MARKO THE RICH AND VASILY THE UNLUCKY

Readers of the Grimms and others will recognize several motifs in this adventure-filled Russian tale from Afanasyev of a peasant boy chosen by priests at his birth to attain ""all the wealth of Marko the Rich."" From then on Marko, whose daughter Anastasiya has overheard the prophesy, makes several unsuccessful attempts to have the child killed, but at last -- by means of a substituted letter presumed to be from the absent Marko -- Vasily is married to Anastasiya. Still hoping to get rid of him Marko sends him son-in-law to collect a debt from a distant dragon king, but a beautiful maiden helps him outwit the dragon, find the answers to three crucial riddles, and at last inherit his father-in-law's wealth while Marko must take the place of the eternal ferryman. Galinin sets his naive folk figures in luminous, silky scenes that range from a primitive style for Vasily's native village to the rich elegance of the dragon king's palace.