One-eyed Likho
by W. R. S. Ralston · from Russian Folk Tales
Original Story
One-eyed Likho
ONE-EYED LIKHO.[224]
Once upon a time there was a smith. "Well now," says
he, "I've never set eyes on any harm. They say there's evil
(likho)[225] in the world. I'll go and seek me out evil." So he
went and had a goodish drink, and then started in search of
evil. On the way he met a tailor.
"Good day," says the Tailor.
"Good day."
"Where are you going?" asks the Tailor.
"Well, brother, everybody says there is evil on earth. But
I've never seen any, so I'm going to look for it."
"Let's go together. I'm a thriving man, too, and have seen
no evil; let's go and have a hunt for some."
Well, they walked and walked till they reached a dark, dense
forest. In it they found a small path, and along it they went--along
the narrow path. They walked and walked along the path,
and at last they saw a large cottage standing before them. It
was night; there was nowhere else to go to. "Look here,"
they say, "let's go into that cottage." In they went. There
was nobody there. All looked bare and squalid. They sat
down, and remained sitting there some time. Presently in
came a tall woman, lank, crooked, with only one eye.
"Ah!" says she, "I've visitors. Good day to you."
"Good day, grandmother. We've come to pass the night
under your roof."
"Very good: I shall have something to sup on."
Thereupon they were greatly terrified. As for her, she went
and fetched a great heap of firewood. She brought in the heap
of firewood, flung it into the stove, and set it alight. Then she
went up to the two men, took one of them--the Tailor--cut his
throat, trussed him, and put him in the oven.
Meantime the Smith sat there, thinking, "What's to be done?
how's one to save one's life?" When she had finished her
supper, the Smith looked at the oven and said:
"Granny, I'm a smith."
"What can you forge?"
"Anything."
"Make me an eye."
"Good," says he; "but have you got any cord? I must
tie you up, or you won't keep still. I shall have to hammer
your eye in."
She went and fetched two cords, one rather thin, the other
thicker. Well, he bound her with the one which was thinnest.
"Now then, granny," says he, "just turn over." She turned
over, and broke the cord.
"That won't do, granny," says he; "that cord doesn't suit."
He took the thick cord, and tied her up with it famously.
"Now then, turn away, granny!" says he. She turned and
twisted, but didn't break the cord. Then he took an awl, heated
it red-hot, and applied it to her eye--her sound one. At
the same moment he caught up a hatchet, and hammered away
vigorously with the back of it at the awl. She struggled like
anything, and broke the cord; then she went and sat down at
the threshold.
"Ah, villain!" she cried. "You sha'n't get away from me
now!"
He saw that he was in an evil plight again. There he sat,
thinking, "What's to be done?"
By-and-by the sheep came home from afield, and she drove
them into her cottage for the night. Well, the Smith spent the
night there, too. In the morning she got up to let the sheep
out. He took his sheep-skin pelisse and turned it inside out
so that the wool was outside, passed his arms through its
sleeves, and pulled it well over him, and crept up to her as
he had been a sheep. She let the flock go out one at a time,
catching hold of each by the wool on its back, and shoving it
out. Well, he came creeping up like the rest. She caught
hold of the wool on his back and shoved him out. But as
soon as she had shoved him out, he stood up and cried:
"Farewell, Likho! I have suffered much evil (likha) at your
hands. Now you can do nothing to me."
"Wait a bit!" she replied; "you shall endure still more.
You haven't escaped yet!"
The Smith went back through the forest along the narrow
path. Presently he saw a golden-handled hatchet sticking in a
tree, and he felt a strong desire to seize it. Well, he did seize
that hatchet, and his hand stuck fast to it. What was to be
done? There was no freeing it anyhow. He gave a look behind
him. There was Likho coming after him, and crying:
"There you are, villain! you've not got off yet!"
The Smith pulled out a small knife which he had in his
pocket, and began hacking away at his hand--cut it clean off
and ran away. When he reached his village, he immediately
began to show his arm as a proof that he had seen Likho at last.
"Look," says he, "that's the state of things. Here am I,"
says he, "without my hand. And as for my comrade, she's
eaten him up entirely."
