The article deals with the structural composition of a Russian folk tale about Borma Yaryzhka and presents an analysis of a number of its storylines borrowed from ancient literature or connected with it through ideological works of Russian publicists. It also touches upon their influence on national consciousness.
Keywords : Borma Yaryzhka, folk tale, folklore, antiquity reception, ideology.
The study of our country's cultural heritage has always been the focal point of many a scholar's research since it has been one of the main elements of Russia's glorious past. It has been attested by the fact that 2022 was declared the year of the cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia [13].
The intense study of this heritage began in the 19th century when the nation's enlightened circles developed an interest in folklore which was largely a product of the peasant people. Those gathering Russian folklore undertook a number of ethnographic expeditions throughout the country listening to and writing down the ancient tales told by common people.
This labour has become invaluable due not only to the philosophical point expressed by a famous quote from Alexander Pushkin, «Tale of sense, if not of truth…" [12] but also to another important factor. Both fairy tales and legends are not just a fruit of the imagination of many authors; they reflect a string of events and customs of the distant past. For example, until the 19th century, historians expressed doubt about the existence of Troy until the archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann unearthed it guided by works of Homer. In the same way, Russian folklorists have helped us to open our eyes to our past and better understand it.
In a similar way, various historians often noted that «many pieces of ancient Russian literature are collective and many-layered compilations and literary arrangements of previous works» [6, s. 17]. Thus it follows that folklore can both collect and discard a variety of story lines. In other words, it is able to change considerably in the course of time while it adapts not only to the current situation but also to the specific audience. Therefore, anachronisms and historical inconsistencies can be a common occurrence.
The history of folklore development can be distinctly traced from the late 15th century to the first half of the 16th century. However, the stories which appeared or were put together during the centralization of the Russian state, came to us as retelling put down in writing only in the 19–20th centuries [9, s. 166].
Among the overwhelming number of folk tales that were passed down orally during a long period of time, the 1884 collection of fairy tales from the Samara region contains a curious story entitled «Borma Yaryzhka» written down by the folklorist D. N. Sadovnikov who heard it from a Simbirian tradesman, Peter Stepanovich Poluektov [2, s. 27].
The era of Ivan IV The Terrible (1530–1584) has confronted scholars with several problems regarding that tsar’s reign. It goes without saying that Russia's rulers always drew people’s attention which could be clearly seen in the aforementioned fairy tale. An analysis of the story reveals that Ivan IV was searching for the attributes of regal authority, namely a crown, a sceptre, and a book.
The main character, Borma Yaryzhka, volunteers to fetch them for the tsar from the Babylonian kingdom. It is important to note that Borma is depicted as an alcoholic who is not without shrewdness which helps him to always come out on top. He personifies the popular stereotype of a low-ranking servant.
V. I. Dal’s dictionary defines the word yaryzhka both in its original meaning as a low-ranking police official, whose job description included delivery, attending and running errands, and in its later meaning as a swindler, drunkard and an idle person [15, s. 679]. Apparently, the negative connotation emerged due to the great number of such officials who lived their lives in idleness. The tale itself demonstrates this when Borma spends six weeks getting drunk with the ship crew before setting sail.
The tale also brings up several associations connected with the symbols of monarchy as well as mentioning several political institutions from whence those symbols would have been brought to Moscow. The story line itself which included sending out of an expedition to fetch the symbols of regal power was borrowed for the folk tales from the works of the scribes of the 15th and 16th centuries — the time of massive propaganda of centralized government [1, s. 121]. This plot had its origin in a Byzantine legend where a certain Byzantine emperor, portrayed as an ideal champion of Christianity [14], sends an expedition to this once powerful city in order to obtain Nebuchadnezzar’s crown and a charter that states God’s transferring of power to the Byzantine monarchy [7].
In Russia, popular imagination changed and embellished the plot: Borma Yaryzhka was ordered to bring a book instead of a charter. We may conclude that unlike the original piece of literature, the folk tale did not emphasise the continuity of the Russian royal rule from the Byzantine monarchs. It only showed that the obtaining of royal attributes was desirable but not conditional to Ivan IV’s right to rule [9, s. 167].
I. Bas interprets the mentioning of a book as a reflection of intense literary propaganda which the tsar used to strengthen his power using written word as well as an oral message [1, s. 121]. It is difficult to disagree with this statement since during the 16th century an ideological propaganda campaign was in full swing in support of the Russian monarchy claiming the Moscow rulers to be descended from Byzantine or Roman emperors. It is reflected in such pieces of literature as Monomach’s Crown and The Tales of the Vladimir Princes [4, s. 426].
In our folk tale, Borma, having arrived in Babylon, sees that the kingdom is overrun with snakes. Having easily obtained the sacral symbols needed for the Russian tsar, he desires to explore the new land. A brief history of Babylon is related in the folk tale as follows: the Babylonian king ordered the image of a snake to be depicted everywhere including coins, cups and spoons. This edict incurred God’s wrath — the images of all the snakes came alive and the land consequently became uninhabited [2, s. 23]. The collection of tales about the Babylonian Kingdom is vast, and this particular episode echoes a legend in which the Yunaks erect a clay serpent causing the capital to be abandoned and to ultimately decline [3].
In ancient Greece and Rome great significance was attached to various natural phenomena (e.g. natural disasters, dreams, animal behavioural patterns) that were seen by the ancient people as divine signs sent for mortals. With the rise of Christianity as the official state religion of Rome, the old beliefs were actively suppressed. However, omens were still recognized but were interpreted from the new political standpoint.
