Sokolnik- Slavic HeroHero"The Little Falcon"

The Falcon's Son

Sokolnik was the son of Ilya Muromets and a warrior woman of the steppe, called Zlatygorka in some byliny. Ilya departed after their brief encounter and never learned he had fathered a child. The boy's mother raised him alone, telling him stories of the bogatyrs who defended Kyiv under Prince Vladimir, but she kept back the one fact that mattered: the chief among those champions was his own father. Sokolnik grew fierce and restless, hungry to test himself against the heroes of the songs.

Father and Son

When Sokolnik reaches manhood, he rides toward Kyiv boasting that he will defeat the bogatyrs and take the city. Ilya Muromets rides out to meet him. Father and son fight without recognizing each other, and the battle is long: Sokolnik has inherited his father's strength and nearly wins.

The byliny collected by Rybnikov and Gilferding record two endings. In one, Ilya overpowers his son and discovers his identity through a birthmark or a token from his mother. Father and son are reconciled. In the other, Sokolnik feigns acceptance but creeps to Ilya's bedside that night with a knife. Ilya wakes and kills him.