diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33021-8.txt | 5313 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33021-8.zip | bin | 0 -> 104077 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33021-h.zip | bin | 0 -> 121619 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33021-h/33021-h.htm | 5342 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33021-h/images/ill_mysteries.png | bin | 0 -> 12626 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33021.txt | 5313 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 33021.zip | bin | 0 -> 104042 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
10 files changed, 15984 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/33021-8.txt b/33021-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7a0fe1f --- /dev/null +++ b/33021-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5313 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Carlovingian Coins, by Eugène Sue + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Carlovingian Coins + Or The Daughters of Charlemagne. A Tale of the Ninth Century + +Author: Eugène Sue + +Translator: Daniel De Leon + +Release Date: June 29, 2010 [EBook #33021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS + +THE FULL SERIES OF + +The Mysteries of the People + +OR + +History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages + +By EUGENE SUE + +_Consisting of the Following Works_: + +THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_. + +THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_. + +THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustine and Syomara_. + +THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_. + +THE BASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_. + +THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeucq and Ronan_. + +THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_. + +THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_. + +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_. + +THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_. + +THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_. + +THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_. + +THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_. + +THE IRON TREVET; or, _Jocelyn the Champion_. + +THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_. + +THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_. + +THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_. + +THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_. + +THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_. + +Published Uniform With This Volume By + +THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO. + +28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY + + + + +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS + +OR + +THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARLEMAGNE + +A Tale of the Ninth Century + +By EUGENE SUE + +TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY + +DANIEL DE LEON + +NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY. 1908 + +Copyright 1908, by the + +NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO. + + + + +INDEX + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. v + +PART I--AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. + +CHAPTER. + +I. AMAEL AND VORTIGERN. 3 + +II. THE COURTYARD OF THE PALACE. 18 + +III. IN THE GALLERIES OF THE PALACE. 24 + +IV. CHARLEMAGNE. 29 + +V. THE PALATINE SCHOOL. 40 + +VI. THE BISHOP OF LIMBURG. 44 + +VII. TO THE HUNT. 54 + +VIII. THE FOREST OF OPPENHEIM. 58 + +IX. AT THE MORT. 71 + +X. EMPEROR AND HOSTAGE. 77 + +XI. FRANK AND BRETON. 88 + + +PART II--THE CONQUEST OF BRITTANY. + +I. IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS. 107 + +II. THE BRETON CHIEF. 112 + +III. ABBOT AND BRETON. 120 + +IV. THE DEFILE OF GLEN-CLAN. 132 + +V. THE MARSH OF PEULVEN. 139 + +VI. THE FOREST OF CARDIK. 146 + +VII. THE MOOR OF KENNOR. 151 + +VIII. THE VALLEY OF LOKFERN. 156 + +EPILOGUE. 159 + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE + + +The Age of Charlemagne is the watershed of the history of the present +era. The rough barbarian flood that poured over Western Europe reaches +in that age a turning point of which Charlemagne is eminently the +incarnation. The primitive physical features of the barbarian begin to +be blunted, or toned down by a new force that has lain latent in him, +but that only then begins to step into activity--the spiritual, the +intellectual powers. The Age of Charlemagne is the age of the first +conflict between the intellectual and the brute in the principal +branches of the races that occupied Europe. The conflict raged on a +national scale, and it raged in each particular individual. The colossal +stature, physical and mental, of Charlemagne himself typifies the epoch. +Brute instincts of the most primitive and savage, intellectual +aspirations of the loftiest are intermingled, each contends for +supremacy--and alternately wins it, in the monarch, in his court and in +his people. + +_The Carlovingian Coins; or, The Daughters of Charlemagne_ is the ninth +of the brilliant series of historical novels written by Eugene Sue under +the title, _The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian +Family Across the Ages_. The age and its people are portrayed in a +charming and chaste narrative, that is fittingly and artistically +brought to a close by a veritable epopee--the Frankish conquest of +Brittany, and, as fittingly, serves to introduce the next epopee--the +Northman's invasion of Gaul--dealt with in the following story, _The +Iron Arrow Head; or, The Buckler Maiden_. + +DANIEL DE LEON. + +New York, May, 1905. + + + + +PART I. + +AIX-LA-CHAPELLE + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AMAEL AND VORTIGERN. + + +Towards the commencement of the month of November of the year 811, a +numerous cavalcade was one afternoon wending its way to the city of +Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of the Empire of Charles the Great--an +Empire that had been so rapidly increased by rapidly succeeding +conquests over Germany, Saxony, Bavaria, Bohemia, Hungary, Italy and +Spain, that Gaul, as formerly during the days of the Roman Emperors, was +again but a province among the vast domains. The ambitious designs of +Charles Martel had been realized. Childeric, the last scion of the +Merovingian dynasty, had been got rid of. Martel's descendants took his +seat, and now the Hammerer's grandson wielded the sceptre of Clovis over +an immensely wider territory. + +Eight or ten cavalry soldiers rode in advance of the cavalcade. A little +apart from the smaller escort, four cavaliers ambled leisurely. Two of +them wore brilliant armor after the German fashion. One of these was +accompanied by a venerable old man of a martial and open countenance. +His long beard, snow white as his hair that was half hidden under a fur +cap, fell over his chest. He wore a Gallic blouse of grey wool, held +around his waist by a belt, from which hung a long sword with an iron +hilt. His ample hose of rough white fabric reached slightly below his +knees and left exposed his tightly laced leather leggings, that ended in +his boots whose heels were armed with spurs. The old man was Amael, who +under the assumed Frankish name of Berthoald had, eighty years before, +saved the life of Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers against the +Arabs, had declined the post offered him by Charles, as jailer of the +last descendant of Clovis, and, finally, smitten by conscience, had +renounced wealth and dignity under the Frankish enslavers of Gaul, and +returned to his people and country of Brittany, or Armorica, as the +Romans named it. Amael now touched his hundredth year. His great age and +his somewhat portly stature notwithstanding, he still looked full of +vigor. He handled with dexterity the black horse that he rode and whose +spirit seemed no wise abated by the long road it had traveled. From time +to time, Amael turned round upon his saddle in order to cast a look of +paternal solicitude upon his grandson Vortigern, a lad of hardly +eighteen years, who was accompanied by the other of the two Frankish +warriors. The face of Vortigern, of exceptional beauty for a man, was +framed in long chestnut ringlets, that, escaping from his scarlet coif, +tumbled down below a chin that was as dainty as a woman's. His large +blue eyes, fringed with lashes black as his bold arched eyebrows, had an +air at once ingenuous and resolute. His red lips, shaded by the down of +adolescence, revealed at every smile two rows of teeth white as enamel. +A slightly aquiline nose, a fresh and pure complexion somewhat tanned by +the sun, completed the harmonious make-up of the youth's charming +visage. His clothes, made after the fashion of his grandfather's, +differed from them only in a touch of elegance that bespoke a mother's +hand, tenderly proud of her son's comely appearance. Accordingly, the +blue blouse of the lad was ornamented around the neck, over the +shoulders and at the extremities of the sleeves with embroideries of +white wool, while a calfskin belt, from which hung a sword with +polished hilt, encircled his supple waist. His linen hose half hid his +deerskin leggings, that were tightly laced to his nervy limbs and +rejoined his boots, made of tanned skin and equipped with large copper +spurs that glistened like gold. Although his right arm was held in a +scarf of some black material, Vortigern handled his horse with his left +hand with as much ease as skill. For traveling companion he had a young +warrior of agreeable mien, bold and mercurial, alert and frolicsome. The +mobility of his face recalled in nothing the stolidity of the German. +His name was Octave. Roman by birth, in appearance and character, his +inexhaustible Southern wit often succeeded in unwrinkling the brow of +his young companion. The latter, however, would soon again relapse into +a sort of silent and somber revery. Thus for some time absorbed in +sadness, he walked his horse slowly, when Octave broke in gaily in a +tone of friendly reproach: + +"By Bacchus! You still are preoccupied and silent." + +"I am thinking of my mother," answered the youth, smothering a sigh. "I +am thinking of my mother, of my sister and of my country." + +"Come now; you should, on the contrary, chase away, such saddening +thoughts. To the devil with sadness. Long live joy." + +"Octave, gayness ill beseems a prisoner. I cannot share your +light-heartedness." + +"You are no prisoner, only a hostage. No bond binds you but your own +word; prisoners, on the contrary, are led firmly pinioned to the slave +market. Your grandfather and yourself ride freely, with us for your +companions, and we are escorting you, not to a slave market, but to the +palace of the Emperor Charles the Great, the mightiest monarch of the +whole world. Finally, prisoners are disarmed; your grandfather as well +as yourself carry your swords." + +"Of what use are our swords now to us?" replied Vortigern with painful +bitterness. "Brittany is vanquished." + +"Such are the chances of war. You bravely did your duty as a soldier. +You fought like a demon at the side of your grandfather. He was not +wounded, and you only received a lance-thrust. By Mars, the valiant god +of war, your blows were so heavy in the melee that you should have been +hacked to pieces." + +"We would not then have survived the disgrace of Armorica." + +"There is no disgrace in being overcome when one has defended himself +bravely--above all when the forces that one resisted and decimated, were +the veteran bands of the great Charles." + +"Not one of your Emperor's soldiers should have escaped." + +"Not one?" merrily rejoined the young Roman. "What, not even myself? Not +even I, who take such pains to be a pleasant traveling companion, and +who tax my eloquence to entertain you? Verily, you are not at all +grateful!" + +"Octave, I do not hate you personally; I hate your race; they have, +without provocation, carried war and desolation into my country." + +"First of all, my young friend, I am not of the Frankish race. I am a +Roman. Gladly do I relinquish to you those gross Germans, who are as +savage as the bears of their forests. But, let it be said among +ourselves, this war against Brittany was not without reason. Did not you +Bretons, possessed of the very devil as you are, attack last year and +exterminate the Frankish garrison posted at Vannes?" + +"And by what right did Charles cause our frontiers to be invaded by his +troops twenty-five years ago? His whim stood him instead of right." + +The conversation between Vortigern and Octave was interrupted by the +voice of Amael, who, turning in his saddle, called his grandson to him. +The latter, anxious to hasten to his grandfather, and also yielding to +an impulse of anger that the discussion with the young Roman had +provoked, brusquely clapped his spurs to the flanks of his charger. The +animal, thus suddenly urged, leaped forward so violently that in two or +three bounds it would have left Amael behind, had not Vortigern, +restraining his mount with a firm hand, made the animal rear on its +haunches. The youth then resumed his walk abreast of his grandfather and +the other Frankish warrior, who, turning to the old man, remarked: + +"I do not marvel at the superiority of your Breton cavalry, when a lad +of the age of your grandson, and despite the wound that must smart him, +can handle his horse in such a manner. You yourself, for a centenarian, +are as firm in your saddle as the lad himself. Horns of the devil!" + +"The lad was barely five years old when his father and I used to place +him on the back of the colts raised on our meadows," answered the old +man. The recollection of those peaceful happy days now ended, cast a +shadow of sorrow upon Amael's face. He remained silent for a moment. +Thereupon, addressing Vortigern, he said: + +"I called you to inquire whether your wound had ceased smarting." + +"Grandfather, I hardly feel it any longer. If you allow me, I would free +my arm of the embarrassing scarf." + +"No; your wound might open again. No imprudence. Remember your mother, +and also your sister and her husband, both of whom love you like a +brother." + +"Alas! Will I never see that mother, that sister, that brother whom I +love so dearly?" + +"Patience!" answered Amael in an undertone, so as not to be heard by the +Frankish warrior at his side. "You may see Brittany again a good deal +sooner than you expect--prudence and patience!" + +"Truly?" inquired the youth impetuously. "Oh, grandfather, what +happiness!" + +The old man made a sign to Vortigern to control himself, and then +proceeded aloud: "I am always afraid lest the fatigue of traveling +inflame your wound anew. Fortunately, we must be approaching the end of +our journey. Not so, Hildebrad?" he added, turning to the warrior. + +"Before sunset we shall be at Aix-la-Chapelle," answered the Frank. "But +for the hill that we are about to ascend, you could see the city at a +distance." + +"Return to your companion, my child," said Amael; "above all, place your +arm back in its scarf, and be careful how you manage your horse. A +too-sudden lurch might re-open the wound that is barely closed." + +The young man obeyed and gently walked his horse back to Octave. Thanks +to the mobility of the impressions of youth, Vortigern felt appeased and +comforted by the words of his grandfather that had made him look forward +to a speedy return to his family and country. The soothing thought was +so visibly reflected in his candid features that Octave met him with the +merry remark: + +"What a magician that grandfather of yours must be! You rode off +preoccupied and fretful, angrily burying your spurs into the flanks of +your horse, who, poor animal, had done nothing to excite your wrath. +Now, behold! You return as placid as a bishop astride of his mule." + +"The magic of my grandfather has chased away my sadness. You speak +truly, Octave." + +"So much the better. I shall now be free, without fear of reviving your +chagrin, to give a loose to the increasing joy that I feel at every +step." + +"Why does your joy increase at every step, my dear companion?" + +"Because even the dullest horse becomes livelier and more spirited in +the measure that he approaches the house where he knows that he will +find provender." + +"Octave, I did not know you for such a glutton!" + +"In that case, my looks are deceptive, because a glutton, that am +I--terribly gluttonous of those delicate dainties that are found only at +court, and that constitute my provender." + +"What!" exclaimed Vortigern ingenuously. "Is that great Emperor, whose +name fills the world, surrounded by a court where nothing is thought of +but dainties and gluttony?" + +"Why, of course," answered Octave gravely and hardly able to refrain +from laughing outright at the innocence of the young Breton. "Why, of +course. And what is more, more so than any of the counts, of the dukes, +of the men of learning, and of the bishops at court, does the Emperor +himself lust after the dainties that I have in mind. He always keeps a +room contiguous to his own full of them. Because in the stillness of the +night--" + +"He rises to eat cakes and, perhaps, even sweetmeats!" exclaimed the lad +with disdain, while Octave, unable longer to contain himself, was +laughing in his face. "I can think of nothing more unbecoming than +guzzling on the part of one who governs empires!" + +"What's to be done, Vortigern? Great princes must be pardoned for some +pecadillos. Moreover, with them it is a family failing--the daughters of +the Emperor--" + +"His daughters also are given to this ugly passion for gormandizing?" + +"Alas! They are no less gluttonous than their father. They have six or +seven dainties of their own--most appetizing and most appetized." + +"Oh, fie!" cried Vortigern. "Fie. Have they perhaps, also next to their +bed-chambers, whole rooms stocked with dainties?" + +"Calm your legitimate indignation, my boiling-over friend. Young girls +can not allow themselves quite so much comfort. That's good enough for +the Emperor Charles, who is no longer nimble on his legs. He is getting +along in years. He has the gout in his left foot, and his girth is +enormous." + +"That is not to be wondered at. Bound is the stomach to protrude with +such a gourmand!" + +"You will understand that being so heavy on his feet, this mighty +Emperor is not able, like his daughters, to snatch at a stray dainty on +the wing, like birdies in an orchard, who nibble lovingly here at a red +cherry, there at a blushing apple, yonder at a bunch of gilded grapes. +No, no; with his august paunch and his gouty foot, the august Charles +would be wholly unable to snap the dainties on the wing. The attention +due to his empire would lose too much. Hence the Emperor keeps near at +hand, within easy reach, a room full of dainties, where, at night, he +finds his provender--" + +"Octave!" exclaimed Vortigern, interrupting the young Roman with a +haughty mien. "I do not wish to be trifled with. At first, I took your +words seriously. The laughter that you are hardly able to repress, and +that despite yourself breaks out at frequent intervals, shows me that +you are trifling with me." + +"Come, my brave lad, do not wax angry. I am not bantering. Only that, +out of respect for the candor of your age, I have used a figure of +speech to tell the truth. In short, the dainty that I, Charles, his +daughters, and, by Venus! everybody at court lusts after more or less +greedily is--love!" + +"Love," echoed Vortigern, blushing and for the first time dropping his +eyes before Octave; but as his uneasiness increased, he proceeded to +inquire: "But, in order to enjoy love, the daughters of Charles are +surely married?" + +"Oh, innocence of the Golden Age! Oh, Armorican naïveness! Oh, Gallic +chastity!" cried Octave. But noticing that the young Breton frowned at +hearing his native land ridiculed, the Roman proceeded: "Far be it from +me to jest about your brave country. I shall tell you without further +circumlocution--I shall tell you that Charles' daughters are not +married; for reasons that he has never cared to explain to anyone, he +never has wanted them to have a husband."[A] + +"Out of pride, no doubt!" + +"Oh, oh, on that subject many things are said. The long and short of it +is that he does not wish to part with them. He adores them, and, except +he goes to war, he always has them near him during his journeys, along +with his concubines--or, if you prefer the term, his 'dainties.' The +word may be less shocking to your prudery. You must know that after +having successively married and discarded his five wives, Desiderata, +Hildegarde, Fustrade, Himiltrude and Luitgarde, the Emperor provided +himself with an assortment of dainties, from which assortment I shall +mention to you incidentally the juicy Mathalgarde, the sugary +Gerswinthe, the tart Regina, the toothsome Adalinde--not to mention many +other saints on this calendar of love. For you must know that the great +Charles resembles the great Solomon not in wisdom only; he resembles him +also in his love for _seraglios_, as the Arabs call them. But, by the +way of the Emperor's daughters. Listen to a little tale. Imma, one of +these young princesses, was a charming girl. One fine day she became +smitten with Charles' archchaplain, named Eginhard. An archchaplain +being, of course, arch-amorous, Imma received Eginhard every night +secretly in her chamber--to discuss chapel affairs, I surmise. Now, +then, it so happened that during one winter's night there fell so very +much snow that the ground was all covered. A little before dawn, +Eginhard takes his departure from his lady-love; but just as he is about +to climb down from the window--an ordinary route with lovers--he beholds +by the light of a superb full moon that the ground is one sheet of white +snow. To himself he thinks: 'Imma and I are lost! I cannot get out +without leaving the imprint of my steps in the snow'--" + +"And what did he do?" asked Vortigern, more and more interested in the +story that threw an undefined sense of uneasiness in his heart. "How +did the two escape from their perilous plight, the poor lovers!" + +"Imma, a robustious doxy, a girl both of head and resolution, descends +by the window, bravely takes the archchaplain on her back, and, without +tripping under the beloved burden, crosses a wide courtyard that +separates her quarters from one of the corridors of the palace. Although +weighted down by an archchaplain, Imma had such small feet that the +traces left by them could not choose but keep suspicion away from +Eginhard. Unfortunately, however, as you will discover when you arrive +at Aix-la-Chapelle, the Emperor is possessed of a demon of curiosity, +and has had his palace so constructed that, from a kind of terrace, +contiguous to his own room and which dominates the rest of the +buildings, he is able to discover as from an observatory, all who enter, +go out, or cross the open space. Now, then, the Emperor, who frequently +rises at night, saw, thanks to the brilliant moonlight, his daughter +crossing the yard with the amorous fardel." + +"Charles' anger must have been terrible!" + +"Yes, terrible for an instant. Soon, however, no doubt greatly elated at +having procreated a maid who was able to carry an archchaplain on her +back, the august Emperor pardoned the guilty couple. After that they +lived lovingly in peace and joy." + +"And yet that archchaplain was a priest? What of the sanctity of the +clergy!" + +"Ho, ho! my young friend. The Emperor's daughters are far from failing +in esteem for priests. Bertha, another of his daughters, desperately +esteems Enghilbert, the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier. Fairness, +nevertheless, compels me to admit that one of Bertha's sisters, named +Adeltrude, esteemed with no less vehemence Count Lambert, one of the +most intrepid officers of the imperial army. As to little Rothailde, +another of the Emperor's daughters, she did not withhold her lively +esteem from Romuald, who made his name glorious in our wars against +Bohemia. I shall not speak of the other princesses. It is fully six +months that I have been away from court. I would be afraid to do them +injustice. Nevertheless, I am free to say that the Crosier and the Sword +have generally contended with each other for the amorous tenderness of +the daughters of Charles. Yet I must except Thetralde, the youngest of +the set. She is still too much of a novice to esteem any one. She is +barely fifteen. She is a flower, or rather, the bud of a flower that is +about to blossom. I never have seen anything more charming. When I last +departed from the court Thetralde gave promise of eclipsing all her +sisters and nieces with the sweetness and freshness of her beauty, +because, and I had forgotten this detail, my dear friend, the daughters +of Charles' sons are brought up with his own daughters; and are no less +charming than their aunts. You will see them all. Your admiration will +have but to choose between Adelaid, Atula, Gonarade, Bertha or +Theodora." + +"What! Do all these young girls inhabit the Emperor's palace?" + +"Certainly, without counting their servants, their governesses, their +chambermaids, their readers, their singers and innumerable other women +of their retinue. By Venus! My Adonis, there are more petticoats to be +seen in the imperial palace than cuirasses or priests' gowns. The +Emperor loves as much to be surrounded by women as by soldiers and +abbots, without forgetting the learned men, the rhetoricians, the +dialecticians, the instructors, the peripatetic pedagogues and the +grammarians. The great Charles, as you must know, is as passionately +fond of grammar as of love, war, the chase, or choir chants. In his +grammarian's ardor, the Emperor invents words--" + +"What!" + +"Just as I am telling you. For instance: How do you call in the Gallic +tongue the month in which we now are?" + +"The month of November." + +"So do we Italians, barbarians that we are! But the Emperor has changed +all that by virtue of his own sovereign and grammatical will. His +peoples, provided they can obey him without the words strangling them, +are to say, instead of November, 'Herbismanoth'; instead of October, +Windumnermanoth.'" + +"Octave, you are trying to make merry at my expense." + +"Instead of March, 'Lenzhimanoth'; instead of May--" + +"Enough! enough! for pity's sake!" cried Vortigern. "Those barbarous +names make me shiver. What! can there be throats in existence able to +articulate such sounds?" + +"My young friend, Frankish throats are capable of everything. I warn +you, prepare your ears for the most uncouth concert of raucous, +guttural, savage words that you ever heard, unless you have ever heard +frogs croaking, tom-cats squalling, bulls bellowing, asses braying, +stags belling and wolves howling--all at once! Excepting the Emperor +himself and his family, who can somewhat handle the Roman and the Gallic +languages, the only two languages, in short, that are human, you will +hear nothing spoken but Frankish at that German court where everything +is German, that is to say, barbarous; the language, the customs, the +manners, the meals, the dress. In short, Aix-la-Chapelle is no longer +in Gaul. It now lies in Germany absolutely." + +"And yet Charles reigns over Gaul!--is not that enough of a disgrace for +my country? The Emperor who governs us by no right other than conquest, +is surrounded with a Frankish court, and with officers and generals of +the same stock, who do not deign even to speak our tongue. Shame and +disgrace to us!" + +"There you are at it again, plunging anew into sadness. Vortigern! By +Bacchus! Why do you not imitate my philosophy of indifference? Does, +perchance, my race not descend from that haughty Roman stock that made +the world to tremble only a few centuries ago? Have I not seen the +throne of the Caesars occupied by hypocritical, ambitious, greedy and +debauched Popes, with their black-gowned and tonsured militia? Have not +the descendants of our haughty Roman Emperors gone in their imbecile +idleness to vegetate in Constantinople, where they still indulge the +dreams of Universal Empire? Have not the Catholic priests chased from +their Olympus the charmful deities of our fathers? Have they not torn +down, mutilated and ravished the temples, statues, altars--the +master-works of the divine art of Rome and Greece? Go to, Vortigern, and +follow my example! Instead of fretting over a ship-wrecked past, let's +drink and forget! Let our fair mistresses be our Saints, and their +couches our altars! Let our Eucharist be a flower-decked cup, and for +liturgy, let's sing the amorous couplets of Tibullus, of Ovid, and of +Horace. Yes, indeed, and take my advice: let's drink, love and enjoy +life! That's truly to live! You will never again come across such an +opportunity. The gods of joy are sending you to the Emperor's court." + +"What do you mean?" queried Vortigern almost mechanically, and feeling +his inexperienced sense, though not perverted, yet dazzled by the facile +and sensuous philosophy of Octave. "What would you have one become in +the midst of that court so strange to me, who have been brought up in +our rustic Brittany?" + +"Child that you are! A swarm of beautiful eyes will be focused upon +you!" + +"Octave, you are mocking again. Am I to be taken notice of? I, a field +laborer's son? I, a poor Breton prisoner on parole?" + +"And do you think your reputation for a bedevilled Breton goes for +nothing? More than once have I heard told of the furious curiosity with +which, about twenty-five years ago, the hostages taken to +Aix-la-Chapelle, at the time of the first war against your country, +inspired everyone at court. The most charming women wished to behold +those indomitable Bretons whom only the great Charles had been able to +vanquish. Their haughty and rude mien, the interest centred in their +defeat, everything, down to their strange costumes, drew upon them the +looks and the sympathy of the women, who, in Germany, are ever strongly +prone to love. The fascinating enthusiasts of then are now become +mothers and grandfathers. But, happily, they have daughters and +grand-daughters who are fully able to appreciate you. I can assure you +that I, who know the court and its ways, had I only your youth, your +good looks, your wound, your graceful horsemanship and your renown as a +Breton, would guarantee myself the lover of all those beauties, and that +within a week." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE COURTYARD OF THE PALACE. + + +The conversation between the young Roman and Vortigern was at this point +interrupted by Amael, who, turning back to his grandson and extending +his arm towards the horizon said to him: + +"Look yonder, my child; that is the Queen of the cities of the Empire of +Charles the Great--the city of Aix-la-Chapelle." + +Vortigern hastened to join his grandfather, whose eyes he now, perhaps +for the first time, sought to avoid with not a little embarrassment. +Octave's words sounded wrong on his ears, even dangerous; and he +reproached himself for having listened to them with some pleasure. +Having reached Amael, Vortigern cast his eyes in the direction pointed +out by the old man, and saw at still a great distance an imposing mass +of buildings, close to which rose the high steeple of a basilica. +Presently, he distinguished the roofs and terraces of a cluster of +houses dimly visible through the evening mist and stretching out along +the horizon. It was the Emperor's palace and the basilica of +Aix-la-Chapelle. Vortigern contemplated with curiosity the, to him, new +panorama, while Hildebrad, who had cantered ahead to make some inquiries +from a cartman coming from the city, now returned to the Bretons, +saying: + +"The Emperor is hourly expected at the palace. The forerunners have +announced his approach. He is coming from a journey in the north of +Gaul. Let's hasten to ride in ahead of him so that we may salute him on +his arrival." + +The riders quickened their horses' steps, and before sunset they were +entering the outer court of the palace--a vast space surrounded by many +lodges of variously shaped roofs and architecture, and furnished with +innumerable windows. Agreeable to a unique plan, with many of these +structures the ground floor was wholly open and had the appearance of a +shed whose massive stone pillars supported the masonry of the upper +tiers of floors. A crowd of subaltern officers, of servants, and slaves +of the palace, lived and lodged under these sheds, open to the four +winds of heaven and heated in winter by means of large furnaces that +were kept lighted night and day. This bizarre architecture was conceived +by the ingenuity of the Emperor. It enabled him, from his observatory, +to see with all the greater ease all that happened in these wall-less +apartments. Several long corridors, profusely ornamented with richly +sculptured columns and porticos after the fashion of Rome, connected +with another set of buildings. A square pavilion, raised considerably +above ground, dominated the system of structures. Octave called +Vortigern's attention to a sort of balcony located in front of the +pavilion. It was the Emperor's observatory. Everywhere a general stir +announced the approaching arrival of Charles. Clerks, soldiers, women, +officers, rhetoricians, monks and slaves crossed one another in great +haste, while several bishops, anxious to present the first homages to +the Emperor, were speeding towards the peristyle of the palace. So +instantly was the Emperor expected and such was the hurly at the event, +that when the cavalcade, of which Vortigern and his grandfather were a +part, entered the court, several people, deceived by the martial +appearance of the troupe, began to cry: "The Emperor!" "Here is the +Emperor's escort!" The cry flew from mouth to mouth, and in an instant +the spacious court was filled with a compact mass of servitors and +pursuivants, through which the escort of the two Bretons was hardly able +to break its way in order to reach a place near the principal portico. +Hildebrad had chosen the spot in order to be among the first to meet +Charles and to present to him the hostages whom he brought from +Brittany. The crowd discovered its mistake in acclaiming the Emperor, +but the false rumor had penetrated the palace and immediately the +concubines of Charles, his daughters and grand-daughters, their servants +and attendants, rushed out and grouped themselves on a spacious terrace +above the portico, near which the two Bretons, together with their +escort, had taken their stand. + +"Raise your eyes, Vortigern," Octave said to his companion. "Look and +see what a bevy of beauties the Emperor's palace contains." + +Blushing, the young Breton glanced towards the terrace and remained +struck with astonishment at the sight of some twenty-five or thirty +women, all of whom were either daughters or grand-daughters of Charles, +together with his concubines. They were clad in the Frankish fashion, +and presented the most seductive variety of faces, color of hair, shapes +and beauty imaginable. There were among them brunettes and blondes, +women of reddish and of auburn hair, some tall, others stout, and yet +others thin and slender. It was a complete display of Germanic feminine +types--from the tender maid up to the stately matron of forty years. The +eyes of Vortigern fell with preference upon a girl of not more than +fifteen, clad in a tunic of pale green embroidered with silver. Nothing +sweeter could be imagined than her rosy and fresh face crowned and set +off by long and thick strands of blonde hair; her delicate neck, white +as a swan's, seemed to undulate under the weight of her magnificent head +of hair. Another maid of about twenty years--a pronounced brunette, +robust, with challenging eyes, black hair, and clad in a tunic of +orange--leaned on the balustrade, supporting her chin in one hand, close +to the younger blonde, on whose shoulders she familiarly rested her +right arm. Each held in her hand a nose-gay of rosemary, whose fragrance +they inhaled from time to time, all the while conversing in a low voice +and contemplating the group of riders with increasing curiosity. They +had learned that the escort was not the Emperor's, but that it brought +the Breton hostages. + +"Give thanks to my friendship, Vortigern," Octave whispered to the lad. +"I am going to place you in evidence, and to display you at your true +worth." Saying this, Octave covertly gave Vortigern's horse such a sharp +touch of his whip under the animal's belly that, had the Breton been +less of a horseman, he had been thrown by the violence of the bound made +by his mount. Thus unexpectedly stung, the animal reared, poised himself +dangerously for a moment and then leaped so high that Vortigern's coif +grazed the bottom of the terrace where the group of women stood. The +blonde young girl grew pale with terror, and hiding her face in her +hands, exclaimed: "Unhappy lad! He is killed! Poor young man!" + +Yielding to the impulse of his age as well as to a sense of pride at +finding himself the object of the attention of the crowd that was +gathered around him, Vortigern severely chastised his horse, whose leaps +and bounds threatened to become dangerous. But the lad, preserving his +presence of mind and drawing upon his skill, displayed so much grace and +vigor in the struggle, despite his right arm's being held in the scarf, +that the crowd wildly clapped its hands and cried: "Glory to the +Breton!" "Honor to the Breton!" Two bouquets of rosemary fell, at that +moment, at the feet of the horse that, brought at last under control, +champed his bit and pawed the ground with his hoofs. Vortigern raised +his head towards the terrace whence the bouquets had just been thrown at +him, when a formidable din arose from a distance, followed immediately +by the cry, echoed and re-echoed: "The Emperor!" "The Emperor!" + +At the announcement, all the women forthwith left the balcony to descend +and receive the monarch under the portico of the palace. + +While the crowd swayed back and forward, crying: "Long live Charles!" +"Long live Charles the Great!" the grandson of Amael saw a troop of +riders approaching at a gallop. They might have been taken for +equestrian statues of iron. Mounted upon chargers caparisoned in iron, +their own iron casques hid their faces; cuirassed in iron and gloved in +iron, they wore leggings of iron, and bucklers of the same metal. The +last rays of the westering sun shone from the points of their iron +lances. In short, nothing was heard but the clash of iron. At the head +of these cavaliers, whom he preceded, and, like them, cased in iron from +head to foot, rode a man of colossal stature. Hardly arrived before the +principal portico, he alighted slowly from his horse and ran limping +towards the group of women who there awaited him, calling out to them, +as he ran, in a little shrill and squeaky voice that contrasted +strangely with his enormous build: + +"Good-day, little ones. Good-day, dear daughters. Good-day to all of +you, my darlings." Without giving any heed to the cheers of the crowd +and to the respectful salutations of the bishops and other dignitaries, +who hurried to meet him, the Emperor Charles, that giant in iron, +disappeared within the palace, followed by his feminine cohort. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +IN THE GALLERIES OF THE PALACE. + + +Amael and his grandson were lodged in one of the upper chambers of the +palace, whither they were conducted by Hildebrad to rest after the +fatigue of their recent journey. Supper was served to them and they were +left to retire for the night. + +At break of day the next morning, Octave knocked at the door of the two +Bretons and informed them that the Emperor wished to see them. The Roman +urged Vortigern to clothe himself at his best. The Breton lad had not +much to choose from. He had with him only two suits of clothes, the one +he wore on the journey, another, green of color and embroidered with +orange wool. This notwithstanding, thanks to the fresh and new clothes, +in which the colors were harmoniously blended and which enhanced the +attractiveness of the charming face as well as the gracefulness of his +supple stature, Vortigern seemed to the critical eyes of Octave worthy +of making an honorable appearance before the mightiest Emperor in the +world. The centenarian could not restrain a smile at hearing the praises +bestowed upon the figure of his grandson by the young Roman, who advised +him to draw tighter the belt of his sword, claiming that, if one's +figure is good, it was but right to exhibit it. While giving his +advices to Vortigern in his wonted good humor, Octave whispered in his +friend's ear: + +"Did you notice yesterday the nose-gays that fell at the feet of your +horse? Did you notice who the girls were from whom the bouquets came?" + +"I think I did," stammered the young Breton in answer, and he blushed to +the roots of his hair, while despite himself, his thoughts flew to the +charming young blonde. "It seems to me," he added, "that I saw the two +bouquets fall." + +"Oh, it seems to you, hypocrite! Nevertheless, it was my whip that +brought down the two bouquets! And do you know what imperial hands it +was that threw them down in homage to your address and courage?" + +"Were the bouquets thrown down by imperial hands?" + +"Yes, indeed, seeing that Thetralde, the timid blonde child and +Hildrude, the tall and bold brunette, are both daughters of Charles. One +of them was dressed in a green robe of the color of your blouse, the +other in orange of the color of your embroidery. By Venus! Are you not a +favored mortal? Two conquests at one clap!" + +Engaged at the other end of the chamber, Amael did not overhear the +words of Octave that were turning Vortigern's face as scarlet as the +color of his chaperon's cloak. The preparations for the presentation +being concluded, the two hostages followed their guide to appear before +the Emperor. After crossing an infinite number of passages and mounting +and descending an equal number of stairs, in all of which they +encountered more women than men, the number of women lodged in the +Imperial Palace being prodigious, the Bretons were led through vast +halls. To describe the sumptuous magnificence of these galleries would +be no less impossible than to enumerate the pictures with which their +halls were ornamented. Artisans, brought from Constantinople, where, at +the time, the school of Byzantine painting flourished, had covered the +walls with gigantic designs. In one place the conquests of Cyrus over +the Persians were displayed; at another, the atrocities of the tyrant +Phalaris, witnessing the agonies of his victims, who were led to be +burned alive in a brass caldron red with heat; at still another place, +the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus was reproduced; the conquests +of Alexander and Hannibal, and many other heroic subjects. One of the +galleries of the palace was consecrated wholly to the battles of Charles +Martel. He was seen triumphing over Saxons and Arabs, who, chained at +his feet, implored his clemency. So striking was the resemblance that +while crossing the hall Amael cried out: + +"It is he! Those are his features! That was his bearing! He lives again! +It is Charles!" + +"One would think you recognize an old acquaintance," observed the young +Roman, smiling. "Are you renewing your acquaintance with Charles +Martel?" + +"Octave," answered the old man melancholically, "I am one hundred years +old--I fought at the battle of Poitiers against the Arabs." + +"Among the troops of Charles Martel?" + +"I saved his life," answered Amael, contemplating the gigantic picture; +and speaking to himself, he proceeded with a sigh: "Oh, how many +recollections, sweet and sad, do not those days bring back to me! My +beloved mother, my sweet Septimine!" + +Octave regarded the old man with increasing astonishment, but, suddenly +collecting himself, he grew pensive and hastened his steps, followed by +the two hostages. Dazzled by the sights before him Vortigern examined +with the curiosity of his age the riches of all kinds that were heaped +up all around him. He could not refrain from stopping before two objects +that attracted his attention above all others. The first was a piece of +furniture of precious wood enriched with gilt mouldings. Pipes of +copper, brass and tin, of different thicknesses rose above each other in +tiers on one side of the wooden structure. "Octave," asked the young +Breton, "what kind of furniture is this?" + +"It is a Greek organ that was recently sent to Charles by the Emperor of +Constantinople. The instrument is truly marvelous. With the aid of brass +vessels and of bellows made of ox-hides, which are concealed from view, +the air enters these tubes, and, when they are played upon, one time you +think you hear the rumbling of thunder, another time, the gentle notes +of the lyre or of cymbals. But look yonder, near that large table of +massive gold where the city of Constantinople is drawn in relief, there +you see no less ingenious an object. It is a Persian clock, sent to the +Emperor only four years ago by Abdhallah, the King of Persia." Saying +this, Octave pointed out to the young Breton and his grandfather, who +became no less interested than Vortigern himself, a large time-piece of +gilt bronze. Figures denoting the twelve hours surrounded the dial, +which was placed in the centre of a miniature palace made of bronze, and +likewise gilt. Twelve gates built in arcades were seen at the foot of +the monumental imitation. "When the hour strikes," Octave explained to +the Bretons, "a certain number of brass balls, equal in number to the +hour, drop upon a little cymbal. At the same moment, these gates fly +open, as many of them as the corresponding hour, and out of each a +cavalier, armed with lance and shield, rides forth. If it strikes one, +two or three o'clock, one, two or three gates open, the cavaliers ride +out, salute with their lances, return within, and the gates close upon +them." + +"This is truly a marvelous contrivance!" exclaimed Amael. "And are the +names of the men known who fashioned these prodigies around us, these +magnificent paintings, that gold table where a whole city is reproduced +in relief, this organ, this clock, in short, all these marvels! Surely +their authors must have been glorified!" + +"By Bacchus, Amael, your question is droll," answered Octave smiling. +"Who cares for the names of the obscure slaves who have produced these +articles?" + +"But the names of Clovis, of Brunhild, of Clotaire, of Charles Martel +will survive the ages!" murmured the centenarian bitterly to himself, +while the young Roman remarked to Vortigern: + +"Let us hurry; the Emperor is waiting for us. It will take whole days, +months and years to admire in detail the treasures that this palace is +full of. It is the favorite resort of the Emperor. And yet, as much as +his residence at Aix-la-Chapelle, he loves his old castle of Heristal, +the cradle of his mighty stock of mayors of the palace, where he has +heaped miracles of art." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CHARLEMAGNE. + + +Following their guide, the two hostages left the sumptuous and vast +galleries, and ascended, closely behind Octave, a spiral staircase that +led to the private apartment of the Emperor, the apartment around which +wound the balcony that served as observatory to Charles. Two richly +dressed chamberlains stood in the outer vestibule. "Stay for me here," +Octave said to the Bretons; "I shall notify the Emperor that you await +his pleasure, and learn whether he wishes to receive you at this +moment." + +Despite his race and family hatred for the Frankish Kings or Emperors, +the conquerors and oppressors of Gaul, Vortigern experienced a thrill of +emotion at the thought of finding himself face to face with the mighty +Charles, the sovereign of almost all Europe. This first emotion was +speedily joined by a second--that mighty Emperor was the father of +Thetralde, the entrancing maid, who, the evening before, had thrown her +bouquet to the youth. Vortigern's thoughts never a moment fell upon the +brunette Hildrude. An instant later Octave reappeared and beckoned to +Amael and his grandson to step in, while in an undertone he warned them: +"Crook your knees low before the Emperor; it is the custom." + +The centenarian cast a look at Vortigern with a negative sign of the +head. The youth understood, and the Bretons stepped into the bed-chamber +of Charles, whom they found in the company of his favorite Eginhard, the +archchaplain whom Imma had one night bravely carried on her back. A +servitor of the imperial chamber awaited the orders of his master. + +When the two hostages entered the room, the monarch, whose stature, +though now unarmed, preserved its colossal dimensions, was seated on the +edge of his couch clad only in a shirt and hose that set off the +pre-eminence of his paunch. He had just put on one shoe and held the +other in his hand. His hair was almost white, his eyes were large and +sparkling, his nose was long, his neck short and thick like a bull's. +His physiognomy, of an open cast and instinct with joviality, recalled +the features of his grandfather, Charles Martel. At the sight of the two +Bretons the Emperor rose from the edge of the couch, and keeping his one +shoe in his hand, took two steps forward, limping on his left foot. As +he thus approached Amael he seemed a prey to a concealed emotion +somewhat mingled with a lively curiosity. + +"Old man!" cried out Charles in his shrill voice that contrasted so +singularly with his giant stature, "Octave tells me you fought under +Charles Martel, my grandfather, nearly eighty years ago, and that you +saved his life at the battle of Poitiers." + +"It is true," and carrying his hand to his forehead where the traces of +a deep wound were still visible, the aged Breton added: "I received this +wound at the battle of Poitiers." + +The Emperor sat down again on the edge of his bed, put on the other shoe +and said to his archchaplain: "Eginhard, you who compiled in your +chronicle the history and acts of my grandfather, you whose memory is +ever faithful, do you remember ever to have heard told what the old man +says?" + +Eginhard remained thoughtful for a moment, and then answered slowly: "I +remember to have read in some parchment scrolls, inscribed by the hand +of the glorious Charles and now preserved in your august archives, that, +indeed, at the battle of Poitiers"--but interrupting himself and turning +to the centenarian he asked: "Your name? How are you called?" + +"Amael is my name." + +The archchaplain reflected for a moment, and shaking his head observed: +"While I can not now recall it, that was not the name of the warrior who +saved the life of Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers--it was a +Frankish name, it is not the name which you mentioned." + +"That name," rejoined the aged Amael, "was Berthoald." + +"Yes!" put in Eginhard quickly. "That is the name--Berthoald. And in a +few lines written in his own hand, the glorious Charles Martel commended +the said Berthoald to his children; he wrote that he owed him his life +and recommended him to their gratitude if he ever should turn to them." + +During the exchange of these words between the aged Breton and the +archchaplain, the Emperor had continued and finished his toilet with the +aid of his servitor of the chamber. His costume, the old Frankish +costume to which Charles remained faithful, consisted in the first place +of a pair of leggings made of thick linen material closely fastened to +the nether limbs by means of red wool bandelets that wound criss-cross +from below upwards; next of a tunic of Frisian cloth, sapphire-blue, and +held together by a silk belt. In the winter and the fall of the year the +Emperor also wore over his shoulders a heavy and large otter or +lamb-skin coat. Thus clad, Charles sat down in a large armchair placed +near a curtain that was meant to conceal one of the doors that opened +upon the balcony which served him for observatory. At a sign from +Charles the servitor stepped out of the chamber. Left alone with +Eginhard, Vortigern, Amael and Octave, Charles said to the elder Breton: +"Old man, if I understood my chaplain correctly, a Frank named Berthoald +saved my grandfather's life. How does it happen that the said Berthoald +and you are the same personage?" + +"When fifteen years of age, driven by the spirit of adventure, I ran +away from my family of the Gallic race, and then located in Burgundy. +After many untoward events, I joined a band of determined men. I then +was twenty years of age. I took a Frankish name and claimed to be of +that race in order to secure the protection of Charles Martel.