Life scenario

Save love During the time of Sitsevo, the parable of the city of Babylon was told he will see red on his forehead, about the size of a kopeck, and King Axerxes orders those people to be sent out of the city to the forest twenty miles away from the city, so that they may live there, but even if they die, and King Axerxes also kept the city of Babylon from the pestilence: that is a sign of a pestilence urchin. Having passed that designated moon for a long time, the parents of those people brought food to them from the city and laid it on the stumps, but did not agree with their parents. The same King Axerxes departed from his kingdom and died. The same people are very tenacious in the forest, they have not seen any birds or animals. Those people heard that the king was gone in Babylon, and they began to gather, wanting to go to the city. And she found an owl on a pine tree, and there was a baby under the pine tree, and a wild goat near the same pine tree. And those people, not knowing how to give the baby a name, named the owl Nosor, and the goat the name Akha, and the baby the name Navhod. And give to the baby [middle name] Navchadnezzar. And he took the baby, and began to feed him, and all the people, countless in number, went down into the city of Babylon, and all the people came down into the city from the forest, and there was great joy in the city of Babylon, that all the relatives were descended, and many of them died in the forest. The princes and bolyars and nobles and all the Babylonians lived for a short time, until they were no longer alive than the king. On a certain day, the princes and bolyars and nobles and all the knights of Babylonia descended to the place of execution and made a council on how they could find a king for themselves in Babylon, so that there would be one great king over them. And all the princes and bolyars and nobles and all the Babylonians said: “It is impossible for us to choose a king from the princes and from the bolyars and from the nobles, but there are many great and noble.” And having thought up everything, and condemned all the Babylonians, that they should place the horn of Izmir at the gates of the city, and commanded all the princes and bolyars and nobles and all the Babylonians to go and ride out of the city and into the city, and over whomever the horn boils, he will be the king. above us in Babylon. And having done this, he placed the horn with the myrrh in the gates of the city. In the same hour, all the princes and bolyars and nobles and all the Babylonians rode on horseback and on foot from the city and to the city many times, and the horn did not boil over anyone. As the born baby Navchadnezzar rode from the city and to the city, that hour the horn was mixed with Izmir. The princes and bolyars and nobles and all the Babylonians saw such a great miracle, and descended from their horses, and were with the foot soldiers together, and bowed together to Navchadnezzar, and all said: “Rejoice, Navchadnezzar, king of Babylon, reigning on the throne, sitting in a scepter great glorious state. And be a champion and intercessor for us and the entire Babylonian state with your great wisdom and great bravery from the presence of great kings." And you brought him into the royal house, and put the royal robe on him, and put the royal crown on his head, and put the royal scepter in his hand, and seated him on In the kingdom of Babylon, King Axerxes had glory and majesty above many great kings, reigning for many years in the reigning city of Babylon. The disposition in his heart was as follows: if he had a prince, or a boyar, or a nobleman, or from ordinary people
On a certain day, the king commanded Navchadnezzar to be all the princes, and the nobles, and the nobles, and all the Babylonians at that time. And they all came together, King Navchadnezzar began to say: “princes, and bolyars, and nobles and all the knights of Babylonia, create for me a new city, Babylon, with seven walls, on seven miles, and the entrance and exit are one gate, and around the city you will create great serpents. the head of the serpent would enter the city." All of them, the princes, and the bolyars, and the nobles, and all the Babylonian knights, and all the Babylonians, did not disobey the king, creating the new city of Babylon. The new city of Babylon fell in love with the king. And King Navchadnezzar went to the new royal house, and all the princes, and nobles, and nobles, and their new houses. And King Nechadnezzar commanded that throughout the whole city of Babylon a banner should be placed on clothes, and on weapons, and on horses, and on bridles, and on saddles, and on mansions, on every log, and on doors, and on windows, and on ships, on on the stalls, and on the platters, and on the horses, and on all kinds of ships, and on all the livestock, the banner is all serpents. The king fell in love with that banner and ordered himself to make a sword that cut off the asp snake. And he took the queen from the great royal family as his wife, and brought with her the son of a prince named Vasily. On some great day, King Navhodnezzar commanded that at the gates of the city, at the head of the serpent, on both sides of the grid, copper bars should be made, and behind those grids he ordered coal to be placed. And as during the arrival of the ambassador, when ambassadors come from great kings or from great countries, and then the king of Babylon, Nevkhodnezzar, will command his formidable commanders outside the city and on the field, twenty versts to the city to organize the great regiments and the lion banners according to the regiments, and in all half the workshop sounded alarms, and sounds, and many-voiced trumpets. Whenever the ambassadors go straight through the great regiments, then the governors will order all the regiments to sound all the alarms and alarms and many-voiced trumpets, and then the ambassadors will march merrily. And when they arrive near the city gates, three hundred blacksmiths begin to blow bellows, lighting coal. And then smoke and sparks. And when the ambassadors enter the gates at the head of the serpent, then fire and blast will shower the ambassadors. And then the ambassadors will be filled with great horror and, having come to the great king Navchadnezzar, they will bow and tremble with their hearts and barely complete the embassy...

