The description is sad in the perception of other characters. Encyclopedia of fairy-tale heroes: "Sadko"
The epic “Sadko” is one of the pearls of Russian folk epics of the Novgorod cycle. Its main theme is a colorful description of the trading merchant life of Novgorod and the fantastic wanderings of the merchant-guslar through the depths of the sea.
The plot of the epic is constructed in conventional three parts, each of which has its own inherent self-sufficiency. And the work itself has a clearly expressed dramatic conflict of a historical nature.
Story
According to historians, the first basis of the ancient epic about Sadko was a song about a Novgorod merchant whose name was Sodko Sotynets. He was mentioned in the Novgorod Chronicle of 1167 as the builder of the Boris and Gleb Church in Novgorod. It is noteworthy that the prototypes of the main characters - Sadko-guslar and the sea king - are found in epic narratives different nations- Greek, Finnish, Estonian, Kyrgyz and Old French tales.
Analysis
Description of the work
The action takes place in a rich and prosperous Novgorod. The young guslar singer Sadko pleases numerous Novgorod merchants with his sweet-voiced singing. At one of the feasts, realizing that no one is listening to him, the saddened singer goes to the shore of Lake Ilmen. Having poured out his soul in a beautiful, but at the same time filled with sadness song, Sadko excited with his singing the king of the sea, who thanked the guslar with the opportunity to gain wealth. Having won an argument with three merchants that there are fish with golden feathers in Lake Ilmen, Sadko becomes a rich man and over the course of twelve years increases his property many times over.
One day, Sadko the merchant sets out on a long trading journey, loading thirty ships with untold riches. A sudden strong storm forces Sadko to try to appease the king of the sea, but the lot shows that the ruler of the sea does not need wealth, he needs a sweet-voiced psaltery singer. Sadko pleased the tsar and his entire retinue with his play from morning to evening; he was promised untold riches, but dreams of his beloved Novgorod turned out to be stronger than the devilish temptation of the underwater world. Thanks to his love for the sea beauty Chernavushka and the help of the famous saint Nicholas the Wonderworker (Mozhaisky), Sadko returns to his hometown, throws a feast and builds a church in the name of the saint who saved him.
Epic quotes
“How can I brag about something, Sadku? But I don’t have a lot of countless golden treasury, And I don’t have a beautiful young wife, But how can I, Sadku, only have one thing to brag about: In Ilmen and like in the lake And there are fish like golden feathers, after all.”
“And how hello, rich merchant, Sadko and Novgorod! And how no matter how much you traveled across the sea, And how you never paid tribute to the king of the sea in the blue sea, And now he himself came to me all and in gifts.”
“And whoever boasts about something at a feast: And another boasts about his countless golden treasury, And another he boasts about a good horse, And another he boasts about his strength and good luck; And now how smart he is, how he boasts about A and his old father, his old mother, And how the crazy fool now boasts, And how he boasts about his young wife.”(Narrator)
Main characters
A talented young guslar singer. He sacrifices himself during a storm, thereby saving the lives of his squad. In this act, the Christian spirit of the hero is manifested, along with high morality and patriotism.
The image of the ruler of the seas is very ambiguous; it combines both power and destructive force, and love for the talent of the guslar singer Sadko. This character acts first as a benefactor, and over time as the singer’s enslaver, while he does not understand that for Sadko there is nothing more precious than earthly life in his hometown.
Structure of the work
The plot and compositional structure of the epic includes three self-sufficient parts. According to Belinsky, the work clearly expresses a dramatic conflict of a historical nature. The uniqueness of the work is the combination of three epics from different times of writing, starting from the early pagan (the image of the good sea king) and ending with the Christian (the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker). Also unusual is the choice of the main character - not an epic hero, but a poor talented guslar singer.
Final conclusion
The epic “Sadko” is a unique monument of Russian culture, which expresses the entire historical and patriotic essence of the image of a wandering guslar singer who defeated both merchants and the seductive temptations of fantastic underwater life.
