Russian Fairy Tales (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library)

by Afanas'Ev, Aleksandr

  BURENUSHKA, THE LITTLE RED COW

  IN A CERTAIN KINGDOM, in a certain land, there lived a king and a queen, and they had an only daughter, Princess Maria. When the queen died, the king took another wife, Yagishna. Yagishna gave birth to two daughters: one had two eyes, and the other three eyes. The stepmother disliked Princess Maria, and ordered her to take Burenushka, the little red cow, to pasture, and gave her a crust of dry bread for her dinner. The princess went to the open field, bowed to Burenushka’s right leg, ate and drank her fill, and dressed in fine attire; all day long, dressed like a lady, she tended Burenushka. At the end of the day, she again bowed to the little cow’s right leg, removed her fine attire, went home carrying back her crust of bread, and put it on the table. “How does the slut keep alive?” wondered Yagishna. The next day she gave Princess Maria the same crust, and sent her elder daughter with her, saying: “Give an eye to what Princess Maria feeds herself with.” They came to the open field and Princess Maria said: “Little sister, let me pick the lice from your head.” She began to pick them, at the same time saying: “Sleep, sleep, little sister! Sleep, sleep, my dear! Sleep, sleep, little eye! Sleep, sleep, other eye!” The sister fell asleep, and Princess Maria rose up, went to Burenushka, bowed to her right leg, ate and drank her fill, dressed herself in fine attire, and all day long walked around like a lady. Night came; Princess Maria removed her fine attire and said: “Get up, little sister, get up, my dear, let us go home.” “Ah,” said the sister unhappily, “I have slept through the day, and have not seen anything; now my mother will scold me.” They came home; the mother asked her: “What did Princess Maria eat, what did she drink?” “I have not seen anything.” Yagishna scolded her; next morning she got up and sent her three-eyed daughter, saying: “Go and see what that slut eats and drinks.” The girls came to the open field where Burenushka grazed, and Princess Maria said: “Little sister, let me pick the lice from your head.” “Pick them, little sister! Pick them, my dear!” Princess Maria began to pick, saying at the same time: “Sleep, sleep, little sister! Sleep, sleep, my dear! Sleep, sleep, little eye! Sleep, sleep, other eye!” She forgot about the third eye, and the third eye looked and looked at what Princess Maria was doing. She ran to Burenushka, bowed to her right leg, ate and drank her fill, dressed in fine attire. When the sun began to set, she again bowed to Burenushka, removed her fine attire, and went to rouse the three-eyed one: “Get up, little sister! Get up, my dear! Let us go home!” Princess Maria came home and put her dry crust on the table. The mother questioned her daughter: “What does she eat and drink?” The three-eyed one told everything. Yagishna said to her husband: “Slaughter Burenushka, old man!” And the old man slaughtered the cow. Princess Maria begged him: “Please, my dear, give me at least a bit of the entrails!” The old man threw her a bit of the entrails. She took it, placed it on a gatepost, and a bush with sweet berries grew up on it, and all kinds of little birds perched there and sang songs of kings and of peasants. Prince Ivan heard about Princess Maria, came to her stepmother, put a dish on the table, and said: “Whichever maiden picks a dishful of berries for me, her I will take for my wife.” Yagishna sent her elder daughter to pick berries; the birds did not even let her come near, she had to guard her eyes lest the birds peck them out. Yagishna sent her other daughter, and they did not let her come close either. At last she sent Princess Maria. Princess Maria took the dish and went to pick the berries; and as she picked them, the little birds placed twice and thrice as many on the dish as she herself could pick. She returned, placed the berries on the table, and bowed to the prince. There was a gay feast and a wedding; Prince Ivan took Princess Maria away, and they began to live happily and prospered.

