The feat of the youth from Kiev is an interesting story. Lesson "Old Russian literature. The Chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" as a literary monument. "The feat of a youth from Kiev and the cunning of the governor Pretich". Features of Russian chronicles." Studying in literature lessons

Pretich".

5th grade, textbook

Publication on the website: http://www. saharina. ru/method/lit/

Source of illustration: http://www. tainaxx. info/images/articles/s7_3.jpg

Test

1. Which prince ruled in Kyiv? 1) Vladimir, 2) Svyatoslav, 3) Yaroslav

2. Who attacked Kyiv? 1) Cumans, 2) Tatars, 3) Pechenegs

3. Why did the enemies accept the youth from Kiev as one of their own? 1) he spoke their language, 2) he was like them, 3) he betrayed his

4. Who is Pretich? 1) youth, 2) governor, 3) prince

5. What is BOAT? 1) palm, 2) boat, 3) plate

6. Who is YOUTH? 1) prince, 2) governor, 3) teenage boy

7. Who accomplished the feat? 1) Prince Svyatoslav, 2) Princess Olga, 3) a youth from Kiev

8. Who does the chronicle call cunning? 1) a governor, 2) a prince, 3) a youth from Kiev.

Test

Test

1. Which prince ruled in Kyiv? 1) Vladimir, 2) Svyatoslav, 3) Yaroslav

2. Who attacked Kyiv? 1) Cumans, 2) Tatars, 3) Pechenegs

3. Why did the enemies accept the youth from Kiev as one of their own? 1) he spoke their language, 2) he was like them, 3) he betrayed his

4. Who is Pretich? 1) youth, 2) governor, 3) prince

5. What is BOAT? 1) palm, 2) boat, 3) plate

6. Who is YOUTH? 1) prince, 2) governor, 3) teenage boy

7. Who accomplished the feat? 1) Prince Svyatoslav, 2) Princess Olga, 3) a youth from Kiev

8. Who does the chronicle call cunning? 1) a governor, 2) a prince, 3) a youth from Kiev.

Test

1. Which prince ruled in Kyiv? 1) Yaroslav, 2) Svyatoslav, 3) Vladimir

2. Who attacked Kyiv? 1) Pechenegs, 2) Tatars, 3) Cumans

3. Why did the enemies accept the youth from Kiev as one of their own? 1) he was like them, 2) he spoke their language, 3) he betrayed his

4. Who is Pretich? 1) youth, 2) prince, 3) governor

5. What is BOAT? 1) palm, 2) plate, 3) boat,

6. Who is YOUTH? 1) teenage boy, 2) governor, 3) prince

7. Who accomplished the feat? 1) Princess Olga, 2) Prince Svyatoslav, 3) a youth from Kiev

8. Who does the chronicle call cunning? 1) a youth from Kiev, 2) a prince, 3) a governor

Test

1. Which prince ruled in Kyiv? 1) Vladimir, 2) Svyatoslav, 3) Yaroslav

2. Who attacked Kyiv? 1) Cumans, 2) Tatars, 3) Pechenegs

3. Why did the enemies accept the youth from Kiev as one of their own? 1) he spoke their language, 2) he was like them, 3) he betrayed his

4. Who is Pretich? 1) youth, 2) governor, 3) prince

5. What is BOAT? 1) palm, 2) boat, 3) plate

6. Who is YOUTH? 1) prince, 2) governor, 3) teenage boy

7. Who accomplished the feat? 1) Prince Svyatoslav, 2) Princess Olga, 3) a youth from Kiev

8. Who does the chronicle call cunning? 1) a governor, 2) a prince, 3) a youth from Kiev.

Test

1. Which prince ruled in Kyiv? 1) Yaroslav, 2) Svyatoslav, 3) Vladimir

2. Who attacked Kyiv? 1) Pechenegs, 2) Tatars, 3) Cumans

3. Why did the enemies accept the youth from Kiev as one of their own? 1) he was like them, 2) he spoke their language, 3) he betrayed his

4. Who is Pretich? 1) youth, 2) prince, 3) governor

5. What is BOAT? 1) palm, 2) plate, 3) boat,

6. Who is YOUTH? 1) teenage boy, 2) governor, 3) prince

7. Who accomplished the feat? 1) Princess Olga, 2) Prince Svyatoslav, 3) a youth from Kiev

8. Who does the chronicle call cunning? 1) a youth from Kiev, 2) a prince, 3) a governor

Topic: “Old Russian literature. “The feat of a youth from Kiev and the cunning of governor Pretich.” Heroes of chronicle legends."

