Boris Godunov (play) opera, "Boris Godunov" (1874), is based on this play. Having finished the play, Pushkin famously wrote to his friend Pyotr Vyazemsky: "What a Pushkin, what a son of a bitch!" . Pushkin wrote of the play: "The study of Shakespeare, Karamzin, and our old chronicles gave me the idea of clothing in dramatic forms one of the most dramatic epochs of our history. Not disturbed by any other influence, I imitated Shakespeare in his broad and free depictions of characters, in the simple and careless combination of plots; I followed Karamzin in the clear development of events; I tried to
The Little Fox family's den and, upon his return, learns from his uncle Karak that his entire family has been shot and killed by a human hunter. Karak then offers for Vic to stay with him, and Karak continues to raise him. As Vic grows older, he develops much cunning and cleverness. Now a young adult fox, he finds a vixen, named Foxy, held captive in a cage on a human farm. He tricks the guard dogs and other animals, as well as the hunter himself, and eventually helps the vixen escape. Foxy joins Vic and Karak in the woods, but Vic's uncle