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Overview

A soldier returning home on leave hears a pursuer near a graveyard and sees a running corpse gnashing its teeth. He escapes into a small chapel, where another body lies on a table before burning tapers. The second corpse rises when the first enters, and both explicitly declare their intention to eat the hidden soldier.

The chapel occupant asserts a claim because the fugitive entered its house; the pursuer claims the victim through the chase. Their struggle continues until the cocks crow, when both drop lifeless and the soldier leaves safely. His gratitude frames the escape as rescue from wizards. The account gives neither corpse a proper name or an account of its former life. Their address to one another as brother is conversational and does not establish biological kinship. Nor is the chapel a simple invulnerable refuge: its own dead occupant would have eaten the visitor without the dispute.

Running and teeth gnashingSecond corpse rises from tableDispute over human preyBoth fall at cockcrow
01

Origins & earliest records

Ralston, Russian Fairy Tales, hosted Hurst edition: The Two Corpses, pp. 316–317; note 409; source note: Afanasief VI, pp. 324–325.

02

Records & interpretation

Complete English tale and source footnote supply the described corpse actions and ending. No causal mechanism is added beyond the narrator’s statements.

Selected bibliography

Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.

  1. 01

    Russian Fairy Tales: The Two Corpses, pp. 316–317; note 409

    W. R. S. Ralston, translator · Historical Hurst edition; printed title page undated

    Source note: Afanasief VI, pp. 324–325. Complete English narrative; original Russian not independently collated.

Family & connections

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References

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  1. Primary historical translationRalston: The Two Corpses, pp. 316–317; note 409Research access: 2026-10-05

Image credits

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