History and ethnology. Facts. Events. Fiction. Where are the countless treasures of the evil robber Kudeyar hidden? Ataman kudeyar legends summary

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For almost five centuries now, in the villages scattered along the banks of the Don and Voronezh, they have been talking about the legendary robber Kudeyar and his countless treasures buried in the ground or hidden in caves. Legends are written about him, songs are sung about him:

Twelve thieves lived
Lived Kudeyar-ataman.
Many robbers shed
The blood of honest Christians.

However, what kind of person the famous ataman was, the people did not remember firmly. In some legends, he appears as a robber; in others - a disgraced boyar, hiding from the wrath of a formidable tsar; in the third - an impostor, posing as a royal relative, or even the brother of Ivan the Terrible.

According to the documents of the 16th century, the nobleman Kudeyar Prokofievich Tishenkov is known - a traitor who in 1571 helped Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey secretly bypass the Russian outposts near the Oka and burn Moscow. In 1574 Vasily Gryaznoy, close to the tsar, from the Crimean captivity, wrote about him that all the traitors were dispersed and only "one dog remained - Kudeyar." Perhaps it was his robbery exploits that formed the basis of numerous legends about Kudeyar.

What happened to him afterwards is hard to say. One story recorded by ethnographers claims that the authorities could not catch Kudeyar: “Where, where Kudeyar did not rob! And in Kaluga, and in Tula, and to Ryazan he came, and to Yelets, and to Voronezh, and to Smolensk - he set up his camps everywhere and buried many treasures in the ground, but all with curses: there was a terrible sorcerer. And what a filthy power he wielded: he would spread a sheepskin coat on the bank of the river and lie down to sleep; sleeps with one eye, guards with the other: is there a chase; the right eye fell asleep - the left guards, and there - the left sleeps, the right guards; and when he sees the detectives, he jumps to his feet, throws into the water the short fur coat on which he slept, and that short fur coat becomes a boat with oars; Kudeyar will sit in that boat - remember your name ... So he died his death - they could not catch him, no matter how hard they tried.

Traditions, ghypotheses and facts

The Turkic name Kudeyar is derived from the Persian Khudoyar - "beloved by God." Karamzin mentions the Crimean Murza Kudoyar, who in 1509 rudely treated the Russian ambassador Morozov, calling him a "serf." The Crimean and Astrakhan ambassadors are known with the same name. In the 16th century, the name Kudeyar was already common in Russia, it was worn by such famous historical figures as Prince Meshchersky and Ambassador Mudyurinov. "Kudeyar" met as a proper name in the Voronezh, Tambov, Saratov, Kharkov, Kursk, Oryol, Tula, Kaluga provinces. From him came the surname Kudeyarov.

According to the legends recorded in the Saratov and Voronezh provinces, Kudeyar was a Baskak - a khan's tax collector, a man of great stature. Having plundered the villages near Moscow, he returned to the Horde with great wealth, but on the way he decided to hide the tribute he had taken from the khan and settled in the Voronezh lands, where he began to trade in robbery. Here he married a Russian girl - a rare beauty, whom he took away by force.

According to a legend recorded in the village of Lokh in 1919, Kudeyar was of royal family and was the younger brother of Ivan the Terrible. The king allegedly heard from someone that native brother when he grows up, he will deprive him of the throne, which is why he decided to kill the child. But his servants Sim and Ivan disobeyed the royal order and, together with the prince, fled to the Turkish sultan. Here the brother of Ivan the Terrible was named Kudeyar and converted to Islam.
According to another version, Kudeyar is the son of Solomonia, the first wife of Vasily III, the father of Ivan the Terrible. She was imprisoned by force in a monastery under the name of Sophia, so that Vasily III could marry Elena Glinskaya. Solomoniya gave birth to Kudeyar in a monastery, he was taken to the Kerzhensky forests and secretly brought up in forest hermitages.

