Plot description
Ilya Muromets was traveling to Kyiv on his business. Driving past the city of Chernigov, the hero saw a huge enemy army. The enemies were located under the walls of the city, so the residents were very scared.
Ilya decided to give battle to the enemy. Together with their faithful horse, they destroyed the enemy army. The townspeople were very grateful to their savior, they even offered to become their governor. But the hero refused, he simply asked to show him the short way to Kyiv. However, people said that there is no shortcut now, it is all overgrown, since no one has been driving along it for a long time. They said that Nightingale the Robber Odikhmantiev's son had started up in those parts. He:
- screams like an animal;
- whistles like a nightingale;
- attacks travelers.
From his voice the trees bend and the grass is crushed. And if one of the people is nearby, he immediately falls dead.
Ilya decided to help people in trouble, to save them from such a misfortune. He took a shortcut to Kyiv and soon met Nightingale the Robber. He was sitting on a huge oak tree, and when he noticed the traveler, he whistled as loud as he could. Even the heroic horse began to stumble from such a whistle.
However, the hero was not taken aback , fired from a bow and hit the Nightingale right in the eye . The wounded enemy fell from the tree. Ilya captured him and tied him to the right stirrup. And I went on the road to Kyiv.
His path lay past the nightingale's lair. Three daughters were waiting there for their father. When they saw what had happened to their father, they ordered their husbands to go to his rescue. But Nightingale the Robber realized that the hero could not be overcome by force, so he ordered his sons-in-law to bribe the good fellow and offer him various treats. Only Ilya did not succumb to their persuasion, but moved on.
In Kyiv he came to Prince Vladimir. He told me how he got here. But the ruler at first did not believe Ilya and decided that he was deceiving him. After all, according to reports, the enemy is standing near Chernigov, and on the short road to Kyiv Nightingale the Robber is fierce. Then the hero presented evidence and showed the captive Nightingale to the prince. But even this seemed not enough to Vladimir; he ordered the prisoner to whistle like a nightingale.
But the robber replied that he did not obey the prince. Since Ilya captured him, let him give orders. He also said that his throat was dry, so he couldn’t whistle. Ilya ordered Nightingale to bring a bucket of wine and ordered him to whistle.
The prisoner drank the wine and whistled. It was so loud that everyone who was nearby fell dead. Even the prince miraculously escaped by wrapping himself in a fur coat. Seeing such a thing, the hero became angry with the prisoner, took him out to the field and cut off his head.
Heroes of epics. Russian bogatyrs
The main characters of epics are heroes. They embody the ideal of a courageous person devoted to his homeland and people. The hero fights alone against hordes of enemy forces. Among the epics, a group of the most ancient stands out. These are the so-called epics about “elder” heroes, associated with mythology. The heroes of these works are the personification of unknown forces of nature associated with mythology. Such are Svyatogor and Volkhv Vseslavevich, Danube and Mikhailo Potyk.
In the second period of its history, the ancient heroes were replaced by heroes of modern times - Ilya Muromets , Dobrynya Nikitich and Alyosha Popovich . These are the heroes of the so-called Kyiv cycle of epics. Cyclization refers to the unification of epic images and plots around individual characters and places of action. This is how the Kiev cycle of epics, associated with the city of Kiev, developed.
Most epics depict the world of Kievan Rus. The heroes go to Kyiv to serve Prince Vladimir, and they protect him from enemy hordes. The content of these epics is predominantly heroic and military in nature.
Another major center of the ancient Russian state was Novgorod. Epics of the Novgorod cycle - everyday, novelistic4. The heroes of these epics were merchants, princes, peasants, guslars (Sadko, Volga, Mikula, Vasily Buslaev, Blud Khotenovich).
The world depicted in epics is the entire Russian land. So, Ilya Muromets from the Bogatyrskaya outpost sees high mountains, green meadows, dark forests. The epic world is “bright” and “sunny”, but it is threatened by enemy forces: dark clouds, fog, thunderstorms are approaching, the sun and stars are dimming from countless enemy hordes. This is a world of opposition between good and evil, light and dark forces. In it, heroes fight against the manifestation of evil and violence. Without this struggle, the epic peace is impossible.
