Works of Alexander Pushkin

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by Alexander Pushkin


  Dubrovsky leaped from his bed, seized his arms and came out of the shack. The brigands were noisily crowding together in the inclosure, but when he appeared a deep silence fell.

  “Is everyone here?” asked Dubrovsky.

  “Everyone except the sentries,” was the reply.

  “To your places!” cried Dubrovsky, and each of the brigands took his appointed place.

  At that moment, three of the sentries ran up to the gate of the fort. Dubrovsky went to meet them.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “The soldiers are in the forest,” was the reply; “they are surrounding us.”

  Dubrovsky ordered the gate to be locked, and then went himself to examine the cannon. In the wood could be heard the sound of several voices, every moment drawing nearer and nearer. The brigands waited in silence. Suddenly three or four soldiers appeared out of the forest, but immediately fell back again, firing their guns as a signal to their comrades.

  “Prepare for battle!” cried Dubrovsky. There was a movement among the brigands, then all was silent again.

  Then the noise of an approaching column was heard; arms glittered among the trees, and about a hundred and fifty soldiers dashed out of the forest and rushed with a wild shout toward the earthworks. Dubrovsky applied the match to the cannon; the shot was successful — one soldier had his head torn off, and two others were wounded. The troops were thrown into confusion, but the officer in command rushed forward, the soldiers followed him and jumped down into the ditch. The brigands fired down at them with muskets and pistols, and then, with axes in their hands, they began to defend the earthworks, up which the infuriated soldiers were now climbing, leaving twenty of their comrades wounded in the ditch below. A hand to hand struggle began. The soldiers were already upon the earthworks, the brigands were beginning to give way; but Dubrovsky advanced toward the officer in command, placed his pistol at his breast, and fired. The officer fell over backward. Several soldiers raised him in their arms and hastened to carry him into the forest; the others, having lost their chief, stopped fighting.

  The emboldened brigands took advantage of this moment of hesitation, and surging forward, hurled their assailants back into the ditch. The besiegers began to run; the brigands with fierce yells started in pursuit of them. The victory was decisive. Dubrovsky, trusting to the complete confusion of the enemy, stopped his men and shut himself up in the fortress, doubled the sentinels, forbade anyone to absent himself, and ordered the wounded to be picked up.

  This last event drew the serious attention of the government to Dubrovsky’s exploits. Information was obtained of his whereabouts, and a detachment of soldiers was sent to take him, dead or alive. Several of his band were captured, and from these it was ascertained that Dubrovsky was no longer among them. A few days after the battle we have just described, he had collected all his followers and informed them that it was his intention to leave them for ever, and advised them, too, to change their mode of life:

  “You have become rich under my command. Each of you has a passport with which he will be able to make his way safely to some distant province, where he can pass the rest of his life in ease and honest labor. But you are all rascals, and probably do not wish to abandon your trade.”

  Thereupon he had left them, taking with him only one of his men. Nobody knew what became of him. At first the truth of this account was doubted, for the devotion of the brigands to their chief was well known, and it was supposed that they had concocted the story to secure his safety; but after events confirmed their statement. The terrible visits, burnings, and robberies ceased; the roads again became safe. According to another report, Dubrovsky had escaped abroad.

  The Plays

  The Alexander Pushkin Museum and Memorial Apartment is close to Nevsky Prospekt, Saint Petersburg. The museum is housed in Pushkin’s apartment where he lived between 1836 and 1837, and died after being wounded in a duel. Following the outburst of nationwide grief, Pushkin’s apartment was carefully preserved.

  BORIS GODUNOV

  Translated by Alfred Hayes

  This play was written in 1825 and originally published in 1831, but it was not approved for performance by the censor until 1866. It concerns the eponymous Russian ruler, who reigned as Tsar from 1598 to 1605. Consisting of 25 scenes and written mostly in blank verse., the play introduces the character Boris Godunov as the most noted member of an ancient, though now extinct, family of Tatar origin, hailing from the Horde to Kostroma in the early 14th century. Godunov was descended from the Tatarian Prince Chet, who went from the Golden Horde to Russia and founded the Ipatiev Monastery in Kostroma. Godunov’s career began whilst in the court of Ivan the Terrible and in 1570 he took part in the Serpeisk campaign as an archer of the guard. The following year, he became an oprichnik — a member of Ivan’s personal guard and secret police.

