CHAPTER I. ORAL AND WRITTEN LITERATURE.

Russian literature falls under two heads, oral and popular, or learned and artistic.

The learned literature is divided into three periods of development—the ancient, the new, and the modern.

The ancient extends from the beginning of Russian literature to the eighteenth century; the new from the eighteenth century to the forties of the nineteenth century; the modern to our own times. The Russian renaissance came two centuries later than the Western.

THE ORAL LITERATURE.

The oral literature comprises the spontaneous productions of the mind and the imagination of the people, transmitted orally from generation to generation.

THE MYTHIC EPIC.

Man in prehistoric times distinguishing himself from the outer world perceived to the full his feebleness and helplessness face to face with the unconquerable forces which made him the hapless victim of light and dark, heat and cold, hunger and thirst, misfortune and grief. Placed in utter dependence on the external powers of Nature, he acknowledged Nature as the supreme will, as something divine, and prostrated himself in a spirit of resignation and childlike veneration. He accepted as a great miracle Nature’s mysterious phenomena, whether in the calm of triumph or the terror of her anger. His observant mind was especially struck with the opposition of light and dark, heat and cold, the growth in springtime and the autumnal decay. In this wise the deities of our ancestors evidently arose out of the gradual explanation of the import of heaven and its portents, according as they were kindly or harmful manifestations of Nature. At first he worshipped the Sun and the Moon, next the Dawn and the gloaming, thunder, rain the wintry cold and the renewal in the Spring, and so forth. Later, the early Slavs, as other peoples, began noticing these objects and half-unconsciously comparing them with other beings with which they were surrounded, such as animals; and then they began worshipping them in fantastic forms, and interchanging the attributes of natural phenomena with those of man and the animals. The first phase is called anthropomorphism, the second zoomorphism.

The adoration of the forces of Nature found expression in many festivals, especially at the beginning of spring and autumn. On these occasions there was a ceremonial accompanied with songs. Furthermore, man in his dependence on the actions of Nature was constrained at many moments in his life to implore the assistance of heaven, and put his desires into mysterious acts and words to which he ascribed magical power. The principal agents in this struggle were the heroes, or in Russian bogatyri, who represented the national power. Their feats are a very rich source for the history of the national poetry, in view of the epic myths they embody. But, there are still extant only a few fragments, which now enable us to elucidate this stage of the beliefs of the people. Such relics are (1) Riddles (e.g. the dawn, the maiden, the beautious damsel, walked in the woods and dropped her keys—the moon saw her and did not betray her: the sun saw her and revealed her); or again the two sisters, one bright, the other dark—she flies without wings, runs without feet, ails without wounds. (2) Proverbs and Adages, which exemplify the oral national style and serve to record an aspect of life and condition long past, and the characteristics of the habits of the hunters and shepherds (e.g. the grey wolf in the sky catches the stars; he lived in the woods and worshipped the trunks; from the hollow of the tree there flew the brown owl, the white-owl or Satan himself.) Vows and omens are found associated with the proverbs of the most ancient period, as also interpretations of dreams and medical prescriptions: and (3) there are, in connection with these last. Incantations, which are relics of the ancient heathen prayers and imprecations.

The most important of the remains of the mythical period are the (1) the Ceremonial Songs, which accompanied the family and communal holidays; (2) the Mythical Songs in which the people adores the powers of Nature; and (3) the Heroic Songs of the bogatyri, which are intimately allied with the popular traditions and legends, and constitute the transition from supernatural to ordinary beings.

From the mythical songs we know that Perún was the god of thunder, Volos or Veles the god of cattle, Dazhbog or Khors the god of the Sun, and Stribog the god of the winds.

THE HEROIC EPIC.

When people began in the course of its development to understand its own strength, it resolved to combat the hostile powers of Nature. These natural forces were emblematized as the gods of darkness: and the champions of the protectors were adored as bright and kindly gods with the attributes of human qualities and shapes. These kindly and gentle gods are the heroes or bogatyri.

