Who is Koschey the Immortal? Where is Koshchei's death hidden?

Well, dear readers of Likbez, Children’s Day is just around the corner, so today I propose for consideration an almost childish question - how to write a name correctly fairy tale character, or ?

To begin with, let us recall, as usual, a story with a biography: “or Koschei the Deathless, in the east Slavic mythology an evil sorcerer whose death is hidden in several nested magical animals and objects. In Russian fairy tales, Koschey takes the heroine to the ends of the world to his home, she finds out where his death is hidden; conveys the secret to his hero-savior, who achieves death, and Koschey dies.”

In Pushkin, if you remember, the name of this character is written with an a -: “...There Tsar Kashchei is wasting away over gold...”. Everyone has this mythological character. Eastern Slavs: a bony and evil old man endowed with immortality, the owner of enormous wealth, a king, a werewolf and a sorcerer, a kidnapper of beauties who starved them, etc.

The history of the origin and spelling of this stingy old man's estate remains largely unclear.

According to one hypothesis, one should write - from cost, bone, “bony.” Koshchei can also be associated with the verb ossify- freeze, harden, fall into numbness: “Koschey, the kidnapper of the red maiden-sun, personifies the winter clouds, because of which the earth becomes ossified, numb, and freezes.” Under the influence of Koschey's machinations, the heroes of fairy tales turn into stone, wood, ice - they ossify. Hence the Russian “blasphemous”, “sorcerer”, “to create blasphemies”.

According to another hypothesis, one should write - from cast- to bone or scold (scold). It is interesting that the Slavic “kostit” means not just “to vilify, blaspheme,” but also “to spoil, to cause harm.” By the way, this meaning is also preserved in the word “dirty” - intentional harm caused to someone. Indeed, in all fairy tales this old miser does nothing but “knock” - he does dirty tricks on the good characters.

There is another hypothesis that interprets the meaning of the name Koschey: it is considered to be borrowed from Turkic languages period of early Slavic-Turkic connections and correlates with the Turkic word koshchi - “captive”. This hypothesis is the only one presented in encyclopedic dictionary“Myths of the peoples of the world.”

According to Dahl's dictionary, at first it was Kashchei, which means “a vile, nasty dirty trick”, from the word “kast” - dirty trick. This is how Pushkin also wrote Kashcheya. And then they started writing Koschey - bony. Maybe by association with Baba Yaga's bone leg?

However, you can also write Kashchei - after all, after reading this “Educational Education Program”, you probably noticed the difference between the malicious, dirty old man - Kashchei and Koshchei - the bony miser.

Thanks for the help to the book “Images of East Slavic fairy tale» N. Novikova.

In Viktor Kalashnikov’s book “Russian Demonology” an attempt was made to systematize the heroes and plots of Russian folk tales. This is being done not because of the desire to create an encyclopedia of folklore, but in order to discern how, behind the layers of eras and cultures (Christianity, the secular state), the ancient Slavic epic, whose heroes were pagan gods and perfume.

Koschey the Immortal (or Kashchei) is perhaps the most mysterious figure in Russian fairy tales. Afanasyev, for example, believed that the Serpent Gorynych and Koschey the Immortal are, if not the same, then at least interchangeable characters: “As a demonic creature, the serpent in Russian folk legends often appears under the name of Koshchei the Immortal. The meaning of both in our fairy tales is completely identical: Koschey plays the same role of a stingy treasure keeper and a dangerous kidnapper of beauties as the snake; they are both equally hostile fairy-tale heroes and freely replace each other, so that in the same tale in the same version actor snakes are hatched, and in the other – Koschey.”

But is it possible to confuse a living mummy and a dragon? They are so different! And anyway, what the strange name- Koschey? What does it mean? Afanasyev believed that it comes either from “bone” or from “blasphemy” - witchcraft. Other scientists, inclined to see borrowings from the languages ​​of neighboring peoples in Russian words, believed that the name of the living skeleton comes from a Turkic word meaning “slave, servant.”

