[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." The arrow of the oldest Tsarevitch fell on a boyar-house just in front of the terem where women live; the arrow of the second Tsarevitch flew to the red porch of a rich merchant, and on the porch there stood a sweet girl, the merchant's daughter. The youngest, the brave Tsarevitch Ivan, had the ill luck to send his arrow into the midst of a swamp, where it was caught by a croaking frog. Ivan Tsarevitch came to his father: "How can I marry the frog?" complained the son. "Is she my equal? Certainly she is not." "Never mind," replied his father, "you have to marry the frog, for such is evidently your destiny."