Once there lived a good man. His wife died leaving him with three daughters. He wanted to hire a housekeeper but his younger daughter Masha said that she herself would keep house. She was doing well, and the father was pleased with her. Her sisters, however, were lazy. Their only concern was dress, and they spent much time looking in the mirror.
One the father was going to the market and asked his daughters what they wanted him to buy for them. The elder daughters wanted to have shawls painted with gold. Masha was silent and did not ask for anything. "What shall I buy for you, my dear Masha?" asked her father. "I would like a feather of Finist the Bright Falcon," she answered.
The father bought the shawls but was unable to find a Finist feather.
Next time when the father was making ready to go to the market his elder daughters asked him to buy boots with silver tracks. His youngest one again asked for a Finist feather. The man bought the boots but could not find a feather. He was upset, and Masha tried to console him, "Never mind, father. Perhaps you will have better luck next time."
A third time he also managed to buy for the elder ones what they wanted, but as for the feather, nobody at the market had ever heard of the falcon Finist. When he was leaving the town he came upon an old man. They greeted each other, and the old man asked where he was going and why he was upset. The father told the story about the falcon feather. The old man said he had the sought after feather and could indeed give it to a good man.
The father looked at the feather, saw nothing unusual and took it home with him.
All his daughters were glad to receive their presents. The elder sisters began to laugh at their young sister's choice. Masha paid no attention to them and went to her room. When everybody was asleep she threw the feather on the floor and said: "My dear Finist, my Falcon, come to me, my beloved bridegroom!" And a young handsome man appeared before her. Next morning he struck the floor, turned into a falcon and flew away through the window.
For three days they met, but on the fourth day the sisters overhead them talking and stuck knives and needles in the window. When the falcon came flying to see Masha, she was asleep. He struggled and struggled but could not get onto the room; he only cut his wings. She woke up when he was saying, "Before you can find me you will wear out three pairs of iron shoes and three iron hats and three cast-iron staffs."
Masha sprang up out of bed, looked at the window: there was no falcon. All she could find were drops of blood trickling from knives and needles. Masha cried till her tears washed the blood drops from the window and then went to her father.
Her father was upset, but nevertheless, let her go on her long journey. She had three pairs of iron shoes, three iron hats and three cast-iron staffs made set out to seek Finist the Bright Falcon. She walked and walked through fields, woods and over high hills. Her heart was filled with the singing birds and murmur of brooks, and the wild beasts in the forests caressed her. She had worn out one pair of iron shoes. An iron hat and broken a cast-iron staff before she came to a little hut standing on chicken legs where Baba-Yaga (an old witch in many Russian Fairy Tales) lived.
"What are you doing here, my dear?" asked the witch.
"I'm looking for Finist the Falcon."
"Oh, you'll have to seek him for a long time over the hill and a long way off. He had been bewitched by a tsarina who has made him marry her. But we'll help you. Here is a silver plate and a golden egg. Go now to my sister."
When Masha had worn out the second pair of shoes, the second hat and broken the second staff she came to a hut where another witch lived, who gave Masha a silver embroidery frame, a golden needle and sent her to the third sister. When the third pair of shoes, the third hat and third staff was worn out Masha found herself in the third witch's company. She gave Masha a silver spinning wheel and a golden spindle and explained her how to get to the palace where the Bright Falcon lived.
"Ask the Tsarina to hire you as her serving maid and do not sell the things we have given you. Ask to see the Falcon in exchange for the goods."
So the maiden became a servant in the Tsarina's palace. The Bright Falcon soared in the skies all day long, returning only at nightfall. He sometimes saw Masha but did not recognize her.
After her day's work Masha went to her days room, took the silver plate and the golden egg and said, "Roll, roll the golden egg on the silver plate. Show me the face of my beloved Falcon."
After these words he appeared on the plate. Masha looked at him and her eyes streamed with tears. "My Bright Falcon, why did you leave me alone?"
TheTsarina saw by chance the plate and the egg and asked the maid to sell them.
"No, I can't sell them. I can only make a present of them, if you let me see your husband."
TheTsarina thought for a while and then agreed. Night descended. Masha went to her bedroom and saw the Finist was asleep. She looked at him and kissed him ardently, but he did not awake.
The next day she worked as usual, but at night she took the silver embroidery frame and the golden needle and started to embroider a towel for her beloved.
The Tsarina saw the precious things and asked the maid to sell them. Masha would not, but gave them to the Tsarina on the same conditions as before. Again she saw the Falcon sleeping soundly and could not wake him.
She understood that her beloved had been given a sleeping potion and, nevertheless, agreed to part with her last possessions. In despair she entered the bedroom and started to cry: "My beloved Bright Falcon, wake up. Rise!", her tears fell down on his check and he….awoke.
"Is it you, Masha? You have worn out three pairs of iron shoes, three iron hats and broken three cast-iron staffs and you did find me?"
They made ready to leave for home. The Tsarina announced that her husband betrayed her. The nobles of the country gathered to judge and punish him. He asked: "Which do you think is a true wife: the one who loves me or the one who sells me?"
The nobles agreed that Masha loved him and only she could be his wife. Both left the tsardom and never parted thereafter.

(Based on Russian folk tale. English language retelling was done by Vadim Shchanitsyn).