In the old days, one king had three sons. So, when the sons became old, the king gathered them and said:
- Sons, my dear ones, while I am not yet old, I would like to marry you, to look at your children, at my grandchildren.
The sons answer their father:
- So, father, bless. Who would you like us to marry?
- That's it, sons, take an arrow, go out into an open field and shoot: where the arrows fall, there is your fate.
The sons bowed to their father, took an arrow, went out into an open field, pulled their bows and shot.
The eldest son's arrow fell on the boyar's yard, and the boyar's daughter picked up the arrow. The middle son's arrow fell onto the wide merchant's courtyard and was picked up by the merchant's daughter.
And the youngest son, Ivan Tsarevich, the arrow rose and flew away, he doesn’t know where. So he walked and walked, reached the swamp, and saw a frog sitting, picking up his arrow. Ivan Tsarevich tells her:
- Frog, frog, give me my arrow. And the frog answers him:
- Marry me!
- What do you mean, how can I take a frog as my wife?
- Take it, you know, this is your fate.
Ivan Tsarevich began to spin. There was nothing to do, I took the frog and brought it home. The tsar played three weddings: he married his eldest son to a boyar’s daughter, his middle son to a merchant’s daughter, and the unfortunate Ivan Tsarevich to a frog.
So the king called his sons:
“I want to see which of your wives is the best needlewoman.” Let them sew me a shirt by tomorrow.
The sons bowed to their father and left.
Ivan Tsarevich comes home, sat down and hung his head. The frog jumps on the floor and asks him:
- What, Ivan Tsarevich, hung his head? Or what grief?
“Father, I told you to sew a shirt by tomorrow.” The frog answers:
- Don’t worry, Ivan Tsarevich, better go to bed, the morning is wiser than the evening.
Ivan Tsarevich went to bed, and the frog jumped onto the porch, threw off his frog skin and turned into Vasilisa the Wise, such a beauty that you can’t tell in a fairy tale.
Vasilisa the Wise clapped her hands and shouted:
- Mothers, nannies, get ready, get ready! By morning, sew me a shirt like the one I saw on my dear father.
Ivan Tsarevich woke up in the morning, the frog was jumping on the floor again, and his shirt was lying on the table, wrapped in a towel. Ivan Tsarevich was delighted, took the shirt and took it to his father. The king at this time accepted gifts from his big sons. The eldest son unfolded the shirt, the king accepted it and said:
- This shirt is to be worn in a black hut. The middle son unfolded his shirt, the king said:
- We only wear it to go to the bathhouse.
Ivan Tsarevich unwrapped his shirt, decorated with gold and silver and cunning patterns. The king just looked:
- Well, this is a shirt - wear it on a holiday. The brothers went home - those two - and judged among themselves:
- No, apparently, we laughed in vain at the wife of Ivan Tsarevich: she is not a frog, but some kind of cunning... The king called his sons again:
“Let your wives bake bread for me by tomorrow.” I want to know which cooks better.
Ivan Tsarevich hung his head and came home. The frog asks him:
- What's wrong? He answers:
“We need to bake bread for the king by tomorrow.”
- Don’t worry, Ivan Tsarevich, better go to bed, the morning is wiser than the evening.
And those daughters-in-law, at first they laughed at the frog, and now they sent one back-of-the-house grandmother to see how the frog would bake bread.
The frog is cunning, she realized this. I kneaded the dough; she broke the stove from above and right into the hole, the whole kneading bowl and overturned it. The backwater grandmother ran to the royal daughters-in-law; I told everything, and they began to do the same.
And the frog jumped onto the porch, turned into Vasilisa the Wise, and clapped his hands:
- Mothers, nannies, get ready, get ready! Bake me soft white bread in the morning, the kind I ate from my dear father.
Ivan Tsarevich woke up in the morning, and there was bread on the table, decorated with various tricks: printed patterns on the sides, cities with outposts on top.
Ivan Tsarevich was delighted, wrapped the bread in his fly, and took it to his father. And the king at that time accepted bread from his older sons. Their wives put the dough into the oven, as their backwater grandmother told them, and what came out was nothing but burnt dirt. The king accepted the bread from his eldest son, looked at it and sent it to the men's room. He accepted it from his middle son and sent him there. And as Ivan Tsarevich gave it, the Tsar said:
- This is bread, only eat it on holiday. And the king ordered his three sons to come to him at the feast tomorrow along with their wives.
Again, Tsarevich Ivan returned home sadly, hanging his head below his shoulders. A frog jumps on the floor:
- Kwa, kwa, Ivan Tsarevich, what’s wrong? Or did you hear an unfriendly word from the priest?
- Frog, frog, how can I not grieve! Father ordered me to come to the feast with you, but how can I show you to people?
The frog answers:
“Don’t worry, Ivan Tsarevich, go to the feast alone, and I’ll follow you.” When you hear knocking and thunder, don’t be alarmed. If they ask you, say: “This is my little frog, he’s traveling in a box.”
Ivan Tsarevich went alone. The older brothers arrived with their wives, dressed up, dressed up, rouged, and drugged. They stand and laugh at Ivan Tsarevich:
- Why did you come without your wife? At least he brought it in a handkerchief. Where did you find such a beauty? Tea, all the swamps came out.
The king with his sons, daughters-in-law, and guests sat down at oak tables and feasted on stained tablecloths. Suddenly there was a knock and thunder, and the whole palace began to shake. The guests got scared, jumped up from their seats, and Ivan Tsarevich said:
- Don’t be afraid, honest guests: this is my little frog, it arrived in a box.
