Russian Fairy Tales — 23 - Chapter 4 - Magic and Witchcraft - Part 1 - The Blind Man and the Cripple

MAGIC AND WITCHCRAFT.

Most of the magical "properties" of the "skazka-drama," closely resemble those which have already been rendered familiar to us by well-known folk-tales.

Of such as these--of "caps of darkness," of "seven-leagued boots," of "magic cudgels," of "Fortunatus's purses," and the like[296]--it is unnecessary, for the present, to say more than that they are of as common occurrence in Slavonic as in other stories.

But there are some among them which materially differ from their counterparts in more western lands, and are therefore worthy of special notice.

To the latter class belong the Dolls of which mention has already been made, and the Waters of Life and Death of which I am now about to speak.

A Water of Life plays an important part in the folk-tales of every land.

[297] When the hero of a "fairy story" has been done to death by evil hands, his resuscitation by means of a healing and vivifying lotion or ointment[298] follows almost as a matter of course.

And by common consent the Raven (or some sort of crow) is supposed to know where this invaluable specific is to be found,[299] a knowledge which it shares with various supernatural beings as well as with some human adepts in magic, and sometimes with the Snake.

In all these matters the Russian and the Western tales agree, but the Skazka differs from most stories of its kind in this respect, that it almost invariably speaks of _two_ kinds of magic waters as being employed for the restoration of life.

We have already seen in the story of "Marya Morevna," that one of these, sometimes called the _mertvaya voda_--the "dead water," or "Water of Death"--when sprinkled over a mutilated corpse, heals all its wounds; while the other, which bears the name of the _zhivaya voda_,--the "living water," or "Water of Life"--endows it once more with vitality.

[In a Norse tale in Asbjoernsen's new series, No. 72, mention is made of a Water of Death, as opposed to a Water of Life.

The Death Water (_Doasens Vana_) throws all whom it touches into a magic sleep, from which only Life Water (_Livsens Vand_) can rouse them (p. 57).

In the Ramayana, Hanuman fetches four different kinds of herbs in order to resuscitate his dead monkeys: "the first restore the dead to life, the second drive away all pain, the third join broken parts, the fourth cure all wounds, &c." Talboys Wheeler, "History of India," ii.

368. In the Egyptian story already mentioned (at p. 113), Satou's corpse quivers and opens its eyes when his heart has become saturated with a healing liquid.

But he does not actually come to life till the remainder of the liquid has been poured down his throat.

In a Kirghiz story, quoted by Bronevsky,[300] a golden-haired hero finds, after long search, the maiden to whom he had in very early life been betrothed.

Her father has him murdered.

She persuades the murderer to show her the body of her dead love, and weeps over it bitterly.

A spirit appears and tells her to sprinkle it with water from a neighboring well.

The well is very deep, but she induces the murderer to allow her to lower him into it by means of her remarkably long hair.

He descends and hands up to her a cup of water.

Having received it, she cuts off her hair, and lets the murderer drop and be drowned.

Then she sprinkles her lover's corpse with the water, and he revives.

But he lives only three days.

She refuses to survive him, and is buried by his side.

From the graves of the lovers spring two willows, which mingle their boughs as if in an embrace.

And the neighbors set up near the spot three statues, his and hers and her nurse's. Such is the story, says Bronevsky, which the Kirghiz tell with respect to some statues of unknown origin which stand (or used to stand) near the Ayaguza, a river falling into Lake Balkhash.

A somewhat similar Armenian story is quoted by Haxthausen in his Transcaucasia (p. 350 of the English translation).

In the Kalevala, when Lemmenkaeinen has been torn to pieces, his mother collects his scattered remains, and by a dexterous synthetical operation restores him to physical unity.

But the silence of death still possesses him.

Then she entreats the Bee to bring vivifying honey.

After two fruitless journeys, the Bee succeeds in bringing back honey "from the cellar of the Creator."

When this has been applied, the dead man returns to life, sits up, and says in the words of the Russian heroes--"How long I have slept!"

[301] Here is another instance of a life-giving operation of a double nature.

There is a well-known Indian story about four suitors for the hand of one girl.

She dies, but is restored to life by one of her lovers, who happens one day to see a dead child resuscitated, and learns how to perform similar miracles.

