Ivan Andreevich Krylov was kindly paid attention of the public and authorities during his lifetime. By the time of his death in 1844 in Russia the books of the fabulist were already published in the amount of 77,000 copies. He received awards and a generous pension from the king, his anniversary in 1838 turned into a big national holiday under the auspices of the emperor.
The writer was called Russian Lafontaine. Of course, there was a grain of truth in this: of the 200 fables he created, a lot were written based on the creations of Aesop and Lafontaine. But at the heart of many works is the original plot. For readers of the 19th century, these poetic parables were interesting not only in satire and in good Russian, but also because they mocked events and people (including high-ranking persons), whose contemporaries were readers. It was a bit like the parodies that comedians create today.
But the creations of the Russian Lafontaine touch upon the problems that are characteristic of our time: bribery, bureaucracy, laziness, arrogance, greed and many other vices flourish today. But even if it seems to the reader that he does not know or does not like this writer, he is mistaken, because the winged expressions from Krylov’s fables have long become part of the active vocabulary of almost any Russian-speaking person.
Angry at a child who does not want to fulfill our requirements, we bitterly exclaim: “But Vaska is listening and eating!” Finding a simple solution to a problem that seemed complicated, we grin: “But the casket just opened!” Noting that some business is not moving off the ground, we sigh: "And things are still there." Telling friends about the frantic pace of modern life, we visit: "I'm spinning like a squirrel in a wheel." Sometimes a couple of officials will amuse us, barking at each other, and we sarcastically comment: “The cuckoo praises the rooster for praising the cuckoo.”
Sometimes we do not very accurately quote winged expressions from Krylov’s fables, but use them partially, or slightly modify them. Those who cannot agree among themselves are compared with Swan, Cancer and Pike from the fable of the same name. Out of place, the assistance provided by someone is called a “bear service”. Let us note the fussiness, excessive talkativeness of a person at the mention of a sensitive topic and mentally “see clearly”: “And the stigma is in his gun!” Noticing after a long search a large object, which was in a prominent place, we laugh: "I didn’t even notice the elephant!" And the kitten, who is trying in vain to catch a goldfish swimming
in the aquarium, is instructive to say: “What, Ryzhik, sees an eye, but a tooth is numb?”
Sometimes we do not know to whom the famous phrases and images belong. It seems to us that such common characters and expressions have always existed. However, they owe their origin to this complete, lazy and careless person who only took his creativity seriously and thoughtfully, endlessly honing every little masterpiece.
The winged expressions from Krylov’s fables over the past 200 years have become an integral part of the Russian language.
By the way, it always seemed to literary critics and ordinary readers that Ivan Andreevich was a purely domestic phenomenon that could not be transferred to foreign soil without damage to the content. Meanwhile, in Britain it is still the most translated Russian poet of the XIX century. How the English translate winged expressions from Krylov’s fables, which have actually become idioms, is a topic for a separate study.
So one of the long winter evenings, you could re-read the volume of the works of Russian Lafontaine - without prejudice, but with gratitude.