Find the epic Ilya of Murom and the Nightingale the Robber. About the hero Ilya Muromets

Either from the city of Muroml,

From that village and from Karacharovo

A distant, burly man was leaving good fellow;

He stood at Matins in Muromli,

And he wanted to be in time for lunch in the capital

Kiev - city,

Yes, and he drove up to the glorious city

to Chernigov.

Is it near the city of Chernigov?

The forces are caught up in black and black,

And black as black as a crow;

So no one walks around with infantry here,

No one rides here on a good horse,

The black raven bird does not fly,

Let the gray beast not prowl.

And he approached as if to a great powerhouse,

How did he become this great powerhouse,

He began to trample with his horse and began to stab with a spear,

And he defeated this great force.

He drove up to the glorious city of Chernigov.

The peasants came out and here Chernigov

And then they opened the gates to Chernigov city,

And they call him a governor in Chernigov.

Ilya says to them and these are the words:

“Oh, you guys are from Chernigov!

I will not come to you in Chernigov as a commander.

Show me the straight path,

I’m going straight to the capital city of Kyiv.”

The peasants spoke to him in Chernigov style:

“You are a remote, portly, kind fellow,

And you, too, are a glorious hero of Holy Russia!

The straight path is blocked,

The path was closed up and walled up;

And whether I take the straightest path

And no one walked around with infantry,

No one rode by on a good horse:

Like either the mud or the black one,

Yes, whether it’s near the birch tree or the gag,

Is it near that river near Smorodina,

At that cross near Levanidov

Sidi Nightingale the Robber oak cheese,

Sidi Nightingale the robber Odikhmantiev's son;

And then the Nightingale whistles and according to the nightingale

He screams, the villainous robber, like an animal,

And is it from him, from the nightingale’s whistle,

And is it from him, from the cry of an animal,

All the azure flowers are falling asleep,

And as for the people, they are all lying dead.

The straight road is five hundred miles away,

And there are a whole thousand along the roundabout path.”

He let go of a good horse and even a heroic one.

He then took the straight path.

His good horse yes heroic

He began to jump from mountain to mountain,

He began to jump from hill to hill,

Small rivers, little lakes between my legs.

He drives up to the river near Smorodinka,

Yes, he is for the dirt, he is for the black,

Yes, to the birch tree, to the cursed ones,

To that glorious cross to Levanidov.

The Nightingale whistled and after the nightingale,

The villainous robber shouted like an animal,

So all the grass and ants were entangled,

Yes, and the azure flowers fell asleep,

The dark forests all bowed to the ground.

His good horse and heroic horses,

And he stumbles and stumbles.

And how old from the Cossack and Ilya Muromets

He takes a silk whip in his white hand,

And he hit the horse on the steep ribs;

He, Ilya, spoke, and these are the words:

“Oh, you, a wolf's fill and a bag of grass!

Do you not want to go, or are you unable to carry?

What the hell are you doing, dog?

Have you heard the nightingale whistle,

Have you heard the cry of an animal,

Haven’t you seen the heroic blows?”

Yes, he takes his tight, explosive bow,

He takes it in his own hands,

He pulled the silken string,

And he put a red-hot arrow,

Then he shot at that Nightingale the robber,

His right eye with a pigtail was knocked out.

He sent the Nightingale down onto the damp ground,

He fastened it to the right one with a damask stirrup,

He drove him across the glorious open field,

I passed by a nest and a nightingale.

In that nest and the nightingale

And it happened that there were three daughters,

And his three beloved daughters;

This big daughter looks askance out the window,

She says yes, these are the words.

“Our father is driving through an open field,

And he sits on a good horse,

Yes, he is carrying a peasant hillbilly,

Yes, it’s chained to the right stirrup.”

His friend's beloved daughter looked at him,

“Father is riding along the open fields of the land,

Yes, and he’s carrying a peasant hillbilly,

And she’s chained to the right stirrup.”

His beloved little daughter looked at him,

She said these words:

“A peasant hillbilly is riding,

And he’s sitting, man, he’s on a good horse,

Yes, and our father is lucky at the stirrup,

The damask one is chained to the stirrup.

His right eye with the braid was knocked out.”

That’s what she said too, and these are the words.

“Oh, our beloved husbands!

You just take animal spears,

Yes, run like there’s a clear field in the expanse,

Yes, you beat the peasant hillbilly!”

These husbands and their beloved ones,

Sons-in-law, that is, and nightingales,

Grabbed like animal horns

Yes, they ran and into an open field

Whether it's a peasant hillbilly,

Yes, they want to kill that peasant hillbilly.

Nightingale the robber Odikhmantyev’s son tells them:

“Oh, my beloved sons-in-law!

Throw away your animal spears,

You call a man and a hillbilly,

Call the nightingale to your nest,

Yes, feed him some sugar,

Yes, you sing it with a honey drink,

And give him precious gifts.”

These sons-in-law and nightingales

They threw away the animal spears

And the name is a man and a hillbilly

In that nightingale's nest;

And the guy doesn’t listen to the hillbilly,

And he drives through a glorious open field,

Directly along the path to the capital city of Kyiv.

He came to the glorious capital city of Kyiv

And to the glorious prince in the wide courtyard.

And Vladimir, Prince, he left the Church of God,

He came to the white stone chamber,

To his dining room in the little room.

They sat down to eat and drink and eat bread,

Eat bread and have lunch.

And here is the old Cossack and Ilya Muromets

He stood his horse in the middle of the yard,

He himself goes to the white-stone chambers,

He walked into the dining room in the little room,

On his heel he swung that door,

He laid the cross according to the written word,

He bowed to the scientist,

Three for everything, four for the sides

bowed low,

To Prince Vladimir himself especially,

He is also under the knees of all his princes.

Then Prince Vladimir began to ask the young man:

“Just tell me exactly, you’re awesome, portly

good fellow,

Well done to you, yeah name is called,

Do they call the daring one after his fatherland?”

The old Cossack and Ilya Muromets said:

“I am from the glorious city of Muroml,

From that village and from Karacharov,

I am an old Cossack and Ilya Muromets,

Ilya Muromets and son Ivanovich!”

Vladimir says these words to him:

“Oh, you old Cossack and Ilya Muromets!

And how long ago have you left Muroml?

And which road did you take to the capital city of Kyiv?”

Ilya spoke these words:

“Oh, you glorious Vladimir Stolnokievsky!

I stood at Matins of Christ in Muromlya,

And I wanted to be in time for lunch in the capital city of Kyiv,

Then my path was slow;

And I was driving along the straight path,

I drove along the straight road past Chernigov city.

