An evil witch's lone retreat;

The woods and valleys there are teeming

With strange things.... Dawn brings waves that, gleaming,

Over the sandy beaches creep,

And from the clear and shining water

Step thirty goodly knights escorted

By their Old Guardian, of the deep

An ancient dweller.... There a dreaded

And hated tsar is captive ta'en;

There, as all watch, for cloud banks headed,

Across the sea and o'er a plain,

A warlock bears a knight. There, weeping,

A princess sits locked in a cell,

And Grey Wolf serves her very well;

There, in a mortar, onward sweeping

All of itself, beneath the skies

The wicked Baba-Yaga flies;

There pines Koshchei and lusts for gold....

All breathes of Russ, the Russ of old

There once was I, friends, and the at

As near him 'neath the oak I sat

And drank of sweet mead at my leisure,

Recounted tales to me.... With pleasure

One that I liked do I recall

And here and now will share with all...

RUSLAN AND LYUDMILA: CANTO THE FIRST.

The ways and deeds of days gone by,

A narrative on legend founded....

In princely banquet chamber high,

By doughty sons and guests surrounded,

Vladimir-Bright Sun holds a fete;

His daughter is the chosen mate

Of Prince Ruslan, and these two linking

In marriage, old Vladimir's drinking