If you love animated cartoons, you’ve likely watched one of the episodes of the Masha and the Bear cartoon series, where the small girl lives in the forest with the bear, and together they do funny situations.
Masha and the Bear is a Russian television series consisting of five seasons. It is one of the most-watched series in the world, with one of its episodes getting 4.4 billion views in 2021, making it one of the most-watched works on YouTube of all time.
Masha is a three-year-old girl who lives in the forest with her animals - a dog, a pig, and butterflies.
Masha’s story began with the small girl with crimson hair who lived in a house near a railway station. Near her house, there was a path leading to the bear Mishka’s house.
In the series, Masha’s parents don’t appear, nor do her friends’ parents. In the first episode, it appears that all the forest animals are afraid of her because she constantly forces them to play with her. Then Masha sees a butterfly and unintentionally follows it into the bear’s house, which had gone hunting.
While playing there, Masha caused great chaos. When the bear returned and saw the disaster Masha had caused, he tried to get rid of Masha but didn’t succeed because Masha loved him very much and loved playing with him. Mishka and Masha became friends.
In every episode, Masha tries to explore the world around her by doing many funny situations with the bear, who becomes a victim every time of her unintentional mistakes. Among the other characters in the Masha and the Bear series are “Dasha,” a penguin that the bear adopted, and two wolves who live in an ambulance car, and a small panda cub from China. Other animals also appear in the forest, such as squirrels and rabbits.
The True Story of Masha and the Bear
While the series director stated that he met a small girl on the beach named Masha and that everyone loved her at first, then later started to dislike her because of her excessive activity, as she caused them a great chaos.
But in reality, Masha’s story is an ancient folk story with a sad ending. Some say that the character of Masha was created to commemorate a small girl who lived in a small house, and a wandering circus came to camp near her house. When the girl saw the bear cage, she approached it to play with him, and the bear killed her.
Masha and the Bear in Russian Folklore
But besides the story of the director who met a small girl on the beach and the story of the circus girl, there is also mention that the series is taken from Russian folklore. The Russian folk story tells about a small girl named Masha who lived with her grandparents near the forest.
One day, some of Masha’s friends came to her house to invite her to gather mushrooms and berries. When Masha saw her friends coming, she asked her grandparents for permission to go to the forest with her friends.
Her grandfather and grandmother gave her permission and advised her to always stay close to her other friends, otherwise she might get lost.
After arriving in the forest, Masha and her friends began searching for mushrooms and berries. Masha was very busy gathering mushrooms and berries and didn’t realize she had separated from her friends. When she realized she was alone, Masha began calling for her friends, but there was no answer.
Masha walked along the forest until she finally found a small cottage. She knocked on the door, but there was no answer. Masha pushed the door and entered, sitting on a bench near the window without knowing who lived in the cottage.
When night fell, the bear returned to the house. When he saw Masha in his home, he was happy and said: “Now I won’t let you leave. You’ll stay here and become my servant.” Upon hearing this, Masha became sad, and from that moment, the girl became a servant to the bear.
The bear would go to the forest every day and return at night. He never allowed Masha to leave without him, threatening her that he would eat her if she didn’t obey. So Masha sat and thought about how to get away from the bear’s house. After a while, she reached an idea to escape.
That day, when the bear returned from the forest, she asked him to allow her to go to her village because she wanted to give her grandparents good food. But he refused to let her go. After her insistence, he agreed that he would deliver the food to her grandfather himself. Masha agreed and started making some pies, then put them in a large basket. Before the bear left, Masha advised him not to open the basket while walking on the path and not to eat the pie. She told him she would watch him from the oak tree at the house.
Masha told him that he should go to make sure the weather wasn’t raining before leaving. When the bear went, the small girl quickly jumped inside the food basket and covered herself with the pie.
The bear continued walking until he got tired and thought about sitting and resting and eating the pie he had brought. Masha spoke to the bear from inside the basket and said to him: “I can see you. Don’t sit and don’t eat my pie. Give my pie to my grandparents.”
The bear thought that Masha had sharp sight because she had seen him from the tree and from a very long distance. He continued walking until he reached the grandfather and grandmother’s house and called them to open the door because he was carrying something Masha had sent to them.
But the village dogs had smelled the bear, who was sweating because of the journey, so they chased him. When the bear saw them, he left the basket at the house door and ran. When the grandfather and grandmother came and found the basket and opened it, they found Masha sitting well. They were very happy that she had returned home safely.