The Greek Minot is sailing in a boat to the native island of Ipsar. He can see the blossoming orange trees, the overshadowing ruins of the colonnades, the tops of the mountains, drowning in heavenly azure. The houses on the island are as if cut into coastal cliffs, the light contours of the minarets are visible. Acacia and roses bloom in the gardens, nightingales sing. The sun is setting. Almost no one is on the streets. Turks spend evening time in baths. The Greeks serve there, prepare coffee and opium.
Minot is a wandering singer. He's going to sing for bathhouse patrons. The Turks set aside their amber mouthpieces. Greek singing is addressed to his fellow tribesmen. He says that the boy watched the battle of the Greeks and Turks. The battle was lost. The boy saw how Christian crosses were defeated. The Greek Lambro, the hero of Minot’s story, managed to escape: he went into the mountains. Then other surviving Greeks joined him. A few years later, an uprising began against Turkish rule. Bells rang all over the country, the Greeks sang the rebel anthem composed by Riga. Soon, the uprising was crushed. And sobbing echo swept across Greece: Riga was captured, the Turks announced his execution - he would be hanged on the mast of the Turkish frigate,
The singer continues his song. He sings about a monastery located high above the sea on the wild shores of the rocky island of Ipsar. The monastery cross is the first on the island to be consecrated by the rays of the morning sun. From time to time, monks fight with the Turks.
Below the monastery on a rock is a Muslim cemetery. Here at night met Lambro and a young Greek woman. The Greek woman reproaches Lambro that he has changed: there is no previous sincerity in him, on his face - a seal of boredom. He no longer seeks to be with the rebels, to live with them only thoughts. Lambro replies that his desire for solitude and silence is caused by his unwillingness to hurt with words. His life changed - he became a pirate to take revenge, and now he is cursed by someone and forgotten by someone, but he does not want to light the flame of a love torch with the grandeur of his misfortunes and a loud rumor about his crimes. People only cause him pity and contempt. Tears come to his eyes when a bullet tears up the mast wood from the poplar trunk that grew in his homeland. When a bullet hits one of his comrades, he is only angry at his awkwardness. Beloved listens to his every word. He admits that, despite the bloody weekdays, he loves and remembers her, that sometimes he looks in the mirror and tries to give his face a different, softer and more joyful expression - what it was like when they were together. Lambro asks the girl to stay away from society, invites her to live in a monastery, from where she will see the sail of his boat. But, before she hides forever in the monastery walls, the Greek asks her to come to the shore the next morning dressed in a suit of a rich Turkish woman with her face closed. He himself, dressed as a Turk, will also be where the execution of Riga will take place.
And here is the morning. Forest of masts in coastal waters. There are both English and French ships. That is triumphantly floating the Turkish flagship. Around the boat with multi-colored sails, on the boats are the Turks - men and women in holiday clothes. A picture resembling patterns of Kashmir shawls. And everyone wants to swim closer to the place of execution of the Greek hero. Here the Janissaries bring Riga to the deck. Silence reigns. In silence, a few voices sing a song composed by Riga - the march of the rebels: “Rise, the Greeks! To arms! ” Each subsequent line sounds quieter, and soon the song became silent - but joy is reflected on the face of Riga. Then Minot sings that he saw with his own eyes the death of a young hero. And at that moment, when the body hung on the mast and the sun illuminated the dead face of Riga and its long hair, scattered on the shoulders, one of the boats suddenly moved towards the ship on which the execution was carried out. She was led by a Turk, rowing with a double oar. In the boat stood a Turkish woman with her face closed. The boat quickly approached the frigate - and then there was an explosion. The frigate caught fire. The Turk from the boat dived into the water, swam out in the distance, turned to the Janissaries and laughed with an ominous laugh. That was Lambroe's laugh. The boat burned down. The whole frigate was engulfed in flames. There was an explosion, a giant funnel formed in the sea, which swallowed the ship. Lambro sailed to the pirate ship, went up to the deck and fell exhausted on the carpets in his cabin.
Recovering, he sends his servant to the island to find out the mood of the Greeks. “And I went,” Minota says. Only a young Greek woman draws attention to the singer’s reservation, approaches him, agrees on something, and gives him the diamond ring.
The servant returned to Lambro. Entered the dark cabin, put on the table a lit lamp. A corsair, intoxicated, goes onto the deck and faints. Pirates pick it up and carry it to the cabin. The servant cries out in horror when he sees the master in unconsciousness. Lambro half recognizes the voice - this is the voice of his beloved. He does not know in reality or in a dream. He is surrounded by the spirits of the dead and cry out in hundreds of voices: “Why didn’t you die when everyone was dying?” Lambro wakes up in anguish and begs the servant to give him a lethal dose, because even in a dream his consciousness does not turn off. He raises his eyes to the servant and sees the face of his beloved. Greek laughs wildly; turning to the angels of death, he explains that there was a straw doll in the boat. Drinks more opium. Again, the spirits of the dead Greeks surround him. They are silent. Angels appear - fiery and white, like moonlight. These are the angels of revenge, they sing their Lambro hymns. He is trying to get up - to fulfill their will. His head is heavy, his body does not obey. Lambro calls out to the angels, recalls, makes excuses ... in a state of opium intoxication, Lambro kills a servant with a dagger and falls asleep with a dying opium dream.
At this time, Minota quietly enters - it was he who let the Greek woman in disguise as a servant. He sees her killed, him asleep, grabs a bag of gold and runs away, locking the cabin door.
Before dawn, Lambro wakes up. He recognizes his beloved and realizes that he himself killed her. Greek buries Greek woman in the sea. After that, he orders a prayer service for the dead on the ship. He sends everyone out of his cabin to be left alone - with death. And soon, under the ongoing prayer service, the pirates lay the body of their leader on a black pirate flag and throw it into the sea.