The holiness of the image of his native Novgorod is what turns out to be above all for Sadko, a patriot and Christian. The epic is of particular historical value - it shows with great truthfulness the everyday life of Novgorodians in all its manifestations.
One of the most famous characters of Russian epics belonging to the Novgorod cycle is Sadko.
Prototype of an epic hero
Sadko’s personality cannot be called fictitious. There is a version that its prototype was the rich and very generous merchant Sotko Sytinich, who lived in Novgorod around 1167. He did a lot for his native Novgorod, in particular, with his money, according to legend, the Church of Boris and Gleb was built.
This version is refuted by a theory based on the fact that the epic about Sadko is described in a more or less similar version French literature, moreover, the main character of the legendary epic was called Zadok. This gives historians and art critics the right to argue that, perhaps, the prototype of both stories was the same real person (or work). And given that the name Sadko and Zadok have Jewish roots, fans of this version are sure that we're talking about O forgotten by history a Jewish merchant or a fairy tale that has not survived to our times.
And finally, the third version, put forward by Vsevolod Miller, finds an explanation for Sadko’s personality in the epics of the Finnish-Estonian tribes. The scientist bases his theory not on the personality of the main character, but on the very story associated with him and described in the legend.
Sadko's personality traits
Unlike the epic heroes, Sadko did not perform feats and did not defend the Russian land. He became famous as a merchant, so it can be argued that, in this way, the epics first glorified merchants as a social category that was gaining real political power at that time.
Sadko’s character deserves special attention. He is distinguished by his generosity, ability to part with acquired goods, ease, honesty and extraordinary musical abilities. The negative character traits of the hero include his unprecedented boasting and gambling nature, which almost cost him his life.
In addition, the epic notes Sadko’s luck, ability to be in the right place at the right time, as well as the eternal desire of the Russian people for “freebies,” since the hero did not earn his wealth through hard work, but won as a result of a banal dispute, turning from a simple guslar into a prominent and a wealthy person.
Epic about Sadko
Only one epic about Sadko has survived to this day, called “Sadko and the Sea King,” consisting of three parts. In the first part, Sadko is presented as a poor guslar who entertained a noble audience. He mastered the instrument so masterfully that he gained the favor of not only the Novgorod nobility, but also Vodyanoy himself, who lived in Lake Ilmen. Having managed to please his ears, the Tsar helped Sadko earn money from the dispute and become a rich, respected man.
In the second part of the epic, Sadko appears as a wealthy merchant, one of the richest on Novgorod land. But his trading activities were interrupted by a banal dispute, after which Sadko was forced to go by sea to trade in distant lands. The sea king demanded tribute from him, but he was not satisfied, neither bags of gold nor pearls - he needed a human sacrifice, which Sadko became. He took with him a harp, on which he began to play for the King of the Sea, but Saint Nicholas the saint, who appeared to him in the role of an elder, forbade him to do this, since the king’s dances caused the sea to ripple and the ships sank.
In the third part of the epic, the Sea King forced Sadko to marry. He chose, on the advice of the same Saint Nicholas, the maiden Chernava, who was the river on the banks of which he woke up after the wedding feast. The merchant's fleet immediately returned, increasing his wealth, and in honor of the saint, Sadko built a church in Novgorod.
There is a version in which, instead of getting married, Sadko manages to resolve the king’s dispute about what is more valuable – damask steel or gold. Sadko chose damask steel because it can be used to win in battle.
To summarize, it can be noted that the image of Sadko differs from other images of Russian epics. This means that the Russian people gradually learned to appreciate the contribution made to the development of the lands not only by the defenders of the fatherland, but also by those who did not have strength, courage, or heroic prowess. That is, Sadko can rightfully be called a “hero” of a new, calmer time, when the Russian lands, primarily the Novgorod principality, lived in relative peace.
Sadko is the name of the legendary Novgorod guslar, who, thanks to his musical gift, became a wealthy merchant. Sadko is the same Novgorod symbol as the veche, St. Sophia Cathedral, the “Millennium of Russia” monument... What is not named in Novgorod by this name: a hotel, a fountain in the center of the Kremlin park, a television, a famous ensemble, a folk festival...
Novgorod epics (folk legends in poetic form) tell us about Sadko. As a rule, epics tell about the exploits of heroes, but only in Novgorod the main character of the epics is not a warrior-hero, but a merchant - enterprising, independent, energetic and successful. The Novgorod epic cycle about Sadko is the subject of serious scientific research: historians study the epics encrypted in the “fairytale” text historical processes and the realities of life in the Novgorod Republic, literary scholars trace common storylines in Novgorod epics and tales of different peoples, etc.
Three epics about Sadko, very rarely recorded as a single cycle, but often performed in one pair or another, have a meaningful sequence. The popular plot outline of epics about Sadko looks like this:
Sadko was at first a poor psaltery player, whose only property was a spring harp. He went to honest feasts, played, and entertained the people. Once Sadko played the harp on the shore of Lake Ilmen from morning until evening. The king of the sea liked his performance so much that he went ashore and decided to reward the young guslar. The Sea Tsar taught Sadko to bet with rich Novgorod merchants that there was a “golden feather” fish in Lake Ilmen. With the help of the king of the sea, Sadko won a mortgage, began to trade and turned into a “rich guest” - a merchant.
Sadko, who had become rich, once boasted at a feast that he would buy up all the goods in Novgorod. For two days he bought goods in the shopping arcade, but on the third day, when Moscow goods arrived, Sadko admitted that he could not buy goods from all over the world:
It’s not me, apparently, the merchant is rich from Novgorod -
Glorious Novgorod is richer than me.
After this, Sadko equipped 30 ships, loaded them with goods and went to trade. But at sea the ships suddenly stopped, despite the strong wind. Sadko guessed that the sea king was demanding tribute, and began throwing barrels of gold, silver and pearls into the sea. But in vain - the king of the sea demanded a living head. The merchants began to cast lots, and it fell to Sadko. Fulfilling the desire of the sea king, Sadko sinks to the bottom, taking with him the harp. It turned out that the sea king wanted to listen to him play. To the sounds of Sadko’s gusli, the king of the sea began to dance, causing the sea to become agitated, the ships began to sink, and many people began to die. Then Saint Nicholas the Saint appeared to Sadko under the guise of a gray-haired old man (he is reputed to be an ambulance on the waters and is even called “sea” and “wet”). Nikolai the saint tells Sadko to stop playing, breaking the strings of the gusli.
The sea king tries to keep the guslar in his kingdom, but Sadko answers him:
Don’t hold me back with your wealth;
All these luxuries and bliss
I would give for the cry of a quail in the rye,
For the scraping of the Novgorod cart!
A. Tolstoy. "Sadko"
The sea king invites Sadko to marry a sea maiden, offering him hundreds of brides to choose from. But the guslar chose the very last girl - the modest Chernava: Nikolai the saint suggested that she would save Sadko from underwater captivity. Sadko falls asleep after the wedding feast and wakes up in Novgorod, on the banks of the Chernava River (such a river, or rather the Black Stream, flowed in ancient Novgorod near Peryn and flowed into Lake Ilmen).
At the same time, his ships with the treasury sail along the Volkhov. In gratitude for the salvation, Sadko erected churches to St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk and the Blessed Virgin Mary in Novgorod.
Sadko sits in Novegrad unharmed,
All the street people are with him;
On the tablecloth the swear word hisses in front of him
Wine in a Venetian glass.
The sedate posadnik, and the thousand one here,
And two old mayors,
And the Konchan elders drink with them
Sadku's health is all-round.
Sadko sings and plays the harp,
Sings about the water king:
How hard was it to live there?
And how wonderfully he dances;
Sings about the hike without hiding about his own,
What was the turn of things -
Everyone shakes their head in doubt,
They can't believe the story.
