The story “Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich” belongs to the Novgorod epic cycle. The summary of the work allows the reader to compare two different images: the nephew of the prince and the simple farmer-peasant. According to some reports, in this epic the main characters are two pagan gods: Mikula is responsible for agriculture, and Volga for hunting. Orest Miller, a 19th-century mythologist, found in the work many similar characteristics between the protagonists and patrons of peasants and hunters.
Meeting Volga with Mikula
The acquaintance of the prince with a simple peasant lies at the heart of the epic story “Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich”. The summary describes how the nephew of the Kiev prince was born, matured and thought about acquiring worldly wisdom and strength. Volga asked Vladimir a squad of 30 people to go with her for a tribute. For this, the Kiev prince allocates three cities to his nephew: Orekhovets, Gurchevets and Krestyanovets.
Volga Svyatoslavovich left in the field, hears the creaking of plows and the whistling of a plowman, but he does not see the peasant himself. He rode for a long time with his retinue, and only on the third day did he see the peasant. During the meeting, Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich talked. The summary tells us that the prince told the peasant where and for what purpose he was on his way, and the peasant, in turn, warned him about the evil inhabitants of these cities.
The incredible power of a plowman
Upon learning that he would have to meet with the real robbers, Volga asked Mikula to go with him, because his army would not be prevented by such a strong man who alone managed with several townspeople. The prince was seriously worried that his squad might be killed and drown in the river Currant. Bylina “Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich” tells that the peasant agreed to go to the city for a tribute, but, having already moved to a decent distance from the field, he remembered that he had not pulled out of the ground and had not
thrown his plow
bushes over the
wicked bush .
In order not to return, Volga sent five of his fellows, but, it turns out, they cannot do the job of Mikula. Then 10 more soldiers go to the field, but even they cannot crush the plow, the whole squad undertook to pull it out, but there is no result. And here the plowman, as if playfully, pulled her out of the ground and threw her behind the bush. The prince was impressed by the incredible strength of his new acquaintance, after that Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich became very close friends.
Heroes of the Russian epic
And so the prince and the peasant come to the city. The men immediately recognized Mikula, who beat them alone when they tried to take salt from the plowman, and came to the horsemen to bow and apologize. Volga saw with his own eyes what respect his new acquaintance enjoys, so he decided to give him three cities with peasants. The prince made the plowman his viceroy and instructed him to collect tribute from the peasants.
But there is a slightly different interpretation of the epic "Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich." The summary of the work suggests that the prince in the city was attacked by robbers, and the plowman saved him. Whatever it was, but Mikula Selyaninovich is the embodiment of a national hero.