In the shorter and more lyric songs, of which a rich
treasure is the property of most Slavic nations, and in which their
common descent is most strikingly manifested, there prevails a still
purer morality, and the most tender feelings of the human breast are
displayed.
It was on account of this decidedly exotic character of Slavic popular
poetry, that, when the author of the present work first published a
German version of the Servian popular songs, Goethe considered it as
an advantage, that the work of translation had fallen into the hands
of a lady. Only a female mind, the great poet thought, was capable of
the degree of accommodation requisite to clothe the "barbarian poems"
in a dress, in which they could be relished by readers of nations
foreign to their genius. Even the love-songs, although "of the highest
beauty," he thought could only he enjoyed _en masse_. But this last
remark applies in a certain measure to all popular poetry; for these
little songs are like the warblings of the wood-birds; and a single
voice would do little justice to the whole. The monotonous chirping of
one little feathered singer is tedious or burdensome; while we enjoy
their full concert as the sweetest music of nature. One swallow does
not make a summer.
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