Liz Warren | Storyteller

When researching this folktale I found that the word Babushka has more than one meaning: a woman's scarf, often triangular, used as a hood with two of the ends tied under the chin, or an elderly Russian woman, especially an elderly grandmother.  It is pronounced “bah-BOOSH-kah,” It is believed that the story of Babushka is not a Russian folktale.  Folklorist Alexander Afanasiev collection of 600 Russian folk and fairy tales never mentioned the story of Babushka.  It is believed that the story was created in 1907 by an American author named Edith Matilda Thomas.  The closest thing to the "Russian" legend of Babushka is the famous Italian legend of La Befana.

The image at the top of the post is of La Befana wearing, of course, a babushka!