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51-699: A king and a queen had no children. One day, the king was travelling (hunting to forget his childlessness in the Polish, inspecting his country in the Russian), and grew thirsty. He found a spring with a cup floating in it. Trying to grab the cup did not succeed; it always evaded his hands. When he dropped to drink directly, a creature in the well (the King Kostiei in Polish), grabbed his beard and would not free him until he promised to give it something: in Polish,

102-496: A Polish variant Prince Unexpected in his Sixty Folk-Tales from Exclusively Slavonic Sources , as tale number 17. Josef Baudiš published a Czech version in English, simply named Kojata , in his book of Czech folk tales The Key of Gold in 1917 (reprinted in 1922). In this version, the princesses are enchanted into duck forms. In a compilation of Slavic fairy tales, author Karel Jaromír Erben , in his annotations, indicated that

153-515: A balanced view of the non-Christian Cuman Khan may have been distorted or caricatured by Christian Slavic writers. By at least the 18th century, and likely earlier, Koschei's legend had been appearing in Slavic tales. For a long period, no connection was made with any historical character. The origin of the tale may be related to the Polovtsian ( Cuman ) leader Khan Konchak , who dates from

204-445: A bread with the flour - all of this overnight; and identify the girl from a row of his twelve daughters. The girl helps the boy either by magic spells or by her advice. He identifies the girl from the row of daughters, but the girl's step-mother becomes enraged, and plans to destroy the pair. The gray-bearded man's eldest daughter tell the boy they have to escape, and her step-mother and eleven step-sisters go after them. The pair turn into

255-528: A feathered hat out of a cabbage leaf, to make silver spurs out of cabbage water, and to create brass scales out of a jug of pure water. With the King of Devils' daughter's help, John fulfills the first two tasks, but the girl says the third one is impossible to do, and bids them flee that same night. The girl turns herself into a bird, her mare into a golden apple and prince John into a golden ring, and flies away from her father. After reaching King Greenbeard's country,

306-555: A hero is sent to obtain; or he may have other magic powers. In one tale he has eyelids so heavy he requires servants to lift them (cf. the Celtic Balor or Ysbaddaden , or Serbian Vy). The parallel female figure, Baba Yaga , as a rule does not appear in the same tale with Koschei, though exceptions exists where both appear together as a married couple, or as siblings. Sometimes, Baba Yaga appears in tales along with Koschei as an old woman figure, such as his mother or aunt. In

357-399: A miser in the prologue Pushkin 's Ruslan and Ludmila which describes wonders of the fairy-tale land of Lukomorye : "Там царь Кащей над златом чахнет" (There tsar Kashchei is languishing over gold). Karel Jarom%C3%ADr Erben Karel Jaromír Erben ( Czech pronunciation: [ˈkarɛl ˈjaromiːr ˈɛrbɛn] ; 7 November 1811 – 21 November 1870) was a Czech folklorist and poet of

408-484: A river, the prince into the bridge, and put three roads into the forest over the bridge. The servants, not knowing which way to go, turned back. Her father told them that they had been the bridge and river. When the servants returned, the maiden turned herself and the prince into a dense forest, with many paths, and the servants became lost and could not find them. When they returned, her father decided to chase them himself. The maiden said that he could go no further than

459-620: A shepherd (the boy) and a sheep (the girl). They deceive her family and fly back to the boy's father's house. American author and folklorist Robert D. San Souci adapted the tale as his book The Tsar's Promise: a Russian Tale , wherein King Kojata is the name of the king that promises his son to the antagonist. Koschei Koshchei (Russian: Коще́й , romanized : Koshchey , IPA: [kɐˈɕːej] ), also Kashchei (Russian: Каще́й , romanized : Kashchey , IPA: [kɐˈɕːej] ) often given

510-554: A version of the story, titled About Prince Unexpectedly, or The Skeleton King , originated from a Polish book of fairy tales by A. J. Gliski. In addition, in a Czech language book of Slavic fairy tales, Erben published a variant where the antagonist describes himself as "Kościéj nesmrtelný" (litt. 'Koschei, the Non-dying'), that is, the sorcerous Koschei , the Deathless. A version of the tale, named Kojata and sourced as Russian,

