well, strictly speaking the old man (starik) was not a peasant but a
fisherman and in fact he was not that old
Vladimir
Mylnikov: "...strictly speaking the old man (starik) was not a
peasant but a fisherman and in fact he was not that old probably around 56 since
he has been married to his wife for 33 and 3 years and if you double it the
total will be 666...i don't find his wife monstrous - her
voice is very different and is motivated by her social status and not by her
nature. well, we are mortals suffer from being too greedy very
often."
JM: V.
Mylnikov added an
excelling third six, thereby reaching the "number of the Beast." Now,
at last, the Devil has materialized. However, I cannot sympathize with the fisherman: he could
have resisted his wife's charms.
I got a collection of "foolish
wishes" from the internet, most of them related to sausages and noses*.
Pushkin's variation maintains the overall pattern (the husband demands, and
complies, with his wife's advice or wishes), probably with a satirical
intention.Without Tolstoy's "Devil", the similarity I found between this scheme
and Nabokov's "Nursery Tale" disappears for there is no married couple
involved. Unless Nabokov skipped this part and Frau Monde stood in lieu
of the wife in the fairystory. It still doesn't make sense: the
boundless ambition is Erwin's alone.
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