The Tinderbox is a tale about a brave, lucky soldier who gets away with deceiving a terrible witch, escaping execution, and in the end marries a beautiful princess. The soldier is presented to us as a hero who gets his way at almost any means; he manages to take possession of a magic Tinderbox, kills a witch, cheats the queen and king into pardoning his execution and marries their daughter, the princess with whom he was in love.  But note that the main character can also be seen as frivolous and cruel.  The illustrations of the talented artist Igor Oleynikov only emphasize the duality of the character of our soldier.