BYLINY BOOK
HERO TALES OF RUSSIA

Told from the Russian by
MARION CHILTON HARRISON
With Illustrations by
MRS. HUGH STEWART

CAMBRIDGE:
W. HEFFER & SONS LTD.
1915

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[[Contents]]

W. Heffer & Sons. Ltd.,
104, Hills Road,
Cambridge. [[vii]]

[[Contents]]

PREFACE.

This is a Byliny Book. What does “Byliny” mean? It is a Russian word, and it means stories about What-has-Been, what happened in Russia in the old days long ago. We all read about the Greek heroes Jason and Perseus and Theseus and Heracles. The Russians had splendid heroes too, who met with wonderful adventures. Russia and France and Italy and England are fighting side by side a great fight for freedom, and these old heroes of Russia fought for freedom too, against great barbarian armies of Huns and Tartars. The Russians are our brave friends, our “Allies,” as we call them now, and it is good to get to know about their heroes of olden times.

We all know and honour our French Allies, and most of us try to speak French. We are proud to read in history how our William the Conqueror came over from France and brought with him many good laws and customs, and, best of all, beautiful French words that have now become English—why, the very word beauty came to us from France. But Russia is much further away than France, and very few of us learn to speak Russian, or even to read it. [[viii]]