ABSTRACT
In Russian folklore, ballads form a transitional genre W between epics and lyric songs in regard to their kind of melody, mode of performance (solo versus chorus), and linguistic idiom or style. A distinction is made between the older and more traditional Russian ballads and the newer, urban ballads that started appearing in the eighteenth century. Unlike the ballads in many West European countries, the older Russian ballads were unrhymed, had no stanza form, and had no refrain. In the far north, mainly women performed ballads as part of their repertory, which also might include epics. The translated song represents an example of the older type of Russian ballad.
