"Vasilisa the Beautiful": a summary of the tale

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

Any fairy tale is unique and unrepeatable in its own way. The storyline is captivating and original. As a child, parents repeatedly read to their children a story called "Vasilisa the Beautiful." Russian folk tale taught kindness, understanding, respect and endurance.

If we analyze all Russian fairy tales, then the conclusion suggests itself that in any of them you can find a certain idea. Initially, the tale goes in the same direction, but suddenly the thought changes, although the essence remains the same, unchanged.

The fears of mankind

A child is afraid of the monsters living under his bed, of the dark, while an adult has more serious fears, overcoming which, you move to a new life stage. "Vasilisa the Beautiful" is a Russian folk tale, the basis of which is the fear experienced by a person almost daily and day after day throughout life. He is presenteverywhere, even if sometimes it may seem that there are no reasons for it. In a person's life, he occupies a lot of space, regardless of age.

For example, it begins to creep into our hearts when the child is far away from us and we do not know what is currently happening to him. How can you help your baby and suggest the right path in life?

Mystical amulet doll

The tale tells that before her death, Vasilisa's mother called her daughter to her and gave her a doll, which, according to her, should protect the girl from misfortunes and troubles. How did the mother try to protect her daughter, what could she do after she left? Give her a piece of yourself, your kindness, soul and love, embodying all these honors in a doll that she made with her own hands.

By the way, the ancient Slavs also had dolls that helped them in everything, Vasilisa had such a doll, she didn’t just lie, but came to life, ate and gave good advice, showed the way, helped to quickly and smoothly do a certain the work that the stepmother asked was handled by Vasilisa the Beautiful. The summary will help you understand why there is so much cruelty, hatred and anger in the world and how to deal with it.

Our ancestors had in their arsenal various dolls created to help a woman, for example, to do everything around the house, give birth to he althy and beautiful children, get rid of moral garbage, envious people, gossips. The fabulous girl Vasilisa also had a similar amulet.

In ancient times, people created amulets,whose main function was to help, guide. When such a doll was created, the woman, as it were, conveyed her kindness, she read a prayer - and it acquired mystical power.

These dolls were not used for play. They had to be kept away from prying eyes. Basically, they were given on the wedding day or, for example, in a fairy tale, before death. There was an opinion that such a doll would help preserve the family hearth, bring love, kindness, and warmth to the house. Such a doll was presented to Vasilisa by her mother.

Everyone could not make such a talisman, initially it was necessary to learn a whole science. This was done exclusively for another person, if you make it for yourself, then he will not acquire magical power. It is important to observe a special rite, that is, the secrets and purity of the soul and thoughts.

“Vasilisa the Beautiful” is a Russian folk tale, and, as you know, the people have always kept certain secrets and mysteries that not many people knew about. For example, the same amulets. How to create them, what rituals to observe, was known to mothers and grandmothers.

The amulets, which were made by relatives by blood, had enormous power. At the time of creation, it was necessary to think only about the person for whom such a talisman was made, in addition, the use of piercing and cutting objects was prohibited, it had to be wound with threads and made from straw or shreds of fabric. It was believed that sharp scissors or a needle kill a pure and immaculate soul that moved into a chrysalis. There was also a custom of passing this amulet by inheritance from great-grandmother to granddaughter and so on.

"Vasilisa the Beautiful": a summary and the main characters of an instructive story

The name Vasilisa means strength, courage, ingenuity. And what is the characteristic of Vasilisa the Beautiful, did the girl have scabies and positive qualities? In itself, this is a persistent, strong girl who is not afraid of either the hardships of fate or hard and overwhelming work. She is left without a mother early, she dies of illness. The father is a man whose fate is also not easy. He is forced to work hard from dawn until evening so that his beloved daughter has a piece of bread.

But morally, it is difficult for him alone without a female shoulder and help, so after the death of his wife, he decides to tie the knot with another woman, as he thinks, a kind and good mother.

So, the girl's mother dies, the father decides to marry another woman, Vasilisa the Beautiful suffers. A Russian fairy tale tells that the stepmother had her own daughters, so she disliked her adopted daughter. The girl was much kinder and more beautiful than her own daughters, and her stepmother infringed on her in every possible way, humiliated her and forced her to work until she was tired in order to destroy the girl's beauty and break her firmness and determination in everything.

