Bylina svyatogor hero entry. Svyatogor: a hero of enormous stature and incredible strength. Legends about Svyatogor
The Holy Mountains are high in Russia, their gorges are deep, the abysses are terrible. Neither birch, nor oak, nor pine, nor green grass grows there. There, the wolf will not run, the eagle will not fly - the ant and that have nothing to profit from on the bare rocks. Only the hero Svyatogor rides between the cliffs on his mighty horse. The horse jumps over the abyss, jumps over the gorges, crosses from mountain to mountain.
The old one travels through the Holy Mountains.
Here mother-cheese earth oscillates,
Here the dark forests stagger,
Rapid rivers pour out.
The hero Svyatogor is taller than a dark forest, props up the clouds with his head, rides through the mountains - the mountains stagger under him, he will drive into the river - all the water from the river will splash. He rides for a day, another, third, stops, pitches a tent - lies down, sleeps, and again his horse wanders through the mountains.
It is boring for Svyatogor the hero, it is dreary for the old one: in the mountains there is no one to say a word to, no one to measure strength with.
He would go to Russia, take a walk with other heroes, fight with enemies, shake his strength, but the trouble is: the earth does not hold him, only the stone cliffs of Svyatogorsk under his weight do not collapse, do not fall, only their ridges do not crack under his hooves heroic horse.
It is hard for Svyatogor from his strength, he wears it like a heavy burden, he would be glad to give half of his strength, but there is no one. I would be glad to do the hardest work, but there is no work on the shoulder. Whatever he takes with his hand, everything will crumble into crumbs, flatten into a pancake.
He would begin to uproot the forests, but for him the forests are like meadow grass. He would move mountains - but no one needs it ...
So Svyatogor rides alone through the Holy Mountains So he rides alone through the Holy Mountains, his head is oppressed from longing below ...
Eh, if I could find earthly traction, I would drive a ring into the sky, tie an iron chain to the ring, pull the sky to the earth, turn the earth upside down, mix the sky with the earth - I would spend a little power! But where is it - cravings - to find!
Svyatogor once rides along the valley between the cliffs, and suddenly - a living person is walking ahead!
An unprepossessing little man is walking, stomping on his bast shoes, carrying a saddle bag on his shoulder.
Svyatogor was delighted: he would have someone to say a word to, - he began to catch up with the peasant.
He goes to himself, in no hurry, but Svyatogorov's horse gallops with all his might, but he cannot catch up with the peasant. A peasant is walking, not in a hurry, throwing his bag from shoulder to shoulder. Svyatogor is galloping at full speed - all the passerby is ahead! Goes step - do not catch up! Svyatogor shouted to him:
Hey passer-by, wait for me! The man stopped and put his bag on the ground.
Svyatogor jumped up, greeted him and asked:
What kind of burden do you have in that purse?
And you take my purse, throw it over your shoulder and run with it across the field.
Svyatogor laughed so that the mountains shook; I wanted to pry my purse with a whip, but the purse did not move, I began to push with a spear - it would not move, I tried to raise it with my finger - it did not rise ...
Svyatogor got down from his horse, took his handbag with his right hand - he didn’t move it by a hair. The hero grabbed the purse with both hands, jerked with all his might - only raised it to his knees. Look - and he himself went knee-deep into the ground, not sweat, but blood flows down his face, his heart sank ...
Svyatogor threw his handbag, fell to the ground - a rumble went through the mountains and valleys.
The hero barely caught his breath:
Can you tell me what's in your bag? Tell me, teach me, I have never heard of such a miracle. My strength is exorbitant, but I can’t lift such a grain of sand!
Why not say - I will say: in my little purse all the earth's thrust lies.
Svyatogor lowered his head:
That's what the traction of the earth means. What is your name, stranger?
My name is Mikula Selyaninovich.
I see - you are not an ordinary person; maybe you can tell me about my fate; it’s hard for me to jump over the mountains alone, I can’t live like this anymore in the world.
Ride, hero, to the Northern mountains. There is an iron forge near those mountains. In that forge, the blacksmith forges the fate of everyone, and you will learn about your own fate from him.
Mikula Selyaninovich threw his purse over his shoulder and walked away.
And Svyatogor jumped on his horse and galloped to the Northern Mountains.
Svyatogor rode and rode for three days, three nights, did not go to bed for three days - he reached the Northern Mountains. Here the cliffs are still naked, the abysses are even blacker, the deep rivers are more turbulent...
Under the very cloud, on a bare rock, Svyato Gora saw an iron forge. A bright fire burns in the forge, black smoke pours out of the forge, ringing and knocking all over the district goes.
Svyatogor went into the forge and saw: a gray-haired old man was standing at the anvil, blowing furs with one hand, hitting the anvil with a hammer with the other, but nothing was visible on the anvil ...
Blacksmith, blacksmith, what are you forging, father?
Come closer, bend down! Svyatogor bent down, looked and was surprised: the blacksmith forges two thin hairs.
What do you have, blacksmith?
Here are two hairs, hairs with hairs of an owl - two people and they are getting married.
And who does fate tell me to marry?
Your bride lives on the edge of the mountains in a dilapidated hut.
Svyatogor went to the edge of the mountains, found a dilapidated hut. The hero entered it, put a bag of gold on the table. Svyatogor looked around and saw: a girl was lying motionless on a bench, all covered with bark and scabs, her eyes did not open.
It became a pity for her Svyatogor. What is it that lies and suffers? And death does not come, and there is no life.
Svyatogor drew his sharp sword, turned away and struck the girl in the chest with his sword. She didn't move, she didn't groan...
Svyatogor jumped out of the hut, mounted a horse and rode to the Holy Mountains.
Meanwhile, the girl opened her eyes and sees: a heroic sword lies on the floor, a bag of gold is on the table, and all the bark has fallen off her, and her body is clean, and her strength has arrived.
