 | The epic songs of Russia |  |
APPENDIX
The Alatyr Stone
THIS stone, so often referred to in Russian song
and legend, is elektron, amber, the precious
merchandise of the first Phœnician traders, and
of their successors, the Greeks and Romans. From
very ancient times it has been found on the Baltic,
where it still abounds on the whole southern shore,
from Copenhagen to Courland. The Slavs inhabited
these shores at the date of their first appearance in
history, and it is in those portions of Russia which
border on this sea, or whose inhabitants traded on it
in early times, that the most vivid images and epithets
applied to the Alatyr stone are still preserved. In
ancient times also, the name of the Baltic among the
Slavs was the "Latyr Sea." As amber was esteemed
not only for its beauty, but as a medicine, it was worn
as a protection to the throat, chest, and the whole
body. Numerous spells and charms attest this fact.
It is generally spoken of as situated on the "Ocean-Sea,"
the "Blue Sea," or the "Island of Buyan"; and
it is called "white and burning," or "cold." White
refers to its brilliance, as in the case of the "white
day." Burning is the epithet applied to it in the frozen
North, while cold is the favourite epithet in the South.
According to the popular notion, the Ocean is the
source of all rivers; on this Ocean lies Alatyr which is
healing;—hence, from beneath this stone proceed all
rivers, and all healing.
The sea in which it lies varies with the locality in
which the song is sung or the legend narrated. As all
White Sea, there lies the Alatyr stone. For the dwellers
in the South, it is situated in the Black or Caspian
Sea, while far inland it becomes synonymous with a
boundary stone, and as such figures at cross-roads and
so forth.
As Christianity spread, and the stiks or religious
songs developed, the Alatyr stone acquired a new
meaning. It became the stone on which Christ was
crucified, and through which his blood trickled upon
the head of Adam, and of all born on earth. Pilgrims
returning from Jerusalem declared it to be the source
of all healing, spiritual gifts, and new life. It is also
said to be the stone from which Christ preached,
despatched his disciples, and distributed books to all
the world.
Volgá Vseslavich
VOLK or Volgá Vseslavich, corrupted from Svyatoslavich,
is the Prince Oleg (Olg, Volg, Volgá)
who succeeded Rurik early in the tenth century.
Though this bylina undoubtedly preserves a dim memory
of the Vseslavich of the Chronicles and the "Word of
Igor's Expedition," most of Volgá's traits are purely
mythical. His name of Volk (the Wizard) corresponds
to that won by Prince Oleg through his knowledge of
the Black Art—vyetchi, the Wise Man, or Sorcerer.
The history of Oleg in the Chronicle of Nestor, a monk
of Kief, 1050-1114, is almost as fantastic as the
bylina. Like Volgá, he made a trip to "the Turkish
Land," in 907. On this expedition, he is said to have
placed wheels under his ships, and spreading their
canvas, to have sailed thus across the plains of Thrace
to the gates of Constantinople. The two heroes also
begin their military career at the same age.
In the songs of the Turkish tribes of Siberia, the
figure of the sorcerer and hunter who catches game
and feeds his followers is very common, these peoples
being still in the shepherd and hunter stage of civilization.
The signs and wonders accompanying Volgá's birth
have their parallel in many other mythologies. Similar
omens preceded the incarnation of Vishnu and the birth
of Indra the Thunderer and Lightning-bringer.
A similar disturbing approach of the Thunder-god
must be taken for granted in all epic accounts of
marvellously born heroes. The omens are also often
legends which crystallize about striking individualities,
as in the case of Alexander of Macedon.
The dragon father in these myths is the Thunder-god;
for the clouds, in which primitive man saw
dragons,—the robbers of the living water, and of the
gold of the sun's rays,—were regarded also as an
external covering, a garment or cloak, in which the
bright gods and goddesses wrapped themselves. Enveloping
themselves thus in their cloudy garment,
the gods clothed themselves, as it were, in a dragon's
skin, and assumed the monstrous dragon form. The
Thunder-god, slumbering within the frost-fettered
clouds, invisible until the spring in the radiance of
his beauty, the lightning, transformed himself into a
dragon. All Volgá's transformations refer, therefore,
to changes in the shape of the rain-bearing thundercloud.
