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# In days of old the hero Svyatogor, Sensing in himself a presumptuous strength, In an ill hour resolved with his hand To lift up and overturn the universe
- URL: https://theparnassian.com/en/v-starinu-sviatogor-bogatyr-chuia-silu-v-sebe-derznovennuiu-v-chas-nedobryi-nadumal-rukoi-pripodniat-oprokinut-vselennuiu/
- Published: 2026-04-15T20:08:59.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-01T09:11:25.000Z
- Author: Alexandr Radayev
- Tags: Art, Books, Ethnography

> And on his swift steed  
> He rode out on a considerable journey,  
> Riding to seek the pull of the earth,  
> He sees a mountain far off, unlike any other...

> "Can it be here?!" And with his whip he struck  
> The horse with his mighty hand,  
> The horse flew like a bird to the top  
> And stood stock-still above the precipice...

> The hero Svyatogor climbed down from the saddle,  
> Not so much as a migrating bird in sight!  
> Not a soul... He only looks: before him  
> Lies something like a saddlebag...

> The hero bowed to the earth,  
> Wants to lift the bag, but it will not stir...  
> What a marvel! Neither back nor forth,  
> And all around not a breath of wind stirs...

> He strained himself, and sweat in three streams  
> Rolled down his sunburnt face,  
> And alarm gripped the heart  
> Of Svyatogor, the bold warrior...

> "What foul thing is this!.. Well, I shall die,  
> But I shall not let my strength be mocked!.."  
> And again the hero put his weight to it,  
> And the mountain became the grave of his strength:

> Where he stood, there he went into the earth,  
> Unable to curb his heroic temper,  
> Together with the pull of the earth in his hands...  
> That is now the place of Svyatogor!..

> On the steep mountain to this day,  
> Where the abyss of a ravine yawns open,  
> A horse of stone has been waiting for its rider  
> For more than a thousand years...

> And all around only the wind roars,  
> The wind sings its unchanging song:  
> "You should not have boasted, Svyatogor,  
> That you could lift up and overturn the universe!.."

*Literal translation*

**Poem "Svyatogor" by Apollon Korinfsky, 1893**

*Watercolour by Ivan Simakov, "The Russian Hero Svyatogor Pulls the Saddlebag", 1917*