Knjigice
Fairy tale · Classic fairy tales
Vasilisa the Beautiful
A Russian folk tale about a girl and the little wooden doll in her pocket
Also in: Vasilisa Prelepa (Slovenian) · Vasilisa Prekrásna (Slovak)
The merchant's wife fell ill and called her daughter to her bed. "Vasilisa," she said softly, "I leave you something more precious than gold." From her shawl she took a little wooden doll in a flowered headscarf. "When something troubles you, give her a crumb of bread and say: feed me and tell me what troubles you. She will help you." Then she closed her eyes.
1
Before long her father brought home a new wife and two daughters. The stepmother was kind only when he was watching. She piled work on Vasilisa from dawn till dark: carry water, light the stove, weave linen. Each evening Vasilisa fed the doll and told her all her troubles. While she slept, the doll did the work — by morning all was done.
2
One autumn her father sailed far across the sea. That evening the stepmother put out every light in the house, down to the last spark. "We cannot manage without fire," she said, and looked at Vasilisa. "Go and fetch some from Baba Yaga in the forest." The sisters giggled: nobody came back from there. Vasilisa gave the doll a crumb and set off.
3
The forest was dark and had no end. When the sky turned yellow in the morning, a horseman rode past, all in white on a white horse — and the day began. At noon a horseman rode past, all in red on a red horse — and the sun stood high. Vasilisa walked on, and the doll whispered from her pocket: "Do not be afraid. Just keep going."
4
When darkness fell, a horseman rode past, all in black on a black horse — and night came down. A clearing suddenly opened before Vasilisa. In the middle of it stood a hut on two enormous yellow hen's legs, and around it a fence of carved posts. On every post stood a wooden lantern, glowing like fiery gold.
5
There was a rushing and a roaring: Baba Yaga came flying in a wooden mortar, pushing herself along with a pestle. She stopped before Vasilisa and sniffed. "Why have you come?" — "For fire, grandmother." — "Very well," she grinned. "Work for me. Do as I ask and you get your light. Fail, and I eat you." Vasilisa bowed her head low.
6
That evening Baba Yaga poured out a mountain of wheat mixed with black oats. "Sort it all by morning, grain by grain," she said, and fell asleep so hard that the walls shook. Vasilisa took out the doll and gave her a crumb. "Feed me and tell me what is troubling you." — "Just sleep," said the doll. By morning the wheat was clean as gold.
7
The second evening was worse: a whole heap of poppy seed mixed with soil, and the entire yard to be swept. "By morning," said Baba Yaga. Vasilisa fed the doll and lay down. When she got up, the poppy seed shone like tiny pearls, and the yard was so clean that you could see every carved line on the posts.
8
"Do you ask me nothing?" growled Baba Yaga. — "Only about the three horsemen, grandmother. Who are they?" — "My white day, my red sun and my black night. All three are mine." Of all else she saw in the house Vasilisa said not a word. "Good," said the old woman. "Ask too much and you grow old too soon. And how do you manage it all?" — "My mother's blessing helps me."
9
"I will have no blessing in my house!" cried Baba Yaga, and drove her out. She lifted a wooden lantern off the fence and pushed it into Vasilisa's hands. "Here, carry your light, and never come back." Vasilisa ran through the forest. The lantern glowed before her feet like a small sun and showed her the way all night long.
10
At home the stepmother and the sisters had sat all night in the dark. When Vasilisa stepped in with the lantern, its golden light turned on them and never let them go again. By morning they were gone — burnt away like straw. Vasilisa buried the lantern under a bush, locked the house and went to town, to an old woman who took her in.
11
There Vasilisa wove linen every day, as fine as a spider's web. Nobody had seen its like. They carried it to the tsar, and the tsar asked: "Who wove this?" When Vasilisa stood before him, he looked at her and never thought of anyone else again. They held a wedding remembered for years. And the little wooden doll Vasilisa carried in her pocket all her life.
12The End
