"A Muslim cannot be seriously offended by meeting his wife. In this regard, any communication, even glances, is forbidden to everyone except the husband. This prohibition incited the prince's curiosity, and he said to me: 'What good is it for us to walk through the huge garden if we are forbidden to admire the willows. At least, before leaving Crimea, I need to see some Tatar woman without a veil. I decided to do this; do you want to be my comrade in this enterprise?
"I could not resist the temptation, and we went to wander through the valleys. But hope deceived us for a long time. Finally, not far from a secluded house, on the edge of a small forest, we saw three women sitting washing their feet in a swift stream. Approaching as quietly as possible between the trees, we finally managed to defend ourselves against them, under the cover of a bush. So As the covers of these women lay low on the ground, we could see them perfectly. But, alas, how disappointed! Not a single one of them was young and pretty, not even tolerable.
"Did they hear us, or did the rustling of leaves give us away, only our three Muslim girls jumped out and ran screaming. We were behind them to calm them down, when suddenly we saw the Tatars rushing from the mountains, also screaming, throwing stones at us and threatening us with daggers. Since we were not prepared for battle, then, without waiting for their approach, we started running and took cover from pursuers in the thickets of l$sa.
"Until then, it was not important, according to the false rule that the hidden grfh was half forgiven. But my unreasonable accomplice was not satisfied with this. The next day at the table they said that the empress was sad and silent; the emperor was immersed in thoughts; Potemkin was gloomy and distracted. The conversation somehow did not go well, or completely fell silent. Suddenly de Ligne, the natural enemy of boredom, in order to amuse the empress and amuse his companions, decided to tell our prank and yesterday’s incident. No matter how much I pushed him, he continued his story. The listeners were already starting to hesitate, which is what he expected, when suddenly Catherine, looking at us majestically and sternly, said: "Gentlemen, this joke is very uninformed and can serve as a bad example. You are among a people conquered by my weapons; I want their laws, their lies, their customs and prejudices to be respected. If they told me this story, and did not name the characters involved, then I would not think of you, but would begin to suspect my pages, and they would be severely punished.”
We had nothing to object to this. De-Lin forremained silent just like me, annoyed at my stupid talkativeness. Our humility pleased the empresses, and she became cheerful again; even a few days after this, having appointed a Muslim princess, the niece of Selim Giray, as her assistant, she allowed us to hide so that we could see her, remaining almost unnoticed. The princess was more beautiful than our three Tatars. However, black eyebrows and a glossy rouge face gave her the appearance of a doll, despite her beautiful eyes.“
De Ligne himself, however, talks about this incident somewhat differently. He writes to his friend in Paris: "I saw only one woman here: a princess of royal blood, the niece of the last Sultan Selim Giray. The Empress, before whom she took off her veil, hid me behind the screen. She was beautiful, like a clear day, and adorned with such a multitude of diamonds, which you will not find in all the women of Vynsk, and this already a lot!“
This is how the young people had fun, one of whom was over 30 years old, and the other over 50. And this is how the wise Catherine taught them wisdom.
XXI. THE REVERSE WAY.
Catherine’s return journey went through Poltava, Kharkiv, Tula, Moscow and Tver. This journey took more than a month. Having left Perekop on May 31, Catherine arrived in St. Petersburg only at 11:00.
On June 7, 1st we arrived in Poltava. Here,” says Segur, “Catherine’s stay was marked by a spectacle not less brilliant and curious than we had seen before.” Here a large army was assembled, 50 thousand people, and more maneuvers were organized - the troops reproduced the picture of the famous Toltava battle in front of the empress.
Ekaterina was very pleased. "Catherine's gaze burned with pleasure and pride; it seemed as if the blood of Peter the Great was flowing in her veins. This majestic and magnificent spectacle worthily crowned our romantic and instead historical journey. Prince Potemkin presented the empress with a wonderful pearl necklace; she showered it with gifts and generously distributed it ranks and orders to generals and commanders.”