I Have A Tale to Tell

I just wanted to share with you a fun, interesting tale that I discovered, a Russian folk tale. During one of our first visits to the orphanage I noticed this carved, wooden statue. It was of a fox with what appeared to be a happy face (ball) on the tip of his nose. There was another painting of this same face (ball) with a rabbit on one of the playground sheds. I knew there had to be a story behind the statue and painting and I did some research to find out what it was all about. I came across the story of the Kolobok. I told Yulia our facilitator that I had figured out what the fox with the ball on the tip of his nose was and she smiled. She told me that this is the first fairy tale or folk tale that a child hears from their parents when they are small. It's a very traditional story and I am happy that I discovered it so I can read it to Sara and my other children to continue this tradition. Enjoy!

  

 

 

 

The Story of the Kolobok

 

Once upon a time a poor Babushka and her husband, Dedushka lived in a village. One day the old man asked the woman to make a kolobok. The old woman went and scraped round the flour-tin and swept the bottom of the corn bin and got a couple handfuls of flour. She mixed the floor with sour cream and shaped it into a kolobok, a kind of little round bun or cake.  Then she fried it and left it on the windowsill to cool.

After a while the kolobok suddenly got up and rolled. It rolled from the sill to the bench, from the bench to the floor, across the floor to the door. It hopped over the threshold and into the hall. From the hall it rolled onto the porch, from the porch into the garden and from the garden out through the gate. Farther and farther it went. The kolobok rolled down the road until it met a hare. "Ah, kolobok, kolobok, I'll eat you now." "Don't eat me, hare. I'll sing you a song: I'm kolobok, kolobok! I was scraped up in the flour-tin. Swept up from the corn-bin. Mixed with sour cream into a bun. Fried in butter til I was done. Then left on the sill til I cooled some. I ran away from grandfather, I ran away from grandmother too and I'm sure I'll have no trouble, hare, running away from you." And off it rolled down the road, so fast that the hare could only stare.

The kolobok rolled down the road until it met a wolf: "Ah, kolobok, kolobok, I'll eat you now." "Don't eat me, grey wolf. I'll sing you a song: I'm kolobok, kolobok! I was scraped up in the flour-tin. Swept up from the corn-bin. Mixed with sour cream into a bun. Fried in butter til I was done. Then left on the sill til I cooled some. I ran away from grandfather, I ran away from grandmother, I ran away from the hare too and I'm sure I'll have no trouble, wolf, running away from you." And off it rolled down the road, so fast that the wolf could only stare.

The kolobok rolled down the road until it met a bear: "Ah, kolobok, kolobok, I'll eat you now." "Don't eat me, bear. I'll sing you a song: I'm kolobok, kolobok! I was scraped up in the flour-tin. Swept up from the corn-bin. Mixed with sour cream into a bun. Fried in butter til I was done. Then left on the sill til I cooled some. I ran away from grandfather, I ran away from grandmother, I ran away from the hare, I ran away from the grey wolf too and I'm sure I'll have no trouble, bear, running away from you." Again it, rolled off down the road, so fast that the bear could only stare.

The kolobok rolled down the road until it met a fox: "Kolobok, kolobok, where are you going." "I'm just rolling along the road." "Kolobok, kolobok, sing me your song." And the kolobok began: "I'm kolobok, kolobok! I was scraped up in the flour-tin. Swept up from the corn-bin. Mixed with sour cream into a bun. Fried in butter til I was done. Then left on the sill til I cooled some. I ran away from grandfather, I ran away from grandmother, I ran away from the hare, I ran away from the grey wolf, I ran away from the big bear too and I'm sure I'll have no trouble, fox, running away from you." But the fox said: "I believe that must be a fine song, but you know I am rather hard of hearing. Kolobok, be so kind as to sit on my nose and sing your song again, a little louder." The kolobok hopped onto the fox's nose and sang the song again a little louder. But the fox said: "Kolobok, be so kind as to sit on my tongue and sing your song just one more time." The kolobok hopped onto the fox's tongue and snap, the fox gobbled it up!