Baba Yaga

“ The prince got up, went home, and the Baba Yaga was making a clamor and shouting to her mares: "What have you come home for?"
"Why shouldn't we come home?" they answered. "Birds came flying from all over the world, and they almost pecked our eyes out."
"Well, then, see that to-morrow you don't go to the meadows, but scatter through the thick forest."
Prince Ivan slept all night, and in the morning the Baba Yaga said to him: "Look here, prince! If you do not watch the mares well, if a single one is lost, your proud head will adorn the stake." ”

“ But after a time a Baba Yaga took to haunting their hut and sucking the breasts of the merchant’s daughter. No sooner have the heroes gone off to the chase, than the Baba Yaga is there in a moment. Before long the fair maiden’s face began to fall away, and she grew weak and thin. The blind man could see nothing, but Katoma remarked that things weren’t going well. He spoke about it to the blind man, and they went together to their adopted sister, and began questioning her. ”

“ At length he arrived at a cabin, which having entered he beheld three beautiful damsels sitting at their needle and embroidering with gold, and these were the daughters of Baba Yaga. As soon as they perceived Jack with the Bear’s Ear they said, “Good youth, what has brought you hither? Here lives Baba Yaga, our mother, and as soon as she arrives you are a dead man, for she will slay you to a certainty; but if you will deliver us from this place we will give you information how you may save your life.” ”

“ They all set forth to seek brides, and eventually marry the forty-one daughters of a Baba Yaga. On the wedding night she intends to kill her sons-in-law; but they, acting on the advice of him who had been the weakling of their [Pg 157] party, but who has become a mighty hero, exchange clothes with their brides before “lying down to sleep.” Accordingly the Baba Yaga’s “trusty servants” cut off the heads of her daughters instead of those of her sons-in-law. Those youths arise, stick the heads of their brides on iron spikes all round the house, and gallop away. ”

“ Then she went on to the bridge; but as soon as she got on to the bridge it snapped, and Bába Yagá slipped into the river, and it was a savage death she had.
Iván Tsarévich fed his foal on the green, and a splendid horse grew out of him; then the Tsarévich arrived at the palace of Márya Moryévna. She rushed out, fell upon his neck and said, "How has God blessed you?" And he told her how it had gone with him. "I am frightened, Iván Tsarévich; if Koshchéy catches us up you will again be torn to atoms."
"No, he will not catch us up now; I have a fine knightly horse which flies like a bird." ”

“ Hardly, however, had the Baba-Yaga rushed from the cellar to attack Little Bear's-Son again, than she became all at once as weak as a blade of grass, and drawing his sword, with a single blow, he cut off her wicked old head.
Instantly the iron mortar and pestle and the kitchen broom cried out to him: "Strike again! Strike again!" But, remembering what the damsel had said, he answered: "A brave man's sword strikes not twice," and sheathed it.
Little Bear's-Son made a great fire in the forest and burned the witch's body to ashes. ”

“ The Baba Yaga goes into another room “in order to sharpen her teeth,” and while she is engaged in that operation the girl escapes, having previously—by the advice of the Cat, to which she had given a lump of butter—spat under the threshold. The spittle answers for her in her absence, behaving as do, in other folk-tales, drops of blood, or rags dipped in blood, or apples, or eggs, or beans, or stone images, or wooden puppets. ”

“ Wassilissa sat down on the doorstep, took the tiny doll from one pocket and from another the supper she had ready for it, put the food before it and said: "There, my little doll, take it. Eat a little and listen to my sorrow. I must go to the hut of the old Baba-Yaga in the dark forest to borrow some fire and I fear she will eat me. Tell me! What shall I do?"
Then the doll's eyes began to shine like two stars and it became alive. It ate a little and said: "Do not fear, little Wassilissa. Go where thou hast been sent. While I am with thee no harm shall come to thee from the old witch." ”

“ And soon he heard the Baba-Yaga rating her she-horses for returning.
"How could we remain in the water?" they answered. "We swam to the very middle of the abyss, but hosts of crayfish came creeping from the whole sea-ocean, and with their claws pinched the flesh from our bones, so that to escape them we gladly would have run to the end of the white world."
The old witch waited and waited for the Tzarevich's return, but at length she fell asleep. At midnight he saddled the shabby colt, led it from the stable and made his way to the River of Fire. ”

