The characters of Russian fairy tales inhabit in a particular Magical Kingdom where they never get bored. They are eternally engaged in all kind of trials and tribulations. The strange world of the living dead is separated from the world of the truly dead by a River of Fire. Sometimes the two worlds are separated by other boundaries, but the importance is that there is a boundary, a line over which all must pass to enter that world of the truly dead. The hero crosses to that other side over the fiery River but somehow returns to his world by the action of magical powers.
The character Koschei is an evil immortal man who menaces young women with his magic.
Ivan, one of the most common Russian names, is the main hero of Russian fairy tales. The most famous folktale featuring Ivan as the protagonist is "Prince Ivan, the Firebird and the Grey Wolf."
He is always portrayed as either the 3rd son of a peasant family or the 3rd son of a king, and his friends and foes are often mythic figures.
In the Tale, Ivan has 3 sisters, the first sister is Princess Marya, the second is Princess Olga, the third is Princess Anna. After his parents died and the sisters got married to three wizards, he decided to leave his home in search for his sisters.
On the way, Ivan meets Marya Morevna, a beautiful warrior princess, and gets married to her, and both went to live in a castle. After a while the warrior princess announces she is going to go to war and tells his husband, Ivan, not to open the door of the dungeon in the castle they live in while she will be away.
Ivan, overcome by the desire to know what the dungeon holds, he opens the door soon after her departure and finds the evil immortal man, Koschei, chained and enmaciated.
The evil man, Koschei, asks Ivan to bring him some water; Ivan does so. After Koschei drinks twelve buckets of water, his magic powers return to him, then he tears his chains and disappears.
Soon after, Ivan finds out that the evil man took his wife, Marya Morevna away, he chases Koschei. When he faces him for the first time, Koschei tells Ivan to let him go, but Ivan doesn't give in, and the evil man kills Ivan, cuts his body in pieces, puts his remains into a barrel and throws it into the sea.
Ivan, then, is revived by his sisters' husbands, powerful wizards, who can transform themselves into birds of prey. The wizards tell him that Koschei has a magic horse and suggest Ivan to get one too by going to Baba Yaga, otherwise he won't be able to defeat Koschei.
Baba Yaga is a supernatural being who appears as a deformed witch. She flies around in a mortar, wields a pestle, and dwells deep in the forest in a hut usually described as standing on chicken legs. This Baba Yaga is a benevolent one, the gift giver and adviser. She shows Ivan the path and from now on he knows where to go. She first has to tests Ivan's nerve and courage, and if he proves to be worthy, she will hand to him the magical horse.
After Ivan stands all of Yaga's tests and gets the horse, he fights with the evil Koschei, kills him and burns his body. Marya Morevna, his wife returns to Ivan, and they celebrate his victory with his sisters and their husbands.
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