The tale of the hero Dobryna Nikitich. The Tale of Dobrynya Nikitich and the Snake Gorynych

"" is a cartoon fantasy on the theme of Russian epics about heroes and the Serpent Gorynych.

The overall image of a soldier embodies primordially Russian traits - courage, ingenuity, kindness and strength.

The last bride of Zmey Gorynych

Russian epic about Dobrynya Nikitich and the Serpent Gorynych

Once upon a time there lived a widow, Mamelfa Timofeevna, near Kiev. She had a beloved son - the hero Dobrynyushka. Throughout Kyiv, fame spread about Dobrynya: he was stately, and tall, and learned to read and write, and was brave in battle, and cheerful at the feast. He will compose a song, and play the harp, and smart word will say. And Dobrynya’s disposition is calm and affectionate. He will not scold anyone, he will not offend anyone in vain. No wonder they nicknamed him “quiet Dobrynyushka.”
Once upon a time it's hot summer day Dobrynya wanted to swim in the river. He went to his mother Mamelfa Timofeevna:
“Let me go, mother, to go to the Puchai River and swim in the cold water,” the summer heat has exhausted me.
Mamelfa Timofeevna got excited and began to dissuade Dobrynya:
- My dear son Dobrynyushka, don’t go to the Puchai River. The river is furious and angry. From the first stream the fire shoots out, from the second stream sparks fall, from the third stream smoke pours out in a column.
- Okay, mother, at least let me go along the shore, fresh air breathe.
Mamelfa Timofeevna released Dobrynya.
Dobrynya put on a traveling dress, covered himself with a tall Greek hat, took with him a spear and a bow with arrows, a sharp saber and a whip.
He mounted a good horse, called a young servant with him and set off. Dobrynya drives for an hour or two; The summer sun is scorching hot, burning Dobrynya’s head. Dobrynya forgot what his mother was punishing him and turned his horse towards the Puchai River.
The Puchai River brings coolness.
Dobrynya jumped off his horse and threw the reins to the young servant:
- You stay here, watch the horse.
He took off the Greek hat from his head, took off his traveling clothes, put all his weapons on his horse and rushed into the river.
Dobrynya floats along the Puchai River and is surprised:
- What did my mother tell me about the Puchai River? The Pooh-river is not fierce, The Pooh-river is quiet, like a rain puddle.
Before Dobrynya had time to speak, the sky suddenly darkened, but there were no clouds in the sky, and there was no rain, but thunder rumbled, and there was no thunderstorm, but the fire was shining...
Dobrynya raised his head and saw that the Serpent Gorynych, a terrible serpent, was flying towards him. three heads, about seven claws, flames burst from the nostrils, smoke pours from the ears, the copper claws on the paws glisten.
The Serpent saw Dobrynya and thundered:
- Eh, the old people prophesied that Dobrynya Nikitich would kill me, but Dobrynya himself came into my clutches. Now if I want, I’ll eat you alive, if I want, I’ll take you to my lair, I’ll take you prisoner. I have a lot of Russian people in captivity, only Dobrynya was missing.
And Dobrynya says in a quiet voice:
- Oh, you damned snake, first take Dobrynya, then show off, but for now Dobrynya is not in your hands.
Dobrynya knew how to swim well; he dived to the bottom, swam under the water, surfaced near a steep shore, jumped out onto the shore and rushed to his horse. And there was no trace of the horse: the young servant was frightened by the snake’s roar, jumped on the horse and was off. And he took all the weapons to Dobrynina.
Dobrynya has nothing to fight with the Serpent Gorynych.
And the Serpent again flies to Dobrynya, showers with flammable sparks, and burns Dobrynya’s white body.
The heroic heart trembled.
Dobrynya looked at the shore - there was nothing to take into his hands: there was no club, no pebble, only yellow sand on the steep bank, and his Greek hat was lying around.
Dobrynya grabbed a Greek hat, poured no more or less yellow sand into it - five pounds, and how he would hit the Snake Gorynych with his hat - and knocked off his head.
He threw the Snake down to the ground, crushed his chest with his knees, and wanted to knock off two more heads...
How the Serpent Gorynych prayed here:
- Oh, Dobrynyushka, oh, hero, don’t kill me, let me fly around the world, I will always obey you! I will give you a great vow: not to fly to you in wide Rus', not to take Russian people prisoner. Just have mercy on me, Dobrynyushka, and don’t touch my little snakes.
Dobrynya succumbed to the crafty speech, believed the Serpent Gorynych, and let him go, damned.
As soon as the Serpent rose under the clouds, it immediately turned towards Kyiv and flew to the garden of Prince Vladimir. And at that time, young Zabava Putyatishna, Prince Vladimir’s niece, was walking in the garden.
The Serpent saw the princess, was delighted, rushed at her from under the cloud, grabbed her in his copper claws and carried her to the Sorochinsky mountains.
At this time, Dobrynya found a servant and began to put on his traveling dress - suddenly the sky darkened and thunder roared. Dobrynya raised his head and saw: the Serpent Gorynych was flying from Kyiv, carrying Zzbava Putyatishna in his claws!
Then Dobrynya became sad - he became sad, he became depressed, he came home unhappy, sat down on a bench, and didn’t say a word. His mother began to ask:
- Why are you sitting sadly, Dobrynyushka? What are you talking about, my light. Are you sad?
“I’m not worried about anything, I’m not sad about anything, but it’s not fun for me to sit at home.” I’ll go to Kyiv to see Prince Vladimir, he’s having a fun feast today.
- Don’t go, Dobrynyushka, to the prince, my heart senses evil. We'll have a feast at home too.
Dobrynya did not listen to his mother and went to Kyiv to see Prince Vladimir.
Dobrynya arrived in Kyiv and went to the prince’s upper room. At the feast, the tables are full of food, there are barrels of sweet honey, but the guests do not eat, do not drink, they sit with their heads down.
The prince walks around the upper room and does not treat guests. The princess covered herself with a veil and did not look at the guests.
Here Vladimir the Prince says:
- Eh, my beloved guests, we are having a sad feast! And the princess is bitter, and I am sad. The damned Serpent Gorynych took away our beloved niece, young Zabava Putyatishna. Which of you will go to Mount Sorochinskaya, find the princess, and free her?
Where there! The guests hide behind each other: the big ones behind the middle ones, the middle ones behind the smaller ones, and the smaller ones cover their mouths.
Suddenly the young hero Alyosha Popovich comes out from behind the table.
- That's what, Prince Red Sun, yesterday I was in an open field, I saw Dobrynyushka by the Puchai River. He fraternized with the Serpent Gorynych, called him a smaller brother. You went to the Serpent Dobrynyushka. He will ask your beloved niece from your sworn brother without a fight.
Prince Vladimir got angry:
- If so, get on your horse, Dobrynya, go to Mount Sorochinskaya, get me my beloved niece. If you don’t get Putyatishna’s Fun, I’ll order you to cut off your head!
