--- title: Opening, part 40 — Russian Folk-Tales · full text with trees description: Opening, part 40, «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev: the whole chapter, every sentence with its dependency tree and pragmatics. It begins: The fence is made of boards or sticks or stumps. --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/40/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/) / [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/) / Opening, part 40 # Opening, part 40 Opening, part 40 of «Russian Folk-Tales» by A. N. Afanas'ev: the whole text, 137 sentences and 2624 words. The small number after every sentence leads to its own page with its syntax tree and pragmatics, parsed by Mova itself. **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/40/page/2/) The fence is made of boards or sticks or stumps.[1](1/ "tree and pragmatics") Long thin laths are stuck on to an iron spike, and lit; a pail of water is placed below into which the cinders fall; these lamps must be renewed as they burn down, and the charred ends swept up.[2](2/ "tree and pragmatics") Up to very recent times, patriarchal usages obtained through Russia, and married sons resided in the father’s house.[3](3/ "tree and pragmatics") This particular story portrays some of the personifications and allegorizings of the common acts of life; all of which have their appropriate blessing or grace.[4](4/ "tree and pragmatics") There are a number of tales of the curse attendant on the neglect of these duties, e.g. \_The Devil in the Dough-pan\_.[5](5/ "tree and pragmatics") An example of the invocations is given in a note to \_The Midnight Dance\_.[6](6/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Duke.[7](7/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ i.e. a translation of \_voyevodá\_, which is again a translation of the High-German \_Herzog\_, which again is derived from the Latin \_Dux\_, meaning the leader of an army, not a mere title.[8](8/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Egóri Khrábry.[9](9/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Egori the Brave.[10](10/ "tree and pragmatics") Is the Russian counterpart for St. George the Dragon-slayer.[11](11/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Elijah the Prophet and St. Nicholas.[12](12/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Perún was the God of Thunder in pagan Slavdom, and his attributes have been transferred to Elijah who is represented as driven up to Heaven in a fiery chariot darting fiery rays, drawn by four winged horses, and surrounded by clouds and flames; a tale which copied the biblical account of Elijah’s end.[13](13/ "tree and pragmatics") On earth the noise of the wheels is called thunder.[14](14/ "tree and pragmatics") In Nóvgorod there were one or two churches to St. Elijah of the Drought, and St. Elijah of the Rain, to be consulted as occasion required.[15](15/ "tree and pragmatics") The name-days of these saints are December 6th and July 20th.[16](16/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Hawk.[17](17/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The hawk is one of the most common references in Russian folk-lore, and the reference to the clear-eyed hawk is one of the strongest metaphors.[18](18/ "tree and pragmatics") The crow is equally common, but is generally used as a malign being.[19](19/ "tree and pragmatics") In Russian folk-tale there is nothing incongruous in a man having as his sons a boy, a crow and a hawk or an eagle: or as in ‘\_Márya Morévna\_,’ where the marriage of Iván with a beautiful princess and of his two sisters with the eagle and the crow are all of them equally plausible.[20](20/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Ídolishche.[21](21/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ One of the symbols of paganism in the early ballads of Russia.[22](22/ "tree and pragmatics") He is generally represented as a gluttonous monster; but in the ballad of the Realms of Copper, Silver, and Gold his name has been given too as a goblin.[23](23/ "tree and pragmatics") Goblins are very rare in Russian folk-lore; fairies seem to be non-existent.[24](24/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Ilyá Múromets.[25](25/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ Ilyá Múromets is one of the heroes of the Kíev cycle; he derives his strength from mystical sources of Mother Earth, and his great feat is the slaying of the Nightingale Robber.[26](26/ "tree and pragmatics") He is intermediate between the ‘\_elder bogatyri\_,’ the earth-born Tirans, and the human champions of the legendary Court of Vladímir.[27](27/ "tree and pragmatics") He is always of popular origin and, as such, at variance with the semi-Scandinavian Court.[28](28/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Iván Vasíl’evich.[29](29/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The Tsar Iván Vasíl’evich is a very popular figure in the Russian ballads; there are two of this name: Iván III.[30](30/ "tree and pragmatics") 1462–1505, and Iván the Terrible, 1533–1584.[31](31/ "tree and pragmatics") Both were very energetic rulers who enlarged the domain of Moscow and curbed the power of the territorial nobility.[32](32/ "tree and pragmatics") MIDNIGHT DANCE.[33](33/ "tree and pragmatics") GENERAL NOTES TO THIS STORY[34](34/ "tree and pragmatics") The underworld is the home of magic.[35](35/ "tree and pragmatics") This charm, to be said by a soldier going to the wars, may be of interest.[36](36/ "tree and pragmatics") “Beneath the sea, the sea of Khvalýnsk \[the Caspian\], there stands a house of bronze, and in that house of bronze the fiery serpent is enchained, and under the fiery serpent lies the seven \_pud\_ key from the castle of the Prince, the Prince Vladímir, and in the princely castle, the castle of Vladímir, are laid the knightly trappings of the knights of Nóvgorod, of the youthful war-men.[37](37/ "tree and pragmatics") “On the broad Volga, on the steep-set banks, the princely swan swims from the Prince’s courtyard.[38](38/ "tree and pragmatics") I will capture that swan, I will seize it, I will grasp it.