The Frog-Tzarevna
In olden time, in a time long before
present days, in a certain Tzardom of an Empire far across the blue seas and
behind high mountains, there lived a Tzar and his Tzaritza. The Tzar had lived
long in the white world, and through long living had become old. He had three
sons, Tzareviches, all of them young, brave and unmarried, and altogether of
such a sort that they could not be described by words spoken in a tale or
written down with a pen. During the long white days they flew about on their
fiery, beautiful horses, like bright hawks under the blue sky. All three were
handsome and clever, but the handsomest and cleverest was the youngest, and he
was Tzarevich Ivan.
One day the Tzar summoned his three
sons to his presence and said: “My dear children, ye have now arrived at
man’s estate and it is time for you to think of marriage. I desire you to
select maidens to be loving wives to you and to me dutiful daughters-in-law.
Take, therefore, your well-arched bows and arrows which have been hardened in
the fire. Go into the untrodden field wherein no one is permitted to hunt, draw
the bows tight and shoot in different directions, and in whatsoever Courts the
arrows fall, there demand your wives-to-be. She who brings to each his arrow
shall be his bride.”
So the Tzareviches made arrows,
hardened them in the fire, and going into the untrodden field, shot them in
different directions. The eldest brother shot to the east, the second to the
west, and the youngest, Tzarevich Ivan, drew his bow with all his strength and
shot his arrow straight before him.
On making search, the eldest brother
found that his arrow had fallen in the courtyard of a Boyar, where it lay
before the tower in which were the apartments of the maidens. The second
brother’s arrow had fallen in the courtyard of a rich merchant who traded with
foreign countries, and pierced a window at which the merchant’s daughter ‹a
lovely girl soul ‹was standing. But the arrow of Tzarevich Ivan could not be
found at all.
Tzarevich Ivan searched in deep
sorrow and grief. For two whole days he wandered in the woods and fields, and
on the third day he came by chance to a boggy swamp, where the black soil gave
way under the foot, and in the middle of the swamp he came upon a great frog
which held in her mouth the arrow he had shot.
When he saw this he turned to run
away, leaving his arrow behind him, but the Frog cried: “Kwa ! Kwa !
Tzarevich Ivan, – come to me and take shine arrow. If thou wilt not take me for
thy wife, thou wilt never get out of this marsh.”
Ivan was greatly surprised to hear
the frog speak, and was at a loss to know what to do. But at last he took the
arrow, picked up the frog, put her in a fold of his coat and went sadly home.
When he arrived at the Palace and
told his story, his brothers jeered at him, and the two beautiful maidens whom
they were to marry laughed at him also, so that he went weeping to the Tzar and
said: “How can I ever take this frog to wife‹a little thing that says –
Kwa! Kwa!” She is not my equal. To live one’s life long is not like
crossing a river or walking over a field. How shall I live with a frog ?”
But the Tzar made answer: “Take her, for such was my royal word, and such
is thy fate !” And though Tzarevich Ivan wept a long time, there was no
further word to be said, since one cannot go contrary to his fate.
So the sons of the Tzar were married
— the eldest to the nobleman’s daughter, the second to the daughter of the
merchant, and the youngest, Tzarevich Ivan, was married to the frog. When the
day came, he went to the Palace in a closed carriage and the frog was carried
on a golden dish.
So they lived, a long time or a
short time, and Tzarevich Ivan treated the frog with gentleness and kindness
till a day came when the Tzar summoned his three sons before him and said:
“Dear children, now that ye are wedded, I am minded to try the skill of my
daughters-in-law in the arts of housewifery. Take from my storeroom, therefore,
each of you, a piece of linen cloth, and his wife shall make of it a shirt
which thee shall bring to me to-morrow morning.”
The two elder brothers took the
linen to their wives, who at once called together their maidservants and nurses
and all set to work busily to cut the stuff and to sew it. And as they worked
they laughed to think of Tzarevich Ivan, saying:
“What will his little Quacker
make for him to bring to the Tzar to-morrow?” But Tzarevich Ivan went home
looking as if he had swallowed a needle. “How can my little frog-wife make
a shirt?” he thought, “she who only creeps on the floor and
croaks!” And his bright head hung down lower than his shoulders.
When she saw him, however, the frog
spoke. “Kwa! Kwa! Tzarevich Ivan, why art thou so downcast? Hast thou heard
from the Tzar thy father a hard, unpleasant word?”
