"She came with mother and with sire-- 840
What need of more?--I will not tire
With long recital of the rest,
Since I became the Cossack's guest.
They found me senseless on the plain--
They bore me to the nearest hut-- 845
They brought me into life again--
Me--one day o'er their realm to reign!
Thus the vain fool who strove to glut
His rage, refining on my pain,
Sent me forth to the wilderness, 850
Bound, naked, bleeding, and alone,
To pass the desert to a throne,--
What mortal his own doom may guess?--
Let none despond, let none despair!
To-morrow the Borysthenes 855
May see our coursers graze at ease
Upon his Turkish bank,--and never
Had I such welcome for a river
As I shall yield when safely there.
Comrades, good night!"--The Hetman threw 860
His length beneath the oak-tree shade,
With leafy couch already made,
A bed nor comfortless nor new
To him who took his rest whene'er
The hour arrived, no matter where: 865
His eyes the hastening slumbers steep.
And if ye marvel Charles forgot
To thank his tale _he_ wonder'd not,--
The king had been an hour asleep.