About a thousand years ago, the first manuscripts began to appear in Russia, the authors of which were mainly monks - a small army of literate people. One of them, “The Tale of Bygone Years,” contains a description of the history of the Slavs, the author’s attitude to what was happening.
Reflection of Life Events
Nikita Kozhemyaka - a young artisan youth, mentioned in the "Tale of Bygone Years", in a single duel with the enemy-Pecheneg strangled him. "The Tale of Kozhemyak" is a story about the evil Serpent, who regularly took a young beautiful girl from every house and devoured her. It was the turn to give the snake the royal daughter.
"The Legend of Kozhemyak" reflects the events that took place in those days in the life of the Slavs and the hostile Khazar steppes. A fairly common phenomenon was the capture of the Slavs by the Khazars, with their subsequent resale as slaves.
The serpent is simply a robber and invader, symbolizing the Khazar. Even in the finale, "The Legend of Nikita Kozhemyak" recalls the real relationship with these people. The division of land and water equally between Kozhemyaka and the Serpent depicts the customs service of the Khazars on the Caspian Sea. By such a metaphor, the author conveyed a constant threat to the Slavs from the Khazar tribes. Since the long wars between the Slavs and the Khazars ended in victory for the first, it should be thought that the “Legend of Kozhemyak” reflects the very finale of the relationship, that is, victory in the 10th – early 11th centuries.
Heroes
In general, the warriors were first mentioned since the time when Prince Vladimir began to attract hunting northern people to protect the Slavic borders. There were about two to three thousand. True, they began to glorify heroic strength and daring much later, during the time of the Tatar-Mongol yoke; then the word "hero" ("rich") came to the Russian language.
The battle with the Pechenegs
The Tale of Bygone Years has preserved two legends: about the young man who beat the Pecheneg strongman, and about the Belgorod kissel. The first (“The Legend of Kozhemyak”) discusses how the duel of two strong men should play a decisive role in the confrontation between the Rus and the Pechenegs. These were the events of 992 years. Only after ending the war with the Khazars, Vladimir returned to his homeland, but then on the other side of the Dnieper appeared hated Pechenegs. Before starting the battle, we decided to conduct a one-on-one battle. If the Russian warrior wins, the war will be canceled; if the Pecheneg wins, it will last three years. Opponents stood on the opposite banks of the Trubezh River. A duel was supposed to take place, but was not in the camp of Vladimir the daredevil, ready to fight the Pecheneg hero. Vladimir began to grieve, but the warrior came up to him with the words that his youngest son remained at his house, who was so strong that he once torn his skin in half with anger and wrinkled it in his hands.
When asked if he could defeat the Pecheneg, the young man asked to test himself, leading him into battle with an angry bull. The young man was urgently taken to the regiment and a bull was enraged at him, enraged by the hot iron. The young man let the bull go closer and tore a tuft of skin along with meat from its sides. The battle has begun. Compared to the huge and terrible Pecheneg warrior, the Russian lad was very losing. However, as soon as both warriors clasped, the young man strangled the Pecheneg to death. The terrified enemies fled, and at the scene of the battle Vladimir founded the city of Pereyaslavl. So it is said in the Russian annals of "The Tale of Bygone Years." "The Legend of Kozhemyak" is one of its heroic pages.
Since then, the hero of many tales has become Nikita Kozhemyak, who, in proof of his mighty strength, tears apart several folded bovine skins at once. Time passed, and the plot of the duel Kozhemyaki with the Pecheneg mythologized - now it was a fight with the Snake. Such artistic reworkings were not isolated. In the Bessarabian version, Stefan Voda also fights with the Serpent (in the original interpretation, with the Turk).
"The Legend of Kozhemyak." Short story
The royal daughter, carried away by the Serpent in her cave, was not eaten by him, like other girls, due to her indescribable beauty. The serpent, instead of eating, took her as a wife. Having learned from him that only a young man Nikita Kozhemyak is stronger than the Snake, the girl transfers this information to her father by writing a note and tying it to the dog’s neck, which is tied to her. And then the king issues an order to track down Kozhemyak and ask him to go to battle with the Serpent. Seeing that royal emissaries had come to him, Kozhemyaka with fear broke up the twelve skins that he wrinkled in his hands. Dejected by the fact that because of this he would suffer a huge loss, the young man at first refused to save the princess. Then they brought to him orphans left without parents because of the cursed Serpent. The young man, touched by their grief, after short preparations goes to the Serpent and kills him. Such is the legend about the youth Kozhemyak, who defeated the Serpent.
Second option
Another retelling contains a different version of the development of events. The defeated Serpent asks Kozhemyaki for mercy and alteration of the land, to which Nikita agrees. The Serpent harnessed to the plow begins to plow the land from the city of Kiev to the Caspian Sea. Having divided the land, the Serpent decides to divide the sea. Having driven the snake to the depths, Kozhemyak drowns him there, thereby freeing the people from the villain. According to legend, to this day, the boundaries laid by the Serpent are visible. People do not touch them, they leave as a memory of the invincible Nikita Kozhemyak.
The differences between epics and annals
"The Legend of Nikita Kozhemyak" (in the Ukrainian version - about Cyril Kozhemyak) is a chronicle. Although this is the hero of not only chronicles, but also epics. Between the annals and the epic there are significant differences, and similar features. General:
- The enemy demands to put the fellow out for a duel, but there is none.
- It’s not a strong athlete who goes into a duel, but a young man.
- About the youth is reported by his father.
- The enemy is always a hero of great strength and huge size.
- The enemy triumphs in advance, but is defeated.
Differences:
- The epic hero is a professional fighter, and the hero of the annals is a simple artisan. He triumphs only thanks to his strained hands.
- In the annals, an event is always tied to a historical context. In the epic, this is not.