Russian Folktales · Chapter
The Snake Princess explained
A Cossack accidentally sets fire to a hayrick and rescues a fair maiden who turns into a snake.
What happens
A Cossack accidentally sets fire to a hayrick and rescues a fair maiden who turns into a snake. The snake coils around his neck and instructs him to carry her for seven years and then seek the Kingdom of Tin, where he must live for seven more years. He eventually reaches a tin castle, lives alone for years, and at the end of the term the maiden reappears, revealing she is a king's daughter transformed by Koshchéy the Deathless. She guides him to her father's court, where he asks for a magical keg instead of gold. On his journey, he meets an old man who exchanges a self-slaying sword for the keg, but the Cossack kills the old man and retrieves the keg. He then uses the sword to defeat an enemy army besieging the king's capital, and the king rewards him by giving him the princess in marriage.
Themes in this chapter
Magic and Transformation
The princess transforms into a snake and back, the Cossack uses a magical keg to summon a palace, and a self-slaying sword appears.
Trickery and Cunning
The Cossack tricks the old man by exchanging the keg for the sword and then kills him, demonstrating cunning and self-interest.
Good vs. Evil
The Cossack opposes Koshchéy the Deathless, who cursed the princess, and defeats the enemy army besieging the king's city.
Characters to notice
- The Cossack
The protagonist who rescues the snake princess, carries her for seven years, lives in the tin castle, and ultimately marries the princess after defeating an enemy army.
- The Fair Maiden
A king's daughter transformed into a snake by Koshchéy the Deathless; she is rescued by the Cossack and later guides him to her father's court.
- Koshchéy
The villain who fell in love with the princess and turned her into a snake when she laughed at him.
- The King
The father of the snake princess; he rewards the Cossack with the magical keg and later gives his daughter in marriage.
- The Old Man
A mysterious figure who exchanges a self-slaying sword for the magical keg, but is killed by the Cossack.
Key passages
“Thrust your pike into the flame: I will jump out on to it.”
Put your spear into the fire so I can leap onto it.
The maiden instructs the Cossack on how to rescue her from the burning hayrick.
“Do not be frightened, good youth; bear me on your neck for seven years, and go to seek the Kingdom of Tin: when you arrive in that kingdom stay there and live there seven years more, and do not ever leave it: if you serve this service you shall be happy.”
Don't be afraid; carry me around your neck for seven years, then find the Kingdom of Tin and live there for another seven years without leaving, and you will be rewarded with happiness.
The snake gives the Cossack his quest and conditions for eventual happiness.
“If you turn that keg to the right a palace appears forthwith, if you turn it to the left, it vanishes.”
Turning the keg to the right instantly creates a palace, and turning it to the left makes it disappear.
The princess explains the magical property of the keg the Cossack should request.
“This is a sword which slays of itself: you need only wave it, and however incalculable the force may be it will slay them all in front of it.”
This sword kills automatically; just wave it and it will destroy any enemy force, no matter how large.
The old man describes the self-slaying sword he offers in exchange for the keg.