Matryoshka (a set of wooden Russian dolls, decreasing in size, placed one inside another) also known as babushka dolls. My next story comes from Siberia, Russia.
The Blatov family consisted of six beautiful daughters, Alina, Viktoriya, Dominika, Valentina, Galina and Jekaterina. Mum and dad were really proud of their girls. They were beautiful, intelligent and brought much luck to the family. Inna, their mum, was expecting child number seven. Iosif, their dad, and the girls were really excited for the new arrival.
One early summer morning, Inna gave birth to a little girl, Milana. Milana did not look like her sisters at all. She suffered from a disease called progeria. Her parents did not know about this disease, it was not diagnosed at that time. In the first year of Milana’s life, there were droughts. In the second year, the smallpox epidemic resurfaced in their town.
Milana was a very lovable child and was loved dearly by her six sisters. The people of the town were not compassionate towards little Milana. There was a vicious rumour circulating that Milana brought bad luck to the town. She looked different and a lot of misfortune befell the town since her birth. This made Milana’s family very depressed. The people of the town did not want to do business or socialise with the Blatov family.
One evening, Milana’s father, Iosif was walking home and met an old lady. She was very polite to him and offered him some vodka. He was very happy that someone from the town was actually being kind to him. Iosif began to drown his sorrows and confide in the old lady. The old lady replied by telling Iosif that she was fully aware of his problems, and because of the last daughter, Milana, none of the daughters would marry. Iosif asked the old lady for advice. The old lady convinces Iosif to end Milana’s life, and that would solve all his problems.
Iosif was not thinking clearly. He returned home and picked up Milana, then returned back to the old lady. They take little Milana into the woods. The old lady hands him a dagger. Iosif begins to cry. The old lady tells him to cut a piece of her hair and some of her blood. After killing her, he should place the hair and blood into the smallest matryoshka doll. Iosif follows the old lady’s terrible advice and returns home. Iosif lies to his family and said that he found Milana dead in her bed, and decided to bury her.
The next morning, he became very remorseful and takes the little matryoshka doll and glues it into another doll, so that it could never be found. Iosif did not live very long and passed on. After his death, his wife, Inna gives the matryoshka dolls to his brother as a gift. His brother starts having nightmares of Milana. After three weeks, he became ill and had passed on.
The matryoshka dolls are sold to a wealthy merchant from England. He gives it to his daughter as a gift. She too, begins to have nightmares of an unknown girl with facial deformities. This young lady loses some sanity and takes her own life. Her parents were devastated and could not understand why she did it. They looked for help from a spiritual healer.
The spiritual healer advices them to destroy the matryoshka dolls. The history of the dolls has the blood of an innocent child and an evil old lady blew an evil spirit into it. By burning the matryoshka dolls, they would set the little child free and the curse would be lifted. When the Englishman returned home, the set of matryoshka dolls were missing. Up to today, no one knows the whereabouts of the matryoshka dolls. Some say it returned back to Russia…
