Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of
Speaker 1: My Heart Radio. Hi, my name is Robert Lamb and
Speaker 1: this is the Monster Fact, a short form series from
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind, focusing in on mythical creatures, ideas,
Speaker 1: and monsters in time. I almost hesitate to invoke the
Speaker 1: name of Bobba Yaga in this episode. For starters, the
Speaker 1: old Hag may hear her name and seek me out,
Speaker 1: dragging herself through the sky in a mortar, pushing her
Speaker 1: way with a pestil, and erasing her path with a broom.
Speaker 1: But more to the point, she is a complex figure
Speaker 1: in Russian folklore, similar to various witches and ogresses in
Speaker 1: other folk traditions, but also wholly unique and also ambiguous
Speaker 1: at times. As such, I invoke her, knowing that she
Speaker 1: may indeed return, perhaps for a full length episode of
Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind in the future. As Andrea's
Speaker 1: John's points out in the book Bobba Yaga, The Ambiguous
Speaker 1: Mother and Witch of the Russian folk Tale, it is
Speaker 1: both accurate and incomplete to think of Bobba Yaga as
Speaker 1: a mere witch. Certainly, all the hallmarks of the supernatural
Speaker 1: hag are present. From grotesque descriptions of her body to
Speaker 1: her various magical powers, but she is also a creature
Speaker 1: that frequently desires human flesh, and so she is ogre
Speaker 1: as well. Depending on the telling, she may take on
Speaker 1: gigantic proportions. Folklorist Carol Rose mentions accounts in which she
Speaker 1: drops her jaw to the ground and doomed traveler's venture inside,
Speaker 1: thinking they found a cave line with stones, stalactites, and stalagmites,
Speaker 1: but she is also very humanoid in other depictions. John's
Speaker 1: also points out that Bobba Yaga may serve different roles
Speaker 1: in different tales. While she certainly does play the villain
Speaker 1: in many Russian fairy tales, she also fulfills the role
Speaker 1: of donor from time to time, a character who appears
Speaker 1: in a tale to provide the hero with magical assistance.
Speaker 1: She was both cannibal and counselor. This Baba Yaga, and
Speaker 1: of course, much may be said about Baba Yaga's hut,
Speaker 1: A monstrous home for a monstrous being. You'll find it
Speaker 1: deep in the forest, in a clearing, surrounded by fences
Speaker 1: decorated with human bones, the skulls each retaining their fleshy eyeballs.
Speaker 1: This wooden hut stands atop a pair of chicken legs,
Speaker 1: or sometimes a single chicken leg, and famously answers to
Speaker 1: the cry Hut, hut, stand with your back to the forest,
Speaker 1: your front to me. This aspect of her tail resonates
Speaker 1: with tremendous strangeness, according to Civilian Forester. In Baba Yaga,
Speaker 1: the Wild Witch of the East, and Russian fairy tales,
Speaker 1: the bird legged hut may symbolize her connection with the
Speaker 1: Avian world. It may also illustrate the home magical mobility,
Speaker 1: allowing it to amble about the mysterious woods from one
Speaker 1: point to another, far from a fixed point of reference.
Speaker 1: You can trust it is a place lost in the forest,
Speaker 1: perhaps just as you are lost in the forest. Forrester
Speaker 1: also points to mundane stilted houses as a possible inspiration
Speaker 1: for the folk tale, but stresses that the spinning may
Speaker 1: also be connected to rights and concepts of the passage
Speaker 1: of time. Quote a spindle holding up a rotating house
Speaker 1: where a frightening old woman tests her visitors and dispenses
Speaker 1: wisdom suggests a deep ritual past. Tune in for additional
Speaker 1: episodes of the Monster fact or the Artifact each week
Speaker 1: as always. You can email us at contact at stuff
Speaker 1: to Blow your Mind dot com. Stuff to Blow Your
Speaker 1: Mind is a production of I heart Radio. For more
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