Russian Magic Tales from Pushkin to Platonov (Penguin Classics) by Unknown Page A

skin and threw it onto the fire. Then Vasilisa the Wise came back. She looked round but couldn’t see her frog skin anywhere. ‘Ivan Tsarevich! Ivan Tsarevich!’ she lamented. ‘What have you done? If you’d only waited, if you’d only waited, I could have been yours forever. But now – farewell! If you want me, you must seek me beyond thrice-nine lands, in the thrice-tenth tsardom. I’ll be with Koshchey the Deathless.’
    She turned into a white swan and flew out of the window.
    Ivan Tsarevich wept bitterly, then made ready, said farewell to his mother and father and set off where his eyes looked. He walked a long way, or maybe a short way; he walked for many a day, or maybe less than a day. Then he met an old, old man.
    ‘Greetings, young warrior!’ said the old man. ‘Where are you going? What are you looking for?’
    Ivan told him his story.
    ‘Ivan Tsarevich!’ said the old man. ‘What made you burn thefrog’s skin? It wasn’t your own attire – nor was it yours to throw in the fire. Vasilisa the Wise was born smarter and wiser than her own father. Her father didn’t like this, so he turned her into a frog for three years. Well, I’ll do what I can for you. Here, take this ball! Follow boldly wherever it rolls.’
    Ivan Tsarevich thanked the old man and set off after the ball. As he was walking through open steppe, he caught sight of a bear. He was about to shoot the beast when it said, in a human voice, ‘Don’t kill me, Ivan Tsarevich. One day I’ll be of service to you.’
    He walked on further. He saw a drake flying overhead. He had taken aim with his bow, he was about to shoot the drake, when it cried out in a human voice, ‘Don’t kill me, Ivan Tsarevich. One day I’ll be of service to you.’
    He walked on further. A hare ran past. He raised his bow and was taking aim when it said in a human voice, ‘Don’t kill me, Ivan Tsarevich. One day I’ll be of service to you.’
    Ivan took pity on the hare too. He walked on till he came to the sea. There on the shore lay a pike. It was dying. ‘Ivan Tsarevich!’ it gasped. ‘Take pity on me. Throw me back into the sea.’ Ivan picked up the pike and threw it into the water.
    After a long time, or maybe a short time, the ball rolled up to a little hut by the very edge of the sea. It was built on chicken legs and it was turning round and round in circles.
    ‘Stand still, little hut!’ said Ivan. ‘Stay as your mother made you. Stay with your back towards the sea and your door towards me.’
    The hut turned round and came to a stop with its back towards the sea. Ivan walked in. There on the stove, on the ninth brick, lay a bony-legged baba yaga. Her nose had grown into the ceiling and the snot from it was hanging across the threshold. She had slung her tits up over a hook and was sharpening her teeth. 2 ‘What’s brought you here, my fine fellow?’ she asked.
    ‘What a slut you are! First you should give me something to eat and drink. You should take me to the bathhouse for a good steam. After that you can ask me again.’
    The baba yaga gave him food and drink and took him to thebathhouse. Then the traveller told her he was looking for his wife, Vasilisa the Wise.
    ‘Oh yes,’ said the baba yaga, ‘I know all about her. She’s with Koshchey the Deathless. You won’t find it easy to get her away from him. His death lies in the tip of a needle. This needle lies inside an egg. This egg lies inside a duck. This duck lies inside the belly of a hare. And this hare lies inside a chest hidden at the top of a tall oak that Koshchey watches over like the apple of his eye.’
    The yaga told Ivan Tsarevich where this oak grew, and there he went – but he had no idea how to get his hands on the chest.
    Just then a bear came along and uprooted the tree. The chest fell to the ground and smashed to pieces. A hare leaped out and shot into the bushes.
    A second hare shot after it, caught it and tore it apart.
    A duck leaped out of the hare’s belly