Translation:Collection of Slavic Folk Tales/X
X
BABA YAGA[1]
(RUSSIAN TALE)
A widower who had a daughter had remarried. The stepmother hated her stepdaughter, beat her, and thought of ways to make her perish. One day, when the father was out, she said to her:
"Go to your aunt, my sister, and ask her to lend you a needle and thread: I want to make you a shirt."
This aunt was Baba-Yaga, the witch with bony feet. The girl wasn't foolish: she first went to her real aunt, who told her what to do when she arrived at Baba-Yaga's.[2]
She found Baba-Yaga in her cottage, busy weaving.
"My mother sent me to ask you to lend her a needle and thread to make me a shirt."
"Good, sit down and weave."
The girl sat at the loom; Baba-Yaga went out and said to her servant:
"Go heat a bath and wash my niece; make sure you do it well, I want to eat her for my breakfast."
The girl, hearing this, nearly died of fear; she went to beg the servant:
"My good friend, light the wood; but pour water on it; bring the water in a sieve."
And she gave her a handkerchief.
Baba-Yaga waited; she came to the window and asked:
"Are you weaving, my dear child?"
"I'm weaving, my dear aunt."
Baba-Yaga moved away; the girl gave the cat a piece of ham and asked:
"Isn't there a way to get out of here?"
"Yes," said the cat. "Here's a comb and a towel, take them and flee. Baba-Yaga will chase you; put your ear to the ground, and when you hear she's near, throw the towel behind you: it will become a wide river. If Baba-Yaga crosses it and gets closer to you, put your ear to the ground again, and when you hear she's near, throw the comb: it will become a forest so thick she won't be able to pass through."
The girl took the comb and towel and fled.
The dogs wanted to tear her apart; she threw them a piece of bread, and they let her go. The gate wanted to close; she greased its hinges with butter, and it let her pass; a birch wanted to gouge out her eyes with its branches; she tied it with a ribbon, and the birch let her pass.
The cat was sitting in her place and weaving. When I say weaving… it was tangling all the threads.
Baba-Yaga came to the window and asked:
"Are you weaving, my dear little niece?"
"I'm weaving, my dear aunt," answered the cat clumsily.
Baba-Yaga rushed into the cottage, saw that the girl was gone. She began to beat the cat and scold it, reproaching it for not having scratched out the girl's eyes.
"I've served you for so long," replied the cat; "you never even gave me a bone. She gave me ham."
She got angry at the dogs, the gate, the birch, and the servant, scolding and hitting them all. The dogs replied:
"We've served you for so long, you never gave us a crust of burnt bread, and she gave us bread."
The gate said: "We've served you for so long; you never put water on our hinges, and she put grease."
The birch said: "I've served you for so long; you never even tied me with a thread; she tied me with a ribbon."
The servant said: "I've served you for so long; you never gave me a rag; and she gave me a handkerchief."
Baba-Yaga with bony feet leapt at once onto a mortar; she set it in motion with a pestle; she swept away her tracks with a broom; she rushed after the girl. The girl put her ear to the ground and heard the old woman coming. There she was, approaching… At once, the girl threw her towel. A wide, wide river began to flow. Baba-Yaga reached the river, and her teeth ground with fury; she returned home, brought her bulls, and made them drink the river. And she resumed chasing the girl.
The girl put her ear to the ground and heard that Baba-Yaga was approaching; she threw the comb; a dense, sleeping forest sprang up.
Baba-Yaga tried to destroy it with her teeth; but no matter how hard she tried, she had to turn back.
Meanwhile, the father had returned home and asked: "Where's my daughter?"
"She went to her aunt," answered the stepmother.
Soon after, the girl arrived.
"Where have you been?" asked her father.
"Ah! my dear father, mother sent me to my aunt to ask for thread and a needle to sew a shirt; and my aunt, Baba-Yaga, wanted to eat me."
"How did you escape, my daughter?"
"Like this and like that;" and she told the whole story.
The father, when he learned this, got angry at his wife and killed her, then lived with his daughter. They lived happily and in joy. I was at their place; I drank mead and beer, it ran down my beard, but didn't go into my mouth.