As the representative of sorcery, Volgá holds the
place in Slavic epics, held by Maugis or Malagis in
the Carlovingian epos, especially in Renaud de
Montauban.
Thirty is the favourite epic number for the bodyguard
(druzhina). In the Chanson de Roland, for
instance, Roland's guard at the court of Charlemagne
numbers thirty, while the traitor Ganelon is defended
by the same number of relatives. As the ancient Slavs
had no other organization than that of the patriarchal
commune, this idea would seem to have been borrowed
from the Scandinavians. The tests for admission to
these brotherhoods, and the manner of their formation
among the latter people, are well known. Princes,
bishops, and even wealthy private individuals, like
Churilo and Sadko, had these guards, which owed
allegiance to no one but their leader.
Volgá and Mikula
MIKULA represents the intermediate stage between
the embodiment of purely physical and
of moral power—the stage between Svyatogor
and Ilya. He partakes of Ilya's nature, as the
Thunder-god, and his nightingale mare signifies,
probably, the thunder-cloud. The assistance rendered
to agriculture through the rain by the Thunder-deity
led in course of time to his being regarded as the god
of agriculture also, who opened the plains of heaven
with his whirlwinds, ploughed them with his lightning
darts, and scattered his seed broadcast over them.
The dependence of man on the seasons early suggested
the idea that the gods had set the example of
ploughing. Many ceremonies and traditions are preserved
in various countries, which point to such a
mythical significance of the plough. The Siamese, for
instance, celebrate a festival in its honour, of Buddhistic
origin.
Herodotus, in his description of the customs and
beliefs of the ancient Scythians, the ancestors of the
Slavs, gives a tradition of a plough which fell from
heaven in supernatural wise. With the possession of
this plough and of a golden axe, yoke, and cup which
had also fallen from heaven, went the imperial power.
It may safely be affirmed, that the tradition of the
golden implements of agriculture proceeding from
heaven comes down to us from the most remote antiquity.—The
Russian peasant still sees the plough
which Mikula hurled heavenward, in the constellation
of Orion.
Mikula, like Ilya, is a glorification of the peasant.
Some of the Germanic chieftains were prevented from
accepting Christianity, by the thought that they should
be obliged to enjoy heaven in the mixed society of
common people, and even of slaves. On the other
hand, Slavic traditions all represent the princely powers
as derived from simple tillers of the soil; and in the
Bohemian Chronicle of Kosma of Prague, dating from
the twelfth century, it is asserted that "we are all made
equal by nature" (Quia facti sumus omnes œquales per
naturam)—a characteristically Slavic utterance in the
midst of feudal Europe.
St. Nicholas, always called Mikola, has taken
Mikula's place as the Christian deity of agriculture, and
is a very great favourite among the peasant brethren
of the "Villager's Son."
The affair of the bridge strongly resembles one at
the bridge of Ovrukh, related in the Chronicles, where
perished Oleg Svyatoslavich—the Volgá Vseslavich of
the epic song.
Svyatogor
SVYATOGOR was the last of the Elder Heroes,
that is to say, of the prehistoric, purely mythical
giants of the cycle preceding the Vladimirian.
The only songs belonging to this cycle which have
come down to us are those relating to Volgá, Mikula,
Svyatogor, and the "One and Forty Pilgrims," who
are thought to be nameless heroes belonging to that
epoch. One or two others are slightly mentioned, as
will be seen in "Ilya and the Idol," where Ivaniusho is
a representative of the older race. Syvatogor's name
is derived from his dwelling in the Holy Mountains
(na svyatyk gorakh), but what these Holy Mountains
represent on earth is not known. Mythologically considered,
they are the clouds. Hilferding found one
very good rhapsodist who persisted in using the name
Svyatopolk, on the usual ground, that "it was sung
so." This suggested to Hilferding that Svyatogor
might be identical with the giant of that name from
Great Moravia—a legendary hero, and the representative
of Slavic might. The Chronicle of Kosma of
Prague states that Svyatopolk concealed himself in
the mountains, and there died a mysterious death.
Svyatopolk also, like Svyatogor, was the only giant
hero who did not war against Holy Russia.
The adventure with the pouches is often credited to
"Hero Samson," Mikula being replaced by two angels
sent by the Lord to rebuke the hero's arrogance.
