Heroes of Russian epics: Volkh Vseslavyevich, Volga. Volkh Vseslavyevich - epic hero
Volga Svyatoslavich (also Volkh Vseslavyevich) is a hero, a character in Russian epics. Volga's main distinguishing feature is her cunning, the ability to shapeshift and the ability to understand the language of birds and animals.
Ryabushkin, Andrey Petrovich. Volga Vseslavevich. 1895.
Volga (Volkh) is one of the most ancient characters in Russian folklore. There is a lot of archaic and magical things in it. Miller gives Volga a mythical meaning: in his opinion, it was originally an image of a thunder cloud, as indicated by the shaking in nature described in the epic at the birth of Volga (thunder) and werewolf, that is, a constant and rapid change in the shape of a cloud under the influence of air movement. They suspect a connection between his name and the word “magician,” suggesting that only later it turned from a common noun into a proper name. Based on the surviving data about Volga, researchers of the mythology of the ancient Slavs even reconstruct (rather controversially) the ancient Slavic god of hunting Volkh.
The epic about the campaign is preserved in 11 records.
The birth of a heroBoris Olshansky. Volkhv Vseslavovich
Volga is the son of a serpent and Princess Marfa Vseslavyevna, who miraculously conceived him by accidentally stepping on a serpent. The shaking of the earth and the terrible fear of all living creatures at the moment when Volga saw the light point to him as the personification of some elemental force. Volga grows by leaps and bounds, and soon becomes a powerful hero, possessing not only the art of fighting enemies, but also reading books and turning into different animals.
This story preserves the most ancient totemic ideas about animals as the ancestors of man and the possibility of the birth of a great hunter and sorcerer directly from an animal father.
Ivan Bilibin. "Volga with his squad."
March on the Indian Kingdom
Boris Olshansky. Campaign of the Volga
The central point of the epics about Volga is his trip to a distant kingdom: Indian, the lands of Turets-Saltan, etc. He recruits a squad. To provide her with everything she needs, he turns into a wolf and a falcon, feeding her by hunting. The success of the campaign is due to the wisdom of Volga. He spoils the bowstrings of enemies with an ermine, bites the throats of horses with a wolf, and so on.
Illustration for the epic "Volga": Volga turned into a pike fish. 1904
So that the squad can overcome the impregnable walls, he turns them into ants, and within the walls of the city returns their human appearance. The winner marries the wife of the murdered king, and his warriors - the local girls left alive. He himself becomes king.
Illustration for the epic "Volga": Tsar Saltyk Stavrulyevich and Tsarina Azvyakovna
Meeting with Mikula Selyaninovich
Ivan Bilibin.Bogatyr Volga and Mikula Selaninovits.
Meeting with a wonderful plowman who surpassed Volga in “cunning and wisdom.” While collecting taxes from the cities of Gurchevets and Orekhovets, Volga met the plowman Mikula Selyaninovich, who complained about the tax collectors of the city of Gurchevets, who were charging a simple peasant exorbitant prices, and punished them for their greed with a whip. Seeing a mighty hero in Mikul, Volga invited him to join his squad to collect taxes. Having driven away, Mikula remembered that he had forgotten the plow in the ground. Twice Volga sent his warriors to pull out that plow, but the third time he and his entire squad did not overcome it. Mikula pulled out that plow with one hand. Arriving in the cities of Gurchevets and Orekhovets, they fought and collected taxes.
Volga Svyatoslavich and Prince Oleg
At one time it was customary to identify Volga Svyatoslavich with the Prophetic Prince Oleg, who reigned after Rurik. The identification is based on the similarity of names, the correspondence of Oleg’s chronicle epithet “Prophetic” (indicating his cunning and wisdom) with the qualities of Volga. In addition, Oleg’s campaign against Constantinople was correlated with Volga’s campaign in India, and in Volga’s birth from a snake they found a similarity to Oleg’s death from a snake. Vladimir Propp rejects this attempt to find a historical prototype of the Volga as completely fantastic.
Ivan Bilibin.
According to Miller, over time, memories of the prophetic Oleg and Vseslav of Polotsk joined the initially purely mythical basis. According to Wollner, there were initially two separate songs about Volga and Volkh, which were later mixed with each other. Veselovsky brings one of the epics about Volga closer to “The Walking of Charles,” and thus he compares Volga himself with Charlemagne. Volga also bears the name Buslaevich, which, according to Miller, along with the news of his learning, was transferred to him from Vasily Buslaevich of Novgorod.
Konstantin Vasiliev.Volga
Some researchers identify Volga Svyatoslavich and the Drevlyan prince Oleg Svyatoslavich, brother of Vladimir and Yaropolk Svyatoslavovich.