If a slave, then whose? After all, in Russian fairy tales the owner Koshchei is not mentioned. This living skeleton may be captured by Marya Morevna, but like a prisoner chained to the wall, he is not a servant at all. How could the Russian Koshchei have a Turkic name? What does his death mean, resting in a casket either under the treasured oak tree, or at the bottom of the sea? What does this have to do with animal helpers?..

In short, many questions arise, but there are no clear answers. Maybe Afanasyev was right after all when he elevated Koshchei’s name to blasphemy, that is, he called him a wizard. Well, really, who else could extend his life so much that people would call him Immortal? Of course, an almighty magician. Or a person who turned to demonic forces for help, like, say, Faust. But Koschey in fairy tales is not a wizard or a person at all; he himself, most likely, belongs to the demonic world. So Afanasyev’s explanation suffers from approximation and inaccuracy.

Perhaps the most interesting guess is that of L. M. Alekseeva, who wrote in “Aurora Borealis in the Mythology of the Slavs”:

“Undoubtedly, Karachun belongs to the single world of the dead and cold. He is supposedly considered a winter Slavic deity who retained the features of the personification of death. At the same time, Belarusian beliefs specify that Karachun shortens life and is the cause sudden death In young age. It is important for us that this image is associated with an objective and clear natural factor: Karachun is not only the name of an evil spirit, but also the name of the winter solstice and the holiday associated with it. To track the Sun, you need a certain scientific qualification, if not all, then at least some members of society (magi). In addition, the name of the deity introduces us to the circle of detailed plots of the East Slavic fairy tale: Karachun is one of the names of Koshchei the Immortal.”

That is, according to Alekseeva, Koschey is the god of death from cold, and the god, or rather demon, is very ancient. To defeat him, you need to spin the wheel of time back, as it were, to return to the very beginning of the world, when the Immortal was born. Then it is clear why the following appear successively in the fairy tale: a brown bear - the ruler of the forests, then birds - a hawk and a duck, which can often be seen in the northern tundra. Following them, inhabitants of the earth and air, appears an aquatic inhabitant, a fish, in this case a pike. Maybe once upon a time it was not a pike, but a completely different fish?

Cover of Viktor Kalashnikov’s book “Russian Demonology”.

Let's say a beluga whale living in the polar regions. If this is so, then in the fairy tale we move not only in space from south to north, from the zone of dense forests through the tundra to the polar seas, but also backwards in time - in the opposite direction along the path that our distant ancestors once took, fleeing the onset of the Great Ice Age. Simply put, fabulous animals point us to the north - to where the ancestral home of all Aryan peoples, Arctida, once existed.

Perhaps they paid tribute there with sacrifices to the evil god of severe cold Karachun, who was born at the very beginning of the creation of the world - from a golden egg laid by the miracle hen Ryaba. Then Karachun lost control - the cold became more and more unbearable, taking away everything more lives, and the time has come, having left the homeland, which was becoming covered with ice before our eyes, to follow the fish, following the birds to a distant continent and go further and further, escaping from Karachun-Koshchei, who is moving on the heels. They should have gone into the forests, under the protection of trees, and the southern fields, where the frost was not so severe.

It was an exodus from the ancestral home, from the roof of the world, where heaven and earth almost touch each other, where the myth of the Golden Egg originated. Therefore, going from north to south also meant moving from the distant past to the present and future.

Our assumptions are not at all as fantastic as they might seem at first glance. According to numerous legends, everything came from the golden egg: not only Heaven and Earth, but also the depths of the underground; not only a clear Day, but also a dark Night, not only Good, but also Evil. Following the logic of the myth, you need to go back to the very beginning of time in order to defeat Evil in its bud, while breaking... the needle. Why an igloo? In the book already mentioned, Alekseeva suggests that we're talking about about the spear - the main weapon northern peoples, with which they beat the sea beast and polar bear. And to this day, whales are hunted only with harpoons - large spears, or, if you prefer, needles.

