The leader of the whole Turkish army, Hussein Pasha, escaped on a swift Anatolian steed, but only to receive in Stambul a silk string from the hands of the Sultan. Of the splendid Turkish army merely small bands were able to bear away sound heads from defeat. The last legions of Hussein Pasha’s cavalry gave themselves into the hands of the armies of the Commonwealth. In this way the field hetman drove them to the grand hetman, and he drove them to the Lithuanian hetmans, they again to the field hetman; so the turn went till nearly all of them had perished. Of the janissaries almost no man escaped. The whole immense camp was streaming with blood, mixed with snow and rain. So many bodies were lying there that only frost, ravens, and wolves prevented a pestilence, which comes usually from bodies decaying. The Polish troops fell into such ardor of battle that without drawing breath well after the victory, they captured Hotin. In the camp itself immense booty was taken. One hundred and twenty guns and with them three hundred flags and banners did Pan Sobieski take from that field, on which for the second time in the course of a century the Polish sabre celebrated a grand triumph.
Pan Sobieski himself stood in the tent of Hussein Pasha, which was sparkling with rubies and gold, and from it he sent news of the fortunate victory to every side by swift couriers. Then cavalry and infantry assembled; all the squadrons—Polish, Lithuanian, and Cossack—the whole army, stood in order of battle. A Thanksgiving Mass was celebrated, and on that same square where the day previous muezzins had cried: “La Allah illa Allah!” was sounded “Te Deum laudamus!”
The hetman, lying in the form of a cross, heard Mass and the hymn; and when he rose, tears of joy were flowing down his worthy face. At sight of that the legions of knights, the blood not yet wiped from them, and while still trembling from their efforts in battle, gave out three times the loud thundering shout:—
“Vivat Joannes victor!”
Ten years later, when the Majesty of King Yan III (Sobieski) hurled to the dust the Turkish power at Vienna, that shout was repeated from sea to sea, from mountain to mountain, throughout the world, wherever bells called the faithful to prayer.
Here ends this series of books, written in the course of a number of years and with no little toil, for the strengthening of hearts.
Endnotes
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With Fire and Sword, chapter I. ↩
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The bishop who visited Zagloba at Ketling’s house, see chapter XVI. ↩
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A celebrated bishop of Krakow, famous for ambition and success. ↩
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A diminutive of endearment for Anna. Anusia is another form. ↩
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One of the chiefs of a confederacy formed against the king, Yan Kazimir, by soldiers who had not received their pay. ↩
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The story in Poland is that storks bring all the infants to the country. ↩
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This refers to the axelike form of the numeral 7. ↩
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Diminutive of Barbara. ↩
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Diminutive of Krystina, or Christiana. ↩
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Drohoyovski is Parma Krysia’s family name. ↩
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A diminutive of Anna, expressing endearment. ↩
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To place a watermelon in the carriage of a suitor was one way of refusing him. ↩
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“Kot” means “cat,” hence Basia’s exclamations are, “Scot, Scot! cat, cat!” ↩
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In Polish, “I love” is one word, “Kocham.” ↩
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In the original this forms a rhymed couplet. ↩
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That is let me kiss you. ↩
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Injured his head. ↩
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The Tsar’s city—Constantinople. ↩
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Zagloba refers here to Pavel Sapyeha, voevoda of Vilna, and grand hetman of Lithuania. ↩
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Poland. ↩
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God is merciful! God is merciful. ↩
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The territory governed by a pasha, in this case the lands of the Cossacks. ↩
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The Commonwealth. ↩
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That means as tall as a stove. The tile or porcelain stores of eastern Europe are very high. ↩
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A barber in that age and in those regions took the place of a surgeon usually. ↩
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Each nearly equal to five English miles. ↩
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A hot drink made of gorailka, honey, and spices. ↩
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Motovidlo’s words are Russian in the original. ↩
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See note after introduction. ↩
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Hero. ↩
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More likely Yan
