Chapter I: Introductory (3)

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.