Original subtitles

The Oleksandr Dovzhenko Kyiv Film studio

Creative Union "Vremya"

THE LEGEND OF PRINCESS OLHA

Liudmyla Yefimenko as Princess Olha

Les Serdiuk - Prince Sviatoslav

Vania Ivanov - Prince Volodymyr in youth

Kostiantyn Stepankov - Voivode Sveneld

Volodymyr the Fair Sun - Ivan Mykolaichuk

Rus - Ivan Havryliuk

Arefa the Greek - Dmytro Myrhorodskyi

Oleh the Prophet - Mykola Olialin

Housekeeper Malusha - Svitlana Romashko

Herald Vivera - Heorhii Moroziuk

Prince Ihor - Oleksandr Denysenko

Prince Mal - Viktor Demertash

"Tree Cloud" man - Yurii Dubrovin

Dumb groom - Mykhailo Holubovych Ilm the Sorcerer - Leonid Obolenskiy

Bard warrior - Oleksandr Zahrebelnyi Novhorod Voivode - Ivan Savkin

Prince Sviatoslav in childhood - Philip Illienko

Also: N. Voronenko, V. Panchenko,

O. Parkhomenko, N. Hura, Ye. Kovalenko,

A. Kolisnyk, I. Marchuk, V. Mikheiev, K. Stepankov, A. Nestor,

A. Velykodnyi, A. Konytskyi, O. Stasiuk, Svieta Alieksandrova,

V. Lytvak, B. Maliarevych, Yu. Mysenkov, Yu. Rybalchenko, I. Shkurin, V. Komarov,

Pantomime group "Mimikrichi" under the direction of V. Kriukov

In 1015 in the capital city of Kyiv

Prince Volodymyr, or as the people named him, The Fair Sun,

the one who had Christianized Rus, was dying.

What else does she want from me?

Bring my

horse to me.

I want

to say goodbye to it.

This is not that horse.

But this is your horse, Prince.

This is not my horse.

My horse was white.

But Prince,

you have had many horses during your life.

- They were white, black, dun... - White, black, bloody... bloody.

But that one was white,

white like a cloud.

And his name was Cloud too.

Dumb

groom, a friend of mine,

his call...

I remember...

I remember,

Cloud...

I remember

every single hair on his mane,

I remember. This is what he wants from me,

Cloud,

my friend,

Cloud,

Cloud...

Hey, dumb! Why do you pamper a serf?!

He'll never ride the horse like this! He's a slave,

the son of a slave, a housekeeper!

Get off!

Cloud is the Princess' horse!

Or d'you want a whipping?

Remember, you dog,

I am the son of a housekeeper

and a Prince!

Horse, catch the horse!

Even now, on my deathbed I fear

to recall that moment.

How could I utter that?

Why did I tell Vivera,

the son of a prince?

Mother begged me to be silent forever.

Prince's son...

Shall I live until morning?

I should have been flogged to death in the stables.

Oh, yes...

two elder brothers, two lawful heirs,

lawful heirs of Kyiv throne...

and I, son of a slave.

Hard...

Hard was the temper of Prince Sviatoslav.

He doesn't like anything like this.

His court is full of my kind.

And Vivera will not miss his chance.

You say...

you are my son?

Do you know me? - Everyone knows you.

You are Sviatoslav, the Prince. Son of Princess Olha.

They say you can read Greek books?

Yes, a monk taught me. Arefa the Greek,

who came with the Princess from Constantinople.

You read our language in Russian? - I can.

Our language in Slavonic too? - Yes, I can.

Also taught by the Greek? - No, by the Bulgarian. Blind Vasyl,

you know him. Sveneld blinded him, so he couldn't run off. The singer.

What else are you trained in? - I like horses.

Everyone likes horses. - I can fire arrows.

What about a knife?

Vivera! Even the Prince's cocks can lay eggs!

This horse... do you know it?

Yes. It's Cloud, the horse of Princess Olha.

The Princess has died tonight.

The horse should be buried with her by tradition.

But Greek priests and monks

have enchanted my mother with their Christ!

She ordered to be buried by the new, Christian practice.

Oh, mother!

Never mind, we will bury her the way she wished.

So

take this horse! Take it!

I'm sorry for the Princess.

Don't ever cry.

Warriors do not cry.

For you to become a warrior

Sveneld will take you into the forest depths for a year.

If you survive, you will become a warrior

and come with me to the steppe in Summer.

Go, Vlodymyr!

Tell everyone, that this horse is your father's gift.

But...

Who has revealed to you that you are my son?

Princess Olha. She is kind.

Kind?

- Kind? - Was kind.

Kind to you...

Though not yet taken to the forest, ride.

Tell your monk, to conduct the Princess' burial as it should be.

And say the Prince ordered him

to describe the life of his mother, Princess Olha,

by the example of Greek Caesars and Emperors,

in Greek and in Russian languages.

Go!

A boy, I was carried by the white atlas horse,

like the feather of a dove,

over Kyiv hills, ravines and forests

to Berestov and further,

where all days and nights, long prayed

with priest Arefa the Greek, who would be the first to write

by the Prince's order the truth and lies

about the first Russian Princess.

Those after him will rewrite,

revise, distort.

Here!

Take the axe.

Take it.

This knife.

Salt.

I will come for you in a year.

I couldn't understand then what it was. Punishment, happiness?

What do they want from me? That I survive?

But I already knew I would survive. No, mere survival is not enough.

