Clever Princess, Lazy Prince, Russian Feel Fairy Tale

I thought this was Vasilisa the Clever, but I'm not having any luck with that title.

This isn't Vasilisa the Beautiful/Wise, with her going to Baba Yaga's Hut to get fire for her evil stepsiblings and being helped by the doll in her pocket.

This one has a lazy entitled prince who finds an industrious girl (a weaver) and loves her, but she won't marry him because he hasn't done anything - he's "just" a prince.

He ends up becoming strong (hunting) clever (studying) and loving (doing things for her that he doesn't want to), and eventually wise (doing things he doesn't want to do because he realizes they are good for him) and she accepts his proposal. They rule together in goodness and harmony and yadda yadda... until he gets kidnapped by bad guys and held prisoner.

He weaves a message into a rug for them to sell to the Princess, she realizes that it's a hidden message from him, and goes in with guns (figuratively) blazing to the rescue.

I figure it's a "new" fairy-tale style story, because the girl is the hero, and the prince is the one growing as a character, but I can't find it using any of my keyword searching.

I remember some really pretty illustrations, and the rescue at the end had her on a rearing white horse brandishing a sword and everything.

The illustrations/tone of the stories was sort of Russian/Turkish blend. Lots of baggy pantaloons, turban-hats, I think he was a tsar instead of a prince - that sort of thing.

Help?

I'm afraid I'm not familiar with your story. It sounds extraordinarily awesome, and it reminds me of a blend between Tanith Lee's short story, "Prince Amilec" and Jay Williams' "Petronella" (both in Don't Bet On the Prince). There are some very nice, fairly modern illustrated collections of Clever Princess tales around. Maybe check out Not One Damsel in Distress or The Serpent Slayer?

If we have no luck finding your story here, you might want to try querying the Fairy Tales Retold group.

That story sounds really familiar to me. I googled a bit and found The Fabrics of Fairytale which includes a story called "Clever Anaeet". The review says "a clever king saves his own life by weaving a secret message into a rug". There are some images of the illustrations on Amazon.

Clever Anaeet sounds like it could have been the source story, but the one I recall was a solo picture book, not in a collection of tales.

Thanks for that link tho - Fabrics of Fairytale sounds like a really interesting collection! It's on my ILL list at the library now!

Ok! How about A Weave of Words?

Barefoot books (the publisher of The Fabrics of Fairytale) also did a podcast of this story, so if that helps jog your memory, it's here:
http://www.barefootbooks.com/story/childrens-crafts-activities/podcast/

(sorry - your reply to bluesalamanders didn't come up until after I posted this! You might still listen to the podcast though, to see if it's the right story - if it is, it's an Armenian folktale, which might help track it down.)

I am about 95% sure that A Weave of Words is it! I don't know how I got that mixed up with Vasilisa the Clever... sheesh!

I'll have it in hand probably after the weekend, so I'll confirm for sure then.

Thanks millions, bluesalamanders!

Also, 6 - the barefoot books website is so nice. I love their publishing ethos anyway, and most of their published work is quite good - even though I'm pretty sure it's A Weave of Words, I'll have to check that podcast out anyway. I love seeing how folktales get modified or expanded, so I'm curious to see how much of what I remember is part of the original fairytale!

ETA - It may also be The Golden Bracelet, as that title rings a bell, but the illustrations don't seem to match as closely to what I remember. I'll get it also and see which it is.

Always glad to be able to help, Rowan :)

Weave of Words was it - so pretty, and I'm so glad to have it marked down again!