According to another common legend, Kudeyar is the son of Zygmont Bothory, born before his uncle, Stefan Batory, became the Polish king. Having quarreled with his father, Zhigmont fled to the Cossacks on the Dnieper. Then he went to the service of Ivan the Terrible under the name of Prince Gabor-George Sigismundovich. He was a guardsman, but after the royal disgrace, he fled and robbed, having a camp near the village of Bozhedarovka, modern Shchorsk.

In the Ryazan and some areas of the Voronezh province, it was said that Kudeyar was a disgraced oprichnik who beat off cattle from local residents, robbed and killed Moscow merchants. In the Sevsky district of the Oryol province, Kudeyar was generally considered not a person, but an unclean spirit - a "storeroom" that guards the charmed treasures.

The name of many small geographical points is associated with the name of Kudeyar. Kudeyar towns, where, according to legend, robber treasures are buried, about a hundred are known in southern Russia. A secluded place called Kudeyarov Log was pointed out in the Zadonsk district. In the Lipetsk region, on the Don, opposite the village of Dolgogo, rises a mountain called Cherny Yar, or Gorodok. On it lies a very large stone of a bluish color. According to legend, the Kudeyarov fortress was located here.
In the Bryansk forests, they named the places where the treasures buried by Kudeyar were hidden. It was said that lights flare up above the stones covering these treasures, and twice a week at 12 o’clock a child’s plaintive cry is heard.

Among the associates of Kudeyar, the robber Anna and Boldyr are called. They say that Kudeyar, together with them, took refuge in the Don forests, robbing the caravans of merchants going down the Don. Don Cossacks took up arms against Kudeyar. First, they defeated the headquarters of Boldyr and Anna, then they reached the shelter of Kudeyar. His fortress could not be taken either by attack or by siege. Then the Cossacks surrounded it with brushwood and set it on fire from all sides. Kudeyar buried all his treasures in the ground, placed his beloved horse over them, turning it into stone so that it would not burn, and he himself fled into the forest. But the Cossacks chased after him, took him prisoner, chained him up and threw him from Chernoy Yar to the Don.

Nekrasov’s poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” includes Ionushka’s story “On Two Great Sinners”, which says that in old age Kudeyar became a monk in order to atone for his sins. He was ordered to saw through an oak tree with a knife, and then they would be released. He spent many years on this. But somehow a Polish gentry began to brag to him about how he kills and tortures his serfs. The old man could not stand it and plunged a knife into the pan's heart - and at that moment the oak collapsed by itself.
The song "12 Thieves" was written on Nekrasov's verses, which was included, in particular, in Chaliapin's repertoire.

Even the most advanced historians cannot answer the question of whether the famous robber Kudeyar was a real person. Perhaps the numerous stories about him are just legends, folk tales. But be that as it may, the tales of Kudeyar and the richest treasures allegedly hidden by him and his comrades in robbery still live.

First, about the name Kudeyar. It is believed that it is of Turkic origin and is formed from two Persian words "hudi" - "god" and "yar" - "beloved", that is, "beloved by God." It may seem unexpected, but five centuries ago the name Kudeyar in Russia was quite common.

The most famous of the versions about the origin of Kudeyar says that he is the elder brother of Ivan the Terrible himself! It is known that the father of the Terrible, Vasily III, was married twice. His first wife, Princess Solomonia Saburova, was, according to the healers, barren. For a long time, Vasily sought a divorce from her. For the second time, he married the Lithuanian princess Elena Glinskaya, who bore him a boy, the future Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible.
Meanwhile, forty-year-old Solomonia, imprisoned in the Intercession Monastery in Suzdal, unexpectedly also gave birth to a son, who was named George. Glinskaya sent her people to the monastery to kill the baby. But Solomonia hid her son: she declared him dead and even staged a funeral. In fact, she secretly transported George to the Crimean Khanate.

In the Crimea, the boy received a new name - Kudeyar. He grew up there and returned to Muscovy, hoping to take the throne. He did not succeed, and then the young man took up robbery.

Russian Robin Hood?

