Post by Benton Payne from ,,The Nasty Stepmother''

Baba Yaga
This story intrigued me because it was so different from other Cinderellas. There were no sisters, no prince, no kingdom even, just a family. After reading it I had to question why it was even included in the Cinderella category as it was so dissimilar from many of the other ones. The evil stepmother was the one thing that gave the story a connection to any of the other tales. Baba Yaga's character was also very strange, the idea that this woman sat here and trained her magical minions for ensnaring girls or something was weird to me. However, the story itself does mirror the Cinderellas in its triumph over the evil thanks to the magical helper being related to the main character, or, the "Fairy Godmother," here the good aunt. The helper advises the protagonist who, using that help, can defeat evil and return to her happy life. So while initially it seems to have little to do with the popular versions of Cindarella, it is pretty similar in its core elements.

http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0510a.html#babayaga

Posted by Sir Bentonius