The Frog Princess

Long ago a tsar had three sons. When his sons had grown up, the tsar called them to him: "My dear sons, it is time for you to marry. Each of you take an arrow, go out into the fields, draw your bow and shoot. Wherever your arrow falls, there you will find your bride."

The sons went out into the fields. The eldest shot his arrow, and it fell in a nobleman's garden, and the nobleman's daughter picked it up. The middle son shot his arrow, and it fell in a merchant's yard, and the merchant's daughter picked it up. The youngest son, Ivan Tsarevich, shot his arrow, and it flew and flew and fell into a marsh. Ivan went to look for his arrow; in the marsh he saw a green frog sitting on a water-lily leaf with his arrow in her mouth.

Ivan Tsarevich said to the frog: "Frog, frog, give me back my arrow." The frog spoke: "I will, if you marry me." "How can I marry a frog?" "You must marry me, for this is your fate." Ivan Tsarevich was very sad, but he could not disobey his father. He took the frog home. The tsar held three weddings at once: the eldest son married the nobleman's daughter, the middle son the merchant's daughter, and poor Ivan Tsarevich married the frog. Everyone laughed, but Ivan said nothing.

One day the tsar called his sons: "I want to see which of my daughters-in-law sews the best shirt. Let each of them sew me a shirt by tomorrow morning." Ivan Tsarevich went back to his room, unhappy. The frog asked: "Ivan Tsarevich, why do you hang your head? Why are you so sad?" "My father wants you to sew him a shirt by morning." "Don't be sad, Ivan Tsarevich. Go to sleep. The morning is wiser than the evening," said the frog. Ivan Tsarevich went to bed. The frog hopped onto the threshold, threw off her frog skin and turned into Vasilisa the Wise, a girl more beautiful than any story can tell. She clapped her hands and called out: "Nurses, maids, gather round and get ready! Sew me by morning a shirt like the one my own father wears."

In the morning, when Ivan Tsarevich woke up, the frog was hopping about on the floor again, but on the table lay a shirt wrapped in a towel. Ivan Tsarevich was delighted; he took the shirt to his father. The tsar first took the shirt the eldest son had brought and looked at it: "This shirt is only fit to wear in a peasant's hut." He looked at the middle son's shirt: "This shirt is only fit for going to the bathhouse." Then he took Ivan Tsarevich's shirt; it was embroidered with gold and silver thread in masterly patterns. As soon as the tsar saw it, he said, "This is a shirt for feast days."

When the brothers went home, they said to each other: "It seems we were wrong to laugh at Ivan Tsarevich's wife. She isn't a frog; she's a witch." Again the tsar called his sons: "Let your wives each bake me a loaf of bread by tomorrow morning. I want to see who bakes the best." Again Ivan Tsarevich went home unhappy. "Don't be sad, go to sleep," said the frog. The brothers' wives sent a maid to see how the frog would bake her bread. But the frog knew. She kneaded the dough, lit the oven, opened the hole at the top of the oven and threw the dough inside. The maid ran and told the others, and they did the same. But when the maid had gone, the frog threw off her skin, became Vasilisa the Wise and had her servants bake a fine, snow-white, soft loaf; around its edges were towns, palaces, birds and wild beasts.

In the morning the tsar took the loaves. He looked at the eldest son's loaf: "This bread is only fit for the kitchen." He looked at the middle son's, and it was the same, for the dough thrown through the hole had burned to charcoal. Then he took Ivan Tsarevich's loaf: "This is bread for feast days." Then the tsar said he would give a feast, and he wanted his sons to come with their wives.

Again Ivan Tsarevich went home unhappy: "My father is giving a feast and wants me to bring you. How can I show you to people?" "Don't be sad, Ivan Tsarevich," said the frog. "You go ahead, and I'll follow you. If you hear a rumbling and a clattering, don't be afraid. Just say, 'That's my little frog coming in her box.'"

