Funny Little Characters

If a Russian fox met an American fox, would they get along?

If Russian folklore is to be trusted, the answer is a definite нет (no). Oh, they might understand each other’s chirps and barks, but there would certainly be a personality conflict.

In Russian mythology, лиса (fox, female — in stories and fables the fox is virtually always female) is described as хитрая (crafty); коварная (wily, cunning); and льстивая (fawning). Председатель парткома — хитрая лиса — хвалил дирижёра пока не получил от него билеты на концерт.  (The head of the local party committee – that sly fox — praised the conductor until he got concert tickets from him.) Would two sneaky flatterers get along? Never.

Over the millennia, Russians have observed animals and codified their personality traits. It remains unclear how they determined a wild fox’s propensity for flattery, but it’s easy to see how they decided the крот (mole) was a careful worker with bad eyes.  Дедушка был слеп, как крот. (My grandfather was as blind as a mole.) Лена деловито, как крот, рылась в чемоданах, отыскивая маечку. (Lena, as businesslike as a mole, dug through the suitcases to find a t-shirt.) 

Now, of course, Russian moles have taken on the profession of their English-language counterparts as spies working from within. Книга рассказывает о поисках крота в ЦРУ, работавшего на КГБ. (The book tells the story of the search for the mole in the CIA working for the KGB.)

Rats are a different story. Крыс — подлый, агрессивный, омерзительный. Недаром говорят «бегут с тонущего корабля как крысы.» (A rat is base, aggressive, and repugnant. There’s a good reason they say “like rats running from a sinking ship.”)  Sometimes you find this creature associated with the worst aspects of Soviet society: Он был хорошим человеком, ещё не изуродованным советской крысиной властью. (He was a good guy, who hadn’t yet been ruined by that vile Soviet government.)

Among other small Russian creatures, заяц (a hare) is a sweet little thing, somewhat helpless, easily wounded, and, for all those reasons, usually rather cowardly.  Неужели ты трусливый заяц и нет смелости гордо отстаивать свою любовь? (Are you really like a cowardly hare who doesn’t dare to proudly fight for the woman you love?) Their one trick, however, is the ability to run fast and change directions in a flash to escape from a predator. Perhaps this characteristic produced the idiom ехать зайцем (literally “to ride like a hare,” actually “to be a fare dodger”) — now an almost impossible trick in the age of electronic tickets.

A slightly larger furry creature, баран (young ram), has the reputation of being тупой (slow-witted); глупый (stupid); and упрямый (stubborn). They are held in disdain. If a hare will at least try to get away, a young ram will just give up and give in. Видно, что вот-вот хулиганы нападут на этих парней, а они просто стоят как бараны. (It was clear that the punks were about to jump the young men, but they just stood there like sheep.)

In other cases, sheep are befuddled by something new or unexpected, captured in the expression как баран на новые ворота (like a sheep staring at a new gate). От радости и удивления он ничего не мог сказать, а просто смотрел на меня, как баран на новые ворота. (He couldn’t say a word, he was so surprised and happy. He just stared at me blankly.)

But there is one kind of sheep that is attractive: После дождя у меня волосы вьются как баран. (After the rain my hair is as curly as a sheep.)