For the past couple of months we’ve been concentrating heavily on just one book – Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. How about we switch gears for now and take a short break from the novel. I’m inviting you «в гости к сказке» [to visit fairy tale land].

Let’s start with the beginning. Russian fairy tale land is located «за тридевять земель, в тридевятом царстве, в тридесятом государстве» [across thrice-nine lands, in a thrice-ninth kingdom, in a thrice-tenth country]. I understand, the translation doesn’t make much sense, but just trust me on it – it’s a standard opening of most of Russian fairy tales.

If you feel tongue-tied pronouncing all those “thrice”s, then you might be happy to find out a shorter name for the Russian fairy-tale land – «Лукоморье» [Lookomorie]. «Лукоморье» the way we know it – a fairy tale land – was immortalized by «Александр Сергеевич Пушкин» [Alexandr Sergeevich Pushkin]:

«У Лукоморья дуб зелёный,

златая цепь на дубе том,

и днём и ночью кот учёный

всё ходит по цепи кругом…»

[The green oak grows in Lookomorie,

With a gold chain around it,

And day and night a learned cat

Walks round and round on the chain…]

The poem goes on a bit longer, describing various inhabitants of the magic land. There are scores of children’s stores, ice-cream shops, day cares, etc that are called Lookomorie. Interestingly, the real Lookomorie does exist. And  it’s not particularly hard to find either. The clue lies in the name itself.

The name of the land is actually a combination of two words – «лук» and «морье», a form of the word «море» [sea] used to describe “seashore” in such words as «взморье» [sea shore] and «приморье» [land by the sea].

Now back to the word «лук». Here it means “a bow”, the kind used by archers. (The other meaning of word «лук» is “onion”). So the word «Лукоморье» is a descriptive name of a land that is a) by the sea and b) with a shoreline that’s bow-shaped. Seems like any bow-shaped «залив» [bay] with a forest and at least one ancient oak can be Lookomorie, doesn’t it?

«Лукоморье» is inhabited by lots and lots of fairy tale creatures. In fact, so many of them that it’d take an encyclopedia to even briefly mention them all. So, I’m going to concentrate on the ones that are encountered most often and that I know the most about.

So without further ado, here they are, A to Z or rather «от А до Я».

 

«Алёнушка» [Alyonushka] – a young girl, usually an orphan or from a poor peasant family, usually has a brother – «Иванушка» [Ivanushka] (more on him – later). Alyonushka is always in peril and is quite helpless. As such, she relies on the kindness of strangers – «добрые молодцы» [kindyoung men] (ok, to be fair – one per fairy tale), good-natured animals, even inanimate objects – «печка» [a brick oven] and «яблоня» [apple tree] among others.

 

«Баба Яга» [Baba Yaga] is an old and very unpleasant witch who lives alone in the deepest and gloomiest part of the forest. In addition to her unpleasant personality, she is no looker and has «костяная нога» [bony leg] and «нос в потолок врос» [a nose that seems to have grown into the ceiling].

She’s usually pictured dressed in rags and in general living in squalor. At the same time, she lives in a custom voice-controlled mobile house: «избушка на курьих ножках» [a small hut on chicken legs]; flies in a high-tech self-propelled «ступа» [mortar]; and owns a variety of magical objects. She also seems to know where to find anything and everyone. I guess, the lady simply has a weird sense of style. She tends to decorate her front yard with skulls and bones.

Generally, she is a dark force, hell-bent on kidnapping children and eating strangers. However, dashing young men seem to not have much of a problem dealing with her. The key, it seems, is to show «кто в доме хозяин» [who’s the master of the house] by first ordering the house itself «повернуться к лесу задом, а к молодцу – передом» [to turn with its backside to the forest and its front door – to the young man] and then ordering the old witch herself «напоить, накормить, спать уложить» [to provide drink, food and warm bed] to her guest. Such brashness seems to be the most effective since only then does Baba Yaga make her guest comfortable, and come the next morning also gives him advice, a helpful tip and/or a magic object before he leaves.

«Водяной» [Vodyanoy] is a water-dwelling spirit that’s up to no good. The history of the word is very interesting. In his «История водки» [The History of Vodka] V. Pohlebkin notes that back in the days “vodyanoy” was used to describe religious dissenters who used water, instead of wine, for the communion. Such practice was viewed as heresy and those practicing it were considered «нехристи» [pagans, lit: Christ-less].

 

«Горыныч, Змей» [Zmey Gorinich] is a (usually) three-headed fire-breathing flying dragon of Russian fairy tales. For his residence he prefers either a cave «в горах» [in the mountains] or the sea. He’s not very intelligent and typically represents dumb brute force of evil. Gorinich’s time is occupied by laying waste to villages, stealing domestic animals, kidnapping young and comely maidens, and fighting their handsome rescuers. Much of his dirty work is done on request from Baba Yaga and «Кащей Бессмертный» [Koshey the Deathless].

See, I told you this can go on and on. I’ve only briefly described 4 «сказочные герои» [fairy tale characters] with quite a few more to go, including, but not limited to Ivan, Yemelya and Vasilisa (if you’re interested, of course). Are there particular characters you’d like me to mention? What are some of your favorite ones?