WEBVTT - Part One: Baba Yaga: Everyone's Favorite Witch From Folklore 0:00:00.400 --> 0:00:02.679 Hello, and welcome to the cool people who did cool stuff. 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:05.120 I'm your host, Margaret Kiljoy, and each week I dig 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.400 into history and find all the radius stories of the 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:11.000 Rattus people who did ship like overthrow governments and smash 0:00:11.039 --> 0:00:16.560 patriarchy and each children ums most week, this week's is Halloween. Well, 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:19.919 actually last week is the Halloween. It's kind of confusing 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:22.079 because next week is Halloween for us, but last week 0:00:22.160 --> 0:00:26.920 is Halloween for you. Every day is Halloween. My guest 0:00:26.960 --> 0:00:29.840 today is the one and only Jamie Loftus. Jamie, how 0:00:29.840 --> 0:00:33.320 are you? Hi? Oh I'm so tired, but I'm great 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:37.760 and I'm ready for Halloween. Do you have Halloween plans? Marcaret? No? 0:00:37.880 --> 0:00:40.440 I well, I'm I'm going to go be alone in 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:45.040 the woods on Halloween. Okay, that's said that that counts 0:00:45.080 --> 0:00:49.440 as plans. Yeah, yeah, and totally won't be spooked out 0:00:49.560 --> 0:00:55.400 at all. What are your Halloween plans? What my my Halloween? 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.440 Because halloweens on a Monday this year, which is troubling. 0:00:58.760 --> 0:01:01.120 So I have like a Halloween part time job that's 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:03.920 occupying a lot of my time. But on Saturday, I'm 0:01:03.960 --> 0:01:06.759 going to see Danny Elfman in concert, which is very 0:01:06.760 --> 0:01:11.920 excited the Pumpkin King. I guess that he does like 0:01:11.959 --> 0:01:15.639 an annual Halloween show at the Hollywood Bowl. I didn't 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:18.639 know about it before this year, but I'm going, baby, 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:23.680 I can't wait. Yeah, Sophie Halloween plans. Our producer is 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:25.959 the one and only Sophie Lectreman. Sophie, how are you 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.440 where your Halloween? Plans? To dress my dog and as 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:35.400 many costumes as possible, and um that I hope that 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:38.279 kids still. I'm gonna put a giant bowl of candy 0:01:38.319 --> 0:01:42.039 in front of my house because um, I would like 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:45.440 them to have the candy, but I don't want to interact. 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.120 M M. But I hope they don't steal my ball. 0:01:49.280 --> 0:01:51.760 They prefer it that way too mean. I think we 0:01:51.840 --> 0:01:55.440 all do. UM. And then I'm gonna go do some 0:01:55.480 --> 0:02:01.320 spooky ship yea, wait, are you wearing a costume? Um? 0:02:01.360 --> 0:02:04.640 I don't know. I didn't get that far on the planning, 0:02:04.960 --> 0:02:08.840 was just told where to be in when I like. 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:13.960 Outfit choice not confirmed. I have one more question, which 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:18.160 is what size candy bars are you rocking? I feel 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:20.280 like there should be a mid size between fun size 0:02:20.320 --> 0:02:22.480 and full size, but I don't know that that exists, 0:02:22.600 --> 0:02:25.320 I feel like that's what I got. To be honest, 0:02:25.360 --> 0:02:28.320 I feel like they don't. They're definitely not full size. 0:02:28.680 --> 0:02:33.440 They're definitely not full size. That's I got Goldilocks exactly. 