FOLK TALES FROM THE RUSSIAN ***
Produced by Bob Jones, Frank van Drogen, Tamiko I. Camacho and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team.
[Illustration: "_She gave him a touchstone and flint_"]
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_
[Illustration: _The Tsarevna Frog_]
THE TSAREVNA FROG
[Illustration] In an old, old Russian tsarstvo, I do not know when, there lived a sovereign prince with the princess his wife. They had three sons, all of them young, and such brave fellows that no pen could describe them. The youngest had the name of Ivan Tsarevitch. One day their father said to his sons:
"My dear boys, take each of you an arrow, draw your strong bow and let your arrow fly; in whatever court it falls, in that court there will be a wife for you."
