The birch bark letter of a Novgorod boy named Onfim is one of the oldest children’s drawings in Russian history. On it, the young author depicted a horse and a rider who strikes his fallen enemy with a spear. The inscription “Onfim” is nearby. Historians believe that the boy painted his “self-portrait” as a hero and signed it with his own name.
In total, archaeologists found 12 birch bark letters which belonged to Onfim. 11 of them were found together: most likely, the young resident of Novgorod lost them all at once. Another letter was found separately. Most of the documents are his homework notes: the alphabet, syllables, lines from church texts, or standard letters. For example, one of the letters contains the traditional greeting “Greetings from Onfim to Danilo”, and the other — a business note: “Collect the debts from Dmitra”.
Onfim drew on some of the birch bark pieces. The most popular theme in his drawings is battle scenes: foot soldiers and warriors on horsebacks with spears and swords, defeated enemies, flying arrows. In addition, it seems like the boy drew his friend and wrote his name “Pavle” (Paul) and a picture of a fantastic creature that he signed “I am a wild beast”.
Judging from the style of drawing, researchers established that Onfim was about six or seven years old. At the same time, they examined his well-established handwriting and clear outlines of the letters: the young resident of Novgorod had probably been studying for several years and attending a school, where he received a systematic education. Furthermore, in the manuscripts Onfim replaced letters Ъ и Ь, characteristic of book speech, with O and E, which were often used for ordinary notes. At the same time, he practiced writing Ъ и Ь for his alphabet homework: thus, Onfim studied both variants of writing — the bookish and vernacular (which reflected living speech).
In total, archaeologists found 12 birch bark letters which belonged to Onfim. 11 of them were found together: most likely, the young resident of Novgorod lost them all at once. Another letter was found separately. Most of the documents are his homework notes: the alphabet, syllables, lines from church texts, or standard letters. For example, one of the letters contains the traditional greeting “Greetings from Onfim to Danilo”, and the other — a business note: “Collect the debts from Dmitra”.
Onfim drew on some of the birch bark pieces. The most popular theme in his drawings is battle scenes: foot soldiers and warriors on horsebacks with spears and swords, defeated enemies, flying arrows. In addition, it seems like the boy drew his friend and wrote his name “Pavle” (Paul) and a picture of a fantastic creature that he signed “I am a wild beast”.
Judging from the style of drawing, researchers established that Onfim was about six or seven years old. At the same time, they examined his well-established handwriting and clear outlines of the letters: the young resident of Novgorod had probably been studying for several years and attending a school, where he received a systematic education. Furthermore, in the manuscripts Onfim replaced letters Ъ и Ь, characteristic of book speech, with O and E, which were often used for ordinary notes. At the same time, he practiced writing Ъ и Ь for his alphabet homework: thus, Onfim studied both variants of writing — the bookish and vernacular (which reflected living speech).
