an abstract concept through a specific image.

The fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale" was written by Ivan Andreevich Krylov more than a hundred years ago, but still has not lost its relevance, because such stupid judges as the Donkey can be found in life and in our time.

1. Krylov's Fables [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: http: ().
2. Librarian.RU. 19th century writers. Ivan Andreevich Krylov [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ().
3. Ivan Krylov. 1769-1844 [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ().
4. Krylov Ivan Andreevich [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ().
5. Krylov Ivan Andreevich. Memories of Contemporaries [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ().
6. Russian literature of the XIX century. Ivan Andreevich Krylov. 1760-1844 [Electronic resource]. - Access mode: ().

Homework

1. Prepare for an expressive reading of I.A. Krylova "Donkey and Nightingale".
2. * Create an illustration for I.A. Krylova "Donkey and Nightingale", using some techniques of creation comic Images. For example grotesque (exaggeration): the huge head of a Donkey, as a sign of a "big" mind, but an exaggeratedly small figure of the Nightingale, emphasizing that its importance is not in appearance, but in the ability to sing. Or detail... For example, the Donkey has glasses, which he does not need, because he sees perfectly well without them, so he looks not into glasses but over them.
3. * Suppose that the Donkey, because of his stubbornness, nevertheless decided to introduce the Nightingale to his friend Rooster and wrote about this in a letter. The nightingale is well-mannered and polite, so he answers the Donkey's letter. Small correspondence starts. Come up with this correspondence (keep the features of the speech of each of the characters).

The donkey evaluates the Nightingale song in Krylov's fable. A funny, beautiful and very subtle story.

Fable Donkey and Nightingale read

Donkey saw the Nightingale
And he says to him: "Listen, buddy!
You, they say, are a great master of singing.
I would really like
Judge for yourself, hearing your singing,
Is your skill really great? "
Here the Nightingale began to show his art:
Clicked, whistled
A thousand frets, pulled, poured;
Then gently he weakened
And languid in the distance with a pipe he gave,
It suddenly crumbled in small fractions across the grove.
All listened then
Favorite and singer of Aurora;
The breezes died down, the choir birds fell silent,
And the flocks lay down
Breathing a little, the shepherd admired him
And only sometimes
Listening to the Nightingale, he smiled at the shepherdess.
The singer died. Donkey, staring at the ground with his forehead,
"Fairly," he says, "it's not right to say,
You can listen to you without boredom;
It's a pity that I'm unfamiliar
You are with our rooster;
You would have perked up more,
Whenever I could learn a little from him, "
Hearing such judgment, my poor Nightingale
He flew up - and flew over the distant fields.
God save us from such judges.

Moral of the fable Donkey and Nightingale

God save us from such judges (it is absurd to judge without knowledge of the case, and even more so to take such judgments into account)

Fable Donkey and Nightingale - analysis

In Krylov's fable the Donkey and the Nightingale, each of the heroes is a symbol of qualities that are worth pondering about. So, Nightingale. The bird, with its beautiful singing, personifies a person - a master of his craft, with a gift from Nature itself. Everyone who hears it listens to the bird's singing and everyone will appreciate the Nightingale's talent, which he is justly proud of. Krylov uses such expressive intonations and words addressed to Solovushki that none of the Russian writers seems to have surpassed. Charming, detailed descriptions of the environment, the reactions of people and animals to the song of the bird, also prove that Krylov is not just a fabulist, he is a great poet. The nightingale is described in such a way that there is nothing more to add.

The donkey, on the contrary, does not understand at all in singing, but considers it possible to evaluate the Nightingale. For lack of hearing and understanding of beauty, I thought that even a rooster would sing better. Krylov here conveys the absurdity of the current situation and sums up the morality in the last line of the fable: it is stupid to undertake to judge what you have no idea about. The donkey, comparing the Nightingale with the Rooster, compares two perfect opposites, showing us the absence of any taste.

The fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale" was written no later than 1811. She was born thanks to one story that happened with Krylov. Ivan Andreevich was well aware of his strength in the genre of fables. One nobleman decided to personally meet the fabulist. He summoned him to his office and asked him to read two or three fables. Krylov artistically read several fables and between them one borrowed from La Fontaine. The nobleman favorably listened to the fables and thoughtfully asked why Krylov did not translate the fables like Ivan Dmitriev? Wounded, Krylov replied that he could not, but upon returning home, hurt for a living, he wrote the fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale", in which he poured out the bile that remained from the visit of the grandee.

