Mazeppa

The story opens with a sixteen‑year‑old Cossack recounting his early life on the volatile borderlands of Volhynia. He and his cousin, Mazeppa, are bound by blood and rivalry, each raised under very different influences—one a scholar’s son, the other a soldier’s heir. Their families, proud descendants of the Cossack rebellion against Polish rule, hope the boys will learn the ways of the court while retaining their fierce independence.

At the Polish royal court they become pages, thrust into a world of princes, etiquette, and constant tension between their Orthodox Cossack identity and the dominant Polish culture. The narrator proudly teaches Mazeppa the art of fencing, forging a bond that soon is tested by petty fights with the other young courtiers. A heated dispute among the pages, sparked by national insults, threatens to push the two friends out of the palace and back toward the wild freedom of their ancestors.