The famous one-eyed one from ancient myths. Dashing one-eyed - Slavic mythology

In this old fairy tale, almost everything is the same as in the legend about the wanderings of Odysseus: “...The blacksmith was about to fall asleep when the door opened, and a whole herd of rams entered the hut, and behind them Famously- a huge, scary woman with one eye. Likho sniffed around and said:

- Eh, yes, I definitely have guests; I, Likha, will have something to eat for breakfast: it’s been a while since I’ve eaten human meat.

Dashingly blew up a splinter and pulled the blacksmith off the stove like a small child...” (“The Dashing One-Eyed One.” A fairy tale retold by K.D. Ushinsky).

Apparently, they were found in our Central Russian forests and mountains giants no worse than the Greek Polyphemus, and maybe even cooler, since so many sources literally unanimously describe this either a giant woman or a man.

And not only in our open spaces: this phenomenon seems to be Indo-European, since the brothers Grimm wrote their fairy tale “The Robber and His Sons” without trying to remake Homeric evidence, and Castren in the 19th century. I heard something similar in Russian Karelia (see “Bulletin of the Russian Geographical Society”, 1856, V).

“Clumsy, bloodthirsty, ferocious - the very embodiment of evil. The name Likho has become a household name and occupies a place synonymously with the words “trouble,” “grief,” and “misfortune.”

Let's look east. Tardanak is a hero of the Altai foreigners, included in fairy tales on the classical theme about Polyphemus or Russian tales about Dashing One-Eyed. The role of the giant monster is played by Elbegem, the role of Odysseus or Ivan Tsarevich, avoiding the danger of being boiled and eaten, is played by the boy Tardanak.

The tale of Tardanak is one of many variants of the widespread legend about the cannibal giant (see Verbitsky. Altai foreigners. pp. 156-157). And what about Sinbad's third journey in the "Land of the Furry"? There is an adventure similar to the lowing of Odysseus with Polyphemus.

Dashingly one-eyed - evil, trouble; personification of an evil fate, grief; evil spirits... Folklorists, of course, could not point to specific biological objects, to the finds of huge skulls with a hole in the middle of the forehead, only to beliefs: “Evil, trouble in beliefs can appear as a living creature that pursues a person and destroys him, such the image, however, is more typical of fairy tales, and not of existing beliefs.

The appearance of the “dashing evil” (appearing most often in fairy tales) is not clearly defined. Like many inhabitants of another world, it is famously both similar to and different from a person. It may be one-eyed (“crooked, unrighteous”); appears as a huge giant; a thin woman with one eye..."

In the Smolensk region, Likho One-Eyed was represented as a creature of enormous stature, devouring people. Most often this is a thin, crooked, single-eyed woman of enormous stature or a one-eyed giant.

Let's summarize a little. He lives in a large hut that stands in a dense and dark forest. Often also settles in an old abandoned mill. Instead of a bed, he has a large pile of human bones: according to some information, this creature does not disdain cannibalism and is capable of devouring any living creature that comes to hand.

Sometimes Likho is depicted as completely blind, but this option is rare in fairy tales. Has some magic. Likh's closest relatives in Russian legends are called Grief-Misfortune, as well as Dolya and Nedolya.

You should not seek a meeting with Likh out of simple curiosity. Unlike other unkind creatures, who sometimes show affection towards a person and can reward him, you can only expect trouble from Likh.

One of the tales about Likho almost completely repeats the adventures of Odysseus on the island of the Cyclops. In this and three other cases, the heroes blind the cannibals by piercing their eyes or dousing them with boiling oil.

As if specifically to make it easier for the heroes, the cannibals have one eye, and only the giants of Sinbad and the Brothers Grimm have two eyes. In the first three cases, even the way the heroes escape from the blinded monsters is the same - pretend to be a sheep and go out with the herd.

So, the blacksmith was caught.

“...The blacksmith looks into the stove and says:

- Grandma, I am a blacksmith.
- What can you do, forge?
- Yes, I can do everything.
- Bite my eye.
“Okay,” he says, “do you have a rope?” We need to tie you up, otherwise you won’t give in; I would forge your eye...

