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The Witch and the Sun's Sister
The Witch and the Sun’s Sister is a seventeenth-century Russian folktale published by Alexander Afanasyev. It tells the story of a young prince who sets out on a journey, which leads to a conflict with his sister and help from a higher being. This tale is significant because it resembles the traits of a classic wondertale and falls in step with other folktales.

Plot Summary:
This tale starts with young Prince Ivan, who is seen to not be very bright. One day he goes to visit his groomer friend and wishes for him to tell another story, as he usually does. The groomer gives him a warning instead, saying the prince’s mother will give birth to a girl, his sister, and she will overthrow the kingdom by becoming a witch and devouring them all. He warns Prince Ivan to run to save himself, and the boy does just this, asking his father for a horse to ride off on.

He departs with sorrow and fear, not wanting to leave or be eaten by his sister. As he rides, he looks for a new place to live and comes across two old women. The prince asks to live with them, but they sadly say when they run out of thread and needles, they will die right after. He is distraught but moves on.

The next person he encounters is the giant Vertodub, who he also asks if he can stay with. The giant tells him no and explains that once he pulls up all the roots in his forest he will also die. The prince grieves for him as well and moves on.

The third person he meets is the giant Vertogor, and he declines after the question of whether the prince can stay with him. He explains that he will perish once he levels all the mountains around him. Prince Ivan is still feeling the defeat and continues his journey.

Finally, he comes across the Sun’s Sister. She takes him in and allows him to live with her, but after seeing the disaster that has become of his city the boy is even more saddened. At first, he hides this from the Sun’s Sister, telling her it is the wind making him cry. She brushes the wind away and he cannot hide the truth anymore. He admits that he is worried about his town, and she allows him to go back.

Before he leaves, she gives him three gifts. A brush, a comb, and two youth giving apples. Prince Ivan then heads back to his city. On the way, he reunites with each of his previous encounters. To save them all, he uses the gifts given to him. For Vertogor, he uses the brush to create more mountains out of the Earth. Then Vertodub is given more trees with the aid of the magical comb. He hands the two old women the youth giving apples to keep them from perishing. He saves them all from death and receives a magical handkerchief from the women as a sign of gratitude.

Prince Ivan then arrives back home to find it in shambles and is greeted by his sister. She has indeed become a witch and eaten all the subjects, including their parents as well. The boy joins her as she offers a feast for him. While she goes off to fix the dinner, he waits, then is warned by a talking mouse that she is sharpening her teeth to eat him. He is playing the lute while he waits, but the mouse takes over to keep the witch distracted while he runs away. She comes back to find him gone, but not far off, and chases him.

As he runs off he brings out the magical handkerchief. It possesses the power to create a vast ocean and he does so to put some distance between him and the witch. She still pursues, swimming across and allowing him more time. Though she quickly gains ground.

Vertodub sees that the young prince is in trouble and uproots several trees to stack up and block the witch. She eats and gnaws through each log and gives him more time again. But she is soon back on his trail. The chase continues until Vertogor sees what is happening as well. He stacks a mountain on top of another to block the witch from the prince. She climbed it and he kept running.

Soon he returns to the Sun’s Sister’s home and jumps into her window. The witch follows him there, and bargains with the sister to let her have the boy. She then wagers that if she weighs more than him, she can eat him, but if she is lighter, he may kill her. This is agreed upon, but right when Prince Ivan steps on his scale he is shot into the sky. The Sun’s Sister’s chamber is there, and that is where he stays, while his witch of a sister stays on Earth.

Historical Context
During the seventeenth century, witchcraft was a very foreboding topic. Those who performed these acts were either seen as witches or healers. Sorcerers were seen to use unclean or dark forces while healers were not. Folk beliefs were heavily influenced by this in Russia and Early Modern Europe.

Genre
The outline for The Witch and the Sun’s Sister perfectly exemplifies a wondertale. There is a young prince who sets out on his first adventure from home. There is a family conflict since the witch who is chasing him is his sister, who resembles a witch-serpent. And there is a very episodic theme to it with Prince Ivan running into the same character in similar ways multiple times. They also resemble tests or challenges, as does the witch. All of these aspects are found in wondertales. [7]

It is also mentioned to be a Russian Skazka with hints of mythology, in which the purpose is to show the conflict of things such as good and evil. It also seems that the hero comes into power while he is human, like the gifts he receives. He is the good while his sister is seen as a witch with the power of darkness. Most female antagonists are connected to Baba Yaga or a serpent of sorts which can be shown in this story. Giants and other mythological creatures are used as well.

Interpretations
This tale is set to refer to pieces from Modern Greek tales and an excerpt from Epirus. Both these stories tell of a young woman eating her family and a young brother escaping her grasp.

It also quotes a Skazka of a young searching for the isle where there is no death and encounters similar characters as seen in The Witch and the Sun’s Sister.

Afanasyev also uses the Sun’s Sister as Prince Ivan’s actual sister, as she is seen as Dawn, and he is the sun. The evil witch is not his kin and represents the darkness of night which is the opposite of him.

The Sun’s Sister, or Dawn, is also inspired by many other pieces. Southern Slavonians use her in a poem and Servians have a song about her.

Similarly, the witch is often seen as a similar presentation of Baba Yaga or even a relative of her. She also shows attributes of evil, serpent spirits from other tales.

Translations
There are a few translations into English since the 2000s, which consist of W.R.S. Ralston’s Russian Fairytales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-Lore (1872) and Jack V. Haney’s Complete Folktales of Alexander Afanasyev (2014). The oldest translations are Old Peter’s Russian Tales by Author Ransome (1916).