And he would have kept his oath.

He would not have looked at her beauty; he would have dragged her forth by her thick and splendid hair; he would have trailed her after him over all the plain, among all the Cossacks.

Her beautiful shoulders and bosom, white as fresh-fallen snow upon the mountain-tops, would have been crushed to earth and covered with blood and dust.

Her lovely body would have been torn to pieces.

But Taras, who did not foresee what God prepares for man on the morrow, began to grow drowsy, and finally fell asleep.