She got up, walked along the mountain, went beyond the threshold, bent over the lake and gasped: a beautiful girl was looking at her from the lake - and stately, and white, and ruddy, and clear eyes, and fair-haired braids!
She took the gold that lay on the table, built ships, loaded them with goods and set off on the blue sea to trade, to seek happiness.
Wherever you come, all the people run to buy goods, to admire the beauty. Her fame spreads throughout Russia.
So she reached the Holy Mountains, the rumor about her reached Svyatogor. He also wanted to look at the beauty.
He looked at her, and the girl fell in love with him.
This is the bride for me, for this I will woo!
Svyatogor also fell in love with the girl.
They got married, and Svyatogor's wife began to tell about her former life, how she lay covered with bark for thirty years, how she was cured, how she found money on the table.
Svyatogor was surprised, but did not say anything to his wife.
The girl quit trading, sailing the seas, and began to live with Svyatogor on the Holy Mountains.
Svyatogor is a giant hero in East Slavic mythology. It belongs to the most ancient heroes of the Russian epic epic, which is outside the Kiev and Novgorod cycles and only partly in contact with the first in the epics about the meeting of Svyatogor with Ilya Muromets.
general description
We must also rank Svyatogor among the most ancient heroes of the Russian epic. Unlike Volkh, whose image is forgotten and about which there are no more than 4–5 complete records of songs about his campaign, the name of Svyatogor is extremely popular in the epic, although his image has also noticeably faded. At least seven different stories are associated with his name. Some of them are native to him, some are dedicated to him, probably relatively late.
Plots
The stories that are undoubtedly original for Svyatogor and belong to the realm of the epic include two: this is, firstly, the story of how Svyatogor runs into a saddle bag that he cannot lift, and, secondly, the story about how he lies down in the coffin, which slams shut behind him. All other plots about Svyatogor are connected with his name and image only externally, they are also known in a different time, they have a prosaic and fragmentary, fragmentary form and in most cases are not performed as independent, complete works of art, but as short narrated episodes in summary stories. Partly they are of a biblical-legendary nature (Svyatogor approaches the biblical Samson), partly of a fabulous or even farcical character.*
Both main epics, originally associated with the image of Svyatogor, tell about his death. In one case, he is tearing himself up, trying to pick up an unusual bag that cannot be lifted from the ground, in the second, he is trying in vain to open the lid of the coffin in which he lay down alive. The lid slams behind him forever, and it turns out to be impossible to save him.
Doom
That both the best and most ancient songs about Svyatogor tell about his death is by no means accidental. For more than a hundred plots known to the classical Russian epic, plots about the death of heroes are numbered in units. So, Danube and Sukhman commit suicide. Both of these epics are deeply tragic in their content. Vasily Buslaevich dies tragically. The rest of the characters, in songs about them, never die or perish. On the contrary: receiving power, Ilya, for example, simultaneously receives a prophecy that death in battle is not written for him. The Russian hero does not die, and songs are not sung about this. The bylina about how the knights were transferred to Russia, according to our data, does not belong to the epic, but to spiritual verses, which will be discussed below.
If in stories about one hero twice, and moreover in different ways, they speak of his death, this means that death is connected with the very essence, with the nature of this hero, that the doomed hero is depicted in the person of Svyatogor. Unlike the death of other heroes, there is nothing tragic in his death. His death is, as it were, natural and the listener does not regret him.
The appearance of Svyatogor is the same in both songs about him and can be considered before studying the thread of the story.
The name of Svyatogor indicates his connection with the mountains. Attempts to link this name with Pushkin's places - with the Holy Mountain near Opochka or with the Holy Mountains on the Donets, made in science, are not convincing. Svyatogor is not associated with the soft Central Russian uplands, it is associated with rocky mountains and gorges. He goes "but steep mountains and holy places" (Grig. III, 50). He is "Gorynych" (Par. and Soym. 40). K. Aksakov in his childhood heard a story about how Ilya Muromets finds a mountain, "and on it lies a huge hero, he himself is like a mountain." On this mountain he sleeps (Cir. I, pp. XXX-XXXI). Ilya sometimes sees him asleep on his horse on the ledge of a high mountain. Holy mountains are opposed to Holy Russia. As Holy Russia is the lot of heroes, so the Holy Mountains are a place assigned to Svyatogor, from where, as a rule, he never goes to Russia. The singers explain this by the fact that it is so big and heavy that the earth does not carry it, does not hold it.
Slavic epics about Svyatogor
Bylina: Svyatogor and earthly traction
Svyatogor dressed up in a clean field for a walk,
saddles his good horse
And rides across the open field.
There is no one with whom Svyatogor can measure strength,
And the strength is in the veins
So lively and overflows.
It is heavy from Silushka, as from a heavy pregnancy.
Here is what Svyatogor says:
“How would I find traction,
So I would lift the whole earth.
Svyatogor runs into the steppe
On a small handbag;
Takes a tug, feels the handbag - it will not hide,
If he moves her finger, he will not be swept away,
Enough with the horse's hand - it will not rise.
“For many years I traveled around the world,
And I didn’t run into such a miracle,
I have never seen such a diva:
Small handbag
It won’t hide, it won’t turn, it won’t rise.”
Svyatogor gets down from the goodness of the horse,
He grabbed the purse of both hands,
Raised the purse above the knees -
And knee-deep Svyatogor sank into the ground,
And on the white face, not tears, but blood flows.
Where Svyatogor got stuck, he couldn’t get up here,
Here he had an end.
Bylina: Svyatogor and the coffin
How Ilya rode out on a good horse,
As I thought about it myself:
“What kind of hero-bearer am I?
In battle, death is not written for me,
As in battle, yes it is not said.
I will go to the saints and the mountains,
After all, I'll tell about the heroes,
Am I talking about Yegor-Svyatogor, after all, -
There is a mother hero and great,
There is he, yes there was a mountain,
After all, I didn’t try his silushki. ”
Ilyushenka Muromets drove by
Are you here high mountains,
Under the gorges were so dense.
How the monster rides, it's a miracle,
He is still sitting on a good horse,
He did not see such a miracle,
He had never heard of such a miracle.
How he rode on a good horse,
He struck with his mace heroic
I'll blow his head right there.
But somehow the monster is coming,
He sits on a horse and takes a nap,
After all, a miracle will not look back,
Forward, after all, he sways.
Ilya was here Muromets,
He thought to himself:
“As I used to go and run into,
As soon as I poimal heads,
From the good, I shoved the horses.
Now I have the strength not in the old way,
Moguta has become but not the same. ”
And he struck with a club and into a damp oak -
The oak shattered, but it's damp.
Another time I ran into a monster,
After all, he beat his exuberant head -
As he sits on a horse and takes a nap,
Forward, a miracle, after all, let it not look back,
And on a good horse it will not stagger
From that heroic blow.
How Ilya came here for the third time,
Hit him here tightly, tightly,
Hit him hard, hard.
The monster turned back
Grabbed Ilya by the yellow curls,
He lowered it into his deep pocket,
He took it ahead and went after all.
There was a horse at that Svyatogor,
The legs began to bend,
After all, he began to stumble over everything.
But Yegor said nothing about it:
“And what are you, a heroic horse,
The legs began to bend,
To stumble over a casual place?
And the horse proclaimed to him:
"And it's hard to carry two heroes, -
The legs began to bend,
To stumble over a kazhino place,
How are two heroes going here
And on me, on a good horse.
How did he put his hand in his pocket, after all,
As he took Ilyushenka out of his pocket,
I began to ask him, yes, after all:
“What are you, a daring good fellow?
You dare to run into me now,
Hit me three times."
And Ilya says these words:
"Yes, I need to get to know you,
Yes, try your power.
How wide was the fame about you
Through all the lands, even through all the hordes,
How very strong you were,
That's why I hit now
On you, on a good fellow. —
“Thank you, Ilyushenka Muromets,
How did you run over, hit me, after all
Three times here, three great ones, -
As if three times as a mosquito bit, -
And thank you for this,
You did get to know me.
If you were my little brother,
I will still be a big brother.
If I hit you,
How from you one but the dust has become,
Your bones would shatter."
We went along the selgas, along the rafts
Tell, show residence.
They came to one place
There lies a coffin, but a stone one,
After all, the coffin is lying, yes, it is arranged.
“Oh, you, Ilyusha, lie down in the coffin.”
Ilya fell into this coffin, -
As the coffin of Elijah does not stick,
Very wide, very long.
“But no, so nun the coffin is not arranged,
Now I can't eat this one."
Svyatogor says these words:
“Come out, Ilya, hurry up,
And do not aphid you, because the coffin is arranged,
And think, I think it will do now.
Ilya came out of the coffin, he will say:
“It’s not okay for you to lie down in this coffin, -
After all, you won’t get out of the coffin nun, after all. ”
Yes, as soon as Svyatogor lay down, after all,
Yes, there is a coffin for him.
“Cover, you still, yes, the lid is something, -
The lid is right next to it, after all. ”
How did Ilya put the lid, after all
Whether on that on Svyatogor on it or him.
“How can you take off the lid, after all.”
Ilya set to work on the lid, after all, -
How the lid seems to have grown here
He couldn’t, he couldn’t, but he couldn’t take the covers,
He can't take the lids anyway.
Like that and Ilyusha Muromets
Mace of his heroic
Cracks this cover after all.
“How, how can I come forward from the grave?”
Ilya hit here, but with a club -
A hoop and green jumped here;
He hit, yes, since the hoop is green -
Another hoop became here;
He hit the green hoop for the third time -
The third time, yes, the hoop became green.
And now, after all, Yegor and glory are sung,
How the hoops became on the coffin.
"Take the sword of the strong,
Seki after all, seki and these yes hoops,
Let me get out of the grave!”
Duck here takes him, but the sword, -
Yes, he cannot lift his sword.
“But no, you, hero, Svyatogor, after all,
I cannot put your sword from the ground,
I can’t lift it from the ground now.”
“Ilya, get in, get down, tko
To the coffin after all, but to the crack,
I will breathe, yes I will add
Silushki in you yes twice now,
How will you wield my sword.”
After all, he crouched, Ilyusha, to a crack,
He sighed, got up and with his sword,
How he poked with a sword, after all -
Green hoops ran up along,
Another time he poked - green hoops.
Here they sing glory to Svyatogor.
“How to fall, Ilyusha, to the crack,
I will sigh - all my strength will be with you. —
“I don’t need your more power.” —
“What if you fell down, but another time,
I would sigh with a sigh and the dead,
Would you fall asleep at the coffin, after all,
How would your life end here?
How are you, Ilyushenka Muromets,
How to tie to the oak to mine, after all,
To my great coffin,
How to tie a good horse, after all,
Tie him tight, tight
So that a good horse dies here, too, -
No one can own a good horse,
A good horse is still a heroic one.
How Ilya tied on a silk occasion
After all, his horse is still good -
Here Svyatogor, here is a good horse.
Here they sing glory to Svyatogor,
Glory is sung forever and ever,
And glory does not pass him by.
Bylina: Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets
In the glorious city in Muroml,
In the village there was Karacharovo,
Sidnam sat Ilya Muromets, a peasant son,
Sydnam sat for thirty years.
The sovereign left his father with his parent
With mother to work for a peasant.
How did two kalikki crosswalks come
It's slanted under that little window,
Kaliki say these words:
“Hey you, Ilya Muromets, peasant son!
Open the wide gates to the Kaliks,
Let the kalik into your house.”
The answer is held by Ilya Muromets:
“Oh, you, kaliks of the crossing!
I can't open the wide gates
I've been in Sydney for thirty years.
I don’t have hands or feet.”