The birds and animals survive or die, the trees live.

It is not enough, to survive.

What had I, a human, to understand

among the living and dying birds, animals and trees?

A human, separated from people.

My connection with them?

The price of human friendship, the price of mother's caress?

The meaning of good and violence?

My destination in this world?

Was the child's mind capable of that?

Now...

The old man, I answer myself.

It was.

Because there is an old man's wisdom, tired and bitter,

and the wisdom of a child, clear and merciless to himself

and everybody around: people, birds, trees.

And I had to understand who I am in this world

and for why!

Cloud!

Why did you come here?! You spoiled everything, just one month left!

Who's going to kill me? Why?

How could you! Only a month! You fool!

Hey! Greek! Arefa!

Don't go anywhere! And don't trust your mother.

She was intimidated. Don't go anywhere, you'll spoil everything.

How did you find me?

I followed the dumb one. I knew your mother would send him after you.

Why?

They'll come after you, the Prince will send after you before the term.

Don't hide from your destiny.

Be careful. - I don't understand you.

What is it?

There

I've come after you before the term, the Prince summons.

You've come at the wrong time, Volodymyr.

The Prince is having a revel with the Novhorodians for three days already.

They ask the Prince for his son to accede to the Novhorodk throne.

But Yaropolk and Oleh don't want to go to Novhorod.

And you, Volodymyr, they don't even want to see you.

"Why do we need a housekeeper's son?"

Where's Sveneld? - Inside! If he orders, I'll let you in.

Why hang around the porch? Go to the guards.

I'll call you in case of anything.

There's plenty of leftovers from the Prince's table there.

What are you doing here, Arefa?

I've stood here a month already.

Here, I've written.

In the times of Princess Olha they used to let me in.

Your father seems to be occupied.

Halt!

I don't like to sit in Kyiv.

I want to go to Pereiaslavets, on the Danube.

There's the centre of my land.

There's everything - gold, cloth, wines from the Greek land,

from Hungary - horses and silver, from Rus - fur, honey, wax, fish...

Fish.

I'd love to be there,

I'll turn sour here

as... as a forgotten trough.

What if, Volodymyr...

I let Yaropolk have Kyiv...

and give Derevliany to Oleh.

And go to Novhorod with you?

if they don't like you, they'll like you with my sword.

But you're too young for these kind of affairs.

Too young!

What have you brought me here?

Can this tell about your grandmother the Princess? - Should I read?

Read!

"And Olha died. And her son, her grandchildren

and all the people mourned her

and they took her and buried her in an open place.

Olha's will was not to have a funeral feast in her memory,

as she had a priest by her side.

So he buried blissful Olha.

She was a nunciate of the Christian land

as is Lucifer before the Sun..." - Lucifer!

"...as a dawn before the daylight.

She was indeed shining as the Moon in the night.

And she was gleaming among the pagans,

as a pearl in the mud,

because the pagans are contaminated with sin,

and aren't washed by holy baptism." - Stop!

Enough.

Bring Arefa here!

Enough, I said.

I heard such things from my mother.

She taught me to take baptism. She told me:

"My son, I've known God and I'm happy.

If you shall know him, you shall be happy too..."

And my retinue will make fun of me?!

No. Let this be spoken

of my mother, Princess Olha,

but not of her crucified god.

"The deeds of reprobates are far from sense."

Enough!

Now you read.

But read about life.

"After Oleh's death Ihor became the Prince.

His wife was Olha from Pskov.

And the Derevtiany shut themselves off from Ihor after Oleh's death.

And Ihor attacked the Derevliany and defeated them.

and laid a tribute on them, greater than Oleh's."

Yes, it's true. Now the letters tell the truth.

And Autumn arrived many years later. And the retinue said to Ihor:

Sveneld's warriors are adorned with arms and fine raiment, but we are naked.

Go with us, Prince, after tribute; you'll get it for yourself and us."

And Ihor took the advice, attacking Derevliany in search of tribute

and demanded additional tribute,

collecting it by violence from the people. Then he went back to his city.

But when he was returning, after thinking, he said to his retinue:

"You go home with the tribute, and I shall turn back to collect more".

He let his retinue go home. And went back with a few of his vassals,

being desirous of bigger fortune.

Wait, Arefa!

Shall it...

Say so forever?

Or will it say otherwise tomorrow?

Yes, Prince, the same forever.

Brave... letters...

hold to their ground always.

But man is different.

Today it's useful for him to say one thing...

a year later another.

Brave symbols.

Continue reading!

"But Derevliany, having heard about Ihor's return,

decided with their Prince Mal that way:

"A wolf coming among sheep, will take the whole flock one by one,

Unless he be killed. Such is this one."

And he left the city of Iskorosten, surrounded and killed Ihor

and his small retinue.

And Olha was in Kyiv with her son, the boy Sviatoslav.

And the Derevliany sent their best men, nine in number...

It's true!

I remember,

I was little, but still remember!

They came in a boat,

moored under the Borychev descent!

Come on,

continue!

Read it!

And Olha was told that the Derevliany had arrived.

And Olha summoned them to her presence.

We've arrived, Princess.

Tell, what is the reason of your coming?

The land of the Derevliany has sent us with these words:

"We have killed...

your husband.

Because your husband, like a wolf, was stealing and robbing.

And our Prince is good..."

Yes, yes.

"Come and marry our Prince.

Prince Mal..." It's his name, Mal...

...of our Prince of Derevfiany.