I drove past this dirt and black,

I pass by the glorious river Smorodina,

I’ll curse that glorious birch tree past,

Levanidov’s cross rode past.”

Vladimir spoke to him these words:

“What a peasant hillbilly!

In your eyes, man, you're playing tricks,

In your eyes, man, you're mocking!

Like the glorious city of Chernigov

A lot of strength has been gathered here,

No one was walking around as infantry,

And no one rode on a good horse,

The gray beast did not prowl there,

The black raven bird did not fly by;

And either from the dirt or from the black

Yes, by the glorious river near Smorodina,

And whether that birch tree has gags,

At that cross near Levanidov

Nightingale sits the robber Odikhmantiev's son;

The way the Nightingale whistles and according to the nightingale,

As the villainous robber shouts like an animal,

Then all the grass ants are entangled,

And the azure flowers fall asleep,

The dark forests all bow to the ground,

And what people there are, they’re all lying dead.”

Ilya spoke to him and these are the words:

The nightingale is a robber in your yard,

His right eye with a braid was knocked out,

And he’s chained to a damask stirrup.”

That Vladimir is Prince of Stolnokievsky,

He quickly stood up and on his nimble legs,

He threw his marten fur coat over one shoulder,

Then he wears a sable cap on one ear,

He goes out into his own wide yard

Look at the Nightingale the Robber.

It was Prince Vladimir who spoke, and these are the words:

“Whistle like a whistle, Nightingale, you’re like a nightingale,

Cry loudly, dog, like an animal.”

The Nightingale said to him the robber

Odikhmantiev’s son: “I’m not having lunch with you today, prince,

But it’s not you I want to listen to,

I dined with an old Cossack Ilya Muromets,

Yes, I want to listen to him.”

He spoke like Prince Vladimir

yes Stolnokievsky: “Oh, you old Cossack, Ilya Muromets!

Just order the Nightingale to whistle, and even like a nightingale,

Order me to scream loudly and like an animal.”

Ilya spoke and these are the words:

“Oh Nightingale the robber Odikhmantiev’s son!

Whistle like a nightingale's whistle to the floor,

Scream like an animal at the top of your lungs.”

Nightingale the robber Odikhmantyev’s son said to him:

“Oh, you old Cossack, Ilya Muromets,

My bloody wounds are sealed,

Let my sugar lips not go:

I can’t whistle, and even like a nightingale,

I can’t scream like an animal,

And you told Prince Vladimir

Pour some charm and green wine,

I'll drink it like a spell of green wine,

My bloody wounds will burst,

Let my sugar lips part,

Yes, then I will whistle like a nightingale,

Then I’ll scream like an animal.”

Ilya said to Prince Vladimir:

“You, Vladimir, Prince of Stolnokiev!

You go to your dining room in the little room,

Pour some green wine for the charm,

You are not a small foot and a bucket and a half,

Bring it to the Nightingale to the robber.”

That Vladimir is Prince and Stolnokievsky,

He quickly went to the dining room to his little room,

He poured a glass of green wine,

Yes, he’s not a small foot and a bucket and a half,

He cultivated standing honeys,

He brought it to the Nightingale Robber.

Nightingale the robber Odikhmantiev's son,

He accepted the glass from the prince with one hand,

The Nightingale drank the glass in one breath.

He whistled like a Nightingale here after the nightingale,

The robber shouted like an animal,

The poppies on the towers have become crooked,

And the shards in the towers scattered

From him from the nightingale's whistle,

And for what it’s worth, they’re all lying dead;

And Vladimir is Prince of Stolnokiev,

He covers himself with a marten fur coat.

And here is an old Cossack and Ilya Muromets,

He quickly mounted his good horse,

And he was taking the Nightingale to an open field,

And he cut off his head.

Ilya spoke and these are the words:

“It’s enough for you to whistle loudly and like a nightingale,

You're full of screaming like an animal,

You are full of tears and fathers of mothers,

You are good enough to make widows and young wives,

You’re too tired to waste orphans and little children,”

And here, Nightingale, they sing his glory,

And they sing his glory for centuries.

Bylinas are Russian folk epic songs about the exploits of heroes. The main plot of the epic is some heroic event or remarkable episode. Ilya Muromets (full epic name- Ilya Muromets son of Ivan) - one of the main characters of Old Russian epic epic, a hero who embodies the people's ideal of a hero-warrior, people's defender. He lived 800 years ago.
I am going to serve for the Christian faith,
And for the Russian land,
Ilya Muromets is the ideal warrior hero, people's defender. He lived 800 and beyond the capital city of Kyiv,
years ago. For widows, for orphans, for poor people
And for you, young princess, widow Apraxia

In the city of Murom, in the village of Karacharovo, lives Ilya, a peasant son. He sits down for thirty years and cannot get up because he has no control over his arms or legs. One day, when his parents leave and he is left alone, two passers-by stop under the windows and ask Ilya to open the gate for them and let them into the house. He replies that he cannot get up, but they repeat their request. Then Ilya gets up, lets the Kalik in, and they pour him a glass of honey drink. Ilya’s heart warms up, and he feels strength in himself. Ilya thanks the Kaliks, and they tell him that from now on he, Ilya Muromets, will be a great hero and he will not face death in battle: he will fight with many mighty heroes and defeat them. But the Kaliki do not advise Ilya to fight Svyatogor, because the earth itself carries Svyatogor with its strength - he is so portly and powerful. Ilya should not fight with Samson the hero, because he has seven angelic hairs on his head. The Kaliki also warn Ilya not to enter into combat with the Mikulov clan, for this clan loves the mother earth, and with Volga Seslavich, because Volga wins not by force, but by cunning. The Kaliki teach Ilya how to get a heroic horse: you need to buy the first stallion you come across, keep it in a log house for three months and feed it with selected millet, then walk it in the dew for three nights in a row, and when the stallion starts jumping over a high tine, you can ride it.
The Kaliki leave, and Ilya goes into the forest, to a clearing that needs to be cleared of stumps and snags, and copes with it alone. The next morning, his parents go into the forest and discover that someone has done all the work for them. At home they see that their weak son, who could not get up for thirty years, is walking around the hut. Ilya tells them about how he recovered. Ilya goes to the field, sees a frail brown stallion, buys him and cares for him the way he was taught. Three months later, Ilya mounts a horse, takes a blessing from his parents and rides out into an open field.

