Byliny Book - Hero Tales of Russia

Synopsis

This is a Byliny Book. What does “Byliny” mean? It is a Russian word, and it means stories about What-has-Been, what happened in Russia in the old days long ago. We all read about the Greek heroes Jason and Perseus and Theseus and Heracles. The Russians had splendid heroes too, who met with wonderful adventures. Russia and France and Italy and England are fighting side by side a great fight for freedom, and these old heroes of Russia fought for freedom too, against great barbarian armies of Huns and Tartars. The Russians are our brave friends, our “Allies,” as we call them now, and it is good to get to know about their heroes of olden times.

The Russians put the accent on the end of their words much oftener than the English. We say Ī́-văn and they say Eeváhn. And so it is with the last hero, Ilyá; he is pronounced Eelyā́h. Besides the heroes, there is Vladímir the king, and he is called Vladéemir. The only really hard word to say right is Byliny itself, and that you can call Bwĭléeny, but our English lips do not make quite the Russian sound.

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