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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Russian Fairy Tales, by W. R. S. Ralston
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Russian Fairy Tales
+       A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore
+
+Author: W. R. S. Ralston
+
+Release Date: August 22, 2007 [EBook #22373]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RUSSIAN FAIRY TALES ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Starner, Sam W. and the Online Distributed
+Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+                 Russian Fairy Tales.
+
+
+                 A CHOICE COLLECTION
+
+                        --OF--
+
+                 MUSCOVITE FOLK-LORE.
+
+                        --BY--
+
+               W. R. S. RALSTON, M. A.,
+
+
+                OF THE BRITISH MUSEUM,
+CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE IMPERIAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY
+     OF RUSSIA, AUTHOR OF "THE SONGS OF THE RUSSIAN
+         PEOPLE," "KRILOF AND HIS FABLES," ETC.
+
+
+[Illustration]
+
+
+NEW YORK:
+HURST & CO., PUBLISHERS,
+122 NASSAU STREET.
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: The King got on the Eagle's back. Away they went
+flying.--Page 131.]
+
+
+
+
+To the Memory of
+
+ALEXANDER AFANASIEF
+
+I Dedicate this Book,
+
+TO HIM SO DEEPLY INDEBTED.
+
+
+
+
+PREFACE.
+
+
+The stories contained in the following pages are taken from the
+collections published by Afanasief, Khudyakof, Erlenvein, and
+Chudinsky. The South-Russian collections of Kulish and Rudchenko I
+have been able to use but little, there being no complete dictionary
+available of the dialect, or rather the language, in which they are
+written. Of these works that of Afanasief is by far the most
+important, extending to nearly 3,000 pages, and containing 332
+distinct stories--of many of which several variants are given,
+sometimes as many as five. Khudyakof's collection contains 122
+skazkas--as the Russian folk-tales are called--Erlenvein's 41, and
+Chudinsky's 31. Afanasief has also published a separate volume,
+containing 33 "legends," and he has inserted a great number of stories
+of various kinds in his "Poetic views of the Old Slavonians about
+Nature," a work to which I have had constant recourse.
+
+From the stories contained in what may be called the "chap-book
+literature" of Russia, I have made but few extracts. It may, however,
+be as well to say a few words about them. There is a Russian word
+_lub_, diminutive _lubok_, meaning the soft bark of the lime tree,
+which at one time was used instead of paper. The popular tales which
+were current in former days were at first printed on sheets or strips
+of this substance, whence the term _lubochnuiya_ came to be given to
+all such productions of the cheap press, even after paper had taken
+the place of bark.[1]
+
+The stories which have thus been preserved have no small interest of
+their own, but they cannot be considered as fair illustrations of
+Russian folk-lore, for their compilers in many cases took them from
+any sources to which they had access, whether eastern or western,
+merely adapting what they borrowed to Russian forms of thought and
+speech. Through some such process, for instance, seem to have passed
+the very popular Russian stories of Eruslan Lazarevich and of Bova
+Korolevich. They have often been quoted as "creations of the Slavonic
+mind," but there seems to be no reason for doubting that they are
+merely Russian adaptations, the first of the adventures of the Persian
+Rustem, the second of those of the Italian Buovo di Antona, our Sir
+Bevis of Hampton. The editors of these "chap-book skazkas" belonged to
+the pre-scientific period, and had a purely commercial object in view.
+Their stories were intended simply to sell.
+
+A German version of seventeen of these "chap-book tales," to which
+was prefixed an introduction by Jacob Grimm, was published some forty
+years ago,[2] and has been translated into English.[3] Somewhat later,
+also, appeared a German version of twelve more of these tales.[4]
+
+Of late years several articles have appeared in some of the German
+periodicals,[5] giving accounts or translations of some of the Russian
+Popular Tales. But no thorough investigation of them appeared in
+print, out of Russia, until the publication last year of the erudite
+work on "Zoological Mythology" by Professor Angelo de Gubernatis. In
+it he has given a summary of the greater part of the stories contained
+in the collections of Afanasief and Erlenvein, and so fully has he
+described the part played in them by the members of the animal world
+that I have omitted, in the present volume, the chapter I had prepared
+on the Russian "Beast-Epos."
+
+Another chapter which I have, at least for a time, suppressed, is
+that in which I had attempted to say something about the origin and
+the meaning of the Russian folk-tales. The subject is so extensive
+that it requires for its proper treatment more space than a single
+chapter could grant; and therefore, though not without reluctance, I
+have left the stories I have quoted to speak for themselves, except in
+those instances in which I have given the chief parallels to be found
+in the two collections of foreign folk-tales best known to the English
+reader, together with a few others which happened to fall within the
+range of my own reading. Professor de Gubernatis has discussed at
+length, and with much learning, the esoteric meaning of the skazkas,
+and their bearing upon the questions to which the "solar theory" of
+myth-explanation has given rise. To his volumes, and to those of Mr.
+Cox, I refer all who are interested in those fascinating enquiries. My
+chief aim has been to familiarize English readers with the Russian
+folk-tale; the historical and mythological problems involved in it can
+be discussed at a later period. Before long, in all probability, a
+copious flood of light will be poured upon the connexion of the
+Popular Tales of Russia with those of other lands by one of those
+scholars who are best qualified to deal with the subject.[6]
+
+Besides the stories about animals, I have left unnoticed two other
+groups of skazkas--those which relate to historical events, and those
+in which figure the heroes of the Russian "epic poems" or "metrical
+romances." My next volume will be devoted to the Builinas, as those
+poems are called, and in it the skazkas which are connected with them
+will find their fitting place. In it, also, I hope to find space for
+the discussion of many questions which in the present volume I have
+been forced to leave unnoticed.
+
+The fifty-one stories which I have translated at length I have
+rendered as literally as possible. In the very rare instances in which
+I have found it necessary to insert any words by way of explanation, I
+have (except in the case of such additions as "he said" or the like)
+enclosed them between brackets. In giving summaries, also, I have kept
+closely to the text, and always translated literally the passages
+marked as quotations. In the imitation of a finished work of art,
+elaboration and polish are meet and due, but in a transcript from
+nature what is most required is fidelity. An "untouched" photograph is
+in certain cases infinitely preferable to one which has been carefully
+"worked upon." And it is, as it were, a photograph of the Russian
+story-teller that I have tried to produce, and not an ideal portrait.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The following are the principal Russian books to which reference has
+been made:--
+
+      AFANASIEF (A.N.). Narodnuiya Russkiya Skazki[7]
+      [Russian Popular Tales]. 8 pts. Moscow, 1863-60-63.
+      Narodnuiya Russkiya Legendui[8] [Russian Popular
+      Legends]. Moscow, 1859. Poeticheskiya Vozzryeniya
+      Slavyan na Prirodu [Poetic Views of the Slavonians
+      about Nature].[9] 3 vols. Moscow, 1865-69.
+
+      KHUDYAKOF (I.A.). Velikorusskiya Skazki [Great-Russian
+      Tales]. Moscow, 1860.
+
+      CHUDINSKY (E.A.). Russkiya Narodnuiya Skazki, etc.
+      [Russian Popular Tales, etc.]. Moscow, 1864.
+
+      ERLENVEIN (A.A.). Narodnuiya Skazki, etc. [Popular
+      Tales, collected by village schoolmasters in the
+      Government of Tula]. Moscow, 1863.
+
+      RUDCHENKO (I.). Narodnuiya Yuzhnorusskiya Skazki
+      [South-Russian Popular Tales].[10] Kief, 1869.
+
+Most of the other works referred to are too well known to require a
+full setting out of their title. But it is necessary to explain that
+references to Grimm are as a general rule to the "Kinder- und
+Hausmaerchen," 9th ed. Berlin, 1870. Those to Asbjoernsen and Moe are to
+the "Norske Folke-Eventyr," 3d ed. Christiania, 1866; those to
+Asbjoernsen only are to the "New Series" of those tales, Christiania,
+1871; those to Dasent are to the "Popular Tales from the Norse," 2d
+ed., 1859. The name "Karajich" refers to the "Srpske Narodne
+Pripovijetke," published at Vienna in 1853 by Vuk Stefanovich
+Karajich, and translated by his daughter under the title of
+"Volksmaerchen der Serben," Berlin, 1854. By "Schott" is meant the
+"Walachische Maehrchen," Stuttgart und Tubingen, 1845, by "Schleicher"
+the "Litauische Maerchen," Weimar, 1857, by "Hahn" the "Griechische und
+albanesische Maerchen," Leipzig, 1864, by "Haltrich" the "Deutsche
+Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbuergen," Berlin, 1856, and
+by "Campbell" the "Popular Tales of the West Highlands," 4 vols.,
+Edinburgh, 1860-62.
+
+A few of the ghost stories contained in the following pages appeared
+in the "Cornhill Magazine" for August 1872, and an account of some of
+the "legends" was given in the "Fortnightly Review" for April 1, 1868.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[1] So our word "book," the German _Buch_, is derived from the _Buche_
+or beech tree, of which the old Runic staves were formed. Cf. _liber_
+and +biblos+.
+
+[2] "Russische Volksmaerchen in den Urschriften gesammelt und ins
+Deutsche uebersetzt von A. Dietrich." Leipzig, 1831.
+
+[3] "Russian Popular Tales," Chapman and Hall, London, 1857.
+
+[4] "Die aeltesten Volksmaerchen der Russen. Von J. N. Vogl." Wien,
+1841.
+
+[5] Such as the "Orient und Occident," "Ausland," &c.
+
+[6] Professor Reinhold Koehler, who is said to be preparing a work on
+the Skazkas, in co-operation with Professor Juelg, the well-known
+editor and translator of the "Siddhi Kuer" and "Ardshi Bordschi Khan."
+
+[7] In my copy, pt. 1 and 2 are of the 3d, and pt. 3 and 4 are of the
+2d edition. By such a note as "Afanasief, i. No. 2," I mean to refer
+to the second story of the first part of this work.
+
+[8] This book is now out of print, and copies fetch a very high price.
+I refer to it in my notes as "Afanasief, _Legendui_."
+
+[9] This work is always referred to in my notes as "Afanasief,
+_P.V.S._"
+
+[10] There is one other recent collection of skazkas--that published
+last year at Geneva under the title of "Russkiya Zavyetnuiya Skazki."
+But upon its contents I have not found it necessary to draw.
+
+
+
+
+CONTENTS.
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+                                                                 PAGE.
+The Folk-tale in general, and the Skazka in particular--Relation
+of Russian Popular Tales to Russian Life--Stories about
+Courtship, Death, Burial and Wailings for the Dead--Warnings
+against Drink, Jokes about Women, Tales of Simpletons--A rhymed
+Skazka and a Legend                                                 15
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MYTHOLOGICAL.
+
+_Principal Incarnations of Evil._
+
+On the "Mythical Skazkas"--Male embodiments of Evil: 1. The
+Snake as the Stealer of Daylight; 2. Norka the Beast, Lord of
+the Lower World; 3. Koshchei the Deathless, The Stealer of Fair
+Princesses--his connexion with Punchkin and "the Giant who had no
+Heart in his Body"--Excursus on Bluebeard's Chamber; 4. The Water
+King or Subaqueous Demon--Female Embodiments of Evil: 1. The Baba
+Yaga or Hag, and 2. The Witch, feminine counterparts of the
+Snake                                                               75
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MYTHOLOGICAL.
+
+_Miscellaneous Impersonations._
+
+One-eyed Likho, a story of the Polyphemus Cycle--Woe, the Poor
+Man's Companion--Friday, Wednesday, and Sunday personified
+as Female Spirits--The Leshy or Wood-Demon--Legends about
+Rivers--Frost as a Wooer of Maidens--The Whirlwind personified as
+a species of Snake or Demon--Morfei and Oh, two supernatural
+beings                                                             186
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT.
+
+The Waters of Life and Death, and of Strength and Weakness--Aid
+given to Children by Dead Parents--Magic Horses, Fish, &c.--Stories
+about Brides won by a Leap, &c.--Stories about Wizards and
+Witches--The Headless Princess--Midnight Watchings over Corpses--The
+Fire Bird, its connexion with the Golden Bird and the Phoenix      237
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GHOST STORIES.
+
+Slavonic Ideas about the Dead--On Heaven and Hell--On the
+Jack and the Beanstalk Story--Harmless Ghosts--The Rip van
+Winkle Story--the attachment of Ghosts to their Shrouds and
+Coffin-Lids--Murderous Ghosts--Stories about Vampires--on the
+name Vampire, and the belief in Vampirism                          295
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+LEGENDS.
+
+1. _Saints, &c._
+
+Legends connected with the Dog, the Izba, the Creation of Man,
+the Rye, the Snake, Ox, Sole, &c.; with Birds, the Peewit,
+Sparrow, Swallow, &c.--Legends about SS. Nicholas, Andrew,
+George, Kasian, &c.                                                329
+
+2. _Demons, &c._
+
+Part played by Demons in the Skazkas--On "Hasty Words," and
+Parental Curses; their power to subject persons to demoniacal
+possession--The dulness of Demons; Stories about Tricks played
+upon them--Their Gratitude to those who treat them with Kindness
+and their General Behavior--Various Legends about Devils--Moral
+Tale of the Gossip's Bedstead                                      361
+
+
+
+
+STORY-LIST.
+
+
+                                                                 PAGE.
+
+      I. THE FIEND                                                  24
+
+     II. THE DEAD MOTHER                                            32
+
+    III. THE DEAD WITCH                                             34
+
+     IV. THE TREASURE                                               36
+
+      V. THE CROSS-SURETY                                           40
+
+     VI. THE AWFUL DRUNKARD                                         46
+
+    VII. THE BAD WIFE                                               52
+
+   VIII. THE GOLOVIKHA                                              55
+
+     IX. THE THREE COPECKS                                          56
+
+      X. THE MISER                                                  60
+
+     XI. THE FOOL AND THE BIRCH-TREE                                62
+
+    XII. THE MIZGIR                                                 68
+
+   XIII. THE SMITH AND THE DEMON                                    70
+
+    XIV. IVAN POPYALOF                                              79
+
+     XV. THE NORKA                                                  86
+
+    XVI. MARYA MOREVNA                                              97
+
+   XVII. KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS                                    111
+
+  XVIII. THE WATER SNAKE                                           126
+
+    XIX. THE WATER KING AND VASILISSA THE WISE                     130
+
+     XX. THE BABA YAGA                                             148
+
+    XXI. VASILISSA THE FAIR                                        158
+
+   XXII. THE WITCH                                                 171
+
+  XXIII. THE WITCH AND THE SUN'S SISTER                            178
+
+   XXIV. ONE-EYED LIKHO                                            186
+
+    XXV. WOE                                                       193
+
+   XXVI. FRIDAY                                                    207
+
+  XXVII. WEDNESDAY                                                 208
+
+ XXVIII. THE LESHY                                                 213
+
+   XXIX. VAZUZA AND VOLGA                                          215
+
+    XXX. SOZH AND DNIEPER                                          216
+
+   XXXI. THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE DNIEPER, THE
+         VOLGA, AND THE DVINA                                      217
+
+  XXXII. FROST                                                     221
+
+ XXXIII. THE BLIND MAN AND THE CRIPPLE                             246
+
+  XXXIV. PRINCESS HELENA THE FAIR                                  262
+
+   XXXV. EMILIAN THE FOOL                                          269
+
+  XXXVI. THE WITCH GIRL                                            274
+
+ XXXVII. THE HEADLESS PRINCESS                                     276
+
+XXXVIII. THE SOLDIER'S MIDNIGHT WATCH                              279
+
+  XXXIX. THE WARLOCK                                               292
+
+     XL. THE FOX-PHYSICIAN                                         296
+
+    XLI. THE FIDDLER IN HELL                                       303
+
+   XLII. THE RIDE ON THE GRAVESTONE                                308
+
+  XLIII. THE TWO FRIENDS                                           309
+
+   XLIV. THE SHROUD                                                311
+
+    XLV. THE COFFIN-LID                                            314
+
+   XLVI. THE TWO CORPSES                                           316
+
+  XLVII. THE DOG AND THE CORPSE                                    317
+
+ XLVIII. THE SOLDIER AND THE VAMPIRE                               318
+
+   XLIX. ELIJAH THE PROPHET AND NICHOLAS                           344
+
+      L. THE PRIEST WITH THE GREEDY EYES                           355
+
+     LI. THE HASTY WORD                                            370
+
+
+
+
+RUSSIAN FOLK-TALES.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+INTRODUCTORY.
+
+
+There are but few among those inhabitants of Fairy-land of whom
+"Popular Tales" tell, who are better known to the outer world than
+Cinderella--the despised and flouted younger sister, who long sits
+unnoticed beside the hearth, then furtively visits the glittering
+halls of the great and gay, and at last is transferred from her
+obscure nook to the place of honor justly due to her tardily
+acknowledged merits. Somewhat like the fortunes of Cinderella have
+been those of the popular tale itself. Long did it dwell beside the
+hearths of the common people, utterly ignored by their superiors in
+social rank. Then came a period during which the cultured world
+recognized its existence, but accorded to it no higher rank than that
+allotted to "nursery stories" and "old wives' tales"--except, indeed,
+on those rare occasions when the charity of a condescending scholar
+had invested it with such a garb as was supposed to enable it to make
+a respectable appearance in polite society. At length there arrived
+the season of its final change, when, transferred from the dusk of the
+peasant's hut into the full light of the outer day, and freed from the
+unbecoming garments by which it had been disfigured, it was recognized
+as the scion of a family so truly royal that some of its members
+deduce their origin from the olden gods themselves.
+
+In our days the folk-tale, instead of being left to the careless
+guardianship of youth and ignorance, is sedulously tended and held in
+high honor by the ripest of scholars. Their views with regard to its
+origin may differ widely. But whether it be considered in one of its
+phases as a distorted "nature-myth," or in another as a demoralized
+apologue or parable--whether it be regarded at one time as a relic of
+primeval wisdom, or at another as a blurred transcript of a page of
+mediaeval history--its critics agree in declaring it to be no mere
+creation of the popular fancy, no chance expression of the uncultured
+thought of the rude tiller of this or that soil. Rather is it believed
+of most folk-tales that they, in their original forms, were framed
+centuries upon centuries ago; while of some of them it is supposed
+that they may be traced back through successive ages to those myths in
+which, during a prehistoric period, the oldest of philosophers
+expressed their ideas relative to the material or the spiritual world.
+
+But it is not every popular tale which can boast of so noble a
+lineage, and one of the great difficulties which beset the mythologist
+who attempts to discover the original meaning of folk-tales in general
+is to decide which of them are really antique, and worthy, therefore,
+of being submitted to critical analysis. Nor is it less difficult,
+when dealing with the stories of any one country in particular, to
+settle which may be looked upon as its own property, and which ought
+to be considered as borrowed and adapted. Everyone knows that the
+existence of the greater part of the stories current among the various
+European peoples is accounted for on two different hypotheses--the one
+supposing that most of them "were common in germ at least to the Aryan
+tribes before their migration," and that, therefore, "these traditions
+are as much a portion of the common inheritance of our ancestors as
+their language unquestionably is:"[11] the other regarding at least a
+great part of them as foreign importations, Oriental fancies which
+were originally introduced into Europe, through a series of
+translations, by the pilgrims and merchants who were always linking
+the East and the West together, or by the emissaries of some of the
+heretical sects, or in the train of such warlike transferrers as the
+Crusaders, or the Arabs who ruled in Spain, or the Tartars who so long
+held the Russia of old times in their grasp. According to the former
+supposition, "these very stories, these _Maehrchen_, which nurses still
+tell, with almost the same words, in the Thuringian forest and in the
+Norwegian villages, and to which crowds of children listen under the
+pippal trees of India,"[12] belong "to the common heirloom of the
+Indo-European race;" according to the latter, the majority of European
+popular tales are merely naturalized aliens in Europe, being as little
+the inheritance of its present inhabitants as were the stories and
+fables which, by a circuitous route, were transmitted from India to
+Boccaccio or La Fontaine.
+
+On the questions to which these two conflicting hypotheses give rise
+we will not now dwell. For the present, we will deal with the Russian
+folk-tale as we find it, attempting to become acquainted with its
+principal characteristics to see in what respects it chiefly differs
+from the stories of the same class which are current among ourselves,
+or in those foreign lands with which we are more familiar than we are
+with Russia, rather than to explore its birthplace or to divine its
+original meaning.
+
+We often hear it said, that from the songs and stories of a country we
+may learn much about the inner life of its people, inasmuch as popular
+utterances of this kind always bear the stamp of the national
+character, offer a reflex of the national mind. So far as folk-songs
+are concerned, this statement appears to be well founded, but it can
+be applied to the folk-tales of Europe only within very narrow limits.
+Each country possesses certain stories which have special reference to
+its own manners and customs, and by collecting such tales as these,
+something approximating to a picture of its national life may be
+laboriously pieced together. But the stories of this class are often
+nothing more than comparatively modern adaptations of old and foreign
+themes; nor are they sufficiently numerous, so far as we can judge
+from existing collections, to render by any means complete the
+national portrait for which they are expected to supply the materials.
+In order to fill up the gaps they leave, it is necessary to bring
+together a number of fragments taken from stories which evidently
+refer to another clime--fragments which may be looked upon as
+excrescences or developments due to the novel influences to which the
+foreign slip, or seedling, or even full-grown plant, has been
+subjected since its transportation.
+
+The great bulk of the Russian folk-tales, and, indeed, of those of
+all the Indo-European nations, is devoted to the adventures of such
+fairy princes and princesses, such snakes and giants and demons, as
+are quite out of keeping with ordinary men and women--at all events
+with the inhabitants of modern Europe since the termination of those
+internecine struggles between aboriginals and invaders, which some
+commentators see typified in the combats between the heroes of our
+popular tales and the whole race of giants, trolls, ogres, snakes,
+dragons, and other monsters. The air we breathe in them is that of
+Fairy-land; the conditions of existence, the relations between the
+human race and the spiritual world on the one hand, the material world
+on the other, are totally inconsistent with those to which we are now
+restricted. There is boundless freedom of intercourse between mortals
+and immortals, between mankind and the brute creation, and, although
+there are certain conventional rules which must always be observed,
+they are not those which are enforced by any people known to
+anthropologists. The stories which are common to all Europe differ, no
+doubt, in different countries, but their variations, so far as their
+matter is concerned, seem to be due less to the moral character than
+to the geographical distribution of their reciters. The manner in
+which these tales are told, however, may often be taken as a test of
+the intellectual capacity of their tellers. For in style the folk-tale
+changes greatly as it travels. A story which we find narrated in one
+country with terseness and precision may be rendered almost
+unintelligible in another by vagueness or verbiage; by one race it may
+be elevated into poetic life, by another it may be degraded into the
+most prosaic dulness.
+
+Now, so far as style is concerned, the Skazkas or Russian folk-tales,
+may justly be said to be characteristic of the Russian people. There
+are numerous points on which the "lower classes" of all the Aryan
+peoples in Europe closely resemble each other, but the Russian peasant
+has--in common with all his Slavonic brethren--a genuine talent for
+narrative which distinguishes him from some of his more distant
+cousins. And the stories which are current among the Russian peasantry
+are for the most part exceedingly well narrated. Their language is
+simple and pleasantly quaint, their humor is natural and unobtrusive,
+and their descriptions, whether of persons or of events, are often
+excellent.[13] A taste for acting is widely spread in Russia, and the
+Russian folk-tales are full of dramatic positions which offer a wide
+scope for a display of their reciter's mimetic talents. Every here and
+there, indeed, a tag of genuine comedy has evidently been attached by
+the story-teller to a narrative which in its original form was
+probably devoid of the comic element.
+
+And thus from the Russian tales may be derived some idea of the
+mental characteristics of the Russian peasantry--one which is very
+incomplete, but, within its narrow limits, sufficiently accurate. And
+a similar statement may be made with respect to the pictures of
+Russian peasant life contained in these tales. So far as they go they
+are true to nature, and the notion which they convey to a stranger of
+the manners and customs of Russian villagers is not likely to prove
+erroneous, but they do not go very far. On some of the questions which
+are likely to be of the greatest interest to a foreigner they never
+touch. There is very little information to be gleaned from them, for
+instance, with regard to the religious views of the people, none with
+respect to the relations which, during the times of serfdom, existed
+between the lord and the thrall. But from the casual references to
+actual scenes and ordinary occupations which every here and there
+occur in the descriptions of fairy-land and the narratives of heroic
+adventure--from the realistic vignettes which are sometimes inserted
+between the idealized portraits of invincible princes and irresistible
+princesses--some idea may be obtained of the usual aspect of a Russian
+village, and of the ordinary behavior of its inhabitants. Turning from
+one to another of these accidental illustrations, we by degrees create
+a mental picture which is not without its peculiar charm. We see the
+wide sweep of the level corn-land, the gloom of the interminable
+forest, the gleam of the slowly winding river. We pass along the
+single street of the village, and glance at its wooden barn-like
+huts,[14] so different from the ideal English cottage with its windows
+set deep in ivy and its porch smiling with roses. We see the land
+around a Slough of Despond in the spring, an unbroken sea of green in
+the early summer, a blaze of gold at harvest-time, in the winter one
+vast sheet of all but untrodden snow. On Sundays and holidays we
+accompany the villagers to their white-walled, green-domed church, and
+afterwards listen to the songs which the girls sing in the summer
+choral dances, or take part in the merriment of the social gatherings,
+which enliven the long nights of winter. Sometimes the quaint lyric
+drama of a peasant wedding is performed before our eyes, sometimes we
+follow a funeral party to one of those dismal and desolate nooks in
+which the Russian villagers deposit their dead. On working days we see
+the peasants driving afield in the early morn with their long lines of
+carts, to till the soil, or ply the scythe or sickle or axe, till the
+day is done and their rude carts come creaking back. We hear the songs
+and laughter of the girls beside the stream or pool which ripples
+pleasantly against its banks in the summer time, but in the winter
+shows no sign of life, except at the spot, much frequented by the
+wives and daughters of the village, where an "ice-hole" has been cut
+in its massive pall. And at night we see the homely dwellings of the
+villagers assume a picturesque aspect to which they are strangers by
+the tell-tale light of day, their rough lines softened by the mellow
+splendor of a summer moon, or their unshapely forms looming forth
+mysteriously against the starlit snow of winter. Above all we become
+familiar with those cottage interiors to which the stories contain so
+many references. Sometimes we see the better class of homestead,
+surrounded by its fence through which we pass between the
+often-mentioned gates. After a glance at the barns and cattle-sheds,
+and at the garden which supplies the family with fruits and vegetables
+(on flowers, alas! but little store is set in the northern provinces),
+we cross the threshold, a spot hallowed by many traditions, and pass,
+through what in more pretentious houses may be called the vestibule,
+into the "living room." We become well acquainted with its
+arrangements, with the cellar beneath its wooden floor, with the
+"corner of honor" in which are placed the "holy pictures," and with
+the stove which occupies so large a share of space, within which daily
+beats, as it were the heart of the house, above which is nightly taken
+the repose of the family. Sometimes we visit the hut of the
+poverty-stricken peasant, more like a shed for cattle than a human
+habitation, with a mud-floor and a tattered roof, through which the
+smoke makes its devious way. In these poorer dwellings we witness much
+suffering; but we learn to respect the patience and resignation with
+which it is generally borne, and in the greater part of the humble
+homes we visit we become aware of the existence of many domestic
+virtues, we see numerous tokens of family affection, of filial
+reverence, of parental love. And when, as we pass along the village
+street at night, we see gleaming through the utter darkness the faint
+rays which tell that even in many a poverty-stricken home a lamp is
+burning before the "holy pictures," we feel that these poor tillers of
+the soil, ignorant and uncouth though they too often are, may be
+raised at times by lofty thoughts and noble aspirations far above the
+low level of the dull and hard lives which they are forced to lead.
+
+From among the stories which contain the most graphic descriptions of
+Russian village life, or which may be regarded as specially
+illustrative of Russian sentiment and humor those which the present
+chapter contains have been selected. Any information they may convey
+will necessarily be of a most fragmentary nature, but for all that it
+may be capable of producing a correct impression. A painter's rough
+notes and jottings are often more true to nature than the most
+finished picture into which they may be developed.
+
+The word skazka, or folk-tale, does not very often occur in the
+Russian popular tales themselves. Still there are occasions on which
+it appears. The allusions to it are for the most part indirect, as
+when a princess is said to be more beautiful than anybody ever was,
+except in a skazka; but sometimes it obtains direct notice. In a
+story, for instance, of a boy who had been carried off by a Baba Yaga
+(a species of witch), we are told that when his sister came to his
+rescue she found him "sitting in an arm-chair, while the cat Jeremiah
+told him skazkas and sang him songs."[15] In another story, a
+_Durak_,--a "ninny" or "gowk"--is sent to take care of the children of
+a village during the absence of their parents. "Go and get all the
+children together in one of the cottages and tell them skazkas," are
+his instructions. He collects the children, but as they are "all ever
+so dirty" he puts them into boiling water by way of cleansing them,
+and so washes them to death.[16]
+
+There is a good deal of social life in the Russian villages during the
+long winter evenings, and at some of the gatherings which then take
+place skazkas are told, though at those in which only the young people
+participate, songs, games, and dances are more popular. The following
+skazka has been selected on account of the descriptions of a
+_vechernitsa_, or village _soiree_,[17] and of a rustic courtship,
+which its opening scene contains. The rest of the story is not
+remarkable for its fidelity to modern life, but it will serve as a
+good illustration of the class to which it belongs--that of stories
+about evil spirits, traceable, for the most part, to Eastern sources.
+
+
+  THE FIEND.[18]
+
+  In a certain country there lived an old couple who had a daughter
+  called Marusia (Mary). In their village it was customary to
+  celebrate the feast of St. Andrew the First-Called (November
+  30). The girls used to assemble in some cottage, bake _pampushki_,[19]
+  and enjoy themselves for a whole week, or even longer.
+  Well, the girls met together once when this festival arrived, and
+  brewed and baked what was wanted. In the evening came the
+  lads with the music, bringing liquor with them, and dancing and
+  revelry commenced. All the girls danced well, but Marusia the
+  best of all. After a while there came into the cottage such a
+  fine fellow! Marry, come up! regular blood and milk, and
+  smartly and richly dressed.
+
+  "Hail, fair maidens!" says he.
+
+  "Hail, good youth!" say they.
+
+  "You're merry-making?"
+
+  "Be so good as to join us."
+
+  Thereupon he pulled out of his pocket a purse full of gold,
+  ordered liquor, nuts and gingerbread. All was ready in a trice,
+  and he began treating the lads and lasses, giving each a share.
+  Then he took to dancing. Why, it was a treat to look at him!
+  Marusia struck his fancy more than anyone else; so he stuck
+  close to her. The time came for going home.
+
+  "Marusia," says he, "come and see me off."
+
+  She went to see him off.
+
+  "Marusia, sweetheart!" says he, "would you like me to
+  marry you?"
+
+  "If you like to marry me, I will gladly marry you. But
+  where do you come from?"
+
+  "From such and such a place. I'm clerk at a merchant's."
+
+  Then they bade each other farewell and separated. When
+  Marusia got home, her mother asked her:
+
+  "Well, daughter! have you enjoyed yourself?"
+
+  "Yes, mother. But I've something pleasant to tell you besides.
+  There was a lad there from the neighborhood, good-looking
+  and with lots of money, and he promised to marry me."
+
+  "Harkye Marusia! When you go to where the girls are to-morrow,
+  take a ball of thread with you, make a noose in it, and,
+  when you are going to see him off, throw it over one of his buttons,
+  and quietly unroll the ball; then, by means of the thread,
+  you will be able to find out where he lives."
+
+  Next day Marusia went to the gathering, and took a ball of
+  thread with her. The youth came again.
+
+  "Good evening, Marusia!" said he.
+
+  "Good evening!" said she.
+
+  Games began and dances. Even more than before did he
+  stick to Marusia, not a step would he budge from her. The time
+  came for going home.
+
+  "Come and see me off, Marusia!" says the stranger.
+
+  She went out into the street, and while she was taking leave
+  of him she quietly dropped the noose over one of his buttons.
+  He went his way, but she remained where she was, unrolling the
+  ball. When she had unrolled the whole of it, she ran after the
+  thread to find out where her betrothed lived. At first the thread
+  followed the road, then it stretched across hedges and ditches,
+  and led Marusia towards the church and right up to the porch.
+  Marusia tried the door; it was locked. She went round the
+  church, found a ladder, set it against a window, and climbed up
+  it to see what was going on inside. Having got into the church,
+  she looked--and saw her betrothed standing beside a grave and
+  devouring a dead body--for a corpse had been left for that
+  night in the church.
+
+  She wanted to get down the ladder quietly, but her fright prevented
+  her from taking proper heed, and she made a little noise.
+  Then she ran home--almost beside herself, fancying all the
+  time she was being pursued. She was all but dead before she
+  got in. Next morning her mother asked her:
+
+  "Well, Marusia! did you see the youth?"
+
+  "I saw him, mother," she replied. But what else she had
+  seen she did not tell.
+
+  In the morning Marusia was sitting, considering whether she
+  would go to the gathering or not.
+
+  "Go," said her mother. "Amuse yourself while you're
+  young!"
+
+  So she went to the gathering; the Fiend[20] was there already.
+  Games, fun, dancing, began anew; the girls knew nothing of
+  what had happened. When they began to separate and go
+  homewards:
+
+  "Come, Marusia!" says the Evil One, "see me off."
+
+  She was afraid, and didn't stir. Then all the other girls
+  opened out upon her.
+
+  "What are you thinking about? Have you grown so bashful,
+  forsooth? Go and see the good lad off."
+
+  There was no help for it. Out she went, not knowing what
+  would come of it. As soon as they got into the streets he began
+  questioning her:
+
+  "You were in the church last night?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "And saw what I was doing there?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "Very well! To-morrow your father will die!"
+
+  Having said this, he disappeared.
+
+  Marusia returned home grave and sad. When she woke up
+  in the morning, her father lay dead!
+
+  They wept and wailed over him, and laid him in the coffin.
+  In the evening her mother went off to the priest's, but Marusia
+  remained at home. At last she became afraid of being alone in
+  the house. "Suppose I go to my friends," she thought. So
+  she went, and found the Evil One there.
+
+  "Good evening, Marusia! why arn't you merry?"
+
+  "How can I be merry? My father is dead!"
+
+  "Oh! poor thing!"
+
+  They all grieved for her. Even the Accursed One himself
+  grieved; just as if it hadn't all been his own doing. By and by
+  they began saying farewell and going home.
+
+  "Marusia," says he, "see me off."
+
+  She didn't want to.
+
+  "What are you thinking of, child?" insist the girls. "What
+  are you afraid of? Go and see him off."
+
+  So she went to see him off. They passed out into the street.
+
+  "Tell me, Marusia," says he, "were you in the church?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "Did you see what I was doing?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "Very well! To-morrow your mother will die."
+
+  He spoke and disappeared. Marusia returned home sadder
+  than ever. The night went by; next morning, when she awoke,
+  her mother lay dead! She cried all day long; but when the
+  sun set, and it grew dark around, Marusia became afraid of
+  being left alone; so she went to her companions.
+
+  "Why, whatever's the matter with you? you're clean out of
+  countenance!"[21] say the girls.
+
+  "How am I likely to be cheerful? Yesterday my father
+  died, and to-day my mother."
+
+  "Poor thing! Poor unhappy girl!" they all exclaim sympathizingly.
+
+  Well, the time came to say good-bye. "See me off, Marusia,"
+  says the Fiend. So she went out to see him off.
+
+  "Tell me; were you in the church?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "And saw what I was doing?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "Very well! To-morrow evening you will die yourself!"
+
+  Marusia spent the night with her friends; in the morning
+  she got up and considered what she should do. She bethought
+  herself that she had a grandmother--an old, very old woman,
+  who had become blind from length of years. "Suppose I go
+  and ask her advice," she said, and then went off to her grandmother's.
+
+  "Good-day, granny!" says she.
+
+  "Good-day, granddaughter! What news is there with you?
+  How are your father and mother?"
+
+  "They are dead, granny," replied the girl, and then told
+  her all that had happened.
+
+  The old woman listened, and said:--
+
+  "Oh dear me! my poor unhappy child! Go quickly to the
+  priest, and ask him this favor--that if you die, your body shall
+  not be taken out of the house through the doorway, but that the
+  ground shall be dug away from under the threshold, and that
+  you shall be dragged out through that opening. And also beg
+  that you may be buried at a crossway, at a spot where four
+  roads meet."
+
+  Marusia went to the priest, wept bitterly, and made him promise
+  to do everything according to her grandmother's instructions.
+  Then she returned home, bought a coffin, lay down in it,
+  and straightway expired.
+
+  Well, they told the priest, and he buried, first her father and
+  mother, and then Marusia herself. Her body was passed underneath
+  the threshold and buried at a crossway.
+
+  Soon afterwards a seigneur's son happened to drive past
+  Marusia's grave. On that grave he saw growing a wondrous
+  flower, such a one as he had never seen before. Said the
+  young seigneur to his servant:--
+
+  "Go and pluck up that flower by the roots. We'll take
+  it home and put it in a flower-pot. Perhaps it will blossom
+  there."
+
+  Well, they dug up the flower, took it home, put it in a glazed
+  flower-pot, and set it in a window. The flower began to grow
+  larger and more beautiful. One night the servant hadn't gone
+  to sleep somehow, and he happened to be looking at the window,
+  when he saw a wondrous thing take place. All of a sudden the
+  flower began to tremble, then it fell from its stem to the ground,
+  and turned into a lovely maiden. The flower was beautiful, but
+  the maiden was more beautiful still. She wandered from room
+  to room, got herself various things to eat and drink, ate and
+  drank, then stamped upon the ground and became a flower
+  as before, mounted to the window, and resumed her place upon
+  the stem. Next day the servant told the young seigneur of the
+  wonders which he had seen during the night.
+
+  "Ah, brother!" said the youth, "why didn't you wake me?
+  To-night we'll both keep watch together."
+
+  The night came; they slept not, but watched. Exactly at
+  twelve o'clock the blossom began to shake, flew from place to
+  place, and then fell to the ground, and the beautiful maiden
+  appeared, got herself things to eat and drink, and sat down to
+  supper. The young seigneur rushed forward and seized her by
+  her white hands. Impossible was it for him sufficiently to look
+  at her, to gaze on her beauty!
+
+  Next morning he said to his father and mother, "Please
+  allow me to get married. I've found myself a bride."
+
+  His parents gave their consent. As for Marusia, she said:
+
+  "Only on this condition will I marry you--that for four years
+  I need not go to church."
+
+  "Very good," said he.
+
+  Well, they were married, and they lived together one year,
+  two years, and had a son. But one day they had visitors at
+  their house, who enjoyed themselves, and drank, and began
+  bragging about their wives. This one's wife was handsome;
+  that one's was handsomer still.
+
+  "You may say what you like," says the host, "but a handsomer
+  wife than mine does not exist in the whole world!"
+
+  "Handsome, yes!" reply the guests, "but a heathen."
+
+  "How so?"
+
+  "Why, she never goes to church."
+
+  Her husband found these observations distasteful. He
+  waited till Sunday, and then told his wife to get dressed for
+  church.
+
+  "I don't care what you may say," says he. "Go and get
+  ready directly."
+
+  Well, they got ready, and went to church. The husband
+  went in--didn't see anything particular. But when she looked
+  round--there was the Fiend sitting at a window.
+
+  "Ha! here you are, at last!" he cried. "Remember old
+  times. Were you in the church that night?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "And did you see what I was doing there?"
+
+  "No."
+
+  "Very well! To-morrow both your husband and your son will
+  die."
+
+  Marusia rushed straight out of the church and away to her
+  grandmother. The old woman gave her two phials, the one full
+  of holy water, the other of the water of life, and told her what
+  she was to do. Next day both Marusia's husband and her son
+  died. Then the Fiend came flying to her and asked:--
+
+  "Tell me; were you in the church?"
+
+  "I was."
+
+  "And did you see what I was doing?"
+
+  "You were eating a corpse."
+
+  She spoke, and splashed the holy water over him; in a
+  moment he turned into mere dust and ashes, which blew to the
+  winds. Afterwards she sprinkled her husband and her boy with
+  the water of life: straightway they revived. And from that
+  time forward they knew neither sorrow nor separation, but they
+  all lived together long and happily.[22]
+
+Another lively sketch of a peasant's love-making is given in the
+introduction to the story of "Ivan the widow's son and Grisha."[23]
+The tale is one of magic and enchantment, of living clouds and
+seven-headed snakes; but the opening is a little piece of still-life
+very quaintly portrayed. A certain villager, named Trofim, having been
+unable to find a wife, his Aunt Melania comes to his aid, promising to
+procure him an interview with a widow who has been left well provided
+for, and whose personal appearance is attractive--"real blood and
+milk! When she's got on her holiday clothes, she's as fine as a
+peacock!" Trofim grovels with gratitude at his aunt's feet. "My own
+dear auntie, Melania Prokhorovna, get me married for heaven's sake!
+I'll buy you an embroidered kerchief in return, the very best in the
+whole market." The widow comes to pay Melania a visit, and is induced
+to believe, on the evidence of beans (frequently used for the purpose
+of divination), that her destined husband is close at hand. At this
+propitious moment Trofim appears. Melania makes a little speech to the
+young couple, ending her recommendation to get married with the
+words:--
+
+"I can see well enough by the bridegroom's eyes that the bride is to
+his taste, only I don't know what the bride thinks about taking him."
+
+"I don't mind!" says the widow. "Well, then, glory be to God! Now,
+stand up, we'll say a prayer before the Holy Pictures; then give each
+other a kiss, and go in Heaven's name and get married at once!" And so
+the question is settled.
+
+From a courtship and a marriage in peasant life we may turn to a death
+and a burial. There are frequent allusions in the Skazkas to these
+gloomy subjects, with reference to which we will quote two stories,
+the one pathetic, the other (unintentionally) grotesque. Neither of
+them bears any title in the original, but we may style the first--
+
+
+  THE DEAD MOTHER.[24]
+
+  In a certain village there lived a husband and wife--lived happily,
+  lovingly, peaceably. All their neighbors envied them; the
+  sight of them gave pleasure to honest folks. Well, the mistress
+  bore a son, but directly after it was born she died.
+  The poor moujik moaned and wept. Above all he was in despair
+  about the babe. How was he to nourish it now? how to
+  bring it up without its mother? He did what was best, and
+  hired an old woman to look after it. Only here was a wonder!
+  all day long the babe would take no food, and did nothing but
+  cry; there was no soothing it anyhow. But during (a great
+  part of) the night one could fancy it wasn't there at all, so silently
+  and peacefully did it sleep.
+
+  "What's the meaning of this?" thinks the old woman; "suppose
+  I keep awake to-night; may be I shall find out."
+
+  Well, just at midnight she heard some one quietly open the
+  door and go up to the cradle. The babe became still, just as if
+  it was being suckled.
+
+  The next night the same thing took place, and the third
+  night, too. Then she told the moujik about it. He called his
+  kinsfolk together, and held counsel with them. They determined
+  on this; to keep awake on a certain night, and to spy out
+  who it was that came to suckle the babe. So at eventide they
+  all lay down on the floor, and beside them they set a lighted
+  taper hidden in an earthen pot.
+
+  At midnight the cottage door opened. Some one stepped
+  up to the cradle. The babe became still. At that moment one
+  of the kinsfolk suddenly brought out the light. They looked,
+  and saw the dead mother, in the very same clothes in which
+  she had been buried, on her knees besides the cradle, over
+  which she bent as she suckled the babe at her dead breast.
+
+  The moment the light shone in the cottage she stood up,
+  gazed sadly on her little one, and then went out of the room
+  without a sound, not saying a word to anyone. All those who
+  saw her stood for a time terror-struck; and then they found the
+  babe was dead.[25]
+
+The second story will serve as an illustration of one of the Russian
+customs with respect to the dead, and also of the ideas about
+witchcraft, still prevalent in Russia. We may create for it the title
+of--
+
+
+  THE DEAD WITCH.[26]
+
+  There was once an old woman who was a terrible witch, and
+  she had a daughter and a granddaughter. The time came for
+  the old crone to die, so she summoned her daughter and gave
+  her these instructions:
+
+  "Mind, daughter! when I'm dead, don't you wash my body
+  with lukewarm water; but fill a cauldron, make it boil its very
+  hottest, and then with that boiling water regularly scald me all
+  over."
+
+  After saying this, the witch lay ill two or three days, and
+  then died. The daughter ran round to all her neighbors, begging
+  them to come and help her to wash the old woman, and
+  meantime the little granddaughter was left all alone in the cottage.
+  And this is what she saw there. All of a sudden there
+  crept out from beneath the stove two demons--a big one and
+  a tiny one--and they ran up to the dead witch. The old demon
+  seized her by the feet, and tore away at her so that he stripped
+  off all her skin at one pull. Then he said to the little demon:
+
+  "Take the flesh for yourself, and lug it under the stove."
+
+  So the little demon flung his arms round the carcase, and
+  dragged it under the stove. Nothing was left of the old woman
+  but her skin. Into it the old demon inserted himself, and then
+  he lay down just where the witch had been lying.
+
+  Presently the daughter came back, bringing a dozen other
+  women with her, and they all set to work laying out the corpse.
+
+  "Mammy," says the child, "they've pulled granny's skin off
+  while you were away."
+
+  "What do you mean by telling such lies?"
+
+  "It's quite true, Mammy! There was ever such a blackie
+  came from under the stove, and he pulled the skin off, and got
+  into it himself."
+
+  "Hold your tongue, naughty child! you're talking nonsense!"
+  cried the old crone's daughter; then she fetched a big cauldron,
+  filled it with cold water, put it on the stove, and heated it till it
+  boiled furiously. Then the women lifted up the old crone, laid
+  her in a trough, took hold of the cauldron, and poured the whole
+  of the boiling water over her at once. The demon couldn't
+  stand it. He leaped out of the trough, dashed through the
+  doorway, and disappeared, skin and all. The women stared:
+
+  "What marvel is this?" they cried. "Here was the dead
+  woman, and now she isn't here. There's nobody left to lay out
+  or to bury. The demons have carried her off before our very
+  eyes!"[27]
+
+A Russian peasant funeral is preceded or accompanied by a
+considerable amount of wailing, which answers in some respect to the
+Irish "keening." To the _zaplachki_,[28] or laments, which are uttered
+on such occasions--frequently by hired wailers, who closely resemble
+the Corsican "vociferators," the modern Greek "myrologists"--allusions
+are sometimes made in the Skazkas. In the "Fox-wailer,"[29] for
+example--one of the variants of the well-known "Jack and the
+Beanstalk" story--an old man puts his wife in a bag and attempts to
+carry her up the beanstalk to heaven. Becoming tired on the way, he
+drops the bag, and the old woman is killed. After weeping over her
+dead body he sets out in search of a Wailer. Meeting a bear, he cries,
+"Wail a bit, Bear, for my old woman! I'll give you a pair of nice
+white fowls." The bear growls out "Oh, dear granny of mine! how I
+grieve for thee!" "No, no!" says the old man, "you can't wail." Going
+a little further he tries a wolf, but the wolf succeeds no better than
+the bear. At last a fox comes by, and on being appealed to, begins to
+cry aloud "Turu-Turu, grandmother! grandfather has killed thee!"--a
+wail which pleases the widower so much that he hands over the fowls to
+the fox at once, and asks, enraptured, for "that strain again!"[30]
+
+One of the most curious of the stories which relate to a village
+burial,--one in which also the feeling with which the Russian
+villagers sometimes regard their clergy finds expression--is that
+called--
+
+
+  THE TREASURE.[31]
+
+  In a certain kingdom there lived an old couple in great poverty.
+  Sooner or later the old woman died. It was in winter, in severe
+  and frosty weather. The old man went round to his friends and
+  neighbors, begging them to help him to dig a grave for the old
+  woman; but his friends and neighbors, knowing his great poverty,
+  all flatly refused. The old man went to the pope,[32] (but in that
+  village they had an awfully grasping pope, one without any
+  conscience), and says he:--
+
+  "Lend a hand, reverend father, to get my old woman buried."
+
+  "But have you got any money to pay for the funeral? if
+  so, friend, pay up beforehand!"
+
+  "It's no use hiding anything from you. Not a single copeck
+  have I at home. But if you'll wait a little, I'll earn some, and
+  then I'll pay you with interest--on my word I'll pay you!"
+
+  The pope wouldn't so much as listen to the old man.
+
+  "If you haven't any money, don't you dare to come here,"
+  says he.
+
+  "What's to be done?" thinks the old man. "I'll go to the
+  graveyard, dig a grave as I best can, and bury the old woman
+  myself." So he took an axe and a shovel, and went to the graveyard.
+  When he got there he began to prepare a grave. He
+  chopped away the frozen ground on the top with the axe, and
+  then he took to the shovel. He dug and dug, and at last he dug
+  out a metal pot. Looking into it he saw that it was stuffed full
+  of ducats that shone like fire. The old man was immensely delighted,
+  and cried, "Glory be to Thee, O Lord! I shall have
+  wherewithal both to bury my old woman, and to perform the
+  rites of remembrance."
+
+  He did not go on digging the grave any longer, but took the
+  pot of gold and carried it home. Well, we all know what money
+  will do--everything went as smooth as oil! In a trice there
+  were found good folks to dig the grave and fashion the coffin.
+  The old man sent his daughter-in-law to purchase meat and
+  drink and different kind of relishes--everything there ought to
+  be at memorial feasts--and he himself took a ducat in his hand
+  and hobbled back again to the pope's. The moment he reached
+  the door, out flew the pope at him.
+
+  "You were distinctly told, you old lout, that you were not to
+  come here without money; and now you've slunk back again."
+
+  "Don't be angry, batyushka,"[33] said the old man imploringly.
+  "Here's gold for you. If you'll only bury my old woman, I'll
+  never forget your kindness."
+
+  The pope took the money, and didn't know how best to
+  receive the old man, where to seat him, with what words to
+  smooth him down. "Well now, old friend! Be of good cheer;
+  everything shall be done," said he.
+
+  The old man made his bow, and went home, and the pope
+  and his wife began talking about him.
+
+  "There now, the old hunks!" they say. "So poor, forsooth,
+  so poor! And yet he's paid a gold piece. Many a defunct
+  person of quality have I buried in my time, but I never got so
+  from anyone before."
+
+  The pope got under weigh with all his retinue, and buried
+  the old crone in proper style. After the funeral the old man
+  invited him to his house, to take part in the feast in memory of
+  the dead. Well, they entered the cottage, and sat down to table--and
+  there appeared from somewhere or other meat and drink
+  and all sorts of snacks, everything in profusion. The (reverend)
+  guest sat down, ate for three people, looked greedily at what
+  was not his. The (other) guests finished their meal, and separated
+  to go to their homes; then the pope also rose from the
+  table. The old man went to speed him on his way. As soon
+  as they got into the farmyard, and the pope saw they were alone
+  at last, he began questioning the old man: "Listen, friend!
+  confess to me, don't leave so much as a single sin on your soul--it's
+  just the same before me as before God! How have you
+  managed to get on at such a pace? You used to be a poor
+  moujik, and now--marry! where did it come from? Confess,
+  friend, whose breath have you stopped? whom have you
+  pillaged?"
+
+  "What are you talking about, batyushka? I will tell you the
+  exact truth. I have not robbed, nor plundered, nor killed anyone.
+  A treasure tumbled into my hands of its own accord."
+
+  And he told him how it all happened. When the pope
+  heard these words he actually shook all over with greediness.
+  Going home, he did nothing by night and by day but think,
+  "That such a wretched lout of a moujik should have come in
+  for such a lump of money! Is there any way of tricking him
+  now, and getting this pot of money out of him?" He told his
+  wife about it, and he and she discussed the matter together, and
+  held counsel over it.
+
+  "Listen, mother," says he; "we've a goat, haven't we?"
+
+  "Yes."
+
+  "All right, then; we'll wait until it's night, and then we'll do
+  the job properly."
+
+  Late in the evening the pope dragged the goat indoors, killed
+  it, and took off its skin--horns, beard, and all complete. Then
+  he pulled the goat's skin over himself and said to his wife:
+
+  "Bring a needle and thread, mother, and fasten up the skin
+  all round, so that it mayn't slip off."
+
+  So she took a strong needle, and some tough thread, and
+  sewed him up in the goatskin. Well, at the dead of night, the
+  pope went straight to the old man's cottage, got under the window,
+  and began knocking and scratching. The old man hearing
+  the noise, jumped up and asked:
+
+  "Who's there?"
+
+  "The Devil!"
+
+  "Ours is a holy spot![34]" shrieked the moujik, and began
+  crossing himself and uttering prayers.
+
+  "Listen, old man," says the pope, "From me thou will not
+  escape, although thou may'st pray, although thou may'st cross
+  thyself; much better give me back my pot of money, otherwise I
+  will make thee pay for it. See now, I pitied thee in thy misfortune,
+  and I showed thee the treasure, thinking thou wouldst
+  take a little of it to pay for the funeral, but thou hast pillaged it
+  utterly."
+
+  The old man looked out of window--the goat's horns and
+  beard caught his eye--it was the Devil himself, no doubt of it.
+
+  "Let's get rid of him, money and all," thinks the old man;
+  "I've lived before now without money, and now I'll go on living
+  without it."
+
+  So he took the pot of gold, carried it outside, flung it on the
+  ground, and bolted indoors again as quickly as possible.
+
+  The pope seized the pot of money, and hastened home.
+  When he got back, "Come," says he, "the money is in our
+  hands now. Here, mother, put it well out of sight, and take a
+  sharp knife, cut the thread, and pull the goatskin off me before
+  anyone sees it."
+
+  She took a knife, and was beginning to cut the thread at the
+  seam, when forth flowed blood, and the pope began to howl:
+
+  "Oh! it hurts, mother, it hurts! don't cut mother, don't
+  cut!"
+
+  She began ripping the skin open in another place, but with
+  just the same result. The goatskin had united with his body all
+  round. And all that they tried, and all that they did, even to taking
+  the money back to the old man, was of no avail. The goatskin
+  remained clinging tight to the pope all the same. God evidently
+  did it to punish him for his great greediness.
+
+A somewhat less heathenish story with regard to money is the
+following, which may be taken as a specimen of the Skazkas which bear
+the impress of the genuine reverence which the peasants feel for their
+religion, whatever may be the feelings they entertain towards its
+ministers. While alluding to this subject, by the way, it may be as
+well to remark that no great reliance can be placed upon the evidence
+contained in the folk-tales of any land, with respect to the relations
+between its clergy and their flocks. The local parson of folk-lore is,
+as a general rule, merely the innocent inheritor of the bad reputation
+acquired by some ecclesiastic of another age and clime.
+
+
+  THE CROSS-SURETY.[35]
+
+  Once upon a time two merchants lived in a certain town just on
+  the verge of a stream. One of them was a Russian, the other a
+  Tartar; both were rich. But the Russian got so utterly ruined
+  by some business or other that he hadn't a single bit of property
+  left. Everything he had was confiscated or stolen. The Russian
+  merchant had nothing to turn to--he was left as poor as a
+  rat.[36] So he went to his friend the Tartar, and besought him to
+  lend him some money.
+
+  "Get me a surety," says the Tartar.
+
+  "But whom can I get for you, seeing that I haven't a soul
+  belonging to me? Stay, though! there's a surety for you, the
+  life-giving cross on the church!"
+
+  "Very good, my friend!" says the Tartar. "I'll trust your
+  cross. Your faith or ours, it's all one to me."
+
+  And he gave the Russian merchant fifty thousand roubles.
+  The Russian took the money, bade the Tartar farewell, and
+  went back to trade in divers places.
+
+  By the end of two years he had gained a hundred and fifty
+  thousand roubles by the fifty thousand he had borrowed. Now
+  he happened to be sailing one day along the Danube, going with
+  wares from one place to another, when all of a sudden a storm
+  arose, and was on the point of sinking the ship he was in. Then
+  the merchant remembered how he had borrowed money, and
+  given the life-giving cross as a surety, but had not paid his debt.
+  That was doubtless the cause of the storm arising! No sooner
+  had he said this to himself than the storm began to subside.
+  The merchant took a barrel, counted out fifty thousand roubles,
+  wrote the Tartar a note, placed it, together with the money, in
+  the barrel, and then flung the barrel into the water, saying to
+  himself: "As I gave the cross as my surety to the Tartar, the
+  money will be certain to reach him."
+
+  The barrel straightway sank to the bottom; everyone supposed
+  the money was lost. But what happened? In the Tartar's
+  house there lived a Russian kitchen-maid. One day she
+  happened to go to the river for water, and when she got there
+  she saw a barrel floating along. So she went a little way into
+  the water and began trying to get hold of it. But it wasn't to be
+  done! When she made at the barrel, it retreated from her:
+  when she turned from the barrel to the shore, it floated after
+  her. She went on trying and trying for some time, then she
+  went home and told her master all that had happened. At first
+  he wouldn't believe her, but at last he determined to go to the
+  river and see for himself what sort of barrel it was that was
+  floating there. When he got there--sure enough there was the
+  barrel floating, and not far from the shore. The Tartar took off
+  his clothes and went into the water; before he had gone any
+  distance the barrel came floating up to him of its own accord.
+  He laid hold of it, carried it home, opened it, and looked inside.
+  There he saw a quantity of money, and on top of the money a
+  note. He took out the note and read it, and this is what was
+  said in it:--
+
+  "Dear friend! I return to you the fifty thousand roubles for
+  which, when I borrowed them from you, I gave the life-giving
+  cross as a surety."
+
+  The Tartar read these words and was astounded at the power
+  of the life-giving cross. He counted the money over to see
+  whether the full sum was really there. It was there exactly.
+
+  Meanwhile, the Russian merchant, after trading some five
+  years, made a tolerable fortune. Well, he returned to his old
+  home, and, thinking that his barrel had been lost, he considered
+  it his first duty to settle with the Tartar. So he went to his
+  house and offered him the money he had borrowed. Then the
+  Tartar told him all that had happened and how he had found
+  the barrel in the river, with the money and the note inside it.
+  Then he showed him the note, saying:
+
+  "Is that really your hand?"
+
+  "It certainly is," replied the other.
+
+  Every one was astounded at this wondrous manifestation,
+  and the Tartar said:
+
+  "Then I've no more money to receive from you, brother;
+  take that back again."
+
+  The Russian merchant had a service performed as a thank-offering
+  to God, and next day the Tartar was baptized with all
+  his household. The Russian merchant was his godfather, and
+  the kitchen-maid his godmother. After that they both lived
+  long and happily, survived to a great age, and then died peacefully.[37]
+
+There is one marked feature in the Russian peasant's character to
+which the Skazkas frequently refer--his passion for drink. To him
+strong liquor is a friend, a comforter, a solace amid the ills of
+life. Intoxication is not so much an evil to be dreaded or remembered
+with shame, as a joy to be fondly anticipated, or classed with the
+happy memories of the past. By him drunkenness is regarded, like
+sleep, as the friend of woe--and a friend whose services can be even
+more readily commanded. On certain occasions he almost believes that
+to get drunk is a duty he owes either to the Church, or to the memory
+of the Dead; at times without the slightest apparent cause, he is
+seized by a sudden and irresistible craving for ardent spirits, and he
+commences a drinking-bout which lasts--with intervals of coma--for
+days, or even weeks, after which he resumes his everyday life and his
+usual sobriety as calmly as if no interruption had taken place. All
+these ideas and habits of his find expression in his popular tales,
+giving rise to incidents which are often singularly out of keeping
+with the rest of the narrative in which they occur. In one of the many
+variants,[38] for instance, of a widespread and well known story--that
+of the three princesses who are rescued from captivity by a hero from
+whom they are afterwards carried away, and who refuse to get married
+until certain clothes or shoes or other things impossible for ordinary
+workmen to make are supplied to them--an unfortunate shoemaker is told
+that if he does not next day produce the necessary shoes (of perfect
+fit, although no measure has been taken, and all set thick with
+precious stones) he shall be hanged. Away he goes at once to a
+_traktir_, or tavern, and sets to work to drown his grief in drink.
+After awhile he begins to totter. "Now then," he says, "I'll take home
+a bicker of spirits with me, and go to bed. And to-morrow morning, as
+soon as they come to fetch me to be hanged, I'll toss off half the
+bickerful. They may hang me then without my knowing anything about
+it."[39]
+
+In the story of the "Purchased Wife," the Princess Anastasia, the
+Beautiful, enables the youth Ivan, who ransoms her, to win a large sum
+of money in the following manner. Having worked a piece of embroidery,
+she tells him to take it to market. "But if any one purchases it,"
+says she, "don't take any money from him, but ask him to give you
+liquor enough to make you drunk." Ivan obeys, and this is the result.
+He drank till he was intoxicated, and when he left the kabak (or
+pot-house) he tumbled into a muddy pool. A crowd collected and folks
+looked at him and said scoffingly, "Oh, the fair youth! now'd be the
+time for him to go to church to get married!"
+
+"Fair or foul!" says he, "if I bid her, Anastasia the Beautiful will
+kiss the crown of my head."
+
+"Don't go bragging like that!" says a rich merchant--"why she wouldn't
+even so much as look at you," and offers to stake all that he is worth
+on the truth of his assertion. Ivan accepts the wager. The Princess
+appears, takes him by the hand, kisses him on the crown of his head,
+wipes the dirt off him, and leads him home, still inebriated but no
+longer impecunious.[40]
+
+Sometimes even greater people than the peasants get drunk. The story
+of "Semiletka"[41]--a variant of the well known tale of how a woman's
+wit enables her to guess all riddles, to detect all deceits, and to
+conquer all difficulties--relates how the heroine was chosen by a
+Voyvode[42] as his wife, with the stipulation that if she meddled in
+the affairs of his Voyvodeship she was to be sent back to her father,
+but allowed to take with her whatever thing belonging to her she
+prized most. The marriage takes place, but one day the well known case
+comes before him for decision, of the foal of the borrowed mare--does
+it belong to the owner of the mare, or to the borrower in whose
+possession it was at the time of foaling? The Voyvode adjudges it to
+the borrower, and this is how the story ends:--
+
+"Semiletka heard of this and could not restrain herself, but said that
+he had decided unfairly. The Voyvode waxed wroth, and demanded a
+divorce. After dinner Semiletka was obliged to go back to her father's
+house. But during the dinner she made the Voyvode drink till he was
+intoxicated. He drank his fill and went to sleep. While he was
+sleeping she had him placed in a carriage, and then she drove away
+with him to her father's. When they had arrived there the Voyvode
+awoke and said--
+
+"'Who brought me here?'
+
+"'I brought you,' said Semiletka; 'there was an agreement between us
+that I might take away with me whatever I prized most. And so I have
+taken you!'
+
+"The Voyvode marvelled at her wisdom, and made peace with her. He and
+she then returned home and went on living prosperously."
+
+But although drunkenness is very tenderly treated in the Skazkas, as
+well as in the folk-songs, it forms the subject of many a moral
+lesson, couched in terms of the utmost severity, in the _stikhi_ (or
+poems of a religious character, sung by the blind beggars and other
+wandering minstrels who sing in front of churches), and also in the
+"Legends," which are tales of a semi-religious (or rather
+demi-semi-religious) nature. No better specimen of the stories of this
+class referring to drunkenness can be offered than the history of--
+
+
+  THE AWFUL DRUNKARD.[43]
+
+  Once there was an old man who was such an awful drunkard
+  as passes all description. Well, one day he went to a kabak,
+  intoxicated himself with liquor, and then went staggering home
+  blind drunk. Now his way happened to lie across a river.
+  When he came to the river, he didn't stop long to consider, but
+  kicked off his boots, hung them round his neck, and walked
+  into the water. Scarcely had he got half-way across when he
+  tripped over a stone, tumbled into the water--and there was an
+  end of him.
+
+  Now, he left a son called Petrusha.[44] When Peter saw that
+  his father had disappeared and left no trace behind, he took the
+  matter greatly to heart for a time, he wept for awhile, he had a
+  service performed for the repose of his father's soul, and he
+  began to act as head of the family. One Sunday he went to
+  church to pray to God. As he passed along the road a woman
+  was pounding away in front of him. She walked and walked,
+  stumbled over a stone, and began swearing at it, saying, "What
+  devil shoved you under my feet?"
+
+  Hearing these words, Petrusha said:
+
+  "Good day, aunt! whither away?"
+
+  "To church, my dear, to pray to God."
+
+  "But isn't this sinful conduct of yours? You're going to
+  church, to pray to God, and yet you think about the Evil One;
+  your foot stumbles and you throw the fault on the Devil!"
+
+  Well, he went to church and then returned home. He
+  walked and walked, and suddenly, goodness knows whence,
+  there appeared before him a fine-looking man, who saluted him
+  and said:
+
+  "Thanks, Petrusha, for your good word!"
+
+  "Who are you, and why do you thank me?" asks Petrusha.
+
+  "I am the Devil.[45] I thank you because, when that woman
+  stumbled, and scolded me without a cause, you said a good
+  word for me." Then he began to entreat him, saying, "Come
+  and pay me a visit, Petrusha. How I will reward you to be
+  sure! With silver and with gold, with everything will I endow
+  you."
+
+  "Very good," says Petrusha, "I'll come."
+
+  Having told him all about the road he was to take, the Devil
+  straightway disappeared, and Petrusha returned home.
+
+  Next day Petrusha set off on his visit to the Devil. He
+  walked and walked, for three whole days did he walk, and then he
+  reached a great forest, dark and dense--impossible even to see
+  the sky from within it! And in that forest there stood a rich
+  palace. Well, he entered the palace, and a fair maiden caught
+  sight of him. She had been stolen from a certain village by the
+  evil spirit. And when she caught sight of him she cried:
+
+  "Whatever have you come here for, good youth? here
+  devils abide, they will tear you to pieces."
+
+  Petrusha told her how and why he had made his appearance
+  in that palace.
+
+  "Well now, mind this," says the fair maiden; "the Devil will
+  begin giving you silver and gold. Don't take any of it, but ask
+  him to give you the very wretched horse which the evil spirits
+  use for fetching wood and water. That horse is your father.
+  When he came out of the kabak drunk, and fell into the water,
+  the devils immediately seized him and made him their hack, and
+  now they use him for fetching wood and water."
+
+  Presently there appeared the gallant who had invited
+  Petrusha, and began to regale him with all kinds of meat and
+  drink. And when the time came for Petrusha to be going homewards,
+  "Come," said the Devil, "I will provide you with
+  money and with a capital horse, so that you will speedily get
+  home."
+
+  "I don't want anything," replied Petrusha. "Only, if you
+  wish to make me a present, give me that sorry jade which you
+  use for carrying wood and water."
+
+  "What good will that be to you? If you ride it home
+  quickly, I expect it will die!"
+
+  "No matter, let me have it. I won't take any other."
+
+  So the Devil gave him that sorry jade. Petrusha took it by
+  the bridle and led it away. As soon as he reached the gates
+  there appeared the fair maiden, and asked:
+
+  "Have you got the horse?"
+
+  "I have."
+
+  "Well then, good youth, when you get nigh to your village,
+  take off your cross, trace a circle three times about this horse,
+  and hang the cross round its neck."
+
+  Petrusha took leave of her and went his way. When he
+  came nigh to his village he did everything exactly as the maiden
+  had instructed him. He took off his copper cross, traced a
+  circle three times about the horse, and hung the cross round its
+  neck. And immediately the horse was no longer there, but in
+  its place there stood before Petrusha his own father. The son
+  looked upon the father, burst into tears, and led him to his cottage;
+  and for three days the old man remained without speaking,
+  unable to make use of his tongue. And after that they
+  lived happily and in all prosperity. The old man entirely gave
+  up drinking, and to his very last day never took so much as a
+  single drop of spirits.[46]
+
+The Russian peasant is by no means deficient in humor, a fact of
+which the Skazkas offer abundant evidence. But it is not easy to find
+stories which can be quoted at full length as illustrations of that
+humor. The jokes which form the themes of the Russian facetious tales
+are for the most part common to all Europe. And a similar assertion
+may be made with regard to the stories of most lands. An unfamiliar
+joke is but rarely to be discovered in the lower strata of fiction. He
+who has read the folk-tales of one country only, is apt to attribute
+to its inhabitants a comic originality to which they can lay no claim.
+And so a Russian who knows the stories of his own land, but has not
+studied those of other countries, is very liable to credit the Skazkas
+with the undivided possession of a number of "merry jests" in which
+they can claim but a very small share--jests which in reality form the
+stock-in-trade of rustic wags among the vineyards of France or
+Germany, or on the hills of Greece, or beside the fiords of Norway, or
+along the coasts of Brittany or Argyleshire--which for centuries have
+set beards wagging in Cairo and Ispahan, and in the cool of the
+evening hour have cheered the heart of the villager weary with his
+day's toil under the burning sun of India.
+
+It is only when the joke hinges upon something which is peculiar to a
+people that it is likely to be found among that people only. But most
+of the Russian jests turn upon pivots which are familiar to all the
+world, and have for their themes such common-place topics as the
+incorrigible folly of man, the inflexible obstinacy of woman. And in
+their treatments of these subjects they offer very few novel features.
+It is strange how far a story of this kind may travel, and yet how
+little alteration it may undergo. Take, for instance, the skits
+against women which are so universally popular. Far away in outlying
+districts of Russia we find the same time-honored quips which have so
+long figured in collections of English facetiae. There is the good old
+story, for instance, of the dispute between a husband and wife as to
+whether a certain rope has been cut with a knife or with scissors,
+resulting in the murder of the scissors-upholding wife, who is pitched
+into the river by her knife-advocating husband; but not before she
+has, in her very death agony, testified to her belief in the scissors
+hypothesis by a movement of her fingers above the surface of the
+stream.[47] In a Russian form of the story, told in the government of
+Astrakhan, the quarrel is about the husband's beard. He says he has
+shaved it, his wife declares he has only cut it off. He flings her
+into a deep pool, and calls to her to say "shaved." Utterance is
+impossible to her, but "she lifts one hand above the water and by
+means of two fingers makes signs to show that it was cut."[48] The
+story has even settled into a proverb. Of a contradictory woman the
+Russian peasants affirm that, "If you say 'shaved' she'll say 'cut.'"
+
+In the same way another story shows us in Russian garb our old friend
+the widower who, when looking for his drowned wife--a woman of a very
+antagonistic disposition--went up the river instead of down, saying to
+his astonished companions, "She always did everything contrary-wise,
+so now, no doubt, she's gone against the stream."[49] A common story
+again is that of the husband who, having confided a secret to his wife
+which he justly fears she will reveal, throws discredit on her
+evidence about things in general by making her believe various absurd
+stories which she hastens to repeat.[49] The final paragraph of one of
+the variants of this time-honored jest is quaint, concluding as it
+does, by way of sting, with a highly popular Russian saw. The wife has
+gone to the seigneur of the village and accused her husband of having
+found a treasure and kept it for his own use. The charge is true, but
+the wife is induced to talk such nonsense, and the husband complains
+so bitterly of her, that "the seigneur pitied the moujik for being so
+unfortunate, so he set him at liberty; and he had him divorced from
+his wife and married to another, a young and good-looking one. Then
+the moujik immediately dug up his treasure and began living in the
+best manner possible." Sure enough the proverb doesn't say without
+reason: "Women have long hair and short wits."[50]
+
+There is another story of this class which is worthy of being
+mentioned, as it illustrates a custom in which the Russians differ
+from some other peoples.
+
+A certain man had married a wife who was so capricious that there was
+no living with her. After trying all sorts of devices her dejected
+husband at last asked her how she had been brought up, and learnt that
+she had received an education almost entirely German and French, with
+scarcely any Russian in it; she had not even been wrapped in
+swaddling-clothes when a baby, nor swung in a _liulka_.[51] Thereupon
+her husband determined to remedy the short-comings of her early
+education, and "whenever she showed herself capricious, or took to
+squalling, he immediately had her swaddled and placed in a _liulka_,
+and began swinging her to and fro." By the end of a half year she
+became "quite silky"--all her caprices had been swung out of her.
+
+But instead of giving mere extracts from any more of the numerous
+stories to which the fruitful subject of woman's caprice has given
+rise, we will quote a couple of such tales at length. The first is the
+Russian variant of a story which has a long family tree, with
+ramifications extending over a great part of the world. Dr. Benfey has
+devoted to it no less than sixteen pages of his introduction to the
+Panchatantra,[52] tracing it from its original Indian home, and its
+subsequent abode in Persia, into almost every European land.
+
+
+  THE BAD WIFE.[53]
+
+  A bad wife lived on the worst of terms with her husband, and
+  never paid any attention to what he said. If her husband told
+  her to get up early, she would lie in bed three days at a stretch;
+  if he wanted her to go to sleep, she couldn't think of sleeping.
+  When her husband asked her to make pancakes, she would say:
+  "You thief, you don't deserve a pancake!"
+
+  If he said:
+
+  "Don't make any pancakes, wife, if I don't deserve them,"
+  she would cook a two-gallon pot full, and say,
+
+  "Eat away, you thief, till they're all gone!"
+
+  "Now then, wife," perhaps he would say, "I feel quite sorry
+  for you; don't go toiling and moiling, and don't go out to the
+  hay cutting."
+
+  "No, no, you thief!" she would reply, "I shall go, and do
+  you follow after me!"
+
+  One day, after having had his trouble and bother with her
+  he went into the forest to look for berries and distract his grief,
+  and he came to where there was a currant bush, and in the middle
+  of that bush he saw a bottomless pit. He looked at it for
+  some time and considered, "Why should I live in torment with
+  a bad wife? can't I put her into that pit? can't I teach her a
+  good lesson?"
+
+  So when he came home, he said:
+
+  "Wife, don't go into the woods for berries."
+
+  "Yes, you bugbear, I shall go!"
+
+  "I've found a currant bush; don't pick it."
+
+  "Yes I will; I shall go and pick it clean; but I won't give
+  you a single currant!"
+
+  The husband went out, his wife with him. He came to the
+  currant bush, and his wife jumped into it, crying out at the top
+  her voice:
+
+  "Don't you come into the bush, you thief, or I'll kill you!"
+
+  And so she got into the middle of the bush, and went flop
+  into the bottomless pit.
+
+  The husband returned home joyfully, and remained there
+  three days; on the fourth day he went to see how things were
+  going on. Taking a long cord, he let it down into the pit, and
+  out from thence he pulled a little demon. Frightened out of his
+  wits, he was going to throw the imp back again into the pit,
+  but it shrieked aloud, and earnestly entreated him, saying:
+
+  "Don't send me back again, O peasant! let me go out into
+  the world! A bad wife has come, and absolutely devoured us
+  all, pinching us, and biting us--we're utterly worn out with it.
+  I'll do you a good turn, if you will."
+
+  So the peasant let him go free--at large in Holy Russia.
+  Then the imp said:
+
+  "Now then, peasant, come along with me to the town of
+  Vologda. I'll take to tormenting people, and you shall cure
+  them."
+
+  Well, the imp went to where there were merchant's wives
+  and merchant's daughters; and when they were possessed by
+  him, they fell ill and went crazy. Then the peasant would go to
+  a house where there was illness of this kind, and, as soon as he
+  entered, out would go the enemy; then there would be blessing
+  in the house, and everyone would suppose that the peasant was
+  a doctor indeed, and would give him money, and treat him to
+  pies. And so the peasant gained an incalculable sum of money.
+  At last the demon said:
+
+  "You've plenty now, peasant; arn't you content? I'm going
+  now to enter into the Boyar's daughter. Mind you don't go
+  curing her. If you do, I shall eat you."
+
+  The Boyar's daughter fell ill, and went so crazy that she
+  wanted to eat people. The Boyar ordered his people to find out
+  the peasant--(that is to say) to look for such and such a physician.
+  The peasant came, entered the house, and told Boyar to
+  make all the townspeople, and the carriages with coachmen, stand
+  in the street outside. Moreover, he gave orders that all the
+  coachmen should crack their whips and cry at the top of their
+  voices: "The Bad Wife has come! the Bad Wife has come!"
+  and then he went into the inner room. As soon as he entered
+  it, the demon rushed at him crying, "What do you mean, Russian?
+  what have you come here for? I'll eat you!"
+
+  "What do _you_ mean?" said the peasant, "why I didn't
+  come here to turn you out. I came, out of pity to you, to say
+  that the Bad Wife has come here."
+
+  The Demon rushed to the window, stared with all his eyes,
+  and heard everyone shouting at the top of his voice the words,
+  "The Bad Wife!"
+
+  "Peasant," cries the Demon, "wherever can I take refuge?"
+
+  "Run back into the pit. She won't go there any more."
+
+  The Demon went back to the pit--and to the Bad Wife too.
+
+  In return for his services, the Boyar conferred a rich guerdon
+  on the peasant, giving him his daughter to wife, and presenting
+  him with half his property.
+
+  But the Bad Wife sits to this day in the pit--in Tartarus.[54]
+
+Our final illustration of the Skazkas which satirize women is the
+story of the _Golovikha_. It is all the more valuable, inasmuch as it
+is one of the few folk-tales which throw any light on the working of
+Russian communal institutions. The word _Golovikha_ means, in its
+strict sense, the wife of a _Golova_, or elected chief [_Golova_ =
+head] of a _Volost_, or association of village communities; but here
+it is used for a "female _Golova_," a species of "mayoress."
+
+
+  THE GOLOVIKHA.[55]
+
+  A certain woman was very bumptious. Her husband came
+  from a village council one day, and she asked him:
+
+  "What have you been deciding over there?"
+
+  "What have we been deciding? why choosing a Golova."
+
+  "Whom have you chosen?"
+
+  "No one as yet."
+
+  "Choose me," says the woman.
+
+  So as soon as her husband went back to the council (she was
+  a bad sort; he wanted to give her a lesson) he told the elders
+  what she had said. They immediately chose her as Golova.
+
+  Well the woman got along, settled all questions, took bribes,
+  and drank spirits at the peasant's expense. But the time came
+  to collect the poll-tax. The Golova couldn't do it, wasn't able
+  to collect it in time. There came a Cossack, and asked for the
+  Golova; but the woman had hidden herself. As soon as she
+  learnt that the Cossack had come, off she ran home.
+
+  "Where, oh where can I hide myself?" she cries to her
+  husband. "Husband dear! tie me up in a bag, and put me out
+  there where the corn-sacks are."
+
+  Now there were five sacks of seed-corn outside, so her husband
+  tied up the Golova, and set her in the midst of them. Up
+  came the Cossack and said:
+
+  "Ho! so the Golova's in hiding."
+
+  Then he took to slashing at the sacks one after another with
+  his whip, and the woman to howling at the pitch of her voice:
+
+  "Oh, my father! I won't be a Golova, I won't be a Golova."
+
+  At last the Cossack left off beating the sacks, and rode away.
+  But the woman had had enough of Golova-ing; from that time
+  forward she took to obeying her husband.
+
+Before passing on to another subject, it may be advisable to quote one
+of the stories in which the value of a good and wise wife is fully
+acknowledged. I have chosen for that purpose one of the variants of a
+tale from which, in all probability, our own story of "Whittington and
+his Cat" has been derived. With respect to its origin, there can be
+very little doubt, such a feature as that of the incense-burning
+pointing directly to a Buddhist source. It is called--
+
+
+  THE THREE COPECKS.[56]
+
+  There once was a poor little orphan-lad who had nothing at all
+  to live on; so he went to a rich moujik and hired himself out to
+  him, agreeing to work for one copeck a year. And when he had
+  worked for a whole year, and had received his copeck, he went to
+  a well and threw it into the water, saying, "If it don't sink, I'll
+  keep it. It will be plain enough I've served my master faithfully."
+
+  But the copeck sank. Well, he remained in service a second
+  year, and received a second copeck. Again he flung it into the
+  well, and again it sank to the bottom. He remained a third year;
+  worked and worked, till the time came for payment. Then his
+  master gave him a rouble. "No," says the orphan, "I don't
+  want your money; give me my copeck." He got his copeck and
+  flung it into the well. Lo and behold! there were all three copecks
+  floating on the surface of the water. So he took them and
+  went into the town.
+
+  Now as he went along the street, it happened that some small
+  boys had got hold of a kitten and were tormenting it. And he
+  felt sorry for it, and said:
+
+  "Let me have that kitten, my boys?"
+
+  "Yes, we'll sell it you."
+
+  "What do you want for it?"
+
+  "Three copecks."
+
+  Well the orphan bought the kitten, and afterwards hired
+  himself to a merchant, to sit in his shop.
+
+  That merchant's business began to prosper wonderfully. He
+  couldn't supply goods fast enough; purchasers carried off everything
+  in a twinkling. The merchant got ready to go to sea,
+  freighted a ship, and said to the orphan:
+
+  "Give me your cat; maybe it will catch mice on board, and
+  amuse me."
+
+  "Pray take it, master! only if you lose it, I shan't let you off
+  cheap."
+
+  The merchant arrived in a far off land, and put up at an inn.
+  The landlord saw that he had a great deal of money, so he gave
+  him a bedroom which was infested by countless swarms of rats
+  and mice, saying to himself, "If they should happen to eat him
+  up, his money will belong to me." For in that country they knew
+  nothing about cats, and the rats and mice had completely got the
+  upper hand. Well the merchant took the cat with him to his
+  room and went to bed. Next morning the landlord came into
+  the room. There was the merchant alive and well, holding the
+  cat in his arms, and stroking its fur; the cat was purring away,
+  singing its song, and on the floor lay a perfect heap of dead rats
+  and mice!
+
+  "Master merchant, sell me that beastie," says the landlord.
+
+  "Certainly."
+
+  "What do you want for it?"
+
+  "A mere trifle. I'll make the beastie stand on his hind legs
+  while I hold him up by his forelegs, and you shall pile gold
+  pieces around him, so as just to hide him--I shall be content
+  with that!"
+
+  The landlord agreed to the bargain. The merchant gave him
+  the cat, received a sackful of gold, and as soon as he had settled
+  his affairs, started on his way back. As he sailed across the
+  seas, he thought:
+
+  "Why should I give the gold to that orphan? Such a lot of
+  money in return for a mere cat! that would be too much of a
+  good thing. No, much better keep it myself."
+
+  The moment he had made up his mind to the sin, all of a sudden
+  there arose a storm--such a tremendous one! the ship was
+  on the point of sinking.
+
+  "Ah, accursed one that I am! I've been longing for what
+  doesn't belong to me; O Lord, forgive me a sinner! I won't
+  keep back a single copeck."
+
+  The moment the merchant began praying the winds were
+  stilled, the sea became calm, and the ship went sailing on prosperously
+  to the quay.
+
+  "Hail, master!" says the orphan. "But where's my cat?"
+
+  "I've sold it," answers the merchant; "There's your money,
+  take it in full."
+
+  The orphan received the sack of gold, took leave of the
+  merchant, and went to the strand, where the shipmen were.
+  From them he obtained a shipload of incense in exchange for
+  his gold, and he strewed the incense along the strand, and burnt
+  it in honor of God. The sweet savor spread through all that
+  land, and suddenly an old man appeared, and he said to the
+  orphan:
+
+  "Which desirest thou--riches, or a good wife?"
+
+  "I know not, old man."
+
+  "Well then, go afield. Three brothers are ploughing over
+  there. Ask them to tell thee."
+
+  The orphan went afield. He looked, and saw peasants tilling
+  the soil.
+
+  "God lend you aid!" says he.
+
+  "Thanks, good man!" say they. "What dost thou want?"
+
+  "An old man has sent me here, and told me to ask you which
+  of the two I shall wish for--riches or a good wife?"
+
+  "Ask our elder brother; he's sitting in that cart there."
+
+  The orphan went to the cart and saw a little boy--one that
+  seemed about three years old.
+
+  "Can this be their elder brother?" thought he--however he
+  asked him:
+
+  "Which dost thou tell me to choose--riches, or a good wife?"
+
+  "Choose the good wife."
+
+  So the orphan returned to the old man.
+
+  "I'm told to ask for the wife," says he.
+
+  "That's all right!" said the old man, and disappeared from
+  sight. The orphan looked round; by his side stood a beautiful
+  woman.
+
+  "Hail, good youth!" says she. "I am thy wife; let us go
+  and seek a place where we may live."[57]
+
+One of the sins to which the Popular Tale shows itself most hostile is
+that of avarice. The folk-tales of all lands delight to gird at misers
+and skinflints, to place them in unpleasant positions, and to gloat
+over the sufferings which attend their death and embitter their
+ghostly existence. As a specimen of the manner in which the humor of
+the Russian peasant has manipulated the stories of this class, most of
+which probably reached him from the East, we may take the following
+tale of--
+
+
+  THE MISER.[58]
+
+  There once was a rich merchant named Marko--a stingier fellow
+  never lived! One day he went out for a stroll. As he went
+  along the road he saw a beggar--an old man, who sat there asking
+  for alms--"Please to give, O ye Orthodox, for Christ's
+  sake!"
+
+  Marko the Rich passed by. Just at that time there came up
+  behind him a poor moujik, who felt sorry for the beggar, and gave
+  him a copeck. The rich man seemed to feel ashamed, for he
+  stopped and said to the moujik:
+
+  "Harkye, neighbor, lend me a copeck. I want to give that
+  poor man something, but I've no small change."
+
+  The moujik gave him one, and asked when he should come
+  for his money. "Come to-morrow," was the reply. Well next
+  day the poor man went to the rich man's to get his copeck. He
+  entered his spacious courtyard and asked:
+
+  "Is Marko the Rich at home?"
+
+  "Yes. What do you want?" replied Marko.
+
+  "I've come for my copeck."
+
+  "Ah, brother! come again. Really I've no change just now."
+
+  The poor man made his bow and went away.
+
+  "I'll come to-morrow," said he.
+
+  On the morrow he came again, but it was just the same story
+  as before.
+
+  "I haven't a single copper. If you like to change me a note
+  for a hundred--No? well then come again in a fortnight."
+
+  At the end of the fortnight the poor man came again, but
+  Marko the Rich saw him from the window, and said to his wife:
+
+  "Harkye, wife! I'll strip myself naked and lie down under
+  the holy pictures. Cover me up with a cloth, and sit down and
+  cry, just as you would over a corpse. When the moujik comes
+  for his money, tell him I died this morning."
+
+  Well the wife did everything exactly as her husband directed
+  her. While she was sitting there drowned in bitter tears, the
+  moujik came into the room.
+
+  "What do you want?" says she.
+
+  "The money Marko the Rich owes me," answers the poor
+  man.
+
+  "Ah, moujik, Marko the Rich has wished us farewell;[59] he's
+  only just dead."
+
+  "The kingdom of heaven be his! If you'll allow me, mistress,
+  in return for my copeck I'll do him a last service--just
+  give his mortal remains a wash."
+
+  So saying he laid hold of a pot full of boiling water and began
+  pouring its scalding contents over Marko the Rich. Marko, his
+  brows knit, his legs contorted, was scarcely able to hold out.[60]
+
+  "Writhe away or not as you please," thought the poor man,
+  "but pay me my copeck!"
+
+  When he had washed the body, and laid it out properly, he
+  said:
+
+  "Now then, mistress, buy a coffin and have it taken into the
+  church; I'll go and read psalms over it."
