Кем князю гвидону приходился царь салтан в пушкинской сказке

The Tale of Tsar Saltan
The mythical island of Buyan (illustration by Ivan Bilibin).
Folk tale
Name	The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Aarne–Thompson grouping	ATU 707, «The Three Golden Children»
Region	Russia
Published in	Сказка о царе Салтане (1831), by Александр Сергеевич Пушкин (Alexander Pushkin)
Related	The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird

The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan (Russian: «Сказка о царе Салтане, о сыне его славном и могучем богатыре князе Гвидоне Салтановиче и о прекрасной царевне Лебеди», tr. Skazka o tsare Saltane, o syne yevo slavnom i moguchem bogatyre knyaze Gvidone Saltanoviche i o prekrasnoy tsarevne Lebedi listen (help·info)) is an 1831 fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin. As a folk tale it is classified as Aarne–Thompson type 707, «The Three Golden Children», for it being a variation of The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird.^[1]

Synopsis[edit]

The story is about three sisters. The youngest is chosen by Tsar Saltan (Saltán) to be his wife. He orders the other two sisters to be his royal cook and weaver. They become jealous of their younger sister. When the tsar goes off to war, the tsaritsa gives birth to a son, Prince Gvidon (Gvidón). The older sisters arrange to have the tsaritsa and the child sealed in a barrel and thrown into the sea.

The sea takes pity on them and casts them on the shore of a remote island, Buyan. The son, having quickly grown while in the barrel, goes hunting. He ends up saving an enchanted swan from a kite bird.

The swan creates a city for Prince Gvidon to rule, which some merchants, on the way to Tsar Saltan’s court, admire and go to tell Tsar Saltan. Gvidon is homesick, so the swan turns him into a mosquito to help him. In this guise, he visits Tsar Saltan’s court. In his court, his middle aunt scoffs at the merchant’s narration about the city in Buyan, and describes a more interesting sight: in an oak lives a squirrel that sings songs and cracks nuts with a golden shell and kernel of emerald. Gvidon, as a mosquito, stings his aunt in the eye and escapes.

Back in his realm, the swan gives Gvidon the magical squirrel. But he continues to pine for home, so the swan transforms him again, this time into a fly. In this guise Prince Gvidon visits Saltan’s court again and overhears his elder aunt telling the merchants about an army of 33 men led by one Chernomor that march in the sea. Gvidon stings his older aunt in the eye and flies back to Buyan. He informs the swan of the 33 «sea-knights», and the swan tells him they are her brothers. They march out of the sea, promise to be guards and watchmen of Gvidon’s city, and vanish.

The third time, the Prince is transformed into a bumblebee and flies to his father’s court. There, his maternal grandmother tells the merchants about a beautiful princess that outshine both the sun in the morning and the moon at night, with crescent moons in her braids and a star on her brow. Gvidon stings her nose and flies back to Buyan.

Back to Buyan, he sighs over not having a bride. The swan inquires the reason, and Gvidon explains about the beautiful princess his grandmother described. The swan promises to find him the maiden and bids him await until the next day. The next day, the swan reveals she is the same princess his grandmother described and turns into a human princess. Gvidon takes her to his mother and introduces her as his bride. His mother gives her blessing to the couple and they are wed.

At the end of the tale, the merchants go to Tsar Saltan’s court and, impressed by their narration, decides to visit this fabled island kingdom at once, despite protests from his sisters- and mother-in-law. He and the court sail away to Buyan, and are welcomed by Gvidon. The prince guides Saltan to meet his lost Tsaritsa, Gvidon’s mother, and discovers her family’s ruse. He is overjoyed to find his newly married son and daughter-in-law.

Translation[edit]

The tale was given in prose form by American journalist Post Wheeler, in his book Russian Wonder Tales (1917).^[2] It was translated in verse by Louis Zellikoff in the book The Tales of Alexander Pushkin (The Tale of the Golden Cockerel & The Tale of Tsar Saltan) (1981).^[3]

Analysis[edit]

Classification[edit]

The versified fairy tale is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 707, «The Three Golden Children». It is also the default form by which the ATU 707 is known in Russian and Eastern European academia.^[4][5] Folklore scholar Christine Goldberg identifies three main forms of this tale type: a variation found «throughout Europe», with the quest for three magical items (as shown in The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird); «an East Slavic form», where mother and son are cast in a barrel and later the sons build a palace; and a third one, where the sons are buried and go through a transformation sequence, from trees to animals to humans again.^[6]

In a late 19th century article, Russian ethnographer Grigory Potanin identified a group of Russian fairy tales with the following characteristics: three sisters boast about grand accomplishments, the youngest about giving birth to wondrous children; the king marries her and makes her his queen; the elder sisters replace their nephews for animals, and the queen is cast in the sea with her son in a barrel; mother and son survive and the son goes after strange and miraculous items; at the end of the tale, the deceit is revealed and the queen’s sisters are punished.^[7]

French scholar Gédeon Huet considered this format as «the Slavic version» of Les soeurs jalouses and suggested that this format «penetrated into Siberia», brought by Russian migrants.^[8]

Russian tale collections attest to the presence of Baba Yaga, the witch of Slavic folklore, as the antagonist in many of the stories.^[9]

Russian scholar T. V. Zueva suggests that this format must have developed during the period of the Kievan Rus, a period where an intense fluvial trade network developed, since this «East Slavic format» emphasizes the presence of foreign merchants and traders. She also argues for the presence of the strange island full of marvels as another element.^[10]

Rescue of brothers from transformation[edit]

In some variants of this format, the castaway boy sets a trap to rescue his brothers and release them from a transformation curse. For example, in Nád Péter («Schilf-Peter«), a Hungarian variant,^[11] when the hero of the tale sees a flock of eleven swans flying, he recognizes them as their brothers, who have been transformed into birds due to divine intervention by Christ and St. Peter.

In another format, the boy asks his mother to prepare a meal with her «breast milk» and prepares to invade his brothers’ residence to confirm if they are indeed his siblings. This plot happens in a Finnish variant, from Ingermanland, collected in Finnische und Estnische Volksmärchen (Bruder und Schwester und die goldlockigen Königssöhne, or «Brother and Sister, and the golden-haired sons of the King»).^[12] The mother gives birth to six sons with special traits who are sold to a devil by the old midwife. Some time later, their youngest brother enters the devil’s residence and succeeds in rescuing his siblings.

Russian scholar T. V. Zueva argues that the use of «mother’s milk» or «breast milk» as the key to the reversal of the transformation can be explained by the ancient belief that it has curse-breaking properties.^[10] Likewise, scholarship points to an old belief connecting breastmilk and «natal blood», as observed in the works of Aristotle and Galen. Thus, the use of mother’s milk serves to reinforce the hero’s blood relation with his brothers.^[13] Russian professor Khemlet Tatiana Yurievna describes that this is the version of the tale type in East Slavic, Scandinavian and Baltic variants,^[14] although Russian folklorist Lev Barag [ru] claimed that this motif is «characteristic» of East Slavic folklore, not necessarily related to variants of tale type 707.^[15]

Mythological parallels[edit]

This «Slavic» narrative (mother and child or children cast into a chest) recalls the motif of «The Floating Chest», which appears in narratives of Greek mythology about the legendary birth of heroes and gods.^[16][17] The motif also appears in the Breton legend of saint Budoc and his mother Azénor: Azénor was still pregnant when cast into the sea in a box by her husband, but an angel led her to safety and she gave birth to future Breton saint Budoc.^[18]

Central Asian parallels[edit]

Following professor Marat Nurmukhamedov’s (ru) study on Pushkin’s verse fairy tale,^[19] professor Karl Reichl (ky) argues that the dastan (a type of Central Asian oral epic poetry) titled Šaryar, from the Turkic Karakalpaks, is «closely related» to the tale type of the Calumniated Wife, and more specifically to The Tale of Tsar Saltan.^[20][21]

Variants[edit]

Distribution[edit]

Russian folklorist Lev Barag [ru] attributed the diffusion of this format amongst the East Slavs to the popularity of Pushkin’s versified tale.^[15]

Professor Jack Haney stated that the tale type registers 78 variants in Russia and 30 tales in Belarus.^[22]

In Ukraine, a previous analysis by professor Nikolai Andrejev noted an amount between 11 and 15 variants of type «The Marvelous Children».^[23] A later analysis by Haney gave 23 variants registered.^[22]

Predecessors[edit]

The earliest version of tale type 707 in Russia was recorded in «Старая погудка на новый лад» (1794–1795), with the name «Сказка о Катерине Сатериме» (Skazka o Katyerinye Satyerimye; «The Tale of Katarina Saterima»).^[24][25][26] In this tale, Katerina Saterima is the youngest princess, and promises to marry the Tsar of Burzhat and bear him two sons, their arms of gold to the elbow, their legs of silver to the knee, and pearls in their hair. The princess and her two sons are put in a barrel and thrown in the sea.

The same work collected a second variant: Сказка о Труде-королевне («The Tale of Princess Trude»), where the king and queen consult with a seer and learn of the prophecy that their daughter will give birth to the wonder-children: she is to give birth to nine sons in three gestations, and each of them shall have arms of gold up to the elbow, legs of silver up to the knee, pearls in their hair, a shining moon on the front and a red sun on the back of the neck. This prediction catches the interest of a neighboring king, who wishes to marry the princess and father the wonder-children.^[27][28]

Another compilation in the Russian language that precedes both The Tale of Tsar Saltan and Afanasyev’s tale collection was «Сказки моего дедушки» (1820), which recorded a variant titled «Сказка о говорящей птице, поющем дереве и золо[то]-желтой воде» (Skazka o govoryashchyey ptitse, poyushchyem dyeryevye i zolo[to]-zhyeltoy vodye).^[26]

Early-20th century Russian scholarship also pointed that Arina Rodionovna, Pushkin’s nanny, may have been one of the sources of inspiration to his versified fairy tale Tsar Saltan. Rodionovna’s version, heard in 1824, contains the three sisters; the youngest’s promise to bear 33 children, and a 34th born «of a miracle» — all with silver legs up to the knee, golden arms up to the elbows, a star on the front, a moon on the back; the mother and sons cast in the water; the quest for the strange sights the sisters mention to the king in court. Rodionovna named the prince «Sultan Sultanovich», which may hint at a foreign origin for her tale.^[29]

East Slavic languages[edit]

Russia[edit]

Russian folklorist Alexander Afanasyev collected seven variants, divided in two types: The Children with Calves of Gold and Forearms of Silver (in a more direct translation: Up to the Knee in Gold, Up to the Elbow in Silver),^[30][31] and The Singing Tree and The Speaking Bird.^[32][33] Two of his tales have been translated into English: The Singing-Tree and the Speaking-Bird^[34] and The Wicked Sisters. In the later, the children are male triplets with astral motifs on their bodies, but there is no quest for the wondrous items.

Another Russian variant follows the format of The Brother Quests for a Bride. In this story, collected by Russian folklorist Ivan Khudyakov [ru] with the title «Иванъ Царевичъ и Марья Жолтый Цвѣтъ» or «Ivan Tsarevich and Maria the Yellow Flower», the tsaritsa is expelled from the imperial palace, after being accused of giving birth to puppies. In reality, her twin children (a boy and a girl) were cast in the sea in a barrel and found by a hermit. When they reach adulthood, their aunts send the brother on a quest for the lady Maria, the Yellow Flower, who acts as the speaking bird and reveals the truth during a banquet with the tsar.^[35][36]

One variant of the tale type has been collected in «Priangarya» (Irkutsk Oblast), in East Siberia.^[37]

In a tale collected in Western Dvina (Daugava), «Каровушка-Бялонюшка», the stepdaughter promises to give birth to «three times three children», all with arms of gold, legs of silver and stars on their heads. Later in the story, her stepmother dismisses her stepdaughter’s claims to the tsar, by telling him of strange and wondrous things in a distant kingdom.^[38] This tale was also connected to Pushkin’s Tsar Saltan, along with other variants from Northwestern Russia.^[39]

Russian ethnographer Grigory Potanin gave the summary of variant collected by Romanov about a «Сын Хоробор» («Son Horobor»): a king has three daughters, the other has an only son, who wants to marry the youngest sister. The other two try to impress him by flaunting their abilities in weaving (sewing 30 shirts with only one «kuzhalinka», a fiber) and cooking (making 30 pies with only a bit of wheat), but he insists on marrying the third one, who promises to bear him 30 sons and a son named «Horobor», all with a star on the front, the moon on the back, with golden up to the waist and silver up to knees. The sisters replace the 30 sons for animals, exchange the prince’s letters and write a false order for the queen and Horobor to be cast into the sea in a barrel. Horobor (or Khyrobor) prays to god for the barrel to reach safe land. He and his mother build a palace on the island, which is visited by merchants. Horobor gives the merchants a cat that serves as his spy on the sisters’ extraordinary claims.^[40]

Another version given by Potanin was collected in Biysk by Adrianov: a king listens to the conversations of three sisters, and marries the youngest, who promises to give birth to three golden-handed boys. However, a woman named Yagishna replaces the boys for a cat, a dog and a «korosta». The queen and the three animals are thrown in the sea in a barrel. The cat, the dog and the korosta spy on Yagishna telling about the three golden-handed boys hidden in a well and rescue them.^[41]

In a Siberian tale collected by A. A. Makarenko in Kazachinskaya Volost, «О царевне и её трех сыновьях» («The Tsarevna and her three children»), two girls – a peasant’s daughter and Baba Yaga’s daughter – talk about what they would do to marry the king. The girl promises to give birth to three sons: one with legs of silver, the second with legs of gold, and the third with a red sun on the front, a bright moon on the neck, and stars braided in his hair. The king marries her. Near the sons’ delivery (in three consecutive pregnancies), Baba Yaga is brought to be the queen’s midwife. After each boy’s birth, she replaces them with a puppy, a kitten, and a block of wood. The queen is cast into the sea in a barrel with the animals and the object until they reach the shore. The puppy and the kitten act as the queen’s helper and rescue the three biological sons sitting on an oak tree.^[42]

Another tale was collected from a 70-year-old teller named Elizaveta Ivanovna Sidorova, in Tersky District, Murmansk Oblast, in 1957, by Dimitri M. Balashov. In her tale, «Девять богатырей — по колен ноги в золоте, по локоть руки в серебре» («Nine bogatyrs — up to the knees in gold, up to the elbows in silver»), a girl promises to give birth to 9 sons with arms of silver and legs of gold, and the sun, moon, stars and a «dawn» adorning their heads and hair. A witch named yaga-baba replaced the boys with animals and things to trick the king. The queen is thrown in the sea with the animals, which act as her helpers. When yaga-baba, on the third visit, tells the king of a place where there are nine boys just as the queen described, the animals decide to rescue them.^[43]

In a tale collected from teller A. V. Chuprov with the title «Федор-царевич, Иван-царевич и их оклеветанная мать» («Fyodor Tsarevich, Ivan Tsarevich and their Calumniated Mother»), a king passes by three servants and inquires them about their skills: the first says she can work with silk, the second can bake and cook, and the third says whoever marries her, she will bear him two sons, one with hands covered in gold and legs in silver, a sun on the front, stars on the sides and a moon on the back, and another with arms of a golden color and legs with a silvery tint. The king takes the third servant as his wife. The queen writes a letter to be delivered to the king, but the messenger stops by a bath house and its contents are altered to tell the king his wife gave birth to two puppies. The children are baptized and given the named Fyodor and Ivan. Ivan is given to another king, while the mother is cast in a barrel with Fyodor; both wash ashore on Buyan. Fyodor tries to make contact with some merchants on a ship. Fyodor reaches his father’s kingdom and overhears the conversation about the wondrous sights: a talking squirrel on a tree that tells fairy tales and a similar looking youth (his brother Ivan) on a distant kingdom. Fyodor steals a magic carpet, rescues Ivan and flies back to Buyan with his brother, a princess and an old woman.^[44] The tale was also classified as type 707, thus related to Russian tale «Tsar Saltan».^[45]

