Image
Etymology
Word "koschei" in the XII century it meant a slave, a prisoner; in the Tale of Igor's Campaign, the term is mentioned twice: Igor, having been captured by Konchak, sits "in the saddle of Koshcheevo"; the author of the Lay says that if Vsevolod Yuryevich Big Nest had come to the aid of the Polovtsy, then the chaga (slave) would have been beaten, and the koshchei cut (small monetary units). Koshchei appears in the same meaning in the Ipatiev Chronicle. In birch-bark letters of the 12th century from Novgorod and Torzhok, Koshchei (also Koshkey, with the Novgorod dialect reading -sh- as -shk-) is found as a personal name. This word, according to the most common etymology, is from the Turkic košči "slave", which, in turn, is formed from koš "camp, parking" (in Old Russian "kosh" - camp, convoy; in Ukrainian "kіsh" means camp, settlement , and "kosh" - foreman, head of the kosh. In the Belarusian language, "kashevats" meant to spread the camp); however, A. I. Sobolevsky proposed a Slavic etymology - from bone "scold".
Koschei, as the name of the hero of a fairy tale and as a designation of a skinny person, Max Vasmer in his dictionary considers not Turkism, but an original Slavic word (homonym) and associates with the word bone (common Slavic * kostь)
Appearance
Koschei the Deathless (Koschei the Immortal)- a negative character in Russian fairy tales and in Russian folklore. A king, sometimes a rider on a magical talking horse. Often acts as the kidnapper of the protagonist's bride. He is depicted as a thin, tall old man, often represented as stingy and stingy (cf. “there the king Koschey languishes over gold” by A. S. Pushkin).
Origin
First of all, we know that this is one of the brightest fairy-tale characters. His appearance is vague, and the options for interpreting the image are contradictory. In addition, his name has a not entirely clear etymology. There are at least two versions of the origin of this dubious fabulous (or maybe not fabulous) personality: 1. This is the result of popular imagination, which later became folklore and the property of the republic. 2. Koschey the Immortal is a prototype of a real person. Koschey the Immortal, whose photo for a number of reasons is not possible to demonstrate to you (only drawings) as a folklore fictional character is endowed with many powers. He turns into a black crow, and sometimes into a flying kite. This allows him to easily and quickly move around the world and different worlds, stealing everything he needs. And what he needs is gold and other riches... Do you remember how Pushkin said about Koshchei, who languishes over gold? That's how it is. According to popular belief, water gives strength to it. Having drunk as many as three buckets at a time, he is able to tame even the Zmey Gorynych himself! By the way, some researchers in the field of Slavic mythology argue that the images of the Immortal and Gorynych are interchangeable in Russian fairy tales. Both of them just love riches, and also steal beautiful girls! However, Koschey is endowed with a little more power, beyond the control of the Serpent Gorynych. According to this version, the prototype of the fabulous Koshchei is none other than Saint Kasyan himself. The fact is that the aforementioned prototype could well have been called Koshchei because of the consonance of these names. In addition, two holidays coincide: the day of Chernobog and the day of St. Kasyan were celebrated by the Slavs at the same time - at the end of February. According to some reports, on this holiday they put on strange outfits in the form of human bones with a crown on their heads, which are still popular at children's matinees and in fairy-tale performances to this day. This refers to the costume of Koshchei the Immortal. Meanwhile, Kasyan did a lot to spread Christianity on earth, but he was still considered evil, not a saint!
Habitat
The exact habitat of the Hero is unknown, different sources mention different things.
- FAR AWAY LANDS - In the fairy tale "The Frog Princess" the heroine manages to say goodbye to Ivan Tsarevich the phrase: "Look for me far away lands, in the thirtieth kingdom, at Kashchei the Immortal." At such a dramatic moment, Vasilisa the Beautiful would not have spoken empty, meaningless sayings. She pointed out to Ivan Tsarevich the exact place where the kingdom of Kashchei was located. There she had to be looked for in order to rescue her from Kashche's captivity.
