...In all respects our most popular poet...
(A. S. Pushkin)
...His fables are by no means for children. He would be grossly mistaken who would call him a fabulist in the same sense as La Fontaine, Dmitriev, Khemnitser and, finally, Izmailov. His parables are the property of the people and constitute the book of the wisdom of the people themselves.
(N. V. Gogol)
In Russian literature there was no more skillful master of allegory than "grandfather Krylov". Combining in his style the wisdom of Aesop and the sparkling style of La Fontaine, Ivan Andreevich created an amazing collection of fables. Simple and elegant stories are understandable even to a child, but behind this ease there is always a subtext, a subtle hint, understandable only to a few. During his life, the writer created 198 fables, which even now, 250 years after the author's birth, continue to delight with the ease of style and elegance of allusions. The proposed edition includes all the fables written by Ivan Andreevich Krylov. Each story is decorated with illustrations and provided with detailed commentary, thanks to which the fables known from childhood are read in a completely different way.
