The Firebird Dialectical Journal

The scenario for Firebird, as adapted by Fokine, follows an old Russian folk tale. The Tsarevitch, Prince Ivan, is hunting the elusive Firebird, and during the night he wanders into a magical garden (Introduction). As he walks through the garden he sees the Firebird, a beautiful bird with dazzling plumage (The Firebird and her Dance and Firebird Variation). Ivan captures the Firebird, but agrees to let her go free, after taking one of her feathers as a trophy. At sunrise, Ivan meets thirteen princesses, who have come into the garden to dance and play with golden apples from the garden's orchard (Round-Dance of the Princesses). Ivan learns that the garden belongs to the evil magician-king Kaschei, who has enchanted the princesses, and who has the ability to turn his enemies into stone. The prince, now in love with one of the princesses, vows to enter Kaschei's castle and free his beloved. As soon as he

At first this White Wolf was distrusted by the others, but eventually they took her in and treated her as one of their own. The White Wolf was revered as a prize among the wolves, and she was taken as the Alpha female to the Alpha male. The White Wolf by this time had accepted her role in the pack, but she knew something was amiss. She did not age. She was as immortal as the Power that had created

One day, however, while walking along the seemingly familiar tangled paths on his way back to the kingdom, the Prince became lost. The patterns of dappled sunlight from the overhead canopy that he used as his map to navigate by kept changing their shapes, so as to mislead him farther into the woods. For, despite the fact that the old oak trees were the Prince’s companions, the forest itself was still an ancient, wild thing and, as with any beast, it liked to tease its prey. The Prince wandered until the sun fell into slumber and the stars from which he had gained his personage came out to dance. The copses that had once been a bright and soothing force, now held a darkness that the Prince had only ever heard of from the old oaks’ tales. Regardless of the terror that the night had struck all the way to his very core, the Prince had been taught to be brave and so, he continued to walk through the pitch until, by chance, he happened to come across a small cottage.

He worked up the courage and declared his love, in response he was met with the iron dove. An arrow pierced his throat, blood stained his princely coat. Sprechen stood over him, smiling fanatically. His breathing changed pace rather erratically. “W-why?” he choked. She smiled upon him when a crow landed near, “FOOD” the creature croaked. Sprechen looked above with muted laughter, she thought, “This prince will taste like my happily ever

There is symbolism here, for He is a wolf that cannot do anything to prevent this, showing that even a strong animal like a wolf still has weak moments. He now stays a wolf and time passes by. One day a king goes hunting around the same area that the knight goes to hunt. The king and the werewolf ran into each other and surprisingly the wolf had no intention of hurting the king, “here is a beast who has the sense of a man” (599). So the king takes him under his arm.

Many years passed. The Young Prince grew into a kind, smart, and handsome young man. When he became of age, he left his sad, little kingdom and began his quest for his Most Precious Thing.

Hans would hide under the bed and the wife would talk to the griffin about the key, the girl, and the tall man and when the griffin was asleep he would get one of his feathers. Then when the griffin leaves the next morning Hans can head back to the castle. When the griffin got home the wife had told him about all of the problems she was told about by a visitor and the griffin answered them all. When he had fallen asleep Hans plucked one of his feathers and waited until morning to leave. On his way back the tall man asked him if he found out anything and Hans said he would tell him after he had carried him across. Hans then told the man that the next person to show up at the lake you have to put them in the middle of it and you won’t have to carry anyone across again. On the back to the castle Hans fixed all of the problems he was asked to fix and was rewarded many things. When he arrived at the castle he brought the feather and all of the rewards he received to the king. Hans told the king that the griffin gave everyone whatever they wanted. The king then set out to meet the griffin, but when he arrived at the lake he happened to be the first person there since Hans left. So the tall man put him in the middle of the lake and drowned. Then Hans married the princess and became the new king. Eventually the king’s crown and robe were found in the lake by some guards, so they investigated and found his

As the trumpets sounded further back, Reina’s mare panicked again. The petite woman, guided her horse from the main footpath to allow the latest arrived party through. She certainly thought the trumpets were overkill, but as the voice announced the King had arrived, the entrance became more memorable rather than an annoyance. She gently ran her fingers against the mare’s face, soothing the animal. Her eyes however remained on the knights and the royalty. She sighed quietly, her father forbid her from hearing princess stories as she was growing up. Instead Reina was forced to read the stories herself, hiding the books from her parents. She had always wondered what life would be like living in a castle.

