Online reading of the book Russian Folk Tales by A. N. Afanasyev in three volumes. Volume 2 Sivko-burko

Sivka-Burka

The old man had three sons: two were smart, and the third, Ivanushka, was a fool; day and night the fool lies on the stove.

The old man sowed wheat, and the wheat grew rich, but someone got into the habit of pounding and poisoning that wheat at night. So the old man says to the children:

- My dear children, guard the wheat every night in turn, catch the thief for me.

The first night comes. The eldest son went to guard the wheat, but he wanted to sleep: he climbed into the hayloft and slept until the morning. He comes home in the morning and says: he didn’t sleep all night, he was cold, but he didn’t see the thief.

On the second night, the middle son went and also slept the whole night in the hayloft.

On the third night it is the fool's turn to go. He took the lasso and went. He came to the boundary and sat down on a stone: he was sitting, not sleeping, waiting for the thief.

At midnight, a motley horse galloped into the wheat: one hair is golden, the other is silver, it runs - the earth trembles, smoke pours out of its ears, flames blaze from its nostrils.

And that horse began to eat wheat: not so much eating as trampling.

The fool crept up to the horse on all fours and at once threw a lasso around his neck. The horse rushed with all his might - but that was not the case. The fool resisted, the lasso pressed his neck.

And then the fool’s horse began to pray:

- Let me go, Ivanushka, and I will do you a great service!

“Okay,” answers Ivanushka the Fool. - How will I find you then?

“Go outside the outskirts,” says the horse, “whistle three times and shout: “Sivka-burka, prophetic kaurka!” Stand before me like a leaf before the grass!” - I’ll be here.

Ivanushka the Fool released the horse and made him promise not to eat or trample any more wheat.

Ivanushka came home.

- Well, you fool, did you see it? - the brothers ask.

“I caught,” says Ivanushka, “a motley horse.” He promised not to go to the wheat field again - so I let him go.

The brothers laughed to their hearts' content at the fool, but from that night no one touched the wheat.

Soon after this, biryuchi (heralds) from the tsar began to walk through the villages and cities, calling out the cry: gather, boyars and nobles, merchants and townspeople and simple peasants, all to the tsar for a holiday for three days; take the best horses with you; and whoever on his horse reaches the princess's mansion and takes off the ring from the princess's hand, the king will give the princess in marriage.

Ivanushka’s brothers also began to gather for the holiday: not just to jump themselves, but at least to look at others. Ivanushka also asks to go with them.

- Where are you going, fool! - say the brothers. - Do you want to scare people? Sit on the stove and pour out the ashes.

The brothers left, and Ivan the Fool took a basket from his daughters-in-law and went to pick mushrooms.

Ivanushka went out into the field, threw his basket, whistled three times and shouted:

- Sivka-burka, prophetic kaurka! Stand before me like a leaf before the grass!

The horse runs - the earth trembles, flames come out of its ears, smoke pours out of its nostrils. He came running and the horse stood rooted to the spot in front of Ivanushka.

“Well,” he says, “get into my right ear, Ivanushka, and get out into my left.”

Ivanushka climbed into the horse’s right ear, and came out into the left - and became such a fine fellow that he couldn’t even think of it, guess it, or say it in a fairy tale.

Then Ivanushka mounted his horse and rode off to the Tsar for the holiday. He galloped to the square in front of the palace, he saw - the people were visible and invisible; and in a high mansion, by the window, the princess sits: on her hand is a ring - no price, she is the beauty of beauties. No one even thinks about jumping up to her: no one really wants to break their neck.

Here Ivanushka hit his horse on the steep hips, the horse became angry, jumped - only three crowns did not jump to the princess's window.

The people were surprised, and Ivanushka turned his horse and galloped back.

His brothers did not quickly move aside, so he whipped them with a silk whip. The people shout: “Hold him, hold him!” - and Ivanushkin was already gone.

Ivan rode out of the city, got off his horse, climbed into his left ear, climbed out into his right ear and again became the same Ivan the Fool. Ivanushka released the horse, collected a basket of fly agarics and brought it home.

“Here are some fungi for you, hostesses,” he says.

The daughters-in-law got angry with Ivan:

- What kind of mushrooms did you bring, fool? Are you the only one who eats them?

Ivan grinned and climbed onto the stove again.

The brothers came home and told their father how they were in the city and what they saw, and Ivanushka lay on the stove and chuckled.

The next day, the older brothers went to the holiday again, and Ivanushka took a basket and went to pick mushrooms. He went out into the field, whistled, and barked:

- Sivka-burka, prophetic kaurka! Stand before me like a leaf before the grass!

The horse came running and stood rooted to the spot in front of Ivanushka.

Ivan changed his clothes again and galloped to the square. He sees that there are even more people in the square than before; Everyone admires the princess, but no one thinks of jumping: who wants to break their neck! Here Ivanushka hit his horse on the steep hips, the horse became angry, jumped - and was only two crowns short of the princess’s window. Ivanushka turned his horse, whipped his brothers so that they would move aside, and galloped off.

The brothers come home, and Ivanushka is already lying on the stove, listening to what the brothers are saying, and chuckling.

On the third day, the brothers went to the holiday again, and Ivanushka also rode up. He lashed his horse with a whip. The horse became more angry than before: he jumped and reached the window. Ivanushka kissed the princess and rode off, not forgetting to hit his brothers with a whip.

At this point both the king and princess began to shout: “Hold him, hold him!” - and Ivanushkin disappeared without a trace.

Ivanushka came home with one hand wrapped in a rag.

-What do you have? — Ivan’s daughters-in-law ask.

“Well,” he says, “while looking for mushrooms, I pricked myself with a twig.” - And Ivan climbed onto the stove.

The brothers came and began to tell us what happened and how it happened. And Ivanushka on the stove wanted to look at the ring: when he lifted the rag, the whole hut lit up.

- Stop messing around with fire, fool! - the brothers shouted at him. “You’ll still burn the hut.” It's time to drive you out of the house completely, you fool!

Three days later, a cry comes from the king so that all the people, no matter how many there are in his kingdom, gather at his place for a feast and that no one dares to stay at home, and whoever disdains the royal feast will have his head taken off his shoulders.

There is nothing to do here, the old man himself went to the feast with his whole family.

They arrived and sat down at the oak tables; They drink and eat, they chatter.

At the end of the feast, the princess began to carry honey from her hands to the roses. She walked around everyone and came up to Ivanushka, the last one; and the fool is wearing a thin dress, covered in soot, his hair is on end, one hand is tied with a dirty rag... just passion.

- Why is your hand tied, good fellow? - asks the princess. - Untie it.

Ivanushka untied his hand, and on the princess’s finger, the ring shone on everyone.

Then the princess took the fool by the hand, led him to his father and said:

- Here, father, is my betrothed.

The servants washed Ivanushka, combed his hair, dressed him in a royal dress, and he became such a fine man that his father and brothers looked at him and couldn’t believe their eyes.

Brief summary of the tale

Dying, the father ordered his sons to come to his grave for three nights in turn and feed him bread. Only on the first, second, and third night did the youngest son have to go to his father’s grave himself. For obedience, Ivanushka's father gave him a magic horse. Yes, such that just whistle, say the cherished words - he will come rushing, you need to get into one ear and out the other - you will become a handsome man, and the horse will rush you to the ends of the world. At that time, the king was giving his beautiful daughter in marriage. She was sitting in a high mansion. Whoever jumps on a horse to the princess’s window and kisses her will become her husband. The brothers went to try their luck. Ivan the Fool later appeared as a good fellow on his wonderful horse at the royal court. No one was able to jump to the middle of the tower. Only one fellow on a magic horse flew to the window, kissed the princess, and she managed to put a mark on the hero’s forehead with the royal ring. The good fellow disappeared from sight and turned back into Ivan the Fool. The tsar summons nobles, boyars, and common people from the entire kingdom to a feast in order to find the princess’s groom. The princess treats all the young men with honey and looks to see who has her mark on their forehead. She approached Ivan and recognized the fool as her betrothed. Ivan became a handsome man. He received a princess and half a kingdom in addition. You can read the fairy tale online in full on our website.

Appearance

Sivka-burka, the prophetic kaurka is a canonical assistant character in Russian folk fairy tales; a ancestral horse whose magical power is based on the fact that he is an inhabitant of the kingdom of the dead. He appears, as befits a creature from the other world - in smoke and flame: “The horse is running, the earth is trembling, smoke is pouring out of the ears in a column, flames are burning from the nostrils.” And perhaps this appearance of a horse is due to the fact that it embodies the image of a thundercloud: dark color, silvery sheen similar to the flicker of lightning, the ability to fly across the sky, a roar when it appears. We can only guess from the indirect “evidence” found in the sources how our ancestors perceived the nature around them in those distant times and who they associated with what.

What color is Sivka-burka the prophetic kaurka? Sivka, that is, gray, white. Burka - brown, dark red. Kaurka - brown, light chestnut. Three colors at once, as if Ivan had not one, but three horses.

There is also such a description of Sivka-Burka - “one hair is silver, the other is gold.”

Similar creatures in the myths of other peoples, fairy tales, and fantastic works

Arion is a horse in ancient Greek mythology.

Gullfaxi is a magical horse with a golden mane in Norse mythology.

Grani is a magical horse from Scandinavian mythology that belonged to the legendary hero Siegfried.

Svadilfari is a stallion in Norse mythology.

Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi are the horses of Dagr, the god of the day, and his mother Nott, the goddess of the night (Scandinavian mythology). The names Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi mean "shining mane" and "frost-covered mane."

Image in art

• Sivka-Burka
• Illustration by B.A. Diodorov
• Painting by V.M. Vasnetsov
• Illustration by E.S. Kochergin
• Illustration by E.S. Kochergin

Image sources:

Nikolai Kochergin, illustrator of Russian fairy tales

Description of the painting by Viktor Vasnetsov “Sivka Burka”

“Sivka-Burka” from ill. B. Diodorova

Pictures for the Russian folk tale “Sivka-burka”

Origin

The horse of the ancient Slavs was divine, emerging from the womb of the Serpent Gorynych killed by Perun. Initially, he was associated with Navy, an otherworldly kingdom that existed next to Reality, the kingdom of people. Later, the Horse became the personification of the power of the Sun. And as a Solar Animal, the Horse had two faces: Sivka (i.e. grey-haired, white), which appears in the Sky in winter, and Burka (red), embodying the summer Sun. This is exactly the Horse that Ivan got. Thus, Sivka-Burka is a family horse, an inhabitant of the kingdom of the dead, which the youngest son Ivan receives as a gift from his father.