Vasilissa the Beautiful Daleena Mendoza 1757 Final Project
Jan 02, 2016
Vasilissa the Beautiful
Daleena Mendoza 1757 Final Project
• In a Tsardom in Russia there lived a wealthy merchant who had been married for a long time.
• He had one daughter named Vasilissa
• Vasilissa’s mother died when she was very young
• Her mother gave her a doll to keep her safe telling her, that whenever she needed help to feed the doll and pray for its help and it will help you.
• But she is never to speak of the doll to anyone else.
• Vasilissa was very sad after her mom passed away
• So she fed the doll and asked it to help her with her grief
• The doll told her that she will be ok and the sadness will pass
• Vasilissa’s father married again after a long time of grief
• His new wife had two daughters
• The new mother was very cold and her daughters were mean to Vasilissa
• Vasilissa was the most beautiful in all the village.
• The stepmother was very cruel to her and left her very little joy in life.
• She made her do nothing but chores and work endlessly, while her daughters had all the luxuries
• Vasilissa would have lost her beauty working so hard if it weren’t for her doll.
• She asked for the doll’s help and it would come to life and do her chores allowing her to enjoy life.
• Vasilissa then grew up to be a beautiful woman and was of age to be married
• Lots of men came asking for her hand in marriage but none of them came for her ugly step-sisters
• Her stepmother was very angry at this.
• The stepmother wanted to get rid of Vasilissa
• She would send her into the woods to find rare herbs and berries that perhaps she would find the evil Baba Yaga that lived in a house on hens legs
• But Vasilissa always came home safe and sound because the doll showed her where the herbs and berries grew
• One night the stepmother put out all the fires in the house and told Vasilissa she must go and borrow a fire from the Baba Yaga
• Vasilissa was afraid and asked her doll what she should do
• Her doll said she would be fine and no harm would come to her from the Baba Yaga
• So she set out into the forest
• Vasilissa walked for a long time in the forest
• Eventually she saw a man riding a red horse and galloping away
• As the man passed the sun rose in the dark forest
• Finally she did find the Baba Yaga’s evil house
• Vasilissa saw a man dressed in black and riding a black horse go through the Baba Yaga’s gate and once he had gone night came.
• Vasilissa then heard the Baba Yaga flying through the forest and toward the house.
• She came and stopped at the house in front of Vasilissa
• Vasilissa told asked the Baba Yaga if she could borrow some fire for her and her stepmother and sisters
• The Baba Yaga said she would give her the fire if she would stay and work for it
• She told her if she didn’t do it she would eat her for her supper
• The Baba Yaga had Vasilissa serve her all the food that was in her oven leaving Vasilissa little to eat for herself
• She told Vasilissa that when she leaves tomorrow she wants her to: Clean the yard, sweep the floors, and cook supper.
• She also wants her to take all the black grains and wild peas out of her wheat in the store house
• She must do all of this or she will be eaten for supper
• The Baba Yaga then went to sleep
• When Vasilissa was sure she was asleep, she went into the corner and told her doll about the impossible tasks the Baba Yaga left for her to do.
• The doll told her not to worry and to get some sleep she will be ok in the morning.
• Vasilissa woke up the next morning and saw the Baba Yaga leaving
• She remembered all the things she needed to do for the day.
• She saw that the doll had already swept the floors and cleaned the yard
• She found the doll in the store house picking the last of the wild peas out of the wheat
• This left Vasilissa only the supper to make before the night and she had all day to prepare
• Vasilissa completed the supper
• The Baba Yaga came home and inspected all the tasks Vasilissa was to complete thinking she could not have completed them
• She couldn’t find anything wrong with the work she had done and so she asked for her supper
• The Baba Yaga was angry that Vasilissa had completed the tasks that seemed impossible for her to do in one day
• The Baba Yaga asked her how she possibly completed all of the tasks
• Vasilissa said she was just blessed by her dead mother.
• The Baba Yaga sent her away with a skull with burning eyes to take to her stepmother who still needed the fire
• Vasilissa wandered back through the forest and figured that by now they should of gotten fire on their own
• She tried throwing away the skull in a nearby bush.
• The skull spoke to her told her that she needed to keep it and bring it to her stepmother
• Vasilissa finally came home and found her stepmother and sisters had no fire.
• She learned that when she had left no fire ever lit again inside the home.
• Even if they brought a flame from somewhere else it would just go out as soon as it entered the house.
• Vasilissa was welcomed by the stepmother and sisters
• The skull began to glow fire red and burned everything there except Vasilissa
• Vasilissa then waited for her father to come home
• Vasilissa became bored waiting to she went and got some flax from an old woman in the village
• She then began to spin thread out of the flax to make cloth
• The cloth was so finely made that none of the seamstresses in palace could sew with the cloth.
• Not even the greatest seamstress in the land could sew with the cloth.
• So the old woman said she knew of someone who could sew the cloth for him
• She said it was the same woman who wove the linen
• So the Tsar ordered her to bring her to the palace and have her sew his clothes
• The Old woman went and got Vasilissa to come to the palace to sew the clothes
• When Vasilissa arrived the Tsar fell in love with her right away
• They were married in a beautiful wedding
• Her merchant father finally came home
• And he and the old woman lived with Vasilissa in the palace happily ever after