This legend was recorded in March 1896 from Mykhailo Fotul in Stroyne, in the former Bereg county, and published by Volodymyr Hnatiuk in the first volume of his ethnographic materials from Hungarian Rus'. It belongs to a local Christian apocryphal and folk-Biblical storytelling world, joining creation, Adam and Eve, Adam's head, Golgotha, and Christ's crucifixion into one tale.
The legend contains a traditional geocentric polemic against scholars who say the world turns. This edition presents that as the teller's source cosmology, not as an editorial claim.
Several local phrases are kept cautious in the English and explained in the colophon. The original source text is included below for verification.
On the Beginning of the World and the First People
What did God create on the first day? God created heaven. On the second day
God created the sun and the stars. On the third day God created the moon and
adorned the heaven with the sun and the moon and the stars. On the fourth day
God created the earth. How did God create the earth?
God drove the devil down into the deep below: "Go," he said, "and bring up
some earth in the name of God."
Did the devil listen to God? No. "In my own name," he said, "I will take the
earth." Did the devil bring up earth from the deep below? No.
"Go, Satan, and bring it in the name of God." And the devil brought up only as
much earth as was under his nails. "Go," God said, "in the name of God, as I
told you." And God said to him: "In the name of the Father and the Son and the
Holy Spirit. Amen." And from that sign of the cross the devil was scattered
apart. Then God established the universe, which shall not be moved, as it says
in the Rus' writing.
And even now there are such great scholars who say that the world turns. Yes,
it turns in their heads; for God established the universe, which shall not be
moved. That is what God says.
And the devils were to roar in hell. Why were they to roar? Because God
covered them with a hide, as though he had shut them in with pride. And the
devil was to roar so that a stone would begin to grow. That stone would have
grown up to heaven, but God cursed the stone. Then God gave the earth, the dry
land.
On the fifth day God separated the water from the dry land. On the sixth day
God gave man. On the seventh day God consecrated Sunday to himself. And God
made man from clay, the first Adam in the world. And he gave him a soul; he
breathed his own spirit into him, and Adam lived by God's command.
What clothing did God give Adam? He gave him a leather garment. What was that
leather garment on Adam? It was like what is on the nails of our fingers and
on our feet; that remained to us as a sign.
Was Adam alone in paradise? No. God created Adam's wife, Eve. How did God
create Adam's wife? While Adam slept, God took Adam's left rib and said: "You
will be Adam's wife, his companion. Multiply, and from you peoples shall come
forth," God told Adam and Eve, "and they shall scatter abroad from you."
Well then, how did God set Adam and Eve in paradise? What did God forbid Adam
and Eve in paradise? He forbade them four trees, so that they should not touch
them. In the middle of paradise those four trees stood. "From all the fruits
you may eat, but from those four trees you must not touch."
Did Adam and Eve obey God's command? No. Who led Adam and Eve astray in
paradise? The devil led Eve and Adam astray. The devil turned himself into a
serpent and climbed into a tree; he plucked one apple and bit it himself.
"Here, Eve, bite this apple. You will be wise like God, and you will know
everything."
Eve took it and bit from that apple, but that apple did not taste good to her
at all, and she drove Adam on: "Adam, Adam! Get up, bite from this apple; it is
simply so good!" Adam took it and, sleepy as he was, bit the apple.
Did Adam eat the apple? God called out to Adam: "You have sinned, Adam!" And
at once the apple remained in Adam's throat. And that is why every man now has
an apple in his throat.
Who found Adam's head after Noah's flood? Shepherds found it. And how did the
shepherds find Adam's head? A very heavy rainstorm fell on them, so that they
did not know where to go. They hid in a thicket with the sheep, and they found
Adam's bone there in the thicket, and there they sheltered from the rain under
that bone.
And how did they know that it was Adam's head? They came home, and people
began to marvel at them, because they were so dry though such rain had fallen.
They began asking them where they had been. They said: "We found one bone, and
there we sheltered from the rain."
And the lords went to look at that bone. And the lords would nearly have
fallen down if they had not found in the old writings that it was Adam's head.
And what memorial should they make for Adam? After that they thought to
themselves about a memorial, because Adam was the father of us all. Long ago
there were no churches as there are now, nor were there priests. So the lords
sent letters throughout the world, telling people to carry and cast earth
there upon Adam's head, each one whatever he had.
