Svyatogor

Account

Svyatogor is a bogatyr of the Russian byliny - a hero so heavy and vast that Mother Earth herself can barely bear his tread. He rides a horse of matching scale through the Holy Mountains, meets the younger hero Ilya Muromets, and in the great telling transfers a portion of strength before lying down in a stone coffin he finds on the road. When he tries to rise, the lid will not lift; when Ilya tries to free him, the same stone holds. Svyatogor understands his time is finished and bequeaths power, and sometimes a sword, to the next generation.