Sielicki - Handsome Yeva: An Attempt to Synthesize and Reconstruct Some Prominent Themes of the Proto-Indo-European Myth in Context of the Slavic Jarilo Folklore Cycle

Handsome Yeva

An Attempt to Synthesize andReconstruct Some Prominent Themes of the Proto-Indo-European Mythin Context of the Slavic Jarilo Folklore Cycle.

StanislawSielicki

Popular edition

Corrector Nathan Christie

Copyright 2014 Stanislaw Sielicki

Smashwords Edition

Contents

GreatNight, Holy Night. Many Moons ago the War of Dars had ended on asimilar Silver Night. However, that Night was not so silent andpeaceful as this one. Dar Vilenus Combat Trees groaned, crackled,and thumped; on their branches Firebirds rattled with armoredfeathers; among giant tree trunks flowed theWolves-Shapeshifters.

A chirping and cheeping, clicking andclacking, clanging and clanking veil of Giant Scorpions, Hornetsand Centipedes, glittering and shimmering with their brilliantgolden and silver armor, whirled out of the cities of DarSlovo. Winged Mares of Dar Boy swept aside everything in their way.Hissed and melted did the Ice; in clouds of its vapor it bubbled,popped, solidified and cracked the Melted Rock. Furious, muddytorrents of the freed water rushed down to the Sea, deforming theface of the Earth. Fallen and crashed aflame was the Chariot of DarSvet, who had stormed the Heavens. And all went silent.

The remaining Dars returned to the Heavens:Dar Slovo, and Dar Vilenus, and Dar Drugan, and Dar Dobro. Even DarBoy, closest brother of the rebellious Dar Svet, made peace withhis older brothers, and returned with them to the Empyreal Lands.The Dars powers froze where they were: Trees put down roots andfell asleep, Ice melted away, Rocks cooled down, and Grass sprangthroughout the Crystal Wasteland. Time healed the wounds that theEarth had suffered because of the War. Strange creatures andchildren of Dars either parted the Earth too, or withdrew into thedepths of the Dars dormant elemental powers. The men - OrphanedPeople of Dar Svet - began to search for their place on theEarth.

Not far from the place where the Chariot ofDar Svet fell which, of course, would soon become forgotten onthe banks of the River, near the margins of Dar Vilenus Forest,there sprang a small settlement of the People of Dar Svet. Peoplesmemories are short, but legends remember all for thesettlement was named the Village of Falling Stars.

People began saying that here and there DarVilenus was spotted, taking an appearance of a bearded old man in acloak and pointy hat. The old man just shook his headdisappointedly, watching the peoples futile efforts to tame anddomesticate wild animals and plants.

One way or another, the peoples lives wentforth. The Village grew, and so nobody noticed when a small shackof a blind cripple and his wife appeared at the outskirts of thesettlement. Perhaps a long time ago the wife was a stunning beauty,most likely from the noble kin of the Belfs, the People of DarSlovo. However, now because of the harsh life, her face and handshad been touched by the nets of wrinkles, nails darkened and split,stature hunched, and the light in her emerald eyes dimmed. Rumorswere going around that she could wield charms and talk to horses atnight. Her husband was also from far away, but he did not like todisturb people by the view of his horrible injuries, and tried toavoid being seen in public. Though he was not only blind, for itseemed that a terrible beast tore up his eyes and mutilated hisface. People were whispering that his whole body, which he hadthoroughly draped in clothes, was awfully mauled as well and thata common man could not have survived such injuries.

To those who had been asking what theirnames were and what they were doing in faraway lands, the crippleand his spouse answered cryptically that their names were Svelenand Svelena. But instead, the nicknames Perhun and Horsa were stuckto them, to which the old couple were no less cryptic thanbefore, smiling and saying that those names were theirs as well.The Svelens said they had been living in an isolated and lonelyplace, and their older children were busy living somewhere far, faraway. When on one of the Great Nights Svelena bore a pair of twinswhom the couple named Mara and Yeva, and when these twins becamedarlings of the Village, the Svelens were finally accepted by thevillagers as equals. Here was Svelenas lullaby:

Sleep my baby, rock-a-bye,

On the edge you must not lie.

Wolf the Fluffy roams astray,

Will he grab you, drag away?

Into Furthest Darkest Woods,

Hide you under Willow roots?

There birdies chirp and squeak,

Will they let you fall asleep?

The lullaby soon became popular among thevillagers for Dar Vilenus Forest lied not far from the Village,and the Forest, as it was told, was still inhabited by strangecreatures left from the times of the War of Dars, and thosecreatures were shepherded by Dar Vilenus Ghostly-Wolves.

Strangewere the growing Mara and Yeva. Their hair was as glowing as aHeavenly Fire; the tranquility of the Forest swirled in their eyesas the color of its foliage; refined were their enlightened faces,skin as smooth as silk, and their gestures and postures werepanther-like. They were not afraid of Dar Vilenus Forest, yet theyshied away from the usual and dull childish plays. Instead, sisterMara and brother Yeva loved to come up with their own novel andunique games, and they somehow knew songs, tales, and jokes that noone in the Village had ever heard before.

Other children from the Village sometimesmade fun of Mara and Yeva, yet they always loved to take part inthe Twins many expeditions into the Forest: for the Wild BeesHoney, which was sweeter than dreams and gave strength to playwhole days and nights without becoming tired; for the Morning Mistof the Meadows, which made spirits rise up to the crowns of theTrees; for the Forest Berries, which could be peacefully picked inthe company of the Forest Creatures; for the Smoking Mushrooms,which carried the Wisdom of the Ages; for exciting sportinggames, which Mara and Yeva made up as they went, playingwith the children under the cover of the Ancient Oaks and on theRiver Banks.

The Svelens cherished their young. The InnerLight and Beauty came back to Svelena, and Svelen was not coughingand limping so badly anymore. Perhaps they saw in their childrentheir own youth in far-away lands among the Other Nations, and thatwas giving them such hope and strength. Only with each coming ofthe Twins Birthday the Great Night did a shadow of worry beginto cloud over Svelens face. At dark, he came out far past theVillage Fence to Dar Vilenus Forest, peering in as if he couldsee anything and listened to the restless waves of wind rollingover the silver foliage. He would stand there, on the verge of theForest, for a long time, until Svelena would come, enfolding hisshoulders and drawing him away, back home, where their childrenwere already peacefully sleeping. Usually, Svelen would remainquiet for a long time after that, but one night, after Svelena shutthe door of their Shack, he broke his silence immediately:

He is coming, Snejhana. The Forest isteaming with his spies and servants. Soon, hell pay us avisit.

But why? What for? Everything has beendecided and ended. We are now just Shadows, no more remember thenames that the Dars bestowed us at the end. And our children arehumans. Only humans, people among other people of thisVillage comfort for us, and amusement for their fellowfriends

It seems not, Taya. Time has come to getthe Vajra-Axe

But, you cant its only a piece of metalin your hands, Martay

Not in the hands of Yeva! Its time tostart his lessons

However, before Svelen had even finished hissentence, the floor of the Shack exploded with a myriad of roots.They wiggled like snakes, grabbing and probing all that theytouched, smashing the humble familys possessions, entangling andpinning the Svelens and their children to the walls. Bursted intopieces were the doors of the Shack, and the Leader of theGhostly-Wolves, Saena-from-Peaks, rushed in on the doorstep.