Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part B

These are from the Russian Fairytales by W. R. S. Ralston

The Warlock: This story is about an old man, known to the village as a warlock, who gives his three daughter-in-laws orders for after his death. They are to look after him for three nights and that nobody should wear a cross in his wake. The first night, he wakes from his coffin and asks the daughter-in-law if she is there and spinning wool. She becomes so frightened that she doesn't answer and the man's ghost strangles her. The same thing happened to the second daughter. The third was smarter and wore her cross. When the ghost came after her the third time, she lays the cross on him and he falls dead. In his coffin, the family finds a ton of money that the father was wanting to take with him.

Russian Village

The Witch Girl: This is a story about a town with a strange and terrible custom. There is a witch girl who come around every night and the house she choses must have every member put themselves in coffins the next day, because they are to die. Basically, a man comes in and defeats this which and helps the chosen house survive.

I wrote about these stories because I thought they were sad and gruesome, like many other Russian Fairytales. I want to give one of these stories a happier ending in my retelling.