Ivan the Simpleton did not put his third riddle to the princess, but instead asked that all the senators be gathered together. In their presence he propounded a riddle about how the princess had been unable to solve the other riddles and had sent her chambermaid to bribe him with money. The princess could not solve this riddle either; again she questioned him, promising to give him silver and gold, as much as he wanted, and to send him home in a coach-and-four. But her efforts were in vain. Again she stood up all night without sleeping; and when Ivan the Simpleton told her what the riddle was about, she still could not tell the solution to the court, for then everyone would find out how she had obtained the answers to his first two riddles. She had to declare: “I cannot solve this riddle.” So Ivan the Simpleton and the princess were married; they had a fine wedding and a gay feast and lived happily ever after.
A SOLDIER’S RIDDLE
TWO SOLDIERS on a trip stopped to rest in an old woman’s house. They asked for some food and drink, but the old woman said: “What shall I offer you? I have nothing, my boys.” Yet in her oven she had a boiled cock in a pot under the roasting pan. The soldiers guessed this; one of them—who was a roguish fellow—went out into the yard, upset a cart full of sheaves of grain, returned to the house, and said: “Little grandmother, go out, the cattle are eating your grain.” The old woman went out and the soldiers peered into the oven, took the cock out of the pot, put an old shoe in the pot instead, and hid the cock in their bag. The old woman came back and said: “My dear boys, didn’t you set the cattle loose? Why do you cause mischief like that? Don’t do that again, please.” The soldiers sat in silence awhile, then asked again: “Please, little grandmother, give us something to eat.” “Take some kvass and bread, my boys; that will do.”
Then the old woman wanted to crow because she had cheated them and proposed a riddle to them: “Well, my boys, you’ve traveled a lot, you’ve seen the world. Now tell me—is Mr. Cock Cockson still living in Ovenia, at Potburg near Pantown?” “No, little grandmother.” “Who, then, is living there?” “Mr. Shoe Shoeson.” “And what has happened to Mr. Cock Cockson?” “He moved to Bagville, little grandmother.” After that the soldiers left. The old woman’s son returned from the field and asked her for some food. She said: “Imagine, my son, some soldiers came by here and asked me for something to eat. But instead of giving it to them I posed them a riddle about the cock that I have in the oven, and they couldn’t solve it.” “And what riddle did you pose them, mother?” “This one—‘Is Mr. Cock Cockson still living in Ovenia, at Potburg near Pantown?’ They did not solve it. They said: ‘No, little grandmother.’ ‘But where is he?’ I asked them. ‘He has moved to Bagville,’ they said. They never guessed, the sons of bitches, what I had in my pot.” She looked into the oven, but the cock had flown away; she dragged out only an old shoe. “Ah, my little son, those accursed fellows robbed me after all.” “You should have known better, mother; a soldier knows the world, he cannot be cheated!”
THE DEAD BODY
A POOR OLD PEASANT lived with his wife. They had three sons: two were clever, but the third was Ivan the Fool. Sometimes the elder brothers went hunting and the fool followed them; the two clever brothers caught wild beasts and game birds, but the fool caught rats and mice, magpies and crows. Once the brothers sowed peas in the garden and told Ivan the Fool to guard the plants against crows. Their old mother had to go to the garden; as soon as she came there, Ivan the Fool noticed her and said to himself: “Just wait, I’ll catch that thief; he’ll remember me!” He stole up to the old woman quietly, raised his stick, and gave her such a blow on the head that she fell asleep forever without so much as a gasp.
The fool’s father and brothers began to chide, reproach, and abuse him. But he sat on the stove, dug in the soot, and said: “Why the devil did she try to steal? You yourselves put me there to watch.” “You fool,” said the brothers, “you’ve made your bed, now lie on it; get down from the stove and dispose of the body.” The fool muttered: “I’ll do it as well as anyone.” He took the old woman, dressed her in her Sunday best, put her in the back of a carriage, placed an embroidery frame in her hands, and drove through the village.
