II. Ведмідь Бурмило і мед
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Franko’s fox epic retold for A2
Lys Mykyta Лис Микита
Ivan Franko
This is MovaReader’s retelling of Ivan Franko’s verse tale in simple Ukrainian prose, not the original text: an adaptation for readers who know the basics and are learning to follow a story told in the past tense. In the catalogue it is A2: about 4,200 words in 12 short chapters, one for each of Franko’s 12 songs, about Mykyta the Fox, who is summoned to the Lion’s court for his crimes and talks his way out again and again.
- A2
- 4 207 words
- 1 hour
Will this text hold?
A1
Earlier
At A1 it is a stretch: the story is told in the past tense, and the Fox’s speeches at court join two or three clauses with бо, а and коли.
A1A2
This text
At A2 it fits: everyday words, past-tense narration and plenty of short dialogue, and words like колода (log) or ополонка (a hole in the ice) translate with a tap.
Check this passageB1
With room to spare
At B1 the tale reads almost without translation: good for building speed, and a light way into Franko before his complete texts.
Start readingThe average sentence has 10 words, and the narration is in the past tense, one step beyond the present-tense stories of A1. Only about one word in 30 has 9 letters or more (3.3%), words like посередині (in the middle) or пустельник (hermit). Complete Ukrainian texts in the catalogue start at B2: Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky’s Intermezzo also has short sentences (9.8 words) but one long word in 16, and Franko’s own animal stories, Коли ще звірі говорили, have 12.3 words per sentence and 7.1% long words. The difficulty is even: the 12 chapters range from 8.5 to 10.4 words per sentence. Hence A2. This is the catalogue’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 4 207
- words
- 10
- words in an average sentence
- 1
- hour of reading
MovaReader. Wikisource
What it is about, without the ending
Spring comes, and the Lion, king of the beasts, calls every animal to his court. Only Mykyta the Fox stays at home in his castle, while the Wolf, the Cat, the Rooster and others line up to complain about him. The King sends Burmylo the Bear to fetch him, then Murlyka the Cat, and each messenger comes back beaten after one of the Fox’s tricks. When Mykyta finally appears at court, he is sentenced to the gallows, and with the rope already round his neck he begins to talk about a hidden treasure. What happens next is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Лис Микита
V. Під шибеницею
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Choose an underlined word.
Дядьку: the vocative case
The Fox calls the Bear дядьку, the vocative of дядько (uncle). Ukrainian uses a special form when addressing someone: Микита becomes Микито, Вовк becomes Вовче, цар becomes царю. Calling the Bear “uncle” is the Fox’s mocking flattery, not family.
Якби ... би: things that did not happen
An unreal condition takes якби in the if-clause and the past tense with би in the main clause: Якби я його не вкрав, ти вже не був би живий. The same past forms serve for present and past meaning, so context decides: “if I hadn’t stolen it, you would not be alive now”.
Chapters
Translation while you read
The book stays free on every plan. Reader, €1 a month, removes the daily limit on words and sentences.
Reader
€1 a month
Reader translates whole sentences where simple words build an unfamiliar construction, as in Якби я його не вкрав, ти вже не був би живий, “if I hadn’t stolen it, you would no longer be alive”.
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Is this the original or a learner adaptation?
An adaptation, not the original text. It is MovaReader’s own retelling in simple Ukrainian prose of Ivan Franko’s verse tale Лис Микита, first published in 1890. Franko based his poem on the medieval Reynard the Fox tradition, which he knew through Goethe’s Reineke Fuchs. The source is the poem as printed in Franko’s collected works (1956-1962) on Wikisource. What changed: Franko’s rhymed stanzas became plain prose in the past tense, with sentences of about 10 words and everyday vocabulary, and the poem of roughly 16,700 words became about 4,200. The 12 chapters follow Franko’s 12 songs and keep his names and main episodes, such as the honey log, the Cat in the noose and the treasure of Tsar Horokh; some side stories are told briefly or left out. The full text of the poem is not in the catalogue.
Is there an audiobook?
No, there is no audio version of this tale on MovaReader; the text is read on screen. Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears: here that will often be words from the village and the forest, such as колода (log) or ополонка (a hole cut in the ice).
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes: whole-sentence translation comes with the Reader plan. Sentences here average 10 words, so you will need it mostly where the grammar is new rather than the words, as in Якби я його не вкрав, ти вже не був би живий (“if I hadn’t stolen it, you would no longer be alive”). Without the plan you can translate single words up to the daily limit.
How many hours does it take?
About an hour for the whole tale at a learner’s pace, with new words translated as you go. There are 12 chapters of about 240 to 430 words each, so a chapter takes a few minutes and the tale fits into one or two evenings.
Where does the text get easier?
No part is much easier, because the difficulty is even: the 12 chapters average between 8.5 and 10.4 words per sentence. Chapter III, about the Cat and the mice, has the shortest sentences (8.5), and chapter IV, where the Fox tells a long story at supper, the longest (10.4).
Will my place in the book be saved?
Yes. After you sign in, the reader remembers where you stopped and which words you opened. The contents on this page also open any of the 12 chapters directly, for example chapter II, “Ведмідь Бурмило і мед” (Burmylo the Bear and the honey).