000_102_Baba_Jaga.xml

 
 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

<Folktale>
<!-- Propp says: two moves same as 95 (PG. 145 of the _Morphology_):
     I:  B5 D1 E1 A9 f1 Return
     II: a6 B2-5 C D1 Departure E.neg. 1 F = Return -->

<Move>
 <Preparation>
 Once upon A time there lived an old man and his wife. 
 When the old man became a widower, 
 he married another wife, 
 although he had a daughter from his first wife. 
 </Preparation>
 <Villainy>
 The wicked stepmother disliked the girl, beat her, and pondered how she might destroy her. 
 
 One day the father went away somewhere and the stepmother said to the girl: 
 "Go to your aunt, my sister; 
 ask her for a needle and some thread to sew a shirt for you." 
 </Villainy>
 
 <ConnectiveIncident>
 That aunt was Baba Yaga the Bony-legged. The girl was not stupid and she first went to her own aunt. 
 "Good day, auntie," she said. 
 "Good day, my beloved, what have you come for?" said her aunt. 
 
 "Mother has sent me to her sister to ask for a needle and thread to sew me a shirt." 
 </ConnectiveIncident>
 <DonorFunctions>
 The aunt told her what to do. "My little niece," she said,
 "when you get there, a birch will lash your eyes, but do you tie it with a ribbon. 
 
 The gates will bang and creak at you, but do you pour some oil on their hinges. 
 Dogs will want to tear you apart, but do you throw them some bread. 
 A cat will scratch your eyes, but do you give him some ham." 

 
 The girl went her way; 
 she walked and walked and finally arrived at her other aunt's. 
 
 She saw a little hut and in it sat Baha Yaga the Bony-legged. 
 
 "Good day, auntie," said the girl. 
 
 "Good day, my beloved!" 
 
 "Mother sent me to ask for a needle and thread to sew me a shirt." 
 
 "Very well; meanwhile sit down and weave." 
 
 The girl sat at the loom and Baba Yaga went out and said to her maid: 
 
 "Go and heat a bath and wash my niece, but be careful; 
 I want to eat her for breakfast." 
 
 The girl sat there half dead with fright and begged the maid: 
 
 "My dear, do not burn so much wood! 
 Pour water over it and bring the water in a sieve." 
 
 And she gave the maid a kerchief. 
 
 Baba Yaga waited. 
 
 She came to the window and asked: 
 
 "Are you weaving, little niece, are you weaving, my darling?" 
 
 "I am weaving, auntie, I am weaving, my dear." 
 
 Baba Yaga went away from the window and the girl gave ham to the cat and asked him: 
 
 "Is there no way of getting away from here?" 
 "Here is a comb and a towel," said the cat. 
 
 "Take them and run away. 
 
 Baba Yaga will pursue you. 
 
 But do you put your ear to the ground, and when you hear her coming close, 
 throw the towel, and there will be a wide, wide river. 
 
 And if Baba Yaga crosses that river and begins to catch up with you, 
 
 put your ear to the ground again, and when you hear her coming close, 
 
 throw your comb, and there will be a very thick forest-she will not be able to get through it." 
  </DonorFunctions>
  
 <StruggleVictory>
 The girl took the towel and the comb and ran. 
 
 The dogs wanted to tear her, but she threw them some bread and they let her pass. 
 
 The gates wanted to bang shut, but she poured some oil on their hinges and they let her pass. 
 
 The birch wanted to lash her eyes, 
 but she tied it with a ribbon and it let her pass. 
 
 Meanwhile the cat sat at the loom and wove; 
 
 he did not so much weave as tangle everything up. 
 Baba Yaga came to the window and asked: 
 "Are you weaving, little niece, are you weaving, my darling?" 
 
 "I am weaving, auntie, I am weaving, my dear," answered the cat in a rough voice. 
 
 Baba Yaga rushed into the hut, saw that the girl had gone, 
 and took to beating the cat and scolding him for not having scratched out the girl's eyes. 
 
 "I have served you so many years," said the cat, 
 "and you have not given me even a bone; but she gave me a piece of ham!"
 
 Baba Yaga flung herself on the dogs, the gate, the birch, and the maid, 
 and began to thrash and scold them all. 
 
 The dogs said to her: "We have served you so long, 
 and you have not even thrown us a burnt crust; but she gave us bread!" 
 
 The gate said: "I have served you so long, and you have not even poured water on my hinges; 
 but she poured oil!" 
 
 The birch said: "I have served you so long, 
 and you have not even tied me with a thread; but she tied me with a ribbon!" 
 
 The maid said: "I have served you so long, 
 and you have not given me even a rag; but she gave me a kerchief!" 
 
 Baba Yaga the Bony-legged jumped on her mortar, goaded it on with her pestle, 
 swept away her tracks with a broom, and flew in pursuit of the girl. 
 
 The girl put her ear to the ground and heard Baba Yaga coming quite close. 
 
 She threw her towel -and there was a wide, wide river. 
 
 Baba Yaga came to the river and gnashed her teeth with rage. 
 
 She returned home, took her oxen, and drove them to the river; 
 
 the oxen drank the river clean. Then she set out again in pursuit. 
 
 The girl put her ear to the ground and heard Baba Yaga coming close. 
 
 She threw her comb-and there grew up a deep and terrifying forest. 
 
 Baba Yaga began to gnaw it, but no matter how she tried she could not gnaw through it, 
 and she turned back.
 
 
 </StruggleVictory>
 
 <Return>
 Meanwhile the old man had come home and asked: "Where is my daughter?" 
 
 "She has gone to her aunt," said the stepmother. 
 
 After a while the girl also came home. 
 
 "Where have you been?" her father asked her. 
 
 "Ah, father," she said, "mother sent me to auntie for a needle and thread to sew me a shirt; 
 
 but the aunt was Baba Yaga and she wanted to eat me." 
 
 "How did you get away, my daughter?" The daughter told him how. 
 </Return>
 <PunishmentOfFalseHero>
 When the old man heard all this he grew angry at his wife and shot her to death;
 
 
 and then he and his daughter began to live and prosper. 
 </PunishmentOfFalseHero>
 <Epilogue>
 
 I was there and drank mead and beer; 
 
 it ran down my mustache, but it never got into my mouth. 
 </Epilogue>

</Move>
</Folktale>