 | The epic songs of Russia |  |
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.
| The epic songs of Russia | |