A boast similar to that of Svyatogor was attributed
to Alexander of Macedon in the manuscript legends of
early times.
The "Elder Heroes" make way for the Younger,
typified in Ilya, as the Titans made way for the Gods
in Greek, or the Jotuns for the Asa in Norse mythology.
The Younger Heroes superseded the Elder when
men became convinced that in the battle constantly
waged between light and darkness, summer and winter,
light and summer always conquered at last. The distinction
between the Elder and Younger Heroes has
ceased to exist among the people, who regard them
merely as representatives of different kinds of heroic,
not divine, forces.
Svyatogor, the giant cloud-mountain, dies, i.e.
becomes fettered with cold, and falls into his winter
sleep. Popular fancy has likened the action of the frost
to bands of iron, upon the frozen, stone-like earth.
Svyatogor's huge sword, the lightning, which in spring
and summer parts the heavens, prepares during the
heavy autumnal storms the iron bands which the cold
hand of winter lays upon the cloud.
Svyatogor's father belongs to the same class of
easily tricked giants as Polyphemus. Instances, almost
exactly similar, of the substitution of iron for the giant
to grasp, are to be found in modern Greek and Swedish
legends, and in the eleventh book of the Mahabharata.
The crystal casket in which the hero carries his wife
suggests an incident in one of the tales contained in
the Arabian Nights' Entertainments.
Ilya of Murom
NO one of the heroes has left so many proofs of
his existence, no one is so popular or so firmly
believed in, as the great peasant hero Ilya of
Murom. A race of peasants called Ilya's peasants
(krestyanye Iliushini) regard themselves as direct
descendants of the renowned bogatyr; and it is a noteworthy
fact, that, according to local testimony, the
people who inhabit the primeval forests of Murom
are celebrated for their great stature and strength.
To this day, the peasants of the village of Karacharof,
Ilya's birthplace, point out a chapel built upon the
spot where a fountain burst forth beneath the hoofs
of Ilya's good steed Cloudfall, as did the springs at
a blow from the hoof of Pegasus. The chapel is
dedicated to Ilya the Prophet; and "to the fountain
fierce bears still come to quaff the waters and gain
heroic strength," so the legend runs.
He is bound up with the religious legends of Kief.
Erich Lassota of Steblau, who made a trip to Kief in
1594, states in his diary that he saw in a chapel of
St. Sophia the tomb, now destroyed, of "Elia Morowlin,
a distinguished hero and bohater," and of another
hero; and Kalnoforsky, a Pole, in a book published in
1638, says that Ilya lived about 1188. His portrait was
published in the seventeenth century among the saints
of Kief, with an inscription to the effect that his body
was still uncorrupted—which corresponds to the statement
in the epic poems, that he was turned to stone.
In this portrait he appears as a gaunt ascetic, with
masses of hair and beard, barely covered with his
rhapsodists who sang the lay of the heroes' end to
Hilferding in 1870, said that he knew Ilya was turned
to stone in Kief, because some people had once made
a pilgrimage thither to see how his fingers were placed
for the sign of the cross—great importance being
attached to this point. They saw Ilya, but his hand
was broken, and the question remained unsettled.
The antiquity of the legends about Ilya is shown by
the mention of his name in the cycle of Dietrich of Berne,
which was compiled in the thirteenth century from
songs already existing. He appears as the brother of
the Russian King Voldemar, Ilya the Greek, referring
to his religion, or in the Russian form of Ilias von
Riuzen; the German would be Elias. His exploits in
Dietrich of Berne have, however, nothing to do with
those attributed to Ilya in the epic songs.
Notwithstanding all this tolerably strong evidence of
his actual existence, Ilya is a purely mythical personage,
an incarnation of the Thunder-god, the successor
of heathen Perun. In the Christian mythology of the
peasants, he appears as "Ilya (Elijah) the Prophet,"
probably on account of the fiery chariot in which
Elijah was translated to heaven. The mythical allusions
are confined to a very restricted circle of natural
phenomena—the clear heaven, the lightning, the rain,
the thunder-clouds, and the powers of darkness in
general. Like Thor and Indra, he wages incessant
battle against the evil powers, and there are few episodes
in his career to which a parallel does not exist
among the various Indo-European races.