Although the immortal demon of the cold, of course, is not a bear, not a walrus, or even a whale. You can’t take it with an ordinary harpoon; you need something more powerful. For example, a magic wand is the same magic wand that is spoken of in almost all fairy tales.

And again the question is - why not turn this magic rod against Koshchei in order to take his life by casting spells? Why does the rod need to be broken? Yes, for the simple reason that this rod, apparently, belonged, if not to Koshchei himself, then to the high priest of his cult. Only by destroying the rod can one cut off the thread of life of an ancient, but by no means immortal, demon. This is what Ivan did in the fairy tale, although Koschey was sure that he was not capable of reaching such wisdom with his mind. The immortal was sure that the Russian people had forgotten where they came from to the forests. But no, they didn’t forget: they remembered at the right moment, and then “karachun” came to Koschey - that is, the end.

There is another assumption about what the treasured Koshcheev’s needle is. The immortal is not quite alive, but not quite dead either, he seems to be in the middle of the path between this and this light, that is, he is practically the same as the walking Dead; their bodies were buried, but they rise from their graves and come as ghosts to their home to disturb their relatives.

The only way to protect yourself from the annoying dead was in a known way: at midnight, dig up their grave, find an invisible “Nav” bone and destroy it by breaking it, or, more accurately, burn it. And then the dead man calmed down and died completely. If the needle hidden in the egg is considered the “Navy” bone of Koshchei himself, then it is clear why death overtook him.

Perhaps in ancient times there was some kind of ritual that promised a person the acquisition of immortality. In any case, in the grave of the founder of the city of Chernigov (let’s not forget that the servants of Chernobog were called Chernigov in Rus'), Prince Cherny, excavated by archaeologists, the scene depicted in the fairy tale was found: a deadly needle in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare - in a treasured casket.

And here we come to an understanding of what immortality actually is. Is this a punishment or a blessing? The ritual of gaining immortality itself has long been forgotten, but its symbol has been preserved - immortelle flowers, about which, remembering his native village of Antonovka, Mirolyubov wrote: “In Antonovka it was customary to sow immortelle flowers on graves, special rough, dry to the touch flowers, yellowish, reddish and, it seems, , bluish, which could be picked and placed in a glass of water, and they could stand like that for months; if they were placed in a vase without water, they also stood for months. Apparently there was life in them, but it was as if there wasn’t.

Since I was still a boy at that time, I was interested in why the peasants preferred to sow them in the cemetery. “Old people” answered me that “that’s why immortelle flowers are flowers of dead relatives, because they are like dead ones even in life.” Old Trembochka, a woman in the village, like a healer, explained differently:

“The same flowers are blooming in the pit! They are from the pit, and everyone whom the pit takes away can communicate with us through those flowers. These flowers are like a line (border) between us and them, and we touch them here, and they touch them there. Death does not take them. Whether they are thwarted or not, for them life and death are one and the same. These flowers are without death.” Another woman who lived near the bridge over the Zheltye Vody river said: “So, if God made light, he took it and began to create the earth, but death did not want it. Then God mounted a horse and began to call death to battle, and she armed herself with all sorts of knives, iron claws, clubs, and a gun and went against God. The fight lasted for an eternity. Either God fights, or she, the damned one, and while God fought against death, He created in fits and starts, now this, now something else. God will create, but death will destroy!

Finally, God lay in wait for death when it was gaping and killed it. But, falling, Death grabbed onto bushes, grass, branches, and what it grabs will dry up. She also grabbed onto the immortelle flowers and began tearing them by the roots. God told them to grow stronger so that she could not tear them out, and the flowers grew around the lying death only so much that they covered it halfway, and God could not hit death so that it would stop moving! Then He said: “Well, then be without life and without death!” And the flowers remained like that forever. And they put them on the graves to announce to the deceased that “There is no Death! She was killed by God!” But since death has not yet stopped moving and is still killing people, flowers remind the deceased of life, and the living of death!”

