In fairy tales there are two types of signs with inscriptions: a stone and a pillar (sometimes a tree). The information on them can be of different kinds, sometimes like modern announcements about the loss: “The same days on each pillar of the signature went: “Whoever finds the king’s daughter receives half the kingdom...” (Zelenin D.K. No. 105), or hotel signs: “There is a mansion by the sea, near this mansion there is a pillar, on the post there is an inscription: “Sleep for three nights!”” (VSVS. p. 48).
There are indicative inscriptions - in the plots of the “Three Kingdoms”: “They walked and walked, ... there is a stone, on the stone it is written: “Whoever lifts this stone can descend into the underworld”” (VSVS. p. 63). There are warnings - in the story “The Battle on the Kalinov Bridge”: “... he walked, walked and caught up with the brothers near the Black Sea at the Kalinov Bridge; there is a pillar at that bridge, on the pillar it is written that three snakes are riding out here” (Af. No. 136).
We will only consider wayfinding signs at intersections and forks in roads. In the plots of “Rejuvenating Apples”: “...he drove for a long time, you never know, he approaches a mountain... There is a pillar on the mountain, three roads are signed on the pillar: if you go along one road, you yourself will be full, the horse will be hungry; according to another... - the horse is full, he himself is hungry; according to the third... - they will kill themselves” (Af. No. 310). This message seems quite true if you look at it from the point of view of the realities of the first millennium AD.
We see that the hero encounters both stones and pillars far from home, but close to the mountains and the sea, that is, again in the Northern Black Sea region. In order to travel to the mountainous Crimea to the warlike Taurus, or to the “thugs” Serbs, for whom travelers rarely faced death, it was necessary to cross the wide steppe, which was climatically heterogeneous and ranged from meadows to semi-deserts. In fairy tales, areas with abundant grass cover are called “reserved meadows” of the Tsar Maiden, leader of the maiden army.
Just like today, in those days it was forbidden for outsiders to hunt in the reserves, that is, in such a place the rider was hungry, but his horse was full. But in non-reserved salt marshes, for example, in the Sivash region or in the arid central Taurica, the horse was hungry, and the rider had the opportunity to feed himself by hunting small animals.
Our hero, by the way, does not always choose the most difficult path.
It is remarkable that a visiting Russian traveler is able to read the inscriptions on the pillar. In this regard, let us recall the story from the Life of Constantine about certain “Russian” writings discovered by Cyril in the Crimea, as well as the earlier, 4th century AD, message from John Chrysostom that the Scythians translated the holy scriptures into their own language.
Some researchers consider this writing to be Armenian or Georgian, some - Gothic, since these peoples adopted Christianity earlier than others in these places and, therefore, already at that time had a need for church literature in native language. And we again come up against the question of what ethnic group the name “Rus” refers to. In previous chapters, with the help of the discoveries of O.N. Trubachev, we found out that initially one of the Indo-Aryan tribes of the Northern Black Sea region was called Rus.
In Taurida, not far from the “Russian city”, Cyril had another reliable case of communication with this mysterious population: “the madness in Foulst of the pagans is doub great, fused with the cherry tree, under it the demand for deakhou, called by the name Alesandr, the female sex does not give rise to to the mute, nor to his needs" (Life. Const. XII)... Naturally, the pagans could not name their sacred tree with the name of the cross "Alexander", which appeared here only as a recording according to the consonance of the native (Indo-Aryan Taurus?) *alaksa-dru - “protector oak” or “forbidden tree” (cf. Old Indian raksati - “to protect”, ... d(a)ru - “tree”), which could not be either Iranian or Gothic” (IA . P. 58).
Constantine decided to cut down the sacred oak of the Tauri and remained unharmed, apparently because some Indo-Aryan tribes of this region - probably those who translated the gospel into their language - were on his side. So, there is reason to assume that the Aryan tribes of Taurida had a written language, but it has not survived to this day.
The worst thing in this story is that a hundred years ago science had a chance to get acquainted with it (Indo-Aryan writing), but somehow it didn’t work out, no one became interested in a stone standing alone on an abandoned Crimean road with an incomprehensible inscription. If this inscription had been Greek or Latin, the stone would probably have been sent to a museum, since it was a time of craze for antiquity, any educated person knew these languages, they were taught in gymnasiums... What kind of stone is this?
In Crimea there is a village, until recently called Nikita (now Botanical, where the famous garden is), and even earlier, in the Genoese lists of Kafa five hundred years ago, it was called Sikita, which is not readable in either Greek or Tatar. But in Indo-Aryan *cikita is “a sign designated” (IA, p. 90).
In the “Crimean collection. About the antiquities of the Southern Coast of Crimea and the Tauride Mountains”, produced in 1837, P. Keppen reports: “Above Nikita there is a plateau... Nikitskaya Yayla, ... on Yayla, on the road from Nikita to Buyuk Yozenbash, there is a tract called Gramata, or along -Tatar: Yazly Tash, i.e. stone with an inscription." O. N. Trubachev visited the territory of the Yalta forestry and the Gramata tract in 1977 and became personally convinced that the inscription no longer existed. “But it definitely existed, because they definitely showed me on Gramata... vaguely reminiscent of a stele, but completely chipped sandstone stone, on which the previous generation of foresters still remembered an incomprehensible inscription... Gramata is a rather large expanse of earth, rocks and forest, and the fact that it got its name from one inscription speaks of the significance of this fact, and most importantly, of its age. The Greek and Tatar-Turkish population of Crimea communicated closely with each other and were bilingual. In any case, there is no need to talk about the unknown here. However, the trace of the forgotten ancient local population has reached us in the form of the name Chiquita, which turned out to be stronger than the stone and the crumbled inscription on it” (IA. pp. 90-91).
“The Tauri apparently had close relatives in the satarchs who occupied the north of Crimea; both of them pirated at sea and had shelters in caves,” Pliny called them that: Spalaeos - “cave dwellers.” The name of this tribe is translated from Old Indian. like: satta - “seven” and argha - “price, cost”. At a later time, the territory of the Ottoman Empire, adjacent to Crimea from the north, was called Yedisan, that is, literally “seven (large) numbers.” Again we see that “the Turkic form turns out to be a translation of an older local designation” (IA. P. 105, 272).