[Further we're talking about that many kings with great strength went to Babylon. The battles of the Babylonians with their enemies are described. The advantage is always on the side of the Babylonians. They finally win when Nebuchadnezzar himself enters the battle: his self-cutting sword, the serpent asp, flew out of the king’s scabbard and began to cut everyone around without mercy. After this, Nebuchadnezzar reigned for many years and before his death he ordered the self-cutting sword to be walled up in the city wall, conjuring it not to be removed until the end of time. After Nebuchadnezzar, his son Basil Nebuchadnezzar became king.]

On some days, many kings heard that the king of Babylon, Navhodnezzar, was no longer there, and his son, King Basilei, was reigning in Babylon, and many kings united with great forces and went to Babylon. And when he entered the Babylonian borders, then he announced to Tsar Vasily Navkhodnosorovich about the coming of many great kings with great forces, at the same time Tsar Vasily Navkhodnosorovich commanded his formidable commanders to organize large regiments, as if there were 30,000, and ordered them to fight. They, under the threat of the governor of Babylonia, began to fight, but beyond their power, they were forced back to the city. The formidable governors, princes, and bolyars, and nobles, approached the great Tsar Vasily and said everything in a loud voice: “Great Tsar Vasily Navchodnosorovich, it is not in our power to fight with many great kings. Take out, Sovereign Tsar, from the city wall of your father sword of self-cutting, asp of the serpent, for the present time of war, protect us and the Babylonian state from the presence of many foreign kings.” Tsar Vasily spoke to them: “My father’s sword was cursed until the end of the age; he did not order it to be taken out.” All of them, all the Babylonians, said in a loud voice: “You, sir, for the present time, and when the military time has passed, you, the king, preserve it again.” He, the great king, took pity on the Babylonians, commanded them to fight, and the great king Vasilei himself, taking out the sword of his father, took out the sword of his father, and commanded himself to saddle the great horse, and put on the gold-plated royal military armor, and the girdle of the self-cut sword on his thigh, and always on great horse, and taking with him the brave knights of Babylon, and went from the city to his own help. When King Vasily Navkhodnosorovich entered into his regiments, wanting to fight, that same hour the self-cutting sword, the asp of the serpent, flew out of the sheath from the king and cut off the head of King Vasily and cut off the great kings with great forces, and the Babylonian knights had everything they had. there was a banner on the dress, and on the weapons, on the horses, and on the bridles, and on the saddles, and all kinds of military serpents, all the serpents became alive, the Babylonian army ate everything, and in the city that was the banner of the serpent, they ate the wives and children and all kinds of livestock, and that there were great serpents near the city of stones, and it became alive, whistling and roaring. From the same places to the now reigning Babylon, the new city became empty, and that’s the end of this matter.