According to another version, Kudeyar was a Tatar and served with the Khan as a Baskak, that is, a tribute collector. Once, having collected a rich tribute, he did not return to the khan, he fled and stood at the head of a band of robbers.
To complete the picture, we should also mention a person who actually existed during the time of Ivan the Terrible, a certain Kudeyar Tishenkov, a boyar son who went over to the side of the Tatar Khan Devlet Giray.

It was thanks to him that in 1571 the Tatars were able to make a devastating campaign against Moscow and set it on fire.
Popular rumor depicts Kudeyar as a man of enormous stature, unprecedented strength, with a black beard and a stern look. In some legends, he appears not just as the ataman of a gang of robbers, but as a kind of Russian Robin Hood, the people's protector. But most often they spoke of Kudeyar as a robber who did not care who to kill and rob.

Magic power

Stories about the adventures of Kudeyar and his untold riches were told in almost all the southern and central provinces of Russia. Not uncommon in the regions of Central Russia "objects", one way or another connected with the name of Kudeyar. In many provinces, you can find the villages of Kudeyarovka, Kudeyarov mountains and barrows, Kudeyarov forests and caves.

Popular rumor endowed Kudeyar with magical abilities. “And then there was Kudeyar,” one of the legends says. - This one has been robbing anywhere! And in Kaluga, and in Tula, and in Ryazan, and in Smolensk - he visited everywhere, placed his camps everywhere, and buried many treasures in the ground, but all with curses. And what power he wielded! He will spread a sheepskin coat on the bank of a river or lake and go to bed. He sleeps with one eye, and guards with the other: is there a chase. And when he sees where the detectives are, he jumps to his feet, throws into the water the short fur coat on which he slept, and that short fur coat becomes a boat with oars. Sit in it, and remember your name.

According to the legends, Kudeyar and his comrades-in-arms operated in many places at once, on an extremely vast territory. This circumstance gives rise to the idea that that several gangs robbed under the name of the legendary ataman, other leaders also used the “authoritative” name.

Naturally, the stolen treasures had to settle in the treasures that Kudeyar hid in different parts, creating Kudeyar towns there.

Devil's settlement

Such towns, and therefore treasures, historians have counted at least a hundred. It was said that over the stones covering the robber's treasures, from time to time, lights should flash. Nevertheless, finding such a treasure is not an easy task.

Each region had its own story about Kudeyarov's treasures - gold, silver, pearls, precious stones - and attempts to find them. In the Tula and Kaluga provinces, there were rumors about treasures hidden in ravines and wells, but to search, storeroom records are needed. The monk of Optina Pustyn supposedly had one such record. After his death, they said, she ended up in the monastery library. Perhaps, this key to the riches buried by robbers near the cities of Kozelsk and Likhvin is still stored somewhere. And considerable riches - twelve barrels of pure gold!

Another place indicated in the named treasure entry is the so-called Devil's Settlement, or Shutova Gora - a deaf forest tract about twenty kilometers from the monastery of Optina Pustyn, next to the road from Kozelsk to Likhvin. The place, presumably, is not accidental: it was along this road that in the old days there were carts with goods that were attacked by robbers.

In the Saratov province there is a village Lokh, standing on the banks of the river of the same name. The settlement is surrounded by hills covered with forest. One of them - Kudeyarova Gora - is famous for its cave, in which, according to Saratov local historians, Kudeyar and his comrades lived. According to legend, the richest treasures are hidden there.

mysterious rings

The legend described the underground “apartments” of the robbers: “They dug passages and rooms, cleaned them with all sorts of good things. And so that the air in the mountain was light and it was possible to make a fire in it and keep the horses, they broke a pipe from above. Indeed, there was some kind of pipe in Kudeyarova Gora.

What can you see here now? Three passages lead inside the mysterious mountain. Now it is risky to climb into them because of possible collapses. However, many years ago, daredevils made their way along these passages for hundreds of meters and ran into impenetrable blockages of stones. The testimony of one of the treasure hunters who managed to approach the rubble and make out some rings behind them, possibly attached to the doors of the storeroom with treasures, dates back to that distant time.

