Soyuzmultfilm Moscow 1954
The Frog Princess
written by Mihail Volpin directed by Mihail Tsehanovskiy music Yuriy Levitin
art directors Aleksandr Belyakov, Lev Milchin ass. dir. Vera Tsehanovskaya montage Lidiya Kyaksht
camera A. Astafyev, ass. by N. Sokolova sound Georgiy Martynyuk techn. ass. N. Orlova, G. Andreyeva
animators R. Kachanov, K. Malyshev, V. Dolgikh, V. Lihachyov, N. Fyodorov, B. Chani, V. Danilevich, B. Meyerovich, F. Hitruk, T. Taranovich
artists V. Valeryanova, Pyotr Korobayev, I. Troyanova
voice artists M. Kupriyanova, Vladimir Gribkov, Boris Chirkov, A. Verbitskiy, Aleksey Gribov, Georgiy Millyar, A. Rumnyov
- Good morning, birch tree sisters!
- Good morning, fair maiden!
- Good morning, beasts and birds!
- Good morning, Vasilisa the Fair!
- Well, squirrel, tell me, how was the night for all of you?
How did you greet the morning?
- It went well, all quiet and peaceful...
- Caw! Caw!
Caw! You did not heed the threat, fools,
and now Vasilisa's been taken from you!
Ha-ha-ha!
She is now with Koschei the Deathless!
Ha-ha-ha!
- You are now my guest, Vasilisa the Fair.
- Guests come of their own free will.
- But would you have visited me of your own free will?
- Of my own free will I would never have come!!
- That's right. But don't you be sad, Vasilisa the Fair.
Just look at the beauty all around you.
The trees are all made of gold!
The leaves upon them are also made of gold!
And the birds upon the branches are also made of gold!
- I do not like it here, Koschei!
Oh! A stalk!
And its leaves are as real as the leaves in my home forest!
Ah! A droplet!
It's alive, it quivers!
Just you look, Koschei, at this marvel!
What a mess!
It must have grown while I flew out to get you!
It will... behold...
Turn... into gold!
Ah!
- Ha! You see, it was a simple dew-drop,
and now it is a diamond,
a precious stone!
It will be my gift to you,
when you become my wife!
- Become your wife!? Ha-ha-ha!
Just look at yourself!
- So, you think I am ugly?!
Then neither will you, Vasilisa the Fair,
be pretty henceforth!
Hey, servants! Bring me my Mirror of Distortion.
Now, why don't you look at yourself,
Vasilisa the Fair.
Why do you hesitate? Or are you afraid?
- What have I to fear? Perhaps I've become a bit dishevelled,
but that is easily fixed.
Ah!
- Now look at your hands.
- Ah! Oh...
- And now... look up!
You will live, Vasilisa the Fair,
as a frog for 3 years and 3 days.
Perhaps, you will be wiser afterwards.
And now, go away
to your swamp!
- Croak...
In times of old there lived a tsar
who had three sons.
When the sons came of age,
the tsar had called them to him and said:
- My beloved sons!
Before I become old,
I would like to marry you off,
and look at your children,
at my grandchildren. - Well then, dear father, give us your blessing.
Who do you want to marry us off to?
- Here's the plan: take an arrow, each of you.
Ride into a field, draw and shoot.
Wherever your arrows land, there shall your fates lie. Now go!
The oldest son's arrow fell into a nobleman's estate.
The arrow was picked up by the nobleman's daughter.
The second son's arrow landed inside a merchant's wide courtyard.
The arrow was picked up by the merchant's daughter.
But the arrow of the youngest son, Ivan Tsarevich,
rose up... and flew away.
He himself could not see where.
- Frog, frog, give me back my arrow!
- Croak-croak!
What are you looking for?
- I am looking for my bride.
- You don't see her? - No, I do not.
- Then look upon me.
I am your bride, Ivan Tsarevich.
Let me be your wife.
- What?! What?!
How could I marry... a frog?
- However you think best, Ivan Tsarevich.
- I promised my father
and I cannot break my word.
Wait frog, wait.
Let it be as you wish.