+
+  So Marko the Rich was put in a coffin and taken into the
+  church, and the moujik began reading psalms over him. The
+  darkness of night came on. All of a sudden a window opened,
+  and a party of robbers crept through it into the church. The
+  moujik hid himself behind the altar. As soon as the robbers had
+  come in they began dividing their booty, and after everything
+  else was shared there remained over and above a golden sabre--each
+  one laid hold of it for himself, no one would give up his
+  claim to it. Out jumped the poor man, crying:
+
+  "What's the good of disputing that way? Let the sabre
+  belong to him who will cut this corpse's head off!"
+
+  Up jumped Marko the Rich like a madman. The robbers
+  were frightened out of their wits, flung away their spoil and
+  scampered off.
+
+  "Here, Moujik," says Marko, "let's divide the money."
+
+  They divided it equally between them: each of the shares
+  was a large one.
+
+  "But how about the copeck?" asks the poor man.
+
+  "Ah, brother!" replies Marko, "surely you can see I've got
+  no change!"
+
+  And so Marko the Rich never paid the copeck after all.
+
+We may take next the large class of stories about simpletons, so dear
+to the public in all parts of the world. In the Skazkas a simpleton is
+known as a _durak_, a word which admits of a variety of explanations.
+Sometimes it means an idiot, sometimes a fool in the sense of a
+jester. In the stories of village life its signification is generally
+that of a "ninny;" in the "fairy stories" it is frequently applied to
+the youngest of the well-known "Three Brothers," the "Boots" of the
+family as Dr. Dasent has called him. In the latter case, of course,
+the hero's _durachestvo_, or foolishness, is purely subjective. It
+exists only in the false conceptions of his character which his family
+or his neighbors have formed.[61] But the _durak_ of the following
+tale is represented as being really "daft." The story begins with one
+of the conventional openings of the Skazka--"In a certain _tsarstvo_,
+in a certain _gosudarstvo_,"--but the two synonyms for "kingdom" or
+"state" are used only because they rhyme.
+
+
+  THE FOOL AND THE BIRCH-TREE.[62]
+
+  In a certain country there once lived an old man who had three
+  sons. Two of them had their wits about them, but the third was
+  a fool. The old man died and his sons divided his property
+  among themselves by lot. The sharp-witted ones got plenty of
+  all sorts of good things, but nothing fell to the share of the Simpleton
+  but one ox--and that such a skinny one!
+
+  Well, fair-time came round, and the clever brothers got ready
+  to go and transact business. The Simpleton saw this, and said:
+
+  "I'll go, too, brothers, and take my ox for sale."
+
+  So he fastened a cord to the horn of the ox and drove it to
+  the town. On his way he happened to pass through a forest, and
+  in the forest there stood an old withered Birch-tree. Whenever
+  the wind blew the Birch-tree creaked.
+
+  "What is the Birch creaking about?" thinks the Simpleton.
+  "Surely it must be bargaining for my ox? Well," says he, "if
+  you want to buy it, why buy it. I'm not against selling it. The
+  price of the ox is twenty roubles. I can't take less. Out with
+  the money!"
+
+  The Birch made no reply, only went on creaking. But the
+  Simpleton fancied that it was asking for the ox on credit. "Very
+  good," says he, "I'll wait till to-morrow!" He tied the ox to the
+  Birch, took leave of the tree, and went home. Presently in came
+  the clever brothers, and began questioning him:
+
+  "Well, Simpleton! sold your ox?"
+
+  "I've sold it."
+
+  "For how much?"
+
+  "For twenty roubles."
+
+  "Where's the money?"
+
+  "I haven't received the money yet. It was settled I should
+  go for it to-morrow."
+
+  "There's simplicity for you!" say they.
+
+  Early next morning the Simpleton got up, dressed himself,
+  and went to the Birch-tree for his money. He reached the wood;
+  there stood the Birch, waving in the wind, but the ox was not to
+  be seen. During the night the wolves had eaten it.
+
+  "Now, then, neighbor!" he exclaimed, "pay me my money.
+  You promised you'd pay me to-day."
+
+  The wind blew, the Birch creaked, and the Simpleton cried:
+
+  "What a liar you are! Yesterday you kept saying, 'I'll pay
+  you to-morrow,' and now you make just the same promise.
+  Well, so be it, I'll wait one day more, but not a bit longer. I want
+  the money myself."
+
+  When he returned home, his brothers again questioned him
+  closely:
+
+  "Have you got your money?"
+
+  "No, brothers; I've got to wait for my money again."
+
+  "Whom have you sold it to?"
+
+  "To the withered Birch-tree in the forest."
+
+  "Oh, what an idiot!"
+
+  On the third day the Simpleton took his hatchet and went to
+  the forest. Arriving there, he demanded his money; but the
+  Birch-tree only creaked and creaked. "No, no, neighbor!"
+  says he. "If you're always going to treat me to promises,[63]
+  there'll be no getting anything out of you. I don't like such
+  joking; I'll pay you out well for it!"
+
+  With that he pitched into it with his hatchet, so that its chips
+  flew about in all directions. Now, in that Birch-tree there was
+  a hollow, and in that hollow some robbers had hidden a pot full
+  of gold. The tree split asunder, and the Simpleton caught sight
+  of the gold. He took as much of it as the skirts of his caftan
+  would hold, and toiled home with it. There he showed his
+  brothers what he had brought.
+
+  "Where did you get such a lot, Simpleton?" said they.
+
+  "A neighbor gave it me for my ox. But this isn't anything
+  like the whole of it; a good half of it I didn't bring home with
+  me! Come along, brothers, let's get the rest!"
+
+  Well, they went into the forest, secured the money, and carried
+  it home.
+
+  "Now mind, Simpleton," say the sensible brothers, "don't
+  tell anyone that we've such a lot of gold."
+
+  "Never fear, I won't tell a soul!"
+
+  All of a sudden they run up against a Diachok,[64] and says
+  he:--
+
+  "What's that, brothers, you're bringing from the forest?"
+
+  The sharp ones replied, "Mushrooms." But the Simpleton
+  contradicted them, saying:
+
+  "They're telling lies! we're carrying money; here, just take
+  a look at it."
+
+  The Diachok uttered such an "Oh!"--then he flung himself
+  on the gold, and began seizing handfuls of it and stuffing them
+  into his pocket. The Simpleton grew angry, dealt him a blow
+  with his hatchet, and struck him dead.
+
+  "Heigh, Simpleton! what have you been and done!" cried
+  his brothers. "You're a lost man, and you'll be the cause of our
+  destruction, too! Wherever shall we put the dead body?"
+
+  They thought and thought, and at last they dragged it to an
+  empty cellar and flung it in there. But later on in the evening
+  the eldest brother said to the second one:--
+
+  "This piece of work is sure to turn out badly. When they
+  begin looking for the Diachok, you'll see that Simpleton will tell
+  them everything. Let's kill a goat and bury it in the cellar, and
+  hide the body of the dead man in some other place."
+
+  Well, they waited till the dead of night; then they killed a
+  goat and flung it into the cellar, but they carried the Diachok to
+  another place and there hid him in the ground. Several days
+  passed, and then people began looking everywhere for the Diachok,
+  asking everyone about him.
+
+  "What do you want him for?" said the Simpleton, when he
+  was asked. "I killed him some time ago with my hatchet, and
+  my brothers carried him into the cellar."
+
+  Straightway they laid hands on the Simpleton, crying, "Take
+  us there and show him to us."
+
+  The Simpleton went down into the cellar, got hold of the
+  goat's head, and asked:--
+
+  "Was your Diachok dark-haired?"
+
+  "He was."
+
+  "And had he a beard?"
+
+  "Yes, he'd a beard."
+
+  "And horns?"
+
+  "What horns are you talking about, Simpleton?"
+
+  "Well, see for yourselves," said he, tossing up the head to
+  them. They looked, saw it was a goat's, spat in the Simpleton's
+  face, and went their ways home.
+
+One of the most popular simpleton-tales in the world is that of the
+fond parents who harrow their feelings by conjuring up the misfortunes
+which may possibly await their as yet unborn grandchildren. In
+Scotland it is told, in a slightly different form, of two old maids
+who were once found bathed in tears, and who were obliged to confess
+that they had been day-dreaming and supposing--if they had been
+married, and one had had a boy and the other a girl; and if the
+children, when they grew up, had married, and had had a little child;
+and if it had tumbled out of the window and been killed--what a
+dreadful thing it would have been. At which terrible idea they both
+gave way to not unnatural tears. In one of its Russian forms, it is
+told of the old parents of a boy named Lutonya, who weep over the
+hypothetical death of an imaginary grandchild, thinking how sad it
+would have been if a log which the old woman has dropped had killed
+that as yet merely potential infant. The parent's grief appears to
+Lutonya so uncalled for that he leaves home, declaring that he will
+not return until he has found people more foolish than they. He
+travels long and far, and witnesses several foolish doings, most of
+which are familiar to us. In one place, a cow is being hoisted on to a
+roof in order that it may eat the grass growing thereon; in another a
+horse is being inserted into its collar by sheer force; in a third, a
+woman is fetching milk from the cellar, a spoonful at a time. But the
+story comes to an end before its hero has discovered the surpassing
+stupidity of which he is in quest. In another Russian story of a
+similar nature Lutonya goes from home in search of some one more
+foolish than his mother, who has been tricked by a cunning sharper.
+First he finds carpenters attempting to stretch a beam which is not
+long enough, and earns their gratitude by showing them how to add a
+piece to it. Then he comes to a place where sickles are unknown, and
+harvesters are in the habit of biting off the ears of corn, so he
+makes a sickle for them, thrusts it into a sheaf and leaves it there.
+They take it for a monstrous worm, tie a cord to it, and drag it away
+to the bank of the river. There they fasten one of their number to a
+log and set him afloat, giving him the end of the cord, in order that
+he may drag the "worm" after him into the water. The log turns over,
+and the moujik with it, so that his head is under water while his legs
+appear above it. "Why, brother!" they call to him from the bank, "why
+are you so particular about your leggings? If they do get wet, you can
+dry them at the fire." But he makes no reply, only drowns. Finally
+Lutonya meets the counterpart of the well-known Irishman who, when
+counting the party to which he belongs, always forgets to count
+himself, and so gets into numerical difficulties. After which he
+returns home.[65]
+
+It would be easy to multiply examples of this style of humor--to
+find in the folk-tales current all over Russia the equivalents of
+our own facetious narratives about the wise men of Gotham, the old
+woman whose petticoats were cut short by the pedlar whose name was
+Stout, and a number of other inhabitants of Fool-land, to whom the
+heart of childhood is still closely attached, and also of the
+exaggeration-stories, the German _Luegenmaehrchen_, on which was founded
+the narrative of Baron Munchausen's surprising adventures. But instead
+of doing this, before passing on to the more important groups of the
+Skazkas, I will quote, as this chapter's final illustrations of the
+Russian story-teller's art, an "animal story" and a "legend." Here is
+the former:--
+
+
+  THE MIZGIR.[66]
+
+  In the olden years, long long ago, with the spring-tide fair and
+  the summer's heat there came on the world distress and shame.
+  For gnats and flies began to swarm, biting folks and letting
+  their warm blood flow.
+
+  Then the Spider[67] appeared, the hero bold, who, with waving
+  arms, weaved webs around the highways and byways in
+  which the gnats and flies were most to be found.
+
+  A ghastly Gadfly, coming that way, stumbled straight into
+  the Spider's snare. The Spider, tightly squeezing her throat,
+  prepared to put her out of the world. From the Spider the
+  Gadfly mercy sought.
+
+  "Good father Spider! please not to kill me. I've ever so
+  many little ones. Without me they'll be orphans left, and from
+  door to door have to beg their bread and squabble with dogs."
+
+  Well, the Spider released her. Away she flew, and everywhere
+  humming and buzzing about, told the flies and gnats of
+  what had occurred.
+
+  "Ho, ye gnats and flies! Meet here beneath this ash-tree's
+  roots. A spider has come, and, with waving of arms and weaving
+  of nets, has set his snares in all the ways to which the flies
+  and gnats resort. He'll catch them, every single one!"
+
+  They flew to the spot; beneath the ash-tree's roots they hid,
+  and lay there as though they were dead. The Spider came,
+  and there he found a cricket, a beetle, and a bug.
+
+  "O Cricket!" he cried, "upon this mound sit and take
+  snuff! Beetle, do thou beat a drum. And do thou crawl, O
+  Bug, the bun-like, beneath the ash, and spread abroad this news
+  of me, the Spider, the wrestler, the hero bold--that the Spider,
+  the wrestler, the hero bold, no longer in the world exists; that
+  they have sent him to Kazan; that in Kazan, upon a block,
+  they've chopped his head off, and the block destroyed."
+
+  On the mound sat the Cricket and took snuff. The Beetle
+  smote upon the drum. The Bug crawled in among the ash-tree's
+  roots, and cried:--
+
+  "Why have ye fallen? Wherefore as in death do ye lie
+  here? Truly no longer lives the Spider, the wrestler, the hero
+  bold. They've sent him to Kazan and in Kazan they've chopped
+  his head off on a block, and afterwards destroyed the block."
+
+  The gnats and flies grew blithe and merry. Thrice they
+  crossed themselves, then out they flew--and straight into the
+  Spider's snares. Said he:--
+
+  "But seldom do ye come! I would that ye would far more
+  often come to visit me! to quaff my wine and beer, and pay me
+  tribute!"[68]
+
+This story is specially interesting in the original, inasmuch as it
+is rhymed throughout, although printed as prose. A kind of lilt is
+perceptible in many of the Skazkas, and traces of rhyme are often to
+be detected in them, but "The Mizgir's" mould is different from
+theirs. Many stories also exist in an artificially versified form, but
+their movement differs entirely from that of the naturally cadenced
+periods of the ordinary Skazka, or of such rhymed prose as that of
+"The Mizgir."
+
+The following legend is not altogether new in "motive," but a certain
+freshness is lent to it by its simple style, its unstrained humor, and
+its genial tone.
+
+
+  THE SMITH AND THE DEMON.[69]
+
+  Once upon a time there was a Smith, and he had one son, a
+  sharp, smart, six-year-old boy. One day the old man went to
+  church, and as he stood before a picture of the Last Judgment
+  he saw a Demon painted there--such a terrible one!--black, with
+  horns and a tail.
+
+  "O my!" says he to himself. "Suppose I get just such
+  another painted for the smithy." So he hired an artist, and
+  ordered him to paint on the door of the smithy exactly such
+  another demon as he had seen in the church. The artist painted
+  it. Thenceforward the old man, every time he entered the
+  smithy, always looked at the Demon and said, "Good morning,
+  fellow-countryman!" And then he would lay the fire in the
+  furnace and begin his work.
+
+  Well, the Smith lived in good accord with the Demon for
+  some ten years. Then he fell ill and died. His son succeeded
+  to his place as head of the household, and took the smithy into
+  his own hands. But he was not disposed to show attention to
+  the Demon as the old man had done. When he went into the
+  smithy in the morning, he never said "Good morrow" to him;
+  instead of offering him a kindly word, he took the biggest hammer
+  he had handy, and thumped the Demon with it three times
+  right on the forehead, and then he would go to his work. And
+  when one of God's holy days came round, he would go to church
+  and offer each saint a taper; but he would go up to the Demon
+  and spit in his face. Thus three years went by, he all the
+  while favoring the Evil One every morning either with a spitting
+  or with a hammering. The Demon endured it and endured it,
+  and at last found it past all endurance. It was too much for
+  him.
+
+  "I've had quite enough of this insolence from him!" thinks
+  he. "Suppose I make use of a little diplomacy, and play him
+  some sort of a trick!"
+
+  So the Demon took the form of a youth, and went to the
+  smithy.
+
+  "Good day, uncle!" says he.
+
+  "Good day!"
+
+  "What should you say, uncle, to taking me as an apprentice?
+  At all events, I could carry fuel for you, and blow the
+  bellows."
+
+  The Smith liked the idea. "Why shouldn't I?" he replied.
+  "Two are better than one."
+
+  The Demon began to learn his trade; at the end of a month
+  he knew more about smith's work than his master did himself,
+  was able to do everything that his master couldn't do. It was
+  a real pleasure to look at him! There's no describing how
+  satisfied his master was with him, how fond he got of him.
+  Sometimes the master didn't go into the smithy at all himself,
+  but trusted entirely to his journeyman, who had complete charge
+  of everything.
+
+  Well, it happened one day that the master was not at home,
+  and the journeyman was left all by himself in the smithy.
+  Presently he saw an old lady[70] driving along the street in her
+  carriage, whereupon he popped his head out of doors and began
+  shouting:--
+
+  "Heigh, sirs! Be so good as to step in here! We've
+  opened a new business here; we turn old folks into young
+  ones."
+
+  Out of her carriage jumped the lady in a trice, and ran into
+  the smithy.
+
+  "What's that you're bragging about? Do you mean to say
+  it's true? Can you really do it?" she asked the youth.
+
+  "We haven't got to learn our business!" answered the
+  Demon. "If I hadn't been able to do it, I wouldn't have invited
+  people to try."
+
+  "And how much does it cost?" asked the lady.
+
+  "Five hundred roubles altogether."
+
+  "Well, then, there's your money; make a young woman of
+  me."
+
+  The Demon took the money; then he sent the lady's coachman
+  into the village.
+
+  "Go," says he, "and bring me here two buckets full of
+  milk."
+
+  After that he took a pair of tongs, caught hold of the lady
+  by the feet, flung her into the furnace, and burnt her up; nothing
+  was left of her but her bare bones.
+
+  When the buckets of milk were brought, he emptied them
+  into a large tub, then he collected all the bones and flung them
+  into the milk. Just fancy! at the end of about three minutes
+  the lady emerged from the milk--alive, and young, and beautiful!
+
+  Well, she got into her carriage and drove home. There she
+  went straight to her husband, and he stared hard at her, but
+  didn't know she was his wife.
+
+  "What are you staring at?" says the lady. "I'm young and
+  elegant, you see, and I don't want to have an old husband! Be
+  off at once to the smithy, and get them to make you young; if
+  you don't, I won't so much as acknowledge you!"
+
+  There was no help for it; off set the seigneur. But by that
+  time the Smith had returned home, and had gone into the
+  smithy. He looked about; the journeyman wasn't to be seen.
+  He searched and searched, he enquired and enquired, never a
+  thing came of it; not even a trace of the youth could be found.
+  He took to his work by himself, and was hammering away,
+  when at that moment up drove the seigneur, and walked straight
+  into the smithy.
+
+  "Make a young man of me," says he.
+
+  "Are you in your right mind, Barin? How can one make a
+  young man of you?"
+
+  "Come, now! you know all about that."
+
+  "I know nothing of the kind."
+
+  "You lie, you scoundrel! Since you made my old woman
+  young, make me young too; otherwise, there will be no living
+  with her for me."
+
+  "Why I haven't so much as seen your good lady."
+
+  "Your journeyman saw her, and that's just the same thing.
+  If he knew how to do the job, surely you, an old hand, must
+  have learnt how to do it long ago. Come, now, set to work at
+  once. If you don't, it will be the worse for you. I'll have you
+  rubbed down with a birch-tree towel."
+
+  The Smith was compelled to try his hand at transforming
+  the seigneur. He held a private conversation with the coachman
+  as to how his journeyman had set to work with the lady,
+  and what he had done to her, and then he thought:--
+
+  "So be it! I'll do the same. If I fall on my feet, good; if
+  I don't, well, I must suffer all the same!"
+
+  So he set to work at once, stripped the seigneur naked, laid
+  hold of him by the legs with the tongs, popped him into the
+  furnace, and began blowing the bellows. After he had burnt
+  him to a cinder, he collected his remains, flung them into the
+  milk, and then waited to see how soon a youthful seigneur
+  would jump out of it. He waited one hour, two hours. But
+  nothing came of it. He made a search in the tub. There was
+  nothing in it but bones, and those charred ones.
+
+  Just then the lady sent messengers to the smithy, to ask
+  whether the seigneur would soon be ready. The poor Smith
+  had to reply that the seigneur was no more.
+
+  When the lady heard that the Smith had only turned her
+  husband into a cinder, instead of making him young, she was
+  tremendously angry, and she called together her trusty servants,
+  and ordered them to drag him to the gallows. No sooner said
+  than done. Her servants ran to the Smith's house, laid hold of
+  him, tied his hands together, and dragged him off to the gallows.
+  All of a sudden there came up with them the youngster
+  who used to live with the Smith as his journeyman, who asked
+  him:--
+
+  "Where are they taking you, master?"
+
+  "They're going to hang me," replied the Smith, and straightway
+  related all that had happened to him.
+
+  "Well, uncle!" said the Demon, "swear that you will never
+  strike me with your hammer, but that you will pay me the same
+  respect your father always paid, and the seigneur shall be alive,
+  and young, too, in a trice."
+
+  The Smith began promising and swearing that he would
+  never again lift his hammer against the Demon, but would
+  always pay him every attention. Thereupon the journeyman
+  hastened to the smithy, and shortly afterwards came back again,
+  bringing the seigneur with him, and crying to the servants:
+
+  "Hold! hold! Don't hang him! Here's your master!"
+
+  Then they immediately untied the cords, and let the Smith
+  go free.
+
+  From that time forward the Smith gave up spitting at the
+  Demon and striking him with his hammer. The journeyman
+  disappeared, and was never seen again. But the seigneur and
+  his lady entered upon a prosperous course of life, and if they
+  haven't died, they're living still.[71]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[11] Dasent's "Popular Tales from the Norse," p. xl.
+
+[12] Max Mueller, "Chips," vol. ii. p. 226.
+
+[13] Take as an illustration of these remarks the close of the story
+of "Helena the Fair" (No. 34, Chap. IV.). See how light and bright it
+is (or at least was, before it was translated).
+
+[14] I speak only of what I have seen. In some districts of Russia, if
+one may judge from pictures, the peasants occupy ornamented and
+ornamental dwellings.
+
+[15] Khudyakof, vol. ii. p. 65.
+
+[16] Khudyakof, vol. ii. p. 115.
+
+[17] For a description of such social gatherings see the "Songs of the
+Russian People," pp. 32-38.
+
+[18] Afanasief, vi. No. 66.
+
+[19] Cakes of unleavened flour flavored with garlic.
+
+[20] The _Nechistol_, or unclean. (_Chisty_ = clean, pure, &c.)
+
+[21] Literally, "on thee no face is to be seen."
+
+[22] I do not propose to comment at any length upon the stories quoted
+in the present chapter. Some of them will be referred to farther on.
+Marusia's demon lover will be recognized as akin to Arabian Ghouls, or
+the Rakshasas of Indian mythology. (See the story of Sidi Norman in
+the "Thousand and One Nights," also Lane's translation, vol. i., p.
+32; and the story of Asokadatta and Vijayadatta in the fifth book of
+the "Kathasaritsagara," Brockhaus's translation, 1843, vol. ii. pp.
+142-159.) For transformations of a maiden into a flower or tree, see
+Grimm, No. 76, "Die Nelke," and the notes to that story in vol. iii.,
+p. 125--Hahn, No. 21, "Das Lorbeerkind," etc. "The Water of Life,"
+will meet with due consideration in the fourth chapter. The Holy Water
+which destroys the Fiend is merely a Christian form of the "Water of
+Death," viewed in its negative aspect.
+
+[23] Chudinsky, No. 3.
+
+[24] Afanasief, vi. p. 325. Wolfs "Niederlandische Sagen," No. 326,
+quoted in Thorpe's "Northern Mythology," i. 292. Note 4.
+
+[25] A number of ghost stories, and some remarks about the ideas of
+the Russian peasants with respect to the dead, will be found in Chap.
+V. Scott mentions a story in "The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border,"
+vol. ii. p. 223, of a widower who believed he was haunted by his dead
+wife. On one occasion the ghost, to prove her identity, gave suck to
+her surviving infant.
+
+[26] Afanasief, viii. p. 165.
+
+[27] In West-European stories the devil frequently carries off a
+witch's soul after death. Here the fiend enters the corpse, or rather
+its skin, probably intending to reappear as a vampire. Compare Bleek's
+"Reynard the Fox in South Africa," No. 24, in which a lion squeezes
+itself into the skin of a girl it has killed. I have generally
+rendered by "demon," instead of "devil," the word _chort_ when it
+occurs in stories of this class, as the spirits to which they refer
+are manifestly akin to those of oriental demonology.
+
+[28] For an account of which, see the "Songs of the Russian People,"
+pp. 333-334. The best Russian work on the subject is Barsof's
+"Prichitaniya Syevernago Kraya," Moscow, 1872.
+
+[29] Afanasief, iv. No. 9.
+
+[30] Professor de Gubernatis justly remarks that this "howling" is
+more in keeping with the nature of the eastern jackal than with that
+of its western counterpart, the fox. "Zoological Mythology," ii. 130.
+
+[31] Afanasief, vii. No. 45.
+
+[32] _Pope_ is the ordinary but disrespectful term for a priest
+(_Svyashchennik_), as _popovich_ is for a priest's son.
+
+[33] "Father dear," or "reverend father."
+
+[34] A phrase often used by the peasants, when frightened by anything
+of supernatural appearance.
+
+[35] Afanasief, Skazki, vii. No. 49.
+
+[36] The Russian expression is _gol kak sokol_, "bare as a hawk."
+
+[37] In another story St. Nicolas's picture is the surety.
+
+[38] Another variant of this story, under the title of "Norka," will
+be quoted in full in the next chapter.
+
+[39] Afanasief, vii. p. 107.
+
+[40] Afanasief, vii. p. 146.
+
+[41] Or "The Seven-year-old." Khudyakof, No. 6. See Grimm, No. 94,
+"Die kluge Bauerntochter," and iii. 170-2.
+
+[42] _Voevoda_, now a general, formerly meant a civil governor, etc.
+
+[43] Afanasief. "Legendui," No. 29.
+
+[44] Diminutive of Peter.
+
+[45] The word employed here is not _chort_, but _diavol_.
+
+[46] Some remarks on the stories of this class, will be found in Chap.
+VI. The Russian peasants still believe that all people who drink
+themselves to death are used as carriers of wood and water in the
+infernal regions.
+
+[47] In the sixty-fourth story of Asbjoernsen's "Norske Folke-Eventyr,"
+(Ny Samling, 1871) the dispute between the husband and wife is about a
+cornfield--as to whether it should be reaped or shorn--and she tumbles
+into a pool while she is making clipping gestures "under her husband's
+nose." In the old fabliau of "Le Pre Tondu" (Le Grand d'Aussy,
+Fabliaux, 1829, iii. 185), the husband cuts out the tongue of his
+wife, to prevent her from repeating that his meadow has been clipped,
+whereupon she makes a clipping sign with her fingers. In Poggio's
+"Facetiae," the wife is doubly aggravating. For copious information
+with respect to the use made of this story by the romance-writers, see
+Liebrecht's translations of Basile's "Pentamerone," ii. 264, and of
+Dunlop's "History of Literature," p. 516.
+
+[48] Afanasief, v. p. 16.
+
+[49] Ibid., iii. p. 87.
+
+[50] Chudinsky, No. 8. The proverb is dear to the Tartars also.
+
+[51] Ibid. No. 23. The _liulka_, or Russian cradle, is suspended and
+swung, instead of being placed on the floor and rocked. Russian babies
+are usually swaddled tightly, like American papooses.
+
+[52] "Panchatantra," 1859, vol. i. Sec. 212, pp. 519-524. I gladly avail
+myself of this opportunity of gratefully acknowledging my obligations
+to Dr. Benfey's invaluable work.
+
+[53] Afanasief, i. No. 9. Written down in the Novgorod Government. Its
+dialect renders it somewhat difficult to read.
+
+[54] This story is known to the Finns, but with them the Russian
+Demon, (_chortenok_ = a little _chort_ or devil), has become the
+Plague. In the original Indian story the demon is one which had
+formerly lived in a Brahman's house, but had been frightened away by
+his cantankerous wife. In the Servian version (Karajich, No. 37), the
+opening consists of the "Scissors-story," to which allusion has
+already been made. The vixen falls into a hole which she does not see,
+so bent is she on controverting her husband.
+
+[55] Afanasief, ii. No. 12. Written down by a "Crown Serf," in the
+government of Perm.
+
+[56] Afanasief, viii. No. 20. A copeck is worth about a third of a
+penny.
+
+[57] The story is continued very little further by Afanasief, its
+conclusion being the same as that of "The Wise Wife," in Book vii. No.
+22, a tale of magic. For a Servian version of the tale see Vuk
+Karajich, No. 7.
+
+[58] Afanasief, v. No. 3. From the Novgorod Government.
+
+[59] Literally, "has bid to live long," a conventional euphemism for
+"has died." "Remember what his name was," is sometimes added.
+
+[60] It will be observed that the miser holds out against the pain
+which the scalded demon was unable to bear. See above, p. 21.
+
+[61] Professor de Gubernatis remarks that he may sometimes be called
+"the first Brutus of popular tradition." "Zoological Mythology," vol.
+i. p. 199.
+
+[62] Afanasief, v. No. 53.
+
+[63] _Zavtrakami podchivat_ = to dupe; _zavtra_ = to-morrow; _zavtrak_
+= breakfast.
+
+[64] One of the inferior members of the Russian clerical body, though
+not of the clergy. But in one of the variants of the story it is a
+"pope" or priest, who appears, and he immediately claims a share in
+the spoil. Whereupon the Simpleton makes use of his hatchet. Priests
+are often nicknamed goats by the Russian peasantry, perhaps on account
+of their long beards.
+
+[65] Afanasief, ii. No. 8, v. No. 5. See also Khudyakof, No. 76. Cf.
+Grimm, No. 34, "Die kluge Else." Haltrich, No. 66. Asbjoernsen and Moe,
+No. 10. (Dasent No. 24, "Not a Pin to choose between them.")
+
+[66] Afanasief, ii. No. 5. Written down by a crown-peasant in the
+government of Perm.
+
+[67] _Mizgir_, a venomous spider, like the Tarantula, found in the
+Kirghiz Steppes.
+
+[68] In another story bearing the same title (v. 39) the spider lies
+on its back awaiting its prey. Up comes "the honorable widow," the
+wasp, and falls straight into the trap. The spider beheads her. Then
+the gnats and flies assemble, perform a funeral service over her
+remains, and carry them off on their shoulders to the village of
+Komarovo (_komar_ = gnat). For specimens of the Russian "Beast-Epos"
+the reader is referred (as I have stated in the preface) to Professor
+de Gubernatis's "Zoological Mythology."
+
+[69] Afanasief, "Legendui," No. 31. Taken from Dahl's collection. Some
+remarks on the Russian "legends" are given in Chap. VI.
+
+[70] _Baruinya_, the wife of a _barin_ or seigneur.
+
+[71] The _chort_ of this legend is evidently akin to the devil
+himself, whom traditions frequently connect with blacksmiths; but his
+prototype, in the original form of this story, was doubtless a demigod
+or demon. His part is played by St. Nicholas in the legend of "The
+Priest with the Greedy Eyes," for which, and for further comment on
+the story, see Chap. VI.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+MYTHOLOGICAL.
+
+_Principal Incarnations of Evil._
+
+
+The present chapter is devoted to specimens of those skazkas which
+most Russian critics assert to be distinctly mythical. The stories of
+this class are so numerous, that the task of selection has been by no
+means easy. But I have done my best to choose such examples as are
+most characteristic of that species of the "mythical" folk-tale which
+prevails in Russia, and to avoid, as far as possible, the repetition
+of narratives which have already been made familiar to the English
+reader by translations of German and Scandinavian stories.
+
+There is a more marked individuality in the Russian tales of this
+kind, as compared with those of Western Europe, than is to be traced
+in the stories (especially those of a humorous cast) which relate to
+the events that chequer an ordinary existence. The actors in the
+_comediettas_ of European peasant-life vary but little, either in
+title or in character, wherever the scene may be laid; just as in the
+European beast-epos the Fox, the Wolf, and the Bear play parts which
+change but slightly with the regions they inhabit. But the
+supernatural beings which people the fairy-land peculiar to each race,
+though closely resembling each other in many respects, differ
+conspicuously in others. They may, it is true, be nothing more than
+various developments of the same original type; they may be traceable
+to germs common to the prehistoric ancestors of the now widely
+separated Aryan peoples; their peculiarities may simply be due to the
+accidents to which travellers from distant lands are liable. But at
+all events each family now has features of its own, typical
+characteristics by which it may be readily distinguished from its
+neighbors. My chief aim at present is to give an idea of those
+characteristics which lend individuality to the "mythical beings" in
+the Skazkas; in order to effect this, I shall attempt a delineation of
+those supernatural figures, to some extent peculiar to Slavonic
+fairy-land, which make their appearance in the Russian folk-tales. I
+have given a brief sketch of them elsewhere.[72] I now propose to deal
+with them more fully, quoting at length, instead of merely mentioning,
+some of the evidence on which the proof of their existence depends.
+
+For the sake of convenience, we may select from the great mass of the
+mythical skazkas those which are supposed most manifestly to typify
+the conflict of opposing elements--whether of Good and Evil, or of
+Light and Darkness, or of Heat and Cold, or of any other pair of
+antagonistic forces or phenomena. The typical hero of this class of
+stories, who represents the cause of right, and who is resolved by
+mythologists into so many different essences, presents almost
+identically the same appearance in most of the countries wherein he
+has become naturalized. He is endowed with supernatural powers, but he
+remains a man, for all that. Whether as prince or peasant, he alters
+but very little in his wanderings among the Aryan races of Europe.
+
+And a somewhat similar statement may be made about his feminine
+counterpart--for all the types of Fairy-land life are of an
+epicene nature, admitting of a feminine as well as a masculine
+development--the heroine who in the Skazkas, as well as in other
+folk-tales, braves the wrath of female demons in quest of means
+whereby to lighten the darkness of her home, or rescues her bewitched
+brothers from the thraldom of an enchantress, or liberates her captive
+husband from a dungeon's gloom.
+
+But their antagonists--the dark or evil beings whom the hero attacks
+and eventually destroys, or whom the heroine overcomes by her virtues,
+her subtlety, or her skill--vary to a considerable extent with the
+region they occupy, or rather with the people in whose memories they
+dwell. The Giants by killing whom our own Jack gained his renown, the
+Norse Trolls, the Ogres of southern romance, the Drakos and Lamia of
+modern Greece, the Lithuanian Laume--these and all the other groups of
+monstrous forms under which the imagination of each race has embodied
+its ideas about (according to one hypothesis) the Powers of Darkness
+it feared, or (according to another) the Aborigines it detested,
+differ from each other to a considerable and easily recognizable
+extent. An excellent illustration of this statement is offered by the
+contrast between the Slavonic group of supernatural beings of this
+class and their equivalents in lands tenanted by non-Slavonic members
+of the Indo-European family. A family likeness will, of course, be
+traced between all these conceptions of popular fancy, but the gloomy
+figures with which the folk-tales of the Slavonians render us familiar
+may be distinguished at a glance among their kindred monsters of
+Latin, Hellenic, Teutonic, or Celtic extraction. Of those among the
+number to which the Russian skazkas relate I will now proceed to give
+a sketch, allowing the stories, so far as is possible, to speak for
+themselves.
+
+If the powers of darkness in the "mythical" skazkas are divided into
+two groups--the one male, the other female--there stand out as the
+most prominent figures in the former set, the Snake (or some other
+illustration of "Zoological Mythology"), Koshchei the Deathless, and
+the Morskoi Tsar or King of the Waters. In the latter group the
+principal characters are the Baba Yaga, or Hag, her close connection
+the Witch, and the Female Snake. On the forms and natures of the less
+conspicuous characters to be found in either class we will not at
+present dwell. An opportunity for commenting on some of them will be
+afforded in another chapter.
+
+To begin with the Snake. His outline, like that of the cloud with
+which he is so frequently associated, and which he is often supposed
+to typify, is seldom well-defined. Now in one form and now in another,
+he glides a shifting shape, of which it is difficult to obtain a
+satisfactory view. Sometimes he retains throughout the story an
+exclusively reptilian character; sometimes he is of a mixed nature,
+partly serpent and partly man. In one story we see him riding on
+horseback, with hawk on wrist (or raven on shoulder) and hound at
+heel; in another he figures as a composite being with a human body and
+a serpent's head; in a third he flies as a fiery snake into his
+mistress's bower, stamps with his foot on the ground, and becomes a
+youthful gallant. But in most cases he is a serpent which in outward
+appearance seems to differ from other ophidians only in being winged
+and polycephalous--the number of his heads generally varying from
+three to twelve.[73]
+
+He is often known by the name of Zmei [snake] Goruinuich [son of the
+_gora_ or mountain], and sometimes he is supposed to dwell in the
+mountain caverns. To his abode, whether in the bowels of the earth, or
+in the open light of day--whether it be a sumptuous palace or "an
+_izba_ on fowl's legs," a hut upheld by slender supports on which it
+turns as on a pivot--he carries off his prey. In one story he appears
+to have stolen, or in some way concealed, the day-light; in another
+the bright moon and the many stars come forth from within him after
+his death. But as a general rule it is some queen or princess whom he
+tears away from her home, as Pluto carried off Proserpina, and who
+remains with him reluctantly, and hails as her rescuer the hero who
+comes to give him battle. Sometimes, however, the snake is represented
+as having a wife of his own species, and daughters who share their
+parent's tastes and powers. Such is the case in the (South-Russian)
+story of
+
+
+  IVAN POPYALOF.[74]
+
+  Once upon a time there was an old couple, and they had three
+  sons. Two of these had their wits about them, but the third
+  was a simpleton, Ivan by name, surnamed Popyalof.
+
+  For twelve whole years Ivan lay among the ashes from the
+  stove; but then he arose, and shook himself, so that six poods
+  of ashes[75] fell off from him.
+
+  Now in the land in which Ivan lived there was never any
+  day, but always night. That was a Snake's doing. Well, Ivan
+  undertook to kill that Snake, so he said to his father, "Father,
+  make me a mace five poods in weight." And when he had got
+  the mace, he went out into the fields, and flung it straight up in
+  the air, and then he went home. The next day he went out into
+  the fields to the spot from which he had flung the mace on high,
+  and stood there with his head thrown back. So when the mace
+  fell down again it hit him on the forehead. And the mace
+  broke in two.
+
+  Ivan went home and said to his father, "Father, make me
+  another mace, a ten pood one." And when he had got it he
+  went out into the fields, and flung it aloft. And the mace went
+  flying through the air for three days and three nights. On the
+  fourth day Ivan went out to the same spot, and when the mace
+  came tumbling down, he put his knee in the way, and the mace
+  broke over it into three pieces.
+
+  Ivan went home and told his father to make him a third
+  mace, one of fifteen poods weight. And when he had got it, he
+  went out into the fields and flung it aloft. And the mace was
+  up in the air six days. On the seventh Ivan went to the same
+  spot as before. Down fell the mace, and when it struck Ivan's
+  forehead, the forehead bowed under it. Thereupon he said,
+  "This mace will do for the Snake!"
+
+  So when he had got everything ready, he went forth with
+  his brothers to fight the Snake. He rode and rode, and presently
+  there stood before him a hut on fowl's legs,[76] and in that
+  hut lived the Snake. There all the party came to a standstill.
+  Then Ivan hung up his gloves, and said to his brothers, "Should
+  blood drop from my gloves, make haste to help me." When he
+  had said this he went into the hut and sat down under the
+  boarding.[77]
+
+  Presently there rode up a Snake with three heads. His
+  steed stumbled, his hound howled, his falcon clamored.[78] Then
+  cried the Snake:
+
+  "Wherefore hast thou stumbled, O Steed! hast thou howled,
+  O Hound! hast thou clamored, O Falcon?"
+
+  "How can I but stumble," replied the Steed, "when under
+  the boarding sits Ivan Popyalof?"
+
+  Then said the Snake, "Come forth, Ivanushka! Let us
+  try our strength together." Ivan came forth, and they began to
+  fight. And Ivan killed the Snake, and then sat down again
+  beneath the boarding.
+
+  Presently there came another Snake, a six-headed one, and
+  him, too, Ivan killed. And then there came a third, which had
+  twelve heads. Well, Ivan began to fight with him, and lopped
+  off nine of his heads. The Snake had no strength left in him.
+  Just then a raven came flying by, and it croaked:
+
+  "Krof? Krof!"[79]
+
+  Then the Snake cried to the Raven, "Fly, and tell my wife
+  to come and devour Ivan Popyalof."
+
+  But Ivan cried: "Fly, and tell my brothers to come, and
+  then we will kill this Snake, and give his flesh to thee."
+
+  And the Raven gave ear to what Ivan said, and flew to his
+  brothers and began to croak above their heads. The brothers
+  awoke, and when they heard the cry of the Raven, they hastened
+  to their brother's aid. And they killed the Snake, and then,
+  having taken his heads, they went into his hut and destroyed
+  them. And immediately there was bright light throughout the
+  whole land.
+
+  After killing the Snake, Ivan Popyalof and his brothers set
+  off on their way home. But he had forgotten to take away his
+  gloves, so he went back to fetch them, telling his brothers to
+  wait for him meanwhile. Now when he had reached the hut
+  and was going to take away his gloves, he heard the voices of
+  the Snake's wife and daughters, who were talking with each
+  other. So he turned himself into a cat, and began to mew
+  outside the door. They let him in, and he listened to everything
+  they said. Then he got his gloves and hastened away.
+
+  As soon as he came to where his brothers were, he mounted
+  his horse, and they all started afresh. They rode and rode;
+  presently they saw before them a green meadow, and on that
+  meadow lay silken cushions. Then the elder brothers said,
+  "Let's turn out our horses to graze here, while we rest ourselves
+  a little."
+
+  But Ivan said, "Wait a minute, brothers!" and he seized
+  his mace, and struck the cushions with it. And out of those
+  cushions there streamed blood.
+
+  So they all went on further. They rode and rode; presently
+  there stood before them an apple-tree, and upon it were gold
+  and silver apples. Then the elder brothers said, "Let's eat an
+  apple apiece." But Ivan said, "Wait a minute, brothers; I'll
+  try them first," and he took his mace, and struck the apple-tree
+  with it. And out of the tree streamed blood.
+
+  So they went on further. They rode and rode, and by and
+  by they saw a spring in front of them. And the elder brothers
+  cried, "Let's have a drink of water." But Ivan Popyalof
+  cried: "Stop, brothers!" and he raised his mace and struck
+  the spring, and its waters became blood.
+
+  For the meadow, the silken cushions, the apple-tree, and the
+  spring, were all of them daughters of the Snake.
+
+  After killing the Snake's daughters, Ivan and his brothers
+  went on homewards. Presently came the Snake's Wife flying
+  after them, and she opened her jaws from the sky to the earth,
+  and tried to swallow up Ivan. But Ivan and his brothers threw
+  three poods of salt into her mouth. She swallowed the salt,
+  thinking it was Ivan Popyalof, but afterwards--when she had
+  tasted the salt, and found out it was not Ivan--she flew after
+  him again.
+
+  Then he perceived that danger was at hand, and so he let
+  his horse go free, and hid himself behind twelve doors in the
+  forge of Kuzma and Demian. The Snake's Wife came flying
+  up, and said to Kuzma and Demian, "Give me up Ivan Popyalof."
+  But they replied:
+
+  "Send your tongue through the twelve doors and take him."
+  So the Snake's Wife began licking the doors. But meanwhile
+  they all heated iron pincers, and as soon as she had sent her
+  tongue through into the smithy, they caught tight hold of her
+  by the tongue, and began thumping her with hammers. And
+  when the Snake's Wife was dead they consumed her with fire,
+  and scattered her ashes to the winds. And then they went
+  home, and there they lived and enjoyed themselves, feasting
+  and revelling, and drinking mead and wine.
+
+  I was there, too, and had liquor to drink; it didn't go into
+  my mouth, but only ran down my beard.[80]
+
+The skazka of Ivan Buikovich (Bull's son)[81] contains a variant of
+part of this story, but the dragon which the Slavonic St. George kills
+is called, not a snake, but a Chudo-Yudo.[82] Ivan watches one night
+while his brothers sleep. Presently up rides "a six-headed Chudo-Yudo"
+which he easily kills. The next night he slays, but with more
+difficulty, a nine-headed specimen of the same family. On the third
+night appears "a twelve-headed Chudo-Yudo," mounted on a horse "with
+twelve wings, its coat of silver, its mane and tail of gold." Ivan
+lops off three of the monster's heads, but they, like those of the
+Lernaean Hydra, become re-attached to their necks at the touch of their
+owner's "fiery finger." Ivan, whom his foe has driven into the ground
+up to his knees, hurls one of his gloves at the hut in which his
+brothers are sleeping. It smashes the windows, but the sleepers
+slumber on and take no heed. Presently Ivan smites off six of his
+antagonist's heads, but they grow again as before.[83] Half buried in
+the ground by the monster's strength, Ivan hurls his other glove at
+the hut, piercing its roof this time. But still his brothers slumber
+on. At last, after fruitlessly shearing off nine of the Chudo-Yudo's
+heads, and finding himself embedded in the ground up to his armpits,
+Ivan flings his cap at the hut. The hut reels under the blow and its
+beams fall asunder; his brothers awake, and hasten to his aid, and the
+Chudo-Yudo is destroyed. The "Chudo-Yudo wives" as the widows of the
+three monsters are called, then proceed to play the parts attributed
+in "Ivan Popyalof" to the Snake's daughters.
+
+"I will become an apple-tree with golden and silver apples," says the
+first; "whoever plucks an apple will immediately burst." Says the
+second, "I will become a spring--on the water will float two cups, the
+one golden, the other of silver; whoever touches one of the cups, him
+will I drown." And the third says, "I will become a golden bed;
+whoever lies down upon that bed will be consumed with fire." Ivan, in
+a sparrow's form, overhears all this, and acts as in the preceding
+story. The three widows die, but their mother, "an old witch,"
+determines on revenge. Under the form of a beggar-woman she asks alms
+from the retreating brothers. Ivan tenders her a ducat. She seizes,
+not the ducat, but his outstretched hand, and in a moment whisks him
+off underground to her husband, an Aged One, whose appearance is that
+of the mythical being whom the Servians call the Vy. He "lies on an
+iron couch, and sees nothing; his long eyelashes and thick eyebrows
+completely hide his eyes," but he sends for "twelve mighty heroes,"
+and orders them to take iron forks and lift up the hair about his
+eyes, and then he gazes at the destroyer of his family. The glance of
+the Servian Vy is supposed to be as deadly as that of a basilisk, but
+the patriarch of the Russian story does not injure his captive. He
+merely sends him on an errand which leads to a fresh set of
+adventures, of which we need not now take notice.
+
+In a third variant of the story,[84] they are snakes which are killed
+by the hero, Ivan Koshkin (Cat's son), and it is a Baba Yaga, or Hag,
+who undertakes to revenge their deaths and those of their wives, her
+daughters. Accordingly she pursues the three brothers, and succeeds in
+swallowing two of them. The third, Ivan Koshkin, takes refuge in a
+smithy, and, as before, the monster's tongue is seized, and she is
+beaten with hammers until she disgorges her prey, none the worse for
+their temporary imprisonment.
+
+We have seen, in the story about the Chudo-Yudo, that the place
+usually occupied by the Snake is at times filled by some other magical
+being. This frequently occurs in that class of stories which relates
+how three brothers set out to apprehend a trespasser, or to seek a
+mother or sister who has been mysteriously spirited away. They usually
+come either to an opening which leads into the underground world, or
+to the base of an apparently inaccessible hill. The youngest brother
+descends or ascends as the case may be, and after a series of
+adventures which generally lead him through the kingdoms of copper, of
+silver, and of gold, returns in triumph to where his brothers are
+awaiting him. And he is almost invariably deserted by them, as soon as
+they have secured the beautiful princesses who accompany him--as may
+be read in the following (South-Russian) history of--
+
+
+  THE NORKA.[85]
+
+  Once upon a time there lived a king and queen. They had three
+  sons, two of them with their wits about them, but the third a
+  simpleton. Now the King had a deer-park in which were quantities
+  of wild animals of different kinds. Into that park there
+  used to come a huge beast--Norka was its name--and do fearful
+  mischief, devouring some of the animals every night. The King
+  did all he could, but he was unable to destroy it. So at last he
+  called his sons together and said: "Whoever will destroy the
+  Norka, to him will I give the half of my kingdom."
+
+  Well, the eldest son undertook the task. As soon as it was
+  night, he took his weapons and set out. But before he reached
+  the park, he went into a _traktir_ (or tavern), and there he spent
+  the whole night in revelry. When he came to his senses it was
+  too late; the day had already dawned. He felt himself disgraced
+  in the eyes of his father, but there was no help for it. The next
+  day the second son went, and did just the same. Their father
+  scolded them both soundly, and there was an end of it.
+
+  Well, on the third day the youngest son undertook the task.
+  They all laughed him to scorn, because he was so stupid, feeling
+  sure he wouldn't do anything. But he took his arms, and went
+  straight into the park, and sat down on the grass in such a position
+  that, the moment he went asleep, his weapons would prick
+  him, and he would awake.
+
+  Presently the midnight hour sounded. The earth began to
+  shake, and the Norka came rushing up, and burst right through
+  the fence into the park, so huge was it. The Prince pulled himself
+  together, leapt to his feet, crossed himself, and went straight
+  at the beast. It fled back, and the Prince ran after it. But he
+  soon saw that he couldn't catch it on foot, so he hastened to the
+  stable, laid his hands on the best horse there, and set off in
+  pursuit. Presently he came up with the beast, and they began a
+  fight. They fought and fought; the Prince gave the beast three
+  wounds. At last they were both utterly exhausted, so they lay
+  down to take a short rest. But the moment the Prince closed his
+  eyes, up jumped the Beast and took to flight. The Prince's horse
+  awoke him; up he jumped in a moment, and set off again in
+  pursuit, caught up the Beast, and again began fighting with it.
+  Again the Prince gave the Beast three wounds, and then he and
+  the Beast lay down again to rest. Thereupon away fled the
+  Beast as before. The Prince caught it up, and again gave it
+  three wounds. But all of a sudden, just as the Prince began
+  chasing it for the fourth time, the Beast fled to a great white
+  stone, tilted it up, and escaped into the other world,[86] crying out
+  to the Prince: "Then only will you overcome me, when you
+  enter here."
+
+  The Prince went home, told his father all that had happened,
+  and asked him to have a leather rope plaited, long enough to
+  reach to the other world. His father ordered this to be done.
+  When the rope was made, the Prince called for his brothers, and
+  he and they, having taken servants with them, and everything that
+  was needed for a whole year, set out for the place where the
+  Beast had disappeared under the stone. When they got there,
+  they built a palace on the spot, and lived in it for some time.
+  But when everything was ready, the youngest brother said to
+  the others: "Now, brothers, who is going to lift this stone?"
+
+  Neither of them could so much as stir it, but as soon as he
+  touched it, away it flew to a distance, though it was ever so big--big
+  as a hill. And when he had flung the stone aside, he spoke
+  a second time to his brothers, saying:
+
+  "Who is going into the other world, to overcome the Norka?"
+
+  Neither of them offered to do so. Then he laughed at them
+  for being such cowards, and said:
+
+  "Well, brothers, farewell! Lower me into the other world,
+  and don't go away from here, but as soon as the cord is jerked,
+  pull it up."
+
+  His brothers lowered him accordingly, and when he had
+  reached the other world, underneath the earth, he went on his
+  way. He walked and walked. Presently he espied a horse with
+  rich trappings, and it said to him:
+
+  "Hail, Prince Ivan! Long have I awaited thee!"
+
+  He mounted the horse and rode on--rode and rode, until he
+  saw standing before him, a palace made of copper. He entered
+  the courtyard, tied up his horse, and went indoors. In one of
+  the rooms a dinner was laid out. He sat down and dined, and
+  then went into a bedroom. There he found a bed, on which he
+  lay down to rest. Presently there came in a lady, more beautiful
+  than can be imagined anywhere but in a skazka, who said:
+
+  "Thou who art in my house, name thyself! If thou art an
+  old man, thou shall be my father; if a middle-aged man, my
+  brother; but if a young man, thou shalt be my husband dear.
+  And if thou art a woman, and an old one, thou shalt be my grandmother;
+  if middle-aged, my mother; and if a girl, thou shalt be
+  my own sister."[87]
+
+  Thereupon he came forth. And when she saw him, she was
+  delighted with him, and said:
+
+  "Wherefore, O Prince Ivan--my husband dear shalt thou be!--wherefore
+  hast thou come hither?"
+
+  Then he told her all that had happened, and she said:
+
+  "That beast which thou wishest to overcome is my brother.
+  He is staying just now with my second sister, who lives not far
+  from here in a silver palace. I bound up three of the wounds
+  which thou didst give him."
+
+  Well, after this they drank, and enjoyed themselves, and held
+  sweet converse together, and then the prince took leave of her,
+  and went on to the second sister, the one who lived in the silver
+  palace, and with her also he stayed awhile. She told him that
+  her brother Norka was then at her youngest sister's. So he
+  went on to the youngest sister, who lived in a golden palace.
+  She told him that her brother was at that time asleep on the
+  blue sea, and she gave him a sword of steel and a draught of the
+  Water of Strength, and she told him to cut off her brother's
+  head at a single stroke. And when he had heard these things,
+  he went his way.
+
+  And when the Prince came to the blue sea, he looked--there
+  slept Norka on a stone in the middle of the sea; and when it
+  snored, the water was agitated for seven versts around. The
+  Prince crossed himself, went up to it and smote it on the head
+  with his sword. The head jumped off, saying the while, "Well,
+  I'm done for now!" and rolled far away into the sea.
+
+  After killing the Beast, the Prince went back again, picking
+  up all the three sisters by the way, with the intention of taking
+  them out into the upper world: for they all loved him and would
+  not be separated from him. Each of them turned her palace
+  into an egg--for they were all enchantresses--and they taught
+  him how to turn the eggs into palaces, and back again, and they
+  handed over the eggs to him. And then they all went to the
+  place from which they had to be hoisted into the upper world.
+  And when they came to where the rope was, the Prince took
+  hold of it and made the maidens fast to it.[88] Then he jerked
+  away at the rope, and his brothers began to haul it up. And
+  when they had hauled it up, and had set eyes on the wondrous
+  maidens, they went aside and said: "Let's lower the rope, pull
+  our brother part of the way up, and then cut the rope. Perhaps
+  he'll be killed; but then if he isn't, he'll never give us these
+  beauties as wives."
+
+  So when they had agreed on this, they lowered the rope.
+  But their brother was no fool; he guessed what they were at,
+  so he fastened the rope to a stone, and then gave it a pull.
+  His brothers hoisted the stone to a great height, and then cut
+  the rope. Down fell the stone and broke in pieces; the Prince
+  poured forth tears and went away. Well, he walked and walked.
+  Presently a storm arose; the lightning flashed, the thunder
+  roared, the rain fell in torrents. He went up to a tree in order
+  to take shelter under it, and on that tree he saw some young
+  birds which were being thoroughly drenched. So he took off
+  his coat and covered them over with it, and he himself sat down
+  under the tree. Presently there came flying a bird--such a big
+  one, that the light was blotted out by it. It had been dark
+  there before, but now it became darker still. Now this was the
+  mother of those small birds which the Prince had covered up.
+  And when the bird had come flying up, she perceived that her
+  little ones were covered over, and she said, "Who has wrapped
+  up my nestlings?" and presently, seeing the Prince, she added:
+  "Didst thou do that? Thanks! In return, ask of me any
+  thing thou desirest. I will do anything for thee."
+
+  "Then carry me into the other world," he replied.
+
+  "Make me a large _zasyek_[89] with a partition in the middle,"
+  she said; "catch all sorts of game, and put them into one half
+  of it, and into the other half pour water; so that there may be
+  meat and drink for me."
+
+  All this the Prince did. Then the bird--having taken the
+  _zasyek_ on her back, with the Prince sitting in the middle of it--began
+  to fly. And after flying some distance she brought him
+  to his journey's end, took leave of him, and flew away back.
+  But he went to the house of a certain tailor, and engaged himself
+  as his servant. So much the worse for wear was he, so
+  thoroughly had he altered in appearance, that nobody would
+  have suspected him of being a Prince.
+
+  Having entered into the service of this master, the Prince
+  began to ask what was going on in that country. And his
+  master replied: "Our two princes--for the third one has disappeared--have
+  brought away brides from the other world, and
+  want to marry them, but those brides refuse. For they insist
+  on having all their wedding-clothes made for them first, exactly
+  like those which they used to have in the other world, and that
+  without being measured for them. The King has called all the
+  workmen together, but not one of them will undertake to do it."
+
+  The Prince, having heard all this, said, "Go to the King,
+  master, and tell him that you will provide everything that's in
+  your line."
+
+  "However can I undertake to make clothes of that sort;
+  I work for quite common folks," says his master.
+
+  "Go along, master! I will answer for everything," says
+  the Prince.
+
+  So the tailor went. The King was delighted that at least
+  one good workman had been found, and gave him as much
+  money as ever he wanted. When the tailor had settled everything,
+  he went home. And the Prince said to him:
+
+  "Now then, pray to God, and lie down to sleep; to-morrow
+  all will be ready." And the tailor followed his lad's advice,
+  and went to bed.
+
+  Midnight sounded. The Prince arose, went out of the city
+  into the fields, took out of his pocket the eggs which the
+  maidens had given him, and, as they had taught him, turned
+  them into three palaces. Into each of these he entered, took
+  the maidens' robes, went out again, turned the palaces back
+  into eggs, and went home. And when he got there he hung up
+  the robes on the wall, and lay down to sleep.
+
+  Early in the morning his master awoke, and behold! there
+  hung such robes as he had never seen before, all shining with
+  gold and silver and precious stones. He was delighted, and he
+  seized them and carried them off to the King. When the princesses
+  saw that the clothes were those which had been theirs in
+  the other world, they guessed that Prince Ivan was in this
+  world, so they exchanged glances with each other, but they
+  held their peace. And the master, having handed over the
+  clothes, went home, but he no longer found his dear journeyman
+  there. For the Prince had gone to a shoemaker's, and him too
+  he sent to work for the King; and in the same way he went the
+  round of all the artificers, and they all proffered him thanks,
+  inasmuch as through him they were enriched by the King.
+
+  By the time the princely workman had gone the round of all
+  the artificers, the princesses had received what they had asked
+  for; all their clothes were just like what they had been in the
+  other world. Then they wept bitterly because the Prince had
+  not come, and it was impossible for them to hold out any
+  longer, it was necessary that they should be married. But when
+  they were ready for the wedding, the youngest bride said to the
+  King:
+
+  "Allow me, my father, to go and give alms to the beggars."
+
+  He gave her leave, and she went and began bestowing alms
+  upon them, and examining them closely. And when she had
+  come to one of them, and was going to give him some money,
+  she caught sight of the ring which she had given to the Prince
+  in the other world, and her sisters' rings too--for it really was
+  he. So she seized him by the hand, and brought him into the
+  hall, and said to the King:
+
+  "Here is he who brought us out of the other world. His
+  brothers forbade us to say that he was alive, threatening to slay
+  us if we did."
+
+  Then the King was wroth with those sons, and punished
+  them as he thought best. And afterwards three weddings were
+  celebrated.
+
+      [The conclusion of this story is somewhat obscure.
+      Most of the variants represent the Prince as forgiving
+      his brothers, and allowing them to marry two of the
+      three princesses, but the present version appears to
+      keep closer to its original, in which the prince
+      doubtless married all three. With this story may be
+      compared: Grimm, No. 166, "Der starke Hans," and No.
+      91, "Dat Erdmaenneken." See also vol. iii. p. 165,
+      where a reference is given to the Hungarian story in
+      Gaal, No. 5--Dasent, No. 55, "The Big Bird Dan," and
+      No. 56, "Soria Moria Castle" (Asbjoernsen and Moe, Nos.
+      3 and 2. A somewhat similar story, only the palaces
+      are in the air, occurs in Asbjoernsen's "Ny Samling,"
+      No. 72)--Campbell's "Tales of the West Highlands," No.
+      58--Schleicher's "Litauische Maerchen," No. 38--The
+      Polish story, Wojcicki, Book iii. No. 6, in which
+      Norka is replaced by a witch who breaks the windows of
+      a church, and is wounded, in falcon-shape, by the
+      youngest brother--Hahn, No. 70, in which a Drakos, as
+      a cloud, steals golden apples, a story closely
+      resembling the Russian skazka. See also No. 26, very
+      similar to which is the Servian Story in "Vuk
+      Karajich," No. 2--and a very interesting Tuscan story
+      printed for the first time by A. de Gubernatis,
+      "Zoological Mythology," vol. ii. p. 187. See also
+      ibid. p. 391.
+
+      But still more important than these are the parallels
+      offered by Indian fiction. Take, for instance, the
+      story of Sringabhuja, in chap. xxxix. of book vii. of
+      the "Kathasaritsagara." In it the elder sons of a
+      certain king wish to get rid of their younger
+      half-brother. One day a Rakshasa appears in the form
+      of a gigantic crane. The other princes shoot at it in
+      vain, but the youngest wounds it, and then sets off in
+      pursuit of it, and of the valuable arrow which is
+      fixed in it. After long wandering he comes to a castle
+      in a forest. There he finds a maiden who tells him she
+      is the daughter of the Rakshasa whom, in the form of a
+      crane, he has wounded. She at once takes his part
+      against her demon father, and eventually flies with
+      him to his own country. The perils which the fugitives
+      have to encounter will be mentioned in the remarks on
+      Skazka XIX. See Professor Brockhaus's summary of the
+      story in the "Berichte der phil. hist. Classe der K.
+      Saechs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften," 1861, pp.
+      223-6. Also Professor Wilson's version in his "Essays
+      on Sanskrit Literature," vol. ii. pp. 134-5.
+
+      In two other stories in the same collection the hero
+      gives chase to a boar of gigantic size. It takes
+      refuge in a cavern into which he follows it. Presently
+      he finds himself in a different world, wherein he
+      meets a beauteous maiden who explains everything to
+      him. In the first of these two stories the lady is the
+      daughter of a Rakshasa, who is invulnerable except in
+      the palm of the left hand, for which reason, our hero,
+      Chandasena has been unable to wound him when in his
+      boar disguise. She instructs Chandasena how to kill
+      her father, who accordingly falls a victim to a
+      well-aimed shaft. (Brockhaus's "Maehrchensammlung des
+      Somadeva Bhatta," 1843, vol. i. pp. 110-13). In the
+      other story, the lady turns out to be a princess whom
+      "a demon with fiery eyes" had carried off and
+      imprisoned. She tells the hero, Saktideva, that the
+      demon has just died from a wound inflicted upon him,
+      while transformed into a boar, by a bold archer.
+      Saktideva informs her that he is that archer.
+      Whereupon she immediately requests him to marry her
+      (ibid. vol. ii. p. 175). In both stories the boar is
+      described as committing great ravages in the upper
+      world until the hero attacks it.]
+
+The Adventures of a prince, the youngest of three brothers, who has
+been lowered into the underground world or who has ascended into an
+enchanted upper realm, form the theme of numerous skazkas, several of
+which are variants of the story of Norka. The prince's elder brothers
+almost always attempt to kill him, when he is about to ascend from the
+gulf or descend from the steeps which separate him from them. In one
+instance, the following excuse is offered for their conduct. The hero
+has killed a Snake in the underground world, and is carrying its head
+on a lance, when his brothers begin to hoist him up. "His brothers
+were frightened at the sight of that head and thinking the Snake
+itself was coming, they let Ivan fall back into the pit."[90] But this
+apology for their behavior seems to be due to the story-teller's
+imagination. In some instances their unfraternal conduct may be
+explained in the following manner. In oriental tales the hero is often
+the son of a king's youngest wife, and he is not unnaturally hated by
+his half-brothers, the sons of an older queen, whom the hero's mother
+has supplanted in their royal father's affections. Accordingly they do
+their best to get rid of him. Thus, in one of the Indian stories which
+correspond to that of Norka, the hero's success at court "excited the
+envy and jealousy of his brothers [doubtless half-brothers], and they
+were not satisfied until they had devised a plan to effect his
+removal, and, as they hoped, accomplish his destruction."[91] We know
+also that "Israel loved Joseph more than all his children," because he
+was the son "of his old age," and the result was that "when his
+brethren [who were only his half-brothers] saw that their father loved
+him more than all his brethren, they hated him."[92] When such tales
+as these came west in Christian times, their references to polygamy
+were constantly suppressed, and their distinctions between brothers
+and half-brothers disappeared. In the same way the elder and jealous
+wife, who had behaved with cruelty in the original stories to the
+offspring of her rival, often became turned, under Christian
+influences, into a stepmother who hated her husband's children by a
+previous marriage.
+
+There may, however, be a mythological explanation of the behavior of
+the two elder brothers. Professor de Gubernatis is of opinion that "in
+the Vedic hymns, Tritas, the third brother, and the ablest as well as
+best, is persecuted by his brothers," who, "in a fit of jealousy, on
+account of his wife, the aurora, and the riches she brings with her
+from the realm of darkness, the cistern or well [into which he has
+been lowered], detain their brother in the well,"[93] and he compares
+this form of the myth with that which it assumes in the following
+Hindoo tradition. "Three brothers, _Ekata_ (_i.e._ the first), _Dwita_
+(_i.e._ the second) and _Trita_ (_i.e._ the third) were travelling in
+a desert, and being distressed with thirst, came to a well, from which
+the youngest, Trita, drew water and gave it to his brothers; in
+requital, they drew him into the well, in order to appropriate his
+property and having covered the top with a cart-wheel, left him in the
+well. In this extremity he prayed to the gods to extricate him, and by
+their favor he made his escape."[94] This myth may, perhaps, be the
+germ from which have sprung the numerous folk-tales about the
+desertion of a younger brother in some pit or chasm, into which his
+brothers have lowered him.[95]
+
+It may seem more difficult to account for the willingness of Norka's
+three sisters to aid in his destruction--unless, indeed, the whole
+story be considered to be mythological, as its Indian equivalents
+undoubtedly are. But in many versions of the same tale the difficulty
+does not arise. The princesses of the copper, silver, and golden
+realms, are usually represented as united by no ties of consanguinity
+with the snake or other monster whom the hero comes to kill. In the
+story of "Usuinya,"[96] for instance, there appears to be no
+relationship between these fair maidens and the "Usuinya-Bird," which
+steals the golden apples from a monarch's garden and is killed by his
+youngest son Ivan. That monster is not so much a bird as a flying
+dragon. "This Usuinya-bird is a twelve-headed snake," says one of the
+fair maidens. And presently it arrives--its wings stretching afar,
+while along the ground trail its moustaches [_usui_, whence its name].
+In a variant of the same story in another collection,[97] the part of
+Norka is played by a white wolf. In that of Ivan Suchenko[98] it is
+divided among three snakes who have stolen as many princesses. For the
+snake is much given to abduction, especially when he appears under the
+terrible form of "Koshchei, the Deathless."
+
+Koshchei is merely one of the many incarnations of the dark spirit
+which takes so many monstrous shapes in the folk-tales of the class
+with which we are now dealing. Sometimes he is described as altogether
+serpent-like in form; sometimes he seems to be of a mixed nature,
+partly human and partly ophidian, but in some of the stories he is
+apparently framed after the fashion of a man. His name is by some
+mythologists derived from _kost'_, a bone whence comes a verb
+signifying to become ossified, petrified, or frozen; either because he
+is bony of limb, or because he produces an effect akin to freezing or
+petrifaction.[99]
+
+He is called "Immortal" or "The Deathless,"[100] because of his
+superiority to the ordinary laws of existence. Sometimes, like Baldur,
+he cannot be killed except by one substance; sometimes his
+"death"--that is, the object with which his life is indissolubly
+connected--does not exist within his body. Like the vital centre of
+"the giant who had no heart in his body" in the well-known Norse tale,
+it is something extraneous to the being whom it affects, and until it
+is destroyed he may set all ordinary means of annihilation at
+defiance. But this is not always the case, as may be learnt from one
+of the best of the skazkas in which he plays a leading part, the
+history of--
+
+
+  MARYA MOREVNA.[101]
+
+  In a certain kingdom there lived a Prince Ivan. He had three
+  sisters. The first was the Princess Marya, the second the Princess
+  Olga, the third the Princess Anna. When their father and
+  mother lay at the point of death, they had thus enjoined their
+  son:--"Give your sisters in marriage to the very first suitors
+  who come to woo them. Don't go keeping them by you!"
+
+  They died and the Prince buried them, and then, to solace his
+  grief, he went with his sisters into the garden green to stroll.
+  Suddenly the sky was covered by a black cloud; a terrible storm
+  arose.
+
+  "Let us go home, sisters!" he cried.
+
+  Hardly had they got into the palace, when the thunder
+  pealed, the ceiling split open, and into the room where they were,
+  came flying a falcon bright. The Falcon smote upon the ground,
+  became a brave youth, and said:
+
+  "Hail, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I
+  have come as a wooer! I wish to propose for your sister, the
+  Princess Marya."
+
+  "If you find favor in the eyes of my sister, I will not interfere
+  with her wishes. Let her marry you in God's name!"
+
+  The Princess Marya gave her consent; the Falcon married
+  her and bore her away into his own realm.
+
+  Days follow days, hours chase hours; a whole year goes by.
+  One day Prince Ivan and his two sisters went out to stroll in
+  the garden green. Again there arose a stormcloud with whirlwind
+  and lightning.
+
+  "Let us go home, sisters!" cried the Prince. Scarcely had
+  they entered the palace, when the thunder crashed, the roof
+  burst into a blaze, the ceiling split in twain, and in flew an eagle.
+  The Eagle smote upon the ground and became a brave youth.
+
+  "Hail, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I
+  have come as a wooer!"
+
+  And he asked for the hand of the Princess Olga. Prince
+  Ivan replied:
+
+  "If you find favor in the eyes of the Princess Olga, then let
+  her marry you. I will not interfere with her liberty of choice."
+
+  The Princess Olga gave her consent and married the Eagle.
+  The Eagle took her and carried her off to his own kingdom.
+
+  Another year went by. Prince Ivan said to his youngest
+  sister:
+
+  "Let us go out and stroll in the garden green!"
+
+  They strolled about for a time. Again there arose a stormcloud,
+  with whirlwind and lightning.
+
+  "Let us return home, sister!" said he.
+
+  They returned home, but they hadn't had time to sit down
+  when the thunder[102] crashed, the ceiling split open, and in flew
+  a raven. The Raven smote upon the floor and became a brave
+  youth. The former youths had been handsome, but this one
+  was handsomer still.
+
+  "Well, Prince Ivan! Before I came as a guest, but now I
+  have come as a wooer. Give me the Princess Anna to wife."
+
+  "I won't interfere with my sister's freedom. If you gain her
+  affections, let her marry you."
+
+  So the Princess Anna married the Raven, and he bore her
+  away to his own realm. Prince Ivan was left alone. A whole
+  year he lived without his sisters; then he grew weary, and
+  said:--
+
+  "I will set out in search of my sisters."
+
+  He got ready for the journey, he rode and rode, and one day
+  he saw a whole army lying dead on the plain. He cried aloud,
+  "If there be a living man there, let him make answer! who has
+  slain this mighty host?"
+
+  There replied unto him a living man:
+
+  "All this mighty host has been slain by the fair Princess
+  Marya Morevna."
+
+  Prince Ivan rode further on, and came to a white tent, and
+  forth came to meet him the fair Princess Marya Morevna.
+
+  "Hail Prince!" says she, "whither does God send you?
+  and is it of your free will or against your will?"
+
+  Prince Ivan replied, "Not against their will do brave youths
+  ride!"
+
+  "Well, if your business be not pressing, tarry awhile in my
+  tent."
+
+  Thereat was Prince Ivan glad. He spent two nights in the
+  tent, and he found favor in the eyes of Marya Morevna, and
+  she married him. The fair Princess, Marya Morevna, carried
+  him off into her own realm.
+
+  They spent some time together, and then the Princess took
+  it into her head to go a warring. So she handed over all the
+  housekeeping affairs to Prince Ivan, and gave him these instructions:
+
+  "Go about everywhere, keep watch over everything, only do
+  not venture to look into that closet there."
+
+  He couldn't help doing so. The moment Marya Morevna
+  had gone he rushed to the closet, pulled open the door, and
+  looked in--there hung Koshchei the Deathless, fettered by
+  twelve chains. Then Koshchei entreated Prince Ivan, saying,--
+
+  "Have pity upon me and give me to drink! Ten years long
+  have I been here in torment, neither eating or drinking; my
+  throat is utterly dried up."
+
+  The Prince gave him a bucketful of water; he drank it up
+  and asked for more, saying:
+
+  "A single bucket of water will not quench my thirst; give
+  me more!"
+
+  The Prince gave him a second bucketful. Koshchei drank
+  it up and asked for a third, and when he had swallowed the
+  third bucketful, he regained his former strength, gave his chains
+  a shake, and broke all twelve at once.
+
+  "Thanks, Prince Ivan!" cried Koshchei the deathless,
+  "now you will sooner see your own ears than Marya Morevna!"
+  and out of the window he flew in the shape of a terrible whirlwind.
+  And he came up with the fair Princess Marya Morevna
+  as she was going her way, laid hold of her, and carried her off
+  home with him. But Prince Ivan wept full sore, and he arrayed
+  himself and set out a wandering, saying to himself: "Whatever
+  happens, I will go and look for Marya Morevna!"
+
+  One day passed, another day passed: at the dawn of the
+  third day he saw a wondrous palace, and by the side of the palace
+  stood an oak, and on the oak sat a falcon bright. Down flew
+  the Falcon from the oak, smote upon the ground, turned into a
+  brave youth and cried aloud:
+
+  "Ha, dear brother-in-law! how deals the Lord with you?"
+
+  Out came running the Princess Marya, joyfully greeted her
+  brother Ivan, and began enquiring after his health, and telling
+  him all about herself. The Prince spent three days with them,
+  then he said:
+
+  "I cannot abide with you; I must go in search of my wife
+  the fair Princess Marya Morevna."
+
+  "Hard will it be for you to find her," answered the Falcon.
+  "At all events leave with us your silver spoon. We will look at
+  it and remember you." So Prince Ivan left his silver spoon at
+  the Falcon's, and went on his way again.
+
+  On he went one day, on he went another day, and by the
+  dawn of the third day he saw a palace still grander than the former
+  one, and hard by the palace stood an oak, and on the oak
+  sat an eagle. Down flew the eagle from the oak, smote upon
+  the ground, turned into a brave youth, and cried aloud:
+
+  "Rise up, Princess Olga! Hither comes our brother dear!"
+
+  The Princess Olga immediately ran to meet him, and began
+  kissing him and embracing him, asking after his health and telling
+  him all about herself. With them Prince Ivan stopped three
+  days; then he said:
+
+  "I cannot stay here any longer. I am going to look for my
+  wife, the fair Princess Marya Morevna."
+
+  "Hard will it be for you to find her," replied the Eagle,
+  "Leave with us a silver fork. We will look at it and remember
+  you."
+
+  He left a silver fork behind, and went his way. He travelled
+  one day, he travelled two days; at daybreak on the third day he
+  saw a palace grander than the first two, and near the palace
+  stood an oak, and on the oak sat a raven. Down flew the Raven
+  from the oak, smote upon the ground, turned into a brave youth,
+  and cried aloud:
+
+  "Princess Anna, come forth quickly! our brother is coming!"
+
+  Out ran the Princess Anna, greeted him joyfully, and began
+  kissing and embracing him, asking after his health and telling
+  him all about herself. Prince Ivan stayed with them three days;
+  then he said:
+
+  "Farewell! I am going to look for my wife, the fair Princess
+  Marya Morevna."
+
+  "Hard will it be for you to find her," replied the Raven,
+  "Anyhow, leave your silver snuff-box with us. We will look at
+  it and remember you."
+
+  The Prince handed over his silver snuff-box, took his leave
+  and went his way. One day he went, another day he went, and
+  on the third day he came to where Marya Morevna was. She
+  caught sight of her love, flung her arms around his neck, burst
+  into tears, and exclaimed:
+
+  "Oh, Prince Ivan! why did you disobey me, and go looking
+  into the closet and letting out Koshchei the Deathless?"
+
+  "Forgive me, Marya Morevna! Remember not the past;
+  much better fly with me while Koshchei the Deathless is out of
+  sight. Perhaps he won't catch us."
+
+  So they got ready and fled. Now Koshchei was out hunting.
+  Towards evening he was returning home, when his good steed
+  stumbled beneath him.
+
+  "Why stumblest thou, sorry jade? scentest thou some ill?"
+
+  The steed replied:
+
+  "Prince Ivan has come and carried off Marya Morevna."
+
+  "Is it possible to catch them?"
+
+  "It is possible to sow wheat, to wait till it grows up, to reap
+  it and thresh it, to grind it to flour, to make five pies of it, to
+  eat those pies, and then to start in pursuit--and even then to be
+  in time."
+
+  Koshchei galloped off and caught up Prince Ivan.
+
+  "Now," says he, "this time I will forgive you, in return for
+  your kindness in giving me water to drink. And a second time
+  I will forgive you; but the third time beware! I will cut you to
+  bits."
+
+  Then he took Marya Morevna from him, and carried her off.
+  But Prince Ivan sat down on a stone and burst into tears. He
+  wept and wept--and then returned back again to Marya Morevna.
+  Now Koshchei the Deathless happened not to be at home.
+
+  "Let us fly, Marya Morevna!"
+
+  "Ah, Prince Ivan! he will catch us."
+
+  "Suppose he does catch us. At all events we shall have
+  spent an hour or two together."
+
+  So they got ready and fled. As Koshchei the Deathless was
+  returning home, his good steed stumbled beneath him.
+
+  "Why stumblest thou, sorry jade? scentest thou some
+  ill?"
+
+  "Prince Ivan has come and carried off Marya Morevna."
+
+  "Is it possible to catch them?"
+
+  "It is possible to sow barley, to wait till it grows up, to reap
+  it and thresh it, to brew beer, to drink ourselves drunk on it,
+  to sleep our fill, and then to set off in pursuit--and yet to be in
+  time."
+
+  Koshchei galloped off, caught up Prince Ivan:
+
+  "Didn't I tell you that you should not see Marya Morevna
+  any more than your own ears?"
+
+  And he took her away and carried her off home with him.
+
+  Prince Ivan was left there alone. He wept and wept; then
+  he went back again after Marya Morevna. Koshchei happened
+  to be away from home at that moment.
+
+  "Let us fly, Marya Morevna."
+
+  "Ah, Prince Ivan! He is sure to catch us and hew you in
+  pieces."
+
+  "Let him hew away! I cannot live without you."
+
+  So they got ready and fled.
+
+  Koshchei the Deathless was returning home when his good
+  steed stumbled beneath him.
+
+  "Why stumblest thou? scentest thou any ill?"
+
+  "Prince Ivan has come and has carried off Marya Morevna."
+
+  Koshchei galloped off, caught Prince Ivan, chopped him into
+  little pieces, put them in a barrel, smeared it with pitch and
+  bound it with iron hoops, and flung it into the blue sea. But
+  Marya Morevna he carried off home.
+
+  At that very time, the silver turned black which Prince Ivan
+  had left with his brothers-in-law.
+
+  "Ah!" said they, "the evil is accomplished sure enough!"
+
+  Then the Eagle hurried to the blue sea, caught hold of the
+  barrel, and dragged it ashore; the Falcon flew away for the
+  Water of Life, and the Raven for the Water of Death.
+
+  Afterwards they all three met, broke open the barrel, took out
+  the remains of Prince Ivan, washed them, and put them together
+  in fitting order. The Raven sprinkled them with the Water of
+  Death--the pieces joined together, the body became whole. The
+  Falcon sprinkled it with the Water of Life--Prince Ivan shuddered,
+  stood up, and said:
+
+  "Ah! what a time I've been sleeping!"
+
+  "You'd have gone on sleeping a good deal longer, if it hadn't
+  been for us," replied his brothers-in-law. "Now come and pay
+  us a visit."
+
+  "Not so, brothers; I shall go and look for Marya Morevna."
+
+  And when he had found her, he said to her:
+
+  "Find out from Koshchei the Deathless whence he got so
+  good a steed."
+
+  So Marya Morevna chose a favorable moment, and began
+  asking Koshchei about it. Koshchei replied:
+
+  "Beyond thrice nine lands, in the thirtieth kingdom, on the
+  other side of the fiery river, there lives a Baba Yaga. She has
+  so good a mare that she flies right round the world on it every
+  day. And she has many other splendid mares. I watched her
+  herds for three days without losing a single mare, and in return
+  for that the Baba Yaga gave me a foal."
+
+  "But how did you get across the fiery river?"
+
+  "Why, I've a handkerchief of this kind--when I wave it
+  thrice on the right hand, there springs up a very lofty bridge and
+  the fire cannot reach it."
+
+  Marya Morevna listened to all this, and repeated it to Prince
+  Ivan, and she carried off the handkerchief and gave it to him.
+  So he managed to get across the fiery river, and then went on to
+  the Baba Yaga's. Long went he on without getting anything
+  either to eat or to drink. At last he came across an outlandish[103]
+  bird and its young ones. Says Prince Ivan:
+
+  "I'll eat one of these chickens."
+
+  "Don't eat it, Prince Ivan!" begs the outlandish bird;
+  "some time or other I'll do you a good turn."
+
+  He went on farther and saw a hive of bees in the forest.
+
+  "I'll get a bit of honeycomb," says he.
+
+  "Don't disturb my honey, Prince Ivan!" exclaims the queen
+  bee; "some time or other I'll do you a good turn."
+
+  So he didn't disturb it, but went on. Presently there met
+  him a lioness with her cub.
+
+  "Anyhow I'll eat this lion cub," says he; "I'm so hungry, I
+  feel quite unwell!"
+
+  "Please let us alone, Prince Ivan," begs the lioness; "some
+  time or other I'll do you a good turn."
+
+  "Very well; have it your own way," says he.
+
+  Hungry and faint he wandered on, walked farther and farther
+  and at last came to where stood the house of the Baba Yaga.
+  Round the house were set twelve poles in a circle, and on each
+  of eleven of these poles was stuck a human head, the twelfth
+  alone remained unoccupied.
+
+  "Hail, granny!"
+
+  "Hail, Prince Ivan! wherefore have you come? Is it of your
+  own accord, or on compulsion?"
+
+  "I have come to earn from you a heroic steed."
+
+  "So be it, Prince, you won't have to serve a year with me, but
+  just three days. If you take good care of my mares, I'll give you
+  a heroic steed. But if you don't--why then you mustn't be
+  annoyed at finding your head stuck on top of the last pole up
+  there."
+
+  Prince Ivan agreed to these terms. The Baba Yaga gave
+  him food and drink, and bid him set about his business. But the
+  moment he had driven the mares afield, they cocked up their
+  tails, and away they tore across the meadows in all directions.
+  Before the Prince had time to look round, they were all out of
+  sight. Thereupon he began to weep and to disquiet himself, and
+  then he sat down upon a stone and went to sleep. But when the
+  sun was near its setting, the outlandish bird came flying up to him,
+  and awakened him saying:--
+
+  "Arise, Prince Ivan! the mares are at home now."
+
+  The Prince arose and returned home. There the Baba Yaga
+  was storming and raging at her mares, and shrieking:--
+
+  "Whatever did ye come home for?"
+
+  "How could we help coming home?" said they. "There
+  came flying birds from every part of the world, and all but pecked
+  our eyes out."
+
+  "Well, well! to-morrow don't go galloping over the meadows,
+  but disperse amid the thick forests."
+
+  Prince Ivan slept all night. In the morning the Baba Yaga
+  says to him:--
+
+  "Mind, Prince! if you don't take good care of the mares, if
+  you lose merely one of them--your bold head will be stuck on
+  that pole!"
+
+  He drove the mares afield. Immediately they cocked up their
+  tails and dispersed among the thick forests. Again did the
+  Prince sit down on the stone, weep and weep, and then go to
+  sleep. The sun went down behind the forest. Up came running
+  the lioness.
+
+  "Arise, Prince Ivan! The mares are all collected."
+
+  Prince Ivan arose and went home. More than ever did the
+  Baba Yaga storm at her mares and shriek:--
+
+  "Whatever did ye come back home for?"
+
+  "How could we help coming back? Beasts of prey came
+  running at us from all parts of the world, all but tore us utterly
+  to pieces."
+
+  "Well, to-morrow run off into the blue sea."
+
+  Again did Prince Ivan sleep through the night. Next morning
+  the Baba Yaga sent him forth to watch the mares:
+
+  "If you don't take good care of them," says she, "your bold
+  head will be stuck on that pole!"
+
+  He drove the mares afield. Immediately they cocked up
+  their tails, disappeared from sight, and fled into the blue sea.
+  There they stood, up to their necks in water. Prince Ivan sat
+  down on the stone, wept, and fell asleep. But when the sun had
+  set behind the forest, up came flying a bee and said:--
+
+  "Arise, Prince! The mares are all collected. But when
+  you get home, don't let the Baba Yaga set eyes on you, but go
+  into the stable and hide behind the mangers. There you will
+  find a sorry colt rolling in the muck. Do you steal it, and at
+  the dead of night ride away from the house."
+
+  Prince Ivan arose, slipped into the stable, and lay down behind
+  the mangers, while the Baba Yaga was storming away at
+  her mares and shrieking:--
+
+  "Why did ye come back?"
+
+  "How could we help coming back? There came flying bees
+  in countless numbers from all parts of the world, and began
+  stinging us on all sides till the blood came!"
+
+  The Baba Yaga went to sleep. In the dead of the night
+  Prince Ivan stole the sorry colt, saddled it, jumped on its back,
+  and galloped away to the fiery river. When he came to that river
+  he waved the handkerchief three times on the right hand, and
+  suddenly, springing goodness knows whence, there hung across
+  the river, high in the air, a splendid bridge. The Prince rode
+  across the bridge and waved the handkerchief twice only on the
+  left hand; there remained across the river a thin--ever so thin
+  a bridge!
+
+  When the Baba Yaga got up in the morning, the sorry colt
+  was not to be seen! Off she set in pursuit. At full speed did
+  she fly in her iron mortar, urging it on with the pestle, sweeping
+  away her traces with the broom. She dashed up to the fiery
+  river, gave a glance, and said, "A capital bridge!" She drove
+  on to the bridge, but had only got half-way when the bridge
+  broke in two, and the Baba Yaga went flop into the river. There
+  truly did she meet with a cruel death!
+
+  Prince Ivan fattened up the colt in the green meadows, and
+  it turned into a wondrous steed. Then he rode to where Marya
+  Morevna was. She came running out, and flung herself on his
+  neck, crying:--
+
+  "By what means has God brought you back to life?"
+
+  "Thus and thus," says he. "Now come along with me."
+
+  "I am afraid, Prince Ivan! If Koshchei catches us, you will
+  be cut in pieces again."
+
+  "No, he won't catch us! I have a splendid heroic steed now;
+  it flies just like a bird." So they got on its back and rode
+  away.
+
+  Koshchei the Deathless was returning home when his horse
+  stumbled beneath him.
+
+  "What art thou stumbling for, sorry jade? dost thou scent
+  any ill?"
+
+  "Prince Ivan has come and carried off Marya Morevna."
+
+  "Can we catch them?"
+
+  "God knows! Prince Ivan has a horse now which is better
+  than I."
+
+  "Well, I can't stand it," says Koshchei the Deathless. "I
+  will pursue."
+
+  After a time he came up with Prince Ivan, lighted on the
+  ground, and was going to chop him up with his sharp sword.
