Once upon a time in a far away land, Tsar Saltan sat
listening to the future plans of three sisters. One of these sisters said that
she wanted to give birth to a great warrior, and employ the other two sisters
in her charge. Tsar Saltan decided to marry this
sister, making the other two sisters become very jealous. These two women
decided to do everything they could to make the married sister's life unhappy.
Tsar Saltan soon went away to war. During his
absence, his queen gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Gvidon.
It looked as if her dream of the future was beginning to be fulfilled, but her
evil sisters wrote to the Tsar and convinced him that his son was an evil
monster. Believing their ridiculous story, the Tsar then ordered that his wife
and son be sealed in a barrel and cast into the sea.
The barrel drifted for many years, finally washing ashore after Prince Gvidon had already grown into a man. On this shore, Prince Gvidon performed his first great task--he rescued a swan
being attacked by an evil magician who was in the form of a black hawk. Having
been saved, the swan then turned into an enchanting princess who promised to
help Gvidon find his father. The Prince then became
ruler of the land that he had washed ashore upon, and his kingdom became famous
throughout the world.
One day a merchant ship en route to Tsar Saltan's country passed through Prince Gvidon's magnificent
land. On arrival to Tsar Saltan's country the
merchant told the Tsar about his son's great land. Tsar Saltan made plans to travel there, but the evil sisters talked him out of it. The next
time the merchant passed through the
kingdom
of
Prince Gvidon he saw the Magic Squirrel, which lived in a crystal cage that Prince Gvidon had built for it. Again the merchant arrived home to
tell Tsar Saltan of his son's magical land, but again
the evil sisters interfered. They told the Tsar that he should instead go to
the land where one can see 33 warriors and Chernomor rise from the ocean.
The Princess Swan explained to Prince Gvidon that
these warriors were her brothers, so when the merchant passed through the land
a third time this feat was performed for him. Having heard this story the
wicked sisters dissuaded the Tsar once more from traveling to his son by
telling him that it would be more worth his while to find the Magic Princess
with the Sea Star above her head.
Prince Gvidon was sad when he discovered once more
that his father would not come to see him. Little did he know that the Swan
Princess and the Magic Princess were one in the same! The merchant then
returned home a fourth time to inform the Tsar that his son had married the
Magic Princess. The Tsar then immediately set sail for Gvidon's kingdom where the family was reunited.
They lived there happily ever after.
|
