“What do you do here?”
Without waiting for his reply, Baba Yaja laid on him with her pestle,
and beat him until he hardly had any life left in him. Then she ate the
dinner he had got ready for his companions, got into her mortar, and
rode off. Dubunia lay for some time on the ground. Then he got up, tied
up his head with a handkerchief, and sat down, groaning, till his
companions came home.
“Where is the dinner?” said they.
“I have been ill,” answered Dubunia, “and have been too unwell to get it
ready.”
The next day Gorunia was left to keep the hut and get the dinner ready.
He cooked the food, and waited for his friends to come back, when, all
of a sudden, who should come in but Baba Yaja.
“Ho, ho!” said she, “I smell Russian flesh. What are you doing here?”
she asked, turning to Gorunia.
Without giving him time to reply she commenced to beat him with the
pestle. Then she ate up all the food he had ready, got into the mortar,
and rode away. When his friends came home Gorunia told them what had
happened.
On the third day Usunia stayed at home, and Baba Yaja made her
appearance again, and treated him as she had his companions.
At length it was Ivashka’s turn to keep house. His comrades went out to
hunt in the wood, and Ivashka got the dinner ready. Looking about the
hut he found in it a jar of honey. Then Ivashka took an axe and split
open one of the posts of the hut, and putting a piece of wood in at the
top he kept the crack open. Then he took the honey and poured it all
over the post and in the chink. After that he got three iron rods, and
then he sat down to await Baba Yaja’s coming. He did not wait long, for
she came riding to the hut in her mortar.
“Ho, ho!” cried she, as she entered, “I smell Russian flesh. What do you
here?” said she, turning to Ivashka.
Just then, however, she smelt the honey, and, going to the post, she
commenced to lick it with her long tongue. She licked all the honey off
the outside, and then put her tongue in the crack, to get the honey out
that was there. Then Ivashka suddenly pulled out the piece of wood that
held the post asunder, and Baba Yaja’s tongue being held fast, she could
not get away. She screamed and struggled, but could not free herself,
and Ivashka, taking his three iron rods, commenced to beat her with all
his strength. He beat her till he was tired; and then, as she begged him
to have mercy on her, and promised that if he would let her go she would
never trouble him more, he set her free.
“Stop there,” said he, putting her in a corner of the cabin. So he sat
down and waited for his companions to come home. Towards evening they
came, and how much were they surprised to find that Ivashka had the food
cooked and ready for them! When they had eaten he told them how he had
served Baba Yaja, and how he had beaten her and put her in the corner of
the hut. When they went to look for her, however, she was nowhere to be
seen. While they examined the place to find how she could have escaped,
they discovered a large stone in the ground. Lifting it up they found
there was a deep pit below. They wished very much to know what was in
this place, but none durst go down, till Ivashka said he would go. So
they made a rope and let him down.
“Wait for me,” said Ivashka; “but if I do not come back at the end of a
week, know then that you will see me no more. When I want to come up I
will pull the rope.” So he took leave of his companions, and they let
him down. When he arrived at the bottom of the pit he found himself in a
strange country. He went on for some time until he came to a hut, and,
going in, he found three girls who sat sewing with gold thread.
“What do you want?” said they, when they saw Ivashka with the Bear’s
Ear. “What has brought you here? Baba Yaja, our mother, lives here, and
if she sees you she will certainly kill you. We will, however, tell you
how you may save your life if you will take us to the upper world.”
Ivashka promised to do what they asked.
“When our mother comes in,” said they, “she will run at you and attack
you. When you have fought for a time she will leave you and go to the
cellar. There are two jars full of water: the one is white and the other
is blue. The white jar contains the water of weakness, and the blue jar
the water of strength. If you drink the water in the blue jar you are
saved.”
The girls had scarcely finished speaking when Baba Yaja was heard coming
to the hut. She came riding in the iron mortar, which she drove along
with the pestle, while, with her tongue, she swept out the mark made by
the mortar as it passed over the ground.
“Ho, ho!” said she, “I smell Russian flesh. Why do you come here?” she
went on, turning to Ivashka with the Bear’s Ear. “What do you want?”
With that she rushed upon him, and they fought together until they were
so tired that they fell to the ground. Then Baba Yaja, getting up, ran
to the cellar for the water, and Ivashka went after her. Baba Yaja, in
her hurry, took up the white jar and drank the water, and Ivashka drank
that in the blue jar. Then they began to fight again. At length Ivashka
got the better of her, and taking her pestle he beat her with it till
she begged him to have mercy on her. Still Ivashka would not stop till
she promised him she would never do him any injury, and would leave that
place as soon as he released her. So he let her go.
Ivashka went to the three daughters and told them to get ready and go
with him to the world above. Then he went to the rope, and, calling to
his companions, got them to let down a large basket. He told the eldest
daughter to get into it, and then, on Ivashka’s pulling the rope, his
companions drew the basket up. They were very much astonished when they
found a beautiful girl in the basket instead of Ivashka, but she told
them all that had occurred, and they let the basket down again. So the
second and the third daughters were drawn up. Then they let down the
basket again, and Ivashka filled it with gold and silver and fine
clothes, which he had found in Baba Yaja’s hut. When the men commenced
to draw the basket up they wondered why it was so heavy, and they
thought that Baba Yaja herself must be in it. So they cut the rope and
let the basket and all the things fall down to the bottom, and left
Ivashka down below.
For a long time he wandered about seeking his way to the upper world. At
length he found an iron door in the rock, and on opening it and looking
in he saw a long passage. So he went on and on till at last he came out
in the upper world. Then he went to seek his friends. When he came to
them he found that they had given him up as dead, and had married the
three daughters of Baba Yaja.
“Why did you leave me at the bottom of the pit?” asked Ivashka; “and who
was it that cut the rope?”
They told him that Usunia had done it, and Ivashka was so angry that he
killed him on the spot. So Ivashka married Usunia’s wife, and he and his
companions lived together for many years in great happiness.
------------------------------------------------------------------------