+  But at that moment Prince Ivan's horse smote Koshchei the
+  Deathless full swing with its hoof, and cracked his skull, and the
+  Prince made an end of him with a club. Afterwards the Prince
+  heaped up a pile of wood, set fire to it, burnt Koshchei the
+  Deathless on the pyre, and scattered his ashes to the wind.
+  Then Marya Morevna mounted Koshchei's horse and Prince Ivan
+  got on his own, and they rode away to visit first the Raven, and
+  then the Eagle, and then the Falcon. Wherever they went they
+  met with a joyful greeting.
+
+  "Ah, Prince Ivan! why, we never expected to see you again.
+  Well, it wasn't for nothing that you gave yourself so much trouble.
+  Such a beauty as Marya Morevna one might search for all the
+  world over--and never find one like her!"
+
+  And so they visited, and they feasted; and afterwards they
+  went off to their own realm.[104]
+
+With the Baba Yaga, the feminine counterpart of Koshchei and the
+Snake, we shall deal presently, and the Waters of Life and Death will
+find special notice elsewhere.[105] A magic water, which brings back
+the dead to life, plays a prominent part in the folk-lore of all
+lands, but the two waters, each performing one part only of the cure,
+render very noteworthy the Slavonic stories in which they occur. The
+Princess, Marya Morevna, who slaughters whole armies before she is
+married, and then becomes mild and gentle, belongs to a class of
+heroines who frequently occur both in the stories and in the "metrical
+romances," and to whom may be applied the remarks made by Kemble with
+reference to a similar Amazon.[106] In one of the variants of the
+story the representative of Marya Morevna fights the hero before she
+marries him.[107] The Bluebeard incident of the forbidden closet is
+one which often occurs in the Skazkas, as we shall see further on; and
+the same may be said about the gratitude of the Bird, Bee, and
+Lioness.
+
+The story of Immortal Koshchei is one of very frequent occurrence,
+the different versions maintaining a unity of idea, but varying
+considerably in detail. In one of them,[108] in which Koshchei's part
+is played by a Snake, the hero's sisters are carried off by their
+feathered admirers without his leave being asked--an omission for
+which a full apology is afterwards made; in another, the history of
+"Fedor Tugarin and Anastasia the Fair,"[109] the hero's three sisters
+are wooed and won, not by the Falcon, the Eagle, and the Raven, but by
+the Wind, the Hail, and the Thunder. He himself marries the terrible
+heroine Anastasia the Fair, in the forbidden chamber of whose palace
+he finds a snake "hung up by one of its ribs." He gives it a lift and
+it gets free from its hook and flies away, carrying off Anastasia the
+Fair. Fedor eventually finds her, escapes with her on a magic foal
+which he obtains, thanks to the aid of grateful wolves, bees, and
+crayfish, and destroys the snake by striking it "on the forehead" with
+the stone which was destined to be its death. In a third version of
+the story,[110] the hero finds in the forbidden chamber "Koshchei the
+Deathless, in a cauldron amid flames, boiling in pitch." There he has
+been, he declares, for fifteen years, having been lured there by the
+beauty of Anastasia the Fair. In a fourth,[111] in which the hero's
+three sisters marry three beggars, who turn out to be snakes with
+twenty, thirty, and forty heads apiece, Koshchei is found in the
+forbidden chamber, seated on a horse which is chained to a cauldron.
+He begs the hero to unloose the horse, promising, in return, to save
+him from three deaths.
+
+      [Into the mystery of the forbidden chamber I will not
+      enter fully at present. Suffice to say that there can
+      be little doubt as to its being the same as that in
+      which Bluebeard kept the corpses of his dead wives. In
+      the Russian, as well as in the Oriental stories, it is
+      generally the curiosity of a man, not of a woman,
+      which leads to the opening of the prohibited room. In
+      the West of Europe the fatal inquisitiveness is more
+      frequently ascribed to a woman. For parallels see the
+      German stories of "Marienkind," and "Fitchers Vogel."
+      (Grimm, _KM._, Nos. 3 and 46, also the notes in Bd.
+      iii. pp. 8, 76, 324.) Less familiar than these is,
+      probably, the story of "Die eisernen Stiefel" (Wolf's
+      "Deutsche Hausmaerchen," 1851, No. 19), in which the
+      hero opens a forbidden door--that of a
+      summer-house--and sees "deep down below him the earth,
+      and on the earth his father's palace," and is seized
+      by a sudden longing after his former home. The
+      Wallachian story of "The Immured Mother" (Schott, No.
+      2) resembles Grimm's "Marienkind" in many points. But
+      its forbidden chamber differs from that of the German
+      tale. In the latter the rash intruder sees "die
+      Dreieinigkeit im Feuer und Glanz sitzen;" in the
+      former, "the Holy Mother of God healing the wounds of
+      her Son, the Lord Christ." In the Neapolitan story of
+      "Le tre Corune" (Pentamerone, No. 36), the forbidden
+      chamber contains "three maidens, clothed all in gold,
+      sitting and seeming to slumber upon as many thrones"
+      (Liebrecht's translation, ii. 76). The Esthonian tale
+      of the "Wife-murderer" (Loewe's "Ehstnische Maerchen,"
+      No. 20) is remarkably--not to say suspiciously--like
+      that French story of Blue Beard which has so often
+      made our young blood run cold. Sister Anne is
+      represented, and so are the rescuing brothers, the
+      latter in the person of the heroine's old friend and
+      playmate, Toennis the goose-herd. Several very curious
+      Gaelic versions of the story are given by Mr. Campbell
+      ("Tales of the West Highlands," No. 41, ii. 265-275).
+      Two of the three daughters of a poor widow look into a
+      forbidden chamber, find it "full of dead gentlewomen,"
+      get stained knee-deep in blood, and refuse to give a
+      drop of milk to a cat which offers its services. So
+      their heads are chopped off. The third daughter makes
+      friends with the cat, which licks off the tell-tale
+      blood, so she escapes detection. In a Greek story
+      (Hahn, ii. p. 197) the hero discovers in the
+      one-and-fortieth room of a castle belonging to a
+      Drakos, who had given him leave to enter forty only, a
+      magic horse, and before the door of the room he finds
+      a pool of gold in which he becomes gilded. In another
+      (Hahn, No. 15) a prince finds in the forbidden
+      fortieth a lake in which fairies of the swan-maiden
+      species are bathing. In a third (No. 45) the fortieth
+      room contains a golden horse and a golden dog which
+      assist their bold releaser. In a fourth (No. 68) it
+      imprisons "a fair maiden, shining like the sun," whom
+      the demon proprietor of the castle has hung up within
+      it by her hair.
+
+      As usual, all these stories are hard to understand.
+      But one of the most important of their Oriental
+      equivalents is perfectly intelligible. When Saktideva,
+      in the fifth book of the "Kathasaritsagara," comes
+      after long travel to the Golden City, and is welcomed
+      as her destined husband by its princess, she warns him
+      not to ascend the central terrace of her palace. Of
+      course he does so, and finds three chambers, in each
+      of which lies the lifeless form of a fair maiden.
+      After gazing at these seeming corpses, in one of which
+      he recognizes his first love, he approaches a horse
+      which is grazing beside a lake. The horse kicks him
+      into the water; he sinks deep--and comes up again in
+      his native land. The whole of the story is, towards
+      its termination, fully explained by one of its
+      principal characters--one of the four maidens whom
+      Saktideva simultaneously marries. With the version of
+      this romance in the "Arabian Nights" ("History of the
+      Third Royal Mendicant," Lane, i. 160-173), everyone is
+      doubtless acquainted. A less familiar story is that of
+      Kandarpaketu, in the second book of the "Hitopadesa,"
+      who lives happily for a time as the husband of the
+      beautiful semi-divine queen of the Golden City. At
+      last, contrary to her express commands, he ventures to
+      touch a picture of a Vidyadhari. In an instant the
+      pictured demigoddess gives him a kick which sends him
+      flying back into his own country.
+
+      For an explanation of the myth which lies at the root
+      of all these stories, see Cox's "Mythology of the
+      Aryan Nations," ii. 36, 330. See also Professor de
+      Gubernatis's "Zoological Mythology," i. 168.]
+
+We will now take one of those versions of the story which describe how
+Koshchei's death is brought about by the destruction of that
+extraneous object on which his existence depends. The incident is one
+which occupies a prominent place in the stories of this class current
+in all parts of Europe and Asia, and its result is almost always the
+same. But the means by which that result is brought about differ
+considerably in different lands. In the Russian tales the "death" of
+the Evil Being with whom the hero contends--the substance, namely, the
+destruction of which involves his death--is usually the last of a
+sequence of objects either identical with, or closely resembling,
+those mentioned in the following story of--
+
+
+  KOSHCHEI THE DEATHLESS.[112]
+
+  In a certain country there once lived a king, and he had three
+  sons, all of them grown up. All of a sudden Koshchei the
+  Deathless carried off their mother. Then the eldest son craved
+  his father's blessing, that he might go and look for his mother.
+  His father gave him his blessing, and he went off and disappeared,
+  leaving no trace behind. The second son waited and waited,
+  then he too obtained his father's blessing--and he also disappeared.
+  Then the youngest son, Prince Ivan, said to his father,
+  "Father, give me your blessing, and let me go and look for my
+  mother."
+
+  But his father would not let him go, saying, "Your brothers
+  are no more; if you likewise go away, I shall die of grief."
+
+  "Not so, father. But if you bless me I shall go; and if you
+  do not bless me I shall go."
+
+  So his father gave him his blessing.
+
+  Prince Ivan went to choose a steed, but every one that he
+  laid his hand upon gave way under it. He could not find a steed
+  to suit him, so he wandered with drooping brow along the road
+  and about the town. Suddenly there appeared an old woman,
+  who asked:
+
+  "Why hangs your brow so low, Prince Ivan?"
+
+  "Be off, old crone," he replied. "If I put you on one of my
+  hands, and give it a slap with the other, there'll be a little wet
+  left, that's all."[113]
+
+  The old woman ran down a by-street, came to meet him a
+  second time, and said:
+
+  "Good day, Prince Ivan! why hangs your brow so low?"
+
+  Then he thought:
+
+  "Why does this old woman ask me? Mightn't she be of
+  use to me?"--and he replied:
+
+  "Well, mother! because I cannot get myself a good steed."
+
+  "Silly fellow!" she cried, "to suffer, and not to ask the old
+  woman's help! Come along with me."
+
+  She took him to a hill, showed him a certain spot, and said:
+
+  "Dig up that piece of ground."
+
+  Prince Ivan dug it up and saw an iron plate with twelve padlocks
+  on it. He immediately broke off the padlocks, tore open
+  a door, and followed a path leading underground. There,
+  fastened with twelve chains, stood a heroic steed which evidently
+  heard the approaching steps of a rider worthy to mount it, and
+  so began to neigh and to struggle, until it broke all twelve of its
+  chains. Then Prince Ivan put on armor fit for a hero, and
+  bridled the horse, and saddled it with a Circassian saddle. And
+  he gave the old woman money, and said to her:
+
+  "Forgive me, mother, and bless me!" then he mounted his
+  steed and rode away.
+
+  Long time did he ride; at last he came to a mountain--a
+  tremendously high mountain, and so steep that it was utterly
+  impossible to get up it. Presently his brothers came that way.
+  They all greeted each other, and rode on together, till they came
+  to an iron rock[114] a hundred and fifty poods in weight, and on it
+  was this inscription, "Whosoever will fling this rock against
+  the mountain, to him will a way be opened." The two elder
+  brothers were unable to lift the rock, but Prince Ivan at the
+  first try flung it against the mountain--and immediately there
+  appeared a ladder leading up the mountain side.
+
+  Prince Ivan dismounted, let some drops of blood run from
+  his little finger into a glass, gave it to his brothers, and said:
+
+  "If the blood in this glass turns black, tarry here no longer:
+  that will mean that I am about to die." Then he took leave of
+  them and went his way.
+
+  He mounted the hill. What did not he see there? All
+  sorts of trees were there, all sorts of fruits, all sorts of birds!
+  Long did Prince Ivan walk on; at last he came to a house, a
+  huge house! In it lived a king's daughter who had been carried
+  off by Koshchei the Deathless. Prince Ivan walked round the
+  enclosure, but could not see any doors. The king's daughter
+  saw there was some one there, came on to the balcony, and
+  called out to him, "See, there is a chink in the enclosure; touch
+  it with your little finger, and it will become a door."
+
+  What she said turned out to be true. Prince Ivan went into
+  the house, and the maiden received him kindly, gave him to eat
+  and to drink, and then began to question him. He told her how
+  he had come to rescue his mother from Koshchei the Deathless.
+  Then the maiden said:
+
+  "It will be difficult for you to get at your mother, Prince
+  Ivan. You see, Koshchei is not mortal: he will kill you. He
+  often comes here to see me. There is his sword, fifty poods in
+  weight. Can you lift it? If so, you may venture to go."
+
+  Not only did Prince Ivan lift the sword, but he tossed it
+  high in the air. So he went on his way again.
+
+  By-and-by he came to a second house. He knew now where
+  to look for the door, and he entered in. There was his mother.
+  With tears did they embrace each other.
+
+  Here also did he try his strength, heaving aloft a ball which
+  weighed some fifteen hundred poods. The time came for
+  Koshchei the Deathless to arrive. The mother hid away her
+  son. Suddenly Koshchei the Deathless entered the house and
+  cried out, "Phou, Phou! A Russian bone[115] one usen't to hear
+  with one's ears, or see with one's eyes, but now a Russian bone
+  has come to the house! Who has been with you? Wasn't it
+  your son?"
+
+  "What are you talking about, God bless you! You've been
+  flying through Russia, and got the air up your nostrils, that's
+  why you fancy it's here," answered Prince Ivan's mother, and
+  then she drew nigh to Koshchei, addressed him in terms of
+  affection, asked him about one thing and another, and at last
+  said:
+
+  "Whereabouts is your death, O Koshchei?"
+
+  "My death," he replied, "is in such a place. There stands
+  an oak, and under the oak is a casket, and in the casket is a
+  hare, and in the hare is a duck, and in the duck is an egg, and
+  in the egg is my death."
+
+  Having thus spoken, Koshchei the Deathless tarried there a
+  little longer, and then flew away.
+
+  The time came--Prince Ivan received his mother's blessing,
+  and went to look for Koshchei's death. He went on his way a
+  long time without eating or drinking; at last he felt mortally
+  hungry, and thought, "If only something would come my way!"
+  Suddenly there appeared a young wolf; he determined to kill
+  it. But out from a hole sprang the she wolf, and said, "Don't
+  hurt my little one; I'll do you a good turn." Very good! Prince
+  Ivan let the young wolf go. On he went and saw a crow.
+  "Stop a bit," he thought, "here I shall get a mouthful." He
+  loaded his gun and was going to shoot, but the crow exclaimed,
+  "Don't hurt me; I'll do you a good turn."
+
+  Prince Ivan thought the matter over and spared the crow.
+  Then he went farther, and came to a sea and stood still on the
+  shore. At that moment a young pike suddenly jumped out of
+  the water and fell on the strand. He caught hold of it, and
+  thought--for he was half dead with hunger--"Now I shall have
+  something to eat." All of a sudden appeared a pike and said,
+  "Don't hurt my little one, Prince Ivan; I'll do you a good turn."
+  And so he spared the little pike also.
+
+  But how was he to cross the sea? He sat down on the shore
+  and meditated. But the pike knew quite well what he was
+  thinking about, and laid herself right across the sea. Prince
+  Ivan walked along her back, as if he were going over a bridge,
+  and came to the oak where Koshchei's death was. There he
+  found the casket and opened it--out jumped the hare and ran
+  away. How was the hare to be stopped?
+
+  Prince Ivan was terribly frightened at having let the hare
+  escape, and gave himself up to gloomy thoughts; but a wolf,
+  the one he had refrained from killing, rushed after the hare,
+  caught it, and brought it to Prince Ivan. With great delight
+  he seized the hare, cut it open--and had such a fright! Out
+  popped the duck and flew away. He fired after it, but shot
+  all on one side, so again he gave himself up to his thoughts.
+  Suddenly there appeared the crow with her little crows, and set
+  off after the duck, and caught it, and brought it to Prince Ivan.
+  The Prince was greatly pleased and got hold of the egg. Then
+  he went on his way. But when he came to the sea, he began
+  washing the egg, and let it drop into the water. However was
+  he to get it out of the water? an immeasurable depth! Again
+  the Prince gave himself up to dejection.
+
+  Suddenly the sea became violently agitated, and the pike
+  brought him the egg. Moreover it stretched itself across the
+  sea. Prince Ivan walked along it to the other side, and then
+  he set out again for his mother's. When he got there, they
+  greeted each other lovingly, and then she hid him again as before.
+  Presently in flew Koshchei the Deathless and said:
+
+  "Phoo, Phoo! No Russian bone can the ear hear nor the
+  eye see, but there's a smell of Russia here!"
+
+  "What are you talking about, Koshchei? There's no one
+  with me," replied Prince Ivan's mother.
+
+  A second time spake Koshchei and said, "I feel rather unwell."
+
+  Then Prince Ivan began squeezing the egg, and thereupon
+  Koshchei the Deathless bent double. At last Prince Ivan came
+  out from his hiding-place, held up the egg and said, "There is
+  your death, O Koshchei the Deathless!"
+
+  Then Koshchei fell on his knees before him, saying, "Don't
+  kill me, Prince Ivan! Let's be friends! All the world will lie
+  at our feet."
+
+  But these words had no weight with Prince Ivan. He
+  smashed the egg, and Koshchei the Deathless died.
+
+  Ivan and his mother took all they wanted and started homewards.
+  On their way they came to where the King's daughter
+  was whom Ivan had seen on his way, and they took her with
+  them too. They went further, and came to the hill where Ivan's
+  brothers were still waiting for him. Then the maiden said,
+  "Prince Ivan! do go back to my house. I have forgotten a
+  marriage robe, a diamond ring, and a pair of seamless shoes."
+
+  He consented to do so, but in the mean time he let his mother
+  go down the ladder, as well as the Princess--whom it had been
+  settled he was to marry when they got home. They were received
+  by his brothers, who then set to work and cut away the ladder,
+  so that he himself would not be able to get down. And they
+  used such threats to his mother and the Princess, that they
+  made them promise not to tell about Prince Ivan when they
+  got home. And after a time they reached their native country.
+  Their father was delighted at seeing his wife and his two sons,
+  but still he was grieved about the other one, Prince Ivan.
+
+  But Prince Ivan returned to the home of his betrothed, and
+  got the wedding dress, and the ring, and the seamless shoes.
+  Then he came back to the mountain and tossed the ring from
+  one hand to the other. Immediately there appeared twelve
+  strong youths, who said:
+
+  "What are your commands?"
+
+  "Carry me down from this hill."
+
+  The youths immediately carried him down. Prince Ivan put
+  the ring on his finger--they disappeared.
+
+  Then he went on to his own country, and arrived at the city
+  in which his father and brothers lived.
+
+  There he took up his quarters in the house of an old woman,
+  and asked her:
+
+  "What news is there, mother, in your country?"
+
+  "What news, lad? You see our queen was kept in prison
+  by Koshchei the Deathless. Her three sons went to look for
+  her, and two of them found her and came back, but the third,
+  Prince Ivan, has disappeared, and no one knows where he is.
+  The King is very unhappy about him. And those two Princes
+  and their mother brought a certain Princess back with them;
+  and the eldest son wants to marry her, but she declares he must
+  fetch her her betrothal ring first, or get one made just as she
+  wants it. But although they have made a public proclamation
+  about it, no one has been found to do it yet."
+
+  "Well, mother, go and tell the King that you will make one.
+  I'll manage it for you," said Prince Ivan.
+
+  So the old woman immediately dressed herself, and hastened
+  to the King, and said:
+
+  "Please, your Majesty, I will make the wedding ring."
+
+  "Make it, then, make it, mother! Such people as you are
+  welcome," said the king. "But if you don't make it, off goes
+  your head!"
+
+  The old woman was dreadfully frightened; she ran home,
+  and told Prince Ivan to set to work at the ring. But Ivan lay
+  down to sleep, troubling himself very little about it. The ring
+  was there all the time. So he only laughed at the old woman,
+  but she was trembling all over, and crying, and scolding him.
+
+  "As for you," she said, "you're out of the scrape; but you've
+  done for me, fool that I was!"
+
+  The old woman cried and cried until she fell asleep. Early in
+  the morning Prince Ivan got up and awakened her, saying:
+
+  "Get up, mother, and go out! take them the ring, and mind,
+  don't accept more than one ducat for it. If anyone asks who
+  made the ring, say you made it yourself; don't say a word about
+  me."
+
+  The old woman was overjoyed and carried off the ring. The
+  bride was delighted with it.
+
+  "Just what I wanted," she said. So they gave the old woman
+  a dish full of gold, but she took only one ducat.
+
+  "Why do you take so little?" said the king.
+
+  "What good would a lot do me, your Majesty? if I want some
+  more afterwards, you'll give it me."
+
+  Having said this the old woman went away.
+
+  Time passed, and the news spread abroad that the bride had
+  told her lover to fetch her her wedding-dress or else to get one
+  made, just such a one as she wanted. Well, the old woman,
+  thanks to Prince Ivan's aid, succeeded in this matter too, and
+  took her the wedding-dress. And afterwards she took her the
+  seamless shoes also, and would only accept one ducat each time
+  and always said that she had made the things herself.
+
+  Well, the people heard that there would be a wedding at the
+  palace on such-and-such a day. And the day they all anxiously
+  awaited came at last. Then Prince Ivan said to the old woman:
+
+  "Look here, mother! when the bride is just going to be
+  married, let me know."
+
+  The old woman didn't let the time go by unheeded.
+
+  Then Ivan immediately put on his princely raiment, and went
+  out of the house.
+
+  "See, mother, this is what I'm really like!" says he.
+
+  The old woman fell at his feet.
+
+  "Pray forgive me for scolding you," said she.
+
+  "God be with you," said he.[116]
+
+  So he went into the church and, finding his brothers had not
+  yet arrived, he stood up alongside of the bride and got married
+  to her. Then he and she were escorted back to the palace, and
+  as they went along, the proper bridegroom, his eldest brother,
+  met them. But when he saw that his bride and Prince Ivan were
+  being escorted home together, he turned back again ignominiously.
+
+  As to the king, he was delighted to see Prince Ivan again,
+  and when he had learnt all about the treachery of his brothers,
+  after the wedding feast had been solemnized, he banished the
+  two elder princes, but he made Ivan heir to the throne.
+
+In the story of "Prince Arikad,"[117] the Queen-Mother is carried off
+by the Whirlwind,[118] instead of by Koshchei. Her youngest son climbs
+the hill by the aid of iron hooks, kills Vikhor, and lowers his mother
+and three other ladies whom he has rescued, by means of a rope made of
+strips of hide. This his brothers cut to prevent him from
+descending.[119] They then oblige the ladies to swear not to betray
+them, the taking of the oath being accompanied by the eating of
+earth.[120] The same formality is observed in another story in which
+an oath of a like kind is exacted.[121]
+
+The sacred nature of such an obligation may account for the singular
+reticence so often maintained, under similar circumstances, in stories
+of this class.
+
+In one of the descriptions of Koshchei's death, he is said to be
+killed by a blow on the forehead inflicted by the mysterious egg--that
+last link in the magic chain by which his life is darkly bound.[122]
+In another version of the same story, but told of a Snake, the fatal
+blow is struck by a small stone found in the yolk of an egg, which is
+inside a duck, which is inside a hare, which is inside a stone, which
+is on an island [_i.e._, the fabulous island Buyan].[123] In another
+variant[124] Koshchei attempts to deceive his fair captive, pretending
+that his "death" resides in a besom, or in a fence, both of which she
+adorns with gold in token of her love. Then he confesses that his
+"death" really lies in an egg, inside a duck, inside a log which is
+floating on the sea. Prince Ivan gets hold of the egg and shifts it
+from one hand to the other. Koshchei rushes wildly from side to side
+of the room. At last the prince breaks the egg. Koshchei falls on the
+floor and dies.
+
+This heart-breaking episode occurs in the folk-tales of many
+lands.[125] It may not be amiss to trace it through some of its forms.
+In a Norse story[126] a Giant's heart lies in an egg, inside a duck,
+which swims in a well, in a church, on an island. With this may be
+compared another Norse tale,[127] in which a _Haugebasse_, or Troll,
+who has carried off a princess, informs her that he and all his
+companions will burst asunder when above them passes "the grain of
+sand that lies under the ninth tongue in the ninth head" of a certain
+dead dragon. The grain of sand is found and brought, and the result is
+that the whole of the monstrous brood of Trolls or _Haugebasser_ is
+instantaneously destroyed. In a Transylvanian-Saxon story[128] a
+Witch's "life" is a light which burns in an egg, inside a duck, which
+swims on a pond, inside a mountain, and she dies when it is put out.
+In the Bohemian story of "The Sun-horse"[129] a Warlock's "strength"
+lies in an egg, which is within a duck, which is within a stag, which
+is under a tree. A Seer finds the egg and sucks it. Then the Warlock
+becomes as weak as a child, "for all his strength had passed into the
+Seer." In the Gaelic story of "The Sea-Maiden,"[130] the "great beast
+with three heads" which haunts the loch cannot be killed until an egg
+is broken, which is in the mouth of a trout, which springs out of a
+crow, which flies out of a hind, which lives on an island in the
+middle of the loch. In a Modern Greek tale the life of a dragon or
+other baleful being comes to an end simultaneously with the lives of
+three pigeons which are shut up in an all but inaccessible
+chamber,[131] or inclosed within a wild boar.[132] Closely connected
+with the Greek tale is the Servian story of the dragon[133] whose
+"strength" (_snaga_) lies in a sparrow, which is inside a dove, inside
+a hare, inside a boar, inside a dragon (_ajdaya_) which is in a lake,
+near a royal city. The hero of the story fights the dragon of the
+lake, and after a long struggle, being invigorated at the critical
+moment by a kiss which the heroine imprints on his forehead--he flings
+it high in the air. When it falls to the ground it breaks in pieces,
+and out comes the boar. Eventually the hero seizes the sparrow and
+wrings its neck, but not before he has obtained from it the charm
+necessary for the recovery of his missing brothers and a number of
+other victims of the dragon's cruelty.
+
+To these European tales a very interesting parallel is afforded by
+the Indian story of "Punchkin,"[134] whose life depends on that of a
+parrot, which is in a cage placed beneath the lowest of six jars of
+water, piled one on the other, and standing in the midst of a desolate
+country covered with thick jungle. When the parrot's legs and wings
+are pulled off, Punchkin loses his legs and arms; and when its neck is
+wrung, his head twists round and he dies.
+
+One of the strangest of the stories which turn on this idea of an
+external heart is the Samoyed tale,[135] in which seven brothers are
+in the habit, every night, of taking out their hearts and sleeping
+without them. A captive damsel whose mother they have killed, receives
+the extracted hearts and hangs them on the tent-pole, where they
+remain till the following morning. One night her brother contrives to
+get the hearts into his possession. Next morning he takes them into
+the tent, where he finds the brothers at the point of death. In vain
+do they beg for their hearts, which he flings on the floor. "And as he
+flings down the hearts the brothers die."
+
+The legend to which I am now about to refer will serve as a proof of
+the venerable antiquity of the myth from which the folk-tales, which
+have just been quoted, appear to have sprung. A papyrus, which is
+supposed to be "of the age of the nineteenth dynasty, about B.C.
+1300," has preserved an Egyptian tale about two brothers. The younger
+of these, Satou, leaves the elder, Anepou (Anubis) and retires to the
+Valley of the Acacia. But, before setting off, Satou states that he
+shall take his heart and place it "in the flowers of the acacia-tree,"
+so that, if the tree is cut down, his heart will fall to the ground
+and he will die. Having given Anepou instructions what to do in such a
+case, he seeks the valley. There he hunts wild animals by day, and at
+night he sleeps under the acacia-tree on which his heart rests. But at
+length Noum, the Creator, forms a wife for him, and all the other gods
+endow her with gifts. To this Egyptian Pandora Satou confides the
+secret of his heart. One day a tress of her perfumed hair floats down
+the river, and is taken to the King of Egypt. He determines to make
+its owner his queen, and she, like Rhodope or Cinderella, is sought
+for far and wide. When she has been found and brought to the king, she
+recommends him to have the acacia cut down, so as to get rid of her
+lawful husband. Accordingly the tree is cut down, the heart falls, and
+Satou dies.
+
+About this time Anepou sets out to pay his long-lost brother a visit.
+Finding him dead, he searches for his heart, but searches in vain for
+three years. In the fourth year, however, it suddenly becomes desirous
+of returning to Egypt, and says, "I will leave this celestial sphere."
+Next day Anepou finds it under the acacia, and places it in a vase
+which contains some mystic fluid. When the heart has become saturated
+with the moisture, the corpse shudders and opens its eyes. Anepou
+pours the rest of the fluid down its throat, the heart returns to its
+proper place, and Satou is restored to life.[136]
+
+In one of the Skazkas, a _volshebnitsa_ or enchantress is introduced,
+whose "death," like that of Koshchei, is spoken of as something
+definite and localized. A prince has loved and lost a princess, who is
+so beautiful that no man can look at her without fainting. Going in
+search of her, he comes to the home of an enchantress, who invites him
+to tea and gives him leave to inspect her house. As he wanders about
+he comes to a cellar in which "he sees that beautiful one whom he
+loves, in fire." She tells him her love for him has brought her there;
+and he learns that there is no hope of freeing her unless he can find
+out "where lies the death of the enchantress." So that evening he asks
+his hostess about it, and she replies:
+
+"In a certain lake stands a blue rose-tree. It is in a deep place, and
+no man can reach unto it. My death is there."
+
+He sets out in search of it, and, aided by a magic ring, reaches the
+lake, "and sees there the blue rose-tree, and around it a blue
+forest." After several failures, he succeeds in plucking up the
+rose-tree by the roots, whereupon the enchantress straightway sickens.
+He returns to her house, finds her at the point of death, and throws
+the rose-bush into the cellar where his love is crying, "Behold her
+death!" and immediately the whole building shakes to its
+foundations--"and becomes an island, on which are people who had been
+sitting in Hell, and who offer up thanks to Prince Ivan."[137]
+
+In another Russian story,[138] a prince is grievously tormented by a
+witch who has got hold of his heart, and keeps it perpetually seething
+in a magic cauldron. In a third,[139] a "Queen-Maiden" falls in love
+with the young Ivan, and, after being betrothed to him, would fain
+take him away to her own land and marry him. But his stepmother throws
+him into a magic slumber, and the Queen-Maiden has to return home
+without him. When he awakes, and learns that she has gone, he sorrows
+greatly, and sets out in search of her. At last he learns from a
+friendly witch that his betrothed no longer cares for him, "her love
+is hidden far away." It seems "that on the other side of the ocean
+stands an oak, and on the oak a coffer, and in the coffer a hare, and
+in the hare a duck, and in the duck an egg, and in the egg the love of
+the Queen-Maiden." Ivan gets possession of the egg, and the friendly
+witch contrives to have it placed before the Queen-Maiden at dinner.
+She eats it, and immediately her love for Ivan returns in all its
+pristine force. He appears, and she, overjoyed, carries him off to her
+own land and there marries him.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+After this digression we will now return to our Snakes. All the
+monstrous forms which figure in the stories we have just been
+considering appear to be merely different species of the great serpent
+family. Such names as Koshchei, Chudo Yudo, Usuinya, and the like,
+seem to admit of exchange at the will of the story-teller with that of
+Zmei Goruinuich, the many-headed Snake, who in Russian storyland is
+represented as the type of all that is evil. But in the actual Russia
+of to-day, snakes bear by no means so bad a character. Their presence
+in a cottage is considered a good omen by the peasants, who leave out
+milk for them to drink, and who think that to kill such visitors would
+be a terrible sin.[140] This is probably a result of some remembrance
+of a religious cultus paid to the household gods under the form of
+snakes, such as existed of old, according to Kromer, in Poland and
+Lithuania. The following story is more in keeping with such ideas as
+these, than with those which are expressed in the tales about Koshchei
+and his kin.
+
+
+  THE WATER SNAKE.[141]
+
+  There was once an old woman who had a daughter; and her
+  daughter went down to the pond one day to bathe with the
+  other girls. They all stripped off their shifts, and went into the
+  water. Then there came a snake out of the water, and glided on
+  to the daughter's shift. After a time the girls all came out, and
+  began to put on their shifts, and the old woman's daughter wanted
+  to put on hers, but there was the snake lying on it. She tried
+  to drive him away, but there he stuck and would not move. Then
+  the snake said:
+
+  "If you'll marry me, I'll give you back your shift."
+
+  Now she wasn't at all inclined to marry him, but the other
+  girls said:
+
+  "As if it were possible for you to be married to him! Say
+  you will!" So she said, "Very well, I will." Then the snake
+  glided off from the shift, and went straight into the water. The
+  girl dressed and went home. And as soon as she got there,
+  she said to her mother,
+
+  "Mammie, mammie, thus and thus, a snake got upon my
+  shift, and says he, 'Marry me or I won't let you have your shift;'
+  and I said, 'I will.'"
+
+  "What nonsense are you talking, you little fool! as if one
+  could marry a snake!"
+
+  And so they remained just as they were, and forgot all about
+  the matter.
+
+  A week passed by, and one day they saw ever so many snakes,
+  a huge troop of them, wriggling up to their cottage. "Ah,
+  mammie, save me, save me!" cried the girl, and her mother
+  slammed the door and barred the entrance as quickly as possible.
+  The snakes would have rushed in at the door, but the door was
+  shut; they would have rushed into the passage, but the passage
+  was closed. Then in a moment they rolled themselves into a
+  ball, flung themselves at the window, smashed it to pieces, and
+  glided in a body into the room. The girl got upon the stove, but
+  they followed her, pulled her down, and bore her out of the room
+  and out of doors. Her mother accompanied her, crying like
+  anything.
+
+  They took the girl down to the pond, and dived right into the
+  water with her. And there they all turned into men and women.
+  The mother remained for some time on the dike, wailed a little,
+  and then went home.
+
+  Three years went by. The girl lived down there, and had
+  two children, a son and a daughter. Now she often entreated
+  her husband to let her go to see her mother. So at last one day
+  he took her up to the surface of the water, and brought her
+  ashore. But she asked him before leaving him,
+
+  "What am I to call out when I want you?"
+
+  "Call out to me, 'Osip, [Joseph] Osip, come here!' and I
+  will come," he replied.
+
+  Then he dived under water again, and she went to her
+  mother's, carrying her little girl on one arm, and leading her boy
+  by the hand. Out came her mother to meet her--was so
+  delighted to see her!
+
+  "Good day, mother!" said the daughter.
+
+  "Have you been doing well while you were living down
+  there?" asked her mother.
+
+  "Very well indeed, mother. My life there is better than
+  yours here."
+
+  They sat down for a bit and chatted. Her mother got
+  dinner ready for her, and she dined.
+
+  "What's your husband's name?" asked her mother.
+
+  "Osip," she replied.
+
+  "And how are you to get home?"
+
+  "I shall go to the dike, and call out, 'Osip, Osip, come
+  here!' and he'll come."
+
+  "Lie down, daughter, and rest a bit," said the mother.
+
+  So the daughter lay down and went to sleep. The mother
+  immediately took an axe and sharpened it, and went down to the
+  dike with it. And when she came to the dike, she began calling
+  out,
+
+  "Osip, Osip, come here!"
+
+  No sooner had Osip shown his head than the old woman
+  lifted her axe and chopped it off. And the water in the pond
+  became dark with blood.
+
+  The old woman went home. And when she got home her
+  daughter awoke.
+
+  "Ah! mother," says she, "I'm getting tired of being here; I'll
+  go home."
+
+  "Do sleep here to-night, daughter; perhaps you won't have
+  another chance of being with me."
+
+  So the daughter stayed and spent the night there. In the
+  morning she got up and her mother got breakfast ready for her;
+  she breakfasted, and then she said good-bye to her mother and
+  went away, carrying her little girl in her arms, while her boy
+  followed behind her. She came to the dike, and called out:
+
+  "Osip, Osip, come here!"
+
+  She called and called, but he did not come.
+
+  Then she looked into the water, and there she saw a head
+  floating about. Then she guessed what had happened.
+
+  "Alas! my mother has killed him!" she cried.
+
+  There on the bank she wept and wailed. And then to her
+  girl she cried:
+
+  "Fly about as a wren, henceforth and evermore!"
+
+  And to her boy she cried:
+
+  "Fly about as a nightingale, my boy, henceforth and evermore!"
+
+  "But I," she said, "will fly about as a cuckoo, crying
+  'Cuckoo!' henceforth and evermore!"
+
+      [Stories about serpent-spouses are by no means
+      uncommon, but I can find no parallel to the above so
+      far as the termination is concerned. Benfey quotes or
+      refers to a great number of the transformation tales
+      in which a husband or a wife appears at times in the
+      form of a snake (Panchatantra, i. pp. 254-7 266-7).
+      Sometimes, when a husband of this kind has doffed his
+      serpent's skin, his wife seizes it, and throws it into
+      the fire. Her act generally proves to be to her
+      advantage, as well as to his, but not always. On a
+      story of this kind was doubtless founded the legend
+      handed down to us by Appuleius of Cupid and Psyche.
+      Among its wildest versions are the Albanian
+      "Schlangenkind" (Hahn, No. 100), a very similar
+      Roumanian tale (Ausland 1857, No. 43, quoted by
+      Benfey), the Wallachian Trandafiru (Schott, No. 23, in
+      which the husband is a pumpkin (_Kuerbiss_) by day),
+      and the second of the Servian tales of the
+      Snake-Husband (Vuk Karajich, No. 10).]
+
+The snakes which figure in this weird story, the termination of which
+is so unusually tragic, bear a strong resemblance to the Indian Nagas,
+the inhabitants of Patala or the underground world, serpents which
+take at will the human shape and often mix with mortals. They may,
+also, be related to the mermen and mermaids of the sea-coasts, and to
+the similar beings with which, under various names, tradition peoples
+the lakes, and streams, and fountains of Europe. The South-Russian
+peasantry have from immemorial times maintained a firm belief in the
+existence of water-nymphs, called Rusalkas, closely resembling the
+Nereids of Modern Greece, the female Nixies of the North of Europe,
+and throughout the whole of Russia, at least in outlying districts,
+there still lingers a sort of cultus of certain male water-sprites who
+bear the name of Vodyanies, and who are almost identical with the
+beings who haunt the waters of various countries--such as the German
+_Nix_, the Swedish _Nek_, the Finnish _Naekke_, etc.[142]
+
+In the Skazkas we find frequent mention of beauteous maidens who
+usually live beneath the wave, but who can transform themselves into
+birds and fly wherever they please. We may perhaps be allowed to
+designate them by the well-known name of Swan-Maidens, though they do
+not always assume, together with their plumage-robes, the form of
+swans, but sometimes appear as geese, ducks, spoonbills, or aquatic
+birds of some other species. They are, for the most part, the
+daughters of the Morskoi Tsar, or Water King--a being who plays an
+important part in Slavonic popular fiction. He is of a somewhat
+shadowy form, and his functions are not very clearly defined, for the
+part he usually fills is sometimes allotted to Koshchei or to the
+Snake, but the stories generally represent him as a patriarchal
+monarch, living in subaqueous halls of light and splendor, whence he
+emerges at times to seize a human victim. It is generally a boy whom
+he gets into his power, and who eventually obtains the hand of one of
+his daughters, and escapes with her to the upper world, though not
+without considerable difficulty. Such are, for instance, the leading
+incidents in the following skazka, many features of which closely
+resemble those of various well-known West-European folk-tales.
+
+
+  THE WATER KING AND VASILISSA THE WISE.[143]
+
+  Once upon a time there lived a King and Queen, and the King
+  was very fond of hunting and shooting. Well one day he went
+  out hunting, and he saw an Eaglet sitting on an oak. But just
+  as he was going to shoot at it the Eaglet began to entreat him,
+  crying:--
+
+  "Don't shoot me, my lord King! better take me home with
+  you; some time or other I shall be of service to you."
+
+  The King reflected awhile and said, "How can you be of use
+  to me?" and again he was going to shoot.
+
+  Then the Eaglet said to him a second time:--
+
+  "Don't shoot me, my lord King! better take me home with
+  you; some time or other I shall be of use to you."
+
+  The King thought and thought, but couldn't imagine a bit the
+  more what use the Eaglet could be to him, and so he determined
+  to shoot it. Then a third time the Eaglet exclaimed:--
+
+  "Don't shoot me, my lord King! better take me home with
+  you and feed me for three years. Some time or other I shall be
+  of service to you!"
+
+  The King relented, took the Eaglet home with him, and fed
+  it for a year, for two years. But it ate so much that it devoured
+  all his cattle. The King had neither a cow nor a sheep left. At
+  length the Eagle said:--
+
+  "Now let me go free!"
+
+  The King set it at liberty; the Eagle began trying its wings.
+  But no, it could not fly yet! So it said:--
+
+  "Well, my lord King! you have fed me two years; now,
+  whether you like it or no, feed me for one year more. Even if
+  you have to borrow, at all events feed me; you won't lose by it!"
+
+  Well, this is what the King did. He borrowed cattle from
+  everywhere round about, and he fed the Eagle for the space of a
+  whole year, and afterwards he set it at liberty. The Eagle rose
+  ever so high, flew and flew, then dropt down again to the earth
+  and said:--
+
+  "Now then, my lord King! Take a seat on my back! we'll
+  have a fly together?"
+
+  The King got on the Eagle's back. Away they went flying.
+  Before very long they reached the blue sea. Then the Eagle
+  shook off the King, who fell into the sea, and sank up to his
+  knees. But the Eagle didn't let him drown! it jerked him on to
+  its wing, and asked:--
+
+  "How now, my lord King! were you frightened, perchance?"
+
+  "I was," said the King; "I thought I was going to be drowned
+  outright!"
+
+  Again they flew and flew till they reached another sea. The
+  Eagle shook off the King right in the middle of the sea; the King
+  sank up to his girdle. The Eagle jerked him on to its wing
+  again, and asked:--
+
+  "Well, my lord King, were you frightened, perchance?"
+
+  "I was," he replied, "but all the time I thought, 'Perhaps,
+  please God, the creature will pull me out.'"
+
+  Away they flew again, flew, and arrived at a third sea. The
+  Eagle dropped the King into a great gulf, so that he sank right
+  up to his neck. And the third time the Eagle jerked him on to
+  its wing, and asked:--
+
+  "Well, my lord King! Were you frightened, perchance?"
+
+  "I was," says the King, "but still I said to myself, 'Perhaps
+  it will pull me out.'"
+
+  "Well, my lord King! now you have felt what the fear of
+  death is like! What I have done was in payment of an old score.
+  Do you remember my sitting on an oak, and your wanting to
+  shoot me? Three times you were going to let fly, but I kept on
+  entreating you not to shoot, saying to myself all the time, 'Perhaps
+  he won't kill me; perhaps he'll relent and take me home
+  with him!'"
+
+  Afterwards they flew beyond thrice nine lands: long, long
+  did they fly. Says the Eagle, "Look, my lord King! what is
+  above us and what below us?"
+
+  The King looked.
+
+  "Above us," he says, "is the sky, below us the earth."
+
+  "Look again; what is on the right hand and on the left?"
+
+  "On the right hand is an open plain, on the left stands a
+  house."
+
+  "We will fly thither," said the Eagle; "my youngest sister
+  lives there."
+
+  They went straight into the courtyard. The sister came out
+  to meet them, received her brother cordially, and seated him at
+  the oaken table. But on the King she would not so much as
+  look, but left him outside, loosed greyhounds, and set them at
+  him. The Eagle was exceedingly wroth, jumped up from table,
+  seized the King, and flew away with him again.
+
+  Well, they flew and flew. Presently the Eagle said to the
+  King, "Look round; what is behind us?"
+
+  The King turned his head, looked, and said, "Behind us is a
+  red house."
+
+  "That is the house of my youngest sister--on fire, because
+  she did not receive you, but set greyhounds at you."
+
+  They flew and flew. Again the Eagle asked:
+
+  "Look again, my lord King; what is above us, and what
+  below us?"
+
+  "Above us is the sky, below us the earth."
+
+  "Look and see what is on the right hand and on the left."
+
+  "On the right is the open plain, on the left there stands a
+  house."
+
+  "There lives my second sister; we'll go and pay her a visit."
+
+  They stopped in a wide courtyard. The second sister received
+  her brother cordially, and seated him at the oaken table; but the
+  King was left outside, and she loosed greyhounds, and set them
+  at him. The Eagle flew into a rage, jumped up from table,
+  caught up the King, and flew away farther with him. They flew
+  and flew. Says the Eagle:
+
+  "My lord King! look round! what is behind us?"
+
+  The King looked back.
+
+  "There stands behind us a red house."
+
+  "That's my second sister's house burning!" said the Eagle.
+  "Now we'll fly to where my mother and my eldest sister live."
+
+  Well, they flew there. The Eagle's mother and eldest sister
+  were delighted to see them, and received the King with cordiality
+  and respect.
+
+  "Now, my lord King," said the Eagle, "tarry awhile with
+  us, and afterwards I will give you a ship, and will repay you for
+  all I ate in your house, and then--God speed you home again!"
+
+  So the Eagle gave the King a ship and two coffers--the one
+  red, the other green--and said:
+
+  "Mind now! don't open the coffers until you get home.
+  Then open the red coffer in the back court, and the green coffer
+  in the front court."
+
+  The King took the coffers, parted with the Eagle, and sailed
+  along the blue sea. Presently he came to a certain island, and
+  there his ship stopped. He landed on the shore, and began
+  thinking about the coffers, and wondering whatever there could
+  be in them, and why the Eagle had told him not to open them.
+  He thought and thought, and at last couldn't hold out any more--he
+  longed so awfully to know all about it. So he took the red
+  coffer, set it on the ground, and opened it--and out of it came
+  such a quantity of different kinds of cattle that there was no
+  counting them: the island had barely room enough for them.
+
+  When the King saw that, he became exceedingly sorrowful,
+  and began to weep and therewithal to say:
+
+  "What is there now left for me to do? how shall I get all
+  this cattle back into so little a coffer?"
+
+  Lo! there came out of the water a man--came up to him, and
+  asked:
+
+  "Wherefore are you weeping so bitterly, O lord King?"
+
+  "How can I help weeping!" answers the King. "How
+  shall I be able to get all this great herd into so small a coffer?"
+
+  "If you like, I will set your mind at rest. I will pack up all
+  your cattle for you. But on one condition only. You must give
+  me whatever you have at home that you don't know of."
+
+  The King reflected.
+
+  "Whatever is there at home that I don't know of?" says he.
+  "I fancy I know about everything that's there."
+
+  He reflected, and consented. "Pack them up," says he. "I
+  will give you whatever I have at home that I know nothing
+  about."
+
+  So that man packed away all his cattle for him in the coffer.
+  The King went on board ship and sailed away homewards.
+
+  When he reached home, then only did he learn that a son
+  had been born to him. And he began kissing the child, caressing
+  it, and at the same time bursting into such floods of tears!
+
+  "My lord King!" says the Queen, "tell me wherefore thou
+  droppest bitter tears?"
+
+  "For joy!" he replies.
+
+  He was afraid to tell her the truth, that the Prince would
+  have to be given up. Afterwards he went into the back court,
+  opened the red coffer, and thence issued oxen and cows, sheep
+  and rams; there were multitudes of all sorts of cattle, so that
+  all the sheds and pastures were crammed full. He went into
+  the front court, opened the green coffer, and there appeared a
+  great and glorious garden. What trees there were in it to be
+  sure! The King was so delighted that he forgot all about
+  giving up his son.
+
+  Many years went by. One day the King took it into his
+  head to go for a stroll, and he came to a river. At that moment
+  the same man he had seen before came out of the water, and
+  said:
+
+  "You've pretty soon become forgetful, lord King! Think a
+  little! surely you're in my debt!"
+
+  The King returned home full of grief, and told all the truth to
+  the Queen and the Prince. They all mourned and wept together,
+  but they decided that there was no help for it, the Prince must
+  be given up. So they took him to the mouth of the river and
+  there they left him alone.
+
+  The Prince looked around, saw a footpath, and followed
+  trusting God would lead him somewhere. He walked and walked,
+  and came to a dense forest: in the forest stood a hut, in the
+  hut lived a Baba Yaga.
+
+  "Suppose I go in," thought the Prince, and went in.
+
+  "Good day, Prince!" said the Baba Yaga. "Are you seeking
+  work or shunning work?"
+
+  "Eh, granny! First give me to eat and to drink, and then ask
+  me questions."
+
+  So she gave him food and drink, and the Prince told her
+  everything as to whither he was going and with what purpose.
+
+  Then the Baba Yaga said: "Go, my child, to the sea-shore;
+  there will fly thither twelve spoonbills, which will turn into fair
+  maidens, and begin bathing; do you steal quietly up and lay
+  your hands on the eldest maiden's shift. When you have come
+  to terms with her, go to the Water King, and there will meet
+  you on the way Obedalo and Opivalo, and also Moroz Treskum[144]--take
+  all of them with you; they will do you good service."
+
+  The Prince bid the Yaga farewell, went to the appointed spot
+  on the sea-shore, and hid behind the bushes. Presently twelve
+  spoonbills came flying thither, struck the moist earth, turned
+  into fair maidens, and began to bathe. The Prince stole the
+  eldest one's shift, and sat down behind a bush--didn't budge
+  an inch. The girls finished bathing and came out on the shore:
+  eleven of them put on their shifts, turned into birds, and
+  flew away home. There remained only the eldest, Vasilissa the
+  Wise. She began praying and begging the good youth:
+
+  "Do give me my shift!" she says. "You are on your way
+  to the house of my father, the Water King. When you come
+  I will do you good service."
+
+  So the Prince gave her back her shift, and she immediately
+  turned into a spoonbill and flew away after her companions.
+  The Prince went further on; there met him by the way three
+  heroes--Obedalo, Opivalo, and Moroz Treskum; he took them
+  with him and went on to the Water King's.
+
+  The Water King saw him, and said:
+
+  "Hail, friend! why have you been so long in coming to me?
+  I have grown weary of waiting for you. Now set to work.
+  Here is your first task. Build me in one night a great crystal
+  bridge, so that it shall be ready for use to-morrow. If you don't
+  build it--off goes your head!"
+
+  The Prince went away from the Water King, and burst into a
+  flood of tears. Vasilissa the Wise opened the window of her
+  upper chamber, and asked:
+
+  "What are you crying about, Prince?"
+
+  "Ah! Vasilissa the Wise! how can I help crying? Your
+  father has ordered me to build a crystal bridge in a single night,
+  and I don't even know how to handle an axe."
+
+  "No matter! lie down and sleep; the morning is wiser than
+  the evening."
+
+  She ordered him to sleep, but she herself went out on the
+  steps, and called aloud with a mighty whistling cry. Then from
+  all sides there ran together carpenters and workmen; one
+  levelled the ground, another carried bricks. Soon had they
+  built a crystal bridge, and traced cunning devices on it; and then
+  they dispersed to their homes.
+
+  Early next morning Vasilissa the Wise awoke the Prince:
+
+  "Get up, Prince! the bridge is ready: my father will be
+  coming to inspect it directly."
+
+  Up jumped the Prince, seized a broom, took his place on the
+  bridge, and began sweeping here, clearing up there.
+
+  The Water King bestowed praise upon him:
+
+  "Thanks!" says he. "You've done me one service: now
+  do another. Here is your task. Plant me by to-morrow a
+  garden green--a big and shady one; and there must be birds
+  singing in the garden, and flowers blossoming on the trees, and
+  ripe apples and pears hanging from the boughs."
+
+  Away went the Prince from the Water King, all dissolved in
+  tears. Vasilissa the Wise opened her window and asked:
+
+  "What are you crying for, Prince?"
+
+  "How can I help crying? Your father has ordered me to
+  plant a garden in one night!"
+
+  "That's nothing! lie down and sleep: the morning is wiser
+  than the evening."
+
+  She made him go to sleep, but she herself went out on the
+  steps, called and whistled with a mighty whistle. From every
+  side there ran together gardeners of all sorts, and they planted
+  a garden green, and in the garden birds sang, on the trees
+  flowers blossomed, from the boughs hung ripe apples and pears.
+
+  Early in the morning Vasilissa the Wise awoke the Prince:
+
+  "Get up, Prince! the garden is ready: Papa is coming to
+  see it."
+
+  The Prince immediately snatched up a broom, and was off to
+  the garden. Here he swept a path, there he trained a twig.
+  The Water King praised him and said:
+
+  "Thanks, Prince! You've done me right trusty service. So
+  choose yourself a bride from among my twelve daughters. They
+  are all exactly alike in face, in hair, and in dress. If you can
+  pick out the same one three times running, she shall be your
+  wife; if you fail to do so, I shall have you put to death."
+
+  Vasilissa the Wise knew all about that, so she found time to
+  say to the Prince:
+
+  "The first time I will wave my handkerchief, the second I
+  will be arranging my dress, the third time you will see a fly
+  above my head."
+
+  And so the Prince guessed which was Vasilissa the Wise
+  three times running. And he and she were married, and a wedding
+  feast was got ready.
+
+  Now the Water King had prepared much food of all sorts
+  more than a hundred men could get through. And he ordered
+  his son-in-law to see that everything was eaten. "If anything
+  remains over, the worse for you!" says he.
+
+  "My Father," begs the Prince, "there's an old fellow of
+  mine here; please let him take a snack with us."
+
+  "Let him come!"
+
+  Immediately appeared Obedalo--ate up everything, and
+  wasn't content then! The Water King next set out two score
+  tubs of all kinds of strong drinks, and ordered his son-in-law to
+  see that they were all drained dry.
+
+  "My Father!" begs the Prince again, "there's another old
+  man of mine here, let him, too, drink your health."
+
+  "Let him come!"
+
+  Opivalo appeared, emptied all the forty tubs in a twinkling,
+  and then asked for a drop more by way of stirrup-cup.[145]
+
+  The Water King saw that there was nothing to be gained that
+  way, so he gave orders to prepare a bath-room for the young
+  couple--an iron bath-room--and to heat it as hot as possible.
+  So the iron bath-room was made hot. Twelve loads of firewood
+  were set alight, and the stove and the walls were made
+  red-hot--impossible to come within five versts of it.
+
+  "My Father!" says the Prince; "let an old fellow of ours
+  have a scrub first, just to try the bath-room."
+
+  "Let him do so!"
+
+  Moroz Treskum went into the bath room, blew into one corner,
+  blew in another--in a moment icicles were hanging there.
+  After him the young couple also went into the bath-room, were
+  lathered and scrubbed,[146] and then went home.
+
+  After a time Vasilissa said to the Prince, "Let us get out of
+  my father's power. He's tremendously angry with you; perhaps
+  he'll be doing you some hurt."
+
+  "Let us go," says the Prince.
+
+  Straightway they saddled their horses and galloped off into
+  the open plain. They rode and rode; many an hour went by.
+
+  "Jump down from your horse, Prince, and lay your ear close
+  to the earth," said Vasilissa. "Cannot you hear a sound as of
+  pursuers?"
+
+  The prince bent his ear to the ground, but he could hear nothing.
+  Then Vasilissa herself lighted down from her good
+  steed, laid herself flat on the earth, and said: "Ah Prince! I hear
+  a great noise as of chasing after us." Then she turned the
+  horses into a well, and herself into a bowl, and the Prince into
+  an old, very old man. Up came the pursuers.
+
+  "Heigh, old man!" say they, "haven't you seen a youth and
+  a maiden pass by?"
+
+  "I saw them, my friends! only it was a long while ago. I was
+  a youngster at the time when they rode by."
+
+  The pursuers returned to the Water King.
+
+  "There is no trace of them," they said, "no news: all we
+  saw was an old man beside a well, and a bowl floating on the
+  water."
+
+  "Why did not ye seize them?" cried the Water King, who
+  thereupon put the pursuers to a cruel death, and sent another
+  troop after the Prince and Vasilissa the Wise.
+
+  The fugitives in the mean time had ridden far, far away.
+  Vasilissa the Wise heard the noise made by the fresh set of
+  pursuers, so she turned the Prince into an old priest, and she
+  herself became an ancient church. Scarcely did its walls hold
+  together, covered all over with moss. Presently up came the
+  pursuers.
+
+  "Heigh, old man! haven't you seen a youth and a maiden
+  pass by?"
+
+  "I saw them, my own! only it was long, ever so long ago. I
+  was a young man when they rode by. It was just while I was
+  building this church."
+
+  So the second set of pursuers returned to the Water King,
+  saying:
+
+  "There is neither trace nor news of them, your Royal Majesty.
+  All that we saw was an old priest and an ancient church."
+
+  "Why did not ye seize them?" cried the Water King louder
+  than before, and having put the pursuers to a cruel death, he
+  galloped off himself in pursuit of the Prince and Vasilissa the
+  Wise. This time Vasilissa turned the horses into a river of
+  honey with _kissel_[147] banks, and changed the Prince into a Drake
+  and herself into a grey duck. The Water King flung himself
+  on the _kissel_ and honey-water, and ate and ate, and drank and
+  drank until he burst! And so he gave up the ghost.
+
+  The Prince and Vasilissa rode on, and at length they drew
+  nigh to the home of the Prince's parents. Then said Vasilissa,
+
+  "Go on in front, Prince, and report your arrival to your
+  father and mother. But I will wait for you here by the wayside.
+  Only remember these words of mine: kiss everyone
+  else, only don't kiss your sister; if you do, you will forget me."
+
+  The Prince reached home, began saluting every one, kissed
+  his sister too--and no sooner had he kissed her than from that
+  very moment he forgot all about his wife, just as if she had
+  never entered into his mind.
+
+  Three days did Vasilissa the Wise await him. On the fourth
+  day she clad herself like a beggar, went into the capital, and
+  took up her quarters in an old woman's house. But the Prince
+  was preparing to marry a rich Princess, and orders were given
+  to proclaim throughout the kingdom, that all Christian people
+  were to come to congratulate the bride and bridegroom, each
+  one bringing a wheaten pie as a present. Well, the old woman
+  with whom Vasilissa lodged, prepared, like everyone else, to
+  sift flour and make a pie.
+
+  "Why are you making a pie, granny?" asked Vasilissa.
+
+  "Is it why? you evidently don't know then. Our King is
+  giving his son in marriage to a rich princess: one must go to
+  the palace to serve up the dinner to the young couple."
+
+  "Come now! I, too, will bake a pie and take it to the
+  palace; may be the King will make me some present."
+
+  "Bake away in God's name!" said the old woman.
+
+  Vasilissa took flour, kneaded dough, and made a pie. And
+  inside it she put some curds and a pair of live doves.
+
+  Well, the old woman and Vasilissa the Wise reached the
+  palace just at dinner-time. There a feast was in progress, one
+  fit for all the world to see. Vasilissa's pie was set on the table,
+  but no sooner was it cut in two than out of it flew the two
+  doves. The hen bird seized a piece of curd, and her mate said
+  to her:
+
+  "Give me some curds, too, Dovey!"
+
+  "No I won't," replied the other dove: "else you'd forget
+  me, as the Prince has forgotten his Vasilissa the Wise."
+
+  Then the Prince remembered about his wife. He jumped
+  up from table, caught her by her white hands, and seated her
+  close by his side. From that time forward they lived together
+  in all happiness and prosperity.
+
+      [With this story may be compared a multitude of tales
+      in very many languages. In German for instance, "Der
+      Koenig vom goldenen Berg," (Grimm, _KM._ No. 92. See
+      also Nos. 51, 56, 113, 181, and the opening of No.
+      31), "Der Koenigssohn und die Teufelstochter,"
+      (Haltrich, No. 26), and "Gruenus Kravalle" (Wolf's
+      "Deutsche Hausmaerchen," No. 29)--the Norse
+      "Mastermaid," (Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 46, Dasent, No.
+      11) and "The Three Princesses of Whiteland," (A. and
+      M. No. 9, Dasent, No. 26)--the Lithuanian story
+      (Schleicher, No. 26, p. 75) in which a "field-devil"
+      exacts from a farmer the promise of a child--the
+      Wallachian stories (Schott, Nos. 2 and 15) in which a
+      devil obtains a like promise from a woodcutter and a
+      fisherman--the Modern Greek (Hahn, Nos. 4, 5, 54, and
+      68) in which a child is promised to a Dervish, a
+      _Drakos_, the Devil, and a Demon--and the Gaelic tales
+      of "The Battle of the Birds" and "The Sea-maiden,"
+      (Campbell, Nos. 2 and 4) in the former of which the
+      child is promised to a Giant, in the latter to a
+      Mermaid. The likeness between the Russian story and
+      the "Battle of the Birds" is very striking. References
+      to a great many other similar tales will be found in
+      Grimm (_KM._ iii. pp. 96-7, and 168-9). The group to
+      which all these stories belong is linked with a set of
+      tales about a father who apprentices his son to a
+      wizard, sometimes to the Devil, from whom the youth
+      escapes with great difficulty. The principal Russian
+      representative of the second set is called "Eerie
+      Art," "Khitraya Nauka," (Afanasief, v. No. 22, vi. No.
+      45, viii. p. 339).
+
+      To the hero's adventures while with the Water King,
+      and while escaping from him, an important parallel is
+      offered by the end of the already mentioned (at p. 92)
+      Indian story of Sringabhuja. That prince asks
+      Agnisikha, the Rakshasa whom, in his crane-form, he
+      has wounded, to bestow upon him the hand of his
+      daughter--the maiden who had met him on his arrival at
+      the Rakshasa's palace. The demon pretends to consent,
+      but only on condition that the prince is able to pick
+      out his love from among her numerous sisters. This
+      Sringabhuja is able to do in spite of all the demon's
+      daughters being exactly alike, as she has told him
+      beforehand she will wear her pearls on her brow
+      instead of round her neck. Her father will not remark
+      the change, she says, for being of the demon race, he
+      is not very sharp witted. The Rakshasa next sets the
+      prince two of the usual tasks. He is to plough a great
+      field, and sow a hundred bushels of corn. When this,
+      by the daughter's help, is done, he is told to gather
+      up the seed again. This also the demon's daughter does
+      for him, sending to his aid a countless swarm of ants.
+      Lastly he is commanded to visit the demon's brother
+      and invite him to the wedding. He does so, and is
+      pursued by the invited guest, from whom he escapes
+      only by throwing behind him earth, water, thorns, and
+      lastly fire, with all of which he has been provided by
+      his love. They produce corresponding obstacles which
+      enable him to get away from the uncle of his bride.
+      The demon now believes that his proposed son-in-law
+      must be a god in disguise, so he gives his consent to
+      the marriage. All goes well for a time, but at last
+      the prince wants to go home, so he and his wife fly
+      from her father's palace. Agnisikha pursues them. She
+      makes her husband invisible, while she assumes the
+      form of a woodman. Up comes her angry sire, and asks
+      for news of the fugitives. She replies she has seen
+      none, her eyes being full of tears caused by the death
+      of the Rakshasa prince Agnisikha. The slow-witted
+      demon immediately flies home to find out whether he is
+      really dead. Discovering that he is not, he renews the
+      pursuit. Again his daughter renders her husband
+      invisible, and assumes the form of a messenger
+      carrying a letter. When her father arrives and repeats
+      his question, she says she has seen no one: she is
+      going with a letter to his brother from Agnisikha, who
+      has just been mortally wounded. Back again home flies
+      the demon in great distress, anxious to find out
+      whether he has really been wounded to death or not.
+      After settling this question, he leaves his daughter
+      and her husband in peace. See Professor Brockhaus in
+      the "Berichte der phil. hist. Classe der K. Saechs.
+      Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften," 1861, pp. 226-9, and
+      Professor Wilson, "Essays, &c.," ii. p. 136-8. Cf. R.
+      Koehler in "Orient und Occident," ii. pp. 107-14.]
+
+In another story a king is out hunting and becomes thirsty. Seeing a
+spring near at hand, he bends down and is just going to lap up its
+water, when the Tsar-Medved, a King-Bear, seizes him by the beard. The
+king is unable to free himself from his grasp, and is obliged to
+promise as his ransom "that which he knows not of at home," which
+turns out to be a couple of children--a boy and a girl--who have been
+born during his absence. In vain does he attempt to save the twins
+from their impending fate, by concealing them in a secret abode
+constructed for that purpose underground. In the course of time the
+King-Bear arrives to claim them, finds out their hiding-place, digs
+them up, and carries them off on his back to a distant region where no
+man lives. During his absence they attempt to escape being carried
+through the air on the back of a friendly falcon, but the King-Bear
+sees them, "strikes his head against the earth, and burns the falcon's
+wings." The twins fall to the ground, and are carried by the King-Bear
+to his home amid inaccessible mountains. There they make a second
+attempt at escape, trusting this time to an eagle's aid; but it meets
+with exactly the same fate as their first trial. At last they are
+rescued by a bull-calf, which succeeds in baffling all the King-Bear's
+efforts to recover them. At the end of their perilous journey the
+bull-calf tells the young prince to cut its throat, and burn its
+carcase. He unwillingly consents, and from its ashes spring a horse, a
+dog, and an apple-tree, all of which play important parts in the next
+act of the drama.[148]
+
+In one of the variants of the Water King story,[149] the seizer of
+the drinking kings' beard is not called the _Morskoi Tsar_ but _Chudo
+Morskoe_, a Water Chudo, whose name recalls to mind the Chudo Yudo we
+have already met with.[150] The Prince who is obliged, in consequence
+of his father's promise, to surrender himself to the Water Giant,
+falls in love with a maiden whom he finds in that potentate's palace,
+and who is an enchantress whom the Chudo has stolen. She turns herself
+into a ring, which he carries about with him, and eventually, after
+his escape from the Chudo, she becomes his bride.
+
+In another story,[151] the being who obtains a child from one of the
+incautious fathers of the Jephthah type who abound in popular fiction,
+is of a very singular nature. A merchant is flying across a river on
+the back of an eagle, when he drops a magic "snuff-box," which had
+been entrusted to his charge by that bird, and it disappears beneath
+the waters. At the eagle's command, the crayfish search for it, and
+bring back word that it is lying "on the knees of an Idol." The eagle
+summons the Idol, and demands the snuff box. Thereupon the Idol says
+to the merchant--"Give me what you do not know of at home?" The
+merchant agrees and the Idol gives him back his snuff-box.
+
+In some of the variants of the story, the influence of ideas
+connected with Christianity makes itself apparent in the names given
+to the actors. Thus in the "Moujik and Anastasia Adovna,"[152] it is
+no longer a king of the waters, but a devil's imp,[153] who bargains
+with the thirsting father for his child, and the swan-maiden whose
+shift the devoted youth steals bears the name of Adovna, the daughter
+of Ad or Hades. In "The Youth,"[154] a moujik, who has lost his way in
+a forest makes the rash promise to a man who enables him to cross a
+great river; "and that man (says the story) was a devil."[155] We
+shall meet with other instances further on of parents whose "hasty
+words" condemn their children to captivity among evil spirits. In one
+of the stories of this class,[156] the father is a hunter who is
+perishing with cold one night, and who makes the usual promise as the
+condition of his being allowed to warm himself at a fire guarded by a
+devil. Being in consequence of this deprived of a son, he becomes very
+sad, and drinks himself to death. "The priest will not bury his sinful
+body, so it is thrust into a hole at a crossway," and he falls into
+the power of "that very same devil," who turns him into a horse, and
+uses him as a beast of burden. At last he is released by his son, who
+has forced the devil to free him after several adventures--one of them
+being a fight with the evil spirit in the shape of a three-headed
+snake.
+
+In the Hindoo story of "Brave Seventee Bai,"[157] that heroine kills
+"a very large Cobra" which comes out of a lake. Touching the waters
+with a magic diamond taken from the snake, she sees them roll back "in
+a wall on either hand," between which she passes into a splendid
+garden. In it she finds a lovely girl who proves to be the Cobra's
+daughter and who is delighted to hear of her serpent-father's death.
+
+Demon haunted waters, which prove fatal to mortals who bathe in or
+drink of them, often occur in oriental fiction. In one of the Indian
+stories, for instance,[158] a king is induced to order his escort to
+bathe in a lake which is the abode of a Rakshasa or demon. They leap
+into the water simultaneously, and are all devoured by the terrible
+man-eater. From the assaults of such a Rakshasa as this it was that
+Buddha, who was at the time a monkey, preserved himself and 80,000 of
+his brother monkeys, by suggesting that they should drink from the
+tank in which the demon lay in wait for them, "through reeds
+previously made completely hollow by their breath."[159]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+From these male personifications of evil--from the Snake, Koshchei,
+and the Water King--we will now turn to their corresponding female
+forms. By far the most important beings of the latter class are those
+malevolent enchantresses who form two closely related branches of the
+same family. Like their sisters all over the world, they are, as a
+general rule, old, hideous, and hateful. They possess all kinds of
+supernatural powers, but their wits are often dull. They wage constant
+war with mankind, but the heroes of storyland find them as easily
+overcome as the males of their family. In their general character they
+bear a strong resemblance to the Giantesses, Lamias, female Trolls,
+Ogresses, Dragonesses, &c., of Europe, but in some of their traits
+they differ from those well-known beings, and therefore they are
+worthy of a detailed notice.
+
+In several of the stories which have already been quoted, a prominent
+part is played by the Baba Yaga, a female fiend whose name has given
+rise to much philological discussion of a somewhat unsatisfactory
+nature.[160] Her appearance is that of a tall, gaunt hag, with
+dishevelled hair. Sometimes she is seen lying stretched out from one
+corner to the other of a miserable hut, through the ceiling of which
+passes her long iron nose; the hut is supported "by fowl's legs," and
+stands at the edge of a forest towards which its entrance looks. When
+the proper words are addressed to it, the hut revolves upon its
+slender supports, so as to turn its back instead of its front to the
+forest. Sometimes, as in the next story, the Baba Yaga appears as the
+mistress of a mansion, which stands in a courtyard enclosed by a fence
+made of dead men's bones. When she goes abroad she rides in a mortar,
+which she urges on with a pestle, while she sweeps away the traces of
+her flight with a broom. She is closely connected with the Snake in
+different forms; in many stories, indeed, the leading part has been
+ascribed by one narrator to a Snake and by another to a Baba Yaga. She
+possesses the usual magic apparatus by which enchantresses work their
+wonders; the Day and the Night (according to the following story) are
+among her servants, the entire animal world lies at her disposal. On
+the whole she is the most prominent among the strange figures with
+which the Skazkas make us acquainted. Of the stories which especially
+relate to her the following may be taken as a fair specimen.
+
+
+  THE BABA YAGA.[161]
+
+  Once upon a time there was an old couple. The husband lost
+  his wife and married again. But he had a daughter by the first
+  marriage, a young girl, and she found no favor in the eyes of
+  her evil stepmother, who used to beat her, and consider how she
+  could get her killed outright. One day the father went away
+  somewhere or other, so the stepmother said to the girl, "Go to
+  your aunt, my sister, and ask her for a needle and thread to make
+  you a shift."
+
+  Now that aunt was a Baba Yaga. Well, the girl was no fool,
+  so she went to a real aunt of hers first, and says she:
+
+  "Good morning, auntie!"
+
+  "Good morning, my dear! what have you come for?"
+
+  "Mother has sent me to her sister, to ask for a needle and
+  thread to make me a shift."
+
+  Then her aunt instructed her what to do. "There is a birch-tree
+  there, niece, which would hit you in the eye--you must tie
+  a ribbon round it; there are doors which would creak and bang--you
+  must pour oil on their hinges; there are dogs which would
+  tear you in pieces--you must throw them these rolls; there is a
+  cat which would scratch your eyes out--you must give it a piece
+  of bacon."
+
+  So the girl went away, and walked and walked, till she came
+  to the place. There stood a hut, and in it sat weaving the Baba
+  Yaga, the Bony-shanks.
+
+  "Good morning, auntie," says the girl.
+
+  "Good morning, my dear," replies the Baba Yaga.
+
+  "Mother has sent me to ask you for a needle and thread to
+  make me a shift."
+
+  "Very well; sit down and weave a little in the meantime."
+
+  So the girl sat down behind the loom, and the Baba Yaga
+  went outside, and said to her servant-maid:
+
+  "Go and heat the bath, and get my niece washed; and mind
+  you look sharp after her. I want to breakfast off her."
+
+  Well, the girl sat there in such a fright that she was as much
+  dead as alive. Presently she spoke imploringly to the servant-maid,
+  saying:
+
+  "Kinswoman dear, do please wet the firewood instead of
+  making it burn; and fetch the water for the bath in a sieve."
+  And she made her a present of a handkerchief.
+
+  The Baba Yaga waited awhile; then she came to the window
+  and asked:
+
+  "Are you weaving, niece? are you weaving, my dear?"
+
+  "Oh yes, dear aunt, I'm weaving." So the Baba Yaga went
+  away again, and the girl gave the Cat a piece of bacon, and
+  asked:
+
+  "Is there no way of escaping from here?"
+
+  "Here's a comb for you and a towel," said the Cat; "take
+  them, and be off. The Baba Yaga will pursue you, but you must
+  lay your ear on the ground, and when you hear that she is close
+  at hand, first of all throw down the towel. It will become a wide,
+  wide river. And if the Baba Yaga gets across the river, and
+  tries to catch you, then you must lay your ear on the ground
+  again, and when you hear that she is close at hand, throw down
+  the comb. It will become a dense, dense forest; through that
+  she won't be able to force her way anyhow."
+
+  The girl took the towel and the comb and fled. The dogs
+  would have rent her, but she threw them the rolls, and they let
+  her go by; the doors would have begun to bang, but she poured
+  oil on their hinges, and they let her pass through; the birch-tree
+  would have poked her eyes out, but she tied the ribbon around
+  it, and it let her pass on. And the Cat sat down to the loom,
+  and worked away; muddled everything about, if it didn't do
+  much weaving. Up came the Baba Yaga to the window, and
+  asked:
+
+  "Are you weaving, niece? are you weaving, my dear?"
+
+  "I'm weaving, dear aunt, I'm weaving," gruffly replied the
+  Cat.
+
+  The Baba Yaga rushed into the hut, saw that the girl was
+  gone, and took to beating the Cat, and abusing it for not having
+  scratched the girl's eyes out. "Long as I've served you," said
+  the Cat, "you've never given me so much as a bone; but she
+  gave me bacon." Then the Baba Yaga pounced upon the dogs,
+  on the doors, on the birch-tree, and on the servant-maid, and set
+  to work to abuse them all, and to knock them about. Then the
+  dogs said to her, "Long as we've served you, you've never so
+  much as pitched us a burnt crust; but she gave us rolls to eat."
+  And the doors said, "Long as we've served you, you've never
+  poured even a drop of water on our hinges; but she poured oil
+  on us." The birch-tree said, "Long as I've served you, you've
+  never tied a single thread round me; but she fastened a ribbon
+  around me." And the servant-maid said, "Long as I've served
+  you, you've never given me so much as a rag; but she gave me
+  a handkerchief."
+
+  The Baba Yaga, bony of limb, quickly jumped into her
+  mortar, sent it flying along with the pestle, sweeping away the
+  while all traces of its flight with a broom, and set off in pursuit
+  of the girl. Then the girl put her ear to the ground, and when
+  she heard that the Baba Yaga was chasing her, and was now
+  close at hand, she flung down the towel. And it became a wide,
+  such a wide river! Up came the Baba Yaga to the river, and
+  gnashed her teeth with spite; then she went home for her oxen,
+  and drove them to the river. The oxen drank up every drop of
+  the river, and then the Baba Yaga began the pursuit anew.
+  But the girl put her ear to the ground again, and when she heard
+  that the Baba Yaga was near, she flung down the comb, and
+  instantly a forest sprang up, such an awfully thick one! The
+  Baba Yaga began gnawing away at it, but however hard she
+  worked, she couldn't gnaw her way through it, so she had to go
+  back again.
+
+  But by this time the girl's father had returned home, and he
+  asked:
+
+  "Where's my daughter?"
+
+  "She's gone to her aunt's," replied her stepmother.
+
+  Soon afterwards the girl herself came running home.
+
+  "Where have you been?" asked her father.
+
+  "Ah, father!" she said, "mother sent me to aunt's to ask
+  for a needle and thread to make me a shift. But aunt's a Baba
+  Yaga, and she wanted to eat me!"
+
+  "And how did you get away, daughter?"
+
+  "Why like this," said the girl, and explained the whole
+  matter. As soon as her father had heard all about it, he became
+  wroth with his wife, and shot her. But he and his daughter
+  lived on and flourished, and everything went well with them.
+
+In one of the numerous variants of this story[162] the heroine is sent
+by her husband's mother to the Baba Yaga's, and the advice which saves
+her comes from her husband. The Baba Yaga goes into another room "in
+order to sharpen her teeth," and while she is engaged in that
+operation the girl escapes, having previously--by the advice of the
+Cat, to which she had given a lump of butter--spat under the
+threshold. The spittle answers for her in her absence, behaving as do,
+in other folk-tales, drops of blood, or rags dipped in blood, or
+apples, or eggs, or beans, or stone images, or wooden puppets.[163]
+
+The magic comb and towel, by the aid of which the girl effects her
+escape, constantly figure in Skazkas of this class, and always produce
+the required effect. A brush, also, is frequently introduced, from
+each bristle of which springs up a wood. In one story, however, the
+brush gives rise to mountains, and a _golik_, or bath-room whisk,
+turns into a forest. The towel is used, also, for the purpose of
+constructing or annihilating a bridge. Similar instruments are found
+in the folk-tales of every land, whether they appear as the brush,
+comb, and mirror of the German water-sprite;[164] or the rod, stone,
+and pitcher of water of the Norse Troll;[165] or the knife, comb, and
+handful of salt which, in the Modern Greek story, save Asterinos and
+Pulja from their fiendish mother;[166] or the twig, the stone, and the
+bladder of water, found in the ear of the filly, which saves her
+master from the Gaelic giant;[167] or the brush, comb, and egg, the
+last of which produces a frozen lake with "mirror-smooth" surface,
+whereon the pursuing Old Prussian witch slips and breaks her
+neck;[168] or the wand which causes a river to flow and a mountain to
+rise between the youth who waves it and the "wicked old Rakshasa" who
+chases him in the Deccan story;[169] or the handful of earth, cup of
+water, and dry sticks and match, which impede and finally destroy the
+Rakshasa in the almost identical episode of Somadeva's tale of "The
+Prince of Varddhamana."[170]
+
+In each instance they appear to typify the influence which the
+supernatural beings to whom they belonged were supposed to exercise
+over the elements. It has been thought strange that such stress should
+be laid on the employment of certain toilet-articles, to the use of
+which the heroes of folk-tales do not appear to have been greatly
+addicted. But it is evident that like produces like in the
+transformation in question. In the oldest form of the story, the
+Sanskrit, a handful of earth turns into a mountain, a cup of water
+into a river. Now, metaphorically speaking, a brush may be taken as a
+miniature wood; the common use of the term brushwood is a proof of the
+general acceptance of the metaphor. A comb does not at first sight
+appear to resemble a mountain, but its indented outline may have
+struck the fancy of many primitive peoples as being a likeness to a
+serrated mountain range. Thence comes it that in German _Kamm_ means
+not only a comb but also (like the Spanish _Sierra_) a mountain ridge
+or crest.[171]
+
+In one of the numerous stories[172] about the Baba Yaga, four heroes
+are wandering about the world together; when they come to a dense
+forest in which a small izba, or hut, is twirling round on "a fowl's
+leg." Ivan, the youngest of the party, utters the magical formula
+"Izbushka, Izbushka! stand with back to the forest and front towards
+us," and "the hut faces towards them, its doors and windows open of
+their own accord." The heroes enter and find it empty. One of the
+party then remains indoors, while the rest go out to the chase. The
+hero who is left alone prepares a meal, and then, "after washing his
+head, sits down by the window to comb his hair." Suddenly a stone is
+lifted, and from under it appears a Baba Yaga, driving in her mortar,
+with a dog yelping at her heels. She enters the hut and, after some
+short parley, seizes her pestle, and begins beating the hero with it
+until he falls prostrate. Then she cuts a strip out of his back, eats
+up the whole of the viands he has prepared for his companions, and
+disappears. After a time the beaten hero recovers his senses, "ties up
+his head with a handkerchief," and sits groaning until his comrades
+return. Then he makes some excuse for not having got any supper ready
+for them, but says nothing about what has really happened to him.
+
+On the next day the second hero is treated in the same manner by the
+Baba Yaga, and on the day after that the third undergoes a similar
+humiliation. But on the fourth day it falls to the lot of the young
+Ivan to stay in the hut alone. The Baba Yaga appears as usual, and
+begins thumping him with her pestle; but he snatches it from her,
+beats her almost to death with it, cuts three strips out of her back,
+and then locks her up in a closet. When his comrades return, they are
+surprised to find him unhurt, and a meal prepared for them, but they
+ask no questions. After supper they all take a bath, and then Ivan
+remarks that each of his companions has had a strip cut out of his
+back. This leads to a full confession, on hearing which Ivan "runs to
+the closet, takes those strips out of the Baba Yaga, and applies them
+to their backs," which immediately become cured. He then hangs up the
+Baba Yaga by a cord tied to one foot, at which cord all the party
+shoot. At length it is severed, and she drops. As soon as she touches
+the ground, she runs to the stone from under which she had appeared,
+lifts it, and disappears.[173]
+
+The rest of the story is very similar to that of "Norka," which has
+already been given, only instead of the beast of that name we have the
+Baba Yaga, whom Ivan finds asleep, with a magic sword at her head.
+Following the advice of her daughters, three fair maidens whom he
+meets in her palace, Ivan does not attempt to touch the magic sword
+while she sleeps. But he awakes her gently, and offers her two golden
+apples on a silver dish. She lifts her head and opens her mouth,
+whereupon he seizes the sword and cuts her head off. As is usual in
+the stories of this class, his comrades, after hoisting the maidens
+aloft, cut the cord and let him fall back into the abyss. But he
+escapes, and eventually "he slays all the three heroes, and flings
+their bodies on the plain for wild beasts to devour." This Skazka is
+one of the many versions of a widespread tale, which tells how the
+youngest of a party, usually consisting of three persons, overcomes
+some supernatural foe, generally a dwarf, who had been more than a
+match for his companions. The most important of these versions is the
+Lithuanian story of the carpenter who overcomes a Laume--a being in
+many respects akin to the Baba Yaga--who has proved too strong for his
+comrades, Perkun and the Devil.[174]
+
+The practice of cutting strips from an enemy's back is frequently
+referred to in the Skazkas--much more frequently than in the German
+and Norse stories. It is not often that such strips are turned to good
+account, but in the Skazka with which we have just been dealing, Ivan
+finding the rope by which he is being lowered into the abyss too
+short, ties to the end of it the three strips he has cut from the Baba
+Yaga's back, and so makes it sufficiently long. They are often exacted
+as the penalty of losing a wager, as well in the Skazkas as
+elsewhere.[175] In a West-Slavonian story about a wager of this kind,
+the winner cuts off the loser's nose.[176] In the Gaelic stories it is
+not an uncommon incident for a man to have "a strip of skin cut off
+him from his crown to his sole."[177]
+
+The Baba Yaga generally kills people in order to eat them. Her house
+is fenced about with the bones of the men whose flesh she has
+devoured; in one story she offers a human arm, by way of a meal, to a
+girl who visits her. But she is also represented in one of the
+stories[178] as petrifying her victims. This trait connects her with
+Medusa, and the three sister Baba Yagas with the three Gorgones. The
+Russian Gorgo's method of petrifaction is singular. In the story
+referred to, Ivan Devich (Ivan the servant-maid's son) meets a Baba
+Yaga, who plucks one of her hairs, gives it to him, and says, "Tie
+three knots and then blow." He does so, and both he and his horse turn
+into stone. The Baba Yaga places them in her mortar, pounds them to
+bits, and buries their remains under a stone. A little later comes
+Ivan Devich's comrade, Prince Ivan. Him also the Yaga attempts to
+destroy, but he feigns ignorance, and persuades her to show him how to
+tie knots and to blow. The result is that she becomes petrified
+herself. Prince Ivan puts her in her own mortar, and proceeds to pound
+her therein, until she tells him where the fragments of his comrade
+are, and what he must do to restore them to life.
+
+The Baba Yaga usually lives by herself, but sometimes she appears in
+the character of the house-mother. One of the Skazkas[179] relates how
+a certain old couple, who had no children, were advised to get a
+number of eggs from the village--one from each house--and to place
+them under a sitting hen. From the forty-one eggs thus obtained and
+treated are born as many boys, all but one of whom develop into strong
+men, but the forty-first long remains a poor weak creature, a kind of
+"Hop-o'-my-thumb." They all set forth to seek brides, and eventually
+marry the forty-one daughters of a Baba Yaga. On the wedding night she
+intends to kill her sons-in-law; but they, acting on the advice of him
+who had been the weakling of their party, but who has become a mighty
+hero, exchange clothes with their brides before "lying down to sleep."
+Accordingly the Baba Yaga's "trusty servants" cut off the heads of her
+daughters instead of those of her sons-in-law. Those youths arise,
+stick the heads of their brides on iron spikes all round the house,
+and gallop away. When the Baba Yaga awakes in the morning, looks out
+of the window, and sees her daughters' heads on their spikes, she
+flies into a passion, calls for "her burning shield," sets off in
+pursuit of her sons-in-law, and "begins burning up everything on all
+four sides with her shield." A magic, bridge-creating kerchief,
+however, enables the fugitives to escape from their irritated
+mother-in-law.
+
+In one story[180] the heroine is ordered to swing the cradle in which
+reposes a Baba Yaga's infant son, whom she is ordered to address in
+terms of respect when she sings him lullabies; in others she is told
+to wash a Baba Yaga's many children, whose appearance is usually
+unprepossessing. One girl, for instance, is ordered by a Baba Yaga to
+heat the bath, but the fuel given her for the purpose turns out to be
+dead men's bones. Having got over this difficulty, thanks to the
+advice of a sparrow which tells her where to look for wood, she is
+sent to fetch water in a sieve. Again the sparrow comes to her rescue
+telling her to line the sieve with clay. Then she is told to wait upon
+the Baba Yaga's children in the bath-room. She enters it, and
+presently in come "worms, frogs, rats, and all sorts of insects."
+These, which are the Baba Yaga's children, she soaps over and
+otherwise treats in the approved Russian-bath style, and afterwards
+she does as much for their mother. The Baba Yaga is highly pleased,
+calls for a "samovar" (or urn), and invites her young bath-woman to
+drink tea with her. And finally she sends her home with a blue coffer,
+which turns out to be full of money. This present excites the cupidity
+of her stepmother, who sends her own daughter to the Baba Yaga's,
+hoping that she will bring back a similar treasure. The Baba Yaga
+gives the same orders as before to the new-comer, but that conceited
+young person fails to carry them out. She cannot make the bones burn,
+nor the sieve hold water, but when the sparrow offers its advice she
+only boxes its ears. And when the "rats, frogs, and all manner of
+vermin," enter the bath-room, "she crushed half of them to death,"
+says the story; "the rest ran home, and complained about her to their
+mother." And so the Baba Yaga, when she dismisses her, gives her a red
+coffer instead of a blue one. Out of it, when it is opened, issues
+fire, which consumes both her and her mother.[181]
+
+Similar to this story in many of its features as well as in its
+catastrophe is one of the most spirited and dramatic of all the
+Skazkas, that of--
+
+
+  VASILISSA THE FAIR.[182]
+
+  In a certain kingdom there lived a merchant. Twelve years
+  did he live as a married man, but he had only one child, Vasilissa
+  the Fair. When her mother died, the girl was eight years
+  old. And on her deathbed the merchant's wife called her little
+  daughter to her, took out from under the bed-clothes a doll,
+  gave it to her, and said, "Listen, Vasilissa, dear; remember
+  and obey these last words of mine. I am going to die. And
+  now, together with my parental blessing, I bequeath to you this
+  doll. Keep it always by you, and never show it to anybody; and
+  whenever any misfortune comes upon you, give the doll food,
+  and ask its advice. When it has fed, it will tell you a cure for
+  your troubles." Then the mother kissed her child and died.