Message FROM LEO, KING OF THE GREEK, AT THE HOLY BAPTISM OF BASILI, WHO SENT HIS MESSENGERS TO THE CITY OF BABYLON TO TEST AND TAKE THE SIGN THERE FROM THE HOLY THREE YOUTHS - ANANIA, AND AZARIA, AND MISAIL

Previously, the Greek king Vasily sent two people of different languages, of Christian origin, to the city of Babylon, but they asked the king: “It is not worthy for us to be two youths, since the path is narrow; and you, king, send from the Greek the Greek, and from the Obezhan the Obezhanin, from the Russian Slovenian". And this word was pleasing to Tsar Vasily: he did as his envoys desired, and sent three pious men: the first of the Christian family, named Yuri, the second of the Greek Iyakov, the third of the Slavic Esau. When she had sent them, Tsar Vasily himself gathered his army and set off in pursuit of his envoys; and King Basil reached the city of Babylon 15 miles away, and called his messengers, and said to them: “Listen to me: I say to you, George, Esau and Jacob, now go from me to the city of Babylon, led by God. If you find the sign of the three holy saints youths, but bring this to the place, then I myself will not leave this place, but I will be a champion against the enemies of more orthodox faith and for the Christian race."
The three men heard the words spoken by the king and bowed down to the ground and left the king on their way to the city of Babylon. The messenger walked slowly, since the path was narrow, and she walked with great need; and they have already arrived near the city, and they see nothing, neither hail nor fields. And they let their horses go into the field and found a small beast; because the former great things have grown up, like thistles, undesirable grass, the circle of the whole city of Babylon; and in the distance from the city of Babylon there is grass 16 versts; Accordingly, there were two grasses, and against those grasses there were all kinds of creeping things, snakes and great toads, and various growths, innumerable in number, like great haystacks, waving from the ground to the top: ovi whistled, and some hissed, and from others It was freezing cold, just as it was freezing cold in winter. By the will of God and the prayers of the holy three youths, they were not a messenger of fear and not a single one from those reptiles, but all the reptiles themselves were running away from them with great noise, covering their heads, and running along the paths into the valleys, into the grass of that past. The same messenger, on the third day, came to that great serpent, which lies the circle of the entire city, and turned around, just as the small serpent lies bent over. And along the wall a ladder from a cypress tree was laid through that great serpent on the city wall; and who put that ladder, no one knows, except Christ himself knows; and the height of the ladder is 18 steps; on the same ladder three letters are written: the first in Greek, the second in Obezhan language, the third in Slovenian and Russian. And it is written: in Greek: “Whoever God brings, go to the ladder”; and in Obezhan language he says: “Climb this ladder without fear through the great serpent”; and in Slovenian he says: “Go up the other stairs into the city and to that very church, without fear.” There came to be inside the city through that great serpent; That great serpent itself circled around the entire city of Babylon, and bent its trunk from another country to the same gate where the head lies. The messengers, out of fear, went up the ladder through that great serpent and went along the second ladder inside, where it was placed, from the city walls and to the church, and there on that ladder three letters were written, as on the first ladder; commands those reptiles not to be afraid of that great serpent itself, nor of his majesty.
The messengers entered the church of the three holy youths, and the saints were filled with fragrance, and in the church of the three holy youths, many of their writings and deeds were written in the lyceum on the church walls. These three pious men bowed down at the grave of the three youths and said: “With this breath we bow down to you, the holy youth Ananias, and Azarias, and Misail, by God’s will of our sovereign Greek king Leo, in the holy baptism of Basil, to bring from you to him, since you are if you please." And seeing the messenger, the cup standing on the tomb was beautiful, made of gold and decorated with pearls and precious stones; That cup is full of peace and Lebanon. The messengers took that cup, drank from it, were happy and fell asleep for a long time, and arose from their sleep, and wanted to take that cup with that fragrance and carry it to the king. At that time, a voice came from the graves at the ninth hour: “Do not dare to take this cup, but you will go to the royal treasures, this speech goes to the royal court, and there you will take a sign.” The messengers are worse than ever. Then the third voice came to them: “Do not be afraid, but go to the king’s chambers.” They are up and down. The courtyard of the kings stands from the church as if it were easy to shoot from a bow; in the courtyard of the king there are many, many things laid out. One coat was very large and was decorated with many things more than the previous coats. The messengers went inside that coat, and in that chamber there stood a royal bed made of precious patterns and decorated, on it were two royal crowns: the first Nechadnezzar, the king of Babylon and the whole universe, [the other] his queen; and immediately I saw a