Maria Morevna
In the eponymous fairytale, we first learn of her when Prince Ivan passes a battlefield and asks an old man near it who defeated all those soldiers – and the old man replies it was Maria Morevna. She is not just a princess, she is a general! Later on, Ivan finds her, they fall in love and get married, but then time comes for Maria Morevna to make some new conquests. She leaves Ivan at home and forbids him to enter one closet, which he does, of course – only to discover the one and only Koschei the Deathless, the ultimate Russian fairytale villain, chained there. Yes, Maria Morevna did that, too! Unfortunately, Ivan unwittingly lets Koschei escape and the plot thickens…
If you want to learn what happens next and practice your Russian, here’s a rendition of this story.
The Frog Princess
In a fairytale kingdom, the king wants his three songs to get married. As they are clueless about where to begin looking for their wives, the king tells them to shoot arrows randomly – and marry those who find the arrows. While the first and second son manage to shoot their arrows into the yards of noble women, the youngest (also called Ivan, of course) finds his arrow in a marsh, caught by a frog. Naturally, this is not your regular frog, it’s Princess Elena the Beautiful (or Elena the Wise), bewitched by Koschei to live for three years as a frog. Throughout the fairytale she performs several miracles, impressing the king and Ivan with her talents. Guess what happens to ruin this utopia? Ivan burns her frog skin while she is at a reception with the royal family in her human form – and later has to save her from Koschei’s grasp, travelling the world and completing his own quest.
Not one but three versions of this story can be found here – another chance to practice your Russian.
Nastenka (Jack Frost)
In this (slightly troubling) fairytale, we have the classic scenario: an evil stepmother with her two precious daughters and the stoic stepdaughter (in different versions, she’s called Nastenka, Marfa, or Masha; we’ll stick with Nastenka, following the beloved Soviet adaptation), withstanding all kinds of bullying and doing everything around the house. One day, the evil stepmother decides it is time for Nastenka to leave the house and tells the girl’s father to take her to the forest in the midst of winter and leave her for Morozko (Jack Frost) to marry. In the forest, Nastenka’s will is tested: when Morozko makes her gradually colder and keeps asking “Are you warm?”, our heroine, like the stoic she is, answers positively. Finally, Morozko is done with his torture, warms Nastenka, dresses her in furs and gives her a dowry. However, this is not the end of the story!
Discover how it ends here or in the movie we mentioned – it’s a Soviet classic!
This article’s honorable mention is – drumroll please – Baba Yaga, the canonical villain but also, for lucky characters, a guide and assistant. Another strong woman from Russian fairytales!
Title image credit: The Frog Princess by Viktor Vasnetsov. Scanned from A. K. Lazuko Victor Vasnetsov, Leningrad: Khudozhnik RSFSR, 1990, ISBN 5-7370-0107-5 / Wikimedia Commons / Public domain
