"Yaga:
The Enchanted Bride" by Dakha Taratorina, summary

Created in 2024, this book is a dark tale about the boundaries of the human and the otherworldly, about the choice between revenge and forgiveness. The story follows the coming-of-age of a forest witch and an exile, forced to confront the cruelty of ordinary people and the harsh laws of magic. The plot reimagines well-known motifs from Slavic mythology. Here, a hut on chicken legs is guarded by cow skulls, and the old gods demand bloody offerings.

The Child of the Forest and the Cursed Stranger

The events begin with the despair of a woman named Zhelana. Her husband, Ogonyok, desiring a child, begged a forest oak tree for an heir. Ogonyok paid for this bargain with his own life. The widowed Zhelana, seeing the terrifying abyss of the forest in her newborn daughter’s eyes, carries the infant into the thicket. She leaves the bundle at the roots of a mighty tree. The old witch Zorka takes the infant. The girl is named Yaga. In the ancient dialect, this name means "gift of the forest."

Seventeen years later, Yaga has grown into a powerful forest mistress. One autumn night, she patrols her domain and finds a local man beaten. The stranger turns out to be a red-haired northerner named Ryan. The young man’s body is covered in black family markings, and a terrible scarlet burn blazes on his cheek. Local hooligans have brutally beaten him, and he is on the verge of death. Yaga saves the young man by kissing him with the healing poison of a swamp mushroom.

Soon, Ryan comes to Zorka’s hut, guarded by poles adorned with cow skulls. He suffers from a curse and asks the old woman for help. Zorka agrees to brew a potion, demanding in exchange a special document bearing the Posadnik’s seal. The northerner is forced to carry out dangerous tasks for the old witch. During a trek to fetch water from a magical spring, he is nearly pulled to the bottom by a river spirit. A ghoul-like girl attempts to drown the cursed boy. Ryan’s resourcefulness and Yaga’s help save the situation.

Collision with the human world

Ryan decides to thank Yaga for her help. He gives her copper earrings and persuades her to leave the forest for the first time. Together, they visit the human settlement of Chernobor. On the cobbled town square, Yaga encounters the harsh local customs. She defends a skinny peddler named Ivanka from a cruel merchant named Borov. The northerner engages in a fight, knocking out Borov’s tooth, and the heroes quickly disappear into the alleys.

During the town’s harvest festival, Yaga witnesses a horrific sight. A local priest sacrifices a young girl, Lada, to the gods in front of a jubilant crowd. The horror and anger he endured unleashes Ryan’s curse. The young man writhes in agony, nearly turning into a monster. Yaga manages to lead him to a secluded alley and calms the raging darkness.

Returning to the thicket, Yaga summons a thick fog and forest evil spirits. She plans to close the forest off from humans forever, dividing the Human and the Unhuman. Ryan refuses to leave.

The young man confesses that the curse is turning him into a bear. He transforms into a huge beast right before her. The girl is unafraid. She leads the bear through the swamp in the Desolate to an ancient oak tree. The deity grants Ryan an ordinary-looking knife. Leaping over the blade, the northerner learns to control his animal transformations.

The Lands Beyond the River and the Terrible Truth

Ryan settles in Chernobor with the kind tanner Rad. Soon, Yaga comes to him for help. Zorka has fallen gravely ill after using dark magic in a fight with a northerner. To heal her mother, she needs dew from a rare fire herb from the Medunitsa settlement.

The path there is blocked by a water guard, a giant scaly fish. Ryan and Yaga narrowly escape its sharp teeth. In Medunitsi, an isolated village across the river, the inhabitants fanatically worship a bear. Ryan assumes his bestial form to earn their trust. Yaga examines a sick baby and administers the necessary medicine. Local customs prove extremely harsh. The chieftain, the Bear’s Son, offers Ryan to lie with three local girls to continue the family line. The northerner angrily refuses. The heroes flee back to Chernobor.

