🧚 Opening, part 1 · page 2

The Saints also walk the earth.65 Saint George [Egóri] has taken over many Pagan legends; in one of the semi-sacred _bylíny_ [v. Bezsónov, _Kalěki_ _Perekhózhie_], he turns round the oaks and the mountains, like Vertodúb and Vertogór, and in other _bylíny_ of the same class the miraculous incidents of the birth of Ilyá Múromets are attributed to him.66 Saint Nicholas is the worker of miracles; and Saint Elias has had some of the powers of the thundergod transferred to him.67

Other stories are prose adaptations of the ballads, and must be considered as such.68

There are two personifications, which call for special attention, those of Death and of Sorrow.69 Both are borrowed from ballad cycles.70 Both figures appear as ghostly spirits, who persecute man, but yet can be very efficaciously and roughly handled.71

There are some few satires; but the large majority cannot be readily classified.72 They contain the usual incidents of transformations, magic, witches, the valorous youngest son, the beautiful princess wronged by the evil stepmother,—in fact, the common Aryan stock, all tinged with the characteristic Slav temperament.73

Artless as these stories are, there are a few peculiar conventions in the narration.74 Such are the little forewords, with their sardonic musings; the conclusion of almost every happy tale that the narrator was at the feast, but never might taste the viands; the references to the distances the hero must go, which the narrator has not the knowledge to estimate accurately; the reference to the land of these wonderful happenings, “the thrice-ninth land, the thrice-tenth kingdom”; and many other traditional stylisms.75

In conclusion, it should be stated that the store of primitive folk-lore of the Slavs has scarcely been touched.76 The Slav peoples conserved primitive Aryan customs almost up to the middle of the nineteenth century; and then these were industriously and conscientiously compiled.77 Taking Russia alone, there are collections of magic formulas, ceremonial songs of Pagan origin, volumes of traditional ballads; and the ancient munic has also been recorded.78 But Bulgaria, Little-Russia, Serbia, Bohemia, and all the Slav countries have similar compilations; and every one of these nationalities is as strongly individualized, as are, say, the Danes, the Dutch, and the Germans.79

These stories have been translated direct from the Russian of Afanášev; the selection is intended to represent, as completely as possible, the varieties of Russian folk-tale.80 As far as an analytic language, like modern English, can render so highly inflected a tongue as Russian, the translator has tried to keep strictly to the style and diction of the originals, which are the undoctored traditional stories.81

THE PRONUNCIATION OF RUSSIAN WORDS82

Every Russian word has _one_ strongly accented syllable, which is marked with an acute accent.83 The vowels are to be sounded as in Italian.84

Ch to be sounded as in English.85

G always hard, as in ‘_g_ive,’ ‘_g_ot’: never as in ‘gem.’86

J always as in English.87

Kh like German _ch_, or Scotch _ch_ in ‘lo_ch_.’88

L when hard (e.g. before a, o, u) something like _ll_ in ‘pu_ll_’; when soft (e.g. before e, i) like _l_ in French ‘vi_l_.’89

S always hard, as in ‘_s_o.’90

V as in English: at the end of words as ‘f.’91

Y consonantally, as in English ‘_y_et’; as a vowel like ‘i’ in ‘w_i_ll.’92

Z always as in English.93

Zh like ‘_s_’ in lei_s_ure, or French ‘j.’94

CONTENTS95

Page Introduction v The Pronunciation of Russian Words xi The Dun Cow 1 A Tale of the Dead 6 A Tale of the Dead 8 A Tale of the Dead 9 The Bear, the Dog and the Cat 13 Egóri the Brave and the Gipsy 17 Danílo the Unfortunate 22 The Sorry Drunkard 30 The Wolf and the Tailor 33 The Tale of the Silver Saucer and the Crystal Apple 36 The Foundling Prince 42 The Sun and how it was Made by Divine Will 43 The Language of the Birds 45 Bába Yagá and Zamorýshek 48 The Miraculous Hen 52 Mark the Rich 61 By Command of the Prince Daniel 64 The Thoughtless Word 70 The Tsarítsa Harpist 75 The Tale of Iván Tsarévich, the Bird of Light, and the Grey Wolf 78 The Priest with the Envious Eyes 91 The Soldier and Death 96 The Midnight Dance 106 Vasilísa the Fair 109 The Animals in the Pit 119 The Poor Widow 121 Ilyá Múromets and Svyatogór the Knight 125 The Smith and the Devil 128 The Princess who would not Smile 133 The Tsarévich and Dyád’ka 137 Prince Evstáfi 145 Vasilísa Popóvna 147 The Dream 151 The Soldier and the Tsar in the Forest 154 The Tale of Alexander of Macedon 160 The Brother of Christ 162 Alyósha Popóvich 165 God’s Blessing Compasses all Things 170 Shemyák the Judge 173 A Story of Saint Nicholas 176 The Potter 185 The Witch and the Sister of the Sun 188 Márya Moryévna 192 The Realm of Stone 204 The Story of Tsar Angéy and how he Suffered for Pride 208 The Feast of the Dead 212 The Quarrelsome Wife 213 Elijah the Prophet and St. Nicholas 216 The Princess to be Kissed at a Charge 220 The Wood Sprite 223 The Realms of Copper, Silver and Gold 225 Chufíl-Fílyushka 230 Donotknow 234 The Sea Tsar and Vasilísa the Wise 243 The Animals’ Winter Quarters 256 The Story of Ilyá Múromets and the Nightingale Robber 260 Nikíta the Tanner 267 The Singing-Tree and the Speaking-Bird 269 At the Behest of the Pike 274 The Journey to Jerusalem 281 Vazúza and Vólga 282 The Enchanted Tsarévich 283 The Snake Princess 287 Beer and Bread 292 Sorrow 299 Iváshko and the Wise Woman 306 Never-wash 311 Christ and the Geese 315 Christ and Folk-songs 316 The Devil in the Dough-pan 317 The Sun, The Moon and Crow Crowson 318 The Legless Knight and the Blind Knight 321 A Cure for Story-Telling 33396

Notes 335 Glossary 34997

RUSSIAN FOLK-TALES98

THE DUN COW99

You know that there are all sorts in this world, good and bad, people who do not fear God, and feel no shame before their own brother.100

In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, there once lived a Tsar and Tsarítsa, who had one only daughter, Márya Tsarévna.101 But the old Tsarítsa died and the Tsar took to him a second wife, who was a witch.102 And the witch had three daughters, one of whom had one eye, the next two eyes, and the third had three.103 The stepmother could not abide Márya Tsarévna, and sent the girl with a dun cow on to the heath, and gave her a dry crust as her only food.104

Márya Tsarévna went on to the heath, bowed down to the right foot of the cow, and all at once was splendidly dressed, and had as much to eat and drink as she liked.105 So she guarded the dun cow the whole day, and looked as gay as any lady in the land.106 And at night she bowed down again in front of the right foot, and again became shabby and went home.107 And the bit of bread she took with her and offered it to her stepmother.108

“Whatever is she living on?” the witch thought, and she gave her the same piece of bread next day, and told her eldest daughter to watch what Márya Tsarévna did.109