The Feather of Finist the Falcon or Finist the Falcon () is a Russian fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki. It is Aarne–Thompson type 432, the prince as bird. Other tales of this type include The Green Knight, The Blue Bird, and The Greenish Bird. Variants of the tale are primarily known in Russia.
Synopsis A merchant asked his three daughters what they want him to bring them from the fair. The older two ask for dresses or shawls, but the youngest wants either the feather of Finist the Falcon or a red flower. In some variants, he went to the fair twice, able to bring back what her older sisters had asked for, but not hers, but she did not vary her request. In the third or first visit, he found the feather, or else found the flower and must promise that his daughter will marry Finist the Falcon for it. Whether the flower or the feather, the thing brought Finist the Falcon to her at night, and he wooed her. If she was given the flower, he gave her a feather that would magically aid her.
Her sisters discovered the visit; they might have spied, or she may have appeared in finer clothing, from use of the feathers, than they knew she had, or she may have appeared in church as a strange woman (like Cinderella at the ball) because of her rich clothing, and not hidden it quickly enough when she returned home. Once they became suspicious, they often listened and, hearing a man's voice, tried to persuade their father that their sister had a lover, but failed. However they discovered it, the sisters put knives in the window, so that he was injured. He said that she must search for him to find him, which would wear out three pairs of iron shoes, and three iron staves. He did not return. She sets out to find him.
She finds a hut with a witch (sometimes referred to as a Baba Yaga), who gives her a gift (such as a silver spinning wheel and a golden spindle), and sends her on to another witch. This witch gives her another gift (such as a silver dish and a golden egg), and sends her on to yet a third witch. This one gives her a third gift (such as a golden embroidery frame and a needle that sewed of itself), and sent her to the castle where Finist was to marry.
In some variants, she found someone trying to wash the blood from Finist's shirt and washed it herself. In all, she managed to trade the witches' gifts to the bride to let her stay a night with Finist. The princess either put a magical pin in his hair to keep him asleep or gave him a sleeping draught; the third night, either Finist is warned not to drink the draught, or the pin falls out. He woke and knew her.
In some variants, he asked the nobles whom he should marry: the woman who had sold him, or the woman who had bought him. They agreed the woman who bought him should have him.
In other variants, she went home to her father. When he and her sisters went to church, she dressed finely and went with Finist, and her sisters came back with stories of the prince and princess who came to church. The third time, her father saw the carriage stopped at his own door, and the daughter had to confess. She married Finist.
Translations The tale was translated as The Little Feather of Finist the Bright Falcon by Robert Nisbet Bain; as The Bright-Hawk's Feather by Nathan Haskell Dole, and as Fenist the Bright-Eyed Falcon by James Riordan.Riordan, James; Turska, Krystyna. Tales from Central Russia. Harmondsworth, Eng.: Kestrel Books; [New York]: Viking Press. 1976. pp. 63-72.
Analysis Tale type The tale is classified in the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index as type ATU 432, "The Prince as Bird". In Russia, particularly, the tale type is known as Finist iasnyi sokol ("Finist the Bright Falcon),Johns, Andreas. 2003. “Jack V. Haney. The Complete Russian Folktale. Vols. 1-4. 1-4”. In: FOLKLORICA - Journal of the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Folklore Association 8 (2). p. 38. https://doi.org/10.17161/folklorica.v8i2.3741. - also the name of type SUS 432 of the East Slavic Folktale Classification ().Barag, Lev. "Сравнительный указатель сюжетов. Восточнославянская сказка". Leningrad: НАУКА, 1979. p. 133.
Russian researcher Varvara Dobrovolskaya stated that type SUS 432 figures among some of the popular tales of enchanted spouses in the Russian tale corpus. English abstract. Similarly, Russian scholar Vladimir Propp, in his work The Russian Folktale, stated that the tale was "quite popular [in Russia]", with at least ten variants registered.
