The Volga and Astrakhan — Visit to a Kalmyk Princess

[19] Here is a translation of one of these songs, which will certainly not give a high idea of the poetic talents of a Kalmuck princess:-- "Mon cheval roux qui dispute le prix de la course au chameau, bronte l'herbe des champs du Don. Dieu notre seigneur, tu nous feras la grace de nous retrouver dans une autre contree. Et toi charmante herbette agitee par le vent, tu t'etends sur la terre. Et toi, o coeur le plus tendre volant vers ma mere, dis lui: qu'entre deux montagnes et des vallees, dans un vallon uni demeurent cinquante braves qui s'approchent avec courage pour tuer une outarde bien grasse. Et toi, tendre mere nature, sois nous propice." [It is with much hesitation and doubt, that I venture to translate this incomprehensible translation:--Tr.] "My bright bay horse, which vies in swiftness with the camel, browses on the grass of the Don. God, our Lord, thou wilt grant us of thy grace to meet in another country. And thou charming little grass shaken by the wind, thou stretchest thyself out on the ground. And thou, O fondest heart, flying to my mother, tell her that between two mountains and valleys, in an even strath, dwell fifty braves, who draw together courageously to kill a very fat bustard. And thou, fond Mother Nature be propitious to us."