A. Tolstoy. "Sadko"
It is believed that the prototype of Sadko was the real person Sotko Sytinets (or Sotko Sytinich) - a merchant from the chronicles, most likely a trading boyar, since he was named by his patronymic. He is known for erecting the stone church of Boris and Gleb in Detinets (Novgorod Kremlin), which is recorded in the Novgorod chronicle: “In the summer of 6675 (1167)... In the same spring they laid the stone church of Sadko Sytinitsa to the holy martyr Boris and Gleb under Prince Svyatoslav Rostislavitsa, under Archbishop Elijah.”
The Sotko Sytinich Church served as an important topographical landmark and is listed in the “Charter on the Bridges”. Repeatedly mentioned in the Novgorod chronicles. The exact location of the church was determined from the record of the burnt wooden church of Sofia, which was located “the end of Piskuple Street, where Sotka has now built the church of the stone of St. Boris and Gleb above Volkhov”. In 1220, near the walls of the church there was a clash between Prince Vsevolod Mstislavich and the residents of the Sofia side, who stood up to defend the mayor Tverdislav: “Tverdislav was unable to move and took him out on a sled to Boris and Gleb and wrote about him Prusya and Lyudin the end and Zagorodtsi...”. And further. Some sources have a version that the church was grandiose and was not inferior in size to St. Sophia Cathedral. This audacity amazed the Novgorodians, who were accustomed to the strict architectural discipline of the Novgorod architects: after all, according to the city planning laws of that time and up to the 18th century, newly erected buildings had to carefully observe the ancient layout of the city and be inferior in size to the buildings of the 11th-12th centuries.
Around the name Sadko...
In the 1930s The northern seas were plied by the icebreaking steamer "Sadko", the fate of which is closely connected with the most famous polar expeditions of that time, the history of the drift of the icebreaking steamer "Georgy Sedov" and the name N.I. Evgenova- famous polar explorer, Novgorod native. The name of the icebreaker "Sadko" is immortalized on the map of the Arctic - it named the shallow waters in the Kara Sea, discovered by the First High-Latitude Expedition in 1935.
The plot and image of Sadko are widely represented in literature, fine arts, and music. Among the most famous works is the wonderful ballad by A.K. Tolstoy's "Sadko", paintings by I. Repin "Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom", "Sadko and the Tsar of the Sea" by Konstantin Vasiliev, illustrations by I. Bilibin, works of Palekh and Fedoskino lacquer miniatures, N. Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "Sadko", fountain "Sadko" "in Ukrainian Sumy...
And in 1952, based on the Novgorod epic, director A. Ptushko shot the fairy tale film “Sadko”. American producer Roger Corman saw this film, admired it and bought the copyright so that Americans would also become acquainted with the story of Sadko. Only in America the film was called “The Magical Voyage of Sinbad” - the name Sadko, so famous in Russia, did not mean anything to the Americans...
And quite unexpectedly, the trace of our Sadko is found in botany. One of the legends says that the water princess Volkhova fell in love with the daring Sadko. One day, going ashore, in the light of the moon she saw her lover in the arms of the earthly girl Lyubava. The proud princess turned away and walked away, shedding tears that turned on the ground into delicate flowers, as if studded with pearls. This is how the lily of the valley flower was born - a symbol of pure and tender love.
In Veliky Novgorod the hotel is named after “Sadko”, fountain, festival of folk crafts; the same name was borne by the legendary Novgorod ensemble folk song and dance, widely known in Soviet times; on the street Fedorovsky Ruchey, a forged sculpture “Sadko” was installed; The Novgorod production company "Kvant" has been producing televisions of the "Sadko" brand for a long time.
References for the article:
Epics about Sadka // Novgorod epics / prepared by Yu.I. Smirnov, V.G. Smolitsky. - M.: Nauka, 1978. - P. 148-242.
. Sadko: Novgorod epics / preparation of the text and afterword by V.P. Anikina. - M.: Soviet Russia, 1980. - 80 p.: ill.
. A special history of Novgorod // Kudryashov V.P. Memory of the past / V.P. Kudryashov, V. Krestyaninov. - Novgorod, 1993. - pp. 58-61.
