Cossack Tales

by Nikolai Vasilevich Gogol

"Thou liest, Judas!" shrieked Tarass, beside himself with rage; "Thou liest, dog I Thou hast crucified Christ—man accursed by Heaven! I will kill thee, Satan! Away with thee, or thou art a dead man!" and with these words Tarass unsheathed his sabre. The Jew took to his heels, and ran with all the speed of his thin shrivelled legs, he ran a long time through the tents of the Cossacks, and then in the open field, before he ventured to look back; but Tarass thought not of pursuing him, after reflecting that his anger ought not to be wreaked upon the first who fell into his hands.

Now he remembered having, only last night, seen Andrew going about the encampment with a woman, and his gray head drooped; and yet he would not believe that such an odious event had taken place, and that his own son had betrayed his faith and his soul.

At last he conducted his regiment into ambush, and was soon out of sight with it, behind the only forest which had not been burned by the Cossacks. In the mean time the Zaporoghians, on foot and on horseback, occupied the three roads which led to the three gates. One kooren followed another; that of Perecaslav alone was missing. Deep had been the carousing of its Cossacks, and there carouse had sealed their doom. Some awoke in irons in the power of the enemy—some without awakening had passed to their eternal sleep, and their ataman, Khleeb, without trowsers or any other garment, had found himself in the Polish camp.

The movement of the Cossacks had attracted attention in the city. All its inhabitants rushed to the battlements, and a curious sight appeared before the Cossacks. The brass helmets shone like so many suns, adorned with snow-white feathers.[31] Some warriors wore light caps, pink or sky-blue, with the tops bent on one side.

Their coats, with sleeves falling behind the shoulders,[32] were either embroidered with gold or ornamented with lace. There were many swords and guns with costly handles, which had been dearly paid for by their masters, and much more finery was to be seen there. In front of all stood, with a haughty demeanour and with a red cap ornamented with gold on his head, the newly-arrived colonel of Boodjang. Stout was the colonel, stouter and taller than all others, and his wide costly overcoat hardly met round his figure. On the other side, close to the side gate, stood another colonel, a diminutive man, who seemed to have been dried up; but his small piercing eyes looked briskly from under his thick eyebrows, and he turned about sharply on all sides, pointing with his thin dry hand, and giving orders; one might see that, notwithstanding his small size, he was well acquainted with warfare. At some distance from him stood a tall, very tall ensign, with thick mustachios; there was no lack of colour in his face; he was fond of strong mead and gay revelling. And many were the gentlemen to be seen behind these, who had taken arms either for the king's money, or on their own ducats, or on money borrowed from Jews, to whom they had pawned everything they could find in the castles of their grandfathers; many, also, who were mere hangers-on of senators (whom these latter kept to be able to boast of the number of their retinue at dinners), who stole silver cups from the tables and cupboards, and who, after having made a figure one day, sat the next on the coachbox of some lord. Many were the different persons assembled on the walls. Some of them had not a penny to drink with, and yet all had made themselves fine for fighting. Silently stood the ranks of the Cossacks before the walls. None of them wore any gold on their coats; only now and then some of it might be seen on the handles of their swords or of their guns. The Cossacks did not like to make themselves fine for fighting; their mail coats and dresses were plain, and stretching far away might be seen the black tops of their sheepskin caps.

Two Cossacks rode in front of the Zaporoghian ranks, one of them quite young, the other somewhat elderly; both biting in words, and not bad Cossacks in deeds also: Okhreim Nash and Nikita Golokopytenko. Close behind them rode Demid Popovich, a thorough Cossack, who for a long time had rambled about the Ssiecha, had been before Adrianople, and had had much to endure in his lifetime: he had been burned in fire, and had run back to the Ssiecha with his head covered with tar and blackened by the flames and his mustachios singed off.[33] But once more had Popovich regained his health, his crown-lock curled once more behind his ear, his mustachios had grown again, thick and black as pitch, and biting were his caustic speeches.

"The dresses of the army are fine enough, but I should like to know if the courage of the army is as fine?"

"I'll have you all tied up!" cried the stout colonel from the walls; "give up your guns and horses, ye boors! Have ye seen how I have bound your comrades? Let the Zaporoghian prisoners be brought upon the battlements!"

And the Zaporoghians, tied with ropes, were brought upon the walls; in front of all was to be seen the koorennoï ataman Khleeb, without trowsers or any other dress, in the same state as that in which he had been made prisoner in his sleep. And downwards he bent his head, ashamed of being seen naked by the Cossacks, and of having been made prisoner while sleeping, like a dog. In one night his strong head had turned gray.

"Cheer up, Khleeb! we'll set thee free!" cried the Cossacks from below.