Class: 5

Subject: literature

Textbook : Literature. 5th grade. Textbook-reader for educational institutions. At 2 o'clock / Author-compiler: V. Ya. Korovina. – Moscow: Enlightenment, 2011

Title of section, topic:From ancient Russian literature. “The feat of a youth from Kiev and the cunning of governor Pretich”

Theme of the event: Old Russian literature. “The feat of a youth from Kiev and the cunning of governor Pretich.” Heroes of the chronicle legend.

Lesson objectives: acquaintance of students with ancient Russian literature, its originality and patriotic orientation using the example of the chronicle legend “The Feat of the Youth of Kiev and the Cunning of Governor Pretich”

Tasks:

• introduce students to the chronicle story using the “reading with stops” technique;
• Show the patriotism of the heroes of the chronicle:
• Instill a love for the native language and native history;
• Instilling skills in working with text
• stimulate the mental and creative activity of students using techniques: composing a story using keywords, “two-part diary”, “fill in the missing words”, syncwine, cluster;
• promote the development of personal achievements of students through creative activity.

develop monologue speech skills; continue to develop the ability to analyze, compare, compare, highlight the main thing, establish cause-and-effect relationships; develop independent work skills; increase motivation for knowledge, which forms the interest of students, which significantly contributes to self-education and increasing the level of training; develop creativity and imaginative thinking

• cultivate a careful, respectful attitude towards the book; contribute to the formation of aesthetic sensitivity of students; cultivate patriotism and interest in the history of your country; develop interest in literature.

Planned results:

Subject: introduce the content of the chronicle legend as a special literary genre, promote the development of students’ speech, and practice expressive reading skills.

Cognitive UUD:search and selection of necessary information, conscious and arbitrary construction of a speech utterance in oral form, free orientation and perception of the text of a work of art, semantic reading; promoting the development of mental operations: comparison, analysis, synthesis, generalization, systematization. Help in the development of creative imagination, cognitive activity, intellectual abilities.

Personal UUD : self-determination, desire for speech self-improvement; moral and ethical orientation, the ability to self-assess one’s actions and actions; the development of moral readiness to resist Evil, to cause a persistent internal rejection of the characters themselves, endowed with all kinds of vices and a reluctance to imitate them. Using the example of the attitude of the heroes of the tale to the Motherland, instill in children a sense of patriotism.

Regulatory UUD:goal setting, planning, self-regulation, highlighting and awareness by students of what has already been learned and what still needs to be learned.

Communication UUD: planning educational cooperation with the teacher and peers, compliance with the rules of speech behavior, the ability to express thoughts with sufficient completeness in accordance with the tasks and conditions of communication.

Learning Tools:computer, projector, textbook, handouts.

Literature: Literature. 5th grade. Textbook-reader for educational institutions. At 2 o'clock / Author-compiler: V. Ya. Korovina.

Interdisciplinary connections:history, geography, painting.

Internet resources:

1. Eremina O.A. Literature lessons in 5th grade (http://www.prosv.ru/ebooks/Eremina_Uroki-liter_5kl_Kniga-uchit/3.html )
2. Korovina V. Ya., Zbarsky I. S. Literature. 5th grade. Methodical advice (http://www.prosv.ru/ebooks/Korovina_Literatura_5kl_Metod/2.html#3 )
3. Publishing house "1 September"http://festival.1september.ru
4. Ershova N.O. "The feat of a youth from Kiev"http://www.proshkolu.ru

Lesson type: lesson in the formation of new knowledge, skills and abilities.

