Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/110

 98 Collectanea.

exploits on the battlefield, but his wooing in the ryefield that is celebrated. The wandering Cossack (from Turkish, " mounted horseman " or '' robber ") jjlays throughout these songs the part of the romantic lover. He came from the steppes of Ukraine ("march"), where Cossacks acted as wardens of the boundary. In return for their services they were granted certain rights, the infringement of which usually led to the Cossack risings. They were a mixed race, having Mongolian, Polish, Tartar, and Russian blood, and to their strongholds on the Don and the Dnieper came every robber, outlaw, or political refugee, fleeing from justice. They were fickle, hardy and brave, and skilful in the management of light river craft, and there are stories of Cossack expeditions by water as far as Constantinople.

The poetical influence of the surrounding nations must have been very strong. The immediate neighbours on the west of the Ruthenians were the Letts, among whom there are still to be found a few almost unrecognisable fragments of an epic poem ; further to the north were the F^inns, the authors of the Kakvala. The Lithuanians also had a very beautiful lyric poetry,^^ somewhat similar in character to that of the White Ruthenians, and among the Esthonians on the Baltic shore there were bardic poets of no mean order,^^ as well as among Poles and Ukranians, who both possess an exceedingly rich native poetry.

It is obvious that the songs cannot have a date, any more than the centuries that have been needed to evolve them. No doubt the nucleus belongs to a very early time, while alterations have probably been made as late as this century.

A very distinct contrast to the sadness of the music of the songs is the gaiety of their dance music, which is charged with the joy of life. The usual dances are Miecielica (the whirling) or Susiedka (the neighbour), the Mykita, and the Kruciel (the turning). The Zajcyk (the hare), which is not very common now, is danced over crossed sticks to the accompaniment of special words. In the south, the LmiHviicha and the Warabiej (the sparrow) are the commoner dances. The Miecielica is danced by two people to

^^ Nesselmann, Littaiiische Volkslieder.

i*The last bard recorded died in 181 3 ; cf. Latham, Nationalities oj Europe, vol. i., p. 132.