Ivan, the Grey Wolf, and the Firebird
I wrote a retelling of this russian fairy tale a while ago, and illustrated it using the LoveNikki fashion game. The story writing was straightforward. The image generation was ... not. Like, it took a LONG time to get it all done, longer than I thought it would.
I wish I could have drawn out the scenes myself, but my art skills are LACKING, so I worked with the tools I had.
I made a previous version of this that was MULTIPLE posts all made one after another and that was AWFUL. So Now I'm making it all into a single post, for ease of reading, with a "Keep Reading" button for those of you who don't want to have to scroll through this on their feed.
Enjoy!
01
Once upon a time, in a faraway land, there was a Wild Forest, full of magic and fae, of witches and enchantresses, and of heroes and villains. Many stories began and ended there. Our story starts with Natishka. Natishka was a shapeshifter and one of the wild fae folk, perhaps the most wild of them. Certainly she was the most mischievous of them.
There were many beings she teased and taunted. The raven-fae who knew secret magics, the nymphs who protected the trees and streams, even the beasts were not safe from her tricks, although the great kings were the most fun.
King Igor, keeper of the Firebird, was perhaps the greatest target of her ire, although the Sorcerer-King, Yacob, who kept his beautiful daughter locked away in a tower, detested her tricks even more than King Igor did, though she went for him less because of his magical prowess. Her favorite target, though, was King Pyotr, who kept the White Mare, the greatest horse in the world.
She was never happier than when he’d found one of her tricks, and she always bounded away full of laughter afterward. He, in turn, would always take joy in them, and while she knew that he would love to catch her, she never allowed it to happen.
02
Meanwhile, in a nearby kingdom that lay just beyond the Wild Forest, there was a king with three sons and a magnificent garden. Together, the four made up the king’s treasures, his pride and joy. His eldest son was regal, his second son was cunning, and his third son, Ivan, was ... very kind.
His fourth treasure, his garden, contained lovely flowers and delectable fruits, but the most brilliant of them all were his beautiful golden apples. Their flowers were lovely in the summer, and their fruits juicy and sweet in the fall. Of late, though, each time the apples ripened, many of the apples were stolen away before they could be eaten. The king, frustrated, set his sons to the task of finding and capturing the one who stole them. In exchange, the son who found and brought back the thief would be given half of his kingdom.
His elder sons both set out to discover the thief, but each night they went out, a white bird would appear and sing to them, lulling them to sleep. Both brothers tried several nights, but neither ever made it through a single one to catch the thief. Ivan, youngest of the three, then went to his father and asked for permission to try as well. His father was reluctant, but in the end allowed it.
When the white bird came and sang to him too, he put it out of mind and, as the white bird left, a bird of flame and feather appeared to eat a fruit; it was the Firebird. Ivan tried to capture it, but it fluttered away before he could, leaving only a single feather in his grasping hands.
03
The king now desired the capture of the Firebird, although he wished to add it to his garden rather than punish it, as he would a thief. The reward was still the same, so the eldest brother set out to capture the Firebird. Tracking it to the Wild Forest, he then lost its trail and found solace in a nearby inn.
At the inn, the brother met an enchantress, who advised him that if he travelled a way into the Wild Forest, he would find a road. This road would split into the three paths, the first leaving him with hunger and thirst, the second with the death of his horse, and the third with his own death, but she promised that each path led to the Firebird in the end. The eldest brother could not decide which path to take when he reached the forest’s edge, and so he turned around and instead stayed at the inn so he could ponder.
When the eldest did not return, the second brother also set out. He, too, found that the Firebird’s trail ended at the edge of the Wild Forest and so also found solace at the inn, where the enchantress told him of what waited in the forest. As he could not decide his path either, he, too, stayed at the inn with his eldest brother, drinking and eating while he set his choice to the side.
04
Natishka, meanwhile, was hunting one evening, for it had been a hard winter, when Yadwiga, a shapeshifter and powerful enchantress, came upon her in the form of a white bird before transfiguring into woman-shape. She told Natishka that she had found a pair of princes at an inn just outside the Wild Forest who’d ridden in on majestic royal steeds, and that, when they came, and she promised that they would come, Natishka could kill them to sate her hunger, taking either manflesh or horseflesh, whichever she preferred.