And so, one fine day, she decided to get rid of her hated stepdaughter. While her husband was not at home, he gives the task to the girl to go into the forest and bring fire, since all the candles in the house have run out and it has become dark, it is impossible to do anything. The girl has no choice but to go to the dark, terrible and dense forest in which Baba Yaga lives, because only she hasthere is fire.

Baba Yaga as a mystical power of justice and goodness

In fairy tales, Baba Yaga has always been considered a mysterious creature. A little strange, but an evil and cruel woman, if you look at her in more detail, looks morally much better than Vasilisa's named mother.

Our ancestors believed that Yaga is the guardian of the world of the dead and the living, she is in the middle and does not allow any of the parties to cross such a border. For understanding, it will not be enough just to interpret this tale alone, it is necessary to carefully analyze other Russian tales and draw a parallel between the rites and beliefs of our great-grandfathers. Let's think, because this grandmother is not so evil, she can be kind, and cunning, and at the same time fair. The same and Vasilisa the Beautiful. The summary of the fairy tale will not be able to reveal the essence and understanding of all the characters, it is necessary to read into every detail, try to know the inner world of each separately.

Baba Yaga knew how the girl lives with her stepmother, and therefore could not look, turning a blind eye to the blatant injustice, she decided to punish the culprit of Vasilisa's suffering, but more on that later.

Eternal struggle between Christianity and paganism

So, the girl, before going into the dark, scary, huge forest, full of mystical creatures and angry animals who were ready to tear the lost traveler without delay, takes the doll given by her mother, crosses herself and puts it in her pocket coat.

Here immediately arisesthe question of how the simultaneous coexistence of Christianity and paganism is possible? Of course, this is a fairy tale, but since ancient times, Christianity, by all means, tried to completely eradicate paganism and destroy it, burying it under the shadow of years.

Strange, but the ancestors also brought sacrifices, were baptized at the same time and asked for help from God. The explanation is simple: everything started from something, took its origins, the truth is inseparable and it was very difficult to say goodbye to what you are used to, what you believe in since childhood. And in this fairy tale, bits of the past are preserved in order to convey to the current generation the real and unshakable truth, without which present life is impossible.

A hut on chicken legs, a pomelo and a stupa really exist?

Here, thanks to her doll, which showed her the way, a girl got to Baba Yaga's hut so that she would give her fire. Already familiar to us is the house in which the old woman lives, but how did the pomelo and stupa find themselves here and what is their role?

Our ancestors had an interesting rite, which consisted in burying the body of the deceased in a special house, installed on a tall ancient tree. Such a dwelling was considered the dwelling place of the soul of a person who died.

In order for her to eventually find peace, a small doll was placed in such a grave to help the soul in the passage between the world of the living and the dead. In addition, in such a house there were no windows and doors, just like in the hut of Baba Yaga. This can be explained by the fact that windows and doors were made in the house of the living, but it was useless for the dead, it was enoughthere was only one inlet, so that in the end the soul could find a haven.

Do not forget about the porch, which was present in Baba Yaga's house. Everything is connected with the fact that in real, not fairy-tale life, there were no steps in such a house for the deceased, it was located high on a tree. Relatives who came to visit the deceased took a piece of log with them, put it on, thus getting to the hole and paying tribute to the deceased.

The folk tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful" also refers to ancient magic. Let's try to understand what a stupa with a broom was. For example, in the everyday life of the ancient Slavs there was such a custom when a midwife took a mortar and a special large oak stick and began to crush water in it.

Such actions spoke of the origin and connection of the masculine with the feminine, and water was used, since it was believed that it was in it that life on Earth originated. In our fairy tale, Baba Yaga famously copes with these details, it turns out that it is she who is considered the goddess and patroness of women, which means that she is always ready in difficult times to suggest, help and direct on the right path.

Life balance between good and evil

Why did she go to Baba Yaga? Of course, in order to receive protection and justice. In fact, the old woman was not a villain, did not destroy human lives, did not eat children. She was fair, could not bear villainy, and she punished the guilty, they died before reaching home, andtheir skulls adorned the fence, but they did not stop suffering for the atrocities that they committed during their lifetime, this is something like hell and heaven, an eternal fork for those who deserve universal peace or punishment.