0:02:34.000 --> 0:02:36.440 But and I feel like the pack I got, I 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.680 was like, this is like a very good like there's variety, 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.679 which I appreciate. Um, but yeah, I hope they don't 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:45.880 steal my bowl. That would hurt my feelings. And I 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.079 hope that one kid doesn't ruin it for everyone else 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:51.799 by taking all the candy. That's my biggest electrified the bowl. 0:02:53.000 --> 0:02:55.840 What if I like solid choice, I don't know, not 0:02:55.960 --> 0:02:59.400 enough to kill because that's just probably illegal, but enough 0:02:59.480 --> 0:03:03.600 that's more and more important. Like if they still the bowl, okay, fine, like, okay, 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:08.120 I get it, it's you needed the bowl. But if 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:12.040 they if one kid takes all the candy from the bowl, 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:17.000 that will upset me and Anderson will fully narc Yeah 0:03:17.040 --> 0:03:18.959 that that will happen is the word you meant to 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:21.720 say that. I know. I feel like it will, which 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:27.080 would not be cool. People. No, I wouldn't do it. 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:30.840 I saw it has been. I saw it happen and 0:03:30.919 --> 0:03:34.200 I did spot. No, it's and then you go up 0:03:34.280 --> 0:03:36.000 there and you're like, oh my god, that's so nice. 0:03:36.000 --> 0:03:37.360 They put a bull, you put your head in the 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:40.800 bowl no candy, and then you're like, wow, this person sucks. 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:44.280 It's like no, some little ship had kids sucks. Anyways, 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.080 that's been my rant. You should hide in the bushes 0:03:47.160 --> 0:03:52.040 and then shout it's the tragedy of the commons. Don't 0:03:52.080 --> 0:03:54.160 stop them and don't explain what the tragedy of the 0:03:54.160 --> 0:03:57.520 commons is, um, but maybe actually then follow them down 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.520 the street and uh, do tell this story about the 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.000 Nobel Prize winning scientists who disproved the concept of the 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:04.960 tragedy of the commons. And just tell the like eight 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:07.480 year old this, and I promise you they'll never do 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:11.840 it again. It's Justice through Pedantry, which is the name 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:17.720 of the podcast that you're listening to, just the Pedantry. Today, 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:21.559 I'm going to explain the difference between hanged and hung. Uh, 0:04:21.600 --> 0:04:23.520 and then judge everyone who gets No. I'm not going 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:26.480 to do that, Jamie. I was gonna say, I I 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:29.279 don't know what today's episode is about. So when you 0:04:29.320 --> 0:04:34.599 said that, I started mentally preparing myself. Well, I'm just 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:37.120 gonna I'm gonna plow ahead with my script, even though 0:04:37.120 --> 0:04:39.040 I've ruined some of the jokes. Jamie, have you ever 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:42.800 heard of Halloween? Oh? Yeah, yeah, this isn't a story 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:46.680 about Halloween. This isn't ano about Halllen. Okay, but so 0:04:46.720 --> 0:04:50.359 we were just catching up. But it's a special Halloween 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.640 episode nonetheless, because instead of talking about a real person today, 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.600 I want to talk about a fake person or in 0:04:58.640 --> 0:05:02.000 my head, a more real than real person, an archetype, 0:05:02.520 --> 0:05:07.240 a god to some. Because it's Folklore Week on cool 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:11.719 people who did cool stuff and this inaugural mm hmm, 0:05:12.560 --> 0:05:15.960 this this inaugural Folklore Week. There's only one lady who 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:21.160 fits the bill besides Jamie Loftus. Of course, sometimes this 0:05:21.200 --> 0:05:25.280 person helps people. Sometimes she eats people. She lives in 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:28.680 the woods and she hangs out with geese. She scoots 0:05:28.720 --> 0:05:31.839 around the forest and an iron mortar, pushing herself along 0:05:31.880 --> 0:05:34.960 with an iron pestle sweeping up her tracks behind her 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:37.839 with a broom, and her hut sits on chicken legs. 0:05:38.839 --> 0:05:41.599 Because she is the one and only baba fucking yoga. 0:05:43.360 --> 0:05:51.839 Oh I feel it's my lucky day. Wow, this is thrilling. 