In a tale collected by Chudjakov with the title Der weise Iwan («The Wise Ivan»), Ivan Tsarevich, the son of a tsar, pays a visit to a king and his three daughters. He listens to their conversation: the elder sister promises to weave trousers and shirts for the tsar’s son with a single flax; the middle one that she can weave the same with only a spool of thread, and the youngest that she can bear him six sons, the seventh a «wise Ivan», and all of them with arms of gold up to the elbow, legs of silver up the knee and pearls in their hair. The tsar’s son marries the youngest sister, to the jealousy of the elder sisters. While Ivan Tsarevich goes to war, the jealous sisters join with a sorceress to defame the queen, by taking the children as soon as they are born and replace them for animals. After the third pregnancy, the queen and her son, wise Ivan, are cast in the sea in a barrel. The barrel washes ashore on an island and they live there. Some time later, merchants come to the island and later visit Ivan Tsarevich’s court to tell of strange sights they have seen: exotic felines (sables and martens); singing birds of paradise from the jealous sisters’ aunt’s garden; and six sons with arms of gold, legs of silver and pearls in their hair. Wise Ivan returns to his mother and asks his mother to bake six cakes. Wise Ivan flies to the sorceress’s hut and rescues his brothers.^[46]

Belarus[edit]

In a Belarusian tale collected by Evdokim Romanov (ru) with the name «Дуб Дорохвей» or «Дуб Дарахвей» («The Dorokhveï Oak») (fr), a widowed old man marries another woman, who detests his three daughters and orders her husband to dispose of them. The old man takes them to the swamp and abandons the girls there. They notice that their father is not with them, take refuge under a pine tree and begin to cry over their situation, their tears producing a river. The tsar, seeing the river, orders their servants to find its source.^[a] They find the three maidens and take them to the king, who inquires about their origin: they say they were expelled from home. The tsar asks each maiden what they can do, and the youngest says she will give birth to 12 sons, their legs of gold, their waist of silver, the moon on the forehead and a small star on the back of the neck. The tsar chooses the third sister, and she bears the 12 sons while he is away. The sisters falsify a letter with a lie that she gave birth to animals and she should be thrown in the sea in a barrel. Eleven of her sons are put in a leather bag and thrown in the sea, but they wash ashore on an island where the Dorokhveï Oak lies. The oak is hollowed, so they make their residence there. Meanwhile, mother and her 12th son are thrown in the sea in a barrel, but leave the barrel as soon as it washes ashore on another island. The son tells her he will rescue his eleven brothers by asks her to bake cakes with her breastmilk. After the siblings are reunited, the son turns into an insect to spy on his aunts and eavesdrop on the conversation about the kingdom of wonders, one of them, a cat that walks and tells stories and tales [fr].^[47]

Ukraine[edit]

In a Ukrainian tale, «Песинський, жабинський, сухинський і золотокудрії сини цариці» («Pesinsky, Zhabinsky, Sukhinsky^[b] and the golden-haired sons of the queen»), three sisters are washing clothes in the river when they see in the distance a man rowing a boat. The oldest says it might be God, and if it is, may He take her, because she can feed many with a piece of bread. The second says it might be a prince, so she says she wants him to take her, because she will be able to weave clothes for a whole army with just a yarn. The third recognizes him as the tsar, and promises that, after they marry, she will give birth to twelve sons with golden curls. When the girl, now queen, gives birth, the old midwife takes the children, tosses them in a well and replaces them with animals. After the third birth, the tsar consults his ministers and they advise him to cast the queen and her animal children in the sea in a barrel. The barrel washes ashore an island and the three animals build a castle and a glass bridge to mainland. When some sailors visit the island, they visit the tsar to report on the strange sights on the island. The old midwife, however, interrupts their narration by revealing somewhere else there is something even more fantastical. Pesinsky, Zhabinsky and Sukhinsky spy on their audience and run away to fetch these things and bring them to their island. At last, the midwife reveals that there is a well with three golden-curled sons inside, and Pesinsky, Zhabinsky and Sukhinsky rescue them. The same sailors visit the strange island (this time the true sons of the tsar are there) and report their findings to the tsar, who discovers the truth and orders the midwife to be punished.^[48][49] According to scholarship, professor Lev Grigorevich Barag noted that this sequence (dog helping the calumniated mother in finding the requested objects) appears as a variation of the tale type 707 only in Ukraine, Russia, Bashkir and Tuvan.^[50]

In a tale summarized by folklorist Mykola Sumtsov with the title «Завистливая жена» («The Envious Wife»), the girl promises to bear a son with a golden star on the forehead and a moon on his navel. She is persecuted by her sister-in-law.^[51][52]

In a South Russian (Ukrainian) variant collected by Ukrainian folklorist Ivan Rudchenko [ru], «Богатырь з бочки» («The Bogatyr in a barrel»), after the titular bogatyr is thrown in the sea with his mother, he spies on the false queen to search the objects she describes: a cat that walks on a chain, a golden bridge near a magical church and a stone-grinding windmill that produces milk and eight falcon-brothers with golden arms up to the elbow, silver legs up to the knees, golden crown, a moon on the front and stars on the temples.^[53][54]

Baltic languages[edit]

Latvia[edit]

According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, tale type 707, «The Three Golden Children», is known in Latvia as Brīnuma bērni («Wonderful Children»), comprising 4 different redactions. Its first redaction registers the highest number of tales and follows The Tale of Tsar Saltan: the king marries the youngest of three sisters, because she promises to bear him many children with wonderful traits, her sisters replace the children for animals and their youngest is cast into the sea in a barrel with one of her sons; years later, her son seeks the strange wonders the sisters mention (a cat that dances and tells stories, and a group of male brothers that appear somewhere on a certain place).^[55]

Lithuania[edit]

According to professor Bronislava Kerbelyte [lt], the tale type is reported to register 244 (two hundred and forty-four) Lithuanian variants, under the banner Three Extraordinary Babies, with and without contamination from other tale types.^[56] However, only 39 variants in Lithuania contain the quest for the strange sights and animals described to the king. Kerbelytė also remarks that many Lithuanian versions of this format contain the motif of baking bread with the hero’s mother’s breastmilk to rescue the hero’s brothers.^[57]

In a variant published by Fr. Richter in Zeitschrift für Volkskunde with the title Die drei Wünsche («The Three Wishes»), three sisters spend an evening talking and weaving, the youngest saying she would like to have a son, bravest of all and loyal to the king. The king appears, takes the sisters, and marries the youngest. Her son is born and grows up exceptionally fast, much to the king’s surprise. One day, he goes to war and sends a letter to his wife to send their son to the battlefield. The queen’s jealous sisters intercept the letter and send him a frog dressed in fine clothes. The king is enraged and replies with a written order to cast his wife in the water. The sisters throw the queen and her son in the sea in a barrel, but they wash ashore in an island. The prince saves a hare from a fox. The prince asks the hare about recent events. Later, the hare is disenchanted into a princess with golden eyes and silver hair, who marries the prince.^[58]

Finnic languages[edit]

Estonia[edit]

The tale type is known in Estonia as Imelised lapsed («The Miraculous Children»). Estonian folklorists identified two opening episodes: either the king’s son finds the three sisters, or the three sisters are abandoned in the woods and cry so much their tears create a river that flows to the king’s palace.^[a] The third sister promises to bear the wonder children with astronomical motifs on their bodies. The story segues into the Tale of Tsar Saltan format: the mother and the only child she rescued are thrown into the sea; the son grows up and seeks the wonders the evil aunts tell his father about: «a golden pig, a wonderous cat, miraculous children».^[59]

Regional tales[edit]

Folklorist William Forsell Kirby translated an Estonian version first collected by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald,^[60] with the name The Prince who rescued his brothers: a king with silver-coated legs and golden-coated arms marries a general’s daughter with the same attributes. When she gives birth to her sons, her elder sister sells eleven of her nephews to «Old Boy» (a devil-like character) while the queen is banished with her twelfth son and cast adrift into the sea in a barrel. At the end of the tale, the youngest prince releases his brothers from Old Boy and they transform into doves to reach their mother.^[61]

In a tale from the Lutsi Estonians collected by linguist Oskar Kallas with the name Kuningaemand ja ta kakstõistkümmend poega («The Queen and her Twelve Sons»), a man remarries and, on orders of his new wife, takes his three daughters to the forest on the pretext of picking up berries, and abandons them there. The king’s bird flies through the woods and finds the girls. The animal inquires them about their skills: the elder one says she can feed the whole world with an ear of wheat; the middle one that she can clothe the whole world with a single linen thread, and the third that she will bear 12 sons, each with a moon on the head, the sun, and stars on their bodies. The bird carries each one to the king, who takes them in. Years later, the king marries the third girl, and she gives birth to three sons in her first pregnancy. Her elder sister takes the boys and drops them in a swamp, replacing them with kittens. This happens again with the next pregnancies: as soon as they are born, the triplets are replaced for animals (puppies in the second, piglets in the third, and lambs in the fourth). However, in the fourth pregnancy, the queen hides one of her sons with her. The king orders her to cast his wife in the sea in an iron boat with her son. The son begs for an island to receive them, and his mother blesses his prayer. After they wash ashore on the island, the boy wishes the island is filled with golden and silver trees, with apples with half of gold and half of silver. His mother blesses his wish, and it happens. He next wishes for a palace larger than his father’s, an army greater than his, and finally for a bridge to connect the island to the continent. Later, he asks his mother to bake 12 cakes with her breastmilk, for he intends to rescue his older brothers. He crosses the bridge and reaches a swamp, then finds a moss-covered hut. He enters the hut and places the 12 cakes on the table. His eleven brothers — everyone shining due to their birthmarks — come to the hut and eat the cakes. Their younger brother appears and convinces them to join their mother on the island. Later, the son wishes for instruments to play, which draws the attention of his father, the king. The king comes to the island and learns of the whole truth.^[62]

Kallas published a homonymous variant from the Lutsi Estonians in abbreviated form. In this tale, a king meets three maidens on the road; the third promises to bear him 12 sons with the sun and the moon on the head, a star on their breast, hands of gold and feet of silver. The king and the maiden marry; the children are replaced by animals as soon as they are born, and the mother and her last son are cast into the sea in a sack. The first thing her son does is find his brothers. Later, after he rescues his brothers, he flies back to his father’s court to spy on him and the other maidens, and learns of the sights: a cat that lives in oak and provides clothes for its owner; a cow with a lake between its horns; and a boar that sows his own fields and bakes his own bread.^[63]

In another tale from the Lutsi, published with the title Kolm õde («Three Sisters»), a tsar has three daughters and is a great musician. One day, he leaves home and does not return. His daughters go looking for him and find him dead. They begin to cry, their tears creating a river that flows to another kingdom. The son of another tsar orders his servant to discover its origin and finds the girls. The sisters are brought to the prince’s presence and are questioned about their skills: the elder promises to feed the entire country with one pea, the middle one that she can feed the country’s horses with one grain of oat, and the youngest promises to give birth to 12 sons. The prince marries the third sister. In time, she gives birth to 12 sons. A sequence of falsified letters lies that she gave birth to animal-headed children, and must be punished by being cast in the sea. The prince’s wife and a son are thrown into the sea in a barrel and wash ashore on an island. The son grows up and goes hunting around the island. He prepares to shoot at a swan, but the swan pleads to be spared, and helps the boy three times: the first, to pull a thread by the seashore (which guides his father’s ship to the island); secondly, to throw 11 pebbles on the sea (which summons his 11 brothers to the island); finally, to fish a goldfish (which leads his father’s ship again to the island).^[64]

Karelia[edit]

Karelian researchers register that the tale type is «widely reported» in Karelia, with 55 variants collected,^[65] apart from tales considered to be fragments or summaries of The Tale of Tsar Saltan.^[66] According to their research, at least 50 of them follow the Russian redaction (see above), while 5 of them are closer to the Western European tales.^[65]

According to Karelian scholarship, the witch Syöjätär is the recurrent antagonist in Karelian variants of tale type 707,^[67] especially in tales from South Karelia.^[68]

Regional tales[edit]

In a Karelian tale, «Девять золотых сыновей» («Nine Golden Sons»), the third sister promises to give birth to «three times three» children, their arms of gold up to the elbow, the legs of silver up to the knees, a moon on the temples, a sun on the front and stars in their hair. The king overhears their conversation and takes the woman as his wife. On their way, they meet a woman named Syöjätär, who insists to be the future queen’s midwife. She gives birth to triplets in three consecutive pregnancies, but Syöjätär replaces them for rats, crows and puppies. The queen saves one of her children and is cast into a sea in a barrel. The remaining son asks his mother to bake bread with her breastmilk to rescue his brothers.^[69][70]

Author Eero Salmelainen collected a tale titled Veljiensä etsijät ja joutsenina lentäjät («One who seeks brothers flying as swans»), which poet Emmy Schreck translated as Die neun Söhne des Weibes («The woman’s nine children») and indicated a Russian-Karelian source for this tale. In this variant, three sisters walk in the forest and talk to each other, the youngest promising to bear nine children in three pregnancies. The king’s son overhears them and decides to marry the youngest, and she bears the wonder children with hands of gold, legs of silver, sunlight in their hair, moonlight shining around it, the «celestial chariot» (Himmelswagen, or Ursa Major) on their shoulder, and stars in their underarms. The king dispatches a servant to look for a washerwoman and a witch offers her services. The witch replaces the boys for animals, takes them to the woods and hides them under a white stone. After the third pregnancy, the mother hides two of her sons «on her sleeve» and is banished with them on a barrel cast in the sea. The barrel washes ashore on an island. Both boys grow up in days, and capture a talking pike that tells them to cut it open to find magical objects inside its entrails. They use the objects to build a grand house on the island for themselves and their mother. After a merchant visits the island and reports to their father, the king’s son arrives on the island and makes peace with his wife. Sometime later, both sons ask his mother to prepare some cakes with her breastmilk, so they can look for their remaining brothers, still missing. Both brothers spare a seagull who carries them across the sea to another country, where they find their seven brothers under an avian transformation curse.^[71]

In a tale from Pudozh, collected in 1939 and published in 1982 with the title «Про кота-пахаря» («About the Pakharya Cat»), three sisters promise great things if they marry Ivan, the merchant’s son; the youngest sister, named Barbara (Varvara), promises to bear three sons with golden arms and a red sun on the front. She marries Ivan and bears three sons, in three consecutive pregnancies, but the sons are replaced for puppies and the third is cast in barrel along with his mother. The son grows up in hours, becomes a young man, and both wash ashore on a deserted island. Whatever he wishes for, his mother blesses him so that his prayers go «from his lips to God’s ears». And so appear a magical cat that sings poems and a bath house that rejuvenates people.^[72]

In a Karelian tale collected in 1947 and published in 1963 with the title Yheksän kultaista poikua (Russian: Девять золотых сыновей, romanized: Devyat’ zolotikh synovei, lit. ‘Nine Golden Sons’), a woman has three daughters. One day, they talk among themselves: the elder promises to prepare food for the whole army with just one grain of barley, the middle one that she can weave clothes for the army with only a thread of linen; and the youngest promises to bear three sons with hands of gold, legs of silver, a moon on their temples, pearls in their eyes, the Ursa Major constellation on their shoulders and «heavenly stars» on their backs. The sisters repeat their conversation in a bath house, and the king’s son overhears them. The king’s son marries the youngest sister and takes her to his palace. On the way back, the couple finds a woman named Suyoatar and take her as their midwife. Suyoatar replaces the children with three wolfcubs and hides the children under a white stone. The same event happens with the next two pregnancies (three crows in the second, and three magpies in the third), but, on the third pregnancy, she hides on son with her. Mother and son are cast in the sea in a barrel, but the barrel washes ashore. They begin to live on an island, and the son asks his mother to sew 8 shirts and bake 8 koloboks with her breastmilk, for he intends to rescue his brothers.^[73]

In a Karelian tale collected in 1937 and published in 1983 with the title Kolme sisäreštä (Russian: Три сестры, romanized: Tri sestry, lit. ‘Three Sisters’), an old couple have three daughters. One day, during the «vierista» holiday, they pay a visit to the Vierista akka (Old Woman Vierista), but hide in a cow’s hide. Vierista drags the girls to a forest and abandons them there. They climb a tree for shelter and the king’s on, during a hunt, finds them. The king’s son brings them to the palace, and the youngest sister strikes the king’s son’s fancy the most. While at the castle, the girls go to a bath house and talk to one another: the elder wants to marry the royal cook and promises to weave clothes for the whole army with a single thread; the middle one wants to marry the royal steward and promises to cook food for the whole army with a single grain; the youngest wants to marry the king’s son and promises to bear three children, the oldest a daughter, all with hands of gold, legs of silver, a moon on their temples; the Ursa Major on the shoulders and the stars in their back. The children are born, but the sisters replace them by animals and cast in the water. The children are saved by a gardener and, years later, are sent for a fountain of water of life, the ringing tree and the talking bird.^[74]

Finland[edit]

Tale type 707 is known in Finland as Kolme kultaista poikaa («Three Golden Boys»).^[75][76]