“ The hut obeyed her; it turned its back to the forest and its front to the girl.
She entered, and there in the hut on the stove on the thrice-ninth brick lay Baba Yaga the Bony-leg, with her lips in a ridge and her nose through the ceiling.
"Fu! fu! fu!" she cried. "Hitherto no eye ever saw or ear ever heard of Russian spirit, but to-day Russian spirit is marching through the free world and strikes you in the eye and throws itself into your face! Where are you going, my pretty maid? Do you arrive from a doughty deed, or do you strive for a doughty deed?" ”

“ Then Márya Moryévna looked out for a good opportunity, and asked Koshchéy the Deathless.
Koshchéy answered, "Beyond thrice-nine lands, in the thrice-tenth kingdom, beyond the river of fire, lives the Bába Yagá. She has a mare on which every day she rides round the whole of the world. She has many splendid mares. ”

“ This time they forgot how the hours were flying by, and suddenly the witch stood in front of them.
"Darling, tell me, where have the Russian bones crept away?"
"Here, my mother; a fair maiden is waiting for you."
"Daughter mine, darling, heat the oven quickly; make it very hot."
So the maiden looked up and was frightened to death. For Bába Yagá with the wooden legs stood in front of her, and to the ceiling rose her nose. So the mother and daughter carried firewood in, logs of oak and maple; made the oven ready till the flames shot up merrily. ”

“ Vasilísa got everything ready with the help of her doll. Then the old woman came back, looked over everything, and said: "Ho, my faithful servants, friends of my heart! Make me some poppy-oil." Then three pairs of hands came, laid hold of the poppies and carried them off.
Bába Yagá sat down to supper, and Vasilísa sat silently in front of her. "Why do you not speak; why do you stay there as if you were dumb?" Bába Yagá asked.
"I did not venture to say anything; but if I might, I should like to ask some questions."
"Ask, but not every question turns out well: too knowing is too old." ”

“ He wandered a day, and two, and three, and on the fourth day he came, in a forest, to a wretched little hut standing on fowls' legs and turning round and round without ceasing. About it was a garden and in the garden was a beautiful damsel plucking flowers.
He greeted her and she said: "Health to thee, good youth, but what dost thou here? This is the house of a Baba-Yaga, who if thou remainest will surely devour thee!"
"It is she I seek," he answered.
"Thou art a brave man," the damsel said. ”

“ And when the “rats, frogs, and all manner of vermin,” enter the bath-room, “she crushed half of them to death,” says the story; “the rest ran home, and complained about her to their mother.” And so the Baba Yaga, when she dismisses her, gives her a red coffer instead of a blue one. Out of it, when it is opened, issues fire, which consumes both her and her mother. [181]
Similar to this story in many of its features as well as in its catastrophe is one of the most spirited and dramatic of all the Skazkas, that of—
Vasilissa the Fair. [182]
In a certain kingdom there lived a merchant. ”

“ It is hard to reach her; it is not easy to overcome the immortal one: his death is on the end of a needle; the needle is in an egg; the egg is in a duck; the duck is in a hare; the hare is in a box; the box stands on a tall oak; and the tree is guarded by Koshchei like the apple of his eye."
The Baba Yaga showed him in what place that oak was growing. Prince Ivan went there and did not know what he should do or how to reach the box. ”

“ Vasilisa walked all night and all day, and only toward the next evening did she reach the clearing where stood the Baba Yaga's hut. The fence around the hut was of men's bones, and the posts were decorated with human skulls. Instead of door-posts were men's leg-bones ”

“ In the course of time the brothers obtain from a Baba Yaga [Pg 261] the healing and vivifying waters, and so recover the eyes and feet they had lost. The Witch-Queen is put to death, and Nikita lives happily as the King’s Prime Minister. The specific actions of the two waters are described with great precision in this story. When the lame man sprinkles his legs with the Healing Water, they become whole at once; “his legs are quite sound, only they don’t move.” ”

