Russian folklore Folklore of Russia is folklore of Russians and other ethnic groups of Russia. Russian folklore takes its roots in the pagan beliefs of ancient Slavs and now is represented in the Russian fairy tales. Epic Russian bylinas are also an important ...

, Chernava (diminutive: Chernavushka; russian: Чернава, Чернавушка) is Morskoy Tsar's (Sea Tsar)

daughter A daughter is a female offspring; a girl or a woman in relation to her parents. Daughterhood is the state of being someone's daughter. The male counterpart is a son. Analogously the name is used in several areas to show relations between groups ...

(or, according to some versions, a

niece In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of the subject's sibling or sibling-in-law. The converse relationship, the relationship from the niece or nephew's perspective, is that of an ...

), spirit and personification of the river of the same name. She is a

mermaid In folklore, a mermaid is an aquatic creature with the head and upper body of a female human and the tail of a fish. Mermaids appear in the folklore of many cultures worldwide, including Europe, Asia, and Africa. Mermaids are sometimes asso ...

. Her head and upper body are human, while the lower body is a fish's tail. Chernava is famous from the epic of

Sadko Sadko (russian: Садко) is the principal character in a Russian medieval epic '' bylina''. He was an adventurer, merchant, and '' gusli'' musician from Novgorod. Textual notes "Sadko" is a version of the tale translated by Arthur Ransome ...

, where she appears.

In ''Sadko''

In the Sadko ''

bylina A ( rus, были́на, p=bɨˈlʲinə; pl. ) is an Old Russian oral epic poem. Byliny narratives are loosely based on historical fact, but greatly embellished with fantasy or hyperbole. The word derives from the past tense of the verb '' ...

'', Chernava appears as the one of the 900 mermaids. She is described as small, scrawny and young girl who works as a

servant A domestic worker or domestic servant is a person who works within the scope of a residence. The term "domestic service" applies to the equivalent occupational category. In traditional English contexts, such a person was said to be "in service ...

in the palace. When Morskoy Tsar offered Sadko a new bride, Sadko took Chernava and lay down beside her. On their wedding night he did not touch her. When Sadko was asleep, Chernava had transformed into a river, helping him to get into the human world. Sadko woke up on the shore of the river Chernava and rejoined his first wife.

In popular culture

Chernava Colles are named after her.

References

Bibliography

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External links

Краткое содержание и история создания оперы Римского-Корсакова «Садко» на сайте «Belcanto.Ru»
(in Russian) * Bylin

(in Russian) * Bylin

(in Russian)

the ''bylina''

as collected by

Arthur Ransome Arthur Michell Ransome (18 January 1884 – 3 June 1967) was an English author and journalist. He is best known for writing and illustrating the ''Swallows and Amazons'' series of children's books about the school-holiday adventures of childre ...

in ''Old Peter's Russian Tales''
''Sadko''
as collected by

in ''Old Peter's Russian Tales'' as a librivox.org audiobook. {{Slavic mythology Characters in Bylina Russian folklore Russian folklore characters Slavic paganism Mermaids Slavic folklore characters