One of the most widely disseminated of traditions is
that concerning the tardy development of the hero's
strength, his late entrance upon active life, or long
obscurity under persecution or in exile. Cinderella
(Slavic Popeliuga), and the youngest of three Princes
who carries everything before him at last, after years
of ridicule or ill-treatment from his brothers, are some
of the best known. It is hinted that the renowned
Siegfried passed his youth in obscurity, as Ilya sat for
to the absence of the Thunder-deity in winter.
The wandering psalm-singers who heal Ilya, and
bestow upon him his vast strength, are the rain-bearing
clouds, and their miraculous draught the life-giving
dew. The hero and his horse are but two myths of
the same phenomenon, originally independent, and only
combined at a much later epoch.
In the riddles of which the people are so fond, the
horse signifies the wind, and his neigh is the thunder.
Another embodiment of the whirlwind is Nightingale
the Robber, whose historical prototype is supposed to
be the Mogut, pardoned by Vladimir. The whirlwind
chases the dark clouds through the heavens, and
obscures the sunlight, i.e. bars the road to Fair Sun
Vladimir,—troubles the sea with its whistle and roar,
and uproots century-old oaks, like the giant Hraesvelgr
in the Elder Edda, who sits on the border of heaven in
eagle's plumage, and by the flapping of his wings
produces the tempest.
The supernatural birds with iron feathers which
Hercules drove from the Stymphalian swamp, one of
whom was named Aella (the whirlwind), and the two
storm-birds of the Ramayana, who by waving their
wings shake the mountains, raise great billows in the
sea, and overthrow trees, are also forms of the same
myth. In Latin also, aquila and vultur furnish names
for stormy winds, aquilo and vulturnus. The Smorodina
is a mythical river—the rain; and the bridge built by
Ilya is the rainbow.
In his contest with Falcon the Hunter, Ilya represents
the heavens, Falcon being the lightning which
turns its sharp blade against its mother from the
realms of darkness, the clouds. To this lightning Ilya
opposes his own, and having conquered shines forth
again clear and radiant. Falcon's mace cast heavenward,
and returning always to his hand, is the lightning
flash.
The Russian examples of the very common legend
concerning the conflict of father and son are remarkable
substitute Ilya's daughter,[1] a "bold polyanitza," for
Falcon; most of them have preserved their tragic
ending.
Idol, like the robbers and the Tatars who effaced, in
course of time, the memory of the tribes who really
warred against Vladimir, must be accepted as another
embodiment of the dark and hostile principle. The
gluttony ascribed to him constitutes a sort of distinction
in a great number of legends. In ancient Hindoo
myths, it appears to be the special attribute of the evil
powers. Thor in the Edda and Indra in the Rig-Veda
are credited with a great capacity for drinking, and Ilya
is represented as intoxicated. Owing to his connection
with the rain, drunkenness is the special attribute of
the Thunder-god.
Ilya's conduct in his quarrels with Vladimir is much
more moderate than that of many epic heroes in
disputes with their sovereigns. The paladins of
Charlemagne's court pulled the Emperor's beard, beat
him, and called him a fool, with the same readiness which
they displayed in humiliating themselves before him
and kissing his footsteps when circumstances rendered
it advisable.
Many epic personages disappear from the scene in
a mysterious manner which renders their death uncertain,
their return probable at any moment. Then
arises the legend of their return on the fulfilment of
certain conditions, as in the case of Frederic Barbarossa.
As the Russian heroes were known to have been killed
in battle or turned to stone, with Ilya's tomb in two or
three places in Kief to prove his death in particular,
this legend has become the special property of Stenka
Razin, the famous Cossack chief of the seventeenth
century, and his return is still awaited by the peasants.
A fragmentary bylina represents Ilya, Dobrynya,
and other heroes as sailing in the "Falcon ship," to
some unknown region, whence they do not return.
