Vasilisa is extremely interesting when compared to other Cinderella stories. Most often, help comes from living things, always from nature. Yet Vasilisa’s help comes from object, object made by man, by civilization. It is really intriguing to me.
I was always fascinated by three things in tale. Baba Yaga, ancient, eldritch and incomprehensible, commanding forces of nature and seeing humanity as animals whose primary purpose is to be food. Like chickens. She doesn’t need us, she doesn’t need to eat. She is doing because she can. We will pass and disappear and we don’t matter to her, but it isn’t she who is monster, villain, creature that must be defeated. It is three normal humans, humans who should have cared for Vasilisa.
Second is death of stepfamily. Cinderella stories were always violent- Aschenpuntel, the Cat Cinderella, Tam and Cam. And yet this method is one of most gruesome and horrifying. They burn, burn as they hide yet eyes of skull always follow them. And Vasilisa stands, stands as they turn to ash and dust, and when Black Rider goes away, and White and Red rise, she calmly buries skull and locks door and goes off to find new life.
Third is her skill, her art. My high school literature professor used to say that art comes from emotion, from meeting with death ( in any form), that it is way to understand and explain world. And Vasilisa has that more than enough. She becomes more than simple craftswoman, true artist, out of simple need to do something. And because of that, she becomes tsaritsa.
Also, tondo-ule, goblinfruit, Kadi fedoruk, author of Blindsprinsg webcomic, has done fantastic 15 page comic for the Valor anthology. You can find it here:http://www.blindsprings.com/comic/valor-page-one.
dededos
kianamaiart
turnnoffyourmind
baratheonpilled
areudirty
romaincrisis
snowghoul
