The first pattern in the upcoming Seasons of Lace – Winter KAL is based on the following Russian Fairy Tale. This shawl will be knit out of 1.5 skeins of Nimbus Lace from Slackford Studio in the colourway Silver Pine.
Once upon a time there was a woman who had two daughters. Helena was her own daughter, and Marushka was her stepdaughter. She was very fond of Helena, but she hated Marushka, because the stepdaughter was both more beautiful and more intelligent than Helena.
While Helena relaxed every day, Marushka had to do all the work in the house by herself. But she liked to work and never complained. And even though she never got any new clothes, and often had to go hungry, she only grew more and more beautiful.
This made the mother and sister very angry, and they finally decided they had to get rid of Marushka. One day in the middle of winter, Helena said to her sister “Go out in the forest and fetch me some violets! I would like to add them to my belt and enjoy their fragrance.” “But dear sister” said Marushka, “there are no violets in the forest in the middle of winter.” “How dare you contradict me, you lazy wench!” yelled Helena. “Go immediately, or and if you come home without them, I will kill you!” And she grabbed Marushka by the arm, shoved her out the door and closed it.
Poor Maruska was crying as she trudged through the snow towards the forest. The snow was so deep that she couldn’t even see the path, but she didn’t dare to turn around and continued through the deep snow. When she was almost about to collapse from exhaustion she saw a bright light ahead. She gathered her last remaining strength and continued towards the light. She came to a hill, and there was a fire burning. Around the fire were twelve stones, and on the stones sat twelve kings with crowns upon their heads. These kings each ruled over a month of the year. Three were old and had long beards, three were middle aged, three were young and strong, and three were handsome youths. All sat quiet and gazed into the fire.
King December was sitting on the largest stone, which was like a throne. His hair and beard were white as snow, and in his hand he was holding a spire.
Marushka approached the kings and asked “Your Grace, please let me warm myself by your fire. I am so very cold.” King December nodded at her kindly. When she had warmed up he asked her “Why have you come here?” “My sister ordered me to go and get violets, and if I come home without them, she will kill me. Please tell me, kind King, do you know where I can find violets?”
King December rose from his seat and walked over to the youngest month and handed him the spire. “Brother March, please sit on the throne.” King March sat down on the throne and waved the spire over the fire. The flames spread and grew taller. The snow melted away, buds opened on the trees. The flowers started to bloom, and there were so many violets growing that the ground looked blue. “Hurry Marushka, and pick your flowers” said King March. Marushka picked a whole bouquet. Then she thanked the twelve kings and hurried home with a light heart.
Imagine Helena’s surprise when Marushka came home with the violets. Helena put the flowers on her belt, but she didn’t let Marushka have a single violet.
The next day, Helena and the mother sent Marushka into the forest to pick wild strawberries. She trudged through the snow for hours, until she suddenly reached the same hill as last time. The twelve kings received her kindly again, and when they discovered her quest for wild strawberries, King December left his throne and handed the spire to the month sitting across from him. “Brother June, please sit on the throne.” King June sat down on the throne and waved the spire over the fire. Immediately the flames rose to the sky, the snow melted, the leaves sprung out on the trees. Birds began so sing, and the most beautiful flowers covered the ground. Marushka saw how the white flowers turned into red, ripe strawberries, and picked as many as she could carry and hurried home.
Helena took the strawberries and ate as many as she could, until she was completely satisfied. Then she gave the rest to the mother, but Marushka didn’t get to taste a single berry.
The next day, Helena wanted apples, and again she sent Marushka out to fetch some. The poor girl walked towards the forest in the bitter cold. More snow had fallen, and she walked through deep drifts of snow. But finally she arrived at the hill where the twelve kings sat. When she told them of her new predicament, King December handed the spire to his brother September. King September sat down on the throne and waved the spire over the fire. The fire grew, the snow disappeared, and a strong wind whipped through the area. The grass turned yellow and the leaves fell off the trees. No flowers could be seen, but a large apple tree was standing there, its branches laden with beautiful, ripe apples. “Hurry and shake the tree” said King September. Marushka shook the tree and one apple fell to the ground. She shook the tree again, and a second apple fell to the ground. “That’s enough” said King September. “Now hurry home.”
When Helena saw that Marushka had only brought two apples she yelled at her. “Why did you not take more apples? You have probably eaten them on the way!” “No, I was only allowed to shake the tree twice” answered Marushka. “May lightning strike and kill you!” screamed Helena. Then she said to the mother “Let us go to the forest ourselves. If that evil Marushka goes again, I am certain she will eat all the apples on the way home. I will shake down every apple from the tree, whether they let me or not.”
Mother and Helena had to walk for a long time, but finally they reached the twelve kings. Without greeting them or asking permission, Helena walked straight towards the fire to warm up.
“What do you want? Why have you come here?” asked king December with a stern voice. “Why is that your business, old man?” said Helena and turned to continue on her way to find the apples. King December furrowed his brow angrily, and raised his spire. At the same time the fire burned out, the sky turned dark, and heavy snow came down. An ice cold wind howled through the trees. Helena and her mother could not see one step ahead of them, and their limbs got stiff from the cold. They fell to the ground and cursed Marushka bitterly, but they could not get up and finally they were buried in the snow. They never returned home to Marushka again.
Just want to correct you, the fairy tale that you are referring to is not Russian but Czech and it’s called “Twelve month”
I’ve seen that version too.
Fairy Tales often come in many different versions, with various regional variations. The book I own called it Russian, but I’ve seen it in other books as Czech.
The beauty with Fairy Tales is that there are many versions, passed down orally and recorded at different times. And it’s fun to spot the similarities. E.g. the evil stepmother and stepsister, and the kind, hardworking girl is similar to Cinderella too.