Russian Wonder Tales
Jun. 24th, 2014 10:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
marycatelliRussian Wonder Tales by Post Wheeler
A collection of twelve Russian tales.
Koshchei is explicitly labeled a wizard and Baba Yaga gets little bits explaining who she is in some. I think he did not expect audiences with any familiarity.
"Vasilissa the Beautiful" being packed off to Baba Yaga's hut for fire and "Maria Morevna" are those I was most familiar with -- even though I knew the later as "The Death of Koshchei The Deathless." Both interesting tales to read again.
Others are tales of types I've read before. Not all. "Schmat-Razum" combines a number of motifs, like the bird-maiden bride (though here he gives back the cloak at once), and the tsar inflicting tasks on his hapless underling, in a form I've not see outside this one. Others, like "Tsar Saltan" have local takes on fairy tales familiar to those who've read a lot of them.
A collection of twelve Russian tales.
Koshchei is explicitly labeled a wizard and Baba Yaga gets little bits explaining who she is in some. I think he did not expect audiences with any familiarity.
"Vasilissa the Beautiful" being packed off to Baba Yaga's hut for fire and "Maria Morevna" are those I was most familiar with -- even though I knew the later as "The Death of Koshchei The Deathless." Both interesting tales to read again.
Others are tales of types I've read before. Not all. "Schmat-Razum" combines a number of motifs, like the bird-maiden bride (though here he gives back the cloak at once), and the tsar inflicting tasks on his hapless underling, in a form I've not see outside this one. Others, like "Tsar Saltan" have local takes on fairy tales familiar to those who've read a lot of them.