Volkh Vseslavevich , Volga. Volkha -
Slavic mythology.
In the epic about the hero Volga, which has come down to us in texts of the 18th-19th centuries, everything breathes deep antiquity and is permeated with ancient mythological motifs. Like many characters in world mythology, Volkh owes his birth to fantastic circumstances.
In the garden, green garden
The young princess walked and walked
Marfa Vseslavevna.
She jumped from the stone onto the fierce snake,
A fierce serpent is entwined
Near the chebot there is green morocco,
Near Shechkov's stocking,
With his trunk he hits the white whip*,
And the princess suffered diarrhea**,
And she suffered diarrhea and gave birth to a child:
And the moon brightened in the sky,
- And in Kyiv a mighty hero was born.
So, Volkh was born from a fantastic serpent and from him inherited abilities that are not characteristic of an ordinary person. That a great hero was born, who was destined for miraculous deeds, nature immediately learned about this:
The damp earth trembled...
And the blue sea swayed
For the sake of the birth of a heroic...
The fish went into the depths of the sea,
The bird flew high into the sky,
Tours and deer went beyond the mountains,
Zaiiy, foxes in thickets,
And the wolves and bears in the spruce forests,
Sables, kuniyi on the islands.
The animals were also afraid because they knew:
Volkh will be a great hunter and there will be no escape from him.
The second miracle with Volkh after birth was his incredibly fast growth and maturation. He was not yet an hour and a half old, and he had already asked his mother to swaddle him in strong damask armor,” put a golden helmet on his head and put “a heavy lead club” weighing “three hundred pounds” on his “right hand.” information from the site http://site
And finally, the third miracle that completed the formation of the hero was the speed with which Volkh mastered the sciences - literacy and magical wisdom:
And I learned the first wisdom -
Wrap yourself in a clear falcon,
He, Volkh, studied for another wisdom -
Wrap yourself in a gray wolf
Volkh studied the third wisdom -
Wrap yourself in a bay aurochs -
golden horns.
This is how the name that was given to him was justified: Volkh, that is, a sorcerer - a wizard, a sorcerer, a sorcerer. But also a priest in a pagan temple. Our Volkh was destined from birth to be a great warrior - it was not for nothing that as an infant he demanded military equipment and weapons. In ancient times - pre-princely times - he was destined for the role of tribal leader. But in Kievan Rus there were no longer leaders; they were replaced by princes. And so the epic makes Volkh the prince of Kyiv: he recruits a squad and, at the head of it, performs his exploits. Let's pay attention to his patronymic: Vseslavyevich. The chronicle preserved the name of the Polotsk prince Vseslav Bryachislavich: in the 60-70s of the 11th century, he took an active part in princely feuds, and he was considered a magician prince. It was said about him in the “Tale of Igor’s Campaign” as a prince who roamed the Russian land like a wolf at night, managed to cover the distance from Kiev to Tmutarakan “before the roosters”, running wolf-like across the path of the sun, for a moment captured the Kiev princely table and then but jumped off him like a “fierce beast”... Of course, Volkh Vseslavyevich is a fictional character who came into history from ancient mythology. But perhaps the similarity of his patronymic with the name of a real prince, who was credited with the abilities of a magician, is not accidental...
So, having recruited a squad, Volkh sets off on a campaign to a foreign kingdom. In epics recorded in the 18th-19th centuries, it is called Indian. We don’t know what it was called in ancient Russian epics, but it doesn’t matter, because we are not talking about a real event that took place in history, but about a fictional, fantastic one. It is important that this kingdom is hostile; Volkh wants to attack it in order to plunder it or to prevent the Indian king’s campaign against Rus'.
The most interesting thing is in the description of the campaign and the story of the victory. On the way to a foreign country, the squad does not suffer any difficulties: at night, while it is sleeping, Volkh, turning into a “gray wolf,” hunts animals, feeds the squad with meat and dresses it in sable fur coats; and for the sake of change, he turns into a “clear falcon” and strikes geese, swans, and ducks on the blue sea. When it is necessary to scout out enemy forces, he first turns into a bay aurochs and in several leaps reaches a foreign kingdom, and then turns into a falcon and, sitting on the window, eavesdrops on the conversation between the king and the queen; Finally, he turns into an ermine, sneaks into the royal arsenals and spoils all the weapons.
