I. The Story of Volgá 1 II. Mikúla the Villager’s Son 8 III. Svyatogór 15 IV. Svyatogór and Ilyá of Múrom 17 V. Ilyá of Múrom and Nightingale the Robber 30 VI. The Three Ways 46 VII. Ilyá of Múrom and King Kálin 50 CHARACTERS. Volgá, Son of Svyátoslav. Mikúla, the Ploughman Hero. Svyatogór, the Hero. Ilyá of Múrom, Son of Iván. Vladímir, Prince of Kiev. Apráxia, his Daughter. Nightingale, the Robber. King Kálin, a Tartar King. Samson, a Hero (Ilyá’s Godfather). ILLUSTRATIONS. Page. Volgá, Son of Buslav Frontispiece Young Mikúla, the Villager’s Son 11 Ilyá of Múrom, the Peasant’s Son 19 Map of Ilyá’s Journeys 23 He Shot Nightingale the Robber 37 Ilyá came to Kiev Town 41 A Feast of Honour was Spread 51 There was the Old Cossack, Ilyá of Múrom 57 These titles are literal translations of the Russian inscriptions on the illustrations. HERO TALES OF RUSSIA. I. THE STORY OF VOLGÁ. The red sun was going down behind the high hills, behind the blue sea. The countless stars showed themselves in the clear sky, and the bright moon was shining in the heavens when Volgá the Hero was born in Holy Russia. Damp Mother Earth was his cradle. The earth rocked, and there was a great storm upon the blue sea, and the fish went down into the deep sea, the birds flew up into the sky, the great aurochs and the deer fled over the hills, the hares and rabbits ran into the thick forest, and the wolves and bears fled away among the fir trees, sables and martens escaped to the islands, because they knew that a hero was born in Russia. When Volgá was an hour and a half old he spoke with a voice like thunder, and said: “Come then, O Lady, my mother, young Márfa, put no baby-clothes upon me, nor a sash of silk, but give me strong steel armour, and on my head put a helmet of gold. In my right hand a club, a club made heavy with lead of the weight of a hundred pounds.” When Volgá was seven years old his mother had him taught to read, and she made him write with a pen. And from all the birds and beasts he learnt their skill and wisdom and the different tongues of all, and he understood the speech of all the beasts of the field and forest, and of all the birds and fishes. When he was ten years old he learned much magic. First he learned to turn himself into a bright falcon, and next he learned to turn himself into a grey wolf, and the third thing he learned was to turn himself into a brown aurochs, a brown aurochs with golden hoofs.