Ivan Tsarevich, the Firebird, and the Gray Wolf

In a certain kingdom, in a certain land, lived Tsar Vwislav Andronovich, who had three sons: Dmitri, Vassili and Ivan. His garden was the richest in any land, full of precious trees, some bearing fruit and some not. His favourite was an apple tree that grew golden apples. Every night the Firebird came to the garden. Her wings were gold and her eyes shone like crystals of the East. She would perch in the favourite tree, pluck golden apples and fly away.

The Tsar grieved over his tree, for the bird took so many apples. He called his sons and said, “My dear children, whichever of you catches the Firebird in my garden and brings her to me alive shall have half my kingdom while I live, and all of it when I die.” “Father,” they answered together, “we will gladly try.”

On the first night Dmitri kept watch beneath the apple tree. He fell asleep and heard nothing when the Firebird came and stripped the branches. In the morning his father asked whether he had seen her. “No, father, she didn’t come last night.” On the second night Vassili sat under the same tree and, after a couple of hours, fell so deeply asleep that he too missed her. In the morning he gave the same answer.

On the third night it was Ivan’s turn. He sat one hour, two hours, three. Suddenly the whole garden lit up as if many fires had been kindled, and the Firebird swooped onto the apple tree and began picking apples. Ivan crept up so carefully that he caught hold of her tail, but he could not keep her. She tore herself free and flew off, leaving a single tail feather tight in his fist.

As soon as the Tsar woke, Ivan brought him the feather. The Tsar was delighted that his youngest son had managed to win even one feather. It was so brilliant that in a dark room it shone like a great crowd of candles. The Tsar locked it away in his study as a treasure to be guarded always. After that the Firebird came to the garden no more.

The Tsar called his sons again. “My dear children, I give you my blessing. Go and find the Firebird and bring her to me alive, and whoever brings her will receive what I promised.” Dmitri and Vassili had begun to hate their youngest brother for pulling out that feather. They took their father’s blessing and set off together. Then Ivan asked for his blessing too. “My dear son, my darling child,” said the Tsar, “you are still young and not used to such a long, hard journey. Why leave me? Your brothers have gone. If you go too, and none of you comes back for a long time, who will rule if I die? There might be rebellion or quarrelling among the people, or an enemy might invade, with no one to lead our men.” But however the Tsar tried to keep him, Ivan begged until he had to let him go. Ivan took the blessing, chose a horse and rode off without knowing where he was heading.

He rode along the roads, near or far, uphill or down (a tale is quickly told, but a deed is slowly done), until he reached green meadows. In the open field stood a pillar with words carved on it: “Whoever goes straight ahead from this pillar will be hungry and cold. Whoever goes to the right will stay safe and well, but his horse will die. Whoever goes to the left will be killed, but his horse will live.” Ivan read it and turned right, reasoning that even if he lost his horse he would stay alive and could find another one in time.

He rode for three days. Suddenly a huge gray wolf stepped into his path. “So it’s you, tender young Ivan Tsarevich. You read on the pillar that your horse would die. Why did you come this way?” With that, the wolf killed Ivan’s horse and went off to one side. Ivan grieved for his horse and cried bitterly, then walked on. He walked all day until he was dreadfully tired, and he was about to sit down to rest when the gray wolf caught up with him. “I’m sorry for you, Ivan Tsarevich. You’re worn out from walking, and I’m sorry I ate your good horse. Climb on my back, old wolf that I am, and tell me where to take you and why.”

Ivan told him, and the wolf raced off faster than any horse. Just as night fell he stopped beside a low stone wall. “Get down, Ivan Tsarevich, and climb over that wall. On the other side is a garden, and in the garden the Firebird sits in a golden cage. Take the bird, but don’t touch the cage. If you take the cage you won’t get away; they’ll catch you at once.”

Ivan climbed into the garden and saw the Firebird in her golden cage, and the cage tempted him badly. He took the bird out and started back, but then he thought, “Why did I take the bird without the cage? What will I carry her in?” He went back, and the moment he lifted the cage a hammering and clanging rang through the whole garden, for wires were attached to it. The watchmen woke, ran out, caught Ivan with the Firebird and dragged him before their ruler, Tsar Dolmat.

