![]() Taras Bulba ![]() The Koschevoi ordered a general assembly; and when all stood in a ring
and had removed their caps and became quiet, he said: The Kozaks all stood with drooping heads, knowing that they were
guilty; only Kukubenko, the hetman of the Nezamisky kurén, answered back.
"Stop, father!" said he; "although it is not lawful to make a retort when
the Koschevoi speaks before the whole army, yet it is necessary to say that
that was not the state of the case. You have not been quite just in your
reprimand. The Kozaks would have been guilty, and deserving of death, had
they got drunk on the march, or when engaged on heavy toilsome labour during
war; but we have been sitting here unoccupied, loitering in vain before the
city. There was no fast or other Christian restraint; how then could it be
otherwise than that a man should get drunk in idleness? There is no sin in
that. But we had better show them what it is to attack innocent people. They
first beat us well, and now we will beat them so that not half a dozen of
them will ever see home again."
The speech of the hetman of the kurén pleased the Kozaks. They raised
their drooping heads upright and many nodded approvingly, muttering,
"Kukubenko has spoken well!" And Taras Bulba, who stood not far from the
Koschevoi, said: "How now, Koschevoi? Kukubenko has spoken truth. What have
you to say to this?"
"What have I to say? I say, Blessed be the father of such a son! It does
not need much wisdom to utter words of reproof; but much wisdom is needed to
find such words as do not embitter a man's misfortune, but encourage him,
restore to him his spirit, put spurs to the horse of his soul, refreshed by
water. I meant myself to speak words of comfort to you, but Kukubenko has
forestalled me."
"The Koschevoi has also spoken well!" rang through the ranks of the
Zaporozhtzi. "His words are good," repeated others. And even the greyheads,
who stood there like dark blue doves, nodded their heads and, twitching
their grey moustaches, muttered softly, "That was well said." "Listen now, gentles," continued the Koschevoi. "To take the city, by
scaling its walls, or undermining them as the foreign engineers do, is not
proper, not Kozak fashion. But, judging from appearances, the enemy
entered the city without many provisions; they had not many wagons with
them. The people in the city are hungry; they will all eat heartily, and the
horses will soon devour the hay. I don't know whether their saints will
fling them down anything from heaven with hayforks; God only knows that
though there are a great many Catholic priests among them. By one means or
another the people will seek to leave the city. Divide yourselves,
therefore, into three divisions, and take up your posts before the three
gates; five kuréns before the principal gate, and three kuréns before each
of the others. Let the Dadikivsky and Korsunsky kuréns go into ambush and
Taras and his men into ambush too. The Titarevsky and Timoschevsky kuréns
are to guard the baggage train on the right flank, the Scherbinovsky and
Steblikivsky on the left, and to select from their ranks the most daring
young men to face the foe. The Lyakhs are of a restless nature and cannot
endure a siege, and perhaps this very day they will sally forth from the
gates. Let each hetman inspect his kurén; those whose ranks are not full are
to be recruited from the remains of the Pereyaslavsky kurén. Inspect them
all anew. Give a loaf and a beaker to each Kozak to strengthen him. But
surely every one must be satiated from last night; for all stuffed
themselves so that, to tell the truth, I am only surprised that no one burst
in the night. And here is one further command: if any Jew spirit-seller
sells a Kozak so much as a single jug of brandy, I will nail pig's ears to
his very forehead, the dog, and hang him up by his feet. To work, brothers,
to work!" Thus did the Koschevoi give his orders. All bowed to their girdles, and
without putting on their caps set out for their wagons and camps. It was
only when they had gone some distance that they covered themselves. All
began to equip themselves: they tested their swords, poured powder from the
sacks into their powder-flasks, drew up and arranged the wagons, and looked
to their horses.
On his way to his band, Taras wondered what had become of Andríi; could
he have been captured and found while asleep with the others? But no, Andríi
was not the man to go alive into captivity. Yet he was not to be seen among
the slaughtered Kozaks. Taras pondered deeply and went past his men
without hearing that some one had for some time been calling him by name.
"Who wants me?" he said, finally arousing himself from his reflections.