Motifs The falcon prince's name James Riordan, scholars Andreas Johns and Vladimir Propp related the name Fenist or Finist to the mythological Phoenix, and Riordan and Johns believed it to be a "corruption" of the latter's name.. Particularly, Johns suggested that the bird's name (in Russian, feniks) was brought into the folklore of Rus' by an external source, possibly written.
The heroine's journey According to Dobrovolskaya and Johns, after Finist flies to parts unknown, the heroine commissions iron garments from a smith and journeys to find Finist. On the way, she passes by the huts of three Baba Yagas and is gifted golden and silver objects (among which, distaff, spindle, yarn, combs, apples, a dish and an egg). The Baba Yagas also advise her to reach Finist's location, where his new wife is, and draw out the objects for her or her servants, which she must not sell, but trade them for one night with Finist. In the same vein, noted Swedish scholar that, in Russian variants of tale type 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband", the heroine's helpers are incarnations of Baba Yaga.
Variants The East Slavic Folktale Classification (), last updated in 1979 by folklorist , registers variants only in Russia.Barag, Lev. "Сравнительный указатель сюжетов. Восточнославянская сказка". Leningrad: НАУКА, 1979. pp. 17, 133-134.
Russia Dobrovolskaya also remarks that in regional variants from Karelia, Murmansk and Arkhangelsk, type 432 sometimes merges with type 425A, "The Search for the Lost Husband", where the heroine receives gifts from the witches (Yagas) and uses them to buy from a false bride three nights in her husband's bed.
Predecessor Professor Jack V. Haney stated that the tale first appeared in printed form in 1795, with the title "Сказка о финифтяном пёрушке ясного сокола".Сказка о финифтяном пёрушке ясного сокола at Wikisource. In this tale, a king has three daughters, the youngest called Marya Premudraya (Marya the Wise). One day, he has to go on a journey and asks what gifts he can bring them: the elder two ask for pretty dresses and Marya for the bright feather of a clear falcon, since she knows that Ivan-korolevich has been changed into one. The king gives Marya the feather, which she puts by her window, and Ivan, in bird form, flies in through her window. Later, Marya's sisters go to church and notice her sister is wearing fine dresses, then spy on her inside her room talking to Ivan. Some time later, when Marya is asleep, her sisters place blades and knives on the window, for the next time Ivan flies in. It happens as they plotted: Ivan, in bird form, hurts himself in the blades, writes a farewell message to Marya, and flies away to another kingdom. Marya wakes up, sees the blood on the window and reads his message, then commissions three iron garments, three iron canes and three iron wafers ('prosvir', in the original). Marya begins her quest and passes by the huts of three Baba Yagas spinning on chicken legs. The Baba Yagas tell Marya Ivan is their nephew, and has since married to another person. However, they still help Marya by giving them a silver saucer with a golden egg, a magic tablecloth that makes drinks appear and a towel that summons amusements. The third Baba Yaga advises her to stop by the garden when she reaches Ivan's city, and to trade the three objects for a night with her husband. Finally, Marya reaches another kingdom where Ivan-korolevich rules jointly with an Empress. Marya goes to the Empress's gardens and draws out the wonderful objects to attract the attention of the Empress. The woman goes to talk to Marya and wishes to have the objects, but Marya makes a deal: each object for one night with Ivan (the saucer and egg on the first day, the tablecloth on the second, and the towel on the third). To hinder Marya, the Empress tries to make Ivan drunk by giving him enough beverages, but he avoids her trap and pretends to fall asleep. Meanwhile, Marya tries to wake him up on the first two nights, but only manages it on the third. They talk the whole night and, the next day, Ivan takes Marya to his court. He then asks the assembled noblemen which woman he should keep: one that endured dangers and risked her life to find him, or one that sold him? The noblemen reply the first one, and Ivan leaves with Marya."Старая погудка на новый лад: Русская сказка в изданиях конца XVIII века". Б-ка Рос. акад. наук. Saint Petersburg: Тропа Троянова, 2003. pp. 159-163. Полное собрание русских сказок; Т. 8. Ранние собрания.
Regional tales Fenisno-Bright-Falcon-Feather