Natishka declined to act on Yadwiga’s behalf in regards to killing the brothers, as she was determined to stay out of debt to her, for such a debt would be costly indeed. Yadwiga then grew enraged and placed a curse upon Natishka such that she could not eat until she had done Yadwiga’s bidding. Then she transfigured into and flew away in the shape of a white bird, vanishing into the moonlight just as she had come.
05
Not having heard word from either of his elder sons, the king allowed Ivan to set out as well. He, too, tracked the Firebird’s path to the edge of the Wild Forest, and there he too lost track of the Firebird. Finding solace in the same inn that his brothers had, he met the enchantress as well, who advised him on the nature of the paths in the forest.
Spying his two brothers in the corner, his eldest brother mooning at the enchantress while his second-eldest brother scowled into a drink, Ivan thanked her and set out once more, deciding to take the second path and hoping for the best.
Upon setting into the Wild Forest, Ivan instead found that the path did not split as the enchantress had said. Rather, he found an enormous wolf, one as large as his horse, who, upon spying Ivan, leapt towards him, tearing the throat from his horse before he could think to react. Terrified, Ivan ran deep into the Wild Forest, bereft of both his horse and his supplies.
06
Once Natishka finished eating the young prince’s horse, she got up, stretched, and tried to go about her day, as she could feel that she was free from Yadwiga’s curse. However, the thought of the young prince wandering about the Wild Forest on his own did not rest well with her, even though her killing and eating his horse was, to her, the fault of Yadwiga and Yadwiga alone. So, wiping the blood from her mouth, she set off to find him to offer him her aid.
The young prince was surprised and fearful of her when she appeared, as she was in wolf-shape, so to ease his fears she changed into woman-shape, an appearance that few had seen before. Indeed, only King Pyotr had ever gotten more than a passing glance at it. She introduced herself properly this time, then asked him what he was doing in the Wild Forest.
The young prince, whose name was Ivan, told her that he sought the Firebird for his father, the king, as his father had grown weary of it stealing his golden apples. Natishka knew of his father’s golden apples, but she’d never tried to take any for herself, as they were too far out from the Wild Forest for her comfort. Still, she knew where the Firebird was, as she’d seen it in King Igor’s lands many times before, so agreed to help him.
07
When they arrived at King Igor’s palace, Natishka warned him that if he were to take anything more than the Firebird, King Igor would be sure to notice. Ivan asked why she herself could not fetch the bird for him, for she must know more of it than he, but she shook her head and told him that the task he had undertaken must be done by him alone, for the Firebird was a thing of magic, and magic law bound its keepers into place. Ivan nodded, then set off to where Natishka said he would find the Firebird.
There, Ivan spied the Firebird resting beside a golden cage that was encrusted with magics and gems that were almost as spectacular as the Firebird itself. He tried to pull his eyes away from the cage, but in that moment a small white bird alighted on it near one of the more spectacular gems, and Ivan, falling to temptation, couldn’t help but try to take the cage as well.
In that moment, magics alerted King Igor, who, furious, rushed out with his men to where the Firebird was kept. Upon finding Ivan alone, however, King Igor’s temper faded a bit. He then listened to Ivan and learned why he sought the Firebird. King Igor, in turn, declared that Ivan could take both the Firebird and its cage if Ivan could bring him the White Mare of King Pyotr.
08
Natishka did her best to not get angry with Ivan when he returned without the Firebird, as it meant that he was now in the debt of King Igor. However, when she learned that the supposed impossible task that King Igor had demanded of him was fetching the White Mare of King Pyotr, she cheered up. She had thieved from King Pyotr many times before, and had even set the White Mare loose in the forest on more than one glorious occasion, taking its place in horse-shape just to surprise King Pyotr.
She said none of this to Ivan, though, instead simply stating that she would help him get the horse. It would be a trivial enough thing to fetch out and return when the time came. She knew that, while King Igor was skilled enough to catch the Firebird, without aid he would have no power to restrain the White Mare similarly and so it would return home to King Pyotr of its own accord soon enough.
As they journeyed to King Pyotr, Natishka and Ivan exchanged stories of their lives. Ivan was fascinated with all the tricks that Natishka had pulled, delighting in hearing of them as much as she delighted in telling him about them. Natishka, in turn, was entranced by Ivan’s life. It seemed to be an easy thing, and she had half a mind to try to trick her way into King Pyotr's palace as a lady-in-waiting or something once she’d felt that she’d finished repaying Ivan.
