“Be quiet, you old witch! You have no right to ask questions of a hero. Bring something to eat and drink, or I’ll cut off your ears and chop off your head, and sand will pour out of your backside!”
This is what Ivan—the hero of the Russian fairy tale “The Tsar Maiden”—says to Baba Yaga when she greets him with the words: “Have you come of your own free will, or against it?” After that, Baba Yaga feeds him generously and later helps him find the path he is seeking.
It would hardly occur to us that these are the magical words capable of neutralizing an evil force—and yet that is exactly what this fairy tale tells us. We understand why through Marie-Louise von Franz’s analysis, according to which the evil witch (Baba Yaga) represents the destructive inner feminine part (the negative anima), and more specifically in this tale—the negative mother complex in the male psyche.
“You see, the great trick of the mother complex in a man is to sow doubt in him, suggesting that perhaps it would be better to do something else instead of this, and then the man becomes weak; he gets lost in a fog of philosophical thinking instead of taking action. But Ivan says: ‘Be quiet, you old witch! You have no right to ask questions of a hero. Bring something to eat and drink, or I’ll cut off your ears and chop off your head, and sand will pour out of your backside!’ After that, Baba Yaga prepares a wonderful meal for him and gives him good advice. She tries to infantilize him, but when he resists her, she turns positive and helps him.”
Marie-Louise von Franz,
“Animus and Anima in Fairy Tales,” pp. 106–107
I am fascinated by the decisiveness of Ivan’s response. Before him stands something frightening—a sinister old woman with magical powers to harm people. But instead of becoming afraid and doing what Baba Yaga wants, he confronts her. He does so in a firm, uncompromising way, and to the reader’s surprise, Baba Yaga transforms into a positive, supportive force. Through the power of its imagery, this fairy tale shows us how to deal with destructive forces in our lives—forces that make us doubt our own strength and prevent us from taking action.
I believe these magical words are equally suitable for men suffering from mother complexes and for women who are unable to say “no” when someone abuses them. They apply just as well to the inner voices that make us fearful and feel inadequate as to the outer voices that undermine our sense of inner worth.
I am reminded of another fairy tale I recently read—and if it weren’t for Marie-Louise von Franz, I wouldn’t have seen the connection. It is called “The Sworn Brother.” In it, the hero manages to make the princess speak. She remains silent and giggles slyly, but he becomes angry at her trickery and says: “If I am destined to die, then you will die with me!” He then draws his sword and strikes. Out of fear, the princess falls to the ground and cries out—and at that moment a white snake crawls out of her mouth. The young man steps on the snake and kills it.
Had he accepted the princess’s trickery, he would have lost his head, and she would have continued to be a victim of the white snake within her. Instead, he becomes angry, draws his sword, and threatens her. The spell is broken.
There are moments when it is wise to reflect and step back. But there are also moments when the opposite is needed—to say to that inner (or outer) voice that makes us feel small and weak the very words Ivan said to Baba Yaga:
“Be quiet, you old witch! You have no right to ask questions of a hero. Bring something to eat and drink, or I’ll cut off your ears and chop off your head, and sand will pour out of your backside!”
We cannot undertake our heroic journey if we continue to listen to that voice again and again. If we do not silence it, we will remain stuck in the same place—symbolically represented in the fairy tale by Baba Yaga’s hut that keeps spinning.
“The spinning signifies the aimless circular movement of the psyche. A man possessed by the anima keeps going round and round the same experiences—he is in the cocoon of the goddess.”
(Marie-Louise von Franz, same book, p. 107)
So first we recognize who we are dealing with. And if it turns out to be Baba Yaga, we say the magical words that will make her fall silent. We can do this now because we know she has appeared on our path to test whether we are capable of standing up to her.
To develop faith in ourselves.
Kameliya Hadzhiyska
Note: The quotations are translated from Bulgarian and are not presented as verbatim citations.