  Boris Fyodorovich Godunov (1551-1605), who was the de facto regent of Russia from c. 1585 to 1598 and then the first non-Rurikid tsar from 1598 to 1605.

  CONTENTS

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  PALACE OF THE KREMLIN

  THE RED SQUARE

  THE VIRGIN’S FIELD

  THE PALACE OF THE KREMLIN

  NIGHT

  FENCE OF THE MONASTERY*

  PALACE OF THE PATRIARCH

  PALACE OF THE TSAR

  TAVERN ON THE LITHUANIAN FRONTIER

  MOSCOW. SHUISKY’S HOUSE

  PALACE OF THE TSAR

  CRACOW. HOUSE OF VISHNEVETSKY

  CASTLE OF THE GOVERNOR

  A SUITE OF LIGHTED ROOMS.

  NIGHT

  THE LITHUANIAN FRONTIER

  THE COUNCIL OF THE TSAR

  A PLAIN NEAR NOVGOROD SEVERSK

  OPEN SPACE IN FRONT OF THE CATHEDRAL IN MOSCOW

  SYEVSK

  A FOREST

  MOSCOW. PALACE OF THE TSAR

  A TENT

  PUBLIC SQUARE IN MOSCOW

  THE KREMLIN. HOUSE OF BORIS

  A scene from the play

  Another scene from the play

  DRAMATIS PERSONAE

  BORIS GODUNOV, afterwards Tsar.

  PRINCE SHUISKY, Russian noble.

  PRINCE VOROTINSKY, Russian noble.

  SHCHELKALOV, Russian Minister of State.

  FATHER PIMEN, an old monk and chronicler.

  GREGORY OTREPIEV, a young monk, afterwards the Pretender

  to the throne of Russia.

  THE PATRIARCH, Abbot of the Chudov Monastery.

  MISSAIL, wandering friar.

  VARLAAM, wandering friar.

  ATHANASIUS MIKAILOVICH PUSHKIN, friend of Prince Shuisky.

  FEODOR, young son of Boris Godunov.

  SEMYON NIKITICH GODUNOV, secret agent of Boris Godunov.

  GABRIEL PUSHKIN, nephew of A. M. Pushkin.

  PRINCE KURBSKY, disgraced Russian noble.

  KHRUSHCHOV, disgraced Russian noble.

  KARELA, a Cossack.

  PRINCE VISHNEVETSKY.

  MNISHEK, Governor of Sambor.

  BASMANOV, a Russian officer.

  MARZHERET, officer of the Pretender.

  ROZEN, officer of the Pretender.

  DIMITRY, the Pretender, formerly Gregory Otrepiev.

  MOSALSKY, a Boyar.

  KSENIA, daughter of Boris Godunov.

  NURSE of Ksenia.

  MARINA, daughter of Mnishek.

  ROUZYA, tire-woman of Ksenia.

  HOSTESS of tavern.

  Boyars, The People, Inspectors, Officers, Attendants, Guests, a Boy in attendance on Prince Shuisky, a Catholic Priest, a Polish Noble, a Poet, an Idiot, a Beggar, Gentlemen, Peasants, Guards, Russian, Polish, and German Soldiers, a Russian Prisoner of War, Boys, an old Woman, Ladies, Serving-women.

  *The list of Dramatis Personae which does not appear in the

  original has been added for the convenience of the reader —

  A.H.

  PALACE OF THE KREMLIN

  FEBRUARY 20th, A.D. 1598

  PRINC
E SHUISKY and VOROTINSKY

  VOROTINSKY. To keep the city’s peace, that is the task

  Entrusted to us twain, but you forsooth

  Have little need to watch; Moscow is empty;

  The people to the Monastery have flocked

  After the patriarch. What thinkest thou?

  How will this trouble end?

  SHUISKY. How will it end?

  That is not hard to tell. A little more

  The multitude will groan and wail, Boris

  Pucker awhile his forehead, like a toper

  Eyeing a glass of wine, and in the end

  Will humbly of his graciousness consent

  To take the crown; and then — and then will rule us

  Just as before.

  VOROTINSKY. A month has flown already

  Since, cloistered with his sister, he forsook

  The world’s affairs. None hitherto hath shaken

  His purpose, not the patriarch, not the boyars

  His counselors; their tears, their prayers he heeds not;

  Deaf is he to the wail of Moscow, deaf

  To the Great Council’s voice; vainly they urged

  The sorrowful nun-queen to consecrate

  Boris to sovereignty; firm was his sister,

  Inexorable as he; methinks Boris

  Inspired her with this spirit. What if our ruler

  Be sick in very deed of cares of state

  And hath no strength to mount the throne? What

  Say’st thou?

  SHUISKY. I say that in that case the blood in vain

  Flowed of the young tsarevich, that Dimitry

  Might just as well be living.

  VOROTINSKY. Fearful crime!

  Is it beyond all doubt Boris contrived

  The young boy’s murder?

  SHUISKY. Who besides? Who else

  Bribed Chepchugov in vain? Who sent in secret

  The brothers Bityagovsky with Kachalov?

  Myself was sent to Uglich, there to probe

  This matter on the spot; fresh traces there

  I found; the whole town bore witness to the crime;

  With one accord the burghers all affirmed it;

  And with a single word, when I returned,

  I could have proved the secret villain’s guilt.

  VOROTINSKY. Why didst thou then not crush him?

  SHUISKY. At the time,

  I do confess, his unexpected calmness,

  His shamelessness, dismayed me. Honestly

  He looked me in the eyes; he questioned me

  Closely, and I repeated to his face

  The foolish tale himself had whispered to me.

  VOROTINSKY. An ugly business, prince.

  SHUISKY. What could I do?

  Declare all to Feodor? But the tsar

  Saw all things with the eyes of Godunov.

  Heard all things with the ears of Godunov;

  Grant even that I might have fully proved it,

  Boris would have denied it there and then,

  And I should have been haled away to prison,

  And in good time — like mine own uncle — strangled

  Within the silence of some deaf-walled dungeon.

  I boast not when I say that, given occasion,

  No penalty affrights me. I am no coward,

  But also am no fool, and do not choose

  Of my free will to walk into a halter.

  VOROTINSKY. Monstrous misdeed! Listen; I warrant you

  Remorse already gnaws the murderer;

  Be sure the blood of that same innocent child

  Will hinder him from mounting to the throne.

  SHUISKY. That will not baulk him; Boris is not so timid!

  What honour for ourselves, ay, for all Russia!

  A slave of yesterday, a Tartar, son

  By marriage of Maliuta, of a hangman,

  Himself in soul a hangman, he to wear

  The crown and robe of Monomakh! —

  VOROTINSKY. You are right;

  He is of lowly birth; we twain can boast

  A nobler lineage.

  SHUISKY. Indeed we may!

  VOROTINSKY. Let us remember, Shuisky, Vorotinsky

  Are, let me say, born princes.

  SHUISKY. Yea, born princes,

  And of the blood of Rurik.

  VOROTINSKY. Listen, prince;

  Then we, ‘twould seem, should have the right to mount

  Feodor’s throne.

  SHUISKY. Rather than Godunov.

  VOROTINSKY. In very truth ‘twould seem so.

  SHUISKY. And what then?

  If still Boris pursue his crafty ways,

  Let us contrive by skilful means to rouse

  The people. Let them turn from Godunov;

  Princes they have in plenty of their own;

  Let them from out their number choose a tsar.

  VOROTINSKY. Of us, Varyags in blood, there are full many,

  But ‘tis no easy thing for us to vie

  With Godunov; the people are not wont

  To recognise in us an ancient branch

  Of their old warlike masters; long already

  Have we our appanages forfeited,

  Long served but as lieutenants of the tsars,

  And he hath known, by fear, and love, and glory,

  How to bewitch the people.

  SHUISKY. (Looking through a window.) He has dared,

  That’s all — while we — Enough of this. Thou seest

  Dispersedly the people are returning.

  We’ll go forthwith and learn what is resolved.

  THE RED SQUARE

  THE PEOPLE

  1ST PERSON. He is inexorable! He thrust from him

  Prelates, boyars, and Patriarch; in vain

  Prostrate they fall; the splendour of the throne

  Affrights him.