In two Sanskrit versions of the "Vetalapanchavinsati,"[302] as well as in the Hindi version,[303] the life-giving charm consists in a spell taken from a book of magic.

But in the Tamil version, the process is described as being of a different and double nature.

According to it, the mother of the murdered child "by the charm called _sisupabam_ re-created the body, and, by the incantation called _sanjivi_, restored it to life."

The suitor, having learnt the charm and the incantation, "took the bones and the ashes (of the dead girl), and having created out of them the body, by virtue of the charm _sisupabam_ gave life to that body by the _sanjivi_ incantation."

According to Mr. Babington, "Sanjivi is defined by the Tamuls to be a medicine which restores to life by dissipating a mortal swoon....

In the text the word is used for the art of using this medicine."

[304]] As a general rule, the two waters of which mention is made in the Skazkas possess the virtues, and are employed in the manner, mentioned above; but there are cases in which their powers are of a different nature.

Sometimes we meet with two magic fluids, one of which heals all wounds, and restores sight to the blind and vigor to the cripple, while the other destroys all that it touches.

Sometimes, also, recourse is had to magic draughts of two kinds, the one of which strengthens him who quaffs it, while the other produces the opposite effect.

Such liquors as these are known as the "Waters of Strength and Weakness," and are usually described as being stowed away in the cellar of some many-headed Snake.

For the Snake is often mentioned as the possessor, or at least the guardian, of magic fluids.

Thus one of the Skazkas[305] speaks of a wondrous garden, in which are two springs of healing and vivifying water, and around that garden is coiled like a ring a mighty serpent.

Another tells how a flying Snake brought two heroes to a lake, into which they flung a green bough, and immediately the bough broke into flame and was consumed.

Then it took them to another lake, into which they cast a mouldy log.

And the log straightway began to put forth buds and blossoms.

[306] In some cases the magic waters are the property, not of a Snake, but of one of the mighty heroines who so often occur in these stories, and who bear so great a resemblance to Brynhild, as well in other respects as in that of her enchanted sleep.

Thus in one of the Skazkas[307] an aged king dreams that "beyond thrice nine lands, in the thirtieth country, there is a fair maiden from whose hands and feet water is flowing, of which water he who drinks will become thirty years younger."

His sons go forth in search of this youth-giving liquid, and, after many adventures, the youngest is directed to the golden castle in which lives the "fair maiden," whom his father has seen in his vision.

He has been told that when she is awake her custom is to divert herself in the green fields with her Amazon host--"for nine days she rambles about, and then for nine days she sleeps a heroic slumber."

The Prince hides himself among the bushes near the castle, and sees a fair maiden come out of it surrounded by an armed band, "and all the band consists of maidens, each one more beautiful than the other.

And the most beautiful, the most never-enough-to-be-gazed-upon, is the Queen herself."

For nine days he watches the fair band of Amazons as they ramble about.

On the tenth day all is still, and he enters the castle.

In the midst of her slumbering guards sleeps the Queen on a couch of down, the healing water flowing from her hands and feet.

With it he fills two flasks, and then he retires.

When the Queen awakes, she becomes conscious of the theft and pursues the Prince.

Coming up with him, she slays him with a single blow, but then takes compassion on him, and restores him to life.

In another version of the story, the precious fluid is contained in a flask which is hidden under the pillow of the slumbering "Tsar Maiden."

The Prince steals it and flees, but he bears on him the weight of sin, and so, when he tries to clear the fence which girds the enchanted castle, his horse strikes one of the cords attached to it, and the spell is broken which maintains the magic sleep in which the realm is locked.

The Tsar Maiden pursues the thief, but does not succeed in catching him.

He is killed, however, by his elder brothers, who "cut him into small pieces," and then take the flask of magic water to their father.

The murdered prince is resuscitated by the mythical bird known by the name of the _Zhar-Ptitsa_, which collects his scattered fragments, puts them together, and sprinkles them first with "dead water" and then with "live-water,"--conveyed for that purpose in its beak--after which the prince gets up, thanks his reviver, and goes his way.

[308] In one of the numerous variants of the story in which a prince is exposed to various dangers by his sister--who is induced to plot against his life by her demon lover, the Snake--the hero is sent in search of "a healing and a vivifying water," preserved between two lofty mountains which cleave closely together, except during "two or three minutes" of each day.

He follows his instructions, rides to a certain spot, and there awaits the hour at which the mountains fly apart.

