The sun shines in the heaven,--Prince Ígor in the land of Russia! Maidens sing at the Danube: their voices are carried over the sea to Kíev. Ígor rides over the Boríchev,[99] to the church of the Holy Virgin of Pirogóshch. The country is happy, the towns rejoice; they sing songs to the elder princes, and then to the younger. Let us sing the glory of Ígor Svyatoslávich, of Grim Aurochs Vsévolod, Vladímir Ígorevich! Hail, princes and druzhína, who battle for the Christians against the pagan host! Glory to the princes and the druzhína! Amen! FOOTNOTES: [23] Ígor was the son of Svyatosláv Ólgovich of Nóvgorod Syéverski, and grandson of Olég of Tmútorokan. [24] From the references to the princes whose praise he sang, it is evident that he lived at the end of the eleventh and the beginning of the twelfth centuries. Nothing else is known of this famous poet. [25] Yarosláv, the son of Vladímir, lived from 1019-1054: he was the author of the Russian Code (see p. 45). [26] Mstisláv, Prince of Tmútorokan, was the brother of Yarosláv († 1036). In 1022 he killed in duel the giant Redédya, chief of the Kasógs who dwelt between the Black and Caspian seas, and conquered their country. [27] Román was a brother of Ígor’s grandfather Olég; he was killed by the Pólovtses in 1079. [28] Vladímir the Great, father of Yarosláv. [29] A Turkish tribe, related to the Pechenyégs, who called themselves Cumanians. They occupied the south of Russia as far as Hungary. [30] See account of the eclipse in the Chronicle (p. 72). [31] Troyán is counted among the ancient Russian divinities in _The Holy Virgin’s Descent into Hell_ (p. 97); but evidently he is also a reminiscence of the Roman Emperor Trajan, whose ramparts and roads are still to be traced along the Danube. [32] The god of the flocks, _i. e._, of wealth and abundance. It is not quite clear why the poet is called his grandson. [33] Tributary of the Dnieper. [34] Nóvgorod Syéverski, Ígor’s capital, in the Government of Chernígov. [35] The appanage of Ígor’s son Vladímir, in the Government of Kursk. [36] A bird of ill-omen; according to some, divinity of darkness. [37] The border of the Black Sea. [38] The Ázov Sea. [39] The ancient Tauric Chersonese, near the modern Sebastopol. [40] An ancient city of the Khazars, on the eastern shore of the Ázov Sea, on the peninsula of Tamán. It became a Russian possession in the tenth century. [41] A frequently recurring sentence, the meaning of which seems to be: You are lost beyond redemption! [42] The trophies won by Ígor. [43] Gza and Konchák, khans of the Pólovtses, were the leaders of the expedition. See p. 77. [44] The four suns are: Ígor, his brother Vsévolod, his son Vladímir of Putívl, and his nephew Svyatosláv Ólgovich of Rylsk. [45] Tributary of the Don. [46] God of the winds. [47] Descendants of the Avars still live between Georgia and Circassia. [48] Her name was Ólga.