Famous fable: Rooster and Cuckoo in a flattering dialogue

Ivan Andreevich Krylov - Russian poet, playwright, translator and academician - is well known all over the world. The genre in which he was particularly famous is a fable. The Rooster and the Cuckoo, the Fox and the Crow, the Dragonfly and the Ant, the Ass and the Nightingale - these and many other images, allegorically exposing various human vices, are familiar to us from childhood.

How Krylov became a fabulist

To compose the fable the poet became almost by accident: he translated several creations of the Frenchman Lafontaine, whom he loved from his early youth, the experience turned out to be successful. Krylov's natural wit, a subtle linguistic flair and a penchant for a well-aimed folk word coincided with the enthusiasm for this genre. The overwhelming number of two hundred and more Krylov fables are original, created on the basis of personal experience and observations and have no analogues among the works of other fabulists.

Each nation has its more or less famous author, enriching the national treasury with fables and parables. In Germany, this is Lessing and Sachs, in Italy - Faerno and Verditsotti, in France - Odan and Lafontaine. Ancient Greek author Aesop plays a special role in the genesis and development of the genre. Everywhere where it was required to scour and precisely ridicule the phenomena that distort and distort life, a fable came to the rescue. Rooster and Cuckoo at Aesop or another poet can act in the guise of other animals, insects or things, but the essence of the fable will remain unchanged: it cures immorality with satire.

Fable "The Cuckoo and the Rooster"

The plot is built on the dialogue of two badly singing birds. This is a very funny fable. The rooster and Cuckoo vied with each other in praise. Everyone knows that the cry of the Kochet is not melodic at all, it is not without reason that the expression "give a cock" when it comes to a torn voice. The voice of the cuckoo is also difficult to call euphonious. Nevertheless, the Rooster compliments the Cuckoo with the first singer of the forest, and she says that he sings "better than a bird of paradise." A passing Sparrow indicates to the intimate interlocutors that, no matter how they excel in praise, the truth is that their "music is bad."

But maybe the author is laughing at them in vain, and the fable is unfair? Rooster and Cuckoo are good friends and support each other with a pleasant word - what's wrong with that? Let's look at the dynamics of the plot. At first Cuckoo is not far from the truth, she says that the Rooster sings loudly and importantly. He in return gives a more pretentious praise. Cuckoo favorably accepts flattering words, they are her "age of listening" ready. The praises of the interlocutor become even more colorful and completely untrue, although the Rooster is afraid that the Cuckoo is singing "what is your nightingale". She thanks, zealous in mutual praise and also "according to conscience" assures that her words will be confirmed by everyone. And just at this moment Sparrow refutes the intemperate speeches of both birds. The author skillfully emphasizes that the obsequious praises of the heroes are insincere, that in fact neither one nor the other does not experience the admiration they are talking about. Why do they do this? The moral of the fable "The Cuckoo and the Rooster" is obvious: only because they receive reciprocal flattery.

How did the work come about?

The fable was published in the popular collection "One hundred Russian writers" and is equipped with a caricature depicting in the form of the Cuckoo and Rooster two contemporaries Krylov - writer Nikolai Grech and writer Faddey Bulgarin. This duet was known for the fact that both writers indefatigably extolled each other in printed publications. In the original version of the fable, the hint of real events looks brighter, and in morality, the idea is sounded that, no matter how many heroes "censor" each other, they will not have the talent added. In the final wording, however, the idea is beyond the scope of a particular case. Thanks to this, this fable of Krylov became so actual. The Rooster and the Cuckoo are often seen in each of us, when we hypocritically praise someone in the calculation to receive flattering words in their address.