He took a thick rope and twisted it well with this rope... So he took an awl, lit it on fire, pointed it at her good eye, took an ax and hit the awl with its butt. As soon as she turned around, she broke the rope and sat down on the threshold...” (“The Dashing One-Eyed One.” Russian fairy tale adapted by A.N. Afanasyev).

The Arimaspi are a mythical people who lived in the extreme northeast of the ancient world. According to Herodotus, these were one-eyed people (which is what the word “arimasp” means in the Scythian language), constantly fighting with vultures, from whom they wanted to take away the gold they were guarding.

That is, real people. The source of information about the Arimaspians was the unsurvived epic poem of Aristaeus, son of Caistrobius of Proconnesus, “The Epic of the Arimaspians” (or “Arimaspia”), the content of which is given some idea by the “Scythian Story” of Herodotus (“History”. IV. 13-16). Aristeas, inspired by Apollo, allegedly arrived in the country of the Issedons and there wrote down stories about their northern neighbors - the Arimaspians, the vultures (grips or griffins) and the Hyperboreans.

According to Aristeas, the Arimaspi live north of the Issedons, and to the north of them live the vultures guarding gold, and the Arimaspi fight with both. Moreover, the Arimaspians expelled the Issedons from their country, who, in turn, expelled the Scythians, and those the Cimmerians.

Herodotus also gives an explanation (apparently, it was also taken from Aristaeus’s poem) of the word “arimaspi”, that Arimaspi is mentioned by other ancient writers (both geographers and tragic poets), but all their messages directly or indirectly go back to Aristaeus of Proconnesus and nothing They do not add anything new to Herodotus’ message. The exception is Aeschylus, who reports that the Arimaspians “live near the gold-bearing Pluto Stream” (“Chained Prometheus,” 805-806). Late antique writers begin to identify the Arimaspians and the Hyperboreans.

Another candidate for the real inhabitants of the Earth - verlioki. They are mentioned in an East Slavic folk tale about a one-eyed creature, possibly of mythological origin.

According to a typical fairy tale plot, Verlioka (sometimes, for simplicity, he is replaced by a bear) kills an old woman and her two granddaughters, and the old man, the drake, the crayfish, the rope and the acorn punish him for the murder. According to the note by A.N. Afanasyev, the tale was recorded by Tikhorsky in “southern Russia”. Russian variants - 3, Ukrainian - 7, Belarusian - 1.

Illustration from the fairy tale about Verlioka

The image of Verlioka was creatively reinterpreted in the fairy tale story “Verlioka” by V. Kaverin (1982). Verlioka, according to the description, “tall, about one eye, hooked nose, tufted beard, half-arshin mustache, stubble on his head, wearing a wooden boot on one leg, propped up with a crutch, grinning terribly.” Of course, he acts as a destroyer and killer.

Philologist O.A. Cherepanova interprets Verlioka as an ancient image of world evil preserved in a fairy tale. Which is completely justified, because a RAS employee cannot write: Verlioka is a direct reflection of the existence of a race of giants on our planet.

In Ukrainian there is a word “wirlooky, goggle-eyed” - this is how Gogol wrote this word in his “Little Russian Lexicon”.

And finally tepegez, or Depe-Geuze- a one-eyed giant (deva) in Turkic mythology, the story of which boils down to the fact that Tepegyoz drives a man into a cave, his lair, intending to eat him, but the man blinds him by plunging a point into his only eye, and gets out of the cave, throwing it on himself sheep skin The word “tepe” translated from Turkic languages means “crown of the head”, and “gyoz” means “eye”.

The image of Tepegyoz goes back to the character of the Oghuz heroic epic “Kitabi Dede Korkut”. Sarah's shepherd meets Peri's daughter in a deserted place and commits violence against her. From this connection, a cruel cannibal is born, popularly called Tepegyoz because of the single eye on his forehead.

