June 08, 2021

Stubborn as a Swan


Stubborn as a Swan
Sometimes we all just want to collapse in the middle of the road while exercising, right?  Photo by Jerome via Unsplash

Continuing our coverage of cute but unusual Russian pets, meet Lyona the swan, who became internet famous this past week in an adorable viral Tiktok video

In the video, Lyona appears to have caught some fatigue during his walk and decided to take a rest in the middle of the road. You can hear the poor owner try desperately to plead with it to get up, but she receives no response.

She even tries to flatter the animal by calling it sweet little pet names, to which she only receives disgruntled toots of refusal in return. The entire scene is rather hilarious, and pretty relatable if you've ever been a 12 year old and had to have your mom bargain with you to get out of bed for school. 

Eventually, Lyona has a change of heart and gets up to finish his walk home, letting out a vociferous "honk" in the process (which can be roughly translated as "ugh!"). A happy ending for all (except maybe not for the neighbors who have to listen to Lyona honk from the house next door). 

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Vladimir Gilyarovsky's classic portrait of the Russian capital is one of Russians’ most beloved books. Yet it has never before been translated into English. Until now! It is a spectactular verbal pastiche: conversation, from gutter gibberish to the drawing room; oratory, from illiterates to aristocrats; prose, from boilerplate to Tolstoy; poetry, from earthy humor to Pushkin. 

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