And there they heaped up such a great mound that a mountain was made. And that
mountain is in Jerusalem. What did they call that mountain? They called that
mountain Golgotha. And that mountain became holy. And why did that mountain
become holy? Because Christ carried his cross up that mountain and died there
on the cross.
When was Adam baptized? Who knows? Adam was baptized then, when Christ died on
the cross, when a soldier came and pierced Christ's left rib with a spear, and
blood and water flowed from Christ. Then Adam was baptized with Christ's blood,
and then the souls in Hades sang: "For God is with us."
Recorded in March 1896 from Mykhailo Fotul in Stroyne, Bereg county.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was made from Volodymyr Hnatiuk's Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, published in Lviv in
1897 as Етноґрафічний збірник, volume III. The translated unit is legend 1,
Про початок сьвіта і перших людий, printed on pages 1-3.
The English was translated directly from the older Ukrainian/Rusyn
source-language witness, using the OCR only as a navigation aid and
checking the working source text against source-page images. No existing
English translation was used as the base.
Source note: приспоннє is rendered as "the deep below"; the term is kept
cautious rather than forced into "abyss." руськом письмі is rendered as
"Rus' writing," not "Russian writing." Eve's phrase лем йакойим доброїм is
rendered as "it is simply so good," preserving the sense of urgent persuasion
without claiming a settled idiom. хаща / хащі is rendered as "thicket,"
supported by Verkhratsky's Hungarian-Rus' dialect material where хаща is
glossed as forest/thicket. Йако з нами Бог is rendered as "For God is with
us," preserving its liturgical-sounding cadence and its closeness to the
Slavonic С нами Бог formula.
Reader caution: the legend's claim that the universe does not move, and its
mockery of scholars who say the world turns, are presented as source
cosmology. They are not editorial claims.
Source route: Internet Archive identifier etnohr_03-1; source images checked at IA PDF pages 19, 20,
and 22 / printed pages 1-3. IA PDF page 21 is a misplaced preface page and is
not part of this unit. The underlying 1897 source is public-domain-era under
the Good Works Library's United States operating posture.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Library by the New Tianmu Anglican
Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Про початок сьвіта і перших людий
Ukrainian/Rusyn source text from Volodymyr Hnatiuk's 1897 Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, legend 1, printed pages
1-3. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the
English translation above. This is a lightly corrected reading witness, not a
full diplomatic edition.
- Про початок сьвіта і перших людий.
Перший день Бох шчо сотворйу? Небо Бох сотворйу. Другий день
Бох сотворйу сонце і зьвізди. Третий день Бох сотворйу місяць і укра-
сйу небо соньцьом і місяцьом і зьвіздами. Четвертий день Бог земльу
сотворйу. Йак Бог земльу сотворйу?
Загнау Бог дийавола на приспоннє: Іди, кажи, і зимлі унеси во
імя божиїм.
Дийавол ци послухау Бога? Ньіт: і во імя, кажи, мойо биру
земльу! - Ци уніс дийавол земльу іс приспоннього? Ньіт. - Іди,
сатано, і унеси во імя божиїм! - І дийавол уніс зимлі тілько за
нохтями: Іди, кажи, во імя божиїм, йа тобі казау! І кажи му Бо: Во
імя Отца і сина і сьвятаго Духа. Амінь! І ут того креста дийавол
росипау сьа. Тоді Бог утвердйу уселенную, йажи ни подвижит сьа -
кажи у руськом письмі.
І днесь суть такі ученники великі, шчо кажуть, ош сьвіт ся обер-
тать. Айно, обертать їм сьа у голові; бо Бог утвердйу уселенную,
йажи ни подвижит сьа. То Бо кажи!
І дийаволи іміли у аду ревати. За шчо они іміли ревати? За ото,
бо Бог їх укриу кожоў, так йак би заденьчиу гордоў. І так іміу ревати
дийавол, шчо камінь іміу рости. І тот камінь бувба рос до неба, ай Бох
тот камінь закляу. Но, дау Бо земльу, сушу.
