The Russian Cinderella stories I’m going to cover in this section are a bit different from what people would expect. Both these Cinderella stories include a Baba Yaga, a commonly used character in Russian folklore. Baba Yaga is a witch, a trio of witch sisters all named Baba Yaga [1], or she is a Slavic Goddess of death and regeneration [2]. She is depicted as a hag who flies around on a mortar with a pestle as a wand, and lives deep in the forest in a hut which is often described as standing on chicken legs, with a rooster’s head on top and surrounded by a fence made of human bones [3]. Baba Yaga is generally an ambiguous character, while she is known to cook and eat people as punishment for failing certain tasks, she can also take on the role of a helper, as we see in one of the Russian Cinderella stories [3].
(A depiction of Baba Yaga by Ivan Bilibin)
In the first story, The Baba Yaga, a widower remarries and his new wife is truly evil to her stepdaughter, who she beats and plots to kill. When the father is out one day, the step-mother tells her to “Go to your aunt, my sister, and ask her for a needle and thread to make you a shift” [4]. But the girl knows her step-mother’s sister is a Baba Yaga, so she first goes to another aunt of hers to tell her what her step-mother has asked of her. This aunt gives her a set of instructions and gifts to give various obstacles she will face at the Baba Yaga’s home, for example “there are doors which would creak and bang – you must pour oil on their hinges…there’s a cat which would scratch your eyes out – you must give it a piece of bacon” [4]. After this the girl goes to the Baba Yaga’s hut and makes the request for a needle and thread, and the Baba Yaga tells her to sit and weave while she waits. The Baba Yaga leaves, first telling a servant maid to heat the bath and wash her niece because she wants to make breakfast from her. But the girl befriends the maid by giving her a handkerchief. The Baba Yaga comes to the window to ask if she is still weaving and the girl tells her she is, when she leaves she gives the cat the bacon and asks it how she could escape. The cat, grateful for the bacon, gives her a comb and a towel and tells her that she must run and when the Baba Yaga pursues her, she should put her ear to the ground to hear if she’s close, then first throw the towel which transforms to a wide river. If the Baba Yaga crosses the river, she’ll lay her ear to the ground again and when she’s close throw the comb, which turns to a dense forest she won’t be able to force through. The girl takes the gifts and flees, following her other aunts instructions as she does by oiling the door, giving dogs who would kill her rolls of bread…etc…and the would be obstacles let her pass without alerting the Baba Yaga.
When the Baba Yaga returns to the window again and asks the girl if she’s weaving the cat answers this time. Angry, the Baba Yaga beats the cat for not scratching the girl’s eyes out, and all the things that were supposed to be obstacles which the girl gave gifts to informed the Baba Yaga that “Long as I served you, you’ve never given me so much as a (something trivial related to the gifts the girl gives, for example the cat says a bone, the doors says a drop of water for their hinges); but she (gave them whatever gift she gave them, the oil for the doors, bacon for the cat)” [4]. The Baba Yaga gets on her mortar and flies after the girl, who does what the cat told her with the towel and comb and is able to make it safely home. The father returns before the girl and when he asks where his daughter is, the step-mother tells him she went to her aunts. Shortly after the girl comes running in and tells her father the step-mother sent her aunt’s but the aunt is a Baba Yaga who wanted to eat her, then explains how she escaped. Angry with his wife, the father shoots her, then he and his daughter “lived on and flourished” [4].
This story is short, and is unlike other Cinderella stories because there’s no prince, which goes against the two of the five primary motifs previously established. The Cinderella also isn’t named in this story, the only one who does have a name is the Baba Yaga, who is called the Baba Yaga throughout the story, leading me to assume that the character is being used here as a way to describe a type of witch or because she is one of the three Baba Yaga sisters. The father in this story also takes a more active role in the Cinderella’s well-being than other versions by killing his wife at the end for trying to send his daughter away to be eaten, though it isn’t explained why she is able to get away with abusing the girl in the first place, or why the girl put up with it, as there is nothing in this story to indicate that she upholds kindness. Also, I don’t know why the girl goes to the Baba Yaga’s house at all or why the other aunt lets her go, other than it’s a fairytale and they are weird.