The fable tells how the Donkey, having heard the wonderful singing of the Nightingale, complained that the Nightingale was unfamiliar with the Rooster, from which, according to the Donkey, the Nightingale could learn the skill of singing. Under the Nightingale in this fable, Krylov understood himself. There are several versions about the Donkey. Some believed that Donkey meant a nobleman who put Dmitriev above Krylov. Someone spoke about Prince A.N. Golitsin. Still others were inclined towards the candidacy of Count Razumovsky. But it is not known for certain which of the nobles served as a prototype for the Donkey. It is possible that this is a collective image.

But this story was not the only reason for the writing of the fable. Krylov had previously met people who self-confidently judged deeds and things about which they had not the slightest idea. Such "judges" are characterized by a certain contradiction in behavior. They are self-confident, but as a rule they are ignorant. Such a contradiction causes ridicule from any outside observer. It is with mockery that Krylov in his fable refers to people of this kind.

Krylov, deciding to ridicule a similar phenomenon that occurs in our life, chose an allegorical way to depict it. He presents a skillful artist in the form of the Nightingale. The choice was made well, since Nightingale, more than anyone else, can be likened to a talented artist. The judge in the fable is the Donkey, with whom the readers have the concept of stupidity and stupidity.

Since the characters' characters are clear to the reader, the author begins the fable right from the development of the action. The donkey wants to check other people's rumors about nightingale singing and calls the singer to him. Since the entire power of the story should lie in the contradiction between the ignorant judgment of the Donkey and the wonderful art of the nightingale, Krylov describes the nightingale art in detail, emphasizing how beautiful it is. Then he shows the impression that the Nightingale made on everything around him, and finally goes on to the donkey's judgment. The judge speaks condescendingly about singing and only regrets that the Nightingale is unfamiliar with the rooster. The rooster was chosen here in order to depict the taste of the donkey without further ado: what could be more opposed than in the singing of the Nightingale and the crow of the cock? In this opposition, the irony of the writer is mainly concentrated, which is further strengthened by Nightingale's advice to learn a little from the rooster. What could the Nightingale do with this advice? What he did: "He flew up and flew over the distant fields."

Allegory and irony are the basis for the literary treatment of this plot. Allegory is based on similarities, irony on opposites. Since the action of the fable is taken from real life, the expressions of the characters are borrowed from the same place.

Krylov is a great master of expressing himself in the spirit of the people; but right there next to such expressions as "friend, master", there are others who do not go in tune with them, for example, "everything then listened to the favorite and singer of Aurora."

Speaking further about the impression that the Nightingale made with his singing on everything around, Krylov admits a certain exaggeration: "the breezes have died down, the birds of the choir have fallen silent and the flocks have lay down." Also, the images of a shepherdess with a shepherdess are taken from an imaginary happy shepherd's life, which was described in various works of that time. The so-called "shepherd's" poetry developed in the literature of Western peoples, passed on to us and caused imitation.

The moral of the fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale" is as follows: "Deliver, God, and us from such judges"

What is the main meaning of the fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale"?
The situation is wrong when an ignoramus begins to judge cases in which he does not understand, is not a specialist. Only a specialist in this topic can criticize in a constructive way and give advice.

What shortcomings does Krylov make fun of in the fable "The Donkey and the Nightingale"?
Criticism, incompetence, ignorance, inability to be objective, stupidity, biased preaching.

We are amazed at the naturalness of Krylov's fables, graceful simplicity and wit, depth of thought and artistic decoration of details. The donkey is a frequent visitor to Krylov's fables; not a very intelligent character.

"Donkey and Man"
Man, for the summer in the garden
Having hired a Donkey, he put
Ravens and sparrows chase a cheeky race.
The donkey had the most honest rules:

I am not familiar with predation or theft;
He did not profit from the master's even a leaf
And to the birds, it’s a sin to say to give the wheel;
But the peasant's profit was bad from the garden:
Donkey, chasing birds, from all donkey legs,
Along all the ridges, and far and wide,
I lifted such a jump,
That he crushed everything in the garden and stamped it down.
Seeing here that his labor was gone,
Peasant on the back of a donkey
He took out the loss with a club.
“And nothing! - everyone shouts, - it serves the cattle:
With his mind
To take up this business! "

And I will say - not in order to stand up for the Donkey:
He, for sure, is to blame (the calculation has been made with him), -
But it seems that he is not right either
Who instructed the Donkey to guard his garden.

The poet and fabulist, Ivan Ivanovich Dmitriev, was the first to persuade Krylov to write fables after reading the three La Fontaine fables translated by Krylov. Having overcome a certain psychological threshold and drowning out the passion for dramatic poetry, Krylov began to take a closer look at the “fable” genre.