[B] To the +end of interesting him all the more in my lot I offered him my own sword +and the swords of all my men, just a few days before the battle of +Poitiers. At that battle I saved his life. After that, loaded with his +favors, I fought under his orders five years longer." + +"And what happened then?" + +"Then--ashamed of my imposition, and still more ashamed of fighting on +the side of the Franks, I left Charles Martel to return into Brittany, +the cradle of my family. There I became a field laborer." + +"By the cape of St. Martin, you then turned rebel!" exclaimed the +Emperor in his squeaky voice, which then assumed the tone of a +penetrating treble. "I now see the wisdom of those who chose you for an +hostage, you, the instigator and the soul of the uprisings and even wars +that broke out in Brittany during the reign of Pepin, my father, and +even under my own reign, when your devil-possessed countrymen decimated +my veteran bands!" + +"I fought as well as I could in our wars." + +"Traitor! Loaded with favors by my grandfather, yet were you not afraid +to rise in arms against his son and me?" + +"I felt remorse for only one thing--and that was to have merited the +favor of your grandfather. I shall ever reproach myself for having +fought on his side instead of against him." + +"Old man," cried the Emperor, purple with rage, "you have even more +audacity than years!" + +"Charles--let us stop here. You look upon yourself as the sovereign of +Gaul. We Bretons do not recognize your claims. These claims you hold, +like all other conquerors, from force. To you might means right--" + +"I hold them from God!" again cried the Emperor, this time stamping the +floor with his foot and breaking in upon Amael. "Yes! I hold my rights +over Gaul from God, and from my good sword." + +"From your sword, from violence, yes, indeed. From God, not at all. God +does not consecrate theft, whether a purse or an empire be involved. +Clovis captured Gaul. Your father and grandfather plundered of his crown +the last scion of that Clovis. Little does that matter to us, Bretons, +who refuse to obey either the stock of Clovis or that of Charles Martel. +You dispose over an innumerable army; already have you ravished and +vanquished Brittany. You may ravage and vanquish her over again--but +subjugate her, never. And now, Charles, I have spoken. You shall hear +not another word from me on that subject. I am your prisoner, your +hostage. Dispose of me." + +The Emperor, who more than once was on the point of allowing his +indignation to break loose, turned to Eginhard and, after a moment of +silence, said to him in a calm voice: "You, who are engaged in writing +the history and deeds of Charles, the august Emperor of Gaul, Caesar of +Germany, Patrician of Rome, Protector of the Suevians, the Bulgarians +and the Hungarians, I command you to write down that an old man held to +Charles a language of unheard-of audacity, and that Charles could not +prevent himself from esteeming the frankness and the courage of the man +who had thus spoken to him." And suddenly changing his tone, the +Emperor, whose features, for a moment stern in anger, now assumed an +expression of joviality shaded with shrewdness, said to Amael: "So, +then, Breton seigneurs of Armorica, whatever I may do, you want none of +me at any price for your Emperor. Do you so much as know me?" + +"Charles, we know you in Brittany by the unjust wars that your father +and yourself have waged against us." + +"So that, to you, gentlemen of Armorica, Charles is only a man of +conquest, of violence, and of battle?" + +"Yes, you reign only through terror." + +"Well, then, follow me. I may perhaps cause you to change your mind," +said the Emperor after a moment's reflection. He rose, took his cane and +put on his cap. His eyes then fell upon Vortigern, whom, standing +silently at a distance, he had not noticed before. "Who is that young +and handsome lad?" he asked. + +"My grandson." + +"Octave," the Emperor remarked, turning to the young Roman, "this is +rather a young hostage." + +"August Prince, this lad was chosen for several reasons. His sister +married Morvan, a common field laborer, but one of the most intrepid of +the Breton chieftains. During this last war he commanded the cavalry." + +"And why, then, was not that Morvan brought here? That would have been +an excellent hostage." + +"August Prince, in order to bring him we would have first had to catch +him. Although severely wounded, Morvan, thanks to his heroine of a wife, +succeeded in making his escape with her. It has been impossible to reach +them in the inaccessible mountains whither they both fled. For that +reason two other chiefs and influential men of the tribe were chosen for +hostages; we left them on the road on account of their wounds, and +proceeded only with this old man, who was the soul of the last wars, and +also this youth, who, through his family connections, is related to one +of the most dangerous chieftains of Armorica. I must admit that in +taking him, we yielded also to the prayers of his mother. She was very +anxious that he should accompany his grandfather on this long journey, +which is very trying to a centenarian." + +"And you," resumed the Emperor, addressing Vortigern, whom, during the +account given by Octave, he had been examining with attention and +interest, "no doubt also hate inveterately that Charles, the conqueror +and devastator?" + +"The Emperor Charles has white hair; I am only eighteen years old," +retorted the young Breton, blushing. "I can not answer." + +"Old man," observed Charles, visibly affected by the lad's +self-respecting yet becoming modesty, "the mother of your grandson must +be a happy woman. But coming to think of it, my lad, was it not you who +yesterday evening, shortly before my arrival, came near breaking your +neck with a fall from your horse?" + +"I!" cried Vortigern, blushing with pride; "I, fall from my horse! Who +dared to say so!" + +"Oh! Oh! my lad. You are red up to your ears," the Emperor exclaimed, +laughing aloud. "But, never mind. Be tranquil. I do not mean to wound +your pride of horsemanship. Far from it. Before I saw you to-day my ears +have rung with the interminable praises of your gracefulness and daring +on horseback. My dear daughters, especially little Thetralde and the +tall Hildrude, told me at least ten times at supper that they had seen a +savage young Breton, although wounded in one arm, manage his horse like +the most skilful of my equerries." + +"If I deserve any praise, it must be addressed to my grandfather," +modestly answered Vortigern. "It was he who taught me to ride on +horseback." + +"I like that answer, my lad. It shows your modesty and a proper respect +for your elders. Are you lettered? Can you read and write?" + +"Yes, thanks to the instruction of my mother." + +"Can you sing mass in the choir?" + +"I!" cried Vortigern in great astonishment. "I sing mass! No, no, by +Hesus! We do not sing mass in my country." + +"There they are, the Breton pagans!" exclaimed Charles. "Oh, my bishops +are right, they are a devil-possessed people, those folks of Armorica. +What a pity that so handsome and so modest a lad should not be able to +sing mass in the choir." Saying this, the Emperor pulled his thick cap +close over his head and leaning heavily on his cane, said to the aged +Breton: "Come, follow me, seigneur Breton. Ah, you only know of Charles +the Fighter; I shall now make you acquainted with another Charles whom +you do not yet know. Come, follow me." Limping, and leaning on his cane, +the Emperor moved towards the door, making a sign to the others to +follow; but stopping short at the threshold, he turned to Octave: "You, +go to Hugh, my Master of the Hounds, and notify him that I shall hunt +deer in the forest of Oppenheim. Let him send there the hounds, horses +and all other equipments of the chase." + +"August Prince, your orders will be executed." + +"You will also say to the Grand Nomenclator of my table that I may take +dinner in the pavilion of the forest, especially if the hunt lasts long. +My suite will dine there also. Let the repast be sumptuous. You will +tell the Nomenclator that my taste has not changed. A good large joint +of roast venison, served piping hot, is now, as ever, my favorite +treat." + +The young Roman again bowed low; Charles stepped out first from the +chamber. He was followed by Eginhard, then by Amael. As Vortigern was +about to follow his grandfather, he was retained for an instant by +Octave, who, approaching his mouth to the lad's ear, whispered to him: + +"I shall carry to the apartments of the Emperor's daughters the news +that he intends to hunt to-day. By Venus! The mother of love has you +under her protecting wings, my young Breton." + +The lad blushed anew, and was about to answer the Roman when he heard +Amael's voice calling out to him: "Come, my child, the Emperor wishes to +lean on your arm in order to descend the stairs and walk through the +palace." + +More and more disturbed in mind, Vortigern stepped towards Charles as +the latter was saying to the chamberlains: "No, nobody is to accompany +me except the two Bretons and Eginhard;" and nodding to the lad he +proceeded: "Your arm will be a better support to me than my cane; these +stairs are steep; step carefully." + +Supported by Vortigern's arm the Emperor slowly descended the steps of a +staircase that ran out at one of the porticos of an interior courtyard. +When the bottom was reached Charles dropped the young man's arm, and +resuming his cane, said: "You stepped cleverly; you are a good guide. +What a pity that you do not know how to sing mass in the choir!" While +thus chattering, Charles followed a gallery that ran along the +courtyard. The men who accompanied him marched a few steps behind. +Presently the Emperor noticed a slave crossing the courtyard with a +large hamper on his shoulders. "Halloa! You, there, with the basket!" +the Emperor called out in his piercing voice. "You, there, with the +basket! Come here! What have you in that basket?" + +"Eggs, seigneur." + +"Where are you taking them to?" + +"To the kitchen of the august Emperor." + +"Where do those eggs come from?" + +"From the Muhlsheim farm, seigneur." + +"From the Muhlsheim farm?" the Emperor repeated thoughtfully, and almost +immediately added: "There must be three hundred and twenty-five eggs in +that basket. Are there not?" + +"Yes, seigneur; that's the exact rent brought in every month from the +farm." + +"You can go--and be careful you do not break the eggs." The Emperor +stopped for a moment, leaned heavily upon his cane, and turning to +Amael, called out to him: "Halloa, seigneur Breton, come here, draw +near me." Amael obeyed, and the Emperor resuming his walk proceeded to +say: "Charles the Fighter, the conqueror, is at least a good +husbander--does it not strike you that way? He knows to an egg how many +are laid by the hens on his farms. If you ever return to Brittany, you +must not fail to narrate the incident to the housekeepers of your +country." + +"If I ever again see my country, I shall tell the truth of what I have +seen." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PALATINE SCHOOL. + + +Thus chatting, the Emperor Charles the Great arrived before a door that +opened on the gallery. He knocked with his cane, and a clerk dressed in +black opened. Struck with surprise, the clerk bent the knee and cried: +"The Emperor!" And as he seemed to be about to rush to the door of a +contiguous hall, the Emperor ordered him to stop: + +"Do not budge! Master Clement is giving his lessons, is he?" + +"Yes, my august Prince!" + +"Remain where you are," and addressing Amael: "Seigneur Breton, you +shall now visit a school that I have founded. It is under the direction +of Master Clement, a famous teacher, whom I have summoned from Scotland. +The sons of the principal seigneurs of my court come here, in obedience +to my orders, to study at this school, together with the poorest of my +attendants." + +"This is well done, Charles--I congratulate you on that!" + +"And yet it is Charles the Fighter that has done this good thing--let us +go in;" and turning to Vortigern: "Well, my young man, you who cannot +sing mass, open your eyes and ears at their widest; you are about to see +pupils of your own age, and of all conditions." + +The Palatine school, directed by the Scotchman Clement, into whose +precincts the two Bretons followed the Emperor, held about two hundred +pupils. All rose at their benches at the sight of Charles, but he +motioned to them to resume their seats, saying: + +"Be seated, my boys; I prefer to see you with your noses in your books, +than in air, under the pretext of respect for me." And seeing that +Master Clement, the director of the school, was himself about to descend +from his high desk, Charles cried out to him: "Remain on your throne of +knowledge, my worthy master; here I am only one of your subjects. I only +wanted to cast a glance over the work of these boys, and to learn from +you whether they have made any progress during my absence. Let the boys +come forward, one by one, with the copy-books in which to-day's work is +being done." + +The Emperor prided himself not a little on his literacy. He sat down on +a stool near the chair of Master Clement, and carefully examined the +copy-books brought to him. It appeared that the pupils who were the sons +of noble or rich parents, exhibited to the Emperor mediocre, or even +poor work, while, on the other hand, the poorer pupils, or those whose +parents were of lower rank, exhibited such excellent work that Charles, +turning to Amael, said: "If you were as proficient in letters as myself, +seigneur Breton, you would be able to appreciate, as I do, these +manuscripts that I have just been looking over. The sweetest flavor of +science is exhaled by these writings." Thereupon addressing the scholars +who had distinguished themselves, the Emperor said impressively: "I give +you great praise, my children, for the zeal you display in carrying out +my wishes; strive after perfection, and I shall endow you with rich +bishoprics and magnificent abbeys." The Emperor stopped and turned +towards the lazy noblemen's sons and the sons of the idle rich; his brow +puckered, and casting upon them an angry look, he cried out: "As to you, +the sons of my Empire's principal men, as to you, dainty and prim lads, +who, resting upon your birth and fortune, have neglected my orders and +your studies, preferring play and idleness--as to you," the Emperor +proceeded in a voice of ever heightening anger, and smiting the table +with his cane, "as to you, look for admiration from other quarters than +mine. I care nothing for your birth and your fortune! Listen to my words +and keep them firm in your minds: if you do not hasten to make amends +for your negligence by constant application, you will never receive +aught from me!" + +The rich idlers dropped their eyes all of a tremble. The Emperor rose +and said to a young clerk, named Bernard, barely twenty years of age, +the excellence of whose work had attracted Charles' attention: "And you, +my lad, you may now follow me. I appoint you from to-day a clerk in my +chapel, nor will the evidence of my protection end there." + +The Emperor looked satisfied with himself. With a complaisant air he +turned to Amael: "Well now, seigneur Breton, you have seen Charles the +Fighter, emulating in his humble capacity of man, the acts of our Lord +God when on earth. He separates the wheat from the chaff, he places the +just at his right, the wicked at his left. If you ever return to +Brittany, you will tell the school-masters of your country that Charles +is not altogether a bad superintendent of the schools that he has +founded." + +"I shall say, Charles, that I saw you officiating in the midst of the +pupils with wisdom, justice, and kindness." + +"I wish letters and science to shed splendor upon my reign. Were you +less of a barbarian, I would have you assist at a sitting of our +academy. We there assume the illustrious names of antiquity. Eginhard is +called 'Homer,' Clement 'Horace,' and I 'King David.' These immortal +names fit us as giants' armors do pigmies. But, at least, we do honor, +at our best, to those geniuses. Now, however," said the Emperor, rising +and breaking off the thread of his discourse on his academy, "let us, +like good Catholics, proceed to church, and hear mass upon our knees." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BISHOP OF LIMBURG. + + +Preceding his suite, that consisted of Eginhard, Amael, Vortigern and +the newly-created clerk Bernard, the Emperor left the school-room and +hobbled his way along a winding gallery. Encountering at one of the +sharp and rather dark turns a young and handsome female slave, Charles +addressed her with the same familiarity that he ever used towards the +innumerable women of all conditions that stocked the palace. The Emperor +chucked her under the chin, put his arm around her waist, and was about +to carry his libertine freedom even further when, recollecting that, +despite the darkness of the spot, he might be seen by the men in his +suite, he motioned to the female slave that she withdraw, and laughing, +observed to Amael: "Charles likes to show himself accessible to his +subjects." + +"And above all to the female ones," retorted the aged Breton. "But I +know that the priest's holy-water sprinkler will readily absolve you of +all your sins." + +"Oh, the pagan of a Breton; the pagan of a Breton!" murmured the Emperor +as he hobbled along and presently entered the basilica of +Aix-la-Chapelle, contiguous to the palace. + +Vortigern and his grandfather were both dazzled by the indescribable +magnificence of the temple, where all the attendants at the imperial +palace were now gathered. At a distance Vortigern discerned, seated near +the choir and among the numerous concubines of Charles, the Emperor's +daughters and grand-daughters, clad in brilliant apparel, with the +blonde and charming Thetralde close to her sister Hildrude. The Emperor +took his accustomed seat at the chanter's desk among the sumptuously +dressed choristers. One of these respectfully offered the Emperor an +ebony baton, with which he beat time and gave the signal for the several +chants in the liturgy. A little before the end of each stanza Charles, +by way of signal, would raise his shrill voice and emit a gutteral cry, +so strange and weird, that, on one of these occasions, Vortigern, whose +eyes had accidentally encountered the large blue eyes of Thetralde +obstinately fixed upon him, could hardly keep from laughing outright. So +ridiculous was the figure cut by the Emperor, that despite the imposing +appearance of the ceremony and despite the embarrassment into which the +glances of Thetralde threw him, the youth's sense of decorum was +severely taxed. + +The mass being over, Charles said to Amael: "Well, now, seigneur Breton, +admit that, at a pinch, however much of a fighter I may be, I would make +a passable clerk and a good chaunter." + +"I am not skilled in such matters. Yet I am free to tell you that, as a +singer, the cries you uttered were frequently more discordant than those +of the sea-gulls along our Brittany beach. Moreover, to me it looks as +if the head of an Empire should have better things to do than to sing +mass." + +"You will ever remain a barbarian and an idolater," cried the Emperor, +stepping out of the basilica. At that moment, and still under the +portico of the monumental building, a dignitary of the court pushed +himself forward and bowing low, said to Charles: + +"August Prince, magnanimous Emperor, tidings have just been received of +the death of the Bishop of Limburg." + +"Oh! Oh! Only now? That surprises me greatly. People are so hot after +the quarry of bishoprics that the death of a bishop is always announced +two or three days in advance. Did the deceased bishop die in the odor of +sanctity? Did he commend himself to the next world by the founding of +pious establishments, or by rich bequests to the poor?" + +"August Prince, it is said that he bequeathed only two pounds of silver +to the poor." + +"How light a viaticum for so long a journey!" exclaimed a voice. It +proceeded from Bernard, the poor and learned pupil whom Charles had just +appointed clerk of his own chapel, and who, agreeable to the orders of +the Emperor, had kept close to his master since they left the Palatine +school. + +Charles turned abruptly towards the young man, who, crimson with +confusion, already regretted the boldness of his language and was +trembling at every limb. "Follow me!" said Charles with severity; and +observing that other dignitaries of the court took the call as if +addressed to themselves, he added: "No, only the two Bretons, Eginhard +and the young clerk. The rest of you may keep yourselves in readiness +for the hunt that we shall start upon in a few minutes." + +The brilliant crowd kept itself aloof, and the Emperor regained the +gallery of the palace accompanied only by Vortigern, Amael, Eginhard and +the poor Bernard, the last more dead than alive. The clerk walked last, +fearing that he had angered the Emperor by his stinging sally on the +niggardliness of the deceased bishop. The surprise of the young clerk +was, accordingly, great when, arrived at the extremity of the gallery, +Charles half turned to him, and with beaming eyes, said: + +"Draw near, draw near! Do you really think the Bishop of Limburg left +too little money for the poor?" + +"Seigneur, pardon my inadvertent boldness!" + +"Answer. If I bestow that bishopric upon you, would you, the day you +appear before God, have a better record for liberality than the Bishop +of Limburg?" + +"August Prince," answered the clerk, his head swimming at the thought of +such unheard-of good fortune, and dropping on his knees: "It rests with +God and your will to decide my fate." + +"Arise. I appoint you Bishop of Limburg. But follow me. It will be well +for you to learn, from personal observation, the greed with which +bishoprics are striven for. The riches that they entail may be judged +from the ardor with which their possession is pursued. And yet, once +won, the cupidity of the incumbents, so far from being assuaged, seems +whetted. Do you remember, Eginhard, that insolent Bishop of Mannheim? +When, at the time of one of my campaigns against the Huns, I left him +near my wife Hildegarde, did not the worthy feel so inflated with the +friendship that my wife showed him, that he carried his audacity to the +point of demanding from her as a gift the gold wand that I use as a +symbol of my authority, for the purpose, as that impudent bishop +declared, of using it for a cane? By the King of the Heavens! The +sceptre of Charles, of the Emperor, is not so readily to be converted +into a walking stick for the bishops of his empire!" + +"You are in error, Charles," put in Amael. "Sooner or later, the bishops +will use your sceptre for a baton by means of which to drive peoples +and kings as may suit themselves." + +"By the hammer of my grandfather! I will break the bishops' mitres on +their own heads if ever they dare to usurp my power!" + +"No; you will do no such thing, and for the simple reason that you stand +in fear of them. As a proof, behold the vast estates and the flatteries +that you shower upon them." + +"I, fear the bishops!" cried the Emperor; and turning to Eginhard: "Is +that matter of the rat settled with the Jew?" + +"Yes, seigneur," answered Eginhard, smiling. "The bishop closed the +bargain yesterday." + +"That happens in time to prove to you that I am not afraid of the +bishops, seigneur Breton--I, flatter them? When, on the contrary, I miss +no opportunity to give them severe or gentle lessons wherever they +deserve reproof. As to the worthy ones, I enrich them; and even then I +look twice before bestowing upon them lands and abbeys belonging to the +imperial domains. And the reason is plain. With this or that abbey or +farm I am certain of securing to myself some soldier vassal greatly more +faithful than many a count or bishop." + +Thus pleasantly chatting, the Emperor regained his palace, and in the +company of Vortigern, Amael, Eginhard and the freshly appointed Bishop +of Limburg, re-ascended the steep spiral staircase that led to his +private apartment. Hardly had Charles entered his observatory when one +of his chamberlains announced to him: + +"August Emperor, several of the leading officers in the palace have +solicited the honor of being admitted to your presence in order to lay a +pressing request before you--the noble lady, Mathalgarde (she was one of +the numerous concubines of Charles) also called twice on the same +errand. She awaits your orders." + +"Let the petitioners come in," answered Charles to the chamberlain, who +immediately left the room. Addressing the young clerk, now bishop, with +a jovial yet impressive air, Charles pointed to the curtain of the door, +near which his usual seat was located, and said: "Hide yourself behind +that curtain, young man; you are about to learn the number of rivals +that the death of a bishop raises. It will aid your education." + +The young clerk had barely vanished behind the curtain, before the +chamber was invaded by a large number of the palace familiars, officers +and seigneurs at court. Urging their own claims, or the claims of the +clients whom they recommended, the mob deafened the Emperor's ears with +their clamor. Among these was a bishop magnificently robed, and of +haughty, imperious mien. He elbowed himself forward into Charles' +presence as fast as he could. + +"This is the bishop of the rat," Eginhard whispered to the Emperor. "The +price he paid the Jew was ten thousand silver sous. The Jew scrupulously +reported the amount to me, as you ordered." + +"Bishop of Bergues, have you not enough with one bishopric?" Charles +cried out to the haughty prelate. "Do you come to solicit a second?" + +"August Prince--I have come to pray you that you grant me the bishopric +of Limburg, just vacant, in exchange for that of Bergues." + +"Because the former is richer?" + +"Yes, seigneur; and if I obtain it, the share of the poor will only be +all the larger." + +"Now, all of you, listen to me attentively," the Emperor cried, pointing +his finger at the bishop and in a tone of severity: "Knowing the +passionate love of this prelate for frivolous and ruinous curiosities, +which he purchases at prodigious prices, I ordered the Jew Solomon to +catch a rat in his house, the vilest looking rat ever caught in a +rat-trap, to embalm the beast in precious aromatics, to wrap it up in +oriental materials embroidered in gold, to offer it to the Bishop of +Bergues as a most rare rat imported from Judea upon a Venetian vessel, +and to sell it to the prelate as the most prodigious and miraculous of +rats." + +A loud outburst of laughter broke from the throats of all the +dignitaries in the audience, except the Bishop of Bergues, who +shamefacedly cast down his eyes. "Now, then," proceeded Charles, "do you +know what price the Bishop of Bergues paid for that prodigious rat? _Ten +thousand silver sous!_ The Jew reported to me the amount--which will be +distributed among the poor!" Charles stopped for a moment, and presently +resumed with heightened severity: "Ye bishops, have a care! It should be +your duty to be the fathers, the purveyors of the poor, and not to show +yourselves greedy of vain frivolities. Yet here you are, doing exactly +the opposite. More than all other mortals are you given to avarice and +idle cupidity! By the King of the Heavens, take a care! The Emperor's +hand raised you, it may also pull you down. Keep that in mind." + +As Charles was uttering these last words, the courtiers were seen to +part and make way for Mathalgarde, one of the Emperor's concubines. The +woman, a dame of surpassing beauty, approached Charles with a confident +air and said to him gracefully: + +"My kind Seigneur, the bishopric of Limburg is vacant. I have promised +it to a clerk who is under my protection, not doubting your kind +approval." + +"Dear Mathalgarde, I have bestowed the bishopric upon a young man--a +very learned and deserving young man; I could not think of taking it +back from him." + +Mathalgarde was not disconcerted. Assuming the most insinuating voice at +her command, she seized one of the Emperor's hands and proceeded +tenderly: "August Prince, my gracious master, why bestow the bishopric +so ill by giving it to a young man, perhaps a child. I conjure you, +grant the bishopric to my clerk." + +Suddenly a plaintive voice that proceeded from behind the curtain fell +upon the startled ears of the attendants: "Seigneur Emperor, be +firm--allow not that a mortal tear from your hands the power that God +has placed in them. Be firm, Seigneur." It was the voice of poor +Bernard, who, fearing Charles was about to allow himself to be seduced +by the caressing words of Mathalgarde, wished to remind him of his +promise. The Emperor immediately rolled back the curtain, behind which +the clerk stood, took him by the hand, drew him forward, and presenting +him to the audience, said: "This is the new Bishop of Limburg!" Before +the audience could recover from their stupor Charles said to Bernard in +a voice loud and piercing enough to be heard by all present: "Do not +forget to distribute abundant alms--it will some day be your viaticum on +that long journey from which man never returns." + +The beautiful Mathalgarde, whose hopes had thus been rudely dashed, +reddened with anger and abruptly left the apartment. The other +courtiers, along with the Bishop of Bergues, speedily followed the +chagrined woman, no less disappointed than herself. + +"Seigneur Breton," the Emperor said, as soon as the chamber was cleared, +and motioning Amael to approach the door, which he opened wider to step +out upon the balcony and enjoy the pleasant warmth of the autumn sun, +"do you still think Charles is of a mood to allow the bishops to use his +sceptre for a baton with which to drive him and his people?" + +"Charles, should it please you this evening, the experiences of the day +being over, to accord me a short interview, I shall then express to you +sincerely my thoughts upon all that I have seen here. I shall praise +what seems good to me--and I shall censure the evil." + +"Then you see evil here!" + +"Here--and elsewhere." + +"How 'elsewhere'?" + +"Do you imagine that your palace and your city of Aix-la-Chapelle, this +favorite residence of yours, is all there is of Gaul?" + +"What do you say of Gaul! I have just traversed the North of those +regions. I have been as far as Boulogne, where I had a lighthouse +erected for the protection of the ships. Moreover--" but breaking off, +the Emperor pointed in the direction of that portion of the courtyard +that the balcony commanded, saying: "Look yonder--listen!" + +Amael saw near one of the galleries a young man, robust and tall of +stature, wearing a thick black beard, and clad in the robes of a bishop. +Two of his slaves had just brought out to him a gentle horse, as befits +a prelate, and led the animal near a stone bench in order to aid their +master in mounting. But the young bishop, having noticed two women +looking at him from a nearby casement, and no doubt wishing to give +them a proof of his agility, impatiently ordered his attendants to take +the horse from the bench. Thereupon, disdaining even the help of a +stirrup, he seized the animal's mane with one hand and gave so vigorous +a jump that he had great difficulty to keep his saddle, lest he fall +over on the other side. The perilous leap attracted the Emperor's +attention to the prelate, and he called out to him in his shrill, +squeaky voice: "Eh! Eh! You, there, my nimble prelate. One word with +you, if you please!" The young man looked up, and recognizing Charles, +respectfully bowed his head. + +"You are quick and agile; you have good feet, good arms and a good eye. +The quiet of our empire is every day disturbed by wars. We stand in +great need of 'clerks' of your kidney. You shall stay with us and share +with us our fatigues, seeing you can mount a horse so nimbly. I shall +bestow your bishopric upon someone who is less sprightly. You shall take +your place among my men-at-arms." + +The young bishop lowered his head in confusion. He looked at the Emperor +with a suppliant eye. But the latter's attention was speedily drawn from +the discomfited prelate by the distant barking of a large pack of +hounds, and the reveille of hunting trumps. + +"It is my hunting-train," exclaimed the Emperor. "We shall depart for +the hunt, seigneur Breton. This evening we shall continue our chat. +Return with your grandson to your apartment. You will be served the noon +meal. After that you will both join me. I am curious to see whether this +youngster is as good a horseman as report makes him. Moreover, although +the exercise of the chase is a frivolous pastime, you may, perhaps, find +that Charles the Fighter makes good use even of frivolities. Be off now +to dinner--and then, to horse!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TO THE HUNT. + + +Octave had come to take Amael and his grandson to the noon meal. While +they walked towards one of the courtyards of the palace, in order to +join the hunting suite of the Emperor, the young Roman, profiting by a +moment when the aged Breton could not overhear him, said in a low voice +to Vortigern: + +"Lucky boy. I am convinced that two pairs of eyes, one black as ebony, +the other of azure blue, have been peering through the crowd of +courtiers--" but interrupting the flow of his words at the sight of the +deep crimson that suffused the lad's visage, he proceeded to say: "Wait +till I have finished before you grow purple. Well, as I was saying, two +beautiful blue eyes and two equally beautiful black ones have, more than +once, sought to detect in the crowd of courtiers--Whom?--the venerable +figure of your grandfather, because there is nothing so attractive as a +long white beard. So much is that so that this forenoon, at mass, the +blonde Thetralde and the brunette Hildrude quite forgot the thread of +the divine service in order to contemplate incessantly--your +grandfather, who was seated next to you. Come, now, you are blushing +again. Are you, perchance, afraid lest the fascinating daughters of the +Emperor fall in love with the centenarian?" + +"Your jokes are becoming insupportable." + +"Oh, how contagious is the court air. Hardly is this Breton away from +his native fogs than he has become as full of wiles as an old clerk." + +More and more embarrassed by the banterings of Octave, Vortigern only +stammered a few words. The noon meal was disposed of. The aged Breton, +his grandson and the young Roman were presently mounted upon their +spirited horses that they found held ready for them by slaves in the +courtyard of the palace, and they rode briskly out to join the Emperor. + +Two of the sons of Charles, Carloman and Louis, or Luthwig as the Franks +pronounced it, had arrived that same morning from their castle of +Heristal and now accompanied their father, together with five of his +daughters and four of his concubines, the other women of the palace +being this time excluded from the hunt. Among the huntresses was Imma, +the paramour who had so bravely borne Eginhard, the archchaplain, upon +her back. Still handsome, she now bordered on the full ripeness of +womanhood. Near her rode Bertha, searching with her eyes for Enghilbert, +the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier. A little behind the couple came +Adelrude, who, from afar, smiled upon Audoin, one of Charles' most +daring captains. Last of all trotted the brunette Hildrude, together +with the blonde Thetralde, both endeavoring to detect, no doubt, the +Breton centenarian, as Octave had told Vortigern. Most of the seigneurs +of Charles' suite wore singular costumes, brought at great expense from +Pavia, whither commerce unloaded the riches of the Orient. Among the +Emperor's courtiers, some were clad in tunics of Tyrian purple furnished +with broad capes, ornamented with facings of embroidered Phoenician +birds'-skin, while feathers of Asiatic peacocks' tail, neck and back, +caused their rich vestments to glitter in all the shades of blue, gold, +and emerald. Others of the courtiers wore precious jackets of Judean +dormouse, or weasel--gowns much prized and as dainty and delicate as the +skin of a bird. Finally caps with floating feathers, leggings of silk, +boots of oriental red or green leather, embroidered with gold or silver, +completed the splendid accoutrement of these people of the court. + +The rude rusticity of the Emperor's costume stood off in marked contrast +with the magnificence of his courtiers. His coarse and large leather +boots, furnished with iron spurs, reached up to his thighs; under his +tunic he wore a broad sheep-skin coat with the fleece on the outside, +and his head was covered with a cap of badger-skin. In his hand the +Emperor carried a short-handled whip which he used to stir up the +hunting dogs with. Thanks to his tall stature, which greatly exceeded +that of any of his officers, Charles was able to detect Vortigern and +Amael from afar, whereupon he cried out to the grandfather: + +"Eh, seigneur Breton. Come, if you please, to my side, with your +grandson. I wish to ascertain whether, indeed, he is as good a horseman +as my little girls claim." + +The ranks of the courtiers parted in order to allow a passage to Amael +and his grandson, the latter of whom modestly followed his grandfather, +not daring to raise his eyes lest they should fall upon the group of +women that surrounded the Emperor. Charles watched Vortigern +attentively, and the gracefulness with which the youth handled his +horse, drew from the Emperor the remark: + +"Old Charles can judge at a glance of the skill of a rider. I am +satisfied. But I suspect you love the hunt better than you do the mass, +and a horse's saddle better than a church bench." + +"I do prefer the hunt to the mass," frankly responded Vortigern; "but I +prefer war to the hunt." + +"Though your answer is not that of a good Catholic, it is the answer of +a sincere lad. What do you think, my little ones?" added the Emperor, +turning towards the group of huntresses. "Are you not of my mind?" + +"You asked the young man for his opinion, and he spoke out with +sincerity. He says what he does; he will do what he says. Valor and +loyalty are written upon his face," was the prompt answer that came from +Hildrude. + +The blonde Thetralde, not daring to speak after her elder sister, grew +cherry-red, and cast a look of intense jealousy, almost of rage, upon +the brunette Hildrude, whose quick repartee she envied. + +"There is nothing left to me but to join in the praise of the young +pagan's frankness, lest I get into trouble with my little girls. Come +forward," and leaning over towards Amael, he pointed angrily with his +whip at the crowd of courtiers who shimmered in their costly finery, and +prinked in their flowing plumes. "Look at that bevy of richly +caparisoned customers. Look at them well. You will presently wish to +remember the figures they are now cutting," saying which, the Emperor +rode off at a gallop, followed by all his court, and calling out to the +courtiers as well as to the Bretons: + +"Once in the forest, each to himself, and at the mercy of his own horse. +At the hunt there is neither Emperor nor courtier. There are only +hunters and huntresses!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE FOREST OF OPPENHEIM. + + +The hunt to which Charles the Emperor had galloped off with the buoyancy +of youth, took place in a vast forest located at the very gate of +Aix-la-Chapelle. The autumn sky, at first radiant, had been gradually +overcast by one of the mists that are so frequent at the season and in +that northern region. Obedient to the Emperor's orders, none of his +courtiers attached himself to his steps. The hunters scattered. The more +daring and venturesome did not quit the pack, now fretting in their +leashes to start in pursuit of the deer across the thickets. The less +daring and less enthusiastic sportsmen contented themselves with +following at a distance the sound of the horns or the barking of the +hounds; they straggled behind, or waited to see the deer dash across +their path with the hounds and hunters at his heels. From the very start +of the hunt, Charles, carried away by his ardor for the sport, left his +daughters to themselves, unable as they were to follow him through the +thickest of the jungle, into which the Emperor of the Franks plunged +like the hottest of his huntsmen. For an instant, separated from his +grandfather in the rush and crush of the tumultuous assembly, where +nearly a hundred horses, gathered in a small space, were excited by the +din of the horns, to which they added their own impatient neighing, +champed their bits and reared wildly, Vortigern raised himself in his +stirrups and searched with his eyes for Amael, when suddenly his own +horse took the bit in his mouth and galloped off rapidly with his rider. +When the young Breton finally succeeded, by dint of violent efforts, to +master his mount, he found himself at a considerable distance from the +chase. Seeking to penetrate with his eyes the mist that spread ever +further and thicker over the forest, the young man perceived that he was +on a long avenue whose issues it was impossible to distinguish. He +listened, expecting to hear from the distance the noise of the chase, +which would have guided him in his efforts to joint it. The profoundest +silence reigned in this part of the forest. A moment later, however, the +tramp of two horses rapidly approaching from behind, struck his ears, +and immediately after, a cry, uttered in anger rather than fear. An +instant later, Vortigern detected a vague form across the mist. By +degrees the form became distinct, and soon the blonde Thetralde was +disclosed to the wondering eyes of the young Breton, urging on her +horse, and clad in a long robe of sapphire blue cloth, trimmed with +ermine, white as the coat of her palfrey. On her blonde tresses +Thetralde wore a small cap, also of ermine. A sash of Tyrean silk of +lively colors, the long ends of which fluttered behind her in the air, +was wound around her delicate waist. The childlike and charming visage +of the Emperor's daughter, now enhanced by the ardor of her run, shone +with the flush of health. Blushing at the sight of Vortigern, Thetralde +dropped her large blue eyes, while the tight corsage of her robe rose +and sank under the throbs of her maidenly bosom. Vortigern's disturbance +equalled Thetralde's. Like her, he remained mute and embarrassed. His +eyes also were lowered, and he felt his heart beat violently. The silent +embarrassment of the two children was broken by Thetralde. In a timid +and diffident voice she said to the young Breton without daring to raise +her eyes to him: + +"I thought I would never be able to join thee. Thy horse had such a long +lead of my palfrey--" + +"My horse carried me away--" + +"Oh, I noticed it--my sister Hildrude also," Thetralde added frowning +with her pretty eyebrows. "Both of us thereupon rushed in thy +pursuit--we feared that in thy unacquaintance with the paths of our +forest thou mightest lose thy way." + +"It did seem to me that I heard the gallop of two horses--" + +"My sister wished to run ahead of me; but I struck her horse on the head +with my whip. The frightened animal bolted to one side, carrying +Hildrude along. She was angry and uttered a cry of rage." + +"Perhaps she runs some danger!" + +"No, my sister will be able to master her horse. But as the mist is very +thick, she will not be able to meet us again. I am so happy about that!" + +Vortigern felt on the rack. Nevertheless, an ineffable sense of joy +mingled with his agony. Anew the two children remained silent, and again +the daughter of the Emperor of the Franks was the one to break the +silence: + +"Thou dost not speak--art thou annoyed that I have joined thee?" + +"Oh, no, lovely princess--" + +"Perhaps thou thinkest me wicked because I struck my sister's horse? +When I saw her striving to pass me, I no longer could control myself." + +"I hope that no ill may have befallen your sister." + +"I hope so too." + +For a moment Thetralde and Vortigern again relapsed into silence. With a +slight touch of vexation the young girl once more resumed the +conversation: + +"Thou art very quiet--" + +"I know not what to say--" + +"Nor I either; and yet I was dying with the wish to speak to thee--what +is thy name?" + +"Vortigern." + +"I am called Thetralde--pronounce my name." + +"Thetralde--" + +"I love to hear thee pronounce my name." + +"Where do you think the hunt is now?" asked the young Breton with +increasing uneasiness. "It will be difficult to find the hunters. The +mist grows ever denser." + +"Should we lose ourselves," Thetralde replied laughing, "I do not know +the paths of the forest." + +"Why did you not, then, remain near the people of the court and the +seigneurs of the escort?" + +"I saw thee running off rapidly, and I followed thee." + +"That throws both you and me into a great perplexity." + +"Art thou sorry to find thyself alone here with me?" + +"Not at all!" cried Vortigern, "only I fear that this dense mist may +change into rain towards evening, and that you may get wet. We should +try and join the chase. Do you not think so?" + +"In what direction shall we go?" + +"It seemed to me a moment ago I heard the feeble sound of horns at a +great distance." + +"Let us listen again," said Thetralde, bending her charming head to one +side, while Vortigern sought to listen from the opposite side. + +"Dost thou hear anything?" queried the Emperor's daughter raising her +sweet voice and addressing Vortigern, who stood at a little distance. "I +can hear nothing." + +"Nor I either," rejoined the young Breton. + +"Here we are lost!" cried the young girl laughing merrily. "And if night +overtakes us, what a terrible thing!" + +"And you laugh at such a plight?" + +"Is it that thou art afraid, and thou a soldier?" But immediately the +handsome face of Thetralde assumed an uneasy look and she observed: +"Does thy wound hurt thee, my brave companion?" + +"I am not thinking of my wound. I am only uneasy at perceiving that the +mist grows still thicker. How can we regain our route? Whither could we +go?" + +"But I do wish to speak of thy wound," replied Charles' daughter with +infantine impatience. "Why is not thy arm any longer protected by a +scarf, as it was yesterday?" + +"It would have incommoded me in the chase." + +Thetralde quickly detached her long belt of Tyrean silk and held it out +to Vortigern. "Take this, my belt will take the place of thy scarf, and +sustain thy arm." + +"It is unnecessary, I assure you." + +"Bad boy!" cried Thetralde, holding out her belt to Vortigern; and +fixing upon him her beautiful blue eyes, almost imploringly said: "I beg +of thee; do not refuse me!" + +Vanquished by the timid and loving look, the young Breton accepted the +scarf; but as he held the reins of his horse with one hand he found it +difficult to fasten the belt into a scarf-band around his neck. + +"Wait," and Thetralde approached her palfrey close to Vortigern's horse, +leaned over in her saddle, took the two ends of the belt and tied them +behind the lad's neck. The touch of the young girl's hand sent so wild a +thrill through his frame that Thetralde, noticing the circumstance, +said, as she finished the knot: "Thou tremblest--is it out of fear, or +out of cold?" + +"The mist is becoming so thick, so wet," answered Vortigern, with +increasing uneasiness. "Are not you yourself cold? I very much fear for +you in this icy mist--" + +"Fear not for me. But seeing thou art cold, we can walk our horses. It +would be useless to move any faster. Perhaps the chase that we are in +search of will come our way." + +"So much the better!" + +"I am delighted to learn that thy grandfather and thyself will remain a +long time with us." + +"May we be fortunate enough to do so!" + +The two children continued their way, walking their horses side by side +in the long avenue, where one could see not twenty paces ahead, so thick +had the mist become. Night presently began to draw near. After a short +interval of mutual silence, Thetralde resumed: + +"We Franks are the enemies of the people of thy country; and yet I feel +no enmity whatever towards thee; and thou, dost thou entertain any +hatred for me?" + +"I could not feel hatred for a young girl." + +"Thou must feel very sorry for being far away from thy own country. +Wouldst thou wish me to ask the Emperor, my father, to render grace to +thy grandfather and thyself?" + +"A Breton never asks for grace!" proudly cried Vortigern. "My +grandfather and I are hostages, prisoners on parole; we shall submit to +the law of war." + +A fresh interval of silence followed upon this exchange of words. But +soon, as Vortigern had foreseen, the dense mist changed into a fine and +penetrating rain. + +"The rain is upon us!" exclaimed the young Breton. "Not a sound is +heard. This route seems to be endless. No! here is a side path to the +left. Shall we take it?" + +"As it may please thee," answered Thetralde with indifference. + +The girl was about to turn her horse's head, agreeable to the suggestion +of Vortigern, when the latter suddenly leaped down from his mount, +detached the belt of his sword, took off his blouse, remaining in his +thick jacket of the material of his breeches, and said to Thetralde: + +"I consented to accept your scarf. It is now your turn. You must now +consent to cover yourself with my blouse. It will serve you for a +mantle." + +"Place it on my shoulders," answered Thetralde blushing; "I dare not +drop the reins of my palfrey." + +No less agitated than his girl companion, Vortigern drew near her and +laid his garment on the shoulders of Thetralde. But when it came to +tying the sleeves of the blouse around her neck and almost upon the +palpitating bosom of the young girl, who, with her eyes lowered and her +cheeks burning, raised her little pink chin in order to afford Vortigern +full ease in the accomplishment of his kindly office, the hands of the +lad shook so violently, that his mission was not accomplished until +after repeated trials. + +"Thou art cold; thou art shivering worse than thou didst before." + +"It is not the cold that makes me shiver--" + +"What ails thee then?" + +"I know not--the uneasiness that I feel on your behalf, seeing that +night approaches. We have lost our way in the forest. The rain is coming +down heavier. And we know not what road to take--" + +Interrupting her companion with a cry of joy, Thetralde pointed with her +finger to one side of the avenue of trees that they were on, and +exclaimed: "There is a hut down yonder!" + +So there was. Vortigern perceived in the center of a cluster of +centenarian chestnut trees a hut constructed of thick layers of peat +heaped upon one another. A narrow opening gave