ANIMOS Studio
With the financial support of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation
Russian Classics for Children
Sasha Chorny (1880-1932)
The Girl Lucy and Grandpa Krylov
Paris, 1926
Charlie, don't wake me up!
Oh, Charlie!
Charlie, Charlie, the lights are burning!
Charlie, Charlie, Paris is alive with noise!
You're Krylov!
That is correct. By your leave.
Right... right... that's not it... no...
I'm Lucy.
Lucy? That is, Ludmila Ruslanovna?
By no means!
But your fables are beautiful.
Thank you, thank you. I am much obliged.
There's no need for that.
Instead, you would do well to ponder more over your wonderful creations.
Even the best of them. For instance, you may say:
"The Dragonfly and the Ant"...
Excuse me, did I say anything, miss?
Let us see.
What is it that made you so dislike my creations?
That's my dolly Kate. She loves to drink tea in the theatre at nights.
But we are talking about something else.
Now... just a moment... now...
Look, just look at what's going to happen now!
What else can happen here, Lucy?
She sang and danced throughout the whole summer.
And only now has she stopped to think...
She never did prepare for winter, poor thing.
So, Ant is the good one?
He is! He's a hard worker.
See, he's fixing up a sixth boot for himself.
Don't abandon me, friend cherished!
I'll bounce back; don't let me perish.
Give me shelter, food, and drink
For a half-year, till the Spring.
You've been gaily Singing daily;
Now, you'll have your chance To dance. A-ha-ha-ha-ha!
You see!
He looks nice, but it turns out he's not so nice after all.
Take me: I'll grow up, become a ballerina...
And then what? Should I also suffer?
Well, that is...
But what should I do, Lucy?
Give me the drawstring.
That's how it should be. - Is it?
Yes! Yes, yes. Only like this!
And everything will be good and joyful!...
A lively dance in Paris ought
Not be cotillion, nor gavotte,
But be this dance of urban streets beneath roofs sparkling and free.
Dance, all Paris!
But be this dance, this dance, this dance of moonlit roofs free,
Dance, all Paris!
Lucy, Lucy, where's the moral?
There is no fable without a moral.
Moral, moral, moral...
The moral's simple - there are evil ants. But it's better when they're good.
What an extraordinarily smart girl you are.
So, why are you living in Paris?
Well, you probably know...
There was a revolution in Russia, - Is that so...
- Dad and mom fled from there... - Ah...
Why, do you live there?
Mostly there.
I have friends there. Say, Pushkin,
Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol... lots of them.
Now, Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin praised my fables a lot.
Well, he also has peculiarities...
- Pushkin does? - Yes.
Yes. For example...
Clouds are surging, clouds are swerving;
Indiscernible, the moon
Lights the snowstorm madly swirling;
Sky's all darkness, night's all gloom.
How did he see all that if "the night's all gloom"?!
Oh, dear, I should ask him...
I'll ask. I will most certainly ask him.
But "Ruslan and Ludmila" is wonderful!
And which of my works do you like?
Everything!
Oh, dearie me. Oh, dearie me!
Look.
Hey tell, old man,
had we a cause When Moscow, razed by fire, once was
Given up to Frenchman's blow?
Just what are you trying to pull here?!
That is Lermontov! Lermontov wrote that.
It is called "Borodino".
It's about the Russian-French war.
Frenchmen wouldn't be glad to hear it,
and you live in Paris!
Confused. Confused, what can I say!
Kate is fooling around.
If she's fooling around, then hang her!
In China we do five at a time...
I learned Russian only when you read me fables aloud...
We in China honour elders...
but you teach him how to write fables. You're a bad girl.
Quiet! Why do you pick on the girl?
I will send you back to China, you registered parcel!
Oh, don't do it. Don't do it, grandpa!
I love her very much!
"Love"... heh, you love everyone...
Let me, let me rather read you something else...
Well, actually... I have to get going.
Wait. Wait.
Here. Look.
What is this thing?
Is it to grind coffee?
The fable "The Dradonfly and the Ant"
Once, a playul Dragonfly
Spent all summer gaily singing;
...ly singing ...ly singing ...ly singing...
Oh no, it's stuck... but it can go on.
This is a gramophone.
What a thing!
What a fine thing!
Alexandr Sergeyevich would have likely...
laughed himself silly!...
You know what, take it.
That's for you, from us.
For you and all Russian literature.
He forgot it.
Ivan Andreyevich, you forgot...
I won't give this away.
screenwriter Vladimir Golovanov
director-producer Mariya Muat
art director Marina Kurchevskaya
camera Aleksandr Betev, Aleksandr Chehovskiy
composer Igor Nazaruk
animators Milana Fedoseyeva, Tatyana Molodova, Alla Solovyova
sound: Viktor Brus
voice actors Polina Kutepova, Oleg Tabakov
assistant art director Olga Usachyova computer processing Vladimir Manevich
puppets & decor Gennadiy Bogachyov, Mihail Koltunov, Yelena Pokrovskaya,
Nikolay Zaklyakov, Vladimir Shafranyuk, Viktor Grishik, Nina Vinogradova,
Galina Kruglova, Viktor Piunov, Vladimir Maslov
montage Lyudmila Kopteva, Sergey Krotenko
colour correction Galina Taramonova
production director Vladdimir Gassiyev script editor Galina Dyakiyeva executive producer Anna Dzhioyeva
artistic supervisor of the studio Natalya Orlova
producer Tengiz Semyonov
THE END (c) Animos. Moscow, 2003.
Subs by Niffiwan 2026.08 Animatsiya.net
Pushkin's "Devils" tr. by Yuri Menis, Lermontov's "Borodino" tr. Peter Solovioff,
Krylov's "Dragonfly and Ant" tr. by Niffiwan & Vladimir Gurvich