Tsar Dolmat was furious. “Aren’t you ashamed to steal, young man? Who are you, from what land, whose son, and what is your name?” “I come from Vwislav’s kingdom. I am the son of Tsar Vwislav Andronovich, and my name is Ivan Tsarevich. Your Firebird flew into our garden every night, picked the golden apples from my father’s favourite tree and nearly ruined it. So my father sent me to find the bird and bring her home.”

“Oh, young Ivan Tsarevich, is this the proper way to behave?” said Tsar Dolmat. “If you had come and asked, I would have given you the Firebird with honour. How will you like it when I send word to every land of how dishonestly you’ve acted in my kingdom? But listen. If you do me a service, if you go beyond three times nine lands to the thirtieth kingdom and fetch me the golden-maned horse of Tsar Afron, I’ll forgive you and give you the Firebird with full honour. If not, I’ll announce in every kingdom that you are a dishonourable thief.” Ivan left in great sorrow, having promised to bring the horse.

He went back to the gray wolf and told him everything. “So it’s you, young Ivan Tsarevich. Why did you disobey me and take the golden cage?” “I’ve wronged you,” said Ivan. “Well, let it go. Climb on, and I’ll take you wherever you need.”

The wolf ran as swift as an arrow until he reached Tsar Afron’s kingdom in the night. At the white-walled stables he said, “Go in, Ivan Tsarevich. The grooms on guard are fast asleep. Take the golden-maned horse. A golden bridle hangs on the wall, but don’t take it, or things will go badly.” Ivan went in and led out the horse, but on his way he saw the golden bridle and wanted it so much that he lifted it from its nail. At once a thundering racket filled the stables, for strings were tied to the bridle. The grooms woke, seized him and brought him to Tsar Afron.

Tsar Afron asked the same questions, and Ivan gave the same answers. “Oh, young Ivan Tsarevich, was that the act of an honourable knight? I would have given you the horse with honour. How will you like it when I tell every land how dishonestly you’ve acted here? But listen. If you go beyond three times nine lands to the thirtieth kingdom and bring me Princess Yelena the Beautiful, whom I have loved with all my heart for a long time but cannot win, I’ll pardon you and give you the golden-maned horse with honour. Otherwise I’ll declare everywhere that you are a dishonourable thief.” Ivan promised, left the palace and wept bitterly.

He told the wolf everything. “Why did you disobey me and take the golden bridle?” asked the wolf. “I’ve wronged you,” said Ivan. “Well, let it go. Climb on, and I’ll take you where you need to be.”

The wolf ran like an arrow until he came to Yelena the Beautiful’s kingdom and the golden fence around her wonderful garden. “Get down, Ivan Tsarevich. Go back along the road we came and wait in the field under the green oak.” Ivan did as he was told, and the wolf sat by the golden fence to wait for the princess.

Toward evening, when the sun was low and the air had cooled, Yelena came into the garden with her maids and court ladies. As she passed the spot where the wolf was hiding behind the fence, he leapt out, seized her, sprang back over and carried her off with all his might to the green oak. “Ivan Tsarevich, get on quickly!” Ivan climbed on, and the wolf bore them both swiftly toward Tsar Afron’s kingdom. The nurses, maids and ladies ran to the palace and sent riders after the wolf, but however hard they rode they could not catch him and had to turn back.

As they rode together on the wolf’s back, Ivan came to love Yelena with all his heart, and she loved him. When they reached Tsar Afron’s kingdom and the time came to hand her over, Ivan grew very sad and began to cry. “Why are you crying, Ivan Tsarevich?” asked the wolf. “How can I help it, my friend? I love Yelena the Beautiful with all my heart, and now I must give her up for the golden-maned horse. If I don’t, Tsar Afron will shame me in every land.”

“I’ve done you many services, Ivan Tsarevich,” said the wolf, “and I’ll do this one too. I’ll turn myself into Princess Yelena. You give me to Tsar Afron and take the horse; he’ll think I’m the real princess. When you’re far away on the horse, I’ll ask the Tsar’s permission to walk in the open field. When he lets me go out with the maids and nurses and ladies, think of me, and I’ll come to you.” The wolf struck the damp earth and became Yelena the Beautiful, so exactly that nobody could have told the difference.