+
+  After his wife's death, the merchant mourned for her a befitting
+  time, and then began to consider about marrying again. He
+  was a man of means. It wasn't a question with him of girls (with
+  dowries); more than all others, a certain widow took his fancy.
+  She was middle-aged, and had a couple of daughters of her own
+  just about the same age as Vasilissa. She must needs be both
+  a good housekeeper and an experienced mother.
+
+  Well, the merchant married the widow, but he had deceived
+  himself, for he did not find in her a kind mother for his
+  Vasilissa. Vasilissa was the prettiest girl[183] in all the
+  village; but her stepmother and stepsisters were jealous of her
+  beauty, and tormented her with every possible sort of toil, in
+  order that she might grow thin from over-work, and be tanned by
+  the sun and the wind. Her life was made a burden to her! Vasilissa
+  bore everything with resignation, and every day grew plumper and
+  prettier, while the stepmother and her daughters lost flesh and
+  fell off in appearance from the effects of their own spite,
+  notwithstanding that they always sat with folded hands like fine
+  ladies.
+
+  But how did that come about? Why, it was her doll that
+  helped Vasilissa. If it hadn't been for it, however could the
+  girl have got through all her work? And therefore it was that
+  Vasilissa would never eat all her share of a meal, but always
+  kept the most delicate morsel for her doll; and at night, when
+  all were at rest, she would shut herself up in the narrow chamber[184]
+  in which she slept, and feast her doll, saying[185] the while:
+
+  "There, dolly, feed; help me in my need! I live in my
+  father's house, but never know what pleasure is; my evil stepmother
+  tries to drive me out of the white world; teach me how
+  to keep alive, and what I ought to do."
+
+  Then the doll would eat, and afterwards give her advice, and
+  comfort her in her sorrow, and next day it would do all Vasilissa's
+  work for her. She had only to take her ease in a shady place
+  and pluck flowers, and yet all her work was done in good time;
+  the beds were weeded, and the pails were filled, and the cabbages
+  were watered, and the stove was heated. Moreover, the
+  doll showed Vasilissa herbs which prevented her from getting
+  sunburnt. Happily did she and her doll live together.
+
+  Several years went by. Vasilissa grew up and became old
+  enough to be married.[186] All the marriageable young men in the
+  town sent to make an offer to Vasilissa; at her stepmother's
+  daughters not a soul would so much as look. Her stepmother
+  grew even more savage than before, and replied to every
+  suitor--
+
+  "We won't let the younger marry before her elders."
+
+  And after the suitors had been packed off, she used to beat
+  Vasilissa by way of wreaking her spite.
+
+  Well, it happened one day that the merchant had to go
+  away from home on business for a long time. Thereupon the
+  stepmother went to live in another house; and near that house
+  was a dense forest, and in a clearing in that forest there stood
+  a hut,[187] and in the hut there lived a Baba Yaga. She never let
+  any one come near her dwelling, and she ate up people like so
+  many chickens.
+
+  Having moved into the new abode, the merchant's wife kept
+  sending her hated Vasilissa into the forest on one pretence or
+  another. But the girl always got home safe and sound; the
+  doll used to show her the way, and never let her go near the
+  Baba Yaga's dwelling.
+
+  The autumn season arrived. One evening the stepmother
+  gave out their work to the three girls; one she set to lace-making,
+  another to knitting socks, and the third, Vasilissa, to weaving;
+  and each of them had her allotted amount to do. By-and-by
+  she put out the lights in the house, leaving only one candle
+  alight where the girls were working, and then she went to bed.
+  The girls worked and worked. Presently the candle wanted
+  snuffing; one of the stepdaughters took the snuffers, as if she
+  were going to clear the wick, but instead of doing so, in obedience
+  to her mother's orders, she snuffed the candle out, pretending
+  to do so by accident.
+
+  "What shall we do now?" said the girls. "There isn't a
+  spark of fire in the house, and our tasks are not yet done. We
+  must go to the Baba Yaga's for a light!"
+
+  "My pins give me light enough," said the one who was making
+  lace. "I shan't go."
+
+  "And I shan't go, either," said the one who was knitting
+  socks. "My knitting-needles give me light enough."
+
+  "Vasilissa, you must go for the light," they both cried out
+  together; "be off to the Baba Yaga's!"
+
+  And they pushed Vasilissa out of the room.
+
+  Vasilissa went into her little closet, set before the doll a supper
+  which she had provided beforehand, and said:
+
+  "Now, dolly, feed, and listen to my need! I'm sent to the
+  Baba Yaga's for a light. The Baba Yaga will eat me!"
+
+  The doll fed, and its eyes began to glow just like a couple of
+  candles.
+
+  "Never fear, Vasilissa dear!" it said. "Go where you're
+  sent. Only take care to keep me always by you. As long as I'm
+  with you, no harm will come to you at the Baba Yaga's."
+
+  So Vasilissa got ready, put her doll in her pocket, crossed
+  herself, and went out into the thick forest.
+
+  As she walks she trembles. Suddenly a horseman gallops
+  by. He is white, and he is dressed in white, under him is a white
+  horse, and the trappings of the horse are white--and the day
+  begins to break.
+
+  She goes a little further, and a second rider gallops by. He
+  is red, dressed in red, and sitting on a red horse--and the sun
+  rises.
+
+  Vasilissa went on walking all night and all next day. It was
+  only towards the evening that she reached the clearing on which
+  stood the dwelling of the Baba Yaga. The fence around it was
+  made of dead men's bones; on the top of the fence were stuck
+  human skulls with eyes in them; instead of uprights at the gates
+  were men's legs; instead of bolts were arms; instead of a lock
+  was a mouth with sharp teeth.
+
+  Vasilissa was frightened out of her wits, and stood still as if
+  rooted to the ground.
+
+  Suddenly there rode past another horseman. He was black,
+  dressed all in black, and on a black horse. He galloped up to
+  the Baba Yaga's gate and disappeared, just as if he had sunk
+  through the ground--and night fell. But the darkness did not
+  last long. The eyes of all the skulls on the fence began to shine
+  and the whole clearing became as bright as if it had been midday.
+  Vasilissa shuddered with fear, but stopped where she was,
+  not knowing which way to run.
+
+  Soon there was heard in the forest a terrible roar. The trees
+  cracked, the dry leaves rustled; out of the forest came the Baba
+  Yaga, riding in a mortar, urging it on with a pestle, sweeping
+  away her traces with a broom. Up she drove to the gate, stopped
+  short, and, snuffing the air around her, cried:--
+
+  "Faugh! Faugh! I smell Russian flesh![188] Who's there?"
+
+  Vasilissa went up to the hag in a terrible fright, bowed low
+  before her, and said:--
+
+  "It's me, granny. My stepsisters have sent me to you for a
+  light."
+
+  "Very good," said the Baba Yaga; "I know them. If you'll
+  stop awhile with me first, and do some work for me, I'll give you
+  a light. But if you won't, I'll eat you!"
+
+  Then she turned to the gates, and cried:--
+
+  "Ho, thou firm fence of mine, be thou divided! And ye, wide
+  gates of mine, do ye fly open!"
+
+  The gates opened, and the Baba Yaga drove in, whistling as
+  she went, and after her followed Vasilissa; and then everything
+  shut to again. When they entered the sitting-room, the Baba
+  Yaga stretched herself out at full length, and said to Vasilissa:
+
+  "Fetch out what there is in the oven; I'm hungry."
+
+  Vasilissa lighted a splinter[189] at one of the skulls which were
+  on the fence, and began fetching meat from the oven and setting
+  it before the Baba Yaga; and meat enough had been provided
+  for a dozen people. Then she fetched from the cellar kvass,
+  mead, beer, and wine. The hag ate up everything, drank up
+  everything. All she left for Vasilissa was a few scraps--a crust
+  of bread and a morsel of sucking-pig. Then the Baba Yaga lay
+  down to sleep, saying:--
+
+  "When I go out to-morrow morning, mind you cleanse the
+  courtyard, sweep the room, cook the dinner, and get the linen
+  ready. Then go to the corn-bin, take out four quarters of wheat,
+  and clear it of other seed.[190] And mind you have it all done--if
+  you don't, I shall eat you!"
+
+  After giving these orders the Baba Yaga began to snore. But
+  Vasilissa set the remnants of the hag's supper before her doll,
+  burst into tears, and said:--
+
+  "Now, dolly, feed, listen to my need! The Baba Yaga has
+  set me a heavy task, and threatens to eat me if I don't do it all.
+  Do help me!"
+
+  The doll replied:
+
+  "Never fear, Vasilissa the Fair! Sup, say your prayers, and
+  go to bed. The morning is wiser than the evening!"
+
+  Vasilissa awoke very early, but the Baba Yaga was already up.
+  She looked out of the window. The light in the skull's eyes was
+  going out. All of a sudden there appeared the white horseman,
+  and all was light. The Baba Yaga went out into the courtyard and
+  whistled--before her appeared a mortar with a pestle and a broom.
+  The red horseman appeared--the sun rose. The Baba Yaga
+  seated herself in the mortar, and drove out of the courtyard,
+  shooting herself along with the pestle, sweeping away her traces
+  with the broom.
+
+  Vasilissa was left alone, so she examined the Baba Yaga's
+  house, wondered at the abundance there was in everything, and
+  remained lost in thought as to which work she ought to take to
+  first. She looked up; all her work was done already. The doll
+  had cleared the wheat to the very last grain.
+
+  "Ah, my preserver!" cried Vasilissa, "you've saved me
+  from danger!"
+
+  "All you've got to do now is to cook the dinner," answered
+  the doll, slipping into Vasilissa's pocket. "Cook away, in God's
+  name, and then take some rest for your health's sake!"
+
+  Towards evening Vasilissa got the table ready, and awaited
+  the Baba Yaga. It began to grow dusky; the black rider appeared
+  for a moment at the gate, and all grew dark. Only the
+  eyes of the skulls sent forth their light. The trees began to
+  crack, the leaves began to rustle, up drove the Baba Yaga.
+  Vasilissa went out to meet her.
+
+  "Is everything done?" asks the Yaga.
+
+  "Please to look for yourself, granny!" says Vasilissa.
+
+  The Baba Yaga examined everything, was vexed that there
+  was nothing to be angry about, and said:
+
+  "Well, well! very good!"
+
+  Afterwards she cried:
+
+  "My trusty servants, zealous friends, grind this my wheat!"
+
+  There appeared three pairs of hands, which gathered up the
+  wheat, and carried it out of sight. The Baba Yaga supped, went
+  to bed, and again gave her orders to Vasilissa:
+
+  "Do just the same to-morrow as to-day; only besides that take
+  out of the bin the poppy seed that is there, and clean the earth
+  off it grain by grain. Some one or other, you see, has mixed a
+  lot of earth with it out of spite." Having said this, the hag turned
+  to the wall and began to snore, and Vasilissa took to feeding her
+  doll. The doll fed, and then said to her what it had said the
+  day before:
+
+  "Pray to God, and go to sleep. The morning is wiser than the
+  evening. All shall be done, Vasilissa dear!"
+
+  The next morning the Baba Yaga again drove out of the courtyard
+  in her mortar, and Vasilissa and her doll immediately did
+  all the work. The hag returned, looked at everything, and cried,
+  "My trusty servants, zealous friends, press forth oil from the
+  poppy seed!"
+
+  Three pairs of hands appeared, gathered up the poppy seed,
+  and bore it out of sight. The Baba Yaga sat down to dinner.
+  She ate, but Vasilissa stood silently by.
+
+  "Why don't you speak to me?" said the Baba Yaga; "there
+  you stand like a dumb creature!"
+
+  "I didn't dare," answered Vasilissa; "but if you give me
+  leave, I should like to ask you about something."
+
+  "Ask away; only it isn't every question that brings good.
+  'Get much to know, and old soon you'll grow.'"
+
+  "I only want to ask you, granny, about something I saw. As
+  I was coming here, I was passed by one riding on a white horse;
+  he was white himself, and dressed in white. Who was he?"
+
+  "That was my bright Day!" answered the Baba Yaga.
+
+  "Afterwards there passed me another rider, on a red horse;
+  red himself, and all in red clothes. Who was he?"
+
+  "That was my red Sun!"[191] answered the Baba Yaga.
+
+  "And who may be the black rider, granny, who passed by
+  me just at your gate?"
+
+  "That was my dark Night; they are all trusty servants of
+  mine."
+
+  Vasilissa thought of the three pairs of hands, but held her
+  peace.
+
+  "Why don't you go on asking?" said the Baba Yaga.
+
+  "That's enough for me, granny. You said yourself, 'Get
+  too much to know, old you'll grow!'"
+
+  "It's just as well," said the Baba Yaga, "that you've only
+  asked about what you saw out of doors, not indoors! In my house
+  I hate having dirt carried out of doors;[192] and as to over-inquisitive
+  people--well, I eat them. Now I'll ask you something.
+  How is it you manage to do the work I set you to do?"
+
+  "My mother's blessing assists me," replied Vasilissa.
+
+  "Eh! eh! what's that? Get along out of my house, you
+  bless'd daughter. I don't want bless'd people."
+
+  She dragged Vasilissa out of the room, pushed her outside
+  the gates, took one of the skulls with blazing eyes from the
+  fence, stuck it on a stick, gave it to her and said:
+
+  "Lay hold of that. It's a light you can take to your stepsisters.
+  That's what they sent you here for, I believe."
+
+  Home went Vasilissa at a run, lit by the skull, which went out
+  only at the approach of the dawn; and at last, on the evening
+  of the second day, she reached home. When she came to the
+  gate, she was going to throw away the skull.
+
+  "Surely," thinks she, "they can't be still in want of a light
+  at home." But suddenly a hollow voice issued from the skull,
+  saying:
+
+  "Throw me not away. Carry me to your stepmother!"
+
+  She looked at her stepmother's house, and not seeing a light
+  in a single window, she determined to take the skull in there
+  with her. For the first time in her life she was cordially received
+  by her stepmother and stepsisters, who told her that from the
+  moment she went away they hadn't had a spark of fire in the
+  house. They couldn't strike a light themselves anyhow, and
+  whenever they brought one in from a neighbor's, it went out as
+  soon as it came into the room.
+
+  "Perhaps your light will keep in!" said the stepmother. So
+  they carried the skull into the sitting-room. But the eyes of the
+  skull so glared at the stepmother and her daughters--shot forth
+  such flames! They would fain have hidden themselves, but run
+  where they would, everywhere did the eyes follow after them.
+  By the morning they were utterly burnt to cinders. Only Vasilissa
+  was none the worse.[193]
+
+      [Next morning Vasilissa "buried the skull," locked up
+      the house and took up her quarters in a neighboring
+      town. After a time she began to work. Her doll made
+      her a glorious loom, and by the end of the winter she
+      had weaved a quantity of linen so fine that it might
+      be passed like thread through the eye of a needle. In
+      the spring, after it had been bleached, Vasilissa made
+      a present of it to the old woman with whom she lodged.
+      The crone presented it to the king, who ordered it to
+      be made into shirts. But no seamstress could be found
+      to make them up, until the linen was entrusted to
+      Vasilissa. When a dozen shirts were ready, Vasilissa
+      sent them to the king, and as soon as her carrier had
+      started, "she washed herself, and combed her hair, and
+      dressed herself, and sat down at the window." Before
+      long there arrived a messenger demanding her instant
+      appearance at court. And "when she appeared before the
+      royal eyes," the king fell desperately in love with
+      her.
+
+      "No; my beauty!" said he, "never will I part with
+      thee; thou shalt be my wife." So he married her; and
+      by-and-by her father returned, and took up his abode
+      with her. "And Vasilissa took the old woman into her
+      service, and as for the doll--to the end of her life
+      she always carried it in her pocket."]
+
+The puppet which plays so important a part in this story is worthy of
+a special examination. It is called in the original a _Kukla_ (dim.
+_Kukolka_), a word designating any sort of puppet or other figure
+representing either man or beast. In a Little-Russian variant[194] of
+one of those numerous stories, current in all lands, which commence
+with the escape of the heroine from an incestuous union, a priest
+insists on marrying his daughter. She goes to her mother's grave and
+weeps there. Her dead mother "comes out from her grave," and tells her
+what to do. The girl obtains from her father a rough dress of pig's
+skin, and two sets of gorgeous apparel; the former she herself
+assumes, in the latter she dresses up three _Kuklui_, which in this
+instance were probably mere blocks of wood. Then she takes her place
+in the midst of the dressed-up forms, which cry, one after the other,
+"Open, O moist earth, that the fair maiden may enter within thee!" The
+earth opens, and all four sink into it.
+
+This introduction is almost identical with that prefixed to the German
+story of "Allerleirauh,"[195] except in so far as the puppets are
+concerned.
+
+Sometimes it is a brother, instead of a father, from whom the heroine
+is forced to flee. Thus in the story of _Kniaz Danila Govorila_,[196]
+Prince Daniel the Talker is bent upon marrying his sister, pleading
+the excuse so often given in stories on this theme, namely, that she
+is the only maiden whose finger will fit the magic ring which is to
+indicate to him his destined wife. While she is weeping "like a
+river," some old women of the mendicant-pilgrim class come to her
+rescue, telling her to make four _Kukolki_, or small puppets, and to
+place one of them in each corner of her room. She does as they tell
+her. The wedding day arrives, the marriage service is performed in the
+church, and then the bride hastens back to the room. When she is
+called for--says the story--the puppets in the four corners begin to
+coo.[197]
+
+"Kuku! Prince Danila!
+
+"Kuku! Govorila.
+
+"Kuku! He wants to marry,
+
+"Kuku! His own sister.
+
+"Kuku! Split open, O Earth!
+
+"Kuku! Sister, disappear!"
+
+The earth opens, and the girl slowly sinks into it. Twice again the
+puppets sing their song, and at the end of its third performance, the
+earth closes over the head of the rescued bride. Presently in rushes
+the irritated bridegroom. "No bride is to be seen; only in the corners
+sit the puppets singing away to themselves." He flies into a passion,
+seizes a hatchet, chops off their heads, and flings them into the
+fire.[198]
+
+In another version of the same story[199] a son is ordered by his
+parents to marry his sister after their death. They die, and he tells
+her to get ready to be married. But she has prepared three puppets,
+and when she goes into her room to dress for the wedding, she says to
+them:
+
+"O Kukolki, (cry) Kuku!"
+
+The first asks, "Why?"
+
+The second replies, "Because the brother his sister takes."
+
+The third says, "Split open, O Earth! disappear, O sister!"
+
+All this is said three times, and then the earth opens, and the girl
+sinks "into that world."
+
+In two other Russian versions of the same story, the sister escapes by
+natural means. In the first[200] she runs away and hides in the hollow
+of an oak. In the second[201] she persuades a fisherman to convey her
+across a sea or lake. In a Polish version[202] the sister obtains a
+magic car, which sinks underground with her, while the spot on which
+she has spat replies to every summons which is addressed to her.[203]
+
+Before taking leave of the Baba Yaga, we may glance at a malevolent
+monster, who seems to be her male counterpart. He appears, however, to
+be known in South Russia only. Here is an outline of the contents of
+the solitary story in which he is mentioned. There were two old folks
+with whom lived two orphan grandchildren, charming little girls. One
+day the youngest child was sent to drive the sparrows away from her
+grandfather's pease. While she was thus engaged the forest began to
+roar, and out from it came Verlioka, "of vast stature, one-eyed,
+crook-nosed, bristly-headed, with tangled beard and moustaches half an
+ell long, and with a wooden boot on his one foot, supporting himself
+on a crutch, and giving vent to a terrible laughter." And Verlioka
+caught sight of the little girl and immediately killed her with his
+crutch. And afterwards he killed her sister also, and then the old
+grandmother. The grandfather, however, managed to escape with his
+life, and afterwards, with the help of a drake and other aiders, he
+wreaked his vengeance on the murderous Verlioka.[204]
+
+We will now turn to another female embodiment of evil, frequently
+mentioned in the Skazkas--the Witch.[205] She so closely resembles the
+Baba Yaga both in disposition and in behavior, that most of the
+remarks which have been made about that wild being apply to her also.
+In many cases, indeed, we find that one version of a story will allot
+to a Baba Yaga the part which in another version is played by a Witch.
+The name which she bears--that of _Vyed'ma_--is a misnomer; it
+properly belongs either to the "wise woman," or prophetess, of old
+times, or to her modern representative, the woman to whom Russian
+superstition attributes the faculties and functions ascribed in olden
+days by most of our jurisprudents, in more recent times by a few of
+our rustics, to our own witch. The supernatural being who, in
+folk-tales, sways the elements and preys upon mankind, is most
+inadequately designated by such names as _Vyed'ma_, _Hexe_, or
+_Witch_, suggestive as those now homely terms are of merely human,
+though diabolically intensified malevolence. Far more in keeping with
+the vastness of her powers, and the vagueness of her outline, are the
+titles of Baba Yaga, Lamia, Striga, Troll-Wife, Ogress, or Dragoness,
+under which she figures in various lands. And therefore it is in her
+capacity of Baba Yaga, rather than in that of _Vyed'ma_, that we
+desire to study the behavior of the Russian equivalent for the
+terrible female form which figures in the Anglo-Saxon poem as the
+Mother of Grendel.
+
+From among the numerous stories relating to the _Vyed'ma_ we may
+select the following, which bears her name.
+
+
+  THE WITCH.[206]
+
+  There once lived an old couple who had one son called
+  Ivashko;[207] no one can tell how fond they were of him!
+
+  Well, one day, Ivashko said to his father and mother:
+
+  "I'll go out fishing if you'll let me."
+
+  "What are you thinking about! you're still very small; suppose
+  you get drowned, what good will there be in that?"
+
+  "No, no, I shan't get drowned. I'll catch you some fish;
+  do let me go!"
+
+  So his mother put a white shirt on him, tied a red girdle round
+  him, and let him go. Out in a boat he sat and said:
+
+    Canoe, canoe, float a little farther,
+    Canoe, canoe, float a little farther!
+
+  Then the canoe floated on farther and farther, and Ivashko began to
+  fish. When some little time had passed by, the old woman hobbled down
+  to the river side and called to her son:
+
+    Ivashechko, Ivashechko, my boy,
+    Float up, float up, unto the waterside;
+    I bring thee food and drink.
+
+  And Ivashko said:
+
+    Canoe, canoe, float to the waterside;
+    That is my mother calling me.
+
+  The boat floated to the shore: the woman took the fish, gave her boy
+  food and drink, changed his shirt for him and his girdle, and sent him
+  back to his fishing. Again he sat in his boat and said:
+
+    Canoe, canoe, float a little farther,
+    Canoe, canoe, float a little farther.
+
+  Then the canoe floated on farther and farther, and Ivashko began to
+  fish. After a little time had passed by, the old man also hobbled down
+  to the bank and called to his son:
+
+    Ivashechko, Ivashechko, my boy,
+    Float up, float up, unto the waterside;
+    I bring thee food and drink.
+
+  And Ivashko replied:
+
+    Canoe, canoe, float to the waterside;
+    That is my father calling me.
+
+  The canoe floated to the shore. The old man took the fish, gave his
+  boy food and drink, changed his shirt for him and his girdle, and sent
+  him back to his fishing.
+
+  Now a certain witch[208] had heard what Ivashko's parents had cried
+  aloud to him, and she longed to get hold of the boy. So she went down
+  to the bank and cried with a hoarse voice:
+
+    Ivashechko, Ivashechko, my boy,
+    Float up, float up, unto the waterside;
+    I bring thee food and drink.
+
+  Ivashko perceived that the voice was not his mother's, but was that of
+  a witch, and he sang:
+
+    Canoe, canoe, float a little farther,
+    Canoe, canoe, float a little farther;
+    That is not my mother, but a witch who calls me.
+
+  The witch saw that she must call Ivashko with just such a voice as
+  his mother had.
+
+  So she hastened to a smith and said to him:
+
+  "Smith, smith! make me just such a thin little voice as Ivashko's
+  mother has: if you don't, I'll eat you." So the smith forged her a
+  little voice just like Ivashko's mother's. Then the witch went down by
+  night to the shore and sang:
+
+    Ivashechko, Ivashechko, my boy,
+    Float up, float up, unto the waterside;
+    I bring thee food and drink.
+
+  Ivashko came, and she took the fish, and seized the boy and carried
+  him home with her. When she arrived she said to her daughter
+  Alenka,[209] "Heat the stove as hot as you can, and bake Ivashko well,
+  while I go and collect my friends for the feast." So Alenka heated the
+  stove hot, ever so hot, and said to Ivashko,
+
+  "Come here and sit on this shovel!"
+
+  "I'm still very young and foolish," answered Ivashko: "I haven't yet
+  quite got my wits about me. Please teach me how one ought to sit on a
+  shovel."
+
+  "Very good," said Alenka; "it won't take long to teach you."
+
+  But the moment she sat down on the shovel, Ivashko instantly pitched
+  her into the oven, slammed to the iron plate in front of it, ran out
+  of the hut, shut the door, and hurriedly climbed up ever so high an
+  oak-tree [which stood close by].
+
+  Presently the witch arrived with her guests and knocked at the door of
+  the hut. But nobody opened it for her.
+
+  "Ah! that cursed Alenka!" she cried. "No doubt she's gone off
+  somewhere to amuse herself." Then she slipped in through the window,
+  opened the door, and let in her guests. They all sat down to table,
+  and the witch opened the oven, took out Alenka's baked body, and
+  served it up. They all ate their fill and drank their fill, and then
+  they went out into the courtyard and began rolling about on the grass.
+
+  "I turn about, I roll about, having fed on Ivashko's flesh," cried
+  the witch. "I turn about, I roll about, having fed on Ivashko's
+  flesh."
+
+  But Ivashko called out to her from the top of the oak:
+
+  "Turn about, roll about, having fed on Alenka's flesh!"
+
+  "Did I hear something?" said the witch. "No it was only the noise of
+  the leaves." Again the witch began:
+
+  "I turn about, I roll about, having fed on Ivashko's flesh!"
+
+  And Ivashko repeated:
+
+  "Turn about, roll about, having fed on Alenka's flesh!"
+
+  Then the witch looked up and saw Ivashko, and immediately rushed at
+  the oak on which Ivashko was seated, and began to gnaw away at it. And
+  she gnawed, and gnawed, and gnawed, until at last she smashed two
+  front teeth. Then she ran to a forge, and when she reached it she
+  cried, "Smith, smith! make me some iron teeth; if you don't I'll eat
+  you!"
+
+  So the smith forged her two iron teeth.
+
+  The witch returned and began gnawing the oak again.
+
+  She gnawed, and gnawed, and was just on the point of gnawing it
+  through, when Ivashko jumped out of it into another tree which stood
+  beside it. The oak that the witch had gnawed through fell down to the
+  ground; but then she saw that Ivashko was sitting up in another tree,
+  so she gnashed her teeth with spite and set to work afresh, to gnaw
+  that tree also. She gnawed, and gnawed, and gnawed--broke two lower
+  teeth, and ran off to the forge.
+
+  "Smith, smith!" she cried when she got there, "make me some iron
+  teeth; if you don't I'll eat you!"
+
+  The smith forged two more iron teeth for her. She went back again, and
+  once more began to gnaw the oak.
+
+  Ivashko didn't know what he was to do now. He looked out, and saw that
+  swans and geese[210] were flying by, so he called to them imploringly:
+
+    Oh, my swans and geese,
+    Take me on your pinions,
+    Bear me to my father and my mother,
+    To the cottage of my father and my mother,
+    There to eat, and drink, and live in comfort.
+
+  "Let those in the centre carry you," said the birds.
+
+  Ivashko waited; a second flock flew past, and he again cried
+  imploringly:
+
+    Oh, my swans and geese!
+    Take me on your pinions,
+    Bear me to my father and my mother,
+    To the cottage of my father and my mother,
+    There to eat, and drink, and live in comfort.
+
+  "Let those in the rear carry you!" said the birds.
+
+  Again Ivashko waited. A third flock came flying up, and he cried:
+
+    Oh, my swans and geese!
+    Take me on your pinions,
+    Bear me to my father and my mother,
+    To the cottage of my father and my mother,
+    There to eat, and drink, and live in comfort.
+
+  And those swans and geese took hold of him and carried him back, flew
+  up to the cottage, and dropped him in the upper room.
+
+  Early the next morning his mother set to work to bake pancakes, baked
+  them, and all of a sudden fell to thinking about her boy. "Where is my
+  Ivashko?" she cried; "would that I could see him, were it only in a
+  dream!"
+
+  Then his father said, "I dreamed that swans and geese had brought our
+  Ivashko home on their wings."
+
+  And when she had finished baking the pancakes, she said, "Now, then,
+  old man, let's divide the cakes: there's for you, father! there's for
+  me! There's for you, father! there's for me."
+
+  "And none for me?" called out Ivashko.
+
+  "There's for you, father!" went on the old woman, "there's for me."
+
+  "And none for me!" [repeated the boy.]
+
+  "Why, old man," said the wife, "go and see whatever that is up there."
+
+  The father climbed into the upper room and there he found Ivashko.
+  The old people were delighted, and asked their boy about everything
+  that had happened. And after that he and they lived on happily
+  together.
+
+      [That part of this story which relates to the baking
+      and eating of the witch's daughter is well known in
+      many lands. It is found in the German "Haensel und
+      Grethel" (Grimm. _KM._ No. 15, and iii. p. 25, where a
+      number of parallels are mentioned); in the Norse
+      "Askelad" (Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 1. Dasent, "Boots
+      and the Troll," No. 32), where a Troll's daughter is
+      baked; and "Smoerbuk" (Asb. and Moe, No. 52. Dasent,
+      "Buttercup," No. 18), in which the victim is daughter
+      of a "Haugkjoerring," another name for a Troll-wife;
+      in the Servian story of "The Stepmother," &c. (Vuk
+      Karajich, No. 35, pp. 174-5) in which two _Chivuti_,
+      or Jews, are tricked into eating their baked mother;
+      in the Modern Greek stories (Hahn, No. 3 and ii. p.
+      181), in which the hero bakes (1) a _Drakaena_, while
+      her husband, the _Drakos_, is at church, (2) a
+      _Lamiopula_, during the absence of the _Lamia_, her
+      mother; and in the Albanian story of "Augenhuendin"
+      (Hahn, No. 95), in which the heroine gets rid in a
+      similar manner of Maro, the daughter of that four eyed
+      +sykieneza+. (See note, ii, 309.) Afanasief also refers
+      (i. p. 121) to Haltrich, No. 37, and Haupt and
+      Schmaler, ii. pp. 172-4. He also mentions a similar
+      tale about a giantess existing among the Baltic
+      Kashoubes. See also the end of the song of Tardanak,
+      showing how he killed "the Seven Headed Jelbegen,"
+      Radloff, i. p. 31.]
+
+A variant of this story (from the Chernigof Government)[211] begins by
+telling how two old people were childless for a long time. At last the
+husband went into the forest, felled wood, and made a cradle. Into
+this his wife laid one of the logs he had cut, and began swinging it,
+crooning the while a rune beginning
+
+    Swing, blockie dear, swing.
+
+After a little time "behold! the block already had legs. The old
+woman rejoiced greatly and began singing anew, and went on singing
+until the block became a babe." In this variant the boy rows a silver
+boat with a golden oar; in another South Russian variant[212] the boat
+is golden, the oar of silver. In a White-Russian variant quoted by
+Afanasief (i. p. 118), the place of the witch's daughter is filled by
+her son, who had been in the habit of alluring to her den by gifts of
+toys, and there devouring, the children from the adjacent villages.
+Buslaef's "Historical Essays," (i. pp. 313-321) contain a valuable
+investigation of Kulish's version of this story, which he compares
+with the romance of "The Knight of the Swan."
+
+In another of the variants of this story[213] Ivanushka is the son of
+a Baruinya or Lady, and he is carried off in a whirlwind by a Baba
+Yaga. His three sisters go to look for him, and each of them in turn
+finds out where he is and attempts to carry him off, after sending the
+Baba Yaga to sleep and smearing her eyelids with pitch. But the two
+elder sisters are caught on their way home by the Baba Yaga, and
+terribly scratched and torn. The youngest sister, however, succeeds in
+rescuing her brother, having taken the precaution of propitiating with
+butter the cat Jeremiah, "who was telling the boy stories and singing
+him songs." When the Baba Yaga awakes, she tells Jeremiah to scratch
+her eyes open, but he refuses, reminding her that, long as he has
+lived under her roof, she has never in any way regaled him, whereas
+the "fair maiden" had no sooner arrived than she treated him to
+butter. In another variant[214] the bereaved mother sends three
+servant-maids in search of her boy. Two of them get torn to pieces;
+the third succeeds in saving Ivanushka from the Baba Yaga, who is so
+vexed that she pinches her butter-bribed cat to death for not having
+awakened her when the rescue took place. A comparison of these three
+stories is sufficient to show how closely connected are the Witch and
+the Baba Yaga, how readily the name of either of the two may be
+transferred to the other.
+
+But there is one class of stories in which the _Vyed'ma_ is
+represented as differing from the Baba Yaga, in so far as she is the
+offspring of parents who are not in any way supernatural or inhuman.
+Without any apparent cause for her abnormal conduct, the daughter of
+an ordinary royal house will suddenly begin to destroy and devour all
+living things which fall in her way--her strength developing as
+rapidly as her appetite. Of such a nature--to be accounted for only on
+the supposition that an evil spirit has taken up its abode in a human
+body[215]--is the witch who appears in the somewhat incomprehensible
+story that follows.
+
+
+  THE WITCH AND THE SUN'S SISTER.[216]
+
+  In a certain far-off country there once lived a king and queen.
+  And they had an only son, Prince Ivan, who was dumb from
+  his birth. One day, when he was twelve years old, he went into
+  the stable to see a groom who was a great friend of his.
+
+  That groom always used to tell him tales [_skazki_], and on
+  this occasion Prince Ivan went to him expecting to hear some
+  stories [_skazochki_], but that wasn't what he heard.
+
+  "Prince Ivan!" said the groom, "your mother will soon
+  have a daughter, and you a sister. She will be a terrible witch,
+  and she will eat up her father, and her mother, and all their subjects.
+  So go and ask your father for the best horse he has--as
+  if you wanted a gallop--and then, if you want to be out of harm's
+  way, ride away whithersoever your eyes guide you."
+
+  Prince Ivan ran off to his father and, for the first time in his
+  life, began speaking to him.
+
+  At that the king was so delighted that he never thought of
+  asking what he wanted a good steed for, but immediately ordered
+  the very best horse he had in his stud to be saddled for the
+  prince.
+
+  Prince Ivan mounted, and rode off without caring where he
+  went.[217] Long, long did he ride.
+
+  At length he came to where two old women were sewing
+  and he begged them to let him live with them. But they said:
+
+  "Gladly would we do so, Prince Ivan, only we have now
+  but a short time to live. As soon as we have broken that trunkful
+  of needles, and used up that trunkful of thread, that instant
+  will death arrive!"
+
+  Prince Ivan burst into tears and rode on. Long, long did
+  he ride. At length he came to where the giant Vertodub was,[218]
+  and he besought him, saying:
+
+  "Take me to live with you."
+
+  "Gladly would I have taken you, Prince Ivan!" replied the
+  giant, "but now I have very little longer to live. As soon as I
+  have pulled up all these trees by the roots, instantly will come
+  my death!"
+
+  More bitterly still did the prince weep as he rode farther and
+  farther on. By-and-by he came to where the giant Vertogor
+  was, and made the same request to him, but he replied:
+
+  "Gladly would I have taken you, Prince Ivan! but I myself
+  have very little longer to live. I am set here, you know, to
+  level mountains. The moment I have settled matters with these
+  you see remaining, then will my death come!"
+
+  Prince Ivan burst into a flood of bitter tears, and rode on
+  still farther. Long, long did he ride. At last he came to the
+  dwelling of the Sun's Sister. She received him into her house,
+  gave him food and drink, and treated him just as if he had been
+  her own son.
+
+  The prince now led an easy life. But it was all no use; he
+  couldn't help being miserable. He longed so to know what was
+  going on at home.
+
+  He often went to the top of a high mountain, and thence
+  gazed at the palace in which he used to live, and he could see
+  that it was all eaten away; nothing but the bare walls remained!
+  Then he would sigh and weep. Once when he returned after
+  he had been thus looking and crying, the Sun's Sister asked
+  him:
+
+  "What makes your eyes so red to-day, Prince Ivan?"[219]
+
+  "The wind has been blowing in them," said he.
+
+  The same thing happened a second time. Then the Sun's
+  Sister ordered the wind to stop blowing. Again a third time
+  did Prince Ivan come back with a blubbered face. This time
+  there was no help for it; he had to confess everything, and then
+  he took to entreating the Sun's Sister to let him go, that he
+  might satisfy himself about his old home. She would not let
+  him go, but he went on urgently entreating.
+
+  So at last he persuaded her, and she let him go away to
+  find out about his home. But first she provided him for the
+  journey with a brush, a comb, and two youth-giving apples.
+  However old any one might be, let him eat one of these apples,
+  he would grow young again in an instant.
+
+  Well, Prince Ivan came to where Vertogor was. There was
+  only just one mountain left! He took his brush and cast it
+  down on the open plain. Immediately there rose out of the
+  earth, goodness knows whence,[220] high, ever so high mountains,
+  their peaks touching the sky. And the number of them was
+  such that there were more than the eye could see![221] Vertogor
+  rejoiced greatly and blithely recommenced his work.
+
+  After a time Prince Ivan came to where Vertodub was, and
+  found that there were only three trees remaining there. So he
+  took the comb and flung it on the open plain. Immediately from
+  somewhere or other there came a sound of trees,[222] and forth from
+  the ground arose dense oak forests! each stem more huge than
+  the other! Vertodub was delighted, thanked the Prince, and
+  set to work uprooting the ancient oaks.
+
+  By-and-by Prince Ivan reached the old women, and gave
+  each of them an apple. They ate them, and straightway became
+  young again. So they gave him a handkerchief; you only had
+  to wave it, and behind you lay a whole lake! At last Prince
+  Ivan arrived at home. Out came running his sister to meet him,
+  caressed him fondly.
+
+  "Sit thee down, my brother!" she said, "play a tune on the
+  lute while I go and get dinner ready."
+
+  The Prince sat down and strummed away on the lute [_gusli_].
+
+  Then there crept a mouse out of a hole, and said to him in a
+  human voice:
+
+  "Save yourself, Prince. Run away quick! your sister has
+  gone to sharpen her teeth."
+
+  Prince Ivan fled from the room, jumped on his horse, and
+  galloped away back. Meantime the mouse kept running over
+  the strings of the lute. They twanged, and the sister never
+  guessed that her brother was off. When she had sharpened
+  her teeth she burst into the room. Lo and behold! not a soul
+  was there, nothing but the mouse bolting into its hole! The
+  witch waxed wroth, ground her teeth like anything, and set off
+  in pursuit.
+
+  Prince Ivan heard a loud noise and looked back. There was
+  his sister chasing him. So he waved his handkerchief, and a
+  deep lake lay behind him. While the witch was swimming across
+  the water, Prince Ivan got a long way ahead. But on she came
+  faster than ever; and now she was close at hand! Vertodub
+  guessed that the Prince was trying to escape from his sister.
+  So he began tearing up oaks and strewing them across the road.
+  A regular mountain did he pile up! there was no passing by for
+  the witch! So she set to work to clear the way. She gnawed,
+  and gnawed, and at length contrived by hard work to bore her
+  way through; but by this time Prince Ivan was far ahead.
+
+  On she dashed in pursuit, chased and chased. Just a little
+  more, and it would be impossible for him to escape! But Vertogor
+  spied the witch, laid hold of the very highest of all the mountains,
+  pitched it down all of a heap on the road, and flung
+  another mountain right on top of it. While the witch was
+  climbing and clambering, Prince Ivan rode and rode, and found
+  himself a long way ahead. At last the witch got across the
+  mountain, and once more set off in pursuit of her brother. By-and-by
+  she caught sight of him, and exclaimed:
+
+  "You sha'n't get away from me this time!" And now she is
+  close, now she is just going to catch him!
+
+  At that very moment Prince Ivan dashed up to the abode of
+  the Sun's Sister and cried:
+
+  "Sun, Sun! open the window!"
+
+  The Sun's Sister opened the window, and the Prince bounded
+  through it, horse and all.
+
+  Then the witch began to ask that her brother might be given
+  up to her for punishment. The Sun's Sister would not listen
+  to her, nor would she give him up. Then the witch said:
+
+  "Let Prince Ivan be weighed against me, to see which is the
+  heavier. If I am, then I will eat him; but if he is, then let him
+  kill me!"
+
+  This was done. Prince Ivan was the first to get into one of
+  the scales; then the witch began to get into the other. But no
+  sooner had she set foot in it than up shot Prince Ivan in the air,
+  and that with such force that he flew right up into the sky, and
+  into the chamber of the Sun's Sister.
+
+  But as for the Witch-Snake, she remained down below on
+  earth.
+
+      [The word _terem_ (plural _terema_) which occurs twice
+      in this story (rendered the second time by "chamber")
+      deserves a special notice. It is defined by Dahl, in
+      its antique sense, as "a raised, lofty habitation, or
+      part of one--a Boyar's castle--a Seigneur's house--the
+      dwelling-place of a ruler within a fortress," &c. The
+      "terem of the women," sometimes styled "of the girls,"
+      used to comprise the part of a Seigneur's house, on
+      the upper floor, set aside for the female members of
+      his family. Dahl compares it with the Russian
+      _tyurma_, a prison, and the German _Thurm_. But it
+      seems really to be derived from the Greek +teremnon+,
+      "anything closely shut fast or closely covered, a
+      room, chamber," &c.
+
+      That part of the story which refers to the Cannibal
+      Princess is familiar to the Modern Greeks. In the
+      Syriote tale of "The Strigla" (Hahn, No. 65) a
+      princess devours her father and all his subjects. Her
+      brother, who had escaped while she was still a babe,
+      visits her and is kindly received. But while she is
+      sharpening her teeth with a view towards eating him, a
+      mouse gives him a warning which saves his life. As in
+      the Russian story the mouse jumps about on the strings
+      of a lute in order to deceive the witch, so in the
+      Greek it plays a fiddle. But the Greek hero does not
+      leave his sister's abode. After remaining concealed
+      one night, he again accosts her. She attempts to eat
+      him, but he kills her.
+
+      In a variant from Epirus (Hahn, ii. p. 283-4) the
+      cannibal princess is called a Chursusissa. Her brother
+      climbs a tree, the stem of which she gnaws almost
+      asunder. But before it falls, a Lamia comes to his aid
+      and kills his sister.
+
+      Afanasief (viii. p. 527) identifies the Sun's Sister
+      with the Dawn. The following explanation of the skazka
+      (with the exception of the words within brackets) is
+      given by A. de Gubernatis ("Zool. Myth." i. 183).
+      "Ivan is the Sun, the aurora [or dawn] is his [true]
+      sister; at morning, near the abode of the aurora, that
+      is, in the east, the shades of night [his witch, or
+      false sister] go underground, and the Sun arises to
+      the heavens; this is the mythical pair of scales. Thus
+      in the Christian belief, St. Michael weighs human
+      souls; those who weigh much sink down into hell, and
+      those who are light arise to the heavenly paradise."]
+
+As an illustration of this story, Afanasief (_P.V.S._ iii. 272) quotes
+a Little-Russian Skazka in which a man, who is seeking "the Isle in
+which there is no death," meets with various personages like those
+with whom the Prince at first wished to stay on his journey, and at
+last takes up his abode with the moon. Death comes in search of him,
+after a hundred years or so have elapsed, and engages in a struggle
+with the Moon, the result of which is that the man is caught up into
+the sky, and there shines thenceforth "as a star near the moon."
+
+The Sun's Sister is a mythical being who is often mentioned in the
+popular poetry of the South-Slavonians. A Servian song represents a
+beautiful maiden, with "arms of silver up to the elbows," sitting on a
+silver throne which floats on water. A suitor comes to woo her. She
+waxes wroth and cries,
+
+    Whom wishes he to woo?
+    The sister of the Sun,
+    The cousin of the Moon,
+    The adopted-sister of the Dawn.
+
+Then she flings down three golden apples, which the
+"marriage-proposers" attempt to catch, but "three lightnings flash
+from the sky" and kill the suitor and his friends.
+
+In another Servian song a girl cries to the Sun--
+
+    O brilliant Sun! I am fairer than thou,
+    Than thy brother, the bright Moon,
+    Than thy sister, the moving star [Venus?].
+
+In South-Slavonian poetry the sun often figures as a radiant youth.
+But among the Northern Slavonians, as well as the Lithuanians, the sun
+was regarded as a female being, the bride of the moon. "Thou askest me
+of what race, of what family I am," says the fair maiden of a song
+preserved in the Tambof Government--
+
+    My mother is--the beauteous Sun,
+    And my father--the bright Moon;
+    My brothers are--the many Stars,
+    And my sisters--the white Dawns.[223]
+
+A far more detailed account might be given of the Witch and her near
+relation the Baba Yaga, as well as of those masculine embodiments of
+that spirit of evil which is personified in them, the Snake, Koshchei,
+and other similar beings. But the stories which have been quoted will
+suffice to give at least a general idea of their moral and physical
+attributes. We will now turn from their forms, so constantly
+introduced into the skazka-drama, to some of the supernatural figures
+which are not so often brought upon the stage--to those mythical
+beings of whom (numerous as may be the traditions about them) the
+regular "story" does not so often speak, to such personifications of
+abstract ideas as are less frequently employed to set its conventional
+machinery in motion.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[72] "Songs of the Russian People," pp. 160-185.
+
+[73] In one story (Khudyakof, No. 117) there are snakes with
+twenty-eight and twenty-nine heads, but this is unusual.
+
+[74] Afanasief, ii. No. 30. From the Chernigof Government. The accent
+falls on the second syllable of Ivan, on the first of Popyalof.
+
+[75] _Popyal_, provincial word for _pepel_ = ashes, cinders, whence
+the surname Popyalof. A pood is about 40lbs.
+
+[76] On slender supports.
+
+[77] _Pod mostom_, _i.e._, says Afanasief (vol. v. p. 243), under the
+raised flooring which, in an _izba_, serves as a sleeping place.
+
+[78] _Zatvelyef_, apparently a provincial word.
+
+[79] The Russian word _krof_ also signifies blood.
+
+[80] The last sentence of the story forms one of the conventional and
+meaningless "tags" frequently attached to the skazkas. In future I
+shall omit them. Kuzma and Demian (SS. Cosmas and Damian) figure in
+Russian folk-lore as saintly and supernatural smiths, frequently at
+war with snakes, which they maltreat in various ways. See A. de
+Gubernatis, "Zoological Mythology," vol. ii. p. 397.
+
+[81] Afanasief, Skazki, vol. vii. p. 3.
+
+[82] _Chudo_ = prodigy. _Yudo_ may be a remembrance of Judas, or it
+may be used merely for the sake of the rhyme.
+
+[83] In an Indian story ("Kathasaritsagara," book vii. chap. 42),
+Indrasena comes to a place in which sits a Rakshasa on a throne
+between two fair ladies. He attacks the demon with a magic sword, and
+soon cuts off his head. But the head always grows again, until at last
+the younger of the ladies gives him a sign to split in half the head
+he has just chopped off. Thereupon the demon dies, and the two ladies
+greet the conqueror rapturously. The younger is the demon's sister,
+the elder is a king's daughter whom the demon has carried off from her
+home, after eating her father and all his followers. See Professor
+Brockhaus's summary in the "Berichte der phil. hist. Classe der K.
+Saechs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften," 1861. pp. 241-2.
+
+[84] Khudyakof, No. 46.
+
+[85] Afanasief, vol. i. No. 6. From the Chernigof Government. The
+_Norka-Zvyer'_ (Norka-Beast) of this story is a fabulous creature, but
+zoologically the name of Norka (from _nora_ = a hole) belongs to the
+Otter.
+
+[86] Literally "into _that_ world" as opposed to this in which we
+live.
+
+[87] This address is a formula, of frequent occurrence under similar
+circumstances.
+
+[88] Literally "seated the maidens and pulled the rope."
+
+[89] Some sort of safe or bin.
+
+[90] Khudyakof, ii. p. 17.
+
+[91] "Kathasaritsagara," bk. vii. c. xxxix. Wilson's translation.
+
+[92] Genesis, xxxvii. 3, 4.
+
+[93] "Zoological Mythology," i. 25.
+
+[94] Quoted from the "Nitimanjari," by Wilson, in his translation of
+the "Rig-Veda-Sanhita," vol. i. p. 142.
+
+[95] See also Juelg's "Kalmukische Maerchen," p. 19, where Massang, the
+Calmuck Minotaur, is abandoned in the pit by his companions.
+
+[96] Khudyakof, No. 42.
+
+[97] Erlenvein, No. 41. A king's horses disappear. His youngest son
+keeps watch and discovers that the thief is a white wolf. It escapes
+into a hole. He kills his horse at its own request and makes from its
+hide a rope by which he is lowered into the hole, etc.
+
+[98] Afanasief, v. 54.
+
+[99] The word _koshchei_, says Afanasief, may fairly be derived from
+_kost'_, a bone, for changes between _st_ and _shch_ are not
+uncommon--as in the cases of _pustoi_, waste, _pushcha_, a wild wood,
+or of _gustoi_, thick, _gushcha_, sediment, etc. The verb
+_okostenyet'_, to grow numb, describes the state into which a skazka
+represents the realm of the "Sleeping Beauty," as being thrown by
+Koshchei. Buslaef remarks in his "Influence of Christianity on
+Slavonic Language," p. 103, that one of the Gothic words used by
+Ulfilas to express the Greek +daimonion+ is _skohsl_, which "is purely
+Slavonic, being preserved in the Czekh _kauzlo_, sorcery; in the
+Lower-Lusatian-Wendish, _kostlar_ means a sorcerer. (But see Grimm's
+"Deutsche Mythologie," pp. 454-5, where _skohsl_ is supposed to mean a
+forest-sprite, also p. 954.) _Kost'_ changes into _koshch_ whence our
+Koshchei." There is also a provincial word, _kostit'_, meaning to
+revile or scold.
+
+[100] _Bezsmertny_ (_bez_ = without, _smert'_ = death).
+
+[101] Afanasief, viii. No. 8. _Morevna_ means daughter of _More_, (the
+Sea or any great water).
+
+[102] _Grom._ It is the thunder, rather than the lightning, which the
+Russian peasants look upon as the destructive agent in a storm. They
+let the flash pass unheeded, but they take the precaution of crossing
+themselves when the roar follows.
+
+[103] _Zamorskaya_, from the other side of the water, strange,
+splendid.
+
+[104] In Afanasief, iv. No. 39, a father marries his three daughters to
+the Sun, the Moon, and the Raven. In Hahn, No. 25, a younger brother
+gives his sisters in marriage to a Lion, a Tiger, and an Eagle, after
+his elder brothers have refused to do so. By their aid he recovers his
+lost bride. In Schott, No. 1 and Vuk Karajich, No. 5, the three sisters
+are carried off by Dragons, which their subsequently-born brother
+kills. (See also Basile, No. 33, referred to by Hahn, and Valjavec, p.
+1, Stier, No. 13, and Bozena Nemcova, pp. 414-432, and a German story
+in Musaeus, all referred to by Afanasief, viii. p. 662.)
+
+[105] See Chap. IV.
+
+[106] "Being by the advice of her father Haereeth given in marriage to
+Offa, she left off her violent practices; and accordingly she appears
+in Hygelac's court, exercising the peaceful duties of a princess. Now
+this whole representation can hardly be other than the modern,
+altered, and Christian one of a Waelcyrie or Swan-Maiden; and almost in
+the same words the Nibelungen Lied relates of Brynhild, the flashing
+shield-may of the Edda, that with her virginity she lost her mighty
+strength and warlike habits."--Kemble's Beowulf, p. xxxv.
+
+[107] Khudyakof, ii, p. 90.
+
+[108] Khudyakof, No. 20.
+
+[109] Afanasief, i. No. 14.
+
+[110] Khudyakof, No. 62.
+
+[111] Erlenvein, No. 31.
+
+[112] Afanasief, ii. No. 24. From the Perm Government.
+
+[113] A conventional expression of contempt which frequently occurs in
+the Skazkas.
+
+[114] _Do chugunnova kamnya_, to an iron stone.
+
+[115] "_Russkaya kost'._" I have translated literally, but the words
+mean nothing more than "a man," "something human." Cf. Radloff, iii.
+III. 301.
+
+[116] _Bog prostit_ = God will forgive. This sounds to the English ear
+like an ungracious reply, but it is the phrase ordinarily used by a
+superior when an inferior asks his pardon. Before taking the sacrament
+at Easter, the servants in a Russian household ask their employers to
+forgive them for any faults of which they may have been guilty. "God
+will forgive," is the proper reply.
+
+[117] Khudyakof, No. 43.
+
+[118] _Vikhor'_ (_vit'_ = to whirl), an agent often introduced for the
+purpose of abduction. The sorcerers of the present day are supposed to
+be able to direct whirlwinds, and a not uncommon form of imprecation
+in some parts of Russia is "May the whirlwind carry thee off!" See
+Afanasief, _P.V.S._ i. 317, and "Songs of the Russian People," p. 382.
+
+[119] This story is very like that of the "Rider of Grianaig," "Tales
+of the West Highlands," iii. No. 58.
+
+[120] Cf. Herodotus, bk. iv. chap. 172.
+
+[121] Khudyakof, No. 44.
+
+[122] Erlenvein, No. 12, p. 67. A popular tradition asserts that the
+Devil may be killed if shot with an egg laid on Christmas Eve. See
+Afanasief, _P.V.S._ ii. 603.
+
+[123] Afanasief, i. No. 14, p. 92. For an account of Buyan, see "Songs
+of the Russian People," p. 374.
+
+[124] Afanasief, vii. No. 6, p. 83.
+
+[125] Some of these have been compared by Mr. Cox, in his "Mythology
+of the Aryan Nations," i. 135-142. Also by Professor A. de Gubernatis,
+who sees in the duck the dawn, in the hare "the moon sacrificed in the
+morning," and in the egg the sun. "Zoological Mythology," i. 269.
+
+[126] Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 36, Dasent, No. 9, p. 71.
+
+[127] Asbjoernsen's "New Series," No. 70, p. 39.
+
+[128] Haltrich's "Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in
+Siebenbuergen," p. 188.
+
+[129] Wenzig's "Westslawischer Maerchenschatz," No. 37, p. 190.
+
+[130] Campbell's "Tales of the West Highlands," i. No. 4, p. 81.
+
+[131] Hahn, No. 26, i. 187.
+
+[132] Ibid., vol. ii. pp. 215, 294-5.
+
+[133] Vuk Karajich, No. 8. The monster is called in the Servian text
+an _Ajdaya_, a word meaning a dragon or snake. It is rendered by
+_Drache_ in the German translation of his collection of tales made by
+his daughter, but the word is evidently akin to the Sanskrit _ahi_,
+the Greek +echir echidna+, the Latin _anguis_, the Russian _ujak_, the
+Luthanian _angis_, etc. The Servian word _snaga_ answers to the
+Russian _sila_, strength.
+
+[134] Miss Frere's "Old Deccan Days," pp. 13-16.
+
+[135] Castren's "Ethnologische Vorlesungen ueber die Altaischen
+Voelker," p. 174.
+
+[136] The story has been translated by M. de Rouge in the "Revue
+Archeologique," 1852-3, p. 391 (referred to by Professor Benfey,
+"Panchatantra," i. 426) and summarized by Mr. Goodwin in the
+"Cambridge Essays" for 1858, pp. 232-7, and by Dr. Mannhardt in the
+"Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie," &c., vol. iv. pp. 232-59. For
+other versions of the story of the Giant's heart, or Koshchei's death,
+see Professor R. Koehler's remarks on the subject in "Orient und
+Occident," ii. pp. 99-103. A singular parallel to part of the Egyptian
+myth is offered by the Hottentot story in which the heart of a girl
+whom a lion has killed and eaten, is extracted from the lion, and
+placed in a calabash filled with milk. "The calabash increased in
+size, and in proportion to this, the girl grew again inside it."
+Bleek's "Reynard the Fox in South Africa," p. 55. Cf. Radloff, i. 75;
+ii. 237-8, 532-3.
+
+[137] Khudyakof, No. 109.
+
+[138] Khudyakof, No. 110.
+
+[139] Afanasief, v. No. 42. See also the _Zagovor_, or spell, "to give
+a good youth a longing for a fair maiden," ("Songs of the Russian
+People," p. 369,) in which "the Longing" is described as lying under a
+plank in a hut, weeping and sobbing, and "waiting to get at the white
+light," and is desired to gnaw its way into the youth's heart.
+
+[140] For stories about house snakes, &c., see Grimm "Deutsche
+Mythologie," p. 650, and Tylor, "Primitive Culture," ii. pp. 7,
+217-220.
+
+[141] Or _Ujak_. Erlenvein, No. 2. From the Tula Government.
+
+[142] Grimm, "Deutsche Mythologie," 456. For a description of the
+Rusalka and the Vodyany, see "Songs of the Russian People," pp.
+139-146.
+
+[143] Afanasief, v. No. 23. From the Voroneje Government.
+
+[144] Three of the well-known servants of Fortunatus. The eater-up
+(_ob'egedat'_ = to devour), the drinker-up (_pit'_ = to drink,
+_opivat'sya_, to drink oneself to death), and "Crackling Frost."
+
+[145] _Opokhmyelit'sya_, which may be rendered, "in order to drink off
+the effects of the debauch."
+
+[146] The Russian bath somewhat resembles the Turkish. The word here
+translated "to scrub," properly means to rub and flog with the soft
+twig used in the baths for that purpose. At the end of the ceremonies
+attended on a Russian peasant wedding, the young couple always go to
+the bath.
+
+[147] A sort of pudding or jelly.
+
+[148] Afanasief, v. No. 28. In the preceding story, No. 27, the king
+makes no promise. He hides his children in (or upon) a pillar, hoping
+to conceal them from a devouring bear, whose fur is of iron. The bear
+finds them and carries them off. A horse and some geese vainly attempt
+their rescue; a bull-calf succeeds, as in the former case. In another
+variant the enemy is an iron wolf. A king had promised his children a
+wolf. Unable to find a live one, he had one made of iron and gave it
+to his children. After a time it came to life and began destroying all
+it found, etc. An interesting explanation of the stories of this class
+in which they are treated as nature-myths, is given by A. de
+Gubernatis in his "Zoological Mythology," chap. i. sect. 4.
+
+[149] Khudyakof, No. 17.
+
+[150] It has already been observed that the word _chudo_, which now
+means a marvel or prodigy, formerly meant a giant.
+
+[151] Erlenvein, No. 6, pp. 30-32. The Russian word _idol_ is
+identical with our own adaptation of +eidolou+.
+
+[152] Khudyakof, No. 18.
+
+[153] _Zhidenok_, strictly the cub of a _zhid_, a word which properly
+means a Jew, but is used here for a devil.
+
+[154] Khudyakof, No. 118.
+
+[155] _Chort_, a word which, as has been stated, sometimes means a
+demon, sometimes the Devil.
+
+[156] Afanasief, viii. p. 343.
+
+[157] "Old Deccan Days," pp. 34-5. Compare with the conduct of the
+Cobra's daughter that of Angaraka, the daughter of the Daitya who,
+under the form of a wild boar, is chased underground by Chandasena.
+Brockhaus's "Maehrchensammlung des Somadeva Bhatta," 1843, vol. i. pp.
+110-13.
+
+[158] "Panchatantra," v. 10.
+
+[159] Upham's "Sacred and Historical Books of Ceylon," iii. 287.
+
+[160] Afanasief says (_P.V.S._ iii. 588), "As regards the word _yaga_
+(_yega_, Polish _jedza_, _jadza_, _jedzi-baba_, Slovak, _jenzi_,
+_jenzi_, _jezi-baba_, Bohemian, _jezinka_, Galician _yazya_) it
+answers to the Sanskrit _ahi_ = snake."
+
+Shchepkin (in his work on "Russian Fable-lore," p. 109) says: "_Yaga_,
+instead of _yagaya_, means properly noisy, scolding, and must be
+connected with the root _yagat'_ = to brawl, to scold, still preserved
+in Siberia. The accuracy of this etymology is confirmed by the use, in
+the speech of the common people, of the designation _Yaga Baba_ for a
+quarrelsome, scolding old woman."
+
+Kastorsky, in his "Slavonic Mythology," p. 138, starts a theory of his
+own. "The name _Yaga Baba_, I take to be _yakaya baba_, _nycyakaya
+baba_, and I render it by _anus quaedam_." Bulgarin (Rossiya, ii. 322)
+refers the name to a Finnish root. According to him, "_Jagga-lema_, in
+Esthonian, means to quarrel or brawl, _jagga-lemine_ means quarrelling
+or brawling." There is some similarity between the Russian form of the
+word, and the Singalese name for a (male) demon, _yaka_, which is
+derived from the Pali _yakkho_, as is the synonymous term _yakseya_
+from the Sanskrit _yaksha_ (see the valuable paper on Demonology in
+Ceylon by Dandris de Silva Gooneratne Modliar in the "Journal of the
+Ceylon Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society," 1865-6). Some Slavonic
+philologists derive _yaga_ from a root meaning to eat (in Russian
+_yest'_). This corresponds with the derivation of the word _yaksha_
+contained in the following legend: "The Vishnu Pur[=a]na, i. 5,
+narrates that they (the Yakshas) were produced by Brahm[=a] as beings
+emaciate with hunger, of hideous aspect, and with long beards, and
+that, crying out 'Let us eat,' they were denominated Yakshas (fr.
+_jaksh_, to eat)." Monier Williams's "Sanskrit Dictionary," p. 801. In
+character the Yaga often resembles a Rakshasi.
+
+[161] Afanasief, i. No. 3 b. From the Voroneje Government.
+
+[162] Khudyakof, No. 60.
+
+[163] See Grimm, _KM._ iii. 97-8. Cf. R. Koehler in "Orient und
+Occident," ii. 112.
+
+[164] Grimm, No. 79. "Die Wassernixe."
+
+[165] Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 14. Dasent, p. 362. "The Widow's Son."
+
+[166] Hahn, No. 1.
+
+[167] Campbell's "Tales of the West Highlands," No. 2.
+
+[168] Toeppen's "Aberglauben aus Masuren," p. 146.
+
+[169] Miss Frere's "Old Deccan Days," p. 63.
+
+[170] "Kathasaritsagara," vii. ch. xxxix. Translated by Wilson,
+"Essays," ii. 137. Cf. Brockhaus in the previously quoted "Berichte,"
+1861, p. 225-9. For other forms, see R. Koehler in "Orient and
+Occident," vol. ii. p. 112.
+
+[171] See, however, Mr. Campbell's remarks on this subject, in "Tales
+of the West Highlands," i. pp. lxxvii-lxxxi.
+
+[172] Afanasief, viii. No. 6.
+
+[173] See the third tale, of the "Siddhi Kuer," Juelg's "Kalm. Maerchen,"
+pp. 17-19.
+
+[174] Schleicher's "Litauische Maerchen," No. 39. (I have given an
+analysis of the story in the "Songs of the Russian People," p. 101.)
+In the variant of the story in No. 38, the comrades are the hero
+Martin, a smith, and a tailor. Their supernatural foe is a small gnome
+with a very long beard. He closely resembles the German "Erdmaenneken"
+(Grimm, No. 91), and the "Maennchen," in "Der starke Hans" (Grimm, No.
+166.)
+
+[175] Hahn, No. 11. Schleicher, No. 20, &c., &c.
+
+[176] Wenzig, No. 2.
+
+[177] "Tales of the West Highlands," ii. p. 15. Mr. Campbell says "I
+believe such a mode of torture can be traced amongst the
+Scandinavians, who once owned the Western Islands." But the Gaelic
+"Binding of the Three Smalls," is unknown to the Skazkas.
+
+[178] Erlenvein, No. 3.
+
+[179] Afanasief, vii. No. 30.
+
+[180] Khudyakof, No. 97.
+
+[181] Khudyakof, No. 14. Erlenvein, No. 9.
+
+[182] Afanasief, iv. No. 44.
+
+[183] The first _krasavitsa_ or beauty.
+
+[184] _Chulanchik._ The _chulan_ is a kind of closet, generally used
+as a storeroom for provisions, &c.
+
+[185] _Prigovarivaya_, the word generally used to express the action
+of a person who utters a charm accompanied by a gesture of the hand or
+finger.
+
+[186] Became a _nevyesta_, a word meaning "a marriageable maiden," or
+"a betrothed girl," or "a bride."
+
+[187] _Ishbushka_, a little _izba_ or cottage.
+
+[188] "Phu, Phu! there is a Russian smell!" the equivalent of our own
+"Fee, faw, fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman!"
+
+[189] _Luchina_, a deal splinter used instead of a candle.
+
+[190] _Chernushka_, a sort of wild pea.
+
+[191] _Krasnoe solnuischko_, red (or fair) dear-sun.
+
+[192] Equivalent to saying "she liked to wash her dirty linen at
+home."
+
+[193] I break off the narrative at this point, because what follows is
+inferior in dramatic interest, and I am afraid of diminishing the
+reader's admiration for one of the best folk-tales I know. But I give
+an epitome of the remainder within brackets and in small type.
+
+[194] From the Poltava Government. Afanasief, vi. No. 28 _b_.
+
+[195] Grimm, No. 65. The Wallachian and Lithuanian forms resemble the
+German (Schott, No. 3. Schleicher, No. 7). In all of them, the heroine
+is a princess, who runs away from an unnatural father. In one of the
+Modern Greek versions (Hahn, No. 27), she sinks into the earth. For
+references to seven other forms of the story, see Grimm, _KM._, iii.
+p. 116. In one Russian variant (Khudyakof, No. 54), she hides in a
+secret drawer, constructed for the purpose in a bedstead; in another
+(Afanasief, vi. No. 28 _a_), her father, not recognising her in the
+pig-skin dress, spits at her, and turns her out of the house. In a
+third, which is of a very repulsive character (ibid. vii. No. 29), the
+father kills his daughter.
+
+[196] Afanasief, vi. No. 18.
+
+[197] The Russian word is _zakukovali_, _i.e._, "They began to
+cuckoo." The resemblance between the word _kukla_, a puppet, and the
+name and cry of the cuckoo (_Kukushka_) may be merely accidental, but
+that bird has a marked mythological character. See the account of the
+rite called "the Christening of the Cuckoos," in "Songs of the Russian
+people," p. 215.
+
+[198] Very like these puppets are the images which reply for the
+sleeping prince in the opening scene of "De beiden Kuenigeskinner"
+(Grimm, No. 113). A doll plays an important part in one of
+Straparola's stories (Night v. Fable 2). Professor de Gubernatis
+identifies the Russian puppet with "the moon, the Vedic Raka, very
+small, but very intelligent, enclosed in the wooden dress, in the
+forest of night," "Zoological Mythology," i. 207-8.
+
+[199] Afanasief, ii. No. 31.
+
+[200] Khudyakof, No. 55.
+
+[201] Ibid., No. 83.
+
+[202] Wojcicki's "Polnische Volkssagen," &c. Lewestam's translation,
+iii. No. 8.
+
+[203] The germ of all these repulsive stories about incestuous unions,
+proposed but not carried out, was probably a nature myth akin to that
+alluded to in the passage of the Rigveda containing the dialogue
+between Yama and Yami--"where she (the night) implores her brother
+(the day) to make her his wife, and where he declines her offer
+because, as he says, 'they have called it sin that a brother should
+marry his sister.'" Max Mueller, "Lectures," sixth edition, ii. 557.
+
+[204] Afanasief, vii. No. 18.
+
+[205] Her name _Vyed'ma_ comes from a Slavonic root _ved_, answering
+to the Sanskrit _vid_--from which springs an immense family of words
+having reference to knowledge. _Vyed'ma_ and _witch_ are in fact
+cousins who, though very distantly related, closely resemble each
+other both in appearance and in character.
+
+[206] Afanasief, i. No. 4 _a_. From the Voroneje Government.
+
+[207] Ivashko and Ivashechko, are caressing diminutives of Ivan.
+
+[208] "Some storytellers," says Afanasief, "substitute the word snake
+(_zmei_) in the Skazka for that of witch (_vyed'ma_)."
+
+[209] Diminutive of Elena.
+
+[210] _Gusi--lebedi_, geese--swans.
+
+[211] Afanasief, i. No. 4.
+
+[212] Kulish, ii. 17.
+
+[213] Khudyakof, No. 53.
+
+[214] Ibid. No. 52.
+
+[215] The demonism of Ceylon "represents demons as having _human_
+fathers and mothers, and as being born in the ordinary course of
+nature. Though born of human parents, all their qualities are
+different from those of men. They leave their parents sometime after
+their birth, but before doing so, they generally take care to try
+their demoniac powers on them." "Demonology and Witchcraft in Ceylon,"
+by Dandris de Silva Gooneratne Modliar. "Journal of Ceylon Branch of
+Royal Asiatic Society," 1865-6, p. 17.
+
+[216] Afanasief, vi. No. 57. From the Ukraine.
+
+[217] "Whither [his] eyes look."
+
+[218] Vertodub, the Tree-extractor (_vertyet'_ = to twirl, _dub_ =
+tree or oak) is the German _Baumdreher_ or _Holzkrummacher_;
+_Vertogor_ the Mountain leveller (_gora_ = mountain) answers to the
+_Steinzerreiber_ or _Felsenkripperer_.
+
+[219] Why are you just now so _zaplakannoi_ or blubbered.
+(_Zalplakat'_, or _plakat'_ = to cry.)
+
+[220] _Otkuda ni vzyalis._
+
+[221] _Vidimo--nevidimo_, visibly--invisibly.
+
+[222] _Zashumyeli_, they began to produce a _shum_ or noise.
+
+[223] Afanasief, _P.V.S._, i. 80-84. In the Albanian story of "The
+Serpent Child," (Hahn, No. 100), the heroine, the wife of the man whom
+forty snake-sloughs encase, is assisted in her troubles by two
+subterranean beings whom she finds employed in baking. They use their
+hands instead of shovels, and clean out the oven with their breasts.
+They are called "Sisters of the Sun."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+MYTHOLOGICAL.
+
+_Miscellaneous Impersonifications._
+
+
+Somewhat resembling the picture usually drawn of the supernatural
+Witch in the Skazkas, is that which some of them offer of a
+personification of evil called Likho.[224] The following story,
+belonging to the familiar Polyphemus-cycle, will serve to convey an
+idea of this baleful being, who in it takes a female form.
+
+
+  ONE-EYED LIKHO.[224]
+
+  Once upon a time there was a smith. "Well now," says
+  he, "I've never set eyes on any harm. They say there's evil
+  (_likho_)[225] in the world. I'll go and seek me out evil." So he
+  went and had a goodish drink, and then started in search of
+  evil. On the way he met a tailor.
+
+  "Good day," says the Tailor.
+
+  "Good day."
+
+  "Where are you going?" asks the Tailor.
+
+  "Well, brother, everybody says there is evil on earth. But
+  I've never seen any, so I'm going to look for it."
+
+  "Let's go together. I'm a thriving man, too, and have seen
+  no evil; let's go and have a hunt for some."
+
+  Well, they walked and walked till they reached a dark, dense
+  forest. In it they found a small path, and along it they went--along
+  the narrow path. They walked and walked along the path,
+  and at last they saw a large cottage standing before them. It
+  was night; there was nowhere else to go to. "Look here,"
+  they say, "let's go into that cottage." In they went. There
+  was nobody there. All looked bare and squalid. They sat
+  down, and remained sitting there some time. Presently in
+  came a tall woman, lank, crooked, with only one eye.
+
+  "Ah!" says she, "I've visitors. Good day to you."
+
+  "Good day, grandmother. We've come to pass the night
+  under your roof."
+
+  "Very good: I shall have something to sup on."
+
+  Thereupon they were greatly terrified. As for her, she went
+  and fetched a great heap of firewood. She brought in the heap
+  of firewood, flung it into the stove, and set it alight. Then she
+  went up to the two men, took one of them--the Tailor--cut his
+  throat, trussed him, and put him in the oven.
+
+  Meantime the Smith sat there, thinking, "What's to be done?
+  how's one to save one's life?" When she had finished her
+  supper, the Smith looked at the oven and said:
+
+  "Granny, I'm a smith."
+
+  "What can you forge?"
+
+  "Anything."
+
+  "Make me an eye."
+
+  "Good," says he; "but have you got any cord? I must
+  tie you up, or you won't keep still. I shall have to hammer
+  your eye in."
+
+  She went and fetched two cords, one rather thin, the other
+  thicker. Well, he bound her with the one which was thinnest.
+
+  "Now then, granny," says he, "just turn over." She turned
+  over, and broke the cord.
+
+  "That won't do, granny," says he; "that cord doesn't suit."
+
+  He took the thick cord, and tied her up with it famously.
+
+  "Now then, turn away, granny!" says he. She turned and
+  twisted, but didn't break the cord. Then he took an awl, heated
+  it red-hot, and applied it to her eye--her sound one. At
+  the same moment he caught up a hatchet, and hammered away
+  vigorously with the back of it at the awl. She struggled like
+  anything, and broke the cord; then she went and sat down at
+  the threshold.
+
+  "Ah, villain!" she cried. "You sha'n't get away from me
+  now!"
+
+  He saw that he was in an evil plight again. There he sat,
+  thinking, "What's to be done?"
+
+  By-and-by the sheep came home from afield, and she drove
+  them into her cottage for the night. Well, the Smith spent the
+  night there, too. In the morning she got up to let the sheep
+  out. He took his sheep-skin pelisse and turned it inside out
+  so that the wool was outside, passed his arms through its
+  sleeves, and pulled it well over him, and crept up to her as
+  he had been a sheep. She let the flock go out one at a time,
+  catching hold of each by the wool on its back, and shoving it
+  out. Well, he came creeping up like the rest. She caught
+  hold of the wool on his back and shoved him out. But as
+  soon as she had shoved him out, he stood up and cried:
+
+  "Farewell, Likho! I have suffered much evil (_likha_) at your
+  hands. Now you can do nothing to me."
+
+  "Wait a bit!" she replied; "you shall endure still more.
+  You haven't escaped yet!"
+
+  The Smith went back through the forest along the narrow
+  path. Presently he saw a golden-handled hatchet sticking in a
+  tree, and he felt a strong desire to seize it. Well, he did seize
+  that hatchet, and his hand stuck fast to it. What was to be
+  done? There was no freeing it anyhow. He gave a look behind
+  him. There was Likho coming after him, and crying:
+
+  "There you are, villain! you've not got off yet!"
+
+  The Smith pulled out a small knife which he had in his
+  pocket, and began hacking away at his hand--cut it clean off
+  and ran away. When he reached his village, he immediately
+  began to show his arm as a proof that he had seen Likho at last.
+
+  "Look," says he, "that's the state of things. Here am I,"
+  says he, "without my hand. And as for my comrade, she's
+  eaten him up entirely."
+
+In a Little-Russian variant of this story, quoted by Afanasief,[226]
+(III. p. 137) a man, who often hears evil or misfortune (_likho_)
+spoken of, sets out in search of it. One day he sees an iron castle
+beside a wood, surrounded by a palisade of human bones tipped with
+skulls. He knocks at the door, and a voice cries "What do you want?"
+"I want evil," he replies. "That's what I'm looking for." "Evil is
+here," cries the voice. So in he goes, and finds a huge, blind giant
+lying within, stretched on a couch of human bones. "This was Likho
+(Evil)," says the story, "and around him were seated Zluidni (Woes)
+and Zhurba (Care)." Finding that Likho intends to eat him, the
+misfortune-seeker takes to flight. Likho hears the iron doors creak,
+and cries to them to stop the fugitive. "But he had already passed out
+of doors. Only he lost his right hand, on which the door slammed:
+whereupon he exclaimed 'Here's misfortune, sure enough!'"
+
+The opening of the story of Likho is somewhat similar to that of one
+of the tales of Indian origin translated by Stanislas Julien from the
+Chinese. Once upon a time, we are told, a king grew weary of good
+fortune, so he sent messengers in search of misfortune. It a certain
+god sold to them, in the shape of a sow which devoured a peck of
+needles a day. The king's agents took to worrying his subjects for
+needles, and brought such trouble upon the whole kingdom, that his
+ministers entreated him to have the beast put to death. He consented,
+and it was led forth to die. But neither knife nor axe could penetrate
+its hide, so they tried to consume it with fire. After a time it
+became red-hot, and then it leaped out from amid the flames, and
+dashed about setting fire to all manner of things. The conflagration
+spread and was followed by famine, so that the whole land was involved
+in ruin.[227]
+
+The Polyphemus story has been so thoroughly investigated by Wilhelm
+Grimm,[228] that there is no occasion to dwell upon it here. But the
+following statement is worthy of notice. The inhabitants of the
+Ukraine are said still to retain some recollection of the one-eyed
+nation of Arimaspians of whom Herodotus speaks (Bk. IV. c. 27).
+According to them the One-Eyes[229] dwell somewhere far off, beyond
+the seas. The Tartars, during their inroads, used to burn towns and
+villages, kill old folks and infants, and carry off young people. The
+plumpest of these they used to sell to cannibals who had but one eye
+apiece, situated in the forehead. And the cannibals would drive away
+their purchases, like sheep, to their own land, and there fatten them
+up, kill them, and eat them. A similar tradition, says Afanasief
+(VIII. 260) exists also among the Ural Cossacks.
+
+While on the subject of eyes, it may be remarked that the story of
+"One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes," rendered so familiar to juvenile
+English readers by translations from the German,[230] appears among
+the Russian tales in a very archaic and heathenish form. Here is the
+outline of a version of it found in the Archangel Government.[231]
+There once was a Princess Marya, whose stepmother had two daughters,
+one of whom was three-eyed. Now her stepmother hated Marya, and used
+to send her out, with nothing to eat but a dry crust, to tend a cow
+all day. But "the princess went into the open field, bowed down before
+the cow's right foot, and got plenty to eat and to drink, and fine
+clothes to put on; all day long she followed the cow about dressed
+like a great lady--when the day came to a close, she again bowed down
+to the cow's right foot, took off her fine clothes, went home and laid
+on the table the crust of bread she had brought back with her."
+Wondering at this, her stepmother sent her two-eyed stepsister to
+watch her. But Marya uttered the words "Sleep, sleep, one-eye! sleep,
+sleep, other eye!" till the watcher fell asleep. Then the three-eyed
+sister was sent, and Marya by the same spell sent two of her eyes to
+sleep, but forgot the third. So all was found out, and the stepmother
+had the cow killed. But Marya persuaded her father, who acted as the
+butcher, to give her a part of the cow's entrails, which she buried
+near the threshold; and from it there sprang a bush covered with
+berries, and haunted by birds which sang "songs royal and rustic."
+After a time a Prince Ivan heard of Marya, so he came riding up, and
+offered to marry whichever of the three princesses could fill with
+berries from the bush a bowl which he brought with him. The
+stepmother's daughters tried to do so, but the birds almost pecked
+their eyes out, and would not let them gather the berries. Then
+Marya's turn came, and when she approached the bush the birds picked
+the berries for her, and filled the bowl in a trice. So she married
+the prince, and lived happily with him for a time.
+
+But after she had borne him a son, she went to pay a visit to her
+father, and her stepmother availed herself of the opportunity to turn
+her into a goose, and to set her own two-eyed daughter in her place.
+So Prince Ivan returned home with a false bride. But a certain old man
+took out the infant prince afield, and there his mother appeared,
+flung aside her feather-covering, and suckled the babe, exclaiming the
+while with tears--
+
+"To-day I suckle thee, to-morrow I shall suckle thee, but on the third
+day I shall fly away beyond the dark forests, beyond the high
+mountains!"
+
+This occurred on two successive days, but on the second occasion
+Prince Ivan was a witness of what took place, and he seized her
+feather-dress and burnt it, and then laid hold of her. She first
+turned into a frog, then assumed various reptile forms, and finally
+became a spindle. This he broke in two, and flung one half in front
+and the other behind him, and the spell was broken along with it. So
+he regained his wife and went home with her. But as for the false
+wife, he took a gun and shot her.
+
+We will now return to the stories in which Harm or Misery figures as
+a living agent. To Likho is always attributed a character of
+unmitigated malevolence, and a similar disposition is ascribed by the
+songs of the people to another being in whom the idea of misfortune is
+personified. This is _Gore_, or Woe, who is frequently represented in
+popular poetry--sometimes under the name of _Beda_ or Misery--as
+chasing and ultimately destroying the unhappy victims of destiny. In
+vain do the fugitives attempt to escape. If they enter the dark
+forest, Woe follows them there; if they rush to the pot-house, there
+they find Woe sitting; when they seek refuge in the grave, Woe stands
+over it with a shovel and rejoices.[232] In the following story,
+however, the gloomy figure of Woe has been painted in a less than
+usually sombre tone.
+
+
+  WOE.[233]
+
+  In a certain village there lived two peasants, two brothers: one
+  of them poor, the other rich. The rich one went away to live
+  in a town, built himself a large house, and enrolled himself
+  among the traders. Meanwhile the poor man sometimes had
+  not so much as a morsel of bread, and his children--each one
+  smaller than the other--were crying and begging for food.
+  From morning till night the peasant would struggle, like a fish
+  trying to break through ice, but nothing came of it all. At last
+  one day he said to his wife:
+
+  "Suppose I go to town, and ask my brother whether he won't
+  do something to help us."
+
+  So he went to the rich man and said:
+
+  "Ah, brother mine! do help me a bit in my trouble. My
+  wife and children are without bread. They have to go whole
+  days without eating."
+
+  "Work for me this week, then I'll help you," said his brother.
+
+  What was there to be done! The poor man betook himself
+  to work, swept out the yard, cleaned the horses, fetched water,
+  chopped firewood.
+
+  At the end of the week the rich man gave him a loaf of bread,
+  and says:
+
+  "There's for your work!"
+
+  "Thank you all the same," dolefully said the poor man,
+  making his bow and preparing to go home.
+
+  "Stop a bit! come and dine with me to-morrow, and bring
+  your wife, too: to-morrow is my name-day, you know."
+
+  "Ah, brother! how can I? you know very well you'll
+  be having merchants coming to you in boots and pelisses,
+  but I have to go about in bast shoes and a miserable old grey
+  caftan."
+
+  "No matter, come! there will be room even for you."
+
+  "Very well, brother! I'll come."
+
+  The poor man returned home, gave his wife the loaf, and
+  said:
+
+  "Listen, wife! we're invited to a party to-morrow."
+
+  "What do you mean by a party? who's invited us?"
+
+  "My brother! he keeps his name-day to-morrow."
+
+  "Well, well! let's go."
+
+  Next day they got up and went to the town, came to the rich
+  man's house, offered him their congratulations, and sat down on
+  a bench. A number of the name-day guests were already seated
+  at table. All of these the host feasted gloriously, but he forgot
+  even so much as to think of his poor brother and his wife; not
+  a thing did he offer them; they had to sit and merely look on
+  at the others eating and drinking.
+
+  The dinner came to an end; the guests rose from table,
+  and expressed their thanks to their host and hostess; and the
+  poor man did likewise, got up from his bench, and bowed down
+  to his girdle before his brother. The guests drove off homewards,
+  full of drink and merriment, shouting, singing songs. But
+  the poor man had to walk back empty.
+
+  "Suppose we sing a song, too," he says to his wife.
+
+  "What a fool you are!" says she, "people sing because
+  they've made a good meal and had lots to drink; but why ever
+  should you dream of singing?"
+
+  "Well, at all events, I've been at my brother's name-day
+  party. I'm ashamed of trudging along without singing. If I
+  sing, everybody will think I've been feasted like the rest."
+
+  "Sing away, then, if you like; but I won't!"
+
+  The peasant began a song. Presently he heard a voice
+  joining in it. So he stopped, and asked his wife:
+
+  "Is it you that's helping me to sing with that thin little
+  voice?"
+
+  "What are you thinking about! I never even dreamt of
+  such a thing."
+
+  "Who is it, then?"
+
+  "I don't know," said the woman. "But now, sing away,
+  and I'll listen."
+
+  He began his song again. There was only one person singing,
+  yet two voices could be heard. So he stopped, and asked:
+
+  "Woe, is that you that's helping me to sing?"
+
+  "Yes, master," answered Woe: "it's I that's helping you."
+
+  "Well then, Woe! let's all go on together."
+
+  "Very good, master! I'll never depart from you now."
+
+  When the peasant got home, Woe bid him to the _kabak_ or
+  pot-house.
+
+  "I've no money," says the man.
+
+  "Out upon you, moujik! What do you want money for? why
+  you've got on a sheep-skin jacket. What's the good of that? It
+  will soon be summer; anyhow you won't be wanting to wear it.
+  Off with the jacket, and to the pot-house we'll go."
+
+  So the peasant went with Woe into the pot-house, and they
+  drank the sheep-skin away.
+
+  The next day Woe began groaning--its head ached from
+  yesterday's drinking--and again bade the master of the house
+  have a drink.
+
+  "I've no money," said the peasant.
+
+  "What do we want money for? Take the cart and the
+  sledge; we've plenty without them."
+
+  There was nothing to be done; the peasant could not shake
+  himself free from Woe. So he took the cart and the sledge,
+  dragged them to the pot-house, and there he and Woe drank them
+  away. Next morning Woe began groaning more than ever, and
+  invited the master of the house to go and drink off the effects
+  of the debauch. This time the peasant drank away his plough
+  and his harrow.
+
+  A month hadn't passed before he had got rid of everything
+  he possessed. Even his very cottage he pledged to a neighbor,
+  and the money he got that way he took to the pot-house.
+
+  Yet another time did Woe come close beside him and say:
+
+  "Let us go, let us go to the pot-house!"
+
+  "No, no, Woe! it's all very well, but there's nothing more
+  to be squeezed out."
+
+  "How can you say that? Your wife has got two petticoats:
+  leave her one, but the other we must turn into drink."
+
+  The peasant took the petticoat, drank it away, and said to
+  himself:
+
+  "We're cleaned out at last, my wife as well as myself. Not
+  a stick nor a stone is left!"
+
+  Next morning Woe saw, on waking, that there was nothing
+  more to be got out of the peasant, so it said:
+
+  "Master!"
+
+  "Well, Woe?"
+
+  "Why, look here. Go to your neighbor, and ask him to
+  lend you a cart and a pair of oxen."
+
+  The peasant went to the neighbor's.
+
+  "Be so good as to lend me a cart and a pair of oxen for a
+  short time," says he. "I'll do a week's work for you in return."
