Fire Flower

Lore & Background

Bazhov's stories are based on the oral lore of the miners and gold prospectors. In their stories, Poskakushka is a dancing girl who shows the location of gold. The help of such mythical creature would explain why some miners were luckier than others, and unexplained natural phenomena such as the location of gold. She is sometimes called the daughter of Poloz the Great Snake from "The Great Snake". The folklorists believed that the character is connected with the river Poskakukha next to the Polevskoy Copper Smelting Plant in the old Sysert Mining District. The name of the river Poskakukha and its affectionate diminutive form Poskakushka literally mean "the jumping (hopping) girl". The gold prospectors say that the gold placement is unusual there: "there is gold in some places, but there is nothing right next to it". The pits are placed so that they look like miners decided to "jump over" some spots, and that is how the "hopping girl" appeared. There was also the Poskakushkinsky mine. To reach it, one "should jump over the marshes".

In Their Own Story

A group of gold prospectors, including an old man Yefim (alternative translation: Grandpa Efim) and an 8-year-old boy Fedyunka, called "Tyunka" by his father, sit around a fire in the woods. A tiny girl suddenly jumps out of the fire. "... just like a doll, she was, but alive. Her hair was red, her sarafan blue, and she held a blue kerchief in her hand. She looked around them merrily and her teeth shone white. Then she put one hand on her hip, raised the blue kerchief with the other and began to dance." She finishes her dance and disappears, while the prospectors look as if spellbound and almost forget the experience afterwards. The only person who clearly remember the maid is Fedyunka. He also hears the cry of an eagle-owl as if the bird is laughing at him. Yefim explains that the girl was the Fire-Fairy, a sign of gold: "If the dancer shows herself, there's gold in that place". Next morning the prospectors start digging in the area, but cannot seem to remember the exact place where the maid had danced. Fedyunka blames the owl, but no one believes him. Children at the factory give him a nickname "Dancing Tyunka" (Russian: Тюнька Поскакушка, romanized: Tjunka Poskakushka). The only person who doesn't laugh at him is Yefim. They become close friends. One day they see the Fire-Fairy again, and again the eagle-owl scares her away. Fedyunka is convinced that the Fairy would have shown them the way to gold if the owl had not hooted. In the winter Fedyunka's father leaves to work in the mine, and the boy stays with his evil step-mother. He decides to live with Yefim instead. On his way to the village he sees the Fire-Fairy again. He follows her and gets lost in the forest, but the maid dances around him, and the snow melts. The winter turns into summer, flowers bloom, birds start singing on a birch tree. The Fairy laughs at Fedyunka and gives him an old spade that leads him out of the forest. Next day Fedyunka and Yefim go back to the birch tree and find a lot of gold. They cannot keep the secret for long, and eventually the landlord takes hold of the place, but Fedyunka and Yefim live in wealth for many years.

Reader's Guide

Pavel Bazhov indicated that all his stories can be divided into two groups based on tone: "child-toned" (e.g. "Silver Hoof") and "adult-toned" (e.g. "The Stone Flower"). He called "The Fire-Fairy" a "child-toned" story. Such stories have simple plots, children are the main characters, and the mythical creatures help them, typically leading the story to a happy ending. Denis Zherdev noted that Bazhov liked the idea of a child together with an old man contacting the mythical creatures. These people are traditionally portrayed as the closest to the otherworldly, but at the same time they are the least reliable narrators in the adult world. Yelena Prikazchikova commented that the Fairy's gift of the magic spade can be regarded as spiritual. The spade only does magic because it is used by skilled human hands. The magic power is contains is nothing but Fedyunka's real skill. He is a metaphor for a young gold prospector moved by his insatiable thirst of knowledge, which had been recently awakened in him by old experienced miners.

Did You Know?

• The story was first published in 1940 in the children's stories collection Morozko released by Sverdlovsk Publishing House.
• It was translated from Russian into English by Alan Moray Williams in 1944, and by Eve Manning in the 1950s.
• The character Poskakushka is sometimes called the daughter of Poloz the Great Snake from 'The Great Snake'.
• A 1979 hand-drawn animated film Ognevushka-poskakushka was made by Soyuzmultfilm, directed by Natalia Golovanova.
• The 1968 docufiction feature film Tales of the Ural Mountains claimed Bazhov created the character from scratch, but folklorist expeditions found Poskakushka did exist in local folklore.

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