BABA-YAGA

also called Baba-jaga, in Russian folklore, an ogress who steals, cooks, and eats her victims, usually children. A guardian of the fountains of the water of life, she lives with two or three sisters (all known as Baba-Yaga) in a forest hut which spins continually on birds' legs; her fence is topped with human skulls. Baba-Yaga can ride through the airin an iron kettle or in a mortar that she drives with a pestlecreating tempests as she goes. She often accompanies Death on his travels, devouring newly released souls.