"Three fair maiden late one night, sat and spun by candle-light." They were idly talking about what each of them would do if the Tsar married her. One said that she would prepare a feast for the whole country. The other promised to weave linen for the hold world. And the third sister said that she would give the Tsar "an heir, handsome and brave beyond compare."
It so happened that the Tsar overhead their conversation, and at the last one's words, he entered the room and asked the third to be his tsarina. The other two were taken to the palace as a cook and weaver. That very night the wedding took place and the young wife conceived a son. "Bitterly the weaver sighed, and the cook cried in anguish, full of jealously and hate for their sister's happy fate." A few months alter, the Tsar had to go to war. He embraced his wife, "bidding her to take good care of herself and their heir."
In due time a son born, and a rider was sent to the Tsar Saltan with the good news. However, the two sisters, with the assistance of an old woman named Babarikha, kidnapped the rider and sent another in his stead with a message telling the Tsar that the Tsarina had born "not a son, not a daughter, not a mouse, not a frog, but an unknown little creature." The news struck Saltan with grief and anger. He wanted to hang the messenger, but his good nature prevailed and he wrote a letter instructing his wife to refrain from any steps until his return. The schemers met the rider on his way back, got him drunk and replaced the letter from the Tsar with another one ordering the young woman and her baby to be put into a cask and thrown into the sea.
When it sea floating in the sea, the little boy grew bigger and stronger with every hour. He begged the waves to spare them and bring him and his mother to dry land. The waves pitied them and washed the cask onto a deserted island. The son stood up on his toes, stretched as high as he could, thrust his against the lid, burst it open and out he slid. From an oak branch he made a bow, took a twig and sharpened it into an arrow, then went hunting, for he and his mother were very hungry. Wandering along the seacoast he heard a screech and saw a white swan pursued by a black hawk ready to bury his sharp into swan's neck. The lad shot his arrow and the hawk fell into the water and drowned. The swan swam up to him and said that he had killed a wizard and his kind deed would be repaid. The hunter returned to his mother and they fell asleep hungry and thirsty. In the morning they opened their eyes and saw a wonderful spacious city. Bells were pealing. People cheered and crowned the young man as Prince calling him Gvidon.
When a merchant ship came into sight, the city's cannons made it come to shore. Gvidon bade the merchants be his guests, asked them what they had for sale, whither they were bound and whence they hailed.
"Your Majesty, we have sailed the seven seas. We are going eastward past the island of Buyan to tsardom of Saltan." The prince asked the merchants to convey his deepest respects to Tsar Saltan.
The sawn came swimming up to him and inquired why he was looking like a gloomy, cloudy day. He missed his father and longed to see him. The swan splashed him with water and Gvidon turned into a mosquito who overtook the ship at sea and hid himself in a crack of the mast.
Tsar Saltan greeted the merchants on their arrival asking them where they had been and what wonders they had seen. The sailors told him of the beautiful white-walled city with gold-domed churches, which had appeared on an island where nothing but an oak had grown before and of the hospitable Prince Gvidon who reigned there and had sent his deepest respect to Tsar Saltan.
"If God makes my days long, I'll visit the strange isle and stay with this Gvidon a while." But the two sisters, as well as old Babarikha, did not want to let him go. They pretended that there was nothing to marvel at in the sailor's story. The wonder worth speaking of is that of squirrel sitting under a fir-tree, cracking golden nuts with kernels of pure emerald and singing a song. "That's a wonder, to be sure!" The mosquito got angry, strung the old woman's right eye and flew homewards. On the shore Gvidon told the swan about the wonder he would like to possess. Entering his courtyard he saw there beneath a fir-tree the very squirrel he had heard talk of. The young ruler ordered a crystal house to be built for it, stationed a guard outside it and a scribe as well to record every shell.
Another ship came to the island. Gvidon welcomed it, fed its crew with fine food and wine and to his questions they answered that their way lay past the island of Buyan towards the tsardom of Saltan. He sent his deepest respects to Tsar Saltan, and hastened to the shore where the swan turned him into a fly.
The sailors told Saltan about the wondrous squirrel in a crystal house in Gvidon's castle, conveyed his greetings and an invitation to the Tsar Saltan to come and be his guest on the island. Saltan expressed his desire to visit Gvidon and see his wonders. The two sisters and Babarikha again made fun of sailors' story. The guests wisely did not argue with the women who continued talking about the "real wonder" of the ocean when it swells in thunder and thirty-three knights, each as handsome as the next, rise out from the waves led by old Uncle Chernomor. Gvidon became very angry with the schemers and in his disguise as a fly strung Babarikha'a left eye, then flew away across the sea. The Prince wished to have a miraculous knights on his island. "These sea-knights, Prince, are my brothers one and all," said the swan, so when he arrived home the knights met him at the city gates and reported that they had been sent by their sister to guard his fair city.
With next ship Gvidon travelled to his father as a bumble-bee. The Tsar was delighted to hear the sailor's story and receive Gvidon's invitation and compliments. His desire to see the wonders and enjoy the hospitality of the Prince was greater than ever. Nevertheless, the schemers succeeded in persuading him that there was another wonder in the world more worthy of His Majesty's attention. There lives a princess over the seas. One can't stop gazing when once one has caught sight of her. "Brighter than the sun at noon, she outshines the midnight moon. In her braids a crescent beams; on her brow a bright star gleams. When she speaks her voice seems like the music of stream…"
The bumble-bee in outrage sat on Babarikha's nose, where a huge bump sprang up at once. Panic arose in the chamber. Servants tried to hit the bumble-bee, but he flew out of the window and safely returned to his realm.
Sadder, than ever, the young prince reached the shore and in answer to swan's question complained that all youths married and he was still alone. "Who is it you wish to wed?" asked the swan. "People say there is a princess over the seas…" The swan remained silent for a while and then said, "True, there is a princess. But a wife is no mitten one can simply cast from ones hand…" and advised him to think it over so as not to regret his step later on. The young man declared that he had thought it over many times and was ready to go to the end of the world in search of the wondrous princess. The bird sighed and said that there was no reason to go so far: "Your fate is quite near. I'm that same princess, my dear." She flapped her wings and turned into the beautiful maiden people had been talking about. Gvidon embraced her full of joy and after his mother's blessing they married.
When a ship came to the island Gvidon asked the sailors to remind Tsar Saltan of his invitation and remained at home delighted in his honeymoon.
Saltan listened to the sailors' story then in defiance of both his sisters-in-law and Babarikha ordered his fleet to prepare for the voyage.
The cannons roared a salute to Saltan's picturesque fleet. The Tsar went ashore. The Thirty-three knights formed the guard of honour. The Tsar was impressed by the wonders, but the greatest wonder of all for him was being reunited with his wife. He embraced her, kissed his son and son's wife, and as happens in many Russian fairy tales, all sat down to a grand feast.

(Based on Pushkin's "Tale of Tsar Saltan, his Son, the Glorious and Mighty Knight Prince Gvidon Saltanovich and the Fair Swan Princess". English language retelling was done by Vadim Shchanitsyn)