The Fair Sun Prince Vladimir
TWO noted historical personages are combined in
the courteous Prince Vladimir of the bylinas—
Saint Vladimir Svyatoslavich, who established
Christianity in Russia in the year 988, and died in 1015;
and Vladimir Monomachus, who was born in 1053,
and died in 1125. Both are celebrated in the Chronicles
for their feasts, and the latter's courtesy is frequently
referred to. His name Vladimir, Vladyki-Miri, Ruler
of the World, chances to express his most ancient
mythical signification. His peculiar title, "Fair Sun,"
renders it even more apparent. It has taken the place
in Russian tradition of the most ancient name of the
divinity of the heavens and the Sun. If not identical
with the Volos[2]
of the Chronicles, it stands at least
in close philological relationship with him, and with
the Semitic Baal or Bel.
He does not represent the active principle of light
and warmth, however, but the passive. He paces his
banquet hall, the heavens, and serves his guests with
wine, but relegates all active duties to his heroes. His
distinctive appellation is courteous, as good is that of
French and Spanish epic kings (le bon roy, el buen rey),
or of King Arthur. But as the Sun can be not only
clear or courteous, but burning and oppressive, so
Vladimir is, on occasion, both oppressive and discourteous,
Vladimir despatches young Sukman Odikmantievich
to shoot game for his table. Sukman finds none, but
destroys an innumerable host of Tatars. When he
reports to Vladimir on his return, the Prince does not
believe him, orders him to be thrown into a dungeon,
and sends heroes to examine into the truth of the story.
Convinced at last, he releases Sukman, who kills himself
for grief at his prince's treatment.
Many marriages of heroes are mentioned in these
epic songs besides Vladimir's, and in the epics of other
nations marriage is a frequent topic. Students of
comparative mythology are agreed in regarding these
marriages as variations of the same theme; viz. the
union of a bright and beneficent male principle with
an obscure and noxious female principle, taken from
the realm of darkness.
St. Vlasy (Blasius) in the Christian calendar. For some
account of the ceremonial songs connected with this patron saint
of flocks and herds, see Ralston's Songs of the Russian People
(p. 251).
Quiet Dunaï Ivanovich
DUNAÏ is the name borne by one of Prince
Vladimir Vasilkovich's voevodes, and is mentioned
in the Chronicles of the years 1281 and
1287. Like Mikailo he was a rover, and probably not
a Russian.
Geographical accuracy is not to be looked for in
these epic lays. Dunaï and Nastasya, as rivers, bear
various names, and their courses are as fantastic as
in the version selected.
Stavr Godinovich
STAVR, whom we meet with in the Chronicle of
Novgorod in the year 1118, was not a boyar, as
stated in the songs, but a sotsky,—the ruler of a
hundred; Novgorod and its suburbs being divided into
hundreds according to their different trades. The
courteous Prince was Vladimir Monomachus, who
summoned all the nobles of Novgorod to Kief, and
made them take an oath of allegiance to him. Some
he permitted to return home; others, among them
Stavr, he sent into exile in wrath at some of their
exploits.
Ryabinin, one of the best of epic singers, explained
Vasilisa's easy victory over Vladimir's heroes, by saying
that Ilya of Murom had not arrived in Kief at that
time. Consequently, as a daughter of Mikula, a representative
of the Earth and the Elder Heroes, she was
superior to all the Younger Heroes.
Such wrestling and shooting matches were not uncommon
at feasts, as the Ipatief Chronicle of 1150
informs us, and even horse-racing, as in the song of
"Ivan the Merchant's Son."
Bold Alyosha Popovich
SEVERAL references are made to Alyosha in
various Chronicles, under the name of Alexander
Popovich. The most important, from the
Nikonof Chronicle of the year 1224, states that
"Alexander Popovich with his servant Torop" (Akim
of the song), "Dobrynya Golden Belt of Ryazan, and
seventy great and brave bogatyrs were slain in the
battle of Kalka, by the Tatars, through the wrath of
God at our sins."
This is the famous battle described in "Ilya Murometz
and Tzar Kalin," where Russian chivalry perished.
What relation the character of the Alyosha of epic
song bears to that of the actual historical personage, it
is impossible, with our meagre information, to decide.
It is probable, however, that his name of Popovich,
pope's (priest's) son, determined the characteristics of
the epic hero, rather than his personal traits.—Numerous
tales (skazkas)[3]
bear witness to the unpopularity
of priests and their relatives in Russia. His language
and deeds in some short poems justify Dobrynya's
description of him as a scorner of women in "Dobrynya
and Alyosha." He bears some resemblance to the
Loki of Northern mythology, the mischief-maker.
