The Bear and the Nightingale

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of animal cruelty and death.

“Tell the story of Frost, Dunyashka. Tell us of the frost-demon, the winter-king Karachun. He is abroad tonight, and angry at the thaw.”

Marina’s words to Dunya establish the setting and the harshness of the Rus’ winter that will crop up repeatedly throughout the novel, introducing The Connection Between Humanity and Nature. Here, winter can be deadly due to the cold and starvation. Her invocation of the name “Karachun” reminds her audience that Winter and Death are one and the same. It also sets up the duality of Morozko’s character before he appears in the story: He rewards the courageous and condemns the arrogant, something that will be seen in later chapters.

“Dunya, I must have this one; she will be like my mother.”

Marina’s mother’s life was marked by isolation and an eventual decline, trapped by The Role of Women in Patriarchal Societies. Her hope is that her daughter, Vasya, can reclaim and perhaps transcend the gifts and burdens of the past. Marina’s belief in Vasya’s special abilities foreshadows the magical connection to nature and the supernatural that Vasya will later demonstrate.

“The wind dropped at dawn. In the silence, Marina breathed out once, gently, and died.”

When the wind falls silent as Marina passes, it suggests rebalancing in the transition of mother and daughter. Life for Vasya begins even as Marina’s ends. This reflects the bargain that