Lullventyr
Baba Yaga and the Little Girl with the Kind Heart — cover illustration
Classic story

Baba Yaga and the Little Girl with the Kind Heart

by Arthur Ransome

A lonely little girl lives happily with her widowed father until a wicked stepmother arrives and treats her cruelly. The girl finds comfort only in the shed, where she befriends a tiny mouse named mouseykin by sharing her crust. When the stepmother forces her to visit her aunt, the girl realizes she is being sent to Baba Yaga, the bony-legged witch. Before leaving, the kind-hearted girl shares food with various magical creatures she meets along the path. She uses these gifts wisely: oiling squeaky gates, feeding a hungry dog, and offering meat to a thin black cat. At Baba Yaga's hut on hen legs, the girl earns the help of the cat by showing kindness rather than fear. With the cat's clever assistance, she escapes just as the witch prepares her bath. During her flight, she uses magical items to create a river and a dense forest that stop the pursuing Baba Yaga in her tracks. The girl returns home safely to her father, who is furious to learn of his wife's treachery. He drives the wicked stepmother out, and the pair live happily together once more. Even mouseykin comes to live with them, enjoying warm tea crumbs every day. This tale shows how kindness can turn even the most dangerous situations into safe adventures.

How it begins

BABA YAGA AND THE LITTLE GIRL WITH THE KIND HEART Once upon a time there was a widowed old man who lived alone in a hut with his little daughter. Very merry they were together, and they used to smile at each other over a table just piled with bread and jam. Everything went well, until the old man took it into his head to marry again. Yes, the old man became foolish in the years of his old age, and he took another wife. And so the poor little girl had a stepmother. And after that everything changed. There was no more bread and jam on the table, and no more playing bo-peep, first this side of the samovar…

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