In a late 19th century article, Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne noted that the story was found «all over» Finland, but it was «especially common» in the eastern part of the country, namely, in Arkhangelsk and Olonets. Moreover, Finnish variants «always» («всегда») begin with the three sisters, and the youngest promising to bear children with marvelous qualities: golden hands and silver feet, or with astral birthmarks (moon on the forehead and sun on the crown). The number of promised children may vary between 3, 9, and 12, and, according to Aarne, nine is the number that appears in variants from Eastern Finland. Lastly, in all variants («всехъ вариантахъ»), the queen and one of her sons are cast in the sea in a barrel.^[77]

According to the Finnish Folktale Catalogue, established by scholar Pirkko-Liisa Rausmaa, the type of redaction is the following; the third sister promises to bear either nine or three golden sons, the witch Syöjättar replaces the sons for crows, and the mother and the only son(s) she rescued are thrown in the sea in a barrel.^[78]

Regional tales[edit]

Finnish author Eero Salmelainen [fi] collected three Finnish variants he grouped under the banner Naisen yhdeksän poikaa («The Woman’s Nine Children»).^[79] In one of his tales, titled Tynnyrissä kaswanut Poika («The boy who grew in a barrel»), summarized by W. Henry Jones and Lajos Kropf, the king overhears three daughters of a peasant woman boasting about their abilities, the third sister promising to bear three sets of triplets with the moon on their temples, the sun on the top of their heads, hands of gold, and feet of silver. She marries the king, and her envious older sisters substitute the boys for animals. She manages to save her youngest child, but both are cast into the sea in a barrel. They reach an island; her son grows up at a fast rate and asks his mother to prepare nine cakes with her milk, so he can use them to rescue his brothers.^[80]

In another tale, titled Saaressa eläjät and translated into German as Die auf der Insel Lebenden («Living on an island»), the third sister promises to bear three sons in each pregnancy and marries the king. The king sends for a midwife and a mysterious woman offers her services — the witch Syöjätär. The witch replaces the children with animals, but by the third time, the mother hides her latest son. The mother is cast in the sea in a barrel and washes ashore on an island. She and her son pray to God for a house, and He grants their prayer. The king marries another wife, the daughter of Syojatar, who tells him about wonder in a faraway place: three pigs, six stallions, and eight golden boys on a large stone. The son decides to find the eight boys and asks his mother to prepare cakes with her breastmilk. He brings his eight brothers back to their mother. The king decides to visit the island, meets his wife and nine sons, and discovers the truth.^[81][82]

August Löwis de Menar translated a Finnish variant from Ingermanland, with the title Bruder und Schwester und die goldlockigen Königssöhne («Brother and Sister, and the golden-haired sons of the King»): a pair of siblings, a boy and a girl, flee from home and live in the forest. One day, the king finds the girl, naked atop a tree, and asks if she is a baptized woman. They marry and she gives birth to two golden-haired sons in each pregnancy, but they are replaced for animals and given to a devil. The mother gives birth to a seventh son and she is banished in the sea in a barrel. They reach an island and God helps them by creating a grand palace. The seventh son asks his mother to prepare cakes with her breastmilk because he decides to find his six brothers. He reaches the house of the devil and takes his siblings back to his mother. One day, the king visits their island palace and wishes to be told a story. The seventh son tells the king, their father, the story of their family. The king recognizes his sons and reconciles with his wife.^[83]

In a Finnish tale translated into English as Mielikki and her nine sons, three maidens go for a walk in the woods and talk to each other: the first promises to make bread for the whole army with three barley seeds; the second that she can weave clothes for the army with three stalks of flax, and the third, named Mielikki, that she will bear nine sons. A king named Aslo overhears their boasts and chooses Mielikki as his wife. The bards celebrate the occasion with a song that describes the royal children as having hands of gold, feet of silver, a «shining dawn» on their shoulders, a moonbeam on their chests, and «stars of heaven» on their foreheads. The king’s servants procure a midwife for the queen and find an old woman named Noita-Akka. Each time the queen bears three sons that are replaced by three crows by Noita-Akka and hidden near a white stone in the woods. The third time, however, Mielikki protects two sons from the midwife’s machinations, but she and her two children are cast in the sea in a barrel. Mother and children wash ashore on an island and live out their days there. One day, trade merchants come to King Aslo’s court and describe the two boys they saw on the island. King Aslo finds his wife and sons and takes them back. After the joyous reunion, the two remaining brothers decide to look for their missing siblings. At the end of the tale, they find an old woman’s house, and the old woman tells them their seven brothers become gulls by wearing feather robes, so, in order to lift their curse, the pair must burn the brothers’ feather robes.^[84]

Veps people[edit]

Karelian scholarship reports 15 variants from Veps sources. Most of which also follow the Russian (or East Slavic) redaction of the tale type 707 (that is, «The Tale of Tsar Saltan»).^[85]

At least one variant of type 707 was collected from a Veps source by linguist Paul Ariste and published in 1964.^[86]

Mordvin people[edit]

Russian author Stepan V. Anikin [ru] published a tale from the Mordvin people titled «Двенадцать братьев» («Twelve Brothers»). In this tale, a czar’s son, still single, likes to overhear the conversation under people’s windows. In one house, he overhears three sisters who are spinning and talking: they each talk about marrying the czar’s son, but the elder promises to clothe an entire regiment with a single spool of thread; the middle one that she can bake a piece of bread so large to feed two regiments with a single bite, and the youngest promises to bear twelve sons, each with a sun on the front, a moon on the back of the head, stars in their hair. The czar’s son chooses the youngest as his wife and marries her. When she is pregnant for the first time, the czar’s son looks for a midwife, and finds a woman named Vedyava by the river and hires her. Vedyava takes the first son, hides him elsewhere, and replaces him with a kitten. This happens with the next ten pregnancies, until the czar’s son, fed up with the apparently false promises, orders his wife to be locked up in an iron barrel with her last son and cast in the sea. His order is carried out, and the pair sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Fifteen years pass, and son and mother pray to God for the barrel to wash ashore on any island. This happens, and they find themselves on land. The boy finds three men quarreling about an ax, a cloth, and a magic cudgel and steals them to build a house for him and his mother. Later, some fishermen come to the island and depart to visit the czar’s son, now the czar himself and married to Vedyava. The boy turns into a little mosquito and flies incognito to his father’s court. Vedyava mocks the fishermen’s report, and tells of other miraculous sights: first, a boar-pig that plows fields with its paws and sows with its snout; second, a mare that foals with each step; third, a tree with silver bells that ring with the wind, and a singing bird perched on it; lastly, about eleven boys that live somewhere, each with a sun on the front, a moon on the back of the head, and stars in their hair. After each visit, the boy finds the boar-pig, the mare and its foals, the bell-tree and the bird. As for the last sight, the boy recognizes it is about his brothers and asks his mother to bake eleven loaves of bread for the road, then goes on a quest for them. With the help of a magic bird, the boy is carried to the brothers’ hut and takes them back to their mother.^[87]

Other regions[edit]

Zaonezh’ya[edit]

In a tale from Zaonezh’ya [fr] with the title «Про Ивана-царевича» («About Ivan-Tsarevich»), recorded in 1982, three sisters in a bath house talk among themselves, the youngest says she will bear nine sons with golden legs, silver arms and pearls in their hair. She marries Ivan-Tsarevich. A local witch named Yegibikha, who wants her daughter, Beautiful Nastasya, to marry Ivan, acts as the new queen’s midwife and replaces eight of her sons for animals. The last son and mother are thrown into the sea in a barrel and wash ashore on an island. The child grows up in days and asks his mother to prepare koluboks with her breastmilk. He rescues his brothers with the koluboks and takes them to the island. Finally, the son wishes that a bridge appears between the island and the continent, and that visitors come to their new home. As if granting his wish, an old beggar woman comes and visits the island, and later goes to Ivan-Tsarevich to tell him about it.^[88]

Adaptations[edit]

• 1900 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in which the popular piece Flight of the Bumblebee is found.
• 1943 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, USSR, traditionally animated film directed by Brumberg sisters.^[89]
• 1966 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, USSR, feature film directed by Aleksandr Ptushko.^[90]
• 1984 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, USSR, traditionally animated film directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Lev Milchin.^[91]
• 2012 — an Assyrian Aramaic poem by Malek Rama Lakhooma and Hannibal Alkhas, loosely based on the Pushkin fairy tale, was staged in San Jose, CA (USA). Edwin Elieh composed the music available on CD.

Gallery of illustrations[edit]

Ivan Bilibin made the following illustrations for Pushkin’s tale in 1905:

• 

  Tsar Saltan at the window

• 

  The Island of Buyan

• 

  Flight of the mosquito

• 

  The Merchants Visit Tsar Saltan

See also[edit]

This basic folktale has variants from many lands. Compare:

• «The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird»
• «Princess Belle-Etoile»
• «The Three Little Birds»
• Ancilotto, King of Provino
• «The Bird of Truth»
• «The Water of Life»
• The Wicked Sisters
• The Boys with the Golden Stars
• A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers
• The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead
• The Hedgehog, the Merchant, the King and the Poor Man
• Silver Hair and Golden Curls
• Sun, Moon and Morning Star
• The Golden-Haired Children
• Les Princes et la Princesse de Marinca
• Two Pieces of Nuts
• The Children with the Golden Locks (Georgian folktale)
• The Pretty Little Calf
• The Rich Khan Badma
• The Story of Arab-Zandiq
• The Bird that Spoke the Truth
• The Story of The Farmer’s Three Daughters
• The Golden Fish, The Wonder-working Tree and the Golden Bird
• King Ravohimena and the Magic Grains
• Zarlik and Munglik (Uzbek folktale)
• The Child with a Moon on his Chest (Sotho)
• The Story of Lalpila (Indian folktale)

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Azadovsky, Mark, and McGavran, James. «The Sources of Pushkin’s Fairy Tales». In: Pushkin Review 20 (2018): 5-39. doi:10.1353/pnr.2018.0001.
• Mazon, André. «Le Tsar Saltan». In: Revue des études slaves, tome 17, fascicule 1–2, 1937. pp. 5–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/slave.1937.7637; [www.persee.fr/doc/slave_0080-2557_1937_num_17_1_7637 persee.fr]
• Orlov, Janina. «Chapter 2. Orality and literacy, continued: Playful magic in Pushkin’s Tale of Tsar Saltan». In: Children’s Literature as Communication: The ChiLPA project. Edited by Roger D. Sell [Studies in Narrative 2]. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2002. pp. 39–53. https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.2.05orl
• Oranskij, I. M. «A Folk-Tale in the Indo-Aryan Parya Dialect (A Central Asian Variant of the Tale of Czar Saltan)». In: East and West 20, no. 1/2 (1970): 169–78. Accessed September 5, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29755508.
• Wachtel, Michael. «Pushkin’s Turn to Folklore». In: Pushkin Review 21 (2019): 107–154. doi:10.1353/pnr.2019.0006.

External links[edit]

• A. D. P. Briggs (January 1983). Alexander Pushkin: A Critical Study. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-389-20340-7.
• (in Russian) Сказка о царе Салтане available at Lib.ru
• The Tale of Tsar Saltan, transl. by Louis Zellikoff

The Tale of Tsar Saltan
The mythical island of Buyan (illustration by Ivan Bilibin).
Folk tale
Name	The Tale of Tsar Saltan
Aarne–Thompson grouping	ATU 707, «The Three Golden Children»
Region	Russia
Published in	Сказка о царе Салтане (1831), by Александр Сергеевич Пушкин (Alexander Pushkin)
Related	The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird

The Tale of Tsar Saltan, of His Son the Renowned and Mighty Bogatyr Prince Gvidon Saltanovich, and of the Beautiful Princess-Swan (Russian: «Сказка о царе Салтане, о сыне его славном и могучем богатыре князе Гвидоне Салтановиче и о прекрасной царевне Лебеди», tr. Skazka o tsare Saltane, o syne yevo slavnom i moguchem bogatyre knyaze Gvidone Saltanoviche i o prekrasnoy tsarevne Lebedi listen (help·info)) is an 1831 fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin. As a folk tale it is classified as Aarne–Thompson type 707, «The Three Golden Children», for it being a variation of The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird.^[1]

Synopsis[edit]

The story is about three sisters. The youngest is chosen by Tsar Saltan (Saltán) to be his wife. He orders the other two sisters to be his royal cook and weaver. They become jealous of their younger sister. When the tsar goes off to war, the tsaritsa gives birth to a son, Prince Gvidon (Gvidón). The older sisters arrange to have the tsaritsa and the child sealed in a barrel and thrown into the sea.

The sea takes pity on them and casts them on the shore of a remote island, Buyan. The son, having quickly grown while in the barrel, goes hunting. He ends up saving an enchanted swan from a kite bird.

The swan creates a city for Prince Gvidon to rule, which some merchants, on the way to Tsar Saltan’s court, admire and go to tell Tsar Saltan. Gvidon is homesick, so the swan turns him into a mosquito to help him. In this guise, he visits Tsar Saltan’s court. In his court, his middle aunt scoffs at the merchant’s narration about the city in Buyan, and describes a more interesting sight: in an oak lives a squirrel that sings songs and cracks nuts with a golden shell and kernel of emerald. Gvidon, as a mosquito, stings his aunt in the eye and escapes.

Back in his realm, the swan gives Gvidon the magical squirrel. But he continues to pine for home, so the swan transforms him again, this time into a fly. In this guise Prince Gvidon visits Saltan’s court again and overhears his elder aunt telling the merchants about an army of 33 men led by one Chernomor that march in the sea. Gvidon stings his older aunt in the eye and flies back to Buyan. He informs the swan of the 33 «sea-knights», and the swan tells him they are her brothers. They march out of the sea, promise to be guards and watchmen of Gvidon’s city, and vanish.

The third time, the Prince is transformed into a bumblebee and flies to his father’s court. There, his maternal grandmother tells the merchants about a beautiful princess that outshine both the sun in the morning and the moon at night, with crescent moons in her braids and a star on her brow. Gvidon stings her nose and flies back to Buyan.

Back to Buyan, he sighs over not having a bride. The swan inquires the reason, and Gvidon explains about the beautiful princess his grandmother described. The swan promises to find him the maiden and bids him await until the next day. The next day, the swan reveals she is the same princess his grandmother described and turns into a human princess. Gvidon takes her to his mother and introduces her as his bride. His mother gives her blessing to the couple and they are wed.

At the end of the tale, the merchants go to Tsar Saltan’s court and, impressed by their narration, decides to visit this fabled island kingdom at once, despite protests from his sisters- and mother-in-law. He and the court sail away to Buyan, and are welcomed by Gvidon. The prince guides Saltan to meet his lost Tsaritsa, Gvidon’s mother, and discovers her family’s ruse. He is overjoyed to find his newly married son and daughter-in-law.

Translation[edit]

The tale was given in prose form by American journalist Post Wheeler, in his book Russian Wonder Tales (1917).^[2] It was translated in verse by Louis Zellikoff in the book The Tales of Alexander Pushkin (The Tale of the Golden Cockerel & The Tale of Tsar Saltan) (1981).^[3]

Analysis[edit]

Classification[edit]

The versified fairy tale is classified in the Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as tale type ATU 707, «The Three Golden Children». It is also the default form by which the ATU 707 is known in Russian and Eastern European academia.^[4][5] Folklore scholar Christine Goldberg identifies three main forms of this tale type: a variation found «throughout Europe», with the quest for three magical items (as shown in The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird); «an East Slavic form», where mother and son are cast in a barrel and later the sons build a palace; and a third one, where the sons are buried and go through a transformation sequence, from trees to animals to humans again.^[6]

In a late 19th century article, Russian ethnographer Grigory Potanin identified a group of Russian fairy tales with the following characteristics: three sisters boast about grand accomplishments, the youngest about giving birth to wondrous children; the king marries her and makes her his queen; the elder sisters replace their nephews for animals, and the queen is cast in the sea with her son in a barrel; mother and son survive and the son goes after strange and miraculous items; at the end of the tale, the deceit is revealed and the queen’s sisters are punished.^[7]

French scholar Gédeon Huet considered this format as «the Slavic version» of Les soeurs jalouses and suggested that this format «penetrated into Siberia», brought by Russian migrants.^[8]

Russian tale collections attest to the presence of Baba Yaga, the witch of Slavic folklore, as the antagonist in many of the stories.^[9]

Russian scholar T. V. Zueva suggests that this format must have developed during the period of the Kievan Rus, a period where an intense fluvial trade network developed, since this «East Slavic format» emphasizes the presence of foreign merchants and traders. She also argues for the presence of the strange island full of marvels as another element.^[10]

Rescue of brothers from transformation[edit]

In some variants of this format, the castaway boy sets a trap to rescue his brothers and release them from a transformation curse. For example, in Nád Péter («Schilf-Peter«), a Hungarian variant,^[11] when the hero of the tale sees a flock of eleven swans flying, he recognizes them as their brothers, who have been transformed into birds due to divine intervention by Christ and St. Peter.

