Ivan Krylov
Quartet

A playful Monkey,
With Billy Goat,
And a silly Toad
With clever Donkey,
One day,
All they
As a quartet intend to play.

Some music they got:
Two violins, a bass,
A piano, and what not,
And all sat on the grass
To captivate, in part,
The Animals with their musical art;

Began to play.
It goes a wrong way.
"Wait, colleagues, wait!"
The Monkey said,
"It sounds that
Sad,
Since we mis-sat.
You Toady, sit just here,
Against our Donkey;
I, the first violin,
Against the second one,
At once,
So clear,
Nice, and clean
Performance will be done
That even trees will dance.

Well, each one sat
On the new seat,
The music, yet,
Didn't improve a bit.

Then Donkey says,
"Guys, yes!
I guess
I know,
Why 'tis a mess.
Won't sound it
Like a row,
If sit
We simply in a row".
The other three agreed
And in a row they sit.
But still, didn't succeed.

Then, even more
Than ever before,
They started to discuss,
And fuss,
Propose and deny.
Meanwhile the Nightingale was flying by.

The quartet rise
And asks for some advise.
"Dear friend,
Just spare an hour
And
Bring to order our
Quartet. Some music, violins,
The piano, and the bass -
We have here everything,
Just tell you us
How should we sit".

Then Nightingale has thought a bit
And said,
"Well, didn't you hear
That
The musicians need
Some skills and also a good ear.
However sit
You here,
You won't succeed."

Translated by Vladimir Gurvich