He grew by leaps and bounds. Moreover, when they wanted to cut it with a sword, it became even larger. Sara's shepherd abandoned his son, and Tepegyoz was brought up by Khan Al Aruz, one of the leaders of the Oguz, on whose land he was found. Tepegyoz attacked caravans and devoured travelers. Only Basat, the son of Al Aruz, was able to defeat Tepegoz, blinding and cutting off his head with his own sword.

Basat kills Tepegyoz

The chapter describing Tepegoz was translated and published in 1815 by the German orientalist Heinrich Friedrich von Dietz, who discovered it in the manuscript “The Book of My Grandfather Korkut in the Oghuz Language,” dated to the 16th century. and kept in the Dresden Library.

So, look how many of our dashing relatives there are all over the world! And they didn’t all come out of Homer’s Cyclops, just as we came out of Gogol’s overcoat, but he came out of them. The myth of Polyphemus is only a reflection of earlier and more complete legends about the clashes of “our” humanity with representatives of “other” humanity, completely different from you and me.

The image of a great misfortune, a great danger, stuck, stuck to a person. Dashingly, it destroys mountains and knocks down trees. In Russian folk tales it was depicted, for example, in the form of a huge, scary woman, an old woman with one eye.

Dashing is very clingy - if he sticks to a person, he will never want to leave him behind, but will try to wear him out to the end. Since it’s time for dashing, then even if there is something to eat and you want to eat, you still can’t eat, and you want to sleep, but you won’t fall asleep. There are many evil spirits in Likh's service. However, Likh has only one eye, while humans have two. A person knows and can do more and can always find a way to get rid of the one-eyed Lich.

If everything is fine with a person, it is dangerous to demand more, because Likho will hear: “Don’t wake Likho while he is quiet!” Dashing is a huge giant who is difficult, almost impossible to cope with. In addition, Likho, Likh is a spirit that inhabits a person and begins to torment him with fever or drive him crazy. Another evil spirit helps to drive out Likho - the baennik.
It is necessary to heat the bathhouse thoroughly so that there is steam there, put the patient on the shelf, and place a loaf of bread, salt and a bottle of wine next to it. Then they began to ask the priest of the baennik to drive the evil Likha away from the sufferer. Then everyone went out for a while, leaving the patient. If, upon returning, they found no food on the shelf, it means that the baennik took the gifts - and the patient will recover.

The Tale of Dashing One-Eyed

The blacksmith lived happily and knew no hard times.

“What is this,” says the blacksmith, “I have never seen any dashing thing in my life!” At least I’d like to see how dashing it is in the world.

So the blacksmith went to look for the dashing one. He walked and walked and entered a dense forest; Night is approaching, but there is nowhere to spend the night and I want to eat. He looks around and sees: there is a huge hut nearby. I knocked - no one answered; opened the door, walked in - empty, not good. The blacksmith climbed onto the stove and went to bed without having supper.

The blacksmith was just about to fall asleep when the door opened, and a whole herd of sheep entered the hut, and behind them Likho, a huge, scary woman with only one eye. Likho sniffed around and said:

Eh, yes, I definitely have guests; I, Likha, will have something to eat for breakfast: it’s been a while since I’ve eaten human meat.

Dashingly blew up the splinter and pulled the blacksmith off the stove like a small child.

Welcome, unexpected guest! Thanks for stopping by; tea, you’re hungry and thin,” and dashingly checks with the blacksmith to see if he’s fat, but he’s all sick in his stomach from fear.

Well, there’s nothing to do, let’s have dinner first,” says Likho.

They brought a large load of wood, lit the stove, slaughtered a sheep, cleaned it up and fried it.

We sat down to dinner. He dashingly puts a quarter of a sheep into his mouth at a time, but the blacksmith doesn’t take a piece down his throat, even though he hasn’t eaten anything all day. Likho asks the blacksmith:

Who are you, good man?

What can you forge?

Yes, I can do everything.

Bite my eye!

“If you please,” says the blacksmith, “do you have a rope?” We need to tie you up, otherwise you won’t give in; I would forge your eye.

The blacksmith lived happily and knew no hard times.

“What is this,” says the blacksmith, “I have never seen any dashing thing in my life!” At least I’d like to see how dashing it is in the world.

