Pushkin's famous poem 'prologue' has been re-created with life-sized wooden sculptures in a magical woodland setting at Mandrogi.
A green oak stands by the shores of a bay. Around the oak is a golden chain, the day and night a learned cat walks round and round on the chain.
As he walks to the right, he sings a song; as he walks to the left, he tells a story. There are wonders there: a wood-goblin wanders, a sea-nymph sits in the branches.
There, on mysterious forest paths, lie the tracks of invisible creatures. A hut with no windows or doors stands on chickens' legs.
The hills and valleys are full of strange visions. There at dawn the waves wash over the sandy and deserted shore; and thirty knights, one by one, come glistening up out of the clear water, attended by their sea-tutor.
A prince, passing by, takes as his prisoner a cruel tyrant king;
in the clouds, across forests and oceans, a sorcerer carries away a brave young man.
In a dark dungeon a princess languishes, with only a brown wolf to be her faithful slave.
The great witch Baba Yaga sits in a mortar, which wanders about by itself;
King Kashchey, the old miser, sighs over his mounds of gold.
The spirit of Russia is there - a scent of Russia is in the air. And there I sat, drinking mead. I saw the green oak by the sea, and sat beneath it as the learned cat told me his stories. Some of these I remember, and I will tell them now to the world…
All pictures on this site are © Allan Jones unless otherwise stated
