She said that his father had been in Zaporozhe, taken prisoner by
the Turks, underwent God only knows what tortures, and having, by some
miracle, disguised himself as a eunuch, had made his escape. Little
cared the black-browed youths and maidens about his parents. They merely
remarked, that if he only had a new coat, a red sash, a black lambskin
cap, with dandified blue crown, on his head, a Turkish sabre hanging by
his side, a whip in one hand and a pipe with handsome mountings in the
other, he would surpass all the young men. But the pity was, that the
only thing poor Peter had was a gray svitka with more holes in it than
there are gold-pieces in a Jew's pocket. And that was not the worst of
it, but this: that Korzh had a daughter, such a beauty as I think you
can hardly have chanced to see. My deceased grandfather's aunt used to
say--and you know that it is easier for a woman to kiss the Evil One
than to call anybody a beauty, without malice be it said--that this
Cossack maiden's cheeks were as plump and fresh as the pinkest poppy
when just bathed in God's dew, and, glowing, it unfolds its petals, and
coquets with the rising sun; that her brows were like black cords, such
as our maidens buy nowadays, for their crosses and ducats, of the Moscow
pedlers who visit the villages with their baskets, and evenly arched as
though peeping into her clear eyes; that her little mouth, at sight of
which the youths smacked their lips, seemed made to emit the songs of
nightingales; that her hair, black as the raven's wing, and soft as
young flax (our maidens did not then plait their hair in clubs
interwoven with pretty, bright-hued ribbons) fell in curls over her
kuntush.
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