Russian Fairy Tales

Posted in Wundee on 20 Feb 2001:
 

I shall now present the latest installment of my Psychotic Folklore
series; two stories from Aleksandr Afanasyev's collection of Russian
Fairy Tales.

"The Goat Comes Back


Billy goat, billy goat, where have you been?
     'I was grazing horses.'
And where are the horses?
     'Nikolka led them away.'
And where is Nikolka?
     'He went to the larder.'
And where is the larder?
     'It was flooded with water.'
And where is the water?
     'The oxen drank it.'
And where are the oxen?
     'They went to the mountain.'
And where is the mountain?
     'The worms gnawed it away.'
And where are the worms?
     'The geese ate them all.'
And where are the geese?
     'They went to the junipers.'
And where are the junipers?
     'The maids broke them.'
And where are the maids?
     'They all got married.'
And where are their husbands?
     'They all died.'"

"The Brave Laborer

  A certain miller had a laborer. He sent this laborer to throw wheat into 
the hopper, but instead the fellow strewed it on the millstone. The mill
began to turn and all the wheat was scattered. When the miller came to the
mill and saw the scattered wheat, he drove the laborer away. The laborer
set out for his own village, but got lost on the way. He went into some
bushes and lay down to sleep. A wolf came; seeing that the laborer was 
asleep, he came closer and began to sniff him, but the laborer snatched the
wolf by his tail, killed him, and skinned him.
  The laborer went up a hill and on the hill stood an empty mill; he decided
to spend the night in this mill. Three brigands came there; they lit a fire
and began to divide their booty. One of them said: "I'll put my share
underneath the mill." The second said: "I'll shove mine under the wheel."
And the third said: "I'll hide mine in the hopper." But our laborer was 
lying in the hopper, and fearing that the brigands would kill him, he 
thought that he should try to frighten them. So he cried, "Hey, you there,
go down! And you, strike from the side. And, you, hit from there, while I
strike from here! Stop them, boys! Get at them, boys!" The brigands took
fright, threw down their plunder, and ran away.
  The laborer crawled out of the hopper, gathered his booty, went home, and
told his father and mother: "Here is everything I earned at the mill. Now
let us go to market, buy ourselves a gun, and go hunting." They went to
market, bought a gun, and on their way back the laborer said to his father:
"Look sharp to see whether we meet a hare, a fox, or perhaps even a marten."
The two men dozed as they drove and finally fell asleep. Two wolves came,
killed their horse, and devoured it entirely. The father awoke and lashed
out with his whip- at his horse, as he thought, but actually he hit the 
wolf. The wolf got into the horse's collar and began to drag the cart and
the father began to drive it. The other wolf tried to seize the laborer from
behind. This wolf had a deep scar. The laborer lashed the wolf with his whip
and th knot of the whip got stuck in the wolf's scar. The laborer dragged 
him after his cart, so that one wolf pulled the cart while the other ran
behind it. They came home; their dog ran out barking wildly. The wolves took
fright; the one made a sharp turn, overturning the cart and spilling the
father and son on the ground. The other wolf jumped out of the horse collar
and the laborer dropped his whip; the two wolves ran away and the old man
and the laborer were left with nothing.
  They were well off indeed! Their yard was in the form of a circle. Three
birch poles stood in it. The poles were tied by their tops. Three stakes
were driven into the ground. Three twigs were wound around the stakes. The
sky covered their estate from above and the whole world inclosed it!"

Joel T.


On 24 Feb 2001, in response to "The Goat Came Back", Danny Bean posted this:

that reminds me of a song we always sang at passover.. i couldn't remember
how it went, and this was the closest i can find online:

> >One little reindeer, one little reindeer,
> >My father bought for two zuzim.
> >One little reindeer, one little reindeer.
> >
> >Then came a cat and ate the reindeer
> >My father bought for two zuzim.
> >One little reindeer, one little reindeer.
> >
> >Then came a dog and bit the cat,
> >That ate the reindeer,
> >My father bought for two zuzim.
> >One little reindeer, one little reindeer.
> >
> >Then came a stick and beat the dog,
> >That bit the cat that ate the reindeer
> >My father bought for two zuzim.
> >One little reindeer, one little reindeer.
> >
> >Then came a fire and burned the stick, ...
> >Then came the water and quenched the fire, ...
> >Then came an ox and drank the water, ...
> >Then came a shochet and slaughtered the ox, ...
> >Then came the angel of death and killed the shochet, ...
> >
> >Then came the Blessed Holy One and slew the angel of death,
> >That killed the shochet that slaughtered the ox
> >That drank the water that quenched the fire
> >That burned the stick that beat the dog
> >That bit the cat that ate the reindeer
> >My father bought for two zuzim.
> >One little reindeer, one little reindeer.