“How can I fail to be
downcast?” answered Ivan. “The Tzar, my father, has ordered that thou
shouldst sew a shirt out of this linen for him to-morrow.”
“Worry not,” said the
frog, “and have no fear. Go to bed and rest. There is more wisdom in the
morning than in the evening!”
When Tzarevich Ivan had laid himself
down to sleep, she called servants and bade them cut the linen he had brought
into small pieces. Then dismissing them, she took the pieces in her mouth,
hopped to the window and threw them out, saying: “Winds! Winds! Fly abroad
with these linen shreds and sew me a shirt for the Tzar, my father
in-law!” And before one could tell it, back into the room flew a shirt all
stitched and finished.
Next morning when Tzarevich Ivan
awoke, the frog presented him with a shirt. “There it is,” she said.
“Take it to thy father and see if it pleases him.” Ivan was greatly
rejoiced and putting the shirt under his coat, set out to the Palace, where his
two elder brothers had already arrived.
First of all the eldest brother
presented his shirt to his father. The Tzar took it, examined it and said:
“This is sewn in the common way it is fit only to be worn in a poor man’s
hut!” He took the shirt which the second son had brought, and said:
“This is sewn somewhat better than the other and is perhaps good enough
for me to wear when I go to my bath.” But when he took the shirt that
Tzarevich Ivan presented him, he examined it with delight, for no single seam
could be seen in it. He could not admire it enough and gave orders that it
should be given him to wear only on the greatest holidays. Ivan went home
happy, but his two brothers said to one another: “We need not laugh at
Ivan’s wife; she is not really a frog, but a witch.”
A second time the Tzar summoned his
three sons and said: “My dear children, I wish to taste bread baked by the
hands of my daughters-in-law. Bring me to-morrow morning, therefore, each of
you a loaf of soft white bread.”
Tzarevich Ivan returned home looking
as if he had eaten something without salt, and his bright head hung lower than
his shoulders, and when the frog saw him, she said:
“Kwa! Kwa! Kworax! Tzarevich
Ivan, why art thou so sad? Hast thou heard a harsh, unfriendly word from the Tzar
thy father?”
“Why should I not be sad?”
answered Ivan. “The Tzar my father has bidden that thou bake him for
to-morrow a loaf of soft white bread.”
“Mourn not, Tzarevich Ivan. Be
not sad for nothing. Go to bed and sleep in comfort. The morning is wiser than
the evening.”
When he was asleep she ordered
servants to bring a pastry-pot, put flour and cold water into it and make a
paste. This she bade them put into the cold oven, and when they were gone she
hopped before the oven door and said:
“Bread, Bread! Be baked! Clean,
white, and soft as snow!”
Instantly the oven door flew open
and the loaf rolled out, cooked crisp and white.
Now the two Tzarevnas, the wives of
the other brothers, hated the frog because of the shirt she had made, and when
they heard the command of the Tzar, the wife of the eldest brother sent a
little black slavegirl to spy on the frog and see what she would do. The black
girl hid herself where she could watch, and went and told her mistress what she
had seen and heard. Then the two Tzarevnas tried to imitate the frog. They
dissolved their flour in cold water, poured the paste into cold ovens and
repeated over and over again:
“Bread, Bread! Be baked! Clean,
white, and soft as snow!”
But the ovens remained cold and the
paste would not bake.
Seeing this, in anger they gave the
poor slavegirl a cruel beating, ordered more flour, made paste with hot water
and heated the ovens. But the spilled paste had flowed all about and clogged
the flues and made them useless, so that one had her loaf bumed on one side and
the other took hers out underbaked.
In the moming, when Tzarevich Ivan
woke, the frog sent him to the Palace with his bread wrapped in a towel, and
the brothers came also with theirs.
The Tzar cut the loaf of the eldest
son and tasted it. “Such bread,” he said, “might be eaten only
out of misery,” and he sent it to the kitchen that it might be given to the
beggars. He tasted that of the second son and said: “Give this to my
hounds.” When Tzarevich Ivan unwrapped his loaf, however, all exclaimed in
admiration. For it was so splendid that it would be impossible to make one like
it – it could only be told of in tales. It was adorned with all kinds of
cunning designs and on its sides were wrought the Tzar’s cities with their high
walls and gates. The Tzar tasted it and sent it away, saying: “Put this on
my table on Easter Sunday, when we shall have royal visitors.” So Ivan
went home rejoicing.
