Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 24, 1913.djvu/523

 Collectanea. 48 5

III. A Fare'weil Song (improvised by Viinit, a beggar's wife).

" You, when you go to far off lands, will not think of us. But I, when you are gone, shall think only of you. Wiiere you loved to walk, there I will walk. When I see your paths, I will think, — "There, there, I see him." When I see men walking there, I shall take them for you ; but they will not be you. When I meet a man who is like you, I shall remember you. When I see that he is another man I shall be sad. You are better than a good Gilyak, even as when I look at many trees the tallest one pleases me more than the others, for you are kinder than other men.

If you go far, if you go near, take with you the words of my mouth. When you say them aloud, listen and you will be glad, and will remember us. Live happy ; carry my words into strange places, and into strange villages. Carry tliem that many men may hear them. Let young and old and all hear them. I have given to you all the words of my mouth. I will forget you only when I sleep ; when I awake I will tiiink of you again, of how you live there far away. I shall hear no more of you, or maybe only once. 1 see you now for the last time. You will never hear of me ; if I am frozen or some other thing should happen to me, or if I should die, you will not know. I may hear once of you, but you will know nothing of me."

The Gilyaks love their poetry, but leave the making of it to individuals who are unfit for the material struggles of life. Once a very rich Gilyak was my guest, and I rejoiced at the thought of hearing a song which would give me an idea of the sentiments of a successful man. As I insisted on hearing one from him, the man half amused and half offended, gave me a good lesson : — " What do you think of me ? Ask of me how, when, and where one should fish or hunt ; ask me about training dogs, or building summer or winter huts ; but my head isn't filled with that sort of rubbish. I don't understand how a sensible man like you can bother about such silly songs."

IV. Fare-iuell Song (improvised by Sanykh, a rich man, during a year of famine). " Long ago when the Russians were not here there was much fish, there were many reindeer and sables, and there were many