Welcome to Tales from the Wildwood,
And today,
A theme of the gothic.
This is the lore that rises when the light of the day fades,
And the ancient myths begin to scratch and scuttle at the edges of imagination and memory.
In dim light,
In the heart of the woods,
Mysteries deepen somehow,
As do dangers when we look through these enchanting tales of hopes and fears that cling to the boundaries of our collective consciousness.
VASILISA THE BEAUTIFUL Even though young Vasilisa's stepmother and stepsisters treated her cruelly,
She did her best to work hard and treasured the last gift from her mother,
A very special little doll.
But one evening,
Her stepsisters played a wicked trick to get rid of Vasilisa,
Letting all the candles in the house burn out.
They ordered her to find a flame from the old witch Baba Yaga,
Baba Yaga who lived in a hut in the forest.
It is said that she ate up all who came her way,
But Vasilisa,
With her doll in her pocket,
Took courage and went on her way into the wild dark.
She journeyed for hours.
She passed the horsemen of white,
Dawn,
And then the horsemen of red,
Day.
Through the forest shone rays of light.
Vasilisa walked on through the day and finally the horsemen of black,
Night,
Passed her as she came to the clearing of Baba Yaga's hut.
All around the hut stood a high fence made of human bones,
Topped with skulls that blazed from within.
At this moment,
From the forest,
There arose a terrible noise.
The branches of the trees crashed together,
The leaves fell,
And out of the trees came driving the Baba Yaga.
With a mortar and pestle,
She rode up to the hut where Vasilisa curtsied low and explained her plight.
Baba scowled.
Now you are here,
You must work.
If you work well,
Maybe I will give you a light,
Or maybe I will eat you,
Who can tell?
For now,
Serve up what's in the oven.
Tomorrow,
Whilst I'm away,
You must clean,
Sweep,
And wash everything,
And in the corn bin you'll find two sorts of grain mixed up,
Wheat and oats.
These you must separate into two heaps.
You must also cook me a nice supper.
If all is not done,
I'll stick your bones onto my fence.
That night,
When Baba was asleep,
Vasilisa fed a little crumb to her doll and asked,
Little doll,
What can I do?
The doll answered,
Do not fear,
Vasilisa,
Rest now,
For the morning is wiser than the evening.
And when the morning came,
Baba Yaga rode out into the forest,
And Vasilisa looked about her and,
Behold,
Every task was done.
The dishes were washed,
The floor was swept,
And the wheat and the oats were separated in two heaps.
Vasilisa took the doll from her pocket and gave it some breakfast.
Dear darling doll,
Did you do this?
You have saved me.
The doll replied,
Now you have nothing to do but to prepare Baba Yaga's supper.
She climbed back into Vasilisa's pocket.
Keep heart,
Little one.
On her return,
Baba inspected everything.
You have done well today,
But how have you managed to do all the work I set to you?
The blessing of my mother helped me,
Said Vasilisa.
Bleh!
Choked Baba.
I can't be doing with these blessed ones,
And she grabbed her broom and pushed Vasilisa out of the hut,
Then seized one of the lighted skulls from the fence and thrust it into Vasilisa's hand.
Here is the light for your stepmother's daughters.
Take it and go,
Blessed one.
So with the skull to light her way,
And with the doll safe in her pocket,
Vasilisa set off through the forest.
But when she arrived home,
The house was in darkness.
Vasilisa and her daughters had had no light all the time that Vasilisa had been away.
Every light they lit immediately went out.
And now the stepmother snatched the skull from Vasilisa,
Carried it into the parlour and set it on the table.
You've been long enough bringing it,
She said to Vasilisa.
And what a hideous thing it is,
Eldest stepsister said.
Couldn't you find anything better than that?
Asked the second stepsister.
The skull glared at these ungrateful women with its burning eyes and jumped off the table.
They were so frightened that they ran out of the room.
The skull bounded after them as Vasilisa watched on.
Stepmother and sisters ran from the house.
The skull bounded after them.
They ran into the forest.
The skull bounded after them.
Vasilisa's eyes burned brighter and brighter.
It is said that the skull chased them all the way to Baba Yaga's hut,
And that they were burnt into a crisp before Baba Yaga swallowed them up.
Genie,
The furious boggle Mulgrave Wood in Yorkshire was once,
They say,
The woodland home to boggles.
Unlike the hobgoblin and house spirits that may help humans occasionally,
The wise woman knows that the boggles should be left well alone.
The chief boggle was called Genie,
Known to be fierce even as boggles go.
One day,
A farmer wished to make her acquaintance.
Perhaps he did not really believe in Genie and wanted to meet her for himself.
Or perhaps,
Being brave on beer one night,
He took a wager.
Either way,
He saddled his horse and set out to seek Genie in the woods.
Once into Mulgrave Wood,
He sought out her dwelling,
A cave on a rocky slope.
Leaning from his saddle,
He called her loudly by name.
Genie,
He hollered.
Genie,
Are you there?
Come out,
Lass.
I want a word with thee.
Genie,
Whose peaceful day had been disturbed,
Answered his call.
With her lips snarling,
She came out of the cave like a whirlwind,
Brandishing in her hand her magic wand.
The farmer's horse was terrified and bolted at a frenzied gallop through the trees as though all the devils in hell were behind it.
The farmer now understood that his attentions towards her were not welcome.
Genie was fast and kept pace with the horse,
But before them lay a stream.
So the farmer set his horse to jump.
As the horse rose onto its back legs to leap,
Genie's wand descended.
The horse made it to the homeward side of the water.
The farmer did not.
The genie's wand sliced him clean in two.
And never again did a farmer or anyone else bother that particular lady of the woods.
Hunting for the Witch's Horse Block on Halloween.
It was said that Lady Sybil of Yorkshire was of unrivaled beauty and wealth.
Scarcely a day passed without some fresh admirer seeking her hand,
But she was in possession of high intelligence and her own interests,
And far preferred to be free to walk the countryside she loved so much and further her studies of nature.
She was particularly fond of visiting the Eagle's Crag,
Also nicknamed the Witch's Horse Block,
To admire the surrounding views.
And she had ambitions beyond her love of nature,
For she longed for supernatural powers and to take part in the knightly revelries of the famous Lancashire Witches.
So as one does,
She sold her soul to the devil and became Mistress of the County,
The Queen of the Lancashire Witches,
And with skills to transform at will into a white doe.
Now,
Lord William had long been a suitor for the hand of Lady Sybil,
And couldn't quite believe that his proposals had been continuously rejected.
So while Lady Sybil sought power and magics,
He also consulted a Lancashire Witch,
Mother Helston,
Who promised him success on the ensuing All Hallows' Eve.
Clearly,
She had no loyalty to Lady Sybil.
In the dusk of All Hallows' Eve,
Lady Sybil was enjoying the countryside excursions in her doe form.
Following the Witch's directions,
Lord William went out hunting with his dogs and the hound familiar of Mother Helston,
And they captured the white doe.
The apprehended doe became Lady Sybil once more,
Her powers of witchcraft were lost,
And she and Lord William were wed.
But,
Removed from her diabolical practices,
Lady Sybil's health rapidly declined,
Her desires lost,
And she died.
Her grave was dug at Eagle's Crag.
And it is here,
Each year,
On the eve of All Hallows',
That the milk-white doe and the witch-hound meet,
And once more,
She must run for her freedom.
Thank you for joining me in this season of the Witch and the Eve of All Hallows'.
May you continue to find your magic in the Wildwoods and beyond.
