The Reindeer Maiden

This story is a little New Years fairytale composed of elements drawn from several different mythologies, ranging from the stories of pagan Russia to the legends of the selkies, the seal women of the Irish coast, to the modern fantasy classic,

The Last Unicorn

by Peter S. Beagle. Just want to give credit where credit is due. Enjoy, vote, comment, and have a magical holiday season.

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Once upon a time, a young prince named Ivan wandered lost in a vast forest. This was long ago and far away, in the frozen wastes that lie in the east of Mother Russia. Snow fell hard and fast from the sky in flakes that clumped in Ivan's fair hair and eyelashes. He had lost his horse and his way several hours ago and it was only due to stubbornness that he had not yet sat down against a tree trunk and readied himself for death. At first when he saw the light winking through the shifting evergreen branches he put it down to his mind playing tricks upon him. But as he stumbled through the snow in the direction of the light, it grew brighter and brighter. Soon he could distinguish the shape of a small cottage through the trees.

When Ivan reached the dwelling he came to a sudden halt that caused him to fall to his knees in the snow. Lights blazed from every window and he could see smoke coming from the chimney. The smell of roasting meat and vegetables came to him on the wind and his stomach cramped with hunger. He crawled towards the place, and it was then that the prince noticed that the fence which surrounded it was made of bones. Each post had a shiny white skull as a knob on the top. In tribute to the coming New Year, the bones had been decorated with boughs of evergreen and silver ribbons. The cottage itself was raised off of the ground on what Ivan at first thought were wooden stilts. When he forced his eyes to focus, he realized that they were legs; the cottage was supported by a pair of enormous spindly bird's legs whose talons bit deep into the frozen earth.

Ivan knew then whose house this was, and for a moment he almost turned back to face his death in the frozen woods. It was Baba Yaga who lived here, the witch who had entrapped Vasilissa the Beautiful and who brought an end to Koschei the Deathless. The skulls on her fence were from the heads of the men and women who had trifled with her. But Ivan did not want to die, and that is what would surely happen if he wandered back into the forest. He would throw himself on the mercy of the witch. The prince staggered to his feet and forced himself to walk forward. He ascended a set of narrow wooden stairs and knocked three times on the cottage door. It creaked open at once and he collapsed upon the threshold.

"What is the meaning of this, boy?" said a voice. "How dare you come here uninvited?"

Ivan tilted his head up and beheld Baba Yaga. In all of the stories she was described as an old crone with iron teeth, but the person standing before him, although very old, was not the hag he had imagined. She was tall and terribly thin, and despite the years which weighed heavily upon her, she had the bearing of a queen. Her hair was the color of lamb's wool and piled on top of her head in an elaborate braid. She had eyes of a grey so light that they seemed almost transparent, set in a face that was sharp and heavily lined.

"Your pardon please, Dama," Ivan said, his voice made shrill by the whistling wind. "I am lost. I came to beg you for shelter"

"I have no room for you here," Baba Yaga said, digging him in the side with the toe of her boot. "Be off with you."

"Have mercy Dama, I beg of you," Ivan said. "It is the eve of the New Year. In the spirit of the holiday, please, take pity on me. Do not usher in the year by allowing a young man to die on your doorstep."

She looked down at him, her colorless stare never wavering. Then she said, "You state your case eloquently. I do not want to ring in the New Year with such an omen, but I do not offer my help lightly. In exchange for it, you must perform a task for me."

"But name it, Dama," Ivan said, finding the strength to get to his knees and prostrating himself before her on the cottage's threshold. "I swear on my life that I will do anything you ask of me if you only let me share of your fire and your food."

"You swear it, boy?"

"Yes Dama, on my life I swear it."

She reached over him and shut the cottage door, turning the bolt and silencing the howl of the wind outside. "Then get up and sit in that chair by the fire. I will bring you something to eat." Ivan did as he was bid. His legs would almost not support him, but he managed to stagger over to the deep armchair to which Baba Yaga had gestured. It was lined with silky grey fur and already warmed by the fire. Sinking into it was like setting the first foot into paradise. He stripped off his fur mittens, his hat and his long bearskin cloak and held his hands out to the blaze. Slowly, life came back to his fingers and Ivan was delighted to find that all ten of them were still capable of movement. He had been certain that he would have to lose at least two of them to frostbite. Baba Yaga appeared at his shoulder with an earthenware goblet full of hot, spiced wine. "Drink this," she said, shoving the vessel into his hand. "It will help get rid of the chill."