He met an official driving toward him. “Get over to the side, peasant!” The fool answered: “Get over to the side yourself. I’m carrying the king’s embroiderer.” “Run over that scoundrel,” said the official to his coachman, and as soon as their horses passed each other, the wheels of the two carriages caught, and the fool and the old woman were hurled out to a distance. “Gentlemen, boyars,” cried the fool to all the people, “they’ve killed my mother, the king’s embroiderer!” The official saw that the old woman was dead, got frightened, and began to implore the fool: “Take anything you want, little peasant, only don’t gather a crowd.” The fool did not want to make too much of a fuss, and said: “Give me three hundred rubles and arrange with the priest to bury the dead woman.” This ended the matter; the fool took the money, turned back, came home to his father and brothers, and they all began to live happily together.
THE FROG PRINCESS
LONG AGO, in ancient times, there was a king who had three sons, all of them grown. The king said: “My children, let each of you make a bow for himself and shoot an arrow. She who brings back your arrow will be your bride; he whose arrow is not brought back will not marry.” The eldest son shot his arrow, and a prince’s daughter brought it back to him. The middle son shot his arrow, and a general’s daughter brought it back to him. But little Prince Ivan’s arrow was brought back from the marsh by a frog who held it between her teeth. His brothers were joyous and happy, but Prince Ivan became thoughtful and wept: “How will I live with a frog? After all, this is a life task, not like wading across a river or walking across a field!” He wept and wept, but there was no way out of it, so he took the frog to wife. All three sons and their brides were wed in accordance with the customs of their country; the frog was held on a dish.
They began living together. One day the king asked that all three brides make him gifts, so that he could see which of them was the most skillful. Prince Ivan again became thoughtful and wept: “What can my frog make? Everyone will laugh at me!” The frog only hopped about on the floor and croaked. When Prince Ivan fell asleep, she went out into the street, cast off her skin, turned into a lovely maiden, and cried: “Nurses, nurses! Make something!” The nurses at once brought a finely woven shirt. She took it, folded it, placed it beside Prince Ivan, and again turned herself into a frog, as though she had never been anything else! Prince Ivan awoke, was overjoyed with the shirt, and brought it to the king. The king received it, examined it, and said: “Well, this is indeed a shirt to wear on holidays!” Then the second brother brought a shirt. The king said: “This one is good only to wear to the bath!” And of the shirt the eldest brother brought he said: “This one is fit to be worn only in a lowly peasant hut!” The king’s sons left, and the two elder ones decided between themselves: “We were wrong to make fun of Prince Ivan’s wife; she is not a frog, but a cunning witch!”
The king again issued a command to his daughters-in-law—this time that they should bake bread, and show it to him, so that he might see which of them baked best. Before the first contest, the brides of the two elder sons had made fun of the frog; but now they sent a chambermaid to spy on her and see how she would go about baking her loaf. The frog was aware of this, so she mixed her dough, rolled it, hollowed out the oven from above, and poured her dough right there. The chambermaid saw this and ran to tell her mistresses, who forthwith did the same. But the cunning frog had deceived them; the moment the chambermaid left, she dug the dough out of the oven, cleaned and plastered up everything as though nothing had happened, then went on the porch, got out of her frog’s skin, and cried: “Nurses, nurses! Bake me such a loaf of bread as my dear father ate only on Sundays and holidays!” The nurses brought the bread at once. She took it, placed it beside the sleeping Prince Ivan, and turned into a frog again. Prince Ivan awoke, took the
bread, and went with it to his father. Just then the king was examining the loaves of bread brought by his elder sons. Their wives had dropped the dough into the oven just as the frog had, and all they had pulled out was formless lumps. First the king took the eldest son’s loaf, looked at it, and sent it back to the kitchen; then he took the second son’s loaf and sent it back too. Then came Prince Ivan’s turn: he presented his loaf. The father received it, examined it, and said: “Now this bread is good enough for a holiday! It is not slack-baked, like that of my elder daughters-in-law!”
