A peasant lives in one village. He has three sons: the eldest - Danilo - smart, the middle - Gavrilo - “this way and that”, the youngest - Ivan - a fool. The brothers make a living by growing wheat, taking it to the capital and selling it there. Suddenly a disaster happens: someone starts trampling crops at night. The brothers decide to take turns on duty in the field in order to find out who it is. The elder and middle brothers, frightened by the cold and inclement weather, leave their duty without finding out anything. When the turn of the younger brother comes, he goes into the field and sees a white mare with a long golden mane appear at midnight. Ivan manages to jump the mare on his back, and she starts to jump. Finally, tired, the mare asks Ivan to let her go, promising to give birth to three horses: two - handsome men whom Ivan, if he wants, can sell, and the third - a ridge “only three points tall, on the back with two humps and arshin ears” - Ivan should not be given to anyone for any treasure, because he will be Ivan's best friend, assistant and protector. Ivan agrees and takes the mare to the shepherd shed, where three days later the mare and gives birth to him three promised horses.

After some time, Danilo, accidentally entering the booth, sees two beautiful golden-maned horses there. Together with Gavrila, they decide to secretly from Ivan take them to the capital and sell them there. In the evening of the same day, Ivan, arriving, as usual, in a booth, discovers the loss. The Little Humpbacked Horse explains to Ivan what happened and offers to catch up with the brothers. Ivan mounts the Humpbacked Horse, and they instantly overtake them. The brothers, justifying themselves, explain their act by poverty; Ivan agrees to sell the horses, and together they go to the capital.

Stopping in the field for the night, the brothers suddenly notice a light in the distance. Danilo sends Ivan to bring a twinkle, "so that the smoke can be heard." Ivan sits down on the Humpbacked Horse, drives up to the fire and sees something strange: "a wonderful light streams around, but does not warm, does not smoke." The Little Humpbacked Horse explains to him that this is a feather of the Firebird, and does not advise Ivan to pick it up, as it will bring him a lot of trouble. Ivan does not obey the advice, picks up a feather, puts it in a hat and, having returned to his brothers, is silent about the reprise.

Arriving in the capital in the morning, the brothers put horses for sale in an equestrian row. The horseman sees the horses and immediately goes with a report to the king. The mayor praises the wonderful horses so much that the king immediately goes to the market and buys them from his brothers. The royal grooms take the horses away, but dear horses knock them down and return to Ivan. Seeing this, the king offers Ivan service in the palace - appoints him the head of the royal stables; Ivan agrees and goes to the palace. The brothers, having received the money and sharing it equally, go home, they both get married and live quietly, remembering Ivan.

And Ivan serves in the royal stable. However, after some time, the royal sleeping bag - the boyar, who was the head of the stables before Ivan and now decided to kick him out of the palace at all costs - notices that Ivan does not clean and groom his horses, but nevertheless they are always fed, watered and cleaned out. Having decided to find out what the matter is, the sleeping bag sneaks into the stable at night and hides in the stall. At midnight, Ivan comes into the stable, takes out the feather of the Firebird wrapped in rags from the cap and begins to clean and wash the horses in his light. Having finished work, having fed and watered them, Ivan immediately in the stable and falls asleep. The sleeping bag goes to the tsar and reports to him that Ivan not only hides the precious feather of the Firebird from him, but also allegedly boasts that he can get the Firebird itself. The king immediately sends for Ivan and demands that he get him the Firebird. Ivan claims that he did not say anything like this, however, seeing the king’s anger, he goes to the Humpbacked Horse and tells him about his grief. The skate is called to help Ivan.