"Suddenly a terrible hurricane arose, a mighty thunder smote, and the two mountains were torn asunder.

Prince Ivan spurred his heroic steed, flew like a dart between the mountains, dipped two flasks in the waters, and instantly turned back."

He himself escapes safe and sound, but the hind legs of his horse are caught between the closing cliffs, and smashed to pieces.

The magic waters, of course, soon remedy this temporary inconvenience.

[309] In a Slovak version of this story, a murderous mother sends her son to two mountains, each of which is cleft open once in every twenty-four hours--the one opening at midday and the other at midnight; the former disclosing the Water of Life, the latter the Water of Death.

[310] In a similar story from the Ukraine, mention is made of two springs of healing and life-giving water, which are guarded by iron-beaked ravens, and the way to which lies between grinding hills.

The Fox and the Hare are sent in quest of the magic fluid.

The Fox goes and returns in safety, but the Hare, on her way back, is not in time quite to clear the meeting cliffs, and her tail is jammed in between them.

Since that time, hares have had no tails.

[311] On the Waters of Strength and Weakness much stress is laid in many of the tales about the many-headed Snakes which carry off men's wives and daughters to their metallic castles.

In one of these, for instance, the golden-haired Queen Anastasia has been torn away by a whirlwind from her husband "Tsar Byel Byelyanin" [the White King].

As in the variant of the story already quoted,[312] her sons go in search of her, and the youngest of them, after finding three palaces--the first of copper, the second of silver, the third of gold, each containing a princess held captive by Vikhor, the whirlwind--comes to a fourth palace gleaming with diamonds and other precious stones.

In it he discovers his long-lost mother, who gladly greets him, and at once takes him into Vikhor's cellar.

Here is the account of what ensued.

Well, they entered the cellar; there stood two tubs of water, the one on the right hand, the other on the left.

Says the Queen-- "Take a draught of the water that stands on the right hand."

Prince Ivan drank of it.

"Now then, how strong do you feel?"

said she.

"So strong that I could upset the whole palace with one hand," he replied.

"Come now, drink again."

The Prince drank once more.

"How strong do you feel now?"

she asked.

"Why now, if I wanted, I could give the whole world a jolt."

"Oh that's plenty then!

Now make these tubs change places--that which stands on the right, set on the left: and that which is on the left, change to the right."

Prince Ivan took the tubs and made them change places.

Says the Queen-- "See now, my dear son; in one of these tubs is the 'Water of Strength,' in the other is the 'Water of Weakness.'

[313] He who drinks of the former becomes a mighty hero, but he who drinks of the second loses all his vigor.

Vikhor always quaffs the Strong Water, and places it on the right-hand side; therefore you must deceive him, or you will never be able to hold out against him."

The Queen proceeds to tell her son that, when Vikhor comes home, he must hide beneath her purple cloak, and watch for an opportunity of seizing her gaoler's magic mace.

[314] Vikhor will fly about till he is tired, and will then have recourse to what he supposes is the "Strong Water;" this will render him so feeble that the Prince will be able to kill him.

Having received these instructions, and having been warned not to strike Vikhor after he is dead, the Prince conceals himself.

Suddenly the day becomes darkened, the palace quivers, and Vikhor arrives; stamping on the ground, he becomes a noble gallant, who enters the palace, "holding in his hands a battle mace."

This Prince Ivan seizes, and a long struggle takes place between him and Vikhor, who flies away with him over seas and into the clouds.

At last, Vikhor becomes exhausted and seeks the place where he expects to find the invigorating draught on which he is accustomed to rely.

The result is as follows: Dropping right into his cellar, Vikhor ran to the tub which stood on the right, and began drinking the Water of Weakness.

But Prince Ivan rushed to the left, quaffed a deep draught of the Water of Strength, and became the mightiest hero in the whole world.

Then seeing that Vikhor was perfectly enfeebled, he snatched from him his keen faulchion, and with a single blow struck off his head.

Behind him voices began to cry: "Strike again!

strike again!

or he will come to life!"

"No," replied the Prince, "a hero's hand does not strike twice, but finishes its work with a single blow."

And straightway he lighted a fire, burnt the head and the trunk, and scattered the ashes to the winds.

