Baba Yaga Roles

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T6: What different roles do the magical and/or magical beings have in the stories? Within every folktale, there is a hero. These heroes are usually the driving force in the story and are often played by men. However, in some cases, the hero is a magical being or object, whose role is to usually help a human stay alive. Take for instance, the Slavic and Germanic folklore, which both present situations where those who possess magic use it to either help or harm a human. In the Slavic folktale “Baba Yaga” we see two roles that the hero of magical ability undertakes. The first being of good intentions involving the prevention of a human casualty. While the other seeks the opposite and attempts to aid in the occurrence of death. In this story,…show more content…
Although it doesn’t always payoff to be the smartest, in most cultures across ancient Europe, we find that knowledge could be the difference between life and death. Take for instance, the Viking and Slavic folktales, which both present situations where intelligence plays a pivotal role in the main characters survival. In the Viking folktale “How Thor and Loki befooled Thrym the Giant” we see a story that emphasizes the importance of knowledge to the Viking culture. We see this when Thor pretends to be Freya “whom many giants have striven to gain” (“Thrym the Giant” 2). Another example of the importance of intelligence to the Viking culture comes in the many time that the word “cunning” appears when mentioning Loki as well as the many times “stupid” appears when mentioning Thrym the Giant. Compared to the Slavic folktale “The Death of Koshchei the Deathless” we see a consistent pattern regarding that of intelligence. We see this portrayed through Prince Ivan, who continuously fails to save Marya Morevna until he realizes that only “so good a steed” as Koshchei the Deathless can help him succeed (“The Deathless” 6). With this in mind, we can infer that both the Viking and Slavic cultures believe that intelligence is knowledge known as well as a person’s ability…show more content…
Often times this aspect of war is focused on the war itself, while other times it’s focused on a specific knight or warrior. Take for instance, the Slavic and Celtic cultures, which both portray knights and warriors as heroic, prideful, and loyal. In the Slavic folktale “llya the Murom” we see a characteristic of a warrior that is not traditional to ancient cultures. This characteristic consists on the fact that llya is a warrior because of magic rather than hard work and natural ability. Nevertheless, llya is seen as a true warrior based on the fact that he fights to protect those who can’t protect themselves. In fact, when characterizing llya, we see that he is a “great bohatyr whom none can vanquish” (“llya the Murom” 2). Another observation for that of the typical warrior is the appearance of pride. We see this when the other warriors become jealous of llya, and plot against him resulting in his banishment to the Prince’s dungeon made of an “earthen wall” (“llya the Murom” 4). As for the topic of loyalty, we see this when llya remains loyal to the prince even when he is given a way out by a “strong mar and a true bohatyr” (“llya the Murom” 5). Compared to the Celtic folktale “The Coming of Finn” we see a consistent pattern regarding the traits of a typical knight. The first of the traits to appear in the folktale is that of heroism. We see this when Finn kills a “great fighting man” because he
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