Everyone knows that the most effective remedies against ghouls and other evil spirits are holy water, garlic and aspen stake. If the picture is more or less clear with the first ingredients, then about the last item a quite reasonable question arises - why exactly does an aspen stake have such a powerful magical effect? What's wrong with, say, a stake made of walnut or birch?

According to the beliefs of our distant ancestors, the aspen served for restless souls as a reliable guide to another world. Driving an aspen stake into the chest of a dead man, or placing an aspen cross in a coffin, he was forever sent to the afterlife. The deceased, awarded with such a "one-way ticket", could never return to the world of people and harm them.

In general, aspen has long enjoyed, to put it mildly, not very good fame among many peoples. Among the Slavs, the tree was considered cursed and was widely used in witchcraft and black magic. The legends that have come down to us from ancient times tell how the underground god Veles, fleeing the persecution of the powerful Perun, turned into a snake and hid in the branches of an aspen. This explained why lightning (Perun's arrows) are so often pointed at the aspen during a thunderstorm, and the leaves constantly tremble with fear, fearing the wrath of the light gods.

With the advent of Christianity, the attitude towards wood has not changed. It was believed that the aspen, with a tremor of the foliage, betrayed the Mother of God with the baby Jesus, when they hid under a tree, fleeing the persecution of Herod. Also, according to legends, a cross was made from aspen wood, on which Christ was crucified. And the traitor Judas hanged himself on an aspen, because other trees did not accept the sinner.

Aspen was not planted near housing, they did not build houses from it, they tried not to wander in the aspen forests for a long time, so as not to become a victim of the devil's tricks. It was believed that by accidentally falling asleep under an aspen, you can make a journey into the world of spirits. They believed that devils live in aspen forests, so rest in the shade of a tree could end very badly.

However, no magician could do without the help of the "cursed tree". For example, to turn into a wolf or other animal, a person had to roll five times over an aspen stump. A branch of a tree thrown by the village sorcerer at his feet knocked the traveler off the road. And the aspen peg, imperceptibly driven under the base of the house, was able to take health and strength from all household members.

The ability of the tree to separate the world of the living and the world of the dead was used not only for evil. They outlined a circle with an aspen stake in order to protect themselves from the wiles of the goblin, if they had to spend the night in the forest. An object was taken with sticks from aspen if it was considered "spoiled". Aspen twigs, laid in the cradle, saved the newborn from the evil eye and terrible dreams.

On the eve of Kupala night and St. George's Day, aspen branches stuck the walls of the barn, gates, sheds in order to prevent the witches from stealing milk.

The ability to absorb any energy by a tree has also been widely used to treat ailments. Aspen was asked to "accept" the disease, with the help of slander many ailments, especially fevers, were reduced to it. The clothes of the sick person were often hung on the branches or buried under a tree, nails and hair were nailed into the trunk. An aspen log was considered a universal remedy for seizures - you just had to apply it to a sore spot. Often a kind of contract was concluded with a tree - they vowed not to harm it in exchange for health.

If it was almost impossible to find houses made of aspen, then aspen logs at the base of the bath and bath utensils (ladles, troughs, gangs) were used everywhere. According to the beliefs of the Slavs, thus, the invisible owner of the bath, or "bannik" could not bring guests from the world of Navi to a human dwelling.

The bark was used in leather tanning, as well as to obtain yellow and green dyes. A few twigs thrown into a tub of sauerkraut prevented it from fermenting. Hunters who roam the forests in winter ate bark to recuperate and relieve fatigue.

If we discard the mystical background and all sorts of beliefs, aspen is a very curious tree. It is closely related to poplars, its name is translated from Latin as “trembling poplar”. The constant swaying of the leaves actually does not come from the eternal fear attributed to the tree by popular rumor, but because of the long and flat leaf petiole. In other trees, the petioles are usually cylindrical in shape.

Compared to the rest of the trees, the age of the aspen is short - it rarely survives until its centenary. Its wood is prone to rotting, so many trees break down during bad weather. Also, aspen has difficulties in propagation by seeds: they quickly lose their germination and germinate at relatively high humidity. Therefore, most often the tree propagates by root suckers. A powerful root system located deep underground helps the aspen survive extensive forest fires.

With the onset of autumn, an interesting phenomenon can be observed - along with the leaves of aspens, there is ... a branch fall! By the way, it is still unknown why the tree gets rid of outwardly healthy and young twigs.

