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10 “In skirmish, march, or forage, none “Can less have said or more have done “Than thee, Mazeppa! On the earth “So fit a pair had never birth, “Since Alexander’s days till now, “As thy Bucephalus and thou: “All Scythia’s fame to thine should yield “For pricking on o’er flood and field.” Mazeppa answer’d—“Ill betide “The school wherein I learn’d to ride!” Quoth Charles—“Old Hetman, wherefore so, “Since thou hast learn’d the art so well?” Mazeppa said—Twere long to tell; “And we have many a league to go “With every now and then a blow, “And ten to one at least the foe, “Before our steeds may graze at ease “Beyond the swift Borysthenes: “And, sire, your limbs have need of rest, “And I will be the sentinel “Of this your troop.”—“But I request,” Said Sweden’s monarch, “thou wilt tell