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- The Frog Princess - analysis of the fairy tale
One of the most beloved folk tales of childhood. There is probably no child who does not know this wonderful fairy tale.
The fairy tale “The Frog Princess” is full of magic and enchantment, but at the same time, the author seems to be ironizing the main character. After all, of all the brothers, it was Ivan who ended up in that terrible swamp in which his frog wife now lives.
The whole plot is based on three brothers. The eldest was the strongest and smartest, the youngest was inferior in all qualities to his older brother, but no one noticed the third, as if Ivan had never existed in this world. And now the time comes when young people need to get married. But even here everything is not simple. They must choose a wife by the arrow they shoot. Where the arrows fall on that one, the prince will marry. The two older ones were lucky. They got beauties and smart girls, but Ivan’s arrow fell into the swamp. This could not but upset the prince, for now he would have to connect his life with the vile frog.
This tale is full of morals and ethics. The author has shown well that no living creature can be judged by its appearance. People should not judge another person by their clothes, nor should they underestimate the abilities of people who sometimes seem stupid. No one can fully know what this or that acquaintance is like. After all, in the end, the frog princess turned out to be not only a beauty, but also a craftswoman and needlewoman. She surpassed the other wives of the prince. And the young prince himself is full of new ideas and possibilities. Sometimes people do not understand the thoughts and actions of others because it is not given. Ivan was not like the others, he can be called unique.
The fairy tale tells about the Russian people, life, culture, and the psychology of Rus'. This is quite important, because you need to understand what kind of people lived in those years, how they thought and what they did. This story teaches kindness and patience, as well as generosity. The frog princess is not offended by Ivan, she understands him and feels sorry for him.
This fairy tale also teaches that you should always achieve your goal, no matter what obstacles stand in your way. Ivan never gave up and received a good reward from life, but his older brothers got everything simple, but no one knows that sooner or later what was easy will become more difficult. Ivan always tried to achieve the best results, but his efforts slowly began to grow dull and boring. A person himself must believe in good things and work hard to achieve what he wants. Without work and perseverance nothing will come of it. After all, a person must always study in order to develop his mind and thinking, to look more broadly at current events.
Analysis 2
The fairy tale “The Frog Princess” is a folk tale, so it does not have a specific author. Presumably, it was created over decades and centuries. Passing from mouth to mouth, the text underwent significant changes. Therefore, it cannot be denied that today we can only touch the adapted edition. Perhaps some important and essential elements have been lost, so it is impossible to restore the original meaning of the tale.
According to the surviving version, the father gave his three sons each an arrow. There is no information about the mother, as in many other folk and original fairy tales.
These tools were supposed to indicate to them the location of the bride. The eldest and middle son found good girls, and the youngest son's arrow pointed to the swamp. The frog ordered Ivan Tsarevich to take himself as his wife.
The father decided to test the talents of his daughters-in-law by giving them tasks of varying difficulty. The Frog Princess coped with them best of all, since she turned out to be Vasilisa the Beautiful. Ivan did not know about the human form of his wife until his father arranged a large feast where all three young families were supposed to gather. And there the Frog Princess becomes the best.
Ivan makes a big mistake when he burns the skin of a frog in the stove. Thus, Vasilisa the Beautiful finds herself captured by Koshchei the Immortal. Ivan has to overcome many obstacles to free his wife.
The tale raises several issues. Firstly, about the relationship between a person’s appearance and actions. You can’t judge by appearance, you need to analyze a person’s actions and character. Secondly, the fairy tale leads the reader to the idea that one should not envy anyone and should accept all life’s surprises. Thirdly, it is necessary to defend the interests of your family and protect it. This is expressed in the courage that Ivan Tsarevich showed in searching for and rescuing Vasilisa the Beautiful.
Vasilisa the Beautiful wins compared to her rivals. It expresses the ideal of a wife, a woman for the Russian people. Vasilisa is hardworking, skillful, wise, beautiful, loving, gentle, and cunning in a good way. She doesn't want to appear better than she is. Vasilisa is simply doing her job as a spouse.
The fairy tale “The Frog Princess” has been known to every reader since childhood. Such works sometimes seem very simple and understandable, but with careful analysis one can reveal another, deep, sacred meaning that was incomprehensible before the process.
Princess - Frog Analysis
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Let’s start our analysis of the fairy tale “The Frog Princess” by sharing impressions about what we read, and then we’ll say: the heroines of the fairy tales “Vasilisa the Beautiful” and “The Frog Princess” have the same name, but are nicknamed differently: one is called the Beautiful, the other is called the Wise, why?
Instant answer: one is beautiful and the other is smart...