Dobrynya lowered his violent head, did not answer a word, got up from the table, mounted his horse and rode home.
Mother came out to meet him and saw that Dobrynya had no face.
- What’s wrong with you, Dobrynyushka, what’s wrong with you, son, what happened at the feast? Did they offend you, or put you under a spell, or put you in a bad place?
“They didn’t offend me or put a spell around me, and I had a place according to my rank, according to my rank.”
- Why did you, Dobrynya, hang your head?
- Prince Vladimir ordered me to perform a great service: to go to Mount Sorochinskaya, to find and get Zabava Putyatishna. And the Serpent Gorynych took away Zabava Putyatishna.
Mamelfa Timofeevna was horrified, but did not cry and be sad, but began to think about the matter.
- Go to bed, Dobrynyushka, go to sleep quickly, get some strength. The morning is wiser than the evening, tomorrow we will keep the advice.
Dobrynya went to bed. He sleeps, snores that the stream is noisy. And Mamelfa Timofeevna does not go to bed, sits on a bench and spends the whole night weaving a seven-tailed whip from seven silks.
In the morning, Dobrynya Nikitich’s mother woke up:
- Get up, son, get dressed, get dressed, go to the old stable. In the third stall the door does not open; the oak door was beyond our strength. Push up, Dobrynyushka, open the door, there you will see your grandfather’s horse Burushka. Burka has been standing in a stall for fifteen years, uncared for. Clean him, feed him, give him something to drink, bring him to the porch.
Dobrynya went to the stable, tore the door off its hinges, brought Burushka out into the world, cleaned him, bathed him, and brought him to the porch. He began to saddle Burushka. He put a sweatshirt on it, felt on top of the sweatshirt, then a Cherkassy saddle, embroidered with valuable laces and decorated with gold, tightened twelve girths, and bridled it with a golden bridle. Mamelfa Timofeevna came out and handed him a seven-tailed whip:
When you arrive, Dobrynya, on Mount Sorochinskaya, the Snake Gorynych will not be at home. You run into the lair with your horse and start trampling the baby snakes. The little snakes will wrap around Burka’s legs, and you will whip Burka between the ears with a whip. Burka will jump up, shake the baby snakes off his feet and trample every single one of them.
A branch broke off from the apple tree, an apple rolled away from the apple tree, a son was leaving his mother for a difficult, bloody battle.
Day after day passes like rain, but week after week it flows like a river. Dobrynya is riding in the red sun, Dobrynya is riding in the bright moon, he went to Mount Sorochinskaya.
And on the mountain near the snake’s lair there are teeming with baby snakes. They began to wrap Burushka’s legs around her and began to undermine her hooves. Burushka cannot jump and falls to her knees.
Dobrynya then remembered his mother’s order, grabbed the whip of seven silks, began to beat Burushka between the ears, and said:
- Jump, Burushka, jump, shake the baby snakes away from your feet.
Burushka gained strength from the whip, he began to jump high, throw stones a mile away, and began to shake baby snakes away from his feet. He beats them with his hoof and tears them with his teeth and tramples every single one of them.
Dobrynya got off his horse, took a sharp saber in his right hand, a heroic club in his left hand, and went to the snake caves.
As soon as I took a step, the sky darkened, thunder roared, and the Serpent Gorynych flies, holding a dead body in his claws. Fire shoots from the mouth, smoke pours from the ears, copper claws burn like heat...
The Serpent saw Dobrynyushka, threw the dead body to the ground, and roared in a loud voice;
- Why, Dobrynya, did you break our vow and trample my cubs?
- Oh, you damned snake! Did I break our word, did I break our vow? Why did you fly, Snake, to Kyiv, why did you take away Zabava Putyatishna?! Give me the princess without a fight, so I will forgive you.
- I won’t give up Zabava Putyatishna, I’ll devour her, and I’ll devour you, and I’ll take all the Russian people to the full!
Dobrynya got angry and rushed at the Snake.
And then fierce fighting began.
The Sorochinsky Mountains crumbled, the oak trees were uprooted, the grass went a yard deep into the ground...
They fight for three days and three nights; The Snake began to overcome Dobrynya, began to throw him up, began to throw him up... Then Dobrynya remembered about the whip, grabbed it and started lashing the Snake between the ears. The serpent Gorynych fell to his knees, and Dobrynya pressed him to the ground with his left hand, and right hand caresses with a whip. He beat and beat him with a silk whip, tamed him like a beast and cut off all his heads.
Black blood gushed from the Serpent, spread to the east and west, and flooded Dobrynya to the waist.
Dobrynya spends three days in black blood, his feet are getting cold, the cold is reaching his heart. The Russian land does not want to accept snake blood.
Dobrynya sees that the end has come for him, took out a whip of seven silks, began to whip the ground, saying:
- Make way, mother earth, and devour the blood of the snake. The damp earth opened up and devoured the snake's blood. Dobrynya Nikitich rested, washed, cleaned his heroic armor and went to the snake caves. All the caves are closed with copper doors, locked with iron bolts, and hung with golden locks.
Dobrynya broke the copper doors, tore off the locks and bolts, and entered the first cave. And there he sees a countless number of people from forty lands, from forty countries, it’s impossible to count in two days. Dobrynyushka tells them:
- Hey, you foreign people and foreign warriors! Go out into the free world, go to your places and remember the Russian hero. Without it, you would sit in snake captivity for a century.
They began to go free and bow to Dobrynya’s land:
- We will remember you forever, Russian hero!
And Dobrynya goes further, opens cave after cave, and frees captive people. Both old people and young women, small children and old women, Russian people and from foreign countries, come out into the world, but Putyatishna’s Fun is no longer there.
So Dobrynya went through eleven caves, and in the twelfth he found Zabava Putyatishna: the princess was hanging on a damp wall, chained by her hands with golden chains. Dobrynyushka tore off the chains, took the princess off the wall, picked her up and carried her out of the cave into the open world.
And she stands on her feet, staggers, closes her eyes from the light, and doesn’t look at Dobrynya. Dobrynya laid her down on the green grass, fed her, gave her something to drink, covered her with a cloak, and lay down to rest.
The sun set in the evening, Dobrynya woke up, saddled Burushka and woke up the princess. Dobrynya mounted his horse, placed Zabava in front of him and set off. And there are no number of people around, everyone bows to Dobrynya, thanks for her salvation, and rushes to their lands.
Dobrynya rode out into the yellow steppe, spurred his horse and took Zabava Putyatishna to Kyiv.

