THE COFFIN-LID

A Russian Folk Story

  A moujik was driving along one night with a load of pots. His
  horse grew tired, and all of a sudden it came to a standstill
  alongside of a graveyard. The moujik unharnessed his horse
  and set it free to graze; meanwhile he laid himself down on
  one of the graves. But somehow he didn't go to sleep.

  He remained lying there some time. Suddenly the grave
  began to open beneath him: he felt the movement and sprang
  to his feet. The grave opened, and out of it came a corpse--wrapped
  in a white shroud, and holding a coffin lid--came out
  and ran to the church, laid the coffin-lid at the door, and then
  set off for the village.

  The moujik was a daring fellow. He picked up the coffin-lid
  and remained standing beside his cart, waiting to see what would
  happen. After a short delay the dead man came back, and was
  going to snatch up his coffin-lid--but it was not to be seen.
  Then the corpse began to track it out, traced it up to the moujik,
  and said:

  "Give me my lid: if you don't, I'll tear you to bits!"

  "And my hatchet, how about that?" answers the moujik.
  "Why, it's I who'll be chopping you into small pieces!"

  "Do give it back to me, good man!" begs the corpse.

  "I'll give it when you tell me where you've been and what
  you've done."

  "Well, I've been in the village, and there I've killed a couple
  of youngsters."

  "Well then, now tell me how they can be brought back to
  life."

  The corpse reluctantly made answer:

  "Cut off the left skirt of my shroud, and take it with you.
  When you come into the house where the youngsters were killed,
  pour some live coals into a pot and put the piece of the
  shroud in with them, and then lock the door. The lads will be
  revived by the smoke immediately."

  The moujik cut off the left skirt of the shroud, and gave up
  the coffin-lid. The corpse went to its grave--the grave opened.
  But just as the dead man was descending into it, all of a sudden
  the cocks began to crow, and he hadn't time to get properly
  covered over. One end of the coffin-lid remained sticking out
  of the ground.

  The moujik saw all this and made a note of it. The day
  began to dawn; he harnessed his horse and drove into the village.
  In one of the houses he heard cries and wailing. In he
  went--there lay two dead lads.

  "Don't cry," says he, "I can bring them to life!"

  "Do bring them to life, kinsman," say their relatives.
  "We'll give you half of all we possess."

  The moujik did everything as the corpse had instructed him,
  and the lads came back to life. Their relatives were delighted,
  but they immediately seized the moujik and bound him with
  cords, saying:

  "No, no, trickster! We'll hand you over to the authorities.
  Since you knew how to bring them back to life, maybe it was
  you who killed them!"

  "What are you thinking about, true believers! Have the
  fear of God before your eyes!" cried the moujik.

  Then he told them everything that had happened to him
  during the night. Well, they spread the news through the
  village; the whole population assembled and swarmed into the
  graveyard. They found out the grave from which the dead man
  had come out, they tore it open, and they drove an aspen stake
  right into the heart of the corpse, so that it might no more rise
  up and slay. But they rewarded the moujik richly, and sent him
  away home with great honor.

It is not only during sleep that the Vampire is to be dreaded. At
cross-roads, or in the neighborhood of cemeteries, an animated corpse
of this description often lurks, watching for some unwary wayfarer
whom it may be able to slay and eat. Past such dangerous spots as
these the belated villager will speed with timorous steps,
remembering, perhaps, some such uncanny tale as that which comes next.