An incantation, "The Patrol of the Flocks," mentions
among evil spirits, wild beasts, and other noxious
popesses, monks, nuns," and so forth.
Tugarin, adapted from Tugar-Khan, is the spirit of
the storm, the fire-flashing cloud, one of the dragons
combated by Dobrynya as well as by Alyosha.
Dobrynya the Dragon-Slayer
Two historical Dobrynyas are united in the person
of this hero. The first, mentioned in the
Chronicles towards the end of the tenth century,
was uncle to Prince (Saint) Vladimir, and brother to
Malusha, the housekeeper (kliuchnitza) of the Princess
Olga, Vladimir's mother. In the bylinas he becomes
Vladimir's nephew and steward (kliuchnik).
The second, Dobrynya of Ryazan, surnamed
"Golden Belt," was a hero who perished in the battle
of Kalka in 1224.
Marina is to a certain degree an historical reminiscence
of the heretic, Polish wife of the False Dmitry,
Marina Mnishek. It is evident that her name must
have superseded the original one in the seventeenth
century. That name was in earlier times probably
"Marya the White Swan," as her character is identical
with those of the treacherous wives of Mikailo the
Rover, and Ivan Godinovich : in some versions of the
latter she is called Marya instead of Avdotya. Mora
or Morena, the goddess of serpents, death, sleep, and
cold, was no doubt the original heroine.
Marina Mnishek, like the Marina of the song, was
reputed a witch among the common people, and like
her the latter is sometimes designated as the "heretic."
This Slavic Circe typifies the dark and hurtful female
principle which is united to a bright and beneficent
male principle.
It often happens in mythology, that one deity is
divided into two or more distinct persons, in accordance
While Vladimir is the passive, inactive principle of the
Sun, and pursues his way tranquilly through the sky,
the active, warlike principle is embodied in Dobrynya.
Dobrynya wages incessant war with darkness, triumphing
over it every morning, and with winter, whose
fetters he strikes asunder every spring with the sword
of his rays. Like Krishna, Apollo, Hercules, Frey,
Siegfried, and Yegory the Brave, the St. George of the
religious ballads, he is a slayer of dragons; like Perseus
and Yegory, he rescues captive women.
He possesses traits in common with Ilya, also. For
the Sun-god and the Thunder-god are both descendants
of Svarog, the Heaven, the father of all gods. Hence
their brotherhood in arms was originally a mythical
bond. Dobrynya corresponds to Odin, Ilya to Thor,
in Northern mythology.
The marriage round the bush is undoubtedly the
ancient heathen rite against which early Russian
writers inveigh.
Dobrynya's long absence from Nastasya, the Russian
Penelope, has the same mythical signification as Mikailo
Rover's imprisonment in the stone, or Ilya's long confinement
to the oven—the night and winter repose
of the deities of light and warmth. Dobrynya's transformation
into an aurochs likewise represents the
obscuration of the beneficent summer deities in winter,
and his golden horns are an intimation of his bright
origin.
These Russian poems treating of the return of the
long-absent husband are more complete and perfect in
form, and, from an epic point of view, more original,
than either the oral traditions of Western Europe
which are chiefly in prose, or than the literary versions
which go back to the thirteenth century.
Ivan Godinovich
PULLING off the bridegroom's boots, in token of
wifely submission, was one of the ceremonies
which were regularly performed after a wedding.
Apparently, in the oldest versions of this song, Avdotya's
refusal to pull off Ivan's boot was the direct cause of
her death.
Ivan's experience with Avdotya the White Swan
is supposed to reflect that of Prince Vladimir with
Rognyeda, daughter of Rogvolod, Prince of the
Polotzki. "I will not marry the son of a slave," she
said, in answer to Vladimir's proposal of marriage,
and prepared to wed his half-brother Yaropolk.
Koschei represents Yaropolk. This was in allusion
to Vladimir's mother, who had been a servant of his
grandmother. Vladimir slew Rogvolod and Yaropolk,
and forced Rognyeda to wed him.
After several years, so runs the legend, Rognyeda
attempted to kill Vladimir in his sleep, by way of
avenging her father's death and her own wrongs.
