The motives of Mari folk songs, included by S.A. Klychkov in the book of his poetical translations “Saraspan”, represent the ethnic mentality and universal emotional world of man. Mythological consciousness, national character, way of life, depicted in songs, correlate with the content of the epic genre works, but because of the lyricism they differ from the generally accepted ideas about the character, habits, ethics of Mari. The content of the songs is dominated by intimate human experience. The article specifies the principles of translation outlined by Klychkov in his articles.