Many of us from childhood remember lines from rhyming stories about various animals. The author of these works, Ivan Andreevich Krylov, is a famous Russian fabulist, the fame of whose poems has long gone beyond the borders of his homeland. It's no secret that by ridiculing the actions of animals, this author revealed various things for which he was repeatedly condemned by critics, and the fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" is just such a work. Let's take a closer look at this fascinating story and try to understand its meaning.

The fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" has a fascinating plot, the action of which begins with the fact that the monkey accidentally notices himself in the mirror and stops his eyes on this. The poem very accurately describes all the emotions that she experiences at the same time: contempt and disgust, because the monkey does not know that she herself is looking at her. Along the way, pushing the bear sitting next to him, the main character of the plot begins to share with him her thoughts about the person who looks at her from the reflection, calling her a wimp and comparing her with her gossips-girlfriends, to which the bear did not begin to explain to the monkey that her own muzzle is looking at her that way, but only hinted at this fact, which remained completely incomprehensible to the monkey.

"Mirror and Monkey" - Krylov's fable, ridiculing vile people

The comparison of a man with a monkey is given in this work for a reason. The example of such an animal shows the behavior of vile people who notice the shortcomings of others, but do not want to see their own flaws. The main moral of the fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" is concentrated in the last lines of the work, and it is there that the exact analogy of the monkey with the man is drawn. Krylov even indicated his name. This poem certainly made those people who love to collect gossip worry, because they were literally compared to an ordinary monkey, and only a child can fail to notice such an allegory.

The heavy meaning of poems that are not studied by schoolchildren

The most interesting thing is that in the disclosure of morality, the author indicated a direct situation - bribery, which has become widespread since the time of Krylov's life. The fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" was written by Ivan Andreevich, as they say, on the topic of the day, so it began to be actively discussed by the inhabitants of Russia immediately after publication.

To date, the rhymed stories of this author are studied by schoolchildren from grades 3-5, however, their hidden meaning is not available to every student. That is why teachers prefer to focus on a simpler interpretation of the semantic load, rather than go deeper. Ivan Krylov surprisingly combined in his fables an instructive meaning for children and deep morality, which for the most part was oriented towards the holders of power: unclean officials and illiterate managers, among whom the author constantly rotated. The fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" became a kind of slap in the face to some of them.

Monkey, in the Mirror seeing his image,
Quietly Bear's foot:
“Look,” he says, “my dear friend!
What kind of a face is that?
What antics and jumps she has!
I would choke myself with longing,
If only she looked a little like her.
But, admit it, there is
Of my gossips, there are five or six such wimps:
I can even count them on my fingers.”-
“What are the gossips to consider working,
Isn't it better to turn on yourself, godfather? ”-
Mishka answered her.
But Mishen'kin's advice just disappeared in vain.
____________

There are many such examples in the world:
Nobody likes to recognize himself in satire.
I even saw this yesterday:
That Klimych is unclean at hand, everyone knows this;
They read about bribes to Klimych,
And he furtively nods at Peter.

Analysis / morality of the fable "The Mirror and the Monkey" by Krylov

The fable of Ivan Andreevich Krylov "The Mirror and the Monkey" was first published in the magazine "Son of the Fatherland".

The fable was written around 1815. Its author at that time was 46 years old, he is known not only for successful translations of foreign fables, but also for original, original works. He worked at that time as an assistant librarian in St. Petersburg. The work is built on the dialogue of the characters and the morality introduced by the author at the end. The mirror turns from an object into a kind of character that exposes the problem. The monkey sees himself in the mirror for the first time. Not understanding what is happening and who is grimacing at her in response, she calls the Bear to laugh at the "mug". The diminutive suffix of the adverb “quietly” emphasizes the monkey’s hypocritical desire to both attract the attention of the “godfather” and not incur a rebuke from the “grimacing”. So cowardice is combined with impudence. “Push with the foot”: here “push” acts as a verb. It is immediately clear that their relationship is familiar, because they are also godfathers (quite often found in the work of I. Krylov, the degree of kinship). A dialogue is started. And if the godfather is "cute", then in the mirror it is clearly "mug". The clash of vocabulary enhances the comedy of the situation. Several questions and exclamations. Own "grimaces and jumps" will make Monkey laugh. She'd rather die than be anything like that weirdo. “From gossips”: apparently, here this word is also used in the meaning of “girlfriends”. "Five-six": the numeral gives her story a special plausibility. Indeed, the reader would be ready to agree with Monkey's reasoning, but the author already warned in the first line that the monkey sees itself. Mishenka is familiar with the mirror and advises the monkey to "turn on himself." She paid no attention to his words. In the finale, the moral of the fable is indicated: people stubbornly do not recognize themselves in satire, diligently stigmatize other people's vices and quirks, not noticing their own. The final lines are a living example of a narrator from life: they read about bribes to a bribe taker, and he “nods at Peter” understandingly. A couple of anthroponyms, the presence of Russian calendar names for the characters also attract attention here. For the fabled creativity of that time, this was an innovative technique. Here the problem of a burnt conscience, and frivolity, and narcissism are discussed. Vocabulary is colloquial, lively, sometimes outdated.

