Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 3 · page 21 2101Sometimes he is described as altogether serpent-like in form; sometimes he seems to be of a mixed nature, partly human and partly ophidian, but in some of the stories he is apparently framed after the fashion of a man.102His name is by some mythologists derived from _kost'_, a bone whence comes a verb signifying to become ossified, petrified, or frozen; either because he is bony of limb, or because he produces an effect akin to freezing or petrifaction.103[99]104He is called "Immortal" or "The Deathless,"[100] because of his superiority to the ordinary laws of existence.105Sometimes, like Baldur, he cannot be killed except by one substance; sometimes his "death"--that is, the object with which his life is indissolubly connected--does not exist within his body.106Like the vital centre of "the giant who had no heart in his body" in the well-known Norse tale, it is something extraneous to the being whom it affects, and until it is destroyed he may set all ordinary means of annihilation at defiance.107But this is not always the case, as may be learnt from one of the best of the skazkas in which he plays a leading part, the history of--108MARYA MOREVNA.109[101]110In a certain kingdom there lived a Prince Ivan.111He had three sisters.112The first was the Princess Marya, the second the Princess Olga, the third the Princess Anna.113When their father and mother lay at the point of death, they had thus enjoined their son:--"Give your sisters in marriage to the very first suitors who come to woo them.114Don't go keeping them by you!"115They died and the Prince buried them, and then, to solace his grief, he went with his sisters into the garden green to stroll.116Suddenly the sky was covered by a black cloud; a terrible storm arose.117"Let us go home, sisters!" he cried.118Hardly had they got into the palace, when the thunder pealed, the ceiling split open, and into the room where they were, came flying a falcon bright.119The Falcon smote upon the ground, became a brave youth, and said:120"Hail, Prince Ivan!121Before I came as a guest, but now I have come as a wooer!122I wish to propose for your sister, the Princess Marya."1 2← previousChapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 2next →Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 4↑ back to Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-loreThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/21/page/2/