Stories of Russian Folk-Life

Stories of Russian Folk-Life is a book by Donald A. Mackenzie, first published in 1916. It offers a collection of seven tales interwoven with a historical introduction that paints a vivid picture of pre-revolutionary Russia. Among the stories are “The Test of War,” “The Lady of Moscow,” “Mikhail the Kringel Seller,” “How Little Ivan Became a Tsar,” “Tsar Ivan and the Scots Soldiers,” “The Man Who Fought the Wolves,” and “The Old Order and the New.” Mackenzie, a Scottish journalist and folklorist, blends genuine Russian folklore with sentimental vignettes of peasant life, giving readers both mythic legends and scenes of everyday life before the upheavals of the Russian Revolution. The book serves as much as a cultural snapshot as a folklore collection, documenting customs, beliefs, struggles, and social change in early 20th-century Russia. It remains useful for those interested in Russian folktales, folklore studies, mythology, Slavic cultural history, and the daily life of Russian peasants.