Help Me ID This Old Russian Fairey tale

I remember fragments of this old story, told to me as a child by my grandmother. It is about a little girl who loses her mother (who dies in poverty, leaving only a little doll to her daughter).the daughter is taken in by a witch (the Baba Yaga) who forces the girl to clean her house , cook for her, etc. For comfort, the girl talks to her doll, who always tells her “the morning is wiser than the day”…or something.
That is all I remember…anyone know this story?

Try “Vasilisa”:

http://www.oldrussia.net/vas.html

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688085008

Baba Yaga was a one-woman orphanage…I don’t know how many Russian folk-tales involve her taking in a pretty young orphan girl to be her servant! You have to admit, there’s a certain cachet in living in a house that walks you to the market…

I read an old Russian folk tale that used that phrase “morning is wiser than evening.” But it did not involve Baba Yaga. The story was called “Clever Sonja” about a girl who helped her father outwit his greedy brother. The Tsar was involved too, and he ended up marrying Sonja. The story came from a book my mother read at grade school.

This story gets retold in the first volume of Time-Life’s Enchanted World series, Wizards And Witches (page 123-140 Haunter Of The Birch Forest)

Pronnciation- I’ve said it as bahbuh yahguh for years. However, the many Russians in the neighborhood all say bahbuh yihGAH.

From the fine folks at ToyVault

Disclaimer- I am not affiliated with toyvault.com . Nor is this a hint for any of the many people who forgot my birthday. I already have the plush Baba Yaga and her izba on hen’s legs.

Wow. I remember those books. My neighbors had them when I was in elementary school, and let me borrow them one by one to read. That brings back memories.