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Russian Fairy Tales
Traditional stories of princes and peasants reflect Russia's rich cultural heritage.
66 pages, Unknown Binding
First published January 1, 1960
About the author
Marie Ponsot
39 books15 followersMarie Ponsot was an American poet, literary critic, essayist, teacher, and translator.
After graduating from St. Joseph's College for Women in Brooklyn, Ponsot earned her master's degree in seventeenth-century literature from Columbia University. After the Second World War, she journeyed to Paris, where she met and married Claude Ponsot, a painter and student of Fernand Léger. The couple lived in Paris for three years, during which time they had a daughter. Later, Ponsot and her husband relocated to the United States. The couple had six sons before divorcing.
Upon returning from France, Ponsot worked as a freelance writer of radio and television scripts. She also translated 69 children's books from the French, including The Fables of La Fontaine.
She co-authored with Rosemary Deen two books about the fundamentals of writing, Beat Not the Poor Desk and Common Sense.
Ponsot taught a poetry thesis class, as well as writing classes, at the Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y. She has also taught at the YMCA, Beijing United University, New York University, and Columbia University, and she served as an English professor at Queens College in New York, from which she retired in 1991.
Ponsot lived in New York City.
Ponsot was the author of several collections of poetry, including The Bird Catcher (1998), a finalist for the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Springing: New and Selected Poems (2002), which was named a "notable book of the year" by The New York Times Book Review.
Among her awards are a creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Prize, The Robert Frost Poetry Award, the Shaughnessy Medal of the Modern Language Association, the 2013 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and the 2015 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry.
After graduating from St. Joseph's College for Women in Brooklyn, Ponsot earned her master's degree in seventeenth-century literature from Columbia University. After the Second World War, she journeyed to Paris, where she met and married Claude Ponsot, a painter and student of Fernand Léger. The couple lived in Paris for three years, during which time they had a daughter. Later, Ponsot and her husband relocated to the United States. The couple had six sons before divorcing.
Upon returning from France, Ponsot worked as a freelance writer of radio and television scripts. She also translated 69 children's books from the French, including The Fables of La Fontaine.
She co-authored with Rosemary Deen two books about the fundamentals of writing, Beat Not the Poor Desk and Common Sense.
Ponsot taught a poetry thesis class, as well as writing classes, at the Poetry Center of the 92nd Street Y. She has also taught at the YMCA, Beijing United University, New York University, and Columbia University, and she served as an English professor at Queens College in New York, from which she retired in 1991.
Ponsot lived in New York City.
Ponsot was the author of several collections of poetry, including The Bird Catcher (1998), a finalist for the 1999 Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize and the winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award, and Springing: New and Selected Poems (2002), which was named a "notable book of the year" by The New York Times Book Review.
Among her awards are a creative writing grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Delmore Schwartz Memorial Prize, The Robert Frost Poetry Award, the Shaughnessy Medal of the Modern Language Association, the 2013 Ruth Lilly Poetry Prize from the Poetry Foundation, and the 2015 Aiken Taylor Award for Modern American Poetry.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
July 10, 2016
There seem to be two editions of this book with different illustrations. Both editions list the same artist on Amazon, but the cover art is quite different in style, so I'm a little dubious. The version we had is here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000H8AAU0/... The link in this entry goes to the other edition.
I remember the art from this much more clearly than I do the actual stories. I was very sad when my sister (who actually owned the book) wanted to keep it. I think it's the only childhood book she did keep. I remember the prose of the translation as being quite readable, but I'm not sure I could name any of the stories at this point. I mainly remember spending hours paging through the book over and over again.
I remember the art from this much more clearly than I do the actual stories. I was very sad when my sister (who actually owned the book) wanted to keep it. I think it's the only childhood book she did keep. I remember the prose of the translation as being quite readable, but I'm not sure I could name any of the stories at this point. I mainly remember spending hours paging through the book over and over again.
January 20, 2020
We had a copy of this book when I was younger. My parents had bought a copy of this book for us kids. They actually didn't buy a lot of kids books for our family.
I really liked the 5 fairy tales in this book and I ABSOLUTELY loved the illustrations.
I can not believe that there are so few reviews for this book and that so few people seem to be aware of it.
I really liked the 5 fairy tales in this book and I ABSOLUTELY loved the illustrations.
I can not believe that there are so few reviews for this book and that so few people seem to be aware of it.
November 10, 2024
This book containing five fairy tales has many beautiful color illustrations by Benvenuti which greatly enhance the stories. These stories were unfamiliar to me, but being traditional fairy tales they utilize familiar themes and patterns of storytelling. Most of them began "Once there was a Tsar..." and they all featured tsars, princes, and princesses. I was struck by the emphasis on not just wealth, but lavish wealth. (Also, the women most sought after were often described as delicate or small.) A few of the tales left me with a host of unanswered questions! My favorite story was called "Stupid Emilien" about three sons of a peasant. Emilien isn't really stupid, he is lazy and makes use of a magical fish to do things for him. But in the end, he asks the fish to make him handsome, intelligent, and kind, and for me that makes him better than all the other rich princes in the book.
