В лесах. Кн. 1

Horse Trans-Volga is a free land. There people are leisurely, lively, smart and dexterous. Such is the Trans-Volga region from Rybinsk down to the mouth of the Kerzhents. Below it is not the same: the wilderness will go, meadow Cheremis, Chuvash, Tatars. And even lower, beyond the Kama, the steppes spread out, the people there are different: although Russian, they are not the same as in Verkhovye. There is a new settlement, and in the Trans-Volga upper reaches, Russia has long settled down in forests and swamps. Judging by the human dialect, the Novgorodians settled there in ancient Rurik times. Traditions about Batu's defeat are fresh there. They will also point out the “Batiyev path” and the place of the invisible city of Kitezh on Lake Svetly Yar. That city is still intact - with white-stone walls, golden-domed churches, with honest monasteries, with princely patterned towers, with boyar stone chambers, with houses cut from kondovy, non-rotting forest. The city is intact, but invisible. Sinful people will not see the glorious Kitezh. He hid miraculously, by God's command, when the godless Tsar Batu, having ruined the Rus of Suzdal, went to fight the Rus of Kitezh. The Tatar tsar approached the city of Veliky Kitezh, wanted to burn houses with fire, beat their husbands or steal them in full, take wives and maidens as concubines. The Lord did not allow the infidel desecration of the Christian shrine. For ten days, ten nights Baty's hordes searched for the city of Kitezh and could not find it, blinded. And until now that city stands invisible - it will open before the terrible Judgment Seat of Christ. And on Lake Svetly Yar, on a quiet summer evening, you can see the walls reflected in the water, churches, monasteries, princely towers, boyar mansions, courtyards of townspeople. And at night you can hear the deaf, mournful ringing of Kitezh bells.