May 2007 trip to Russia

Pushkin's Prologue

Pushkin's famous poem 'prologue' has been re-created with life-sized wooden sculptures in a magical woodland setting at Mandrogi.

 

Pushkin Poem

 

A green oak stands by the shores of a bay. Around the oak is a golden chain, the day and night a learned cat walks round and round on the chain.

Pushkin Prologue

 

As he walks to the right, he sings a song; as he walks to the left, he tells a story. There are wonders there: a wood-goblin wanders, a sea-nymph sits in the branches.

Pushkin Prologue    Pushkin Prologue

 

There, on mysterious forest paths, lie the tracks of invisible creatures. A hut with no windows or doors stands on chickens' legs.

Pushkin Prologue

 

The hills and valleys are full of strange visions. There at dawn the waves wash over the sandy and deserted shore; and thirty knights, one by one, come glistening up out of the clear water, attended by their sea-tutor.

Pushkin Prologue    Pushkin Prologue

 

A prince, passing by, takes as his prisoner a cruel tyrant king;

Pushkin Prologue

 

in the clouds, across forests and oceans, a sorcerer carries away a brave young man.

Pushkin Prologue

 

In a dark dungeon a princess languishes, with only a brown wolf to be her faithful slave.

Pushkin Prologue

 

The great witch Baba Yaga sits in a mortar, which wanders about by itself;

Pushkin Prologue

 

King Kashchey, the old miser, sighs over his mounds of gold.

Pushkin Prologue

 

The spirit of Russia is there - a scent of Russia is in the air. And there I sat, drinking mead. I saw the green oak by the sea, and sat beneath it as the learned cat told me his stories. Some of these I remember, and I will tell them now to the world…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All pictures on this site are © Allan Jones unless otherwise stated

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