More Russian Picture Tales

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

23462

Title

More Russian Picture Tales

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

More Russian Picture Tales offers a whimsical collection of folk narratives featuring clever animals, cunning peasants, and magical encounters. With a tone of gentle humor and moral instruction, these stories appeal to readers who enjoy timeless fables where wit triumphs over brute strength.

Summary up to 500 words

Valerian Viliamovich Karrik's *More Russian Picture Tales*, translated by Nevill Forbes, presents a vibrant collection of classic Russian folk narratives that celebrate wit, animal agency, and moral lessons. The volume opens with "The Cock and the Bean," where a simple bean triggers a chain of requests across a farm, illustrating how a small problem can ripple through a community until resolved. In "The Goat and the Ram" and "The Hungry Wolf," domestic animals outsmart predators by feigning possession of wolf heads or exploiting the wolf's lack of common sense, teaching that intelligence often triumphs over brute strength. The collection explores complex relationships in "The Peasant and the Bear," where a partnership collapses over disputes regarding the value of crop tops versus roots, highlighting themes of fairness and greed. Survival and cooperation are central to "The Dog and the Cock," where the pair escape starvation to live in the forest, only to face a cunning fox who is ultimately thwarted by the dog's loyalty. A darker, Cinderella-esque tone emerges in "King Frost," where a stepmother's cruelty leads to a stepdaughter being abandoned in the snow; she is saved by the benevolent King Frost, while the biological daughter, who insults the spirit, is frozen solid. Humor and revenge drive "The Bear's Paw," where a peasant's wife hides from a bear seeking vengeance for a lost limb, and "The Bear and the Old Man's Daughters," where clever sisters trick a bear into carrying them to their father's home. The narrative of "The Straw Ox" showcases a magical trap where a pitch-covered straw figure captures a bear, wolf, fox, and hare, allowing a couple to later receive generous gifts of honey, livestock, and vegetables in repayment. Finally, "The Fox and the Blackbird" concludes the collection with a tale of wits, where a trapped fox is fed and pulled out by a blackbird, only to be outsmarted when the bird tricks the fox into fleeing from a village dog. Together, these tales offer a rich tapestry of Russian folklore, emphasizing that cleverness and kindness often prevail over malice and hunger.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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Categories

• Folklore
• Russia