Old Peter's Russian tales

Blurb

Old Peter's Russian Tales is a collection of Russian folk-tales by Arthur Ransome, published in Britain in 1916.
The first chapter tells of Maroosa and Vanya who live in a hut of pine logs in the forest with their grandfather, the forester Old Peter. Their father and mother are both dead, and they can hardly remember them. Twenty stories told by Old Peter to the children follow, including The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship.
Ransome says in a Note at the beginning that The stories in this book are those that Russian peasants tell their children and each other. It was written for English children who play in deep lanes with wild roses above them in the high hedges, or by the small singing becks that dance down the grey fells at home.
Ransome had gone to Russia in 1913, to learn the language, and to escape from his first marriage. The book's introductory note says Vergezha, 1915. He had gone to Vergezha on the river Volkhov as a guest of Harold Williams and his wife Ariadna; to stay in her family home.
Ransome says in his autobiography that the English listeners know nothing of the world that in Russia listeners and storytellers take for granted.