entrance to the bower, +before which the remnants of some dry wood recently lighted were still +seen smouldering. "It is one of the huts in which the woodcutter slaves +take refuge during the day when it rains," explained Thetralde. "We +shall be then under cover. Tie thy horse to a tree and help me alight." + +At the bare thought of sharing the solitary retreat with the young girl, +Vortigern felt his heart thump under his ribs. A flush of burning fever +rose to his face while, nevertheless, he shivered. After a moment's +hesitation, the lad complied with the orders of his companion. He tied +his horse to a tree, and, in order to assist the young girl to alight +from her mount, he extended to her his arms and received within them the +supple and nimble body of Thetralde. So profound was the emotion +experienced by Vortigern at the touch of the maid, that he was almost +overcome. But the daughter of Charles, running towards the hut with +pretty curiosity, cried out merrily: + +"I see a moss-bank in the hut and a supply of dry wood. Let's light a +fire. There are still some embers burning. Hurry. Hurry." + +The lad hastened to join his companion and stumbled over a large log of +wood that rolled at his feet. Stooping, he saw strewn about it a large +number of burrs that had dropped down from the tall chestnut trees +overhead. At once forgetting his embarrassment, he exclaimed with +delight: + +"A discovery! Chestnuts! Chestnuts!" + +"What a find," responded Thetralde, no less delighted. "We shall roast +the chestnuts. I shall pick them up while thou startest the fire." + +The young Breton did as suggested by his girl companion, all the more +readily seeing that he hoped to find in the sport a refuge from the +vague, tumultuous and ardent thoughts, big at once with delight and +anxiety, that he had been a prey to from the moment of his meeting with +Thetralde. He entered the hut, took up several bunches of dry wood and +rekindled the brasier into flame, while the daughter of Charles, running +hither and thither, gathered a large supply of chestnuts which she +brought into the hut in a fold of her dress. Letting herself down upon +the moss-bank that lay at the further end of the hut, the interior of +which was now brightly lighted by the glare of the fire which burned +near the entrance, she said to Vortigern, motioning him to a seat near +her: + +"Sit down here, and help me shell these chestnuts." + +The lad sat down near Thetralde and entered with her into a contest of +swiftness in the shelling of chestnuts, during which, like herself, he +more than once pricked his fingers in the effort to extract the ripe +kernels from their burrs. Presently, looking into her face, he said +archly: + +"And here you have the daughter of the Emperor of the Franks; seated +inside of a peat hut and shelling chestnuts like any woodchopper and +slave's daughter." + +"Vortigern," answered Thetralde, returning the look of her companion +with a radiant face, "never was the daughter of the Emperor of the +Franks more happy than at this moment." + +"And I, Thetralde, I swear to you that since the day I left my mother, +my sister and Brittany, I have never been more pleased than to-day, than +now, near you." + +"And if to-morrow should resemble to-day? and if it should be thus for a +long time, a very long time--wouldst thou always be pleased?" + +"And you, Thetralde?" + +"Say 'thou' to me. We address one another with 'thou' in Germany. Say to +me: 'And thou, Thetralde?'" + +"But the respect--" + +"I say 'thou' to you, and do not respect you the less for it," rejoined +the maid laughing. "Say to me: 'And thou, Thetralde?'" + +"And thou, Thetralde?" + +"So thou wishest to know whether I would be happy at the thought of all +our days resembling this one, and our living together?" + +"Yes, my charming Princess!" + +The young maid remained pensive, holding in her delicate fingers a half +opened chestnut husk. Presently she raised her head and broke the +silence with the question: "Vortigern, is it far from here to thy +country?" + +"It took us more than a month to come here from Brittany." + +"Vortigern, what a beautiful journey that would make!" + +"What sayest thou?" + +Thetralde made a charming gesture commanding silence: "Hast thou any +money about thee?" + +And proceeding to detach from her belt a little embroidered purse, she +emptied its contents into her lap. There were several heavy pieces of +gold and a large number of smaller pieces of silver and copper. Two of +the latter, one of silver and one of copper, and both of about the size +of a denier, were pierced and tied together by a thread of gold. "This +is all my treasure," the girl observed. + +"Why are these two pieces tied together?" inquired Vortigern, with a +look of curiosity. + +"Oh, these two must never be spent. We must preserve them carefully. One +of them, the copper one, was struck the year of my birth; the other, the +silver one, was struck this year, when I shall be fifteen. Fabius, my +father's astronomer, has engraved upon these pieces certain magical +signs corresponding to planets of happy influence. The Bishop of +Aix-la-Chapelle blessed them. They are a talisman." + +"If it were not that they are a talisman, Thetralde, I would have +requested these two little pieces from thee as a souvenir of this day." + +"To what purpose wouldst thou keep a souvenir of this day rather than of +the next days to follow? Dost thou not desire that all should resemble +one another? If thou desirest these two little pieces, here, take them; +I give them to thee. A talisman is a useful thing on a journey. Place +them in the pocket of thy jacket." + +Vortigern obeyed almost mechanically, while the young girl, after +ingenuously counting up her little hoard, resumed, saying: "We here have +five gold sous, eight silver deniers, and twelve copper deniers; +besides my bracelets, my necklace and my earrings. With that we shall +have money enough to journey as far as Brittany. Night is upon us; we +shall spend it under the shelter of this hut. To-morrow we shall have +the woodcutter slave lead us to Werstern, a little burg situated on the +skirt of the forest, about two leagues from Aix-la-Chapelle. We shall +buy some simple clothing for myself, a traveling cloak of cloth. +To-morrow at daybreak we shall start on our route. Do not fear that I +shall recoil before fatigue. I am neither as tall nor as strong as my +sister Hildrude, and yet, if thou shouldst be tired or wounded, I am +sure I could carry thee on my back, just as my sister Imma once carried +her lover Eginhard on hers. But our chestnuts are now all shelled. Come +and help me to put them under the hot ashes. We shall eat them when +roasted." + +Raising with one hand the fold of her robe in which lay the nuts, +Thetralde ran to the brasier. Vortigern followed her. He felt as in a +dream. At times his reason gave way under the spell of an ardent and +intoxicating vertigo. He knelt down silently, disturbed in mind, beside +Thetralde before the brasier, into which the girl, steeped in thought, +was slowly throwing the chestnuts one by one. Without, the rain had +stopped; but the mist, now thickened to a fog with the approach of +night, rendered the darkness complete. The reflection of the brasier +only lighted up the charming faces of the two children on their knees +beside each other. When the last chestnut had followed the others under +the cinders, Thetralde rose, and leaning with familiar candor on +Vortigern's shoulders said to him, taking his hand: + +"And now, while thy supper is cooking, let us go back and sit down upon +the bench of moss for me to finish telling thee my prospects. I have +thought over what we are to do." + +The night became profound. The flickering, vacillating flame in the +expiring brasier seemed to cry for fresh fuel. The chestnuts, that had +been consigned to its warmth, snapped noisily from their hulls into the +air, announcing that their toothsome pulp was ready to be partaken of. +Without, the horse and the palfrey of Vortigern and Thetralde pawed the +ground and neighed impatiently, as if calling for their provender. The +fire finally went out. The chestnuts changed to charcoal. The neighings +of the horses resounded ever louder in the midst of the nocturnal +silence of the forest. Thetralde and Vortigern did not issue from the +hut. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AT THE MORT. + + +From the start of the hunt, the Emperor of the Franks had rushed +headlong on the heels of the hounds. Amael, at first somewhat uneasy at +the disappearance of his grandson in the midst of so large a concourse +of cavaliers, was taken by accident towards that part of the forest +whither the stag was leading the hounds from cover to cover. Amael even +had the opportunity to assist, shortly before nightfall, at the killing +of the stag, which, exhausted with fatigue after four hours of +breathless running, turned at bay before the hounds when they had +reached him at last, and strove to defend himself against them with the +aid of the magnificent spread of antlers that crowned his head. The +Emperor had not for a moment lost track of the hounds. He followed them +speedily at the mort, together with a few others of the hunters. Jumping +from his horse, he ran limping towards the animal at bay that already +had gored several hounds with his sharp horns. Choosing with an +experienced eye the opportune moment, Charles drew his hunting knife, +and, rushing upon the desperate animal, plunged the weapon into the stag +just above its shoulder, threw it down and then abandoned it to the +hounds, that fiercely precipitated themselves upon the warm quarry and +devoured it amidst the sonorous fanfare of the hunters' horns that thus +announced the close of the chase and called their scattered fellows to +reassemble. With his bloody knife in his hand, and after having +contemplated with lively satisfaction the wild pack now red at their +nozzles and contending with one another for the shreds of the stag's +flesh, the Emperor's eyes fell upon Amael, to whom he called out gaily: + +"Eh, seigneur Breton--am I not a bold hunter?" + +"You will pardon my sincerity, but I find that at this moment the +Emperor of the Franks, with his long knife in his hand, and his boots +and coat spattered with blood, looks more like a butcher than like an +illustrious monarch." + +"I feel happy, nevertheless, and consequently inclined to be indulgent, +seigneur Breton," replied the Emperor, laughing; then, lowering his +voice, he observed to Amael: "Now, see how the clothes of the seigneurs +of my court look." + +In fact, most of the Emperor's seigneurs and officers, now hastening in +on horseback to his presence from all sides of the thickets in response +to the horns, presented an appearance that contrasted sadly with that +which they had presented a few hours before. Magnificently attired at +the start of the hunt, those seigneurs, who looked so resplendent in +their rich tunics of silk, now presented a sight that was as ridiculous +as it was pitiful. The embroideries on their tunics, at first so rich in +color, were now frayed, soiled with mud, and torn by the branches of the +trees and the thorns of the briars; the feathers that floated proudly +from their caps, now drooped, wet, broken and draggled, resembling long, +dislocated, and limp fish-bones; the boots of oriental leather had +vanished under a thick coat of slush, and not a few of them, torn by the +thorns, exposed their owners' hose, not infrequently also their skin +itself. They shivered and looked distressed. Charles, on the contrary, +simply and warmly dressed in his thick sheep-skin coat, which reached +down over his boots of rough leather, and his head covered with his +badger-skin bonnet, rubbed his hands with a cunning look of satisfaction +in his eyes at the sight of his courtiers shivering with the cold and +the wet. After contemplating the spectacle for a moment, Charles made a +sign of intelligence to Amael and said to him in an undertone: + +"Just before breaking ranks for the hunt, I recommended you to observe +the magnificence of the costumes of these coxcombs, who are as vain as +Asiatic peacocks, and even more devoid of brains than the bird whose +spoils they wear. Look at them now--the fine fellows!" Amael smiled +approvingly, while the Emperor, shrugging his shoulders, turned to the +seigneurs with his squalling voice: "Oh, ye most foolish of people, +which is at this moment the most precious and useful of all our raiment? +Mine, which I bought with barely a sou? Or yours, which you have had to +pay for through the nose?" + +At this judicious raillery, the courtiers remained silent and confused, +while the Emperor, placing both his hands on his spacious paunch, roared +out aloud. + +"Charles," Amael said to him unheard by the others, "I prefer to hear +you speak with that sly wisdom than to see you disemboweling stags." + +But the Emperor did not answer the aged Breton. He suddenly interrupted +the discourse, extending his hand towards a group of nearby serfs, and +crying out: + +"Oh! Look at that pretty girl!" + +Amael followed with his eyes the direction indicated by Charles and saw +amid several of the woodcutter slaves of the forest who had been +attracted by curiosity to see the hunt, a young girl barely covered in +rags, but of remarkable beauty. A much younger child of about ten or +eleven years held her by the hand. A poor old woman, as wretchedly clad +as the girl, was in the company of the two. The Emperor of the Franks, +whose large eyes glistened like carbuncles with the fire of lust, +repeated, addressing Amael: + +"By the cape of St. Martin! The girl is beautiful. Is it that your +hundred years on your back render you insensible to the sight of such +rare beauty, seigneur Breton? What a beautiful girl!" + +"Charles, the misery of that creature strikes me more strongly than her +beauty." + +"You are very commiserate, seigneur Breton--so am I. Linen and silk +should clothe so charming a figure. No doubt she is the daughter of some +woodman slave. I can tell you, one runs at times across wonderfully +beautiful girls in the forest. More than once I have dropped the chase +in the middle of the heat to pursue another scent. But in honor to +truth, I have never seen such a charmer before. It must be her good star +that brought her across the path of Charles." Without removing his eyes +from the young girl, Charles called to one of the seigneurs in his +suite: "Eh! Burchard. Come here; I have orders for you." + +The seigneur Burchard quickly alighted from his horse and hastened to +obey the call of the Emperor. The latter, moving a few steps away from +Amael, whispered a few words in the ear of the seigneur, who, showing +himself greatly honored with the mission given him by his master, bowed +respectfully, and, leading his horse by the bridle, approached the old +woman and the two younger girls who stood by her, motioned to them to +follow him, and vanished with his charge behind the group of hunters. A +deep flush colored the cheeks of Amael; he puckered his brows, and his +features became expressive of as much indignation as disgust. At that +same instant Amael noticed that the Emperor was looking about him with a +certain degree of uneasiness and calling out aloud: + +"Where are my little girls? Can they have lost track of the hunt?" + +"August Emperor," said one of the officers, "Richulff, who accompanied +your august daughters, told me that when the rain began to fall some of +them concluded to return to Aix-la-Chapelle, while the others decided to +seek the shelter of the pavilion, where you ordered supper to be held +ready." + +"Think of the timorous bodies! I wager that my little Thetralde is not +among the Amazons who are afraid of a drop of water, and who hastened +back to the palace. As they are all safe, I shall not worry. Let us +hasten to the pavilion ourselves, because I am ravenously hungry." And +remounting his horse, the Emperor added: "We shall find at the pavilion +the damsels who have preferred to sup with their father. The +stout-hearted lasses shall be well feasted, and I shall bestow rich +presents upon them." + +Seeing that Charles was manifesting some slight uneasiness on the score +of his daughters, Amael, in turn, began to feel preoccupied with regard +to Vortigern, whom, for some time, he had been searching for with his +eyes among the groups of the approaching knights. As his eyes fell upon +Octave, who just then came running in at a gallop, the aged Breton +inquired from him with no little anxiety: + +"Octave, have you seen my grandson anywhere?" + +"We parted company almost at the very start of the hunt." + +"He is not with us," proceeded Amael with increasing uneasiness. "Night +is here and he is not familiar with the paths of the forest." + +"Oh! Oh! seigneur Breton," put in the Emperor of the Franks, who, +immediately upon remounting his horse, had drawn near the aged man and +overheard his question to the young Roman, "you seem to feel uneasy +about your youngster. Well, what if he should have lost his way this +evening? He will find it again to-morrow. Do you fear he will die of one +night spent in the forest? Is not hunting the school of war? Come, come! +Be at ease. Besides, who knows," added Charles with a roguish air. +"Mayhap he encountered some pretty woodcutter's daughter in some of the +huts of the forest. It is like his years. You surely do not mean to make +a monk of him? Pretty lassies are meant for handsome lads." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +EMPEROR AND HOSTAGE. + + +Led by the Emperor of the Franks, the cavalcade of hunters rode towards +the pavilion where supper was to be partaken of before the return to +Aix-la-Chapelle. Charles called Amael to his side, and noticing, as they +rode, that the aged Breton continued preoccupied about Vortigern, the +Emperor turned to the centenarian with a merry twinkle in his eye: + +"What do you think of this day? Have you recovered from your prejudices +against Charles the Fighter? Do you think me at all worthy to govern my +Empire, a domain as vast as the old Empire of Rome? Do you deem me +worthy of reigning over the population of Armorica?" + +"Charles, in my youth your grandfather proposed to me that I be the +jailer of the last descendant of Clovis, an ill-starred boy, then a +prisoner in an abbey, and having barely one suit of clothes to cover +himself with. That boy, when grown to man's estate, was, upon orders of +Pepin, your father, tonsured and locked up in a monastery, where he died +obscure and forgotten. Thus do royalties end. Such is the expiation, +prompt or late, reserved for royal stocks that issue from conquest." + +"Then the stock of Charles, whom the whole world calls the Great," +rejoined the Emperor with an incredulous and proud smile, "is, +according to your theory, destined to run out obscurely in some +do-nothing king?" + +"It is my firm conviction." + +"I took you at first for a man of good judgment," replied the Emperor +shrugging his shoulders; "I must now admit that I was mistaken." + +"This very morning, in your Palatine school, you observed that the +children of the poor studied with zeal, while the children of the rich +are lazy. The reason is plain. The former feel the need of work to +insure their well-being; the latter, being provided with and in +possession of ample fortunes, make no effort to acquire knowledge. It is +to them superfluous. Your ancestors, the stewards of the palace, have +done like the children of the poor. Your descendants, however, being no +longer in need of conquering a crown, will imitate the children of the +rich." + +"Despite a certain appearance of logic, your argument is false. My +father usurped a crown, but he left to me at the most the Kingdom of +Gaul. To-day Gaul is but one of the provinces of the immense empire that +I have conquered. Obviously, I did not remain idle and torpid like the +rich boys in your comparison." + +"The Frankish Kings, together with their leudes, who later became great +landed seigneurs, and the bishops, plundered Gaul, divided her territory +among them, and reduced her people to slavery. But after a period, be it +short or long, learn this, Oh, great Emperor, the people will rise in +their strength, glorious, terrible, and they will know how to reconquer +their patrimony and their independence!" + +"Let us drop the future and the past. What think you of Charles?" + +"I think that you are mistakenly proud of having almost reconstructed +the administrative edifice of the Roman emperors, and of causing, like +them, your will to weigh upon the whole domain, from one end to the +other. Of all that, nothing will be left after you are gone! All the +peoples that have been conquered and subjugated by your arms will rise +in revolt. Your boundless empire, composed of kingdoms that no common +bond of origin, of customs, or of language holds together, will fall to +pieces; it will crumble together and will bury your descendants under +its ruins." + +"Do you mean to imply that Charles the Great will have passed over the +world like a shadow without leaving behind him any lasting monument of +his glory?" + +"No, your life will not have been worthless. By ceaselessly warring +against the Frisians, the Saxons and other peoples who wished to invade +Gaul, you have checked, if not forever, at least for a long time, the +maraudings of those hordes that ravaged the north and east of our +unhappy country. But if you have barred the entrance of the barbarians +into Gaul over land, the sea remains open to them. The Northman pirates +almost every day make descents upon the coasts of your Empire, and their +boldness increases to the point that ascending in their vessels the +Meuse, the Gironde and the Loire, they threaten the very heart of your +dominion." + +"Oh, old man! This time, I fear me, your misgivings do not lead you +astray. The Northmans are the only source of disquiet to my sleep! The +bare thought of the invasions of those pagans causes me to be overcome +with involuntary and unexplainable apprehensions. One day, during my +sojourn at Narbonne, several vessels of those accursed people extended +their piratical incursion into the very port. A sinister presentiment +seized me; despite all I could do to restrain them, the tears rolled out +of my eyes. One of my officers asked me the reason for my sudden fit of +sadness. 'Do you wish to know, my faithful followers,' I answered, 'do +you wish to know why I weep so bitterly? Certes, I do not fear that +these Northmans may injure me with their piracies; but I feel profoundly +afflicted at the thought that, in my very lifetime, they have the +audacity of touching upon the borders of my Empire; and great is my +grief because I have a presentiment of the sufferings that these +Northmans will inflict upon my descendants and my peoples;'" and the +Emperor remained for several minutes as if overpowered by the sinister +premonition that he now recalled. + +"Charles," Amael resumed with a grave voice, "all royalty that issues +from conquest, or from violence, carries within itself the germ of +death, for the reason that its principle is iniquitous. Perchance those +Northman pirates may some day cause your stock to expiate the original +iniquity of the royal sway that you hold from conquest." + +Whether, absorbed in his own thoughts, the Emperor failed to hear the +last words of the Gaul, or whether he could make no answer to them, he +suddenly cried out: + +"Let us forget the accursed Northmans. Speak to me of the good that I +have done. Your words of praise are rare; I like them all the more for +that." + +"You are not cruel out of wilfulness, although you might be reproached +for the massacre of more than four thousand Saxon prisoners." + +"I remember the event perfectly," Charles said with emphasis. "I had to +terrify those barbarians by a signal example. It was a fatal +necessity!" + +"Your heart is accessible to certain promptings of justice and humanity. +In your capitularies you made an effort to improve the condition of the +slaves and the colonists." + +"It was my duty as a Christian, as a Catholic. All men are brothers." + +"You are no more Christian than your friends, the bishops. You have +simply yielded to an instinct of humanity, natural to man, whatever his +religion may be. But still you are not a Christian." + +"By the King of the Heavens! Perhaps I am a Jew?" + +"Christ said, according to St. Luke the Evangelist: _The Lord hath sent +me to preach deliverance to the captives--to set at liberty them that +are bruised._ Now, then, your dominions are full of prisoners carried by +conquest from their own homes; the estates of your bishops and your +abbots are stocked with slaves. Accordingly, neither you nor your +priests are Christians. A Christian, according to the words of the +Christ, must never hold his fellowman in bondage. All men are equal." + +"Custom so wills it; I merely conform myself thereto." + +"What is there to hinder you, and the bishops as well as you, all-mighty +Emperor that you are, from abolishing the abominable custom? What is +there to hinder you from emancipating the slaves? What is there to +hinder you from restoring to them, along with their liberty, the +possession of the land that they themselves render fruitful with the +sweat of their brow?" + +"Old man, from time immemorial there have been slaves, and there ever +will be slaves. What would it avail to be of the conquering race if not +to keep the fruits of conquest? By the King of the Heavens! Do you take +me for a barbarian? Have I not promulgated laws, founded schools, +encouraged letters, arts and sciences? Is there in the whole world a +city comparable with Aix-la-Chapelle?" + +"Your gorgeous capital of Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of your Germanic +possessions, is not Gaul. Gaul has remained to you a strange country. +You love forests that lend themselves to your autumn hunting parties, +and the rich domains, whence every year the revenues are carted to your +residences on the other side of the Rhine. But you do not love Gaul, +seeing that you exhaust her resources in men and money in order to carry +on your wars. Frightful misery desolates our provinces. Millions of +God's creatures, deprived almost of bread, shelter and clothes, toil +from dawn to dusk, and die in slavery--all in order to sustain the +opulence of their masters. If you cause instruction to be given to some +pupils in your Palatine school, you allow, on the other hand, millions +of God's creatures to live like brutes! Such is the condition of Gaul +under your reign, Charles the Great!" + +"Old man," rejoined the Emperor, with a somber face and rising anger, +"after treating you as a friend this whole day, I looked for different +language. You are more than severe, you are unjust." + +"I have been sincere towards you, the same as I was towards your +grandfather." + +"Mindful of the service that you rendered my grandfather at the battle +of Poitiers, I meant to be generous towards you. I meant to do the right +thing by myself, by your people, and by you. I hoped to see you, after +this day spent in close intimacy with me, drop your prejudices, and to +be able to say to you: I have vanquished the Bretons by force of arms; I +desire to affirm my conquest by persuasion. Return to your country; +report to your countrymen the day that you spent with Charles; they will +trust your words, seeing that they place implicit confidence in you. You +were the soul of the last two wars that they sustained against me. Be +now the soul of our pacification. A conquest founded on force is often +ephemeral; a conquest cemented in mutual affection and esteem is +imperishable. I trust in your loyalty to gain the hearts of the Bretons +to me. Such was my hope. The bitter injustice of your words dashes it. +Let us think of it no more. You shall remain here as a hostage. I shall +treat you as a brave soldier, who saved my grandfather's life. Perhaps +in time you will judge me more justly. When that day shall have come, +you will be allowed to return to your own country, and I feel sure you +will then tell them what is right, as to-day you would only tell them +what is wrong. All things will come in due season." + +"Although your hopes can not realize the object that you proposed, they, +nevertheless, are an evidence of a generous soul." + +"By the cap of St. Martin! You Bretons are a strange people. What! If +you should believe that I deserve esteem and affection, and if your +countrymen should share your opinion, would neither you nor they accept +with joy the authority that you now submit to by force?" + +"With us it is no question of having a more or less worthy master. We +want no master." + +"And yet I am your master, ye pagans!" + +"Until the day when we shall have reconquered our independence by a +successful insurrection." + +"You will be crushed to dust, exterminated! I swear it by the beard of +the eternal Father." + +"Exterminate the last of the Breton Gauls, strangle all the children, +and you will then be able to reign over the desert of Armorica. But so +long as there lives a single man of our race in our country, you may be +able to vanquish, but never to subjugate it." + +"But tell me, old man, is it that my rule is so terrible, and my laws so +hard?" + +"We want no foreign domination. To live according to the laws of our +fathers, freely and as becomes free men, to choose our chiefs, to pay no +tribute, to lock ourselves up within our own frontiers and to defend +them--these are our aspirations. Accept them and you will have nothing +to fear from us." + +"To dictate conditions to me! to me, who reign as sovereign master over +all Europe! To have a miserable population of shepherds and husbandmen +impose conditions to me! to me, whose arms have conquered the world! +Impudence can reach no further!" + +"I might answer you that, in order to vanquish that miserable population +of shepherds, of woodmen and husbandmen entrenched in their mountain +fastnesses, behind their rocks, their marshes and their forests, your +veteran bands had to be requisitioned for Gaul--" + +"Yes," cried the Emperor in a vexed voice, "in order to keep your +accursed country in obedience, I am forced to leave there my choicest +troops, troops that I may need at any moment here in Germany, where I +have hard battles to fight." + +"That must be an unpleasant thing to you, Charles, I admit. Without +mentioning the maritime invasions of the Northmans, there are the +Bohemians, the Hungarians, the Bavarians, the Lombards and so many other +people whom your arms have overcome, the same as they overcame us, the +Bretons--all vanquished, but none subjugated. From one moment to the +other they may rise anew, and, what is graver still, menace the very +heart of your Empire. As to us, on the contrary, all that we demand is +to live free; we never think of going beyond our frontiers." + +"Who guarantees to me that, once my troops, are out of your infernal +country, you will not forthwith resume your armed excursions and attacks +against the Frankish forces that are bivouacked on this side of your +borders?" + +"The other provinces are Gallic like ourselves. Our duty bids us to +provoke them, and to aid them to break the yoke of the Frankish kings. +But the thoughtful people among us are of the opinion that the hour for +revolt has not yet come. For the last four centuries the Catholic +priests have moulded the minds of the people to slavery. Alas, centuries +will pass before they re-awaken from their present stupor. You admit +that it is dangerous for you to be compelled to keep a portion of your +best troops tied up in Brittany. Recall your army. I give you my word as +a Breton, and I am, moreover, authorized to make the pledge in the name +of our tribes, that, so long as you live, we shall not go out of our +frontiers." + +"By the King of the Heavens! The joke is rather too harsh. Do you take +me for a fool? Do I not know that, if I grant you a truce by withdrawing +my troops, you will take advantage of it to prepare anew for war after +my death? But we shall always know how to suppress your uprisings." + +"Yes, we shall certainly take up arms if your sons fail to respect our +liberties." + +"And you really expect me--me, the vanquisher, to consent to a shameful +truce? To consent to withdraw my forces from a country that it has cost +me so much trouble to overcome?" + +"Very well; leave, then, your army in Brittany, but depend upon it that, +within a year or two, new insurrections will break out." + +"Insane old man! How dare you hold such language to me when you, your +grandson, and four other Breton chiefs are my hostages! Oh! I swear by +the everlasting God, your head will drop at the first sign of an +insurrection. Do not lean too heavily upon the good nature of the old +Charles. The terrible example I made of the four thousand prisoners whom +I took from the revolted Saxons should be proof enough to you that I +recoil before no act of necessity. Only the dead are not to be feared." + +"The Breton chiefs who remained on the way by reason of their wounds, +and who will speedily join me and my grandson at Aix-la-Chapelle, would, +no more than my grandson and myself, have accepted the post of hostages +had the same been without danger. Whatever the fate may be that awaits +us, we shall not falter in our duty. We are here in the very center of +your Empire, and well in condition to judge of the opportuneness for an +uprising. From this very place we will give the signal for a fresh war, +the moment we think the time is favorable." + +"By the King of the Heavens! This audacity has gone far enough!" cried +the Emperor, pale with rage. "To dare tell me that these traitors, +according to what they may see and spy near my court, will themselves +send to Brittany the order to revolt! Oh, I swear by God, from +to-morrow, from this very evening, both you and your grandson will be +cast into a dungeon so dark that you will need lynx's eyes to find out +what goes on around here. By the cap of St. Martin! Such insolence is +enough to turn one into a ferocious beast. Not another word, old man! +Here we are at the pavilion. I shall now join my daughters. The sight of +them will console me for your ingratitude!" + +Uttering these last words with mingled rage and sorrow, the Emperor put +his horse to the gallop in order to reach all the quicker the hunting +pavilion, where he expected to meet his daughters, and satisfy his +growing hunger. The seigneurs in Charles' suite were about to follow +their master's example and quicken the steps of their mounts, when the +Emperor, suddenly turning around, cried out to them, with an imperious +voice: + +"No one shall follow me. I want to be alone with my daughters! You shall +await my orders near the pavilion." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FRANK AND BRETON. + + +The Emperor rode rapidly forward toward the hunting pavilion. The +seigneurs of his suite received the angry order of their master with +silent obedience, and, reining in their horses, proceeded at a slower +gait towards the rendezvous. Lost among them, Amael rode along, steeped +in thought, revolving the recent conversation he had with Charles, and +at the same time more and more a prey to anxiety at the prolonged +absence of Vortigern. The Emperor's courtiers shivered under their robes +of silk and drabbled feathers, and silently grumbled at the whim of +their Emperor, whereby the looked-for time was retarded when they might +warm themselves at the fire of the pavilion, and revive their spirits +with supper. Arrived in the close neighborhood of the pavilion, they +alighted from their horses. They had been conversing together about a +quarter of an hour, when Amael, who had also alighted and leaned +pensively against one of the nearby gigantic trees of the forest, +noticed Octave hastening in his direction and calling out to him: + +"Amael, I was looking for you--come quick!" + +The aged Breton tied his horse to the tree and followed Octave. When +both had walked a little distance away from the group of the Frankish +seigneurs, the young Roman proceeded: + +"I feel mortally uneasy on the score of Vortigern. Your grandson having +been carried away by his horse early in the hunt, Thetralde and +Hildrude, two of the Emperor's daughters, followed him on the spot. What +may have happened? I can not guess. I am told positively that Hildrude, +who seemed greatly irritated, rode back to Aix-la-Chapelle with two +other sisters and all the concubines of the Emperor who had come to the +chase. Thetralde must have remained alone behind with Vortigern in some +part of the forest." + +"Finish your account." + +"I know from experience how easy-going are the morals of this court. +Thetralde has taken notice of your grandson. She is fifteen, has been +brought up amidst her sisters, who have as many paramours as their own +father has mistresses. Despite himself, Vortigern has made a lively +impression upon the heart of Thetralde. The two are children. They have +vanished together, and must have been lost together, seeing that three +of the Emperor's daughters have returned to the palace and the other two +are at the pavilion. Only Thetralde is not to be found. If she lost her +way in the company of Vortigern--I would this morning have been of the +opinion that it was to be hoped--" + +"Heaven and earth!" broke in the aged Breton, growing pale. "How dare +you joke on such a matter!" + +"This morning I would have considered the adventure highly amusing. This +evening it seems to me redoubtable. A minute ago, angered at something +or other, the Emperor clapped both his spurs to his horse's flanks, +ordered that none should follow him, and rushed towards the pavilion. +Rothaide and Bertha, daughters of Charles, notified of their father's +approach by the clatter of his horse, and believing that his whole +suite was with him, sped away to the upper chambers of the +pavilion--Bertha with Enghilbert, the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier, +Rothaide with Audoin, one of the Emperor's officers." + +"And then?" + +"The Emperor arrives all alone and dismounts. 'Where are my daughters?' +he calls out impatiently to the Grand Nomenclator of his table who +happens to be superintending the preparations for the supper. The Grand +Nomenclator answers in great embarrassment: 'August Emperor, allow me to +go and announce your arrival to the Princesses; they have withdrawn to +the upper chambers in order to take some rest while waiting for supper.' +'I shall go myself and see them,' replies Charles, saying which, he +clambers up the stairs. Old Vulcan surprising Venus and Mars at their +amorous escapade, could not have been more furious than was the august +Emperor when he surprised his daughters in the arms of their gallants. +The Grand Nomenclator having remained near the door of the staircase +soon heard an infernal racket in the chambers above. The irate Charles +was plying his hunting whip right and left over the two amorous couples. +A profound silence ensued thereupon. The Emperor having the habit of not +noising such things about came down again, calm in appearance, but pale +with rage, and--" + +Octave's narrative was at this point suddenly interrupted by tumultuous +cries that proceeded from the pavilion. Slaves were seen rushing out of +the building with lighted torches in their hands, and immediately the +shrill voice of Charles himself was heard calling out: + +"To horse! My daughter Thetralde has lost her way in the forest! She has +not returned to the palace--and she is not here in the pavilion. Take +the torches--and to horse! To horse!" + +"Amael, in the name of your grandson's welfare," whispered Octave +precipitately in the Breton's ear, "follow me at a distance. There is +just one chance left to us of saving Vortigern from the Emperor's rage." +Saying this, the young Roman disappeared among the seigneurs of the +court who were hastening towards their horses, while Charles, whose +rage, restrained for a moment, now exploded with renewed fierceness, +screeched at them: + +"Look at them, gaping open-mouthed, like a herd of startled sheep! Let +each one take a torch and follow one of the avenues of the forest, all +the while calling out to my daughter as loud as he can. Halloa +there--let someone take up a torch and ride ahead of me!" + +At these words, Octave seized a torch and approached the Emperor, while +other seigneurs rode rapidly off in several directions in search of the +lost Thetralde. The meaning of the hurried recommendation that Octave +had addressed to him a minute before flashed at this moment clear +through Amael's mind. Mounting his horse at the same time that Charles +and the young Roman who bore the torch did theirs, he allowed the two to +take somewhat the lead of him, and then followed them at a distance, +guided by the torch that Octave held aloft. + +As Octave later narrated to him, the Emperor alternated between fits of +rage, provoked by the freshest proof of the libertinage to which his +daughters were addicted, and uneasiness at the disappearance of +Thetralde. These several sentiments were given vent to by broken words +that from time to time reached the ears of the young Roman who preceded +Charles by only a few paces. + +"My poor child!--where can she be?--Perhaps dying of cold and fear--at +the bottom of some thicket, perhaps!" murmured the Emperor. Presently he +would call out at the top of his voice: "Thetralde! Thetralde! Oh, she +does not hear me! King of the Heavens, have pity upon me. So young--so +delicate--a chilly night like this is enough to kill her. Oh, my unhappy +old age, that this child might have served to console--she would not +have resembled her sisters! Her fifteen year forehead was never +crimsoned with an evil thought. Oh, dead! Dead, perhaps! No, no--youth +is full of pranks! Besides, these daughters, all of whom I have brought +up like boys, are all accustomed to fatigue. They accompany me during my +long journeys. But yet, the night is so dark--and it is so chilly!" +Whereupon the Emperor would again call out: "Thetralde!" and suddenly +reining in his horse and listening, the Emperor of the Franks broke the +silence with the sudden question: "Did you not hear a sound like the +neighing of a horse?" + +"I did, august Prince," answered the young Roman. + +"Listen! Listen again!" + +Octave kept silent. Soon again the sound of distant neighing broke upon +the stillness of the forest. + +"No doubt any longer. Despairing of finding her way, my daughter must +have tied her palfrey to a tree!" exclaimed the Emperor, his heart +bounding with hope. Calling out to Octave, he ordered: "Gallop! Gallop +faster!" and himself increasing his own speed to the utmost cried out +uninterruptedly: "Thetralde! Thetralde! Thetralde, my daughter!" + +Amael, who followed Charles at a goodly distance, keeping himself well +in the shadow, also fell into a gallop the moment he noticed the +torchlight that guided him suddenly move with increased swiftness into +the darkness. The Emperor and Octave were close upon the spot where, +before entering the woodcutter's hut, Vortigern and Thetralde had tied +their mounts. The glimmer of the torch fell upon and lighted the white +body of Thetralde's palfrey, throwing into the shade Vortigern's horse +that was tied a few steps further away. The Emperor recognized his +daughter's favorite mount, and cried out: + +"Thetralde's palfrey!" and immediately thereupon perceiving the hut +itself by the light of the torch borne by Octave, he added: "Oh, King of +the Heavens! Thanks be to you!" The Emperor quickly dismounted and +walking precipitately towards the hut which lay about twenty paces from +the path, he called back to Octave: "Walk faster! My daughter is there. +Precede me!" + +Gifted with an eye even more piercing than Charles', Octave had +recognized with a shudder the horse of Vortigern close to Thetralde's +palfrey. Foreseeing the outburst of fury that the Emperor was about to +fall into at the spectacle that Octave surmised awaited his aged eyes, +the Roman resorted to an extreme measure. Affecting to stumble, he +dropped the torch in the hope of extinguishing it at his feet, as if by +accident. But Charles quickly stooped down, as quickly raised it and +rushed forward towards the entrance of the hut. Trembling with fear, the +young Roman followed closely behind the Emperor. Charles suddenly stood +still as if petrified at the threshold of the hut, whose interior was +now brilliantly lighted by the torch in the Emperor's hand. Having also +dismounted, Amael was enabled, without his steps being heard by +Charles, to draw nearer, and stood close to him at the very moment that, +struck with stupor, the Emperor of the Franks stopped, motionless. + +Profoundly asleep, and stretched out upon the floor with his unsheathed +sword beside him, Vortigern barred the entrance to the hut. In order to +enter it, an intruder would have been compelled to walk over his body +that lay across the threshold. In the depth of the retreat, stretched on +a bed of moss and carefully wrapped in the lad's tunic, Thetralde +enjoyed a slumber as profound as her guardian at the entrance. The +girl's head and face, charming in their candor, rested on one of her +arms that lay folded beneath. So deep was the sleep of the two, that +neither the young girl nor Vortigern was at first awakened by the glare +of the torch. + +Thick drops of perspiration rolled down from the forehead of the Emperor +of the Franks. The stupor that first seized him at finding his daughter +in a solitary hut in the company of the young Breton, was soon followed +by an expression of undefinable agony. Presently the cruel doubts +concerning the chastity of his youngest daughter made room for hope when +he noticed the serenity of the slumber of the two children. The Emperor +gathered additional comfort from the precaution that Vortigern had taken +in laying himself athwart the entrance, obedient, no doubt, to a thought +of respectful and chivalrous solicitude. + +Thetralde was the first to open her eyes. The glare of the torch fell +upon her face. She half raised her head; still half asleep, carried her +hand to her eyes, and sat up. In a second, seeing her father before her, +she uttered a cry of such sincere joy, her charming features expressed a +happiness so utterly free from all embarrassment, that, bounding to her +father's neck, she was pressed by Charles to his heart with delirious +rapture: + +"Oh!" the Emperor exclaimed, "I fear naught, her forehead is free from +shame." + +The words of the enraptured father reached the ears of Amael, who had +remained motionless behind the Emperor, whose life was soon in no slight +danger, seeing that, in her first and spontaneous outburst of joy to +fall on her father's neck, Thetralde had struck Vortigern with her feet +as she bounded forward. The young Breton, thus awakened with a start, +his eyes dazzled by the glare of the torch, and his mind still clouded +with sleep, grasped his sword and jumped up. At the sight of the two men +at the entrance of the hut, one of them tightly holding Thetralde in his +arms, the lad imagined that violence was being attempted upon her. He +seized Charles by the throat with one hand and, raising his sword in the +other, cried: "I will kill you!" Immediately, however, recognizing the +father of Thetralde, Vortigern dropped his weapon, rubbed his eyes, and +exclaimed: + +"The Emperor of the Franks!" + +"Himself, my lad!" replied the Emperor in a cheerful voice, while he +again kissed the forehead and head of his daughter with almost frantic +delight. "The vigor of your clutch proves to me that ill would he have +fared who should have entertained any evil designs against my little +girl!" + +"We are your enemies, and still you received my grandfather and myself +with kindness," answered the young Breton ingenuously and without +lowering his eyes before the penetrating looks that Charles shot at him. +"I have watched over your daughter--as I should have watched over my own +sister." + +Vortigern emphasized the words 'my own sister' in such a manner that +Amael, fully sharing the confidence of Charles, whispered at the +latter's ear: + +"I have no doubt of the purity of these children." + +"And you here?" exclaimed the Emperor astonished. "Be welcome, my +esteemed guest!" + +"You looked for your daughter--I also set out in search of my grandson." + +"And I have found her, the dear child!" exclaimed Charles with ineffable +tenderness, again and again kissing the forehead of Thetralde. "Oh, how +I do love her--more than ever before!" And holding the girl close to his +breast the Emperor moved toward the interior of the hut, and threw +himself down upon the moss-bench, broken with fatigue. There he seated +Thetralde upon his knees, and contemplating her with looks of +unspeakable happiness, said: "Come now, my little one, tell me all about +your adventure. How did you lose track of the hunt? How did you resign +yourself to spend the night in this hut?" + +"Father," answered the girl, lowering her eyes and hiding her face on +Charles' breast, "let me collect my thoughts--I want to tell you all +that happened, absolutely everything, without concealing aught." + +After a short interval that followed Thetralde's answer, Vortigern drew +near Amael, who tenderly pressed him to his heart, while, standing at a +little distance, the torch in his hand lighting the scene, the young +Roman, it must be admitted, looked more astonished than enthusiastic at +the continence of Vortigern. + +"Father," Thetralde resumed, raising her head and attaching her candid +looks upon the Emperor of the Franks, "I must tell you everything. Not +so? Everything--absolutely everything?" + +"Yes, my little darling, without omitting anything." But after a +second's reflection, Charles said to Octave: "Plant that torch in the +ground, and watch our horses with this young lad." + +The Roman bowed and obeyed; accompanied by Amael's grandson he stepped +out of the hut. + +"What, father, you send Vortigern out?" remarked Thetralde in an accent +of sweet reproach. "I would on the contrary, have wished him to remain +near us, in order to confirm or complete my story, my dear father." + +"All you tell me, my dear daughter, I shall believe. Speak, speak +without fear before me and the grandfather of the worthy lad." + +"Yesterday," Thetralde began, "I was on the balcony of the palace when +Vortigern rode into the courtyard. Learning that he came hither as a +prisoner, so young, and wounded, besides, I immediately took an interest +in him. When shortly after, he came near being thrown from his horse, +perhaps even killed, I was so frightened that I uttered a cry of dread. +But when Hildrude and myself saw that he proved himself an intrepid +horseman, we threw our nose-gays to him." + +"You both told me how you admired the skilfulness of the lad's +horsemanship, but you said nothing about the throwing of your bouquets. +Well, let us proceed--continue." + +"I certainly was very happy at your return home, good father. Yet, I +must confess to you, it seems to me that my thoughts turned as much on +Vortigern as on yourself. All night my sister and I talked about the +young Breton, about his gracefulness, about his comely face that was at +once sweet and bold--" + +"That is all very well--that is all very well. Let us skip all that, my +daughter. Let us drop the details concerning the lad's looks." + +"Then you object, father, to my telling you all? He made a deep +impression upon us." + +"Let us come to the episode of the chase." + +"It was dawn before I fell asleep, but only to dream about Vortigern. We +saw him again at church. When I was not contemplating his bold and sweet +face, I was praying for the safety of his soul. After mass, when I +learned that there was to be a hunting party, my only fear was that he +might not be one of the party. Judge, then, of my joy, father, when I +saw him in your retinue. Suddenly his horse took fright and carried him +off! Before I could reflect I plied the whip upon my palfrey to join +him. Hildrude followed and tried to pass me. That irritated me. I struck +her horse on the head. The animal bolted and carried her off in another +direction. I was alone when I overtook Vortigern. The mist, then the +rain and thereupon the night fell upon us. We noticed this woodcutter's +hut and a brasier that was almost extinct. We then said to each other: +'It is impossible to find our way back, let us spend the night here.' +Happily we noticed some chestnuts that had dropped on the ground from +the trees. We gathered them, roasted them under the cinders--but we +forgot to eat them--" + +"Because, I suppose, you were both tired, no doubt--and, in order to +take rest, you lay down on this moss-bench, and the lad across the +threshold?" + +"Oh, no, no, my father! Before falling asleep we chatted a good deal, +we disputed a good deal. It was due to our discussion that Vortigern and +myself forgot all about the chestnuts. Thereupon sleep overtook us and +we stretched ourselves to rest." + +"But what was the subject, my child, of the discussion between you and +the lad?" + +"Alack! I had wicked thoughts--those thoughts were combatted by +Vortigern with all his might. It was upon that that our dispute ran. But +I must admit that, after all, he was right. You will never believe me. I +wanted to flee from Aix-la-Chapelle and go to Brittany with +Vortigern--to marry him." + +"To leave me--my daughter--abandon your father--me, who love you so +much?" + +"Those were the very arguments of Vortigern. 