(Vasilissa the Beautiful outside Baba Yaga’s hut as depicted by Ivan Bilibin)
The second story is…pretty long. The story is called Vasilissa the Beautiful, like the last one it doesn’t entirely fit the primary motifs because Vasilissa doesn’t go to a ball in disguise, though she does marry the Tsar at the end of the story. Summarizing it here would take quite a bit of time so I’ve thought of something better, a podcast. This is not my podcast, it’s one that I really like and listen to and it covered this story, probably better than I could have.
16-Russian Fairy Tales: She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/mythpodcast/MaL16A.mp3
[5]
These versions of the Cinderella story portray a heroine who is more active than we have really seen before now, somewhat like the Brothers Grimm version of the character, except the girl and Vasilissa both go on a journey to face their possible death, where as the Brothers’ version the heroine is just actively asking for help from the magic tree. Once again, I see these versions of Cinderella as a reflection on the lives of women at this time in this culture, as during the eighteenth-century the role of women expanded beyond being just wives and mothers, they were able to take a more active place in society in a way largely unseen in other parts of Europe [6]. It’s interesting to note that Vasilissa’s story also shares the common element of receiving magical help from the dead mother that we’ve seen in the Greek and Brothers Grimm versions. These versions also see the most violent punishments dealt to the abusive family; the sisters being killed a few different ways across the Greek versions, the Brothers Grimm having the step-sisters cut off parts of their feet and then blinded by birds, and the step-mother and her daughters being burned alive at the end of Vasilissa’s story. This is more of an observation than me having some way to explain why this could be, one idea could be vengeance from the mother for mistreating her daughter (or in the case of the Greek story killing and eating the mother).
Assuming that you’ve listened to the podcast, I like the host’s take on Vasilissa’s doll, that she is the one actually doing the work but the doll is used as a way for her to deal with her abuse so she sees it as the doll doing the work while she is able to maintain the more carefree life she had before. It adds to the strength of the character, I feel, by looking at it this way, but it isn’t the intention of the story. This view of the doll also adds to the idea of Vasilissa’s character being more reflective of Russian women at this time, women who, at all levels, worked more than their counterparts in other parts of Europe. That’s not to say that society didn’t still place a heavy emphasis of the value of a woman coming from her looks, being a wife, and her ability to bear sons, as noted on the Wiki page, a woman established her position in her husband’s household with the birth of her first child (preferably a boy), and as she continued to bear sons her status would further improve [6]. I feel this idea is reinforced here by the fact the story ends with her marrying the Tsar, despite there being no romantic inclination to the story prior to this. Essentially, work hard and get married, and it helps if you’re beautiful.
1. “Baba Yaga.” Baba Yaga. Accessed December 06, 2017. http://www.oldrussia.net/baba.html
2. “BABA-YAGA – the Slavic Goddess of Death (Slavic mythology).” Godchecker – Your Guide to the Gods. January 17, 2014. Accessed December 06, 2017. http://www.godchecker.com/pantheon/slavic-mythology.php?deity=BABA-YAGA.
3. Winters, Riley. “Baba Yaga, The Confounding Crone of Slavic Folklore.” Ancient Origins. March 29, 2015. Accessed December 06, 2017. http://www.ancient-origins.net/myths-legends-europe/baba-yaga-confounding-crone-slavic-folklore-002836.
4. Heiner, Heidi Anne. Cinderella Tales From Around the World. Surlalune Fairy Tale Series. SurLaLune Press, 2012.
5. Weiser, Jason. “Myths and Legends.” Myths and Legends. Accessed December 08, 2017. https://www.mythpodcast.com/.
6. “Women in Russia.” Wikipedia. December 06, 2017. Accessed December 07, 2017. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Women_in_Russia.
A Missing Slipper 