The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights

The Tale of the Dead Princess and the Seven Knights (Russian: «Сказка о мёртвой царевне и о семи богатырях», romanized: Skazka o myortvoy tsarevne i o semi bogatyryakh, literally: "The Tale of the Dead Tsarevna and of the Seven Bogatyrs") is an 1833 poem by Aleksandr Pushkin telling a fairy tale of Prince Yelisei's search for his love, the Tsarevna (princess), who has been cast out by her stepmother.

Researchers find a lot of symbolism in the Puskin's version of the fairy tale with roots in both Slavic mythology and Christianity.

She orders the servant girl Chernavka to take her stepdaughter into the heart of the forest, tie her down and leave her to the wolves.

Meanwhile, the tsarevna wanders through the forest and stumbles across a terem guarded by a dog which she immediately befriends.

The tsarevna stays with her newly found brothers, looking after the house while they hunt in the forest or fight foreign invaders.

The dog leads the bogatyrs to her, bites the poisoned apple in anger and also dies, revealing the cause of the tragedy.

Yelisei finds the cave and hits the coffin with all his strength, causing it to break into pieces and his bride to come alive.

There also exists Pushkin's own outline of the story which he planned to write, but which does not much resemble the version he ultimately published.