In another format, the boy asks his mother to prepare a meal with her «breast milk» and prepares to invade his brothers’ residence to confirm if they are indeed his siblings. This plot happens in a Finnish variant, from Ingermanland, collected in Finnische und Estnische Volksmärchen (Bruder und Schwester und die goldlockigen Königssöhne, or «Brother and Sister, and the golden-haired sons of the King»).^[12] The mother gives birth to six sons with special traits who are sold to a devil by the old midwife. Some time later, their youngest brother enters the devil’s residence and succeeds in rescuing his siblings.

Russian scholar T. V. Zueva argues that the use of «mother’s milk» or «breast milk» as the key to the reversal of the transformation can be explained by the ancient belief that it has curse-breaking properties.^[10] Likewise, scholarship points to an old belief connecting breastmilk and «natal blood», as observed in the works of Aristotle and Galen. Thus, the use of mother’s milk serves to reinforce the hero’s blood relation with his brothers.^[13] Russian professor Khemlet Tatiana Yurievna describes that this is the version of the tale type in East Slavic, Scandinavian and Baltic variants,^[14] although Russian folklorist Lev Barag [ru] claimed that this motif is «characteristic» of East Slavic folklore, not necessarily related to variants of tale type 707.^[15]

Mythological parallels[edit]

This «Slavic» narrative (mother and child or children cast into a chest) recalls the motif of «The Floating Chest», which appears in narratives of Greek mythology about the legendary birth of heroes and gods.^[16][17] The motif also appears in the Breton legend of saint Budoc and his mother Azénor: Azénor was still pregnant when cast into the sea in a box by her husband, but an angel led her to safety and she gave birth to future Breton saint Budoc.^[18]

Central Asian parallels[edit]

Following professor Marat Nurmukhamedov’s (ru) study on Pushkin’s verse fairy tale,^[19] professor Karl Reichl (ky) argues that the dastan (a type of Central Asian oral epic poetry) titled Šaryar, from the Turkic Karakalpaks, is «closely related» to the tale type of the Calumniated Wife, and more specifically to The Tale of Tsar Saltan.^[20][21]

Variants[edit]

Distribution[edit]

Russian folklorist Lev Barag [ru] attributed the diffusion of this format amongst the East Slavs to the popularity of Pushkin’s versified tale.^[15]

Professor Jack Haney stated that the tale type registers 78 variants in Russia and 30 tales in Belarus.^[22]

In Ukraine, a previous analysis by professor Nikolai Andrejev noted an amount between 11 and 15 variants of type «The Marvelous Children».^[23] A later analysis by Haney gave 23 variants registered.^[22]

Predecessors[edit]

The earliest version of tale type 707 in Russia was recorded in «Старая погудка на новый лад» (1794–1795), with the name «Сказка о Катерине Сатериме» (Skazka o Katyerinye Satyerimye; «The Tale of Katarina Saterima»).^[24][25][26] In this tale, Katerina Saterima is the youngest princess, and promises to marry the Tsar of Burzhat and bear him two sons, their arms of gold to the elbow, their legs of silver to the knee, and pearls in their hair. The princess and her two sons are put in a barrel and thrown in the sea.

The same work collected a second variant: Сказка о Труде-королевне («The Tale of Princess Trude»), where the king and queen consult with a seer and learn of the prophecy that their daughter will give birth to the wonder-children: she is to give birth to nine sons in three gestations, and each of them shall have arms of gold up to the elbow, legs of silver up to the knee, pearls in their hair, a shining moon on the front and a red sun on the back of the neck. This prediction catches the interest of a neighboring king, who wishes to marry the princess and father the wonder-children.^[27][28]

Another compilation in the Russian language that precedes both The Tale of Tsar Saltan and Afanasyev’s tale collection was «Сказки моего дедушки» (1820), which recorded a variant titled «Сказка о говорящей птице, поющем дереве и золо[то]-желтой воде» (Skazka o govoryashchyey ptitse, poyushchyem dyeryevye i zolo[to]-zhyeltoy vodye).^[26]

Early-20th century Russian scholarship also pointed that Arina Rodionovna, Pushkin’s nanny, may have been one of the sources of inspiration to his versified fairy tale Tsar Saltan. Rodionovna’s version, heard in 1824, contains the three sisters; the youngest’s promise to bear 33 children, and a 34th born «of a miracle» — all with silver legs up to the knee, golden arms up to the elbows, a star on the front, a moon on the back; the mother and sons cast in the water; the quest for the strange sights the sisters mention to the king in court. Rodionovna named the prince «Sultan Sultanovich», which may hint at a foreign origin for her tale.^[29]

East Slavic languages[edit]

Russia[edit]

Russian folklorist Alexander Afanasyev collected seven variants, divided in two types: The Children with Calves of Gold and Forearms of Silver (in a more direct translation: Up to the Knee in Gold, Up to the Elbow in Silver),^[30][31] and The Singing Tree and The Speaking Bird.^[32][33] Two of his tales have been translated into English: The Singing-Tree and the Speaking-Bird^[34] and The Wicked Sisters. In the later, the children are male triplets with astral motifs on their bodies, but there is no quest for the wondrous items.

Another Russian variant follows the format of The Brother Quests for a Bride. In this story, collected by Russian folklorist Ivan Khudyakov [ru] with the title «Иванъ Царевичъ и Марья Жолтый Цвѣтъ» or «Ivan Tsarevich and Maria the Yellow Flower», the tsaritsa is expelled from the imperial palace, after being accused of giving birth to puppies. In reality, her twin children (a boy and a girl) were cast in the sea in a barrel and found by a hermit. When they reach adulthood, their aunts send the brother on a quest for the lady Maria, the Yellow Flower, who acts as the speaking bird and reveals the truth during a banquet with the tsar.^[35][36]

One variant of the tale type has been collected in «Priangarya» (Irkutsk Oblast), in East Siberia.^[37]

In a tale collected in Western Dvina (Daugava), «Каровушка-Бялонюшка», the stepdaughter promises to give birth to «three times three children», all with arms of gold, legs of silver and stars on their heads. Later in the story, her stepmother dismisses her stepdaughter’s claims to the tsar, by telling him of strange and wondrous things in a distant kingdom.^[38] This tale was also connected to Pushkin’s Tsar Saltan, along with other variants from Northwestern Russia.^[39]

Russian ethnographer Grigory Potanin gave the summary of variant collected by Romanov about a «Сын Хоробор» («Son Horobor»): a king has three daughters, the other has an only son, who wants to marry the youngest sister. The other two try to impress him by flaunting their abilities in weaving (sewing 30 shirts with only one «kuzhalinka», a fiber) and cooking (making 30 pies with only a bit of wheat), but he insists on marrying the third one, who promises to bear him 30 sons and a son named «Horobor», all with a star on the front, the moon on the back, with golden up to the waist and silver up to knees. The sisters replace the 30 sons for animals, exchange the prince’s letters and write a false order for the queen and Horobor to be cast into the sea in a barrel. Horobor (or Khyrobor) prays to god for the barrel to reach safe land. He and his mother build a palace on the island, which is visited by merchants. Horobor gives the merchants a cat that serves as his spy on the sisters’ extraordinary claims.^[40]

Another version given by Potanin was collected in Biysk by Adrianov: a king listens to the conversations of three sisters, and marries the youngest, who promises to give birth to three golden-handed boys. However, a woman named Yagishna replaces the boys for a cat, a dog and a «korosta». The queen and the three animals are thrown in the sea in a barrel. The cat, the dog and the korosta spy on Yagishna telling about the three golden-handed boys hidden in a well and rescue them.^[41]

In a Siberian tale collected by A. A. Makarenko in Kazachinskaya Volost, «О царевне и её трех сыновьях» («The Tsarevna and her three children»), two girls – a peasant’s daughter and Baba Yaga’s daughter – talk about what they would do to marry the king. The girl promises to give birth to three sons: one with legs of silver, the second with legs of gold, and the third with a red sun on the front, a bright moon on the neck, and stars braided in his hair. The king marries her. Near the sons’ delivery (in three consecutive pregnancies), Baba Yaga is brought to be the queen’s midwife. After each boy’s birth, she replaces them with a puppy, a kitten, and a block of wood. The queen is cast into the sea in a barrel with the animals and the object until they reach the shore. The puppy and the kitten act as the queen’s helper and rescue the three biological sons sitting on an oak tree.^[42]

Another tale was collected from a 70-year-old teller named Elizaveta Ivanovna Sidorova, in Tersky District, Murmansk Oblast, in 1957, by Dimitri M. Balashov. In her tale, «Девять богатырей — по колен ноги в золоте, по локоть руки в серебре» («Nine bogatyrs — up to the knees in gold, up to the elbows in silver»), a girl promises to give birth to 9 sons with arms of silver and legs of gold, and the sun, moon, stars and a «dawn» adorning their heads and hair. A witch named yaga-baba replaced the boys with animals and things to trick the king. The queen is thrown in the sea with the animals, which act as her helpers. When yaga-baba, on the third visit, tells the king of a place where there are nine boys just as the queen described, the animals decide to rescue them.^[43]

In a tale collected from teller A. V. Chuprov with the title «Федор-царевич, Иван-царевич и их оклеветанная мать» («Fyodor Tsarevich, Ivan Tsarevich and their Calumniated Mother»), a king passes by three servants and inquires them about their skills: the first says she can work with silk, the second can bake and cook, and the third says whoever marries her, she will bear him two sons, one with hands covered in gold and legs in silver, a sun on the front, stars on the sides and a moon on the back, and another with arms of a golden color and legs with a silvery tint. The king takes the third servant as his wife. The queen writes a letter to be delivered to the king, but the messenger stops by a bath house and its contents are altered to tell the king his wife gave birth to two puppies. The children are baptized and given the named Fyodor and Ivan. Ivan is given to another king, while the mother is cast in a barrel with Fyodor; both wash ashore on Buyan. Fyodor tries to make contact with some merchants on a ship. Fyodor reaches his father’s kingdom and overhears the conversation about the wondrous sights: a talking squirrel on a tree that tells fairy tales and a similar looking youth (his brother Ivan) on a distant kingdom. Fyodor steals a magic carpet, rescues Ivan and flies back to Buyan with his brother, a princess and an old woman.^[44] The tale was also classified as type 707, thus related to Russian tale «Tsar Saltan».^[45]

In a tale collected by Chudjakov with the title Der weise Iwan («The Wise Ivan»), Ivan Tsarevich, the son of a tsar, pays a visit to a king and his three daughters. He listens to their conversation: the elder sister promises to weave trousers and shirts for the tsar’s son with a single flax; the middle one that she can weave the same with only a spool of thread, and the youngest that she can bear him six sons, the seventh a «wise Ivan», and all of them with arms of gold up to the elbow, legs of silver up the knee and pearls in their hair. The tsar’s son marries the youngest sister, to the jealousy of the elder sisters. While Ivan Tsarevich goes to war, the jealous sisters join with a sorceress to defame the queen, by taking the children as soon as they are born and replace them for animals. After the third pregnancy, the queen and her son, wise Ivan, are cast in the sea in a barrel. The barrel washes ashore on an island and they live there. Some time later, merchants come to the island and later visit Ivan Tsarevich’s court to tell of strange sights they have seen: exotic felines (sables and martens); singing birds of paradise from the jealous sisters’ aunt’s garden; and six sons with arms of gold, legs of silver and pearls in their hair. Wise Ivan returns to his mother and asks his mother to bake six cakes. Wise Ivan flies to the sorceress’s hut and rescues his brothers.^[46]

Belarus[edit]

In a Belarusian tale collected by Evdokim Romanov (ru) with the name «Дуб Дорохвей» or «Дуб Дарахвей» («The Dorokhveï Oak») (fr), a widowed old man marries another woman, who detests his three daughters and orders her husband to dispose of them. The old man takes them to the swamp and abandons the girls there. They notice that their father is not with them, take refuge under a pine tree and begin to cry over their situation, their tears producing a river. The tsar, seeing the river, orders their servants to find its source.^[a] They find the three maidens and take them to the king, who inquires about their origin: they say they were expelled from home. The tsar asks each maiden what they can do, and the youngest says she will give birth to 12 sons, their legs of gold, their waist of silver, the moon on the forehead and a small star on the back of the neck. The tsar chooses the third sister, and she bears the 12 sons while he is away. The sisters falsify a letter with a lie that she gave birth to animals and she should be thrown in the sea in a barrel. Eleven of her sons are put in a leather bag and thrown in the sea, but they wash ashore on an island where the Dorokhveï Oak lies. The oak is hollowed, so they make their residence there. Meanwhile, mother and her 12th son are thrown in the sea in a barrel, but leave the barrel as soon as it washes ashore on another island. The son tells her he will rescue his eleven brothers by asks her to bake cakes with her breastmilk. After the siblings are reunited, the son turns into an insect to spy on his aunts and eavesdrop on the conversation about the kingdom of wonders, one of them, a cat that walks and tells stories and tales [fr].^[47]

Ukraine[edit]

In a Ukrainian tale, «Песинський, жабинський, сухинський і золотокудрії сини цариці» («Pesinsky, Zhabinsky, Sukhinsky^[b] and the golden-haired sons of the queen»), three sisters are washing clothes in the river when they see in the distance a man rowing a boat. The oldest says it might be God, and if it is, may He take her, because she can feed many with a piece of bread. The second says it might be a prince, so she says she wants him to take her, because she will be able to weave clothes for a whole army with just a yarn. The third recognizes him as the tsar, and promises that, after they marry, she will give birth to twelve sons with golden curls. When the girl, now queen, gives birth, the old midwife takes the children, tosses them in a well and replaces them with animals. After the third birth, the tsar consults his ministers and they advise him to cast the queen and her animal children in the sea in a barrel. The barrel washes ashore an island and the three animals build a castle and a glass bridge to mainland. When some sailors visit the island, they visit the tsar to report on the strange sights on the island. The old midwife, however, interrupts their narration by revealing somewhere else there is something even more fantastical. Pesinsky, Zhabinsky and Sukhinsky spy on their audience and run away to fetch these things and bring them to their island. At last, the midwife reveals that there is a well with three golden-curled sons inside, and Pesinsky, Zhabinsky and Sukhinsky rescue them. The same sailors visit the strange island (this time the true sons of the tsar are there) and report their findings to the tsar, who discovers the truth and orders the midwife to be punished.^[48][49] According to scholarship, professor Lev Grigorevich Barag noted that this sequence (dog helping the calumniated mother in finding the requested objects) appears as a variation of the tale type 707 only in Ukraine, Russia, Bashkir and Tuvan.^[50]

In a tale summarized by folklorist Mykola Sumtsov with the title «Завистливая жена» («The Envious Wife»), the girl promises to bear a son with a golden star on the forehead and a moon on his navel. She is persecuted by her sister-in-law.^[51][52]

In a South Russian (Ukrainian) variant collected by Ukrainian folklorist Ivan Rudchenko [ru], «Богатырь з бочки» («The Bogatyr in a barrel»), after the titular bogatyr is thrown in the sea with his mother, he spies on the false queen to search the objects she describes: a cat that walks on a chain, a golden bridge near a magical church and a stone-grinding windmill that produces milk and eight falcon-brothers with golden arms up to the elbow, silver legs up to the knees, golden crown, a moon on the front and stars on the temples.^[53][54]

Baltic languages[edit]

Latvia[edit]

According to the Latvian Folktale Catalogue, tale type 707, «The Three Golden Children», is known in Latvia as Brīnuma bērni («Wonderful Children»), comprising 4 different redactions. Its first redaction registers the highest number of tales and follows The Tale of Tsar Saltan: the king marries the youngest of three sisters, because she promises to bear him many children with wonderful traits, her sisters replace the children for animals and their youngest is cast into the sea in a barrel with one of her sons; years later, her son seeks the strange wonders the sisters mention (a cat that dances and tells stories, and a group of male brothers that appear somewhere on a certain place).^[55]

Lithuania[edit]

According to professor Bronislava Kerbelyte [lt], the tale type is reported to register 244 (two hundred and forty-four) Lithuanian variants, under the banner Three Extraordinary Babies, with and without contamination from other tale types.^[56] However, only 39 variants in Lithuania contain the quest for the strange sights and animals described to the king. Kerbelytė also remarks that many Lithuanian versions of this format contain the motif of baking bread with the hero’s mother’s breastmilk to rescue the hero’s brothers.^[57]