They say that if you stand next to a tree or touch it, you can get rid of a headache. Maybe before running to the pharmacy for life-saving pills, just go for a walk and ask the tree for help?

Aspen, or Common aspen, or Trembling poplar (lat. Pópulus trémula) Is a species of deciduous trees from the Poplar genus of the Willow family. Aspen is widespread in temperate and cold climates in Europe and Asia.

Aspen legends

Different peoples had legends and beliefs associated with the amazing property of aspen leaves to move from the slightest breath of wind.

According to one of the versions of the myth of Greco-Roman mythology, the sisters of Phaeton, the heliads of Phoebus and Lampetia, turned into two aspens after the angry Zeus killed Phaeton with a lightning strike, and he fell into the Po River. The tears they dropped into the swift waters of the Po River became amber.

In Christian mythology aspen leaves still tremble with horror, remembering the Crucifixion... It was believed that the Cross of the Lord was made of aspen, and "since then, the branches of this tree are seized with fear and tremble incessantly." However, aspen does not actually grow in Palestine. The tremor of the aspen leaves in the Russian tradition is associated with another episode of the New Testament - the suicide of Judas Iscariot. The people consider the aspen a cursed tree because, according to legend, Judas the Traitor hanged himself on it.

Ermolov A.S. in the book "Folk agricultural wisdom in proverbs, sayings and omens" (published in 1905) writes: Zhid, so todi Vin wrote that siv pid with an ossyka (aspen), and that yak to rustle, that and angry the Savior; for tse Vin cursing and saying: butt you rustled with a glass and without a glass. " There is also a version of this belief: the Mother of God with the Eternal Child hid under an aspen during her flight to Egypt, and the aspen was cursed not by the Savior, but by the Mother of God. In Ukraine, there was also a belief according to which aspen trees are not put into the walls of houses during construction, "but, then the whole family is trembling day and no sickness is like that, as the ossyka is trembling."

In fact, a rather wide aspen leaf by nature has a very thin and flexible stalk, unable to keep it straight - that is why aspen foliage is extremely sensitive even to the lightest breeze. There is an assumption that this is due to the fact that the aspen, due to its rapid growth, does not have time to build up a sufficiently large thickness and strength of the main trunk, while the total leaf area reaches a rather large size. Therefore, in a strong wind, a plant with leaves tightly pressed to the stems would constantly lose them (aspen leaves are kept on long rather loose petioles); and a rigid trunk would break (the trunk of an aspen is extremely flexible).

Aspen is credited with the ability to drive away evil spirits:

• The witch is afraid of the aspen (Little Russian.). If you stick aspen twigs into the fence of the fence, then a witch cannot enter such a fence and will not spoil the cows (Little Russian).

It is also believed that an aspen stake stuck in a vampire's heart can stop him.

Folk proverbs, sayings, signs, riddles and jokes

• Aspen - and rustles without the wind
• Bitter Aspen - Cursed Judas Gallows
• The aspen whispers, and the damned tree
• Aspen claps its hands (the leaves tremble on it) (Resin lips.)
• “It is said about a frightened person that he 'trembles, shakes like an aspen leaf.' As for the tree on which Judas hanged himself, the Little Russians have two opinions: Wasp is a coward, who hangs on the Scary; others seem to be hanging on to the wines, and Tim won’t be good for the building (the devil is alive in the buznik) "
• One berry is a bitter mountain ash, one tree is a bitter aspen (As an aspen is a bitter tree, so a mountain ash is a bitter berry: the places where only these two trees grow are bad).
• Aspen leaves lie on the ground upside down - winter will be cold, and upside down - warm. Folk omen.
• This oats before the blooming of the aspen (Yarosl. Lips.)
• Large buds on aspen - for the barley harvest
• If in the spring the aspen is fluffy, then buckwheat will be born (Tobolsk lips.)
• In spring, a good lobe on aspen and birch - there will be vigorous bread (good grain)
• Aspen in catkins - harvest for oats (Orenb. Province.)
• If brushes hang down from the aspen in the spring, even before the buds open and the grasses grow, - to the harvest of barley and spelled (votyatsk.)
• There are long cones on the aspen - barley will be born (Perm province)
• When there are many large earrings on the aspen at the beginning of spring - a good harvest of peas (Vladimirsk province)
• If there is a strong color (sheep) on the aspen, then there will be good barley (Kaluga lips.)
• When there are no lambs on the aspen, there will be no oats that year (Latvian).
• When mountain ash or aspen bloom well, so will good peas (Latvian.)
• October 16 in the national calendar - Denis Pozimny. On this day, one must beware of the Sabbath of evil spirits. Autumn fevers are fierce, they stagger around the world, they suffer themselves and torment people. Autumn fever can get under clothes, turn into a speck - and fly into the eyes. Autumn fevers - lomikha, ogniha, shaker, yellow, fever, insomnia... They live, according to popular belief, in swamps, fly to human habitation.
  If you carry aspen bark with you, you can't hope for October, then fevers will circle around you and even retreat. Or else, to cut off an aspen twig and carry it with you, they also say, from the illness that they send fevers, saves.
  If he brings his legs together, they put an aspen wood at his feet. If your head hurts unbearably - put an aspen wood under your head.
• It is known that "aspen does not burn without kerosene" (meaning the low value of aspen firewood as fuel)

