Tsar and robber-witch

[Mastodont]

The seventeenth century was coming to an end, when a gang of thieves appeared on the Yaroslavl road, robbing rich carriages, but not disdaining and carrying carts of trade people. Those who remained alive after meeting with the robbers said that they were all fleeing convicts with torn nostrils and branded cheeks. The most surprising thing was that the woman commanded them - Maruska Semenova, about whom it was said that she was a witch. Like it or not, nobody knew for sure. But it was said that the desperate rag that had gathered in a gang, all as one was bewitched by it, and did not dare to say a word across.
This ataman was born from a village near Moscow of the boyar Sheremetyeva. And the robbers gave in after she knocked down the oblique head of a drunken clerk who tried to rape her. In the forest, she allegedly met dashing people who also desired a beautiful girl. But, when the first of them made a step in her direction, at the same instant, he blurted out on the ground so much that he could not recover for a long time. No luck and the second. No more hunters. Then Maruska told the robbers that she would command them, and if someone does not want to obey the woman, she can roll to hell. One woman-hater, who, apparently, had no effect on her charms, left the gang and then told about an unusual ataman.
Subsequent events confirmed the rumor about a robber witch, whom the devil himself helps. During the robberies on the road, she, according to eyewitnesses, differed in boldness and fearlessness, and her gang was elusive. Once a detachment of archers was sent to capture the robbers from Moscow. So Maruska led them to non-freezing swamps, where they all disappeared.
It came to the point that rich people were afraid to drive on the Yaroslavl road. When Tsar Peter I found out about this, he ordered two companies of Transfiguration to be expelled in order to capture the elusive Maruska with her gang and deliver it to Moscow. For a whole week, the soldiers climbed through the forest thicket, frozen their cheeks and noses, hands and feet, but caught only five runaway peasants, who admitted that they themselves, too, had been looking in vain for Maruska to join the robbers. After an unsuccessful punitive expedition, Prince Yuri Fedorovich Romodanovsky, who led the Secret Order, reported to the king that the ataman with his gang "had fallen into foreign lands." However, he was wrong.
... Despite his youth, the 23-year-old Peter was so sore and his right leg swelled that he could barely walk. The medications with which his overseas physician Polikolo treated him did not help. At the beginning of the winter of 1695, the exhausted king heeded the advice of Patriarch Adrian and decided to go to the Trinity Monastery in the hope that the holy relics there would heal him.
They left on three carriages with just a dozen soldiers, because recently the robbers did not show up on the Yaroslavl road. In the first carriage was Peter himself, in the second - generous donations for the laurels and several soldiers, the rest sat in the back carriage with Prince Romodanovsky.
The horses quickly rode the royal train along the sloping road. But, when the first carriage entered the bridge over the Klyazma River, several logs fell down under it at once, and it got stuck. The second carriage hit the royal one, the horses were entangled in the chutes, and Romodanovsky was a little behind, and his carriage with the soldiers was not visible around the bend.
At that moment, a dozen or three thieves jumped out of the forest thickets, armed with peepers and simply with handicrafts and axes. The soldiers fired at them and laid several of them. Having met an unexpected rebuff, the rest, hesitating, paused. Suddenly a young woman appeared in the undergrowth in a white sheepskin coat with food at the ready.
"What got up? Surround the boyars' dogs! They are just something with gulkin nose!" She shouted loudly. And immediately offhand shot from food, slaying the coachman royal carriage.
Encouraged by the ataman, the robbers unanimously rushed to the road. In a matter of minutes they would surely have overcome a handful of soldiers, but then Romodanovsky’s cart flew around the bend. His soldiers opened marksmanship. The attackers fell one after another into the snow. Several with the chieftain Maruska managed to grab before they reached the thicket. After that, Tsar Peter ordered to return to Moscow.
The next day, Romodanovsky reported to the tsar that all the captured robbers, except for their leaders, had obeyed the frenzy. But the chieftain Maruska is not recognized in anything, although she was interrogated with all severity. Intrigued, Peter decided to look at the flint-woman himself. On the same day, with difficulty stepping on a swollen leg, which with every step was given to acute pain, he descended into the robbery’s torture chamber.
Crouching on the bench, Peter looked with curiosity at the slender, naked maiden with a flexible waist and sticking out elastic breasts, which the executioner began to slowly pull up in front of him on the rack. When asked why she had robbed her, and now she didn’t want to obey, Maruska only groaned terribly and looked at the king with hatred.
Peter was a sensible and highly enlightened man for his time. Therefore, he did not really believe that magicians and sorcerers could use the help of evil forces. But before him there was a woman who silently endured inhuman torments, but did not confess anything. It was completely incomprehensible how she did it. Peter remembered the tales that she was a witch, and he wanted to talk to an unusual robber. He ordered the executioner to lower the victim. Maruska sprawled weakly on the floor.
"Do they say the truth about you, that you know with evil spirits and therefore you rob good people on the roads, bring unhappiness to them? " asked Peter.
“So it is, she is a witch,” the robbers in their clothes, soaked in blood, piteously pinched them. - It was she who forced us to rob her with her magic ...
"Shut up! " threateningly bristled Peter mustache. I. turning to Maruska, demanded: " Answer me, if you have something to say".
The king felt sympathy for the recalcitrant brigand and unwittingly suggested to her about evil spirits, giving him a chance to justify himself. But Maruska did not use it. Looking to Peter in the face with burning eyes, like those of the devil, she boldly replied that she did not know with any evil spirit, but honored the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God. As for the troubles caused by them, tatyami, he, the Sovereign, is even worse than the robbers.
" When we attack someone, he can give us resistance. And you, Sovereign, without knowing your conscience and conscience, torment the helpless people, ”Maruska fearlessly continued. " What is in vain to torment? Penalty soon".
" Yes, you are desperate", Peter turned to Romodanovsky: " Today, make a sentence: on the next trading day, these thieves break bones and cut heads in Red Square, so that all Orthodox know how the Sovereign is punishing for the crimes of dashing people".
" What about a woman? Maybe in the ground live on the shoulders to bury?"
Peter looked at Maruska searchingly. She remained true to herself, showing the king language.
“For the time being, keep her in prison, and when I return from Voronezh, we will impale,” the king decided, never taking his eyes off the robber. But she didn't even blink.
Many months passed before in September 1696 Peter returned to Moscow after the Azov campaign. When the king began to deal with the accumulated during his absence affairs, Romodanovsky recalled Maruska, who had been awaiting a terrible execution, for a long time. The sovereign ordered to arrange fun the next day.
A scaffold was built on a transparent September morning on Preobrazhenskaya Square on a hill in front of the barracks buildings, before which an oak stake was dug into the ground. The news of the upcoming execution of the famous rogue Maruska was spread throughout Moscow. Even after dark on the square a lot of people gathered to look at the upcoming exciting spectacle. People stuck to the roofs of houses, climbed the gate and the surrounding trees.
The sun had already risen quite high, when Peter arrived at the place of execution with his companions. They are located on the most convenient place near the stake, which the executioner rubbed with soap. Two soldiers drove Maruska out of the approached carriage. When she passed by Peter, she suddenly bowed to him and said with pride:
" There, Sir, how many people gathered to see me!"
Maruska calmly ascended the scaffold and turned to face the king, as if burning his eyes with her burning eyes. The executioner ripped off her clothes. The crowd gasped, so good was the robber-witch. Clerk, taking a long list, read her crimes, and then announced the verdict: "The Great Sovereign, according to the laws of man and God, indicated to execute the robber Maruska with a cruel punishment through punishment, without any mercy."
Maruska hastily crossed herself, her lips whispered a prayer. Then she herself stepped to the executioner:
" Why are you slow? Or woman's charms are not mature? Tie it, " she stretched out both hands.
" Wait! " the executioner was stopped by Peter, who suddenly wanted to talk to a mysterious robber who was not afraid of the painful death, before which even brave men tremble for fear. " Let it suit me!"
The soldiers brought Maruska, who had descended from the scaffold, to the king. She turned pale, but without fear she looked into his eyes - like a lightning struck.
You probably don't want to die?
" The thing is, who wants it."
" But when they killed others, they also wanted to live."
" What to say about it now? I have already redeemed my sin by torment and prayers."
"And for my health, I prayed that my leg be gone? After all, you know how she torments me," Peter suddenly asked for himself, although he hadn’t thought about his bad leg just a minute ago.
"No, the Sovereign, did not pray."
"Why so?" the king was surprised frank robber.
" And why should I ask for my murderer Theotokos. If you prayed, your leg would also be healthy," again I burned the eyes of Tsar Maruska.
Peter thought for a moment, and then incredulously asked:
" And if you have mercy, will you pray?"
“If you have mercy on me, you will regain health by tonight,” said Maruska confidently.
“Will you call upon the evil force to help?” - still the king inquired incredulously.
“God’s, not Satan’s,” said the robber. - This prayer gives me the strength: hold your hand over the wrong place - and everything passes.
" Do not you lie?"
" I never say a crooked word," -Maruska proudly threw herself up.
" Well, I'll try. If you heal, you will live, I will send you to the linen factory for eternal work."
“What kind of mercy it is, Sire, eternal hard labor,” the newly appeared healer smiled. -" To pardon is to forgive at all."
" Will you steal on the roads again?"
" I will not go, I cross the whole cross."
At critical moments, Tsar Peter was quick to resolve. So this time he called the clerk who was reading out the sentence, and said something to him. He quickly ran up to the scaffold and shouted loudly to the crowd:
" The sovereign ordered to declare that Christ on the Mount of Golgotha forgive two robbers of the repentant. And our Sovereign Peter Alekseevich with might and main forgives Maruska Semenov as repenting of her atrocities and swore on the cross to swear to stop robbery ."
Under the joyful shouts of the crowd, Peter and his retinue proceeded to the carriages and left the square with the scaffold. A pardoned robber was taken to the Transfiguration Palace.
On the same day, at sunset, the king came there and spent almost two hours with Maruska. He was so pleased with her treatment that he ordered her to dress up in the best dress, hang diamonds and took with him to the assembly, which was arranged that night in the German Quarter. To the surprise and envy of many throughout the feast, the king did not let Maruska away from himself, sat beside her and diligently served with excellent dishes.
After that, the healer, for three days in a row, came to the royal apartments to heal Peter. With her mysterious power, she did what the overseas physician Polikolo could not achieve with her sophisticated drugs: the Sovereign’s leg was gone forever.
In gratitude for this, Peter gave Maruska a wife to a wealthy Zamoskvoretsky merchant Sizov. The former robber bore him six children, five of whom were boys. And the eldest of them was amazingly like a king. It is not known whether she healed someone afterwards, or whether Peter remained her only patient. The healer survived him for a long time, although she was almost the same age, and died already during the reign of Catherine the Great.
To the above, it remains only to add that our heroine was not only a strong bio-energy therapist, but, most likely, also had a hypnotic gift. Thanks to him, she managed to inspire the king to try her as a healer, because she was sure that she could cure him and thus save her life.

