Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature Hermeneutics of Old Russian Literature 1607-6192 2713-2226 IWL RAS https://doi.org/10.22455/HORL.1607-6192-2023-22-331-342 Research Article Articles Virginian Bears and Muscovite Boars: Russian Theme in the Swedish Short Story on the West Indies, or America Mikhail Yu. Ljustrov old-rus@imli.ru 2023 22 331 342 Copyright © 2026, IWL RAS 2026 The article examines the chapter On Virginia, included in the book “Kort Berättelse om Wäst Indien eller America, Som elliest kallas Nya Werlden” published in Sweden in 1675 and containing a “Russian” fragment. The section describes the Virginian fauna and, among other things, notes that North American wild pigs are smaller than “Tatar and Muscovite.” The chapter On Virginia was borrowed by the Swedish translator from the book “Nieuvve wereldt, ofte, Beschrijvinghe van West-Indien” (AD 1625 and 1633) by Dutch geographer and director of Dutch West Indies Company J. de Laeta or containing a “Virginian” section his works of the “collection” “Beschrijvinghe van Virginia, Nieuw Nederlandt, Nieuw Engelandt, en d’Eylanden Bermudes, Berbados, en S. Christoffel” (1651), and in them not wild pigs, but bears are compared with Russian and Tatar ones. The “Virginia” chapter of de Laeta’s work goes back to the book of Captain J. Smith, who visited Russia, A Map of Virginia (1612) or to its abridged version, placed in chapter 4th Purchas his Pilgrimes (1625), and they deal with on bears. In contrast to the Dutch version, in the Latin (1633) and French (1640) versions of the arrangement of Smith’s work, “Muscovite and Tatar” bears are replaced by “northern” bears. The Swedish translator, who has every reason to do the same, replaces the bear, which is considered the Swedish “iconographic national symbol” (H. Helander), with a wild pig and thus formulates his attitude towards the eastern neighbor. In the Swedish version the fragment becomes an episode of the Russian-Swedish controversy.