Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio
The First Creative Union
Come in, come in, good people.
So you want me to tell you about my Grandfather, don't you?
All right. Let me entertain you with an anecdote!
And who among you, lazybones, is able to act the part of my Grandfather?
That one.
Oh, this one is, indeed!
Because my Grandfather, Cossack Vasyl,
had a razor sharp sabre and a razor sharp tongue!
With his sabre he would cut his enemies until their waist,
and with his words he'd cut much lower!
And you will act the part
of his sworn brother, who has never failed him... - Aha.
- And you will play the part of a devil... - Oh!
...and his five ruffian brothers.
You will act the parts of Vasyl's wife, of a witch,
and of the Czarina-Empress.
- Got it? - Well, this is...
And you - the part of a fiend, a good one though...
And you will be the Cossacks who neither burn in fire nor drown in water.
What does he do?
This will be blood as it all begins in a battlefield!
A fish was dancing with a crayfish, with a crayfish,
And a parsley with a parsnip, with a parsnip,
And an onion with a garlic,
and a girl with a Cossack.
It is time.
Inspired by the early texts of N. Gogol
Fillm staged by Borys Ivchenko
Screenplay written down by Ivan Drach
Captured on film by Vitalii Zymovets
Sketched out by Mykhailo Rakovskyi, Alla Shesterenko
Folk music and songs collected by Ivan Mykolaichuk
Play actors:
Ivan Mykolaichuk, Lidiia Vakula act as Cossack Vasyl and his wife
Fedir Stryhun, Zemfira Tsakhilova act as the Zaporozhian Cossack and Odarka
Mykhailo Holubovych, Volodymyr Hlukhyi act as an evil man and a strange man
Vasyl' Simich, Anatoliy Barchuk, Volodymyr Shakalo
act as the Vasyl's father, Ivan and Petro
Now you see, Ivan,
the damned apostates made a sieve of my hat again.
And yet again
my woman will scold me.
This hag says that I am good for nothing
but breeding.
And you, when are you going to get married?
Eh?
Just did.
The black soil is tilled, hey, hey
the black soil is tilled
And sowed with bullets, hey, hey
And sowed with bullets.
Oh, this is you, janissary, who destroys our hats.
Dragged by white bodies, hey, hey
Dragged by white bodies
Is that you, Ivan?
And soaked with blood
Do you know whom you have killed?
I have killed a slave who could never become a master,
just as everyone of your kin, which I will anihilate...
Oink!
THE LOST PETITION
Oh, you fool, fool!
Oh, unharness your horses, lads
And lie to rest
While I'll go to a green orchard,
to dig a well in the orchard.
And I'll go to a green orchard
to dig a well in the orchard.
I was digging, digging that well
- Why aren't you singing? - And why are you drinking horilka?
- This is not horilka, this is milk! - Oh sure, milk!
In that cherry orchard
I wonder if a girl comes out
early in the morning to get some water.
I wonder why one should look in the window?
Let you be struck blind, as you are goggling girls
-...all day long! - Oh!..
Come on, get ready to dine...
...may you all choke!
[Zaporozhian march]
- All hail, brother Vasyl! - All hail, brother Vasyl!
All hail, Cossacks!
Well, what is it?
The regiment's Chancellor ordered me to tell you...
Chancellor, says you! Which one?
Eh?
What the hell is his name?
Snotter?
Snot-ter...
No, not Snotter...
Maybe, Stringer, eh?
- Stringer? - No, not Stringer.
- Maybe, some horilka will help? - Oh!
Maybe.
Such a... somewhat...
ridiculous nickname...
- A very funny one. - Yep.
So what did he order to tell me, may your mother catch a fever?
Oh!
The Hetman asked me to give you a petition -...and also he asked me to tell you...
that this petition is very important, so he says
It is addressed to the Czarina in Petersburg
It is very imporant, as if it cost four hundred pounds of gold!
...and, he says, only you can deliver it to her - nobody else can!
As there is all this devilry...
...and, by the way, they say, that the devil himself hunts for it...
And if you fail to deliver the petition, the Hetman said...
- Your Cossack mohawk will be blown off together with your head! - Yep!
Where is my hat?
Your hat?
- Here it is, Sonny. - Oh no, Father
I need
my new hat.
Where the hell did it disappear, my new hat?
Your hat is on your head.
Oh, thank you, dear young things.
I will bring you honey cakes right from the Czarina.
