skazka

[Alex Shafarenko]

Robert Chandler wrote:

> Dear all,

> This is a story from the early 1920s. Grisha, a Russian émigré boy, has got
> lost in a French forest.  He goes to sleep, then encounters what seems to be
> a leshii.

> Пригляделся Гриша - человечек сидит.
> Странный такой – голенький.  [...]  Волосы надо лбом двумя мохрами
>  взбиты, губы толстые.  Смотрит на Гришу и так весь от смеха внутри себя
>  дрожит.  Видеть невозможно, до того самому смешно делается.  У Гриши так в
горле и защекотало и ноги задрыгали.
>   А человечек, не сводя с Гриши глаз, вдруг прижал к губам маленькую
зеленую дудочку.


Robert, here "videt' nevozmozhno..." means "one cannot look (without
succumbing to uncontrollable laughter)...", not "it is impossible to see".
This sounds archaic to me although examples can be found in today's
parlance: nelzya videt' (as opposed to
smotret') bez sodroganiya, etc. are completely kosher usages, if only a touch 
highbrow. 

> Also: the leshii’s hair is sticking up from his forehead, yes?  In two
tufts?

Yes, indeed. Two tufts of hair are whipped up (referring to the action of a comb
that resembles the way egg yolks are whipped up with a fork) above his
forehead. 

Cheers,

Alex
University of Hertfordshire
England, UK.

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