Your proposal is pleasant to me.

My husband cannot rise again from the dead.

But I desire to honour you tomorrow in the presence of my people.

Return now to your boat,

and remain there proudly.

I shall send for you in the morning.

And you should say:

"We will not ride on horses

nor go by foot,

but carry us in our boat...

Mommy, mommy, I want you.

These stories made my blood freeze in my veins.

I thought I wasn't only seeing it all with my own eyes as if it was real,

but being there, among them.

As if somebody led me by the hand and said:

Come on, try this life on you

as one tries on a shirt with room for growth.

People!

You are summoned by Olha

for a great honour.

We will not ride on horseback nor in wagons,

nor go by foot;

but carry us in our boat.

We have no choice. Our Prince is killed,

and our Princess Olha

wants marry your Prince.

Does this honour suit you?

Cover them over with earth and rake this place.

Sveneld...

take a small retinue,

go to the Derevliany and pass on my words:

"If you really ask for me, send me your best men,

so I may go to your Prince with great honour.

Otherwise the people in Kyiv

will not let me go...

No!

It's not true!

It never happened.

I couldn't forget anything like that.

You lie, monk!

"Walkers in darkness, not knowing the glory of God, cannot understand.

Their hearts have become hard. Ears barely hear, nor eyes see."

Should I read? - Read,

But beware!

If a single word

If a single untrue word be uttered...

"I called you and you obeyed not..." - From the book!

Read!

"And the Derevliany had arrived.

Good guests have come!

Dear guests.

It's not proper to sit at the royal table right after the journey.

I've heated a bathhouse for you,

chopped the wood, brought the water,

cut the bathing wisp as far back as in spring, all by myself.

In fact, that I had done for my husband, the Prince, for Ihor.

Nevermind, it's all for good

you'll steam, lash yourselves with the palatine broom...

After you've washed yourselves, come to me.

Fire!!!

Son

Sviatoslav! Dear! Where?!

Enough!

No more.

Why are provoking the God's wrath, monk?

Why do you cast aspersions

on my mother?

Hasn't she welcomed you to this foreign land?

So this is your Christian faith?

This is your gratitude?

Step outside, Volodymyr! I must talk with this monk.

No, I won't go.

She is my grandmother. I must know the truth.

All right...

The Novhorodians will love you. Oh, they will love you;

even without my sword.

So,

what else is written there?

And she sent to the Derevliany the following message:

"I now come to you.

Prepare great quantities of mead near the city where my husband was killed,

that I may weep on his grave and hold a funeral feast for him."

She arrived at her husband's grave and wept for him.

And she bade her men raise a great grave,

and when they had raised it up, she ordered to hold a funeral feast.

After that the Derevliany sat down to drink.

With the Derevliany drunk,

she went away and ordered her retinue to slash the Derevliany.

So they slaughtered five thousand of them".

And one more thing.

One more terrible deed of the Princess is described here.

Having taken tribute from Iskorosten, with pigeons and sparrows from each house,

she tied to each bird's leg burning tinder and sent them to the city.

The birds returned under their roofs and burnt the city to the ground,

for its inhabitants had slain Ihor.

It was impossible to save, as all burnt at once:

dovecotes, coops, haymows, houses...

and baths.

Many...

lies were made by your hand, monk.

But why?

What wrong did the Princess do you?

Answer!

Because everything is false.

And I'm the witness hereto.

You are a witness to what your blind eyes observed.

As you weren't enlightened by the spirit of God.

A pagan's soul is blind.

When you, the blind witness, and I, the sinful monk, shall die,

these writings shall remain for the people.

The truth, which was inspired to me from heaven, the truth,

about a dark and spiteful pagan,

who was blessed by the divine grace

and alienated from sin.

She was baptized by Emperor Constantine and the patriarch in the Greek land.

And, having been enlightened, she rejoiced with her soul and body.

And the patriarch edified her in her faith, and told her:

"Blessed you are

among the women of Rus,

as you began to love the light and left the darkness.

You will be blessed by your Russian descendants

in succeeding generations of your grandchildren..."

So that's how you talk now, monk.

I understand.

Of course,

what is the sense in becoming a good Christian after being a good pagan?!

But to become a saint after being a pagan wallowed in blood,

one needs a great god.

This is way too hard for both Perun and Stryboh too,

for all of them.

But you are wrong, monk.

Not a single letter shall remain after you and your celestial truth.

I'll burn it now.

By the right of Prince and son.

Hey! Who's behind the door?

Make a fire near the porch! Now!

Saddle the horses!

Sveneld! Volodymyr! Small retinue!

We are going to Novhorod...

to enthrone a Prince.

Only the weak ones can burn the truth. Weak you are, Prince...

without the Christian faith.

I am weak?

No, monk.

It wasn't you Christians who built cities and roads in our native Slavonic land!

We, pagan Slavs did it,

made paths and roads between them.

And mighty Kyiv

we have built on our own!

Have you counted our cities, you Byzantine spy? Oh, you haven't?

Go ask a horse, ask Cloud.

He'll tell you how he carried the Princess

from city to city, from village to village,

how she organised the land of Rus. How she imposed a tribute

and law on forty Slavonic cities.

The pagan Olha,

not a Christian yet!

And did you know, monk,

it's been 105 years since the treaty of peace and love made with Constantinople

and the Greeks pay us tribute?

