What do you think?
Rate this book
Favorite Russian Fairy Tales
Russian folk culture is filled with magical stories for children; tales of witches and wizardry, perilous journeys, wise animals, frightful giants, and beautiful princesses. This choice collection presents six of the most popular tales. Some bear a resemblance to the folktales of western Europe, while others introduce exotic creatures and situations unique to the Russian imagination. Among the fanciful characters young readers will encounter in these stories are the legendary Fire-bird; the dulcimer-playing Sadko, whose music could make the Tzar of the Sea dance; the iron-toothed witch Baba Yaga, and many more.
British author Arthur Ransome (1884–1967) gathered these authentic tales from peasant storytellers on his journeys to Russia early in the twentieth century. He then retold them in English. This volume reproduces the English versions, reset in large, easy-to-read type, and illustrated with six handsome new drawings.
British author Arthur Ransome (1884–1967) gathered these authentic tales from peasant storytellers on his journeys to Russia early in the twentieth century. He then retold them in English. This volume reproduces the English versions, reset in large, easy-to-read type, and illustrated with six handsome new drawings.
96 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1946
8 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Arthur Ransome
298 books278 followersArthur Michell Ransome (January 18, 1884 – June 3, 1967) was an English author and journalist. He was educated in Windermere and Rugby.
In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. He used this precarious existence to practice writing, producing several minor works before Bohemia in London (1907), a study of London's artistic scene and his first significant book.
An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St. Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. These contacts led to persistent but unproven accusations that he "spied" for both the Bolsheviks and Britain.
Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian, before settling down to write Swallows and Amazons and its successors.
Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 - 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated.
Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.
In 1902, Ransome abandoned a chemistry degree to become a publisher's office boy in London. He used this precarious existence to practice writing, producing several minor works before Bohemia in London (1907), a study of London's artistic scene and his first significant book.
An interest in folklore, together with a desire to escape an unhappy first marriage, led Ransome to St. Petersburg, where he was ideally placed to observe and report on the Russian Revolution. He knew many of the leading Bolsheviks, including Lenin, Radek, Trotsky and the latter's secretary, Evgenia Shvelpina. These contacts led to persistent but unproven accusations that he "spied" for both the Bolsheviks and Britain.
Ransome married Evgenia and returned to England in 1924. Settling in the Lake District, he spent the late 1920s as a foreign correspondent and highly-respected angling columnist for the Manchester Guardian, before settling down to write Swallows and Amazons and its successors.
Today Ransome is best known for his Swallows and Amazons series of novels, (1931 - 1947). All remain in print and have been widely translated.
Arthur Ransome died in June 1967 and is buried at Rusland in the Lake District.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
July 18, 2020
This is a beautiful book full of magical stories with a special flavor. Longer review: https://sisterdelightbookcaffe.blogsp...
February 26, 2021
This book recounts several famous or well-known Russian fairy tales, in easy-to-understand language that should be accessible to children, but also enjoyable for adult readers.
Sadko: A poor Novgorod musician, Sadko, despairing of ever marrying because of his poverty, is befriended by the Tsar of the Sea, emerging from the Volkhov River that flows through town, after he sings the river´s praises. He is rewarded with riches by the Tsar - and gains the interest of girls in town. He sets himself up as a businessman, using the treasure from the Tsar as his initial investment. On a trip to the Caspian Sea, the ship he´s on runs aground, but Sadko knows it´s just the Tsar of the Sea making good on the deal they had previously made: That in return for the riches, Sadko would have to visit the Tsar at his underwater palace and sing to his daughters. Sadko´s performance so pleased the Tsar that he began to dance. The Tsar - pleased by Sadko´s performance - rewards Sadko with the hand of one of his 30 daughters. By coincidence Sadko choses the daughter who is named after the Volkhov River. However, Sadko was either dreaming the entire episode or the princess mysteriously evaporated on their wedding night - because when he awoke, he was back where he started, lying under the walls of Novgorod, with one of his feet in the River Volkhov.