In a variant published by Fr. Richter in Zeitschrift für Volkskunde with the title Die drei Wünsche («The Three Wishes»), three sisters spend an evening talking and weaving, the youngest saying she would like to have a son, bravest of all and loyal to the king. The king appears, takes the sisters, and marries the youngest. Her son is born and grows up exceptionally fast, much to the king’s surprise. One day, he goes to war and sends a letter to his wife to send their son to the battlefield. The queen’s jealous sisters intercept the letter and send him a frog dressed in fine clothes. The king is enraged and replies with a written order to cast his wife in the water. The sisters throw the queen and her son in the sea in a barrel, but they wash ashore in an island. The prince saves a hare from a fox. The prince asks the hare about recent events. Later, the hare is disenchanted into a princess with golden eyes and silver hair, who marries the prince.^[58]

Finnic languages[edit]

Estonia[edit]

The tale type is known in Estonia as Imelised lapsed («The Miraculous Children»). Estonian folklorists identified two opening episodes: either the king’s son finds the three sisters, or the three sisters are abandoned in the woods and cry so much their tears create a river that flows to the king’s palace.^[a] The third sister promises to bear the wonder children with astronomical motifs on their bodies. The story segues into the Tale of Tsar Saltan format: the mother and the only child she rescued are thrown into the sea; the son grows up and seeks the wonders the evil aunts tell his father about: «a golden pig, a wonderous cat, miraculous children».^[59]

Regional tales[edit]

Folklorist William Forsell Kirby translated an Estonian version first collected by Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald,^[60] with the name The Prince who rescued his brothers: a king with silver-coated legs and golden-coated arms marries a general’s daughter with the same attributes. When she gives birth to her sons, her elder sister sells eleven of her nephews to «Old Boy» (a devil-like character) while the queen is banished with her twelfth son and cast adrift into the sea in a barrel. At the end of the tale, the youngest prince releases his brothers from Old Boy and they transform into doves to reach their mother.^[61]

In a tale from the Lutsi Estonians collected by linguist Oskar Kallas with the name Kuningaemand ja ta kakstõistkümmend poega («The Queen and her Twelve Sons»), a man remarries and, on orders of his new wife, takes his three daughters to the forest on the pretext of picking up berries, and abandons them there. The king’s bird flies through the woods and finds the girls. The animal inquires them about their skills: the elder one says she can feed the whole world with an ear of wheat; the middle one that she can clothe the whole world with a single linen thread, and the third that she will bear 12 sons, each with a moon on the head, the sun, and stars on their bodies. The bird carries each one to the king, who takes them in. Years later, the king marries the third girl, and she gives birth to three sons in her first pregnancy. Her elder sister takes the boys and drops them in a swamp, replacing them with kittens. This happens again with the next pregnancies: as soon as they are born, the triplets are replaced for animals (puppies in the second, piglets in the third, and lambs in the fourth). However, in the fourth pregnancy, the queen hides one of her sons with her. The king orders her to cast his wife in the sea in an iron boat with her son. The son begs for an island to receive them, and his mother blesses his prayer. After they wash ashore on the island, the boy wishes the island is filled with golden and silver trees, with apples with half of gold and half of silver. His mother blesses his wish, and it happens. He next wishes for a palace larger than his father’s, an army greater than his, and finally for a bridge to connect the island to the continent. Later, he asks his mother to bake 12 cakes with her breastmilk, for he intends to rescue his older brothers. He crosses the bridge and reaches a swamp, then finds a moss-covered hut. He enters the hut and places the 12 cakes on the table. His eleven brothers — everyone shining due to their birthmarks — come to the hut and eat the cakes. Their younger brother appears and convinces them to join their mother on the island. Later, the son wishes for instruments to play, which draws the attention of his father, the king. The king comes to the island and learns of the whole truth.^[62]

Kallas published a homonymous variant from the Lutsi Estonians in abbreviated form. In this tale, a king meets three maidens on the road; the third promises to bear him 12 sons with the sun and the moon on the head, a star on their breast, hands of gold and feet of silver. The king and the maiden marry; the children are replaced by animals as soon as they are born, and the mother and her last son are cast into the sea in a sack. The first thing her son does is find his brothers. Later, after he rescues his brothers, he flies back to his father’s court to spy on him and the other maidens, and learns of the sights: a cat that lives in oak and provides clothes for its owner; a cow with a lake between its horns; and a boar that sows his own fields and bakes his own bread.^[63]

In another tale from the Lutsi, published with the title Kolm õde («Three Sisters»), a tsar has three daughters and is a great musician. One day, he leaves home and does not return. His daughters go looking for him and find him dead. They begin to cry, their tears creating a river that flows to another kingdom. The son of another tsar orders his servant to discover its origin and finds the girls. The sisters are brought to the prince’s presence and are questioned about their skills: the elder promises to feed the entire country with one pea, the middle one that she can feed the country’s horses with one grain of oat, and the youngest promises to give birth to 12 sons. The prince marries the third sister. In time, she gives birth to 12 sons. A sequence of falsified letters lies that she gave birth to animal-headed children, and must be punished by being cast in the sea. The prince’s wife and a son are thrown into the sea in a barrel and wash ashore on an island. The son grows up and goes hunting around the island. He prepares to shoot at a swan, but the swan pleads to be spared, and helps the boy three times: the first, to pull a thread by the seashore (which guides his father’s ship to the island); secondly, to throw 11 pebbles on the sea (which summons his 11 brothers to the island); finally, to fish a goldfish (which leads his father’s ship again to the island).^[64]

Karelia[edit]

Karelian researchers register that the tale type is «widely reported» in Karelia, with 55 variants collected,^[65] apart from tales considered to be fragments or summaries of The Tale of Tsar Saltan.^[66] According to their research, at least 50 of them follow the Russian redaction (see above), while 5 of them are closer to the Western European tales.^[65]

According to Karelian scholarship, the witch Syöjätär is the recurrent antagonist in Karelian variants of tale type 707,^[67] especially in tales from South Karelia.^[68]

Regional tales[edit]

In a Karelian tale, «Девять золотых сыновей» («Nine Golden Sons»), the third sister promises to give birth to «three times three» children, their arms of gold up to the elbow, the legs of silver up to the knees, a moon on the temples, a sun on the front and stars in their hair. The king overhears their conversation and takes the woman as his wife. On their way, they meet a woman named Syöjätär, who insists to be the future queen’s midwife. She gives birth to triplets in three consecutive pregnancies, but Syöjätär replaces them for rats, crows and puppies. The queen saves one of her children and is cast into a sea in a barrel. The remaining son asks his mother to bake bread with her breastmilk to rescue his brothers.^[69][70]

Author Eero Salmelainen collected a tale titled Veljiensä etsijät ja joutsenina lentäjät («One who seeks brothers flying as swans»), which poet Emmy Schreck translated as Die neun Söhne des Weibes («The woman’s nine children») and indicated a Russian-Karelian source for this tale. In this variant, three sisters walk in the forest and talk to each other, the youngest promising to bear nine children in three pregnancies. The king’s son overhears them and decides to marry the youngest, and she bears the wonder children with hands of gold, legs of silver, sunlight in their hair, moonlight shining around it, the «celestial chariot» (Himmelswagen, or Ursa Major) on their shoulder, and stars in their underarms. The king dispatches a servant to look for a washerwoman and a witch offers her services. The witch replaces the boys for animals, takes them to the woods and hides them under a white stone. After the third pregnancy, the mother hides two of her sons «on her sleeve» and is banished with them on a barrel cast in the sea. The barrel washes ashore on an island. Both boys grow up in days, and capture a talking pike that tells them to cut it open to find magical objects inside its entrails. They use the objects to build a grand house on the island for themselves and their mother. After a merchant visits the island and reports to their father, the king’s son arrives on the island and makes peace with his wife. Sometime later, both sons ask his mother to prepare some cakes with her breastmilk, so they can look for their remaining brothers, still missing. Both brothers spare a seagull who carries them across the sea to another country, where they find their seven brothers under an avian transformation curse.^[71]

In a tale from Pudozh, collected in 1939 and published in 1982 with the title «Про кота-пахаря» («About the Pakharya Cat»), three sisters promise great things if they marry Ivan, the merchant’s son; the youngest sister, named Barbara (Varvara), promises to bear three sons with golden arms and a red sun on the front. She marries Ivan and bears three sons, in three consecutive pregnancies, but the sons are replaced for puppies and the third is cast in barrel along with his mother. The son grows up in hours, becomes a young man, and both wash ashore on a deserted island. Whatever he wishes for, his mother blesses him so that his prayers go «from his lips to God’s ears». And so appear a magical cat that sings poems and a bath house that rejuvenates people.^[72]

In a Karelian tale collected in 1947 and published in 1963 with the title Yheksän kultaista poikua (Russian: Девять золотых сыновей, romanized: Devyat’ zolotikh synovei, lit. ‘Nine Golden Sons’), a woman has three daughters. One day, they talk among themselves: the elder promises to prepare food for the whole army with just one grain of barley, the middle one that she can weave clothes for the army with only a thread of linen; and the youngest promises to bear three sons with hands of gold, legs of silver, a moon on their temples, pearls in their eyes, the Ursa Major constellation on their shoulders and «heavenly stars» on their backs. The sisters repeat their conversation in a bath house, and the king’s son overhears them. The king’s son marries the youngest sister and takes her to his palace. On the way back, the couple finds a woman named Suyoatar and take her as their midwife. Suyoatar replaces the children with three wolfcubs and hides the children under a white stone. The same event happens with the next two pregnancies (three crows in the second, and three magpies in the third), but, on the third pregnancy, she hides on son with her. Mother and son are cast in the sea in a barrel, but the barrel washes ashore. They begin to live on an island, and the son asks his mother to sew 8 shirts and bake 8 koloboks with her breastmilk, for he intends to rescue his brothers.^[73]

In a Karelian tale collected in 1937 and published in 1983 with the title Kolme sisäreštä (Russian: Три сестры, romanized: Tri sestry, lit. ‘Three Sisters’), an old couple have three daughters. One day, during the «vierista» holiday, they pay a visit to the Vierista akka (Old Woman Vierista), but hide in a cow’s hide. Vierista drags the girls to a forest and abandons them there. They climb a tree for shelter and the king’s on, during a hunt, finds them. The king’s son brings them to the palace, and the youngest sister strikes the king’s son’s fancy the most. While at the castle, the girls go to a bath house and talk to one another: the elder wants to marry the royal cook and promises to weave clothes for the whole army with a single thread; the middle one wants to marry the royal steward and promises to cook food for the whole army with a single grain; the youngest wants to marry the king’s son and promises to bear three children, the oldest a daughter, all with hands of gold, legs of silver, a moon on their temples; the Ursa Major on the shoulders and the stars in their back. The children are born, but the sisters replace them by animals and cast in the water. The children are saved by a gardener and, years later, are sent for a fountain of water of life, the ringing tree and the talking bird.^[74]

Finland[edit]

Tale type 707 is known in Finland as Kolme kultaista poikaa («Three Golden Boys»).^[75][76]

In a late 19th century article, Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne noted that the story was found «all over» Finland, but it was «especially common» in the eastern part of the country, namely, in Arkhangelsk and Olonets. Moreover, Finnish variants «always» («всегда») begin with the three sisters, and the youngest promising to bear children with marvelous qualities: golden hands and silver feet, or with astral birthmarks (moon on the forehead and sun on the crown). The number of promised children may vary between 3, 9, and 12, and, according to Aarne, nine is the number that appears in variants from Eastern Finland. Lastly, in all variants («всехъ вариантахъ»), the queen and one of her sons are cast in the sea in a barrel.^[77]

According to the Finnish Folktale Catalogue, established by scholar Pirkko-Liisa Rausmaa, the type of redaction is the following; the third sister promises to bear either nine or three golden sons, the witch Syöjättar replaces the sons for crows, and the mother and the only son(s) she rescued are thrown in the sea in a barrel.^[78]

Regional tales[edit]

Finnish author Eero Salmelainen [fi] collected three Finnish variants he grouped under the banner Naisen yhdeksän poikaa («The Woman’s Nine Children»).^[79] In one of his tales, titled Tynnyrissä kaswanut Poika («The boy who grew in a barrel»), summarized by W. Henry Jones and Lajos Kropf, the king overhears three daughters of a peasant woman boasting about their abilities, the third sister promising to bear three sets of triplets with the moon on their temples, the sun on the top of their heads, hands of gold, and feet of silver. She marries the king, and her envious older sisters substitute the boys for animals. She manages to save her youngest child, but both are cast into the sea in a barrel. They reach an island; her son grows up at a fast rate and asks his mother to prepare nine cakes with her milk, so he can use them to rescue his brothers.^[80]

In another tale, titled Saaressa eläjät and translated into German as Die auf der Insel Lebenden («Living on an island»), the third sister promises to bear three sons in each pregnancy and marries the king. The king sends for a midwife and a mysterious woman offers her services — the witch Syöjätär. The witch replaces the children with animals, but by the third time, the mother hides her latest son. The mother is cast in the sea in a barrel and washes ashore on an island. She and her son pray to God for a house, and He grants their prayer. The king marries another wife, the daughter of Syojatar, who tells him about wonder in a faraway place: three pigs, six stallions, and eight golden boys on a large stone. The son decides to find the eight boys and asks his mother to prepare cakes with her breastmilk. He brings his eight brothers back to their mother. The king decides to visit the island, meets his wife and nine sons, and discovers the truth.^[81][82]

August Löwis de Menar translated a Finnish variant from Ingermanland, with the title Bruder und Schwester und die goldlockigen Königssöhne («Brother and Sister, and the golden-haired sons of the King»): a pair of siblings, a boy and a girl, flee from home and live in the forest. One day, the king finds the girl, naked atop a tree, and asks if she is a baptized woman. They marry and she gives birth to two golden-haired sons in each pregnancy, but they are replaced for animals and given to a devil. The mother gives birth to a seventh son and she is banished in the sea in a barrel. They reach an island and God helps them by creating a grand palace. The seventh son asks his mother to prepare cakes with her breastmilk because he decides to find his six brothers. He reaches the house of the devil and takes his siblings back to his mother. One day, the king visits their island palace and wishes to be told a story. The seventh son tells the king, their father, the story of their family. The king recognizes his sons and reconciles with his wife.^[83]

In a Finnish tale translated into English as Mielikki and her nine sons, three maidens go for a walk in the woods and talk to each other: the first promises to make bread for the whole army with three barley seeds; the second that she can weave clothes for the army with three stalks of flax, and the third, named Mielikki, that she will bear nine sons. A king named Aslo overhears their boasts and chooses Mielikki as his wife. The bards celebrate the occasion with a song that describes the royal children as having hands of gold, feet of silver, a «shining dawn» on their shoulders, a moonbeam on their chests, and «stars of heaven» on their foreheads. The king’s servants procure a midwife for the queen and find an old woman named Noita-Akka. Each time the queen bears three sons that are replaced by three crows by Noita-Akka and hidden near a white stone in the woods. The third time, however, Mielikki protects two sons from the midwife’s machinations, but she and her two children are cast in the sea in a barrel. Mother and children wash ashore on an island and live out their days there. One day, trade merchants come to King Aslo’s court and describe the two boys they saw on the island. King Aslo finds his wife and sons and takes them back. After the joyous reunion, the two remaining brothers decide to look for their missing siblings. At the end of the tale, they find an old woman’s house, and the old woman tells them their seven brothers become gulls by wearing feather robes, so, in order to lift their curse, the pair must burn the brothers’ feather robes.^[84]

Veps people[edit]

Karelian scholarship reports 15 variants from Veps sources. Most of which also follow the Russian (or East Slavic) redaction of the tale type 707 (that is, «The Tale of Tsar Saltan»).^[85]

At least one variant of type 707 was collected from a Veps source by linguist Paul Ariste and published in 1964.^[86]

Mordvin people[edit]