  After some time, a long time or a short time, Princess Maria gave birth to a son. She wanted to visit her father, and went to his house with her husband. Her stepmother turned her into a goose and disguised her elder daughter as Prince Ivan’s wife. Prince Ivan returned home. The old tutor of the child got up early in the morning, washed himself very clean, took the baby in his arms, and went to an open field, stopping near a little bush. Geese came flying, gray geese came. “My geese, gray geese! Where have you seen the baby’s mother?” “In the next flock.” The next flock came. “My geese, gray geese! Where have you seen the baby’s mother?” The baby’s mother jumped to the ground, tore off her goose skin, took the baby in her arms, and nursed him at her breast, crying: “I will nurse him today, I will nurse him tomorrow, but the day after I will fly beyond the forests dark, beyond the mountains high!” The old man went home. The little fellow slept till next morning without awakening, and the false wife railed at the old man for having gone to the open field and for having starved her son. Next morning again he got up very early, washed himself very clean, and went with the child to the open field; and Prince Ivan got up, followed the old man unseen, and hid in the bush. Geese came flying, gray geese came. The old man called to them: “My geese, gray geese! Where have you seen the baby’s mother?” “In the next flock.” The next flock came. “My geese, gray geese! Where have you seen the baby’s mother?” The baby’s mother jumped to the ground, tore off her goose skin, threw it behind the bush, nursed the baby at her breast, and said farewell to him: “Tomorrow I will fly beyond the forests dark, beyond the mountains high!” She gave the baby to the old man and said: “Why is there a smell of burning?” She turned to put her goose skin on, and realized that it was gone: Prince Ivan had burned it. He grasped Princess Maria; she turned into a frog, then into a lizard, and into one kind of loathsome insect after another, and at last into a spindle. Prince Ivan broke the spindle in two, threw the top back of him and the bottom in front of him, and a beautiful young woman stood before him. They went home together. Yagishna’s daughter yelled and shouted: “The wrecker is coming, the killer is coming!” Prince Ivan gathered the dukes and boyars together and asked them: “With which wife do you advise me to live?” They said: “With the first.” “Well, gentlemen, whichever wife is the first to climb the gate, with her will I live.” Yagishna’s daughter at once climbed to the top of the gate, but Princess Maria only clutched it and did not climb up. Then Prince Ivan took his gun and shot the false wife, and began to live with Princess Maria as of old, and they prospered.

  THE JESTER

  IN A CERTAIN VILLAGE there lived a jester. A priest decided to visit him and said to his wife: “I think I will go to the jester, perhaps he will play some clever trick to amuse me.” He made ready and went; he found the jester walking around his yard tending his farm. “May God help you, jester!” “Welcome, father, whither is God taking you?” “To you, my dearest one; won’t you play a trick to amuse me?” “With pleasure, father; only I left the trick with seven other jesters, so dress me up warmly and give me your horse that I may go and fetch it.” The priest gave him his horse, sheepskin, and cap, and the jester drove away. He came to the priest’s wife and said: “Little mother, the priest has bought twelve thousand pounds of fish; he sent me to you on his horse, he wants three hundred rubles.” The priest’s wife straightway gave him three hundred rubles; the jester took them and drove back. He came home, put the sheepskin coat and the cap in the sledge, set the horse free in the enclosure, and hid himself. The priest waited and waited, finally lost patience, and returned to his wife. She asked: “Where is the fish?” “What fish?” “What do you mean? The jester was here to get the money; he said that you had bought twelve thousand pounds of fish, and I gave him three hundred rubles.” Thus the priest learned what kind of trick the jester had played on him!

  The next day he again went to the jester. The jester expected him; he had disguised himself as a woman and was sitting by the window spinning. Suddenly the priest appeared. “May God help you!” “You are welcome!” “Is the jester home?” “No, father.” “But where is he?” “Yesterday he played a trick on you, and since then he has not been home.” “What a rascal! He will probably come home tomorrow.” On the third day the priest came again, and the jester still was n
ot at home. The priest thought: “Why should I come here for nothing? This girl is probably his sister; I will take her to my house and make her work off my money.” He asked her: “Who are you? A relation of the jester’s?” She said: “I am his sister.” “The jester took three hundred rubles from me; so come, my little dove, work them off.” “Well, if I must go, I will.” She made ready, went with the priest, and lived in his house for a long time.