After that the king decided to hold a ball in order to see which of his daughters-in-law danced best. All the guests and the daughters-in-law assembled, and also the sons, except Prince Ivan, who became thoughtful: how could he go to a ball with a frog? And our Prince Ivan began to sob. The frog said to him: “Weep not, Prince Ivan! Go to the ball. I will join you in an hour.” Prince Ivan was somewhat heartened when he heard the frog’s words; he left for the ball, and the frog cast off her skin, and dressed herself in marvelous raiment. She came to the ball; Prince Ivan was overjoyed, and all the guests clapped their hands when they beheld her: what a beauty! The guests began to eat and drink; the princess would pick a bone and put it in her sleeve; she would drink of a cup and pour the last drops into her other sleeve. The wives of the elder brothers saw what she did, and they too put the bones in their sleeves, and whenever they drank of a cup, poured the last drops into their other sleeves. The time came for dancing; the tsar called upon his elder daughters-in-law, but they deferred to the frog. She straightway took Prince Ivan’s arm and came forward to dance. She danced and danced, and whirled and whirled, a marvel to behold! She waved her right hand, and lakes and woods appeared; she waved her left hand, and various birds began to fly about. Everyone was amazed. She finished dancing, and all that she had created vanished. Then the other daughters-in-law came forward to dance. They wanted to do as the frog had done: they waved their right hands, and the bones flew straight at the guests; and from their left sleeves water spattered, that too on the guests. The king was displeased by this and cried: “Enough, enough!” The daughters-in-law stopped dancing.
The ball was over. Prince Ivan went home first, found his wife’s skin somewhere, took it and burned it. She arrived, looked for the skin, but it was gone, burned. She lay down to sleep with Prince Ivan, but before daybreak she said to him: “If you had waited a little, I would have been yours; now only God knows when we will be together again. Farewell! Seek me beyond the thrice ninth land, in the thrice tenth kingdom!” And the princess vanished.
A year went by, and Prince Ivan longed for his wife. In the second year, he made ready for his journey, obtained his father’s and mother’s blessing, and left. He walked a long time and suddenly he saw a little hut standing with its front to the woods and its back to him. He said: “Little hut, little hut, stand the old way, as thy mother stood thee, with thy back to the woods and thy front to me!” The hut turned around. He entered. An old woman was sitting there, who said: “Fie, fie! Of a Russian bone not a sound was heard, not a glimpse was seen, and now a Russian bone has come to my house of its own free will. Whither goest thou, Prince Ivan?” “First of all, old woman, give me to eat and to drink, then ask me questions.” The old woman gave him to eat and to drink and put him to bed. Prince Ivan said to her: “Little grandmother, I have set out to find Elena the Fair.” “Oh, my child, how long you have been away! At the beginning she often remembered thee, but now she no longer remembers thee, and has not come to see me for a long time. Go now to my middle sister, she knows more than I do.”
In the morning Prince Ivan set out, came to a hut, and said: “Little hut, little hut, stand the old way, as thy mother stood thee, with thy back to the woods and thy front to me.” The hut turned around. He entered, and saw an old woman sitting there, who said: “Fie, fie! Of a Russian bone not a sound was heard, not a glimpse was seen, and now a Russian bone has come to my house of its own free will. Whither goest thou, Prince Ivan?” “To get Elena the Fair, little grandmother.” “Oh, Prince Ivan,” said the old woman, “thou hast been long a-coming! She has begun to forget thee, she is marrying someone else; the wedding will take place soon! She is now living with my eldest sister. Go there, but be careful. When thou approachest their house, they will sense it; Elena will turn into a spindle, and her dress will turn into gold thread. My sister will wind the gold thread; when she has wound it around the spindle, and put it into a box and locked the box, thou must find the key, open the box, break the spindle, throw the top of it in back of thee, and the bottom of it in front of thee. Then she will appear before thee.”
Prince Ivan went, came to the third old woman’s house, and entered. The old woman was winding gold thread; she wound it around the spindle and put it in a box, locked the box, and put the key somewhere. He took the key, opened the box, took out the spindle, broke it just as he had been told, cast the top in back of him and the bottom in front of him. Suddenly Elena the Fair stood before him and greeted him: “Oh, you have been a long time coming, Prince Ivan! I almost married someone else.” And she told him that the other bridegroom was expected soon. Elena the Fair took a magic carpet from the old woman, sat on it with Prince Ivan, and they took off and flew like birds. The other bridegroom suddenly arrived and learned that they had left. He too was cunning! He began to pursue them, and chased and chased them, and came within ten yards of overtaking them: but on their carpet they flew into Russia, and for some reason he could not get into Russia, so he turned back. The happy bride and groom came home; everyone rejoiced, and soon Ivan and Elena began to live and prosper, for the glory of all the people.