A third time the Tzar sent for his
three sons and said to them: “My dear children, it is fitting that all
women should know how to weave and broider in gold and silver, and I would see
if thy wives are skilled also in this. Take, therefore, each of you, from my
storehouse, silk, gold and silver, and tomorrow morning bring me each of you a
carpet.”
When Tzarevich Ivan brought sa~lly
home the silk, the gold, and the silver, the frog was sitting on a chair.
“Kwa! Kwa! Kworax!” she said.” Tzarevich Ivan, why cost thou
mourn? And why cloth thy bright head hang down lower than thy shoulders? Hast
thou heard from the Tzar thy father a cruel and bitter word?”
“Have I not cause to
mourn?” he answered. “The shirt thou hast sewn, and the bread thou
has baked; but now my father has bidden that thou make for to-morrow a carpet
of this gold, silver, and silk.”
“Fret not, Tzarevich
Tvan,” said the frog. “Lay thee down and rest. The day has more
wisdom than the night.”
As soon as he was asleep she called
servants and bade them take scissors and cut to pieces all the silk, the gold,
and the silver, and then, sending them away, threw it out of the window, and
said:
“Winds! Winds! fly abroad
with-these pieces of silk, of gold, and of silver, and make me a carpet such as
my dear father used to cover his windows!” And hardly had she said the
last word, when back into the room flew the embroidered carpet.
Now again the wives of the elder
brothers had sent the little black slave-girl to watch, and she ran quickly to
tell them. And they, thinking that this time the charm must work, cut all of
their silk and precious thread into pieces, threw them out of the window, and
repeated:
“Winds! Winds! tly abroad with
these pieces of silk, of gold, and of silver, and make us carpets such as our
dear fathers used to cover their windows.”
But though they waited a long time,
the winds brought them no carpets. Then the Tzarevnas, angry at the loss of
their rich threads, after beating the little slave-girl more cruelly than
before, sent servants hastily for more material, and calling together their
nurses and maidens to help them, began to work at weaving and
embroidering.
In the morning when Tzarevich Ivan
arose, the frog sent him to the Palace to show his carpet with his
brothers.
The Tzar looked at the carpet of the
eldest son and said: “Take this to the stables. It will do to cover my
poorest horse when it is raining. “He looked at the carpet of the second,
and said: “Put this in the hall; it may do, perhaps, to wipe my boots upon
in bad weather.” But when Tzarevich Ivan unrolled his carpet, so
wondrously was it adorned with gold and silver fashionings, that its like
cannot be imagined. And the Tzar ordered that it be kept with the greatest care,
to be put on his own table on the most solemn feast-days.
“Now, my dear children,”
he said, “your wives, my daughters-in-law, have done all that I bade them
do. Bring them to-morrow, therefore, to the Palace to dine, in order that I may
congratulate them in person.”
The two elder brothers went home to
their wives, saying to one another: “Now he must bring his frog-wife with
him to the royal audience for all to see.” But Tzarevich Ivan went home
weeping, and his bright head hung down lower than his shoulders.
When he reached home the frog was
sitting at the door. ” Kwa! Kwa! Kworax!” she said. “Tzarevich
Ivan, why cost thou weep? Hast thou heard sharp and unfeeling words from the
Tzar thy father?”
“Why should I not weep?”
he answered. “Thou hast sewn the shirt, thou hast baked the bread, and
thou hast woven the carpet; but after all thou art but a frog, and to-morrow
the Tzar my father commands that I bring thee to the Palace to royal audience.
How, to my shame, can I show thee to the people as my wife?”
“Weep no more,” the frog
said. “Go to thy bed and sleep. There is more wisdom in the morning than
in the evening.”
The next day when Tzarevich Ivan
awoke, she said: “Pay no heed to what others think. The Tzar thy father
was pleased with his shirt, his bread and his carpet; maybe he will be pleased
also with his daughter-in-law when I shall come. Do thou go to the Palace and I
will come after thee in an hour. Make thy respects to the Tzar, and when thou
hearest a rumbling and a knocking, say: “Hither comes my poor little frog
in her little basket!”
So Ivan drove away to the Palace
somewhat cheered by her words.
When he was out of sight the frog
went to the window, and called:
“Winds! Winds! bring for me at
once a rich carriage of state, with white horses, footmen, outriders and
runners!”
Instantly a horn blew and horsemen
came galloping up the street, followed by six milk-white horses drawing a
golden coach. As for herself, she threw off the skin of a frog and was
transformed into a maiden so beautiful that she could be described neither by
words in a tale nor with a pen in writing.
