<oo>→<aal> Баба-яга (102)

Encyclopedia entries: Baba-Yaga

Жили-были муж с женой и прижили дочку; жена-то и помри. Мужик женился на другой, и от этой прижил дочь. Вот жена и невзлюбила падчерицу; нет житья сироте.⁽¹⁾ Думал, думал наш мужик и повез свою дочь в лес.⁽²⁾ Едет лесом — глядит: стоит избушка на курьих ножках.⁽³⁾ Вот и говорит мужик: «Избушка, избушка! Стань к лесу задом, а ко мне передом». Избушка и поворотилась.⁽⁴⁾

Идет мужик в избушку, а в ней баба-яга: впереди голова, в одном углу нога, в другом — другая.⁽⁵⁾ «Русским духом пахнет!»⁽⁶⁾ — говорит яга. Мужик кланяется: «Баба-яга костяная нога!⁽⁷⁾ Я тебе дочку привез в услуженье». «Ну, хорошо! Служи, служи мне, — говорит яга девушке, — я тебя за это награжу».

Отец простился и поехал домой. А баба-яга задала девушке пряжи с короб, печку истопить, всего припасти, а сама ушла. Вот девушка хлопочет у печи, а сама горько плачет. Выбежали мышки и говорят ей: «Девица, девица, что ты плачешь? Дай кашки;⁽⁸⁾ мы тебе добренько скажем». Она дала им кашки. «А вот, — говорят, — ты на всякое веретенце по ниточке напряди».⁽⁹⁾ Пришла баба-яга: «Ну, что, — говорит, — все ли ты припасла?» А у девушки все готово. «Ну, теперь поди — вымой меня в бане». Похвалила яга девушку и надавала ей разной сряды. Опять яга ушла и еще труднее задала задачу. Девушка опять плачет. Выбегают мышки: «Что ты, — говорят, — девица красная, плачешь? Дай кашки; мы тебе добренько скажем». Она дала им кашки, а они опять научили ее, что и как сделать. Баба-яга опять, пришедши, ее похвалила и еще больше дала сряды... А мачеха посылает мужа проведать, жива ли его дочь?⁽¹⁰⁾

Поехал мужик; приезжает и видит, что дочь богатая-пребогатая стала. Яги не было дома, он и взял ее с собой. Подъезжают они к своей деревне, а дома собачка так и рвется: «Хам, хам, хам! Барыню везут, барыню везут!» Мачеха выбежала да скалкой собачку. «Врешь, — говорит, — скажи: в коробе косточки гремят!»⁽¹¹⁾ А собачка все свое. Приехали. Мачеха так и гонит мужа — и ее дочь туда же отвезти. Отвез мужик.⁽¹²⁾

Вот баба-яга задала ей работы, а сама ушла. Девка так и рвется с досады и плачет. Выбегают мышки. «Девица, девица! О чем ты, — говорят, — плачешь?» А она не дала им выговорить, то тое скалкой, то другую; с ними и провозилась, а дела-то не приделала. Яга пришла, рассердилась. В другой раз опять то же; яга изломала ее, да косточки в короб и склала. Вот мать посылает мужа за дочерью. Приехал отец и повез одни косточки. Подъезжает к деревне, а собачка опять лает на крылечке: «Хам, хам, хам! В коробе косточки везут!» Мачеха бежит со скалкой: «Врешь, — говорит, — скажи: барыню везут!» А собачке все свое: «Хам, хам, хам! В коробе косточки гремят!» Приехал муж; тут-то жена взвыла! Вот тебе сказка, а мне кринка масла.⁽¹³⁾

Prepared by: David J. Birnbaum, David Galloway.
Last revised: 2011-07-23T02:23:03+0000

Linguistic commentary

жили-были A formulaic fairy-tale beginning, comparable to English once upon a time.

муж с женой Муж с женой is an alternative to муж и жена, and is common in folkloric texts.

прижили ‘Lived so they had (a child).’ Note the root жи(в), indicating a reference to life. This verb is sometimes used euphemistically for having sexual relations, cf. English lived with.

жена-то The suffixal particle -то is extremely common in folkloric and other colloquial texts. Its meaning is not so much lexical as pragmatic: 1) it is emphatic (‘that very woman I was just telling you about’), 2) it has a tinge of the definite article (‘the same woman’), and 3) it also suggests a change of focus in the sentence (from husband and wife to just wife), comparable to же.

помри This is an imperative (of inf помереть) used to convey a somewhat sudden or surprising past tense, comparable to ‘and she up and died.’ The prefix по- here is colloquial and archaic; in modern standard Russian one would say умерла.

