ABSTRACT
One of the most frequently encountered terms in Russian folk belief is “unclean force” (nechistaia sila). The nineteenth-century peasant used this term in two senses, the line between which was often vague: it referred to all potentially harmful spirits in general, and it was a designation of the devil.1 The existence of this comprehensive term points to one of the complexities of the devil of Russian popular belief. At times, this personage hardly seems to differ from the nature spirits. Like the forest spirit (leshii) and water sprite (rusalka), he leads travelers astray, abducts children, and is connected with the impious dead. Like the water spirit (vodianoi), he often resides in deep pools. Such an apparent blurring of distinctions between devils and nature spirits, together making up the “unclean force” in the broad meaning of the expression, is due in part to their long centuries of coexistence in the lower mythology of the peasant; over the years, traits of one tended quite naturally to be applied to another. Even so, the Russian people, while assigning some of the same deeds and names to devils as to nature spirits, for the most part did not confuse the two categories.2 For them the devil, or “unclean force” in the narrow sense, was far less specific in function and habitat. Above all, unlike the nature spirits who might occasionally befriend the peasant (as we shall see in chapter 5), the devil’s most outstanding characteristic was his total hostility toward man. The devil existed for the sole purpose of inflicting harm and prompting evil deeds.3
