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Ershov’s fairy tale The Humpbacked Horse for children: what it teaches, the plot
Ershov’s fairy tale “The Little Humpbacked Horse”, written two centuries ago, remains beloved and revered by the Russian people. She entertains, teaches, develops imagination, is quickly remembered due to the lightness of the verse and the accuracy of expressions. According to Ershov himself, this is a folk legend, written by him from the mouths of storytellers and a little supplemented. Why the tsarist censorship banned the children’s fairy tale will become clear only after reading it.
Folk legends with a similar fairy tale plot are found among the Slavs living on the shores of the Baltic Sea and the Scandinavians. Ershov’s tale consists of three parts, it is written in verse. The first part of the work tells how three peasant sons take turns guarding a wheat field in order to find out who tramples it. Only the youngest, Ivan the Fool, manages to catch the magic mare that spoiled the crops. The mare begs for freedom, and in return she promises to give three horses – two handsome golden-maned men and one small, hunchbacked, with big ears. She doesn’t tell Ivan to sell the Little Humpbacked Horse to anyone. Together with his older brothers, Vanya goes to the market, where the king buys golden-maned horses, but no one can cope with them. Then the tsar takes Ivan to serve as a groom.
In Ershov’s fairy tale the Little Humpbacked Horse, all Ivan’s troubles began when he took the Firebird’s feather
The action of the second and third parts of the tale is dedicated to the tsarist service of Ivan. First, the king asks him to get the firebird, then the Tsar Maiden, her ring from the bottom of the sea and bathe in boiling milk. Thanks to his faithful friend the Little Humpbacked Horse, Ivan copes with all the tasks and after bathing in boiling milk he becomes a handsome man. The Tsar dies, and the Tsar Maiden becomes Ivan’s wife.
What the Little Humpbacked Horse Tale Teaches
The fairy tale was banned for publication many times. At first, the tsarist government saw in it a satire against the tsar and the church, then the Soviet censorship called the fairy tale the story of the career of the son of a village kulak.
But the Little Humpbacked Horse was printed anyway. Children and adults loved the tale. She became a classic of Russian literature. Unlike the mighty of this world, ordinary people find comfort for themselves in its content.
The happy ending of the tale teaches that good always triumphs over evil.
Ivan’s patience and obedience is rewarded, he wants to imitate, be kind, honest, hardworking. The king’s greed and unbridled desires are ridiculed, leading him to death. The tale teaches belief in miracles, that a faithful friend will always come to the rescue, and his friendship is dearer than all the treasures of the Earth.
A cartoon and a children’s film have been created based on the fairy tale.