Frost: An old man remarries upon the death of his first wife, who leaves him with a daughter, Martha, and has two more daughters with his second wife. Martha is mistreated by her half-sisters and stepmother. The stepmother conspires to marry Martha to Frost - but Martha knows this means death. Frost however appeared and covered her with rich furs and warm blankets, so she didn´t freeze to death - as well as costly presents. The stepmother decided her daughters should get the same expensive presents - so she drove them out to the forest. But they were so mean and quarrelsome, that Frost didn´t protect them or award them any gifts; instead, the two girls froze to death. The stepmother flew into a rage when the old man brought their daughters back, but as he said to her when she had calmed down: ¨My little daughter [Martha] got riches for soft words, but yours were always rough of the tongue.¨ The moral of the story: ¨...kind words won kindness, and cross words cold treatment."
Baba Yaga: An old widower lived in a hut with his little daughter, but foolishly decided to remarry. The stepmother mistreated the daughter. A mouse befriends the little girl when she is banished from the house and shares her crust of bread with him. He then informs her of the evil designs of the stepmother, who is the sister of the witch Baba Yaga. If the stepmother ever tells the girl to visit the aunt, the little girl must tell the mouse. The stepmother sent the girl into the forest on a visit to the aunt. The mouse meets her and advises her to take everything with her she finds on the road to Baba Yaga´s house. He also turns the stones the stepmother gave the child instead of food, into bread and jam. She finds three objects en route to the witch´s house. The gate was squeaky so she used oil from the little bottle of oil she had found to to pour into the hinges of the gate. She gave the handkerchief she had found to Baba Yaga´s servant who was crying bitterly. She gave the loaf of bread she had found to a huge but scrawny and hungry guard dog. The witch asks the servant to bathe the little girl, so she can eat her - but the servant drags his feet in preparing a bath. A cat appears - also hungry and waiting for a mouse; luckily the girl had picked up scraps of meat and fed the cat. The cat promises to help the girl escape. He tells her to run for it while the witch is in the bath house. The comb the girl has will turn into a forest and the towel will turn into a wide river. The cat took the girl´s place at the witch´s loom, and the girl ran out. The dog wished her a good journey, the gate opened quietly, and when some a birch tree beat her she tied the ribbon she had picked up and the birch tree, admiring itself, let her go by. The witch beats everyone - that she had mistreated all along - who cooperated in the escape: The cat, the gate, the dog, the birch tree, and the servant. She pursued the girl in her flying mortar, which she drove along with her pestle. The girl used the towel to create the river. The witch had her cattle drink up all the water. The girl threw down the comb and it turned into a thick forest. On her return, the little girl spoke with the mouse - who advised her to tell her father all about it. When he heard what had happened, he drove the stepmother out of their home and ever afterward lived alone with the little girl. The mouse too lived with them and every day it would ¨.. sit up on the table and eat crumbs, and warm its paws on the little girl´s glass of tea.¨
The Little Daughter of the Snow: An old man and woman lived in a village on the edge of the forest. They had no babies - and used to watch the children playing outside. They had dogs and a cat, chickens, but no children. They thought they could create a child out of snow - instead of a snow man. They made a snow girl. The snow girl came to life and danced and sang a tune that said she would stay and sing and play, but if they loved her little, then she would melt away. They began to care for her as if she were a real child. She had to remain cool, however, and never slept indoors. She would only eat ice crushed into a bowl, and would dance in the moonlight on the frozen snow. During the day she would play with the other kids. She was always outdoors singing, dancing, or playing. She lost her way in the woods and an old brown bear said her would take her back home, but the turned down the offer, afraid that he would eat her. The same with a gray wolf - she rejected his offer of help. A red fox came along and she accepted his offer. They found the old couple lamenting, and the fox told them to shut up their dogs. The fox was hungry. He wanted a hen. They didn´t want to waste a hen on the fox, so they tricked the fox by giving him two sacks - one contained a hen, the other a dog. He was about to eat the hen when they loosened the other sack with the dog. The frightened fox ran all the way back into the forest. The little girl melted away, singing that they loved her less than a hen. She ¨..leapt into the arms of Frost her father and Snow her mother, and they carried her away over the stars to the far north, and there she plays all through the summer on the frozen seas."
