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= The Blind Man and The Cripple = The Blind Man and The Cripple is a Russian wondertale published around the 17th and 18th centuries. The story takes a look at how important it is to put good people in your life to help you in hard and difficult situations. This folktale was published in an English translation by W. R. S. Ralston in 1873.

Plot Summary
The story starts with a Prince named Ivan having a tutor that was close to him that went by the name Katoma. One day, Prince Ivan expressed to Katoma that he wanted to marry Princess Anne who lives in a far away kingdom. This princess was hard to win her affection for because there were several bachelors that would be decapitated if they gave the princess a riddle that she was able to solve. On the journey to Princess Anne’s kingdom, Prince Ivan and Katoma were able to make a riddle that they were confident the princess would not be able to solve. When the two men got to the kingdom, they met with the princess, gave the riddle to her, and Prince Ivan won her hand in marriage because she was unable to solve the riddle.

After the couple were married, Princess Anne tried to get rid of Prince Ivan by trying to make him do arduous tasks. However, Prince Ivan had Katoma do the tasks instead of the prince doing it himself. One day, Princess Anne decided to deceive the prince by accusing him of endangering the couple, cutting his feet off, and leaving him on the side of the road to die. Shortly after being left on the side of the road, a blind hunter found Katoma and was able to save him. This led these two men to find ways to survive together with the remaining senses and limbs they had left.

One day, they hear about a very nice woman that was in the next town over and they decide to kidnap the woman and have her live with the men. The girl is content with living with the blind man and the cripple until one day, a witch named Baba Yaga slowly starts to kill the girl by sucking her breasts. The men see that their friend is dying and they catch the witch that is trying to kill the girl to make her tell the men how they can heal the girl. Baba Yaga is then able to tell the men that they can be healed from their ailments in the same way the girl can be saved. The two men decide to trust the witch and follow her to the pond that is supposed to heal all three people in the group. The magic healing powers in the pond work in helping save the life of the girl, the blind man to see again, and the cripple to have his feet back.

After this miraculous event takes place, Katoma and the two people that he has begun to see as his family decide to go back to the kingdom that Princess Anne and Prince Ivan live together in. The three newly healed people go in front of the prince and princess to reveal who they are and bring the princess's wrong doings to light. Princess Anne is happy to see Katoma alive and asks for forgiveness for her unjust actions. Katoma forgives Princess Anne and they all live in the kingdom with her and Prince Ivan.

Literary Context
This story is considered a wondertale that has a similar plot and structure to another story in “Panchatantra.” The originality of Russian folktales like The Blind Man and The Cripple dates back over two thousand years ago with Aesop’s fables. Along with this fable, people have found folktales that are over five thousand years old due to the archaic culture, ancient beliefs, and ancient rituals that took place in the stories. These stories were told to older boys and young men because the main character would go through a trial that would be represented as a man going through troubles that they might go through in society. Some of the lessons that would be presented in these stories were troubles that would take place in the forest that would symbolize courage, altruism, devotion, willingness to take advice, vigilance, acceptance of his surroundings, and the importance of cooperation. Because these stories were told to men, the main characters in these folktales would mainly be the same gender as the boys that are hearing the stories in order for them to connect to the main character. Archaic wondertales bring a villain into the story for the protagonist to fight against. The villains would be symbols of forces of nature and magic of the unknown. In most wondertales, the protagonist has to undergo a physical transformation that would lead to a new establishment of a family unit.

Baba Yaga is the villain in this story. In the 17th and 18th centuries when Russian folktales were being written, Baba Yaga was a very common villain in these stories. This villain was always in these stories as a witch that had her abode in the forest. Baba Yaga was considered the mistress of the forest and would take care of the animals that resided in the forest that she was living in. The forest witch would have different reactions to the children that would stumble to her cabin that resided in the deep forest. If the child that came to her cabin was a little girl, Baba Yaga would become very angry and would try to kill and eat the girl. If a boy had come across her home, Baba Yaga would not be very serious. For the most part, the boy and the witch would sit down together and have a nice conversation about why it’s wrong for them to come into the forest and terrorize the mistress. This common story of this mythical figure began when a woman became tired of having to take care of her children. So, the woman sent her stepchildren to live with their grandmother, who was Baba Yaga. The grandmother would then force the children to do strenuous chores until the children were able to escape from the grandmother.

While the author of this story is unsure, there are several beliefs that the story was written by Alexander Afanasyev. The person who made an English translation for this story was originally a friend of Afanasyev. The translation, Russian Folk Tales, was dedicated to Afanasyev two years after his death. Afanasyev was banned from publishing his works in Russia due to the fact that he promoted the Holy Synod and that he would publish his works in Geneva.

Literary Themes
The Blind Man and The Cripple is categorized as a magic and witchcraft folktale. These kinds of tales are told in varying ways. For this story, it has the special feature of having two different forms of magic water. When folktales have these elements in it, there are some stories that might be a little different from the one that is talked about in this story. Some folktales have two different ponds of magical water but one pond might give the characters in the story strength and the other pond will have the opposite effect on the character. When stories usually showcase these two magic waters, they are held in a cellar, guarded by a snake that has multiple heads. However, in this story, the specific kind of water that is present in the story has a body of water that can either heal or kill the characters in the story. Instead of the snake with multiple heads being guarded by the water, Baba Yaga takes a presence in the story and tries to protect the waters by unsuccessfully fooling the protagonist and his friends by having them drink from the wrong body of water.

Translations
An English translation is available in W. R. S. Ralston’s book, ''Russian Fairy Tales. A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folktale''.