The Girl in the Well

Its important to understand that in Russian Fairy Tales there is an alternative world, a more magical world which exists along side the world of mortals.

Once upon a time there was a man with a daughter who remarried. One day when the women’s stepdaughter was spinning at the side of the well she dropped her spindle into the well and went home crying.
“Why are you crying?” the girls stepmother asked.
When the girl told her stepmother what had happened the women grew angry and told her stepdaughter that she must go and not return home until she had retrieved the spindle.
So the girl went and dove to the bottom of the well and at the bottom of the well she came to a meadow and she walked and walked until she met some shepherds.
“Girl, help us clean up under our sheep and we’ll give you sheep and rams,” the shepherds implored.
The girl complied and helped to clean up after the sheep and the shepherds promised to give her a sheep on her return home.
The girl then continued on until she came to a cowherd.
“Girl, help us clean up under our cows and we’ll give you cattle with a bull,” the cow herders implored.
So the girl helped the clean up after the cattle and they promised not to forget their debt to her. She further made them all promise that they would not hurt her on her way home.
The girl then bowed and continued on until she reached a mansion and an old women who told her that she would be well rewarded if she faithfully served the old women for a year. The girl agreed and served very well, for three years she lived with the old man and the old women and then they gave her gold. On her way home she collected her sheep and her cows and then went home. When she reached the gate the dog yelped: “tyaf, tyaf, the girl brought fold, tyaf. Tyaf.”
The girls stepmother grew jealous of her success and sent her own daughter into the well. So the woman’s daughter jumped into the well and walked along the until she met the shepherd who asked for help cleaning the sheep, but the daughter was rude and said: “That’s not what I came her for, I came her for gold. I won’t clean manure.”
She then continued on until she met the cowherd and once more she rudely rejected the cowherds offer to work. She continued on then until she came to the mansion. But rather then work she was lazy and so after only three days the man and the women gave her a basket and sent her on her way.
When she reached the gate she looked into the basked expecting cold but instead it was filled with frogs, and reptiles and maggots. They crawled out and clung to her and defecated all over her. She ran home then and when she got their the dog called.
Tyaf, tyaf, our daughter has come home covered in defication.
The stepmother then scolded the dog saying: “our daughter will come home with gold!”
But then when the girl came in covered in the reptiles, and their defecation the mother rushed to hug her and they disappeared.

The Girl Snegurushka and the Fox

There once was an old man and an old women who had a granddaughter named Segurushka. One summer’s day Segurushka went into the forest with her friends to pick berries. They walked from tree to tree, shrub to shrub gathering up the berries. After some time Segurushka fell behind and her friends called halloo, halloo but Segurushka didn’t hear them so she got lost. It became dark and her friends unable to find her returned home.
Realizing that she was along Segurushka climbed a tree and began to cry as she sang:

“Ay, Ay, Segurushka,
Ay, Ay my dear
Grandfather and grandmother had a daughter Segurushka.
With her friends she went into the woods and was left.

After some time a bear came and asked her why she was crying.
“Oh father medvedushka, I was lured into the woods by my friends who have left,” Segurushka told the bear.
“Come down and I’ll take you home,” the bear offered.
“No I’m afraid you’ll eat me!’
So the bear left and once more Segurushka began to cry.

Ay, Ay, Segurushka,
Ay, Ay, Dear one.

A wolf came along and asked her why she was crying.
“Oh gray wolf my friends have left me in the woods,” Segurushka told the wolf.
“Come down and I’ll take you home,” the wolf offered.
“No, you’ll eat me!” Segurushka cried.
So the wolf left and once more Segurushka began to cry:

Ay, ay, Segurushka,
Ay, ay, my dear.

Along came a fox and asked her why she was crying.
“Oh fox olisava, I was left in the woods by my friends,” Segurushka told the fox.
“Come down and I’ll take you home,” the fox offered.
So Segurushka climbed down and sat on the foxes back who ran with her to her house where he used his tail to knock on the gate.
“Who’s their?” Segurushka’s granddaughter asked.
“Ibrought your granddaughter Segurushka,” the fox Lisa answered.
“Oh our dear, dear, Lisa-olisava,” Segurushka’s grandparents cried in gratitude to the fox. “Come in come in, how can we ever repay you.”
So happy were they that they brought the fox milk, eggs, cottage cheese and gave her a hen as she left.