- Wife! - What do you want?
Sew the Hetman's petition into the hat.
After all, there it will be closer to the head!
- Bless me, Father. - Bless you, Sonny.
Let the Lord bless you.
It is a matter of consequence you embark on, Sonny. Remember!
Thank you, Father.
You should find a faithful friend, Sonny.
And no human power will be able to beat you down.
And I have an age-old Cossack remedy
against any devilry.
- What is it, Father? - This is a magic tobacco, my Son.
- Oh... - If on your way you meet a witch
- Ha ha... -...or a devil incarnated
-...treat them with this tobacco. - Uh-huh.
They will sneeze, these evil spirits,
-...and all their power will vanish. - Aha.
- Nice tobacco indeed! - Achoo!
Dear Vasyl, how come you don't want to say goodbye to me?
- Achoo! - Are you in your right senses, woman,
the Czarina is waiting for me.
- Shearer? - No, not Shearer.
- No? - No, not Shearer.
Bless me,
Bless me, Earth
And father, and mother
So that your child
Has good luck.
Dear Vasyl, I would like to ask you
to plead the Czarina to give me some rye thatch for the roof.
My house is falling to pieces.
And for the second time in a good hour
Bless me, Earth
Vasyl, I have something to tell you!
I have an infirm husband, you know, and I want a baby.
I know you are going to the Czarina, so, maybe
she can give you some medicine to help,
or maybe...
- Uh-huh. Uh-huh, uh-huh. -...if it is necessay,
...got it?
- All right? - Uh-huh.
- What have you asked him to do? - You won't get it.
My spiritual son!
When you are in the capital, investigate if they got a denunciation
of me from the deacon.
Hint there to the potentate people
that they should rip out that serpentine slanderer's... - All right, all right.
Vasyl! Ask the Czarina if there is any service there for an orphan,
as I am not able to find one.
The kid is such an adroit pupil!
And do you want to serve the Czarina?
I do not want to be in service. I want a sabre and a horse.
All right, aunt Maryna, I will ask her.
Vasyl! Why do you shun my house?
Or is it that I am not a head for you?
So what do you want, head?
Get off the horse. It is not appropriate to talk to me like that.
Vasyl! I am not a rich person,
and yet, after all, I am a head!
So you tell the Czarina...
Was that you who killed my brother?
It was me.
It was the right thing to do
if he took the Mohammedan faith.
Good luck...
May God speed you.
It was him.
Kill him on his way.
Kill him.
Well, if you fail,
send him to any of my brothers.
And for the third time
and in a good hour
Bless me, Earth
Farewell!
Vasyl! Vasyl!
Dear Vasyl!
- Oh! - What is that you want to tell me, aunty?
- I forgot while I ran. God bless you! - Thank you.
So that your child
has good luck.
Good day, mister.
Listen, are you sleeping, or have you kicked the bucket?
And you, will you get off the horse or shall we talk like that?
What are you that flies are all over you?
Just a minute, I need to talk to Him.
Well, well, well...
...oh!
- If you go straight ahead... - Yes.
That road is evil...
That one is bad...
And that one - oh!..
- Go that way! - I've just came from there.
You better tell me the shortest way to Petersburg.
To Petersburg?
- Well, that's exactly a problem. It is that way! - If it's that way, so be it.
- So you will go anyway? - Hup, hup...
- When you reach the ferry... - Yep...
- There will be the widow's field... - Yes.
- ... and there will be a tavern... - Yep...
Behind the tavern there will be a lake. And Petersburg lies behind that lake.
- Aha, then thank you. - Wait!
Let us...
skull one
for the road.
I don't drink and ride!
Umph! Good luck!
Ah!
Oh!
What a devil of a job!
I'll give water, you'll give millet.
Old man, give us some lard.
Are you a Cossack or a Walachian? What are you?
Umph! I am a fiend!
But I am a friendly one.
Aha! Then if I cross you, you will finally go to hell?
No, no need to! I will bring some dried fish.
Wait!
- Wait! Stop! So... Do you have some dried fish? - I don't.
Stop! Stop!
- Brother Vasyl! - Brother Vasyl! Brother Vasyl!
- We have recollected! - We have recollected!
His surname is Mountainturner.
Whose surname?
The Chancellor's, who ordered me to give you the Hetman's petition!
It doesn't matter who ordered it. It is important that I carry it.
Forgive us, brother Vasyl, that we cannot accompany you...