прижил See the note to прижили, above.

невзлюбила Note the composition: не- indicates negation, вз- inception, and люб- love. The word thus means ‘conceived a dislike for’ or ‘came to hate.’

падчерицу ‘Stepdaughter.’ The root -дч-, in the middle, with the extension -ер-is the same as the root in дочь (Gsg дочери) ‘daughter.’

нет житья сироте ‘There was no life for the orphan,’ which is to say that her life was difficult. The Russian concept of orphan is different from ours; a сирота may have lost only one parent (as in this case), or both (which would make her a круглая сирота, or ‘round’ (‘complete’) orphan. The grammar here uses the dative to indicate the logical subject, comparable to something like ей было трудно.

думал, думал The repetition of the verb is a comparable to English he thought and thought.

едет Note that the narration shifts at this point from the perfective past tense into the historical present, as is also common in story-telling in English. This shifting of tense is used elsewhere in this story, as well. One might translate the transition between the preceding past tense and this use of the present as ‘… The peasant took his daughter into the forest. So they’re riding through the forest … .’

лесом The instrumental here indicates that they went through the forest.

избушка Note the use of the diminutive.

курьих Кура means ‘hen,’ and the form here is a special possessive that is common for animals, e.g., волчий, волчья ‘wolf’s’ or собачий, собачья ‘dog’s.’ These possessive adjectives are declined like the numeral третий, третья.

ножках Note the use of the diminutive.

вот и говорит The вот и is comparable to English So the man up and says. It has a similar function in Избушка и поворотилась immediately after.

пряжи с короб ‘About a basketful of yarn.’ Approximate size or quantity is indicated by the preposition c followed by the accusative. The best-known example of this construction in Russian is мальчик с пальчик ‘Tom Thumb,’ that is, ‘a boy approximately the size of a thumb.’ Normally what one does with a spindle is spin raw fleece into yarn or thread (rather than wind yarn or thread that has already been spun), and when the mice later tell the girl to stretch a thread onto each spindle, they may be referring to a strand of fleece, rather than what we commonly understand as thread.

припасти ‘Store away.’ The root пас- is same as the one in пасти ‘pasture (one’s sheep)’ and спасти ‘save.’ The prefix при- is used here as it is in приготовить. The logical object of this verb may be accusative or genitive (as is the case here).

мышки Note the diminutive.

что Что is a common colloquial equivalent of почему.

кашки Note the diminutive. The form is genitive in the partitive sense of ‘give us some kasha.’

добренько ‘Something good.’ The -енько suffix is diminutive.

веретенце ‘Spindle.’

по ниточке ‘Stretch one thread per spindle.’ The preposition по with the dative indicates ‘per’; if the number is greater than one (e.g., two per spindle), по is normally followed by the accusative.

поди A colloquial alternative to пойди.

надавала ей разной сряды Сряда = одежда (both of which are always singular, like English ‘clothing’). The same root (meaning ‘order,’ cf. ряд, обряд, occurs in наряд ‘fine clothing.’ Note the use of the genitive for the substance of the reward.

красная ‘Red’ in modern Russian but ‘beautiful’ in folk texts. Cf. красная площадь ‘Red Square.’

пришедши ‘Having arrived.’ This is a perfective verbal adverb (gerund) of прийти.

мачеха ‘Stepmother.’ Note the root ма(т)-.

проведать ‘Find out.’ The roots вед- ‘learn’ and вид- ‘see’ are related etymologically, since both pertain to the acquisition of experience and knowledge.

богатая-пребогатая The prefix пре- means ‘very’, and the simple adjective is commonly combined with the intensified form in folk texts. Cf. the repetition in думал, думал, above.

хам, хам, хам ‘Bow, wow, wow!’ Russian dogs more typically say гав-гав.

скалкой ‘Rolling pin’ (Nsg скалка). The verb is omitted here, but what is meant is that she hit the dog with the rolling pin.

все свое The verb is omitted here, but the sense is that the dog keeps doing what he was doing before, i.e., announcing the return of the young lady. Все is elliptical for все время.

девка Девка and девушка both mean ‘girl,’ but the former is pejorative (sometimes only teasingly), as is appropriate for the unpleasant and lazy daughter, while the good daughter is девушка. The mice are typical fairy-tale testers, and initially approach both girls with the folkloric девица (which in standard Russian would mean ‘maiden,’ rather than just ‘girl’).

