Boris Godunov: A Drama in Verse
Translated by Alfred Hayes
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The opening
PALACE OF THE KREMLIN
(FEBRUARY 20th, A.D. 1598)
PRINCE SHUISKY and VOROTINSKY
VOROTINSKY. To keep the city’s peace, that is the task Entrusted to us twain, but you forsooth Have little need to watch; Moscow is empty; The people to the Monastery have flocked After the patriarch. What thinkest thou? How will this trouble end?
SHUISKY. How will it end? That is not hard to tell. A little more The multitude will groan and wail, Boris Pucker awhile his forehead, like a toper Eyeing a glass of wine, and in the end Will humbly of his graciousness consent To take the crown; and then—and then will rule us Just as before.
The whole book is in the Sphinx app.
About this edition
- The words
- Alfred Hayes's English translation, copied word for word.
- Copied from
- Left out
- The source library's header, footer and license
- The title page and opening pages before chapter 1
- The printed table of contents (the app makes its own)
- Notes and pages added by translators, editors or publishers, in 5 places
- Closing line ('THE END')