Each hero has a certain, dominant character trait. Ilya Muromets personifies strength; he is the most powerful Russian hero after Svyatogor. Dobrynya is also a strong and brave warrior, a snake fighter, but also a hero-diplomat. Prince Vladimir sends him on special diplomatic missions. Alyosha Popovich personifies ingenuity and cunning. “He won’t take it by force, but by cunning,” they say about him in epics. Monumental images of heroes and grandiose achievements are the fruit of artistic generalization, the embodiment in one person of the abilities and strength of a people or social group, an exaggeration of what actually exists, i.e. hyperbolization5 and idealization6. The poetic language of epics is solemnly melodious and rhythmically organized. His special artistic means - similes, metaphors, epithets - reproduce pictures and images that are epically sublime, grandiose, and when depicting enemies - terrible, ugly.7
In different epics, motifs and images, plot elements, identical scenes, lines and groups of lines are repeated. Thus, through all the epics of the Kyiv cycle there are images of Prince Vladimir, the city of Kyiv, and heroes. Bylinas, like other works of folk art, do not have a fixed text. Passed from mouth to mouth, they changed and varied. Each epic had an infinite number of variants.
In epics, fabulous miracles are performed: the reincarnation of characters, the revival of the dead, werewolves. They contain mythological images of enemies and fantastic elements, but the fantasy is different from that of a fairy tale. It is based on folk historical ideas. The famous folklorist of the 19th century A.F. Hilferding wrote:
“When a person doubts that a hero can carry a forty-pound club or kill an entire army on the spot, the epic poetry in him is killed. And many signs convinced me that the northern Russian peasant singing epics, and the vast majority of those who listen to him, certainly believe in the truth of the miracles that are depicted in the epic. The epic preserved historical memory. Miracles were perceived as history in the life of the people.”8
There are many historically reliable signs in the epics: descriptions of details, ancient weapons of warriors (sword, shield, spear, helmet, chain mail). They glorify Kyiv-grad, Chernigov, Murom, Galich. Other ancient Russian cities are named. Events also unfold in Ancient Novgorod. They indicate the names of some historical figures: Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavich, Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh. These princes were united in the popular imagination into one collective image of Prince Vladimir - “Red Sun”.
There is a lot of fantasy and fiction in epics. But fiction is poetic truth. The epics reflected the historical conditions of life of the Slavic people: the aggressive campaigns of the Pechenegs and Polovtsians in Rus', the destruction of villages full of women and children, the plunder of wealth. Later, in the 13th–14th centuries, Rus' was under the yoke of the Mongol-Tatars, which is also reflected in epics. During the years of people's trials, they instilled love for their native land. It is no coincidence that the epic is a heroic folk song about the feat of the defenders of the Russian land.
However, epics depict not only the heroic deeds of heroes, enemy invasions, battles, but also everyday human life in its social and everyday manifestations and historical conditions. This is reflected in the cycle of Novgorod epics. In them, the heroes are noticeably different from the epic heroes of the Russian epic. The epics about Sadko and Vasily Buslaev include not just new original themes and plots, but also new epic images, new types of heroes who do not know other epic cycles. Novgorod heroes, unlike the heroes of the heroic cycle, do not perform feats of arms. This is explained by the fact that Novgorod escaped the Horde invasion; Batu’s hordes did not reach the city. However, the Novgorodians could not only rebel (V. Buslaev) and play the gusli (Sadko), but also fight and win brilliant victories over the conquerors from the West.
Vasily Buslaev appears as the Novgorod hero . Two epics are dedicated to him. One of them talks about the political struggle in Novgorod, in which he takes part. Vaska Buslaev rebels against the townspeople, comes to feasts and starts quarrels with “rich merchants”, “men (men) of Novgorod”, enters into a duel with the “elder” Pilgrim - a representative of the church. With his squad, he “fights and fights day until evening.” The townspeople “submitted and made peace” and pledged to pay “three thousand every year.” Thus, the epic depicts a clash between the rich Novgorod settlement, eminent men and those townspeople who defended the independence of the city.
The hero's rebellion is manifested even in his death. In the epic “How Vaska Buslaev Went to Pray,” he violates prohibitions even at the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem, swimming naked in the Jordan River. There he dies, remaining a sinner. V.G. Belinsky wrote that “Vasily’s death comes directly from his character, daring and violent, which seems to be asking for trouble and death.”9
One of the most poetic and fabulous epics of the Novgorod cycle is the epic “Sadko”. V.G. Belinsky defined the epic “as one of the pearls of Russian folk poetry, a poetic apotheosis10 of Novgorod.”11 Sadko is a poor guslar who became rich thanks to skillful playing of the gusli and the patronage of the Sea King. As a hero, he expresses infinite strength and endless prowess. Sadko loves his land, his city, his family. Therefore, he refuses the countless riches offered to him and returns home.
So, epics are poetic, artistic works. They contain a lot of unexpected, surprising, incredible things. However, they are fundamentally truthful, conveying the people's understanding of history, the people's idea of duty, honor, and justice. At the same time, they are skillfully constructed, their language is unique.
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