Having served matins in Murom, Ilya sets off on his journey to be in time for mass in capital city Kyiv. On the way, he liberates Chernigov from the siege and alone defeats an entire enemy army. He refuses the offer of the townspeople to become a governor in Chernigov and asks to show him the way to Kiev. They answer the hero that this road is overgrown with grass and no one has been driving along it for a long time, because at the Black Mud, near the Smorodina River, not far from the glorious Levanid cross, the Nightingale the Robber, Odikhmanty’s son, sits in a damp oak tree, and with his scream and whistle kills every living thing in the area. But the hero is not afraid of meeting the villain. He drives up to the Smorodina River, and when Nightingale the Robber begins to whistle like a nightingale and scream like an animal, Ilya knocks out the robber’s right eye with an arrow, fastens him to the stirrup and rides on.
When he passes by the robber's home, his daughters ask their husbands to help their father out and kill the peasant peasant. They grab the spears, but the Nightingale the Robber convinces them not to fight the hero, but to invite them into the house and generously reward them, if only Ilya Muromets would let him go. But the hero does not pay attention to their promises and takes the captive to Kiev.
Prince Vladimir invites Ilya to dinner and learns from him that the hero was traveling the straight road past Chernigov and the very places where the Nightingale the Robber lives. The prince does not believe the hero until he shows him the captured and wounded robber. At the request of the prince, Ilya orders the villain to whistle like a nightingale and roar like an animal. From the cry of the Nightingale the Robber, the crowns of the towers become crooked and people die. Then Ilya Muromets takes the robber to the field and cuts off his head.

A countless army of Tatars under the leadership of Idolishche besieges Kiev. The idol appears to Prince Vladimir himself, and he, knowing that none of the heroes are nearby, gets scared and invites him to his feast. Ilya Muromets, who is in Tsar Grad at this time, learns about the trouble and immediately goes to Kiev.
On the way, he meets the elder pilgrim Ivan, takes his stick and exchanges clothes with him. Ivan, in the dress of a hero, goes to a feast with Prince Vladimir, and Ilya Muromets comes there under the guise of an old man. The idol asks the imaginary hero what Ilya Muromets is like, how much he eats and drinks. Having learned from the elder that the hero Ilya Muromets eats and drinks very little compared to the Tatar heroes, Idolishche mocks the Russian soldiers. Ilya Muromets, disguised as a pilgrim, intervenes in the conversation with mocking words about a voracious cow that ate so much that it burst from greed. The idol grabs the knife and throws it at the hero, but he catches it in mid-flight and cuts off the idol’s head. Then he runs out into the courtyard, kills all the Tatars in Kiev with a stick and frees Prince Vladimir from captivity.

Ilya Muromets rides across the field, rides out to the Holy Mountains and sees a mighty hero dozing while sitting on a horse. Ilya is surprised that he is sleeping while walking, and hits him hard from the run, but the hero continues to sleep peacefully. It seems to Ilya that he did not hit him hard enough, he hits him again, this time harder. But he doesn’t care. When Ilya hits the hero with all his might for the third time, he finally wakes up, grabs Ilya with one hand, puts it in his pocket and carries it with him for two days. Finally, the hero’s horse begins to stumble, and when the owner reproaches him for this, the horse replies that it is difficult for him to carry two heroes alone.
Svyatogor fraternizes with Ilya: they exchange pectoral crosses and henceforth become cross brothers. Together they travel through the Holy Mountains and one day they see a wonderful miracle: there is a large white coffin. They begin to wonder who this coffin is intended for. First, Ilya Muromets lies down in it, but Svyatogor tells him that this coffin is not for him, and lies down in it himself, and asks the named brother of the cross to cover it with oak boards.
After some time, Svyatogor asks Ilya to remove the oak boards that cover the coffin, but no matter how hard Ilya tries, he cannot even move them. Then Svyatogor realizes that the time has come for him to die, and begins to foam. Before his death, Svyatogor tells Ilya to lick this foam, and then none of the mighty heroes will compare with him in strength.

The capital's prince Vladimir arranges a feast for princes, boyars and heroes, but does not invite the best of the heroes, Ilya Muromets. Ilya gets angry, takes a bow and arrows, knocks down the gilded domes from the churches and calls for the tavern to collect the gilded domes and bring them to the tavern. Prince Vladimir sees that all the city's pride is gathering around the hero and together with Ilya they drink and walk. Fearing that something bad might happen, the prince consults with the boyars about who they should send for Ilya Muromets to invite him to the feast. They prompt the prince to send for Ilya his sworn brother of the cross, Dobrynya Nikitich. He comes to Ilya, reminds him that from the very beginning they had an agreement for the younger brother to obey the greater, and the larger brother to the lesser, and then invites him to a feast. Ilya yields to his brother on the cross, but says that he would not listen to anyone else.
Together with Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya comes to the princely feast. Prince Vladimir seats them in a place of honor and brings them wine. After the treat, Ilya, turning to the prince, says that if the prince had sent him not Dobrynya Nikitich, but someone else, he would not even listen to the person sent, but would have taken an arrow and killed the prince and princess. But this time the hero forgives Prince Vladimir for the offense caused.