We have to make rafts and head to the Turks.
We want to entertain ourselves.
- Only two of you? - Well, no, there are seven of us!
Cleanchin, Woebender, Ladypleaser, Carterturner,
old Okhrim, and both of us.
I see.
Guys, you will have fun with them...
It'll be nice.
Well, if only you could find me a nice Cossack,
so that at evil times there was someone to back me up.
That we can do.
- Good day, lads! - Hello.
- What about me? - Sure!
A fish was dancing with a crayfish,
with a crayfish…
- Do you know Cossack Vasyl? - Everyone knows him!
Will you go to Petersburg with him?
- Why not? - Hem, 'why not'! Let's see now!
Go on, drain the mug!
- Ah, a proper Cossack! - A proper one, yes!
Come on, punch me!
This I can do. But I punch with my left hand.
Well, whatever. Come on.
Now is my turn! Stand still!
Get up!
Drain this!
Whoa!
Hey, hey, hey!
Just look at him... Freeload! Come on, stand still!
Oh-oh... Well, well, well! Oh, you...
Go away from here, go, go!
Oh, oh, something's going to happen!
Oh, something is definitely going to happen!
Do you have anything to tell him?
Ask him why is he dragging his feet around here as if a fly in a sour cream?
Aha...
Tell him to go to hell!
I am going to go on a spree here.
- I don't like being disturbed. - All right.
Then ask him if he wants me to punch him in his snout.
Aha!..
Oh, when I shot
I hit the Czar
and the Czarina
right in her nape.
Czar, take this
for having punished Cossack Baida...
Oh! You are sick at heart, Cossack.
Fighting with you would be wrong.
Please, forgive me.
Apparently you are a good man...
- What? - Because you understand
that if a Cossack is singing,
his soul is crying.
Oh, our lads got angry already! It's time for us to go!
- Petro, get ready. - All right.
Farewell, brother Vasyl, you have good company!
Oh, we would need some more flintlocks!
Buy a horse!
I'm buying.
- What will you give for it? - What I have.
Your soul.
Huh!
Spit in a fool's eyes.
The horse is yours!
Let you be as black as this soil is black!
I wish you hated your children
as I hate this world.
I've spared all my will,
I've cried out all my voice...
I damned the fate.
I've hired people,
but what should I give them now?
What should I feed my children with?!
Petro, my darling, my unfailing protector!
Protect your unfortunate wife
against the darned murderers.
Ostap! Ostap!
Are there any Cossacks to fight back trouble?
No, there are no Cossacks around! They left these places.
All of them ferried over and went their own ways.
And what trouble do you face?
They hunt quail again.
There's no Cossacks!
Are you offending my sabre,
pistol and mohawk on purpose, old man?
Don't take offence, Cossack.
I can see that there are only three of you...
and there are 20 or even 30 of them.
All of our Cossack gentry
each year hunts quail,
let the thorns prickle their livers,
for they devastate our poor fields with their horses' hooves
trying to catch those birds.
Hey, quickly, horses!
For them!
Well now, gentlemen, chase away these women!
Oh well...
Listen, how will we fight with them?
Just fancy, they want some birdies, these sons of ***.
Eh.
Well, we shall scrape through somehow!..
Why did it take so long for you to come, lads? Oh!
They have trampled almost all the grains!
Well-well...
I thought you had horses...
But these are not horses, these are cows.
Go on, you whistle and scare quails.
Hup! Gee up!
Were that you, tramps, who scared quails?
Flog him!
Break his backbone.
Take that!
Listen... You remind me of someone. But who?
Hoot... Take that, and that!
- Ah... - Ah...
- Cossack Vasyl! - Cossack Vasyl!
This is Cossack Vasyl, indeed!
Well, gentlemen, it turns out
that all of you met me.
Hem...
And you, grey head,
came here to trample your mother's grains?
Shame on you!
I won't lay hands on him, master.
He rescued our squadron from Turkish captivity.
I ask all of you one more time:
have all of you met me, gentlemen?
I haven't met you yet.
Well... If you haven't
then will you mind joining me on the meadow?
It's not because he killed my brother,
but because he scared quails.
Go on, put him to the sword! Oink!
You're welcome.
I asked you not to trample the grains.
- Wait, you devil's soul! - Cut it off.
Oh, dear Mother!
Devil's souls!
Aim at the left one!
Great men are perishing! A pity!
Come now, take him off the saddle!
