The painting is an illustration to a common <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/motif_(literature)" class="extiw" title="w:motif (literature)">motif</a> of Russian folk fairy tales, when a hero comes to a fork in the road and sees a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/menhir" class="extiw" title="w:menhir">menhir</a> with an inscription telling him what awaits him in each direction. In this case, the only visible words are "Как пряму ехати — живу не бывати — нет пути ни прохожему, ни проезжему, ни пролетному" (If you go straight, you will not be alive—there is no path for either the walker, the rider, or the flier."
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Viktor_Vasnetsov" class="extiw" title="w:en:Viktor Vasnetsov"><span title="Russian artist (1848-1926)">Viktor Vasnetsov</span></a>
</bdi>
1882<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1882-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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