The search for the treasures of Kudeyar began from ancient times, and they continue today. Alas, the progress achieved is more than modest. In the inventory of the Saratov Museum for 1893 there are the following lines: “Two copper coins. Received August 18, 1893 from Gavriil Petrovich Svetsky, found in Kudeyarova Gora. Much later, as old-timers said, one peasant managed to find a large treasure in the same places, consisting of 12 buckets of old coins, unfortunately also copper. However, this does not prevent the current treasure hunters from going in search of kudeyar treasures again and again, hoping for good luck.

There is no information either about the time of birth of the chieftain, or about the day of his death. According to one of the legends, at the end of his life, the robber decided to repent and began an honest life. As Nekrasov wrote: “Day and night of the Almighty / Pray: let go of sins! / Give over the body to torture, / Just let me save the soul!” Kudeyar built a church with a golden iconostasis and a silver bell and began to atone for his grave sins. Whether this was actually the case, no one knows for sure.

Gennady CHERNENKO
"Secrets of the XX century" 2012

The robber Kudeyar is one of the most popular characters in folklore.

Legends about him are recorded in all the southern and central provinces of Russia - from Smolensk to Saratov:

“And then there was Kudeyar - this one didn’t rob anywhere! And in Kaluga, and in Tula, and to Ryazan he came, and to Yelets, and to Voronezh, and to Smolensk - he went everywhere, set up his camps everywhere and buried many treasures in the ground, but all with curses: he was a terrible sorcerer. And what a filthy power he wielded: he would spread out on the banks of a river, a lake, so, no matter what stream, he would spread a sheepskin coat or retinue and lie down to sleep; sleeps with one eye, guards with the other: is there a chase somewhere; the right eye fell asleep - the left guards, and there - the left sleeps, the right guards - so alternately; and when he sees where the detectives are, he jumps to his feet, throws into the water the short fur coat on which he slept, and that short fur coat becomes not a short fur coat, but a boat with oars; Kudeyar will sit in that boat - remember your name ...

So he died his death - they couldn’t catch him in any way, no matter how hard they tried.

This is only one of the brief biographies of Kudeyar that existed among the people. What is the real historical character behind this name? Many hypotheses have already been expressed on this score, but, alas, none of them shed light on the mystery of Kudeyar.

When did Kudeyar live? Here the opinions basically coincide: in the middle of the 16th century. He was a contemporary of Ivan the Terrible. This is partly documented. So, in 1640, in response to a request from Moscow, the Tula governor wrote that he was told about Kudeyar "for a long time by old people, about forty years ago."

Who is Kudeyar?

Most historians agree that the name Kudeyar (Khudoyar) is of Tatar origin: Kudeyar (Turkic Persian Xudāyār “beloved by God”). But a number of researchers do not agree with the Turkic origin of the name Kudeyar and point out that the name Kudeyar was quite common in Western and Central Russia and meant "the strongest of sorcerers."

According to a popular legend, Kudeyar is the son of Vasily III and his wife Solomonia, born after she was exiled to a monastery for infertility. Thus, he turns out to be the elder brother of Ivan the Terrible and his real name is Prince Georgy Vasilyevich. She was imprisoned by force in a monastery under the name of Sophia, so that Vasily III could marry Elena Glinskaya. Solomonia gave birth to Kudeyar in a monastery and he was taken to the Kerzhensky forests and secretly brought up in forest sketes.

According to another legend, Kudeyar is the son of Zsigmond Bathory, born before his relative Stefan Bathory (Zsigmond was Stefan's nephew) became the king of the Polish state. Having quarreled with his father, who by that time was already old, he fled to the Cossacks on the Dnieper. Then he goes to the service of the Russian Tsar. Thus, he is among the guardsmen of the Terrible Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his real name is Prince Gabor-Georgy in the Russian version of Sigismundovich.