So after all, Vasilisa the Wise is a beauty, and Vasilisa the Beautiful cannot be denied intelligence! It turns out that in each case the nickname is important in a special way. Vasilisa the Beautiful's remarkable spiritual qualities helped her become happy, although at first she had to endure many troubles and trials. Vasilisa the Wise, her natural mind created problems: she had to live as a frog, and then languish in Koshcheev’s kingdom.
What is more important - to be wise or beautiful?
The question is not easy, but let us think about it. First, everyone talks about the advantage of wisdom, including in this concept intelligence, the art of baking, weaving, and the ability to dance.
Let's compare the lexical meaning of the words beautiful and wise. Which one is broader in meaning?
Comparing them, children understand that the meaning of the word beautiful is broader than the meaning of the word wise, because the concept of beautiful can include intelligence, beauty, kindness, various skills and talents, and in general all the best in a person. But the concept of wisdom is associated only with the mind. Intelligence, of course, is good, but in combination with spiritual qualities (kindness, mercy, honesty, courage and others, without which there is no real person), otherwise the mind can serve evil. Therefore, it is probably better for a woman to be beautiful than just wise...
This is probably why the creators of the cartoon based on the fairy tale “The Frog Princess” entitled it “Vasilisa the Beautiful.” Today we will see fragments from it.
Next to Vasilisa the Wise is another main character - the loving Ivan Tsarevich. Ivan Tsarevich is the traditional name of the hero of Russian folk tales. Let's try to come up with a nickname for him that will express his essence.
(Kind, merciful, faithful, patient, persistent, loving.) In the weak class, we will ask you to choose one from the named nicknames and justify your choice.
— And what is the most accurate of the proposed nicknames?
(The guys choose between the loving and the faithful and choose the first, because the loving is always faithful.) - Can we say that Vasilisa the Wise and Ivan Tsarevich faced difficult trials in life? Justify.
Yes, life tests them quite harshly. Vasilisa paid for her wisdom. “Vasilisa the Wise, more cunning and wiser than her father, Koshchei the Immortal, was born, he became angry and ordered her to be a frog for three years,” the old man tells Ivan Tsarevich.
- Why do you think Vasilisa, who is wiser and more cunning than her father Koshchei, did not use wisdom and did not leave the image of a frog?
The children answer immediately: because Koschey is her father, and she does not dare not fulfill his order... Ivan Tsarevich needs to marry a frog, endure all the ridicule, then see the beauty of his wife and immediately lose her, so that later in trials and labors return.
- Which of them is more difficult, in your opinion?
It’s difficult for both: these are not easy tests, they require patience and perseverance, but Ivan Tsarevich got the worst of it - how much he had to overcome to find Vasilisa! Then why is the fairy tale called “The Frog Princess” and not “Ivan Tsarevich and the Frog Princess”?
But his whole life was focused on this princess, for her sake he endured, for her sake he wandered and did it because he loved...
— Let us remember Ivan Tsarevich’s first reaction to a frog with an arrow in its legs. (A fragment from the cartoon “Vasilisa the Beautiful”, 1954 is included)
- What made him take the frog after all? Maybe her promise: “You won’t regret...”?
The prince’s first reaction is confusion and horror: “Ivan Tsarevich wanted to run away and give up his find...” There is a touching detail in the cartoon: a large tear in the eyes of the little frog, which Ivan Tsarevich is ready to give up. But he feels sorry for her. And he remembers his father’s order - to marry the one near whose house an arrow will fall - and does not dare to leave his parents’ will. Just like Vasilisa cannot do this...
“Was Ivan right in not doubting that he would be laughed at in the palace?”
Right: “The brothers began to laugh at him.” Only the father did not laugh. - What do you think: why?
He himself gave such an order. And then, probably, the father knew something that his sons did not yet know in their youth. What could he possibly know? Let's try to guess, and for this we will think: why did the king arrange tests for his daughters-in-law? (The daughter-in-law is the son’s wife.) What did he want to know about them?
He wanted to know what they could do, whether they were good in family life.
—Are these skills important—baking, weaving, dancing?
Of course, important ones: a wife should be able to feed her husband deliciously and receive guests, weave and sew fabric, please him with dancing and singing...
— How did the older daughters-in-law cope with the king’s tasks?
“... the boyar’s daughter’s bread was burnt, the merchant’s daughter’s was soggy and lopsided.” The carpet woven by the wife of the eldest prince can “only cover the horses from the rain.” The carpet of the middle prince’s wife “only be laid at the gate....”
But the frog princess did everything better than them. Let's re-read how Vasilisa baked a loaf. “She took fine sieves, small sieves, sifted wheat flour, kneaded white dough, baked a loaf - loose and soft, decorated the loaf with various intricate patterns: on the sides - cities with palaces, gardens and towers, on top - flying birds, below - prowling animals ..."
— Do you think it turned out quickly?
No, Vasilisa spent the whole night on him, working tirelessly to please Ivan Tsarevich. That’s why her loaf received the highest rating: “This bread is only eaten on major holidays!”
