II. Бійка на дорозі
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Kotsiubynsky’s Hutsul tale retold for A2
Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors Тіні забутих предків
Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky
This is MovaReader’s retelling of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky’s novella in simple standard Ukrainian, 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 4,500 words in 12 short titled chapters. The Hutsul dialect of the original is gone, but five mountain words stay and are explained in the text the first time they appear (полонина, смерека, трембіта, ґазда, мольфар), so they will already be familiar when you move on to the complete novella, which is in the catalogue at C1.
- A2
- 4 450 words
- 1 hour
Will this text hold?
A1
Earlier
At A1 it is a stretch: the whole story is told in the past tense, and many sentences join two clauses with бо, але, коли or щоб.
A1A2
This text
At A2 it fits: everyday words, past-tense narration and lots of short dialogue; the Hutsul words are explained where they first appear, and words like постоли (leather moccasins) or вагався (hesitated) translate with a tap.
Check this passageB1
With room to spare
At B1 it reads almost without translation: a quick way to know the story before the complete novella in its Hutsul dialect, which is in the catalogue at C1.
Start readingThe average sentence has 9 words, and the narration is in the past tense, with plenty of short dialogue. About one word in 18 has 9 letters or more (5.4%), many of them names such as Чугайстир, Палійчуків or Гутенюків, the rest words like зустрічалися (they used to meet) or ворожіння (fortune-telling magic). The complete novella in the catalogue tells the same story at C1: 12 words per sentence, 7.4% long words and dense Hutsul dialect, with forms like я си обую that no textbook teaches. Here the dialect is replaced by standard Ukrainian, and only five Hutsul words remain, each explained in simple words: полонина (high mountain pasture) 12 times, трембіта (the long wooden horn) 11, мольфар (sorcerer) 9, ґазда (householder) and its forms 7, смерека (spruce) 6. The other A2 adaptation, Лис Микита, has slightly longer sentences (10 words) but fewer long words (3.3%). The difficulty is even: the 12 chapters range from 8.2 to 9.8 words per sentence. Hence A2. This is the catalogue’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 4 450
- words
- 9
- words in an average sentence
- 1
- hour of reading
MovaReader. Wikisource
What it is about, without the ending
Ivan, the nineteenth child of the Paliychuk family, grows up a strange, dreamy boy in a Hutsul village above the Cheremosh river, where people believe in forest nymphs, devils and the hairy forest spirit Chuhaistyr. His family is feuding with the Hutenyuks, and after a bloody fight on the road Ivan meets Marichka, a girl from the enemy clan, who answers his blow by giving him half of her sweet. The two children herd lambs together, grow up and fall in love in secret. When his family grows poor, Ivan has to spend a summer with the shepherds on the high pasture, and Marichka promises to remember him seven times an hour. What happens next is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Тіні забутих предків
V. Живий вогонь
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Choose an underlined word.
Past tense shows who acted
Ukrainian past-tense verbs agree with the subject’s gender. The girl подивилася, купила, відкусила, простягла: feminine verbs end in -ла (-лася when reflexive). Ivan здивувався and вагався: masculine verbs end in -в (-вся when reflexive). The ending tells you who did it even when the name is missing.
Double negatives are normal
Ukrainian needs не together with ні… ні…: ні звір, ні нечиста сила не зачепить ні худоби, ні нас means “neither beast nor evil spirit will touch the cattle or us”. After the negation the object goes into the genitive: худоби, not худобу.
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 the grammar is new rather than the words, as in Поки він горить, ні звір, ні нечиста сила не зачепить ні худоби, ні нас, “as long as it burns, neither beast nor evil spirit will touch the cattle or us”.
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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 standard Ukrainian of Mykhailo Kotsiubynsky’s novella Тіні забутих предків, written in 1911 and first published in 1912. The source is the text in volume II of his Works (Книгоспілка, New York, 1955) on Wikisource, the same complete text that is in this catalogue at C1. What changed: the Hutsul dialect became modern standard Ukrainian (2019 spelling), the narration is in the past tense with sentences of about 9 words, and the novella of about 16,200 words became about 4,500, in 12 titled chapters instead of 13 untitled parts. The plot, the characters and the order of events are kept; the long descriptions of nature, the shepherds’ work and the folk rituals are shortened, a few of Marichka’s songs are kept in simplified form, and five Hutsul words (полонина, смерека, трембіта, ґазда, мольфар) are explained in the text.
Is there an audiobook?
No, there is no audio version on MovaReader: the text is read on screen. Tap an unfamiliar word and its translation appears; at this level that will often be words like вагався (hesitated) or розборонили (pulled apart, separated the fighters).
Can I translate a whole sentence?
Yes: whole-sentence translation comes with the Reader plan. Sentences here average 9 words, so you will need it mostly where a sentence hangs on a clause, as in Іноді мати навіть думала, що злий дух узяв її сина, а замість нього залишив своє дитя (“sometimes his mother even thought that an evil spirit had taken her son and left its own child in his place”). 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 story at a learner’s pace, with new words translated as you go. There are 12 chapters of about 190 to 510 words each, so a chapter takes a few minutes and the story 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 8.2 and 9.8 words per sentence. The chapters full of dialogue have the shortest sentences, IX and X (8.2), and the last chapter, XII, the longest (9.8).
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 V, “Живий вогонь” (The living fire), where Ivan arrives on the high pasture.