"Donkey and Nightingale"
Donkey saw the Nightingale
And he says to him: “Listen, buddy!
You, they say, are a great master of singing!
I would really like
Judge for yourself, hearing your singing,
Is your skill really great? "
Here the Nightingale began to show his art:
Clicked, whistled
A thousand frets, pulled, poured;
Then gently he weakened
And languid in the distance I gave myself a pipe,
It suddenly crumbled in small fractions across the grove.
All listened then
Favorite and singer of Aurora;
The breezes died down, the choir birds fell silent,
And the flocks lay down.
Breathing a little, the shepherd admired him,
And only sometimes
Listening to the Nightingale, he smiled at the shepherdess.
The singer died. Donkey, staring at the ground with his forehead:
“Fairly,” he says, “to say it is not false,
You can listen to you without boredom;
It's a pity that I'm unfamiliar
You are with our rooster;
You would have perked up more,
When would I learn a little from him ",
Hearing such judgment, my poor Nightingale
He flew up - and flew over the distant fields.

God save us from such judges!

Most often, Krylov read his fables in the house of A.N. Olenin in a brilliant society of lovers of the Russian word. Here the impression made by his short creations was enormous. People crowded around the poet, stood on chairs, listened without uttering a word. The effect of Krylov's fables was incredible. As a contemporary noted, "the fables read by the author himself were equal to the effect of Catalani's arias."

"Fox and Donkey"
"Split, smart, are you delirious, head?" -
The fox, meeting with the Donkey, asked him.
“Now only from Leo!
Well, gossip, where did his strength go:
It used to growl, so the forest groans around,
And I'm running out of memory
Wherever the eyes look, from this freak;
And now in old age and decrepit and frail,
Completely exhausted
Lying in a cave like a deck.
Will you believe in the beasts
All the old fear has disappeared to him,
And he paid off with old debts!
Whoever walked past Leo, everyone took out to him
In my own way:
Some with a tooth, some with horns ... "-
"But you didn't dare to touch Leo, of course?" -
The Donkey Fox interrupts.
“Here on! - The donkey answers her, -
Why should I be afraid? and I kicked him:
Let the donkey hooves know! "

So low souls, be noble, you are strong,
They dare not raise their glances at you;
But only fall from a height
Expect resentment and annoyance from the first ones.

Zhukovsky highly appreciated Krylov's fables. He was among the best friends of Krylov and celebrated his creations. Ivan Andreevich enjoyed spending time in his apartment, at parties, in the company of Pushkin, Batyushkov, Prince Vyazemsky, Gnedich, Uvarov, Karamzin.

"Owl and Donkey"
Blind Donkey in the woods lost his way
(He was on a long journey).
But by nightfall my madcap wandered into the thicket,
That he could neither move backward nor forward.
And the sighted would not get out of the trouble here;
But the Owl in the vicinity, fortunately, happened
And he undertook to be the Donkey's guide.
Everyone knows, Owls are like vigilantes at night:
Rapids, ditches, hillocks, hillocks -
All this was discerned by my Owl, as if during the day,
And by morning I got out on an even path with Donkey.
Well, how to part with such a guide?
Here the Donkey asks Owl to stay with him,
And he decided to go out with the Owl all over the world.
My Owl lord
Perched on the Donkey ridge,
And they began to keep the path; only happily? - No:
Only the sun began to play in the sky in the morning,
The owl's eyes became darker than the night.
However, my Owl is stubborn:
Donkey advises sideways and really.
“Beware! - shouts, - to the right we will be in a puddle.
But there was no puddle, and it turned out worse to the left.
"Take a step further to the left, a step to the left!"
And - boo the Donkey, and with the Owl, into the ravine.

The Imperial Public Library once contained scattered sheets, chopped with a pin. A note was made on a special sheet by Gnedich's hand: "A copy of fables, pinned together by a pin, which Ivan Andreevich Krylov had with him in this form when he read to Empress Maria Feodorovna in the Winter Palace in 1813, being with me." He usually wrote on scraps and kept crumpled sheets of paper in his pocket.

"Apelles and the Donkey"
Who is infected with self-love through measure,
He is sweet to himself and in what he is ridiculous to others;
And often he happens to boast of that,
What should he be ashamed of.

Meeting the Little Donkey, Apelles
Calls the Donkey to visit;
The bones began to play in Oslenka;
The donkey smothers the forest with boasting
And he says to the beasts: “How Apelles is boring to me!
I'm tortured by it:
Well, everything calls to itself, wherever I meet him.
It seems to me, my friends,
He intends to write Pegasus from me. "
“No,” Apelles said, it happens close here:
Intending to write the Midas court,
I wanted to write off your ears for Midas;
And if you will regret to me, I will be glad:
I have met many donkey ears,
But such as you are rich
Not only for donkeys,
I never even saw donkeys. "