Пятий день Бог розлучйу воду ут суші. Шестий день дау чоло-
віка Бог. Семий день Бо усьвятйу, неділю, сам собоў. І чоловіка дау
Бог із глини, першого Адама на-світі. І дау у нього душу, дихну
у нього дух свой і Адам ожиу на росказ на божий. - Йаку Бог Ада-
мови одежу дау? Дау му одежу кожану. Йака то кожана одежа на Адамі
була? Сьака йак на ніхтах на пальцьох, та на ногах; то на знак нам
опстало.
Адам ци буу сам у рай? Ньіт. Бог Адамови сотворйу жону Йиву.
Йак сотворйу Бог жону Адамови? Сплячому Адамови Бог уняу ліви
ребро і: Ти будеш дружина Адамови, товариш. І множать ся і з вас
народи - Бох казау Адамови й Йиві - і россійуть сьа з вас. Но, йак
Бох поставиу Адама і Йиву у рай? Шчо їх Бог заказау, Адама і Йиву,
у райи? Заказау уд них чотири дерева, оби ни кивали: Посереді райа
тоті дерева чотири стоять. Із усіх овоцоў мож вам їсти, а с тих
чотирьох дерев обисте ни кивали. Ци послухали они божий росказ, Адам
і Йива? Ньіт. Тко Адама і Йиву у райи звів? Диявол ізвіу і Йиву
і Адама. Диявол гадом привер сьа і уліз на дерево, урвау йидно
яблоко, укусйу сам: На, Йиво, укуси іс сього яблока; така будеш
розумна, йак Бо і так будеш ушитко знати!
Йива узяла, укусила с того яблока і дужи їй не смак упало
ото яблоко і вогнала Адама: Адами, Адами! Устань, укуси іс сього
яблока, лем йакойим доброїм! Адам узяу і заспаний укусйу яблока.
Ци зїв Адам яблико? Бог на Адама загойкау: Согрішйу їсь Адами!
І нараз Адамови яблико опстало у гортаньци. Но й за ото типерь кождому
чоловіку йи яблико на гортаньци.
Тко найшоу Адамову голову по Нойовом потопі? Найшли вівчарі.
І йак найшли вівчарі Адамову голову? Упау дошчь дужи великий на них,
туча, шчо ни знали де ся діти. І сховали ся до хащі з вівцями
і найшли оту костку Адамову у хащи і там ся стулили перед тим
дожджьом під тоту костку. І йак они знали, шчо то Адамова голова?
Прийшли домо і почали ся на них чюдовити люди, шчо они такі сухі
і такий дожджь падау. І почали їх звідати, де они були. Они сказали:
Ми найшли йинну костку, та там ми ся стулили перед дожджьом. -
І пани уйшли позирати оту костку. І пани нічак би ни знали, кидь би
були ни найшли у старих письмах, шчо Адамова голова. І так они йаку
би учинити пробожнину на память Адамови? І позат того они собі
думали на память, бо то наш няньо ушитких буу Адам. Давно ни
було так церквій, йак типерь, ані попоў ни було. Но, й пустили письма
по-сьвіту пани там на Адамову голову нести і метати, лем тко шчо найш.
Но і там наметали наміт такий великий, шчо гора ся учинила. І тота
гора у Русалимі. Йак тоту гору назвали? Тоту гору назвали Голгофта.
І тота гора опстала сьвята. І прошчо тота гора опстала сьвята? За ото,
бо Христос хрест свой уніс на оту гору і там на хресті умер.
Коли ся Адам крестиу? Тко ви знайи? Адам ся покрестиу тоді,
коли Христос на хресті умер, коли войин прийшоу і пробиу копійоў
лівое ребро Христови і Христови потикла кроу і вода. Тоді ся Адам
охрестиу Христовоў кровльоў і тоді душі засьпівали у Аду: Йако
з нами Бог.
Зап. в мартї 1896 від Михайла Фотула в Стройні, Береської
столиці.
Source Colophon
Source witness: Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Етноґрафічні материяли з Угорської Руси. Том I. Лєґенди і новелї, Lviv, 1897, legend 1, printed pages 1-3. Internet Archive identifier: etnohr_03-1, https://archive.org/details/etnohr_03-1.
The working source text was checked against source-page images of IA PDF pages
19, 20, and 22. IA PDF page 21 is a misplaced preface page and is not part of
this unit. This source transcription is a lightly corrected reading witness
and is not a full diplomatic edition.
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