The Lute Player

For other uses, including numerous paintings, see The Lute Player (disambiguation).
The Lute Player
The lute player (the queen, in disguise) captivates the enemy king with his music. Illustration from The Violet Fairy Book (1906).
Folk tale
NameThe Lute Player
Also known asThe Tsaritsa Harpist, The Tsaritsa who Played the Gusli
Aarne–Thompson groupingATU 888 (The Faithful Wife)
CountryRussia
Published inRussian Fairy Tales by Alexander Afanasyev

The Lute Player, The Tsaritsa Harpist[1] or The Tsaritsa who Played the Gusli[2] (Russian: Царица-гусляр), is a Russian fairy tale.[3] It was published by Alexander Afanasyev in his collection Russian Fairy Tales, as number 338. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book (1901).[4]

The instrument actually described in the fairy tale is a gusli.[5]

  1. ^ Alexander Afanasyev. Russian Folk-Tales. Edited and Translated by Leonard A. Magnus. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co. 1915. pp. 75-77.
  2. ^ Haney, Jack V. The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev. Volume III. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 2021. pp. 42-44.
  3. ^ Barchers, Suzanne I. (September 2013). The Lute Player: A Tale from Russia. ISBN 9781936163915.
  4. ^ Andrew Lang, The Violet Fairy Book, "The Lute Player"
  5. ^ Kathleen Ragan, Fearless Girls, Wise Women, & Beloved Sister p 96 ISBN 0-393-04598-6