Sister Alenushka, brother Ivanushka: Russian Fairy Tales

“Sister Alenushka, brother Ivanushka” is a Russian folk fairy tale about naughty brother and unhappy sister. 

"Brother and Sister" is a well-known European fairy tale which was, among others, written down by the Brothers Grimm. In Russia the story was more commonly known as Sister Alionushka, Brother Ivanushka, and collected by Alexander Afanasyev in his Narodnye russkie skazki.

The Russian skazki (skazatz = to tell) are the mass of folk-tales distributed widely throughout all the Russias. Handed down, by constant repetition, from generation to generation, a possession common to peasant's hut and Prince's palace from a time when history did not exist, they are to-day, from Archangel to the Black Sea, and from Siberia to the Baltic, almost as much a part of the life of the people as the language itself.

Other famous Russian fairy tales are: Vasilisa The Beautiful, Marya Morevna, Morozko, Finist Clear Falcon 's feather, Sister Alenushka and brother Ivanushka, The Tale of Ivan Tsarevich and the Gray Wolf, Princess Frog and many more.