. Who were the prototypes of Buslay and Sadko? // Kovalenko G. Legends and mysteries of the Novgorod land / G. Kovalenko, V. Smirnov. - M.: Veche, 2007. - P. 99-103. - (Secrets of famous cities).
Sadko is the hero of the epics of the Novgorod cycle; Of the nine known variants recorded exclusively in the Olonets province, only two are complete. According to the most complete version (Sorokin), Sadko was at first a poor guslar who amused Novgorod merchants and boyars. Once he played the harp on the shore of Lake Ilmen from morning to evening and with his playing gained the favor of Tsar Vodyany, who taught Sadko to bet with rich Novgorod merchants that there was a fish with “golden feathers” in Ilmen Lake. With the help of Tsar Vodyany, Sadko won a mortgage, began trading and became rich.
Sadko the merchant plays for the sea king,
artist Frank Chain Pape, 1916
One day Sadko boasted at a feast that he would buy up all the goods in Novgorod; Indeed, for two days Sadko bought all the goods in the living room, but on the third day, when Moscow goods arrived, Sadko admitted that he could not buy goods from all over the world. After this, Sadko loaded 30 ships with goods and went to trade; On the way, the ships suddenly stopped, despite the strong wind. Sadko, guessing that the sea king was demanding tribute, threw barrels of gold, silver and pearls into the sea, but in vain; then it was decided that the king of the sea demands a living head; the lot fell on Sadko, who, taking his harp with him, ordered himself to be lowered into the sea on an oak board.
Sadko found himself in the chambers of the sea king, who announced to him that he had demanded him to listen to his play. To the sounds of Sadko’s playing, the king of the sea began to dance, as a result of which the sea became agitated, ships began to sink and many Orthodox people died; Then Mikola the saint, under the guise of a gray-haired old man, appeared to Sadko and ordered him to stop playing, breaking the strings of the gusli. Then the king of the sea demands that Sadko marry a sea maiden of his choice. On the advice of Mikola, Sadko chooses the girl Chernava; After the wedding feast, Sadko falls asleep and wakes up on the banks of the Chernava River. At the same time, his ships with the treasury are approaching along the Volkhov. In gratitude for the salvation, Sadko built churches to St. Nicholas of Mozhaisk and the Blessed Virgin Mary.
In some versions, Sadko resolves the dispute between the sea king and the queen about what is more expensive in Rus' - gold or damask steel, and decides it in favor of damask steel; in another version, the role of Mikola is taken by the Pallet Queen. In one epic about Sadko in the collection of Kirsha Danilov, Sadko is not a natural Novgorodian, but a young man coming from the Volga, whom Ilmen-Lake helps to get rich in gratitude for the bow Sadko conveyed to him from Ilmen’s sister, Volga: the fish caught in large quantities turned into gold and silver money.
Sadko himself does not perform heroic deeds: his trading activities are imputed to him as a feat; Thus, Sadko is a representative of Novgorod trade, a merchant-hero. The oldest basis for the epic about the merchant-hero Sadko was probably a song about the historical person Sadka Sytinets (or Sotko Sytinich), mentioned in the chronicle in 1167 as the builder of the Church of Saints Boris and Gleb in Novgorod. Various fairy tale motifs are associated with the name of this person, partly going back to local legends, partly to international wandering fairy tales. Thus, in Novgorod and Rostov legends, the rescue of a man who was dying and floating on a board is mentioned; According to Russian folk beliefs, Saint Nicholas is known as an ambulance on the waters and is even called “sea” and “wet”.
Stories that an underground or underwater king, having captured a hero into his kingdom, wants to keep him by marrying his daughter, are also very frequent in our fairy tales and in the fairy tales of other peoples. Thus, one Kyrgyz legend tells how one man, having dived into the water, found himself in the kingdom of the ruler of the waters, Ubbe, served there for several years, married the vizier’s daughter, and then, with the help of a magic green stick, returned to earth and became rich. The closest sources of the epic about the merchant-hero Sadko have not been clarified. Academician A. N. Veselovsky points out the similarity of the epic about Sadko with an episode of the old French novel about “Tristan le Léonois”: its hero, who goes by the name Sadok, killed his brother-in-law, who attempted the honor of his wife, and flees with her on a ship; a storm arises, which, according to the ship's elder, was sent down for the sins of one of the passengers; by lot, Zadok turns out to be the culprit of the storm; he throws himself into the sea, after which the storm subsides.
