Gothic Story: The Shroud
Готический Портал
Gothic StoriesGothic Shroud Story
In a certain village there was a gothic girl who was lazy and slothful, hated
working, but would gossip and chatter away like anything! Well, she took it into
her head to invite the other girls to a spinning party. For in the villages, as
every one knows, it is the lazybones who gives the spinning-feast, and the
sweet-toothed are those who go to it.
Well, on the appointed gothic night she got her spinners together. They span for
her, and she fed them and feasted them. Among other things they chatted about
was this -- which of them all was the boldest?
Says the lazybones: "I'm not afraid of anything!"
"Well then," say the spinners, "if you're not afraid, go past the gothic graveyard
to the church, take down the holy picture from the door, and bring it here."
"Good, I'll bring it; only each of you must spin me a distaff-full."
That was just her sort of notion: to do nothing herself, but to get others to
do it for her. Well, she went, took down the picture, and brought it home with
her. Her friends all saw that sure enough it was the picture from the church.
But the gothic picture had to be taken back again, and it was now the midnight hour.
Who was to take it? At length the lazybones said: "You girls go on spinning.
I'll take it back myself. I'm not afraid of anything!"
So she went and put the gothic picture back in its place. As she was passing the
graveyard on her return, she saw a corpse in a white shroud, seated on a tomb.
It was a moonlight night; everything was visible. She went up to the corpse, and
drew away its shroud from it. The corpse held its peace, not uttering a word; no
doubt the time for it to speak had not come yet. Well, she took the shroud and
went home.
"There!" says she, "I've taken back the picture and put it in its place; and,
what's more, here's a shroud I took away from a corpse." Some of the girls were
horrified; others didn't believe what she said, and laughed at her.
But after they had supped and lain down to sleep, all of a sudden the corpse
tapped at the window and said: "Give me my gothic shroud! Give me my shroud!"
The girls were so frightened they didn't know whether they were alive or
dead. But the lazybones took the shroud, went to the window, opened it, and
said: "There, take it."
"No," replied the gothc corpse, "restore it to the place you took it from." Just
then the cocks suddenly began to crow. The corpse disappeared.
Next night, when the spinners had all gone home to their own houses, at the
very same hour as before, the corpse came, tapped at the window, and cried:
"Give me my shroud!"
Well, the girl's father and mother opened the window and offered him his
shroud. "No," says he, "let her take it back to the place she took it from."
"Really now, how could one go to a graveyard with a corpse? What a horrible
idea!" she replied. Just then the cocks crew. The corpse disappeared.
Next day the girl's father and mother sent for the priest, told him the whole
story, and entreated him to help them in their trouble. "Couldn't a service be
performed?" they said.
The priest reflected awhile; then he replied: "Please tell her to come to
church tomorrow."
Next day the lazybones went to church. The service began, numbers of people
came to it. But just as they were going to sing the cherubim song, there
suddenly arose, goodness knows whence, so terrible a whirlwind that all the
congregation fell flat on their faces. And it caught up that girl, and then
flung her down on the ground in very gothic death. The girl disappeared from sight; nothing was left
of her but her back hair.
From: W. R. S. Ralston, Russian Folk-Tales (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1873), pp. 307-309.