In a Little-Russian variant of this story, quoted by Afanasief,[226]
(III. p. 137) a man, who often hears evil or misfortune (likho)
spoken of, sets out in search of it. One day he sees an iron castle
beside a wood, surrounded by a palisade of human bones tipped with
skulls. He knocks at the door, and a voice cries "What do you want?"
"I want evil," he replies. "That's what I'm looking for." "Evil is
here," cries the voice. So in he goes, and finds a huge, blind giant
lying within, stretched on a couch of human bones. "This was Likho
(Evil)," says the story, "and around him were seated Zluidni (Woes)
and Zhurba (Care)." Finding that Likho intends to eat him, the
misfortune-seeker takes to flight. Likho hears the iron doors creak,
and cries to them to stop the fugitive. "But he had already passed out
of doors. Only he lost his right hand, on which the door slammed:
whereupon he exclaimed 'Here's misfortune, sure enough!'"
The opening of the story of Likho is somewhat similar to that of one
of the tales of Indian origin translated by Stanislas Julien from the
Chinese. Once upon a time, we are told, a king grew weary of good
fortune, so he sent messengers in search of misfortune. It a certain
god sold to them, in the shape of a sow which devoured a peck of
needles a day. The king's agents took to worrying his subjects for
needles, and brought such trouble upon the whole kingdom, that his
ministers entreated him to have the beast put to death. He consented,
and it was led forth to die. But neither knife nor axe could penetrate
its hide, so they tried to consume it with fire. After a time it
became red-hot, and then it leaped out from amid the flames, and
dashed about setting fire to all manner of things. The conflagration
spread and was followed by famine, so that the whole land was involved
in ruin.[227]
The Polyphemus story has been so thoroughly investigated by Wilhelm
Grimm,[228] that there is no occasion to dwell upon it here. But the
following statement is worthy of notice. The inhabitants of the
Ukraine are said still to retain some recollection of the one-eyed
nation of Arimaspians of whom Herodotus speaks (Bk. IV. c. 27).
According to them the One-Eyes[229] dwell somewhere far off, beyond
the seas. The Tartars, during their inroads, used to burn towns and
villages, kill old folks and infants, and carry off young people. The
plumpest of these they used to sell to cannibals who had but one eye
apiece, situated in the forehead. And the cannibals would drive away
their purchases, like sheep, to their own land, and there fatten them
up, kill them, and eat them. A similar tradition, says Afanasief
(VIII. 260) exists also among the Ural Cossacks.
While on the subject of eyes, it may be remarked that the story of
"One-Eye, Two-Eyes, and Three-Eyes," rendered so familiar to juvenile
English readers by translations from the German,[230] appears among
the Russian tales in a very archaic and heathenish form. Here is the
outline of a version of it found in the Archangel Government.[231]
There once was a Princess Marya, whose stepmother had two daughters,
one of whom was three-eyed. Now her stepmother hated Marya, and used
to send her out, with nothing to eat but a dry crust, to tend a cow
all day. But "the princess went into the open field, bowed down before
the cow's right foot, and got plenty to eat and to drink, and fine
clothes to put on; all day long she followed the cow about dressed
like a great lady--when the day came to a close, she again bowed down
to the cow's right foot, took off her fine clothes, went home and laid
on the table the crust of bread she had brought back with her."
Wondering at this, her stepmother sent her two-eyed stepsister to
watch her. But Marya uttered the words "Sleep, sleep, one-eye! sleep,
sleep, other eye!" till the watcher fell asleep. Then the three-eyed
sister was sent, and Marya by the same spell sent two of her eyes to
sleep, but forgot the third. So all was found out, and the stepmother
had the cow killed. But Marya persuaded her father, who acted as the
butcher, to give her a part of the cow's entrails, which she buried
near the threshold; and from it there sprang a bush covered with
berries, and haunted by birds which sang "songs royal and rustic."
After a time a Prince Ivan heard of Marya, so he came riding up, and
offered to marry whichever of the three princesses could fill with
berries from the bush a bowl which he brought with him. The
stepmother's daughters tried to do so, but the birds almost pecked
their eyes out, and would not let them gather the berries. Then
Marya's turn came, and when she approached the bush the birds picked
the berries for her, and filled the bowl in a trice. So she married
the prince, and lived happily with him for a time.