letter lying there, written in Greek; say: “These crowns were made when Nechadnezzar the king created a golden body, at that time he arose from his sleep and wanted to take Deira to the field, and these crowns were made from samphire stone, and from bysar dragago, and from Arabian gold. and hitherto a god, but now be upon the Greek king Leo, in the holy baptism of Basil, and upon his queen Alexandra through the prayers of the holy youths.” The messengers took the crowns and the letter, and went to the second half, and there they saw the precious cufflinks, and this said the royal veil. The messengers wanted to take them with their hands, and the cuffs crumbled into dust, lying there for many years. In the same one I saw a gray crab, and in it there was a royal scarlet, this word is purple; Yes, right there you saw two caskets filled with gold, and silver, and precious beads, and valuable stones, and right there you saw a golden cup, the same as in the church of saints on the tomb of St. Ananias. The messengers took up the crab, and the gold, and that cup, and the royal scarlet robe, and crowns, and 25 precious stones, and other such things, as if they could be carried to Tsar Vasily, and returned from the royal court; and came again to the church of the three holy youths and bowed down to their graves, and there was no longer a voice to them from those graves. For this reason, the messengers were in great sadness, and approached with fear to the tomb of the holy youth Ananias, and took the cup, drank from that cup, and began to rejoice, as before, and fell asleep all night.
In the morning, when I saw off the days of Sunday at the 1st hour, there was a voice for them, with the second verb: “Wash your faces.” The messengers quickly rose up and saw the church cup standing with water; They took it up, and washed their faces, and gave praise to God and the holy three youths; and when the morning singing was completed, then a voice came to them saying: “You have taken a sign from us, and now go on your way, led by God, to Tsar Vasily.” They, having heard this, bowed down to the grave of the holy three youths, and also drank three cups from that cup; But that cup, by God’s grace, remains full: it does not empty. Then the messengers went to the ladder and carried their heavy burdens, which they had taken in the city of Babylon, and walked on the ladder from the city and the second ladder through that great serpent. One of them, Jacob the Obezhanin, stepped from the top to the third step and fell from the ladder onto that great serpent and awakened him from sleep. That great serpent heard him, and scales rose up on him, like the waves of the sea, and began to waver; The messengers took their third friend Jacob and soon ran to Tsar Vasily, and found their former selves, and already around noon they fled, and found their horses in the place where they had left them, and laid both their burdens on their horses. And at that same hour a great serpent hung down, and such a sound could not be heard anywhere. The messengers were thrown from their horses by the whistle and lay on the ground for a long hour of death; After a little while, they woke up and mounted their horses, and went to the place where Tsar Vasily stood with his army, and there was no king in that place, no army, no news about him, just seeing a lot of dead people. At some time that great serpent hung down, and at that time a great misfortune was created in the Tsar’s camp for Tsar Vasily and his people: his people and all the army fell from their horses, they died from his whistling, and many horses died. King Vasily was afraid of this and retreated from that place for 15 miles to the second place from the city of Babylon for 30 miles. Tsar Vasily was sad about those three men, their ambassador to the city of Babylon, saying about them: “My children have already died from the whistling of that serpent.” So the king asked about these messengers and his children, and then King Vasily said: “Let us wait for them in this place for a short time: they have been preserved by the living God and the prayers of the three holy youths.”
The messengers came in second place to Tsar Vasily and his army, and came and bowed to Tsar Vasily. Tsar Vasily saw his messengers, and rejoiced greatly, and glorified God and the holy three youths. The messengers told Tsar Vasily everything that happened in the row, and the wonder of the cross among the holy youths, and about the great serpent, and about themselves, how they suffered from that serpent, and gave Tsar Vasily a letter that he had taken from the Tsar’s courtyard in the coat. The king, having taken it from the envoys, went to the patriarch; The Patriarch took the royal crowns from the envoys and placed them on the head of Tsar Vasily, and the other of Queen Alexandra, and blessed them. Tsar Vasily took from his envoys 20 stones, and 5 stones, and a cup and an ambassador to Jerusalem and kept five stones for himself, and what they envoys brought was gold and silver and precious beads and all sorts of royal designs, and then he announced everything to the Tsar Vasily. Tsar Vasily did not take anything from them, but gave them and, on top of that, gave them his gift of 50 pieces of gold; and this is what Tsar Vasily said: “Come with me and ask me for whatever you want, and I will give it to you according to your request.” The messengers, having heard this from Tsar Vasily, bowed to him and came together to glorify God and the pious Tsar Lev, in the holy baptism of Vasily. Glory to our God.