561-406: Is hidden inside various animals, and which are then protected by containers or in remote places. In other tales, Koschei can cast a sleep spell that can be broken by playing an enchanted gusli . Depending on the tale he has different characteristics: he may ride a three- or seven-legged horse; may have tusks or fangs; and may possess a variety of different magic objects (like cloaks and rings) that

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612-495: Is in a hare, the hare is in a chest, the chest is buried or chained up on a faraway island of Buyan . Usually he takes the role of a malevolent rival figure, who competes for (or entraps) a male hero's love interest. The origin of the tales is unknown. The archetype may contain elements derived from the 12th-century pagan Cuman-Kipchak (Polovtsian) leader Khan Konchak , who is recorded in The Tale of Igor's Campaign ; over time

663-457: Is recorded as a riddle: "And here Prince Igor exchanged his golden saddle of a prince for the saddle of a Koshey (slave)." Nikolai Novikov also suggested the etymological origin of koshchii meaning "youth" or "boy" or "captive", "slave", or "servant". The interpretation of "captive" is interesting because Koschei appears initially as a captive in some tales. Koschei is a common villain in east-Slavic folk tales. Often tales involving him are of

714-647: Is speculated to be a distorted record of Konchak's role as the keeper of the Kosh's resources. Koschei's epithet "the immortal" may be a reference to Konchak's longevity. He is last recorded in Russian chronicles during the 1203 capture of Kiev, if the record is correct this gives Konchak an unusually long life – possibly over 100 years – for the time this would have been over six generations. Koschei's life-protecting spell may be derived from traditional Turkic amulets, which were egg-shaped and often contained arrowheads (cf.

765-629: The National Museum with František Palacký in 1843. He became editor of a Prague's newspaper in 1848. Two years later, in 1850, he became archives' secretary of the National Museum. He died on 21 November 1870 of tuberculosis . He was member of the Czech National Revival , and politically he was also a sympathizer of Illyrian movement and Russian Slavophilia for entrenched populations of Slavs in other parts of

816-486: The "Forgotten Bride" (Forgotten Fiancée) . Philologist and folklorist Julian Krzyżanowski , establisher of the Polish Folktale Catalogue according to the international index, classified Kojata as type T 313A, "Ucieczka (Dziewczyna ułatwia bohaterowi ucieczkę)" ("Flight (Girl facilitates the hero's escape)"). A. H. Wratislaw suggested the antagonist of the story is the Polish version of Koschei

867-413: The "Kiss of Oblivion" motif . The East Slavic Folktale Classification ( Russian : СУС , romanized :  SUS ) also indexes it as type SUS 313, "Чудесное бегство" ("Miraculous Escape"), but it recognizes three distinct subtypes: SUS 313 A, where the antagonist pulls the hero's father by the beard; SUS 313 B, with the rat and sparrow quarrel episode, and SUS 313 C, with the concluding episode of

918-573: The 12th century to refer to an officer or official during a military campaign. Similar terms include the Ukrainian Кошовий (Koshovyi) for the head of the 'Kish' (military) (see also Kish otaman ). In Old Russian 'Kosh' means a camp, while in Belarusian a similar term means 'to camp' and in Turkic languages a similar term means 'a wanderer'. The use as a personal name is recorded as early as

969-779: The 12th century. In The Tale of Igor's Campaign Konchak is referred to as a koshey (slave). Konchak is thought to have come/returned from Georgia (the Caucasus ) to the steppe c. 1126–1130; by c.1172 he is described in Kievan Rus' chronicles as a leader of the Polovtsi, and as taking part in an uprising. There is not enough information to reconstruct further details of Konchak's appearance or nature from historical sources; though unusual features or abnormalities were usually recorded (often as epithets) by chroniclers, none are recorded for Konchak. The legendary love of gold of Koschei