Again the gates of the passage say;
“Get up, Ilya, on frisky feet,
Open the wide gate
Let the kalik into your house.
Ilya stood out on frisky legs,
Opened wide gates
And let the kalik into his house.
Crossing stones came,
They lay the cross according to the written
The bow is led in a learned way,
Pour a glass of honey drink,
They bring something to Ilya Muromets.
How the drinker of the bear drank some chara,
Bogatyrsky his heart flared up,
His white body was sweaty.
The Kaliki will say these words:
“What do you feel in yourself, Ilya?”
Ilya beat with his forehead, Kalik congratulated:
"I hear a great power in myself."
Kaliki of the crossing say:
“Will you, Ilya, the great hero,
And death is not written for you in battle:
Fight, fight with every hero
And with all the daring daring;
And don’t go out to fight with Svyatogor the Bogatyr for so long:
He and the earth on itself through force wears;
Do not go to fight with Samson the hero:
He has seven angel hair on his head;
Do not fight with the Mikulov family:
He is loved by mother cheese-earth;
Do not go again to Volga Seslavich:
He will not take by force, so by cunning-wisdom.
Get, Ilya, a heroic horse for yourself,
Go out into the expanse of a clear field,
Buy the first stallion
Put him in a log house for three months,
Feed him beloyarov millet,
And three months will pass,
You have three nights of colt in the garden respect
And roll out the stallion at three dews,
Bring him to the tynu to the high:
How will the stallion jump over the tyn,
And on that side, and on the other side,
Ride it wherever you want
Will carry you."
Here the calicos are lost.
Ilya went to the father to the father
To that work for the peasant,
It is necessary to clear the fell from the dubya-well:
He dube-well cut everything down,
I unloaded into a deep river,
And he went home.
Father and mother woke up from a deep sleep
They were frightened: “What kind of miracle happened?
Who would give us a job?”
The work was done, and they went home.
When they came home, they see:
Ilya Muromets walks around the hut.
They began to ask him how he recovered.
Elijah told them
How did the crosswalks come,
They gave him a drink of honey to drink:
And from that he began to own hands and feet,
And I got a great power.
Ilya went to the expanse of a clear field,
He sees: a man leads a foal foolishly,
Brown colt shaggy.
Ilya bought that stallion,
What the peasant asked for, he gave;
He put a stallion in a log house for three months,
He fed him beloyarov millet,
Drink fresh spring water;
And three months have passed,
Ilya began to care for the stallion for three nights in the garden;
Roll it out in three dews,
Led to the tynu to the high,
And the burushka began to jump over the tyn,
And on that side, and on the other side.
Here Ilya Muromets saddled the good horse, bridle,
I took from the father, from the mother forgiveness-blessing
Ilya ran into a white-lined tent in an open field,
There is a tent under the great damp oak,
And in that tent there is a considerable heroic bed:
Valley bed ten fathoms,
The bed is six fathoms wide.
Ilya tied a good horse to oak cheese,
He lay down on that heroic bed and fell asleep.
And the heroic dream is strong:
For three days and three nights.
On the third day I heard his good horse
Great noise from under the seaside side:
The mother of cheese-earth sways,
Dark forests stagger,
Rivers overflow from steep banks.
The good horse beats with its hoof on the damp ground,
Cannot wake up Ilya Muromets.
The horse spoke in human language:
“Ay you, Ilya Muromets!
Sleep to yourself, lay down,
You don’t know the unkindness over yourself:
The hero Svyatogor is going to the tent.
You let me down into the open field,
And climb on the stern oak yourself.
Ilya stood out on frisky legs,
He let the horse down into the open field,
And he stood out in a damp oak.
He sees: the hero rides above the standing forest,
Head rests under a walking cloud,
A crystal casket is carried on the shoulders.
The hero came to oak cheese,
He took off the crystal casket from his shoulders,
He unlocked the chest with a golden key:
It turns out that a heroic wife comes out.
Such a beauty in the world
not seen or heard:
She is tall, her gait is brisk.
The eyes of a clear falcon, the eyebrows of a black sable,
From the dress the body is white.
How did you get out of that box?
Gathered on the table, laid the tablecloths of abuse,
She put sugar biscuits on the table,
She took out a honey drink from the casket.
Svyatogor-bogatyr dined
And he went with his wife to the tent to lay,
To engage in different fun.
Here the hero fell asleep.
And his beautiful wife is heroic
I went for a walk in the open field
And she looked out for Ilya in the damp oak.
She says these words:
“Oh, you, burly good fellow!
Get off the oak cheese
Come down, make love to me
You won't listen
I will wake up Svyatogor the hero and tell him,
That you forcibly led me into sin.
Nothing to do Ilya:
You can’t talk to a woman, but you can’t cope with Svyatogor;
He tears from that oak cheese
And he did what he was ordered to do.
The beauty, the heroic wife took him,
Planted to her husband in a deep pocket
And woke her husband from a sound sleep.
Svyatogor the hero woke up,
He put his wife in a crystal casket,
Locked up with a golden key
He sat on a good horse and rode to the Holy Mountains.
His good horse began to stumble,
And the hero beat him with a silk whip
On fat thighs
And the horse will speak in human language:
“Beforehand, I drove a hero and a hero’s wife,
And I'm taking a heroic wife and two heroes:
Divya, I'm stumped!"
And pulled out Svyatogor-bogatyr Ilya Muromets
From his pocket, and began to question him,
Who is he and how did he get into a deep pocket.
Ilya told him everything in truth, in truth.
Then Svyatogor killed his heroic wife,
And Ilya exchanged a cross
And he called me little brother.
Svyatogor Ilya taught all the grips,
trips of the heroic,
And they went to the Northern mountains,
And they drove along the way to the great coffin,
On that coffin the signature is signed:
"Whoever is destined to lie in a coffin, he will lie in it."
Ilya Muromets lay down:
For him, the house is both large and wide.
Svyatogor the hero lay down:
The coffin hit him.