Epic "Dobrynya and the Serpent"

Mother used to say to Dobrynyushka,
Yes, and Nikitich’s mother punished him:
- Don’t go too far into an open field,
To that mountain and Sorochinskaya. 1
Don’t you help out the Polons and the Russians,
Do not swim, Dobrynya, in the Puchai River, 2
That Puchai River is very fierce,
But Dobrynya did not listen to his mother.
How he rides far into an open field,
And to Thuya on Sorochinskaya Mountain,
He trampled the young snakes,
And he helped out the full Russians.
His heroic heart began to sweat,
My heart started to sweat, I got thirsty -
He seasoned his good horse,
He is kind to the horse and to the Puchai River,
He got off, Dobrynya, from his good horse,
Yes, Dobrynya took off her colored dress,
Yes, I wandered behind the trickle behind the middle one
And he himself said these words:
“Mother used to tell me, Dobrynyushka,
My mother punished me, Nikitich:
Why don't you go further into an open field?
To that mountain, to Sorochinskaya,
Don't trample on the young snakes,
And don’t help out the Polons and the Russians,
And don’t swim, Dobrynya, in the Puchai River,
But the Puchai River is very fierce,
And the middle stream cuts like fire!
And the Puchai River is meek and meek,
It's like a rain puddle!
Dobrynya didn’t have time to say a word -
There is no wind, but there is a cloud,
There are no clouds, but it’s as if it’s raining,
And there is no rain, but only thunder roars,
Thunder rumbles and lightning whistles -
How does the Serpent Gorynishche 3 fly?
About those twelve about trunks.
But the Dobrynya of that Snake will not shrink.
The damned snake says to him:
- You are now, Dobrynya, in my hands!
If I want, I’ll drown you, Dobrynya,
I want you, Dobrynya, now I’ll eat and devour you,
If I want, I’ll take you in my trunk, Dobrynya,
I’ll take it in my trunk, Dobrynya, and carry it into the hole!
The Snake will fall like a fast river,
But Dobrynyushka was good at swimming;
He will dive onto the shore there,
He will dive onto the shore here.
But Dobrynyushka doesn’t have a good horse,
Yes, Dobrynya doesn’t have colored dresses -
There’s just one feather cap lying there,
Let that cap be filled with Greek soil; 4
The weight of that cap is as much as three pounds.
How he grabbed the cap and the Greek land,
He will hit the Snake and the damned one -
He knocked off twelve Snakes and all their trunks.
Then the Snake fell into the feather grass.
Dobrynyushka had a twist on his leg,
He jumped onto the serpentine and white breasts.
On the cross, Dobrynya had a damask knife -
He wants to spread out her white breasts.
And the Snake Dobrynya prayed to him:
- Oh, oh, Dobrynya son Nikitinets!
We will lay down with you the great commandment:
You shouldn’t go far into an open field,
To Thuya, to Mount Sorochinskaya,
Don't trample any more young snakes,
And not to help out the full and Russians,
Do not swim, Dobrynya, in the Puchai River.
But I don’t want to fly to Holy Rus',
I don’t need to wear Russian ones anymore,
I don’t want to hoard fulls and Russians.
He released the Snake as if from under his knees -
The Snake rose up under the cloud.
She happened to fly past Kyiv-grad.
She saw the prince's niece,
Walking along the wide street.
Here the Snake falls on the damp ground,
She captured the prince's niece,
She took it into a hole and into the deep.
Then the sun Vladimir Stolnokievsky
And he spent three days clicking here and there, 5
And the old man called out to the glorious knights:
- Who could go far into an open field,
To Thuya, to Mount Sorochinskaya,
Go down the hole and into the deep,
And to get my prince’s niece,
Aleshenka Levontevich said:
- Oh, you sunshine Vladimir Stolnokievsky!
Throw on this great service
On that Dobrynya on Nikitich:
After all, he has a commandment with the Snake,
That she shouldn’t fly to Holy Rus'.
And he can’t go far into an open field,
Don't trample on the young snakes
Don't help out the full Russians,
So he will take the prince's niece,
Young Zabava's daughter Potyatichna,
Without a fight, without a fight - bloodshed.
The sun is here Vladimir Stolnokievsky
How I threw this great service
On that Dobrynya on Nikitich -
He should drive further into an open field
And get him the prince’s niece.
He went home, Dobrynya, he started spinning,
Dobrynya began to spin and became sad.
The Empress and dear mother greet you,
That honest widow Ofimya Alexandrovna:
- Hey, my baby is born,
Young Dobrynya son Nikitinets!
Are you not leaving the feast cheerfully?
To know that the place was not up to par. 6
You know, they brought you a spell at the feast
Did the fool laugh at you?
- Hey, empress and dear mother,
You are honest, widow Ofimya Alexandrovna!
The place was suited to my rank,
I was not enchanted at the feast,
Yes, the fool didn’t laugh at me,
And he did a great service
And then the sun Vladimir Stolnokievsky,
Why go far into an open field,
To that mountain and to that high one,
I should go into a hole and into a deep one,
Should I get the prince's niece,
Young Zabava's daughter Potyatichna.
Mother says to Dobrynya,
The widow Ofimya Alexandrovna is honest:
- Go to bed early in the evening,
So the morning will be very wise -
The morning will be wiser than the evening.
He got up early in the morning,
He washes himself and is white,
He is well equipped.
Let him go to the stables, to the standing ones,
And he takes a bridle and a braid in his hand,
And he takes Grandfather’s good horse.
He gave Burk a honey drink,
He fed millet and Beloyarova.
He saddled Burk in a Cherkassy saddle,
He put sweatshirts on sweatshirts,
He puts felt on sweatshirts,
He placed a Cherkassy saddle on the felt.
Twelve tight girths pulled everyone up,
He put the thirteenth for the sake of the fortress,
So that a good horse does not jump out from under the saddle,
He didn’t drop the good fellow in an open field.
The girths were silk,
And the pins on the girths are all damask,
Buckles at the saddle and red gold -
Yes, silk does not tear, but damask steel does not rub,
Red gold does not rust,
Well done, he sits on a horse and doesn’t grow old.
Dobrynya's son Nikitinets went,
At parting, his mother gave him a whip,
She herself said these words:
- How will you be far away in the open field,
To the mountains and to the high ones,
You will trample the young snakes,
You will help out the full and Russians,
How are you young snakes?
They'll sharpen Burk's brushes like they do,
That Burushko will no longer be able to jump,
Take this silk whip,
And you beat Burka and rip him between his legs,
I'll slit my legs, and I'll slit my ears,
I'll separate the legs and hind legs, -
Your Burushko will begin to jump,
And he shakes the baby snakes off his feet -
You will trample every single one of them.
How will he be far away in an open field,
To the mountains and to the high ones,
He trampled the young snakes.
How are you, young snakes?
They sharpened Burk's brushes like they did,
That Burushko can no longer jump,
He shakes the little snakes off his feet.
Here is young Dobrynya's son Nikitinets
He takes a silk whip,
He hits Burk between the ears,
I'll slit your ears and slit your legs,
I'll separate the legs between the hind legs.
Then Burushko began to jump around,
And he shakes the baby snakes off his feet,
He trampled every single one of them.
Came out like a damn snake
From your hole and from deep,
She herself says yes, these are the words:
- Oh, you thief, Dobrynyushka Nikitinets!
You, you know, have broken your commandment.
Why did you trample the young snakes?
Why did the Russians come to the rescue?
Dobrynya's son Nikitinets said:
- Oh, oh, damned Snake!
The devil carried you through Kyiv-grad,
Why did you take the prince's niece,
Young Zabava's daughter Potyatichna?
Give me the prince's niece
No fight, no bloodshed!
She started a great fight.
They fought with the Snake here for three days,
But Dobrynya could not kill the Snake.
Here Dobrynya wants to get behind the Snake -
As from the heavens of Dobrynya a voice says to him:
- Young Dobrynya son Nikitinets!
You fought with the Snake for three days,
Fight with the Snake for another three hours:
You will beat the damned Snake!
He fought with the Snake for another three hours,
He beat the Snake and that damned one.
That Snake, she started bleeding.
He stood here with the Snake for three days,
But Dobrynya could not wait out the blood.
Dobrynya wanted to get away from the blood,
But from heaven Dobrynya again a voice says:
- Oh, hey, Dobrynya son Nikitinets!
You stood here near the blood for three days -
Stay near the blood for another three hours,
Take your spear and the Murzavets one
And hit the ground with a spear,
Say with a spear yourself:
“Make way, mother damp earth,
Make way for four and you're at a quarter!
You gobble up this blood, and all the snake blood!”
Then the damp mother earth parted,
She devoured all the snake's blood.
Then Dobrynya went into the hole.
Into you and into holes and into deep ones,
There sit forty kings, forty princes,
Forty kings and princes,
But simple power has no cost.
Then Dobrynyushka Nikitinets
He spoke to the kings and he to the princes
And to those kings and princes:
- You go there now, the hotel has been brought
And you, young Zabava daughter of Potyatichna, -
For you, I have now wandered like this -
Let's go to the city of Kyiv
And to the affectionate prince, to Vladimir.
And he took young Zabava’s daughter Potyatichna.
Notes
1) To that mountain, to Sorochinskaya- Maybe, we're talking about about the last spurs of the Ural ridge. 2) Puchai River— The small river Pochayna, in which, according to legend, the people of Kiev were baptized; flowed on the site of modern Khreshchatyk. 3) Serpent Gorynysche- Usually a character in folk tales. In the epic, the monster personifies the external enemy. 4) Cap and Greek land— The headdress of a wanderer to holy places has been turned into throwing weapon. 5) Bylitsa- A healer who tells fortunes using herbs (from the word “bylye” - root, plant). Vladimir wants to find out where Zabava has been taken, and calls the epics to him. 6) The place was not up to par— Seats at the prince’s table were distributed among those invited according to their rank. Bitter grievances arose if the invitee believed that he was seated “inappropriately.” This everyday feature is later than the time of the composition of the epic.
A.F. Hilferding. Onega epics, vol. 2 No. 148. Recorded from Abram Evtikhievich Chukov, a Pudozh peasant from the village of Gorki.
Quoted from: Epics. Russian folk tales. Old Russian stories./V.P.Anikin, D.S.Likhachev, T.N.Mikhelson; M.: Det.lit., 1989

Once upon a time there was a Serpent Gorynych

This is interesting!

