The Unsmiling Tsarevna: Lore and Story Explained

The Unsmiling Tsarevna is the alternate title of the Russian folk tale The Princess Who Never Smiled, also known as The Tsarevna Who Would Not Laugh. The story follows a princess who has never smiled and a humble worker whose kindness toward a mouse, beetle, and catfish eventually gives him the chance to make her laugh. The tale is associated with ATU 559, “Making the Princess Laugh,” and was collected by Alexander Afanasyev in the 19th century.

No game-specific version, platform, developer, release information, or control scheme is independently confirmed in the available material. The confirmed information concerns the tale’s setting, characters, plot, and folklore classification.

Story Premise

The story takes place in a kingdom ruled by a king whose daughter, the tsarevna, has never smiled. The king announces that anyone who can make her smile may marry her. Many suitors attempt the challenge, but their efforts fail because the princess remains completely unmoved.

At the same time, a poor worker serves the same master for several years. Although he is allowed to take as many coins as he wants for his yearly labor, he modestly accepts only one coin each year. He loses the first two coins down a well. During the third year, he retrieves his current coin and discovers the two coins he had lost previously.

The worker now has enough money to travel. However, before leaving the kingdom, he gives his three coins away: one to a mouse, one to a beetle, and one to a catfish. His generosity leaves him without money again, but the creatures remember his kindness.

How the Tsarevna Finally Smiles

As the worker passes the king’s castle, he slips and falls into the mud. The mouse, beetle, and catfish see what happens and come to help him. Their appearance and actions create a strange spectacle.

The tsarevna watches the scene from the castle. Unlike the formal attempts made by the suitors, this unexpected display of small animals assisting the worker finally makes her smile. The worker then enters the castle. In the traditional story summarized by the available source, he transforms into a handsome man and marries the princess.

The ending connects the worker’s success to his earlier humility and generosity. He does not win through wealth, status, or a carefully planned performance. Instead, his kindness toward seemingly insignificant creatures leads directly to the event that changes his life.

Folklore Classification

The Unsmiling Tsarevna is associated with the East Slavic folktale type SUS 559, named after the Russian figure Nesmeyana-tsarevna. It also corresponds to ATU 559, commonly described as “Making the Princess Laugh” or “Making the Princess Laugh (The Dungbeetle).”

The beetle is particularly important to the classification. According to the supplied reference, folklorist Stith Thompson noted that a dung beetle appears in nearly all versions of this tale type. Across related versions, a poor or socially unremarkable young man wins the princess’s hand through an unusual presentation involving small creatures, insects, or an absurd public spectacle.

The broader motif of making a princess laugh also appears in other stories. In tales such as The Golden Goose and The Magic Swan, a chain of comic events causes a princess to laugh. Those stories are classified separately under ATU 571, “All Stick Together,” but share the idea that laughter marks the moment when the princess’s fate changes.

Related Versions and Adaptations

An early literary version appeared in Giambattista Basile’s Pentamerone under the title Lo scarafone, lo sorece e lo grillo, translated as “The Scarab, the Mouse and the Cricket.” A related Irish story, How Timothy Won the Princess, features a poor boy who acquires tiny performing creatures and later uses them to make a princess laugh.

The story has also appeared in children’s literature and television. A Sesame Street story uses a xylophone and yo-yos in a comic retelling, while a 1978 episode of Yeralash presents comedians who fail to amuse the princess before a boy’s poor table manners finally make her laugh.

For the collected Russian version and its related titles, classifications, and adaptations, see The Princess Who Never Smiled.