— Why do you think they talk in such detail about the work of the Frog Princess and say nothing at all about the work of the older brothers’ wives?
The frog princess tried, put her soul into her work, wanted to make the loaf not only tasty, but also beautiful, and the wives of the older brothers did everything somehow: they were apparently not used to working...
You can still bake bread in one night, but weave a carpet... This is a miracle, this requires special wisdom. The older daughters-in-law realized this and began to gather help: “The wives began to call mothers, nannies and red girls to help them weave carpets. Immediately the mothers, nannies and pretty girls gathered and began to weave carpets and embroider - some with silver, some with gold, some with silk.”
— How does Vasilisa work?
“Where the needle pricks once, the flower will bloom, where it pricks another time, cunning patterns appear, where it pricks a third time, birds fly... The sun has not yet risen, but the carpet is already ready.”
- What do you think helped her perform this miracle? Is it just her wisdom that matters here?
She probably loved her husband and wanted not to let him down, to please him with his hand-made beauty and, perhaps, to remind him once again that one can surprise the world not only with one’s appearance... Obviously, the Tsar Father also knew this secret; it was not for nothing that he gave tasks to his daughters-in-law: he - it is known that family happiness is not forged by external beauty...
- Do you think that after these tests the older daughters-in-law could understand that the younger daughter-in-law is better and more skillful than them?
Of course, but they don't want to understand. Why? They value a person not by his skills and art, but by his appearance. That’s why they come to the feast all dressed up and all dressed up. Explain the meaning of these words. Does dressed up mean well dressed, smartly dressed, or does it mean something else?
Fifth-graders say that dressed up, dressed up means dressed up with excesses, loudly, perhaps, excessively made up.
- Why do they dress up like that?
In order to attract attention, to show your superiority over others, and perhaps to emphasize your wealth.
— What did the wives of the older brothers count on?
Surely here, at the feast, they will turn out to be better than the frog-croak! Where can she get to them?! But it is at the feast that the final disgrace of the older daughters-in-law takes place. How?
Firstly, Vasilisa amazes everyone with her beauty. “Vasilisa the Wise herself shines like the clear sun. Everyone marvels at her, admires her, and cannot utter a word from surprise.”
Secondly, Vasilisa’s dance captivates everyone. Let's show a fragment of the cartoon, where in the dance of Ivan Tsarevich and Vasilisa the Wise, in the way the heroes look at each other, the full power of their love is palpable.
—What did you see in the dance of fairy-tale heroes? What did you feel?
An option could be to work with a reproduction of the painting “The Frog Princess” by V.M. Vasnetsov.
How does the artist convey the mood of general fun and joy that is created by the dance of the Frog Princess?
The princess is graceful, beautiful, she dances with pleasure and joy, her joy is transmitted to both the musicians and the guests.
— How did the older daughters-in-law perform?
The older daughters-in-law only acted stupidly, repeating after Vasilisa everything she did - and as a result they were disgraced and expelled from the palace.
- Why did Ivan Tsarevich, without waiting for the end of the feast, run home and burn the frog skin? Do you condemn him? Is it possible to understand his action?
Ivan Tsarevich is so delighted with the unexpected beauty of his wife that he is afraid: suddenly she will disappear and he will again see a frog instead of the beauty...
Of course, he endured ridicule for so long that it is difficult to understand and condemn him... But Vasilisa, not finding the frog skin, “turned into a white swan and flew out the window.” So Ivan Tsarevich is punished for impatience, and perhaps for the fact that even for a moment external beauty was more important to him than internal beauty. Ivan Tsarevich began to sunbathe. But if he loves, he must definitely find his wife...
— What qualities did Ivan Tsarevich show during his search for his wife?
Patience, perseverance, determination, the desire to definitely find the wife you love.
- Find proof of this in the fairy tale.
He walked enormous distances, suffered all sorts of hardships: “The ball rolls over high mountains, rolls through dark forests, rolls through green meadows, rolls through swampy swamps, rolls through remote places, and Ivan Tsarevich keeps going and following him - he won’t stop at rest for even an hour.”
- Why did everyone help him?
He is respectful and friendly to everyone he meets; kind and sympathetic: no matter how much he wants to eat, he does not touch any animal, bird, or fish. Everyone responds kindly to his kindness and comes to the aid of the good fellow in difficult times.
- Why did Ivan Tsarevich manage to find and return his wife?
He loved her, strove for her with all his heart, understood that he had made a mistake when he burned the frog’s skin, showed impatience and thereby doomed his wife to long languor in Koshcheev’s kingdom. But for a lover there is nothing insurmountable. This is what the Russian proverb says, and the fairy tale once again proves it...