Aspen stake: features of manufacturing and processing

The stake is considered to be the most powerful and effective tool for bringing restless undead to rest. “A sorcerer and a witch in a coffin are pierced with a stake through the chest so that they do not go like a ghoul; common belief of all Slavic tribes ", - Vladimir Dal points out. However, what exactly should be the correct stake? What are its dimensions, material of manufacture, features of sharpening? Do I need to wind the string on the stake and what is it for? What additional tools are needed to use a stake, are there any mandatory procedures that must be followed during the manufacture (conspiracies, rituals)? There are many questions, and surprisingly few answers in folklore materials and ethnographic studies. They are clearly not enough to make a stake yourself. We had to find living carriers of the tradition of making stakes, which are still used in the villages of Russia for the repose of ghouls and for performing other apotropic (protective) actions using time-tested technologies.

1. Material for making a stake

What the count should be exactly wooden, not steel or bone, in this none of the researchers have any disagreements. Some authors, who have gone into little detail, so simply call it - "wooden stake", without unnecessary details, as, for example, Bram Stoker did in his novel "Dracula" (wooden stake - and that's it). Meanwhile, the material is very important, any tree will not work. The stake must be made only from the tree, which in itself is already a talisman against the undead.

“Aspen belongs to the number of trees and plants that occupy one of the first places in the beliefs of the common people. In folk songs, aspen is not found and is not sung, just as oak, javir, poplar, birch, viburnum, willow are sung; but in the beliefs of the common people about devilry, about witches, immigrants from the other world are closely and inextricably linked with the idea about aspen as a talisman and a protector from all this "evil". The people consider this tree to be the first talisman and protective agent against devils, witches, dead people, ghouls, etc.<...> With an aspen stick in your hands, you can go at any time of the night and anywhere, and no evil spirits will approach a person. If you put a piece of aspen on the windows and at the doors when the deceased walks, then the deceased will no longer enter the hut. ", - writes ethnographer Ivan Benkovsky (Kievskaya Starina. 1898. № 7-8).

“Aspen was used at the funeral of suicides, sorcerers and witches. In the event of the death of a sorcerer or a witch, an aspen stake was driven into the ceiling of the house so that the devil could climb into the hole and take the soul of the sorcerer into hell. At the death of the sorcerer, evil spirits left his body in the form of a black animal, which was supposed to be killed by piercing it with an aspen stake. A coffin for suicides was made from aspen, as well as pegs with which they hammered<...> Suspecting a ghoul in the deceased, an aspen stake was driven into the grave at the funeral or aspen crosses or chips were placed on the chest of the deceased <...> To prevent the deceased from "walking", his grave was torn apart, and his heart was pierced with an aspen stake» (Slavic antiquities. Ethnolinguistic dictionary edited by NI Tolstoy. T. 3. 2004).

So, the best material for making a stake is aspen. In addition to aspen, some other plants were also used, such as oak. South Slavs also make colas from blackthorn or elderberry, known for their protective properties.

