Reading Notes: Russian Folktales Part A

For this week's readings, I will be looking at Russian Folktales.

Right from the start of this section, all of the stories were dark and somber. Not in a Brothers Grimm way, but in a twisted, evil way. Strangely enough I love it! I really enjoyed the story The Treasure mostly because justice was served. The pope was punished for being greedy and deceitful but I wish the old poor man would have gotten his money back or received some sort of compensation after all that the pope and the town had put him through after the loss of his wife. At the end of the story, the authors assumes that the skin of the goat melded with the pope by an act of God, but what if the wife who had died was actually haunting the pope and after seeing how he tricked her husband, she cursed him to live life like that. That could be an interesting re-telling.

The story The Miser honestly had such an odd ending I really didn't have an opinion of it. I was hoping that greedy Marko would get his punishment either by having to pay the copeck to the poor man or that he would tragically die and the wife would pay the poor man. Towards the end I really thought that maybe Marko was dead but instead he and the poor man just divided the loot the robbers left behind. And even after all that, Marko never paid the poor man?! I would tell that story so differently, which is exactly what I may do in my next story telling assignment.

I was intrigued by the story Friday because it seemed to have some biblical background to it. Since the woman was working on Friday instead of resting and, in turn, honoring Mother Friday, she was punished. It reminded me how many different sects of Christianity and other religions emphasize resting on holy days as a tradition. Now they never really punish someone for not doing so, but usually they are social reprimanded. Instead, this woman gets an eye full of saw dust. Even though it was extreme, I just liked the overall simplicity of the story. Most of all, I liked that the woman learned her lesson quickly and didn't have to be punished over and over before getting the point.

Russian Fairy Tales

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).