{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_28834/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_28834","id":"gutenberg_28834","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/28834","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Category: Russian Literature","Fairy tales -- Russia","Tales -- Russia"],"text":"Transcribed from the 1913 Thomas J. Wise pamphlet by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org.  Many thanks to Norfolk and Norwich Millennium Library,\nUK, for kindly supplying the images from which this transcription was\nmade.\n\n           [Picture: Manuscript of Yvashka with the Bear's ear]\n\n\n\n\n\n                                THE STORY\n                                    OF\n                       YVASHKA WITH THE BEAR'S EAR\n\n\n                      _Translated from the Russian_\n                                    BY\n                              GEORGE BORROW\n\n                                 LONDON:\n                     PRINTED FOR PRIVATE CIRCULATION\n                                   1913\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n\nThe tale of _Yvashka_; _or_, _Jack with the Bear's Ear_, is a great\nfavourite in Russia.  Its main interest depends not so much on him of the\nBear's Ear, or even his comrade, Moustacho, who angles for trout with his\nmoustaches, as on Baba Yaga.  This personage is the grand mythological\ndemon of the Russians, and frequently makes her appearance in their\npopular tales, but perhaps in none plays so remarkable a part as in the\nstory of Yvashka.  A little information with respect to her will perhaps\nnot be unacceptable to the reader before entering upon the story.  She is\nsaid to be a huge female who goes driving about the steppes in a mortar,\nwhich she forces onward by pounding lustily with a pestle, though of\ncourse, being in a mortar, she cannot wield the pestle without hurting\nherself.  As she hurries along she draws with her tongue, which is at\nleast three yards long, a mark upon the dust, and with it seizes every\nliving thing coming within her reach, which she swallows for the\ngratification of her ever-raging appetite.  She has several young and\nhandsome daughters whom she keeps in a deep well beneath her izbushka or\ncabin, which has neither door nor window, and stands upon the wildest\npart of the steppe upon crow's feet and is continually turning round.\nWhenever Baba Yaga meets a person she is in the habit of screaming out:--\n\n          \"_Oho_, _Oho_!\n    _I ne'er saw Russian wight till now_;\n    _But now the flesh of a Russian wight_\n    _I smell with nose and see with sight_.\"\n\nSuch is the Russian tradition about Baba Yaga, who is unlike in every\nrespect any of the goblins and mythological monsters of Western Europe,\nexcept perhaps in her cry, which puts one in mind of the exclamation of\nthe giant in the English nursery tale of Jack the Giant killer:--\n\n          \"_Fee_, _Fi_, _Fo_, _Fum_,\n    _I smell the blood of an Englishman_.\"\n\nIn the demon lore of the Turks, however, there is a ghostly being with\nwhich she seems to have considerable affinity.  This goblin is called\nKara Conjulos.  Kara Conjulos is a female, and lives at the bottom of a\nwell in a certain part of Constantinople, from which she emerges every\nnight and drives about the city in a cart drawn by two buffaloes.  She is\nmuch in the habit of stopping at caravansaries, going into the stables\nand breeding a confusion and a panic amongst the horses.  She has several\ndaughters, who occasionally accompany her in her expeditions and assist\nher in the commission of her pranks.  A certain learned effendi, in a\nmost curious Turkish book which he wrote about Constantinople, has a\ngreat deal to say concerning this goblin and her daughters, and amongst\nother things gives an account of a very bad night which he passed in a\ncaravansary at some little distance from the city owing to the intrusion\nof Kara Conjulos and her bevy.\n\nNow for the story of Yvashka, or Jack.\n\n                                                            GEORGE BORROW.\n\n\n\n\nTHE STORY OF YVASHKA WITH THE BEAR'S EAR\n\n\nIn a certain kingdom, in a certain government, there lived a peasant\nwhose wife bore him a son who had the ear of a bear, on which account he\nwas called Yvashka, or Jack with the Bear's Ear.\n\nNow when Jack with the Bear's Ear was beginning to attain his full growth\nhe used to walk in the street and endeavour to play with the children;\nand the child whom he seized by the hand, off he was sure to tear his\nhand, and whom he seized by the head, off he would tear his head.  The\nother peasants, not being able to put up with such outrages, told Jack's\nfather that he must either cause his son to mend his manners or not\npermit him to go out into the street to play with the children.  