figure
Elijah
also: Илия, the prophet Elijah, пророк Илия
The Hebrew prophet who, per 2 Kings 2:11, is carried up to heaven in a whirlwind by a chariot and horses of fire; a stock image in cheap popular prints (lubki) of the period, shown here driving a team of three horses skyward in the tattered picture-book Kalashnikov and Lyubka pore over -- Lyubka wistfully wishing for horses like Elijah's to carry her off too.
Reading notes
- Thieves §27 the prophet Elijah
Per 2 Kings 2:11, the prophet Elijah is carried into heaven by a whirlwind, in a chariot drawn by horses of fire -- a scene reproduced in cheap popular prints (lubki) of the kind Kalashnikov and Lyubka are looking at. Lyubka's wish for horses like Elijah's "to drive off to heaven" (loc 40) plants, lightly and comically, the story's recurring wish for a freedom beyond the ordinary and unpoliced world she actually inhabits.