'Thetralde, dost thou think +well,' he said to me, 'to leave thy father who loves thee? Wouldst thou +have the regrettable courage to cause him so deep a grief? And as to +myself, whom, as well as my grandfather, he has treated with kindness, +should I be thy accomplice? No! No! Moreover, I am here a prisoner on +parole. To flee would be to disgrace myself. My mother would refuse to +see me.' 'Thy mother loves thee too much not to pardon thee,' I said to +Vortigern; 'my father also will pardon me; he is so good! Did he not +show himself indulgent towards my sisters, who have their lovers as he +has his mistresses? To love can neither hurt nor injure others. Once +married, we shall return to my father. Happy at seeing us again, he will +forget everything else, and we shall live near him as do Eginhard and my +sister Imma.' But Vortigern, ever inflexible, returned incessantly upon +his word as a prisoner and the grief that his flight would cause his +mother and grandfather. His warm tears mingled with mine as he consoled +and chide me for the child that I was. Finally, after our dispute had +lasted a long while, and we had wept a good deal, he said to me: +'Thetralde, it is now late; thou surely must feel fatigued; thou +shouldst lie down on this bed of moss; I shall lay myself across the +entrance with my bare sword at my side, to defend thee, if need be.' I +did begin to feel sleepy; Vortigern covered me with his tunic; I fell +asleep and was dreaming about him when I was awakened by you, my +father." + +The Emperor of the Franks listened to the naïve recital with a mixture +of tenderness, apprehension and grief. At its close he heaved a sigh of +profound relief that seemed to issue from the silent reflection: "What a +danger did not my daughter escape!" This thought soon dominated all the +others that crowded to his mind. Charles again embraced Thetralde +effusively, and said: + +"Dear child, your candor charms me. It makes me forget that even for a +moment you could entertain the thought of running away from your father, +which would have been a mean thing to do." + +"Oh! Vortigern made me renounce the wicked project. And, now, as a +reward to him, you will be good, you will marry us, will you not, +father?" + +"We shall talk later about that. For the present we must think of +regaining the pavilion, where you will rest awhile. We shall depart to +Aix-la-Chapelle. Stay here a moment I have a few words to exchange with +this good old man." + +Charles stepped out of the hut with Amael, and as soon as they were a +few paces away, he turned towards the aged Breton with a radiant face +on which, however, deep concern was depicted: + +"Your grandson is a loyal lad; yours is a family of worthy and brave +people. You saved my grandfather's life; your grandson has respected the +honor of my daughter. I know but too well the dangers that lie, at the +age of these children, in the wake of the first impulse of love. Had +Vortigern yielded, he would have had to pay for it with his life. I am +happy and by far prefer to praise than to punish." + +"Charles, when a few hours ago I expressed to you my uneasiness +concerning Vortigern's absence, you answered me: 'Good! He will have run +across some pretty woodcutter's daughter. Love is meet for his years. +You do not mean to make a monk of the lad?' What, now, if he had treated +your daughter like a woodcutter's child?" + +"By the King of the Heavens! Vortigern would not have left the hut +alive!" + +"Accordingly, it is permissible to dishonor the daughter of a slave, and +yet shall the dishonor of the daughter of an emperor be punished with +death? Both are the children of God, alike in His eyes. Why the +difference in your mind?" + +"Old man, these words are senseless!" + +"You pretend to be a Christian, and you treat us as pagans! My grandson +has conducted himself like an honest man; that is all. Honor is dear to +us Gauls of old Armorica, whose device is: _Never did Breton commit +treason._ Will you render me a favor? I shall be eternally grateful to +you." + +"Speak! What do you wish of Charles?" + +"A short while ago you seemed struck with the beauty of a poor slave +girl. You mean to make her one of your concubines. Be magnanimous +towards the unhappy creature; do not corrupt her; render their freedom +to her and her family; give those people the means to live industriously +and honorably." + +"It shall be so, by the faith of Charles; I promise you. Besides, I +consent to withdraw my troops from your country, provided you pledge to +me your faith as a Breton that, during my life, you will not make any +incursions beyond your own frontiers. Give me your hand, Amael--your +loyal hand in sign of acceptance." + +"Here it is, Charles," promptly answered Amael, grasping the hand +proffered by the Emperor. "Let it be the hand of a traitor, and that it +fall under the axe if our people break the promise! We shall live at +peace with you. If your descendants respect our liberties, we shall live +at peace with them." + +"Amael, it is sworn!" + +"Charles, it is accepted and sworn!" + +"Instead of returning to Aix-la-Chapelle, you and your grandson shall +spend the night in the pavilion of the forest. To-morrow, at early +daybreak, I shall have your baggage forwarded to you, together with an +escort, charged to accompany you as far as the frontiers of Armorica. +You shall depart without delay." + +"Your directions will be followed to the letter." + +"I shall now return to the pavilion alone with my daughter. I shall tell +my courtiers that I found her in the hut. Alack! the calumnies of the +court are cruel. People will not believe in the innocence of Thetralde, +and if, besides, they should learn that she spent a part of the night +with your grandson in that obscure retreat, they will take for granted +all that they now impute to her sisters. Oh! My father's heart bleeds +strangely. I have loved my daughters too much. I have been too indulgent +towards them! And then also, my continuous wars beyond my own kingdom, +together with the affairs of state, have prevented me from watching over +my children. And yet, during my absence, I always left them in the +charge of priests. Neither were they left idle; they embroidered +chasubles for the bishops! But, it seems that our Lord God, who has ever +and otherwise stood at my side, has willed it so, that I be struck in my +family. His will be done! I am an unhappy father!" Charles thereupon +called to the Roman: + +"Octave, nobody--do you understand me, nobody--must know that my +daughter spent a part of the night in this hut with that young man. Evil +tongues do not spare even the chastest and most admirable souls. The +secret of this night is known only by me, my daughter, and these two +Bretons. I am as certain of their discretion as of my own and +Thetralde's. You are lost if but a word of this adventure circulates at +court. It is from you alone that it can have proceeded. If, on the +contrary, you help me to keep the secret, you may rely upon increasing +favors from me." + +"August Emperor, I shall carry that secret with me into my grave." + +"I rely upon it. Fetch me my horse and my daughter's. You are to +accompany us to the hunting pavilion, and thence to Aix-la-Chapelle. I +will place you in command of the escort that I give these two hostages +to return to their own country. I shall furnish you with an order to the +commander of my army in Brittany. You will start to-morrow, early, with +the escort to the pavilion of the forest, and you will thence depart for +Armorica." + +Octave bowed, and the Emperor proceeded, addressing Amael: + +"The moon has risen. It sheds sufficient light upon the route. Jump upon +your horse, with your grandson. Follow this avenue of trees until you +reach a clearing. Wait there. You will shortly be sent for. I shall +despatch my messengers to take you to the pavilion, where you are to +stay until your departure early to-morrow morning. And now, Adieu!" + +Amael returned to his grandson, whom he found in a deep study, seated on +the stump of a tree that bordered the route. The lad was silently +weeping with his face hidden in his hands, and heard not the steps of +his grandfather approaching him. + +"Come, my boy," said Amael to him in a mild and grave voice. "Let us to +horse, and depart." + +"Depart!" exclaimed Vortigern, with a tremor, rising impetuously to his +feet and wiping with his hand the tears that moistened his face. + +"Yes, my boy! To-morrow we start for Brittany, where you will see again +your mother and sister. The nobility of your conduct has borne its +fruit. We are free. Charles recalls his troops from Brittany." + + * * * * * + +Shortly after our return home from Aix-la-Chapelle, my grandfather, +Amael, wrote the above narrative, which I have faithfully joined to the +preceding ones of our family. Myself, Vortigern, buried my grandfather +not long after at the ripe age of one hundred and five years, shortly +after my own marriage with the loving Josseline. Charles the Great died +at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 814. + + + + +PART II. + +THE CONQUEST OF BRITTANY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS. + + +In the year 818, seven years after Amael and his grandson Vortigern left +the court of Charles, the Emperor of the Franks, to return to their home +in Brittany, three riders, accompanied by a footman, were one evening +painfully climbing one of the steep hills of the ridge of the Black +Mountains, that raise their rugged ribs to the southwest of Armorica. +When, having reached the top of the rocky pile over which the path wound +its way, the travelers looked below, they saw at their feet a long chain +of plains and hillocks, some covered with rye and wheat ready for the +harvesters, others running northward like vast carpets of heather. Here +and yonder, vast moors also were perceived stretching out as far as the +eye could follow. A few straggling villages, reached by an avenue of +trees, raised the roofs of their houses in the midst of impassible bogs +that served for natural defences. The panorama was enlivened by herds of +black sheep that browsed over the ruddy heath or the green valleys, +watered by innumerable running streams. Among the green were also seen +steers and cows, and especially a large number of horses of the Breton +stock, strong for the plow, fiery in war. + +The three riders, preceded by the footman, now proceeded to descend the +further slope of the rugged hill. One of the three, clad in +ecclesiastical robes, was Witchaire, considered one of the richest +abbots of Gaul. The vast lands of his almost royal abbey bordered on the +frontiers of Armorica. His two companions, on horseback like himself, +were monks belonging to his dependency, and both wore the garb of the +religious Order of St. Benoit. The two monks rode behind the abbot at a +little distance, leading between them a packsaddle mule loaded with the +baggage of their superior, a man of short stature, sharp eye, and a +smile that was at times pious, at other times cunning. The mountain +guide, a robust, thick-set man in the vigor of life, wore the antique +costume of the Breton Gauls--wide breeches of cloth held at the waist by +a leather belt, a jacket of wool, and, hanging from his shoulders on the +same side with his wallet, a cloak of goat-skin, although the season was +summer. His hair, only partly covered with a woolen cap, fell over his +shoulders. From time to time he leaned upon his _pen-bas_, a long staff +made of holly and terminating in a crook. + +The burning August sun, now at its hottest, darted its rays upon the +guide, the two monks and Abbot Witchaire. Reining in his horse, the +latter said to the guide: + +"The heat is suffocating; these granite rocks radiate it upon us as hot +as if they issued from a furnace; our mounts are exhausted. I decry +yonder, at our feet, a thick forest; could you not lead us to it? We +could then take rest in the shade." + +Karouer, the guide, shook his head, and answered, pointing with his +_pen-bas_ in the direction of the dense woods: "To reach them we would +have to make a leap of two hundred feet, or a circuit of nearly three +leagues over the mountains. Which shall it be?" + +"Let us, then, pursue our route, my trusty guide. But tell us how long +will it take us to arrive in the valley of Lokfern?" + +"Look yonder, below, away below, close to the horizon. Do you see the +last of those bluish crests? That is the Menez-c'Hom, the highest peak +of the Black Mountains. The other peak towards the west, and lying +somewhat nearer, is Lach-Renan. It is between those two peaks that lies +the valley of Lokfern, where Morvan, the husbandman and Chief of +Brittany lives." + +"Are you certain that he will be at his farm-house?" + +"A husbandman always returns to his farm-house after sunset. We shall +find him there." + +"Do you know Morvan personally?" + +"I am of his tribe. I fought under him at the time of our last struggles +against the Franks, when Charles, the Emperor, lived." + +"Is this Morvan married, do you know?" + +"His wife Noblede is the worthy spouse of Morvan. She is of the stock of +Joel. That says everything. We honor and venerate her." + +"Who is that Joel, whom you mentioned?" + +"One of the worthiest men, whose memory Armorica has preserved green. +His daughter, Hena, the Virgin of the Isle of Sen, offered her own life +in sacrifice for the safety of Gaul when the Romans invaded these +parts." + +"I have been told that your people apprehend an invasion of the Franks +in Brittany, and that you are making ready for a declaration of war from +Louis the Pious, son of the great Charles." + +"Have you seen any preparations for war since you crossed our frontier?" + +"I have seen the husbandmen in the fields, the shepherds leading their +flocks, the cities open and tranquil. But it is known that in your +country, woodmen, husbandmen, shepherds and town folks transform +themselves into soldiers at a moment's notice." + +"Yes, when our country is threatened with invasion." + +"And do you apprehend such an invasion?" + +Karouer looked at the abbot fixedly, smiled sarcastically, made no +answer, whistled, and presently broke out into a Breton song, +mechanically whirling his _pen-bas_ as he strode rapidly forward in the +lead of the three monks. + +Night drew on. Karouer and the dignitaries whom he guided, having been +all day on the march, were now approaching one of the highest points on +the mountain path that they had been following, when, struck by an +unexpected spectacle, Witchaire suddenly reined in his horse. + +The sight that took the abbot by surprise was, indeed, startling. A +flame, hardly distinguishable by reason of its great distance, and yet +perceptible on the horizon, whose outlines the dusk had not yet wholly +blotted out, had barely arrested his attention, when, almost +instantaneously, similar tongues of fire gradually shot up from the +distant tops of the long chain of the Black Mountains. The fires gained +in brilliancy and size in the measure that they broke out nearer and +nearer to the spot where the abbot stood. Suddenly, only twenty paces +away from him, the startled prelate perceived a bluish gleam through a +dense smoke. The gleam speedily changed into a brilliant flame, that, +shooting upwards toward the starry sky, spread a light so bright that +the abbot, his monks, his guide, the rocks round about and a good +portion of the crag of the mountain stood illumined as if at noon. A few +minutes later similar bonfires continued to be kindled from hill to +hill, tracing back, as it seemed, the route that the travelers had left +behind, and losing themselves in the distance in the evening haze. The +abbot remained mute with stupefaction. Karouer emitted three times a +gutteral and loud cry resembling that of a night bird. A similar cry, +proceeding from behind the plateau of rocks where the nearest bonfire +was burning, responded to the signal from Karouer. + +"What fires are these that are springing up from hill-top to hill-top?" +the abbot inquired with intense curiosity the moment he recovered from +his astonishment. "It must be some signal." + +"At this moment," answered Karouer, "similar fires are burning from all +the hill-tops of Armorica, from the mountains of Arres to the Black +Mountains and the ocean." + +"But to what purpose?" + +As was his wont, Karouer made no answer to such pointed interrogatories, +but striking up some Breton song, quickened his steps, while he whirled +his _pen-bas_ in the air. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE BRETON CHIEF. + + +The home of Morvan, the husbandman, who was chosen Chief of the Chiefs +of Brittany, was located about the middle of the valley of Lokfern, and +nestled among the last spurs of the Black Mountains. A strong system of +palisades, constructed of tough trunks of oak fastened together by means +of stout cross-beams, and raised on the near side of deep ditches, +defended the approaches of the farm-house. Outside of the fortified +enclosure, a forest of centenarian oaks extended to the north and east; +to the south, green meadows sloped gently towards the windings of a +swift running river that was bordered with beeches and alders. + +The house of Morvan, its contiguous barns, kennels and stables, had the +rough exterior of the Gallic structures of olden days. A sort of rustic +porch shaded the main entrance to the house. Under this porch, and +enjoying the close of the delightful summer day, were Noblede, the +spouse of Morvan, and Josseline, the young wife of Vortigern. The +latter, a radiant woman of smiling beauty, was suckling her latest born, +with her other two children, Ewrag and Rosneven, respectively four and +five years of age, at her side. Caswallan, a Christian druid, an aged +man of venerable appearance, whose beard vied in whiteness with his long +robe, smiled tenderly upon little Ewrag, whom he held on his knees. +Noblede, Morvan's wife and sister of Vortigern, now about thirty years +of age, was a woman of rare comeliness, although her features bore the +stamp of a rooted sadness. Ten years a wife, Noblede had not yet tasted +the sweets of motherhood. Her grave aspect and her high stature recalled +those matrons, who, in the days of Gaul's independence, sat loyally by +the side of their husbands at the supreme councils of the nation.[C] +Noblede and Josseline were spinning, while the other women and daughters +of Morvan's household busied themselves with the preparations for the +evening meal, or in the other domestic occupations, such as replenishing +with forage the stalls that the cattle were to find ready upon their +return from the fields. The Christian druid Caswallan, with Ewrag, the +second child of the blonde Josseline, on his knees, had just finished +making the boy recite his lesson in religion under the following +symbolic forms: + +"White child of the druid, answer me, what shall I tell you?" + +"Tell me the parts of the number three," the child would answer, "make +them known to me, that I may learn them to-day." + +"There are three parts of the world--three beginnings and three ends to +man as to the oak--three celestial kingdoms, fruits of gold, brilliant +flowers and little children who laugh. These three kingdoms, where the +fruits of gold, the brilliant flowers and the children who laugh are +found, my little Ewrag, are the worlds in which those, who in this world +have performed pure and celestial acts, will be successively born again +and will continue to live with ever increasing happiness. Now, what must +we be in order to perform such acts?" + +"We must be wise, good and just," the child would reply. "Furthermore +death must not be feared, because we are born again and again, from +world to world with an ever renewed body. We must love Brittany like a +tender mother--and bravely defend her against her enemies." + +"Yes, my child," broke in Noblede, drawing her brother's child to +herself. "Always remember those sacred words: 'To love and defend +Brittany';" and Morvan's wife tenderly embraced Ewrag. + +"Mother! mother!" cried up little Rosneven, joyfully clapping his hands +and rushing out of the porch followed by his brother Ewrag: "Here is +father!" + +Caswallan, Noblede and Josseline rose at the gladsome cries of the child +and walked out towards two large wagons heavily laden with golden +sheaves, and drawn by a yoke of oxen. + +Morvan and Vortigern were seated in front of one of the wagons +surrounded by a considerable number of men and lads belonging to the +household, or to the tribe of the Chief of the Chiefs, carrying in their +hands the sickles, the forks and the rakes used by the harvesters. At a +little distance behind them came the shepherds with their flocks whose +bells were heard clinking from the distance. Morvan, in the vigor of +life, robust and thick-set, like most of the inhabitants of the Black +Mountains, wore their rustic garb--wide breeches of coarse white +material, and a linen shirt that exposed his sunburnt chest and neck. +His long hair, auburn like his thick beard, framed his manly face. His +forehead was high; his eyes intrepid and piercing. As to Vortigern, the +maturer gravity of manhood, of husband and father, had succeeded the +flower of youth. His looks were expressive of sweet delight at the sight +of the two boys who had ran out to meet him. He jumped down from the +wagon and embraced them affectionately while he looked for his wife and +sister, who, accompanied by Caswallan, were not long in joining him. + +"Dear wife, the harvest will be plentiful," said Morvan to Noblede, and +pointing to the overloaded wagons, he added: "Have you ever seen more +beautiful wheat, or more golden sheaves? Look at them and wonder!" + +"Morvan," put in Josseline, "you are this year harvesting earlier than +customary. We, of the region of Karnak would leave our wheat to ripen on +the stalk fully two weeks longer. Not so, Vortigern?" + +"No, my sweet Josseline," answered her husband, "I shall follow Morvan's +example. We shall return home to-morrow, so as to start taking in the +harvest as soon as possible." + +"I am going to furnish you with still more matter for astonishment," +Morvan proceeded. "Instead of leaving the sheaves in the barn that the +grain may ripen, this wheat that you see there, and that was cropped +only to-day, will be threshed this very night. Vortigern and myself will +not be the only ones to ply the flails on the threshing-floor of the +barn. So, then, Noblede, let us have supper early, and then to work!" + +"What, Morvan!" exclaimed Josseline, "after this tiring day's work, +spent in gathering in the crop, do you and Vortigern mean to spend the +night at work, and threshing, at that?" + +"It will be a cheerful night, my Josseline," put in Vortigern. "While +we shall be threshing the wheat, you will sing us some songs, Caswallan +will recite to us some old legend, and we shall stave in a barrel of +hydromel to cheer the laborers who have come to join us. Work goes hand +in hand with pleasure." + +"Vortigern," the Christian druid said, smiling, "do you, perchance, +think that my arms are so much enfeebled by old age that I could no +longer wield a flail? I mean to help you at work." + +"And we?" put in Josseline, laughing merrily, "we, the daughters and +wives of the field-laborers, did we, perchance, lose the skill of +carrying the wheat to the threshing-floor, or of bagging the grain?" + +"And we?" Ewrag and his brother Rosneven cried in turn, "could not we +also carry a stalk, six stalks, twenty stalks?" + +"Oh! you are brave boys, my little ones," exclaimed Vortigern, embracing +his children, while Morvan said to his wife: + +"Noblede, do not forget to have the guest's chamber in order and +supplied with food." + +"Do you expect any guests, Morvan?" inquired Josseline, with great +curiosity. "They will be welcome; they will assist us at the threshing +to-night." + +"My beloved Josseline," answered the Chief of the Chiefs, smiling, "the +guests whom I expect eat the choicest of wheat, but never take the +trouble of either sowing or harvesting. They belong to a class of people +who live on the fat of the land." + +"The guest's chamber is always ready," replied Noblede; "the floor is +strewn with fresh leaves. Alack! No one occupied it since it was last +occupied by Amael." + +"Worthy grandfather!" exclaimed Vortigern with a sigh. + +"He came to us only to languish a few weeks and pass away." + +"May his memory be blessed, as was his life," said Josseline. "I knew +him only a very short while, but I loved and venerated him like my +father." + +The family of Morvan, together with the rest of his tribe who cultivated +his lands in common with himself, men, women and children, about thirty +in all, presently sat down to a long table, placed in a large hall that +served at once for kitchen, refectory and a place of assembly during the +long nights of the winter. From the walls hung weapons of war and of the +hunt, fishing nets, bridles and horse saddles. Although it was +midsummer, such was the coolness of that region of woods and mountains, +that the heat of the hearth, before which the meats for the supper were +broiled, felt decidedly comfortable to the harvesters. Its flamboyant +light mingled with that cast by the torches of resinous wood, that were +fastened in iron clamps along the four walls. After the industrious +group had finished their repast, Morvan was the first to rise. + +"And now, my boys, to work! The night is clear, we shall thresh the +wheat on the outside floor. Two or three torches planted between the +stones on the edge of the well will give us light until the moon rises. +We shall be through with our task by one o'clock in the morning, we +shall sleep until daybreak, and we shall then return to the fields and +finish taking in the crop." + +The torches, placed at Morvan's orders around the edge of the well, cast +their bright light upon a portion of the yard and buildings that were +within the fortified enclosure. Several men, the women and the children, +took a hand in unloading the wagons, while those who were to do the +threshing, Morvan, Vortigern and the old Caswallan among them, stood +waiting for the grain to be brought to them, their flails in their +hands, having for the sake of comfort, stripped themselves of all their +superfluous clothing and keeping only their breeches and shirts on. The +first bundles of grain were placed in the center of the floor, whereupon +the rapid rhythm of the flails, vigorously wielded by robust and +experienced arms, resounded through the air. Apprehending a speedy war, +the Bretons were hastening to take in their crops and place them under +cover in order to save them from the ravages of the enemy, as well as to +deprive these of food. The grains were to be concealed in underground +caves covered with earth. Morvan, whose forehead began to be moistened +with perspiration, said, while rapidly handling the flail: + +"Caswallan, you promised us a song. Take a little rest and sing. It will +inspire us in our work." + +The Christian druid sang "Lez-Breiz," an old national song that ever +sounded sweet on the ears of the Bretons. It began thus: + + "Between a Frankish warrior and Lez-Breiz + A combat was arranged; + It was arranged with due formalities.-- + May God give the victory to the Breton, + And gladsome tidings to his county.-- + That day Lez-Breiz said to his young attendant: + Rise, furbish up my handsome casque; my lance and my sword; + I mean to redden them in the blood of the Franks.-- + I shall make them jump this day!" + +"Old Caswallan," said one of the laborers when the druid had finished +the long and inspiring strain that warmed the blood of his hearers with +martial ardor, "let the accursed Franks come again, and we shall say, +like Lez-Breiz: 'With the aid of our two arms, let us make them jump +again to-day'--" + +A furious barking of the shepherd dogs, that for some little time had +been emitting low and intermittent growls, interrupted at this moment +the remarks of the laborers, and all turned their eyes towards the gate +of the enclosure, whither the dogs had precipitated themselves +furiously. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ABBOT AND BRETON. + + +The strangers whose approach the dogs announced were Abbot Witchaire, +his two monks and his guide Karouer. Preceded by the guide, who pacified +the alarm of the watchful animals, the clerical cavalcade rode into the +enclosure, while Karouer informed the abbot: + +"This is the house of Morvan. We have arrived at our destination. You +may now dismount." + +"What are those torches yonder for?" asked the prelate descending from +his horse, the reins of which he threw over to one of his monks. "What +is that muffled sound I hear?" + +"It is the sound of the flails. Doubtlessly Morvan is threshing the +grain that he has harvested. Come, I shall lead you to him." + +Abbot Witchaire and his guide approached the group of laborers, upon +whom the torches cast a clear light. Morvan, intently at work, and the +noise of the flails deafening the sound of the steps and voices of the +new arrivals, failed to hear them. Not until Karouer had tapped the +Chief of the Chiefs upon the shoulder in order to draw the latter's +attention to him, did Morvan turn to look. Recognizing Karouer, the +Chief of the Chiefs stopped a moment and said: + +"Oh! Is that you, Karouer? What tidings do you bring from our man?" + +"I bring him to you in person," answered Karouer, pointing to his +traveling companion. "He stands before you in flesh and bone." + +"Are you the Abbot Witchaire?" asked Morvan, slightly out of breath with +the heavy work that he had been performing; and crossing his robust arms +over the handle of his flail, he added: "As I expected your visit, I +have had supper prepared for you. Come to table." + +"I prefer first to speak to you." + +"Noblede," said Morvan, wiping the perspiration that inundated his +forehead with the back of his hand, "a torch, my dear wife!" And turning +to the abbot: "Follow me." + +Taking up one of the torches that were stuck at the edge of the well, +Noblede preceded her husband and Abbot Witchaire to the chamber that was +reserved for guests. Two large beds stood ready, as also a big table +furnished with cold meats, milk, bread and fruit. After placing the +torch into one of the iron clamps fastened in the wall, Noblede was +about to withdraw when Morvan said to her in a significant tone: + +"Dear wife, come and kiss me good night when the threshing is done." + +A look from Noblede informed her husband that he was understood, and she +stepped out of the guest's chamber where Morvan remained alone with +Abbot Witchaire. The abbot immediately addressed the Chief of the +Chiefs: + +"Morvan, I greet you. I am the bearer to you of a message from the King +of the Franks, Louis the Pious, son of Charles the Great." + +"And what is that message?" + +"It is couched in but few words:--The Bretons occupy a province of the +Empire of the King of the Franks, and refuse to pay him tribute in +homage to his sovereignty. Besides, the Breton clergy, generally +infected with a leaven of old druidic idolatry, denies the supremacy of +the Archbishop of Tours. Such are the consequences of that regrettable +heresy, of which Lambert, Count of Nantes, wrote to King Louis the Pious +as follows: 'The Breton nation is proud and indomitable; all that there +is Christian about them is the name; as to the Christian faith, its cult +and works, they would be searched for in vain in Brittany.' Wishing to +put an end to a rebellion so outrageous both to the Catholic Church and +the royal authority, King Louis the Pious orders the Breton people to +pay the tribute that they owe to the sovereignty of the Frankish Empire, +and to submit themselves to the apostolic decisions of the Archbishop of +Tours. In case of failure to comply, King Louis the Pious will, by means +of his invincible arms, ruin the country and compel the obedience of the +Breton people." + +"Abbot Witchaire," Morvan answered after a few moments' reflection, +"Amael, the grandfather of Vortigern, my wife's brother, entered into an +agreement with the Emperor Charles to the effect that, provided we held +ourselves within our own borders, there never would be any war between +us and the Franks. We kept our promise, so did Charles. His son, whom +you call 'The Pious,' has not troubled us until now. If to-day he +demands tribute from us, he violates the provisions of the compact." + +"Louis the Pious is King by divine right, sovereign master of Gaul. +Brittany is part of Gaul, consequently Brittany belongs to him and must +pay him tribute." + +"We will pay tribute to no king. As to what regards the clergy, I have +this to say to you: Before their arrival in Brittany the country never +was invaded. Since a century ago, all that has changed. It was to be +expected. Whoever sees the black robe of a priest, soon sees the glint +of a Frank's sword." + +"You speak truly. The Catholic priest is everywhere the precursor of +royalty." + +"We now have but too many of these precursors. Despite their continuous +quarrels with the Archbishop of Tours, the good priests are rare, the +bad ones numerous. At the time of the last war, several of your +churchmen acted as guides to the Franks, while others seduced some of +our tribes into treason by making them believe that to resist your kings +was to incur the anger of heaven. Despite such acts of treason, we +defended our liberty then; we will defend it again both against the +machinations of the clergy and the swords of the Franks." + +"Morvan, you look like a sensible man. Is it proposed to enslave you? +No! To dispossess you of your lands? No! What is it that Louis the Pious +demands? Merely that you pay him tribute in homage to his sovereignty. +Nothing more!" + +"That is too much--and it is iniquitous!" + +"Consider the frightful misfortunes to which Brittany will expose +herself if she refuses to acknowledge the sovereignty of Louis the +Pious. Can you prefer to see your fields laid waste, your crops +destroyed, your cattle led away, your own house torn down, your fellows +reduced to slavery--can you prefer that to the voluntary payment of a +few gold sous contributed by you into the treasury of the King of the +Franks?" + +"I certainly would prefer to pay even twenty gold sous, rather than be +ruined." + +"It is not merely your own earthly possessions that are at stake. You +have a wife, a family, friends. Would you, out of vain pride, expose so +many beings, dear to your heart, to the horrible dangers of war, of a +war of extermination, of a war without mercy, all the more when, as you +must admit, you can no longer find in the Breton people the indomitable +spirit that once was its distinctive feature?" + +"No," answered Morvan with a somber and pensive mien, his elbows resting +on his knees and his forehead hidden in his hands; "no, the Breton +people are no longer what they once were." + +"To my mind, the change is one of the triumphs of the Catholic Church. +In your eyes it is an evil. But, if evil it be, it is a fact, and you +are bound to recognize it. Brittany, once invincible, has been several +times invaded by the Franks during the last century. What has happened +before will happen again. And yet, notwithstanding the mistrust that you +entertain of your own powers of resistance, notwithstanding the +certainty of succumbing, could you still wish to engage in the struggle +in lieu of paying a tribute that curtails in nothing, either your own +liberty or that of your people?" + +Shaken by the insidious arguments of the priest, Morvan remained silent +for a moment; after a short struggle with himself, he asked: "How high +will be the tribute that your King demands?" + +Witchaire thrilled with joy at Morvan's question. He concluded the +Breton had decided in favor of base submission. At that juncture Noblede +entered the apartment to give her husband the good-night kiss. At sight +of her the Breton blushed. He allowed his wife to approach him without +affectionately advancing to meet her, as was his wont. The Breton woman +almost guessed the cause of the embarrassed manner of Morvan, and of the +triumphant looks of the Frankish abbot. Concealing her grief, the woman +walked to her husband, who remained seated, and kissed his hand. A +tremor shook the Breton chief's frame; his will, shaken for a moment, +regained its own command; he leaped up and passionately clasped his wife +to his breast. Happy and proud at feeling the throbbing of her own heart +answered by her husband's, the Gallic woman cried, casting a look of +contempt at the priest: + +"Whence comes this stranger? What does he want? Is he a messenger of +peace or of war? Race of priests, race of vipers." + +"This monk is sent by the King of the Franks," answered the Breton +chief; "I do not yet know whether he brings peace or war." + +Noblede looked at her husband with increasing astonishment, when the +abbot, considering the moment favorable to obtain the desired answer +from Morvan, said: + +"I am to return immediately. What answer shall I carry to Louis the +Pious?" + +"You cannot resume your journey without taking some rest," Noblede +hastened to observe, while, with her eyes, she interrogated her husband, +who seemed to have relapsed into incertitude. "It will be time enough to +depart early in the morning. Remain here over night to recover your +strength." + +"No, no!" exclaimed the abbot with impatience, fearing the influence of +the Gallic woman upon her husband. "I return immediately. Shall I take +to Louis the Pious words of peace or of war? I must have a categoric +answer." + +The Breton chief, however, rose from his seat, and walking towards the +door of the apartment answered Witchaire: + +"I shall use the few remaining hours of the night to think the matter +over; to-morrow you will have my answer." Saying this, and despite the +insistence of the abbot upon an immediate answer, Morvan left the +guest's room, accompanied by Noblede. + +A few minutes later, Morvan, his wife, Vortigern and Caswallan, +assembled at a secluded spot, under the spreading branches of a tall oak +tree not far from the house, to consider the subject of Abbot +Witchaire's errand to Brittany. + +"What does this messenger of the King of the Franks want?" asked +Vortigern of Morvan. + +"If we consent to pay tribute to Louis the Pious and to recognize him as +our sovereign, we shall escape an implacable war. I know not what answer +to make. I hesitate before the prospect of the disasters that will +attend a new struggle--the massacres, the fires." + +"Hesitate! Yield to threats!" + +"Brother," answered Morvan with deep sadness, "the Breton people are no +longer what they once were." + +"You are right!" put in Caswallan. "The breath of the Catholic Church, +so deadly to the freedom of the people, has passed over this unhappy +country also. The patriotism of a large number of our tribes has cooled. +But, on the other hand, should you consent to submit to a shameful +peace, then Brittany will be peopled with slaves before a century shall +have rolled away." + +"Brother," added Vortigern, "would you yield to threats, instead of +reviving the spirit of Brittany in a sacred war against the foreigner? +That would be to debase ourselves forever! To-day we would pay tribute +to the king of the Franks, in order to avoid a war; to-morrow we would +have to yield to him one-half of our patrimony, in order that he may +allow us to retain the rest; after that we would have to submit to +slavery with all its degradation and wretchedness, in order to be +allowed to preserve our lives. The chain will have been riveted to our +limbs, and our children will have to drag it during all the centuries to +come!" + +"Unhappy Brittany!" exclaimed Noblede. "Have we fallen so low as to +begin to measure the length of our chains? Look at these three brave, +wise and tried men, wasting their time in discussing the insolence of a +Frankish king! There is but one word you can answer with--WAR! Oh, +degenerate Gauls! Eight centuries ago, Caesar, the greatest captain of +the world, and at the head of a formidable army, also sent messengers to +summon Brittany to pay him tribute. The Roman messengers were answered +with a beating, and chased with contempt out of the city of Vannes. That +same evening, Hena, our ancestress, offered her blood to Hesus for the +deliverance of Gaul, and the cry of war resounded from one end of the +country to the other! Albinik the sailor, together with his wife Meroë, +performed a journey of more than twenty leagues across the most fertile +regions of Gaul, but then burnt down by a conflagration that the people +themselves had kindled. Caesar saw before him only a waste of +smouldering ruins, and on the day of the battle of Vannes our whole +family--women and young girls, children and old men--fought or died like +heroes! Oh! These ancestors of ours worried their heads little about the +'dangers of battle'! To live free or die--such was their simple faith, +and they sealed it with their blood, and winged their flight to those +unknown worlds where they continue to live!" + +Noblede was addressing Morvan, Vortigern and Caswallan in these terms, +when the abbot, who had left his apartment and inquired after Morvan +from the people about the house, approached the oak under which the +Breton family was in council. Although the moon was shining in all her +splendor, the first glimmerings of the dawn, always early in the end of +August, already began to crimson the horizon. + +"Morvan," said Abbot Witchaire, "day is about to dawn. I can wait no +longer. What is your answer to the messenger of Louis the Pious?" + +"Priest, my answer will not burden your memory: RETURN AND TELL THE KING +THAT WE WILL PAY HIM TRIBUTE--IN IRON." + +"You want war! Very well, you shall have it without mercy or pity!" +cried the abbot furiously, and leaping on his horse which the monks held +ready for him he added, turning again to the Chief of the Chiefs: +"Brittany will be laid waste with fire and sword! Not a house will be +left standing! The last day of this people has arrived!" + +As the priest uttered these words, his gestures seemed to call down +curses and anathemas upon the Breton chief. Angrily putting the spurs to +his horse and followed by the two monks, the prelate rode rapidly away. + +The abbot had hardly been a quarter of an hour on the road, when he +heard the gallop of an approaching horse behind him. Turning, he saw a +rider coming towards him at full speed. It was Vortigern. The abbot drew +in his reins, yielding to a last ray of hope. "May your coming be +propitious. Morvan regrets, I hope, the insensate resolution that he +took?" + +"Morvan regrets that in your hurry you and your two monks should have +departed without a guide. You might easily lose your way in our +mountains. I am to accompany you as far as the city of Guenhek. There I +shall furnish you with a safe guide for the rest of the journey; he will +take you to our frontiers." + +"Young man, you are, I am told, the brother of Morvan's wife. I conjure +you, in the name of the safety of Brittany, to endeavor to change the +insensate and fatal resolution of this man who happens to be the chief +of your nation." + +"Monk, the fires lighted last night on our mountains, and which, no +doubt, you must have seen, were the signals of alarm, given to our +tribes to prepare for war. Your King wants war--let his will be done. +But, now, answer me a question. You come from the court at +Aix-la-Chapelle. Could you tell me what has become of the daughters of +the Emperor Charles?" + +The abbot cast a look of surprise at Vortigern: "What is it to you what +may have become of the Emperor's daughters?" + +"It is now about eight years ago that I accompanied my grandfather to +Aix-la-Chapelle. I there saw the daughters of Charles. That is the +reason for my curiosity concerning them." + +"The daughters of Charles have been consigned to nunneries by order of +their brother, Louis the Pious,"[D] was the sententious answer of +Witchaire. "May they, by dint of repentance, merit the pardon of heaven +for their past and abominable libertinage." + +"And Thetralde, the youngest of Charles' daughters, did she share the +fate of her sisters?" + +"Thetralde died long ago." + +"She died!" exclaimed Vortigern, unable to conceal his emotion. "Poor +child! So beautiful--and to die so young!" + +"She, at least, never gave Charles cause to blush." + +"And what was the cause of the death of that child? Could you tell me?" + +"It is not known. Up to her fifteenth year she enjoyed a nourishing +health. Suddenly she began to languish, grew ill, and barely in her +sixteenth year, her light went out, in the arms of her father, who never +ceased weeping for her. But this is quite enough about the daughters of +Charles the Great. Once more, will you or will you not, endeavor to +cause Morvan to abandon a resolution that can have for its only effect +the ruin of this country? You are silent--do you refuse?" + +Absorbed in the thoughts that the fate of the ill-starred Thetralde had +started in his mind, Vortigern remained mute and melancholy. His +thoughts flew to the young girl who died so young, and the touching +remembrance of whom had long remained alive with him. Impatient at the +prolonged silence of the Breton, the abbot put his hand on Vortigern's +shoulder, and repeated his question: + +"I ask you, yes or no, will you endeavor to cause Morvan to renounce his +insensate resolution?" + +"Your King wants war; he shall have war." + +And Vortigern, relapsing into his own meditations, rode silently beside +Witchaire until the two reached the city of Guenhek. There Vortigern +entrusted the guidance of the abbot to an experienced guide, and while +the messenger of Louis the Pious proceeded towards the frontier of +Brittany, the brother of Noblede hastened back and rejoined his wife +Josseline at the house of Morvan. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE DEFILE OF GLEN-CLAN. + + +The defile of Glen-Clan is the only practicable passage across the last +links of the Black Mountains--a mountain chain that constitutes a +veritable girdle of granite as a natural protection to the heart of +Brittany. The defile of Glen-Clan is so narrow that a wagon can barely +thread it; it is so steep that six yoke of oxen are barely able to drag +a wagon up its craggy incline, from the top of which a stone of +considerable size would roll rapidly down to the bottom of the pass--a +pass cut, like the bed of a mountain torrent, at the feet of immense +rocks that rise on either side perpendicular over a hundred feet in the +air. + +A distant rumbling noise, confused at first, and becoming more and more +distinct as it draws nearer and nearer, disturbs one day, shortly after +the angry departure of Abbot Witchaire from Brittany, the otherwise +profound silence of the solitude. By little and little the dull tramp of +cavalry is distinguished; presently also the clanking of iron arms upon +iron armor, and finally the rythmic tread of large troops of foot +soldiers, the lumbering of wagon wheels jolting upon the stony ground, +the neighing of horses and the bellowing of yoke-oxen. All these various +sounds draw nearer, grow louder, and are finally blended into one steady +roar. They announce the approach of an army corps of considerable +proportions. Suddenly the mournful and prolonged cry of a night bird is +heard from the crest of the rocks that overhang the defile. Other +similar, but more distant cries answer the first signal, like an echo +that loses itself in the distance. Silence ensues thereupon--except for +the tumultuous din of the advancing army corps. A small troop appears at +the entrance of the tortuous passage; a monk on horseback guides the +scouting party. At the monk's side rides a warrior of tall stature, clad +in rich armor. His white buckler, on which three eagle's talons are +designed, hangs to one side from the pommel of his saddle, while an iron +mace dangles from the other. Behind the Frankish chief ride several +cavalrymen accompanied by about a score of Saxon archers, +distinguishable by their long quivers. + +"Hugh," says the chief of the warriors to one of his men, "take with you +two horsemen, and let five or six archers precede you to make certain +that there is no ambush to fear. At the slightest sign of an attack fall +back upon us and give the alarm. I do not wish to entangle the gross of +my troop in this defile without the necessary precautions." + +Hugh obeys his chief. The little vanguard quickens its step and soon +disappears beyond one of the windings of the pass. + +"Neroweg, the measure is wise," observes the monk. "One could not +advance with too much precaution into this accursed country of Brittany, +where I have lived long enough to know that it is extremely dangerous." + +"At the end of this defile, I am told, we enter upon even ground." + +"Yes, but before that we shall have to cross the marsh of Peulven and +the forest of Cardik; we then arrive at the vast moor of Kennor, the +rendezvous of the two other armed bodies of Louis the Pious, who are +marching to that point across the river Vilaine and over the defile of +Mount Orock, as we are to penetrate through this one. Morvan will be +attacked from three sides, and will not be able to resist our forces." + +"I marvel that so important a pass as this is not defended." + +"I furnished you the reason when I delivered to you Morvan's plan of +campaign, that was forwarded to me by Kervor, a pious Catholic who came +over to the Frankish side and submitted to the authority of our King. He +is the chief of the southern tribes whose territory we have just +crossed." + +"I loved to see those people so docile to the priests; they furnished us +with supplies, and at your voice knelt down as we passed." + +"At the time of the other wars you would have dropped fully one-half of +your troops in this region so cut up with bogs, hedges and woods. The +change between now and then is great. The Catholic faith penetrates +little by little these people, formerly so intractable. We have preached +to them submission to Louis the Pious, and menaced them with the fires +of hell if they attempted to resist your arms." + +"Indeed, more than one of the troopers of the old bands who fought here +at the time of Charles the Great, have told me they could no longer +recognize the Bretons, who, in their days, were almost invincible. But +for all your explanations, monk, I cannot understand how this pass comes +to be abandoned." + +"And yet nothing is simpler. According to his plan of campaign, Morvan +counted with the resistance of the tribes that we have just crossed. In +one day, without drawing your sword, you have cleared a track that would +otherwise have cost you three days' hard fighting, and a fourth of your +troops. Morvan, never apprehending your early arrival at the defile of +Glen-Clan, will not think of having it occupied until this evening, or +to-morrow. He has not enough forces at his disposal to place them where +they would lie idle while he himself is being attacked from two other +sides by as many army corps." + +"To that argument I have nothing to say, my father in Christ, you know +the country better than I. If this war succeeds, I shall have my share +of the conquered territory; and, according to the promise of Louis the +Pious, I shall become a powerful seigneur in Brittany, as my elder +brother, Gonthran, is in Auvergne." + +"And you will not forget to endow the Church." + +"I shall not be ungrateful to the priests, good father. I shall employ a +part of the booty in building a chapel to St. Martin, for whom our +family has ever entertained a particular devotion. Could you, who are +well acquainted with the customs of the Bretons, tell me what corners +they hide their money in? It is claimed that they remove all their +treasures when they are forced to flee from their houses, and that they +bury them in inaccessible hiding places. Is that so?" + +"When we shall have arrived in the heart of the country, I shall +acquaint you with the means to discover those treasures, which are, +almost always, concealed at the foot of certain druid stones, for which +these pagans preserve an idolatrous reverence." + +"But where shall we find those stones? By what signs are they to be +recognized?" + +"That is my secret, Neroweg. It will become _ours_ after we shall have +reached the heart of the country." + +Thus conversing, the monk and the Frankish chief slowly ascend the +craggy slope of the defile. From time to time, some of the horsemen, or +foot soldiers, detached as scouts, ride back to acquaint Neroweg with +their observations. Finally, Hugh himself returns and informs his master +that there is nothing to cause any apprehension on the score of an +ambuscade. Completely reassured by these reports, and by the +explanations of the monk, Neroweg gives the order for the advance of his +troops, the footmen first, the horsemen next, then the baggage, and last +of all a rear corps of foot soldiers. + +The army corps breaks up and enters the pass that is so narrow as to +allow a passage to only four men abreast. The long and winding column of +men covered with iron, crowded together, and moving slowly, presents a +strange spectacle from the top of the rocks that dominate the narrow +route. It might be taken for some gigantic serpent with iron scales, +deploying its sinuous folds in a ravine cut between two walls of +granite. The misgivings of the Franks, somewhat alarmed when they first +began threading their way through a passage so propitious to an ambush, +are presently removed and make place for unquestioning confidence. +Already the vanguard that precedes Neroweg and the monk is drawing near +the issue of the defile, while at the other end the baggage wagons, +drawn by oxen, begin to set themselves in motion followed by the rear +guard that consists of Thuringian horsemen and Saxon archers. The last +wagons and the rear guard have barely entered the defile, when suddenly +the lugubrious cry of the night bird, resembling that which had greeted +the first arrival of the Frankish army, resounds again, and is echoed +from peak to peak, along the whole length of the overtopping rocks. +Immediately thereupon, pushed by invisible arms, several enormous +boulders detach themselves from the surrounding rocks that an instant +before seemed a solid part of themselves, roll and bound with the rattle +of thunder from the top of the crest down to the foot of the mountain, +and fall crashing upon the wagons, crushing a large number of soldiers +to death, mutilating many more and disabling the train. In their +paroxysms of death, or rendered furious by their wounds, the oxen crowd +upon or roll over one another, and throw the rear guard of the Franks +into such frightful disorder that it is wholly unable to make another +step in advance; it is cut off from the gross of the troops by the +lumber in its way; it is reduced to utter impotence. All along the rest +of the length of the defile of Glen-Clan the Franks are in similar +plight. All along the line, fragments of rocks roll down from the +overtopping crests, crushing and decimating the compact mass of soldiers +below. The gigantic serpent of iron is mutilated, cut into bleeding +sections; it writhes convulsively at the bottom of the ravine, while +from the summits on either side, now crowned with a swarm of Bretons, +who kept themselves until then concealed, a hailstorm of arrows, +boar-spears and stones rains down upon the bewildered, panic-stricken +and impotent Frankish cohorts, caught and hemmed in between the two +granite walls, from whose tops our men deal prompt and unavoidable death +to their invaders. Vortigern is in command of these resolute and +watchful Bretons. His bow in one hand, his quiver by his side, not one +of his bolts misses its mark. + +The butchery is frightful! The carnage superb! The Gallic war-songs and +cries of triumph from above answer the imprecations of the Franks from +below. A frightful butchery! + +A superb carnage! It lasts as long as our men have a stone to throw, a +bolt or a spear to hurl at the foe. His own, and the munitions of his +companions being exhausted, Vortigern cries down from the summit of the +rocks to the frantic Franks below, accompanying the cry with a gesture +of defiance: + +"We will thus defend our soil, inch by inch; every step you take will be +marked by your blood or our own; all our tribes are not like those of +Kervor!" + +Saying this, Vortigern struck up the martial song of his ancestor +Schanvoch: + + "This morning we asked: + 'How many are there of these Franks? + How many are there of these barbarians?' + This evening we say: + 'How many were there of these Franks? + How many were there of these barbarians?'"[E] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MARSH OF PEULVEN. + + +Vast is the marsh of Peulven. To the east and the south its shape is +like a bay. From that side its edges are bordered by the skirts of the +dense forest of Cardik. To the north and west, it waters the gentle +slopes of the hills that succeed upon the last spurs of the Black +Mountains, whose tops, empurpled by the rays of the westering sun, rise +in the distant horizon. A jetty, or tongue of land that runs into the +edge of the forest, traverses the marsh through its whole length. +Silence is profound in this desert place. The stagnant waters reflect +the inflamed tints of the ruddy twilight. From time to time flocks of +curlews, herons and other aquatic birds, rise from amidst the reeds that +cover the marsh in spots, hover about and fly upward, emitting their +plaintive cries. Several Frankish horsemen appear from the side of the +mountain. They climb the hill, reach its top, and rein in their horses. +They sweep the marsh with their eyes, examine it for a moment, then turn +their horses' heads and ride back to join Neroweg and the monk, whose +forces, decimated shortly before in the defile of Glen-Clan, have been +subsequently harassed without let on their further march by little +Breton bands, who, placed in ambush behind hedges, or in ditches covered +with dry wood, unexpectedly fell upon either the vanguard or the rear +guard of the Franks, and, after bloody encounters, again vanished in +that region so interspersed with obstacles of all sorts, impracticable +for cavalry, and with which the Frankish foot soldiers are so utterly +unfamiliar that they ventured not to separate themselves from the main +column, ever fearing to fall into some fresh ambush. On horseback behind +the monk, Neroweg stands on the summit of a hill not far behind the one +that the scouts have just ascended. He awaits their return in order to +continue his march. The vanguard has halted at a little distance from +the chief. Further away rest the bulk of his troops. A small detachment +of the rear guard was ordered to take its stand about a league further +back in order to guard the baggage, the wagons and the wounded of the +sorely harassed army. + +The lines on the face of the Frankish chief denote deep concern. He says +to the monk: + +"What a war! What a war! I have fought against the Northmans, when they +attacked our fortified camps at the confluence of the Somme and the +Seine. Those accursed pirates are terrible foes. They are as dashing in +attack as they are cautious in retreat, and they ever find a safe +shelter in the light craft in which they come over the seas of the North +as far south as Gaul. But by St. Martin! these accursed Bretons are +fuller of the devil, and harder to get at than even the pirates! They +were a source of trouble to Charles the great Emperor; they have become +the desolation of his son!" And Neroweg repeats dejectedly: "What a war! +What a war!" + +The monk turns upon his saddle, and stretching out his hand in the +direction traversed by the Frankish troop, says to Neroweg: + +"Look toward the west!" + +Turning his eyes in the direction indicated by the priest, the Frankish +chief notices behind him tall columns of ruddy smoke rising at intervals +from the hills that the army has left behind it. "Look yonder! +Everywhere a conflagration marks our passage. The burgs and villages, +abandoned by the fleeing inhabitants, have, at my orders, been delivered +to the flames. The Bretons have not, like the Northman pirates, the +resource of vessels on which to flee with their booty back to the ocean. +We are driving the fleeing population before us. The two other army +corps of Louis the Pious are, from their side, following similar +tactics. Accordingly, we and they will meet to-morrow morning at the +village of Lokfern. There we will find, driven back and heaped together, +the populations that have been attacked from the south, the east and the +north during these last days. There, surrounded by a circle of iron, +they will be either annihilated or reduced to slavery! Ah! This time +without fail, Brittany, never before overcome, will be subjected to the +Catholic Church and to the power of the Franks. What if your soldiers +have been decimated in the struggle for the triumph of the faith and +royalty! The troops that you still have, will, when joined to the other +army corps, suffice to exterminate the Bretons!" + +"Monk," answers Neroweg impatiently, "your words do not console me for +the death of so many brave Frankish warriors whose bones have been left +to bleach in the defile of Glen-Clan and on the hills of this accursed +country!" + +"Rather envy their fate. They have died for religion; they are now in +paradise, in the midst of a chorus of seraphim." + +Neroweg shrugs his shoulders with an air of incredulity, and after a +moment of silence proceeds: "You promised to point out to me where +these pagans conceal their treasures." + +"On the other side of the marsh of Peulven which we are now to traverse, +lies a vast forest in which a large number of druid stones are found. +Have the earth removed at their foot, and you will find large sums of +money in silver and gold, and many precious articles that have been +hidden there since the beginning of the war." + +"When will we arrive at that forest?" + +"This evening before nightfall." + +"I do not wish to risk my troops in that forest, and fall into another +ambush like the one of the defile!" cries Neroweg. "The day is drawing +to its close. We shall encamp to-night in the midst of the bare hills +where we now are, and where no surprise is to be feared." + +"Here are your scouts back," observes the monk to the Frankish chief. +"Interrogate them before you make up your mind definitely." + +"Neroweg," reports one of the riders who had scouted to the edge of the +marsh, "as far as the eye reaches, nothing is seen on the marsh; there +is no sign of any men; there is not a boat in sight. On the shores there +is not a single hut, and there is no evidence of any entrenchment." + +Impatient to judge by himself of the nature of the field, the Frankish +chief, followed by the monk, immediately rides forward and reaches the +top of the hill shortly before occupied by the scouts. From the eminence +Neroweg beholds a vast expanse of marshy ground in whose numerous pools +of stagnant water the last rays of the sinking sun are mirrored. The +jetty, covered with sward and lined with a thick fringe of reeds, +reaches clear to the other side, and is lost on the edge of the forest. +"There is not the slightest fear of an ambush in crossing this +solitude," says Neroweg with visible mental relief. "The march across +can only take up half an hour, at the most." + +"We have about an hour more of daylight left us," observes the monk. +"The forest you see yonder is called the forest of Cardik. It stretches +far away to the right and left of the marsh, seeing that, towards the +west, it reaches the borders of the Armorican Sea. But that portion of +the forest that faces the jetty is at the utmost a quarter of a league +long. We could easily put it behind us before night, and we would then +be on the moor of Kennor, an immense plain where you could encamp in +absolute security. To-morrow at daybreak if it should please you, we can +ride back into the forest and rummage at the foot of the druid stones +for the treasures hidden there by the Bretons. Glory to your arms, and +may the booty be large!" + +After a few minutes of hesitation, Neroweg, tempted by cupidity, sends a +man of his escort to give to his troops the order to march and traverse +the jetty, a narrow walk of about three feet wide, perfectly even, +covered with thin grass, and lying in plain view from one end to the +other. Neroweg feels easy in mind. Nevertheless, remembering the rocks +of Glen-Clan, he prudently orders several horsemen to precede the troops +by about a hundred paces. Marching behind their chief, Neroweg's troops +begin to defile along the jetty, which soon is covered with soldiers +from end to end. Massed from the foot to the top of the hill, behind the +advancing column, are the last detachments of Neroweg's army. They break +ranks as fast as it is their turn to enter upon the passage. + +Suddenly, from the midst of the clumps of reeds that rise at irregular +intervals along the length of the tongue of land, the cry of +night-birds goes up--cries identical with those that had resounded from +the summits of Glen-Clan. Upon the signal, the muffled sounds of rapid +hatchet strokes are heard. They teem to be the answer given to the cries +of the night-birds. Instantly the seemingly solid walk sinks at scores +of places under the feet of the marching soldiers. Woe is those who +happen to find themselves over these hidden traps, that are constructed +of wooden beams and strong chains concealed under a layer of sward! The +scheme, devised by Vortigern, proves successful. The movable bridges +can, at will, either support the weight of the troops that march over +them, or tip over under their tread, by the dexterous knocking from +under the loose boards the wooden pegs that are their only support. + +Plunged in the water up to their necks, Vortigern and a large number of +stout-hearted men of his tribe have held themselves motionless, mute and +invisible in the center of the clumps of reeds that border the jetty +near each of the traps. When the jetty is entirely covered with Frankish +soldiers, the hatchets are, at a signal, plied with energy; the pegs +drop out; and the passage is suddenly cut up by scores of gaps twenty +feet wide. Pell-mell foot soldiers, cavalrymen and their horses tumble +to the bottom of these suddenly opened ditches, and are received +thereupon by the sharp points of piles providently sunk at the bottom. + +At the sight of these death-dealing traps, suddenly gaping before them +at their feet, and at the sound of the wild cries and imprecations +uttered by the wounded and by those who are being pushed forward into +the abysses by the crowding ranks behind, a tremendous disorder, +followed by a panic, spreads among the Franks. Fearing the path to be +everywhere undermined, the soldiers crowd back and forward upon one +another in a frenzy of despair. The frightened horses rear, tumble down, +or rush furiously into the marsh where they vanish together with their +riders. The confusion and rout being at its height, the Bretons rise +from their places of concealment among the reeds, and hurl promiscuously +a shower of bolts upon the confused heaps of soldiers, now rendered +insane with fear, and in their panic either trampling upon one another, +or themselves being trampled upon by their uncontrollable steeds. Other +war-crys respond from a distance to the war-cries struck up by Vortigern +and his men. A troop of Bretons issues from the forest and ranks itself +in battle array at the border of the marsh ready to dispute the passage +if the Franks dare to attempt it The sight of these fresh foes carries +the panic of Neroweg's troops to its acme. Instead of marching onward +towards the edge of the forest, the front rank faces about, anxious only +to join the body of the army that still finds itself massed at the +entrance of the fatal causeway. The rush is effected with such fury that +the deep trenches are speedily filled with the bodies of a mass of +wounded, dead and dying warriors. The heaped-up corpses soon serve as a +bridge to the fleeing Franks, whose rear the Breton bolts assail +unpityingly. At the spectacle of the routed Franks, Vortigern and his +braves strike up anew the war song with which they had assailed the ears +of the distracted Franks at the defile of Glen-Clan: + + "This morning we asked: + 'How many are there of these Franks? + How many are there of these barbarians?' + This evening we say: + 'How many were there of these Franks? + How many were there of these barbarians?' + Victory and Glory to Hesus!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FOREST OF CARDIK. + + +"What a war! What a war!" exclaim the warriors of Louis the Pious, +leaving at every step some of their companions behind among the rocks +and the marshes of Armorica. "Every hedge of the fields, every ditch in +the valleys conceals a Breton of steady eye and hand. The stone of the +sling, the arrow of the bow whiz everywhere through the air, nor miss +their aim. The pits of the precipices, and the bottoms of the stagnant +waters swallow up the bodies of our soldiers. If we penetrate into the +forests, the danger redoubles. Every copse, the branches of every tree, +conceal an enemy!" + +Neroweg, having barely escaped with his life from the disaster of the +marsh of Peulven, spends the night upon the hill with the remaining +fragment of his army. At early dawn the next morning he orders the +trumpets and clarions to call his men to their ranks. At the head of his +warriors he again steps upon the narrow jetty of the marsh. He is +determined to force his way into the forest of Cardik. Footmen and +horses again trample over the heaped-up corpses in the wide trenches. No +ambush now retards the passage of the Franks. By sunrise the last +detachments have crossed the marsh, and all the forces still at the +command of Neroweg are deployed along the skirts of the forest that is +now serving as a retreat to the Gauls of Armorica, and where they have +taken their next stand. + +The primeval forest extends, towards the west, as far as the steep banks +of a river that runs into the sea, and towards the east, up to a chain +of precipitous hills. Furious at the defeat he suffered on the previous +evening, the Frankish chief is hardly able to restrain his ardor. Always +accompanied by the monk, he advances into the forest. The oaks, the +elms, the ash trees, the birch trees, raise their gigantic trunks and +interlace their spreading branches. Between these trunks, all is +underwood, bramble and briar. Only one narrow and tortuous path presents +itself to Neroweg's sight. He enters it. Daylight barely penetrates the +walk through the dense vault of verdure, shaped overhead by the foliage +of the stately trees. Thickets of holly seven or eight feet high fringe +the way. Their prickly leaves render them impenetrable. + +Unable to wander off either to the right or to the left, the soldiers +are compelled to follow the defile of verdure. Laboring under the shock +of their recent disasters, they march with mistrust through the somber +forest of Cardik, speaking only in undertones, and from time to time +interrogating with uneasy looks the leafy branches of the trees, or the +thicket that borders the route. For a while nothing justifies the +apprehensions of the Frankish cohorts. The silence of the forest is +disturbed only by the rhythmic and muffled sound of their steps, and the +clank of their arms. But even the silence itself nourishes the vague +fears of the Franks. The defile of Glen-Clan and the marsh of Peulven +also were silent! More than one-half of the rest of the army now left to +Neroweg has entered the forest, when, reaching one of the turns of the +winding path, the Frankish chief, who marches at the head of his +horsemen accompanied by the monk, suddenly stops short. The path has +vanished. Gigantic oaks and elms, a hundred feet tall and from fifteen +to twenty feet in circumference, and bearing the evidence of having only +freshly fallen under the axe of the woodman, lie heaped upon each other +and so tangled in their fall across the route that their enormous +branches and colossal trunks present an impassible barrier to the +cavalry. Only foot soldiers might possibly scale the obstruction, and +cut their way across with hatchets. + +"Oh! What a war!" cries out Neroweg, clenching his fists. "After the +defile, the marsh! After the marsh, the forest! I shall have barely +one-third of my forces left by the time I join the other chiefs! +Accursed Bretons, may the fires of hell consume you!" + +"Yes, these heathens will burn! They shall burn until the last day of +judgment!" responds the monk with deep vexation. "Courage, Neroweg! +Courage! This last obstacle being overcome, we shall arrive at the moor +of Kennor. There we shall join the other two army corps of Louis the +Pious, and we shall all jointly penetrate into the valley of Lokfern, +where we will exterminate these accursed Bretons to the last man." + +"Have you seen me falter in courage? By the great St. Martin, it looks +as if you were in league with the enemy, judging by the route you have +guided us on! Already have you twice led us into an ambush, you +miserable priest!" + +"Have I not braved all the dangers at your side?" observes the priest, +holding up his left arm, that is wound in a bloodstained bandage. "Was I +not myself wounded last evening when we attempted to cross the marsh of +Peulven? Can you question my courage or fidelity?" + +"How are we to find another route? The one barred is the only one, you +told me, that crosses this forest, otherwise impracticable to an army." + +The monk looks around; he reflects; but no answer proceeds from his +lips. A prey to discouragement and increasing terror, the soldiers begin +to grumble, when suddenly three quickly succeeding cries of the +night-bird pierce the air. Immediately the Breton slingers and archers, +ambushed behind the breast-work of fallen trees, assail the Franks with +a volley of stones and arrows. Enormous oak branches, previously +prepared, detach themselves from the tops of their trunks, and come down +crashing upon the heads of the soldiers, killing or mutilating them. +Anew, panic seizes the Franks; a fresh carnage decimates them. +Cavalrymen thrown from their horses, foot soldiers trampled under the +hoofs of the frightened steeds, all blinded, their flesh torn as in +their fright they precipitate themselves into the thick of the prickly +holly hedges--such is this day's spectacle presented to the delighted +Breton eyes by the invading army of Neroweg. What an inspiring spectacle +to the Armorican Gauls! The air is filled with the moans of the dying, +the imprecations of the wounded, the threats hurled at the monk, now +roundly charged with treason. + +The carnage and the panic are at their height when, climbing to the top +of the breast-work of trees whence he can gain a full view of the +distracted foe, Vortigern appears before the Franks and calls out to +them defiantly: + +"Now you may try to cross the forest. Our quivers are empty. We shall +retreat to replenish them and shall be ready to meet you in the valley +of Lokfern." + +Vortigern has barely uttered these words when his eyes catch sight of +the chief of the Franks, who, having descended from his horse, holds up +against the stones and bolts of his assailants, his white buckler, on +which three eagle's talons are seen painted. At the sight of the device +of his own stock's ancestral foe, Vortigern places his last arrow upon +the string of his bow. + +"The descendant of Joel sends this to the descendant of the Nerowegs." + +The arrow whizzes. It grazes the lower border of the Frank's buckler, +and penetrates his knee just above the jointure. + +Neroweg falls upon the other knee, points out the Gaul to several +archers in his vicinity, and cries: + +"Take aim at that bandit! Kill him!" + +The Saxon arrows fly through the air; two strike, and quiver where they +strike, in the upturned branches of the tree on which Vortigern has +mounted; the third enters his left arm. + +The descendant of Joel quickly draws out the sharp-edged iron, throws it +back at the Franks with a defiant gesture, and disappears behind the +twisted branches of the improvised barricade. + +Three times the cry of the night bird is again heard in the forest, and +the Bretons disperse along paths known only to them, again singing as +they go, the ancient war-song, the sound of whose refrain is gradually +lost in the distance: + + "This morning we asked: + 'How many are there of these Franks? + How many are there of these barbarians?' + This evening we say: + 'How many were there of these Franks? + How many were there of these barbarians?' + Victory, Victory for Gaul!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE MOOR OF KENNOR. + + +About four leagues in width and three in length--such is the expanse of +the moor of Kennor. It constitutes a vast plateau that slopes to the +north toward the valley of Lokfern, and is bounded on the west by a wide +river that pours its waters into the Sea of Armorica only a little +distance away. The forest of Cardik and the last spurs of the mountain +chain of Men-Brez border on the moor. The moor is covered throughout its +extent by heather two or three feet high and almost burned out by the +scorching sun of the dog-days. Level as a lake, the immense barren and +desert plain presents a desolate aspect. A violent east wind causes the +tall heather, now of the color of dead leaves, to undulate like a +peaceful sheet of water. Above, the sky is of a bright blue on this +sultry and windy day. An August sun inundates with its blinding light +the desert expanse of heather, whose silence is disturbed only by the +sharp chirp of the grasshopper, or the low moan of the gale. + +Presently a new element enters upon the scene. Skirting the bank of the +river, a black and confused mass heaves into sight, stretches out its +length, and moves toward the centre of the plain. It is the one of the +three army corps led in person by Louis the Pious against the Breton +Gauls. Long before its appearance, other troops, formed in compact +cohorts, have been descending on the east the last slopes of Men-Brez. +They, likewise, are advancing toward the plain--the place agreed upon +for the junction of the three armies that had invaded Armorica, burning +and ravaging the country upon their passage, and driving the population +back towards the valley of Lokfern. The only division absent from the +rendezvous is the contingent captained by Neroweg, which, since morning, +has been struggling in the forest of Cardik. Finally it has issued in +disorder from the woods, and re-formed its ranks. After incalculable +labor, hewing, axe in hand, a passage through the thickets, leaving +their cavalry behind, and forced to retreat upon their steps back to the +marsh of Peulven, the troops of Neroweg at last succeed in crossing the +forest. These troops now number barely one-half their original strength. +They are reduced, not only by the losses sustained in the passage of the +defile of Glen-Clan, of the marsh of Peulven, and the forest of Cardik, +but also by the defection of large numbers of men, who, being more and +more terror stricken by the resistance that they encountered, refused to +listen to the orders of their chief, and followed the cavalry in its +retreat. Neroweg's greatly reduced contingent now also appears in sight +from the opposite side. The three army corps have descried one another. +Their march converges towards the centre of the plain. The distance +between them becomes so small that they are able to see one another's +armor, casques and lances, glistening in the sun. The division of Louis +the Pious, having been the first to descend into the plain over the +hills of Men-Brez, halts, in order to wait for the other divisions. The +troops under Louis the Pious himself are no less demoralized and reduced +in numbers than the division under Neroweg. They have undergone similar +vicissitudes during their long march, having had to cut their way +across a seemingly endless series of ambushes. The sight of their +companions arriving from the opposite side revives their courage. +Henceforth they expect to fight in the open. As far as the eye can +reach, the vast plain that they now have entered upon lies fully exposed +to view. It can conceal no trap. The last struggle is now at hand, and +with it the close of the war. The Bretons, crowded together just beyond +in the valley of Lokfern, are to be crushed by a combined armed force +that is still three times stronger than theirs. + +The vanguards of the three converging divisions are about to join when +suddenly, from the east, whence a dry and steady gale is blowing, little +puffs of smoke, at first almost imperceptible, are seen to rise at +irregular distances from one another. The puffs of smoke are going up +from the extreme eastern edge of the moor; they spread; they mingle with +one another over an area more than two leagues in length; by little and +little they present the aspect of one continuous belt of blackish smoke +rising high and spreading into the air, and from time to time breaking +out into lambent flames. + +The fire has been kindled at a hundred different spots by the Breton +Gauls with the dry heather of the moor. Driven by the violent gale the +girdle of flame soon embraces the horizon from the east to the south, +from the slopes of Men-Brez to the skirt of the forest. It advances with +rapid strides like the waves of the incoming tide lashed by a furious +wind. Terrified at the sight of the burning waves that are rushing upon +them from the right with the swiftness of a hurricane, the Frankish +ranks waver for a moment. To their left, runs a deep river; behind them, +rises the forest of Cardik; before them the plateau slopes towards the +valley of Lokfern. Himself running for life towards the valley, Louis +the Pious thereby gives to his troops the signal to flee. They follow +their king tumultuously, anxious only to leave the moor behind them +before the flames, that now invade the plateau from end to end, entirely +cut off their retreat. Impatient to escape the danger, the cavalry +breaks ranks, follows the example set by the king, traverses the cohorts +of the infantry, throws them down, and rides rough-shod over them. The +disorder, the tumult, the terror are at their height. The soldiers +struggle with the horsemen and with one another. The fiery wave advances +steadily; it advances faster than it can be run away from. The swiftest +steed cannot cope with it. The all-embracing sheet of fire reaches first +the soldiers whom the cavalry has thrown down and left wounded behind; +it speedily envelopes the bulk of the army. In an instant the distracted +cohorts are seen up to their waists in the midst of the flames. + +By the valor of our fathers, it is the hell of the damned in this world! +Frightful! torture! Excruciating pain! A cheering sight for the eyes of +a Breton Gaul, harassed by invaders, to behold his merciless assailers +in. Frankish horsemen cased in iron and fallen from their steeds, roast +within their red-hot armor like tortoises in their shell. The footmen +jump and leap to withdraw their nether extremities from the embrace of +the caressing flames. But the flames never leave them; the flames gain +the lead. Their feet and legs are grilled, refuse their support, and the +men drop into the furnace emitting cries of despair. The horses fare no +better despite their breathless gallop; they feel their flanks and +buttocks devoured by the flames; they become savage. They are seized +with a vertigo; they rear, plunge and fall over upon their riders. +Horses and riders roll down into the brasier at their feet. The horses +neigh piteously, the riders moan or utter curses. An immense concert of +imprecations, of fierce cries of pain and rage rises heavenward with the +flames of the magnificent hecatomb of Frankish warriors! + +Oh! Beautiful to the eye is the moor of Kennor, still ruddy and smoking +an hour after it is set on fire and consumed to the very root of its +heather! Splendid brasier three leagues wide, strewn with thousands of +Frankish bodies, shapeless, charred. Warm quarry above which already +flocks of carrion-crows from the forest of Cardik are hovering! Glory to +you, Bretons! More than a third of the Frankish army met death on the +moor of Kennor. + +"What a war! What a war!" also exclaims Louis the Pious. + +Aye, a merciless war; a holy war; a thrice holy war, waged by a people +in defence of their freedom, their homes, their fields, their hearths; +Oh, ancient land of the Gauls! Oh, old Armorica, sacred mother! +Everything turns into a weapon in the hands of your rugged children +against their barbarous invaders! Rocks, precipices, marshes, woods, +moors on fire! Oh, Brittany, betrayed by those of your own children who +succumbed to the wiles of the Catholic priests, stabbed at your heart by +the sword of the Frankish kings, and pouring out the generous heart +blood of your children, perchance, after all, you will feel the yoke of +the conquerer on your neck! But the bones of your enemies, crushed, +burned and drowned in the struggle, will tell to our descendants the +tale of a resistance that Armorica offered to her casqued and mitred +invaders! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE VALLEY OF LOKFERN. + + +Decimated by the conflagration of the moor of Kennor, the Frankish army +flees in disorder in the direction of the valley of Lokfern, that lies +slightly below the vast plateau on which an hour before the three +Frankish divisions have joined, confident that their trials are ended. +Escaped from the disaster of the conflagration and carried onward by the +impetuosity of their steeds, a portion of the Frankish cavalry that +follows Louis the Pious in his precipitate flight, arrives at the +confines of the plateau. Driven by a terror that left them no thought +but to outstrip one another, the fleeing riders seem to give no heed to +the sight that unfolds before them. At the foot of the slope that they +are about to descend, stands the numerous Breton cavalry, drawn up in +battle array, under the command of Morvan and Vortigern. It is only a +cavalry of rustics, yet intrepid, veterans in warfare, perfectly +mounted. Carried by the headlong course of their horses beyond the edge +of the plateau and down the slope to the valley, the Franks rush in +confused order upon the Breton cavalry that is drawn up as if to bar +their passage; they rush onward, either unable to restrain their still +frightened steeds, or conceiving a vague hope of crushing the opposing +Bretons under the irresistible violence of their impetuous descent. The +Breton cavalry, however, instead of waiting for the Franks, quickly +parts in two corps, one commanded by Morvan, the other by Vortigern. +One corps seems to flee to the right, the other to the left. The space +from the foot of the hill to the river Scoer being thus left free by the +sudden and rapid manoeuvre of the Gauls, most of the Frankish horsemen +find themselves hardly able to rein in their horses in time to escape +falling into the water. A moment of disorder follows. It is turned to +advantage by Morvan and Vortigern. The Frankish riders being dispersed +and engaged with their steeds, Vortigern and Morvan turn about and fall +upon them. They take the foe upon the flanks, right and left; charge +upon them with fury; make havoc among them. Most of them are sabred to +death, or have their heads beaten in with axes, others are driven into +the river. During the fierce melee, the remnant of the infantry of Louis +the Pious, still fleeing from the furnace of the moor of Kennor, arrives +upon the spot in disorder. Trained in the trade of massacre, they +promptly reform their ranks and pour down upon the Breton cavalry. At +first victorious, these are finally crushed, overwhelmed by vastly +superior numbers. On the other side of the river the rustic Gallic +infantry still continue to hold their ground--husbandmen, woo-men and +shepherds armed with pikes, scythes and axes, and many of them supplied +with bows and slings. Behind this mass of warriors, and within an +enclosure defended by barricades of heaped up trunks of trees and +ditches, are assembled the women and children of the combatants. All +their families have fled distracted before the invaders, carrying their +valuables in their flight, and now await with indescribable agony the +issue of this last battle. + +Weep! Weep, Brittany! and yet be proud of your glory! Your sons, crushed +down by numbers, resisted to their last breath; all have fallen wounded +or dead in defence of their freedom! + +The river is fordable for infantry at only one place. The monk who +accompanies Neroweg points out the passage to the troops of Louis the +Pious. They cross it immediately after the annihilation of the cavalry +of Morvan. The Armoricans who are drawn up on the opposite bank of the +Scoer heroically defend the ground inch by inch, man to man, ever +falling back toward the fortified enclosure that is the last refuge of +our families. Marching over heaps of corpses, the soldiery of Louis the +Pious finally assail the fortified enclosure, all its defenders having +been killed or wounded. The enclosure is taken. According to their +custom, the Franks slaughter the children, put the women and maids to +the torture of infamous treatment, and lead them away captive to the +interior of Gaul. Ermond the Black, a monk and familiar of Louis the +Pious in this impious war, wrote its account in Latin verse. The death +of Morvan is narrated in the poem as follows: + + "Then presently the cry runs through the ranks + That Morvan's head, the Breton chieftain's head, + Has been brought in unto the Frankish King: + To see it haste the Franks; they shout with joy + At prospect to behold the grisley sight. + From hand to hand the bloody head is passed, + Marred with the sword that hewed it from its trunk. + Witchaire the Abbot next is called upon + T' identify the member, if it be + The head of Morvan, that redoubted chief. + He pours some water on the matted front, + He laves it, wipes the hair from off its brow, + And cries ''Tis Morvan--'tis his Gallic lour!'" + +Thus Brittany, once lost to the Franks, is placed anew under their +sway. + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +Vortigern, the grandson of Amael, wrote this account of the war of the +Franks against Brittany. Left for dead on the banks of the Scoer, he did +not recover his senses until a day and a night had passed after the +defeat of the Bretons. Some Christian druids, led to the spot by +Caswallan, who had escaped the massacre, came to the field of battle to +gather the wounded who might still be alive. Vortigern was of the +number. From them he learned that his sister Noblede, the wife of +Morvan, together with other women and young girls who took refuge in the +fortified enclosure, had stabbed themselves to death in order to escape +being outraged by the Franks and led into slavery. After Abbot Witchaire +left the house of Morvan on his return trip to announce to Louis the +Pious the refusal of the Armorican Gauls to pay the tribute demanded +from them, Vortigern returned with his wife and children to Karnak in +order to gather in the crops from his fields. The harvest being in, he +left his family at the house of his parents, and returned to Morvan in +order to join the latter's forces, and oppose the army of Louis the +Pious. Immediately after his wounds were healed, Vortigern returned to +Karnak, where he rejoined his wife and children. The Franks had not +dared push their invasion beyond the valley of Lokfern. They contented +themselves with leaving Armorica devastated and stripped of her bravest +defenders. Yet is she not subdued. She but waits the moment to revolt +anew. + +Vortigern joined this narrative to the other narratives of his family, +and he accompanied his own account with the two Carlovingian coins, the +gift of Thetralde, one of the daughters of Charles the Great. These +relics of the family of Joel now consist of Hena's little gold sickle, +Guilhern's little brass bell, Sylvest's iron collar, Genevieve's silver +cross, Shanvoch's casque's lark, Ronan the Vagre's poniard's hilt and +his branding needle, Bonaik's abbatial crosier and Vortigern's +Carlovingian coins, together with the narratives that accompany them. + +Myself, Rosneven, the oldest son of Vortigern, who make this entry at +the foot of my father's narrative, can only record here my father's +death on the fifth day of February of 889. These have been sad years for +Brittany, and also for our own family in particular. Our special sorrows +proceed from the estrangement of my younger brothers, one of whom left +Gaul and sailed to the country of the Northman pirates. I lack both the +spirit and the will to recite these lamentable events. Perhaps my +youngest brother Gomer, gifted with more energy, ability and +perseverance than myself, may some day undertake the task. + +THE END. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] "The daughters of the Emperor Charles always accompanied him on his +trips into the interior of Gaul. They were handsome beauties; he loved +them passionately; he never allowed them to marry, and kept them all +with him till his death. Although happy in everything else, Charles +experienced in them the malignity of adverse fortune; but he buried his +chagrin, and behaved towards them as if they had never given cause for +evil suspicions, and as if rumor had never been busy with their +names."--_Chronicles of Eginhard, p. 145, Collected History of France._ + +[B] For Amael's story, see "The Abbatial Crosier," the preceding book of +the series. + +[C] "The Gallic woman equalled her husband in courage and strength. She +sat in his councils of war with him. Her eyes were more furious when she +was angered, and she swung her arms, as white as snow, and dealt blows +as heavy as if they came from an engine of war."--Ammienus Marcellinus, +_Notes of the Martyrs_, vol. XVIII, book IX. + +[D] "The heart of Louis the Pious (Charlemagne's son) was, naturally, +long indignant at the conduct indulged in by his sisters under the +paternal roof, the only blot upon its name. Desiring, then, to amend +these disorders, he sent before him Walla, Warnaire, Lambert and +Ingobert, with the order to watch carefully, as soon as they should +arrive at Aix-la-Chapelle, that no new scandal should occur; and to put +under heavy guard those who had soiled the majesty of the empire with a +criminal commerce (with the daughters of the Emperor). Certain ones, +guilty of these crimes, came before Louis the Pious to obtain pardon, +which they received. Audoin alone resisted. He smote Warnaire that he +died, wounded Lambert in the thigh, and slew himself with one blow of +his sword.... Whereupon Louis the Pious decided to drive out of the +palace all that multitude of women which occupied it in the time of his +father."--L'Astronome, _Life of Louis the Pious_, pp. 345-346, +_Collected History of France_. + +[E] See "The Casque's Lark." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Carlovingian Coins, by Eugène Sue + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS *** + +***** This file should be named 33021-8.txt or 33021-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/0/2/33021/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/33021-8.zip b/33021-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..d1052cc --- /dev/null +++ b/33021-8.zip diff --git a/33021-h.zip b/33021-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0f51f98 --- /dev/null +++ b/33021-h.zip diff --git a/33021-h/33021-h.htm b/33021-h/33021-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fbb0330 --- /dev/null +++ b/33021-h/33021-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5342 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" +"http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> + +<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" lang="en" xml:lang="en"> + <head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1" /> +<title> + The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Carlovingian Coins, by Eugene Sue. +</title> +<style type="text/css"> + p {margin-top:.75em;text-align:justify;margin-bottom:.75em;text-indent:2%;} + +.c {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} + +.dots {letter-spacing:20px;text-align:center;text-indent:0%;} + +.nind {text-indent:0%;} + +.r {text-align:right;margin-right:5%;} + + h1,h2,h4 {text-align:center;clear:both;} + + h3 {margin-top:15%;text-align:center;clear:both;} + +.top5 {margin-top:5%;} + +.top15 {margin-top:15%;} + + hr {width:100%;margin:5% auto 5% auto;border:4px double gray;} + + table {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;border:none;text-align:left;} + + body{margin-left:10%;margin-right:10%;background:#fdfdfd;color:black;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:medium;} + +a:link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + + link {background-color:#ffffff;color:blue;text-decoration:none;} + +a:visited {background-color:#ffffff;color:purple;text-decoration:none;} + +a:hover {background-color:#ffffff;color:#FF0000;text-decoration:underline;} + +.smcap {font-variant:small-caps;font-family:"Times New Roman", serif;font-size:95%;} + + img {border:none;} + +.footnotes {border:double 6px gray;margin-top:5%;clear:both;} + +.footnote {width:95%;margin:auto 3% 1% auto;font-size:0.9em;position:relative;} + +.label {position:relative;left:-.5em;top:0;text-align:left;font-size:.8em;} + +.fnanchor {vertical-align:30%;font-size:.8em;} + +td.part {font-size:125%;line-height:50px;} + +.space {letter-spacing:3px;} + +.sml {font-size:75%;} + +.full {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;font-size:150%;font-weight:bold;} + +.box {border: solid 3px black;padding:2%;max-width:60%;margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;margin-top:15%;max-height:800px;} + +.box2 {border: solid 3px black;padding:2%;} + +.boxseries {border: solid 3px black;padding:2%;max-width:75%;margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;margin-top:15%;} + +.boxdouble {border: double 6px black;padding:2%;margin:4% 6% 4% 6%;} + +.tale {text-align:center;text-indent:0%;margin-top:20%;font-weight:bold;font-size:120%;} +</style> + </head> +<body> + + +<pre> + +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Carlovingian Coins, by Eugène Sue + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Carlovingian Coins + Or The Daughters of Charlemagne. A Tale of the Ninth Century + +Author: Eugène Sue + +Translator: Daniel De Leon + +Release Date: June 29, 2010 [EBook #33021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + +</pre> + +<hr /> + +<h1 class="top15">THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS</h1> + +<div class="boxseries"> +<div class="boxdouble"> +<p class="full">THE FULL SERIES OF</p> + +<p class="c"><img src="images/ill_mysteries.png" alt="The Mysteries of the People" width="80%" /></p> + +<p class="c">OR</p> + +<p class="c">History of a Proletarian Family<br />Across the Ages</p> + +<table summary="line" style="border-top:double black 6px;"> +<tr><td class="space"> +By EUGENE SUE + </td></tr> +</table> +</div> + +<p class="c"><i>Consisting of the Following Works:</i></p> + +<p class="nind"><b>THE GOLD SICKLE; or, <i>Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen</i>.<br /> +THE BRASS BELL; or, <i>The Chariot of Death</i>.<br /> +THE IRON COLLAR; or, <i>Faustine and Syomara</i>.<br /> + +THE SILVER CROSS; or, <i>The Carpenter of Nazareth</i>.<br /> +THE CASQUE'S LARK; or, <i>Victoria, the Mother of the Camps</i>.<br /> +THE PONIARID'S HILT; or, <i>Karadeucq and Ronan</i>.<br /> +THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, The <i>Monastery of Charolles</i>.<br /> +THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, <i>Bonaik and Septimine</i>.<br /> + +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, <i>The Daughters of Charlemagne</i>.<br /> +THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, <i>The Buckler Maiden</i>.<br /> +THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, <i>The End of the World</i>.<br /> +THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, <i>Fergan the Quarryman</i>.<br /> +THE IRON PINCERS; or, <i>Mylio and Karvel</i>.<br /> + +THE IRON TREVET; or Jocelyn the Champion.<br /> +THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, Joan of Arc.<br /> +THE POCKET BIBLE; or, <i>Christian the Printer</i>.<br /> +THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, <i>The Peasant Code</i>.<br /> +THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, <i>The Foundation of the French Republic</i>.<br /> +THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, <i>The Family Lebrenn</i>.</b></p> + +<div class="boxdouble space"> +<p class="c"><span class="sml">Published Uniform With This Volume By</span><br /> +THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO.<br /> +<span class="sml">28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY</span></p> +</div> +</div> + +<div class="box"> + +<div class="box2"> + +<h1>THE CARLOVINGIAN<br /> +COINS</h1> + +<p class="c"><b>: : : : OR : : : :</b></p> + +<h2 style="margin-bottom:.5%;">THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARLEMAGNE</h2> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-bottom:6px double black; +letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;margin-top:0%;"> +<tr><td> + + + </td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="tale"><b>A Tale of the Ninth Century</b></p> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-top:4px double black; +border-bottom:6px double black;"> +<tr><td class="space"><b> By EUGENE SUE </b></td></tr> +</table> + +<table summary="name" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" +style="border-bottom:6px double black; +letter-spacing:8px;font-size:125%;margin-top:15%;"> +<tr><td> + + + + </td></tr> +</table> + +<p class="c sml space"><b>TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY</b></p> + +<p class="c"><b>DANIEL DE LEON</b></p> + +<p class="c sml space"><b>NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY, 1907</b></p> +</div> + +</div> + +<p class="c top5 sml">Copyright, 1908, by the<br /> +New York Labor News Company</p> + +<h3>INDEX</h3> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary="contents"> +<tr><td align="left" colspan="2">TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_v">v</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td align="center" class="part"><a href="#PART_I">PART I</a>—AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.