Folktales Every Russian Child Knows...

Little Red Riding Hood was my first love. 

I felt that if I could have married Little Red Riding Hood, 

I should have known perfect bliss. 

- Charles Dickens

Did you have any favorite fairy or folk tales growing up?  I vividly remember "Rumpelstiltskin", "Little Red Riding Hood", and "Beauty and the Beast".  As a continuation of my last post, today I'll be sharing some Russian tales for children that are also illustrated with photos of paintings from Russian lacquer boxes.

Remember to leave a comment here on this post - or any others I do through May 30 - if you'd like to be entered in my MAY GIVEAWAYS (you can enter as many times as you'd like, so comment away...) 

In this Russian fairy tale book, you'll find peasants, turnips, bears, Jack Frost, Princesses, eagles, Cockerels, Wolves, swans, and more...

"The Turnip"

(I've seen numerous versions of this tale - it's one of the more popular Russian folktales; a story that builds on itself as more and more characters get in on the action of helping out.  It is a tiny mouse that shows up at the end of the tugging line of people and animals who finally helps pull the turnip out of the ground.) 

"Then Grandpa called Grandma.
Grandma held onto Grandpa;
Grandpa held tight to the turnip top.
They pulled and pulled till they had to stop.
But the turnip stayed in the ground."

"The Peasant and the Bear"
(This is the shortest tale in the book, and is basically the anecdote for why there has "always been hostility between bear and man".)

" The turnips grew large and in the autumn the peasant came with his cart to dig them up.
The bear came out of the forest:
'Well, man, the time has come to divide the turnips.  Give me my share.'
'All right, dear bear. let's share:  the tops for you, and the roots for me.'
The peasant gave the bear all the leafy tops,
put the turnips on his cart and took them to town to sell."

"Morozko"

(This story was my least favorite, because the poor girl ends up freezing to death.  At least her mean step mother learns her lesson.  I included it because I love this illustration...but it's not a sweet St. Nicholas who's looking down on the girl...)

"The girl sat beneath the fir and shivered.  Soon she was shaking from head to foot.
Suddenly she hear Morozko -- which is what the Russians call Jack Frost -- nearby,
making his way through the firs, leaping from tree to tree snapping and cracking.
He sprang onto the top of the fir beneath which the girl was sitting and called down to her."

"The Frog Princess"

(There are quite a few cultural variants of this tale, including the Brothers Grimm German version, "Der Frosch Konig".  The story varies from country to country about the main character being a "Frog Prince", to a "Frog Princess", to a "Toad Bridegroom"...in this Russian telling, the Frog Princess turns out to be Vasilisa the Wise - who appears in the next folktale I'll mention as well.  I also have to suggest that you try to find this version of The Frog Princess, sumptuously illustrated by Russian artists Gennady Spirin.)

"She tripped and turned, turned and tripped in such a way that everyone was astonished.
Then she swung her left hand and there was a lake;
she swung her right and there were white swans swimming on the lake..."

"The King of the Sea and Vasilisa the Wise"
(In this tale, Vasilisa is the daughter of the King of the Sea. She helps a tsarevich with some very difficult tasks, so that he can go back home to his parents.)

But Vasilisa the Wise and Ivan Tsarevich were already far away.
They drove their swift-footed steeds on without pausing to rest"

The female name Vasilisa is of Greek origin and means "Queen". It is the feminine form of Vasily, the Russian or Greek form of the name Basil.  Its use was inspired by a third-century Christian child martyr, Vasilisa, and several other early saints who are venerated by the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches. It was the name of several early princesses. 

Today the name is also associated with a fairy tale princess because of its frequent use in Russian folk tales. The princess Vasilisa Prekrasnaya (Vasilisa the Beautiful) or Vasilisa the Wise is a stock character in Russian fairy tales, including The Frog Prince and Vasilissa the Beautiful. 

Her character often rises in status from a peasant girl to the wife of a prince or is a princess who marries the hero after helping him to accomplish difficult tasks. Unlike other fairy tale heroines who wait to be rescued, Vasilisa often accomplishes a series of tasks that help her defeat the villain of the story.

