Жили-были A formulaic fairy-tale beginning, comparable to English “once upon a time.”
муж с женой Муж с женой is an alternative to муж и жена, and is common in folkloric texts.
прижили ‘Lived so they had (a child).’ Note the root жи(в), indicating a reference to life. This verb is sometimes used euphemistically for having sexual relations, cf. English lived with.
жена-то The suffixal particle -то is extremely common in folkloric and other colloquial texts. Its meaning is not so much lexical as pragmatic: 1) it is emphatic (‘that very woman I was just telling you about’), 2) it has a tinge of the definite article (‘the same woman’), and 3) it also suggests a change of focus in the sentence (from husband and wife to just wife), comparable to же.
помри This is an imperative (of inf помереть) used to convey a somewhat sudden or surprising past tense, comparable to ‘and she up and died.’ The prefix по- here is colloquial and archaic; in modern standard Russian one would say умерла.
прижил See the note to прижили, above.
невзлюбила Note the composition: не- indicates negation, вз- inception, and люб- love. The word thus means ‘conceived a dislike for’ or ‘came to hate.’
падчерицу ‘Stepdaughter.’ The root -дч-, in the middle, with the extension -ер-is the same as the root in дочь (Gsg дочери) ‘daughter.’
нет житья сироте ‘There was no life for the orphan,’ which is to say that her life was difficult. The Russian concept of orphan is different from ours; a сирота may have lost only one parent (as in this case), or both (which would make her a круглая сирота, or ‘round’ (‘complete’) orphan. The grammar here uses the dative to indicate the logical subject, comparable to something like ей было трудно.
Думал, думал The repetition of the verb is a comparable to English “he thought and thought.”
Едет Note that the narration shifts at this point from the perfective past tense into the historical present, as is also common in story-telling in English. This shifting of tense is used elsewhere in this story, as well. One might translate the transition between the preceding past tense and this use of the present as ‘… The peasant took his daughter into the forest. So they’re riding through the forest … .’
лесом The instrumental here indicates that they went through the forest.
избушка Note the use of the diminutive.
курьих Кура means ‘hen,’ and the form here is a special possessive that is common for animals, e.g., волчий, волчья ‘wolf’s’ or собачий, собачья ‘dog’s.’ These possessive adjectives are declined like the numeral третий, третья.
ножках Note the use of the diminutive.
Вот и говорит The вот и is comparable to English “So the man up and says.” It has a similar function in Избушка и поворотилась immediately after.
пряжи с короб ‘About a basketful of yarn.’ Approximate size or quantity is indicated by the preposition c followed by the accusative. The best-known example of this construction in Russian is мальчик с пальчик ‘Tom Thumb,’ that is, ‘a boy approximately the size of a thumb.’ Normally what one does with a spindle is spin raw fleece into yarn or thread (rather than wind yarn or thread that has already been spun), and when the mice later tell the girl to stretch a thread onto each spindle, they may be referring to a strand of fleece, rather than what we commonly understand as thread.
припасти ‘Store away.’ The root пас- is same as the one in пасти ‘pasture (one’s sheep)’ and спасти ‘save.’ The prefix при- is used here as it is in приготовить. The logical object of this verb may be accusative or genitive (as is the case here).
мышки Note the diminutive.
что Что is a common colloquial equivalent of почему.
кашки Note the diminutive. The form is genitive in the partitive sense of ‘give us some kasha.’
добренько ‘Something good.’ The -енько suffix is diminutive.
веретенце ‘Spindle.’
по ниточке ‘Stretch one thread per spindle.’ The preposition по with the dative indicates ‘per’; if the number is greater than one (e.g., two per spindle), по is normally followed by the accusative.
поди A colloquial alternative to пойди.
надавала ей разной сряды Сряда = одежда (both of which are always singular, like English ‘clothing’). The same root (meaning ‘order,’ cf. ряд, обряд, occurs in наряд ‘fine clothing.’ Note the use of the genitive for the substance of the reward.
красная ‘Red’ in modern Russian but ‘beautiful’ in folk texts. Cf. красная площадь ‘Red Square.’
пришедши ‘Having arrived.’ This is a perfective verbal adverb (gerund) of прийти.
мачеха ‘Stepmother.’ Note the root ма(т)-.
проведать ‘Find out.’ The roots вед- ‘learn’ and вид- ‘see’ are related etymologically, since both pertain to the acquisition of experience and knowledge.
богатая-пребогатая The prefix пре- means ‘very’, and the simple adjective is commonly combined with the intensified form in folk texts. Cf. the repetition in думал, думал, above.
Хам, хам, хам ‘Bow, wow, wow!’ Russian dogs more typically say гав-гав.
скалкой ‘Rolling pin’ (Nsg скалка). The verb is omitted here, but what is meant is that she hit the dog with the rolling pin.
все свое The verb is omitted here, but the sense is that the dog keeps doing what he was doing before, i.e., announcing the return of the “young lady.” Все is elliptical for все время.
Девка Девка and девушка both mean ‘girl,’ but the former is pejorative (sometimes only teasingly), as is appropriate for the unpleasant and lazy daughter, while the good daughter is девушка. The mice are typical fairy-tale testers, and initially approach both girls with the folkloric девица (which in standard Russian would mean ‘maiden,’ rather than just ‘girl’).
тое An alternative feminine accusative singular ending, cf. accusative её. This ending is very uncommon in standard Russian, which would use the regular ту here instead. The verb is omitted here, but the sense is that ‘she hit first this mouse with the rolling pin, and then that mouse,’ etc.
провозилась ‘Scolded’ (here).
дела-то See the comment on жена-то, above.
склала ‘Put together’ or ‘gathered,’ a prefixed form of класть.
одни Один means not only ‘one,’ but also ‘only, nothing but.’
лает ‘Bark’ (inf. лаять).
крылечке Note the diminutive (крыло ‘wing,’, крыльцо ‘porch’ [wing-like appendage on a hut], крылечко ‘little porch’).
тут-то See the comment on жена-то, above.
взвыла ‘Began to wail.’ The prefix вз- indicates inception. Выть is conjugated like мыть.
кринка ‘Crock.’ The more common form in modern Russian is крынка.