This story intrigued me because it was so different from other Cinderellas. There were no sisters, no prince, no kingdom even, just a family. After reading it I had to question why it was even included in the Cinderella category as it was so dissimilar from many of the other ones. The evil stepmother was the one thing that gave the story a connection to any of the other tales. Baba Yaga's character was also very strange, the idea that this woman sat here and trained her magical minions for ensnaring girls or something was weird to me. However, the story itself does mirror the Cinderellas in its triumph over the evil thanks to the magical helper being related to the main character, or, the "Fairy Godmother," here the good aunt. The helper advises the protagonist who, using that help, can defeat evil and return to her happy life. So while initially it seems to have little to do with the popular versions of Cindarella, it is pretty similar in its core elements.
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html#babayaga
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The Baba Yaga story reminds me of Hansel and Gretel somewhat, also. The fact that the girl goes out into the woods, and comes upon a witch-like lady.
ReplyDeleteThere are no sexual innuendos, and it is more like the Grimm version than the Perrault version-- more traditional Cinderella than Donekyskin therefore.
It strikes me how in many of the fairy tales, across cultures, the father is favored in such a positive light-- he is always depicted as being innocent of any wrongdoing, and oblivious to his wife, the stepmother's doings. It is rather upsetting, actually, how the father commonly gets off scott-free: either hs is forgiven by his daughter, or, he never receives any blame.
The story excludes the perfect fit motif, marriage or scheming/active princess. It is also interesting how they incorporate family in the tale. The aunt comes to the rescue not the fairy godmother. It would be interesting to find out when this story was published because like Calvino's Hansel and Gretel Baga Yaga stresses teamwork or working together. Because Baga Yaga only thinks about the individual and not the group her trap is ineffective since her minions feel cheated. Also the concept of the Baba Yaga is interesting. Unlike the previous witches this one can fly. Baba Yaga's fly in a mortar ans steer with a pestle and the live in a house that has chicken legs. This makes the witch a more magical and whimsical character. Our previous tales allowed us to think that witches were synonomous with regular women.
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with the first comment that the Baby Yaga story is reminiscent of Hansel and Gretel with the political innuendos of hard work, etc.
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