http://aria-art.ru/0/D/Djomkin S. Kak razbojnica carja Petra iscelila/1.html

 

[thehangingtree]

View attachment 637597

Семнадцатый век близился к концу, когда на Ярославской дороге появилась банда воров, ограбившая богатые кареты, но не презирая и не провожая повозки торговцев. Те, кто остался жив после встречи с разбойниками, сказали, что все они бегут от осужденных с разрывами ноздрей и заклеймили щеки. Самое удивительное, что женщина приказала им - Марушку Семенову, о которой говорилось, что она ведьма. Нравится вам это или нет, никто не знал точно. Но было сказано, что отчаянная тряпка, собравшаяся в банде, все, как одна, была околдована им и не смела сказать ни слова.
Этот атаман родился из подмосковной деревни боярина Шереметьева. И разбойники сдались после того, как она сбила косой голову пьяного клерка, который пытался изнасиловать ее. В лесу она якобы встретила лихих людей, которые тоже желали красивой девушки. Но когда первый из них сделал шаг в ее сторону, в то же мгновение он вырвался на землю так сильно, что долго не мог оправиться. Не повезло, а второе. Больше нет охотников. Затем Маруска сказала разбойникам, что она поведет их, и если кто-то не захочет повиноваться женщине, она может броситься в ад. Одна женщина-ненавистница, которая, по-видимому, не повлияла на ее прелести, оставила банду, а затем рассказала о необычном атамане.
Последующие события подтвердили слух о разбойной ведьме, которой сам дьявол помогает. Во время грабежей на дороге она, по словам очевидцев, отличалась смелостью и бесстрашием, а ее банда была неуловимой. Как только отряд лучников был отправлен, чтобы захватить разбойников из Москвы. Итак, Маруска привела их к незамерзающим болотам, где они все исчезли.
Дело дошло до того, что богатые люди боялись ехать по Ярославской дороге. Когда об этом узнал царь Петр, он приказал выпустить две компании Преображения, чтобы захватить неуловимую Марушку своей бандой и доставить ее в Москву. Целую неделю солдаты взобрались по лесной заросли, застыли на щеке, носах, руках и ногах, но поймали только пять беглых крестьян, которые признались, что сами они тоже тщетно искали Маруску, чтобы присоединиться к разбойникам. После неудачной карательной экспедиции князь Юрий Федорович Ромодановский, возглавлявший секретный приказ, доложил королю, что атаман со своей бандой «попал в чужие земли». Однако он ошибся.
... Несмотря на юность, 23-летний Питер был так болен, и его правая нога раздулась, и он едва мог ходить. Лекарства, с которыми его заморский врач Поликоло лечился от него, не помогли. В начале зимы 1695 года измученный царь прислушался к совету Патриарха Адриана и решил отправиться в Троицкий монастырь в надежде, что святые мощи его исцелят.
Они уехали на трех вагонах с дюжиной солдат, потому что в последнее время разбойники не появлялись на Ярославской дороге. В первом экипаже был сам Петр, во втором - щедрые пожертвования для лавров и нескольких солдат, остальные сидели в задней карете с князем Ромодановским.
Лошади быстро ехали по королевскому поезду по наклонной дороге. Но, когда первый экипаж вошел в мост через реку Клязьма, сразу несколько рубок упало под ним, и она застряла. Второй экипаж врезался в королевский, лошади были запутаны в лотках, а Ромодановский немного позади, и его экипаж с солдатами не был виден вокруг поворота.
В этот момент из лесных зарослей выскочили дюжина или три вора, вооруженные подглядыванием и просто с кустарниками и топорами. Солдаты стреляли в них и клали несколько из них. Встретив неожиданный отпор, остальные, колеблющиеся, остановились. Внезапно в подлеске появилась молодая женщина в белом полушубке с едой наготове.
- Что случилось? Окружайте боярских собак! Они просто что-то с гулькинским носом! Она громко закричала. И сразу же из рук в руки выстрелил из пищи, убив кучера королевской каретой.
Воодушевленные атаманом, разбойники единодушно бросились к дороге. Через несколько минут они наверняка преодолели бы горстку солдат, но потом тележка Ромодановского полетела вокруг поворота. Его солдаты открыли стрельбу. Нападавшие упали один за другим в снег. Несколько с вождем Маруска сумели схватить, прежде чем они добрались до чащи. После этого царь Петр приказал вернуться в Москву.
На следующий день Ромодановский доложил царю, что все захваченные разбойники, кроме своих вождей, повиновались безумию. Но вождь Маруска ничем не признан, хотя ее допрашивали со всей строгостью. Заинтригованный, Питер решил взглянуть на женщину-кремнечку. В тот же день, с трудом наступая на опухшую ногу, которая с каждым шагом давалась острая боль, он спустился в камеру пыток грабежа.
Присев на скамейку, Питер с любопытством посмотрел на стройную обнаженную девушку с гибкой талией и торчащими упругими грудями, которые палач начал медленно вихрем перед ним на стойке. Когда ее спросили, почему она ее ограбила, и теперь она не хотела подчиняться, Маруска ужасно стонала и смотрела на короля с ненавистью.
Питер был разумным и очень просвещенным человеком для своего времени. Поэтому он не верил, что волшебники и колдуны могут использовать помощь злых сил. Но перед ним была женщина, которая молча терпела бесчеловечные муки, но ничего не признавала. Было совершенно непонятно, как она это сделала. Питер вспомнил рассказы о том, что она ведьма, и он хотел поговорить с необычным разбойником. Он приказал палачу опустить жертву. Маруска слабо лежала на полу.
- Они говорят правду о вас, что вы знаете со злыми духами, и поэтому вы грабите хороших людей на дорогах, приносите им несчастье? - спросил Питер.
«Так оно и есть, ведьма», разбойники в трусах, пропитанные кровью, жалобно ущипнули их. - Именно она заставила нас ограбить ее своей магией ...
- Заткнись! - угрожающе ощетинились усы Петра. Я, обращаясь к Марушке, потребовал: - Ответь мне, если тебе есть что сказать.
Король почувствовал сочувствие к непокорному разбойнику и невольно предложил ей о злых духах, давая ему возможность оправдать себя. Но Маруска не пользовалась им. Глядя на Питера в лицо горящими глазами, как у дьявола, она смело отвечала, что не знает ни с каким злым духом, но чтит Господа и Пресвятую Богородицу. Что касается неприятностей, вызванных ими, татьями, он, Суверенный, еще хуже, чем разбойники.
- Когда мы нападаем на кого-то, он может дать нам сопротивление. И вы, государь, не зная своей совести и совести, мучаете беспомощных людей, - бесстрашно продолжил Маруска. - Тщетно мучить? Наказание скоро.
- Да, вы в отчаянии, - обратился Петр к Ромодановскому: - Сегодня приговоритесь: на следующий торговый день эти воры ломают кости и режут головы на Красной площади, так что все православные знают, как Суверен наказывает за преступления лихих людей.
- А как насчет женщины? Может быть, в земле живут на плечах, чтобы похоронить?
Питер внимательно посмотрел на Марушку. Она осталась верна себе, показывая язык короля.
«Пока что держите ее в тюрьме, и когда я вернусь из Воронежа, мы пронзим», - решил король, не сводя глаз с разбойника. Но она даже не моргнула.
Прошло много месяцев до того, как в сентябре 1696 года Питер вернулся в Москву после азовской кампании. Когда царь начал заниматься накопленным во время его отсутствия делами, Ромодановский долго вспоминал Марушку, которая ждала ужасной казни. На следующий день суверен приказал устроить забаву.
Леса были построены в прозрачное сентябрьское утро на Преображенской площади на холме перед зданиями казарм, перед которым копала дуба в землю. Известие о предстоящей казни знаменитого мошенника Маруска распространилось по всей Москве. Даже после наступления темноты на площади собралось много людей, чтобы посмотреть на предстоящее захватывающее зрелище. Люди застряли на крышах домов, поднялись по воротам и окружающим деревьям.
Солнце уже поднялось довольно высоко, когда Петр прибыл на место казни со своими спутниками. Они расположены в самом удобном месте рядом с колом, который палач протирал мылом. Двое солдат выгнали Маруску из подошвы. Когда она прошла мимо Петра, она вдруг поклонилась ему и сказала с гордостью:
- Там, сэр, сколько людей собралось ко мне!
Маруска спокойно поднялся на эшафот и повернулся лицом к королю, словно пылал глазами своими горящими глазами. Палач сорвал с нее одежду. Толпа ахнула, так хороша была грабительница. Дьякон, взяв длинный список, прочитал ее преступления, а затем объявил приговор: «Великий Владыка, согласно законам человека и Бога, указал, что без малейшего наказания казнить грабителя Маруску без наказания».
Маруска поспешно перекрестилась, губы прошептали молитву. Затем она сама шагнула к палачу:
- Почему ты медленно? Или чары женщины не зрелые? Свяжите его, - протянула она обеими руками.
Подождите! - палач был остановлен Петром, который вдруг захотел поговорить с таинственным разбойником, который не боялся мучительной смерти, перед которым даже храбрые люди дрожали от страха. - Пусть это подойдет мне!
Солдаты привели Маруску, которая спустилась с помоста, к королю. Она побледнела, но, не опасаясь, она посмотрела ему в глаза - как молния.
Вы, наверное, не хотите умирать?
- Дело в том, кто этого хочет.
- Но когда они убивали других, они также хотели жить.
- Что сказать об этом сейчас? Я уже искупил свой грех муками и молитвами.
И для моего здоровья я молился, чтобы моя нога исчезла? В конце концов, вы знаете, как она меня мучает, - вдруг спросил Питер, хотя он не думал о своей плохой ноге всего минуту назад.
- Нет, государь, не молился.
- Почему так? - король был удивлен откровенным разбойником.
- И почему я должен просить моего убийцу Богородицу. Если бы вы молились, ваша нога тоже была бы здоровой, - снова я сжег глаза царя Маруски.
Питер подумал, а затем недоверчиво спросил:
- И если вы помилуете, молитесь ли вы?
«Если вы помилуете меня, сегодня вечером вы обретете здоровье, - уверенно сказала Маруска.
«Призываете ли вы к злой силе, чтобы помочь?» - все еще король спросил недоверчиво.
«Боже, а не сатана, - сказал разбойник. - Эта молитва дает мне силы: держите руку за неправильное место - и все проходит.
- Ты не лжешь?
- Я никогда не говорю кривое слово, - гордо бросилась Маруска.
-Ну, я попробую. Если вы исцелитесь, вы будете жить, я пошлю вас на льняную фабрику для вечной работы.
«Какая милость, сир, вечный каторжный труд», - улыбнулся недавно появившийся целитель. - Простить простить вообще.
- Ты снова украдешь дорогу?
- Я не пойду, я пересекаю весь крест.
В критические моменты царь Петр быстро решил. На этот раз он позвонил клерку, который читал приговор, и сказал ему что-то. Он быстро подбежал к эшафоту и громко крикнул толпе:
- Владыка приказал объявить, что Христос на горе Голгофа прощает двух разбойников раскаявшегося. И наш Суверенный Петр Алексеевич с большой силой прощает Марушку Семенова, раскаявшись в своих зверствах и поклявшись на кресте, чтобы поклясться прекратить ловить рыбу.
Под радостными криками толпы Петр и его свита направились к экипажам и оставили площадь с эшафотом. Помилованного разбойника отвезли в Спасо-Преображенский дворец.
В тот же день, на закате, король приехал туда и провел почти два часа с Марушкой. Он был так доволен своим лечением, что он приказал ей одеться в лучшее платье, повесить бриллианты и взять с собой на собрание, которое было устроено той ночью в немецком квартале. К удивлению и зависти многих на протяжении всего праздника, король не отпустил Марушку от себя, сел рядом с ней и усердно служил с отличными блюдами.
После этого целитель три дня подряд пришел в королевские апартаменты, чтобы исцелить Петра. Обладая таинственной силой, она сделала то, чего не смог добиться заокеанский врач Поликоло с ее изощренными наркотиками: нога Государя исчезла навсегда.
В благодарность за это Петр дал Марушке жену богатому Замоскворецкому купцу Сизову. Бывший разбойник родил ему шестерых детей, пятеро из которых были мальчиками. И старшая из них была удивительно похожа на короля. Неизвестно, исцелила ли она кого-то потом, или же Питер остался ее единственным пациентом. Целитель пережил его долгое время, хотя она была почти того же возраста и умерла уже во время правления Екатерины Великой.
К вышесказанному остается, что наша героиня была не только сильным биоэнергетическим терапевтом, но, скорее всего, также имела гипнотический дар. Благодаря ему она сумела внушить королю попробовать ее в качестве целителя, потому что она была уверена, что она сможет вылечить его и тем самым спасти свою жизнь.

