Russian folklore: werewolf on the example of the frog princess

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

For some reason, it is generally accepted that all kinds of vampires and werewolves came to us from the West, and yet in Russian folklore there are many characters who are also, in fact, werewolves. Remember the tale of Finist the Clear Falcon, the Gray Wolf who helps Ivan Tsarevich, not to mention the fact that Ivan gets married to the Frog Princess.

Finist has the ability to turn into a bird. The gray wolf takes on many guises: it can turn into a swift horse, a beautiful princess, and even become a double of Ivan Tsarevich himself. And the frog princesses secretly take off their frog skin and begin to perform various household duties. So they fit the definition of werewolves quite well, despite the fact that their transformation from human to animal is not related to the lunar cycle.

Actually, the image of the frog princess is found not only in Slavic folklore. Similar plots are present in Greek folk tales and in Italian fairy tales. before themfor some reason, the brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault did not make it, so croaking beauties are not found among the brides of overseas princes. And we even have two versions of the fairy tale "The Frog Princess". Their content is similar, but the differences are minor. So, in one version of the tale, our heroine performs all the tasks of the father of the tsar on her own, and in the other, nurses-nannies, whom she calls to help herself, weave and bake for her. However, it is difficult to call her work independent, since the heroine uses witchcraft, which greatly facilitates her efforts. But for her rivals, the wives of the brothers of Ivan Tsarevich, this method is not available, so they are in a deliberately losing position.

From the point of view of justice, the image of the Frog Princess can hardly be called exclusively positive. She earns sympathy by making the reader sympathize with the fact that her rivals burned the frog skin, because of which the heroine is forced to leave her beloved husband and go to Koshchei the Immortal. Indeed, according to the plot, it was Koschey who bewitched the beauty, angry with her for rejecting his matrimonial plans, in other words, she refused to become his wife. Instead of continuing courtship, the villain decided to punish his obstinate bride by turning her into a frog. Koschey himself is quite drawn to the role of the “Dark Lord”, since he is a magician, on the one hand, and on the other, he constantly plans to capture the Universe, not disdaining the theft of beauties: either he kidnaps Vasilisa the Wise in the form of a frog princess, or Marya Morevna.

But now we are talking not so much about Koschey, but about the ups and downs of the married life of Ivan Tsarevich. In some versions of the fairy tale, the daughter-in-law turns out to have nothing to do with it, and the prince himself burns the frog skin, hoping that without this attribute, his wife will cease to be a werewolf. But, as mentioned above, these are particularities. And the Russian fairy tale “The Frog Princess” itself ends the same way: Ivan Tsarevich defeats Koshchei with cunning and frees his beautiful wife. They live, as in all fairy tales, happily ever after, and die on the same day.