Tolstoy: Anna Karenina: Riddles
How exquisite this steely water is!" said Sergey Ivanovitch. "These riverside banks always remind me of the riddle — do you know it? 'The grass says to the water: we quiver and we quiver.'" "I don't know the riddle," answered Levin wearily. &&& Some background info on the Russian traditional riddle (via Google AI): No, they do not all speak in the excerpt from Anna Karenina , but yes, they all speak in the full traditional riddle that Tolstoy was referencing. [ 1 ] When Sergey Ivanovich quotes the riddle to Levin in the novel, he only recites the very last line: "The grass says to the water: we sway and we sway" (or "we quiver and we quiver" depending on your translation). [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] However, Tolstoy included the complete, unabridged folk riddle in his 1872 ABC Book ( Азбука ) , where each of the three elements gets a speaking part: [ 1 , 2 , 3 ] The River says: "We will run and run." The Banks say: ...