The Silver Saucer and the Crystal Apple

Once upon a time, a peasant lived with his wife, and they had three daughters. Two of them were clever and always finely dressed, but the third was a simple girl, and everyone, even her own parents, called her the Little Fool. They made her work all day, pushing her this way and that, but she never complained. She was always ready to weed the garden, chop firewood, feed the cows and ducks, and fetch whatever anyone asked for. If they said, "Fool, go get this!" or "Fool, come look here!" she would do it at once.

One day, the peasant was taking his hay to the fair, and he asked his daughters, "What shall I bring you as a gift?"

The first daughter said, "Buy me some red cloth for a sarafan." The second said, "Buy me some scarlet nankin." But the Little Fool sat quietly and said nothing.

Well, she was his daughter too, and he felt sorry for her, so he asked, "And what would you like, my dear?"

The Fool smiled and said, "Buy me, dear father, a silver saucer and a crystal apple."

"What do you want with those?" her sisters sneered.

"I will roll the apple on the saucer, and speak the words an old woman taught me when I gave her a loaf of white bread." So the peasant promised, and set off for the fair.

He traveled far and wide, and at last he reached the fair, sold his hay, and bought the gifts. He gave the first daughter her scarlet nankin, the second her red cloth, and to the Fool he gave a silver saucer and a crystal apple. When he came home, he showed them the presents. The sisters were overjoyed with their cloth, sewed sarafans, and made fun of the Fool. They waited to see what she would do with her saucer and apple.

But the Fool did not eat the apple. Instead, she sat in a corner and whispered, "Roll, roll, little apple, on the silver saucer, show me all the cities and fields, the woods and seas, the mountains and the sky." And the apple began to roll. A mist spread over the silver, and on the saucer appeared all the cities one by one, the ships on the seas, the regiments in the fields, the heights of the mountains, and the beauty of the sky. Sunset after sunset, the stars gathered in their nightly dances. It was so beautiful that no tale can tell it, no pen can write it.

When the sisters saw this, they grew envious and wanted to take the saucer for themselves, but the Fool would not trade it for anything in the world. So the wicked sisters plotted and said, "Oh, dear sisters, let us go into the wood and pick berries and strawberries!" The Fool gave her saucer to her father for safekeeping and went with them into the forest. As they wandered, picking strawberries, they saw a spade lying on the grass. The sisters grabbed it, fell upon the Fool, and beat her until she was dead. Then they buried her under a silver birch and returned home late that night, saying, "The Fool ran away from us; we searched everywhere but couldn't find her. Perhaps the wolves have eaten her."

Their father wept, for she was a Fool but still his daughter. He took the silver saucer and the crystal apple, locked them in a chest, and mourned. The sisters also pretended to weep.

Not long after, a shepherd was tending his flock and at dawn he blew his trumpet. As he searched for a lost lamb, he noticed a little mound beside a silver birch. On the mound grew ruby-red and azure flowers, and a bulrush stood above them. The shepherd broke the bulrush and made a pipe. A marvel happened: the pipe began to play and speak by itself. "Play on, play on, my little pipe. Console my father, console my mother, and tell my sisters, the little doves, of me. For they killed me, poor wretch, for the sake of a silver saucer and a crystal apple."

People heard the pipe and gathered around the shepherd, asking, "Who has been slain?" The shepherd said, "I don't know anything about it. I was looking for a lamb and saw the mound with flowers and a bulrush. I cut the bulrush, made a pipe, and it began to sing on its own."

Now it happened that the Fool's father was in the crowd. He listened to the pipe and recognized the voice. He tried to take the pipe, and it sang, "Play on, play on, little pipe. This is my father; console him and my mother. My sisters slew me and hid me from the white world, all for my silver saucer and crystal apple."

The father said, "Shepherd, show us where you broke the bulrush." So they followed him into the wood to the knoll. They marveled at the beautiful flowers, ruby and sky-blue. They dug at the mound and found the dead body. The father clasped his hands and groaned, recognizing his unlucky daughter. He saw her lying there, slain, and asked, "Who did this?" The pipe played and spoke: "O my light, my father, my sisters lured me to the wood and killed me to get my saucer and apple. You cannot wake me from my heavy sleep until you bring water from the Tsar's well."

The two envious sisters trembled and turned pale, their hearts burning with guilt. They confessed, and were seized, bound, and locked in a dark vault awaiting the Tsar's judgment.

The father set off for the capital. After a long journey, he reached the palace. The Tsar, the little sun, was descending the golden staircase. The old man bowed to the ground and begged for mercy. The Tsar said, "Take the living water from my well. When your daughter revives, bring her here with the saucer, the apple, and the guilty sisters."

The old man rejoiced, took a phial of living water, and hurried to the flowery knoll. He lifted the body and sprinkled it. Instantly, his daughter stood before him, alive, and threw her arms around his neck like a dove. The people gathered and wept with joy. The old man then traveled to the capital and was brought before the Tsar. The Tsar saw the old man with three daughters: two bound by the hands, and the third like a spring flower, light of Paradise in her eyes, dawn on her face, tears like pearls.

The Tsar was amazed and angry at the wicked sisters. He asked the maiden, "Where are your saucer and apple?"

She took the little chest from her father, drew out the saucer and apple, and asked, "What do you wish to see, O Tsar? Your mighty cities, your brave hosts, your ships at sea, or the wondrous stars of the sky?" She let the crystal apple roll on the silver saucer, and there appeared cities, regiments with banners and muskets, leaders at the front, and the cannons fired, smoke curling. Then the apple rolled again, and the sea billowed, ships like swans with flags flying, and cannon smoke drifted. Then it rolled once more, and the sky appeared, the sun and moon, and the stars danced. The Tsar was astonished.

The fair maiden, however, burst into tears and fell at the Tsar's feet. "Your Majesty," she said, "take my saucer and apple, only forgive my sisters, and do not destroy them for my sake."

The Tsar's heart was moved by her tears, and he pardoned the sisters. Overjoyed, she ran to them and embraced them. The Tsar, amazed, took her hand and said kindly, "I must admire your goodness and beauty. Will you be my wife and Tsaritsa of my fair realm?"

The maiden answered, "Your will is imperial, but a daughter obeys her father, and her mother's blessing is law. If my father and mother agree, I will."

The father bowed to the ground and sent for the mother, who came and blessed them.

"Yet I have one more request," said the maiden to the Tsar. "Do not separate me from my kin. Let my mother, father, and sisters remain with me."

Then the sisters bowed at her feet and said, "We are not worthy."

"It is all forgotten, dear sisters," she told them. "You are my blood, not strangers. He who holds on to old grudges has lost his sight." She smiled and raised them up.

The sisters wept like rivers and would not rise.

But the Tsar bade them rise and looked on them kindly, allowing them to stay in the city. There was a grand feast in the palace, and the steps gleamed like fire, like the sun wrapped in beams. The Tsar and Tsaritsa rode in a chariot, the earth trembled, and the people shouted, "Long live the Tsar and Tsaritsa!"