Folk Tales from the Russian

She gave him a touchstone and flint
RETOLD BY
VERRA XENOPHONTOVNA KALAMATIANO DE BLUMENTHAL
Core Collection Books, inc .
GREAT NECK, NEW YORK
BOISE STATE UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
First Published 1903 Reprinted 1979
International Standard Book Number 0-8486-0216-1
Library of Congress Catalog Number 78-74512
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
In Russia, as elsewhere in the world, folklore is rapidly scattering before the practical spirit of modern progress. The traveling peasant bard or story teller, and the devoted nyanya , the beloved nurse of many a generation, are rapidly dying out, and with them the tales and legends, the last echoes of the nation's early joys and sufferings, hopes and fears, are passing away. The student of folk-lore knows that the time has come when haste is needed to catch these vanishing songs of the nation's youth and to preserve them for the delight of future generations. In sending forth the stories in the present volume, all of which are here set down in print for the first time, it is my hope that they may enable American children to share with the children of Russia the pleasure of glancing into the magic world of the old Slavic nation.