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Among all the strange characters of the Russian folk tales, Baba-Yaga is perhaps the one who occurs most frequently and is the best known.
She is believed to have a horrifying appearance. An aged, ugly crone, she is emaciated like a skeleton. Indeed, she is sometimes called Baba-Yaga Bony Leg. Her nose and teeth are long and sharp.
She is usually depicted living in the forest, riding in a mortar, rowing herself along with a pestle and brushing her traces away with a broom.
This strange figure appears to be connected with the world of the dead. Not only does she look like a skeleton herself, but the fence and gates of her house are built of human bones, along the top of which are stuck human skulls with glaring eyes. Some folklore researchers say this house and its mistress guard the frontier between the territory of mortals and the spirit world.
Although Baba-Yaga is generally thought of as a cruel, witch-like creature, this is not entirely fair. There are really two Baba-Yagas, a good one and a bad one, and the good one may often help the hero of the tale and bestow miraculous gifts on him/her.
In one legend, Vasilisa the Fair (or the beautiful), a hard working girl, was sent to the woods by her stepmother and stepsisters to get the light (knowledge).
She meets Baba-Yaga and is granted an unusual gift,
a skull with glowing eyes from the fence
(i.e., she touches the realm of death)
The skull lights Vasilisa's way, burns the wicked stepmother,and bring Vasilisa luck and good fortune.
In his detailed analysis of Baba-Yaga legends & folk tales,
Magnus,a Russian ethnologist & folklore researcher,
concluded that they describe, in mythological form,
ancient initiation rituals:
the hero undergoes trials,
is taken to the realm of death,
and returns to this world with new
and often magical gifts, abilities, or skills.
Another intriguing point should be noted. In virtually all Baba-Yaga legends, she offers the hero something to eat and/or to drink. While treating a guest to food is certainly part of the Russian custom of hospitality, more often than not, Baba-Yaga's visitors are treated to special, magical foods and/or drinks intended for the dead and not for the living.
One of these magical foods, mushrooms, seems to be most common, and some Baba-Yaga tales contain references to mushrooms in several different contexts. Illustrations for these tales
(although certainly done much later than the tales) often depict Baba-Yaga surrounded by red fly agaric and other mushrooms.
In one of the legends, Baba-Yaga sets off into the woods to gather mushrooms & parsley for the stew and finds a hedgehog sitting on top of a big mushroom, eating a mushroom. She intends to cook the hedgehog,
together with the parsley and mushrooms, for dinner,
but he persuades her that he can be useful to her in a different way. Baba-Yaga extends her good will towards him, and the hedgehog is not harmed but is allowed to finish eating the mushrooms.
Suddenly, he turns into a boy named Dmitry,
who possesses the power to find a mythical black sunflower.
In another legend, Baba-Yaga puts the hero in touch with magic creatures (spirits), Lesovik and Borovik,
who live under a mushroom and provide the hero with magical gifts which show him the way to reach his goal.
In Russian folklore, strange things often happen when people go mushrooming. One folk tale describes an old man and his wife who had no children. One day they went mushrooming, and as they walked along, they saw a nest, under some bushes, and in the nest there was a pretty little duck. They brought it home with them, and the old man made a soft cozy nest for it under a bench.
The following day the husband and wife went mushrooming again, and when they came home they found that everything had been put in order; the table had been set for dinner, and dinner was ready. They decided to hide and see who was doing the housework for them, and discovered that the duck turned into a beautiful girl--they wanted very much to have a girl, and their wish has come true!
But they made the mistake of not accepting the miracle as it was and interfering with it
(this is what the ego, the rational mind often does)
they found the duck's feathers and threw them into the fire.
When the girl learned that the feathers were gone she wept bitterly.
"I would have stayed and been as a daughter to you if you hadn't burnt my feathers and taken away my wings," the girl said, "but now I don't want to stay with you."
So she left--and the old man and his wife were left alone.
There are many more such folklore tales of Baba-Yaga. These were just a very few of them.
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