A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections | Page 3

Bulgarian." In this connection, it must be noted that this does not
indicate the language of the Bulgarians, but merely the language of the
Slavonians who lived in Bulgaria. The Bulgarians themselves did not
belong to the Slavonic, nor even to the Indo-European race, but were of
Ural-Altaic extraction; that is to say, they belonged to the family now
represented in Europe by the Finns, Turks, Hungarians, Tatars, and
Samoyéds. In the seventh century, this people, which had inhabited the

country lying between the Volga and the Don, in southeastern Russia,
became divided: one section moved northward, and settled on the
Káma River, a tributary of the Volga; the other section moved
westward, and made their appearance on the Danube, at the close of the
seventh century. There they subdued a considerable portion of the
Slavonic inhabitants, being a warlike race; but the Slavonians, who
were more advanced in agriculture and more industrious than the
Bulgarians, effected a peaceful conquest over the latter in the course of
the two succeeding centuries, so that the Bulgarians abandoned their
own language and customs, and became completely merged with the
Slavonians, to whom they had given their name.
When the Slavonic translations of the Scriptures and the Church
Service books were brought to Russia from Bulgaria and Byzantium,
the language in which they were written received the name of "Church
Slavonic," because it differed materially from the Russian vernacular,
and was used exclusively for the church services. Moreover, as in the
early days of Russian literature the majority of writers belonged to the
ecclesiastical class, the literary or book language was gradually evolved
from a mixture of Church Slavonic and ancient Russian; and in this
language all literature was written until the "civil," or secular, alphabet
and language were introduced by Peter the Great, at the beginning of
the eighteenth century. Books were written in "Kyríllian" characters
until the sixteenth century, and the first printed books (which date from
that century) were in the same characters. The most ancient
manuscripts, written previous to the fourteenth century, are very
beautiful, each letter being set separately, and the capital letters often
assuming the form of fantastic beasts and birds, or of flowers, or gilded.
The oldest manuscript of Russian work preserved dates from the
middle of the eleventh century--a magnificent parchment copy of the
Gospels, made by Deacon Grigóry for Ostromír, the burgomaster of
Nóvgorod (1056-1057), and hence known as "the Ostromír Gospels."
But before we deal with the written and strictly speaking literary works
of Russia, we must make acquaintance with the oral products of the
people's genius, which antedate it, or at all events, contain traces of
such hoary antiquity that history knows nothing definite concerning

them, although they deserve precedence for their originality. Such are
the skázki, or tales, the poetical folk-lore, the epic songs, the religious
ballads. The fairy tales, while possessing analogies with those of other
lands, have their characteristic national features. While less striking and
original than, for example, the exquisite Esthonian legends, they are of
great interest in the study of comparative folk-lore. More important is
the poetical folk-lore of Russia, concerning which neither tradition nor
history can give us any clue in the matter of derivation or date. One
thing seems reasonably certain: it largely consists of the relics of an
extensive system of sorcery, in the form of fragmentary spells,
exorcisms, incantations, and epic lays, or bylíny.
Song accompanies every action of the Russian peasant, from the cradle
to the grave: the choral dances of spring, summer, and autumn, the
games of the young people in their winter assemblies, marriages,
funerals, and every phase of life, the sowing and the harvest, and so
forth. The kazák songs, robber songs, soldiers' songs, and historical
songs are all descendants or imitators of the ancient poetry of Russia.
They are the remains of the third--the Moscow or imperial--cycle of the
epic songs, which deals with really historical characters and events.
The Moscow cycle is preceded by the cycles of Vladímir, or Kíeff, and
of Nóvgorod. Still more ancient must be the foundations of the
marriage songs, rooted in the customs of the ancient Slavonians.
The Slavonians do not remember the date of their arrival in Europe.
Tradition says that they first dwelt, after this arrival, along the Danube,
whence a hostile force compelled them to emigrate to the northeast. At
last Nóvgorod and Kíeff were built; and the Russians, the descendants
of these eastern Slavonians, naturally inherited the religion which must
at one time, like the language, have been common to all the Slavonic
races. This religion, like that of all Aryan races, was founded on
reverence paid to the forces of nature and to the spirits of the dead.
Their gods and goddesses represented the forces of nature. Thus Ládo