Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore
General
Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore
Folklore -- Russia
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 Lemmenkäinen 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]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account