Once, a Tsar had three sons. The Tsar wanted all of them to get married. He told them, “Each of you has to shoot an arrow into the air as far as you can. Then, you will have to marry the girl living at the place where your arrow lands.” As told by their father, the three sons shot their arrows. The arrow of the eldest son landed in the courtyard of a nobleman. The arrow of the middle son fell into a merchant’s yard. The arrow of Prince Ivan, the youngest son, fell into a swamp. When he went to the swamp, he found a frog holding the arrow in its mouth. All of them married their brides. Prince Ivan was very sad as he had to marry a frog. One day, the Tsar called his three sons and said, “I want each of your wives to sew me a shirt by tomorrow morning.” The first two sons went off to tell their wives.
The Frog Princess
Feeling sad, Prince Ivan went home. His frog wife asked him why he was sad. He replied, “My father wants you to sew him a beautiful shirt by tomorrow.” The frog wife asked him not to worry. That night when everyone was asleep, the frog turned into a beautiful princess named Vasilisa the Wise. She clapped her hands and her maids appeared. They sewed a shirt. Next morning, Ivan took the shirt to the Tsar. The Tsar loved the shirt. He did not like the shirts brought by other two sons. After a few days, the Tsar told his sons, “Dear sons, tomorrow there is a feast at the palace. Bring your wives dressed in their finest clothes.” Prince Ivan told his frog wife about the feast. She told him, “Don’t worry. You go to the feast. I will come later.” The next day, Ivan went alone for the feast. Suddenly, everybody heard a booming sound approaching the palace.
The Search
A golden carriage drove up to the palace gates. The door opened, and Vasilisa the Wise descended from the carriage. She took the hand of Ivan and walked in with him to the feast. Ivan was delighted to have such a wonderful wife. He ran home and burned her discarded frog skin so that she might remain beautiful. After the feast, they returned home. Vasilisa could not find her frog skin. Sadly, she said to Ivan, “You should have waited three more days. I would have been your real wife forever. But now I must go and live as the prisoner of Koshchei the Deathless.” Immediately, she disappeared. He wept and went in search of her. He came to a little hut on chicken legs where Baba Yaga (Grandmother Spirit) lived. She told him that Vasilisa was at Koschei’s house. Baba Yaga also said that it was difficult to defeat Koschei. Ivan asked the secret of Koschei’s death.
Vasilisa’s Rescue
Baba Yaga replied, “His death is at a needle’s end, the needle is in an egg, the egg is in a duck, the duck is in a rabbit, the rabbit is in a stone chest, the chest is at the top of a tall oak-tree.” Ivan thanked her. On the way, he met a bear, a drake, a rabbit and a pike. He spared them all and did not kill them. He continued until he found the oak-tree. It was too tall. The bear Ivan had spared appeared and tore the tree up by its roots. The chest fell and broke. The rabbit jumped out and wanted to run away. But the rabbit Ivan had spared overtook the first one and killed it. The duck flew out, but the drake caught it. The egg fell out of the duck into the sea. The pike found the egg and brought it to Ivan. He opened the egg, broke off the point of the needle and Koschei at once died. Vasilisa was now free.
