And this is the end of the story: Lord, preserve us from eternal torment, and give us, O Lord, the light of paradise! For ever and ever, amen! THE FOLKLORE Epic Songs. The first collection of epic songs was published in 1804, based on the collection made some years before by the Siberian Cossack Kirshá Danílov. Since the fifties of the eighteenth century large numbers of these songs have been gathered in the extreme north-east, by Kiryéevski, Rýbnikov, Gílferding, and others. They are generally divided into the cycle of Kíev, with Vladímir and his druzhína, who defend the country against external enemies, and the cycle of Nóvgorod, in which is described the wealth and luxury of the once famous commercial emporium. There is also a division into the older heroes, of which Volkh Vseslávevich is one, and the younger heroes, of which Ilyá of Múrom is the most noted. Good accounts of the epic songs may be found in most of the general works on Russian literature mentioned in the Preface. The only work which gives a large number of these epics, with notes, is _The Epic Songs of Russia_, by Isabel Florence Hapgood, with an introductory note by Prof. Francis J. Child, New York, 1886. VOLKH VSESLÁVEVICH In the heavens the bright moon did shine, But in Kíev a mighty hero was born, The young hero Volkh Vseslávevich: The damp earth trembled, Trembled the famous Indian realm, And the blue sea also trembled On account of the birth of the hero, The young Volkh Vseslávevich: The fish went into the depth of the sea, The birds flew high into the clouds, The aurochses and stags went beyond the mountains, The hares and foxes into the woods, The wolves and bears into the pine-forests, The sables and martens upon the isles. Volkh was old an hour and a half, And Volkh spoke, like peals of thunder: “Hail to thee, lady mother, Young Márfa Vseslávevna! Swathe me not in swaddling-clothes of bast, Gird me not with bands of silk,-- Swathe me, my dear mother, In strong mail of tempered steel; On my grim head place a helmet of gold, Into my right hand put a club, A heavy club of lead, In weight that club of thirty puds.” Volkh was seven years old: His mother gave him to be instructed; As soon as he had learned to read, She put him down to write with pen, And he learned swiftly how to write. When Volkh was ten years old: Then Volkh learned all cunning arts: The first of these cunning arts was To change himself into a falcon clear; The second cunning art that Volkh had learned Was to change himself into a grey wolf; The third cunning art that Volkh had learned Was to change himself into a dun aurochs with horns of gold. When Volkh was twelve years old, He began to collect a druzhína for himself.