The\nfather for a long time struggled to reform Jack, but perceiving that his\nson did not improve he resolved to turn him out of doors, and said to\nhim: \"Depart from me and go wheresoever you please.  I will keep you no\nlonger in my house, for I am much afraid lest some misfortune should\nhappen to me on your account.\"\n\nSo Jack with the Bear's Ear, having taken leave of his father and mother,\ndeparted on his way.  He journeyed for a long time until he arrived at a\nforest, where he beheld a man cutting oaken billets.  He went up to him\nand said, \"Good fellow, what may be your name?\"\n\n\"Quercillo,\" replied the other, whereupon they became sworn brothers and\nproceeded farther.  Arriving at a rocky mountain they perceived a man\nhewing the rock, to whom they said, \"God help you, honest lad; and what\nmay your name be?\"\n\n\"My name is Montano,\" replied he.\n\nWhereupon they called him their brother, and proposed to him that he\nshould leave off digging the mountain and should consent to go with them\nforthwith.  He agreed to their proposal, and all three forthwith\nproceeded on their way, and journeyed for some time.  Arriving at the\nbank of a river they saw a man sitting, who had a pair of enormous\nmoustaches with which he angled for fish for his subsistence.  They all\nthree said to him, \"God help you brother in your fish-catching.\"\n\n\"Thank you, brothers,\" he replied.\n\n\"What may your name be?\" they inquired.\n\n\"Moustacho,\" he answered.  Whereupon they called him also their brother\nand invited him to join their company, which he did not refuse.  And so\nthese four journeyed on, and whether they journeyed long or short, far or\nnear, my tale will be soon told, though the deed was a long time in\ndoing.  At last they arrived at a forest, where they saw a cabin standing\non crow's feet, which kept turning here and there.  They went up to it,\nand said, \"Cabin, cabin, stand with your rear to the wood and your front\nto us.\"\n\nThe cabin instantly obeyed them, and they having entered it began to\nconsult how they should contrive to live there.  After that they all went\ninto the forest, killed some game, and prepared food for themselves.  On\nthe second day they left Quercillo at home to cook the dinner, whilst\nthey themselves went into the forest to hunt.  Quercillo having got ready\nthe dinner took his seat by the window and awaited the return of his\nbrethren.  At that moment came Baba Yaga riding on an iron mortar, which\nshe urged on with the pestle, whilst with her tongue lolling out of her\nmouth she drew a mark on the earth as she went, and entering into the\ncabin she said:\n\n    \"'_Till now ne'er a Russian wight_\n    _I've heard with ear_, _or seen with sight_,\n    _Now full clear I see and hear_.\"\n\nThen turning to Quercillo she inquired, \"Wherefore did you come hither,\nQuercillo?\"  Thereupon she began to beat him, and continued beating him\nuntil he was half dead, after which she devoured all the food which had\nbeen got ready, and then rode off.\n\nUpon the return of Quercillo's comrades from the chase they asked him for\ntheir dinner, and he, not informing them that Baba Yaga had been there,\nsaid that he had fallen into a swoon, and had got nothing ready.\n\nIn the very same manner did Baba Yaga treat Montano and Moustacho.  At\nlast, it coming to the turn of Jack with the Bear's Ear to sit at home,\nhe remained whilst his comrades went forth in quest of game.  Jack cooked\nand roasted everything, and having found in Baba Yaga's cabin a pot of\nhoney he placed a post by the perch, and having split it at the top he\nthrust in a wedge and emptied the honey upon the post.  He himself sat on\nthe perch, concealing behind him the post whilst he prepared three iron\nrods.  After the lapse of a little time arrived Baba Yaga and screamed\nforth:\n\n    \"'_Till now ne'er a Russian true_\n    _I've heard with ear_, _or seen with view_,\n    _Now I do both hear and view_.\"\n\n\"Wherefore have you come hither, Jack with the Bear's Ear, and why dost\nthou thus waste my property?\"  Whereupon she began to lick with her\ntongue about the post, and no sooner did her tongue arrive at the fissure\nthan Jack snatched the wedge from out of the post, and having entrapped\nher tongue he leaped up from the perch, and scourged her with the iron\nrods until she begged that he would let her go, promising that he should\nbe in peace from her and that she would never more come to him.\n\nJack consented to her prayer, and having set her tongue at liberty he\nplaced Baba Yaga in a corner whilst he himself sat by the window awaiting\nhis companions, who soon returned and imagined that Baba Yaga had acted\nwith him in the same manner as with themselves.  But perceiving that he\nhad the food all ready prepared they were much astonished thereat.  After\ndinner he related how he had dealt with Baba Yaga, and laughed at them\nthat they were unable to manage her.  