In Pushkin's Ruslan and Lyudmila (1820), the long poem set in Kiev
of Vladimir Krasnoe Solnyshko (Vladimir the Red/Beautiful Sun, the
Kievan Prince who in 988 introduced Christianity to Rus), the magic cap
makes the heroine invisible. Nabokov seems to cross pagan (sun god
Hors) and Christian (chudotvornaya, miracle-working, Yukonsk Ikon)
miracles.
In Pushkin's Pesn' o veshchem Olege ("The Song of Magic Oleg,"
1822) the old sorcerer, "a pagan who obeys no one but Perun,"
predicts to Prince Oleg that he will die because of his horse. The
historical Oleg was the first Kievan Prince of the House of Rurik (ruled in
879-912). Oleg's son Igor' (a namesake and ancestor of the hero of Slovo o
polku Igoreve) was married to Olga (who was as clever as her
svyokr, father-in-law).
Olga is Oleg in feminine key. If turned into a man, Lucette would be
Lucien. In Ada (3.8), Lucien is a concierge at Les Trois Cygnes, a
hotel in Mont Roux:
'Lucien,' said Dr Veen, peering over his
spectacles, 'I may have - as your predecessor would know - all kinds of queer
visitors, magicians, masked ladies, madmen - que sais-je? and I expect
miracles of secrecy from all three mute swans. Here's a prefatory
bonus.'
'Merci infiniment,' said the concierge,
and, as usual, Van felt infinitely touched by the courteous hyperbole provoking
no dearth of philosophical thought.
Btw., Lucette, with her jeweled head and "struthious" dress (3.5), is
linked to the beautiful Tsarevna Lebed' (Swan Princess) from
Pushkin's Skazka o tsare Saltane ("The Fairy Tale about Czar
Saltan," 1831).
Alexey Sklyarenko