Books were written in "Kyrillian" characters until the sixteenth century, and the first printed books (which date from that century) were in the same characters.

The most ancient manuscripts, written previous to the fourteenth century, are very beautiful, each letter being set separately, and the capital letters often assuming the form of fantastic beasts and birds, or of flowers, or gilded.

The oldest manuscript of Russian work preserved dates from the middle of the eleventh century--a magnificent parchment copy of the Gospels, made by Deacon Grigory for Ostromir, the burgomaster of Novgorod (1056-1057), and hence known as "the Ostromir Gospels." But before we deal with the written and strictly speaking literary works of Russia, we must make acquaintance with the oral products of the people's genius, which antedate it, or at all events, contain traces of such hoary antiquity that history knows nothing definite concerning them, although they deserve precedence for their originality.

Such are the _skazki_, or tales, the poetical folk-lore, the epic songs, the religious ballads.

The fairy tales, while possessing analogies with those of other lands, have their characteristic national features.
While less striking and original than, for example, the exquisite Esthonian legends, they are of great interest in the study of comparative folk-lore.