At last, wishing to show them the\ndrubbed and beaten Baba Yaga he led them to the corner, but there she was\nno longer.  So they resolved to go in pursuit of her, and having arrived\nat a stone they lifted it up and perceived a deep abyss, down which they\nthought of descending.  But as none of his companions had courage enough\nto do this, Jack with the Bear's Ear consented to go.  So they began to\nconstruct a cable, and having made a canoe for him to sit in they let him\ndown into the gulf.\n\nMeanwhile Jack commanded them to wait for him a whole week, and provided\nduring this time they received no intelligence of him to await no longer.\n\"If I be alive and pull the rope draw up the canoe provided it be light;\nbut if it be heavy cut the rope in order that you may not draw up Baba\nYaga instead of me.\"  Then having bid them farewell he descended into the\ndeep subterranean abyss.\n\nHe remained there for a long time.  At length he arrived at a cabin,\nwhich having entered he beheld three beautiful damsels sitting at their\nneedle and embroidering with gold, and these were the daughters of Baba\nYaga.  As soon as they perceived Jack with the Bear's Ear they said,\n\"Good youth, what has brought you hither?  Here lives Baba Yaga, our\nmother, and as soon as she arrives you are a dead man, for she will slay\nyou to a certainty; but if you will deliver us from this place we will\ngive you information how you may save your life.\"\n\nHe promised to conduct them out of that abyss, and they said to him, \"As\nsoon as our mother shall arrive she will cast herself upon you and begin\nto fight with you, but after that she will desist and will run into the\ncellar, where she has two pitchers standing filled with water; in the\nblue pitcher is the water of strength and in the white that of weakness.\"\n\nScarcely had the daughters of Baba Yaga concluded their discourse when\nthey heard their mother coming on the iron mortar driving with the\npestle, whilst with her tongue lolling out of her mouth she drew a mark\nas she went, whereupon they acquainted Jack.  Baba Yaga having arrived\nscreamed out:\n\n    \"'_Till now ne'er a Russ have I_\n    _Heard with ear or seen with eye_,\n    _Now do I both hear and spy_.\"\n\n\"For what are you come hither, Jack with the Bear's Ear?  Do you imagine\nto disturb me here also?\"\n\nThen casting herself suddenly upon him she began to fight.  Both combated\nfor a considerable time, and at length they fell upon the earth.  Baba\nYaga jumped up and ran into the cellar, whither Jack likewise rushed\nafter her, and she without examining seized the white pitcher and Jack\nthe blue one, and both drank; after that they went out of the cellar and\nrecommenced their combat.  Jack having overpowered her seized her by the\nhair and beat Baba Yaga with her own pestle.  She began to entreat Jack\nto take pity upon her, promised to live at peace with him, and that very\nmoment to depart from the place.  Jack with the Bear's Ear consented\nthereto, and ceased beating Baba Yaga.\n\nAs soon as she was departed he went to her daughters, thanked them for\ntheir information, and told them to prepare to leave the place.  Whilst\nthey were packing up their things he went to the rope, and having pulled\nat it his companions instantly let down the canoe, in which he placed the\neldest sister, and by her sent word to them to draw them all up.  Jack's\ncomrades having drawn up the damsel were much astonished at the sight of\nher, but having learned from her the whole affair they hoisted up her\nother sisters.  At last they let down the canoe for Jack, but he having\nthis time stowed into the canoe many clothes and a great deal of money,\nand having likewise seated himself therein, his comrades feeling the\nweight imagined that it was Baba Yaga who sat there, and cutting the rope\nleft poor Jack in the abyss.  Thereupon they agreed to marry the damsels,\nand lost no time in so doing.\n\nIn the meantime Jack with the Bear's Ear walked for a long time about\nthis abyss seeking for an outlet.  At last by good fortune he found in\nthe gloomy place an iron door, which having broke open he proceeded for a\nlong time in the same darkness; he then beheld a light at a distance, and\ndirecting his course straight towards it he emerged from the cavern.\nAfter this he determined to seek his comrades, whom he soon found, and\nthe whole three were already married.  Upon seeing them he began to ask\nthem why they had left him in the hole.  His comrades in great terror\ntold Jack that it was Moustacho who had cut the rope, and him Jack\nimmediately slew, and took his wife to be his own.  Then they all lived\ntogether, and acquired great riches.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n               Printed for THOMAS J. WISE, Hampstead, N.W.\n                   _Edition limited to Thirty Copies_.","title":"The Story of Yvashka with the Bear's Ear","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":2484}