When she is sent by her father’s cruel housemaid to the fearsome Baba Yaga, a clever young girl uses kindness to make her escape.
Baba Yaga: A Russian Folktale
Folklore and Fairy Tales
The Devils Who Learned to Be Good
After feeding two starving beggars, an old Russian soldier receives a magical flour sack and deck of playing cards which help him to remove some pesky devils from the Tsar’s palace.
Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave
A retelling of the old Russian fairy tale in which beautiful Vasilisa uses the help of her doll to escape from the clutches of the witch Baba Yaga, who in turn sets in motion the events which lead to the once ill-treated girl’s marrying the tzar.
The Firebird
A retelling of the Russian folktale in which Prince Ivan encounters the magical Firebird who helps him defeat the evil Kostchei.
The Impudent Rooster
Using his amazing swallowing ability, a rooster foils the evil plans of a greedy nobleman and brings back riches to his poor master.
Noah and the Devil: A Legend of Noah’s Ark from Romania
In this Romanian folk version of the Noah story, getting the animals to march, two by two, onto the ark is the easy part–it was persuading his wife to come aboard that gave Noah a headache. And when he snapped, “Oh, you devil, come in!,” that gave the Devil himself just the invitation he needed. Once aboard, in the shape of a mouse, the Devil gnawed a hole in the ark, to sink it beneath the flood.
The Tzar’s Bird
A tzar’s fear of going to the edge of the world grows when Baba Yaga threatens him, but in time he learns that fear of the unknown is a senseless fear.
The Language of Birds
A retelling of the Russian tale about a wealthy merchant’s younger son who proves his worth in an unusual way.
Babushka Baba Yaga
The villagers are afraid of her, so the legendary Baba Yaga disguises herself as an old woman in order to know the joys of being a grandmother.
Luba and the Wren
In this variation on the story of “The Fisherman and His Wife,” a young Ukrainian girl must repeatedly return to the wren she has rescued to relay her parents’ increasingly greedy demands.