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Russian Folk Tales
leather_bound book
196 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
2 people are currently reading
24 people want to read
About the author
Albert Bates Lord
18 books4 followersAlbert Bates Lord was a professor of Slavic and comparative literature at Harvard University who, after the death of his mentor Milman Parry, carried on Parry's research on epic poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 31, 2024
First, this is a lovely book - I highly recommend this Heritage Press copy from 1970; it's beautifully printed with popping color illustrations, really nice.
"Russian Folk Tales" will be most interesting to those who like these kind of stories - Grimm, The Thousand and One Nights, Italo Calvino's "Italian Folk Stories," etc. But there are some proverbs here you won't see in the others, such as "the morning is wiser than the evening." I love that expression.
The highlights here were "Go I Know Not Whither - Fetch I Know Not What" (a fabulous one), "Koshchei the Deathless," "The Water King and Vassilisa the Fair," "The Soldier's Midnight Watch," and some others. Vassilisa the Fair and Koshchei the Deathless are also characters in other stores. Koschei the Deathless is a fixture in Russian folklore, as are Baba Yagas, who are supposedly the evil witches. But here not all Baba Yagas are bad, or at least they help some characters.
And that's an odd thing: which characters get helped and when. It seems a very chancy thing to me; there aren't always clear morals here. Yes, there are classics like "Frost" where the bitchy daughters get what's coming to them, and there are many stories here where the Prince is a hero who gets the girl (who doesn't love those stories? Seriously), but there are some characters who don't seem to earn it or warrant the aid they get from wizards or spirits or what have you.
All in all, worth reading and this book, like the Heritage Press's edition of "The Thousand and One Nights" is outstanding.
"Russian Folk Tales" will be most interesting to those who like these kind of stories - Grimm, The Thousand and One Nights, Italo Calvino's "Italian Folk Stories," etc. But there are some proverbs here you won't see in the others, such as "the morning is wiser than the evening." I love that expression.
The highlights here were "Go I Know Not Whither - Fetch I Know Not What" (a fabulous one), "Koshchei the Deathless," "The Water King and Vassilisa the Fair," "The Soldier's Midnight Watch," and some others. Vassilisa the Fair and Koshchei the Deathless are also characters in other stores. Koschei the Deathless is a fixture in Russian folklore, as are Baba Yagas, who are supposedly the evil witches. But here not all Baba Yagas are bad, or at least they help some characters.
And that's an odd thing: which characters get helped and when. It seems a very chancy thing to me; there aren't always clear morals here. Yes, there are classics like "Frost" where the bitchy daughters get what's coming to them, and there are many stories here where the Prince is a hero who gets the girl (who doesn't love those stories? Seriously), but there are some characters who don't seem to earn it or warrant the aid they get from wizards or spirits or what have you.
All in all, worth reading and this book, like the Heritage Press's edition of "The Thousand and One Nights" is outstanding.
September 2, 2025
Charming illustrations and classic tales. My favorite was the prince who stole a princess by charming her with a rare and beautiful creature unbeknownst in her lands...a cat!
October 17, 2021
I found this edition at an estate sale, and it was my first introduction to Russian folklore, so I can't say much for this edition (besides the fact that the leather bound cover is beautiful but the 70s-style illustrations are horrendous 😂). But after reading plenty of traditional folktales from around the world, I can say with confidence that so far Russian folktales are my new favorites. Dream-like and filled with Baba Yagas (plus actually having heroes with at least some form of moral compass), Russian folktales have stolen my heart. With the exception of one tale, this edition is compromised of the traditional folktales of Alexander Afanasyev, though I'm looking forward to reading the original versions from Afanasyev, as well as other translations of classic Russian folklore.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews