The third of them his pistol's leaden bullet.

II.

O rustle not, ye verdant oaken branches!

Whilst I tell the gallant stripling's tale of daring;

When this morn they led the gallant youth to judgment

Before the dread tribunal of the grand Tsar,

Then our Tsar and Gosudar began to question:

Tell me, tell me, little lad, and peasant bantling!

Who assisted thee to ravage and to plunder;

I trow thou hadst full many wicked comrades.

I'll tell thee, Tsar! our country's hope and glory,

I'll tell thee all the truth, without a falsehood:

Thou must know that I had comrades, four in number;

Of my comrades four the first was gloomy midnight;

The second was a steely dudgeon dagger;

The third it was a swift and speedy courser;

The fourth of my companions was a bent bow;

My messengers were furnace-harden'd arrows.

Replied the Tsar, our country's hope and glory:

Of a truth, thou little lad, and peasant's bantling!

In thieving thou art skill'd and giving answers;

For thy answers and thy thieving I'll reward thee

With a house upon the windy plain constructed

Of two pillars high, surmounted by a cross-beam.

III.

O thou field of my delight so fair and verdant!

Thou scene of all my happiness and pleasure!

O how charmingly Nature hath array'd thee

With the soft green grass and juicy clover,

And with corn-flowers blooming and luxuriant.

One thing there is alone, that doth deform thee;

In the midst of thee, O field, so fair and verdant!

A clump of bushes stands - a clump of hazels,

Upon their very top there sits an eagle,

And upon the bushes' top - upon the hazels,