The Tao encounters the West Book

A good overview of the historical Russian peasant's belief in the supernatural. It gives a rundown of the various spirits that they expected to eoncounter in daily life--domovoi (house spirits), leshii (forest spirits), vodianoi (water spirits), as well as spirits in the fields, etc. It also shows the evolution of these beliefs under the influence of Christianity, and how the prievious mischevious/semi-benevolent activities of the domovoi, for example, sometimes became equated with the work of Satan over time. There are also good chapters on sorcerors, witches and the devil. The first half of the book is an analysis of these phenomena, and the second half contains the actual collected folk narratives--some of which, in my opinion, rank up there with Washington Irving and the Arabian Nights. While not a manual on the practical application of folklorist theory, it makes plenty of references as to how a folklorist goes about his business.

The coolest chapter, probably, is that on sorcerors. I enjoy the fact that in some instances they would purposely be invited to weddings and given a seat in the place of honor, so as to prevent offending them and their consequent "spoiling" the newlyweds. Basically I learned that, if you were a Russian peasant, you didn't want to swim, go in the forest, mess with your domovoi--which could include buying a horse of a color the spirit didn't like--upset a witch or sorceror, etc. (Though, there are plenty of tales of clever pesants hoodwinking the devil and others). Also, you need to get your kids baptized! If not, and they die, their spirit may be coming back for a scary visit. And...if things are going bad in the village, it doesn't hurt to dig up a dead sorceror and drive an aspen stake between his shoulder blades...