« The Legend of the Babylonian Kingdom" is a folk literary work preserved in manuscripts of the 16th-17th centuries. The plot of the legend is the story of the miraculous fall of the Babylonian state, which was then inhabited by fierce animals and a huge serpent lying around the entire city. The Byzantine Emperor Leo (probably Leo VI the Philosopher) sends envoys to Babylon for a sign; The ambassadors return with the royal crown of King Nebuchadnezzar and with a Greek charter, according to which the supreme power, by God's command, should pass to the Byzantine emperors.

This is the original skeleton of a Byzantine legend, to which, over time, was attached Russian ending: the Byzantine Tsar Vasily sends to Prince Vladimir of Kyiv “a carnelian crab with all the royal fine linen” and Monomakh’s cap, “the same taken from Babylon.”

“The Tale of the Kingdom of Babylon” is quite similar to “The Tale of the Novgorod White Cowl” and emphasizes the prevailing opinion in Russia at that time, which considered Byzantium the source of secular and spiritual power. At the same time, it marks the awareness of the worldwide power of the Russian Tsar and the head of the Russian Church.

The plot, similar to the end of the Russian edition of the story about the Kingdom of Babylon, is “The Tale of the Great Princes of Vladimir,” which says that Emperor Constantine Monomakh sent Vladimir, the Russian prince, a royal crown and “carnelian crab.” Which legend is ancient cannot be said with complete certainty. Perhaps the Byzantine legend about the transfer of imperial power to the Byzantine king first passed to Russia and immediately received a Russian coloring, so that everything said about Emperor Leo was repeated with a change of names: Nebuchadnezzar to Basil and Leo to Vladimir; then, over time, the first part was completely discarded, and only the common Russian ending remained, which thus developed into the independent “Tale of the Princes of Vladimir.” Or maybe, on the contrary, the historical traditions about the adoption of Christianity from Byzantium began over time to take on, instead of a religious, political overtones, and thus “The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” could appear completely independently on Russian soil; Then, when “The Tale of the Kingdom of Babylon” was brought from Byzantium to Russia, the Russian story naturally joined it and merged with it. TO last opinion A. N. Pypin leans in his “essay literary history ancient stories and Russian fairy tales." I. N. Zhdanov, in his study “The Tale of Babylon,” cites two folk tales about the journey to Babylon of Theodore Borma and Borma Yaryzhka for the royal crown and scepter. Both of them reflect the story of the embassy to Babylon of Emperor Leo with the addition of other subjects of mythological content, for example the myth of Polyphemus or Likha the One-Eyed, tales of grateful animals, etc. Zhdanov divides Old Russian tales about Babylon into three sections: “The Parable of the City of Babylon ", or "The Tale of the City of Babylon", "The Message from Leo to Babylon" and "On the Marriage of Nebuchadnezzar". All these stories are completely mixed up in Russian literature and are known only from later copies.

« The Legend of the Babylonian Kingdom" is a folk literary work preserved in manuscripts of the 16th-17th centuries. The plot of the tale is the story of the miraculous fall of the Babylonian state, which was then inhabited by fierce animals and a huge serpent lying around the entire city. The Byzantine Emperor Leo (probably Leo VI the Philosopher) sends envoys to Babylon for a sign; The ambassadors return with the royal crown of King Nebuchadnezzar and with a Greek charter, according to which the supreme power, by God's command, should pass to the Byzantine emperors.

This is the original skeleton of the Byzantine legend, to which, over time, a Russian ending was attached: the Byzantine Tsar Vasily sends to Prince Vladimir of Kyiv “a carnelian crab with all the royal fine linen” and Monomakh’s cap, “which was taken from Babylon.”

“The Tale of the Kingdom of Babylon” is quite similar to “The Tale of the Novgorod White Cowl” and emphasizes the prevailing opinion in Russia at that time, which considered Byzantium the source of secular and spiritual power. At the same time, it marks the awareness of the worldwide power of the Russian Tsar and the head of the Russian Church.