Russian author Stepan V. Anikin [ru] published a tale from the Mordvin people titled «Двенадцать братьев» («Twelve Brothers»). In this tale, a czar’s son, still single, likes to overhear the conversation under people’s windows. In one house, he overhears three sisters who are spinning and talking: they each talk about marrying the czar’s son, but the elder promises to clothe an entire regiment with a single spool of thread; the middle one that she can bake a piece of bread so large to feed two regiments with a single bite, and the youngest promises to bear twelve sons, each with a sun on the front, a moon on the back of the head, stars in their hair. The czar’s son chooses the youngest as his wife and marries her. When she is pregnant for the first time, the czar’s son looks for a midwife, and finds a woman named Vedyava by the river and hires her. Vedyava takes the first son, hides him elsewhere, and replaces him with a kitten. This happens with the next ten pregnancies, until the czar’s son, fed up with the apparently false promises, orders his wife to be locked up in an iron barrel with her last son and cast in the sea. His order is carried out, and the pair sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Fifteen years pass, and son and mother pray to God for the barrel to wash ashore on any island. This happens, and they find themselves on land. The boy finds three men quarreling about an ax, a cloth, and a magic cudgel and steals them to build a house for him and his mother. Later, some fishermen come to the island and depart to visit the czar’s son, now the czar himself and married to Vedyava. The boy turns into a little mosquito and flies incognito to his father’s court. Vedyava mocks the fishermen’s report, and tells of other miraculous sights: first, a boar-pig that plows fields with its paws and sows with its snout; second, a mare that foals with each step; third, a tree with silver bells that ring with the wind, and a singing bird perched on it; lastly, about eleven boys that live somewhere, each with a sun on the front, a moon on the back of the head, and stars in their hair. After each visit, the boy finds the boar-pig, the mare and its foals, the bell-tree and the bird. As for the last sight, the boy recognizes it is about his brothers and asks his mother to bake eleven loaves of bread for the road, then goes on a quest for them. With the help of a magic bird, the boy is carried to the brothers’ hut and takes them back to their mother.^[87]

Other regions[edit]

Zaonezh’ya[edit]

In a tale from Zaonezh’ya [fr] with the title «Про Ивана-царевича» («About Ivan-Tsarevich»), recorded in 1982, three sisters in a bath house talk among themselves, the youngest says she will bear nine sons with golden legs, silver arms and pearls in their hair. She marries Ivan-Tsarevich. A local witch named Yegibikha, who wants her daughter, Beautiful Nastasya, to marry Ivan, acts as the new queen’s midwife and replaces eight of her sons for animals. The last son and mother are thrown into the sea in a barrel and wash ashore on an island. The child grows up in days and asks his mother to prepare koluboks with her breastmilk. He rescues his brothers with the koluboks and takes them to the island. Finally, the son wishes that a bridge appears between the island and the continent, and that visitors come to their new home. As if granting his wish, an old beggar woman comes and visits the island, and later goes to Ivan-Tsarevich to tell him about it.^[88]

Adaptations[edit]

• 1900 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, opera by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov in which the popular piece Flight of the Bumblebee is found.
• 1943 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, USSR, traditionally animated film directed by Brumberg sisters.^[89]
• 1966 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, USSR, feature film directed by Aleksandr Ptushko.^[90]
• 1984 – The Tale of Tsar Saltan, USSR, traditionally animated film directed by Ivan Ivanov-Vano and Lev Milchin.^[91]
• 2012 — an Assyrian Aramaic poem by Malek Rama Lakhooma and Hannibal Alkhas, loosely based on the Pushkin fairy tale, was staged in San Jose, CA (USA). Edwin Elieh composed the music available on CD.

Gallery of illustrations[edit]

Ivan Bilibin made the following illustrations for Pushkin’s tale in 1905:

• 

  Tsar Saltan at the window

• 

  The Island of Buyan

• 

  Flight of the mosquito

• 

  The Merchants Visit Tsar Saltan

See also[edit]

This basic folktale has variants from many lands. Compare:

• «The Dancing Water, the Singing Apple, and the Speaking Bird»
• «Princess Belle-Etoile»
• «The Three Little Birds»
• Ancilotto, King of Provino
• «The Bird of Truth»
• «The Water of Life»
• The Wicked Sisters
• The Boys with the Golden Stars
• A String of Pearls Twined with Golden Flowers
• The Boy with the Moon on his Forehead
• The Hedgehog, the Merchant, the King and the Poor Man
• Silver Hair and Golden Curls
• Sun, Moon and Morning Star
• The Golden-Haired Children
• Les Princes et la Princesse de Marinca
• Two Pieces of Nuts
• The Children with the Golden Locks (Georgian folktale)
• The Pretty Little Calf
• The Rich Khan Badma
• The Story of Arab-Zandiq
• The Bird that Spoke the Truth
• The Story of The Farmer’s Three Daughters
• The Golden Fish, The Wonder-working Tree and the Golden Bird
• King Ravohimena and the Magic Grains
• Zarlik and Munglik (Uzbek folktale)
• The Child with a Moon on his Chest (Sotho)
• The Story of Lalpila (Indian folktale)

References[edit]

Footnotes[edit]

Further reading[edit]

• Azadovsky, Mark, and McGavran, James. «The Sources of Pushkin’s Fairy Tales». In: Pushkin Review 20 (2018): 5-39. doi:10.1353/pnr.2018.0001.
• Mazon, André. «Le Tsar Saltan». In: Revue des études slaves, tome 17, fascicule 1–2, 1937. pp. 5–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3406/slave.1937.7637; [www.persee.fr/doc/slave_0080-2557_1937_num_17_1_7637 persee.fr]
• Orlov, Janina. «Chapter 2. Orality and literacy, continued: Playful magic in Pushkin’s Tale of Tsar Saltan». In: Children’s Literature as Communication: The ChiLPA project. Edited by Roger D. Sell [Studies in Narrative 2]. John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2002. pp. 39–53. https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.2.05orl
• Oranskij, I. M. «A Folk-Tale in the Indo-Aryan Parya Dialect (A Central Asian Variant of the Tale of Czar Saltan)». In: East and West 20, no. 1/2 (1970): 169–78. Accessed September 5, 2021. http://www.jstor.org/stable/29755508.
• Wachtel, Michael. «Pushkin’s Turn to Folklore». In: Pushkin Review 21 (2019): 107–154. doi:10.1353/pnr.2019.0006.

External links[edit]

• A. D. P. Briggs (January 1983). Alexander Pushkin: A Critical Study. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-0-389-20340-7.
• (in Russian) Сказка о царе Салтане available at Lib.ru
• The Tale of Tsar Saltan, transl. by Louis Zellikoff

ЦАРЬ САЛТАН

Билибинские Гвидон, Салтан и Дадон

Имена князя Гвидона, царя Салтана , царя Дадона и воеводы Полкана у нас прочно связаны со сказками Пушкина  и операми Римского -Корсакова.  И вряд ли кому придет в голову сказать, что это русские имена, ну кроме собачьей клички Полкан или Салтанa, который коверканый «султан»,и совсем не русский титул. Откуда же взялись в сказках Пушкина такие странные имена?

Слева «Король Гвидон» 1700-1725 Ксилография (резьба по дереву) 1700-1725 гг. Российская национальная библиотека Спб. Справа раскрашенный лубок XIX века по этой картинке.

Как видим, сплошные битвы. И Гвидон с Салтаном в этой истории самые настоящие воины. А вот Дадон нет, Дадон своего добивается не в честном бою, а обманом и предательством.

1881 Салтан Салтанович. Лист № 29 (слева) и Лист № 28 (справа) из I тома сборника Д.А. Ровинского  «Русские народные картинки» 1881 год. Государственный музей истории российской литературы имени В.И. Даля

Бова Королевич и Полкан (сказочный лубок) 1860 г.

Былины и повесть о Бове были популярны не только в русском лубке и в народной среде, но и у русской знати. Пушкин безусловно знал эту историю, он в 14-летнем возрасте написал стихотворение «Сон» (1813 г) и там Бову упомянул. Стихотворение очень длинное, вот отрывок:

Но детских лет люблю воспоминанье.

Ах! умолчу ль о мамушке моей,

О прелести таинственных ночей,

Когда в чепце, в старинном одеянье,

Она, духов молитвой уклони,

С усердием перекрестит меня

И шепотом рассказывать мне станет

О мертвецах, о подвигах Бовы…

От ужаса не шелохнусь, бывало,

Едва дыша, прижмусь под одеяло,

Не чувствуя ни ног, ни головы.

Скачать обзор:

В произведении автор рассказывает историю одной семьи. Выразительный поэтический язык Пушкина создаёт яркие образы и сказочный мир, в который читатель погружается с головой. Именно эту сказку считают вершиной сказочного творчества Пушкина.

«Это самое универсальное искусство, потому что одинаково нравится шестилетнему ребёнку и культурнейшему читателю стихов шестидесяти лет. Понимания не требуется, воспринимается оно прямо, бесспорно, непосредственно», — так сказал о произведении литературный критик Д. П. Мирский.

Сказка Пушкина действительно подходит не только детям, она актуальна для всех возрастов и может рассматриваться на разных уровнях понимания. Ниже представлен краткий обзор произведения, который можно использовать для читательского дневника.

Место действия

Сюжет сказки разворачивается в волшебном мире. Основные события происходят в двух локациях: в вымышленном прибрежном государстве, которым управляет царь Салтан , и на некогда безлюдном, малопригодном для жизни острове, где возникает величественный город, ставший вотчиной князя Гвидона.

В тексте присутствует топоним — остров Буян. Это название встречается в русском фольклоре, где  есть упоминания, что на этом острове растет дуб о четырех ветвях. В сказке также фигурирует дуб — это единственное, что было на острове на момент прибытия туда героев.

Есть версия, что прообразом острова Буяна является реально существующий остров Рюген, в настоящее время принадлежащий Германии.

Морские просторы — также одно из мест действия в произведении. Море играет важную роль в повествовании. В тексте оно обозначается как Окиян, созвучно слову «океан», но пишется с большой буквы, как будто это название водоёма.

О чем произведение? Очень краткий пересказ

Царь Салтан услышал разговор трёх сестёр, каждая из которых сказала, что бы она сделала, «кабы была царицей». Он выбирает себе в жены ту, которая хотела родить ему сына. Других двух назначает при дворе ткачихой и поварихой.

Сестры строят козни новоявленной царице. Когда рождается ребенок, они перехватывают гонца с радостной вестью и отправляют другое письмо, будто бы царица родила вместо богатыря «неведому зверушку». В результате ещё одной подмены письма Царицу и  дитя сажают в бочку и отправляют в море на верную смерть.

Бочку вынесло на берег необитаемого острова, где Гвидон спасает от коршуна красивого лебедя. Птица обещает его отблагодарить и оказывает помощь: наутро на острове Буяне возникает славный город. Гвидон становится князем и хочет повидаться с отцом.

Лебедь помогает ему незаметно отправиться в царство Салтана. Трижды с помощью Лебеди Гвидон вслед за торговыми кораблями купцов, обернувшись насекомым, летает во владения отца.

Купцы рассказывают царю о чудесах, которые они во время торговых плаваний видели на острове Буяне, и каждый раз ткачиха с поварихой и старой сватьей Бабарихой спорят, что есть чудо ещё более расчудесное.

Гвидон присутствует при разговорах, пребывая в облике то комара, то мухи, то шмеля. Он наказывает своих теток за скверные характеры, нанося им болезненные укусы.

Первый раз узнает он о чудо-белке, что грызет орешки с золотой скорлупой и изумрудными ярдами. По возвращению рассказывает об этом Лебеди, и следующий день белка оказывается у него на острове, возле княжеского дворца.

На второй раз тетки говорят о тридцати трех красавцах-богатырях. Лебедь являет Гвидону и это чудо.

В третий раз речь идет о заморской девице невиданной красоты, у неё «месяц под косой блестит, и во лбу звезда горит». Гвидон захотел взять её в жены.

Выясняется, что это и есть сама Лебедь. На глазах Гвидона она превращается в девушку. Князь женится. Вскоре царь Салтан посещает чудо-остров, встречается с женой и сыном. Семья воссоединяется. Ткачиха, повариха и сватья разоблачены. Царь на радостях отпускает их домой.

Характеристика героев

Царь Салтан

Царь Салтан — правитель сказочного государства. С одной стороны, он могущественный владыка, справедливый, честный, добрый, с другой стороны, доброта и бесхитростность не позволяют ему видеть в ком-либо коварство и подлость. Царь, узнав «странную» новость о рождении ребенка, мудро велит ждать его возращения, хочет приехать и разобраться во всем сам,  однако коварные заговорщицы его обыграли.

Салтан оказывается доверчивым и простодушным, он не заподозрил своячениц — явных интриганок и злодеек. Более того, проявил слабохарактерность, дважды уступая ткачихе и поварихе с бабой Бабарихой в своём желании навестить чудный остров. А ведь сердце его рвалось туда. Однако в конце сказки Салтан показывает волю, задаваясь вопросом: «Кто я, царь или дитя?». И отправляется к Гвидону.

Считается, что в образе царя есть отсылка к правителям восточных государств, о чем говорит его имя «царь Салтан».  Формулировка, встречающаяся в дипломатических источниках в отношении монархов исламских стран, в частности, султана Османской империи — «турецкий царь салтан».

Князь Гвидон

Князь Гвидон — сын царя Салтана, вырастает богатырем, как и обещала царица. Характеристики этого персонажа Пушкин указывает в полном названии произведения: «славный и могучий». Он внешне красив и силен, а в душе добр, благороден и справедлив.  Находясь в сложной жизненной ситуации, он вступился за слабого — спас лебедя, за что и был вознагражден. Гвидон хорошо воспитан, он благодарный сын, уважает и ценит свою мать, становится для неё надежной опорой и поддержкой. Князь не знает, что их с матерью бросили в море вовсе не по приказу отца, он не ведает о происках своих тёток, но, тем не менее, зла на родителя не держит, тоскует о нём. От отца — царя Салтана — Гвидон унаследовал лучшие качества: он становится достойным правителем острова Буяна.

Царица

Жена царя Салтана, мать князя Гвидона. Она добрая и сильная женщина, стойко принявшая удары судьбы. В ней воплощён обобщенный образ матери: «…над ребёнком, как орлица над орлёнком». Царица горячо любит своего сына, верит в него, поддерживает во всем. В отличие от сестер, она не мечтала о богатстве, и  статус царицы не был её целью. Героиня хотела любить и подарить этому миру хорошего человека. Она справилась с этой миссией, отлично воспитав сына.

Ткачиха с поворихой

Ткачика и повариха — отрицательные персонажи,  сестры царицы, тетки князя Гвидона. Это коварные, эгоистичные особы, ими движет зависть и обида. Ради собственных интересов эти женщины способны обречь на страдание других, умело манипулируют мужчинами, будь это хоть сам царь.

Баба Бабариха

Баба Бабариха — пожилая женщина, именуемая сватьей. В тексте есть упоминание, что Гвидону она приходится бабушкой.

Слова сват и сватья используются как для обозначения  человека, устраивающего брак, и выступающего посредником между женихом и невестой, так и родственной связи —  родителя  одного из супругов.

Вероятно, Бабариха может быть матерью царя Салтана, в некоторых критических обзорах представлена как мать трех сестер.

Сватья Бабариха — отрицательный персонаж, заодно с ткачихой и поварихой помогает извести царицу и её сына. В тексте Пушкина три отрицательные героини часто упоминаются в связке:  «Ткачиха с поварихой с сватьей бабой Бабарихой».

Имя героини позаимствовано из фольклора. Баба Бабариха встречается в языческих заговорах.  При этом созданный Пушкиным персонаж признается исследователями оригинальным и уникальным для традиции русской сказки.

Царевна Лебедь

Царевна Лебедь — молодая, невероятно красивая девушка, обратившаяся птицей. Она обладает магическими способностями. Благодарная и бескорыстная героиня творит чудеса во благо, чтобы помочь своему спасителю — князю Гвидону. Приняв человеческое обличие, Лебедь становится любимой и любящей женой. Подробно описывается внешность и манеры царевны: «месяц под косой блестит, а во лбу звезда горит», «величава, выступает слово пава», «речь-то говорит, будто реченька журчит».

«Красавица-оборотень» — распространенный тип персонажа для русских сказок. В литературе и в фольклоре в разные эпохи было создано немало подобных героинь, от Царевны-лягушки до девицы-голубицы Маруси из сказки «Про Федота-стрельца» Л. А. Филатова, советского актера и поэта. Пушкинская Царевна-Лебедь — один из известнейших персонажей в этом ряду.

Корабельшики

Купцы или корабельщики — коллективное действующее лицо, путешественники и торговцы. В сюжете играют важную роль, являются связующим звеном между Салтаном и Гвидоном. Они источники новостей и слухов. Остров Буян лежит на пути их маршрута «в царство славного Салтана», Гвидона они посещают «проездом».

Тридцать три богатыря и Черномор

Тридцать три богатыря — братья Царевны Лебеди, морские витязи, живущие в Окияне, охраняют остров князя Гвидона.

