232 



♦ KNOWLEDGE 



[August 1, 1887. 



attends to such matters " — the fact being, I should have 

 thought, that in such trifles a gentleman does as he pleases 

 or as convenience may suggest, no real lady ever noticing, 

 even though she may chance to have seen, what he does. 



Gentleman Turkey. A turkey cock. A usage in the 

 Western States much favoured by " nice persons," to whom ' 

 Sidney Smith's definition of prudes as " nice persons with 

 nasty ideas " is pre-eminently apphcable. 



WIND MYTHS. 



By " Stella Occidens." 



N Russian folklore a being re.sembling Hulda in 

 her worst aspect plays a prominent part. Her 

 name, Baba Yaga, means a quarrelsome, scold- 

 ing old woman ; and she is for ever doing some 

 spiteful or malevolent action. According to 

 Balston, her appearance is that of a "tall, 

 gaunt hag, with di.shevelled hair." Sometimes 

 she is seen lying stretched out from one corner to the other 

 of a miserable hut, through the ceiling of wliich passes her 

 long iron nose. The roof of the hut is supported by " fowls' 

 legs," and stands at the edge of a forest towards whicli its 

 entrance looks. When certain words are spoken the hut 

 revolves, and turns its back to the forest.* 



Baba Yaga is sometimes represented under the appearance 

 of the mistress of a house which stands in a courtyard 

 inclosed by a fence made of dead men's bones. When she 

 goes abroad " she rides in a mortar, which she urges on with 

 a pestle, while she sweeps away the traces of her flight with 

 a broom." She generally kills people in order to eat them, 

 and out of their bones .she makes the fence which surrounds 

 her house. Their skulls are used as lanterns, in which she 

 places flaring torches at night. A story is told of a young 

 girl who once visited her, and was offered a piece of a human 

 arm for her dinner. We aie not told if she appreciated her 

 meal; but it may have been so — there is no accounting for 

 tastes. 



One of the most interesting Russian folk-tales is that of 

 Vasilissa the Fail-. She had a cruel stepmother, who hated 

 her becau.se she was more beautiful than her own daughters. 

 She treated Vasilissa very unkindly, and made her do all 

 the hard work. However, Vasilissa always did all slie had 

 to do because she had a doll who helped her. At her fixther's 

 death he left this to her, and said, " Keep it always by 3'ou, 

 and never show it to anybody. Whenever misfortunes come 

 upon )'ou, give the doll food, and ask its advice. When it 

 has fed, it will tell you a cure for your troubles." The doll 

 always helped her when she did as her fether told her, and 

 she would carefully follow its advice. The stepmother went 

 to live in a new house on the edge of the forest, in which 

 Baba Yaga lived, and tshe would make every excuse to send 

 Vasilis.sa on errands through the forest so that she might 

 fall into Baba Yaga's power. One autumn evening, as the 

 two sisters and Vasilis.sa were working, one of the sisters 

 snuflfed the candle and put it out. The stepmother had told 

 her to do this, so that she might send Va.silissa to Baba 

 Yaga's house to get a light. The sister, who was making 

 lace, said : — 



" My pins give me light enough ; I shall not go." 

 And the other sister, who was knitting, said her knitting- 

 needles gave her light enough, and she would not go. 



" Vasilissa, you must go for the light," they both cried 



♦ " Russian Folk-tales," Ralston, p. 146. [Except for the fowls' legs, 

 the account would do for an observatory of modern times, the 

 telescope being the lady's long iron nose. — Ed.] 



out together ; " be off to the Baba Yaga ! " and they pushed 

 her out of the room. 



Vasili.ssa went to her room, and taking her doll, she gave 

 it a good supper, and asked its advice. 



When the doll had eaten a good meal its " eyes began to 

 glow like a couple of candles." 



"Never fear, Vasilissa dear!" it said. "Go where 

 you're sent. Only take care to keep me always by you. As 

 long as I'm with you, no harm will come to you at the Baba 

 Yaga's." 



So Vasilissa dressed herself, put the doll in her pocket, 

 and started on her walk through the forest. As she 

 walked a horseman galloped by. He was dressed in white, 

 and rode a white horse, and the day began to break. 

 Further on she met a second rider, dressed in red and 

 sitting on a red horse, and the sun rose. 



Vasilissa walked all night and the next day, and towards 

 evening she came to Baba Yaga's hut. The fence around it 

 was made of dead men's bones ; on the top of the fence were 

 stuck human skulls, with eyes in them ; instead of uprights 

 at the gate were men's legs ; instead of bolts were arms ; 

 instead of a lock was a mouth with sharp teeth. Just then 

 another horsem.an rode by. He was black, dressed in 

 black, and rode a black horse. He. galloped up to Baba 

 Yaga's gate and disappeared, just as if he had sunk through 

 the ground, and night fell. The eyes in the skulls on the 

 fence began to shine, and made the place quite bright. 

 Soon a terrible roar was heard in the forest. The trees 

 crackled and swayed aliout their branches, the dry leaves 

 rustled, the wind sighed and moaned through the trees. It 

 was Baba Yaga, who came sweeping through the forest 

 trees, riding in a mortar and urging it on with a pestle. As 

 she drove up to her gate she snuft'ed the air around her, and 

 said : " Faugh I Faugh 1 I smell Russian flesh ! Who's 

 there t " 



Vasilissa was nearly frightened out of her wits by this 

 time, but she curtsied to the old hag, and said, — 



" It's me, granny. My stepsisters have sent me to you 

 for a light." 



" Very good," .said the Baba Yaga. " I know them. 

 If you'll stop awhile with me first and do some woik for me 

 I'll give you a light. But if you won't I'll eat you." 



Vasilis.sa, with the assistance of her doll, did all the work 

 that was given her, and on the third day Baba Yaga gave 

 her one of the .skulls with blazing eyes from the fence, 

 stuck it on a stick, and told her to take it home to her step- 

 sisters. When she reached home it was bright day, and she 

 was going to throw away the skull, but a hollow voice from 

 the skull said : 



" Throw me not away ; carry me to your stepmother." 



She was gladly welcomed at home, for they had had no 

 light since she went away. They carried the .skull into the 

 sitting-room. The eyes glared at the stepmother and her 

 daughters, and shot forth flames. They tried to hide them- 

 selves, but by moining were burnt to cinders. Only 

 Vasilissa escaped. She eventually was married by a 

 prince, took Baba Yaga into her service, and to the end of 

 her life always carried her doll in her pocket.* 



Another characteristic story is told about Ivanushka, the 

 son of a bantini/a, or lady, who was carried away in a 

 whirlwind by Baba Yaga. His three sisters searched for 

 him everywhere, and though each woidd find him yet they 

 could not bring him home. They made Baba Yaga go 

 to sleep by smearing her eyelids with pitch (a strange cure 

 for insomnia) , but when they were half-way home she 

 awoke, and, chasing them, nearly scratched and tore them 

 to pieces. At last the younger sister went to look for her 



* Ralston, " Russian Folk-Tales," p. 158. 



