Once upon a time there lived a Tsar who had three sons. When he felt that it was time for them to marry, the Tsar decided he would have them chose their wives in a unique way. Each son was to shoot an arrow into the air and marry whatever woman his arrow landed close to.

The first two sons were fortunate in that their arrows landed next to beautiful and nobel women. The third and youngest son, Ivan was not so lucky. His arrow landed next to a frog and he was duty bound to marry the creature.

The tsar was very demanding of his new daughters-in-law and was prone to judge their performances of their tasks. When the tsar ordered his daughters-in-law to make him fine shirts and bake him fine bread, after everyone had retired for the evening, the frog would turn into a beautiful princess, Vasilisa the Wise, to accomplish the tasks. Before everyone awoke she turned back into a frog. The Tsar judged her shirts and bread to be the best.

The Tsar then announced a great feast at the palace and commanded his sons to attend with their wives. There, for the first time, Vasilisa the Wise appeared for everyone to see, including her husband Ivan. Later at the dance, Vasilisa performed magical feats with the wave of her sleeves. The wives of the other sons tried to do the same but only succeeded in making fools of themselves.

Prince Ivan, the youngest son, wanted his wife to remain a beautiful princess so he ran home and burned her discarded frog skin. When Vasilisa discovered his crime, she sadly told him that now she would have to become the prisoner of the sorcerer Koshchei the Deathless, and she disappeared.

Searching for her in the forest, Prince Ivan helped several animals who promised to return the favor in the future. He then came to the hut of a Baba Yaga, a grandmother spirit, who told him he could only free his wife by killing Koshchei. Koshchei’s death was well-hidden at the point of a needle, in an egg, in a duck, in a rabbit, in a chest at the top of an oak tree.

Although Ivan could not get the chest out of the tree himself, the animals he had helped broke each thing open until Ivan had the egg. He broke it, broke off the tip of the needle inside, and Koshchei died instantly. Ivan lived happily ever after with Vasilisa.