The hero says these words:
“The coffin is definitely made about me.
Take the lid, Ilya, close me.
Ilya Muromets answers:
"I won't take the lid, big brother,
And I won't close you
You joke a lot
I was going to bury myself."
The hero took the lid and closed the coffin with it himself;
Yes, how I wanted to raise you,
It can't;
He struggled and struggled to raise and spoke
Ilya Muromets:
“Ay little brother!
Apparently, fate was looking for me,
Can't lift lids
Try to lift it up."
I tried Ilya Muromets
Raise the lid, but where is he!
Svyatogor the hero says:
"Take my treasure sword and strike across the lid."
Ilya Muromets is beyond the power to raise Svyatogorov
treasurer sword.
Svyatogor the hero calls him:
“Bend over to the coffin, to a small crack,
I will breathe on you with the spirit of a hero."
How Ilya leaned
And the hero Svyatogor breathed on him
With your heroic spirit:
Ilya felt that the forces in him
Three times more than before,
He raised his sword-treasurer and struck across the lid.
From that great blow
Sparks rained down
And where the sword-treasurer struck,
An iron strip grew in that place.
Svyatogor the hero calls him:
"It's stuffy for me, little brother,
Try again to strike with the sword along the lid.
Ilya Muromets hit along the lid,
And then the iron strip grew.
Svyatogor the hero will speak again:
“I am suffocating, little brother:
Bend over to the crack, I'll breathe on you again
And I will give you a great power."
Ilya Muromets answers:
“I will have strength, big brother;
Otherwise, the earth will not carry on itself. ”
Svyatogor the hero said here:
"Well done, little brother,
That did not listen to my last command:
I would breathe a dead spirit on you
And you would lay dead beside me.
Now goodbye, wield my treasure sword
And the goodness of my heroic horse
Tie me to my coffin.
No one but me can handle this horse.”
Then a dead spirit came out of the crack,
Ilya said goodbye to Svyatogor,
Tied his good horse to that coffin,
Svyatogorov girded the sword-treasurer
And I went to the expanse of a clean field.
Bylina: the burial of Svyatogor
They drove here, Svyatogor and Ilya, where, God knows. They go, they go, they look - they ran into the coffin. There is a big coffin, it does not fit anyone. Empty stands. Svyatogor says to Ilya:
- Well, try, lie down, isn't it chopped on you?
Ilya obeyed, lay down - exactly a small child in a coffin. The coffin was not built according to him. And Svyatogor lay down - just right for him.
Well, I tried, I want to get up. But he couldn’t get out of the coffin: the lid was slammed shut. He says to Ilya:
- Ruby, says brother, with all his might.
Ilya raised his club, began to beat on the coffin: Once he hits, the iron hoop will jump. Another time he hits - another hoop will jump. Svyatogor says:
— No, you see, I can't get out of here. And why climb!
Bylina, about how Svyatogor met Mikula Selyaninovich and could not lift his bag.
Once Svyatogor was driving along a forest road and thinking about his heroic strength: “I wish I could turn the whole earth over again, put everything back in its place. Only there is nothing to take on, there is no traction near the earth. And if there was a pillar up to the sky, and there was a ring on it, then I would take that ring, pull it, and the whole earth would turn over, stand in its ancient place, and again peace and order would come upon it.
Svyatogor began for roadside stones, and for centuries-old oaks to pull the earth. He scatters stones, uproots oak trees, but the earth does not move.
Suddenly noticed Svyatogor - ahead of the traveler goes. He decided to catch up with him, let the horse go at a quiet trot, but he is still visible in the distance. Svyatogor has already let his horse into a large trot, and know the traveler calmly walks ahead, and the hero will not overtake him in any way. A strange passer-by disappeared around a bend in the road. Svyatogor drove the horse at a gallop, forcibly caught up with the traveler. And he was not out of breath, he still steps with a measured step.
Svyatogor was surprised. He sees that the traveler is dressed in a peasant way - a shirt and bast shoes, and a travel cloak is thrown over his shoulders, and a canvas bag is thrown over his shoulder. Svyatogor says:
- Be healthy, kind person. What's in your purse?
- Come and you, hero, - the passer-by answers. He puts his bag on the ground next to the road and says to Svyatogor:
“Get up off the ground and you’ll see.”
Svyatogor got down from his horse, tried the handbag with his hand - he didn’t move. He took it with both hands, pulled it - like a handbag lies like a glove, it won’t even rise by the edge. Svyatogor rallied with strength, rested his heroic back, his shoulders sazhen, grabbed his handbag - only he himself fell into the ground knee-deep, and the handbag lay as it was, and lies to itself.
The hero rose from the ground, says:
- What is the abyss there in your bag?
The traveler answers him:
- I have earthly traction there.
Then Svyatogor realized that his heavenly power had disappeared, and the earth could not hold him on itself. Then he asked the traveler:
“Tell me, good man, what is your name?”
- My name is Mikula, I am from the villagers, from the tillers, - the traveler answers.
“You carry earthly traction, Mikulushka Selyaninovich, but I don’t even have the strength to carry human burdens. How can I know my destiny?
- Ride you, hero, along the road to the Kalinov Bridge, - Mikula answers him, - and from the bridge turn right and gallop at full speed. You will come to the Siversky mountains. In the Siversky mountains you will find the largest oak tree and under that oak tree you will see a forge. The blacksmith will tell you your fate.
Analysis of legends
The study of these three legends led researchers to the following conclusions:
- The motive of raising the sum is common in the epic of other peoples and in legends about other heroes: Anika, Kolyvan, Volga, Samson. In Yugoslav poetry, the kralevich Marko plays the role of Svyatogor; the same is said in the Caucasus about the Nart Soslan. Suma corresponds to a stone in the epics about the Stream, which coincides with the medieval story about Alexander the Great, to whom the inhabitants of a paradise country give a pebble as a tribute; this pebble, which can neither be hung nor measured, denotes, in the symbolic interpretation of the Jewish sage, the human eye - envy. Parallel is the ancient northern legend about the dispute between Thor and the giant.