But after she had borne him a son, she went to pay a visit to her
father, and her stepmother availed herself of the opportunity to turn
her into a goose, and to set her own two-eyed daughter in her place.
So Prince Ivan returned home with a false bride. But a certain old man
took out the infant prince afield, and there his mother appeared,
flung aside her feather-covering, and suckled the babe, exclaiming the
while with tears--
"To-day I suckle thee, to-morrow I shall suckle thee, but on the third
day I shall fly away beyond the dark forests, beyond the high
mountains!"
This occurred on two successive days, but on the second occasion
Prince Ivan was a witness of what took place, and he seized her
feather-dress and burnt it, and then laid hold of her. She first
turned into a frog, then assumed various reptile forms, and finally
became a spindle. This he broke in two, and flung one half in front
and the other behind him, and the spell was broken along with it. So
he regained his wife and went home with her. But as for the false
wife, he took a gun and shot her.
We will now return to the stories in which Harm or Misery figures as
a living agent. To Likho is always attributed a character of
unmitigated malevolence, and a similar disposition is ascribed by the
songs of the people to another being in whom the idea of misfortune is
personified. This is Goré, or Woe, who is frequently represented in
popular poetry--sometimes under the name of Béda or Misery--as
chasing and ultimately destroying the unhappy victims of destiny. In
vain do the fugitives attempt to escape. If they enter the dark
forest, Woe follows them there; if they rush to the pot-house, there
they find Woe sitting; when they seek refuge in the grave, Woe stands
over it with a shovel and rejoices.[232] In the following story,
however, the gloomy figure of Woe has been painted in a less than
usually sombre tone.
Story DNA
Moral
Curiosity about evil can lead to great suffering, but cunning and sacrifice can sometimes lead to escape.
Plot Summary
A smith, curious about evil, sets out to find it with a tailor. They encounter Likho, a one-eyed monster who devours the tailor. The cunning smith blinds Likho, then escapes her clutches by disguising himself as a sheep. However, his escape is not without further cost; he becomes ensnared by a magical hatchet and must sever his own hand to finally flee Likho's relentless pursuit, returning home maimed but having truly encountered the evil he sought.
Themes
Emotional Arc
curiosity to terror to desperate escape to suffering
Writing Style
Narrative Elements
Cultural Context
The story is presented with academic notes connecting it to other folklore, including the Polyphemus myth (Odyssey) and Indian/Chinese variants of seeking misfortune, highlighting its widespread motif.
Plot Beats (12)
- A smith, having never seen evil, decides to go looking for it.
- He meets a tailor who joins him in his quest to find evil.
- They find a desolate cottage in a dark forest and decide to stay the night.
- A tall, one-eyed woman named Likho enters, greets them, and then kills and cooks the tailor for supper.
- The smith, terrified, tells Likho he is a smith and can make her an eye.
- He tricks Likho into letting him tie her up, then blinds her remaining eye with a hot awl.
- Likho, now blind, guards the door, planning to catch the smith when he tries to leave.
- The smith disguises himself in a sheepskin and, mimicking a sheep, is shoved out of the cottage by the blind Likho.
- He taunts Likho upon his escape, who vows further suffering.
- While fleeing through the forest, the smith finds a golden-handled hatchet stuck in a tree and his hand becomes stuck to it.
- Likho pursues him, so the smith cuts off his own hand with a knife to escape.
- The smith returns to his village, showing his severed hand as proof of having encountered Likho and the evil he sought.
Characters
The Smith ★ protagonist
None explicitly mentioned, but implied to be strong enough to wield a hammer and hatchet effectively.
Attire: A sheep-skin pelisse (coat) which he turns inside out. Implied to be typical peasant or working-class attire.
Curious, brave (initially), resourceful, quick-thinking, determined to survive.
