Literature

Fables of Ivan Krylov

Fables are short texts, sometimes in verse form, of a moral or satirical nature. Their heroes are often animals, plants or objects endowed with human attributes. Fables are almost as old as man himse...

Fairytales in Russian Literature

Many Russian and foreign writers have created fairytales, fantastic stories and legends in verse. Some writers devoted their entire oeuvres to fairytales. For others, they are nothing more than a fle...

The Little Humpbacked Horse

Once upon a time, there was an old man, who had three sons – Danilo, Gavrilo and Ivan. The family sold wheat for a living, but someone was stealing their wheat. The brothers decided to lie in wait fo...

The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish

Once upon a time, a poor old man living next to the sea caught a golden fish in his net. When he set it free, the fish promised to grant him whatever he wanted. The old man required little, but his g...

The Tale of the Golden Cockerel

Tsar Dodon takes counsel from his nobles in order to devise a means whereby the constant plotting of a neighbouring hostile ruler may be frustrated. Before a practicable scheme has been evolved, ther...

The Tale of Tsar Saltan

Tsar Saltan overhears three sisters who are confiding to each other their views on the subject of happiness. The youngest, having declared that she would wish nothing better than to become the mother...

The Tale of the Priest and his Workman Balda

A mean and greedy priest had a workman, Balda, who did not receive any payment for his labour, except the right to give the priest three slaps in the face. When the time came for payment, the priest ...

Fairytales of Alexander Pushkin

Alexander Pushkin first addressed the fairytale theme in 1815, when he began work on a poem about Prince Bova. The first complete fairytale work in his oeuvre is Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820), which mad...

Bylina

A bylina is a traditional heroic poem. Bylinas first appeared in the tenth and eleventh centuries and were passed down from generation to generation by word of mouth. The first collection of bylinas ...

The Nanny Goat

The billy goat sent the nanny goat to the forest for some nuts, but she did not return. The billy goat sent the wolf to look for her, a bear to look for the wolf, some people to look for the bear, so...

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