IVAN BOHUSLAVETS’. Ukrainian folk song

IVAN BOHUSLAVETS’

(Ukrainian folk song)

In the town of Kozliv, there was a stony prison,
Dug into the ground seven fathoms;
In that dungeon, there were seven hundred kozaks,
Poor slaves, honest men and brave.
They couldn’t be without a chieftain,
There was one man who was main-
Ivan of Bohuslav, a Hetmann, a Zaporizhya heir,
They have been in the captivity for ten years.
So, Ivan of Bohuslav sat thinking and meditating
To the kozaks, thus, narrating:
“Kozaks, my sirs, my compatriots,
The Holy Saturday is celebrated today,
Tomorrow, there will be the Holy Easter Day,
Very early, our Priests will be awaked
Approaching the Home of God,
Listening to the Lord's Word,
Remembering us, the poor slaves, to the honest world”.
That was heard by all the slaves,
They began to wash themselves with abundant tears
Reproaching and cursing Ivan of Bohuslav without fear:
“Let you never have happiness and lucky fate,
Ivan of Bohuslav, as you made
Us recollect that Holiday on our misfortune's day”

.
Ivan of Bohuslav has heard that, and replied:
“ Do not reproach me, do not curse, oh, friends of mine,
Maybe, the Merciful God will be helping us and will save-
Won't we want to be free men, not slaves?”
On Sunday, early morning,
The wife of Turkish Alkan-pasha left her husband alone
Having buried him, and came to the dungeon.
She was opening the dungeon
Walking among the slaves,
Taking Ivan of Bohuslav by his hand, so white,
Speaking with the words nicely and rightly:
“Ivan of Bohuslav!
If you had broken your Christian belief,
And had accepted our Busurman’s belief with love,
You would have been the landlord of the town of Bohuslav…
I would have been releasing all the slaves tired hands
Seeing them off to their Christian land”.
Ivan of Bohuslav that had heard
and articulated with the words:
"Alkan-pasha's lady, noble and young!
If you don't objurgate me with my faith in Christ,
I will take your hand and respect as my wife!"
And, so the Alkan-pasha's young dame not to fall
Hasn't been drinking for seven weeks at all,
Hasn't been reproaching him with the Christian belief,
Has been freeing all slaves from the jail in relief
seeing them all off to the Christian land.
But, when she began, in the eighth week, to drink drinks, strong,
She began to feast with young Turkish noble men doing wrong,
And, she began to reproach gentle Ivan of Bohuslav with his faith in Christ:
"Just have a look, noble men, how handsome is my husband and nice!
For the Turkish luxury, he became a busurmane",
Ivan from Bohuslav had heard those words in desdain.
He runs towards the Black Sea fast,
Sits into a boat without a mast
In the middle of the Black Sea, catching the kozaks,
Joining them in their bark.
Alkan-pasha young lady comes to the Black Sea coast
And sees gentle Ivan of Bohuslav in the boat,
And she cries with hot tears:
"Ivanych of Bohuslav, a man weird!
Let you be redeemed in the better world by the merciful Lord,
As you have betrayed me, a young lady! That's a tort."
And, when was approaching the dark night,
In the town of Kozliv, the kozaks began to arrive,
Began cutting out the Turks who were sleeping and tired,
Combatting the town of Kozliv with the sword-and-fire.
They began to crash the Turkish jails
All gold-silver and precious clothes taking away.
Ivan of Bohuslav began to cut out the Alkan-pasha, young dame,
And they began to hurry up from the Kozliv pier, where they came,
And, before the dawn, they were arriving in the city of Sich,
In the city of Sich, they began to divide the treasures of the Turkish rich,
And the kozaks began to speak with obligation:
"Ivan of Bohuslav, the Hetman of Zaporizhia and of the nation!
You have been ten years in the arrest
And you haven't lost a single kozak being the best!"
Free, oh Lord, the slaves from the incarceration
To live in the cheerful land among the Christian nation!

(Translation from Ukrainian into English by Ivan Petryshyn)
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