Russian Fable
Krylov and his fables
Russian Literature – Children Books – Russian Poetry – Ivan. A. Krylov – Contents
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The Ass And The Peasant > > >
The Oracle
IN a certain temple there was a wooden idol which began to utter prophetic answers, and to give -wise counsels. Accordingly, it rejoiced in a very rich attire, being covered from top to toe with gold and silver ; and was gorged with sacrifices, deafened by prayers, and choked with incense.
Every one believed blindly in the Oracle.
All of a sudden — wonderful to relate ! — the Oracle began to talk nonsense — took to answering incoherently and absurdly, so that, if any one consulted it about anything, whatever our Oracle said was a lie ; so that every one wondered what had become of its prophetic faculty. The fact was, that the idol was hollow, and the priests used to sit in it in order to reply to the laity ; and so, as long as the priest was discreet, the idol did not talk nonsense; but when a fool took to sitting in it, the idol became a mere dummy.*
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I have heard — can it be true ? — that in days gone by there used to be judges who were renowned for ability — so long as they kept an able secretary.
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* The word used is (bolvan— the term irreverently applied by the common folk in Russia to most of their outdoor statues.
< < < The Lion, The Chamois, And The Fox
The Ass And The Peasant > > >
Russian Literature – Children Books – Russian Poetry – Ivan. A. Krylov – Contents
Copyright holders – Public Domain Book
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