These stories have been translated direct from the Russian of Afanášev; the selection is intended to represent, as completely as possible, the varieties of Russian folk-tale. As far as an analytic language, like modern English, can render so highly inflected a tongue as Russian, the translator has tried to keep strictly to the style and diction of the originals, which are the undoctored traditional stories. THE PRONUNCIATION OF RUSSIAN WORDS Every Russian word has _one_ strongly accented syllable, which is marked with an acute accent. The vowels are to be sounded as in Italian. Ch to be sounded as in English. G always hard, as in ‘_g_ive,’ ‘_g_ot’: never as in ‘gem.’ J always as in English. Kh like German _ch_, or Scotch _ch_ in ‘lo_ch_.’ L when hard (e.g. before a, o, u) something like _ll_ in ‘pu_ll_’; when soft (e.g. before e, i) like _l_ in French ‘vi_l_.’ S always hard, as in ‘_s_o.’ V as in English: at the end of words as ‘f.’ Y consonantally, as in English ‘_y_et’; as a vowel like ‘i’ in ‘w_i_ll.’ Z always as in English. Zh like ‘_s_’ in lei_s_ure, or French ‘j.’ CONTENTS Page Introduction v The Pronunciation of Russian Words xi The Dun Cow 1 A Tale of the Dead 6 A Tale of the Dead 8 A Tale of the Dead 9 The Bear, the Dog and the Cat 13 Egóri the Brave and the Gipsy 17 Danílo the Unfortunate 22 The Sorry Drunkard 30 The Wolf and the Tailor 33 The Tale of the Silver Saucer and the Crystal Apple 36 The Foundling Prince 42 The Sun and how it was Made by Divine Will 43 The Language of the Birds 45 Bába Yagá and Zamorýshek 48 The Miraculous Hen 52 Mark the Rich 61 By Command of the Prince Daniel 64 The Thoughtless Word 70 The Tsarítsa Harpist 75 The Tale of Iván Tsarévich, the Bird of Light, and the Grey Wolf 78 The Priest with the Envious Eyes 91