Slavic Myths & Legends

EDITOR'S PREFACE

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For obvious reasons it has not been possible to have the collaboration of the author of this Slavic Mythology in seeing his work through the press. This duty has, therefore, devolved upon me, though the task has been lightened by constant reference to his Bájesloví slovanské (Prague, 1907), on which his present study is largely based. Since the author supplied no Notes, and as they seemed to me desirable, I have added them. All responsibility for them is mine, not his; but I trust that they will not be displeasing to him.

Professor Máchal wrote, at my request, a chapter on the mythology of the Prussians, Letts, and Lithuanians. As this has not been received, I have endeavoured to supply it; but since I hope to prepare a study of the religion of these peoples to be published on another occasion, I have restricted myself rigidly to their mythology, discussing neither their religion, their ethnology, nor their history. That Professor Machal did not so limit his scope is to me a source of pleasure; for in those systems of religion where practically nothing is as yet accessible in English it seems preferable to treat the theme without meticulous adherence to a theoretical norm.

The excellent translation of Professor Machal's study has been made by his colleague, Professor F. Krupička, to whom he desires to express his gratitude for his assistance in this regard.

LOUIS H. GRAY.

November 6, 1916.

PRONUNCIATION

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The vowels are pronounced generally as in Italian. In the Lithuanian diphthong ai the first element predominates almost to the suppression of the second. Russian ĕ has the sound of the English word yea or of ye in yes; Lithuanian è (often written ie) is pronounced like yea, but with a slight a-sound added (yäa), and ů is equivalent to uóa (very like English zvhoaa); Lettish ee is simply ē (English a in fate); Polish ie is like English ye in yes; Russian iy is practically the i in English pique. The Slavic ĭ and ŭ have only an etymological value, and are not pronounced; in the present study they are omitted when final, so that Perunŭ, e.g., is here written Perunŭ.

J is like y (for convenience the Russian letters often transcribed ja, etc., are here given as ya, etc.); of the liquids and nasals, r and l between consonants have their vowel-value, as in English betterment, 'apple-tree (betterment, appltree); ř is pronounced in Polish like the z in English azure, and in Bohemian like r followed by the same sound of z; Polish t is a guttural (more accurately, velar) l; ń has the palatal value of ni in English onion. The sibilant š is like sh in English shoe (in Lithuanian this sound is often written sz), and ž (Lithuanian ż) is like z in azure.

Of the consonants č (often written cz in Lithuanian) has the value of ch in church; ch that of the German or Scottish ch in ach, loch; c that of the German z (ts).

The consonant-groups in the present study are pronounced as follows: cz like ch in church; dz and dj like j in judge; rz like z in azure; sj like sh in shoe; and szcz like shch in fresh-chosen.

INTRODUCTION

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Since those records of ancient Slavic life which have survived are very superficial, it is not surprising that only scanty and fragmentary knowledge of Slavonic religions has come down to us. The native chroniclers, imbued with Christian civilization, dealt shallowly and, it would seem, reluctantly with the life of their pagan ancestors; and while writers of other nationalities have left much more thorough accounts of the religions of the Slavic peoples, yet, being ignorant of the Slavic dialects and insufficiently familiar with the lives and customs of the Slavs, their documents are either very confused or betray a one-sided Classical or Christian point of view. It must further be borne in mind that the extant data treat of the period immediately preceding the introduction of Christianity, when the Slavic nations, inhabiting a wide-spread region and already possessed of some degree of civilization, had made considerable progress from their primeval culture. Hence no inferences may be drawn from the mythology of one Slavic nation as to the religion of the Slavs as a whole.

The most ample evidence, relatively speaking, is found regarding the religion of the Elbe Slavs, who adopted Christianity as late as the twelfth century. Thietmar, Bishop of Merseburg, gives the earliest accounts of their religion (976-1018),¹ and the description of the rites of the Slavic tribe of the Lutici by Adam of Bremen, in his Gesta Hammahurgensis ecclesiae pontificum (eleventh century),² is founded chiefly on Thietmar's report. Helmold, a German chronicler of the twelfth century, who had seen the countries of the Elbe Slavs with his own eyes, transmitted important evidence of their religion in his Chronica Slavorum;³ and in like manner the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus, writing in the same century, spoke of the idolatry of the Elbe Slavs,⁴ his statements being confirmed by the Danish Knytlingasaga⁵ Further detailed accounts of Slavic paganism may be found in the lives of St. Otto, a bishop of Bamberg, who was renowned as a missionary among the Pomeranian Slavs.⁶

The most important evidence for Russian religion is contained in the Chronicle of Nestor (1100);⁷ further fragments of pagan customs are preserved in the old Russian epic Slovo o pluku Igorevĕ (Song of Igor's Band), which dates from the twelfth century;⁸ and to these two main sources for a knowledge of the pagan period in Russia may be added some old religious writings directed against the heathenism which still lingered among the folk.

