Prince Vladimir is known to the world as a forerunner of Christianity in Russia. It was under him that Russia was annexed to Byzantium, which included it in the list of the most influential European powers of that time.
The fundamental merit of the prince can be called the rallying of the Russian people, scattered by numerous tribal pagan cults. Each tribe had its own gods, and numerous
internecine wars grew on this basis
. With the introduction of Christianity in Russia, the people reunited. Since then, Prince Vladimir Krasno Sunny is one of the most popular epic characters. It is well known in epics also the name of the niece of Prince Vladimir
- Fun.
Epic image of Prince Vladimir
Mythopoetics portrays to us Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich as an ideal ruler, who organized the Kiev court and the Russian lands with reliable protection against foreign invasions (both real historical opponents of the Tatars Rus and mythological characters like Tugarin, the Serpent Gorynych and the Nightingale the Robber).
The prince rallied around himself the most significant Russian heroes: Dobrynya from Ryazan, Ilya from Murom and Alyosha from Rostov. They are the main force, the weapon of the prince against any opponent of Russia. It is interesting that both the prince himself and the heroes are real historical figures.
In epics, Prince Vladimir gives the warriors instructions related mainly to the elimination of threats to the prince's court. Upon their return to Kiev, a feast begins, which indicates the successful completion of a heroic mission.
The epithet named after Vladimir - the Red Sun - indicates that the epic prince is the main luminiferous force opposed to the evil principle (for example, the chthonic image of the snake). The name of Prince Vladimir’s niece, Fun, in turn, is almost always mentioned in passing, as the name of a character of secondary importance.
The prince also has a negative reflection in epics: the greatest antagonism is expressed in the relationship of the prince with the epic hero Ilya Muromets. For example, the prince does not honor the hero for his deeds, although he serves him faithfully for about 30 years. The prince is not very kind to Dobrynya either: when the niece of Prince Vladimir Zabava is abducted by a snake, he sends a hero to her release and threatens to chop off his head if he does not cope with the task and rescues the red maiden.
Such a story is also known, when, by slander, the prince throws Dobrynya into prison, and then sends him to certain death in Lithuania, for collecting the arrears of tribute. While there is no hero, the prince marries his wife for the third hero - Alyosha Popovich. Basically, even such atrocities of the prince are subsequently justified by his global merits, and conflicts are settled.
Epic image of Fun
Stories about the girl Fun are also widely known. Zabava (Lyubava) is the niece of Prince Vladimir in epics.
Besides the fact that she was a red girl, the epics did not indicate any of her special features: such an average Russian beauty, dutifully awaiting her release. Basically, the name of the Fun is associated with two epics:
- epic about the liberation of the Fun of Goodness from the clutches of the Serpent;
- epic about nightingale Nightingale to Fun.
Fun Putyatichna sometimes found under the name Lyubava. Her father, Putyata, Vladimir’s brother, is found in chronicles long before the era of Vladimir Monomakh. Most often, his image is closely associated with the name of Vladimir Svyatoslavovich.
Feat of Dobrynia Nikitich: the rescue of Fun from the clutches of a snake
The name of the niece of Prince Vladimir is mentioned in the epic about the exploits of Dobrynia, the Russian hero. There are several epics telling about the battles of Dobrynia and the Serpent of Gorynych. The first legend was about how the terrifying monster Serpent Gorynych fell to attack the Russian land, and kidnap the victims of the innocent, including girls and children, and even glorious warriors who could not control the snake. Dobrynya Nikitich, learning about his atrocities, rushes to fight Gorynych. Having gathered all his belongings and taking the silk lash as a maternal amulet, the hero, contrary to maternal warnings, goes to Sorochinskaya Mountain, kills small serpentines and frees the captives. After that, having relaxed, the hero decides to swim in the Puchai River, and at this time the Serpent attacks him, unarmed. After a long and bloody battle, the hero prevails, but the snake persuades him to spare.
Naturally, Gorynych does not keep his word, after a while he raids the court of Prince Vladimir and kidnaps the Fun. Going to save the princess, Dobrynya this time was extremely circumspect and acted carefully. Sneaking up quietly, he did not touch the snakes and went directly to the Snake. In a fierce battle, he chopped Gorynych to pieces and betrayed his blood to raw earth.
After Dobrynya Nikitich heroically liberates the princess, she, delighted with the hero’s feat, offers herself to be his wife, however, he refuses, motivating them with being on different social levels: he is “a Christian family”, and she is “a princely family”.
Bylina about how Solovey Budimirovich got married to Fun
Also, this epic narrates how the caterpillar Nightingale came to Kiev and offered rich gifts to Prince Vladimir and Princess Apraxia. In response to the unprecedented generosity of the Nightingale, Prince Vladimir offered him any gifts and any land to choose from.
The name of the niece of Prince Vladimir is mentioned in connection with the marriage of Nightingale Budimirovich to her. It was a cunning plan of a caterpillar who deliberately abandoned all lands in order to ask the prince for something special. The nightingale asked the emperor for permission to build several towers directly in the garden at Zabava, and the prince agreed. Literally in one night, the Nightingale rebuilt the magnificent painted towers and invited Fun to walk along them. From the beauty she saw, the girl was stunned and said to the caterpillar that she wanted to marry him. The guselnik cheerfully answered her that it was not appropriate for the girl to woo herself, and the ashamed Fun ran away to her white-stone chambers. On the same day, the nightingale went to the prince and asked to give him Fun. In the evening, a wedding was played, and the young couple boarded the ships and sailed across the ocean, to the city of Ledenets.