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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The Younger Heroes superseded the Elder when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.
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