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Fantasy

A new Havok story!

  • October 4, 2019October 3, 2019
  • by Rachael Koppendrayer

Greetings! I’m excited to announce a new flash fiction piece being published through Havok (formerly part of Splickety Magazine). It is this week’s Fantasy Friday piece, based on the theme Stories that Sing: the 80’s. From Havok:

Read more “A new Havok story!” →
Fairy Tale

East of the Sun, West of the Moon

  • September 27, 2019August 5, 2021
  • by Rachael Koppendrayer
East of the Sun, West of the Moon
2017

She would follow him to a land that lay East of the Sun, West of the Moon . . . but there was no way there.

Read more “East of the Sun, West of the Moon” →
Firebird flies past the learned cat with other russian fairy tale characters Fairy Tale

The Learned Cat, or: A Russian Fairy Tale

  • May 8, 2017August 16, 2021
  • by Rachael Koppendrayer
The Learned Cat, or: A Russian Fairy Tale
2017

У лукоморья дуб зеленый,
Златая цепь на дубе том:
И днем и ночью кот ученый
Всё ходит по цепи кругом;
Идет направо – песнь заводит,
Налево – сказку говорит.  

Beside the sea stands a green oak tree,
And on the tree a golden chain:
And on the chain a learned cat
Walks round and round and round again;
When he goes left he tells a tale,
And when he goes right he sings a refrain.
~Alexander Pushkin

I love fairy tales. Whether it’s the short originals collected by Charles Perrault, the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, and Alexander Afanasyev, or novel-length retellings stocking my bookshelves, they are tales of magic and imagination. None, however, are so distinctive as the Russian tales–there is something so wildly Slavic about them that they can be mistaken for nothing else.

Alexander Pushkin’s poem Ruslan and Ludmila begins with a prologue in which he (the author) sits beneath an oak tree, where a learned cat on a golden chain tells him a fantastic tale. And so he, the learned cat, serves as our storyteller today. Which tale would you like to hear?

This is a more general smattering of popular Slavic characters and stories, borrowing specifically from Vasilisa the Fair, Ivan Tsarevich and the Grey Wolf, The Frog Tsarevna, Rusalka, The Scarlet Flower, and Masha and the Bear. Some of the quintessential characters are found in multiple tales, like the firebird (the object of many a quest) and Baba Yaga, a crone who flies about in her mortar with pestle and broom to keep it going. Baba Yaga’s house on chicken legs is practically a character in its own right, wandering the forest, turning its back to any who would try to enter, and crouching down only for Baba Yaga to reach its door.

The Learned Cat: a Russian Fairy Tale 5X7 Art Card image 1
Purchase this card on Etsy

Which is your favorite Russian fairy tale? Or your favorite retelling?

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Christmas card 2022: "Delivery Status: Delayed" The Painted Lady is finished! Here's a slideshow of my progress, from the initial outline to the complete painting. The butterflies are busy in my garden today, providing plenty inspiration for art! At noon I was able to photograph a painted lady on dotted blazing star, a male tiger swallowtail on phlox, and monarchs on prairie blazing star! Painted Lady in progress! I'm almost done with the butterfly and ready to move onto the New England asters. I took my first bike ride of the spring last week, and sure enough, the pussy willows were in bloom, and the mourning cloak butterflies were on the wing! Lost Moccasins Here is Sophie, a colored pencil commission I did this winter! A commission I had for Christmas--Ace the black lab puppy (in colored pencil, of course). I haven't done much for pet drawings, but I was pleased with Duchess here! (For a friend who raises Aussies)

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