Pedagogical technologies: technology for the development of critical thinking

LESSON PROGRESS:

Stage 1 “Challenge”

1. Emotional mood for the lesson

Hello, young ladies! Hello, youths, from whom worthy men will grow up in the future!

In the summer of 2013, on Russian soil, not in Kyiv, where the mighty Dnieper and Lybid flow, not in Pereyaslavets on the Danube, but in the village of Troekurovo on the glorious river Beautiful Sword, our lesson begins. And Princess Olga, Prince Svyatoslav, and Voivode Pretich will not come to us. No Pechenegs will disturb us. I hope that not a single youth will be exhausted, grieved and lamented. And we will act as guards, sit in the boat of knowledge and go on a journey...

What literature do you think? (Old Russian)

Why did you decide this? (outdated words in greeting, phrase “to summer”) Slide 1

What works started like this? (Chronicle)

What is known about this topic? Let's create a cluster

1. Technique “forming a cluster”

Chronicle

“The Tale of Bygone Years”, Nestor, chronicler, recording by year, historical events, etc.

What keywords appeared in my greeting?

1. Working with unfamiliar words (key words)

SLIDES

Pechenegs - Turkic-speaking people who came to Rus' from the southeast, from the southern steppes, nomads, good warriors

youth – teenage boy aged 9-15 years. In Ancient Rus' in a word youth also called princely servants

husband – an adult man, a warrior, a rich and noble person

squad - a detachment of warriors in the service of the prince.

voivode - chief of the army, squad

watchman - advanced reconnaissance detachments

rook - boat

shut up - shut up

grieve - grieve

lamented - was very sad

Lybid – the name of the river that flows into the Dnieper

Pretich - Voivode Svyatoslav

Olga - princess, mother of Svyatoslav

Svyatoslav - Grand Duke of Kyiv. In 967, he went on a campaign to Bulgaria to conquer lands along the Danube from it. There, to the small town of Pereyaslavets on the Danube, Svyatoslav wanted to move the capital of Rus'.

4. Technique "Key words"

Using the keywords you see on the slide, try to write a story - assumption

These words and these characters will be found in an excerpt from The Tale of Bygone Years. Try to guess the events and facts that will be discussed.

What would you like to learn in class today (goal setting)

Stage 2 “Comprehension”

1. "Reading with stops" technique. (Audio recording)

1 stop, ending with the words “People were exhausted from hunger and thirst”

When do the events take place?

Where was Svyatoslav?

Who stayed in Kyiv?

Why couldn't you leave the city?

Why were people exhausted?

Stop 2, ending with the words “... but they couldn’t do anything to him”

Why couldn’t the people on the other side of the Dnieper come to the rescue?

(Kyiv in those days was surrounded by a fortress wall with a gate and was located on a high hill above the Dnieper, where the small river Lybid flows into the Dnieper. The Pechenegs surrounded the city, but Russian people gathered on the other side - “people from the other side of the Dnieper,” and they could help the besieged.)
-What did the people of Kiev want to convey to the other side?

Why did the youth manage to deceive the Pechenegs?

What would you do if you were a young man?

3rd stop, ending with the words “... Svyatoslav will destroy us”

Where did they take the boy?

What did he say?

How did Pretich respond to this?

What would you do if you were a governor?

4 stop, ending with the words “And the Pechenegs retreated from the city”

Why did the Pechenegs flee from the city?

What did the Pecheneg prince ask?

How did the governor deceive the Pechenegs?

How did their conversation end?

How do you think the story will end?

Read to the end

How do you understand the words of the people of Kiev?

Why did Svyatoslav immediately go to Kyiv?

What would have happened if the prince did not want to return?

What would you do if you were the prince?

1. Reception “Two-part diary”

I invite you to begin to reflect thoughtfully on the pages you have read.

1 group

Quotes from the text are written on the left side of the diary; on the right you need to comment on them

2nd group

Select the necessary quotes from the text that reflect this comment.

1. Reception "Fill in the missing words"(Tasks for group 3)

Students are offered a ready-made text on the analysis of the work of art being studied, but some words (phrases) in this text are missing, and the student must insert them.