Meanwhile at the Palace the company
were assembled, the two elder brothers with their lovely brides attired in
silks and laden with shining jewels. And they all laughed at Tzarevich Ivan
standing alone, saying: “Where is thy wife, the Tzarevna? Why didst thou
not bring her in a kitchen cloth? And art thou certain that thou didst choose
the greatest beauty of the swamp?” But while they jeered at poor Ivan, suddenly
there came a great rumbling and shouting. The Tzar supposed some King or Prince
was arriving to visit him, but Tzarevich Ivan said: “Be not disturbed,
little father. It is only my poor little frog coming in her little
basket.”
Nevertheless everybody ran to the
Palace windows, and they saw riders galloping and a golden coach drawn by six
milk-white horses flew up to the entrance and out of it came the lovely maiden
– such a beauty as to make the sun and moon ashamed when she looked at them.
She came to Tzarevich Ivan and he took her hand and led her to the Tzar his
father and the Tzar himself seated her at the royal table to dine.
As all began to feast and make
merry, the wives of the elder sons whispered among themselves and said:
“It is as we have thought. She is in truth a witch. Let us watch carefully
and whatever she does let us be careful to do likewise. So, watching, they saw
that the frog-wife did not drink the dregs of her wine-cup, but poured them in
her left sleeve, and that the bones of the roast swan she put in her right
sleeve, and they did the same.
When they rose from the table, the
musicians began to play and the Tzar led out Ivan’s beautiful wife to dance.
This she did with exceeding grace. And as she danced – she waved her left
sleeve, and at one end of the banquet hall a lake appeared one rod deep. She
waved her right sleeve and swans and geese appeared swimming on it. The Tzar
and his guests were astonished and could not sufficiently praise her
cleverness. When she finished dancing the lake and the fowls upon it
disappeared.
Then the wives of the elder sons
began to dance. They waved their left sleeves and all the guests were splashed
with the wine dregs; they waved their right sleeves and the bones flew right
and left, and one nearly put out one of the Tzar’s eyes. At this he was
angered, and straightway ordered them out of the Palace, so that they went home
in shame and dishonour.
Now seeing what a beautiful creature
his little frogwife had become, Tzarevich lvan thought to himself: “What
if she should turn back into a frog again!” And while they were dancing he
hastened home, searched till he found the frog-skin and threw it into the
fire.
His wife, arriving, ran to search
for the skin and when she could not find it, guessed what he had done.
She immediately fell aweeping and
said: “Alas, alas, Tzarevich Ivan, that thou couldst not have patience
even for a little while! Now thou hast lost me for ever, unless thou canst find
me beyond three times nine lands, in the thirtieth Tzardom, in the empire that
lies under the sun. Know that I am the fairy Wassilissa the Wise.” When
she had said this she turned into a blue dove and flew out of the window.
Tzarevich Ivan wept till his tears
were like a river, then he said a prayer to God and bidding the Tzar his father
and the Tzaritza his mother farewell, went whither his eyes looked, in search
of his lost wife.
He went on and on; whether it was
near or far, or a short road or a long road, a tale is soon told, but such a
journey is not made quickly. He travelled through thrice nine lands, asking
everyone he met where he could find Wassilissa the Wise, but none could answer,
till he reached the empire that lies under the sun, and there in the thirtieth
Tzardom he met an old gray-beard to whom he told his story and asked his
question.
“Well do I know of Wassilissa
the Wise,” answered the old man. “She is a powerful fairy whose
father, in a fit of anger, turned her into a frog for three years. The time was
almost up, and hadst thou not burned her frog-skin she would be with thee now.
I cannot tell thee where she is, but take thou this magic ball which will roll
wherever thou commandest it, and follow it.”
Tzarevich Ivan thanked the old
gray-beard, threw the ball he gave him on the ground and at his command it
straightway began to roll. It rolled a short way and it rolled a long way, it
rolled across a pebbly plain and into a drear and dreadful forest, and in the
middle of the forest he came to a miserable little hut that stood on hens’ legs
and turned continually round and round. And Ivan said to it:
“Little hut! little hut! Stand
the way thy mother placed thee, With thy back to the wood aIld thy front to
me!”
And immediately the hut turned about
facing him and stood still.
Tzarevich Ivan climbed up one of its
hens’ legs and entered the door, and there he saw the oldest of the Baba-Yagas,
the bony-legged grandmother of all the witches, lying on a corner of the stove
on nine bricks, with one lip on the shelf, her nose (which was as long as the
Perevitzky Bridge) thrust up the chimney, and her huge iron mortar in the
corner.
