Morozko

Enjoy this Russian Christmas fairy-tale retold to us by Masha (Y9)

Once upon a time there lived an old widower and his daughter. He had remarried an older woman who had a daughter herself from a previous marriage. The woman loved her own daughter, praising her at every opportunity, but she despised her stepdaughter, and would find fault in everything the girl did and made her work long and hard all day. The daughter would fetch the wood, light the fires, and dust the изба, but nothing was good enough for the stepmother. 

One day the old woman made up her mind to get rid of her once and for all. She ordered her husband: “Take her somewhere so that my eyes no longer have to see her, and that my ears no longer have to hear her. Take your daughter into the biting cold of the forest and leave her there.”

The old man grieved and wept but he knew that he could do nothing else; his wife always had her way. So, he took the girl into the forest and left her there. He turned back quickly so that he wouldn’t have to see his girl freeze. Oh, the poor thing, sitting there in the snow, with her body shivering and her teeth chattering! Then Moroz (the Father Frost), leaping from tree to tree, came up to her. “Are you warm, my dear?” he asked. “Welcome, Moroz. Yes, I am quite warm,” she answered, even though she was cold through and through. At first, Moroz had wanted to freeze the life out of her with his icy grip. But he admired the young girl’s patience and showed mercy. He gave her a warm fur coat and warm clothes before he left. In a short while, Moroz returned to check on the girl. 

“Are you warm, my dear?” he asked. 

“Welcome again, my dear Moroz. Yes, I am very warm,” she said. 

And indeed, she was warmer. So, this time Moroz brought a large box for her to sit on. A little later, he returned once more to ask how she was doing. The daughter was doing quite well now, and this time Moroz gave her silver and gold jewellery to wear, with enough extra jewels to fill the box on which she was sitting! 

Meanwhile, back at her father’s hut, the old woman told her husband to go back into the forest to bring back the body of his daughter. He did as he was ordered and arrived at the spot where he had left her. The old man was overjoyed when he saw his daughter alive, wrapped in a sable coat and adorned with silver and gold! When he arrived home with his daughter and the box of jewels, his wife looked on in amazement. “Harness the horse, you old goat, and take my own daughter to that same spot in the forest and leave her there,” she said. The old man did as he was told. Like the other girl at first, the old woman’s daughter began to shake and shiver. In a while, Moroz came by and asked her how she was doing. 

“Are you blind?” she replied, “Can’t you see that my hands and feet are quite numb? Curse you, you miserable old man!” Dawn had hardly broken the next day when, back at the old man’s изба, the old woman woke her husband and told him to bring back her daughter, adding: “Be careful with the box of jewels.”. The old man obeyed and went to fetch the girl.

A short while later, he returned. The old woman went outside and saw her husband standing next to the сани. She rushed forward and pulled aside the cover. To her horror, she saw the body of her daughter, frozen by an angry Moroz. She began to scream and berate her husband, but it was all in vain. Later, the old man’s daughter married a neighbour, had children, and lived happily. Her father would visit his grandchildren every now and then, and remind them always to respect Old Man Frost 

Glossary 

Изба – A Russian cabin 

Мороз (Moroz) – A shortened version of Дед Мороз, which can be translated as Father Frost 

Сани – Traditional Russian sleighs