Ethnographer and historian Ivan Kirillov suggests that at one time it was quite real creature, living on the territory of Russia.
Kirillov calls himself a “dragon expert” with a grin. For many years he has been studying myths and legends about this creature. And one day I came to the conclusion that the Serpent Gorynych from Russian fairy tales could well have had a living prototype.
“It all started when I decided to clarify the origin of the winged serpent on the coat of arms of Moscow,” says Ivan Igorevich. - The serpent fighter rider first appeared on the coat of arms of the Moscow Principality under Ivan III. The seal of Grand Duke Ivan (1479) has been preserved, which depicts a warrior striking a small winged dragon with a spear. Soon the image of this scene became known to any resident of Russia. The spearman began to be minted on the smallest coin. That’s why, by the way, people nicknamed her “penny”...
Many researchers perceive the image of St. George the Victorious piercing the Serpent as a beautiful artistic image, symbolizing the confrontation between Good and Evil. He once thought so too. But one day he came across an image of a 12th-century fresco from the Church of St. George in Staraya Ladoga. And there is a horseman with a spear, but in that fresco the winged serpent is not killed, but dragged on a string, like a prisoner or a pet.
This image, which appeared much earlier than the official coat of arms of Muscovy, introduces, according to Kirillov, new semantic elements into the familiar picture with a spear-bearer. Tower with windows, woman who leads strange creature, reminiscent of a crocodile or a giant lizard, it all looks very life-like and looks more like a sketch from life than some kind of artistic image-symbol.
“Then I thought: didn’t such an event actually happen?” - Ivan Igorevich continues the story. “Soon I came across another document confirming my fantastic version. The Austrian ambassador Sigismund Herberstein, who worked in Russia in 1517 and 1526, mentioned strange lizards not typical of our fauna in his memoirs. This is what he wrote in his diary: “This area abounds in groves and forests in which you can observe terrible phenomena. It is there that to this day there are a lot of idolaters who feed in their homes some snakes with four short legs, like lizards, with black and fat body…»
Did our ancestors really see with their own eyes the fabulous “mountain snakes” and even knew how to tame them? Ivan Kirillov collected historical documents, which can serve, if not direct, then indirect evidence that “Russian dragons” could exist in reality. Here are some of these materials.
In Russian national library Among the manuscripts is an old diary of a priest. Front page lost, so the name of the eyewitness is unknown. But the entry he made in 1816 is quite remarkable: “While sailing on a boat along the Volga River, we saw a huge flying kite, which carried a man with all his clothes in his mouth. And all that was heard from this unfortunate man was: “Them!” Them! “And the serpent flew over the Volga and fell with a man into the swamps...”
Further, the priest reports that on that day he had a chance to see the Serpent again: “Near the Kolominsky district of the village of Uvarov there is a wasteland called Kashiryaziva. We arrived there to spend the night with more than 20 people. Two hours or more passed, the area suddenly lit up, and the horses suddenly rushed into different sides. I looked up and saw a fiery serpent. It meandered over our camp at the height of two or three bell towers. It was three arshins or more long and stood above us for a quarter of an hour. And all this time we were saying prayer...”
An interesting piece of evidence was discovered in the archives of the city of Arzamas. Here is a short excerpt from this document: “In the summer of June 1719, for 4 days there was a great storm in the district, a tornado and hail, and many livestock and all living creatures perished. And the serpent fell from the sky, scorched by God’s wrath, and stank disgustingly. And remembering the Decree of God by the grace of our All-Russian Sovereign Peter Alekseevich from the summer of 1718 about Kunshtkamora and the collection for her of various wonders, monsters and all sorts of freaks, stones of heaven and other miracles, this serpent was thrown into a barrel of strong double wine ... "
The paper was signed by Zemstvo Commissioner Vasily Shtykov. Unfortunately, the barrel did not reach the St. Petersburg Museum. Either it got lost along the way, or the disdainful Russian peasants poured “double wine” (that’s what vodka used to be called) from a barrel. It’s a pity, perhaps today the Serpent Gorynych, preserved in alcohol, would be kept in the Kunstkamera.
Among the memoirs, one can highlight the story of the Ural Cossacks, who became eyewitnesses to an incredible incident in 1858. Here is a record of their memories: “A miracle happened in the Kyrgyz Bukeev horde. In the steppe, not far from the Khan’s headquarters, in broad daylight, a huge serpent, as thick as the largest camel and twenty fathoms long, fell from the sky to the ground. For a minute the serpent lay motionless, and then, curled up in a ring, raised its head two fathoms from the ground and hissed strongly, piercingly, like a storm.
People, livestock and all living things fell on their faces in fear. They thought that the end of the world had come. Suddenly a cloud descended from the sky, approached the serpent about five fathoms and stopped above it. The serpent jumped onto the cloud. It enveloped him, swirled and went into the heavens.”
“All this is so incredible that I, of course, do not take such stories too seriously,” says dragon expert Kirillov. - But somewhere in my soul I believe that something like this is not excluded... According to the most common version, the mythological Serpent-Dragon owes its origin to the remains of dinosaurs, which our ancestors found from time to time. At first glance, everything is simple and clear... But a careful analysis of this version reveals a number of its shortcomings.
Firstly, myths about the Dragon are widespread, and easily accessible dinosaur remains are found only in desert areas Central Asia(in other regions, fossil remains are most often found only under thick layers of sediment - it is unlikely that ancient people dug so deep).
Secondly, the bones of dinosaurs are very different from each other, and Dragons have different nations They look like twin brothers. Maybe the fairy tales did not originate on ancient bones, but after encounters with living dinosaurs that have survived to this day? It’s a crazy assumption, but how can one not make it when reading the testimony, and not so far from the distant past?
So biologists recently confirmed to me that the “fire-breathing Gorynych” from the fairy tale does not contradict science at all. It is theoretically possible that there are cavities in the body of an animal where methane (swamp gas) is formed as a result of decomposition. When exhaled, this gas can ignite (think swamp fires). By the way, this assumption is confirmed by eyewitness testimony, which invariably indicates a stench or foul breath emanating from the Serpent...
Could our acquaintance have flown across the Atlantic? Or maybe there is a Gorynych there?
(From the book “One Hundred Mysteries of Nature” by N. Nepomnyashchy)

Once upon a time there lived a widow, Mamelfa Timofeevna, near Kiev. She had a beloved son - the hero Dobrynyushka. Throughout Kyiv, fame spread about Dobrynya: he was stately, and tall, and learned to read and write, and was brave in battle, and cheerful at the feast. He will compose a song, play the harp, and say a clever word. And Dobrynya’s disposition is calm and affectionate. He will not scold anyone, he will not offend anyone in vain. No wonder they nicknamed him “quiet Dobrynyushka.”

Once on a hot summer day, Dobrynya wanted to swim in the river. He went to his mother Mamelfa Timofeevna:
- Let me go, mother, to go to the Puchai River and swim in the cold water - the summer heat has exhausted me.
Mamelfa Timofeevna got excited and began to dissuade Dobrynya:
- My dear son Dobrynyushka, don’t go to the Puchai River. The river is furious and angry. From the first stream the fire shoots out, from the second stream sparks fall, from the third stream smoke pours out in a column.
- Okay, mother, at least let me go along the shore and get some fresh air.
Mamelfa Timofeevna released Dobrynya.
Dobrynya put on a traveling dress, covered himself with a tall Greek hat, took with him a spear and a bow with arrows, a sharp saber and a whip.
He mounted a good horse, called a young servant with him and set off. Dobrynya drives for an hour or two; The summer sun is scorching hot, burning Dobrynya’s head.
Dobrynya forgot what his mother was punishing him and turned his horse towards the Puchai River.
The Puchai River brings coolness.
Dobrynya jumped off his horse and threw the reins to the young servant:
- You stay here, watch the horse.
He took off the Greek hat from his head, took off his traveling clothes, put all his weapons on his horse and rushed into the river.
Dobrynya floats along the Puchai River and is surprised:
- What did my mother tell me about the Puchai River? The Pooh-river is not fierce, The Pooh-river is quiet, like a rain puddle.
Before Dobrynya had time to speak, the sky suddenly darkened, but there were no clouds in the sky, and there was no rain, but thunder rumbled, and there was no thunderstorm, but the fire was shining...
Dobrynya raised his head and saw that the Serpent Gorynych was flying towards him, a terrible serpent with three heads and seven claws, flames blazing from his nostrils, smoke pouring out of his ears, copper claws on his paws shining.
The Serpent saw Dobrynya and thundered:
- Eh, the old people prophesied that Dobrynya Nikitich would kill me, but Dobrynya himself came into my clutches. Now if I want, I’ll devour him alive; if I want, I’ll take him to my lair and take him prisoner. I have a lot of Russian people in captivity, only Dobrynya was missing.
And Dobrynya says in a quiet voice:
- Oh, you damned snake, first take Dobrynya, then show off, but for now Dobrynya is not in your hands.
Dobrynya knew how to swim well; he dived to the bottom, swam under the water, surfaced near a steep shore, jumped out onto the shore and rushed to his horse. And there was no trace of the horse: the young servant was frightened by the snake’s roar, jumped on the horse and was off. And he took away all Dobrynino’s weapons.
Dobrynya has nothing to fight with the Serpent Gorynych.
And the Serpent again flies to Dobrynya, showers with flammable sparks, and burns Dobrynya’s white body.
The heroic heart trembled.
Dobrynya looked at the shore - there was nothing to take into his hands: there was no club, no pebble, only yellow sand on the steep bank, and his Greek hat was lying around.
Dobrynya grabbed a Greek hat, poured five pounds of yellow sand into it - no less than five pounds - and how he hit the Snake Gorynych with his hat - and knocked off his head.
He threw the Snake down to the ground, crushed his chest with his knees, and wanted to knock off two more heads...

