LITMIR.BIZ

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beast—the glowing bird, the heroic horse, the aid-giving wolf and bear—whose constant reappearance give the tales such a surprising variety of incident. The deities of evil underwent a like process, becoming the Kastchey, the Baba-Yaga, and the many malevolent beings which the skazki hero overcomes.

      In lapse of time, too, the form of the myth deteriorated as had the content. The tales lost their coherency, becoming separated into episodes which in turn disintegrated to collections of mere fragments. These became ​localized in different versions, each of which retained or discarded detail at its provincial pleasure, the result being an incredible reduplication of variants of the same fundamental tale. An opposite process went on at the same time: similar fragments coalesced and grouped themselves about a single axis of incident, infinitely increasing the multiplication. So that the skazki, as they appear to-day, are less a cluster of individual tales than an elaborate mosaic, with whose fragments of color and incident the modern adaptor (such as Pushkin or Ershoff) produces variant and highly-tinted designs, on the kaleidoscopic principle.

      Such, in brief, is the genealogy of the Russian skazki, from the poetic symbolism of a primitive religion to the despised Cinderellas of fiction, from a revered drama of the high gods to a group of peasant "Old Wives' Tales."

      It is a matter of regret that the English-speaking world has had little opportunity of acquaintance with these naïve, old-world stories, although they by no means suffer in comparison with the German Märchen, upon which there exists such a formidable literature in English. Mr. W. R. S. Ralston's "Russian Folk-Tales," published in 1873, was primarily less of a collection than a treatise on Slavonic folk-lore, and perhaps for this reason its ​engrossing and scholarly qualities failed to gain for the skazki a popularity they richly deserve. And beside this, so far as I am aware, but one other well-known collection is available. In 1874 Petr Nicolaevich Polevoi, the historian, published thirty-six of Afanasief's tales (with a single exception none of these was cited in Mr. Ralston's work) variously recombined and elaborated, in a volume intended for children, and of these versions twenty-five have been Englished by Mr. R. Nisbet Bain.

      The twelve tales of which the present volume consists are, in part, the result of an attempt to select types of those motifs of widest distribution throughout all the Russias, taking into account the number of distinct variants and the mass of population to which each is known. The attempt has been made, also, to combine cognate variants and to reconcile detail—the result in each case being in a sense a composite—and to treat each in somewhat of the method and manner of the folk-tales of Western Europe.

       A word, however brief, as to the modern skazki would be incomplete without a reference to Mr. Bilibin, whose wholly charming illustrations, used herein with his permission, have of recent years given them their peculiar ​artistic cachet. No decorative artist in Russia has so allied himself with the movement which has brought again into familiar use the striking and characteristic conventions of Russian art of the middle ages; and it may be said that in no way has he more endeared himself to the Russian people than by the exquisite simplicity of method and fine appreciation of artistic values which he has brought to his treatment of the skazki. In these pictures he has made the old myths glow again in the modern wonder tales which are so fresh and fair a part of the youth of the Russian child, bequeathed to him from that magical past and that enchanted land the memories of whose marvels moved Pushkin's pencil when he wrote:

      There is the Russian soul! The very odour of Russia!

       There have I also been, and its honied drink have quaffed!

       I saw the green oak-tree beside the blue sea-ocean,

       Beneath it I sat me down, to list while the learned cat

       Told me its stories!

      Post Wheeler.

      St. Petersburg,

      August 20, 1911.

      ​

      Prefatory Letter From Dr. L. Casso

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      "Cabinet du Ministre de l'Instruction Publique,

       St. Petersburg,

      June 14–27, 1911.

      "Dear Mr. Wheeler,

      "Accept a word of congratulation upon your charming collection of 'Russian Wonder Tales,' which I have read—with your Foreword on the skazki—with much interest and attention. Your English rendition of these old, poetic stories is in all points accurate and in complete accordance with the original texts. Yours is a most attractive treatment, and I regard the book as a very valuable contribution to our Russian folk-lore.

      "With my best regards, believe me,

      "Sincerely yours,

      "L. Casso,

      "Imperial Russian Minister of Education."

      "Post Wheeler, Esquire,

      Chargé d'Affaires,

      American Embassy,

      St. Petersburg."

      xix

      ​

      TZAR SALTAN

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      N ancient days, long before our time, in a certain Tzardom of a realm far beyond the blue sea-ocean, there was a Tzar, young in years, named Saltan, who was so handsome and so clever that songs were sung and tales told of him, and beautiful maidens everywhere dreamt of him at night. Minded to rule his Tzardom well, he used to wander forth at dusk in all four directions of his capital, in order to see and hear, and thus he perceived much good and much evil and saw many strange sights. One evening, as he passed the house of a rich merchant, he saw through the window three lovely damsels, the merchant's daughters, sitting at their needlework, and drawing near he overheard their conversation.

      The eldest said: "If the Tzar were to wed me, ​I would grind flour so fine that the like of the bread I would bake from it could not be found in the whole world."

      The Tzar, hearing, thought: "That would be good bread truly; however, the bread I eat now is not so bad."

The second said: "If the Tzar were to wed me, I would weave for him a kaftan^[1] of gold and silver thread, so that he would shine like the Glowing Bird."

      "That would be good weaving, indeed," thought the Tzar; "though little enough need have I for such a splendid coat."

      Then the youngest daughter, who was named Marfa, said: "As for me, if the Little Father Tzar became my husband, I know how neither to spin nor to weave, but I would bear him seven hero-sons like bright falcons, that should be the comeliest in his Tzardom; and their legs should be golden to the knee and their arms silver to the elbow, and in their hair should be little stars."

Tzar Saltan, listening, was well pleased with this speech. "Glad would I be to be the father of seven such sons," he said to himself; and returning to his Palace, he summoned his Boyars^[2] and Court ​Ministers, and despatched them to the house of the merchant to bring his youngest daughter, whom he purposed to make his Tzaritza. He ordered a great festival and spread tables of oak, at which all the folk of the Tzardom ate, drank and made merry.

      On the third day he and the merchant's daughter were married, and slept on an ivory bed, and began to live together, soul with soul, in all joy and contentment. The two elder daughters of the merchant, however, were envious; one sulked over her oven and the other wept over her loom, and both

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