So I emailed this, but just to have everything in one place I'll put 'er here.
Scene: Two young children, a young boy and girl run to Baba Yaga, who is tending a garden outside of the chicken house. She treats them warmly, like grandchildren, and ushers them into the house. After giving them some treats and reading them a story, she tells them it is time for bed, wherupon the children change into nightgowns and walk towards a large over. Baba Yaga opens the door for them, tucks them in, and kisses them goodnight before closing the oven door.
Scene(s): A young girl and boy venture to Baba Yaga’s house in search of fire a la Vassilissa, but the boy runs away in fear. The girl approaches the house as BY arrives. She is assigned tasks and carries them out over a great length of time until she needs no further instruction. Seamlessly, she herself becomes Baba Yaga in both duty and general appearance.
Scene(s) Continued from above. A dashing young prince comes to save his childhood sweetheart. He confronts BY (he does not recognize his sweetheart hunched over, unkept, in layers of dirty clothing) and tries to demand of her information about the girl. BY, in due form, offers that if the prince can protect her garden from the ravenous crows which eat its fruits, she will tell him where to find the girl. BY gives him three hours to complete this task, and rides away on her mortarmobile. The prince undertakes the building of a large scarecrow. As he is working he meets the three riders, and convinces each to help him with his labor (their personalities are so different that this is no easy task). When he is done he finds a shady tree to lie under and sleeps deeply. As he sleeps, BY returns and is so moved by the scarecrow’s beauty that she falls deeply in love. She approaches the scarecrow, and as she does so comes out of her hunched posture to resemble more closely her true young-maiden self. She kisses the scarecrow on the lips, giving it life. The prince wakes up to see his young sweetheart, now unmistakably beautiful, but realizes what has conspired. He charges forward and destroys the scarecrow, tearing it apart. BY/Vasilissa, in a most unmitigable rage, summons the spirits of her chicken house and levels a curse on the prince. It is uncertain whether or not he is dead, but he has vanished from the scene. Vassilissa is no longer a maiden in appearance, but instead much more feeble and witchly than before.
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I'm noticing a couple of really strong images of people in ovens in different people's pieces. I wonder if we could manage a bunch in a row, like to show how cyclical it is.
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