The Tale of the Armament of Igor, A. D. 1185 (Classic Reprint): A Russian Historical Epic

by Leonard Arthur Magnus

Excerpt from The Tale of the Armament of Igor, A. D. 1185

Since that date there has been a deluge of editions and criticisms, as a glance at the bibliography will show. Evidently musin-puskin underrated the interest of his casual purchase.'

201 pages, Paperback

First published July 29, 2009

Reviews

[Mary Overton]

Igor's defeat:
From early moon until the
evening, from the evening
until the day-light, tempered
arrows fly, the sabres thunder
about the helmets, the lances
crack in the foreign country,
amid the land of the Pólovtsy.
The black earth beneath the
hooves was sown with bones,
and was watered with blood;
on Russian soil these sprang
up as grief.

Remembering a legendary conqueror, Vseslav:
In the seventh age of Troyán
Vséslav cast his lots for the
Maiden dear to him.
He with wiles at the last tore
himself free: and galloped to
the city of Kíev; with his
weapon took hold of the
golden throne of Kíev;
galloped from them like a
wild beast at midnight from
Bĕ ́ lgorod, swathed himself in
a blue mist, rent asunder his
bonds into three parts, opened
wide the gates of Nóvgorod,
shattered the Glory of
Yarosláv [the First]; galloped
like a wolf from Dudútki to
the Nemíga.
On the Nemíga the sheaves
are laid out with heads; men
thresh with flails in
hedgerows; on the barn-floor
they spread out life; they
winnow the soul from the
body.
On the blood-stained Nemíga
the banks were sown with
bane,--sown with the bones of
the sons of Russia.
Prince Vséslav was a judge to
his subjects, he appointed
cities for the princes: but he
himself at night raced like a
wolf from Kíev to the Idol [or,
(accepting the reading of the
text unaltered)--to the Lord]
of Tmutarakáń, raced, like a
wolf across the path of the
great Khors.

read online at http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/tai/i...

[Olivia Fraser]

This is the first translation of the Igor poem that I ever read, and it is the one I keep coming back to. I am very grateful to Leonard A. Magnus for providing the Old Russian text alongside his translation. His footnotes, though useful, can be difficult to access, as they require the reader to look up the Russian not English word, and to have knowledge of the Russian alphabet to then find the word. Nevertheless, I would recommend this translation to anyone studying the Igor poem.

[Øystein Brekke]

Eg las Nabokov si engelske omsetjing og Sverdrup Lunden si norske.

Episk dikt frå Kiev-riket frå 1100-talet, om fyrst Igor, som legg ut på eit ugjennomtenkt hærtog med for få folk mot dei heidne polovtsarane, taper og blir teken til fange - men til slutt klarer å rømma og koma seg trygt heim att. Mykje fint poetisk språk. Vel verdt ein kikk.