"BABUSHKA AND THE THREE WISE MEN" STORY
STORY, FOLKLORE, FOLKTALES, FAIRY TALES,
LEGENDS, MYTHS, NURSERY RHYMES and CLASSICS
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"BABUSHKA AND THE THREE WISE MEN" STORY
STORY, FOLKLORE, FOLKTALES, FAIRY TALES,
LEGENDS, MYTHS, NURSERY RHYMES and CLASSICS
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• Books about "Babushka & the Three Wise Men" - All Ages
• Toys and Games for Children -Babushka
• Gifts for all ages - Babushka
• SOS: Searching Out Stories about Babushka & 3 Wise Men"
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers,
Teachers and Librarians
BOOKS ABOUT "BABUSHKA AND THE THREE WISE MEN" - ALL AGES
Book titles are in blue and underlined. Click on them to find out more about the books and how to buy them.
To retell any stories, obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always credit your sources.
Alphabetized for your convenience with short descriptions to save you research time.
Babushka
by Sandra Ann Horn and Sophie Fatus (illus).
Babushka lives on her own in a cottage where everything is as neat as a pin. But she is so busy cleaning and polishing that she hardly notices the miraculous events going on around her. Then a mysterious dream leads her to put her daily worries aside and venture out to find a special baby. On her journey, she learns that the more you give away in love, the more you will receive.
Readers of all ages and beliefs will be charmed and captivated by this poignant Russian folk tale. Children young and old will adore
Babushka: An Old Russian Folktale
by Charles Mikolaycak.
Retells the traditional tale of the old lady who, having missed her chance to take gifts to the newborn Christ Child, still wanders leaving gifts for all children in hopes that, one day, she will come upon Him.
Babushka Baba Yaga
by Patricia Polacco.
Wishing to be like the people she watches from the woods, Baba Yaga dresses herself in human clothing and covers her elfin ears with a scarf. Resembling any other grandmother or babushka, she is welcomed into the home of a young mother and quickly assumes the care of a child named Victor. She grows to love the boy, but when the other old women tell terrifying stories of the witch Baba Yaga, she returns to the woods with a heavy heart...
Babushka's Doll
by Patricia Polacco.
Natasha just wants to play on the swing now, not after the wash has been hung up to dry. She wants her soup now, not after the goats have been fed. Looking after Natasha keeps Babushka, Natasha's grandmother, very busy. Then, after lunch, Natasha notices a doll on Babushka's shelf...a doll Babushka tells Natasha she played with just once when she was a little girl. When Natasha plays with the doll she discovers just how tiring it can be to take care of a child who wants everything now.
Babushka's Mother Goose (Picture Puffins)
by Patricia Polacco.
As Polacco explains in an introductory note, she has written down some of the stories and rhymes she heard as a child sitting on her babushka's (grandmother's) lap and added to them some she created herself. Many of the rhymes are good, snappy fun. A rhyme about a Matroishka doll is especially successful, as are retellings of two of Aesop's fables. Polacco puts a nicer spin on the tale "Stone Soup," turning it into a story about sharing, and adds a poem about a "golden child" who "walks with God each day."
Magic Babushka (The): An Original Russian Tale
by Phyllis Limbacher Tildes (illus).
The ingredients of a folk tale are all there: A little magic. Some romance. The good winning over the bad. The triumph of a character that is loved.The author uses a challenging vocabulary, including unfamiliar Russian words that are carefully explained in an appendix. The writing is rich in description and, combined with the illustrations, create scenes easily imaginable.
Sasha And Babushka (Make Friends Around the World)
by Connie Evans and Vladimir Shptalnik.
It is Sashas birthday and her grandmother has a wonderful surprise planned for hera trip to Moscow.Join Sasha as she journeys by train to visit famous landmarks and attends a magical puppet show.
Babushka and the Pig
by Ann Trofimuk.
Reader: I felt this book was well written and should be back into print. Anyone who has read Babushka Baba Yaga will love this too. Please have Ms. Trofimuk give us more.
Babu's Babushka (History Starts Here)
by Bronwen Desena and Browen Desena and Linda Hali Zucker (illus).
As it is blown from her cottage to town and out to sea, an old Ukrainian peasant woman's magical scarf brings good fortune to all who find it.
TOYS AND GAMES FOR CHILDREN - BABUSHKA
''Babushka'' Wooden International Chess Game Set
by Sunrise Handicrafts
This delightful chess set is a wonderfully detailed collectible with each Russian character piece carved of solid wood. Each chess piece is individually handcrafted. Folding Birch wood chess board stows away your chess pieces inside when your not playing.
Jerusalem Babushka (Nesting Dolls) Vtbb1
by Menorah.com
Artist -Yair Emanuel. Hand Painted wood. 6 Nesting dolls. Made in Israel. 6.3" x 2.6"
Babushka Figures Nesting Dolls By Yair Emanuel Vtbb2
by Menorah.com
Artist -Yair Emanuel. Hand Painted wood. 6 Nesting dolls. Made in Israel. 6.3" x 2.6"
GIFTS FOR ALL AGES - BABUSHKA
• Art Poster Print - Girl in Red Babushka - Artist: unknown- Poster Size: 28 X 19
by ASuperShop.
