“Give Noy wine and bread—he will eat on the way, but to you, my comrades in battle, I shall now unfold the secret of my soul. You know my whole life, you know very well that there is not a man who could boast of having conquered me; you know too that my very glance can put regiments to flight, that my name was sufficient to make kings and nations tremble, and now, when I reached the height of glory and power, I wanted to divide them with an orphan, I wanted to place her upon that throne for which I am indebted to your love and submission to me, I wished to proclaim her Tsaritsa and share with her my glory, my happiness, and my power! But she refused all these things, and me too, and ran off with a boy. Now....”
Morphiliziy’s speech was interrupted, he sighed deeply and continued:
“We are out to pursue them. Think up some punishment worthy of their crime. What shall be done with her?”
“Kill them both!” was the unanimous reply.
“That is insufficient!” answered the Tsar.
“Drown them in the river, where they betrayed their deception!”
“Have them burned alive!”
“Still too good for them!”
“Let them be torn to pieces by wild beasts!”