+
+  "But what do you want them for?"
+
+  "To go to the forest for firewood."
+
+  "Well then, take them; only don't overburthen them."
+
+  "How could you think of such a thing, kind friend!"
+
+  So he brought the pair of oxen, and Woe got into the cart
+  with him, and away he drove into the open plain.
+
+  "Master!" asks Woe, "do you know the big stone on this
+  plain?"
+
+  "Of course I do."
+
+  "Well then if you know it, drive straight up to it."
+
+  They came to the place where it was, stopped, and got out
+  of the cart. Woe told the peasant to lift the stone; the peasant
+  lifted it, Woe helping him. Well, when they had lifted it there
+  was a pit underneath chock full of gold.
+
+  "Now then, what are you staring at!" said Woe to the
+  peasant, "be quick and pitch it into the cart."
+
+  The peasant set to work and filled the cart with gold;
+  cleared the pit to the very last ducat. When he saw there was
+  nothing more left:
+
+  "Just give a look, Woe," he said; "isn't there some money
+  left in there?"
+
+  "Where?" said Woe, bending down; "I can't see a thing."
+
+  "Why there; something is shining in yon corner!"
+
+  "No, I can't see anything," said Woe.
+
+  "Get into the pit; you'll see it then."
+
+  Woe jumped in: no sooner had it got there than the peasant
+  closed the mouth of the pit with the stone.
+
+  "Things will be much better like that," said the peasant:
+  "if I were to take you home with me, O Woeful Woe, sooner
+  or later you'd be sure to drink away all this money, too!"
+
+  The peasant got home, shovelled the money into his cellar,
+  took the oxen back to his neighbor, and set about considering
+  how he should manage. It ended in his buying a wood, building
+  a large homestead, and becoming twice as rich as his
+  brother.
+
+  After a time he went into the town to invite his brother and
+  sister-in-law to spend his name-day with him.
+
+  "What an idea!" said his rich brother: "you haven't a
+  thing to eat, and yet you ask people to spend your name-day
+  with you!"
+
+  "Well, there was a time when I had nothing to eat, but
+  now, thank God! I've as much as you. If you come, you'll see
+  for yourself."
+
+  "So be it! I'll come," said his brother.
+
+  Next day the rich brother and his wife got ready, and went
+  to the name-day party. They could see that the former beggar
+  had got a new house, a lofty one, such as few merchants had!
+  And the moujik treated them hospitably, regaled them with all
+  sorts of dishes, gave them all sorts of meads and spirits to
+  drink. At length the rich man asked his brother:
+
+  "Do tell me by what good luck have you grown rich?"
+
+  The peasant made a clean breast of everything--how Woe
+  the Woeful had attached itself to him, how he and Woe had
+  drunk away all that he had, to the very last thread, so that the
+  only thing that was left him was the soul in his body. How
+  Woe showed him a treasure in the open field, how he took that
+  treasure, and freed himself from Woe into the bargain. The
+  rich man became envious.
+
+  "Suppose I go to the open field," thinks he, "and lift up the
+  stone and let Woe out. Of a surety it will utterly destroy my
+  brother, and then he will no longer brag of his riches before me!"
+
+  So he sent his wife home, but he himself hastened into the
+  plain. When he came to the big stone, he pushed it aside, and
+  knelt down to see what was under it. Before he had managed
+  to get his head down low enough, Woe had already leapt out
+  and seated itself on his shoulders.
+
+  "Ha!" it cried, "you wanted to starve me to death in here!
+  No, no! Now will I never on any account depart from you."
+
+  "Only hear me, Woe!" said the merchant: "it wasn't I at
+  all who put you under the stone."
+
+  "Who was it then, if it wasn't you?"
+
+  "It was my brother put you there, but I came on purpose to
+  let you out."
+
+  "No, no! that's a lie. You tricked me once; you shan't
+  trick me a second time!"
+
+  Woe gripped the rich merchant tight by the neck; the man
+  had to carry it home, and there everything began to go wrong
+  with him. From the very first day Woe began again to play
+  its usual part, every day it called on the merchant to renew his
+  drinking.[234] Many were the valuables which went in the pot-house.
+
+  "Impossible to go on living like this!" says the merchant to
+  himself. "Surely I've made sport enough for Woe! It's time
+  to get rid of it--but how?"
+
+  He thought and thought, and hit on an idea. Going into the
+  large yard, he cut two oaken wedges, took a new wheel, and
+  drove a wedge firmly into one end of its axle-box. Then he
+  went to where Woe was:
+
+  "Hallo, Woe! why are you always idly sprawling there?"
+
+  "Why, what is there left for me to do?"
+
+  "What is there to do! let's go into the yard and play at
+  hide-and-seek."
+
+  Woe liked the idea. Out they went into the yard. First
+  the merchant hid himself; Woe found him immediately. Then
+  it was Woe's turn to hide.
+
+  "Now then," says Woe, "you won't find me in a hurry!
+  There isn't a chink I can't get into!"
+
+  "Get along with you!" answered the merchant. "Why you
+  couldn't creep into that wheel there, and yet you talk about
+  chinks!"
+
+  "I can't creep into that wheel? See if I don't go clean out
+  of sight in it!"
+
+  Woe slipped into the wheel; the merchant caught up the
+  oaken wedge, and drove it into the axle-box from the other
+  side. Then he seized the wheel and flung it, with Woe in it,
+  into the river. Woe was drowned, and the merchant began to
+  live again as he had been wont to do of old.
+
+In a variant of this story found in the Tula Government we have, in
+the place of woe, _Nuzhda_, or Need. The poor brother and his wife are
+returning home disconsolately from a party given by the rich brother
+in honor of his son's marriage. But a draught of water which they take
+by the way gets into their heads, and they set up a song.
+
+"There are two of them singing (says the story), but three voices
+prolong the strain.
+
+"'Whoever is that?' say they.
+
+"'Thy Need,' answers some one or other.
+
+"'What, my good mother Need!'
+
+"So saying the man laid hold of her, and took her down from his
+shoulders--for she was sitting on them. And he found a horse's head
+and put her inside it, and flung it into a swamp. And afterwards he
+began to lead a new life--impossible to live more prosperously."
+
+Of course the rich brother becomes envious and takes Need out of the
+swamp, whereupon she clings to him so tightly that he cannot get rid
+of her, and he becomes utterly ruined.[235]
+
+In another story, from the Viatka Government, the poor man is invited
+to a house-warming at his rich brother's, but he has no present to
+take with him.
+
+"We might borrow, but who would trust us?" says he.
+
+"Why there's Need!" replies his wife with a bitter laugh. "Perhaps
+she'll make us a present. Surely we've lived on friendly terms with
+her for an age!"
+
+"Take the feast-day sarafan,"[236] cries Need from behind the stove;
+"and with the money you get for it buy a ham and take it to your
+brother's."
+
+"Have you been living here long, Need?" asks the moujik.
+
+"Yes, ever since you and your brother separated."
+
+"And have you been comfortable here?"
+
+"Thanks be to God, I get on tolerably!"
+
+The moujik follows the advice of Need, but meets with a cold reception
+at his brother's. On returning sadly home he finds a horse standing by
+the road side, with a couple of bags slung across its back. He strikes
+it with his glove, and it disappears, leaving behind it the bags,
+which turn out to be full of gold. This he gathers up, and then goes
+indoors. After finding out from his wife where she has taken up her
+quarters for the night, he says:
+
+"And where are you, Need?"
+
+"In the pitcher which stands on the stove."
+
+After a time the moujik asks his wife if she is asleep. "Not yet,"
+she replies. Then he puts the same question to Need, who gives no
+answer, having gone to sleep. So he takes his wife's last sarafan,
+wraps up the pitcher in it, and flings the bundle into an
+ice-hole.[237]
+
+In one of the "chap-book" stories (a _lubochnaya skazka_), a poor man
+"obtained a crust of bread and took it home to provide his wife and
+boy with a meal, but just as he was beginning to cut it, suddenly out
+from behind the stove jumped Kruchina,[238] snatched the crust from
+his hands, and fled back again behind the stove. Then the old man
+began to bow down before Kruchina and to beseech him[239] to give back
+the bread, seeing that he and his had nothing to eat. Thereupon
+Kruchina replied, "I will not give you back your crust, but in return
+for it I will make you a present of a duck which will lay a golden egg
+every day," and kept his word.[240]
+
+In Little-Russia the peasantry believe in the existence of small
+beings, of vaguely defined form, called _Zluidni_ who bring _zlo_ or
+evil to every habitation in which they take up their quarters. "May
+the Zluidni strike him!" is a Little-Russian curse, and "The Zluidni
+have got leave for three days; not in three years will you get rid of
+them!" is a White-Russian proverb. In a Little-Russian skazka a poor
+man catches a fish and takes it as a present to his rich brother, who
+says, "A splendid fish! thank you, brother, thank you!" but evinces no
+other sign of gratitude. On his way home the poor man meets an old
+stranger and tells him his story--how he had taken his brother a fish
+and had got nothing in return but a "thank ye."
+
+"How!" cries the old man. "A _spasibo_[241] is no small thing. Sell it
+to me!"
+
+"How can one sell it?" replies the moujik. "Take it pray, as a
+present!"
+
+"So the _spasibo_ is mine!" says the old man, and disappears, leaving
+in the peasant's hands a purse full of gold.
+
+The peasant grows rich, and moves into another house. After a time his
+wife says to him--
+
+"We've been wrong, Ivan, in leaving our mill-stones in the old house.
+They nourished us, you see, when we were poor; but now, when they're
+no longer necessary to us, we've quite forgotten them!"
+
+"Right you are," replies Ivan, and sets off to fetch them. When he
+reaches his old dwelling, he hears a voice saying--
+
+"A bad fellow, that Ivan! now he's rich, he's abandoned us!"
+
+"Who are you?" asks Ivan. "I don't know you a bit."
+
+"Not know us! you've forgotten our faithful service, it seems! Why,
+we're your Zluidni!"
+
+"God be with you!" says he. "I don't want you!"
+
+"No, no! we will never part from you now!"
+
+"Wait a bit!" thinks Ivan, and then continues aloud, "Very good, I'll
+take you; but only on condition that you bring home my mill-stones for
+me."
+
+So he laid the mill-stones on their backs, and made them go on in
+front of him. They all had to pass along a bridge over a deep river;
+the moujik managed to give the Zluidni a shove, and over they went,
+mill-stones and all, and sank straight to the bottom.[242]
+
+There is a very curious Servian story of two brothers, one of whom is
+industrious and unlucky, and the other idle and prosperous. The poor
+brother one day sees a flock of sheep, and near them a fair maiden
+spinning a golden thread.
+
+"Whose sheep are these?" he asks.
+
+"The sheep are his whose I myself am," she replies.
+
+"And whose art thou?" he asks.
+
+"I am thy brother's Luck," she answers.
+
+"But where is my Luck?" he continues
+
+"Far away from thee is thy Luck," she replies.
+
+"But can I find her?" he asks.
+
+"Thou canst; go and seek her," she replies.
+
+So the poor man wanders away in search of her. One day he sees a
+grey-haired old woman asleep under an oak in a great forest, who
+proves to be his Luck. He asks who it is that has given him such a
+poor Luck, and is told that it is Fate. So he goes in search of Fate.
+When he finds her, she is living at ease in a large house, but day by
+day her riches wane and her house contracts. She explains to her
+visitor that her condition at any given hour affects the whole lives
+of all children born at that time, and that he had come into the world
+at a most unpropitious moment; and she advises him to take his niece
+Militsa (who had been born at a lucky time) to live in his house, and
+to call all he might acquire her property. This advice he follows, and
+all goes well with him. One day, as he is gazing at a splendid field
+of corn, a stranger asks him to whom it belongs. In a forgetful moment
+he replies, "It is mine," and immediately the whole crop begins to
+burn. He runs after the stranger and cries, "Stop, brother! that field
+isn't mine, but my niece Militsa's," whereupon the fire goes out and
+the crop is saved.[243]
+
+On this idea of a personal Fortune is founded the quaint opening of
+one of the Russian stories. A certain peasant, known as Ivan the
+Unlucky, in despair at his constant want of success, goes to the king
+for advice. The king lays the matter before "his nobles and generals,"
+but they can make nothing of it. At last the king's daughter enters
+the council chamber and says, "This is my opinion, my father. If he
+were to be married, the Lord might allot him another sort of Fortune."
+The king flies into a passion and exclaims:
+
+"Since you've settled the question better than all of us, go and marry
+him yourself!"
+
+The marriage takes place, and brings Ivan good luck along with
+it.[244]
+
+Similar references to a man's good or bad luck frequently occur in
+the skazkas. Thus in one of them (from the Grodno Government) a poor
+man meets "two ladies (_pannui_), and those ladies are--the one
+Fortune and the other Misfortune."[245] He tells them how poor he is,
+and they agree that it will be well to bestow something on him. "Since
+he is one of yours," says Luck, "do you make him a present." At length
+they take out ten roubles and give them to him. He hides the money in
+a pot, and his wife gives it away to a neighbor. Again they assist
+him, giving him twenty roubles, and again his wife gives them away
+unwittingly. Then the ladies bestow on him two farthings (_groshi_),
+telling him to give them to fishermen, and bid them make a cast "for
+his luck." He obeys, and the result is the capture of a fish which
+brings him in wealth.[246]
+
+In another story[247] a young man, the son of a wealthy merchant, is
+so unlucky that nothing will prosper with him. Having lost all that
+his father has left him, he hires himself out, first as a laborer,
+then as a herdsman. But as, in each capacity, he involves his masters
+in heavy losses, he soon finds himself without employment. Then he
+tries another country, in which the king gives him a post as a sort of
+stoker in the royal distillery, which he soon all but burns down. The
+king is at first bent upon punishing him, but pardons him after
+hearing his sad tale. "He bestowed on him the name of Luckless,[248]
+and gave orders that a stamp should be set on his forehead, that no
+tolls or taxes should be demanded from him, and that wherever he
+appeared he should be given free board and lodging, but that he should
+never be allowed to stop more than twenty-four hours in any one
+place." These orders are obeyed, and wherever Luckless goes, "nobody
+ever asks him for his billet or his passport, but they give him food
+to eat, and liquor to drink, and a place to spend the night in; and
+next morning they take him by the scruff of the neck and turn him out
+of doors."[249]
+
+We will now turn from the forms under which popular fiction has
+embodied some of the ideas connected with Fortune and Misfortune, to
+another strange group of figures--the personifications of certain days
+of the week. Of these, by far the most important is that of Friday.
+
+The Russian name for that day, _Pyatnitsa_,[250] has no such
+mythological significance as have our own Friday and the French
+_Vendredi_. But the day was undoubtedly consecrated by the old
+Slavonians to some goddess akin to Venus or Freyja, and her worship in
+ancient times accounts for the superstitions now connected with the
+name of Friday. According to Afanasief,[251] the Carinthian name for
+the day, _Sibne dan_, is a clear proof that it was once holy to Siva,
+the Lithuanian Seewa, the Slavonic goddess answering to Ceres. In
+Christian times the personality of the goddess (by whatever name she
+may have been known) to whom Friday was consecrated became merged in
+that of St. Prascovia, and she is now frequently addressed by the
+compound name of "Mother Pyatnitsa-Prascovia." As she is supposed to
+wander about the houses of the peasants on her holy day, and to be
+offended if she finds certain kinds of work going on, they are (or at
+least they used to be) frequently suspended on Fridays. It is a sin,
+says a time-honored tradition, for a woman to sew, or spin, or weave,
+or buck linen on a Friday, and similarly for a man to plait bast
+shoes, twine cord, and the like. Spinning and weaving are especially
+obnoxious to "Mother Friday," for the dust and refuse thus produced
+injure her eyes. When this takes place, she revenges herself by
+plagues of sore-eyes, whitlows and agnails. In some places the
+villagers go to bed early on Friday evening, believing that "St.
+Pyatinka" will punish all whom she finds awake when she roams through
+the cottage. In others they sweep their floors every Thursday evening,
+that she may not be annoyed by dust or the like when she comes next
+day. Sometimes, however, she has been seen, says the popular voice,
+"all pricked with the needles and pierced by the spindles" of the
+careless woman who sewed and spun on the day they ought to have kept
+holy in her honor. As for any work begun on a Friday, it is sure to go
+wrong.[252]
+
+These remarks will be sufficient to render intelligible the following
+story of--
+
+
+  FRIDAY.[253]
+
+  There was once a certain woman who did not pay due reverence
+  to Mother Friday, but set to work on a distaff-ful of flax,
+  combing and whirling it. She span away till dinner-time, then
+  suddenly sleep fell upon her--such a deep sleep! And when
+  she had gone to sleep, suddenly the door opened and in came
+  Mother Friday, before the eyes of all who were there, clad in a
+  white dress, and in such a rage! And she went straight up to
+  the woman who had been spinning, scooped up from the floor a
+  handful of the dust that had fallen out of the flax, and began stuffing
+  and stuffing that woman's eyes full of it! And when she had
+  stuffed them full, she went off in a rage--disappeared without
+  saying a word.
+
+  When the woman awoke, she began squalling at the top of
+  her voice about her eyes, but couldn't tell what was the matter
+  with them. The other women, who had been terribly frightened,
+  began to cry out:
+
+  "Oh, you wretch, you! you've brought a terrible punishment
+  on yourself from Mother Friday."
+
+  Then they told her all that had taken place. She listened to
+  it all, and then began imploringly:
+
+  "Mother Friday, forgive me! pardon me, the guilty one!
+  I'll offer thee a taper, and I'll never let friend or foe dishonor
+  thee, Mother!"
+
+  Well, what do you think? During the night, back came
+  Mother Friday and took the dust out of that woman's eyes, so
+  that she was able to get about again. It's a great sin to dishonor
+  Mother Friday--combing and spinning flax, forsooth!
+
+Very similar to this story is that about Wednesday which follows.
+Wednesday, the day consecrated to Odin, the eve of the day sacred to
+the Thundergod,[254] may also have been held holy by the heathen
+Slavonians, but to some commentators it appears more likely that the
+traditions now attached to it in Russia became transferred to it from
+Friday in Christian times--Wednesday and Friday having been associated
+by the Church as days sacred to the memory of Our Lord's passion and
+death. The Russian name for the day, _Sereda_ or _Sreda_, means "the
+middle," Wednesday being the middle of the working week.
+
+
+  WEDNESDAY.[255]
+
+  A young housewife was spinning late one evening. It was during
+  the night between a Tuesday and a Wednesday. She had
+  been left alone for a long time, and after midnight, when the
+  first cock crew, she began to think about going to bed, only she
+  would have liked to finish spinning what she had in hand. "Well,"
+  thinks she, "I'll get up a bit earlier in the morning, but just
+  now I want to go to sleep." So she laid down her hatchel--but
+  without crossing herself--and said:
+
+  "Now then, Mother Wednesday, lend me thy aid, that I may
+  get up early in the morning and finish my spinning." And then
+  she went to sleep.
+
+  Well, very early in the morning, long before it was light, she
+  heard some one moving, bustling about the room. She opened
+  her eyes and looked. The room was lighted up. A splinter of
+  fir was burning in the cresset, and the fire was lighted in the
+  stove. A woman, no longer young, wearing a white towel by
+  way of head-dress, was moving about the cottage, going to and
+  fro, supplying the stove with firewood, getting everything ready.
+  Presently she came up to the young woman, and roused her, saying,
+  "Get up!" The young woman got up, full of wonder, saying:
+
+  "But who art thou? What hast thou come here for?"
+
+  "I am she on whom thou didst call. I have come to thy aid."
+
+  "But who art thou? On whom did I call?"
+
+  "I am Wednesday. On Wednesday surely thou didst call.
+  See, I have spun thy linen and woven thy web: now let us bleach
+  it and set it in the oven. The oven is heated and the irons are
+  ready; do thou go down to the brook and draw water."
+
+  The woman was frightened, and thought: "What manner of
+  thing is this?" (or, "How can that be?") but Wednesday glared
+  at her angrily; her eyes just did sparkle!
+
+  So the woman took a couple of pails and went for water. As
+  soon as she was outside the door she thought: "Mayn't something
+  terrible happen to me? I'd better go to my neighbor's instead
+  of fetching the water." So she set off. The night was
+  dark. In the village all were still asleep. She reached a neighbor's
+  house, and rapped away at the window until at last she
+  made herself heard. An aged woman let her in.
+
+  "Why, child!" says the old crone; "whatever hast thou got
+  up so early for? What's the matter?"
+
+  "Oh, granny, this is how it was. Wednesday has come to me,
+  and has sent me for water to buck my linen with."
+
+  "That doesn't look well," says the old crone. "On that linen
+  she will either strangle thee or scald[256] thee."
+
+  The old woman was evidently well acquainted with Wednesday's
+  ways.
+
+  "What am I to do?" says the young woman. "How can I
+  escape from this danger?"
+
+  "Well, this is what thou must do. Go and beat thy pails together
+  in front of the house, and cry, 'Wednesday's children
+  have been burnt at sea!'[257] She will run out of the house, and
+  do thou be sure to seize the opportunity to get into it before she
+  comes back, and immediately slam the door to, and make the
+  sign of the cross over it. Then don't let her in, however much
+  she may threaten you or implore you, but sign a cross with your
+  hands, and draw one with a piece of chalk, and utter a prayer.
+  The Unclean Spirit will have to disappear."
+
+  Well, the young woman ran home, beat the pails together,
+  and cried out beneath the window:
+
+  "Wednesday's children have been burnt at sea!"
+
+  Wednesday rushed out of the house and ran to look, and the
+  woman sprang inside, shut the door, and set a cross upon it.
+  Wednesday came running back, and began crying: "Let me in,
+  my dear! I have spun thy linen; now will I bleach it." But the
+  woman would not listen to her, so Wednesday went on knocking
+  at the door until cock-crow. As soon as the cocks crew, she
+  uttered a shrill cry and disappeared. But the linen remained
+  where it was.[258]
+
+In one of the numerous legends which the Russian peasants hold in
+reverence, St. Petka or Friday appears among the other saints, and
+together with her is mentioned another canonized day, St. Nedelya or
+Sunday,[259] answering to the Greek St. Anastasia, to _Der heilige
+Sonntag_ of German peasant-hagiology. In some respects she resembles
+both Friday and Wednesday, sharing their views about spinning and
+weaving at unfitting seasons. Thus in Little-Russia she assures
+untimely spinners that it is not flax they are spinning, but her hair,
+and in proof of this she shows them her dishevelled _kosa_, or long
+back plait.
+
+In one of the Wallachian tales[260] the hero is assisted in his
+search after the dragon-stolen heroine by three supernatural
+females--the holy Mothers Friday, Wednesday, and Sunday. They replace
+the three benignant Baba Yagas of Russian stories. In another,[261]
+the same three beings assist the Wallachian Psyche when she is
+wandering in quest of her lost husband. Mother Sunday rules the animal
+world, and can collect her subjects by playing on a magic flute. She
+is represented as exercising authority over both birds and beasts, and
+in a Slovak story she bestows on the hero a magic horse. He has been
+sent by an unnatural mother in search of various things hard to be
+obtained, but he is assisted in the quest by St. Ned[)e]lka, who
+provides him with various magical implements, and lends him her own
+steed Tatoschik, and so enables him four times to escape from the
+perils to which he has been exposed by his mother, whose mind has been
+entirely corrupted by an insidious dragon. But after he has returned
+home in safety, his mother binds him as if in sport, and the dragon
+chops off his head and cuts his body to pieces. His mother retains his
+heart, but ties up the rest of him in a bundle, and sets it on
+Tatoschik's back. The steed carries its ghastly burden to St.
+Ned[)e]lka, who soon reanimates it, and the youth becomes as sound and
+vigorous as a young man without a heart can be. Then the saint sends
+him, under the disguise of a begging piper, to the castle in which his
+mother dwells, and instructs him how to get his heart back again. He
+succeeds, and carries it in his hand to St. Ned[)e]lka. She gives it
+to "the bird Pelekan (no mere Pelican, but a magic fowl with a very
+long and slim neck), which puts its head down the youth's throat, and
+restores his heart to its right place."[262]
+
+St. Friday and St. Wednesday appear to belong to that class of
+spiritual beings, sometimes of a demoniacal disposition, with which
+the imagination of the old Slavonians peopled the elements. Of several
+of these--such as the Domovoy or House-Spirit, the Rusalka or Naiad,
+and the Vodyany or Water-Sprite--I have written at some length
+elsewhere,[263] and therefore I will not at present quote any of the
+stories in which they figure. But, as a specimen of the class to which
+such tales as these belong, here is a skazka about one of the
+wood-sprites or Slavonic Satyrs, who are still believed by the
+peasants to haunt the forests of Russia. In it we see reduced to a
+vulgar form, and brought into accordance with everyday peasant-life,
+the myth which appears to have given rise to the endless stories about
+the theft and recovery of queens and princesses. The leading idea of
+the story is the same, but the Snake or Koshchei has become a paltry
+wood-demon, the hero is a mere hunter, and the princely heroine has
+sunk to the low estate of a priest's daughter.
+
+
+  THE LESHY.[264]
+
+  A certain priest's daughter went strolling in the forest one day,
+  without having obtained leave from her father or her mother--and
+  she disappeared utterly. Three years went by. Now in
+  the village in which her parents dwelt there lived a bold hunter,
+  who went daily roaming through the thick woods with his dog and
+  his gun. One day he was going through the forest; all of a sudden
+  his dog began to bark, and the hair of its back bristled up.
+  The sportsman looked, and saw lying in the woodland path before
+  him a log, and on the log there sat a moujik plaiting a bast
+  shoe. And as he plaited the shoe, he kept looking up at the
+  moon, and saying with a menacing gesture:--
+
+  "Shine, shine, O bright moon!"
+
+  The sportsman was astounded. "How comes it," thinks he,
+  "that the moujik looks like that?--he is still young; but his
+  hair is grey as a badger's."[265]
+
+  He only thought these words, but the other replied, as if
+  guessing what he meant:--
+
+  "Grey am I, being the devil's grandfather!"[266]
+
+  Then the sportsman guessed that he had before him no mere
+  moujik, but a Leshy. He levelled his gun and--bang! he let
+  him have it right in the paunch. The Leshy groaned, and
+  seemed to be going to fall across the log; but directly afterwards
+  he got up and dragged himself into the thickets. After
+  him ran the dog in pursuit, and after the dog followed the sportsman.
+  He walked and walked, and came to a hill: in that hill
+  was a fissure, and in the fissure stood a hut. He entered the
+  hut--there on a bench lay the Leshy stone dead, and by his
+  side a damsel, exclaiming, amid bitter tears:--
+
+  "Who now will give me to eat and to drink?"
+
+  "Hail, fair maiden!" says the hunter. "Tell me whence
+  thou comest, and whose daughter thou art?"
+
+  "Ah, good youth! I know not that myself, any more than if
+  I had never seen the free light--never known a father and
+  mother."
+
+  "Well, get ready as soon as you can. I will take you back
+  to Holy Russia."
+
+  So he took her away with him, and brought her out of the
+  forest. And all the way he went along, he cut marks on the
+  trees. Now this damsel had been carried off by the Leshy, and
+  had lived in his hut for three years--her clothes were all worn
+  out, or had got torn off her back, so that she was stark naked
+  but she wasn't a bit ashamed of that. When they reached the
+  village, the sportsman began asking whether there was any one
+  there who had lost a girl. Up came the priest, and cried, "Why,
+  that's my daughter." Up came running the priest's wife, and
+  cried:--
+
+  "O thou dear child! where hast thou been so long? I had
+  no hope of ever seeing thee again."
+
+  But the girl gazed and just blinked with her eyes, understanding
+  nothing. After a time, however, she began slowly to come
+  back to her senses. Then the priest and his wife gave her in
+  marriage to the hunter, and rewarded him with all sorts of good
+  things. And they went in search of the hut in which she had
+  lived while she was with the Leshy. Long did they wander
+  about the forest; but that hut they never found.
+
+To another group of personifications belong those of the Rivers. About
+them many stories are current, generally having reference to their
+alleged jealousies and disputes. Thus it is said that when God was
+allotting their shares to the rivers, the Desna did not come in time,
+and so failed to obtain precedence over the Dnieper.
+
+"Try and get before him yourself," said the Lord.
+
+The Desna set off at full speed, but in spite of all her attempts, the
+Dnieper always kept ahead of her until he fell into the sea, where the
+Desna was obliged to join him.[267]
+
+About the Volga and its affluent, the Vazuza, the following story is
+told:--
+
+
+  VAZUZA AND VOLGA.[268]
+
+  Volga and Vazuza had a long dispute as to which was the wiser,
+  the stronger, and the more worthy of high respect. They wrangled
+  and wrangled, but neither could gain the mastery in the dispute,
+  so they decided upon the following course:--
+
+  "Let us lie down together to sleep," they said, "and whichever
+  of us is the first to rise, and the quickest to reach the Caspian
+  Sea, she shall be held to be the wiser of us two, and the
+  stronger and the worthier of respect."
+
+  So Volga lay down to sleep; down lay Vazuza also. But
+  during the night Vazuza rose silently, fled away from Volga,
+  chose the nearest and the straightest line, and flowed away.
+  When Volga awoke, she set off neither slowly nor hurriedly, but
+  with just befitting speed. At Zubtsof she came up with Vazuza. So
+  threatening was her mien, that Vazuza was frightened, declared
+  herself to be Volga's younger sister, and besought Volga to take
+  her in her arms and bear her to the Caspian Sea. And so to
+  this day Vazuza is the first to awake in the Spring, and then she
+  arouses Volga from her wintry sleep.
+
+In the Government of Tula a similar tradition is current about the Don
+and the Shat, both of which flow out of Lake Ivan.
+
+Lake Ivan had two sons, Shat and Don. Shat, contrary to his father's
+wishes, wanted to roam abroad, so he set out on his travels, but go
+whither he would, he could get received nowhere. So, after fruitless
+wanderings, he returned home.
+
+But Don, in return for his constant quietness (the river is known as
+"the quiet Don"), obtained his father's blessing, and he boldly set
+out on a long journey. On the way, he met a raven, and asked it where
+it was flying.
+
+"To the blue sea," answered the raven.
+
+"Let's go together!"
+
+Well, they reached the sea. Don thought to himself, "If I dive right
+through the sea, I shall carry it away with me."
+
+"Raven!" he said, "do me a service. I am going to plunge into the sea,
+but do you fly over to the other side and as soon as you reach the
+opposite shore, give a croak."
+
+Don plunged into the sea. The raven flew and croaked--but too soon.
+Don remained just as he appears at the present day.[269]
+
+In White-Russia there is a legend about two rivers, the beginning of
+which has evidently been taken from the story of Jacob and Esau:--
+
+
+  SOZH AND DNIEPER.
+
+  There was once a blind old man called Dvina. He had
+  two sons--the elder called Sozh, and the younger Dnieper.
+  Sozh was of a boisterous turn, and went roving about the forests,
+  the hills, and the plains; but Dnieper was remarkably
+  sweet-tempered, and he spent all his time at home, and was his
+  mother's favorite. Once, when Sozh was away from home, the
+  old father was deceived by his wife into giving the elder son's
+  blessing to the younger son. Thus spake Dvina while blessing
+  him:--
+
+  "Dissolve, my son, into a wide and deep river. Flow past
+  towns, and bathe villages without number as far as the blue sea.
+  Thy brother shall be thy servant. Be rich and prosperous to
+  the end of time!"
+
+  Dnieper turned into a river, and flowed through fertile meadows
+  and dreamy woods. But after three days, Sozh returned
+  home and began to complain.
+
+  "If thou dost desire to become superior to thy brother,"
+  said his father, "speed swiftly by hidden ways, through dark
+  untrodden forests, and if thou canst outstrip thy brother, he will
+  have to be thy servant!"
+
+  Away sped Sozh on the chase, through untrodden places,
+  washing away swamps, cutting out gullies, tearing up oaks by
+  the roots. The Vulture[270] told Dnieper of this, and he put on
+  extra speed, tearing his way through high hills rather than turn
+  on one side. Meanwhile Sozh persuaded the Raven to fly
+  straight to Dnieper, and, as soon as it had come up with him
+  to croak three times; he himself was to burrow under the earth,
+  intending to leap to the surface at the cry of the Raven, and by
+  that means to get before his brother. But the Vulture fell on
+  the Raven; the Raven began to croak before it had caught up
+  the river Dnieper. Up burst Sozh from underground, and fell
+  straight into the waves of the Dnieper.[271]
+
+Here is an account of--
+
+
+  THE METAMORPHOSIS OF THE DNIEPER, THE VOLGA, AND THE DVINA.[272]
+
+  The Dnieper, Volga, and Dvina used once to be living people.
+  The Dnieper was a boy, and the Volga and Dvina his sisters.
+  While they were still in childhood they were left complete orphans,
+  and, as they hadn't a crust to eat, they were obliged to
+  get their living by daily labor beyond their strength. "When
+  was that?" Very long ago, say the old folks; beyond the
+  memory even of our great-grandfathers.
+
+  Well, the children grew up, but they never had even the
+  slightest bit of good luck. Every day, from morn till eve, it was
+  always toil and toil, and all merely for the day's subsistence. As
+  for their clothing, it was just what God sent them! They sometimes
+  found rags on the dust-heaps, and with these they managed
+  to cover their bodies. The poor things had to endure cold and
+  hunger. Life became a burden to them.[273]
+
+  One day, after toiling hard afield, they sat down under a bush
+  to eat their last morsel of bread. And when they had eaten it,
+  they cried and sorrowed for a while, and considered and held
+  counsel together as to how they might manage to live, and to
+  have food and clothing, and, without toiling, to supply others
+  with meat and drink. Well, this is what they resolved: to set
+  out wandering about the wide world in search of good luck and
+  a kindly welcome, and to look for and find out the best places
+  in which they could turn into great rivers--for that was a possible
+  thing then.
+
+  Well, they walked and walked; not one year only, nor two
+  years, but all but three; and they chose the places they wanted,
+  and came to an agreement as to where the flowing of each one
+  should begin. And all three of them stopped to spend the night
+  in a swamp. But the sisters were more cunning than their
+  brother. No sooner was Dnieper asleep than they rose up
+  quietly, chose the best and most sloping places, and began to
+  flow away.
+
+  When the brother awoke in the morning, not a trace of his
+  sisters was to be seen. Then he became wroth, and made
+  haste to pursue them. But on the way he bethought himself,
+  and decided that no man can run faster than a river. So he
+  smote the ground, and flowed in pursuit as a stream. Through
+  gullies and ravines he rushed, and the further he went the
+  fiercer did he become. But when he came within a few versts
+  of the sea-shore, his anger calmed down and he disappeared in
+  the sea. And his two sisters, who had continued running from
+  him during his pursuit, separated in different directions and fled
+  to the bottom of the sea. But while the Dnieper was rushing
+  along in anger, he drove his way between steep banks. Therefore
+  is it that his flow is swifter than that of the Volga and the
+  Dvina; therefore also is it that he has many rapids and many
+  mouths.
+
+There is a small stream which falls into Lake Ilmen on its western
+side, and which is called Chorny Ruchei, the Black Brook. On the banks
+of this brook, a long time ago, a certain man set up a mill, and the
+fish came and implored the stream to grant them its aid, saying, "We
+used to have room enough and be at our ease, but now an evil man is
+taking away the water from us." And the result was this. One of the
+inhabitants of Novgorod was angling in the brook Chorny. Up came a
+stranger to him, dressed all in black, who greeted him, and said:--
+
+"Do me a service, and I will show thee a place where the fish swarm."
+
+"What is the service?"
+
+"When thou art in Novgorod, thou wilt meet a tall, big moujik in a
+plaited blue caftan, wide blue trowsers, and a high blue hat. Say to
+him, 'Uncle Ilmen! the Chorny has sent thee a petition, and has told
+me to say that a mill has been set in his way. As thou may'st think
+fit to order, so shall it be!'"
+
+The Novgorod man promised to fulfil this request, and the black
+stranger showed him a place where the fish swarmed by thousands. With
+rich booty did the fisherman return to Novgorod, where he met the
+moujik with the blue caftan, and gave him the petition. The Ilmen
+answered:--
+
+"Give my compliments to the brook Chorny, and say to him about the
+mill: there used not to be one, and so there shall not be one!"
+
+This commission also the Novgorod man fulfilled, and behold! during
+the night the brook Chorny ran riotous, Lake Ilmen waxed boisterous, a
+tempest arose, and the raging waters swept away the mill.[274]
+
+In old times sacrifices were regularly paid to lakes and streams in
+Russia, just as they were in Germany[275] and in other lands. And even
+at the present day the common people are in the habit of expressing,
+by some kind of offering, their thanks to a river on which they have
+made a prosperous voyage. It is said that Stenka Razin, the insurgent
+chief of the Don Cossacks in the seventeenth century, once offered a
+human sacrifice to the Volga. Among his captives was a Persian
+princess, to whom he was warmly attached. But one day "when he was
+fevered with wine, as he sat at the ship's side and musingly regarded
+the waves, he said: 'Oh, Mother Volga, thou great river! much hast
+thou given me of gold and of silver, and of all good things; thou hast
+nursed me, and nourished me, and covered me with glory and honor. But
+I have in no way shown thee my gratitude. Here is somewhat for thee;
+take it!' And with these words he caught up the princess and flung her
+into the water."[276]
+
+Just as rivers might be conciliated by honor and sacrifice, so they
+could be irritated by disrespect. One of the old songs tells how a
+youth comes riding to the Smorodina, and beseeches that stream to show
+him a ford. His prayer is granted, and he crosses to the other side.
+Then he takes to boasting, and says, "People talk about the Smorodina,
+saying that no one can cross it whether on foot or on horseback--but
+it is no better than a pool of rain-water!" But when the time comes
+for him to cross back again, the river takes its revenge, and drowns
+him in its depths, saying the while: "It is not I, but thy own
+boasting that drowns thee."
+
+From these vocal rivers we will now turn to that elementary force by
+which in winter they are often rendered mute. In the story which is
+now about to be quoted will be found a striking personification of
+Frost. As a general rule, Winter plays by no means so important a part
+as might have been expected in Northern tales. As in other European
+countries, so in Russia, the romantic stories of the people are full
+of pictures bathed in warm sunlight, but they do not often represent
+the aspect of the land when the sky is grey, and the earth is a sheet
+of white, and outdoor life is sombre and still. Here and there, it is
+true, glimpses of snowy landscapes are offered by the skazkas. But it
+is seldom that a wintry effect is so deliberately produced in them as
+is the case in the following remarkable version of a well-known tale.
+
+
+  FROST.[277]
+
+  There was once an old man who had a wife and three daughters.
+  The wife had no love for the eldest of the three, who
+  was her stepdaughter, but was always scolding her. Moreover,
+  she used to make her get up ever so early in the morning, and
+  gave her all the work of the house to do. Before daybreak the
+  girl would feed the cattle and give them to drink, fetch wood
+  and water indoors, light the fire in the stove, give the room a
+  wash, mend the dresses, and set everything in order. Even
+  then her stepmother was never satisfied, but would grumble
+  away at Marfa, exclaiming:--
+
+  "What a lazybones! what a slut! Why here's a brush not
+  in its place, and there's something put wrong, and she's left the
+  muck inside the house!"
+
+  The girl held her peace, and wept; she tried in every way to
+  accommodate herself to her stepmother, and to be of service to
+  her stepsisters. But they, taking pattern by their mother, were
+  always insulting Marfa, quarrelling with her, and making her
+  cry: that was even a pleasure to them! As for them, they lay
+  in bed late, washed themselves in water got ready for them,
+  dried themselves with a clean towel, and didn't sit down to
+  work till after dinner.
+
+  Well, our girls grew and grew, until they grew up and were
+  old enough to be married. The old man felt sorry for his eldest
+  daughter, whom he loved because she was industrious and
+  obedient, never was obstinate, always did as she was bid, and
+  never uttered a word of contradiction. But he didn't know how
+  he was to help her in her trouble. He was feeble, his wife was
+  a scold, and her daughters were as obstinate as they were
+  indolent.
+
+  Well, the old folks set to work to consider--the husband
+  how he could get his daughters settled, the wife how she could
+  get rid of the eldest one. One day she says to him:--
+
+  "I say, old man! let's get Marfa married."
+
+  "Gladly," says he, slinking off (to the sleeping-place) above
+  the stove. But his wife called after him:--
+
+  "Get up early to-morrow, old man, harness the mare to the
+  sledge, and drive away with Marfa. And, Marfa, get your
+  things together in a basket, and put on a clean shift; you're
+  going away to-morrow on a visit."
+
+  Poor Marfa was delighted to hear of such a piece of good
+  luck as being invited on a visit, and she slept comfortably all
+  night. Early next morning she got up, washed herself, prayed
+  to God, got all her things together, packed them away in proper
+  order, dressed herself (in her best things), and looked something
+  like a lass!--a bride fit for any place whatsoever!
+
+  Now it was winter time, and out of doors was a rattling
+  frost. Early in the morning, between daybreak and sunrise,
+  the old man harnessed the mare to the sledge, and led it up to
+  the steps. Then he went indoors, sat down on the window-sill,
+  and said:--
+
+  "Now then! I've got everything ready."
+
+  "Sit down to table and swallow your victuals!" replied the
+  old woman.
+
+  The old man sat down to table, and made his daughter sit
+  by his side. On the table stood a pannier; he took out a loaf,[278]
+  and cut bread for himself and his daughter. Meantime his
+  wife served up a dish of old cabbage soup, and said:--
+
+  "There, my pigeon, eat and be off; I've looked at you quite
+  enough! Drive Marfa to her bridegroom, old man. And look
+  here, old greybeard! drive straight along the road at first, and
+  then turn off from the road to the right, you know, into the
+  forest--right up to the big pine that stands on the hill, and there
+  hand Marfa over to Morozko (Frost)."
+
+  The old man opened his eyes wide, also his mouth, and
+  stopped eating, and the girl began lamenting.
+
+  "Now then, what are you hanging your chaps and squealing
+  about?" said her stepmother. "Surely your bridegroom is a
+  beauty, and he's that rich! Why, just see what a lot of things
+  belong to him, the firs, the pine-tops, and the birches, all in
+  their robes of down--ways and means that any one might envy;
+  and he himself a _bogatir_!"[279]
+
+  The old man silently placed the things on the sledge, made
+  his daughter put on a warm pelisse, and set off on the journey.
+  After a time, he reached the forest, turned off from the road;
+  and drove across the frozen snow.[280] When he got into the
+  depths of the forest, he stopped, made his daughter get out,
+  laid her basket under the tall pine, and said:--
+
+  "Sit here, and await the bridegroom. And mind you receive
+  him as pleasantly as you can."
+
+  Then he turned his horse round and drove off homewards.
+
+  The girl sat and shivered. The cold had pierced her through.
+  She would fain have cried aloud, but she had not strength
+  enough; only her teeth chattered. Suddenly she heard a
+  sound. Not far off, Frost was cracking away on a fir. From
+  fir to fir was he leaping, and snapping his fingers. Presently he
+  appeared on that very pine under which the maiden was sitting
+  and from above her head he cried:--
+
+  "Art thou warm, maiden?"
+
+  "Warm, warm am I, dear Father Frost," she replied.
+
+  Frost began to descend lower, all the more cracking and
+  snapping his fingers. To the maiden said Frost:--
+
+  "Art thou warm, maiden? Art thou warm, fair one?"
+
+  The girl could scarcely draw her breath, but still she replied:
+
+  "Warm am I, Frost dear: warm am I, father dear!"
+
+  Frost began cracking more than ever, and more loudly did
+  he snap his fingers, and to the maiden he said:--
+
+  "Art thou warm, maiden? Art thou warm, pretty one?
+  Art thou warm, my darling?"
+
+  The girl was by this time numb with cold, and she could
+  scarcely make herself heard as she replied:--
+
+  "Oh! quite warm, Frost dearest!"
+
+  Then Frost took pity on the girl, wrapped her up in furs,
+  and warmed her with blankets.
+
+  Next morning the old woman said to her husband:--
+
+  "Drive out, old greybeard, and wake the young couple!"
+
+  The old man harnessed his horse and drove off. When he
+  came to where his daughter was, he found she was alive and had
+  got a good pelisse, a costly bridal veil, and a pannier with rich
+  gifts. He stowed everything away on the sledge without saying
+  a word, took his seat on it with his daughter, and drove back.
+  They reached home, and the daughter fell at her stepmother's
+  feet. The old woman was thunderstruck when she saw the girl
+  alive, and the new pelisse and the basket of linen.
+
+  "Ah, you wretch!" she cries. "But you shan't trick me!"
+
+  Well, a little later the old woman says to her husband:--
+
+  "Take my daughters, too, to their bridegroom. The presents
+  he's made are nothing to what he'll give them."
+
+  Well, early next morning the old woman gave her girls their
+  breakfast, dressed them as befitted brides, and sent them off on
+  their journey. In the same way as before the old man left the
+  girls under the pine.
+
+  There the girls sat, and kept laughing and saying:
+
+  "Whatever is mother thinking of! All of a sudden to marry
+  both of us off! As if there were no lads in our village, forsooth!
+  Some rubbishy fellow may come, and goodness knows who he
+  may be!"
+
+  The girls were wrapped up in pelisses, but for all that they
+  felt the cold.
+
+  "I say, Prascovia! the frost's skinning me alive. Well, if
+  our bridegroom[281] doesn't come quick, we shall be frozen to
+  death here!"
+
+  "Don't go talking nonsense, Mashka; as if suitors[282] generally
+  turned up in the forenoon. Why it's hardly dinner-time
+  yet!"
+
+  "But I say, Prascovia! if only one comes, which of us will
+  he take?"
+
+  "Not you, you stupid goose!"
+
+  "Then it will be you, I suppose!"
+
+  "Of course it will be me!"
+
+  "You, indeed! there now, have done talking stuff and
+  treating people like fools!"
+
+  Meanwhile, Frost had numbed the girl's hands, so our
+  damsels folded them under their dress, and then went on
+  quarrelling as before.
+
+  "What, you fright! you sleepy-face! you abominable shrew!
+  why, you don't know so much as how to begin weaving: and as
+  to going on with it, you haven't an idea!"
+
+  "Aha, boaster! and what is it you know? Why, nothing at
+  all except to go out to merry-makings and lick your lips there.
+  We'll soon see which he'll take first!"
+
+  While the girls went on scolding like that, they began to
+  freeze in downright earnest. Suddenly they both cried out at
+  once:
+
+  "Whyever is he so long coming. Do you know, you've turned
+  quite blue!"
+
+  Now, a good way off, Frost had begun cracking, snapping
+  his fingers, and leaping from fir to fir. To the girls it sounded
+  as if some one was coming.
+
+  "Listen, Prascovia! He's coming at last, and with bells,
+  too!"
+
+  "Get along with you! I won't listen; my skin is peeling
+  with cold."
+
+  "And yet you're still expecting to get married!"
+
+  Then they began blowing on their fingers.
+
+  Nearer and nearer came Frost. At length he appeared on
+  the pine, above the heads of the girls, and said to them:
+
+  "Are ye warm, maidens? Are ye warm, pretty ones? Are
+  ye warm, my darlings?"
+
+  "Oh, Frost, it's awfully cold! we're utterly perished!
+  We're expecting a bridegroom, but the confounded fellow has
+  disappeared."
+
+  Frost slid lower down the tree, cracked away more, snapped
+  his fingers oftener than before.
+
+  "Are ye warm, maidens? Are ye warm, pretty ones?"
+
+  "Get along with you! Are you blind that you can't see our
+  hands and feet are quite dead?"
+
+  Still lower descended Frost, still more put forth his might,[283]
+  and said:
+
+  "Are ye warm, maidens?"
+
+  "Into the bottomless pit with you! Out of sight, accursed
+  one!" cried the girls--and became lifeless forms.[284]
+
+  Next morning the old woman said to her husband:
+
+  "Old man, go and get the sledge harnessed; put an armful
+  of hay in it, and take some sheep-skin wraps. I daresay the
+  girls are half-dead with cold. There's a terrible frost outside!
+  And, mind you, old greybeard, do it quickly!"
+
+  Before the old man could manage to get a bite he was out of
+  doors and on his way. When he came to where his daughters
+  were, he found them dead. So he lifted the girls on to the
+  sledge, wrapped a blanket round them, and covered them up
+  with a bark mat. The old woman saw him from afar, ran out
+  to meet him, and called out ever so loud:
+
+  "Where are the girls?"
+
+  "In the sledge."
+
+  The old woman lifted the mat, undid the blanket, and found
+  the girls both dead.
+
+  Then, like a thunderstorm, she broke out against her husband,
+  abusing him saying:
+
+  "What have you done, you old wretch? You have destroyed
+  my daughters, the children of my own flesh and blood, my
+  never-enough-to-be-gazed-on seedlings, my beautiful berries! I
+  will thrash you with the tongs; I will give it you with the stove-rake."
+
+  "That's enough, you old goose! You flattered yourself
+  you were going to get riches, but your daughters were too stiff-necked.
+  How was I to blame? it was you yourself would
+  have it."
+
+  The old woman was in a rage at first, and used bad language;
+  but afterwards she made it up with her stepdaughter,
+  and they all lived together peaceably, and thrived, and bore no
+  malice. A neighbor made an offer of marriage, the wedding
+  was celebrated, and Marfa is now living happily. The old man
+  frightens his grandchildren with (stories about) Frost, and
+  doesn't let them have their own way.
+
+In a variant from the Kursk Government (Afanasief IV. No. 42. _b_),
+the stepdaughter is left by her father "in the open plain." There she
+sits, "trembling and silently offering up a prayer." Frost draws near,
+intending "to smite her and to freeze her to death." But when he says
+to her, "Maiden, maiden, I am Frost the Red-Nosed," she replies
+"Welcome, Frost; doubtless God has sent you for my sinful soul."
+Pleased by her "wise words," Frost throws a warm cloak over her, and
+afterwards presents her with "robes embroidered with silver and gold,
+and a chest containing rich dowry." The girl puts on the robes, and
+appears "such a beauty!" Then she sits on the chest and sings songs.
+Meantime her stepmother is baking cakes and preparing for her funeral.
+After a time her father sets out in search of her dead body. But the
+dog beneath the table barks--"Taff! Taff! The master's daughter in
+silver and gold by the wedding party is borne along, but the
+mistress's daughter is wooed by none!" In vain does its mistress throw
+it a cake, and order it to modify its remarks. It eats the cake, but
+it repeats its offensive observations, until the stepdaughter appears
+in all her glory. Then the old woman's own daughter is sent afield.
+Frost comes to have a look at his new guest, expecting "wise words"
+from her too. But as none are forthcoming, he waxes wroth, and kills
+her. When the old man goes to fetch her, the dog barks--"Taff! Taff!
+The master's daughter will be borne along by the bridal train, but the
+bones of the mistress's daughter are being carried in a bag," and
+continues to bark in the same strain until the yard-gates open. The
+old woman runs out to greet her daughter, and "instead of her embraces
+a cold corpse."
+
+To the Russian peasants, it should be observed, Moroz, our own Jack
+Frost, is a living personage. On Christmas Eve it is customary for the
+oldest man in each family to take a spoonful of kissel, a sort of
+pudding, and then, having put his head through the window, to cry:
+
+"Frost, Frost, come and eat kissel! Frost, Frost, do not kill our
+oats! drive our flax and hemp deep into the ground."
+
+The Tcheremisses have similar ideas, and are afraid of knocking the
+icicles off their houses, thinking that, if they do so, Frost will wax
+wroth and freeze them to death. In one of the Skazkas, a peasant goes
+out one day to a field of buckwheat, and finds it all broken down. He
+goes home, and tells the bad news to his wife, who says, "It is Frost
+who has done this. Go and find him, and make him pay for the damage!"
+So the peasant goes into the forest and, after wandering about for
+some time, lights upon a path which leads him to a cottage made of
+ice, covered with snow, and hung with icicles. He knocks at the door,
+and out comes an old man--"all white." This is Frost, who presents him
+with the magic cudgel and table-cloth which work wonders in so many of
+the tales.[285] In another story, a peasant meets the Sun, the Wind,
+and the Frost. He bows to all three, but adds an extra salutation to
+the Wind. This enrages the two others, and the Sun cries out that he
+will burn up the peasant. But the Wind says, "I will blow cold, and
+temper the heat." Then the Frost threatens to freeze the peasant to
+death, but the Wind comforts him, saying, "I will blow warm, and will
+not let you be hurt."[286]
+
+Sometimes the Frost is described by the people as a mighty smith who
+forges strong chains with which to bind the earth and the waters--as
+in the saying "The Old One has built a bridge without axe and without
+knife," _i.e._, the river is frozen over. Sometimes Moroz-Treskun, the
+Crackling Frost, is spoken of without disguise as the preserver of the
+hero who is ordered to enter a bath which has been heated red-hot.
+Frost goes into the bath, and breathes with so icy a breath that the
+heat of the building turns at once to cold.[287]
+
+The story in which Frost so singularly figures is one which is known
+in many lands, and of which many variants are current in Russia. The
+jealous hatred of a stepmother, who exposes her stepdaughter to some
+great peril, has been made the theme of countless tales. What gives
+its special importance, as well as its poetical charm, to the skazka
+which has been quoted, is the introduction of Frost as the power to
+which the stepmother has recourse for the furtherance of her murderous
+plans, and by which she, in the persons of her own daughters, is
+ultimately punished. We have already dealt with one specimen of the
+skazkas of this class, the story of Vasilissa, who is sent to the Baba
+Yaga's for a light. Another, still more closely connected with that of
+"Frost," occurs in Khudyakof's collection.[288]
+
+A certain woman ordered her husband (says the story) to make away with
+his daughter by a previous marriage. So he took the girl into the
+forest, and left her in a kind of hut, telling her to prepare some
+soup while he was cutting wood. "At that time there was a gale
+blowing. The old man tied a log to a tree; when the wind blew, the log
+rattled. She thought the old man was going on cutting wood, but in
+reality he had gone away home."
+
+When the soup was ready, she called out to her father to come to
+dinner. No reply came from him, "but there was a human head in the
+forest, and it replied, 'I'm coming immediately!' And when the Head
+arrived, it cried, 'Maiden, open the door!' She opened it. 'Maiden,
+Maiden! lift me over the threshold!' She lifted it over. 'Maiden,
+Maiden! put the dinner on the table!' She did so, and she and the Head
+sat down to dinner. When they had dined, 'Maiden, Maiden!' said the
+Head, 'take me off the bench!' She took it off the bench, and cleared
+the table. It lay down to sleep on the bare floor; she lay on the
+bench. She fell asleep, but it went into the forest after its
+servants. The house became bigger; servants, horses, everything one
+could think of suddenly appeared. The servants came to the maiden, and
+said, 'Get up! it's time to go for a drive!' So she got into a
+carriage with the Head, but she took a cock along with her. She told
+the cock to crow; it crowed. Again she told it to crow; it crowed
+again. And a third time she told it to crow. When it had crowed for
+the third time, the Head fell to pieces, and became a heap of golden
+coins."[289]
+
+Then the stepmother sent her own daughter into the forest. Everything
+occurred as before, until the Head arrived. Then she was so frightened
+that she tried to hide herself, and she would do nothing for the Head,
+which had to dish up its own dinner, and eat it by itself. And so
+"when she lay down to sleep, it ate her up."
+
+In a story in Chudinsky's collection, the stepdaughter is sent by
+night to watch the rye in an _ovin_,[290] or corn-kiln. Presently a
+stranger appears and asks her to marry him. She replies that she has
+no wedding-clothes, upon which he brings her everything she asks for.
+But she is very careful not to ask for more than one thing at a time,
+and so the cock crows before her list of indispensable necessaries is
+exhausted. The stranger immediately disappears, and she carries off
+her presents in triumph.
+
+The next night her stepsister is sent to the _ovin_, and the stranger
+appears as before, and asks her to marry him. She, also, replies that
+she has no wedding-clothes, and he offers to supply her with what she
+wants. Whereupon, instead of asking for a number of things one after
+the other, she demands them all at once--"Stockings, garters, a
+petticoat, a dress, a comb, earrings, a mirror, soap, white paint and
+rouge, and everything which her stepsister had got." Then follows the
+catastrophe.
+
+  The stranger brought her everything, all at once.
+
+  "Now then," says he, "will you marry me now?"
+
+  "Wait a bit," said the stepmother's daughter, "I'll wash
+  and dress, and whiten myself and rouge myself, and then I'll
+  marry you." And straightway she set to work washing and
+  dressing--and she hastened and hurried to get all that done--she
+  wanted so awfully to see herself decked out as a bride.
+  By-and-by she was quite dressed--but the cock had not yet
+  crowed.
+
+  "Well, maiden!" says he, "will you marry me now?"
+
+  "I'm quite ready," says she.
+
+  Thereupon he tore her to pieces.[291]
+
+There is one other of those personifications of natural forces which
+play an active part in the Russian tales, about which a few words may
+be said. It often happens that the heroine-stealer whom the hero of
+the story has to overcome is called, not Koshchei nor the Snake, but
+Vikhor,[292] the whirlwind. Here is a brief analysis of part of one of
+the tales in which this elementary abducer figures. There was a
+certain king, whose wife went out one day to walk in the garden.
+"Suddenly a gale (_vyeter_) sprang up. In the gale was the
+Vikhor-bird. Vikhor seized the Queen, and carried her off." She left
+three sons, and they, when they came to man's estate, said to their
+father--"Where is our mother? If she be dead, show us her grave; if
+she be living, tell us where to find her."
+
+"I myself know not where your mother is," replied the King. "Vikhor
+carried her off."
+
+"Well then," they said, "since Vikhor carried her off, and she is
+alive, give us your blessing. We will go in search of our mother."
+
+All three set out, but only the youngest, Prince Vasily, succeeded in
+climbing the steep hill, whereon stood the palace in which his mother
+and Vikhor lived. Entering it during Vikhor's absence, the Prince made
+himself known to his mother, "who straightway gave him to eat, and
+concealed him in a distant apartment, hiding him behind a number of
+cushions, so that Vikhor might not easily discover him." And she gave
+him these instructions. "If Vikhor comes, and begins quarrelling,
+don't come forth, but if he takes to chatting, come forth and say,
+'Hail father!' and seize hold of the little finger of his right hand,
+and wherever he flies do you go with him."
+
+Presently Vikhor came flying in, and addressed the Queen angrily.
+Prince Vasily remained concealed until his mother gave him a hint to
+come forth. This he did, and then greeted Vikhor, and caught hold of
+his right little finger. Vikhor tried to shake him off, flying first
+about the house and then out of it, but all in vain. At last Vikhor,
+after soaring on high, struck the ground, and fell to pieces, becoming
+a fine yellow sand. "But the little finger remained in the possession
+of Prince Vasily, who scraped together the sand and burnt it in the
+stove."[293]
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+With a mention of two other singular beings who occur in the Skazkas,
+the present chapter may be brought to a close. The first is a certain
+Morfei (Morpheus?) who figures in the following variant of a
+well-known tale.
+
+There was a king, and he had a daughter with whom a general who lived
+over the way fell in love. But the king would not let him marry her
+unless he went where none had been, and brought back thence what none
+had seen. After much consideration the general set out and travelled
+"over swamps, hill, and rivers." At last he reached a wood in which
+was a hut, and inside the hut was an old crone. To her he told his
+story, after hearing which, she cried out, "Ho, there! Morfei, dish up
+the meal!" and immediately a dinner appeared of which the old crone
+made the general partake. And next day "she presented that cook to the
+general, ordering him to serve the general honorably, as he had served
+her. The general took the cook and departed." By-and-by he came to a
+river and was appealed to for food by a shipwrecked crew. "Morfei,
+give them to eat!" he cried, and immediately excellent viands
+appeared, with which the mariners were so pleased that they gave the
+general a magic volume in exchange for his cook--who, however, did not
+stay with them but secretly followed his master. A little later the
+general found another shipwrecked crew, who gave him, in exchange for
+his cook, a sabre and a towel, each of magic power. Then the general
+returned to his own city, and his magic properties enabled him to
+convince the king that he was an eligible suitor for the hand of the
+Princess.[294]
+
+The other is a mysterious personage whose name is "Oh!" The story in
+which he appears is one with which many countries are familiar, and of
+which numerous versions are to be found in Russia. A father sets out
+with his boy for "the bazaar," hoping to find a teacher there who will
+instruct the child in such science as enables people "to work little,
+and feed delicately, and dress well." After walking a long way the man
+becomes weary and exclaims, "Oh! I'm so tired!" Immediately there
+appears "an old magician," who says--
+
+"Why do you call me?"
+
+"I didn't call you," replies the old man. "I don't even know who you
+are."
+
+"My name is Oh," says the magician, "and you cried 'Oh!' Where are you
+taking that boy?"
+
+The father explains what it is he wants, and the magician undertakes
+to give the boy the requisite education, charging "one assignat
+rouble" for a year's tuition.[295]
+
+The teacher, in this story, is merely called a magician; but as in
+other Russian versions of it his counterpart is always described as
+being demoniacal, and is often openly styled a devil, it may be
+assumed that Oh belongs to the supernatural order of beings. It is
+often very difficult, however, to distinguish magicians from fiends in
+storyland, the same powers being generally wielded, and that for the
+same purposes, by the one set of beings as by the other. Of those
+powers, and of the end to which the stories represent them as being
+turned, some mention will be made in the next chapter.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[224] The adjective _likhoi_ has two opposite meanings, sometimes
+signifying what is evil, hurtful, malicious, &c., sometimes what is
+bold, vigorous, and therefore to be admired. As a substantive, _likho_
+conveys the idea of something malevolent or unfortunate. The Polish
+_licho_ properly signifies _uneven_. But odd numbers are sometimes
+considered unlucky. Polish housewives, for instance, think it
+imprudent to allow their hens to sit on an uneven number of eggs. But
+the peasantry also describe by _Licho_ an evil spirit, a sort of
+devil. (Wojcicki in the "Encyklopedyja Powszechna," xvii. p. 17.)
+"When Likho sleeps, awake it not," says a proverb common to Poland and
+South Russia.
+
+[225] Afanasief, iii. No. 14. From the Voroneje Government.
+
+[226] From an article by Borovikovsky in the "Otech. Zap." 1840, No.
+2.
+
+[227] "Les Avadanas," vol. i. No. 9, p. 51.
+
+[228] In the "Philogische und historische Abhandlungen," of the Berlin
+Academy of Sciences for 1857, pp. 1-30. See also Buslaef, "Ist. Och.,"
+i. 327-331.; Campbell's "West Highland Tales," i. p. 132, &c.
+
+[229] _Ednookie_ (_edno_ or _odno_ = one; _oko_ = eye). A Slavonic
+equivalent of the name "Arimaspians," from the Scythic _arima_ = one
+and _spu_ = eye. Mr. Rawlinson associates _arima_, through _farima_,
+with Goth. _fruma_, Lat. _primus_, &c., and _spu_ with Lat. root
+_spic_ or _spec_--in _specio_, _specto_, &c., and with our "spy," &c.
+
+[230] Grimm, No. 130, &c.
+
+[231] Afanasief, vi. No. 55.
+
+[232] See the "Songs of the Russian People," p. 30.
+
+[233] Afanasief, v. No. 34. From the Novgorod Government.
+
+[234] _Opokhmyelit'sya_: "to drink off the effects of his debauch."
+
+[235] Erlenvein, No. 21.
+
+[236] Our "Sunday gown."
+
+[237] Afanasief, viii. p. 408.
+
+[238] Properly speaking "grief," that which morally _krushit_ or
+crushes a man.
+
+[239] _Kruchina_, as an abstract idea, is of the feminine gender. But
+it is here personified as a male being.
+
+[240] Afanasief, v. p. 237.
+
+[241] _Spasibo_ is the word in popular use as an expression of thanks,
+and it now means nothing more than "thank you!" But it is really a
+contraction of _spasi Bog!_ "God save (you)!" as our "Good-bye!" is of
+"God be with you!"
+
+[242] Maksimovich, "Tri Skazki" (quoted by Afanasief, viii. p. 406).
+
+[243] Vuk Karajich, No. 13.
+
+[244] Afanasief, viii. No. 21.
+
+[245] _Schastie_ and _Neschastie_--Luck and Bad-luck--the exact
+counterparts of the Indian Lakshmi and Alakshmi.
+
+[246] Afanasief, iii. No. 9.
+
+[247] Afanasief viii. pp. 32-4.
+
+[248] _Bezdolny_ (_bez_ = without; _dolya_ = lot, share, etc.).
+
+[249] Everyone knows how frequent are the allusions to good and bad
+fortune in Oriental fiction, so that there is no occasion to do more
+than allude to the stories in which they occur--one of the most
+interesting of which is that of Vira-vara in the "Hitopadesa" (chap.
+iii. Fable 9), who finds one night a young and beautiful woman, richly
+decked with jewels, weeping outside the city in which dwells his royal
+master Sudraka, and asks her who she is, and why she weeps. To which
+(in Mr. Johnson's translation) she replies "I am the Fortune of this
+King Sudraka, beneath the shadow of whose arm I have long reposed very
+happily. Through the fault of the queen the king will die on the third
+day. I shall be without a protector, and shall stay no longer;
+therefore do I weep." On the variants of this story, see Benfey's
+"Panchatantra," i. pp. 415-16.
+
+[250] From _pyat_ = five, Friday being the fifth working day.
+Similarly Tuesday is called _Vtornik_, from _vtoroi_ = second;
+Wednesday is _Sereda_, "the middle;" Thursday _Chetverg_, from
+_chetverty_ = fourth. But Saturday is _Subbota_.
+
+[251] _P.V.S._, i. 230. See also Buslaef, "Ist. Och." pp. 323, 503-4.
+
+[252] A tradition of our own relates that the Lords of the Admiralty,
+wishing to prove the absurdity of the English sailor's horror of
+Friday, commenced a ship on a Friday, launched her on a Friday, named
+her "The Friday," procured a Captain Friday to command her, and sent
+her to sea on a Friday, and--she was never heard of again.
+
+[253] Afanasief, "Legendui," No. 13. From the Tambof Government.
+
+[254] For an account of various similar superstitions connected with
+Wednesday and Thursday, see Mannhardt's "Germanische Mythen," p. 15,
+16, and W. Schmidt's "Das Jahr und seine Tage," p. 19.
+
+[255] Khudyakof, No. 166. From the Orel Government.
+
+[256] Doubtful. The Russian word is "Svarit," properly "to cook."
+
+[257] Compare the English nursery rhyme addressed to the lady-bird:
+
+    "Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home,
+    Your house is a-fire, your children at home."
+
+
+[258] Wednesday in this, and Friday in the preceding story, are the
+exact counterparts of Lithuanian Laumes. According to Schleicher
+("Lituanica," p. 109), Thursday evening is called in Lithuania _Laumiu
+vakars_, the Laume's Eve. No work ought to be done on a Thursday
+evening, and it is especially imprudent to spin then. For at night,
+when the Laumes come, as they are accustomed to do between Thursday
+evening and Friday morning, they seize any spinning which has been
+begun, work away at it till cock-crow, and then carry it off. In
+modern Greece the women attribute all nightly meddling with their
+spinning to the _Neraides_ (the representatives of the Hellenic
+Nereids. See Bernhard Schmidt's "Volksleben der Neugriechen," p. 111).
+In some respects the _Neraida_ closely resemble the _Lamia_, and both
+of them have many features in common with the _Laume_. The latter name
+(which in Lettish is written Lauma) has never been satisfactorily
+explained. Can it be connected with the Greek _Lamia_ which is now
+written also as +Lamnia+, +Lamna+ and +Lamnissa+?
+
+[259] The word _Nedyelya_ now means "a week." But it originally meant
+Sunday, the non-working day (_ne_ = not, _dyelat'_ = to do or work.)
+After a time, the name for the first day of the week became
+transferred to the week itself.
+
+[260] That of "Wilisch Witiasu," Schott, No. 11.
+
+[261] That of "Trandafiru," Schott, No. 23.
+
+[262] J. Wenzig's "Westslawischer Maerchenschatz," pp. 144-155.
+According to Wenzig Ned[)e]lka is "the personified first Sunday after
+the new moon." The part here attributed to St. Ned[)e]lka is played by
+a Vila in one of the Songs of Montenegro. According to an ancient
+Indian tradition, the Aswattha-tree "is to be touched only on a
+Sunday, for on every other day Poverty or Misfortune abides in it: on
+Sunday it is the residence of Lakshmi" (Good Fortune). H. H. Wilson
+"Works," iii. 70.
+
+[263] "Songs of the Russian People," pp. 120-153.
+
+[264] Afanasief, vii. No. 33. The name Leshy or Lyeshy is derived from
+_lyes_, a forest.
+
+[265] Literally "as a _lun_," a kind of hawk (_falco rusticolus_).
+_Lun_ also means a greyish light.
+
+[266] _Ottogo ya i cyed chto chortof dyed._
+
+[267] Afanasief, _P.V.S._, ii. 226.
+
+[268] Afanasief, iv. No. 40. From the Tver Government.
+
+[269] Translated literally from Afanasief, _P.V.S._ ii. 227.
+
+[270] Yastreb = vulture or goshawk
+
+[271] Quoted from Borichefsky (pp. 183-5) by Afanasief.
+
+[272] Tereshchenko, v. 43, 44.
+
+[273] Literally "Life disgusted them worse than a bitter radish."
+
+[274] Translated literally from Afanasief, _P.V.S._ ii. 230.
+
+[275] "Deutsche Mythologie," 462.
+
+[276] Afanasief, _loc. cit._ p. 231.
+
+[277] Afanasief, iv. No. 42. From the Vologda Government.
+
+[278] _Chelpan_, a sort of dough cake, or pie without stuffing.
+
+[279] _Bogatir_ is the regular term for a Russian "hero of romance."
+Its origin is disputed, but it appears to be of Tartar extraction.
+
+[280] _Nast_, snow that has thawed and frozen again.
+
+[281] _Suzhenoi-ryazhenoi._
+
+[282] _Zhenikhi._
+
+[283] _Sil'no priudaril_, mightily smote harder.
+
+[284] _Okostenyeli_, were petrified.
+
+[285] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ i. 318-19.
+
+[286] Ibid. i. 312.
+
+[287] As with Der Frostige in the German story of "Die sechs Diener,"
+_KM._, No. 134, p. 519, and "The Man with the White Hat," in that of
+"Sechse kommen durch die ganze Welt," No. 71, p. 295, and their
+variants in different lands. See Grimm, iii. p. 122.
+
+[288] No. 13, "The Stepmother's Daughter and the Stepdaughter,"
+written down in Kazan.
+
+[289] This is a thoroughly Buddhistic idea. According to Buddhist
+belief, the treasure which has belonged to anyone in a former
+existence may come to him in the shape of a man who, when killed,
+turns to gold. The first story of the fifth book of the
+"Panchatantra," is based upon an idea of this kind. A man is told in a
+vision to kill a monk. He does so, and the monk becomes a heap of
+gold. A barber, seeing this, kills several monks, but to no purpose.
+See Benfey's Introduction, pp. 477-8.
+
+[290] For an account of the _ovin_, and the respect paid to it or to
+the demons supposed to haunt it see "The Songs of the Russian People,"
+p. 257.
+
+[291] Chudinsky, No. 13. "The Daughter and the Stepdaughter." From the
+Nijegorod Government.
+
+[292] _Vikhr'_ or _Vikhor'_ from _vit'_, to whirl or twist.
+
+[293] Khudyakof, No. 82. The story ends in the same way as that of
+Norka. See supra, p. 73.
+
+[294] Khudyakof, No. 86. Morfei the Cook is merely a development of
+the magic cudgel which in so many stories (_e.g._ the sixth of the
+Calmuck tales) is often exchanged for other treasures by its master,
+to whom it soon returns--it being itself a degraded form of the hammer
+of Thor, the lance of Indra, which always came back to the divine hand
+that had hurled it.
+
+[295] Khudyakof, No. 19. The rest of the story is that of "Der Gaudief
+un sin Meester," Grimm's _KM._ No. 68. (See also vol. iii. p. 118 of
+that work, where a long list is given of similar stories in various
+languages.)
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT.
+
+
+Most of the magical "properties" of the "skazka-drama," closely
+resemble those which have already been rendered familiar to us by
+well-known folk-tales. Of such as these--of "caps of darkness," of
+"seven-leagued boots," of "magic cudgels," of "Fortunatus's purses,"
+and the like[296]--it is unnecessary, for the present, to say more
+than that they are of as common occurrence in Slavonic as in other
+stories. But there are some among them which materially differ from
+their counterparts in more western lands, and are therefore worthy of
+special notice. To the latter class belong the Dolls of which mention
+has already been made, and the Waters of Life and Death of which I am
+now about to speak.
+
+A Water of Life plays an important part in the folk-tales of every
+land.[297] When the hero of a "fairy story" has been done to death by
+evil hands, his resuscitation by means of a healing and vivifying
+lotion or ointment[298] follows almost as a matter of course. And by
+common consent the Raven (or some sort of crow) is supposed to know
+where this invaluable specific is to be found,[299] a knowledge which
+it shares with various supernatural beings as well as with some human
+adepts in magic, and sometimes with the Snake. In all these matters
+the Russian and the Western tales agree, but the Skazka differs from
+most stories of its kind in this respect, that it almost invariably
+speaks of _two_ kinds of magic waters as being employed for the
+restoration of life. We have already seen in the story of "Marya
+Morevna," that one of these, sometimes called the _mertvaya voda_--the
+"dead water," or "Water of Death"--when sprinkled over a mutilated
+corpse, heals all its wounds; while the other, which bears the name of
+the _zhivaya voda_,--the "living water," or "Water of Life"--endows it
+once more with vitality.
+
+      [In a Norse tale in Asbjoernsen's new series, No. 72,
+      mention is made of a Water of Death, as opposed to a
+      Water of Life. The Death Water (_Doasens Vana_) throws
+      all whom it touches into a magic sleep, from which
+      only Life Water (_Livsens Vand_) can rouse them (p.
+      57). In the Ramayana, Hanuman fetches four different
+      kinds of herbs in order to resuscitate his dead
+      monkeys: "the first restore the dead to life, the
+      second drive away all pain, the third join broken
+      parts, the fourth cure all wounds, &c." Talboys
+      Wheeler, "History of India," ii. 368. In the Egyptian
+      story already mentioned (at p. 113), Satou's corpse
+      quivers and opens its eyes when his heart has become
+      saturated with a healing liquid. But he does not
+      actually come to life till the remainder of the liquid
+      has been poured down his throat.
+
+      In a Kirghiz story, quoted by Bronevsky,[300] a
+      golden-haired hero finds, after long search, the
+      maiden to whom he had in very early life been
+      betrothed. Her father has him murdered. She persuades
+      the murderer to show her the body of her dead love,
+      and weeps over it bitterly. A spirit appears and tells
+      her to sprinkle it with water from a neighboring well.
+      The well is very deep, but she induces the murderer to
+      allow her to lower him into it by means of her
+      remarkably long hair. He descends and hands up to her
+      a cup of water. Having received it, she cuts off her
+      hair, and lets the murderer drop and be drowned. Then
+      she sprinkles her lover's corpse with the water, and
+      he revives. But he lives only three days. She refuses
+      to survive him, and is buried by his side. From the
+      graves of the lovers spring two willows, which mingle
+      their boughs as if in an embrace. And the neighbors
+      set up near the spot three statues, his and hers and
+      her nurse's.
+
+      Such is the story, says Bronevsky, which the Kirghiz
+      tell with respect to some statues of unknown origin
+      which stand (or used to stand) near the Ayaguza, a
+      river falling into Lake Balkhash. A somewhat similar
+      Armenian story is quoted by Haxthausen in his
+      Transcaucasia (p. 350 of the English translation).
+
+      In the Kalevala, when Lemmenkaeinen has been torn to
+      pieces, his mother collects his scattered remains, and
+      by a dexterous synthetical operation restores him to
+      physical unity. But the silence of death still
+      possesses him. Then she entreats the Bee to bring
+      vivifying honey. After two fruitless journeys, the Bee
+      succeeds in bringing back honey "from the cellar of
+      the Creator." When this has been applied, the dead man
+      returns to life, sits up, and says in the words of the
+      Russian heroes--"How long I have slept!"[301]
+
+      Here is another instance of a life-giving operation
+      of a double nature. There is a well-known Indian story
+      about four suitors for the hand of one girl. She dies,
+      but is restored to life by one of her lovers, who
+      happens one day to see a dead child resuscitated, and
+      learns how to perform similar miracles. In two
+      Sanskrit versions of the "Vetalapanchavinsati,"[302]
+      as well as in the Hindi version,[303] the life-giving
+      charm consists in a spell taken from a book of magic.
+      But in the Tamil version, the process is described as
+      being of a different and double nature. According to
+      it, the mother of the murdered child "by the charm
+      called _sisupabam_ re-created the body, and, by the
+      incantation called _sanjivi_, restored it to life."
+      The suitor, having learnt the charm and the
+      incantation, "took the bones and the ashes (of the
+      dead girl), and having created out of them the body,
+      by virtue of the charm _sisupabam_ gave life to that
+      body by the _sanjivi_ incantation." According to Mr.
+      Babington, "Sanjivi is defined by the Tamuls to be a
+      medicine which restores to life by dissipating a
+      mortal swoon.... In the text the word is used for the
+      art of using this medicine."[304]]
+
+As a general rule, the two waters of which mention is made in the
+Skazkas possess the virtues, and are employed in the manner, mentioned
+above; but there are cases in which their powers are of a different
+nature. Sometimes we meet with two magic fluids, one of which heals
+all wounds, and restores sight to the blind and vigor to the cripple,
+while the other destroys all that it touches. Sometimes, also,
+recourse is had to magic draughts of two kinds, the one of which
+strengthens him who quaffs it, while the other produces the opposite
+effect. Such liquors as these are known as the "Waters of Strength and
+Weakness," and are usually described as being stowed away in the
+cellar of some many-headed Snake. For the Snake is often mentioned as
+the possessor, or at least the guardian, of magic fluids. Thus one of
+the Skazkas[305] speaks of a wondrous garden, in which are two springs
+of healing and vivifying water, and around that garden is coiled like
+a ring a mighty serpent. Another tells how a flying Snake brought two
+heroes to a lake, into which they flung a green bough, and immediately
+the bough broke into flame and was consumed. Then it took them to
+another lake, into which they cast a mouldy log. And the log
+straightway began to put forth buds and blossoms.[306]
+
+In some cases the magic waters are the property, not of a Snake, but
+of one of the mighty heroines who so often occur in these stories, and
+who bear so great a resemblance to Brynhild, as well in other respects
+as in that of her enchanted sleep. Thus in one of the Skazkas[307] an
+aged king dreams that "beyond thrice nine lands, in the thirtieth
+country, there is a fair maiden from whose hands and feet water is
+flowing, of which water he who drinks will become thirty years
+younger." His sons go forth in search of this youth-giving liquid, and,
+after many adventures, the youngest is directed to the golden castle in
+which lives the "fair maiden," whom his father has seen in his vision.
+He has been told that when she is awake her custom is to divert herself
+in the green fields with her Amazon host--"for nine days she rambles
+about, and then for nine days she sleeps a heroic slumber." The Prince
+hides himself among the bushes near the castle, and sees a fair maiden
+come out of it surrounded by an armed band, "and all the band consists
+of maidens, each one more beautiful than the other. And the most
+beautiful, the most never-enough-to-be-gazed-upon, is the Queen
+herself." For nine days he watches the fair band of Amazons as they
+ramble about. On the tenth day all is still, and he enters the castle.
+In the midst of her slumbering guards sleeps the Queen on a couch of
+down, the healing water flowing from her hands and feet. With it he
+fills two flasks, and then he retires. When the Queen awakes, she
+becomes conscious of the theft and pursues the Prince. Coming up with
+him, she slays him with a single blow, but then takes compassion on
+him, and restores him to life.
+
+In another version of the story, the precious fluid is contained in a
+flask which is hidden under the pillow of the slumbering "Tsar
+Maiden." The Prince steals it and flees, but he bears on him the
+weight of sin, and so, when he tries to clear the fence which girds
+the enchanted castle, his horse strikes one of the cords attached to
+it, and the spell is broken which maintains the magic sleep in which
+the realm is locked. The Tsar Maiden pursues the thief, but does not
+succeed in catching him. He is killed, however, by his elder brothers,
+who "cut him into small pieces," and then take the flask of magic
+water to their father. The murdered prince is resuscitated by the
+mythical bird known by the name of the _Zhar-Ptitsa_, which collects
+his scattered fragments, puts them together, and sprinkles them first
+with "dead water" and then with "live-water,"--conveyed for that
+purpose in its beak--after which the prince gets up, thanks his
+reviver, and goes his way.[308]
+
+In one of the numerous variants of the story in which a prince is
+exposed to various dangers by his sister--who is induced to plot
+against his life by her demon lover, the Snake--the hero is sent in
+search of "a healing and a vivifying water," preserved between two
+lofty mountains which cleave closely together, except during "two or
+three minutes" of each day. He follows his instructions, rides to a
+certain spot, and there awaits the hour at which the mountains fly
+apart. "Suddenly a terrible hurricane arose, a mighty thunder smote,
+and the two mountains were torn asunder. Prince Ivan spurred his
+heroic steed, flew like a dart between the mountains, dipped two
+flasks in the waters, and instantly turned back." He himself escapes
+safe and sound, but the hind legs of his horse are caught between the
+closing cliffs, and smashed to pieces. The magic waters, of course,
+soon remedy this temporary inconvenience.[309]
+
+In a Slovak version of this story, a murderous mother sends her son
+to two mountains, each of which is cleft open once in every
+twenty-four hours--the one opening at midday and the other at
+midnight; the former disclosing the Water of Life, the latter the
+Water of Death.[310] In a similar story from the Ukraine, mention is
+made of two springs of healing and life-giving water, which are
+guarded by iron-beaked ravens, and the way to which lies between
+grinding hills. The Fox and the Hare are sent in quest of the magic
+fluid. The Fox goes and returns in safety, but the Hare, on her way
+back, is not in time quite to clear the meeting cliffs, and her tail
+is jammed in between them. Since that time, hares have had no
+tails.[311]
+
+On the Waters of Strength and Weakness much stress is laid in many of
+the tales about the many-headed Snakes which carry off men's wives and
+daughters to their metallic castles. In one of these, for instance,
+the golden-haired Queen Anastasia has been torn away by a whirlwind
+from her husband "Tsar Byel Byelyanin" [the White King]. As in the
+variant of the story already quoted,[312] her sons go in search of
+her, and the youngest of them, after finding three palaces--the first
+of copper, the second of silver, the third of gold, each containing a
+princess held captive by Vikhor, the whirlwind--comes to a fourth
+palace gleaming with diamonds and other precious stones. In it he
+discovers his long-lost mother, who gladly greets him, and at once
+takes him into Vikhor's cellar. Here is the account of what ensued.
+
+  Well, they entered the cellar; there stood two tubs of water,
+  the one on the right hand, the other on the left. Says the
+  Queen--
+
+  "Take a draught of the water that stands on the right
+  hand." Prince Ivan drank of it.
+
+  "Now then, how strong do you feel?" said she.
+
+  "So strong that I could upset the whole palace with one
+  hand," he replied.
+
+  "Come now, drink again."
+
+  The Prince drank once more.
+
+  "How strong do you feel now?" she asked.
+
+  "Why now, if I wanted, I could give the whole world a
+  jolt."
+
+  "Oh that's plenty then! Now make these tubs change
+  places--that which stands on the right, set on the left: and
+  that which is on the left, change to the right."
+
+  Prince Ivan took the tubs and made them change places.
+  Says the Queen--
+
+  "See now, my dear son; in one of these tubs is the 'Water
+  of Strength,' in the other is the 'Water of Weakness.'[313] He
+  who drinks of the former becomes a mighty hero, but he who
+  drinks of the second loses all his vigor. Vikhor always quaffs
+  the Strong Water, and places it on the right-hand side; therefore
+  you must deceive him, or you will never be able to hold
+  out against him."
+
+The Queen proceeds to tell her son that, when Vikhor comes home, he
+must hide beneath her purple cloak, and watch for an opportunity of
+seizing her gaoler's magic mace.[314] Vikhor will fly about till he is
+tired, and will then have recourse to what he supposes is the "Strong
+Water;" this will render him so feeble that the Prince will be able to
+kill him. Having received these instructions, and having been warned
+not to strike Vikhor after he is dead, the Prince conceals himself.
+Suddenly the day becomes darkened, the palace quivers, and Vikhor
+arrives; stamping on the ground, he becomes a noble gallant, who
+enters the palace, "holding in his hands a battle mace." This Prince
+Ivan seizes, and a long struggle takes place between him and Vikhor,
+who flies away with him over seas and into the clouds. At last, Vikhor
+becomes exhausted and seeks the place where he expects to find the
+invigorating draught on which he is accustomed to rely. The result is
+as follows:
+
+  Dropping right into his cellar, Vikhor ran to the tub which
+  stood on the right, and began drinking the Water of Weakness.
+  But Prince Ivan rushed to the left, quaffed a deep draught of
+  the Water of Strength, and became the mightiest hero in the
+  whole world. Then seeing that Vikhor was perfectly enfeebled,
+  he snatched from him his keen faulchion, and with a single
+  blow struck off his head. Behind him voices began to cry:
+
+  "Strike again! strike again! or he will come to life!"
+
+  "No," replied the Prince, "a hero's hand does not strike
+  twice, but finishes its work with a single blow." And straightway
+  he lighted a fire, burnt the head and the trunk, and scattered
+  the ashes to the winds.[315]
+
+The part played by the Water of Strength in this story may be
+compared with "the important share which the exhilarating juice of the
+Soma-plant assumes in bracing Indra for his conflict with the hostile
+powers in the atmosphere," and Vikhor's sudden debility with that of
+Indra when the Asura Namuchi "drank up Indra's strength along with a
+draught of wine and soma."[316]
+
+Sometimes, as has already been remarked, one of the two magic waters
+is even more injurious than the Water of Weakness.[317] The following
+may be taken as a specimen of the stories in which there is introduced
+a true Water of Death--one of those deadly springs which bear the same
+relation to the healing and vivifying founts that the enfeebling bears
+to the strengthening water. The Baba Yaga who figures in it is, as is
+so often the case, replaced by a Snake in the variant to which
+allusion has already been made.
+
+
+  THE BLIND MAN AND THE CRIPPLE.[318]
+
+  In a certain kingdom there lived a king and queen; they had a
+  son, Prince Ivan, and to look after that son was appointed a
+  tutor named Katoma.[319] The king and queen lived to a great
+  age, but then they fell ill, and despaired of ever recovering. So
+  they sent for Prince Ivan and strictly enjoined him:
+
+  "When we are dead, do you in everything respect and obey
+  Katoma. If you obey him, you will prosper; but if you choose
+  to be disobedient, you will perish like a fly."
+
+  The next day the king and queen died. Prince Ivan buried
+  his parents, and took to living according to their instructions.
+  Whatever he had to do, he always consulted his tutor about it.
+
+  Some time passed by. The Prince attained to man's estate,
+  and began to think about getting married. So one day he went
+  to his tutor and said:
+
+  "Katoma, I'm tired of living alone, I want to marry."
+
+  "Well, Prince! what's to prevent you? you're of an age at
+  which it's time to think about a bride. Go into the great hall.
