I was told by one of our native Russians that the candy is named after a children’s nursery rhyme, and it goes like this:

Мишка косолапый по лесу идёт,
Шишки собирает, песенку поёт.
Шишка отлетела — прямо Мишке в лоб!
Мишка рассердился и ногою — топ!

Here’s my loose translation:

Clumsy Mishka walks around in the forest,
Collecting pine cones and singing little songs.
A pine cone fell and hit Mishka right in the head!
Mishka got mad and stamped his foot!

[Мишка is a прозвище (nickname) that means bear in nursery rhymes.]

When I was searching the net to double-check the words to this rhyme, I came across the website, Конь В Пальто. Check out this adorable page of детский фольклор – so cute!!

Do you have a favorite Russian nursery rhyme?

Update: Check out this Russian Word Of The Day blog post to see the картина that inspired the candy wrapper! (“Morning in a Pine Forest” by Ivan Shishkin)