The concept of value and the ability to count to large numbers, reflected in the name of the Indo-Aryan tribe of Satarchs, give reason to assume that they have developed trade and, therefore, a large number of visitors to these places and the presence of roads with the necessary signs.
In Chersonese Tauride, where the cult of the Taurian goddess of the Virgin dominated, presumably in the 3rd century BC. The text of the civil oath was written down. It is written in Greek, but with one incomprehensible, untranslatable word: “... I will protect SASTER to the people and will not convey anything secret in words to either a Greek or a barbarian...”. Modern historians do not read this word, leaving it without translation, writes Trubachev, or explain it from other languages. (Avestan) sastar - “lord, ruler.” “But Chersonese at the time of the oath did not know either a prince or autocracy,” the entire oath has a bright democratic flavor. Zhebelev S.A. also noted that the verb in this passage only controls inanimate nouns, and is used most often about mystical cults, and one must look for an explanation of the word SASTR not in the field of “state antiquities,” but in the field of “sacred antiquities.” The Iranian sastar is not suitable, “since it just means an animated person.” In the ancient Indian language there is a related word with special semantics - sastra - “divine, religious book, code”, “... which perfectly corresponds to the Chersonesos oath: “I will protect the divine code to the people and will not convey (give away) anything secret”... "(IA. pp. 103-105).
Despite the fact that it is not clear from the text of the oath whether the book is SASTRA or this is an oral sacred tradition, the very fact that the Tauri have a divine code and an oath protecting it speaks of the culture and morality of this people, who were considered wild, backward and closed by ancient writers . East Slavic fairy tales confirm that it is indeed difficult to get into the “underground kingdom,” but this kingdom in the mountains by the sea is by no means wild, but outlandish. Paradoxically, our fairy tales more accurately reflect reality, restored with the help of linguistics, than ancient written sources.
Perhaps it was this notorious isolation, combined with culture and morality, that forced the Tauri to erect pillars with warning inscriptions on the approaches to their country.
“The man sat on the eagle; the eagle soared and flew to the blue sea... They flew up to the other shore... They flew up to the shore; Whether they were flying close or far away, they saw a copper pillar in the middle of the field. “Read the inscription on the pillar,” the eagle orders the man. The man read it. “Behind this pillar,” he says, “there is a copper city twenty-five miles away.” - “Go to the copper city; my (eagle’s) sister lives here...” A silver pillar with an inscription was placed near the silver one, and a gold one - near the golden kingdom (“The Sea King and Vasilisa the Wise” // Af. No. 220).
These places were indeed dangerous, and this is confirmed by the annals and archaeological data. There is a record that in the 1st century AD. A Roman ship with a military contingent was wrecked on the outskirts of Southern Crimea. From other ships they noticed that the people had escaped and reached the shore, but no one else saw them. Two thousand years later, parts of ancient Roman helmets and weapons were discovered in one of the mountain sanctuaries of the Taurus, located opposite the shipwreck. Apparently, the Romans unwittingly ended up in the place where the third fairy-tale road led, along which “if you go, you yourself will be killed.” The fabulous Russian hero not only does not become a victim of the Taurus Gods, but also becomes related to this glorious tribe.
Signpost stones with inscriptions in a language understandable to the Slavs have been relevant for at least the last two thousand years.
Chapter 12. PUSHKIN’S WONDERS OF LUKOMORYE
Paying tribute to the great poet, who drew inspiration from folklore, the “old wives’ tales” of a simple peasant woman, let us consider, in the light of our topic of geographic localization, the folklore images of his work - but not all, but only those described in a short excerpt from the poem “Ruslan and Lyudmila” :
There is a green oak near the Lukomorye,
Golden chain on an oak tree...
A tree decorated with a golden chain is undoubtedly sacred. The cult of oak, associated with the Thunderer, can be traced throughout the entire territory of settlement of the Indo-Europeans, including the Northern Black Sea region. Above, in Chapter 12, we already said that the Life of Constantine mentions the “protector” Oak, fused with a cherry tree, to which the pagans, the men of the Ful tribe of Tauris, brought demands. In the work “The Miracle of St. Clement on the Youth" it is reported that around Tauride Chersonesos for thirty miles, idols were crushed, temples were destroyed and all the "groves" were eradicated (IA. P. 174). In this regard, information from modern times is not without interest, for example, about a huge oak tree, covered in legends, in the village of Biyuk-Suren, about a thousand-year-old oak tree in Massandra, which until recently was hung with votive objects - bells (ibid.).
In East Slavic fairy tales, oak trees are found quite often, but they do not always grow near the sea, which is quite natural:
“I walked and walked along it (the stream) and then I saw a large oak tree. Everything is trampled under it. So he climbed up that oak tree. ...Demons began to flock under that oak from all sides” (Af. No. 115).
“A woman came, fell down in front of the oak tree, prayed, howled: “Oaky oak, eloquent grandfather, what should I do?...” (Af. No. 446).
“On the river the waters became agitated, on the oak trees the eagles began to cry...” (Af. No. 137).
But in Belarusian fairy tales with a plot like “Tsar Saltan” (SUS 707) there is an oak tree hung with decorations, and this plot is always connected with the sea, mountains, or island:
“In a certain kingdom, a certain state... there is a Starodub oak tree with twelve girths. On that oak tree there are twelve branches, on each branch there are twelve boxes, in each box there are twelve brothers, each brother has twelve sons, each son has twelve bells, for each bell there are twelve different birds. Well done guys are singing, nightingales are playing, little birds are chirping, bells are ringing - you can’t hear enough!” (Charadzey Kazki. Minsk, 2003. No. 63. P. 283. Translation - mine).
“My mother, in the far-off kingdom, in the far-off land, has an oak tree near the city; On that oak tree there are twelve branches, on those branches there are twelve cats: as they go up, they tell fables, as they go down, they play the harp” (Ibid. No. 65, p. 304).
