Ruslan and Ludmila

Ruslan and Ludmila (pre-reform Russian: Русла́нъ и Людми́ла; post-reform Russian: Русла́н и Людми́ла, romanized: Ruslán i Lyudmíla) is a poem by Alexander Pushkin, published in 1820. Written as an epic literary fairy tale consisting of a dedication (посвящение[1]), six "cantos" (песни), and an epilogue (эпилог), it tells the story of the abduction of Ludmila, the daughter of Prince Vladimir of the Kievan Rus' (reigned 980–1015), by an evil wizard and the attempt by the brave knight Ruslan to find and rescue her.

Ruslan confronts the head, by Nikolai Ge
  1. ^ This and all parenthetical glosses hereafter refer to the original Russian word(s) the translation of which precedes the gloss