- Parallels on the second motive, about the unfaithful wife of Svyatogor, are indicated in the Persian collection "Tuti-name", in "Tales of 1001 Nights", in Indian Buddhist fairy tales. Perhaps this is an episode of oriental origin.
- Legends and stories about such a coffin are known among Ukrainians, Kashubians, Italians, Gypsies, Magyars, in Ancient Egypt.
- The episode about the marriage of Svyatogor, known only in one visit, goes back to folk tales, based on medieval stories that “the judgment of God will not pass away” (cf. the story in “Roman Acts” was translated into Russian in the 17th century). In its details - a trip to the northern sorcerer-blacksmith - this visit is reminiscent of an episode of "Kalevala". Marriage to a girl lying on a pus is found in an old Russian story about Tsarevich Firgis. Despite the mass of parallels collected to illuminate the personality of Svyatogor, it remains little explained. The prototype of the Russian strongman Svyatogor cannot be considered found, although many hypotheses have been proposed: Wollner compares him with Saint Christopher, who, according to legend, carried Christ through the water. Zhdanov claims that the biblical Samson was the prototype of Svyatogor. Veselovsky believes that the features of Svyatogor have passed to the epic hero Samson. In another place, he also points to a possible source - "Alexandria", which says "about a great man, whom Alexander was surprised to see": he lay on a high mountain 1000 steps long and 200 wide, which resembles the bed of Svyatogor. Khalansky notes the similarity and influence of Russian folk epics. The name Svyatogor can be considered as an epithet that was created at his place of residence - the Holy Mountains.
- According to the Russian and Soviet philologist-folklorist V. Ya. Propp, Svyatogor is the embodiment of a primitive force, inapplicable and therefore doomed to death.
- In one epic, Svyatogor appears as the "glorious hero" of the Chernigov prince Oleg Svyatoslavich. According to B. A. Rybakov, this epic was formed in the Chernigov environment of Oleg Svyatoslavich, but could also reflect earlier epic tales of the beginning of the 10th century.
This hero is strange - majestic, severe and at the same time pitiful, tragic. He is fantastically strong, many times stronger than Ilya Muromets, but the strength in him is somehow useless. This hero does not perform feats, like Ilya Muromets, for the sake of his native land, does not crush her enemies, does not fight evil. He has no father, no mother, no friends. Even the native land, as the epic says, does not “wear” it, does not stand it. He does not go either to the open field, like other heroes, or to Kiev-grad. He lives like a giant hermit, alone in the mountains, and he himself resembles a formidable immovable rock. This mountain giant is doomed to death, because his life is meaningless, his strength is useless. And all the epics about Svyatogor tell how he parted with his life. He does not die in battle, but in competition with some unknown irresistible force. This power is not human, it lies in any objects, and Svyatogor, despite his great power, cannot cope with it. In the epic “Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets”, this object becomes an empty coffin, where Svyatogor lies down, as if jokingly, but can no longer get out. The “oak lid” has closed, and Ilya cannot open it. Svyatogor asks:
- You break the lid with a saber,
Ilya Svyatogora obeyed
He takes a sharp saber,
Hits the oak coffin,
And where will Ilya Muromets hit,
Here become hoops of iron
Ilya does everything that Svyatogor advises in order to rescue him from the coffin, but each action only worsens the situation and brings the end of the hero closer. Apparently, the meeting of Svyatogor with the coffin is fate, and death is inevitable. Svyatogor, realizing that death is near, wants to transfer his strength to Ilya Muromets. But Ilya does not need this strength, he has enough of his own.
In another epic, Svyatogor wants to raise a “bag of change”, but cannot tear it off the ground.
He takes the bag, but with one hand -
This handbag, but do not move,
How he takes both hands
He strained himself with heroic strength.
Svyatogor got stuck in the ground up to his knees,
And on the white face, not tears, but blood flows ..
Why is this bag so heavy that the hero has grown into the ground and found his death here? It turns out that in the purse - "earthly thrust", "the burden of mother damp earth." This is what the hero tried to compete with - with great earthly power! The epic seems to warn: in such a struggle - unjust, destructive - the hero will lose, because the land needs to be plowed, equipped and protected, and not compete with it in power and strength. Svyatogor, the hero of old times, far from the cares and interests of the Russian land, is leaving forever. New heroes are coming, who see their calling in serving their native land, in protecting it from enemies.
The mighty giant Svyatogor is the most powerful character in ancient Russian epics. However, the hero does not fight enemies and does not protect the lands of Russia, he appears in legends for instructive lessons and as a symbol of boundless irresistible power. The giant is seen in only five legends, in two he is company.
Mythology
The origin of Svyatogor lies in Slavic mythology: the giant is the son of the creator god Rod. The task of the hero is to protect the world of Yavi from the invasion of evil monsters from Navi. You can get into Yav through the entrance, which is located near the foot of the pillar holding the sky. The world tree (the so-called pillar) was in the holy mountains - hence the name of the giant. On the other side of the “barricade”, at the entrance to Nav, three dark giants, Gorynychi, were on duty, who tried not to let the souls of the dead, eager to escape. Svyatogor was in constant confrontation with Gorynya, Dubynya and Usynya.
During the reign of Constantinople, the giant-bogatyr learned his fate: according to prophecy, a monster of snake blood living in the depths of the sea is destined for his wife. Svyatogor was upset, but still went in search of a bride. Got mythical hero to an island abandoned by people, where he stumbled upon a snake. Out of fright, he hit her with a sword, left the altyn and disappeared.
In the form of a snake, there was a beautiful queen named Plenka, enchanted by the sea lord. After the blow, the spell fell, the girl managed to multiply the money left by the giant and revive the island - people returned to a piece of land in the middle of the endless sea, temples and palaces grew. Plenka decided to multiply gold and precious stones by trading in Tsargrad, where she went. Here the heroine met Svyatogor, married him and gave birth to a bunch of children, from whom many peoples of the world originate.