Day and night the cat is a scientist
Everything goes around and around in a chain.
He goes to the right - the song starts,
To the left - he tells fairy tales...
Surprisingly, A. S. Pushkin, creatively processing folk tales familiar to him, always hit the target. What do I mean? Here, for example, are the lines that say that a cat walks on an oak tree growing near Lukomorye. Lukomorye (“bow of the sea”, that is, a bend) is the real ancient Russian geographical name of the area, covering in an arc the north-west of the Sea of Azov.
Lukomorye of Ancient Rus': bends of the coast in the north-west of the Sea of Azov
Not a single East Slavic fairy tale says that cats are found in Lukomorye. However, an analysis of fairy tales with the presence of a “scientist’s cat” shows us a very definite connection between the cat and the sea.
In Afanasyev’s collection, in the tales of the plot “The Wise Wife” (Nos. 216, 217 and 218), the cat is bought by the hero in his homeland almost for nothing and sold at a high price by the sea. “And in that state they didn’t even know about cats, but the mouse and the rat had a strong hold on everyone... The orphan took a bag of gold, said goodbye to the merchant and went to the seaside to the shipmen” (No. 217). In fairy tales of this type, it is unclear which sea is meant, but in fairy tale No. 216 there is a vague hint of mountains: after selling a cat in a foreign land, the miraculously obtained wife during the hero’s absence, so that the king would not be flattered by her beauty, turns herself into stone. , and their home with the fool is in a stone mountain.
In fairy tales No. 146 and 147, “The Seven Simeons,” the southern sea emerges quite clearly: “They are traveling, traveling between heaven and earth, landing on an unknown island... And the younger Simeon took with him on the journey a Siberian cat, a scientist who can chain walk, give things, throw out various German things... At that time, the princess was sitting at the window and saw an unknown animal, the likes of which they had never seen before.” From the text it is clear that teaching a cat “German things” gravitates towards the Baltic, and sales, accordingly, are near the distant southern sea, however, perhaps also near the Caspian.
In fairy tale No. 138, “Ivan the peasant son and a peasant himself with a finger, a mustache for seven miles,” the hero is far from home, near a fiery river, high rocks and “a mouth gaping from earth to sky” (that is, an abyss), kills three snakes, the eldest snake and her three daughters-in-law, gets a horse and a princess, in the course of the action turns into a cat and “befriends the local cats.” Although there is no sea in this tale, but, as discussed above, the fiery river, mountains and abysses point us to Taurida, and note that there are already local cats in it.
In fairy tale No. 215, the hero “... reached the blue sea, saw a nice big house...” in which thirty-three sisters lived, he hides a dress from one of them and marries her. Further in the story, he gets a cat-bayun in the thirtieth kingdom. This is an aggressive monster, more like a large animal of the cat family: “... three miles away, sleep began to overcome him, he puts on three iron caps... The Bayun cat jumped on his head, broke one cap and broke the other, he took hold of the third - then a good fellow grabbed him with pincers, dragged him to the ground and began to flog him with rods; First, he whipped him with an iron rod, broke the iron one, and began to treat him with a copper one...” This fairy tale belongs to the type “Go there - I don’t know where, bring that - I don’t know what.” Afanasyev gives four such tales. In Nos. 212 and 213 there is the sea and swan maidens with removable wings, from which the Sagittarius chooses his wife; in No. 214 there are swan maidens. Above we have already considered the association of swan maidens with the Northern Black Sea region.
The cat is also found in the plot “Knee-deep in gold, elbow-deep in silver.” In fairy tale No. 284 (similar to the epic) the sea is present, but the animal is mentioned in passing: “Another sister says: “If Ivan Tsarevich took me, I would bring the Bayun cat with me: the Bayun cat tells fairy tales - you can hear them three miles away.” . Ivan Tsarevich stands and listens: “This is not a credit to me! I can buy the Bayun cat myself.” (The girls live far from the prince, but near the sea, having married, he remains to live with his wife, that is, the cat is by the sea, however, in this plot it is unclear which one.) In No. 286 from the same series about “three girls under the window” : ““Goy, merchants, experienced people!” says Ivan the prince. “You have traveled a lot of seas... have you heard any news somewhere?” The merchants answer: “On the sea-ocean, on such and such an island... there is a golden pillar, on it a golden cage hangs, and a learned cat walks along that pillar; it goes down and sings songs, it goes up and tells fairy tales.”
In No. 315 (a fairy tale similar to an epic), in Kyiv, Vladimir the Prince says to Baldak, son of Borisovich: “Do me a great service: go beyond three nine lands, to the thirtieth kingdom, to the Turkish Saltan; take away his golden-maned horse, ... kill the farmer’s cat, spit in the Turkish saltan’s eyes.”
We did not consider here fairy tales with a plot like “The Magic Ring”, in which a dog, a cat and a snake help the hero marry a princess and become a king, because in them the cat is the main one actor. These are tales, by and large, about friendship. There are only 4 of them in Afanasyev’s collection (Nos. 103, 190, 191, 566).
There are more fairy tales in which the cat is a minor character and which talk about a successful marriage to a foreign princess (9), and they contain different plots, but they are always confined to the sea, and most of them to the mountains, that is, to the Northern Black Sea coast , Tavrida and Lukomorye including.
There the forest and the valley are full of visions,
There the waves will rush at dawn
The beach is sandy and empty
And thirty beautiful knights
A series of clear waves emerge...
If you think that we are talking about mythological underwater inhabitants, you are mistaken. This phenomenon could be observed on the banks of Azov for many centuries.
In Slavic languages, the word Lukomorye was used to describe not only a bend, a “luka”, a bay, but also elongated plains, swampy meadows, and low-lying shores. In such places, fog lies for a long time, fumes accumulate, which may well cause visual illusions - visions. It is precisely because of the combination of these qualities that the coast in the area of the Rotten Sea - Sivash - was called Lukomorye.
