Taras Bulba

In the dark days at the dawn of the 16th century,

the conquering hordes of the Turkish Sultan

spread terror throughout the civilized world.

The Ottoman Empire swept east across Asia Minor,

south across the Mediterranean,

north across the Crimea.

Triumphant, the Turkish Sultan turned west to the Ukraine.

Turkish spearheads threatened the frontiers of Poland.

The fate of Europe hung in the balance on the vast fertile plains

known as the Steppes.

Your Highness, the Turks have broken our lines.

Call out the reserves.

We have yet to hear from our allies.

The Cossacks.

The whole army's probably lying drunk in the mud.

-The Cossacks will be here. -We can't wait, Sire.

Zaporozhtzi.

Cutthroats, animals. Devils with scalp locks.

But there are no such fighters in the world.

Prince Grigory will toast victory at the Royal Pavilion

with the Cossack Colonel.

Tell your Prince,

the hetman of the Zaporozhtzi only drinks with kings.

My Colonel,

have a drink for me with Prince Grigory.

And you will represent me at the Royal Pavilion,

Taras Bulba.

Follow me.

Never set foot under a Polish roof.

Not even a tent.

Colonel Manfred, we will speak here. It will spare us both embarrassment.

I give you a toast to our common triumph over the infidels.

I'll drink to that.

Gold.

Too bad we're fighting on the same side, huh?

You fight well, Cossack.

How are you known?

Armed guards behind my back.

Your name?

Taras Bulba.

Colonel of the Oumansky Cossacks.

Well, Taras Bulba, Colonel of the Oumansky Cossacks,

His Majesty is pleased by the results of our alliance.

So pleased he has decided to do you the honor

of integrating all Cossack troops into the Polish-Imperial Army.

Do you see this scalp lock?

That means you're speaking to the Zaporozhtzi.

Do you know what Zaporozhtzi means?

The Cossack Brotherhood.

Free men.

We fought with you to rid this land of the Turks

because this is our land.

Now take your Polish honor back to Poland

and leave us alone.

Leave us alone, Pole.

Colonel Manfred, the Cossack is right. Honor has nothing to do with this.

We need the Ukraine as a buffer against the East

and we need your grain.

We are here and we intend to stay.

That is why His Imperial Majesty is dispersing the Cossack troops

before you can turn your horses against us.

That is why we held back our reserves till you had won the battle for us.

Zaporozhtzi !

Holy Father,

blessed archangel, what have we done?

What is your will?

I've led you to dishonor, defeat and death.

No.

Devil take you, Mykola.

You are our hetman.

You did not lead us to defeat.

We trusted the Poles.

That

was our mistake.

Before the moon changes,

I'm going to have a son.

He may already be born.

And I will kiss the Devil before my son

wears the Polish collar.

So,

start again,

burn our farms,

take to the forests,

live in the hills.

Kubenko in the south.

Tymoshevsky in the east.

The scalp lock is forbidden.

There's my pledge.

It may take years,

it may take a whole generation,

but the Cossack Brotherhood will rise again,

with fire and sword

and repay the Pole measure for measure.

And take

the Steppes back

for our own.

And may God help us.

Zaporozhtzi,

pray to your archangel.

With the burning of their farms,

the Cossacks scattered across their beloved Steppes.

There, in the ancient hills,

Taras Bulba's vision was to take root and grow like the sons he bore,

steeled from birth for the day when the Cossack Brotherhood

would drive the Polish conquerors from their homeland

and take back the Steppes for their own.

There, Andrei,

there's your lesson.

Armor plate can stop a saber.

If you want to kill a man in armor, what you need is this.

Why don't Cossacks wear armor?

This is our armor, boy.

Faith.

And a good saber arm.

Ostap, watch your brother.

He rides like a Cossack, fights like a Cossack.

And soon, we'll teach him to drink like a Cossack.

Taras Zaporozhtzi !

When you see a Cossack with him is a Cossack

We the brotherhood we are one

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

We the brotherhood we are one Hey!

Turn to your left then turn to your right

And faces shine brighter than the sun

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

Faces shine brighter than the sun Hey!

When you say Cossack you're saying brother

Cossack and brother mean the same

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

Cossack and brother mean the same! Hey!

We are the Cossacks We are the Cossacks

Men that no one on earth can tame

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

Hi, Zaporozhtzi!

Men that no one on earth can tame

Taras?

In the holy name, are you mad?

-A Cossack scalp lock? -Don't chatter, magpie.

You make the barber nervous.

You'll be hanged on sight.

The more you talk, the more you show your ignorance.

The scalp lock is the latest fashion imported from the court at Warsaw,

His Polish Majesty has forgiven us our sins.

Royal pardon to all Cossacks.

Watch what you're doing.

Shave me when you're through with papa. I want a scalp lock.

How's that?

A scalp lock!

You'll wear a scalp lock when you've earned it, boy.

In battle.

You don't need a scalp lock to study Latin.

Latin?

The Poles have opened the Kiev Academy to all Cossacks,

and the sons of Taras Bulba will be the first ones there.

Right, Father Mikhail?

The devil we are!

The King is spitting in our eye.

He's saying the Cossacks aren't worth worrying about anymore.

What the devil are you doing up there?

I am repairing the weathercock

so that you can tell which way the wind blows.

Papa, what can we learn from the Poles?

Father Mikhail has taught us everything that a Cossack should know.

-A Cossack? -Yes.

What do you know?

Pots and pans.

Petticoats and apron strings. That's what you know.

A Cossack should be fighting Poles, that's what I know.

Send me to Kiev with a saber, I'll teach them what I know.

But I won't go to learn to be a Pole.

You think you are ready to fight me, boy?

Anytime you say, Papa.

All right, Papa.

Come on.

So we go,

the sons of Taras Bulba, to learn to be Poles.

I don't know why we go, Papa, but I follow your orders

until the day comes that I can throw you in the well.

And

that day will come.

So. . .

You don't know why you're going.

So you say you want to fight the Poles.

When you come home,

when you've learned everything the Poles know

and all there is to know about the Poles,

then you'll be ready to fight them,

and not before.

And that day will come.

That day will come.

Pigs, lepers and Cossacks around the back.

Follow me.

Andrei Bulba.

Ostap Bulba.

We have opened our schools to you

in the hope that we may yet raise a generation of civilized Cossacks,

worthy to be counted among the subjects of the Polish crown.