Once upon a time, an orphaned girl named Alyonushka and her orphaned brother Ivanushka set out on a very long journey. After traveling quite far, Ivanushka became thirsty and begged his older sister to let him drink from ponds that they were passing. Fearing that drinking from the pools would cause them to turn into one of the animals that were grazing near the water, Alyonushka would not allow her brother to drink. Alas, Ivanushka grew so thirsty that he disobeyed his sister and drank from a lake near a flock of goats. With one swallow, he turned into a baby goat!

As Alyonushka sat on the side of the road and cried, a wealthy man came along and told her that he would help them if she would agree to marry him. She did, and they all lived quite happily together - the merchant, Alyonushka, and the baby goat that was Ivanushka. That is, until one day an evil witch drowned Alyonushka in a lake and assumed her identity. Only the baby goat knew the truth, as he had witnessed the entire evil deed. When the witch overheard him talking to his sister in the lake she asked Alyonushka’s husband to kill the goat. Now by this time the merchant had grown to love the goat like a person, but believing the witch to be Alyonushka, he reluctantly agreed to do it. The goat pleaded with the real Alyonushka to help him, and a peasant overheard the conversation. The peasant told the husband, who killed the evil witch and freed Alyonushka from the lake. The little goat was so happy that he turned three somersaults and was changed back into a boy! They all lived happily ever after.

This folk-tale is often found on lacquer boxes from Fedoskino, Kholui and Mstiora.