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He is extremely tall-so tall that Russian children usually address such a person with "Uncle, get me a sparrow." And who knows, perhaps, he meant himself when, as a young man, he wrote his most famous and beautiful poem for children, "Uncle Stephen," which was once translated into English as "Uncle Steeple." The main character of this poem, the famous Uncle Steeple, became a good friend of generations of Russian-speaking children, not only in Russia, but, formerly in the entire Soviet Union. Uncle Steeple is a nice person, kindhearted, loving, funny, and very childlike, despite being a very tall grown-up person-just...