When the road to the kingdom of heavenly gods opened, Svyatogor, placing one mountain on top of another, appeared to Vyshen. The giant asked the lord to endow him with remarkable strength so that not a single god or spirit could compare with him. The generous Vyshen fulfilled the desire of Svyatogor, but predicted that human cunning and a stone would defeat the hero. And so it happened - the daughter had to be given to the earthly man Van, who outwitted the hero, and the black stone of Veles, which absorbed the earth's cravings, drove the giant into the ground to the very waist. Svyatogor turned into Mount Ararat.
The story of the character echoes the heroes of ancient Greek legends - the titan Atlant lives in them, married to the oceanid Pleione and later became a rock.
Image and legends
From mythology, Svyatogor migrated to epics. The hero appears in later folk legends as a "useless" hero, because he does not perform brilliant deeds, and his strength does not lead to anything good. Researchers believe that Svyatogor personified uncontrollable animal power, which is doomed to death.
The characterization of the hero is impressive: a huge giant moves on the same big horse - "above a standing forest, below a walking cloud." The head is crowned with a helmet that touches the clouds. An indispensable attribute of the image was an eagle sitting on right hand. When the mighty Svyatogor gallops across the land, rivers overflow their banks, and forests sway.
The character appears in epics with three storylines. In one legend, he boasts of his strength and assures that he would easily turn the Earth over. The plowman decided to play a joke on the strongman, giving out a bag with "earthly thrust", which Svyatogor could not lift - he only went deep into the ground with his feet. Here his life ended. In another tale, Mikula, taking pity on the hero, told the secret of the bag.
The epic with Ilya Muromets also has two options. Once Svyatogor met with a Russian hero, who began to beat the giant with a club, but the blows were like mosquito bites. To calm the opponent, Svyatogor put Ilya, along with the horse, into his pocket. On the way, the heroes stumbled upon a stone coffin, in which Svyatogor, for the sake of a joke, decided to lie down and could not remove the lid. Dying, he exhaled part of the mighty strength of Ilya Muromets.
Another legend says about the betrayal of Svyatogor's wife with a Russian hero. Ilya Muromets fell asleep under an oak tree in an open field. Three days later, a giant rode to this place on a horse with a crystal casket in which he hid his beautiful wife. While he was sleeping off a long journey, his wife snarled Ilya and secretly placed it in her husband's pocket. When the secret was revealed, Svyatogor killed the unfaithful, but made friends with Muromets.
The third epic story tells about the giant's marriage, repeating the story from mythology with minor changes. Mikula Selyaninovich sent Svyatogor to a clairvoyant blacksmith to tell him the details further fate. Koval prophesied to the guest as a bride a monster from the seaside kingdom, which, after being struck with a sword, turned into a beauty. Hearing about the girl of lovely appearance, Svyatogor went to woo. After the marriage, he noticed a scar on his wife’s chest and believed that you couldn’t get around fate just like that.
In culture
Svyatogor is inferior in popularity in culture and art to other heroes. The hero is mentioned in the legendary fairy tale "Ilya Muromets", filmed by director Alexander Ptushko in 1956. In a tape created based on epics, as well as works, the dominant hero receives a giant's sword as a gift.
Modern children are also familiar with Svyatogor. In the cartoon "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin the Serpent" (2004), Alyosha already gets the sword, but here the character, who is presented as a Rostov priest, hands over the weapon with his own hand. Voiced him.
Art connoisseurs have the opportunity to admire the painting "Svyatogor" painted by Nicholas Roerich in 1938. The artist has repeatedly turned to the theme of epic heroes, trying to convey the power of the Russian people. The giant is depicted against the backdrop of snow-capped mountains, which ones exactly remains a mystery. Perhaps the Himalayas, because the painter created another masterpiece on an expedition to Central Asia.
"Svyatogor" combines Russian and oriental elements: the hero is dressed like a typical ancient Russian warrior, but his facial features are Asian. The painting is an exhibit of the Moscow Museum of Oriental Peoples.
In Kolomna in the mid-90s of the last century, the Center for Russian Military Culture "Svyatogor" was opened. Children and teenagers learn the basics of Russian hand-to-hand combat, fencing, shooting, study mythology, costume history.
Every nation has epics, tales, myths or legends that have their roots in time immemorial. And they definitely have the strongest hero. We also have one - Svyatogor the Bogatyr. This is a fairy-tale hero of all Slavs, but the Rusyns consider themselves to be his direct descendants, and the Holy Mountains in their view are the highest peak of the Carpathians. There, as they believe, a fabulous giant still lives there, who guards order throughout the Slavic world.
“Among the forests and wild mountains once lived Svyatogor…”
Svyatogor the hero is one of the most ancient epic heroes, and the legends about him do not belong to either the Kiev or Novgorod cycles, although his paths intersect with Ilya Muromets and Mikula Selyaninovich, the plowman hero, the hero of Novgorod legends. There are many legends about the fabulous strong man-giant, there are at least seven main plots. The information presented in them often differs, but the size of the hero and his extraordinary strength always remain unchanged. The main stories associated with Svyatogor are the case with the saddle bag, which he cannot budge, and the giant's tragic death: according to one version, he, trying to at least lift the same knapsack, goes into the damp earth, according to another - immures himself in a stone coffin alive. Almost everywhere, the fact is indicated that, due to excessive weight, the “mother of Cheese Earth” could not withstand him, therefore he did not leave the Holy Mountains, where he lived and in whose honor he was named.
