had thick eyebrows, and blue eyes, and a flat nose. His beard and moustaches were long and thin, and his head was all shaven, except for one long tuft of hair, which showed that he was a great man. He wore a gold ring in one of his ears, with two pearls and some rubies in it.

When he went to war he would only eat raw meat, and particularly horse-flesh. He could sleep in the saddle, and he rowed his boat himself. When he went to war he sent to his enemies to say, "I am marching against you."

Sviatoslav had a great deal of trouble with the wild tribes round, the Patzinaks and others. Some he conquered, but others, who lived further away, then came into his country, and once came right up to Kief. Olga and Sviatoslav's baby son were there, and were nearly taken.

The Greek Emperor one day asked Sviatoslav to come and help him against the Bulgarians. These were tribes who lived between Constantinople and Kief. Sviatoslav came gladly, for he loved to fight. And with his brave men he conquered the Bulgarians and took their cities.

Then, like many other people, having gained a good thing, he thought he might keep it. So he stayed in Bulgaria. That the Greek Emperor did not like, for he feared that the Russians might grow too strong, and then it would not be convenient to

have them so close. So he sent messengers to Sviatoslav to ask him to go back to Kief. But Sviatoslav's answer was, "Presently I hope to be at Constantinople."

At that the Greek Emperor was troubled and afraid. And to try to terrify Sviatoslav he marched against a city, in which were some of the Russian men, and he took the city and burned it. Then Sviatoslav, in a mighty rage, marched to meet the Greeks near the city Dorostol, and he and his men went into the city, and the Greeks besieged them there.

There were twelve great battles, and though Sviatoslav's men were only 10,000 against 100,000 Greeks, they fought bravely, both men and women. During the night, when the battle stopped, they used to go out of the town and burn their dead by moonlight.

At last there was a very fierce battle. The Russians might have won, but there was a great wind that blew dust into their faces. The Greeks said that Saint Theodore was fighting for them in the wind on a white horse, but the Russians did not see him. They were terribly beaten, and had to ask for peace.

The Emperor then made them promise that they would never invade Constantinople again, but help to defend it. So they swore by Perun and Voloss, saying, "If we do not keep our word, may we

become as yellow as gold, and perish by our own arms." Then they turned to march home, the few that were left.

But the giant Patzinaks had heard of their defeat, and hid themselves in the bushes on the banks of the Dnieper. And as Sviatoslav and his men came rowing up, worn out and weary, they sprang out on them and killed Sviatoslav. Then they cut off his head, and sent the skull to their king as a drinking-cup.

CHAPTER IV.

RUSSIA AT SCHOOL.

SVIATOSLAV before he died had made a great mistake. He had divided his kingdom among his three sons. He said, indeed, that the son who reigned at Kief was to be called the Grand Prince, and have a sort of authority over the others. But this did not do away the evil of his mistake. From this time, for centuries, there were disputes and quarrels among the different princes of the Russians.

These three sons quarrelled until two of them were dead. The one that was left was called Vladimir. He came and ruled at Kief alone.

He was a brutal, savage man. His own wife hated him so much that one day when he was asleep she drew near with a dagger to kill him. But he awoke and caught her hand. Then he resolved to kill her. He told her to dress herself in her wedding-robe, and then went to her room to kill her. But at the door his little son met him with a drawn sword, and said, "Father, you are not

alone here." Then Vladimir flung away his sword and called his boyards to advise him. And they told him to pardon the mother for the sake of the child.

We have been hearing all this time how the Russians lived when they were ignorant like babies. Now we shall hear how Russia went to school, and learned many things, and had new rules to obey.

Vladimir was to choose Russia's school for her. For it was priests and teachers of religion who were the Russians' first schoolmasters. They taught them how to behave, and to live like civilised people.

Vladimir had come back victorious from war, and in gratitude to the gods he said that he would sacrifice a human victim to them. He cast lots to choose the victim, and the lot fell on the son of a Varangian or Norseman, who was a Christian.

Then the people went to this Varangian's house, and said to him, " Bring out your son to be sacrificed to the gods." But the Varangian answered, "Your gods are no gods, but only wood: they neither eat nor drink nor sleep. The worship, he alone is God. and the earth, and men.

God whom the Greeks
He made the heavens,
Your gods have made

nothing, but are themselves made by human hands. I will not give my son to devils."