A king has three wonderful, princely sons. But none of them has a bride! So the king decides to fix the problem, and test their virtue at the same time. Each of them must shoot an arrow up into the sky. Wherever it falls, there they will find their bride. Poor Ivan, the third son, shoots his arrow straight into the swamp. But not only does he find a bride there, he also gets more than he ever bargained for...

In the analysis section, Nicholas Kotar explores the strange, but compelling fact that stories of talking animals appear in nearly every folkloric tradition since ancient times. What do these stories say about us? Might they be reflections of some deep, primordial desire for something we lost?