After rejecting several alternate titles, this vivid tombeau eventually became linked in the composer's mind with Russian painter Victor Vasnetsov's great oil titled "Ivan Tsarevich Riding the Grey Wolf" (1889). Vasnetsov's scene depicts the abduction of Elena by Ivan and his lycanthropic sorcerer friend as they flee into a dark, deep forest. The music conveys not only the strength and agility of the Gray Wolf, but also the mounting anxiety of the young couple who, by the end of this wild ride, have unexpectedly become enamored of one another. This fairy tale has a happy ending, as the couple, after further adventures, are finally married.