Query about Swans/Shells

[William Ryan]

Off the top of my head, not much on swans I think, but they can have 
human characteristrcs - see lebed' in Slavianskie drevnosti. On water 
sprites see ch 5 (rusalki) of D. K. Zelenin, Izbrannye trudy, Indrik, 
Moscow, 1995; M. Vlasova, Enysiklopediia russkikh sueverii: s.v.Vodiava, 
vodianoi, rusalka. The folk tale of Vasilissa the Wise would be worth 
following up - it has a literature. But I suspect you know all this.
Will


Kristi Groberg wrote:
> Dear Colleagues:
>
> I am working on an article on women from folklore and a few symbolic 
> shells in the ouevre of Mikhail Vrubel'.  The women are mostly 
> paintings of his wife, who sang the roles of Volkhova in 
> Rimsky-Korsakov's "Sadko" and Tsarevna Lebed in his "Tale of Tsar 
> Saltan," but also images of rusalki and naiads.  The shells are 
> drawings, watercolors, preliminary cartoons and watercolors for 
> majolica plates on the theme "Sadko," the plates themselves, some 
> other paintings that are experiments in capturing irridescence, and 
> one shell in particular appears in one of his Vrubel's late 
> Self-Portraits.  I can relate all of these images to Russkii stil and 
> the recovery of folkloric themes, symbols, and patterns in that 
> period.  However, aside from the very basics I am more familiar with 
> Decadent & Symbolist art than I am with symbols from folklore.
>
> To get to my point, I would be most grateful for direction about women 
> who turn into swans, female water creatures with transformative 
> powers, underwater princesses,
> and shells (seashells, not walnut shells) in Slavic folklore.  I've 
> gathered quite a bit of information over the years, but I know that 
> there are a lot of folklorists on this list.  Any information or 
> points of view will be helpful.  I will, of course, honor the sources 
> and acknowledge you in my published work.
>
> Kris Groberg, Ph.D.
> 324D Division of Fine Arts
> NDSU Downtown Campus
> 650 Northern Pacific Avenue
> Fargo, ND  58102
> 701.231.8359
> kristi.groberg at ndsu.edu
> http://www.ndsu.edu/finearts/visual_arts/faculty/groberg/shtml
>
>
>
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