</td><td> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right">CHAPTER.</td><td colspan="2"> </td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">I.</a></td><td>AMAEL AND VORTIGERN.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_003">3</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">II.</a></td><td>THE COURTYARD OF THE PALACE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_018">18</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">III.</a></td><td>IN THE GALLERIES OF THE PALACE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_024">24</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">IV.</a></td><td>CHARLEMAGNE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_029">29</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">V.</a></td><td>THE PALATINE SCHOOL.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_040">40</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">VI.</a></td><td>THE BISHOP OF LIMBURG.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_044">44</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">VII.</a></td><td>TO THE HUNT.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_054">54</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">VIII.</a></td><td>THE FOREST OF OPPENHEIM.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_058">58</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">IX.</a></td><td>AT THE MORT.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_071">71</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">X.</a></td><td>EMPEROR AND HOSTAGE.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_077">77</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">XI.</a></td><td>FRANK AND BRETON.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_088">88</a></td></tr> + +<tr><td> </td><td align="center" class="part"><a href="#PART_II">PART II</a>—THE CONQUEST OF BRITTANY.</td><td> </td></tr> + +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_Ia">I.</a></td><td>IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_107">107</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IIa">II.</a></td><td>THE BRETON CHIEF.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_112">112</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IIIa">III.</a></td><td>ABBOT AND BRETON.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_120">120</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_IVa">IV.</a></td><td>THE DEFILE OF GLEN-CLAN.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_132">132</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_Va">V.</a></td><td>THE MARSH OF PEULVEN.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_139">139</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIa">VI.</a></td><td>THE FOREST OF CARDIK.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_146">146</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIIa">VII.</a></td><td>THE MOOR OF KENNOR.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_151">151</a></td></tr> +<tr><td align="right"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIIIa">VIII.</a></td><td>THE VALLEY OF LOKFERN.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_156">156</a></td></tr> +<tr><td> </td><td><a href="#EPILOGUE">EPILOGUE</a>.</td><td align="right"><a href="#page_159">159</a></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><a name="page_v" id="page_v"></a></p> + +<h3>TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE</h3> + +<p>The Age of Charlemagne is the watershed of the history of the present +era. The rough barbarian flood that poured over Western Europe reaches +in that age a turning point of which Charlemagne is eminently the +incarnation. The primitive physical features of the barbarian begin to +be blunted, or toned down by a new force that has lain latent in him, +but that only then begins to step into activity—the spiritual, the +intellectual powers. The Age of Charlemagne is the age of the first +conflict between the intellectual and the brute in the principal +branches of the races that occupied Europe. The conflict raged on a +national scale, and it raged in each particular individual. The colossal +stature, physical and mental, of Charlemagne himself typifies the epoch. +Brute instincts of the most primitive and savage, intellectual +aspirations of the loftiest are intermingled, each contends for +supremacy—and alternately wins it, in the monarch, in his court and in +his people.</p> + +<p><i>The Carlovingian Coins; or, The Daughters of Charlemagne</i> is the ninth +of the brilliant series of historical novels written by Eugene Sue under +the title, <i>The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian +Family Across the Ages</i>. The age and its people are portrayed in a +charming and chaste narrative, that is fittingly and artistically +brought to a close by a veritable epopee—the Frankish conquest of +Brittany, and, as fittingly, serves to introduce the next epopee—the +Northman's invasion of Gaul—dealt with in the following story, <i>The +Iron Arrow Head; or, The Buckler Maiden</i>.</p> + +<p class="r"><span class="smcap">Daniel de Leon.</span></p> + +<p>New York, May, 1905.</p> + +<p><a name="page_001" id="page_001"></a></p> + +<h2 class="top15"><a name="PART_I" id="PART_I"></a>PART I.<br /><br /> +AIX-LA-CHAPELLE</h2> + +<p><a name="page_002" id="page_002"></a></p> + +<p><a name="page_003" id="page_003"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h4>AMAEL AND VORTIGERN.</h4> + +<p>Towards the commencement of the month of November of the year 811, a +numerous cavalcade was one afternoon wending its way to the city of +Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of the Empire of Charles the Great—an +Empire that had been so rapidly increased by rapidly succeeding +conquests over Germany, Saxony, Bavaria, Bohemia, Hungary, Italy and +Spain, that Gaul, as formerly during the days of the Roman Emperors, was +again but a province among the vast domains. The ambitious designs of +Charles Martel had been realized. Childeric, the last scion of the +Merovingian dynasty, had been got rid of. Martel's descendants took his +seat, and now the Hammerer's grandson wielded the sceptre of Clovis over +an immensely wider territory.</p> + +<p>Eight or ten cavalry soldiers rode in advance of the cavalcade. A little +apart from the smaller escort, four cavaliers ambled leisurely. Two of +them wore brilliant armor after the German fashion. One of these was +accompanied by a venerable old man of a martial and open countenance. +His long beard, snow white as his hair that was half hidden under a fur +cap, fell over his chest. He wore a Gallic blouse of grey wool, held +around his waist by a belt, from which hung a long sword with an iron +hilt. His ample hose of rough white fabric reached slightly below his +knees and left exposed his tightly laced leather leggings, that ended in +his boots whose heels were armed with spurs. The old man was Amael, who +under the assumed Frankish name of Berthoald<a name="page_004" id="page_004"></a> had, eighty years before, +saved the life of Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers against the +Arabs, had declined the post offered him by Charles, as jailer of the +last descendant of Clovis, and, finally, smitten by conscience, had +renounced wealth and dignity under the Frankish enslavers of Gaul, and +returned to his people and country of Brittany, or Armorica, as the +Romans named it. Amael now touched his hundredth year. His great age and +his somewhat portly stature notwithstanding, he still looked full of +vigor. He handled with dexterity the black horse that he rode and whose +spirit seemed no wise abated by the long road it had traveled. From time +to time, Amael turned round upon his saddle in order to cast a look of +paternal solicitude upon his grandson Vortigern, a lad of hardly +eighteen years, who was accompanied by the other of the two Frankish +warriors. The face of Vortigern, of exceptional beauty for a man, was +framed in long chestnut ringlets, that, escaping from his scarlet coif, +tumbled down below a chin that was as dainty as a woman's. His large +blue eyes, fringed with lashes black as his bold arched eyebrows, had an +air at once ingenuous and resolute. His red lips, shaded by the down of +adolescence, revealed at every smile two rows of teeth white as enamel. +A slightly aquiline nose, a fresh and pure complexion somewhat tanned by +the sun, completed the harmonious make-up of the youth's charming +visage. His clothes, made after the fashion of his grandfather's, +differed from them only in a touch of elegance that bespoke a mother's +hand, tenderly proud of her son's comely appearance. Accordingly, the +blue blouse of the lad was ornamented around the neck, over the +shoulders and at the extremities of the sleeves with embroideries of +white wool, while a calfskin belt, from which hung a sword with +polished<a name="page_005" id="page_005"></a> hilt, encircled his supple waist. His linen hose half hid his +deerskin leggings, that were tightly laced to his nervy limbs and +rejoined his boots, made of tanned skin and equipped with large copper +spurs that glistened like gold. Although his right arm was held in a +scarf of some black material, Vortigern handled his horse with his left +hand with as much ease as skill. For traveling companion he had a young +warrior of agreeable mien, bold and mercurial, alert and frolicsome. The +mobility of his face recalled in nothing the stolidity of the German. +His name was Octave. Roman by birth, in appearance and character, his +inexhaustible Southern wit often succeeded in unwrinkling the brow of +his young companion. The latter, however, would soon again relapse into +a sort of silent and somber revery. Thus for some time absorbed in +sadness, he walked his horse slowly, when Octave broke in gaily in a +tone of friendly reproach:</p> + +<p>"By Bacchus! You still are preoccupied and silent."</p> + +<p>"I am thinking of my mother," answered the youth, smothering a sigh. "I +am thinking of my mother, of my sister and of my country."</p> + +<p>"Come now; you should, on the contrary, chase away, such saddening +thoughts. To the devil with sadness. Long live joy."</p> + +<p>"Octave, gayness ill beseems a prisoner. I cannot share your +light-heartedness."</p> + +<p>"You are no prisoner, only a hostage. No bond binds you but your own +word; prisoners, on the contrary, are led firmly pinioned to the slave +market. Your grandfather and yourself ride freely, with us for your +companions, and we are escorting you, not to a slave market, but to the +palace of the Emperor Charles the Great, the mightiest monarch of the +whole<a name="page_006" id="page_006"></a> world. Finally, prisoners are disarmed; your grandfather as well +as yourself carry your swords."</p> + +<p>"Of what use are our swords now to us?" replied Vortigern with painful +bitterness. "Brittany is vanquished."</p> + +<p>"Such are the chances of war. You bravely did your duty as a soldier. +You fought like a demon at the side of your grandfather. He was not +wounded, and you only received a lance-thrust. By Mars, the valiant god +of war, your blows were so heavy in the melee that you should have been +hacked to pieces."</p> + +<p>"We would not then have survived the disgrace of Armorica."</p> + +<p>"There is no disgrace in being overcome when one has defended himself +bravely—above all when the forces that one resisted and decimated, were +the veteran bands of the great Charles."</p> + +<p>"Not one of your Emperor's soldiers should have escaped."</p> + +<p>"Not one?" merrily rejoined the young Roman. "What, not even myself? Not +even I, who take such pains to be a pleasant traveling companion, and +who tax my eloquence to entertain you? Verily, you are not at all +grateful!"</p> + +<p>"Octave, I do not hate you personally; I hate your race; they have, +without provocation, carried war and desolation into my country."</p> + +<p>"First of all, my young friend, I am not of the Frankish race. I am a +Roman. Gladly do I relinquish to you those gross Germans, who are as +savage as the bears of their forests. But, let it be said among +ourselves, this war against Brittany was not without reason. Did not you +Bretons, possessed of the very devil as you are, attack last year and +exterminate the Frankish garrison posted at Vannes?"<a name="page_007" id="page_007"></a></p> + +<p>"And by what right did Charles cause our frontiers to be invaded by his +troops twenty-five years ago? His whim stood him instead of right."</p> + +<p>The conversation between Vortigern and Octave was interrupted by the +voice of Amael, who, turning in his saddle, called his grandson to him. +The latter, anxious to hasten to his grandfather, and also yielding to +an impulse of anger that the discussion with the young Roman had +provoked, brusquely clapped his spurs to the flanks of his charger. The +animal, thus suddenly urged, leaped forward so violently that in two or +three bounds it would have left Amael behind, had not Vortigern, +restraining his mount with a firm hand, made the animal rear on its +haunches. The youth then resumed his walk abreast of his grandfather and +the other Frankish warrior, who, turning to the old man, remarked:</p> + +<p>"I do not marvel at the superiority of your Breton cavalry, when a lad +of the age of your grandson, and despite the wound that must smart him, +can handle his horse in such a manner. You yourself, for a centenarian, +are as firm in your saddle as the lad himself. Horns of the devil!"</p> + +<p>"The lad was barely five years old when his father and I used to place +him on the back of the colts raised on our meadows," answered the old +man. The recollection of those peaceful happy days now ended, cast a +shadow of sorrow upon Amael's face. He remained silent for a moment. +Thereupon, addressing Vortigern, he said:</p> + +<p>"I called you to inquire whether your wound had ceased smarting."</p> + +<p>"Grandfather, I hardly feel it any longer. If you allow me, I would free +my arm of the embarrassing scarf."<a name="page_008" id="page_008"></a></p> + +<p>"No; your wound might open again. No imprudence. Remember your mother, +and also your sister and her husband, both of whom love you like a +brother."</p> + +<p>"Alas! Will I never see that mother, that sister, that brother whom I +love so dearly?"</p> + +<p>"Patience!" answered Amael in an undertone, so as not to be heard by the +Frankish warrior at his side. "You may see Brittany again a good deal +sooner than you expect—prudence and patience!"</p> + +<p>"Truly?" inquired the youth impetuously. "Oh, grandfather, what +happiness!"</p> + +<p>The old man made a sign to Vortigern to control himself, and then +proceeded aloud: "I am always afraid lest the fatigue of traveling +inflame your wound anew. Fortunately, we must be approaching the end of +our journey. Not so, Hildebrad?" he added, turning to the warrior.</p> + +<p>"Before sunset we shall be at Aix-la-Chapelle," answered the Frank. "But +for the hill that we are about to ascend, you could see the city at a +distance."</p> + +<p>"Return to your companion, my child," said Amael; "above all, place your +arm back in its scarf, and be careful how you manage your horse. A +too-sudden lurch might re-open the wound that is barely closed."</p> + +<p>The young man obeyed and gently walked his horse back to Octave. Thanks +to the mobility of the impressions of youth, Vortigern felt appeased and +comforted by the words of his grandfather that had made him look forward +to a speedy return to his family and country. The soothing thought was +so visibly reflected in his candid features that Octave met him with the +merry remark:</p> + +<p>"What a magician that grandfather of yours must be!<a name="page_009" id="page_009"></a> You rode off +preoccupied and fretful, angrily burying your spurs into the flanks of +your horse, who, poor animal, had done nothing to excite your wrath. +Now, behold! You return as placid as a bishop astride of his mule."</p> + +<p>"The magic of my grandfather has chased away my sadness. You speak +truly, Octave."</p> + +<p>"So much the better. I shall now be free, without fear of reviving your +chagrin, to give a loose to the increasing joy that I feel at every +step."</p> + +<p>"Why does your joy increase at every step, my dear companion?"</p> + +<p>"Because even the dullest horse becomes livelier and more spirited in +the measure that he approaches the house where he knows that he will +find provender."</p> + +<p>"Octave, I did not know you for such a glutton!"</p> + +<p>"In that case, my looks are deceptive, because a glutton, that am +I—terribly gluttonous of those delicate dainties that are found only at +court, and that constitute my provender."</p> + +<p>"What!" exclaimed Vortigern ingenuously. "Is that great Emperor, whose +name fills the world, surrounded by a court where nothing is thought of +but dainties and gluttony?"</p> + +<p>"Why, of course," answered Octave gravely and hardly able to refrain +from laughing outright at the innocence of the young Breton. "Why, of +course. And what is more, more so than any of the counts, of the dukes, +of the men of learning, and of the bishops at court, does the Emperor +himself lust after the dainties that I have in mind. He always keeps a +room contiguous to his own full of them. Because in the stillness of the +night—"</p> + +<p>"He rises to eat cakes and, perhaps, even sweetmeats!" exclaimed the lad +with disdain, while Octave, unable longer to<a name="page_010" id="page_010"></a> contain himself, was +laughing in his face. "I can think of nothing more unbecoming than +guzzling on the part of one who governs empires!"</p> + +<p>"What's to be done, Vortigern? Great princes must be pardoned for some +pecadillos. Moreover, with them it is a family failing—the daughters of +the Emperor—"</p> + +<p>"His daughters also are given to this ugly passion for gormandizing?"</p> + +<p>"Alas! They are no less gluttonous than their father. They have six or +seven dainties of their own—most appetizing and most appetized."</p> + +<p>"Oh, fie!" cried Vortigern. "Fie. Have they perhaps, also next to their +bed-chambers, whole rooms stocked with dainties?"</p> + +<p>"Calm your legitimate indignation, my boiling-over friend. Young girls +can not allow themselves quite so much comfort. That's good enough for +the Emperor Charles, who is no longer nimble on his legs. He is getting +along in years. He has the gout in his left foot, and his girth is +enormous."</p> + +<p>"That is not to be wondered at. Bound is the stomach to protrude with +such a gourmand!"</p> + +<p>"You will understand that being so heavy on his feet, this mighty +Emperor is not able, like his daughters, to snatch at a stray dainty on +the wing, like birdies in an orchard, who nibble lovingly here at a red +cherry, there at a blushing apple, yonder at a bunch of gilded grapes. +No, no; with his august paunch and his gouty foot, the august Charles +would be wholly unable to snap the dainties on the wing. The attention +due to his empire would lose too much. Hence the Emperor keeps near at +hand, within easy reach, a room full of dainties, where, at night, he +finds his provender—"<a name="page_011" id="page_011"></a></p> + +<p>"Octave!" exclaimed Vortigern, interrupting the young Roman with a +haughty mien. "I do not wish to be trifled with. At first, I took your +words seriously. The laughter that you are hardly able to repress, and +that despite yourself breaks out at frequent intervals, shows me that +you are trifling with me."</p> + +<p>"Come, my brave lad, do not wax angry. I am not bantering. Only that, +out of respect for the candor of your age, I have used a figure of +speech to tell the truth. In short, the dainty that I, Charles, his +daughters, and, by Venus! everybody at court lusts after more or less +greedily is—love!"</p> + +<p>"Love," echoed Vortigern, blushing and for the first time dropping his +eyes before Octave; but as his uneasiness increased, he proceeded to +inquire: "But, in order to enjoy love, the daughters of Charles are +surely married?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, innocence of the Golden Age! Oh, Armorican naïveness! Oh, Gallic +chastity!" cried Octave. But noticing that the young Breton frowned at +hearing his native land ridiculed, the Roman proceeded: "Far be it from +me to jest about your brave country. I shall tell you without further +circumlocution—I shall tell you that Charles' daughters are not +married; for reasons that he has never cared to explain to anyone, he +never has wanted them to have a husband."<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a></p> + +<p>"Out of pride, no doubt!"</p> + +<p>"Oh, oh, on that subject many things are said. The long and short of it +is that he does not wish to part with them.<a name="page_012" id="page_012"></a> He adores them, and, except +he goes to war, he always has them near him during his journeys, along +with his concubines—or, if you prefer the term, his 'dainties.' The +word may be less shocking to your prudery. You must know that after +having successively married and discarded his five wives, Desiderata, +Hildegarde, Fustrade, Himiltrude and Luitgarde, the Emperor provided +himself with an assortment of dainties, from which assortment I shall +mention to you incidentally the juicy Mathalgarde, the sugary +Gerswinthe, the tart Regina, the toothsome Adalinde—not to mention many +other saints on this calendar of love. For you must know that the great +Charles resembles the great Solomon not in wisdom only; he resembles him +also in his love for <i>seraglios</i>, as the Arabs call them. But, by the +way of the Emperor's daughters. Listen to a little tale. Imma, one of +these young princesses, was a charming girl. One fine day she became +smitten with Charles' archchaplain, named Eginhard. An archchaplain +being, of course, arch-amorous, Imma received Eginhard every night +secretly in her chamber—to discuss chapel affairs, I surmise. Now, +then, it so happened that during one winter's night there fell so very +much snow that the ground was all covered. A little before dawn, +Eginhard takes his departure from his lady-love; but just as he is about +to climb down from the window—an ordinary route with lovers—he beholds +by the light of a superb full moon that the ground is one sheet of white +snow. To himself he thinks: 'Imma and I are lost! I cannot get out +without leaving the imprint of my steps in the snow'—"</p> + +<p>"And what did he do?" asked Vortigern, more and more interested in the +story that threw an undefined sense of uneasiness<a name="page_013" id="page_013"></a> in his heart. "How +did the two escape from their perilous plight, the poor lovers!"</p> + +<p>"Imma, a robustious doxy, a girl both of head and resolution, descends +by the window, bravely takes the archchaplain on her back, and, without +tripping under the beloved burden, crosses a wide courtyard that +separates her quarters from one of the corridors of the palace. Although +weighted down by an archchaplain, Imma had such small feet that the +traces left by them could not choose but keep suspicion away from +Eginhard. Unfortunately, however, as you will discover when you arrive +at Aix-la-Chapelle, the Emperor is possessed of a demon of curiosity, +and has had his palace so constructed that, from a kind of terrace, +contiguous to his own room and which dominates the rest of the +buildings, he is able to discover as from an observatory, all who enter, +go out, or cross the open space. Now, then, the Emperor, who frequently +rises at night, saw, thanks to the brilliant moonlight, his daughter +crossing the yard with the amorous fardel."</p> + +<p>"Charles' anger must have been terrible!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, terrible for an instant. Soon, however, no doubt greatly elated at +having procreated a maid who was able to carry an archchaplain on her +back, the august Emperor pardoned the guilty couple. After that they +lived lovingly in peace and joy."</p> + +<p>"And yet that archchaplain was a priest? What of the sanctity of the +clergy!"</p> + +<p>"Ho, ho! my young friend. The Emperor's daughters are far from failing +in esteem for priests. Bertha, another of his daughters, desperately +esteems Enghilbert, the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier. Fairness, +nevertheless, compels me to admit that one of Bertha's sisters, named +Adeltrude,<a name="page_014" id="page_014"></a> esteemed with no less vehemence Count Lambert, one of the +most intrepid officers of the imperial army. As to little Rothailde, +another of the Emperor's daughters, she did not withhold her lively +esteem from Romuald, who made his name glorious in our wars against +Bohemia. I shall not speak of the other princesses. It is fully six +months that I have been away from court. I would be afraid to do them +injustice. Nevertheless, I am free to say that the Crosier and the Sword +have generally contended with each other for the amorous tenderness of +the daughters of Charles. Yet I must except Thetralde, the youngest of +the set. She is still too much of a novice to esteem any one. She is +barely fifteen. She is a flower, or rather, the bud of a flower that is +about to blossom. I never have seen anything more charming. When I last +departed from the court Thetralde gave promise of eclipsing all her +sisters and nieces with the sweetness and freshness of her beauty, +because, and I had forgotten this detail, my dear friend, the daughters +of Charles' sons are brought up with his own daughters; and are no less +charming than their aunts. You will see them all. Your admiration will +have but to choose between Adelaid, Atula, Gonarade, Bertha or +Theodora."</p> + +<p>"What! Do all these young girls inhabit the Emperor's palace?"</p> + +<p>"Certainly, without counting their servants, their governesses, their +chambermaids, their readers, their singers and innumerable other women +of their retinue. By Venus! My Adonis, there are more petticoats to be +seen in the imperial palace than cuirasses or priests' gowns. The +Emperor loves as much to be surrounded by women as by soldiers and +abbots, without forgetting the learned men, the rhetoricians, the +dialecticians,<a name="page_015" id="page_015"></a> the instructors, the peripatetic pedagogues and the +grammarians. The great Charles, as you must know, is as passionately +fond of grammar as of love, war, the chase, or choir chants. In his +grammarian's ardor, the Emperor invents words—"</p> + +<p>"What!"</p> + +<p>"Just as I am telling you. For instance: How do you call in the Gallic +tongue the month in which we now are?"</p> + +<p>"The month of November."</p> + +<p>"So do we Italians, barbarians that we are! But the Emperor has changed +all that by virtue of his own sovereign and grammatical will. His +peoples, provided they can obey him without the words strangling them, +are to say, instead of November, 'Herbismanoth'; instead of October, +Windumnermanoth.'"</p> + +<p>"Octave, you are trying to make merry at my expense."</p> + +<p>"Instead of March, 'Lenzhimanoth'; instead of May—"</p> + +<p>"Enough! enough! for pity's sake!" cried Vortigern. "Those barbarous +names make me shiver. What! can there be throats in existence able to +articulate such sounds?"</p> + +<p>"My young friend, Frankish throats are capable of everything. I warn +you, prepare your ears for the most uncouth concert of raucous, +guttural, savage words that you ever heard, unless you have ever heard +frogs croaking, tom-cats squalling, bulls bellowing, asses braying, +stags belling and wolves howling—all at once! Excepting the Emperor +himself and his family, who can somewhat handle the Roman and the Gallic +languages, the only two languages, in short, that are human, you will +hear nothing spoken but Frankish at that German court where everything +is German, that is to say, barbarous; the language, the customs, the +manners,<a name="page_016" id="page_016"></a> the meals, the dress. In short, Aix-la-Chapelle is no longer +in Gaul. It now lies in Germany absolutely."</p> + +<p>"And yet Charles reigns over Gaul!—is not that enough of a disgrace for +my country? The Emperor who governs us by no right other than conquest, +is surrounded with a Frankish court, and with officers and generals of +the same stock, who do not deign even to speak our tongue. Shame and +disgrace to us!"</p> + +<p>"There you are at it again, plunging anew into sadness. Vortigern! By +Bacchus! Why do you not imitate my philosophy of indifference? Does, +perchance, my race not descend from that haughty Roman stock that made +the world to tremble only a few centuries ago? Have I not seen the +throne of the Caesars occupied by hypocritical, ambitious, greedy and +debauched Popes, with their black-gowned and tonsured militia? Have not +the descendants of our haughty Roman Emperors gone in their imbecile +idleness to vegetate in Constantinople, where they still indulge the +dreams of Universal Empire? Have not the Catholic priests chased from +their Olympus the charmful deities of our fathers? Have they not torn +down, mutilated and ravished the temples, statues, altars—the +master-works of the divine art of Rome and Greece? Go to, Vortigern, and +follow my example! Instead of fretting over a ship-wrecked past, let's +drink and forget! Let our fair mistresses be our Saints, and their +couches our altars! Let our Eucharist be a flower-decked cup, and for +liturgy, let's sing the amorous couplets of Tibullus, of Ovid, and of +Horace. Yes, indeed, and take my advice: let's drink, love and enjoy +life! That's truly to live! You will never again come across such an +opportunity. The gods of joy are sending you to the Emperor's court."<a name="page_017" id="page_017"></a></p> + +<p>"What do you mean?" queried Vortigern almost mechanically, and feeling +his inexperienced sense, though not perverted, yet dazzled by the facile +and sensuous philosophy of Octave. "What would you have one become in +the midst of that court so strange to me, who have been brought up in +our rustic Brittany?"</p> + +<p>"Child that you are! A swarm of beautiful eyes will be focused upon +you!"</p> + +<p>"Octave, you are mocking again. Am I to be taken notice of? I, a field +laborer's son? I, a poor Breton prisoner on parole?"</p> + +<p>"And do you think your reputation for a bedevilled Breton goes for +nothing? More than once have I heard told of the furious curiosity with +which, about twenty-five years ago, the hostages taken to +Aix-la-Chapelle, at the time of the first war against your country, +inspired everyone at court. The most charming women wished to behold +those indomitable Bretons whom only the great Charles had been able to +vanquish. Their haughty and rude mien, the interest centred in their +defeat, everything, down to their strange costumes, drew upon them the +looks and the sympathy of the women, who, in Germany, are ever strongly +prone to love. The fascinating enthusiasts of then are now become +mothers and grandfathers. But, happily, they have daughters and +grand-daughters who are fully able to appreciate you. I can assure you +that I, who know the court and its ways, had I only your youth, your +good looks, your wound, your graceful horsemanship and your renown as a +Breton, would guarantee myself the lover of all those beauties, and that +within a week."<a name="page_018" id="page_018"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h4>THE COURTYARD OF THE PALACE.</h4> + +<p>The conversation between the young Roman and Vortigern was at this point +interrupted by Amael, who, turning back to his grandson and extending +his arm towards the horizon said to him:</p> + +<p>"Look yonder, my child; that is the Queen of the cities of the Empire of +Charles the Great—the city of Aix-la-Chapelle."</p> + +<p>Vortigern hastened to join his grandfather, whose eyes he now, perhaps +for the first time, sought to avoid with not a little embarrassment. +Octave's words sounded wrong on his ears, even dangerous; and he +reproached himself for having listened to them with some pleasure. +Having reached Amael, Vortigern cast his eyes in the direction pointed +out by the old man, and saw at still a great distance an imposing mass +of buildings, close to which rose the high steeple of a basilica. +Presently, he distinguished the roofs and terraces of a cluster of +houses dimly visible through the evening mist and stretching out along +the horizon. It was the Emperor's palace and the basilica of +Aix-la-Chapelle. Vortigern contemplated with curiosity the, to him, new +panorama, while Hildebrad, who had cantered ahead to make some inquiries +from a cartman coming from the city, now returned to the Bretons, +saying:</p> + +<p>"The Emperor is hourly expected at the palace. The forerunners have +announced his approach. He is coming from a<a name="page_019" id="page_019"></a> journey in the north of +Gaul. Let's hasten to ride in ahead of him so that we may salute him on +his arrival."</p> + +<p>The riders quickened their horses' steps, and before sunset they were +entering the outer court of the palace—a vast space surrounded by many +lodges of variously shaped roofs and architecture, and furnished with +innumerable windows. Agreeable to a unique plan, with many of these +structures the ground floor was wholly open and had the appearance of a +shed whose massive stone pillars supported the masonry of the upper +tiers of floors. A crowd of subaltern officers, of servants, and slaves +of the palace, lived and lodged under these sheds, open to the four +winds of heaven and heated in winter by means of large furnaces that +were kept lighted night and day. This bizarre architecture was conceived +by the ingenuity of the Emperor. It enabled him, from his observatory, +to see with all the greater ease all that happened in these wall-less +apartments. Several long corridors, profusely ornamented with richly +sculptured columns and porticos after the fashion of Rome, connected +with another set of buildings. A square pavilion, raised considerably +above ground, dominated the system of structures. Octave called +Vortigern's attention to a sort of balcony located in front of the +pavilion. It was the Emperor's observatory. Everywhere a general stir +announced the approaching arrival of Charles. Clerks, soldiers, women, +officers, rhetoricians, monks and slaves crossed one another in great +haste, while several bishops, anxious to present the first homages to +the Emperor, were speeding towards the peristyle of the palace. So +instantly was the Emperor expected and such was the hurly at the event, +that when the cavalcade, of which Vortigern and his grandfather were a +part, entered the court, several<a name="page_020" id="page_020"></a> people, deceived by the martial +appearance of the troupe, began to cry: "The Emperor!" "Here is the +Emperor's escort!" The cry flew from mouth to mouth, and in an instant +the spacious court was filled with a compact mass of servitors and +pursuivants, through which the escort of the two Bretons was hardly able +to break its way in order to reach a place near the principal portico. +Hildebrad had chosen the spot in order to be among the first to meet +Charles and to present to him the hostages whom he brought from +Brittany. The crowd discovered its mistake in acclaiming the Emperor, +but the false rumor had penetrated the palace and immediately the +concubines of Charles, his daughters and grand-daughters, their servants +and attendants, rushed out and grouped themselves on a spacious terrace +above the portico, near which the two Bretons, together with their +escort, had taken their stand.</p> + +<p>"Raise your eyes, Vortigern," Octave said to his companion. "Look and +see what a bevy of beauties the Emperor's palace contains."</p> + +<p>Blushing, the young Breton glanced towards the terrace and remained +struck with astonishment at the sight of some twenty-five or thirty +women, all of whom were either daughters or grand-daughters of Charles, +together with his concubines. They were clad in the Frankish fashion, +and presented the most seductive variety of faces, color of hair, shapes +and beauty imaginable. There were among them brunettes and blondes, +women of reddish and of auburn hair, some tall, others stout, and yet +others thin and slender. It was a complete display of Germanic feminine +types—from the tender maid up to the stately matron of forty years. The +eyes of Vortigern fell with preference upon a girl of not more than +fifteen, clad in a tunic of pale green embroidered<a name="page_021" id="page_021"></a> with silver. Nothing +sweeter could be imagined than her rosy and fresh face crowned and set +off by long and thick strands of blonde hair; her delicate neck, white +as a swan's, seemed to undulate under the weight of her magnificent head +of hair. Another maid of about twenty years—a pronounced brunette, +robust, with challenging eyes, black hair, and clad in a tunic of +orange—leaned on the balustrade, supporting her chin in one hand, close +to the younger blonde, on whose shoulders she familiarly rested her +right arm. Each held in her hand a nose-gay of rosemary, whose fragrance +they inhaled from time to time, all the while conversing in a low voice +and contemplating the group of riders with increasing curiosity. They +had learned that the escort was not the Emperor's, but that it brought +the Breton hostages.</p> + +<p>"Give thanks to my friendship, Vortigern," Octave whispered to the lad. +"I am going to place you in evidence, and to display you at your true +worth." Saying this, Octave covertly gave Vortigern's horse such a sharp +touch of his whip under the animal's belly that, had the Breton been +less of a horseman, he had been thrown by the violence of the bound made +by his mount. Thus unexpectedly stung, the animal reared, poised himself +dangerously for a moment and then leaped so high that Vortigern's coif +grazed the bottom of the terrace where the group of women stood. The +blonde young girl grew pale with terror, and hiding her face in her +hands, exclaimed: "Unhappy lad! He is killed! Poor young man!"</p> + +<p>Yielding to the impulse of his age as well as to a sense of pride at +finding himself the object of the attention of the crowd that was +gathered around him, Vortigern severely chastised his horse, whose leaps +and bounds threatened to become<a name="page_022" id="page_022"></a> dangerous. But the lad, preserving his +presence of mind and drawing upon his skill, displayed so much grace and +vigor in the struggle, despite his right arm's being held in the scarf, +that the crowd wildly clapped its hands and cried: "Glory to the +Breton!" "Honor to the Breton!" Two bouquets of rosemary fell, at that +moment, at the feet of the horse that, brought at last under control, +champed his bit and pawed the ground with his hoofs. Vortigern raised +his head towards the terrace whence the bouquets had just been thrown at +him, when a formidable din arose from a distance, followed immediately +by the cry, echoed and re-echoed: "The Emperor!" "The Emperor!"</p> + +<p>At the announcement, all the women forthwith left the balcony to descend +and receive the monarch under the portico of the palace.</p> + +<p>While the crowd swayed back and forward, crying: "Long live Charles!" +"Long live Charles the Great!" the grandson of Amael saw a troop of +riders approaching at a gallop. They might have been taken for +equestrian statues of iron. Mounted upon chargers caparisoned in iron, +their own iron casques hid their faces; cuirassed in iron and gloved in +iron, they wore leggings of iron, and bucklers of the same metal. The +last rays of the westering sun shone from the points of their iron +lances. In short, nothing was heard but the clash of iron. At the head +of these cavaliers, whom he preceded, and, like them, cased in iron from +head to foot, rode a man of colossal stature. Hardly arrived before the +principal portico, he alighted slowly from his horse and ran limping +towards the group of women who there awaited him, calling out to them, +as he ran, in a little shrill and squeaky voice that contrasted +strangely with his enormous build:<a name="page_023" id="page_023"></a></p> + +<p>"Good-day, little ones. Good-day, dear daughters. Good-day to all of +you, my darlings." Without giving any heed to the cheers of the crowd +and to the respectful salutations of the bishops and other dignitaries, +who hurried to meet him, the Emperor Charles, that giant in iron, +disappeared within the palace, followed by his feminine cohort.<a name="page_024" id="page_024"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<h4>IN THE GALLERIES OF THE PALACE.</h4> + +<p>Amael and his grandson were lodged in one of the upper chambers of the +palace, whither they were conducted by Hildebrad to rest after the +fatigue of their recent journey. Supper was served to them and they were +left to retire for the night.</p> + +<p>At break of day the next morning, Octave knocked at the door of the two +Bretons and informed them that the Emperor wished to see them. The Roman +urged Vortigern to clothe himself at his best. The Breton lad had not +much to choose from. He had with him only two suits of clothes, the one +he wore on the journey, another, green of color and embroidered with +orange wool. This notwithstanding, thanks to the fresh and new clothes, +in which the colors were harmoniously blended and which enhanced the +attractiveness of the charming face as well as the gracefulness of his +supple stature, Vortigern seemed to the critical eyes of Octave worthy +of making an honorable appearance before the mightiest Emperor in the +world. The centenarian could not restrain a smile at hearing the praises +bestowed upon the figure of his grandson by the young Roman, who advised +him to draw tighter the belt of his sword, claiming that, if one's +figure is good, it was but right to exhibit it. While giving<a name="page_025" id="page_025"></a> his +advices to Vortigern in his wonted good humor, Octave whispered in his +friend's ear:</p> + +<p>"Did you notice yesterday the nose-gays that fell at the feet of your +horse? Did you notice who the girls were from whom the bouquets came?"</p> + +<p>"I think I did," stammered the young Breton in answer, and he blushed to +the roots of his hair, while despite himself, his thoughts flew to the +charming young blonde. "It seems to me," he added, "that I saw the two +bouquets fall."</p> + +<p>"Oh, it seems to you, hypocrite! Nevertheless, it was my whip that +brought down the two bouquets! And do you know what imperial hands it +was that threw them down in homage to your address and courage?"</p> + +<p>"Were the bouquets thrown down by imperial hands?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, indeed, seeing that Thetralde, the timid blonde child and +Hildrude, the tall and bold brunette, are both daughters of Charles. One +of them was dressed in a green robe of the color of your blouse, the +other in orange of the color of your embroidery. By Venus! Are you not a +favored mortal? Two conquests at one clap!"</p> + +<p>Engaged at the other end of the chamber, Amael did not overhear the +words of Octave that were turning Vortigern's face as scarlet as the +color of his chaperon's cloak. The preparations for the presentation +being concluded, the two hostages followed their guide to appear before +the Emperor. After crossing an infinite number of passages and mounting +and descending an equal number of stairs, in all of which they +encountered more women than men, the number of women lodged in the +Imperial Palace being prodigious, the Bretons were led through vast +halls. To describe the sumptuous magnificence of these galleries would +be no less impossible<a name="page_026" id="page_026"></a> than to enumerate the pictures with which their +halls were ornamented. Artisans, brought from Constantinople, where, at +the time, the school of Byzantine painting flourished, had covered the +walls with gigantic designs. In one place the conquests of Cyrus over +the Persians were displayed; at another, the atrocities of the tyrant +Phalaris, witnessing the agonies of his victims, who were led to be +burned alive in a brass caldron red with heat; at still another place, +the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus was reproduced; the conquests +of Alexander and Hannibal, and many other heroic subjects. One of the +galleries of the palace was consecrated wholly to the battles of Charles +Martel. He was seen triumphing over Saxons and Arabs, who, chained at +his feet, implored his clemency. So striking was the resemblance that +while crossing the hall Amael cried out:</p> + +<p>"It is he! Those are his features! That was his bearing! He lives again! +It is Charles!"</p> + +<p>"One would think you recognize an old acquaintance," observed the young +Roman, smiling. "Are you renewing your acquaintance with Charles +Martel?"</p> + +<p>"Octave," answered the old man melancholically, "I am one hundred years +old—I fought at the battle of Poitiers against the Arabs."</p> + +<p>"Among the troops of Charles Martel?"</p> + +<p>"I saved his life," answered Amael, contemplating the gigantic picture; +and speaking to himself, he proceeded with a sigh: "Oh, how many +recollections, sweet and sad, do not those days bring back to me! My +beloved mother, my sweet Septimine!"</p> + +<p>Octave regarded the old man with increasing astonishment, but, suddenly +collecting himself, he grew pensive and hastened<a name="page_027" id="page_027"></a> his steps, followed by +the two hostages. Dazzled by the sights before him Vortigern examined +with the curiosity of his age the riches of all kinds that were heaped +up all around him. He could not refrain from stopping before two objects +that attracted his attention above all others. The first was a piece of +furniture of precious wood enriched with gilt mouldings. Pipes of +copper, brass and tin, of different thicknesses rose above each other in +tiers on one side of the wooden structure. "Octave," asked the young +Breton, "what kind of furniture is this?"</p> + +<p>"It is a Greek organ that was recently sent to Charles by the Emperor of +Constantinople. The instrument is truly marvelous. With the aid of brass +vessels and of bellows made of ox-hides, which are concealed from view, +the air enters these tubes, and, when they are played upon, one time you +think you hear the rumbling of thunder, another time, the gentle notes +of the lyre or of cymbals. But look yonder, near that large table of +massive gold where the city of Constantinople is drawn in relief, there +you see no less ingenious an object. It is a Persian clock, sent to the +Emperor only four years ago by Abdhallah, the King of Persia." Saying +this, Octave pointed out to the young Breton and his grandfather, who +became no less interested than Vortigern himself, a large time-piece of +gilt bronze. Figures denoting the twelve hours surrounded the dial, +which was placed in the centre of a miniature palace made of bronze, and +likewise gilt. Twelve gates built in arcades were seen at the foot of +the monumental imitation. "When the hour strikes," Octave explained to +the Bretons, "a certain number of brass balls, equal in number to the +hour, drop upon a little cymbal. At the same moment, these gates fly +open, as many of them as<a name="page_028" id="page_028"></a> the corresponding hour, and out of each a +cavalier, armed with lance and shield, rides forth. If it strikes one, +two or three o'clock, one, two or three gates open, the cavaliers ride +out, salute with their lances, return within, and the gates close upon +them."</p> + +<p>"This is truly a marvelous contrivance!" exclaimed Amael. "And are the +names of the men known who fashioned these prodigies around us, these +magnificent paintings, that gold table where a whole city is reproduced +in relief, this organ, this clock, in short, all these marvels! Surely +their authors must have been glorified!"</p> + +<p>"By Bacchus, Amael, your question is droll," answered Octave smiling. +"Who cares for the names of the obscure slaves who have produced these +articles?"</p> + +<p>"But the names of Clovis, of Brunhild, of Clotaire, of Charles Martel +will survive the ages!" murmured the centenarian bitterly to himself, +while the young Roman remarked to Vortigern:</p> + +<p>"Let us hurry; the Emperor is waiting for us. It will take whole days, +months and years to admire in detail the treasures that this palace is +full of. It is the favorite resort of the Emperor. And yet, as much as +his residence at Aix-la-Chapelle, he loves his old castle of Heristal, +the cradle of his mighty stock of mayors of the palace, where he has +heaped miracles of art."<a name="page_029" id="page_029"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h4>CHARLEMAGNE.</h4> + +<p>Following their guide, the two hostages left the sumptuous and vast +galleries, and ascended, closely behind Octave, a spiral staircase that +led to the private apartment of the Emperor, the apartment around which +wound the balcony that served as observatory to Charles. Two richly +dressed chamberlains stood in the outer vestibule. "Stay for me here," +Octave said to the Bretons; "I shall notify the Emperor that you await +his pleasure, and learn whether he wishes to receive you at this +moment."</p> + +<p>Despite his race and family hatred for the Frankish Kings or Emperors, +the conquerors and oppressors of Gaul, Vortigern experienced a thrill of +emotion at the thought of finding himself face to face with the mighty +Charles, the sovereign of almost all Europe. This first emotion was +speedily joined by a second—that mighty Emperor was the father of +Thetralde, the entrancing maid, who, the evening before, had thrown her +bouquet to the youth. Vortigern's thoughts never a moment fell upon the +brunette Hildrude. An instant later Octave reappeared and beckoned to +Amael and his grandson to step in, while in an undertone he warned them: +"Crook your knees low before the Emperor; it is the custom."</p> + +<p>The centenarian cast a look at Vortigern with a negative sign of the +head. The youth understood, and the Bretons stepped into the bed-chamber +of Charles, whom they found in the company of his favorite Eginhard, the +archchaplain<a name="page_030" id="page_030"></a> whom Imma had one night bravely carried on her back. A +servitor of the imperial chamber awaited the orders of his master.</p> + +<p>When the two hostages entered the room, the monarch, whose stature, +though now unarmed, preserved its colossal dimensions, was seated on the +edge of his couch clad only in a shirt and hose that set off the +pre-eminence of his paunch. He had just put on one shoe and held the +other in his hand. His hair was almost white, his eyes were large and +sparkling, his nose was long, his neck short and thick like a bull's. +His physiognomy, of an open cast and instinct with joviality, recalled +the features of his grandfather, Charles Martel. At the sight of the two +Bretons the Emperor rose from the edge of the couch, and keeping his one +shoe in his hand, took two steps forward, limping on his left foot. As +he thus approached Amael he seemed a prey to a concealed emotion +somewhat mingled with a lively curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Old man!" cried out Charles in his shrill voice that contrasted so +singularly with his giant stature, "Octave tells me you fought under +Charles Martel, my grandfather, nearly eighty years ago, and that you +saved his life at the battle of Poitiers."