The Silver Saucer and the Rosy Apple

A father and mother had three daughters. The two older sisters loved fine fabrics, while the youngest, Maryushka, gladly cared for the garden and the animals.…

A father and mother had three daughters. The two older sisters loved fine fabrics, while the youngest, Maryushka, gladly cared for the garden and the animals. Before the fair, the sisters asked for scarlet cloth and ribbons, but Maryushka chose a silver saucer and a rosy apple. A kind old woman, to whom the girl had once given a warm roll, taught her the magic words for this wonder.

Maryushka rolled the apple around the saucer and spoke the magic words. Cities, green fields, ships at sea, high mountains, and a circle of stars appeared on the silver. The girl invited her sisters to watch with her, but they were jealous because the wonder answered only to her voice. They suggested going to gather wild strawberries, hoping to learn the apple's secret.

In the forest, the older sisters hid the saucer and apple in the hollow of an old birch and told Maryushka that they had lost them. The girl did not become angry: she asked everyone to keep searching until sunset and remained in a familiar clearing. A young shepherd noticed silver light shining from the hollow and began to play his pipe. In reply, the pipe sang by itself, revealing where the gifts lay and who had hidden them.

Their father heard the pipe's song and gathered the family beneath the birch. The sisters returned the apple and saucer, told the truth, and asked for forgiveness. Maryushka suggested that they stop hiding the wonder and use it together, and her sisters agreed.

News of the silver saucer reached the royal court. Maryushka travelled there with her family and showed cities, gardens, ships, and a starry sky without wars or cannon smoke. The tsar asked the sisters to make a large travel map for the whole land. The older sisters drew patterns and symbols, the youngest checked their work against the apple, and the shepherd played his pipe. The family returned home together, preserving the wonder for good deeds.