Bylin about Ilya Muromets in brief summary

Healing of Elijah of Murom

Ilya, a peasant son, lives in the city of Murom, in the village of Karacharovo. He sits for thirty years and can not rise, because he does not own hands or feet. One day, when his parents leave and he remains alone, two cadavers of people stop by the windows and ask Ilya to open the gate to them and let them into the house. He says that he can not get up, but they repeat their request. Then Ilya rises, admits the calic, and they pour him a glass of honey drink. Ilya’s heart warms up, and he senses strength in himself. Ilya thanks Kalik, and they tell him that from now on he, Ilya Muromets, will be a great hero and he does not face death in battle: he will fight with many mighty warriors and defeat them. But with Svyatogor Kaliki do not advise Ilya to fight, because Svyatogora the earth itself through force carries – so he is expensive and powerful. Ilya should not fight with Samson the hero because he has seven angelic hair on his head.

Kaliki also warned Ilya not to fight with the Mikulov family, for this kind of family loves the mother-cheese land, and with Volga Seslavich, because Volga wins not by force, but by cunning. Caliki teach Ilya how to get a hero horse: you have to buy the first stallion, keep it for three months in a log cabin and feed it with fine millet, then walk three nights in a row on dew, and when the stallion jumps over a high ditch, you can ride it.

Kaliki leave, and Ilya goes to the forest, to a clearing, which must be cleared of stumps and snags, and copes with it alone. The next morning his parents go to the forest and discover that someone did all the work for them. At home, they see that their frail son, who could not get up from his place for thirty years, walks the hut. Ilya tells them about how he got well. Ilya goes to the field, sees a frail brown colt, buys it and looks after him as he was taught. Three months later, Ilya sits on a horse, takes a blessing from his parents and leaves for a clean field.

Ilya Muromets and Nightingale the Robber

Having defended matins in Murom, Ilya sets off on a journey

to catch a luncheon in the capital city of Kiev. On the way, he liberates Chernigov from the siege and one smashes an entire enemy army. He refuses the offer of the townspeople to become a voivode in Chernigov and asks him to show him the way to Kiev. Those respond to the hero that this road is overgrown with grass and for a long time no one has been driving because Black Mud, near the Smarodina River, near the glorious Levanidov cross, is sitting in a damp oak, Nightingale the robber, Odikhmantiev’s son, and with his scream and whistle kills all life in the district. But the hero is not afraid of meeting with the villain. He approaches the Smorodino River, and when the Nightingale the robber begins to whistle like a nightingale and scream like an animal, Ilya shoots the right eye with a robber, fastens it to the stirrup, and rides on.

When he passes by the robber’s dwelling, his daughters ask their husbands to help their father and kill the peasant muzhik. They grab for the rogatina, but the Nightingale the robber urges them not to fight with the hero, but to invite them into the house and give them generously, if only Ilya of Murom let him go. But the hero does not pay attention to their promises and takes the prisoner to Kiev.

Prince Vladimir invites Ilya to dine and learns from him that the hero was riding a straight road past Chernigov and the very places where the Nightingale the Robber lives. The prince does not believe the hero until he shows him a captive and wounded robber. At the request of Prince Ilya orders the villain to half-whistle like a nightingale and howling like an animal. From the scream of the Nightingale the robber, the dolphins on the houses are crooked and people die. Then Ilya Muromets takes the robber to the field and cuts his head.

Ilya Muromets and Idolishche

An untold army of Tatars led by Idolishch is besieged by Kiev. Idol is to the prince Vladimir himself, and he, knowing that none of the heroes is nearby, is frightened and invites him to his feast. Ilya Muromets, who at this time is in Tsar-grad, learns about the disaster and immediately goes to Kiev.

On the way, he meets the elder of the pilgrim Ivan, takes a crib from him and changes clothes with him. Ivan in the dress of the hero goes to the feast to Prince Vladimir, and Ilya Muromets comes there under the guise of an old man. Idolishche asks the imaginary hero, what is Ilya Muromets, how much does he eat and drink. Having learned from the old man that the hero Ilya of Murom eats and drinks quite a bit compared to the Tatar heroes, Idolice mocks Russian warriors. Ilya Muromets, disguised as a pilgrim, intervenes in a conversation with mocking words about a gluttonous cow who ate so much that she burst from greed. Idolishche grabs the knife and throws it at the hero, but he catches him on the fly and cuts down Idol’s head. Then he runs out into the yard, interrupts all the Tatars in Kiev, and rescues Prince Vladimir from captivity.

Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor

Ilya Muromets goes around the field, goes to the Holy Mountains and sees a mighty warrior, who is dozing, sitting on a horse. Ilya is surprised that he is asleep on the run, and with a running start strikes him hard, but the hero continues to sleep soundly. Ilya seems that he did not hit hard enough, he hits him again, already stronger. But that’s all for nothing. When Ilya strikes the hero with all his might for the third time, he finally wakes up, grabs Ilya with one hand, puts it in his pocket and carries with him two days. Finally, the horse of the hero begins to stumble, and when the master blames him for it, the horse says that it is difficult for him to carry two heroes alone.

Svyatogor brags with Ilya: they are changed by crosses and become henceforth the cross brothers. Together they travel to the Holy Mountains and once they see a miracle wonderful: there is a large white coffin. They begin to guess who this coffin is meant for. First Ilya of Murom lies down in the negro, but Svyatogor tells him that this coffin is not for him, and lies down in himself, and the named cross brother asks him to close it with oak boards.

After a while Svyatogor asks Ilya to remove the oak boards that cover the coffin, but, as Ilya tries, he can not even move them. Then Svyatogor understands that it is time for him to die, and begins to emanate foam. Before his death Svyatogor said Ilya, that he licked this foam, and then none of the mighty bogatyrs can be compared with him in strength.

Ilya in a quarrel with Prince Vladimir

Stolny prince Vladimir arranges a feast for the princes, boyars and heroes, and the best of the heroes, Ilya of Murom, does not invite. Ilya gets angry, takes a bow with arrows, knocks gilded dolphins off of churches and calls a tavern for a goblet – to collect gilded dolphins and carry them to a tavern. Prince Vladimir sees that the entire city gol is gathered around the hero and together with Ilya they drink and walk. Fearing, no matter how bad things turn out, the prince consults with the boyars who they should send for Ilya Muromets to invite him to a feast. Those prompt the prince to send for Ilya his named cross brother, Dobrynya Nikitich. He comes to Ilya, reminds him that from the very beginning he had been persuaded that the smaller brother should listen to more, and to the lesser – less, and then call him to a feast. Ilya concedes to his cross brother, but says that he would not listen to anyone else.

Together with Dobrynia Nikitich, Ilya comes to the prince’s feast. Prince Vladimir puts them in a place of honor and brings wine. After the meal, Ilya, referring to the prince, said that if the prince had sent to him not Dobrynya Nikitich, but somebody else, he would not even listen to the messenger, but would take an arrow and kill the prince and the princess. But this time the bogatyr forgives Prince Vladimir for the wrong done.

Ilya Muromets and Kalin-Tsar

Stolny prince Vladimir is angry with Ilya Muromets and imprisons him for three years in a deep cellar. But the prince’s daughter does not approve of the father’s decision: secretly from Him, she makes fake keys and passes through her trusted people to the hero in a cold cellar a hearty meal and warm clothes.

At this time, Kalin-tsar is going to go to Kiev and threatens to ruin the city, burn churches and cut out the entire population together with Prince Vladimir and Apraksa-the prince. Kalin-Tsar sends his envoy to Kiev with a letter in which it says that Prince Vladimir must clear all the streets of Strelets, all courtyards and princely streets, and everywhere instruct the full kegs of intoxicating beverages so that the Tatar army can roam. Prince Vladimir writes to him in return an indictment, in which he asks Kalina-tsar for three years to clear the streets and to fall intoxicated drinks.

The specified period passes, and Kalin-tsar with a huge army besieges Kiev. The prince despairs that Ilya Muromets is dead and there is no one to protect the city from the enemy. But the prince’s daughter tells his father that the hero Ilya of Murom is alive. The delighted prince lets out the hero from the cellar, tells him about the misfortune and asks to stand up for the faith and fatherland.

Ilya Muromets saddles his horse, puts on armor, takes the best weapons and goes to a clean field, where there is an innumerable Tatar army. Then Ilya Muromets goes in search of the holy Russian warriors and finds them in white tents. Twelve bogatyrs invite him to dine with them. Ilya Muromets tells his godmother, Samson Samoilovich, that Kalin-tsar threatens to capture Kiev, and asks for his help, but he replies that neither he nor the other athletes will help Prince Vladimir, who feeds and feeds many princes and boyars, and they, the Russian heroes of the Great Patriotic War, never saw anything good from him.

Ilya Muromets alone attacks the Tatar army and begins to trample on enemies with a horse. The horse tells him that Ilya alone can not cope with the Tatars, and says that the Tatars have made deep digging in the field and these three are undermining: from the first and second the horse will be able to take out the hero, and from the third, only he will get out, and Ilya Muromets will not be taken out will manage. The hero gets angry at the horse, beats him with a whip and continues to fight with the enemies, but everything happens as the horse told him: from the third subterranean he can not take out the master, and Ilya is taken prisoner.

Tatars shackle his hands and feet and lead him to the tent of Kalina-tsar. He orders to break the hero and invites him to serve with him, but the bogatyr refuses. Ilya emerges from the tent of Kalina-tsar, and when the Tatars try to detain him, the hero grabs one of them by the legs, and, waving him like a club, passes through the entire Tatar army. On the whistle of the hero he is approached by his faithful horse. Ilya sets out on a high mountain and from there fires from the bow in the direction of the white tents, so that the arched arrow lifts the roof off the tent and makes a scratch on the chest of his godfather, Samson Samoilovich. He wakes up, realizes that the arrow that made a scratch on his chest is news from his godson, Ilya, and orders the heroes to saddle their horses and go to the so-called city of Kiev to help Ilya Muromtsu.