Vladimir woke, and seized her hand as she held the
dagger over him. Then he ordered her to dress herself
in her wedding garments, and wait for him, intending
to kill her with his own hand. But she put a
sword into the hands of her little son, and bade him
greet his father with the words: "Father, thou thinkest
that thou art alone here!" Touched by the sight of
his son, Vladimir summoned his boyars, and begged
them to judge the matter. On their advice, he sent
Rognyeda and her son back to her native land. Her
warred against the descendants of Vladimir by other
wives.
Ivan's wooing, as well as Dunaï's wooing for Prince
Vladimir, furnishes a picture of that rough, forceful
manner of courtship which prevailed in the old patriarchal
days. The memory of it is preserved in a great
many wedding songs, which represent the bride as
purchased or stolen away by an entire stranger. There
is a striking likeness between the birds which surround
Avdotya and the two peacocks which hover over the
head of Hilda in Dietrich of Berne. This is a very
ancient trait, pointing to a supernatural being.
Churilo Plenkovich
CHURILO'S name does not appear in any of the
old Chronicles.
The epithet applied to old Penko, surozhanin,
indicates his business of silk-merchant or trader on
the Surog Sea—the Sea of Azof. Another explanation
professes to include Churilo's mythical significance, by
deriving the term from the same Sanskrit root as
Svarog, the Slavic Saturn.
The numerous attendants credited to Prince Vladimir
belong to the Moscow epoch, and present a strange
contrast to the plainness and simplicity of the court
of Kief. Churilo met his death at the hands of an
enraged husband, the Bermyag mentioned in the song.
Diuk Stepanovich
DIUK'S unflattering description of the lack of
elegance at Kief is confirmed by an ancient
account of one of Saint Vladimir's feasts. This
narrative of the year 996 says that there was a great
abundance of all sorts of food, flesh of domestic and
wild animals. But "when the guests had drunk freely,
they began to murmur against the Prince, and to
say: `Woe be upon our heads! for we are given
wooden spoons to eat with and not silver.' Vladimir
heard them, and commanded silver spoons to be brought,
for he loved his druzhina, and reflected that a good
body-guard might acquire silver and gold, but could
never be purchased by either."
Nevertheless, Burhard, the ambassador of the
Emperor Henry IV at the court of Svyatoslaf in
1075, was amazed at the quantity and magnificence
of the treasures he saw there.
In the same manuscript with the "Word of Igor's
Expedition," of the twelfth century, was found an
"Epistle from Tzar Ivan the Indian to Tzar Manuel
the Greek," which reads as follows: "If thou desirest
to know all my power, and all the wonders of my
Indian realm, sell thy kingdom of Greece and purchase
paper, and come to my Indian realm with thy learned
men, and I will permit thee to write down the marvels
of the Indian land; and thou shalt not be able to
make a writing of the wonders of my kingdom before
the departure of thy spirit."
Which of these two fictions, the epic poem and the
epistle, is derived from the other, it is impossible to
say.
Vasily the Drunkard and Tzar Batyg
THIS song resembles an episode narrated in the
Chronicles, which has been idealized and transferred
to the favourite epoch of Vladimir, and
the siege of Kief by Batyg in 1240.
In 1381, Toktamysh besieged Moscow. "Taken
unawares," says the Chronicle, "and deprived of all
power of defending themselves, nearly all the inhabitants
gave themselves over to drunkenness. A few,
however, fought the enemy from the city wall, among
them a certain cloth-dealer, Adam by name, who shot
an arrow from the Frolof gate, and slew one of the
horde, a son, and a person of distinction, causing
thereby great grief to Tzar Toktamysh, and to all his
princes."
Sweet Mikailo Ivanovich the Rover
IN some versions of this poem, Marya the White
Swan is the Dragon of the under-world, transforming
herself into that shape in the coffin, in
order to kill Mikailo. This malicious view is the one
adopted in many legends and tales; Mikailo cuts his
bride in bits, when he discovers her character, cleans
out the snakes and other reptiles concealed within
her body, sprinkles her with the living water, marries
her, and lives happily ever after.
In the myth, the White Swan signifies a cloud: the
living water is the rain. The dragon is, as usual, a
cloud, but larger and darker than the first. Mikailo's
roaring in the grave is the thunder, and the bursting
of the coffin denotes the bursting of the cloud.