“The feat of the youth of Kiev and the cunning of the governor Pretich” is an excerpt from ________________________________________________________________

The events of the chronicle legend take place ___________. Svyatoslav was in

And Olga with her grandchildren___________________________.

The heroes of the chronicle story read, for the most part, occupy a high position in society: Pretich - _____________, he makes peace with the _______________ prince; Svyatoslav is ____________, Princess Olga is his______.

A youth from Kiev accomplishes a feat. He passed through the enemy camp, saying ____________________. If the Pechenegs had realized that he ___________, they would have ____________ him.

The trick of ________________ Pretich was that he did not admit to ____________ the prince that Svyatoslav was far from _______________________, but said that he was leading the vanguard, and __________ was following.

The chronicler does not approve of Svyatoslav. This is in the words of the people of Kiev:________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

With his last words, the chronicler emphasizes that the most important thing is _________.

Advertising the achieved results.

Physical education minute

We'll put our palms to our eyes,

Let's spread our strong legs.

Turning to the right

Let's look around majestically.

And you need to go left too

Look from under your palms.

And - to the right! And one more thing

Over your left shoulder!

Let's place our legs in the letter "l".

Just like in a dance - hands on hips.

Leaned left, right.

It turns out great!

So we threw up our hands,

(We spread our arms to the sides)

As if they were surprised.

And to each other to the ground

Bowed to the waist!

Bent over, straightened up,

Bent over, straightened up

Below, children, don’t be lazy,

Bow, smile!

(Bends forward)

1. Reflection

Please look at the reproduction of the painting by artist Alexander Ivanov “The Feat of a Young Kievite.” (Slide)

Think about whether this is how you imagined it. Try to describe it at home using the “Fill in the missing words” technique.

The artist ___________________does not strive for historical accuracy of costumes and landscapes. It is more important for him to show the patriotic impulse of _________, saving his _______________ from enemies.
We see _________, who, having run across the enemy’s camp, on the shore ________threw off _________ and is in a hurry to throw himself into the water to swim across __________. Behind the figure of the young man we see ___________ with fluttering _________ and mane; above him, against the background of the menacingly darkening evening ________, the seemingly black branches of _______ are spread out. To the right of the horse we guess the pale silhouettes of ___________ horsemen galloping to catch up with the hero. Behind them is the outline of the fortress walls of ____________, besieged by the Pechenegs.
In the lower left corner we see a strip of _________ bordered by grass. On the shore, resting his hand on the sandy river bottom, lies a Russian _________ in chain mail, with a feathered _________ sticking out of his chest. He holds the other __________, already removed from the wound, in his right _________. His face expresses suffering and _____________________ that the young man will save his native ______________, for whom the warrior shed his ____________. His left hand ________________, as if with his gesture he wants to bless _________, but he lacks the strength. The silver ________________, on which the reflection of the young man’s cloak reflects, the scarlet belt and the scarlet elements of clothing connect the images of _________ and the wounded ___________ into one _____________.
The main character of the picture, Kiev___________, is depicted___________. In his right hand he has ____________, he holds a scarlet fluttering ____________, thanks to which the swiftness of the young man’s movement is conveyed. His face shows concentration, desire, but not ____________. He wants to get to the Russian ________________, but it is not the desire to stay alive that drives him: his task is to convey important ____________ to the soldiers. His body is illuminated by the light of _________________, which is located on the left, behind _______________, where the troops of the Russian governor _________________ are stationed.
With the help of the picture, _________________________ tells us how, through anxiety, fear and darkness, a person strives for _____________________, for victory over __________________.

