ABSTRACT
The bylina “Volkh Vseslavyevich” has been collected seventeen times, but most recordings are incomplete or fragmentary except for the variant selected for translation from the collection of Kirsha Danilov. In this Russian expression of the epic theme about the birth of a hero and his first exploit, a series of motifs is combined in an imaginative way: miraculous birth, rapid growth, unusual strength, a born hunter and warrior, investiture of arms, learning wisdom about shape-shifting, collecting a retinue, becoming a leader, first journey, capturing a city, and defeating an adversary. As often is the case in such stories, Volkh has a supernatural origin, since his human mother conceives him from a serpent. Furthermore, his birth is accompanied by three natural portents: a radiant moon, an earthquake, and the surge of the ocean. These events cause fish, birds, and animals to flee in fear, thus indicating that Volkh will be a hunter. As in magic tales, Volkh grows not by the day but by the hour. He soon speaks, and he asks for armor rather than for diapers: a scene presenting the investiture of arms for a future warrior. As a boy he is taught not only reading and writing but also sly wisdom, or shape-shifting. At the age of twelve, Volkh forms his own druzhina, the number 7,000 being an epic exaggeration for the more traditional multiple of 30, and, as an exemplary chieftain, he supplies his druzhina with food and clothing through his shape-shifting and hunting. In order to scout the hostile Indian Kingdom, Volkh first transforms himself into an aurochs with golden horns, the fierce European wild ox that became extinct in the sixteenth century. Volkh then changes himself into a falcon that swiftly flies to the Indian Kingdom and eavesdrops on the Indian Tsar and his wife. One might assume that she has had a prophetic dream and therefore warns her husband about a future enemy who has been born in Kiev. Volkh flies back to his druzhina and returns with it to besiege the Indian Kingdom, which resembles a city more than an entire country. He uses his magical powers to change himself and his retinue into ants that crawl under the gate, restores his men to their original state, orders them to cut down people of all ages except for 7,000 darling maidens, and confronts his adversary, whom he quickly kills. Volkh becomes tsar and marries the former tsar’s wife, the members of his druzhina marry the surviving maidens, and booty from the city is divided among the future townspeople.
