Long ago a brother and sister were walking home from a very far destination. The girl's name was Alyonushka and her brother was Ivanushka. They had been walking a long time and poor little Ivanushka was very thirsty. Eventually they came to a cow's hoof print in the road and it was filled with water. He asked his sweet sister if he could take a drink from it, but she told him not to because it would turn him into a calf. Although he was thirsty, little Ivanushka obeyed his sister. He obeyed her again when they came to a horse's hoof filled with water. This time Alyonushka told him that if he drank from it, he would turn into a foal.

The further they walked, the thirstier little Ivanushka became. When they saw a goat's hoof filled with water, he again asked Alyonushka if he could drink from it and she again told him no, this time because he would turn into a kid. But this time the boy disobeyed his sister, and after his first sip turned into a little goat.

Alyonushka was so very distressed that her brother was now a goat, but she vowed to love him and stay with him always. Eventually she met and married a kind merchant who was happy to live with Alyonushka and her brother even though he was a goat.

Many years passed. Now there was an evil witch named Baba Yaga who was jealous of Alyonushka. One day the wicked Baba Yaga came up with a plan and tricked Alyonushka into going down to the river, where she tied a stone around her neck and threw her in. Then that conniving witch moved onto Alyonushka's farm and pretended to be Alyonushka. The merchant didn't have a clue that he was now living with the wicked Baba Yaga. Only poor Ivanushka (still a goat) knew the truth about his sister. Little did he know that Baba Yaga had plans for him, too. When the wicked woman overheard him one day talking to his sister in the lake, she decided to ask the merchant to kill the little goat.

It was hard for the kind husband to agree to kill Ivanushka, but he thought he was fulfilling his beloved wife's wishes. Ivanushka asked the merchant if he could have his last drink from the river. The merchant saw no harm in this so he agreed. When he got to the river, little Ivanushka cried out to his sister for help. She was very upset but tole him that she couldn't help him with a stone tied around her neck.

Luckily the conversation between the goat and his sister was overheard by a wandering peasant. The peasant raced to meet the merchant before he killed the poor little goat Ivanushka. When the merchant heard the peasant's story, he ran to the river, found Alyonushka, and released her by taking the stone from around her neck. Then he tied the witch to a horse, which was turned loose in an open field. The little goat was instantly changed back into a boy.