Russian Fable
Krylov and his fables
Russian Literature – Children Books – Russian Poetry – Ivan. A. Krylov – Contents
< < < The Hind And The Dervish
The Cuckoo And The Cock > > >
Canine Friendship
UNDER a kitchen window lay Barbos and Polkan, basking in the sunshine. It would have been more fitting in them to have been guarding the house at the gate in front of the courtyard. But they had eaten till they wеге satiated, and, besides, polite dogs do not bark at any one in the daytime. So they indulged in a discussion about all sorts of things — about their doggish service, about good and evil, and finally about friendship.
” What,” says Polkan, ” can be pleasanter than to live heart to heart with a friend ? — in everything to offer mutual service ; not to sleep or eat without one’s friend, and to defend his body with all one’s force ; finally, for friends to look into one another’s eyes, and each to think that only a fortunate hour in which he could please or amuse his friend, and to place all his own happiness in his friend’s good fortune ! Suppose, for instance, you and I were to contract such a friendship. I venture to say, wе should not be able to tell how quickly time was flying.”
” That is true. So be it,” replies Barbos. ” Long has it been grievous to me, my dear Polkan, that we,who are dogs of the same yard, cannot spend a single day without quarrelling : and why is it ? Thanks to our master, we are neither closely pent nor scantily fed. Besides, it really is scandalous. From the earliest times the dog has been the type of friendship ; yet you scarcely ever see any more friendship among dogs than among men.”
” Let us make manifest an instance of it to our own times,” says Polkan.
“Your paw !”
“There it is.”
Straightway the new friends begin to caress and fondle each other. They know not, in their raptures, to what to liken themselves.
” My Orestes!”
“My Pylades !”
“Away with all quarrels, all envy, all malice !”
Unluckily, at this moment the cook tosses a bone out of the kitchen. Our new friends fling themselves upon it furiously.
What has become of their harmonious alliance ? Orestes and Pylades seize each other by the throat, so that their hair goes flying to the winds, and even torrents of water will scarcely separate them.
—–
The world is full of such friendships. One would not be far wrong if one said of friends, as they are now-a-days, that they are almost all alike in respect to their friendship.
To listen to them, you would imagine they were perfectly unanimous. But just throw them a bone; they will behave exactly like our dogs.
< < < The Hind And The Dervish
The Cuckoo And The Cock > > >
Russian Literature – Children Books – Russian Poetry – Ivan. A. Krylov – Contents
Copyright holders – Public Domain Book
| If you liked this site, subscribe , put likes, write comments! Share on social networks Check out Our Latest Posts |
© 2023 Akirill.com – All Rights Reserved
AKirill, Learn, apprenez, translation, traduction, livres bilingues, bilingual books 