''The Flying Ship'' (Russian title ''Летучий корабль''), or ''The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship'', is a Russian

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cult ...

Andrew Lang Andrew Lang (31 March 1844 – 20 July 1912) was a Scottish poet, novelist, literary critic, and contributor to the field of anthropology. He is best known as a collector of folk and fairy tales. The Andrew Lang lectures at the University o ...

included it in '' The Yellow Fairy Book'' and

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

in '' Old Peter's Russian Tales''. Uri Shulevitz illustrated a version of Ransome's tale, '' The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship'', for which he won the

Caldecott Medal The Randolph Caldecott Medal, frequently shortened to just the Caldecott, annually recognizes the preceding year's "most distinguished American picture book for children". It is awarded to the illustrator by the Association for Library Servic ...

in 1969. Also, a made-for-television

stop motion Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

-animated film with the same name was released in the United Kingdom in 1990. It aired as part of

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

's children's series, '' Long Ago and Far Away''.

Rabbit Ears Productions Rabbit Ears Productions is a production company best known for producing three television series that feature individual episodes adapting popular pieces of children's literature. Rabbit Ears episodes have been released on home video, broadcast o ...

also produced an audiotape version, featuring

Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

, which was released on Showtime in 1991. It aired as part of Rabbit Ears' series '' We All Have Tales''. In addition, the

Terry Gilliam Terrence Vance Gilliam (; born 22 November 1940) is an American-born British filmmaker, comedian, animator, actor and former member of the Monty Python comedy troupe. Gilliam has directed 13 feature films, including '' Time Bandits'' (1981), '' ...

film '' The Adventures of Baron Munchausen'' (1988) contains several elements inspired by this story, particularly the opening sequence set at the court of the Grand Turk.

Synopsis

A couple had three sons, and the youngest was a fool. One day,

Czar Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East and South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" in the European medieval sense of the t ...

declared that whoever made him a ship that could sail through the air would marry his daughter. The older two set out, with everything their parents could give them; then the youngest set out as well, despite their ridicule and being given less fine food. He met a little man and, when the man asked to share, he hesitated only because it was not fit. But when he opened it, the food had become fine. The man told him how to strike a tree with an axe; then, he was not to look at it but fall to his knees. When he was lifted up, he would find the tree had been turned into a boat, and could fly it to the Tsar's palace, but he should give anyone who asked a lift. He obeyed. On the way, he met and gave a lift to a man who was listening to everything in the world, a man who hopped on one leg so that he would not reach the end of the world in one bound, a man who could shoot a bird at a hundred miles, a man who needed a great basket of bread for his breakfast, a man whose thirst could not be sated by a lake, a man with a bundle of wood that would become soldiers, and a man with straw that would make everything cold. At the Tsar's place, the Tsar did not want to marry the princess to a peasant. He decided to send him to the end of the world to get healing water, before the Tsar finished his dinner. But the man who could hear heard him and told the youngest son, who lamented his fate. The fleet-footed man went after it. He fell asleep by the spring, and the huntsman shot the tree he was leaning against to wake him up, and he brought back the water in time. The Tsar then ordered him to eat twelve oxen and twelve tons of bread, but the glutton ate them all. The Tsar then ordered him to drink forty casks of wine, with forty gallons each, but the thirsty man drank them all. The Tsar said that the betrothal would be announced after the youngest son bathed, and went to have him stifled in the bath by heat. The straw cooled it, saving him. The King demanded that he present him with an army on the spot, and with the wood, the youngest son had it and threatened to attack if the Tsar did not agree. The Tsar had him dressed in fine clothing, and the princess fell in love with him on sight. They were married, and even the glutton and the thirsty man had enough to eat and drink at the feast.

Adaption

Film

''The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship'' was released on DVD in the United Kingdom.

References

External links

''The Flying Ship''
Lang's version

Ransome's version *

Rabbit Ears's version
''The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship''
on YouTube, Part 1 (1990 Version) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fool Of The World And The Flying Ship, The Russian fairy tales 1990 television films 1990 films British television films British animated films Cosgrove Hall Films films 1990s stop-motion animated films British aviation films Films set in the Russian Empire 1990s English-language films 1990s British films

Synopsis

Adaption

Film

See also

References

External links