Vasilisa the Beautiful

Vasilisa the Beautiful is a famous Russian fairy tale that tells the story of a merchant’s daughter whose mother died when she was 8 years old and her mother, on her deathbed, gave Vasilisa a small wooden doll with the instructions to give food and drink to the doll if she ever found herself in need of help. Eventually, Vasilisa’s father remarried and her new stepmother was rather cruel to her. With the help of the doll, she’s able to outsmart the difficult and dangerous tasks her stepmother orders her to complete. One of these tasks was to take some fire from a fearsome deity known as Baba Yaga. Baba Yaga had threatened to eat her if she failed to perform a series of tasks that Baba Yaga thought was impossible to complete all of them in a day. Vasilisa tried her hardest, but was certain it was hopeless, but the doll her mother had given her told her to let it complete the chores. Eventually, all the chores are completed, and Vasilisa is given a skull full of hot coals. Upon seeing the coals, her evil stepmother and stepsisters all turned to ash, and Vasilisa buried the skull within the woods so it would never hurt anyone ever again. Eventually she moved to Russia’s capital and became a well-respected tailor. Her craft was so great, that even the Tsar sought her out, and eventually married her.
The utlimate moral of the story is the belief hat one's parents will always look out over their children and watch them, always trying to help them wth whatever troubles they may come across.