September 22, 2011
Very enjoyable old fashioned telling of 5 tales. I enjoyed this version of The Frog Princess a great deal. May not be suitable for very young children.
January 26, 2018
I couldn't find the book cited at the end of "The Girl in the Tower" and wound up with this one from the library. The illustrations are nice, and the stories are written like the European ones. They're different enough to make interesting stories and some I 'd not read before. There were only five in this collection. I'm still hoping to find a larger one. I suspect these have been cleaned up a bit, like the Grimm ones usually are when presented for children.
October 10, 2024
Benvenuti's illustrations are absolutely gorgeous-- there are some lavish, full-page plates in this edition that I remember being mesmerized by when I was a kid. In the tradition of all the best fairy tales, these stories are extremely surreal and often a bit sinister, but always with a happy ending.
April 6, 2017
I've owned this book since I was a very little girl, a 2nd printing copy from 1973. (I was -10 when it was printed. My big sister was 1.) If I knew how to upload a cover photo, I would do so. The art has always been a treasure and I would love for more people to have to opportunity to see it.
Since Fairy Tales that stay true to their origins are usually shelved in non-fiction, I chose two stories from this book for my Read Aloud selection this week. One story for each of my second grade classes.
The first story I read was Vassilissa the Beautiful. It has some similarities to Cinderella - a wicked stepmother, ugly step-sisters and endless days of chores. But unlike the more common fairy tale, Vassilissa is aided not by a fairy godmother, but by a doll given to her by her mother. The witch she meets is mean and demanding, but softens and helps when the girl completes every task without complaint or error. And though Vassilissa does eventually catch the eye of the Tsar, it is due to own abilities with spinning, weaving and sewing, not a magical ballgown and crystal footwear.
This story had enough differences, and a bit of a winding plot, to make it difficult for my first second grade class to sit quietly the entire time.
Which is why I decided on a different story for my second class. For this group I chose to read The Frog Princess. The Tsar has decided that his sons should marry, and in typical fairy tale fashion, they should gain their wives by chance. Each was to fire an arrow from his bow, and whatever young woman returned the arrow would wed the brother to whom it had belonged. The first brother's arrow was returned by the daughter of a Prince, the second brother's arrow was returned by the daughter of a General, and the youngest brother's arrow was returned by a small, emerald green frog. True to his word, all three brothers were wed by their father, the Tsar.
Not being finished interfering, the Tsar devised three competitions for the brides to undertake. The first, sewing and embroidering a shirt. With help from her maidens in the pond, the Frog Princess produced the most beautiful work. Second, baking bread. After tricking the elder wives into making horrible burnt crust, the Frog Princess produced a wonderful, masterful loaf with the aid of her father's chef from the kingdom in the pond. The final test was public gracefulness, and when the Frog Princess finally revealed her true form, everyone present was enthralled by her. But her husband messed up, burning her frog skin, and causing her to be snatched back by the witches that had cursed her in the first place. He made up for it by searching for over three years to find her, and when he did they lived happily ever after.
This story went over very well. It moved more quickly than the former, and being almost entirely new (other than royalty cursed to be a frog), the students listened intently.
Since Fairy Tales that stay true to their origins are usually shelved in non-fiction, I chose two stories from this book for my Read Aloud selection this week. One story for each of my second grade classes.
The first story I read was Vassilissa the Beautiful. It has some similarities to Cinderella - a wicked stepmother, ugly step-sisters and endless days of chores. But unlike the more common fairy tale, Vassilissa is aided not by a fairy godmother, but by a doll given to her by her mother. The witch she meets is mean and demanding, but softens and helps when the girl completes every task without complaint or error. And though Vassilissa does eventually catch the eye of the Tsar, it is due to own abilities with spinning, weaving and sewing, not a magical ballgown and crystal footwear.
This story had enough differences, and a bit of a winding plot, to make it difficult for my first second grade class to sit quietly the entire time.
Which is why I decided on a different story for my second class. For this group I chose to read The Frog Princess. The Tsar has decided that his sons should marry, and in typical fairy tale fashion, they should gain their wives by chance. Each was to fire an arrow from his bow, and whatever young woman returned the arrow would wed the brother to whom it had belonged. The first brother's arrow was returned by the daughter of a Prince, the second brother's arrow was returned by the daughter of a General, and the youngest brother's arrow was returned by a small, emerald green frog. True to his word, all three brothers were wed by their father, the Tsar.
Not being finished interfering, the Tsar devised three competitions for the brides to undertake. The first, sewing and embroidering a shirt. With help from her maidens in the pond, the Frog Princess produced the most beautiful work. Second, baking bread. After tricking the elder wives into making horrible burnt crust, the Frog Princess produced a wonderful, masterful loaf with the aid of her father's chef from the kingdom in the pond. The final test was public gracefulness, and when the Frog Princess finally revealed her true form, everyone present was enthralled by her. But her husband messed up, burning her frog skin, and causing her to be snatched back by the witches that had cursed her in the first place. He made up for it by searching for over three years to find her, and when he did they lived happily ever after.
This story went over very well. It moved more quickly than the former, and being almost entirely new (other than royalty cursed to be a frog), the students listened intently.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews