With humans in the Ukrainian fairy tales all is clear, humans like humans with belief in all the best. But let’s look at the animals.
1. Piven
The Cock. My biggest surprise in fact! Unlike expectations almost always wiser than the Fox, misleading the latter in many quite imaginative ways, scaring her, making her drown and meet the dogs, hang on a tree and lose the tail! Respects to him.
2. Lysytsia
The Fox (of feminine gender in Ukraine). The most ambivalent figure. In half of the tales skillfully helps the Lion to come to the throne, though often ends with disgrace like losing her tale. In the rest of the tales is cozened by worthless creatures like cocks, hares, wolves etc. Poor Foxy!
3. Lev
Traditionally, the Lion-King. Manages to come to the throne by ruse, mostly with the help of the Fox. Like a true Tsar is outrageously unfair to the small, week or simple like hares, bunnies, insects, mice, wolves, bears who nevertheless often succeed in teaching him a lesson.