The capital's prince Vladimir is angry with Ilya Muromets and puts him in a deep cellar for three years. But the prince’s daughter does not approve of her father’s decision: secretly from Him, she makes fake keys and, through her trusted people, transfers hearty food and warm clothes to the hero in the cold cellar.
At this time, Tsar Kalin is planning to go to Kyiv and threatens to destroy the city, burn churches and slaughter the entire population along with Prince Vladimir and Apraksa the Queen. Tsar Kalin sends his envoy to Kiev with a letter in which it is said that Prince Vladimir must cleanse all the Streltsy streets, all the courtyards and alleys of the princes and place full barrels of intoxicating drinks everywhere so that the Tatar army has something to roam around. Prince Vladimir writes him a letter of guilt in response, in which he asks Tsar Kalin for three years to clean up the streets and stock up on intoxicating drinks.
The specified period passes, and Tsar Kalin with a huge army besieges Kyiv. The prince despairs that Ilya Muromets is no longer alive and there is no one to protect the city from the enemy. But the prince’s daughter tells her father that the hero Ilya Muromets is alive. The overjoyed prince releases the hero from the cellar, tells him about the trouble and asks him to stand up for his faith and fatherland.
Ilya Muromets saddles his horse, puts on armor, takes the best weapon and goes to an open field where an innumerable Tatar army stands. Then Ilya Muromets goes in search of the Holy Russian heroes and finds them in white tents. Twelve heroes invite him to dine with them. Ilya Muromets tells his godfather, Samson Samoilovich, that Tsar Kalin is threatening to capture Kiev, and asks him for help, but he replies that neither he nor the rest of the heroes will help Prince Vladimir, who waters and feeds many princes and boyars, and they, the Holy Russian heroes, never saw anything good from him.
Ilya Muromets single-handedly attacks the Tatar army and begins to trample the enemies with his horse. The horse tells him that Ilya alone cannot cope with the Tatars, and says that the Tatars made deep tunnels in the field and there are three of these tunnels: from the first and second the horse will be able to take out the hero, and from the third he will only get out on his own, but Ilya Muromets cannot be taken out will be able to. The hero is angry with the horse, beats him with a whip and continues to fight with the enemies, but everything happens as the horse told him: he cannot take the owner out of the third tunnel, and Ilya is captured.
The Tatars chain his hands and feet and take him to the tent of Tsar Kalin. He orders the hero to be unchained and invites him to serve with him, but the hero refuses. Ilya leaves the tent of Tsar Kalin, and when the Tatars try to detain him, the hero grabs one of them by the legs and, swinging him like a club, passes through the entire Tatar army. When the hero whistles, his faithful horse comes running to him. Ilya goes to high mountain and from there he shoots from a bow towards the white tents, so that the red-hot arrow would remove the roof from the tent and make a scratch on the chest of his godfather, Samson Samoilovich. He wakes up and realizes that the arrow that made a scratch on his chest is news from his godson, Ilya, and orders the heroes to saddle their horses and go to the capital city of Kiev to help Ilya Muromets.
Ilya joins them in the open field, and they disperse the entire Tatar army. They capture Tsar Kalina, bring him to Prince Vladimir in Kiev, and he agrees not to execute the enemy, but to take a rich tribute from him.

The Falcon-ship has been sailing along the Khvalynsk Sea for twelve years, never once landing on the shore. This ship is wonderfully decorated: the bow and stern are in the shape of an animal’s muzzle, and instead of eyes there are two yachts, and instead of eyebrows there are two sables. On the ship there are three churches, three monasteries, three German merchants, three sovereign taverns, and three live there different people who do not know each other's language.
The owner of the ship is Ilya Muromets, and his faithful servant is Dobrynya, Nikitin’s son. The Turkish lord, Saltan Saltanovich, notices the Falcon-ship from the shore and orders his rowers to sail to the Falcon-ship and take Ilya Muromets prisoner and kill Dobrynya Nikitich. Ilya Muromets hears the words of Saltan Saltanovich, puts a red-hot arrow on his tight bow and orders over it that the arrow should fly straight into the city, into the green garden, into the white tent, behind the golden table where Saltan sits, and so that it pierces Saltan’s heart. He hears the words of Ilya Muromets, gets scared, abandons his insidious plan and henceforth swears to have anything to do with the mighty hero.

Not far from the city, at an outpost, thirty heroes lived under the leadership of Ilya Muromets for fifteen years. The hero rises at dawn, takes a telescope, looks in all directions and sees how west side An unknown hero approaches, drives up to the white tent, writes a letter and hands it to Ilya Muromets. And in that letter, the unknown hero wrote that he was going to the capital city of Kiev - to burn churches and the sovereign's taverns with fire, drown icons in water, trample printed books in mud, boil the prince in a cauldron, and take the princess with him. Ilya Muromets wakes up his squad and talks about the unknown daredevil and his message. Together with his heroes, he thinks about who to send after the stranger. Finally, he decides to send Dobrynya Nikitich.
Dobrynya catches up with the unknown man in an open field and tries to enter into a conversation with him. At first the stranger does not pay any attention to Dobrynya’s words, and then he turns around, with one blow takes Dobrynya off his horse and tells him to go back to Ilya Muromets and ask him why he, Ilya, did not go after him himself.
The ashamed Dobrynya returns and tells what happened to him. Then Ilya himself gets on his horse to catch up with the stranger and get even with him. He tells his warriors that before they have time to cook cabbage soup, he will return with the head of a daring daredevil.
Ilya catches up with the unknown hero, and they enter into a duel. When their sabers break, they take hold of the clubs until they come apart, then they grab the spears, and when the spears also break, they engage in hand-to-hand combat. They fight like this all day long, but neither can hurt the other. Finally, Ilya’s leg breaks and he falls. Sokolnik is about to stab the hero, but Ilya manages to throw off the enemy. He presses Sokolnik to the ground and, before stabbing him with a dagger, asks who he is, what family and tribe he is. He answers Ilya that his mother is Zlatogorka, a daring, one-eyed hero. This is how Ilya learns that Sokolnik is his own son.
Ilya asks his son to bring his mother to Kyiv, and promises that from now on he will be the first hero in his squad. However, Sokolnik is annoyed that his mother hid from him whose son he is. He comes home and demands an answer from her. The old woman confesses everything to her son, and he, angry, kills her. After this, Sokolnik immediately goes to the outpost to kill Ilya Muromets. He enters the tent where his father is sleeping, takes a spear and hits him in the chest, but the spear hits the golden pectoral cross. Ilya wakes up, kills his son, tears off his arms and legs and scatters them across the field for prey. wild animals and birds.

Ilya is driving along the Latin Road and sees a stone on which it is written that in front of him, Ilya, there are three roads: to go along one - to be killed, along the other - to be married, along the third - to be rich.
Ilya has a lot of wealth, but he, an old man, has no need to get married, so he decides to go along the road that threatens him with death, and meets a whole village of robbers. They try to rob the old man, but Ilya jumps off his horse and disperses the robbers with just his hat, and then returns to the stone and corrects the inscription on it. He writes that he, Ilya, is not in danger of dying in battle.
He went along another road, stopped at the heroic fortress, went to church and saw twelve beautiful maidens coming from mass, and with them the princess. She invites him to her mansion for a treat. Having had his fill, Ilya asks the beauty to take him to the bedchamber, but when he sees the bed, suspicion creeps into his soul. He hits the beauty against the wall, the bed turns over, and under it is a deep cellar. The princess falls there. Then Ilya goes into the courtyard, finds the cellar doors covered with sand and firewood, and releases forty kings and forty princes. And when the beautiful princess comes out of the cellar, Ilya cuts off her head, dissects her body and scatters the pieces across the field to be devoured by wild animals and birds.
After this, Ilya returns to the stone and again corrects the inscription on it. The hero is driving along the third road, which promises him wealth, and sees: standing on the road is a wonderful cross made of gold and silver. Ilya takes this cross, takes it to Kyiv and builds a cathedral church. After this, Ilya is petrified, and his incorruptible relics are still kept in Kiev.

