Chernava

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Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom by Ilya Repin

In Slavic mythology, Chernava (Russian: Чернава) is Morskoy Tsar's (Sea Tsar) daughter, spirit and personification of the river of the same name. She is a mermaid. Her head and upper body are human, while the lower body is a fish's tail. Chernava is famous by the epic of Sadko, where she appears.[1][2][3]

In Sadko[]

In the Sadko bylina, Chernava appears as the one of the 900 mermaids. She is described as small, scrawny and young girl. When Morskoy Tsar offered Sadko a new bride, Sadko took Chernava and lay down beside her. On their wedding night he did not touch her. When Sadko was asleep, Chernava had transformed into a river, helping him to get into the human world. Sadko woke up on the shore of the river Chernava and rejoined his first wife.

In popular culture[]

Chernava Colles are named after her.

References[]

  1. ^ Fedorovich 1873, p. 400.
  2. ^ Dixon-Kennedy 1998, p. 52.
  3. ^ Bailey 2015.

Bibliography[]

  • Fedorovich, Alexander Hilferding (1873), Onegsky byliny, recorded by Alexander Fedorovich Hilferding in the summer of 1871, The Imperial Academy of Sciences, ISBN 978-5-4460-3959-3

External links[]

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