120 THROUGH RUSSIA ON A MUSTANG. 



" Titmouse." The titmouse khorovod, as well as 

 many others, has a sort of minor dramatic character. 

 The dramatis personce consists of the Bullfinch, a 

 young man, or a girl with a man's hat on ; the Tit- 

 mouse, his sister, and any number of marriageable 

 maidens, who join hands and form a ring around them. 

 The Bullfinch wishes to get married, and the Titmouse 

 has assumed the responsibility of finding him a suit- 

 able spouse. 



The khorovod begins to circle and to sing in the 

 sad, low cadence peculiar to Russian village maidens: 



Beyond the sea the Titmouse lived ; 



Not grand, nor sumptuous, was her state, etc.; 



chorusing observations on the character and peculiari- 

 ties of many different birds. A feast is held, at which, 

 according to regular Russian tradition, the man look- 

 ing for a bride may pick and choose among the many 

 who are to be present. 



The widow Owl, though uninvited, came. . . . 



The Owl caressed the feathers of her head 



Why ever don't you marry Bullfinch, dear? . . . etc. 



The Bullfinch passes various shrewd opinions on the 

 merits or demerits of the several candidates : " I'd take 

 the Magpie — but she chatters so," — and finally winds 

 up by choosing the Quail, a plump and useful, rather 

 than ornamental, bird. 



Generally the songs of the khorovods, when not de- 

 voted" to any particular theme, deal with the old, yet 

 ever new, story of love. A peculiarity of these village 

 love songs is that they seldom treat of the sentiment in 