- The perception of Koshchei the Immortal as a representative of the "other" world, the world of death, is indicated by the characteristics of his location. Koshchei's kingdom is very far away: the hero has to go to "cover the world, to the very end" of it. The longest, most difficult and dangerous of all paths leads there: the hero wears out iron boots, an iron frock coat and an iron hat, eats three iron loaves; he has to overcome numerous obstacles, turn to assistants for advice and help, fight against an insidious enemy, and even die and be resurrected. The dwelling of Koshchei the Immortal is depicted in a fairy tale as a palace, a castle, a large house, "a ta-terka - golden windows." Here are untold riches - gold, silver, scat pearls, which the hero, after defeating the enemy, takes from his kingdom. According to researchers, the golden color of objects in the mythopoetic consciousness is perceived as a sign of the other world. The same applies to the image of the glass mountains, where, according to some texts of fairy tales, the palace of Koshchei the Immortal is located. Lives in the underworld.
Relatives
- According to some retrospectives Koschei seems son Mother Earth in ancient Slavic mythology.
- Family ties of Koshchei the Immortal. E. V. Karavaeva notes: the tale directly mentions that Vasilisa is daughter of Koshchei Immortal, whom he does not want to marry anyone, which is another manifestation of his greed and money-grubbing, authoritarianism. And the name Vasilisa comes from the Byzantine "basileos", which means "king" or "queen". That is, Vasilisa is the royal daughter, she is related to Koshchei and confirms his high social status of the king.
Character traits and habits
Ruthless, evil, terrible sorcerer, terribly miserly.
In the dictionary of the Russian language Dahl "Kashchei" is written through "A". And it explains why. "Kashchey", according to Dahl, comes from the word "kastit", which means "dirty, spoil, dirty, dirty, litter, scold, swear". "Kast" is a dirty trick, abomination, muck, filth ..
In this case, the name very accurately determines the character and habits of our hero.
Interests
Collects gold and silver, various treasures. Likes to steal beauties.
Friends
We did not find friends in different fairy tales
Enemies
- Baba Yaga. Most often, these two negative characters are at the same time, but in some fairy tales it is this old woman who tells the main character how to destroy the villain.
- The heroes are the kind Dobrynya, the clever Usynya and the savvy Gorynya.
- The main enemy of Koshchei is still Ivan Tsarevich, a man who does not get tired of fighting him.
Characteristic phrases, quotes
- "Fu, fu! You can't hear the Russian koska, you can't see it, but here it carries Rus!"
- "I have death in such and such a place; there is an oak tree, a box under the oak, a hare in the box, a duck in the hare, an egg in the duck, my death is in the egg."
- "Look for me beyond distant lands, in the distant kingdom, at Koshchei the Deathless..."
- "What are you, Koschei the Immortal! He himself flew around Rus', caught the Russian spirit - you smell of the Russian spirit."
- "And I was here, I drank honey-wine, it flowed down my mustache, it was not in my mouth."
Image in art
Works in which the creature occurs
Maria Morevna. Princess Frog. Koschei the Deathless. Bulat - well done. Russian folk tales
Ivan Sosnovich. White Sea fairy tale
Koshcheevo kingdom. Everyday fairy tale
Panyushkin V. Koshchei's code: Russian fairy tales through the eyes of a lawyer.
The well-known writer Valery Panyushkin discovered the origins of the modern legal system in Russian folk tales: even then, the litigants were sure that the truth was unattainable, the punishment was determined by the social status of the criminal, the rights always turned out to be the strongest, the terms of the contract were reviewed retroactively, and evil in an open trial was a priori invincible. Has nothing really changed in so many centuries?
Yu. Kostrov Sir of a bitch, or Koshchei's egg.
After visiting the firm "Apogee", which is headed by Ilya Suvorov, several prominent businessmen and politicians mysteriously disappear. An all-Russian oligarch nicknamed Kalson begins to hunt for the unsuspecting owner of the company, who manages to lure Suvorov into the closed clinic of Dr. Spleen, where they perform strange experiments on people. The resourceful and resourceful Ilya Suvorov, who is at the same time "under the hood" of the colonel from MUR Petrovna and Kalson, not only extricates himself from the tenacious paws of the experimental doctor, but also manages to bestow ardent love on women who meet on the way to salvation ...