Photos from the Second World War: Sivash, ancient Lukomorye
"....and thirty beautiful knights emerge from the waters in succession..."
The entire Northern Azov region has a low, sandy shore, you wander for a long, long time, and the water is knee-deep; to take a dip, sometimes you go so far that the shore is barely visible. Of course, ships and boats cannot come close to the shore in such a place; they anchor almost beyond the horizon and people on their sides wade to the shore. Who could land on a deserted shore early in the morning? Of course, pirates, since merchants and regular troops preferred city piers. Ancient authors tell us about such pirates, and mostly they were local, native, that is, Aryan tribes.
The shore of the Sea of Azov, “The shore is sandy and empty”
The Iranian Scythians failed to subjugate the Taurians of the mountainous Crimea and the related Azov Maeotians, whom Herodotus called “farmers,” and Starbon specified: “Maeotians, farmers, but no less warlike than the nomads” (IA. P. 29, 44).
However, on the other side of the Crimea, the same picture was observed: “the normal commerce of Olbia and communication with Naples of Scythia was bothered by the “pirating Satarchaeans” who struck from the dangerous shallow Karkinitsky, or Tamirak Gulf” (IA. P. 153, 154). That is, the return of the Satarcheans, whose name Trubachev translates from Indo-Aryan as “seven appanages,” and who occupied the entire north of Crimea from the Black to the Azov Seas - and from the Black Sea looked the same as in Lukomorye - the warriors walked ashore in shallow water (IA. P. 272).
However, from the side of Lukomorye the picture was more grandiose and majestic. The sun rising in the east hit the eyes of an observer standing on the western shore of the Sea of Azov. The tired knights slowly emerged from the sea, and behind them a huge shining Sun rose...
Pushkin visited these places, but there is no doubt that he did not know all the tales discussed above. He could not know for sure that many magical stories describe this particular coast. But a genius is a genius because he intuitively senses the truth and chooses the right path.
(cartoon “At Lukomorye...”)
Conclusion.
Perhaps some readers will decide that I needlessly “grounded” fairy tales, deprived them of the charm of mystery, and this should not be done.
Insisting on the need for such an approach to folklore, I will quote the words of the Russian philosopher P. A. Florensky: “The attitude towards the shrine seems to me in this way: just as tenacious ivy curls around a tree, so a myth entwines the shrine. And just as ivy, having curled its entire trunk with its flexible lashes, then dries up and strangles it, itself taking its place, so myth, having entangled the shrine, hides and destroys it. Myth makes the perception of the shrine indirect. And because of this, it loses its own life, loses its meaning in itself, having highlighted its meaning, objectifying it in myth. The shrine is decaying under the myth that strangled it, caressed it, growing ever larger, and perishes, destroying with it the myth, which is now deprived of the juices of life. But just as in the forest, ivy grows on the ashes of trees, and on the ashes of trees that have fallen, without support, ivy grows as a tree, so in religion: myths, deprived of support, themselves fall, decay, and turn into the soil of new shrines” (Florensky P. A. Cult , religion and culture. Theological works. T. XVII., 1976. P. 54).
Indeed, East Slavic fairy tales (in a sense, myths) are currently of interest only to specialists and children; the oral tradition of transmission from generation to generation is almost dead. What new shrines will grow from the ashes of our mythological fairy tales, under which ancient shrines are buried, depends on us, our memory and knowledge.
That amazing skill, that is, the language with which our ancestors reflected their mythopoetic and many other knowledge in fairy tales, is appreciated. The time has come to evaluate this knowledge itself, including geographical and ethnographic knowledge, widely represented in East Slavic fairy tales.
I worked hard
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Pereslavl-Zalessky seems to be in for a sensational discovery. It is possible that it is here, not far from the city, that the very epic crossroads where Ilya Muromets stopped in thought is located! The story is dark, and it is all over the Internet. It’s hard to say whether this is true or just fiction. But nevertheless - interesting. After all, behind every fairy tale there is a story. I just want to believe - what if...
According to stories on the Internet, the mysterious stone was discovered by a certain Astrakhan crossroads expert Kirill Ostapov.
For several years I had a dream - to find that legendary intersection with a stone and the inscription: “If you go to the left, you will lose your horse, if you go to the right, you will lose your life, if you go straight, you will live and forget yourself,” he says. - In fact, such marker stones actually existed in ancient times. As a rule, they were installed at road intersections and on boundaries.
According to Kirill Ostapov, the profession of “crossroads specialist” was inherited by his grandfather. Now there are only a few such masters - people who can “hear” crossroads and determine whether they have been corrupted by evil people and curses (there certainly were such crusader types) in the country. Apparently due to lack of demand. But in ancient Rus' these craftsmen were in great demand, they were specially invited to check urban and rural intersections. The master installed a wooden pole with a crossbar at the intersection and hung three bells, and then struck them in a special way. By the sound of the bells he could determine whether a crossroads was good or bad, happiness or misfortune awaited a person here.
Ostapov explored many crossroads so as not to lose his gift. And it seems that even the traffic cops listened to his advice - they put up additional road signs in the most dangerous areas. But the master went to the Yaroslavl region to look for the epic crossroads.
Since in epics this pillar is most often associated with the name of Ilya Muromets, I thought that we should look for the sign near Pereslavl-Zalessky, says Kirill Ospapov. - According to legend, since 1157 the hero Ilya served in the army of the Vladimir prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, defending the possessions of the Rostov-Suzdal princes. Their Pereslavl lands were the most restless due to frequent raids by nomads, and it was here that the prince erected his heroic border outposts. The stone with the inscription was obviously not far away and stood in a mortally dangerous place for anyone on horseback or on foot.
Arriving in Pereslavl, Ostapov carefully studied the traffic police reports and the criminal situation in the area and began to search. I immediately determined the approximate location of the signpost - away from the M-8 highway, the road to the Nikitsky tract. With his bells, he walked several kilometers and, finally, in the thicket of an oak forest, he came across a strange place. No matter how much the master struck the bells, they categorically refused to make sounds. And suddenly Ostapov noticed a small hillock, all overgrown with moss. Having cleared the fallen column from the ground, I saw half-erased images on the edges of the stone: horsemen, a spear, a raven and a half-closed eye. Only at the very base of the stone did he see the inscription: “Deco by markushi,” which among the ancient Slavs meant to cast a spell against evil.
