Russian Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

by Afanas'Ev, Aleksandr

  The princess stopped at the seashore, struck the ground, turned into a lovely maiden, and said: “Grandfather, grandfather, come out and speak to me!” Her grandfather came out saying: “My little granddaughter, what do you want?” “Was not your head in our palace?” “I do not know, granddaughter, I have been sound asleep.” “No, grandfather, your head was there.” “Apparently it was torn off the last time you came here to speak to me.” She struck the ground, turned into a gull, and flew home. She changed her dress, came back to the banquet hall, and sat beside Prince Ivan.

  The next day they went to the church to be lawfully wedded; after they returned, Buria Bogatyr led Prince Ivan to his bedroom, showed him three rods, one of iron, one of copper, and one of pewter, and said: “If you want to remain alive, let me lie with the princess in your place.” The prince consented. The king led the young couple to their nuptial bed. At that moment Buria Bogatyr took the place of the prince, lay down, and began to snore; the princess put one leg on him, then another, and began to smother him with a pillow. Buria Bogatyr jumped from under her, took the iron rod, and began to beat her. He beat her until he broke the rod; then he took the copper rod and broke it too; then he began to beat her with the pewter rod. The princess began to implore him and swore solemn oaths that she would never again try to do such a thing. Next morning Buria Bogatyr rose, went to Prince Ivan, and said: “Now, brother, go and see how well I have chastised your wife; the three rods I prepared are all broken. Now live happily together, love each other, and do not forget me.”

  THE WOLF AND THE GOAT

  ONCE UPON A TIME there was a goat who built herself a little hut in the woods and lived there with her kids. She often went deep into the forest to look for food; whenever she left the hut the kids locked the little door and stayed inside. When the goat returned she would knock at the door and sing: “My little baby kids, unlock the door and open it! I, the she-goat, have been in the forest; I have eaten soft grass and drunk spring water. Milk flows down in the udder and from the udder to the hoof and from the hoof into the damp earth.” The kids would at once open the door and let their mother in. Then she would feed them and go again into the forest, and the kids would lock the door very tight.

  The wolf overheard all this. Once when the goat had gone to the forest he came to the little hut and cried in his rough voice: “Hey, little kids, hey, my dear ones, unlock the door and open it! Your mother is back and has brought you milk aplenty.” But the kids answered: “We hear you, we hear you, but yours is not our mother’s voice! Our mother sings in a soft voice and sings different words.” The wolf went away and hid himself. Then the goat came and knocked at the door, singing: “My little baby kids, unlock the door and open it! I, the she-goat, have been in the forest, I have eaten soft grass and drunk spring water. Milk flows down in the udder and from the udder to the hoof and from the hoof into the damp earth.” The kids let their mother in and told her that the wolf had come and tried to devour them. The goat fed them and when she left again for the woods gave them strict orders not to let in anyone who might come to the little hut and beg in a rough voice saying other words than she said. As soon as the goat was gone the wolf ran to the little hut, knocked at the door, and began to chant in a soft voice: “My little baby kids, unlock the door and open it! I, the she-goat, have been in the forest, I have eaten soft grass and drunk spring water. Milk flows down in the udder to the hoof and from the hoof into the damp earth.” The kids opened the door and the wolf ran in and ate them all; only one little kid escaped by hiding in the stove.

  The goat came back, but no matter how sweetly she sang, no one answered her. She came closer to the door and saw that it was open; she looked into the room and saw that it was empty; she looked into the stove and found one kid there.

  When the goat learned of her misfortune, she sat down on a bench, began to weep bitterly, and sang: “Oh, my baby kids, why did you open the door to the wicked wolf? He has devoured you all, and left me with great grief and sadness in my soul.” The wolf heard this, came into the hut, and said to the goat: “Ah, neighbor, neighbor, why do you slander me? Would I do such a thing? Let us go to the forest together and take a walk.” “No, neighbor, I have no heart for walking.” “Let us go,” the wolf insisted.

  They went into the forest and found a pit in which some brigands had recently cooked gruel. There was still some fire left in it. The goat said to the wolf: “Neighbor, let us see which of us can jump across the pit.” The wolf tried first, and fell into the hot pit; his belly burst from the heat of the fire, and the kids ran out of it and rushed to their mother. From then on they lived happily, acquired wisdom, and eschewed evil.