Image Prompt & Upload
A sturdy man in his mid-thirties with a strong jaw and kind, determined eyes. He has short, dark hair with a few strands falling across his forehead, and light stubble on his chin. He wears a heavy leather apron over a simple linen shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, revealing muscular forearms. His trousers are made of durable brown fabric, tucked into tall, scuffed leather boots. He stands confidently, one hand resting on the handle of a large hammer at his belt, his posture relaxed but alert. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
One-eyed Likho ⚔ antagonist
Tall, lank, crooked, with only one eye (initially).
Attire: None explicitly mentioned, likely simple, possibly tattered, clothing befitting a squalid dwelling.
Malevolent, cannibalistic, vengeful, cunning, persistent.
Image Prompt & Upload
A sinister old crone with a single glowing yellow eye in the center of her forehead, the other socket covered by a ragged patch. Her face is gaunt with deep wrinkles, and her expression is a cruel, knowing smirk. She has long, stringy white hair and wears a tattered black robe with a high collar. She leans forward slightly, one bony hand clutching a gnarled wooden staff, the other outstretched as if casting a curse. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
The Tailor ○ minor
None explicitly mentioned.
Attire: Implied to be typical working-class attire for a tailor.
Curious, adventurous (initially), trusting.
Image Prompt & Upload
An elderly male craftsman with a neatly trimmed white beard and kind, weathered face. He wears a simple linen shirt, dark brown trousers, a worn leather apron, and spectacles perched on his nose. His gray hair is slightly messy. He stands with a gentle, focused expression, holding a measuring tape and a pair of large scissors. Plain white background, full body visible head to toe, single figure, no watermark, no text, no signature.
Locations
Dark, Dense Forest
A dark, dense forest with a small, narrow path winding through it.
Mood: foreboding, mysterious, isolated
The Smith and Tailor enter this forest and find Likho's cottage.
Image Prompt & Upload
Dusk settles over a dark, dense forest, the air thick with mist and the scent of damp earth. Ancient, towering trees with gnarled, moss-covered trunks form a nearly impenetrable canopy, their twisted branches intertwining overhead to blot out the sky. A faint, diffused twilight filters through the leaves, casting the forest floor in deep shadows and muted, desaturated greens and grays. A small, narrow path of packed earth and exposed roots winds through the undergrowth, disappearing into the gloom. The ground is carpeted with a thick layer of fallen leaves, ferns, and decaying logs, with patches of luminescent fungi providing the only subtle points of light. The atmosphere is still, silent, and profoundly mysterious. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration.
Likho's Cottage
A large, bare, and squalid cottage.
Mood: eerie, dangerous, squalid
The Smith and Tailor seek shelter here and are attacked by Likho. The Smith blinds Likho here and later escapes by hiding among the sheep.
Image Prompt & Upload
At dusk under a heavy overcast sky, a large, bare, and squalid cottage squats in a neglected clearing. The weathered, grey wood of its walls is warped and peeling, with a sagging thatch roof thick with damp moss and dead leaves. A single, small, dirty window emits a faint, sickly yellow light from within. The surrounding yard is barren, with patches of dead grass and mud. Gnarled, leafless trees crowd the edges, their branches like skeletal fingers against the gloom. A stagnant, murky puddle reflects the dim, colorless sky. The atmosphere is heavy, still, and deeply oppressive. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration.
Forest Path with Golden-Handled Hatchet
A narrow path through the forest where a golden-handled hatchet is stuck in a tree.
Mood: tempting, dangerous, fated
The Smith, escaping Likho, finds and is ensnared by the magical hatchet, leading to the loss of his hand.
Image Prompt & Upload
A narrow, winding dirt path through an ancient, misty forest at dawn. Soft, golden morning light filters through a dense canopy of towering oak and birch trees, casting long, dramatic shadows. The air is cool and damp, with gentle fog clinging to the mossy ground and fern-covered roots. In the center of the path, a weathered, old oak tree has a gleaming golden-handled hatchet firmly embedded in its trunk, the polished metal catching a brilliant sunbeam. The forest is lush with deep emerald greens, earthy browns, and the occasional vibrant wildflower. The atmosphere is serene, magical, and slightly mysterious. no border, no frame, no watermark, no text, no signature, edge-to-edge illustration.
