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Vasilisa the Fair
Russian fairy tale by Alexander Afanassyov
The volume written by Alexander Afanassyov is entitled Russian Folk-Tales and it is translated by Leonard A. Magnus. It is issued by New York E. P. Dutton & CO.
The volume contains 73 stories and begins with an introduction and notes by Leonard A. Magnus, and also a page dedicated to the pronunciation of Russian words.
It was first published in October 1915, second impression in september 1916.

B. Summary

Once upon a time there was a merchant who had been married for twelve years and had only one daughter, Vasilisa the Fair. His wife and Vasilisa's mother died when the girl was 8 years old. On her deathbed she called Vasilisa and told her that she's leaving her "her mother's blessing" and a doll. She told the girl to feed the doll and ask for advice and the doll shall help her. Vasilisa's father mourned as it is behaved, then started looking for a second wife. The merchant found a woman suited for him, not very young, because she was a widoow herself and had two daughters.
Vasilisa's stepmother and sisters hated her, because she was the fairiest damsel in the entire village and they used to torture her with the chores of the house, hoping that she might become ugly and thin and undesirable. But Vasilisa became more beautiful as the years passed. This was of course possible thanks to her doll,that helped her with everything.
One day, the merchant had to go away for business for a long time. In the meantime, the stepmother had planned to get rid of Vasilisa, by sending her in the forest that Baba Yaga lived, hoping that she would be eaten by Baba Yaga, but she would always come back safe, because the doll showed her the way out, avoiding Baba Yaga's house. The stepmother planned something to send Vasilisa straight to Baba Yaga. She put all the fires out in the entire house and gave the girls some tasks, but left them with a single candle. When the candle was over she ordered Vasilisa to go and bring a burning candle from Baba Yaga's house. The girl obeyed and started her "journey". On her way to Baba Yaga she encounters three mystical horsemen, white, red and black, which explained later by Yaga they represent dawn, daybreak and nightfall.
After getting to Baba Yaga's house she is given what would seem impossible tasks for her, if not for the doll. She must clean the coutryard, brush out the room, get the dinner ready, do the washing, go to the field, get a quarter of oats and sift it all out, before dinner. She succeeds with the doll's help in this and in the second task. Baba Yaga asked her how was possible for her to do the tasks, and she answered that that's thanks to her mother's blessing.Baba Yaga gave Vasilisa what she came for, the fire, in the form of a skull with burning eyes. After she reached the stepmother's house she wanted to throw the skull away, but a voice told her to bring the skull in the house, and as soon as she got into the house the skull burned the stepmother and the sisters to cinders.
As Vasilisa was now free, she begged an elderly woman to take her in untill her father came back. The woman took her as her daughter, and as a reward, Vasilisa asked her to buy her flax for she would like to spin and make clothes for her adoptive mother to sell. The cloth she made was so special that her adoptive mother wanted to give it as a present to the Czar. When the Czar saw the delicate way the cloth was made, asked to have that woman that made the cloth as his personal sewer. When the Czar saw Vasilisa he immediately fell in love with her and decided to get marry. Her father came back and lived with her, and Vasilisa took at the palace the woman that helped her, and she kept the doll forever in her pocket.


C. ATU System: The story is a tale of magic, supernatural helpers, magic objects.

D. Propp's functions in the fairy tale.
I have identified the following functions:
1. A member of the family died ( her mother), the father leaves home for business, therefore the hero is introduced;
2. An inverted form of interdiction is adressed to the hero ("Go to Baba Yaga");
3. One member of the family desires to have something (candle);
4. The hero is approached with a command;
5. The hero leaves home;
6. The hero is tested, interrogated, attacked which prepares the way for his receiving either a magical agent or a helper (donor);
7. The hero reacts to the actions of the future donor (whitstands);
8. The hero acquires the use of a magical agent ( the skull, in this case);
9. The hero returns;
10. The villan is punished (stepmother and daughters, in this case);
11. The hero marries and ascends the throne.

E. Similarities with other known tales.
This folk-tale looks just like Cinderella in the beginning. We have the little orphan, the father that leaves home and the three villans, the stepmother and daughters. The poor orphan girl has to do all the chores while the villans watch her doing it. The rest of the story though, has nothing in common with Cinderella.
The rest of the story is concentrated around Russian folklore. We are told about Baba Yaga, which we have in Romanian folklore as well, known as "Muma Pădurii". In fact, variations of Baba Yaga are found in the whole Eastern Europe. It can be seen in Bulgarian, Polish, Czech, Ukranian, and Serbo-Croatian folklore.




Alina Stan
KidLit I