[315] The part played by the Water of Strength in this story may be compared with "the important share which the exhilarating juice of the Soma-plant assumes in bracing Indra for his conflict with the hostile powers in the atmosphere," and Vikhor's sudden debility with that of Indra when the Asura Namuchi "drank up Indra's strength along with a draught of wine and soma."

[316] Sometimes, as has already been remarked, one of the two magic waters is even more injurious than the Water of Weakness.

[317] The following may be taken as a specimen of the stories in which there is introduced a true Water of Death--one of those deadly springs which bear the same relation to the healing and vivifying founts that the enfeebling bears to the strengthening water.

The Baba Yaga who figures in it is, as is so often the case, replaced by a Snake in the variant to which allusion has already been made.

THE BLIND MAN AND THE CRIPPLE.

[318] In a certain kingdom there lived a king and queen; they had a son, Prince Ivan, and to look after that son was appointed a tutor named Katoma.

[319] The king and queen lived to a great age, but then they fell ill, and despaired of ever recovering.

So they sent for Prince Ivan and strictly enjoined him: "When we are dead, do you in everything respect and obey Katoma.

If you obey him, you will prosper; but if you choose to be disobedient, you will perish like a fly."

The next day the king and queen died.

Prince Ivan buried his parents, and took to living according to their instructions.

Whatever he had to do, he always consulted his tutor about it.

Some time passed by.

The Prince attained to man's estate, and began to think about getting married.

So one day he went to his tutor and said: "Katoma, I'm tired of living alone, I want to marry."

"Well, Prince!

what's to prevent you?

you're of an age at which it's time to think about a bride.

Go into the great hall.

There's a collection there of the portraits of all the princesses in the world; look at them and choose for yourself; whichever pleases you, to her send a proposal of marriage."

Prince Ivan went into the great hall, and began examining the portraits.

And the one that pleased him best was that of the Princess Anna the Fair--such a beauty!

the like of her wasn't to be found in the whole world!

Underneath her portrait were written these words: "If any one asks her a riddle, and she does not guess it, him shall she marry; but he whose riddle she guesses shall have his head chopped off."

Prince Ivan read this inscription, became greatly afflicted, and went off to his tutor.

"I've been in the great hall," says he, "and I picked out for my bride Anna the Fair; only I don't know whether it's possible to win her."

"Yes, Prince; she's hard to get.

If you go alone, you won't win her anyhow.

But if you will take me with you, and if you will do what I tell you, perhaps the affair can be managed."

Prince Ivan begged Katoma to go with him, and gave his word of honor to obey him whether in joy or grief.

Well, they got ready for the journey and set off to sue for the hand of the Princess Anna the Fair.

They travelled for one year, two years, three years, and traversed many countries.

Says Prince Ivan-- "We've been travelling all this time, uncle, and now we're approaching the country of Princess Anna the Fair; and yet we don't know what riddle to propound."

"We shall manage to think of one in good time," replied Katoma.

They went a little farther.

Katoma was looking down on the road, and on it lay a purse full of money.

He lifted it up directly, poured all the money out of it into his own purse, and said-- "Here's a riddle for you, Prince Ivan!

When you come into the presence of the Princess, propound a riddle to her in these words: 'As we were coming along, we saw Good lying on the road, and we took up the Good with Good, and placed it in our own Good!'

That riddle she won't guess in a lifetime; but any other one she would find out directly.

She would only have to look into her magic-book, and as soon as she had guessed it, she'd order your head to be cut off."

Well, at last Prince Ivan and his tutor arrived at the lofty palace in which lived the fair Princess.

At that moment she happened to be out on the balcony, and when she saw the newcomers, she sent out to know whence they came and what they wanted.

Prince Ivan replied-- "I have come from such-and-such a kingdom, and I wish to sue for the hand of the Princess Anna the Fair."

When she was informed of this, the Princess gave orders that the Prince should enter the palace, and there in the presence of all the princes and boyars of her council should propound his riddle.

"I've made this compact," she said.

"Anyone whose riddle I cannot guess, him I must marry.

But anyone whose riddle I can guess, him I may put to death."

"Listen to my riddle, fair princess!"

said Prince Ivan.

"As we came along, we saw Good lying on the road, and we took up the Good with Good, and placed it in our own Good."

Princess Anna the Fair took her magic-book, and began turning over its leaves and examining the answers of riddles.

She went right through the book, but she didn't get at the meaning she wanted.

