The Little Clay Hut: Russian Folk Tales About Animals

Abstract

Most of the stories here are quintessential folklore. Some, like The Fox and the Thrush, display a curious mingling of episodes that do not seem to belong together; perhaps there has been some conflation of several stories into one. I continue to enjoy Rachev's wonderful illustrations. This is my fourth book of his work (see 1965, 1968, and 1983 for works of his in Russian). An English-language edition also gives me a reliable spelling of his difficult name! Unfortunately, this edition shifts his first name from Evgeny (facing the title page) to Yevgeni three pages later. See the 1988 edition from Raduga publishers and my comments on the changes there. Aesopic fable is represented, as so often in Russian material, by The Fox and the Crane (46), which is well told. Some illustrations may be superior in the 1988 printing.