executioner sighed heavily. How many people he had already sent to the Other World, and each time there was a burden on his heart. That is why he went to Father Philip, asking to remove the sin. It is also difficult to execute robbers, they are people after all. Even Christ himself, accepting the torment of the cross, and forgiving the murderer Datis, did not turn away from the repentant man. But such as these, on slander and the sovereign’s thieves:.. And you have to think about yourself… All of them, these thieves, have relatives among the first people in the state. Time will pass, they will be respected and have money again, and you see, they will remember that Prokhor Palashev helped them… But Mikhail Ivanovich Tsikler dispelled the doubts of the master of torture:
– Here is the money… We collected one hundred and twenty rubles… You, Prokhor, give it up, so that your father dies without suffering, – said the son, barely holding back his sobs, – and the others, too. Time will pass. We will help those children too, we will not be in disgrace forever. You will not lose…
– I will do everything in a godly manner, – and the kat bowed low.
Never mind, my back will probably not break, but the noble children, you see, will remember the good… He let the guests out into the street, Prokhor Palashev opened his purse and could not stop admiring the smooth and shiny efimki, two hundred and forty pieces in all. He sighed, but kept only a quarter for himself. The rest had to be given to his fellow craftsmen, he wouldn’t be doing the job alone…
***
The day of March 4, 1697, or 7215 according to the old style, did not begin as usual....Three carts with iron cages were being driven along the streets of Moscow. They were guarded by mounted dragoons with drawn swords, and in front of them rode the thieves, shouting:
– The sovereign’s thieves and traitors, Ivashka Tsykler, Fedka Pushkin, Alyoshka Sokovnin, and the riflemen Vaska Filippov, Fedka Rozhin, and the thieving Cossack Petrushka Lukyanov! And the three main thieves will be punished by quartering, and their assistants by beheading!
Crowds of people stood on the roadsides, waiting to hear what the condemned would say or shout. But they only remained silent, and blood flowed from their mouths down their chins.
– Their tongues were cut out! – shouted a merchant standing at a distance.
– Shut up! – shouted a dragoon captain who had ridden up, – or you too will quickly lose your tongue. or even your head!
The merchant quickly hid among the townspeople, the Muscovites fell silent in fear.
– And the main culprit and inspirer of this indignation is the late boyar Ivan Milislavsky! And this blood is not for him, the robber and traitor! And so that he could drink his fill of that blood, a coffin with the boyar’s bones was placed under the place of execution. And let no one else dare rebel! – the tyrant finished his speech, and lowered the Tsar’s letter.
In such deathly silence, only to the barking of dogs and the neighing of horses, this terrible train reached Bolotnaya Square, the place of executions.
The executioners opened the iron cages, and without removing the chains, dragged the condemned to the prepared chopping blocks, huge wooden bases. Here the tyrant came out again and began to read the Tsar’s Charter loudly:
“And from Aleshka’s children Sokovnin, from Vasily, from Fyodor, from Peter, from Ivashkov’s children Tsykler, their ranks, to which they are registered in the Discharge, for the theft of their fathers, to take away and to register them, Vasily with his brothers, in Belgorod, and to serve them in the Belgorod regiment, and the Tsykler’s in Kursk. And in Moscow they are not to go without the decree of the Great Sovereign. And from their estates and patrimonies and special dachas to give them to Vasily 25 households, and to Peter and Ivashkov’s children Tsykler five households each. And if they do not have special dachas, then to give them the same number of estates and from the patrimonies of their fathers. And to Fedka’s children of Pushkin from the estates and from the patrimonies and from the special dachas, for the theft of their father, not to give them, but to write off those of his Fedka and the rest of the Ivashkovs and Aleshkins and their children’s estates and patrimonies, and Moscow households and stomachs to the Great Sovereign and sell them according to the appraisal, and the money to his sovereign treasury. And to their wives, Ivashkov and Aleshkin and Fedka, and their daughters – maidens, from those estates and patrimonies not to give anything, but to give them their country courtyards, and to give from their stomachs in accordance with what was given to Fedka’s wife of Shaklovity. And to release those people of Aleshkin and Fedkin and Ivshkov. And Larion Elizariev, for the fact that he informed him about that murder, the Great Sovereign granted him, the Great Sovereign, the rank of clerk. And give him 50 peasant households from the Ivashkov estates and the Tsikler estates. And welcome Grigory Silin to the old clerkship, and give him 1,000 rubles from the Ivashkov estates and let him be in charge of the Zhitoy yard, which is by the Myasnitsky gates.” The face of the Tsar’s servant turned red from the strain, but but he tried not to cough. What, a disparagement of the Tsar’s honor, blasphemy against the Sovereign!
– It’s time to begin… – he whispered.
Kat grabbed Ivan Tsykler first. He walked on his own, not lowering his head. The assistants lowered him onto the chopping block, and the executioner, as if by accident, first cut off the unfortunate man’s head. The blade hit the block with a dull thud, the head fell into the prepared basket. The body jerked, and already dead, moved forward, almost falling off the platform. Blood burst out, abundantly soaking the boards of the scaffold. Then, coming to their senses, they chopped off the arms and legs. The executioner raised the head of the executed man, showing his terrible prey in all four directions, then, with a habitual movement of his calloused hands, stuck it into the rage. Biryuch screamed:
– Punishment has befallen the damned traitor! Here is the head of Ivashka Tsykler! It will stand here for three days, as is customary!
Then it was the turn of Alexei Sokovnin and Fyodor Pushkin. They were executed too, and their heads became a terrible decoration of the scaffold. Vasily Filippov, Fyodor Rozhin and the Cossack Pyotr Lukyanov did not escape the evil fate. Six heads hung on the spits of long poles.
Silence seemed to fall upon Bolotnaya Square. Not a sound was heard, not a rustle. The people were silent, everyone was watching the end of the terrible performance.
Blood covered the scaffold with a terrible carpet. Red, strainingly heavy drops fell down. But here they did not soak the yellow river sand, specially poured here, but fell into the open coffin of the boyar Ivan Miloslavsky. Even the executioner standing by the coffin crossed himself and said a prayer when he saw the blood begin to pour over the blackened shroud of the dead man. The dried skin that covered the skull turned red, covered with a monstrous color. The blood got into the gaping mouth, flowed down the teeth, then the jaw crunched, as if from a heavy weight, and it seemed to the executioner that the dead man had come to life and was swallowing a terrible drink.
Kat quickly turned away, shaking with fear and barely audibly muttered:
– Save and protect, Lord! Save me and protect, Lord!
The Grand Embassy
The Tsar Leaves Moscow
A tradesman, Khariton Bezukhov, was dragging a cart with goods to the shop, when the Tsar’s messengers, with coats of arms on their caftans, galloped past him along the street. Only the spring mud flew from under the hooves of good horses.
– What is this? What happened again? – Khariton shouted to his neighbor, Kapiton Rozhkov.
– I don’t understand myself… What kind of war has Pyotr Alekseevich started again…
– Yes, what is going on? They just executed the thieves on Bolotnaya Square, Tsykler and Sokovnin, and the Tsar is already leaving?
– Well, the Tsar-father