By the Will of the Pike!

One of my favourite books when I was a child was Vasilisa the Beautiful: Russian Fairy Tales. I enjoyed most of the stories in it but I still remain fond of Emelya and the Pike. Please read it quickly so that I can go on to tell you why I like it so much.

Аткинсон, Джон Огастес Public Domain

What most captured my fancy in the story was the stove on which Emelya lies all day long. At that point in time I had not even seen an oven nor even a tandoor. And it's not only that Emelya spends his days dozing on the stove, he also uses it to go hither and thither!

Emelya falls into the famous anti-hero category found in many tales from around the world. For the Russians it is normally Ivan the fool. There's even a Tolstoy Ivan the Fool story - one that I like. 

Michael Sevier (illustrator) [Public domain]

Emelya's story also falls into the wish granting fish category. Of course, you can see that Emelya's pike is a much better wish granting fish than the one the fisherman found. The lack of 'moral of the story' only serves to make Emelya and the Pike a much more enjoyable story. Sometimes, it's only by resorting to extreme absurdity that we can fight limiting superstitions.

In the fisherman's tale, he is granted three wishes and, with the last wish, he's back where he was. The story is bitter and pointless given we're never going to find magic things which grant us our wishes. When we're anyway going into the realm of fantasy, why not just go with the flow?

Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin, 1876-1942 [Public domain]

And that is what Emelya does. He goes with the flow in letting his sisters-in-law send him fishing. Note that he also does agree only when promised bribes of new clothes and such. In that sense, there might be a moral to the story: passive and reluctant obedience can bring rewards. 

Here's a movie version. It's in black and white and has no subtitles but it's still very enchanting!