Vassilissa Golden Tress,
the Bareheaded Beauty
Once there was a Tzar named Svaitozar, and he had two sons and a daughter
of unearthly beauty. Yet none but the royal family had ever seen her face. This beauty was
called Vassilissa Golden Tress. So that no harm might come to her, this Vassilissa was
never allowed to leave her chambers, and all of the finery of the Tzar's court was tedious
to her. Still, though none had seen her, her fame was such that princes from all over the
world came seeking her hand in marriage.
Knowing that her father would soon marry her to some Tzar or other,
Vassilissa asked that she might be allowed to walk freely through the palace and its
gardens, at least once. Tzar Svaitozar agreed, and his daughter went out into the
courtyard. She was so excited by her new freedom, that she forgot to don her veil, and as
soon as she stepped outside, a whirlwind swept out of the sky, and carried her off! She
was carried through three kingdoms and into the fourth, the land of the Savage Serpent [a
winged giant with the head of a snake]. There she was imprisoned in a castle of gold, that
stood upon a pillar of silver, and was surrounded by curtains of diamond.
Meanwhile, Vassilissa's brothers set out to find their sister. They
traveled through all three kingdoms, and at last came to the land of the Savage Serpent.
They snuck into the castle, and soon found their sister, but before they could leave, the
Serpent returned. In one blow, he slew both brothers, and had his guards toss their bodies
into a ditch.
Realizing that further help would probably not be forthcoming, Vassilissa
tried to trick the Savage Serpent into revealing his weakness. The Serpent told her that
only a hero named Ivan Goroh [John Pea] was fated to defeat him, but he did not mean it.
He had made it up as a jest to tease the princess.
But prophecies have a strange way of coming true, and so it was with Ivan
Goroh. Through a rather strange set of circumstances, Vassilissa's mother came upon a
magic stream drank some of its waters to wash down a pea. The pea grew, and eventually the
Tzarista gave birth to a son they name... Ivan Goroh. Ivan Goroh was not like other
children, an hour was like a year, and he grew stronger and stronger, so that by the time
he was ten, he was the greatest of all champions. It was then he heard about the whirlwind
that had borne away his sister and slew his brothers, and he set out at once to rescue
them.
In the forest, Ivan came upon a chicken-legged hut and met a strange hag,
who was willing to tell him how to find the whirlwind if he would swear to bring her water
from the fountain of youth that flowed in the Serpent's castle. Ivan promised and thus
passed through the three kingdoms, and at last into the fourth, that of the Savage
Serpent.
When he arrived at the castle, the Serpent was not there, so Ivan made
himself at home, drinking three gallons of mead, and sitting in the Serpent's own chair.
The chair cracked under his weight, and the youth laughed and told his sister that he had
no fears of the monster, for he was greater in size and power. From there, he found the
Serpent's smith, and made him forge him an iron club that fifty men could not lift, but
which Ivan Goroh could toss with one hand.
Now the Savage Serpent came, riding the whirlwind, and breathing fire. He
and Ivan Goroh went to battle, and there was a great fight. Yet when Ivan at last landed a
blow on the Serpent, the monster shattered to pieces, and the club broken.
The people cheered and proclaimed Ivan as Tzar, but Ivan insisted that the
crown should go to the smith, as a reward for making the club. He also took the waters of
life and death from the Serpent's castle, and brought his brother's corpses back to life.
Finally, he let the old hag bathe in the fountain of youth, and she became a beautiful
maid who showed him the way home.
Ivan Goroh, Vassilissa, and their brothers at last came home, and there
was great rejoicing. All married, and in time, Ivan Goroh became Tzar after his father,
and ruled the land well and wisely.
Russisches Volksmärchen. (AT 301, Russland)
top