Before him stood the Jew, Yankel. "Lord colonel! lord colonel!" said the Jew
in a hasty and broken voice, as though desirous of revealing something not
utterly useless, "I have been in the city, lord colonel!"
Taras looked at the Jew, and wondered how he had succeeded in getting
into the city. "What enemy took you there?"
"I will tell you at once," said Yankel. "As soon as I heard the uproar
this morning, when the Kozaks began to fire, I seized my caftan and,
without stopping to put it on, ran at the top of my speed, thrusting my arms
in on the way, because I wanted to know as soon as possible the cause of the
noise and why the Kozaks were firing at dawn. I ran to the very gate of
the city, at the moment when the last of the army was passing through. I
looked, and in command of the rearguard was Cornet Galyandovitch. He is a
man well known to me; he has owed me a hundred ducats these three years
past. I ran after him, as though to claim the debt of him, and so entered
the city with them." "You entered the city, and wanted him to settle the debt!" said Bulba;
"and he did not order you to be hung like a dog on the spot?"
"By heavens, he did want to hang me," replied the Jew; "his servants had
already seized me and thrown a rope about my neck. But I besought the noble
lord, and said that I would wait for the money as long as his lordship
liked, and promised to lend him more if he would only help me to collect my
debts from the other nobles; for I can tell my lord that the noble cornet
had not a ducat in his pocket, although he has farms and estates and four
castles and steppe-land that extends clear to Schklof; but he has not a
penny, any more than a Kozak. If the Breslau Jews had not equipped him, he
would never have gone on this campaign. That was the reason he did not go to
the Diet."
"What did you do in the city? Did you see any of our people?"
"Certainly, there are many of them there: Itzok, Rachum, Samuel,
Khaivalkh, Evrei the pawnbroker----"
"May they die, the dogs!" shouted Taras in a rage. "Why do you name your
Jewish tribe to me? I ask you about our Zaporozhtzi."
"I saw none of our Zaporozhtzi; I saw only Lord Andríi."
"You saw Andríi!" shouted Bulba. "What is he doing? Where did you see
him? In a dungeon? in a pit? dishonoured? bound?"
"Who would dare to bind Lord Andríi? now he is so grand a knight. I
hardly recognised him. Gold on his shoulders and his belt, gold everywhere
about him; as the sun shines in spring, when every bird twitters and sings
in the orchard, so he shines, all gold. And his horse, which the Waiwode
himself gave him, is the very best; that horse alone is worth two hundred
ducats."
Bulba was petrified. "Why has he put on foreign garments?"
"He put them on because they were finer. And he rides about, and the
others ride about, and he teaches them, and they teach him; like the very
grandest Polish noble."
"Who forced him to do this?"
"I should not say that he had been forced. Does not my lord know that he
went over to them of his own free will?"
"Who went over?"
"Lord Andríi."
"Went where?"
"Went over to their side; he is now a thorough foreigner."
"You lie, you hog's ear!"
"How is it possible that I should lie? Am I a fool, that I should lie?
Would I lie at the risk of my head? Do not I know that Jews are hung like
dogs if they lie to nobles?"
"Then it means, according to you, he has betrayed his native land and his
faith?"
"I do not say that he has betrayed anything; I merely said that he had
gone over to the other side."
"You lie, you imp of a Jew! Such a deed was never known in a Christian
land. You are making a mistake, dog!"
"May the grass grow upon the threshold of my house if I am mistaken! May
every one spit upon the grave of my father, my mother, my father's father,
and my mother's father, if I am mistaken! If my lord wished I can even tell
him why he went over to them."
"Why?"
"The Waiwode has a beautiful daughter. Holy Father! what a beauty!" Here
the Jew tried his utmost to express beauty by extending his hands, screwing
up his eyes, and twisting his mouth to one side as though tasting something
on trial.
"Well, what of that?"
"He did it all for her, he went there for her sake. When a man is in
love, then all things are the same to him; like the sole of a shoe which you
can bend in any direction if you soak it in water."
Bulba reflected deeply. He remembered the power of weak woman--how she
had ruined many a strong man, and that this was the weak point in Andríi's
nature--and stood for some time in one spot, as though rooted there.
"Listen, my lord, I will tell my lord all," said the Jew. "As soon as I
heard the uproar, and saw them going through the city gate, I seized a
string of pearls, in case of any emergency. For there are beauties and
noble-women there; 'and if there are beauties and noble-women,' I said to
myself, 'they will buy pearls, even if they have nothing to eat.' And, as
soon as ever the cornet's servants had set me at liberty, I hastened to the
Waiwode's residence to sell my pearls. I asked all manner of questions of
the lady's Tatar maid; the wedding is to take place immediately, as soon as
they have driven off the Zaporozhtzi. Lord Andríi has promised to drive off
the Zaporovians."
"And you did not kill him on the spot, you devil's brat?" shouted Bulba.
"Why should I kill him? He went over of his own free will. What is his
crime? He liked it better there, so he went there."
"And you saw him face to face?"
"Face to face, by heavens! such a magnificent warrior! more splendid than
all the rest. God bless him, he knew me, and when I approached him he said
at once----"
"What did he say?"
"He said---- First he beckoned me with his finger, and then he said,
'Yankel!' Lord Andríi said, 'Yankel, tell my father, tell my brother, tell
all the Kozaks, all the Zaporozhtzi, everybody, that my father is no
longer my father, nor my brother my brother, nor my comrades my comrades;
and that I will fight them all, all.'"
"You lie, imp of a Jew!" shouted Taras, beside himself. "You lie, dog! I
will kill you, Satan! Get away from here! if not, death awaits you!" So
saying, Taras drew his sword.
The terrified Jew set off instantly, at the full speed of his thin,
shrunken legs. He ran for a long time, without looking back, through the
Kozak camp, and then far out on the deserted plain, although Taras did not
chase him at all, reasoning that it was foolish to thus vent his rage on the
first person who presented himself.
Then he recollected that he had seen Andríi on the previous night
traversing the camp with some woman, and he bowed his grey head. Still he
would not believe that so disgraceful a thing could have happened, and that
his own son had betrayed his faith and soul.
Finally he placed his men in ambush in a wood--the only one which had not
been burned by the Kozaks--whilst the Zaporozhians, foot and horse, set
out for the three gates by three different roads. One after another the
kuréns turned out: Oumansky, Popovichesky, Kanevsky, Steblikovsky,
Nezamáikovsky, Gurgazif, Titarevsky, Tomischevsky. The Pereyaslavsky kurén
alone was wanting. Its Kozaks had smoked and drank to their destruction.
Some awoke to find themselves bound in the enemy's hands; others never woke
at all but passed in their sleep into the damp earth; and the hetman Khlib
himself, minus his trousers and accoutrements, found himself in the camp of
the Lyakhs.
The uproar among the Zaporozhtzi was heard in the city. All the besieged
hastened to the ramparts, and a lively scene was presented to the Kozaks.
The handsome Polish heroes thronged on the wall. The brazen helmets of some
shone like the sun, and were adorned with feathers white as swans. Others
wore pink and blue caps, drooping over one ear, and caftans with the sleeves
thrown back, embroidered with gold. Their weapons were richly mounted and
very costly, as were their equipments. In the front rank the Budzhakovsky
colonel stood proudly in his red cap ornamented with gold. He was a tall,
stout man, and his rich and ample caftan hardly covered him. Near the side
gate stood another colonel. He was a dried-up little man, but his small,
piercing eyes gleamed sharply from under his thick and shaggy brows, and as
he turned quickly on all sides, motioning boldly with his thin, withered
hand, and giving out his orders, it was evident that, in spite of his little
body, he understood military science thoroughly. Not far from him stood a
very tall cornet, with thick moustaches and a highly-coloured complexion--a
noble fond of strong mead and hearty revelry. Behind them were many nobles
who had equipped themselves, some with their own ducats, some from the royal
treasury, some with money obtained from the Jews, by pawning everything they
found in their ancestral castles. Many too were parasites, whom the senators
took with them to dinners for show, and who stole silver cups from the table
and the sideboard, and when the day's display was over mounted some noble's
coach-box and drove his horses. There were folk of all kinds there.
Sometimes they had not enough to drink, but all were equipped for war.
The Kozak ranks stood quietly before the walls. There was no gold about
them, save where it shone on the hilt of a sword or the mountings of a gun.
The Zaporozhtzi were not given to decking themselves out gaily for battle:
their coats-of-mail and garments were plain, and their black-bordered
red-crowned caps showed darkly in the distance.
Two men--Okhrim Nasch and Mikiga Golokopuitenko--advanced from the
Zaporozhian ranks. One was quite young, the other older; both fierce in
words, and not bad specimens of Kozaks in action. They were followed by
Demid Popovitch, a strongly built Kozak who had been hanging about the
Sich for a long time, after having been in Adrianople and undergoing a
great deal in the course of his life. He had been burned, and had escaped to
the Sich with blackened head and singed moustaches. But Popovitch
recovered, let his hair grow, raised moustaches thick and black as pitch,
and was a stout fellow, according to his own biting speech.
"Red jackets on all the army, but I should like to know what sort of men
are under them," he cried.
"I will show you," shouted the stout colonel from above. "I will capture
the whole of you. Surrender your guns and horses, slaves. Did you see how I
caught your men?--Bring out a Zaporozhetz on the wall for them to see."
And they let out a Zaporozhetz bound with stout cords.
Before them stood Khlib, the hetman of the Pereyaslavsky kurén, without
his trousers or accoutrements, just as they had captured him in his drunken
sleep. He bowed his head in shame before the Kozaks at his nakedness, and
at having been thus taken like a dog, while asleep. His hair had turned grey
in one night.
"Grieve not, Khlib: we will rescue you," shouted the Kozaks from below.
"Grieve not, friend," cried the hetman Borodaty. "It is not your fault
that they caught you naked: that misfortune might happen to any man. But it
is a disgrace to them that they should have exposed you to dishonour, and
not covered your nakedness decently."
"You seem to be a brave army when you have people who are asleep to
fight," remarked Golokopuitenko, glancing at the ramparts.
"Wait a bit, we'll singe your top-knots for you!" was the reply.
"I should like to see them singe our scalp locks!" said Popovitch,
prancing about before them on his horse; and then, glancing at his comrades,
he added, "Well, perhaps the Lyakhs speak the truth: if that fat-bellied
fellow leads them, they will all find a good shelter."
"Why do you think they will find a good shelter?" asked the Kozaks,
knowing that Popovitch was probably preparing some repartee.
"Because the whole army will hide behind him; and the devil himself
couldn't help you to reach any one with your spear through that belly of
his!"
The Kozaks laughed, some of them shaking their heads and saying, "What
a fellow Popovitch is for a joke! but now----" But the Kozaks had not time
to explain what they meant by that "now."
"Fall back, fall back quickly from the wall!" shouted the Koschevoi,
seeing that the Lyakhs could not endure these biting words, and that the
colonel was waving his hand.
The Kozaks had hardly retreated from the wall before the grape-shot
rained down. On the ramparts all was excitement, and the grey-haired Waiwode
himself appeared on horseback. The gates opened and the garrison sallied
forth. In the van came hussars in orderly ranks, behind them the horsemen in
armour, and then the heroes in brazen helmets; after whom rode singly the
highest nobility, each man accoutred as he pleased. These haughty nobles
would not mingle in the ranks with others, and such of them as had no
commands rode apart with their own immediate following. Next came some more
companies, and after these the cornet, then more files of men, and the stout
colonel; and in the rear of the whole force the little colonel.
"Keep them from forming in line!" shouted the Koschevoi; "let all the
kuréns attack them at once! Block the other gate! Titarevsky kurén, fall on
one flank! Dyadovsky kurén, charge on the other! Attack them in the rear,
Kukubenko and Palivod! Check them, break them!" The Kozaks attacked on all
sides, throwing the Lyakhs into confusion and getting confused themselves.
They did not even give the foe time to fire, it came to swords and spears at
once. All fought hand to hand, and each man had an opportunity to
distinguish himself.
Demid Popovitch speared three soldiers, and struck two of the highest
nobles from their saddles, saying, "Good horses! I have long wanted just
such horses." And he drove the horses far afield, shouting to the Kozaks
standing about to catch them. Then he rushed again into the fray, fell upon
the dismounted nobles, slew one, and throwing his lasso round the neck of
the other, tied him to his saddle and dragged him over the plain, after
having taken from him his sword from its rich hilt and removed from his
girdle a whole bag of ducats.