The next day, on the advice of the Gorbunk, having received from the tsar “two troughs of Beloyarov’s millet and overseas wine,” Ivan mounts his horse and goes for the Firebird. They travel a whole week and finally come to a dense forest. In the middle of the forest is a clearing, and in the clearing is a mountain of pure silver. The little horse explains to Ivan that the Firebirds come to the stream here at night, and tells him to pour millet and pour wine into it in one trough, and to climb under another trough, and when the birds fly in and start pecking the grain with wine, grab one of them . Ivan obediently performs everything, and he manages to catch the Firebird. He brings it to the tsar, who rejoices in rewarding him with a new position: now Ivan is the royal stirrup.

However, the sleeping bag does not leave the idea of ​​lime Ivan. After some time, one of the servants tells the rest of the fairy tale about the beautiful Tsar Maiden, who lives on the ocean, rides in a golden boat, sings songs and plays the harp, and in addition, she is the daughter of the Month and sister to the Sun. The sleeping bag immediately goes to the tsar and reports to him that he allegedly heard Ivan boast that he could get the Tsar’s damsel too. The king sends Ivan to bring him the Tsar Maiden. Ivan goes to the ridge, and he again volunteers to help him. To do this, ask the king for two towels, a gold-embroidered marquee, a dinner device and various sweets. The next morning, having received everything necessary, Ivan sits on the Humpbacked Horse and goes for the Tsar Maiden.

They travel a whole week and finally come to the ocean. The skate tells Ivan to open the tent, place the dinner device on the towel, spread out sweets, and hide behind the tent himself and, having waited for the princess to enter the tent, eat, drink and start playing on the harp, run into the tent and grab it. Ivan successfully fulfills everything that the horse ordered him to. When they all return to the capital, the king, upon seeing the Tsar Maiden, invites her to get married tomorrow. However, the princess demands that she get her ring from the bottom of the ocean. The Tsar immediately sends for Ivan and sends him to the ocean for the ring, and the Tsar Maiden asks him to call in on the way to bow to her mother, the Month, and her brother, the Sun. And the next day, Ivan and the Humpbacked Horse set off again.

Approaching the ocean, they see that across it lies a huge whale, in which "the village is standing on its back, the fuss is rustling on its tail." Upon learning that the travelers are heading to the Sun to the palace, the whale asks them to find out for what sins he suffers so much. Ivan promises him this, and the travelers move on. Soon they approach the Tsar’s Maiden’s tower, in which the Sun sleeps at night, and the Moon rests during the day. Ivan enters the palace and sends greetings to the Month from the Tsar Maiden. The month is very happy to hear about the missing daughter, but, having learned that the tsar is going to marry her, he is angry and asks Ivan to convey her his words: not an old man, but a young handsome man will become her husband. To Ivan’s question about the fate of the whale, Mesyats answers that ten years ago this whale swallowed three dozen ships, and if he releases them, he will be forgiven and released into the sea.

Ivan and the Hunchback ride back, drive up to the whale and pass him the words of the Month. Residents hastily leave the village, and the whale releases the ships. So he is finally free and asks Ivan what he can do for him. Ivan asks him to get the Tsar’s ring from the bottom of the ocean. The whale sends sturgeons to search all the seas and find the ring. Finally, after a long search, a chest with a ring was found, and Ivan delivers it to the capital.

The Tsar brings the Tsar-Maiden a ring, but again she refuses to marry him, saying that he is too old for her, and offers him a means by which he will be able to rejuvenate: you need to put three large boilers: one with cold water, the other - with hot, and the third - with boiling milk - and bathe in turn in all three boilers. The king calls Ivan again and demands that he be the first to do all this. The Little Humpbacked Horse here promises his help to Ivan: he will wave his tail, dunk his face in the boilers, he will sprinkle twice on Ivan, whistle loudly - and after that Ivan can even jump into boiling water. Ivan does just that - and becomes a handsome man. Seeing this, the king also jumps into boiling milk, but with a different result: "bang into the cauldron - and cooked there." The people immediately recognize the Tsar Maiden as their queen, and she takes the hand of the transformed Ivan and leads him down the aisle. The people greet the king with the queen, and a wedding feast is ringing in the palace.