With Fire and Sword · Chapter
XXXIV explained
Bogun, tormented by his unrequited love for Princess Helena, consults the witch Horpyna about love potions and herbs.
What happens
Bogun, tormented by his unrequited love for Princess Helena, consults the witch Horpyna about love potions and herbs. He reveals his anguish over Helena's self-inflicted wound and his fear of losing her. Horpyna suggests using a sleeping draught to render her unconscious. The party travels through a desolate valley, passing the Enemy's Mound and entering the Devil's Glen, where they encounter a dwarf servant. They bring the sleeping princess to Horpyna's cottage, and Bogun oversees the decoration of her chamber, hoping to make her captivity bearable. The chapter also includes a conversation among Cossacks about vampires and werewolves, with Horpyna implied to command them.
Themes in this chapter
Love and Obsession
Bogun's obsessive love for Helena drives him to seek magical solutions and to furnish her prison, yet he is tormented by her rejection and fear of her self-harm.
Violence and Cruelty
The threat of violence pervades the chapter: Helena's self-stabbing, Bogun's threats to Horpyna, and the Cossacks' discussion of vampires and werewolves highlight a world of cruelty.
Fate and Omens
Horpyna's prophecies, the ill-omened laughter, the Enemy's Mound, and the superstitions about vampires and werewolves create an atmosphere of fate and dark omens.
Characters to notice
- Bogun
Tormented by love for Princess Helena; consults Horpyna about love potions; oversees the transport and lodging of the sleeping princess.
- Horpyna
The witch who advises Bogun on herbs and potions; commands the werewolves; leads the party to her dwelling in the Devil's Glen.
- Princess Helena
Drugged with somniferous herbs; carried in a swing to Horpyna's mill; her wound is healing but she remains unconscious.
- Father Ovsivuyu
Old Cossack who discusses vampires and werewolves with the younger Cossacks; expresses pity for the princess.
Key passages
“If the princess hadn’t fallen in love with someone else, then you might give it to her; but if she is in love, do you know what will happen? She will love the other man still more.”
Horpyna warns Bogun that a love potion would only strengthen Helena's existing love for another man.
Highlights the theme of unrequited love and the futility of magical coercion.
“I love one in the world, and that one does not love me!”
Bogun confesses his despair over Helena's lack of affection for him.
Captures the central emotional conflict of the chapter.
“If she lays hands on herself, then what? I’ll tear you apart and then myself. I’ll break my head against a rock, I’ll gnaw people like a dog.”
Bogun threatens Horpyna with violent retaliation if Helena harms herself.
Illustrates Bogun's volatile temper and the theme of violence.
“The werewolf is stronger, but the vampire is more stubborn. If you are able to get the upper hand of the werewolf, he will serve you, but vampires are good for nothing except to follow blood.”
Father Ovsivuyu explains the hierarchy and traits of supernatural creatures to the younger Cossacks.
Reflects the folk superstitions that permeate the setting.