2. Cola size

In Hollywood films about the repose of vampires, instead of stakes, they like to depict miniature wooden sticks 15-20 centimeters long and 2 centimeters in diameter. Heroic Hunters from the Half-Piha stick small pegs into the loose bodies of vampires, inflicting grievous injuries incompatible with their undead. However, real folklore vampires cannot be penetrated by this: welcome to real life :) To put a vampire to rest, a stake is placed on his body (chest, head, butt) and hammered with a powerful blow of a hammer or sledgehammer. Bram Stoker, for example, advised you to take the heavy hammer with which you usually break the lumps of coal in your basement.

The stake does not have a mandatory fixed size, which may depend on the immediate purpose of use. It's one thing if you just want to drive a stake into a single ghoul; another - if you want to dig a grave and pierce through the coffin and the vampire in it, nailing it to the ground. The height of a standard coffin is 50-70 cm, that is, the length of the stake for breaking through the coffin will be at least 80 cm. Thus, the length of the stake will vary from half a meter to a meter or more. The diameter of the stake depends on the size of the aspen chosen for making the stake and is usually equal to the diameter of the aspen. However, a stake that is too thin can break, so it is not recommended to use stakes with a diameter of less than 40 millimeters. The maximum thickness is limited only by the biological characteristics of the aspen and your physical capabilities: not everyone can drive a whole log into a corpse, especially if it resists.

So, the required length of the stake is 50-100 cm and more, the diameter is 4-7 cm. It turns out a rather weighty drin.

3. Processing cola

Glamorous cinematic colas are neatly planed, carefully sanded and sometimes even polished. It's even a pity to drive such a work of art into a vampire. But is aesthetics really important? Moreover, the stake is a disposable weapon, after hammering it cannot be removed back. So how should a traditional aspen stake be made and processed?

3.1. Is it necessary to dry aspen wood and make a stake out of raw wood?

No, you don't need to dry. The wood must be "raw". This practice even found its reflection in dictionaries of the second half of the 19th century:

“To get rid of a vampire, in the opinion of the common people, there is only one means: to dig up his corpse, to hammer a sharp raw stake, cut off your head and, ripping out the heart, burn it " (Desktop dictionary for references on all branches of knowledge under the editorship of F. Toll. T. 1. 1863. S. 398).

“To get rid of a vampire, according to Calmette, there is one way: to dig up his corpse, to hammer into it raw stake, chop off your head, and tearing out the heart, burn it " (Reference encyclopedic dictionary edited by A. Starchevsky. T. 3. 1854. P. 41).

In the second example, there is a reference to the fundamental work of the Benedictine Antoine Augustine Calmett Traité sur les apparitions (1746). However, in this treatise there is not a word about the material from which the stake should be made or about the fact that it is necessary to use raw or dry wood. An English translation of the treatise, completed in 1850, is available at books.google.com and at Project Gutenberg. Thus, most likely, the dictionaries reflect the real East Slavic practice of that time in making stakes from raw wood. The ethnographic expedition, which will be discussed below, confirmed this conclusion.

3.2. Do I need to remove the bark from the aspen, sand the stake?

This is a very interesting question. It was unexpected for us. Initially, when the diameter of the stake was studied, the choice of the diameter also assumed the processing of the aspen trunk, planing to the required size. The question of leaving the bark in place did not even occur to me.

The bark issue was raised during an ethnographic expedition Folklore and ethnographic center for the rest of the undead Upyrnet in the village of Danilovo, Udmurt Republic (2011). The village still has a tradition of using aspen stakes to fight evil spirits. Shortly before the expedition, a witch was dying in the village, as expected, very hard. To facilitate her death, a traditional Slavic ritual was used - hammering an aspen stake into the skate of the house; according to the villagers, the technology worked flawlessly. Our question about how to properly process the stake surface was met with bewilderment by the peasants: “The bark does not need to be removed. When a stake is driven into the grave of the deceased, it will be better if it sprouts. Then the deceased will certainly no longer walk. ", - said the source. The same consideration explains the need to use raw aspen - it has a better chance of germinating. However, the use of a planed stake is also allowed.

3.3. How to sharpen a stake?

The stake must be sharp enough to facilitate driving into the dead body. Some authors point out that the stake needs to be treated in a fire to make it harder. So far, it has not been possible to find more information in literary and ethnographic sources. The peasants of the village of Danilovo gave us more details. According to them, the point of the stake should be made with exactly three blows of the ax. On the first blow they say "In the name of the Father", On the second - "And the Son", on the third - "And the Holy Spirit, amen".

