What is the Russian folk tale 'Ivan the Fool' about? Which part is 'silly' - summary, lessons and quotes.
Ivan the Fool is a novel by the great Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. It is also known as a typical Russian folk tale, but do you know what the story is about? This article will give you the background, summary, lessons, quotes and recommended books about the story.
A)
1)
What is the Russian folk tale Ivan the Fool?
First, let's look at the background of the writing of Ivan the Fool and its author, Leo Tolstoy.
The author and the original title:
Ivan the Fool is a novel by the Russian writer Leo Tolstoy, based on a Russian folk tale written in 1885 and published in 1886.
2)
The official original title is The Story of Ivan the Fool and His Two Brothers, Semyon the Soldier and Talaas the Taiko-belly, and His Silent Sister Malanya, the Great Devil and the Three Little Devils (original title: Сказка об Иване-дураке и его двух братьях: Семене-воине и Тарасе-брюхане, и немой сестре Маланье, и о старом дьяволе и трех чертенятах.)'
B)
3)
Stories adapted from folk tales:
The original Russian folk tale was about Ivan, a lazy man compared to his two hardworking brothers, who eventually make his fortune.
However, Tolstoy changed this summary, making Ivan a hardworking, 'idiotic' character, while the eldest and second sons were given the flavour of militarism and monopoly capitalism.
4)
Who was Leo Tolstoy?
Leo Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828-1910) was, along with Dostoyevsky, one of the leading figures of 19th-century Russian literature. He was born into an aristocratic family and grew up wealthy. Still, from an early age, he left behind a series of humanitarian works based in part on his exposure to the impoverished lives of the Russian people of his time.
His most famous works include War and Peace, Anna Karenina, Resurrection and the play The Living Dead.
C)
5)
Synopsis and story introduction:
Here, we look at the synopsis of Ivan's Fool. We have divided it into two resumes: a detailed summary and a brief overview.
Detailed synopsis
Once upon a time, in a land, there lived three brothers - Semyon the soldier, Talaas the big-bellied and Ivan the Fool - and their mute sister.
6)
Semyon became a king's servant, Talaas a merchant and left home, while the foolish Ivan stayed home to support his poor parents, sparing no effort. When his two brothers returned home in need of money and begged him for his possessions, Silly Ivan was generous enough to share them.
7)
Then, three demon brothers and their master, the Devil, plotted to start a war between Ivan and his three brothers. The demons defeated Semyon in the battle, leaving Talász penniless and also messed with Ivan. However, Ivan is a fool and does not care what the monsters do to him but rather defeats them.
As an apology, the demons Ivan defeated gave him the power to turn straws into soldiers and leaves into gold coins. With this power, his brothers Semyon, Taras and Ivan became kings and ruled their lands.
8)
The demon master, angry that things had not gone his way, disguised himself as a human and set a trap for the three brothers. As a result of this ruse, Semyon was defeated in the war, and Talász was left destitute after being robbed of his possessions.
But the people of Ivan's land, like Ivan himself, are stupid and hardworking, so they do not fall into the Devil's trap. When he tried to take things away from them, they willingly gave them up, and when he scattered gold coins around, they didn't even realise the value of the gold coins.
9)
Finally, the Devil made a speech saying that he could make more money by working with his head than with his hands, but none of Ivan's people took him seriously. The demon made his speech from a high watchtower, but after several days of talking, he became so exhausted that he fell and was sucked into a crevice in the ground.
After that, Ivan's land prospered, and he gladly took in and cared for his two brothers, who came to his land for help. There was only one promise in the land: hardworking people with blistered hands would be allowed to sit down to meals, but those without blisters would have to eat other people's leftovers.
D)
10)
Summary:
Once upon a time, three brothers lived in a land - Semyon the soldier, Talas the big-bellied and Ivan the Fool. The Devil tried to tempt the three brothers, but Ivan the Fool, as he was called, was a hard worker without greed.
The Devil tempted and trapped the two brothers, but Ivan worked so hard that even the Devil surrendered.
E)
11)
Lessons and quotes from the story:
Here are some lessons from "Ivan's Fool" and quotes from the story.
Lesson learned.
Ivan's two greedy brothers use Ivan's power to get money and soldiers quickly. They are also often tempted by the demons. In contrast, Ivan, a hardworking man with no greed, so much so that he was called a 'fool', was not even tempted by the temptation, so the Devil's traps are no problem for him.
The lesson from this story is that nothing comes easy, and you should work to get what you want without relying on others.
F)
12)
What the author wants to get across:
As mentioned above, the way Semyon and Talaas are portrayed shows that they are both symbols of a militaristic and capitalist ideology. In contrast, Ivan, who does not participate in the war and does not value gold, is an anarchist and a pacifist.
From how these characters are arranged, it should be possible to read that the author was trying to show respect for anarcho-pacifist ideas while criticising militarism and capitalism.
G)
What are some of the best quotes from Ivan the Fool?
The best quotes from the film are again the following sentences.
Those with blisters on their hands may sit down to eat, but those without blisters must eat the leftovers of others (source: Leo Tolstoy).
13)
This sentence could almost be synonymous with the Japanese proverb, "If you don't work, don't eat". At the end of the story, it is emphasised as the code of Ivan's country, where he worked steadily and without temptation.
But it can also be a somewhat contradictory passage, looking back on Ivan's actions, as he willingly provided for his brother, who relied on him whenever he was destitute.
What is the Russian folk tale 'Ivan the Fool' about? Which part is 'silly' - summary, lessons and quotes.