09
When they arrived at the palace of King Pyotr, Natishka warned Ivan to only take the White Mare and to leave anything fantastical in the stables behind. Ivan remembered that the Firebird’s cage had been enchanted as he entered the stables where the White Mare was kept and so did his best to follow her advice.
The White Mare was a magnificent horse, and Ivan could see why King Igor might want it. But he knew that he needed to heed Natishka and so did his best to restrain and control it as he freed it from its bonds in the stable. However, a white snake happened across his path and, when the White Mare saw it, it reared up, knocking Ivan to the ground.
Ivan then spied an equally magnificent bridle on the wall beside the horse's stable, gleaming with oil and magic. Thinking that this would help restrain the horse better than any mundane bridle would, Ivan went to take it. But no sooner than he had touched the bridle did guards appear, as did King Pyotr himself. Ivan explained himself yet again and King Pyotr was moved. He declared that Ivan could have both the White Mare and its bridle if he could bring to him the fair maiden of the forest, she who was wild of nature but pure of heart.
10
When Ivan returned to her empty-handed yet again, Natishka wanted to scream. Instead, though, she asked Ivan what had been asked of him this time. Ivan told her that King Pyotr had demanded the hand of the fairest maiden in the Wild Forest, and that only when he’d brought her before him would he give over the White Mare.
Natishka’s heart fell at that, as she enjoyed the attention of King Pyotr. But, nevertheless, she agreed to aid Ivan fetch the fair maiden who she supposed had so enthralled King Pyotr; the daughter of the Sorcerer-King, Yacob, locked away in her tower.
11
Ivan sensed that he had upset Natishka again, but, not wanting to disappoint Natishka anymore than he clearly already had, Ivan said nothing more on the matter until they arrived at the palace of the Sorcerer-King, Yacob.
The palace was larger than both King Igor’s and King Pyotr's. What’s more, while their palaces had felt a part of the Wild Forest, the palace of Yacob seemed to be out of sorts, as if it was attempting to impose order on a place that had firmly rejected such a petty, human thing.
Natishka, in wolf-shape once more, told Ivan that the fair maiden he sought could be found in the highest room of the tallest tower and to not touch anything of hers, lest he alert someone to his presence as he had done before. Natishka also warned that Yacob was not so kind as the other kings were, and that Ivan’s capture would surely mean his death. Ivan nodded, then set off to fetch the fair maiden.
12
It was a long time before Ivan returned, but when he did it was with the princess at his side. Both of them ran to Natishka as if all the vilest demons of the Wild Forest were after them. Ivan explained that while he was able to reach the princess undisturbed, and did not take any of her things, which he assumed were of magic, when they set back to Natishka a pure white fox let loose an unnatural howl and the whole palace awakened.
Natishka scowled, then knelt down so they could mount her and be away. Then, with a final look back at Yacob, who was screaming at his men to bring back his daughter, she leapt away, carrying Ivan and the princess back into the safety of the Wild Forest.
13
As they journeyed back to King Pyotr's palace, Ivan began to speak with the maiden in earnest, prompted on occasion with questions from Natishka. Soon, he was smiling and laughing with the princess, and she with him. The closer they got to the palace of King Pyotr, the less interested he was in the White Mare and the more he wanted for the princess to stay beside him.
Natishka, meanwhile, had made room aplenty for the two of them to talk, disappearing in the evenings as they sat around a fire, the princess leaning on Ivan for warmth while he held her close. When she stayed with them, she would stare at the pair of them sadly, as if she wanted to say something but couldn’t find the words for it. They were only a few days away from King Pyotr's palace when he realized that he and the maiden had, unfortunately, fallen in love.
14
Natishka practically preened when Ivan told her that he and the princess had fallen in love. She’d had quite a bit of experience in setting people up romantically, and the two of them seemed to have liked each other well enough at first in any case.
Natishka began to spend more time talking to the maiden, and was in fact a little envious of her. The maiden was clever in all the ways that Ivan wasn’t, as he was a very straightforward boy, nevermind her great skill of palace and, she assumed, human life. The maiden in turn, listened to Natishka talk about King Pyotr, and what he was like, and the things he enjoyed and the things that made him grumpy; all manner of subjects that Natishka supposed the princess should know about when they arrived at King Pyotr's palace, even if she took a place that Natishka had not known that she’d wanted to trick her way into.
