Nikita the Tanner, also Nikita Kozhemyaka or Mykyta Kozhumyaka (, ) is an Eastern European fairy tale set in

Kyiv Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

. The main character is an East Slavic

folk hero A folk hero or national hero is a type of hero – real, fictional or mythology, mythological – with their name, personality and deeds embedded in the popular consciousness of a people, mentioned frequently in Folk music, folk songs, folk tales ...

(

bogatyr A bogatyr (, ; , ) or vityaz (, ; , ) is a stock character in medieval Bylina, East Slavic legends, akin to a Western European knight-errant. Bogatyrs appear mainly in Kievan Rus', Rus' epic poems—Bylina, ''bylinas''. Historically, they came i ...

), a character from a legend. In some sources he is called ''Kirill'' or ''Kyrylo the Tanner'' (, ), sometimes ''Elijah the Tailor'' (, ). The oldest source on it could be found in the

Laurentian Codex Laurentian Codex or Laurentian Letopis () is a collection of chronicles that includes the oldest extant version of the ''Primary Chronicle'' and its continuations, mostly relating the events in the northeastern Rus' principalities of Vladimir-Su ...

of the

Primary Chronicle The ''Primary Chronicle'', shortened from the common ''Russian Primary Chronicle'' (, commonly transcribed ''Povest' vremennykh let'' (PVL), ), is a Rus' chronicle, chronicle of Kievan Rus' from about 850 to 1110. It is believed to have been or ...

The legend

This Eastern European

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

set in

begins when a

Slavic dragon A Slavic dragon is any dragon in Slavic mythology, including the Polish żmij, Russian '' zmei'' (or ; ), Ukrainian (), and its counterparts in other Slavic cultures (See below). The physiognomy resembles a combination of the classical drag ...

, Zmey Gorynych, attacks the lands of the

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rus', also known as Kyivan Rus,. * was the first East Slavs, East Slavic state and later an amalgam of principalities in Eastern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical At ...

, taking beautiful girls as prisoners. One day the dragon kidnapped the daughter of the Kievan

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

. To find out the dragon's weakness, the Kievan prince's daughter pretended to fall in love with the dragon. Gorynych revealed to the prince's daughter there was only one person who could defeat him: a tanner from

Kiev Kyiv, also Kiev, is the capital and most populous List of cities in Ukraine, city of Ukraine. Located in the north-central part of the country, it straddles both sides of the Dnieper, Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2022, its population was 2, ...

named Nikita. The princess then told this secret to her pigeon, who then flew to alert her father, the prince. The prince went to Nikita the tanner's house to ask for help. The Kievan prince found it difficult to persuade Nikita into fighting. Nikita (a

) refused the wealth and power that the prince offered him. Eventually, the Kievan prince gathered hundreds of children in front of Nikita's house, who begged Nikita to save them from Gorynych's attacks. Only then did Nikita agree to fight. Nikita then went to Gorynych's lair, and, after a long fight, had the dragon heavily beaten with his heavy wooden club. Frightened, the dragon offered Nikita to become allies and rule the world together. Nikita demanded that they split the world and plow the border of their halves, then used the dragon to pull the plow instead of a plowing horse. After they plowed a furrow across the land, Nikita demanded that they plow further to divide the sea as well. The foolish Gorynych obeyed and ultimately drowned.

In popular culture

Nikita Kozhemyaka 2017 stampsheet of Ukraine

Media

* In '' Kashchey the Immortal'' (1945),

Sergei Stolyarov Sergei Dmitrievich Stolyarov (; – 9 December 1969) was a Russian and Soviet film and theater actor. The winner of the Stalin State Prize, Stalin Prize of the first degree (1951) and People's Artist of the RSFSR (1969), he was a member of the ...

was in the role of Nikita. The film is loosely inspired by the legend and combines characters from various Russian folk tales. * ''Mykyta Kozhumyaka'' (animated short film created by

Kyivnaukfilm The Kievnauchfilm () or KyivNaukFilm (), and sometimes translated as Kyiv Science Film, was a film studio in the Soviet Union located in Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR and Ukraine. Although it was created in 1941 to produce popular science films, it eventu ...

, 1965) replaces the dragon with a nomadic horde. * ''Nikita Kozhemyaka'' (animated short, 2008) - an episode in the Mountain of Gems series of shorts, it is a relatively faithful, albeit comical, adaptation of the legend. * Gorynych the Snake (Змій Горинич) was featured in

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

's Ukranimafilm's 2014 animated film, '' Babay''. * ''

The Dragon Spell ''The Dragon Spell'' (in ) is a 2016 Ukrainian 3D animated fantasy film directed by Manuk Depoyan based on Anton Siyanika's fairy tale of the same name.Антон Сіяніка. Микита Кожум'яка. Переклад з російсь ...

'' / ''Mykyta Kozhumyaka'' (animated feature film, 2016) - loosely inspired by the legend, the main protagonist is ''Mykyta'''s son. * ''Mykyta Kozhumyaka'',

Ukrposhta The Public Joint-stock company, JSC Ukrainian Postal Service or Ukrposhta () is the national postal service of Ukraine. It is a public company with 100% state ownership due to its strategic importance. From 1999–2015 it was a unitary enterpris ...

postal service stamp sheet,

, 2017

Landmarks

* "Kozhumyaky" district in

References

Literature