Alenoushka and her Brother: Two orphans - Alenoushka and her brother Vanoushka - were alone and ¨...set out... to walk through the .... great wide world.¨ They suffered thirst but still they pushed on. In a horse´s hoofprint there was water - but didn´t drink from it thinking it would turn them into a horse. The same with the hoofprint of a cow. A footprint of a sheep Ivanoushka drank from and turned into a little lamb. A gentleman noticed her and took Alenoushka and her lamb home, where ¨... he made a feast and married Alenoushka ...and they lived together... happily.¨ ¨...the ...lamb lived in the house and never grew any bigger..." A witch came by and cast a spell on Alenoushka - who fell ill. She told Alenoushka to bathe in the river, and that would cure her. The witch instead tried to drown her in the river, and tried to impersonate Alenoushka - by stealing her clothes. But ¨the... lamb had seen everything..." The witch fooled the gentleman. But the lamb knew what had happened and would cry ¨Baa, baa¨ at the riverbank where his sister had drowned. The witch decided to eat the lamb. The lamb ran away. He sang of his impending doom to his sister in the river, and she answered by singing that the witch had tied a stone around her neck, and that´s why she had sunk down to the riverbed. A servant saw it all and told the gentleman ¨...what he heard...¨ They set off together to the river to listen to the lamb. The gentleman realized his wife was at the bottom of the river and that an impostor had taken her place. He had the river dragged with nets of fine silk (as ordinary fishing nets did not work) and ¨...there was Alenoushka lying in the nets as if she were asleep." She was cared for by them and woke up, threw her arms around the lamb, who became once more Vanoushka, her little brother. Everyone cried tears of joy, and the gentleman turned the old witch out of the house. They all lived happily ever after - Vanoushka ¨... became a great hunter. And he married the sister of the fine gentleman. And they all lived happily together, and ate honey every day, with white bread and new milk."
The Fire-bird, the Horse of Power, and the Princess Vasilissa: A Tsar had among his servants a young archer, who had a horse of power - ¨a great horse with a broad chest, eyes like fire, and hoofs of iron. There are no such horses nowadays. They sleep with the strong men who rode them, the bogatirs [strong men, heroes of old Russia], until the time come when Russia has need of them. Then the great horses will thunder up from under the ground, and the valiant men leap from the graves in the armor they have worn so long. The strong men will sit those horses of power, and there will be swinging of clubs and thunder of hoof and the earth will be swept clean from the enemies of God and the Tsar." The young archer went into the forest but noticed there were no birds. Only ¨...a big curving feather in the path...¨ A fiery feather - he knew it was from the breast of the fire-bird, and that was why no birds were singing in the forest that day. His horse told him to leave the feather alone. But he took the gleaming feather anyway and brought it back to the Tsar, figuring he would be rewarded. The Tsar thanked him but demanded the bird itself. If not, he threatened to behead the hunter. Now the hunter realized the horse was right and he wept. The horse told the hunter to have the tsar scatter a hundred sacks of grain over the fields at midnight. The next day, the hunter climbed an oak tree that stood in the middle of the scattered grain. The gigantic golden fire-bird came along with a cataclysm of wind and tsunami of waves - and began to eat the grain. The horse stepped on one of wings of the bird, trapping him. The hunter bound up the bird and brought it back to the Tsar. The Tsar then demanded that the hunter bring back his bride, from the land of Never, that he was long waiting for, on the edge of the world, the Princess Vasilissa. If not, the hunter would have his head chopped off. The hunter despaired and wept. The horse advised him to ask the Tsar for a silver tent and all kinds of rich food. The hunter and his horse of power ¨...rode for many days and nights, and came at last to the edge of the world..." There was ¨... the Princess Vasilissa in a little silver boat, rowing with golden oars." The archer set up the silver tent and set out the rich food. The princess cautiously approached the tent and the archer welcomed her to share ¨... bread and salt with me, and taste my foreign wines." She did, but passed out after drinking the wine. The archer then brought her to the Tsar´s palace. The Princess though rejected the old, unkind Tsar. Instead, she