A gilded carriage with six white horses flew up to the royal porch, and Vasilisa the Wise came out of there: there were frequent stars on her azure dress, on her head there was a clear moon, such a beauty - you couldn’t imagine it, you couldn’t guess it, just say it in a fairy tale. She takes Ivan Tsarevich by the hand and leads him to oak tables and stained tablecloths.
The guests began to eat, drink, and have fun. Vasilisa the Wise drank from the glass and poured the last of it down her left sleeve. She bit the swan and the bones and threw it by her right sleeve.
The wives of the big princes saw her tricks and let’s do the same.
We drank, ate, and it was time to dance. Vasilisa the Wise picked up Ivan Tsarevich and went. She danced, danced, twirled, twirled - everyone was amazed. She waved her left sleeve - suddenly a lake appeared, waved her right sleeve - white swans swam across the lake. The king and guests were amazed.
And the older daughters-in-law went to dance: they waved their sleeves - only the guests were splashed, they waved at others - only the bones scattered, one bone hit the king in the eye. The king got angry and drove both daughters-in-law away.
At that time, Ivan Tsarevich went away quietly, ran home, found a frog skin there and threw it into the oven, burning it over the fire.
Vasilisa the Wise returns home, she missed it - there is no frog skin. She sat down on a bench, became sad, depressed and said to Ivan Tsarevich:
- Oh, Ivan Tsarevich, what have you done! If you had only waited three more days, I would have been yours forever. And now goodbye. Look for me far away, in the thirtieth kingdom, near Koshchei the Immortal...
Vasilisa the Wise turned into a gray cuckoo and flew out the window. Ivan Tsarevich cried, cried, bowed to four sides and went wherever his eyes looked - to look for his wife, Vasilisa the Wise. Whether he walked close or far, long or short, he carried his boots, his caftan was worn out, the rain dried up his cap. An old man comes across him.
- Hello, good fellow! What are you looking for, where are you going?
Ivan Tsarevich told him about his misfortune. The old man tells him:
—— Eh, Ivan Tsarevich; Why did you burn the frog's skin? You didn’t put it on, it wasn’t up to you to take it off. Vasilisa the Wise was born more cunning and wiser than her father. For this he became angry with her and ordered her to be a frog for three years. Well, there’s nothing to do, here’s a ball for you: wherever it rolls, you can follow it boldly.
Ivan Tsarevich thanked the old man and went to get the ball. The ball rolls, he follows it. In an open field he comes across a bear. Ivan Tsarevich has set his sights and wants to kill the beast. And the bear says to him in a human voice:
“Don’t hit me, Ivan Tsarevich, someday I’ll be useful to you.”
Ivan Tsarevich took pity on the bear, did not shoot him, and moved on. Lo and behold, a drake is flying above him. He took aim, and the drake spoke to him in a human voice:
- Don't hit me, Ivan Tsarevich! I will be useful to you, He took pity on the drake and moved on. A sideways hare runs. Ivan Tsarevich came to his senses again, wants to shoot at him, and the hare says in a human voice:
“Don’t kill me, Ivan Tsarevich, I will be useful to you.” He felt sorry for the hare and moved on. He approaches the blue sea and sees a pike lying on the shore, on the sand, barely breathing and says to him:
- Oh, Ivan Tsarevich, take pity on me, throw me into the blue sea!
He threw the pike into the sea and walked further along the shore. Whether long or short, the ball rolled towards the forest. There stands a hut on chicken legs, turning around itself.
- Hut, hut, stand in the old way, as your mother put it: with your back to the forest, with your front towards me.
The hut turned its front to him, its back to the forest. Ivan Tsarevich entered it and saw - on the stove, on the ninth brick, Baba Yaga was lying, a bone leg, her teeth were on the shelf, and her nose had grown into the ceiling.
- Why, good fellow, did you come to me? - Baba Yaga tells him. -Are you torturing or just getting away with it?
Ivan Tsarevich answers her:
- Oh, you old bastard, you should have given me something to drink, feed me, steamed me in a bathhouse, and then you would have asked.
Baba Yaga steamed him in the bathhouse, gave him something to drink, fed him, put him to bed, and Ivan Tsarevich told her that he was looking for his wife, Vasilisa the Wise.
“I know, I know,” Baba Yaga tells him, “your wife is now with Koshchei the Immortal.” It will be difficult to get it, it will not be easy to deal with Koschei: his death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in an egg, the egg is in a duck, the duck is in a hare, that hare sits in a stone chest, and the chest stands on a tall oak tree, and Koschei the Immortal protects that oak tree like his own eye.
Ivan Tsarevich spent the night with Baba Yaga, and the next morning she showed him where the tall oak tree grew. How long or short did it take Ivan Tsarevich to get there, and he saw a tall oak tree standing, rustling, with a government chest on it, and it was difficult to get it.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a bear came running and uprooted the oak tree. The chest fell and broke. A hare jumped out of the chest and ran away at full speed. And another hare chases him, catches him and tears him to shreds. And a duck flew out of the hare and rose high, right up to the sky. Lo and behold, the drake rushed at her and hit her - the duck dropped the egg, the egg fell into the blue sea.
Here Tsarevich Ivan burst into bitter tears - where can one find an egg in the sea? Suddenly a pike swims up to the shore and holds an egg in its teeth. Ivan Tsarevich broke the egg, took out a needle and let’s break the end of it. He breaks, and Koschey the Immortal fights and rushes about. No matter how much Koschey fought and rushed about, Tsarevich Ivan broke the end of the needle, and Koschey had to die.
Ivan Tsarevich went to the white stone Koshcheev Chambers. Vasilisa the Wise ran out to him and kissed his sugar lips. Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Wise returned home and lived happily ever after until they were very old.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru