Such was our memorable day at Stoczek. With night falling stories began by the camp's bonfires, there were no listeners, because everyone spoke; everyone bravely acquitted themselves in battle, everyone had jokes—because everyone was happy.
If that blessed hour comes to me, that I can again fight for my country, to see the Muscovite army in panic, to seek out my beloved eight pounder and to hurl cannon balls from it at golden roofs of the Tsarist capital city, then I will call myself happy; but even then I wouldn't be able to feel that, which I experienced in the first battle, in the memorable Battle of Stoczek.
1831.
A soldier of the Cracovian cavalary. “Krakus” is an alternative name of Krak, the legendary founder of Cracow, and is used to refer to an inhabitant of the city.
A type of tunic, of Turkish influence, typical of Cracow.
The first line of “Dąbrowski's Mazurka”, now the National Anthem of Poland.
Untranslatable: Mateusz here uses the non-human form, echoing his earlier use of “beasts”