loved the young archer. She told the Tsar that her wedding dress is hidden under a great stone under the deep blue sea, and that unless she has the dress she will not marry anyone. The Tsar again turned to the young archer - and commanded him to get the dress, otherwise, he would have his head chopped off. The hunter wept, and the horse of power told him stop crying - that they must get the dress. So they rode to the edge of the world again and saw ¨...a huge lobster moving slowly, sideways, along the golden sand." It was a giant lobster, a tsar among lobsters. The horse put his hoof on the lobster´s tail, trapping him. The lobster begged the horse to let him live - that he would do anything as long as he let him go. The horse asked him to get the dress. The lobster summoned all the lobsters of the sea - and they all made their way to the huge lobster, the oldest lobster of them all. He ordered them to get the dress. The lobsters brought back ¨..a golden casket in which there was the wedding dress of the Princess Vasilissa." The tsar of the lobsters gave the casket to the hunter, and immediately the horse of power galloped back to the palace of the Tsar. The princess was sad - because she didn´t want to marry the Tsar. She demanded that the hunter do penance in boiling water. The hunter finally understood why the horse of power had advised him not to take the feather of the fire-bird. He only begged to see his horse one last time before he was thrown into the great cauldron of boiling water. The Tsar allowed the hunter to say good-bye to his horse. ¨Farewell, my horse of power,¨ says the young archer. ¨I should have listened to your words of wisdom, for now the end is come, and we shall never more see the green trees pass above us and the ground disappear beneath us, as we race the wind between the earth and the sky.¨ The horse considered the situation and advised the hunter to leap into the boiling water. The Princess went to check whether the water was boiling. She may have added something to the water. She pronounced it boiling hot, and he threw himself into the water - but when he emerged, he had become a beautiful youth. The Tsar also wanted to become beautiful so ¨...he rose from his throne and clambered into the cauldron, and was boiled to death in a moment." The Tsar was buried and the young archer became the new Tsar. ¨He married the Princess Vasilissa...¨ and they lived happily ever after. ¨And he built a golden stable for the horse of power, and never forgot what he owed to him."
Sadko: A poor Novgorod musician, Sadko, despairing of ever marrying because of his poverty, is befriended by the Tsar of the Sea, emerging from the Volkhov River that flows through town, after he sings the river´s praises. He is rewarded with riches by the Tsar - and gains the interest of girls in town. He sets himself up as a businessman, using the treasure from the Tsar as his initial investment. On a trip to the Caspian Sea, the ship he´s on runs aground, but Sadko knows it´s just the Tsar of the Sea making good on the deal they had previously made: That in return for the riches, Sadko would have to visit the Tsar at his underwater palace and sing to his daughters. Sadko´s performance so pleased the Tsar that he began to dance. The Tsar - pleased by Sadko´s performance - rewards Sadko with the hand of one of his 30 daughters. By coincidence Sadko choses the daughter who is named after the Volkhov River. However, Sadko was either dreaming the entire episode or the princess mysteriously evaporated on their wedding night - because when he awoke, he was back where he started, lying under the walls of Novgorod, with one of his feet in the River Volkhov.
Frost: An old man remarries upon the death of his first wife, who leaves him with a daughter, Martha, and has two more daughters with his second wife. Martha is mistreated by her half-sisters and stepmother. The stepmother conspires to marry Martha to Frost - but Martha knows this means death. Frost however appeared and covered her with rich furs and warm blankets, so she didn´t freeze to death - as well as costly presents. The stepmother decided her daughters should get the same expensive presents - so she drove them out to the forest. But they were so mean and quarrelsome, that Frost didn´t protect them or award them any gifts; instead, the two girls froze to death. The stepmother flew into a rage when the old man brought their daughters back, but as he said to her when she had calmed down: ¨My little daughter [Martha] got riches for soft words, but yours were always rough of the tongue.¨ The moral of the story: ¨...kind words won kindness, and cross words cold treatment."
