Russian Fairy Tales | Page 2

a single chapter could
grant; and therefore, though not without reluctance, I have left the
stories I have quoted to speak for themselves, except in those instances
in which I have given the chief parallels to be found in the two
collections of foreign folk-tales best known to the English reader,
together with a few others which happened to fall within the range of
my own reading. Professor de Gubernatis has discussed at length, and
with much learning, the esoteric meaning of the skazkas, and their
bearing upon the questions to which the "solar theory" of
myth-explanation has given rise. To his volumes, and to those of Mr.
Cox, I refer all who are interested in those fascinating enquiries. My
chief aim has been to familiarize English readers with the Russian
folk-tale; the historical and mythological problems involved in it can be
discussed at a later period. Before long, in all probability, a copious
flood of light will be poured upon the connexion of the Popular Tales
of Russia with those of other lands by one of those scholars who are
best qualified to deal with the subject.[6]
Besides the stories about animals, I have left unnoticed two other
groups of skazkas--those which relate to historical events, and those in

which figure the heroes of the Russian "epic poems" or "metrical
romances." My next volume will be devoted to the Builinas, as those
poems are called, and in it the skazkas which are connected with them
will find their fitting place. In it, also, I hope to find space for the
discussion of many questions which in the present volume I have been
forced to leave unnoticed.
The fifty-one stories which I have translated at length I have rendered
as literally as possible. In the very rare instances in which I have found
it necessary to insert any words by way of explanation, I have (except
in the case of such additions as "he said" or the like) enclosed them
between brackets. In giving summaries, also, I have kept closely to the
text, and always translated literally the passages marked as quotations.
In the imitation of a finished work of art, elaboration and polish are
meet and due, but in a transcript from nature what is most required is
fidelity. An "untouched" photograph is in certain cases infinitely
preferable to one which has been carefully "worked upon." And it is, as
it were, a photograph of the Russian story-teller that I have tried to
produce, and not an ideal portrait.
* * * * *
The following are the principal Russian books to which reference has
been made:--
AFANASIEF (A.N.). Narodnuiya Russkiya Skazki[7] [Russian Popular
Tales]. 8 pts. Moscow, 1863-60-63. Narodnuiya Russkiya Legendui[8]
[Russian Popular Legends]. Moscow, 1859. Poeticheskiya Vozzryeniya
Slavyan na Prirodu [Poetic Views of the Slavonians about Nature].[9] 3
vols. Moscow, 1865-69.
KHUDYAKOF (I.A.). Velikorusskiya Skazki [Great-Russian Tales].
Moscow, 1860.
CHUDINSKY (E.A.). Russkiya Narodnuiya Skazki, etc. [Russian
Popular Tales, etc.]. Moscow, 1864.
ERLENVEIN (A.A.). Narodnuiya Skazki, etc. [Popular Tales, collected

by village schoolmasters in the Government of Tula]. Moscow, 1863.
RUDCHENKO (I.). Narodnuiya Yuzhnorusskiya Skazki
[South-Russian Popular Tales].[10] Kief, 1869.
Most of the other works referred to are too well known to require a full
setting out of their title. But it is necessary to explain that references to
Grimm are as a general rule to the "Kinder- und Hausmärchen," 9th ed.
Berlin, 1870. Those to Asbjörnsen and Moe are to the "Norske
Folke-Eventyr," 3d ed. Christiania, 1866; those to Asbjörnsen only are
to the "New Series" of those tales, Christiania, 1871; those to Dasent
are to the "Popular Tales from the Norse," 2d ed., 1859. The name
"Karajich" refers to the "Srpske Narodne Pripovijetke," published at
Vienna in 1853 by Vuk Stefanovich Karajich, and translated by his
daughter under the title of "Volksmärchen der Serben," Berlin, 1854.
By "Schott" is meant the "Walachische Mährchen," Stuttgart und
Tubingen, 1845, by "Schleicher" the "Litauische Märchen," Weimar,
1857, by "Hahn" the "Griechische und albanesische Märchen," Leipzig,
1864, by "Haltrich" the "Deutsche Volksmärchen aus dem
Sachsenlande in Siebenbürgen," Berlin, 1856, and by "Campbell" the
"Popular Tales of the West Highlands," 4 vols., Edinburgh, 1860-62.
A few of the ghost stories contained in the following pages appeared in
the "Cornhill Magazine" for August 1872, and an account of some of
the "legends" was given in the "Fortnightly Review" for April 1, 1868.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] So our word "book," the German Buch, is derived from the Buche
or beech tree, of which the old Runic staves were formed. Cf. liber and
+biblos+.
[2] "Russische Volksmärchen in den Urschriften gesammelt und ins
Deutsche übersetzt von A. Dietrich." Leipzig, 1831.
[3] "Russian Popular Tales," Chapman and Hall, London, 1857.
[4] "Die ältesten Volksmärchen der Russen. Von J. N. Vogl." Wien,

1841.
[5] Such as the "Orient und Occident,"