Marusia Bohuslavka was a legendary heroine who lived in Ukraine in the 16th or 17th century. She is primarily known from many Ukrainian epic ballads (dumas), usually referred to as Duma about Marusya Bohuslavka, and other Ukrainian folklore. Her nickname 'Bohuslavka' refers to her origin, the city of Bohuslav.[1]
It was first recorded in the first half of the 1950s from the kobzar Ryhorenko from the village of Krasnokutsk, printed in Notes on Southern Rus. There are more than twenty-five versions of the duma recorded from 1850 to 1932. Taras Shevchenko reprinted it in his primer, Mykhailo Starytskyi wrote the drama "Marusia Boguslavka" based on this folk story; Ukrainian Soviet composer Anatoly Svechnikov wrote the ballet "Marusya Boguslavka".[2]
Marusya was kidnapped during the Black Sea slave trade and sold into a Turkish harem. The duma tells how she earned the trust of her husband and gained access to the keys of the palace, including the prison. She used them to free a group of Ukrainian Cossacks who had been imprisoned for 30 years. However, she did not flee with them but remained in the harem since this was now the only life she knew.[1]
In comments to the dumas about Marusya, her high status is compared to that of Roxelana.[1]