The best stories about Koshchei the Immortal

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

Tales. What does this familiar and understandable word for every person say? Probably about those stories that my mother once read or my grandmother told at night. Fairy tales are closely associated with a soft pillow and a warm blanket. For someone with the smell of hot tea or the taste of unloved semolina. They resemble something very dear and pleasant, simple and instructive, lulling and plunging into the world of sweet dreams. Fairy tales teach to be compassionate, kind, to help the weak, to fight evil. They make you dream. Fairy tales bring up the best qualities of character in children through an interesting and fascinating, sometimes a little scary, storytelling. But is it really?

Tales of our childhood

Remembering a bygone childhood, most people, who are now well over thirty, recall fairy tales as an integral part of their carefree and barefoot period of their lives. And among the most popular, perhaps even worn out amazing stories, pictures of fairy tales about the famous Koshchei come to mind. A bright and scary character stands out sharply with his humanoid bony appearance, more reminiscent of an angry native of a Nazi concentration camp. He, as usual, is above goldlanguishes, constantly angry and creates some intrigues. And, basically, he does them on women, more often on young princesses. Either he will imprison him in a tower, or he will turn him into a frog. At all times, Koschey is the personification of the greatest and most powerful evil. And throughout any fairy tale story about a terrible villain, there is always a representative of goodness who wages an uncompromising struggle with Koshchei and defeats him. And as a reward, of course, he gets a princess as his wife. How else? Indeed, in fairy tales, good must prevail over evil.

Origin of the word "koschey"

Let's try to look at the origins of the skinny character. The very word koshchey in the 12th century meant a prisoner, a captive or a slave. In Russia, a parking lot was called a cat. And the elder or elder of the parking lot was called Koschevoi. He was also the keeper of the general treasury and the manager of all the we alth of the settlement (parking lot). Later, a dry old man, often a greedy miser, began to be called a koshchei.

Image of Koshchei

Now it becomes more clear why in the fairy tales Koschey was exactly the way he is. He plays the role of a treasurer, guarding his treasure. However, in fairy tales, Koschey turns from a slave or prisoner into a jailer. He kidnaps other heroes and keeps them locked up. Despite his outward frailty, Koschey is incredibly strong and agile. In most stories, he rides a horse, girded with a sword, and wears knightly armor. He looks very scary: old, bald, unthinkably thin, with a hooked nose and cold eyes, with blazing hatredeyes. Often he appears as an evil sorcerer, a representative of a dark and gloomy kingdom, similar to the afterlife. Therefore, any fairy tale about Koshchei, where the main character defeats him by killing the immortal sorcerer, as if tells us about the victory of man over death itself. And this happens because every representative of the human race in his soul strives for immortality.

Baba Yaga is a unique character

It's no secret that quite often some extraordinary personality appears in films and fairy tales about Koshchei. This is an old and hunchbacked hag, living in a magical hut on chicken legs, flying in a mortar with a broom at the ready. She cannot be unequivocally classified as either evil or good characters. Sometimes she acts as a terrible cannibal witch and wants to devour the main character, a champion of goodness and justice. In another tale about Koshchei and Baba Yaga, one can see how the same harmful old woman helps some Ivan Tsarevich in every possible way in the fight against the old and evil miser-sorcerer. Either he will tell you with advice, then he will give the right potion in time, then he will throw a ball that shows the way. And in the load, he will definitely tell the secret of the death of the Immortal. Consequently, in any of the tales about Koshchei the Deathless and Baba Yaga, a well-recognized old woman becomes a link between good and evil. And without it, no fairy tale story is already unthinkable.

A little about Beloved Beauty

Even in the fairy tales about Koshchei, there is always a heroine who can most oftensee only at the end of the story. However, it is often mentioned throughout the story. Who is this? It can be either Vasilisa the Wise or Mary the Tsarevna, or simply Beauty the Beloved, who at the very beginning of the story is kidnapped by a terrible bony sorcerer.

In other words, in the fairy tale about Ivan Tsarevich and Koshchei there is a certain girl, usually the bride of the protagonist. She is far from him, and the prince does not even suggest where to look for her. But in the end, he goes after her to the Far Far Away kingdom of Koshcheevo. Along the way, he meets Baba Yaga, already familiar to us, who, of her own free will or under duress, helps him in his search. However, without the young princess, whose main task is to sit in prison and grieve about her difficult fate, no Ivan Tsarevich would have had a reason to go on a long journey and perform his feats. It is the kidnapped bride that turns a wonderful in all respects simple guy into a real hero.

Ivan Tsarevich

Summing up some of the previous paragraph, it turns out that the most amazing hero of films and fairy tales about Koshchei is the famous prince with a rare name Ivan.