When his army approaches the city, a stone wall with an iron gate appears in front of him, and then Volkh turns the entire squad into ants, and they easily overcome the obstacle. And only in the city itself, the squad, having returned to the appearance of good fellows, shows their military abilities. After complete victory, Volkh becomes king. Let us repeat again: the epic about Volkh does not contain anything historical - in the sense of events, chronicles. It could be considered a fairy tale, if not for one very important circumstance: the people themselves treated both its hero and what was described in it with complete confidence. And in this sense, Volkh is a historical figure, he is a character in folk oral history. The image of Volkh clearly demonstrates that in Ancient Rus' a living memory of pagan times was preserved, that the heroes of pagan legends occupied their place in this memory. But they did not remain the way the popular fantasy of pagan times created them. Volkh combines the features of a mythological and historical hero. Note that there are no traces of the influence of Christian teaching in it. The fusion of early mythology and late history (already from princely times) is characteristic of the popular consciousness of Ancient Rus'; it manifested itself in a variety of forms. In this case, in the transfer of a character from pagan times to the era of Kievan Rus, in the transformation of an ancient sorcerer (tribal leader) into a prince - the leader of a squad.
The characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich from the epic of the same name is usually compiled by students in a Russian literature lesson in the seventh grade. This hero has many positive qualities, and therefore it will not be difficult to describe him. Let's try to do this in more detail.
First appearance
The characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich begins from the moment he first appears before the reader. From childhood, this prince showed himself to be a very educated and adventurous person. He is ready to learn to swim underwater as high as through dark forests, like a predatory wolf. This speaks of his activity and curiosity.
When the boy grew up and became a grown man, he decided to assemble a large squad for himself. He goes on a hike with her. His uncle Vladimir gave him an expensive gift: now Volga is the owner of three cities. The young man wanted to look at them and visit that area.
The brave squad was mounted on brown stallions by Volga Svyatoslavovich. The characterization of the hero continues with an analysis of his actions. The prince respects his warriors and does not spare them the best equipment and horses. However, his path is interrupted by a sudden acquaintance.
Mikula
Another main character of the epic appears before us. The prince is very surprised by his new acquaintance. He is so strong and brave that he plows a huge field alone. The characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich from the epic should also include a description of Mikula. This brave guy does not look at all like an ordinary plowman: he is wearing expensive clothes, which are not at all typical of a peasant tiller. True, before meeting, the main characters could not reach each other for three days. By this the author wants to show how vast the vast expanses of our Motherland are.
Volga decided to talk to the Oratai, telling him where the path was heading. In response, Mikula told him about himself. It turns out that not so long ago he also visited the city where the prince was going. He bought salt for himself. The author uses the technique of hyperbolization and through Mikula’s mouth says that he is so strong that he had to drag three bags on himself, each containing one and a half tons of salt. Undoubtedly, Volga and his squad are very surprised by such strength of the hero.
However, not everything went well on that trip: robbers attacked Mikula and began to demand money. The hero shared with them, but it was not enough; they began to beat Oratai. Then Mikula Selyaninovich had to answer them. In the end, more than a thousand men were victims of one single plowman!
Undoubtedly, this story impressed Volga. Since childhood, he dreamed of having an unusual gift or power, but, unfortunately, this is not always within our power.
Then the prince decided to invite the hero with him on a campaign.
Characteristics of Volga Svyatoslavovich and his squad
Mikula is not averse to accompanying a new acquaintance on the road. But our farmer cannot just throw away the tool of his labor. His bipod, made of strong damask steel, is decorated with gold and silver. It is unlikely that we would have met an ordinary peasant with such a rich plow. But Mikula is the personification of all men in Rus'. For this reason, the author “dresses” him in expensive clothes, elegant morocco boots, and in his hands is a tool that only a hero can have.
The characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich and Mikula Selyaninovich continues with an analysis of the episode with the prince’s squad. The hero asks Volga to send five warriors to help him and move the plow behind the willow bush. He wants to preserve it not for the poor or the rich, but for the simple Russian peasant.
The prince orders the guys to fulfill the request of the oratai. But, unfortunately, this turned out to be beyond their power.
Then Volga already sent ten warriors, but they could not cope with this.
Seeing that the squad cannot fulfill his request, Mikula himself decides to remove the bipod. This comes very easily to him: with one hand he lifts it and throws it in front of the surprised Volga.
Hike
The characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich from the epic includes information about how he got to the desired city. The prince noticed that Mikula's horse was much faster and stronger than his own. He makes fun of Volga a little with the hero that if his mare were a stallion, he would offer him as much as five hundred rubles for her. But Mikula does not want to part with her faithful friend under any circumstances and answers the prince that there is nothing more precious to him than this horse. He himself took care of it from a very young age, now he doesn’t need anyone else.
