The crescent beach is no more,
There’s not a trace left of the oaks.
Oak is great for parquet -
So that’s that:

Some husky slobs
Came out of their hut
And cut them down
For coffins!

It’s great to live in houses
On chicken, on chicken legs.
But a doltish sort Arrived,
putting people in a fright!

A great guy he was,
Got the old witch drunk
And did a brave deed -
He burned the house down.

Take it easy, take it easy, the grief
I’ve got in my heart!
That’s only the opening line
Of the fairy tale ahead!

There is a cat here, true,
Walking left - he sings,
To the right - he tells a joke!
Real learned son-of-a-bitch,

Took the golden chain
To a pawn shop,
And then off
To a liquor store.

Once it happened that as a gift
He got some royalties -
And Crescent Beach
Stank to high heaven Of booze.

But he got apoplexy,
And to escape the wrath of God
He’s dictating a memoir
About the Tartars!

Take it easy, take it easy, the grief
I’ve got in my heart!
That’s only the opening line
Of the fairy tale ahead!

Thirty-three bogatyrs
Decided they’d been had,
Guarding the Tsar
And the seas.

They all grabbed a plot of land
And started raising chickens, sitting there
Guarding their own,
Not on the job!

Stripping a green oak.
Their chief Turned it into firewood.
The troop Started getting crude
with the folk.

And day after day
Their old sea chief cursed and screamed,
Though he had a place
Near Moscow.

Take it easy, take it easy, the grief
I’ve got in my heart!
That’s only the opening line
Of the fairy tale ahead!

And the water nymph - what a tale!
She didn’t keep her virtue for long,
And gave birth,
best she could.

Thirty-three muzhiks
Don’t want to know Their little son.
Let him be, for now.
The son of the regiment.

Once it happened a certain wizard
And liar, blatherer, and laugher,
As an expert In the ways of the ladies,
Suggested to her:

Water nymph, I’ll understand,
I’ll take you and your baby!
So she went off to him
As to a prison.

Take it easy, take it easy, the grief
I’ve got in my heart!
That’s only the opening line
Of the fairy tale ahead!

The bearded Chernomor
Crescent Beach’s top thief,
He made off with Liudmila long ago -
Oh, he’s cunning!

He takes advantage of the fact
That he can fly.
You’re standing there with your mouth open,
And he’s gone.

And the flying carpet
Was turned over to a museum last year;
The inquisitive folk
Shove through!

Carefully the old codger
Steals women-no matter how much they weep -
Oh, let him be a cripple,
The faster!

Take it easy, take it easy, the grief
I’ve got in my heart!
That’s only the opening line
Of the fairy tale ahead!

Once it happened
That a wood goblin didn’t get enough to drink,
So he beat up his wood-goblin wife.
He yowled:

Gimme a ruble, otherwise I’ll nail you!
Am I the breadwinner or not?
Gimme it or I’ll drink up
The chisel!

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

Take it easy, take it easy, the grief
I’ve got in my heart!
That’s only the opening line
Of the fairy tale ahead!

As for unheard - of animals
And stuff - there’s none of that anymore:
The hunters came in droves,
And that was that!

So that it’s no secret
That the crescent beach is gone!
Everything that the poet wrote of
Is blather!

Take it easy, take it easy, grief,
Don’t wound my soul!
If that’s the opening line,
Then the fairy tale is poppycock!