Dr. Do-Diddily
and the
Dee-Dot's
Presents:
Lithuanian Folktale:

In our yard there once lived a rooster and a hen.

The rooster was called Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo and the hen, Cackle-Cack...

by Irina Zheleznova,
Illustrations by Anatoly Belyukin

Lassies and ladies tiny as peas,
Listen to this tale of mine, if you please!

In our yard there once lived a rooster and a hen. The rooster was called Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo and the hen, Cackle-Cack. The two of them always had plenty to eat:

crumbs galore, all sorts of seeds,
worms big and small, grasses and weeds.

From morn to night Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo and Cackle-Cack strolled about and dug at the ground and cackled in glee when a worm they found.
Shaking his comb as if in play, this is what Sing-True would up and say:
"Cock-a-doodle!
Here's a worm like a noodle."

And Cackle-Cack would reply:

"Cack-cackle, cack-cack, he'll do for a snack.
Cut him up in two- I want some, too!"

And thus it was that Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo and Cackle-Cack passed their days.
They worked very hard for their livelihood and they shared all they found in the way of food.

But what grieved them sorely and made them cry, though there wasn't a cloud in the whole of the sky, was that they had no children to bring them joy, Not one yellow chick, either girl or boy.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo! What am I to do?"
Cock-a-doodle-doo would say with a sigh: "When I die who will get my red cup and sharp spurs?"

But one day Cackle-Cack laid an egg, not an ordinary one, but one of gold, and hatched a chick, a little son.
He was fluffy and small and white of breast and of all the chicks by far the best!
His mother and father were so delighted with him that they could not take their eyes off him.

Said Cackle-Cack:
"Let us call him Yellow Nose, so the wasps don't dare come close."

"Oh, no, a name like that would only suit a crow!" said Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo. "If we want our son to be feared by all, fox and ox and kite and hawk, we must call him Twitter-Squawk."

But this Cackle-Cack would not stand for. Said she:
"You must be out of your mind! I never heard of such an ugly name. Twitter-Squawk indeed!"
Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo was very angry.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo! It's up to me, not you!" cried he, flapping his wings.

"But I don't want to make you weep, so let the chick be called Cheep-Cheep!"
To this the mother agreed, and the matter of the chick's name was settled.

But they had hardly celebrated Cheep-Cheep's name-day and treated their friends to a pail of beer and ale when a terrible misfortune occurred: Sharp-Beak the Hawk, the fiercest hawk of them all, carried off Cackle-Cack, and she never came back!
Cheep-Cheep wailed and cried for days on end. Time passed, and Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo grew tired of sitting at home looking after his son and never having a moment's fun.
So he soon found himself a new wife and brought her home to live with them. Her name was Speckle and she disliked Cheep-Cheep and treated him badly.

One day an egg cracked under Speckle's wing and a chick was hatched out of it, a naked, ugly little thing.
Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo wanted to call his second son Angry or Mighty or even Fierce, but Speckle put her foot down, for she felt that her son was born to fame and deserved a better name.
No, no!" crackled she.
"None can compare to this chick of mine, so let's choose him a name that is really fine.
Never was there a chick like him, so fluffy and yellow and straight of limb!

In olden times, so my grandmother says, chickens lived to a hundred if they had long names. I want my son to have a long life, too, so this is the name I have thought up for him:
Little yellow fluffy ball, best and dearest chick of all;
Not another on the farm boasts such beauty, wit and charm;
Has a voice as loud and clear as a grown-up chanticleer;
Being Sing-True's nightful heir, wears his father's prideful air;
Being Speckle's firstborn son, is a joy to look upon;
Little yellow fluffy ball, dearest chick among them all."
Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo agreed to the name, but was cross all the same.
"It's so long that by the time you get to the end of it, you can be born, grow up and die!" said he with a sigh.

As for Cheep-Cheep, the poor little orphan whose name was so short and easy to say, much sorrow fell to his lot. Whenever his stepmother Speckle wanted someone to help her or Sing-True, she would call him, crying:
"Come, Cheep-Cheep, wake up and don't sleep! Light the stove and sweep the floor, bring some water and close the door!"
Nor was he treated much better by his father. For Sing-True, too lazy to call out his younger son's long name, would more often than not address Cheep-Cheep instead, telling him to do this or that.
"Help your father, Cheep-Cheep! Find me a puddle that's not too deep,"
he would say, or:
"Let's look for worms under this stone, I cannot be doing it all alone!"

And the orphan was kept rushing about the yard all day while his half-brother loafed in the sun doing nothing at all. But one day he got into trouble, for while with his friends he was at play he lost Sing-True's chisel and pipe of clay.

Sing-True was very angry, and, wanting to punish him, flew up on to the fence and called for the whole yard to hear:
"Little yellow fluffy ball, worst, most stubborn chick of all;
Not another on the farm boasts so little wit and charm.
No, it's not the time for tears- first, I mean to box your ears!"

But before Sing-True could come to the end of his son's name and tell him what he meant to do with him, the chick ran away and hid in a growth of nettles.
And so it went.
Once, when Cheep-Cheep was busy pecking at some hemp seeds, a fox came stealing up from the forest. Had she caught the chick, let me tell you, friend, I would now have been at my story's end. But this she could not do, for Cheep-Cheep called out at the top of his voice:

"He-e-e-elp! The fox has got me!"

Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo heard his son's voice, and, flying up on to the roof, crowned for the whole yard to hear:
"Cock-a-doodle-doo! come to me, pigs, come, dogs and sheep, for Mistress Fox has caught Cheep-Cheep!
If you have sharp claws and are quick on your feet, help me rescue my son, I beg and entreat!"
The pig heard him and jumped up. "Oink-oink-oink! Wait for me, Sing-True, I'm coming with you!" she cried.

The sheep heard him and started baaing and bleating. "We're coming too, to give fox her due!" called they.

The dogs heard him, they began barking loudly and made noise than anyone.
"Bow-wow-wow!" went they. "Away we go Mistress Fox to lay low!"
And the fox, she of the fluffy tail, was frightened and let go of Cheep-Cheep. Thus was his life saved and he returned home unharmed.

The fox, however, was a wily one and she was hungry, too. So she kept her eyes open and at break of day, with the sun's first ray, crept up to the yard again.
Not meeting anyone who could stop her, she up and seized Speckle's plump little son and, in a twinkling, was away and gone!
Speckle heard her beloved son's cry and rushed to save him, crackling loudly.
"Come, pigs! Come, sheep, wake up, I pray, before Mistress Fox has run away!" she cried.
If you have sharp teeth and are quick on your feet, run and stop the thief, I beg and entreat! She has stolen little yellow fluffy ball, best and dearest chick of all;
Not another on the farm boasts such beauty, wit and charm....
Cluck, cluck, cluck, cluck! ..."

"Oink-oink!" said the pig.
"Though of wit I'm keen as keen, I don't know just whom you meant!"
"Bow-wow-wow!" said the dog.
"What a foolish hen and slow! whom she means I so not know."
At this Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo sang out:
"Cock-a-doodle-doo! I'm sorry, friends, my wife Speckle has got a little muddled. What she meant to say was that the fox caught little yellow fluffy ball, best and dearest chick of all;
Not another on the farm boasts such beauty, wit and charm;
Has a voice as loud and clear as a grown-up chanticleer;
Being Sing-True's prideful heir, wears his father's prideful air;
Being Speckle's first born son, is a joy to look upon;
Little yellow fluffy ball, best and dearest chick of all!"

Only then did the pigs, sheep and dogs understand what had happened. Off they rushed after the fox, firing their guns and clapping their hands, yelling and calling and shouting commands.
But it had taken Sing-True Cock-a-doodle-doo so long to speak his son's name that by the time he got to the end of it the fox was out of sight and deep in the wood and they couldn't catch her try as they would.
Soon nothing was left of Speckle's young son-the poor little loafer was dead and gone.
And as for Cheep-Cheep, he grew up to be handsome and tall and was loved and made much of by one and all!

Ukrainian Folktales:

Old woman scraped out the flour-box and swept out the bin, she made some dough and she shaped a little round bun out of it. She then lit the oven, baked the bun and put it on the windowsill to cool...


by Volodimir Boyko, Translated by Irina Zheleznova
Illustrations by Yuliy Kryha

          Once upon a time there lived an old man and an old woman who were very poor and had nothing at all to their name. And they kept getting poorer and poorer till there was nothing left to eat in the house, not even bread.

Said the old man: Do bake us a bun, old woman! If you scrape out the flour-box and sweep out the bin, you'll have enough flour."

So the old woman scraped out the flour-box and swept out the bin, she made some dough and she shaped a little round bun out of it. She then lit the oven, baked the bun and put it on the windowsill to cool. But the bun jumped out of the window and onto the bench outside, and from the bench onto the ground, and away it rolled along the road!
 On and on it rolled, and it met a Rabbit coming toward it.
"I'm going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!" called the Rabbit.

"Don't do that, Fleet-Feet, let me sing you a song instead," said Little Round Bun.

"All right, let's hear it!"

"Here it is!

And off it rolled and away.
By and by it met a Wolf coming toward it.
"I'm going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!" called the Wolf.
"Don't do that, Brother Wolf, let me sing you a song instead."
"All right, let's hear it!"

And away it rolled.
By and by it met a bear coming toward it.
"I'm going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!" called the Bear.
"Don't do that, Brother Bear, I'll sing you a song instead!"
"All right, let's hear it!"

And off it rolled and away!
By and by it met a Fox coming toward it.
"I'm going to eat you up, Little Round Bun!" called the Fox.
"Don't do that, Sister Fox, "I'll sing you a song instead."
"All right, let's hear it!"

Sing some more, please, don't stop!" the Fox said. "Hop onto my tongue, so I can hear you better."

Little Round Bun jumped onto the Fox's tongue and began to sing:

But before it could go on, the Fox opened its mouth and - snap! - she gobbled it up.

Sadko

Entering the Sea-King's domain, he plays upon his gusli with such goodwill that the monarch and his court are soon engaged in a frenzied dance. A fierce gale ensues. St. Nicholas, intervening on behalf of seafarers above, dashes the gusli to the ground, orders Sadko home, and transforms the Sea-King's daughter, who has offered herself to the already married minstrel, into the river Volkhov, on which Novgorod now stands.