Baba yaga

It is one of the most famous urban legends in Russia. This story has been told in Russia for a long time. It is a story based upon an old witch. Baba means "old lady." The fear of Baba Yaga started after the 12th century only. Before that time period, Baba Yaga was portrayed as a person who did good to the people of their surroundings. Because during that period of time, old people were considered as leaders or wise people of the village. They were also known to be the saviors of their culture. They were also considered to have some magical powers.

After the 12th century, people started realizing that magic could also be used for bad purposes. So they started portraying the old women as bad people. One of the old ladies among them is Baba Yaga. This is one of the popular origin stories for Baba Yaga. According to the stories, it is said that Baba Yaga lives in a dense forest in a tree house. The house would be covered with a fence, which would be made out of human skulls. It is also said that the basement of the house would be made out of chicken legs. With the help of the legs, the house will move to different parts of the forest. The house of Baba Yaga cannot be found easily. Even if someone finds it out, they need to answer the questions asked by Baba Yaga or else they will be killed.

If a person answers the questions, then Baba Yaga would give many presents and answer the questions raised by the person. Baba Yaga, like other witches, will fly to many places, but he is said to travel in variously designed sticks. While traveling on the stick during the night, Baba Yaga would kidnap small children from the village and bring them back to the house to eat them. While taking a look into the people who survived after facing Baba Yaga, I came across a fairy tale named Vassilisa the Brave. Vasilisi is a small girl who lives with her parents.

After some days, the mother of the girl fell ill. When she was on her deathbed, she gave Vasilisi a toy and told her to feed it and give water to it every day. The mother also said that the doll would listen to her if she fed it regularly. The doll also began performing all of the tasks assigned to her by Vassilisi. Then the father got married to another woman. That woman already had two children. The stepmother started giving more work to Vassilisi and started torturing her.

Years passed and many youngsters in the village wanted to marry Vassilisi, but the stepmother would not allow any of them to marry her. The stepmother was so angry because no one was ready to marry any of her daughters. So, with the plan of killing Vassilisi one day, she turned off all of the lights in the house and told Vassilisi to fetch fire from the baba yaga’s house for their home. Though Vasilisi was so scared, she took the doll with her and went into the forest in search of the baba yaga’s house.

She answered all of Baba Yaga's questions, and then Baba Yaga offered fire in the form of a skull-shaped stick. Baba Yaga also said to her that if people with bad intentions touch that, they will burn in fire. After hearing all of that, Vasilisi returned home. Everyone in the home was surprised upon her arrival. The stepmother and the daughter touched the stick. All of a sudden, they were turned into ashes. So Vasilisi dug a hole in the backyard and buried the stick deep in the ground. She then flew to another village to start a new life.