Bref retellings of traditional stories; I suspect they may be milder than the original versions as they all seem very happy, but I may be mistaken as I do not know the originals. They contain the usual components, princes and princes (and in this version tsars and tsarinas) evil stepmothers, honest peasant boys. One story about how a tsarina disguises herself as a harper to rescue her husband from the evil king of the Saracens suggests the story of Richard the Lionhearted and Blondel, or more distantly a reverse Orpheus. ( )