Indeed, I had to observe later - the peasants did not like to keep immortelle flowers in the house. These were grave flowers. There was an almost religious attitude towards them. Having picked several of these flowers, I came home from the cemetery, where children gathered in the spring to play, and wanted to put the flowers in the water, but the servants, noticing them, took them away and threw them into the fire.

Well, this is probably best explanation the immortality of Koshchei, which is no longer life and death is unattainable; he was stuck between these two worlds and remained there until Ivan Tsarevich saved him from eternal torment and granted him the blissful oblivion of death.

If we consider Koshchei a slave, then he was a servant of his damned immortality. Still, he rather belonged to the other world, because he recognizes the appearance of Ivan by the smell of the living: “It smells like Russian bone!” For the dead, as we know, the smell of the living is intolerable, just as the smell of carrion is disgusting for the living. Ethnographer V. Ya. Propp in “ Historical roots fairy tale" wrote about this: "Ivan smells not just like a person, but like a living person. The dead, the incorporeal, do not smell, the living smell, the dead recognize the living by their smell... This smell of the living is in highest degree disgusted by the dead... The dead generally fear the living. No one alive should cross the cherished threshold.”

Hello, dear students!

Today I won’t take you for a walk, because the one we are going to meet today is no less powerful a sorcerer, and maybe even more so, than Baba Yaga. So, pour some tea, take the buns freshly baked in our oven with a baked cricket, listen to my story and look, - Zhouli waved her hand towards the stove, and everyone turned around and saw that there were pictures hanging on it.

I think everyone guessed that we would talk about Koshchei the Immortal. Most often it is believed that Baba Yaga and Koschey the Immortal are kind of friends. However, it is Baba Yaga who reveals the secret of how to get to Koshchei the Immortal and how to destroy him. Despite the fact that he has such a telling name - Immortal - his death exists. It is at the end of a needle, the needle is in the egg, the egg is in the duck, the duck is in the hare, the hare is in the chest, the chest, tightly chained, hangs on an oak tree (or is buried under an oak tree), which stands on an island in the middle of the sea-ocean.

However, in some fairy tales main role A magic horse plays in Koshchei's defeat.

Ivan fattened the foal in the green meadows, and it grew into a glorious horse. He rode on horseback for Marya and again took her away from Koshchei. Koschey tried to keep up with them, but now Ivan’s horse was even better than Koschey’s horse. Whether for a long time or for a short time, Koschey caught up with the fugitives and wanted to cut Ivan with a saber, but Ivanov’s horse hit Koschey and crushed his head. Ivan lit a fire and burned Koshchei at the stake, and threw his ashes to the wind

We will talk about magic horses in other lectures.
In another version, Ivan did not burn Koshchei, but finished him off with his club.

It turns out that in different fairy tales Are we talking about different Koschei? This reminds us of the situation with Baba Yaga.

What power does Koschey have?

Can turn into a flying snake or a black raven. So he quickly moves through the worlds and steals what he likes. And he likes beautiful girls and jewelry. Remember Pushkin? “There Tsar Koschey is wasting away over gold.” But no matter how many beauties he brought to him, not one agreed to marry him, and even the countless treasures did not seduce them.

Koschey masterfully wields the magic of transformation. Can turn anyone into anything.

Water gives Koshchei supernatural strength. He drinks three buckets at a time, and then he doesn’t care about breaking the 12 chains on which he is being held in Marya Morevna’s dungeon.

Let us now turn to the very name of this malicious and all-powerful old man.
The Old Slavonic word "kosh" ("kosht") meant "dry, skinny, thin in body." This word is close in meaning to the word “bone” and perfectly characterizes Koshchei himself: a short old man, so skinny that only his bones are visible. A walking skeleton.

Some researchers of Slavic myths believe that the image of Koshchei the Immortal and the Serpent Gorynych in Russian fairy tales are interchangeable: both love wealth and steal beauties. But Koschey is also endowed with other powers that are beyond the control of the Serpent Gorynych. So these are still different creatures.

