Marfa Kryukova

Who was Marfa Kryukova?

Marfa Semyonovna Kryukova was a Russian folklore performer and a storyteller.

Marfa Kryukova was born in a Pomor village of Verkhnyaya Zolotitsa on the White Sea shore north-east of Arkhangelsk. Her mother, Agrafena Kryukova, was known as a storyteller and a folklore performer. In 1899, at the peak of interest in Russia to the Northern folklore, Alexey Markov, then a student, visited Verkhnyaya Zolotitsa and recorded a number of tales and bylinas from Agrafena and Marfa Kryukova, which he subsequently published. Markov visited the place once more in 1901.

Marfa Kryukova never got married, apparently because she was literate and liked to read books. She lived for most of her life in poverty. After the publications of Markov she was forgotten until 1934, when Vladislav Chuzhimov, a folklore collector, visited Verkhnyaya Zolotitsa. At the time, Agrafena Kryukova was already dead, and Marfa Kryukova was the main person Chuzhimov worked with.