This is a Byliny Book. What does “Byliny” mean? It is a Russian word, and it means stories about What-has-Been, what happened in Russia in the old days long ago. We all read about the Greek heroes Jason and Perseus and Theseus and Heracles. 

The Russian names of the heroes look a little strange at first, but they are not really hard to pronounce. There are a great many Russian heroes, but this book only tells about four of them, Volgá and Mikúla and Svyatogór and Ilyá. The Volgá is quite short and easy, and so is Mikúla, which is pronounced as if it was written Mikóolla. Svyatogór looks rather hard, but you only have to remember to say it like this—Svyătăgórr, and you must roll the r’s as if you were a Scotsman. 

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