The tsar arranged three weddings.
He married off the eldest to the nobleman's daughter,
the second to the merchant's daughter,
and poor Prince Ivan to the frog.
Afterwards, the tsar called his sons to him.
- Listen here, sonnies.
I would like to find out
which of your wives has the most skilled hands.
I want each wife to embroider me a carpet in a single night.
Now go!
- How could a frog possibly sew a carpet?
- Why do you look so sad, dear Ivan?
Is something wrong?
- My father would have you embroider him
a royal silken carpet by tomorrow.
- Don't worry, dear Ivan.
You should go to sleep -
our heads are wiser in the morning.
- Hey, servants-shmervants, get up, get ready!
- What is your wish? - Two carpets must be sewn by tomorrow!
Hey, palace maids,
Monday-maids and Tuesday-maids,
get up, get ready.
- What is your wish? - Two carpets must be sewn by tomorrow!
Hey, hay girls, night and day girls,
get up, get ready!
- What is your wish? - Two carpets must be sewn by tomorrow!
- Hey, Kondrat the Old, once a soldier bold!
- Kondrat the Old, once a soldier bold, is here at your service!
Ivan Tsarevich! Are you sleeping?
Ah, a skilled and crafty maiden sewed a cover
For that cherished, darling friend who was her lover
Oh, you canvas that's all white,
You've been turned into a most amazing sight.
Hills and dales and scattered woods are placed upon you.
Hillocks, bushes, many blooming flowers on you.
And upon the sky, stars twinkle in the night,
For lost travellers they are a welcome sight.
Look, a river flows upon this worsted canvas,
A fast ship with a great sail appears before us.
And then suddenly my girlfriends all showed up,
They all saw what I had sewn and they spoke up:
"Tell us, maiden of such skill, don't leave us spurned,
How can such amazing handiwork be learned?"
But the maiden merely answered: "Oh, my girlfriends,
This is not my labour; not mine are its merits.
Not this maiden's were those daily, nightly labours,
In the day by sun, And in the night with candles.
That was my love's work - It sewed this cover
For that cherished, darling friend Who is my lover,
For that cherished, darling friend Who is my lover!"
- Hey, you brothers, soldiers fine, Hup-two-three!
Hey, you brave lads, let's get going, Hup-two-three,
Whether it goes well or poorly, Hup-two-three!
Do as ordered, do it boldly, Hup-two-three!
- Husband, husband!
Husband-mine, take this carpet
that I have sewn for your father in a night.
Now go to the castle, it's time.
- Well, lads, let's see what the hands of your wives have made!
O! O!
Not bad, you know! Oh!
Hang it in the stables! It can cover the horses.
Well, sonny, show me your carpet!
O! O!
Take that one to the inner porch, to wipe our feet on.
What of you, dear Ivan? You've come empty-handed? Where is your carpet?
Well? What is this you have?
- Oh, what a frog!
- Ah! Now this is a carpet!
The carpet of carpets!
I've never seen such beauty in my life, ha-ha-ha!
Listen: this evening we will have a feast in my castle.
You will come, my sons, along with your wives.
- Am I to bring my wife as well? - Absolutely!
- As you will, father.
- Ivan Tsarevich!
Why are you unhappy?
Your head is bowed beneath your shoulders.
Did you hear an unkind word from your father?
- Frog, oh frog, how could I not be unhappy?
My father's ordered me to come to his feast together with you.
But how can I show you to people?
- Don't worry, Ivan Tsarevich.
Go to the feast alone,
and I will come later.
When you hear thunder and feel the earth thrill, do not fear.
If you're asked, just say:
"That's my little frog riding here in her little box"
- Why is my youngest daughter-in-law not here?
Or is she still busy prettying herself up?
- Why have you come without your wife?
- You should have brought her here in a handkerchief at least, ha-ha!
- Where did you find such a beauty?
- He searched the whole swamp!
- Don't be afraid, honoured guests!
That's my little frog riding here in her little box...
- Ah!
- Forgive me, dear husband, for being so late.
I didn't want your father to see me when I wasn't at my best.
- Who are you?
