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Ursul pacalit de vulpe
Adaptare dupa Ion Creanga.
16 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1880
46 people want to read
About the author
Ion Creangă
174 books101 followersIon Creangă was a Moldavian-born Romanian writer, raconteur and schoolteacher. A main figure in 19th century Romanian literature, he is best known for his Childhood Memories volume, his novellas and short stories, and his many anecdotes.
Creangă's main contribution to fantasy and children's literature includes narratives structured around eponymous protagonists (Povestea lui Harap Alb, Ivan Turbincă, Dănilă Prepeleac), as well as fairy tales indebted to conventional forms (Povestea porcului, Capra cu trei iezi, Soacra cu trei nurori).
Like Swift or Mark Twain, Creangă is more than a story-teller for children or simply a humorist. His work is a human and social document of the ways of thinking and the life of a Romanian village in the nineteenth century. It may seem of restricted interest, owing to the local peasant setting, as well as to the language in which it was written; it carries nevertheless all the joy and pathos of a book of universal significance. Creangă's Memories symbolically picture the destiny of every child walking the path toward maturity and experience. The work inaugurates an original formula in the art of memoir writing, and represents a monument of high spirits and verbal abundance. A jovial verbal torrent, a kind of lexical spree, generously flushes this rhapsody of perennial childhood.
Creangă's main contribution to fantasy and children's literature includes narratives structured around eponymous protagonists (Povestea lui Harap Alb, Ivan Turbincă, Dănilă Prepeleac), as well as fairy tales indebted to conventional forms (Povestea porcului, Capra cu trei iezi, Soacra cu trei nurori).
Like Swift or Mark Twain, Creangă is more than a story-teller for children or simply a humorist. His work is a human and social document of the ways of thinking and the life of a Romanian village in the nineteenth century. It may seem of restricted interest, owing to the local peasant setting, as well as to the language in which it was written; it carries nevertheless all the joy and pathos of a book of universal significance. Creangă's Memories symbolically picture the destiny of every child walking the path toward maturity and experience. The work inaugurates an original formula in the art of memoir writing, and represents a monument of high spirits and verbal abundance. A jovial verbal torrent, a kind of lexical spree, generously flushes this rhapsody of perennial childhood.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 25, 2020
A hungry fox manages to steal some fish from a passing peasant in this folktale from Romanian author Ion Creangă, pretending to be dead in order to be taken up into the peasant's cart. Celebrating this good fortune, the fox is confronted by a bear, who wants his share of the fish. The cunning fox tricks this ursine intruder into "fishing" in the nearby lake for his own fish, leading to a painful loss of tail, when the lake freezes over...
Published in 1983 in Kishinev, the capital of Moldova (then part of the USSR), The Fox Plays the Bear a Trick is described on its title page as being translated from the Moldavian. As I understand it, in current English usage, Moldova/Moldovan refers to the modern-day nation-state, whereas Moldavia/Moldavian refers to the historic region, which encompassed that state, as well parts of modern-day Romania and Ukraine, and which was for many centuries its own autonomous entity. In any case, my further understanding is that the Moldavian/Moldovan language is essentially the same as the Romanian language, but that Soviet policy was to distinguish between the two. I'm honestly not sure if this is still a controversial issue, although perhaps not, given that 'Romanian' has been listed as the official language of Moldova since 1991. However that may be, I have added the book to both my "Romanian children" shelf, because Creangă is considered a Romanian author, to my "Moldovan children" shelf, as the book was published in the capital of that nation, and to my "Soviet children" shelf, as Moldova was still part of the USSR when the book was published.
Leaving aside the issue of national classification, the story here was quite interesting to me, and although penned by Creangă, must surely come from folklore. The two parts of the story - the fox stealing the fish from the peasant, and the fox tricking the bear - can both be found in multiple other folk traditions from around the world. The first part is a story I have encountered a number of times in various Reynardian collections - in Renard the Fox , Rachel Anderson presents a French version in which her vulpine hero steals some eels from a peasant's cart - as well as in Judit Bodnar's retelling of a Hungarian variant, in A Wagonload of Fish . The second part is even more widespread, at least in the northern hemisphere, and I have read variants from as far afield as Native America. Natalia Belting relates a variant from the Loucheux people of the Mackenzie River in her The Long-Tailed Bear and Other Indian Legends , while an Oneida variant can be found here, on that nation's website. There are variants from Norway (see The Bear's Tale: A Folktale from Norway by Rita Schlachter), from Hungary (see Bodnar's Tale of a Tail for a revisionist take), and from Russia (see Elena Polenova's Why the Bear Has No Tail and Other Russian Fairy-Tales ). I'm glad to have discovered this Romanian/Moldovan version!
Engaging enough, as a story, and of interest to me as a student of folklore, The Fox Plays the Bear a Trick also features appealing artwork, done by W. Brinzey. My only real criticism is that the text contains a number of typos, and looks to have been translated into English by someone (D. Melenchuk) who was not a native speaker. Leaving that aside, this is one I would recommend to all young folklore lovers, to fox lovers, and to anyone interested in Romanian/Moldovan/Soviet children's literature. A digital copy can be found here, on the Internet Archive.
