Since childhood, we have read about the formidable Scandinavian gods Thor and Odin, the beautiful nymphs of Ancient Greece, about Slavic gobies, water and kikimors or eastern dragons. Myths, legends, sagas and myths - make you admire and empathize.
Baba Yaga and Koschey the Immortal
The ancient Slavic people are rich in legends, but they are much less known in the world, they are not studied, like, for example, ancient Greek or Indian. Meanwhile, Slavic culture in this area is worthy of attention.
One of the main ladies of our fairy tales is Grandma Yaga, who lives in a creaky hut on chicken legs. More often in fairy tales and films, she appears as an evil old woman in tattered clothes with long clumps of gray hair. This is not actually the case.
Little-known “fact” from her biography: it turns out that she is the daughter of the ruler of the afterlife kingdom Viy and the Raw Earth. According to legend, the souls of the dead gather near the river with the beautiful name Smorodinka. For forty days they await God's judgment, at this time much depends on Baba Yaga.
The old woman determined where to go to human souls after death - to heaven or hell. With the help of magic scales, she weighed a person's actions. If the good ones outweighed the scales, Yagovna revealed a secret: in no case should you drink water from Currant. If the thirst was intolerable, it was possible to quench it from the spring, which was in the nearest grove.
If a person does not drink muddy water from the river and is not lazy to go to the spring, then he goes to heaven. If he quenches his thirst in the river, he is born again and undergoes serious trials, so that next time he will be wiser.
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We can conclude that Baba Yaga is an ambiguous image. For good people, she is kind and fair, helps the soul to go to heaven, for the lazy, evil and greedy - a strict judge. She also helped physicians, midwives, knew how to manage rains and blizzards, and protected the disadvantaged.
Another frequently encountered character in Slavic fairy tales is Koschey the Immortal. He was the youngest son of Chernobog. Got the opportunity to control the souls of the dead, having mastered the dark forces.
The ancient legends of Slavic mythology connect Koschei, the ruler of the afterlife, with the Flood. As you know, his death was at the tip of a needle hidden in a golden egg. Dazhdbog, the patron saint of fertility and sunlight, broke an egg, destroying the villain.
The revenge of the Black Gods for the death of Koshchei was terrible. A battle began between the forces of evil and good. The damp earth shook, its waters overflowed the banks and flooded the land with stormy streams.
The adherents of the dark forces turned into high mountains, the light ones hid from the flood in a huge ark. Only three years later, the water left and life on Earth continued.
Scandinavian sagas
The main one in the pantheon of Scandinavian gods is Thor. An interesting story is connected with his wife, the fertility goddess Seth.
She had long, thick and blond hair, the object of her pride. The god Loki was jealous of the strength and power of her husband Thor (his half-brother), and decided to harm him in a strange way. At night he cut the goddess's luxurious hair, when she woke up and realized what had been done to her, she screamed. Thor guessed who could have done this and in a rage rushed to look for his brother.
The god of fire, pleased with his deed, was resting in the green of the trees, when the terrible Thor appeared in his anger, with bloodshot eyes. He threatened with cruel reprisals for insulting his wife. Locke begged for mercy, said that he would fix everything and return Sif to her luxurious braids. Thor knew that even such a notorious liar would not dare to break his oath, and let him go.
The frightened Lok rushed to the dwarves, who were skilled craftsmen, among whom the Ivaldi brothers were especially famous. They gladly took up this business and in a few hours the order was ready. Lovely long hair was made of pure gold, fine and fluffy. They had an amazing feature: if you attach them to your head, they begin to grow like real ones. So the goddess became the owner of the most beautiful hair in the world.
Ancient China is home to amazing myths
In Beijing, there is the Forbidden City, a huge complex with an area of more than 700 thousand square meters. m. Today, tourists have access here, but in the past it was possible to part with your head if you entered the territory without permission.
This place is covered with legends. According to one of them, Emperor Zhu Di had a dream, he saw four watchtowers. The emperor ordered to build towers in his city in a hundred days. The first month was drawing to a close, but the architect could not develop a plan for the structures. Desperate and already almost said goodbye to life, he wandered dejectedly through the streets of the city and came across a trader of grasshoppers. The architect bought an insect cage and was amazed to see that its structure was the perfect model of a tower.
The architect quickly developed a project, and the towers were erected according to it. Zhu Di was satisfied with the building generously and rewarded the builders. It turns out that the old man who sold the grasshoppers was the carpenter god Lu Ban.
Ah, Tamara, why didn't she save the fire?
In Armenia, everyone knows the legend about the beautiful but unhappy love of the tsar's daughter Tamara and an unknown young man.
This happened during the reign of Artachez. He had a daughter Tamara, the fame of her beauty spread far beyond the kingdom. Kings of Media and Syria, rulers and noblemen of other countries wooed her. Artashes was afraid that his daughter might be kidnapped before he found her a worthy husband.
The ruler ordered to build an impregnable palace for the princess, only women could serve her, so as not to disturb the princess's peace of mind. The Golden Palace was erected on a lonely island in the middle of Lake Van.
But the father did not know that Tamara's heart was already taken - she loved a beautiful and brave young man. Unfortunately, he was of an ordinary origin, from a poor family, it was impossible to even dream of a wedding.
When the girl was settled on an acute food, the guards strictly watched so that uninvited guests did not approach the palace. The young man suffered, but he could not help it. Every evening he came ashore in anguish and looked into the darkness, until one day he saw that someone had lit a fire on the island.
He realized that it was Tamara giving him a signal and swam. He almost drowned, but love gave him strength and the young man managed to reach the island. After spending the night with his beloved, at dawn he swam back.
How long the dates lasted is unknown, but one day the secret was revealed. The angry king ordered the recalcitrant daughter to close in the palace, and in the evening to light a fire on the shore.
The young man saw the fire and, not suspecting anything bad, swam to the island. When I was in the middle of the way, the fire disappeared - the fire was extinguished by the guards. The unfortunate man swam for a long time in the dark, not knowing the direction, with a reliable search for even a small spark of light, but in vain. His last words were "Ah Tamar".
The beauty was imprisoned in her palace, she mourned her beloved until the end of her days, without removing the black scarf from her head. In memory of their great love, the inhabitants named the island on Lake Van, where the captive, Akhtamar, suffered.
Fire breathing dragons
The only mythological creatures that spew fire are dragons. When they are mentioned, China or other countries of Southeast Asia are represented, but they are often found in the legends of European peoples.
Bloodthirsty dragon Nucker - "Englishman", lived in a pit filled with water in West Sussex County. He attacked domestic animals and people, first strangled the prey, then tore it apart and ate it. With a blow of his tail, he could break a small tree, his terrible roar was heard throughout the area, frightening the local residents. The people suffered from this, and the city authorities offered a great reward to anyone who tried to deal with the monster. The only one who responded to the call was a village guy named Jim, he told the mayor about his plan.
They made a huge pie, to which a potent poison was added. In a horse-drawn cart, Jim drove the poisoned treat to the pit. Naker ate it, ate it on a horse and cart, and after a while died. Jim chopped off the head of the dead monster and freed the inhabitants from eternal fear for their lives.
Legends and myths are not only interesting, but also informative. As scholars of folklore say, myths do not arise from scratch, they have a real history under them, which then becomes overgrown with incredible details. You can believe it - who has not met Baba Yaga or a couple in love who were separated by their relatives?
