Basilisa la Hermosa. Cuentos rusos

by José Vento Molina (Translator), Vladimir Minayev (Illustrator)

CONTENTS Vasilisa the Beautiful Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf The two Ivans Fenist the Falcon Sister Alyonushka and Brother Ivanushka Chestnut-Grey Father Frost Go I Know Not Where, Fetch I Know Not What Little Girl and the Swan-Geese The Silver Saucer and the Rosy-Cheeked Apple Emelya and the Pike The Frog Tsarevna Wee Little Havroshechka Marya Morevna the Lovely Tsarevna Ivan - Young of Years, Old of Wisdom The Seven Simeons - Seven Brave Workingmen

Genres: Russia, Childrens, Short Stories, Fantasy, Fiction, Classics, Folklore

Hardcover

First published April 1, 1966

Reviews

[Sophie]

A nice collection of Russian fairytales, with lovely 1960s illustrations. There’s a lot of fetching princesses from other kingdoms, talking animals, Baba Yaga shows up in quite a few of them. Everybody gets their just desserts in the end as in all good fairytales, although a couple of times the protagonist is suddenly killed in the middle of the tale, which is alarming until you realise that they can be revived with dead and living waters.

[Malsha]

one of my childhood favorites. I've read it countless times and I even had all three books of it.
It was so beautiful I'm now in the process of looking for the original version of it to read :)

[Niya]

За първи път чух за Василиса Прекрасна в 4.клас, когато прочетох поредицата "Академия за вампири". Звучи странно, но обяснението е, че една от главните героини, Лиса, всъщност бе кръстена на нея. Още тогава реших, че трябва да науча повече за тази така известна Василиса. Вчера, докато си ровех из библиотеката на баба ми, намерих точно това издание, преведено на английски и с прекрасни илюстрации.
Та така, приказката за Василиса е много популярна в България, поради близостта ни с Русия и реших, че няма как да пропусна да я прочета. Имаше повече феминизъм отколкото очаквах, а аз действително си го очаквах, защото например уважението, което руснаците изпитват към бабите си, е всеизвестно. Учуди ме начинът, по който гледах на Баба Яга, след като съм израснала със страшния ѝ образ. В тази приказка я възприемах повече като една силна жена, която до известна степен помогна на Василиса също да се превърне в такава. Това е най-обобщено за приказката.
Започнах книгата именно заради тази "сказка", но тъй като ми хареса, продължих с още 6-7, или по-точно 7 1/2, защото беше вече доста късно и заспах след това, хаха. Другата приказка обаче, която ми направи особено впечатление, бе тази за царкинята жаба (отново Василиса). Едно от по-любопитните неща беше начинът, по който Иван се подчиняваше на общоприетите норми и на предопределената си съдба и покорно се ожени за жаба.
Намирам, че този сборник от народни приказки е един прекрасен пример за руското литературно творчество. Особено интересно за мен беше да видя как психиката, възприятието за природата и културата на руснака биват подчертани във всяка една история.

[Fabian de Alwis Gunasekare]

A childhood favorite, reading this volume even now doesn't seem to reduce the impact it has on my imagination. Beautiful stories with stunning illustrations transports the reader beyond the thrice-nine lands to the thrice-ten tsardom.

My favorite tales are:
(a) Tsarevich Ivan and the Grey Wolf (Fire-Bird).
(b) Go I know not where; Fetch I know not what (Croon Cat).
(c) Marya Morevna, the lovely Tsarevna (Koschei).

I'm glad to see that that this book has also been translated to Sinhala, under the title "ලස්සන වසිලිස්සා", allowing readers of my native language to enjoy the magical stories as I did.

An absolute classic by Progress Publishers. May this volume be as eternal as Koschei the Deathless.

[Olivia]

I read a lot of fairy tales and folk tales. Maybe it's because I never really grew up. Whatever the reason, I've come to the realization that not everyone is a good storyteller. I've been disappointed by many fairy tale collection, usually because they bore or don't offer anything new.

However, I was not disappointed by this book. In fact, I was rather blown away. It's tremendous, and one of my favorites. The retelling is beautiful, and it has a wealth of different stories. I believe I read the book in about two days one stressful semester back in high school. It doesn't help that Russian Folk Tales themselves are pretty fabulous.

[Juan Camilo Rojas Romero]

No es muy diferente la manera en la que se articulan diferentes arquetipos jungianos de esta particular cultura eslava para conjurar y edificar diferentes historias con los mismos personajes que están presenten en casi todas las culturas narrativas de occidente... Mejor dicho, tiene bonitos y memorables personajes e intrigantes historias.

[layan (hiatus)]

When I was in Tbilisi, I spotted this book in Freedom Square and literally couldn’t fathom how beautiful it was, so I immediately bought it. The copy I have is from the 1980s, and it’s probably the most gorgeous book I’ve ever laid my hands on. I can’t wait to read it.

I also have a really sweet story about the old uncle who was selling these books. He was a Soviet soldier who had traveled to many countries and collected books along the way. I wish I could see him again, his lore is SO fire.

[Ruvini]

This is the most wonderful stories that i have read in my childhood. even now i can enjoy them again & again

[RealDeadpool,The]

A confirmation of enlightment.