On the slide are the words of D.S. Likhachev: “We must be grateful sons of our great mother - Ancient Rus'. The past must serve the present"(Slide)

How do you understand the words of D.S. Likhachev: “We must be grateful sons of our great mother - Ancient Rus'”?
We should be grateful to the sons of Ancient Rus' for the fact that they defended the independence of our land in a difficult struggle against the invaders, giving us an example of inner strength and mental fortitude. Our gratitude can be expressed in caring for the monuments of Russian antiquity, in a thoughtful and careful study of history and in caring for the beauty and prosperity of our modern Russia. Our country is our heritage and we must take care of it and then pass it on to our children.
Can the story of a youth from Kiev “serve modernity”?
The story of the heroic deed of a Kievite youth can serve our time, setting an example of courage and dedication for the sake of saving our native land.

Reception "Sinquain"

Please make a syncwine on the topic of our lesson (assignment in groups)

Feat

Brave, brave

Saves, risks, strives

An act to save the Motherland

Courage

Voivode

Cunning, brave

Deceives, saves, decides

Able to make important decisions

Daredevil (hero, boss)

Lesson

Interesting, fascinating

Teaches, introduces, educates

The main thing is love for the Motherland

Knowledge

(Slide)

The lesson is over.

In summer 6476 (968). The Pechenegs came to the Russian land for the first time, and Svyatoslav was then in Pereyaslavets, and Olga locked herself with her grandchildren Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir in the city of Kyiv. And the Pechenegs besieged the city with great force: there were countless numbers of them around the city, and it was impossible to leave the city or send messages, and the people were exhausted from hunger and thirst. And the people from that side of the Dnieper gathered in boats and stood on the other bank, and it was impossible either to get to Kyiv or from the city to them. And the people in the city began to grieve and said: “Is there anyone who could cross to the other side and tell them: if you don’t approach the city in the morning, we will surrender to the Pechenegs.” And one youth said: “I will make my way,” and they answered him: “Go.” He left the city, holding a bridle, and ran through the Pecheneg camp, asking them: “Has anyone seen a horse?” For he knew Pecheneg and was accepted as one of their own. And when he approached the river, he threw off his clothes, threw himself into the Dnieper and swam. Seeing this, the Pechenegs rushed after him, shot at him, but could not do anything to him. On the other side they noticed this, drove up to him in a boat, took him into the boat and brought him to the squad. And the youth said to them: “If you don’t approach the city tomorrow, the people will surrender to the Pechenegs.” Their commander, named Pretich, said to this: “We will go tomorrow in boats and, having captured the princess and princes, we will rush to this shore. If we do not do this, then Svyatoslav will destroy us.” And the next morning, close to dawn, they got into the boats and blew a loud trumpet, and the people in the city screamed. It seemed to the Pechenegs that the prince himself had come, and they ran away from the city in all directions. And Olga came out with her grandchildren and people to the boats. The Pecheneg prince, seeing this, returned alone and turned to the governor Pretich: “Who came?” And he answered him: “People of the other side (Dnieper).” The Pechenezh prince asked again: “Aren’t you a prince?” Pretich answered: “I am his husband, I came with an advance detachment, and behind me is an army with the prince himself: there are countless of them.” He said this to scare them. The Prince of Pecheneg said to Pretich: “Be my friend.” He replied: “I will do so.” And they shook hands with each other, and the Pecheneg prince gave Pretich a horse, a saber and arrows. The same one gave him chain mail, a shield and a sword. And the Pechenegs retreated from the city, and it was impossible to take the horse out to water: the Pechenegs stood on Lybid. And the people of Kiev sent to Svyatoslav with the words: “You, prince, are looking for a foreign land and taking care of it, but you left your own, and the Pechenegs and your mother and your children almost took us. If you don’t come and protect us, they will take us.” us. Don’t you feel sorry for your fatherland, your old mother, your children?" Hearing this, Svyatoslav and his retinue quickly mounted their horses and returned to Kyiv; greeted his mother and children and lamented what had happened to them from the Pechenegs. And he gathered the soldiers, and drove the Pechenegs into the field, and peace came.

• leisurely
• solemnity
• emotionality
• tragedy
• compassion

• Prayer
• Parable
• Life
• Teaching
• Tale
• Legend

• Word
• Walking
• Chronicle
• Legend
• Instruction

The emergence of ancient Russian literature

Chronicle– historical and narrative works of the 11th-17th centuries, the content of which was compiled by year. those. about summer .

