Page:Folk-lore - A Quarterly Review. Volume 25, 1914.djvu/111

 Co/lcctanca. 99

the accompaniment of dramatic actions. The Mykita, for men, is in itself a considerable athletic accomplishment. The Kniciel IS usually danced by a man and two women in a row. The most savage dance, called the Kosak, has been brought from Ukraine, and is often in the nature of a contest, in which each man tries to perform a more complicated step than his opponent, till one of them breaks down, unable to go any further. The national instru- ment which accompanies these dances is called the di/dij, and is a species of bagpipe. There are also many forms of flute {dudka), made out of willow or birch, the most curious of which {truba) is about two and a half feet long, and is made from the stem of a young pine tree from which the pith has been extracted. Only one tune is played on this instrument during the autumn nights when the horses and cattle are being pastured, and this tune is never played until the summer is over. As is the case with the songs, the national dances are unfortunately being replaced by modern ones, and the national instruments by the violin and concertina.

2. Songs.

The first six songs are representative of those which are sung by the peasants during the day's work, in the evening while they sit spinning, and while they tend their cattle by day or night. In nmsic and words there has been very little influence from outside, though many verses vary considerably as to date. The first two lines usually serve as introduction, by praising some rustic scene or occupation, in language that is of extreme simplicity, and full of diminutives which are apjjlied even to adjectives.

The first song is essentially characteristic, and would probably be preferred by women, especially if they had suffered a somewhat similar fate. The scene of the maiden's seduction is given by the introduction, where she is depicted lying thinking over her unhappy love. In the third stanza, the groaning of the cart-wheels reminds her of her own lamenting, and the whole stanza gives a vivid picture of autumn sadness : —

'• The cry of a child by the roadway, the creak of a lumbering cart, The heavy steps of the ploughman splashing the wintry mould."