How the Serpent Gorynych prayed here:
- Oh, Dobrynyushka, oh, hero, don’t kill me, let me fly around the world, I will always obey you! I will give you a great vow: not to fly to you in wide Rus', not to take Russian people prisoner. Just have mercy on me, Dobrynyushka, and don’t touch my little snakes.
Dobrynya succumbed to the crafty speech, believed the Serpent Gorynych, and let him go, damned.
As soon as the Serpent rose under the clouds, it immediately turned towards Kyiv and flew to the garden of Prince Vladimir. And at that time, young Zabava Putyatishna, Prince Vladimir’s niece, was walking in the garden.
The Serpent saw the princess, was delighted, rushed at her from under the cloud, grabbed her in his copper claws and carried her to the Sorochinsky mountains.
At this time, Dobrynya found a servant and began to put on his traveling dress - suddenly the sky darkened and thunder roared. Dobrynya raised his head and saw: the Serpent Gorynych was flying from Kyiv, carrying Fun Putyatishna in his claws!
Then Dobrynya became sad - he became sad, he became depressed, he came home unhappy, sat down on a bench, and didn’t say a word.
His mother began to ask:
- Why are you sitting sadly, Dobrynyushka? What are you, my light, sad about?
“I’m not worried about anything, I’m not sad about anything, but it’s not fun for me to sit at home.” I’ll go to Kyiv to see Prince Vladimir, he’s having a fun feast today.
- Don’t go, Dobrynyushka, to the prince, my heart senses evil. We'll have a feast at home too.
Dobrynya did not listen to his mother and went to Kyiv to see Prince Vladimir.
Dobrynya arrived in Kyiv and went to the prince’s upper room. At the feast, the tables are full of food, there are barrels of sweet honey, but the guests do not eat or drink, they sit with their heads down.
The prince walks around the upper room and does not treat guests. The princess covered herself with a veil and did not look at the guests.
Here Vladimir the Prince says:
- Eh, my beloved guests, we are having a sad feast! And the princess is bitter, and I am sad. The damned Serpent Gorynych took away our beloved niece, young Zabava Putyatishna. Which of you will go to Mount Sorochinskaya, find the princess, and free her?!
Where there! The guests hide behind each other: the big ones behind the middle ones, the middle ones behind the smaller ones, and the smaller ones cover their mouths.
Suddenly the young hero Alyosha Popovich comes out from behind the table.
- That's what, Prince Red Sun, yesterday I was in an open field, I saw Dobrynyushka by the Puchai River. He fraternized with Zmey Gorynych and called him a smaller brother. You went to the Serpent Dobrynyushka. He will ask your beloved niece from your sworn brother without a fight.
Prince Vladimir got angry:
- If so, get on your horse, Dobrynya, go to Mount Sorochinskaya, get me my beloved niece. Anya gets Putyatishna's Fun - I'll order you to cut off your head!
Dobrynya lowered his violent head, did not answer a word, got up from the table, mounted his horse and rode home.
Mother came out to meet him and saw that Dobrynya had no face.
- What’s wrong with you, Dobrynyushka, what’s wrong with you, son, what happened at the feast? Did they offend you, or put you under a spell, or put you in a bad place?
“They didn’t offend me, and they didn’t put a spell around me, and I had a place according to my rank, according to my rank.”
- Why did you, Dobrynya, hang your head?
- Prince Vladimir ordered me to perform a great service: to go to Mount Sorochinskaya, to find and get Zabava Putyatishna. And the Serpent Gorynych took away Zabava Putyatishna.
Mamelfa Timofeevna was horrified, but did not cry and be sad, but began to think about the matter.
- Go to bed, Dobrynyushka, go to sleep quickly, get some strength. The morning is wiser than the evening, tomorrow we will keep the advice.
Dobrynya went to bed. He sleeps, snores that the stream is noisy.
And Mamelfa Timofeevna does not go to bed, sits on a bench and spends the whole night weaving a seven-tailed whip from seven silks.
In the morning, Dobrynya Nikitich’s mother woke up:
- Get up, son, get dressed, get dressed, go to the old stable. In the third stall the door does not open; the oak door was beyond our strength. Push up, Dobrynyushka, open the door, there you will see your grandfather’s horse Burushka. Burka has been standing in a stall for fifteen years, uncared for. Clean him, feed him, give him something to drink, bring him to the porch.
Dobrynya went to the stable, tore the door off its hinges, brought Burushka out into the world, cleaned him, bathed him, and brought him to the porch. He began to saddle Burushka. He put a sweatshirt on it, felt on top of the sweatshirt, then a Cherkassy saddle, embroidered with valuable silks and decorated with gold, tightened twelve girths, and bridled it with a golden bridle. Mamelfa Timofeevna came out and handed him a seven-tailed whip:
- When you arrive, Dobrynya, on Mount Sorochinskaya, the Snake Gorynych will not be at home. You run into the lair with your horse and start trampling the baby snakes. The little snakes will wrap around Burka’s legs, and you will whip Burka between the ears with a whip. Burka will jump up, shake the baby snakes off his feet and trample every single one of them.
A branch broke off from the apple tree, an apple rolled away from the apple tree, a son was leaving his mother for a difficult, bloody battle.
Day after day passes like rain, but week after week it flows like a river. Dobrynya is riding in the red sun, Dobrynya is riding in the bright moon, he went to Mount Sorochinskaya.
And on the mountain near the snake’s lair, baby snakes are swarming. They began to wrap Burushka’s legs around her and began to undermine her hooves. Burushka cannot jump and falls to her knees.
Dobrynya then remembered his mother’s order, grabbed the whip of seven silks, began to beat Burushka between the ears, and said:
- Jump, Burushka, jump, shake the baby snakes away from your feet.
Burushka gained strength from the whip, he began to jump high, throw stones a mile away, and began to shake baby snakes away from his feet. He beats them with his hoof and tears them with his teeth and tramples every single one of them.
Dobrynya got off his horse, took a sharp saber in his right hand, a heroic club in his left hand, and went to the snake caves.
As soon as he took a step, the sky darkened, thunder roared: the Serpent Gorynych was flying, holding a dead body in his claws. Fire shoots from the mouth, smoke pours from the ears, copper claws burn like heat...
The Serpent saw Dobrynyushka, threw the dead body to the ground, and growled in a loud voice:
- Why, Dobrynya, did you break our vow and trample my cubs?
- Oh, you damned snake! Did I break our word, did I break our vow? Why did you fly, Snake, to Kyiv, why did you take away Zabava Putyatishna?! Give me the princess without a fight, so I will forgive you.
- I won’t give up Zabava Putyatishna, I’ll devour her, and I’ll devour you, and I’ll take all the Russian people to the full!
Dobrynya got angry and rushed at the Snake.
And then a fierce battle began.
The Sorochinsky Mountains crumbled, the oak trees were uprooted, the grass went a yard deep into the ground...
They fight for three days and three nights; The Snake began to overcome Dobrynya, began to throw him up, began to throw him up... Then Dobrynya remembered about the whip, grabbed it and started lashing the Snake between the ears. The serpent Gorynych fell to his knees, and Dobrynya pressed him to the ground with his left hand, and with his right hand he was lashing him with a whip. He beat and beat him with a silk whip, tamed him like a beast, and cut off all his heads.
Black blood gushed from the Serpent, spread to the east and west, and flooded Dobrynya to the waist.
For three days Dobrynya stands in black blood, his legs are cold, the cold reaches his heart. The Russian land does not want to accept snake blood.
Dobrynya sees that the end has come for him, took out a whip of seven silks, began to whip the ground, saying:
- Make way, mother earth, and devour the blood of the snake.
The damp earth opened up and devoured the snake's blood.
Dobrynya Nikitich rested, washed, cleaned his heroic armor and went to the snake caves. All the caves are closed with copper doors, locked with iron bolts, and hung with golden locks.
Dobrynya broke the copper doors, tore off the locks and bolts, and entered the first cave. And there he sees a countless number of people from forty lands, from forty countries, it’s impossible to count in two days.
Dobrynyushka tells them:
- Hey, you foreign people and foreign warriors! Go out into the free world, go to your places and remember the Russian hero. Without it, you would sit in snake captivity for a century.
They began to go free and bow to Dobrynya’s land:
- We will remember you forever, Russian hero!
And Dobrynya goes further, opens cave after cave, and frees captive people. Both old people and young people, small children and old women, Russian people and from foreign countries, come out into the world, but the Fun of Putyatishna is no longer there.
So Dobrynya went through eleven caves, and in the twelfth he found Zabava Putyatishna: the princess was hanging on a damp wall, chained by her hands with golden chains. Dobrynyushka tore off the chains, took the princess off the wall, picked her up and carried her out of the cave into the open world.
And she stands on her feet, staggers, closes her eyes from the light, and doesn’t look at Dobrynya. Dobrynya laid her down on the green grass, fed her, gave her something to drink, covered her with a cloak, and lay down to rest.
The sun set in the evening, Dobrynya woke up, saddled Burushka and woke up the princess. Dobrynya mounted his horse, placed Zabava in front of him and set off. And there are no number of people around, everyone bows to Dobrynya, thanks for her salvation, and rushes to their lands.
Dobrynya rode out into the yellow steppe, spurred his horse and took Zabava Putyatishna to Kyiv.

