Once upon a time, there was a king who had three sons.
The eldest son was Dmitrii.
The second son was Vassili.
The youngest son was Ivan.
In the garden of the king's palace there was an apple tree that bore golden apples.
Every night a thief came to the garden to steal the golden apples.
The King said to his sons,
" There are only three golden apples left on the tree.
Please catch the thief without fail."
"All right, we will." said the three sons.
The sons decided to take turns and keep an eye on the tree.
The eldest and the second sons were so lazy that they fell asleep at midnight,
and both of them failed to stop the thief from stealing the golden apples.
Now, it was the youngest son's turn.
Ivan tried very hard not to fall asleep at midnight.
He kept watching when all of a sudden, there was brightness in front of him,
but morning had not come yet.
"What's happening?"
Ivan was dazzled by the glare,
and he saw a phoenix with golden feathers landing on the tree and enjoying the last apple.
"That must be the apple thief!"
Ivan jumped on the phoenix, only to grab one of the feathers and failed to catch him.
The next morning the King heard what had happened last night from Ivan.
Seeing the beautiful feather Ivan brought back, the King now wanted the phoenix.
He then said to his three sons.
" The one who catches the phoenix shall be given half the kingdom,
and shall be the king after I die."
At once, the three sons set off on a journey on their horses to catch the phoenix.
The first and second sons, however, got tired on the way, and returned to the castle.
Only Ivan continued on with the journey.
While Ivan was riding on his horse, a grey wolf rushed out of the forest and said,
"I am starving. So pardon me, as I'm going to eat your horse!!"
The wolf gobbled the horse up.
"How could you do such a thing!
I cannot continue my journey to find the phoenix without my horse!"
complained Ivan.
Then the wolf carried Ivan on his back and said,
"Oh, I am so sorry.
To make up for it, I'll take you to the palace where the phoenix is."
After a while, they came to a large palace.
The wolf said to Ivan,
"The phoenix is in a golden cage in the garden of this palace.
If you want the phoenix, take only the phoenix!"
"You should be careful not to touch the cage, since it has a bell."
Ivan, however, touched the beautiful golden cage.
Ring, ring, ring, ring.... the bell began ringing,
and Ivan was caught by the guards of the palace.
Ivan was brought to the King.
He begged for his life to the King earnestly.
Then the King said,
"Very well.
I shall give you a pardon on condition that you succeed in stealing the horse with a golden mane
from the neighbouring kingdom of King Afron."
When Ivan came out of the castle,
the gray wolf was waiting for him and said with an amazed look,
"I told you! Oh well! I will help you one last time."
The wolf carried Ivan on his back and took him to King Afron’s horse stable.
"There is a horse with a golden mane in this stable.
Do not touch anything else but the horse with the golden mane.
Other things have bells." warned the wolf.
Ivan, however, couldn’t help wanting the golden bit that was nearby as well and touched it.
The bell on the golden bit rang, and Ivan was caught by King Afron.
When Ivan begged for his life, King Afron said,
"Very well. I shall give you a pardon on condition that if you succeed in bringing me Princess Elena,
who is the most beautiful in the world.
Go to the edge of the country and kidnap her!"
The gray wolf waiting outside for Ivan again said with an amazed look.
"Oh, why didn't you listen to me? You are hopeless! This time I will go."
Having said that, the wolf dashed like a wind and very quickly brought Princess Elena to the palace.
However the moment Ivan and Princess Elena's eyes met,
they fell in love with each other.
Princess Elena said,
"Oh, I would like to be your bride."
Ivan was delighted by her words,
but he would be executed unless he brought her to King Afron.
"Oh, no. What should I do?"
Ivan looked at the wolf with a troubled face.
Then the wolf sighed and said,
"Oh, well.
Never did I imagine that I had to work this hard for you after eating your horse...
but having come this far, I will help you till the very end."
The wolf used magic and turned itself into Princess Elena,
and stole the horse with golden mane from King Afron.
In exchange for the horse, Ivan gained the phoenix.
Ivan, along with Princess Elena returned home.
He was given the kingdom by the King as a reward for the phoenix.
Ivan and Princess Elena got married and lived happily ever after.