Koschey or Kaschey? Immediately I remember a film - a fairy tale called "Kashchei the Immortal", but modern philologists recommend writing "Koschey" as a more correct option.
When my grandmother Lena told me fairy tales as a child, I always thought, why does everyone hate Koshchei so much? It is clear that he is an enemy of good heroes, such as Ivan Tsarevich and his desire to break Koschey's egg is also quite logical, especially since he stole his bride. But why did he not please the same Baba Yaga? If there is no Koshchei in the fairy tale, this old woman is the embodiment of evil, ready to devour at least Vasilisa, even Ivashka; but as soon as Kashchei appears in the legend, she will feed the one who goes to battle with him, and sing, and steam up in the bathhouse. The feeling that Koschey is a foreign invader and our valiant evil spirits are ready to unite with goodies for a common victory. And indeed, there is such an epic "Koschey the Bogatyr". The essence of it is this, he was the strongest hero in Russia, he and his comrades freed people from captivity. His comrades betrayed him. They imprisoned the hero in a dungeon and chained him up. Gradually the hero began to forget who he was and where he came from, he began to call himself Koshchei, which means "skinny, thin." He only remembered the offense. He managed to free himself and seize power over those who enslaved him. He gathered an army from them and moved to Russia.
I found information that Koschey is the son of Chernobog, or even this is Chernobog himself. But Koschey is an East Slavic character, and Chernobog is the god of the Baltic Slavs, so here I consider pure fiction to be their relationship. Chernobog is also credited with paternity over Viy and Gorynych.
I also read this legend about the pagan gods. Allegedly, Koschey was a prisoner of Morena (Mary) in the Underworld and accidentally released Dazhbog. Koschey promised Dazhbog that he would forgive him for that three times. Dazhbog told about that Morena. She invited him to her palace and bewitched him, he fell in love with her without memory. Only except for Dazhbog, Morena concluded a secret alliance with Koschei. But Svarog, having learned about this, was angry with her and drove her away. She went to Koshchei, and Dazhbog still under the spell went to look for her. When he found it, he fought three times with Koschei and lost three times. But Koschey forgave him this. Only on the fourth did he beat Dazhbog and chained him to a rock. Dazhbog was saved by another goddess Zhiva, who gave him strength and defeated Morena. From the defeated and offended by Koshchei Morena, for not coming to her aid, he learned Dazhbog where his death was hidden. He found her on the World Tree in a chest, in a hare, in a duck, in an egg, and broke the needle. Only together with Koshchey the whole earth perished, the gods had to restore everything anew. The meaning of the legend is similar to a rethought tale about Ivan Tsarevich and the kidnapped Vasilisa. Only the girls in the legend Koschey did not kidnap, she came herself, and the one who was looking for her was enchanted, and not the kidnapped Vasilisa, as in a fairy tale.
There is also a version that Koschey used to be none other than Karachun, an evil god, to whom the longest night of the year is dedicated. On this night, he left the underworld trying to freeze as many people and animals as possible.
The word "koschey" is also mentioned in "The Lay of Igor's Host." It is connected with the Polovtsian Khan Konchak, when Igor is taken prisoner, he sits in the "koshcheevo saddle", Khan Konchak himself is called "the nasty koshchey."
Well, and the most unexpected, in my opinion, a certain English historian of religion who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, James George Fraser, compares Koschei with the biblical Samson. In his work Folklore in the Old Testament, he compares the two heroes, and talks about the reversal of the two roles of villain and victim. In particular, he says that if the Philistines wrote about Samson, then he would be just a villain, and Delilah would be an innocent victim. And the general Fraser noticed this, and Koschey and Samson are the leaders of their people, both have miraculous strength and cannot be defeated in the usual way, Samson kidnaps the Philistine Delilah and takes her as a wife and Koschey kidnaps girls from another nation, Samson reveals the secret of his strength to a woman and Koschey often tells how to kill the kidnapped girls, Koschey and Samson are captured and freed thanks to their strength.
Well, what do you think about this?
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