  THE WISE LITTLE GIRL

  TWO BROTHERS were traveling together: one was poor and the other was rich, and each had a horse, the poor one a mare, and the rich one a gelding. They stopped for the night, one beside the other. The poor man’s mare bore a foal during the night, and the foal rolled under the rich man’s cart. In the morning the rich man roused his poor brother, saying: “Get up, brother. During the night my cart bore a foal.” The brother rose and said: “How is it possible for a cart to give birth to a foal? It was my mare who bore the foal!” The rich brother said: “If your mare were his mother, he would have been found lying beside her.” To settle their quarrel they went to the authorities. The rich man gave the judges money and the poor man presented his case in words.

  Finally word of this affair reached the tsar himself. He summoned both brothers before him and proposed to them four riddles: “What is the strongest and swiftest thing in the world? What is the fattest thing in the world? What is the softest thing? And what is the loveliest thing?” He gave them three days’ time and said: “On the fourth day come back with your answers.”

  The rich man thought and thought, remembered his godmother, and went to ask her advice. She bade him sit down to table, reated him to food and drink, and then asked: “Why are you so sad, my godson?” “The sovereign has proposed four riddles to me, and given me only three days to solve them.” “What are the riddles? Tell me.” “Well, godmother, this is the first riddle: ‘What is the strongest and swiftest thing in the world?’ ” “That’s not difficult! My husband has a bay mare; nothing in the world is swifter than she is; if you lash her with a whip she will overtake a hare.” “The second riddle is: ‘What is the fattest thing in the world?’ ” “We have been feeding a spotted boar for the last two years; he has become so fat that he can barely stand on his legs.” “The third riddle is: ‘What is the softest thing in the world?’ ” “That’s well known. Eider down—you cannot think of anything softer.” “The fourth riddle is: ‘What is the loveliest thing in the world?’ ” “The loveliest thing in the world is my grandson Ivanushka.” “Thank you, godmother, you have advised me well. I shall be grateful to you for the rest of my life.”

  As for the poor brother, he shed bitter tears and went home. He was met by his seven-year-old daughter—she was his only child—who said: “Why are you sighing and shedding tears, father?” “How can I help sighing and shedding tears? The tsar has proposed four riddles to me, and I shall never be able to solve them.” “Tell me, what are these riddles?” “Here they are, my little daughter: ‘What is the strongest and swiftest thing in the world? What is the fattest thing, what is the softest thing, and what is the loveliest thing?’ ” “Father, go to the tsar and tell him that the strongest and fastest thing in the world is the wind; the fattest is the earth, for she feeds everything that grows and lives; the softest of all is the hand, for whatever a man may lie on, he puts his hand under his head; and there is nothing lovelier in the world than sleep.”

  The two brothers, the poor one and the rich one, came to the tsar. The tsar heard their answers to the riddles, and asked the poor man: “Did you solve these riddles yourself, or did someone solve them for you?” The poor man answered: “Your Majesty, I have a seven-year-old daughter, and she gave me the answers.” “If your daughter is so wise, here is a silk
en thread for her; let her weave an embroidered towel for me by tomorrow morning.” The peasant took the silken thread and came home sad and grieving. “We are in trouble,” he said to his daughter. “The tsar has ordered you to weave a towel from this thread.” “Grieve not, father,” said the little girl. She broke off a twig from a broom, gave it to her father, and told him: “Go to the tsar and ask him to find a master who can make a loom from this twig; on it I will weave his towel.” The peasant did as his daughter told him. The tsar listened to him and gave him a hundred and fifty eggs, saying: “Give these eggs to your daughter; let her hatch one hundred and fifty chicks by tomorrow.”

