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# There are plenty of anecdotes about the lazy and eccentric character of Ivan Andreyevich Krylov
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/pro-lenivyi-i-originalnyi-kharakter-ivana-andreevicha-krylova-mozhno-naiti-mnozhestvo-anekdotov/
- Published: 2024-10-04T16:16:04.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T05:32:29.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Books, Mores, People, Humour

In his review of the 3rd edition of the translation of Krylov's fables by the British writer, translator and Slavist William Shedden-Ralston, Turgenev described an amusing episode from the life of Ivan Andreyevich Krylov:

A large, heavy picture, hanging directly above the spot where Krylov usually sat, had come off one of the nails that held it and threatened to fall straight onto the head of the carefree fabulist. When the danger was pointed out to Krylov, he replied calmly: “Oh! I have studied the position of the picture, and I reckon that if it comes down, it will fly along the diagonal, just past my head.” And so the picture hung crooked for a long time, while Krylov went on sitting calmly beneath it.

The same fact is noted as genuine by Pyotr Alexandrovich Pletnev, a friend of Pushkin, literary critic, poet and editor-in-chief of the journal *Sovremennik*.

![](https://theparnassian.com/content/images/2026/09/photo_13721@04-10-2024_19-16-04.jpg)