Whoa!
So what, have you got acquainted with me?
You are a devil!
- What shall I do with you, swine? - I am a Cossack! Oink!
Are you a Cossack?
Then don't dishonour the mohawk!
- Bring these horses to the widows! - You're sure? After all, it's property.
Do as you're told.
Listen, did you have a brother?
Well, I did.
The same fool as I am.
- Was his name Ivan, by any chance? - Right, Ivan...
An inn, brother! An inn! Heaven knows, it's an inn!
Aha! You have horilka on your mind, while me...
- ... I have the petition! - You got me wrong!
Look, we can stay overnight there,
have a dinner...
Just a dinner!
Right, nothing else.
Open up, you damned innkeeper!
Welcome to the house!
Welcome.
They've been waiting for you for a long time!
Are you suffering, sons of ***?
We are in distress...
- Aren't you tired? - We are not.
I won't leave until I finish all of this damned innkeeper's horilka.
Drink, Petro, drink. And punish this damned innkeeper.
Make him bankrupt, as he made me.
Hey, lads, enjoy yourselves. I squandered everything I had on drink!
Let me go. I said, let me go, don't hold me, I want to go home...
Wine and horilka for good lads!
They are the ones!
A nice party, indeed!
Anyway we won't have any horilka!..
Odarka!
What do gentlemen want to order?
Plenty of sausage,
plenty of lard, plenty of herring,
plenty of dumplings, plenty of ham,
plenty of dried fish!
We won't drink any horilka.
So give us pampushkas [doughnuts] with garlic.
Listen, Vasyl, how about we'll have a drink, a tiny one?
Hem... N-no
I have no strength to refuse. A little... but in a bucket.
- Two buckets! - All right.
Oh...
And a cask of beer.
Well, is that you who taught my bully brother a good lesson?
Aha!
Good job!
Forgive me, wife, forgive.
Give me something for my last shirt.
Oh! It gets warmer!
Oh, it bodes ill, Vasyl!
Could it be we won't be able to drink this horilka?
Saint George and the Mother of God
will help us to defeat this calamity,
win or lose - we won’t die twice!
Hey, lads, let's get into an action!
- It's not going any further yet... - Ah, it doesn't!
- Oink! - The petition is in the grey hat, you can take it.
And take the money your brother gave me as well!
These lads won't die even in hell!
Go... to hell!
People say
that he doesn’t drink.
While he attends a tavern
every night!
Yum-yum-yum...
- It's not going yet! - It doesn't!
- It doesn't! - It doesn't!
- It will go now! - It will!
And I am poor, unhappy…
- Unhappy. - Unhappy.
The wide steppe is my matchmaker,
the sabre, the pipe - they are my whole family,
the small grey horse - it is my brother.
- The yellow small horse! - The grey small horse! The grey one!
This grey hat suits your grey horse.
And my... jacket suits your...
-...yellow horse. - And to your grey horse...
...it suits...
Go to sleep, you damned drunkard! Go.
These are strange voices!
These are wonderful voices...
Oh, early on Sunday,
there was the blue sea, it was running high,
there was Odarka, who was taking water,
there was Odarka, who was taking water,
And she married an unloved one.
- Let's go, take a look at them from the bank. - Let's go.
She was calling a Cossack.
Why did you call me?
You ask why?
You know how much I love you. Even hell is not appealing for me without you.
I've known this for a long time.
Listen, be mine.
I will do anything for you,
anything your soul may wish!
You won't do what my soul wishes.
I will.
I swear to hell, to Satan to the very Beelzebub!
Otherwise, let me never spoil a single Christian soul,
let me perish in an ice-hole on the Feast of Theophany!
Oh that devilish thing! Hear how awkward it swears!
- Don't you believe me? - I don't.
Believe me, believe.
Tell me, my dear Odarka, what does your soul wish?
I won't tell you! I won't tell! Until you swear
by a hellish word, that you will do whatever I wish.
- And how long will you be mine, if I promise? - For ten years.
I'll do anything.
All right. Here is my hand and a hellish word.
And who will testify?
It must be a Christian soul. And it must be an immaculate one.
There are people around to testify. Cossacks, come over here!
Do Zaporozhian Cossacks have immaculate souls?
They are simply drunkards and outlaws.
Come on!
Nobody's soul is purer than these devil's sons!
They follow the Scripture and do not mix with women,
fight against infidels and defend the Orthodox faith.
