![]() Many of Baba Yaga's fans playfully call her a feminist icon. "Why does she want to shove her guest into a blazing stove? Is she a demon of the underworld, tasked with roasting the souls of sinners? are we hearing a distant echo of a more ancient motif of initiation by fire?" "That image of an old woman living in the woods, doing whatever she wants all day long, continues to be my dream for myself."Īs Levchin acknowledges, Baba Yaga generates more questions than answers. It's rare to see such a mercurial character-one that does not easily lend herself to easy moral lessons-in any folkloric tradition. The inconsistencies in Baba Yaga's story are so striking because she exists within a genre that typically fights against paradoxes in its form and content. "Two very important tale roles are those of the villain, who harms or seeks to harm the protagonist, and the donor, who is helpful and gives the hero or heroine a magic agent." Baba Yaga, confoundingly, takes on both roles-sometimes within the same story. "Most folktale characters in European traditions… behave in a predictably unambigious way in relation to the hero or the heroine: They either help or hinder," he writes. In some accounts, she is a manifestation of winter or storms in others, she's a goddess akin to Persephone.Īccording to Johns, Baba's complexities and contradictions make her unique among folk figures. In the myriad folkloric representations of her, Baba Yaga's generally unsettling physical attributes remain constant-she's usually said to have a long nose and iron teeth, and she's constantly flying about in her mortar and pestle-yet different contexts exacerbate or highlight certain qualities and phenomena associated with her. It's one that the renowned and controversial folklorist Vladimir Propp saw, according to Levchin, as an "echo of the ancient myth of the giver of fire (a proto-Prometheus), whose flight from the abode of the gods"-or from her chicken-footed hut, in this case-"becomes the act of creation of our own world-raising up mountains and forests, laying down rivers and seas." By attempting to devour her human prey, Baba Yaga engenders the creation of a new world for them. Afanasyev, is a motif that recurs in tales about Baba. This "chase scene," as Sergey Levchin calls it in his introduction to Russian Folktales from the Collection of A. The comb transforms into a mountain range, the brush into a dense forest, and the towel into a vast lake. As Katerina and her new companion flee, they toss behind them a comb, a brush, and a hand towel in an attempt to slow Baba down. ![]() The two eventually escape the evil crone, who repeatedly tries to slam Katerina in her scorching oven. In this one, a princess named Katerina befriends Baba's daughter, whom she finds in Baba's hut after fleeing incestuous advances by her brother. The tale of Prince Danila-Govorila encapsulates this duality well. Eventually, beautiful Vasilisa ends up marrying the Tsar.īaba Yaga on chasing Vasilisa. When Vasilisa succeeds at this, she's granted one of the skull lanterns that rings Baba's house upon returning home, the lantern immediately engulfs her horrible family in flames, freeing her from their tyranny. ![]() ![]() After several unsuccessful attempts, they finally send Vasilisa directly to Baba Yaga's hut, knowing that the crone eats humans "as one eats chickens." But instead of devouring the girl, Baba Yaga forces her to do a series of seemingly impossible menial tasks, such as separating grains of rice from wheat kernels before dawn. Beautiful Vasilisa lives with her wicked stepmother and two homely stepsisters, who all conspire to have her killed. In the tale of Vasilisa the Beautiful, arguably the most famous story in which Baba Yaga appears, Baba Yaga takes on several, seemingly conflicting roles. She's well-known as a frightening witch, but Baba Yaga is also an ancient and complex manifestation of origin myths and shifting cultural anxieties. Across folklore and within single tales, Baba Yaga shifts between a maternal helper and a cannibalistic villain. Tales of her exploits vary, but typically she either aids young visitors who stumble upon her hut in their journeys, or she cuts things short by attempting to eat them. According to folklore, Baba Yaga is a supernatural crone who lives deep in the Russian forest, in a house perched on chicken feet and surrounded by pine trees and glowing skulls.
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