#zmei

Etymology

The word zmei in Russian is the masculine form of zmeya, a feminine noun, meaning "snake".

General traits

Gender

The dragon in Russian folk fiction may be female, in which case she is called zmeya. The tendency is for the prose folktale versions to have male dragons, and the byliny poetry to have the females. This will affect the behavior of the dragons. For instance, only the male dragons will capture or captivate a princess or a maiden as a love interest.

Multiheadedness

The zmei is often depicted with multiple heads, and the number of heads may be 3, 6, 9, or 12.

A three-, six-, nine-, and twelve-headed dragon are defeated on successive nights by the hero of the tale "Ivan the Peasant's Son and the Little Man the Size of a Finger" (Afanasyev #138). The twelve-headed one was hardest to kill, and although the hero beheaded it nearly completely, the last head had to be taken by six men provided to Ivan by the Tsar. Chudo-Iudo

In the variant "Ivan Bykovich (Ivan Buikovich)" (# 137), an equivalent sets of these multi-headed creatures appear, but are not called zmei, but a Chudo-Iudo (Chudo-Yudo). These are humanlike creatures, each one is riding a horse. Even when decapitated, if the head is picked up it grows back on once a line is drawn on it with the dragon's fiery finger. As is pointed out below, a zmei can take human-form, and in the variant "Storm-bogatyr, Ivan the Cow's Son" (#136), the multi-headed Chudo-Iudo are described as using the word zmei also.

Other attributes

The creature's appearance is not described in bylinas. In more recent sources, the Russian zmei is described as being covered with either green or red scales, and having iron claws.

Shapeshifting

The zmei may turn into a handsome youth. In that form he enthralls the sister or wife of Ivan Tsarevich in different versions of "The Milk of Wild Beasts" (Afanasyev #204, #205), as described below. In one of these (#204) the zmei also transforms into kitchen implements to avoid detection: he becomes a broom, a sort of mop (помело pomelo) and oven fork. But Ivan's obedient animals are able to detect the presence of an intruder in these implements.

The zmei assumes the form of a golden goat in another tale ("The Crystal Mountain", Afanasyev #162).

In fairy tales

The zmei occurs in the literature of Russia and Ukraine in numerous wondertales (skazki) such as those in Alexander Afanasyev's compilation Narodnye russkie skazki, and in the byliny (epic ballads), and rendered as "serpent" or "dragon". They may also appear as a character with "Zmei" or "Zmeyevich" (Zmeevich, etc.) in their proper name, and these may exhibit more human-like qualities, such as courting women.

As fabulous beast

The zmei slain by the bogatyr Dobrynya Nikitich in the bylina "Dobrynya and the Zmei" can be male or female. It may happen to be Zmei Gorynishche ("Dragon, the Son of a Mountain"). This name is a variant form of "Zmei Gorynych" found in fairy tales. Or it may be she-dragon without a name, as in the byliny collected from Karelian Russia. The "Puchai River" was its haunt, but in the caves of the "Saracen Mountains" it raised its pups and kept hostages. It was capable of flight, and abducted a princess from Kiev by flying there.

Zmei Gorynych

Zmei Gorynych (Russian: Змей Горыныч) has decidedly dragon-like characteristics, such as having multiple heads (from 3 to upwards of 12), spitting fire, and being associated with a body of water.

However, "Zmei Gorynych" is not consistently beast-like, and he may appear in the guise of a human thoroughout in some works.

Anthropomorphism

Sometimes there are "Sons of Zmei" (Zmeyevich being their patronymic surname) who are recognized as monsters with human qualities, or vice versa.