Poems and Songs of Vladimir Vysotsky. In a Faraway Kingdom.

Text.

Commentary to the song “An Unusual Fable”.

As Wird Khan from “The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night” would say, the first king, despite his craftiness (as it is written in the original), was assiduous in furthering three things that are predefined for him who is invested with the kingship: the fostering of the faith, the fostering of his subjects and the fostering of government — and has led his kingdom to prosperity, while the second king, being an egregious boor (as it is written in the original), breached his devoir to his subjects, what leads to the ruin of the king and the loss of his kingdom and fortune — and has put his kingdom in a very dan­ger­ous position. And the third king, be­ing a militarist and a vandal (as it is written in the original), has begun to pursue a policy leading to the complete ab­sorp­tion of his kingdom by neighboring king­doms or, at best, to a significant reduction of its territory.

And, here it can be drawn a parallel between Porphyry Ivanov, peace be upon him, who has walked barefoot and almost naked across Rossia and Ukraine during fifty years, and the Prophet Isaiah, peace be upon him, who had walked barefoot and naked for a sign and a wonder concerning Egypt and Ethiopia during three years.

The presented text is adapted from George Tokarev’s translation.

Main Page.