Enchantment: Difference between revisions

{{tropework}}

Ivan Smetski is a Russian Jew who isn't going to be Russian anymore: as soon as possible, his parents are emigrating to America, specifically a suburb in New York State, where Ivan will eventually grow up. Before they leave, though, his family sojourns at Cousin Marek's house, where Ivan, exploring in the woods, comes across an incredible tableau: a beautiful woman, sleeping on a bier, amidst a lake of leaves in which lives a giant bear. He doesn't get a chance to explore this until 1991, more than a decade later, when he returns to what was [[Please Select New City Name|once the USSR but is now Ukraine]] to do a dissertation on [[Russian Mythology and Tales]] and whether they conform to [[ProppsPropp's Functions of Folktales]]. While there, he visits Cousin Marek's farm and re-discovers the beautiful woman, who—after the bear has been subdued—needs to be awoken with a kiss...

First off: Our maiden? Princess Katerina of Taina, a 9th-century Slavic kingdom growing in the shadow of proto-[[Kievan Rus]] and unremembered by history, which tells you [[Kill'Em All|what its long-term fate will be]]. Ivan has promised to marry Katerina, and that marriage promise is all that is keeping the evil witch [[Baba Yaga]] from using [[Loophole Abuse]] to claim rulership of Taina. She's already enslaved Bear—''The'' Bear, the god of winter—to be her [[The Dragon|Dragon]] and do her bidding, so keeping her at bay is not an idle concern for the citizens of Taina. Especially since their most-loved deity, Mikola Mozhaiski (a version of [[Santa Claus|Saint Nikolaus]]), hasn't been seen in years. Second: Ivan? Not a [[Knight in Shining Armor]]. A man of good heart, yes, and a decathlete, fit by the standards of [[The Nineties]]... But this is [[The Low Middle Ages]], Russia in 890 AD, and manhood involves being able to sling around five pounds of sword for hours at a stretch. Oh, and he's engaged to a girl named Ruth, back home in 20th-century America—''and'' he's a Jew. And Taina? An outpost of [[Useful Notes/Christianity|Christianity]], many years before (20th-century) scholars believed it had gotten that far east. Even better, the local priest was an apprentice to Kirill—''[http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius:Saints Cyril and Methodius|Saint]]'' [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Saints_Cyril_and_Methodius:Saints Cyril and Methodius|Cyril]], after whom the [[Cyrillic Alphabet]] is named—and has some of Kirill's manuscripts. Ivan, a linguist, came to (modern-day) Russia in part to answer how the Russian tongue evolved from [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_Slavonic_language:Church Slavonic language|Old Church Slavonic]]. In 9th-century Taina, he literally holds the answers in his hand.

* [[Everything's Worse Withwith Bears]]: Depending on how you look at it, this is either played straight or averted. Ensorcled by Baba Yaga's magic, Bear can now talk, and serves as her [[The Dragon|Dragon]], but his dialogue and attitude make it clear that he's not the malicious sort.

* [[Giving Radio to Thethe Romans]]: Part of Ivan's (eventual) plot to defeat Baba Yaga.

* [[No Periods, Period]]: Averted

* [[Psycho Ex -Girlfriend]]

{{quote| '''Ivan:''' "[H]ere, it's no sin for a woman to wear men's clothing. In fact, it's done all the time, and it means nothing. ... A woman puts on her husband's shirt and [[Sexy Shirt Switch|we think it's charming]]. That it shows love and intimacy between them."<br />

'''Katerina:''' "And does the husband put on his wife's dress?"<br />