- And so? - Who are you talking to around here?
Well, now tell me what your soul wishes.
- I want redemption. - It is impossible!
- Absolutely impossible! - Why's that? In fact, it is quite possible!
Stop it, I said! Stop this smoke! Stop it!
You know well yourself that I became a witch against my will.
I'll give my soul for you.
Deal.
You have the first one! The second one will follow!
You are not a real Cossack. Why don't you give your soul?
Give me your soul!
Give it to me!
Give me your soul!
Give it to me! Give it to me! Give it to me!
Give me your soul!
Give me your soul.
You better show up before me. I will give you such a soul
that seven days won't be enough to suck it out.
Where is the petition?
I am sorry, Father.
Flitter - flutter!
Oh!
Fancy that! I am dry and home!
Old man! Old man!
- Are you dead or alive? - I don't know.
If you don't know than you are dead. Let's go with us!
Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!
- Petro! - Ah?
- Where are they bringing us? - I don't know.
- And I don't know either. - Maybe to hell.
Ah! Maybe.
Tell them to start singing. I like folk songs very much.
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye
And now what?
The night is approaching...
What is going on?
... and puts little children to sleep
A little cherry tree is trembling near the window,
It’s asking to be let in for winter is already here,
A little cherry tree is shaking near the window,
It’s asking to be let in for winter is already here
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, go to sleep, close your eyes,
You’ll get warm in a happy dream,
Go over to the boy, lovely little cherry-tree,
You will feel warm in a cradle.
We'll get it! Fiend! Fiend! Bring us some gunpowder!
- A lot of gunpowder! - Our chief doesn't like noise.
- Look, what a nice flint gun we have! - Get it, or we'll break your bones!
We'll break them, indeed!
Rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye, rock-a-bye...
Gotcha! He was looking for a horse and found a girl!
Ah-ah...
They are dreaming about it!
Women, don't sing! You are dreaming!
I know this ***, indeed, but you are dreaming!
Old man! It is all in your dreams.
And he's dreaming too!
Hey now, scram, out of my way! Out of my sight!
Scram, I said, you devilry!
Wake up, people, wake up!
You are dreaming, dreaming, and you're dreaming!
Come to your senses, stop this madness, you're dreaming it!
Yum-yum-yum...
Yum-yum-yum. At least you, drunkard, do you understand that you drank too much
-...and you are dreaming? - Yum-yum-yum.
- What are you drinking? - Tar! Well, I got used to it.
- Ah-ah, yum-yum-yum... - Yum-yum-yum.
Odarka is here too. I sold my soul for her!
Now you'll see that you are dreaming.
Just look how the wretch is looking at me!
Where is my hat?
Dear Vasyl, come here. I've got everything.
My sweet dove, you're here too!
I knew that you would find me even here...
Oh, you Herodian tribe! So you've decided to mock me?
If you fail to return to me my Cossack hat with the petition,
and the soul of my unfailing sworn brother
and souls of all these people that you are torturing here...
- And Odarka's soul! - And mine!
And Odarka's soul...
Then let me be a Catholic, if I fail
to twist your swine mugs!
Deal!
- Where is my hat? - I will give you everything back,
but you must play the game of fool with us three times.
You want me
to play the game of fool with you, devilish woman?
Am I hearing things? Come on, say it again.
Listen now.
If you win at least once -
the souls will be yours.
Well, of course, though they're sinners but they are still Christian souls.
This is my woman!
- Have you gone mad? - I'm telling you!
Come on, deal your hand, wretched witch. The petition is worth it.
Deal cards, I said!
If you lose and become the fool three times,
then don't be angry,
not only you won't get your hat back
- ...you'll lose your soul as well. - Come on, ***, come on.
Pick it up!
- Clubs, beat it with clubs! - I've got no clubs!
Pick it up!
Pick it up!
I did!
- Here you go! - The fool! The fool! The fool!
All right! Now it is my turn to deal.
- So what, do you see Turkey? - No, not yet.
- And now? - Huh! Here it is.
Your turn, you wretch.
That's not a Cossack way. What have you beaten it with, Vasyl?
With a trump.
Maybe it is a trump for you,
but for us it is not!
The fool! The fool! The fool!
Andrii, let's repent, ha?
Go to hell! Don't you see, the man is losing the game.
Oh, my God! My God!
With a trump, wretched hag, beat it off with a trump.
- What do you beat it off with? - With the suit you've played.