In the city of Murom, in the village of Karacharovo, lives Ilya, a peasant son. He sits down for thirty years and cannot get up because he has no control over his arms or legs. One day, when his parents leave and he is left alone, two passers-by stop under the windows and ask Ilya to open the gate for them and let them into the house. He replies that he cannot get up, but they repeat their request. Then Ilya gets up, lets the Kalik in, and they pour him a glass of honey drink. Ilya’s heart warms up, and he feels strength in himself. Ilya thanks the Kaliks, and they tell him that from now on he, Ilya Muromets, will be a great hero and will not face death in battle: he will fight with many mighty heroes and defeat them. But the Kaliki do not advise Ilya to fight Svyatogor, because the earth itself carries Svyatogor with its strength - he is so portly and powerful. Ilya should not fight with Samson the hero, because he has seven angelic hairs on his head. The Kaliki also warn Ilya not to enter into combat with the Mikulov clan, for this clan loves the mother earth, and with Volga Seslavich, because Volga wins not by force, but by cunning. The Kaliki teach Ilya how to get a heroic horse: you need to buy the first stallion you come across, keep it in a log house for three months and feed it with selected millet, then walk it in the dew for three nights in a row, and when the stallion starts jumping over a high tine, you can ride it.

The Kaliki leave, and Ilya goes into the forest, to a clearing that needs to be cleared of stumps and snags, and copes with it alone. The next morning, his parents go into the forest and discover that someone has done all the work for them. At home they see that their weak son, who could not get up for thirty years, is walking around the hut. Ilya tells them about how he recovered. Ilya goes to the field, sees a frail brown stallion, buys him and cares for him the way he was taught. Three months later, Ilya mounts a horse, takes a blessing from his parents and rides out into an open field.

Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber

Having served matins in Murom, Ilya sets off on his journey to be in time for mass in the capital city of Kyiv. On the way, he liberates Chernigov from the siege and alone defeats an entire enemy army. He refuses the offer of the townspeople to become a governor in Chernigov and asks to show him the way to Kyiv. They answer the hero that this road is overgrown with grass and no one has been driving along it for a long time, because at the Black Mud, near the Smorodina River, not far from the glorious Levanid cross, the Nightingale the Robber, Odikhmantiev’s son, sits in a damp oak tree, and with his scream and whistle kills every living thing in the area. But the hero is not afraid of meeting the villain. He drives up to the Smorodina River, and when Nightingale the Robber begins to whistle like a nightingale and scream like an animal, Ilya knocks out the robber’s right eye with an arrow, fastens him to the stirrup and rides on.

When he passes by the robber's home, his daughters ask their husbands to help their father out and kill the peasant peasant. They grab the spears, but the Nightingale the Robber convinces them not to fight the hero, but to invite them into the house and generously reward them, if only Ilya Muromets would let him go. But the hero does not pay attention to their promises and takes the captive to Kyiv.

Prince Vladimir invites Ilya to dinner and learns from him that the hero was traveling the straight road past Chernigov and the very places where the Nightingale the Robber lives. The prince does not believe the hero until he shows him the captured and wounded robber. At the request of the prince, Ilya orders the villain to whistle like a nightingale and roar like an animal. From the cry of the Nightingale the Robber, the crowns of the towers become crooked and people die. Then Ilya Muromets takes the robber to the field and cuts off his head.

Ilya Muromets and Idolishche

A countless army of Tatars under the leadership of Idolishche besieges Kyiv. The idol appears to Prince Vladimir himself, and he, knowing that none of the heroes are nearby, gets scared and invites him to his feast. Ilya Muromets, who is in Tsar Grad at this time, learns about the trouble and immediately goes to Kyiv.

On the way, he meets the elder pilgrim Ivan, takes his stick and exchanges clothes with him. Ivan, in the dress of a hero, goes to a feast with Prince Vladimir, and Ilya Muromets comes there under the guise of an old man. The idol asks the imaginary hero what Ilya Muromets is like, how much he eats and drinks. Having learned from the elder that the hero Ilya Muromets eats and drinks very little compared to the Tatar heroes, Idolishche mocks the Russian soldiers. Ilya Muromets, disguised as a pilgrim, intervenes in the conversation with mocking words about a voracious cow that ate so much that it burst from greed. The idol grabs the knife and throws it at the hero, but he catches it in mid-flight and cuts off the idol’s head. Then he runs out into the courtyard, kills all the Tatars in Kyiv with a stick and frees Prince Vladimir from captivity.

Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor

Svyatogor fraternizes with Ilya: they exchange pectoral crosses and henceforth become cross brothers. Together they travel through the Holy Mountains and one day they see a wonderful miracle: there is a large white coffin. They begin to wonder who this coffin is intended for. First, Ilya Muromets lies down in it, but Svyatogor tells him that this coffin is not for him, and lies down in it himself, and asks the named brother of the cross to cover it with oak boards.

After some time, Svyatogor asks Ilya to remove the oak boards that cover the coffin, but no matter how hard Ilya tries, he cannot even move them. Then Svyatogor realizes that the time has come for him to die, and begins to foam. Before his death, Svyatogor tells Ilya to lick this foam, and then none of mighty heroes cannot compare with him in strength.

Ilya in a quarrel with Prince Vladimir

Together with Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya comes to the princely feast. Prince Vladimir seats them in a place of honor and brings them wine. After the treat, Ilya, turning to the prince, says that if the prince had sent him not Dobrynya Nikitich, but someone else, he would not even listen to the person sent, but would have taken an arrow and killed the prince and princess. But this time the hero forgives Prince Vladimir for the offense caused.

Ilya Muromets and Kalin the Tsar

At this time, Tsar Kalin is planning to go to Kyiv and threatens to destroy the city, burn churches and slaughter the entire population along with Prince Vladimir and Apraksa the Queen. Tsar Kalin sends his envoy to Kyiv with a letter in which it is said that Prince Vladimir must cleanse all the Streltsy streets, all the courtyards and alleys of the princes and place full barrels of intoxicating drinks everywhere so that the Tatar army has something to roam around. Prince Vladimir writes him a letter of guilt in response, in which he asks Tsar Kalin for three years to clean up the streets and stock up on intoxicating drinks.

The specified period passes, and Tsar Kalin with a huge army besieges Kyiv. The prince despairs that Ilya Muromets is no longer alive and there is no one to protect the city from the enemy. But the prince’s daughter tells her father that the hero Ilya Muromets is alive. The overjoyed prince releases the hero from the cellar, tells him about the trouble and asks him to stand up for his faith and fatherland.