Черномор — дядька и предводитель богатырей, добрый и милейший старичок, олицетворение воинского братства и безопасности.

В творчестве Пушкина персонаж с таким именем встречается дважды, колдуна в поэме Руслан и Людмила также зовут Черномором. Эти персонажи не просто разные, они противоположны друг другу. В «Руслане и Людмиле» Черномор — отрицательный персонаж, главный злодей. Почему Пушкин назвал двух совсем разных героев одним именем? Однозначного ответа на этот вопрос нет. Исследователи считают, что эти герои не связаны, и даже их имена имеют разное происхождение. Имя «предводителя богатырей» из «Сказки о царе Салтане» связывают с самой очевидной ассоциацией — Черным морем – теплым водоёмом на юге России.

Коршун

Коршун — злой волшебник. Обернувшись птицей, он пытался убить лебедя — прекрасную царевну. Гибнет от рук Гвидона. «Ты не коршуна убил, чародея погубил», — говорит ему лебедь.

Подробный пересказ содержания с цитатами из сказки

«Три девицы под окном пряли поздно вечерком», — так начинается сказка. Каждая из них  говорит о том, что сделала бы, если бы стала царицей. Первая обещает наткать полотна на весь мир, вторая приготовить пир, а третья девица молвила: «Я б для батюшки царя родила богатыря». Салтан подслушал этот разговор и выбрал себе в жены третью девушку. «Здравствуй красная девица, говорит он, будь царица! И роди богатыря мне к исходу сентября».

Двум оставшимся сестрам он велит ехать вместе с ним и с сестрой. «Будь одна из вас ткачиха, а другая повариха».

Свадьбу сыграли в тот же вечер:

«Царь Салтан на пир честной сел с царицей молодой».

Ткачиха плачет, повариха злится, «завидуют оне государевой жене».

«А царица молодая, дела в даль не отлагая, с первой ночи понесла».

Салтан должен ехать на войну. Он прощается с женой и велит себя поберечь. Приходит время родов. «Сына бог им дал в аршин». Царица посылает Салтану письмо с доброй вестью. А ткачиха с поварихой с сватьей бабой Бабарихой велят перехватить гонца с письмом и отправляет другого. Царю приходит послание:

«Родила царица в ночь
Не то сына, не то дочь,
Не мышонка, не лягушку
А неведому зверушку».

Царь разгневался, чуть было не повесил гонца, но остыл и велел «ждать царева возвращения для законного решения». Сестры встречают гонца, напаивают его допьяна и в «суму его пустую суют грамоту другую».

Гонец приносит приказ, в котором велено «и царицу и приплод тайно бросить в бездну вод». Царицу с ребёнком посадили в бочку и пустили в Окиян.

Плывет бочка по морю, в ней плачет и бьется царица, а ребенок растет не по дням, а по часам. Дитя обращается к волне и просит о спасении:

«Ах волна моя, волна!
Ты гульлива и вольна…
………………………………..
Не губи ты нашу душу:
Выплесни ты нас на сушу!»

Бочку прибивает к берегу. Пришло спасение. Осталось выбраться из бочки.

«Сын на ножки поднялся, в дно головкой оперся, поднатужился немножко,…вышиб дно и вышел вон».

Мать и сын оказываются на пустынном острове, где растет лишь один дуб, остальное — долина, кругом — море. Сын срывает с дуба ветку и делает лук, чтоб добыть «добрый ужин».

«И пошел на край долины у моря искать дичины».

Подойдя к морю, он видит, что «бьется лебедь средь зыбей, коршун носится над ней», хищник «когти распустил, клюв кровавый навострил». Царевич запускает стрелу в шею коршуна. Тот падает в море и тонет.

Лебедь «молвит русским языком»: «Ты, царевич, мой спаситель» и просит его не тужить, что остался без еды, обещает отблагодарить и сослужить добрую службу.

«Ты не лебедь ведь избавил, девицу в живых оставил»

Лебедь улетает. Сын с матерью ложатся спать без ужина. На утро царевич просыпается и видит перед собой большой красивый город, обнесенный белой стеной, за которой «блещут маковки церквей и святых монастырей». Он будит мать подивиться чуду. Это лебедь ему так за спасение отплатила.

Сын и мать идут к городу, проходят через ограду, к ним валит народ, пышный двор встречает их. Царевича объявляют в городе правителем, с благословения матери он стал княжить «и нарекся князь Гвидон».

«Ветер по морю гуляет и кораблик подгоняет; он бежит себе в волнах, на раздутых парусах».

Корабельщики плывут мимо острова знакомым маршрутом и очень удивляются, увидев «новый город златоглавый». Они решают пристать. Князь Гвидон встречает их, зовет в гости, кормит, поит и «ответ держать велит»: «Чем вы, гости, торг ведете и куда теперь плывете?».

Корабельщики отвечают, что едут прямо на восток, «мимо острова Буяна, в царство славного Салтана». Гвидон желает им доброго пут и велит передать поклон царю.

Проводив купцов, князь опечалился, он хочет видеть отца. Вдруг видит — «средь синих вод лебедь белая плывет». Спрашивает лебедь князя, в чем причина его печали.

«Грусть-тоска меня съедает, одолела молодца, видеть я б хотел отца», — отвечает он птице.

Лебедь приходит ему на помощь, превращает князя в комара, и он летит в море вслед за кораблем, в царство Салтана, на свою родину.

Царь Салтан встречает гостей, зовет их в гости. «И за ними во дворец полетел наш удалец».

Начинает царь расспрашивать путешественников: «Ладно за морем иль худо, и какое в свете чудо?». Корабельщики рассказывают ему о чуде. Знавали они остров, который раньше был пустынный, «не привальный, не жилой». А теперь стоит на нём новый город со дворцом, и правит в этом городе князь Гвидон.

Молвит царь :

«Коль жив я буду, чудный город посещу, у Гвидона погощу».

А ткачиха с поварихой, с сватьей бабой Бабарихой не хотят его отпускать. Город на острове — вовсе не чудо, считает повариха. Она рассказывает царю о настоящей диковинке: где-то в лесу есть ель, под елью «белка песенки поёт, да орешки все грызет, а орешки не простые, всё скорлупки золотые, ядра — чистый изумруд».

Салтан дивится чуду, а Гвидон гневается и кусает тетку-повариху прямо в правый глаз.  Повариха окривела, обмерла, сестры вместе со слугами пытаются поймать комара, но он вылетел в окошко и отправился домой.

На острове своём князь Гвидон ходит у берега опечаленный. В море появляется лебедь. Говорит ей князь, что хотел бы «чудо дивное завесть». И рассказывает про белку, о которой слышал у Салтана. А лебедь ему обещает помочь: «Рада службу оказать тебе я в дружбу».

Вернулся князь домой, только ступил на двор, а ель уже там, под елью белка «золотой грызет орех… и… поёт… при всём народе: Во саду ли, в огороде».

Вновь купцы проезжают мимо острова, гостят у князя Гвидона и видят новое чудо. Князь передает поклон царю Салтану»

В эпизодах с приездом корабельщиков на остров авторский текст повторяется рефреном.

Проводив гостей, князь опять идет к морю. Там его встречает лебедь, обрызгивает водой, князь становится мухой, «полетел и опустился между моря и небес на корабль — и в щель залез».

«Ветер весело шумит,
Судно весело бежит
Мимо острова Буяна
В царство славного Салтана.
И желанная страна
Вот уж издали видна»

Царь приглашает корабельщиков в гости, за ними влетает Гвидон в образе мухи. Он видит отца, тот сидит «с грустной думой на лице». Вновь расспрашивает царь гостей о чудесах. Те ему и об острове рассказывают, и о городе, и о чудо-белке. Возле белки поставили стражу, велели «строгий счет орехам весть», а из скорлупок льют монету.

Захотел Салтан опять в гости к Гвидону, а ткачиха давай его отговаривать: «Что тут дивного, ну вот, белка камушки грызет». И рассказывает она ему про другое диво:

Море вздуется бурливо,
Закипит, подымет вой,
Хлынет на берег пустой,
Разольется в шумном беге.
И очутятся на бреге
В чешуе, как жар горя,
Тридцать три богатыря,
Все красавцы удалые,
Великаны молодые,
Все равны, как на подбор,
С ними дядька Черномор.

Царь дивится чуду, а разозленный Гвидон садится поварихе на левый глаз. Та вскрикнула и тут же окривела. Бросились все «ловить и давить» муху, а князь в окошко вылетел и вернулся в свой удел.

Вновь встречается он с лебедью и говорит ей о новом чуде, которое хотел бы «на свой остров перенесть», чтоб заманить в гости отца.

Лебедь ему отвечает:

«Не тужи душа моя, это чудо знаю я. Эти витязи морские все ведь братья мне родные».

Князь, забравшись на башню, видит, как море «расплескалось в шумном беге и оставило на бреге в чешуе как жар горя, тридцать три богатыря». Он сбегает с башни встречать гостей.

Черномор обращается к князю:

«Нас сестра к тебе прислала и наказом наказала славный город твой хранить и дозором обходить».

Богатыри обещают каждый день выходить на берег острова, после чего возвращаются в море.

Повторяется эпизод с приездом корабельщиков, следующих «мимо острова Буяна в царство славного Салтана». Их взору предстало новое чудо. Князь Гвидон, передав поклон Салтану собирается идти за ними, направляется к берегу, на этот раз лебедь обращает его шмелем. Он улетает вслед за купцами, проникает с ними в палаты отца.

Приехав к Салтану, купцы повторяют ему всё сказанное ранее и про город и про белку, добавляя, что теперь остров охраняют тридцать три богатыря под предводительством Черномора.

Засобирался царь на остров. Ткачиха с поварихой на сей раз молчат, в дело вступает Бабариха, отвлекая внимание царя новым чудом: «За морем девица есть, что не можно глаз отвесть». Гости молчат, не желая спорить с бабой. Гвидон злится, «но жалеет он очей старой бабушки своей», кружит вокруг неё, жалит в нос и улетает.

Услышанное дает князю новый повод для кручины, он задумался о создании семьи. «Все женатые, гляжу, не женат лишь я хожу», — сетует он Лебеди и рассказывает о чудо-девице.

Гвидон хочет взять в жены именно её. Лебедь советует ему подумать: есть такая девица, но характер у неё непростой. Готов ли князь жениться именно на ней? Гвидон тверд в своём решении и готов «душою страстной» за своей невестой идти хоть за «тридевять земель».

Далеко идти не придется. «Знай, близка судьба твоя, ведь царевна эта — я», — признается Лебедь.

Гвидон обнимает красавицу-царевну, прижимает к груди и ведет в палаты «к матушке своей» просить благословения на брак.  «Мать с иконой чудотворной слезы льет и говорит: Бог вас, дети, наградит». Царица одобряет выбор сына.

В очередной приезд купцов Гвидон знакомит их со своей красавицей-женой, передает поклон Салтану и напоминает, что тот «в гости обещался, а доселе не собрался». У Салтана купцы вновь твердят ему о чудесах, что видели на острове, которым правит Гвидон, говорят о его красавице-жене и передают упрек, что не едет в гости.

«Тут уж царь не утерпел, снарядить он флот велел». Салтан не стал на этот раз слушать женщин. «Нынче ж еду», — заявил он и топнул ногой.

Князь Гвидон смотрит в окно и видит, как «из лазоревой дали показались корабли», приближался флот царя Салтана.

«Матушка моя родная,
Ты, княгиня молодая,
Поглядите-ка туда —
Едет батюшка сюда».

Салтан пристает к острову, выходит на берег, с ним «ткачиха с поварихой с сватьей бабой Бабарихой, удивляются оне незнакомой стороне». Гвидон выходит их встречать и ведет в город.

Салтан видит всё, о чем ему говорили. У ворот стоят 33 богатыря, с ними дядька Черномор, во дворе ель, под елью белка песенки поёт, золотой орех грызет, и засеян двор золотою скорлупой. Встречают гости княгиню-красавицу, а она ведет с собой свекровь.

Узнал Салтан в старшей княгине-матери свою царицу, заплакал, обнял жену и сына. Ткачиха, повариха и Бабариха спрятались по углам, «их нашли насилу там». Они расплакались и повинились. Царь был рад, что встретил свою семью, простил их и отправил домой.

Закатили пир.

«Я там был; мед, пиво пил — и усы лишь обмочил».

Анализ сказки

История создания

Александр Сергеевич Пушкин очень любил русские сказки, которые ему в детстве рассказывала няня Арина Родионовна, он вдохновлялся ими.

Сочиняя свои произведения, он опирался на фольклор. Одним из главных первоисточников «Сказки о царе Салтане» принято считать русскую народную сказку «По колено ноги в золоте, по локоть руки в серебре». Однако сказка Пушкина не прямая авторская интерпретация этого фольклорного произведения, писатель добавил многое «от себя», использовал сюжеты и образы из других сказок. К тому же ряд литературоведов указывает, что у сказки могли быть и другие первоисточники, в том числе зарубежные.

Известно несколько вариантов записи сюжета будущей сказки, самый ранний датирован 1822 годом. Он считается стартовой точкой в работе над произведением. Это был период Южной ссылки, Пушкин пребывал в Кишинёве. Запись очень схематична.

Более подробное описание сюжета, сделанное в Михайловском в 1824 году, восходит к рассказам Арины Родионовны. В период с 1824 по 1826 сказка обрастает новыми подробностями, автор добавляет в неё волшебные элементы.

Вновь Пушкин возвращается к работе в 1828 году. Завершает написание сказки в 1831 году, известна точная дата — 9 августа.

В печати сказка впервые увидела свет в сборнике «Стихотворения» 1832 года.

Одним из друзей Пушкина был известный поэт В. А. Жуковский, в творческом наследии которого также немало сказочных произведений, основанных на фольклорных сюжетах и первоисточниках западных авторов. Считается, что между коллегами и приятелями возникло своеобразное соперничество в написании сказок, которое подстегивало и вдохновляло Пушкина.

Жанр

Произведения писателей-сказочников относят к жанру литературной сказки. Они бывают волшебными и поучительными.  По большому счету такое деление условно, наличие волшебства — одна из характерных особенностей сказочного жанра, и почти во всех сказках, в том числе русских народных, есть назидание — «добрым молодцам урок».

В тексте, сюжете, манере изложения, композиционном построении присутствуют жанрово-стилистические черты, присущие сказкам:

• приключенческий элемент в сюжете: путешествие в бочке и чудесное спасение;
• чудеса и превращения: герои произведения принимают облик животных, птиц, насекомых;
•  борьба добра со злом, в которой побеждает добро; четкое деление персонажей на отрицательных и положительных;
• сюжеты сказок зачастую строятся вокруг числа три: схожие события или явления повторяются именно три раза;
• в тексте сказки присутствуют рефрены: повторение одних и тех же фрагментов текста, что также характерно для многих русских народных сказок;
• наличие «героя-помощника», обладающего магической силой: царевна-Лебедь. В сказках женский персонаж-помощница также, как правило, является невестой или супругой главного героя.

«Я там был; мед, пиво пил, по усам текло, а в рот не попало», — типичная концовка сказки, которую в несколько измененном виде использовал Пушкин.

Сказка Пушкина написана в XIX веке на фольклорной основе. Этим определяется такая особенность произведения, как сочетание христианского и языческого. В тексте есть обращение к Богу, упоминания о храмах, монастырях, чудотворной иконе. При этом топонимы, имена позаимствованы из языческих заговоров, олицетворение и «одушевление» неживой природы — тоже языческая черта.

Язык и стиль

Размер стиха сказки — четырёхстопный хорей с парной рифмовкой, такой размер больше соответствовал народной поэзии. Стилизуя текст под фольклорную традицию, автор использует устаревшие словоформы, устойчивые выражения, встречающиеся в фольклорных текстах: гости-господа, царь-батюшка. Для усиления выразительности в сказках часто употребляют «двойные выражения», объединяя схожие по значению слова, например, «грусть-тоска».

Средства выразительности в сказке:

• Эпитет — красочное определение. Чаще всего эпитеты выражены прилагательными, сказка Пушкина — пример использования существительных как эпитетов: голубушки-сестрицы, царь-отец и т. п.
• Метафора — употребление слова в переносном значении.

Примеры метафор: «в бездну вод» (то есть на глубину, в глубокое море), «маковки церквей» (купола), «грезы ночи» (мечты, видения, сны), «стрела запела» (т. е. засвистела в полёте).

• Гипербола — художественное преувеличение: «И растет ребенок там не по дням, а по часам».
• Олицетворение — описание неодушевленных предметов через свойства и выражения, характерные для одушевленных и употребляемые в переносном значении.