The vice of condemnation is considered in the work of I. Krylov "The Mirror and the Monkey".

About how the stupid Monkey expressed contempt for her own reflection in the mirror, the fable “The Mirror and the Monkey” by Krylov will tell.

Read the text of the fable:

Monkey, in the Mirror seeing his image,

Quietly Bear's foot:

“Look,” he says, “my dear godfather!

What kind of a face is that?

What antics and jumps she has!

I would choke myself with longing,

If only she looked a little like her.

But, admit it, there is

Of my gossips, there are five or six such wimps:

I can even count them on my fingers."

Isn't it better to turn on yourself, godfather?" -

Mishka answered her.

But Mishen'kin's advice just disappeared in vain.

There are many such examples in the world:

Nobody likes to recognize himself in satire.

I even saw this yesterday:

That Klimych is unclean at hand, everyone knows this;

They read about bribes to Klimych.

And he furtively nods at Peter.

Moral of the fable Mirror and Monkey:

Moral of the fable: no one wants to see himself in satire and denunciation. The fabulist shows that the one who hears the denunciation first of all thinks that it is addressed to another. I. A. Krylov liked to make fun of human shortcomings using the images of animals. He made a monkey the main character of the fable for a reason. She ridicules her own antics, like the ignorant who notice "a beam in another's eye." Few people notice their shortcomings and are engaged in correcting them. Everyone is willing to condemn others.

The monkey, seeing himself in the mirror, told the Bear that there was some kind of mug in the mirror. She doesn’t like her very much, she knows about five or six such monkeys, and she would hang herself with longing if she looked like her! The bear replied that before counting gossips, you must first look at yourself. But Monkey did not listen to his advice. The author says that there are many such people around, for example, the bribe taker Klimych, although he himself is not clean, he blames Peter for this.

Read the Mirror and the Monkey fable online

Monkey, in the Mirror seeing his image,
Quietly Bear's foot:
“Look,” he says, “my dear godfather!
What kind of a face is that?
What antics and jumps she has!
I would choke myself with longing,
If only she looked a little like her.
But, admit it, there is
Of my gossips, there are five or six such wimps:
I can even count them on my fingers. —
“What are the gossips to consider working,
Isn't it better to turn on yourself, godfather? —
Mishka answered her.
But Mishen'kin's advice just disappeared in vain.

There are many such examples in the world:
Nobody likes to recognize himself in satire.
I even saw this yesterday:
That Klimych is unclean at hand, everyone knows this;
They read about bribes to Klimych.
And he furtively nods at Peter.

(Illustrated by Irina Petelina)

Moral of the fable The mirror and the monkey

People easily notice flaws in others, but hardly recognize their own negative traits.
It is to look at oneself from the outside that the author calls on all those who are used to judging the actions of others. Moreover, with the help of this fable, Krylov is trying to force a specific person to do this - a bribe-taker, for which he inserts his last name into the text.

The Monkey and the Bear have a casual conversation in Krylov's fable The Mirror and the Monkey. Children love to read Krylov's fable by roles or memorize it - it is short and not at all complicated.

Fable Mirror and monkey read

Monkey, in the Mirror seeing his image,
Quietly Bear's foot:
“Look,” he says, “my dear godfather!
What kind of a face is that?
What antics and jumps she has!
I would choke myself with longing,
If only she looked a little like her.
But, admit it, there is
Of my gossips, there are five or six such wimps:
I can even count them on my fingers."
"What gossips consider to work,
Isn't it better to turn on yourself, godfather?" -
Mishka answered her.
But Mishen'kin's advice just disappeared in vain.

There are many such examples in the world:

I even saw this yesterday:
That Klimych is unclean at hand, everyone knows this;
They read about bribes to Klimych.
And he furtively nods at Peter.

Moral of the fable The mirror and the monkey

Nobody likes to recognize himself in satire.

The moral of the fable The Mirror and the Monkey Krylov described at the end of the work according to all the rules of the fable genre. The Bear pointed out to the Monkey her ignorance, but she is ready to see the shortcomings of all her "girlfriends", but not her own.

Fable The Mirror and the Monkey - Analysis

The Monkey from this fable is very similar to the Monkey from the fable “The Monkey and Glasses” in its ignorance, which Krylov loves to make fun of in people, considering this vice very unpleasant. People tend to see the shortcomings of others, but not to notice their own. So the Monkey sees in the mirror a real wimp - herself, but is not able to admit it. Advice of the Bear “What are gossips to consider working, isn’t it better to turn around for yourself, godfather?” she misses her ears.