One of the most interesting Russian folk tales is āFinist - Clear Falconā. The summary will tell the reader about the plot, introduce you to the main characters, some clarifications will help to better understand the work.
Father and daughters
The story begins with a reader acquaintance with a widowed peasant who has three daughters left. Once he told them that it would be nice to hire an assistant. To this, the youngest daughter Maryushka replied that it was not necessary, she would do all the household chores herself.
Maria was a hardworking girl, and all matters were perfectly controversial. She was not only a needlewoman, but also a beauty, unlike the sisters. Those were ugly, and also greedy. From morning till night they sat in front of the mirror, whitened their faces, applied blush. Having become acquainted with this part of the work, the young reader can think about why to whiten the face, as the folk authors of the work āFinist - Clear Falconā describe it. Summary will shed light on this issue.
The fact is that in those days the tan was considered to be the lot of poor peasant women who worked from morning to night under the scorching sun, and therefore their face and hands were tanned. Young ladies wore wide-brimmed hats, with openwork umbrellas so that their face was white. Wax complexion was fashionable, and a light tan was removed with the help of white. Cheeks were plentifully smeared with blush, it was also a trend in the old days.
Peasant trips to the bazaar
Once the priest went to the bazaar, asked the daughters what to bring from there. The elders, who were very fond of dressing up, replied that they wanted scarves with large flowers. Father Maryushke asked the same question, and she asked, as the fairy tale says, Finist's feather - Yasna Sokol.
The father was able to fulfill the request of only the eldest daughters - he brought them beautiful half-beds. Such a feather, as Mary asked, he did not find.
Here the father goes the second time to the market. Older daughters ask for beautiful boots, he bought them a new thing. The youngest again wanted the priest to bring her a feather, but he walked all day in search of it, but never found it.
Father went to the bazaar for the third time, and the fairy tale āFinist - Clear Falconā also tells about this. A brief summary will tell about this case.
Older daughters, as usual, will be asked to buy new things for them, this time - a coat. Mary is true to herself, she wants only a feather. Once again, the priest managed to quickly fulfill the requests of the eldest daughters, but the youngest did not.
Meeting with the old man
The peasant was returning from the bazaar. He met a very old grandfather. They talked, and grandfather asked the father of his daughters where he keeps his way. He replied that he was saddened because he could not fulfill the request of his beloved daughter.
The old man listened to the fellow travelerās story and delighted him by saying that he had such a thing. And he got nothing but that feather. The peasant looked - the pen is like a feather, there is nothing unusual in it. He also thought: what did Mary find in this little thing that she so wanted to have it?
Father arrived with gifts home. The older children put on new clothes, they could not stop looking at themselves, but they began to laugh at the younger one, telling her that she was a fool, and remained so. They suggested she put a feather in her hair and show off. The attentive reader will understand what the story called āFinist - Clear Falconā resembles: this tale is very similar to āThe Scarlet Flowerā. No wonder the famous collector of Russian folk tales Afanasyev recorded two interpretations of this story. The first is called āFinist's Feather - Jasna Sokolā, and her plot is similar to this one. In the second appears scarlet flower. When it is put into the water, the Finist - the Clear Falcon flies. This tale by Afanasyev appears in the collection under the number 235.
Finist's Appearance
Maryushka didnāt answer anything to the grins of her older sisters, and when everyone went to bed, she threw a feather on the ground and spoke magic words. In them, she urged the kind Finist, her fiancĆ©, to appear to her. And he did not take long to wait. A very handsome young man came to the girl. In the morning he hit the floor and turned into a falcon. Then he flew out the window, which the girl opened for him.
This went on for three days. In the afternoon, the young man was a falcon. In the evening he flew to Marya, hit the floor and turned into a handsome man. Before her stood already Finist - Clear Falcon. The summary will soon tell you about the next interesting point. In the morning he again flew away, and in the evening he returned.
What the anger of the sisters led to
But the idyll of young men and women did not last long, the sisters found out about the night guest and told their father about it. But he did not believe them, ordered him to look after himself better.
However, the envious did not stop there. They attached sharp knives to the frame and began to watch what would happen next.
As usual, the falcon tried to fly to Mashaās room, but he couldnāt, he just wounded himself on knives. Then Finist said that if anyone needs him, he will find it. He warned that it would be hard. You can find it only when three pairs of iron shoes are worn out, as many staves break and 3 iron caps become unusable.
Prior to this, Maryushka was asleep, but when she heard these words, she woke up. However, it was too late, and when the girl approached the window, the birds had already caught a trace. Finist - Clear Falcon flew away, pictures in the book will help to visually see this dramatic moment.
Marya sets off on a journey
The girl cried, but there is nothing to do - you need to look for a loved one. She told everything to the priest, announced that she would leave, if fate would like, she would return unharmed.
The girl ordered herself 3 iron staffs, 3 caps and three pairs of shoes, set off on a difficult path.
She walked through fields, forests, mountains, but no one touched her. On the contrary, birds cheered with their songs, streams washed their faces. When the staff broke, the shoes were worn out, the cap broke, I saw a hut on chicken legs in a clearing. She asked her to turn. The girl went into the house and saw Baba Yaga. The old woman asked the girl what brought her here.
Huts on chicken legs and their inhabitants
Marya told why she had come so far. Baba Yaga told where Finist is now - the Clear Falcon, pictures will again help to clearly present this moment. It turns out that the girlās groom was intoxicated by the magic queen and married herself.
Grandmother gave the beauty a magic saucer and a golden egg, told what to do with them. She advised me to go to work with that queen.
Mary went on the road again, after some time she saw the hut again, there was another Baba Yaga in it - that sister. The old woman gave the girl a silver hoop and a golden needle, which she embroiders herself, and told her not to sell it to anyone, but to give it away for allowing her to see her beloved.
By this time, Marya had worn the next pair of shoes, the second cap and staff had deteriorated. She went on, and when the third iron set broke, she again saw the hut. To the question of the third Baba Yaga, she replied that she needed a Finist - Clear Falcon. The heroes of this scene behaved diplomatically. Mary spoke with the old woman with respect, for which she gave her a golden spindle and a silver bottom, taught her what to do with them.
Concludes the concluding points.
Finist - Clear Falcon and Maryushka met
Mary went on, a wolf met her, who drove the girl on herself right to the place. Mary saw the palace, and in it the queen. Marya was hired as a servant. The tsarina took it, during the day Maryushka worked, and at night she put an egg in a saucer and looks, and the saucer shows her.
The tsarina heard this, asked to sell the magic gizmos, but Marya said that she would give in vain if she showed her Finista. But he slept soundly, his girlfriend could not wake him up, as she did the next night, when she gave the queen a magic hoop and needle for a date.
On the third night, having given the spindle and the silver bottom to the queen, the girl again tried in vain to wake her beloved, he woke up only from her hot tears. He woke up, was glad that his beloved had found, and they returned home, made a great feast. That ended the fairy tale "Finist - Clear Falcon." Heroes - Maryushka and Finist - found each other, and good won.