Donor (fairy tale) by Giambattista Basile. In the Grimm Brothers' variant of "Cinderella", the protagonist is aided not by her fairy godmother but by her dead mother, as is the heroine of the Finnish variant, "The Wonderful Birch". A great variety of other figures may also take this place. In "Vasilissa the Beautiful", the heroine is aided by a wooden doll that her dying mother had given her; in "Rushen Coatie", by a red calf sent to her by her dead mother, a calf that can continue to aid her after its death; in "Katie Woodencloak" by a mysterious dun bull; in "Tattercoats",
Russian fairy tale Russian fairy tale A Skazka – () (Russian fairy tale or Russian folktale) is a Russian word literally meaning "story", but used to mean fairy tale or a fantasy tale. The term can be used in many different forms to determine the type of tale or story being told. A "volshebnaya skazka" [fairy tale] is considered a magical tale. "Skazki o zhivotnykh" [tales of animals] are tales about animals, and "bytovye skazki" [household tales] are tales about everyday life. These variations of "skazki" give the term more depth, giving it more meaning than just fairy tales. Similarly to Western European