The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)Frazer, James George
Religion
The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (Third Edition, Vol. 11 of 12)
Frazer, James George
Magic; Mythology; Religion; Superstition
them away in handsome carriages. When she had done so, he struck her on
the forehead with the egg, and she fell down dead.(349) Similarly in a
story from the western Riviera a sorcerer called Body-without-Soul can
only be killed by means of an egg which is in an eagle, which is in a dog,
which is in a lion; and the egg must be broken on the sorcerer’s forehead.
The hero, who achieves the adventure, has received the power of changing
himself into a lion, a dog, an eagle, and an ant from four creatures of
these sorts among whom he had fairly divided the carcase of a dead
ass.(350)
(M89) Stories of the same sort are current among Slavonic peoples. In some
of them, as in the biblical story of Samson and Delilah, the warlock is
questioned by a treacherous woman as to the place where his strength
resides or his life or death is stowed away; and his suspicions being
roused by her curiosity, he at first puts her off with false answers, but
is at last beguiled into telling her the truth, thereby incurring his doom
through her treachery. Thus a Russian story tells how a certain warlock
called Kashtshei or Koshchei the Deathless carried off a princess and kept
her prisoner in his golden castle. However, a prince made up to her one
day as she was walking alone and disconsolate in the castle garden, and
cheered by the prospect of escaping with him she went to the warlock and
coaxed him with false and flattering words, saying, “My dearest friend,
tell me, I pray you, will you never die?” “Certainly not,” says he.
“Well,” says she, “and where is your death? is it in your dwelling?” “To
be sure it is,” says he, “it is in the broom under the threshold.”
Thereupon the princess seized the broom and threw it on the fire, but
although the broom burned, the deathless Koshchei remained alive; indeed
not so much as a hair of him was singed. Balked in her first attempt, the
artful hussy pouted and said, “You do not love me true, for you have not
told me where your death is; yet I am not angry, but love you with all my
heart.” With these fawning words she besought the warlock to tell her
truly where his death was. So he laughed and said, “Why do you wish to
know? Well then, out of love I will tell you where it lies. In a certain
field there stand three green oaks, and under the roots of the largest oak
is a worm, and if ever this worm is found and crushed, that instant I
shall die.” When the princess heard these words, she went straight to her
lover and told him all; and he searched till he found the oaks and dug up
the worm and crushed it. Then he hurried to the warlock’s castle, but only
to learn from the princess that the warlock was still alive. Then she fell
to wheedling and coaxing Koshchei once more, and this time, overcome by
her wiles, he opened his heart to her and told her the truth. “My death,”
said he, “is far from here and hard to find, on the wide ocean. In that
sea is an island, and on the island there grows a green oak, and beneath
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