The Pigeon Tax (Iskorosten)
After a year's siege Olha asks Iskorosten for three pigeons and three sparrows per house, ties lit sulphur to the birds and lets them fly home. The town burns; survivors are killed, sold or taxed, two parts to Kyiv and one to Vyshhorod. Fact: the Drevlians were defeated and made tributary, and Vyshhorod was Olha's own town. Legend: the birds are a folk-tale motif found in other medieval sieges; the child Sviatoslav's spear-throw and Sveneld's line are the Chronicle's. The song admits it: 'the monks say it was birds. Maybe.'
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