High in the Holy Mountains stands a pillar that supports the vault of heaven. This pillar is guarded by Svyatogor; he rides around it on his horse. His horse is higher than the standing forest, and brushes against the walking clouds on his helmet.
Svyatogor learned a lot of wisdom and explored the path to the heavenly kingdom. He was so strong and wise that he piled mountains on top of mountains and rose to the firmament. He walked along the star road to the throne of the Most High.
And the Almighty said to him:
- I will fulfill any of your wishes, don’t just ask for the kingdom of heaven and the bright Iria!
And then Svyatogor asked to make him stronger and wiser than all the gods and spirits, all the sons of Svarog. The Almighty fulfilled his desire and said to him:
- You will be stronger than all the sons of Svarog, but the Stone will overpower you! You will be wiser than the gods, but you will not be protected from human cunning!
Svyatogor was very surprised, for he, the son of the Mother of the Raw Earth, was not afraid of stones. He was not afraid of human cunning, for he considered himself smarter than any of the people.
And at this time, a man was born on Earth - Van. It was rumored that he was the son of Devana and the grandson of Perun. Vanya grew up and learned that Svyatogor has a beautiful daughter, Merya. And then he came to Svyatogor and began to ask for Mori’s hand. Svyatogor became angry, because until now not a single mortal had ever married a goddess. And he said
Vanya: “Let’s do this. You will hide from me three times, if you can, Merya will be yours. If you don’t succeed, you won’t get angry, and you’ll lose your head.”
Vanya turned into an elm and stood in the forest, but Svyatogor found him. Then he turned into a star and hid among the stars, but even then Svyatogor found him. Van could not hide from Svyatogor, for Svyatogor had the Veshcherskaya book, which told him everything.
And then Vanya found the bird Gamayun and asked her how to hide from Svyatogor. And Gamayun gave him three magic feathers. Vanya waved his magic feathers over the Vescherskaya Book and ordered her to be silent, and then wrapped a ring on the hand of his betrothed, Mary.
Svyatogor could not find Vanya and, in frustration, burned the Vescherskaya book, and then married Vanya and Merya.
They began to get on with their lives.
Svyatogor-Tsar and Plenka ruled. Vanya and Merya gave birth to a son, gave him a name - Sadko. And from Vanya and Mary they went - the tribes of the Mari and the Wends. “The Book of Kolyada”, VII d
Many years later, Van also survived the Great Flood, which was caused by the blow of the god Ilm (or Perun) on the Black Stone, which Veles brought.
Van escaped on a ship (ark), which was built by his son Sadko. There he saved his family. He took animal representatives and plant seeds onto the ship. This is how life on our planet was saved.
The songs about Van from the “Book of Kolyada” are recreated on the basis of the epic “Vanka - Udovkin’s Son” and the fairy tales “Tsar Veshor”, “Tsar Warlock”. See the three-volume book “Russian Folk Tales by A.N. Afanasyev” (M., 1957).
Van (Jan, Janos) was called their ancestor by the Wends and their descendants, Ukrainians and Poles. The Mari consider the daughter of Evil God to be their ancestor, and her husband Mari to be her ancestor.
In Ukraine, legends about the Flood have been preserved, in which Janos is named instead of Noah. The Poles revere Jan (aka Noah) as their ancestor. The names Janos and Noah (in the Koran Nuh) are related, because in the Hebrew books there were no vowels, the names Jan and Noah were written the same.
Wherever the Wends lived, they left the names of rivers, lakes and mountains, in which the names of ancient gods and heroes are recognizable. In the ancient center of the Wendish and Atlantean civilization near Ararat (Holy Mountain) there is Lake Van and the Merope River. One can also recall in the European, former Venedian lands the rivers - Morova, Morila, Lake Maiska near Novgorod, etc.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru