a tale of the opryshky told by Ivan Ostashuk of Zelenytsia, from Volodymyr Hnatiuk, Narodni opovidannia pro opryshkiv (1910)
Oleksa Dovbush, killed at Kosmach in 1745, is the greatest of the opryshky, the outlaws of the Carpathian mountains, and the Hutsuls have long told how he came to his death through Shtefan Dzvinka and Dzvinka's wife. Ivan Ostashuk told this account at Zelenytsia, a hamlet of Zelena, and Antin Onyshchuk wrote it down in 1907. Dzvinka's wife coaxes the secret of the silver bullet from the sleeping Dovbush, her husband shoots him through the broken door, and Dovbush, kept alive by the herb in his palm, chooses his own end before the pursuit arrives.
Translation
Oleksa used to call on Dzvinka's wife in Kosmach; wherever he went roving, he always turned in to her. Once he came to her drunk and told her to search his head. She sat down and searches it, and then, when the bitch saw that he was dozing, she began to work on him, began to wheedle him with her lies, so that Oleksa would let out what he could be killed with. She says: "Lord God! Is there any such thing," she says, "that could be your death, Oleksa dear? It seems to me there isn't..."
"Eh, why not," says Oleksa, "there is, but nobody knows it."
And as she went on working on him, working on him, he says through his sleep: "You'd have to take a hair each from nine black first-foaled stallions, cast them into a silver bullet, and over that twelve priests would have to say a service, no, twelve services would have to be said, and with that bullet a man could kill me."
But after a while Oleksa started awake, came to himself and says: "Didn't I say something to you?"
"No!"
"Hey, didn't I say something?"
"No!"
"Hey, maybe I said something?"
"No, Oleksa dear, you didn't say anything!" And she wouldn't own up, for the bitch surely knew she'd have met her death on the spot.
She told all of it to her husband, and he told the lords. The lords had long had their eye on Dovbush, and oh, how glad they were, how glad! And quick as anything they got hold of such a bullet and gave it to Dzvinchuk.
Dzvinka loaded his gun and climbed up into the loft. When Oleksa came, just as usual, she wouldn't let him into the house any more; she says: "I'm not afraid of you; I don't let a robber in!"
But Oleksa, who could have turned the little house over, set his shoulders to the door, and the yew door and the iron locks burst. But no sooner had Oleksa pushed the door open than Dzvinka let fly at him from the gun, right into his heart.
Oleksa clutched at his breast with his hand and rolled down onto the floor and says:
Oh, you lads, oh, lads of mine,
Take me up upon your axes,
And carry me to the Black Mountains...
And the lads took him up and carried him into the tavern next door, in case some help might still be given. They set him on the table, and Oleksa says to the Jewish girl: "Go on, go and look whether anything can be seen."
The Jewish girl went once: nothing to be seen; she went a second time: nothing to be seen; she went a third time, came into the house and says: "Oh, Oleksa dear, there's such a crowd coming, thick as grass, as leaves... Looks like it's the pursuit coming."
And Dovbush, though, you see, the bullet had gone through his heart, was alive, because he had that herb from the old man in his palm. When he heard that the pursuit was coming, he called for a quarter of horilka to be brought him.
The lads came up to him like children to their father, and Oleksa took leave of each one, and then he slit his palm open with a penknife, took out that herb and dropped it into his drink, and says: "Let the lordlings not make sport of me!" And he drank that herb down with the horilka, and died.
Colophon
Translated from the Hutsul of Volodymyr Hnatiuk (ed.), Narodni opovidannia pro opryshkiv (Etnohrafichnyi zbirnyk 26, Lviv 1910), no. 108, pp. 127–128, told by Ivan Ostashuk and recorded in 1907 by Antin Onyshchuk at Zelenytsia, a hamlet of Zelena. The text was transcribed from the page images of the Internet Archive scan, and Hnatiuk's correction for p. 128 from his own list of misprints is applied: продув, "let fly", for the printed придув. Hnatiuk's glossary settled горівчений, "drunk", and крузь, "through". Оґери перваки are first-foaled stallions. The twelve priests are ксьондзи, the word for Roman Catholic priests, which this teller uses where no. 109 of this collection, telling the same death, says попи. Збуй is a robber; цїзорик a penknife; кватирка a quarter-measure of spirits, here of horilka; кипкувати сї is to make sport of someone, and панки, the diminutive of пани, are "the lordlings". The endearments Олексику and Олексички are rendered "Oleksa dear". The зело від дїдика is read as "the herb from the old man": in no. 51 of the same collection, from the same village, an old seer, called there дїдик, sets the herb into the young Dovbush's palm so that bullets will not take him, so дїдик here is not taken as a name for the devil. Ласували на Довбуші is read from ласий, "craving", as "had long had their eye on Dovbush"; no. 106, from the same village, uses the same verb of the lords' men (ласували на него ночіми, "by night"), and nothing in the volume settles it further. The third line of Oleksa's verse is printed Тай несїть нї в Чорні гори; нї is read as the short form of "me", as the line before it, Беріть мене, requires, just as тї stands for "thee" elsewhere in the volume. Тай такі борзо постарали таку кулю is "and quick as anything they got hold of such a bullet". The Jewish girl's crowd coming як зїля, як листу is "thick as grass, as leaves"; her next words, Нїби шо погоня іде, "Looks like it's the pursuit coming", are read as still hers, though they could also be the teller's aside.
