Kolobok
Overview
 
Kolobok is the main character of an East Slavic national fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...

 with the same name, represented as a small yellow
Yellow
Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, with no significant stimulation of the S cone cells. Light with a wavelength of 570–590 nm is yellow, as is light with a suitable mixture of red and green...

 spherical being.

The fairy tale is prevalent in Slavic regions in a number of variations. A similar fairy tale with a pancake
Pancake
A pancake is a thin, flat, round cake prepared from a batter, and cooked on a hot griddle or frying pan. Most pancakes are quick breads; some use a yeast-raised or fermented batter. Most pancakes are cooked one side on a griddle and flipped partway through to cook the other side...

 rolling off has also been recorded in German and Nordic regions. The plot is albeit similar to the The Gingerbread Man
The Gingerbread Man
The Gingerbread Man Thegingerbread Runner is the anthropomorphic protagonist in a fairy tale about a cookie's escape from various pursuers and his eventual demise between the jaws of a fox. The Gingerbread Boy makes his first print appearance in the May 1875 issue of St...

 in English tradition. The Aarne-Thompson index classifies them in a common type 2025.
The Kolobok is accidentally created by an old man and his wife, as a bread dish, when he suddenly becomes animated and escapes from their home.
Quotations

Most people think time is like a river that flows swift and sure in one direction. But I have seen the face of time, and I can tell you: they are wrong. Time is an ocean in a storm. You may wonder who I am or why I say this. Sit down and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard. [First and Last lines in the Trilogy].

Father, I have brought us honour and glory.

Trust not a man who has betrayed his master, nor take him into your own service, lest he betray you too. I learned the truth of this, to my sorrow, the day we arrived in Azad as the Sultan's honoured guests.

When a man is faced with his own death, he finds the impossible less of a barrier.

He now had his prize, but for some unknown reason coveted the Dagger as well. Well, I would give him what he sought. I would plunge it into his foul and treacherous heart!

I could marry her! After all, she is a Maharajah's daughter. A conquered one, but still, her blood is royal. . . . All right, I've decided. I will marry her. I'll tell her the first chance I get.

My father's army sacked your palace, captured you as a slave; you have every reason to hate me...now you want me to trust you?

I had faced my enemy, I had looked into his eyes, and I had lost...everything.

....and though I fought until the desert sands themselves were red with blood; I could not bring back the dead.

 
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