第8章

He liked the simple life of the Cossacks, and quarrelled with those of his comrades who were inclined to the Warsaw party, calling them serfs of the Polish nobles.Ever on the alert, he regarded himself as the legal protector of the orthodox faith.He entered despotically into any village where there was a general complaint of oppression by the revenue farmers and of the addition of fresh taxes on necessaries.He and his Cossacks executed justice, and made it a rule that in three cases it was absolutely necessary to resort to the sword.Namely, when the commissioners did not respect the superior officers and stood before them covered; when any one made light of the faith and did not observe the customs of his ancestors; and, finally, when the enemy were Mussulmans or Turks, against whom he considered it permissible, in every case, to draw the sword for the glory of Christianity.

Now he rejoiced beforehand at the thought of how he would present himself with his two sons at the Setch, and say, "See what fine young fellows I have brought you!" how he would introduce them to all his old comrades, steeled in warfare; how he would observe their first exploits in the sciences of war and of drinking, which was also regarded as one of the principal warlike qualities.At first he had intended to send them forth alone; but at the sight of their freshness, stature, and manly personal beauty his martial spirit flamed up and he resolved to go with them himself the very next day, although there was no necessity for this except his obstinate self-will.He began at once to hurry about and give orders; selected horses and trappings for his sons, looked through the stables and storehouses, and chose servants to accompany them on the morrow.He delegated his power to Osaul Tovkatch, and gave with it a strict command to appear with his whole force at the Setch the very instant he should receive a message from him.Although he was jolly, and the effects of his drinking bout still lingered in his brain, he forgot nothing.He even gave orders that the horses should be watered, their cribs filled, and that they should be fed with the finest corn; and then he retired, fatigued with all his labours.

"Now, children, we must sleep, but to-morrow we shall do what God wills.Don't prepare us a bed: we need no bed; we will sleep in the courtyard."Night had but just stole over the heavens, but Bulba always went to bed early.He lay down on a rug and covered himself with a sheepskin pelisse, for the night air was quite sharp and he liked to lie warm when he was at home.He was soon snoring, and the whole household speedily followed his example.All snored and groaned as they lay in different corners.The watchman went to sleep the first of all, he had drunk so much in honour of the young masters' home-coming.

The mother alone did not sleep.She bent over the pillow of her beloved sons, as they lay side by side; she smoothed with a comb their carelessly tangled locks, and moistened them with her tears.She gazed at them with her whole soul, with every sense; she was wholly merged in the gaze, and yet she could not gaze enough.She had fed them at her own breast, she had tended them and brought them up; and now to see them only for an instant! "My sons, my darling sons! what will become of you! what fate awaits you?" she said, and tears stood in the wrinkles which disfigured her once beautiful face.In truth, she was to be pitied, as was every woman of that period.She had lived only for a moment of love, only during the first ardour of passion, only during the first flush of youth; and then her grim betrayer had deserted her for the sword, for his comrades and his carouses.She saw her husband two or three days in a year, and then, for several years, heard nothing of him.And when she did see him, when they did live together, what a life was hers! She endured insult, even blows; she felt caresses bestowed only in pity; she was a misplaced object in that community of unmarried warriors, upon which wandering Zaporozhe cast a colouring of its own.Her pleasureless youth flitted by; her ripe cheeks and bosom withered away unkissed and became covered with premature wrinkles.Love, feeling, everything that is tender and passionate in a woman, was converted in her into maternal love.She hovered around her children with anxiety, passion, tears, like the gull of the steppes.They were taking her sons, her darling sons, from her--taking them from her, so that she should never see them again!