THE SPEEDY MESSENGER
IN A CERTAIN LAND, in a certain kingdom, there were certain impassable swamps. A circuitous road went around them; it took three years to travel fast on this road, and if one traveled slowly, even five were not enough! Near the road lived a poor old man who had three sons: the first was named Ivan, the second Vasily, and the third was little Semyon. The old man determined to clear the swamps, to lay a straight road for travelers on foot and travelers on horseback, and to build white hazelwood bridges over the streams, so that a man on foot could pass through the swamps in three weeks and a rider on horseback in three days. He set to work together with his sons, and after not a little time everything was finished just as he had planned it: sturdy were the white hazel bridges and cleared was the fine straight road.
The poor man returned to his hut and said to Ivan, his firstborn: “Go, my beloved son, sit under the first bridge and listen to what folk say about us—whether it will be good or evil.” Obedient to his father’s command, Ivan hid himself under the bridge.
Two venerable hermits walked over the bridge and said to each other: “To him who laid this bridge and cleared the road, whatever he asks of the Lord, the Lord will give it to him!” As soon as Ivan heard these words, he came out from under the hazelwood bridge, and said: “This bridge I laid with my father and brothers.” “And what do you wish of the Lord?” the holy men asked him. “That the Lord make me rich for the rest of my life!” “Very well, go to the open field. In the open field there is an old oak. Under that oak is a deep vault, and in that vault are gold and silver and precious stones galore. Take a shovel and dig—the Lord will make you rich for life!” Ivan went to the open field, dug up much gold and silver and many precious stones under the oak, and took them home. “Well, little son,” the poor man asked him, “have you seen anyone walking or driving over the bridge? And what do people say about us?” Ivan told his father that he had seen two venerable men and that they had rewarded him for life.
The next day the poor man sent Vasily, his middle son, to the bridge. Vasily sat under the hazel logs and listened. Two venerable men walked over the bridge, came to the spot above his hiding place, and said: “He who laid this bridge, whatever he asks of the Lord, the Lord will give it to him.” As soon as Vasily heard these words, he came out and said: “This bridge I laid with my f
ather and brothers.” “And what do you ask of the Lord?” “That the Lord give me bread for the rest of my life!” “Very well, go home, stake out a piece of fresh land, and sow it; the Lord will give you bread for all your life!” Vasily came home, told his father all that had happened, marked out a piece of fresh land, and sowed it with grain.
The third day the poor man sent his youngest son to the bridge. Little Semyon sat under the logs and listened. Two venerable men walked over the bridge, came to the spot above his hiding place, and said: “He who laid this bridge, whatever he asks of the Lord, the Lord will give it to him.” Little Semyon heard these words, came out, and said: “This bridge I laid with my father and brothers.” “And what do you ask of the Lord?” “I ask of him a favor—to serve as a soldier to the great sovereign!” “Ask for something else. A soldier’s service is hard; if you become a soldier, you will fall captive to the Sea King, and many tears will you shed!” “Eh, you are venerable hermits and you know very well he who does not weep in this world will weep in the next!” “Well, since you will serve the king, we give you our blessing!” said the venerable old men. They put their hands on little Semyon and turned him into a fleet-footed stag.
The stag ran to his father’s house. From the window his father and brothers saw him, jumped out of the hut, and wanted to catch him. The stag turned back. He came running to the two venerable old men, and they turned him into a hare. The hare darted back to the house; the father and brothers saw him, jumped out of the hut, and wanted to catch him, but he turned back again. He came running to the two venerable old men, who turned him into a little bird with a golden head. The bird flew to the house and sat on the window sill. The father and brothers saw him and jumped up to catch him, but he took wing and flew back. The bird came flying to the two venerable old men, who turned him into a human again and said: “Now, little Semyon, you can go into the king’s service. If you ever need to run somewhere in a hurry, you can turn into a stag, a hare, and a bird with a golden head. We have taught you how.”
Russian Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library) Page 11