According to A. N. Veselovsky (article in the “Slavic Collection”, vol. II and “Archiv für slav. Phil.”, vol. II), the legend passed into ancient Rus' through South Slavic translations, and in turn Byzantium inherited it from Iranian-Semitic folk literature. The same scientist notes (appendix to Volume XLV of the Notes of the Imperial Academy of Sciences) that the motifs of the Babylonian story were included in the life of Saints Kirik and Julitta.

The plot, similar to the end of the Russian edition of the story about the Kingdom of Babylon, is “The Tale of the Grand Dukes of Vladimir,” which says that Emperor Constantine Monomakh sent Vladimir, the Russian prince, a royal crown and “carnelian crab.” Which legend is older cannot be said with complete certainty. Perhaps the Byzantine legend about the transfer of imperial power to the Byzantine king first passed to Russia and immediately received a Russian coloring, so that everything said about Emperor Leo was repeated with a change of names: Nebuchadnezzar to Basil and Leo to Vladimir; then, over time, the first part was completely discarded, and only the common Russian ending remained, which thus developed into the independent “Tale of the Princes of Vladimir.” Or maybe, on the contrary, the historical traditions about the adoption of Christianity from Byzantium began over time to take on, instead of a religious, political overtones, and thus “The Tale of the Princes of Vladimir” could appear completely independently on Russian soil; Then, when “The Tale of the Kingdom of Babylon” was brought from Byzantium to Russia, the Russian story naturally joined it and merged with it. A. N. Pypin leans towards the latter opinion in his “essay on the literary history of ancient Russian stories and fairy tales.” I. N. Zhdanov, in his study “The Tale of Babylon,” cites two folk tales about the journey to Babylon of Theodore Borma and Borma Yaryzhka for the royal crown and scepter. Both of them serve as a reflection of the story of the embassy to Babylon of Emperor Leo with the addition of other subjects of mythological content, for example, the myth of Polyphemus or Likha the One-Eyed, tales of grateful animals, etc. Zhdanov divides Old Russian tales about Babylon into three sections: “The Parable of the City of Babylon ", or "The Tale of the City of Babylon", "The Message from Leo to Babylon" and "On the Marriage of Nebuchadnezzar". All these stories are completely mixed up in Russian literature and are known only from later copies.

1. I. N. Zhdanov Tales of Babylon and the legend of the princes of Vladimir. Journal of the Ministry of Public Education, part 276, 1891. P. 247 - books.google.com/books?id=yxcFAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA4-PA247.

Sources

Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron: In 86 volumes (82 volumes and 4 additional ones). - St. Petersburg. : 1890-1907.

The program is recommended and rich biblical motifs "The Tale of the Kingdom of Babylon". This legend can be considered as a unique monument of literature of the 15th century, a transitional genre from legend to plot narration. It tells how Tsar Levkiy-Vasily sent three young men: the Greek Gugriy, the “obezhanin” Yakov and the Rusyn Laurus to obtain from Babylon “signs” belonging to the three holy biblical youths. In the ruins of Babylon, they see a huge sleeping serpent and inscriptions above it in the native languages ​​of the ambassadors. The inscriptions open the way to treasures for young men. In the royal palace they find the crowns of King Nebuchadnezzar, gems and cups. After drinking wine from the goblets, the ambassadors become tipsy. Returning home, they accidentally wake up the snake, it wakes up and makes a whistle that makes people fall as if they were dead. Fifteen days later, the snake's whistle reaches Vasily's camp, and his army falls to the ground dead. After some time, the king's ambassadors awaken from sleep and return from Babylon with “signs.”

The legend is a kind of monument that combines the legend of obtaining royal signs, associated with the biblical story of the three youths, and a story about adventures close to a fairy tale.

The monument is included in the hagiographic collection "Great Menaions of Chetia".

To transferable stories XVII century dates back to "The Tale of Bova the Prince". It widely uses the poetics of folklore and fairy-tale speech, which turns it into a “folk book.” Her characters are close and understandable to the Russian reader. The story is an example of how a literary work appears in its folklore existence.

The story was enjoyed great success among readers of the 18th century. The plot of the story was subjected to poetic treatment by G.R. Derzhavin, A.N. Radishchev and A.S. Pushkin.