Ivan told the real Yelena to wait outside the town and led the wolf to the palace. Tsar Afron was overjoyed to receive the treasure he had wanted for so long. He took the false princess and gave Ivan the golden-maned horse. Ivan rode out of the town, lifted Yelena up beside him, and set off toward Tsar Dolmat’s kingdom.

The wolf lived with Tsar Afron in Yelena’s place for three days. On the fourth day he asked to go walking in the open field to drive away his sorrow. “Oh, my lovely Princess Yelena, I’ll do anything for you,” said the Tsar, and he ordered the nurses, maids and court ladies to take her walking. Meanwhile Ivan was riding along chatting with Yelena and had forgotten all about the wolf. Then he remembered. “Oh, where is my gray wolf?” At once, from wherever he came, the wolf was standing before him. “Climb on me, Ivan Tsarevich, and let the princess ride the golden-maned horse.”

So they travelled on to Tsar Dolmat’s kingdom. About three versts from the capital they stopped, and Ivan pleaded, “Gray wolf, my dear friend, you’ve done me so many services. Do one last one. Could you turn into a golden-maned horse in place of this one? I can’t bear to part with him.” The wolf struck the damp earth and became a golden-maned horse. Leaving Yelena in the green meadow, Ivan rode the wolf to Tsar Dolmat’s palace.

Tsar Dolmat saw him coming on the golden-maned horse and was delighted. He came out into the courtyard, kissed Ivan, took him by the right hand and led him into the white stone halls, and ordered a feast. They ate and drank and celebrated for two whole days, and on the third Tsar Dolmat gave Ivan the Firebird together with her golden cage. Ivan took the bird outside the town, mounted the real golden-maned horse with Yelena, and set off for home.

The next day Tsar Dolmat decided to ride his new horse in the open field. The moment he urged it on, the horse threw him off, turned back into the gray wolf and ran to catch up with Ivan. “Ivan Tsarevich, climb on me, and let Yelena ride the golden-maned horse.” So they went on until they came to the place where the wolf had killed Ivan’s horse. There the wolf stopped. “I’ve served you long enough, faithfully and truly. On this spot I killed your horse, and to this spot I’ve brought you back. Get down. You have a golden-maned horse now; ride him wherever you need to go. I am no longer your servant.” With that he ran off to one side. Ivan wept bitterly for the gray wolf and rode on with the princess.

When he was twenty versts from home, he stopped to rest with Yelena in the shade of a tree out of the hot sun. He tied the horse to the tree and set the Firebird’s cage beside him, and as they lay on the soft grass talking happily, they both fell fast asleep.

Just then Ivan’s brothers, Dmitri and Vassili, were riding home empty-handed after searching many lands for the Firebird. They came upon their brother asleep with the princess, and when they saw the golden-maned horse and the Firebird in her cage, greed took hold of them and they decided to kill him. Dmitri drew his sword and killed Ivan as he slept. Then he woke the princess and asked who she was.

Seeing Ivan dead, Yelena was terrified and wept bitterly. “I am Princess Yelena the Beautiful. Ivan Tsarevich, whom you have cruelly killed, won me. If you were true knights, you would have met him in the open field and beaten him there. But you killed him in his sleep, and what glory is there in that? A sleeping man is no better than a dead one.”

Dmitri put his sword to her heart. “Listen, Yelena the Beautiful. You’re in our hands now. We’ll take you to our father, Tsar Vwislav, and you will tell him that we won you, the Firebird and the golden-maned horse. If you refuse, you die this minute.” Afraid for her life, she promised and swore by everything holy to say what they told her. Then they drew lots, and the princess fell to Vassili and the horse to Dmitri. Vassili set Yelena on his horse, Dmitri mounted the golden-maned horse and took the Firebird for their father, and away they rode.

Ivan lay dead on that spot for thirty days. Then the gray wolf came running, knew him by his scent, and longed to bring him back to life but did not know how. Just then he saw a raven with two young ones circling over the body, wanting to feed on it. The wolf hid behind a bush, and when the young ravens landed, he sprang out and seized one, ready to tear it apart. The mother raven landed a little way off. “Oh, gray wolf, don’t hurt my child. It has done you no harm!” “Listen, raven. I won’t hurt your child. I’ll let it go safe and sound if you do me a service. Fly beyond three times nine lands to the thirtieth kingdom and bring me the water of death and the water of life.” “I’ll do it. Only don’t hurt my son.”

