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Morozko, a MythSource painting
Slavic

Morozko

01Identity

Morozko in Slavic tradition

Morozko moves through the winter forest, cracking and snapping his fingers as he leaps between the fir trees. In the tale called Frost in William Ralston’s Russian Folk-Tales, a stepmother sends Marfa to him as though she were sending her to a bridegroom. Marfa waits beneath a pine while he questions her about the cold.

His questions become dangerous as he descends towards the person sitting below. Marfa answers courteously even when she can scarcely breathe, and he takes pity on her. He gives her warmth and costly gifts. When her stepsisters are sent to seek the same rewards, their encounter ends in death. Both encounters take place beneath the same pine tree. Marfa returns home with his gifts, while the sisters’ father brings their bodies back on his sledge.

SourceRussian Folk-Tales (W. R. S. Ralston, 1873): Frost, printed pp. 214-220

  • A figure who controls the cold of the winter forest. (Russian Folk-Tales (W. R. S. Ralston, 1873))
Top questions

The quick answers

  • Who is Morozko?

    Morozko moves through the winter forest, cracking and snapping his fingers as he leaps between the fir trees.
    Source

    Source

    • Russian Folk-Tales (W. R. S. Ralston, 1873)
02The names

The names Morozko answers to

Frost

The name used for Morozko in this Ralston tale.

SourceRussian Folk-Tales (W. R. S. Ralston, 1873)

03The myths

The myths of Morozko

1 myth, with sources recorded for each.

Morozko tests Marfa and her stepsisters

Marfa’s stepmother made her work before dawn and treated her worse than her own daughters. When the girls were old enough to marry, she ordered Marfa’s father to take her into the forest and leave her with Morozko as her bridegroom. Her father wrapped her in a warm coat, drove through the snow and left her beneath a tall pine.

Marfa sat trembling as the cold drained her strength. Morozko approached through the trees, leaping between firs and snapping his fingers. From the pine above her, he asked whether she was warm. She answered him gently, although she could scarcely breathe. He came lower and repeated his questions as the cold increased. When she could barely speak, he took pity on her, wrapped her in furs and warmed her with blankets.

Her father returned the next morning and found her alive, with a costly veil, a coat and a basket of rich gifts. He brought her home. Her stepmother was astonished, then decided that her own daughters should go to the same bridegroom and receive even better presents.

The two sisters waited beneath the pine, arguing over which of them would be chosen. Morozko numbed their hands and approached through the trees. He asked whether they were warm. They complained, quarrelled and cursed him as he descended and made the cold stronger. Both died.

Their father collected their bodies and brought them home. Their mother blamed him, but he reminded her that she had sent them to seek riches. Afterwards she reconciled with Marfa. A neighbour offered marriage, and Marfa married him. Her father later told his grandchildren stories about Frost.

Morozko tests Marfa and her stepsisters, a MythSource painting of the scene

Also mentioned in

Stories elsewhere on MythSource that mention Morozko, each on that figure’s page.