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.560 I didn't know her house was on chicken legs. That's 0:05:54.680 --> 0:05:58.480 very very creative. That's very scary. I know it's actually 0:05:58.480 --> 0:06:01.200 it's one of the most unique parts about the Bobby 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:05.839 yoga mythology is the like the chicken like in many ways. 0:06:05.880 --> 0:06:07.600 We'll talk about this later, but like in many ways, 0:06:07.600 --> 0:06:10.040 like she's like a witch, right and then like but 0:06:10.160 --> 0:06:12.279 her houses on chicken legs, and she like sits in 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.440 a mortar like mortar and pestle, you know, the thing 0:06:15.440 --> 0:06:17.320 you grind up. You might know this, but I'm explaining 0:06:17.360 --> 0:06:19.800 to some of those are heavy tips. Yeah, yeah, totally. Well, 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:21.120 in this way case, it sits in one that's like 0:06:21.160 --> 0:06:24.600 big enough for a person and then like scoots around 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.640 like rides it like a little cart. That's so that 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:34.080 sounds both first of all awesome but logistically inefficient and 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:38.440 probably really allowed. Yeah, that's true. You could probably hear 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:44.080 Bobby Agat coming. Yeah. Um, well, she she sweeps away 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:46.440 the tracks with a broom as she goes, like to 0:06:46.600 --> 0:06:49.800 clear so you can hear her, but you don't know 0:06:49.800 --> 0:06:53.680 where she went because you got cleaned up. Very tree 0:06:53.720 --> 0:06:56.440 falls in the woods, except not really at all. Maybe 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.640 the opposite here, if Bobby Agata moves through the woods 0:07:00.040 --> 0:07:02.839 and no one survives to hear to tell the tale. 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.120 Did it ever happen? Then she probably knocked down that 0:07:07.200 --> 0:07:11.600 tree that she ruins around care. Yeah, yeah, it's a 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:15.040 fucking forest. I think the best way to introduce a 0:07:15.040 --> 0:07:17.200 figure out of folklore is to to tell you a 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:20.520 folk tale. And so I haven't done like a direct 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:22.840 reading on this podcast before, but I'm doing this reading, 0:07:22.840 --> 0:07:25.560 which you can still interrupt, just to put that out there. 0:07:25.600 --> 0:07:28.120 We don't have to. I confuse that when I went 0:07:28.160 --> 0:07:30.160 to your when I went to your live event, you're 0:07:30.200 --> 0:07:35.560 not supposed to interrupt it. Those stood up and started. 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:38.680 I just think everywhere I go as a podcast, and 0:07:38.720 --> 0:07:41.920 I can interrupt whenever I want. You're the guest at 0:07:41.960 --> 0:07:48.800 every event, Ladies and gentlemen, Jamie loftus I said, after 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:52.200 Jamie walked through the background in a hot dog costume. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:56.560 This is a seven translation of a story called Vassilisa 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.680 the Beauty or Vasilisa the Beautiful or whatever. But this 0:08:00.000 --> 0:08:03.760 relation translate the title is Vasilisa the Beauty. M hmm. 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:08.600 Once in a certain country lived a merchant. He had 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:12.440 been married twelve years and had only one child, a daughter, Vasilisa, 0:08:12.880 --> 0:08:16.320 whom everyone called Vasilisa the beauty when her mother died. 0:08:17.040 --> 0:08:19.440 I mean, everyone says everyone called her Vassilisa the beauty, 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:23.040 but obviously some people called her Vasilisa the beautiful and 0:08:23.320 --> 0:08:29.080 some people Vasilisa the fair Vasilisa. I mean, I appreciate 0:08:29.160 --> 0:08:31.480 that that's the only thing that we know about her 0:08:31.520 --> 0:08:34.600 so far. Yeah, I think, let's be clear. She's hot. 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:38.439 She's falking hot. We are talking about a girl slash woman. 0:08:38.840 --> 0:08:41.040 Is there anything else that you would need to know 0:08:41.080 --> 0:08:44.680 about this character? Well? No, see, that's that's the thing. 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:49.479 It's I need to know coming in that the protagonist 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:53.080 is conventionally hot, or why would I continue listening to 0:08:53.120 --> 0:08:58.600 the story. Yeah, totally flipped my table in lea. Absolutely yeah, 0:08:58.880 --> 0:09:02.000 and don't worry. This whole story is absolutely there's no 0:09:02.080 --> 0:09:06.640 more problems, no, no, anyway amazing. So she's hot, yeah, 0:09:06.679 --> 0:09:12.439 and she's so oh no, but but she she does 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:17.880 grow up, Okay. When her mother died, the little girl 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.240 was eight years old. On her deathbed, she called her 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.480 young daughter to her, took out from under the bedclothes 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:28.400 a doll, gave it to her and said, listen, dear 0:09:28.520 --> 0:09:32.520 little Vasilisa, remember and fulfill my last words. I am 0:09:32.600 --> 0:09:35.840 dying and leave you with a mother's blessing this doll. 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.480 Keep it always with you, and show it to no one, 0:09:38.840 --> 0:09:42.000 And whenever misfortune happens to you, give it something to 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:45.360 eat and ask its advice. Thereupon the mother kissed her 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:50.800 little daughter and died this merchant. The merchant, after his 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.480 wife's death, mourned as long as was reasonable, which I 0:09:53.679 --> 0:09:56.760 don't know how long is reasonable. Yeah, that the fun 0:09:56.840 --> 0:10:00.040 that sounds like a fun um. There's certain phrases, and 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.720 you know you're reading a translation where you're like something 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:08.120 got lost there because that sounds so um, I don't know, 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:11.720 no feelings. Yeah, yeah, no, totally. I actually switched to 0:10:11.920 --> 0:10:15.760 this translation from a different translation because the sentence made 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:20.319 even less sense than the other translation. I can't remember 0:10:20.360 --> 0:10:22.120 it all the top of my head. Um. It was 0:10:22.120 --> 0:10:23.679 actually from a couple of years later, so I thought 0:10:23.720 --> 0:10:26.440 it would be more slightly you know, six year more 0:10:26.480 --> 0:10:30.800 contemporary translation. But post the post Titanic translation really changed 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:33.839 the game. Yeah, absolutely, And I totally remember what year 0:10:33.880 --> 0:10:38.480 the Titanic went down. Oh, it's out. You don't want 0:10:38.520 --> 0:10:41.840 to know it went It went down between April fourteenth 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.360 and April fifteenth, nineteen twelve. I used to sit on 0:10:44.400 --> 0:10:47.920 my roof every single year growing up during the times 0:10:47.920 --> 0:10:51.960 the Titanic was thinking and really just think about think 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:55.520 about the lives lost during the Titanic. Very sick way 0:10:55.559 --> 0:10:59.400 to spend your childhood. Were you a goth kid? No, 0:11:00.200 --> 0:11:04.520 I was. I was just kind of a weird kid. Okay, 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:06.760 So I feel like maybe we've talked about that. I 0:11:06.800 --> 0:11:10.599 don't remember. But I tried to fit into various alternative 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:14.080 groups as a kid, and no one quite took me on. 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:16.360 It was like just the wrong thing to mourn. No 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.240 one mourns the Titanic. I tried. I tried the goth kids, 0:11:21.280 --> 0:11:25.040 but I couldn't quite hang. I tried the Juggalos, who 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:27.840 were like such a nice group of kids at my 0:11:27.920 --> 0:11:30.480 high school, but they always played hacky sack in a 0:11:30.520 --> 0:11:33.200 circle outside and I wore a back brace and they're like, 0:11:33.280 --> 0:11:39.720 you can't play hacky sack happy juggalow. So I just um, 0:11:39.760 --> 0:11:45.000 I just played the oboe and minded my own business. Okay, Okay, Well, 0:11:45.840 --> 0:11:49.880 I hope burns as long as is reasonable. Yeah, more, 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:52.120 as long as it was reasonable, And then began to 