# The Tale of the Silver Saucer and the Crystal Apple explained — Russian Folktales > Chapter companion for Russian Folktales by A. N. Afanasyev. ## What happens A peasant's youngest daughter, called the Little Fool, is given a silver saucer and a crystal apple by her father. When she rolls the apple on the saucer, it magically shows cities, seas, and stars. Her jealous sisters lure her into the woods, kill her, and bury her under a birch tree. A shepherd finds the grave, makes a pipe from a bulrush, and the pipe sings of the murder. The father discovers the body and, following the pipe's instructions, obtains living water from the Tsar's well to revive her. The Tsar, amazed by the magic saucer, pardons the sisters at the maiden's request and marries her, making her Tsarítsa. ## Themes in this chapter ### Good vs. Evil The innocent Fool is killed by her envious sisters, but her goodness is rewarded through revival and marriage to the Tsar, while the sisters are pardoned. ### Magic and Transformation The silver saucer and crystal apple magically display distant places; the pipe sings of the murder; the living water revives the dead maiden. ### Family and Betrayal The sisters betray and murder their own sibling out of envy for her magical possession, yet the family is ultimately reconciled. ### Fate and Divine Justice The truth of the murder is revealed through the magical pipe, and the Tsar's justice leads to the maiden's revival and the sisters' forgiveness. ## Character check-ins ### The Fool The youngest daughter, called the Little Fool, who receives the silver saucer and crystal apple and is killed by her sisters. ### The Tsar The ruler who witnesses the magic of the saucer, pardons the sisters, and marries the revived maiden. ### The Old Man The peasant father who buys the saucer and apple for his daughter, discovers her body, and obtains the living water to revive her. ### The Stepmother The mother of the three daughters, who blesses the marriage at the end. ### The Fair Maiden The revived youngest daughter, who becomes the Tsarítsa after pleading for her sisters' forgiveness. ## Key lines > Roll, roll, roll, little apple, on the silver saucer, and show me all the cities and the fields, all the woods and the seas, and the heights of the hills and the fairness of heaven. The Fool commands the apple to roll on the saucer and reveal the entire world—cities, forests, seas, mountains, and sky. _This is the incantation that activates the magic of the saucer and apple._ > Play on, play on, my little pipe. Console my father, console my guiding light, my father, and tell my mother of me, and my sisters, the little doves. For they killed me, the poor one, and for a silver saucer have severed me from light, all for my enchanted apple. The pipe sings to comfort the father and reveal that the sisters murdered the Fool for her silver saucer and crystal apple. _The pipe acts as a supernatural witness to the crime, leading to the discovery of the body._ > I must for your goodness love your beauty: will you be my wife and the Tsarítsa of my fair realm? The Tsar declares his love for the maiden's goodness and beauty, and proposes marriage, making her his queen. _This marks the resolution where the Fool's virtue is rewarded with royal status._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/russian_folktales_se/chapters/the-tale-of-the-silver-saucer-and-the-crystal-apple - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/russian_folktales_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/russian_folktales_se/chapters