The story about the events of each year in chronicles usually began with the words: “in the summer ...” - hence the name - chronicle. Chroniclers, as a rule, were monks.

Topics of the chronicles:

• Russian history;
• the emergence of Rus';
• fight against external enemies;
• the struggle of princes for the throne.

Red line

• Old Russian chronicles were written in continuous text no spaces.
• The first letter was clearly shaped - it was drawn red paint. This is where the expression “from the red line” comes from.

"Where did the Russian land come from..."

• That's what they sound like first lines"Tales of Bygone Years."
• Talking about the life and deeds of princes, Nestor – the monk who wrote “The Tale...” everywhere expresses the idea of the needs of the world.
• Love for the Motherland- the main idea of ​​the story. Main idea: " Do not destroy the land of your fathers and grandfathers ” constantly sounds in “The Tale...”.

From history.

• In the summer 6476 (968). The Pechenegs came to the Russian land for the first time, and Svyatoslav was then in Pereyaslavets, and Olga locked herself with her grandchildren Yaropolk, Oleg and Vladimir in the city of Kyiv. And the Pechenegs besieged the city with great force...

Vocabulary work

• Youth– young man;
• voivode– leader of the military squad;
• Pechenegs-unification of Turkic peoples and other tribes in the Volga steppes;
• Olga- princess, mother of Prince Svyatoslav;
• Lybid– name of the river;
• rook- boat;
• husband– building: warrior, man.

Let's reflect on what we read...

• What feat of the youth from Kiev is described in “The Tale of Bygone Years”?
• What was the cunning of Governor Pretich, the hero of the chronicle narrative?
• How does the story “The Feat of the Kiev Youth and the Cunning of Governor Pretich” end?

Let's think about it

• Why is the boy’s act called a feat?
• What does it mean to “accomplish a feat”?

Let's test ourselves!

• What words do ancient Russian chronicles begin with?
• The most ancient chronicle that has come down to us?
• Who is its author?
• What does "temporary years" mean?

D.S. Likhachev

• “We must be grateful sons of our great mother - Ancient Rus'. The past must serve the present!”

(From the book “Native Land”).

Homework

• Written response to a question : p.51.(“Reflections on Heroes...”) task 2 .

Old Russian literature. “The feat of a youth from Kiev and the cunning of governor Pretich”

The emergence of Russian literature dates back to the end of the 10th century, when books intended for church services appeared in Rus' after the adoption of Christianity. The concept of “Old Russian literature” includes literary works written in the 11th – 17th centuries.

The beginning of Old Russian literature is associated with the adoption of Christianity in Rus', with church services and preaching. The first listeners of the works were noble people who gathered in the main temple of the city.

The beginning of writing among the Eastern Slavs is associated with the Baptism of Rus' in 988 during the reign of Vladimir Svyatoslavich, grandson of Princess Olga, in Kyiv. Writing came to Rus' from Bulgaria, where the brothers Cyril and Methodius created the Slavic alphabet and for the first time translated liturgical books from Greek into Church Slavonic.

Along with writing, various genres of Byzantine Christian literature came to Rus': life, teaching, word.

In the 11th century, chronicle writing appeared in Rus'. During the reign of Yaroslav the Wise in Kyiv, at the court of the Metropolitan, at that time the main church hierarch in Rus', the “Most Ancient Kiev Code” was created, i.e. stories about the main events in Rus' from ancient times were recorded.

The word “chronicle” comes from two words: “summer”, i.e. year, and “write.” Thus, a chronicle is a work in which the narrative is presented in chronological order. The narrative began with the words “In the summer...” (i.e., “In the year...”) - hence the name of the chronicle.

The chroniclers considered themselves not authors, but only recorders of events. Therefore, they rarely mention themselves. Most often, the ancient Russian chronicler was a learned monk.

In 1073, the monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nikon the Great, using the “Ancient Kiev Code,” compiled the “First Kiev-Pechersk Code.” At the beginning of the 12th century. The monk of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery Nestor corrects and supplements the first editions of the chronicle, which is named after its first lines - “The Tale of Bygone Years”.