http://aria-art.ru/0/D/Djomkin S. Kak razbojnica carja Petra iscelila/1.html

Is this in English???

 

[thehangingtree]

View attachment 637600
The seventeenth century was coming to an end, when a gang of thieves appeared on the Yaroslavl road, robbing rich carriages, but not disdaining and carrying carts of trade people. Those who remained alive after meeting with the robbers said that they were all fleeing convicts with torn nostrils and branded cheeks. The most surprising thing was that the woman commanded them - Maruska Semenova, about whom it was said that she was a witch. Like it or not, nobody knew for sure. But it was said that the desperate rag that had gathered in a gang, all as one was bewitched by it, and did not dare to say a word across.
This ataman was born from a village near Moscow of the boyar Sheremetyeva. And the robbers gave in after she knocked down the oblique head of a drunken clerk who tried to rape her. In the forest, she allegedly met dashing people who also desired a beautiful girl. But, when the first of them made a step in her direction, at the same instant, he blurted out on the ground so much that he could not recover for a long time. No luck and the second. No more hunters. Then Maruska told the robbers that she would command them, and if someone does not want to obey the woman, she can roll to hell. One woman-hater, who, apparently, had no effect on her charms, left the gang and then told about an unusual ataman.
Subsequent events confirmed the rumor about a robber witch, whom the devil himself helps. During the robberies on the road, she, according to eyewitnesses, differed in boldness and fearlessness, and her gang was elusive. Once a detachment of archers was sent to capture the robbers from Moscow. So Maruska led them to non-freezing swamps, where they all disappeared.
It came to the point that rich people were afraid to drive on the Yaroslavl road. When Tsar Peter I found out about this, he ordered two companies of Transfiguration to be expelled in order to capture the elusive Maruska with her gang and deliver it to Moscow. For a whole week, the soldiers climbed through the forest thicket, frozen their cheeks and noses, hands and feet, but caught only five runaway peasants, who admitted that they themselves, too, had been looking in vain for Maruska to join the robbers. After an unsuccessful punitive expedition, Prince Yuri Fedorovich Romodanovsky, who led the Secret Order, reported to the king that the ataman with his gang "had fallen into foreign lands." However, he was wrong.
... Despite his youth, the 23-year-old Peter was so sore and his right leg swelled that he could barely walk. The medications with which his overseas physician Polikolo treated him did not help. At the beginning of the winter of 1695, the exhausted king heeded the advice of Patriarch Adrian and decided to go to the Trinity Monastery in the hope that the holy relics there would heal him.
They left on three carriages with just a dozen soldiers, because recently the robbers did not show up on the Yaroslavl road. In the first carriage was Peter himself, in the second - generous donations for the laurels and several soldiers, the rest sat in the back carriage with Prince Romodanovsky.
The horses quickly rode the royal train along the sloping road. But, when the first carriage entered the bridge over the Klyazma River, several logs fell down under it at once, and it got stuck. The second carriage hit the royal one, the horses were entangled in the chutes, and Romodanovsky was a little behind, and his carriage with the soldiers was not visible around the bend.
At that moment, a dozen or three thieves jumped out of the forest thickets, armed with peepers and simply with handicrafts and axes. The soldiers fired at them and laid several of them. Having met an unexpected rebuff, the rest, hesitating, paused. Suddenly a young woman appeared in the undergrowth in a white sheepskin coat with food at the ready.
"What got up? Surround the boyars' dogs! They are just something with gulkin nose!" She shouted loudly. And immediately offhand shot from food, slaying the coachman royal carriage.
Encouraged by the ataman, the robbers unanimously rushed to the road. In a matter of minutes they would surely have overcome a handful of soldiers, but then Romodanovsky’s cart flew around the bend. His soldiers opened marksmanship. The attackers fell one after another into the snow. Several with the chieftain Maruska managed to grab before they reached the thicket. After that, Tsar Peter ordered to return to Moscow.
The next day, Romodanovsky reported to the tsar that all the captured robbers, except for their leaders, had obeyed the frenzy. But the chieftain Maruska is not recognized in anything, although she was interrogated with all severity. Intrigued, Peter decided to look at the flint-woman himself. On the same day, with difficulty stepping on a swollen leg, which with every step was given to acute pain, he descended into the robbery’s torture chamber.
Crouching on the bench, Peter looked with curiosity at the slender, naked maiden with a flexible waist and sticking out elastic breasts, which the executioner began to slowly pull up in front of him on the rack. When asked why she had robbed her, and now she didn’t want to obey, Maruska only groaned terribly and looked at the king with hatred.
Peter was a sensible and highly enlightened man for his time. Therefore, he did not really believe that magicians and sorcerers could use the help of evil forces. But before him there was a woman who silently endured inhuman torments, but did not confess anything. It was completely incomprehensible how she did it. Peter remembered the tales that she was a witch, and he wanted to talk to an unusual robber. He ordered the executioner to lower the victim. Maruska sprawled weakly on the floor.
"Do they say the truth about you, that you know with evil spirits and therefore you rob good people on the roads, bring unhappiness to them? " asked Peter.
“So it is, she is a witch,” the robbers in their clothes, soaked in blood, piteously pinched them. - It was she who forced us to rob her with her magic ...
"Shut up! " threateningly bristled Peter mustache. I. turning to Maruska, demanded: " Answer me, if you have something to say".
The king felt sympathy for the recalcitrant brigand and unwittingly suggested to her about evil spirits, giving him a chance to justify himself. But Maruska did not use it. Looking to Peter in the face with burning eyes, like those of the devil, she boldly replied that she did not know with any evil spirit, but honored the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God. As for the troubles caused by them, tatyami, he, the Sovereign, is even worse than the robbers.
" When we attack someone, he can give us resistance. And you, Sovereign, without knowing your conscience and conscience, torment the helpless people, ”Maruska fearlessly continued. " What is in vain to torment? Penalty soon".
" Yes, you are desperate", Peter turned to Romodanovsky: " Today, make a sentence: on the next trading day, these thieves break bones and cut heads in Red Square, so that all Orthodox know how the Sovereign is punishing for the crimes of dashing people".
" What about a woman? Maybe in the ground live on the shoulders to bury?"
Peter looked at Maruska searchingly. She remained true to herself, showing the king language.
“For the time being, keep her in prison, and when I return from Voronezh, we will impale,” the king decided, never taking his eyes off the robber. But she didn't even blink.
