The word zmei in Russian is the masculine forms of zmeya, a feminine noun, meaning "snake".
General traits
Gender
The dragon in Russian folk fiction may be female, in which case she is called zmeya. The tendency is for the prose folktale versions to have male dragons, and the byliny poetry to have the females. This will affect the behavior of the dragons. For instance, only the male dragons will capture or captivate a princess or a maiden as a love interest.
Multiheadedness
The zmei is often depicted with multiple heads, and the number of heads may be 3, 6, 9, or 12. A three-, six-, nine-, and twelve-headed dragon are defeated on successive nights by the hero of the tale "Ivan the Peasant's Son and the Little Man the Size of a Finger". The twelve-headed one was hardest to kill, and although the hero beheaded it nearly completely, the last head had to be taken by six men provided to Ivan by the Tsar. ;Chudo-Iudo In the variant "Ivan Bykovich ", an equivalent sets of these multi-headed creatures appear, but are not called zmei, but a Chudo-Iudo. These are humanlike creatures, each one is riding a horse. Even when decapitated, if the heads picked up the grow back on once a line is drawn on it with the dragon's fiery finger. As is pointed out below, a zmei can take human-form, and in the variant "Storm-bogatyr, Ivan the Cow's Son", the multi-headed Chudo-Iudo are described as using the wordzmei also.
Other attributes
The creature's appearance is not described in bylinas. In more recent sources, the Russian zmei is described as being covered with either green or red scales, and having iron claws.
Shapeshifting
The zmei may turn into a handsome youth. In that form he enthralls the sister or wife of Ivan Tsarevich in different versions of , as described below. In one of these the zmei also transforms into kitchen implements to avoid detection: he becomes a broom, a sort of mop and. But Ivan's obedient animals are able to detect the presence of an intruder in these implements. The zmei assumes the form of a golden goat in another tale.
The zmei occurs in the literature of Russia and Ukraine in numerous wondertales such as those in Alexander Afanasyev's compilation Narodnye russkie skazki, and in the byliny, and rendered as "serpent" or "dragon". They may also appear as a character with "Zmei" or "Zmeyevich" in their proper name, and these may exhibit more human-like qualities, such as courting women.
The zmei slain by the bogatyr Dobrynya Nikitich in the bylina "Dobrynya and the Zmei" can be male or female. It may happen to be Zmei Gorynishche. This name is a variant form of "Zmei Gorynych" found in fairy tales. Or it may be she-dragon without a name, as in the byliny collected from Karelian Russia. The "Puchai River" was its haunt, but in the caves of the "Saracen Mountains" it raised its pups and kept hostages. It was capable of flight, and abducted a princess from Kiev by flying there.
Zmei Gorynych
Zmei Gorynych has decidedly dragon-like characteristics, such as having multiple heads, spitting fire, and being associated with a body of water. However, "Zmei Gorynych" is not consistently beast-like, and he may appear in the guise of a human thoroughout in some works below.
Anthropomorphism
Sometimes there are "Sons of Zmei" who are recognized as monsters with human qualities, or vice versa.
Tugarin Zmeyevich
is one such with anthropomorphic characteristics. The half-human quality is borne out by the zmei-bogatyr given him, and from him being able to ride a horse like a human being in the folktale "Alyosha Popovich". Tugarin thus faces off against the bogatyr Alyosha, and is slain. Tugarin is a great glutton, which is suggestive of a dragon; however Tugar still retains human form, even in the scene where he displays the extraordinary feat of devouring a whole swan, moving it from cheek to cheek, and spitting out the bones. Tugarin also has flying wings like a dragon, but some songs rationalize these a paper wings, a device attached to the horse. Tugarin is referred to as a pagan and he has been given overlays of a Tatar tyrant around the folkloric dragon. Some support the conjecture that Tugarin's name derives from "Tugar-Khan", or Tugor-Khan, of the Turkic Polovets, but this etymology has been discounted by later commentators.
The zmei also transforms into a handsome youth to seduce women. In one version, Zmei Gorynych seduces the sister of Ivan Tsarevich. She feigns illnesses and asks Ivan to perform the precarious task of retrieving the milk of the wolf, bear, and lioness. This plan fails. Later however, when Ivan is separated from his trusty pack of animals, zmei reveals his true nature and poises to devour him with his gaping mouth. In another version, Zmei Zmeyevich and Ivan's adulterous wife play out a similar plot.
Other examples
Zmei Gorynych or Tugarin Zmeyevich, in "Dobrynya and Marinka", play fleeting roles as the lover of Marinka the sorceress, and are instantly killed. In some tales, this Zmei Zmeyevich is a tsar.
It was a zmei, and not a drakon that was defeated by Saint George, or St. Egorii, as he was popularly known in Russia. The saint appears as "Egorii the brave" in religious verses. This can be seen in popular lubok prints of Saint George and the Dragonin Russia. The scene is also often depicted in Russian icons.
