The Serpent Ramparts

Anyone who read or listened to tales about folk heroes in childhood knows the story of the Rus bohatyr Mykyta Kozhumiaka. According to legends he was one of the sons of a Kyiv warrior, and for his outstanding merits in battle the city of Pereiaslav was named in his honour (it took over the glory from his father). The image of the bohatyr Kozhumiaka has its place in Ukrainian fairy tales, where Mykyta Kozhumiaka is a strong and mighty bohatyr whom the Kyiv prince asks to free his daughter the princess from a Serpent who abducted her. Mykyta goes into battle and defeats the Serpent. After that a legend arose among the people that the huge ramparts that were dug across the territory of Ukraine for security against invaders, the so-called Serpent Ramparts, which also passed through our city, since it was created as an outpost to defend Kyiv, were dug by none other than Mykyta Kozhumiaka, who harnessed the Serpent to a plough and went across Ukraine. So the small sculpture stands not far from the place where the Serpent Ramparts ran and where the city was founded.