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Overview
Marusia’s encounter with a corpse-eating suitor ends in threatened death after she repeatedly denies discovering his secret. Her elderly grandmother arranges a different departure route for the corpse and burial at a crossroads. Marusia buys a coffin, lies down and dies. A seigneur’s son later finds an extraordinary flower growing on the grave, has it dug up and places it in a window pot. At night the blossom leaves its stem and becomes a beautiful woman who eats and drinks before returning to flower form.
The household’s servant first witnesses the transformation, then watches with the young master. He seizes the woman’s hands and asks to marry her. Marusia agrees on condition that she need not go to church for four years. They have a son, but guests accuse her of being a heathen because of her absence, and her husband orders her to attend. There the former suitor renews his threats, leading to the deaths of both husband and child.
Her grandmother supplies two different waters for the final encounter. Marusia tells the truth about the corpse-eating, destroys the fiend with holy water and restores her own family with the water of life. The tale then closes with their long, undivided happiness. It does not identify the grave flower’s botanical species or state that Marusia continues nightly transformations after her marriage. The grandmother’s aid is human familial advice within the magical plot, without an explicitly narrated fairy or witch identity.
Origins & earliest records
Ralston, Russian Fairy Tales, The Fiend, pp. 24–31; note 18 identifies Afanasief VI, No. 66.
Records & interpretation
The complete English tale follows the concealed suitor, three deaths, flower return, marriage condition and final restoration. The supernatural episodes belong to this narrative rather than to a documented real village incident.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
Russian Fairy Tales: The Fiend, pp. 24–31; note 18
Afanasief VI, No. 66. Complete English narrative; original Russian not independently collated.
Family, evolution & connections
Marusia’s parents and son — Ralston’s Fiend
Complete Fiend narrative, pp.24–31, in the hosted Hurst edition.
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- Marusia’s unnamed father and mother
- Their unnamed son (dies, then revived)
Explicit parents, marriage and son designations before and after Marusia’s flower return. Parents, husband and son are unnamed. The grandmother’s maternal/paternal side is not stated and is not attached to a guessed parent. The fiend’s earlier betrothal is not completed marriage. Parents remain dead; husband and child are explicitly revived. Original Russian source not independently collated.
Her unnamed father and mother
The old couple are introduced as Marusia’s parents. Both die during her encounter with the fiend; their restoration is not narrated in the ending.
Her unnamed grandmother
Marusia remembers that she has a grandmother and visits her for help. Neither the maternal nor paternal side is specified, so the grandmother is not placed above a guessed parent in the tree.
The unnamed seigneur’s son
Marusia marries the seigneur’s son after her return as a woman. The corpse-eating fiend was an earlier betrothed, not her completed husband; the two males are distinct.
Her unnamed son with the seigneur’s son
The married couple have a son. Their child and his father die after the fiend’s threat, then both are revived in the ending; they are distinct from Marusia’s deceased parents.
Marusia’s grave flower and returned woman
The flower taken from Marusia’s grave becomes the woman later identified as Marusia. It is not another daughter, a plant-born biological lineage or a new relative.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Primary historical translationRalston: The Fiend, pp. 24–31Research access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
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