I. Краса і сила
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Thieves, a threshing machine, a picnic (B2)
Beauty and Strength and Other Stories Краса і сила та інші оповідання
Volodymyr Vynnychenko, 1930
Three complete stories by Volodymyr Vynnychenko in the original Ukrainian, not an adaptation: Beauty and Strength, By the Machine and Contrasts, his first published prose (1902-1904). The selection is MovaReader’s own. It suits B2 learners who like quick, talk-driven scenes of small-town and village life around 1900: thieves at a fair, harvest hands at a steam threshing machine, a picnic party on the steppe. About 30,300 words in three stories, 9 words per sentence on average.
- B2
- 30 315 words
- 5-8 hours
Will this text hold?
B1
Earlier
At B1 the dialogue is easy to follow, but almost one word in ten is long, and the 1930 spelling and spoken forms (одчепись, здригнувсь, сказать) add a second layer of unfamiliar words.
B1B2
This text
At B2 it reads well: short sentences and plenty of dialogue, with the rarer words, the old spellings and the Russian-tinged speech handled by tapping single words.
Check this passageC1
With room to spare
At C1 it reads freely; only the 1930 spelling, the farm words around the threshing machine (соломотряс, ожеред, полова) and the mixed Russian-Ukrainian lines still make you stop.
Start readingSentences are short, 9 words on average, because most of the book is spoken: about three paragraphs in four are dialogue lines. The vocabulary sets the level: 9.0% of words have 9 letters or more, a little below Vynnychenko’s own The Moment and Other Stories (9.8%, B2), well above Kotsiubynsky’s Fata Morgana (6.4%) and under the 10% line where Ivan Franko’s Boa constrictor (10.0%) becomes C1. Two layers of older forms add work. The 1930 edition keeps the spelling of its time: the prefix од- for від- (одчепись, одповідає, оддам) more than 120 times against 25 words with від-, genitives such as смерти, злости, делікатности, ґ in енерґійно, шклянку and лямпочка, and зідхнув for зітхнув (15 times). The characters also speak a loose, spoken Ukrainian: past forms like здригнувсь and вилаявсь (42 in -всь), infinitives like сказать and лякаться, and at the fair and in the lock-up a mix of Russian and Ukrainian (Ах, какиї ви стали скупиї). Contrasts is the densest story, with 11.8 words per sentence. Long words under the 10% line and no regional dialect keep it at B2. This is the catalogue’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 30 315
- words
- 9
- words in an average sentence
- 5-8
- hours of reading
- 1930
- Книгоспілка
Книгоспілка, 1930. Wikisource
What it is about, without the ending
Vynnychenko’s first three stories, printed in the Kyiv journal Kievskaya Starina in 1902-1904, when he was a young student; a few years later Ivan Franko greeted his first book as the work of a rare, strong talent. Beauty and Strength opens in Sonhorod, a sleepy little town where even the wind seems to whisper. Ilko Chubaty, young, handsome and the town’s best-known thief, is dozing by his crooked hut when Motria arrives: a dark-eyed beauty with a child by Andrii Holub, another thief, who beats her. She laughs, teases and provokes Ilko, and from that summer afternoon to a rainy autumn night at the window of the town lock-up the three are drawn into a knot of love, pride and violence. By the Machine spends one scorching harvest day at a landowner’s steam threshing machine: the young steward Gudzinsky, whom the peasants call Gudzyk (“Button”), keeps watching the road for his bride, a milliner from town, while the workers grow restless over their pay. In Contrasts, Hlykeria, a comfortable young lady, drifts through a merry picnic beside her fiancé Ivan, who preaches living every moment to the full; on the ride home across the steppe their carriages meet a column of hungry, dust-covered farmhands who have been looking for work for two weeks. What happens next is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Краса і сила та інші оповідання
II. Біля машини
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Choose an underlined word.
Spoken endings: здригнувсь, лякаться
Vynnychenko lets his characters and his narrator use short spoken endings: здригнувсь for standard здригнувся (“started”) and лякаться for лякатися (“to get scared”). This passage shows both forms side by side: a few lines later Ilko says Аж здригнувся. The book has 42 past forms in -всь (вилаявсь, подививсь) and infinitives like сказать and бить; read them as the standard -ся, -тися and -ти.
Short present forms: клаца, почина
In the narrator’s present tense a verb often drops its last syllable: клаца for клацає (“clacks”), and later почина for починає, біга for бігає, підніма for піднімає. These are spoken forms, not misprints. Note also how the machine is described as an animal: звірюка (“big beast”), пащу (“maw”), залізними зубами (“with iron teeth”).
Where the text gets harder
I-IImore dialogue
IIIlonger sentences
Translation while you read
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Whole-sentence translation helps with Ivan’s picnic speeches, such as «Через що ж це життя мусить бути гіршим, ніж те будуче, для якого всі так клопочуться і, головним чином, клопочуться до самої смерти?!» (“Why should this life be worse than that future one everyone frets about, and frets about, above all, until their very death?!”).
ReaderIf this book is not the one
Ukrainian books B1 Earlier The Moment and Other Stories Момент та інші оповідання Another book by the same author B2
All books at this level
Before you read
Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
It is the original, not an adaptation: three complete stories by Volodymyr Vynnychenko, Краса і сила (1902, first printed as Сила і краса), Біля машини (1902) and Контрасти (1904), all first published in the Kyiv journal Kievskaya Starina; the latest appeared in 1904. The selection and its order are MovaReader’s own: Vynnychenko’s first book of 1906 had a similar title but many more stories. The text comes from Wikisource, from volume I (Оповідання) of Vynnychenko’s Works (Твори), published by Knyhospilka in 1930, and keeps that edition’s spelling: одповідає for відповідає, смерти for смерті, енерґійно for енергійно, зідхнув for зітхнув.
Is there an audiobook?
There is no audiobook on MovaReader: the stories are read on screen. Tap a word to see its translation; you will need it for words like зідхнув (an older form of зітхнув, “sighed”) and одчепись (today відчепися, “leave me alone”).
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes, with the Reader plan. It helps in the narrator’s longer reflections, for example «То була краса, що викохується тільки на Україні, але не така, як малюють деякі з наших письменників» (“It was a beauty that is nurtured only in Ukraine, but not the kind some of our writers paint”). Without the plan, single words are translated up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
About 5-8 hours, at the pace of someone reading with translation of new words, slower than a native speaker. Beauty and Strength is the longest, about 14,600 words in five numbered parts; By the Machine (about 7,100 words) and Contrasts (about 8,700) take an evening or two each.
Where does the text get easier?
The first two stories are the lightest. Beauty and Strength has 8.4 words per sentence and 8.4% long words, and about four paragraphs in five are dialogue; By the Machine has 9.2 words per sentence and 9.7% long words. Contrasts is the densest: 11.8 words per sentence and fewer spoken lines (under three paragraphs in five), as it follows Hlykeria’s thoughts. Reading in order leaves the hardest story for last.
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. Once you sign in, the reader keeps your last place and the words you opened. Any story also opens from the contents on this page, for example II. Біля машини, if you want to start with the harvest day at the threshing machine.