The Tale of Tsar Saltan

What it is

This is a fairy tale in verse written by Alexander Pushkin in 1831. It tells of Tsar Saltan's wife and newborn son, cast out to sea, and the son's rise as ruler of an enchanted island.

Why it matters

Pushkin built this tale from folk material, including stories told to him by his nanny, Arina Rodionovna. It shows how Pushkin turned oral peasant storytelling into literary Russian verse, shaping a work that has remained a staple of Russian childhood reading.

Look closer

• Why might a poet choose folk material, rather than invent an entirely new story?
• What does the cover illustration, made decades after Pushkin's death, tell us about how the tale was later marketed to children?
• What values does the story reward or punish, and what might that tell us about the society it came from?