Baba Yaga: An old widower lived in a hut with his little daughter, but foolishly decided to remarry. The stepmother mistreated the daughter. A mouse befriends the little girl when she is banished from the house and shares her crust of bread with him. He then informs her of the evil designs of the stepmother, who is the sister of the witch Baba Yaga. If the stepmother ever tells the girl to visit the aunt, the little girl must tell the mouse. The stepmother sent the girl into the forest on a visit to the aunt. The mouse meets her and advises her to take everything with her she finds on the road to Baba Yaga´s house. He also turns the stones the stepmother gave the child instead of food, into bread and jam. She finds three objects en route to the witch´s house. The gate was squeaky so she used oil from the little bottle of oil she had found to to pour into the hinges of the gate. She gave the handkerchief she had found to Baba Yaga´s servant who was crying bitterly. She gave the loaf of bread she had found to a huge but scrawny and hungry guard dog. The witch asks the servant to bathe the little girl, so she can eat her - but the servant drags his feet in preparing a bath. A cat appears - also hungry and waiting for a mouse; luckily the girl had picked up scraps of meat and fed the cat. The cat promises to help the girl escape. He tells her to run for it while the witch is in the bath house. The comb the girl has will turn into a forest and the towel will turn into a wide river. The cat took the girl´s place at the witch´s loom, and the girl ran out. The dog wished her a good journey, the gate opened quietly, and when some a birch tree beat her she tied the ribbon she had picked up and the birch tree, admiring itself, let her go by. The witch beats everyone - that she had mistreated all along - who cooperated in the escape: The cat, the gate, the dog, the birch tree, and the servant. She pursued the girl in her flying mortar, which she drove along with her pestle. The girl used the towel to create the river. The witch had her cattle drink up all the water. The girl threw down the comb and it turned into a thick forest. On her return, the little girl spoke with the mouse - who advised her to tell her father all about it. When he heard what had happened, he drove the stepmother out of their home and ever afterward lived alone with the little girl. The mouse too lived with them and every day it would ¨.. sit up on the table and eat crumbs, and warm its paws on the little girl´s glass of tea.¨
The Little Daughter of the Snow: An old man and woman lived in a village on the edge of the forest. They had no babies - and used to watch the children playing outside. They had dogs and a cat, chickens, but no children. They thought they could create a child out of snow - instead of a snow man. They made a snow girl. The snow girl came to life and danced and sang a tune that said she would stay and sing and play, but if they loved her little, then she would melt away. They began to care for her as if she were a real child. She had to remain cool, however, and never slept indoors. She would only eat ice crushed into a bowl, and would dance in the moonlight on the frozen snow. During the day she would play with the other kids. She was always outdoors singing, dancing, or playing. She lost her way in the woods and an old brown bear said her would take her back home, but the turned down the offer, afraid that he would eat her. The same with a gray wolf - she rejected his offer of help. A red fox came along and she accepted his offer. They found the old couple lamenting, and the fox told them to shut up their dogs. The fox was hungry. He wanted a hen. They didn´t want to waste a hen on the fox, so they tricked the fox by giving him two sacks - one contained a hen, the other a dog. He was about to eat the hen when they loosened the other sack with the dog. The frightened fox ran all the way back into the forest. The little girl melted away, singing that they loved her less than a hen. She ¨..leapt into the arms of Frost her father and Snow her mother, and they carried her away over the stars to the far north, and there she plays all through the summer on the frozen seas."
Alenoushka and her Brother: Two orphans - Alenoushka and her brother Vanoushka - were alone and ¨...set out... to walk through the .... great wide world.¨ They suffered thirst but still they pushed on. In a horse´s hoofprint there was water - but didn´t drink from it thinking it would turn them into a horse. The same with the hoofprint of a cow. A footprint of a sheep Ivanoushka drank from and turned into a little lamb. A gentleman noticed her and took Alenoushka and her lamb home, where ¨... he made a feast and married Alenoushka ...and they lived together... happily.¨ ¨...the ...lamb lived in the house and never grew any bigger..." A witch came by and cast a spell on Alenoushka - who fell ill. She told Alenoushka to bathe in the river, and that would cure her. The witch instead tried to drown her in the river, and tried to impersonate Alenoushka - by stealing her clothes. But ¨the... lamb had seen everything..." The witch fooled the gentleman. But the lamb knew what had happened and would cry ¨Baa, baa¨ at the riverbank where his sister had drowned. The witch decided to eat the lamb. The lamb ran away. He sang of his impending doom to his sister in the river, and she answered by singing that the witch had tied a stone around her neck, and that´s why she had sunk down to the riverbed. A servant saw it all and told the gentleman ¨...what he heard...¨ They set off together to the river to listen to the lamb. The gentleman realized his wife was at the bottom of the river and that an impostor had taken her place. He had the river dragged with nets of fine silk (as ordinary fishing nets did not work) and ¨...there was Alenoushka lying in the nets as if she were asleep." She was cared for by them and woke up, threw her arms around the lamb, who became once more Vanoushka, her little brother. Everyone cried tears of joy, and the gentleman turned the old witch out of the house. They all lived happily ever after - Vanoushka ¨... became a great hunter. And he married the sister of the fine gentleman. And they all lived happily together, and ate honey every day, with white bread and new milk."
