Incursion of the Crimean Tartars - Anonymous

Not a mighty cloud has covered the sky,
Nor mighty thunders have thundered:
Whither travels the dog, Crimea's tsar? —
To the mighty tsarate of Muscovy.
"To-day we will go against stone-built Moscow
But coming back, we will take Ryazán
And when they were at the river Oká,
They began their white tents to pitch.
"Now think a thought with all your minds:
Who is to sit in stone-built Moscow,
And who is to sit in Vladímir,
And who is to sit in Súzdal,
And who will hold old Ryazán,
And who will sit in Zvenfgorod,
And who will sit in Novgorod?"
There stepped forward Diví Murza, son of Ulán:
"Listen, our lord, Crimea's tsar!
You, our lord, shall sit in stone-built Moscow,
And your son in Vladímir,
And your nephew in Súzdal,
And your relative in Zvenfgorod,
And let the equerry hold old Ryazán,
But to me, O lord, grant Novgorod:
There, in Novgorod, lies my luck."
The voice of the Lord called out from heaven:
"Listen, you dog, Crimea's tsar!
Know you not the tsarate of Muscovy?
There are in Moscow seventy Apostles,
Besides the three Sanctified;
And there is in Moscow still an orthodox Tsar."
And you fled, you dog, Crimea's tsar,
Not over the highways, nor the main road.
Nor following the black standard.

---

Anonymous Russian (17th century) Russia
Translated by Richard James
Source: Anthology of Russian literature from the earliest period to the present time, Leo Wiener, G.P. Putnam's & Sons, 1902

• Note: This poem tells of the downfall of Devlét Giréy and his troops after an initial successful raid in 1572. He had been so confident that he allotted sections to his family (as the poem tells), but of his army of 120,000 only 20,000 survived! The seventy Apostles and three Sanctified are possibly churches.