Another version says that he could be Kudeyar Tishenkov (XVI century) - the son of a boyar, originally from the city of Belev. Contemporary of Ivan the Terrible. In May 1571, he showed the hordes of the Crimean Khan Devlet I Giray the way to approach Moscow. Retreating along with the Crimean Tatars, he left the Moscow state and remained in the Crimea. Then it is mentioned in the letters of the captive Vasily Gryazny from the Crimea to the king. After some time, Tishenkov turns to Ivan IV with a request for pardon and permission to return to Moscow. Permission has been granted. Further traces of the historical Kudeyar Tishenkov are lost. There is no evidence that the robber Kudeyar, who lived around the same era and, as they say, also came from Belev, and Tishenkov are one and the same person, no. The fact that Kudeyar belonged to their family was also told in the Kursk family of the Markovs.

According to the version mentioned earlier, Kudeyar belonged to the Batory family, was sent to the Cossacks on the Dnieper, then served as Ivan IV as a guardsman, and after the royal disgrace, he fled and robbed, having a camp near the village of Bozhedarovka, modern Shchorsk.

Since the area of distribution of legends is very wide, the researchers offer a version according to which the name Kudeyar could become a household name, and several chieftains used it.

Among the associates of Kudeyar are called the robber Anna, Boldyr and the daughter Lyubasha cursed by him (her ghost was shown not far from Optina Hermitage).

His grave is placed not far from Tula behind the Oblique Mountain or in one of the mounds of the Saratov province (according to Volga legends).

The legend of the Kudeyarova cave and its treasures

Very often there are stories about numerous treasures hidden by a robber, which were actively searched for in the 19th century. based on forged letters and descriptions. There are about a hundred such Kudeyarov towns, where, according to legend, robber treasures are buried, in southern Russia. Especially many of these places were within the Voronezh province. In the Bryansk forests, they named the places where the treasures buried by Kudeyar were hidden. It was said that over the stones that cover these treasures, lights flash, and twice a week at 12 o'clock a child's plaintive cry is heard.

Here is one of the legends about the Kudeyar treasure.

Kudeyar gathered fellows and robbed merchants and boyars with them. They accumulated a rich treasury: a lot of gold, barrels of silver and gemstones. Part of the wealth he distributed to the poor, the rest he put in a cave. Kudeyar lived in his mountain, inside which there were richly decorated rooms and kept treasures obtained during raids. In front of the mountain flowed the swift and bright river Sokolka, and all around the mountains rose, covered, like Kudeyarova, with dense old forest, stretching far to the north and south. Next to Kudeyarova, Karaulnaya Hill rises - a high cone, overgrown with pine trees at that time.

The camp of the Kudeyarov troops was dug in with a moat and a rampart. Kudeyar posted his sentries on the Guard Hill. At the end of the Sokolka valley, in the current "Pushki" tract, there were Kudeyar forges, where weapons and guns were made. When Kudeyar went on a raid with his army, he locked his dungeon with huge castles, the size of a pig, and blocked the entrance so that no one could find him.

Kudeyar kept his treasures in storerooms inside the mountain behind iron doors. A narrow, winding and low underground passage led inside the mountain from the middle of the rather steep side of the mountain, stretching 100 sazhens inside. covered with stone.

He had a companion Shem or Simon; once they argued about the strength and agility of their horses, decided for the experiment to jump from the Merkulova mountain to Kudeyarova through Mayrov dol, where the Sokolka flows. Kudeyar jumped on his horse, but Sim broke off and fell into the valley. In the place where he fell into the ground with a horse, a spring hit, which still bears his name.

For no reason at all, Kudeyar's wife, beloved Nastya, fell ill, and died overnight. They buried her in an oak coffin, dressed her in brocade and velvet with pearls and gems, buried with her in the grave all the clothes and jewelry that belonged to the deceased, and poured a mound over her.

