1 00:00:03,279 --> 00:00:05,640 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:10,400 Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and 3 00:00:10,480 --> 00:00:14,240 Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from 4 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas, 5 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:24,320 Speaker 1: and monsters in time. I almost hesitate to invoke the 6 00:00:24,400 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: name of Bobba Yaga in this episode. For starters, the 7 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:31,440 Speaker 1: old Hag may hear her name and seek me out, 8 00:00:32,000 --> 00:00:35,599 Speaker 1: dragging herself through the sky in a mortar, pushing her 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: way with a pestil, and erasing her path with a broom. 10 00:00:40,120 --> 00:00:42,560 Speaker 1: But more to the point, she is a complex figure 11 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:47,360 Speaker 1: in Russian folklore, similar to various witches and ogresses in 12 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:51,520 Speaker 1: other folk traditions, but also wholly unique and also ambiguous 13 00:00:51,600 --> 00:00:55,240 Speaker 1: at times. As such, I invoke her, knowing that she 14 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 1: may indeed return, perhaps for a full length episode of 15 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,320 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind in the future. As Andrea's 16 00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:05,880 Speaker 1: John's points out in the book Bobba Yaga, The Ambiguous 17 00:01:05,920 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 1: Mother and Witch of the Russian folk Tale, it is 18 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:13,120 Speaker 1: both accurate and incomplete to think of Bobba Yaga as 19 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: a mere witch. Certainly, all the hallmarks of the supernatural 20 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: hag are present. From grotesque descriptions of her body to 21 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:24,679 Speaker 1: her various magical powers, but she is also a creature 22 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:28,640 Speaker 1: that frequently desires human flesh, and so she is ogre 23 00:01:28,720 --> 00:01:31,880 Speaker 1: as well. Depending on the telling, she may take on 24 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: gigantic proportions. Folklorist Carol Rose mentions accounts in which she 25 00:01:36,840 --> 00:01:41,240 Speaker 1: drops her jaw to the ground and doomed traveler's venture inside, 26 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:46,399 Speaker 1: thinking they found a cave line with stones, stalactites, and stalagmites, 27 00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:50,720 Speaker 1: but she is also very humanoid in other depictions. John's 28 00:01:50,800 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 1: also points out that Bobba Yaga may serve different roles 29 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: in different tales. While she certainly does play the villain 30 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:00,000 Speaker 1: in many Russian fairy tales, she also fulfills the role 31 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:03,920 Speaker 1: of donor from time to time, a character who appears 32 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:07,520 Speaker 1: in a tale to provide the hero with magical assistance. 33 00:02:08,040 --> 00:02:12,760 Speaker 1: She was both cannibal and counselor. This Baba Yaga, and 34 00:02:12,800 --> 00:02:15,639 Speaker 1: of course, much may be said about Baba Yaga's hut, 35 00:02:16,160 --> 00:02:20,480 Speaker 1: A monstrous home for a monstrous being. You'll find it 36 00:02:20,520 --> 00:02:24,119 Speaker 1: deep in the forest, in a clearing, surrounded by fences 37 00:02:24,160 --> 00:02:30,440 Speaker 1: decorated with human bones, the skulls each retaining their fleshy eyeballs. 38 00:02:30,440 --> 00:02:33,520 Speaker 1: This wooden hut stands atop a pair of chicken legs, 39 00:02:33,880 --> 00:02:37,800 Speaker 1: or sometimes a single chicken leg, and famously answers to 40 00:02:37,840 --> 00:02:41,240 Speaker 1: the cry Hut, hut, stand with your back to the forest, 41 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:44,799 Speaker 1: your front to me. This aspect of her tail resonates 42 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:50,239 Speaker 1: with tremendous strangeness, according to Civilian Forester. In Baba Yaga, 43 00:02:50,360 --> 00:02:53,120 Speaker 1: the Wild Witch of the East, and Russian fairy tales, 44 00:02:53,600 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 1: the bird legged hut may symbolize her connection with the 45 00:02:56,760 --> 00:03:01,960 Speaker 1: Avian world. It may also illustrate the home magical mobility, 46 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,639 Speaker 1: allowing it to amble about the mysterious woods from one 47 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:09,119 Speaker 1: point to another, far from a fixed point of reference. 48 00:03:09,160 --> 00:03:13,040 Speaker 1: You can trust it is a place lost in the forest, 49 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: perhaps just as you are lost in the forest. Forrester 50 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: also points to mundane stilted houses as a possible inspiration 51 00:03:21,600 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: for the folk tale, but stresses that the spinning may 52 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 1: also be connected to rights and concepts of the passage 53 00:03:29,720 --> 00:03:34,400 Speaker 1: of time. Quote a spindle holding up a rotating house 54 00:03:34,760 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: where a frightening old woman tests her visitors and dispenses 55 00:03:39,320 --> 00:03:49,000 Speaker 1: wisdom suggests a deep ritual past. Tune in for additional 56 00:03:49,040 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: episodes of the Monster fact or the Artifact each week 57 00:03:53,760 --> 00:03:57,400 Speaker 1: as always. You can email us at contact at stuff 58 00:03:57,440 --> 00:04:08,200 Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your 59 00:04:08,240 --> 00:04:10,640 Speaker 1: Mind is a production of I heart Radio. 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