Dobrynya Nikitich

Once upon a time there lived in Kyiv the eminent boyar Nikita with his wife Mamelfa Timofeevna, and they had a little son Dobrynya. Dobrynyushka was orphaned early, having lost his kind father, but the honest widow Mamelfa Timofeevna managed to raise her handsome, smart son, taught him all the sciences and wisdom; Dobrynyushka was polite and affectionate, to the wonder of everyone, and once he started playing the harp, everyone couldn’t stop listening.
Dobrynyushka was still young, only twelve years old, - how his zealous and brave heart flared up; he wanted to go to an open field, to look for heroic deeds. His dear mother says to him:
“You are still too young, dear son, to go and play heroic deeds in an open field, but if you go, obey my parental commandment: do not swim in the Pochai River; that river is stormy, fierce, the middle wave hits it like an arrow; be careful that you do not die in vain.
Dobrynya did not listen to his dear mother; He goes to the stable, saddles his good horse with a Cherkassy saddle: he puts saddle pads on saddle pads, felt pads on felt pads, tightens the saddle with twelve silk girths, and also a thirteenth iron one, so that the saddle holds tightly so that the horse does not throw off the good fellow along the way.
And Dobrynyushka went to the high mountain, where the Serpent Gorynych was hiding; The villain guarded the Orthodox Christians, his captives. Dobrynyushka wants to rescue the captives from trouble, to trample the evil little snakes under the hooves of his heroic horse.
Dobrynya rode for a long time or a short time, and approached the Pochay River; and it was a summer, sunny day; The hero wanted to swim in the Pochay River.
Dobrynya got off his horse, took off his colored dress and swam down the river; floats slowly and thinks to himself:
“My dear mother told me that the Pochay River is angry and stormy, but she is quiet and meek - she doesn’t worry, she doesn’t move.”
Before Dobrynya had time to finish his thought, a black cloud suddenly appeared out of nowhere and lightning flashed.
Dobrynyushka looks: the terrible Serpent Gorynych with twelve trunks has flown in, shouts to the hero:
- You have now fallen into my hands, Dobrynya; I’ll do whatever I want to you: if I want, I’ll strangle you, I’ll carry you into a hole; If I want it, I’ll eat it on the spot.
Dobrynya dived under the water; swims underwater to the shore, comes ashore, there is neither a horse nor a weapon on the shore; one heroic cap lies under a bush; Dobrynya filled it to the top with sand, as soon as the gang attacked the Serpent Gorynych, he knocked off all twelve of his trunks; The snake fell backwards onto the grass. Dobrynya took out a damask dagger and wanted to cut off the snake’s head. The serpent prayed:
- Don't kill me, good fellow! Let’s make the following agreement with you: I will no longer fly to Russian land, take Orthodox Christians captive, and you don’t go to my open field, don’t trample my little snakes with your horse.
Dobrynya agreed to this agreement and released the snake.
The serpent soared under the clouds and flew over Kiev-city; The serpent saw in the prince's mansion a beautiful maiden, the niece of Prince Vladimir, Zabava Putyatishna. The snake broke the agreement with Dobrynya: he grabbed the beauty and took her to his hole.
Prince Sunny was horrified and saddened; For three days he gathered all sorts of sorcerers and sorcerers, consulted with them on how to rescue his niece from the villain - no one volunteered to help the prince.
Alyosha Popovich says: “Let’s go, prince, to the rescue of my named brother, Dobrynyushka, to Zabava Putyatishna; He alone will help you in your misfortune, because they made an agreement with the serpent so that the serpent would not dare to take Orthodox Christians into captivity.
The prince sends Dobrynya to the serpent; Dobrynyushka does not refuse heroic service, but he returned home sadly, thinking deeply.
Mamelfa Timofeevna asks:
- What’s wrong with you, my dear child, that you returned sadly from the princely feast; Have you been offended by a place, have you been surrounded by a spell of green wine, have someone made fun of you?
- No, dear mother, the prince received me with honor, no one offended me, only Vladimir imposed a great service on me, he sends me to rescue Zabava Putyatishna from the snake.
Dobrynya's mother says:
- Lie down and rest now, Dobrynyushka, and then you will think about how to help your grief: the morning is wiser than the evening.
In the morning Dobrynya got up early; His mother equipped him for the journey - she gave him a silk whip with her.
- Dear child, when you arrive across an open field to the Sorochinsky Mountains, where the snake and its baby snakes live, hit your little one between the ears with a whip, and also hit his steep thighs. The little beetle will jump around, shake the baby snakes off their feet, and trample every one of them!
Dobrynya listened to the advice of his mother: when he began to ride a beetroot near Mount Sorochinskaya, beating baby snakes to death, the snake itself jumped out of the hole and said to Dobrynya:
- Why, Dobrynyushka, are you violating our agreement and beating my children? Dobrynya got angry with the snake:
- How dare you, villain, drag Prince’s niece into your hole! That's why I trampled your little snakes. Give me the Fun now without a fight, without a quarrel, otherwise, look, things will go badly for you!
He did not give the snake to the prince’s niece and started a great battle with Dobrynya: they fought for three whole days, Dobrynya already wants to give up the snake, but the hero hears a voice from above:
- You fought, Dobrynyushka, with the snake for three days, fight for another three hours - you will defeat the snake. Dobrynyushka listened good advice; three hours later he killed Zmey Gorynych; the serpent's blood gushed out from the wound in streams and flooded the open field; Dobrynya's horse walks knee-deep in blood. Dobrynyushka began to ask the mother-damp earth to part and remove the snake’s blood. The ground opened up. Then Dobrynyushka went down into the deep cellars, freed Zabava Putyatishna, and with her brought all the other captives of the serpent out of the cellars: forty king-princes, forty kings-princes.
Dobrynya says to Zabava:
- I have traveled a lot for you, beautiful maiden; Now we’ll go to Kyiv, I’ll take you to Prince Vladimir.
Dobrynya and Zabava went to Kyiv, and on the way they ran into a huge heroic footprint; Dobrynya wanted to compete with someone else’s hero; and then, by the way, he meets Alyosha Popovich, his crusading brother.
Dobrynya says to Alyosha:
- Dear named brother, take Zabava Putyatishna to Prince Vladimir, and I will follow the heroic trail.
Dobrynya turned back his good horse, catching up in an open field with the mighty hero Nastasya Mikulichna, daughter of Mikula Selyaninovich; Dobrynyushka wanted to fight with her: he galloped up to Nastasya Mikulichna from the side, hit her on the head; The hero didn’t even feel Dobrynya’s blow, she drove on and didn’t look back.
Dobrynya was surprised: “Have I really lost all my former strength?” Here Dobrynya hit a strong oak: the oak split into splinters.
“No,” Dobrynya thinks to herself, “all my strength is still with me!” Dobrynya flew at Nastasya Mikulichna again and again, hitting her once and twice harder than before.
The hero looked back at him and said:
- I thought that mosquitoes were biting me, but this hero is fighting!
Nastasya took Dobrynya by her light brown curls, lifted her with one hand, and hid her in her pocket along with the horse. He moves on. Here Nastasya Mikulicna’s horse begged:
- Have pity on me, Nastasya Mikulichna, I can no longer carry you with a hero and even a heroic horse!
The hero Dobrynya took out of his pocket and said: “But I’ll look at the hero, how much I like him: if he’s old and bad, then I’ll cut off his head, and if he’s young and handsome, I’ll marry him.”
And Nastasya Mikulichna liked Dobrynya; They went together to Kyiv to see Prince Sunny; They played a cheerful wedding and started an honorable feast. Vladimir generously awarded glorious hero for his great service, for the fact that Dobrynya rescued the young Zabava Putyatishna from the evil snake.