  2ND PERSON. O, my God, who is to rule us?

  O, woe to us!

  3RD PERSON. See! The Chief Minister

  Is coming out to tell us what the Council

  Has now resolved.

  THE PEOPLE. Silence! Silence! He speaks,

  The Minister of State. Hush, hush! Give ear!

  SHCHELKALOV. (From the Red Balcony.)

  The Council have resolved for the last time

  To put to proof the power of supplication

  Upon our ruler’s mournful soul. At dawn,

  After a solemn service in the Kremlin,

  The blessed Patriarch will go, preceded

  By sacred banners, with the holy ikons

  Of Donsky and Vladimir; with him go

  The Council, courtiers, delegates, boyars,

  And all the orthodox folk of Moscow; all

  Will go to pray once more the queen to pity

  Fatherless Moscow, and to consecrate

  Boris unto the crown. Now to your homes

  Go ye in peace: pray; and to Heaven shall rise

  The heart’s petition of the orthodox.

  (The PEOPLE disperse.)

  THE VIRGIN’S FIELD

  THE NEW NUNNERY. The People.

  1ST PERSON. To plead with the tsaritsa in her cell

  Now are they gone. Thither have gone Boris,

  The Patriarch, and a host of boyars.

  2ND PERSON. What news?

  3RD PERSON. Still is he obdurate; yet there is hope.

  PEASANT WOMAN. (With a child.)

  Drat you! Stop crying, or else the bogie-man

  Will carry you off. Drat you, drat you! Stop crying!

  1ST PERSON. Can’t we slip through behind the fence?

  2ND PERSON. Impossible!

  No chance at all! Not only is the nunnery

  Crowded; the precincts too are crammed with people.

  Look what a sight! All Moscow has thronged here.

  See! Fences, roofs, and every single storey

  Of the Cathedral bell tower, the church-domes,

  The very crosses are studded thick with people.


  1ST PERSON. A goodly sight indeed!

  2ND PERSON. What is that noise?

  3RD PERSON. Listen! What noise is that? — The people groaned;

  See there! They fall like waves, row upon row —

  Again — again — Now, brother, ‘tis our turn;

  Be quick, down on your knees!

  THE PEOPLE. (On their knees, groaning and wailing.)

  Have pity on us,

  Our father! O, rule over us! O, be

  Father to us, and tsar!

  1ST PERSON. (Sotto voce.) Why are they wailing?

  2ND PERSON. How can we know? The boyars know well enough.

  It’s not our business.

  PEASANT WOMAN. (With child.)

  Now, what’s this? Just when

  It ought to cry, the child stops crying. I’ll show you!

  Here comes the bogie-man! Cry, cry, you spoilt one!

  (Throws it on the ground; the child screams.)

  That’s right, that’s right!

  1ST PERSON. As everyone is crying,

  We also, brother, will begin to cry.

  2ND PERSON. Brother, I try my best, but can’t.

  1ST PERSON. Nor I.

  Have you not got an onion?

  2ND PERSON. No; I’ll wet

  My eyes with spittle. What’s up there now?

  1ST PERSON. Who knows

  What’s going on?

  THE PEOPLE. The crown for him! He is tsar!

  He has yielded! — Boris! — Our tsar! — Long live Boris!

  THE PALACE OF THE KREMLIN

  BORIS, PATRIARCH, Boyars

  BORIS. Thou, father Patriarch, all ye boyars!

  My soul lies bare before you; ye have seen

  With what humility and fear I took

  This mighty power upon me. Ah! How heavy

  My weight of obligation! I succeed

  The great Ivans; succeed the angel tsar! —

  O Righteous Father, King Of kings, look down

  From Heaven upon the tears of Thy true servants,

  And send on him whom Thou hast loved, whom Thou

  Exalted hast on earth so wondrously,

  Thy holy blessing. May I rule my people

  In glory, and like Thee be good and righteous!

  To you, boyars, I look for help. Serve me

  As ye served him, what time I shared your labours,

  Ere I was chosen by the people’s will.

  BOYARS. We will not from our plighted oath depart.

 

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