My schoolboy translation circa 1967


From beyond the tree-clad island
To the running river wave
Come the gilded cossack galleys
Of Stenka Razin, the brave.

In the stern sits Stenka Razin,
With his princess by his side;
Celebrating their new marriage;
Drunk in honour of his bride.

She sits steeped in sad reflection;
Neither quick she seems nor dead,
While the cossack's drunken speeches
Roll unheeded o'er her head.

From behind them rises murmuring,
"For a girl he's left our clan;
After but one night of marriage,
He has ceased to be a man."

But this mockery and murmuring
Reach the haughtt cossack's ears.
He takes hold his Persian princess,
Heeding neither prayers nor tears.

Hot the blood flows to his temples,
And with hot tears fill his eyes;
His black brows are bound in anger,
Leaping to his feet, he cries,

"Volga, Volga, thou life-giver,
No gift hast thou had from me;
Volga, mighty Russian river,
This fair princess give I thee.

And in order that there may be,
Betwixt all my peoples free,
No strife, Volga, Mother River,
Take this beauty unto thee."

Then, before the startled cossacks
E'er a hand could raise to save,
He took hold his Persian princess,
Threw her in the foaming wave.

"Why are you cast down my comrades?
Drink, my friends! And jest, my fool!
Let us eat, drink and make merry
To the memory of her soul.

From beyond the tree-clad island
To the running river wave
Come the gilded cossack galleys
Of Stenka Razin, the brave.