Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 15 · page 21 2101[88] Literally "seated the maidens and pulled the rope."102[89] Some sort of safe or bin.103[90] Khudyakof, ii. p. 17.104[91] "Kathasaritsagara," bk. vii. c. xxxix.105Wilson's translation.106[92] Genesis, xxxvii.1073, 4.108[93] "Zoological Mythology," i. 25.109[94] Quoted from the "Nitimanjari," by Wilson, in his translation of the "Rig-Veda-Sanhita," vol. i. p. 142.110[95] See also Juelg's "Kalmukische Maerchen," p. 19, where Massang, the Calmuck Minotaur, is abandoned in the pit by his companions.111[96] Khudyakof, No. 42.112[97] Erlenvein, No. 41.113A king's horses disappear.114His youngest son keeps watch and discovers that the thief is a white wolf.115It escapes into a hole.116He kills his horse at its own request and makes from its hide a rope by which he is lowered into the hole, etc.117[98] Afanasief, v. 54.118[99] The word _koshchei_, says Afanasief, may fairly be derived from _kost'_, a bone, for changes between _st_ and _shch_ are not uncommon--as in the cases of _pustoi_, waste, _pushcha_, a wild wood, or of _gustoi_, thick, _gushcha_, sediment, etc. The verb _okostenyet'_, to grow numb, describes the state into which a skazka represents the realm of the "Sleeping Beauty," as being thrown by Koshchei.119Buslaef remarks in his "Influence of Christianity on Slavonic Language," p. 103, that one of the Gothic words used by Ulfilas to express the Greek +daimonion+ is _skohsl_, which "is purely Slavonic, being preserved in the Czekh _kauzlo_, sorcery; in the Lower-Lusatian-Wendish, _kostlar_ means a sorcerer.120(But see Grimm's "Deutsche Mythologie," pp.121454-5, where _skohsl_ is supposed to mean a forest-sprite, also p. 954.)122_Kost'_ changes into _koshch_ whence our Koshchei."123There is also a provincial word, _kostit'_, meaning to revile or scold.124[100] _Bezsmertny_ (_bez_ = without, _smert'_ = death).125[101] Afanasief, viii.126No. 8.127_Morevna_ means daughter of _More_, (the Sea or any great water).128[102] _Grom.129_ It is the thunder, rather than the lightning, which the Russian peasants look upon as the destructive agent in a storm.130They let the flash pass unheeded, but they take the precaution of crossing themselves when the roar follows.131[103] _Zamorskaya_, from the other side of the water, strange, splendid.132[104] In Afanasief, iv.133No. 39, a father marries his three daughters to the Sun, the Moon, and the Raven.134In Hahn, No. 25, a younger brother gives his sisters in marriage to a Lion, a Tiger, and an Eagle, after his elder brothers have refused to do so.135By their aid he recovers his lost bride.136In Schott, No. 1 and Vuk Karajich, No. 5, the three sisters are carried off by Dragons, which their subsequently-born brother kills.137(See also Basile, No. 33, referred to by Hahn, and Valjavec, p. 1, Stier, No. 13, and Bozena Nemcova, pp.138414-432, and a German story in Musaeus, all referred to by Afanasief, viii. p. 662.)139[105] See Chap.140IV.141[106] "Being by the advice of her father Haereeth given in marriage to Offa, she left off her violent practices; and accordingly she appears in Hygelac's court, exercising the peaceful duties of a princess.142Now this whole representation can hardly be other than the modern, altered, and Christian one of a Waelcyrie or Swan-Maiden; and almost in the same words the Nibelungen Lied relates of Brynhild, the flashing shield-may of the Edda, that with her virginity she lost her mighty strength and warlike habits."--Kemble's Beowulf, p. xxxv.143[107] Khudyakof, ii, p. 90.144[108] Khudyakof, No. 20.145[109] Afanasief, i. No. 14.146[110] Khudyakof, No. 62.147[111] Erlenvein, No. 31.148[112] Afanasief, ii.149No. 24.150From the Perm Government.151[113] A conventional expression of contempt which frequently occurs in the Skazkas.152[114] _Do chugunnova kamnya_, to an iron stone.153[115] "_Russkaya kost'.154_" I have translated literally, but the words mean nothing more than "a man," "something human."155Cf.156Radloff, iii.157III.158 159[116] _Bog prostit_ = God will forgive.160This sounds to the English ear like an ungracious reply, but it is the phrase ordinarily used by a superior when an inferior asks his pardon.161Before taking the sacrament at Easter, the servants in a Russian household ask their employers to forgive them for any faults of which they may have been guilty. "162God will forgive," is the proper reply.163[117] Khudyakof, No. 43.164[118] _Vikhor'_ (_vit'_ = to whirl), an agent often introduced for the purpose of abduction.165The sorcerers of the present day are supposed to be able to direct whirlwinds, and a not uncommon form of imprecation in some parts of Russia is "May the whirlwind carry thee off!"166See Afanasief, _P.V.S.167_ i. 317, and "Songs of the Russian People," p. 382.168[119] This story is very like that of the "Rider of Grianaig," "Tales of the West Highlands," iii.169No. 58.170[120] Cf.171Herodotus, bk. iv. chap.172 173[121] Khudyakof, No. 44.174[122] Erlenvein, No. 12, p. 67.175A popular tradition asserts that the Devil may be killed if shot with an egg laid on Christmas Eve. See Afanasief, _P.V.S.176_ ii.177 178[123] Afanasief, i. No. 14, p. 92.179For an account of Buyan, see "Songs of the Russian People," p. 374.180[124] Afanasief, vii.181No. 6, p. 83.182[125] Some of these have been compared by Mr. Cox, in his "Mythology of the Aryan Nations," i. 135-142.183Also by Professor A. de Gubernatis, who sees in the duck the dawn, in the hare "the moon sacrificed in the morning," and in the egg the sun. "Zoological Mythology," i. 269.184[126] Asbjoernsen and Moe, No. 36, Dasent, No. 9, p. 71.185[127] Asbjoernsen's "New Series," No. 70, p. 39.186[128] Haltrich's "Deutsche Volksmaerchen aus dem Sachsenlande in Siebenbuergen," p. 188.187[129] Wenzig's "Westslawischer Maerchenschatz," No. 37, p. 190.188[130] Campbell's "Tales of the West Highlands," i. No. 4, p. 81.1 2← previousChapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 14next →Chapter II. MYTHOLOGICAL, part 16↑ back to Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-loreThis page in Markdown → https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg22373/33/page/2/