Пример олицетворения: «послушалась волна».

Какие темы поднимает?

Семья и человеческие взаимоотношения

Семья и человеческие взаимоотношения — центральная тема, она положена в основу сюжета. В непринужденной сказочной форме Пушкин разворачивают семейную драму. Все центральные персонажи произведения являются родственниками друг другу, но между ними нет взаимопонимания, виной тому и слабохарактерность царя, зависть и вредительство сестер.

Преследуя свои интересы, человек в жизни часто пренебрегает чувствами и желаниями самых близких, родных людей, что приводит к печальным последствиям.

Совсем с другой стороны тему семейных ценностей, взаимоуважения и поддержки иллюстрируют отношения матери и сына — царицы и Гвидона, показывая читателю положительный, вдохновляющий пример.

Произведение Пушкина — сказка, а сказка, как известно, «ложь, да в ней намек». Если применить её сюжет к реальности, он оказывается актуальным и для современности: человеческая зависть не изжита.

Нравственные темы

Через образы и поступки героев автор поднимает нравственные темы. Он в неприглядном свете показывает низость и коварство. Доброта, честность и благородство, напротив, выглядят привлекательными. Зависть, корысть и злоба до добра не доводят, рано или поздно человек поплатится за свои неблаговидные поступки и помыслы. А доброта, бескорыстие и благородство открывают человеку путь к счастью.

Каждый человек может совершить ошибку, оказаться во власти лжи, главное — найти в себе силы исправить ситуацию и попросить прощения. К такому выводу подводит история царя Салтана.

Государство и цивилизация

Эта серьёзная и сложная тема, в простой, доступной форме представленная в пушкинском тексте. Через поэтический текст воссоздается обобщенная модель цивилизации, иллюстрируется экономическая и политическая жизнь.

• Купцы ведут международную торговлю, являются носителями важной информации, рассказывают царю о «чудесах».
• Царь уходит на войну — это суровая необходимость политики любого государства, тем более во времена Пушкина.
• Чудеса символизируют важные государственные составляющие.
• Белка — это казна, источник богатства и стабильности, 33 богатыря и Черномор — армия, обеспечивающая безопасность и благополучие.
• Царевна Лебедь — супруга государя, его верная помощница.

Государственное и человеческое

Государственное и человеческое сочетается в фигуре правителя. Монарх представлен как обычный человек со своими слабостями, недостатками, бытовыми и семейными проблемами. Салтан в целом славный правитель, но ему не хватает жёсткости.

Именно поэтому в домашнем окружении ему осмеливаются перечить бабы. Они же, зная прекраснодушие царя, не побоялись пойти на страшный подлог и прступление. Излишняя мягкость царя стала причиной его семейной трагедии и могла привести и к государственному краху.

Гвидон — волевой правитель, хотя и добр, как отец. Он богатырь, как и задумывала его мать. Богатыри имеют характер героический. В семье князя Гвидона и в княжестве его всё благополучно.

Идея и мораль

«На чужом несчастье счастья не построишь», — гласит русская пословица, которая хорошо отражает смысл произведения Пушкина. «Сказка о царе Салтане» прививает понятие о справедливости, учит  быть благодарным, не завидовать, помогать другим, стойко преодолевать трудности, уметь слышать и слушать других, но не поддаваться чужому влиянию. Вот основные выводы,к которым приводит сказка.

Экранизации

Сюжет Пушкина трижды становился основой для произведений кинематографа и мультипликации. Первым считается черно-белый мультфильм 1943 года.

Более известен анимационный фильм режиссера И. Иванова-Вано, выпущенный студией «Союзмультфильм» в 1984 году.

В «большом кино» это произведение в 1966 году воплотил режиссер Александр Птушко.

Современная попытка экранизации была предпринята студией «Союз Навона» в 2012 году. Роль царя Салтана должен был исполнить известный комедийный актер Юрий Стоянов. Однако этот проект оказался нереализованным, фильм не завершен.

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Очень краткий пересказ «Сказка о царе Салтане»

Вечером в светлице три сестрицы пряли пряжу. За работой они мечтали о замужестве. Старшая хотела приготовить царский пир, средняя – наткать много полотна, а младшенькая – родить государю наследника.

Царь-батюшка подслушал девушек и выбрал в жены младшую из сестер. А старшим приказал быть ткачихой и поварихой.

После свадьбы супруга понесла (забеременела), а супруг с войском отбыл на войну. В срок на свет родился сын-настоящий богатырь. Царица отправила отцу счастливую весточку. Но ее злые сестры, а с ними и сватья баба Бабариха перехватили послание и подложили царю свое письмо.

Царь узнал, что супруга родила странное существо, но приказал его дождаться. А вредные сестрицы снова подменили послание от царя на свое, из которого следовало, что царицу с младенцем нужно посадить в бочку и сбросить в океан.

Бояре исполнили указ. И несчастную мать с новорожденным сыном отправили на погибель.

Малыш рос не по дням, а по часам. Он смог сильными плечами взломать крышку бочки. Пленники чудом оказались на острове Буяне. Возмужавший молодец смастерил самодельный лук, но вместе утки на ужин убил чародея Коршуна и спас прекрасную Лебедь.

На утро на острове вдруг возник белокаменный город. В награду за избавление волшебная птица Лебедь сделала молодца князем и назвался он именем Гвидон. Зажили мать с сыном лучше прежнего, а в гости на чудный остров Буян стали прибывать торговые корабли.

Князь тосковал по родному дому и хотел повидать отца. Добрая Лебедь три раза обращала Гвидона в летучих насекомых – комара, муху и шмеля.

Молодец в облике насекомых отправлялся на кораблях в царство отца и жалил за вредность родных тетушек Ткачиху, Повариху и сватью бабу Бабариху. Они не отпускали батюшку на дивный остров, а только рассказывали какие в мире есть диковинки.

Князь благополучно возвращался домой и просит добрую птицу подарить ему чудеса-диковинки, про какие слышал от тетушек и бабы Бабарихи. Щедрая Лебедушка соглашалась, и у Гвидона появилась белка, которая грызла золотые орешки с изумрудными ядрами.

А потом из моря вышли 33 богатыря с дядькой Черномором. Они дозором обходили и охраняли владения славного князя.

Еще одно – самое важное желание было у Гвидона. Хотел он жениться на чудо-девице –волшебнице со звездой во лбу. Оказалось, что дивная птица Лебедь и есть та красавица-царевна. Она согласилась стать женой Гвидона, а мать дала детям свое благословение.

Услышал царь Салтан о невиданных чудесах. Отмахнулся от вредных баб, снарядил флот и отправился в гости к князю Гвидону.

На острове Буяне хозяева с радостью встретили родного отца. Царь Салтан не ожидал, что снова обретет семью, и на радостях отпустил завистливых сестер.

Главные герои и их характеристика:

•  Князь Гвидон  – наследник царя Салтана, храбрый и находчивый юноша. Заточён с матерью в бочку и выброшен в море. Проявляет смелость, чудом спасается и помогает Лебедю в битве со злым волшебником. Желает увидеться с отцом, с помощью магии обращается в насекомых, наказывает вредных тетушек и в итоге женится на Царевне Лебедь.
•  Царевна-Лебедь  – волшебница, заколдованная Царевна. Спасена молодцем от злого колдуна. Благодарит Гвидона за спасение жизни, дарит ему чудеса. Вызывает на охрану острова братьев – морских богатырей и их дядьку Черномора. По любви становится доброй супругой князя.
•  Царь Салтан  – отец князя Гвидона. Выбрал себе младшую из трех сестер и ждал пополнения в семействе. Был обманут злыми завистницами, мечтал повидать чудный остров Буян, но не знал, что там воссоединится с семьей.

Второстепенные герои и их характеристика:

•  Царица  – супруга Салтана, мать царевича Гвидона, обещала царю родить сына и сдержала слово. Но завистливые сестры хотели погубить ее подложным письмом. Злой замысел удался, царица путешествовала в бочке с сыном, но спаслась на острове Буяне.
•  Повариха  – старшая сестра Царицы, коварная и завистливая, была ужалена Царевичем-Комаром в правый глаз и за свои подлые поступки окривела.
•  Ткачиха  – средняя сестра Царицы, вслед за старшей завидовала младшенькой. Участвовала в сговоре против царицы, за что была ужалена Царевичем-Мухой в левый глаз и также окривела.
•  Сватья баба Бабариха  – бабушка царевича, вредная старая бабка, в наказание за ворчание получила укус в нос от шмеля-Гвидона.
•  Коршун  – злой колдун, обращенный в птицу, пытался погубить Царевну-Лебедь, но был сражен меткой стрелой царевича Гвидона.
•  Купцы  – путешественники на кораблях, торговали разными товарами, заезжали на остров к князю Гвидону и несли вести дальше в царство Салтана.
•  Белка  – чудесный зверек, подарок Царевны-Лебедь. Умела петь песенки, грызть орешки и отделять ядра-изумруды от золотых скорлупок.
•  33 богатыря  – морское войско, красавцы-богатыри, братья Лебедушки. Выходили строем из моря и дозором обходили остров Буян.
•  Старый дядька Черномор  – глава морского войска, командовал богатырями и надежно охранял владения князя Гвидона.

Краткое содержание «Сказка о царе Салтане» подробно

Поздно вечером три сестрицы занимались рукодельем. За работой они мечтали о свадьбе с государем-батюшкой. Старшая сестра пообещала наготовить пир, средняя – наткать полотна, а младшенькая – родить мальчика.

Царь, заслышав девичьи беседы, и недолго думая, обвенчался с младшенькой. А старшим приказал работать: одной – ткачихой, а другой – поварихой.

Не мешкая, сыграли свадебку. Царица в ту же ночь понесла (забеременела), а царь с большим войском отправился воевать.

В срок родился царский сын-богатырь. Мать, чтобы обрадовать мужа, послала с гонцом письмо. Но ее завистницы-сестры, а с ними и сватья баба Бабариха перехватили гонца, опоили его, и отправили с другим посланником свое письмо.

Гонец доставляет государю донесение, в котором сказано, что царица родила «не то сына, не то дочку». Царь пишет ответ и приказывает его дождаться. Но подлые сестры снова подменяют послание. А в ложном донесении приказано – царицу с приплодом надо посадить в бочку и сбросить в океан.

Бояре погоревали, но в точности выполнили указ государя. Молодицу с сыночком усадили в бочку, засмолили и доверили их судьбу бурным океанским волнам.

Несчастная мать предчувствовала гибель, но ее сынок рос не по дням, а по часам. Подросший царевич попросил волну выбросить их на берег, а потом сильными плечами выбил крышку бочки.

Спасенные мать и сын оказались на острове Буяне. Молодой царевич из прутика соорудил лук, спустился к морю в поисках доброго ужина. Но на волнах он заметил белого лебедя и страшного черного коршуна. Чтобы спасти лебедушку от когтей хищника, царевич, не раздумывая пустил стрелу в коршуна.

Лебедь заговорила человеческим голосом. Поблагодарила молодца за спасение от злого чародея и пообещала наградить. Мать с сыном легки спать голодными, но на утро перед их очами предстало настоящее чудо…

На безлюдном острове вдруг возник большой белокаменный город. Царевич воскликнул, что это Лебедь тешится на ним. Но тут честной народ вышел на встречу. Люди кланяются царице, а молодца нарекают князем Гвидоном.

Зажили мать и сын лучше прежнего. Град на острове рос и процветал, а в гости стали заплывать торговые люди. Вот однажды посетили Гвидона купцы, и рассказали, что торговали соболями, а теперь плывут обратно в царство славного Салтана.

Царевич отпустил их с поклоном, а сам опечалился, так хотелось молодцу увидеть отца. Тут Царевна Лебедь пришла на помощь, обрызгала князя и превратился он в комарика. Полетел, сел на судно, и добрался благополучно до родного дома.

В золоченных палатах вокруг царя Салтана свита. Тут и тетки Ткачиха с Поварихой, и Сватья баба Бабариха. Купцы поведали о дивном острове Буяне и о поклоне князя Гвидона. Салтан диву дался и решил навестить чудный город. Но сварливые бабы не пускают батюшку на далекий остров. Повариха рассказывает, что в мире есть и другие чудеса. К примеру, белка-затейница, которая песни распевает и грызет золоченые орешки.

Комар Гвидон злобой пышет, и в гневе жалить тетушку в правый глаз. Повариха кричит, вопит и в миг кривеет за свой злой язык.

Царевич благополучно возвращается домой и просит Царевну Лебедь подарить ему маленькое чудо – белку-затейницу.

Волшебница с радостью исполняет желание. И снова заезжие купцы дивятся на белокаменный город. Они видят чудо-белочку, которая песни поет и орешки грызет, достает изумрудные ядра из золотой скорлупы.

Гвидон провожает купцов и просит передать поклон Государю Салтану. Сам как прежде спешит к Лебеди с просьбой отправить его к отцу. Волшебная птица обращает молодца мухой, и он плывет на корабле в царство родного отца.

Салтан, как и прежде сидит в окружении свиты. Купцы сказывают батюшке о чудном острове, о диковинной белке-затейнице. Царь желает навестить соседей, но ворчливая Ткачиха его отговаривает. Она смеется, что белка вовсе не чудо, а вот есть в мире другое диво – из океана выходит войско – 33 богатыря с грозным дядей Черномором.

Гвидон злится на вредную тетку и жалит её в левый глаз. Ткачиха вопит и в миг кривеет. Гости охотятся за мухой, а царевич стремглав летит к милому сердцу острову Буяну. На этот раз просит он добрую Лебедь показать ему новое чудо – морских богатырей с дядькой Черномором.

Волшебная птица призналась, что это ее братья. И скоро они навестят Гвидона, и будут дозором обходить его славный белокаменный город.

Так и вышло. Сдержала Лебедь обещание, теперь у князя было непобедимое войско.

А тем временем снова торговцы навестили остров. Подивились на чудеса, рассказали, как торговали булатными мечами, а теперь спешат домой – в страну славного Салтана. Гвидон снова просит передать государю поклон.

Молодец скучает по отцу. Волшебница Лебедь обращает его шмелем, и оправляется Гвидон на корабле в родные пенаты.

Вокруг Салтана та же свита. Тут кривые тетушки и сватья баба Бабариха. Слушают рассказы купцов, царь дивится, снова хочет уплыть на дивный остров. Но сватья его отговаривает, говорит, что в мире есть другое диво – девица неземной красоты, чаровница и волшебница с месяцем под косой, а во лбу звезда горит.

Шмель Гвидон злится на сватью бабу Бабариху и жалит ее в нос. Бабариха криком кричит, а крылатый герой через море возвращается к берегам острова Буяна.

Царевича встречает Лебедь. Молодец грустит, он хочет увидеть чудо-царевну и взять ее в жены. Волшебная птица в миг обращается в девицу, а царица-мать дает детям свое благословение.

После свадьбы Гвидон встречает купцов и велит передать Салтану, что он «в гости обещался, но так и не собрался». На этот раз царевич остается дома с молодой супругой. А его отец царь Салтан больше не слушает сварливых баб, снаряжает быстрый флот и плывет на встречу с чудным островом Буяном.

Гвидон рад встретить родного отца. И царь Салтан не ожидал, что вновь обретет семью – жену, сына и молодую красавицу-невестку. А завистливых сестер царь простил и с миром отпустил восвояси.

Кратко об истории создания произведения

Великий поэт А.С. Пушкин всю жизнь интересовался народным творчеством. Он с удовольствием слушал истории своей няни Арины Родионовны, и в фантазиях поэта рождались фантастические сказочные образы.

В 1831 году издается новая стихотворная сказка Пушкина о славном царе Салтане. В основу сюжета ложатся народные сказы и герои, заимствованные из легенд разных народов.

Первые наброски знаменитой сказки Пушкин сделал в 1822 году в Кишиневе. А в 1831 году поэт начал соревноваться с Жуковском в переработке «народного» материала. Пушкин одновременно работал еще над тремя произведениями – о Спящей царевне, о царе Берендее и о Балде.

За 10 лет поэт три раза переписывал стихотворный текст «Царя Салтана». И в итоге родилось гениальное произведение, которым зачитываются несколько поколений больших и маленьких читателей.

Напоследок интересные факты о сказке про царя Салтана!

Первый – это самая длинная сказка Пушкина в стихах, второй – белокаменный город на острове автор списал с городка Свияжска, третий – к 100-летию Пушкина композитор Римский-Корсаков написал оперу «Сказка о царе Салтане»!