Page 423 - Актуальные проблемы обучения русскому языку XIII

the Princess lay at rest / In the deep sleep of the blest» (or, in literal translation: «And in that
crystal coffin / The Princess sleeps endlessly»). The dead metaphor of perpetual dream (spit
vechnym snom in Russian) gains here, as it is typical for Pushkin’s style, the concrete
meaning: perpetual dream isn’t just a paraphrasing for death or a sign of certain folkloric
work being «literally» stylized, but also a direct characteristic for the dream of the Princess.
All the plotline on Prince Yelisey’s search is due to this artistic preterition about the sorcery.
He doesn’t know where the Princess is, he doesn’t know whether she’ll awake ever, he
doesn’t know if she’s even still alive. Ruslan, a hero of the early Pushkin’s narrative poem
«Ruslan and Lyudmila» (1820), at least sees how his bride was hidden by the magician and
so have a kind of hope. Yelisey, on the contrary, can only believe and do his duty as a fiancé
(he and the Princess are officially engaged). The meaning of the hero’s name contributes to
this purpose as well (note that other characters of the fairy tale are nameless, including the
Princess; as is known, names have only Smudge and the dog Sokolko): the name Yelisey is
derived from the Hebrew ע ָׁשיִלֱא meaning My God is salvation. Emphasizing the sanctity of
the conjugal ties to be, Pushkin designates Yelisey as «widower» in his drafts.
There is also the servant Smudge (or, originally, Chernavka) in the fairy tale written
by the poet (this character, as you remember, serves to realize the plans of the Tsaritsa). The
name of the «chamber maid» includes the portrait characteristic (Угрюмов 1970): the
original Russian Chernavka implies that she is swarthy or dark-haired girl (the name is
cognate to the Russian word chernyy meaning black). The image of this name implies,
however, not only portrait meaning connected with the color; there is another semantic
aspect of the «root» chernyy. Thus, the stepmother, as mentioned, is «green with envy» (or,
more literally, «full of black envy», chernoy zavisty polna) towards her stepdaughter. It is a
final line; there are also two versions of the autograph fair copy created earlier (Berlin State
Library): «she was full of envy wrath» and «she was full of spiteful envy» accordingly. In the
case of these two versions, the color characteristic of the evil is still missing and,
consequently, the important semantic detail is absent. The color relation is established
through the very textual convergence. Let’s cite this passage in Russian: «Ona, / Chernoy
zavisti polna, / Brosiv zerkal’ce pod lavku, / Pozvala k sebe Chernavku» – «She / Being green
with envy / Having hurled the mirror underneath the bench, / Summoned Smudge» (The
passage is given here in literal translation, regardless meter and rhyme. Translated by
A.I.Parfyonov. – S.V.). The image of the «beggar-woman» or, literally translated, the one of
the «beggar-nun» (nishchaya chernica in Russian; Chernica is a Russian word for nun. This
word is cognate with the Russian adjective chernyy meaning black, since the Orthodox nuns
always wear black clothes) provides another semantic aspect of black in the fairy tale. It is
uncertain, however, who this beggar-woman is. Is she the Tsaritsa herself (as was rendered
in the animated cartoon), or Smudge? (The latter version is a more probable, since Smudge
is forced to «send the Princess to her death» under the threat of torture or, in the Russian
original, under the one of arms.) In any case, the «black envy» image pervades the scene of
the poisoning, though the word chernica remains uncertain as to its semantics. The princess
sees the beggar-nun as an elderly woman, who needs the Christian help, and calls her
«granny». According to one of the versions of the fairy tale’s finale, the Tsaritsa, before the
death, «ran for Smudge». Probably, she wants to deal at least with the chamber maid, since
the Princess has avoided her machinations. So, the name Smudge (Chernavka), giving into
account its semantic link with the «black envy» (chernaya zavist’), may be treated
symbolically, i.e. as personification of the slavish and evil nature. There is another semantic
level, this one more obvious for a nineteenth-century person and connecting the name
Chernavka with the theme of death. The diminutive form of Chernavka is Navka or
Navochka, which sounds almost like the Russian old and dialectical noun nav’ (meaning

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