Friday, July 09, 2004
You may be a rock star
Grimsy asked about Baba Yaga. I had no idea that Baba Yaga had been co-opted by D&D! I found some info on the 'net about the module and stats for Baba Yaga's hut. Those chicken legs pack a powerful punch, eh? I'd be curious to hear more from you all about what Baba Yaga is like in the D&D world.
Baba Yaga shows up in folktales like "Vasilissa the Beautiful" and "Vasilissa the Wise." Vasilissa's story is a little bit like Cinderella's, except it hasn't been watered down quite as much. Have you read the version of Cinderella in which the stepsisters cut off parts of their own feet to force the slipper to fit? I was always fascinated by that when I was younger. One of my other favorite tales was in this old book that had belonged to my great-aunt Helyn; I believe it's called "The Almond Tree," although there may be variations of it known as "The Fig Tree" or "The Ash Tree." It's pretty bloody and gory.
But back to Baba Yaga... As I recall [and the memory's a little rusty], in the classic tale, Vasilissa's mother dies and leaves her daughter a magic doll, which becomes her only source of succor and advice once her father remarries this old bag who has a spoiled, selfish, rotten daughter of her own. The father dies or goes on a trip or something, and the stepmother and stepsister make Vasilissa's life miserable. She doesn't come apart under their demands, and this provokes the stepmother all the more. She orders Vasilissa to go deep into the woods to Baba Yaga, and Vasilissa does so. The doll - spirit of her mother? - advises her to do exactly what Baba Yaga tells her. Vasilissa arrives at Baba Yaga's hut - gate made of bones, skulls running atop the fence, vermin in the yard, hut on chicken legs, and hidden door to hut that only opens at a ritual saying.
Baba Yaga is a skinny old hag - quite the long-toothed crone. She rides around in a mortar and pestle (which has always struck me as a clunky mode of transportation), although I think I've also seen her depicted as travelling by way of a very large spoon (perhaps that's more streamlined than the mortar and pestle). Baba Yaga does her best to torture Vasilissa with fear, but Vasilissa doesn't flinch. She's so good and pure that even the vermin help her. Baba Yaga sets impossible tasks for her to complete, but with the help of the doll, the vermin, and her own pluckiness, she is able to complete task after task. She does so well that Baba Yaga rewards her and sends her back home.
The stepmother sees the jewels or gold or whatever it is that Baba Yaga gave Vasilissa and sends her own daughter to the witch, thinking to get some of these goodies for herself. But this girl is mean-spirited, sullen and hateful, and she provokes Baba Yaga instead of completing the challenges that Baba Yaga sets before her. So she gets tricked and eaten. I think the stepmother gets some additional kind of comeuppance, as well - losing her only daughter not being quite enough punishment for her treatment of Vasilissa.
In another variation of the tale, Vasilissa ends up marrying the tsar. But I think this is accomplished through her own cleverness - kind of different from Cinderella's marrying the handsome prince.
What's it all mean? You can read your Vladimir Propp, Bruno Bettelheim, Carl Jung, or Erich Neumann and discover a few suggestions. Does Vasilissa's tale warn children to behave a certain way? Does it instruct girls to embrace all aspects of their femininity, even the menopausal hag? The symbology certainly suggests something about the Mother/the Feminine and about sexuality (isn't that pretty much the only way that the mortar and pestle make any sense whatsoever, after all?).
Baba Yaga shows up in folktales like "Vasilissa the Beautiful" and "Vasilissa the Wise." Vasilissa's story is a little bit like Cinderella's, except it hasn't been watered down quite as much. Have you read the version of Cinderella in which the stepsisters cut off parts of their own feet to force the slipper to fit? I was always fascinated by that when I was younger. One of my other favorite tales was in this old book that had belonged to my great-aunt Helyn; I believe it's called "The Almond Tree," although there may be variations of it known as "The Fig Tree" or "The Ash Tree." It's pretty bloody and gory.
But back to Baba Yaga... As I recall [and the memory's a little rusty], in the classic tale, Vasilissa's mother dies and leaves her daughter a magic doll, which becomes her only source of succor and advice once her father remarries this old bag who has a spoiled, selfish, rotten daughter of her own. The father dies or goes on a trip or something, and the stepmother and stepsister make Vasilissa's life miserable. She doesn't come apart under their demands, and this provokes the stepmother all the more. She orders Vasilissa to go deep into the woods to Baba Yaga, and Vasilissa does so. The doll - spirit of her mother? - advises her to do exactly what Baba Yaga tells her. Vasilissa arrives at Baba Yaga's hut - gate made of bones, skulls running atop the fence, vermin in the yard, hut on chicken legs, and hidden door to hut that only opens at a ritual saying.
Baba Yaga is a skinny old hag - quite the long-toothed crone. She rides around in a mortar and pestle (which has always struck me as a clunky mode of transportation), although I think I've also seen her depicted as travelling by way of a very large spoon (perhaps that's more streamlined than the mortar and pestle). Baba Yaga does her best to torture Vasilissa with fear, but Vasilissa doesn't flinch. She's so good and pure that even the vermin help her. Baba Yaga sets impossible tasks for her to complete, but with the help of the doll, the vermin, and her own pluckiness, she is able to complete task after task. She does so well that Baba Yaga rewards her and sends her back home.
The stepmother sees the jewels or gold or whatever it is that Baba Yaga gave Vasilissa and sends her own daughter to the witch, thinking to get some of these goodies for herself. But this girl is mean-spirited, sullen and hateful, and she provokes Baba Yaga instead of completing the challenges that Baba Yaga sets before her. So she gets tricked and eaten. I think the stepmother gets some additional kind of comeuppance, as well - losing her only daughter not being quite enough punishment for her treatment of Vasilissa.
In another variation of the tale, Vasilissa ends up marrying the tsar. But I think this is accomplished through her own cleverness - kind of different from Cinderella's marrying the handsome prince.
What's it all mean? You can read your Vladimir Propp, Bruno Bettelheim, Carl Jung, or Erich Neumann and discover a few suggestions. Does Vasilissa's tale warn children to behave a certain way? Does it instruct girls to embrace all aspects of their femininity, even the menopausal hag? The symbology certainly suggests something about the Mother/the Feminine and about sexuality (isn't that pretty much the only way that the mortar and pestle make any sense whatsoever, after all?).
