Week 11: Extra Credit Reading Notes, Russian Folktales, Part B

 These notes are taken from The Headless Princess, a Russian Folktale found in Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S.. Ralston (1887). 

• Another wild Russian folktale that would work perfectly in my portfolio! 
• The only thing I would change about this story is updating it a little bit
• I wouldn't make it a kingdom/ or king/queen, with a priest
• It would be a young boy with a babysitter that acts weirdly
• She'll be the headless zombie thing that's wandering around
• The story goes like this:
• The King's daughter is an enchantress (witch)
• There's boy that is the son of a priest
• While walking home one day, he passes the palace 
• He looks into one of the windows and watches as the princess DETACHES HER HEAD 
• She washes her head with clean water and combs out her hair
• So many questions. Is this her original head? 
• Did she steal it from someone else?
• What if she has a whole collection of heads that she can change out (I used to have a Bratz doll that did that lol)
• I could change the POV of the story and make it about her, how/why she has a detachable head and what happens to her when she gets caught
• Anyway, the boy is rude and tell everyone that the princess is really a witch
• The daughter (Princess) falls ill, and dies
• She tells the king that when she dies, the priest's son needs to read the psalter over her grave for three nights (book of psalms)
• The king makes it happen!
• The young boy is tutored by an old woman, he tells her the predicament. If he reads the book, the "dead" witch will get him!
• The woman gives him advice: get a knife, trace a circle around you and read from the bible. He can also not look at the princess behind him
• He follows the advice
• While reading, at midnight the Princess leaps out of her coffin!
• She tries to get the boy (by causing "all kinds of terrors") but it doesn't work. At day break the Princess returns to the coffin
• I could have a chance here to come up with the terrors that she unleashes on the boy
•   The boy does it again for the second night, he is unharmed
• On the 3rd night, the woman warns him that it will be worse, she tells him to hammer 4 nails in the coffin
• The boy goes back and follows the advice. This time the princess wraps the church in flame!
• But, the boy survived 
• The king arrives, and sees that the coffin is open, and that the princess is face down
• The boy tells the story, and the king actually believes him! He drives a stake through the heart of the princess! The boy gets tons of money and land and lives happily ever after!

Image Information:

Abandoned Church

Found on: Flickr