</p> + +<p>"It is true," and carrying his hand to his forehead where the traces of +a deep wound were still visible, the aged Breton added: "I received this +wound at the battle of Poitiers."</p> + +<p>The Emperor sat down again on the edge of his bed, put on the other shoe +and said to his archchaplain: "Eginhard, you who compiled in your +chronicle the history and acts of my grandfather, you whose memory is +ever faithful, do you remember ever to have heard told what the old man +says?"</p> + +<p>Eginhard remained thoughtful for a moment, and then<a name="page_031" id="page_031"></a> answered slowly: "I +remember to have read in some parchment scrolls, inscribed by the hand +of the glorious Charles and now preserved in your august archives, that, +indeed, at the battle of Poitiers"—but interrupting himself and turning +to the centenarian he asked: "Your name? How are you called?"</p> + +<p>"Amael is my name."</p> + +<p>The archchaplain reflected for a moment, and shaking his head observed: +"While I can not now recall it, that was not the name of the warrior who +saved the life of Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers—it was a +Frankish name, it is not the name which you mentioned."</p> + +<p>"That name," rejoined the aged Amael, "was Berthoald."</p> + +<p>"Yes!" put in Eginhard quickly. "That is the name—Berthoald. And in a +few lines written in his own hand, the glorious Charles Martel commended +the said Berthoald to his children; he wrote that he owed him his life +and recommended him to their gratitude if he ever should turn to them."</p> + +<p>During the exchange of these words between the aged Breton and the +archchaplain, the Emperor had continued and finished his toilet with the +aid of his servitor of the chamber. His costume, the old Frankish +costume to which Charles remained faithful, consisted in the first place +of a pair of leggings made of thick linen material closely fastened to +the nether limbs by means of red wool bandelets that wound criss-cross +from below upwards; next of a tunic of Frisian cloth, sapphire-blue, and +held together by a silk belt. In the winter and the fall of the year the +Emperor also wore over his shoulders a heavy and large otter or +lamb-skin coat. Thus clad, Charles sat down in a large armchair placed +near a curtain that was meant to conceal one of the doors that<a name="page_032" id="page_032"></a> opened +upon the balcony which served him for observatory. At a sign from +Charles the servitor stepped out of the chamber. Left alone with +Eginhard, Vortigern, Amael and Octave, Charles said to the elder Breton: +"Old man, if I understood my chaplain correctly, a Frank named Berthoald +saved my grandfather's life. How does it happen that the said Berthoald +and you are the same personage?"</p> + +<p>"When fifteen years of age, driven by the spirit of adventure, I ran +away from my family of the Gallic race, and then located in Burgundy. +After many untoward events, I joined a band of determined men. I then +was twenty years of age. I took a Frankish name and claimed to be of +that race in order to secure the protection of Charles Martel.<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a> To the +end of interesting him all the more in my lot I offered him my own sword +and the swords of all my men, just a few days before the battle of +Poitiers. At that battle I saved his life. After that, loaded with his +favors, I fought under his orders five years longer."</p> + +<p>"And what happened then?"</p> + +<p>"Then—ashamed of my imposition, and still more ashamed of fighting on +the side of the Franks, I left Charles Martel to return into Brittany, +the cradle of my family. There I became a field laborer."</p> + +<p>"By the cape of St. Martin, you then turned rebel!" exclaimed the +Emperor in his squeaky voice, which then assumed the tone of a +penetrating treble. "I now see the wisdom of those who chose you for an +hostage, you, the instigator and the soul of the uprisings and even wars +that broke out in Brittany during the reign of Pepin, my father, and<a name="page_033" id="page_033"></a> +even under my own reign, when your devil-possessed countrymen decimated +my veteran bands!"</p> + +<p>"I fought as well as I could in our wars."</p> + +<p>"Traitor! Loaded with favors by my grandfather, yet were you not afraid +to rise in arms against his son and me?"</p> + +<p>"I felt remorse for only one thing—and that was to have merited the +favor of your grandfather. I shall ever reproach myself for having +fought on his side instead of against him."</p> + +<p>"Old man," cried the Emperor, purple with rage, "you have even more +audacity than years!"</p> + +<p>"Charles—let us stop here. You look upon yourself as the sovereign of +Gaul. We Bretons do not recognize your claims. These claims you hold, +like all other conquerors, from force. To you might means right—"</p> + +<p>"I hold them from God!" again cried the Emperor, this time stamping the +floor with his foot and breaking in upon Amael. "Yes! I hold my rights +over Gaul from God, and from my good sword."</p> + +<p>"From your sword, from violence, yes, indeed. From God, not at all. God +does not consecrate theft, whether a purse or an empire be involved. +Clovis captured Gaul. Your father and grandfather plundered of his crown +the last scion of that Clovis. Little does that matter to us, Bretons, +who refuse to obey either the stock of Clovis or that of Charles Martel. +You dispose over an innumerable army; already have you ravished and +vanquished Brittany. You may ravage and vanquish her over again—but +subjugate her, never. And now, Charles, I have spoken. You shall hear +not another word from me on that subject. I am your prisoner, your +hostage. Dispose of me."</p> + +<p>The Emperor, who more than once was on the point of<a name="page_034" id="page_034"></a> allowing his +indignation to break loose, turned to Eginhard and, after a moment of +silence, said to him in a calm voice: "You, who are engaged in writing +the history and deeds of Charles, the august Emperor of Gaul, Caesar of +Germany, Patrician of Rome, Protector of the Suevians, the Bulgarians +and the Hungarians, I command you to write down that an old man held to +Charles a language of unheard-of audacity, and that Charles could not +prevent himself from esteeming the frankness and the courage of the man +who had thus spoken to him." And suddenly changing his tone, the +Emperor, whose features, for a moment stern in anger, now assumed an +expression of joviality shaded with shrewdness, said to Amael: "So, +then, Breton seigneurs of Armorica, whatever I may do, you want none of +me at any price for your Emperor. Do you so much as know me?"</p> + +<p>"Charles, we know you in Brittany by the unjust wars that your father +and yourself have waged against us."</p> + +<p>"So that, to you, gentlemen of Armorica, Charles is only a man of +conquest, of violence, and of battle?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, you reign only through terror."</p> + +<p>"Well, then, follow me. I may perhaps cause you to change your mind," +said the Emperor after a moment's reflection. He rose, took his cane and +put on his cap. His eyes then fell upon Vortigern, whom, standing +silently at a distance, he had not noticed before. "Who is that young +and handsome lad?" he asked.</p> + +<p>"My grandson."</p> + +<p>"Octave," the Emperor remarked, turning to the young Roman, "this is +rather a young hostage."</p> + +<p>"August Prince, this lad was chosen for several reasons. His sister +married Morvan, a common field laborer, but one<a name="page_035" id="page_035"></a> of the most intrepid of +the Breton chieftains. During this last war he commanded the cavalry."</p> + +<p>"And why, then, was not that Morvan brought here? That would have been +an excellent hostage."</p> + +<p>"August Prince, in order to bring him we would have first had to catch +him. Although severely wounded, Morvan, thanks to his heroine of a wife, +succeeded in making his escape with her. It has been impossible to reach +them in the inaccessible mountains whither they both fled. For that +reason two other chiefs and influential men of the tribe were chosen for +hostages; we left them on the road on account of their wounds, and +proceeded only with this old man, who was the soul of the last wars, and +also this youth, who, through his family connections, is related to one +of the most dangerous chieftains of Armorica. I must admit that in +taking him, we yielded also to the prayers of his mother. She was very +anxious that he should accompany his grandfather on this long journey, +which is very trying to a centenarian."</p> + +<p>"And you," resumed the Emperor, addressing Vortigern, whom, during the +account given by Octave, he had been examining with attention and +interest, "no doubt also hate inveterately that Charles, the conqueror +and devastator?"</p> + +<p>"The Emperor Charles has white hair; I am only eighteen years old," +retorted the young Breton, blushing. "I can not answer."</p> + +<p>"Old man," observed Charles, visibly affected by the lad's +self-respecting yet becoming modesty, "the mother of your grandson must +be a happy woman. But coming to think of it, my lad, was it not you who +yesterday evening, shortly before<a name="page_036" id="page_036"></a> my arrival, came near breaking your +neck with a fall from your horse?"</p> + +<p>"I!" cried Vortigern, blushing with pride; "I, fall from my horse! Who +dared to say so!"</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! my lad. You are red up to your ears," the Emperor exclaimed, +laughing aloud. "But, never mind. Be tranquil. I do not mean to wound +your pride of horsemanship. Far from it. Before I saw you to-day my ears +have rung with the interminable praises of your gracefulness and daring +on horseback. My dear daughters, especially little Thetralde and the +tall Hildrude, told me at least ten times at supper that they had seen a +savage young Breton, although wounded in one arm, manage his horse like +the most skilful of my equerries."</p> + +<p>"If I deserve any praise, it must be addressed to my grandfather," +modestly answered Vortigern. "It was he who taught me to ride on +horseback."</p> + +<p>"I like that answer, my lad. It shows your modesty and a proper respect +for your elders. Are you lettered? Can you read and write?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, thanks to the instruction of my mother."</p> + +<p>"Can you sing mass in the choir?"</p> + +<p>"I!" cried Vortigern in great astonishment. "I sing mass! No, no, by +Hesus! We do not sing mass in my country."</p> + +<p>"There they are, the Breton pagans!" exclaimed Charles. "Oh, my bishops +are right, they are a devil-possessed people, those folks of Armorica. +What a pity that so handsome and so modest a lad should not be able to +sing mass in the choir." Saying this, the Emperor pulled his thick cap +close over his head and leaning heavily on his cane, said to the aged +Breton: "Come, follow me, seigneur Breton. Ah, you only know<a name="page_037" id="page_037"></a> of Charles +the Fighter; I shall now make you acquainted with another Charles whom +you do not yet know. Come, follow me." Limping, and leaning on his cane, +the Emperor moved towards the door, making a sign to the others to +follow; but stopping short at the threshold, he turned to Octave: "You, +go to Hugh, my Master of the Hounds, and notify him that I shall hunt +deer in the forest of Oppenheim. Let him send there the hounds, horses +and all other equipments of the chase."</p> + +<p>"August Prince, your orders will be executed."</p> + +<p>"You will also say to the Grand Nomenclator of my table that I may take +dinner in the pavilion of the forest, especially if the hunt lasts long. +My suite will dine there also. Let the repast be sumptuous. You will +tell the Nomenclator that my taste has not changed. A good large joint +of roast venison, served piping hot, is now, as ever, my favorite +treat."</p> + +<p>The young Roman again bowed low; Charles stepped out first from the +chamber. He was followed by Eginhard, then by Amael. As Vortigern was +about to follow his grandfather, he was retained for an instant by +Octave, who, approaching his mouth to the lad's ear, whispered to him:</p> + +<p>"I shall carry to the apartments of the Emperor's daughters the news +that he intends to hunt to-day. By Venus! The mother of love has you +under her protecting wings, my young Breton."</p> + +<p>The lad blushed anew, and was about to answer the Roman when he heard +Amael's voice calling out to him: "Come, my child, the Emperor wishes to +lean on your arm in order to descend the stairs and walk through the +palace."</p> + +<p>More and more disturbed in mind, Vortigern stepped towards Charles as +the latter was saying to the chamberlains:<a name="page_038" id="page_038"></a> "No, nobody is to accompany +me except the two Bretons and Eginhard;" and nodding to the lad he +proceeded: "Your arm will be a better support to me than my cane; these +stairs are steep; step carefully."</p> + +<p>Supported by Vortigern's arm the Emperor slowly descended the steps of a +staircase that ran out at one of the porticos of an interior courtyard. +When the bottom was reached Charles dropped the young man's arm, and +resuming his cane, said: "You stepped cleverly; you are a good guide. +What a pity that you do not know how to sing mass in the choir!" While +thus chattering, Charles followed a gallery that ran along the +courtyard. The men who accompanied him marched a few steps behind. +Presently the Emperor noticed a slave crossing the courtyard with a +large hamper on his shoulders. "Halloa! You, there, with the basket!" +the Emperor called out in his piercing voice. "You, there, with the +basket! Come here! What have you in that basket?"</p> + +<p>"Eggs, seigneur."</p> + +<p>"Where are you taking them to?"</p> + +<p>"To the kitchen of the august Emperor."</p> + +<p>"Where do those eggs come from?"</p> + +<p>"From the Muhlsheim farm, seigneur."</p> + +<p>"From the Muhlsheim farm?" the Emperor repeated thoughtfully, and almost +immediately added: "There must be three hundred and twenty-five eggs in +that basket. Are there not?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, seigneur; that's the exact rent brought in every month from the +farm."</p> + +<p>"You can go—and be careful you do not break the eggs." The Emperor +stopped for a moment, leaned heavily upon his cane, and turning to +Amael, called out to him: "Halloa,<a name="page_039" id="page_039"></a> seigneur Breton, come here, draw +near me." Amael obeyed, and the Emperor resuming his walk proceeded to +say: "Charles the Fighter, the conqueror, is at least a good +husbander—does it not strike you that way? He knows to an egg how many +are laid by the hens on his farms. If you ever return to Brittany, you +must not fail to narrate the incident to the housekeepers of your +country."</p> + +<p>"If I ever again see my country, I shall tell the truth of what I have +seen."<a name="page_040" id="page_040"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h4>THE PALATINE SCHOOL.</h4> + +<p>Thus chatting, the Emperor Charles the Great arrived before a door that +opened on the gallery. He knocked with his cane, and a clerk dressed in +black opened. Struck with surprise, the clerk bent the knee and cried: +"The Emperor!" And as he seemed to be about to rush to the door of a +contiguous hall, the Emperor ordered him to stop:</p> + +<p>"Do not budge! Master Clement is giving his lessons, is he?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my august Prince!"</p> + +<p>"Remain where you are," and addressing Amael: "Seigneur Breton, you +shall now visit a school that I have founded. It is under the direction +of Master Clement, a famous teacher, whom I have summoned from Scotland. +The sons of the principal seigneurs of my court come here, in obedience +to my orders, to study at this school, together with the poorest of my +attendants."</p> + +<p>"This is well done, Charles—I congratulate you on that!"</p> + +<p>"And yet it is Charles the Fighter that has done this good thing—let us +go in;" and turning to Vortigern: "Well, my young man, you who cannot +sing mass, open your eyes and ears at their widest; you are about to see +pupils of your own age, and of all conditions."<a name="page_041" id="page_041"></a></p> + +<p>The Palatine school, directed by the Scotchman Clement, into whose +precincts the two Bretons followed the Emperor, held about two hundred +pupils. All rose at their benches at the sight of Charles, but he +motioned to them to resume their seats, saying:</p> + +<p>"Be seated, my boys; I prefer to see you with your noses in your books, +than in air, under the pretext of respect for me." And seeing that +Master Clement, the director of the school, was himself about to descend +from his high desk, Charles cried out to him: "Remain on your throne of +knowledge, my worthy master; here I am only one of your subjects. I only +wanted to cast a glance over the work of these boys, and to learn from +you whether they have made any progress during my absence. Let the boys +come forward, one by one, with the copy-books in which to-day's work is +being done."</p> + +<p>The Emperor prided himself not a little on his literacy. He sat down on +a stool near the chair of Master Clement, and carefully examined the +copy-books brought to him. It appeared that the pupils who were the sons +of noble or rich parents, exhibited to the Emperor mediocre, or even +poor work, while, on the other hand, the poorer pupils, or those whose +parents were of lower rank, exhibited such excellent work that Charles, +turning to Amael, said: "If you were as proficient in letters as myself, +seigneur Breton, you would be able to appreciate, as I do, these +manuscripts that I have just been looking over. The sweetest flavor of +science is exhaled by these writings." Thereupon addressing the scholars +who had distinguished themselves, the Emperor said impressively: "I give +you great praise, my children, for the zeal you display in carrying out +my wishes; strive<a name="page_042" id="page_042"></a> after perfection, and I shall endow you with rich +bishoprics and magnificent abbeys." The Emperor stopped and turned +towards the lazy noblemen's sons and the sons of the idle rich; his brow +puckered, and casting upon them an angry look, he cried out: "As to you, +the sons of my Empire's principal men, as to you, dainty and prim lads, +who, resting upon your birth and fortune, have neglected my orders and +your studies, preferring play and idleness—as to you," the Emperor +proceeded in a voice of ever heightening anger, and smiting the table +with his cane, "as to you, look for admiration from other quarters than +mine. I care nothing for your birth and your fortune! Listen to my words +and keep them firm in your minds: if you do not hasten to make amends +for your negligence by constant application, you will never receive +aught from me!"</p> + +<p>The rich idlers dropped their eyes all of a tremble. The Emperor rose +and said to a young clerk, named Bernard, barely twenty years of age, +the excellence of whose work had attracted Charles' attention: "And you, +my lad, you may now follow me. I appoint you from to-day a clerk in my +chapel, nor will the evidence of my protection end there."</p> + +<p>The Emperor looked satisfied with himself. With a complaisant air he +turned to Amael: "Well now, seigneur Breton, you have seen Charles the +Fighter, emulating in his humble capacity of man, the acts of our Lord +God when on earth. He separates the wheat from the chaff, he places the +just at his right, the wicked at his left. If you ever return to +Brittany, you will tell the school-masters of your country that Charles +is not altogether a bad superintendent of the schools that he has +founded."<a name="page_043" id="page_043"></a></p> + +<p>"I shall say, Charles, that I saw you officiating in the midst of the +pupils with wisdom, justice, and kindness."</p> + +<p>"I wish letters and science to shed splendor upon my reign. Were you +less of a barbarian, I would have you assist at a sitting of our +academy. We there assume the illustrious names of antiquity. Eginhard is +called 'Homer,' Clement 'Horace,' and I 'King David.' These immortal +names fit us as giants' armors do pigmies. But, at least, we do honor, +at our best, to those geniuses. Now, however," said the Emperor, rising +and breaking off the thread of his discourse on his academy, "let us, +like good Catholics, proceed to church, and hear mass upon our knees."<a name="page_044" id="page_044"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4>THE BISHOP OF LIMBURG.</h4> + +<p>Preceding his suite, that consisted of Eginhard, Amael, Vortigern and +the newly-created clerk Bernard, the Emperor left the school-room and +hobbled his way along a winding gallery. Encountering at one of the +sharp and rather dark turns a young and handsome female slave, Charles +addressed her with the same familiarity that he ever used towards the +innumerable women of all conditions that stocked the palace. The Emperor +chucked her under the chin, put his arm around her waist, and was about +to carry his libertine freedom even further when, recollecting that, +despite the darkness of the spot, he might be seen by the men in his +suite, he motioned to the female slave that she withdraw, and laughing, +observed to Amael: "Charles likes to show himself accessible to his +subjects."</p> + +<p>"And above all to the female ones," retorted the aged Breton. "But I +know that the priest's holy-water sprinkler will readily absolve you of +all your sins."</p> + +<p>"Oh, the pagan of a Breton; the pagan of a Breton!" murmured the Emperor +as he hobbled along and presently entered the basilica of +Aix-la-Chapelle, contiguous to the palace.</p> + +<p>Vortigern and his grandfather were both dazzled by the indescribable +magnificence of the temple, where all the attendants at the imperial +palace were now gathered. At a distance Vortigern discerned, seated near +the choir and among<a name="page_045" id="page_045"></a> the numerous concubines of Charles, the Emperor's +daughters and grand-daughters, clad in brilliant apparel, with the +blonde and charming Thetralde close to her sister Hildrude. The Emperor +took his accustomed seat at the chanter's desk among the sumptuously +dressed choristers. One of these respectfully offered the Emperor an +ebony baton, with which he beat time and gave the signal for the several +chants in the liturgy. A little before the end of each stanza Charles, +by way of signal, would raise his shrill voice and emit a gutteral cry, +so strange and weird, that, on one of these occasions, Vortigern, whose +eyes had accidentally encountered the large blue eyes of Thetralde +obstinately fixed upon him, could hardly keep from laughing outright. So +ridiculous was the figure cut by the Emperor, that despite the imposing +appearance of the ceremony and despite the embarrassment into which the +glances of Thetralde threw him, the youth's sense of decorum was +severely taxed.</p> + +<p>The mass being over, Charles said to Amael: "Well, now, seigneur Breton, +admit that, at a pinch, however much of a fighter I may be, I would make +a passable clerk and a good chaunter."</p> + +<p>"I am not skilled in such matters. Yet I am free to tell you that, as a +singer, the cries you uttered were frequently more discordant than those +of the sea-gulls along our Brittany beach. Moreover, to me it looks as +if the head of an Empire should have better things to do than to sing +mass."</p> + +<p>"You will ever remain a barbarian and an idolater," cried the Emperor, +stepping out of the basilica. At that moment, and still under the +portico of the monumental building, a dignitary of the court pushed +himself forward and bowing low, said to Charles:<a name="page_046" id="page_046"></a></p> + +<p>"August Prince, magnanimous Emperor, tidings have just been received of +the death of the Bishop of Limburg."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! Only now? That surprises me greatly. People are so hot after +the quarry of bishoprics that the death of a bishop is always announced +two or three days in advance. Did the deceased bishop die in the odor of +sanctity? Did he commend himself to the next world by the founding of +pious establishments, or by rich bequests to the poor?"</p> + +<p>"August Prince, it is said that he bequeathed only two pounds of silver +to the poor."</p> + +<p>"How light a viaticum for so long a journey!" exclaimed a voice. It +proceeded from Bernard, the poor and learned pupil whom Charles had just +appointed clerk of his own chapel, and who, agreeable to the orders of +the Emperor, had kept close to his master since they left the Palatine +school.</p> + +<p>Charles turned abruptly towards the young man, who, crimson with +confusion, already regretted the boldness of his language and was +trembling at every limb. "Follow me!" said Charles with severity; and +observing that other dignitaries of the court took the call as if +addressed to themselves, he added: "No, only the two Bretons, Eginhard +and the young clerk. The rest of you may keep yourselves in readiness +for the hunt that we shall start upon in a few minutes."</p> + +<p>The brilliant crowd kept itself aloof, and the Emperor regained the +gallery of the palace accompanied only by Vortigern, Amael, Eginhard and +the poor Bernard, the last more dead than alive. The clerk walked last, +fearing that he had angered the Emperor by his stinging sally on the +niggardliness of the deceased bishop. The surprise of the young clerk +was, accordingly, great when, arrived at the extremity<a name="page_047" id="page_047"></a> of the gallery, +Charles half turned to him, and with beaming eyes, said:</p> + +<p>"Draw near, draw near! Do you really think the Bishop of Limburg left +too little money for the poor?"</p> + +<p>"Seigneur, pardon my inadvertent boldness!"</p> + +<p>"Answer. If I bestow that bishopric upon you, would you, the day you +appear before God, have a better record for liberality than the Bishop +of Limburg?"</p> + +<p>"August Prince," answered the clerk, his head swimming at the thought of +such unheard-of good fortune, and dropping on his knees: "It rests with +God and your will to decide my fate."</p> + +<p>"Arise. I appoint you Bishop of Limburg. But follow me. It will be well +for you to learn, from personal observation, the greed with which +bishoprics are striven for. The riches that they entail may be judged +from the ardor with which their possession is pursued. And yet, once +won, the cupidity of the incumbents, so far from being assuaged, seems +whetted. Do you remember, Eginhard, that insolent Bishop of Mannheim? +When, at the time of one of my campaigns against the Huns, I left him +near my wife Hildegarde, did not the worthy feel so inflated with the +friendship that my wife showed him, that he carried his audacity to the +point of demanding from her as a gift the gold wand that I use as a +symbol of my authority, for the purpose, as that impudent bishop +declared, of using it for a cane? By the King of the Heavens! The +sceptre of Charles, of the Emperor, is not so readily to be converted +into a walking stick for the bishops of his empire!"</p> + +<p>"You are in error, Charles," put in Amael. "Sooner or later, the bishops +will use your sceptre for a baton by means<a name="page_048" id="page_048"></a> of which to drive peoples +and kings as may suit themselves."</p> + +<p>"By the hammer of my grandfather! I will break the bishops' mitres on +their own heads if ever they dare to usurp my power!"</p> + +<p>"No; you will do no such thing, and for the simple reason that you stand +in fear of them. As a proof, behold the vast estates and the flatteries +that you shower upon them."</p> + +<p>"I, fear the bishops!" cried the Emperor; and turning to Eginhard: "Is +that matter of the rat settled with the Jew?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, seigneur," answered Eginhard, smiling. "The bishop closed the +bargain yesterday."</p> + +<p>"That happens in time to prove to you that I am not afraid of the +bishops, seigneur Breton—I, flatter them? When, on the contrary, I miss +no opportunity to give them severe or gentle lessons wherever they +deserve reproof. As to the worthy ones, I enrich them; and even then I +look twice before bestowing upon them lands and abbeys belonging to the +imperial domains. And the reason is plain. With this or that abbey or +farm I am certain of securing to myself some soldier vassal greatly more +faithful than many a count or bishop."</p> + +<p>Thus pleasantly chatting, the Emperor regained his palace, and in the +company of Vortigern, Amael, Eginhard and the freshly appointed Bishop +of Limburg, re-ascended the steep spiral staircase that led to his +private apartment. Hardly had Charles entered his observatory when one +of his chamberlains announced to him:</p> + +<p>"August Emperor, several of the leading officers in the palace have +solicited the honor of being admitted to your presence in order to lay a +pressing request before you—the noble lady, Mathalgarde (she was one of +the numerous concubines<a name="page_049" id="page_049"></a> of Charles) also called twice on the same +errand. She awaits your orders."</p> + +<p>"Let the petitioners come in," answered Charles to the chamberlain, who +immediately left the room. Addressing the young clerk, now bishop, with +a jovial yet impressive air, Charles pointed to the curtain of the door, +near which his usual seat was located, and said: "Hide yourself behind +that curtain, young man; you are about to learn the number of rivals +that the death of a bishop raises. It will aid your education."</p> + +<p>The young clerk had barely vanished behind the curtain, before the +chamber was invaded by a large number of the palace familiars, officers +and seigneurs at court. Urging their own claims, or the claims of the +clients whom they recommended, the mob deafened the Emperor's ears with +their clamor. Among these was a bishop magnificently robed, and of +haughty, imperious mien. He elbowed himself forward into Charles' +presence as fast as he could.</p> + +<p>"This is the bishop of the rat," Eginhard whispered to the Emperor. "The +price he paid the Jew was ten thousand silver sous. The Jew scrupulously +reported the amount to me, as you ordered."</p> + +<p>"Bishop of Bergues, have you not enough with one bishopric?" Charles +cried out to the haughty prelate. "Do you come to solicit a second?"</p> + +<p>"August Prince—I have come to pray you that you grant me the bishopric +of Limburg, just vacant, in exchange for that of Bergues."</p> + +<p>"Because the former is richer?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, seigneur; and if I obtain it, the share of the poor will only be +all the larger."<a name="page_050" id="page_050"></a></p> + +<p>"Now, all of you, listen to me attentively," the Emperor cried, pointing +his finger at the bishop and in a tone of severity: "Knowing the +passionate love of this prelate for frivolous and ruinous curiosities, +which he purchases at prodigious prices, I ordered the Jew Solomon to +catch a rat in his house, the vilest looking rat ever caught in a +rat-trap, to embalm the beast in precious aromatics, to wrap it up in +oriental materials embroidered in gold, to offer it to the Bishop of +Bergues as a most rare rat imported from Judea upon a Venetian vessel, +and to sell it to the prelate as the most prodigious and miraculous of +rats."</p> + +<p>A loud outburst of laughter broke from the throats of all the +dignitaries in the audience, except the Bishop of Bergues, who +shamefacedly cast down his eyes. "Now, then," proceeded Charles, "do you +know what price the Bishop of Bergues paid for that prodigious rat? <i>Ten +thousand silver sous!</i> The Jew reported to me the amount—which will be +distributed among the poor!" Charles stopped for a moment, and presently +resumed with heightened severity: "Ye bishops, have a care! It should be +your duty to be the fathers, the purveyors of the poor, and not to show +yourselves greedy of vain frivolities. Yet here you are, doing exactly +the opposite. More than all other mortals are you given to avarice and +idle cupidity! By the King of the Heavens, take a care! The Emperor's +hand raised you, it may also pull you down. Keep that in mind."</p> + +<p>As Charles was uttering these last words, the courtiers were seen to +part and make way for Mathalgarde, one of the Emperor's concubines. The +woman, a dame of surpassing beauty, approached Charles with a confident +air and said to him gracefully:<a name="page_051" id="page_051"></a></p> + +<p>"My kind Seigneur, the bishopric of Limburg is vacant. I have promised +it to a clerk who is under my protection, not doubting your kind +approval."</p> + +<p>"Dear Mathalgarde, I have bestowed the bishopric upon a young man—a +very learned and deserving young man; I could not think of taking it +back from him."</p> + +<p>Mathalgarde was not disconcerted. Assuming the most insinuating voice at +her command, she seized one of the Emperor's hands and proceeded +tenderly: "August Prince, my gracious master, why bestow the bishopric +so ill by giving it to a young man, perhaps a child. I conjure you, +grant the bishopric to my clerk."</p> + +<p>Suddenly a plaintive voice that proceeded from behind the curtain fell +upon the startled ears of the attendants: "Seigneur Emperor, be +firm—allow not that a mortal tear from your hands the power that God +has placed in them. Be firm, Seigneur." It was the voice of poor +Bernard, who, fearing Charles was about to allow himself to be seduced +by the caressing words of Mathalgarde, wished to remind him of his +promise. The Emperor immediately rolled back the curtain, behind which +the clerk stood, took him by the hand, drew him forward, and presenting +him to the audience, said: "This is the new Bishop of Limburg!" Before +the audience could recover from their stupor Charles said to Bernard in +a voice loud and piercing enough to be heard by all present: "Do not +forget to distribute abundant alms—it will some day be your viaticum on +that long journey from which man never returns."</p> + +<p>The beautiful Mathalgarde, whose hopes had thus been rudely dashed, +reddened with anger and abruptly left the apartment. The other +courtiers, along with the Bishop of<a name="page_052" id="page_052"></a> Bergues, speedily followed the +chagrined woman, no less disappointed than herself.</p> + +<p>"Seigneur Breton," the Emperor said, as soon as the chamber was cleared, +and motioning Amael to approach the door, which he opened wider to step +out upon the balcony and enjoy the pleasant warmth of the autumn sun, +"do you still think Charles is of a mood to allow the bishops to use his +sceptre for a baton with which to drive him and his people?"</p> + +<p>"Charles, should it please you this evening, the experiences of the day +being over, to accord me a short interview, I shall then express to you +sincerely my thoughts upon all that I have seen here. I shall praise +what seems good to me—and I shall censure the evil."</p> + +<p>"Then you see evil here!"</p> + +<p>"Here—and elsewhere."</p> + +<p>"How 'elsewhere'?"</p> + +<p>"Do you imagine that your palace and your city of Aix-la-Chapelle, this +favorite residence of yours, is all there is of Gaul?"</p> + +<p>"What do you say of Gaul! I have just traversed the North of those +regions. I have been as far as Boulogne, where I had a lighthouse +erected for the protection of the ships. Moreover—" but breaking off, +the Emperor pointed in the direction of that portion of the courtyard +that the balcony commanded, saying: "Look yonder—listen!"</p> + +<p>Amael saw near one of the galleries a young man, robust and tall of +stature, wearing a thick black beard, and clad in the robes of a bishop. +Two of his slaves had just brought out to him a gentle horse, as befits +a prelate, and led the animal near a stone bench in order to aid their +master in mounting. But the young bishop, having noticed two women +looking at him from a nearby casement, and no doubt wishing to give<a name="page_053" id="page_053"></a> +them a proof of his agility, impatiently ordered his attendants to take +the horse from the bench. Thereupon, disdaining even the help of a +stirrup, he seized the animal's mane with one hand and gave so vigorous +a jump that he had great difficulty to keep his saddle, lest he fall +over on the other side. The perilous leap attracted the Emperor's +attention to the prelate, and he called out to him in his shrill, +squeaky voice: "Eh! Eh! You, there, my nimble prelate. One word with +you, if you please!" The young man looked up, and recognizing Charles, +respectfully bowed his head.</p> + +<p>"You are quick and agile; you have good feet, good arms and a good eye. +The quiet of our empire is every day disturbed by wars. We stand in +great need of 'clerks' of your kidney. You shall stay with us and share +with us our fatigues, seeing you can mount a horse so nimbly. I shall +bestow your bishopric upon someone who is less sprightly. You shall take +your place among my men-at-arms."</p> + +<p>The young bishop lowered his head in confusion. He looked at the Emperor +with a suppliant eye. But the latter's attention was speedily drawn from +the discomfited prelate by the distant barking of a large pack of +hounds, and the reveille of hunting trumps.</p> + +<p>"It is my hunting-train," exclaimed the Emperor. "We shall depart for +the hunt, seigneur Breton. This evening we shall continue our chat. +Return with your grandson to your apartment. You will be served the noon +meal. After that you will both join me. I am curious to see whether this +youngster is as good a horseman as report makes him. Moreover, although +the exercise of the chase is a frivolous pastime, you may, perhaps, find +that Charles the Fighter makes good use even of frivolities. Be off now +to dinner—and then, to horse!"<a name="page_054" id="page_054"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h4>TO THE HUNT.</h4> + +<p>Octave had come to take Amael and his grandson to the noon meal. While +they walked towards one of the courtyards of the palace, in order to +join the hunting suite of the Emperor, the young Roman, profiting by a +moment when the aged Breton could not overhear him, said in a low voice +to Vortigern:</p> + +<p>"Lucky boy. I am convinced that two pairs of eyes, one black as ebony, +the other of azure blue, have been peering through the crowd of +courtiers—" but interrupting the flow of his words at the sight of the +deep crimson that suffused the lad's visage, he proceeded to say: "Wait +till I have finished before you grow purple. Well, as I was saying, two +beautiful blue eyes and two equally beautiful black ones have, more than +once, sought to detect in the crowd of courtiers—Whom?—the venerable +figure of your grandfather, because there is nothing so attractive as a +long white beard. So much is that so that this forenoon, at mass, the +blonde Thetralde and the brunette Hildrude quite forgot the thread of +the divine service in order to contemplate incessantly—your +grandfather, who was seated next to you. Come, now, you are blushing +again. Are you, perchance, afraid lest the fascinating daughters of the +Emperor fall in love with the centenarian?"</p> + +<p>"Your jokes are becoming insupportable."<a name="page_055" id="page_055"></a></p> + +<p>"Oh, how contagious is the court air. Hardly is this Breton away from +his native fogs than he has become as full of wiles as an old clerk."</p> + +<p>More and more embarrassed by the banterings of Octave, Vortigern only +stammered a few words. The noon meal was disposed of. The aged Breton, +his grandson and the young Roman were presently mounted upon their +spirited horses that they found held ready for them by slaves in the +courtyard of the palace, and they rode briskly out to join the Emperor.</p> + +<p>Two of the sons of Charles, Carloman and Louis, or Luthwig as the Franks +pronounced it, had arrived that same morning from their castle of +Heristal and now accompanied their father, together with five of his +daughters and four of his concubines, the other women of the palace +being this time excluded from the hunt. Among the huntresses was Imma, +the paramour who had so bravely borne Eginhard, the archchaplain, upon +her back. Still handsome, she now bordered on the full ripeness of +womanhood. Near her rode Bertha, searching with her eyes for Enghilbert, +the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier. A little behind the couple came +Adelrude, who, from afar, smiled upon Audoin, one of Charles' most +daring captains. Last of all trotted the brunette Hildrude, together +with the blonde Thetralde, both endeavoring to detect, no doubt, the +Breton centenarian, as Octave had told Vortigern. Most of the seigneurs +of Charles' suite wore singular costumes, brought at great expense from +Pavia, whither commerce unloaded the riches of the Orient. Among the +Emperor's courtiers, some were clad in tunics of Tyrian purple furnished +with broad capes, ornamented with facings of embroidered Phoenician +birds'-skin, while feathers of Asiatic<a name="page_056" id="page_056"></a> peacocks' tail, neck and back, +caused their rich vestments to glitter in all the shades of blue, gold, +and emerald. Others of the courtiers wore precious jackets of Judean +dormouse, or weasel—gowns much prized and as dainty and delicate as the +skin of a bird. Finally caps with floating feathers, leggings of silk, +boots of oriental red or green leather, embroidered with gold or silver, +completed the splendid accoutrement of these people of the court.</p> + +<p>The rude rusticity of the Emperor's costume stood off in marked contrast +with the magnificence of his courtiers. His coarse and large leather +boots, furnished with iron spurs, reached up to his thighs; under his +tunic he wore a broad sheep-skin coat with the fleece on the outside, +and his head was covered with a cap of badger-skin. In his hand the +Emperor carried a short-handled whip which he used to stir up the +hunting dogs with. Thanks to his tall stature, which greatly exceeded +that of any of his officers, Charles was able to detect Vortigern and +Amael from afar, whereupon he cried out to the grandfather:</p> + +<p>"Eh, seigneur Breton. Come, if you please, to my side, with your +grandson. I wish to ascertain whether, indeed, he is as good a horseman +as my little girls claim."</p> + +<p>The ranks of the courtiers parted in order to allow a passage to Amael +and his grandson, the latter of whom modestly followed his grandfather, +not daring to raise his eyes lest they should fall upon the group of +women that surrounded the Emperor. Charles watched Vortigern +attentively, and the gracefulness with which the youth handled his +horse, drew from the Emperor the remark:</p> + +<p>"Old Charles can judge at a glance of the skill of a rider. I am +satisfied. But I suspect you love the hunt better than<a name="page_057" id="page_057"></a> you do the mass, +and a horse's saddle better than a church bench."</p> + +<p>"I do prefer the hunt to the mass," frankly responded Vortigern; "but I +prefer war to the hunt."</p> + +<p>"Though your answer is not that of a good Catholic, it is the answer of +a sincere lad. What do you think, my little ones?" added the Emperor, +turning towards the group of huntresses. "Are you not of my mind?"</p> + +<p>"You asked the young man for his opinion, and he spoke out with +sincerity. He says what he does; he will do what he says. Valor and +loyalty are written upon his face," was the prompt answer that came from +Hildrude.</p> + +<p>The blonde Thetralde, not daring to speak after her elder sister, grew +cherry-red, and cast a look of intense jealousy, almost of rage, upon +the brunette Hildrude, whose quick repartee she envied.</p> + +<p>"There is nothing left to me but to join in the praise of the young +pagan's frankness, lest I get into trouble with my little girls. Come +forward," and leaning over towards Amael, he pointed angrily with his +whip at the crowd of courtiers who shimmered in their costly finery, and +prinked in their flowing plumes. "Look at that bevy of richly +caparisoned customers. Look at them well. You will presently wish to +remember the figures they are now cutting," saying which, the Emperor +rode off at a gallop, followed by all his court, and calling out to the +courtiers as well as to the Bretons:</p> + +<p>"Once in the forest, each to himself, and at the mercy of his own horse. +At the hunt there is neither Emperor nor courtier. There are only +hunters and huntresses!"<a name="page_058" id="page_058"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE FOREST OF OPPENHEIM.</h4> + +<p>The hunt to which Charles the Emperor had galloped off with the buoyancy +of youth, took place in a vast forest located at the very gate of +Aix-la-Chapelle. The autumn sky, at first radiant, had been gradually +overcast by one of the mists that are so frequent at the season and in +that northern region. Obedient to the Emperor's orders, none of his +courtiers attached himself to his steps. The hunters scattered. The more +daring and venturesome did not quit the pack, now fretting in their +leashes to start in pursuit of the deer across the thickets. The less +daring and less enthusiastic sportsmen contented themselves with +following at a distance the sound of the horns or the barking of the +hounds; they straggled behind, or waited to see the deer dash across +their path with the hounds and hunters at his heels. From the very start +of the hunt, Charles, carried away by his ardor for the sport, left his +daughters to themselves, unable as they were to follow him through the +thickest of the jungle, into which the Emperor of the Franks plunged +like the hottest of his huntsmen. For an instant, separated from his +grandfather in the rush and crush of the tumultuous assembly, where +nearly a hundred horses, gathered in a small space, were excited by the +din of the horns, to which they added their own impatient neighing, +champed their bits and reared wildly, Vortigern raised himself in his +stirrups and searched with his eyes for<a name="page_059" id="page_059"></a> Amael, when suddenly his own +horse took the bit in his mouth and galloped off rapidly with his rider. +When the young Breton finally succeeded, by dint of violent efforts, to +master his mount, he found himself at a considerable distance from the +chase. Seeking to penetrate with his eyes the mist that spread ever +further and thicker over the forest, the young man perceived that he was +on a long avenue whose issues it was impossible to distinguish. He +listened, expecting to hear from the distance the noise of the chase, +which would have guided him in his efforts to joint it. The profoundest +silence reigned in this part of the forest. A moment later, however, the +tramp of two horses rapidly approaching from behind, struck his ears, +and immediately after, a cry, uttered in anger rather than fear. An +instant later, Vortigern detected a vague form across the mist. By +degrees the form became distinct, and soon the blonde Thetralde was +disclosed to the wondering eyes of the young Breton, urging on her +horse, and clad in a long robe of sapphire blue cloth, trimmed with +ermine, white as the coat of her palfrey. On her blonde tresses +Thetralde wore a small cap, also of ermine. A sash of Tyrean silk of +lively colors, the long ends of which fluttered behind her in the air, +was wound around her delicate waist. The childlike and charming visage +of the Emperor's daughter, now enhanced by the ardor of her run, shone +with the flush of health. Blushing at the sight of Vortigern, Thetralde +dropped her large blue eyes, while the tight corsage of her robe rose +and sank under the throbs of her maidenly bosom. Vortigern's disturbance +equalled Thetralde's. Like her, he remained mute and embarrassed. His +eyes also were lowered, and he felt his heart beat violently. The silent +embarrassment of the two children was broken by Thetralde.<a name="page_060" id="page_060"></a> In a timid +and diffident voice she said to the young Breton without daring to raise +her eyes to him:</p> + +<p>"I thought I would never be able to join thee. Thy horse had such a long +lead of my palfrey—"</p> + +<p>"My horse carried me away—"</p> + +<p>"Oh, I noticed it—my sister Hildrude also," Thetralde added frowning +with her pretty eyebrows. "Both of us thereupon rushed in thy +pursuit—we feared that in thy unacquaintance with the paths of our +forest thou mightest lose thy way."</p> + +<p>"It did seem to me that I heard the gallop of two horses—"</p> + +<p>"My sister wished to run ahead of me; but I struck her horse on the head +with my whip. The frightened animal bolted to one side, carrying +Hildrude along. She was angry and uttered a cry of rage."</p> + +<p>"Perhaps she runs some danger!"</p> + +<p>"No, my sister will be able to master her horse. But as the mist is very +thick, she will not be able to meet us again. I am so happy about that!"</p> + +<p>Vortigern felt on the rack. Nevertheless, an ineffable sense of joy +mingled with his agony. Anew the two children remained silent, and again +the daughter of the Emperor of the Franks was the one to break the +silence:</p> + +<p>"Thou dost not speak—art thou annoyed that I have joined thee?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, lovely princess—"</p> + +<p>"Perhaps thou thinkest me wicked because I struck my sister's horse? +When I saw her striving to pass me, I no longer could control myself."</p> + +<p>"I hope that no ill may have befallen your sister."</p> + +<p>"I hope so too."<a name="page_061" id="page_061"></a></p> + +<p>For a moment Thetralde and Vortigern again relapsed into silence. With a +slight touch of vexation the young girl once more resumed the +conversation:</p> + +<p>"Thou art very quiet—"</p> + +<p>"I know not what to say—"</p> + +<p>"Nor I either; and yet I was dying with the wish to speak to thee—what +is thy name?"</p> + +<p>"Vortigern."</p> + +<p>"I am called Thetralde—pronounce my name."</p> + +<p>"Thetralde—"</p> + +<p>"I love to hear thee pronounce my name."</p> + +<p>"Where do you think the hunt is now?" asked the young Breton with +increasing uneasiness. "It will be difficult to find the hunters. The +mist grows ever denser."</p> + +<p>"Should we lose ourselves," Thetralde replied laughing, "I do not know +the paths of the forest."</p> + +<p>"Why did you not, then, remain near the people of the court and the +seigneurs of the escort?"</p> + +<p>"I saw thee running off rapidly, and I followed thee."</p> + +<p>"That throws both you and me into a great perplexity."</p> + +<p>"Art thou sorry to find thyself alone here with me?"</p> + +<p>"Not at all!" cried Vortigern, "only I fear that this dense mist may +change into rain towards evening, and that you may get wet. We should +try and join the chase. Do you not think so?"</p> + +<p>"In what direction shall we go?"</p> + +<p>"It seemed to me a moment ago I heard the feeble sound of horns at a +great distance."</p> + +<p>"Let us listen again," said Thetralde, bending her charming head to one +side, while Vortigern sought to listen from the opposite side.<a name="page_062" id="page_062"></a></p> + +<p>"Dost thou hear anything?" queried the Emperor's daughter raising her +sweet voice and addressing Vortigern, who stood at a little distance. "I +can hear nothing."</p> + +<p>"Nor I either," rejoined the young Breton.</p> + +<p>"Here we are lost!" cried the young girl laughing merrily. "And if night +overtakes us, what a terrible thing!"</p> + +<p>"And you laugh at such a plight?"