The raven flew off and soon disappeared. On the third day she came back with two little flasks, one holding the water of life and the other the water of death, and gave them to the wolf. To test them, the wolf tore the young raven apart, sprinkled it with the water of death so that it knitted together, then with the water of life, and the little raven jumped up and flew away.

Then the wolf sprinkled Ivan with the water of death, and his body grew whole. He sprinkled him with the water of life, and Ivan stood up. “Oh, how long I’ve slept!” “You’d have slept forever without me. Your brothers killed you and carried off Princess Yelena, the golden-maned horse and the Firebird. Hurry home as fast as you can. Today Vassili is marrying your bride. Climb on, and I’ll get you there quickly.”

The wolf ran with him to the edge of Tsar Vwislav’s town. Ivan jumped down, walked into the town and learned that Vassili had married Yelena that day and was now sitting with her at the wedding feast. Ivan walked into the palace. When Yelena saw him, she sprang up from the table, kissed him and cried, “This is my true bridegroom, Ivan Tsarevich, not that villain at the table!”

Tsar Vwislav rose and asked what she meant, and Yelena told him the whole truth: how Ivan had won her, the golden-maned horse and the Firebird, how his elder brother had killed him in his sleep, and how they had frightened her into saying they had won everything themselves. The Tsar was furious with Dmitri and Vassili and threw them into prison. Ivan married Yelena the Beautiful, and they lived together in such harmony and love that neither could bear to be apart from the other for a single minute.

About this telling

This tale comes from Jeremiah Curtin’s Myths and Folk-tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars (Project Gutenberg #50011), where it follows “The Three Kingdoms” as the second Russian story in the book. Curtin’s title is “Ivan Tsarevich, the Fire-Bird, and the Gray Wolf.” The princess in it is Yelena the Beautiful, and Tsar Vwislav, Tsar Dolmat and Tsar Afron each set Ivan a new task.

The gray wolf performs most of the difficult rescues and transformations, but he is also a dangerous helper. Ivan breaks the wolf’s rule twice, taking the golden cage and then the golden bridle. Each time the wolf scolds him, forgives him and carries him on. The wolf even turns himself into a princess and then into a horse to keep Ivan’s treasures safe. The brothers’ murder of Ivan and the tearing apart and revival of the raven chick come from Curtin and remain violent episodes in this adaptation.

Read the original: Jeremiah Curtin, Myths and Folk-tales of the Russians, Western Slavs, and Magyars (Project Gutenberg #50011)

For older readers: includes abduction, murder by a sibling, threats to a woman, an animal killed and restored to life, and magical resurrection.

A helper who also causes harm

The wolf begins by killing Ivan’s horse and then compensates by carrying him. His later help is generous toward Ivan, but it has costs for others. He abducts Yelena, deceives the two rulers and promises the mother raven that her chick will be unharmed before tearing it apart to test the waters. Its magical revival does not erase that broken promise.

The rulers’ demands are also inconsistent. They condemn theft, then require Ivan to take a horse or a woman from someone else. Yelena’s later choice of Ivan is clear at the wedding feast, but the story gives her no choice when she is first carried away. These tensions make the tale more complicated than an instruction to obey every helpful friend.

Track promises and their costs

Choose the wolf’s promise to Ivan, his promise to the raven and Afron’s demand for Yelena. For each, identify who agrees, who gains and who bears the risk. Which promise is kept, which is broken, and whose agreement is never sought?

Talk about it

• The wolf warns Ivan about the cage and the bridle. Why do you think Ivan gives in each time?
• How do the wolf’s substitutions deceive the two Tsars, and how does the bargain treat Yelena’s wishes?
• Yelena tells the brothers that killing a sleeping man brings no glory. What does she mean, and do you agree?

More stories like this

• The Firebird, the Horse of Power, and Princess Vasilisa — a different Russian firebird tale, with a horse of power and Princess Vasilissa
• The Three Kingdoms: Gold, Silver, and Copper — Curtin’s tale of another Ivan betrayed by his elder brothers
• Koschei the Deathless — another Russian hero brought back with the waters of death and life