The Fire-bird, the Horse of Power, and the Princess Vasilissa: A Tsar had among his servants a young archer, who had a horse of power - ¨a great horse with a broad chest, eyes like fire, and hoofs of iron. There are no such horses nowadays. They sleep with the strong men who rode them, the bogatirs [strong men, heroes of old Russia], until the time come when Russia has need of them. Then the great horses will thunder up from under the ground, and the valiant men leap from the graves in the armor they have worn so long. The strong men will sit those horses of power, and there will be swinging of clubs and thunder of hoof and the earth will be swept clean from the enemies of God and the Tsar." The young archer went into the forest but noticed there were no birds. Only ¨...a big curving feather in the path...¨ A fiery feather - he knew it was from the breast of the fire-bird, and that was why no birds were singing in the forest that day. His horse told him to leave the feather alone. But he took the gleaming feather anyway and brought it back to the Tsar, figuring he would be rewarded. The Tsar thanked him but demanded the bird itself. If not, he threatened to behead the hunter. Now the hunter realized the horse was right and he wept. The horse told the hunter to have the tsar scatter a hundred sacks of grain over the fields at midnight. The next day, the hunter climbed an oak tree that stood in the middle of the scattered grain. The gigantic golden fire-bird came along with a cataclysm of wind and tsunami of waves - and began to eat the grain. The horse stepped on one of wings of the bird, trapping him. The hunter bound up the bird and brought it back to the Tsar. The Tsar then demanded that the hunter bring back his bride, from the land of Never, that he was long waiting for, on the edge of the world, the Princess Vasilissa. If not, the hunter would have his head chopped off. The hunter despaired and wept. The horse advised him to ask the Tsar for a silver tent and all kinds of rich food. The hunter and his horse of power ¨...rode for many days and nights, and came at last to the edge of the world..." There was ¨... the Princess Vasilissa in a little silver boat, rowing with golden oars." The archer set up the silver tent and set out the rich food. The princess cautiously approached the tent and the archer welcomed her to share ¨... bread and salt with me, and taste my foreign wines." She did, but passed out after drinking the wine. The archer then brought her to the Tsar´s palace. The Princess though rejected the old, unkind Tsar. Instead, she loved the young archer. She told the Tsar that her wedding dress is hidden under a great stone under the deep blue sea, and that unless she has the dress she will not marry anyone. The Tsar again turned to the young archer - and commanded him to get the dress, otherwise, he would have his head chopped off. The hunter wept, and the horse of power told him stop crying - that they must get the dress. So they rode to the edge of the world again and saw ¨...a huge lobster moving slowly, sideways, along the golden sand." It was a giant lobster, a tsar among lobsters. The horse put his hoof on the lobster´s tail, trapping him. The lobster begged the horse to let him live - that he would do anything as long as he let him go. The horse asked him to get the dress. The lobster summoned all the lobsters of the sea - and they all made their way to the huge lobster, the oldest lobster of them all. He ordered them to get the dress. The lobsters brought back ¨..a golden casket in which there was the wedding dress of the Princess Vasilissa." The tsar of the lobsters gave the casket to the hunter, and immediately the horse of power galloped back to the palace of the Tsar. The princess was sad - because she didn´t want to marry the Tsar. She demanded that the hunter do penance in boiling water. The hunter finally understood why the horse of power had advised him not to take the feather of the fire-bird. He only begged to see his horse one last time before he was thrown into the great cauldron of boiling water. The Tsar allowed the hunter to say good-bye to his horse. ¨Farewell, my horse of power,¨ says the young archer. ¨I should have listened to your words of wisdom, for now the end is come, and we shall never more see the green trees pass above us and the ground disappear beneath us, as we race the wind between the earth and the sky.¨ The horse considered the situation and advised the hunter to leap into the boiling water. The Princess went to check whether the water was boiling. She may have added something to the water. She pronounced it boiling hot, and he threw himself into the water - but when he emerged, he had become a beautiful youth. The Tsar also wanted to become beautiful so ¨...he rose from his throne and clambered into the cauldron, and was boiled to death in a moment." The Tsar was buried and the young archer became the new Tsar. ¨He married the Princess Vasilissa...¨ and they lived happily ever after. ¨And he built a golden stable for the horse of power, and never forgot what he owed to him."
