Bylina "Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich" - a famous work of the old Russian epic. She talks about the famous giant athlete.
Bogatyr Svyatogor
Epics about Svyatogor belong to East Slavic mythology. This is one of the most ancient cycles of the Russian epic epic. It is located outside the popular Novgorod and Kiev cycles. At the same time it intersects with them in some epics dedicated to the meetings of Svyatogor with Ilya Muromets.
According to the widespread plot of the epic, Svyatogor was very difficult. So much so that the earth could not stand him. At the same time, he himself could no longer overcome the earth's thrust and left his feet in the ground. According to another legend, Ilya Muromets, along with Svyatogor, take turns trying on a coffin made of stone. They suddenly meet him on their way. In this epic Svyatogor is a hero, to whom the coffin fit just right.
However, once in the coffin, he finds out that he cannot get out of it, even the lid does not rise. Before his death, Svyatogor manages to transfer part of his strength to Ilya Muromets through breathing. So the most famous epic defender of the Russian land becomes even stronger.
Description of Svyatogor
As a rule, in epics Svyatogor is described as a huge giant, of remarkable strength. Its growth is higher than trees in the forest. He visits Holy Russia itself only occasionally. Mostly prefers to live on the high Holy Mountains almost completely alone.
When he nevertheless leaves his home, the whole district becomes aware of this. The earth beneath him sways, the trees sway, and the rivers simply come out of their shores.
Svyatogor is the personification of the most ancient Russian hero, the pre-Christian hero of the Slavic epic, which is the personification of the power of the Russian people and their divine destiny.
It is noteworthy that the father of the epic Svyatogor was a "dark", that is, a blind man. And this is a clear sign that he belonged to the beings of the other world.
Gigantic forces of Svyatogor
In a short summary of the epic about Svyatogor there is often a plot in which he feels gigantic forces in himself. To prove this, he boasts that he is capable of turning heaven and earth if there were two rings: one in the sky and the other in the earth. This was heard by another famous epic hero named Mikula Selyaninovich. He then threw a bag on the ground, which contained all the "earthly burden".
In the epic "Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich", a summary of which is given in this article, our hero makes unsuccessful attempts to somehow move this bag, without getting off his horse, but fails. Then he dismounts and tries to lift the bag with both hands. But instead of lifting it above his head, he himself is bogging down into the ground almost to his knees, because he can’t overcome the earth's thrust. So he ends his life, failing to confirm in practice the words about his strength and power.
There is another option for how the epic "Svyatogor and Mikula Selyaninovich" develops. By fully reading it, you can find out the other end of this story. In it, Svyatogor remains alive, and Mikula, taking pity on him, reveals the secret of his overwhelming sum.
Epics with Ilya Muromets
In epics about Svyatogor, the contents of which are given in this article, perhaps the most famous Russian epic hero Ilya Muromets is often found.
The plot is well known, in which Ilya Muromets finds a real heroic bed almost in an open field, under an oak tree. It is 10 fathoms long and 6 more wide. The tired hero of the Russian epic falls asleep on it for three whole days.
In this epic, Svyatogor and Ilya Muromets meet on the third day, when Ilya is awakened by a horse. From the north side there is a noise that alarmed the animal. It is the horse that advises the hero to hide behind the oak.
The appearance of Svyatogor
At this moment, Svyatogor appears. He sits on a horse, and holds a crystal casket in his hands. In it is his beautiful wife. Svyatogor himself lies down to rest on the heroic bed. While he sleeps, his wife notices Ilya of Muromets. She seduces him into love and puts him in the pocket of her giant husband so that he imperceptibly continues his journey with them.
In this epic, Svyatogor and Ilya go on a further journey, and one of them does not suspect the existence of the other. His horse begins to speak with Svyatogor, who complains that it is very difficult for him, because so far he has carried only one hero with his wife, and now there are two heroes. So it is possible to reveal the insidious plan of the wife of St.
The giant athlete quickly finds Ilya in his pocket. He asks carefully and in detail how he got there. Upon learning of the unfaithfulness of his wife, Svyatogor, not regretting at all, kills her. With Ilya he enters into a fraternity. Together they continue the journey.
Stone at the crossroads
Near the Northern Mountain, the heroes meet the famous stone at the crossroads, which was later repeatedly met in other epic heroes. It says that in the coffin as a result there will be only one who is destined to lie there.
The heroes begin to try on a stone coffin. For Ilya, it turns out to be great, but Svyatogor is placed just right. As soon as Svyatogor lays down in him, a lid slams behind him. He is no longer able to lift it, he cannot go out and ends his life in this coffin. Passing part of his mighty power, as well as his sword to Ilya Muromets, he asks Ilya to cut the hated coffin. But all in vain. With each stroke, the coffin is only covered with a powerful iron hoop.