0:11:52.120 --> 0:11:55.320 think about getting married again. He was a good sensible 0:11:55.360 --> 0:11:58.000 man and did not concern himself with the maidens. But 0:11:58.080 --> 0:12:00.640 best of all, he liked a certain young widow. She 0:12:00.720 --> 0:12:03.200 knew about children, had two daughters of her own, about 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:05.960 the same age as Vasilisa, and of course could keep 0:12:06.000 --> 0:12:10.800 the house and do all that a mother should do. Okay, 0:12:11.000 --> 0:12:13.480 the mother married the widow who I don't think it's 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:17.720 a name. Oh, I was about to say, I like 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:20.840 the widow is my favorite so far, because I just 0:12:20.920 --> 0:12:25.040 like the energy that a second wife brings into a story. 0:12:25.160 --> 0:12:27.600 I have bad news for you about folklore and mother 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:32.440 in law's Oh. I know folklore hates the second wife 0:12:33.080 --> 0:12:38.200 as an aspiring second wife. I'm always rooting for them. Okay, Okay, 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:41.160 he made a mistake. He did not find her a 0:12:41.200 --> 0:12:44.880 good mother for his child. Vasilisa was the prettiest girl 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:47.319 in the whole village, and the stepmother and the stepsisters 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:50.760 were envious of her beauty. They treated her cruelly and 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:53.679 made her do impossible tasks so that she might grow 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:56.400 thin under the burden, and her complexion might turn dark 0:12:56.480 --> 0:12:59.079 under the wind and the sun. It was indeed, it 0:12:59.160 --> 0:13:02.600 was no life for her at all. Was she not 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.960 going outside prior to this? Yeah, she was beautiful so 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:08.439 of course she wasn't going outside. That's true. She had 0:13:08.440 --> 0:13:12.160 to she had to be kept indoors. But Vasilisa bore 0:13:12.200 --> 0:13:14.880 it uncomplainingly, and every day she grew more beautiful and 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:19.040 plump than ever, while her stepmother and stepsisters grew uglier 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:22.000 and thinner from ill temper, in spite of the fact 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.560 that they never did anything but sit around with folded 0:13:24.600 --> 0:13:28.600 hands like fine ladies. How did this happen? Okay, that's 0:13:28.679 --> 0:13:33.839 literally what we do, so I'm still rooting for them. Yeah, yeah, no, 0:13:33.960 --> 0:13:38.400 that's that's fair. Vasilisa's doll helped her. Had it not 0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:40.920 been for that, the poor girl could not have stood 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:44.840 so much work. Vasilisa did not eat the daintiest morsels 0:13:44.840 --> 0:13:47.720 of her scanty, fair, but she put them aside for 0:13:47.760 --> 0:13:50.200 her little doll, and in the evening, when the rest 0:13:50.240 --> 0:13:52.200 had gone to bed, she would shut herself into her 0:13:52.240 --> 0:13:55.720 little room and give it the good things, saying, here, 0:13:55.760 --> 0:13:59.560 little doll, eat something and listen to my tale of woe. Here. 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:01.680 I live in my papa's house, but I do not 0:14:01.720 --> 0:14:04.439 get any pleasure out of it. My wicked stepmother is 0:14:04.480 --> 0:14:07.200 trying to drive me out of the bright world. Teach 0:14:07.240 --> 0:14:10.160 me how must I behave and what must I do? 0:14:11.320 --> 0:14:16.320 This is like something that I would do with my 0:14:16.360 --> 0:14:19.440 American girl dolls and still do now as an adult 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.320 American girl doll collector. This is, for example, a conversation 0:14:23.320 --> 0:14:26.360 I would have with my doll logan, have you ever 0:14:26.400 --> 0:14:29.240 been to the American Girl Doll Cafe? No? Where is 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:36.400 this or anywhere? There's in most major American metropolitan cities. 