Probably, they have already tried to carry out a cleansing ritual at this stone, but it was not possible to completely remove the curses, - the “cross-study” is sure. - This was confirmed by my bells.
One arrow on the sign - the one to the left - just points to the Moscow-Kholmogory highway and the most emergency section, a half-closed eye points the way to the right - the road to the famous boulder in Pereslavl - the Blue Stone near Lake Pleshcheevo. The sign is straight to the city of Pereslavl itself, where the raids of nomads took place. And although this intersection is no longer in use, Ostapov still intends to remove the curses from this place. And he plans to come to the Yaroslavl region again this year.
The turn from the federal road to the Nikitsky Monastery is indeed one of the emergency turns, confirmed senior propaganda inspector of the traffic police department of the city of Pereslavl Lyubov Khokhlova. - Cars hit here regularly, pedestrians are hit. Last year a cyclist died. But it cannot be said that the causes of these accidents are associated with some kind of magic. As a rule, the human factor is to blame. Drivers exceed the speed limit, and pedestrians cross the road at their own risk in the dark.
However, as it turned out, traffic cops do not shy away from magic and also believe in miracles. According to traffic police officers, quite mysterious accidents occur on the M-8 highway. For example, an absolutely sober driver in a working car, for unknown reasons, suddenly drives into oncoming traffic and gets into a terrible accident. Horrible! As for the intersection specialist, the regional traffic police department promised to think about his services. For safety's sake traffic- all measures are good.
MEANWHILE
The most dangerous intersections in Yaroslavl:
1. Leningradsky Prospekt and Volgogradskaya Street.
2. Moskovsky Avenue and South-Western Circular Road.
3. Bolshaya Oktyabrskaya and Tolbukhin Avenue.
Remember the fabulous stone at the crossroads of three roads, on which it was written:
“Will you go right... Will you go left... Will you go straight...?”
Everything is exactly the same here.
Just as the fairy-tale stone presented the heroes of Russian fairy tales with a choice: where to go, so we, one might say, face the same choice every minute: which path to choose, where to direct our efforts - towards evolution or, conversely, towards involution.
Nobody forces us to do anything, we all have the right to choose, and it is this right that makes us free. And there is no point in coercion, because only through your own experience can you understand whether you are right or wrong in your choice. And the Creator gives us freedom of choice so that we ourselves can decide what to do in a given situation, and freely by decision could change it in one direction or another by changing themselves, changing their images, thoughts, character traits and actions. And here it is important that a person makes a choice, relying not only on his mind, but also listens to his heart, his inner voice, the voice of his soul.
But let's return to our drawing. What happens if at some stage of its development the soul begins to deviate from the path from point A to point B planned by its own plan? Goes to a place where it can lose all the “mass” of consciousness accumulated during its evolutionary path? As we often say in such cases, the soul will begin to disintegrate, and the person in whose body it is located will degrade?
Then our subconscious, looking at how the unlucky heir spends everything accumulated by previous incarnations, begins to warn about the danger of destruction of both himself and his soul. It, as if in the language of problems and illnesses, says to its careless owner: “Stop! What are you doing? You can lose everything, turn into dust, and then it will take millions of years to grow this clot of consciousness that is now in you to the state where it will again be ready to transition into a human body. To prevent this from happening, if you don't stop, I'm stopping this journey. Return to your starting position! Back to point A. Apparently, in this life you are not destined to achieve the goal for which your soul came into the world. Next time you'll start all over again.".
If a person does not respond to signals and stubbornly continues to strive for a sad ending, then consciousness, for the sake of preserving more, sacrifices less - the person’s life.
In this regard, it is interesting to cite this fact for comparison. Experienced hunters say that a fox, having fallen into a trap and knowing that a hunter will soon come and take off its skin, often bites off its own paw. The fox understands that without a paw it will be difficult for her, but her subconscious tells her: “We’ll lose a paw, but we’ll save a life”. Our subconscious also tries to preserve the achievements that were accumulated by consciousness in previous incarnations. And if a person does not understand that he is destroying himself, does not pay attention to signs and signals in the form of problems and diseases, then the defense mechanism turns on. Death stops destruction.
Of course, for many people the word "death" means the end of everything. But you, dear reader, already know that
About the stone at the crossroads or why Ivan was luckier than Hercules.
Friends, I continue to publish excerpts from my book “The Road to the Thirtieth Kingdom. Slavic archetypes in myths and fairy tales.” Today is the Jungian interpretation of the image of a lord at a crossroads.
Speaking about the direction of development and overcoming fear, it is impossible to ignore such a fairy-tale metaphor as a stone at a crossroads in Slavic fairy tales. It must be said that even the ancient Greeks used a fork in the road as a symbol of a difficult life-determining choice. The very young Hercules, finding himself at a crossroads, met two women, one of them turned out to be Effeminacy, the other - Virtue. The first seduced him into a life full of pleasures, the second called him to take the path of serving people, full of trials, but leading to immortality and glory. The Young Hero deliberately rejected the easy path, choosing laurels.
However, the Slavic myth surpassed the Greek in many ways. Firstly, in our fairy tales the Hero encounters on the way not just a fork in the road, but a stone with an inscription. At the archaic stages of the cult, the sacredness of stones is associated with the idea that the souls of ancestors are embodied in them, hence the custom of placing stones near tombs. They are eternal, just as the wisdom of the ancestors is eternal. Therefore, the inscription that the Hero sees on the stone is a direct message from another world. And, secondly and most importantly, the Russian fairy tale offers the Hero not two, but three paths!