The heroic songs of the Prince Vladímir and those of the epoch of the Tatar invasion represent actual events and are therefore called historic. The memory of the Tatars is conserved in such songs as those of Shchelkan Dudeltevich, Mikhailo Kozarinov, Tsar Kalin, Prince Román Dmitrievich and his wife Mária Yúrevna.

THE ELDER AND THE YOUNGER BOGATYRI.

The cycle of the heroic epics falls into two periods: (1) the Elder Bogatyri and (2) the Younger, or the Kievite bogatyri, the tales of whom are centred round Prince Vladímir the ‘red sun.’ The former resemble rather supernatural beings: they are characterised by the power of transforming themselves into animals and possess such extraordinary strength that it becomes a burden even to themselves. The latter are more like men, do not transform their human stature: their strength, albeit not to the same degree as with the former is employed usefully in combating enemies in the persons of the peoples hostile to the Slav nations: and to these foes popular fancy has transferred many of the attributes of the elements.

THE ELDER BOGATYRI.

There are still extant of these the legends of Svyatogór, of Volgá and Mikúla Seliáninovich, i.e. Nicholas the Villager’s son.

Svyatogór is a bogatyr of titanic size, a giant of marvellous strength, which is a burden to himself. His inability to use it has made him immire himself in the earth to his knees, when he merely wanted to lift a double shoulder-bag. Svyatogór in due course handed to Iliá Múromets his strength and his steel sword. He is a symbol of the forces of Nature.

Volgá Busláevich has more human qualities. He typifies the habits of the hunter. Popular fantasy identified him with a historical personage, Olég the Wise (883-912 pp.).

Volgá collects tribute from the subject peoples, and is occupied with catching wild beasts, fish, and birds, for which purpose he transforms himself into animals.

He wins a victory outside Constantinople in a miraculous way over the “Turkish Saltán.”

Mikúla Seliáninovich typifies the agricultural man, whom the early Russians honoured above the warrior and the huntsman. This can be exemplified from this story: that Volgá is setting out to collect tribute and meets Mikúla on the way and proposes to him they should journey forth together. Mikúla agrees, but on the way remembers that he has left a plough in the ground. The companions of Volgá are first sent to fetch it, and then Volgá himself: but none of them can pull it up. At last Mikúla himself drags it out and herein shows the quality of his strength, his dexterity, patience, care and skill. Mikúla Seliáninovich may be considered to be transitional to the Younger Bogatyri the contemporaries of Vladímir. Another mediate type is the person of the peasant Uiá Múromets, the champion of the people.

THE YOUNGER BOGATYRI.

The Younger bogatyri are much more numerous than the Elder. They are also called polenicy, a word which has been derived from pole (field). They constitute in themselves almost a people scattered locally, though subsequently they were centred at Kiev around the gentle Prince Vladímir and then represented not only their original homes (e.g. Aliósha Popóvich of Rostóvj Dobrynia Nikitich of Riazáń, but also typified classes of society, the sons of priests—(in Russia parish priests are not celibate)—the boyars (nobles) the druzhíny (the retainers of noblemen) and the peasants.

The Prince Vladímir who takes the part of King Arthur in this Russian cycle is a historical character, but is a contamination of two princes of Kiev, Vladímir I and Vladímir II, who reigned 970-1015 and 1053-1126 respectively.

The principal of the Younger bogatyri are Dobrynia Nikítich Alyósha Popóvich, Churilo Polenkovich and above all the people’s favourite Iliá Múromets, the beau ideal of the bogatyri.

Their characters are well and consistently developed in this cycle of legend: and the variety and liveliness of description constitutes this epic cycle one of the most remarkable products of any popular literature.

The various deeds of the bogatyri have come down to us in the heroic cycle of Kiev, of the Republic of Nóvgorod, and some independent poems. The Nóvgorod cycle springs from the separate history of that city-state and is quite distinct from the Kiev cycle. But in general these epic...