Who are the ‘Two from the Chest’?

Most modern Russians know this pair of folklore characters known as ‘Two from the Chest, Alike in Face’. They pop out of a painted chest at the command of their owner and are always ready to serve him. But, they invariably get everything mixed up. If you ask them to knead dough and chop firewood, they'll chop the dough with an axe and knead birch logs.

These characters gained widespread fame thanks to the animated movie ‘Vovka in the Far Far Away Kingdom’, directed by Boris Stepantsev and based on a screenplay by Vadim Korostylev. The cartoon was released in 1965. However, few people know that the animated duo bears little resemblance to their folklore prototypes. In the original Russian folk tale, first of all, it's not a chest, but a bag and, second, there are not two, but four assistants. One pair is responsible for practical matters, while the other for moral and ethical issues.

In the collection of Russian folklore collector Alexander Afanasyev, there's a tale called ‘Two from a Bag’. Its main character is a poor old man who suffers from constant beatings from his nagging and quarrelsome wife. One day, he catches a magic crane, which, in gratitude, gives him a bag.

As soon as he says "Two from a Bag!" two strapping young men emerge from the bag and set a sumptuous table. However, the old man can't resist stopping by his godmother’s house to show off his wonderful acquisition. And she steals his bag.

The crane gives the old man a second bag, but, this time, two strapping young men with large clubs emerge from it. They begin to beat the old man for bragging. In the end, he uses this "angry" bag to punish his treacherous godmother and regains the "good" one.

The old man returns home with both bags and uses kind helpers to improve his farm and helpers with clubs to keep his wife's violent temper in check. The tale concludes by saying that "from then on, the old man and the old woman began to live so well, so harmoniously, that the old man boasted about her everywhere."