[39](39/ "tree and pragmatics") (I will say) ‘Thou, oh swan, fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk, peck the fiery snake to death, gain the seven \_pud\_ key, the key from the earth of Prince Vladímir.’[40](40/ "tree and pragmatics") In my power it is not to fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk; in my power it is not to peck to death the fiery snake; nor with my legs may I reach the seven \_pud\_ key.[41](41/ "tree and pragmatics") There is on the sea, on the ocean, on the island of Buyán, the eldest brother of all the crows, and he will fly to the sea of Khvalýnsk, he will peck to death the fiery snake, he will gain the seven \_pud\_ key; but the crow is held back by the evil witch of Kíev.[42](42/ "tree and pragmatics") In the standing wood, in the grey-clad forest, stands a little hut, not thatched, not wattled; and, in the little hut, lies the evil witch of Kíev.[43](43/ "tree and pragmatics") I will go to the standing forest, the dreamy wood, I will enter in at the hut of the evil witch of Kíev.[44](44/ "tree and pragmatics") “Thou, oh evil witch of Kíev, bid thy crow fly over the sea of Khvalýnsk, to the house of bronze; bid him peck the fiery snake, bid him gain the seven \_pud\_ key.[45](45/ "tree and pragmatics") She was grim, and she clove to her crow, the evil witch of Kíev.[46](46/ "tree and pragmatics") In my old age I cannot roam to the sea, to the ocean, to the isle of Buyán, to the Black Crow.[47](47/ "tree and pragmatics") Do thou bid, by my enchanting words, the crow gain me the seven \_pud\_ key.[48](48/ "tree and pragmatics") “The crow has smitten the house of bronze, has pecked the fiery snake to death, has gained the seven \_pud\_ key.[49](49/ "tree and pragmatics") “With that key I will unlock the princely castle, the castle of Vladímir, I will gain the knightly gear, the trappings of the knights of Nóvgorod, of the youthful war-men; and in that gear the arquebus cannot fell me, the shots cannot hit me, the warriors and champions, the hosts of Tatary and Kazán cannot hurt me.[50](50/ "tree and pragmatics") “I invoke the servant, a man, a fighter, in the host, who goeth to war with these my potent words.[51](51/ "tree and pragmatics") “My words die down, My deeds they crown.”[52](52/ "tree and pragmatics") \[Kazán was the last stronghold of the Tatars.[53](53/ "tree and pragmatics") It was stormed in 1549.\][54](54/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Buyán\_ is a kind of fairy hill like the \_Tír n’an óg\_ of the Irish folk-tales, the land of youth, and cannot probably be assigned to any physical geography.[55](55/ "tree and pragmatics") Most probably the mythical Isle of Buyán is the reminiscence of the Isle of Rügen.[56](56/ "tree and pragmatics") The whole of the Pomeranian coast from Lübeck to the Memel was, prior to its conquest by the Saxons and the Brandenburgers, a Slavonic district, and the Isle of Rügen, in especial, the promontory of Arcona, a seat of the most highly developed Slavonic pagan ritual: Saxo Grammaticus has conserved us full details.[57](57/ "tree and pragmatics") Considering the intimate association of the mysterious stone \_Alátyr\_ (probably meaning amber) with Buyán: and the fact that \_Buyán\_ is a Slav translation of the Old Slav name Ruyán, the wind-swept isle \[cf.[58](58/ "tree and pragmatics") English \_rough\_, German \_rauh\_, etc.\]; also taken the specific references in the magic charms in connection with the facts recorded by the Scandinavian chroniclers, there seems to be little doubt that the Isle of Buyán is a folk-tale shadow of the old place of Pagan pilgrimage, contaminated, of course, with other fantastic elements.[59](59/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Katomá.[60](60/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ This is one of the marvellous servants whom fortunate princes possess in folk-lore.[61](61/ "tree and pragmatics") In Russian folk-tales they have magical attributes, and are often described by their caps, e.g. oaken-cap, blue-cap, etc.[62](62/ "tree and pragmatics") \_Koshchéy the Deathless.[63](63/ "tree and pragmatics") \_ The meaning of this name is very hard to determine.[64](64/ "tree and pragmatics") There are at least three disparate ideas involved.[65](65/ "tree and pragmatics") First of all the most ancient is that which occurs in the Word of Igor’s Armament, in which the word Koshchéy is used for a warrior of the hostile Pólovtsy; and, when Igor is said to be put on a Koshchéy saddle, it means he is taken into captivity.[66](66/ "tree and pragmatics") Hence the word \_koshchéy\_ came to be used in Russian as meaning a slave, or a groom, originally a captive slave from the Pólovtsy who fought the Russians for over two hundred years.[67](67/ "tree and pragmatics") Consequently the word has a meaning in Russian folk-lore which has a widespread Aryan notion, that of a fearful Enchanter who lives in a mountain fastness far removed; runs away with the beautiful princess, and can only be slain by the valiant lover, going through unfordable streams, impenetrable forests and unpassable mountains, so as to catch hold of his soul which is contained in a casket, or in some other manner is always terribly enclosed.[68](68/ "tree and pragmatics") He takes this soul, which is as a rule lastly contained in an egg, up to the Monster’s palace, scrunches it in his hand, and the monster dies.[69](69/ "tree and pragmatics") Thirdly, the word became confused with \_kost’\_, bone, and so came to mean a skeleton or miser, and a wandering Jew.[70](70/ "tree and pragmatics") The epithet ‘deathless’ does not mean indestructible, but that he can only be slain in an extraordinary manner and will not die in a natural way.[71](71/ "tree and pragmatics") **1** [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/40/page/2/) - ← previous: [Opening, part 39](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/39/) - next →: [page 2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/40/page/2/) - ↑ back to [Russian Folk-Tales](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/tales/pg62509/)