KHATUNA. THE GIRL WITH THE DOLL

Already at the exit at the gate, she said in a low voice to the hostess who was accompanying her, «We have this Saturday, Galinushka, the Apple Feast of the Saviour[4 - The Apple Feast of the Saviour or Apple Spas is an Eastern Slavic folk name for the Feast of the Transfiguration, which is celebrated on August 19.] is coming. Take the apples to the Church to consecrate them, and at the same time take this girl there. Let’s see how she behaves. And I’ll come to you on Sunday again. You will tell me what happened and how.»

Galina listened to the advice of the fortune-teller and on a holiday, collecting a basket of apples and putting the pies baked the day before, she went to the village church with the children in the morning. She strictly ordered her daughters not to tell Pelageya that they would go to church…

«Pelageyushka, come with us!» Ulyana called her, straightening a new sundress on herself. «Today there will be festivities in the village. There is no need to sit at home on such a day!»

Pelageya reluctantly agreed, and the girls with Galina went to the center of the village.

Carried away by the road, they imperceptibly turned to the church.

«Why did you stand up like an idol?» Ulyana was surprised. «Let’s go inside! We need to consecrate pies and apples.»

The girl pulled the named sister by the hand, but she pulled her palm and answered sharply, «I have nothing to do there! There are already a lot of people there. I’d rather wait here.»

No matter how the girls and Galina persuaded the little obstinate, she flatly refused to even approach the temple.

«Well, okay, what to do with you. Wait for us here!» said Galina, grabbed a heavy basket of fruit and pies and headed with her daughters towards the church…

After a while they appeared at the exit from the temple. The joyful Vasilisa was carrying two large red apples in her hands.

«Here, take it, Pelageyushka!» she said. «They say that if you make a wish and eat a consecrated apple, then your wish will come true.»

«Here’s another, what nonsense!» Pelageya muttered with displeasure. «I don’t need anything!»

«Well, eat at least a piece,» Vasilisa persisted. «The apple in the Transfiguration of the Lord is not simple. You’ll see!»

But Pelageya did not give in to any persuasion. In the end, she got angry, knocked the fruits out of Vasilisa’s hands and, turning around, ran along the road towards the house.

«Yes… Evidently, Efrosinya was speaking the truth,» Galina thought to herself and together with her daughters quickened her pace to catch up with Pelageya.

CHAPTER 6. AN ANCIENT LEGEND

The next day, Efrosinya, as promised, again came to visit. Galina, in anticipation of her arrival, melted the samovar, baked pancakes and laid the table, decorating it with fruits and apple pie.

As soon as the fortune-teller entered the courtyard, she immediately asked in a half-whisper from the hostess if she had taken Pelageya to the church the previous day. In response, Galina told her what and how it was. Looking around, Efrosinya entered the hut and carefully looked at it inside.

«And where is this girl now?» she asked, sitting down at the table.

«In the morning I sent my daughters to collect ripe rose hips on the hillside. We want to dry them for the winter. Pelageya went with them. They are about to return,» answered Galina.

Looking again towards Pelageya’s room, the old woman reached across the table closer to Galina and took her hand.

«Listen to me, Galinushka, what I’ll tell you now. In vain, Nazar picked up the girl and brought her home. It will bring troubles and misfortunes to your family and our entire village. She is not a girl at all, but a witch named Khatuna. For a long time she was not in our region. My grandmother, the kingdom of heaven to her, told me a story about her. There is a legend that is known only to some old people in our village. Many, many years ago, when Petrovskoye was not even in sight, the lands of the vast kingdom of the Khazars stretched here, the soldiers of which were mainly engaged in making predatory raids on Holy Russia and on their other neighbors, bringing rich booty to their ruler – the Khan. So,» having a sip of tea, continued Efrosinya, «once the khan himself with his army, family and retinue from a long campaign rode here across the steppe. They stopped to rest near our hills: to feed and water their horses, well, and to have a meal themselves. After sitting until dark, they kindled fires and settled down for the night, setting up tents. At midnight, when everyone was already asleep, except the guards, wolves attacked their camp in a large flock. They grabbed the baby, who was khan’s daughter, named Khatuna, and dragged her into the hills. Khan sent his best warriors to chase, but they could not rescue the princess from the wolf captivity. For several days, his horsemen were looking for the girl in the vicinity. Desperate to find his daughter and heartbroken, the khan decided to continue on his way to his capital. The child survived. It was nurtured by unknown forces of darkness and turned into a real fiend, created to bring evil and misfortune to our land. Since then, about once every hundred years, she appears in the dark by the road near the hills, in the guise of a little girl with a doll in her hands.»

«Oh, what am I to do, Granny?» Galina asked fearfully. «You told me a terrible story. Was it really so?»

«I’ve been living for a long time, Galinushka. A lot of things I’ve seen in my time. Listen to me as an old woman – get rid of her. You need to take this girl to the same place where Nazar picked her up, or, even worse, to a distant steppe, and leave her there,» the fortune-teller answered and turned around, hearing the creak of the slightly opened door leading to Pelageya’s room. «Galinushka, is there really no one in the hut, besides us?» Efrosinya asked in a quiet, anxious voice.

«No, Granny. We are alone. That could have been a draft blowing and pulling the door,» reassured her hostess noticing the fear in the eyes of the old woman, and then continued. «Maybe you got it wrong? How can we take a child to the steppe and leave it there? What kind of heart do we need to have and how do we live with all of this then?»

The fortune-teller was about to contradict her, but before she could utter a word, Ulyana and Vasilisa entered the hut noisily and cheerfully from the porch with baskets filled to the brim with rosehip fruits. Pelageya appeared after them.

«Good work! You have picked up so many rosehip fruits! Now it’s enough for the whole winter,» Galina was delighted. «By the way, Granny Efrosinya has come to visit us here. Sit down with us to drink tea.»

Heeding her words, the children sat down at the table, and, pouring tea from the samovar, pounced on the pancakes that had not yet cooled down after the oven.

«Yes, apparently, good rose hips have grown this year,» Efrosinya decided to keep up the conversation, looking at the baskets with fruits and immediately glancing at Pelageya.

In response, Ulyana and Vasilisa were enthusiastically carried away by the dispute, who of them this time picked up more rosehips. Pelageya, meanwhile, finished her pancake, sat down at the far edge of the table and began to gaze intently out the window.