Soyuzmultfilm
POYGA AND THE FOX
Based on a fairy tale by Boris Shergin
screenwriter Vladimir Golovanov director Nataliya Golovanova
art director Maks Zherebchevskiy composer N. Sidelnikov
camera Boris Kotov sound Boris Filchikov
animators Anatoliy Abarenov, Violetta Kolesnikova, Aleksandr Mazayev,
Tatyana Fadeyeva, Vladimir Zarubin, Nataliya Barkovskaya, Vladimir Palchikov, Lev Ryabinin
assistants L. Nikitina, V. Gilyarova, O. Isakova, M. Popova montage I. Gerasimova
background artists Anna Atamanova, Dmitriy Anpilov, Irina Troyanova, Pyotr Korobayev, Sergey Marakasov
narrator Ivan Ryzhov script editor Tatyana Paporova production director Lyubov Butyrina
Back in the olden days, this was.
There lived a man named Poyga, a Karelian.
He lived his life in the northern lands.
By the river and in the woods, yet close to the sea.
Broad was Russia.
There were not enough state troops for all its borders.
So back then, all sorts of brigands roamed the outskirts of the Russian land.
After all, the beauty of our land is known far and wide.
And beauty is a thing that every evil power has always lusted after.
And so it happened that Culimana came to us, an invader borne of foreign soil.
That fiendess loved to plunder, steal, and play the villain.
Poyga was hunting at that time. Tracking squirrels.
He chased after them further and further.
It had been a long time since Poyga had been home;
the hunt had led him on and on.
And when he came back, he wished he hadn't.
Poyga was simple:
he was accustomed to the silence of the north,
to human conversation.
But here, he found screaming, shrieking, noise and clatter!
Poyga had nowhere to live any more.
So he went down the river.
The forest sheltered him.
But can a man really live without a home?
You'll become one with the forest yourself,
and you'll never escape your fate. You're all alone, after all.
The whole northern land was in the sights of Kulimana's gang.
They were driving everything into the ground.
Poyga walked and walked.
He thought, grieved. Made traps.
Slept. Went to wash up.
He saw a boat on the water. Someone sleeping in it.
On the shore he saw a maiden, not asleep.
It was a summer night; the midnight sun shone.
Poyga was frightened by the beauty of this maiden.
"Are you a morning star?"
She laughed.
"If I'm a star, you must be the young moon."
"Whose are you, then?" "I am the daughter of Ustyanka the widow.
There's my retinue - five steadfast old women.
They were searching for berries on my mom's orders."
"Maiden," Poyga cried out, "wait here!
Let me at least bring you something to eat. A fox, at least."
Poyga forgot himself.
The maiden's beauty lit up his world,
kindled a fire in his heart, and brought fortune to his hunt.
The mother fox came running.
She began to beat her head, beg, and cry.
"Poyga, my dear, give me my children! Don't rob me of my joy!"
"Why do you cry so bitterly, fox?" Poyga then said.
"Take your children.
I can understand your grief.
I myself was wronged by Kulimana."
So, the promised gift is still there, running around the forest.
Poyga hid. But he lacked the strength to stop seeing the maiden.
The only outcome of this for him was shame and grief.
The widow Ustyanka mistook him for a vagrant beggar.
Bitter was the taste of the bread given as alms.
Bitter.
And besides, in a desecrated land, where was joy to come from?
Only Kulimana, recalling in her coiffured dreams
the ghostly dances in her distant palaces,
brightened up and preened,
scheming of fiery, ruinous
pleasures yet to come.
The fox came to Poyga to do some grieving.
She grieved a little, then all of sudden jumped up!
"Hold it," she said,
"I'll marry you off.
Your loneliness must be undone.
It is unheard of that some trickery couldn't be found to solve a problem! And we'll surely find it!"
Poyga did not believe her.
What could the fox do? She was just being nice.
The fox ran into Ustyanka's house and said:
"Mistress Ustyanka,
Poyga, my son,
is asking for a quarter-measure.
He wants to measure his grain."
"Take one."
But the fox stuck two silver coins in the rivet.
And went back to Ustyanka again.
"Look, there's silver stuck in the quarter-measure.
So that's the sort of 'grain' they're measuring. Those tricksters!"
"What were you measuring the grain for?"
"He's preparing to get married."
"Why does a wealthy man need to prepare? Just ask for her hand and be done with it."
"Mistress Ustyanka, it is your daughter's hand that I have come to ask for."
"But we must look the groom in the face," said the widow.
The fox led Poyga to the appraisal and thought to herself:
"You are not dressed properly, my groom.
The clothes you wear for trapping are the ones you wear for proposing.
Well, if we're gonna use trickery, no reason to stop now!"
Oh, how morose Poyga became!
"The bride will be scared of me now.
She'll say a devil crawled out of the swamp."
But the fox laughed merrily at him.
"You go and dry yourself now. I'll get you some nice clothes."
Here's the fox bringing clothes for Poyga from the widow.
She had made a big fuss there: "We're losing the groom!!
He tripped, fell and ruined his clothes!
Now he has turned around."
The widow became distraught, and pulled out her husband's clothes.
Ustyanka's husband had been taken by war long ago.
The clothes, however, had been kept.
Now they came in handy.
Meanwhile, oarless boats were already floating down the rivers nearby.
Desecration was afoot.
But so was love.
Now Poyga sat well dressed, but didn't feel well.
Not by deceit did he wish to enter the household.
Then the widow said:
"Well, good man,
we must see your house too, see how you live and spend your days."
"Oh, Fox..." Poyga now realized everything.
"It would be better for me to fight Kulimana, and die without sorrow."
But the fox replied to this:
"You are a straightforward person.
And so you shall die at a straightforward time.
And that time is already near.
I'll run ahead now. I'll prepare things over there.
But you, when the sun comes up,
sound the ship's horn unceasingly!
Lead the boat to desperate battle.
Remember firmly your sweet bride
and be ready for your fate.
Now the crimson sun rose!
And a loud ship's horn blew from the morning river.
Kulimana fell out of her bed,
and didn't know what was going on.
And the fox blustered:
"Trouble is coming, you witch! It is Rus that trumpets!"
And that word contained for Kulimana immeasurable fear.
"What should I grab," she thought, "and what should I leave?"
The Russians are a kindhearted people. But not forever!
And the vixen kept doing her thing - she completely bewildered Kulimana.
Her henchmen, though formidable in appearance,
had their faces hidden behind iron for good reason.
Out of fear!
An unjust cause is never strong.
The witch Kulimana was left with only one barrel out of all her loot.
And a bad name for her villainy, for her robbery.
When a battle ends, life begins.
The Earth revives, songs are played, weddings and joys arrive. Is that bad?
Poyga's shoulders were now straightened by his strength and daring.
His spirit stood tall.
Far across the northern land could his wedding be heard.
The fox rejoiced.
Her irrepressible cunning had given her glory!
Peace and love came to Poyga's lively household!
And let there be joy to all!
Here ends the northern fairy tale.
Everything in the world has an end.
Only our native land does not.
The End
Subs - Lemicnor, Eus (2024.11), revised by Niffiwan (2025.08). animatsiya.net