Chernava

In Slavic mythology, Chernava (Russian: Чернава) is Morskoy Tsar's (Sea Tsar) daughter, spirit and personification of the river of the same name. She is a mermaid. Her head and upper body are human, while the lower body is a fish's tail. Chernava is famous by the epic of Sadko, where she appears.[1][2][3]

Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom by Ilya Repin

In Sadko

In the Sadko bylina, Chernava appears as the one of the 900 mermaids. She is described as small, scrawny and young girl. When Morskoy Tsar offered Sadko a new bride, Sadko took Chernava and lay down beside her. On their wedding night he did not touch her. When Sadko was asleep, Chernava had transformed into a river, helping him to get into the human world. Sadko woke up on the shore of the river Chernava and rejoined his first wife.

Chernava Colles are named after her.

References
  1. Fedorovich 1873, p. 400.
  2. Dixon-Kennedy 1998, p. 52.
  3. Bailey 2015.

Bibliography
  • Fedorovich, Alexander Hilferding (1873), Onegsky byliny, recorded by Alexander Fedorovich Hilferding in the summer of 1871, The Imperial Academy of Sciences, ISBN 978-5-4460-3959-3CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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