1020-582: The 15th century on Novogrodian birch bark manuscripts . In The Tale of Igor's Campaign a similar sounding term is used, recorded being inscribed on coins, deriving from the Turkic for 'captive' or 'slave'. The same term also appears in the Ipatiev Chronicle , meaning 'captive'. A second mention of the term is made in The Tale of Igor's Campaign when Igor is captured by the Polovtsi; this event

1071-461: The Deathless , the wizard character of Russian folklore. He also suggested that King Kojata "should be compared" to " The Water King, and Vasilissa the Wise ". The princesses, royal daughters of King Kostei, are enchanted maidens who transform into their geese disguise. When they take off the disguise to bathe and play in the water, a human male hides the clothing of the youngest - a story that mirrors

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1122-525: The Living Great Russian Language of Vladimir Dahl , the name Kashchei is derived from the verb "kastit" – to harm, to dirty: "probably from the word "kastit", but remade into koshchei, from 'bone', meaning a man exhausted by excessive thinness". ("Bone" here is in Russian кость kost' .) Vasmer notes that the word koshchei has two meanings that have different etymologies: "thin, skinny person, walking skeleton" or "miser" –

1173-477: The cloaks into his satchel, and one of the ducklings begs him to return it. She turns into a beautiful maiden, tells him she is the daughter of the King of the Devils, and gives him a ring, so he can traverse twelve doors to reach her father, and promises to help the human when they meet again at her father's house. John finally reaches the house of the King of the Devils and is ordered to perform tasks for him: to make

1224-415: The clothes of the eldest daughter, and only returns it after she declares she will make him her husband. The girl turns the boy into a grouse and herself back into a dove, and both fly to the gray-bearded man's house. There, the gray-bearded man orders the boy to perform some tasks for him: to build a bridge over a river; to raze a forest, plant a wheat field, harvest it, grind the grain into flour, and prepare

1275-515: The epithet " the Immortal ", or " the Deathless " ( Russian : Бессме́ртный ), is an archetypal male antagonist in Russian folklore . The most common feature of tales involving Koschei is a spell which prevents him from being killed. He hides "his death" inside nested objects to protect it. For example, his death may be hidden in a needle that is hidden inside an egg, the egg is in a duck, the duck

1326-418: The first church. She demanded his cross. With it, she made herself a church and the prince a priest. Her father demanded if the priest had seen them, and he said that they had passed and had sent their greetings. Her father had to turn back. The shorter Polish version ends here. In the Russian and the longer Polish variants, they came to a town. The prince insisted on going to see it. She warned him that

1377-589: The girl assumes her normal form, turns John back and marries him. The tale was also republished as Son of the Green-Bearded King , wherein the antagonist is described as "King of All the Waters". In a tale from the Mordvin people titled "Обещанный сын" ("The Promised Son"), an old couple are sad for not having any children. One day, the old man walks a bit and stops by a mill to drink a bit of water from

1428-401: The hut of Baba Yaga . The witch tells the boy that the gray-bearded man is her brother-in-law, who has a daughter by Baba Yaga's sister, and another eleven from a second marriage. The witch advises the boy to roll a ball until it reaches the edge of a lake, wait for the coming of twelve doves (who are the gray-bearded's daughters), steal the clothes of the eldest daughter. The boy does and steals

1479-422: The king and queen would lead out a little child, but he must not kiss it, or he would forget her. She turned into a milestone to await him, but he kissed the child and forgot her. She turned herself into a flower to be trampled. An old man transplanted her, and found that whenever he left, the housework was done. A witch advised him to wait and throw a cloth over whatever moved. This revealed her, and he told that

1530-420: The king does not know he has at his country, then lets go of the beard. The king returns home and discovers he has a teenage son named John, then realizes he has to surrender his son to the devil. John decides to depart and meet the King of the Devils, and passes by the same brook where his father made his deal. The youth sees seven golden ducklings swimming about, and some folded cloaks on the grass. He puts one of

1581-426: The king, the king told him the truth. The prince set out to pay it. He came to a lake where thirty ducks (Russian) or twelve geese (Polish) were swimming, and where there were clothes on the shore. He took one. The birds came ashore, changed into women, and dressed themselves, except the one whose dress he had. That one, as a bird, looked about, and begged the prince to give her back her clothing. He did so. She