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.360 We gotta go. I think I'm like, I wonder if 0:14:39.360 --> 0:14:41.440 you would like it's um. They give you a three 0:14:41.480 --> 0:14:43.640 course meal you have to eat with a doll. If 0:14:43.640 --> 0:14:46.400 you don't have a doll, they'll lend you one. And 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.760 yes they serve the doll tiny food. And yes you 0:14:50.800 --> 0:14:53.080 can drink there, and no, you don't need a kid 0:14:53.120 --> 0:14:56.520 to go. Um. I went for my twenty seventh birthday 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.080 and I had a hell of a time. I think 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:03.520 Margaret would either love or hate it. I kind of 0:15:03.560 --> 0:15:07.040 fund the fence on how you but it is um. 0:15:07.080 --> 0:15:09.800 It is fun. Just you know, just tip well and 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:13.840 they cut you off it after after three blue moons. Okay, okay, good. 0:15:15.800 --> 0:15:18.840 I can't imagine drinking anything else in front of an 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.920 American girl doll like no, absolutely and and they but 0:15:23.000 --> 0:15:25.160 and they will not serve the American girl doll a 0:15:25.160 --> 0:15:27.880 tiny blue moon, although I was hopeful that they might. 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:30.640 I mean, it is a kid. It would be wrong, 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:32.480 I mean, although some of them are probably older than me. 0:15:34.040 --> 0:15:36.680 I was. I mean, I would say that Logan, you know, 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.400 if if I'm sticking to logan canon, I would say 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.240 he would sneak a sip of beer, you know, sure 0:15:42.280 --> 0:15:45.920 as he canomically fourteen, Yes, but a lot of fourteen 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.680 year olds sneap, sneak a little sip here and there. 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:52.480 I'm not going to answer any of this about my 0:15:52.520 --> 0:15:56.680 own life. First drink, because my parents listen to this podcast. 0:15:56.960 --> 0:16:01.440 So I'm back on board with Basilisa. The doll would 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.960 eat a little and give her good advice and console 0:16:04.000 --> 0:16:07.280 her for her sorrow, and before morning came, it would 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:10.640 finish every one of Vasilisa's tasks while she was resting 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.360 in the cool air or gathering flowers. The beds were 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.040 weeded for her, the cabbage is watered, the pails filled, 0:16:17.120 --> 0:16:19.760 and the fire made. The doll also taught her how 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.880 to avoid sunburn. It was fine to live with the doll. 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:28.920 Does Logan do all that? All that? No, Logan has 0:16:28.960 --> 0:16:32.320 never advised me on my skincare routine even once. And 0:16:32.360 --> 0:16:36.280 I'm just realizing, like the magic of a doll that 0:16:36.360 --> 0:16:39.760 you're that you're dying relative gives you. Maybe it's that 0:16:40.280 --> 0:16:43.400 is the skin career. This is the second time skincare 0:16:43.400 --> 0:16:44.960 has come up on this podcast. Last time it was 0:16:45.000 --> 0:16:49.320 about the blood of children or the blood of the virgins. 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:53.800 Oh okay, I mean that's that is a classic skincare technique, 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:57.080 and they don't You can still use it, but you 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.280 they just call it something different now and I'm not 0:16:59.280 --> 0:17:03.400 gonna say what it is, but it's highaluronic acid. That's 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:07.000 the blood of virgins. Okay, okay, this gets deeper into 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:10.240 anyone who listened to the episode where I talked about Batty, 0:17:10.720 --> 0:17:13.960 Now you know more about why that worked. Several years 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:17.040 passed and Vasilisa grew up into a beautiful maiden. All 0:17:17.040 --> 0:17:19.640 the young men in town sought her, though none none 0:17:19.640 --> 0:17:22.000 of them would so much as look at her step sisters. 0:17:22.480 --> 0:17:25.240 The stepmother was crosser than ever and replied to all 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.040 the suitors, we will not give the youngest one before 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:31.679 the older ones. As soon as she had sent the 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:35.280 suitors away, she would vent her spite on Vasilisa with blows. 