Adventures of Fox Patrikeyevich

This audiobook includes a work with a very interesting and unusual history. The protagonist of the book was born in France in the Middle Ages, and his name was Renard or Reyneke—the work itself is known as “The Romance of the Fox.” And its plot is anything but childish. But in 1906, a Frenchwoman Rose-Jeanne-Mathilde Leroy-Alle (1853–1914), sister of the famous writer Alphonse Allais, turned the satirical epic into a children’s story. The book was published with numerous illustrations by the artist Benjamin Rabier (1864–1939).

Meanwhile, in Russia, in Saint Petersburg, at that time lived and worked Eduard Andreevich Granstrem (1843–1918), a publisher who loved beautiful children’s books. He translated Leroy-Alle’s book into Russian and published it in 1910 with the same illustrations. But he translated it creatively—so the book would be interesting for our children. And the bear became Toptygin, the hare became Kosym, the cat became Kotoofey, and the dog became Barbos. While the Fox received the patronymic Patrikevich and settled in Khitrovka.

Many years have passed since then, but the book about the Fox’s adventures is still readable and loved by children.