Thanks to this blog post, I found you a couple more tales to go for this winter. The first one features in Alexander Afanasyef’s collected Russian tales and is called Morozko, or Father Frost. It’s a classic trope, also found in tales about Frau Holle: a personified winter meets two characters and either punishes them or rewards them based on their character and behaviour.
Illustration by Ivan Bilibin
In this particular tale, an evil stepmother is trying to get rid of her stepdaughter, because she’s more beautiful than her own daughter. She then sends her out in the cold, one night, sure that she will die either for the frost or at the claws of some wild animal.
The girl goes out, despairing, but during the night she is visited by Morozko himself. Although being cold and frightened, the girl is good-hearted and she speaks kind words to Father Frost. They converse for a bit and, to reward her for her kindness, Morozko gives the girl a chest filled with jewels and other wonders.
Illustration by Arthur A.. Dixon
When the stepmother sees the girl coming back from the woods, not only alive but beautifully adorned, she demands to know what happened.
Upon hearing the story of Morozko, she then commands her own daughter to go into the woods, so that she too she can come back showered in precious gifts.
The girl does so but, unfortunately, she’s much like her own mother: she’s selfish and cruel and has nothing but harsh words for everyone. This includes Morozko, who does not take kindly to insults. The unkind girl is frozen to death.
In the header, a work of art by Alexandru Munteanu.
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