Russian Fairy Tales
Vodyany
The
Vodyany, or Water-sprite, like his kin spirit the Domovoy, is
affectionately called Dyedushka, or Grandfather, by the peasants. He
generally inhabits
the depths of rivers, lakes, or pools; but
sometimes he dwells in swamps, and he is specially fond of taking up
his quarters in a mill-stream, close to the wheel. Every mill is
supposed to have a Vodyany attached to it, or several if it has more
wheels than one. Consequently millers are generally obliged to be
well-versed in the black art, for if they do not understand how to
treat the water-spirits all will go ill with them.
The Vodyany is
represented by the people as a naked old man, with a great paunch and a
bloated face. He is much given to drinking, and delights in carouses
and card-playing. He is a patron of bee-keeping, and it is customary to
enclose the first swarm of the year in a bag, and to throw it, weighted
with a stone, into the nearest river, as an offering to him. He who
does this will flourish as a bee-master, especially if he takes a
honeycomb from a hive on St. Zosima's day, and flings it at midnight
into a millstream.
The water-sprites have their subaqueous dwellings
well-stocked with all sorts of cattle, which they drive out into the
fields to graze by night. They have wives and children too, under the
waves, the former sometimes being women who have been drowned, or whom
a parent's curse has placed within the power of the Evil One. Many a
girl who has drowned herself has been turned into a Rusalka or some
such being, and then has married a Vodyany. On the occasion of such a
marriage, or indeed of any subaqueous wedding, the Vodyanies indulge in
such
revels and mad pranks that the waters are wildly agitated, and
often carry away bridges or mill-dams; at least, that is how the
peasants explain such accidents as arise when the snows melt and the
streams wax violent. When a water-sprite's wife is about to bear a
child he assumes the appearance of an ordinary mortal, and fetches a
midwife from some neighbouring village to attend her. Once a water-baby
was caught by some fishermen in their nets. It splashed about joyously
as long as it was in the water, but wailed sorely when it was taken
into a cottage. Its capturers returned it to its father on his
promising to drive plenty of fish into their nets in future--a promise
which he conscientiously fulfilled. Here is one of the stories about a
mixed marriage beneath the waves. Except at the end, it is very like
that which forms the groundwork of Mr. Matthew Arnold's exquisite
romaunt of "The Forsaken Merman." "Once upon a time a girl was drowned,
and she lived for many years after that with a water-sprite. But one
fine day she swam to the shore, and saw the red sun, and the green
woods and fields, and heard the humming of insects and the distant
sound of church-bells. Then a longing after her old life on earth came
over her, and she could not resist the temptation. So she came out from
the water, and went to her native village. But there neither her
relatives nor her friends recognized her. Sadly did she return in the
evening to the water-side, and passed once more into the power of the
water-sprite. Two days later her mutilated
corpse floated on to the
sands, while the river roared and was wildly agitated. The remorseful
water-sprite was lamenting his irrevocable loss 2."
When a Vodyany
appears in a village it is easy to recognize him, for water is always
dripping from his left skirt, and the spot on which he sits instantly
becomes wet. In his own realm he not only rules over all the fishes
that swim, but he greatly influences the lot of fishers and mariners.
Sometimes he brings them good luck; sometimes he lures them to
destruction. Sometimes he gets caught in nets, but he immediately tears
them asunder, and all the fish that had been enclosed in them swim out
after him. A fisherman once found a dead body floating about in the
water, so he took it into his boat. But to his horror the corpse
suddenly came to life, uttered a wild laugh, and jumped overboard. That
was one of the Vodyany's pranks. A sportsman once waded into a river
after a wounded duck. The Vodyany got hold of him by the neck, and
would have pulled him under if he had not cut himself loose with his
axe. When he got home his neck was all over blue marks left by the
Vodyany's fingers. Sometimes the Vodyany will jump on a horse and ride
it to death; so, to keep him away while horses are fording a river, the
peasants sign a cross on the water with a knife or a scythe. One should
not bathe, say the peasants, without a cross round one's neck, or after
sunset. Especially dangerous is it to bathe during
the week in which
falls the feast of the Prophet Ilya (Elijah, formerly Rerun, the
Thunderer), for then the Vodyany is on the look out for victims. During
the day he generally lies at the bottom of the deep pools, but at night
he sits on the shore combing his hair, or he sports in the water,
diving with a splash and coming up far away; sometimes, also, he fights
with the wood-sprites, the noise of their combats being heard afar off.
In Bohemia fishermen are afraid of assisting a drowning man, thinking
the Vodyany will be offended and will drive away the fish from their
nets; and they say he often sits on the shore with a club in his hand,
from which hang ribbons of various hues: with these he allures
children, and those whom be gets bold of be drowns, The souls of his
victims the Vodyany keeps, making them his Servants, but their bodies
he allows to float to shore.
Sometimes be changes himself into a
fish, generally a pike. Sometimes, also, he is represented, like the
western Merman, with a fish's tail. In the Ukraine there is a tradition
that, when the sea is rough, such half-fishy "marine people" appear on
the surface of the water and sing songs. The Chumaki (local carriers)
go down at such times to the sea-side, and there hear those wonderful
songs which they afterwards sing in the towns and villages. In other
places these "sea people" are called "Pharaohs," being supposed, like
the seals in Iceland, to be the remains of that host of Pharaoh which
perished in the Red Sea.
During the winter the Vodyany sleeps, but
with the early spring he awakes, wrathful and hungry, and manifests his
anger by various spiteful actions. In order to propitiate him the
peasants in some places buy a horse, which they feed well for three
days; then they tie its legs together, smear its head with honey, adorn
its mane with red ribbons, attach two millstones to its neck, and at
midnight fling it into an ice-hole, or, if the frost has broken up,
into the middle of a river. Three days long has the Vodyany awaited his
present, manifesting his impatience by groanings and upheavings of
water. After he has received his due he becomes quiet. Fishermen
propitiate him at the same season of the year by pouring oil on the
water, begging him, as they do so, to be good to them; and millers once
a year sacrifice a black pig to him. A goose, also, is generally
presented to him in the middle of September, as a return for his having
watched over the farmer's ducks and geese during the summer months.
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