The Tale of Rejuvenating Apples and Living Water says: “Walking along the road, whether close, far, low, or high, soon the tale is told, but not soon the deed is done, finally he arrived in an open field, in green meadows. And in an open field there lies a stone, on it the inscription is written: “If you go to the right, you will be rich, but you will lose your horse. If you go to the left, you will save the horse, you will be hungry and cold. If you go straight, you will be killed.”
Let's look at all three paths.
“If you go to the right, you’ll be rich, but you’ll lose your horse.” IN in this case Wealth simply means that “no worse than everyone else”, the possession of generally accepted goods approved by the immediate environment. For this socially approved life of the “average Ivan,” as the inscription on the stone rightly warns, one will have to pay with a horse. The horse, as we found out in the previous chapter, is a symbol of instinctive vital energy, and, what is most valuable, energy controlled and aimed at achieving genuine desires emanating from the Self. In fairy tales, this path is usually chosen by false heroes - the older brothers of the real Hero, who in the end get neither the kingdom nor the princess.
“You go to the left - to save the horse, you will be hungry and cold.” This is a warning about social isolation, about possible failure in a new endeavor. These are the voices that tell us: “Are you stupid?!” Are you a successful lawyer, are you crazy? Who needs these stylists?! Don’t even think about it!”; "Divorce? Are you crazy?! How will you live with your children? You can’t do anything yourself!”; “Married? For this?!! You’ll die of hunger!” In reality, this can indeed happen. But, as a rule, in those cases when the idea of one’s own individuation becomes a super idea, a mania. When new beginnings come not from interest and real passion, but from the principle “I’ll do it to spite my grandmother, I’ll freeze my ears,” not from my own aspirations, but from the desire to “prove to everyone,” “show what I’m capable of,” etc.
So, Hercules, unlike Ivan, was offered only two paths. The number two is traditionally a symbol of the confrontation between the spiritual and material worlds, the struggle of opposites. Before the cult of Jupiter appeared in Rome, the god of the sky was the two-faced Janus, who unlocked the heavenly door in the morning and released the Sun, and locked it at night. It was believed that one head of Janus looked into the past, and the other looked into the future. Isn’t it an excellent symbol of that same neurotic “nowhere and never”, absence in the present, absence in reality?
Thus, the two most clearly reflects polarization. And as we remember, the presence of two extreme poles in the psyche, two oppositional ones, is equal significant installations- This is a sign of a neurotic complex.
However, the Russian Hero, unlike Hercules, was luckier. The third path, the one that leads directly, is precisely the transcendental region where incompatible, as it would seem to Consciousness, opposites can unite, where everything is possible at once: prosperity and glory. However, this path, at first glance, is the most unacceptable and terrible:
“If you go straight, you will be killed.” In the intrapsychic space, this road only means the death of the existing Ego-installation, which determines the current state of affairs, the real (for a particular person) picture of the world. It is this attitude that narrows the field of vision to only two options from the infinite variety of the world: “You can either be rich or honest,” “either remain silent, or divorce and loneliness,” “either stability or an interesting life,” etc. . etc. And only with the death of the habitual picture of the world does the world itself expand, new resources and opportunities become available that the bearer of the previous installation could not even dream of.
It must be said that the process of initiation, a term that has firmly migrated into the discourse of analytical psychology, necessarily contains the ritual of “death - burial - resurrection in a new quality.” “Initiation implies the withering away of less adequate, irrelevant conditions of life and the revival of updated ones, more appropriate to the new status of the initiate. Here we are faced with transformation, change, which is why the rituals themselves are so mysterious and frightening.”
- At the crossroads people drew
Fatal inscription: “The path is straight
It prepares a lot of troubles, and hardly
You will use it to return home.
The path to the right will leave you without a horse -
You will wander alone, sire and naked, -
And the one who directs the path to the left,
Will meet death in unknown fields..."
I. Bunin. At the crossroads, 1900
If a person does something that others do not want to do, this does not mean that he wants to do it. He just can't help but do it. But others can. This is where their paths diverge. One goes left, the other goes right.
There is a pillar at the crossroads. Or a stone. An ancient landmark left by memorable times. A wooden pole can be two hundred years old. And the stone is two thousand years old. It is always puzzling to see this fabulous crossroads, offering a choice where there is nothing to choose. The list of proposed paths is puzzling. Sometimes there are two. Sometimes three.
The fairy tale “Tsarevich Ivan and the Gray Wolf” paints the picture like this:
...At the crossroads I saw a pillar, and on the pillar there was this inscription: “Whoever goes straight will be both hungry and cold all the way; whoever goes to the right will live, but his horse will die, and whoever goes to the left will die, but his horse will live.”
The fairy tale “Two Ivans - Soldiers’ Sons” offers a different version:
...They arrive at a crossroads, and there are two pillars standing there. On one pillar it is written: “Whoever goes to the right will be king”; on another pillar it is written: “Whoever goes to the left will be killed.”
A traveler in front of a stone. Bogatyr, knight, Ivan Tsarevich. Or several travelers, according to the number of roads leading from the stone: two brothers, two heroes, three heroes. But a woman never comes to a crossroads. Why? This is not an idle question. In fairy tales there are many traveling women - old women, girls, girls - but their paths do not lead them to a crossroads. Apparently, this is not a woman's business.
There is an inscription on the stone. If there are two ways, the choice is tough. If there are three, a compromise remains.
But the thought never arises of not walking the suggested paths and returning home. Here everyone is moving forward. Also, there is never any thought of going down the same path together. From here everyone goes one by one.
Three paths diverge in three directions. It would seem that the crossroads is an ordinary episode in the hero’s ups and downs, unnoticed against the background of subsequent bright events - successes, failures, gains, transformations. But mentally turning over the colored fabric of the fairy tale, you understand that it was here, at the crossroads, that the hero’s fate took place. Long before he achieved his goal and realized his destiny.
The road leads to a crossroads
It began right outside the gates of my home. Having traveled a long way and gone to unfamiliar wild places, the traveler carefully examines everything he encounters along the way.
