Page:Taras Bulba. A Tale of the Cossacks. 1916.djvu/172

166 as when the sun shines in spring, and every bird begins to chirp, and sing in the orchards, so is he shining all over with gold. And his horse, which the Voevod himself gave him, is the very best: the horse alone is worth two hundred ducats."

Bulba was petrified. "Why has he put on strange garments?"

"He has put them on because they are finer. And he rides about, and the others ride about, and he teaches them, and they teach him; like the very richest sort of a Polish pan."

"Who has forced him to this?"

"I shouldn't say that he had been forced. Doesn't the noble lord know that he went over to them of his own free will?"

"Who went over?"

"Why, Pan Andríi."

"Went where?"

"Went over to their side: he's entirely theirs, now."

"You lie, you hog's ear!"

"How is it possible that I should lie? Am I a fool that I should lie? Would I lie at the risk of my head? Don't I know that Jews are hung like dogs if they lie to noble lords?"

"Then this means that, in your opinion, he has betrayed his fatherland and his Faith?"