More important is the poetical folk-lore of Russia, concerning which neither tradition nor history can give us any clue in the matter of derivation or date.

One thing seems reasonably certain: it largely consists of the relics of an extensive system of sorcery, in the form of fragmentary spells, exorcisms, incantations, and epic lays, or _byliny_.
Song accompanies every action of the Russian peasant, from the cradle to the grave: the choral dances of spring, summer, and autumn, the games of the young people in their winter assemblies, marriages, funerals, and every phase of life, the sowing and the harvest, and so forth.

The kazak songs, robber songs, soldiers' songs, and historical songs are all descendants or imitators of the ancient poetry of Russia.

They are the remains of the third--the Moscow or imperial--cycle of the epic songs, which deals with really historical characters and events.

The Moscow cycle is preceded by the cycles of Vladimir, or Kieff, and of Novgorod.
Still more ancient must be the foundations of the marriage songs, rooted in the customs of the ancient Slavonians.
The Slavonians do not remember the date of their arrival in Europe.
Tradition says that they first dwelt, after this arrival, along the Danube, whence a hostile force compelled them to emigrate to the northeast.