THE SOROCHYNTSI

I.

Life in the hut is a bore to me.
Oh, take me away from home,
Where there is much thunder, thunder,
Where all the girls dance,
Where the lads make merry!

From an old legend.

How intoxicating, how luxurious is a summer day in Malorossiya Little Russia/Ukraine! How languidly hot are those hours when midday shines in silence and heat, and the blue, immeasurable ocean, bending over the earth like a voluptuous dome, seems to have fallen asleep, all drowned in pleasure, embracing and pressing the beautiful earth in its airy arms! There is not a cloud in it. Not a sound in the field.