Kobita, a good Kozak, though still very young, attacked one of the
bravest men in the Polish army, and they fought long together. They
grappled, and the Kozak mastering his foe, and throwing him down, stabbed
him in the breast with his sharp Turkish knife. But he did not look out for
himself, and a bullet struck him on the temple. The man who struck him down
was the most distinguished of the nobles, the handsomest scion of an ancient
and princely race. Like a stately poplar, he bestrode his dun-coloured
steed, and many heroic deeds did he perform. He cut two Kozaks in twain.
Fedor Korzh, the brave Kozak, he overthrew together with his horse,
shooting the steed and picking off the rider with his spear. Many heads and
hands did he hew off; and slew Kobita by sending a bullet through his
temple.
"There's a man I should like to measure strength with!" shouted
Kukubenko, the hetman of the Nezamáikovsky kurén. Spurring his horse, he
dashed straight at the Pole's back, shouting loudly, so that all who stood
near shuddered at the unearthly yell. The boyard tried to wheel his horse
suddenly and face him, but his horse would not obey him; scared by the
terrible cry, it bounded aside, and the Lyakh received Kukubenko's fire. The
ball struck him in the shoulder-blade, and he rolled from his saddle. Even
then he did not surrender and strove to deal his enemy a blow, but his hand
was weak. Kukubenko, taking his heavy sword in both hands, thrust it through
his mouth. The sword, breaking out two teeth, cut the tongue in twain,
pierced the windpipe, and penetrated deep into the earth, nailing him to the
ground. His noble blood, red as viburnum berries beside the river, welled
forth in a stream staining his yellow, gold-embroidered caftan. But
Kukubenko had already left him, and was forcing his way, with his
Nezamáikovsky kurén, towards another group.
"He has left untouched rich plunder," said Borodaty, hetman of the
Oumansky kurén, leaving his men and going to the place where the nobleman
killed by Kukubenko lay. "I have killed seven nobles with my own hand, but
such spoil I never beheld on any one." Prompted by greed, Borodaty bent down
to strip off the rich armour, and had already secured the Turkish knife set
with precious stones, and taken from the foe's belt a purse of ducats, and
from his breast a silver case containing a maiden's curl, cherished tenderly
as a love-token. But he heeded not how the red-faced cornet, whom he had
already once hurled from the saddle and given a good blow as a remembrance,
flew upon him from behind. The cornet swung his arm with all his might, and
brought his sword down upon Borodaty's bent neck. Greed led to no good: the
head rolled off, and the body fell headless, sprinkling the earth with blood
far and wide; whilst the Kozak soul ascended, indignant and surprised at
having so soon quitted so stout a frame. The cornet had not succeeded in
seizing the hetman's head by its scalp-lock, and fastening it to his saddle,
before an avenger had arrived.
As a hawk floating in the sky, sweeping in great circles with his mighty
wings, suddenly remains poised in air, in one spot, and thence darts down
like an arrow upon the shrieking quail, so Taras's son Ostap darted suddenly
upon the cornet and flung a rope about his neck with one cast. The cornet's
red face became a still deeper purple as the cruel noose compressed his
throat, and he tried to use his pistol; but his convulsively quivering hand
could not aim straight, and the bullet flew wild across the plain. Ostap
immediately unfastened a silken cord which the cornet carried at his saddle
bow to bind prisoners, and having with it bound him hand and foot, attached
the cord to his saddle and dragged him across the field, calling on all the
Kozaks of the Oumansky kurén to come and render the last honours to their
hetman.
When the Oumantzi heard that the hetman of their kurén, Borodaty, was no
longer among the living, they deserted the field of battle, rushed to secure
his body, and consulted at once as to whom they should select as their
leader. At length they said, "But why consult? It is impossible to find a
better leader than Bulba's son, Ostap; he is younger than all the rest of
us, it is true; but his judgment is equal to that of the eldest."
Ostap, taking off his cap, thanked his comrades for the honour, and did
not decline it on the ground of youth or inexperience, knowing that war time
is no fitting season for that; but instantly ordered them straight to the
fray, and soon showed them that not in vain had they chosen him as hetman.
