Tsar'-devitsa again

[William Ryan]

  Robert, I certainly agree about different perceptions of sexual 
morality - in some cultures abduction and sex, consensual or otherwise, 
is the necessary prelude to marriage. However, it might also be possible 
read the passage in question as the rather more cynical : Chto mne 
nechest' (i.e. ne+chest' is one word = approx. "what's shame got to do 
with it?").
The line following indicates that the tone of the tale is quite robust - 
"watering at the well" is a fairly common euphemism in Russian love 
charms, male and female, in fact it is more of an explicit metaphor - 
and it doesn't mean rape. I shall be interested to see which colourful 
English expression you will use to translate it, and whether it will 
sound equally appropriate to English and non-English ears!

Will

On 27/09/2010 09:18, Robert Chandler wrote:
> Dear Paul, and all,
>
> Pual Gallagher writes,
>> Russian morality (then or now,
>> I'm not sure) must be very different from mine if it considers sex with
>> a sleeping woman "honorable." What am I missing here? We would call it
>> "rape" and send the guy to jail.
> I would have thought it went without saying that Russian morality as
> reflected in narodnye skazki is hugely different from your own - probably
> more different than any of us can imagine.
>
> All the best,
>
> R.
>
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