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1632-682: The mid-19th century, best known for his collection Kytice , which contains poems based on traditional and folkloric themes. He also wrote Písně národní v Čechách ("Folk Songs of Bohemia") which contains 500 songs and Prostonárodní české písně a říkadla ("Czech Folk Songs and Nursery Rhymes"), a five-part book that brings together most of Czech folklore. He was born on 7 November 1811 in Miletín near Jičín . He went to college in Hradec Králové . Then, in 1831, he went to Prague where he studied philosophy and later law. He started working in

1683-407: The most precious thing in his palace, which was not there when he left it; in the Russian, something he knew nothing about, and which he would find on his return home. He promised. On his return, he found his wife had a son. He told no one of the exchange, but when the prince was grown, an old man appeared to him in the woods and told him to tell his father to make good on his bargain. When he told

1734-619: The needle in Koschei's egg). It is thought that many of the negative aspects of Koschei's character are distortions of a more nuanced relationship of Khan Konchak with the Christian Slavs, such as his rescuing of Prince Igor from captivity, or the marriage between Igor's son and Konchak's daughter. Konchak, as a pagan, could have been demonised over time as a stereotypical villain. In the Explanatory Dictionary of

1785-536: The nominative case singular), declining according to the type "God". Numerous variant names and spellings have been given to Koschei; these include Kashchei , Koshchai , Kashshei , Kovshei , Kosh , Kashch , Kashel , Kostei , Kostsei , Kashshui , Kozel , Koz'olok , Korachun , Korchun bessmertnyi , Kot bezsmertnyi , Kot Bezmertnyi , Kostii bezdushnyi ; in bylinas he also appears as Koshcheiushko , Koshcheg , Koshcherishcho , Koshchui , Koshel . The term Koshey appears in Slavic chronicles as early as

1836-426: The origin of the word "bone"). Old Russian "youth, boy, captive, slave" from the Turkic košči "slave", in turn from koš "camp". Koschei, as the name of the hero of a fairy tale and as a designation for a skinny person, Max Vasmer in his dictionary considers the original Slavic word (homonym) and associates with the word bone (common Slavic * kostь ), that is, it is an adjective form koštіі (nominative adjective in

1887-428: The prince to build him a marble palace in a day. He went to his room, the daughter came to him as a bee, and promised to do it for him, and the next day, the palace was built. The next day, he demanded that the prince pick out his youngest daughter from her sisters. She told him she would be the one with the ladybug on her eyelid (Polish) or fly on her cheek (Russian), and he was able to find her. The third day, he told

1938-430: The prince to make him a pair of boots. The prince was no shoemaker, and the youngest daughter told him that they must flee. She spat on the ground (Polish) or breathed on the window and made frost (Russian), and they fled. When the servants came for the prince, the spit or frost answered for them. Finally, he ordered the door broken, which revealed their flight. The servants chased them. The maiden turned herself into

1989-520: The prince was to marry . She went to the feast and got the cook to let her make the wedding cake. When it was cut, two doves flew out, and one of them begged the other to not abandon it, as the prince had abandoned the maiden. The prince got up at once, found her, found his horse, and rode off with her to his father's kingdom. Andrew Lang included the Russian version King Kojata , in The Green Fairy Book . A. H. Wratislaw collected

2040-409: The princesses. Ivan Sosnovich (Russian Иван Соснович ) learns of Koschei's weakness: an egg in a box hidden under a mountain, so he digs up the whole mountain, finds the egg box and smashes it, and rescues the princess. The Serbian Baš Čelik (Head of Steel); Hungarian 'Lead-Headed Monk'; and Slovak 'Iron Monk' also all hide their weakness inside a nested series of animals. Koshchei is mentioned as

2091-425: The river. However, a creature comes out of the depths and grabs the man by the beard, making him promise to deliver the creature the thing the man does not know he has at home. The old man returns home and discovers his wife gave birth to a boy. Years later, the boy has a dream about a gray-bearded man telling him to remind his father of the deal. The boy decides to leave home and walks through the woods until he reaches