“The Tale of Bygone Years” combines a variety of materials - biblical stories, information about the ancient Slavs, legends about the first princes of Ancient Rus', texts of treaties between Rus' and Byzantium, stories about princely civil strife, church teachings, essays about the first monks of the Kiev-Pechersk Monastery.

The compiler of The Tale of Bygone Years had a goal not only to tell about the past of Rus', but also to determine the place of the Eastern Slavs among the European and Asian peoples.

The chronicler talks in detail about the settlement of the Slavic peoples, about the settlement of territories by the Eastern Slavs that would later become part of the Old Russian state, about the morals and customs of different tribes. The “Tale...” emphasizes not only the antiquity of the Slavic peoples, but also the unity of their culture, language and writing, created in the 9th century by the brothers Cyril and Methodius.

The chronicler turns to the history of the first Russian princes and tells about the deeds of their descendants. The chronicle shows how the Old Russian state is taking shape and strengthening, how its borders are expanding, how its enemies are weakening.

From the middle of the 11th century, the Old Russian state began to split into separate principalities and lands. Inter-princely conflicts began, which the militant neighbors of Rus' took advantage of. All this could not leave the chroniclers indifferent, and they called on the princes to unite for the salvation of Rus'.

In Russian culture, chronicle writing played a very important role: it helped people learn about the history of their people, what good and evil are, how a person should and should not act.

One of the stories included in the “Tale of Bygone Years” is a story about the feat of a Kiev youth.

The narrative begins with the words: “In the summer of 6476 (968).” This means that the events took place in 6476 from the Creation of the world. In Ancient Rus', chronology was accepted not from the Nativity of Christ, as we count years now, but from the Creation of the world. In parentheses, modern historians, for our convenience, indicate the same year according to modern chronology.

At the beginning of the story, Prince Svyatoslav is mentioned, who was a very active prince, liberated the Vyatichi from the power of the Khazars, and went on a campaign to Bulgaria to reconquer lands along the Danube. There, to the small town of Pereyaslavets on the Danube, Svyatoslav wanted to move the capital of Rus'. At this time, the lands on which the Khazars defeated by Svyatoslav lived were occupied by new nomads - the Pechenegs. When Svyatoslav and his squad were in Pereyaslavets, far from his native Kyiv, the Pechenegs first attacked the capital city, which is what the chronicle passage tells us about.

Kyiv in those days was surrounded by a fortress wall with a gate and was located on a high hill above the Dnieper, where the small river Lybid flows into the Dnieper. The Pechenegs surrounded the city, but Russian people gathered on the other bank - “people from the other side of the Dnieper,” and they could help the besieged.

The youth (as the prince's servant was called) volunteered to cross the Dnieper, but to do this he needed to go through the Pecheneg camp. If the Pechenegs had learned that he was from Kiev, the young man would have faced inevitable death. The young man, who could speak Pecheneg, managed to reach the detachment of governor Pretich.

The next morning Pretich with his small detachment set off for Kyiv. He told the Pechenezh prince that he was leading the vanguard of Svyatoslav’s army, and the Russian prince with countless troops was following behind. The Pechenezh prince was frightened, asked for peace and retreated from the city.

Svyatoslav returns from a foreign land and drives the Pechenegs into the field. With his last words, the chronicler emphasizes that the most important thing for a person is peace.

The chronicler respects the heroic deed of the youth, who was able to pass through the enemy camp and cross the Dnieper under arrows, understands Pretich’s forced cunning and does not approve of Svyatoslav. This disapproval is expressed in the words of the Kievites: “You, prince, are looking for a foreign land and taking care of it, and have left your own.” Trouble and famine might not have happened if Svyatoslav had not been in Pereyaslavets on the Danube, but in his native land.

The Tale of Bygone Years also includes other folk legends, the main characters of which are ordinary Russian people who perform feats and risk their own lives to save their Motherland.

The story of the heroic deed of a Kievite youth is an example of courage and dedication shown for the sake of saving his native land.