There is a version that the word “koschey” goes back to “koschun”, which already means a sorcerer. Indeed, only an omnipotent magician, or a person who turned to demonic forces for help, like Faust, could become immortal.

Where Koschey lives, trees do not grow, birds do not sing, the earth is not fertile, and the sun does not send out its blessed rays. In the Koshchei kingdom there is always twilight. Everything is scorched, dried, frozen. What does this remind you of? Well, of course, winter, severe frosts that bind rivers and can kill all living things. It is fair to note that under Koshchei the Immortal could be hidden ancient god death from cold. And so he was. This is Karachun - evil spirit, shortening life, bringing death from cold. The same word is used to describe the winter solstice. Karachun - underground god, commanding frosts. His assistants: connecting rod bears that turn into snowstorms, and blizzard wolves.

The fact that Koschey is associated with cold is also indicated by the following facts gleaned from fairy tales. On the way to the kingdom of Koshcheev, the traveler first comes across a brown bear - the ruler of the forests. Following him are birds, in particular migratory birds, for example, the duck, which can be seen in the northern tundra during the summer nesting period. Next comes fish. Pike, but perhaps this is a later replacement, and earlier there was some fish from the northern seas, for example, beluga whale. Thus, the path goes from south to north. And it is in the north that Koschey the Immortal lives in his terrible and cold palaces.

What is immortality? Is this a blessing or a punishment? Perhaps in ancient times there was a ritual for achieving immortality. In any case, archaeologists, while excavating the grave of the founder of the city of Chernigov, Prince Cherny, found a scene depicted in fairy tales: a needle in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a treasured casket. The ritual of gaining immortality has been forgotten, but its symbol has been preserved - immortelle flowers. Rough and dry to the touch, yellowish, reddish. Whether they grow in the ground or are picked and placed in a glass of water - there is not much difference. They can stand without water and do not change their color. There seems to be life in them, and there seems to be no life. They prefer to plant such flowers on graves. The explanation is this: these flowers are like a border between the living and the dead. We touch them in this world, and the dead touch them in the next.

Maybe Koshchei’s immortality is like that? Life is not life, and death is unattainable. And he is stuck between two worlds and remains so until Ivan Tsarevich saves him from such eternal torment, because Koschey is still a being greater than that otherworldly world. He immediately smells the smell of a living person with disgust.

And although the image of Koshchei the Immortal is so unpleasant, it interests many researchers of Slavic mythology. One of these is Alexander Fomich Veltman (1800-1870) - a prolific writer, founder of the Russian genre science fiction, historian, folklorist, director of the Armory Chamber, academician. And although he is the son of a Swedish envoy, he became a true connoisseur and lover of Russian antiquity.

Well, how? Aren't you cold from such a story? If the cold gets through, our tea will quickly drive it away! So pour yourself another cup, and then run to rest. Homework will. What would it be like without him?

1. How many degrees of protection does death have? Tell us why exactly so much.

2. Tell who or what was subjected to Koshcheev’s spell of transformation and how this spell was broken.

3. Now dream up. You have entered the kingdom of Koshcheevo. What did you see there? What they were doing?

A long time ago, in one settlement of Orthodox Rus', there lived a beautiful maiden, Marya Morevna. Every young man who saw her was captivated by her beauty and amazed by her intelligence. There was no end to the matchmakers, but disappointment awaited each of them; Marya had a betrothed hero Nikita, nicknamed Kozhemyaka.

Once, when he was away, defending his native land, countless hordes of Kashchei the Immortal, the enemy of all living things, invaded the settlement, burned everything in their path, and took the women with them. Nikita, who returned soon, found only ashes and a mortally wounded defender, who told what had happened and rested in peace. And the Russian hero had no choice but to go to war against Kashchei in order to liberate his homeland and return his beloved…

Back in 1944, Alexander Rowe made a film for children. For current and future generations of builders and defenders of the Fatherland. He based the picture on many ancient folk tales and epics that grandmothers told their grandchildren. It is impossible to single out one story based on which the film was based. But it is possible to trace which heroes took part in the events described and how everything was carried out at that difficult time.