It was the day before they arrived that Ivan and the princess told Natishka about a plan the pair of them had made. The two of them supposed that the maiden had been in her tower for long enough that no one really knew what she looked like. So, they reasoned, if Natishka was to dress as the princess while in woman-shape and bring the maiden with her dressed as a lady-in-waiting, it wouldn’t be anyone’s fault but King Pyotr's if he thought that Natishka was the maiden he’d sent Ivan to find. Natishka, looking at Ivan and the maiden once more, was delighted. A fine trick to be a part of indeed, to trick a man of his heart.
15
So, when the time came to present the maiden to King Pyotr, Ivan brought Natishka and the maiden to him, Natishka dressed as the princess while the princess dressed as Natishka’s lady-in-waiting, wearing clothes that Natishka had conjured up.
King Pyotr did not even look at the maiden as he rushed to Natishka, and he declared that she was just as beautiful as he’d ever seen her. He thanked Ivan, then brought the three of them into his palace for a magnificent feast, with Natishka at his side.
Ivan watched as Natishka laughed at the king’s jokes, and he at hers. It was nearly as if they were old friends turned lovers, not that she was pulling another great trick upon him, and Ivan grinned to himself, having now pulled a trick of his own.
16
Once King Pyotr gave Ivan the White Mare and its magic bridle, Natishka watched as Ivan and the princess rode out on it, past the edge of King Pyotr's palace. In her head she knew that she needed to rejoin him. She had told herself that she would aid Ivan in his quest for the Firebird and he had not yet brought it back to his father. However, her heart was torn.
She wished to stay here, with King Pyotr, and continue her trick. It was a fine trick, and she’d never thought to trick the king into giving her his heart, and she was loath to give it back up, even if it had taken giving him her heart in turn to take it.
Still, she had made a promise, even if only to herself, and so at midnight she left the palace and rejoined Ivan and the princess, travelling with them back to King Igor’s palace to help Ivan fetch out the Firebird. She ignored the breaking sound her heart made as she left it behind with King Pyotr.
17
As they drew closer to the palace of King Igor, Natishka suggested that Ivan simply snatch away the Firebird with the same trick that they’d used to fool King Pyotr, for she was of a mind to give the maiden a finer way to travel to the prince’s home than simply by walking. In an instant, Natishka transformed from wolf-shape into horse-shape. Then she snorted and tossed her head, seeming even more of a horse than the White Mare itself.
In this way, Ivan brough both the White Mare and Natishka to King Igor and presented them to him, declaring that here was the White Mare he had sought. King Igor turned to look at the White Mare, but a snort from Natishka brought his attention to her, and he then declared that this must be the finest horse he had ever seen. With that, he gave Ivan the Firebird and its magic cage, then bid him goodbye.
Natishka, meanwhile, only waited so long as it took to lose sight of King Igor to vanish from his stable, rejoining Ivan and the maiden shortly thereafter. She journeyed with him to the edge of the Wild Forest and, upon reaching the spot where she had killed his horse, declared her debt to him fulfilled and vanished into the Wild Forest just as she had come.
18
Back at the inn, Ivan’s elder brothers still sat and planned out what they should do. They’d seen Ivan come in and then leave. It was possible that he was still in the Wild Forest, seeking out the Firebird. It could be that he’d managed to get it. If he had, then half of their father’s kingdom would fall to him, rather than either of them.
Yadwiga the enchantress came up to them in that moment, a sultry smile on her face as she gave the eldest brother a wink, as he had grown infatuated with her. She advised now that, rather than risk the paths, they should simply wait for their youngest brother outside the Wild Forest and kill him, taking the Firebird for themselves.
When they protested that there were two of them but only one Firebird, she told them that their brother also was returning with the finest horse in the world as well as the loveliest maiden, for she had spied upon him as he did his tasks. One brother could take the maiden and the horse, while the other took half the Kingdom. She then gently touched the elder brother’s arm, and the middle brother nodded in agreement.
19
In the Wild Forest, as Natishka travelled back to where she had made her home, she thought about how unlucky Ivan had been before and so decided to check in on him before he reached his father, as she had grown to care for him, if only a little.
Natishka travelled back to where she had left him, then continued on the trail as it led to the edge of the Wild Forest and there, just outside it, she found his dismembered corpse, his body hacked to pieces.
Atop his body was a pair of young raven-fae, brothers, who delighted in their great find, as princely corpses were quite the delicacy. Seizing two of them, she acted as if she was about to eat them, saying that by right of strength she had a greater claim to his body than they did.
