False epics

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-01-10 19:46

“The other day I went into a bookstore and saw the book“Epics”. Small, with good color illustrations, inexpensive, and, most importantly, with not very long texts, it is just convenient for babies to read before bedtime. I thought: “How good, I will introduce the children to Russian heroes. Their glorious exploits are a worthy example to follow. But the very first epic read aloud plunged me into extreme bewilderment. Is it really just such stories in my childhood that taught valor and readiness to defend the Motherland, not sparing my belly?

I was not lazy and found a book from my childhood. Yes, black and white, by modern standards, a completely nondescript book. I read the same epic in the old version and completely calmed down. With each line I read, I became more and more immersed in the world of heroic deeds of the heroes.

Now you often hear about rewriting history, but I was faced with rewriting epics. The introduction to the old edition tells how the heroes guarded the Russian land, defended against the enemies with whom they fought if they invaded our territory. Each epic was a living example of this heroic service. In the acquired new edition of epic heroes, they are only interested in commodity-money relations, the apotheosis of which is the seizure of someone else's palace for personal use. And so that there is no doubt that there is nothing particularly heroic in the Russian heroes, a final chapter appears with an explanation of how they ended their lives: “Fear took the heroes … they rushed to flee from the enemy …” and turned to stone. Since when have heroes turned into cowards? - since 2014, with the light hand of the EKSMO publishing house.

Together with "EKSMO" Volga made a career - from bogatyrs to foreign tsars he got out. And thanks to what? Thanks to a well-defined goal, "I went … to get myself fame and fortune"! In the old version, everything is different: at the age of 5 he gave up games and sat down to books, and at 15 he said: "It's time to serve his native land." The new Svyatogor solves his problems with the help of a wallet, and gets rid of his betrothed altogether in a cardinal way: “… but I will kill my betrothed; then there will be no need to marry. " Danube Ivanovich, getting a bride for the prince in a foreign kingdom "… took with him both the servants of the royal, and the gold treasury" - also the guy was not a miss. Envying his wife that she shoots better, the hero "… shot an arrow to Nastasya right into the crown of the head," and then stabbed himself to death. Ilya Muromets, rotating the Idolische by the legs, beating the Tatars with it, says: "This is a weapon for me: a Tatar is strong, does not break, does not break." As a reward, the prince gave him silver and pearls, and Ilya exclaims in response: "I earned it all!" Dobrynya and Alyosha are also not lagging behind - either they fight with women, or they shake with fear.

Remember, Pushkin ends the tale of the Golden Cockerel with the words: “The tale is a lie, but there is a hint in it! A lesson for good fellows. " So, in the Old Russian language, the words "lie" and "bed" carried some common understanding - the surface, that is. a lie is something on the surface. Therefore, fairy tales have always implied a hidden meaning, a lesson.

But the epic - from the word "true", "old". Real events are behind these works. A good fellow is a person who distinguishes between the concepts of good and evil. Behind some fabulousness and unreality of epic stories was the most important task - to teach love for the Motherland, work for it by the sweat of your brow and, if necessary, be ready to defend it. Epic stories have always awakened in people pride in the wealth, power and beauty of their native land. Young men were inspired by examples of heroic behavior of heroes and set moral goals for themselves: serving people and the state.

Rewriting epics and reducing them to a consumer level and selfish needs destroy the connection with the folk wisdom that has been hard-won for centuries, make a person shallow and superficial, deceitful, unreliable. Reading today's statements of disfigured epics to children, what result can be expected? Of course, from one story - none. But a systematic approach - modern epics, cartoons, rewritten history - are capable of corrupting our youth, instilling in them false ideas about morality and duty, and thereby deprive Russia of protection, deprive all of us of the future.

Dear parents, freedom of speech and press has shifted all responsibility for the upbringing of your children onto your shoulders. The choice is for each of us."