The audio tale Dobrynya Nikitich and the Serpent Gorynych is an oral work of folk art. You can listen to the story online or download it. The audiobook “Dobrynya Nikitich and the Serpent Gorynych” is presented in mp3 format.

Audio tale Dobrynya Nikitich and Zmey Gorynych, content:

The audio tale Dobrynya Nikitich and the Serpent Gorynych is about how a widow named Marfa Timofeevna lived with her son Dobrynushka. And the fame of this hero spread throughout Kyiv, because he was strong, handsome and smart. One day he was going to the Puchai River to swim - Martha was worried, she knows that this river is harsh!

Meanwhile, Dobrynya set off on his journey. I got to this river and was amazed that my mother was so worried! And then suddenly he sees the Serpent Gorynych flying towards him, threatening to capture him. Then the hero hid at the river bottom, and his servant, frightened by the Snake, galloped away, taking all the weapons - now there is nothing with which to fight the enemy Dobrynya!

The snake returned and threatened the hero, but he was not taken aback - he beat the three-headed enemy almost to death. The snake prayed, began to ask for mercy, and promised not to touch the Russian land in the future. And in return he asked not to touch his baby snakes. Dobrynya Nikitich believed the evil speeches, but in vain, as it turned out. As soon as the hero let him go, he flew to Kyiv, to Prince Vladimir, and stole the princess - Zabava Putyatishna. And Prince Vladimir announced that he would cut off Dobrynya’s head if he did not return the princess!

Martha became gloomy, told Dobrynya to go to bed, and she herself began to think about how to solve this difficult problem. Everything ended well in our online audio fairy tale, and you will find out exactly how it all happened if you listen carefully to the text told by wonderful artists.

Once upon a time there lived a widow, Mamelfa Timofeevna, near Kiev. She had a beloved son, the hero Dobrynyushka. Throughout Kyiv, fame spread about Dobrynya: he was stately, and tall, and learned to read and write, and was brave in battle, and cheerful at the feast. He will compose a song, play the harp, and say a clever word. And Dobrynya’s disposition is calm, affectionate, he will never say a rude word, he will never offend anyone in vain. No wonder they nicknamed him “quiet Dobrynyushka.”

Once on a hot summer day, Dobrynya wanted to swim in the river. He went to his mother Mamelfa Timofeevna:

Let me go, mother, to go to the Puchai River and swim in the cold water, the summer heat has exhausted me.

Mamelfa Timofeevna got excited and began to dissuade Dobrynya:

My dear son Dobrynyushka, don’t go to the Puchai River. The river is furious and angry. From the first stream the fire shoots out, from the second stream sparks fall, from the third stream smoke pours out in a column.

Okay, mother, at least let me go along the shore and breathe some fresh air.

Mamelfa Timofeevna released Dobrynya.

Dobrynya put on a traveling dress, covered himself with a tall Greek hat, took with him a spear and a bow with arrows, a sharp saber and a whip.

He mounted a good horse, called a young servant with him and set off. Dobrynya drives for an hour or two, the summer sun is scorching hot, burning Dobrynya’s head. Dobrynya forgot what his mother was punishing him and returned his horse to the Puchai River.

The Puchai River brings coolness.

Dobrynya jumped off his horse and threw the reins to the young servant.

You stay here, watch the horse.

He took off the Greek hat from his head, took off his traveling clothes, put all his weapons on his horse and rushed into the river.

Dobrynya floats along the Puchai River and is surprised:

What did my mother tell me about the Puchai River? The Pooh-river is not fierce, The Pooh-river is quiet, like a rain puddle.

Before Dobrynya had time to speak, the sky suddenly darkened, but there were no clouds in the sky, and there was no rain, but thunder rumbled, and there was no thunderstorm, but the fire was shining...

Dobrynya raised his head and saw that the Serpent Gorynych was flying towards him, a terrible serpent with three heads and seven tails, flames blazing from his nostrils, smoke pouring out of his ears, copper claws on his paws glistening.

The Serpent saw Dobrynya and thundered:

Eh, the old people prophesied that Dobrynya Nikitich would kill me, but Dobrynya himself came into my clutches. Now if I want, I’ll eat him alive; if I want, I’ll take him to my lair and take him prisoner. I have a lot of Russian people in captivity, only Dobrynya was missing.

Oh, you damned snake, first take Dobrynya, and then show off, but for now Dobrynya is not in your hands.

Dobrynya knew how to swim well, he dived to the bottom, swam under the water, surfaced at the steep shore, jumped out onto the shore and rushed to his horse. And there was no trace of the horse: the young servant was frightened by the snake’s roar, jumped on the horse, and that was it. And he took away all Dobrynino’s weapons.

Dobrynya has nothing to fight with the Serpent Gorynych.

And the Serpent again flies to Dobrynya, showers with flammable sparks, and burns Dobrynya’s white body.

The heroic heart trembled.

Dobrynya looked at the shore - there was nothing to take into his hands: there was no club, no pebble, only yellow sand on the steep bank, and his Greek hat was lying around.

Dobrynya grabbed a Greek hat, poured no less than five pounds of yellow sand into it, and when he hit the Snake Gorynych with his hat, he knocked off his head.

He threw the Snake down to the ground, crushed his chest with his knees, and wanted to knock off two more heads...

How the Serpent Gorynych prayed here:

Oh, Dobrynyushka, oh, hero, don’t kill me, let me fly around the world, I will always obey you. I will give you a great vow: not to fly to you in wide Rus', not to take Russian people prisoner. Just have mercy on me, Dobrynyushka, and don’t touch my little snakes.

Dobrynya succumbed to the crafty speech, believed the Serpent Gorynych, and released him, the damned one.

As soon as the Serpent rose under the clouds, it immediately turned towards Kyiv and flew to the garden of Prince Vladimir. And at that time, young Zabava Putyatishna, Prince Vladimir’s niece, was walking in the garden. The Serpent saw the princess, was delighted, rushed at her from under the cloud, grabbed her in his copper claws and carried her to the Sorochinsky mountains.

At this time, Dobrynya found a servant and began to put on his traveling dress - suddenly the sky darkened and thunder roared. Dobrynya raised his head and saw: the Serpent Gorynych was flying from Kyiv, carrying Fun Putyatishna in his claws!