Upon arrival in the city, the prince was surprised that the men who had offended Mikula three days ago had gone to him to ask for forgiveness. Volga understands that Oratai is a good, kind and strong-willed person. He does not want to part with him, so he invites him to become a governor in his lands. This suggests that the prince is a grateful person who remembers kindness.
Conclusion
Of course, the characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich is not as bright as that of the hero Mikula. Any warrior, even the strongest, pales against his background. However, we managed to find out that this person is friendly and responsive. He does not envy Mikula, but, on the contrary, wanted to be friends with him.
“Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich” is a magnificent epic, a Russian work in the folklore genre, which was written by the people. Let's consider the main points that play an important role in the perception of the text. The characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich in the epic is also of no small importance.
Volga Svyatoslavovich in the epic went on a campaign with his fellows in order to collect tribute from people living in three cities. They heard the sound of a bipod and rushed towards it to understand where the sound was coming from. Volga Svyatoslavovich rode for a long time with his squad and finally reached his goal. He sees: standing in front of him is a fine fellow, a peasant, he is dressed in a velvet robe, and in his hands is a bipod. The young man is described in all his glory. Seeing Volga Svyatoslavovich, the fellow is interested in where the squad is heading. The prince answers him, to which he receives a warning. In the cities where they gathered, robbers live, so Volga Svyatoslavovich should be more attentive and careful with the good fellows. After this, the prince decides to take the plowman with him. He agrees. Young people gallop on their horses, but soon the peasant remembers that he forgot to throw the bipod behind a bush, leaving it in the same place. The prince sent his squad to carry out the assignment, but they did not have enough strength. As a result, Oratai returns, easily taking the bipod out of the ground and throwing it behind a broom bush. Surprised by the power of the young man, the epic hero Volga Svyatoslavovich asks what the plowman’s name is. He answers that Mikula Selyaninovich. Arriving in the city, the men recognize Mikula. They apologize to him and to Volga Svyatoslavovich. Seeing how Mikula is respected here, the prince gives him three cities.
The main characters of the epic
The main characters of the epic "Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich" are Prince Volga Svyatoslavovich and the plowman Mikula Selyaninovich. Both characters are described as majestic fellows. Despite the fact that the peasants were dressed quite simply, Mikula Selyaninovich is presented in a beautiful velvet robe, a feather headdress and bright high-heeled boots. When describing, folk language is used, which adds expressiveness to the work. Such a simple household item as a bipod is described using various means of expression, many epithets and metaphors, thanks to which the image of the plow is revealed in the most detail. The technique of contrast and antithesis was used to describe the images of Mikula Selyaninovich and Volga Svyatoslavovich. The activity of a plowman and his work rise above the military occupation of Volga Svyatoslavovich. The narrator also uses such a technique as hyperbole - exaggeration, when describing Mikula's strength, which is characteristic of the Russian epic genre. The whole squad could not cope with the work that Mikula Selyaninovich performs daily and with ease. The attitude towards the peasant is respectful, this is also expressed through the use of diminutive adjectives. But nevertheless, it is worth noting that the narrator pays less attention to the characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich.
Expressive means for describing the images of heroes
The narrator uses a variety of expressive means to describe the images of Volga Svyatoslavovich and Mikula Selyaninovich. The use of folk words and expressions adds color to the work. A large number of epithets and metaphors when describing the images of the plowman and Volga Svyatoslavovich present to the reader in more detail the appearance and character of the main characters.
The origin of the image of Volga Svyatoslavovich
The hero Volga Svyatoslavovich is a real historical character who existed during the times of Kievan Rus. It represents the prince of Kievan Rus Oleg Svyatoslavovich. His grandfather was Yaroslav the Wise himself, and Vladimir Monomakh was the prince's cousin. Oleg Svyatoslavovich was born in 1073 and was the fourth child of Svyatoslav Yaroslavich. His image is also mentioned in the work “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign.”
Characteristics of one of the main characters - Volga Svyatoslavovich
Volga Svyatoslavovich is strong, his gait is especially heavy, which emphasizes his power and greatness. It's like he's part of nature. Volga Svyatoslavovich is so close to nature, to nature, that he can turn into a bird and fly away. His closeness to nature characterizes him as an attentive person who knows how to peer, peer, and appreciates beauty and art. This means that the prince is not only physically developed, but also has a rich inner world. He also has authority among people. Volga Svyatoslavovich managed to gather young men for the campaign, creating a powerful squad. One of the main characters has respect and knows how to properly organize such an important event as a hike. All these qualities of Volga Svyatoslavovich characterize him as an organized, strong, powerful person close to nature. He is a typical hero of folklore works.
