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Mazeppa. Whishaw Frederick
Читать онлайн.Название Mazeppa
Год выпуска 0
isbn 4064066151140
Автор произведения Whishaw Frederick
Жанр Языкознание
Издательство Bookwire
Frederick Whishaw
Mazeppa
Published by Good Press, 2019
EAN 4064066151140
Table of Contents
CHAPTER I
I will begin my story from the moment when, at the age of sixteen, my destiny first came more directly in touch with that of Mazeppa, my cousin in the third degree and my compatriot. My father was Chelminsky, a captain under the renowned Hmelnisky, a great and honoured name among Cossacks; for under his leadership our tribes threw off the yoke of the Polish King and became once more independent, as Cossacks should for ever be.
Mazeppa’s father and mine were relatives, rivals, and near neighbours. The same may be said of Mazeppa and myself, for together we entered service as pages at the Court of John Casimir of Poland, and together we left it. Also, as I shall presently show, we were in after life in constant rivalry—whether as lovers, as leaders of our compatriots, or in any other capacity.
Our home was in Volhynia, near the borders of Poland and of the Ukraine, and our estates were distant but three or four leagues from one another: thus as youths Mazeppa and I met occasionally, though not very frequently. Our educations differed considerably, for my cousin’s tutor was a cultured Pole who held, and made no secret of his opinion, that the training of the mind is of greater importance in the life of a man than the training of the body, supposing that a youth must make his own way in the world. Therefore Mazeppa was brought up as a clerk, though possessing strength and activity of body which made easy for him the acquisition of skill in manly exercises; while my father preferred that I should be made a soldier, a horseman, a swordsman—in a word, that I should become a true Cossack.
Nevertheless, when Mazeppa was sent as page to the Polish Court, my father being dead by that time, my mother wished that I should go also, in order to acquaint myself with the ways of princes and courtiers, and attain a knowledge of life in high places. The King being at this time anxious to oblige the Cossack nation, there was little difficulty in securing employment for us.
Neither Mazeppa nor I were popular among the Polish youths at Court, though I may say that the ladies were less disposed to cavil at us.
We were Russian, we were told, though