"Thank you Dama," Ivan said, raising the cup to his lips and taking a long sip. The wine was rich and sweet with herbs and honey. It was almost too hot to drink but when he forced himself to swallow the scalding liquid he could feel warmth spreading through every inch of his body.

"You certainly are a pretty thing," Baba Yaga said, reaching down to tuck a lock of his golden hair behind his ear. "It would have been a shame to have you freeze to death on my doorstep."

Ivan said nothing and Baba Yaga went to the stove and pulled from the oven a loaf of dark bread which she put on a tray along with a sharp knife and a dish of white butter. Then she went to the fire and filled an earthen bowl with stew from the cauldron which hung there. Placing the bowl on the tray next to the loaf, Baba Yaga brought the food to Ivan and watched him eat every scrap of it. By the time he had finished, the prince's exhaustion had begun to catch up with him and he had to struggle not to drift off to sleep in his chair.

"Thank you Dama," he said, putting the tray aside. "You have saved my life."

"Yes," Baba Yaga took the tray from him and set it in a basin next to the wood stove.

"What task would you have me do to repay you?"

"We can talk about that later. You are about to fall asleep where you sit. You are of no use to me in this condition. I will give you a bed where you can rest for a few hours."

Ivan thanked her yet again, and Baba Yaga led him to a little room in the back of the cottage. It had in it a large bed with a carved wooden frame and blankets of the same silver fur which had lined the armchair by the fire. The witch left him there, saying that she would wake him in a few hours so that he might perform the task that was to repay her. The prince removed his boots and then crawled, fully clothed, beneath the thick fur blankets. The moment that his head touched the goose-down pillow, he fell into a deep and dreamless sleep.

Ivan was awoken some hours later by a light touch on his shoulder. Baba Yaga was standing beside the bed, holding a silver lantern in her hand. "Wake up boy," she said, shaking him slightly. "We have things to discuss." Ivan rose, wishing that he could simply sink back into the warmth of the bed, but Baba Yaga beckoned him back into the cottage's main room and he followed her. She took the fur-lined chair herself this time and motioned at him to sit down on a little stool which had been placed at its feet. "I have thought of a task for you, but first, boy, I want to know what brings you here. My house is far from any kingdom."

"My name is Ivan," the prince said, "I am the youngest son of Tsar Leonid Ivanovich, whose kingdom lies in the far west. I am fleeing to a city in the east because my elder brother, who has just become the tsar, has sent men after me. I managed to lose them, but in the process I lost my horse and became myself lost in these woods."

"What did you do to earn the enmity of your brother?" asked Baba Yaga.

"We loved the same woman," Ivan said, wishing that he could remain silent, "and she preferred me to him. He couldn't bare it and so he sent his soldiers to kill me."

"What happened to the woman you loved?"

"She is dead." The prince said in a flat voice. "I did not arrive in time to save her. My brother's men got to her chambers before me. In his jealousy, he would rather see her slain than in the arms of another man." He said nothing more. The pain of his loss was still hot within him, burning like a brand.

"And you flee?" the witch asked sharply. "What of vengeance?"

"I have friends in the East. I will rally them to me and with the help of an army I will depose my brother. He is a tyrant."

"A noble young prince out to destroy a wicked king." Baba Yaga mused. "You have strength in you, boy, I can see that, and pain. Perhaps if you perform the task I give you well, I will aid you in your quest."

"What is this task, Dama?" Ivan asked. He would not permit himself to hope for the witch's aid. It was enough for him to concentrate of the job at hand. Perhaps it would prove a distraction from the grief that thoughts of his murdered love had evoked.

"It is auspicious that you arrived on the eve of the New Year, Prince Ivan. I grow old and this is a circumstance which greatly displeases me. Tonight, there is a spell that I can perform which will restore my youthful body to me, such as I have not had for many centuries. You, prince, will retrieve for me the essential ingredient of this spell."

