But lying in the thick grass

you'll sleep under a wide shade

of a sycamore trees or grapevines ...)

(...)

У медных пушек спит прислуга.

Едва дымятся фитили;

Попарно цепь стоит вдали;

Штыки горят под солнцем юга.

(Near a copper cannons the arms servants sleep.

Barely a wicks smoke;

In pairs the chain costs in the distance;

Bayonets burn under the sun of the South.)

In battles I have been seriously wounded, captured by the opponents. I fled from captivity with got at my disposal documents of a Cossack officer. And again I have appeared in the small town of Taman.

My wound justified my rest in Taman.

I have found the lodge on the seashore where I have for the first time got acquainted with my mermaid.

My days have been devoted to the recovery of my strength and my health.

I swam more and more, further and further. The familiar fisherman has a little taught me to steer the sailing vessel.

Every morning I did a little journey by horse.

Somehow in the sea we together with the fisherman have met the foreign ship. It has appeared, the captain spoke French. We have drunk a little French wine in his cabin.

I have read several poems and have given as keepsake to the captain a beautiful silver military flask.

He has in reply presented me several books in foreign languages. I had the some knowledge since the childhood. Books have given me the chance to refresh the childish knowledge.

So the days and has been going. Horseback riding, swimming in the sea, sailing, learning foreign languages.

After some time, I was already able to the independently sailing.

Somehow, being in the Crimea, I went along the coast. In one place the flow of rainwater has exposed the stone, the edge of which was trimmed in the shape of a semicircle. Hoping to find something interesting, I have a little cleaned the earth with a knife.

Hope did not deceive me. Densely to each other vessels of the most various form, from five to eleven centimeters high, stood and lay. Two vessels are painted with a beautiful ornament, palmettes, meanders and some figures. There were also a crooked knife, fragments of the sword, the twisted bronze decoration and a clay figure of the goddess with two flutes, the gold coins and jewelry.

I have transported all found objects toward the my little house.

Thus began my fascination with archaeology.

The little house, I lived in, was on the edge of a cliff. And I often admired the sea.

'Я долгие часы просиживал один,

И память их жива поныне

Под бурей тягостных сомнений и страстей,

Как свежий островок безвредно средь морей

Цветет на влажной их пустыне.'

("I spent long hours alone,

And their memory is still alive

Under the storm of painful doubts and passions, -

As a fresh island harmlessly among the seas

Blossoms on their damp desert.")

One stormy day I saw the flashing between waves white sail.

My heart was beating faster.

The sail was approaching, but at some point the sail has disappeared.

I rushed to the beach.

It seemed to me that among the waves I see a human. I rushed into the raging sea and swam. The drowning human was already unconscious, and his body at times was hidden under the surface of the water.

It was that eighteen-year-old girl with whom I have got acquainted in Taman earlier. To see her I came back to the Taman.

I have pulled out her body on the coast and have made artificial respiration. She has begun to breathe. I have carried her in a house and cared for her health.

Her surprise knew no bounds. I explained that I had returned to Taman due to the military wound and that my health requested a long rest.

Next day we have found fragments of the sailing vessel which has sunk during a storm on which she floated, and bodies of his drowned passengers. Among the drowned persons there was also her comrade.

Since then, during horseback riding, swimming in the sea, sailing, learning foreign languages, I was not alone. With me was my songbird.

Soon we were married.

Once, swimming in one of the bays, I decided to dive to the bottom. The water was clear. I found the wreckage of the sunken ship.

Among fragments something has sparkled! It turned out that the ship was carrying several boxes of gold coins.

I was more and more interested in archeology. We moved to Europe.

During this period in Paris real estate prices fell, and I have bought several houses at once.

In one of the houses we settled down with my Undine. Here was my Parisian library. Other houses gave the income necessary for my archaeological excavations.

I added to the knowledge gained at the Moscow University - listened to several cycles of lectures at the Paris and Neapolitan universities.

I was drawn to Greece, and in this country we spent the most part of time with my beauty woman.

I drew attention to the low prices of land lots in Athens. Gradually acquired several plots. Soon the prices rose, I sold the plots profitably, and on the money I built our house in the Greek capital.

The house was decorated with frescoes on modern and archaeological themes.

On one of the frescoes depicts a young girl in a striped dress with loose braids - a real mermaid.

I have published several books with my travel diaries and descriptions of my archaeological excavations. On the basis of several books to me degree of the doctor of philosophy has been awarded.

Our archaeological studies were quite successful.

We found huge gold treasures and opened several of the ancient palaces.

My Undine and I made presentations at a joint meeting of several archaeological societies in one of the European capitals.

The treasures we found are housed in European museums.

We made a trip around the world. We visited Scotland, the places where my ancestors lived.

И арфы шотландской струну бы задел,

И по сводам бы звук полетел...

(And I would touch a strings of Scottish harps,

And the sounds would fly through the arches ...)