«У Лукоморья дуб зелёный…» – do you know the rest by heart yet? One of the most famous lines from Alexandr Pushkin’s opening to “Ruslan and Lyudmila” does not translate very well into English. “There grows a green oak in Lookomorie…” somehow doesn’t sound nearly as magical, don’t you think?

Yes, I’m back with more Russian fairy tale characters, as promised. Well, it took me long enough to write «продолжение» [continuation] of the post, but as they say in Russia, «обещанного три года ждут» [one must wait three years for what’s promised].

This time I’d like to talk about the heroes – male and female – of the «русские сказки» [Russian fairy tales]. I already mentioned «Алёнушка» [Alyonushka] and her little brother «Иванушка» [Ivanushka], but there are plenty of others, including

«Иван Дурак» [Ivan the Fool] – this guy is featured in countless tales. Sometimes he has two older brothers who are ambitious and cunning. Ivan, on the other hand, is «простак» [a simpleton] for which he’s teased a lot. His parents don’t seem to expect much from him. How else would you explain that in one of the fairy tales his own father consents to Ivan’s marriage to a frog. I guess they know him too well. After all, the dude is known for disregarding all sound advice he gets. And of course, he always «попасть из огня да в полымя» [is between the rock and the hard place].

Yet in the end it’s Ivan and not his brothers who ends up with all the goodies – riches, pretty girls, magical servants, etc – mostly by asking fairy tale creatures to do all the dirty work for him. How come? «Потому, что он – добросердечный» [Because he is kind-hearted]. Well, if by kind-hearted you mean not shooting a bear after the animal pleads for its life or not setting Baba Yaga’s house on fire after she feeds him, then yes – he is a nice guy.

«Василиса Прекрасная» [Vasilisa the Most Beautiful] and «Елена Премудрая» [Yelena the Wisest] – sometimes these two swap their last names and then you read about «Василиса Премудрая» [Vasilisa the Wisest] or «Елена Прекрасная» [Yelena the Most Beautiful].

Note the use of the prefix «пре» in both names. In this particular case, «пре» indicates the superlative. To be wise is to be «мудрый», but to be the wisest is «премудрый» [the wisest].

You can use «пре» to form some other superlative forms of adjectives, such as «преинтересный» [of outmost interest], «престранный» [the strangest], «препротивный» [the most disgusting], etc.

However, «пре» might also mean to make something differt, as in «преображать» [to transform into something different]. For example, «Василиса Премудрая преображается из лягушки в царевну» [Vasilisa the Wisest transforms herself from a frog into a tsarina].

Finally, «пре» can also have the meaning of “across” – «Иван Дурак преступил порог избы Бабы Яги» [Ivan the Fool crossed the threshold of the Baba Yaga’s cottage].

But back to the leading ladies… These are usually princesses of some sort, cared for by scores of «мамки-няньки» [nurses and nannies]. It seems that they divide their leisure time between «рукоделье» [crafts] at which they excel and «ученье» [learning], sometimes getting quite literally too smart to remain unpunished by their evil fathers. Their beauty is world-renown and gets them a stream of marriage proposals, mostly from old, ugly, rich foreign princes. They are also in constant danger of being abducted by either «Кащей Бессмертный» [Kashey the Deathless], «Змей Горыныч» [Zmey Gorinich] or any of their more evil and determined suitors.

So guess what these chicks end up doing? Yep, they end up marrying Ivans (see above). Not only do they marry them, but they frequently help them in their quests as well. Ok, so Ivans are usually good-looking and young, but does that really justify changing one’s last name from Wise to Fool? I guess, as they say in Russia, «любовь зла, полюбишь и козла» [love makes you blind].

Well, why bother with Russian fairy tales anyway? «Сказки – для детей» [Fairytales are for the children]. A couple of reasons spring to mind. One is «сказка – ложь, да в ней намёк, добрым молодцам – урок» [fairy tale is a lie, but it has a hint and a lesson for all good lads]. Sometimes reading a tale about an old man who tries to break a golden egg, cries when it happens and gets consoled with a promise of no more golden eggs, just the regular ones can give you deep insights into the unfathomable Russian soul (can you name this fairy tale?).

Or, if you are into reading contemporary Russian literature, it might give you a better understanding of various works, from Brothers Strugatzkiy’s hilarious «Понедельник начинается в субботу» [A Monday Begins on a Saturday] to the dark and soulful “The Secret History of Moscow” by Ekaterina Sedia.

And if you are into Russian pop-culture, it might even shed some light onto the popularity of the Russian boy-band «Иванушки International».

P.S. There’s a not-too-obvious link between this video clip and one of the reasons for reading fairy tales that I mentioned above. Can you guess? Here’s a hint – the title of the song is «Три белых коня» [Three White Horses] and it originally appeared in a 1982 Soviet movie, «Чародеи».