Ilya Muromets saddles his horse, puts on armor, takes the best weapon and goes to an open field where an innumerable Tatar army stands. Then Ilya Muromets goes in search of the Holy Russian heroes and finds them in white tents. Twelve heroes invite him to dine with them. Ilya Muromets tells his godfather, Samson Samoilovich, that Tsar Kalin is threatening to capture Kyiv, and asks him for help, but he replies that neither he nor the rest of the heroes will help Prince Vladimir, who waters and feeds many princes and boyars, and they, Holy Russian heroes, we never saw anything good from him.

Ilya Muromets single-handedly attacks the Tatar army and begins to trample the enemies with his horse. The horse tells him that Ilya alone cannot cope with the Tatars, and says that the Tatars made deep tunnels in the field and there are three of these tunnels: from the first and second the horse will be able to take out the hero, and from the third he will only get out on his own, but Ilya Muromets cannot be taken out will be able to. The hero is angry with the horse, beats him with a whip and continues to fight with the enemies, but everything happens as the horse told him: he cannot take the owner out of the third tunnel, and Ilya is captured.

The Tatars chain his hands and feet and take him to the tent of Tsar Kalin. He orders the hero to be unchained and invites him to serve with him, but the hero refuses. Ilya leaves the tent of Tsar Kalin, and when the Tatars try to detain him, the hero grabs one of them by the legs and, swinging him like a club, passes through the entire Tatar army. When the hero whistles, his faithful horse comes running to him. Ilya rides out to a high mountain and from there shoots an arrow towards the white tents so that the red-hot arrow removes the roof from the tent and makes a scratch on the chest of his godfather, Samson Samoilovich. He wakes up and realizes that the arrow that made a scratch on his chest is news from his godson, Ilya, and orders the heroes to saddle their horses and go to the capital city of Kyiv to help Ilya Muromets.

Ilya joins them in the open field, and they disperse the entire Tatar army. They capture Tsar Kalina, bring him to Prince Vladimir in Kyiv, and he agrees not to execute the enemy, but to take a rich tribute from him.

Ilya Muromets on the Falcon-ship

The owner of the ship is Ilya Muromets, and his faithful servant is Dobrynya, Nikitin’s son. The Turkish lord, Saltan Saltanovich, notices the Falcon-ship from the shore and orders his rowers to sail to the Falcon-ship and take Ilya Muromets prisoner and kill Dobrynya Nikitich. Ilya Muromets hears the words of Saltan Saltanovich, puts a red-hot arrow on his tight bow and orders over it that the arrow should fly straight into the city, into the green garden, into the white tent, behind the golden table where Saltan sits, and so that it pierces Saltan’s heart. He hears the words of Ilya Muromets, gets scared, abandons his insidious plan and henceforth swears to have anything to do with the mighty hero.

Ilya Muromets and Sokolnik

Dobrynya catches up with the unknown man in an open field and tries to enter into a conversation with him. At first the stranger does not pay any attention to Dobrynya’s words, and then he turns around, with one blow takes Dobrynya off his horse and tells him to go back to Ilya Muromets and ask him why he, Ilya, did not go after him himself.

The ashamed Dobrynya returns and tells what happened to him. Then Ilya himself gets on his horse to catch up with the stranger and get even with him. He tells his warriors that before they have time to cook cabbage soup, he will return with the head of the daring daredevil.

Ilya catches up with the unknown hero, and they enter into a duel. When their sabers break, they take hold of the clubs until they come apart, then they grab the spears, and when the spears also break, they engage in hand-to-hand combat. They fight like this all day long, but neither can hurt the other. Finally, Ilya’s leg breaks and he falls. Sokolnik is about to stab the hero, but Ilya manages to throw off the enemy. He presses Sokolnik to the ground and, before stabbing him with a dagger, asks who he is, what family and tribe. He answers Ilya that his mother is Zlatogorka, a daring, one-eyed hero. This is how Ilya learns that Sokolnik is his own son.

Ilya asks his son to bring his mother to Kyiv, and promises that from now on he will be the first hero in his squad. However, Sokolnik is annoyed that his mother hid from him whose son he is. He comes home and demands an answer from her. The old woman confesses everything to her son, and he, angry, kills her. After this, Sokolnik immediately goes to the outpost to kill Ilya Muromets. He enters the tent where his father is sleeping, takes a spear and hits him in the chest, but the spear hits the golden pectoral cross. Ilya wakes up, kills his son, tears off his arms and legs and scatters them across the field for wild animals and birds to prey on.

Three trips of Ilya Muromets

Ilya has a lot of wealth, but he, an old man, has no need to get married, so he decides to go along the road that threatens him with death, and meets a whole village of robbers. They try to rob the old man, but Ilya jumps off his horse and disperses the robbers with just his hat, and then returns to the stone and corrects the inscription on it. He writes that he, Ilya, is not in danger of dying in battle.

He went along another road, stopped at the heroic fortress, went to church and saw twelve beautiful maidens coming from mass, and with them the princess. She invites him to her mansion for a treat. Having had his fill, Ilya asks the beauty to take him to the bedchamber, but when he sees the bed, suspicion creeps into his soul. He hits the beauty against the wall, the bed turns over, and under it is a deep cellar. The princess falls there. Then Ilya goes into the courtyard, finds the cellar doors covered with sand and firewood, and releases forty kings and forty princes. And when the beautiful princess comes out of the cellar, Ilya cuts off her head, dissects her body and scatters the pieces across the field to be devoured by wild animals and birds.

After this, Ilya returns to the stone and again corrects the inscription on it. The hero is driving along the third road, which promises him wealth, and sees: standing on the road is a wonderful cross made of gold and silver. Ilya takes this cross, takes it to Kyiv and builds a cathedral church. After this, Ilya is petrified, and his incorruptible relics are still kept in Kyiv.

Ilya Muromets rocks at full speed. Burushka-Kosmatushka jumps from mountain to mountain, jumps over rivers and lakes, flies over hills.

They galloped to the Bryn forests, Burushka could not gallop further: quicksand swamps had spread out, the horse was drowning up to its belly in the water. Ilya jumped off his horse. He supports Burushka with his left hand, and right hand It tears up oak trees by the roots and lays oak floorings across the swamp. Ilya laid out a road for thirty miles - good people still drive along it.

So Ilya reached the Smorodina River.

The river flows wide, turbulent, and rolls from stone to stone.

