Amazon.com description: Product Description: Folk Tales From The Russian. IN Russia, as elsewhere in the world, folklore is rapidly scattering before the practical spirit of modern progress. The traveling peasant bard or story teller, and the devoted "nyanya," the beloved nurse of many a generation, are rapidly dying out, and with them the tales and legends, the last echoes of the nations early joys and sufferings, hopes and fears, are passing away. The student of folk-lore knows that the time has come when haste is needed to catch these vanishing songs of the nations youth and to preserve them for the delight of future generations. In sending forth the stories in the present volume, all of which are here set down in print for the first time, it is the hope of the author that they may enable American children to share with the children of Russia the pleasure of glancing into the magic world of the old Slavic nation. Originally published in 1903. Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.