In different versions of the tales about Ivan Tsarevich and Koshchei the Immortal, his image is slightly different. It can be said quite definitely that he is a very positive character and does good according to all the rules of the story. Sometimes he goes in search of his mother, kidnapped by the villain. ATin another tale, having barely reached nine days of age, he suddenly decides to marry and goes in search of his alleged bride - Beloved Beauty. Probably, the girl was so beautiful that she seduced even a nine-day-old baby with her beauty. But in this story, Ivan Tsarevich does not behave at all like a baby. He is rude to elderly women, beats the faces of dozens of heroes, sleeps incredibly soundly and for a long time - sometimes just for several days in a row. By the way, it was in this way that he overslept his Beloved Beauty, deciding to take a nap like that for nine days. In another story, Ivan looks more decent and helps everyone he meets on his way. As a result, those whom he helps, afterward, benefit him in the fight against Koshchei the Deathless.

Elena the Beautiful or another fairy tale about Koshchei

Returning again to the image of Koshchei the Immortal, let's turn to the well-known fairy tale - "Elena the Beautiful". A familiar story begins with the unsuccessful and sad wedding of Ivan Tsarevich and Elena the Beautiful. Suddenly, a swirling whirlwind takes the beautiful girl straight from the wedding feast to no one knows where. And this is where the adventures of the protagonist in the fairy tale about the prince and Koshchei begin. Ivan, as usual in all fairy tales, goes in search of his betrothed. And, of course, he goes through the forest, where he comes across a traditional hut on chicken legs. But this time, Baba Yaga does not know where to look for the girl, and directs Ivan to her middle sister, who, in turn, to her older sister. So the elder Grandmother-Yozhka advises the prince to forget about Elena the Beautiful, return home, finda new wife and live quietly with her until old age, so that one day he will die in one day. Otherwise, he promises miserable grief. But our hero is not a bastard - "I will not give up Lenka!", - he says. That's when the old three-hundred-year-old hag tells the guy about Koshchei the Immortal and mentions how to get to his terrible haven.

Where is the villain's death hidden?

In the continuation of the tale, which tells not only about the prince, but also about Koshchei the Immortal and the old woman, it must be said that the grandmother told Ivan where the death of the evil sorcerer and kidnapper is. She directed the guy to an old oak tree, where a golden chest hung on chains. A rabbit was hiding in a chest. Duck in a rabbit. There is an egg in the duck. And just in the egg was the same needle, on the tip of which the death of the immortal evil goner lived. It can be seen that here the image of Baba Yaga turned out to be extremely positive. Of course, it is not completely clear for what reasons she helped a person. Either because of a long-standing enmity with Koshchei, or simply the old woman wanted to do a good deed at least once in three hundred years.

Ivan's helpers

Probably, it is not necessary to retell in detail the well-known fairy tale about Koshchei. Suffice it to mention that Ivan Tsarevich, after a long time, nevertheless found that very cherished oak and cut it down. And then nothing depended on him, because secondary characters came into play: a wolf, an eagle and a pike, once saved by the prince. And they don't seem to deserve specialattention, but even without them the fairy tale would not end soon. It is worth imagining how our Ivan is chasing a hare that has jumped out of a chest that has fallen to the ground, and then, after a duck, flies through the sky on an airplane carpet and under water, looking for an egg in a diver's suit. It would be a funny sight. Perhaps then it would have been a completely different story. Perhaps as interesting as the fairy tale itself, but too long, like an endless soap opera. Therefore, secondary characters greatly simplify the entire narrative, and at the same time the life of Ivan Tsarevich.

Image of the winner

Since the tale about Ivan and Koshchei is just a fictional story, it ends with the victory of the main positive hero and the death of the negative one. However, in the reworked version of the tale, Elena did not return to Ivan, because, allegedly, she loved the mean old man more than her life. And this, perhaps, is not at all like the truth. Indeed, in life, most often young girls are looking for young chosen ones. But there are also exceptions. Apparently, in that fairy tale with a non-standard ending, just an exception happened. And our winner remained, as they say, with a nose. As he was alone, he has not met since then true love. And I must add that the same Elena the Beautiful cursed Ivan and his descendants right up to the fortieth generation. And all the descendants of the prince were unhappy like their progenitor.

Lessons learned from fairy tales

So what can fairy tales teach? The question is rather complicated, because each person independently chooses on whose side he will fight. While the child is still small,his parents can influence him by setting a positive personal example and helpful guidance. And, if the parents themselves adhere to the side of goodness and justice, then the children are more likely to gravitate towards positive things. They themselves will become those heroes who defend the interests of truth and honor. Never forget this.