Did you know

that Pagan Slavs have a treaty of peace and love not only with Byzantium,

but also with Khazaria, the Bulgarians, Hungarians, Vikings, the Pechenihy.

And do you know

that Princess Olha made peace with the Germans, with Otto.

Moreover, it was not done by order of a Prince or a Princess,

but of a growing, as a young hero,

Rus.

The whole world is aware, as you aren't aware

that my pagan sword extended the borders of my land

from the Khazar's White Tower on the Volga

to the Balkan land on the Danube,

Alans and Circassians, over the Caspian Sea, to the very Caucasian mountains,

through Azov Tmutarakah over the Black Sea, which you, Greeks,

call Russian?

I tore apart

the ring of my enemies on trade routes from East to West. And I will continue

what was started by my ancestors, Oleh, Ihor, Olha!

Go away, monk,

Because you are right,

I'm weak.

I can punish you by death for your lies.

Unsaddle the horses!

It is no good to begin a great deed in wrath.

Go have a sleep, sonny.

They'll write about you too, Prince.

They'll write the following:

"And Prince Sviatoslav grew into a man,

gained in strength

and gathered many brave warriors.

And went to war easily like a cheetah,

and fought much.

And he took in campaign neither carts, nor cauldrons,

and didn't boil meat, but only, having chopped off some horse-meat

or animal meat or beef, and having fried it, ate like that.

He did not hide in a tent at night,

but slept, having laid a saddle cloth under his head.

He did not attack the enemy unexpectedly,

but always sent message: "I Attack you!"

Are you going to become a monk in your old age, Sveneld?

You were born

under a lucky star, Prince.

Has everyone heard?

I slept not knowing my horse was saddled,

and a friend betrayed me,

and my mother replaced my fate, having not asked me,

thinking that mother's love knew better.

Arefa also thought he understood the Princess by right of common faith,

only him.

I didn't trust Arefa

and swore not to die until I could understand completely the secret

of the Princess' deeds, of my grandmother,

until the core would unveil.

She couldn't act like that just to revenge her husband.

There was something else, that mother didn't tell,

and the Greek concealed on purpose.

What led her through her life? What?

- Mom? - I'm afraid for you, dear.

They're going to kill you, let's run!

- But mom, who, why? - Let's run to Liubech, I've a man I can trust there.

We'll vanish, disappear. Beware of the Prince's favours.

You're no match for them, the son of a slave. Your brothers won't forgive.

Let's run.

Why did you give birth to me, if you stole my fate?

Why was I born? Why did I run away with you?

Well, Princes don't love housekeepers for nothing.

Oh, Malusha! If only you hadn't played with the Prince, caressed his fair curls,

kissed his brave eyes,

you shouldn't have to race horses

from uncertainty to uncertainty to save your child in this thievish night.

Dear, Cloud has to be killed!

Never! Why?

They will find you by the horse.

Such a horse can't be hidden anywhere in the whole world.

And if you drive him away he'll find you and bring the killers with him.

Now he's your enemy. - Then kill me with him!

That's why Dumb kissed Cloud! Bastard! It wasn't good-bye! He knew everything.

Traitor! - He knew, but he's not a traitor.

It's just we both love you. - I don't need that kind of love!

I'll die with the horse!

But before I die tell me the truth about my grandmother. - The Princess?

Why must you know the truth about the her?

She's my grandmother. And I can't die hating her.

Hating?

- Who slandered her? - Tell!

All right. Calm down,

I'll tell.

She had no secrets from me. Let's move.

No. I won't make a step until I know the truth. - Dismount.

let the horses rest, the road is far.

All right, stay in the saddle. Listen.

That was long ago. Neither you, nor I were yet born.

It was night. Kupala night.

The Slavs make bonfires by the Ilmen lake.

The Kryvychi make them by Dvina and Volga the Girl,

the Drehovychi make them by Prypiat,

the Radymychi, by the banks of Sozha,

the Viatychi - along Oka, the Seveiany - by Desna and Saim

and Derevliany - along Prypiat, the Buzhany - along the Buh-river,

the Tivertsi and Uhlychi - along Dniester and Prut

unto the very sea,

the White Croats under the very Carpathian mountains

and the Poliany under Kyiv, by the mighty, bottomless Dnipro,

and by a small river called Great,

which flows in the Pskov land.

Kupala night was burning with flames.

And above that river

Olha,

young Olha,

was with her beloved one,

who was called

Rus.

Is it true, Rus, that on Kupala night

the trees walk around the forest and make love with each other,

and comb each other's green curls?

True.

I'm a maple...

and you a birch.

Is it true that tonight Yarylo turns into a cuckoo?

True. And one has to ask him, how many years you will live.

And if this night one hangs a stitched ritual towel on a tree,

will it be used as a shirt by a mermaid?

True.

Is it true that I love you?

True!

Is it true that the child has to be called life baby?

True. True, true.

Is it true that he will look...

like you?

Not true,

he will look

like you.

Since, on each Kupala night until her death

the Princess locked herself in a bathhouse, crying till morning.

She wasn't royalty? - No.

She was kidnapped by Prince Mal. To show his commitment to Ihor.

He gave the girl as a gift, to offer in sacrifice. To not give his own.

Even Oleh the Prophet didn't dare campaign or battle

without Perun's permission.

Death cup!

Death cup!

Death cup!

Stop, old woman!

Miracle

Miracle. - Perun accepts the pleading

Perun accepts the pleading of the God of Love Lado.

And grants his bride... To Prince Ihor.