Shemshuk V.A. Meeting with Koshchei the Immortal. The practice of immortality.
Filmography
Photo by Koshchei the Immortal
from a children's film "Koschei the Immortal", Directed by Alexander Rou. Premiere - 27 May 1945
Rimsky-Korsakov Musical film. 1952 (Evgeny Lebedev)
Cartoon frame "Princess Frog" 1954
Fire, water and ... copper pipes Children's musical. 1968 (Georgy Millyar)
fun magic Movie. 19669 (Fyodor Nikitin)
New Year's adventures of Masha and Vitya A film for children. 1975 (Nikolai Boyarsky)
There, on unknown paths ... A film for children. 1982 (Alexander Filippenko)
After the rain on Thursday A film for children. 1985 (Oleg Tabakov)
Sat on the golden porch A film for children. 1986 (Victor Sergachev)
The Tale of the Lover A film for children. 1987 (Valery Ivchenko)
purple ball Fantastic children's film. 1987 (Igor Yasulovich)
Koshcheevo kingdom. A film for children. 2003 Russia. Director: Svetlana Kenetsius
- Miracles in Reshetov A film for children. 2003 (Nodar Mgaloblishvili)
Book of Masters A film for children. 2009 (Gosha Kutsenko)
Similar creatures in the myths of other peoples, fairy tales, fantastic works
Koschey Copperbeard- in Polish fairy tales, a water monster. A merman with a copper beard, a toad head, crustacean claws and huge eyes. Knows how to conjure. He croaks all the time while talking. Has power over all waters, down to underground. “From the well, eye to eye, a monster looks at him: a toad’s head with a tub, a mouth from ear to ear, eyes like baskets, instead of hands - crab claws ... a monster poked out of the well halfway - a red beard spread over the water, like rusty algae, each hair moves singly. - I am Koschey Mednobeard, the lord of the underworld ...
Professor Garin's prediction version
According to the tale of Koshchei the Immortal, Koshcheev’s death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in an egg, that egg is in a duck, that duck is in a hare, that hare is in a chest, and the chest stands on a tall oak, and that Koschei tree protects like its own eye.
Omitting the cultural and mythological significance of the attributes of the death of a fairy-tale character and his personal specificity or nationality, I dare to challenge the fairy-tale version of the needle and oak, although the symbol of the needle as an instrument of damage or destruction is extremely multifaceted.
The main needle in our time has become information, more precisely, the means of its dissemination. If you like, the last of a long line of Koshcheevs was destroyed by the Internet: the first protests in Ukraine began after the call of journalist Mustafa Nayem on the social network Facebook. The same and other social networks provided access to the Kiev Maidan for a million Ukrainians. The result is well known and far from unique: unkilled social networks played a similar role in the overthrow of Mubarak and Gaddafi.
I have little faith in undercover intrigues, palace coups (even in the absence of palaces), or antediluvian versions of the Brute, but I am aware of the impossibility in our times to hide the needle from the people with tens of millions of computers, even with the staggering costs of security web teams or mass zombie show.
Therefore, I have no doubt that Koshcheev’s death is at the end of a needle, that needle is in the virtual, that virtual is in the monitor, that monitor is in the computer, that computer is in every house, and the houses are located in cities and towns of the country that another Koschey. Koschey understands this, so access to the needle will be severely limited and no funds will be spared for this restriction ...
Reviews
In the conditions of the Internet, it is difficult to save information that is inconvenient for voicing. Unless the zombie is faithful to the propaganda of the television screen. I don't think they visit the pages of free online magazines. Why, if for them the whole truth is in the TV news. But couch patriots are not the whole people.
I agree with you, dear Igor - the Internet in free access has incredible power, and the restriction of Internet freedoms can lead to mass protests. And where there are protests, there is a shaky power.
