ABSTRACT
A hero is the man, woman, or child who is the protector of the people or of individuals, the person who is willing to stand up to evil and fight for the right. In the world of folklore, most hero tales refer to heroic characters that never existed in the real world but instead came from the dreams of storytellers or the oppressed. Folklore heroes may have a basis in history, but they are more likely to be purely imaginary characters representing the dreams of a people or a culture. For instance, Ilya Murometz, from Russian folklore, is an idealized version of the Russian peasant hero. Ilya Murometz is one of the most popular of the folk heroes of the by liny, the Russian folk ballads. He remained a popular figure through the age of the Soviet Union, and his tales are still told in modern-day Russia.