Praise! - Praise.

Praise to the almighty...

To almighty god Perun!

And luck will be with you during the campaign.

And after the campaign the wedding feast will take place.

End of part one

Part two

They left for the campaign from the pagan temple. Ihor ordered

to guard Olha better than the apple of one's eye.

Son, I can see you're already not a boy, but a man.

I'll tell you this too.

Nobody in the world should know this. Just you, me and our horses.

She ran away. Decided to die. Couldn't live without her beloved, but before...

I know you're almighty.

And the faith in you has no limits.

The fear of you lives in every living human heart...

in the timid heart of a serf and the stone heart of a Prince.

But I'm not afraid of you.

I know who's taken my love from me.

I did not forget your fire.

I came here for revenge!

I'll chop your moustache off, you idol.

Come on!

Kill!

Silent?

Well then I'll kill myself.

I've decided...

You?

You were killed...

I saw.

You were burnt!

These are

your ashes!

Heart...

Alive!

Alive...

Let him go!

Or did you forget Ihor's order?

Then I'll remind you -

it will cost you your heads, if you let the girl flee.

And you did let her.

And now go.

You're my one and only from now on.

Today I decided to die, but now I'll live.

You'll go, but the pawn of our love will stay with me! Live and remember me.

And I'll be with you forever.

We're being separated by a force, which is the strongest on Earth.

The will of the Prince of Rus.

But even a Prince can't force me to fall in love with him!

I love just you for all my life!

Good-bye!

I'll run away to you anyway.

That's...

That's... that's not true!

Do you understand everything, you watchdogs?

Do you understand that you must be silent until you die?

Otherwise death will come without invitation,

for one and all,

For me and you together.

Take me to the tower, dogs!

But she didn't manage to run away.

After that night she's watched day and night...

until the very wedding.

I wasn't at the wedding, I hadn't been born yet,

but I was told so much about it,

that I started to have dreams,

to have nightmares.

Forge us, forge,

Svaroh, a wedding!

That will be strong,

That will be long!

Forge us, forge,

Svaroh, a wedding!

That can't be

That can't be dried up by the sun! That can't be washed off by the rain!

Forge us, forge,

Svaroh, a wedding!

That can't be

That can't be blown off by the wind! That won't be aspersed by the people.

Forge us, forge,

Svaroh, a marriage!

That will be strong, That will be long!

That can't be dried up by the sun! That can't be washed off by the rain!

That can't be blown off by the wind! That won't be aspersed by the people

Who can wrest down the bear?!

Who? Who can?

Me!

Death cup! - Death cup,

Prince, allow me

to dance with the bride,

by our tradition.

Bitter!

Bitter...

Mother, I'm going to be a Prince of Kyiv, later.

I'm not going to hide in Liubech. I'll return to father.

And don't try to catch me up, mom. No one can catch Cloud. Good-bye!

Bitter...

And since then it's become a tradition in Rus to shout "bitter" at weddings...

I no longer trusted my mother's stories, nor those of Arefa the Greek.

No, mother!

Memory is a judge,

it's a conscience.

Memory is a measure of being.

Bring me wine!

Those who...

have got no memory...

are dead.

These memories won't...

let me die.

The memories won't let me die.

What?

Who,

who rolled up the sky?!

Early, bitches!

Hey, who's there?!

Un... unroll the sky!

Christ, tell him to unroll the sky.

I want to see,

I want to see,

I want to see

how my star

was rising.

Take this little bastard to the Ohnishan bathhouse!

The horse - to a hollow

and put it under the axe,

it's too distinguished.

And bury it. Fast!

Come on! Go!

Will he tell you where he ran to? - He'll tell me.

It's forbidden to torture with fire. - Why fire?

Put a bit between his teeth, hang him by the hands to make him talk.

Beat him where? - Not on the body,

but the wall opposite the heart. He'll start talking.

We must beware of Malusha. Malusha can warn the Prince.

Malusha is far away.

They wrapped you round their finger, Volodymyr! - Who?

Your elder brothers, of course...

How do you know? - I'm a sorcerer, a wizard, Ilm my name.

How did they do that?

They scared Malusha, sent a mean man Vivera to her,

told that they would kill you tonight. So she would startle and run.

And that's what they wanted. That's why you were let out of the city.

And they reported to the Prince that you desire the Kyiv throne

and ran for help.

Bad enough, brother, bad enough.

Now you'll never prove you're right. Did you hear about the bar bit?

They were talking loud on purpose.

Knew you could hear, to frighten you.

Why were you brought here?

I came here myself.

I knew they would take you here.

Since that night I've been waiting.

I'm a sorcerer, Ilm knows everything.

Everybody tries to avoid

this bathhouse.

Well, let's heat the bath. - Why?

I'll wash before death, and bewitch you against death.

Ilm, how did you do that?

I'm Ilm,

this is Ilm too, it's also catted elm.

The hottest wood for a bath.

Birch doesn't produce such heat.

Undress, son, undress.

But the water is cold.

Ilm, why did you come here? - Don't you know?

Don't you want to know everything about your grandmother, the old Princess?

She used to summon me. I interpreted her dreams.

Olha didn't avoid common people. If they had a sharp mind or generous heart,

or hands eager to work.

She knew them all by name in her land and granted them her favours.

And I will lash you with the broom,

beat out the folly, let out the spite, take away the guile,

lace down the treachery, drive away the betrayal.

Your grandma, the Princess, came to me once

and told me a prophetic dream.

