The Geese-Swans

Before leaving for the fields, the parents told their daughter, "Watch your little brother, and don't leave the yard." But the girl got caught up playing with her friends, and didn't notice when a flock of grey geese-swans swooped down, snatched her brother, and carried him off to the deep forest, to Baba Yaga's hut.

Frightened, the girl ran after them. On the way she met an old oven: "Eat one of my rye pies, and I'll tell you where the geese flew." The girl wasn't hungry and almost said no — but thinking of her brother, she helped the oven all the same, and the oven told her the way. An apple tree and a little river helped her too, once she'd helped them first.

At last the girl reached the hut and quietly carried her brother away while Baba Yaga slept. The geese-swans gave chase — but the oven, the apple tree, and the river, all of whom the girl had helped, hid the children and never gave them away.

The two children made it home just as their parents returned. From that day on, the girl never again forgot a promise — and never forgot that kindness finds its way back. Goodnight.