The Lyakhs felt that the matter was growing too hot for them, and retreated
across the plain in order to form again at its other end. But the little
colonel signalled to the reserve of four hundred, stationed at the gate, and
these rained shot upon the Kozaks. To little purpose, however, their shot
only taking effect on the Kozak oxen, which were gazing wildly upon the
battle. The frightened oxen, bellowing with fear, dashed into the camp,
breaking the line of wagons and trampling on many. But Taras, emerging from
ambush at the moment with his troops, headed off the infuriated cattle,
which, startled by his yell, swooped down upon the Polish troops, overthrew
the cavalry, and crushed and dispersed them all.
"Thank you, oxen!" cried the Zaporozhtzi; "you served us on the march,
and now you serve us in war." And they attacked the foe with fresh vigour
killing many of the enemy. Several distinguished themselves--Metélitza and
Schilo, both of the Pisarenki, Vovtuzenko, and many others. The Lyakhs
seeing that matters were going badly for them flung away their banners and
shouted for the city gates to be opened. With a screeching sound the
iron-bound gates swung open and received the weary and dust-covered riders,
flocking like sheep into a fold. Many of the Zaporozhtzi would have pursued
them, but Ostap stopped his Oumantzi, saying, "Farther, farther from the
walls, brother gentles! it is not well to approach them too closely." He
spoke truly; for from the ramparts the foe rained and poured down everything
which came to hand, and many were struck. At that moment the Koschevoi came
up and congratulated him, saying, "Here is the new hetman leading the army
like an old one!" Old Bulba glanced round to see the new hetman, and beheld
Ostap sitting on his horse at the head of the Oumantzi, his cap on one side
and the hetman's staff in his hand. "Who ever saw the like!" he exclaimed;
and the old man rejoiced, and began to thank all the Oumantzi for the honour
they had conferred upon his son.
The Kozaks retired, preparing to go into camp; but the Lyakhs showed
themselves again on the city ramparts with tattered mantles. Many rich
caftans were spotted with blood, and dust covered the brazen helmets.
"Have you bound us?" cried the Zaporozhtzi to them from below.
"We will do so!" shouted the big colonel from above, showing them a rope.
The weary, dust-covered warriors ceased not to threaten, nor the most
zealous on both sides to exchange fierce remarks.
At length all dispersed. Some, weary with battle, stretched themselves
out to rest; others sprinkled their wounds with earth, and bound them with
kerchiefs and rich stuffs captured from the enemy. Others, who were fresher,
began to inspect the corpses and to pay them the last honours. They dug
graves with swords and spears, brought earth in their caps and the skirts of
their garments, laid the Kozaks' bodies out decently, and covered them up
in order that the ravens and eagles might not claw out their eyes. But
binding the bodies of the Lyakhs, as they came to hand, to the tails of
horses, they let these loose on the plain, pursuing them and beating them
for some time. The infuriated horses flew over hill and hollow, through
ditch and brook, dragging the bodies of the Poles, all covered with blood
and dust, along the ground.
All the kuréns sat down in circles in the evening, and talked for a long
time of their deeds, and of the achievements which had fallen to the share
of each, for repetition by strangers and posterity. It was long before they
lay down to sleep; and longer still before old Taras, meditating what it
might signify that Andríi was not among the foe, lay down. Had the Judas
been ashamed to come forth against his own countrymen? or had the Jew been
deceiving him, and had he simply gone into the city against his will? But
then he recollected that there were no bounds to a woman's influence upon
Andríi's heart; he felt ashamed, and swore a mighty oath to himself against
the fair Pole who had bewitched his son. And he would have kept his oath. He
would not have looked at her beauty; he would have dragged her forth by her
thick and splendid hair; he would have trailed her after him over all the
plain, among all the Kozaks. Her beautiful shoulders and bosom, white as
fresh-fallen snow upon the mountain-tops, would have been crushed to earth
and covered with blood and dust. Her lovely body would have been torn to
pieces. But Taras, who did not foresee what God prepares for man on the
morrow, began to grow drowsy, and finally fell asleep. The Kozaks still
talked among themselves; and the sober sentinel stood all night long beside
the fire without blinking and keeping a good look out on all sides.
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