Василиса Прекрасная

[wolfie-18.livejournal.com]

I... like to do this all in one go. I just finished reading Василиса Прекрасная, and it had to have been one of the hardest kids' stories I've ever read in regards to vocabulary. The immense amount of slight alterations to every word throws me off and frustrates me. Here are my questions, as always...

I also have another request. If in the vocabulary you see a conjugated verb, can you please give me the infinitive (it means I didn’t find it in my dictionary)

Vocabulary: потужить, запрется, гонит, тихонько, горница, скачет (мимо неё всадник), обомлела, вкопанная, обнюхав, настряпано, закром, ранешенько, избавительница, стемнело, изволь, подосадовать, обогнать, похаживать, диковинный, приемыша моего

 

Phrases: Пестом погоняет: She smelled a stink?

 

Тогда и дам тебе огня, а коли нет, так я тебя съем!

 

Подавай-ка сюда: I’ve never seen this participle –ка, what is it, exactly?

 

Мне хотелось бы спросить тебя кой о чём

 

Только не всякий вопрос к добру ведет

 

Так вот что!

 

Я хоть прясть буду – I was under the impression that хоть was an “although.” She just asked an old lady to buy her some flax.

 

General Questions:

 

In here: Но он обманулся и не нашёл в ней доброй матери для своей Василисы – they’re referring to the father and the step mother, but if he was deceived, how could he find that there wasn’t a good mother in her? Or maybe I’m not reading this correctly (Also, why is доброй матери in genitive? Shouldn’t it be that he found в ней добрую мать?)

 

После такого наказу – Is it allowed for наказ to be in the genitive ending with –y?

 

Утро мудреней вечера then later on… Утро вечера мудренее: I’m aware of the superlative of the latter, but is the former right or typo? Or another “it’s a fairy tale thing?”

 

Внесли череп в горницу, а глаза из черепа так и глядят на мачеху и её дочерей, так и жгут! Те было прятаться, но куда ни бросятся – глаза всюду за ними так и следят; к утру совсем сожгло их в уголь, одной Василисы не тронуло – A) There was a place to hide, but nowhere to hide? I’m kind of in the dark about that. B) Сожгло их в уголь – Burnt them to a crisp? (charcoal) C) There was no one to bother the lonely Vasilisa?

Comments

[oryx_and_crake]

Strictly speaking, the first room you enter in Russian traditional izba is seni. Горница is a living room (where the entire family lived, normally).

Прясть - to spin wool.
It does not have to be wool, though :-)

Пестом погоняет
The traditional vehicle that Baba-Yaga uses for flying is a huge mortar. Naturally there is a pestle to go with this mortar, and Baba-Yaga uses it as a kind of accelerator :-)

Но он обманулся и не нашёл в ней доброй матери для своей Василисы
He made a mistake: she did not make a good mother for Vasilisa.
Не нашел доброй матери is in genitive because there is a negation - он нашел добрую мать/он не нашел доброй матери.

Утро вечера мудренее actually means "You think that you have problems now? Just you wait until morning..." Мудренее is a comparative form of мудрёный - difficult, complicated. People usually get it wrong because they confuse мудрёный with мудрый (wise) and understand the whole sentense as "you will be wiser in the morning than you are in the evening".

[insaint.livejournal.com]

Strictly speaking, the first room you enter in Russian traditional izba is seni. Горница is a living room (where the entire family lived, normally).

Ah, yes. You're quite right. I couldn't remember for sure and apparently misremembered. :)

People usually get it wrong because they confuse мудрёный with мудрый (wise) and understand the whole sentense as "you will be wiser in the morning than you are in the evening".

And here I disagree. When I was growing up, that's exactly how the phrase was always used. "Do not make a decision now, wait till morning. You will be wiser then."

[oryx_and_crake]

"When I was growing up, that's exactly how the phrase was always used." This is exactly what I said. People get it wrong most of the time, because they mix up мудрёный and мудрый.

[insaint.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately I don't have access to actual printed dictionaries at the moment, so I have to rely on the web. But...

Your etymology is correct, but I disagree with the final translation. In this case, мудренее comes from the verb мудрить, which (among other meanings that support your explanation) also means хитрить, думать.

The proverb "Утро вечера мудренее" means that it's best to put the decision off till morning because you'll be in a better shape to think and deal with it then. 'Morning is more capable of creating complex solutions than the evening.' :)