Alexander is a 20 year old student at USC. He is currently a freshman, and is old for his grade because he spent an extra year in Russia, where he grew up his entire life. He said life there was very different and while he is good at English, he still struggles slightly as he is very new to the country. When I asked if there were any stories he learned growing up this is how he replied:

“There was a grandpa and grandma and they didn’t have children, the grandma decided to make kolobok, which is literally a round piece of bread, and made him alive, she baked him, he got bored, and she put him in the window, and he jumped out the window and went to the forest. And so he’s walking through the forest, and he first meets a rabbit, and the rabbit wants to eat him, and he’s like “oh I ran away from my grandma and my grandpa and I’m gonna run away from you” then he runs away. Then meets a wolf, and the wolf wants to eat him and says “I’m gonna give you a cookie come here” and then he says “I ran away from my grandma and grandpa, I’m gonna run away from you” so he runs away. Then he meets a fox, and the kolobok says “I ran away from my grandma and grandma, I will run away from you” and the fox says “I can’t hear you well, or see you well, can you come closer to me” and the kolobok comes closer and the fox eats him”

Alexander said this was the first story he learned, in fact he says it is the first story your mother tells you and he learned it when he was very young. He takes it now as a lesson to never run away from home, or trust the sly fox. I have never heard this story, but again within this story is the prominence of the number 3. The kolobok repeats the “I ran away from my grandma and grandma, I will run away from you” phrase 3 times before the story ends, and I see this in many stories all over. I also think this story has a good message and find it interesting that Alexander said that “this is the first story your mother tells you” as if she has to.