The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa, a #fairytale #AtoZChallenge

Part of the A-to-Z blog challenge. My theme is legends and legendary creatures. I hope you enjoy following along!

“The Firebird and Princess Vasilisa”

A tale from Slavic folklore for you. 😉

The king’s archer is on a hunt and runs across a firebird’s feather. But the archer’s horse warns the archer not to touch it, as bad things will happen if he does. (The horse can talk?!)

The archer ignores the horse’s advice and takes it, bringing the feather back to the king so he will be praised and rewarded.
When the king is presented with the feather, he demands the archer bring back the entire firebird or he will be executed. (See? Why didn’t he listen to that wise horse?)

The archer then weeps to his horse, who decides to lend him wise advise once more: instructing the archer to put corn on the fields in order to lure and capture the firebird.
The firebird later comes down to eat, allowing the archer to capture the bird. (Yay!)
But when the king is presented with the firebird, he then demands that the archer go and fetch the Princess Vasilisa so that the king may marry her; otherwise, the archer will be killed. (Wait, what? Where did that come from?! I’m so confused…)

So, the archer goes to the princess’s land and drugs her with wine to bring her back to the king. (How nice.) The king is pleased and rewards the archer. However, when the princess awakes and realizes she is not home, she begins to weep. If she is to be married, she wants her wedding dress: which is under a rock in the middle of the Blue Sea.

Once again the archer weeps to his horse (of course), but fulfills his duty (somehow) and brings back the dress. But the princess is stubborn and refuses to marry the king even with her dress, that is, unless the archer is dipped in boiling water. (Oooh, she hates that archer. Revenge is sweet, mwahaha!)

The archer begs to see his horse before he is boiled, and the wise horse puts a spell on the archer to protect him from the water. (Horses can do that?)

The archer comes out, safe and sound, but more handsome than anyone had ever seen! (…Okay.) The king sees this, and like any sane person would do, jumps in as well…but is boiled alive instead of becoming handsome.
The archer is chosen to be king and marries the princess and they live happily ever after.

Yeah. I agree with the owl’s reaction completely. But hey, at least it has a happy ending? …I guess?

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