You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Russian. (October 2018) Click [show] for important translation instructions.
Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia.
Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article.
You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Russian Wikipedia article at [[:ru:Верлиока]]; see its history for attribution.
You may also add the template {{Translated|ru|Верлиока}} to the talk page.
Once there was an elderly couple who had two grandchildren, whom they loved. One day, the grandpa ordered his granddaughter to shoo away the sparrows to protect the crops. Verlioka finds her there and kills her. The grandpa wonders why his granddaughter hasn't come back and sends his youngest grandchild to find her. Verlioka kills her too. Grandpa then sends the grandmother to bring the girls back but Verlioka kills her. After a while, the grandfather goes out to find his family, learns they are dead, and sets out to kill the monster. Along the way, he is joined by talking animals and objects, who attack the monster in his home.[3]
Etymology
The Ukrainian language has an adjective "вирлоокий" ('vyrlooky'), meaning "with bulging eyes"; noun "вирло", plural "вирла" ('bulging eyes'). The name has cognates with other Slavic languages: Belarusian: вірлавокi, romanized: virlavoki ('with bulging eyes'), Serbian: врљоока, romanized: vrljooka ('with a damaged eye'), dialectal SmolenskRussian: верлиокий, romanized: verlioki ('strabismic, crossy-eyed; turning their eyes in all directions').[4] This may reflect Proto-Slavic*vьrl- ('to turn, to spin') + *oko ('eye').[5]
Analysis
According to Alexander Afanasyev's note, the tale was collected by Nikolay Tikhorski in "Southern Russia". According to the East Slavic Folktale Classification (Russian: СУС, romanized: SUS), there are 3 Russian, 7 Ukrainian, and 1 Belarusian variant.[6] Notemakers Lev Barag [ru] and N. V. Novikov theorize that the typical Ukrainian ending «Вот вам сказка, а мне бубликов вязка» (Ukrainian: Ось вам казка, а мені бубликів в'язка, "Here's a tale for you, and a bunch of donuts for me"; in Bain's translation "So there's a skazha for you-and I deserve a cake or two also."), as well as usage of the vocative case («А вы, добродею, знаете Верлиоку?») possibly suggest that the tale was written in or near Ukraine.[7]
American professor Jack Haney suggested that the tale is "primarily" East Slavic,[8] while German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther argues that the tale type appears to be "mainly documented in Russia".[9]
Russian folklorist D.K. Zelenin listed a variant as the ninety-sixth story in his collection.[13]
Two Russian versions were collected from one informant in Belozerye.[14]
“Довгомудыкъ," ("Dovgomudyik") is a Ukrainian variant.[15]
Another Ukrainian variant appears as the twenty-sixth story in a collection.[16]
A Belarusian variant was published by V.N. Dobrovolsky.[17]
References
^Капица Ф. С. Тайны славянских богов. - М.: РИПОЛ классик, 2007. - 416 с.
^Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: Animal tales, tales of magic, religious tales, and realistic tales, with an introduction. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. p. 133. ISBN978-951-41-0956-0.
^Haney, Jack (2015). The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 469–473. ISBN978-1-62846-093-3.
^Народные русские сказки А.Н. Афанасьева в трех томах. Том II. Москва: Издательство «Наука», 1985. С. 451.
^Haney, Jack V. (2015). The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev, Volume II: Black Art and the Neo-Ancestral Impulse. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 552–553. ISBN978-1-4968-0278-1. Project MUSEbook 42506.
^Uther, Hans-Jörg (2004). The Types of International Folktales: A Classification and Bibliography, Based on the System of Antti Aarne and Stith Thompson. Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia, Academia Scientiarum Fennica. p. 133. ISBN978-951-41-0963-8.
^Haney, Jack (2015). The Complete Folktales of A. N. Afanas'ev. University Press of Mississippi. pp. 469–473. ISBN978-1-62846-093-3.