+  There's a collection there of the portraits of all the princesses in
+  the world; look at them and choose for yourself; whichever
+  pleases you, to her send a proposal of marriage."
+
+  Prince Ivan went into the great hall, and began examining
+  the portraits. And the one that pleased him best was that of the
+  Princess Anna the Fair--such a beauty! the like of her wasn't
+  to be found in the whole world! Underneath her portrait were
+  written these words:
+
+  "If any one asks her a riddle, and she does not guess it, him
+  shall she marry; but he whose riddle she guesses shall have his
+  head chopped off."
+
+  Prince Ivan read this inscription, became greatly afflicted, and
+  went off to his tutor.
+
+  "I've been in the great hall," says he, "and I picked out for
+  my bride Anna the Fair; only I don't know whether it's possible
+  to win her."
+
+  "Yes, Prince; she's hard to get. If you go alone, you
+  won't win her anyhow. But if you will take me with you, and
+  if you will do what I tell you, perhaps the affair can be managed."
+
+  Prince Ivan begged Katoma to go with him, and gave his
+  word of honor to obey him whether in joy or grief.
+
+  Well, they got ready for the journey and set off to sue for the
+  hand of the Princess Anna the Fair. They travelled for one
+  year, two years, three years, and traversed many countries.
+  Says Prince Ivan--
+
+  "We've been travelling all this time, uncle, and now we're
+  approaching the country of Princess Anna the Fair; and yet we
+  don't know what riddle to propound."
+
+  "We shall manage to think of one in good time," replied
+  Katoma. They went a little farther. Katoma was looking down
+  on the road, and on it lay a purse full of money. He lifted it up
+  directly, poured all the money out of it into his own purse, and
+  said--
+
+  "Here's a riddle for you, Prince Ivan! When you come
+  into the presence of the Princess, propound a riddle to her in
+  these words: 'As we were coming along, we saw Good lying on
+  the road, and we took up the Good with Good, and placed it in
+  our own Good!' That riddle she won't guess in a lifetime; but
+  any other one she would find out directly. She would only have
+  to look into her magic-book, and as soon as she had guessed it,
+  she'd order your head to be cut off."
+
+  Well, at last Prince Ivan and his tutor arrived at the lofty
+  palace in which lived the fair Princess. At that moment she
+  happened to be out on the balcony, and when she saw the newcomers,
+  she sent out to know whence they came and what they
+  wanted. Prince Ivan replied--
+
+  "I have come from such-and-such a kingdom, and I wish to
+  sue for the hand of the Princess Anna the Fair."
+
+  When she was informed of this, the Princess gave orders that
+  the Prince should enter the palace, and there in the presence of
+  all the princes and boyars of her council should propound his
+  riddle.
+
+  "I've made this compact," she said. "Anyone whose riddle
+  I cannot guess, him I must marry. But anyone whose riddle I
+  can guess, him I may put to death."
+
+  "Listen to my riddle, fair princess!" said Prince Ivan. "As
+  we came along, we saw Good lying on the road, and we took up
+  the Good with Good, and placed it in our own Good."
+
+  Princess Anna the Fair took her magic-book, and began
+  turning over its leaves and examining the answers of riddles.
+  She went right through the book, but she didn't get at the meaning
+  she wanted. Thereupon the princes and boyars of her
+  council decided that the Princess must marry Prince Ivan. She
+  wasn't at all pleased, but there was no help for it, and so she
+  began to get ready for the wedding. Meanwhile she considered
+  within herself how she could spin out the time and do away with
+  the bridegroom, and she thought the best way would be to overwhelm
+  him with tremendous tasks.
+
+  So she called Prince Ivan and said to him--
+
+  "My dear Prince Ivan, my destined husband! It is meet
+  that we should prepare for the wedding; pray do me this small
+  service. On such and such a spot of my kingdom there stands
+  a lofty iron pillar. Carry it into the palace kitchen, and chop it
+  into small chunks by way of fuel for the cook."
+
+  "Excuse me, Princess," replied the prince. "Was it to chop
+  fuel that I came here? Is that the proper sort of employment
+  for me? I have a servant for that kind of thing, Katoma _dyadka_,
+  of the oaken _shapka_."
+
+  The Prince straightway called for his tutor, and ordered
+  him to drag the iron pillar into the kitchen, and to chop it into
+  small chunks by way of fuel for the cook. Katoma went to the
+  spot indicated by the Princess, seized the pillar in his arms,
+  brought it into the palace kitchen, and broke it into little pieces;
+  but four of the iron chips he put into his pocket, saying--
+
+  "They'll prove useful by-and-by!"
+
+  Next day the princess says to Prince Ivan--
+
+  "My dear Prince, my destined husband! to-morrow we have
+  to go to the wedding. I will drive in a carriage, but you should
+  ride on a heroic steed, and it is necessary that you should
+  break him in beforehand."
+
+  "I break a horse in myself! I keep a servant for that."
+
+  Prince Ivan called Katoma, and said--
+
+  "Go into the stable and tell the grooms to bring forth the
+  heroic steed; sit upon him and break him in; to-morrow I've
+  got to ride him to the wedding."
+
+  Katoma fathomed the subtle device of the Princess, but, without
+  stopping long to talk, he went into the stable and told the
+  grooms to bring forth the heroic steed. Twelve grooms were
+  mustered, they unlocked twelve locks, opened twelve doors, and
+  brought forth a magic horse bound in twelve chains of iron.
+  Katoma went up to him. No sooner had he managed to seat
+  himself than the magic horse leaped up from the ground and
+  soared higher than the forest--higher than the standing forest,
+  lower than the flitting cloud. Firm sat Katoma, with one hand
+  grasping the mane; with the other he took from his pocket an
+  iron chunk, and began taming the horse with it between the ears.
+  When he had used up one chunk, he betook himself to another;
+  when two were used up, he took to a third; when three were
+  used up, the fourth came into play. And so grievously did he
+  punish the heroic steed that it could not hold out any longer,
+  but cried aloud with a human voice--
+
+  "Batyushka Katoma! don't utterly deprive me of life in the
+  white world! Whatever you wish, that do you order: all shall
+  be done according to your will!"
+
+  "Listen, O meat for dogs!" answered Katoma; "to-morrow
+  Prince Ivan will ride you to the wedding. Now mind! when the
+  grooms bring you out into the wide courtyard, and the Prince
+  goes up to you and lays his hand on you, do you stand quietly,
+  not moving so much as an ear. And when he is seated on your
+  back, do you sink into the earth right up to your fetlocks, and
+  then move under him with a heavy step, just as if an immeasurable
+  weight had been laid upon your back."
+
+  The heroic steed listened to the order and sank to earth
+  scarcely alive. Katoma seized him by the tail, and flung him
+  close to the stable, crying--
+
+  "Ho there! coachmen and grooms; carry off this dog's-meat
+  to its stall!"
+
+  The next day arrived; the time drew near for going to the
+  wedding. The carriage was brought round for the Princess, and
+  the heroic steed for Prince Ivan. The people were gathered
+  together from all sides--a countless number. The bride and
+  bridegroom came out from the white stone halls. The Princess
+  got into the carriage and waited to see what would become of
+  Prince Ivan; whether the magic horse would fling his curls to
+  the wind, and scatter his bones across the open plain. Prince
+  Ivan approached the horse, laid his hand upon its back, placed
+  his foot in the stirrup--the horse stood just as if petrified, didn't
+  so much as wag an ear! The Prince got on its back, the magic
+  horse sank into the earth up to its fetlocks. The twelve chains
+  were taken off the horse, it began to move with an even heavy
+  pace, while the sweat poured off it just like hail.
+
+  "What a hero! What immeasurable strength!" cried the
+  people as they gazed upon the Prince.
+
+  So the bride and bridegroom were married, and then they
+  began to move out of the church, holding each other by the hand.
+  The Princess took it into her head to make one more trial of
+  Prince Ivan, so she squeezed his hand so hard that he could not
+  bear the pain. His face became suffused with blood, his eyes
+  disappeared beneath his brows.
+
+  "A fine sort of hero you are!" thought the Princess.
+  "Your tutor has tricked me splendidly; but you sha'n't get off
+  for nothing!"
+
+  Princess Anna the Fair lived for some time with Prince Ivan
+  as a wife ought to live with a god-given[320] husband, flattered him
+  in every way in words, but in reality never thought of anything
+  except by what means she might get rid of Katoma. With the
+  Prince, without the tutor, there'd be no difficulty in settling
+  matters! she said to herself. But whatever slanders she might
+  invent, Prince Ivan never would allow himself to be influenced
+  by what she said, but always felt sorry for his tutor. At the end
+  of a year he said to his wife one day--
+
+  "Beauteous Princess, my beloved spouse! I should like
+  to go with you to my own kingdom."
+
+  "By all means," replied she, "let us go. I myself have
+  long been wishing to see your kingdom."
+
+  Well they got ready and went off; Katoma was allotted the
+  post of coachman. They drove and drove, and as they drove
+  along Prince Ivan went to sleep. Suddenly the Princess Anna
+  the Fair awoke him, uttering loud complaints--
+
+  "Listen, Prince, you're always sleeping, you hear nothing!
+  But your tutor doesn't obey me a bit, drives the horses on purpose
+  over hill and dale, just as if he wanted to put an end to us
+  both. I tried speaking him fair, but he jeered at me. I won't go
+  on living any longer if you don't punish him!"
+
+  Prince Ivan, 'twixt sleeping and waking, waxed very wroth
+  with his tutor, and handed him over entirely to the Princess,
+  saying--
+
+  "Deal with him as you please!"
+
+  The Princess ordered his feet to be cut off. Katoma submitted
+  patiently to the outrage.
+
+  "Very good," he thinks; "I shall suffer, it's true; but the
+  Prince also will know what to lead a wretched life is like!"
+
+  When both of Katoma's feet had been cut off, the Princess
+  glanced around, and saw that a tall tree-stump stood on one side;
+  so she called her servants and ordered them to set him on that
+  stump. But as for Prince Ivan, she tied him to the carriage by
+  a cord, turned the horses round, and drove back to her own
+  kingdom. Katoma was left sitting on the stump, weeping bitter
+  tears.
+
+  "Farewell, Prince Ivan!" he cries; "you won't forget me!"
+
+  Meanwhile Prince Ivan was running and bounding behind
+  the carriage. He knew well enough by this time what a blunder
+  he had made, but there was no turning back for him. When
+  the Princess Anna the Fair arrived in her kingdom, she set
+  Prince Ivan to take care of the cows. Every day he went afield
+  with the herd at early morn, and in the evening he drove them
+  back to the royal yard. At that hour the Princess was always
+  sitting on the balcony, and looking out to see that the number
+  of the cows were all right.[321]
+
+  Katoma remained sitting on the stump one day, two days,
+  three days, without anything to eat or drink. To get down was
+  utterly impossible, it seemed as if he must die of starvation.
+  But not far away from that place there was a dense forest. In
+  that forest was living a mighty hero who was quite blind. The
+  only way by which he could get himself food was this: whenever
+  he perceived by the sense of smell that any animal was running
+  past him, whether a hare, or a fox, or a bear, he immediately started
+  in chase of it, caught it--and dinner was ready for him. The
+  hero was exceedingly swift-footed, and there was not a single
+  wild beast which could run away from him. Well, one day it
+  fell out thus. A fox slunk past; the hero heard it, and was
+  after it directly. It ran up to the tall stump, and turned sharp
+  off on one-side; but the blind hero hurried on, took a spring,
+  and thumped his forehead against the stump so hard that he
+  knocked the stump out by the roots. Katoma fell to the ground,
+  and asked:
+
+  "Who are you?"
+
+  "I'm a blind hero. I've been living in the forest for thirty
+  years. The only way I can get my food is this: to catch some
+  game or other, and cook it at a wood fire. If it had not been
+  for that, I should have been starved to death long ago!"
+
+  "You haven't been blind all your life?"
+
+  "No, not all my life; but Princess Anna the Fair put my
+  eyes out!"
+
+  "There now, brother!" says Katoma; "and it's thanks to
+  her, too, that I'm left here without any feet. She cut them both
+  off, the accursed one!"
+
+  The two heroes had a talk, and agreed to live together, and
+  join in getting their food. The blind man says to the lame:
+
+  "Sit on my back and show me the way; I will serve you
+  with my feet, and you me with your eyes."
+
+  So he took the cripple and carried him home, and Katoma
+  sat on his back, kept a look out all round, and cried out from
+  time to time: "Right! Left! Straight on!" and so forth.
+
+  Well, they lived some time in the forest in that way, and
+  caught hares, foxes, and bears for their dinner. One day the
+  cripple says--
+
+  "Surely we can never go on living all our lives without a
+  soul [to speak to]. I have heard that in such and such a town
+  lives a rich merchant who has a daughter; and that merchant's
+  daughter is exceedingly kind to the poor and crippled. She
+  gives alms to everyone. Suppose we carry her off, brother, and
+  let her live here and keep house for us."
+
+  The blind man took a cart, seated the cripple in it, and rattled
+  it into the town, straight into the rich merchant's courtyard.
+  The merchant's daughter saw them out of window, and immediately
+  ran out, and came to give them alms. Approaching the
+  cripple, she said:
+
+  "Take this, in Christ's name, poor fellow!"
+
+  He [seemed to be going] to take the gift, but he seized her
+  by the hand, pulled her into the cart, and called to the blind
+  man, who ran off with it at such a pace that no one could catch
+  him, even on horseback. The merchant sent people in pursuit--but
+  no, they could not come up with him.
+
+  The heroes brought the merchant's daughter into their forest
+  hut, and said to her:
+
+  "Be in the place of a sister to us, live here and keep house
+  for us; otherwise we poor sufferers will have no one to cook
+  our meals or wash our shirts. God won't desert you if you do
+  that!"
+
+  The merchant's daughter remained with them. The heroes
+  respected her, loved her, acknowledged her as a sister. They
+  used to be out hunting all day, but their adopted sister was
+  always at home. She looked after all the housekeeping, prepared
+  the meals, washed the linen.
+
+  But after a time a Baba Yaga took to haunting their hut and
+  sucking the breasts of the merchant's daughter. No sooner
+  have the heroes gone off to the chase, than the Baba Yaga is there
+  in a moment. Before long the fair maiden's face began to fall
+  away, and she grew weak and thin. The blind man could see
+  nothing, but Katoma remarked that things weren't going well.
+  He spoke about it to the blind man, and they went together to
+  their adopted sister, and began questioning her. But the Baba
+  Yaga had strictly forbidden her to tell the truth. For a long
+  time she was afraid to acquaint them with her trouble, for a
+  long time she held out, but at last her brothers talked her over
+  and she told them everything without reserve.
+
+  "Every time you go away to the chase," says she, "there
+  immediately appears in the cottage a very old woman with a
+  most evil face, and long grey hair. And she sets me to dress
+  her head, and meanwhile she sucks my breasts."
+
+  "Ah!" says the blind man, "that's a Baba Yaga. Wait a
+  bit; we must treat her after her own fashion. To-morrow we
+  won't go to the chase, but we'll try to entice her and lay hands
+  upon her!"
+
+  So next morning the heroes didn't go out hunting.
+
+  "Now then, Uncle Footless!" says the blind man, "you
+  get under the bench, and lie there ever so still, and I'll go into
+  the yard and stand under the window. And as for you, sister,
+  when the Baba Yaga comes, sit down just here, close by the
+  window; and as you dress her hair, quietly separate the locks
+  and throw them outside through the window. Just let me lay
+  hold of her by those grey hairs of hers!"
+
+  What was said was done. The blind man laid hold of the
+  Baba Yaga by her grey hair, and cried--
+
+  "Ho there, Uncle Katoma! Come out from under the
+  bench, and lay hold of this viper of a woman, while I go into
+  the hut!"
+
+  The Baba Yaga hears the bad news and tries to jump up to
+  get her head free. (_Where are you off to? That's no go, sure
+  enough!_[322]) She tugs and tugs, but cannot do herself any good!
+
+  Just then from under the bench crawled Uncle Katoma, fell
+  upon her like a mountain of stone, took to strangling her until
+  the heaven seemed to her to disappear.[323] Then into the cottage
+  bounded the blind man, crying to the cripple--
+
+  "Now we must heap up a great pile of wood, and consume
+  this accursed one with fire, and fling her ashes to the wind!"
+
+  The Baba Yaga began imploring them:
+
+  "My fathers! my darlings! forgive me. I will do all that is
+  right."
+
+  "Very good, old witch! Then show us the fountain of healing
+  and life-giving water!" said the heroes.
+
+  "Only don't kill me, and I'll show it you directly!"
+
+  Well, Katoma sat on the blind man's back. The blind man
+  took the Baba Yaga by her back hair, and she led them into the
+  depths of the forest, brought them to a well,[324] and said--
+
+  "That is the water that cures and gives life."
+
+  "Look out, Uncle Katoma!" cried the blind man; "don't
+  make a blunder. If she tricks us now we shan't get right all
+  our lives!"
+
+  Katoma cut a green branch off a tree, and flung it into the
+  well. The bough hadn't so much as reached the water before
+  it all burst into a flame!
+
+  "Ha! so you're still up to your tricks," said the heroes, and
+  began to strangle the Baba Yaga, with the intention of flinging
+  her, the accursed one, into the fiery fount. More than ever
+  did the Baba Yaga implore for mercy, swearing a great oath
+  that she would not deceive them this time.
+
+  "On my troth I will bring you to good water," says she.
+
+  The heroes consented to give her one more trial, and she
+  took them to another fount.
+
+  Uncle Katoma cut a dry spray from a tree, and flung it into
+  the fount. The spray had not yet reached the water when it
+  already turned green, budded, and put forth blossoms.
+
+  "Come now, that's good water!" said Katoma.
+
+  The blind man wetted his eyes with it, and saw directly.
+  He lowered the cripple into the water, and the lame man's
+  feet grew again. Then they both rejoiced greatly, and said to
+  one another, "Now the time has come for us to get all right!
+  We'll get everything back again we used to have! Only first
+  we must make an end of the Baba Yaga. If we were to pardon
+  her now, we should always be unlucky; she'd be scheming
+  mischief all her life."
+
+  Accordingly they went back to the fiery fount, and flung the
+  Baba Yaga into it; didn't it soon make an end of her!
+
+  After this Katoma married the merchant's daughter, and the
+  three companions went to the kingdom of Anna the Fair in order
+  to rescue Prince Ivan. When they drew near to the capital,
+  what should they see but Prince Ivan driving a herd of cows!
+
+  "Stop, herdsman!" says Katoma; "where are you driving
+  these cows?"
+
+  "I'm driving them to the Princess's courtyard," replied the
+  Prince. "The Princess always sees for herself whether all
+  the cows are there."
+
+  "Here, herdsman; take my clothes and put them on, and I
+  will put on yours and drive the cows."
+
+  "No, brother! that cannot be done. If the Princess found
+  it out, I should suffer harm!"
+
+  "Never fear, nothing will happen! Katoma will guarantee
+  you that."
+
+  Prince Ivan sighed, and said--
+
+  "Ah, good man! If Katoma had been alive, I should not
+  have been feeding these cows afield!"
+
+  Then Katoma disclosed to him who he was. Prince Ivan
+  warmly embraced him and burst into tears.
+
+  "I never hoped even to see you again," said he.
+
+  So they exchanged clothes. The tutor drove the cows to
+  the Princess's courtyard. Anna the Fair went into the balcony,
+  looked to see if all the cows were there, and ordered them to be
+  driven into the sheds. All the cows went into the sheds except
+  the last one, which remained at the gate. Katoma sprang at it,
+  exclaiming--
+
+  "What are you waiting for, dog's-meat?"
+
+  Then he seized it by the tail, and pulled it so hard that he
+  pulled the cow's hide right off! The Princess saw this, and
+  cried with a loud voice:
+
+  "What is that brute of a cowherd doing? Seize him and
+  bring him to me!"
+
+  Then the servants seized Katoma and dragged him to the
+  palace. He went with them, making no excuses, relying on
+  himself. They brought him to the Princess. She looked at
+  him and asked--
+
+  "Who are you? Where do you come from?"
+
+  "I am he whose feet you cut off and whom you set on a
+  stump. My name is Katoma _dyadka_, oaken _shapka_."
+
+  "Well," thinks the Princess, "now that he's got his feet
+  back again, I must act straight-forwardly with him for the
+  future."
+
+  And she began to beseech him and the Prince to pardon
+  her. She confessed all her sins, and swore an oath always to
+  love Prince Ivan, and to obey him in all things. Prince Ivan
+  forgave her, and began to live with her in peace and concord.
+  The hero who had been blind remained with them, but Katoma
+  and his wife went to the house of [her father] the rich merchant,
+  and took up their abode under his roof.
+
+      [There is a story in the "Panchatantra" (v. 12) which,
+      in default of other parallels, may be worth comparing
+      with that part of this Skazka which refers to the
+      blind man and the cripple in the forest. Here is an
+      outline of it:--
+
+      To a certain king a daughter is born who has three
+      breasts. Deeming her presence unfortunate, he offers a
+      hundred thousand purses of gold to anyone who will
+      marry her and take her away. For a long time no man
+      takes advantage of the offer, but at last a blind man,
+      who goes about led by a hunchback named Mantharaka or
+      Cripple, marries her, receives the gold, and is sent
+      far away with his wife and his friend. All three live
+      together in the same house. After a time the wife
+      falls in love with the hunchback and conspires with
+      him to kill her husband. For this purpose she boils a
+      snake, intending to poison her husband with it. But he
+      stirs the snake-broth as it is cooking, and the steam
+      which rises from it cures his blindness. Seeing the
+      snake in the pot, he guesses what has occurred, so he
+      pretends to be still blind, and watches his wife and
+      his friend. They, not knowing he can see, embrace in
+      his presence, whereupon he catches up the "cripple" by
+      the legs, and dashes him against his wife. So violent
+      is the blow that her third breast is driven out of
+      sight and the hunchback is beaten straight. Benfey
+      (whose version of the story differs at the end from
+      that given by Wilson, "Essays," ii. 74) in his remarks
+      on this story (i. p. 510-15), which he connects with
+      Buddhist legends, observes that it occurs also in the
+      "Tuti-Nameh" (Rosen, ii. 228), but there the hunchback
+      is replaced by a comely youth, and the similarity with
+      the Russian story disappears. For a solar explanation
+      of the Indian story see A. de Gubernatis, "Zool.
+      Mythology," i. 85.]
+
+Of this story there are many variants. In one of them[325] a king
+promises to reward with vast wealth anyone who will find him "a bride
+fairer than the sun, brighter than the moon, and whiter than snow." A
+certain moujik, named Nikita Koltoma, offers to show him where a
+princess lives who answers to this description, and goes forth with
+him in search of her. On the way, Nikita enters several forges,
+desiring to have a war mace cast for him, and in one of them he finds
+fifty smiths tormenting an old man. Ten of them are holding him by the
+beard with pincers, the others are thundering away at his ribs with
+their hammers. Finding that the cause of this punishment is an unpaid
+debt of fifty roubles, Nikita ransoms the greybeard, who straightway
+disappears. Nikita obtains the mace he wants, which weighs fifty
+poods, or nearly a ton, and leaves the forge. Presently the old man
+whom he has ransomed comes running up to him, thanks him for having
+rescued him from a punishment which had already lasted thirty years,
+and bestows on him, as a token of gratitude, a Cap of Invisibility.
+
+Soon after this Nikita, attended by the king and his followers,
+reaches the palace of the royal heroine, Helena the Fair. She at first
+sends her warriors to capture or slay the unwelcome visitors, but
+Nikita attacks them with his mace, and leaves scarce one alive. Then
+she invites the king and his suite to the palace, having prepared in
+the mean time a gigantic bow fitted with a fiery arrow, wherewith to
+annihilate her guests. Guessing this, Nikita puts on his Cap of
+Invisibility, bends the bow, and shoots the arrow into the queen's
+_terema_ [the women's chambers], and in a moment the whole upper story
+is in a blaze. After that the queen submits, and is married to the
+king.
+
+But Nikita warns him that for three nights running his bride will
+make trial of his strength by laying her hand on his breast and
+pressing it hard--so hard that he will not be able to bear the
+pressure. When that happens, he must slip out of the room, and let
+Nikita take his place. All this comes to pass; the bride lays her hand
+on the bridegroom's breast, and says--
+
+"Is my hand heavy?"
+
+"As a feather on water!" replies the king, who can scarcely draw his
+breath beneath the crushing weight of the hand he has won. Then he
+leaves the room, under the pretext of giving an order, and Nikita
+takes his place. The queen renews the experiment, presses with one
+hand, presses with both, and with all her might. Nikita catches her
+up, and then flings her down on the floor. The room shakes beneath the
+blow, the bride "arises, lies down quietly, and goes to sleep," and
+Nikita is replaced by the king. By the end of the third night the
+queen gives up all hope of squeezing her husband to death, and makes
+up her mind to conjugal submission.[326]
+
+But before long, she, like Brynhild, finds out that she has been
+tricked, and resolves on revenge. Throwing Nikita into a slumber which
+lasts for twenty-four hours, she has his feet cut off, and sets him
+adrift in a boat; then she degrades her husband, turning him into a
+swineherd, and she puts out the eyes of Nikita's brother Timofei. In
+the course of time the brothers obtain from a Baba Yaga the healing
+and vivifying waters, and so recover the eyes and feet they had lost.
+The Witch-Queen is put to death, and Nikita lives happily as the
+King's Prime Minister. The specific actions of the two waters are
+described with great precision in this story. When the lame man
+sprinkles his legs with the Healing Water, they become whole at once;
+"his legs are quite sound, only they don't move." Then he applies the
+Vivifying Water, and the use of his legs returns to him. Similarly
+when the blind man applies the Healing Water to his empty orbits, he
+obtains new eyes--"perfectly faultless eyes, only he cannot see with
+them;" he applies the Vivifying Water, "and begins to see even better
+than before."
+
+In a Ryazan variant of the story,[327] Ivan Dearly-Bought, after his
+legs have been cut off at the knees, and he has been left in a forest,
+is found by a giant who has no arms, but who is so fleet that "no post
+could catch him up." The two maimed heroes form an alliance. After a
+time, they carry off a princess who is suffering from some mysterious
+disease, and take her to their forest home. She tells them that her
+illness is due to a Snake, which comes to her every night, entering by
+the chimney, and sucks away her strength. The heroes seizes the Snake,
+which takes them to the healing lake, and they are cured. Then they
+restore the princess, also cured, to her father. Ivan returns to the
+palace of the Enchantress Queen who had maimed him, and beats her with
+red-hot iron bars until he has driven out of her all her magic
+strength, "leaving her only one woman's strength, and that a very poor
+one."
+
+In a Tula variant[328] the wicked wife, who has set her confiding
+husband to tend her pigs, is killed by the hero. She had put out his
+eyes, and had cut off the feet of another companion of her husband; in
+this variant also the Healing Waters are found by the aid of a snake.
+
+The supernatural steed which Katoma tamed belongs to an equine race
+which often figures in the Skazkas. A good account of one of these
+horses is given in the following story of--
+
+
+  PRINCESS HELENA THE FAIR.[329]
+
+  _We say that we are wise folks, but our old people dispute
+  the fact, saying: "No, no, we were wiser than you are." But
+  skazkas tell that, before our grandfathers had learnt anything,
+  before their grandfathers[330] were born_--[331]
+
+  There lived in a certain land an old man of this kind who instructed
+  his three sons in reading and writing[332] and all book
+  learning. Then said he to them:
+
+  "Now, my children! When I die, mind you come and read
+  prayers over my grave."
+
+  "Very good, father, very good," they replied.
+
+  The two elder brothers were such fine strapping fellows! so
+  tall and stout! But as for the youngest one, Ivan, he was like
+  a half-grown lad or a half-fledged duckling, terribly inferior to
+  the others. Well, their old father died. At that very time
+  there came tidings from the King, that his daughter, the Princess
+  Helena the Fair, had ordered a shrine to be built for her
+  with twelve columns, with twelve rows of beams. In that shrine
+  she was sitting upon a high throne, and awaiting her bridegroom,
+  the bold youth who, with a single bound of his swift steed,
+  should reach high enough to kiss her on the lips. A stir ran
+  through the whole youth of the nation. They took to licking
+  their lips, and scratching their heads, and wondering to whose
+  share so great an honor would fall.
+
+  "Brothers!" said Vanyusha,[333] "our father is dead; which
+  of us is to read prayers over his grave?"
+
+  "Whoever feels inclined, let him go!" answered the
+  brothers.
+
+  So Vanya went. But as for his elder brothers they did
+  nothing but exercise their horses, and curl their hair, and dye
+  their mustaches.
+
+  The second night came.
+
+  "Brothers!" said Vanya, "I've done my share of reading.
+  It's your turn now; which of you will go?"
+
+  "Whoever likes can go and read. We've business to look
+  after; don't you meddle."
+
+  And they cocked their caps, and shouted, and whooped, and
+  flew this way, and shot that way, and roved about the open
+  country.
+
+  So Vanyusha read prayers this time also--and on the third
+  night, too.
+
+  Well, his brothers got ready their horses, combed out their
+  mustaches, and prepared to go next morning to test their
+  mettle before the eyes of Helena the Fair.
+
+  "Shall we take the youngster?" they thought. "No, no.
+  What would be the good of him? He'd make folks laugh and
+  put us to confusion; let's go by ourselves."
+
+  So away they went. But Vanyusha wanted very much to
+  have a look at the Princess Helena the Fair. He cried, cried
+  bitterly; and went out to his father's grave. And his father
+  heard him in his coffin, and came out to him, shook the damp
+  earth off his body, and said:
+
+  "Don't grieve, Vanya. I'll help you in your trouble."
+
+  And immediately the old man drew himself up and straightened
+  himself, and called aloud and whistled with a ringing
+  voice, with a shrill[334] whistle.
+
+  From goodness knows whence appeared a horse, the earth
+  quaking beneath it, a flame rushing from its ears and nostrils.
+  To and fro it flew, and then stood still before the old man, as if
+  rooted in the ground, and cried,
+
+  "What are thy commands?"
+
+  Vanya crept into one of the horse's ears and out of the
+  other, and turned into such a hero as no skazka can tell of, no
+  pen describe! He mounted the horse, set his arms akimbo,
+  and flew, just like a falcon, straight to the home of the Princess
+  Helena. With a wave of his hand, with a bound aloft, he only
+  failed by the breadth of two rows of beams. Back again he
+  turned, galloped up, leapt aloft, and got within one beam-row's
+  breadth. Once more he turned, once more he wheeled, then
+  shot past the eye like a streak of fire, took an accurate aim, and
+  kissed[335] the fair Helena right on the lips!
+
+  "Who is he? Who is he? Stop him! Stop him!" was
+  the cry. Not a trace of him was to be found!
+
+  Away he galloped to his father's grave, let the horse go free,
+  prostrated himself on the earth, and besought his father's counsel.
+  And the old man held counsel with him.
+
+  When he got home he behaved as if he hadn't been anywhere.
+  His brothers talked away, describing where they had
+  been, what they had seen, and he listened to them as of old.
+
+  The next day there was a gathering again. In the princely
+  halls there were more boyars and nobles than a single glance
+  could take in. The elder brothers rode there. Their younger
+  brother went there too, but on foot, meekly and modestly, just
+  as if he hadn't kissed the Princess, and seated himself in a
+  distant corner. The Princess Helena asked for her bridegroom,
+  wanted to show him to the world at large, wanted to give him
+  half her kingdom; but the bridegroom did not put in an appearance!
+  Search was made for him among the boyars, among
+  the generals; everyone was examined in his turn--but with no
+  result! Meanwhile, Vanya looked on, smiling and chuckling,
+  and waiting till the bride should come to him herself.
+
+  "I pleased her then," says he, "when I appeared as a gay
+  gallant; now let her fall in love with me in my plain caftan."
+
+  Then up she rose, looked around with bright eyes that shed
+  a radiance on all who stood there, and saw and knew her bridegroom,
+  and made him take his seat by her side, and speedily was
+  wedded to him. And he--good heavens! how clever he turned
+  out, and how brave, and what a handsome fellow! Only see
+  him mount his flying steed, give his cap a cock, and stick his
+  elbows akimbo! why, you'd say he was a king, a born king!
+  you'd never suspect he once was only Vanyusha.
+
+The incident of the midnight watch by a father's grave, kept by a son
+to whom the dead man appears and gives a magic horse, often occurs in
+the Skazkas. It is thoroughly in accordance with Slavonic ideas about
+the residence of the dead in their tombs, and their ability to assist
+their descendants in time of trouble. Appeals for aid to a dead parent
+are of frequent occurrence in the songs still sung by the Russian
+peasantry at funerals or over graves; especially in those in which
+orphans express their grief, calling upon the grave to open, and the
+dead to appear and listen and help.[336] So in the Indian story of
+Punchkin, the seven hungry stepmother-persecuted princesses go out
+every day and sit by their dead mother's tomb, and cry, and say, "Oh,
+mother, mother, cannot you see your poor children, how unhappy we
+are," etc., until a tree grows up out of the grave laden with fruits
+for their relief.[337] So in the German tale,[338] Cinderella is aided
+by the white bird, which dwells in the hazel tree growing out of her
+mother's grave.
+
+In one of the Skazkas[339] a stepdaughter is assisted by her cow. The
+girl, following its instructions, gets in at one ear and out of the
+other, and finds all her tasks performed, all her difficulties
+removed. When it is killed, there springs from its bones a tree which
+befriends the girl, and gains her a lordly husband. In a Servian
+variant of the story, it is distinctly stated that the protecting cow
+had been the girl's mother--manifestly in a previous state of
+existence, a purely Buddhistic idea.[340]
+
+In several of the Skazkas we find an account of a princess who is won
+in a similar manner to that described in the story of Helena the Fair.
+In one case,[341] a king promises to give his daughter to anyone "who
+can pluck her portrait from the house, from the other side of ever so
+many beams." The youngest brother, Ivan the Simpleton, carries away
+the portrait and its cover at the third trial. In another, a king
+offers his daughter and half his kingdom to him "who can kiss the
+princess through twelve sheets of glass."[342] The usual youngest
+brother is carried towards her so forcibly by his magic steed that, at
+the first trial, he breaks through six of the sheets of glass; at the
+second, says the story, "he smashed all twelve of the sheets of glass,
+and he kissed the Princess Priceless-Beauty, and she immediately
+stamped a mark upon his forehead." By this mark, after he has
+disappeared for some time, he is eventually recognized, and the
+princess is obliged to marry him.[343] In a third story,[344] the
+conditions of winning the princely bride are easier, for "he who takes
+a leap on horseback, and kisses the king's daughter on the balcony, to
+him will they give her to wife." In a fourth, the princess is to marry
+the man "who, on horseback, bounds up to her on the third floor." At
+the first trial, the _Durak_, or Fool, reaches the first floor, at the
+next, the second; and the third time, "he bounds right up to the
+princess, and carries off from her a ring."[345]
+
+In the Norse story of "Dapplegrim,"[346] a younger brother saves a
+princess who had been stolen by a Troll, and hidden in a cave above a
+steep wall of rock as smooth as glass. Twice his magic horse tries in
+vain to surmount it, but the third time it succeeds, and the youth
+carries off the princess, who ultimately becomes his wife. Another
+Norse story still more closely resembles the Russian tales. In "The
+Princess on the Glass Hill"[347] the hero gains a Princess as his wife
+by riding up a hill of glass, on the top of which she sits with three
+golden apples in her lap, and by carrying off these precious fruits.
+He is enabled to perform this feat by a magic horse, which he obtains
+by watching his father's crops on three successive St. John's Nights.
+
+In a Celtic story,[348] a king promises his daughter, and two-thirds
+of his kingdom, to anyone who can get her out of a turret which "was
+aloft, on the top of four carraghan towers." The hero Conall kicks
+"one of the posts that was keeping the turret aloft," the post breaks,
+and the turret falls, but Conall catches it in his hands before it
+reaches the ground, a door opens, and out comes the Princess Sunbeam,
+and throws her arms about Conall's neck.
+
+In most of these stories the wife-gaining leap is so vaguely described
+that it is allowable to suppose that the original idea has been
+greatly obscured in the course of travel. In some Eastern stories it
+is set in a much plainer light; in one modern collection for
+instance,[349] it occurs four times. A princess is so fond of her
+marble bath, which is "like a little sea," with high spiked walls all
+around it, that she vows she will marry no one who cannot jump across
+it on horseback. Another princess determines to marry him only who can
+leap into the glass palace in which she dwells, surrounded by a wide
+river; and many kings and princes perish miserably in attempting to
+perform the feat. A third king's daughter lives in a garden "hedged
+round with seven hedges made of bayonets," by which her suitors are
+generally transfixed. A fourth "has vowed to marry no man who cannot
+jump on foot over the seven hedges made of spears, and across the
+seven great ditches that surround her house;" and "hundreds of
+thousands of Rajahs have tried to do it, and died in the attempt."
+
+The secluded princess of these stories may have been primarily akin
+to the heroine of the "Sleeping Beauty" tales, but no special
+significance appears now to be attributable to her isolation. The
+original idea seems to have been best preserved in the two legends of
+the wooing of Brynhild by Sigurd, in the first of which he awakens her
+from her magic sleep, while in the second he gains her hand (for
+Gunnar) by a daring and difficult ride--for "him only would she have
+who should ride through the flaming fire that was drawn about her
+hall." Gunnar fails to do so, but Sigurd succeeds; his horse leaps
+into the fire, "and a mighty roar arose as the fire burned ever
+madder, and the earth trembled, and the flames went up even unto the
+heavens, nor had any dared to ride as he rode, even as it were through
+the deep murk."[350]
+
+We will take next a story which is a great favorite in Russia, and
+which will serve as another illustration of the use made of magical
+"properties" in the Skazkas.
+
+
+  EMILIAN THE FOOL.[351]
+
+  There were once three brothers, of whom two were sharp-witted,
+  but the third was a fool. The elder brothers set off to
+  sell their goods in the towns down the river,[352] and said to the
+  fool:
+
+  "Now mind, fool! obey our wives, and pay them respect as
+  if they were your own mothers. We'll buy you red boots, and
+  a red caftan, and a red shirt."
+
+  The fool said to them:
+
+  "Very good; I will pay them respect."
+
+  They gave the fool their orders and went away to the downstream
+  towns; but the fool stretched himself on top of the stove
+  and remained lying there. His brothers' wives say to him--
+
+  "What are you about, fool! your brothers ordered you to
+  pay us respect, and in return for that each of them was going to
+  bring you a present, but there you lie on the stove and don't do
+  a bit of work. Go and fetch some water, at all events."
+
+  The fool took a couple of pails and went to fetch the water.
+  As he scooped it up, a pike happened to get into his pail. Says
+  the fool:
+
+  "Glory to God! now I will cook this pike, and will eat it all
+  myself; I won't give a bit of it to my sisters-in-law. I'm savage
+  with them!"
+
+  The pike says to him with a human voice:
+
+  "Don't eat me, fool! if you'll put me back again into the
+  water you shall have good luck!"
+
+  Says the fool, "What sort of good luck shall I get from
+  you?"
+
+  "Why, this sort of good luck: whatever you say, that shall
+  be done. Say, for instance, 'By the Pike's command, at my
+  request, go home, ye pails, and be set in your places.'"
+
+  As soon as the fool had said this, the pails immediately
+  went home of their own accord and became set in their places.
+  The sisters-in-law looked and wondered.
+
+  "What sort of a fool is this!" they say. "Why, he's so
+  knowing, you see, that his pails have come home and gone to
+  their places of their own accord!"
+
+  The fool came back and lay down on the stove. Again did
+  his brothers' wives begin saying to him--
+
+  "What are you lying on the stove for, fool? there's no wood
+  for the fire; go and fetch some."
+
+  The fool took two axes and got into a sledge, but without
+  harnessing a horse to it.
+
+  "By the Pike's command," he says, "at my request, drive,
+  into the forest, O sledge!"
+
+  Away went the sledge at a rattling pace, as if urged on by
+  some one. The fool had to pass by a town, and the people he
+  met were jammed into corners by his horseless sledge in a way
+  that was perfectly awful. They all began crying out:
+
+  "Stop him! Catch him!"
+
+  But they couldn't lay hands on him. The fool drove into
+  the forest, got out of the sledge, sat down on a log, and said--
+
+  "One of you axes fell the trees, while the other cuts them
+  up into billets."
+
+  Well, the firewood was cut up and piled on the sledge. Then
+  says the fool:
+
+  "Now then, one of you axes! go and cut me a cudgel,[353] as
+  heavy a one as I can lift."
+
+  The axe went and cut him a cudgel, and the cudgel came
+  and lay on top of the load.
+
+  The fool took his seat and drove off. He drove by the
+  town, but the townspeople had met together and had been looking
+  out for him for ever so long. So they stopped the fool, laid
+  hands upon him, and began pulling him about. Says the fool--
+
+  "By the Pike's command, at my request, go, O cudgel, and
+  bestir thyself."
+
+  Out jumped the cudgel, and took to thumping and smashing,
+  and knocked over ever such a lot of people. There they lay on
+  the ground, strewed about like so many sheaves of corn. The
+  fool got clear of them and drove home, heaped up the wood,
+  and then lay down on the stove.
+
+  Meanwhile, the townspeople got up a petition against him,
+  and denounced him to the King, saying:
+
+  "Folks say there's no getting hold of him the way we tried;[354]
+  we must entice him by cunning, and the best way of all will be
+  to promise him a red shirt, and a red caftan, and red boots."
+
+  So the King's runners came for the fool.
+
+  "Go to the King," they say, "he will give you red boots, a
+  red caftan, and a red shirt."
+
+  Well, the fool said:
+
+  "By the Pike's command, at my request, do thou, O stove,
+  go to the King!"
+
+  He was seated on the stove at the time. The stove went;
+  the fool arrived at the King's.
+
+  The King was going to put him to death, but he had a
+  daughter, and she took a tremendous liking to the fool. So
+  she began begging her father to give her in marriage to the fool.
+  Her father flew into a passion. He had them married, and
+  then ordered them both to be placed in a tub, and the tub to be
+  tarred over and thrown into the water; all which was done.
+
+  Long did the tub float about on the sea. His wife began to
+  beseech the fool:
+
+  "Do something to get us cast on shore!"
+
+  "By the Pike's command, at my request," said the fool,
+  "cast this tub ashore and tear it open!"
+
+  He and his wife stepped out of the tub. Then she again
+  began imploring him to build some sort of a house. The fool
+  said:
+
+  "By the Pike's command, at my request, let a marble palace
+  be built, and let it stand immediately opposite the King's
+  palace!"
+
+  This was all done in an instant. In the morning the King
+  saw the new palace, and sent to enquire who it was that lived
+  in it. As soon as he learnt that his daughter lived there, that
+  very minute he summoned her and her husband. They came.
+  The King pardoned them, and they all began living together
+  and flourishing.[355]
+
+"The Pike," observes Afanasief, "is a fish of great repute in
+northern mythology." One of the old Russian songs still sung at
+Christmas, tells how a Pike comes from Novgorod, its scales of silver
+and gold, its back woven with pearls, a costly diamond gleaming in its
+head instead of eyes. And this song is one which promises wealth, a
+fact connecting the Russian fish with that Scandinavian pike which was
+a shape assumed by Andvari--the dwarf-guardian of the famous treasure,
+from which sprang the woes recounted in the _Voelsunga Saga_ and the
+_Nibelungenlied_. According to a Lithuanian tradition,[356] there is a
+certain lake which is ruled by the monstrous pike Strukis. It sleeps
+only once a year, and then only for a single hour. It used always to
+sleep on St. John's Night, but a fisherman once took advantage of its
+slumber to catch a quantity of its scaly subjects. Strukis awoke in
+time to upset the fisherman's boat; but fearing a repetition of the
+attempt, it now changes each year the hour of its annual sleep. A
+gigantic pike figures also in the _Kalevala_.
+
+It would be easy to fill with similar stories, not only a section of
+a chapter, but a whole volume; but instead of quoting any more of
+them, I will take a few specimens from a different, though a somewhat
+kindred group of tales--those which relate to the magic powers
+supposed to be wielded in modern times by dealers in the Black Art.
+Such narratives as these are to be found in every land, but Russia is
+specially rich in them, the faith of the peasantry in the existence of
+Witches and Wizards, Turnskins and Vampires, not having been as yet
+seriously shaken. Some of the stories relating to the supernatural
+Witch, who evidently belongs to the demon world, have already been
+given. In those which I am about to quote, the wizard or witch who is
+mentioned is a human being, but one who has made a compact with evil
+spirits, and has thereby become endowed with strange powers. Such
+monsters as these are, throughout their lives, a terror to the
+district they inhabit; nor does their evil influence die with them,
+for after they have been laid in the earth, they assume their direst
+aspect, and as Vampires bent on blood, night after night, they go
+forth from their graves to destroy. As I have elsewhere given some
+account of Slavonic beliefs in witchcraft,[357] I will do little more
+at present than allow the stories to speak for themselves. They will
+be recognized as being akin to the tales about sorcery current farther
+west, but they are of a more savage nature. The rustic warlocks and
+witches of whom we are accustomed to hear have little, if any, of that
+thirst for blood which so unfavorably characterizes their Slavonic
+counterparts. Here is a story, by way of example, of a most gloomy
+nature.
+
+
+  THE WITCH GIRL.[358]
+
+  Late one evening, a Cossack rode into a village, pulled up at
+  its last cottage, and cried--
+
+  "Heigh, master! will you let me spend the night here?"
+
+  "Come in, if you don't fear death!"
+
+  "What sort of a reply is that?" thought the Cossack, as he
+  put his horse up in the stable. After he had given it its food
+  he went into the cottage. There he saw its inmates, men and
+  women and little children, all sobbing and crying and praying to
+  God; and when they had done praying, they began putting on
+  clean shirts.
+
+  "What are you crying about?" asked the Cossack.
+
+  "Why you see," replied the master of the house, "in our
+  village Death goes about at night. Into whatsoever cottage she
+  looks, there, next morning, one has to put all the people who
+  lived in it into coffins, and carry them off to the graveyard. To-night
+  it's our turn."
+
+  "Never fear, master! 'Without God's will, no pig gets its
+  fill!'"
+
+  The people of the house lay down to sleep; but the Cossack
+  was on the look-out and never closed an eye. Exactly at midnight
+  the window opened. At the window appeared a witch all
+  in white. She took a sprinkler, passed her arm into the cottage,
+  and was just on the point of sprinkling--when the Cossack
+  suddenly gave his sabre a sweep, and cut her arm off close to
+  the shoulder. The witch howled, squealed, yelped like a dog,
+  and fled away. But the Cossack picked up the severed arm,
+  hid it under his cloak, washed away the stains of blood, and lay
+  down to sleep.
+
+  Next morning the master and mistress awoke, and saw that
+  everyone, without a single exception, was alive and well, and
+  they were delighted beyond expression.
+
+  "If you like," says the Cossack, "I'll show you Death!
+  Call together all the Sotniks and Desyatniks[359] as quickly as
+  possible, and let's go through the village and look for her."
+
+  Straightway all the Sotniks and Desyatniks came together
+  and went from house to house. In this one there's nothing, in
+  that one there's nothing, until at last they come to the Ponomar's[360]
+  cottage.
+
+  "Is all your family present?" asks the Cossack.
+
+  "No, my own! one of my daughters is ill. She's lying on
+  the stove there."
+
+  The Cossack looked towards the stove--one of the girl's arms
+  had evidently been cut off. Thereupon he told the whole story
+  of what had taken place, and he brought out and showed the
+  arm which had been cut off. The commune rewarded the
+  Cossack with a sum of money, and ordered that witch to be
+  drowned.
+
+Stories of this kind are common in all lands, but the witches about
+whom they are told generally assume the forms of beasts of prey,
+especially of wolves, or of cats. A long string of similar tales will
+be found in Dr. Wilhelm Hertz's excellent and exhaustive monograph on
+werwolves.[361] Very important also is the Polish story told by
+Wojcicki[362] of the village which is attacked by the Plague, embodied
+in the form of a woman, who roams from house to house in search of
+victims. One night, as she goes her rounds, all doors and windows have
+been barred against her except one casement. This has been left open
+by a nobleman who is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of
+others. The Pest Maiden arrives, and thrusts her arm in at his window.
+The nobleman cuts it off, and so rids the village of its fatal
+visitor. In an Indian story,[363] a hero undertakes to watch beside
+the couch of a haunted princess. When all is still a Rakshasa appears
+on the threshold, opens the door, and thrusts into the room an
+arm--which the hero cuts off. The fiend disappears howling, and leaves
+his arm behind.
+
+The horror of the next story is somewhat mitigated by a slight
+infusion of the grotesque--but this may arise from a mere accident,
+and be due to the exceptional cheerfulness of some link in the chain
+of its narrators.
+
+
+  THE HEADLESS PRINCESS.[364]
+
+  In a certain country there lived a King; and this King had a
+  daughter who was an enchantress. Near the royal palace there
+  dwelt a priest, and the priest had a boy of ten years old, who
+  went every day to an old woman to learn reading and writing.
+  Now it happened one day that he came away from his lessons
+  late in the evening, and as he passed by the palace he looked
+  in at one of the windows. At that window the Princess happened
+  to be sitting and dressing herself. She took off her head,
+  lathered it with soap, washed it with clean water, combed its
+  hair, plaited its long back braid, and then put it back again in
+  its proper place. The boy was lost in wonder.
+
+  "What a clever creature!" thinks he. "A downright
+  witch!"
+
+  And when he got home he began telling every one how he
+  had seen the Princess without her head.
+
+  All of a sudden the King's daughter fell grievously ill, and
+  she sent for her father, and strictly enjoined him, saying--
+
+  "If I die, make the priest's son read the psalter over me
+  three nights running."
+
+  The Princess died; they placed her in a coffin, and carried
+  it to church. Then the king summoned the priest, and said--
+
+  "Have you got a son?"
+
+  "I have, your majesty."
+
+  "Well then," said the King, "let him read the psalter over
+  my daughter three nights running."
+
+  The priest returned home, and told his son to get ready. In
+  the morning the priest's son went to his lessons, and sat over
+  his book looking ever so gloomy.
+
+  "What are you unhappy about?" asked the old woman.
+
+  "How can I help being unhappy, when I'm utterly done
+  for?"
+
+  "Why what's the matter? Speak out plainly."
+
+  "Well then, granny, I've got to read psalms over the princess,
+  and, do you know, she's a witch!"
+
+  "I knew that before you did! But don't be frightened,
+  there's a knife for you. When you go into the church, trace a
+  circle round you; then read away from your psalter and don't
+  look behind you. Whatever happens there, whatever horrors
+  may appear, mind your own business and go on reading, reading.
+  But if you look behind you, it will be all over with you!"
+
+  In the evening the boy went to the church, traced a circle
+  round him with the knife, and betook himself to the psalter.
+  Twelve o'clock struck. The lid of the coffin flew up; the Princess
+  arose, leapt out, and cried--
+
+  "Now I'll teach you to go peeping through my windows, and
+  telling people what you saw!"
+
+  She began rushing at the priest's son, but she couldn't anyhow
+  break into the circle. Then she began to conjure up all
+  sorts of horrors. But in spite of all that she did, he went on
+  reading and reading, and never gave a look round. And at daybreak
+  the Princess rushed at her coffin, and tumbled into it at
+  full length, all of a heap.
+
+  The next night everything went on just the same. The
+  priest's son wasn't a bit afraid, went on reading without a stop
+  right up to daybreak, and in the morning went to the old woman.
+  She asked him--
+
+  "Well! have you seen horrors?"
+
+  "Yes, granny!"
+
+  "It will be still more horrible this time. Here's a hammer
+  for you and four nails. Knock them into the four corners of the
+  coffin, and when you begin reading the psalter, stick up the
+  hammer in front of you."
+
+  In the evening the priest's son went to the church, and did
+  everything just as the old woman had told him. Twelve o'clock
+  struck, the coffin lid fell to the ground, the Princess jumped up
+  and began tearing from side to side, and threatening the youth.
+  Then she conjured up horrors, this time worse than before. It
+  seemed to him as if a fire had broken out in the church; all
+  the walls were wrapped in flames! But he held his ground
+  and went on reading, never once looking behind him. Just before
+  daybreak the Princess rushed to her coffin--then the fire
+  seemed to go out immediately, and all the deviltry vanished!
+
+  In the morning the King came to the church, and saw that
+  the coffin was open, and in the coffin lay the princess, face downwards.
+
+  "What's the meaning of all this?" says he.
+
+  The lad told him everything that had taken place. Then the
+  king gave orders that an aspen stake should be driven into his
+  daughter's breast, and that her body should be thrust into a hole
+  in the ground. But he rewarded the priest's son with a heap of
+  money and various lands.
+
+Perhaps the most remarkable among the stories of this class is the
+following, which comes from Little Russia. Those readers who are
+acquainted with the works of Gogol, the great Russian novelist, who
+was a native of that part of the country, will observe how closely he
+has kept to popular traditions in his thrilling story of the _Vy_,
+which has been translated into English, from the French, under the
+title of "The King of the Gnomes."[365]
+
+
+  THE SOLDIER'S MIDNIGHT WATCH.[366]
+
+  Once upon a time there was a Soldier who served God and the
+  great Gosudar for fifteen years, without ever setting eyes on his
+  parents. At the end of that time there came an order from the
+  Tsar to grant leave to the soldiers--to twenty-five of each company
+  at a time--to go and see their families. Together with
+  the rest our Soldier, too, got leave to go, and set off to pay a
+  visit to his home in the government of Kief. After a time he
+  reached Kief, visited the _Lavra_, prayed to God, bowed down
+  before the holy relics, and then started again for his birthplace,
+  a provincial town not far off. Well, he walked and walked.
+  Suddenly there happens to meet him a fair maiden who was the
+  daughter of a merchant in that same town; a most remarkable
+  beauty. Now everyone knows that if a soldier catches sight of
+  a pretty girl, nothing will make him pass her by quietly, but he
+  hooks on to her somehow or other. And so this Soldier gets
+  alongside of the merchant's daughter, and says to her jokingly--
+
+  "How now, fair damsel! not broken in to harness yet?"
+
+  "God knows, soldier, who breaks in whom," replies the girl.
+  "I may do it to you, or you to me."
+
+  So saying she laughed and went her way. Well, the Soldier
+  arrived at home, greeted his family, and rejoiced greatly at finding
+  they were all in good health.
+
+  Now he had an old grandfather, as white as a _lun_, who had
+  lived a hundred years and a bit. The Soldier was gossiping
+  with him, and said:
+
+  "As I was coming home, grandfather, I happened to meet
+  an uncommonly fine girl, and, sinner that I am, I chaffed her,
+  and she said to me:
+
+  "'God knows, soldier, whether you'll break me in to harness,
+  or I'll break you.'"
+
+  "Eh, sirs! whatever have you done? Why that's the
+  daughter of our merchant here, an awful witch! She's sent
+  more than one fine young fellow out of the white world."
+
+  "Well, well! I'm not one of the timid ones, either! You
+  won't frighten me in a hurry. We'll wait and see what God will
+  send."
+
+  "No, no, grandson!" says the grandfather. "If you don't
+  listen to me, you won't be alive to-morrow!"
+
+  "Here's a nice fix!" says the Soldier.
+
+  "Yes, such a fix that you've never known anything half so
+  awful, even when soldiering."
+
+  "What must I do then, grandfather?"
+
+  "Why this. Provide yourself with a bridle, and take a thick
+  aspen cudgel, and sit quietly in the izba--don't stir a step anywhere.
+  During the night she will come running in, and if she
+  manages to say before you can 'Stand still, my steed!' you
+  will straightway turn into a horse. Then she will jump upon
+  your back, and will make you gallop about until she has ridden
+  you to death. But if you manage to say before she speaks,
+  'Tprru! stand still, jade!' she will be turned into a mare.
+  Then you must bridle her and jump on her back. She will run
+  away with you over hill and dale, but do you hold your own; hit
+  her over the head with the aspen cudgel, and go on hitting her
+  until you beat her to death."
+
+  The Soldier hadn't expected such a job as this, but there
+  was no help for it. So he followed his grandfather's advice,
+  provided himself with a bridle and an aspen cudgel, took his
+  seat in a corner, and waited to see what would happen. At the
+  midnight hour the passage door creaked and the sound of steps
+  was heard; the witch was coming! The moment the door of
+  the room opened, the Soldier immediately cried out--
+
+  "Tprru! stand still, jade!"
+
+  The witch turned into a mare, and he bridled her, led her
+  into the yard, and jumped on her back. The mare carried him
+  off over hills and dales and ravines, and did all she could to try
+  and throw her rider. But no! the Soldier stuck on tight, and
+  thumped her over the head like anything with the aspen cudgel,
+  and went on treating her with a taste of the cudgel until he
+  knocked her off her feet, and then pitched into her as she lay on
+  the ground, gave her another half-dozen blows or so, and at last
+  beat her to death.
+
+  By daybreak he got home.
+
+  "Well, my friend! how have you got on?" asks his grandfather.
+
+  "Glory be to God, grandfather! I've beaten her to death!"
+
+  "All right! now lie down and go to sleep."
+
+  The Soldier lay down and fell into a deep slumber. Towards
+  evening the old man awoke him--
+
+  "Get up, grandson."
+
+  He got up.
+
+  "What's to be done now? As the merchant's daughter is
+  dead, you see, her father will come after you, and will bid you
+  to his house to read psalms over the dead body."
+
+  "Well, grandfather, am I to go, or not?"
+
+  "If you go, there'll be an end of you; and if you don't go,
+  there'll be an end of you! Still, it's best to go."
+
+  "But if anything happens, how shall I get out of it?"
+
+  "Listen, grandson! When you go to the merchant's he will
+  offer you brandy; don't you drink much--drink only a moderate
+  allowance. Afterwards the merchant will take you into the room
+  in which his daughter is lying in her coffin, and will lock you in
+  there. You will read out from the psalter all the evening, and
+  up to midnight. Exactly at midnight a strong wind will suddenly
+  begin to blow, the coffin will begin to shake, its lid will
+  fall off. Well, as soon as these horrors begin, jump on to the
+  stove as quick as you can, squeeze yourself into a corner, and
+  silently offer up prayers. She won't find you there."
+
+  Half an hour later came the merchant, and besought the
+  Soldier, crying:
+
+  "Ah, Soldier! there's a daughter of mine dead; come and
+  read the psalter over her."
+
+  The Soldier took a psalter and went off to the merchant's
+  house. The merchant was greatly pleased, seated him at his
+  table, and began offering him brandy to drink. The Soldier
+  drank, but only moderately, and declined to drink any more.
+  The merchant took him by the hand and led him to the room in
+  which the corpse lay.
+
+  "Now then," he says, "read away at your psalter."
+
+  Then he went out and locked the door. There was no help
+  for it, so the Soldier took to his psalter and read and read.
+  Exactly at midnight there was a great blast of wind, the coffin
+  began to rock, its lid flew off. The Soldier jumped quickly on
+  to the stove, hid himself in a corner, guarded himself by a sign
+  of the cross, and began whispering prayers. Meanwhile the
+  witch had leapt out of the coffin, and was rushing about from
+  side to side--now here, now there. Then there came running
+  up to her countless swarms of evil spirits; the room was full of
+  them!
+
+  "What are you looking for?" say they.
+
+  "A soldier. He was reading here a moment ago, and now
+  he's vanished!"
+
+  The devils eagerly set to work to hunt him up. They
+  searched and searched, they rummaged in all the corners. At
+  last they cast their eyes on the stove; at that moment, luckily
+  for the Soldier, the cocks began to crow. In the twinkling of
+  an eye all the devils had vanished, and the witch lay all of a
+  heap on the floor. The Soldier got down from the stove, laid
+  her body in the coffin, covered it up all right with the lid, and
+  betook himself again to his psalter. At daybreak came the
+  master of the house, opened the door, and said--
+
+  "Hail, Soldier!"
+
+  "I wish you good health, master merchant."
+
+  "Have you spent the night comfortably?"
+
+  "Glory be to God! yes."
+
+  "There are fifty roubles for you, but come again, friend, and
+  read another night."
+
+  "Very good, I'll come."
+
+  The Soldier returned home, lay down on the bench, and
+  slept till evening. Then he awoke and said--
+
+  "Grandfather, the merchant bid me go and read the psalter
+  another night. Should I go or not?"
+
+  "If you go, you won't remain alive, and if you don't go, just
+  the same! But you'd better go. Don't drink much brandy,
+  drink just what is right; and when the wind blows, and the
+  coffin begins to rock, slip straight into the stove. There no one
+  will find you."
+
+  The Soldier got ready and went to the merchant's, who
+  seated him at table, and began plying him with brandy. Afterwards
+  he took him to where the corpse was, and locked him into
+  the room.
+
+  The Soldier went on reading, reading. Midnight came, the
+  wind blew, the coffin began to rock, the coffin lid fell afar off on
+  the ground. He was into the stove in a moment. Out jumped
+  the witch and began rushing about; round her swarmed devils,
+  the room was full of them!
+
+  "What are you looking for?" they cry.
+
+  "Why, there he was reading a moment ago, and now he's
+  vanished out of sight. I can't find him."
+
+  The devils flung themselves on the stove.
+
+  "Here's the place," they cried, "where he was last night!"
+
+  There was the place, but he wasn't there! This way and
+  that they rushed. Suddenly the cocks began to crow, the devils
+  vanished, the witch lay stretched on the floor.
+
+  The Soldier stayed awhile to recover his breath, crept out
+  of the stove, put the merchant's daughter back in her coffin, and
+  took to reading the psalter again. Presently he looks round,
+  the day has already dawned. His host arrives:
+
+  "Hail, Soldier!" says he.
+
+  "I wish you good health, master merchant."
+
+  "Has the night passed comfortably?"
+
+  "Glory be to God! yes."
+
+  "Come along here, then."
+
+  The merchant led him out of the room, gave him a hundred
+  roubles, and said--
+
+  "Come, please, and read here a third night; I sha'n't treat
+  you badly."
+
+  "Good, I'll come."
+
+  The Soldier returned home.
+
+  "Well, grandson, what has God sent you?" says his grandfather.
+
+  "Nothing much, grandfather! The merchant told me to
+  come again. Should I go or not?"
+
+  "If you go, you won't remain alive, and if you don't go, you
+  won't remain alive! But you'd better go."
+
+  "But if anything happens where must I hide?"
+
+  "I'll tell you, grandson. Buy yourself a frying-pan, and hide
+  it so that the merchant sha'n't see it. When you go to his house
+  he'll try to force a lot of brandy on you. You look out, don't
+  drink much, drink just what you can stand. At midnight, as
+  soon as the wind begins to roar, and the coffin to rock, do you
+  that very moment climb on to the stove-pipe, and cover yourself
+  over with the frying-pan. There no one will find you out."
+
+  The Soldier had a good sleep, bought himself a frying-pan,[367]
+  hid it under his cloak, and towards evening went to the merchant's
+  house. The merchant seated him at table and took to plying
+  him with liquor--tried every possible kind of invitation and
+  cajolery on him.
+
+  "No," says the Soldier, "that will do. I've had my whack.
+  I won't have any more."
+
+  "Well, then, if you won't drink, come along and read your
+  psalter."
+
+  The merchant took him to his dead daughter, left him alone
+  with her, and locked the door.
+
+  The Soldier read and read. Midnight came, the wind blew,
+  the coffin began to rock, the cover flew afar off. The Soldier
+  jumped up on the stove-pipe, covered himself with the frying-pan,
+  protected himself with a sign of the cross, and awaited what was
+  going to happen. Out jumped the witch and began rushing
+  about. Round her came swarming countless devils, the izba
+  was full of them! They rushed about in search of the Soldier;
+  they looked into the stove--
+
+  "Here's the place," they cried, "where he was last night."
+
+  "There's the place, but he's not there."
+
+  This way and that they rush,--cannot see him anywhere.
+  Presently there stepped across the threshold a very old devil.
+
+  "What are you looking for?"
+
+  "The Soldier. He was reading here a moment ago, and now
+  he's disappeared."
+
+  "Ah! no eyes! And who's that sitting on the stove-pipe
+  there?"
+
+  The Soldier's heart thumped like anything; he all but tumbled
+  down on the ground!
+
+  "There he is, sure enough!" cried the devils, "but how are
+  we to settle him. Surely it's impossible to reach him there?"
+
+  "Impossible, forsooth! Run and lay your hands on a candle-end
+  which has been lighted without a blessing having been
+  uttered over it."
+
+  In an instant the devils brought the candle-end, piled up a
+  lot of wood right under the stove-pipe, and set it alight. The
+  flame leapt high into the air, the Soldier began to roast: first one
+  foot, then the other, he drew up under him.
+
+  "Now," thinks he, "my death has come!"
+
+  All of a sudden, luckily for him, the cocks began to crow,
+  the devils vanished, the witch fell flat on the floor. The soldier
+  jumped down from the stove-pipe, and began putting out the
+  fire. When he had put it out he set every thing to rights, placed
+  the merchant's daughter in her coffin, covered it up with the
+  lid, and betook himself to reading the psalter. At daybreak
+  came the merchant, and listened at the door to find out whether
+  the Soldier was alive or not. When he heard his voice he
+  opened the door and said--
+
+  "Hail, Soldier!"
+
+  "I wish you good health, master merchant."
+
+  "Have you passed the night comfortably?"
+
+  "Glory be to God, I've seen nothing bad."
+
+  The merchant gave him a hundred and fifty roubles, and
+  said--
+
+  "You've done a deal of work, Soldier! do a little more.
+  Come here to-night and carry my daughter to the graveyard."
+
+  "Good, I'll come."
+
+  "Well, friend, what has God given?"
+
+  "Glory be to God, grandfather, I've got off safe! The merchant
+  has asked me to be at his house to-night, to carry his
+  daughter to the graveyard. Should I go or not?"
+
+  "If you go, you won't be alive, and if you don't go, you won't
+  be alive. But you must go; it will be better so."
+
+  "But what must I do? tell me."
+
+  "Well this. When you get to the merchant's, everything will
+  be ready there. At ten o'clock the relations of the deceased will
+  begin taking leave of her; and afterwards they will fasten three
+  iron hoops round the coffin, and place it on the funeral car; and
+  at eleven o'clock they will tell you to take it to the graveyard.
+  Do you drive off with the coffin, but keep a sharp look-out. One
+  of the hoops will snap. Never fear, keep your seat bravely; a
+  second will snap, keep your seat all the same; but when the
+  third hoop snaps, instantly jump on to the horse's back and
+  through the _duga_ (the wooden arch above its neck), and run
+  away backwards. Do that, and no harm will come to you."
+
+  The Soldier lay down to sleep, slept till the evening, and then
+  went to the merchant's. At ten o'clock the relations began
+  taking leave of the deceased; then they set to work to fasten
+  iron hoops round the coffin. They fastened the hoops, set the
+  coffin on the funeral car, and cried--
+
+  "Now then, Soldier! drive off, and God speed you!"
+
+  The Soldier got into the car and set off: at first he drove
+  slowly, but as soon as he was out of sight he let the horse go
+  full split. Away he galloped, but all the while he kept an eye on
+  the coffin. Snap went one hoop--and then another. The witch
+  began gnashing her teeth.
+
+  "Stop!" she cried, "you sha'n't escape! I shall eat you up
+  in another moment."
+
+  "No, dovey! Soldiers are crown property; no one is allowed
+  to eat them."
+
+  Here the last hoop snapped: on to the horse jumped the
+  Soldier, and through the _duga_, and then set off running backwards.
+  The witch leapt out of the coffin and tore away in pursuit.
+  Lighting on the Soldier's footsteps she followed them back
+  to the horse, ran right round it, saw the soldier wasn't there, and
+  set off again in pursuit of him. She ran and ran, lighted again
+  on his footsteps, and again came back to the horse. Utterly at
+  her wit's end, she did the same thing some ten times over. Suddenly
+  the cocks began crowing. There lay the witch stretched
+  out flat on the road! The Soldier picked her up, put her in the
+  coffin, slammed the lid down, and drove her to the graveyard.
+  When he got there he lowered the coffin into the grave, shovelled
+  the earth on top of it, and returned to the merchant's house.
+
+  "I've done it all," says he; "catch hold of your horse."
+
+  When the merchant saw the Soldier he stared at him with
+  wide-open eyes.
+
+  "Well, Soldier!" said he, "I know a good deal! and as to
+  my daughter, we needn't speak of her. She was awfully sharp,
+  she was! But, really, you know more than we do!"
+
+  "Come now, master merchant! pay me for my work."
+
+  So the merchant handed him over two hundred roubles. The
+  soldier took them, thanked him, and then went home, and gave
+  his family a feast.
+
+      [The next chapter will contain a number of vampire
+      stories which, in some respects, resemble these tales
+      of homicidal corpses. But most of them belong, I
+      think, to a separate group, due to a different myth or
+      superstition from that which has given rise to such
+      tales as those quoted above. The vampire is actuated
+      by a thirst which can be quenched only by blood, and
+      which impels it to go forth from the grave and
+      destroy. But the enchanted corpses which rise at
+      midnight, and attempt to rend their watchers, appear
+      to owe their ferocity to demoniacal possession. After
+      the death of a witch her body is liable, says popular
+      tradition, to be tenanted by a devil (as may be seen
+      from No. iii.), and to corpses thus possessed have
+      been attributed by the storytellers the terrible deeds
+      which Indian tales relate of Rakshasas and other evil
+      spirits. Thus in the story of Nischayadatta, in the
+      seventh book of the "Kathasaritsagara," the hero and
+      the four pilgrims, his companions, have to pass a
+      night in a deserted temple of Siva. It is haunted by a
+      _Yakshini_, a female demon, who turns men by spells
+      into brutes, and then eats them; so they sit watching
+      and praying beside a fire round which they have traced
+      a circle of ashes. At midnight the demon-enchantress
+      arrives, dancing and "blowing on a flute made of a
+      dead man's bone." Fixing her eyes on one of the
+      pilgrims, she mutters a spell, accompanied by a wild
+      dance. Out of the head of the doomed man grows a horn;
+      he loses all command over himself, leaps up, and
+      dances into the flames. The _Yakshini_ seizes his
+      half-burnt corpse and devours it. Then she treats the
+      second and the third pilgrim in the same way. But just
+      as she is turning to the fourth, she lays her flute on
+      the ground. In an instant the hero seizes it, and
+      begins to blow it and to dance wildly around the
+      _Yakshini_, fixing his eyes upon her and applying to
+      her the words of her own spell. Deprived by it of all
+      power, she submits, and from that time forward renders
+      the hero good service.[368]]
+
+In one of the skazkas a malignant witch is destroyed by a benignant
+female power. It had been predicted that a certain baby princess would
+begin flying about the world as soon as she was fifteen. So her
+parents shut her up in a building in which she never saw the light of
+day, nor the face of a man. For it was illuminated by artificial
+means, and none but women had access to it. But one day, when her
+nurses and _Mamzeli_ had gone to a feast at the palace, she found a
+door unlocked, and made her way into the sunlight. After this her
+attendants were obliged to allow her to go where she wished, when her
+parents were away. As she went roaming about the palace she came to a
+cage "in which a _Zhar-Ptitsa_,[369] lay [as if] dead." This bird, her
+guardians told her, slept soundly all day, but at night her papa flew
+about on it. Farther on she came to a veiled portrait. When the veil
+was lifted, she cried in astonishment "Can such beauty be?" and
+determined to fly on the _Zhar-Ptitsa_ to the original of the picture.
+So at night she sought the _Zhar-Ptitsa_, which was sitting up and
+flapping its wings, and asked whether she might fly abroad on its
+back. The bird consented and bore her far away. Three times it carried
+her to the room of the prince whose portrait she had so much admired.
+On the first and second occasion he remained asleep during her visit,
+having been plunged into a magic slumber by the _Zhar-Ptitsa_. But
+during her third visit he awoke, "and he and she wept and wept, and
+exchanged betrothal rings." So long did they remain talking that,
+before the _Zhar-Ptitsa_ and his rider could get back, "the day began
+to dawn--the bird sank lower and lower and fell to the ground." Then
+the princess, thinking it was really dead, buried it in the
+earth--having first cut off its wings, and "attached them to herself
+so as to walk more lightly."
+
+After various adventures she comes to a land of mourning. "Why are
+you so mournful?" she asks. "Because our king's son has gone out of
+his mind," is the reply. "He eats a man every night." Thereupon she
+goes to the king and obtains leave to watch the prince by night. As
+the clock strikes twelve the prince, who is laden with chains, makes a
+rush at her; but the wings of the _Zhar-Ptitsa_ rustle around her, and
+he sits down again. This takes place three times, after which the
+light goes out. She leaves the room in search of the means of
+rekindling it, sees a glimmer in the distance, and sets off with a
+lantern in search of it. Presently she finds an old witch who is
+sitting before a fire, above which seethes a cauldron. "What have you
+got there?" she asks. "When this cauldron seethes," replies the witch,
+"within it does the heart of Prince Ivan rage madly."
+
+Pretending to be merely getting a light, the Princess contrives to
+splash the seething liquid over the witch, who immediately falls dead.
+Then she looks into the cauldron, and there, in truth, she sees the
+Prince's heart. When she returns to his room he has recovered his
+senses. "Thank you for bringing a light," he says. "Why am I in
+chains?" "Thus and thus," says she. "You went out of your mind and ate
+people." Whereat he wonders greatly.[370]
+
+The _Zhar-Ptitsa_, or Fire-Bird, which plays so important a part in
+this story, is worthy of special notice. Its name is sufficient to
+show its close connection with flame or light,[371] and its appearance
+corresponds with its designation. Its feathers blaze with silvery or
+golden sheen, its eyes shine like crystal, it dwells in a golden cage.
+In the depth of the night it flies into a garden, and lights it up as
+brightly as could a thousand burning fires. A single feather from its
+tail illuminates a dark room. It feeds upon golden apples which have
+the power of bestowing youth and beauty, or according to a Croatian
+version, on magic-grasses. Its song, according to Bohemian legends,
+heals the sick and restores sight to the blind. We have already seen
+that, as the Phoenix, of which it seems to be a Slavonic counterpart,
+dies in the flame from which it springs again into life, so the
+_Zhar-Ptitsa_ sinks into a death-like slumber when the day dawns, to
+awake to fresh life after the sunset.
+
+One of the skazkas[372] about the _Zhar-Ptitsa_ closely resembles the
+well-known German tale of the Golden Bird.[373] But it is a
+"Chap-book" story, and therefore of doubtful origin. King Vuislaf has
+an apple-tree which bears golden fruits. These are stolen by a
+_Zhar-Ptitsa_ which flies every night into the garden, so he orders
+his sons to keep watch there by turns. The elder brothers cannot keep
+awake, and see nothing; but the youngest of the three, Prince Ivan,
+though he fails to capture the bird, secures one of its tail-feathers.
+After a time he leaves his home and goes forth in search of the bird.
+Aided by a wolf, he reaches the garden in which the _Zhar-Ptitsa_
+lives, and succeeds in taking it out of its golden cage. But trying,
+in spite of the wolf's warning, to carry off the cage itself, an alarm
+is sounded, and he is taken prisoner. After various other adventures
+he is killed by his envious brothers, but of course all comes right in
+the end. In a version of the story which comes from the Bukovina, one
+of the incidents is detailed at greater length than in either the
+German or the Russian tale. When the hero has been killed by his
+brothers, and they have carried off the _Zhar-Ptitsa_, and their
+victim's golden steed, and his betrothed princess--as long as he lies
+dead, the princess remains mute and mournful, the horse refuses to
+eat, the bird is silent, and its cage is lustreless. But as soon as he
+comes back to life, the princess regains her spirits, and the horse
+its appetite. The _Zhar-Ptitsa_ recommences its magic song, and its
+cage flashes anew like fire.
+
+In another skazka[374] a sportsman finds in a forest "a golden feather
+of the _Zhar-Ptitsa_; like fire does the feather shine!" Against the
+advice of his "heroic steed," he picks up the feather and takes it to
+the king, who sends him in search of the bird itself. Then he has
+wheat scattered on the ground, and at dawn he hides behind a tree near
+it. "Presently the forest begins to roar, the sea rises in waves, and
+the _Zhar-Ptitsa_ flies up, lights upon the ground and begins to peck
+the wheat." Then the "heroic steed" gallops up, sets its hoof upon the
+bird's wing, and presses it to the ground, so that the shooter is able
+to bind it with cords, and take it to the king. In a variant of the
+story the bird is captured by means of a trap--a cage in which "pearls
+large and small" have been strewed.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I had intended to say something about the various golden haired or
+golden-horned animals which figure in the Skazkas, but it will be
+sufficient for the present to refer to the notices of them which occur
+in Prof. de Gubernatis's "Zoological Mythology." And now I will bring
+this chapter to a close with the following weird story of
+
+
+  THE WARLOCK.[375]
+
+  There was once a Moujik, and he had three married sons.
+  He lived a long while, and was looked upon by the village as a
+  _Koldun_ [or wizard]. When he was about to die, he gave orders
+  that his sons' wives should keep watch over him [after his death]
+  for three nights, taking one night apiece; that his body should
+  be placed in the outer chamber,[376] and that his sons' wives
+  should spin wool to make him a caftan. He ordered, moreover,
+  that no cross should be placed upon him, and that none should
+  be worn by his daughters-in-law.
+
+  Well, that same night the eldest daughter-in-law took her
+  seat beside him with some grey wool, and began spinning.
+  Midnight arrives. Says the father-in-law from his coffin:
+
+  "Daughter-in-law, art thou there?"
+
+  She was terribly frightened, but answered, "I am." "Art
+  thou sitting?" "I sit." "Dost thou spin?" "I spin." "Grey
+  wool?" "Grey." "For a caftan?" "For a caftan."
+
+  He made a movement towards her. Then a second time he
+  asked again--
+
+  "Daughter-in-law, art thou there?"
+
+  "I am." "Art thou sitting?" "I sit." "Dost thou spin?"
+  "I spin." "Grey wool?" "Grey." "For a caftan?" "For a
+  caftan."
+
+  She shrank into the corner. He moved again, came a couple
+  of yards nearer her.
+
+  A third time he made a movement. She offered up no
+  prayer. He strangled her, and then lay down again in his coffin.
+
+  His sons removed her body, and next evening, in obedience
+  to his paternal behest, they sent another of his daughters-in-law
+  to keep watch. To her just the same thing happened: he
+  strangled her as he had done the first one.
+
+  But the third was sharper than the other two. She declared
+  she had taken off her cross, but in reality she kept it on. She
+  took her seat and spun, but said prayers to herself all the while.
+
+  Midnight arrives. Says her father-in-law from his coffin--
+
+  "Daughter-in-law, art thou there?"
+
+  "I am," she replies. "Art thou sitting?" "I sit." "Dost
+  thou spin?" "I spin." "Grey wool?" "Grey." "For a
+  caftan?" "For a caftan."
+
+  Just the same took place a second time. The third time, just
+  as he was going to rush at her, she laid the cross upon him. He
+  fell down and died. She looked into the coffin; there lay ever
+  so much money. The father-in-law wanted to take it away with
+  him, or, at all events, that only some one who could outdo him in
+  cunning should get it.[377]
+
+In one of the least intelligible of the West Highland tales, there is
+a scene which somewhat resembles the "lykewake" in this skazka. It is
+called "The Girl and the Dead Man," and relates, among other strange
+things, how a youngest sister took service in a house where a corpse
+lay. "She sat to watch the dead man, and she was sewing; in the middle
+of night he rose up, and screwed up a grin. 'If thou dost not lie down
+properly, I will give thee the one leathering with a stick.' He lay
+down. At the end of a while, he rose on one elbow, and screwed up a
+grin; and the third time he rose and screwed up a grin. When he rose
+the third time, she struck him a lounder of the stick; the stick stuck
+to the dead man, and the hand stuck to the stick, and out they were."
+Eventually "she got a peck of gold and a peck of silver, and the
+vessel of cordial" and returned home.[378]
+
+The obscurity of the Celtic tale forms a striking contrast to the
+lucidity of the Slavonic. The Russian peasant likes a clear statement
+of facts; the Highlander seems, like Coleridge's Scotch admirer, to
+find a pleasure in seeing "an idea looming out of the mist."
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[296] About which, see Professor Wilson's note on Somadeva's story of
+the "Origin of Pataliputra," "Essays," i. p. 168-9, with Dr. Rost's
+reference to L. Deslongchamps, "Essai sur les Fables Indiennes,"
+Paris, 1838, p. 35 and Graesse, "Sagenkreise des Mittelalters,"
+Leipsig, 1842, p. 191. See also the numerous references given by
+Grimm, _KM._ iii. pp. 168-9.
+
+[297] As well as in all the mythologies. For the magic draught of the
+fairy-story appears to be closely connected with the Greek _ambrosia_,
+the Vedic _soma_ or _amrita_, the Zend _haoma_.
+
+[298] A water, "Das Wasser des Lebens," in two German stories (Grimm,
+Nos. 92 and 97, and iii. p. 178), and in many Greek tales (Hahn, Nos.
+32, 37, &c.). An oil or ointment in the Norse tale (Asbjoernsen and
+Moe, No. 35, Dasent, No. 3). A balsam in Gaelic tales, in which a
+"Vessel of Balsam" often occurs. According to Mr. Campbell ("West
+Highland Tales," i. p. 218), "Ballan Iocshlaint, teat, of ichor, of
+health, seems to be the meaning of the words." The juice squeezed from
+the leaves of a tree in a modern Indian tale ("Old Deccan Days," p.
+139).
+
+[299] The mythical bird Garuda, the Indian original of the Roc of the
+Arabian Nights, was similarly connected with the Amrita. See the story
+of Garuda and the Nagas in Brockhaus's translation of the
+"Kathasaritsagara," ii. pp. 98-105. On the Vedic falcon which brings
+the Soma down to earth, see Kuhn's "Herabkunft des Feuers," pp.
+138-142.
+
+[300] In the Russian periodical, "Otechestvennuiya Zapiski," vol. 43
+(for 1830) pp. 252-6.
+
+[301] Schiefners's translation, 1852, pp. 80, 81.
+
+[302] In that attributed to Sivadasa, tale 2 (Lassen's "Anthologia
+Sanscritica," pp. 16-19), and in the "Kathasaritsagara," chap. lxxvi.
+See Brockhaus's summary in the "Berichte der phil. hist. Classe der
+Koen. Saechs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften," December 3, 1853, pp.
+194-5.
+
+[303] The "Baital-Pachisi," translated by Ghulam Mohammad Munshi,
+Bombay 1868, pp. 23-24.
+
+[304] B. G. Babington's translation of "The Vedala Cadai," p. 32.
+contained in the "Miscellaneous Translations" of the Oriental
+Translation Fund, 1831, vol. i. pt. iv pp. 32 and 67.
+
+[305] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ ii. 551.
+
+[306] Afanasief, viii. p. 205.
+
+[307] Afanasief, vii. No. 5 _b_.
+
+[308] Afanasief, vii. No. 5 _a_. For the _Zhar-Ptitsa_, see infra, p.
+285.
+
+[309] Afanasief, vi. p. 249. For a number of interesting legends,
+collected from the most distant parts of the world, about grinding
+mountains and crashing cliffs, &c., see Tylor's "Primitive Culture,"
+pp. 313-16. After quoting three mythic descriptions found among the
+Karens, the Algonquins, and the Aztecs, Mr. Tylor remarks, "On the
+suggestion of this group of solar conceptions and that of Maui's
+death, we may perhaps explain as derived from a broken-down fancy of
+solar-myth, that famous episode of Greek legend, where the good ship
+Argo passed between the Symplegades, those two huge cliffs that opened
+and closed again with swift and violent collision."
+
+Several of the Modern Greek stories are very like the skazka mentioned
+above. In one of these (Hahn, ii. p. 234), a Lamia guards the water of
+life (+abanato nero+) which flows within a rock; in another (ii. p.
+280) a mountain opens at midday, and several springs are disclosed,
+each of which cries "Draw from me!" but the only one which is
+life-giving is that to which a bee flies.
+
+[310] Wenzig, p. 148.
+
+[311] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ ii. 353.
+
+[312] See above, p. 233.
+
+[313] _Silnaya voda_ or potent water, and _bezsilnaya voda_, or
+impotent water (_sila_ = strength).
+
+[314] _Palitsa_ = a cudgel, etc. In the variant of the story quoted in
+the preceding section the prince seized Vikhor by the right little
+finger, _mizinets_. _Palets_ meant a finger. The similarity of the two
+words may have led to a confusion of ideas.
+
+[315] Afanasief, vii. pp. 97-103.
+
+[316] Muir's "Sanskrit Texts," v. p. 258 and p. 94. See, also
+Mannhardt's "Germ. Mythen," pp. 96-97.
+
+[317] Being as destructive as the poison which was created during the
+churning of the Amrita.
+
+[318] Afanasief, v. No. 35.
+
+[319] In the original he is generally designated as _Katoma--dyad'ka,
+dubovaya shapka_, "Katoma-governor, oaken-hat." Not being able to
+preserve the assonance, I have dropped the greater part of his title.
+
+[320] _Bogodanny_ (_bog_ = God; _dat'_, _davat'_ = to give). One of
+the Russian equivalents for our hideous "father-in-law" is "god-given
+father" (_bogodanny otets_), and for "mother-in-law," _bogodanny mat'_
+or "God-given mother." (Dahl.)
+
+[321] Four lines are omitted here. See A. de Gubernatis, "Zool.
+Mythology," i. 181, where a solar explanation of the whole story will
+be found.
+
+[322] These ejaculations belong to the story-teller.
+
+[323] Literally, "Seemed to her as small as a lamb."
+
+[324] _Kolodez_, a word connected with _koloda_ a log, trough, &c.
+
+[325] Afanasief, viii. No. 23 _a_.
+
+[326] To this episode a striking parallel is offered by that of
+Gunther's wedding night in the "Nibelungenlied," in which Brynhild
+flings her husband Gunther across the room, kneels on his chest, and
+finally binds him hand and foot, and suspends him from a nail till
+daybreak. The next night Siegfried takes his place, and wrestles with
+the mighty maiden. After a long struggle he flings her on the floor
+and forces her to submit. Then he leaves the room and Gunther returns.
+A summary of the story will be found in the "Tales of the Teutonic
+Lands," by G. W. Cox and E. H. Jones, pp. 94-5.
+
+[327] Khudyakof, i. No. 19. pp. 73-7.
+
+[328] Erlenvein, No. 19, pp. 95-7. For a Little-Russian version see
+Kulish, ii. pp. 59-82.
+
+[329] Afanasief, vi. No. 26. From the Kursk Government.
+
+[330] _Prashchurui._
+
+[331] The sentence in italics is a good specimen of the _priskazka_,
+or preface.
+
+[332] _Gramota_ = +grammata+ whence comes _gramotey_, able to read and
+write = +grammatikos+.
+
+[333] Vanya and Vanyusha are diminutives of Ivan (John), answering to
+our Johnny; Vanka is another, more like our Jack.
+
+[334] Literally "with a Solovei-like whistle." The word _solovei_
+generally means a nightingale, but it was also the name of a mythical
+hero, a robber whose voice or whistle had the power of killing those
+who heard it.
+
+[335] _Chmoknuel_, smacked.
+
+[336] See Barsof's rich collection of North-Russian funeral poetry,
+entitled "Prichitaniya Syevernago Kraya," Moscow, 1872. Also the
+"Songs of the Russian People," pp. 334-345.