All authoritarian regimes are an attempt to stop or freeze time. Koshchei do not understand that it was easy to do in primitive times or ancient Egypt, but it is getting harder and harder these days. Of course, the DPRK still exists, but even there, as far as I know, there have begun - albeit insignificant - but deep, yet not coming to the surface, shifts. When the hour "x" comes, and it comes inevitably, no one has ever managed to resist time, although it is always more profitable for the authorities than for the people.
Happy New Year, dear Dana! Health and happiness!
The daily audience of the Proza.ru portal is about 100 thousand visitors, who in total view more than half a million pages according to the traffic counter, which is located to the right of this text. Each column contains two numbers: the number of views and the number of visitors.
Koschey (Kashchey) the Immortal is one of the most odious and mysterious villains of Russian fairy tales. Already only the epithet "Immortal" makes one fear this character. The absence of fear for the Immortal may mean that you have long been registered in his Koshcheev kingdom.
1. Secret of the name
We still do not know the exact origin of the name "Koshchei". The most common version - the name "Koschey" comes from the word "bone" and means a skinny person - is not in vogue among linguists today. Modern researchers of Russian folklore are more inclined to see the roots of the villain either in the Lower Lusatian kostlar (caster), or in the Old Russian "kast" (abomination, muck, etc.). Other scholars believe that the word "koshchey" in other Slavic languages is translated as skin, neck, bones. So, in Serbian "koschey" - "bone and skin" or "neck", in Slovenian and Polish - "neck" (Sloven. kitami, Polish. chudzielec).
2. Who is Koschei?
Oddly enough, until now, scientists have not come to an unambiguous conclusion. Some see in Koshchei an interpretation of the Slavic god of death from the cold Karachun, others see the Russian version of the German god Odin, and still others just a somewhat frostbitten sorcerer with great magical abilities. Many modern folklorists generally call for rehabilitating Koshchei, stating that he is not a villain at all, but a certain role model of a participant in the mystery of the initiation of a young girl, which is performed by the father of the initiate.
3. Crimes of Koshchei
In Russian fairy tales, Koschey appears as a very capable sorcerer. And very sophisticated in their magical solutions. So, in the fairy tale "Elena the Beautiful" he turns Ivan Tsarevich into a nut, he "dresses up" the princess from "The Frog Princess" in the skin of an amphibian, and in the fairy tale "Ivan Sosnovich" he cracks down on the whole kingdom, turning it into stone. Himself, the villain prefers to turn into a raven.
4. Unsuccessful ladies' man
As a rule, all Koshchei's activities are built around young girls. Koschey uses the same failed tactics in winning their love: first he effectively kidnaps the girl, then unsuccessfully tries to achieve intimacy, and, failing to achieve it, turns the fabulous beauties into frogs or snakes.
5. Koschei the Gallant
True, there was a case when Koshchei's lady reciprocated. In the epic “About Ivan Godinovich”, Immortal with an exotic patronymic, Tripetovich, appears as a gallant, courtly gentleman, wooing the Chernigov princess Marya Dmitrievichna. His rival is the treacherous Ivan Godinovich, who kidnaps Koshchei's bride and takes him to an open field. Having caught up with the kidnapper, Koschey Tripetovich again asks Beautiful Marya to become his lawful wife. And she agrees. The happy couple ties the perfidious Ivan to an oak tree, and they themselves leave to indulge in love pleasures in a tent. Then a raven flies in and begins to croak in love that Marya Dmitrievichna should not be Koshcheeva's wife, but the wife of Ivan Godinovich. In a fit of righteous anger, Immortal Romeo shoots a raven, but the arrow changes its trajectory and kills Koshchei himself. The unfortunate Marya the Beautiful decides to put an end to Ivan, but he dexterously snatches her saber from her and quarters the girl. So tragically ended Koshchei's only love affair.
6. How to kill Koshchei
In one of the tales, Koschey opened up: “My death is far away: there is an island in the sea on the ocean, there is an oak tree on that island, a chest is buried under an oak tree, a hare is in a chest, a duck is in a hare, an egg is in a duck, and death is in an egg. my". Many scientists saw in this "matryoshka" an interpretation of the model of the universe: water (sea-ocean), earth (island), plants (oak), animals (hare), birds (duck), and oak - "world tree". In other words, it is possible to end Koshchei by destroying the world order.