“ The stepmother was crosser than ever and replied to all the suitors: "We will not give the youngest one before the older ones."
And as soon as she had sent the suitors away she would vent her spite on Vasilisa with blows.
Now it happened that the merchant was obliged to go away from home for a long time on important business. The stepmother went to live in another house which stood near a dense forest, and in this was a hut where Baba Yaga the Witch dwelt. She was a wicked hag who never permitted any person to approach her, and she ate men like chickens. ”

“ They are often exacted as the penalty of losing a wager, as well in the Skazkas as elsewhere. [175] In a West-Slavonian story about a wager of this kind, the winner cuts off the loser’s nose. [176] In the Gaelic stories it is not an uncommon incident for a man to have “a strip of skin cut off him from his crown to his sole.” [177]
The Baba Yaga generally kills people in order to eat them. Her house is fenced about with the bones of the men whose flesh she has devoured; in one story she offers [Pg 156] a human arm, by way of a meal, to a girl who visits her. ”

“ He has adopted the simple name of Babaji (revered father) ; other titles of respect given him by Lahiri Mahasaya’s disciples are Mahamuni Babaji Maharaj (supreme ecstatic saint) , Maha Yogi (greatest of yogis) , Trambak Baba and Shiva Baba (titles of avatars of Shiva) . Does it matter that we know not the patronymic of an earth-released master?
“Whenever anyone utters with reverence the name of Babaji,” Lahiri Mahasaya said, “that devotee attracts an instant spiritual blessing.”
The deathless guru bears no marks of age on his body; he appears to be no more than a youth of twenty-five. ”

“ And the holy man Mar Jacob used to milk them, and make cheese from the milk, and he and his teacher lived thereon. When Abba Gabriel died, Mar Jacob went up to the top of the tower, and by the Will of God there came to him twelve desert monks, and they dwelt with him in fasting and prayer, and they lived upon the milk of the animals, and the want of wheat for the monastery was supplied by the pilgrims who came from afar. One day they said, “It is our desire to see Abba Moses the Black (i.e. the Ethiopian) , and to be blessed by him.” ”

“ Nay, my son, go back into the world and live a life of comfort and ease like unto that of all other men.” And Abba John said unto him, “O my father, for God’s sake do not turn me back for I have come to be under thy authority and under the shadow of thy prayer. And if thou wilt accept me I believe that God will make thy heart will-disposed towards me.” Now Saint Abba Bamoy was wont never to do anything hastily, and he entreated God concerning Abba John so that He might reveal to him His works. And the angel of the Lord appeared and said unto him, “God saith unto thee ”

“ When Abba Bamoy was about to die, he gathered together the aged monks, and he seized the hand of Abba John and gave it unto them, saying, “Take him, and take care of this man, for he is an angel and not a man.” Then he said unto Abba John, “After I am dead I will live in the place wherein thou didst plant the tree which sprouted and bore fruit, for thou in that place didst become a holy and acceptable sacrifice before God. And many men shall be saved by thy hand, and thy memorial shall be there in that place before God for ever.” ”

“ The Tibetan yogi, I was assured, had attained the age of over a thousand years.
"His disciple Gandha Baba does not always perform his perfume-feats in the simple verbal manner you have just witnessed." The student spoke with obvious pride in his master. "His procedure differs widely, to accord with diversity in temperaments. He is marvelous! Many members of the Calcutta intelligentsia are among his followers."
I inwardly resolved not to add myself to their number. A guru too literally "marvelous" was not to my liking. With polite thanks to Gandha Baba, I departed. ”

“ On one side sat the doctor, and on the other an old man, who was kneeling near the bed-head, and in him I recognized my former schoolmaster. He was administering comfort to his dying friend, and his words were something to this purpose: 'Do not be downcast: please God you still have many days to spend on earth. You may still live to see your son; Hajji Baba may yet be near at hand. But yet it is a proper and a fortunate act to make your will, and to appoint your heir. ”

“ At length, after many angry words, the eighty brothers decided to go to Inaba in order to visit the Princess of Yakami, each brother fully resolved that he and he alone should be the successful suitor. The kind and gentle brother accompanied them, not, indeed, as a wooer of the fair Princess, but as a servant who carried a large and heavy bag upon his back. ”