Proverbs in Russian : Reagan’s Got Message, but Not Medium

President Reagan fired a last-minute salvo in the battle of the proverbs at the superpower summit today, but it went right by a baffled Mikhail S. Gorbachev.

Reagan sprang one last proverb in his Kremlin farewell speech, but, not for the first time, his almost incomprehensible efforts in Russian fell flat.

“Troitsya ves les raskroitsya (The forest blooms from Whitsunday onwards),” the President said, offering a positive assessment of events since he arrived in Moscow on Whitsunday.

Puzzled Looks

The proverb left Gorbachev and his wife, Raisa, who flanked the President in the Kremlin’s St. George’s Hall, looking just as puzzled as when Reagan stumbled over a traditional saying in his arrival speech.

“Rodilsya ne toropilsya (It was born; it wasn’t rushed),” he said after arriving, implying that agreements should not be rushed. Bemused Russians watching the speech on television had difficulty understanding a word because of the President’s pronunciation.

Gorbachev made clear in his welcoming speech that he was ready to meet Reagan’s challenge in his homeland where proverbs are a common feature of everyday speech.

“Knowing about your interests in Russian proverbs, I want to add one more to your collection: ‘It is better to see something once rather than hear it 100 times,’ ” the Soviet leader said.

During his stay here, Reagan was bolder, delved deeply into the pages of Russian culture to quote a host of writers and works including Boris Pasternak’s “Dr. Zhivago,” Anna Akhmatova’s “Requiem,” and Nikolai Gogol’s “Dead Souls.”

Gogol Quoted

“I am reminded of the famous passage near the end of Gogol’s ‘Dead Souls,’ ” Reagan said in a speech at Moscow State University. “Comparing his nation to a speeding troika, Gogol asks what will be his destination. But he writes, ‘There was no answer save the bell pouring forth marvelous sound.’ ”

A White House official confided later that the President was not overly familiar with the works he quoted. He said Reagan’s speech writers had clocked up a fortune in overtime poring for hours over Russian books.