W is for Wise

I’m doing folklore and book review posts to reach and please a larger audience. Previous years have shown select interest in both and to minimise blogging throughout the year, I’m focusing my efforts on April.

If you’d rather check out my book review for today, go here.

[intro about subject]

Folklore

Russian Wonder Tales by Post Wheeler [1912]

Wassilissa the Beautiful

Now deep in this forest, as the stepmother well knew, there was a green lawn and on the lawn stood a miserable little hut on hens’ legs, where lived a certain Baba-Yaga, an old witch grandmother. She lived alone and none dared go near the hut, for she ate people as one eats chickens. The merchant’s wife sent Wassilissa into the forest each day, hoping she might meet the old witch and be devoured; but always the girl came home safe and sound, because the little doll showed her where the bush, the flowers and the berries grew, and did not let her go near the hut that stood on hens’ legs. And each time the stepmother hated her more and more because she came to no harm.

*Read the full story here.

Encyclopedia of Fairies in World Folklore and Mythology by Theresa Bane

Originally from Hungarian lore Baba Yaga was a kind and benevolent fairy; over time her stories changed and she became a cannibalistic old crone or witch, small and ugly; in some stories Baba Yaga was a race of evil fay and not an individual. The name and character of Baba Yaga appeared in a number of eastern European and Slavic myths.

As an evil individual, Baba Yaga is described as being old, short, skinny, and ugly with a particularly distorted and large nose and long, crooked teeth.

In instances where Baba Yaga was a fairy race rather than a single individual, the hero was met by not one but by three baba yagas. In these instances, the baba yagas were commonly benevolent, gifting the hero with both advice and magical presents he would later need to succeed in his quest.

No matter the role she was fulfilling, she drove a hard bargain, and was the one who sets the conditions and terms of the agreement; it mattered not to her if the hero accepted or refused the deal. All of her verbal contracts allowed her the right to eat anyone who was later unable or unwilling to fulfil their end of the deal.

By use of a gigantic mortar Baba Yaga could fly amazingly fast through the forest steering by use of the accompanying pestle in her right hand while with her left she uses her magical broom made out of silver birch to sweep away any sign of her having passed through the area. As she travelled it was believed a host of spirits trail behind her.

Baba Yaga’s Hut

Baba Yaga lived in a hut surrounded by a picket fence, the tops of which were decorated with the skulls of her victims. The hut itself, windowless and with a false door, had proportionally large chicken legs which it rested upon. When wanting to enter her home, Baba Yaga must enchant a magical spell which would compel the hut to lower itself to the ground level. Anyone who tried to pick the lock to her home would be surprised to discover the keyhole was nothing more than a mouth full of sharp teeth. The hut was filled with scores of invisible servants who protected and served Baba Yaga.

*Learn more in the book.

The Element Encyclopedia of Fairies by Lucy Cooper

In Slavic mythology Baba Yaga is an ambiguous supernatural entity, residing deep in the forest in a hut supported by giant, yellow chicken legs. The hut has no windows or visible entrance until the phrase “Turn your back to the forest, your front to me” is uttered, when it revolves to reveal the door. Surrounding the hut is a fence on which skulls are impaled.

In Russian folktales Baba Yaga is described as an ugly and deformed old hag with a long nose, iron teeth, and bony legs, who takes delight in frightening, and possibly devouring, children. Her bed is the enormous oven in which she supposedly cooks the children and she travels in a mortar, steering this strange craft with a pestle and sweeping away all traces of her passage with a silver birch broom.

The ambiguous nature of Baba Yaga is emphasised in some tales in which her wise words and helpfulness are sought. She is also portrayed as one of three sisters, all bearing the name of Baba Yaga. An altogether mysterious and controversial being.

*Learn more in the book.

The Element Encyclopedia of Witchcraft by Judika Illes

Baba Yaga, the cannibal “wicked witch” of Russian fairy tales, has become a boogie-woman used to threaten children into obedience: “be good or Baba Yaga will get you…” She epitomizes the scary witch but is also grand, transcending the stereotype. Baba Yaga doesn’t just eat children; she sometimes defends them by dispensing justice to evil stepmothers.

Baba Yaga features in many fairy tales; she has a striking personality and appearance. Once familiar, she’s not easily confused with anyone else. It is generally believed that beneath the fairy-tale witch lurks an ancient Slavic deity, perhaps a Corn Mother banished to the woods post-Christianity.

