Vasilissa the Wise

A king spares an eaglet and feeds it for three years. When grown, the eagle carries him across three seas, dropping him into the water before lifting him again. It gives him a ship and two coffers, which he is told to open only at home. The king opens one at sea, and cattle pour out. A man from the water agrees to gather them back in return for whatever the king does not know he has at home. A son has just been born, and years later the man comes to claim him. The prince follows directions from Baba Yaga to the shore, where twelve spoonbills turn into maidens. He takes the eldest maiden's shift; she is Vasilissa the Wise, who promises to help him at her father's house. He returns her shift, and she flies after her sisters. On the way he meets three companions, Obedalo, Opivalo and Moroz Treskun, and takes them with him.

The Water King orders the prince to build a crystal bridge overnight and then plant a shady garden with singing birds, blossoming trees and ripe fruit. Vasilissa hears his distress and calls workers who finish both tasks while he sleeps. She gives him signs to identify her among her twelve identical sisters, and he chooses her as his bride. At the wedding, her father demands that the feast be eaten and the tubs of drink emptied. The prince asks him to admit Obedalo, who eats the feast, and Opivalo, who drains the drink. When the Water King prepares a furnace-hot bath, the prince asks that Moroz Treskun try it first. Moroz cools it with frost, and the couple bathe safely. They flee. Vasilissa first turns their horses into a well, herself into a bowl and the prince into an old man; later she makes them a priest and a church, then a grey duck and drake beside a stream of honey and kissel. The Water King eats and drinks until he bursts. Near home, Vasilissa warns the prince not to kiss his sister, or he will forget her. He does so. Vasilissa returns disguised as a beggar with a pie holding two live doves; their exchange reminds him of his bride, and they live together in happiness.