“The Tale of Bova the Prince” is a legend about the exploits of the knight Bova de Anton, which developed in medieval France. Came to Rus' in a Serbo-Croatian translation in the 16th century, then retold in Belarusian and mentioned among literary works XVII century, the story was widely circulated until the beginning of the 20th century. On Russian soil there was a process of its processing, rapprochement with a fairy tale. The adventure element prevails in it. Several editions of the story are known.

The action of the fairy tale begins with the words: “In no kingdom, in a great state, in a glorious city in Anton, there lived the glorious king Vidon.” This is a fabulous beginning. And in the future everything resembles a fairy tale. Main actor the villain appears - Bova's mother, Queen Militrisa, who tortured her husband and married King Dodon. She tried to kill her son. Fleeing from the machinations of his evil mother, Bova fled to the Armenian kingdom and entered the service of King Zenzebei. There he fell in love with Zenzevey's daughter Druzhnevna. From then on, his adventures began: a fight with rivals who were wooing Druzhnevna, with King Markobrun seeking her hand, a duel with the hero Lukoper, the son of Tsar Saltan Saltanovich. The bowman appears in a guise very close to the epic Idol (the epic “Ilya Muromets and the Filthy Idol”): “his eyes are like a beer cauldron, and between his eyes there are five good things of a husband, and between the ears of the knee an arrow will fall, and between the shoulders there is a measured fathom.”

Bova like fairy tale hero goes through a series of adventures: participates in battles and defeats a large army, is captured, imprisoned, escapes from captivity, kidnaps Druzhnevna, loses her and finds her again. The story ends with a happy ending, as in folk tale, the hero returns to hometown. He avenges his father, kills Dodon and his criminal mother. “And Bova thought it best to live in the old days with Druzhnevna, and with his children - to experience hardships and make good things.”

The story is close to a fairy tale and has passed into folklore. The image of Bova is close to the images epic epic. He is endowed with the same traits as heroes in fairy tales: brave, honest, fights for truth and justice, has enormous physical strength, beauty external and internal. He has a good heroic horse and a treasure sword. As well as in folk epic, Bova’s opponents are also depicted. There are many fairy-tale elements in the story: cakes mixed with snake fat by Militrisa in order to poison Bova, the appearance of Bova in the form of an old man on the eve of Druzhnevna’s wedding with Markobrun, the sleeping potion that the girl gives to Markobrun, etc. Fairy-tale beginnings and endings and the fairy-tale style of “slow narration” are also typical in the story.

Originally belonging to the genre of chivalric romance, "The Tale of Bova the Prince" in ancient Russian literature was perceived as a fairy tale.

QUESTIONS AND TASKS

1. Based on the content of "The Tale of Bova the Prince", show it fairy tale character: composition, images of heroes, visual and expressive means.
2. Compare the "Tale" with the Russian epics of the Kyiv cycle: "Ilya Muromets and the Rotten Idol", "Alyosha Popovich and Tugarin", "Alyosha and Dobrynya".
3. Read an excerpt from the unfinished poem by A.S. Pushkin "Bova". How did Pushkin poetically process the famous plot?
4. What place does “The Tale of Bova the Prince” occupy in the development literature XVII century?

THE TALE OF THE KINGDOM OF BABYLON

A WORD ABOUT BABYLON, ABOUT THE THREE YOUTHS. EMBASSY OF KING LEUCIA, NAMED BASILI IN BAPTISM, WHO SENT TO BABYLON TO ASK FOR A SIGN FROM THE THREE HOLY YOUTHS - ANANIAS, AZARIA, MISAIL

At first he wanted to send three people, Christians of the Syrian family. They said: “It is not proper for us to go there, but we sent a Greek from Greece, a native from Obesia, and a Russian from Rus'.” And he sent as messengers those whom they wanted.

When they were fifteen days away from Babylon, King Basil told them: “If the sign of the saints is revealed here, then I will not renounce Jerusalem, but will be an adherent of the Christian faith and a champion against the enemies of other faiths for the Christian race.”

And three men went, the Greek Gugriy, Yakov the Obezhanin, the Rusin Laver, and rode to Babylon for three weeks, and when they arrived there, they did not see the hail: everything was so overgrown with grass that the palace could not be seen. They set off their horses and found a path along which small animals walked. In those thickets there was only part grass, and two parts reptiles; but they had no fear. And they went that way and came to the serpent.

