The Death of Koshchei the Deathless
Prince Ivan the Simple reflects on his late father, Prince Ivan the Bold, their similar appearances and dispositions. To his guest, he dismisses the tales of his supernatural abilities as invented by peasants.
Ivan tells of his father’s duty to arrange marriages for each of his three sisters: Marya, Olga, and Anna. A sensitive man, Ivan the Bold resolves to allow his siblings to choose their spouses.
A Prussian nobleman, Graf von Falkonstein, enters Ivan the Bold’s kingdom at the head of a militia. The Graf asks for Marya’s hand, and Ivan gives his blessing. A wedding ensues, and Marya departs for Castle Falkonstein. Unnerved by the experience, Ivan the Bold reinforces his fortress and fills his moat.
The King of Poland and his army march against Ivan the Bold and carry away Olga. Likewise, a regent of Hungary claims Anna as his own. Separated from his sisters by coercion, Ivan descends into despair.
Determined to be reunited with his family, Ivan sets out to visit his siblings. He leaves his estate, becomes lost, and stumbles upon the aftermath of a battle. Finding a Latvian soldier near death, Ivan the Bold learns of a crusading Prussian countess.
Ivan the Bold and his entourage are captured by the Prussian army. Separated from his men, Ivan is taken to an audience with the Countess von Falkonstein. In the darkness of her field tent, Marya fails to recognize her brother, and the pair conceives Ivan the Simple.
In the morning, Ivan and the Countess von Falkonstein recognize one another. With the Graf taken by illness, the pair resolve to hide their incestuous secret by marriage. Ivan and Marya marry at Castle Falkonstein and return to Prussia with their newborn son.
The Countess von Falkonstein leaves for the Baltics on a military campaign. Before departing, she instructs her husband not to open a locked door in the castle’s dungeon.
Disobeying his wife and expecting to find the Graf, Ivan unlocks the cell. He encounters an emaciated nobleman covered in tattoos who identifies himself as Koschei the Deathless, the captured king of the Latvians. Ivan releases Koschei and, motivated by their mutual dislike of the Prussians, the men strike a truce.
Koschei and Ivan set off from Castle Falkonstein to notify the countess of their arrangement. On encountering the Countess von Falkonstein in her camp, Koschei is smitten. The Latvian king steals several horses and abducts Marya. Ivan returns to Castle Falkonstein brokenhearted.
Several years pass before Ivan receives a letter from the Holy Roman Emperor demanding that his castle revert to the von Falkonstein line should the countess be deceased. Ivan writes to Koschei, reminding the king of their kinship and asking for proof that Marya is alive. Koschei invites Ivan to visit with him in Riga and to bring a bishop to document the countess’ well-being.
Koschei welcomes Ivan the Bold with great fanfare. The countess expresses her desire to return to Prussia, and Ivan’s troops set fire to Riga. Ivan the Bold flees with Marya for Castle Falkonstein, but Koschei overtakes them. Marya is recaptured and returned to Koschei, and Ivan the Bold retreats to Prussia.
Ivan musters an army and returns to Riga intent on making amends. Koschei imprisons Ivan for a year before releasing him. Ivan the Simple reflects on the Latvian king’s sobriquet and how the pagans believed their leader immortal.