Then Dobrynya became sad - he became sad, he became depressed, he came home unhappy, sat down on a bench, and didn’t say a word.

His mother began to ask:

Why are you, Dobrynyushka, sitting sadly? What are you, my light, sad about?

I don’t worry about anything, I don’t worry about anything, and it’s not fun for me to sit at home. I’ll go to Kyiv to see Prince Vladimir, he’s having a merry feast today.

Do not go, Dobrynyushka, to the prince, my heart senses evil. We'll have a feast at home too.

Dobrynya did not listen to his mother and went to Kyiv to see Prince Vladimir.

Dobrynya arrived in Kyiv and went to the prince’s upper room. At the feast, the tables are full of food, there are barrels of sweet honey, but the guests do not eat or drink, they sit with their heads down.

The prince walks around the upper room and does not treat guests. The princess covered herself with a veil and did not look at the guests.

Here Vladimir the Prince says:

Eh, my beloved guests, we are having a sad feast! And the princess is bitter, and I am sad. The damned Serpent Gorynych took away our beloved niece, young Zabava Putyatishna. Which of you will go to Mount Sorochinskaya, find the princess, and free her?!

Where there! The guests hide behind each other, the big ones behind the middle ones, the middle ones behind the smaller ones, and the smaller ones hide behind their wings.

Suddenly the young hero Alyosha Popovich comes out from behind the table.

That's what, Prince Red Sun, yesterday I was in an open field, I saw Dobrynyushka by the Puchai River. He fraternized with Zmey Gorynych and called him a smaller brother. You went to the Serpent Dobrynyushka. He asks you for your beloved niece without a fight from your named brother.

Prince Vladimir got angry:

If so, get on your horse, Dobrynya, go to Mount Sorochinskaya, get me my beloved niece. If you don’t get Putyatishna’s Fun, I’ll order you to cut off your head!

Dobrynya lowered his violent head, did not answer a word, got up from the table, mounted his horse and rode home.

Mother came out to meet him and saw that Dobrynya had no face.

What’s wrong with you, Dobrynyushka, what’s wrong with you, son, what happened at the feast? Did they offend you or put you under a spell, or put you in a bad place?

They didn’t offend me, and they didn’t put a spell around me, and I had a place according to my rank, according to my rank.

Why did you, Dobrynya, hang your head?

Prince Vladimir ordered me to perform a great service: to go to Mount Sorochinskaya, to find and obtain Fun Putyatishna. And Zabava Putyatishna was carried away by the Serpent Gorynych.

Mamelfa Timofeevna was horrified, but did not cry and be sad, but began to think about the matter.

Go to bed, Dobrynyushka, go to sleep quickly, get some strength. The morning is wiser than the evening, tomorrow we will keep the advice.

Dobrynya went to bed. He sleeps, snores that the stream is noisy.

But Mamelfa Timofeevna does not go to bed, sits on a bench and spends the whole night weaving a seven-tailed whip from seven silks.

In the morning, Dobrynya Nikitich’s mother woke up:

Get up, son, get dressed, get dressed, go to the old stable. In the third stall the door does not open; half of it is buried in manure. Push up, Dobrynyushka, open the door, there you will see your grandfather’s horse Burushka. Burka has been standing in the stall for fifteen years, his legs buried in manure up to his knees. Clean him, feed him, give him something to drink, bring him to the porch.

Dobrynya went to the stable, tore the door off its hinges, took Burushka out, and led him to the porch. He began to saddle Burushka. He put a sweatshirt on it, a felt pad on top of the sweatshirt, then a Cherkassy saddle, embroidered with valuable silks and decorated with gold, tightened twelve girths, and bridled it with a golden bridle. Mamelfa Timofeevna came out and handed him a seven-tailed whip:

When you arrive, Dobrynya, on Mount Sorochinskaya, the Snake Gorynych will not be at home. You run into the lair with your horse and start trampling the baby snakes. The little snakes will wrap around Burka’s legs, and you will whip Burka between the ears with a whip. Burka will jump up, shake the baby snakes off his feet and trample every single one of them.

A branch broke off from the apple tree, an apple rolled away from the apple tree, a son was leaving his mother for a difficult, bloody battle.

Day after day passes as if it were raining, rather than dividing week after week as if a river were flowing. Dobrynya is riding in the red sun, Dobrynya is riding in the bright moon, he went to Mount Sorochinskaya.

And on the mountain near the snake’s lair the snakes are swarming with little snakes. They began to wrap Burushka’s legs around her and began to undermine her hooves. Burushka cannot jump and falls to her knees. Dobrynya then remembered his mother’s order, grabbed a whip of seven silks, began to beat Burushka between the ears, and said:

Jump, Burushka, jump, shake the little snakes away from your feet.

Burushka gained strength from the whip, he began to jump high, throw stones a mile away, and began to shake baby snakes away from his feet. He beats them with his hoof and tears them with his teeth and tramples every single one of them.

Dobrynya got off his horse, took a sharp saber in his right hand, a heroic club in his left hand, and went to the snake caves.

As soon as he took a step, the sky darkened, thunder roared: the Serpent Gorynych was flying, holding a dead body in his claws. Fire shoots from the mouth, smoke pours from the ears, copper claws burn like heat...

The Serpent saw Dobrynyushka, threw the dead body to the ground, and growled in a loud voice:

Why, Dobrynya, did you break our vow and trample on my cubs?

Oh, you damned snake! Did I break our word, did I break our vow? Why did you fly, Serpent, to Kyiv, why did you take away Zabava Putyatishna?! Give me the princess without a fight, so I will forgive you.

I won’t give up Zabava Putyatishna, I will devour her, and I will devour you, and I will take all the Russian people to the full!

Dobrynya got angry and rushed at the Snake.

And then a fierce battle began.

The Sorochinsky Mountains crumbled, the oak trees returned with their roots, the grass went a yard deep into the ground...

They fight for three days and three nights; The Serpent began to overcome Dobrynya. They fought for three days and three nights; The Snake began to overcome Dobrynya, began to throw him up, began to throw him up... Then Dobrynya remembered about the whip, grabbed it and started lashing the Snake between the ears. The serpent Gorynych fell to his knees, and Dobrynya pressed him to the ground with her left hand, and with her right hand she was lashing him with a whip. He beat and beat him with a silk whip, tamed him like a beast and cut off all his heads.

Black blood gushed from the Serpent, spread to the east and west, and flooded Dobrynya to the waist.

For three days Dobrynya stands in black blood, his legs are freezing, the cold reaches his heart. The Russian land does not want to accept snake blood.

Dobrynya sees that the end has come for him, he took out a lash of seven silks, began to whip the ground, saying:

Make way, mother earth, and devour the blood of the serpent.

The damp earth opened up and devoured the snake's blood.

Dobrynya Nikitich rested, washed himself, cleaned his heroic armor and went to the snake caves. All the caves are closed with copper doors, locked with iron bolts, and hung with golden locks.

Dobrynya broke the copper doors, tore off the locks and owls, and went into the first cave. And there he sees kings and princes, kings and princes from forty lands, from forty countries, and ordinary warriors cannot be counted.

Dobrynyushka tells them:

Hey you, foreign kings and foreign kings and simple warriors! Go out into the free world, go to your places and remember the Russian hero. Without it, you would sit in snake captivity for a century.

They began to go free and bow to the land of Dobrynya:

We will remember you forever, Russian hero!

So Dobrynya walked through eleven caves, and in the twelfth he found Zabava Putyatishna: the princess was hanging on a damp wall, chained by her hands with golden chains. Dobrynyushka tore off the chains, took the princess off the wall, picked her up and carried her out of the cave into the open world.

And she stands on her feet, staggers, closes her eyes from the light, and doesn’t look at Dobrynya. Dobrynya laid her down green grass, fed and watered, covered him with a cloak, and lay down to rest.

The sun set in the evening, Dobrynya woke up, saddled Burushka and woke up the princess. Dobrynya mounted his horse, placed Zabava in front of him and set off. And there are no number of people around, everyone bows to Dobrynya, thanks for her salvation, and rushes to their lands.

Dobrynya rode out into the yellow steppe, spurred his horse and took Zabava Putyatishna to Kyiv.