Nature in Russian fairy tales plays a dual role: both that of friendly aide and powerful danger. To start with, in “Tsarevich Ivan and Grey Wolf,” two of the mythical beasts (Fire-Bird, and Grey Wolf) play rather willful personalities in which they are literally awesome but eat whatever they care to. Yet differentiating the Grey Wolf from the other beasts is his sentience and omniscience that allows him to talk to and help Ivan and a moral compass that causes him to atone for eating Ivan’s horse by aiding him in his quest.

Contrary to other tales of animals, such as The Big Bad Wolf or The Three Little Pigs, in which the wolf is villainized for being a hungry and dangerous being intent on eating everyone, the Grey Wolf apologizes, “I am sorry” after eating Ivan’s horse (22). The choice of wolf who is not necessarily kind but is honorable and loyal plays with the uniqueness of some of the other Russian poets who find surprisingly good traits in otherwise unlikable seasons and places (in “Autumn” and “My Native Land”). Yet evidence of the wolf’s ‘true nature’ comes through in the tale when he “tore [the other princes] to bits and scattered the bits over the field” (31). The Grey Wolf also has mystical powers, besides those of speech and knowledge, that allow him to shapeshift and bring Ivan back to life. These powers suggest a Russian belief in the might of nature and wild beasts and a certain mystique that the humans do not possess.

Similarly, in “The Hedgehog in the Fog,” all the creatures are personified and can communicate with each other, even those so different as a hedgehog and a bear. The scene in which the bear scolds the hedgehog for being late is the one moment he seems frightening and threatening, despite his friendship with an animal that could be prey. And of course, the ‘villain’ of the story is fog: a natural entity without sentience, but which casts a land known well into a dangerous minefield. And what saves the hedgehog from the river after the fog caused him to lose his way but another kindly animal, suggested to be a water serpent of some kind. Like the Grey Wolf, this serpent is shown to possess a helpful nature unlike those vilified in other stories and yet the most dangerous aspect of either story is a non-human entity.