“Poo!” she cried, gnashing
her teeth, “who is this comes to me? Until now I have neither seen with my
eyes nor heard with my ears the spirit of any Russian; but to-day it is a
Russian who enters my house! Well, Tzarevich lvan, camest thou hither from
shine own wish, or because thou west compelled?”
“Enough by my own will and
twice as much by force,” answered Tzarevich Ivan. “But for shame, thou,
that thou hast not offered me to eat and to drink, and prepared me a
bath!”
Then the Baba-Yaga, being pleased
with his spirit, gave him food and drink and made ready a bath for him; and
when he had refreshed himself, he related to her the whole a~Tair just as it
had been. And when she learned that Wassilissa the Wise was in truth his wife,
she said: “I will indeed render thee this service, not for love of thee,
but because I hate her father. The fairy flies across this forest every day,
bringing messages for her father, and stops in my house to rest. Remain here,
and as soon as she enters, seize her by the head. When she feels herself
caught, she will turn into a frog, and from a frog to a lizard, and from a
lizard to a snake, and last of all she will transform herself into an arrow. Do
thou take the arrow and break it into three pieces, and she will be shine for
ever! But take heed when thou hast hold of her not to let her go.”
The Baba-Yaga concealed the
Tzarevich behind the stove and scarcely was he hidden when in flew Wassilissa
the Wise. Ivan crept up noiselessly behind her and seized her by the head. She
instantly turned into a great green frog and he laughed with joy to see her in
the form he knew so well. When she turned into a lizard, however, the cold
touch of the creature was so loathsome that he let go his hold, and immediately
the lizard darted through a crack in the floor.
The Baba-Yaga upbraided him.
“How shouldst thou win back such a wife,” she said, “thou who
canst not touch the skin of a creeping lizard? As thou couldst not keep her,
thou shalt never again see her here. But if thou likest, go to my sister and
see if she will help thee.”
Tzarevich Ivan did so. The ball
rolled a long way and it rolled a short way, across a mountain and into a deep
ravine, and here he came to a second wretched little hovel turning round on
hens’ legs. He made it stand still and entered it as before, and there on the
stove, with one lip on the shelf and her nose propping the ceiling, was the
skinny grand-aunt of all the witches.
To her he told his story, and for
the sake of her sister the Baba-Yaga also agreed to help him. “Wassilissa
the Wise,” she said, “rests in my house too, but if this time thou
lettest go thy hold, thou mayest never clasp her more.” So she hid
Tzarevich Ivan and when Wassilissa came flying in, he sprang upon her and
seized her and did not flinch even when she fumed into a lizard in his hands.
But when he beheld the lizard change to a fierce and deadly snake, he cried out
in alarm and loosed his hold, and the snake wriggled through the doorway and
disappeared.
Then was Tzarevich Ivan exceeding
sorrowful, so that he did not even hear the reproaches of the old witch. So
bitterly did he weep that she pitied him and said: “Little enough cost
thou deserve this wife of shine, but if thou chooses”, go to my younger
sister and see if she will help thee. For Wassilissa the Wise stops to rest
also at her house. So, plucking up heart somewhat, Tzarevich Ivan obeyed.
The ball rolled a long way and it
rolled a short way; it crossed a broad river, and there on the shore he came to
a third hut, wretcheder than the other two put together, turning round on hens’
legs, and in it was the second grand-aunt of all the witches. She too consented
to aid him. “But remember,” she said, “if this time thy heart
fails and thy hand falters, never again shalt thou behold thy wife in the white
world!”
So a third time Tzarevich Ivan hid
himself, and presently in came flying Wassilissa the Wise, and this time he said
a prayer to God as he sprang out and seized her in a strong grasp. In vain she
turned into a frog, into a cold lizard and into a deadly, writhing snake.
Ivan’s grip did not loosen. At last she turned into an arrow and this he
immediately snatched and broke into three pieces. At the same moment the lovely
Wassilissa, in her true maiden shape, appeared and threw herself into his arms.
“Now, Tzarevich Ivan,” she said, “I give myself up to thy
will.”
The Baba-Yaga gave them for a
present a white mare which could fly like the wind, and on the fourth day it
set them down safe and sound at the Tzar’s Palace.
He received them with joy and
thankfulness, and made a great feast, and after that he made Tzarevich Ivan
Tzar in his stead.
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