Felitsa

In 1781, in a small number of copies, Catherine II published the fairy tale “The Tale of Tsarevich Khlor” for her five-year-old grandson, the Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich. Khlor was the son of a prince—or of the ruler of Kyiv—during the father’s absence kidnapped by the Kyrgyz хан. Desiring to believe the rumors about the boy’s abilities, the хан ordered him to find a rose without thorns. The tsarevich set off on that errand. Along the way, he met the хан’s daughter—a cheerful and kind Feliца—who wanted to escort the tsarevich, but her stern husband, Sultan Bryuzga, prevented her; then she sent her son, Reason (Rassudok), to the child. Continuing his journey, Khlor was tempted in various ways, and, among other things, a certain murza, Laziness (Lentyag), lured him into a cabin, trying with all the temptations of luxury to divert the tsarevich from an undertaking that was too difficult. But Reason dragged him onward by force. At last they saw before them a steep, rocky mountain on which a rose without thorns grows—what, as one young man explained to Khlor, is called virtue. With great difficulty climbing the mountain, the tsarevich plucked the flower and hurried to the хан. The хан sent him back, along with the rose, to the prince of Kyiv. “The latter rejoiced so much at the arrival of the tsarevich and his success that he forgot all his longing and sorrow…"