On that field mighty clouds encountered, and in them lightnings frequently flashed, and terrible thunders clapped: it is the Russian brave warriors who were engaging the pagan Tartars for the great insult, and their mighty gilded armour glistened, and the Russian princes thundered with their tempered swords against the Tartar helmets.... At that time neither soldiers nor shepherds called in the field near the Don, in the land of Ryazán, but only ravens croaked for the sake of the bodies of the dead, so that it was a terror and a pity to hear: for the grass was watered with blood, and the trees were bent to the ground with sorrow, and the birds sang pitiful songs. All princesses and wives of the boyárs and generals wept for the slain. Fedósya, the wife of Mikúla Vasílevich,[113] and Mary, the wife of Dmítri, wept early in the morning at Moscow, standing on the city wall, and spoke as follows: “Don, Don, you are a swift river, and have cut through stone walls, and flow through the land of the Pólovtses! Bring back my beloved one to me!”... All over the Russian land there spread joy and merriment: the Russian glory was borne through the land, but shame and destruction came on the pagan Tartars, evil Mussulmans.... The Grand Prince by his own bravery and with his druzhína vanquished pagan Mamáy for the sake of the Russian land and the Christian faith. The pagans deposited their own arms under the Russian swords, and the trumpets were not sounded, their voices were silent. Mamáy galloped away from his druzhína, howled like a grey wolf, and ran away to the city of Khafest....[114] FOOTNOTES: [102] The Byzantine chronographers generally begin their accounts with Noah; so does Néstor, who follows those sources. [103] The original has a word derived from _Khin_, which seems to be identical with “China,” and is used in general for Asiatics. [104] See pp. 75 and 89. [105] The battle with the Tartars at the river Kálka took place in 1224. [106] Vladímir Andréevich was the cousin of Dmítri Donskóy, the son of Iván II. [107] In the text the word is _boyarin_, _i. e._, “boyár,” evidently a corruption of Boyán, which is one of the proofs of the Zadónshchina being a later imitation of the _Word of Ígor’s Armament_. [108] Popular assembly of Nóvgorod. [109] Burgomasters or governors of Nóvgorod. [110] Tributary of the Don. [111] Iván Kalitá, 1328-1340. [112] These Lithuanian Princes had acknowledged the sovereignty of Moscow. Afanási Nikítin. (XV. century.) Nikítin set out about 1468 for India, whence he returned in 1474. He wrote out an account of his many adventures, which is interesting for its sober though rather one-sided narration. It stands alone in the old Russian literature as the writing of a layman bent on a commercial enterprise. His _Travel to India_ has been translated by Count Wielhorsky for the Hakluyt Society. TRAVEL TO INDIA