Once upon a time there was nothing; there was only the heaven above,
and water beneath. Then God journeyed [in a boat] upon the water and
saw a vast, vast crust of hard foam, on which sat the devil. God
asked him: 'What art thou?' 'I will not converse with thee,'
replied the wicked one, 'unless thou takest me into thy boat.' God
promised, and heard in reply: 'I'm the devil.' They both journeyed
on without conversing together at all, till the devil began: 'How
very nice and beautiful it would be, if there were firm land in the
world!' 'There shall be,' answered God; 'go down into the depth of
the sea and bring up a handful of sand; I will make the land from
it. When thou descendest, and art about to take the sand, say these
words: "I take thee in the name of God."' The devil didn't wait
long, but was immediately under the water. On the bottom he reached
after the sand with both hands with these words: 'I take thee in my
own name.' When he came up to the top he looked with curiosity at
his closed fists, and was astonished at seeing that they were empty.
But God, observing what had happened to him, consoled him, and told
him to go down to the bottom once more. He did so, and as soon as he
began to grub into the sand in the deep, he said: 'I take thee in
his name.' However, he brought up only as much sand, as could get
under his nails; God took a little of the sand and firm land formed
itself, but only as much as was required for a bed. When night came,
God and the devil lay down side by side on the firm land to pass the
night. As soon as our Lord God fell asleep, the devil pushed him
towards the east, in order that he might fall into the water and
perish. In the direction in which he pushed him, there did it become
land for a long way. The devil tried pushing him towards the west,
and on that side the land extended far. A similar circumstance
helped to form land also on the other sides of the world.
As soon as God had made the land, he ascended to heaven. The devil,
not liking to stay without him, followed in his track. Now he heard
how the angels praised God in hymns, and began to feel annoyed, that
he had no one to rejoice at his arrival. He went up to God and
whispered in his ear: 'What must I do, that I may have such a
multitude?' God answered him: 'Wash thy hands and face, and sprinkle
the water behind thee.' He did so, and there came into existence
such a multitude of devils that the angels and saints no more had
sufficient room in heaven. God observed what an injury there was
from this to his own. He summoned St. Ilya, and ordered him to let
off a storm of thunder and lightning. Ilya was glad at this; he
roared, thundered, and lightened with a tempest, and poured rain for
forty days and nights, and along with the great rain the devils also
fell from heaven on to the earth. At last there were no more wicked
ones, and angels also began to fall. Then God ordered Ilya to stop,
and wherever any devil struck the ground at the time that he fell,
there he remained. From that time to this bright little fires have
darted about in heaven, and only now fall upon the earth.
_LITTLE RUSSIAN STORIES._
(FROM SOUTH RUSSIA.)
Here again Mr. Ralston informs us in his preface that he 'has been
able to use but little the South Russian collections of Kulish and
Rudchenko, there being no complete dictionary available of the
dialect, or rather language, in which they are written.' He has,
however, given a long and interesting story from the Ukraine, which
I find also in Erben, the 'Norka.' One of Erben's South Russian
stories is too closely identical with a pretty tale from the
government of Voronezh, given by Ralston (p. 63), for me to give it
a place here. All the other South Russian stories in Erben's
collection I have translated, and only wish they had been more
numerous.
The tales of Snake Husbands always appear to have an evil end,
though the two that I have translated do not conclude so touchingly
as the beautiful Great Russian story, 'The Watersnake' (Ralston, p.
116). Certainly the science of comparative mythology cannot be
considered as having its data complete, until Slavonic folklore has
been thoroughly investigated and analyzed.
In No. 28 an old friend will be discovered in a very rustic dress.