An indispensable ruble , a non-derivative ruble [1] or a non-convertible ruble is a popular image and element of Slavic mythology , a magic silver ruble , which could be exchanged by evil forces for a black cat or a goose fried in feathers [2] . If, after making such a deal, to return home without looking around and without talking to anyone, then in this house there will be wealth and wealth until the end of life, since this ruble tends to always return to its owner. However, if, after receiving the ruble on the way home, the man turned around, he immediately found himself somewhere in the swamps empty-handed. According to popular belief, it is precisely for this that the dark force will do its best to return the person while he is on his way to the house, to hail him, promising rewards and treasures [2] .
According to one of the versions, the ruble will inevitably disappear if we take the change from it after the purchase. For this, the evil spirit will trick the owner into accepting the surrender, which, if successful, leads to the disappearance of the cherished coin and turns all accumulated wealth into shards [2] . Other researchers of Russian folklore indicate that the ruble was returned to the owner, if after the purchase there was at least a penny of change, which must be taken and put in a pocket, after which it was transformed into a ruble [1] .
In some places, people believed that the cherished coin could be purchased, if you take a black cat, swaddle her, throw her into the bathhouse at midnight with the sentence: “On you, little daughter, give me uninterrupted tselkov!”. Having received the ruble, you should immediately leave the room and cross three times [2] . Another source of the indispensable ruble could become a brownie , for which on a clean Thursday it was necessary to pour a bowl of borsch with porridge , cut bread and take it all to the attic. If the house lover enjoyed the treat, then as a reward he could leave the magic coin [3] .
Popular rumor also says that the indispensable ruble could be obtained during Easter . To do this, it was necessary to stand in the corner of the church during the Bright Matins, holding a silver coin in his left hand, and when the clergyman said for the first time: “Christ is Risen!”, He had to answer “Antmoz Mago”. At this moment, the coin in its hands acquired extraordinary properties to return to its owner even from fire and water, and if it was thrown into other money, it would return with them [2] .
In culture and art
The unchangeable ruble left a significant mark in Russian and Soviet literature [1] . For example, the writer N. S. Leskov in one of his works [4] described the acquisition of a miraculous unchangeable ruble as follows:
There is a belief that with the help of magic means you can get an indispensable ruble, that is, such a ruble, which, how many times you give it away, is still a whole in your pocket again. But in order to get such a ruble, you need to undergo great fears. I don’t remember all of them, but I know that, by the way, you need to take a black cat without a single mark and carry it to sell on Christmas night at the intersection of four roads, of which one must lead to a cemetery.
Here you have to become, shake the cat harder, so that it mews, and squeeze my eyes. All this must be done a few minutes before midnight, and at midnight someone will come and sell the cat. The bidder will give a lot of money for the poor animal, but the seller must demand only the ruble, no more, no less than one silver ruble. The bidder will impose more, but it is necessary to insistently demand the ruble, and when, finally, this ruble will be given, then it must be put in your pocket and held by hand, and leave yourself as soon as possible and not look back. This ruble is indispensable or costless - that is, no matter how much you give it in payment for something - it is still in your pocket again. To pay, for example, a hundred rubles, you only need to put your hand in your pocket a hundred times and take out a ruble from there every time.
In the classic work of the Strugatsky brothers, " Monday begins on Saturday, " the main character becomes the random owner of an unusual five-kopeck coin of the 1961 model, which in some way invariably returned to it after small purchases. In the course of the narration, the hero begins to experiment with it and gets into the police station, in which it turns out that he became the owner of the working model of the indissoluble penny of the sample GOST 718-62 [5] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 Belova O. Incomplete ruble in the beliefs and magical practices of the Slavs (rus.) // Anthropological forum. - № 18 . - p . 230-224 .
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 5 Shaparova N. S. The Unchangeable Ruble // A Brief Encyclopedia of Slavic Mythology. - Moscow: Russian dictionaries, 2001. - p. 370. - 624 p. - 6000 copies - ISBN 5-93259-023-8 .
- ↑ Afanasyev A. Slavic mythology. - Moscow: EKSMO, 2008. - p. 508. - 1520 p. - (Giants of thought). - ISBN 978-5-699-27982-1 .
- ↑ Leskov N. S. The Unchangeable Ruble
- ↑ Strugatsky A. and B. Monday starts on Saturday