Letters and writings of Nicholas II and his family on Facebook
Nine year old Olga wrote this composition, The Crystal Star, for her tutor Petr V. Petrov in 1905. This is the story in translation.
The Crystal Star:
Chapter 1
Once upon a time, there was a Tsar and a Tsaritsa. They had no children. One time, the Tsaritsa fell ill and she had a daughter, Tamara. 20 years after her birth, her parents died. She was an orphan. Every day she went to the grave of her mother and father. One time, she was sitting and thinking, “how pitiful I am, I have no one; all the other children have everything they want. If I were the daughter of a star, how happy I would be.” No sooner had she thought this, then she found herself with the stars. She was very, very happy about this. She was with the stars every day. One day, she went for a walk and saw a star which told her, “In one year, you will have children who you must love.” Tamara was very happy and went back to her star. As it happened, in a year’s time, she had children whom she loved very much. Their names were: Lida, Elena and Zoya. She wanted to take her children for a walk with her, but the star told her, “Don’t take them with you because they are little.” She obeyed the star, “Dear star, may I go to the moon, which I dearly love?”
“You may, but you must be home by 12 o’clock at night.
Chapter 2
At 12 noon, she went to the moon. She had a lot of fun there. She completely forgot about her children. Suddenly, there was a crash of thunder and lightning flashed, and it was then she remembered her star. She rushed home, fed her children and went to her star.
Chapter 3
Sometime after that, Tamara took her children to the star who had told her she would have children. The star was overjoyed. Suddenly she saw something sparkling. Then she took little Zoya in her arms, Elena on her back and Lida by the hand and ran home to her star and said, “Dear Star, I saw something!”
“What did you see?” asked the star.
“I saw a flame.”
“A flame!” said the star, “but do you know what caused the flame?”
“No, I don’t!”
“It is a sign that you are very disobedient; I told you that you needed to come back to me by 12 at night that time that you went to the moon.”
Tamara began to cry bitterly. The star forgave her. Then she went out into the garden and picked flowers, and in one of the flowers, she found a tiny baby. She took it in her arms and hurried home. It was a little boy called Peter.
Chapter 4
Tamara had four children. In age they were Lida – 7, Elena – 7, Zoya – 7 and Peter – 1 year old. When they were 20, Tamara died. They were awfully grieved by it. On the third day after Tamara’s death, they buried her in the same place that her parents were buried.
O.N
Tsarskoe Selo
Above: Olga.
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