Verlioka

Verlioka (Russian: верлиока) or wyrlook (Ukrainian: вирлоок)[1] is an East Slavic fairy tale collected by Alexander Afanasyev in Narodnye russkie skazki (1855-63). It is Aarne-Thompson type 210*.[2]

Synopsis

Once there was an elderly couple who had two grandchildren, whom they loved. One day, the grandpa ordered his granddaughter to shoo away the sparrows to protect the crops. Verlioka finds her there and kills her. The grandpa wonders why his granddaughter hasn’t come back and sends his youngest grandchild to find her. Verlioka kills her too. Grandpa then sends the grandmother to bring the girls back but Verlioka kills her. After a while, the grandfather goes out to find his family, learns they are dead, and sets out to kill the monster. Along the way, he is joined by talking animals and objects, who attack the monster in his home.[3]

Variants

According to Alexander Afanasyev's note, the tale was collected by Nikolay Tikhorski in "Southern Russia". There are 3 Russian, 7 Ukrainian, and 1 Belarusian variant. Notemakers Lev Barag and N. V. Novikov theorize that the typical Ukrainian ending «Вот вам сказка, а мне бубликов вязка» (Ukrainian: Ось вам казка, а мені бубликів в'язка, "Here's a tale for you, and a bunch of donuts for me"; in Bain's translation "So there's a skazha for you－and I deserve a cake or two also."), as well as usage of the vocative case («А вы, добродею, знаете Верлиоку?») possibly suggest that the tale was written in or near Ukraine.[4]

Robert Nisbet Bain included a version of the story in Russian Fairy Tales, a translation of Nikolai Polevoy's work.[5]

Jack Haney suggeted that the tale is "primarily" East Slavic.[6]

Etymology

The Ukrainian language has an adjective "вирлоокий" ('vyrlooky'), meaning "with bulging eyes"; noun "вирло", plural "вирла" ('bulging eyes'). The name has cognates with other Slavic languages: Belarusian: вірлавокi, romanized: virlavoki ('with bulging eyes'), Serbian: врљоока, romanized: vrljooka ('with a damaged eye'), dialectal Smolensk Russian: верлиокий, romanized: verlioki ('strabismic, crossy-eyed; turning their eyes in all directions').[7]. This may reflect Proto-Slavic *vьrl- ('to turn, to spin') + *oko ('eye').[8].

References
  1. Капица Ф. С. Тайны славянских богов. - М.: РИПОЛ классик, 2007. - 416 с.
  2. Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: Animal tales, tales of magic, religious tales, and realistic tales, with an introduction. FF Communications. p. 133.
  3. Haney, Jack (2015). The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 469–473. ISBN 978-1-62846-093-3.
  4. Народные русские сказки А.Н. Афанасьева в трех томах. Том II. Москва: Издательство «Наука», 1985. С. 451.
  5. "Russian Fairytales". The Public Domain Review. Retrieved 19 January 2022.
  6. Haney, Jack V. The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev. Volume II: Black Art and the Neo-Ancestral Impulse. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 2015. pp. 552-553. muse.jhu.edu/book/42506.
  7. Словарь русских народных говоров. Т.4. — С. 147
  8. Етимологічний словник украïнськоï мови/А-Г. — Киïв: Наукова думка, 1982. — С. 380, 634


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