Books with author R. Nisbet Bain

THE present work has no pretention to be anything like an exhaustive biography of Charles XII.--a perfectly adequate treatment of so large and complex a subject would demand many volumes. But it does claim to at least suggest the lines on which such a biography should be written, it professes to present the leading facts of the heroic monarch's career in the light of the latest investigations and it endeavours to dissipate the many erroneous notions concerning "The Lion of the North" for which Voltaire's brilliant and attractive work, I have almost said romance, Histoire de Charles XII. is mainly responsible…

“The comparative isolation and primitiveness of the Cossacks, and their remoteness from the great theatres of historical events, would seem to be favourable conditions both for the safe preservation of old myths and the easy development of new ones. It is for professional students of folk-lore to study the original documents for themselves.” -R. N. B. CONTENTS Introduction Oh: The Tsar of the Forest The Story of the Wind The Voices at the Window The Story of Little Tsar Novishny, the False Sister, and the Faithful Beasts The Vampire and St Michael The Story of Tremsin, the Bird Zhar, and Nastasia, the Lovely Maid of the Sea The Serpent-Wife The Story of Unlucky Daniel The Sparrow and the Bush The Old Dog The Fox and the Cat The Straw Ox The Golden Slipper The Iron Wolf The Three Brothers The Tsar and the Angel The Story of Ivan and the Daughter of the Sun The Cat, the Cock, and the Fox The Serpent-Tsarevich and His Two Wives The Origin of the Mole The Two Princes The Ungrateful Children and the Old Father Who Went to School Again Ivan the Fool and St Peter's Fife The Magic Egg The Story of the Forty-First Brother The Story of the Unlucky Days The Wondrous Story of Ivan Golik and the Serpents “The favourable reception given to my volume of Russian Fairy Tales has encouraged me to follow it up with a sister volume of stories selected from another Slavonic dialect extraordinarily rich in folk-tales--I mean Ruthenian, the language of the Cossacks. “The present attempt to popularize these Cossack stories is, I believe, the first translation ever made from Ruthenian into English. The selection, though naturally restricted, is fairly representative; every variety of folk-tale has a place in it, and it should never be forgotten that the Ruthenian kazka (Märchen), owing to favourable circumstances, has managed to preserve far more of the fresh spontaneity and naïve simplicity of the primitive folk-tale than her more sophisticated sister, the Russian skazka. It is maintained, moreover, by Slavonic scholars that there are peculiar and original elements in these stories not to be found in the folk-lore of other European peoples; such data, for instance, as the magic handkerchiefs (generally beneficial, but sometimes, as in the story of Ivan Golik, terribly baleful), the demon-expelling hemp-and-tar whips, and the magic cattle-teeming egg, so mischievous a possession to the unwary.” -R. N. B.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Hans Christian Andersen’s stories have been the delight of children for generations. But even if Andersen had not written a single line of a single fairy tale he would still remain a tempting subject for a biographer. In practical life he was essentially a shrewd, observant man of the world, who saw more than most people, because he took the trouble to keep his eyes open. Half his life was spent in traveling up and down Europe; he was more or less intimately acquainted with most of the leading men of letters of his day; he had at his finger ends the literatures of half a dozen languages, and he was as much at home in the prince’s palaces as in the peasant’s hut. Such a man can tell us a good deal, and is well worth listening to.

They came to the place where he had left her Frontispiece All manner of evil powers walked abroad i6 How MUCH do you want for that horse ?24 The wind came and swept all his corn away 30 Out of the drum, my henchmen !40 The Tsarivna arose from her coffin 86 They were both on their knees 90 Daniel waved his sword 114 His wife caressed and wheedled him 118 The girl drove the heifer out to graze 148 The Tsar scouncillors went to the houses of ALL the nobles AND PRINCES 154 The Tsar went about inquiring of his people if any were wronged 178 The rulers of Hell laid hands upon the overseer straightway 186 Nineteen times did she cast off one of her suits of clothes i98 Suddenly St Peter appeared to him 230 I vanG olik drew the bow 276 .(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics, Science, Religion, History, Folklore and Mythology.Forgotten Books' Classic Reprint Series utilizes the latest technology to regenerate facsimiles of historically important writings. Careful attention has been made to accurately preserve the original format of each page whilst digitally enhancing the aged text. Read books online for free at

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.

Excerpt from Russian Fairy Tales, From the Skazki of PolevoiThe existence of the Russian Skazki or Märchen was first made generally known to the British public some twenty years ago by Mr. W. R. S. Ralston in his Russian Folk Tales. That excellent and most engrossing volume was, primarily, a treatise on Slavonic Folk-Lore, illustrated with admirable skill and judgment, by stories, mainly selected from the vast collection of Afanasiev, who did for the Russian what Asbjornsen has done for the Norwegian Folk-Tale. A year after the appearance of Mr. Ralston's book, the eminent Russian historian and archæologist, Peter Nikolaevich Polevoi (well known, too, as an able and ardent Shaksperian scholar), selected from the inexhaustible stores of Afanasiev some three dozen of the Skazki most suitable for children, and worked them up into a fairy tale book which was published at St. Petersburg in 1874, under the title of Narodnuiya Russkiya Skazki (Popular Russian Marchen).About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Excerpt from Cossack Fairy Tales and Folk TalesThe favourable reception given to my volume of Russian Fairy Tales has encouraged me to follow it up with a sister volume of stories selected from another Slavonic dialect extraordinarily rich in folk-tales - I mean Ruthenian, the language of the Cossacks.Ruthenian is a language intermediate between Russian and Polish, but quite independent of both. Its territory embraces, roughly speaking, that vast plain which lies between the Carpathians, the watershed of the Dnieper, and the Sea of Azov, with Lemberg and Kiev for its chief intellectual centres: though rigorously repressed by the Russian Government, it is still spoken by more than twenty millions of people.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curated for quality. Quality assurance was conducted on each of these books in an attempt to remove books with imperfections introduced by the digitization process. Though we have made best efforts - the books may have occasional errors that do not impede the reading experience. We believe this work is culturally important and have elected to bring the book back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. This text refers to the Bibliobazaar edition.