Nikolai Gogol

“ Now, my lads, first of all let's have a drink of brandy!" Thus spake Bulba. "God's blessing be on us! Welcome, dear sons; you, Ostap, and you, Andríi. God grant that you may always be successful in war! That you may beat the Mussulmans, and beat the Turks, and beat the Tatars; and when the Poles undertake any expedition against our Faith, then may you give the Poles a drubbing also. Now, hold out your glasses,—well, and is the brandy good? What's brandy in Latin? Somehow, my lad, the Latins were stupid: they didn't know there was such a thing in the world as corn-brandy. ”

“ Quietly he sank into the arms of the kazáks who grasped him, and his young blood flowed in a stream, like precious wine brought from the cellar in a glass vessel by careless servants who, stumbling at the entrance, break the rich flask: the wine pours over the ground, and the master, hastening up, tears his hair, having reserved it for the best occasion of his life, in order that, if God should grant him, in his old age, to meet again the comrade of his youth, they might recall together days gone by, when men revelled otherwise and better than now. ”

“ Let the eagles claw your eyes from your brow, if so it must be; but let it be our own eagle of the steppe, and not a Polish eagle, not one which has flown hither from Polish soil. I'll bring you, though it be a corpse, to the Ukraina!"
Thus spoke his faithful comrade. He galloped on, without drawing breath, day and night, and brought him, insensible, into the Zaporozhian Syech itself. There he undertook to heal him, with unwearied care, with herbs and liniments. He sought out a skilful Jewess: she made Taras drink various potions for a whole month, and at last he began to improve. ”

“ It cannot be, it shall not be!" said Andríi, "that the best and most beautiful of women should suffer so bitter a fate, when she was born that all the best there is in the world should bow before her as before a Saint. No, you shall not die! I swear it by my birth, and by all I hold dear in the world, you shall not die. But if it must indeed be so; if nothing, neither strength, nor prayer, nor heroism will avail to avert that cruel fate,—then we will die together, and I will die first. I will die before you, at your beauteous knees, and even in death they shall not part us." ”

“ Before the Cornet managed to seize the atamán's head by its scalp-lock and fasten it to his saddle, a savage avenger arrived.
As a vulture hovering in the sky, beating great circles with its mighty wings, suddenly remains poised in air, in one spot, and thence darts down like an arrow upon the shrieking cock quail beside the road; just so did Taras's son Ostap fly suddenly upon the kazák, and fling a rope about his neck with one cast. The Cornet's red face grew a still deeper crimson when the cruel noose pressed his throat, and he tried to seize his pistol ”

“ The inmates of the barracks swarmed out upon the square, and smashed in one another's ribs with their fists until one side finally prevailed and gained the upper hand, when the revelry began. Such was the Syech, which had such an attraction for young men.
Ostap and Andríi flung themselves into this sea of dissipation with all the ardour of youth, and forgot, in a twinkling, their father's house, the seminary, and everything which had hitherto perturbed their souls, and gave themselves up to their new life. ”

“ Its kazáks had smoked and drunk it to its fate. One awoke to find himself bound in the enemy's hands; another never woke at all, but went in his slumber into the damp earth; and the Atamán Khlib, himself, minus his trousers and outward adornments, found himself in the camp of the Lyakhs.
The uproar among the kazáks was heard in the city. Every one hastened to the ramparts, and a lively spectacle was presented to the kazáks. Polish warriors, each handsomer than the other, stood on the wall. Their bronze helmets shone like the sun, and were adorned with feathers white as swans. ”

“ Come, send all thinking to the Devil on the spot! Take your pipes in your lips, and we'll smoke, and spur on our horses, and fly so swiftly that no bird can overtake us."
And the kazáks, bending low over their horses, disappeared in the grass. Their black caps were no longer visible; a wake of trodden grass alone showed a trace of their swift flight.
The sun had long since peered forth from the clear heavens and inundated the steppe with his vitalising, warming light. All that was dim and sleepy in the minds of the kazáks fled away in a twinkling; their hearts fluttered like birds. ”

“ The poor sons of Israel, losing all presence of mind, and not being courageous, in any case, hid themselves in empty brandy-casks, in ovens, and even crawled under the skirts of their Jewesses; but the kazáks routed them out, wherever they were.
"Most illustrious lords!" shrieked one Jew, tall and thin as a stick, thrusting his sorry visage, distorted with terror, from among a group of his comrades, "most illustrious lords! suffer us to say a word, only one word. ”