+
+[337] Miss Frere's "Old Deccan Days," pp. 3, 4.
+
+[338] Grimm, _KM._ No. 21.
+
+[339] Afanasief, vi. No. 54.
+
+[340] _Ona krava shto yoy ye bila mati_, Vuk Karajich, p. 158. In the
+German translation (p. 188) _Wie dies nun die Kuh sah, die einst seine
+Mutter gewesen war_.
+
+[341] Afanasief, ii. p. 254.
+
+[342] _Cherez dvyenadtsat' stekol._ _Steklo_ means a glass, or a pane
+of glass.
+
+[343] Afanasief, ii. p. 269.
+
+[344] Khudyakof, No. 50.
+
+[345] Afanasief, iii. p. 25.
+
+[346] Dasent's "Norse Tales," No. 40. Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 37.
+"Grimsborken."
+
+[347] Dasent, No. 13. Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 51. "Jomfruen paa
+Glasberget."
+
+[348] Campbell's "West-Highland Tales," iii. pp. 265, 266.
+
+[349] Miss Frere's "Old Deccan Days," pp. 31, 73, 95, 135.
+
+[350] "Voelsunga Saga," translated by E. Magnusson and W. Morris, pp.
+95-6.
+
+[351] Afanasief, vi. No. 32. From the Novgorod Government. A
+"chap-book" version of this story will be found in Dietrich's
+collection (pp. 152-68 of the English translation); also in
+Keightley's "Tales and Popular Fictions."
+
+[352] _Nijnie_, lower. Thus Nijny Novgorod is the lower (down the
+Volga) Novgorod. (Dahl.)
+
+[353] _Kukova_, a stick or cudgel, one end of which is bent and
+rounded like a ball.
+
+[354] _Tak de ego ne vzat'._
+
+[355] There are numerous variants of this story among the Skazkas. In
+one of these (Afanasief, vii. No. 31) the man on whom the pike has
+bestowed supernatural power uses it to turn a Maiden princess into a
+mother. This renders the story wholly in accordance with (1) the
+Modern Greek tale of "The Half Man," (Hahn, No. 8) in which the magic
+formula runs, "according to the first word of God and the second of
+the fish shall such and such a thing be done!" (2) The Neapolitan
+story of "Pervonto" (Basile's "Pentamerone," No. 3) who obtains his
+magic power from three youths whom he screens from the sun as they lie
+asleep one hot day, and who turn out to be sons of a fairy. Afanasief
+compares the story also with the German tale of "The Little Grey
+Mannikin," in the "Zeitschrift fuer Deutsche Mythologie," &c., i. pp.
+38-40. The incident of wishes being fulfilled by a fish occurs in many
+stories, as in that of "The Fisherman," in the "Arabian Nights," "The
+Fisherman and his Wife," in Grimm (_KM._, No. 19). A number of stories
+about the Pike are referred to by A. de Gubernatis ("Zoolog.
+Mythology," ii. 337-9).
+
+[356] Quoted by Afanasief from Siemienski's "Podania," Posen, 1845, p.
+42.
+
+[357] "Songs of the Russian People," pp. 387-427.
+
+[358] Afanasief, vii. No. 36 _a_. This story has no special title in
+the original.
+
+[359] The rural police. _Sotnick_ = centurion, from _sto_ = 100.
+_Desyatnik_ is a word of the same kind from _desyat_ = 10.
+
+[360] A Ponomar is a kind of sacristan.
+
+[361] "Der Werwolf, Beitrag zur Sagengeschichte," Stuttgart, 1862. For
+Russian ideas on the subject see "Songs of the Russian people," pp.
+403-9.
+
+[362] "Polnische Volkssagen" (translated by Lewestam), p. 61.
+
+[363] Brockhaus's "Maehrchensammlung des Somadeva Bhatta," ii. p. 24.
+
+[364] Afanasief, vii. No. 36 _b_. This story, also, is without special
+title.
+
+[365] In Mr. Hain Friswell's collection of "Ghost Stories," 1858.
+
+[366] Afanasief, vii. No. 36 _c_. Also without special title.
+
+[367] The Russian _skovoroda_ is a sort of stew-pan, of great size,
+without a handle.
+
+[368] From Professor Brockhaus's summary in the "Berichte der phil.
+hist. Classe der Koenigl. Saechs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften,"
+1861, pp. 215, 16.
+
+[369] For an account of this mythological bird, see the note on next
+page. Ornithologically, the _Zhar-ptitsa_ is the Cassowary.
+
+[370] Khudyakof, No. 110. From the Nijegorod Government.
+
+[371] _Zhar_ = glowing heat, as of a furnace; _zhar-ptitsa_ = the
+glow-bird. Its name among the Czekhs and Slovaks is _Ptak Ohnivak_.
+The heathens Slavonians are said to have worshipped Ogon or Agon,
+Fire, the counterpart of the Vedic Agni. _Agon_ is still the ordinary
+Russian word for fire, the equivalent of the Latin _ignis_.
+
+[372] Afanasief, vii. No. 11. See also the notes in viii. p. 620, etc.
+
+[373] Grimm's _KM._, No. 57. See the notes in Bd. iii. p. 98.
+
+[374] Afanasief, vii. No. 12.
+
+[375] Khudyakof, No. 104. From the Orel Government.
+
+[376] The _kholodnaya izba_--the "cold izba," as opposed to the "warm
+izba" or living room.
+
+[377] The etymology of the word _koldun_ is still, I believe, a moot
+point. The discovery of the money in the warlock's coffin seems an
+improbable incident. In the original version of the story the wizard
+may, perhaps, have turned into a heap of gold (see above, p. 231, on
+"Gold-men").
+
+[378] Campbell, No. 13, vol. i. p. 215.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+GHOST STORIES.
+
+
+The Russian peasants have very confused ideas about the local
+habitation of the disembodied spirit, after its former tenement has
+been laid in the grave. They seem, from the language of their funeral
+songs, sometimes to regard the departed spirit as residing in the
+coffin which holds the body from which it has been severed, sometimes
+to imagine that it hovers around the building which used to be its
+home, or flies abroad on the wings of the winds. In the food and money
+and other necessaries of existence still placed in the coffin with the
+corpse, may be seen traces of an old belief in a journey which the
+soul was forced to undertake after the death of the body; in the
+_pomniki_ or feasts in memory of the dead, celebrated at certain short
+intervals after a death, and also on its anniversary, may be clearly
+recognized the remains of a faith in the continued residence of the
+dead in the spot where they had been buried, and in their subjection
+to some physical sufferings, their capacity for certain animal
+enjoyments. The two beliefs run side by side with each other,
+sometimes clashing and producing strange results--all the more strange
+when they show signs of an attempt having been made to reconcile them
+with Christian ideas.[379]
+
+Of a heavenly or upper-world home of departed spirits, neither the
+songs nor the stories of the people, so far as I am aware, make
+mention. But that there is a country beyond the sky, inhabited by
+supernatural beings of magic power and unbounded wealth, is stated in
+a number of tales of the well-known "Jack and the Beanstalk" type. Of
+these the following may be taken as a specimen.
+
+
+  THE FOX-PHYSICIAN.[380]
+
+  There once was an old couple. The old man planted a cabbage-head
+  in the cellar under the floor of his cottage; the old
+  woman planted one in the ash-hole. The old woman's cabbage,
+  in the ash-hole, withered away entirely; but the old man's grew
+  and grew, grew up to the floor. The old man took his hatchet and
+  cut a hole in the floor above the cabbage. The cabbage went on
+  growing again; grew, grew right up to the ceiling. Again the old
+  man took his hatchet and cut a hole in the ceiling above the cabbage.
+  The cabbage grew and grew, grew right up to the sky.
+  How was the old man to get a look at the head of the cabbage?
+  He began climbing up the cabbage-stalk, climbed and climbed,
+  climbed and climbed, climbed right up to the sky, cut a hole in
+  the sky, and crept through. There he sees a mill[381] standing.
+  The mill gives a turn--out come a pie and a cake with a pot of
+  stewed grain on top.
+
+  The old man ate his fill, drank his fill, and then lay down to
+  sleep. When he had slept enough he slid down to earth again,
+  and cried:
+
+  "Old woman! why, old woman! how one does live up in
+  heaven! There's a mill there--every time it turns, out come a
+  pie and a cake, with a pot of _kasha_ on top!"
+
+  "How can I get there, old man?"
+
+  "Slip into this sack, old woman. I'll carry you up."
+
+  The old woman thought a bit, and then got into the sack.
+  The old man took the sack in his teeth, and began climbing up
+  to heaven. He climbed and climbed, long did he climb. The
+  old woman got tired of waiting and asked:
+
+  "Is it much farther, old man?"
+
+  "We've half the way to go still."
+
+  Again he climbed and climbed, climbed and climbed. A
+  second time the old woman asked:
+
+  "Is it much farther, old man?"
+
+  The old man was just beginning to say: "Not much farther--" when
+  the sack slipped from between his teeth, and the old
+  woman fell to the ground and was smashed all to pieces. The
+  old man slid down the cabbage-stalk and picked up the sack.
+  But it had nothing in it but bones, and those broken very small.
+  The old man went out of his house and wept bitterly.
+
+  Presently a fox met him.
+
+  "What are you crying about, old man?"
+
+  "How can I help crying? My old woman is smashed to
+  pieces."
+
+  "Hold your noise! I'll cure her."
+
+  The old man fell at the fox's feet.
+
+  "Only cure her! I'll pay whatever is wanted."
+
+  "Well, then, heat the bath-room, carry the old woman there
+  along with a bag of oatmeal and a pot of butter, and then stand
+  outside the door; but don't look inside."
+
+  The old man heated the bath-room, carried in what was
+  wanted, and stood outside at the door. But the fox went into
+  the bath-room, shut the door, and began washing the old
+  woman's remains; washed and washed, and kept looking about
+  her all the time.
+
+  "How's my old woman getting on?" asked the old man.
+
+  "Beginning to stir!" replied the fox, who then ate up the
+  old woman, collected her bones and piled them up in a corner,
+  and set to work to knead a hasty pudding.
+
+  The old man waited and waited. Presently he asked;
+
+  "How's my old woman getting on?"
+
+  "Resting a bit!" cried the fox, as she gobbled up the hasty
+  pudding.
+
+  When she had finished it she cried:
+
+  "Old man! open the door wide."
+
+  He opened it, and the fox sprang out of the bath-room and
+  ran off home. The old man went into the bath-room and looked
+  about him. Nothing was to be seen but the old woman's bones
+  under the bench--and those picked so clean! As for the oatmeal
+  and the butter, they had all been eaten up. So the old man was
+  left alone and in poverty.
+
+This story is evidently a combination of two widely differing tales.
+The catastrophe we may for the present pass over, but about the
+opening some few words may be said. The Beanstalk myth is one which is
+found among so many peoples in such widely distant regions, and it
+deals with ideas of such importance, that no contribution to its
+history can be considered valueless. Most remarkable among its
+numerous forms are those American and Malayo-Polynesian versions of
+the "heaven-tree" story which Mr. Tylor has brought together in his
+"Early History of mankind."[382] In Europe it is usually found in a
+very crude and fragmentary form, having been preserved, for the most
+part, as the introduction to some other story which has proved more
+attractive to the popular fancy. The Russian versions are all, as far
+as I am aware, of this nature. I have already[383] mentioned one of
+them, in which, also, the Fox plays a prominent part. Its opening
+words are, "There once lived an old man and an old woman, and they had
+a little daughter. One day she was eating beans, and she let one fall
+on the ground. The bean grew and grew, and grew right up to heaven.
+The old man climbed up to heaven, slipped in there, walked and walked,
+admired and admired, and said to himself, 'I'll go and fetch the old
+woman; won't she just be delighted!'" So he tries to carry his wife up
+the bean stalk, but grows faint and lets her fall; she is killed, and
+he calls in the Fox as Wailer.[384]
+
+In a variant of the "Fox Physician" from the Vologda Government, it is
+a pea which gives birth to the wondrous tree. "There lived an old man
+and an old woman; the old man was rolling a pea about, and it fell on
+the ground. They searched and searched a whole week, but they couldn't
+find it. The week passed by, and the old people saw that the pea had
+begun to sprout. They watered it regularly, and the pea set to work
+and grew higher than the izba. When the peas ripened, the old man
+climbed up to where they were, plucked a great bundle of them, and
+began sliding down the stalk again. But the bundle fell out of the old
+man's hands and killed the old woman."[385]
+
+According to another variant, "There once lived a grandfather and a
+grandmother, and they had a hut. The grandfather sowed a bean under
+the table, and the grandmother a pea. A hen gobbled up the pea, but
+the bean grew up as high as the table. They moved the table, and the
+bean grew still higher. They cut away the ceiling and the roof; it
+went on growing until it grew right up to the heavens (_nebo_). The
+grandfather climbed up to heaven, climbed and climbed--there stood a
+hut (_khatka_), its walls of pancakes, its benches of white bread, the
+stove of buttered curds. He began to eat, ate his fill, and lay down
+above the stove to sleep. In came twelve sister-goats. The first had
+one eye, the second two eyes, the third three, and so on with the
+rest, the last having twelve eyes. They saw that some one had been
+meddling with their hut, so they put it to rights, and when they went
+out they left the one-eyed to keep watch. Next day the grandfather
+again climbed up there, saw One-Eye and began to mutter[386] 'Sleep,
+eye, sleep!' The goat went to sleep. The man ate his fill and went
+away. Next day the two-eyed kept watch, and after it the three-eyed
+and so on. The grandfather always muttered his charm 'Sleep, eye!
+Sleep, second eye! Sleep, third eye!' and so on. But with the twelfth
+goat he failed, for he charmed only eleven of her eyes. The goat saw
+him with the twelfth and caught him,"--and there the story ends.[387]
+
+In another instance the myth has been turned into one of those tales
+of the Munchausen class, the title of which is the "saw" _Ne lyubo, ne
+slushai_, _i.e._, "If you don't like, don't listen"--the final words
+being understood; "but let me tell you a story." A cock finds a pea in
+the part of a cottage under the floor, and begins calling to the hens;
+the cottager hears the call, drives away the cock, and pours water
+over the pea. It grows up to the floor, up to the ceiling, up to the
+roof; each time way is made for it, and finally it grows right up to
+heaven (_do nebushka_). Says the moujik to his wife:
+
+"Wife! wife, I say! shall I climb up into heaven and see what's going
+on there? May be there's sugar there, and mead--lots of everything!"
+
+"Climb away, if you've a mind to," replies his wife.
+
+So he climbs up, and there he finds a large wooden house. He enters
+in and sees a stove, garnished with sucking pigs and geese and pies
+"and everything which the soul could desire." But the stove is guarded
+by a seven-eyed goat; the moujik charms six of the eyes to sleep, but
+overlooks the seventh. With it the goat sees him eat and drink and
+then go to sleep. The house-master comes in, is informed by the goat
+of all that has occurred, flies into a passion, calls his servants,
+and has the intruder turned out of the house. When the moujik comes to
+the place where the pea-stalk had been, "he looks around--no pea-stalk
+is there." He collects the cobwebs "which float on the summer air,"
+and of them he makes a cord; this he fastens "to the edge of heaven"
+and begins to descend. Long before he reaches the earth he comes to
+the end of his cord, so he crosses himself, and lets go. Falling into
+a swamp, he remains there some time. At last a duck builds her nest on
+his head, and lays an egg in it. He catches hold of the duck's tail,
+and the bird pulls him out of the swamp; whereupon he goes home
+rejoicing, taking with him the duck and her egg, and tells his wife
+all that has happened.[388]
+
+In another variant it is an acorn which is sown under the floor. From
+it springs an oak which grows to the skies. The old man of the story
+climbs up it in search of acorns, and reaches heaven. There he finds a
+hand-mill and a cock with a golden comb, both of which he carries off.
+The mill grinds pies and pancakes, and the old man and his wife live
+in plenty. But after a time a Barin or Seigneur steals the mill. The
+old people are in despair, but the golden-combed cock flies after the
+mill, perches on the Barin's gates, and cries--
+
+"Kukureku! Boyarin, Boyarin! Give us back our golden, sky-blue mill!"
+
+The cock is flung into the well, but it drinks all the water, flies
+up to the Barin's house, and there reiterates its demand. Then it is
+thrown into the fire, but it extinguishes the flames, flies right into
+the Barin's guest-chamber, and crows as before. The guests disperse,
+the Barin runs after them, and the golden-combed cock seizes the mill
+and flies away with it.[389]
+
+In a variant from the Smolensk Government, it is the wife who climbs
+up the pea-stalk, while the husband remains down below. When she
+reaches the top, she finds an _izbushka_ or cottage there, its walls
+made of pies, its tables of cheese, its stove of pancakes, and so
+forth. After she has feasted and gone to sleep in a corner, in come
+three goats, of which the first has two eyes and two ears, the second
+has three of each of these organs, and the third has four. The old
+woman sends to sleep the ears and the eyes of the first and the second
+goat; but when the third watches it retains the use of its fourth eye
+and fourth ear, in spite of the incantations uttered by the intruder,
+and so finds her out. On being questioned, she explains that she has
+come "from the earthly realm into the heavenly," and promises not to
+repeat her visit if she is dismissed in peace. So the goats let her
+go, and give her a bag of nuts, apples, and other good things to take
+with her. She slides down the pea-stalk and tells her husband all that
+has happened. He persuades her to undertake a second ascent together
+with him, so off they set in company, their young granddaughter
+climbing after them. Suddenly the pea-stalk breaks, they fall headlong
+and are never heard of again. "Since that time," says the story, "no
+one has ever set foot in that heavenly izbushka--so no one knows
+anything more about it."[390]
+
+Clearer and fuller than these vague and fragmentary sketches of a
+"heavenly realm," are the pictures contained in the Russian folk-tales
+of the underground world. But it is very doubtful how far the stories
+in which they figure represent ancient Slavonic ideas. In the name, if
+not in the nature, of the _Ad_, or subterranean abode of evil spirits
+and sinful souls, we recognize the influence of the Byzantine Hades;
+but most of the tales in which it occurs are supposed to draw their
+original inspiration from Indian sources, while they owe to Christian,
+Brahmanic, Buddhistic, and Mohammedan influences the form in which
+they now appear. To these "legends," as the folk-tales are styled in
+which the saints or their ghostly enemies occur, belongs the following
+narrative of--
+
+
+  THE FIDDLER IN HELL.[391]
+
+  There was a certain moujik who had three sons. His life was
+  a prosperous one, and he laid by money enough to fill two pots.
+  The one he buried in his corn-kiln, the other under the gate of
+  his farmyard. Well, the moujik died, and never said a word
+  about the money to any one. One day there was a festival in
+  the village. A fiddler was on his way to the revel when, all of
+  a sudden, he sank into the earth--sank right through and
+  tumbled into hell, lighting exactly there where the rich moujik
+  was being tormented.
+
+  "Hail, friend!" says the Fiddler.
+
+  "It's an ill wind that's brought you hither!"[392] answers the
+  moujik; "this is hell, and in hell here I sit."
+
+  "What was it brought you here, uncle?"
+
+  "It was money! I had much money: I gave none to the
+  poor, two pots of it did I bury underground. See now, they
+  are going to torment me, to beat me with sticks, to tear me with
+  nails."
+
+  "Whatever shall I do?" cried the Fiddler. "Perhaps
+  they'll take to torturing me too!"
+
+  "If you go and sit on the stove behind the chimney-pipe,
+  and don't eat anything for three years--then you will remain
+  safe."
+
+  The Fiddler hid behind the stove-pipe. Then came fiends,[393]
+  and they began to beat the rich moujik, reviling him the while,
+  and saying:
+
+  "There's for thee, O rich man. Pots of money didst thou
+  bury but thou couldst not hide them. There didst thou bury
+  them that we might not be able to keep watch over them. At
+  the gate people are always riding about, the horses crush our
+  heads with their hoofs, and in the corn-kiln we get beaten with
+  flails."
+
+  As soon as the fiends had gone away the moujik said to the
+  Fiddler:
+
+  "If you get out of here, tell my children to dig up the money--one
+  pot is buried at the gate, and the other in the corn-kiln--and
+  to distribute it among the poor."
+
+  Afterwards there came a whole roomful of evil ones, and
+  they asked the rich moujik:
+
+  "What have you got here that smells so Russian?"
+
+  "You have been in Russia and brought away a Russian
+  smell with you," replied the moujik.
+
+  "How could that be?" they said. Then they began looking,
+  they found the Fiddler, and they shouted:
+
+  "Ha, ha, ha! Here's a Fiddler."
+
+  They pulled him off the stove, and set him to work fiddling.
+  He played three years, though it seemed to him only three
+  days. Then he got tired and said:
+
+  "Here's a wonder! After playing a whole evening I used
+  always to find all my fiddle-strings snapped. But now, though
+  I've been playing for three whole days, they are all sound. May
+  the Lord grant us his blessing!"[394]
+
+  No sooner had he uttered these words than every one of the
+  strings snapped.
+
+  "There now, brothers!" says the Fiddler, "you can see
+  for yourselves. The strings are snapped; I've nothing to
+  play on!"
+
+  "Wait a bit!" said one of the fiends. "I've got two hanks
+  of catgut; I'll fetch them for you."
+
+  He ran off and fetched them. The Fiddler took the strings,
+  screwed them up, and again uttered the words:
+
+  "May the Lord grant us his blessing!"
+
+  In a moment snap went both hanks.
+
+  "No, brothers!" said the Fiddler, "your strings don't suit
+  me. I've got some of my own at home; by your leave I'll go
+  for them."
+
+  The fiends wouldn't let him go. "You wouldn't come back,"
+  they say.
+
+  "Well, if you won't trust me, send some one with me as an
+  escort."
+
+  The fiends chose one of their number, and sent him with the
+  Fiddler. The Fiddler got back to the village. There he could
+  hear that, in the farthest cottage, a wedding was being celebrated.
+
+  "Let's go to the wedding!" he cried.
+
+  "Come along!" said the fiend.
+
+  They entered the cottage. Everyone there recognized the
+  Fiddler and cried:
+
+  "Where have you been hiding these three years?"
+
+  "I have been in the other world!" he replied.
+
+  They sat there and enjoyed themselves for some time.
+  Then the fiend beckoned to the Fiddler, saying, "It's time to
+  be off!" But the Fiddler replied: "Wait a little longer! Let
+  me fiddle away a bit and cheer up the young people." And so
+  they remained sitting there till the cocks began to crow. Then
+  the fiend disappeared.
+
+  After that, the Fiddler began to talk to the sons of the rich
+  moujik, and said:
+
+  "Your father bids you dig up the money--one potful is
+  buried at the gate and the other in the corn-kiln--and distribute
+  the whole of it among the poor."
+
+  Well, they dug up both the pots, and began to distribute
+  the money among the poor. But the more they gave away the
+  money, the more did it increase. Then they carried out the
+  pots to a crossway. Every one who passed by took out of
+  them as much money as his hand could grasp, and yet the
+  money wouldn't come to an end. Then they presented a petition
+  to the Emperor, and he ordained as follows. There was a
+  certain town, the road to which was a very roundabout one.
+  It was some fifty versts long, whereas if it had been made in a
+  straight line it would not have been more than five. And so
+  the Emperor ordained that a bridge should be made the whole
+  way. Well, they built a bridge five versts long, and this piece
+  of work cleared out both the pots.
+
+  About that time a certain maid bore a son and deserted him
+  in his infancy. The child neither ate nor drank for three years
+  and an angel of God always went about with him. Well, this
+  child came to the bridge, and cried:
+
+  "Ah! what a glorious bridge! God grant the kingdom of
+  heaven to him at whose cost it was built!"
+
+  The Lord heard this prayer, and ordered his angels to
+  release the rich moujik from the depths of hell.[395]
+
+With the bridge-building episode in this "legend" may be compared the
+opening of another Russian story. In it a merchant is described as
+having much money but no children. So he and his wife "began to pray
+to God, entreating him to give them a child--for solace in their
+youth, for support in their old age, for soul-remembrance[396] after
+death. And they took to feeding the poor and distributing alms.
+Besides all this, they resolved to build, for the use of all the
+faithful, a long bridge across swamps and where no man could find a
+footing. Much wealth did the merchant expend, but he built the bridge,
+and when the work was completed he sent his manager Fedor, saying--
+
+"'Go and sit under the bridge, and listen to what folks say about
+me--whether they bless me or revile me.'
+
+"Fedor set off, sat under the bridge, and listened. Presently three
+Holy Elders went over the bridge, and said one to another--
+
+"'How ought the man who built this bridge to be rewarded?' 'Let there
+be born to him a fortunate son. Whatsoever that son says--it shall be
+done: whatsoever he desires--that will the Lord bestow!'"[397]
+
+The rest of the story closely resembles the German tale of "The
+Pink."[398] In the corresponding Bohemian story of "The Treacherous
+Servant,"[399] it may be observed, the bridge-building incident has
+been preserved.
+
+But I will not dwell any longer on the story of the Fiddler, as I
+propose to give some account in the next chapter of several other
+tales of the same class, in most of which such descriptions of evil
+spirits are introduced as have manifestly been altered into what their
+narrators considered to be in accordance with Christian teaching. And
+so I will revert to those ideas about the dead, and about their
+abiding-place, which the modern Slavonians seem to have inherited from
+their heathen ancestors, and I will attempt to illustrate them by a
+few Russian ghost-stories. Those stories are, as a general rule, of a
+most ghastly nature, but there are a few into the composition of which
+the savage element does not enter. The "Dead Mother," which has
+already been quoted,[400] belongs to the latter class; and so does the
+following tale--which, as it bears no title in the original, we may
+name,
+
+
+  THE RIDE ON THE GRAVESTONE.[401]
+
+  Late one evening a certain artisan happened to be returning
+  home from a jovial feast in a distant village. There met him
+  on the way an old friend, one who had been dead some ten
+  years.
+
+  "Good health to you!" said the dead man.
+
+  "I wish you good health!" replied the reveller, and straight
+  way forgot that his acquaintance had ever so long ago bidden
+  the world farewell.
+
+  "Let's go to my house. We'll quaff a cup or two once
+  more."
+
+  "Come along. On such a happy occasion as this meeting
+  of ours, we may as well have a drink."
+
+  They arrived at a dwelling and there they drank and revelled.
+
+  "Now then, good-bye! It's time for me to go home," said
+  the artisan.
+
+  "Stay a bit. Where do you want to go now? Spend the night
+  here with me."
+
+  "No, brother! don't ask me; it cannot be. I've business
+  to do to-morrow, so I must get home as early as possible."
+
+  "Well, good-bye! but why should you walk? Better get on
+  my horse; it will carry you home quickly."
+
+  "Thanks! let's have it."
+
+  He got on its back, and was carried off--just as a whirlwind
+  flies! All of a sudden a cock crew. It was awful! All around
+  were graves, and the rider found he had a gravestone under
+  him!
+
+Of a somewhat similar nature is the story of--
+
+
+  THE TWO FRIENDS.[402]
+
+  In the days of old there lived in a certain village two young
+  men. They were great friends, went to _besyedas_[403] together, in
+  fact, regarded each other as brothers. And they made this
+  mutual agreement. Whichever of the two should marry first
+  was to invite his comrade to his wedding. And it was not to
+  make any difference whether he was alive or dead.
+
+  About a year after this one of the young men fell ill and
+  died. A few months later his comrade took it into his head to
+  get married. So he collected all his kinsmen, and set off to
+  fetch his bride. Now it happened that they drove past the
+  graveyard, and the bridegroom recalled his friend to mind, and
+  remembered his old agreement. So he had the horses stopped,
+  saying:
+
+  "I'm going to my comrade's grave. I shall ask him to come
+  and enjoy himself at my wedding. A right trusty friend was
+  he to me."
+
+  So he went to the grave and began to call aloud:
+
+  "Comrade dear! I invite thee to my wedding."
+
+  Suddenly the grave yawned, the dead man arose, and said:
+
+  "Thanks be to thee, brother, that thou hast fulfilled thy
+  promise. And now, that we may profit by this happy chance,
+  enter my abode. Let us quaff a glass apiece of grateful drink."
+
+  "I'd have gone, only the marriage procession is stopping
+  outside; all the folks are waiting for me."
+
+  "Eh, brother!" replied the dead man, "surely it won't take
+  long to toss off a glass!"
+
+  The bridegroom jumped into the grave. The dead man
+  poured him out a cup of liquor. He drank it off--and a hundred
+  years passed away.
+
+  "Quaff another cup, dear friend!" said the dead man.
+
+  He drank a second cup--two hundred years passed away.
+
+  "Now, comrade dear, quaff a third cup!" said the dead
+  man, "and then go, in God's name, and celebrate thy marriage!"
+
+  He drank the third cup--three hundred years passed away.
+
+  The dead man took leave of his comrade. The coffin lid fell;
+  the grave closed.
+
+  The bridegroom looked around. Where the graveyard had
+  been, was now a piece of waste ground. No road was to be
+  seen, no kinsmen, no horses. All around grew nettles and tall
+  grass.
+
+  He ran to the village--but the village was not what it used
+  to be. The houses were different; the people were all strangers
+  to him. He went to the priest's--but the priest was not the one
+  who used to be there--and told him about everything that had
+  happened. The priest searched through the church-books, and
+  found that, three hundred years before, this occurrence had
+  taken place: a bridegroom had gone to the graveyard on his
+  wedding-day, and had disappeared. And his bride, after some
+  time had passed by, had married another man.
+
+      [The "Rip van Winkle" story is too well known to
+      require more than a passing allusion. It was doubtless
+      founded on one of the numerous folk-tales which
+      correspond to the Christian legend of "The Seven
+      Sleepers of Ephesus"--itself an echo of an older tale
+      (see Baring Gould, "Curious Myths," 1872, pp. 93-112,
+      and Cox, "Mythology of the Aryan Nations," i.
+      413)--and to that of the monk who listens to a bird
+      singing in the convent garden, and remains entranced
+      for the space of many years: of which latter legend a
+      Russian version occurs in Chudinsky's collection (No.
+      17, pp. 92-4). Very close indeed is the resemblance
+      between the Russian story of "The Two Friends," and
+      the Norse "Friends in Life and Death" (Asbjoernsen's
+      New Series, No. 62, pp. 5-7). In the latter the
+      bridegroom knocks hard and long on his dead friend's
+      grave. At length its occupant appears, and accounts
+      for his delay by saying he had been far away when the
+      first knocks came, and so had not heard them. Then he
+      follows the bridegroom to church and from church, and
+      afterwards the bridegroom sees him back to his tomb.
+      On the way the living man expresses a desire to see
+      something of the world beyond the grave, and the
+      corpse fulfils his wish, having first placed on his
+      head a sod cut in the graveyard. After witnessing many
+      strange sights, the bridegroom is told to sit down and
+      wait till his guide returns. When he rises to his
+      feet, he is all overgrown with mosses and shrub (var
+      han overvoxen med Mose og Busker), and when he reaches
+      the outer world he finds all things changed.]
+
+But from these dim sketches of a life beyond, or rather within the
+grave, in which memories of old days and old friendships are preserved
+by ghosts of an almost genial and entirely harmless disposition, we
+will now turn to those more elaborate pictures in which the dead are
+represented under an altogether terrific aspect. It is not as an
+incorporeal being that the visitor from the other world is represented
+in the Skazkas. He comes not as a mere phantom, intangible,
+impalpable, incapable of physical exertion, haunting the dwelling
+which once was his home, or the spot to which he is drawn by the
+memory of some unexpiated crime. It is as a vitalized corpse that he
+comes to trouble mankind, often subject to human appetites, constantly
+endowed with more than human strength and malignity. His apparel is
+generally that of the grave, and he cannot endure to part with it, as
+may be seen from the following story--
+
+
+  THE SHROUD.[404]
+
+  In a certain village there was a girl who was lazy and slothful,
+  hated working but would gossip and chatter away like anything.
+  Well, she took it into her head to invite the other girls to a spinning
+  party. For in the villages, as every one knows, it is the
+  lazybones who gives the spinning-feast, and the sweet-toothed
+  are those who go to it.
+
+  Well, on the appointed night she got her spinners together.
+  They span for her, and she fed them and feasted them. Among
+  other things they chatted about was this--which of them all was
+  the boldest?
+
+  Says the lazybones (_lezhaka_):
+
+  "I'm not afraid of anything!"
+
+  "Well then," say the spinners, "if you're not afraid, go
+  past the graveyard to the church, take down the holy picture
+  from the door, and bring it here."
+
+  "Good, I'll bring it; only each of you must spin me a distaff-ful."
+
+  That was just her sort of notion: to do nothing herself, but
+  to get others to do it for her. Well, she went, took down the
+  picture, and brought it home with her. Her friends all saw that
+  sure enough it was the picture from the church. But the picture
+  had to be taken back again, and it was now the midnight hour.
+  Who was to take it? At length the lazybones said:
+
+  "You girls go on spinning. I'll take it back myself. I'm
+  not afraid of anything!"
+
+  So she went and put the picture back in its place. As she
+  was passing the graveyard on her return, she saw a corpse in a
+  white shroud, seated on a tomb. It was a moonlight night;
+  everything was visible. She went up to the corpse, and drew
+  away its shroud from it. The corpse held its peace, not uttering
+  a word; no doubt the time for it to speak had not come yet.
+  Well, she took the shroud and went home.
+
+  "There!" says she, "I've taken back the picture and put
+  it in its place; and, what's more, here's a shroud I took away
+  from a corpse."
+
+  Some of the girls were horrified; others didn't believe what
+  she said, and laughed at her.
+
+  But after they had supped and lain down to sleep, all of a
+  sudden the corpse tapped at the window and said:
+
+  "Give me my shroud! Give me my shroud!"
+
+  The girls were so frightened they didn't know whether they
+  were alive or dead. But the lazybones took the shroud, went to
+  the window, opened it, and said:
+
+  "There, take it."
+
+  "No," replied the corpse, "restore it to the place you took
+  it from."
+
+  Just then the cocks suddenly began to crow. The corpse
+  disappeared.
+
+  Next night, when the spinners had all gone home to their
+  own houses, at the very same hour as before, the corpse came,
+  tapped at the window, and cried:
+
+  "Give me my shroud!"
+
+  Well, the girl's father and mother opened the window and
+  offered him his shroud.
+
+  "No," says he, "let her take it back to the place she took
+  it from."
+
+  "Really now, how could one go to a graveyard with a corpse?
+  What a horrible idea!" she replied.
+
+  Just then the cocks crew. The corpse disappeared.
+
+  Next day the girl's father and mother sent for the priest,
+  told him the whole story, and entreated him to help them in their
+  trouble.
+
+  "Couldn't a service[405] be performed?" they said.
+
+  The priest reflected awhile; then he replied:
+
+  "Please to tell her to come to church to-morrow."
+
+  Next day the lazybones went to church. The service began,
+  numbers of people came to it. But just as they were going
+  to sing the cherubim song,[406] there suddenly arose, goodness
+  knows whence, so terrible a whirlwind that all the congregation
+  fell flat on their faces. And it caught up that girl, and then flung
+  her down on the ground. The girl disappeared from sight;
+  nothing was left of her but her back hair.[407]
+
+They are generally the corpses of wizards, or of other sinners who
+have led specially unholy lives, which leave their graves by night and
+wander abroad. Into such bodies, it is held, demons enter, and the
+combination of fiend and corpse goes forth as the terrible Vampire
+thirsting for blood. Of the proceedings of such a being the next story
+gives a detailed account, from which, among other things, may be
+learnt the fact that Slavonic corpses attach great importance to their
+coffin-lids as well as to their shrouds.
+
+
+  THE COFFIN-LID.[408]
+
+  A moujik was driving along one night with a load of pots. His
+  horse grew tired, and all of a sudden it came to a standstill
+  alongside of a graveyard. The moujik unharnessed his horse
+  and set it free to graze; meanwhile he laid himself down on
+  one of the graves. But somehow he didn't go to sleep.
+
+  He remained lying there some time. Suddenly the grave
+  began to open beneath him: he felt the movement and sprang
+  to his feet. The grave opened, and out of it came a corpse--wrapped
+  in a white shroud, and holding a coffin lid--came out
+  and ran to the church, laid the coffin-lid at the door, and then
+  set off for the village.
+
+  The moujik was a daring fellow. He picked up the coffin-lid
+  and remained standing beside his cart, waiting to see what would
+  happen. After a short delay the dead man came back, and was
+  going to snatch up his coffin-lid--but it was not to be seen.
+  Then the corpse began to track it out, traced it up to the moujik,
+  and said:
+
+  "Give me my lid: if you don't, I'll tear you to bits!"
+
+  "And my hatchet, how about that?" answers the moujik.
+  "Why, it's I who'll be chopping you into small pieces!"
+
+  "Do give it back to me, good man!" begs the corpse.
+
+  "I'll give it when you tell me where you've been and what
+  you've done."
+
+  "Well, I've been in the village, and there I've killed a couple
+  of youngsters."
+
+  "Well then, now tell me how they can be brought back to
+  life."
+
+  The corpse reluctantly made answer:
+
+  "Cut off the left skirt of my shroud, and take it with you.
+  When you come into the house where the youngsters were killed,
+  pour some live coals into a pot and put the piece of the
+  shroud in with them, and then lock the door. The lads will be
+  revived by the smoke immediately."
+
+  The moujik cut off the left skirt of the shroud, and gave up
+  the coffin-lid. The corpse went to its grave--the grave opened.
+  But just as the dead man was descending into it, all of a sudden
+  the cocks began to crow, and he hadn't time to get properly
+  covered over. One end of the coffin-lid remained sticking out
+  of the ground.
+
+  The moujik saw all this and made a note of it. The day
+  began to dawn; he harnessed his horse and drove into the village.
+  In one of the houses he heard cries and wailing. In he
+  went--there lay two dead lads.
+
+  "Don't cry," says he, "I can bring them to life!"
+
+  "Do bring them to life, kinsman," say their relatives.
+  "We'll give you half of all we possess."
+
+  The moujik did everything as the corpse had instructed him,
+  and the lads came back to life. Their relatives were delighted,
+  but they immediately seized the moujik and bound him with
+  cords, saying:
+
+  "No, no, trickster! We'll hand you over to the authorities.
+  Since you knew how to bring them back to life, maybe it was
+  you who killed them!"
+
+  "What are you thinking about, true believers! Have the
+  fear of God before your eyes!" cried the moujik.
+
+  Then he told them everything that had happened to him
+  during the night. Well, they spread the news through the
+  village; the whole population assembled and swarmed into the
+  graveyard. They found out the grave from which the dead man
+  had come out, they tore it open, and they drove an aspen stake
+  right into the heart of the corpse, so that it might no more rise
+  up and slay. But they rewarded the moujik richly, and sent him
+  away home with great honor.
+
+It is not only during sleep that the Vampire is to be dreaded. At
+cross-roads, or in the neighborhood of cemeteries, an animated corpse
+of this description often lurks, watching for some unwary wayfarer
+whom it may be able to slay and eat. Past such dangerous spots as
+these the belated villager will speed with timorous steps,
+remembering, perhaps, some such uncanny tale as that which comes next.
+
+
+  THE TWO CORPSES.[409]
+
+  A soldier had obtained leave to go home on furlough--to pray
+  to the holy images, and to bow down before his parents. And
+  as he was going his way, at a time when the sun had long set,
+  and all was dark around, it chanced that he had to pass by a
+  graveyard. Just then he heard that some one was running after
+  him, and crying:
+
+  "Stop! you can't escape!"
+
+  He looked back and there was a corpse running and gnashing
+  its teeth. The Soldier sprang on one side with all his
+  might to get away from it, caught sight of a little chapel,[410] and
+  bolted straight into it.
+
+  There wasn't a soul in the chapel, but stretched out on a
+  table there lay another corpse, with tapers burning in front of
+  it. The Soldier hid himself in a corner, and remained there,
+  hardly knowing whether he was alive or dead, but waiting to see
+  what would happen. Presently up ran the first corpse--the one
+  that had chased the Soldier--and dashed into the chapel. Thereupon
+  the one that was lying on the table jumped up, and cried
+  to it:
+
+  "What hast thou come here for?"
+
+  "I've chased a soldier in here, so I'm going to eat him."
+
+  "Come now, brother! he's run into my house. I shall eat
+  him myself."
+
+  "No, I shall!"
+
+  "No, I shall!"
+
+  And they set to work fighting; the dust flew like anything.
+  They'd have gone on fighting ever so much longer, only the
+  cocks began to crow. Then both the corpses fell lifeless to
+  the ground, and the Soldier went on his way homeward in peace,
+  saying:
+
+  "Glory be to Thee, O Lord! I am saved from the wizards!"
+
+Even the possession of arms and the presence of a dog will not always,
+it seems, render a man secure from this terrible species of
+cut-throat.
+
+
+  THE DOG AND THE CORPSE.[411]
+
+  A moujik went out in pursuit of game one day, and took a
+  favorite dog with him. He walked and walked through woods
+  and bogs, but got nothing for his pains. At last the darkness of
+  night surprised him. At an uncanny hour he passed by a graveyard,
+  and there, at a place where two roads met, he saw standing
+  a corpse in a white shroud. The moujik was horrified, and knew
+  not which way to go--whether to keep on or to turn back.
+
+  "Well, whatever happens, I'll go on," he thought; and on he
+  went, his dog running at his heels. When the corpse perceived
+  him, it came to meet him; not touching the earth with its feet,
+  but keeping about a foot above it--the shroud fluttering after it.
+  When it had come up with the sportsman, it made a rush at him;
+  but the dog seized hold of it by its bare calves, and began a tussle
+  with it. When the moujik saw his dog and the corpse grappling
+  with each other, he was delighted that things had turned out so
+  well for himself, and he set off running home with all his might.
+  The dog kept up the struggle until cock-crow, when the corpse
+  fell motionless to the ground. Then the dog ran off in pursuit of
+  its master, caught him up just as he reached home, and rushed at
+  him, furiously trying to bite and to rend him. So savage was it,
+  and so persistent, that it was as much as the people of the house
+  could do to beat it off.
+
+  "Whatever has come over the dog?" asked the moujik's
+  old mother. "Why should it hate its master so?"
+
+  The moujik told her all that had happened.
+
+  "A bad piece of work, my son!" said the old woman. "The
+  dog was disgusted at your not helping it. There it was fighting
+  with the corpse--and you deserted it, and thought only of saving
+  yourself! Now it will owe you a grudge for ever so long."
+
+  Next morning, while the family were going about the farmyard,
+  the dog was perfectly quiet. But the moment its master
+  made his appearance, it began to growl like anything.
+
+  They fastened it to a chain; for a whole year they kept it
+  chained up. But in spite of that, it never forgot how its master
+  had offended it. One day it got loose, flew straight at him, and
+  began trying to throttle him.
+
+  So they had to kill it.
+
+In the next story a most detailed account is given of the manner in
+which a Vampire sets to work, and also of the best means of ridding
+the world of it.
+
+
+  THE SOLDIER AND THE VAMPIRE.[412]
+
+  A certain soldier was allowed to go home on furlough.
+  Well, he walked and walked, and after a time he began to draw
+  near to his native village. Not far off from that village lived a
+  miller in his mill. In old times the Soldier had been very
+  intimate with him: why shouldn't he go and see his friend? He
+  went. The Miller received him cordially, and at once brought
+  out liquor; and the two began drinking, and chattering about
+  their ways and doings. All this took place towards nightfall, and
+  the Soldier stopped so long at the Miller's that it grew quite
+  dark.
+
+  When he proposed to start for his village, his host exclaimed:
+
+  "Spend the night here, trooper! It's very late now, and perhaps
+  you might run into mischief."
+
+  "How so?"
+
+  "God is punishing us! A terrible warlock has died among
+  us, and by night he rises from his grave, wanders through the
+  village, and does such things as bring fear upon the very boldest!
+  How could even you help being afraid of him?"
+
+  "Not a bit of it! A soldier is a man who belongs to the
+  crown, and 'crown property cannot be drowned in water nor
+  burnt in fire.' I'll be off: I'm tremendously anxious to see my
+  people as soon as possible."
+
+  Off he set. His road lay in front of a graveyard. On one
+  of the graves he saw a great fire blazing. "What's that?"
+  thinks he. "Let's have a look." When he drew near, he saw
+  that the Warlock was sitting by the fire, sewing boots.
+
+  "Hail, brother!" calls out the Soldier.
+
+  The Warlock looked up and said:
+
+  "What have you come here for?"
+
+  "Why, I wanted to see what you're doing."
+
+  The Warlock threw his work aside and invited the Soldier to
+  a wedding.
+
+  "Come along, brother," says he, "let's enjoy ourselves.
+  There's a wedding going on in the village."
+
+  "Come along!" says the Soldier.
+
+  They came to where the wedding was; there they were
+  given drink, and treated with the utmost hospitality. The Warlock
+  drank and drank, revelled and revelled, and then grew
+  angry. He chased all the guests and relatives out of the house,
+  threw the wedded pair into a slumber, took out two phials and
+  an awl, pierced the hands of the bride and bridegroom with the
+  awl, and began drawing off their blood. Having done this, he
+  said to the Soldier:
+
+  "Now let's be off."
+
+  Well, they went off. On the way the Soldier said:
+
+  "Tell me; why did you draw off their blood in those phials?"
+
+  "Why, in order that the bride and bridegroom might die.
+  To-morrow morning no one will be able to wake them. I alone
+  know how to bring them back to life."
+
+  "How's that managed?"
+
+  "The bride and bridegroom must have cuts made in their
+  heels, and some of their own blood must then be poured back
+  into those wounds. I've got the bridegroom's blood stowed
+  away in my right-hand pocket, and the bride's in my left."
+
+  The Soldier listened to this without letting a single word
+  escape him. Then the Warlock began boasting again.
+
+  "Whatever I wish," says he, "that I can do!"
+
+  "I suppose it's quite impossible to get the better of you?"
+  says the Soldier.
+
+  "Why impossible? If any one were to make a pyre of aspen
+  boughs, a hundred loads of them, and were to burn me on that
+  pyre, then he'd be able to get the better of me. Only he'd
+  have to look out sharp in burning me; for snakes and worms
+  and different kinds of reptiles would creep out of my inside, and
+  crows and magpies and jackdaws would come flying up. All
+  these must be caught and flung on the pyre. If so much as a
+  single maggot were to escape, then there'd be no help for it; in
+  that maggot I should slip away!"
+
+  The Soldier listened to all this and did not forget it. He and
+  the Warlock talked and talked, and at last they arrived at the
+  grave.
+
+  "Well, brother," said the Warlock, "now I'll tear you to
+  pieces. Otherwise you'd be telling all this."
+
+  "What are you talking about? Don't you deceive yourself;
+  I serve God and the Emperor."
+
+  The Warlock gnashed his teeth, howled aloud, and sprang
+  at the Soldier--who drew his sword and began laying about him
+  with sweeping blows. They struggled and struggled; the Soldier
+  was all but at the end of his strength. "Ah!" thinks he,
+  "I'm a lost man--and all for nothing!" Suddenly the cocks
+  began to crow. The Warlock fell lifeless to the ground.
+
+  The Soldier took the phials of blood out of the Warlock's
+  pockets, and went on to the house of his own people. When he
+  had got there, and had exchanged greetings with his relatives,
+  they said:
+
+  "Did you see any disturbance, Soldier?"
+
+  "No, I saw none."
+
+  "There now! Why we've a terrible piece of work going
+  on in the village. A Warlock has taken to haunting it!"
+
+  After talking awhile, they lay down to sleep. Next morning
+  the Soldier awoke, and began asking:
+
+  "I'm told you've got a wedding going on somewhere here?"
+
+  "There was a wedding in the house of a rich moujik,"
+  replied his relatives, "but the bride and bridegroom have died
+  this very night--what from, nobody knows."
+
+  "Where does this moujik live?"
+
+  They showed him the house. Thither he went without
+  speaking a word. When he got there, he found the whole
+  family in tears.
+
+  "What are you mourning about?" says he.
+
+  "Such and such is the state of things, Soldier," say they.
+
+  "I can bring your young people to life again. What will
+  you give me if I do?"
+
+  "Take what you like, even were it half of what we've got!"
+
+  The Soldier did as the Warlock had instructed him, and
+  brought the young people back to life. Instead of weeping
+  there began to be happiness and rejoicing; the Soldier was
+  hospitably treated and well rewarded. Then--left about, face!
+  off he marched to the Starosta, and told him to call the peasants
+  together and to get ready a hundred loads of aspen wood.
+  Well, they took the wood into the graveyard, dragged the Warlock
+  out of his grave, placed him on the pyre, and set it alight--the
+  people all standing round in a circle with brooms, shovels,
+  and fire-irons. The pyre became wrapped in flames, the Warlock
+  began to burn. His corpse burst, and out of it crept snakes,
+  worms, and all sorts of reptiles, and up came flying crows, magpies,
+  and jackdaws. The peasants knocked them down and
+  flung them into the fire, not allowing so much as a single maggot
+  to creep away! And so the Warlock was thoroughly consumed,
+  and the Soldier collected his ashes and strewed them
+  to the winds. From that time forth there was peace in the
+  village.
+
+  The Soldier received the thanks of the whole community.
+  He stayed at home some time, enjoying himself thoroughly.
+  Then he went back to the Tsar's service with money in his
+  pocket. When he had served his time, he retired from the
+  army, and began to live at his ease.
+
+The stories of this class are very numerous, all of them based on the
+same belief--that in certain cases the dead, in a material shape,
+leave their graves in order to destroy and prey upon the living. This
+belief is not peculiar to the Slavonians but it is one of the
+characteristic features of their spiritual creed. Among races which
+burn their dead, remarks Hertz in his exhaustive treatise on the
+Werwolf (p. 126), little is known of regular "corpse-spectres." Only
+vague apparitions, dream-like phantoms, are supposed, as a general
+rule, to issue from graves in which nothing more substantial than
+ashes has been laid.[413] But where it is customary to lay the dead
+body in the ground, "a peculiar half-life" becomes attributed to it by
+popular fancy, and by some races it is supposed to be actuated at
+intervals by murderous impulses. In the East these are generally
+attributed to the fact of its being possessed by an evil spirit, but
+in some parts of Europe no such explanation of its conduct is given,
+though it may often be implied. "The belief in vampires is the
+specific Slavonian form of the universal belief in spectres
+(_Gespenster_)," says Hertz, and certainly vampirism has always made
+those lands peculiarly its own which are or have been tenanted or
+greatly influenced by Slavonians.
+
+But animated corpses often play an important part in the traditions
+of other countries. Among the Scandinavians and especially in Iceland,
+were they the cause of many fears, though they were not supposed to be
+impelled by a thirst for blood so much as by other carnal
+appetites,[414] or by a kind of local malignity.[415] In Germany tales
+of horror similar to the Icelandic are by no means unknown, but the
+majority of them are to be found in districts which were once wholly
+Lettic or Slavonic, though they are now reckoned as Teutonic, such as
+East Prussia, or Pomerania, or Lusatia. But it is among the races
+which are Slavonic by tongue as well as by descent, that the genuine
+vampire tales flourish most luxuriantly: in Russia, in Poland, and in
+Servia--among the Czekhs of Bohemia, and the Slovaks of Hungary, and
+the numerous other subdivisions of the Slavonic family which are
+included within the heterogeneous empire of Austria. Among the
+Albanians and Modern Greeks they have taken firm root, but on those
+peoples a strong Slavonic influence has been brought to bear. Even
+Prof. Bernhard Schmidt, although an uncompromising opponent of
+Fallmerayer's doctrines with regard to the Slavonic origin of the
+present inhabitants of Greece, allows that the Greeks, as they
+borrowed from the Slavonians a name for the Vampire, may have received
+from them also certain views and customs with respect to it.[416]
+Beyond this he will not go, and he quotes a number of passages from
+Hellenic writers to prove that in ancient Greece spectres were
+frequently represented as delighting in blood, and sometimes as
+exercising a power to destroy. Nor will he admit that any very great
+stress ought to be laid upon the fact that the Vampire is generally
+called in Greece by a name of Slavonic extraction; for in the islands,
+which were, he says, little if at all affected by Slavonic influences,
+the Vampire bears a thoroughly Hellenic designation.[417] But the
+thirst for blood attributed by Homer to his shadowy ghosts seems to
+have been of a different nature from that evinced by the material
+Vampire of modern days, nor does that ghastly _revenant_ seem by any
+means fully to correspond to such ghostly destroyers as the spirit of
+Gello, or the spectres of Medea's slaughtered children. It is not only
+in the Vampire, however, that we find a point of close contact between
+the popular beliefs of the New-Greeks and the Slavonians. Prof.
+Bernhard Schmidt's excellent work is full of examples which prove how
+intimately they are connected.
+
+The districts of the Russian Empire in which a belief in vampires
+mostly prevails are White Russia and the Ukraine. But the ghastly
+blood-sucker, the _Upir_,[418] whose name has become naturalized in so
+many alien lands under forms resembling our "Vampire," disturbs the
+peasant-mind in many other parts of Russia, though not perhaps with
+the same intense fear which it spreads among the inhabitants of the
+above-named districts, or of some other Slavonic lands. The numerous
+traditions which have gathered around the original idea vary to some
+extent according to their locality, but they are never radically
+inconsistent.
+
+Some of the details are curious. The Little-Russians hold that if a
+vampire's hands have grown numb from remaining long crossed in the
+grave, he makes use of his teeth, which are like steel. When he has
+gnawed his way with these through all obstacles, he first destroys the
+babes he finds in a house, and then the older inmates. If fine salt be
+scattered on the floor of a room, the vampire's footsteps may be
+traced to his grave, in which he will be found resting with rosy cheek
+and gory mouth.
+
+The Kashoubes say that when a _Vieszcy_, as they call the Vampire,
+wakes from his sleep within the grave, he begins to gnaw his hands and
+feet; and as he gnaws, one after another, first his relations, then
+his other neighbors, sicken and die. When he has finished his own
+store of flesh, he rises at midnight and destroys cattle, or climbs a
+belfry and sounds the bell. All who hear the ill-omened tones will
+soon die. But generally he sucks the blood of sleepers. Those on whom
+he has operated will be found next morning dead, with a very small
+wound on the left side of the breast, exactly over the heart. The
+Lusatian Wends hold that when a corpse chews its shroud or sucks its
+own breast, all its kin will soon follow it to the grave. The
+Wallachians say that a _murony_--a sort of cross between a werwolf and
+a vampire, connected by name with our nightmare--can take the form of
+a dog, a cat, or a toad, and also of any blood-sucking insect. When he
+is exhumed, he is found to have long nails of recent growth on his
+hands and feet, and blood is streaming from his eyes, ears, nose and
+mouth.
+
+The Russian stories give a very clear account of the operation
+performed by the vampire on his victims. Thus, one night, a peasant is
+conducted by a stranger into a house where lie two sleepers, an old
+man and a youth. "The stranger takes a pail, places it near the youth,
+and strikes him on the back; immediately the back opens, and forth
+flows rosy blood. The stranger fills the pail full, and drinks it dry.
+Then he fills another pail with blood from the old man, slakes his
+brutal thirst, and says to the peasant, 'It begins to grow light! let
+us go back to my dwelling.'"[419]
+
+Many skazkas also contain, as we have already seen, very clear
+directions how to deprive a vampire of his baleful power. According to
+them, as well as to their parallels elsewhere, a stake must be driven
+through the murderous corpse. In Russia an aspen stake is selected for
+that purpose, but in some places one made of thorn is preferred. But a
+Bohemian vampire, when staked in this manner in the year 1337, says
+Mannhardt,[420] merely exclaimed that the stick would be very useful
+for keeping off dogs; and a _strigon_ (or Istrian vampire) who was
+transfixed with a sharp thorn cudgel near Laibach, in 1672, pulled it
+out of his body and flung it back contemptuously. The only certain
+methods of destroying a vampire appear to be either to consume him by
+fire, or to chop off his head with a grave-digger's shovel. The Wends
+say that if a vampire is hit over the back of the head with an
+implement of that kind, he will squeal like a pig.
+
+The origin of the Vampire is hidden in obscurity. In modern times it
+has generally been a wizard, or a witch, or a suicide,[421] or a
+person who has come to a violent end, or who has been cursed by the
+Church or by his parents, who takes such an unpleasant means of
+recalling himself to the memory of his surviving relatives and
+acquaintances. But even the most honorable dead may become vampires by
+accident. He whom a vampire has slain is supposed, in some countries,
+himself to become a vampire. The leaping of a cat or some other animal
+across a corpse, even the flight of a bird above it, may turn the
+innocent defunct into a ravenous demon.[422] Sometimes, moreover, a
+man is destined from his birth to be a vampire, being the offspring of
+some unholy union. In some instances the Evil One himself is the
+father of such a doomed victim, in others a temporarily animated
+corpse. But whatever may be the cause of a corpse's "vampirism," it is
+generally agreed that it will give its neighbors no rest until they
+have at least transfixed it. What is very remarkable about the
+operation is, that the stake must be driven through the vampire's body
+by a single blow. A second would restore it to life. This idea
+accounts for the otherwise unexplained fact that the heroes of
+folk-tales are frequently warned that they must on no account be
+tempted into striking their magic foes more than one stroke. Whatever
+voices may cry aloud "Strike again!" they must remain contented with a
+single blow.[423]
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[379] Some account of Russian funeral rites and beliefs, and of the
+dirges which are sung at buryings and memorials of the dead, will be
+found in the "Songs of the Russian People," pp. 309-344.
+
+[380] Afanasief, iv. No. 7. From the Archangel Government.
+
+[381] _Zhornovtsui_, _i.e._ mill-stones, or a hand-mill.
+
+[382] Pp. 341-349 of the first edition. See, also, for some other
+versions of the story, as well as for an attempt to explain it, A. de
+Gubernatis, "Zoological Mythology," i. 243, 244.
+
+[383] See _supra_, chap. I. p. 36.
+
+[384] Afanasief, iv. No. 9.
+
+[385] Ibid., iv. No. 7. p. 34.
+
+[386] _Prigovarivat'_ = to say or sing while using certain (usually
+menacing) gestures.
+
+[387] Afanasief, iv. p. 35.
+
+[388] Afanasief, vi. No. 2.
+
+[389] Afanasief, "Legendui," No. 33.
+
+[390] Chudinsky, No. 9.
+
+[391] Afanasief, v. No. 47. From the Tver Government.
+
+[392] "You have fallen here" _neladno_. _Ladno_ means "well,"
+"propitiously," &c., also "in tune."
+
+[393] _Nenashi_ = not ours.
+
+[394] _Gospodi blagoslovi!_ exactly our "God bless us;" with us now
+merely an expression of surprise.
+
+[395] _Iz adu kromyeshnago_ = from the last hell. _Kromyeshnaya t'ma_
+= utter darkness. _Kromyeshny_, or _kromyeshnaya_, is sometimes used
+by itself to signify hell.
+
+[396] _Ha pomin dushi._ _Pomin_ = "remembrance," also "prayers for the
+dead."
+
+[397] Afanasief, vii. No. 20. In some variants of this story, instead
+of the three holy elders appear the Saviour, St. Nicholas, and St.
+Mitrofan.
+
+[398] "Die Nelke," Grimm, _KM._, No. 76, and vol. iii. pp. 125-6.
+
+[399] Wenzig, No. 17, pp. 82-6.
+
+[400] See Chap. I. p. 32.
+
+[401] Afanasief, v. p. 144.
+
+[402] Afanasief, vi, p. 322, 323.
+
+[403] Evening gatherings of young people.
+
+[404] Afanasief, v. No. 30 _a_, pp. 140-2. From the Voroneje
+Government.
+
+[405] _Obyednya_, the service answering to the Latin mass.
+
+[406] At the end of the _obyednya_.
+
+[407] The _kosa_ or single braid in which Russian girls wear their
+hair. See "Songs of the Russian People," pp. 272-5. On a story of this
+kind Goethe founded his weird ballad of "Der Todtentanz." Cf.
+Bertram's "Sagen," No. 18.
+
+[408] Afanasief, v. pp. 142-4. From the Tambof Government.
+
+[409] Afanasief, vi. pp. 324, 325.
+
+[410] _Chasovenka_, a small chapel, shrine, or oratory.
+
+[411] Afanasief, vi. pp 321, 322.
+
+[412] Afanasief, v. pp. 144-7. From the Tambof Government.
+
+[413] On this account Hanush believes that the Old Slavonians, as
+burners of their dead, must have borrowed the vampire belief from some
+other race. See the "Zeitschrift fuer deutsche Mythologie," &c., vol.
+iv. p. 199. But it is not certain that burial by cremation was
+universally practised by the heathen Slavonians. Kotlyarevsky, in his
+excellent work on their funeral customs, arrives at the conclusion
+that there never was any general rule on the subject, but that some
+Slavonians buried without burning, while others first burned their
+dead, and then inhumed their ashes. See "Songs of the Russian People,"
+p. 325.
+
+[414] See the strange stories in Maurer's "Islaendische Volkssagen,"
+pp. 112, and 300, 301.
+
+[415] As in the case of Glam, the terrible spectre which Grettir had
+so much difficulty in overcoming. To all who appreciate a shudder may
+be recommended chap. xxxv. of "The Story of Grettir the Strong,"
+translated from the Icelandic by E. Magnusson and W. Morris, 1869.
+
+[416] The ordinary Modern-Greek word for a vampire, +vourkolakas+, he
+says, "is undoubtedly of Slavonic origin, being identical with the
+Slavonic name of the werwolf, which is called in Bohemian _vlkodlak_,
+in Bulgarian and Slovak, _vrkolak_, &c.," the vampire and the werwolf
+having many points in common. Moreover, the Regular name for a vampire
+in Servian, he remarks, is _vukodlak_. This proves the Slavonian
+nature (_die Slavicitaet_) of the name beyond all doubt.--"Volksleben
+der Neugriechen," 1871, p. 159.
+
+[417] In Crete and Rhodes, +katachanas+; in Cyprus, +sarkomenos+; in
+Tenos, +anaikathoumenos+. The Turks, according to Mr. Tozer, give the
+name of _vurkolak_, and some of the Albanians, says Hahn, give that of
++vourvolak-ou+ to the restless dead. Ibid, p. 160.
+
+[418] Russian _vampir_, South-Russian _upuir_, anciently _upir_;
+Polish _upior_, Polish and Bohemian _upir_. Supposed by some
+philologists to be from _pit'_ = drink, whence the Croatian name for a
+vampire _pijawica_. See "Songs of the Russian People," p. 410.
+
+[419] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ iii. 558. The story is translated in full in
+"Songs of the Russian People," pp. 411, 412
+
+[420] In a most valuable article on "Vampirism" in the "Zeitschrift
+fuer deutsche Mythologie und Sittenkunde," Bd. iv. 1859, pp. 259-82.
+
+[421] How superior our intelligence is to that of Slavonian peasants
+is proved by the fact that they still drive stakes through supposed
+vampires, whereas our law no longer demands that a suicide shall have
+a stake driven through his corpse. That rite was abolished by 4 Geo.
+iv. c. 52.
+
+[422] Compare with this belief the Scotch superstition mentioned by
+Pennant, that if a dog or cat pass over a corpse the animal must be
+killed at once. As illustrative of this idea, Mr. Henderson states, on
+the authority of "an old Northumbrian hind," that "in one case, just
+as a funeral was about to leave the house, the cat jumped over the
+coffin, and no one would move till the cat was destroyed." In another,
+a colly dog jumped over a coffin which a funeral party had set on the
+ground while they rested. "It was felt by all that the dog must be
+killed, without hesitation, before they proceeded farther, and killed
+it was." With us the custom survives; its explanation has been
+forgotten. See Henderson's "Notes on the Folk Lore of the Northern
+Counties of England," 1866, p. 43.
+
+[423] A great deal of information about vampires, and also about
+turnskins, wizards and witches, will be found in Afanasief, _P.V.S._
+iii. chap. xxvi., on which I have freely drawn. The subject has been
+treated with his usual judgment and learning by Mr. Tylor in his
+"Primitive Culture," ii. 175, 176. For several ghastly stories about
+the longing of Rakshasas and Vetalas for human flesh, some of which
+bear a strong resemblance to Slavonic vampire tales, see Brockhaus's
+translation of the first five books of the "Kathasaritsagara," vol. i.
+p. 94; vol. ii. pp. 13, 142, 147.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+LEGENDS.
+
+I
+
+_About Saints._
+
+
+As besides the songs or _pyesni_ there are current among the people a
+number of _stikhi_ or poems on sacred subjects, so together with the
+_skazki_ there have been retained in the popular memory a multitude of
+_legendui_, or legends relating to persons or incidents mentioned in
+the Bible or in ecclesiastical history. Many of them have been
+extracted from the various apocryphal books which in olden times had
+so wide a circulation, and many also from the lives of the Saints;
+some of them may be traced to such adaptations of Indian legends as
+the "Varlaam and Josaphat" attributed to St. John of Damascus; and
+others appear to be ancient heathen traditions, which, with altered
+names and slightly modified incidents, have been made to do service as
+Christian narratives. But whatever may be their origin, they all bear
+witness to the fact of their having been exposed to various
+influences, and many of them may fairly be considered as relics of
+hoar antiquity, memorials of that misty period when the pious
+Slavonian chronicler struck by the confusion of Christian with heathen
+ideas and ceremonies then prevalent, styled his countrymen a
+two-faithed people.[424]
+
+On the popular tales of a religious character current among the
+Russian peasantry, the duality of their creed, or of that of their
+ancestors, has produced a twofold effect. On the one hand, into
+narratives drawn from purely Christian sources there has entered a
+pagan element, most clearly perceptible in stories which deal with
+demons and departed spirits; on the other hand, an attempt has been
+made to give a Christian nature to what are manifestly heathen
+legends, by lending saintly names to their characters and clothing
+their ideas in an imitation of biblical language. Of such stories as
+these, it will be as well to give a few specimens.
+
+Among the legends borrowed from the apocryphal books and similar
+writings, many of which are said to be still carefully preserved among
+the "Schismatics," concealed in hiding-places of which the secret is
+handed down from father to son--as was once the case with the Hussite
+books among the Bohemians--there are many which relate to the creation
+of the world and the early history of man. One of these states that
+when the Lord had created Adam and Eve, he stationed at the gates of
+Paradise the dog, then a clean beast, giving it strict orders not to
+give admittance to the Evil One. But "the Evil One came to the gates
+of Paradise, and threw the dog a piece of bread, and the dog went and
+let the Evil One into Paradise. Then the Evil One set to work and spat
+over Adam and Eve--covered them all over with spittle, from the head
+to the little toe of the left foot." Thence is it that spittle is
+impure (_pogana_). So Adam and Eve were turned out of Paradise, and
+the Lord said to the dog:
+
+"Listen, O Dog! thou wert a Dog (_Sobaka_), a clean beast; through all
+Paradise the most holy didst thou roam. Henceforward shalt thou be a
+Hound (_Pes_, or _Pyos_), an unclean beast. Into a dwelling it shall
+be a sin to admit thee; into a church if thou dost run, the church
+must be consecrated anew."
+
+And so--the story concludes--"ever since that time it has been called
+not a dog but a hound--skin-deep it is unclean (_pogana_), but clean
+within."
+
+According to another story, when men first inhabited the earth, they
+did not know how to build houses, so as to keep themselves warm in
+winter. But instead of asking aid from the Lord, they applied to the
+Devil, who taught them how to make an _izba_ or ordinary Russian
+cottage. Following his instructions, they made wooden houses, each of
+which had a door but no window. Inside these huts it was warm; but
+there was no living in them, on account of the darkness. "So the
+people went back to the Evil One. The Evil one strove and strove, but
+nothing came of it, the izba still remained pitch dark. Then the
+people prayed unto the Lord. And the Lord said: 'Hew out a window!' So
+they hewed out windows, and it became light."[425]
+
+Some of the Russian traditions about the creation of man are closely
+connected with Teutonic myths. The Schismatics called _Dukhobortsui_,
+or Spirit-Wrestlers, for instance, hold that man was composed of
+earthly materials, but that God breathed into his body the breath of
+life. "His flesh was made of earth, his bones of stone, his veins of
+roots, his blood of water, his hair of grass, his thought of the wind,
+his spirit of the cloud."[426] Many of the Russian stories about the
+early ages of the world, also, are current in Western Europe, such as
+that about the rye--which in olden days was a mass of ears from top to
+bottom. But some lazy harvest-women having cursed "God's corn," the
+Lord waxed wroth and began to strip the ears from the stem. But when
+the last ear was about to fall, the Lord had pity upon the penitent
+culprits, and allowed the single ear to remain as we now see it.[427]
+
+A Little-Russian variant of this story says that Ilya (Elijah), was so
+angry at seeing the base uses to which a woman turned "God's corn,"
+that he began to destroy all the corn in the world. But a dog begged
+for, and received a few ears. From these, after Ilya's wrath was
+spent, mankind obtained seed, and corn began to grow again on the face
+of the earth, but not in its pristine bulk and beauty. It is on
+account of the good service thus rendered to our race that we ought to
+cherish and feed the dog.[428]
+
+Another story, from the Archangel Government, tells how a certain
+King, as he roamed afield with his princes and boyars, found a grain
+of corn as large as a sparrow's egg. Marvelling greatly at its size,
+he tried in vain to obtain from his followers some explanation
+thereof. Then they bethought them of "a certain man from among the old
+people, who might be able to tell them something about it." But when
+the old man came, "scarcely able to crawl along on a pair of
+crutches," he said he knew nothing about it, but perhaps his father
+might remember something. So they sent for his father, who came
+limping along with the help of one crutch, and who said:
+
+"I have a father living, in whose granary I have seen just such a
+seed."
+
+So they sent for his father, a man a hundred and seventy years old.
+And the patriarch came, walking nimbly needing neither guide nor
+crutch. Then the King began to question him, saying:
+
+"Who sowed this sort of corn?"
+
+"I sowed it, and reaped it," answered the old man, "and now I have
+some of it in my granary. I keep it as a memorial. When I was young,
+the grain was large and plentiful, but after a time it began to grow
+smaller and smaller."
+
+"Now tell me," asked the King, "how comes it, old man, that thou goest
+more nimbly than thy son and thy grandson?"
+
+"Because I lived according to the law of the Lord," answered the old
+man. "I held mine own, I grasped not at what was another's."[429]
+
+The existence of hills is accounted for by legendary lore in this
+wise. When the Lord was about to fashion the face of the earth, he
+ordered the Devil to dive into the watery depths and bring thence a
+handful of the soil he found at the bottom. The Devil obeyed, but when
+he filled his hand, he filled his mouth also. The Lord took the soil,
+sprinkled it around, and the Earth appeared, all perfectly flat. The
+Devil, whose mouth was quite full, looked on for some time in silence.
+At last he tried to speak, but choked, and fled in terror. After him
+followed the thunder and the lightning, and so he rushed over the
+whole face of the earth, hills springing up where he coughed, and
+sky-cleaving mountains where he leaped.[430]
+
+As in other countries, a number of legends are current respecting
+various animals. Thus the Old Ritualists will not eat the crayfish
+(_rak_), holding that it was created by the Devil. On the other hand
+the snake (_uzh_, the harmless or common snake) is highly esteemed,
+for tradition says that when the Devil, in the form of a mouse, had
+gnawed a hole in the Ark, and thereby endangered the safety of Noah
+and his family, the snake stopped up the leak with its head.[431] The
+flesh of the horse is considered unclean, because when the infant
+Saviour was hidden in the manger the horse kept eating the hay under
+which the babe was concealed, whereas the ox not only would not touch
+it, but brought back hay on its horns to replace what the horse had
+eaten. According to an old Lithuanian tradition, the shape of the sole
+is due to the fact that the Queen of the Baltic Sea once ate one half
+of it and threw the other half into the sea again. A legend from the
+Kherson Government accounts for it as follows. At the time of the
+Angelical Salutation, the Blessed Virgin told the Archangel Gabriel
+that she would give credit to his words "if a fish, one side of which
+had already been eaten, were to come to life again. That very moment
+the fish came to life, and was put back in the water."
+
+With the birds many graceful legends are connected. There is a bird,
+probably the peewit, which during dry weather may be seen always on
+the wing, and piteously crying _Peet, Peet_,[432] as if begging for
+water. Of it the following tale is told. When God created the earth,
+and determined to supply it with seas, lakes and rivers, he ordered
+the birds to convey the waters to their appointed places. They all
+obeyed except this bird, which refused to fulfil its duty, saying that
+it had no need of seas, lakes or rivers, to slake its thirst. Then the
+Lord waxed wroth and forbade it and its posterity ever to approach a
+sea or stream, allowing it to quench its thirst with that water only
+which remains in hollows and among stones after rain. From that time
+it has never ceased its wailing cry of "Drink, Drink," _Peet,
+Peet_.[433]
+
+When the Jews were seeking for Christ in the garden, says a Kharkof
+legend, all the birds, except the sparrow, tried to draw them away
+from his hiding-place. Only the sparrow attracted them thither by its
+shrill chirruping. Then the Lord cursed the sparrow, and forbade that
+men should eat of its flesh. In other parts of Russia, tradition tells
+that before the crucifixion the swallows carried off the nails
+provided for the use of the executioners, but the sparrows brought
+them back. And while our Lord was hanging on the cross the sparrows
+were maliciously exclaiming _Jif! Jif!_ or "He is living! He is
+living!" in order to urge on the tormentors to fresh cruelties. But
+the swallows cried, with opposite intent, _Umer! Umer!_ "He is dead!
+He is dead." Therefore it is that to kill a swallow is a sin, and that
+its nest brings good luck to a house. But the sparrow is an unwelcome
+guest, whose entry into a cottage is a presage of woe. As a punishment
+for its sins, its legs have been fastened together by invisible bonds,
+and therefore it always hops, not being able to run.[434]
+
+A great number of the Russian legends refer to the visits which Christ
+and his Apostles are supposed to pay to men's houses at various times,
+but especially during the period between Easter Sunday and Ascension
+Day. In the guise of indigent wayfarers, the sacred visitors enter
+into farm-houses and cottages and ask for food and lodging; therefore
+to this day the Russian peasant is ever unwilling to refuse
+hospitality to any man, fearing lest he might repulse angels unawares.
+Tales of this kind are common in all Christian lands, especially in
+those in which their folk-lore has preserved some traces of the old
+faith in the heathen gods who once walked the earth, and in
+patriarchal fashion dispensed justice among men. Many of the Russian
+stories closely resemble those of a similar nature which occur in
+German and Scandinavian collections; all of them, for instance,
+agreeing in the unfavorable light in which they place St. Peter. The
+following abridgment of the legend of "The Poor Widow,"[435] may be
+taken as a specimen of the Russian tales of this class.
+
+Long, long ago, Christ and his twelve Apostles were wandering about
+the world, and they entered into a village one evening, and asked a
+rich moujik to allow them to spend the night in his house. But he
+would not admit them, crying:
+
+"Yonder lives a widow who takes in beggars; go to her."
+
+So they went to the widow, and asked her. Now she was so poor that
+she had nothing in the house but a crust of bread and a handful of
+flour. She had a cow, but it had not calved yet, and gave no milk. But
+she did all she could for the wayfarers, setting before them all the
+food she had, and letting them sleep beneath her roof. And her store
+of bread and flour was wonderfully increased, so that her guests fed
+and were satisfied. And the next morning they set out anew on their
+journey.
+
+As they went along the road there met them a wolf. And it fell down
+before the Lord, and begged for food. Then said the Lord, "Go to the
+poor widow's; slay her cow, and eat."
+
+The Apostles remonstrated in vain. The wolf set off, entered the
+widow's cow-house, and killed her cow. And when she heard what had
+taken place, she only said:
+
+"The Lord gave, the Lord has taken away. Holy is His will!"
+
+As the sacred wayfarers pursued their journey, there came rolling
+towards them a barrel full of money. Then the Lord addressed it,
+saying:
+
+"Roll, O barrel, into the farmyard of the rich moujik!"
+
+Again the Apostles vainly remonstrated. The barrel went its way, and
+the rich moujik found it, and stowed it away, grumbling the while:
+
+"The Lord might as well have sent twice as much!"
+
+The sun rose higher, and the Apostles began to thirst. Then said the
+Lord:
+
+"Follow that road, and ye will find a well; there drink your fill."
+
+They went along that road and found the well. But they could not
+drink thereat, for its water was foul and impure, and swarming with
+snakes and frogs and toads. So they returned to where the Lord awaited
+them, described what they had seen, and resumed their journey. After a
+time they were sent in search of another well. And this time they
+found a place wherein was water pure and cool, and around grew
+wondrous trees, whereon heavenly birds sat singing. And when they had
+slaked their thirst, they returned unto the Lord, who said:
+
+"Wherefore did ye tarry so long?"
+
+"We only stayed while we were drinking," replied the Apostles. "We did
+not spend above three minutes there in all."
+
+"Not three minutes did ye spend there, but three whole years," replied
+the Lord. "As it was in the first well, so will it be in the other
+world with the rich moujik! But as it was in the second well, so will
+it be in that world with the poor widow!"
+
+Sometimes our Lord is supposed to wander by himself, under the guise
+of a beggar. In the story of "Christ's Brother"[436] a young
+man--whose father, on his deathbed, had charged him not to forget the
+poor--goes to church on Easter Day, having provided himself with red
+eggs to give to the beggars with whom he should exchange the Pascal
+greeting. After exhausting his stock of presents, he finds that there
+remains one beggar of miserable appearance to whom he has nothing to
+offer, so he takes him home to dinner. After the meal the beggar
+exchanges crosses with his host,[437] giving him "a cross which blazes
+like fire," and invites him to pay him a visit on the following
+Tuesday. To an enquiry about the way, he replies, "You have only to go
+along yonder path and say, 'Grant thy blessing, O Lord!' and you will
+come to where I am."
+
+The young man does as he is told, and commences his journey on the
+Tuesday. On his way he hears voices, as though of children, crying, "O
+Christ's brother, ask Christ for us--have we to suffer long?" A little
+later he sees a group of girls who are ladling water from one well
+into another, who make the same request. At last he arrives at the end
+of his journey, finds the aged mendicant who had adopted him as his
+brother, and recognizes him as "the Lord Jesus Christ Himself." The
+youth relates what he has seen, and asks:
+
+"Wherefore, O Lord, are the children suffering?"
+
+"Their mothers cursed them while still unborn," is the reply.
+"Therefore is it impossible for them to enter into Paradise."
+
+"And the girls?"
+
+"They used to sell milk, and they put water into the milk. Now they
+are doomed to pour water from well to well eternally."
+
+After this the youth is taken into Paradise, and brought to the place
+there provided for him.[438]
+
+Sometimes the sacred visitor rewards with temporal goods the kindly
+host who has hospitably received him. Thus the story of "Beer and
+Corn"[439] tells how a certain man was so poor that when the rest of
+the peasants were brewing beer, and making other preparations to
+celebrate an approaching feast of the Church, he found his cupboard
+perfectly bare. In vain did he apply to a rich neighbor, who was in
+the habit of lending goods and money at usurious rates; having no
+security to offer, he could borrow nothing. But on the eve of the
+festival, when he was sitting at home in sadness, he suddenly rose and
+drew near to the sacred painting which hung in the corner, and sighed
+heavily, and said,
+
+"O Lord! forgive me, sinner that I am! I have not even wherewith to
+buy oil, so as to light the lamp before the image[440] for the
+festival!"
+
+Soon afterwards an old man entered the cottage, and obtained leave to
+spend the night there. After a time the guest enquired why his host
+was so sad, and on learning the reason, told him to go again to his
+rich neighbor and borrow a quarter of malt. The moujik obeyed, and
+soon returned with the malt, which the old man ordered him to throw
+into his well. When this was done the villager and his guest went to
+bed.
+
+Next morning the old man told his guest to borrow a number of tubs,
+and fill them with liquor drawn from the well, and then to make his
+neighbors assemble and drink it. He did so, and the buckets were
+filled with "such beer as neither fancy nor imagination can conceive,
+but only a skazka can describe." The villagers, excited by the news,
+collected in crowds, and drank the beer and rejoiced. Last of all came
+the rich neighbor, begging to know how such wonderful beer was brewed.
+The moujik told him the whole story, whereupon he straightway
+commanded his servants to pour all his best malt into his well. And
+next day he hastened to the well to taste the liquor it contained; but
+he found nothing but malt and water; not a drop of beer was there.
+
+We may take next the legends current among the peasantry about
+various saints. Of these, the story of "The Prophet Elijah and St.
+Nicholas," will serve as a good specimen. But, in order to render it
+intelligible, a few words about "Ilya the Prophet," as Elijah is
+styled in Russia, may as well be prefixed.
+
+It is well known that in the days of heathenism the Slavonians
+worshipped a thunder-god, Perun,[441] who occupied in their
+mythological system the place which in the Teutonic was assigned to a
+Donar or a Thor. He was believed, if traditions may be relied upon, to
+sway the elements, often driving across the sky in a flaming car, and
+launching the shafts of the lightning at his demon foes. His name is
+still preserved by the western and southern Slavonians in many local
+phrases, especially in imprecations; but, with the introduction of
+Christianity into Slavonic lands, all this worship of his divinity
+came to an end. Then took place, as had occurred before in other
+countries, the merging of numerous portions of the old faith in the
+new, the transferring of many of the attributes of the old gods to the
+sacred personages of the new religion.[442] During this period of
+transition the ideas which were formerly associated with the person of
+Perun, the thunder-god, became attached to that of the Prophet Ilya or
+Elijah.
+
+One of the causes which conduced to this result may have been--if
+Perun really was considered in old times, as he is said to have been,
+the Lord of the Harvest--that the day consecrated by the Church to
+Elijah, July 20, occurs in the beginning of the harvest season, and
+therefore the peasants naturally connected their new saint with their
+old deity. But with more certainty may it be accepted that, the
+leading cause was the similarity which appeared to the recent converts
+to prevail between their dethroned thunder-god and the prophet who was
+connected with drought and with rain, whose enemies were consumed by
+fire from on high, and on whom waited "a chariot of fire and horses of
+fire," when he was caught up by a whirlwind into heaven. And so at the
+present day, according to Russian tradition, the Prophet Ilya thunders
+across the sky in a flaming car, and smites the clouds with the darts
+of the lightning. In the Vladimir Government he is said "to destroy
+devils with stone arrows,"--weapons corresponding to the hammer of
+Thor and the lance of Indra. On his day the peasants everywhere expect
+thunder and rain, and in some places they set out rye and oats on
+their gates, and ask their clergy to laud the name of Ilya, that he
+may bless their cornfields with plenteousness. There are districts,
+also, in which the people go to church in a body on Ilya's day, and
+after the service is over they kill and roast a beast which has been
+purchased at the expense of the community. Its flesh is cut up into
+small pieces and sold, the money paid for it going to the church. To
+stay away from this ceremony, or not to purchase a piece of the meat,
+would be considered a great sin; to mow or make hay on that day would
+be to incur a terrible risk, for Ilya might smite the field with the
+thunder, or burn up the crop with the lightning. In the old Novgorod
+there used to be two churches, the one dedicated to "Ilya the Wet,"
+the other to "Ilya the Dry." To these a cross-bearing procession was
+made when a change in the weather was desired: to the former in times
+of drought, to the latter when injury was being done to the crops by
+rain. Diseases being considered to be evil spirits, invalids used to
+pray to the thunder-god for relief. And so, at the present day, a
+_zagovor_ or spell against the Siberian cattle-plague entreats the
+"Holy Prophet of God Ilya," to send "thirty angels in golden array,
+with bows and with arrows" to destroy it. The Servians say that at the
+division of the world Ilya received the thunder and lightning as his
+share, and that the crash and blaze of the storm are signs of his
+contest with the devil. Wherefore the faithful ought not to cross
+themselves when the thunder peals, lest the evil one should take
+refuge from the heavenly weapons behind the protecting cross. The
+Bulgarians say that forked lightning is the lance of Ilya who is
+chasing the Lamia fiend: summer lightning is due to the sheen of that
+lance, or to the fire issuing from the nostrils of his celestial
+steeds. The white clouds of summer are named by them his heavenly
+sheep, and they say that he compels the spirits of dead Gypsies to
+form pellets of snow--by men styled hail--with which he scourges in
+summer the fields of sinners.[443]
+
+Such are a few of the ideas connected by Slavonian tradition with the
+person of the Prophet Elijah or Ilya. To St. Nicholas, who has
+succeeded to the place occupied by an ancient ruler of the waters, a
+milder character is attributed than to Ilya, the thunder-god's
+successor. As Ilya is the counterpart of Thor, so does Nicholas in
+some respects resemble Odin. The special characteristics of the Saint
+and the Prophet are fairly contrasted in the following story.
+
+
+  ELIJAH THE PROPHET AND NICHOLAS.[444]
+
+  A long while ago there lived a Moujik. Nicholas's day he
+  always kept holy, but Elijah's not a bit; he would even work
+  upon it. In honor of St. Nicholas he would have a taper lighted
+  and a service performed, but about Elijah the Prophet he
+  forgot so much as to think.
+
+  Well, it happened one day that Elijah and Nicholas were
+  walking over the land belonging to this Moujik; and as they
+  walked they looked--in the cornfields the green blades were
+  growing up so splendidly that it did one's heart good to look at
+  them.
+
+  "Here'll be a good harvest, a right good harvest!" says
+  Nicholas, "and the Moujik, too, is a good fellow sure enough,
+  both honest and pious: one who remembers God and thinks
+  about the Saints! It will fall into good hands--"
+
+  "We'll see by-and-by whether much will fall to his share!"
+  answered Elijah; "when I've burnt up all his land with lightning,
+  and beaten it all flat with hail, then this Moujik of yours will
+  know what's right, and will learn to keep Elijah's day holy."
+
+  Well, they wrangled and wrangled; then they parted asunder.
+  St. Nicholas went off straight to the Moujik and said:
+
+  "Sell all your corn at once, just as it stands, to the Priest
+  of Elijah.[445] If you don't, nothing will be left of it: it will all be
+  beaten flat by hail."
+
+  Off rushed the Moujik to the Priest.
+
+  "Won't your Reverence buy some standing corn? I'll sell
+  my whole crop. I'm in such pressing need of money just now.
+  It's a case of pay up with me! Buy it, Father! I'll sell it
+  cheap."
+
+  They bargained and bargained, and came to an agreement.
+  The Moujik got his money and went home.
+
+  Some little time passed by. There gathered together, there
+  came rolling up, a stormcloud; with a terrible raining and hailing
+  did it empty itself over the Moujik's cornfields, cutting
+  down all the crop as if with a knife--not even a single blade did
+  it leave standing.
+
+  Next day Elijah and Nicholas walked past. Says Elijah:
+
+  "Only see how I've devastated the Moujik's cornfield!"
+
+  "The Moujik's! No, brother! Devastated it you have
+  splendidly, only that field belongs to the Elijah Priest, not to
+  the Moujik."
+
+  "To the Priest! How's that?"
+
+  "Why, this way. The Moujik sold it last week to the
+  Elijah Priest, and got all the money for it. And so, methinks,
+  the Priest may whistle for his money!"
+
+  "Stop a bit!" said Elijah. "I'll set the field all right again.
+  It shall be twice as good as it was before."
+
+  They finished talking, and went each his own way. St.
+  Nicholas returned to the Moujik, and said:
+
+  "Go to the Priest and buy back your crop--you won't lose
+  anything by it."