Kudeyar buried both his faithful friend and his beloved wife at the same time, he was sick of white light. Kudeyar remembered that he was a Christian and made a vow - to atone for grave sins. He released all his fellows and was left alone. He blocked all the passages to his underground dwelling and began to live alone under the mountain, to atone for his own and human sins before the Lord.

It is believed that Kudeyar is still alive and guards his treasures in Kudeyarova Gora in a dugout. During the day, this dugout is invisible, but at night a huge bird flies there and hammers Kudeyar's head to the brain, flying away by dawn. He is doomed for two centuries to guard his treasures in grief and bears the punishment of God for robbery. In the dugout lies a loaf of bread that never decreases.

According to other sources, Kudeyar put a pledge on all his treasures for 200 years. This deadline has already passed. Workers must dig in an odd number. golden key iron doors lies in the Simov spring, and only the one who scoops out this spring or draws water from the Supper Lake can get it. Where it is, Supper Lake, no one knows.

folk song

THERE WAS TWELVE ROBBERS

Words by N. A. Nekrasov

Performed by F. Chaliapin with choral accompaniment (recorded in 1932):

There were twelve robbers
There was Kudeyar ataman.
Many robbers shed
Blood of honest Christians!

Let us pray to the Lord God
let's announce the ancient story!
monk honest Pitirim.

Lots of good stuff was stolen
They lived in a dense forest.
Kudeyar himself, from near Kyiv
Take the beautiful girl out.

Let us pray to the Lord God
let's announce the ancient story!
So in Solovki he told us
monk honest Pitirim.

In the afternoon with his mistress amused,
He made raids at night.
Suddenly at the fierce robber
The Lord awakened the conscience.

Let us pray to the Lord God
let's announce the ancient story!
So in Solovki he told us
monk honest Pitirim.

He abandoned his comrades
Threw raids to create;
Kudeyar himself went to the monastery
Serve God and people!

Let us pray to the Lord God
let's announce the ancient story!
So in Solovki he told us
Kudeyar himself - Pitirim!

Song adaptation of the tale "About two great sinners" (1876) from Nikolai Nekrasov's unfinished poem "Who should live well in Russia" (1863-1877) (the tale is given at the end of the page). The tale is based on folklore legends about Kudeyar-ataman. The meaning of Nekrasov's poem and the original legend is not preserved in the song. Both in the legend and in Nekrasov's work, the hero acts as a people's avenger: having abandoned robbery, he becomes a pilgrim and a hermit, lives alone in the forest (and does not go to a monastery), but prayers do not help him. Atonement for sins comes as soon as Kudeyar kills the landowner with his old robber's knife, who "torments, tortures and hangs serfs." Also, in the Nekrasov original, there is no mention anywhere that the monk Pitirim and Kudeyar are the same person. It is likely that this song is not a spontaneous folk adaptation, but the result of the activity of some author from the church environment.

Legends about Kudeyar-ataman are connected with the Volga region. In the Zhiguli Mountains there is Kudeyarova Gora, as well as other names inherited in memory of the Volga robbers - the village of Otvazhnoye, the village of Obsharovka, the Molodetsky Kurgan, the Voevodino tract, the Thieves' Settlement, etc. But in general, the legend of two great sinners is very common among different peoples, it is especially popular with the Eastern Slavs; in this case the hero is named Kudeyar, but this is not necessary. Instead of a landowner, an overseer, a merchant, a priest, etc., can act. Most often, in order to forgive sins, a former robber must water a charred firebrand until it sprouts (Nekrasov’s hero cuts an oak), but then the hero meets and kills an even greater sinner, a tormentor of the people , and the firebrand sprouts itself.

OPTION 1

There were twelve robbers

Words by N. A. Nekrasov (in folk arrangement)

“Let us pray to the Lord God!
We will announce the ancient story, -
So in Solovki he told us
Monk the honest Pitirim.

There were twelve robbers
There was Kudeyar-ataman.
A lot of robbers shed
The blood of honest Christians.

Lots of wealth was stolen
They lived in a dense forest.
Kudeyar himself from near Kyiv
Take the beautiful girl out.

