# The Legless Knight and the Blind Knight explained — Russian Folktales

> Chapter companion for Russian Folktales by A. N. Afanasyev.

## What happens

Iván Tsarévich, following his parents' advice to heed his attendant Katomá Oaken-cap, seeks to marry Ánna the Fair, who kills suitors unable to solve her riddles. With Katomá's clever riddle, Iván wins her, but Ánna resents Katomá and tricks Iván into having Katomá's legs cut off. Ánna then reduces Iván to a cowherd. Katomá, left legless on a stump, meets a blind knight (also blinded by Ánna). They form a partnership: the blind man carries Katomá, who guides him. They kidnap a merchant's daughter to keep house, but Bába Yagá attacks her. The knights capture Bába Yagá, who agrees to show them the well of Life and Death.

## Themes in this chapter

### Trickery and Cunning

Katomá devises an unsolvable riddle to win Ánna the Fair; Ánna later uses deception to have Katomá mutilated and to enslave Iván.

### Good vs. Evil

The legless and blind knights (wronged by Ánna) oppose Bába Yagá, who preys on the innocent merchant's daughter.

### Fate and Divine Justice

Katomá's suffering and the blind knight's misfortune are caused by Ánna's cruelty, but their partnership and eventual capture of Bába Yagá hint at eventual redress.

## Character check-ins

### Iván Tsarévich

The Tsarévich who heeds his attendant Katomá, wins Ánna the Fair with a riddle, but is later tricked by his wife into having Katomá mutilated and is reduced to a cowherd.

### The Stepmother

Not present in this chapter; included as placeholder only.

### Bába Yagá

The ancient hag who sucks the blood of the merchant's daughter; captured by the legless and blind knights.

### The Tsarévna

Ánna the Fair, the cunning princess who marries Iván Tsarévich after he solves her riddle, then has Katomá's legs cut off and forces Iván to tend cows.

### The Merchant

Father of the kind daughter kidnapped by the knights; mentioned but not directly appearing.

### The Fair Maiden

The merchant's daughter, described as indescribably kind, kidnapped by the knights to be their housekeeper, later attacked by Bába Yagá.

## Key lines

> Good lies on the road: we took the good with good, and set it down to our good.

A purse (the 'good') was found on the road; we took it (the 'good') with good intentions and placed it to our advantage.

_This riddle, devised by Katomá, refers to a purse they found and kept, and is unsolvable by Ánna the Fair._

> He who can set her a riddle she cannot solve is to marry her. Anyone whose riddle she solves dies.

The condition for marrying Ánna the Fair is to pose a riddle she cannot answer; if she solves it, the suitor is executed.

_This is the challenge that Iván Tsarévich must overcome to win Ánna._

> I will serve you with my feet and you me with your eyes.

The blind knight will carry the legless Katomá, who will guide him with his sight.

_The two knights form a symbiotic partnership to survive in the forest._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/russian_folktales_se/chapters/the-legless-knight-and-the-blind-knight
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