Explore "Vasilísa Popóvna" by Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
In a certain kingdom, in a certain country, once there lived Vasíli the pope and his daughter, Vasilísa Vasílyevna. She used to dress in male fashion, used to sit astride on horseback; shot with her gun, and did nothing like other girls; and there were very few who knew that she was a maiden. It was always thought that she was a man, and they called her Vasíli Vasílyevich. And the main reason that they so called her was because Vasilísa Vasílyevna loved vodka -- a custom ill-befitting a maid.
Once Tsar Bárkhat26 (this was the name of the King) was travelling through this same country hunting deer, and Vasilísa Vasílyevna met him: she was riding out to hounds in a man's clothes. When Tsar Bárkhat saw her, he asked: "Who is this young man?"