🧚 Opening, part 40 · page 2

_Kutúzovo.72 _ The Kutúzovy are one of the most ancient of Russian families; this particular village from which they derive their name must be somewhere on the trade route of the Dniepr.73

_Kvas.74 _ A liquid made from various kinds of flour and fermented with sour milk to which is added malt or yeast.75

_Name-day.76 _ The day of the patron Saint.77 In Russia Saints’ days are kept in place of birthdays.78

_Na-úm.79 _ In this Russian name the two vowels are to be sounded separately, _Na-úm_.80

_Nightingale Robber.81 _ His patronymics are Rakhmánovich, Odikhmantovich, Rakhmánya, all of them very difficult of definition or explanation.82

_Nightingale Robber.83 _ Ilyá Múromet’s conquest of the Nightingale Robber is his most notable feat.84 He is a very difficult figure to explain.85 He is a gigantic bird who has been explained on the one hand as a highway robber who was a great bard, for the Russian _solovéy_ (nightingale) is applied to a minstrel.86 But it is more probable that there is a confusion of two other words in this one, and that the word _solovéy_, which has come to mean nightingale, is either derived from _sláva_, meaning fame, or from the same root as the hostile power whom Ilyá Múromets, in some of the ballads, fights, namely Solóvnik the Grey One.87 Be this as it may, the version which has come down is that the Nightingale Robber was an enormous bird, whose nest spread over seven oaks, who had needed no other weapon than his dreadful beast-like, lion-like, or dragon-like whistle on which every wall and every beast and every man fell down in sheer terror.88 The rest of this story may be gathered from the one which has been selected for this book.89

_The Pike.90 _ The pike plays a peculiar part in Russian folk-lore.91

_Potán’ka.92 _ The name of Potán’ka [in which the ‘n’ and ‘k’ are to be sounded separately as in pin-case], is also found in the Nóvgorod ballads where Potán’ka the Lame is one of the boon companions of Vasíli Busláyevich.93

_Prískazka.94 _ Many of the tales begin with a conventional introduction which has no relation to the story.95 Such an instance may be found in ‘The Wolf and the Tailor.’96 Also in ‘A Cure for Story-telling.’97 And the tale of ‘The Dun Cow,’ ‘Princess to be Kissed at a Charge,’ etc.98

_The Realm of Stone.99 _ For the episodes in this story of the kingdom turned to stone there seems strong evidence of adaptation or loan from the Arabian Nights.100 Cf.101 The Tale of the Young King of the Black Islands, and the Tale of the City of Brass, but the development is very different.102

_Sebezh.103 _ A city in the Vitebsk Province bordering on Poland.104

_Shemyák.105 _ The judge.106 Shemyákin Sud, the court of Shemyák, is a proverbial expression for arbitrary judgments.107 He was a prince of Galicia of the time of Vasíli II, 1425–62.108 He was also a leader of the unruly nobles of that time.109 This may be partly the reason that the name of the family has been given this unfortunate significance.110

_The Shovel.111 _ Shovels are used to insert loaves and pots deep into the Russian stove, for which use see the long note on the ‘Dream.’112

_The Sister of the Sun._ The Russian commentator in the compilation, from which these stories are drawn, states that this is the expression for the dawn.113

_Sorrow.114 _ This picture of Sorrow as an ancient hag who pursues mankind throughout life is peculiarly Russian and is the theme of very many beautiful ballads.115 She is described as a lovely beggar woman, with a pale face, low stature, and hare’s blood in her veins, and her cheeks of poppy red, and she entices men to drink their sorrow away in the public-houses, and is frequently turned into a moral lesson against over-indulgence.116 But this particular application of the myth, the picture of her as a wandering devil who attaches herself to unfortunate heroes but can be cheated into non-existence, much like the ordinary devil of folk-lore, is a feature, as has been said, probably peculiar to Russia.117

_St. Nicholas.118 _ In Russia St. Nicholas is the most popular miracle worker amongst all the saints.119 In the story of St. Nicholas and St. Elias his beneficent character is clearly shown.120

In the story of St. Nicholas the Wonder-Worker, I have taken the story as I found it, and have not attempted to fill up the obvious gaps.121

_The Sun, and how it was made by Divine Will.122 _ This story is of literary and ancient origin; the language is very antique.123

_Svyatogór.124 _ Svyatogór in this story may be eponymous of geography.125 The word standing for _svyátyya góry_, the sacred mountains.126 Múrom is an ancient Russian settlement in the province of Vladímir, by the river Oka, and the village of Karacharovo is not far off.127

As to Svyatogór’s bride, there is another story which tells how he acquired her.128 One day Svyatogór was walking on the earth and laid hold of a wallet which an old man whom he met wandering by held.129 He could not lift it however, for it was rooted in the earth.130 He went on from there to a smith, something like Wayland Smith (the whole tale has a curious Norse tang), who forged his fortune, told him he would have to go to the Kingdom by the Sea, and there he would find his wife who for thirty years had been lying in the dung.131 He proceeds to the Kingdom by the Sea, finds the miserable hut, enters it, and sees the maiden lying in the dung.132 And her body was as dark as a pine.133 So Svyatogór purchases her freedom by taking out five hundred roubles, laying it on the table, and then snatching up his sharp sword out of his sheath smote her on her white breasts and so left her.134 Then the maiden woke up, and the skin of age-long filth had been broken; she went and traded with the five hundred roubles, came to the Holy Mountains, and presented herself there in all her maiden beauty.135 Svyatogór the Knight also came to look on her, fell in love and wooed her for his wife.136 He then recognised her by the scar on her white breasts.137