Russian folk tales abound with numerous folklore elements. Overseas distant kingdom, rivers of milk and jelly banks, a white-combustible stone, under which untold riches are hidden, or the mysterious Sin-Stone … Many readers are familiar with all these names from childhood. But did you know that initially many of these innocent elements of children's fairy tales had a completely different meaning and terrified our distant ancestors?
Take Kalinov Bridge, for example. At first glance, this is an innocent name that evokes an association with a wooden bridge decorated with blooming viburnum. However, in the legends of the ancient Slavs, the Kalinov bridge came from the word "heat", that is, to heat the iron white. The hero, who wants to prove his prowess, had to cross this bridge full of heat, here you can see a kind of reference to the Greek river Styx. Of course, it is physically impossible to cross the red-hot metal bridge. Therefore, "to cross the Kalinov bridge" actually meant "to go to the other world."
As the legend tells, the Kalinov Bridge is thrown across the Smorodina River, whose fruit and berry name can also confuse the reader. The name of the Currant River comes from the word "stench, stinking", that is, emitting a sharp unpleasant odor. And the Smorodina river stank because many corpses floated in its waters.
By the way, in pagan times, Slavic tribes often waged internecine wars, it also happened that the corpses of fallen enemies were thrown into water bodies. So the Smorodina River can be not only an artistic image, but also a reference to the gloomy events of past centuries.
A hut on chicken legs
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This mythical dwelling of the forest sorceress Baba Yaga is very often found in Slavic tales. The hut on chicken legs has not only a very exotic appearance, but also some rudiments of intelligence. In any case, she knows how to carry out the simplest commands, for example, to turn back and forth to the forest to the approaching hero. In some legends, a hut on chicken legs helps Baba Yaga to fight enemies, or it takes its owner into swampy swamps, helping her to escape. Where did such a poetic collective image come from?
According to one version, the hut on chicken legs is an ordinary storage room (storage room on high supports), which was built by a hunter to protect his property from animals. The word "kurya" in some dialects means "a small trickle", while noshka (originally this word was pronounced with the letter "sh") is a measure of the earth. Accordingly, a small house by a stream can be called a hut on chicken legs.
The second version of the origin of the term is much more interesting. It is believed that even before the arrival of the Slavs, wild tribes lived in the forests, practicing the so-called "log culture" - the custom of burying the dead in small wooden log cabins mounted on supports. Subsequently, the tribes died out or were exterminated by enemies, but the funeral houses remained. Now imagine the situation: an unsuspecting person walks through the forest and stumbles upon a kind of hut on chicken legs. Out of curiosity, he will look inside, and there - the decayed mummy of the deceased! It's no wonder to imagine Babu Yaga!
There is another version of the origin of the hut on chicken legs, also associated with funeral rites. Some Slavic tribes burned the deceased, having previously laid them on a wooden deck mounted on supports. During cremation, these supporting legs began to smoke, in other words, to smoke. Perhaps, it was from here that the belief about chicken (smoking) legs came from.
Gloomy Koscheevo kingdom
Koschey the Immortal, aka Chernobog, is one of the most powerful and mysterious characters in the Slavic pantheon. He could be compared with the Greek Hades (ruler of the afterlife), if not for one "but". Unlike Hades, Koschey the Immortal can still die if the hero manages to find and break a certain needle, enclosed in a chicken egg, in a golden casket.
It is not easy to visit Koshchei: this is exactly what you need to cross the Kalinov Bridge, which stretches across the Smorodina River. And to get to this bridge, the hero was usually helped by a special ball, presented by Baba Yaga, who lives in a hut on chicken legs. The ball gradually unwound, and brought the good fellow to the right place. Here, too, you can see a reference to the guiding thread of Ariadne, who helped Theseus get out of the labyrinth of the minotaur.
If it’s not easy to get into the kingdom of Koschee, then it’s almost impossible to get out of it alive! In any case, for this, the hero will need the help of a faithful comrade, which is usually an enchanted horse. It is not difficult to interpret this element of folk epics - after all, it was the fast horse in the old days that helped the warrior to escape, who accidentally fell into the environment of enemies.