Chapter 1
FOLK TALES
FROM THE RUSSIAN
RETOLD BY
VERRA XENOPHONTOVNA KALAMATIANO DE BLUMENTHAL
FOREWORD
In Russia, as elsewhere in the world, folklore is rapidly scattering before the practical spirit of modern progress. The traveling peasant bard or story teller, and the devoted "nyanya", the beloved nurse of many a generation, are rapidly dying out, and with them the tales and legends, the last echoes of the nation's early joys and sufferings, hopes and fears, are passing away. The student of folk-lore knows that the time has come when haste is needed to catch these vanishing songs of the nation's youth and to preserve them for the delight of future generations. In sending forth the stories in the present volume, all of which are here set down in print for the first time, it is my hope that they may enable American children to share with the children of Russia the pleasure of glancing into the magic world of the old Slavic nation.
THE AUTHOR.
THE TABLE OF CONTENTS
_Foreword_
_A List of Illustrations_
_Dedication_
_Notes_
FOLK TALES
The Tsarevna Frog
Seven Simeons
The Language of the Birds
Ivanoushka the Simpleton
Woe Bogotir
Baba Yaga
Dimian the Peasant
The Golden Mountain
Father Frost
A LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
"She gave him a touchstone and flint".
The Tsarevna Frog
"Hunters, grooms, and servants rushed in all directions"
Ivan learns the language of the birds
"The old man went begging from town to town"
"One brother was sent to watch the turkeys"
The rich brother
"The children ran away as fast as their little feet could possibly carry them"
"Well, I struck a snag"
"Old Frost gave the gentle girl many beautiful, beautiful things"
_TO MY LITTLE FRIEND_
EDITH EVANS
_AND ALL AMERICAN CHILDREN_
THE TSAREVNA FROG
SEVEN SIMEONS
This answer was faithfully delivered to the Tsar Archidei by the envoys, and the Tsar at once desired to see the brave peasants, and ordered them to be called before him. The seven Simeons presently appeared and bowed. The Tsar looked at them with his bright eyes and asked them:
"What kind of people are you whose field is so well cultivated?"
One of the seven brothers, the eldest of them, answered:
"We are all thy peasants, simpletons, without any wisdom, born of peasant parents, all of us children of the same father and the same mother, and all having the same name, Simeon. Our old father taught us to pray to God, to obey thee, to pay taxes faithfully, and besides to work and toil without rest. He also taught to each of us a trade, for the old saying is, 'A trade is no burden, but a profit.' The old father wished us to keep our trades for a cloudy day, but never to forsake our own fields, and always to be contented, and plow and harrow diligently.
"He also used to say, 'If one does not neglect the mother earth, but thoroughly harrows and sows in due season, then she, our mother, will reward generously, and will give plenty of bread, besides preparing a soft place for the everlasting rest when one is old and tired of life.'"
The Tsar Archidei liked the simple answer of the peasant, and said:
"Take my praise, brave good fellows, my peasants, tillers of the soil, sowers of wheat, gatherers of gold. And now tell me, what trades did your father teach you, and what do you know?"
The first Simeon answered:
"My trade is not a very wise one. If thou wouldst let me have materials and working men, then I could build a post, a white stone column, reaching beyond the clouds, almost to the sky."
"Good enough!" exclaimed the Tsar Archidei. "And thou, the second Simeon, what is thy trade?"
The second Simeon was quick to give answer:
"My trade is a simple one. If my brother will build a white stone column, I can climb upon that column high up in the sky, and I shall see from above all the empires and all the kingdoms under the sun, and everything which is going on in those foreign countries."
"Thy trade is not so bad either," and the Tsar smiled and looked at the third brother. "And thou, third Simeon, what trade is thine?"
The third Simeon also had his answer ready: