Morozko: Russian Fairy Tales

Morozko (Father Frost) is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki.

Once there was a woman who had both a daughter of her own, whom she loved, and a step-daughter, whom she hated. One day, the woman ordered her husband to take her stepdaughter out into the winter fields and leave her there to die, and he obeys. Morozko finds her there; she is polite and kind to him, so he gives her a chest full of beautiful things and fine garments. After a while, her stepmother sends her father to bring back the girl's body to be buried, which he also obeys. After a while, the family dog says that the girl is coming back, and that she is beautiful and happy.

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.