ABSTRACT
Alyosha Popovich is the youngest of the three main Russian bogatyrs, the others being Ilya Muromets and Dobrynya Nikitich. Alyosha appears as the central hero in three epics: “Alyosha and Tugarin,” “Dobrynya and Alyosha Popovich,” and “Alyosha and the Sister of the Petroviches-Zbrodoviches.” In them Alyosha emerges as a complex and contradictory figure, who might best be regarded as the “trickster” in the Russian epic tradition. He is noted for his slyness, agility, and craftiness, may be fun loving, is sometimes depicted as a “mocker of women,” and may occasionally be a liar and cheat. Because his patronymic (Popovich) indicates that Alyosha is the son of a priest (pop), some singers emphasize this as a part of their negative treatment of him (Smirnov and Smolitskii 1974: 343–60, 396–406).