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:39.320 Now it happened that the merchant was obliged to go 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:41.639 away from home for a long time on important business. 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.359 The stepmother went to live in another house which stood 0:17:44.400 --> 0:17:47.160 near a dense forest, and in this was a hut 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:50.320 where Baba Yaga, the witch dwelt. She was a wicked 0:17:50.320 --> 0:17:53.639 hat who never permitted any person to approach her, and 0:17:53.680 --> 0:17:59.760 she ate men like chickens. I love her girl already, 0:17:59.800 --> 0:18:04.960 I imagining the the like reveal of Angelica Houston and 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:11.919 the witches as Bobby AGAs like reveal into the story. Oh, 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:15.760 I love it. Having settled into her new home, the 0:18:15.800 --> 0:18:19.719 merchant's wife kept inventing pretexts to send the detested Vasilissa 0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:22.920 into the forest, but the girl always came back without accident. 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:25.280 The doll showed her the way and did not let 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:29.600 her go near the bobby Agaz hut. Autumn came. The 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.640 stepmother one time gave the three girls their evenings work 0:18:32.720 --> 0:18:35.639 to do. She bade one to make woven lace, the 0:18:35.720 --> 0:18:39.160 second to nit stockings, but she set Vasilisa to spinning. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.080 She put out the lights throughout the house and left 0:18:42.160 --> 0:18:45.119 only one little candle where the girls were working, and 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.679 she herself went to bed. While the girls were working, 0:18:48.720 --> 0:18:51.480 the candle began to gut her. One of the girls 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.080 took the snuffers to trim the wick, but instead of 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:57.400 doing so, she followed her mother's directions and as if 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:04.920 accidentally put out the candle. Wait, what is the candle guttering? Help? Yeah? Yeah, 0:19:04.920 --> 0:19:09.800 no no, so so a candle guttering is where it's like, oh, 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:13.760 it's okay, okay, it's it's doing the scary thing. Yeah. Yeah, 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:16.880 it was like starting to go out. Yeah. And then 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:21.439 as for snuffers that somehow trimmed the wick, I do 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.119 not know what this object looks like. I assumed it 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.719 was one of those little bells that put on the candle, 0:19:28.359 --> 0:19:30.399 but that doesn't trim the wick, so there must be 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:36.000 scissors on the someone who's listening knows. As an avid 0:19:36.080 --> 0:19:39.160 viewer of candle YouTube, I can say that a wig 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:44.359 trimmer and a candle snuffer two very different investments. You 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.800 should argue with this and translator, because I think that 0:19:48.080 --> 0:19:51.440 you would have done a better job. That's sounded sarcastic. 0:19:51.720 --> 0:19:53.560 I mean it wasn't earnest, but it was somewhere in 0:19:53.560 --> 0:19:57.880 between the two. I'm trying to make fun of Okay, 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.040 now what are we going to do, asked the girls. 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.080 There's not a light in the whole house, and our 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.679 stints are not finished. We must go to the bobby 0:20:06.720 --> 0:20:10.119 Aga after a light. I have all the light I 0:20:10.160 --> 0:20:12.119 want from my bosom pin, said the one who is 0:20:12.160 --> 0:20:15.840 working on the lace. I won't go, and I won't go, 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:18.360 said the one who was knitting stockings. I have enough 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:22.600 light from my knitting needles. Vasilisa must go after the light, 0:20:22.720 --> 0:20:25.600 cried both of them. Hurry to Babba Yaga the witch 0:20:25.760 --> 0:20:28.280 and get it, and they drove her out of the room. 