+
+  The Moujik went to the Priest, made his bow, and said:
+
+  "I see, your Reverence, God has sent you a misfortune--the
+  hail has beaten the whole field so flat you might roll a ball
+  over it. Since things are so, let's go halves in the loss. I'll
+  take my field back, and here's half of your money for you to
+  relieve your distress."
+
+  The Priest was rejoiced, and they immediately struck hands
+  on the bargain.
+
+  Meanwhile--goodness knows how--the Moujik's ground
+  began to get all right. From the old roots shot forth new tender
+  stems. Rain-clouds came sailing exactly over the cornfield
+  and gave the soil to drink. There sprang up a marvellous crop--tall
+  and thick. As to weeds, there positively was not one to be
+  seen. And the ears grew fuller and fuller, till they were fairly
+  bent right down to the ground.
+
+  Then the dear sun glowed, and the rye grew ripe--like so
+  much gold did it stand in the fields. Many a sheaf did the
+  Moujik gather, many a heap of sheaves did he set up; and now
+  he was beginning to carry the crop, and to gather it together into
+  ricks.
+
+  At that very time Elijah and Nicholas came walking by
+  again. Joyfully did the Prophet gaze on all the land, and say:
+
+  "Only look, Nicholas! what a blessing! Why, I have rewarded
+  the Priest in such wise, that he will never forget it all
+  his life."
+
+  "The Priest? No, brother! the blessing indeed is great,
+  but this land, you see, belongs to the Moujik. The Priest
+  hasn't got anything whatsoever to do with it."
+
+  "What are you talking about?"
+
+  "It's perfectly true. When the hail beat all the cornfield
+  flat, the Moujik went to the Priest and bought it back again at
+  half price."
+
+  "Stop a bit!" says Elijah. "I'll take the profit out of the
+  corn. However many sheaves the Moujik may lay on the
+  threshing-floor, he shall never thresh out of them more than a
+  peck[446] at a time."
+
+  "A bad piece of work!" thinks St. Nicholas. Off he went
+  at once to the Moujik.
+
+  "Mind," says he, "when you begin threshing your corn,
+  never put more than one sheaf at a time on the threshing-floor."
+
+  The Moujik began to thresh: from every sheaf he got a peck
+  of grain. All his bins, all his storehouses, he crammed with
+  rye; but still much remained over. So he built himself new
+  barns, and filled them as full as they could hold.
+
+  Well, one day Elijah and Nicholas came walking past his
+  homestead, and the Prophet began looking here and there, and
+  said:
+
+  "Do you see what barns he's built? has he got anything to
+  put into them?"
+
+  "They're quite full already," answers Nicholas.
+
+  "Why, wherever did the Moujik get such a lot of grain?"
+
+  "Bless me! Why, every one of his sheaves gave him a
+  peck of grain. When he began to thresh he never put more
+  than one sheaf at a time on the threshing-floor."
+
+  "Ah, brother Nicholas!" said Elijah, guessing the truth,
+  "it's you who go and tell the Moujik everything!"
+
+  "What an idea! that I should go and tell--"
+
+  "As you please; that's your doing! But that Moujik sha'n't
+  forget me in a hurry!"
+
+  "Why, what are you going to do to him?"
+
+  "What I shall do, that I won't tell you," replies Elijah.
+
+  "There's a great danger coming," thinks St. Nicholas, and
+  he goes to the Moujik again, and says:
+
+  "Buy two tapers, a big one and a little one, and do thus
+  and thus with them."
+
+  Well, next day the Prophet Elijah and St. Nicholas were
+  walking along together in the guise of wayfarers, and they met
+  the Moujik, who was carrying two wax tapers--one, a big
+  rouble one, and the other, a tiny copeck one.
+
+  "Where are you going, Moujik?" asked St. Nicholas.
+
+  "Well, I'm going to offer a rouble taper to Prophet Elijah;
+  he's been ever so good to me! When my crops were ruined
+  by the hail, he bestirred himself like anything, and gave me
+  a plentiful harvest, twice as good as the other would have
+  been."
+
+  "And the copeck taper, what's that for?"
+
+  "Why, that's for Nicholas!" said the peasant and passed
+  on.
+
+  "There now, Elijah!" says Nicholas, "you say I go and
+  tell everything to the Moujik--surely you can see for yourself
+  how much truth there is in that!"
+
+  Thereupon the matter ended. Elijah was appeased and
+  didn't threaten to hurt the Moujik any more. And the Moujik
+  led a prosperous life, and from that time forward he held in
+  equal honor Elijah's Day and Nicholas's Day.
+
+It is not always to the Prophet Ilya that the power once attributed to
+Perun is now ascribed. The pagan wielder of the thunderbolt is
+represented in modern traditions by more than one Christian saint.
+Sometimes, as St. George, he transfixes monsters with his lance;
+sometimes, as St. Andrew, he smites with his mace a spot given over to
+witchcraft. There was a village (says one of the legends of the
+Chernigof Government) in which lived more than a thousand witches, and
+they used to steal the holy stars, until at last "there was not one
+left to light our sinful world." Then God sent the holy Andrew, who
+struck with his mace--and all that village was swallowed up by the
+earth, and the place thereof became a swamp.[447]
+
+About St. George many stories are told, and still more ballads (if we
+may be allowed to call them so) are sung. Under the names of Georgy,
+Yury, and Yegory the Brave, he is celebrated as a patron as well of
+wolves as of flocks and herds, as a Christian Confessor struggling and
+suffering for the faith amid pagan foes, and as a chivalrous destroyer
+of snakes and dragons. The discrepancies which exist between the
+various representations given of his character and his functions are
+very glaring, but they may be explained by the fact that a number of
+legendary ideas sprung from separate sources have become associated
+with his name; so that in one story his actions are in keeping with
+the character of an old Slavonian deity, in another, with that of a
+Christian or a Buddhist saint.
+
+In some parts of Russia, when the cattle go out for the first time to
+the spring pastures, a pie, made in the form of a sheep, is cut up by
+the chief herdsman, and the fragments are preserved as a remedy
+against the diseases to which sheep are liable. On St. George's Day in
+spring, April 23, the fields are sanctified by a church service, at
+the end of which they are sprinkled with holy water. In the Tula
+Government a similar service is held over the wells. On the same day,
+in some parts of Russia, a youth (who is called by the Slovenes the
+Green Yegory) is dressed like our own "Jack in the Green," with
+foliage and flowers. Holding a lighted torch in one hand and a pie in
+the other, he goes out to the cornfields, followed by girls singing
+appropriate songs. A circle of brushwood is then lighted, in the
+centre of which is set the pie. All who take part in the ceremony then
+sit down around the fire, and eventually the pie is divided among
+them.
+
+Numerous legends speak of the strange connection which exists between
+St. George and the Wolf. In Little Russia that animal is called "St.
+George's Dog," and the carcases of sheep which wolves have killed are
+not used for human food, it being held that they have been assigned by
+divine command to the beasts of the field. The human victim whom St.
+George has doomed to be thus destroyed nothing can save. A man, to
+whom such a fate had been allotted, tried to escape from his
+assailants by hiding behind a stove; but a wolf transformed itself
+into a cat, and at midnight, when all was still, it stole into the
+house and seized the appointed prey. A hunter, who had been similarly
+doomed, went on killing wolves for some time, and hanging up their
+skins; but when the fatal hour arrived, one of the skins became a
+wolf, and slew him by whom it had before been slain. In Little Russia
+the wolves have their own herdsman[448]--a being like unto a man, who
+is often seen in company with St. George. There were two brothers
+(says a popular tale), the one rich, the other poor. The poor brother
+had climbed up a tree one night, and suddenly he saw beneath him what
+seemed to be two men--the one driving a pack of wolves, the other
+attending to the conveyance of a quantity of bread. These two beings
+were St. George and the Lisun. And St. George distributed the bread
+among the wolves, and one loaf which remained over he gave to the poor
+brother; who afterwards found that it was of a miraculous nature,
+always renewing itself and so supplying its owner with an
+inexhaustible store of bread. The rich brother, hearing the story,
+climbed up the tree one night in hopes of obtaining a similar present.
+But that night St. George found that he had no bread to give to one of
+his wolves, so he gave it the rich brother instead.[449]
+
+One of the legends attributes strange forgetfulness on one occasion to
+St. George. A certain Gypsy who had a wife and seven children, and
+nothing to feed them with, was standing by a roadside lost in
+reflection, when Yegory the Brave came riding by. Hearing that the
+saint was on his way to heaven, the Gypsy besought him to ask of God
+how he was to support his family. St. George promised to do so, but
+forgot. Again the Gypsy saw him riding past, and again the saint
+promised and forgot. In a third interview the Gypsy asked him to leave
+behind his golden stirrup as a pledge.
+
+A third time St. George leaves the presence of the Lord without
+remembering the commission with which he has been entrusted. But when
+he is about to mount his charger the sight of the solitary stirrup
+recalls it to his mind. So he returns and states the Gypsy's request,
+and obtains the reply that "the Gypsy's business is to cheat and to
+swear falsely." As soon as the Gypsy is told this, he thanks the Saint
+and goes off home.
+
+"Where are you going?" cries Yegory. "Give me back my golden stirrup."
+
+"What stirrup?" asks the Gypsy.
+
+"Why, the one you took from me."
+
+"When did I take one from you? I see you now for the first time in my
+life, and never a stirrup did I ever take, so help me Heaven!"
+
+So Yegory had to go away without getting his stirrup back.[450]
+
+There is an interesting Bulgarian legend in which St. George appears
+in his Christian capacity of dragon-slayer, but surrounded by
+personages belonging to heathen mythology. The inhabitants of the
+pagan city of Troyan, it states, "did not believe in Christ, but in
+gold and silver." Now there were seventy conduits in that city which
+supplied it with spring-water; and the Lord made these conduits run
+with liquid gold and silver instead of water, so that all the people
+had as much as they pleased of the metals they worshipped, but they
+had nothing to drink.
+
+After a time the Lord took pity upon them, and there appeared at a
+little distance from the city a deep lake. To this they used to go for
+water. Only the lake was guarded by a terrible monster, which daily
+devoured a maiden, whom the inhabitants of Troyan were obliged to give
+to it in return for leave to make use of the lake. This went on for
+three years, at the end of which time it fell to the lot of the king's
+daughter to be sacrificed by the monster. But when the Troyan
+Andromeda was exposed on the shore of the lake, a Perseus arrived to
+save her in the form of St. George. While waiting for the monster to
+appear, the saint laid his head on her knees, and she dressed his
+locks. Then he fell into so deep a slumber that the monster drew nigh
+without awaking him. But the Princess began to weep bitterly, and her
+scalding tears fell on the face of St. George and awoke him, and he
+slew the monster, and afterwards converted all the inhabitants of
+Troyan to Christianity.[451]
+
+St. Nicholas generally maintains in the legends the kindly character
+attributed to him in the story in which he and the Prophet Ilya are
+introduced together. It is to him that at the present day the anxious
+peasant turns most readily for help, and it is he whom the legends
+represent as being the most prompt of all the heavenly host to assist
+the unfortunate among mankind. Thus in one of the stories a peasant is
+driving along a heavy road one autumn day, when his cart sticks fast
+in the mire. Just then St. Kasian comes by.
+
+"Help me, brother, to get my cart out of the mud!" says the peasant.
+
+"Get along with you!" replies St. Kasian. "Do you suppose I've got
+leisure to be dawdling here with you!"
+
+Presently St. Nicholas comes that way. The peasant addresses the same
+request to him, and he stops and gives the required assistance.
+
+When the two saints arrive in heaven, the Lord asks them where they
+have been.
+
+"I have been on the earth," replies St. Kasian. "And I happened to
+pass by a moujik whose cart had stuck in the mud. He cried out to me,
+saying, 'Help me to get my cart out!' But I was not going to spoil my
+heavenly apparel."
+
+"I have been on the earth," says St. Nicholas, whose clothes were all
+covered with mud. "I went along that same road, and I helped the
+moujik to get his cart free."
+
+Then the Lord says, "Listen, Kasian! Because thou didst not assist the
+moujik, therefore shall men honor thee by thanksgiving once only every
+four years. But to thee, Nicholas, because thou didst assist the
+moujik to set free his cart, shall men twice every year offer up
+thanksgiving."
+
+"Ever since that time," says the story, "it has been customary to
+offer prayers and thanksgiving (_molebnui_) to Nicholas twice a year,
+but to Kasian only once every leap-year."[452]
+
+In another story St. Nicholas comes to the aid of an adventurer who
+watches beside the coffin of a bewitched princess. There were two
+moujiks in a certain village, we are told, one of whom was very rich
+and the other very poor. One day the poor man, who was in great
+distress, went to the house of the rich man and begged for a loan.
+
+"I will repay it, on my word. Here is Nicholas as a surety," he cried,
+pointing to a picture of St. Nicholas.
+
+Thereupon the rich man lent him twenty roubles. The day for repayment
+came, but the poor man had not a single copeck. Furious at his loss,
+the rich man rushed to the picture of St. Nicholas, crying--
+
+"Why don't you pay up for that pauper? You stood surety for him,
+didn't you?"
+
+And as the picture made no reply, he tore it down from the wall, set
+it on a cart and drove it away, flogging it as he went, and crying--
+
+"Pay me my money! Pay me my money!"
+
+As he drove past the inn a young merchant saw him, and cried--
+
+"What are you doing, you infidel!"
+
+The moujik explained that as he could not get his money back from a
+man who was in his debt, he was proceeding against a surety; whereupon
+the merchant paid the debt, and thereby ransomed the picture, which he
+hung up in a place of honor, and kept a lamp burning before it. Soon
+afterwards an old man offered his services to the merchant, who
+appointed him his manager; and from that time all things went well
+with the merchant.
+
+But after a while a misfortune befell the land in which he lived, for
+"an evil witch enchanted the king's daughter, who lay dead all day
+long, but at night got up and ate people." So she was shut up in a
+coffin and placed in a church, and her hand, with half the kingdom as
+her dowry, was offered to any one who could disenchant her. The
+merchant, in accordance with his old manager's instructions, undertook
+the task, and after a series of adventures succeeded in accomplishing
+it. The last words of one of the narrators of the story are, "Now this
+old one was no mere man. He was Nicholas himself, the saint of
+God."[453]
+
+With one more legend about this favorite saint, I will conclude this
+section of the present chapter. In some of its incidents it closely
+resembles the story of "The Smith and the Demon," which was quoted in
+the first chapter.
+
+
+  THE PRIEST WITH THE GREEDY EYES.[454]
+
+  In the parish of St. Nicholas there lived a Pope. This
+  Pope's eyes were thoroughly pope-like.[455] He served Nicholas
+  several years, and went on serving until such time as there
+  remained to him nothing either for board or lodging. Then our
+  Pope collected all the church keys, looked at the picture of
+  Nicholas, thumped him, out of spite, over the shoulders with
+  the keys, and went forth from his parish as his eyes led him.
+  And as he walked along the road he suddenly lighted upon an
+  unknown man.
+
+  "Hail, good man!" said the stranger to the Pope. "Whence
+  do you come and whither are you going? Take me with you
+  as a companion."
+
+  Well, they went on together. They walked and walked for
+  several versts, then they grew tired. It was time to seek repose.
+  Now the Pope had a few biscuits in his cassock, and the companion
+  he had picked up had a couple of small loaves.[456]
+
+  "Let's eat your loaves first," says the Pope, "and afterwards
+  we'll take to the biscuits, too."
+
+  "Agreed!" replies the stranger. "We'll eat my loaves,
+  and keep your biscuits for afterwards."
+
+  Well, they ate away at the loaves; each of them ate his fill,
+  but the loaves got no smaller. The Pope grew envious:
+  "Come," thinks he, "I'll steal them from him!" After the
+  meal the old man lay down to take a nap, but the Pope kept
+  scheming how to steal the loaves from him. The old man went
+  to sleep. The Pope drew the loaves out of his pocket and
+  began quietly nibbling them at his seat. The old man awoke
+  and felt for his loaves; they were gone!
+
+  "Where are my loaves?" he exclaimed; "who has eaten
+  them? was it you, Pope?"
+
+  "No, not I, on my word!" replied the Pope.
+
+  "Well, so be it," said the old man.
+
+  They gave themselves a shake, and set out again on their
+  journey. They walked and walked; suddenly the road branched
+  off in two different directions. Well, they both went the same
+  way, and soon reached a certain country. In that country the
+  King's daughter lay at the point of death, and the King had given
+  notice that to him who should cure his daughter he would give
+  half of his kingdom, and half of his goods and possessions; but
+  if any one undertook to cure her and failed, he should have his
+  head chopped off and hung up on a stake. Well, they arrived,
+  elbowed their way among the people in front of the King's palace,
+  and gave out that they were doctors. The servant came out
+  from the King's palace, and began questioning them:
+
+  "Who are you? from what cities, of what families? what
+  do you want?"
+
+  "We are doctors," they replied; "we can cure the Princess!"
+
+  "Oh! if you are doctors, come into the palace."
+
+  So they went into the palace, saw the Princess, and asked
+  the King to supply them with a private apartment, a tub of
+  water, a sharp sword, and a big table. The King supplied
+  them with all these things. Then they shut themselves up in
+  the private apartment, laid the Princess on the big table, cut
+  her into small pieces with the sharp sword, flung them into the
+  tub of water, washed them, and rinsed them. Afterwards they
+  began putting the pieces together; when the old man breathed
+  on them the different pieces stuck together. When he had put
+  all the pieces together properly, he gave them a final puff of
+  breath: the Princess began to quiver, and then arose alive and
+  well! The King came in person to the door of their room, and
+  cried:
+
+  "In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy
+  Ghost!"
+
+  "Amen!" they replied.
+
+  "Have you cured the Princess?" asked the King.
+
+  "We've cured her," say the doctors. "Here she is!"
+
+  Out went the Princess to the King, alive and well.
+
+  Says the King to the doctors: "What sort of valuables will
+  you have? would you like gold or silver? Take whatever you
+  please."
+
+  Well, they began taking gold and silver. The old man used
+  only a thumb and two fingers, but the Pope seized whole handfuls,
+  and kept on stowing them away in his wallet--shovelling
+  them into it, and then lifting it a bit to see if he was strong
+  enough to carry it.
+
+  At last they took their leave of the King and went their way.
+  The old man said to the Pope, "We'll bury this money in the
+  ground, and go and make another cure." Well, they walked
+  and walked, and at length they reached another country. In
+  that country, also, the King had a daughter at the point of death,
+  and he had given notice that whoever cured his daughter should
+  have half of his kingdom and of his goods and possessions; but
+  if he failed to cure her he should have his head chopped off and
+  hung up on a stake.[457] Then the Evil One afflicted the envious
+  Pope, suggesting to him "Why shouldn't he go and perform
+  the cure by himself, without saying a word to the old man, and
+  so lay hold of all the gold and silver for himself?" So the
+  Pope walked about in front of the royal gates, forced himself on
+  the notice of the people there, and gave out that he was a doctor.
+  In the same way as before he asked the King for a private
+  room, a tub of water, a large table, and a sharp sword. Shutting
+  himself up in the private room, he laid the Princess on the table,
+  and began chopping her up with the sharp sword; and however
+  much the Princess might scream or squeal, the Pope, without
+  paying any attention to either screaming or squealing, went on
+  chopping and chopping just as if she had been so much beef.
+  And when he had chopped her up into little pieces, he threw
+  them into the tub, washed them, rinsed them, and then put
+  them together bit by bit, exactly as the old man had done, expecting
+  to see all the pieces unite with each other. He breathes
+  on them--but nothing happens! He gives another puff--worse
+  than ever! See, the Pope flings the pieces back again into the
+  water, washes and washes, rinses and rinses, and again puts
+  them together bit by bit. Again he breathes on them--but still
+  nothing comes of it.
+
+  "Woe is me," thinks the Pope; "here's a mess!"
+
+  Next morning the King arrives and looks--the doctor has
+  had no success at all--he's only messed the dead body all over
+  with muck!
+
+  The King ordered the doctor off to the gallows. Then our
+  Pope besought him, crying--
+
+  "O King! O free to do thy will! Spare me for a little
+  time! I will run for the old man, he will cure the Princess."
+
+  The Pope ran off in search of the old man. He found the
+  old man, and cried:
+
+  "Old man! I am guilty, wretch that I am! The Devil
+  got hold of me. I wanted to cure the King's daughter all by
+  myself, but I couldn't. Now they're going to hang me. Do
+  help me!"
+
+  The old man returned with the Pope.
+
+  The Pope was taken to the gallows. Says the old man to
+  the Pope:
+
+  "Pope! who ate my loaves?"
+
+  "Not I, on my word! So help me Heaven, not I!"
+
+  The Pope was hoisted on to the second step. Says the old
+  man to the Pope:
+
+  "Pope! who ate my loaves?"
+
+  "Not I, on my word! So help me Heaven, not I!"
+
+  He mounted the third step--and again it was "Not I!"
+  And now his head was actually in the noose--but it's "Not I!"
+  all the same. Well, there was nothing to be done! Says the
+  old man to the King:
+
+  "O King! O free to do thy will! Permit me to cure the
+  Princess. And if I do not cure her, order another noose to be
+  got ready. A noose for me, and a noose for the Pope!"
+
+  Well, the old man put the pieces of the Princess's body together,
+  bit by bit, and breathed on them--and the Princess stood
+  up alive and well. The King recompensed them both with
+  silver and gold.
+
+  "Let's go and divide the money, Pope," said the old man.
+
+  So they went. They divided the money into three heaps.
+  The Pope looked at them, and said:
+
+  "How's this? There's only two of us. For whom is this
+  third share?"
+
+  "That," says the old man, "is for him who ate my loaves."
+
+  "I ate them, old man," cries the Pope; "I did really, so
+  help me Heaven!"
+
+  "Then the money is yours," says the old man. "Take my
+  share too. And now go and serve in your parish faithfully;
+  don't be greedy, and don't go hitting Nicholas over the shoulders
+  with the keys."
+
+  Thus spake the old man, and straightway disappeared.
+
+      [The principal motive of this story is, of course, the
+      same as that of "The Smith and the Demon," in No. 13
+      (see above, p. 70). A miraculous cure is effected by a
+      supernatural being. A man attempts to do likewise, but
+      fails. When about to undergo the penalty of his
+      failure, he is saved by that being, who reads him a
+      moral lesson. In the original form of the tale the
+      supernatural agent was probably a demigod, whom a
+      vague Christian influence has in one instance degraded
+      into the Devil, in another, canonized as St. Nicholas.
+
+      The Medea's cauldron episode occurs in very many
+      folk-tales, such as the German "Bruder Lustig" (Grimm,
+      No. 81) and "Das junge gegluehte Maennlein" (Grimm, No.
+      147), in the latter of which our Lord, accompanied by
+      St. Peter, spends a night in a Smith's house, and
+      makes an old beggar-man young by first placing him in
+      the fire, and then plunging him into water. After the
+      departure of his visitors, the Smith tries a similar
+      experiment on his mother-in-law, but quite
+      unsuccessfully. In the corresponding Norse tale of
+      "The Master-Smith," (Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 21,
+      Dasent, No. 16) an old beggar-woman is the victim of
+      the Smith's unsuccessful experiment. In another Norse
+      tale, that of "Peik" (Asbjoernsen's New Series, No.
+      101, p. 219) a king is induced to kill his wife and
+      his daughter in the mistaken belief that he will be
+      able to restore them to life. In one of the stories of
+      the "Dasakumaracharita," a king is persuaded to jump
+      into a certain lake in the hope of obtaining a new and
+      improved body. He is then killed by his insidious
+      adviser, who usurps his throne, pretending to be the
+      renovated monarch. In another story in the same
+      collection a king believes that his wife will be able
+      to confer on him by her magic skill "a most celestial
+      figure," and under that impression confides to her all
+      his secrets, after which she brings about his death.
+      See Wilson's "Essays," ii. 217, &c., and 262, &c.
+      Jacob's "Hindoo Tales," pp. 180, 315.]
+
+
+II.
+
+_About Demons._
+
+From the stories which have already been quoted some idea may be
+gained of the part which evil spirits play in Russian popular fiction.
+In one of them (No. 1) figures the ghoul which feeds on the dead, in
+several (Nos. 37, 38, 45-48) we see the fiend-haunted corpse hungering
+after human flesh and blood; the history of _The Bad Wife_ (No. 7)
+proves how a demon may suffer at a woman's hands, that of _The Dead
+Witch_ (No. 3) shows to what indignities the remains of a wicked woman
+may be subjected by the fiends with whom she has chosen to associate.
+In the _Awful Drunkard_ (No. 6), and the _Fiddler in Hell_ (No. 41),
+the abode of evil spirits is portrayed, and some light is thrown on
+their manners and customs; and in the _Smith and the Demon_ (No. 13),
+the portrait of one of their number is drawn in no unkindly spirit.
+The difference which exists between the sketches of fiends contained
+in these stories is clearly marked, so much so that it would of itself
+be sufficient to prove that there is no slight confusion of ideas in
+the minds of the Russian peasants with regard to the demoniacal beings
+whom they generally call _chorti_ or devils. Still more clearly is the
+contrast between those ideas brought out by the other stories, many in
+number, into which those powers of darkness enter. It is evident that
+the traditions from which the popular conception of the ghostly enemy
+has been evolved must have been of a complex and even conflicting
+character.
+
+Of very heterogeneous elements must have been composed the form under
+which the popular fancy, in Russia as well as in other lands, has
+embodied the abstract idea of evil. The diabolical characters in the
+Russian tales and legends are constantly changing the proportions of
+their figures, the nature of their attributes. In one story they seem
+to belong to the great and widely subdivided family of Indian demons;
+in another they appear to be akin to certain fiends of Turanian
+extraction; in a third they display features which may have been
+inherited from the forgotten deities of old Slavonic mythology; in all
+the stories which belong to the "legendary class" they bear manifest
+signs of having been subjected to Christian influences, the effect of
+which has been insufficient to do more than slightly to disguise their
+heathenism.
+
+The old gods of the Slavonians have passed away and left behind but
+scanty traces of their existence; but still, in the traditions and
+proverbial expressions of the peasants in various Slavonic lands,
+there may be recognized some relics of the older faith. Among these
+are a few referring to a White and to a Black God. Thus, among the
+peasants of White Russia some vague memory still exists of a white or
+bright being, now called Byelun,[458] who leads belated travellers out
+of forests, and bestows gold on men who do him good service. "Dark is
+it in the forest without Byelun" is one phrase; and another, spoken of
+a man on whom fortune has smiled, is, "He must have made friends with
+Byelun." On the other hand the memory of the black or evil god is
+preserved in such imprecations as the Ukraine "May the black god smite
+thee!"[459] To ancient pagan traditions, also, into which a Christian
+element has entered, may be assigned the popular belief that infants
+which have been cursed by their mothers before their birth, or which
+are suffocated during their sleep, or which die from any causes
+unchristened or christened by a drunken priest, become the prey of
+demons. This idea has given rise in Russia, as well as elsewhere, to a
+large group of stories. The Russian peasants believe, it is said, that
+in order to rescue from the fiends the soul of a babe which has been
+suffocated in its sleep, its mother must spend three nights in a
+church, standing within a circle traced by the hand of a priest. When
+the cocks crow on the third morning, the demons will give her back her
+dead child.[460]
+
+Great stress is laid in the skazkas and legends upon the terrible
+power of a parent's curse. The "hasty word" of a father or a mother
+will condemn even an innocent child to slavery among devils, and when
+it has once been uttered, it is irrevocable. It might have been
+supposed that the fearful efficacy of such an imprecation would have
+silenced bad language, as that of the _Vril_ rendered war impossible
+among the Vril-ya of "The Coming Race;" but that such was not the case
+is proved by the number of narratives which turn on uncalled-for
+parental cursing. Here is an abridgment of one of these stories.
+
+There was an old man who lived near Lake Onega, and who supported
+himself and his wife by hunting. One day when he was engaged in the
+pursuit of game, a well-dressed man met him and said,
+
+"Sell me that dog of yours, and come for your money to the Mian
+mountain to-morrow evening."
+
+The old man sold him the dog, and went next day to the top of the
+mountain, where he found a great city inhabited by devils.[461] There
+he soon found the house of his debtor, who provided him with a banquet
+and a bath. And in the bath-room he was served by a young man who,
+when the bath was over, fell at his feet, saying,
+
+"Don't accept money for your dog, grandfather, but ask for me!"
+
+The old man consented. "Give me that good youth," said he. "He shall
+serve instead of a son to me."
+
+There was no help for it; they had to give him the youth. And when the
+old man had returned home, the youth told him to go to Novgorod, there
+to enquire for a merchant, and ask him whether he had any children.
+
+He did so, and the merchant replied,
+
+"I had an only son, but his mother cursed him in a passion, crying,
+'The devil take thee!'[462] And so the devil carried him off."
+
+It turned out that the youth whom the old man had saved from the
+devils was that merchant's son. Thereupon the merchant rejoiced
+greatly, and took the old man and his wife to live with him in his
+house.[463]
+
+And here is another tale of the same kind, from the Vladimir
+Government.
+
+Once upon a time there was an old couple, and they had an only son.
+His mother had cursed him before he was born, but he grew up and
+married. Soon afterwards he suddenly disappeared. His parents did all
+they could to trace him, but their attempts were in vain.
+
+Now there was a hut in the forest not far off, and thither it chanced
+that an old beggar came one night, and lay down to rest on the stove.
+Before he had been there long, some one rode up to the door of the
+hut, got off his horse, entered the hut, and remained there all night,
+muttering incessantly:
+
+"May the Lord judge my mother, in that she cursed me while a babe
+unborn!"
+
+Next morning the beggar went to the house of the old couple, and told
+them all that had occurred. So towards evening the old man went to the
+hut in the forest, and hid himself behind the stove. Presently the
+horseman arrived, entered the hut, and began to repeat the words which
+the beggar had overheard. The old man recognized his son, and came
+forth to greet him, crying:
+
+"O my dear son! at last I have found thee! never again will I let thee
+go!"
+
+"Follow me!" replied his son, who mounted his horse and rode away, his
+father following him on foot. Presently they came to a river which was
+frozen over, and in the ice was a hole.[464] And the youth rode
+straight into that hole, and in it both he and his horse disappeared.
+The old man lingered long beside the ice-hole, then he returned home
+and said to his wife:
+
+"I have found our son, but it will be hard to get him back. Why, he
+lives in the water!"
+
+Next night the youth's mother went to the hut, but she succeeded no
+better than her husband had done.
+
+So on the third night his young wife went to the hut and hid behind
+the stove. And when she heard the horseman enter she sprang forth,
+exclaiming:
+
+"My darling dear, my life-long spouse! now will I never part from
+thee!"
+
+"Follow me!" replied her husband.
+
+And when they came to the edge of the ice-hole--
+
+"If thou goest into the water, then will I follow after thee!" cried
+she.
+
+"If so, take off thy cross," he replied.
+
+She took off her cross, leaped into the ice-hole--and found herself in
+a vast hall. In it Satan[465] was seated. And when he saw her arrive,
+he asked her husband whom he had brought with him.
+
+"This is my wife," replied the youth.
+
+"Well then, if she is thy wife, get thee gone hence with her! married
+folks must not be sundered."[466]
+
+So the wife rescued her husband, and brought him back from the devils
+into the free light.[467]
+
+Sometimes it is a victim's own imprudence, and not a parent's "hasty
+word," which has placed him in the power of the Evil One. There is a
+well-known story, which has spread far and wide over Europe, of a
+soldier who abstains for a term of years from washing, shaving, and
+hair-combing, and who serves, or at least obeys, the devil during that
+time, at the end of which he is rewarded by the fiend with great
+wealth. His appearance being against him, he has some difficulty in
+finding a wife, rich as he is. But after the elder sisters of a family
+have refused him, the youngest accepts him; whereupon he allows
+himself to be cleansed, combed, and dressed in bright apparel, and
+leads a cleanly and a happy life ever afterwards.[468]
+
+In one of the German versions of this story, a king's elder daughter,
+when asked to marry her rich but slovenly suitor, replies, "I would
+sooner go into the deepest water than do that." In a Russian
+version,[469] the unwashed soldier lends a large sum of money to an
+impoverished monarch, who cannot pay his troops, and asks his royal
+creditor to give him one of his daughters in marriage by way of
+recompense. The king reflects. He is sorry for his daughters, but at
+the same time he cannot do without the money. At last, he tells the
+soldier to get his portrait painted, and promises to show it to the
+princesses, and see if one of them will accept him. The soldier has
+his likeness taken, "touch for touch, just exactly as he is," and the
+king shows it to his daughters. The eldest princess sees that "the
+picture is that of a monster, with dishevelled hair, and uncut nails,
+and unwiped nose," and cries:
+
+"I won't have him! I'd sooner have the devil!"
+
+Now the devil "was standing behind her, pen and paper in hand. He
+heard what she said, and booked her soul."
+
+When the second princess is asked whether she will marry the soldier,
+she exclaims:
+
+"No indeed! I'd rather die an old maid, I'd sooner be linked with the
+devil, than marry that man!"
+
+When the devil heard that, "he booked her soul too."
+
+But the youngest princess, the Cordelia of the family, when she is
+asked whether she will marry the man who has helped her father in his
+need, replies:
+
+"It's fated I must, it seems! I'll marry him, and then--God's will be
+done!"
+
+While the preparations are being made for the marriage, the soldier
+arrives at the end of his term of service to "the little devil" who
+had hired him, and from whom he had received his wealth in return for
+his abstinence and cleanliness. So he calls the "little devil," and
+says, "Now turn me into a nice young man."
+
+Accordingly "the little devil cut him up into small pieces, threw them
+into a cauldron and set them on to boil. When they were done enough,
+he took them out and put them together again properly--bone to bone,
+joint to joint, vein to vein. Then he sprinkled them with the Waters
+of Life and Death--and up jumped the soldier, a finer lad than stories
+can describe, or pens portray!"
+
+The story does not end here. When the "little devil" returns to the
+lake from which he came, "the grandfather" of the demons asks him--
+
+"How about the soldier?"
+
+"He has served his time honestly and honorably," is the reply. "Never
+once did he shave, have his hair cut, wipe his nose, or change his
+clothes." The "grandfather" flies into a passion.
+
+"What! in fifteen whole years you couldn't entrap a soldier! What, all
+that money wasted for nothing! What sort of a devil do you call
+yourself after that?"--and ordered him to be flung "into boiling
+pitch."
+
+"Stop, grandfather!" replies his grandchild. "I've booked two souls
+instead of the soldier's one."
+
+"How's that?"
+
+"Why, this way. The soldier wanted to marry one of three princesses,
+but the elder one and the second one told their father that they'd
+sooner marry the devil than the soldier. So you see both of them are
+ours."
+
+After he had heard this explanation, "the grandfather acknowledged
+that the little devil was in the right, and ordered him to be set
+free. The imp, you see, understood his business."
+
+      [For two German versions of this story, see the tales
+      of "Des Teufels russiger Bruder," and "Der
+      Baerenhaeuter" (Grimm, Nos. 100, 101, and Bd. iii. pp.
+      181, 182). More than twelve centuries ago,
+      Hiouen-Thsang transferred the following story from
+      India to China. A certain Rishi passed many times ten
+      thousand years in a religious ecstasy. His body became
+      like a withered tree. At last he emerged from his
+      ecstasy, and felt inclined to marry, so he went to a
+      neighboring palace, and asked the king to bestow upon
+      him one of his daughters. The king, exceedingly
+      embarrassed, called the princesses together, and asked
+      which of them would consent to accept the dreaded
+      suitor (who, of course, had not paid the slightest
+      attention to his toilette for hundreds of centuries).
+      Ninety-nine of those ladies flatly refused to have
+      anything to do with him, but the hundredth, the last
+      and youngest of the party, agreed to sacrifice herself
+      for her father's sake. But when the Rishi saw his
+      bride he was discontented, and when he heard that her
+      elder and fairer sisters had all refused him, he
+      pronounced a curse which made all ninety-nine of them
+      humpbacks, and so destroyed their chance of marrying
+      at all. Stanislas Julien's "Memoires sur les contrees
+      occidentales," 1857, i. pp. 244-7.]
+
+As the idea that "a hasty word" can place its utterer or its victim
+in the power of the Evil One (not only after death, but also during
+this life) has given rise to numerous Russian legends, and as it still
+exists, to some extent, as a living faith in the minds of the Russian
+peasantry, it may be as well to quote at length one of the stories in
+which it is embodied. It will be recognized as a variant of the
+stories about the youth who visits the "Water King" and elopes with
+one of that monarch's daughters. The main difference between the
+"legend" we are about to quote, and the skazkas which have already
+been quoted, is that a devil of the Satanic type is substituted in it
+for the mythical personage--whether Slavonic Neptune or Indian
+Rakshasa--who played a similar part in them.
+
+
+  THE HASTY WORD.[470]
+
+  In a certain village there lived an old couple in great poverty,
+  and they had one son. The son grew up,[471] and the old woman
+  began to say to the old man:
+
+  "It's time for us to get our son married."
+
+  "Well then, go and ask for a wife for him," said he.
+
+  So she went to a neighbor to ask for his daughter for her
+  son: the neighbor refused. She went to a second peasant's,
+  but the second refused too--to a third, but he showed her the
+  door. She went round the whole village; not a soul would
+  grant her request. So she returned home and cried--
+
+  "Well, old man! our lad's an unlucky fellow!"
+
+  "How so?"
+
+  "I've trudged round to every house, but no one will give
+  him his daughter."
+
+  "That's a bad business!" says the old man; "the summer
+  will soon be coming, but we have no one to work for us here.
+  Go to another village, old woman, perhaps you will get a bride
+  for him there."
+
+  The old woman went to another village, visited every house
+  from one end to the other, but there wasn't an atom of good to
+  be got out of it. Wherever she thrusts herself, they always
+  refuse. With what she left home, with that she returned
+  home.
+
+  "No," she says, "no one wants to become related to us
+  poor beggars."
+
+  "If that's the case," answers the old man, "there's no use
+  in wearing out your legs. Jump up on to the _polati_."[472]
+
+  The son was sorely afflicted, and began to entreat his parents,
+  saying:
+
+  "My born father and my born mother! give me your blessing.
+  I will go and seek my fate myself."
+
+  "But where will you go?"
+
+  "Where my eyes lead me."
+
+  So they gave him their blessing, and let him go whithersoever
+  it pleased him.[473]
+
+  Well, the youth went out upon the highway, began to weep
+  very bitterly, and said to himself as he walked:
+
+  "Was I born into the world worse than all other men, that
+  not a single girl is willing to marry me? Methinks if the devil
+  himself would give me a bride, I'd take even her!"
+
+  Suddenly, as if rising from the earth, there appeared before
+  him a very old man.
+
+  "Good-day, good youth!"
+
+  "Good-day, old man!"
+
+  "What was that you were saying just now?"
+
+  The youth was frightened and did not know what reply to
+  make.
+
+  "Don't be afraid of me! I sha'n't do you any harm, and
+  moreover, perhaps I may get you out of your trouble. Speak
+  boldly!"
+
+  The youth told him everything precisely.
+
+  "Poor creature that I am! There isn't a single girl who
+  will marry me. Well, as I went along I became exceedingly
+  wretched, and in my misery I said: 'If the devil offered me a
+  bride, I'd take even her!'"
+
+  The old man laughed and said:
+
+  "Follow me, I'll let you choose a lovely bride for yourself."
+
+  By-and-by they reached a lake.
+
+  "Turn your back to the lake and walk backwards," said the
+  old man. Scarcely had the youth had time to turn round and
+  take a couple of steps, when he found himself under the water
+  and in a white-stone palace--all its rooms splendidly furnished,
+  cunningly decorated. The old man gave him to eat and to
+  drink. Afterwards he introduced twelve maidens, each one
+  more beautiful than the other.
+
+  "Choose whichever you like! whichever you choose, her
+  will I bestow upon you."
+
+  "That's a puzzling job!" said the youth; "give me till to-morrow
+  morning to think about it, grandfather!"
+
+  "Well, think away!" said the old man, and led his guest to
+  a private chamber. The youth lay down to sleep and thought:
+
+  "Which one shall I choose?"
+
+  Suddenly the door opened; a beautiful maiden entered.
+
+  "Are you asleep, or not, good youth?" says she.
+
+  "No, fair maiden! I can't get to sleep, for I'm always thinking
+  which bride to choose."
+
+  "That's the very reason I have come to give you counsel.
+  You see, good youth, you've managed to become the devil's
+  guest. Now listen. If you want to go on living in the white
+  world, then do what I tell you. But if you don't follow my
+  instructions, you'll never get out of here alive!"
+
+  "Tell me what to do, fair maiden. I won't forget it all
+  my life."
+
+  "To-morrow the fiend will bring you twelve maidens, each one
+  exactly like the others. But you take a good look and choose
+  me. A fly will be sitting above my right eye--that will be a
+  certain guide for you." And then the fair maiden proceeded to
+  tell him about herself, who she was.
+
+  "Do you know the priest of such and such a village?" she
+  says. "I'm his daughter, the one who disappeared from home
+  when nine years old. One day my father was angry with me,
+  and in his wrath he said, 'May devils fly away with you!' I
+  went out on the steps and began to cry. All of a sudden the
+  fiends seized me and brought me here; and here I am living
+  with them!"
+
+  Next morning the old man brought in the twelve fair
+  maidens--one just like another--and ordered the youth to
+  choose his bride. He looked at them and took her above whose
+  right eye sat a fly. The old man was loth to give her up, so he
+  shifted the maidens about, and told him to make a fresh choice.
+  The youth pointed out the same one as before. The fiend
+  obliged him to choose yet a third time. He again guessed
+  his bride aright.
+
+  "Well, you're in luck! take her home with you," said the
+  fiend.
+
+  Immediately the youth and the fair maiden found themselves
+  on the shore of the lake, and until they reached the high road
+  they kept on walking backwards. Presently the devils came
+  rushing after them in hot pursuit:
+
+  "Let us recover our maiden!" they cry.
+
+  They look: there are no footsteps going away from the
+  lake; all the footsteps lead into the water! They ran to and
+  fro, they searched everywhere, but they had to go back empty
+  handed.
+
+  Well, the good youth brought his bride to her village, and
+  stopped opposite the priest's house. The priest saw him and
+  sent out his laborer, saying:
+
+  "Go and ask who those people are."
+
+  "We? we're travellers; please let us spend the night in
+  your house," they replied.
+
+  "I have merchants paying me a visit," says the priest,
+  "and even without them there's but little room in the house."
+
+  "What are you thinking of, father?" says one of the
+  merchants. "It's always one's duty to accommodate a traveller,
+  they won't interfere with us."
+
+  "Very well, let them come in."
+
+  So they came in, exchanged greetings, and sat down on a
+  bench in the back corner.
+
+  "Don't you know me, father?" presently asks the fair
+  maiden. "Of a surety I am your own daughter."
+
+  Then she told him everything that had happened. They
+  began to kiss and embrace each other, to pour forth tears of
+  joy.
+
+  "And who is this man?" says the priest.
+
+  "That is my betrothed. He brought me back into the white
+  world; if it hadn't been for him I should have remained down
+  there for ever!"
+
+  After this the fair maiden untied her bundle, and in it were
+  gold and silver dishes: she had carried them off from the devils.
+  The merchant looked at them and said:
+
+  "Ah! those are my dishes. One day I was feasting with my
+  guests, and when I got drunk I became angry with my wife. 'To
+  the devil with you!' I exclaimed, and began flinging from the
+  table, and beyond the threshold, whatever I could lay my hands
+  upon. At that moment my dishes disappeared!"
+
+  And in reality so had it happened. When the merchant
+  mentioned the devil's name, the fiend immediately appeared at
+  the threshold, began seizing the gold and silver wares, and
+  flinging in their place bits of pottery.
+
+  Well, by this accident the youth got himself a capital bride.
+  And after he had married her he went back to his parents.
+  They had long ago counted him as lost to them for ever.
+  And indeed it was no subject for jesting; he had been away
+  from home three whole years, and yet it seemed to him that
+  he had not in all spent more than twenty-four hours with the
+  devils.
+
+      [A quaint version of the legend on which this story is
+      founded is given by Gervase of Tilbury in his "Otia
+      Imperialia," whence the story passed into the "Gesta
+      Romanorum" (cap. clxii.) and spread widely over
+      mediaeval Europe. A certain Catalonian was so much
+      annoyed one day "by the continued and inappeasable
+      crying of his little daughter, that he commended her
+      to the demons." Whereupon she was immediately carried
+      off. Seven years after this, he learnt (from a man
+      placed by a similar imprecation in the power of the
+      demons, who used him as a vehicle) that his daughter
+      was in the interior of a neighboring mountain, and
+      might be recovered if he would demand her. So he
+      ascended to the summit of the mountain, and there
+      claimed his child. She straightway appeared in
+      miserable plight, "arida, tetra, oculis vagis, ossibus
+      et nervis et pellibus vix haerentibus," etc. By the
+      judicious care, however, of her now cautious parent
+      she was restored to physical and moral respectability.
+      For some valuable observations on this story see
+      Liebrecht's edition of the "Otia Imperialia," pp.
+      137-9. In the German story of "Die sieben Raben"
+      (Grimm, No. 25) a father's "hasty word" turns his six
+      sons into ravens.]
+
+When devils are introduced into a story of this class, it always
+assumes a grotesque, if not an absolutely comic air. The evil spirits
+are almost always duped and defeated, and that result is generally due
+to their remarkable want of intelligence. For they display in their
+dealings with their human antagonists a deficiency of intellectual
+power which almost amounts to imbecility. The explanation of this
+appears to be that the devils of European folk-lore have nothing in
+common with the rebellious angels of Miltonic theology beyond their
+vague denomination; nor can any but a nominal resemblance be traced
+between their chiefs or "grandfathers" and the thunder-smitten but
+still majestic "Lucifer, Son of the Morning." The demon rabble of
+"Popular Tales" are merely the lubber fiends of heathen mythology,
+beings endowed with supernatural might, but scantily provided with
+mental power; all of terrific manual clutch, but of weak intellectual
+grasp. And so the hardy mortal who measures his powers against theirs,
+even in those cases in which his strength has not been intensified by
+miraculous agencies, easily overcomes or deludes the slow-witted
+monsters with whom he strives--whether his antagonist be a Celtic or
+Teutonic Giant, or a French Ogre, or a Norse Troll, or a Greek Drakos
+or Lamia, or a Lithuanian Laume, or a Russian Snake or Koshchei or
+Baba Yaga, or an Indian Rakshasa or Pisacha, or any other member of
+the many species of fiends for which, in Christian parlance, the
+generic name is that of "devils."
+
+There is no great richness of invention manifested in the stories
+which deal with the outwitting of evil spirits. The same devices are
+in almost all cases resorted to, and their effect is invariable. The
+leading characters undergo certain transmutations as the scene of the
+story is shifted, but their mutual relations remain constant. Thus, in
+a German story[474] we find a schoolmaster deceiving the devil; in one
+of its Slavonic counterparts[475] a gypsy deludes a snake; in another,
+current among the Baltic Kashoubes, in place of the snake figures a
+giant so huge that the thumb of his glove serves as a shelter for the
+hero of the tale--one which is closely connected with that which tells
+of Thor and the giant Skrymir.
+
+The Russian stories in which devils are tricked by mortals closely
+resemble, for the most part, those which are current in so many parts
+of Europe. The hero of the tale squeezes whey out of a piece of cheese
+or curd which he passes off as a stone; he induces the fleet demon to
+compete with his "Hop o' my Thumb" the hare; he sets the strong demon
+to wrestle with his "greybeard" the bear; he frightens the
+"grandfather" of the fiends by proposing to fling that potentate's
+magic staff so high in the air that it will never come down; and he
+persuades his diabolical opponents to keep pouring gold into a
+perforated hat or sack. Sometimes, however, a less familiar incident
+occurs. Thus in a story from the Tambof Government, Zachary the
+Unlucky is sent by the tailor, his master, to fetch a fiddle from a
+wolf-fiend. The demon agrees to let him have it on condition that he
+spends three years in continually weaving nets without ever going to
+sleep. Zachary sets to work, but at the end of a month he grows
+drowsy. The wolf asks if he is asleep. "No, I'm not asleep," he
+replies; "but I'm thinking which fish there are most of in the
+river--big ones or little ones." The wolf offers to go and enquire,
+and spends three or four months in solving the problem. Meanwhile
+Zachary sleeps, taking care, however, to be up and at work when the
+wolf returns to say that the big fishes are in the majority.
+
+Time passes, and again Zachary begins to nod. The wolf enquires if he
+has gone to sleep, but is told that he is awake, but engrossed by the
+question as to "which folks are there most of in the world--the living
+or the dead." The wolf goes out to count them, and Zachary sleeps in
+comfort, till just before it comes back to say that the living are
+more numerous than the dead. By the time the wolf-fiend has made a
+third journey in order to settle a doubt which Zachary describes as
+weighing on his mind--as to the numerical relation of the large beasts
+to the small--the three years have passed away. So the wolf-fiend is
+obliged to part with his fiddle, and Zachary carries it back to the
+tailor in triumph.[476]
+
+The demons not unfrequently show themselves capable of being actuated
+by gratitude. Thus, as we have already seen, the story of the Awful
+Drunkard[477] represents the devil himself as being grateful to a man
+who has rebuked an irascible old woman for unjustly blaming the Prince
+of Darkness. In a skazka from the Orenburg Government, a lad named
+Vanka [Jack] is set to watch his father's turnip-field by night.
+Presently comes a boy who fills two huge sacks with turnips, and
+vainly tries to carry them off. While he is tugging away at them he
+catches sight of Vanka, and immediately asks him to help him home with
+his load. Vanka consents, and carries the turnips to a cottage,
+wherein is seated "an old greybeard with horns on his head," who
+receives him kindly and offers him a quantity of gold as a recompense
+for his trouble. But, acting on the instructions he has received from
+the boy, Vanka will take nothing but the greybeard's lute, the sounds
+of which exercise a magic power over all living creatures.[478]
+
+One of the most interesting of the stories of this class is that of
+the man who unwittingly blesses the devil. As a specimen of its
+numerous variants we may take the opening of a skazka respecting the
+origin of brandy.
+
+"There was a moujik who had a wife and seven children, and one day he
+got ready to go afield, to plough. When his horse was harnessed, and
+everything ready, he ran indoors to get some bread; but when he got
+there, and looked in the cupboard, there was nothing there but a
+single crust. This he carried off bodily and drove away.
+
+"He reached his field and began ploughing. When he had ploughed up
+half of it, he unharnessed his horse and turned it out to graze. After
+that he was just going to eat the bread, when he said to himself,
+
+"'Why didn't I leave this crust for my children?'
+
+"So after thinking about it for awhile, he set it aside.
+
+"Presently a little demon came sidling up and carried off the bread.
+The moujik returned and looked about everywhere, but no bread was to
+be seen. However, all he said was, 'God be with him who took it!'
+
+"The little demon[479] ran off to the devil,[480] and cried:
+
+"'Grandfather! I've stolen Uncle Sidor's[481] bread!'
+
+"'Well, what did he say?'
+
+"'He said, "God be with him!"'
+
+"'Be off with you!' says the devil. 'Hire yourself to him for three
+years.'
+
+"So the little demon ran back to the moujik."
+
+The rest of the story tells how the imp taught Isidore to make
+corn-brandy, and worked for him a long time faithfully. But at last
+one day Isidore drank so much brandy that he fell into a drunken
+sleep. From this he was roused by the imp, whereupon he exclaimed in a
+rage, "Go to the Devil!" and straightway the "little demon"
+disappeared.[482]
+
+In another version of the story,[483] when the peasant finds that his
+crust has disappeared, he exclaims--
+
+"Here's a wonder! I've seen nobody, and yet somebody has carried off
+my crust! Well, here's good luck to him![484] I daresay I shall starve
+to death."
+
+When Satan heard what had taken place, he ordered that the peasant's
+crust should be restored. So the demon who had stolen it "turned
+himself into a good youth," and became the peasant's hireling. When a
+drought was impending, he scattered the peasant's seed-corn over a
+swamp; when a wet season was at hand, he sowed the slopes of the
+hills. In each instance his forethought enabled his master to fill his
+barns while the other peasants lost their crops.
+
+      [A Moravian version of this tale will be found in "Der
+      schwarze Knirps" (Wenzig, No. 15, p. 67). In another
+      Moravian story in the same collection (No. 8) entitled
+      "Der boese Geist im Dienste," an evil spirit steals the
+      food which a man had left outside his house for poor
+      passers by. When the demon returns to hell he finds
+      its gates closed, and he is informed by "the oldest of
+      the devils," that he must expiate his crime by a three
+      years' service on earth.
+
+      A striking parallel to the Russian and the former of
+      the Moravian stories is offered by "a legend of
+      serpent worship," from Bhaunagar in Kathiawad. A
+      certain king had seven wives, one of whom was badly
+      treated. Feeling hungry one day, she scraped out of
+      the pots which had been given her to wash some remains
+      of rice boiled in milk, set the food on one side, and
+      then went to bathe. During her absence a female Naga
+      (or supernatural snake-being) ate up the rice, and
+      then "entering her hole, sat there, resolved to bite
+      the woman if she should curse her, but not otherwise."
+      When the woman returned, and found her meal had been
+      stolen, she did not lose her temper, but only said,
+      "May the stomach of the eater be cooled!" When the
+      Naga heard this, she emerged from her hole and said,
+      "Well done! I now regard you as my daughter," etc.
+      (From the "Indian Antiquary," Bombay, No. 1, 1872, pp.
+      6, 7.)]
+
+Sometimes the demon of the _legenda_ bears a close resemblance to the
+snake of the _skazka_. Thus, an evil spirit is described as coming
+every night at twelve o'clock to the chamber of a certain princess,
+and giving her no rest till the dawn of day. A soldier--the fairy
+prince in a lower form--comes to her rescue, and awaits the arrival of
+the fiend in her room, which he has had brilliantly lighted. Exactly
+at midnight up flies the evil spirit, assumes the form of a man, and
+tries to enter the room. But he is stopped by the soldier, who
+persuades him to play cards with him for fillips, tricks him in
+various ways, and fillips him to such effect with a species of
+"three-man beetle," that the demon beats a hasty retreat.
+
+The next night Satan sends another devil to the palace. The result is
+the same as before, and the process is repeated every night for a
+whole month. At the end of that time "Grandfather Satan" himself
+confronts the soldier, but he receives so tremendous a beating that he
+flies back howling "to his swamp." After a time, the soldier induces
+the whole of the fiendish party to enter his knapsack, prevents them
+from getting out again by signing it with a cross, and then has it
+thumped on an anvil to his heart's content. Afterwards he carries it
+about on his back, the fiends remaining under it all the while. But at
+last some women open it, during his absence from a cottage in which he
+has left it, and out rush the fiends with a crash and a roar. Meeting
+the soldier on his way back to the cottage, they are so frightened
+that they fling themselves into the pool below a mill-wheel; and
+there, the story declares, they still remain.[485]
+
+This "legend" is evidently nothing more than an adaptation of one of
+the tales about the dull demons of olden times, whom the Christian
+story-teller has transformed into Satan and his subject fiends.
+
+By way of a conclusion to this chapter--which might be expanded
+indefinitely, so numerous are the stories of the class of which it
+treats--we will take the moral tale of "The Gossip's Bedstead."[486] A
+certain peasant, it relates, was so poor that, in order to save
+himself from starvation, he took to sorcery. After a time he became an
+adept in the black art, and contracted an intimate acquaintance with
+the fiendish races. When his son had reached man's estate, the peasant
+saw it was necessary to find him a bride, so he set out to seek one
+among "his friends the devils." On arriving in their realm he soon
+found what he wanted, in the person of a girl who had drunk herself to
+death, and who, in common with other women who had died of drink, was
+employed by the devils as a water carrier. Her employers at once
+agreed to give her in marriage to the son of their friend, and a
+wedding feast was instantly prepared. While the consequent revelry was
+in progress, Satan offered to present to the bridegroom a receipt
+which a father had given to the devils when he sold them his son. But
+when the receipt was sought for--the production of which would have
+enabled the bridegroom to claim the youth in question as his slave--it
+could not be found; a certain devil had carried it off, and refused to
+say where he had hidden it. In vain did his master cause him to be
+beaten with iron clubs, he remained obstinately mute. At length Satan
+exclaimed--
+
+"Stretch him on the Gossip's Bedstead!"
+
+As soon as the refractory devil heard these words, he was so
+frightened that he surrendered the receipt, which was handed over to
+the visitor. Astonished at the result, the peasant enquired what sort
+of bedstead that was which had been mentioned with so much effect.
+
+"Well, I'll tell you, but don't you tell anyone else," replied Satan,
+after hesitating for a time. "That bedstead is made for us devils, and
+for our relations, connexions, and gossips. It is all on fire, and it
+runs on wheels, and turns round and round."
+
+When the peasant heard this, fear came upon him, and he jumped up from
+his seat and fled away as fast as he could.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+At this point, though much still remains to be said, I will for the
+present bring my remarks to a close. Incomplete as is the account I
+have given of the Skazkas, it may yet, I trust, be of use to students
+who wish to compare as many types as possible of the Popular Tale. I
+shall be glad if it proves of service to them. I shall be still more
+glad if I succeed in interesting the general reader in the tales of
+the Russian People, and through them, in the lives of those Russian
+men and women of low degree who are wont to tell them, those Russian
+children who love to hear them.
+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[424] Afanasief, _Legendui_, p. 6.
+
+[425] These two stories are quoted by Buslaef, in a valuable essay on
+"The Russian Popular Epos." "Ist. Och." i. 438. Another tradition
+states that the dog was originally "naked," _i.e._, without hair; but
+the devil, in order to seduce it from its loyalty, gave it a _shuba_,
+or pelisse, _i.e._, a coat of hair.
+
+[426] Buslaef, "Ist. Och," i. 147, where the Teutonic equivalents are
+given.
+
+[427] Tereshchenko, v. 48. For a German version of the story, see the
+_KM._, No. 124, "Die Kornaehre."
+
+[428] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ i. 482.
+
+[429] Afanasief, _Legendui_, p. 19.
+
+[430] Tereshchenko, v. p. 45. Some of these legends have been
+translated by O. von. Reinsberg-Dueringsfeld in the "Ausland," Dec. 9,
+1872.
+
+[431] According to a Bohemian legend the Devil created the mouse, that
+it might destroy "God's corn," whereupon the Lord created the cat.
+
+[432] _Pit'_, = to drink.
+
+[433] Tereshchenko, v. 47.
+
+[434] Afanasief, _Legendui_, p. 13.
+
+[435] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 3. From the Voroneje Government.
+
+[436] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 8.
+
+[437] Who thus becomes his "brother of the cross." This
+cross-brothership is considered a close spiritual affinity.
+
+[438] Afanasief, in his notes to this story, gives several of its
+variants. The rewards and punishments awarded in a future life form
+the theme of a great number of moral parables, apparently of Oriental
+extraction. For an interesting parallel from the Neilgherry Hills, see
+Gover's "Folk-Songs of Southern India," pp. 81-7.
+
+[439] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 7.
+
+[440] The icona, +eikon+ or holy picture.
+
+[441] For some account of Perun--the Lithuanian Perkunas--whose name
+and attributes appear to be closely connected with those of the Indian
+Parjanya, see the "Songs of the Russian Nation," pp. 86-102.
+
+[442] A Servian song, for instance, quoted by Buslaef ("Ist. Och." i.
+361) states that "The Thunder" (_i.e._, the Thunder-God or Perun)
+"began to divide gifts. To God (_Bogu_) it gave the heavenly heights;
+to St. Peter the summer" (_Petrovskie_ so called after the Saint)
+"heats; to St. John, the ice and snow; to Nicholas, power over the
+waters, and to Ilya the lightning and the thunderbolt."
+
+[443] Afanasief, _Legendui_, pp. 137-40, _P.V.S._, i. 469-83. Cf.
+Grimm's "Deutsche Mythologie," pp. 157-59.
+
+[444] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 10. From the Yaroslaf Government.
+
+[445] _Il'inskomu bat'kye_--to the Elijah father.
+
+[446] Strictly speaking, a _chetverik_ = 5.775 gallons.
+
+[447] Afanasief, _P.V.S._, iii. 455.
+
+[448] Called _Lisun_, _Lisovik_, _Polisun_, &c. He answers to the
+_Lyeshy_ or wood-demon (_lyes_ = a forest) mentioned above, p. 212.
+
+[449] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ i. 711.
+
+[450] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 12.
+
+[451] Quoted by Buslaef, "Ist. Och." i. 389. Troyan is also the name
+of a mythical king who often figures in Slavonic legends.
+
+[452] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 11. From the Orel district.
+
+[453] Afanasief, _Legendui_, pp. 141-5. With this story may be
+compared that of "The Cross-Surety." See above, p. 40.
+
+[454] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 5. From the Archangel Government.
+
+[455] _Popovskie_, from _pop_, the vulgar name for a priest, the Greek
++pappas+.
+
+[456] The _prosvirka_, or _prosfora_, is a small loaf, made of fine
+wheat flour. It is used for the communion service, but before
+consecration it is freely sold and purchased.
+
+[457] A few lines are here omitted as being superfluous. In the
+original the second princess is cured exactly as the first had been.
+The doctors then proceed to a third country, where they find precisely
+the same position of affairs.
+
+[458] _Byely_ = white. See the "Songs of the Russian People," p. 103,
+the "Deutsche Mythologie," p. 203.
+
+[459] _Shchob tebe chorny bog ubif!_ Afanasief, _P.V.S._, i. 93, 94.
+
+[460] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ iii. 314, 315.
+
+[461] _Lemboi_, perhaps a Samoyed word.
+
+[462] _Lemboi te (tebya) voz'mi!_
+
+[463] Afanasief, _P.V.S._ iii. pp. 314, 315.
+
+[464] _Prolub'_ (for _prorub'_), a hole cut in the ice, and kept open,
+for the purpose of getting at the water.
+
+[465] _Satana._
+
+[466] The word by which the husband here designates his wife is
+_zakon_, which properly signifies (1) law, (2) marriage. Here it
+stands for "spouse." Satan replies, "If this be thy _zakon_, go hence
+therewith! to sever a _zakon_ is impossible."
+
+[467] Abridged from Afanasief, _P.V.S._ iii. 315, 316.
+
+[468] See the notes in Grimm's _KM._ Bd. iii. to stories 100 and 101.
+
+[469] Afanasief, v. No. 26.
+
+[470] Afanasief, v. No. 48.
+
+[471] "Entered upon his matured years," from 17 to 21.
+
+[472] The sleeping-place.
+
+[473] Literally, "to all the four sides."
+
+[474] Haltrich, No. 27.
+
+[475] Afanasief, v. No. 25.
+
+[476] Khudyakof, No. 114.
+
+[477] Chap. i. p. 46.
+
+[478] Afanasief, vii., No. 14.
+
+[479] _Byesenok_, diminutive of _Byes_.
+
+[480] _Chort._
+
+[481] Isidore.
+
+[482] Erlenvein, No. 33. From the Tula Government.
+
+[483] Quoted from Borichefsky, by Afanasief, _Legendui_, p. 182.
+
+[484] _Emy na zdorovie!_ "Good health to him!"
+
+[485] Afanasief, v. No. 43.
+
+[486] Afanasief, _Legendui_, No. 27. From the Saratof Government. This
+story is merely one of the numerous Slavonic variants of a tale
+familiar to many lands.
+
+
+
+
+INDEX.
+
+
+Ad, or Hades, 303
+
+Anepou and Satou, story of, 122
+
+Andrew, St., legend about, 348
+
+Arimaspians, 190
+
+Awful Drunkard, story of the, 46
+
+
+Baba Yaga, her name and nature, 146;
+  stories about, 103-107, 148-166, 254-256
+
+Back, cutting strips from, 155
+
+Bad Wife, story of the, 52
+
+Beanstalk stories, 35, 296
+
+Beer and Corn, legend of, 339
+
+Birds, legends about, 335
+
+Blind Man and Cripple, story of the, 246
+
+Bluebeard's Chamber, 109
+
+Brandy, legend about origin of, 378
+
+Bridge-building incident, 306
+
+Brothers, enmity between, 93
+
+Brushes, magic, 151
+
+
+Cat, Whittington's, 56
+
+Chort, or devil, 35
+
+Christ's Brother, legend of, 338
+
+Chudo Morskoe, or water monster, 143
+
+Chudo Yudo, a many-headed monster, 83
+
+Clergy: their bad reputation in folk-tales, 40
+
+Coffin Lid, story of the, 314
+
+Combs, magic, 151
+
+Creation of Man, legends about, 330
+
+Cross Surety, story of the, 40
+
+Curses, legends about, 363
+
+
+Days of the Week, legends about, 206-212
+
+Dead Mother, story of the, 32
+
+Demons: part played in the Skazkas by, 361;
+  souls of babes stolen by, 363;
+  legends about children devoted to, 364;
+  about persons who give themselves to, 367;
+  dulness of, 375;
+  tricks played upon, 375;
+  gratitude of, 377;
+  resemblance of to snakes, 380
+
+Devil, legends about, 330, 331, 333
+
+Dnieper, Volga, and Dvina, story of the, 217
+
+Dog, legends about, 330-332
+
+Dog and Corpse, story of the, 317
+
+Dolls, or puppets, magic, 167-169
+
+Don and Shat, story of the rivers, 215
+
+Drink, Russian peasant's love of, 42;
+  stories about, 48
+
+Durak, or Ninny, stories about, 23, 62
+
+
+Eggs, lives of mythical beings connected with, 119-124
+
+Elijah, traditions about, 341-343
+
+Elijah and Nicholas, legend of, 344
+
+Emilian the Fool, story of, 269
+
+Evil, personified, 186
+
+
+Fiddler in Hell, story of the, 303
+
+Fiend, story of the, 24
+
+Fool and Birch-tree, story of the, 62
+
+Fools, stories about, 62
+
+Fortune, stories about, 203
+
+Fox-Physician, story of the, 296
+
+Fox-Wailer, story of the, 35
+
+Friday, legend of, 207
+
+Frost, story of, 221
+
+
+George, St., legends about, 348;
+  the Wolves and, 349;
+  the Gypsy and, 350;
+  the people of Troyan and, 351
+
+Ghost stories, 295-328
+
+Gold-Men, 231
+
+Golden Bird, the _Zhar-Ptitsa_ or, 291
+
+Golovikha, or Mayoress, story of the, 55
+
+Gore, or Woe, story of, 192
+
+Gossip's Bedstead, story of the, 381
+
+Gravestone, story of the Ride on the, 308
+
+Greece, Vampires in, 323
+
+Gypsy, story of St. George and the, 350
+
+
+Hades, 303
+
+Hasty Word, story of the, 370
+
+Head, story of the trunkless, 230
+
+Headless Princess, story of the, 276
+
+Heaven-tree Myth, 298
+
+Helena the Fair, story of, 262
+
+Hell, story of the Fiddler in, 303
+
+Hills, legend of creation of, 333
+
+
+Ivan Popyalof, story of, 79
+
+
+Katoma, story of, 246
+
+Koshchei the Deathless, stories of, 96-115
+
+Kruchina, or Grief, 201
+
+Kuzma and Demian, the holy Smiths, 82
+
+
+Lame and Blind Heroes, story of the, 246
+
+Laments for the dead, 36
+
+Leap, bride won by a, 266-269
+
+Legends, 329-382
+
+Leshy, or Wood-demon, story of the, 213
+
+Life, Water of, 237
+
+Likho the One-Eyed, story of, 186
+
+Luck, stories about, 203-206
+
+
+Marya Morevna, story of, 97
+
+Medea's Cauldron incident, 359, 368
+
+Miser, story of the, 60
+
+Mizgir, or Spider, story of the, 68
+
+Morfei the Cook, story of, 234
+
+Mouse, legends about the, 334
+
+Mythology, &c. Personifications of Good and Evil, 77;
+  the Snake, 78;
+  Daylight eclipsed by a Snake, 81;
+  the Chudo-Yudo, 83;
+  the Norka-Beast, 86;
+  the Usuinya-Bird, 95;
+  Koshchei the Deathless, 96-116;
+  the Bluebeard's Chamber myth, 109;
+  stories about external hearts and fatal eggs, &c., 119-124;
+  the Water Snake, 129;
+  the Tsar Morskoi or Water King, 130-141;
+  the King Bear, 142;
+  the Water-Chudo, 143;
+  the Idol, 144;
+  Female embodiments of Evil, 146;
+  the Baba Yaga, 146-166;
+  magic dolls or puppets, 167;
+  the story of Verlioka, 170;
+  the Supernatural Witch, 170-183;
+  The Sun's Sister and the Dawn, 178-185;
+  Likho or Evil, 186-187;
+  Polyphemus and the Arimaspians, 190;
+  Gore or Woe, 192;
+  Nuzhda or Need, 199;
+  Kruchina or Grief, 201;
+  Zluidni, 201;
+  stories about Luck, 203-206;
+  Friday, 206;
+  Wednesday, 208;
+  Sunday, 211;
+  the Leshy or Woodsprite, 213;
+  stories about Rivers, 215-221;
+  about Frost, 221;
+  about the Whirlwind, 232;
+  Morfei, 234;
+  Oh! the, 235;
+  Waters of Life and Death, 237-242;
+  Symplegades, 242;
+  Waters of Strength and Weakness, 243-245;
+  Magic Horses, 249, 264;
+  a Magic Pike, 269-273;
+  Witchcraft stories, 273-295;
+  the Zhar-Ptitsa or Glow-Bird, 289-292;
+  upper-world ideas, 296;
+  the heaven-tree myth, 296-302;
+  lower-world ideas, 303;
+  Ghost-stories, 308;
+  stories about Vampires, 313-322;
+  home and origin of Vampirism, 323-328;
+  legends about Saints, the Devil, &c., 329;
+  Perun, the thunder-god, 341;
+  superstitions about lightning, 343;
+  legends about St. George and the Wolves, 349;
+  old Slavonian gods changed into demons, 362;
+  power attributed to curses, 364;
+  dulness of demons, 375;
+  their resemblance to snakes, 380
+
+
+National character, how far illustrated by popular tales, 18
+
+Need, story of Nuzhda or, 199
+
+Nicholas, St., legends about, 343;
+  his kindness, 352-354;
+  story of the Priest of, 355
+
+Nicholas, St., and Elijah, story of, 343
+
+Norka, story of the, 86
+
+
+Oh! demon named, 235
+
+One-Eyed Likho, story of, 186
+
+One-Eyes, Ukraine legend of, 190
+
+
+Peewit, legend about the 335
+
+Perun, the thunder-god, 341
+
+Pike, story of a magic, 269
+
+Polyphemus, 190
+
+Poor Widow, story of the, 336
+
+Popes, Russian Priests called, 36
+
+Popular Tales, their meaning &c., 16-18;
+  human and supernatural agents in, 75-78
+
+Popyalof, story of Ivan, 79
+
+Priest with the Greedy Eyes, story of the, 355
+
+Princess Helena the Fair, story of the, 262
+
+Purchased Wife, story of the, 44
+
+
+Ride on the Gravestone, story of the, 308
+
+Rip van Winkle story, 310
+
+Rivers, legends about, 215-221
+
+Russian children, appearance of, 157
+
+Russian Peasants;
+  their dramatic talent, 19;
+  pictures of their life contained in folk-tales, 21;
+  a village soiree, 24;
+  a courtship, 31;
+  a death, 32;
+  preparations for a funeral, 33;
+  wailing over the dead, 35;
+  a burial, 36;
+  religious feeling of, 40;
+  passion for drink, 42;
+  humor, 48;
+  their jokes against women, 49;
+  their dislike of avarice, 59;
+  their jokes about simpletons, 62
+
+Rye, legends about, 332
+
+
+Saints, legends about, 341;
+  Ilya or Elijah, 341-343;
+  story of Elijah and Nicholas, 344;
+  St. Andrew, 348;
+  St. George, 348-352;
+  St. Nicholas, 352-354;
+  St. Kasian, 352
+
+Scissors story, 49
+
+Semiletka, story of, 44
+
+Shroud, story of the, 311
+
+Skazkas or Russian folk-tales,
+  their value as pictures of Russian life, 19-23;
+  occurrence of word _skazka_ in, 23;
+  their openings, 62;
+  their endings, 83
+
+Smith and the Demon, story of the, 70
+
+Snake, the mythical, his appearance, 78;
+  story of Ivan Popyalof, 79;
+  story of the Water Snake, 126;
+  Snake Husbands, 129;
+  legend about the Common Snake, 334;
+  likeness between Snakes and Demons, 380
+
+Soldier and Demon, story of, 380
+
+Soldier and the Devil, legend about, 366
+
+Soldier and the Vampire, story of the, 318
+
+Soldier's Midnight Watch, story of the, 279
+
+Sozh and Dnieper, story of, 216
+
+Sparrow, legends about the, 335
+
+Spasibo or Thank You, 202
+
+Spider, story of the, 68
+
+Stakes driven through Vampires, 326-328
+
+Stepmothers, character of, 94
+
+Strength and Weakness, Waters of, 243
+
+Suicides and Vampires, 327
+
+Sunday, tales about, 211
+
+Sun's Sister, 178-182
+
+Swallow, legends about the, 335
+
+Swan Maidens, 129
+
+Symplegades, 242
+
+
+Terema or Upper Chambers, 182
+
+Three Copecks, story of the, 56
+
+Treasure, story of the, 36
+
+Troyan, City of, legend about, 351
+
+Two Corpses, story of the, 316
+
+Two Friends, story of the, 309
+
+
+Ujak or Snake, 126
+
+Unwashed, story of the, 366
+
+Usuinya-Bird, 95
+
+
+Vampires, stories about, 313-322;
+  account of the belief in, 322-328
+
+Vasilissa the Fair, story of, 158
+
+Vazuza and Volga, story of, 215
+
+Vechernitsa or Village Soiree, 24
+
+Verlioka, story of, 170
+
+Vieszcy, the Kashoube Vampire, 325
+
+Vikhor or the Whirlwind, story of, 232-244
+
+Volga, story of Vazuza and, 215;
+  of Dnieper and Dvina and, 217
+
+Vy, the Servian, 84
+
+
+Warlock, story of the, 292
+
+Water King and Vasilissa the Wise, story of the, 130
+
+Water Snake, story of the, 126
+
+Waters of Life and Death, 237-242
+
+Waters of Strength and Weakness, 243
+
+Wednesday, legend of, 208
+
+Week, Days of the, 206-21
+
+Whirlwind, story of the, 232
+
+Whittington's Cat, 56-58
+
+Wife, story of the Bad, 49;
+  about a Good, 56
+
+Wife-Gaining Leap, stories of a, 266-269
+
+Witch, story of the, 171
+
+Witch, story of the Dead, 34
+
+Witch and Sun's Sister, story of the, 178
+
+Witch Girl, story of the, 274
+
+Witchcraft, 170-183, 273-295
+
+Woe, story of, 193
+
+Wolf-fiend, story of a, 376
+
+Wolves, traditions about, 349
+
+Women, jokes about, 49-56
+
+
+Yaga Baba. _See_ Baba Yaga
+
+Youth, Fountain of, 72
+
+
+Zhar-Ptitsa or Glow Bird, 289-292
+
+Zluidni, malevolent beings called, 201
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note:
+
+This book was originally typeset using three different font sizes:
+largest for the main body of the text, smaller for the text of the
+tales, and smallest for the square bracketed author notes. As font
+size cannot be varied in this version of the e-text, the effect has
+been reproduced here using indentation: no indentation for the main
+body of the text, small indentation for the tales, and larger
+indentation for the square bracketed author notes.
+
+The frontispiece illustration has been moved to follow the title page.
+
+There are a few Greek words in this text. They have been transliterated
+in this version, and are surrounded with + signs, +like this+.
+
+The footnotes relating to vampires (pp. 323-4) reference modern Greek.
+In these cases only, +beta+ has been transliterated as a v rather than
+a b.
+
+There are a small number of non-Latin1 characters in this book, which
+have been treated as follows: oe ligatures have not been retained; a
+with macron (straight line) above it has been rendered as [=a]; e with
+breve (u-shaped symbol) above has been rendered as [)e].
+
+There were a very large number of typographic errors in the source
+edition of this text. Minor punctuation errors (omitted or incorrect
+punctuation, mismatched quote marks etc.) have been amended without
+note. Regularly used abbreviations (for example, "Grimm, KM." or
+"P.V.S.") have been made consistent throughout, without note. Use of
+accents have been made consistent throughout without note. Hyphenation
+has been made consistent throughout, without note.
+
+The author uses some alternative spellings--for example, "arn't"
+rather than "aren't", "dulness" rather than "dullness", both "shan't"
+and "sha'n't"--which have been left unchanged. There are also some
+unusual grammatical structures in places, which probably result from
+the author's intention to render the translations as literally as
+possible. These have also been left unchanged.
+
+The remaining amendments are listed below. All were checked against a
+later edition of the book that had been retypeset, and references to
+other works were additionally checked against online library
+catalogues. In the case of proper names, the amendments were based on
+other available occurrences of the name in the text.
+
+  Page 9--Khudyayof amended to Khudyakof--"KHUDYAKOF (I.A.). ..."
+
+  Page 9, footnote [7]--1 amended to i--"... Afanasief," i. No. 2,
+  ..."
+
+  Page 10--Karadjich amended to Karajich--"The name "Karajich" refers to
+  the ..."
+
+  Page 10--Tale amended to Tales--"... the "Popular Tales of the West
+  Highlands," 4 vols. ..."
+
+  Page 14--page reference for The Shroud amended from 351 to 311.
+
+  Page 14--page reference for The Dog and the Corpse amended from 316
+  to 317.
+
+  Page 16--medieval amended to mediaeval--"... a blurred transcript of a
+  page of mediaeval history ..."
+
+  Page 20, footnote [13]--Helen amended to Helena--"... the close of
+  the story of Helena the Fair ..."
+
+  Page 32--bare amended to bore--"Well, the mistress bore a son ..."
+
+  Page 37--garveyard amended to graveyard--"I'll go to the graveyard,
+  ..."
+
+  Page 37--pack amended to back--"... and hobbled back again ..."
+
+  Page 41--rubles amended to roubles--"... he had gained a hundred and
+  fifty thousand roubles ..."
+
+  Page 42, footnote [37]--Nicola's amended to Nicholas's--"In another
+  story St. Nicolas's picture is the surety."
+
+  Page 44, footnote [41]--Dei amended to Die--"Die kluge Bauerntochter"
+
+  Page 45--crouched amended to couched--"... couched in terms of
+  the utmost severity ..."
+
+  Page 49--alternation amended to alteration--"... how little
+  alteration it may undergo."
+
+  Page 54, footnote [54]--chortevnok amended to chortenok--"...
+  (_chortenok_ = a little _chort_ or devil) ..."
+
+  Page 55--Golovh amended to Golova--"_Golova_ = head"
+
+  Page 59--the author uses the statement, "The folk-tales of all lands
+  delight to gird at misers and skinflints ...". While gird does not
+  seem to be the right word in this context, it's unclear what the
+  author really intended--possibly gibe?--so it is left as printed.
+
+  Page 80, footnote [77]--Afansief amended to Afanasief--"... _i.e._,
+  says Afanasief ..."
+
+  Page 83, footnote [83]--Wissenchaften amended to
+  Wissenschaften--"... Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften ..."
+
+  Page 92--Maehrchen amended to Maerchen--"...Schleicher's "Litauische
+  Maerchen" ..."
+
+  Page 97, footnote [101]--Afansief amended to Afanasief--"Afanasief,
+  viii. No. 8. ..."
+
+  Page 98--gronnd amended to ground--"The Eagle smote upon the ground
+  ..."
+
+  Page 101--Is it amended to It is--"It is possible to sow wheat, ..."
+
+  Page 104--me amended to met--"Presently there met him a lioness ..."
+
+  Page 104--omitted 'I' added--"... so hungry, I feel quite unwell!"
+
+  Page 109, footnote [108]--No. 20o amended to No. 20--"Khudyakof, No.
+  20."
+
+  Page 110--faries amended to fairies--"... a lake in which fairies of
+  the swan-maiden ..."
+
+  Page 113, footnote [114]--chigunnova amended to chugunnova--"_Do
+  chugunnova kamnya_, to an iron stone."
+
+  Page 120, footnote [128]--Siebenbuegen amended to Siebenbuergen--"...
+  Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbuergen ..."
+
+  Page 123, footnote [136]--Professer amended to Professor--"...
+  referred to by Professor Benfey ..."
+
+  Page 123, footnote [136]--Egyptain amended to Egyptian--"... parallel
+  to part of the Egyptian myth ..."
+
+  Page 126--nto amended to into--"Then in a moment they rolled
+  themselves into ..."
+
+  Page 129, footnote [142]--Rusalk amended to Rusalka--"For a
+  description of the Rusalka ..."
+
+  Page 138, footnote [146]--traslated amended to translated--"The
+  word here translated ..."
+
+  Page 143, footnote [148]--Afansief amended to Afanasief--"Afanasief,
+  v. No. 28. In the preceding story ..."
+
+  Page 146, footnote [160]--the word "jenzi" is repeated. Probably one
+  of the occurrences had a diacritical mark which was not reproduced in
+  this edition; it has been left as printed.
+
+  Page 153--foul's amended to fowl's--"... twirling round on "a fowl's
+  leg.""
+
+  Page 160--By-and-bye amended to By-and-by--"By-and-by she put out the
+  lights ..."
+
+  Page 167, footnote [194]--government amended to Government--"From the
+  Poltava Government."
+
+  Page 170, footnote [204]--Afansief amended to Afanasief--"Afanasief,
+  vii. No. 18."
+
+  Page 170, footnote [205]--Sanscrit amended to Sanskrit--"...
+  answering to the Sanskrit ..."
+
+  Page 171, footnote [206]--Voronej amended to Voroneje--"From the
+  Voroneje Government."
+
+  Page 172, footnote [208]--Shazka amended to Skazka--"... the Skazka for that
+  of witch ..."
+
+  Page 172--Ivaschechko amended to Ivashechko (verse following "...
+  called to her son")--"Ivashechko, Ivashechko, my boy ..."
+
+  Page 177--servants-maids amended to servant-maids--"... the bereaved
+  mother sends three servant-maids ..."
+
+  Page 177, footnote [214]--Id. amended to Ibid.--"Ibid. No. 52."
+
+  Page 179--woman amended to women--"... where two old women were
+  sewing ..."
+
+  Page 190--in amended to it--"... there is no occasion to dwell
+  upon it here."
+
+  Page 208, footnote [255]--Rhudyakof amended to Khudyakof--"Khudyakof,
+  No. 166."
+
+  Page 213--plating amended to plaiting--"... sat a moujik plaiting a
+  bast shoe."
+
+  Page 214--alloting amended to allotting--"... when God was allotting
+  their shares ..."
+
+  Page 215, footnote [267]--i.i. amended to ii.--"Afanasief, _P.V.S._,
+  ii. 226."
+
+  Page 217, footnote [271]--Borichesky amended to Borichefsky--"Quoted
+  from Borichefsky ..."
+
+  Page 218--withen amended to within--"... when he came within a few
+  versts of the sea-shore ..."
+
+  Page 225--superfluous 'to' removed before "out to merry-makings"
+
+  Page 228--put amended to puts--"... the girl puts on the robes, and
+  appears ..."
+
+  Page 233--n amended to in--"... went out one day to walk in the
+  garden."
+
+  Page 233--omitted 'a' added--"... hiding him behind a number of
+  cushions, ..."
+
+  Page 241--Brynhildr amended to Brynhild--"... who bear so great a
+  resemblance to Brynhild ..."
+
+  Page 252, footnote [321]--omitted roman i. reference added--"See
+  A. de Gubernatis, "Zool. Mythology," i. 181."
+
+  Page 255--euough amended to enough--"That's no go, sure enough!"
+
+  Page 257--t amended to it--"If the Princess found it out, ..."
+
+  Page 260, footnote [326]--omitted word 'Cox' added--"... by
+  G. W. Cox ..."
+
+  Page 261, footnote [328]--Kullish amended to Kulish--"For a
+  little-Russian version see Kulish ..."
+
+  Page 262--shaskas amended to skazkas--"But skazkas tell that ..."
+
+  Page 276--the amended to The--"The fiend disappears howling, ..."
+
+  Page 276, footnote [363]--Maerchensammlung amended to
+  Maehrchensammlung--"Brockhaus's "Maehrchensammlung des Somadeva Bhatta"
+  ..."
+
+  Page 277--dont amended to don't--"... from your psalter and don't look
+  behind ..."
+
+  Page 286--of amended to off--"Do you drive off with the coffin, ..."
+
+  Page 288, footnote [368]--Gessellschaft amended to Gesellschaft--"...
+  Koenigl. Saechs. Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften ..."
+
+  Page 291--sportman amended to sportsman--"... a sportsman finds in a
+  forest ..."
+
+  Page 313, footnote [407]--Geoethe amended to Goethe--"... Goethe
+  founded his weird ballad ..."
+
+  Page 321--omitted word 'in' added--"The pyre became wrapped in
+  flames ..."
+
+  Page 334, footnote [430]--Tereschenko amended to
+  Tereshchenko--"Tereshchenko, v. p. 45."
+
+  Page 335, footnote [433]--Tereschenko amended to
+  Tereshchenko--"Tereshchenko, v. 47."
+
+  Page 344, footnote [445]--Il'inskomy amended to
+  Il'inskomu--"Il'inskomu bat'kye--to the Elijah father."
+
+  Page 350, footnote [448]--page reference 206 amended to 212--"...
+  mentioned above, p. 212."
+
+  Page 354, footnote [453]--page reference 27 amended to 40--"... See
+  above, p. 40."
+
+  Page 365, footnote [464]--omitted apostrophe added after Prolub--"Prolub'"
+
+  Page 369--merged amended to emerged--"At last he emerged from his
+  ecstasy"
+
+  Page 374--cap amended to chap--"... into the "Gesta Romanorum"
+  (chap. clxii.) ..."
+
+  Page 378--youself amended to yourself--"Hire yourself to him ..."
+
+  Page 379, footnote [482]--Governmen amended to Government--"From the
+  Tula Government."
+
+  Page 381, footnote [486]--familar amended to familiar--"... a tale
+  familiar to many lands."
+
+  Page 383--page reference 316 amended to 317 in index entry for
+  "Dog and Corpse, story of the".
+
+  Page 384--page reference 194 amended to 201 in index entry
+  for "Mythology, &c. Personifications of Good and
+  Evil,--Zluidni".
+
+  Page 385 and Page 386--page reference 243 amended to 242 in
+  index entries for "Symplegades".
+
+  Page 385--lighting amended to lightning--"superstitions about
+  lightning, 343;"
+
+  Page 385--page reference 255 amended to 355 in index entry for
+  "Priest with the Greedy Eyes, story of the".
+
+  Page 385--page reference 383 amended to 157 in index entry for
+  "Russian children, appearance of".
+
+  Page 385--page reference 36 amended to 49 in index entry for
+  "Russian peasants—their jokes against women".
+
+  Page 386--page reference 83 amended to 84 in index entry for
+  "Vy, the Servian,".
+
+  Page 386--page reference 113 amended to 130 in index entry for
+  "Water King and Vasilissa the Wise, story of the".
+
+  Page 386--30-237 amended to 237-242, in line with other index
+  entry for "Waters of Life and Death".
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Russian Fairy Tales, by W. R. S. Ralston
+
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