She is an underworld goddess who controls forces of life and death. Baba Yaga may be petitioned for fertility for those who lack it. She performs miracle cures. On the other hand, according to fairy tales, personal encounters with Baba Yaga are often fatal; whether this was meant literally or shamanically is unknown. Either way she is potentially very dangerous.

Baba Yaga forces one to acknowledge the complexity and ambiguity of the witch. She possesses powers of healing and destruction; she may be unspeakably hostile or amazingly generous. She allegedly knows every botanical healing secret in existence; whether she can be persuaded to reveal these secrets is another story.

She is the Mistress of All Witches, the Primal Mother who rescues, nurtures, and destroys. She is a sacred being but she doesn’t live in the Heavens, underground or in an underwater palace. Baba Yaga lives in a house like a human and demonstrates needs and desires like a human: she eats, sleeps, and drinks—and with gusto!

Baba Yaga lives in the heart of a deep, birch forest in a little hut named Izbushka that usually stands on stilt-like chicken’s feet but occasionally on goat’s legs or even on spindle heels. The house is formed from bones, personally collected by Baba Yaga herself. The doorposts are leg bones; a mouth with sharp teeth serves as the lock, the bolt is a hand. The fence is formed from bones crowned with skulls whose empty eye-sockets glow in the dark.

Baba Yaga has iron teeth that protrude like boar’s tusks. Her hands are tipped with bear claws. She wears a necklace of human skulls and likes to smoke a pipe. Euphemisms for her include “Iron Nosed Woman” or “Iron Nosed Witch.” She flies through the air in a mortar, steers with a pestle, sweeping away her traces with a broom. Seated in her iron mortar, holding her iron pestle, she grinds out life and death like a Corn Mother. Stories of her cannibalism may be references to ancient blood sacrifices.

Baba Yaga is the protector of wild animals, who serve her. Her flights are accompanied by crows, ravens, and owls: these birds signal her dominion over day and night.

*Learn more in the book.

Rebel Folklore by Icy Sedgwick

The trees rustle as something large bursts into the clearing. A giant mortar whizzes by, and an ugly old woman directs it with an oversized pestle. She cackles as she dives back into the forest, the trees crashing in her wake. You flee in the opposite direction to Baba Yaga, and pull up short when you see a wooden hut striding among the trees on giant chicken legs, the outside decorated with human heads.
Baba Yaga, the legendary figure of Russian folklore, has become quite the favorite of the online folklore community despite her complexity—or perhaps because of it. She appears as either an old woman or a trio of old women and even her name defies interpretation because, according to Baba Yaga scholar Andreas Johns, ‘baba’ can mean ‘midwife’ or ‘sorceress’ in Old Russian and ‘grandmother’ in modern Russian and Serbo-Croatian. ‘Yaga’ also proves tricky, since it could translate as anything from ‘snake’ to ‘horror’ to ‘witch’ to ‘wicked wood nymph’.

*Learn more in the book.

Further Reading:

• 5 Fascinating Tales of Baba Yaga, the Slavic Witch
• Baba Yaga: The greatest ‘wicked witch’ of all?
• Baba Yaga: The Wicked Witch of Slavic Folklore
• Baba Yaga
• Baba Yaga
• Baba Yaga
• Baba Yaga: The Ancient Origins of the Famous ‘Witch’
• Baba Yaga: The Wild Witch of the Woods – (Slavic Folklore Explained)
• Baba Yaga – The Ugly Evil Witch of Slavic Folklore

Folklore in a Nutshell by Ronel

[piece]

Baba Yaga in Modern Culture

I’ve found a list on Goodreads dedicated to books featuring Baba Yaga.