In the afternoon with his mistress, he amused himself,
He made raids at night.
Suddenly at the fierce robber
The Lord awakened the conscience.

He abandoned his comrades
He gave up raids to create.
He himself went to the monastery
Serve God and people.

“Let us pray to the Lord God!
We will announce the ancient story, -
So in Solovki he told us
Kudeyar-Pitirim himself.

OPTION 2

Twelve thieves lived

Zhanna Bichevskaya - "The Ballad of the Twelve Thieves"

Twelve thieves lived
Lived Kudeyar ataman.
Many robbers shed
Blood of honest Christians!
Many robbers shed
Blood of honest Christians!

Lots of wealth was stolen
They lived in a dense forest.
Leader Kudeyar from near Kyiv
Stole the beautiful girl.

During the day he was having fun with his mistress,
He made raids at night.
Suddenly at the fierce robber
The Lord awakened the conscience.

He abandoned his comrades
He gave up raids to create.
Kudeyar himself went to the monastery
Serve God and people!

He prays to the Lord God
He will serve him.
We will all be for Kudeyar
Thank the Lord.
We will all be for Kudeyar
Thank the Lord.

Transcription of Zhanna Bichevskaya's phonogram, album "Old Russian folk village and city songs and ballads", Part 2, ZeKo Records, 1996 (recorded in 1994)

ORIGINAL POEM

About two great sinners
<Из поэмы «Кому на Руси жить хорошо»>

N. A. Nekrasov

Let's pray to the Lord God
We will announce the ancient story,
He told me in Solovki
Monk, Father Pitirim.

There were twelve robbers
There was Kudeyar-ataman,
Many robbers shed
The blood of honest Christians,

Lots of wealth was stolen
Lived in a dense forest
Leader Kudeyar from near Kyiv
Take the beautiful girl out.

In the afternoon with his mistress, he amused himself,
He made raids at night,
Suddenly at the fierce robber
The Lord awakened the conscience.

The dream flew away; disgusted
Drunkenness, murder, robbery,
The shadows of the slain are,
A whole army - you can't count!

Long fought, resisted
Lord beast-man,
Head blew off his mistress
And Yesaula spotted.

The conscience of the villain mastered
Disbanded his band
Distributed property to the church,
Buried the knife under the willow.

And forgive sins
Goes to the tomb of the Lord
Wandering, praying, repenting,
It doesn't get any easier for him.

An old man, in monastic clothes,
The sinner came home
Lived under the canopy of the oldest
Duba, in the forest slum.

Day and night of the Most High
Pray: forgive sins!
Let your body be tortured
Let me save my soul!

God took pity and to salvation
The schemer showed the way:
An old man in prayer vigil
Some saint appeared

Rivers: "Not without God's providence
You chose the age-old oak,
With the same knife that robbed
Cut it off with the same hand!

There will be great work
There will be a reward for work,
The tree just collapsed
The chains of sin will fall."

The hermit measured the monster:
Oak - three girths around!
I went to work with a prayer
Cuts with a damask knife

Cuts tough wood
Singing glory to the Lord
The years go by - advance
Slowly business forward.

What to do with the giant
Frail, sick person?
We need iron strength here,
We don't need an old age!

Doubt creeps into the heart
Cuts and hears the words:
"Hey old man, what are you doing?"
Crossed first,

I looked - and Pan Glukhovsky
He sees on a greyhound horse,
Pan rich, noble,
The first one in that direction.

A lot of cruel, scary
The old man heard about the pan
And as a lesson to the sinner
He told his secret.

Pan chuckled: "Salvation
I haven't had tea for a long time
In the world I honor only a woman,
Gold, honor and wine.

You have to live, old man, in my opinion:
How many slaves I destroy
I torture, I torture and hang,
And I would like to see how I sleep!

The miracle with the hermit happened:
Felt rage,
Rushed to Pan Glukhovsky,
A knife plunged into his heart!

Just pan bloodied
Fell head on the saddle
A huge tree collapsed
The echo shook the whole forest.