7. Where does Koschey live and does he have any relatives.
The daughter of Koshchei is Vasilisa (from the Greek basilissa - queen) the Wise (she is also the Frog Princess), in another version, the father of Vasilisa the Wise Sea King. The image of the "sea kings" goes back to the image of the sea-king - the German leaders of the sea campaigns of the Dark Ages (from the Goths to the Vikings), who came from Scandinavia. It is noteworthy that the kingdom of Koshchei is located in the north. Koschey went to war against Rus' in order to avenge the betrayal. By the way, in many fairy tales, he is mentioned primarily as a king. Koschey the Immortal: king, slave, sorcerer, unable to die, loves to kidnap girls, loves gold. Draw a parallel between him and the Scandinavian Troll, and you will get a 100% match, right down to the name, which translates as "slave", and in both cases there was initially betrayal, and then immortality.
8. Christian interpretation of Koshchei
Some elders of Northern Rus' interpreted Koshchei as a fallen Adam, and Ivan Tsarevich as a "New Testament man." In other interpretations of "folk Orthodoxy", Koschei symbolized the sinful body, the girl he kidnapped - the human soul, and Ivan Tsarevich - the spirit. The death of Koshchei was interpreted by these ascetics as the cleansing of the soul from sins. True, modern folklorists consider these interpretations unscientific.
The actors were paid, however, how much could not be established. Galina Mikhailovna Martynenko says that she received either 18 rubles or 180 tons. What the money went for, he also does not remember - apparently, the amount was not so large. But in memory of all the Ozersk girls who participated in the filming, there were colored ribbons, according to the recollections - from the atlas.
These ribbons were woven into our braids. And we were allowed to leave the tape after filming ... - says Galina Mikhailovna. How glad we were. Lived hard. War…
And Galina Mikhailovna also remembers that children were treated to ice cream and cakes in that summer heat. Maybe Rowe, having decided to please the village children, really found somewhere these, probably rare in wartime, delicacies?
Filming in Ozerki lasted three months. Then the filmmakers left and returned in the spring of 1945 with the finished film - so next year the film will have its 70th anniversary!
In Rowe's memoirs, it is written: “The village club could not accommodate everyone. I had to "push" the walls - stretch the canvas on the street, in front of the entrance to the club, and the film was immediately watched by hundreds of spectators.
Alexander Dmitrievich Zhuravlev was not at the premiere - he had already been drafted into the army. But Galina Mikhailovna remembers everything - both a sheet instead of a screen, and the fact that, at the request of the Lakers, the film was shown again and again.
The station showed the film for free ... - she says. - Everyone liked it. I was only sorry that I didn’t see myself - I only recognized my girlfriend Vera Lazareva ...
The premiere took place in Barnaul on May 9, 1945. Nikita Kozhemyaka defeated Koshchei, who turned out to be not so immortal. It was just in those days when reports of the death of the Nazi leaders were published in newspapers in small print, as if by the way. The film ended with the words: “After a thunderstorm, Rus' will bloom better than the old one, more beautiful than before” - and everyone probably wanted to believe that it would be so ...
The idea to make Koshchei a tourist brand of Altai appeared in 2011.
I often visit the State Museum of the History of Literature and Culture, from there I learned the history of the film about Koshchei, and thought that it should be developed ... - says Sergey Mozgovoy. - And in 2011, the regions began to snap up fairy-tale heroes. And I thought that Koschei could be a fabulous Altai brand. After all, this is a truly large-scale character with worldwide fame. American directors learned from Rowe's films. I watched The Hobbit the other day - it has a lot in common with Koshchey ...
Since the media talked about this idea in the first days of April, at first many treated it as a joke. Many, but not the director of the Talmensky Museum of Local Lore Lyudmila Smirnova. She just saw the practical grain in this.
