Carolyn Kunin sends these responses:

 

Sorry, Stan, Quercus (oak) and chat. do indeed refer to the learned cat who day
and night walks around the oak tree, first to the left and then to the right.
Ruslan and Liudmilla -- first few lines.

On seashore far a greenoak towers,
And to it with a gold chain bound,
A .learned cat whiles away the hours
By walking slowly round and round.
To right he walks, and sings a ditty;
To left he walks, and tells a tale....

Carolyn

Quite wonderful in the original of course (makes you go all goosepimply):

U lukamor'ya dup zilyony By the seashore stands an oak
Zlataya tsep' na dubye tom; And on that oak a golden chain
I dnyom i nochyu Kot (cat) uchony And all the day and all the night a learned
cat
Vsyo (continuously)xodit na tsepi krugon He walks along that chain alone.
Xodit na pravo, pesn' zabavit (?)He goes to the right, he sings his song
Na levo, skazku govorit. To the left he goes and tells a tale


Alexey - na pomoch'! And perhaps you can tell of the folkloric significance or
background to this image of a chain wound around a tree - not to mention the
"learned" cat who circumambulates it! Nothing like it anywhere else, so far as I
am aware. Did Pushkin invent it? of is it something he learned from his beloved
nurse? While I wait for your reply I'll try to locate my copy of Bailey's
Pushkin - he may know something.



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Dear Jansy and Stan,

I too Jansy's advice and did google Quercus ruslan chat., and guess what? Alexey
had already responded to the query I posed in my response to her.

First off, Alexey corrects my few Russian errors (all Russian speakers will
already have picked up on them) in quoting the opening stanza of the prologue to
Russlan and Liudmilla. He correctly identifies the Ada reference as referring to
this prologue and he further points out that when the cat "sings" this refers,
or may refer to the Cantos of Pale Fire. When he tells tales, this clearly
refers to the fairy tales which ... well, whichever.

Carolyn

On a personal note, Stan please email me. I'll be in London for a few days in a
few weeks.

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