The song presented in translation in this volume is one of the two longest ever collected from Slavic oral epic tradition. Yet it is not only their length that makes these songs extraordinary; their excellence as heroic-romantic sung story and the seriousness of their intent as depictions of a glorious past raise them above the usual performances in the tradition to which they belong.

This book contains eight complete epics from four traditional singers of tales. Four of the epics are transcribed from audio recordings belonging to the Parry Collection.