She was bathing her son. She told and whispered him right words.

Prince, do not love yourself, but do love your children.

from the last serf to your own mother!

Now get some broom! Get some, naked one.

That's your friend come, Cloud the horse.

To save you. Your friend brought the Prince.

Where is he?

Who is here?

Good bathing to you!

Who... bathed you like that?

He didn't solve my dream. - Dreams are solved by life.

Bring Vivera the herald! I'll strangle him with my own hands!

Life solves dreams.

Life.

Here, the Prince slept here.

It's time. Father, wait.

Time to go to Novhorod, the horses are already saddled.

Be careful, son...

Prince.

Vivera fled, be careful.

I will.

But I've got one more thing to do in Kyiv.

I have to see one bastard,

The dumb groom. - Why?

The bastard knew that Cloud was to be killed and consented.

Don't you... know?

He was the best friend.

Dumb has hanged himself.

He did it in Cloud's stable.

We wait for your word

and don't take him out of the loop. What's the order, Prince?

Sveneld,

My father Sviatoslav, whose son is he?

Olha's.

And who's his father?

You want to die before the time comes? - With you.

- I'm a hundred years old already. - One such night replaces a hundred.

So we will die together.

His father was killed by a bear. - You're wrong.

Don't get excited. - You told me

I was born under a lucky star.

And who told you, Olha? - The Princess' horse Cloud.

Then go talk with the horse, you fool.

What to do with Dumb? He's still hanging.

Cry, warrior, cry.

All warriors cry

when a friend dies.

When a beloved one leaves, when injured in the stomach,

when a cuckoo lies,

when mothers die.

All the warriors cry when there's no truth on Earth,

when a boy first gets to know the debility,

when you want to live,

when the winter ends,

and you have to die.

All warriors cry,

and you cry, warrior...

Cry.

What to do with Dumb?

Dumb was Christian, along with Olha.

A... A... Arefa has to be summoned. - No, not Arefa.

We don't need the Greeks. They hinder life, confuse everything.

And do you know, Prince,

who brought a baby horse Cloud to Kyiv?

You don't. Dumb.

He was dying of hunger himself when found under Kyiv.

And the baby horse had

a sack of oats on his back

Dumb was feeding it.

Where did he come from? Nobody knows.

How was he attached to the Princess? Nobody knows. Where was he from?

As if he fell from heaven... from a cloud.

So the horse got its name, Cloud. It was as light as a little cloud.

Well, now we'll make a funeral feast,

and the horse...

with Dumb...

No! Sveneld, no!

It's so easy for you, old men. A horse man died, killed.

Can you like Cloud, talk with your skin; talk with your eyes?

Know in advance where to step?!

run and die running? Having not received a hryvnia for that?

Can you be a friend, knowing not that you're a friend? Can you?

I can do anything...

you want.

I am human,

I can do anything.

But you speak incorrectly, Prince,

can, cannot.

I live like that,

and you live like that, Prince.

What are we going to do with Dumb?

I'll take him off and bury him myself.

As you like, as you like.

Cloud will ride him to the grave. - As you like, Prince.

What's there? An ambush near the ford on Urtad.

Vivera and six more with him. - What does he plan? What does he want?

Volodymyr, he wants to kill Volodymyr.

Vivera's got nothing to lose now.

Come on, go!

Perfect place! - Let Volodymyr decide himself.

We are coming to Uriad from below.

The deadliest distance for an arrow. - Right.

I don't remember Vivera missing.

Me neither. - I don't know,

I never saw Vivera miss. - He never missed.

And Vivera won't miss.

Put the ring on him. - Give it.

Hand!

Hand, Prince!

I ordered to forge this iron ring out of the hook your dumb friend

was hanged on.

It will protect you against all evil in your life.

Never take it off. And now decide.

Sveneld, how do I get to that ford,

where Vivera waits?

Sveneld, how do I get there?

There,

behind the green Asp stone and under the bank.

Sveneld, give me your horse. - Why?

I'll go to Vivera alone. Don't tell father.

Horse.

Why do you want my horse? - I'm afraid for Cloud.

Jump! Jump!

Why are you racing, Malusha?

Why are you flying like a bird above me, mother?

The eyas flew away, and you can't bring him back to the nest.

A hawk allured the eyas. Teaches it to fly.

That's good you don't beg to come back, good you don't hinder the ascent.

Just don't scream in fear, don't call.

If I turn around, my heart will shiver,

my wings will break and I'll crash!

And don't detain the hawk! You can't be a pair anymore.

He's flying too high, you won't get him!

Old man, are you local? How do I get to the ford?

No, no! I'm not from this forest.

I'm a tree, but I'm not from this forest.

They wanted to chop me down.

They brought their axes, pole-axes and swords.

I pulled myself away with my roots

and ran away from my native forest. Now I'm a Tree Cloud.

Cloud... Where the wind blows,

There I'm driven. I'm a Tree Cloud.

Listen, listen! Listen, listen...

When the lightning strikes a man like that,

he dies, dies,

dies, having not heard the thunder.

This way the horses,

horses, horses die too. They die,

die that way... The lightning struck me

three times, but I...

I...

still live.

Because I am

a Tree Cloud,

I'm a cloud, I'm a Tree Cloud,

cloud, cloud...

Don't hurry to shoot, Vivera. I grant you life.

I was paid for your head. Here...

Too cheap. That's not my price. It's yours.

You were paid for your death.