  The peasant returned home, even more sad and grieving than the first time. “Ah, my daughter,” he said, “you are barely out of one trouble before another is upon you.” “Grieve not, father,” answered the seven-year-old girl. She baked the eggs for dinner and for supper and sent her father to the king. “Tell him,” she said to her father, “that one-day grain is needed to feed the chicks. In one day let a field be plowed and the millet sown, harvested, and threshed; our chickens refuse to peck any other grain.” The tsar listened to this and said: “Since your daughter is so wise, let her appear before me tomorrow morning—and I want her to come neither on foot nor on horseback, neither naked nor dressed, neither with a present nor without a gift.” “Now,” thought the peasant, “even my daughter cannot solve such a difficult riddle; we are lost.” “Grieve not,” his seven-year-old daughter said to him. “Go to the hunters and buy me a live hare and a live quail.” The father bought her a hare and a quail.

  Next morning the seven-year-old girl took off her clothes, donned a net, took the quail in her hand, sat upon the hare, and went to the palace. The tsar met her at the gate. She bowed to him, saying, “Here is a little gift for you, Your Majesty,” and handed him the quail. The tsar stretched out his hand, but the quail shook her wings and—flap, flap!—was gone. “Very well,” said the tsar, “you have done as I ordered you to do. Now tell me—since your father is so poor, what do you live on?” “My father catches fish on the shore, and he never puts bait in the water; and I make fish soup in my skirt.” “You are stupid! Fish never live on the shore, fish live in the water.” “And you—are you wise? Who ever saw a cart bear foals? Not a cart but a mare bears foals.”

  The tsar awarded the foal to the poor peasant and took the daughter into his own palace; when she grew up he married her and she became the tsarina.

  DANILO THE LUCKLESS

  IN THE CITY OF KIEV our Prince Vladimir had many servants and peasants in his household, and he also had a nobleman called Danilo the Luckless. When Sunday came, Prince Vladimir treated everyone to a glass of liquor, but Danilo received only a kick in the backside. On the great holidays, everyone received a gift, but he received nothing at all. On Easter Eve, just before Easter Day, Prince Vladimir summoned Danilo the Luckless before him, gave him forty times forty sables, and commanded that he fashion for his master a fur coat for the holiday; the sables were not skinned, the buttons were not molded, the loops were not braided; and the prince ordered him to mold the shapes of forest beasts in the buttons, and to embroider the shapes of birds of foreign lands in the loops.

  Danilo the Luckless grew discouraged with his task, threw it down, and went to walk beyond the city gates; he walked aimlessly along the road, weeping bitter tears. An old woman stopped him and said: “Hey, Danilo, don’t be so silly! Why are you weeping, you luckless wretch?” “Ah, you old hag, all stitched and patched, and eaten by fever, let me alone, I have troubles of my own!” He walked on a little farther, then thought to himself: “Why did I abuse her so?” He went back to her and said: “Little grandmother, little dove, forgive me! This is why I am distressed: Prince Vladimir has given me forty times forty sables and wants a fur coat made of them by tomorrow, with many molded buttons and braided silken loops—there must be golden lions on the buttons, and birds from foreign lands singing sweet songs must be embroidered on the loops. And how can I do all that? I would rather stand in the tavern with a cup of vodka in my hands.”

  The old woman replied: “Ah, now I am the grandmother, the little dove! Well, go to the blue sea, stand by the old oak. At midnight the blue sea will surge up, and Chudo Yudo, the sea monster without hands, without feet, and with a gray beard, will come to you. Seize him by his beard and thrash him until he asks you: ‘Why are you thrashing me, Danilo the Luckless?’ And you answer: ‘I want the lovely Swan Maiden to stand before me, and through her feathers let her body be seen, and through her body let her bones be seen, and through her bones let it be seen how from bone to bone the marrow flows, like pearls poured from one vessel to another.’ ” Danilo the Luckless came to the blue sea, stood by the old oak, and at midnight the sea surged up, and Chudo Yudo, the sea monster without hands, without feet, with nothing but a gray beard, came up to him. Danilo seized him by his beard and began to beat him against the damp earth. Chudo Yudo asked him: “Why do you thrash me, Danilo the Luckless?” “This is why: I want the lovely Swan Maiden to stand before me. And through her feathers let her body be seen, and through her body let her bones be seen, and through her bones let it be seen how from bone to bone the marrow flows, like pearls poured from one vessel to another.”