Nikita Kozhemyaka main character this film and a character in many Russian fairy tales. What distinguished him from other heroes was his habit of tearing raw bull skins to prove his strength. Which directly indicates the hero’s type of activity in everyday life. In most tales, he is associated with the legend of the victory over the Serpent, who captured the prince’s daughter and fell in love with her. The interesting thing is that there might have been historical prototype Kozhemyaki, who once beat the Pecheneg giant. He got his nickname when, in irritation, he tore the skins he was working on at that moment. In this film, Nikita confronted a more cult, in comparison with the Serpent (or dragon) in status in Russian folk tales hero Kashchei the Immortal.

Kashchei the Immortal chief negative character not only this particular film, but also a great many Russian beliefs and legends. The characteristic subtleties of the characteristics of this hero lie for the most part in the fact that the heart (which is also his death) is kept separately from Kashchei himself. Often the heart is a needle stored in an egg, an egg in a duck, a duck in a hare, a hare in a chest hanging on an oak tree, and that oak tree is on a mysterious island (usually Buyan). Breaking the needle is the only way to defeat a powerful enemy. Here, Kashchei’s heart is kept in an apple, reminiscent in appearance of a strangely shaped flour confectionery product. The apple is black. It hangs in a closed black flower, on an ebony tree growing on a black rock. Only a warrior without fear in his heart can get a black bun, because for others the flower is closed forever. The original point is that a person who breaks an apple turns to stone. Also, Kashchei is a powerful sorcerer and warrior, greedy for other people's gold. He is always depicted as a dry, repulsive-looking old man. Often the villain's source of vitality is clean and cold well water, which he can drink in buckets. In one of the most famous legends, Kashchei was initially kept imprisoned in the dungeon of a certain Marya Morevna.

Marya Morevna chief female character film. Mentions of her can be found in several fairy tales. The beautiful warrior princess in this case is a simple village beauty. However, judging by the signs of attention shown by a whole crowd of servants and other people, she comes from a noble family. But an army capable of protecting from a raid dark forces does not possess. Kidnapped by Kashchei, part of the film Marya pretends to be a sleeping beauty, waking up when she is put on her finger magic ring with transparent precious stone, or in the event of the death of the sorcerer who captivated her. Need to Special attention give to the above ring. There are at least two copies of it and find out the complete magical properties According to this picture, they were not possible. But in addition to restoring vitality and awakening from lethargic sleep the ring can stop the waterfall for a while, hiding the secret exit from Kashchei’s tower. It is curious that it can only be used once, since to achieve the effect the artifact must be thrown into the abyss. The ring itself is one of several magical objects appearing in the film. Along with the magic carpet and the cap of the hallucinogenic mushroom fly agaric. The latter was presented to Nikita Kozhemyaka by the episodic character the old man himself.

The old man doesn't always do it himself positive hero Russian fairy tales. Possesses magical powers and impressive physical strength, despite his small stature. In this film, he is assigned a small role as the donor of the Invisibility Cap, which is the hat of a large red fly agaric. What’s curious is that when he removed it from his own head, the old man immediately generated a new one for himself. Among other capabilities, the finger himself clearly demonstrated the ability to show in the surface of the water the events that happened before his eyes. Perhaps this has something to do with the consequences of taking raw mushrooms inside. The main characters needed the invisibility hat more than once, but it was lost due to carelessness, irretrievably for posterity. For example, Nikita used this item to save Bulat the joker.

Bulat the joker is Kozhemyaki's friend and main assistant. There is no reliable information about this fairy tale character. It is known that he was going to be executed in some distant Muslim country for attempting to steal a flying carpet. According to him, Bulat needed the above carpet in order to get to the kingdom of darkness and personally break the neck of Kashchei the Immortal, who enslaved his homeland, among others. However, their answers and tone to the judge’s questions suggest that Balagur could be disingenuous and he needed the magic carpet for secret and personal purposes. After miraculous salvation Nikita from the hands of the executioner, filled with a feeling of gratitude, he helps him deal with the evil characters in the film.