“ No, brothers, to love as the Russian soul loves, is to love not with the mind or anything else, but with all that God has given you, all that is within you.—Ah!" said Taras, and waved his hand, shook his grey head, twitched his moustache, and then went on: "No, no one can love In that way! I know that baseness has now made its way into our land. Men care only to possess ricks of grain and hay, and their droves of horses, and that their sealed mead may be untouched in their cellars; they adopt the Devil only knows what Mussulman customs. They abhor their own language. ”

“ They turned into a street, and were suddenly stopped by a madman who, catching sight of Andríi's precious burden, sprang upon him like a tiger, and clutched him, yelling, "Bread!" But his strength was not equal to his madness. Andríi repulsed him: he fell to the ground. Moved with pity, Andríi tossed him a loaf, upon which he flung himself like a mad dog, gnawing and biting it; and immediately, there in the street, he expired in horrible convulsions, from long disuse of eating. The terrible victims of hunger startled them at almost every step. ”

“ The Koshevói was alarmed. He did not wish, by any manner of means, to stir up all Zaporozhe; a breach of the peace appeared to him improper on the present occasion. "Permit me, noble sirs, to address you further."
"Enough!" yelled the kazáks. "You can say nothing better."
"If so it must be, then so be it. I am the slave of your will. Everybody knows, and the Scriptures also tell us, that the voice of the people is the voice of God. It is impossible to devise anything better than the whole nation has devised. ”

“ Such was the time, comrades, when we joined hands in a brotherhood: that is what our fellowship consists of! There is no bond more sacred than brotherhood. A father loves his children, a mother loves her children, the children love their father and their mother; but this is not like that, brethren! the wild beasts also love their young! But only men can enter into a relationship which is of the spirit and not of blood. There have been comrades in other lands, but never any such brotherhoods as on our Russian soil. It has happened to many of you to be lost for awhile in foreign lands. ”

“ I know what your duty is, and what your Faith. Your father, your comrades, your fatherland call you,—and we are your enemies."
"And what are my father, my comrades, my fatherland to me?" said Andríi, shaking his head with a quick movement, and straightening up his young figure like a poplar beside the river. "Be that as it may, I have no one, no one, no one!" he repeated with the same voice and movement of the hand wherewith the buoyant, irrepressible kazák expresses his determination to do some unheard-of deed, impossible to any other man. "Who has said that my fatherland is the Ukraina? ”

“ The further they penetrated into the steppe, the more beautiful did it become. At that time all the South, all that region which now constitutes New Russia, even to the Black Sea, was a green, virgin wilderness. No plough had ever passed over the immeasurable waves of wild growth; horses alone, hiding themselves in it as in a forest, trod it down. Nothing in Nature could be finer. The whole surface of the earth looked like a green-gold ocean, upon which were sprinkled millions of different flowers. Through the tall, slender stems of the grass peeped light-blue, dark-blue and lilac corn-flowers ”

“ It seemed as though Ostap were designed by nature for the pursuit of war and the difficult art of conducting military operations. Never once losing his head, or becoming confused under any circumstances, with a cool audacity which was almost supernatural in a youth of two and twenty, he could, in an instant, gauge the danger, and grasp the whole scope of the matter, could instantly devise a means of escaping it, but of escaping it only that he might the more surely conquer it. ”

“ His eyes beamed with clear decision; his velvet brows bent in a bold arch; his sunburnt cheeks glowed with all the ardour of virginal fire; and his youthful black moustache shone like silk.
"No, I have no power to thank you, magnanimous knight," she said, her silvery voice all in a tremble. "God alone can reward you, not I, a weak woman." She dropped her eyes; her lids fell over them in beautiful, snowy crescents, guarded by lashes long as arrows; all her wondrous face bowed forward, and a delicate flush overspread it from below. Andríi knew not what reply to make to this ”

“ The gate opened, and out dashed a hussar regiment, the pride of all the cavalry troops. Every rider was mounted on a matched bay race-horse from Kabarda; in front of the rest rode the handsomest, the most heroic warrior of them all; his black locks streamed from beneath his brazen helmet; a rich scarf, embroidered by the hands of a peerless beauty, was bound about his arm. Taras sprang back in horror when he saw that it was Andríi. ”