Gosh! How come?
Spit on the cards!
Phooey!
O-oh!
Damned Cossack! Oink!
Ah so! It turns out that I was
a fool indeed. Well now, pick it up! The first one!
- He is winning! - Oh, devilish souls! - He is winning! He is winning! Winning!
- The second! - He is winning! Winning!
- The third! - He is winning!
The fourth! The fifth!
- He's winning. - Really?
- Come on! - Here you go!
- Ivan! - Petro!
- Ivan! - Petro!
Look, how many of them we have put down here!
Just imagine what is going on in Turkey!
- Vasyl! - Vasyl!
- Come on! - Come on!
Give me some horilka!
Those who drank horilka in their lives
- ... are drinking tar here! - Let it be tar!
Pick it up, you darned wretch!
Oh, what *** they serve to honest drunkards here!
Ah-ah!
- Give me a pickle! - It 's burning! It's burning!
- Oh! - Oh!
Oh, oh-oh-oh, oh!
Stand up! Stand up, darned drunkards, the sun is up!
Oh, my head... damn it.
M-ahem! Oh my sweet Lord!
Give me some pickles!
- You put my jacket on, didn't you? - The hell knows!
Where is my hat? Where is my hat?
- Oh! Where is my hat? - A strange man ordered me to tell you
that the innkeeper stole your hat and a cross.
I stole the cross back.
Ah so!
Flies!
Ha ha ha!
Ouch!
Now I see what he was treating us with.
Maybe it's because of this crack-head my head is aching!
The whole night some devilry was creeping on me.
What were you treating us with, lousy innkeeper!
Was it dog meat?
Oh you! Thief!
This one is for the hat. This one for the petition!
This one for the cross, and this one is for everything else!
Oh!..
Listen, Vasyl! It won't happen again! Do you hear, never again!
Girl, do I know you?
It is possible.
Come now, ask her something.
- I've never talked to a girl face to face. - Oh, go to hell!
Will you marry him?
If you free me...
My mother was converted to Islam, and I was sold to the innkeeper.
- Uncle Petro! - What?
Take the girl to Dykanka, to our village.
All right, I will take her, she'll be as on God's laps.
Wait for me. I'll go to the Czarina and be right back home.
Oh, my Lord!
- Lads, is Czarina home? - No sir, she is not, sir! [in Russian].
- Lads, so is Czarina in the house? - Sir, yes, sir! [in Russian]
Tell her that Cossack Vasyl from Dykanka came to see her in person.
Oh! What a foul smell!
Maybe we should eat some barley, otherwise it'll be rude.
We should. We should change our attires as well.
Right.
Let's go!
Hm-hm! Heh!
Good day.
Are there hosts at home?
My eye! My hag is here too.
What's wrong? [in Russian]
Oh my!
- Check it out! [in Russian] - Just a second! [in Russian]
- What's wrong? [in Russian] - Get out of my sight!
What did you put on?
- Wife, is that you or not? - Shut up, you fool!
What do you want? [in Russian]
Check it! [in Russian]
What's that? [in Russian]
It's a trifle! [in Russian]
It's an absolute trifle! [in Russian]
Did he come all the way here because of a trifle? [in Russian]
Nice Cossack. [in Russian]
Be off, nice man, be off! [in Russian] Oink!
Mister, a fly sat on you.
- Odarka? - Baroness von Lichtenberg.
The audience is over.
How come it is over? And what about our petition?
What petition?
This is art, don't you see!
Darned flies are all around here too!
Baroness... Lichtenberg... Sure!
What kind of Cossacks are we then?
Listen, brother
there is only one thing we can do - blow out each other's brains.
As you say, brother.
And this place is suitable.
Let's get our pistols ready.
Forgive me, brother, for everything.
No.
I will say a prayer.
And when I say...
eh... 'and the life of the world to come'
we both must get ready as after the word 'amen'
we'll shoot each other.
- Eh-eh!.. - Oh...
I believe in one God, the Father Almighty...
And in one Lord Jesus Christ...
... crucified for us, suffered under Pontius Pilate...
and was buried...
Listen...
if someone will not get killed completely,
then he will shoot himself with his own pistol.
Eh-eh!..
And on the third day He rose again according to the Scriptures.
He ascended into heaven...
I confess one baptism
for the forgiveness of sins
and I await the resurrection of the dead
and the life of the world to come...
'Amen' is next...
So, lads, have you made up your mind to shoot each other?
