Word: ilmen
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Dates: during 1930-1930
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...middle ages a proud port of trade was the free city of Novgorod, situated on Lake Ilmen in what is now Northern Russia, some 100 miles from Leningrad. Merchants there knew that they owed their prosperity to the singer Sadko, often told their children how he had made the River Volkhov to flow, thus opening their city to the sea. The legendary Sadko appealed to famed Russian Composer Nicolas Andreievich Rimsky-Korsakov, who wrote an opera about him in which is included "The Song of India." In its proper setting, in the opera Sadko, it was heard for the first...
Story. Sadko, a singer who played on the gousla (ancient Russian handharp), was summoned to entertain banqueting merchants. Instead of praising them, his singing boasted of what he would do with their opportunities, so that they drove him into the streets. Thence he went to the shores of Lake Ilmen, sang sorrowfully until there appeared Volkhova, Princess of the Sea. Instantly she loved Sadko for his song, told him that if he cast his net into the waters he would draw forth three golden fishes which would spell wealth, happiness. Sadko rushed home, cast aside his doting wife, proceeded...