“(946) Olga returned with the army and defeated the Dereva, but the survivors hid in the city of Iskorosten, and Olga with her army laid siege to it. She also sent them a message that they should send her “three pigeons and three sparrows from each house. I do not desire to impose a heavy tribute, like my husband, but I require only this small gift from you, for you are impoverished by the siege.”
The Dereva rejoiced and did as instructed.
Olga gave each soldier in her army a pigeon or a sparrow and ordered them to attach by a thread to each pigeon and sparrow a piece of sulphur bound with small pieces of cloth. When night fell, Olga bade her soldiers release the pigeons and the sparrows. So the birds flew to their nests, the pigeons to the cotes, and the sparrows under the eaves. Thus the dove-cotes, the coops, the porches, and the haymows were set on fire. There was not a house that was not consumed, and it was impossible to extinguish the flames because all the houses caught fire at once. The people fled from the city, and Olga ordered her soldiers to catch them. Thus she took the city and burned it, and captured the elders of the city. Some of the other captives she killed, while she gave others as slaves to her followers. The remnant she left to pay tribute.
She imposed upon them a heavy tribute, two parts of which went to Kyiv, and the third to Olga in Vyshgorod; for Vyshgorod was Olga’s city. She then passed through the land of Dereva, accompanied by her son and her retinue, establishing laws and tribute. Her trading posts and hunting-preserves are there still. Then she returned with her son to Kyiv, her city, where she remained one year.” (The Primary Chronicle of Rus)
Ukraine should consider making Olga of Kyiv the Patron of the Unmanned Aerial Systems.
‘Gardariki, Ukraine‘ ebook takes a closer look at Olga of Kyiv and her famous revenge on the Dereva.
‘Kyiv Rus in Heimskringla Sagas and Byzantine Texts‘ book provides little-known facts about Olga’s fame in the Viking world and in Byzantine Empire (including her famous trip to Constantinople).