The obvious similarity of the episodes of the French novel and the epic, as well as the coincidence of the names Sadko and Sadok, gives reason to assume that both the novel and the epic independently go back to the same source - a story or legend in which this name was already found. The name Sadko, Zadok, is of Jewish origin (Jewish Tzadok - fair), which indicates the likely influence of Jewish folk literature. Sun. Miller finds an explanation for the types of Sadko-guslar and the sea king in Finnish and Estonian legends: he equates the sea king of the epic with the sea king Ahto, who is also a hunter of music; He sees the prototype of Sadko-guslar in the musician and singer Väinämöinen.
Merchant-hero Sadko and the king of the sea
Like on the sea, on the blue sea
Thirty ships - one Falcon-ship
Sadok himself, the rich guest.
And all the ships that falcons fly,
The falcon-ship is standing on the sea.
Sadko the merchant says to the rich guest:
“And you yarichki, hired people,
And the people who are hired are the subordinates!
Instead, you all get together,
And when cutting lots you are valued,
And write to everyone’s names
And throw them into the blue sea."
Sadko left the hop feather,
And it has a signature on it.
And Sadko himself says:
“And the yaryshki, you are hired people!
And listen to the speeches of the righteous,
And we will throw them on the blue sea,
Which would float on top,
And those darlings would be right,
That some people are drowning in the sea,
And we will push them into the blue sea.”
And all the lots float above,
If only the yars would gogol through the creeks,
One foal is drowning in the sea,
A hop feather is drowning in the sea
Sadok himself is a rich guest.
Sadko the merchant said to the rich guest:
“You are mercenaries, hired people,
And hired people, subordinates!
And you are cutting the willow lots,
And write everyone in your own name,
And speak to them yourself:
And whose lots are drowning in the sea, -
And even then the darlings would be right.”
And Sadko left the damask foal,
Blue damask steel is from overseas,
The foal weighs ten pounds.
And all the lots drown in the sea, -
One foal floats above,
Sadok himself is a rich guest.
Here Sadko the merchant says to the rich guest:
“You are mercenaries, hired people,
And the people who are hired are the subordinates!
I myself, Sadko, know and know:
I've been running on the sea for twelve years,
To that overseas king
I did not pay tribute duties,
And in that blue sea of Khvalynskoye
I didn’t leave out bread and salt, -
For me, Sadka, death has come,
And you, rich merchant guests,
And you, beloved kissers,
And all the clerks are good,
Bring me a sable fur coat!”
And soon Sadko is dressing up,
He takes the tinkling harp
With good strings of gold,
And he takes the chess player the road
With gold tavleys,
From the top of the road there are volleys.
And they lowered the gangplank because it was silver
Under red gold.
Sadko the merchant was like a rich guest,
He went down to the blue sea,
He sat down on the gold chessboard.
And the yaryshki, hired people,
And hired people, subordinates
The silver gangway was dragged away
And silver under red gold for the Falcon-ship,
And Sadko remained on the blue sea.
And the Falcon-ship sailed across the sea,
And all the ships fly like falcons,
And one ship runs across the sea like a white gyrfalcon -
Sadok himself is a rich guest.
Great prayers from father and mother,
Sadok himself, a rich guest:
The weather was calm,
Sadka carried away the rich guest.
Sadko the merchant did not see the rich guest
Neither the mountains nor the shore,
He, Sadka, was carried to the shore,
He himself, Sadko, marvels here.
Sadko went out onto the steep banks,
Sadko went near the blue sea,
He found a great hut,
And the great hut, the whole tree,
He found the door and went into the hut.
And the king of the sea lies on the bench:
“And you are a goy, a merchant - a rich guest!