Mention of the religions of the eastern and southern Slavs is made in the works of the Greek historian Procopius of Caesarea (sixth century)⁹ and of the Arabian travellers al-Mas'ūdī and Ibrahim ibn Vasifshah¹¹ (tenth and twelfth centuries respectively), while allusions to ancient Slavic pagan rites and idolatry are found in the mediaeval encyclopaedias which were translated from Greek and Byzantine originals.

The main source for the religion of the Czechs is the Chronicle of Cosmas (ob. 1125),¹² supplemented by the Homiliary of the Bishop of Prague (twelfth century.)¹³ The chronicler Dtugosz (fifteenth century) records fairly detailed accounts of the old Polish religion, although they are not very reliable;¹⁴ and allusions of a more specific character occur in some fragments of old Polish literature, particularly in Polish-Latin homilies. ¹⁵

These poor and scanty accounts of the mythology of the ancient Slavs are supplemented by old traditions which still live among the people, these legends being very rich and containing ample survivals of the past, since even after their conversion to Christianity the common folk clung to their pagan beliefs. Thus ancient national tales, preserved to this very day, contain distinct traces of the early faith, and these traditions, verified by old evidence, are of such prime importance that they will form the basis of our description of Slavic mythology.

References

SLAVIC

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1. Chronicon, i. 3, 7, 14, iii. 19, v. 23, vi. 17–18, 23-25, 38, viii. 59, 64–65, 69.

2. ii. 18–19, iii. 50, 52, 60; Descriptio insularum Aquilonis, 18.

3. i. 2, 6, 13, 21-23, 38, 52, 69, 83, 93, 163, ii. 12.

4. Gesta Danorum, pp. 444-45, 505, 564 ff., S74–75i S77, 578

5. lxxxvi, cxxi–cxxii.

6. Herbord, ii. 31–33, 35, iii. 6-7, 22–23, 26; Ebbo, ii. 13, iii. 1, 8.

7. x, xxxviii–xxxix, lxv (tr. Leger, pp. 9–10, 61–68, 148–53).

8. Ed. and tr. A. Boltz, Berlin, 1854, tr. H. von Paucker, Berlin, 1884, ed. O. Partytzkiy, Lwów, 1884.

9. De bello Gothico, iii. 14.

10. Les Prairies d'or, ed. and tr. C. Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, Paris, 1861–77, especially ii. 9, iii. 63–64, iv. 58–60.

11. L'Abrégé des merveilles, tr. Carta de Vaux, Paris, 1898, pp. 115–16.

12. i. 4, ii. 8, iii. i, 8, 136.

13. Homiliar, pp. 4, 54, 57, 74, 79.

14. Opera, Cracow, 1873, x. 47–48 (cf. the discussion of the passage by A. Brückner, in JSP xiv. 170–82 [1892]).

15. See A. Brückner, in JSP xiv. 183–91 (1892).

PART I

THE GENII

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CHAPTER I

BELIEF IN SOUL AND GENII

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In Slavic belief the soul is a being quite distinct from the body, which it is free to leave even during life, so that there are many stories of human souls coming forth from the bodies of sleeping persons and either dwelling in trees or, in the shape of white birds, fluttering about in the world and finally returning to their normal habitations. It is inadvisable to go to bed thirsty, lest the soul, wearied by its search for water, may weaken the body. If a man faints, his soul leaves his body and uneasily flutters about the world; but when it returns, consciousness is likewise restored. Some individuals have lain like dead for three days, during which time their souls dwelt in the other world and beheld all that might be seen either in heaven or in paradise. A soul which leaves the body when asleep and flies about in the world is called Vjedogonja or Zduh, Zduhacz (Spirit) by the Serbs; and not only the souls of sleeping persons, but even those of fowls and domestic animals, such as cats, dogs, oxen, etc., may be transformed into Zduhaczs. These genii, regardless of nationality, sex, or age, assemble on mountain-tops, where they battle either singly or in troops, the victors bringing to their countrymen a rich harvest and success in breeding cattle; but if a man's soul perishes in this fight, he will never awake. In Montenegro a distinction is drawn between Zduhaczs of land and sea, the former causing drought, and the latter rain, so that the weather depends on which of these two wins. A sudden storm points to a battle among such Zduhaczs; but in all other respects these genii are considered good and sensible and stand in high repute.

The Montenegrins personify the soul as Sjen or Sjenovik (Shadow), this being a genius which has charge of houses, lakes, mountains, and forests, and which may be a man or a domestic animal, a cat, a dog, or—more especially—a snake. It is a general Slavic belief that souls may pass into a Mora, a living being, either man or woman, whose soul goes out of the