[Ayse_]

Vasilisa the Beautiful, one of the best fairytale books of my childhood

[Nazia Farhat]

Fairytales always bring a breath of fresh air in this drab and cumbersome everyday life weighed down by the wearing and palling facts and realities. They take me back to those days of littlehood when life was not so much complicated and bound by do’s and don’ts brought forth by age, and perk up the lost spirit leaving me with a feeling of many small scintillating adventures. It has been a while since I went through that sort of fairytales and this book of collection served the purpose just right. It was a delightful read full of lovely characters and owning a beautifully rhymed narrative style. Being a reader and seeker of fairytales from as many mores as I can find, most of the tales I stumble upon these days somehow seem similar to one another, narrated just in different settings. However, the collection of the tales in this book was pleasantly new to me. I fully enjoyed each story. Freshened up all those memories lost in the passage of time.

[Enriqueta]

La Bruja Yaga, Basilisa la Sabia, el dragon Goriních, Ivan el Ingenioso, Koscheí, La Reina María, Basilisa la Hermosa, un horno que se mueve, raptos, muertes, Zares malvados y otros no tan malos, madrastras y hermanastras terribles, el Lobo gris, halcones encantados, en fin que de todo hay aquí, ojalá ojalaaaaa ojalaaaaa volvieran a reimprimir este libro, que se leyera más, me encanta ver como hay cuentos europeos, asiáticos, americanos y que todos se parecen en muchas más cosas de lo que uno pensaría, en fin que bonitos son los cuentos, léanlo, léanlo para que se vuelvan a vender estos cuentos, no los dejemos morir!

[Steph De Mel]

This collection of Russian folklore is one of my favourite childhood books, and it absolutely holds up to an adult re-read.

The stories are wondrous and magical, and the book itself is beautifully designed, with gorgeous full-colour illustrations.

My favourite stories are "Fenist the Falcon", "The Frog Tsarevna", "Tsarevitch Ivan and Grey Wolf", and "Vasilisa the Beautiful", but there really isn't a single dud in this wonderful collection. I'd strongly recommend this to both children and adults who enjoy fairytales.

[Eva]

This book will always transport me back to childhood when I found it among my mother's chuldhood books and was so jealous she had never let me read it! The book itself (hardback edition) has gorgeous illustrations and is written in a lovely lyrical style. Overall an excellent introduction to Russian fairy tales.

[Ashley W]

මම තාමත් ලග තියාගෙන කියවන, කොච්චර පාරක් කියවා ඇත්තේදැයි නොදන්නා රස ඉතිරී පිරීගිය කතා පොතකි.
මා කුඩා කාලයේ මට පොත ඉතා ලොකු, බර සහ කොච්චර කියවූවත් ඉවර නොවන දෙයක් වුනි.
දැන් මා මෙය කියවන්නේ ඉබ්බෙක් මෙන් හෙමිහිටය.
කියවන්නට කියවන්නට රස වැඩිවන පොතකි මගේ හිතට ඉතා සමීප.

[DúviAurvandil Ericsson e Pereira]

Just beautiful and well written! Whoever translated from Russian did a wonderful job, with the rhymes and cadence. Illustrations were beautiful yet understated and not domineering. Hooked me on Russian fairy tales.

[Lunathea King]

A lovely collection of tales.

[Nilakshi Bandara]

ලොව පුරා ආදරය දිනූ ලස්සන වසිලිස්සා කතාව. වර්ණ පිංතූර සහිත ඝන කවරයෙන් යුක්ත රුසියානු සුරඟනා කතා පෙල.

[amax]

Enchanting!

[Ktbird]

Fairy tales are dark and trippy.

[Dylan Zenith]

"කුකුල් කකුල් වලින් හිට ගත්තු ගෙයක් තමා වටේටම කැරකැවෙනවා. ...... බාබායිගා යකින්න වාඩිවෙලා ඉන්නවා. ඇගේ කකුල් බොහොම දිගයි. දෙතොල් රාක්කය උඩ තියලා. නහය වහළයට ගෑවෙන්නට තරම් උසයි."

[Thushara Deshapriya]

I want to read this book now..

[e☆]

“the tale is short in telling, but the deed is long in doing.”

[Ivana Oltovska]

My favorite childhood fairy tale, simply the best! :)

[Esperanza]

Que chulo aunque esperaba ver más de baba-yaga aunque supongo que le quitaría el misterio.

[Riane]

https://www.arvindguptatoys.com/arvin...

[nikki]

Saw the name Vasilisa on twitter and it brought back some vague memories. I think I did a play on this story in elementary school…

[Ruchita]

One of my favourites as a child, this book and its tales from Russia (then U.S.S.R) are the colourful 'weft' to the irreplaceable 'warp' of my childhood reading.... It wove its magic into my younger years, taking me further and further into the realms of independent reading...! For me, it rates high up on the scale of a parent's list when your child wants to read diverse books, of varied styles of writing, from across the globe...! It is, as the title suggests, a collection of Russian Fairy Tales, which are just as endearing as any of the classic Fairy Tales the children grow up with...!

[Prachiti Talathi Gandhi]

Read this book in Marathi language when I was in school. I loved the book so much that I read it again and again in every summer vacation. Now when I read it in English, I could still remember thosw stories in Marathi. It was a nice visit to my childhood memories.. - Grandfather Frost, Baba Yaga, Ivan... ahh.. I want to read that book again which I read in my school days.
It is always good to read Fairy Tales from other countries.

[Prachee]

Though its originally written in Russian language, as a child I read a translated copy and since then its "The Favorite" children story book I have read till date.
P.S.It has got yummy description of food items in some stories:):)