Many months passed before in September 1696 Peter returned to Moscow after the Azov campaign. When the king began to deal with the accumulated during his absence affairs, Romodanovsky recalled Maruska, who had been awaiting a terrible execution, for a long time. The sovereign ordered to arrange fun the next day.
A scaffold was built on a transparent September morning on Preobrazhenskaya Square on a hill in front of the barracks buildings, before which an oak stake was dug into the ground. The news of the upcoming execution of the famous rogue Maruska was spread throughout Moscow. Even after dark on the square a lot of people gathered to look at the upcoming exciting spectacle. People stuck to the roofs of houses, climbed the gate and the surrounding trees.
The sun had already risen quite high, when Peter arrived at the place of execution with his companions. They are located on the most convenient place near the stake, which the executioner rubbed with soap. Two soldiers drove Maruska out of the approached carriage. When she passed by Peter, she suddenly bowed to him and said with pride:
" There, Sir, how many people gathered to see me!"
Maruska calmly ascended the scaffold and turned to face the king, as if burning his eyes with her burning eyes. The executioner ripped off her clothes. The crowd gasped, so good was the robber-witch. Clerk, taking a long list, read her crimes, and then announced the verdict: "The Great Sovereign, according to the laws of man and God, indicated to execute the robber Maruska with a cruel punishment through punishment, without any mercy."
Maruska hastily crossed herself, her lips whispered a prayer. Then she herself stepped to the executioner:
" Why are you slow? Or woman's charms are not mature? Tie it, " she stretched out both hands.
" Wait! " the executioner was stopped by Peter, who suddenly wanted to talk to a mysterious robber who was not afraid of the painful death, before which even brave men tremble for fear. " Let it suit me!"
The soldiers brought Maruska, who had descended from the scaffold, to the king. She turned pale, but without fear she looked into his eyes - like a lightning struck.
You probably don't want to die?
" The thing is, who wants it."
" But when they killed others, they also wanted to live."
" What to say about it now? I have already redeemed my sin by torment and prayers."
"And for my health, I prayed that my leg be gone? After all, you know how she torments me," Peter suddenly asked for himself, although he hadn’t thought about his bad leg just a minute ago.
"No, the Sovereign, did not pray."
"Why so?" the king was surprised frank robber.
" And why should I ask for my murderer Theotokos. If you prayed, your leg would also be healthy," again I burned the eyes of Tsar Maruska.
Peter thought for a moment, and then incredulously asked:
" And if you have mercy, will you pray?"
“If you have mercy on me, you will regain health by tonight,” said Maruska confidently.
“Will you call upon the evil force to help?” - still the king inquired incredulously.
“God’s, not Satan’s,” said the robber. - This prayer gives me the strength: hold your hand over the wrong place - and everything passes.
" Do not you lie?"
" I never say a crooked word," -Maruska proudly threw herself up.
" Well, I'll try. If you heal, you will live, I will send you to the linen factory for eternal work."
“What kind of mercy it is, Sire, eternal hard labor,” the newly appeared healer smiled. -" To pardon is to forgive at all."
" Will you steal on the roads again?"
" I will not go, I cross the whole cross."
At critical moments, Tsar Peter was quick to resolve. So this time he called the clerk who was reading out the sentence, and said something to him. He quickly ran up to the scaffold and shouted loudly to the crowd:
" The sovereign ordered to declare that Christ on the Mount of Golgotha forgive two robbers of the repentant. And our Sovereign Peter Alekseevich with might and main forgives Maruska Semenov as repenting of her atrocities and swore on the cross to swear to stop robbery ."
Under the joyful shouts of the crowd, Peter and his retinue proceeded to the carriages and left the square with the scaffold. A pardoned robber was taken to the Transfiguration Palace.
On the same day, at sunset, the king came there and spent almost two hours with Maruska. He was so pleased with her treatment that he ordered her to dress up in the best dress, hang diamonds and took with him to the assembly, which was arranged that night in the German Quarter. To the surprise and envy of many throughout the feast, the king did not let Maruska away from himself, sat beside her and diligently served with excellent dishes.
After that, the healer, for three days in a row, came to the royal apartments to heal Peter. With her mysterious power, she did what the overseas physician Polikolo could not achieve with her sophisticated drugs: the Sovereign’s leg was gone forever.
In gratitude for this, Peter gave Maruska a wife to a wealthy Zamoskvoretsky merchant Sizov. The former robber bore him six children, five of whom were boys. And the eldest of them was amazingly like a king. It is not known whether she healed someone afterwards, or whether Peter remained her only patient. The healer survived him for a long time, although she was almost the same age, and died already during the reign of Catherine the Great.
To the above, it remains only to add that our heroine was not only a strong bio-energy therapist, but, most likely, also had a hypnotic gift. Thanks to him, she managed to inspire the king to try her as a healer, because she was sure that she could cure him and thus save her life.

http://aria-art.ru/0/D/Djomkin S. Kak razbojnica carja Petra iscelila/1.html

Nice fix... I'll read it soon!

 

[bobinder]

Maruska proudly threw herself up.

This is my favourite part.

Is this in English???

I believe so.

 

[thehangingtree]

This is my favourite part.


I believe so.

It wasn't a while ago!

 

[bobinder]

It wasn't a while ago!

It has been auto-translated - highly entertaining!

 

[Frank Petrexa]

It has been auto-translated - highly entertaining!

Я никогда не говорю кривое слово, - гордо бросилась Маруска.

"I never say a crooked word, Marisca drew herself up proudly"? It must be idiomatic. I guess the AI isn't quite there yet.

 

[Marcius]

Я никогда не говорю кривое слово, - гордо бросилась Маруска.

"I never say a crooked word, Marisca drew herself up proudly"? It must be idiomatic. I guess the AI isn't quite there yet.

Job security for translators -- at least for now -- is undoubtedly a good thing.

When the king began to deal with the accumulated during his absence affairs, Romodanovsky recalled Maruska, who had been awaiting a terrible execution, for a long time. The sovereign ordered to arrange fun the next day.

Yep, that's Peter.

 

[Mastodont]

Jucundus created at my request several images dedicated to this story.

 

[Jon Smithie]

I really enjoyed the story! Is this based on a Russian folk tale, or is it supposed to be historically true?

Of course, I also enjoyed trying to figure out exactly what was meant by some of the phrases rendered by the auto-translate. The particularly ones that had me scratching from my oblique pate:

she knocked down the oblique head of a drunken clerk

he blurted out on the ground so much that he could not recover for a long time.

The soldiers fired at them and laid several of them.

"What got up? Surround the boyars' dogs! They are just something with gulkin nose!"

And immediately offhand shot from food

Peter looked with curiosity at the slender, naked maiden with a flexible waist and sticking out elastic breasts

" What about a woman? Maybe in the ground live on the shoulders to bury?"

People stuck to the roofs of houses

With her mysterious power, she did what the overseas physician Polikolo could not achieve with her sophisticated drugs: the Sovereign’s leg was gone forever.

Mastodont--I hope you don't mind if we joke a little about the translation--it is, how shall I say it, delightfully idiosyncratic.

Bal'shoye spasiba for posting.

 

[Mastodont]

Bal'shoye spasiba for posting.

Thanks, tovarisch.

 

[Mastodont]

 

[Eulalia]

A lovely story, I like it so much I've tried a more idiomatic English version - though I, and I think others, have enjoyed the Googlese version, and I had to do a bit of research, and make a few guesses when that didn't work -

The seventeenth century was coming to an end, when a gang of thieves appeared on the Yaroslavl road, robbing rich carriages, but not detaining or robbing the carts of ordinary tradespeople. Those who remained alive after meeting with the robbers said that they were all convicts on the run, with torn nostrils and branded cheeks. The most surprising thing was that a woman commanded them - Maruska Semenova, about whom it was said that she was a witch. Believe it or not, nobody knew for sure. But it was said that the desperate ruffians who had gathered in the gang, were all bewitched by her, and did not dare to say a word to cross her..

This ‘ataman’ (traditionally, a Cossack leader) was born in a village near Moscow, of the Boyar Sheremetyevo (where Moscow Airport is now). The robbers submitted to her after she’d knocked off the twisted head of a drunken priest who’d tried to rape her. In the forest, she’d reportedly met violent men who’d also lusted for the beautiful girl. But, when the first of them made a step in her direction, at the same instant, he vomited out so much on the ground that he could not recover for a long time. No second one risked his luck, no more hunters came after her. Then Maruska told the robbers that she would command them, and if any one of them didn’t want to obey a woman, they can rot in hell. One woman-hater, who, apparently was unaffected by her charms, left the gang and then spread news about this unusual ataman.

Subsequent events seemed to confirm the rumours about this robber-witch, whom the devil himself was helping. During their robberies on the road, she, according to eyewitnesses, excelled in boldness and fearlessness, and her gang was elusive. Once a detachment of archers was sent from Moscow to capture the robbers, so Maruska led them into unfrozen swamps, where they all disappeared.

It came to the point that rich people were afraid to drive on the Yaroslavl road. When Tsar Peter I found out about this, he ordered two companies of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of Lifeguards (named from Peter’s palace, = Transfiguration’) to be sent out to capture the elusive Maruska with her gang and deliver them to Moscow. For a whole week, the soldiers hacked their way through the forest thickets, their cheeks and noses, hands and feet all frozen, but they only caught five runaway serfs, who admitted that they too, had been looking in vain for Maruska, hoping to join the robbers. After an unsuccessful punitive expedition, Prince Yuri Fedorovich Romodanovsky, who commanded the Secret Police, reported to the Tsar that the ataman with her gang "had fled into foreign lands." However, he was wrong.

Despite his youth, the 23-year-old Peter was gouty, and his right leg had swelled that he could barely walk. The medications with which his Dutch physician Polikolo treated him with were of no help. At the beginning of the winter of 1695, the exhausted king heeded the advice of Patriarch Adrian and decided to go to the Trinity Monastery in the hope that the holy relics there would heal him.

They left in three carriages with just a dozen soldiers, because recently the robbers had not shown up on the Yaroslavl road. In the first carriage was Peter himself, in the second generous donations for the shrines, and several soldiers, the rest travelled in the back carriage with Prince Romodanovsky.

The horses quickly hauled the royal train along the hilly road. But when the first carriage entered the bridge over the Klyazma River, several logs fell down under its wheels all at once, and it got stuck. The second carriage hit the royal one, the horses were entangled in their traces, but Romodanovsky was a little behind, his carriage with the soldiers was not visible around the bend.

At that moment, a dozen or more thieves jumped out of the forest thickets, armed simply with swords and axes. The soldiers fired at them and laid several of them low. Having met an unexpected rebuff, the rest, hesitated and paused. Suddenly a young woman appeared from the undergrowth in a white sheepskin coat with gun at the ready.

"What’s up? Surround the boyars' dogs! They are just spotty-nosed (gulkin) dicks!" She shouted loudly. And, without turning a hair, she immediately fired a shot, slaying the coachman of the royal carriage.

Encouraged by the ataman, the robbers to a man all rushed out onto the road. In a matter of minutes they would surely have overcome the handful of soldiers, but then Romodanovsky’s carriage flew around the bend. His soldiers opened fire. The attackers fell one after another into the snow. They managed to catch several, including the chieftain Maruska, before they could reach the thicket. After that, Tsar Peter ordered the convoy to return to Moscow.

The next day, Romodanovsky reported to the tsar that all the captured robbers, except for their leader had submitted under interrogation. But the chieftain Maruska would not admit to anything, although she was being interrogated with the utmost severity. Intrigued, Peter decided to take a look at this flint-woman himself. So, the same day, walking with difficulty on his swollen leg, with which every step gave him acute pain, he descended into the prison torture chamber.

Settling on the bench, Peter looked with curiosity at the slender, naked maiden with a flexible waist and prominent, firm breasts, whom the torturer began to slowly stretch on the rack before his eyes. When he asked her why she had tried to rob him, and now she didn’t want to confess, Maruska only groaned terribly and looked at the Tsar with hatred.

Peter was a sensitive and highly enlightened man for his time. Therefore, he did not really believe that magicians and sorcerers could use the help of evil forces. But before him there was a woman who was silently enduring inhuman torments, yet did not confess to anything. It was completely incomprehensible how she could do this. Peter remembered the tales that she was a witch, and he wanted to talk to this unusual robber. He ordered the executioner to let the victim down. Maruska sprawled weakly on the floor.

"Do they say the truth about you, that you are familiar with evil spirits, and that is why you rob good people on the roads, bringing unhappiness to them? " asked Peter.

“It’s true, she is a witch,” whined one the robbers, still in their blood-soaked clothes,. “It was she who forced us with her magic to do robberies...”

"Shut up! " Peter’s moustache bristled threateningly. Turning to Maruska, he demanded, "Answer me, if you have anything to say".

The king felt some sympathy for the recalcitrant brigand, and had carelessly suggested to her about evil spirits, giving her a chance to justify herself. But Maruska did not take it. Looking Peter in the face with burning eyes, like those of the devil, she boldly replied that she did not know any evil spirit, but honored the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God. As for any trouble caused by them, it’s nothing, he, the Tsar, is even worse than the robbers.

"When we attack someone, they can resist, but you, Tsar, without listening to your conscience or sense of justice, torment the helpless people,” Maruska fearlessly continued, "Why waste your time torturing me? Sentence me soon."

"Yes, you are desperate." Peter turned to Romodanovsky: "Right now, I pass this sentence: on the next market day, these thieves will have their bones brken then their heads chopped off in Red Square, so that all the Faithful shall know how the Tsar punishes the crimes of violent people."

"What about the woman? Maybe bury her up to her shoulders in the ground alive?"

Peter looked at Maruska searchingly. She remained true to herself, showing no respect to the king.

“For the time being, keep her in prison, and when I return from Voronezh, we will impale her,” the Tsar decided, never taking his eyes off the robber, but she didn't even blink.
Many months passed before, in September 1696, Peter returned to Moscow after the Azov campaign. When the king began to deal with the business accumulated during his absence, Romodanovsky reminded him of Maruska, who had been awaiting a terrible execution for a long time. The Tsar ordered him to arrange the spectacle the next day.

A scaffold was built on a clear September morning on Preobrazhenskaya Square, on a hill in front of the barracks buildings, before which an oak stake was dug into the ground. The news of the upcoming execution of the famous rogue Maruska was spread throughout Moscow. Even before dawn a lot of people had gathered in the square to watch the upcoming exciting spectacle. People were perched on the roofs of houses, they’d climbed on gates and up the surrounding trees.

The sun had already risen quite high, when Peter arrived at the place of execution with his companions. They took their places at the most convenient place near the stake, which the executioner was rubbing with soap. Two soldiers drove Maruska out of the cart that had arrived. When she passed by Peter, she suddenly bowed to him and said with pride:

"Look, Sir, how many people have gathered to see me!"

Maruska calmly ascended the scaffold and turned to face the king, as if burning his eyes with her own. The executioner ripped off her clothes. The crowd gasped, so beautiful was the robber-witch. A priest, holding a long list, read out her crimes, and then announced the verdict: "The Great Sovereign, according to the laws of man and God, has commanded the execution of the robber Maruska with the cruel punishment of impaling, without mercy."

Maruska hastily crossed herself, her lips whispered a prayer. Then she herself stepped towards the executioner:

"Why are you so slow? Aren’t a woman's charms appealing? Tie me," She stretched out both hands.

"Wait!" The executioner was stopped by Peter, who suddenly wanted to talk to this mysterious robber who was so unafraid of such a painful death, before which even the bravest men tremble for fear. " Let her approach me!"

The soldiers brought Maruska, who had descended from the scaffold, over to the king. She had turned pale, but without fear she looked into his eyes, with a look like a lightning strike.

“You probably don't want to die?”

"That’s the way it is, want it or not."

"But when you killed others, they also wanted to live."

"What’s there to say about it now? I’ve already redeemed my sins by my torture, and penance and prayers."

"And for my health, you prayed for the swelling in my leg to go? After all, you know how it torments me," Peter suddenly asked for himself, although he hadn’t even thought about his bad leg just a minute ago.

"No, Tsar, I did not pray for that."

"Why not?" the Tsar was surprised at the robber’s frankness.

"Why should I pray to the Mother of God for my murderer? If you prayed, your leg would be healthy," Again Maruska’s look burned in the eyes of the Tsar. Peter thought for a moment, and then incredulously asked:

"And if you are granted mercy, will you pray?"

“If you have mercy on me, you will regain your health by tonight,” said Maruska confidently.

“Will you call upon the powers of the Evil One to help?” - still the king inquired incredulously.

“God’s, not Satan’s,” said the robber, “This prayer gives me the strength: hold your hand over the ailing place, and everything will pass.”

"You aren't lying?"

"I never say a crooked word," Maruska drew herself up proudly.

"Well, I'll try. If you heal me, you will live, I will send you to the linen factory to labour for life."

“What kind of mercy is that, Sire, eternal hard labor,” the newly appeared healer smiled, "To pardon is to forgive entirely."

" Will you steal on the roads again?"

"I will not, I swear by the Holy Cross."

At critical moments, Tsar Peter was resolute. So this time he called the priest who had been reading out the sentence, and spoke a word to him. He quickly ran up to the scaffold and shouted loudly to the crowd:

"The Tsar has commanded that it be declared that Christ on the Mount of Golgotha forgave the penitant robber. And our Sovereign Peter Alekseevich with all his might and main forgives Maruska Semenov, as she repents of her atrocities and has sworn on the Holy Cross to swear to cease from robbery."

To the joyful shouts of the crowd, Peter and his retinue proceeded to their carriages and left the square with the scaffold. The pardoned robber was taken to the Preobrazheniya Palace.

On the same day, at sunset, the king came there and spent almost two hours with Maruska. He was so pleased with her treatment that he ordered her to dress in a fine dress, and put on diamonds, then he took her with him to the assembly, which was arranged that night in the German Quarter. To the surprise and envy of many throughout the feast, the king did not let Maruska go away from himself, he sat beside her and diligently served her with excellent dishes.

After that, the healer, for three days in a row, came to the royal apartments to heal Peter. With her mysterious power, she did what the famous physician Polikolo could not achieve with all his sophisticated drugs: the Tsar’s swollen leg was gone forever.

In gratitude for this, Peter gave Maruska as wife to a wealthy Zamoskvoretsky merchant, Sizov. The former robber bore him six children, five of whom were boys. And the eldest of them was amazingly like the Tsar! It is not known whether she ever healed anyone else, or whether Peter remained her only patient. The healer survived him for a long time, although she was almost the same age, and died eventually during the reign of Catherine the Great.

To the above, it remains only to add that our heroine was not only a strong bio-energy therapist, but, most likely, also had a hypnotic gift. Thanks to her, she managed to inspire the king to try her as a healer, because she was sure that she could cure him and thus save her life.

 

[Madiosi]

A lovely story, I like it so much I've tried a more idiomatic English version - though I, and I think others, have enjoyed the Googlese version, and I had to do a bit of research, and make a few guesses when that didn't work -

The seventeenth century was coming to an end, when a gang of thieves appeared on the Yaroslavl road, robbing rich carriages, but not detaining or robbing the carts of ordinary tradespeople. Those who remained alive after meeting with the robbers said that they were all convicts on the run, with torn nostrils and branded cheeks. The most surprising thing was that a woman commanded them - Maruska Semenova, about whom it was said that she was a witch. Believe it or not, nobody knew for sure. But it was said that the desperate ruffians who had gathered in the gang, were all bewitched by her, and did not dare to say a word to cross her..

This ‘ataman’ (traditionally, a Cossack leader) was born in a village near Moscow, of the Boyar Sheremetyevo (where Moscow Airport is now). The robbers submitted to her after she’d knocked off the twisted head of a drunken priest who’d tried to rape her. In the forest, she’d reportedly met violent men who’d also lusted for the beautiful girl. But, when the first of them made a step in her direction, at the same instant, he vomited out so much on the ground that he could not recover for a long time. No second one risked his luck, no more hunters came after her. Then Maruska told the robbers that she would command them, and if any one of them didn’t want to obey a woman, they can rot in hell. One woman-hater, who, apparently was unaffected by her charms, left the gang and then spread news about this unusual ataman.

Subsequent events seemed to confirm the rumours about this robber-witch, whom the devil himself was helping. During their robberies on the road, she, according to eyewitnesses, excelled in boldness and fearlessness, and her gang was elusive. Once a detachment of archers was sent from Moscow to capture the robbers, so Maruska led them into unfrozen swamps, where they all disappeared.

It came to the point that rich people were afraid to drive on the Yaroslavl road. When Tsar Peter I found out about this, he ordered two companies of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of Lifeguards (named from Peter’s palace, = Transfiguration’) to be sent out to capture the elusive Maruska with her gang and deliver them to Moscow. For a whole week, the soldiers hacked their way through the forest thickets, their cheeks and noses, hands and feet all frozen, but they only caught five runaway serfs, who admitted that they too, had been looking in vain for Maruska, hoping to join the robbers. After an unsuccessful punitive expedition, Prince Yuri Fedorovich Romodanovsky, who commanded the Secret Police, reported to the Tsar that the ataman with her gang "had fled into foreign lands." However, he was wrong.

Despite his youth, the 23-year-old Peter was gouty, and his right leg had swelled that he could barely walk. The medications with which his Dutch physician Polikolo treated him with were of no help. At the beginning of the winter of 1695, the exhausted king heeded the advice of Patriarch Adrian and decided to go to the Trinity Monastery in the hope that the holy relics there would heal him.

They left in three carriages with just a dozen soldiers, because recently the robbers had not shown up on the Yaroslavl road. In the first carriage was Peter himself, in the second generous donations for the shrines, and several soldiers, the rest travelled in the back carriage with Prince Romodanovsky.

The horses quickly hauled the royal train along the hilly road. But when the first carriage entered the bridge over the Klyazma River, several logs fell down under its wheels all at once, and it got stuck. The second carriage hit the royal one, the horses were entangled in their traces, but Romodanovsky was a little behind, his carriage with the soldiers was not visible around the bend.

At that moment, a dozen or more thieves jumped out of the forest thickets, armed simply with swords and axes. The soldiers fired at them and laid several of them low. Having met an unexpected rebuff, the rest, hesitated and paused. Suddenly a young woman appeared from the undergrowth in a white sheepskin coat with gun at the ready.

"What’s up? Surround the boyars' dogs! They are just spotty-nosed (gulkin) dicks!" She shouted loudly. And, without turning a hair, she immediately fired a shot, slaying the coachman of the royal carriage.

Encouraged by the ataman, the robbers to a man all rushed out onto the road. In a matter of minutes they would surely have overcome the handful of soldiers, but then Romodanovsky’s carriage flew around the bend. His soldiers opened fire. The attackers fell one after another into the snow. They managed to catch several, including the chieftain Maruska, before they could reach the thicket. After that, Tsar Peter ordered the convoy to return to Moscow.

The next day, Romodanovsky reported to the tsar that all the captured robbers, except for their leader had submitted under interrogation. But the chieftain Maruska would not admit to anything, although she was being interrogated with the utmost severity. Intrigued, Peter decided to take a look at this flint-woman himself. So, the same day, walking with difficulty on his swollen leg, with which every step gave him acute pain, he descended into the prison torture chamber.

Settling on the bench, Peter looked with curiosity at the slender, naked maiden with a flexible waist and prominent, firm breasts, whom the torturer began to slowly stretch on the rack before his eyes. When he asked her why she had tried to rob him, and now she didn’t want to confess, Maruska only groaned terribly and looked at the Tsar with hatred.

Peter was a sensitive and highly enlightened man for his time. Therefore, he did not really believe that magicians and sorcerers could use the help of evil forces. But before him there was a woman who was silently enduring inhuman torments, yet did not confess to anything. It was completely incomprehensible how she could do this. Peter remembered the tales that she was a witch, and he wanted to talk to this unusual robber. He ordered the executioner to let the victim down. Maruska sprawled weakly on the floor.

"Do they say the truth about you, that you are familiar with evil spirits, and that is why you rob good people on the roads, bringing unhappiness to them? " asked Peter.

“It’s true, she is a witch,” whined one the robbers, still in their blood-soaked clothes,. “It was she who forced us with her magic to do robberies...”

"Shut up! " Peter’s moustache bristled threateningly. Turning to Maruska, he demanded, "Answer me, if you have anything to say".

The king felt some sympathy for the recalcitrant brigand, and had carelessly suggested to her about evil spirits, giving her a chance to justify herself. But Maruska did not take it. Looking Peter in the face with burning eyes, like those of the devil, she boldly replied that she did not know any evil spirit, but honored the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God. As for any trouble caused by them, it’s nothing, he, the Tsar, is even worse than the robbers.

"When we attack someone, they can resist, but you, Tsar, without listening to your conscience or sense of justice, torment the helpless people,” Maruska fearlessly continued, "Why waste your time torturing me? Sentence me soon."

"Yes, you are desperate." Peter turned to Romodanovsky: "Right now, I pass this sentence: on the next market day, these thieves will have their bones brken then their heads chopped off in Red Square, so that all the Faithful shall know how the Tsar punishes the crimes of violent people."

"What about the woman? Maybe bury her up to her shoulders in the ground alive?"

Peter looked at Maruska searchingly. She remained true to herself, showing no respect to the king.

“For the time being, keep her in prison, and when I return from Voronezh, we will impale her,” the Tsar decided, never taking his eyes off the robber, but she didn't even blink.
Many months passed before, in September 1696, Peter returned to Moscow after the Azov campaign. When the king began to deal with the business accumulated during his absence, Romodanovsky reminded him of Maruska, who had been awaiting a terrible execution for a long time. The Tsar ordered him to arrange the spectacle the next day.

A scaffold was built on a clear September morning on Preobrazhenskaya Square, on a hill in front of the barracks buildings, before which an oak stake was dug into the ground. The news of the upcoming execution of the famous rogue Maruska was spread throughout Moscow. Even before dawn a lot of people had gathered in the square to watch the upcoming exciting spectacle. People were perched on the roofs of houses, they’d climbed on gates and up the surrounding trees.

The sun had already risen quite high, when Peter arrived at the place of execution with his companions. They took their places at the most convenient place near the stake, which the executioner was rubbing with soap. Two soldiers drove Maruska out of the cart that had arrived. When she passed by Peter, she suddenly bowed to him and said with pride:

"Look, Sir, how many people have gathered to see me!"

Maruska calmly ascended the scaffold and turned to face the king, as if burning his eyes with her own. The executioner ripped off her clothes. The crowd gasped, so beautiful was the robber-witch. A priest, holding a long list, read out her crimes, and then announced the verdict: "The Great Sovereign, according to the laws of man and God, has commanded the execution of the robber Maruska with the cruel punishment of impaling, without mercy."

Maruska hastily crossed herself, her lips whispered a prayer. Then she herself stepped towards the executioner:

"Why are you so slow? Aren’t a woman's charms appealing? Tie me," She stretched out both hands.

"Wait!" The executioner was stopped by Peter, who suddenly wanted to talk to this mysterious robber who was so unafraid of such a painful death, before which even the bravest men tremble for fear. " Let her approach me!"

The soldiers brought Maruska, who had descended from the scaffold, over to the king. She had turned pale, but without fear she looked into his eyes, with a look like a lightning strike.

“You probably don't want to die?”

"That’s the way it is, want it or not."

"But when you killed others, they also wanted to live."

"What’s there to say about it now? I’ve already redeemed my sins by my torture, and penance and prayers."

"And for my health, you prayed for the swelling in my leg to go? After all, you know how it torments me," Peter suddenly asked for himself, although he hadn’t even thought about his bad leg just a minute ago.

"No, Tsar, I did not pray for that."

"Why not?" the Tsar was surprised at the robber’s frankness.

"Why should I pray to the Mother of God for my murderer? If you prayed, your leg would be healthy," Again Maruska’s look burned in the eyes of the Tsar. Peter thought for a moment, and then incredulously asked:

"And if you are granted mercy, will you pray?"

“If you have mercy on me, you will regain your health by tonight,” said Maruska confidently.

“Will you call upon the powers of the Evil One to help?” - still the king inquired incredulously.

“God’s, not Satan’s,” said the robber, “This prayer gives me the strength: hold your hand over the ailing place, and everything will pass.”

"You aren't lying?"

"I never say a crooked word," Maruska drew herself up proudly.

"Well, I'll try. If you heal me, you will live, I will send you to the linen factory to labour for life."

“What kind of mercy is that, Sire, eternal hard labor,” the newly appeared healer smiled, "To pardon is to forgive entirely."

" Will you steal on the roads again?"

"I will not, I swear by the Holy Cross."

At critical moments, Tsar Peter was resolute. So this time he called the priest who had been reading out the sentence, and spoke a word to him. He quickly ran up to the scaffold and shouted loudly to the crowd:

"The Tsar has commanded that it be declared that Christ on the Mount of Golgotha forgave the penitant robber. And our Sovereign Peter Alekseevich with all his might and main forgives Maruska Semenov, as she repents of her atrocities and has sworn on the Holy Cross to swear to cease from robbery."

To the joyful shouts of the crowd, Peter and his retinue proceeded to their carriages and left the square with the scaffold. The pardoned robber was taken to the Preobrazheniya Palace.

On the same day, at sunset, the king came there and spent almost two hours with Maruska. He was so pleased with her treatment that he ordered her to dress in a fine dress, and put on diamonds, then he took her with him to the assembly, which was arranged that night in the German Quarter. To the surprise and envy of many throughout the feast, the king did not let Maruska go away from himself, he sat beside her and diligently served her with excellent dishes.

After that, the healer, for three days in a row, came to the royal apartments to heal Peter. With her mysterious power, she did what the famous physician Polikolo could not achieve with all his sophisticated drugs: the Tsar’s swollen leg was gone forever.

In gratitude for this, Peter gave Maruska as wife to a wealthy Zamoskvoretsky merchant, Sizov. The former robber bore him six children, five of whom were boys. And the eldest of them was amazingly like the Tsar! It is not known whether she ever healed anyone else, or whether Peter remained her only patient. The healer survived him for a long time, although she was almost the same age, and died eventually during the reign of Catherine the Great.

To the above, it remains only to add that our heroine was not only a strong bio-energy therapist, but, most likely, also had a hypnotic gift. Thanks to her, she managed to inspire the king to try her as a healer, because she was sure that she could cure him and thus save her life.

With the images on the right positions would be a bit better.

 

[Mastodont]

 

[Mastodont]

With the images on the right positions would be a bit better.

The seventeenth century was coming to an end, when a gang of thieves appeared on the Yaroslavl road, robbing rich carriages, but not detaining or robbing the carts of ordinary tradespeople. Those who remained alive after meeting with the robbers said that they were all convicts on the run, with torn nostrils and branded cheeks. The most surprising thing was that a woman commanded them - Maruska Semenova, about whom it was said that she was a witch. Believe it or not, nobody knew for sure. But it was said that the desperate ruffians who had gathered in the gang, were all bewitched by her, and did not dare to say a word to cross her..

This ‘ataman’ was born in a village near Moscow, of the Boyar Sheremetyevo . The robbers submitted to her after she’d knocked off the twisted head of a drunken priest who’d tried to rape her.

Maruska and drunken priest​

In the forest, she’d reportedly met violent men who’d also lusted for the beautiful girl. But, when the first of them made a step in her direction, at the same instant, he vomited out so much on the ground that he could not recover for a long time. No second one risked his luck, no more hunters came after her. Then Maruska told the robbers that she would command them, and if any one of them didn’t want to obey a woman, they can rot in hell. One woman-hater, who, apparently was unaffected by her charms, left the gang and then spread news about this unusual ataman.

Subsequent events seemed to confirm the rumours about this robber-witch, whom the devil himself was helping. During their robberies on the road, she, according to eyewitnesses, excelled in boldness and fearlessness, and her gang was elusive. Once a detachment of archers was sent from Moscow to capture the robbers, so Maruska led them into unfrozen swamps, where they all disappeared.

It came to the point that rich people were afraid to drive on the Yaroslavl road. When Tsar Peter I found out about this, he ordered two companies of the Preobrazhensky Regiment of Lifeguards to be sent out to capture the elusive Maruska with her gang and deliver them to Moscow.

Soldiers of the Preobrazhensky Regiment​

For a whole week, the soldiers hacked their way through the forest thickets, their cheeks and noses, hands and feet all frozen, but they only caught five runaway serfs, who admitted that they too, had been looking in vain for Maruska, hoping to join the robbers. After an unsuccessful punitive expedition, Prince Fedor Romodanovsky, who commanded the Secret Police, reported to the Tsar that the ataman with her gang "had fled into foreign lands." However, he was wrong.

Fedor Romodanovsky​

Despite his youth, the 23-year-old Peter was gouty, and his right leg had swelled that he could barely walk. The medications with which his Dutch physician Polikolo treated him with were of no help. At the beginning of the winter of 1695, the exhausted king heeded the advice of Patriarch Adrian and decided to go to the Trinity Monastery in the hope that the holy relics there would heal him.

Young Peter the Great is angry over illness​

They left in three carriages with just a dozen soldiers, because recently the robbers had not shown up on the Yaroslavl road. In the first carriage was Peter himself, in the second generous donations for the shrines, and several soldiers, the rest travelled in the back carriage with Prince Romodanovsky.

The horses quickly hauled the royal train along the hilly road. But when the first carriage entered the bridge over the Klyazma River, several logs fell down under its wheels all at once, and it got stuck. The second carriage hit the royal one, the horses were entangled in their traces, but Romodanovsky was a little behind, his carriage with the soldiers was not visible around the bend.

At that moment, a dozen or more thieves jumped out of the forest thickets, armed simply with swords and axes. The soldiers fired at them and laid several of them low. Having met an unexpected rebuff, the rest, hesitated and paused. Suddenly a young woman appeared from the undergrowth in a white sheepskin coat with gun at the ready.

Maruska commands in battle​

"What’s up? Surround the boyars' dogs! " She shouted loudly. And, without turning a hair, she immediately fired a shot, slaying the coachman of the royal carriage.

And she knows how to shoot​

Encouraged by the ataman, the robbers to a man all rushed out onto the road. In a matter of minutes they would surely have overcome the handful of soldiers, but then Romodanovsky’s carriage flew around the bend. His soldiers opened fire. The attackers fell one after another into the snow. They managed to catch several, including the chieftain Maruska, before they could reach the thicket. After that, Tsar Peter ordered the convoy to return to Moscow.

But it doesn’t help her and she is captured​

The next day, Romodanovsky reported to the tsar that all the captured robbers, except for their leader had submitted under interrogation. But the chieftain Maruska would not admit to anything, although she was being interrogated with the utmost severity. Intrigued, Peter decided to take a look at this flint-woman himself. So, the same day, walking with difficulty on his swollen leg, with which every step gave him acute pain, he descended into the prison torture chamber.

Settling on the bench, Peter looked with curiosity at the slender, naked maiden with a flexible waist and prominent, firm breasts, whom the torturer began to slowly stretch on the rack before his eyes. When he asked her why she had tried to rob him, and now she didn’t want to confess, Maruska only groaned terribly and looked at the Tsar with hatred.

Interrogation of Maruska​

Peter was a sensitive and highly enlightened man for his time. Therefore, he did not really believe that magicians and sorcerers could use the help of evil forces. But before him there was a woman who was silently enduring inhuman torments, yet did not confess to anything. It was completely incomprehensible how she could do this. Peter remembered the tales that she was a witch, and he wanted to talk to this unusual robber. He ordered the executioner to let the victim down. Maruska sprawled weakly on the floor.

"Do they say the truth about you, that you are familiar with evil spirits, and that is why you rob good people on the roads, bringing unhappiness to them? " asked Peter.

“It’s true, she is a witch,” whined one the robbers, still in their blood-soaked clothes,. “It was she who forced us with her magic to do robberies...”

"Shut up! " Peter’s moustache bristled threateningly. Turning to Maruska, he demanded, "Answer me, if you have anything to say".

The king felt some sympathy for the recalcitrant brigand, and had carelessly suggested to her about evil spirits, giving her a chance to justify herself. But Maruska did not take it. Looking Peter in the face with burning eyes, like those of the devil, she boldly replied that she did not know any evil spirit, but honored the Lord and the Most Pure Mother of God. As for any trouble caused by them, it’s nothing, he, the Tsar, is even worse than the robbers.

"When we attack someone, they can resist, but you, Tsar, without listening to your conscience or sense of justice, torment the helpless people,” Maruska fearlessly continued, "Why waste your time torturing me? Sentence me soon."

"Yes, you are desperate." Peter turned to Romodanovsky: "Right now, I pass this sentence: on the next market day, these thieves will have their bones brken then their heads chopped off in Red Square, so that all the Faithful shall know how the Tsar punishes the crimes of violent people."

"What about the woman? Maybe bury her up to her shoulders in the ground alive?"

Peter looked at Maruska searchingly. She remained true to herself, showing no respect to the king.

“For the time being, keep her in prison, and when I return from Voronezh, we will impale her,” the Tsar decided, never taking his eyes off the robber, but she didn't even blink.
Many months passed before, in September 1696, Peter returned to Moscow after the Azov campaign. When the king began to deal with the business accumulated during his absence, Romodanovsky reminded him of Maruska, who had been awaiting a terrible execution for a long time. The Tsar ordered him to arrange the spectacle the next day.

A scaffold was built on a clear September morning on Preobrazhenskaya Square, on a hill in front of the barracks buildings, before which an oak stake was dug into the ground. The news of the upcoming execution of the famous rogue Maruska was spread throughout Moscow. Even before dawn a lot of people had gathered in the square to watch the upcoming exciting spectacle. People were perched on the roofs of houses, they’d climbed on gates and up the surrounding trees.

The sun had already risen quite high, when Peter arrived at the place of execution with his companions. They took their places at the most convenient place near the stake, which the executioner was rubbing with soap. Two soldiers drove Maruska out of the cart that had arrived. When she passed by Peter, she suddenly bowed to him and said with pride:

"Look, Sir, how many people have gathered to see me!"

Maruska calmly ascended the scaffold and turned to face the king, as if burning his eyes with her own. The executioner ripped off her clothes. The crowd gasped, so beautiful was the robber-witch. A priest, holding a long list, read out her crimes, and then announced the verdict: "The Great Sovereign, according to the laws of man and God, has commanded the execution of the robber Maruska with the cruel punishment of impaling, without mercy."

Maruska hastily crossed herself, her lips whispered a prayer. Then she herself stepped towards the executioner:
"Why are you so slow? Aren’t a woman's charms appealing? Tie me," She stretched out both hands.

Maruska is preparing for execution​

"Wait!" The executioner was stopped by Peter, who suddenly wanted to talk to this mysterious robber who was so unafraid of such a painful death, before which even the bravest men tremble for fear. " Let her approach me!"

The soldiers brought Maruska, who had descended from the scaffold, over to the king. She had turned pale, but without fear she looked into his eyes, with a look like a lightning strike.

“You probably don't want to die?”

"That’s the way it is, want it or not."

"But when you killed others, they also wanted to live."

"What’s there to say about it now? I’ve already redeemed my sins by my torture, and penance and prayers."

"And for my health, you prayed for the swelling in my leg to go? After all, you know how it torments me," Peter suddenly asked for himself, although he hadn’t even thought about his bad leg just a minute ago.

"No, Tsar, I did not pray for that."

"Why not?" the Tsar was surprised at the robber’s frankness.

"Why should I pray to the Mother of God for my murderer? If you prayed, your leg would be healthy," Again Maruska’s look burned in the eyes of the Tsar. Peter thought for a moment, and then incredulously asked:

"And if you are granted mercy, will you pray?"

“If you have mercy on me, you will regain your health by tonight,” said Maruska confidently.

“Will you call upon the powers of the Evil One to help?” - still the king inquired incredulously.

“God’s, not Satan’s,” said the robber, “This prayer gives me the strength: hold your hand over the ailing place, and everything will pass.”

"You aren't lying?"

"I never say a crooked word," Maruska drew herself up proudly.

"Well, I'll try. If you heal me, you will live, I will send you to the linen factory to labour for life."

“What kind of mercy is that, Sire, eternal hard labor,” the newly appeared healer smiled, "To pardon is to forgive entirely."

" Will you steal on the roads again?"

"I will not, I swear by the Holy Cross."

At critical moments, Tsar Peter was resolute. So this time he called the priest who had been reading out the sentence, and spoke a word to him. He quickly ran up to the scaffold and shouted loudly to the crowd:

"The Tsar has commanded that it be declared that Christ on the Mount of Golgotha forgave the penitant robber. And our Sovereign Peter Alekseevich with all his might and main forgives Maruska Semenov, as she repents of her atrocities and has sworn on the Holy Cross to swear to cease from robbery."

To the joyful shouts of the crowd, Peter and his retinue proceeded to their carriages and left the square with the scaffold. The pardoned robber was taken to the Preobrazheniya Palace.

On the same day, at sunset, the king came there and spent almost two hours with Maruska. He was so pleased with her treatment that he ordered her to dress in a fine dress, and put on diamonds, then he took her with him to the assembly, which was arranged that night in the German Quarter. To the surprise and envy of many throughout the feast, the king did not let Maruska go away from himself, he sat beside her and diligently served her with excellent dishes.

After that, the healer, for three days in a row, came to the royal apartments to heal Peter. With her mysterious power, she did what the famous physician Polikolo could not achieve with all his sophisticated drugs: the Tsar’s swollen leg was gone forever.

In gratitude for this, Peter gave Maruska as wife to a wealthy Zamoskvoretsky merchant, Sizov. The former robber bore him six children, five of whom were boys. And the eldest of them was amazingly like the Tsar! It is not known whether she ever healed anyone else, or whether Peter remained her only patient. The healer survived him for a long time, although she was almost the same age, and died eventually during the reign of Catherine the Great.

To the above, it remains only to add that our heroine was not only a strong bio-energy therapist, but, most likely, also had a hypnotic gift. Thanks to her, she managed to inspire the king to try her as a healer, because she was sure that she could cure him and thus save her life.

 

[Harsh Martinet]

Two other females being punished during the reign of Peter the Great.

 

[Harsh Martinet]

Riding the wooden horse AND being knouted....very harsh indeed!

 

[Mastodont]

Tsar Peter returned to Moscow from the war. He learned that maruska had not yet been executed and ordered her to be executed the next day. Maruska was taken to the place of execution, she went up to the scaffold and the executioner undressed her in front of the crowd. Unfortunately for the robber-witch, Tsar Peter's leg was healed during the war and so Maruska will have nothing to offer him. Except for her beautiful naked body, writhing like a snake on a stake…

 

[Mastodont]

Maruska on a holiday with Tsar Peter. She successfully cured his leg and was rewarded. She is dressed in expensive dresses, is next to the king. Peter twice saw her naked: on the rack and scaffold, but after the holiday for the third time the king will see the former witch without clothes in his bedroom. He will hear her groans, but these will be sounds not of pain, but of pleasure ...