In a great state, in a glorious city in Anton lived-was Guidon. He once learned about the beautiful Queen Militris and embraced her. Militris's father gave his consent. Three years later, a son was born to the young, and they called him Bova. But Militris had long been in love with King Dodon and dreamed of seeing him as her husband. She sends Guidon to certain doom, demanding to get her a wild boar, and meanwhile she opens the city gates and happily greets the new king, Dodon. Uncle Bova, Simbalda, tells the boy about the insidiousness of his mother and offers to run away with him, since Bova is still very small and cannot avenge the death of her father, and it is not safe for him to remain in the palace. But King Dodon learns about the intentions of Simbaldy and, having gathered an army, chases the fugitives. Uncle manages to escape from his pursuers, but the prince falls off his horse, and he is taken to the palace.

Dodon has a terrible dream in which Bova kills him. The frightened king asks Militris to kill her son. She orders Bova to be imprisoned, depriving him of food and drink. A few days later, the prisoner begged his mother to give him some food. After adding poison to the dough, the queen sends Beauva’s cakes. The maid, passing them, warns the prince of danger and, having opened the iron bolts, releases him to freedom.

Bova went where his eyes were and ended up on the seashore. Bov saw the ship and screamed in a loud voice. From his exclamation the waves went across the sea, and the ship nearly rolled over. Gosgi shipbuilders sent sailors to find out what kind of unusual child on the shore. Bova said that he was Ponomarev’s son, and asked to board the ship. Sailors can’t look at the beauty of Bovina, admire it, do not get enough.

After a year and three months they sail to the Kingdom of the Army. Zenzevei Adarovich rules there. He saw Bova and immediately begged boaters to sell him this handsome man. So Bova became a groom. And he was seven years old. King Zenzeve had a daughter, Druzhnevna. She saw from her choir Bova, from whose beauty the whole stable was lit up, and fell in love with the stranger. One day, King Markobrun arrived from the Zadonsk kingdom, and with him an army of forty thousand. And he said to King Zenzevei: "Give your daughter for me for love, and do not give for love, I will burn your kingdom." At the same time, Tsar Saltan Saltanovich and his son Lukoper, the glorious hero, who also wooed to Druzhnevna, came to the Kingdom of the Army from the Rakhlen kingdom.

And Zenzevei and Markobrun decided to join their forces and go to battle with Lukoper. The hero defeated two troops, but tied the two kings and sent them to his father Saltan. Bova slept dead for nine days and nine nights. Waking up, he learned from Druzhnevna about the Lukopera and wanted to fight him. Druzhnevna gave Bova a good horse, armor and a sword. When parting, Bova admitted to the princess that he was not Ponomarev’s son, but of the royal family. And Bova went to the military and mortal business. He fought for five days and five nights and defeated the Lukopera and his army. Then released from captivity Zenzevei and Markobrun.

Meanwhile, the butler, who disliked Bova, called in thirty knights and ordered them to kill Bova, promising a generous reward for this. One of the knights offered the butler a different way: Zenzev and the butler are very similar to each other, and this should be used. The butler wrote a letter on behalf of Zenzeve to Tsar Saltan, informing that the killer of the Lukopera was not him, but Bova, who would transmit this message to him. The butler entered the royal chambers, put on a royal dress and sent for Bova. Bov did not recognize the butler, and he ordered him: "Serve me by faith and truth, go to the kingdom of Rakhlen, take the letter to the king." And the unfortunate Bova came to Saltan and handed him a letter.The king shouted: “Oh, villain Bova, now you yourself have come to my death, I command you to be hanged immediately!”

That king of Saltan had a daughter, Minchitria. She threw herself at her father’s feet and exclaimed: “Already your son, but my brother cannot be returned, leave Bova alive!” "I will convert him to my Latin faith, and he will take me as a wife, our kingdom will protect against all." The king loved his daughter and fulfilled her request. But Bova answered her sweet speeches: “Though I be hanged, I will not renounce the Christian faith.” The princess ordered Bova to be put in prison and not to be fed in the hope that he would change his mind. But after five days, Bova replied that he did not want to hear about the Latin faith. Finding a sword in the corner of the dungeon, having finished with the guards, he runs. He gets on the ship and after a year and three months he finds himself in the Zadonsky kingdom.

There he learns that King Markobrun will marry Druzhnevne. Bova put on the old man’s black dress and entered the palace. On the eve of the wedding, Druzhnevna was distributing gold to the poor. The elder went up to the princess and said: "Give me alms for the brave knight Bova prince". At Druzhnevna, a bowl of gold fell out of his hands. She began to ask the old man what he knew about Beauvais. She did not immediately recognize her lover, and having guessed who was in front of her, fell at Beauvais’s feet with the words: “My lord, the brave hero of Bova’s prince! Do not leave me, we will flee with you from Markobrun. " Markobrun, waking up from a dream, sent a pursuit of fugitives. And Bova took the sword, jumped on his horse and beat the thirty thousandth army. And King Markobrun commanded a forty-thousandth army to blow and gather. But the youth warriors prayed: “Our sovereign! We don’t take bobs, but just put our heads. You have a strong athlete, his name is Polkan, to the waist - the dog’s legs, and from the belt - a man. He rides seven miles and can deliver Bov to you. ” And he heard Bov that Polkan jumps. He took the sword, swung it, but the sword fell from his hands and went halfway into the ground. And Polkan hit Bova with a club, and Bova fell. Polkan jumped on his horse and sped off. But Bova came to his senses and returned to Druzhnevna in the tent. Soon, Polkan also rushed there. Druzhnevna reconciled them and asked to call each other brothers.

The three of them arrived in the city of the Church. At the same time Markobrun was there and began a siege of the city, demanding to give him Bova and Polkan. But the brave heroes defeated the army of Markobrun, and he went into his kingdom, vowing to no longer pursue Bova. Druzhnevna soon gave birth to two sons, and Bova gave them the names: Simbald and Lichard. Suddenly, the governors of King Dodon arrived, who were ordered to deliver Bova to the sovereign. Bova instructs Polkan to help Druzhnevna and sets off. But Polkan was eaten by lions, and Druzhnevna came to the Kingdom of Rakhlena. She washed her face with black potion and turned black as coal; I started to sew shirts at the widow’s yard and earn bread. But Bova, finding neither his wife nor his children, decided that they, like Polkan, were eaten by lions.

Arriving in the Kingdom of the Army, the prince killed the butler, who once sent him to death. In the kingdom of Rakhlensky, Princess Minchitria again asks the prince to marry her. And she agrees to be baptized. But once he heard Bova in the royal chambers, as two children sing a song about him. Druzhnevna went out to meet her children in the royal court, and Bova rushed to her. Bova with Druzhnevna and children went to the city of Sumin, to Uncle Simbald.

The insidious Dodon Bova is seriously wounded, and then, under the guise of a doctor, he enters the palace and, avenging the death of his father, cuts off Dodon's head. He attributes this trophy to Queen Militris. She orders the murderer to be executed, but Bova asks her not to rush. And Bova ordered the coffin to be made, and his mother buried him alive. And Bova went to the kingdom of Rakhlena, and married his uncle's son to the beautiful princess of Minchitria. And Bova went to his fiefdom, and he lived with his family, to dash out, and make good.