THE TALE OF IVAN, A LORD AND SOME BADDIES
Once upon a time there was a lord.
And that lord was terribly wicked and greedy.
He was a nuisance to mankind,
but baddies welcomed him.
They followed him like a tail follows a dog.
That's why people called them his minions.
Nothing was ever enough for this lord.
He always wanted more stuff.
If he lent out a handful of grains,
he'd demand a full sack in return.
And whatever the lord missed, the baddies would get.
But even this lord got his just desserts.
One day, the lord came to visit Ivan the Merry.
And those baddies were right there with him.
But Ivan was unfazed - he said to the lord:
"I am rich today. My house is full of good things.
There's good cheer in my closet and a pot of joy on my stove.
Take it all, I'm not greedy."
The lord got angry.
Ivan, this village lout, was making fun of him.
He took everything he could.
He even took the door.
As soon as the lord left the yard, the baddies barged into the house.
Another man would have lost his head after such a disaster.
But not Ivan.
He decided to outwit the baddies.
"My dear guests,"
said Ivan,
"why are you gnawing on pillows?
What sort of tasty treat is that?
Come with me, I'll give you a proper meal.
One that you'll never forget."
Ivan led the baddies to the river.
In the river splashed many fish.
"Did you see that?" said Ivan, "You'll soon have pike,
and tench, and carp, and burbot - you'll have it all."
Ivan was glad. He thought he had gotten rid of the baddies.
But the baddies crawled out of the river
and rushed after Ivan.
They were angrier than ever.
Ivan kept his head.
He immediately knew what to do next.
"Oh, you poor men," said Ivan, "you didn't do it right!
But never mind, I've got another treat for you."
Ivan led the baddies into the forest.
He cut down one of the thicker trees, split it open and said:
"Here you go, try the middle.
There's nothing sweeter in the world."
That's how the baddies got caught.
Ivan was cunning.
He decided to get rid of the baddies and the lord in one go.
Only he needed a sturdy sack for this.
Ivan went to the market.
He traded his axe for a good sack,
and got a chimney cake to go with it.
Not that's lucky!
Ivan walked back,
cheery as anyone could be, making noise all over the neighborhood.
Let the baddies hear, so they get angrier.
Oh, how angry those baddies became!
They escaped the tree and rushed at Ivan.
That's just what he needed.
"Look," he says, "I brought you a chimney cake.
Eat, don't be shy."
The baddies jumped into the bag.
Ivan tied the sack real tight and went to the lord's house.
Ivan knew that if the lord saw the sack, he would remember his debts.
And that's just what happened.
"What's this?" said the lord,
"Are you making merry again?
Have you forgotten your debts?"
"Oh, your reverence," said Ivan,
"how can I pay you off?
I guess I'll have to give you this sack. It's magic."
The lord was surprised.
Magic?
"Magic," Ivan replied,
"only you must remember, m'lord, it is very lazy.
You must cane it a hundred times,
and then ask it for whatever you want."
The lord didn't skimp on the canings.
He gave it the entire hundred.
Every last one.
And then all hell broke loose!
The baddies outdid themselves.
They paid back every single hit.
Who knew that that lord could be so quick?
He was probably saving it for this occasion.
And so the land was left with neither a lord,
nor any baddies.
Only a fairy tale remained.
director Roman Adamovich screenwriter Aleksander Kostinskiy
art directors Roman Adamovich, Nataliya Chernyshyova
camera Anatoliy Gavrilov composer Yakov Lapinskiy sound V. Antonenko
animators I. Borodavko, N. Bondar, A. Karbovnichiy, Aleksander Lavrov,
Yevgeniy Sivokon, Mihail Titov, V. Vrublevskiy, Aleksandr Viken
assistants L. Vrublevskaya, T. Cherni, O. Deryazhnaya, A. Ibadulayev
script editor Svetlana Kutsenko
production director Ivan Mazepa
Kievnauchfilm - division of fictive animation, 1977
The End Subs by Eus & Niffiwan, Jan 2025