“ The Zaporozhetz had stretched himself out in the road like a lion; his scalp-lock, thrown proudly behind him, extended over half an arshin of ground; [4] his trousers, of costly scarlet cloth, were spotted with tar, to show his utter disdain for them. Having admired him to his heart's content, Bulba passed on through the narrow street, which was crowded with mechanics pursuing their trades, and with men of all nationalities, who thronged this suburb of the Syech, which resembled a fair, and fed and clothed Syech that knew only how to revel and to discharge guns. ”

“ It is not worth while to describe all the battles in which the kazáks distinguished themselves, or the gradual course of the campaign. All that is set down in the Chronicles of old. Every one knows what an army raised on Russian soil for the Faith is like. There is no power stronger than faith. It is menacing and invincible as a rock not made by human hands, amid the stormy, ever-changing sea. ”

“ Go. We have already diverted ourselves sufficiently here. The Lyakhs know what the kazáks are like. We have avenged our Faith to the extent of our powers; there's not much to satisfy greed in this famished city. And so my advice is: Go."
"Go!" rang heavily through the Zaporozhian kuréns. But such words did not suit Taras Bulba's mood at all; and he brought his frowning, iron-grey brows still lower down over his eyes, like bushes growing on a dark, lofty mountain, whose crests are suddenly covered with prickly northern frost.
"No, Koshevói, your counsel is not good," said he. ”

“ Descending into this ravine they were completely concealed from view of all the plain occupied by the Zaporozhian camp. At least, Andríi, as he glanced back, saw that the abrupt declivity rose behind him like a steep wall, taller than a man's stature. On its crest waved a few stalks of steppe-grass; and above them, in the sky, hung the moon, like a reaping-hook of pure, ruddy gold, set a-slant. The breeze, blowing off the steppe, warned them that the dawn was not far off. ”

“ When Taras Bulba recovered from the blow, and glanced at the Dnyeper, the kazáks were already in the skiffs, and were rowing away. Bullets showered upon them from above, but did not reach them. And the old Atamán's eyes sparkled with joy.
"Farewell, comrades!" he shouted to them from above; "remember me, and come hither again next spring to make merry!—What if ye have captured me, ye devilish Lyakhs? Think ye that there is anything in the world which the kazák fears? Wait; the time will come when ye shall learn what the Orthodox Russian Faith is like! ”

“ Two other Jews lay down on the floor beside the cupboard, like a couple of family dogs. But Taras did not sleep: he sat motionless, drumming lightly on the table with his fingers. He kept his pipe in his mouth, and puffed out smoke which made the Jew sneeze, in a state of semi-waking, and wrap up his nose in his coverlet. Scarcely was the sky tinged with the first faint gleams of dawn, when he pushed Yankel with his foot: "Rise, Jew, and give me your Count's dress!" ”

“ Thereupon the Jew wagged his head and spread out his fingers. "Aï, what an imposing aspect! A colonel, as God is my witness, a regular colonel! Another finger's breadth and he'd be a colonel. The noble lord ought to mount a stallion, one as fleet as a fly, and drill the regiments!"
The heyduke arranged the lower story of his moustache, and his eyes grew very merry.
"What a warlike people!" went on the Jew. "Ah, woe is me, what a fine race! All cords and metal disks... they shine like the sun; and the pretty girls, whenever they behold warriors—Aï, aï!" Again the Jew wagged his head. ”

“ Kirdyaga, although very old, was a very shrewd kazák, and had been sitting in his barrack for a good while already, as though he knew nothing about what was going on.
"What is it, noble sirs? [3] What is your will?" he inquired.
"Come, you are elected Koshevói."
"Have mercy, noble sirs!" said Kirdyaga. "How am I worthy of such an honour? Why should I be made Koshevói? I haven't sufficient sense to discharge such a duty. Could no better man be found in all the Army?"
"Come along, as you're bid!" shouted the Zaporozhtzi. ”

“ Do you think you are going to reign like Polish lords? You will reign like Polish lords, but after quite another fashion. They will flay the skin from your head, Hetman, they will stuff it with bran, and long will it be exhibited at all the fairs. And neither will you retain your heads, noble sirs! You will perish in damp dungeons, walled about with stone, if they do not boil you alive in kettles, as they boil sheep! ”