Russian Fairy Tales | Page 2

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 Hausm?rchen," 9th ed. Berlin, 1870. Those to Asbj?rnsen and Moe are to the "Norske Folke-Eventyr," 3d ed. Christiania, 1866; those to Asbj?rnsen 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 "Volksm?rchen der Serben," Berlin, 1854. By "Schott" is meant the "Walachische M?hrchen," Stuttgart und Tubingen, 1845, by "Schleicher" the "Litauische M?rchen," Weimar, 1857, by "Hahn" the "Griechische und albanesische M?rchen," Leipzig, 1864, by "Haltrich" the "Deutsche Volksm?rchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbürgen," 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 Volksm?rchen in den Urschriften gesammelt und ins Deutsche übersetzt von A. Dietrich." Leipzig, 1831.
[3] "Russian Popular Tales," Chapman and Hall, London, 1857.
[4] "Die ?ltesten Volksm?rchen der Russen. Von J. N. Vogl." Wien, 1841.
[5] Such as the "Orient und Occident," "Ausland," &c.
[6] Professor Reinhold K?hler, who is said to be preparing a work on the Skazkas, in co-operation with Professor Jülg, the well-known editor and translator of the "Siddhi Kür" and "Ardshi Bordschi Khan."
[7] In my copy, pt. 1 and 2 are of the 3d, and