[Publius]

Kije, more properly pronouced as "key-ZHAY", is Russian for "however". In Pushkin's story "The Tsar Never Sleeps", some generals write a report for the tsar that says, "The lieutenant, however..." The tsar misses the comma and thinks that there is a Lieutenant However in his army. No one has the stones to tell the tsar that he has misread the report, so they invent the story of brave Lieutenant However. The rest of the story is of his life and death, told to the tsar to avoid telling him he has made a mistake.

Prokofiev provided the musical soundtrack for the film version. This segment was used extensively by Woody Allen in his 1975 film "Love and Death", back when he was still funny.

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I love that story of the “Tsar’s new Clothes”! LOL. My Dad told me the origins of Lt. Kije many years ago.

This tradition of making up stories to hide the truth continued with Stalin. Only General Zhukov, and perhaps Khrushchev, had the “stones’ to tell Ol’ Uncle Joe the true conditions on the front during the dark days of WW2. I am sure there were many more fabricated Lt. Kije’s!

Sting uses more of this marvelous piece of music in his (obnoxious) song “Russians”.

Publius, I LOVE talking shop with you any day! Even though I am a “pop” musician,. i LOVE the Classics.

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“Love and Death” is my favorite Woody Allen Movie.

My favorite part is when he is visited by an angel while he is in prison awaiting execution.

The angel tells him he will receive a last minute reprieve.

However, he gets executed anyway!

As he is being led away in the dance of death by the grim reaper, another dead soul asks him what happened.

He answers:

I GOT SCR*WED!

This movie takes on Prokofiev, Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pasternak, Napoleon, Russia, the Tzar, and even the iconic movie “The Seventh Seal” by Ingamar Bergman.

And it appeals to my very twisted sense of humor!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

As Gen Zhukov would say, “Tanks for the memories”.