Gathered Patience

Ivan and his sisters' husbands —Hawk, Eagle, and Crow — rode up to the diverging path. "I don't remember there being any split before," Hawk said. Eagle and Crow agreed. A red ribbon tied to the end of the birch tree branch waved at them.

"It must be from Marya!" Ivan said. He rode up to the birch. "She wore ribbons like this often...." He shook the sadness from his heart and untied the ribbon. It snagged on the end of the branch as the branch whipped to poke his eye out. Ivan covered his eyes and wheeled his horse away just in time.

"It must've been a trap for Koshchey," Eagle said. Hawk and Crow agreed.

"We'll take it as a sign to go the other way," Ivan said. "Let us take the right path."

They rode for the rest of the day, through the night, and in the morning a rider in white on a white horse overtook them. Soon after, they came to the edge of the forest. Beyond was a marsh leading to a meadow. In the center of the marsh was a hut with smoke curling from its chimney. Stables stood in the near distance.

An old woman with a beak-like nose came out and waved. "Hail, Ivan Tsarevich, Hawk, Eagle, and Crow!" Her sharp teeth flashed.

"Baba Yaga already knows our names," Crow said. "We're undoubtedly going to die." Hawk and Eagle agreed.

Ivan steeled himself and said, "Hail, Babushka!"

Babushka laughed, and her thin face looked less frightening. "Why have you come, hey? By your own good will or need?"

"I need your fastest horse," Ivan said. "At your will as soon as possible."

Babushka shook her head. "I cannot just give you a horse, Ivan Tsarevich. You've not the temperament to ride one."

Impatience flared inside his chest. "Then how can I earn one?"

She regarded them all with keen acuity. "You will serve me for three days, Ivan Tsarevich. If you have not passed, then I will send you away with no memory of this place or your life."

Ivan tamped down his impatience. "Three days of service it is."

Babushka smiled. "We start tomorrow. Your sisters' husbands are not allowed to help you guard my horses."

Ivan agreed, and the three men went away with the promise to return after the three days were up. In the morning, the rider in white on a white horse rode by the hut.

"Who is that?" Ivan asked. "I've seen him before."

"He is my faithful servant Day" was all Babushka said.

She ushered him out of the hut and toward the horses in the distance. Two horses were white, two red, and two black. Among them was a wheat-colored foal. "Guard them and have them back by evening when I return, hey."

She stepped into her hut and closed the door. The house creaked, then rose until it stood impossibly tall on thin chicken legs. The house shook, and then lumbered off into the forest with soft thumps.

Ivan turned back toward the horses in time to watch them all shake their manes and disappear into the forest as well. Ivan jumped on his horse and chased after them. "Come back!" he demanded. Impatience and fear burned in his chest. The horses scattered farther and refused to listen.

"Gather them one by one," his horse said, "but be patient."

Ivan ran his horse through the forest until they were both ragged. He called for the horses but none answered. As evening drew nearer, he despaired.

His steed once again advised him to be patient.

Ivan walked patiently through the forest. He found them, one by one, and returned them just as Babushka's house walked out of the forest.

It wasn't until dinner when she asked him, "How was guarding my horses, hey?"

Ivan huffed. "They were awful! They're obstinate, stubborn beasts." He pushed his food away, his appetite ruined.

"Then how did they get back?" she asked. "Surely you did not use the Hawk's help, hey."

He smiled sheepishly. "No, they let me collect them when I slowed down."

Her black eyes showed her sharp acuity again. "What got you into this mess, Ivan Tsarevich? Certainly it wasn't Koshchey the Deathless whom your wife had kept successfully imprisoned before her marriage to you."

"No," he said quietly. "It wasn't Koshchey."

Babushka nodded and announced she was going to bed.

Ivan awoke in the morning to find Babushka already awake. Day rode by, she ushered Ivan out of the house toward the horses, and her house walked back into the forest on its long spindly chicken legs.

The horses once again disappeared. He tried to start off patient but when his search yielded little results, he once again rode through the forest until he and his horse were ragged.

It was late afternoon when his horse advised him, "Gather the horses but be patient."

With a fear-heavy heart, Ivan forced himself to slow down into patience. It worked, and he gathered the horses one by one.

"The horses have all returned," Babushka said again at dinner.

Ivan nodded.

"You didn't use Eagle's help, did you?"

"No," Ivan said. "The horses returned when I was...genuinely patient."

Her eyes grew keen again. "What got you into this mess, Ivan Tsarevich?" she asked. "Surely it was not your wife Marya Moryevna who gave you free rein of her palace save one room."

"No," he said quietly. "It wasn't Marya."

The third day started much like the other two, but when the horses disappeared, they went to the sea and stayed completely out of Ivan's reach. Impatience flared in his chest. He breathed and waited, calling to them once in a while. Before midday, he had them back in the meadow.

"You got them into the meadow early," Babushka said. Ivan nodded. "You didn't use Crow's help, did you, hey?"

"No," Ivan said. "I was patient this time."

"What got you into this mess, Ivan Tsarevich?"

"Marya told me not to go into the lumber-room," Ivan said, "but I was too impatient."

"Do you think you've succeeded in serving me?"

Ivan pondered for some time. "Yes," he said. "I believe I have for I have finally gathered my patience."

On the fourth morning, Babushka led Ivan out among the horses. "Pick one," she said, "but remember I can say no to your choice."

"The white horses belong to Day. And if there is Day, there must be Night and Sun. In which case, I cannot take the black or red horses." He chose the small wheat-colored foal.

Babushka nodded in approval. She gave the foal tender grass, and he grew into a magnificent stallion. Ivan thanked Babushka for the horse and rode to meet his sisters' husbands.

He would help his Marya Moryevna free herself, and now he had the patience to wait for the perfect time.

Author's Note

This story is based on "Márya Moryévna" from from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston. It's a fairly long story, so I just included the part where Ivan interacts with Baba Yaga. In the original story, very briefly summarized, Ivan accidentally sets free Koshchey the Deathless because he goes into the one room in the castle his wife Marya Moryevna told him not to go into because he's too impatient to wait on her to show him herself. Koshchey then goes on to kidnap and at one point kill Ivan. It's a very thrilling fairy tale that I recommend reading! I made it my own by continuing to focus on a singular character development a Baba Yaga can provide. Or, a gift from a Baba Yaga one could say. At first, I was thinking about making it to where Ivan needs to realize overhelping can be detrimental, but the part that ended up sticking out to me was when he opened the lumber-room because of impatience. I decided to go with that in the end. This story was a lot trickier because I strayed away from having Ivan have a helper in order to focus more on Ivan. I might change that in the revision.

Bibliography

"Márya Moryévna" from Russian folklore found in Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore by W. R. S. Ralston. Found in The Project Gutenberg