Thereupon the princes and boyars of her council decided that the Princess must marry Prince Ivan.

She wasn't at all pleased, but there was no help for it, and so she began to get ready for the wedding.

Meanwhile she considered within herself how she could spin out the time and do away with the bridegroom, and she thought the best way would be to overwhelm him with tremendous tasks.

So she called Prince Ivan and said to him-- "My dear Prince Ivan, my destined husband!

It is meet that we should prepare for the wedding; pray do me this small service.

On such and such a spot of my kingdom there stands a lofty iron pillar.

Carry it into the palace kitchen, and chop it into small chunks by way of fuel for the cook."

"Excuse me, Princess," replied the prince.

"Was it to chop fuel that I came here?

Is that the proper sort of employment for me?

I have a servant for that kind of thing, Katoma _dyadka_, of the oaken _shapka_."

The Prince straightway called for his tutor, and ordered him to drag the iron pillar into the kitchen, and to chop it into small chunks by way of fuel for the cook.

Katoma went to the spot indicated by the Princess, seized the pillar in his arms, brought it into the palace kitchen, and broke it into little pieces;

but four of the iron chips he put into his pocket, saying-- "They'll prove useful by-and-by!"

Next day the princess says to Prince Ivan-- "My dear Prince, my destined husband!

to-morrow we have to go to the wedding.

I will drive in a carriage, but you should ride on a heroic steed, and it is necessary that you should break him in beforehand."

"I break a horse in myself!

I keep a servant for that."

Prince Ivan called Katoma, and said-- "Go into the stable and tell the grooms to bring forth the heroic steed; sit upon him and break him in; to-morrow I've got to ride him to the wedding."

Katoma fathomed the subtle device of the Princess, but, without stopping long to talk, he went into the stable and told the grooms to bring forth the heroic steed.

Twelve grooms were mustered, they unlocked twelve locks, opened twelve doors, and brought forth a magic horse bound in twelve chains of iron.

Katoma went up to him.

No sooner had he managed to seat himself than the magic horse leaped up from the ground and soared higher than the forest--higher than the standing forest, lower than the flitting cloud.

Firm sat Katoma, with one hand grasping the mane; with the other he took from his pocket an iron chunk, and began taming the horse with it between the ears.

When he had used up one chunk, he betook himself to another;

when two were used up, he took to a third; when three were used up, the fourth came into play.

And so grievously did he punish the heroic steed that it could not hold out any longer, but cried aloud with a human voice-- "Batyushka Katoma!

don't utterly deprive me of life in the white world!

Whatever you wish, that do you order: all shall be done according to your will!"

"Listen, O meat for dogs!"

answered Katoma; "to-morrow Prince Ivan will ride you to the wedding.

Now mind!

when the grooms bring you out into the wide courtyard, and the Prince goes up to you and lays his hand on you, do you stand quietly, not moving so much as an ear.

And when he is seated on your back, do you sink into the earth right up to your fetlocks, and then move under him with a heavy step, just as if an immeasurable weight had been laid upon your back."

The heroic steed listened to the order and sank to earth scarcely alive.

Katoma seized him by the tail, and flung him close to the stable, crying-- "Ho there!

coachmen and grooms; carry off this dog's-meat to its stall!"

The next day arrived; the time drew near for going to the wedding.

The carriage was brought round for the Princess, and the heroic steed for Prince Ivan.

The people were gathered together from all sides--a countless number.

The bride and bridegroom came out from the white stone halls.

The Princess got into the carriage and waited to see what would become of Prince Ivan; whether the magic horse would fling his curls to the wind, and scatter his bones across the open plain.

Prince Ivan approached the horse, laid his hand upon its back, placed his foot in the stirrup--the horse stood just as if petrified, didn't so much as wag an ear!

The Prince got on its back, the magic horse sank into the earth up to its fetlocks.

The twelve chains were taken off the horse, it began to move with an even heavy pace, while the sweat poured off it just like hail.

"What a hero!

What immeasurable strength!"

cried the people as they gazed upon the Prince.

So the bride and bridegroom were married, and then they began to move out of the church, holding each other by the hand.

The Princess took it into her head to make one more trial of Prince Ivan, so she squeezed his hand so hard that he could not bear the pain.

His face became suffused with blood, his eyes disappeared beneath his brows.