It was dark at the castle; Not a soul was awake. As the wind blew, the castle itself was snored. Nothing moved but a dark form on the fortress wall. It was a boy. Climbing over the wall, the prince sneaked to the open attic window. With the guards sleeping at their posts, it was child’s play. Agile as a squirrel, he darted into the attic. Inside the room beheld the Firebird, a majestic sun-eagle of gold. Withdrawing the Firebird, the boy stared at the pure golden cage, coveting it. A name was engraved on the handle, genommen*. Though the prince was warned against stealing it, his hand inched towards the cage then darted to grab the handle. As soon as he touched it, trumpets blared

The sun began to set on the hills and darkness crept across the land. It was not just the darkness of night coming, it was also from black clouds that were invading the sky. A strong wind started blowing and lighting started to flash across the sky. In that very moment , Fleance and Banquo felt threatened. The storm was a warning about danger to their lives. Banquo and Fleance decided to return back to the castle which was like a dark mountain in the distance. They rode quickly but because of the strong wind and the amount of lightning going around Banquo and Fleance, the horses got tired very easily.

So the king invited him for dinner so he had to get ready so he went to dinner the king ask him ,“What do you do.” And the wolf said he

Through Bella’s screams of terror, James’ laughter rang through the air around them as they watched the Alpha die. He turned his attention back to the girl, whose eyes were full fear and loathing. “Oh no worries, my sweet.” He smiled almost gently at her. “I’ve no such desire to have you as a mate. I only said that to push the mutt to phase….and it worked.” He smiled evilly. “However, I’m not one to pass up a bite.” His head descended to Bella’s neck but he hesitated when the sound of wolves could be heard in the distance, closing fast.

Overlooking the turquoise Torch Lake nestled on the side of a cliff sat the spectacular Petosky rock castle of the Native American Boone tribe. Prince Liwanu sat on a sweeping porch meditating on the refection of the sinking sun shooting magenta rays on the sparking water surface. A storm was imminent, delaying his trip to New Mexico. He was on a quest for an Indian princess to wed. A fat raindrop plopped on his nose and then as if the sky was a suitcase it dumped its watery contents on the world below. Running Drenched the prince escaped the deluge and entered by the sliding glass doors that led to the great hall. His mother looked up from her seat, by the blazing fire and smiled warmly at him. Her eyes twinkling eyes smiled, "Come, my

He decided then and there that he'd do almost anything to keep seeing that smile. Eventually then ended up in front of a tall heavy wooden door and she quickly kneeled down to begin picking the lock. The prince glanced around to try and figure out where he was, but this was a part of the castle he wasn't familiar with. The door sprang open and revealed a staircase spiraling up into darkness. Together they climbed the long winding stairway that seemed to go on forever. Finally they reached a landing with another tall door. The guard looked back and gave the prince a bright smile as she threw open the door that lead to a small room at the top of one of the castles tall spires. The kingdom sprawled out for miles all around them, fading in to nothingness at the horizon. Heavy clouds obscured the moon, so the prince had no idea what time it might be, though he could guess that it was very late. From somewhere in the shadows Mallory pulled a bottle of wine. After opening it and taking a small drink she handed it to the prince, still smiling. Then, for the first time, she spoke to him. She did her best to whisper, but she was loud without even trying, though this high above the castle it probably didn't

One day when the red warrior hunted the beast for its skin he saw a beautiful castle on the top of hill. He decided to investigate that castle by himself. He was aware of his step and with his terrified red horse he quickly arrived at the castle. It was a crowded castle, it seemed the castle was a wealthy land.