 Fair Folk, Part 1
Winter is no longer the deadly threat it used to be, but it still is potent enough for me to complain about the temperature every other week. (In retrospect, serves me right for being too lazy to bring my winter clothes.) And with the days growing colder, my attention is drawn to the country famous for winters, particularly for being unbeatable during them, as Napoleon, Enver Pasha and Hitler amongst others knew all too well. Russia boasts a wide variety of local myths, and for this week I intend to talk about a part of this rich folklore.
One of the most well-known figures is Koschei the Deathless. Koschei apparently took his nickname very seriously, for neither weapon nor age could kill him. There was but one method to do so. In the middle of an ocean, there's an uncharted island that appears and disappears at random. If you manage to find it, you must look for the oak tree planted there. Underneath it is a chest. Open it, and a hare will try to escape. Shoot the hare, and a duck will rise from within it and fly away. Shoot the duck, you will find an egg within its carcass. There's a needle within this egg, and it contains the soul of Koschei. Break the egg and only then will he perish.
If killed with any other method, Koschei will return to life after a while, since he ends up dying in several stories featuring him. It's either that or there's a dozen Koscheis running around. I should also note that despite being quite honorable as antagonists go, Koschei has a penchant for capturing princesses for little to no reason, making him a Russian proto-Bowser to Ivan Tsarevitch's Mario. Ivan is another commonly featured character, usually the youngest of three princes (a very common element in folk stories) and the hero of the story.
Another popular character is Baba Yaga. At first glance, she is the aged witch seen in many fairy tales, an old crone that lives isolated in a hut deep in the forest and probably steals children while no one's looking to eat them. But the Russian take on this stereotype is certainly amongst the most interesting. For one, Baba Yaga flies, but not on a broom. Her vehicle of choice is a man-sized, flying mortar, complete with a pestle to steer her way. Her broom is only used to cover her tracks on the snow. When not skiing over the snow or haunting the skies on a giant mortar, she can choose to ride her famed talking horses that can circle the entire world in a single day. To do that, their speed must be over Mach 1, by the way - Baba Yaga has supersonic horses.
The second peculiarity is her house. Most witches seem pleased with small huts and Baba Yaga is no exception, but apparently she desired more flexibility and added fully functional, giant chicken legs on which the hut can run around. It seems that when you command magic, you can make whichever design choice you want, even physically impossible ones. Being able to turn anyone who ridicules your taste into frogs is an added bonus, though Baba Yaga is more likely to just kill you and utilize your skull, given that liberal use of intact human skulls is another feature of her house.
And despite her belongings oscillating between ridiculous and outright monstrous, Baba Yaga isn't evil. Well, some of the time - while she can (and will) kill those who cross her, she also keeps her word and sometimes gives advice to help a hero with his task. Apparently she ages a year for each question she is asked, so you can't really blame her for disliking visitors. And honestly, if a fence made out of human bones doesn't give you the idea that the house within should be avoided, you are probably better off dead anyway.
You may have noticed the "Part 1" on the title. That's because I haven't spoken about fairies in Russian (and European) folklore yet, but I couldn't come up with a better title. So tune in next time for Slavic deep ones, undead mermaids, assorted creatures born from souls of stillborn children and whatever else Wikipedia's links may lead us to! BY ALPER ÖZKAN (MBG/III)
d_ozkan@ug.bilkent.edu.tr
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