"And what is that, Dama?" Ivan asked.

"The glade beside my cottage is a place of power. Near midnight, there will appear in that glade a reindeer whose hide is the pure white of freshly fallen snow. She will shed her deer skin, and become a human woman so that she may bathe in the hot spring in the clearing. I want you to bring me her virgin blood."

"What?"

Baba Yaga reached into a carved wooden casket by her side and pulled out a cloth of pure white silk. "You will bed the girl on this cloth so that you may collect her virgin blood. Bring the cloth back to me and your obligation is discharged."

"Dama, I had not expected such a task."

"You swore to me Prince. I am told that the reindeer maidens are very beautiful to look upon. Most young men would leap at such a chance as this."

"I will perform the task." Ivan said. "I did not mean to question you."

"Seek out the deer maiden in the glade, and take her skin for then she must obey you, but take care how you handle her. The efficacy of the spell is dependent upon how the maiden's innocent blood is spilled. If you are a brute with her, the effects of the spell will be muted by pain and fear. This would be very displeasing to me."

"I would not be a beast to any woman," Ivan said.

The witch chuckled. "Of course not. I see only gentleness in those pretty blue eyes of yours, little prince." She reached out one bony hand and stroked his cheek. Ivan did not shrink away, although her nearness frightened him. "It is a shame I do not have my younger shape." She said. "I would be tempted to take advantage of an innocent like you."

"How long do I have to perform this task, Dama?" Ivan asked, aware that his face had flushed red at the witch's last words.

"Bring the cloth to me before dawn. The spell to restore my youth must be performed before the sun rises on the first day of the New Year."

"How long do I have? I have lost track of time since I slept."

"The moon has not yet risen to its zenith. You have many hours in which to perform your task, prince."

"I will start now," Ivan said, rising from the stool. "Only give me that cloth and tell me where to look for the maiden."

Baba Yaga handed over the cloth to him and Ivan folded it into a small square before placing it deep in a pocket of his trousers. "You have only to head west from my front door, Prince Ivan," the witch said. "There will be a break in the trees and you will see a wide clearing with a hot spring steaming at its center. Wait there for the maiden. She will appear when the moon reaches its highest point in the sky."

Ivan left the cottage soon afterwards. Baba Yaga gave him some wine in a leather flask to help him throw off the chill and he donned his heavy furs once more before setting out in search of the reindeer maiden. He found the glade of which Baba Yaga had spoken less than a mile west of the cottage. The trees broke suddenly, giving way to an expanse of white snow which was broken only by the circular pool at its center. The spring was cut deep into the earth and steam rose off of it in great clouds. Prince Ivan walked around the glade, peering into the trees which bordered it, and saw no signs of any living creature. The moon had not yet reached its zenith, so he decided to conceal himself in the trees at the edge of the glade and wait for the reindeer maiden to appear.

He had to wait only an hour before the object which he sought wandered into the glade. He heard the snapping of branches and the crunch of snow, and then across the clearing, there emerged from the trees a reindeer whose hide was the color of the silver moon. She was a graceful beast, more so than any reindeer Ivan had ever seen, and picked her way delicately over the snow to the hot spring. She pawed at the edge for a moment, and then threw back her horned head to stare at the moon. The reindeer gave a snort and shook herself. Then her pale fur began to glow. Soon, the form of the reindeer was erased by a white light brighter than that of a star fallen to earth. When the light disappeared as suddenly as it had come, the reindeer had vanished. In its place stood a tall young woman, naked, her skin the same flawless white as the reindeer's pelt. She held a cream-colored deerskin in her arms and as Ivan watched, she folded it and placed it with great care on a rock beside the spring. She was the most beautiful creature the prince had ever seen. Her hair was pure white, and so long that it brushed against the backs of her knees; her eyes were a deep blue, the color of the midnight sky. She had small, round breasts with ice-pink nipples, and her sex was guarded by a fluff of white hair.

The reindeer maiden did not seem to feel the cold of the winter night and she shook out her long white hair with a soft exclamation of joy. Ivan watched as she tried to twirl in a circle with her arms outstretched, and then fell on her bottom in the snow. It seemed as if she had not yet gotten the knack of walking on two legs. She foundered up from the place where she had fallen, and then made her way to the edge of the spring. She dipped a toe into the water before easing herself slowly into the pool. When she sank down among the rocks she gave a little sigh of delight and raised her face to the moon, eyes closed, bathing in its silver rays.