  After a little while the lovely Swan Maiden came sailing to the shore and said these words: “Danilo the Luckless, are you shirking a great deed or trying to perform one?” “Ah, lovely Swan Maiden! If I am shirking a great deed, then double is my need! Prince Vladimir has ordered me to make him a fur coat for tomorrow; but the sables are not skinned, the buttons are not molded, the loops are not braided!” “Will you take me as your wife? Then everything will be done.” He thought to himself: “How can I marry her?” “Well, Danilo, why are you hesitating?” “I will take you!” She shook her wings, nodded her head, and there came forth twelve strong men—masons, carpenters, and bricklayers. In a trice a house was ready. Danilo took her by her right hand, kissed her sweet lips, and led her into the princely chambers; they sat at table, ate, drank, and refreshed themselves, and plighted their troth. “Now, Danilo, lie down and rest. Do not worry, everything will be done.”

  She put him to bed and went out on the crystal porch. There she shook her wings and nodded her head, saying: “My own father, give me my craftsmen.” Twelve youths appeared and asked her: “Lovely Swan Maiden, what do you command us to do?” “Sew me a fur coat. The sables are not skinned, the buttons are not molded, the loops are not braided.” They set to work: some prepared the skins and sewed the fur coat, some smelted and molded the buttons, some braided the loops, and in a trice a marvelous fur coat was ready. The lovely Swan Maiden roused Danilo the Luckless: “Awake, my beloved! The fur coat is ready and the church bells are ringing in Prince Vladimir’s city of Kiev; it is time for you to rise and attend matins.”

  Danilo rose, donned the fur coat, and went forth. The Swan Maiden looked through the window; she stopped him, gave him a silver cane, and told him: “When you leave the church, strike your chest with this cane; the birds will sing merrily and the lions will roar terribly. Take the fur coat off your shoulders and give it forthwith to Prince Vladimir, that he may not forget us. He will invite you to his table and give you a cup of wine; do not drink it to the bottom, for if you do, evil will befall you. And do not boast of me, do not boast that in one night we built a house.” Danilo took the cane and set out. The Swan Maiden called him back again, and gave him three eggs, two silver eggs and one golden egg, and said: “Offer the silver ones to the prince and his wife, and the golden one to her with whom you will live all your life.”

  Danilo the Luckless said farewell to her and went to attend matins. All the people were amazed: “Here is Danilo the Luckless, and he has finished the fur coat for the holiday!” After matins he approached the prince and his wife, congratulated them as is the custom at Easter, and by accident took out the golden egg. Aliosha Popovich, the rake, saw it. The people began to leave the church. Then Danilo the Luckles
s struck his chest with the silver cane, and the birds began to sing and the lions to roar. All were amazed and looked at Danilo, but Aliosha Popovich disguised himself as a crippled beggar and begged for holy alms. Everyone gave him something, only Danilo the Luckless stood there wondering: “What shall I give him? I have nothing!” And because it was such a great holiday he gave him the golden egg. Aliosha Popovich took the golden egg and donned his usual clothes.

  Prince Vladimir invited everyone to his house, and they ate and drank and refreshed themselves and boasted of their exploits. Danilo got drunk and in his drunkenness boasted of his wife. Aliosha Popovich, the rake, began to boast that he knew Danilo’s wife. Danilo said: “If you know my wife, let my head be cut off; if you do not, yours shall be cut off!”

  Aliosha went he knew not whither; he walked and wept. An old woman stopped him and said: “Why are you crying, Aliosha Popovich?” “Go away, old hag, I have my own troubles.” “Very well, but I might have been useful to you.” He began to question her: “My dear grandmother, what did you want to tell me?” “Aha, now I am the dear grandmother!” Then he told her: “I boasted that I knew Danilo’s wife.” “Ah, little father, how could you know her? Not even a little bird has flown where she is. Go to such and such a house, invite her to dine with the prince. She will begin to wash and make ready and will put a little chain on the window. Take this chain and show it to Danilo the Luckless.”

  Aliosha came to the high-arched window and summoned the lovely Swan Maiden to dine with the prince. She began to wash, to dress and make ready for the feast. Meanwhile Aliosha took away the chain, ran to the palace, and showed it to Danilo the Luckless. “Well, Prince Vladimir,” said Danilo the Luckless, “I see that my head must be cut off. Permit me to go home and say farewell to my wife.”