Yeruslan Lazarevich (), also known as Eruslan Lazarevich or, in the

Tatar Tatar may refer to: Peoples * Tatars, an umbrella term for different Turkic ethnic groups bearing the name "Tatar" * Volga Tatars, a people from the Volga-Ural region of western Russia * Crimean Tatars, a people from the Crimea peninsula by the B ...

original, Uruslan, is the Russian folk-literature

hero A hero (feminine: heroine) is a real person or fictional character who, in the face of danger, combats adversity through feats of ingenuity, courage, or Physical strength, strength. The original hero type of classical epics did such thin ...

of ''The Tale of Eruslane Lazarevic'', which recounts the many military and amorous adventures of a young and beautiful hero. Old

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

readers greatly enjoyed the tale; due to the variety of its content and by appearing frequently in ''

lubok A ''lubok'' (plural ''lubki''; ) is a Russian popular print, characterized by simple graphics and narratives derived from literature, religious stories, and popular tales. ''Lubki'' prints were used as decoration in houses and inns. Early exampl ...

'' illustrated prints, it spread widely among the people. Its influence is noticeable even on some retelling of tales about Ilya of Murom. Erusulan, Uruslan and the German form Jeruslan Lasarewitch are some of the variant spellings.

Origins of the legend

One theory (

Vladimir Stasov Vladimir Vasilievich Stasov (also Stassov; ; 14 January O.S. 2 January">Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#Adoption in Eastern Europe">O.S. 2 January/small> 1824 – 23 October .S. 10 October/small> 1906), was a Russian critic of music and art. ...

, 1868) is that the legend was an adaptation of the exploits of

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, hero of the Persian epic ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' (, ), also transliterated ''Shahnama'', is a long epic poem written by the Persian literature, Persian poet Ferdowsi between and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,000 distichs or couple ...

''. Possibly this story was introduced by the

s. One of the similarities is the combat between father and son, Rustem and

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, although this has parallels worldwide. Another is Rustem's campaign, in

Mazandaran Mazandaran Province (; ) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Sari, Iran, Sari. Located along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea and in the adjacent Central Alborz mountain range and Hyrcanian forests, it is border ...

for the release of the Persian king Kay Kaus. The father of Yeruslan (according to the manuscript version) is Zalazar, retaining the name of the father of Rustem, Zal-Zar; the King of Persia is Kirkous, altered from Kay Kaus of the ''Shah Nameh''; the horse of Uruslan is Arash, while the horse of Rustem was Rahsh. Uruslan himself can be equated with Rustam, since he was being called Arslan (Lion) in Tatar versions. Between the two above-mentioned episodes, the first of which is the beginning of the second – the tales were ended, to immediately place the other adventures of Uruslan (with little connection in the original versions), such as the meeting with a Russian hero Ivan, the fight with him, then their fraternisation and mutual assistance in the search by Uruslan for Ivan's daughter taken by Theodulus-

zmey 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 ...

ya Kandauly Feodulovny; the meeting of Uruslan with beautiful princesses, held by a giant-keeper, Ivashko; the battle with the sea king dragon saving Princess Anastasiya Vahramyeevna, his marriage to Princess of the Sunflower City and so on. These adventures of Uruslan do not have a direct correspondence in the adventures of an Iranian Rustem, but find parallels in the various oriental tales. The ''Tale of Eruslane Lazarevich'' is of considerable interest for the history of fairy tales about Ilya of Murom. On the one hand, on some adventures of the Murom heroes there are the same motives that went into the tale of Eruslane Lazarevic. For example, a meeting of Ilya with Nightingale the Robber, his coming to

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, ...

and his relationship with Prince Vladimir is reminiscent of Eruslan Lazarevic meeting with Ivashko hero and his arrival to the king of

Dalmatia Dalmatia (; ; ) is a historical region located in modern-day Croatia and Montenegro, on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea. Through time it formed part of several historical states, most notably the Roman Empire, the Kingdom of Croatia (925 ...

; the meeting of Ilya with Korolevichnoy can be associated with the meeting of Yeruslan with beautiful princesses; then the two knights fight with their sons not known of them, and so on. On the other hand, some epic poems, and especially tales about Ilya of Murom had a cheap popular direct effect in people, which it has in common with the tale of Eruslane Lazarevic.

Publications

The ''Tale of Eruslane Lazarevich'' manuscript was published, first by and N. S. Tikhonravov, and then by the manuscript Archive of Pogodinskaya, by N. Kostomarov. The text of the cheap popular personal tales was printed by D. A. Rovinsky. Both record tales of the 17th century represented in two editions, of which the edition of the Undolskogo (Undolsky collection) list is considered more valuable, as it has a more logical connection between the separate adventures of the hero, names in it the hero as Sir Uruslan and preserved in greater purity, in some names of other characters. Russian folklorist

Alexander Afanasyev Alexander Nikolayevich Afanasyev (; – ) was a Russian Slavist and ethnographer best known for publishing nearly 600 East Slavic and Russian fairy and folk tales, one of the largest collections of folklore in the world. This collection was ...

wrote an abridged version of the tale and interpreted the character of the inimical king as a storm deity, probably derived from mythology.Афанасьев, А.Н.
Поэтические воззрения славян на природу: Опыт сравнительного изучения славянских преданий и верований в связи с мифическими сказаниями других родственных народов
'. Том 1. Moskva: Izd. K. Soldatenkova 1865. pp. 215-216. (In Russian) "Yeruslan Lazarevich" is classified under its own type in the East Slavic Folktale Classification (): SUS -650B*, , closely placed with other tale types about strong heroes.Barag, Lev. "Сравнительный указатель сюжетов. Восточнославянская сказка". Leningrad: НАУКА, 1979. p. 169. The East Slavic Classification registers variants from Russian and Belarusian sources.

References

Citations Bibliography * * * * Further reading *A. N. Pypin. ''Очерк литературной истории старинных повестей и сказок русских'' (''Essay on the literary history of ancient legends and tales of Russian'') (1858); *

Alexander Veselovsky Alexander Nikolayevich Veselovsky () ( in Moscow – in St. Petersburg) was a leading Russian literary theorist who laid the groundwork for comparative literary studies. Life and work A general's son, Veselovsky studied privately with Fy ...

in the «Истории русской словесности» ("History of Russian Literature") by

Alexey Galakhov Alexey Dmitrievich Galakhov (Алексе́й Дми́триевич Гала́хов; January 13, 1807 in Sapozhok, Ryazan Governorate, Russian Empire – November 16, 1892 in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire) was a Russian author and literary his ...

(ed. 2, 1880, p. 431); *Vsevolod Miller. ''Экскурсы в область русского народного эпоса'' (''Excursions to the region of the Russian folk epic''). 1892, digression VI; *Vsevolod Miller. ''Материалы для истории былинных сюжетов'' (''Materials for the history of epic stories'') / Ethnographic Survey, 1892, Vol. XII.

Notes

{{Commons category, Yeruslan Lazarevich ''In writing this article was incorporates text from the

Encyclopædia Britannica The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...

Eleventh Edition (1890-1907).'' Russian fairy tales Shahnameh Tatar culture Turkic culture Turkic mythology