Once again about the French origins of Russian fables: Fable of I.I. Dmitriev “The Fly”

The Russian fable, being an original phenomenon, nevertheless has absorbed the experience and achievements of the ancient and European, including French, fable genre. In some fables, borrowings stand out, in others they are not so obvious or they simply do not exist. But there are cases that are not fully established. The latter include the fable of I.I. Dmitriev “The Fly”. In this article, for the first time, the real prototype of this fable is determined and its author is established with a high degree of probability. At the same time, the issue of the origin of Dmitriev’s catchphrase “we plowed”, which has repeatedly attracted the attention of writers and researchers, has also been resolved.