20
Their mother, one of the greater raven-fae ladies of the Wild Forest, flew down to Natishka’s side and pleaded for their lives. Natishka demanded that the mother raven-fae reach into her knowledge of secrets and find something that could be used to bring back Ivan. Only then would she let the mother raven-fae’s children go.
To aid the mother-raven fae, she said that if she was to meet King Igor, she was to tell him that Natishka had tricked him of his Firebird, not Ivan, who was innocent. If she met King Pyotr, she was to tell him that she had taken the place of the maiden he sought, so she was to blame. And if she was to meet the Sorcerer-King, Yacob, well, he had lost, and she was to tell him that Ivan had beaten him through cunning and skill.
The mother raven-fae nodded, and flew out first to the home of King Igor, who was howling about the loss of the White Mare. She told him what Natishka had told her, then asked if he had knowledge of magic that could help her. He considered this, then nodded and told her no, but that King Pyotr may know of such a thing.
She agreed, then flew to the home of King Pyotr. There she found that he, too, was in mourning, as he wished for the return of his wild maiden. The mother-raven fae told him the truth of Natishka’s deception, and asked for his aid. King Pyotr admitted that it had been Natishka herself who was his wild maiden, and that he knew of no such magic, adding that the Sorcerer-King, Yacob, might know. He then asked the mother raven-fae to take his love to Natishka and his best wishes to Ivan.
21
Three days and three nights later the Sorcerer-King, Yacob, used his great magic to appear at Natishka’s side, who was in wolf-shape once again. He respected Ivan’s strength and his daughter’s love for him, and felt slighted at the notion of Ivan having been killed in such an ignoble way.
Yacob brought out two vials, each filled with water. The first vial, filled with the Water of Death, he poured onto Ivan’s limbs, and thus was Ivan's body restored to him as if it had never been touched by a blade. The second vial, filled with the Water of Life, he poured into Ivan’s mouth and, coughing, Ivan sprang back to life as if from a deep sleep.
Yacob warned Ivan that it would be his death if he ever dared to steal from him again. Then, just as he had come, Yacob vanished.
22
Ivan began to tell Natishka about what had happened to cause his death, but she silenced him, as she had already discerned the cause; his two brothers. Ivan shrugged and mounted Natishka once more.
Together, they raced to his father’s palace to right the wrong that had been done to him. Ivan also told Natishka of the white bird, snake, and fox in more detail, and Natishka scowled a wolven scowl. Yadwiga’s work, she knew it.
In the sky behind her, Natishka heard the mother raven-fae calling out to her, saying that she brought tidings from King Pyotr, but Natishka paid it no mind. She could deal with King Pyotr's anger at having been tricked once more after she’d helped Ivan finish his task.
23
When they reached his father's palace, they realized that a marriage ceremony between his second-eldest brother and the maiden had already begun, while his eldest brother stood by with Yadwiga at his side.
Jumping from Natishka’s back, Ivan shouted out the falsehoods and wrongs that his brothers had said and done, marching up to his brothers as he did so. They paled in front of him, and when their father asked for the truth, they nodded in agreement with their brother Ivan.
His eldest brother blamed the younger, while the younger blamed Yadwiga, who was now nowhere to be found, as she had flown away to the Wild Forest in the shape of a white bird, fleeing from the wraith of Natishka’s snapping jaws all the while, never to be seen again.
24
Wishing to celebrate the resurrection, return, and triumph of his youngest son, Ivan, his father the king then declared that Ivan should take his second-eldest brother’s place at the altar, and so Ivan and the princess were wed to one another.
His brothers, meanwhile, were sent into exile in the Wild Forest under the watchful eye of Natishka, as they had betrayed their brother’s and their father the king’s trust, and such was the fate of men who had done such things.
25
After their wedding, Natishka left Ivan and his new bride and returned to the Wild Forest. She had aided him in his quest, and so her debt to him was paid. As she entered the Wild Forest, though, the mother raven-fae finally reached her. She told Natishka of King Pyotr's love for her, and how he wished for her return.
Racing back to his side, she embraced King Pyotr while in woman-form and in almost no time at all, she and he were wed, with Ivan and his own bride being the proudest at the wedding ceremony for them.
After that, the two couples wished each other well, and both returned to their own lands, where they all lived happily ever after.
