Ilya Selvinsky
A rabbit made strong by decree

(A fable)

The Lion once gathered the beastly throng.
And he decreed, without a stuttering habit,
That from now on the one most strong
    Would be simply — the Rabbit.
The little Rabbit went into the wood,
And there was dancing, there was singing there!
But from where a birch tree stood Climbed down a Bear.
‘Get out of my way,’ the Rabbit squeaked, ‘You dummy!
    Don’t you see who’s coming?’
The Bear guffawed (‘How ludicrous and grim!’)
He whacked the bunny in the midst of laughter
And not one spot was left of him
    — Not even any fur thereafter.
But from an oak the Owl raised up a fuss
With its prophetic voice, ‘You’ll rue this blunder.
    The Rabbit was the strongest among us,
    According to the Lion’s law we’re under.
He told us when we met, the wood’s aristocracy.’

And here the Bear began to cry — repeating
‘O heaven, how could I know about the Rabbit? See,
    I wasn’t at the meeting.’

Translated by Merrill Sparks and Vladimir Markov