4. Rope

A string (thin rope) is tied at the top of the stake. When driving a stake, the string is above the palm and prevents accidental slipping of the hand. Nevertheless, in addition to such practical functionality, the rope also has a protective purpose, because tying with a rope is equivalent to creating a magic circle. In the village of Danilovo the twine is tied on a stake in three circles, for each circle, in the same way with making a point, saying: "In the name of the Father", "and the Son" and "Holy Spirit, Amen". Therefore, to support ritual functions, it is better to use a rope made of material, which in itself is a talisman against the walking dead (flax, bast, hemp, etc.). Note for perfectionists: the ideal twine should be made by a 12-year-old girl on Holy Trinity. The degree of processing: it is advisable to use a harsh (unwashed) thread, unpainted or red (red scares away evil spirits).

5. Application of sacred and protective symbols

We have not yet found any regulatory instructions for applying any sacred and protective symbols to the stake. In the village of Danilovo, nothing is applied to the stake. However, in our opinion, the use of Christian symbols, such as a cross, which can be burned or carved into aspen wood, cannot harm.

Aspen stake in the sorcerer's grave

Illustration: shaminskiy.at.tut.by

The sorcerer was buried in the village of Klyukovo. Few ventured to approach the coffin where the terrible old man rested. The villagers in the distance silently watched the burial, occasionally whispering to each other. Brothers from a neighboring village were hired to close the lid and lower the domina into the grave: they were constantly under degrees and were not afraid of anything - neither sorcerers nor the devil himself. In addition, they were promised two liters of moonshine and a snack. When the grave was covered with earth, one of the members of this drunken funeral team drove a hefty aspen stake into the grave. "It is necessary," the villagers explained. "Now Erofeich will not rise, he will not wander around the village and scare the living." Some, however, considered this measure not entirely sufficient. Granny Vera, whose mother was from the Vologda province, was especially upset. “We had to take Erofeich out of the hut not with his feet forward, but with his head,” the grandmother whispered, “and when they dragged him to the churchyard, he stopped at the first river, turned over in a coffin and cut his heels. buried ... "Finally, it was all over. The people flowed with relief from the cemetery. All gathered in Nikiforovna's hut. They thought - to remember the deceased or not. It seems that it is necessary to remember the deceased, but whether sorcerers are remembered - no one could remember. "How can one drink a soul for a commemoration, if he sold it to the devil!" - Grandma Vera was angry. We decided to just have a drink and a snack. At first they drank in silence, but soon the alcohol did its job - the people took courage. They began to remember how the sorcerer Erofeich died. And he died hard. For several days in a row he had convulsions and repeatedly fell from the stove. So he died under the stove. They also said that before his death, the sorcerer tried to convey his magical power. While he could still walk, he wandered around the village and invited everyone he met to his house. Only no one went to him - it was scary. Only when Erofeich was completely weakened did some compassionate villagers come to him - to feed and supply water. But all the same, they tried to stay away from the dying person and did not give anything from their hands, they put water and food so that he could reach it himself. They said they offered medicines, but Erofeich refused them. A sorcerer - he is a sorcerer ...

I remember when, as a child, I was vacationing in the village in the summer with Baba Nyusha - the sister of my own grandmother - I was forbidden to go to the Kuzins' courtyard. All the villagers were convinced that the old Cousin was a witch. Baba Nyusha said that she knows how to turn into a pig, and exactly at midnight a flame flies out of the chimney of their house - it was a witch who flew in her witchcraft. Once I could not resist and, overcoming my fear, crept up to the Kuzin house at night. Indeed, at exactly 12 am a sheaf of sparks flew out of the chimney. Then I was terribly frightened, but now I think that these same Kuzins were stoking the stove with something wrong ... By the way, this village was only 200 km from Moscow, that is, not so far from "civilization".