Baba Yaga acted like a goddess of justice, who did not compromise on anything. If a person proved that his thoughts, his soul are pure, she let him go, and destroyed evil and cruelty, thus creating a balance on Earth, without which it is impossible to exist.

Not everyone who went to the witch for help could return from her alive, not everyone opened the road to the kingdom of darkness. Everyone who could not complete her tasks was evil, callous and cruel, did not get out of the forest alive. This is evidenced by the skulls that hang on the fence near the hut on chicken legs, and whoever escaped such a fate is none other than Vasilisa the Beautiful, a summary of the tale tells about this.

Vasilisa the Beautiful as a symbol of purity, purity and diligence

Before understanding what fate awaits the girl Vasilisa, Baba Yaga gave her a difficult task, which was supposed to decide what to do next. After that, the qualities of a witch were revealed, she was either fair and kind, or, conversely, evil and cruel.

Vasilisa did all the tasks of Baba Yaga perfectly, proved that she is an innocent creature who deserves peace and joy. She, in turn, gave her wisdom and punished the offenders. Mother and daughters, after Vasilisa left, sat for a long time without fire in the house,the father returned and also suffered without the presence of the life flame.

The girl worked, and those who work are revered. On the instructions of the witch, Vasilisa wove an exceptional fabric (possibly silk), which was distinguished by its lightness and transparency. The old woman took it to the father-king and sold it, he was indescribably delighted, because he had never seen anything like it in his life.

An order was received in the kingdom from this unique fabric to sew the same amazing shirt, but, unfortunately, no one could do it, except Vasilisa. During the time the girl worked, the king fell in love with a hard-working beauty and married her. "Vasilisa the Beautiful" is a Russian folk tale that will teach children justice and kindness.

Our great-grandmothers, before marriage, locked themselves in a room and worked on sewing a shirt for the betrothed, how the process itself takes place, no one should have known, otherwise they could jinx it, and the future married life would be fraught with disagreements, scandals between the couple. The secret lies in the embroidery of special charmed signs, symbols that had mystical power and helped spouses throughout their lives.

Three horsemen as a symbol of life

Thanks to Baba Yaga, Vasilisa has changed a lot, she has become unrecognizable, most importantly, she has found true happiness in life - a family. The qualities of Vasilisa the Beautiful speak volumes: she is pure in heart, believes in mystical powers, respects her elders and does not contradict them.

Walking along the path, the girl met three riders whom she had never seen before, and interestingly, they rode to Baba Yaga's hut.

No one had the courage to admit that the sun, night and day are his servants, and the hook-nosed old woman said that they were her faithful companions and helpers. Or maybe Baba Yaga is actually not so simple as it seems, and acts as one of the ancient gods and is considered the mother of mankind, born before the creation of the whole world?

Well done and girls in the campaign for the truth

If you dig even deeper, and this can be seen from the fairy tale, that the good fellows, the girls did not just go to this old woman through dense forests and rivers, but were looking for truth, consolation and help, which happened to the girl. Such young people include Vasilisa the Beautiful and Ivan Tsarevich. As in most fairy tales, the story of the life of Vasilisa the Beautiful ended with a wedding ceremony. She found her way to Baba Yaga, who helped her become wiser and smarter. The summary of the tale tells how wise Vasilisa the Beautiful is, because the girl knows exactly what will happen next, she has a gift for guessing events, because, she says, after she created the delicate material, she will have to sew shirts for the king, since no one else doesn't know how to do it.

So, we can conclude that it was not the look of the skull that killed the envious mother and her daughters, but their anger, cruelty, from which Vasilisa suffered. The fairy tale is still able to sow empathy for the girl in the reader's soul, allow them to feel injustice, cruelty and indescribable delight and joy from the fact that, finally, all the difficulties on the way of the main character were crowned with success and happiness.

"Vasilisa the Beautiful"! What a fairy tale!How much is instructive! The girl, in turn, was able to pass all the tests of Baba Yaga thanks to her compliance, ingenuity, motherly love and soul, embodied in a doll, donated by a loved one.

Due to the fact that the story is exciting, interesting, the cartoon "Vasilisa the Beautiful" was created, from which not only children, but also adults were delighted. The characters reflect the depth and moralizing of the Russian people. This is the content of the fairy tale "Vasilisa the Beautiful".