Cossack Tales

Vakoola fixed his eyes upon him as if searching for the meaning of these words on his face. "What does he mean?" thought he, and opened his mouth as if to swallow his first word...

"That must be the trick of some evil spirit," continued Choop, rubbing his mustachios with his sleeve. "Wretched dog, may he find no glass of brandy in the morning! Just as if i...

One of the elders took up the mace, and offered it to the newly-elected Koschevoï. Kirdiaga refused it, according to custom. The elder offered it a second time; Kirdiaga refused...

"And what to me, are father, comrades, country?" said Andrew, tossing his head, and drawing up his stature to his full height, straight as the black poplar growing on the banks...

The _melée_ became general, and every one could show his personal skill. Demid Popovich had already speared two soldiers and thrown two officers from their steeds, saying, "Thos...

Andrew could hardly move with his sacks in the dark and narrow subterranean passage, through which he closely followed the Tartar. "_We_ shall soon see our way," said the guide;...

Tarass saw how mournful the ranks of the Cossacks had become, and that sadness, unbecoming to brave men, had found its way into the heads of the Cossacks; but he kept silence, w...

The square, on which the execution was to take place could easily be found; crowds were flocking there from all parts. At that rude epoch an execution was one of the most attrac...

Bovdug fell down from his waggon; a bullet had struck him just beneath his heart; but the old man gathered up his strength and said, "I do not regret leaving the world; may God...

"Take thee with us?" said the Zaporoghian, with an expression such as a tutor would assume towards a boy four years old, who begs to ride on a real, live, great horse.

And, indeed, she was to be pitied, as were nil the women of those warlike times. For one moment only had she enjoyed love, which wits during the first impulse merely of youth an...

At times only might be seen the remote blue tops of the forests growing along the banks of the Dnieper. Once only, Tarass pointed out to his sons a small black spot at a great d...

A historical sketch placed before a work of fiction must seem, to many, a very inconsistent thing, and yet the title of the present volume, "COSSACK TALES," obliges the translat...

The abbot of a monastery, hearing of their approach, sent two monks to them to say they had no right to act thus, as the Zaporoghians and Poland were at peace; that they were in...

And Choop, rubbing his back, went in another direction. The pleasure which was in store for him in meeting Solokha, diverted his thoughts from his pain, and made him quite insen...

[Footnote 18: Village clerks in Russia had their hair plaited; a practice which still continues in some remote provinces. Many priests, not allowed by the custom of the land to...

"I would not have asked thee--I might perhaps have found my way to Warsaw by myself; but the cursed Poles may chance to recognise and seize me; I have no turn for contrivances,...

[Footnote 7: A _cossackin_ means a Cossack's dress, which is a coat fastened by hooks down the middle of the breast, and fitting closely to the figure. It is furnished with skir...