Ilya the invincible. (Russian myth) (great epics, heroic tales of man and superman)

Ilya the invincible

IN a famous painting by Viktor Vasnetsov, three valiant knights, breastplated and helmeted, mounted on powerful chargers, are shown guarding Russian soil against the enemy. Their names are Ilya of Murom, Dobrynia Nikitich and Aliosha Popovich, and they are the heroes of Russian byliny or epic poems.

The byliny tradition may go back to the end of the tenth century. In the large, bright hall of Prince Vladimir's palace at Kiev, minstrels accompanying themselves on the gusli, a kind of zither, sang of the extraordinary exploits of bogatyrs (gallant warriors), while cup-bearers filled the boyars' and other noblemen's glasses with "a blend of herbal wine and unchanging honey".

Heroes that live on

Since those times, byliny have been transmitted orally from generation to generation, an uninterrupted river of poetry in which many historical, social and geographical currents are mingled.

At the beginning of the twentieth century in the Arkhangelsk and Lake Onega regions of northern Russia, rustic bards known as skaziteli still related these heroic deeds. Usually men of a ripe old age, they used a special technique to recount their stories, keeping up a slow rhythm of three or four beats to the bar, which brought a majestic grandeur to the old songs. Woodcutters, fishermen and hunters would gather round, listening attentively.…