Girl in Red Babushka 28 X 19 inches. High Quality Art Work. ASuperShop sells over 300,000 different art pieces. Browse our store for framed and unframed posters and shop for all your art needs at ASuperShop. This Girl in Red Babushka is made with High Quality Poster paper and is made for years of enjoyment. Note: This item is not available for express shipping.
• Rabbit Moon Endearing Babushka Short Dress
by Rabbit Moon.
Adorable little short dress by Rabbit Moon for infant girls features ric rac trimmed empire waist, wrists and hem, sweet slightly puffy sleeves and Russian doll print. Fine interlock knit of 100% premium combed cotton.
SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES ABOUT "BABUSHKA AND THE THREE WISE MEN"
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)
Book titles, movie titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more information.
Story and song titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Posts are added chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World
1) I found the story, Babushka and the Three Wise Men, in the book Christmas Fairy Tales
selected by Neil Philip, editor. It is called a Russian legend. Is Babushka a Russian name? I thought it was German. The gist of the story is: The three wise men following the star to find the Christ Child stop at Babushka's cottage asking for food and shelter. She willingly takes them in. They invite her to go with them to find the Babe, but she says she has to clean the cottage, find her Sunday best clothes, select a gift and on and on. They leave without her and she promises she will follow as soon as she has things ready for the trip. By the time she is ready the star has moved across the sky and disappeared and although she sets out on the trip she gets lost and never finds the Christ child. That is why she leaves gifts in children's stockings today -- she is still searching for the Little One in every house where there are children.
2) I always thought "babushka" meant "grandmother" in Russian, but I could be wrong. This also sounds like another folktale where the old woman is named something like Belena. It is along the very same lines. This is a lovely tale of St. Nicholas that teaches a lesson about generosity. It might be something you could use for this telling. Aaron is very generous with his permission to tell. He also has the story out in book form and the illustrations are lush and gorgeous. It would make a wonderful holiday gift for any child.
GOS #7 ~ The Baker's Dozen
http://www.aaronshep.com/storytelling/GOS07.html
Another story is Dan Keding's tale of The Best Wish. You can find it in the Nov/Dec 2001 - Sacred Stories issue of Storytelling Magazine. Dan is also very generous with his permission to tell. I shared this story last Thanksgiving, with his permission, and the children still talk about it. Another story with a lasting lesson about generosity and what is important in life.
http://www.dankeding.com/
3) This from the AOL dictionary.
Main Entry: ba·bush·ka
Pronunciation: b&-'büsh-k&, -'bush-
Function: noun
Etymology: Russian, grandmother, diminutive of baba old woman
Date: 1938
1 a : a usually triangularly folded kerchief for the head b : a head covering resembling a babushka
2 : an elderly Russian woman
4) http://www.dwarfnet.com/christmas/northpole.shtml
Click on stories, then "Baboushka"
Babushka is a traditional Christmas figure who distributes presents to children. Her name means grandmother and the legend is told that she declined to go with the wise men to see Jesus because of the cold weather. However, she regretted not going and set off to try and catch up, filling her basket with presents. She never found Jesus, and that is why she visits each house, leaving toys for good children.< It is a Russian story.
5) In Italy [and perhaps north into central Europe] her name is Befana. I have seen several versions of her story. Tomi diPaola illustrated a version that is currently in print. Some connect her with the kitchen witch good luck figures. Often we will pair that story with a Finnish version of the Christmas spider story.
6) For what it's worth, I am quite sure that it's baBUSHka, and that Babushka is the Russian word for big head-scarf, and grannies are called that because they wear them. I was right about the pronunciation and the meanings, but, it looks like the headscarves are named after the grannies who wear them, not the other way around; baba is Russian for old lady, ushka is the affectionate diminutive. Here's the link
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=Babushka
7) From the New York Times: As a number of participants at the conference demonstrated, the presence or absence of a grandmother often spelled the difference in traditional subsistence cultures between life or death for the grandchildren. In fact, having a grandmother around sometimes improved a child's prospects to a far greater extent than did the presence of a father. Dr. Ruth Mace and Dr. Rebecca Sear of the department of anthropology at University College in London, for example, analyzed demographic information from rural Gambia that was collected from 1950 to 1974, when child mortality rates in the area were so high that even minor discrepancies in care could be all too readily tallied. The anthropologists found that for Gambian toddlers, weaned from the protective balm of breast milk but not yet possessing strength and immune vigor of their own, the presence of a grandmother cut their chances of dying in half. "The surprising result to us was that if the father was alive or dead didn't matter," Dr. Mace said in a telephone interview. "If the grandmother dies, you notice it; if the father does, you don't."
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/05/health/aging/05GRAN.html
8) As a Befana impersonator, I can tell you that she is still active in Italy. She gives the "good" children she finds candies, oranges and nuts and the "bad" children get coal. When I lived in Italy I used to dress up as her for my cousins. She comes at the Epiphany when you're supposed to get gifts and the reason for the candy and such is that she is going to find a newborn and everyone knows you never go without a present for the baby. We always thought of her as a scary extra Nonna. She can be found by other names in most Eastern European nations, her 'witchness' varies by country. In Italy she is definitely a Stregga which is not bad, as Streggas, like most people, come in good and bad varieties, you just have to meet them on- on-one before you decide.
Created 2003; last update 7/10/09