RUSSIAN
TROIKA
"Troika"
(Russian for "three") is a traditional Russian vehicle drawn
by a specially trained team of three horses abreast. Up to 1860, "troika"
was the main means of transportation in Russia. "Troika"
is also one of the most famous symbols of Russia and the Russian soul.
Why is Russian troika so symbolic of Russian soul, Russian freedom?
A troika is essentially three horses harnessed to a light sled. The
horses arch their necks and beat the ground impatiently with their
hoofs so that the coachman can hardly keep them in check. The horses
take off at a gallop and seem to fly like birds. The bells jingle
away merrily. You will see the Russian troikas racing along the broad
paths in some of the Russian parks. Each of the sleighs is drawn by
a team of three horses abreast, and their sleigh bells ring out in
the clear winter air…
Did
you what Gogol said about Troika?
"...And
what Russian is there who doesn't love fast driving? How should his
soul that yearns to go off into a whirl, to go off on a fling, to
say on occasion, "Devil take it all!" How should his soul
fail to love it? Is it not a thing to be loved, when one can sense
in it something exaltedly wondrous? Some unseen power has caught you
up on its wing and you are flying yourself, and all things are flying;
some merchants are flying towards you, perched on the front seats
of their covered carts. The forest flies on both sides of the road
with its dark rows of firs and pines, echoing with the ring of axes
and the cawing of crows. The whole road is flying, no one knows where
into the unseen distance. There is something fearsome hidden in the
objects that are flashing by, so rapid that there is no time for each
one to become defined before it disappears; only the sky in the infinity
above, the light clouds and the moon breaking through these clouds
seem motionless.
Eh, thou troika, thou that art a bird! Who conceived thee? Methinks
only among a spirited folk that thou could have come into being. In
the land that is not fond of doing things by halves, but has evenly
and smoothly spread itself out over half the world. Therefore try
and count its milestones until they turn to spots before the eyes!
Far from cunningly contrived is the vehicle the troika draws; held
together with no screws of iron art thou, but hastily, with a slam
and a bang, wert thou put together and fitted by some handy Muzhik
of Yaroslav, with nothing but an ax and a chisel. No fancy Hessian
jack boots does the driver wear. He spots a beard, great gauntlets,
and only the devil knows what he sits on for a cushion. Let him rise
in his seat, swing his whip back, and strike up a long-drawn song
while his steeds are off like a whirlwind. The spokes of each wheel
has blended into one unbroken disk; the road merely quivers, and a
pedestrian, stopping short, cries out in fright, and the troika is
soaring, soaring away! ...Now all one can see, already far in the
distance, is something raising the dust and swirling through the air.
Thou art not my Russia, soaring along even like a spirited never to
be outdistanced troika? The road actually smokes under thee, the bridges
thunder; everything falls back and is left behind thee! The witness
of thy passing comes to a deep stop, dumbfounded by this God's wonder!
Is it not a streak of lightning cast down from heaven? What signifies
this onrush that inspires terror? And what unknown power is contained
in these steeds, whose like is not known in this world? Ah, these
steeds, these steeds, what steeds they are! Are there whirlwinds perched
upon your manes? Is there a sensitive ear, alert as a flame, in your
every fiber? You have caught the familiar song coming down to you
from above. All as one and all at the same instant, you have strained
your brazen chests and almost without touching earth with your hoofs,
you have become transformed into straight lines cleaving the air.
The troika tears along, inspired by God! Where art thou soaring away
to, Russia? Give me the answer! But Russia gives none. With a wondrous
ring does the jingle bell trill; the air rent to shreds thunders and
turns to the wind. All things on earth fly past, eyeing the troika
and all the other peoples and nations stand aside giving it the right
of way."
