Russia in 1839 -Empire of the Czar: A Journey Through Eternal Russia

SONG OF THE DON COSSACKS.51

some old Spanish melodies, but is more plaintive; it is soft yet penetrating as the warble of the nightingale when heard at a distance, by night, in the depths of the woods. Now and then the bystanders repeated in chorus the last words of the strophe.

The following is a prosaic translation, verse by verse, which a Russian has just made for me :

They shout the loud alarm, My war steed paws the ground ;

I hear him neigh,

О ! let me go !

Let others rush to death :

Too young and gentle, thou

Shalt yet watch o'er our cottage home ;

Thou must not pass the Don.

The foe, the foe,— to arms ! — I go to fight for thee : If gentle here, against the foe, Though young, I still am brave.

The old Cossack would blush with wrath and shame

If I should stay behind.

See thy mother weeping, Behold her sinking frame ; We shall be victims of thy rage, Ere yet the foe is seen.

When they talk of the campaign, They would call me a poltroon : But if I die, and comrades praise my name, Thy tears shall soon be dried. D 2