You can find today's book, used, on Amazon - if you go here. 
There are many more wonderful tales in this book - most can be read online here, at Project Gutenberg, or on this Russian Craft website.  

Russian Folktale Art Fit for a Tsar!

The work of Palekh artists must be counted among the true wonders of Russian art. When you look at their creations on black lacquer backgrounds each of them seems to glisten and sparkle with gold, silver and all the colors of the rainbow... 

-Abram Raskin, art scholar and Merited Art Worker of Russia.

I'd love your feedback and comments about these two gorgeous folk tale books (not technically "fairy tale", if you remember from my last post) I brought home from my trip to St. Petersburg. (Remember, a comment will enter you into my May Giveaways!)

Both books are illustrated with artwork from painted Russian lacquer boxes. By the way - I see that you can get used copies of the Russian Fairy Tales book very inexpensively, here from Amazon - for sure a lot cheaper than what you'd pay for one of the lacquer boxes!  This post is full of my own photos from Pushkin's Fairy Tales...

Russian lacquer art developed from the 17th-19th Century Russian icon painting tradition - which sadly came to an end with the collapse of Imperial Russia during the Russian Revolution of 1917 (although thankfully this tradition is being revived by young artists of the 21st Century) . The icon painters, who previously had been employed by supplying not only churches but people's homes with icons, needed a way to make a living.

Since many of the icons had been painted on cypress-wood panels or a papier-mâché base, the artists  began specializing in the craft of making papier-mâché decorative boxes and panels that were lacquered and then hand painted, often with scenes from folk tales.

There are four centers (schools) which practice the art of this Russian craft - both of my fairy tale books show the work of artists from the Palekh School, using the technique of painting in egg-based tempera overlaid with intricate gold leaf highlighting to decorate their miniature lacquer boxes.

 (Artwork by Alexei Orleansky a painter of the Palekh school, from Russian Fairy tales)

In my next few posts I'll be sharing different Russian folktales with you.  Today, I'll be sharing the artwork and stories from Pushkin's Fairy Tales.  Pushkin's tales are quite long, and written in verse (he was more influenced by French fairy tales then Russian folk tales, which were always written in prose).  I bought the book for my son-in-law, because he's especially interested in Russia and its literature.

From "Ruslan and Ludmilla", an epic tale in verse by Pushkin,
published in 1820.

From "The Golden Cockerel"

"The Tale of the Golden Cockerel" was the last folktale in verse by Pushkin, published in 1835.  It's based on a couple of chapters from the short story "Legend of the Arabian Astrologer" from the Tales of Alhambra by Washington Irving!

The only tale of Pushkin's that might interest younger children is "The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Champions" (champions could also be translated as "knights").  Does the number seven make you think of any other fairy tale - SNOWWHITE AND THE SEVEN...?

Here is the Princess, in all her glory (and holding the "Pippin" apple), with the seven brother knights -  "champions...ruddy, bushy-whiskered men" (they're not dwarfs in this version, and they live in a mansion in the forest, as opposed to a cottage).

The Princess and her seven champions

She runs away from her step-mother, the Queen, and finds the knights' forest mansion.  The seven brothers love her, but she tells them she cannot marry any of them because "another still is dearest. I must his forever be; Elisey, the prince, is he."

This prince eventually comes looking for her - asking the Sun and Moon to help him find his soon-to-be-wife.  Little does her fiance know that she has been approached by an old woman and given an apple that was poisoned.  It is the Wind who finally tells him of her glass coffin and where to find it... 

From the coffin she is creeping; Ah, for joy they both are weeping!  

Now he lifts the maid away Out of darkness into day 

And the two are homeward faring, Happy, friendly talk are sharing.

Quickly round the tidings ring, 'Saved - the daughter of the king!'

One other Pushkin tale in this book that I'll mention is "Tale of Tsar Sultan".  It's been published as a picture book on its own with illustrations by one of my favorite present-day Russian artists,  Gennady Spirin.  You can see his version here.

I hope you're enjoying all this truly remarkable Russian-lacquer-box-fairy-tale-artwork!  More coming in my next post...and remember to leave a comment, if you want to be entered in my May Giveaways (it's Matryoshka Madness!)