Before that, we took our guests to the filming location and told the whole story. And I saw interest, not only among Russians, but also among foreign guests - from Germany, Taiwan, Hong Kong. In 2009, for scientists and museum workers of the Siberian region, we arranged a huge performance “Koschei the Immortal in a new way”, in which 300 people participated - these are our folk groups, art schools. And on the experience of the family tourist route “Happy Together”, I saw that the story about the filming of the fairy tale about Koshchei is very interesting for both adults and children ... - says Lyudmila Smirnova.
Lyudmila Alexandrovna, if she has something in mind, then immediately does it - this is confirmed by a whole list of grants won and projects implemented. She quickly prepared and applied for a presidential grant in the field of culture “Merry Storyteller of Darkness. Alexander Rowe. In the spring of 2013, it became known that Lyudmila Smirnova won the application.
The project was recognized as having all-Russian significance, and the amount of the grant was increased from 550 thousand rubles to 600 thousand ... - Lyudmila Alexandrovna tells us.
In September 2014, the museum opened a hall dedicated to the film by Alexander Rowe. Now there is a huge screen that allows - the only one in the area - to watch fairy tales in 3D. A portrait of Alexander Row, frames and characters from his fairy tales, a unique book about the director, published in his homeland, in the city of Yuryevets, Ivanovo Region, and recently donated to the museum. There is a chest and a duck (after all, Koshchei's death is at the end of the needle, the needle is in the duck, the duck is in the hare, the hare is in the chest, and the chest is on a tree). And most importantly - a huge, two-meter Koschei! The fairy-tale villain was carved from wood by Sergey Mozgovoy.
Koschey the Immortal is not just a character in children's fairy tales - this folklore hero has many stories and even names. So who is he?
Where did Koschey come from: hypotheses of origin
In Slavic mythology, he had a "surname" Chernobogovich - after his father, Chernobog. Then he was not a symbol of evil, although he reigned in Navi - this underground kingdom can be considered an analogue of the Greek Hades and belonged to a host of dark deities. He controlled the souls (and even bodies) of the dead, and also had many spirits under his control. Mythologists claim that, despite his power, Koschey did not like battles and participated in the battle only once.
Having migrated to fairy-tale folklore, Koschey turned into an evil sorcerer - he could be a king, sometimes just a sorcerer. As a rule, he kidnaps beauties.
Another of his incarnations is the witch's husband, whose eyelids are always closed. To raise them, you need the strength of a dozen mighty warriors. Obviously, from this legend, he migrated to Gogol's story about Viy, where he received his next name.
In any case, the folklore Koschei is always the embodiment of evil and the antagonist, unlike Baba Yaga, who can also be the hero's assistant.
Character from the point of view of scientists
The famous scientist James Fraser draws a number of parallels between the image of this folklore hero and the famous Samson. They are united by miraculous strength and the fact that they cannot be defeated in a simple way, as well as a tendency to trust women. According to Fraser, these characters come from the same source, which, however, he does not establish.
Slavic ethnographers see in him the lord of the Black Sun - a symbolic personification of the strength of the people and their power, that is, rather a patron than a pest.
One of the most interesting versions of the origin of the tales about Koshchei is connected with the marriage ceremonies of the Slavs. To initiate a girl into married life, she was symbolically kidnapped (the custom has survived to this day). This gave rise to a certain generalized image of a kidnapper of girls who took them to his kingdom (which was regarded as temporary death), and then returned them to the world of the living. According to this version, he is also not an evil hero - only with the advent of Christianity, when the ideas of the Slavs about the world changed, Koschey also changes.
1. In fact, he is not completely immortal, just his death in a needle, which is very difficult to get.
2. In Polish and Czech fairy tales, this character has a red beard.
3. His name comes from the word "bone", since this hero was often depicted as a skeleton - or a very bony old man.
4. He can turn into a crow.
5. The symbol of Koshchei is his magic sword.
6. Being a generally unsuccessful gentleman, one day he will know love - this story is described in epics. The beautiful girl Marya reciprocates the sorcerer's love, but her treacherous fiance kills her.
7. He may lose his strength if he goes long without food, but one sip of water brings him back to normal.
8. And Koschei can turn an entire kingdom into stone as easily as putting frog skin on a person.
