ABSTRACT
Unlike most Russian epics, this song focuses on social differences involving a conflict between Prince Vladimir and the aristocratic boyars on the one hand, and the bogatyr Ilya Muromets on the other hand (Propp 1958b: 289–301). This bylina may represent a further development of motifs that are only alluded to in several other songs. In “Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber,” the prince and boyars are openly skeptical about Ilya’s exploits and are scornful about his peasant origin. In the beginning of some variants of “Ilya Muromets and Kalin Tsar,” Ilya has been imprisoned by Prince Vladimir and, since all bogatyrs have left Kiev in protest, none are left to protect the city against the attack of Kalin Tsar. In these two songs (Nightingale the Robber and Kalin Tsar), social tension forms the background against which a struggle takes place with an external enemy. In contrast, social conflicts in which no external enemy is present lie at the basis of the song “Ilya Muromets Quarrels with Prince Vladimir.” The advancement of social differences to the foreground suggests that this work came into existence toward the end of the sixteenth century or during the seventeenth century, when Russia was in social turmoil and when peasant uprisings and Cossack disturbances were common. Whatever the actual time of its origin may have been, this epic probably appeared later than those about the Tatar conquest and domination. Twenty-seven variants of this bylina have been recorded.