And what my soul desired, God gave me:
And he waited for Sadka for twelve years,
And now Sadko has come with his head,
Play, Sadko, the harp is ringing!”
And Sadko began to entertain the king,
Sadko played the ringing harp,
And the king of the sea began to jump, began to dance
And that Sadka the rich guest
He gave me different drinks to drink.
Sadko got drunk on various drinks,
And Sadko collapsed, and he became drunk,
And Sadko the merchant, a rich guest, fell asleep.
And in a dream Saint Nicholas came to him,
He speaks these words to him:
“Hey art thou, Sadko the merchant, rich guest!
And tear your gold strings
And throw away the ringing harp:
The king of the sea danced for you,
And the blue sea swayed,
And the rivers flowed fast,
A lot of bead ships are sinking,
Drowning souls in vain
That Orthodox people."
He tore the gold strings
And he throws out the ringing harp.
The king of the sea stopped jumping and dancing,
The blue sea has calmed down,
The fast rivers have calmed down.
And in the morning the king of the sea became here,
He began to persuade Sadka:
And King Sadka wants to marry
And he brought him thirty girls.
Nikola punished him in a dream:
“Goy art thou, rich guest merchant,
And the king of the sea will marry you,
He will bring thirty girls, -
Don’t take the good, white, rosy one from them,
Take the cook girl.
The cook, which is the worst of all."
And here Sadko the merchant is a rich guest,
He thought, but didn’t think through it,
And he takes the cook girl,
And which girl is the worst of all.
And here is the king of the sea
I put Sadka to sleep in the basement,
And he lay down with the newlywed.
Nikolai punished Sadka in a dream
Don't hug your wife, don't kiss her!
And here Sadko the merchant is a rich guest
He sleeps on the basement with his young wife,
He pressed his little hands to his heart,
From midnight in a sleepy state
He threw his left leg over his young wife.
Sadko woke up from his sleep,
He found himself near the New Town,
And the left foot is in the Volkh River, -
And Sadko jumped, he was scared,
Sadko looked at Novgorod,
He recognized the church as his parish,
Togo Nikola Mozhaisky,
He crossed himself with his cross.
And Sadko looks along the Volkh, along the Volkh River:
From that blue sea of Khvalynsky
Along the glorious mother Volkh River
Thirty ships will run and run,
One ship of Sadok himself is a rich guest.
And Sadko the merchant meets the rich guest
Beloved kissers.
All the ships arrived at the pier,
The gangplank was thrown onto the steep bank:
And the kissers went out onto the steep bank,
And then Sadko bows:
“Hello, my beloved kissers
And the clerks are good!”
And then Sadko the merchant is a rich guest
From all ships I put it in customs
Treasury with its forty thousand,
They didn’t examine me for three days.
The events in the epic unfold in the city of Novgorod. It splits into two parts (Sadko receives wealth and Sadko from the Sea King). Main character - guslar Sadko. At the beginning of the epic, the Novgorod boyars neglected him and stopped inviting him to feasts. Offended, Sadko goes to Lake Ilmen, sits on the “white-flammable stone” and begins to play “Yarovchaty Guselki”. The Sea King liked his game:
Just then the water in the lake began to stir, the king of the sea appeared, came out of Ilmen from the lake, and himself said these words: “Oh, you, Sadke of Novgorod! a gentle game." 1
The Sea King decided to help Sadko and give him untold wealth. He told him to make a bet with the Novgorod merchants that he would catch a fish in the lake - a golden feather. The king will send this fish to Sadko in the net.
