Tale of the Magic Pike

Here she has chosen to depict several scenes the popular Russian fairy-tale "By the Pike's Will" or "Emelya and the Magic Pike".
In short, this tale is about a young man who finds a special fish when he goes to get water from the river. In return for releasing her, the Magic Pike offers to fulfill Emelia's wishes. Being a lazy fellow, Emelya light-heartedly uses magic forces, asking the pike to help him to perform his chores while he relaxes. He orders his water-pails to go home by itself, which they do, much to the surprise of his sisters-in-law. Then he orders the sledge to go by itself to the nearest forest where his ax falls wood for the fire. Afterwards he gets to the tsar's palace, riding a stove. In the palace he meets the tsar's daughter and falls in love with her. The tale ends happily and finally Emelya marries the tsar's daughter.
The scenes depicted on the box shows key episodes from this tale: Emelya catches a Magic Pike by a bucket and Emelya sits on the stove that goes by itself straight to the Tsar's palace where he will meet the Tsar's daughter, his future wife. Lots of villagers are looking at Emelya with the impression and amazing of what happening.
The scenes are masterfully painted in Bykova's recognizable style. The details are enhanced with brilliant gold paint. The edges of the base are adorned with the tree trunks pattern painted over a gold metal leaf inlay.
The box's exterior is painted black while the interior is covered with red lacquer.
The box is constructed from paper-mache. The lid is hinged from the top of the scene, and the box rests on four legs. The work is signed with the artist name, Palekh and the title.