II. Ведмедиця
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Franko’s Carpathian epic retold for A2
Zakhar Berkut Захар Беркут
Ivan Franko
This is MovaReader’s retelling of Ivan Franko’s historical novella in simple standard Ukrainian, not the original text: an adaptation for readers who know the basics and want a real story told in the past tense. In the catalogue it is A2: about 4,800 words in 12 short titled chapters. Franko’s Galician forms and the old spelling of his edition are gone, and the one word of 13th-century village life you need, копа (the assembly of the whole community), is explained where it first appears. The complete novella, about 51,600 words, is in the catalogue at C1.
- A2
- 4 782 words
- 1 hour
Will this text hold?
A1
Earlier
At A1 it is a stretch: the whole story is in the past tense, sentences of about 10 words often join two clauses with бо, але, коли or щоб, and the battle scenes bring many new verbs.
A1A2
This text
At A2 it fits: everyday words, past-tense narration and plenty of short dialogue; words like засмагле (sun-tanned) or гуркотом (with a rumble) 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 Franko’s complete novella, which is in the catalogue at C1.
Start readingThe average sentence has 10 words, the narration is in the past tense, and dialogue carries much of the story. About one word in 20 has 9 letters or more (4.9%), and the most frequent of them is a name, Мирослава (20 times); the rest are mostly past-tense verbs such as здригнулася (shook) or прошепотіла (whispered). The complete novella in the catalogue tells the same story at C1: 15 words per sentence, 10.4% long words, and Franko’s Galician and old forms such as тої, чимраз or смерти, which this retelling replaces with today’s тієї, дедалі and смерті. Among the other A2 adaptations, Тіні забутих предків has slightly shorter sentences (9 words) but more long words (5.4%), and Лис Микита has the same 10 words per sentence with fewer long words (3.3%). The difficulty is even: the 12 chapters range from 9.2 to 11.5 words per sentence. Hence A2. This is the catalogue’s assessment, not a certificate.
- 4 782
- words
- 10
- words in an average sentence
- 1
- hour of reading
MovaReader. Wikisource
What it is about, without the ending
Spring 1241. Tukhlia is a free village in a deep Carpathian valley that runs its own affairs through its assembly. The new boyar Tuhar Vovk holds a great hunt, and young Maksym Berkut, son of the old elder Zakhar, saves the boyar’s daughter Myroslava from a she-bear. The two fall in love, but the proud boyar will not give his daughter to a peasant. He has also taken the village’s forest and pastures, and when the assembly calls him to account under the old linden tree, blood is shed. Meanwhile the Mongol horde that has burned Kyiv is moving west toward the mountain passes, and Tuhar Vovk has plans of his own. What happens next is not revealed here.
Compare two places
Захар Беркут
V. Суд громади
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Choose an underlined word.
Past tense: who did it
Here a girl fights a she-bear, so most verbs end in -ла or -лася: затрубила, виставила, вилізла, кинулася, піднялася. When the subject is masculine, like звір (beast), the ending is -в or -вся: заревів, зупинився. The ending tells you who acts even when the sentence only says дівчина or звір.
The future with будемо
Ukrainian builds the future of imperfective verbs with буду, будеш, буде, будемо plus the infinitive: ми будемо боронити, “we will defend”. There is also a one-word form, боронитимемо, which you will meet in other books; both mean the same.
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 Тебе рятує тільки те, що ти сьогодні врятував її, інакше я вбив би тебе на місці, “the only thing that saves you is that you saved her today, otherwise I would kill you on the spot”.
ReaderIf this book is not the one
All books at this levelBefore you read
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 Ivan Franko’s historical novella Захар Беркут, first published in 1883. The source is the text of volume XIII of Franko’s Works in 20 volumes (Knyhospilka, New York, 1960) on Wikisource, the same complete text that is in this catalogue at C1. What changed: Franko’s Galician Ukrainian and the edition’s old spelling became modern standard Ukrainian (2019 spelling), the sentences average about 10 words, and the novella of about 51,600 words became about 4,800, in 12 titled chapters instead of 9 numbered ones. The plot, the main characters and the order of events are kept; the long descriptions, Zakhar’s speeches about community life and the battle scenes are much shorter, and Franko’s opening picture of Tukhlia in his own day is left out.
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 підбурює (stirs up) or проковтнув (swallowed, here an insult).
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 two clauses hang together, as in Тугар мовчки проковтнув цю образу, бо тепер він уперше зрозумів, що став для монголів не другом, а рабом (“Tuhar swallowed the insult in silence, because now he understood for the first time that to the Mongols he was not a friend but a slave”). 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 260 to 580 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 9.2 and 11.5 words per sentence. Chapter IX, a night talk in a tent that is mostly dialogue, has the shortest sentences (9.2), and chapter V, the village assembly, the longest (11.5).
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 IV, “Камінь Сторож” (The Guardian stone), where Maksym tells the legend of the great stone at the gate of the valley.