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Summary of the Story:
The story is made of 17 stanzas,
each stanza being three lines.
First stanza:
On the way walking back from the shuk on the main road, there was a
sound, a sound of drums, trumpets, and cymbals.
Second stanza:
There was a loud noise, a noise of a nation, a group of soldiers singing.
Third stanza:
The chariot moved, the horses were running, the soldiers moved in their
red uniforms, with feathers on their hats.
Fourth stanza:
The sun would shine on the shields and swords and axes and iron and fly
away like a bird (the reflection would bounce off).
Fifth stanza:
How narrow is the road! One stone was on top of the other. There was no
place to move!
Sixth Stanza:
On the road walks slowly, a Jewish woman, whose thighs are fat because
she is pregnant.
Seventh Stanza:
And suddenly, the group of soldiers come down the street, the Duke in
front of the group of soldiers.
Eighth Stanza:
The woman moved to the side, and was confused because she didn�t know
where to go. Another minute and they would run ove rher,
Ninth Stanza:
She started crying and the group of soldiers is coming and will not have
pity on her, on a Jewish woman.
Tenth Stanza:
She pressed herself against the wall, the wall is like a tree and a
person is like a piece of chalk (the chalk can�t go into the tree). There is no
hope!
Eleventh stanza:
From the weight of the iron, the horses bent down. The soldiers had a lot
of iron because of the iron hat and the shield.
Twelfth Stanza:
In their hands were iron, and their hearts were iron, and the iron in the
heart told the iron in the hand to kill.
Thirteenth Stanza:
The heart of the soldiers were hard and the wall had pity on the woman
and bent in and the woman sank into the wall (saving herself from the soldiers
coming down the narrow road).
Fourteenth Stanza:
Oh the city of Vermaysa! Oh what a beautiful city! The wall is still
there. You can go and touch it.
Fifteenth Stanza:
The wall is still there and there is a dent. A wondrous wall in a
beautiful city. The wall has a lot of wonderful stories.
Sixteenth Stanza:
A long time ago, in this city there was evil and sin, a government of bad
people.
Seventeenth Stanza:
A terrible government and a powerful government. If a story like this would happen in our time, even the wall wouldn�t move. (If a woman was in a bad situation like in the story, the wall wouldn�t even have pity on her. Tchernikovsky is trying to say that there is no more pity in the world. There is less pity now than there was in the Middle Ages.)
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