He will notice from afar road sign and, having approached closer, he will certainly stop to think and make his choice. Wisdom is static. At this moment everything freezes - the grass, the sky... And there is nothing else. Not a person, not a bird, not a tree. Why is there such emptiness and silence? It’s as if here is the edge of the world, beyond which is the darkness of ignorance. It’s as if the road ends at a border sign marking the territory of another country living under different laws. That's how it is.
Therefore, to help the traveler, an inscription was written on the stone. Looking at her, he immediately understands what each of the paths leading into the unknown promises him.
Who placed the stone? Moreover, who wrote the inscription on it? Let's say the stone could have ended up here on its own. He could stick out in an open field, visible from a great distance, attracting the gaze of a traveler. It is also possible that the stone could have been thrown here in some magical way. I wonder what happened before? A stone from which the road ran into branches, or an intersection of roads that was marked with a stone for a sign? Just questions. But they all pale before the question: who made the inscription?
Fatal inscription
People drew... What kind of people? Who could know what each of the three roads promised? After all, no one returned. No one comes to a crossroads again. The fairy tale knows no such examples. Not everyone finds themselves at a crossroads, but the one who went there, who stood thoughtfully in front of a stone, examining the ancient signs, makes the decision once and for all which way to go next. The chosen path leads away from the crossroads to the intended goal, towards fate. The traveler will either die or win, but will never return here again... But if people didn’t make the inscription, then who? Or has she been on this stone from time immemorial? Crossroads... Crucifixion...
Yes... What language is the inscription in? And how will a traveler read it? It is impossible to believe that everyone whom the fairy tale brought to a crossroads knows how to read, moreover, knows how to understand ancient writings carved into stone. There is no one to ask. No wise old man, no talking bird. But of those who find themselves in front of the stone, only monks and princes can really be literate. But among the travelers there are also soldiers’ sons, and warriors, and fools. And all of them, without exception, immediately read the inscription on the stone.
The tale does not slow down for a second in the place where the hero studies the inscription; it pauses only when the hero, armed with knowledge, decides what to do.
Tablet stone. The inscription on it is not made by hands. Undoubtedly, it was made for people. And whoever wrote it addressed the traveler in human language. Or maybe, under the gaze of the traveler, the cracks and potholes of the stone, the mossy bark of the pillar, magically formed into outlines that were clear to the traveler. Or, what is more likely, the hero, even without the inscription, understood what lay in wait for him along the way. After all, not only words can be inscribed, but also any conventional signs that can be deciphered - drawings, symbols. The hero does not doubt the accuracy of the information received from the stone-tablet; he consciously chooses one of the directions, knowing exactly why.
The mechanism for understanding the inscription and achieving the truth, which in the fairy tale is presented in reverse order, in reverse perspective, is amazing. The fairy tale says that the traveler reads the inscription and from it extracts knowledge about the paths. But in reality the opposite is true.
The traveler approaches the crossroads, looking from afar and studying the delta of the road, which runs behind the stone in two or three directions. One path is well trodden. The other one is less readable. And the third is barely visible, only white bones and skulls turn white along it, indicating the direction. The traveler knows in advance what is written on the stone. He has no doubt - it is written on the stone about what he just saw with his own eyes.
What is written on the stone is what the eyes see... Obvious.
The truth is written in stone. A truism.
So, three ways
Whichever way you go, you go alone. The fairy tale deprives the hero of witnesses. As soon as the travelers - no matter how many there are, two, three - arrive at the crossroads, they cease to be a single group. From now on, everyone is alone with themselves. Everyone has their own path. The fatal inscription announces the options for directions:
“...The straight path prepares a lot of troubles, and you are unlikely to return home along it...”
This path is included in the list for quantity, or rather, in order to blur the boundary between “yes” and “no”, between white and black, between “Whoever goes to the right will be the king” and “Whoever goes to the left will be killed.” . His vague characterization is devoid of sharpness that can captivate or provoke. In fact, no one goes down this path. He and the area around him are a neutral zone between opposites.
“The path to the right will leave you without a horse...”
A characteristic indicating the worst possible thing that will happen to someone who turns to the right, seduced by the opportunity to reach the limits of what they want: “Whoever goes to the right will be the king.” Two such dissimilar characteristics of this path do not contradict each other, however. Both indicate that the traveler’s life will be saved, but with one or another loss of other real values: time, energy, horse.
The path to the right is the trickiest one offered. It is he who scans in detail the character of the one who makes his silent choice in front of a stone or pillar. This is the path of compromise. It is chosen by a rational person who has reasons to follow the simplest path, because even along it there are inevitable difficulties that are not yet known.
The path to the right contains hidden evil, not obvious, veiled. Anyone moving in this direction enters into a deal with evil. The tale reveals two fundamental options. In one case, undeserved wealth and pleasure are offered - luring into its snare, evil seduces with freebies, keeping silent about the inevitable retribution. A short-sighted traveler forgets a simple truth: if they do something for you for free, then it will cost a lot. In another case, the traveler is offered to escape by sacrificing a horse.
In Russian fairy tales, the horse is not just a great advantage, but a faithful companion to the traveler. However, the crossroads do not allow one to evade the decision. And a faithful comrade is sacrificed. A life was saved at the cost of a friend's life. And no matter how dear Ivan Tsarevich is to us, we have to admit that the basis of his success is betrayal.
Many travelers go to the right. They are not heroes, not heroes, and will never become them. They need to survive, get out, manage to grab what is lying badly, and escape as quickly as possible. But some of them are simply fools who were flattered by the free gift and fell into a trap, while others are cowards who escape the trap through betrayal.
The fairy tale never reproaches its heroes for this weakness. She does not say a single word about the shame that covers himself with a traveler who takes the easy path, a traveler who “became a villain due to weakness of character, and not due to an attraction to evil” 1 . Betrayal here is a forced choice, a forced sacrifice, it can be explained and forgiven.
Meanness is not forgiven, which is a deliberate betrayal, malice. But none of those who came to the crossroads are scoundrels. These are ordinary people whom fate forced to wander around the world.
