I'm not for
witchcraft
now inclined.
Pushkin - Eugene Oneigin
Girls the _kashourka_ much prefer. (52)
[Note 52: During the "sviatki" it is a common custom for the girls
to assemble around a table on which is placed a dish or basin of
water which contains a ring. Each in her turn extracts the ring
from the basin whilst the remainder sing in chorus the "podbliudni
pessni," or "dish songs" before mentioned. These are popularly
supposed to indicate the fortunes of the immediate holder of the
ring. The first-named lines foreshadow death; the latter, the
"kashourka," or "kitten song," indicates approaching marriage. It
commences thus: "The cat asked the kitten to sleep on the stove. "]
IX
Frosty the night; the heavens shone;
The wondrous host of heavenly spheres
Sailed silently in unison--
Tattiana in the yard appears
In a half-open dressing-gown
And bends her mirror on the moon,
But trembling on the mirror dark
The sad moon only could remark.
List! the snow crunches--he draws nigh!
The girl on tiptoe forward bounds
And her voice sweeter than the sounds
Of clarinet or flute doth cry:
"What is your name? " The boor looked dazed,
And "Agathon" replied, amazed. (53)
[Note 53: The superstition is that the name of the future husband
may thus be discovered. ]
X
Tattiana (nurse the project planned)
By night prepared for sorcery,
And in the bathroom did command
To lay two covers secretly.
But sudden fear assailed Tattiana,
And I, remembering Svetlana,(54)
Become alarmed. So never mind!
I'm not for witchcraft now inclined.
So she her silken sash unlaced,
Undressed herself and went to bed
And soon Lel hovered o'er her head. (55)
Beneath her downy pillow placed,
A little virgin mirror peeps.
'Tis silent all. Tattiana sleeps.
[Note 54: See Note 30. ]
[Note 55: Lel, in Slavonic mythology, corresponds to the Morpheus
of the Latins. The word is evidently connected with the verb
"leleyat" to fondle or soothe, likewise with our own word
"to lull. "]
XI
A dreadful sleep Tattiana sleeps.
She dreamt she journeyed o'er a field
All covered up with snow in heaps,
By melancholy fogs concealed.
Amid the snowdrifts which surround
A stream, by winter's ice unbound,
Impetuously clove its way
With boiling torrent dark and gray;
Two poles together glued by ice,
A fragile bridge and insecure,
Spanned the unbridled torrent o'er;
Beside the thundering abyss
Tattiana in despair unfeigned
Rooted unto the spot remained.
XII
As if against obstruction sore
Tattiana o'er the stream complained;
To help her to the other shore
No one appeared to lend a hand.
But suddenly a snowdrift stirs,
And what from its recess appears?
A bristly bear of monstrous size!
He roars, and "Ah! " Tattiana cries.