Thus, the plot of the tape goes through briskly according to ancient Russian folklore, without staying anywhere for a long time. You can see both pros and cons in this. Possible advantages are the originality and even in some cases the uniqueness of the resulting work, and the disadvantages are the fragmentary nature of the narrative. The script was implemented and brought to life, at that time, simply superbly. Let there be no sparkling fragments and iridescent explosions, large-scale carnage and realistic flights. But there were beautiful scenery and native landscapes that evoked a nostalgic atmosphere for childhood. And even though it was difficult to discern in Alexander Shirshov epic hero. But Georgy Millyar is one hundred percent Kashchei!

As a result, director Alexander Rowe turned out to be a chaotic film fairy tale, telling the story of a hero who defeated a villain and received as a reward not only a beautiful lover, but also the world of native land. This is a movie that immerses even an adult in a magical atmosphere of fairy tales, where simple and fair laws apply, and while watching it, time flies by. More than one generation has grown up watching the films of Alexander Rowe, and we can say for sure that they are no worse than the brilliant special effects of modern fantasy films.

Koschey the Immortal is not just a character from children's fairy tales - this folklore hero has many stories and even names. So who is he?

Where did Koschey come from: hypotheses of origin

In Slavic mythology, he had a “surname” Chernobogovich - after his father, Chernobog. Then he was not a symbol of evil, although he reigned in Navi - this underground kingdom can be considered an analogue of the Greek Hades and belonged to a host of dark deities. He controlled the souls (and even bodies) of the dead, and also had many spirits under his command. Researchers of myths claim that, despite his power, Koschey did not like battles and participated in a battle only once.

Having migrated into fairy-tale folklore, Koschey turned into evil sorcerer- he could be a king, sometimes just a sorcerer. As a rule, he kidnaps beauties.

Another of his incarnations is the husband of a witch, whose eyelids are always closed. To raise them, the strength of a dozen mighty warriors is needed. Obviously, from this legend he migrated to Gogol’s story about Viya, where he received his next name.

In any case, folklore Koschey is always the embodiment of evil and an antagonist, unlike Baba Yaga, who can also be an assistant to the hero.

Character from the point of view of scientists

The famous scientist James Frazer draws a number of parallels between the image of this folk hero and the famous Samson. They are united by miraculous strength and the fact that they cannot be defeated in a simple way, as well as a tendency to trust women. According to Fraser, these characters come from the same source, which he, however, does not establish.

Slavic ethnographers see in him the Lord of the Black Sun - a symbolic personification of the strength of the people and their power, that is, more of a patron than a pest.

One of the most interesting versions of the origin of the tales of Koshchei is associated with the marriage rites of the Slavs. To initiate a girl into married life, she was symbolically abducted (the custom has survived to this day). This gave rise to a certain generalized image of a kidnapper of girls, who took them to his kingdom (which was regarded as temporary death), and then returned them to the world of the living. According to this version, he is also not evil hero- only with the advent of Christianity, when the Slavs’ ideas about the world changed, Koschey also changed.

1. In fact, he is not completely immortal, he just dies in a needle, which is very difficult to get.

2. In Polish and Czech fairy tales, this character has a red beard.

3. His name comes from the word “bone”, since this hero was often depicted as a skeleton - or a very bony old man.

4. He can turn into a raven.

5. The symbol of Koshchei is his magic sword.

6. Being generally an unlucky gentleman, one day he will know love - this story is described in epics. The beautiful girl Marya reciprocates the sorcerer's feelings, but she is killed by the treacherous groom.

7. He may lose his strength if he goes for a long time without food, but one sip of water brings him back to normal.

8. And Koschey can turn an entire kingdom into stone as easily as putting frog skin on a person.