For centuries, folk tales have been passed from mouth to mouth. They were retold many times, later they corresponded and retold again. So they have survived to this day. Very few of them have survived in their original form. After all, any collector of folklore has heard and recorded the same tale many times, only in different settlements it was retold in different ways.
Alexey Tolstoy, for example, recorded many fairy tales that have survived to this day in his processing. He said that in order to "put together" and process just one fairy tale, he often had to rely on a couple of dozen records from the words of completely different folk storytellers.
One thing is certain: there were not so many science fiction writers (storytellers) in ancient times. And this may mean that the events described in fairy tales and epics, as well as places, could exist in real life. I tried to conduct my own little investigation and find out if that ominous Kalinov bridge ever existed on the equally ominous river Smorodina? What did these names mean, where could they be? And that's what I got out of it.
“The brothers spent the night with the old woman, got up early in the morning and set off again on the road.
They drive up to the river Smorodina itself, to the Kalinovy bridge. All along the shore lie swords and broken bows, human bones lie … "(Russian folk tale" Ivan the Peasant Son and the Wonder Yudo ")
The very name "Kalinov" comes from the word "viburnum". But the bridge has nothing to do with the shrub of the same name or its color. Kalina - from the word "heat", "incandescent", that is, we can assume that the bridge was either fiery (burning), or red-hot. In this case, it is difficult to understand what it was built from. In popular conspiracies, the phrase "a fiery river flows, and there is a copper bridge across the fiery river." (Copper - red again?)
In Russian epics, the Kalinov bridge often became the site of the battle between Good and Evil. In mythology, however, it is interpreted as a transition, a border between good and evil, life (reality) and death (navu). It was also believed that the bridge served for the transition of souls from "this" to "that" world. And there is no time to think, standing in the middle of the bridge, you need to make a choice, usually predetermined by the entire previous life of the character.
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“The horse is running, only the earth is trembling, the fossil is flying from under the feet of the hay, smoke is pouring from the ears and nostrils. Miracle Yudo got on it and rode to the Kalinovy Bridge; the horse stumbles under him. " (Russian folk tale "The Tempest-Bogatyr Ivan the Cow Son")
One of the versions about the origin of the Kalinov Bridge suggested that it was built at the right time and of the right width. Koschey the Immortal did it with his magic towel. Koschey could well have something to do with the Kalinov bridge, especially if you consider that at that time a certain Morana was among his wives. She is found not only under this name, but also as Mara or Morena. Morana is the Goddess of Winter and Death, a rather formidable and powerful deity. And isn't it her handiwork - that very fiery river Smorodin?
The currant is just as irrelevant to the flora as the bridge. According to the Old Slavic dialect, this word comes from such words as "pestilence", "currant", "death", "darkness", "haze", "darkness". Morana can also be included here.
The possessions of Morana, according to ancient legends, lie behind the black river-Currant, separating reality and nav, across which the Kalinov bridge is thrown, guarded by the Three-headed Serpent. Her symbols are called the Black Moon, piles of broken skulls and the sickle with which she cuts the Threads of Life. According to ancient legends, one of her favorite activities was watching the Sun and trying to lime it. But every morning Morana retreated, unable to resist the power and indescribable beauty of the Luminary.
It is believed that the Smorodina River was fiery. In some tales, legends and conspiracies it was called so - "fiery" or "resinous". "It is not the water in the river that runs, but the fire burns, above the forest the flame blazes." In the epics, Currant was also mentioned as the Puchai River. In this case, from the word "swell", "swell", which could well have happened in a fiery, burning river. In that case, from what could she burn?
There are several assumptions about this. According to one of them, Currant could serve as a real border between two enemies and was specially set on fire by the guards. As you know, the burning resin remains afloat, gives a good flame and swells and boils when burning.
According to another version, the burning river could ignite due to the accumulation of combustible gases in its upper reaches. When degassing downstream, it could spontaneously ignite when exposed to warm temperatures, for example.
Similar cases are known for certain in history. Pliny the Elder wrote that the Terek in the upper reaches was a stinking river (hydrogen sulfide). Some fairy tales lead us to the Kalinov Bridge and mention the Black Sea.
“Soon the tale will tell itself, but it will not be done soon; walked, walked and caught up with the brothers near the Black Sea at the Kalinovy Bridge; there is a pillar near that bridge, on the pillar it is written that three snakes are going out here. " (Russian folk tale "The Tempest-Bogatyr Ivan the Cow Son")
Modern scientists also do not exclude that the Black Sea may well burn, provided that a water column saturated with hydrogen sulfide emerges on its surface. Now it is located at a depth of only about two hundred meters.
It is difficult to say now what is true and what is fiction. Of course, this material does not pretend to be some kind of originality and one hundred percent accuracy. But still … Still, I managed to satisfy my curiosity, and share with you, dear readers, a little what I have learned. And now, armed with a guide to the Elbrus region, found in the vastness of the Seti, I want to invite you to the real Kalinov Bridge over the real Currant River.
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At the foot of Elbrus, according to legend, there was a paradise - Iriy, which, in the traditions of Vedism, was separated from Yavi, the bright world, by the fiery river Currant (from smag - fire, flame). The source of the Malka (left tributary of the Terek) is the Kyzylsu river (red river) - this is the Smorodina river.
As you know from epics and fairy tales, there should be a Kalinov bridge on the Smorodin River, along which all sorts of fire-breathing, many-headed evil spirits penetrated from Navi (from the other world) into Reality, and back - from Revelation to Nav - the souls of the dead, as well as heroes and demigods for clarification of relations with the inhabitants of the underworld.
Kalinov Bridge really exists
In the place where the Kyzylsu breaks through the frozen lava flow and falls into the valley with the Sultan waterfall, in a narrow gorge there is a stone plug, along which you can go from coast to coast.
Near the emerald pastures of Irakhityuz and Irakhitsyrt there are gloomy fields of black and reddish lava, where there is no vegetation and even the most ordinary sand is not yellow, but black! The analogy with Navu, where paradise Iriy and hell are located - the Pekal kingdom, is very close. Near the bridge is the Sultan waterfall, and behind it is a steeply dipping valley, the bottom of which is not visible. In the canyon stands the severed head of the Kalinov bridge guard - Churila Dyevich, with whom heroes and demigods fought.
At the entrance to the Kalinov Bridge from the left bank, there is a bizarre remnant that resembles either a dragon or a snake. The same is at the entrance to the canyon on the other side.
Let's stand a little on the Kalinov Bridge. Let's take a look along the border. Indeed, on the one hand, our past. On the other hand, the future. And only the present stretches between. And it's up to us to decide whether to take a step to the left or to the right.
Although, everything is already a foregone conclusion …
Vladimir Mao