Burushka neighed, soared higher than the dark forest and jumped over the river in one leap.

The Nightingale the Robber sits across the river on three oak trees and nine branches. Not a falcon will fly past those oak trees, not a beast will run, not a reptile will crawl past them. Everyone is afraid of the Nightingale the Robber, no one wants to die...

Nightingale heard the gallop of a horse, stood up on the oak trees, and shouted in a terrible voice:

“What kind of ignoramus is passing here, past my protected oak trees?” Doesn't let the Robber Nightingale sleep!

Yes, as he whistled like a nightingale, roared like an animal, hissed like a snake, the whole earth trembled, the hundred-year-old oaks swayed, the flowers fell off, the grass lay down. Burushka-Kosmatushka fell to his knees.

And Ilya sits in the saddle, does not move, the light brown curls on his head do not tremble.

He took a silk whip and hit the horse on the steep sides:

- You are a bag of grass, not a heroic horse! Have you not heard the squeak of a bird, the barb of a viper?! Get on your feet, take me closer to the Nightingale’s Nest, or I’ll throw you to the wolves!

Then Burushka jumped to his feet and galloped towards the Nightingale’s nest.

The Nightingale the Robber was surprised and leaned out of the nest.

And Ilya, without hesitating for a moment, pulled his tight bow and released a red-hot arrow, a small arrow weighing a whole pound.

The bowstring howled, the arrow flew, hit the Nightingale in the right eye, and flew out through the left ear. The Nightingale rolled out of the nest like a sheaf of oats. Ilya picked him up in his arms, tied him tightly with rawhide straps, and tied him to the left stirrup.

The Nightingale looks at Ilya, afraid to utter a word.

- Why are you looking at me, robber, or have you never seen Russian heroes?

- Oh, I fell into strong hands, I will never be free again.

Ilya galloped further along the straight road and galloped to the farmstead of the Nightingale the Robber. He has a courtyard of seven miles, on seven pillars, he has an iron fence around him, on each stamen there is a crown, on each crown there is the head of a slain hero. And in the courtyard there are white stone chambers, gilded porches burning like heat.

Nightingale’s daughter saw the heroic horse and shouted to the whole yard:

- Our father Solovey Rakhmanovich is riding, riding, carrying a peasant peasant at his stirrup!

The wife of the Nightingale the Robber looked out the window and clasped her hands:

- What are you saying, unreasonable! It’s a hillbilly man riding and carrying your father, Solovy Rakhmanovich, at the stirrup!

Nightingale’s eldest daughter, Pelka, ran out into the yard, grabbed an iron board weighing ninety pounds and threw it at Ilya Muromets. But Ilya was dexterous and evasive, he waved the board away with his heroic hand, the board flew back, hit Pelka, killing her to death. Nightingale’s wife threw herself at Ilya’s feet:

- Take from us, hero, silver, gold, priceless pearls, as much as your hero’s horse can carry, just release our father, Nightingale the Robber!

Ilya says to her in response:

“I don’t need unjust gifts.” They were obtained with the tears of children, they were watered with Russian blood, acquired by peasant need! Like a robber in your hands - he is always your friend, but if you let him go, you will cry with him again. I’ll take Nightingale to Kyiv-gorod, drink it for kvass, and make it into kalachi!

Ilya turned his horse and galloped towards Kyiv. The Nightingale fell silent and did not move.

Ilya is driving around Kyiv, approaching the princely chambers. He tied the horse to a chiseled post, left the Nightingale the Robber on it, and he himself went to the bright room.

There, Prince Vladimir is having a feast, Russian heroes are sitting at the tables. Ilya entered, bowed, and stood at the threshold:

- Hello, Prince Vladimir and Princess Apraxia, are you receiving a visiting young man?

Vladimir Red Sun asks him:

- Where are you from, good fellow, what is your name? What kind of tribe?

- My name is Ilya. I'm from near Murom. Peasant son from the village of Karacharova. I was traveling from Chernigov by direct road.

Then Alyoshka Popovich jumps up from the table:

“Prince Vladimir, our gentle sunshine, the man is mocking you in your eyes and lying to you.” You can’t take the road straight from Chernigov. The Nightingale the Robber has been sitting there for thirty years, not allowing anyone on horseback or foot to pass. Drive the impudent hillbilly out of the palace, prince!

Ilya did not look at Alyosha Popovich, but bowed to Prince Vladimir:

“I brought you, prince, the Nightingale the Robber, he is in your yard, tied to my horse.” Wouldn't you like to take a look at him?

The prince and princess and all the heroes jumped up from their seats and hurried after Ilya to the prince’s court. They ran up to Burushka-Kosmatushka.

And the robber hangs by the stirrup, hanging with a grass bag, his hands and feet tied with straps. With his left eye he looks at Kyiv and Prince Vladimir.

Prince Vladimir tells him: .

- Come on, whistle like a nightingale, roar like an animal.

The Nightingale the Thief does not look at him, does not listen:

“It wasn’t you who took me in battle, it’s not you who ordered me.”

Then Prince Vladimir asks Ilya Muromets:

- Order him, Ilya Ivanovich.

“Okay, but don’t be angry with me, prince, but I’ll cover you and the princess with the skirts of my peasant caftan, otherwise there won’t be any trouble!” And you, Solovey Rakhmanovich, do as you are ordered!

“I can’t whistle, my mouth is caked.”

- Give Nightingale Chara a bucket and a half of sweet wine, and another of bitter beer, and a third of intoxicating honey, give him a bite to eat, then he will whistle and amuse us...

They gave the Nightingale a drink, fed it, and the Nightingale got ready to whistle.

“Look, Nightingale,” says Ilya, “don’t you dare whistle at the top of your voice, but whistle half-whistle, growl half-roar, otherwise it will be bad for you.”

Nightingale did not listen to the order of Ilya Muromets, he wanted to ruin Kyiv-grad, he wanted to kill the prince and princess, all the Russian heroes. He whistled like a nightingale, roared like a snake, and hissed like a snake.

What happened here!

The domes on the towers became crooked, the porches fell off the walls, the glass in the upper rooms burst, the horses ran away from the stables, all the heroes fell to the ground and crawled around the yard on all fours. Prince Vladimir himself is still alive, staggering, hiding under Ilya’s caftan.

Ilya got angry with the robber:

“I told you to amuse the prince and princess, but you’ve done so much trouble!” Well, now I’ll pay you off for everything. You've had enough of tearing down your fathers and mothers, you've had enough of widowing young women, you've had enough of orphaning children, you've had enough of robberies!