Mikailo's candles are the lightning. His wife not
only denotes a single cloud, but the cloudiness common
in summer, which is capable of entering into beneficent
union with the thunder and lightning, but in winter
remains sterile in the heaven, and, dying with idleness,
conceals within itself, as though entombed, the Thunder-power,
its husband. For it appears that Mikailo's
mythical foundation is the same as that of Ilya of
Murom, and of Dunaï also, to a certain extent.
Mikailo's rods and pincers point him out as the
heavenly smith, the forger of the lightning, which is
represented by those weapons. A corresponding instance
of double burial in case of death, as a condition
of marriage, and of the visit of a serpent to the grave,
is found in a German tale (Grimm, Kinder- und Hausmärchen).
Mikailo sometimes appears as the leader
of the "One and Forty Pilgrims" instead of Kasyan.
Nightingale Budimirovich
ALL authorities are agreed as to the foreign element
in Nightingale Budimirovich. He was not a
hero of Kief. Some regard him as a Norman
pirate, others as one of the prehistoric Slavs who dwelt
on the shores of the Baltic. The "land of Ledenetz,"
or Vedenetz as it appears in some variants, has led to
the suggestion that he was a merchant from Venice,
or one of the Italian architects who came to Russia in
the twelfth century.
One variant represents Nightingale's mother as
opposed to the marriage until her son has proved
himself in a long voyage. During his absence, young
David Popof arrives, and, stating that he had seen
Nightingale imprisoned for smuggling in Ledenetz,
seeks Love's hand in marriage. Nightingale returns
in time to claim his bride at the wedding feast. The
incident, and the treacherous suitor's name, recall the
story of Alyosha and Nastasya.
Nightingale Budimirovich's mythical signification is
probably the reverse of that of Nightingale the Robber.
They represent the opposite sides of the same atmospheric
phenomenon; the Robber being the rude and
boisterous gales, while fair Love's wooer is the breeze,
gentle and seductive as a minstrel.
The description of his ships recalls the famous
dragon ships of the ancient Scandinavians. An
Eastern tale describes the ceiling of a rich man's
house as "covered with figures of all sorts of wild
beasts, sea-monsters, and fishes. When the wind blew,
they moved about, and were reflected in the floor."
This exaggerated description of bas-reliefs explains
so forth. Nightingale is not an historical character.
His palace suggests that of Aladdin.
Tzar Solomon and Tzaritza Solomonida
AMONG the traditions common to all Aryan races,
the quest of a bride in a marvellous ship, with
the aid of wondrous song or music, is one of the
most widely disseminated. This legend seems to have
reached the Russians through the medium of books,
as it is recorded in some of the Chronicles, though not
the most ancient. It received its present poetical form
from the people, and offers a very rare and noteworthy
example of a poem purely popular in style, though
derived from foreign and literary sources.
In one version, Tzar Vasily lives in Novgorod, and
Solomon in Tzargrad (Constantinople).
Vasily Buslaevich
THIS doughty hero, a representative of the nobility
and, as some think, of the ushkuiniki, the
noted river-pirates, was a contemporary of
Sadko. Only one mention is made of him in the
Chronicles: his death is recorded in 1171. As this
was considered worthy of record amid events of the
greatest moment, some idea may be formed of his
importance. He was, in fact, a posadnik,—lord mayor
or president of the popular assembly.
It has been suggested that the "black-visaged
maid" is identical with the Iris of Greek mythology.
The fact that she had an arched yoke, and that she
was in the service of Avdotya Vasilievna, forms the
foundation for the comparison with Iris's rainbow and
position as handmaid to Juno.
Merchant Sadko the Rich Guest of
Novgorod
THE hero of this poem, whose adventure with the
fish of Lake Ilmen is suggestive of the Arabian
Nights, and whose later experience with the
Tzar Morskoi recalls Jonah, or Arion in Greek mythology,
is not a purely imaginary being.
The Chronicles state that he founded a church in
Novgorod, though they differ as to the particular
edifice. He probably lived in the twelfth century, and
in the song preserves the type of the great traders of
that Venice of the North in the middle ages, Novgorod
the Great.
He must have been a prominent figure in his day,
for frequent reference is made to him in the Chronicles,
in connection with the church which he built, for
about two hundred years.
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