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a Map of Pskov! |
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Part Two:
Ivan went to the feast and withstood the jeers and taunts of his brothers and their wives. They asked him why he could not bring his little wife in a handkerchief. The wives commented about her great beauty. The Siren of the Swamp, they called her and talked about her shiny skin and dewy, wet mouth.
As they prepared to eat, they heard a thundering noise in the courtyard. Ivan told the others not to worry because it was his bride arriving. The guests rushed to the doorway in time to see Vasilisa step out of a beautiful carriage. She was dressed in a golden gown with sparkling gems sewn into the fabric. On her head she wore a crown of twinkling stars. She swept into the room and took Ivan by the arm.
“Dear husband, let us eat and then let us dance,” she said to the astonished Ivan.
They were seated near the tsar and he watched in surprise as Vasilisa first took the dregs of her wine and put them up one sleeve and then took the bones of swans she had eaten and put them up her other sleeve. Before the tsar could ask her what she was doing, she slipped away to the dance floor. The wives of the brothers also saw the what she had done and decided that if she had hidden things in her sleeves, something wonderful must come of that and they did the same. They pulled their husbands to the dance floor and began to dance.
As they twirled around the room, Vasilisa lifted first one sleeve then the other. Miracles poured from her sleeves. In the center of the room a lake appeared with swans circling its banks. The sister-in-laws were excited to perform the same and both lifted their sleeves. Instead of a lake and swans, they showered the room with wine dregs and sharp bones. One of the bones hit the tsar in the eye and he became furious and ordered them away.
While all of the excitement was going on, Ivan slipped away and ran home. He found the frog skin and fearing that his beautiful wife would don the skin and disappear, he threw it into the fire and burned it up. When his wife returned home she was saddened to see her frog skin ruined. She told Vasilisa that in three more days she would have been his, but that now she was banished to a far away land. He could only reclaim her if he undertook a perilous quest. With that, she turned into a beautiful dove and flew out the window.
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Ivan grieved for a year and then started off on his quest for the beautiful Vasilisa. He wandered over many lands and searched until he was ragged and weary. One day he met an old man and chanced to tell him his story.
“You should not have burned the frog skin. It was not yours to destroy. I know the story of your wife. She was born more clever than her father and he put a spell on her to teach her her place. What you have done cannot be helped now. You must undo the damage you have caused. Here, take this ball of thread and follow it wherever it rolls,” said the old man.
Ivan threw the ball into a field and followed the thread. He came face to face with a ferocious bear. Ivan took aim and was about to kill the bear when the bear spoke to him.
“Do not kill me, Ivan, for you may have need of my help someday,” entreated the bear.
Ivan let the bear go and after a while looked up in the sky to see a drake flying overhead. Ivan was hungry and took aim at the drake.
“Do not kill me, Ivan, for you may have need of my help someday,” stated the drake.
Ivan spared the drake and hurried on his way following the ball of thread. A hare hopped across his path and Ivan once more took aim, this time at the hare.
“Do not kill me, Ivan, for you may have need of my help someday,” begged the hare.
Ivan let the hare escape and followed the thread to a rapidly flowing river. There on the banks flopped a large fish gasping for air. Ivan thought about how good freshly cooked fish would taste for lunch. The fish begged Ivan to throw him back into the river and spare his life, for someday he might need his help. Ivan obliged and again went on his way, hungrier than ever.
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Baba-Yaga
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Soon Ivan entered a woods and saw a small hut. The inside of the hut was dark and damp with blood and bones all araound. Near the stove was the much feared witch, Baba-Yaga. She told him that to free his wife from the clutches of Koshchei the Deathless, he would have to kill Koshchei. This would not be easy, she said, because his death must be by the point of a needle and the needle was in an egg, the egg was in a duck, the duck was in a hare, and the hare was in a stone-chest at the top of a tall oak tree which was guarded night and day by Koshchei.
Baba-Yaga told Ivan where to find the tree and he set off. It is not known how long it took for him to arrive at the tree, but when he did, he saw how daunting the task of reaching the stone chest would be. He was miserable. He had come so far, only to be thwarted by this impossible task.
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Suddenly, from nowhere there was a ferocious roar and out came the bear. He pulled down the tree and sent it smashing to the ground. The chest broke open and the hare hopped away. Again, from nowhere, another hare grabbed the first one and opened it up to reveal a duck, which took to the sky. In a moment, a drake was after the duck and rammed into it so hard that it layed an egg which fell into the blue ocean.
Ivan began to cry tears of frustration because he was unable to dive deeply enough to get the egg. Out of nowhere came the fish with the egg in its mouth. Ivan broke open the egg and took out the needle. He sensed Koshchei was sneaking up on him and he twirled around and plunged the needle into the heart of the villain. Koshchei fell dead. Ivan went to Koshchei’s palace and got his beautiful bride. So much time had padded that she was free of the spell and able to join Ivan. They returned to the tsar’s land and lived happily ever after.
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