Later, Yaga reads her fortune by a forest stream. The water maiden reveals a vision of her past. The girl learns the bitter truth about her birth. Zhelana is her real mother, who deliberately abandoned her child in the forest to resurrect her husband. This news deeply wounds the sorceress.

Justice and revenge

On the bank of a stream, Yaga punishes three town bullies who cruelly tormented a frog. She inflicts boils, styes, and thick fur on their faces. The outraged mothers bring their children to the priest’s house and demand a just judgment. At the trial, Ryan volunteers to defend the witch. He takes a red-hot coal from the sacrificial fire with his bare hands. The terrible burn proves the frog’s case before the gods.

The vengeful merchant Borov is dissatisfied with the outcome. He threatens to report the witch to the authorities.

An old priest secretly begs Yaga to save his second daughter, Svetla. The old man repents of the murder of his first daughter, Lada. Yaga provides the necessary medicine, but Svetla dies of an advanced lung disease. At the funeral, the townspeople celebrate according to local traditions. Yaga mourns sincerely at the wooden death box.

Borov finds Yaga on a snowy street. He reveals the northerner’s terrifying secret. Ryan lived in the family of Posadnik Mal Voenezhich as a hostage to the world. The Posadnik’s daughter, Zlotka, fell in love with the young man. The spurned girl cast a spell on him, saying, "Then may you be damned." Soon, Zlotka died, and Ryan was accused of the bloody murder. Yaga flees from her lover in terror, unable to accept the truth.

Attack on the tanner’s house

Posadnik Mal hastily arrives in Chernobor with an armed retinue. The mad beggar woman Zhelana attempts to kill the Posadnik with a knife, defending her own daughter, but is instantly killed by his slashing sword. A mass brawl ensues. Ordinary townspeople bravely defend the tanner Rad and fight back against the retinue. Taking advantage of the confusion, Ryan and Yaga flee the city. A young boy, Ivanka, helps them by showing them a secret passage in the high city wall.

The treacherous priest tells Mal to search for the fugitives in the winter forest. The pursuit catches up with Ryan and Yaga at the old witch’s wooden hut. Zorka fights an unequal battle. She transforms into a huge half-bird and attacks the Posadnik warriors with sharp black feathers. The enemy’s arrows pierce the old witch, and she crumbles into the snow as gray ash.

Ryan, in the form of a furious bear, defends Yaga to the death. Long spears pierce the thick hide, and the mighty beast falls dead. In desperation, Yaga cries out to the Mistress of Shadows. She cuts her thigh with a sharp knife and infuses her sorcerous blood into the bear’s deep wounds. Life miraculously returns to the wounded northerner.

Redemption and New Life

An old priest attempts to kill Yaga with a heavy spear. His failing heart can’t withstand the strain, and the old man falls dead from his horse. The enchanted forest finally awakens. Powerful evil spirits seize the frightened warriors. Merchant Borov, overcome with fear, transforms into a fat pig, and his own hunting dogs yelp and tear him to pieces.

Ryan engages in a final duel with Mal. During the clash, the Mayor confesses the terrible truth. Ryan did not kill Zlotka. The distraught girl slit her own throat out of unrequited love for the northerner. The cursed bear merely fled in fear. The cursed northerner deftly knocks the sword from Mal’s hands but nobly spares his life. The Mayor silently leads away the remnants of the surviving squad.

The wilderness exacts its bloody toll for saving Ryan. Yaga’s right leg rapidly dies and breaks off.

A familiar town carpenter carefully carves a new bone leg on leather straps for her. The witch and the northerner remain to live in the quiet enchanted forest.

Ten long years later, the grown-up Ivanka sets out to search for the missing daughters of the new Posadnik. Along the way, he enters a winter forest. At an old hut, thickly decorated with skulls, he is warmly greeted by Yaga with a bone leg. Her perky, red-haired daughter with bright blue eyes stands nearby.