Koshka's Tales - Stories from Russia

“A deed takes time, but a story is quickly told ...” This is a delightful retelling of four traditional stories, interlinked by a single story of a rich tsar, his beautiful but banished wife, and a storytelling cat, tied to a tree on a remote island. Shades of Scheherazade haunt the pages of the book, which is imaginatively illustrated by the author, James Mayhew, in a luxuriant Faberge-esque style – with lots of patterns, richly embroidered costumes and fairytale characters. The Author’s Note at the back of the book gives a useful insight into the history of the stories and the many ways in which they have been interpreted over many years, through music, ballet and poetry. To those familiar with fairy tales there are many well-known features and motifs in the skilfully told stories: a tale of three sons, the youngest of whom succeeds where his brothers fail, a tale of three sisters, the youngest of whom is cast out, not here by a ‘King Lear father’ but by a deceived Tsar husband, and a variety of seemingly impossible tasks, achieved with the help of magical birds and animals. Adding to the mysterious locations are the names of the characters who inhabit them: the Princess of Inexhaustible Loveliness; Tsar Saltan Saltanovich the Magnificent; Kashchey the Deathless; and of course the wicked witch of Eurasia herself, Baba-Yaga, Old Bony-Legs. She, like the witch in Grimms’ Hansel & Gretel, lives deep in the forest, and plans to eat up anyone who crosses her path – in this case the evil sisters Katushka and Liza Poffarikha, plotting against their young and virtuous sister, the Cinderella-like Militrissa. It is she who, cast away on a desert island with her young son, persuades the storytelling cat Koshka to retell increasingly complicated tales from the Russian tradition, in the hope that they will bring her curious husband to rescue her. Perhaps the one fault of this otherwise delightful antholology is that the four individual stories are extremely complex. The plots take some following; I was almost tempted to construct a storyboard to map out the circuitous developments, especially when return journeys were involved with additional gift and prizes to carry. Perhaps young readers would find this complexity a difficulty and lose the thousand invisible threads, which are attached not only to the alarms in the evil Kashchey’s castle but also to the plots themselves. I am sure however that having the stories read to them would be a great pleasure. They have an exotic foreign charm and need to be slowly savoured, for “Whether it was a long time or not, who knows. For a deed takes time, but this tale is nearly told.” It may need to be pointed out that this is a revised and updated version (2019) by Graffeg Ltd, of a much earlier publication (1993) published by Kingfisher Books. There is no way of knowing if the illustrations are from the 1993 edition, or how much the text has been changed! -- Chris Stephens @ www.gwales.com Stories include: The Tale of the Snowmaiden The Tale of Sadko the Minstrel The Tale of Ivan, the Greywolf and the Firebird. The Tale of Vassilisa the Fair and Baby Yaga Tsar Saltan and Koshka the Cat ‘Koshka’s Tales is a marvellous book, its language as glossy and gratifying as its artwork. Its tales within a tale, as fatly plaited as any sultana’s hair, weave real Eastern enchantment.’ Geraldine McCaughrean, The Times (1993) ‘A vibrant and accessible collection of five Russian folktales is woven together by the spirited narration of Koshka the cat. Linked in this way the stories suggest the wonderful richness and complexity of the Russian storytelling tradition. Mayhew’s love of ornamentation is evident in dramatically bordered text and illustrations that sparkle like a Faberge egg.’ Publisher’s Weekly (US) (1993) ‘Not only does he write fluently with rhythm, pace and pithy humour – a rare talent for an artist – he paints with intricate line and shadow and garish abandon: golden cupolas and icons, flowing turquoise and russet sarafans, sea-green nymphs, tall dark firs, ruddy snub-nosed peasants and hirsute, hook-nosed haradans… he succeeds in preserving the authentic folklore tradition.’ James Riordan, Times Educational Supplement (1994) ‘Deserves an honored place in any collection.’ Ralph Lavender, School Librarian (1993) -- Publisher: Graffeg