Boris Godunov

by Alexsander Pushkin

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The Kremlin. House of Boris

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A GUARD on the Staircase. FEODOR at a Window

   BEGGAR. Give alms, for Christ's sake.

   GUARD. Go away; it is forbidden to speak to the prisoners.

   FEODOR. Go, old man, I am poorer than thou; thou art at
   liberty.

   (KSENIA, veiled, also comes to the window.)

   ONE OF THE PEOPLE. Brother and sister—poor children, like
   birds in a cage.

   SECOND PERSON. Are you going to pity them? Accursed
   Family!

   FIRST PERSON. The father was a villain, but the children are
   innocent.

   SECOND PERSON. The apple does not fall far from the
   apple-tree.

   KSENIA. Dear brother! Dear brother! I think the boyars
   are coming to us.

   FEODOR. That is Golitsin, Mosalsky. I do not know the
   others.

   KSENIA. Ah! Dear brother, my heart sinks.

   (GOLITSIN, MOSALSKY, MOLCHANOV, and SHEREFEDINOV;
   behind them three archers.)

   THE PEOPLE. Make way, make way; the boyars come.
   (They enter the house.)

   ONE OF THE PEOPLE. What have they come for?

   SECOND. Most like to make Feodor Godunov take the oath.

   THIRD. Very like. Hark! What a noise in the house!
   What an uproar! They are fighting!

   THE PEOPLE. Do you hear? A scream! That was a
   woman's voice. We will go up. We will go up!—The
   doors are fastened—the cries cease—the noise continues.

   (The doors are thrown open. MOSALSKY appears on
   the staircase.)

   MOSALSKY. People! Maria Godunov and her son Feodor
   have poisoned themselves. We have seen their dead
   bodies.

   (The People are silent with horror.)

   Why are ye silent? Cry, Long live the tsar Dimitry
   Ivanovich!

   (The People are speechless.)

THE END