Sacred Texts
Legends and Sagas
![The Merchants Visit Tsar Saltan (detail), by Ivan Bilibin [1905] (Public Domain Image)](img/tsar.jpg)
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Sixty Folk-Tales
from Exclusively Slavonic Sources
by A. H. Wratislaw
[1890]
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Contents
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This collection of Slavic folktales at first glance appears to
have all of the usual suspects of European Märchen.
Evil stepmothers: check; plucky youths overcome impossible odds to marry
kings' daughter: check; dimwitted peasants given magical gifts: check.
What makes this book special are some tales and motifs that hint
at even older lore.
Number 27 is for all intents
and purposes identical to the Native American 'Earth Diver' creation myth.
In 47, man is created from a drop
of God's sweat.
There are two tales of a global flood in 48 and
49.
In 36 there is a very dark 'Abraham and Isaac' story
which goes a bit further than the Bible.
In 51, there is a story of a hundred-leaved
rose bush which resembles images from the Kabbalah and Yogic lore.
And number 59 is the tale of St. Patrick in a
Balkan setting.
All in all, a great anthology of eastern European folklore.
Title Page
Preface
Contents
WESTERN SLAVONIANS
Bohemian Stories
Introduction
I. Long, Broad, and Sharpsight
II. 'The Three Golden Hairs of Grandfather Allknow'
III. Goldenhair
IV. Intelligence and Luck
V. The Jezinkas
VI. The Wood-Lady
VII. George with the Goat
Moravian Stories
Introduction
VIII. Godmother Death
IX. The Four Brothers
Hungarian-Slovenish Stories
Introduction
X. The Three Lemons
XI. The Sun-Horse
XII. The Golden Spinster
XIII. Are You Angry?
Upper and Lower Lusatian Stories
Introduction
XIV. Right Always Remains Right
XV. Little Red Hood
Kashubian Story
Introduction
XVI. Cudgel, Bestir Yourself!
Polish Stories
Introduction
XVII. Prince Unexpected
XVIII. The Spirit of a Buried Man
XIX. The Pale Maiden
XX. The Plague-Swarm
EASTERN SLAVONIANS
White Russian Stories
Introduction
XXI. The Frost, The Sun, and the Wind
XII. Little Rolling-Pea
XXIII. The Wonderful Boys
Little Russian Stories (from Galicia.)
Introduction
XXIV. God Knows How to Punish Man
XXV. The Good Children
XXVI. The Devil and the Gipsy
XXVII. God and the Devil
Little Russian Stories (from South Russia)
Introduction
XXVIII. The Beautiful Damsel and the Wicked Old Woman
XXIX. The Snake and the Princess
XXX. Transformation into a Nightingale and a Cuckoo
XXXI. Transmigration of the Soul
XXXII. The Wizard
Great Russian Stories
Introduction
XXXIII. The Lime-Tree
XXXIV. Ilya of Murom and Nightingale the Robber
SOUTHERN SLAVONIANS
Bulgarian Stories
Introduction
XXXV. The Lord God as an Old Man
XXXVI. Bulgarian Hospitality
XXXVII. Cinderella
XXXVIII. The Golden Apples and the Nine Peahens
XXXIX. The Language of Animals
Serbian Stories
Introduction
XL. The Lame Fox
XLI. The Sons' Oath to Their Dying Father
XLII. The Wonderful Hair
XLIII. The Dragon and the Prince
XLIV. Fate
Serbian Stories From Bosnia
Introduction
XLV. The Birdcatcher
XLVI. The Two Brothers
Serbian Stories From Carniola
Introduction
XLVII. The Origin of Man
XLVIII. God's Cock
XLIX. Kurent The Preserver
L. Kurent and Man
LI. The Hundred-Leaved Rose
Croatian Stories
Introduction
LII. Kraljevitch Marko
LIII. The Daughter of the King of the Vilas
LIV. The Wonder-Working Lock
LV. The She-Wolf
LVI. Milutin
Illyrian-Slovenish Stories
Introduction
LVII. The Friendship of a Vila and of the Months
LVIII. The Fisherman's Son
LIX. The White Snake
LX. The Vila