Russian Folk-TalesAfanas'ev, A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich)
General
Russian Folk-Tales
Afanas'ev, A. N. (Aleksandr Nikolaevich)
Folklore -- Russia
Vasilísa put the rest of the dinner in front of the doll and said:
“Dollet, eat it up and listen to my woe. Heavy are the tasks which the
Bába Yagá has given me, and she threatens to eat me up if I don’t carry
them all out. Help me!”
“Have no fear, Vasilísa, thou fair maiden. Eat, pray, and lie down to
sleep, for the morning is wiser than the evening.”
Very early next day Vasilísa woke up. Bába Yagá was already up and was
looking out of the window. The glimmer in the eyes of the skulls had
dimmed; the white horseman raced by: and it dawned. Bába Yagá went into
the courtyard, and whistled, and the mortar, the pestle, and the besom
appeared at once, and the red horseman came by: and the sun rose. Bába
Yagá sat in the mortar and went by, thrusting the mortar with the
pestle, and with the besom she removed every trace of her steps.
Vasilísa, left all by herself, looked over the house of the Bába Yagá,
wondered at all the wealth gathered in, and began to consider what she
should start with. But all the work was already done, and the doll had
sifted out the very last of the ears of oats.
“Oh, my saviour!” said Vasilísa. “You have helped me in my great need.”
“You now have only to get dinner ready,” the doll answered, and
clambered back into Vasilísa’s pocket. “With God’s help get it ready,
and stay here quietly waiting.”
In the evening Vasilísa laid the cloth and waited for Bába Yagá. The
gloaming came, and the black horseman reached by: and it at once became
dark, but the eyes in the skulls glowed. The trees shuddered, the leaves
crackled, Bába Yagá drove in, and Vasilísa met her.
“Is it all done?” Bába Yagá asked.
“Yes, grandmother: look!” said Vasilísa.
Bába Yagá looked round everywhere, and was rather angry that she had
nothing to find fault with and said: “Very well.” Then she cried out:
“Ye my faithful servants, friends of my heart! Store up my oats.” Then
three pairs of hands appeared, seized the oats and carried them off.
Bába Yagá had her supper, and, before she went to sleep, once more
commanded Vasilísa: “To-morrow do the same as you did to-day, but also
take the hay which is lying on my field, clean it from every trace of
soil, every single ear. Somebody has, out of spite, mixed earth with
it.”
And, as soon as she had said it, she turned round to the wall and was
snoring.
Vasilísa at once fetched her doll, who ate, and said as she had the day
before: “Pray and lie down to sleep, for the morning is wiser than the
evening. Everything shall be done, Vasilísushka.”
Next morning Bába Yagá got up and stood at the window, and then went
into the courtyard and whistled; and the mortar, the besom, and the
pestle appeared at once, and the red horseman came by: and the sun rose.
Bába Yagá sat in the mortar and went off, sweeping away her traces as
before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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