Ivan wished that he could remain hidden among the evergreens and simply watch the maiden, but his obligation to the witch made him rise. It distressed him that he would have to disturb the silent peace of this moment. He crept around the perimeter of the trees, treading carefully so that he made not a sound. When he was behind the reindeer maiden he began to move forward, crawling on his hands and knees in the snow. The girl gave a little sigh of pleasure and sank down into the spring, submerging her head and sending a torrent of bubbles to the water's surface. Ivan snatched his chance. He darted forward and grabbed up the deerskin from the rock upon which the maiden had laid it. When her head broke through the pool's surface again, Ivan simply stood there, displaying the snow white deer hide in his arms.

The reindeer maiden froze when she caught sight of him, her dark blue eyes going wide. Ivan sat down on a rock and spread the deerskin across his lap, stroking the silky fur with one hand. "I'm sorry to disturb you, devushka," he said, not sure if she could understand him. "I do not want to hurt you. I have your skin. You cannot run away from me."

The girl rose from the pool, clouds of steam rising from her ivory skin as water cascaded off of her body. She did not seem to care much for modesty, but her nakedness almost took Ivan's breath away now that he was so close to her. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen, lithe and delicately formed, but with powerful muscles quivering just beneath her snowy white skin. He could tell that she wanted very much to run from him, to flee him as a deer flees the hunter, but she could not disobey him when her skin was in Ivan's possession. She simply stood there, knee-deep in the pool. Ivan reached for the maiden. She made no move to run from him, but her body tensed at his touch, and she shied away, giving a little cry of distress. He pulled her gently but firmly from the pool until she was standing directly before him.

Now that he was faced with his task, the prince had no idea of how to continue. It was not in him to rape a woman, especially not one as obviously innocent as the one before him. "I have been sent to perform a task," he told the girl. "Baba Yaga wants me to collect your innocent blood." At these words the reindeer maiden tried to wrench herself out of his grip, emitting a little cry of horror. So, she could understand his words even if she could not speak herself. "Hush," Ivan murmured, tightening his hold on her arm and pulling her slowly back to him, though he hated himself for it. "I will be gentle. It is not the blood from your veins that the witch wants." Placing the deerskin on top of a boulder where it would be out of reach of the maiden, Ivan pulled her to him, so close that her breasts pressed against the soft fur of the bearskin cloak he wore. She whimpered and her eyes found his. They were full of bewildered tears, and Ivan was struck by a vicious hatred for Baba Yaga. It was the witch who was driving him to do this, to violate an innocent woman. He did not even have a bed in which to lie with her. He would be forced to take her here among the rocks and snow.

That was when Ivan caught sight of the tiny hut on the far side of the glade. He would have sworn that it had not been there only a second before. It was as if his anger had summoned it into being. "Come with me," Ivan said, and he began to make his way towards the hut, leading the reindeer maiden by the arm. She was reluctant to go with him, but followed nonetheless, casting a longing glance back at the deerskin that lay abandoned by the pool.

When Prince Ivan drew close to the little hut he saw that it was supported by two hen's legs, a smaller twin of Baba Yaga's own cottage. The witch had done this. Perhaps she had somehow read Ivan's thoughts, sensed his anger at her for forcing him into this position. He wondered at this kindness until he remembered what she had told him. Ivan had to do right by this girl or the effects of Baba Yaga's spell would be blunted. They reached the door of the hut and the prince saw that on it had been hung a wreath of evergreen tied with silver ribbon, a token for the New Year. The door swung open at their approach and Ivan had to pause upon the threshold because the reindeer maiden gave a soft cry and began to pull frantically against him.

He tightened his grip on the girl's wrist; she was surprisingly strong for one so thin. When he turned to face her he saw that her eyes were wide and terrified. She was gazing fixedly at the little room inside the hut and shaking her head back and forth, her white hair flying all around her. She did not want to go inside, Ivan realized. Perhaps she had never been inside a four-walled dwelling; she was a wild creature, a denizen of the forest.