тое An alternative feminine accusative singular ending, cf. accusative её. This ending is very uncommon in standard Russian, which would use the regular ту here instead. The verb is omitted here, but the sense is that ‘she hit first this mouse with the rolling pin, and then that mouse,’ etc.

провозилась ‘Scolded’ (here).

дела-то See the comment on жена-то, above.

склала ‘Put together’ or ‘gathered,’ a prefixed form of класть.

одни Один means not only ‘one,’ but also ‘only, nothing but.’

лает ‘Bark’ (inf. лаять).

крылечке Note the diminutive (крыло ‘wing,’, крыльцо ‘porch’ [wing-like appendage on a hut], крылечко ‘little porch’).

тут-то See the comment on жена-то, above.

взвыла ‘Began to wail.’ The prefix вз- indicates inception. Выть is conjugated like мыть.

кринка ‘Crock.’ The more common form in modern Russian is крынка.

Cultural commentary

¹ Вот жена и невзлюбила падчерицу; нет житья сироте. The motif of the evil or wicked stepmother often appears in Western European folk tales as well as in Russian folklore. Well-known tales such as Cinderella have the evil stepmother model at their heart.

² Думал, думал наш мужик и повез свою дочь в лес. In other tales with structure similar to this one, the wife actually orders the husband to take his daughter away. Invariably the husband agrees, and sometimes the narrator explains what else could he do?

³ на курьих ножках Baba Yaga typically lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs. A traditional explanation for this image is that huts were often built on stumps (to keep them off the damp ground), and the splayed roots at the base of the stump resemble chicken feet.

⁴ «Избушка, избушка! Стань к лесу задом, а ко мне передом». Избушка и поворотилась. This command may be found in other tales as well. Baba-Yaga’s hut typically stands at the edge of forest, a liminal space that represents her role as an initiator of the young girl who is leaving childhood and entering maturity. In some tales, including this one, the hut apparently merely faces the forest, and must be told to turn around. In others it is spinning constantly, and therefore cannot be entered until it has been ordered to stand still.

⁵ Идет мужик в избушку, а в ней баба-яга: впереди голова, в одном углу нога, в другом — другая. This is a typical image of Baba-Yaga—she usually takes up the entire hut.

⁶ «Русским духом пахнет!» This motif of scenting the visitor appears in other tales—to some it may be reminiscent of the giant from Jack and the Beanstalk saying Fee, fie, fo, fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!

⁷ Баба-яга костяная нога! This is Baba-Yaga’s usual epithet, which may be translated as Baba-Yaga The Bony-Legged. The boniness indicates her preternatural old age, which was commonly associated with sorcery in Russian folk belief. Women in general were expected to be plump, as an indication of both beauty and strength and ability to resist famine and bear healthy children.

⁸ Дай кашки Kasha is a general term for cooked cereal, or, more narrowly, a specific term for buckwheat groats (grain). It can be served in a porridge-like state for breakfast, or as a side dish or element of the main meal.

⁹ ты на всякое веретенце по ниточке напряди The mice tell the girl to stretch the thread on each spindle, but apparently they complete her tasks after she gets them started in this way, although the tale doesn’t say this explicitly. It is common in fairy tales for magic helpers to complete a heroine’s impossible tasks for her.

¹⁰ его дочь Neither of the two daughters has a name in this story, and from this point onward the two can be easily confused.

¹¹ «Врешь, — говорит, — скажи: в коробе косточки гремят!» The stepmother says the dog is lying because she expects and hopes that Baba-Yaga has killed the girl and the husband is bringing the bones back home.

¹² Отвез мужик. The stepmother wants her own daughter taken to the witch, thinking that she will be able to obtain the same sort of wealth as the stepdaughter. The stepmother’s own daughter is the heroine’s traditional wicked stepsister, although in this tale she is more unpleasant than what we would consider wicked.

¹³ Вот тебе сказка, а мне кринка масла. This sort of poetic ritual ending appears in many tales to varying degrees, and it may have originated as a remnant from the actual peasant who told the tale and received payment in the form of butter for having provided entertainment. Ethnographers did travel the country recording fairy tales told by peasants, and peasants did request rewards for providing entertainment. More generally, a lot of tales suggest that a peasant traveler might get lodging and food at the end of the day by telling tales to the bored people living along the route, and using a formulaic ending (I drank mead, but none of it got into my mouth, hint hint) might have been an easier way to remind the audience (whether friends or strangers) of the deal than waiting to ask once the tale is completely finished and the mood has changed (or it is someone else’s turn to tell a story).