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Here Be Dragons co-curated by Cressida Cowell and Toothless - opens 13 July. Admission included with ticket to the Galleries

1001 Stories Collection

Baba Yaga's Daughter

Audio
1001 babayagasdaughter
Added on 25th June 2020

Oral tradition Russian folktale

Russia Folk and fairy tales Magic
1001 , Audio , Text , Storymap

Baba Yaga, the witch who lives in the house with chicken legs, is visited by Vasilisa the Beautiful looking for a light.

Story

After Vasilisa the Beautiful’s mother dies, her father remarries. One day Vasilisa is sent out by her cruel step-mother and step-sisters to get light. She finds a house in the forest standing on chicken legs and surrounded by a fence of human bones, where she meets and makes friends with Baba Yaga’s daughter. Then Baba Yaga comes home…

Why we chose it

Baba Yaga with her iron teeth and house with chicken legs is known all over the world. Baba Yaga’s Daughter was one of the stories in our original audio stories collection.

Where it came from

Baba Yaga is an important figure in Slavic folk stories. Generally portrayed as a witch who rides a pestle and mortar and lives in a hut that stands on chicken legs, surrounded by a fence of bones, deep in the forest. In this story she is an evil witch who eats children, but there are stories in which she helps the hero.

Associated stories

There are a number of stories about Baba Yaga and Vasilisa. In many of them Vasilisa is helped by the doll her mother gave her before she died.

Baba Yaga has inspired a number of novels for children including The House With Chicken Legs by Sophie Anderson who takes the kind rather than the cruel side of Baba Yaga as her inspiration.

Added on 25th June 2020

Oral tradition Russian folktale

Russia Folk and fairy tales Magic
1001 , Audio , Text , Storymap

Story Resources

  • Baba Yaga's Daughter story map PDF (383.704 KB)
    Download
  • Baba Yaga's Daughter story text PDF (310.29 KB)
    Download