A ladder made of cypress wood was laid across the snake, and on it there was an inscription in three parts: in Greek, in Obezh and in Russian. The first inscription in Greek: “Which man God will lead to this ladder...” The second inscription in Obezh:

“Let him cross the snake without fear...” The third inscription in Russian: “Let him walk from the stairs through the chambers to the chapel.” And there was that ladder of eighteen steps: such was the thickness of that serpent. They climbed to the top of it, and there was another staircase, down to the city, and the same thing was written on it.

And when they passed through the chambers, the chambers were full of reptiles, but they did not cause them any harm.

When they approached the church and entered it, their lips were filled with a fragrance, for in the church many deeds of the saints were written. They bowed to the tombs of the three holy youths - Ananias, Azariah and Misail - and said: “At the command of God, the great God-protected Tsar Basil came to you to ask for a sign from you.” And on the tomb of Ananias stood a golden cup, decorated with expensive stones and pearls, full of myrrh and frankincense, and a glass bowl, the like of which had never been seen. They took a sip from that cup and rejoiced. And having risen from sleep, they thought to take the cup of wine and bring it to the king. But a voice came to them from the tomb at the ninth hour of the day: “Do not take a sign from here, but go to the king’s house and there you will receive a sign!” They came to great horror. And a voice came to them a second time: “Don’t be horrified, go!”

And, getting up, they went. The Tsar's chamber was near the chapel. And when they entered the king's chamber, they saw a bed, and on it two crowns: King Nebuchadnezzar and his queen. Having taken them, they saw a letter written in Greek: “These crowns were made when King Nebuchadnezzar erected a golden idol and placed it in the Direlmes meadow.” And those crowns were made of sapphire, emerald, large pearls and Arabian gold. “Until now, these crowns were hidden, but now, through the prayers of the three holy youths, they should be placed on the God-protected Tsar Basil and the blessed Queen Alexandra.”

And upon entering the second chamber, they saw royal clothes and purple, but as soon as they touched them with their hands, everything turned to dust. And there stood caskets decorated with gold and silver, and when they opened them, they saw gold, silver and precious stones. And they took twenty great stones to take to the king, and for themselves they took as many as they could carry, and they also took a cup, the same as the one that was on the tomb of the three youths.

Then they returned to the church and, entering it, bowed to the three youths, but there was no voice from above. And they began to grieve, but they drank from that cup and rejoiced. And in the morning at dawn Sunday There was a voice to them, saying: “Let us wash our faces!” And they saw the church cup of water, washed their faces and gave praise to God and the three youths. When they sang matins and the hours, a voice came to them like this: “You have taken the sign, now, led by God, go your way to Tsar Vasily.” They bowed, drank three cups each and went to the serpent. And, putting up a ladder, they climbed over the snake and carried everything that they had taken with them.

The obezhain’s son, named Yakov, stumbled and flew down from the fifteenth step and woke up the snake. And the scales of the snake rose up like the waves of the sea. They, picking up their friend, went through the thickets and by noon they saw horses and their servants. And when they began to put what they had brought on their horses, the snake whistled. They fell dead from fear.

The whistle of the serpent also reached the place where Tsar Vasily stood, waiting for his children, for he called them his children. Because of the whistle, many of their brethren, up to three thousand, became blind and fell dead. for the king came to Babylon fifteen days' journey. And he retreated from that place sixteen days' journey and said:

“My children are already dead.” And then he said: “I’ll wait a little longer.”

They, getting up as if from sleep, went and overtook the king sixteen days' journey, and when they arrived, they bowed to the king. And the king and all his army were glad. And they told him everything, each in turn.

The Patriarch took two crowns and, after reading the letter, placed them on Tsar Vasily and Queen Alexandria, originally from Armenia. The king, taking the cup, ordered it to be filled with pure gold, and sent five expensive stones to Jerusalem to the patriarch. And the messengers told the king about everything that they brought for themselves - about gold, and silver, and precious stones, and large pearls. The king did not take anything for himself, but also gave them three gold coins. He sent them away and said to them: “Go in peace to your fathers and mothers and glorify God, and the three youths, and King Ulevui, who was named Basil in baptism.”

From there the king wished to go to India. David, the king of Crete, said: “Go against the northern countries, against the enemies of other faiths, for the Christian race!”