Koshchei
Usually he takes the role of a malevolent rival figure, who competes for (or entraps) a male hero's love interest.
The archetype may contain elements derived from the 12th-century pagan Cuman-Kipchak (Polovtsian) leader Khan Konchak, who is recorded in The Tale of Igor's Campaign; over time a balanced view of the non-Christian Cuman Khan may have been distorted or caricatured by Christian Slavic writers.
[n 2][3] Konchak is thought to have come/returned from Georgia (the Caucasus) to the steppe c. 1126–1130; by c.1172 he is described in Kievan Rus' chronicles as a leader of the Polovtsi, and as taking part in an uprising.
[4] The legendary love of gold of Koschei is speculated to be a distorted record of Konchak's role as the keeper of the Kosh's resources.
[6] Koschei's life-protecting spell may be derived from traditional Turkic amulets, which were egg-shaped and often contained arrowheads (cf.
Koschei, as the name of the hero of a fairy tale and as a designation for a skinny person, Max Vasmer in his dictionary considers the original Slavic word (homonym) and associates with the word bone (common Slavic *kostь), that is, it is an adjective form koštіі (nominative adjective in the nominative case singular), declining according to the type "God".
Numerous variant names and spellings have been given to Koschei; these include Kashchei, Koshchai, Kashshei, Kovshei, Kosh, Kashch, Kashel, Kostei, Kostsei, Kashshui, Kozel, Koz'olok, Korachun, Korchun bessmertnyi, Kot bezsmertnyi, Kot Bezmertnyi, Kostii bezdushnyi; in bylinas he also appears as Koshcheiushko, Koshcheg, Koshcherishcho, Koshchui, Koshel.
[9] The term Koshey appears in Slavic chronicles as early as the 12th century to refer to an officer or official during a military campaign.
[12] In The Tale of Igor's Campaign a similar sounding term is used, recorded being inscribed on coins, deriving from the Turkic for 'captive' or 'slave'.
"[14] Nikolai Novikov also suggested the etymological origin of koshchii meaning "youth" or "boy" or "captive", "slave", or "servant".
Ivan tries to rescue Marya several times, but Koschei's horse is too fast and he easily catches up with the escaping lovers.
After the third unsuccessful escape, Koschei cuts up Ivan and puts his body parts in a barrel which he throws into the sea.
Initially he lies, but the third time he reveals it is in an egg, in a duck, in a hare, that nests in a hollow log, that floats in a pond, found in a forest on the island of Bouyan.
[12] Koshchei is mentioned as a miser in the prologue Pushkin's Ruslan and Ludmila which describes wonders of the fairy-tale land of Lukomorye: "Там царь Кащей над златом чахнет" (There tsar Kashchei is languishing over gold).
