(The Witch Girl)
In a village there was a witch that came in a different house and killed all its members. One day a coassack asked to stay the night in a families home and they said he could only if he did not fear death. He was not afraid and kept watch while the family slept. At midnight a witch dressed in white climbed in the window and as she was about to sprinkle death the cossack chopped off her arm and she ran away. The next day the family was overjoyed to find that they were all still alive. They went around to the other houses to check on the families and one family's daughter was ill. The cossack saw the sick girl was missing an arm and knew immediately that she was the witch. He told them what happened, was awarded a great sum of honey, and the witch girl was drowned.
(The Two Friends)
There were two friends who were so close they regarded themselves as brothers. They made a pact that whoever got married first would invite the other to his wedding whether they were alive or dead. One day, one of the friends fell ill and died. When it was time for the other friend to get married he went to his friends grave to invite him to his wedding. When he invited him, the dead friend came out from his grave and asked him to have a drink with him. At first he resisted but finally gave in. While drinking the first drink, 100 years passed. After the second drink, 200 years passed. And then after the 3rd drink 300 years had passed and the friend said that was enough and it was time to go marry his bride. However, when he came out of the grave, he found that everything was different. He ran to the village, and it too was different and he knew no one. He went to the priest and told what happened and the priest checked the records and sure enough 300 years ago a groom disappeared into a graveyard and his wife to be eventually married someone else.
Graveyards and Death. A common theme in the Russian Folk Stories. Web Source.
Bibliography: Russian Folk Tales by W.R.S Ralston.
No comments:
Post a Comment