The fairy tale forgives them their human essence, their pettiness, pities them for their lack of wings, it compassionately helps them out of trouble, consoles them with gifts at the end of the ordeal. They do not think that where wealth and bliss are promised, every second they will be face to face with the unknown, that everything may turn out to be worse than promised, that at some point evil will certainly await them, not ready for battle. These travelers are immature individuals, gullible children compared to those who consciously turn left.
“And the one who directs the path to the left will meet death in unknown fields...”
Despite the categorical nature of the menacing prophecy, a traveler is still found who takes the worst of paths. Our bewilderment increases when we find out what weak reasons he gives: “...I’ll go to the left and see what could cause my death?” What kind of whim is it to test the accuracy of the prediction of your death at the cost of your life?
Svyatogor also asks:
“Tell me, young Mikulushka Selyaninovich, how can I find out about my fate?” - And he receives the answer: “Go ahead, hero, all the way forward until the crossroads, and then turn left to the northern mountains. There is a forge near the mountain under a tree, you will see a blacksmith in it, he will tell you the whole truth about your fate.”
The path to the left is intended only for heroes. Only the rich choose him.
Or the path itself chooses them. In the fairy tale, the hero never dies on this path. So, is the inscription on the stone a bluff? Maybe. Evil is cowardly and lazy. The menacing prophecy inscribed on the stone is just a method of intimidation, invented by evil, which lives and lives in silence, it is a way to get rid of extra walkers and spies. Rarely does anyone dare to disturb the evil in its lair. But if he disturbs you, there will be a fight. The hero is ready for battle. Cheerful, collected, confident. But evil is not ready.
On this path, everything is reversed compared to the path to the right. The bad here always appears as bad, in contrast to the path to the right, where it appears under the guise of good, promising pleasure and well-being.
You can’t fool a hero; he knows that ensuring well-being is more difficult than arranging death. The hero is straightforward and chooses the path according to his character, where the promised corresponds to the expected. He chooses a path where things cannot be worse, and, matching it with his heroic strength, he accepts the challenge. If this path deceives, it will be in the direction of making the task easier. On this path, everything can only change for the better.
In Russians folk tales the source of good power is not obvious. Only the bearers of good are obvious - nameless people, animals, birds, even objects. But a bird or an animal dies, a ball disappears, an old woman dies, but good remains to exist and do great and wonderful things.
Good has a collective soul, and even if one of its faithful servants falls in battle with evil, good will still remain, and it will be carried throughout the world by other people, animals, birds, objects. But evil forces are always specific, they have names: Baba Yaga, Koschey the Immortal, Serpent Gorynych, Nightingale the Robber. And the scale of their evil is also specific and limited by their witchcraft power. And when the source of evil power is obvious, eliminating it eliminates the evil that comes from it.
The hero is looking for a fight with evil. Victory over evil is his goal. And the bait on the hook, which he throws into the den of evil in order to lure him into battle, is his own life. The greater the promised evil, the closer it is, the closer to the goal the hero who stands guard over goodness and justice.
But evil is stronger than good. For any evil deed, perpetrators are easily found. Cowardice is stronger than courage, laziness is stronger than skill, inaction is stronger than determination. In the battle between good and evil, evil always wins, vilely using forbidden techniques, which good rejects as unworthy. But if a hero stands on the side of courage, talent, determination, goodness, he will make them stronger than cowardice, laziness, inaction and evil.
The hero acts of his own free will, at the call of his conscience. He does not need to be able to read the inscriptions on the stone. The stone calls to him in the language of conscience. Talking stone. Before him, everyone comes face to face with himself. Thinking, reading into yourself. At a crossroads, the traveler makes a fundamental decision: which side to take. He must decide: to give evil forces freedom to do evil or to fight back, uniting with courage, skill, determination, and goodness.
“...Two roads, two inevitable paths: renounce yourself, suppress your egoism, trample your selfish self underfoot, breathe for the happiness of others, sacrifice everything for the good of your neighbor, homeland, for the benefit of humanity, love the truth and the good not for reward, but for truth and goodness and through a heavy cross suffer your union with God, your immortality, which should consist in the destruction of your self in a feeling of boundless bliss... What? Are you hesitant? This feat frightens you, it seems beyond your strength?.. Well, here’s another path for you, it’s wider, calmer, easier; love yourself more than anything in the world, cry, do good only for profit, do not be afraid of evil when it benefits you” 2.
For a hero who has reached a crossroads, the only possible solution is to enter into an alliance with good against evil. Evil forces appear in the fairy tale in different guises, and the hero fights with them, trying to destroy the evil that they carry. And they bring Death. This is the essence of evil. Concentrate of evil. Death is the direct goal of the hero.
Any of life paths leads to death, to the end of life. Every life sooner or later ends in death. Standing in front of the stone, the hero, with the power of his living spirit, first defeats the evil in himself, casting aside doubt, weakness - the fear of his own death. And then he takes the shortest route in the direction where he will meet Death as the personification and focus of evil. And the inscription on the stone does not speak about the death of the hero, but about Death, which is the essence of evil, with which one must fight for Life.
We, Russian people, are able to survive, endure, endure only by uniting. This is confirmed by centuries-old history, the experience of our ancestors, personal experience. With our mother's milk we absorbed the deep essence of our Russian collectivism. Europeans blame us for this, seeing here a dangerous tendency towards unanimous mass submission to sudden ideas leading to destruction and revolution.
But a fairy-tale crossroads separates the united travelers and forces them to disperse.
Anyone who is ready to make a breakthrough needs to be left alone, throwing off ballast public opinion, leaving the doubting and lazy, challenging the undeniable. The hero at a crossroads is immersed in heavy thoughts. But this is not fear for one’s life, nor doubts about the correctness of the choice. This is the conscious sadness of a person who has decided to go beyond the generally accepted. One of the saddest things in life is to get rid of illusions absorbed with mother's milk.
Notes:
1 Belinsky V.G. Collection cit.: In 3 volumes “Articles and Reviews” (Literary Dreams), M.: GIHL. 948. T. 1. P. 20.
2 Right there. P. 18.