So the blacksmith went to look for the dashing one. He walked and walked and entered a dense forest; Night is approaching, but there is nowhere to spend the night and I want to eat. He looks around and sees: there is a huge hut nearby. I knocked and no one answered; opened the door, walked in - empty, not good! The blacksmith climbed onto the stove and went to bed without having supper.

- Eh, yes, I definitely have guests; I, Likha, will have something to eat for breakfast: it’s been a while since I’ve eaten human meat.

Dashingly blew up the splinter and pulled the blacksmith off the stove like a small child.

- Welcome, unexpected guest! Thanks for stopping by; tea, you’re hungry and thin,” and dashingly checks with the blacksmith to see if he’s fat, but he’s all sick in his stomach from fear.

“Well, there’s nothing to do, let’s have dinner first,” says Likho; brought a large load of wood, lit the stove, slaughtered a ram, cleaned it up and fried it.

-Who are you, good man?

- Blacksmith.

-What can you forge?

- Yes, I can do everything.

- Bite my eye!

“If you please,” says the blacksmith, “do you have a rope?” We need to tie you up, otherwise you won’t give in: I would forge your eye.

Dashingly brought two ropes - one thick and the other thinner. The blacksmith took a thinner rope, tied Likho, and said:

- Come on, grandma, turn around! Dashingly turned and broke the rope. Now the blacksmith took a thick rope and twisted the grandmother well.

- Now turn around!

Dashingly turned around and did not break the ropes.

Then the blacksmith found an iron pin in the hut, lit it white in the oven, put it right on Likha’s eye, right on his good eye, and then hit the pin. Dashingly turned around, broke all the ropes, jumped up like mad, sat down on the threshold and shouted:

- Okay, villain! Now you won't leave me.

The blacksmith was more frightened than ever; he sat in the corner neither alive nor dead; I sat like that all night - even though I wanted to sleep. In the morning, Kho began to famously release the rams into the arable land, but one at a time: he would feel if it was really a ram, grab it by the back, and throw it out the door. The blacksmith turned his sheepskin coat with the wool side up, put it in his sleeves and walked on all fours. Dashingly he felt: he smelled a ram, grabbed the blacksmith by the back and threw him out of the hut.

The blacksmith jumped up, crossed himself and God bless his legs. Ran home; his friends ask him:

- Why did you turn gray?

“I spent the night at Likha’s,” says the blacksmith, “now I know what dashing is: you want to eat, but you don’t eat, and you want to sleep, but you don’t sleep.”

The blacksmith lived happily and knew no hard times.

“What is this,” says the blacksmith, “I have never seen any dashing thing in my life!” At least I’d like to see how dashing it is in the world.

So the blacksmith went to look for the dashing one. He walked and walked and entered a dense forest; Night is approaching, but there is nowhere to spend the night and I want to eat. He looks around and sees: there is a huge hut nearby. I knocked and no one answered; opened the door, walked in - empty, not good! The blacksmith climbed onto the stove and went to bed without having supper.

- Eh, yes, I definitely have guests; I, Likha, will have something to eat for breakfast: it’s been a while since I’ve eaten human meat.

Dashingly blew up the splinter and pulled the blacksmith off the stove like a small child.

- Welcome, unexpected guest! Thanks for stopping by; tea, you’re hungry and thin,” and dashingly checks with the blacksmith to see if he’s fat, but he’s all sick in his stomach from fear.

“Well, there’s nothing to do, let’s have dinner first,” says Likho; brought a large load of wood, lit the stove, slaughtered a ram, cleaned it up and fried it.

-Who are you, good man?

- Blacksmith.

-What can you forge?

- Yes, I can do everything.

- Bite my eye!

“If you please,” says the blacksmith, “do you have a rope?” We need to tie you up, otherwise you won’t give in: I would forge your eye.

Dashingly brought two ropes - one thick and the other thinner. The blacksmith took a thinner rope, tied Likho, and said:

- Come on, grandma, turn around! Dashingly turned and broke the rope. Now the blacksmith took a thick rope and twisted the grandmother well.

- Now turn around!

