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The White Duck
The White Duck (russian: Белая уточка) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in '' Narodnye russkie skazki''. Andrew Lang included it in '' The Yellow Fairy Book''. Synopsis A king had to leave his newly-wed wife for a journey. He sternly warned her against leaving the women's quarters and listening to bad advice. But an envious wicked witch lured her into the garden and into a pool, and turned her into a white duck, herself taking the queen's own form and place. Meanwhile, the white duck built a nest, laid three eggs, and hatched two fluffy ducklings and one little drake. She warned them against the castle, because an evil witch lived there, but one day the witch saw them and lured them inside. The ducklings slept but the drake stayed awake, and when the witch called if they were asleep, the drake answered. But after two answers, the witch went in to see, and saw the ducklings were asleep, so she killed them. The white duck found the bodies a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eighth of Earth's inhabitable landmass. Russia extends across eleven time zones and shares land boundaries with fourteen countries, more than any other country but China. It is the world's ninth-most populous country and Europe's most populous country, with a population of 146 million people. The country's capital and largest city is Moscow, the largest city entirely within Europe. Saint Petersburg is Russia's cultural centre and second-largest city. Other major urban areas include Novosibirsk, Yekaterinburg, Nizhny Novgorod, and Kazan. The East Slavs emerged as a recognisable group in Europe between the 3rd and 8th centuries CE. Kievan Rus' arose as a state in the 9th century, and in 988, it adopted Orthodox Christianity from the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johann Georg Von Hahn
Johann Georg von Hahn (11 July 1811 – 23 September 1869) was an Austrian and later Austro-Hungarian diplomat, philologist and specialist in Albanian history, language and culture. Hahn was born in Frankfurt am Main. In 1847, he was named Austrian consul in Ioannina, today in Greece. He was transferred to the Hellenic Kingdom on the island of Syros in 1851, and from 1869 was the consul-general in Athens. He is considered the founder of Albanian studies. He assembled and published source materials on Albanian language and culture as descendants of ancient Illyrians. His published works: * Albanesische Studien'. 3 vols. Jena: F. Mauko, 1854; Vienna: Hof- und Staatsdruckerei, 1853 (reprint Dion.Karavias, Athen 1981) * ''Reise von Belgrad nach Salonik''. Vienna: K. K. Consul für östliche Griechenland, 1861. * ''Griechische und albanesische Märchen''. 2 vols. Leipzig: 1864; Munich/Berlin 1918 – as ebook anseveral Google Books scansat archive.org * ''Reise durch die Gebiete von ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Witchcraft In Fairy Tales
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have used malevolent magic against their own community, and often to have communed with evil beings. It was thought witchcraft could be thwarted by protective magic or counter-magic, which could be provided by cunning folk or folk healers. Suspected witches were also intimidated, banished, attacked or killed. Often they would be formally prosecuted and punished, if found guilty or simply believed to be guilty. European witch-hunts and witch trials in the early modern period led to tens of thousands of executions. In some regions, many of those accused of witchcraft were folk healers or midwives. European belief in witchcraft gradually dwindled during and after the Age of Enlightenment. Contemporary cultures that believe in magic and the supernat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fiction About Shapeshifting
Fiction is any creative work, chiefly any narrative work, portraying individuals, events, or places that are imaginary, or in ways that are imaginary. Fictional portrayals are thus inconsistent with history, fact, or plausibility. In a traditional narrow sense, "fiction" refers to written narratives in prose often referring specifically to novels, novellas, and short stories. More broadly, however, fiction encompasses imaginary narratives expressed in any medium, including not just writings but also live theatrical performances, films, television programs, radio dramas, comics, role-playing games, and video games. Definition Typically, the fictionality of a work is publicly marketed and so the audience expects the work to deviate in some ways from the real world rather than presenting, for instance, only factually accurate portrayals or characters who are actual people. Because fiction is generally understood to not fully adhere to the real world, the themes and c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fairy Tales Collected By Alexander Afanasyev
A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic mythology, Celtic, Slavic paganism, Slavic, Germanic folklore, Germanic, English folklore, English, and French folklore, French folklore), a form of Supernatural#Spirit, spirit, often described as metaphysical, supernatural, or preternatural. Myths and stories about fairies do not have a single origin, but are rather a collection of folk beliefs from disparate sources. Various folk theories about the origins of fairies include casting them as either demoted angels or demons in a Christian mythology, Christian tradition, as deities in Paganism, Pagan belief systems, as spirits of the dead, as Prehistory, prehistoric precursors to humans, or as spirits of nature. The label of ''fairy'' has at times applied only to specific Magic (supernatural), magical creatures with human appearance, magical powers, and a penc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fictional Queens
This is a list of fictional monarchs – characters who appear in fiction as the monarchs (kings, queens, emperors, empresses, etc.) of real-life countries. They are listed by country, then according to the production or story in which they appeared. A Austria-Hungary '' The Illusionist'' * Crown Prince Leopold is the powerful and influential heir to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 2006 film ''The Illusionist'', although his father, the Emperor, is the actual reigning monarch. '' A Scandal in Bohemia'' by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle * Wilhelm Gottsreich Sigismond von Ormstein - The Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein and the hereditary King of Bohemia, he approaches Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson about the retrieval of letters and photographs confirming a liaison with Irene Adler in order to secure his engagement to Clotilde Lothma Von Saxe-Meiningen, a young Scandinavian princess. (The story fictionally assumes that Bohemia was ruled by its own Habsburg branch, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ducks In Literature
Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfamilies, they are a form taxon; they do not represent a monophyletic group (the group of all descendants of a single common ancestral species), since swans and geese are not considered ducks. Ducks are mostly aquatic birds, and may be found in both fresh water and sea water. Ducks are sometimes confused with several types of unrelated water birds with similar forms, such as loons or divers, grebes, gallinules and coots. Etymology The word ''duck'' comes from Old English 'diver', a derivative of the verb 'to duck, bend down low as if to get under something, or dive', because of the way many species in the dabbling duck group feed by upending; compare with Dutch and German 'to dive'. This word replaced Old English / 'duck', possibly to avoid confusion wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Russian Fairy Tales
''Russian Fairy Tales'' (russian: Народные русские сказки, variously translated; English titles include also ''Russian Folk Tales'') is a collection of nearly 600 fairy and folktales, collected and published by Alexander Afanasyev between 1855 and 1863.Alexander Afanasyev. Russian Fairy Tale — K. Soldatenkov and N. Shchepkin, 1855—1863. — Vol. 1—8 His literary work was explicitly modeled after '' Grimm's Fairy Tales''. Vladimir Propp drew heavily on this collection for his analyses in his '' Morphology of the Folktale''. Fairy tales Some of the tales included in these volumes: * The Death of Koschei the Immortal * Vasilisa the Beautiful * Vasilisa the Priest's Daughter * Father Frost * Sister Alenushka, Brother Ivanushka * The Frog Princess * Vasilii the Unlucky * The White Duck * The Princess Who Never Smiled * The Wicked Sisters * The Twelve Dancing Princesses * The Magic Swan Geese * The Feather of Finist the Falcon * Tsarevitch Iva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Wonderful Birch
The Wonderful Birch (russian: Чудесная берёза) is a Finnish/Russian fairy tale. A variant on Cinderella, it is Aarne–Thompson folktale type 510A, the persecuted heroine. It makes use of shapeshifting motifs. Andrew Lang included it in '' The Red Fairy Book''. Synopsis A peasant woman meets a witch, who threatens to transform her if she does something; she does not do it, but the witch turns her into a sheep anyway. The witch assumes the form of the peasant woman and goes home to her husband. After a time, she bears him a daughter. The witch pets and pampers her own daughter, and ill-treats her stepdaughter, the peasant's daughter by his sheep-wife. The witch-stepmother tells her husband to slaughter the sheep before it runs away. He agrees, but her stepdaughter hears and runs to the sheep, lamenting. Her mother tells her not to eat anything made from her body but bury the bones. She does so, and a birch tree grows on the grave. The king gives a festival, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Witch In The Stone Boat
"The Witch in the Stone Boat" ( is, Skessan á steinnökkvanum 'the giantess in the stone boat') is an Icelandic folktale, originally collected by Jón Árnason (1864), translated into English in Andrew Lang's fairy tale collection '' The Yellow Fairy Book'' (1894). The antagonist is a giantess (''skessa''; elsewhere called troll-woman, and revealed to be the sister of a three-headed giant), though rendered as "witch" by Lang, who shape-shifts and assumes the place of a queen, while having the true queen imprisoned. It has been categorized as a subtype of ATU 462, " The Outcast Queens and the Ogress Queen". Textual notes "Skessan á steinnökkvanum" (literally 'The ' iantessin the stone boat'),). was a selection in Jón Árnason's folktale/fairy tale collection, ''Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri'' Vol. 2 (1862–64). It was later translated into German as "''Die Riesin in dem Steinboote''" ('The giantess in the stone-boat') by in ''Isländische Märchen'' (188 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The White And The Black Bride
"The White Bride and the Black One" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm, tale number 135. It is Aarne-Thompson type 403A.D.L. Ashliman,The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales Other tales of this type include ''The Three Little Men in the Wood'', ''Brother and Sister'', '' Bushy Bride'', and ''The Enchanted Wreath''. Synopsis A woman and her daughter are cutting fodder when the Lord comes up to them and asks the way to the village. The woman and the daughter refuse to help, and the woman's stepdaughter offers to show him. In return, the others turn black and ugly, but the stepdaughter is granted three wishes: beauty, an everlasting purse of gold, and to go to Heaven upon her death. Her brother Reginer, a coachman to the king, asks for a portrait of her, and hangs it in his room. The king sees it and resolves to marry her. Her brother sends for her, and the stepmother and stepsister come too. The stepmother enchants the coachman so he is half-blin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Three Little Men In The Wood
"The Three Little Men in the Wood" or "The Three Little Gnomes in the Forest" (german: Die drei Männlein im Walde) is a German fairy tale collected in 1812 by the Brothers Grimm in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 13). Andrew Lang included it in ''The Red Fairy Book'' (1890) as "The Three Dwarfs," and a version of the tale appears in ''A Book of Dwarfs'' (1964) by Ruth Manning-Sanders. It is Aarne-Thompson type 403B ("The Black and the White Bride"), with an episode of type 480 ("The Kind and the Unkind Girls"). Origin The tale was published by the Brothers Grimm in the first edition of ''Kinder- und Hausmärchen'' in 1812. Their source was Wilhelm Grimm's friend and future wife Dortchen Wild (1795–1867). The second edition was expanded with material provided by the story teller Dorothea Viehmann (1755–1815) and by Amalie Hassenpflug (1800–1871). Synopsis A woman offers her hand in marriage to a widower: in return, her daughter would wash and drink water, and the man's daug ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
