Sinyushka's Well
| "Sinyushka's Well" | |
|---|---|
| Author | Pavel Bazhov |
| Original title | "Синюшкин колодец" |
| Translator | Alan Moray Williams (first), Eve Manning, et al. |
| Country | Soviet Union |
| Language | Russian |
| Series | The Malachite Casket collection (list of stories) |
| Genre(s) | skaz |
| Published in | Moscow Almanac |
| Publication type | anthology |
| Media type | |
| Publication date | 1939 |
| Published in English | 1944 |
"Sinyushka's Well" (Russian: Синюшкин колодец, tr. Sinjushkin kolodets; lit. "Sinyushka's Water Well"), also known as "The Blue Crone's Spring" and "The Blue Baba of the Marsh", is a folk tale (the so-called skaz) of the Ural region of Siberia collected and reworked by Pavel Bazhov. It was first published in the Moscow Almanac in 1939 (pp. 256–266). It was later included in the The Malachite Casket collection. "Sinyushka's Well" is one of the most famous stories in the collection and is still popular nowadays. The story was translated from Russian into English by Alan Moray Williams in 1944, and by Eve Manning in the 1950s.
It is one of the tales about mining pioneers. The tale is told from the point of view of the imaginary Old Man Slyshko (Russian: Дед Слышко, tr. Ded Slyshko; alternative translation: Grandpa Slyshko).
There is a blue fog above Sinyushka's well. Her main function is to keep the mountain riches from the greedy and undeserving. Nataliya Shvabauer believed that this character did not no exist in the original Ural folk tradition, but the author constructed it according to the "mythological canon".
The tale was not included in the first edition of The Malachite Box. Inspired by its success, Bazhov continued working on his stories. The tales "Sinyushka's Well", "Silver Hoof", and "The Demidov Caftans" were finished even before the publication of the first edition.
Bazhov's stories are based on the oral lore of the miners and gold prospectors. When questioned about the source, Bazhov quoted the Ural anecdote about a man who was walking home drunk, and decided to drink some water from the well. The girl appeared from the well, and "the rest is indecent". Bazhov claimed that he heard about the character near the Zuzelsky mine.
In 1944 the story was translated from Russian into English by Alan Moray Williams and published by Hutchinson as a part of the The Malachite Casket: Tales from the Urals collection. The title was translated as "Sinyushka's Well". In the 1950s another translation of The Malachite Casket was made by Eve Manning The story was published as "The Blue Crone's Spring". It was included in James Riordan's collection of stories The Mistress of the Copper Mountain: Tales from the Urals, published in 1974 by Frederick Muller Ltd. Riordan heard the tales from a headteacher when he was bedridden in Sverdlovsk. After returning to England he rewrote the tales from memory, checking them against Bazhov's book. He preferred not to call himself "translator", he believed that "communicator" was more appropriate. He translated the title as "The Blue Baba of the Marsh".
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