Special Sub-Topic: Russian Byliny Authored by: Redlass Sub-topic of: Fables and Fairy Tales

In the byliny, what are the elder valiant champions known as?

Bogatyri. Bogatyri was the name for the near-mythic champions and warriors of Rus. Polyanitza is the name for a female warrior.

There was a brigand known as the Nightengale Robber who was half bird and half human. He lived in a tree that blocked the road to Kiev. He was finally killed by the hero Ilya Murometz. Who was he?

Solovei. Solovei the Brigand could summon up winds to blow down trees and kill travelers. Ilya shot Solovei with an arrow and then tied him to his stirrup and rode out of the forest with him to Kiev.

Who is the Grand Prince of Kiev in the byliny collected in the "Kievan Cycle"?

Vladimir I. St. Vladimir is the prince to whom all the warriors report. They are in his military service and help spread the glory of Rus. It is called the Kiev cycle in part because the prince lived and made his headquarters in Kiev.

Alyosha Popovich defeats a dragon through use of his cunning and trickery. In later versions, the dragon was transformed. What was it transformed into?

Mongol Khan. Popovich was a crafty warrior who relied on his wits more than his brawn. He is spoken of rather poorly in most of the byliny, with the exception of his defeat of Tugarin, the Serpent's son. Tugarin is actually based on a historical figure--an enemy to the Rus people.

Vasilisa Mikulichna stands out as the polyanitza who dared argue with Prince Vladimir to save her husband, Stavr, who had been taken as a prisoner by the Prince. What crime had he committed?

He boasted of his wife.. Vasilisa disguises herself as a man after her husband is thrown in jail for out-boasting the prince at his banquet. Vladimir's princess (daughter in some accounts, wife in others) recognizes Vasilisa as a woman, but no one believes her. Vladimir devises a series of tests, but Vasilisa outwits him on all of them. He offers to grant her any wish, and she asks for the release of Stavr--who also fails to recognize his clever wife.

Olga was grandmother to Prince Vladimir. She made her fame when the murderers of her husband came to secure her as loot and marry her to their warlord. Olga replied, "Your proposal is pleasing to me; indeed, my husband cannot rise again from the dead. But I desire to honor you tomorrow in the presence of my people. Return now to your boat, and remain there with an aspect of arrogance. I shall send for you on the morrow, and you shall say: "We will not ride on horses nor go on foot; carry us in our boat." And you shall be carried in your boat." What did she do when they were carried to her in their boat?

Buried them alive in a ditch.. Olga's reply appealed to the pride of the Derevlians who had just conquered her husband and his warring band. Her messengers carried the boat to a trench that Olga had dug and dumped it and the passengers in. The Derevlians complained that their fate was worse than that of her husband, but Olga didn't listen. She also went on to exact further revenge on the tribe.

Ilya raised his mount Cloudfall from the time it was a young foal. To raise it, he followed the commands of aged psalm-singers. What did he feed it for three months?

White Turkish wheat. For three months, Ilya kept the foal in a stall, feeding it the finest Turkish wheat and watering it from pure spring water.

When Svyatogor discovers his beautiful wife has been unfaithful, he slays his wife. What does he do to the man whom he found with his wife?

Exchanges crosses with him and declares him a brother. Svyatogor's wife is enchanted with Ilya and insists that he come down from the oak tree where he was hiding. Ilya did not wish to fight her and so acquiesed to her wishes. When Svyatogor found out about it, he killed his wife, but declared that Ilya was a hero like himself. They began traveling together to the Holy Mountains.

What was the final fate of the bogatyr Ilya and his steed Cloudfall?

They were turned to stone.. The Tatars captured Ilya and tried to convince him to betray Vladimir. He refused and killed the Tzar. He then went and "woke" the old Russian heros who rode in a mighty battle against the Tatars. Unfortunately, Ilya and Cloudfall did not survive the battle and were turned to stone by the Tatars.

What religion did Vladimir I and his bogatyri belong to?

Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Prince Vladimir was said to have shopped for a national religion among Judaism, Roman Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, and Islam. He chose Orthodoxy, hoping that the Byzantines would offer them military protection. He also married a Byzantine princess given to him as a bribe for his converting the Russian nation.