Wedding Svyatogra
Another popular story of the epics of Svyatogor is his marriage. In this epic, Svyatogor and Mikula talk about how to find out the future, their upcoming fate.
Mikula gives the hero effective advice - to go to the Northern Mountains. They are also called Siversky. There, according to him, a prophetic blacksmith lives, who can give answers to all these questions.
Svyatogor comes to the blacksmith, who predicts that he will soon get married. His bride will be from a distant seaside kingdom. Svyatogor goes there and searches for the sick Pomeranian Film, as the blacksmith predicted, it lies on the pus (as ancient manure was called in Russia). Svyatogor puts about 500 rubles near her , hits her in the chest with a sword and leaves.
From everything that happens, the girl wakes up and comes to herself. She lay for 30 years at the pus, so awakening is given to her with difficulty. During this time, an ugly bark covered her entire body. But as soon as she gets off, it turns out that a beautiful beauty was hidden under her. Rumors about the beauty of a beautiful stranger reach Svyatogor himself. He immediately comes back to this overseas kingdom and marries her.
Only after the wedding, Svyatogor discovers that his young wife has a scar on his chest. He learns the trace of his sword and understands that this is exactly the woman who was destined for him with a prediction.
Traditions about Svyatogra
In the analysis of the Old Russian epic, much attention is paid to the analysis of traditions dedicated to Svyatoslav. Their detailed study leads researchers to three fundamental conclusions.
Firstly, they highlight the motive of raising the bag. This plot is very common not only in Russian traditions, but also among other peoples in the tales of the heroes and giants. For example, about Volga, Anik, Samson, Kolyvan. So, in Yugoslav ancient poetry, the analogue of Svyatora is Prince Marco. In the Caucasus, a similar situation occurs with the national hero Soslan.
Suma corresponds to stone in other legends, for example, in epics about a stream. This, in turn, coincides with the story from the biography of the exploits of Alexander the Great. About how residents of the paradise capital give him as a tribute one pebble. However, it turns out that this pebble can neither be weighed nor measured in any way.
In a symbolic interpretation, this sum corresponds to human envy. A similar legend is found among the ancient Scandinavian peoples - in an episode about the dispute between Thor and the giant.
A cheating wife
Secondly, researchers of the ancient Russian epos in detail analyze the situation with the marriage of Svyatogor and his unfaithful wife. They see parallel motives in Persian authors in a book called Tuti-nama. This is a well-known collection of short stories of humorous, didactic and even erotic content, which was extremely popular in ancient India.
Often episodes with a wedding and marital infidelity, similar to the story of Svyatogor, can be read in Buddhist tales. Many reputable researchers are inclined to believe that this episode is of eastern origin.
The majority of literary scholars and historians attribute the episode of the marriage of the hero Svyatogorsk to folk tales, which at that time relied on popular medieval tales.
This is especially noticeable if you analyze these tales for details. So, the trip to the north sorcerer-smith resembles an episode from the Kalevala epic. The wife, for a long time lying on the pus, is also found in the old Russian story, in which the main character is Tsarevich Firgis.
At the moment, it has already been possible to collect a lot of parallels in order to examine Svyatogor’s personality in detail, but nevertheless a lot of obscure and incomprehensible remains in it. For example, it was not possible to unequivocally find the absolute prototype of the strongman Svyatogor. There are only a few hypotheses. For example, it could be St. Christopher, with whom Svyatora is compared by William Wollner.
Folklorist Ivan Zhdanov believes that the biblical strongman Samson was the real prototype of Svyatogor. Literary critic Alexei Veselovsky puts forward a similar version.
But the historian of Russian literature Mikhail Khalansky notes the similarity of stories about Svyatogor with Russian folk epics. Most likely, his name is an epithet that comes from the name of the places in which he lived - the Holy Mountains.
Magic power
Vladimir Propp, the famous researcher of Russian fairy tales and folklore, expresses his opinion on this issue . He believes that Svyatogor personifies primitive power, which cannot be used in ordinary standard life.
That is why it is doomed to failure and subsequent death.
Coming from Chernigov
There is also a version that the epic about Svyatogor and Mikulu Selyaninovich, like other epic stories about this hero, originally developed in Chernigov.
The fact is that in one of the epics Svyatogor appears as a hero protecting the Chernigov prince named Oleg Svyatoslavovich. On this basis, the archaeologist Boris Rybakov puts forward the version that the epic was originally formed precisely surrounded by the Chernigov prince. And this means that it could reflect much earlier legends, for example, the epic of the beginning of the X century.