In Baba Yaga’s Lair

Baba Yaga has allotted Vasilisa impossible chores but her magic doll promises it will be all right.

When Vasilisa went to sleep, her little wooden doll got to work. She summoned her feathered friends from the forests—sparrows, pigeons, birds, all—who came and sorted the good grain from the black. Soon the sack was filled and ready in a corner for when Vasilisa awoke the next morning.

Baba Yaga awoke, too, when the white horseman passed by the fence. With a great shriek, she summoned her mortar on to which she clambered and, with the pestle in one hand and the broom in the other, she stormed her way out. The sky was just beginning to light up and the eye sockets on the fence had stopped shining, Vasilisa noticed. A little while later, the red horseman rode past and the sun was beginning to come out.

Vasilisa swept the yard and cooked a big dinner. Remember, Baba Yaga could eat a whole horse and some more. By the time she finished, it had become evening and Vasilisa saw the dark horseman pass and the sky suddenly turning to night.

The tornado arrived and along with it, Baba Yaga on her mortar. The eye sockets on the skulls on the fence began to give out their eerie light and the hideous jaw unlocked itself for the witch. ‘So, little girl, have you picked out the grain, every single one?’ asked Baba Yaga as she sat down once again by the stove. ‘Yes, Grandma. Check if you like . . . there is not a single black speck.’

‘Humph . . .’ Baba Yaga was not very happy to see the sack of grain all ready. This meant she couldn’t eat the girl today! ‘Now get me my supper!’ she screeched. At this, Vasilisa brought the food she had cooked—which was enough to feed an army—and along with it, barrels of mead and wine.

The witch gulped down everything double quick and when she finished, turned to Vasilisa again. ‘So you managed to do everything I asked . . . Now there’s some more. There’s a sack outside in the yard that is full of poppy seeds and peas. Separate the two, every one of them, by tomorrow evening and if you don’t, I’m afraid I will have to eat you up, my dear!’ laughed Baba Yaga as if it were all a big joke. Then she threw herself on top of the still-hot stove and was soon snoring loudly.

Vasilisa, who got to eat only the leftovers, had saved a piece of bread for her doll, whom she fed as soon as Baba Yaga was asleep.

‘Tomorrow I have another impossible chore—separating poppy seeds and peas! She’s surely going to eat me,’ sobbed Vasilisa and the doll once again comforted her. ‘Don’t cry, dear Vasilisa! Say your prayers and go off to sleep now. Remember, the mornings are always wiser than the evenings.’

And while she slept, the doll called her furry friends—mice and squirrels—who came enthusiastically and sorted out the seeds and the peas. When morning arrived, Vasilisa woke to the same routine as the day before. The white and the red horsemen sped by and Baba Yaga went off someplace in her mortar. She was grateful to the doll who had now put the peas and poppy seeds in two separate sacks.

Vasilisa then got to work, cleaning the yard and the hut and making dinner for the witch. Before she knew it, she saw the dark horseman pass and it was night again. Baba Yaga was home.

‘I’m ravenous!’ she announced and flopped down near the stove. Vasilisa brought her the meat and wine, a meal fit for a royal feast. But the witch finished it all in a jiffy and looked at Vasilisa, licking her lips.

‘And what of that chore I gave you, my dear? If you haven’t finished it yet . . .’ Vasilisa quickly brought her the sacks. Baba Yaga’s green eyes turned red with anger. ‘What? It cannot be! How could you manage to do this? Answer me now!’

‘Please grandma, it’s only my mother’s blessings that helped me,’ said Vasilisa timidly.

‘I don’t want any blessed daughters here! Blessings will hurt my very bones. Get out now!’ shouted Baba Yaga.

‘But grandma, the light . . . How can I return to my stepmother’s without the light?’ asked Vasilisa, who thought quickly, smart girl that she was.

‘Ha . . . If it’s light they want, they shall have it,’ cackled Baba Yaga. She heaved herself up from near the stove and glided towards the door. Vasilisa followed.

‘Open wide, my tall gates. Unlock, my solid lock!’ ordered Baba Yaga. Once again, the jaw unlocked and the gate opened at the witch’s bidding. Baba Yaga pulled out a skull from the fence. The sockets were shining brightly. Taking a stick, she attached the skull to the top and gave it to Vasilisa. ‘Here is your light! Now take it to she who asked for it!’ The witch cackled loudly.

Thanking Baba Yaga and bidding her goodbye, Vasilisa made her way back home across the birch forest. It was not so difficult this time because she had the light. The forest was silent too.

When she reached home, she found her stepmother and her daughters sitting in the dark. From the day Vasilisa had been sent out into the night, there had been no light in the house as fires refused to burn.

On seeing Vasilisa with the skull, they had such a scare! ‘Get it away from us, you wicked girl,’ shouted her stepmother for the sockets and their glow seemed to burn holes into their very souls. The wicked woman and her daughters shrieked with fright and tried to run outside. But the skull’s glowing eyes followed them and burnt them to ashes.

The next morning, Vasilisa dug a hole in the ground and buried the skull deep inside the earth. She went back to the village and waited for her father. My father will come home one day, I’m sure of it, she told herself and hugged her wooden doll.