The Mazurka, another very popular Polish dance, is also in ¾ time, but faster than the polonaise, and slower than the waltz. It is performed by a few couples at a time, two to eight but rarely more. The accent of the measure falls on the third beat, which distinguishes it from a waltz. Other well known Polish dances are the _Krakowiak_ in ²⁄₄ time, the _Kujawiak_ in ¾ time, the _Obertass_ in ¾ time, the dance of the mountaineers, called the _Kolomyjka_ in ²⁄₄ time, and the _Kosah_ in ²⁄₄ time. All these dances are fast, and all of them come directly from folk songs. SPANISH DANCE-SONGS It is very hard to tell which of the Spanish folk pieces are dances and which at first were songs, because the favorite songs of Spain are nearly all sung as accompaniments to dancing. Spain had almost as rich troubadour music as France, because the influence of the troubadours and of the jongleurs was very strong, Provence being Spain’s neighbor. In Catalonia the Provençal language has been used since the 9th century, and the folk music differs from that of other parts of Spain. The songs of Spain divide themselves into four groups. The Basque, the music of Biscay and Navarre, unlike any music of which we have told you, is irregular in rhythm, melody, and scale, and the _jota_ is one of its characteristic dances. Galicia and Castile have gay, bright, strong marked dance rhythms as may be seen from their characteristic _boleros_ and _seguidillas_. Andalusian music and that of Southern Spain is perhaps the most beautiful of all, for here we find the influence of the Oriental music to a marked degree, in the use of the scale, in florid ornament, and in the richness of the rhythm; the dances _fandangos_, _rondeñas_ and _malagueñas_ are thought to be finer than the songs. The guitar is the king of instruments in Andalusia and how Spanish it is! The fourth group of songs is from Catalonia of French influence and less Spanish than the others. THE BALLAD AND THE BALLET In the English language we have the word _ballad_, which means a long poem in which a story is told. We also use the French word _ballet_, for a dance on the stage. These two words come from the same root, and show that at one time ballads and dance tunes were practically the same thing. The English dance song, the “round” or the same dance in France called the _ronde_, was a popular dance for many centuries, some of which are most amusing and curious. One dance tune from the 12th century has Latin words; there is also a well known tune, Sellenger’s Round, from the collection called the _Fitzwilliam Virginal Book_. Another famous ballad (dance) was _Trenchmore_, a good sample of English folk dance at the end of the 16th century: [Illustration: TRENCHMORE]