We have.
Come now, look if there is anybody behind me?
There is nobody.
- And behind me? - Nobody!
- Who are you? - The fiend!
- Where are you? - Near the road.
Oh! Oh, be carefull, lads!
- Who is saying this? - That's me, the rock on the road.
Are you a rock or a fiend?
Well, both the rock and the fiend.
Oh! Oh.
The devil turned me into a rock because I helped you...
so that people stumbled upon me.
I can't stand it anymore. Come on, lads, toss me in a swamp.
I am sick and tired of causing troubles to people here.
Heigh-ho!
- It was a heavy, ***! - It was!
On the other hand what a mighty plop it made!
- Go... - I won't.
Well, lads, have you seen the Czarina?
Uh-huh...
M-m... Hm...
- We did! - We did.
Eh, lads, you are not good at lies...
And probably you'll never learn.
So yeah, blow each other's brains!
And I have to go!
Ge-e!..
Just think, that foolish shooting almost prevented us from getting home!
Tell me about it! It almost did!
Oh...
- What a shame! - There's nothing we can do about it.
Oh...
Vasyl! Oh... I am suffocating.
Oh, I am hungry as a wolf!
- At least, there are no people around. - Here they come.
Cossack Vasyl... Cossack Vasyl...
Where are they heading for?
Oh! Oh... Cossack Vasyl came back...
Good people, where are you heading to?
Let me go! Cossack Vasyl is coming after having visited the Czarina!
- All hail... - All hail you Cossacks...
I invite you all to my house!
He will come out now.
Coming... Oh, he is coming...
My husband will come out in a moment.
Oh! Oh, oh, oh... Vasyl is coming...
- Did he just get back? - Coming...
He is coming.
We don't know her...
Oh! Oh! Oh, Vasyl!
Oh! Huh!
Huh! Oh! Huh!
When I appeared before the Czarina she was looking at me
with exactly the same eyes.
She welcomed us as if our own mother!
The moment she saw us, she brightened up and shone!
We were entering one chamber after the other,
but she was nowhere to be found! Only little Czarewitches
were scurrying around as if mice. And she was not there!
She was sitting in the fifth chamber!..
So she was sitting there and eating dumplings with lard, this big!
On her right hand there was a handsome man,
on her left hand there was another one.
Music started to play.
She said: 'I invite you for a waltz, dear Vasyl'.
A-ah! I came closer to her... What an aroma!
I'll come to you tonight.
She smelled nicely.
I was walking very nervously... Waltzing, well, you know...
Phooey!
She was so well-bred!
For instance, she spat - phooey. What would you do?
She spat - phooey, and then smeared it, spat mightily and smeared it right away.
So I took her around her waist.
She had a waist this small. This was her waist.
Well, she put her arms in a strange way. Like that.
I took her with my palm and began dancing those waltzes!
And she was laughing and laughing and laughing...
And what did the Czarina tell me?
And what property did the Czarina give me?
She gave you some!
Of course! She gave you all this. See, this is all yours.
Don't you see? There it is...
Oh! Ha-ha-ha!
Oh! Good!
Dear Vasyl, and what about service for a boy?
Ah?
Your service is an unfailing horse and a wide steppe.
Serve people!
Have you really seen the Czarina?
You gave me good tobacco, Father.
- Didn't I? - Thank you.
Oh, you fool!
And your Father is a fool, and your Grandfather was a fool.
It is your destiny to be a fool.
A fish was dancing with a crayfish, with a crayfish,
And a parsley with a parsnip, with a parsnip,
And an onion - with a garlic, and a girl with a Cossack.
What a liar.
My grandfather was a liar, but you have excelled him!
Singers: N. Matvienko, V. Kovalska, M. Mykolaichuk
Bandura - H. Menkush Violins - brothers Cherednyk
'Lullaby' was written by V. Ivanyshyn and sang by H. Menkush
Music performed by the folk band conducted by Ya. Orlov
Sound R. Bisnovataia Film editor T. Serdiuk
Director B. Savchenko
Supervising editor L. Chumakova Cameraman P. Loiko
Special effects: V. Tsyrlina, A. Pastukhova Pyrotechnics: V. Voronyi
Set design H. Pavlenko, N. Poshtarenko
Lighting board operator O. Prosykhin Make-up E. Parfeniuk
Director's assitants Second camera assistant
Also starring:
Production manager Tetiana Kulchytska
The End