  The priest had several young daughters to marry. One day the matchmakers came to him: a rich merchant wanted to marry his son to one of the priest’s daughters. But the priest’s daughters were not to the merchant’s liking, and instead he asked the priest’s cook, the jester’s pretended sister, to marry his son. There was a gay feast and a wedding, everything was done in the proper way. That evening the pretended bride said to her husband: “Drop me out of the window on a sheet, I want to get some fresh air; when I shake the sheet, pull me back.” The husband dropped her into the garden; the supposed wife tied a she-goat to the sheet, shook it, and the bridegroom pulled it back. When he dragged it into the room, he found a she-goat instead of his wife. He began to shout: “Oh, evil people have bewitched my wife!” Everyone rushed to his room and began to exorcise the she-goat; the women began to conjure her, trying to turn her into a woman again, and in the end tormented her so much that she died.

  Meanwhile the jester came home, changed his clothing, and went to the priest, who welcomed him and invited him to stay and dine with him. The jester ate and drank, talked about one thing and another, and then asked: “Father, where is my sister? Did you not take her into your home?” “I did,” answered the priest, “but I married her to a rich merchant.” “What do you mean? Without my permission? Does the law permit that? I’ll sue you in court!” The priest began to argue with him, begging him not to sue. The jester obtained three hundred rubles from him. Then he said: “Now, father, take me to my brother-in-law, show me how they are living.” The priest did not want to start a new argument, so he went with him.

  They came to the merchant, who received them hospitably. The jester sat there for a long time, but his sister did not appear. Finally he said: “Kinsman, where is my sister? I have not seen her for a long time.” The others began to get restless. He asked again; they told him that evil people had bewitched his sister and changed her into a she-goat. “Show me the goat, then!” said the jester. They said: “She died.” “No! No she-goat died—you killed my sister. How could she change into a goat? I will go to court about this.” They began to beg him: “Please don’t go to court, we’ll pay you whatever you ask.” “Give me three hundred rubles, then I won’t sue you.” They counted out the money, the jester took it and left, made a coffin somewhere, put the money in it, and drove home.

  On his way he met the seven other jesters. They asked him: “What are you carrying, jester?” “Money.” “And where did you get it?” “It’s very simple! I sold a dead man, and now I am carrying his coffin full of money.” The jesters without saying a word went home, slew their wives, made coffins, put the coffins on carts, and drove into town, calling: “Dead people, dead people! Who wants to buy dead people!” When the Cossacks heard this, they immediately galloped over to them and began to lash them with whips. They lashed them for a long time, saying: “That will teach you to sell dead people!” Then they drove them out of the town. The seven jesters had a narrow escape; they buried their dead and went to the first jester’s house to revenge themselves for the trick he had played on them. He was expecting them and had prepared everything in advance.

  They came, entered his house, wished him good day, and sat down on a bench. Now, there was a she-goat running about in the jester’s house; she ran and ran and suddenly dropped a silver ruble. The jesters saw it and asked: “How did the she-goat drop a silver ruble?” “She always drops silver coins!” They began to press him to sell the goat; he stubbornly refused, arguing that he wanted her himself. But the other jesters insisted and finally he agreed to sell the goat for three hundred rubles. The jesters gave him the money and took the goat away with them; they put her in a room, spread rugs on the floor, and waited for the morning, thinking, “She’ll drop a tubful of coins for us!” Instead she only befouled the rugs.

  Again the jesters went to take vengeance on our jester. He knew that they would come and said to his wife: “Now woman, mind you. I am going to fasten a bladder full of blood under your arm. When the jesters come to thrash me, I shall ask you to serve dinner. The first time I ask you, don’t heed me; the second time I ask you, still don’t heed me; the third time I ask you, still don’t heed me. I will snatch a knife and thrust it into the bladder, the blood will flow, and you will fall, pretending that you are dead. Then I will take a whiplash and lash you once; you will stir. I will lash you a second time, and you will turn over; I will lash you a third time, and you will jump up and set the table.” The jesters arrived. “Well, brother,” they said, “you have been cheating us long enough. This time we are going to kill you.” “Too bad! Kill me if you must, but let us have dinner together for the last time. Eh, woman, serve the dinner!” She did not move; he ordered her a second time and still she did not move; he ordered her a third time and still she did not move. The jester took a knife and slashed her in the side; blood flowed from her in streams, she fell to the floor, and the jesters became frightened. “What have you done, you dog? Now you’ll get us involved in this!” “Quiet, boys! I have a special whiplash with which to cure her.”