Published in 1983 in Kishinev, the capital of Moldova (then part of the USSR), The Fox Plays the Bear a Trick is described on its title page as being translated from the Moldavian. As I understand it, in current English usage, Moldova/Moldovan refers to the modern-day nation-state, whereas Moldavia/Moldavian refers to the historic region, which encompassed that state, as well parts of modern-day Romania and Ukraine, and which was for many centuries its own autonomous entity. In any case, my further understanding is that the Moldavian/Moldovan language is essentially the same as the Romanian language, but that Soviet policy was to distinguish between the two. I'm honestly not sure if this is still a controversial issue, although perhaps not, given that 'Romanian' has been listed as the official language of Moldova since 1991. However that may be, I have added the book to both my "Romanian children" shelf, because Creangă is considered a Romanian author, to my "Moldovan children" shelf, as the book was published in the capital of that nation, and to my "Soviet children" shelf, as Moldova was still part of the USSR when the book was published.
Leaving aside the issue of national classification, the story here was quite interesting to me, and although penned by Creangă, must surely come from folklore. The two parts of the story - the fox stealing the fish from the peasant, and the fox tricking the bear - can both be found in multiple other folk traditions from around the world. The first part is a story I have encountered a number of times in various Reynardian collections - in Renard the Fox , Rachel Anderson presents a French version in which her vulpine hero steals some eels from a peasant's cart - as well as in Judit Bodnar's retelling of a Hungarian variant, in A Wagonload of Fish . The second part is even more widespread, at least in the northern hemisphere, and I have read variants from as far afield as Native America. Natalia Belting relates a variant from the Loucheux people of the Mackenzie River in her The Long-Tailed Bear and Other Indian Legends , while an Oneida variant can be found here, on that nation's website. There are variants from Norway (see The Bear's Tale: A Folktale from Norway by Rita Schlachter), from Hungary (see Bodnar's Tale of a Tail for a revisionist take), and from Russia (see Elena Polenova's Why the Bear Has No Tail and Other Russian Fairy-Tales ). I'm glad to have discovered this Romanian/Moldovan version!
Engaging enough, as a story, and of interest to me as a student of folklore, The Fox Plays the Bear a Trick also features appealing artwork, done by W. Brinzey. My only real criticism is that the text contains a number of typos, and looks to have been translated into English by someone (D. Melenchuk) who was not a native speaker. Leaving that aside, this is one I would recommend to all young folklore lovers, to fox lovers, and to anyone interested in Romanian/Moldovan/Soviet children's literature. A digital copy can be found here, on the Internet Archive.
December 29, 2015
Read as part of the volume 'Povesti. Povestiri. Amintiri' by Ion Creangã.
You can find an animated rendition here.
The ending is just too good to be true.
You can find an animated rendition here.
The ending is just too good to be true.
July 22, 2025
Apărut pentru prima oară în 1880, în Albumul Macedo-Român (publicație bucureșteană) Ursul este unul dintre basmele mele preferate.
Viclenie, inocență, lăcomie, istețime, toate sunt caracteristici primare, ce pot fi lesne înțelese de cei mici, publicul-țintă preferat pentru asemenea producții. Ori, ceea ce-ți place în anii tinereții rămâne mereu printre amintirile plăcute.
Pe scurt, o vulpe flămândă face pe moarta (destul de riscant, aș spune) și păcălește un țăran, furându-i din captura de pește, pentru ca apoi, en passant, să-și continue numărul și cu bietul urs. Scurt, clar, precis și la obiect, iar dacă punem la socoteală și limbajul ne dăm seama că avem un mic giuvaer. Și, după cum veți vedea mai jos, avem si "sfaturi" pentru pescarii amatori...
"Ascultă, cumătre: vrei să mănânci peşte? Du-te desară la băltoaga cea din marginea pădurei, vârâ-ţi coada-n apă şi stăi pe loc, fără să te mişti, până despre ziuă; atunci smunceşte vârtos spre mal şi ai să scoţi o mulţime de peşte, poate îndoit şi-ntreit de cât am scos eu..."
Viclenie, inocență, lăcomie, istețime, toate sunt caracteristici primare, ce pot fi lesne înțelese de cei mici, publicul-țintă preferat pentru asemenea producții. Ori, ceea ce-ți place în anii tinereții rămâne mereu printre amintirile plăcute.
Pe scurt, o vulpe flămândă face pe moarta (destul de riscant, aș spune) și păcălește un țăran, furându-i din captura de pește, pentru ca apoi, en passant, să-și continue numărul și cu bietul urs. Scurt, clar, precis și la obiect, iar dacă punem la socoteală și limbajul ne dăm seama că avem un mic giuvaer. Și, după cum veți vedea mai jos, avem si "sfaturi" pentru pescarii amatori...
"Ascultă, cumătre: vrei să mănânci peşte? Du-te desară la băltoaga cea din marginea pădurei, vârâ-ţi coada-n apă şi stăi pe loc, fără să te mişti, până despre ziuă; atunci smunceşte vârtos spre mal şi ai să scoţi o mulţime de peşte, poate îndoit şi-ntreit de cât am scos eu..."
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews