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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Taras Bulba and Other Tales by Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol: encouraging and freshening up their spirits--he knew their souls were
strong without that--but simply because he wished to tell them all he
had upon his heart.
"I want to tell you, brother gentles, what our brotherhood is. You
have heard from your fathers and grandfathers in what honour our land
has always been held by all. We made ourselves known to the Greeks,
and we took gold from Constantinople, and our cities were luxurious,
and we had, too, our temples, and our princes--the princes of the
Russian people, our own princes, not Catholic unbelievers. But the
Mussulmans took all; all vanished, and we remained defenceless; yea,
like a widow after the death of a powerful husband: defenceless was
 Taras Bulba and Other Tales |