Lots of options
Other epics indicate a different reason for his immobility - he stood guard between Yavu and Naviu and could not leave the post. Nevertheless, one day Svyatogor the Bogatyr decided to leave the border between Light and Darkness that he guarded. He went straight to heaven, building a ladder straight up to the divine throne. This legend explains the extraordinary strength of the hero. The Almighty did not get angry with Svyatogor for his insolence, but, on the contrary, invited him to choose a wish that would be fulfilled. The giant asked for strength and wisdom, he did not know that the gods do nothing without intent. The hero really became stronger than everyone, but he could not lift the lid of the stone coffin, in which he was buried alive. Often epics are superimposed on one another and it is impossible to understand how many, for example, wives Svyatogor had, why he is “divine” (though pre-Christian). Is it because the son of a deity (somewhere Rod is indicated as a father, somewhere Viy), or because he has been to heaven?
Analogies from epics of other peoples
According to one of the legends, he stood guard at the pillar supporting the sky, and in this case, Svyatogor the hero resembles the Greek Atlas. In general, it should be noted that with some national heroes our epic giant is similar, like a twin brother. He has a lot in common with a Finnish hero named Kalevi the poet. Both of them live in the rocky mountains, both ford the sea, the forests are like grass for them. Both have swords that no one but them can handle. Both one and the other in the pictures illustrating epics are often depicted lying: they were very fond of sleeping. Both Svyatogor and Kalevi the poet, possessing gigantic strength, at a certain moment cannot cope with an easy task: the first is to pick up a small bag from the ground, thrown by Mikula Selyaninovich, the second is to open a wooden door in underworld. A blacksmith appears in the life of both, and both of them are under the power of fate. Svyatogor has a lot in common with the legendary strongman Samson. In this case, it is interesting that the wives of the Jewish and Slavic heroes were traitors.
No specifics
At Svyatogor, the wife who seduced Ilya Muromets was a dishonorable woman, for which she was killed by her husband. According to some legends, the mountain hero carried it in a crystal chest behind his back. According to another legend, the wife of the giant hero was a beauty, whom the ancient Slavic goddess of fate Makosh pointed out to him. Svyatogor killed this woman at the beginning of the relationship. And this is where the information differs. According to one version, a terrible snake was located at the address indicated by the goddess, according to another, a girl covered with disgusting ulcers and scabs. You can understand the hero. He strikes with a sword in the chest and leaves, and the betrothed comes to life and turns into a beauty. And again, information about how the lovers connected varies.
well-defined parameters
Every moment of the ancient giant's life, even death, is described differently. And how the information about the Holy Mountains does not match! Above were called the Carpathians. In addition to them, the Urals, Altai, and even the hills of Svyatogorsk are mentioned. That's why the legends that they do not have accurate information. Undoubtedly, as noted, only that it was a huge giant, whose bed was 10 fathoms long and 6 wide. That he had a fabulous sword and that he was a Slav. All information about the hero is drawn from epics, which are not fairy tales in the full sense. Epics in a very exaggerated form retell supposedly real-life events. Near Chernihiv, in fact, there is a giant's grave, in which, according to local residents, it was our hero who was buried.
Not exactly epic
“Svyatogor the Bogatyr” is an epic that tells about the loneliness of a giant, about how he was weighed down by his strength, how he dreamed of transferring at least part of it to someone. It also tells about the meeting with Mikula Selyaninovich, about the heavy bag in which all the earth's thrust was contained, about the blacksmith's prophecy and about the meeting of Svyatogor with his future wife. This is not quite an epic, this is a fairy tale poem written by L. N. Tolstoy and included in the cycle “Tales for Children”. In it, the brilliant writer retold Slavic legends about one of the first epic heroes in a form accessible to children. Although it is difficult to call him a hero, because he did not perform feats, like, for example, Ilya Muromets. His image is in some ways very tragic: Svyatogor is lonely and weighed down by unclaimed power, he wanted to swap the sky with the earth, as a result of unreasonable boasting he received an unbearable bag.
Real confirmations
The Russian hero Svyatogor, according to some scientists, really lived in Ancient Russia during the first raids of the Pechenegs, and Ilya Muromets went to the court of Prince Vladimir Krasno Solnyshko, a character, albeit an epic one, but having a specific prototype in the person of Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich. That is, this is the end of the X century. A sword and stirrups were found in the burial mound "Gulbische", near Chernigov, almost one and a half times more than usual. The diameter of the bowl for mead is 40 cm, while the norm is 15. Everything shows that “the hero Svyatogor is strong and powerful.” These words begin Russian folk tale"Svyatogor", which completely echoes the fairy tale in the verses of Lev Nikolayevich. They describe the same events.
The continuity of generations
In almost all epics, the fact that the giant transferred part of his enormous strength to Ilya Muromets before his death is noted. Svyatogor, before the coffin lid slammed shut, breathed power into the hero from Murom. And it's very symbolic. Svyatogor himself did not protect the borders of the fatherland from enemies, did not perform feats for the glory of the motherland, but he transferred part of his gigantic strength to the well-known champion for the greatness of Russia - Ilya Muromets, and thus became, as it were, the guardian of the Slavic family. Of the ancient Russian giants-strongmen, the most popular, perhaps, is the hero Svyatogor. A photo of the giant, or rather artistic images, of which there are a lot (almost all the key moments of his life are reproduced - Svyatogor with a bag, a hero killing a terrible snake, etc.), are attached. He belongs to the senior heroes. And if at least something is known about Volga Svyatoslavovich, then only specialists know about Sukhan, Polkan and Kolyvan.
Popularization of Russian epics
A little more is known about the bogatyr-plowman Mikul Selyaninovich, who threw the saddle bag to Svyatogor. Russian epics had a melodious form, but almost none of these have been preserved about our giant. Therefore, answering the question, what is the form of the epic "Svyatogor the Bogatyr", we can state that this is an epic in prose, which is a later phenomenon in Russian legends. The heroes of Russian epics are not as numerous as, say, ancient Greek ones. There are very few known - Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich, Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets and Alyosha Popovich. Now they have become especially popular thanks to a series of excellent domestic animated films.