The Fox and the Wolf
A Russian Fairy Tale

An old man and old women lived together. One day the old man told his wife to bake some bread for he was going fishing. He later caught a whole truckload of fish and began to head home happy with his luck. On his way he saw a fox curled up on the side of the road. He crept up on the fox and found that it wasn’t moving at all.

“Oh this would make a great gift for my wife,” he thought as he picked up what he assumed was a dead fox and threw it in the back of his wagon.

As the man continued on the fox threw the fish off the wagon and then ran off.

“Look, I brought you a fur… Argggg!” the old man exclaimed when he got home and suddenly realized that his fish and the fox were missing.

“Where is it?” he asked “There were fish and a fox fur on my cart,” the old man wailed.

The old women seeing that the her husbands cart was empty scowled him.

Realizing what had happened the old man grieved and grieved but there was nothing to be done.

The fox meanwhile was eating all the fish which he’d thrown out of the cart when along came a wolf.

“Good day, cousin,” the wolf greeted the fox.

“Good day friend,” the fox returned.

“Please, may I have some fish?” the wolf asked.

“You should try catching yourself some fish,” the fox replied.

“I can not”

“Go down to the river, my friend, and hang your tail into the crevasse at the washing place, then the fish while bite it,” the fox told the wolf.

So the wolf went down to the river and put his tail into the crevasse, but because it was winter his tail froze into the water so that no mater how hard he tried to pull it out he couldn’t. So he sat there all night.

A women came to fetch the water and when she saw the wolf she cried out: “A wolf, a gray wolf! Knowck him dead! Beat him Dead!

So the villagers came running and began beating the wolf with rods and buckets.

“I’ll get revenge on you,” the wolf cried about the fox as he finally escaped from the people.

The fox however crept into the hut where the women make pancakes smeared doaugh all over herself so that when the wolf found her in anger, saying the people had beat him half to death the fox responded: “Oh, my friend at least only blood flows from you wounds, but they beat me so hard my marrow is coming out.”

“That’s true,” the wolf mused as he looked at the foxes wounds. “I’ll carry you,” the wolf offered.

The wolf then carried the fox to the riverside where the fox suggested that they build houses; the wolves of ice and the foxes of bark so that when spring came the wolves house melted around him.

“Oh, cousin you have betrayed me again!” The wolf cried, “I’m going to eat you!”

“Wait, let us decide by lot who should eat the other,” the fox told the wolf.

So the fox led the wolf into the woods to a deep pit and told him that if he could jump over the pit he could eat her. So the wolf tried to jump over the pit but fell in.

“Well, you just sit down there,” the fox told the wolf before walking away.

Wind, Frost, and the Sun
A Russian Fairy Tale

A man once came across the sun, frost and wind and he bowed down low out of respect.
But after he’d passed the wind, the frost and the sun began to argue who he’d bowed too.
“It was to me that he’d bowed of course,” the sun proclaimed. “So that I would not scorch him.”
“It was to me that he bowed for he fears me most,” Frost disagreed
“Liar,” Wind called the other two. “It was I he bowed to.”
Their argument continued until they were nearly at each other’s throats when they finally decided to ask the man who he’d bowed to, so they all chased after him.
“I bowed to the wind,” the man told them when he was caught.
“I’ll singe you lobster red!” The Sun Proclaimed in anger. “You’ll remember me!”
“Fear not for I will protect you from the heat,” the wind told the man.
“Then I’ll freeze you solid!” Frost snarled.
“Fear not friend for if I don’t blow the Frost cannot freeze near as cold,” Wind assured the man.

