[Sharon, I know you are gonna love this one!]

I have the same problem with Russian fairy tales no matter how many collections of them I read. The stories are all pretty much the same: plot, characters, and phrasings. It is all so repetitive. The male hero is always a prince named Ivan. He is always the youngest child. He is always underestimated by his father. The female protagonist is always beautiful. She is always meek, kind, a good cook and maid, and really has no control over her fate. Animals always talk. There is always at least one witch who eats a lot. There are always jealous siblings. Things happen out of the blue, with little-to-no explanation. The young couples fall instantly in love and go on some harrowing journey, but they always lives happily ever after, for many, many years. If you've read three random Russian fairy tales, you've read all Russian fairy tales.

The translations always annoy me. They seem so literal, which makes for a clunky narrative. It's not poetic or artistic. It's more like a relaying of facts. Romance isn't romantic. Adventure isn't adventurous. Russian fairy tales are unemotional.

The Russians excel is so many things, including storytelling, but it seems like it is a talent they were not born with. It is a talent that evolved, and their fairy tales are the primitive cave paintings of Russian literature.