The Whimsical One. A Collection of Verse Tales

The plots of the best-known Russian folk tales have long found their way into literature. On their basis, wonderful works were created—famous and beloved to this day. Verse fairy tales are usually meant for the very smallest. Such tales have a playful beginning that is close to a little reader. Their plots are characterized by a quick succession of events and a richness of action. Besides the main characters, there can be many secondary ones; their images replace one another, creating an atmosphere of play. And if, in folk tales, Baba Yaga, Koshchei the Immortal, Vasilisa the Beautiful, and Ivan Tsarevich, performing miracles, are subject to strict fairy-tale laws, then in literary, verse fairy tales a more powerful Magician rules over them—their author, the storyteller.

This collection includes fairy tales:

A. S. Pushkin “The Tale of the Priest and His Workman Balda”

A. S. Pushkin “The Tale of the Golden Cockerel”

P. Ershov “The Little Humpbacked Horse”

N. Nekrasov “Elisei’s Tale”

I. Surikov “The Treasure”

M. Gorky “The Girl and Death”

S. Basov-Verkhoyantsev “The Skittering Horse”