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Fairy tales
Analysis of the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”
by Administrator 2 11/14/2019 1001 Views
Now I want to look at the fairy tale “The Frog Princess”.
How many fairy tales told about the life of the king and queen and how they taught their life wisdom to their children not with words, but with deeds, and so that the children themselves could draw conclusions and correct their mistakes. Everyone has their own destiny and karma and how everyone can work with them in life.
Three sons, shot three arrows, found three wives. A decree from the father who was found by him and his wife. All the sons obeyed their father and mother. Three tasks were given to the sons for their wives to find out who is the best of them.
About how Ivan Tsarevich cried and did not accept his fate at first, how we sometimes say: “Why should I do this,” and then after a while we are ready to thank for the Gifts that Fate gave us. So Ivan accepted her (the frog as his wife) and every time he trusted his frog-wife (his intuition worked) that she would carry out her father’s order and fulfill what she promised him so that he would not worry.
The fact that in the fairy tale the brothers ridiculed Ivan for having such a wife, Ivan followed his choice and believed in the best and listened to his wife.
When on the third task the king called three wives to dance for him, it is said that the frog arrived in the carriage and there was a knock and thunder rolling in front of the carriage, that everyone was scared.
The carriage was drawn by 6 horses (6-karmic number).
The fact that the frog turned out to be Vasilisa the Beautiful made Ivan happy, and he made the mistake of burning the skin of the frog, taking something that did not belong to him and destroying it. We do not always see deeper and sometimes, acting on impulses and, as it seems to us, with the best intentions, we do not always do beautiful things in life, for which we have to pay later. We all have our own Fate and Karma; we are always tempted in life. We need to admit our mistake, we can cry, but only we ourselves can correct it.
Ivan did not wait only three days before the curse on Vasilisa would naturally be lifted. We do not see the future ourselves and often act on emotions.
So did Ivan after Vasilisa turned into a white swan and flew away from him and said: “look for me far away lands, far away seas, in the thirtieth kingdom, in the sunflower state, with Koshchei the Immortal. How you wear out three pairs of iron boots, how you gnaw three iron loaves - only then will you find me...”, he cried and went to look for her.
He met an old, gray-haired man with a stick - in life we are given helpers to correct our bad deeds, we just need to see them and accept their help for Faith. He told him everything and the old man scolded him and still pitied him.
Ivan received the ball - with the order: “Wherever it rolls, that’s where you go.” The glomerulus is the convergence of destinies, whoever knows will understand.
He walked for a long time, he was hungry, and he met 4 creatures (a bear, a falcon/drake, a hare and a pike) in turn, which he did not eat, but took pity on and let go, again Ivan trusted his intuition when he heard from them: “Do not kill I’m Ivan Tsarevich: I’ll be useful to you!” It seems to me that these are 4 elements that came to his aid.
Then the ball led him to the Hut on Chicken Feet. Ivan shouted in a loud voice, he made a Call... (an example of how to call in order to be heard): “Izbushka, hut! Stand in the old way, as your mother did: with your front to me, your back to the sea.” Only then did the hut turn its front to him.
Again they give him help, now it is Baba Yaga - whom he asked to help and trusted her, she fed him, gave him something to drink, steamed him in a bathhouse and then he told his grief to her, the Knowing Mother told him where Koschey the Immortal lives and where his Death is , that Koshchei has his wife, she is his daughter, that she has become smarter and wiser than her father, for which he turned her into a frog for three years. Some parents go through their Karma that they envy their children and this is their lesson in life, and for children their own lesson, learn to communicate with parents and experience that we want to be loved not for external, but for internal qualities.
Ivan was shown the way to the Deep Forest - where the Oak - on it is a Chest / Casket - in it is a Hare - carried a Falcon / Drake - in it is an Egg - in it is a Needle - on the tip of a needle, the Death of Koshchei (again 6 names, Karma of the Death of Koshchei).
Ivan called on his assistants for help (bear - strength / earth, falcon - speed / wind, hare??? (maybe there was someone else who tore the other hare) - fierce strength / fire and pike - bottom of the sea / water. The bear was able to uproot the Oak and break the Casket, the hare caught up with another hare, the falcon caught up with the duck, the pike got the egg and then Ivan was able to kill Koshchei by breaking off the tip of the needle (the tip of the needle has its own sacred meaning, so he removed Koshchei’s protection) - Koshchei crumbled to dust.
Having gone through so many tests and only accepted all the help that came to him and trusting his intuition, he was able to bring back Vasilisa the Beautiful.
“After that they began to live for their own joy, for the glory of others!”
This is such an amazing fairy tale!
There is a lot of wisdom in it. This is part of the legend that remains in printed form, I read several versions, they are slightly different, the meaning is the same, there are few subtleties left in the legends that have come down to us, but they exist and that’s good).
Analysis of a fairy tale from a member of the UNION