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:31.840 Vasilisa went into her little room, set before her doll 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.119 the supper that she had saved for her, and said, now, dolly, 0:20:35.400 --> 0:20:37.720 take your supper and listen to my tale of woe. 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:40.919 They're sending me to the bobby Yaga after fire, and 0:20:40.920 --> 0:20:44.280 the bobby Aga will eat me. The doll ate the food, 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:48.080 and her eyes gleamed like two candles. Do not be afraid, 0:20:48.200 --> 0:20:53.800 little Vasilisa, she said, sounding very much like a biblical angel. No, okay, 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:58.000 go whi or they send you. Only keep me with 0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:00.679 you always. When you have me, you have nothing to 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:04.600 fear at the witch's hut, So Vasilisa made haste, hid 0:21:04.600 --> 0:21:07.160 the doll in her pocket, and, having crossed herself, went 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.480 into the dense forest. As she went along, tremblingly, a 0:21:10.520 --> 0:21:14.080 horseman suddenly galloped past her. He was white, his dress 0:21:14.160 --> 0:21:16.600 was white, the horse he rode was white, and the 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:20.600 horses trappings were white. Outdoors, it began to grow light. 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:22.840 So that's that's going to be a metaphor, And that's 0:21:22.840 --> 0:21:25.920 going to be a metaphor for something. What what did 0:21:25.920 --> 0:21:29.680 you read ahead of? You already knew this story. Okay, this, 0:21:29.680 --> 0:21:32.640 this damn doll is cracking me up. This doll goes 0:21:32.680 --> 0:21:36.520 back and forth between being like an employee of Vasilisa's 0:21:36.560 --> 0:21:40.080 and then randomly acting like the Godfather, Like I'm picturing 0:21:40.240 --> 0:21:43.720 the doll with like cutting a steak, being like, don't 0:21:43.720 --> 0:21:47.240 worry about it, bring me in Witch's house. We're going 0:21:47.280 --> 0:21:51.240 to take care of this. No. Like, the doll is 0:21:51.280 --> 0:21:54.439 absolutely the uninterrogated character in this Like all of the 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:58.560 other characters have like these like explanations and like Bobby 0:21:58.640 --> 0:22:01.280 yagas like this crazy witch, but nothing about the fucking 0:22:01.320 --> 0:22:05.240 doll that is Like, this doll is very versatile in 0:22:05.320 --> 0:22:08.080 the roles they can fill in this story because it's like, 0:22:10.200 --> 0:22:12.840 I I love the doll, and I am picturing like 0:22:13.359 --> 0:22:15.800 kind of a Danny de Vito voice coming out of 0:22:16.600 --> 0:22:18.479 coming out of a doll to take to take care 0:22:18.520 --> 0:22:22.560 of the situation. I'm just I think the doll represents 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:26.199 financial privilege, but I'm not sure. Because you can, just 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:28.800 like your mom died, leave to here with this blessing 0:22:28.840 --> 0:22:31.280 where you don't have to do any work. You don't 0:22:31.280 --> 0:22:33.320 have to worry about anything because anytime you're worried, you 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:37.280 just fall back on it, stand inside and be hot. 0:22:37.680 --> 0:22:42.159 Yeah that's the moral. Yeah, yeah, morals are not great. Okay. 0:22:42.359 --> 0:22:45.320 She walked farther and another horseman gallop past. He was read, 0:22:45.440 --> 0:22:47.439 his clothing was red, and he rode a red horse. 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:52.280 The sun began to rise. Vasilisa walked all night and day, 0:22:52.440 --> 0:22:54.639 and only towards the next evening did she reach the 0:22:54.640 --> 0:22:57.879 clearing where stood the Baba Yaga's hut. The fence around 0:22:57.880 --> 0:23:00.800 the hut was made of men's bones, and the posts 0:23:00.840 --> 0:23:05.560 were decorated with human skulls instead of doorposts, where men's 0:23:05.640 --> 0:23:09.600 leg bones instead of shutters were arms. Instead of a 0:23:09.680 --> 0:23:14.600 lock was a mouth with sharp teeth. I'm getting the idea. Yeah, 0:23:16.000 --> 0:23:17.880 I would love if this description went on for ten 0:23:17.960 --> 0:23:21.920 bab pages. Like instead of a door knob, there there 0:23:22.000 --> 0:23:24.240 was a little There is a little vial of hair 0:23:24.960 --> 0:23:28.959 instead of a totally there's a fingernail instead of one 0:23:29.000 --> 0:23:32.639 of those things that goes on the window. The doorbell 0:23:32.720 --> 0:23:34.680