  He got the whiplash, lashed once, and his wife stirred; he lashed a second time and she turned over; he lashed a third time and she jumped up and began to set the table. The jesters said: “Sell us that whiplash!” “Buy it.” “How much do you want for it?” “Three hundred rubles.” The jesters counted out the money, took the whiplash, and went to town with it. They saw a rich man’s funeral and cried: “Stop, stop!” The procession stopped. “We shall bring the dead man back to life.” They lashed the dead man once, but he did not stir; they lashed him a second time, with the same result; they lashed him a third, fourth, and fifth time—still the dead man refused to stir. Then the good fellows were seized and given lashes in their turn; and the people who lashed them with whips kept saying: “That’s for you doctors! That’s for you doctors!” This time they were lashed till they were half dead. They somehow managed to trudge home, and when they had recovered they said: “Well, boys, the jester has made fools of us long enough; let us kill him once and for all.”

  They made ready and went; they found the jester at home, seized him, and dragged him to the river to drown him. He begged them: “Please let me at least say farewell to my wife and family. Bring them here!” They agreed, and went to get his family, after tying him in a sack and leaving him near the ice hole. They had no sooner left than a soldier drove by with a pair of bay horses. The jester coughed in his sack. The soldier stopped, got off his sledge, and asked: “Ah, jester, why have you crept into this sack?” “Well, I eloped with so and so [he named the girl], and her father began to look for us; we hid in sacks, and had ourselves tied up and set down in different places in order to mislead our pursuers.” The soldier was a widower and he said: “Brother, let me get into that sack.” The jester obstinately refused, but the soldier pressed him and finally persuaded him. The jester got out, tied the soldier in the sack, took his horses, and drove away. The soldier sat and sat in the sack and finally fell asleep.

  The seven jesters returned without our jester’s family, took the sack, and cast it into the water; the sack went down to the bottom and the water made a gurgling noise that sounded like “gray-glack-gray-glack.” The jesters ran home, sat down to rest, and our jester drove by their windows with a pair of horses fine enough to take your breath away! “Stop!” shouted the seven jesters. He stopped. “How did you get out of the water?” “Ah, you fools! Didn’t you hear me saying as I went down: ‘Grays and blacks, grays and blacks’? I was fishing for horses. There are plenty of them, and what horses! What I have harne
ssed here is just trash, because they were near the shore, but a little farther out there are black horses—real prizes!” The jesters believed him and begged: “Brother, drop us into the water—we too want to get some horses!” “With pleasure!” He tied them all in sacks and dropped them into the water, one after the other. When he had dropped them all, he just waved his hand and said: “Now drive out on your black horses!”

  THE PRECIOUS HIDE

  IN ONE VILLAGE there lived two brothers, Danilo and Gavrilo. Danilo was rich and Gavrilo poor. One cow was Gavrilo’s only possession, and Danilo envied him even that. One day Danilo went to town to buy something, and upon his return came to his brother and told him: “Brother, why do you keep a cow? I was in town today and saw that cows can be had very cheap, at five or six rubles a head, but hides are selling at twenty rubles.” Gavrilo believed him, slaughtered his cow, ate the meat, and at market time went to town to sell his cowhide. A tanner saw him and asked: “Is that hide for sale, my good man?” “It is.” “How much do you want for it?” “Twenty-five rubles.” “Are you out of your mind? I’ll give you two rubles and a half.” Gavrilo refused to sell the hide at this price and dragged it around with him all day, but no one offered him any more. Finally, he dragged the hide to the bazaar. A merchant saw him and asked: “Is that hide for sale?” “It is.” “What is your price?” “Twenty-five rubles.” “Are you mad? Who ever heard of such an expensive hide? I’ll give you two and a half.” Gavrilo thought and thought, and finally said: “So be it, Mr. Merchant, I will accept your price. But give me at least a glass of vodka.” “Very well, we won’t quarrel about a drink.” The merchant gave him two rubles and a half, drew a handkerchief out of his pocket, and said: “Now go to that stone house over there, give the hostess this handkerchief, and tell her from me to give you a full glass of wine.”