Reading Diary B: Russian Folktales

The Coffin Lid

A coffin. Source

• Moujik= a Russian peasant.
• On the job delivering pots
• Rode through a graveyard
• Stopped in graveyard to feed horse and sleep
• Couldn't sleep for an unknown reason
• A grave open with a corpse holding a coffin lid
• The corpse took the lid and laid it in the church
• The moujik took the lid when the corpse left
• As moujik was about to leave the corpse appeared
• The corpse begged for the door
• The moujik wouldn't give it back until the corpse admitted to what he had been doing when he left.
• The corpse admits to killing people in the village
• The corpse was wrapped in a shroud.
• The moujik wanted to bring the people back to life
• To bring them back to life he need some of the corpse's shroud.
• He would also need to burn coals with the shroud in a pot and shut the door
• The smoke would revive their lives
• The corpse took his lid and retuned back to the grave as the sun was beginning to rise
• The entire coffin lid wasn't covered when the grave closed up
• During the day the moujik went to the village to bring the boys back to life
• The village arrested the moujik under suspicion of him killing the boys
• The moujik explained what happened and what grave to go to
• The villagers put a stake through the heart of the corpse to ensure he never rise again
• The moujik was rewarded greatly and no longer poor