The compiler of the collection and the author of the retelling is V. Kuznetsova. Illustrator D. Dmitriev.
The compilation consists of 25 epics, recorded by the collectors of folklore in the Russian North – in the Zaonezhye and Pudozh region in the 19th – early 20th centuries. The book gives the idea of not only the plots but also of epics style, insofar as the texts include fragments from the original recordings of epics.