FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105  
106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   >>   >|  
f thought had fused with thought and word with word, all cried with one voice, as if a signal had been given: "Dombrowski!" All shouted together, all embraced one another; the peasant and the Tatar count, the prince's hat and the cross, the white rose, the griffin, and the ship; they forgot everything, even the Bernardine; they only sang and shouted: "Brandy, mead, wine!" Father Robak listened to the song for a long time; finally he wanted to cut it short. So he took in both hands his snuffbox, broke up the melody with a sneeze; and, before they got together again, he hastened to speak thus:-- "You praise my tobacco, my good friends; now see what is going on inside the snuffbox." Here, wiping with his handkerchief the soiled base of the box, he showed them a little painted army, like a swarm of flies: in the middle sat a man on a charger, the size of a beetle, evidently the leader of the troop; he had made his horse rear, as though he wanted to leap into the skies; one hand he held on the bridle, the other up to his nose. "Gaze," said Robak, "at that threatening form, and guess whose it is." All looked with curiosity. "That is a great man, an emperor, but not of the Muscovites; their tsars have never used tobacco." "A great man," cried Cydzik, "and in a long grey coat? I thought that great men wore gold, for among the Muscovites any sort of a general, sir, fairly shines with gold, like a pike in saffron." "Bah!" interrupted Rymsza; "why, in my youth I saw Kosciuszko, the chief of our nation: he was a great man, but he wore a Cracow peasant's coat, that is to say, a _czamara_." "Much he wore a _czamara_!" retorted Wilbik. "They used to call it a _taratatka_."82 "But the _taratatka_ has fringe," shouted Mickiewicz, "and the other is entirely plain." Thereupon there arose disputes over the various forms of the _taratatka_ and the _czamara_. The ingenious Robak, seeing that the conversation was thus becoming scattered, undertook again to gather it to a focus--to his snuffbox: he treated them, they sneezed and wished one another good health; he continued his speech:-- "When the Emperor Napoleon in an engagement takes snuff time after time, it is a sure sign that he is winning the battle. For example, at Austerlitz: the French just stood beside their cannon, and on them charged a host of Muscovites. The Emperor gazed and held his peace; whenever the French shot, the Muscovites were simply mowed do
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   81   82   83   84   85   86   87   88   89   90   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105  
106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   >>   >|  



Top keywords:

Muscovites

 

taratatka

 

shouted

 

thought

 

czamara

 
snuffbox
 

tobacco

 

wanted

 

Emperor

 
French

peasant

 
Cracow
 

Wilbik

 

retorted

 

saffron

 

general

 

fairly

 

Cydzik

 

shines

 

Kosciuszko


interrupted

 

Rymsza

 

nation

 

battle

 

Austerlitz

 

winning

 

engagement

 

simply

 

cannon

 

charged


Napoleon

 
disputes
 

Thereupon

 

fringe

 

Mickiewicz

 
ingenious
 

conversation

 

wished

 

sneezed

 

health


continued

 

speech

 

treated

 

scattered

 

undertook

 

gather

 
finally
 

listened

 

Brandy

 

Father