To this day, many scholars are intrigued by the mention of the serpent in The Old Testament. In the book of Genesis the serpent causes man to commit the first sin (Genesis 4:3–6). In the book of Numbers God orders Moses to make a bronze snake that will save the lives of people who would look at it (in Christianity it is considered a foreshadow of Christ who saves those in need who look upon Him) (Numbers 21:8,9). From these passages we can conclude that while the serpent could be used as a symbol with various meanings, it usually has a negative connotation moreover as the snake was considered by the Jews an unclean animal (Leviticus 11:20). This negative symbolism was reflected later in many other cultures.
In Homer’s Illiad the serpent is seen as a bad omen. Zeus sends an eagle with a snake in his talons. The snake bites the bird which drops in the Troyan camp as a warning from the Olympic god to stop fighting with the Greeks [5, s. 294–295]. Later, a Russian publicist Ivan Peresvetov used the image of a serpent to symbolize Islam. In his petition to Ivan IV, he related a story in which Emperor Constantine (306–337), during the founding of Constantinople, allegedly saw an eagle grasping a snake which in turn bit the bird. The eagle fell down and eventually, aided by people, defeated the serpent in the ensuing struggle. This sign from heaven was interpreted to the emperor in the following manner, “Since the serpent overpowered the eagle, Islam will overpower Christianity, and just as the Christians killed the snake and captured the eagle, so in the end they will defeat Islam” [10, s. 124].
So this story originated among Russian publicists who shared the views of the monk Philotheus summed up in the concept “Moscow is the Third Rome”. Peresvetov firmly believed in the coming victory of Christianity and in the liberation of Byzantine from the Turks whom the Europeans of the 16th century viewed as a real threat. Considering the factual side of the story, it should be noted that Islam emerged in the early 7th century while this political myth was set in the 4th century.
We may observe then how in Borma Yaryzhka some of the ancient mythology and folk motifs were mixed with the current thinking of the publicists of 16th century Russia. The snakes in legendary Babylon vividly illustrate to the audience the divine punishment that could be meted out on an apostate ruler. The city, however, does not so much represent a real place as it does “the capital of the world” that has lost its former might. This was the way Russians viewed Constantinople (the Great City). According to Phylotheus, had betrayed the faith at the council of Ferrara-Florence and thus incurred God’s wrath being conquered by the Turks [11].
To return to the folk tale, Borma Yaryzhka manages to escape Babylon, the tsar-devka (a mythical ruler, half-woman, half-serpent) and the pursuing snakes but is forced to wander for thirty years before he returns to his homeland. Here, it is easy to trace the parallel between the Russian tale and Homer’s Odyssey which is not accidental. We will further see that the storyline of one of the character’s adventures is derived from that poem.
The traveller meets a one-eyed giant who threatens to eat him. After promising to make him another eye, Borma blinds him by pouring lead into his eye. The blind monster closes the entrance to the cave and starts to look for the traveller. Crafty Borma ties himself to a cave-dwelling goat’s belly and presently the giant flings the goat over the cave wall along with Borma under the animal [2, s. 24–25]. Obviously, this episode was borrowed from Homer’s work in which Odysseus, having blinded the cyclops Polyphemus, escaped from the cave in a similar fashion [5, s. 373–374].
At the same time, another Russian folk tale comes to mind. In that story, a blacksmith blinds one-eyed Likho under a similar pretence and, like Borma, he is unable to resist the temptation of a golden axe to which the hand that touches it will freeze and which makes it difficult for him to escape [8, s. 341]. Here we see another example of ancient influence in Russian folklore where popular imagination transforms the cyclops into Likho, a symbol of woe and bad luck.
Later on in the tale, as Borma Yaryzhka is fleeing on a raft from another monster, we notice that the river, dividing Russia from the outside world, cannot be crossed by evil forces. It is well known that in early times people possessed little information about other countries and instead relied on fables from travellers. All kinds of monsters then were imagined to inhabit other lands. At the same time, Russian people viewed their country as special, almost holy. Phylotheus’ concept stemmed precisely from this mentality as did the notion that the Moscow Kingdom was the last independent Orthodox state in the world. Because of these ideas, Borma Yaryzhka depicts other countries as inhabited by infidels and dark powers. In the end, Borma returns home, delivers the symbols of authority to the tsar and is rewarded with the right to drink in any tavern for free [2, s. 27].
Thus, using some storylines as examples, we have been able to find historical layers and borrowings in this folk tale, although discovering the original source seems to present an impossibility. Having been passed on orally for so long, it might have been changed beyond recognition or fitted to some realities understood by common people.
A careful analysis of this folk tale about Borma Yaryzhka allows us to conclude that it was not composed in its entirety right away but instead developed over the centuries. This means that:
- Most of the symbols came to be interpreted by the church in a way suitable both to itself and the Moscow princes.
- Ancient legends used for political purposes, combined with folktales, led to development of new stories.
- This fairytale vividly represents common people’s stereotypes and observations which, combined with the works of the Russian publicists, were perceived by national consciousness in its own way. This means that the government’s ideological propaganda in the 16th century did in fact reach the people and was even reflected in folklore.
Автор выражает благодарность семье Бенсен оказавшей неоценимую помощь при написании данной статьи.
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