As for the late Erofeich from Klyukov, several years before his death I met with him and even had a short conversation. I think he was considered a sorcerer for a reason. Even then, that is, 15 years ago, he seemed very old. And he had an unusual appearance: he had long gray hair, a thick matted beard and a prickly "wolf" look. Erofeich lived as a boby, he did not like to talk, he did not drink wine, and in his dilapidated house, standing on the very edge of the village next to the churchyard, on which he was later buried, there was no icon or icon lamp. On the street Erofeich went out only in the evening, and what he did during the day - one devil knows (the villagers assured that Erofeich never worked, lived on products from his own garden). He always walked with a frown, looked at the white light from under his brows. Seeing a sorcerer walking with a big gnarled stick, the villagers hurried to hide in the huts, fearing "the evil eye and damage." All their troubles (the Colorado potato beetle ate potatoes, Vanka the tractor driver fell into the river with a tractor, the calf died, the chickens were not rushing well, her husband left Matryona and left to the postman, etc.) they attributed exclusively to Erofeich's witchcraft. However, no one ever dared to quarrel with him, let alone beat him. As a city dweller, I only laughed at the innocence of the villagers. And one day, despite the fact that they tried to dissuade me, I decided to go and see the mysterious old man. Erofeich greeted me unkindly, did not let me into the upper room. I introduced myself as a writer - they say, I am writing a book about the village, collecting material and would like to talk with an old-timer. But the old man did not want to talk to me. "They are chatting about me here, God knows what. All because the vile people live here, all drunkards and lazy people ... And we have nothing to talk about, I don't remember anything and I don't know. Go where you came from ..." , in fact, and all the words I heard from Erofeich. Later, someone told me that Erofeich was not a local. As if back in the days of collectivization, he was dispossessed and exiled to Siberia, but halfway through, he fled, hid somewhere for a long time, and then, when it became possible, he settled in Klyukovo. Here he did not manage to find a common language with the locals, did not make friends with anyone. Probably because, firstly, he was a stranger, and secondly, he had such a frightening appearance. In general, Erofeich harbored a grudge against people, and this explained the strangeness of his behavior. And since the belief in evil spirits lived in Klyukovo for centuries, the locals took him for a sorcerer. Yes, Erofeich did not refuse this title. He probably liked that people were afraid of him. And only when he was completely sick did he start dying alone in fear, that is why he began to walk around the village and beckon to him. But the villagers interpreted his actions in their own way - they recorded him as sorcerers.

Traditionally, it is popularly believed that sorcerers can be voluntary, involuntary and natural. The voluntary, of course, became such of his own free will, having performed the appropriate rite. The dying sorcerer forcibly transferred knowledge to the involuntary (with the help of various tricks). The natural sorcerer has his own genealogy: a girl will give birth to a girl, this second will bring a third, and the boy born from the third will become a sorcerer at age, and the girl will become a witch. People were afraid of all three categories of sorcerers, and usually three means were used to expose them: a willow candle, aspen wood and a mountain ash twig. They said that if you light a skillfully prepared candle, then sorcerers and witches would seem upside down. Likewise, if you heat the stove on Maundy Thursday with aspen wood, all the sorcerers will immediately come to ask for ash. The rowan wand helps to identify these ill-wishers during the light matins: they stand with their backs to the iconostasis. There were several more ways to identify the sorcerer. For example, put a knife with the tip up and read the Sunday prayer (May God rise) from the end - then the sorcerer will either howl or start swearing badly. Or take the "forty-dinner incense" (which lay on the throne during the forty-mouth), grind it into powder, pour it into wine or beer and give the sorcerer a drink - then he will start walking around the hut from one corner to another and will not find the door. And if at this time you offer him to drink filthy water, at least from the pelvis, he will willingly drink it and then lose all his strength. There was a way to single-handedly deal with the sorcerer. To do this, it was enough to hit him with a swing with his left hand, without turning back. If blood is shed at the same time, then the sorcerer has already deteriorated and is no longer suitable for sorcerers.

Now, if in the village of Klyukovo they knew at least one of these methods, they would have found out long ago that Erofeich was not any sorcerer, but was simply an unhappy, resentful, lonely and strange person. It was in vain that an aspen stake was driven into his grave.

DRIVE AN ASPEN INTO THE GRAVE who, what. DRIVE AN ASPEN INTO THE GRAVE who, what... Express. Completely, completely, get rid of someone or something hostile, undesirable. The myth of the invincibility of the German army is driven into the grave. The Red Army ... drove a strong aspen stake into the grave of this myth (N. Tikhonov. Victory as the world has not yet known). - From the superstitious custom of driving an aspen stake into the sorcerer's grave so that he could not harm after his death. Lit .: Explanatory dictionary of the Russian language / Edited by prof. D.N.Ushakova. - M., 1935 .-- T. 1. - S. 1398.

"Drive an aspen stake into the grave" in books

Aspen milk