Dashingly turned around and did not break the ropes.

- Okay, villain! Now you won't leave me.

The blacksmith jumped up, crossed himself and God bless his legs. Ran home; his friends ask him:

- Why did you turn gray?

“I spent the night at Likha’s,” says the blacksmith, “now I know what dashing is: you want to eat, but you don’t eat, and you want to sleep, but you don’t sleep.”

Evil, misfortune, and failure have always frightened people and aroused in them a feeling of rejection and hostility. The Eastern Slavs even personified these concepts, creating a demonic image called Dashing One-Eyed. It began to personify evil fate and misfortune, and appeared before people in the form of a thin, one-eyed old woman. She wandered the earth, became attached to people and brought down troubles, illnesses, poverty on them, sometimes killing the unfortunate ones or depriving them of some parts of their bodies.

The Slavs came up with such a creepy entity, and its adventures were reflected in fairy tales. In the most popular of them, the main character is the village blacksmith. He somehow caught fire with the desire to see Likho. I decided to go into the forest and look for this demonic creature there. But one was afraid to go and took a tailor as his partner. And the two of them went into the deepest forest.

They made their way through the bushes and tree branches for a long time until they came out into a large clearing. In the middle of it they saw a large hut. We walked around it, found no one, and then it began to get dark. The travelers went inside and decided to spend the night in the hut. We had just settled in for the night when we heard someone walking around outside. The blacksmith looked out the window and saw a thin, one-eyed old woman.

She entered the house, saw the guests and smiled contentedly. She said that she was very glad for them, because now she doesn’t have to think about what to cook for dinner. The old woman lit the stove, grabbed the tailor and shoved him straight into the flames. She fried it and ate it. The blacksmith was frightened, sat neither alive nor dead, scolding himself with the last words that he decided to look at Likho.

And the old woman became full and grew kinder. She began to ask the blacksmith questions, asking about village life. When she found out that her guest was a blacksmith, she perked up and began asking him to forge an iron eye for her, since it was too awkward to appear in front of people without one eye. The guest agreed doomedly, got to work and forged a brand new iron eye. It was a pleasure to look at him: he turned out so beautiful and well-behaved.

All that remains is to insert the eye into the empty socket. The blacksmith asked the old woman to sit on a bench and heated a nail in the oven, supposedly in order to use it to drive an iron eye into the socket. But as soon as the nail became covered in red, the blacksmith grabbed it with pincers, brought it to the old woman’s good eye and hit the hot iron with a hammer. The nail entered the seeing eye, and Dashing One-Eye howled in a terrible voice.

It wanted to grab the blacksmith, but where could it go? The guest dodged the blind old woman and ran out of the hut. He rushed into the thicket of the forest and ran wherever he could. Runs through the forest, does not pay attention to branches and bushes. And suddenly he sees a deeply embedded ax sitting in the tree trunk. The blacksmith wanted to run past, but suddenly he realized that this was not an ordinary ax, but made of pure gold. The man stopped, grabbed the ax handle, and pulled the expensive item towards himself. But it didn’t give in, and my hand stuck tightly to the handle.

Then an ominous laugh was heard behind him. The blacksmith realized that Dashing was approaching, and the golden ax was his trap. The man began to tremble in horror, screamed in a terrible voice, but he could not tear his hand off: the axe had eaten into it and became one with the hand. What to do here? The blacksmith pulled a knife from his pocket, cut off the brush and freed himself.

He started running even faster than before. He looked back once and saw that Dashing One-Eye was chasing him. But only now did the thin, completely blind old woman have an eye on her forehead. And he exuded such anger that the pursued man ran as fast as he had never run before. After some time, a man ran out of the forest and saw his native village in the distance. He reached her, walked down the street, and began to show his mutilated hand to everyone he met, saying that he had seen Dashing, and that’s how this meeting ended.

This folk tale perfectly characterizes the demonic image that sows evil and grief around itself. He not only brings bad luck, but is also a cannibal who eats people for fun. This is the kind of mythological creature our ancestors came up with, endowing it with the most disgusting and terrible features imaginable.