The Feat of the Young Kyivan and the Cunning of Voivode Pretych

In the year 6476 (968). First the Pechenegs came to the Russian land, and Sviatoslav was then in Pereyaslavets. And Olga locked herself up with her grandsons—Yaropolkom, Oleg, and Vladimir—in the city of Kyiv. And the Pechenegs besieged the city with great force: there were countless numbers of them around the city, and neither could one leave the city nor send someone away, and the people exhausted themselves with hunger and thirst. Then people from the other side of the Dnieper gathered in boats and stood on that bank, and it was impossible for these to get into Kyiv, and for those from the city to reach them.

And the people inside the city began to grieve and said, “Is there anyone who can cross to the other side and tell them: if they do not come to the city in the morning, we will surrender to the Pechenegs?”

And one youth said, “I will slip through,” and they answered him, “Go.” He came out of the city holding the reins, and ran through the Pechenegs’ camp, asking them, “Has anyone seen a horse?” For he knew their language and they took him for one of their own.

And when he approached the river, he threw off his clothes, rushed into the Dnieper, and swam. Seeing this, the Pechenegs rushed after him, shot at him, but could not do anything to him. On the other bank they noticed and rode up to him in a boat, took him into the boat, and brought him to the retinue. And the youth said to them, “If you do not come to the city tomorrow, the people will surrender to the Pechenegs.”

The commander, named Pretich, replied: “We’ll go tomorrow in boats and, taking the grand princess and the princes, we’ll carry them to this bank. If we don’t do it, Sviatoslav will destroy us.”

And next morning, close to dawn, they boarded the boats and they loudly blew trumpets, and the people in the city cried out. To the Pechenegs, it seemed as if the prince himself had come, and they ran from the city in panic. Then Olga came out with her grandsons and people to the boats.

The Pecheneg prince, seeing this, returned alone and addressed the commander Pretich: “Who has come?” And Pretich answered him, “People from the other side (of the Dnieper).” The Pecheneg prince asked again: “And are you not a prince?” Pretich answered: “I am his husband; I came with a vanguard detachment, and behind me there is an army with the prince himself—countless of them.” He said this to frighten them.

Then the Pecheneg prince said to Pretich, “Be my friend.” “So I will,” Pretich replied. And they shook hands, and the Pecheneg prince gave Pretich a horse, a saber, and arrows. Pretich gave him mail armor, a shield, and a sword. And the Pechenegs withdrew from the city; they could not even lead the horse away to drink, for the Pechenegs were standing on the Lybid.

And the people of Kyiv sent word to Sviatoslav: “You, prince, seek чужую land and take care of it, but you left your own; and we were almost taken by the Pechenegs—our mother and your children. If you don’t come and defend us, we will be taken. Don’t you feel sorry for your homeland, for your old mother, for your children?”

Hearing this, Sviatoslav and his retinue quickly mounted their horses and returned to Kyiv; he greeted his mother and children and mourned what had happened to them at the hands of the Pechenegs. Then he gathered warriors and drove the Pechenegs out into the field, and peace was restored.