Legendary Warrriors by Victor Vasnetsov

From left to right, the three heroes are Dobrynya Nikitich, Ilya Muromets and Alyosha Popovich.

Dobrynya Nikitich was known for his strength and bravery. He was best-known as a dragon slayer and for his three-day fight with the dragon Gorynich, which he eventually won.

Ilya Muromets is perhaps the most famous of all the three Bogatyrs, known for integrity and love of his homeland. He too fought at least one dragon, this one with three heads. But he is most famous for two other things. He seemed to do a lot of defending people against invading armies, often seeing off the attackers with suspiciously little help. He also managed to capture, then kill the infamous Nightingale the Robber. This was a half bird-half man, who would attack passers-by with his immensely powerful whistle. Ilya though it seems, had made sure he packed some very good cotton wool for his ears.

Alyosha Popovich was known for his wits. And he used them against, guess what, a dragon. Tugarin was a particularly rude and odious character, but when he soared into the sky on wings of paper to attack, Alyosha knew to pray for rain, which sent the dragon crashing to earth. He then did what any good dragon-slayer does, and chopped the beast into pieces.