Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part B

Russian Folktales

(The Witch2 from Salon.)

The Witch Girl:

- "Come in, if you don't fear death!" Well this is an interesting way to keep people out of the house, but apparently not this man. 
- He probably plans to find the person who is missing the arm and then condemn them. 
- The folktales refer to the midnight hour as the most unholiest time of day and is conveniently when the ghouls and evil souls come out to play with the normal people.
- Why was she lying on a stove? Don't they have beds?

The Headless Princess:

- I am a little shocked that peasants were allowed so close to the palace without being spotted by guards or anyone.
- "The boy was lost in wonder." So he gossips to everyone, I wonder if this is gong to come back and get him!
- You know this would make doing hair so much easier! I would never miss a strand of hair if I straightened or curl it!
- She died?
- But she asked for the little boy!
- So I guess its common knowledge that witches come back from the dead for three nights? What happens after the third night?
- "trace a circle around you; then read away from your psalter and don't look behind you." So circles are naturally formed in nature and are holy protective shields - very cool!
- A hammer and four nails... What do they represent? Christ being nailed to the cross, does the irony kill her?
- A stake driven into their breast, like a vampire!

The number three has been repeated multiple times within the tales as well as the midnight hour and stakes through the heart.

I think I'll make a story about a woman vampire!


Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston (1887)

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part A

Russian Folktales

(Leshy from Wikimedia Commons.)

The Dead Mother:

- The babe slept through the night? I don't think so, I think the mother comes back from the dead to feed her child.

- I was right!

- "suckled at her dead breast." Wouldn't that kill/poison the baby?

- She gazed sadly at her baby... Oh, maybe when the townspeople revealed her by light she could not come back or the baby dead because of the townspeople revealing the dead mother?

- However, this has taught me to leave well enough alone and count your blessings.

The Treaure:

- I hope this Pope get's bitched slapped by karma or God since these folktales are super religious.

- Ducats are a form of monetary; gold I suppose since that is how the characters refer to it as gold pieces. 

- I would if the beggar stopping his digging will come back to the story, maybe there are more riches buried deeper?

- I don't understand why the beggar man would go back to the Pope after the treatment of him. Is this because he is the only one to properly bury the body on holy land or something to that nature?

- Putting on the goat's skin... Oh, I hope this is going in the direction I think it is.

- IT DID!

- Yes, God did punish the "godly man."

- Its so ironic.

The Bad Wife:

- So she did the opposite of what the husband said...

- Honestly, this is a little annoying, but the husband seemed to know exactly how to get his wife to do the things he wanted anyway. Did he just get rid of her so he wouldn't have to deal with it anymore?

- "Don't send e back again, O peasant! Let me go out into the world! A bad wife has come, and absolutely devoured us all, pinching us, and biting us - we're utterly worn with it!" I love that demons are afraid of this woman.

- Their con is actually very clever, I wonder if the Bad Wife will come back as a demon to torment them.

- I don't think the husband took the threat seriously or as he should, and I also think the husband is not longer frightened of him since he has been working with him for a while.

- "Why I didn't come here to turn you out. I came, out of pity to you, to say that the Bade Wife has come here." Conning the con man, classic.

- I wonder what the demon thought when he realized he was tricked. 

- "But the Bad Wife sits to this day in the pit - in Tartarus." This could be a cool story idea of the wife stewing in the pit to become a demon herself and wreck havoc on the world when she gets the chance to resurface.

The Three Copecks:

- So I am guessing copecks are a form of money?

- "All three copecks floating on the surface." Good karma?

- I would have beaten those boys, if I saw them tormenting an animal.

- This cat is probably not a normal cat.

- The cat wasn't with him when he tried to return and decided to keep the money for himself.

- I am honestly surprised, the merchant give all the money away to the orphan - he actually kept his promise.

- So is the old man suppose to be the cat or God?

- Wouldn't it be obvious the eldest brother is not the three-year old boy? Good lord.

The Miser:

-  The rich man asked the poorer of the two to spare him a copeck to give to the beggar... how stingy.

- He doesn't have small change, how egotistical is this man?

- "Cover me up with a cloth, and sit down and cry, just as you would over a corpse." I am honestly impressed on the lengths he will go not to pay the man.

- At least the man has enough common sense to realize the man is trying to con him.

- I can't imagine how the robbers reacted when they thought this dead man jumped up. I laughed so hard.

- So Marko never paid the man back and he was not punished.

The Water Snake:

- Usually, when the characters have common sense, it backfires on them. Of course, you can't marry a snake what would it hurt?

- When the mother asked how to call her husband, I knew it was not going to end well. I just didn't think the mother would behead the husband...

- I don't understand the ending of this folktale, is it supposed to tell us why the nightingale, wren and a cuckoo were created?

Friday:

- Don't work when you are not supposed to!

Wednesday:

- Always remember to sign the cross before or during your prayers.

The Léshy:

- Went strolling in the forest without her parents permission and then disappeared for three years... can anyone say scare tactics?

- This reminds me of SnowWhite when the Hunter goes into the woods and finds the daughter.

- Amnesia, how convenient. That's probably how the Léshy kept her complacent for three years along with his magic.

The Metamorphosis of the Dnieper, the Volga, and the Dvina:

-This gave me Game of the Thrones vibes, especially for the Targaryen siblings who took over Westeros.  

Emilian the Fool:

- How do these stupid people stumble upon good fortune when other people deserve it more?

- Why were they trying to pull him off the cart? Was he going to fast in the cart and disturbing the peace?

- Why would the King throw his daughter into a tub after marrying her to the Fool? That is ridiculous.

- The thing is why would the Fool and the Daughter trust the King after he tried to murder them? Doesn't sound very smart.

Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston (1887).