Famous works

Stories and poems from the classics.

Krylov's fables

Басни Крылова

16 works

Ivan Krylov's fables are the verse Russian children still learn by heart, and his lines turned into everyday proverbs — a Russian says «а воз и ныне там» without stopping to think of the swan, the pike and the crawfish who could not agree which way to pull. Sixteen fables, a few dozen lines each, with an animal making a recognisable human mistake in every one.

Russian folk tales

Русские народные сказки

9 works

The tales a Russian child hears first, most of them written down by Alexander Afanasyev in the 1850s and 60s from people who told them aloud. Nine of them, running from short rhyming animal tales a beginner can follow to Vasilisa the Beautiful and the Frog Princess.

Alexander Pushkin

Александр Пушкин

7 works

Pushkin shaped the modern Russian language, and his verse fairy tales are the part of him every Russian child meets first. Four of them here — Tsar Saltan, the Golden Cockerel, the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights, and the Priest and his workman Balda — each in chapters, alongside three short lyric poems.

Yesenin's poems

Стихи Есенина

9 works

Sergei Yesenin wrote about birches, village roads and leaving home, in words that stay close to spoken Russian — which is what makes him unusually readable early. Nine poems, including «Письмо матери» and «Не жалею, не зову, не плачу».

Tolstoy's short stories

Рассказы Толстого

7 works

Tolstoy wrote these for the school he ran on his own estate, and they are built for a reader who is still learning: a few hundred words, plain sentences, and something happens in every one. Seven of them, including «Филипок», «Акула» and «Три медведя».