The tree collapsed, rolled down
From a monk the burden of sins! ..
Glory to the creator omnipresent
Today and forever! (1876)

N. A. Nekrasov. Full Sobr. op. and letters in 15 volumes. V. 5. - L., "Nauka", 1982 (printed according to the typographical print of 1876 with the restoration of the fragments modified by Nekrasov for printing according to the typesetting manuscript)

In some editions, the last stanza:

The tree collapsed, rolled down
From a monk the burden of sins! ..
Let us pray to the Lord God:
Have mercy on us, dark slaves!

The difference in the texts is explained by the fact that several versions of the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” of the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia” are known:

Nekrasov's typesetting manuscript of 1876 for the magazine "Notes of the Fatherland" for November 1876,
- a typographical print of 1876 made on its basis (with changes for censorship reasons),
- illegal edition of the St. Petersburg Free Printing House of 1879,
- publication in Otechestvennye Zapiski for February 1881 (in a truncated and distorted form; probably many edits were made by the editors).

The "correct" author's version is considered to be the text of the St. Petersburg Free Printing House - it reproduces the text of the print of 1876 with the restoration of the modified fragments according to the author's typesetting manuscript. In this form, the text is included in the Complete Works of Nekrasov (1982).

The tale of Kudeyar-ataman is contained in the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” of the poem “Who Lives Well in Russia”. Nekrasov died on January 8 (according to the new style), 1878, leaving the poem unfinished. The author did not know what the final should be, and could not find an answer to the question of who is good in Russia.

The prototype of Pan Glukhovsky could be a real Smolensk landowner of the middle of the 19th century Glukhovsky, who spotted a peasant to death, as reported by Herzen's "Bell" dated October 1, 1859.

The seriously ill Nekrasov tried to publish the chapter “A Feast for the Whole World” in “Notes of the Fatherland” for November 1876, and then for January 1877, but both times he was refused censorship. The chapter was published posthumously in an illegal edition of the St. Petersburg Free Printing House in 1879. In 1881, a distorted and truncated version was published in the February issue of Otechestvennye Zapiski.

The exit of the head coincided with the peak of the Narodnaya Volya terror, which culminated in March 1881 with the assassination of Alexander II. (

"The Tale of the Twelve Thieves"
Words by Nikolai Nekrasov. Music by Nicholas Manykina-Nevstrueva.

"To whom in Russia it is good to live.""On Two Great Sinners" (1876)

"There were twelve thieves,
There was Kudeyar ataman.
Many robbers shed
Blood of honest Christians!

Lots of good stuff was stolen
They lived in a dense forest.
Kudeyar himself, from near Kyiv
Take the beautiful girl out.

Let us pray to the Lord God, let us proclaim the ancient story!
So in Solovki, the honest monk Pitirim told us.

In the afternoon with his mistress amused,
He made raids at night.
Suddenly at the fierce robber
The Lord awakened the conscience.

Let us pray to the Lord God, let us proclaim the ancient story!
So in Solovki, the honest monk Pitirim told us.

He abandoned his comrades
Threw raids to create;
Kudeyar himself went to the monastery
Serve God and people!

Let us pray to the Lord God, let us proclaim the ancient story!
So Kudeyar himself told us in Solovki - Pitirim!

"Let us pray to the Lord God,
We will announce the ancient story,
He told me in Solovki
Monk, Father Pitirim.

There were twelve robbers
There was Kudeyar-ataman,
Many robbers shed
The blood of honest Christians,

Lots of wealth was stolen
Lived in a dense forest
Leader Kudeyar from near Kyiv
Take the beautiful girl out.

In the afternoon with his mistress amused,
He made raids at night,
Suddenly at the fierce robber
The Lord awakened the conscience.

The dream flew away; disgusted
Drunkenness, murder, robbery,
The shadows of the slain are,
A whole army - you can't count!

Long fought, resisted
Lord beast-man,
Head off my mistress
And Yesaula spotted.