Who is Princess Nesmeyana?
Princess Nesmeyana is the heroine of a folk tale about a tsar’s daughter who never laughs. In the version from Alexander Afanasyev’s collection, she is finally amused by a scene with a worker and his animal helpers. Her name comes from this trait: Nesmeyana means roughly “the one who doesn’t laugh.”
In the tale from Afanasyev’s collection, Nesmeyana laughs at an unusual sight: a mouse, a beetle and a catfish helping a worker who has fallen into the mud. He had helped these animals earlier. For a story at home, keep the surprise and the help that goes both ways, and come up with your own reason to laugh.
About the story: “The Princess Who Would Not Smile” in Afanasyev’s Russian Folk-Tales, translated by Leonard Magnus (1915), on Project Gutenberg.
Invent a funny day for Nesmeyana
Our own activity ideas inspired by the story — for drawing, toys and telling stories aloud.
- Imagine a silly but kind day: the boots go for a walk without their owner, the teapot learns to dance, and the cat reads the menu upside down. Draw the funniest moment.
- Act out a party where everyone can choose what to do based on their mood. Someone wants to laugh, someone wants to hear a story, and someone wants to draw quietly.
Talk about it together: What makes a scene funny? Could you change it so that nobody’s feelings get hurt?
Let’s play!
Act out a funny scene with toys
Pick an everyday chore and add one silly twist: the cat cooks dinner in a hat, and the teapot hands out invitations. Don’t make the characters laugh on command; let the funny moment come out of the story on its own. For another opening, look at our story about an unusual ball.
A question about the heroine
Who made Princess Nesmeyana laugh?
In the tale from Afanasyev’s collection, the princess laughs when she sees a mouse, a beetle and a catfish fussing over a worker who fell into the mud. The animals help him because he helped them before.