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2142-553: The tale as Le Prince Inespéré ("The Unexpected Prince"). The tale was translated into English as The Unlooked-for Prince and included by Andrew Lang in The Grey Fairy Book . The tale is classified in the Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index as ATU 313, "The Magic Flight" or "Maiden helps the hero flee", with the episode of the "forgotten fiancée". The subtype of The Forgotten Fiancée (type 313C) occurs by

2193-461: The tale, also known as " The Death of Koschei the Deathless ", Ivan Tsarevitch encounters Koschei chained in the dungeon of Marya Morevna (Ivan's wife). He releases and revives Koschei, but Koschei abducts Marya. Ivan tries to rescue Marya several times, but Koschei's horse is too fast and he easily catches up with the escaping lovers. Each time Koschei's magical horse informs him that he could carry out several activities first and still catch up. After

2244-527: The third unsuccessful escape, Koschei cuts up Ivan and puts his body parts in a barrel which he throws into the sea. However, water of life revives Ivan. He then seeks out Baba Yaga to ask her for a horse swifter than Koshei's. After undergoing several trials he steals a horse and finally successfully rescues Marya. Tsar Bel-Belianin's wife the Tzaritza is abducted by Koschei (the wizard). The Tsar's three sons attempt to rescue her. The first two fail to reach

2295-420: The type AT 302 "The Giant Without A Heart" (see Aarne–Thompson classification systems ). He also appears in tales resembling type AT 313 "The Magic Flight". He usually functions as the antagonist or rival to a hero. Common themes are love and rivalry. The typical feature in tales about Koschei is his protection against death (AT 302). To kill him you must find his death which is hidden inside an egg. The egg

2346-410: The widespread tale of the swan maiden . In a Hungarian tale published by author Val Biro with the title King Greenbeard , the titular King Greenbeard has travelled the whole world for seventeen years, and stops to drink water from a brook, when, suddenly, the hand of the King of Devils grabs the man's beard. The king begs for his release, but the King of Devils makes him promise to deliver that which

2397-428: The wizard's creatures and obtain the egg. He returns to the wizard's domain and kills him by squeezing the egg – every action on the egg is mirrored on the wizard's body. In "The Snake Princess" (Russian "Царевна-змея" ), Koschei turns a princess who does not want to marry him into a snake. Koschei hears of three beauties in a kingdom. He kills two and wounds a third, puts the kingdom to sleep (petrifies), and abducts

2448-425: The wizard's palace, but the third, Petr, succeeds. He reaches the Tzaritza, conceals himself, and learns how the wizard hides his life. Initially he lies, but the third time he reveals it is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, that nests in a hollow log, that floats in a pond, found in a forest on the island of Bouyan . Petr seeks the egg, freeing animals along the way – on coming to Bouyan the freed animals help him catch

2499-628: The world. As practitioner of his ideals, he published Sto prostonárodních pohádek a pověstí slovanských v nářečích původních ("One Hundred Slavic Folk Tales and Legends in Original Dialects"), also known by its subtitle Čitanka slovanská ("Slavic Reader"), that was influenced by the Grimms' collection of fairy tales. It included such pieces as tale No. 2, Dlouhý, Široký a Bystrozraký (" Long, Broad and Sharpsight ", translated into English by Albert Henry Wratislaw ). The entire volume

2550-413: Was grateful, told him that she was the youngest daughter of the man he had been promised to, and promised to aid him. She told him that when he reached her father, he was to approach him on his knees, without any fear. He obeyed her, although her father gave fearful yells. When he had nearly reached him, her father laughed and said it was well that he had not been frightened. In the morning, he ordered

2601-504: Was published in The Golden Fairy Book . In this version, the prince's father was named Kojata, not the antagonist (named Czernuch , the king of the subterranean realm), and the thirty bird maidens bathe in their avian forms (an inversion of the common Swan maiden narrative). Another version of the tale, titled Kojata, appears in A Book of Wizards by Ruth Manning-Sanders . French Slavicist Louis Léger translated

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