The Song of the Cheese Spirit
The Song About the Cheese Spirit
Cheese Spirit Song
Песнь о сырном духе
Pesn o syrnom dukhe (ru)
Laul juustu hingest (et)
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The Song About the Cheese Spirit
Cheese Spirit Song
Песнь о сырном духе
Pesn o syrnom dukhe (ru)
Laul juustu hingest (et)
Year | 1997 |
Director(s) | Smirnova Irina |
Studio(s) | Artis |
Language(s) | Russian |
Genre(s) | Comedy Folklore & myth (non-Rus./USSR) Literature (Rus./East Slavic) Musical/Opera |
Animation Type(s) | Cutout |
Length | 00:07:07 |
Wordiness | 8.65 |
Subtitles:
⭳ Pesn o syrnom dukhe.1997.en.1.25fps.1697543108.srt
Date: October 17 2023 11:45:08
Language: English
Quality: good
Upload notes: 2662 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Niffiwan
⭳ Pesn o syrnom dukhe.1997.et.1.25fps.1704627211.srt
Date: January 07 2024 11:33:31
Language: Estonian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes:
Creator(s): Pastella
⭳ Pesn o syrnom dukhe.1997.ru.1.25fps.1696742365.srt
Date: October 08 2023 05:19:25
Language: Russian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes:
Creator(s): Niffiwan
⭳ Pesn o syrnom dukhe.1997.en.1.25fps.1697543108.srt
Date: October 17 2023 11:45:08
Language: English
Quality: good
Upload notes: 2662 characters long (view)
Creator(s): Niffiwan
⭳ Pesn o syrnom dukhe.1997.et.1.25fps.1704627211.srt
Date: January 07 2024 11:33:31
Language: Estonian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes:
Creator(s): Pastella
⭳ Pesn o syrnom dukhe.1997.ru.1.25fps.1696742365.srt
Date: October 08 2023 05:19:25
Language: Russian
Quality: unknown
Upload notes:
Creator(s): Niffiwan
Description:
A fox tries to obtain a crow's cheese by flattery. An adaption of Ivan Krylov's version of Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Crow", and a parody of avant-garde opera by the Ukrainian vocal duet, Duo Zikr.
Not only is the simple story here made into ridiculously high-falutin' Art, but the crow is not at all keen to let go of the cheese like she should, so the other artists resort to extreme measures.
The Aesop fable was written in ancient Greece between 620 and 564 BCE (here's a simple English translation). Ivan Krylov adapted it into Russian no later than 1807 (it can be read here), and his poem became very famous.
Here is a new English translation made specifically for the film (it needed to be translated more exactly than prior versions due to certain events in the film coinciding with the words):
The Fox and the Crow
Oft has the world heard words like these:
"Flattery's vile!", and yet, it's still a potent art —
A liar's sure to find a place in someone's heart.
A crow, by grace of God, obtained a piece of cheese;
She scaled a fir-tree and, at last,
Was just about to break her fast,
But had a thought, the cheese still in her bill.
Not far away, a fox was running up the hill;
Ah! What a scent... the odour stops the fox.
The fox looks, sees the cheese; the cheese entices, mocks.
The rogue advances to the fir-tree on tip-toe;
She twirls her tail, her eyes fixed on the crow,
And gently says, in accents low and clear: —
"My songstress, you are such a dear!
Your neck's so fine, your eyes so pretty!
Your fame would spread through any city!
What pretty feathers! What a bill!
And doubtless, your angelic voice is finer still!
Sing, sunshine, don't be shy! If, sister, in your leisure,
Your beauty were abetted by song that gave us pleasure, —
You'd be the queen of birds, my treasure!"
The harbinger's head spun from such effusive praise,
It took her breath away, her crop filled with elation, —
And, answering the words that set her pride ablaze,
The vain crow cawed out loud with full determination:
The cheese fell — that fox slick
Made off with it right quick.
For further translation notes, please see the subtitle link.
DISCUSSION
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I find just about all of Smirnova's films so interesting, surprising and enjoyable. It's a shame that she had to have her career exactly in the era when the money for this sort of thing was barely available, and was not nearly as artistically productive as she could have been only a decade earlier.
There's still one film of hers I'd like to translate, but I can't find it - «Когда я был лягушкой» (1992, Приз МКФ «КРОК – 93», Киев).