In the open field Ilya joins them, and they disperse the entire Tatar army. Kalina-tsar they take prisoner, bring to Prince Vladimir in Kiev, and he agrees not to execute the enemy, and take from him a rich tribute.

Ilya Muromets on the Falcon-ship

For the Khvalynskoye Sea, the Falcon-ship sails for twelve years, never docking to the shore. This ship is wonderfully decorated: the nose and forage – in the form of an animal’s muzzle, and instead of eyes – two darks, and instead of eyebrows – two sables. On the ship there are three churches, three monasteries, three merchants of German, three sovereigns, and there live three different people who do not know each other’s languages.

The ship’s master is Ilya Muromets, and his faithful servant is Dobrynya, Nikitin’s son. The Turkish Pan, Saltan Saltanovich, notices the Sokol-ship from the shore and orders his rowers to sail to the Falcon-ship and take Ilya Muromets into captivity, and kill Dobrynya Nikitich. Ilya Muromets hears the words of Saltan Saltanovich, imposes a stone arrow on his tight bow and sentences above it to fly an arrow directly into the city, into the green garden, into the white tent, at the golden table where Saltan sits, and to pierce Saltan’s heart. He hears the words of Ilya of Murom, is frightened, refuses his insidious design and henceforth renounces to deal with a mighty warrior.

Ilya Muromets and Sokolnik

Not far from the city, at the outpost for fifteen years, thirty heroes live under the leadership of Ilya Muromets. The hero ascends at dawn, takes a telescope, looks in all directions and sees the unknown hero approaching from the western side, approaches a white tent, writes a charter and passes it to Ilya Muromets. And in that letter the unknown hero wrote that he was going to the capital city of Kiev – to burn churches and sovereigns with fire, to drown icons in water, to trample printed books in the mud, to weld the prince in a cauldron, and to take the princess with him. Ilya Muromets awakens his squad and talks about the unknown daredevil and about his message. Together with his heroes he thinks who to send after the stranger. Finally, he decides to send Dobrynya Nikitich.

Dobrynya catches up with the unknown in the open field and tries to enter into conversation with him. At first the stranger does not pay any attention to Dobryni’s words, and then turns, takes Dobrynya from the horse with one blow and tells him to go back to Ilya Muromets and ask him why he, Ilya, himself did not go after him.

The ashamed Dobrynya comes back and tells what happened to him. Then he himself sits on his horse to catch up with the stranger and get even with him. To his vigilantes, he says that they will not have time to cook, as he will return with the head of a defiant daredevil.

Ilya catches up with the unknown hero, and they enter into a duel. When their sabers break, they pick up the clubs until they fall apart, then grab at the spears, and when the spears break, they engage in hand-to-hand fighting. So they fight all day, but none can hurt another. Finally, Ilya’s leg breaks and he falls. Sokolnik is going to slay the hero, but Ilya manages to throw off the enemy. He presses the Falconer to the ground and, before stabbing him with a dagger, he asks who he is, what kind and tribe. He replies to Ilya, that his mother is Zlatogorka, the deceased hero is one-eyed. So Ilya learns that Sokolnik is his own son.

Ilya asks his son to bring his mother to Kiev, and promises that from now on he will be the first hero in his squad. However, Sokolnik takes the annoyance that his mother hid from him, whose son he is. He comes home and demands an answer from her. The old woman admits everything to her son, and the latter, angry, kills her. After that, Sokolnik immediately goes to the outpost to kill Ilya of Murom. He enters the tent where his father sleeps, takes a spear and strikes it in the chest, but the spear falls into the gold nativity cross. Ilya wakes up, kills his son, tears off his arms and legs, and throws wild animals and birds around the field for prey.

Three trips by Ilya Muromets

Elijah rides along the road to the Latin road and sees a stone on which it is written that in front of him, Ilya, there are three roads: one to go – to be killed, the other to be married, the third to be rich.

Ilya has a lot of wealth, and to marry him, the old one, to nothing, that’s why he decides to go on the road that threatens him with death, and meets a whole village of robbers. They try to rob the old man, but Ilya jumped off the horse and only throws the brigands away, and then returns to the stone and fixes the inscription on it. He writes that he, Ilya, does not face death in battle.

He went along another road, stopped at the fortress of the heroic one, went to church and saw that there were twelve beautiful maidens coming from the mass, and with them – the princess. She invites him to his theater for a treat. Having satted, Ilya asks a beautiful woman to take him to the bedchamber, but when he sees the bed, a suspicion creeps into his soul. He strikes the beautiful woman against the wall, the bed turns over, and beneath it – a deep cellar. The princess goes there and falls. Then Ilya goes into the courtyard, finds the cellar doors littered with sand and firewood, and releases forty kings and forty princes to freedom. And when the beautiful princess comes out from the cellar, Ilya cuts off her head, dissects her body and spreads pieces across the field to be eaten by wild beasts and birds.

After that, Ilya returns to the stone and again corrects the inscription on it. The hero travels along the third road, which promises him wealth, and sees: there stands on the road a cross of gold and silver. Ilya takes this cross, takes him to Kiev and builds a cathedral church. After that, Ilya petrified, and his imperishable relics are still kept in Kiev.