мачехи ‘Stepmother’ (Nsg мачеха). Note the root ма(т)-.
падчерица ‘Stepdaughter.’ The root -дч-, in the middle, with the extension -ер-is the same as the root in дочь (Gsg дочери) ‘daughter.’
да In addition to its familiar meaning of ‘yes,’ да is also used as a colloquial equivalent of и. Note the somewhat corny folk saying about the modest food of Russian peasants: Щи да каша, пища наша ‘Cabbage soup and kasha are our food.’
родная ‘Her own.’ This adjective, derived from the root род ‘kin,’ is commonly used to refer to one’s own relatives.
что ни сделает ‘No matter what she might do.’ Note that this construction uses ни, and not не.
головке Note the diminutive, as is appropriate for the affectionate stroking of a beloved daughter’s hair. (Russian often uses head where English uses hair, e.g. мыть голову ‘to wash one’s hair.’)
как ни угождает — ничем не угодит ‘However she might try to please [her stepmother], she was unable to do so.’ Note the contrast of the imperfective to describe an (unsuccessful) attempt (the technical term for this is “conative”) and the negated perfective to describe the failure to obtain a result.
не так ‘Wrong.’
худо Dialect for плохо.
она бы как сыр в масле купалась An idiom that is roughly equivelent to English she would have lived in the lap of luxury.
Ветер хоть пошумит да затихнет, а старая баба расходится — не скоро уймется ‘The wind no sooner starts to gust than it quiets down, but when the old lady loses her temper, she doesn’t calm down quickly.’ The use of the perfective to indicate a sequence of events, even when they are repeated, is common; first the wind becomes noisy, then it quickly becomes quiet. Уняться is conjugated the same way as понять.
зубы чесать ‘Wag her tongue.’
согнать ‘Drive away.’
чтобы мои глаза ее не видали, чтобы мои уши об ней не слыхали Видать and слыхать are colloquial equivalents of видеть and слышать, respectively, and are commonly used with negation in the sense of so that my eyes might never see and my ears might never hear. The use of об instead of о before ней is not unusual, despite the general rule that об should be used before vowels and о before consonants.
трескун-мороз ‘The crackling [i.e., bitterly cold] frost.’
затужил ‘Grieved.’
сани ‘Sled.’ Although it refers to a single sled, this noun is always plural in form (cf. English pants, scissors.
попонкой ‘Horse blanket’ (Nsg попона, dim попонка).
и то ‘But then.’
бездомную The nameless good daughter is described as homeless because she has been evicted by her stepmother.
свалил ‘Dump’ (here).
сугроб ‘Snow drift.’
дочерниной In addition to the familiar use of the genitive to indicate possession (e.g., ложка кота), Russian may append the suffix -ин to a feminine noun (or -ов to a masculine one) to create a possessive adjective. These possessive adjectives observe a special declension pattern, and take the same underlying set of endings as третий, третья.
бедненькая Note the diminutive.
трясется ‘Shake, tremble’ (inf трястись).
попрыгивает-поскакивает ‘Would leap and jump.’ The repetition of the two verbs is a common colloquial way of indicating engagement in a repeated activity.
красную ‘Red’ in modern Russian but ‘beautiful’ in folk texts. Cf. красная площадь ‘Red Square.’
знать ‘It seems.’ This is not the verb ‘to know,’ although it is spelled the same way.
по мою душу грешную По may be followed by the accusative after a verb of motion to indicate motion in order to fetch something.
тукнуть ‘Bash.’
шубу ‘Fur coat.’ Fur coats are a sufficiently important article of clothing in cold Russian winters that they have their own term (that is, they are not just a type of coat).
подожмала ножки ‘Crossed her legs.’ Подожмать is a substandard equivalent of поджать.
Мороз пришел совсем не по душу Russian is much more likely than English to put the negative particle before the item actually being negated. While English might have he didn’t come for her soul, Russian would not negate the verb (since he did come), and negates instead the direct object (he came, [but] not for her soul).
сундук ‘Chest, trunk.’
полный всякого приданого ‘Full of her trousseau,’ that is, of things suitable for her trousseau.
Уселась ‘Took a seat’ (inf усесться). Not the root се(д) ‘sit.’
в шубочке на сундучке, такая веселенькая, такая хорошенькая! The use of diminutives is intensified as her situation becomes cosier.
нарядница ‘Elegant woman.’
поминки ‘Funeral feast, wake.’ Like сани, above, this noun is always plural in form, cf English matins, vespers.
напекла блинов ‘She baked a lot of pancakes.’ The genitive case is often used after verbs that have been prefixed with на- to indicate a large quantity.
Тяв, тяв! ‘Bow, wow.’ Russian dogs most typically go гав, гав.
Старикову дочь в злате, в серебре везут, а старухину женихи не берут! Note the possessive suffixes -ов- (for the masculine noun старик) and -ин- (for the feminine старуха). See the discussion of дочерниной, above. Злато is a poetic equivalent of золото.
На́ ‘Take this!’
одни Один means not only ‘one,’ but also ‘only, nothing but.’
все свое The verb is omitted here, but the sense is that the dog keeps doing what he was doing before, i.e., repeating the same words. Все is elliptical for все время.
растворилися ‘Spread open.’
несут No subject is specified. This impersonal construction is a very common Russian counterpart to the English passive ‘A chest was brought in.’
панья паньей сияет ‘A fine lady is as radiant as a fine lady should be.’ The use of the instrumental case here might be compared to the expression of intensification in давним давно ‘a very long time ago.’
руки врозь ‘Threw up her hands.’ Note the root роз/раз ‘different, other,’ meaning that she spread her arms apart, in opposite directions.
запрягай ‘Harness.’
хороших речей не дождал Literally ‘did not wait for any good words.’ The sense here is that when he didn’t hear any good words, he grew impatient and killed the girl.
лихих ‘Spirited’ (mNsg лихой).
запряги Inf запрячь, imperfective of запрягать, above.
повали ‘Overturn.’
оброни ‘Drop, lose.’
встреть Dialect for встречать.
заголосила ‘Wail’ (in mourning).