Russian Fairy Tales | Page 7

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 soirée,[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