One cannot delve far into these folk-lore records without becoming indebted to Miss I. F. Hapgood's English renderings from the collections of Kirshá Danilóv, P. B. Kirýeevsky, A. T. Gillferding, Rybnikof, P. A. Bezsónof and others, published in New York in 1885; to J. Curtin's literal translations from the Naródniya Rússyika Shazki of A. N. Afanásieva; to W. R. S. Ralston's books on Russian folk-song and fable; and to the writings of the Hon. Maurice Baring and Mr. Stephen Graham. To all of these I desire to express my indebtedness for help and guidance, though the responsibility for the telling and interpretation of the tales is entirely my own. If this little collection makes the British child more sympathetic towards Russia and helps it to understand the Russian people to a small degree its purpose will have been achieved. R. W. Hampstead, 1915. CONTENTS PAGE Ilya and Cloudfall 11 Ilya meets Svyatogor and parts with Him 19 Ilya and Nightingale the Robber 33 Ilya and Falcon the Hunter 51 The Adventure of the Burning White Stone 73 How Quiet Dunai had brought the Princess Apraxia to Kiev 83 The Story of Nikitich and Marina 103 How the Court of Vladimir received a Visitor from India the Glorious 119 The Story of Kasyan and the Dream Maiden 149 How Stavr the Noble was saved by a Woman's Wiles 161 The Golden Horde 175 Whirlwind the Whistler, or the Kingdoms of Copper, Silver, and Gold 195 Vasily the Turbulent 231 Nikita the Footless and the Terrible Tsar 267 Peerless Beauty the Cake-Baker 289 ILYA AND CLOUDFALL For thirty years Ilya sat upon the stove in his mother's cottage, for he was a helpless cripple without arms or legs, and really of no use to any one, either in the house or out of it. But when these quiet years were past and over, Ilya came to his own, as you shall see. One summer day his father and mother took down the wooden rakes and went out into the sunny meadow round which the tall pines stood to help to make the hay; and Ilya was left alone in the cottage with his thoughts.