- I am your wife, Vasilisa.
- Vasilisa the Fair!
- There's a frog for you!
- It seems we shouldn't have laughed at her. - So it seems.
- Welcome, daughter-in-law!
Sit next to me.
- Now, wife, don't take your eyes off her,
and do exactly as she does!
- Well, why are you standing still? It's your turn now!
Ah! Enough, enough, dear daughters-in-law!
Away, away, while we are on good terms!
- Ah! Ah, Ivan Tsarevich,
what have you done?
If only you had waited 3 more days
I would have been yours forever.
But now, farewell.
Look for me beyond thrice-nine lands,
in the thrice-tenth tsardom
of Koschei the Deathless!
Farewell, Ivan, farewell!
Oh, you song of mine, you song maidenly,
Fly away to Ivan Tsarevich for me,
When you reach him, these words he'll receive:
"Goodbye dear, don't be sad, and don't grieve."
- Good day, young man!
What are you looking for, where does your road lead?
- I am looking, grandpa, for Vasilisa the Fair.
And my road leads to Koschei's tsardom.
- I know, I know.
Your wife is now with Koschei the Deathless.
Eh, Ivan Tsarevich!
Why did you burn the frog's skin?
It wasn't yours to don, and it wasn't yours to remove.
Well, there's nothing for it.
Here's a twig-guide for you.
Wherever it goes, go bravely after it.
- Thank you, grandfather!
- Twig-guide, oh twig-guide,
I wish you'd slow down, I'm getting tired!
- A-ah! Don't shoot me, Ivan Tsarevich!
Have pity on my children.
I will help you someday. - All right!
Be off with you!
- Don't kill me, have pity on my children!
I will help you when you need it most.
- All right. Have it your way, wolf-mother.
- Don't orphan my children!
Don't kill me!
I will help you someday!
- All right! Live on, falcon-mother!
- I will also help you someday!!
- Ivan Tsarevich, release my little pike from a fisherman's net
and throw him into the blue sea!
I will help you someday!
- All right. Swim into the sea, little pike.
Stand, oh hut, as your mother placed thee:
With your back to the wood and your door facing me!
- Well, now! What brings you, young man,
to my home?
Have you an errand to run, Or are you here just for fun?
Ha-ha-ha! - Oh, you old fogey!
Why don't you first water me, feed me,
treat me to a steam bath, and ask me afterwards?
- Ah, ha-ha-ha!
And in the morning Baba Yaga told him where to find Vasilisa the Fair, and how to defeat Koschei the Deathless
Ooh, ha-ha-ha!
It will be difficult to rescue Vasilisa the Fair!
It's not easy to deal with Koschei!
But I will help you.
I have an old quarrel with him!
Now listen to me carefully!
Koschei's death
lies on the tip of a needle.
The needle is in an egg,
the egg is in a duck, the duck is in a rabbit,
the rabbit is in a chest made of stone,
the chest is up in a high oak tree,
and that oak is guarded by Koschei the Deathless
as if it was his own eye.
Only I know of a way to reach that oak.
Sit upon this steed, Ivan Tsarevich,
and he will deliver you to the oak in an instant, ha-ha!
- Ah! You old hag! Just you wait!
I'll get even with you yet!
- I smell
Russian
blood!
Don't you even start, you foul snake!
- Ha-ha-ha-ha! Well, Ivan Tsarevich,
it looks like you'll have to return home empty-handed!
Ha-ha-ha!
- Ah!
He's burned up!
Burned alive! Ha-ha-ha!
Fine, Ivan Tsarevich!
And yet, Vasilisa the Fair
shall not be yours!
- Ah! - You shall... behold...
...turn into gold!
- Let me help, dear Ivan.
- I missed my chance!
I missed my chance to attain happiness!
- It's too early to rejoice, Ivan Tsarevich! Too early!
- You're not doing it right, Ivan Tsarevich!
How then should I do it?
- Like this!
Koschei's death on the tip of a needle.
- Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Fair
returned home
and lived long and happily
deep into old age.
The End (subs: Niffiwan, some by Eus, Feb 2022)