There’s even vague mention of Baba Yaga in Neil Gaiman’s The Graveyard Book. [My Review]

“He wondered whether the witch would be old and iron-toothed and travel in a house on chicken legs…”

The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman

Thistlefoot by GennaRose Nethercott [My Review]

There is a shtetl called Gedenkrovka, in the Smiliansky district of the Cherkasy region of Imperial Russia. That much, at least, is factual. In this village lives a woman. Her name is Baba Yaga, and she lives in a house on chicken legs. The house, it does not remain on one patch of ground for more than a day, but Baba Yaga never has trouble finding her way home. She simply spits on a dry bean and throws it on the ground, and whichever way the bean rolls will lead her to me. A fence of pikes surrounds her house, and upon the pikes are skulls. Every pike is occupied, except for one—that pike is for you. At night, the skulls glow like moons. Were you to approach the house uninvited, the skulls would weep moonmilk down their pale cheeks. They would sing to you in a language you do not speak, but that sounds familiar, so familiar, like a song your mother sang to you when you were young.

Thistlefoot, GennaRose Nethercott

Blessed Monsters by Emily A Duncan [My Review]

When he stumbled into a clearing with a squat hut in the center, he gave a heavy sigh of recognition. He considered turning right back around and going deeper into the forest, but with an exhausted sort of resignation he knew there was no avoiding it. This was why the forest had been so lenient.

The hut seemed to move as he approached, as if it were breathing. He passed a gate with skulls perched on the narrow fence. He paused and eyed them—some were far too fresh for his liking—before continuing through a small garden of what he was fairly certain were fingers embedded in the dirt—he didn’t really want to investigate that further—until he knocked on the door.

It swung open on its own into darkness. He closed his eyes, almost wishing he didn’t know what was coming. He shook his head. Better to face this with dignity.

“Czijow, Pelageya,” he called, stepping inside. “How are you always exactly where I don’t want you to be?”

“I was rather enjoying watching you turning in circles in the forest.”

He was in her sitting room—the one from the tower in Grazyk?—but different. The skulls weren’t all fleshless here, and something bubbled thickly in a cauldron on her fire. The witch looked old; her white curls tied back and her face lined with wrinkles. She glanced over her shoulder at Malachiasz before turning to the fire.

“Oh, you bring a vile taste in with you, shut the door.”

Was it too late to leave? The door shut before he could touch it. Well, that answered that.

The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa [My Review]

At the edge of a scummy pond stood a house, faded and gray like everything else. A picket fence made of bleached white bones surrounded it, naked skulls topping the posts, and a few scraggly chickens milled about in what passed as a yard. The hut was old and wooden, creaking faintly though there was no wind. The most unusual thing, however, wasn’t the house itself, but what held it up. It stood on a pair of massive bird legs, gnarled and yellow, blunt talons digging into the mud. The legs were crouched low, as if sleeping, but every so often they shifted restlessly, causing the whole house to shudder and groan.

“We’re heeeeere,” Puck sang softly. “And can I say that the old gal hasn’t gotten any less creepy than when I saw her last.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Just shut up and let me do the talking this time. It was bad enough when you insulted the centaur chief.”

“All I suggested was that we could’ve used a ride out of the meadow. I didn’t mean from him.”

Sighing, I opened the bone gate and crossed the weed-choked yard, scattering chickens in front of me. Before we reached the steps, however, the door creaked open and an old woman emerged from the darkened interior. Tangled white hair framed a lined, wrinkled face, and sharp black eyes peered out at us, bright and gleaming. In one gnarled hand she held a basket, in the other a butcher knife, stained with the blood of many victims.

I stopped at the foot of the stairs, wary and alert. Old as she appeared, the witch of the house was powerful and unpredictable.

The Iron Knight, Julie Kagawa

Baba Yaga in My Writing

[origin of fae]

Baba Yaga is a little bit of everything…

See this immortal in action in my writing:

Over the Hills and Far Away (Irascible Immortals #7)

Being something fearsome relegated to the realm of folklore wasn’t too bad. For longer than she cared to remember, Baba Yaga had to curtail the wilder side of children, give sage advice to the pure of heart, and keep her part of the world in balance. She had taken the last century off. After the last would-be Van Helsing mistaking her for a vampire – idiot! – she had decided that she wasn’t being respected, revered or feared anymore and thus humans didn’t deserve her guidance.

It had been a blast. For over a century she had been able to sleep in, have breakfast in bed – brought to her by her faithful servants – and catch up with the latest in witchcraft.

Over the Hills and Far Away, Irascible Immortals #7, Ronel Janse van Vuuren

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Where did you encounter Baba Yaga for the first time? What do you think of her? Any folklore about Baba Yaga you’d like to share? Check out my Pinterest board dedicated to the subject.

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