The prince is dressed in Russian clothes, characteristic of people of his class. Unlike the description of Mikula Selyaninovich’s clothes, the narrator does not attach such importance to the characterization of Volga Svyatoslavovich, and especially to what the hero appears in. The storyteller especially highlights his main qualities, such as readiness for battle, the ability to assemble a powerful squad, to be part of nature, merging with it, making up one whole. He has natural wisdom, dedication and courage. But his image pales in comparison to the image of Mikula Selyaninovich, since the narrator pays less attention to the description of Volga Svyatoslavovich. He shows that a simple Russian peasant surpasses in his qualities even such a great man as Prince Volga Svyatoslavovich. Mikula stands out for her mighty strength, the beauty of her attire and respect among the people.
Conclusion
“Volga and Mikula Selyaninovich” is a great work of Russian folklore, telling about the meeting of Mikula Selyaninovich with Prince Volga Svyatoslavovich. Despite all the greatness of the prince, the plowman surpasses the description of Volga Svyatoslavovich in terms of characteristics due to his strength and beauty. The images of the characters are described very accurately and in detail using a variety of artistic and expressive means.
In Russian folklore, the hero Volga, also known as the prince, leader of the squad, elder of the clan, is one of the most ancient characters. Volga was not particularly strong; his main “weapon” was the ability, like the god Veles, to turn into any living creature. He is a werewolf magician who inherited his magical properties from his father, a snake, from whom Princess Marfa Vsevlasevna miraculously conceived. Her son Volga grew by leaps and bounds, and he learned to read and write. And he made his first military campaign to the kingdom of the Turkish Sultan.
Before going on a campaign to Turkey, Volga gathered a squad. But his warriors needed to eat well and undergo serious combat training. And then Volga turned into a wolf, then into a falcon and went hunting. He scoured the forests, obtained animal meat for his warriors, he flew into the sky like a falcon and looked for prey from above. He taught his warriors a lot: how to make a bow, a string for it, how to fight a hand-to-hand fight.
The epics do not provide information about which sultan Volga went to fight against, whom he defeated, or which cities he conquered. It is only known that Volga himself did not directly participate in the battles against the Sultan’s troops. He turned into an ermine and spoiled the bowstrings of his enemies so that they could not shoot arrows; he became a wolf and attacked horses, gnawing their throats. And his army quickly defeated the Turkish Sultan.
Volga's squad captured rich booty - a lot of gold, silver, and precious stones. Volga himself took the Sultan's ex-wife, a beautiful Turkish woman, as his wife, and his warriors married local girls. But Volga did not stay to live in Turkey, but returned to his homeland, began to reign and collect taxes from his peasants.
Once, while collecting taxes, he heard someone plowing with great noise, loosening the earth so much that he could hear it three miles away. Volga decided to take a look at this plowman. He spurred his horse and, together with his squad, galloped towards the sounds. But no one was visible ahead.
Volga rode with his people for three days and three nights until he saw this plowman. A simple man easily uprooted rhizomes, threw out huge boulders, and his furrow was clean, deep, and his filly was fine, they both worked for pleasure, a huge field was cleared and plowed.
Volga spoke to the peasant plowman and found out that his name was Miku-la Selyaninovich. He was handsome, strong in stature, and curly-haired. Mikula complained to the prince about tax collectors who were extorting “three skins” from ordinary men.
And what did you do with them? - Volga asked him.
“It’s very simple,” Mikula answered him, “for greed, I tore them off with a whip, took off “three skins” from them. They will remember for a long time and will not dare to offend men anymore.
He also told Volga that robbers had settled down on the straight road along which he had recently been driving, so he scattered them in different directions.
Volga immediately realized that this plowman was not an ordinary man, but a brave hero who could stand up for himself. And he invited Mikula to join his squad, to become a tax collector. Mikula thought for a while and agreed.
They set off on the road together. We drove not far from the field, when Mikula decided to test the strength of the Volga warriors, he said that his plow remained in the furrow. It would be necessary to pull it out of the ground, shake it and throw it behind a willow bush so that evil people would not covet its goodness. Volga sent five of his warriors to the field. They went to the field, found a furrow, tried to pull the plow out of the ground, but could not. They returned and admitted their powerlessness. Volga sent ten more warriors with them. And they could not pull the plow out of the ground.
Then Volga, Mikula and his squad had to return to the field. The vigilantes tried to pull the plow out again, but they couldn’t. Mikula jumped from his horse to the ground, went up to the plow and with one hand easily pulled it out of the ground, shook it off and threw it behind the willow bush.
So a simple man, plowman Mikula Selyaninovich, put to shame the heroes of Prince Volga Svyatoslavovich.
