The Month-Brothers is a retelling by Samuel Marshak in his own words of a folktale of the Slavic peoples of Czechoslovakia, which like many folktales appears in other versions in other folk cultures. That is why this tale is set in Bohemia, another name for a portion of modern-day Czechoslovakia. Marshak made use of this story as well, along with much other folktale material, in a children's play entitled The Twelwe Month published in Moscow during World War II and performed at the Moscow Art Theater. The young reader is certain to notice in The Month-Brothers one particular facet of this story that at first glance seems unusual. In it the months of January and February are the "old men", whereas the month of March is "the youngest of all". This description reflects the folk concept of rural people, living in a very cold clime, of a year beginning not on January I according to a formal calendar, but in March when nature begins to come to life after the frigid "old age" of winter has started to end.
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