How much do you pay? Huh?

Will you give me the horse, Cloud? - No. That price is higher than my life.

Oh that's it! Here, get the advance. A secret...

Olha was a Bulgarian from Pliska.

Bulgarian? - Yes.

That's what Oleh said after her marriage with Ihor.

A Bulgarian of royal blood. - Why did he say that?

You're prematurely senile.

She, her children, her grandchildren were Princes by their Princely blood!

Otherwise any serf would desire the Prince's throne.

What about you? Do you desire it?

But you may not.

Even if I don't kill you right now,

You're the son of a slave! Novhorodians won't want you!

And your father's sword won't help! - Don't shoot!

You were with Olha in Tsargrad. Why did she become a Christian?

I see such a fool for the first time!

Beg for your life! Come on!

On your knees, dog! You're a dog! Slave! Fool!

She went to Tsargrad to get a match with a Caesar in power.

And you're a slave's son!

Slave!

Grandson of serf!

Even the Prince's cock

can lay eggs.

Summer dreamt about Autumn

In a hot night on Kupala

Who's carried?

Is it Vivera?

The boy is brave!

Brave and smart, he has two merits in him.

He killed Vivera and three more with him.

Two others fled, but I brought the old man.

Untie him!

Old man, why did you do that, old man?

Vivera can be understood, but why you? Why?

I told the truth then.

The lightning struck me three times, but I'm still alive.

The first time it struck me long ago.

Look.

Do you know, what that lightning...

is called?

Princess Olha...

your grandma.

I was young and healthy, I survived.

But my wife and two daughters were

burnt alive in Iskorosten.

The Princess...

ordered to burn the city down

and didn't let anyone get away alive.

Five thousand people...

Our Prince was listening open-mouthed,

decided to get married.

Prepare the mead

and cover

the bed with sable.

On your knees!

On your knees in front of the Prince of Kyiv Sviatoslav!

On your knees!

On your knees!

Where was Ihor killed?

There!

But you didn't love him.

You are still a fool, Mal. - Sorry.

I forgive you. - He came to us as a wolf.

Shut up!

All right, all right...

Bring the bear!

Wha... what bear?

A brown one.

If you want to live, wrestle with the bear.

Burn the city!

And raise a high grave for Ihor!

Auntie, don't! Auntie!

My brother burnt to death in Liubech.

Don't, auntie, please.

Don't, don't, auntie. I beg you!

Don't, honey, don't!

Burn the city!

It's burning already. - Mother, the city is burning already!

And after she defeated us, Derevfiany,

all five thousand bodies

were thrown into the Kaluga swamp.

Everybody knows

that a tree

is petrified in water in three years.

Those bodies...

have petrified a long time ago,

but the time will come...

when those stones will rise from the water,

and the Prince's hardened arrows won't be able to kill them,

and the swords will turn blunt against their heads.

And the second lightning, that's our...

Enough, old man!

I forgive you, let him go. - Prince of Derevliany...

No, son! - ...tried hard.

No, son! No, Young Prince!

You forgave him, but he won't forgive you.

Neither he, nor his children, nor grandchildren will forgive

your children, your grandchildren.

That's why the old man will die on your own eyes.

Now.

Who was singing a song there?

Come here, kill!

Father, I forgave this man.

Go away!

Father, you said so yourself,

that it is not good to begin a great deed in wrath.

I don't wish to begin my deeds with blood!

Go away, old man, go away!

Give me back my shirt!

The son, the son went

against the father... Rose in revolt. And the father has calmed his rage.

Who has protected me?

Why didn't he kill me with the old man? Whose hand has turned away disaster?

Now I know,

now I know, who it was.

Olha.

Mother, Olha, whispered to her son: wasn't it I who gave birth to you, son,

who nursed you. Didn't I gather you a retinue from all the Slavonic lands?

You were young, and the retinue was the match, the same boys as you.

I told you: when you grow up,

you would become the protection for the land of Rus,

not the devastation.

Why are you sad, Prince?

You want me to sing a song? I composed it myself.

Sing.

Summer dreamt about Autumn

On a hot night

On Kupala...

Saddle the horses!

Saddle the horses!

Oh... The Princess cries in the bath... Kissed her death until morning...

Vivera...

Vivera

promised to leave me alive

in exchange of the life of my Cloud, and I didn't agree!

I... I answered that this... this price was higher than my life.

Me! Summer dreamt about Autumn.

Summer dreamt about Autumn.

Sing!

Summer dreamt about Autumn,

she kissed him.

Sing!

Summer dreamt about Autumn

On a hot night

On Kupala,

As if she wanted to be wife

And kissed

His lips.

A quail played in the grass

And cuckoo cuckooed in the forest.

And reckless Summer

Kissed his death until the morning.

The life was short...

No,

the life was long,

long.

The Princess cries in a bath

Every Kupala night.

And the blood does not freeze

On the knife of cursed Mal.

It's just dawn,

When the Princess comes out of the bath,

Calling for old warriors

And sits down to the Yaryla's sled.

Life was short,

Short as the...

Kupala night

Take me, she says,

In the sled, in which Yaryla was carried

To every city, village and cell,

That lie on my beloved land.

So was the quail lurking

And the cuckoo cuckooed,

And the old Princess

Fled in the sled

From herself.

Life was short..."

Bring Arefa to me.

Bring Arefa to me!

Bring Arefa to me.

But Prince,

you executed him thirty years ago.