Baba Yaga II
A Russian Fairy Tale

A farmer lived with his wife and daughter for some time when his wife suddenly died. So the farmer married another woman and had a second daughter. And while the woman loved her own daughter she made the orphans life miserable for her step daughter. So the farmer thought and thought of how he might help his daughter and so he eventually brought her into the forest, driving on until he sees a hut with chicken legs.
“Hut, hut, look into my face and turn your back to the woods,” the farmer tells the hut which then turns around allowing the farmer to enter where he found Baba Yaga.
“It smells of Russians,” Baba Yaga said.
The farmer bowed down to her and said: “Baba Yaga with the wooden leg, I bring you my daughter to be your servant.”
“All Right,” Baba Yaga agreed. “If you serve me well, I’ll reward you.”
So the girl’s father took his leave and went home.
Baba Yaga then gave the girl a spindle to spin flax and ordered her to heat up the kitchen furnaces so that they would be ready for her return.
The girl was at the furnaces wondering how she could spin as she worked them when she began to weep bitterly. A mouse ran up to her.
“Girl, girl why are you crying? The mouse asked.” If you give me some sweet, sweet porridge, we’ll give you some good advice.”
So the girl gave the mice some sweet porridge.
“Put a spider on the spindle to spin your thread,” the mice advised the girl.
“Are you finished with everything?” Baba Yaga asked when she returned home some time later.
The girl had finished with everything so Baba Yaga praised the girl and gaver their precious Aleid. When Baba Yaga went out again she gave the girl even harder tasks. So once more the girl began crying and the mice ran up.
“Beautiful girl, why are you crying? Give us sweet porridge and then we’ll give you good advice,” the mice promised.
So the girl gave the mice some porridge and then they taught her more of what mice can do. Once more Baba Yaga Praised the girl on her return and gave her costly apparel.
Meanwhile the stepmother sent the farmer out to see what had happened to his daughter. When he got to Baba Yaga’s hut he found that his daughter had become rich, very rich in fact. Baba Yaga was not home so he took his daughter with him. As they drove to the village the little dog barked: “a young lady comes home.”
The stepmother was dumb struck and thought the dog was lying.
When she saw her stepdaughter however she god jealous and told the famer to bring her own daughter to Baba Yaga.
As she’d done with the other girl Baba Yaga left the woman’s daughter with many tasks and once more the mice ran out to see why she was crying. But the girl chased away the mice and did nothing while Baba Yaga was gone. So Baba Yaga was very angry when she returned. She killed the woman’s daughter and put her into a Anöchelchen Aorb.
The man came later to retrieve the woman’s daughter and he had to bring home the girl home. When he got to the village the dog began to bark: “In the Anöchelchen Aörbchen rattle."
Angered the stepmother ran out and accused the dog of lying but the dog repeated: “in Aörbchen Anöchelchen rattle."
Then when the man got home the women screamed.

The Goat's Kids and the Wolf

Once upon a time a goat made a hut in the woods and had many children so the goat would often have to search the forest for food. When ever the goat would leave she would lock up the door behind her and tell her children not to open it. When she came back she would knock on the door and sing.
“Children your mother has come, she has brought mil which runs across the steps and onto the damp earth.”
At which point the little goats would quickly unlock the door and let her in so that she could feed them.
The wolf heard this all and waited for the mother to leave once more. That’s when he went to the hut and sang in a deep voice:
“Children your mother has come, she has brought mil which runs across the steps and onto the damp earth.”
At first the baby goats thought that their mother had come but they realized that their mothers voice was far sweeter then the wolves so they didn’t open the door. So the wolf ran off to hide in the woods once more.
After a while their mother cam and sang: “Children your mother has come, she has brought mil which runs across the steps and onto the damp earth.”
The little goat let his mother in and told her how the wolf had come and tried to trick them so that he could eat them. So their mother warned them to be especially careful when she was gone and not to let anyone in who didn’t sound like her.
The next time the goat left the wolf ran up to the house and sang once more: “Children your mother has come, she has brought mil which runs across the steps and onto the damp earth.”
This time however the wolf changed his voice to sound like that of the goats mother and so the young goats lit him in. The wolf rushed into the house with his mouth wide open. He swallowed each of the kids save one which hid in the oven.
After some time the mother goat returned home and no matter how hard she sang her children didn’t answer so she pushed her way into the house which she found empty save for the one kid in the furnace.
On discovering what had happened the mother goat sat down and began to cry. After she’d cried for some time she went out into the woods and met the wolf who she asked to go for a walk with her.
The two of them went into the woods and found a pit in which some robbers had recently boiled mush so that it was still filled with hot coals. The mother goat then dared the wolf to jump over the pit as she did herself.
The wolf then tried to jump over the pit but his belly was too full of her kids and so he fell into the pit onto the hot coals. The wolf’s belly then burst into flames and burnt open freeing the goats kids which ran and jumped out to their mother.
And they all lived happily ever after.

Дата добавления: 2015-10-31