Ilya took a sharp saber and cut off the Nightingale’s head. This is where the end of the Nightingale came.

“Thank you, Ilya Muromets,” says Prince Vladimir. “Stay in my squad, you will be a senior hero, a leader over other heroes.” And live with us in Kyiv, live forever, from now until death.

And they went to have a feast.

Prince Vladimir seated Ilya next to him, next to him opposite the princess. Alyosha Popovich felt offended; Alyosha grabbed a damask knife from the table and threw it at Ilya Muromets. On the fly, Ilya caught a sharp knife and stuck it into the oak table. He didn’t even glance at Alyosha.

Polite Dobrynyushka approached Ilya:

- Glorious hero Ilya Ivanovich, you will be the eldest in our squad. Take me and Alyosha Popovich as comrades. You will be our eldest, and I and Alyosha will be our youngest.

Here Alyosha became incensed and jumped to his feet:

“Are you sane, Dobrynyushka?” You yourself are from the boyar family, I am from the old priestly family, but no one knows him, no one knows, they brought him from nowhere, but he is doing weird things here in Kyiv, bragging.

I have been here glorious hero Samson Samoilovich. He approached Ilya and said to him:

“You, Ilya Ivanovich, don’t be angry with Alyosha, he’s a priest’s boaster, he scolds better than anyone else, he boasts better.”

Then Alyosha shouted:

- Why is this being done? Who did the Russian heroes choose as their eldest? Unwashed forest villagers!

Here Samson Samoilovich said a word:

“You make a lot of noise, Alyoshenka, and talk foolishly; Rus' feeds on the village people.” Yes, and glory does not come from family or tribe, but from heroic deeds and heroic deeds. For your deeds and glory to Ilyushenka!

And Alyosha barks like a puppy on tour:

- How much glory will he gain, drinking mead at merry feasts!

Ilya could not stand it and jumped to his feet:

“The priest’s son spoke the right word: it is not fit for a hero to sit at a feast and grow his belly.” Let me go, prince, into the wide steppes, to see if the enemy is prowling around native Rus', whether the robbers were lying down somewhere.

Ilya Muromets - main character Kyiv cycle epic The most important of them: “The Healing of Ilya of Muromets”, “Ilya and the Nightingale the Robber”, “Ilya and Sokolnik”, “Ilya in a quarrel with Prince Vladimir”, “Ilya and Kalin the Tsar”, “Ilya and the Foul Idol”. The most ancient epics are considered to be about the battle of Ilya Muromets with the Nightingale the Robber and about the battle with Sokolnik (his son).

Back in the 19th century, scientists wondered who was behind in an epic way the enemy of the Russian hero - Nightingale the Robber. Some saw in him mythical creature- the personification of the forces of nature, the beekeeper-dart frog; others expressed the opinion that this image was borrowed from the folklore of other peoples. Still others held the view that Nightingale is a common person engaged in robbery. For his ability to whistle loudly, he was nicknamed Nightingale. In the epic narrative, the Nightingale the Robber is depicted as a creature living in the forests with his entire brood.

The epic tells about military exploits Ilya. He leaves home, from the village of Karacharovo, near Murom, to the capital city of Kyiv to serve Prince Vladimir. Along the way, Ilya accomplishes his first feat. At Chernigov he defeats the enemy army that besieged the city.

Is it the city of Chernigov that has caught up with black and black, and it’s black and black, like a black crow.

So no one walks here with infantry, No one rides here on a good horse, Let the black raven bird not fly by, Let no gray beast prowl.

And Ilya, “a burly, good fellow,” began to trample this great force with his horse and stab him with a spear. And he defeated this great force. For this, the Chernigov men invited him to Chernigov as a governor, but the hero did not agree, since he was going to serve the entire Russian land.

He is warned that the road to Kyiv is turbulent and dangerous:

The path has been blocked up, walled up, Like that one at the Mud, or at the black one, or at that birch tree at the gag... The Nightingale the Robber is sitting with oak cheese, The Nightingale the Robber is sitting Odikhmantyev 1 son. 2

However, Ilya was not frightened by the warning of the Chernigov men. He chooses the "straight road". Ilya’s good heroic horse, hearing the Nightingale’s whistle, “rests and stumbles on the baskets.” But the hero is fearless. He is ready to accomplish his second feat. The duel is described laconically, in the epic tradition. Ilya takes a tight “explosive” bow, pulls a “silk bowstring”, puts on a “hardened arrow” and shoots. He fastens the defeated Nightingale to a “damask stirrup” and takes him to Kyiv. This is the hero’s first visit to Kyiv; no one here knows him yet. The prince himself turns to Ilya with questions:

“Tell me, you’re awesome, a stout, kind fellow, they call you a good fellow, and they call you by your name, daring, according to your fatherland?”

The prince does not believe Ilya’s story, he doubts that it is possible to travel along the road where many forces have been gathered and the Nightingale the Robber rules. Then Ilya leads the prince to Nightingale. But the robber recognizes only the power of Ilya over himself, seeing in him a worthy opponent and winner, he honors him above the prince. To Vladimir’s order to demonstrate his art, Nightingale responds:

“I’m not having lunch with you today, Prince, It’s not you I want to listen to. I dined with the old Cossack Ilya Muromets, But I want to listen to him.” 3

Then Ilya Muromets orders him to whistle “half the whistle of a nightingale” and “half the cry of an animal.” But the Nightingale disobeyed and whistled with all his might. “The poppies on the towers were crooked, and the knees in the towers scattered from him, Nightingale’s whistle, that there are little people, they are all lying dead.” And Vladimir the Prince “covers himself with a marten fur coat.” Only Ilya remained on his feet. With the words: “You are full of whistling and like a nightingale, you are full of crying and fathers and mothers, you are full of making widows and young wives, you are full of letting little children become orphans!” he chops off the Nightingale's head.

Ilya's feat was filled special meaning for contemporaries who advocated the unification of Russian lands, for the integrity ancient Russian state. The epic affirms the idea of serving Rus', of performing a national feat in its name.

Bylina "Ilya Muromets and the Nightingale the Robber" has characteristics characteristic of artistic originality epic This plot genre. Events are depicted in development, characters in action. The epic is characterized by unique expressive and graphic means: triple repetitions (in the description of the strongman near Chernigov, the heroic whistle), hyperbole (image of the Nightingale the Robber, the heroic horse Ilya), comparisons, metaphors, epithets ( dark forest, grass-ants, azure flowers), diminutive suffixes, etc. Fantastic and real images are intertwined in the epic (Nightingale - Ilya).