Bring Arefa the Greek to me.

- Have you called me? - Arefa...

Prince,

you executed me thirty years ago.

That's bad...

What for?

Remember, your father burnt the book,

and I wrote the new one. Word for word.

But when you installed the pagan idols

here behind the palace,

you thought you could unite the people with the idols,

you ordered

to hang me

and burnt my book.

Did you write the truth in this book?

I wrote something that was higher than truth,

something I was inspired with from the heavens.

What can be higher than truth?

Don't threaten, Prince!

You've already hanged me.

I knew the truth,

I knew.

But who needs it, this truth. You, Prince,

or I, Jesus' preacher?

You didn't know the truth

about the Princess,

because you were

a foreigner

and your pain was different.

There's neither Russian, nor Greek pain.

There's just one pain, people's.

And where was Olha from, nobody knows. Maybe she was born in Pskov,

maybe in Pliska, Bulgaria.

She was also called Helga, a Scandinavian name.

Who knows, maybe

she was a Bulgarian of royal blood, or maybe...

...I'm neither of Boyar, nor of royal blood.

People began to say what was useful to them later on.

I'm from under Pskov.

Right, Arefa, right.

The Prince likes the truth when it's dressed in tsar's clothes.

I know that well.

Go on, continue your story,

I'll listen to you too.

Princess Olha!

Stand up, continue.

And married Ihor...

I was married off, Arefa,

when I was ten years old yet. For my virgin beauty.

A lot of talk happened after the marriage.

A lot of tales were made up; a lot of fables were sung.

But that wasn't true,

I loved Ilhor, my husband,

and I was committed to him when he was alive

and after his terrible death.

That's why you revenged,

why you burnt the city with birds.

Take, Arefa, a pigeon,

tie some flax and set it on fire,

here the candles are burning, set it on fire.

And we'll see

if an unwise bird flies to its nest.

No, the bird won't fly to its nest. Never.

When I heard this from Arefa, I tried many times.

And when I was the Prince of Novhorod, I let birds with fire fly on my own.

They didn't fly, none of them flew to their nest,

they all flew away, away from their nest.

Always.

And I didn't burn the city.

Why would I do that?

It's silly.

This is my city.

And I didn't kill the ambassadors in a bathhouse,

and I didn't bury people alive.

And the Derevliany

who lifted their hands against the Prince...

I have contented.

Everybody who was rebelling

was slashed

by my retinue.

You revenged your husband! Ihor!

Come, Arefa, why is there blood everywhere?!

As if there was nothing else.

There was, Princess! There was!

There was Constantinople!

There was the Emperor Constantine the Great!

There was Baptism!

Just that?!

That wasn't me who came to Constantinople

and was accepted with honour,

that was Rus,

raised among the nations,

as the match,

the equal!

I had to do much work for my state.

I had to watch severely

over the Boyars,

that they didn't divide and separated Rus

and pull it apart.

Understood.

Understood. I can die now.

I understand

what she was praised for,

what she was aspersed for,

what she lived for and will live

eternally!

Reunion,

reunion of Rus!

And I, I followed...

her will.

God bless you, Voivode!

God bless you too, Prince!

I present you this horse, horse of Princess Olha, my grandmother,

in the name of respect and friendship.

Take this gift, Voivode. The horse's name is Cloud.

Thank you, Prince!

I'll pay you back with faith and truth.

But that horse isn't fit for Voivode. This is a Prince's horse. So, please,

get up into the saddle.

The Prince's word is strong.

My stallion Cloud will be put into a herd!

Neither saddle, nor bridle

will ever touch him until the end of his life!

Bring a horse for the Prince of Novhorod Volodymyr!

That's not good,

I presented a friend,

I betrayed a friend.

Let him go!

Cloud!

A horse needs

a rider.

Who's that?

That's you, Volodymyr.

My grandson.

Fine, strong.

When you grow up, you'll become a great Prince.

You'll let your mom, me not be offended,

let Motherland, Rus not be offended.

Writer, director: Yuri Illienko

Director of photography: Vilen Kaliuta

Production designers V. Beskrovnyi, V. Sofronov

Costume production designer: Iryna Boichuk

Makeup designer: Aleftina Losieva

Original music by Yevhen Stankovych

Sound editor: Viktor Briunchuhyn

Director: V. Yanpavlis Cinematography: M. Stepanova, A. Shumovych

Visual effects designer M. Polunin Visual effects camera operator A. Pastukhov

Set design by Yu. Tyshkevych, H. Usenko, V. Rozhkov

Fresco artist P. Redko

Film editor Eleonora Summovska Supervising editor Volodymyr Sosiura

Assistant directors H. Horycheva, V. Votoshyn,

V. Kapitonenko, M. Fediuk, S. Ofiinyk

Assistant camera V. Beloschuk, I. Ivanov, A. Shyhaiev

Assistant costume designer N. Sovtus

Still photography designer L. Kritenko

Lighting board operator V. Korenskyi

Pyrotechnics V. Sukalov

Production unit: H. Podorozhnikova, O. Haiko, V. Tsyba, R. Tyshkovets

The State Symphony Orchestra of Taras Shevchenko Opera and Ballet Theatre

Conductor Stepan Turchak

Main consultant- Doctor of History Science H. Serhiienko

Consultant - Candidate of History Science I. Shekera

Production manager Mykola Vesna

The picture was shot on "Svema" film manufactured at "Shostka" chemical plant

Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio, 1983

The End

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