A Survey of Russian Literature, with Selections | Page 6

word) is incorporated into the modern Russian word for
poetry, stikhotvorénie--verse-making, literally rendered--and it has now
become plain that Lomonósoff, the father of Russian Literature, who
was the first secular Russian poet, and polished the ancient tongue into
the beginning of the modern literary language, about the middle of the
eighteenth century, did not originate his verse-measures, but derived
them from the common people, the peasants, whence he himself sprang.
Modern Russian verse, therefore, is thus traced back directly, in its
most national traits, to these religious ballads. It is impossible to give
any adequate account of them here, and it is especially difficult to
convey an adequate idea of the genuine poetry and happy phrasing
which are often interwoven with absurdities approaching the grotesque.
The ballads to which we shall briefly refer are full of illustrations of the
manner in which old pagan gods became Christian deities, so to speak,
of the newly baptized nation. For example: Perún the Thunder-god
became, in popular superstition, "St. Ilyá" (or Elijah), and the day
dedicated to him, July 20th (old style), is called "Ilyá the
Thunder-bringer." Elijah's fiery chariot, the lightning, rumbling across
the sky, brings a thunder-storm on or very near that date; and although
Perún's name is forgotten in Russia proper, he still remains, under his
new title, the patron of the husbandman, as he was in heathen times. In
the epic songs of the Vladímir cycle, as well as in the semi-religious
and religious ballads, he figures as the strongest and most popular hero,
under the name of "Ilyá Múrometz (Ilyá of Múrom), the Old Kazák,"
and his characteristic feats, as well as those attributed to his "heroic
steed, Cloud-fall," are supposed, by the school of Russian writers who
regard all these poems as cosmic myths, rather than as historical poems,
to preserve the hero's mythological significance as the Thunder-god
Perún.
He plays a similar part in the very numerous religious ballads on the
Last Judgment. St. Michael acts as the judge. Some "sinful souls"

commit the gross error of attempting to bribe him: whereupon, Michael
shouts, "Ilyá the Prophet! Anakh! Take ye guns with great thunder!
Move ye the Pharaoh mountains of stone! Let me not hear from these
sinners, neither a whine nor a whimper!"
In Lithuania the Thunder-god's ancient name is still extant in its
original form of Perkun; the Virgin Mary is called, "Lady Mary
Perkunatele" (or "The Mother of Thunder"), according to a Polish
tradition; and in the Russian government of Vilna, the 2d of February is
dedicated to "All-Holy Mary the Thunderer." It is evidently in this
character that she plays a part similar to that of St. Michael and Ilyá the
Prophet combined, as above mentioned, in another ballad of the Last
Judgment. She appears in this ballad to be the sole inhabitant of heaven,
judge and executioner. With her "thundering voice" she condemns to
outer darkness all who have not paid her proper respect, promising to
bury them under "damp mother earth and burning stones." To the just,
that is, to those who have paid her due homage, she says: "Come, take
the thrones, the golden crowns, the imperishable robes which I have
prepared for you; and if this seem little to you, ye shall work your will
in heaven."
St. Yegóry the Brave--our St. George--possesses many of the attributes
of Perún. He is, however, a purely mythical character, and the
extremely ancient religious poems relating to him present the most
amusing mixture of Christianity and Greek mythology, as in the
following example:
In the year 8008 (the old Russian reckoning, like the Jewish, began
with the creation of the world), the kingdoms of Sodom, Komor
(Gomorrah), and Arabia met their doom. Sodom dropped through the
earth, Komor was destroyed by fire, and Arabia was afflicted by a
sea-monster which demanded a human victim every day. This victim
was selected by lot; and one day the lot fell upon the king; but at the
suggestion of the queen, who hated her daughter, Elizabeth the Fair, the
girl was sent in his place, under the pretext that she was going to meet
her bridegroom. Yegóry the Brave comes to her assistance, as Perseus
did to the assistance of Andromeda, but lies down for a nap while

awaiting the arrival of the dragon. The beast approaches; Elizabeth
dares not awaken Yegóry, but a "burning tear" from her right eye
arouses him. He attacks the dragon with his spear, and his "heroic
steed" (which is sometimes a white mule) tramples on it, after the
fashion with which we are familiar in art. Then he binds Elizabeth's
sash, which is "five and forty ells in length," about the dragon's jaws,
and bids the maiden have three churches built in honor of her
deliverance: one to St. Nicholas