No English translation of this narrative is known to us.
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Source Text: Довбушева смерть
The Hutsul text as printed by Hnatiuk (1910), no. 108, transcribed from the page images.
Олекса заходив до Дзвінкової жінки у Космачи; де ходив-ходив, а все завернув до неї. Раз прийшов він до неї горівчений тай казав себе обіськувати. Она сїла тай обіськує, а далї як повидїла сука, шо він дрімає, зачєла єго підходити, зачєла сї підбріхувати, аби Олекса сповів, чим би єго мож убити. Каже: Господи Боже! Ци є шо таке, каже, аби вам, Олексику, була від того смерть? Менї видить сї, шо нї...
Ей, чому нї, каже Олекса, є, але нїхто того не знає.
А она як стала єго підходити, як стала підходити, а той крузь сон каже: Узєти би з девєти чорних оґерів перваків по волосови, в срібну кулю залєти і над тим аби 12 ксьондзїв відправило службу, нї, 12 служб би відправити, тай тов кулев мож би мене убити.
Але через чєс прохопив сї Олекса, спамєтав сї тай каже: Ци не казав я тобі шо?
Нї!
Ей ци не казав я шо?
Нї!
Ей відав казав?
Нї, Олексику, не казали! Тай признати сї не хотїла, бо она чей знала сука, шо зараз би смерти пожила.
Она сказала тото усьо свому чоловікови, а він росказав панам. Пани давно на Довбуші ласували та так урадували сї, урадували. Тай такі борзо постарали таку кулю і дали Дзвінчукови.
Дзвінка набив пушку тай полїз на під. Як прийшов Олекса нїби як звичайно, а она єго уже не хотїла пустити у хату, каже: Я тебе сї не бою, я збуя не пускаю!
Але Олекса, шо міг би хатчину перевернути, підложив плечі під двері, а тисові двері і зелїзні замки пукли. Але лиш Олекса відхилив двері, а Дзвінка продув з пушки ід нему у саме серце.
Олекса імив сї руков за груди і покотив сї на долівку і каже:
Ой ви хлопцї, ой ви мої,
Беріть мене на топори,
Тай несїть нї в Чорні гори...
Тай хлопцї узєли єго тай занесли у сусїдну коршму, може би дати ше який ратунок. Поставили єго на столї, а Олекса каже до Жидівочки: Іди-ко та диви сї, ци не видно шо.
Жидівочка пішла раз, не видно; пішла другий, не видно; пішла третий раз, увійшла у хату і каже: Ой Олексички, іде того як зїля, як листу... Нїби шо погоня іде.
А Довбуш, хоть видите, кулї перейшла крузь серце, жив, бо мав у долони тото зело від дїдика. Як почув, шо іде погоня, казав подати собі кватирку горівки.
Хлопцї приступили ід нему гей дїти до тата, а Олекса розпращєв сї з кождим тай тогди цїзориком розпоров собі долоню, вібрав то зело і кинув у порцїю тай каже: Най панки не кипкуют сї з мене! І випив то зело з горівков тай умер.
Source Colophon
Volodymyr Hnatiuk (ed.), Narodni opovidannia pro opryshkiv (Etnohrafichnyi zbirnyk 26; Lviv: Naukove tovarystvo im. Shevchenka, 1910), no. 108, pp. 127–128. Public domain. Transcribed from the page images of the Internet Archive scan (identifier etnohr_26). Hnatiuk's phonetic spelling of the Hutsul is kept as printed, with its ї, є, ґ and dialect forms; line-end hyphens are joined. Hnatiuk's correction for p. 128 from his list of misprints is applied (продув for the printed придув). Hnatiuk's footnotes are not reproduced; he gives none for this narrative. His record line reads: Зап. 1907 р. в Зеленицї (присїл. Зеленої), від Івана Осташука, Ант. Онищук.
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