Episode Details

At Prince Vladimir's feast, two brothers boast of a sister no man has ever seen, kept behind seven walls and seven locks — until young Alyosha claims he knows her, and a snowball thrown at her window tells the truth; and a merchant's son stakes his own head against the prince's three hundred stallions, and wins the wager without ever running the race, when his little shaggy horse walks into the prince's courtyard.

Alyosha Popovich and the Sister of the Petrovichi Brothers (Алёша Попович и сестра Петровичей), read from the Onega-line recording reprinted in the academic anthology «Былины» — in this recording the brothers are Luka and Matvey Petrovichi and the sister is Nastasya Petrovna — and Ivan Gostiny Syn (Иван Гостиный сын), recorded in the Kirsha Danilov collection, «Древние Российские стихотворения, собранные Киршею Даниловым», No. 8 — two byliny of old Rus', in new English translations made for this show, read aloud over a gentle instrumental bed.

Byliny.

Intermission: "3-6" — instrumental.

KacheliTV — Russian classics, read aloud.