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BALLAD to STENKA RAZIN

INTRODUCTION
Like Bolotnikov before him Stenka Razin led a massive rebellion against the tsarist state in the 1670s.  His rebellion gave rise to legends for years to come and countless ballads and popular tales, of which the following is alleged to be an example, though the exact time it was put to writing is unclear.  The translation into English by Jacob Robbins is dated 1921.
1. From beyond the wooded island
    To the river wide and free,
    Proudly sail the arrow-breasted
    Ships of Cossack yeomanry.		  7. "Volga, Volga, mother Volga,
      Deep and wide beneath the sun,
      You have never seen a present
       From the Cossack of the Don.
2. On the first is Stenka Razin
    With a princess at his side,
    Drunken, holds a marriage revel
    With his beautiful young bride. 		 8. And that peace might rule as always
    All my free-born men and brave,
    Volga, Volga, mother Volga,
    Volga, make this girl a grave."
3. But behind them rose a whisper,
    "He has left his sword to woo;
    One short night, and Stenka Razin
    Has become a woman too!" 		 9. With a sudden, mighty movement,
     Razin lifts the beauty high,
     And he casts her where the waters
     Of the Volga move and sigh.
4. Stenka Razin hears the jeering
    Of his discontented band,
    And the lovely Persian princess
    He has circled with his hand. 		 10. Now a silence like the grave sinks
      To all those who stand to see,
      And the battle-hardened Cossacks
      Sink to weep on bended knee.
5. His black brows have come together
    As the waves of anger rise,
    And the blood comes rushing swiftly
    To his piercing, jet-black eyes. 		 11. "Dance, you fool, and men, make merry!
      What has got into your eyes?
      Let us thunder out a chanty
      Of a place where beauty lies."
6. "I will give you all you ask for,
      Life and heart, and head and hand,"
      Echo rolls the pealing thunder
      Of his voice across the land.		 12. From beyond the wooded island
      To the river wide and free,
      Proudly sail the arrow-breasted
      Ships of Cossack yeomanry.