Slavonic Fairy Tales

by John T. Naaké

Poland, Russia, Bohemia, and Servia have contributed stories to this little collection. It may be said that the Bohemian tales, perhaps through the genius of the poets who have preserved them, have, in their original form, more art, more grace, more completeness of outline, than the others. Those from Poland reflect the passive virtues and genial warmth of the peasants whose lives they illustrate. A greater simplicity, amounting even to childishness, will be found to characterise the Russian stories. Those from Servia are in some features unique, and may be found the most interesting of the series. The exalted imagination of the Servian race is allied with keen and homely sense, and their vigorous and beautiful romances called forth the admiration of Goethe. It is hoped that these varied characteristics may not wholly have evaporated in translation. (From the Preface.)This delightful book contains forty tales from the Slavonic lands, entitled as Away by the WindWhy is the Sole of Man’s Foot Uneven?The Snow-ChildThe Demon’s DanceThe Plague-OmenStory of Gol VoyanskyLidushka and the Water Demon’s WifeThe Hare’s HeartThe Wonderful HairStory of Vasilisa with the Golden Tress,and of Ivan the PeaThe Emperor Trojan’s Goat’s EarsThe Language of AnimalsThe Evil EyeHuntsman the UnluckyHow to Choose a WifeThe PlagueGolden HairThe Plague and the PeasantHandicraft above EverythingIvan KruchinaRight and WrongMen-WolvesYanechek and the Water DemonSpirit TreasuresJust Earnings are Never LostStory of Little SimpletonJonekThe Maiden who was Swifterthan the HorseThe Book of MagicThe Wise JudgmentTwardowskiThe Maiden who was Wiserthan the KingMadeyThe Long-desired ChildThe Wicked Wood-FaysThe Wonderful BirdWisdom and FortuneThe Three BrothersThe Brownie, or House SpiritAll about Twopence

Genres: Mythology, Folklore, Fantasy, Spirituality, Collections, Fairy Tales

182 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2003

Reviews

[Patricia Woodruff · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting assortment of fairy tales. It is neat to see the variation on tales, how Christianity has turned some of them into morality tales. Veles shows up as a dragon-headed "man" with young Vasalisa, the young goddess of spring, Vesna, and her "brother" Ivan the spring god, in the Story of Vasalisa with the Golden Tress, and of Ivan the Pea.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating, enchanting collection of folktales from Russia, Bohemia, Poland, and Serbia (spelled “Servia” in this collection, as was the English custom at the time).

The stories in this book typically exalt the virtues of the humble peasant while warning against greed, selfishness, disrespect, and cruelty. They also have a decidedly conservative moral compass:

-A decent amount of “spare the rod, spoil the child” messaging.
-Deference towards monarchs.
-Female characters often (not always) written as prizes to be won.
-Reverence for God, no doubt reflecting the evolution of some of these folktales which developed as pagan stories and became semi-Christian stories.

Despite having qualms with this aspect of the tales in the book, I found that the vast majority of stories straddled the line between quaint and beautiful. I will be reading these again.

(I’m still looking for a collection of stories that features Leshy, Poludnica, and other similar characters. I’ll keep looking and reading.)

[Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great Slavonic Tales

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. The tales were all morality teaching tales that reveal the values held by Slavic tribes.

[Gabrielle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a deliciously odd collection of fairy tales - as all good collections should be. Remember all the death and gore of Grimm's fairy tales? Well the Slavs put them to shame in some areas, while also giving a real inside into the hopes and fears of the culture.
One tale that stayed with me is where Plague forces a man to carry her on his back, thus spreading sickness all through the country; when he sees his home village, he drowns himself rather than bring the plague to his family. It was so short and simple, but I still think about that man's sacrifice for his loved ones - and I think that sums up much of the effect of this collection. It's another one I'd like to get my hands on!

[Jacob Lehman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some traditional-style fairy tales, but some unusual ones here as well: "Hare's Heart" basically just excuses a newly-developed coward by blaming it on a witch, Snyegurka has the moral... Don't make children out of snow, I guess? And the conception of dragons is intriguing, since it sounds like they're hominid in some way too? I loved the one about the king who requires his daughter's suitor to have a handicraft as well- no one's above manual work in my book.

[Katie]

I had an absolute blast reading this. I love fairytales and folk tales, and I'm so glad I got to read these.

As with all collections, there were some I liked more than others, but the majority of them were absolutely delightful.

Trigger warnings and content warnings are a bit difficult to list because it depends on the story, but violence and death are examples of things that were pretty present throughout.

[Christen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I quite enjoyed this collection. The voice of these tales felt different and more playful than the highly moralized and Victorianized color fairy books. I liked the different flavors of the Polish, Czech, Serbian, and Russian tales.

[FlyingBulgarian Svetli H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a fun way to discover fairy tales that sound close to the ones I grew up with but not quite right.

[Cole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Simply translated and told and not much care for fancy formatting, but a fun anthology of traditional tales that is of particular interest to people with heritage from the region.

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful taste of slavonic fairy tales if not a dry translation.

[Emily · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely adored reading this book of fairytales. I remember some of them from books I had as a child, then others were new to me. If you have read fairytales from the British Isles, then this book doesn’t duplicate which is good.

[Persephone Tedrow · Rating 2 out of 5]

Better versions of this surely exist. It was a stilted read.