November 18, 2012
Why is it that Russian fairy tales are so much cooler than American and Chinese fairy tales? Is it their darkness? Their witches? I don't know. But although this particular version is written "easy reader" style, the stories are still awesome.
March 18, 2018
“For if ever they thought of being naughty, the old grandfather told them the story of crackling Frost, and how kind words won kindness, and cross words cold treatment.” ~Frost
May 9, 2018
Some of the Russian fairy tales:
The Death of Koschei the Immortal
Vasilisa the Beautiful
Vasilisa The Priest’s Daughter
Father Frost
Sister Alenushka, Brother Ivanushka
The Frog Princess
Vasilii the Unlucky
The White Duck
The Princess Who Never Smiled
The Wicked Sisters
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
The Magic Swan Geese
The Feather of Finist the Falcon
Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf
The Sea King and Vasilisa the Wise
The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life
Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What
The Golden Slipper
The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa
The Wise Little Girl
The Armless Maiden
The Gigantic Turnip
Emelya the Simpleton
The Death of Koschei the Immortal
Vasilisa the Beautiful
Vasilisa The Priest’s Daughter
Father Frost
Sister Alenushka, Brother Ivanushka
The Frog Princess
Vasilii the Unlucky
The White Duck
The Princess Who Never Smiled
The Wicked Sisters
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
The Magic Swan Geese
The Feather of Finist the Falcon
Tsarevitch Ivan, the Firebird and the Gray Wolf
The Sea King and Vasilisa the Wise
The Bold Knight, the Apples of Youth, and the Water of Life
Go I Know Not Whither and Fetch I Know Not What
The Golden Slipper
The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa
The Wise Little Girl
The Armless Maiden
The Gigantic Turnip
Emelya the Simpleton
January 18, 2026
Pretty interesting book for kids. Some pretty awesome fairy tales in here. I’d recommend my kids read it! WC
October 3, 2014
Those are the type of stories I used to read growing up. Truly nostalgic! These stories set a naive line between the good and the bad, the kind and the evil. It teaches children that kindness will bring you good fortune, and wickedness will leave you frozen dead and forgotten. Beautiful illustrations accompany the stories. Great children's book!
October 18, 2015
3.75 stars. Fairy tales are always awesome, but I think my favorite was 'The Fire-bird, the Horse of Power, and the Princess Vasilissa'.
February 1, 2022
Russian tales
I got this book to read bedtime stories to my daughters. I used to love them when I was a little girl myself and I bought this short book just in case. The stories were great full of imagination and far away places and what was most important with a moral. Amazing book.
I got this book to read bedtime stories to my daughters. I used to love them when I was a little girl myself and I bought this short book just in case. The stories were great full of imagination and far away places and what was most important with a moral. Amazing book.
March 31, 2019
Traditional tales just like it says on the label and some cracking ones too, just expected more illustrations to liven the narrative.
November 14, 2025
Simple, formulaic stories. Be nice to everyone. Do not assume an ugly person is less than you. Goodness wins in the future. Unfortunately not enough illustrations in my copy.
January 4, 2014
There are 6 fairy tales and I enjoyed them all. I had wanted to read them for the story of "The Little Snow Maiden."
January 19, 2022
Delightful.
November 18, 2024
There’s only 5 fairytales in here but it was interesting to read new tales from a culture I’m not as familiar with.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews