Circling Stars

🌟Chapter 5🌟

"Scandinavian skinwalkers, banshees, werewolves, the Jersey Devil. Every region on earth has stories of monsters, demons, frightening creatures that walk among us and who kill the unwary. Russia is no different. So who can tell us some of Russia's famous supernatural myths?" Mr. Adison asked.

I was sitting alone today as the Swans weren't here. I stared into the sunlight flittering through the window and wondered why they were ditching. From what I'd seen last night they all looked fine and healthy. Well maybe the nice weather just put them in the mood not to show up. I certainly had a hard time dragging myself here today. Mr. Adison looked around expectedly but no one answered. I raised my hand and he nodded for me to go ahead.

"Well probably the most famous is the witch Baba Yaga," I said.

"That's correct. Your family emigrated from Russia about a hundred years ago, right Miss Halliwell?" Mr. Adison wrote Baba Yaga on the front computer screen.

"Yes."

"Can you tell us anything more about her?" he asked expectant.

My mind went through the dozens of stories I'd been told about the folklore. "She lives deep in the woods and flies around in a mortar and wields a pestle. Which is an ancient bowl and a stone grinding tool. Some stories describe her as an old crone who stands on chicken legs. Depending on what mood she was in she would either help or screw up the plans of people who sought her out. My dad also told stories of her snatching away naughty kids who wandered into the forest."

"Good job, Miss Halliwell. So the reason we're talking about monsters today is, I thought that in the spirit of Halloween I would assign you all an essay." Everybody groaned. "Now, now come on, this will be fun. The topic is to be myth and legends of the supernatural and they're influences in our culture today. It can be in other stories, movies, books, popular culture. It does not have to be specific to Russia, and I encourage you to look at your families personal history, and see what myths your ancestors may have believed in or spoken around campfires. It is due on my desk before Halloween."

From there we went into the real lesson. It seemed like most of the class was actually excited about the assignment; which was a first. I already had an idea in mind; the tale of Marya Morevna, her husband Ivan, and their struggle against the somewhat immortal sorcerer, Koschei the Deathless. It was the first fairy tale I remember hearing. I used to have dreams about it. Plus I knew several books that retold the story and similar ones in unique ways that keep the myth alive for future generations, and so made for an easy writing topic.

It goes something like this. There once was a royal family that had one son, Ivan Tsarevich , and three daughters, Princess Marya, Princess Olga, the third was Princess Anna. Eventually their parents die and the sisters all get married to powerful sorcerers. The sorcerers return to their magical realms taking their wives with them. After a while Ivan misses his sisters and he sets out on a quest to find them.

Along his travels he meets and falls in love with the beautiful warrior Princess Marya Morevna and they get married. After a while Marya announces that she is going to war and leaves the keys of the kingdom in Ivan's hands. Before she goes she warns Ivan not to open the locked door down in the dungeon while she's gone. He heeds the words of his wife as long as he can but eventually his curiosity gets the best of him. Inside he finds an old, withered, emaciated man that he does not know is Koschei.

Now Koschei the Deathless was himself a very powerful sorcerer that through a series of unfortunate events for him, got himself chained to the wall in Marya's castle. Before he was a prisoner Koschei was great and feared by many. He is called the Deathless because he made sure he couldn't be killed by conventional means. He separated his soul from his body and hid it inside a needle, placed inside an egg, which is in a duck, which is in a hare, which is in an iron chest buried under a green oak tree, which is on an island in the sea. As long as his soul is safe Koschei cannot die. If the chest is dug up and opened, the hare will bolt; if it's killed, the duck will emerge and try to fly away. Anyone possessing the egg has Koschei in their power. He weakens, becomes sick, and immediately loses use of his magic. If the egg is tossed around, he likewise is flung against his will. Only if the needle is broken will Koschei die.