Tell Me A Story: Baba Yaga and the Kind Little Girl
Adapted by Amy Friedman COPYRIGHT 1995 UNIVERSAL PRESS SYNDICATE Once upon a time in Russia a little girl sat in a shed weeping. Her father had married a cruel stepmother, and all the little girl's happiness had vanished.
Suddenly the little girl noticed a little gray mouse scamper out of a hole in the wall. When he saw the little girl, he he sat up on his hind legs, curled his tail and wiggled his whiskers.
He looked so skinny that the little girl at once forgot her own sorrows and offered him the dry bread her stepmother had given her to eat. He nibbled until it was gone and then looked up at her with twinkling eyes.
"Thank you," he squeaked. "You are a kind little girl. Now I must help you. Listen carefully. The woman in your house is the sister of Baba Yaga, the bony-legged witch with iron teeth who eats children. If that woman ever sends you to visit your aunt, you must tell me at once."
Just then the little girl heard her stepmother calling to her. "Come clean up the tea things and tidy the house!" The little girl ran to the cottage and saw that her stepmother had long bony legs and iron teeth, just like Baba Yaga.
The next morning the little girl's father went off to visit friends. As soon as he was out of sight, the stepmother called to the little girl. "Today you will visit your aunt in the forest to ask her for a needle and thread to mend your father's shirt." Then she gnashed her teeth and her eyes flashed angrily. "Follow your nose, and you will find her. Off with you!" And she handed her a bundle wrapped in a towel. "Here's some food to eat on your way."
The little girl wanted to tell the mouse that she was going to see Baba Yaga, but her stepmother was staring at her from the doorway. She had to walk straight ahead into the forest.
Suddenly she heard a scratching sound under a fallen tree. Out jumped the mouse. "Oh, mouse," cried the little girl, "What shall I do?"
"Remember to collect all the things you find in the road, and then you will be safe," said the little mouse.
"Thank you," said the little girl. "Now let me give you something to eat." She unwrapped her towel, but inside she found only stones. "I have nothing for you to eat," the little girl said sadly.
But the little mouse wiggled his whiskers and the stones turned to fresh bread and jam. The little girl and the mouse ate until they were full, and then they said farewell.
As the little girl was running through the forest, she found a handkerchief. Remembering the mouse's words, she picked it up. Next she found a bottle of oil, and then some scraps of meat, and finally a loaf of bread. These she also gathered.
After a while the little girl came to Baba Yaga's hut, which was surrounded by a fence made from bones and skulls. When she pushed open the gate, she heard a squeaking sound. "It is lucky I picked up some oil," she said to the gate, and poured the oil on the rusty hinges.
Inside the fence, Baba Yaga's servant stood wailing in the yard. "I have so many tasks to do!" she cried.
"Here's a nice soft handkerchief," said the kind little girl. As the servant wiped her eyes, the little girl heard a growl coming from a scrawny dog that lay in the yard, gnawing a piece of bread crust. The little girl tossed her fresh bread to the dog. "Here -- you look so hungry," she said, and the dog gobbled it up and wagged his tail.
The little girl walked bravely to the door and knocked. "Come in," called Baba Yaga. There she sat at a loom, bony-legged, iron-toothed, with flashing eyes. In the corner sat a thin black cat staring hard at a hole in the wall.
"Good day, Auntie," said the little girl. "My stepmother has sent me to fetch a needle and thread."
"Very well," said Baba Yaga. "Sit down here at the loom and continue my weaving. I will fetch you a needle and thread." The little girl sat down and began to weave.
Baba Yaga left the room and called to her servant. "Boil water for a bath. I want you to scrub my niece all clean. I intend to make a fine meal of her." The servant ran off to her work.
"Are you weaving, my pretty girl?" called Baba Yaga from the other room.
"Yes I am, Auntie," the little girl answered.
Then the little girl looked at the black cat and asked, "What are you doing?"
"I'm watching for a mouse," said the cat. "I haven't had a meal for three days."
The little girl threw the scraps of meat to the scrawny black cat. The cat ate them up and purred contentedly.
Just then Baba Yaga appeared at the window. "Are you weaving, little niece?" she asked.
"I am," said the little girl. And Baba Yaga went away again.
Now the cat looked up at the little girl and said: "You have a comb in your hair. You have a towel. Take them and run for it while Baba Yaga is outside. When you hear her close behind you, throw away the towel. And when she comes close again, throw away your comb."
The little girl shook her head. "I'm afraid she'll hear the loom stop," she said.
"I'll take care of that," said the cat. He leaped across the room and took the little girl's place at the loom. He began to weave.
The little girl dashed out of the hut and toward the gate. When she reached the dog, he looked at her closely. "You are the little girl who gave me bread," he said, and lay down and put his head between his paws. When she came to the gate, it opened without a single squeak. Off she ran.
Oh, how she ran! And all the while the black cat sat at the loom, clickety-clack, clickety-clack -- but you've never seen such a tangle as the black cat made!
When Baba Yaga returned to the room, she saw the cat weaving amid the tangled threads. "Why didn't you stop my niece from running off?" she snarled.
Seeing the servant pouring water into the bath with a sieve, Baba Yaga raged. "The bath should have been ready long ago!" When she saw the dog sleeping quietly, she cried, "You were supposed to tear her to pieces!" And when she came to the gate, she hissed, "How could you let her go without alerting me?"
The gate sighed and said: "In all the years we have served you, Baba Yaga, you never even eased my pain with water. The little girl was kind and gave me oil." The dog growled at her: "In all the years I've served you, Baba Yaga, you fed me only crusts. The kind little girl gave me a soft loaf of bread." And the servant girl looked angrily at Baba Yaga. "In all the years I've served you, Baba Yaga, you never even offered me a rag. The little girl gave me a pretty handkerchief to wipe away my tears."
Baba Yaga gnashed her iron teeth. "I'll catch her myself," and with that she jumped into her mortar. Taking pestle and broom in hand, she spurred on the mortar.
Meanwhile, the little girl remembered the cat's words. Stopping to put her ear to the ground, she heard Baba Yaga beating her mortar. "She must be close," said the little girl, and threw her towel behind her.
At once the towel turned into a raging river. Baba Yaga came to the river and rode right in, but the mortar and pestle could not sail or swim. Baba Yaga cursed and shouted, but it was no use. She flew back home and gathered her cattle together. Then she sat in her mortar and drove the cattle as fast as she could, all the way to river's edge. "Drink!" she cried to the cattle.
The cattle drank the river dry. Baba Yaga drove on in her mortar, bangety, bangety bang.
When the little girl heard her coming, she threw down her comb. In an instant the comb grew and became a forest so thick Baba Yaga could not pass through it. Baba Yaga stopped at the edge of the forest and screamed, for there was nothing left for her to do.
The little girl ran all the way home and told her father everything that had happened.
When he heard about Baba Yaga, he was furious. "Did you send my daughter to be eaten by the terrible Baba Yaga?" he asked his wife. But before she could answer, he saw how she flashed her eyes and gnashed her iron teeth. "Go away!" he said to the woman. "You have lied to me and tried to harm my child."
Seeing all was lost, the stepmother went angrily away.
The little mouse moved in with the kind little girl and her father. All was happy once again in the little cottage at the edge of the forest.