Ivan Tsarevich went to the feast alone. His brothers came with their wives, all dressed up and painted. They laughed at Ivan Tsarevich, who had no wife beside him: "Why didn't you bring your wife? You could have wrapped her in a handkerchief!" Just then there was a great rumbling and clattering, and the whole palace shook. The guests jumped up in fright. Ivan Tsarevich said: "Don't be afraid. That's my little frog coming in her box." A gilded coach drawn by six white horses drove up to the palace steps, and out stepped Vasilisa the Wise; on her blue silk dress shone bright stars, and on her head she wore a crown shaped like the crescent moon. She was so beautiful that no tale could tell it and no pen could write it.

Vasilisa the Wise took Ivan Tsarevich by the hand and led him to the oak tables. The guests began to eat and drink. Vasilisa the Wise drank from her glass and poured what was left into her left sleeve; she ate roast swan and threw the bones into her right sleeve. The brothers' wives saw this and did the same. Then the dancing began. Vasilisa the Wise got up to dance with Ivan Tsarevich. She spun round once, twice, and waved her left sleeve; a lake appeared. She waved her right sleeve, and white swans began to swim on the lake. The tsar and the guests were astonished. The brothers' wives got up to dance too; they waved one sleeve, and wine splashed over the guests; they waved the other, and bones hit the tsar in the eye. The tsar grew angry and sent them away.

Meanwhile Ivan Tsarevich found a chance to run home, found the frog skin and threw it into the fire. When Vasilisa the Wise came home, she looked for her skin but could not find it. She was very sad and said to Ivan Tsarevich, with tears in her eyes: "Oh, Ivan Tsarevich, what have you done! If you had waited three more days, I would have been yours forever. But now farewell. Look for me beyond thrice nine lands, in the thrice tenth kingdom, with Koschei the Deathless." And she turned into a white swan and flew out of the window.

Ivan Tsarevich wept bitterly; then he received the blessing of his father and mother and set out to look for his wife. He walked and walked, and after a while an old man appeared before him: "Greetings, young man. What are you looking for, and where are you going?" Ivan Tsarevich told him what had happened. "Ah, Ivan Tsarevich, why did you burn the frog skin? You didn't put it on her, so it wasn't for you to take it off. Vasilisa the Wise was born wiser and craftier than her father. He was angry at that and condemned her to be a frog for three years. Take this ball of thread, and wherever it rolls, follow it bravely," said the old man.

Ivan Tsarevich thanked the old man and followed the ball of thread. On the way he met a bear. He wanted to kill it, but the bear spoke in a human voice: "Don't kill me, Ivan Tsarevich. One day I'll help you." Ivan took pity on it. A little further on he met a duck; the duck too said, "Don't kill me, one day I'll be useful to you," and Ivan spared it too. Then he met a hare, and then a pike that had been washed up on the shore. He took pity on all of them and threw the pike back into the sea.

At last the ball of thread rolled to a hut that turned on chicken legs in the middle of a forest. Ivan Tsarevich called out: "Little hut, little hut, stand as you used to stand, with your back to the forest and your front to me!" The hut turned to face him. Ivan went inside; there sat Baba Yaga. "What do you want, Ivan Tsarevich?" Ivan told her his trouble. Baba Yaga said: "Koschei's death is at the point of a needle. The needle is in an egg, the egg is in a duck, the duck is in a hare, the hare is in an iron chest, and the chest is at the top of a tall oak tree. Koschei guards that tree like the apple of his eye."

Ivan Tsarevich found the oak tree, but he could not climb it. Suddenly the bear came and pulled the tree up by its roots. The chest fell and broke open, a hare leapt out and ran away. But the hare Ivan had spared ran after it and caught it. A duck flew out of the hare, but the duck Ivan had spared caught it in the air. An egg fell from the duck and rolled into the sea. Just as Ivan began to cry, the pike brought the egg in its mouth.

Ivan Tsarevich broke the egg, took out the needle and broke off its point. At that moment Koschei the Deathless fell to the ground and never rose again. Ivan Tsarevich went into Koschei's palace and found Vasilisa the Wise there. When she saw him, she threw her arms around his neck with joy. Ivan Tsarevich took Vasilisa the Wise home. They lived happily for many years, and Ivan Tsarevich never did anything in a hurry again; for he had learned that patience is stronger than even the greatest magic.