f
the soldiers, who was present at the exploit. The first siege of Azof
took place in 1695. The fortress was, however, not taken by storm,
although repeated assaults were made; but the garrison capitulated in
the following year. The great white Tzar is of course Peter I.[28]

THE STORMING OF AZOF.

The poor soldiers have no rest,
Neither night nor day!
Late at evening the word was given
To the soldiers gay;
All night long their weapons cleaning,
Were the soldiers good,
Ready in the morning dawn,
All in ranks they stood.

Not a golden trumpet is it,
That now sounds so clear;
Nor the silver flute's tone is it,
That thou now dost hear.
'Tis the great white Tzar who speaketh,
'Tis our father dear.
Come, my princes, my Boyars,
Nobles, great and small!
Now consider and invent
Good advice, ye all!
How the soonest, how the quickest,
Fort Azof may fall?

The Boyars, they stood in silence.--
And our father dear,
He again began to speak
In his eye a tear:
Come, my children, good dragoons,
And my soldiers all,
Now consider and invent
Brave advice, ye all,
How the soonest, how the quickest,
Fort Azof may fall?

Like a humming swarm of bees,
So the soldiers spake,
With one voice at once they spake:
"Father, dear, great Tzar!
Fall it must! and all our lives
Thereon we gladly stake."

Set already was the moon,
Nearly past the night;
To the storming on they marched,
With the morning light;
To the fort with bulwark'd towers
And walls so strong and white.

Not great rocks they were, which rolled
From the mountains steep;
From the high, high walls there rolled
Foes into the deep.
No white snow shines on the fields,
All so white and bright;
But the corpses of our foes
Shine so bright and white.
Not up-swollen by heavy rains
Left the sea its bed;
No! in rills and rivers streams
Turkish blood so red!

Different dialects are spoken, and different ballads are sung by the
population of Malo-Russia[29] and of those Polish-Russian and
Polish-Austrian provinces, where the peasantry is of the Ruthenian
race. The musical element is still more prevalent among them; and
their ditties are rhymed. The few very ancient ones, which are still
extant, alone make an exception.

These have the form and the spirit of the ballads of the Great
Russians, and can in no way be discerned from