Guslyar did just that and won three shops of red goods in a dispute with merchants, became rich, erected magnificent palaces, decorating them with marvelous paintings:
Sadke arranged everything in heavenly fashion: There is sun in the sky and there is sun in the chambers, There is a month in the sky and there is a month in the chambers, There are stars in the sky and there are stars in the chambers. 2
Sadko “invited noble guests to his honorable feast,” who at the feast ate, got drunk and all boasted with boasts." Sadko boasted of buying up all the goods in Novgorod, argued with him about the wealth. But the bet lost: no matter how much he bought goods in Novgorod shops, in the morning more and more new ones brought from all over Rus' appeared in them. And Sadko realized that he was not the rich merchant of Novgorod - his glorious Novgorod was richer. And if at the beginning of the epic the popular consciousness was on the side of the poor guslar, then Sadko the merchant, who imagined , that he is richer and stronger than the entire trading city, deprived of the sympathy of the people. The epic forces him to recognize the victory of Novgorod. It clearly expresses the idea of \u200b\u200bthe trading power of the great city of northern Rus'.
In the second part of the epic, Sadko, a rich merchant, equips ships and sets off with his comrades to trade overseas:
Strong weather met on the blue sea, The blackened ships stagnated on the blue sea: And the wave hits, tears the sails, Breaks the blackened ships; But the ships do not move from their place on the blue sea. 3
This is how landscape is introduced into the epic. The ships are at sea - the Sea King does not let Sadko in and demands a ransom from him. First, the shipbuilders try to pay off with a barrel of pure silver, red gold, but the wave hits everything, tears the sails, and “the ships still do not move from their place on the blue sea.” Sadko guesses that the Tsar of the Sea demands “a living head in the blue sea.” They cast lots three times as to who should go to the Sea King. And no matter how hard Sadko tried, the lot fell on him. Taking only the harp, Sadko rushes into the depths of the sea.
The image of the underwater kingdom in the epic is real, the landscape is realistic:
In the blue sea at the very bottom. Through the water I saw the baking red sun, the evening dawn, the morning dawn. I saw Sadko: in the blue sea there was a white stone chamber... 4
What we see here is not fantasy, but rather a certain amount of convention. The King of the Sea himself is also depicted. The epic gives only one detail of his portrait: “the king’s head is like a heap of hay.” The singers use the technique of hyperbolization: the king’s head is compared to a heap of hay, which indicates its significant size and introduces an element of comedy.
How Sadko began to play guselki yarovchaty, How the king of the sea began to dance in the blue sea, How the king of the sea began to dance. Sadke played for a day, others played too, and Sadke and others played, And still the king danced in the blue sea. 5
Grateful for the fun, the Sea King began to persuade Sadko to marry one of his thirty daughters. Meanwhile, in the blue sea, the waters shake, ships break, and righteous people drown.
In reality, an Orthodox person, in search of deliverance from misfortunes, always turns to Christian saints, which is reflected in the epic: “the people began to pray to Mikola of Mozhaisk.” It is no coincidence that the image of the Christian intercessor Mykola, the patron saint of all seafarers and sailors, is introduced into the epic. This reveals the general Christian idea of Russian folklore:
The saint appeared before Sadko on the seabed: He turned around and looked at Sadko of Novgorod: A gray-haired old man was standing there. Novgorodsky said to Sadka: “I have no will of my own in the blue sea, I am ordered to play guselki yarovchaty.” The old man says these words: “And you tear out the strings, And you break out the pins. Say: “I didn’t have any strings, And the pins weren’t useful, There’s nothing else to play with: The verge-shaped goosenecks broke.” 6
Saint Mikola teaches the unlucky guslar how to return to Novgorod. He must choose as his bride the last daughter of the Sea King, the girl Chernavushka. Having listened to wise advice, the next morning Sadko found himself on land, and the girl he chose turned out to be a Novgorod river. In gratitude, Sadko built the cathedral church of Mykola Mozhaisky.
In the Novgorod Chronicle, under 1167, the name of a certain Sadko Sytinets is mentioned, who founded the church. The epic Sadko coincides with a real historical figure.
V.G. Belinsky wrote about Novgorod epics that all the rest of Russian fairy-tale poetry is visible in front of them. A new and special world is visible, which served as the source of the forms and very spirit of Russian life, and consequently of Russian poetry. About “Sadko” he writes: “The whole poem is imbued with extraordinary animation and is full of poetry. This is one of the pearls of Russian folk poetry.”