Down the Magical River

"Down the Magical River" is a witty, cheerful story by E. Uspensky based on Russian fairy tales. An ordinary schoolboy, Mitia, goes to spend the summer with his grandmother in a village and finds himself in the Kingdom of Three Nines. There are all the familiar characters from childhood: the Dragon Gorynych eats people, Baba Yaga can also eat them but mostly welcomes princes, feeds, gives them drink, and puts them to sleep. Koschei the Deathless is made entirely of iron and has hung in a basement on chains for two hundred years. And then a situation arose: Tsar Makara decided to retire. So the "loyal" royal servants suggested that Koschei take the throne. And the change of power is rarely peaceful.
Illustrations by O. Ionaytis.