The Princess Who Never Smiled: The Russian Story and a Make-Her-Laugh Game

Who is Princess Nesmeyana?

Nesmeyana means roughly "the one who doesn't laugh". Afanasyev's version was recorded in Kursk province and printed as tale No. 297 under the title Несмеяна-царевна. Leonard Magnus translated it into English in 1915 as "The Princess Who Would Not Smile". Russian Wikipedia counts 14 Russian, 8 Ukrainian and 5 Belarusian variants of the plot. She is one of seven heroines in our guide to Russian fairy tale princesses.

The story, retold for children

Once there was a tsar whose daughter, Princess Nesmeyana, had everything a person could want: a tall tower, fine dresses and feasts every day. But she never smiled and never laughed, as if nothing in the world could make her glad. Her father was so worried that he opened his palace to everyone. "Whoever makes my daughter laugh," he announced, "may marry her." Princes and nobles, soldiers and ordinary folk came from all sides. They feasted and joked and danced. The princess didn't even smile.

At the other end of the kingdom lived an honest worker. He swept the yard in the mornings and minded the cattle in the evenings. When his first year was up, his master put a whole sack of coins on the table. "Take as much as you like." The worker took just one coin. He didn't want more than he had earned. He leaned over the well for a drink, and the coin slipped from his hand and sank. He didn't cry or grumble. "I'll just work harder," he said.

The next year the same thing happened. In the third year he worked so well that his master's wheat grew tall and his cows grew fat. Again the worker took one coin, and again he went to the well. This time the coin didn't sink, and the two lost coins floated up to meet it.

With three coins in his pocket, he set off to see the world. In a field a mouse ran up. "Dear friend, give me a coin. Someday I'll help you." He gave it. In the forest a beetle asked the same, and he gave one too. By the river a catfish asked, and he gave his very last coin.

At last he reached the city. There stood the palace, and at the window sat Princess Nesmeyana, looking straight at him. He was so startled that everything went dim before his eyes, and he toppled right into the mud. Out of nowhere came his friends. The mouse helped him out of his muddy coat. The beetle polished his boots. The catfish, with his long whiskers, shooed away the flies.

The princess watched the tiny mouse, the busy beetle and the fussing catfish, and she burst out laughing.

"Who made my daughter laugh?" asked the tsar. "I did!" said one suitor. "I did!" said another. "No," said the princess, and pointed out of the window. "That man did."

The worker was brought to the palace, and he stood before the tsar looking like a fine young man. And the tsar kept his promise.

The folk motif: ATU 559 and its cousins

Folklorists call this plot ATU 559, "Making the Princess Laugh", also known as "The Dungbeetle". Stith Thompson explained the nickname: a dung beetle turns up in nearly all versions. In the Russian tale the insect is simply a beetle, the one that polishes the boots. In the East Slavic catalog the same plot is type 559, "Nesmeyana-tsarevna", named after this very tale.

The idea of a princess who won't laugh travels widely. In the Grimms' The Golden Goose (No. 64, type ATU 571), a princess who has never laughed bursts out at the sight of people stuck in a line behind a goose.

Culture.ru notes that the earliest literary version of the unsmiling princess was written down by the Italian Giovanni Sercambi at the end of the fourteenth century, and that Norse myth has the giantess Skadi, who agrees to make peace only after Loki makes her laugh.

The Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp wrote a whole essay on the tale, "Ritual Laughter in Folklore", arguing that laughter in such stories was once linked with life and growth. Culture.ru points to a detail that fits his idea: the worker's labor makes his master's wheat and cattle thrive.

Game: Make the Princess Laugh (ages 4–8)

You need: a chair "throne" with a blanket, a paper crown, a small basket and about ten buttons or pasta shells as "coins". Two to six players, plus an adult as the royal herald.

Rules:

1. One player wears the crown and becomes the Unsmiling Princess (or Prince). Her job is to keep a straight face.
2. Everyone else is a visitor. Each visitor gets one turn of up to 30 seconds to make the princess laugh. The herald counts the time out loud.
3. Allowed: funny faces, silly walks, animal impressions, nonsense songs, a toy that "talks". Not allowed: touching or tickling, and jokes about anyone in the room.
4. If the princess smiles or laughs, she gives the visitor a coin, which goes into the shared basket.
5. When every visitor has had a turn, the crown moves to the next player. Play until everyone has been the princess once.
6. At the end, count the basket together. All the coins belong to the whole court and buy one shared "royal feast", a snack everyone eats together, so nobody loses.

For ages 4–5: let an adult be the first princess and give in quickly. Keep turns to 15 seconds, and have the herald suggest ideas: "Be a mouse brushing a coat!"

For ages 6–8: add a silent round, where visitors may only mime. Or play the tale's own helpers: one visitor acts the mouse taking off a coat, one the beetle polishing boots, one the catfish shooing flies, and the princess guesses who is who.

Kindness rules: we laugh with people, never at them. The princess can call "royal pause" at any time. Some children hate being stared at; they can hold a teddy as the princess and be its "royal voice".

Talk about the tale

• Why did the worker take only one coin when he could have taken a whole sack?
• Why did the mouse, the beetle and the catfish come to help him?
• Is it OK not to feel like smiling? What helps you when you feel gloomy?
• The princess was promised as a prize. What do you think she wanted?

The 2026 film

In Russia, a live-action film called Tsarevna Nesmeyana opened in cinemas on 1 October 2026. It is directed by Vasily Rovensky, with Slava Kopeikin as Erema, a modern sales manager who falls into a fairy-tale kingdom, and Anastasia Krasovskaya as the princess. According to reviews in Film.ru and T-J, both published 2 October 2026, Erema joins the contest to make the princess laugh because his way home is hidden in her palace. Later he has to rescue her from the Vodyanoy, a water spirit. Most of the plot is new, and both reviews were negative. This summary relies on those reviews.