</p> + +<p>"Is it that thou art afraid, and thou a soldier?" But immediately the +handsome face of Thetralde assumed an uneasy look and she observed: +"Does thy wound hurt thee, my brave companion?"</p> + +<p>"I am not thinking of my wound. I am only uneasy at perceiving that the +mist grows still thicker. How can we regain our route? Whither could we +go?"</p> + +<p>"But I do wish to speak of thy wound," replied Charles' daughter with +infantine impatience. "Why is not thy arm any longer protected by a +scarf, as it was yesterday?"</p> + +<p>"It would have incommoded me in the chase."</p> + +<p>Thetralde quickly detached her long belt of Tyrean silk and held it out +to Vortigern. "Take this, my belt will take the place of thy scarf, and +sustain thy arm."</p> + +<p>"It is unnecessary, I assure you."</p> + +<p>"Bad boy!" cried Thetralde, holding out her belt to Vortigern; and +fixing upon him her beautiful blue eyes, almost imploringly said: "I beg +of thee; do not refuse me!"</p> + +<p>Vanquished by the timid and loving look, the young Breton accepted the +scarf; but as he held the reins of his horse with one hand he found it +difficult to fasten the belt into a scarf-band around his neck.</p> + +<p>"Wait," and Thetralde approached her palfrey close to Vortigern's horse, +leaned over in her saddle, took the two<a name="page_063" id="page_063"></a> ends of the belt and tied them +behind the lad's neck. The touch of the young girl's hand sent so wild a +thrill through his frame that Thetralde, noticing the circumstance, +said, as she finished the knot: "Thou tremblest—is it out of fear, or +out of cold?"</p> + +<p>"The mist is becoming so thick, so wet," answered Vortigern, with +increasing uneasiness. "Are not you yourself cold? I very much fear for +you in this icy mist—"</p> + +<p>"Fear not for me. But seeing thou art cold, we can walk our horses. It +would be useless to move any faster. Perhaps the chase that we are in +search of will come our way."</p> + +<p>"So much the better!"</p> + +<p>"I am delighted to learn that thy grandfather and thyself will remain a +long time with us."</p> + +<p>"May we be fortunate enough to do so!"</p> + +<p>The two children continued their way, walking their horses side by side +in the long avenue, where one could see not twenty paces ahead, so thick +had the mist become. Night presently began to draw near. After a short +interval of mutual silence, Thetralde resumed:</p> + +<p>"We Franks are the enemies of the people of thy country; and yet I feel +no enmity whatever towards thee; and thou, dost thou entertain any +hatred for me?"</p> + +<p>"I could not feel hatred for a young girl."</p> + +<p>"Thou must feel very sorry for being far away from thy own country. +Wouldst thou wish me to ask the Emperor, my father, to render grace to +thy grandfather and thyself?"</p> + +<p>"A Breton never asks for grace!" proudly cried Vortigern. "My +grandfather and I are hostages, prisoners on parole; we shall submit to +the law of war."</p> + +<p>A fresh interval of silence followed upon this exchange of<a name="page_064" id="page_064"></a> words. But +soon, as Vortigern had foreseen, the dense mist changed into a fine and +penetrating rain.</p> + +<p>"The rain is upon us!" exclaimed the young Breton. "Not a sound is +heard. This route seems to be endless. No! here is a side path to the +left. Shall we take it?"</p> + +<p>"As it may please thee," answered Thetralde with indifference.</p> + +<p>The girl was about to turn her horse's head, agreeable to the suggestion +of Vortigern, when the latter suddenly leaped down from his mount, +detached the belt of his sword, took off his blouse, remaining in his +thick jacket of the material of his breeches, and said to Thetralde:</p> + +<p>"I consented to accept your scarf. It is now your turn. You must now +consent to cover yourself with my blouse. It will serve you for a +mantle."</p> + +<p>"Place it on my shoulders," answered Thetralde blushing; "I dare not +drop the reins of my palfrey."</p> + +<p>No less agitated than his girl companion, Vortigern drew near her and +laid his garment on the shoulders of Thetralde. But when it came to +tying the sleeves of the blouse around her neck and almost upon the +palpitating bosom of the young girl, who, with her eyes lowered and her +cheeks burning, raised her little pink chin in order to afford Vortigern +full ease in the accomplishment of his kindly office, the hands of the +lad shook so violently, that his mission was not accomplished until +after repeated trials.</p> + +<p>"Thou art cold; thou art shivering worse than thou didst before."</p> + +<p>"It is not the cold that makes me shiver—"</p> + +<p>"What ails thee then?"</p> + +<p>"I know not—the uneasiness that I feel on your behalf,<a name="page_065" id="page_065"></a> seeing that +night approaches. We have lost our way in the forest. The rain is coming +down heavier. And we know not what road to take—"</p> + +<p>Interrupting her companion with a cry of joy, Thetralde pointed with her +finger to one side of the avenue of trees that they were on, and +exclaimed: "There is a hut down yonder!"</p> + +<p>So there was. Vortigern perceived in the center of a cluster of +centenarian chestnut trees a hut constructed of thick layers of peat +heaped upon one another. A narrow opening gave entrance to the bower, +before which the remnants of some dry wood recently lighted were still +seen smouldering. "It is one of the huts in which the woodcutter slaves +take refuge during the day when it rains," explained Thetralde. "We +shall be then under cover. Tie thy horse to a tree and help me alight."</p> + +<p>At the bare thought of sharing the solitary retreat with the young girl, +Vortigern felt his heart thump under his ribs. A flush of burning fever +rose to his face while, nevertheless, he shivered. After a moment's +hesitation, the lad complied with the orders of his companion. He tied +his horse to a tree, and, in order to assist the young girl to alight +from her mount, he extended to her his arms and received within them the +supple and nimble body of Thetralde. So profound was the emotion +experienced by Vortigern at the touch of the maid, that he was almost +overcome. But the daughter of Charles, running towards the hut with +pretty curiosity, cried out merrily:</p> + +<p>"I see a moss-bank in the hut and a supply of dry wood. Let's light a +fire. There are still some embers burning. Hurry. Hurry."<a name="page_066" id="page_066"></a></p> + +<p>The lad hastened to join his companion and stumbled over a large log of +wood that rolled at his feet. Stooping, he saw strewn about it a large +number of burrs that had dropped down from the tall chestnut trees +overhead. At once forgetting his embarrassment, he exclaimed with +delight:</p> + +<p>"A discovery! Chestnuts! Chestnuts!"</p> + +<p>"What a find," responded Thetralde, no less delighted. "We shall roast +the chestnuts. I shall pick them up while thou startest the fire."</p> + +<p>The young Breton did as suggested by his girl companion, all the more +readily seeing that he hoped to find in the sport a refuge from the +vague, tumultuous and ardent thoughts, big at once with delight and +anxiety, that he had been a prey to from the moment of his meeting with +Thetralde. He entered the hut, took up several bunches of dry wood and +rekindled the brasier into flame, while the daughter of Charles, running +hither and thither, gathered a large supply of chestnuts which she +brought into the hut in a fold of her dress. Letting herself down upon +the moss-bank that lay at the further end of the hut, the interior of +which was now brightly lighted by the glare of the fire which burned +near the entrance, she said to Vortigern, motioning him to a seat near +her:</p> + +<p>"Sit down here, and help me shell these chestnuts."</p> + +<p>The lad sat down near Thetralde and entered with her into a contest of +swiftness in the shelling of chestnuts, during which, like herself, he +more than once pricked his fingers in the effort to extract the ripe +kernels from their burrs. Presently, looking into her face, he said +archly:</p> + +<p>"And here you have the daughter of the Emperor of the<a name="page_067" id="page_067"></a> Franks; seated +inside of a peat hut and shelling chestnuts like any woodchopper and +slave's daughter."</p> + +<p>"Vortigern," answered Thetralde, returning the look of her companion +with a radiant face, "never was the daughter of the Emperor of the +Franks more happy than at this moment."</p> + +<p>"And I, Thetralde, I swear to you that since the day I left my mother, +my sister and Brittany, I have never been more pleased than to-day, than +now, near you."</p> + +<p>"And if to-morrow should resemble to-day? and if it should be thus for a +long time, a very long time—wouldst thou always be pleased?"</p> + +<p>"And you, Thetralde?"</p> + +<p>"Say 'thou' to me. We address one another with 'thou' in Germany. Say to +me: 'And thou, Thetralde?'"</p> + +<p>"But the respect—"</p> + +<p>"I say 'thou' to you, and do not respect you the less for it," rejoined +the maid laughing. "Say to me: 'And thou, Thetralde?'"</p> + +<p>"And thou, Thetralde?"</p> + +<p>"So thou wishest to know whether I would be happy at the thought of all +our days resembling this one, and our living together?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my charming Princess!"</p> + +<p>The young maid remained pensive, holding in her delicate fingers a half +opened chestnut husk. Presently she raised her head and broke the +silence with the question: "Vortigern, is it far from here to thy +country?"</p> + +<p>"It took us more than a month to come here from Brittany."</p> + +<p>"Vortigern, what a beautiful journey that would make!"<a name="page_068" id="page_068"></a></p> + +<p>"What sayest thou?"</p> + +<p>Thetralde made a charming gesture commanding silence: "Hast thou any +money about thee?"</p> + +<p>And proceeding to detach from her belt a little embroidered purse, she +emptied its contents into her lap. There were several heavy pieces of +gold and a large number of smaller pieces of silver and copper. Two of +the latter, one of silver and one of copper, and both of about the size +of a denier, were pierced and tied together by a thread of gold. "This +is all my treasure," the girl observed.</p> + +<p>"Why are these two pieces tied together?" inquired Vortigern, with a +look of curiosity.</p> + +<p>"Oh, these two must never be spent. We must preserve them carefully. One +of them, the copper one, was struck the year of my birth; the other, the +silver one, was struck this year, when I shall be fifteen. Fabius, my +father's astronomer, has engraved upon these pieces certain magical +signs corresponding to planets of happy influence. The Bishop of +Aix-la-Chapelle blessed them. They are a talisman."</p> + +<p>"If it were not that they are a talisman, Thetralde, I would have +requested these two little pieces from thee as a souvenir of this day."</p> + +<p>"To what purpose wouldst thou keep a souvenir of this day rather than of +the next days to follow? Dost thou not desire that all should resemble +one another? If thou desirest these two little pieces, here, take them; +I give them to thee. A talisman is a useful thing on a journey. Place +them in the pocket of thy jacket."</p> + +<p>Vortigern obeyed almost mechanically, while the young girl, after +ingenuously counting up her little hoard, resumed, saying: "We here have +five gold sous, eight silver deniers,<a name="page_069" id="page_069"></a> and twelve copper deniers; +besides my bracelets, my necklace and my earrings. With that we shall +have money enough to journey as far as Brittany. Night is upon us; we +shall spend it under the shelter of this hut. To-morrow we shall have +the woodcutter slave lead us to Werstern, a little burg situated on the +skirt of the forest, about two leagues from Aix-la-Chapelle. We shall +buy some simple clothing for myself, a traveling cloak of cloth. +To-morrow at daybreak we shall start on our route. Do not fear that I +shall recoil before fatigue. I am neither as tall nor as strong as my +sister Hildrude, and yet, if thou shouldst be tired or wounded, I am +sure I could carry thee on my back, just as my sister Imma once carried +her lover Eginhard on hers. But our chestnuts are now all shelled. Come +and help me to put them under the hot ashes. We shall eat them when +roasted."</p> + +<p>Raising with one hand the fold of her robe in which lay the nuts, +Thetralde ran to the brasier. Vortigern followed her. He felt as in a +dream. At times his reason gave way under the spell of an ardent and +intoxicating vertigo. He knelt down silently, disturbed in mind, beside +Thetralde before the brasier, into which the girl, steeped in thought, +was slowly throwing the chestnuts one by one. Without, the rain had +stopped; but the mist, now thickened to a fog with the approach of +night, rendered the darkness complete. The reflection of the brasier +only lighted up the charming faces of the two children on their knees +beside each other. When the last chestnut had followed the others under +the cinders, Thetralde rose, and leaning with familiar candor on +Vortigern's shoulders said to him, taking his hand:</p> + +<p>"And now, while thy supper is cooking, let us go back and sit down upon +the bench of moss for me to finish telling thee my prospects. I have +thought over what we are to do."<a name="page_070" id="page_070"></a></p> + +<p>The night became profound. The flickering, vacillating flame in the +expiring brasier seemed to cry for fresh fuel. The chestnuts, that had +been consigned to its warmth, snapped noisily from their hulls into the +air, announcing that their toothsome pulp was ready to be partaken of. +Without, the horse and the palfrey of Vortigern and Thetralde pawed the +ground and neighed impatiently, as if calling for their provender. The +fire finally went out. The chestnuts changed to charcoal. The neighings +of the horses resounded ever louder in the midst of the nocturnal +silence of the forest. Thetralde and Vortigern did not issue from the +hut.<a name="page_071" id="page_071"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.</h3> + +<h4>AT THE MORT.</h4> + +<p>From the start of the hunt, the Emperor of the Franks had rushed +headlong on the heels of the hounds. Amael, at first somewhat uneasy at +the disappearance of his grandson in the midst of so large a concourse +of cavaliers, was taken by accident towards that part of the forest +whither the stag was leading the hounds from cover to cover. Amael even +had the opportunity to assist, shortly before nightfall, at the killing +of the stag, which, exhausted with fatigue after four hours of +breathless running, turned at bay before the hounds when they had +reached him at last, and strove to defend himself against them with the +aid of the magnificent spread of antlers that crowned his head. The +Emperor had not for a moment lost track of the hounds. He followed them +speedily at the mort, together with a few others of the hunters. Jumping +from his horse, he ran limping towards the animal at bay that already +had gored several hounds with his sharp horns. Choosing with an +experienced eye the opportune moment, Charles drew his hunting knife, +and, rushing upon the desperate animal, plunged the weapon into the stag +just above its shoulder, threw it down and then abandoned it to the +hounds, that fiercely precipitated themselves upon the warm quarry and +devoured it amidst the sonorous fanfare of the hunters' horns that thus +announced the close of the chase and called their scattered fellows to +reassemble. With his bloody<a name="page_072" id="page_072"></a> knife in his hand, and after having +contemplated with lively satisfaction the wild pack now red at their +nozzles and contending with one another for the shreds of the stag's +flesh, the Emperor's eyes fell upon Amael, to whom he called out gaily:</p> + +<p>"Eh, seigneur Breton—am I not a bold hunter?"</p> + +<p>"You will pardon my sincerity, but I find that at this moment the +Emperor of the Franks, with his long knife in his hand, and his boots +and coat spattered with blood, looks more like a butcher than like an +illustrious monarch."</p> + +<p>"I feel happy, nevertheless, and consequently inclined to be indulgent, +seigneur Breton," replied the Emperor, laughing; then, lowering his +voice, he observed to Amael: "Now, see how the clothes of the seigneurs +of my court look."</p> + +<p>In fact, most of the Emperor's seigneurs and officers, now hastening in +on horseback to his presence from all sides of the thickets in response +to the horns, presented an appearance that contrasted sadly with that +which they had presented a few hours before. Magnificently attired at +the start of the hunt, those seigneurs, who looked so resplendent in +their rich tunics of silk, now presented a sight that was as ridiculous +as it was pitiful. The embroideries on their tunics, at first so rich in +color, were now frayed, soiled with mud, and torn by the branches of the +trees and the thorns of the briars; the feathers that floated proudly +from their caps, now drooped, wet, broken and draggled, resembling long, +dislocated, and limp fish-bones; the boots of oriental leather had +vanished under a thick coat of slush, and not a few of them, torn by the +thorns, exposed their owners' hose, not infrequently also their skin +itself. They shivered and looked distressed. Charles, on the contrary, +simply and warmly dressed in his thick<a name="page_073" id="page_073"></a> sheep-skin coat, which reached +down over his boots of rough leather, and his head covered with his +badger-skin bonnet, rubbed his hands with a cunning look of satisfaction +in his eyes at the sight of his courtiers shivering with the cold and +the wet. After contemplating the spectacle for a moment, Charles made a +sign of intelligence to Amael and said to him in an undertone:</p> + +<p>"Just before breaking ranks for the hunt, I recommended you to observe +the magnificence of the costumes of these coxcombs, who are as vain as +Asiatic peacocks, and even more devoid of brains than the bird whose +spoils they wear. Look at them now—the fine fellows!" Amael smiled +approvingly, while the Emperor, shrugging his shoulders, turned to the +seigneurs with his squalling voice: "Oh, ye most foolish of people, +which is at this moment the most precious and useful of all our raiment? +Mine, which I bought with barely a sou? Or yours, which you have had to +pay for through the nose?"</p> + +<p>At this judicious raillery, the courtiers remained silent and confused, +while the Emperor, placing both his hands on his spacious paunch, roared +out aloud.</p> + +<p>"Charles," Amael said to him unheard by the others, "I prefer to hear +you speak with that sly wisdom than to see you disemboweling stags."</p> + +<p>But the Emperor did not answer the aged Breton. He suddenly interrupted +the discourse, extending his hand towards a group of nearby serfs, and +crying out:</p> + +<p>"Oh! Look at that pretty girl!"</p> + +<p>Amael followed with his eyes the direction indicated by Charles and saw +amid several of the woodcutter slaves of the forest who had been +attracted by curiosity to see the hunt,<a name="page_074" id="page_074"></a> a young girl barely covered in +rags, but of remarkable beauty. A much younger child of about ten or +eleven years held her by the hand. A poor old woman, as wretchedly clad +as the girl, was in the company of the two. The Emperor of the Franks, +whose large eyes glistened like carbuncles with the fire of lust, +repeated, addressing Amael:</p> + +<p>"By the cape of St. Martin! The girl is beautiful. Is it that your +hundred years on your back render you insensible to the sight of such +rare beauty, seigneur Breton? What a beautiful girl!"</p> + +<p>"Charles, the misery of that creature strikes me more strongly than her +beauty."</p> + +<p>"You are very commiserate, seigneur Breton—so am I. Linen and silk +should clothe so charming a figure. No doubt she is the daughter of some +woodman slave. I can tell you, one runs at times across wonderfully +beautiful girls in the forest. More than once I have dropped the chase +in the middle of the heat to pursue another scent. But in honor to +truth, I have never seen such a charmer before. It must be her good star +that brought her across the path of Charles." Without removing his eyes +from the young girl, Charles called to one of the seigneurs in his +suite: "Eh! Burchard. Come here; I have orders for you."</p> + +<p>The seigneur Burchard quickly alighted from his horse and hastened to +obey the call of the Emperor. The latter, moving a few steps away from +Amael, whispered a few words in the ear of the seigneur, who, showing +himself greatly honored with the mission given him by his master, bowed +respectfully, and, leading his horse by the bridle, approached the old +woman and the two younger girls who stood by her, motioned to them to +follow him, and vanished with his charge<a name="page_075" id="page_075"></a> behind the group of hunters. A +deep flush colored the cheeks of Amael; he puckered his brows, and his +features became expressive of as much indignation as disgust. At that +same instant Amael noticed that the Emperor was looking about him with a +certain degree of uneasiness and calling out aloud:</p> + +<p>"Where are my little girls? Can they have lost track of the hunt?"</p> + +<p>"August Emperor," said one of the officers, "Richulff, who accompanied +your august daughters, told me that when the rain began to fall some of +them concluded to return to Aix-la-Chapelle, while the others decided to +seek the shelter of the pavilion, where you ordered supper to be held +ready."</p> + +<p>"Think of the timorous bodies! I wager that my little Thetralde is not +among the Amazons who are afraid of a drop of water, and who hastened +back to the palace. As they are all safe, I shall not worry. Let us +hasten to the pavilion ourselves, because I am ravenously hungry." And +remounting his horse, the Emperor added: "We shall find at the pavilion +the damsels who have preferred to sup with their father. The +stout-hearted lasses shall be well feasted, and I shall bestow rich +presents upon them."</p> + +<p>Seeing that Charles was manifesting some slight uneasiness on the score +of his daughters, Amael, in turn, began to feel preoccupied with regard +to Vortigern, whom, for some time, he had been searching for with his +eyes among the groups of the approaching knights. As his eyes fell upon +Octave, who just then came running in at a gallop, the aged Breton +inquired from him with no little anxiety:</p> + +<p>"Octave, have you seen my grandson anywhere?"</p> + +<p>"We parted company almost at the very start of the hunt."</p> + +<p>"He is not with us," proceeded Amael with increasing uneasiness.<a name="page_076" id="page_076"></a> "Night +is here and he is not familiar with the paths of the forest."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Oh! seigneur Breton," put in the Emperor of the Franks, who, +immediately upon remounting his horse, had drawn near the aged man and +overheard his question to the young Roman, "you seem to feel uneasy +about your youngster. Well, what if he should have lost his way this +evening? He will find it again to-morrow. Do you fear he will die of one +night spent in the forest? Is not hunting the school of war? Come, come! +Be at ease. Besides, who knows," added Charles with a roguish air. +"Mayhap he encountered some pretty woodcutter's daughter in some of the +huts of the forest. It is like his years. You surely do not mean to make +a monk of him? Pretty lassies are meant for handsome lads."<a name="page_077" id="page_077"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.</h3> + +<h4>EMPEROR AND HOSTAGE.</h4> + +<p>Led by the Emperor of the Franks, the cavalcade of hunters rode towards +the pavilion where supper was to be partaken of before the return to +Aix-la-Chapelle. Charles called Amael to his side, and noticing, as they +rode, that the aged Breton continued preoccupied about Vortigern, the +Emperor turned to the centenarian with a merry twinkle in his eye:</p> + +<p>"What do you think of this day? Have you recovered from your prejudices +against Charles the Fighter? Do you think me at all worthy to govern my +Empire, a domain as vast as the old Empire of Rome? Do you deem me +worthy of reigning over the population of Armorica?"</p> + +<p>"Charles, in my youth your grandfather proposed to me that I be the +jailer of the last descendant of Clovis, an ill-starred boy, then a +prisoner in an abbey, and having barely one suit of clothes to cover +himself with. That boy, when grown to man's estate, was, upon orders of +Pepin, your father, tonsured and locked up in a monastery, where he died +obscure and forgotten. Thus do royalties end. Such is the expiation, +prompt or late, reserved for royal stocks that issue from conquest."</p> + +<p>"Then the stock of Charles, whom the whole world calls the Great," +rejoined the Emperor with an incredulous and<a name="page_078" id="page_078"></a> proud smile, "is, +according to your theory, destined to run out obscurely in some +do-nothing king?"</p> + +<p>"It is my firm conviction."</p> + +<p>"I took you at first for a man of good judgment," replied the Emperor +shrugging his shoulders; "I must now admit that I was mistaken."</p> + +<p>"This very morning, in your Palatine school, you observed that the +children of the poor studied with zeal, while the children of the rich +are lazy. The reason is plain. The former feel the need of work to +insure their well-being; the latter, being provided with and in +possession of ample fortunes, make no effort to acquire knowledge. It is +to them superfluous. Your ancestors, the stewards of the palace, have +done like the children of the poor. Your descendants, however, being no +longer in need of conquering a crown, will imitate the children of the +rich."</p> + +<p>"Despite a certain appearance of logic, your argument is false. My +father usurped a crown, but he left to me at the most the Kingdom of +Gaul. To-day Gaul is but one of the provinces of the immense empire that +I have conquered. Obviously, I did not remain idle and torpid like the +rich boys in your comparison."</p> + +<p>"The Frankish Kings, together with their leudes, who later became great +landed seigneurs, and the bishops, plundered Gaul, divided her territory +among them, and reduced her people to slavery. But after a period, be it +short or long, learn this, Oh, great Emperor, the people will rise in +their strength, glorious, terrible, and they will know how to reconquer +their patrimony and their independence!"</p> + +<p>"Let us drop the future and the past. What think you of Charles?"<a name="page_079" id="page_079"></a></p> + +<p>"I think that you are mistakenly proud of having almost reconstructed +the administrative edifice of the Roman emperors, and of causing, like +them, your will to weigh upon the whole domain, from one end to the +other. Of all that, nothing will be left after you are gone! All the +peoples that have been conquered and subjugated by your arms will rise +in revolt. Your boundless empire, composed of kingdoms that no common +bond of origin, of customs, or of language holds together, will fall to +pieces; it will crumble together and will bury your descendants under +its ruins."</p> + +<p>"Do you mean to imply that Charles the Great will have passed over the +world like a shadow without leaving behind him any lasting monument of +his glory?"</p> + +<p>"No, your life will not have been worthless. By ceaselessly warring +against the Frisians, the Saxons and other peoples who wished to invade +Gaul, you have checked, if not forever, at least for a long time, the +maraudings of those hordes that ravaged the north and east of our +unhappy country. But if you have barred the entrance of the barbarians +into Gaul over land, the sea remains open to them. The Northman pirates +almost every day make descents upon the coasts of your Empire, and their +boldness increases to the point that ascending in their vessels the +Meuse, the Gironde and the Loire, they threaten the very heart of your +dominion."</p> + +<p>"Oh, old man! This time, I fear me, your misgivings do not lead you +astray. The Northmans are the only source of disquiet to my sleep! The +bare thought of the invasions of those pagans causes me to be overcome +with involuntary and unexplainable apprehensions. One day, during my +sojourn at Narbonne, several vessels of those accursed people extended +their piratical incursion into the very port. A sinister presentiment<a name="page_080" id="page_080"></a> +seized me; despite all I could do to restrain them, the tears rolled out +of my eyes. One of my officers asked me the reason for my sudden fit of +sadness. 'Do you wish to know, my faithful followers,' I answered, 'do +you wish to know why I weep so bitterly? Certes, I do not fear that +these Northmans may injure me with their piracies; but I feel profoundly +afflicted at the thought that, in my very lifetime, they have the +audacity of touching upon the borders of my Empire; and great is my +grief because I have a presentiment of the sufferings that these +Northmans will inflict upon my descendants and my peoples;'" and the +Emperor remained for several minutes as if overpowered by the sinister +premonition that he now recalled.</p> + +<p>"Charles," Amael resumed with a grave voice, "all royalty that issues +from conquest, or from violence, carries within itself the germ of +death, for the reason that its principle is iniquitous. Perchance those +Northman pirates may some day cause your stock to expiate the original +iniquity of the royal sway that you hold from conquest."</p> + +<p>Whether, absorbed in his own thoughts, the Emperor failed to hear the +last words of the Gaul, or whether he could make no answer to them, he +suddenly cried out:</p> + +<p>"Let us forget the accursed Northmans. Speak to me of the good that I +have done. Your words of praise are rare; I like them all the more for +that."</p> + +<p>"You are not cruel out of wilfulness, although you might be reproached +for the massacre of more than four thousand Saxon prisoners."</p> + +<p>"I remember the event perfectly," Charles said with emphasis. "I had to +terrify those barbarians by a signal example. It was a fatal +necessity!"<a name="page_081" id="page_081"></a></p> + +<p>"Your heart is accessible to certain promptings of justice and humanity. +In your capitularies you made an effort to improve the condition of the +slaves and the colonists."</p> + +<p>"It was my duty as a Christian, as a Catholic. All men are brothers."</p> + +<p>"You are no more Christian than your friends, the bishops. You have +simply yielded to an instinct of humanity, natural to man, whatever his +religion may be. But still you are not a Christian."</p> + +<p>"By the King of the Heavens! Perhaps I am a Jew?"</p> + +<p>"Christ said, according to St. Luke the Evangelist: <i>The Lord hath sent +me to preach deliverance to the captives—to set at liberty them that +are bruised.</i> Now, then, your dominions are full of prisoners carried by +conquest from their own homes; the estates of your bishops and your +abbots are stocked with slaves. Accordingly, neither you nor your +priests are Christians. A Christian, according to the words of the +Christ, must never hold his fellowman in bondage. All men are equal."</p> + +<p>"Custom so wills it; I merely conform myself thereto."</p> + +<p>"What is there to hinder you, and the bishops as well as you, all-mighty +Emperor that you are, from abolishing the abominable custom? What is +there to hinder you from emancipating the slaves? What is there to +hinder you from restoring to them, along with their liberty, the +possession of the land that they themselves render fruitful with the +sweat of their brow?"</p> + +<p>"Old man, from time immemorial there have been slaves, and there ever +will be slaves. What would it avail to be of the conquering race if not +to keep the fruits of conquest? By the King of the Heavens! Do you take +me for a barbarian?<a name="page_082" id="page_082"></a> Have I not promulgated laws, founded schools, +encouraged letters, arts and sciences? Is there in the whole world a +city comparable with Aix-la-Chapelle?"</p> + +<p>"Your gorgeous capital of Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of your Germanic +possessions, is not Gaul. Gaul has remained to you a strange country. +You love forests that lend themselves to your autumn hunting parties, +and the rich domains, whence every year the revenues are carted to your +residences on the other side of the Rhine. But you do not love Gaul, +seeing that you exhaust her resources in men and money in order to carry +on your wars. Frightful misery desolates our provinces. Millions of +God's creatures, deprived almost of bread, shelter and clothes, toil +from dawn to dusk, and die in slavery—all in order to sustain the +opulence of their masters. If you cause instruction to be given to some +pupils in your Palatine school, you allow, on the other hand, millions +of God's creatures to live like brutes! Such is the condition of Gaul +under your reign, Charles the Great!"</p> + +<p>"Old man," rejoined the Emperor, with a somber face and rising anger, +"after treating you as a friend this whole day, I looked for different +language. You are more than severe, you are unjust."</p> + +<p>"I have been sincere towards you, the same as I was towards your +grandfather."</p> + +<p>"Mindful of the service that you rendered my grandfather at the battle +of Poitiers, I meant to be generous towards you. I meant to do the right +thing by myself, by your people, and by you. I hoped to see you, after +this day spent in close intimacy with me, drop your prejudices, and to +be able to say to you: I have vanquished the Bretons by force of arms; I +desire to affirm my conquest by persuasion. Return to your<a name="page_083" id="page_083"></a> country; +report to your countrymen the day that you spent with Charles; they will +trust your words, seeing that they place implicit confidence in you. You +were the soul of the last two wars that they sustained against me. Be +now the soul of our pacification. A conquest founded on force is often +ephemeral; a conquest cemented in mutual affection and esteem is +imperishable. I trust in your loyalty to gain the hearts of the Bretons +to me. Such was my hope. The bitter injustice of your words dashes it. +Let us think of it no more. You shall remain here as a hostage. I shall +treat you as a brave soldier, who saved my grandfather's life. Perhaps +in time you will judge me more justly. When that day shall have come, +you will be allowed to return to your own country, and I feel sure you +will then tell them what is right, as to-day you would only tell them +what is wrong. All things will come in due season."</p> + +<p>"Although your hopes can not realize the object that you proposed, they, +nevertheless, are an evidence of a generous soul."</p> + +<p>"By the cap of St. Martin! You Bretons are a strange people. What! If +you should believe that I deserve esteem and affection, and if your +countrymen should share your opinion, would neither you nor they accept +with joy the authority that you now submit to by force?"</p> + +<p>"With us it is no question of having a more or less worthy master. We +want no master."</p> + +<p>"And yet I am your master, ye pagans!"</p> + +<p>"Until the day when we shall have reconquered our independence by a +successful insurrection."</p> + +<p>"You will be crushed to dust, exterminated! I swear it by the beard of +the eternal Father."<a name="page_084" id="page_084"></a></p> + +<p>"Exterminate the last of the Breton Gauls, strangle all the children, +and you will then be able to reign over the desert of Armorica. But so +long as there lives a single man of our race in our country, you may be +able to vanquish, but never to subjugate it."</p> + +<p>"But tell me, old man, is it that my rule is so terrible, and my laws so +hard?"</p> + +<p>"We want no foreign domination. To live according to the laws of our +fathers, freely and as becomes free men, to choose our chiefs, to pay no +tribute, to lock ourselves up within our own frontiers and to defend +them—these are our aspirations. Accept them and you will have nothing +to fear from us."</p> + +<p>"To dictate conditions to me! to me, who reign as sovereign master over +all Europe! To have a miserable population of shepherds and husbandmen +impose conditions to me! to me, whose arms have conquered the world! +Impudence can reach no further!"</p> + +<p>"I might answer you that, in order to vanquish that miserable population +of shepherds, of woodmen and husbandmen entrenched in their mountain +fastnesses, behind their rocks, their marshes and their forests, your +veteran bands had to be requisitioned for Gaul—"</p> + +<p>"Yes," cried the Emperor in a vexed voice, "in order to keep your +accursed country in obedience, I am forced to leave there my choicest +troops, troops that I may need at any moment here in Germany, where I +have hard battles to fight."</p> + +<p>"That must be an unpleasant thing to you, Charles, I admit. Without +mentioning the maritime invasions of the Northmans, there are the +Bohemians, the Hungarians, the Bavarians, the Lombards and so many other +people whom<a name="page_085" id="page_085"></a> your arms have overcome, the same as they overcame us, the +Bretons—all vanquished, but none subjugated. From one moment to the +other they may rise anew, and, what is graver still, menace the very +heart of your Empire. As to us, on the contrary, all that we demand is +to live free; we never think of going beyond our frontiers."</p> + +<p>"Who guarantees to me that, once my troops, are out of your infernal +country, you will not forthwith resume your armed excursions and attacks +against the Frankish forces that are bivouacked on this side of your +borders?"</p> + +<p>"The other provinces are Gallic like ourselves. Our duty bids us to +provoke them, and to aid them to break the yoke of the Frankish kings. +But the thoughtful people among us are of the opinion that the hour for +revolt has not yet come. For the last four centuries the Catholic +priests have moulded the minds of the people to slavery. Alas, centuries +will pass before they re-awaken from their present stupor. You admit +that it is dangerous for you to be compelled to keep a portion of your +best troops tied up in Brittany. Recall your army. I give you my word as +a Breton, and I am, moreover, authorized to make the pledge in the name +of our tribes, that, so long as you live, we shall not go out of our +frontiers."</p> + +<p>"By the King of the Heavens! The joke is rather too harsh. Do you take +me for a fool? Do I not know that, if I grant you a truce by withdrawing +my troops, you will take advantage of it to prepare anew for war after +my death? But we shall always know how to suppress your uprisings."</p> + +<p>"Yes, we shall certainly take up arms if your sons fail to respect our +liberties."</p> + +<p>"And you really expect me—me, the vanquisher, to consent to a shameful +truce? To consent to withdraw my forces<a name="page_086" id="page_086"></a> from a country that it has cost +me so much trouble to overcome?"</p> + +<p>"Very well; leave, then, your army in Brittany, but depend upon it that, +within a year or two, new insurrections will break out."</p> + +<p>"Insane old man! How dare you hold such language to me when you, your +grandson, and four other Breton chiefs are my hostages! Oh! I swear by +the everlasting God, your head will drop at the first sign of an +insurrection. Do not lean too heavily upon the good nature of the old +Charles. The terrible example I made of the four thousand prisoners whom +I took from the revolted Saxons should be proof enough to you that I +recoil before no act of necessity. Only the dead are not to be feared."</p> + +<p>"The Breton chiefs who remained on the way by reason of their wounds, +and who will speedily join me and my grandson at Aix-la-Chapelle, would, +no more than my grandson and myself, have accepted the post of hostages +had the same been without danger. Whatever the fate may be that awaits +us, we shall not falter in our duty. We are here in the very center of +your Empire, and well in condition to judge of the opportuneness for an +uprising. From this very place we will give the signal for a fresh war, +the moment we think the time is favorable."</p> + +<p>"By the King of the Heavens! This audacity has gone far enough!" cried +the Emperor, pale with rage. "To dare tell me that these traitors, +according to what they may see and spy near my court, will themselves +send to Brittany the order to revolt! Oh, I swear by God, from +to-morrow, from this very evening, both you and your grandson will be +cast into a dungeon so dark that you will need lynx's eyes to find<a name="page_087" id="page_087"></a> out +what goes on around here. By the cap of St. Martin! Such insolence is +enough to turn one into a ferocious beast. Not another word, old man! +Here we are at the pavilion. I shall now join my daughters. The sight of +them will console me for your ingratitude!"</p> + +<p>Uttering these last words with mingled rage and sorrow, the Emperor put +his horse to the gallop in order to reach all the quicker the hunting +pavilion, where he expected to meet his daughters, and satisfy his +growing hunger. The seigneurs in Charles' suite were about to follow +their master's example and quicken the steps of their mounts, when the +Emperor, suddenly turning around, cried out to them, with an imperious +voice:</p> + +<p>"No one shall follow me. I want to be alone with my daughters! You shall +await my orders near the pavilion."<a name="page_088" id="page_088"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h3> + +<h4>FRANK AND BRETON.</h4> + +<p>The Emperor rode rapidly forward toward the hunting pavilion. The +seigneurs of his suite received the angry order of their master with +silent obedience, and, reining in their horses, proceeded at a slower +gait towards the rendezvous. Lost among them, Amael rode along, steeped +in thought, revolving the recent conversation he had with Charles, and +at the same time more and more a prey to anxiety at the prolonged +absence of Vortigern. The Emperor's courtiers shivered under their robes +of silk and drabbled feathers, and silently grumbled at the whim of +their Emperor, whereby the looked-for time was retarded when they might +warm themselves at the fire of the pavilion, and revive their spirits +with supper. Arrived in the close neighborhood of the pavilion, they +alighted from their horses. They had been conversing together about a +quarter of an hour, when Amael, who had also alighted and leaned +pensively against one of the nearby gigantic trees of the forest, +noticed Octave hastening in his direction and calling out to him:</p> + +<p>"Amael, I was looking for you—come quick!"</p> + +<p>The aged Breton tied his horse to the tree and followed Octave. When +both had walked a little distance away from the group of the Frankish +seigneurs, the young Roman proceeded:<a name="page_089" id="page_089"></a></p> + +<p>"I feel mortally uneasy on the score of Vortigern. Your grandson having +been carried away by his horse early in the hunt, Thetralde and +Hildrude, two of the Emperor's daughters, followed him on the spot. What +may have happened? I can not guess. I am told positively that Hildrude, +who seemed greatly irritated, rode back to Aix-la-Chapelle with two +other sisters and all the concubines of the Emperor who had come to the +chase. Thetralde must have remained alone behind with Vortigern in some +part of the forest."</p> + +<p>"Finish your account."</p> + +<p>"I know from experience how easy-going are the morals of this court. +Thetralde has taken notice of your grandson. She is fifteen, has been +brought up amidst her sisters, who have as many paramours as their own +father has mistresses. Despite himself, Vortigern has made a lively +impression upon the heart of Thetralde. The two are children. They have +vanished together, and must have been lost together, seeing that three +of the Emperor's daughters have returned to the palace and the other two +are at the pavilion. Only Thetralde is not to be found. If she lost her +way in the company of Vortigern—I would this morning have been of the +opinion that it was to be hoped—"</p> + +<p>"Heaven and earth!" broke in the aged Breton, growing pale. "How dare +you joke on such a matter!"</p> + +<p>"This morning I would have considered the adventure highly amusing. This +evening it seems to me redoubtable. A minute ago, angered at something +or other, the Emperor clapped both his spurs to his horse's flanks, +ordered that none should follow him, and rushed towards the pavilion. +Rothaide and Bertha, daughters of Charles, notified of their father's +approach by the clatter of his horse, and believing that his<a name="page_090" id="page_090"></a> whole +suite was with him, sped away to the upper chambers of the +pavilion—Bertha with Enghilbert, the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier, +Rothaide with Audoin, one of the Emperor's officers."</p> + +<p>"And then?"</p> + +<p>"The Emperor arrives all alone and dismounts. 'Where are my daughters?' +he calls out impatiently to the Grand Nomenclator of his table who +happens to be superintending the preparations for the supper. The Grand +Nomenclator answers in great embarrassment: 'August Emperor, allow me to +go and announce your arrival to the Princesses; they have withdrawn to +the upper chambers in order to take some rest while waiting for supper.' +'I shall go myself and see them,' replies Charles, saying which, he +clambers up the stairs. Old Vulcan surprising Venus and Mars at their +amorous escapade, could not have been more furious than was the august +Emperor when he surprised his daughters in the arms of their gallants. +The Grand Nomenclator having remained near the door of the staircase +soon heard an infernal racket in the chambers above. The irate Charles +was plying his hunting whip right and left over the two amorous couples. +A profound silence ensued thereupon. The Emperor having the habit of not +noising such things about came down again, calm in appearance, but pale +with rage, and—"</p> + +<p>Octave's narrative was at this point suddenly interrupted by tumultuous +cries that proceeded from the pavilion. Slaves were seen rushing out of +the building with lighted torches in their hands, and immediately the +shrill voice of Charles himself was heard calling out:</p> + +<p>"To horse! My daughter Thetralde has lost her way in the forest! She has +not returned to the palace—and she is<a name="page_091" id="page_091"></a> not here in the pavilion. Take +the torches—and to horse! To horse!"</p> + +<p>"Amael, in the name of your grandson's welfare," whispered Octave +precipitately in the Breton's ear, "follow me at a distance. There is +just one chance left to us of saving Vortigern from the Emperor's rage." +Saying this, the young Roman disappeared among the seigneurs of the +court who were hastening towards their horses, while Charles, whose +rage, restrained for a moment, now exploded with renewed fierceness, +screeched at them:</p> + +<p>"Look at them, gaping open-mouthed, like a herd of startled sheep! Let +each one take a torch and follow one of the avenues of the forest, all +the while calling out to my daughter as loud as he can. Halloa +there—let someone take up a torch and ride ahead of me!"</p> + +<p>At these words, Octave seized a torch and approached the Emperor, while +other seigneurs rode rapidly off in several directions in search of the +lost Thetralde. The meaning of the hurried recommendation that Octave +had addressed to him a minute before flashed at this moment clear +through Amael's mind. Mounting his horse at the same time that Charles +and the young Roman who bore the torch did theirs, he allowed the two to +take somewhat the lead of him, and then followed them at a distance, +guided by the torch that Octave held aloft.</p> + +<p>As Octave later narrated to him, the Emperor alternated between fits of +rage, provoked by the freshest proof of the libertinage to which his +daughters were addicted, and uneasiness at the disappearance of +Thetralde. These several sentiments were given vent to by broken words +that from<a name="page_092" id="page_092"></a> time to time reached the ears of the young Roman who preceded +Charles by only a few paces.</p> + +<p>"My poor child!—where can she be?—Perhaps dying of cold and fear—at +the bottom of some thicket, perhaps!" murmured the Emperor. Presently he +would call out at the top of his voice: "Thetralde! Thetralde! Oh, she +does not hear me! King of the Heavens, have pity upon me. So young—so +delicate—a chilly night like this is enough to kill her. Oh, my unhappy +old age, that this child might have served to console—she would not +have resembled her sisters! Her fifteen year forehead was never +crimsoned with an evil thought. Oh, dead! Dead, perhaps! No, no—youth +is full of pranks! Besides, these daughters, all of whom I have brought +up like boys, are all accustomed to fatigue. They accompany me during my +long journeys. But yet, the night is so dark—and it is so chilly!" +Whereupon the Emperor would again call out: "Thetralde!" and suddenly +reining in his horse and listening, the Emperor of the Franks broke the +silence with the sudden question: "Did you not hear a sound like the +neighing of a horse?"</p> + +<p>"I did, august Prince," answered the young Roman.</p> + +<p>"Listen! Listen again!"</p> + +<p>Octave kept silent. Soon again the sound of distant neighing broke upon +the stillness of the forest.</p> + +<p>"No doubt any longer. Despairing of finding her way, my daughter must +have tied her palfrey to a tree!" exclaimed the Emperor, his heart +bounding with hope. Calling out to Octave, he ordered: "Gallop! Gallop +faster!" and himself increasing his own speed to the utmost cried out +uninterruptedly: "Thetralde! Thetralde! Thetralde, my daughter!"</p> + +<p>Amael, who followed Charles at a goodly distance, keeping<a name="page_093" id="page_093"></a> himself well +in the shadow, also fell into a gallop the moment he noticed the +torchlight that guided him suddenly move with increased swiftness into +the darkness. The Emperor and Octave were close upon the spot where, +before entering the woodcutter's hut, Vortigern and Thetralde had tied +their mounts. The glimmer of the torch fell upon and lighted the white +body of Thetralde's palfrey, throwing into the shade Vortigern's horse +that was tied a few steps further away. The Emperor recognized his +daughter's favorite mount, and cried out:</p> + +<p>"Thetralde's palfrey!" and immediately thereupon perceiving the hut +itself by the light of the torch borne by Octave, he added: "Oh, King of +the Heavens! Thanks be to you!" The Emperor quickly dismounted and +walking precipitately towards the hut which lay about twenty paces from +the path, he called back to Octave: "Walk faster! My daughter is there. +Precede me!"</p> + +<p>Gifted with an eye even more piercing than Charles', Octave had +recognized with a shudder the horse of Vortigern close to Thetralde's +palfrey. Foreseeing the outburst of fury that the Emperor was about to +fall into at the spectacle that Octave surmised awaited his aged eyes, +the Roman resorted to an extreme measure. Affecting to stumble, he +dropped the torch in the hope of extinguishing it at his feet, as if by +accident. But Charles quickly stooped down, as quickly raised it and +rushed forward towards the entrance of the hut. Trembling with fear, the +young Roman followed closely behind the Emperor. Charles suddenly stood +still as if petrified at the threshold of the hut, whose interior was +now brilliantly lighted by the torch in the Emperor's hand. Having also +dismounted, Amael was enabled, without his steps being<a name="page_094" id="page_094"></a> heard by +Charles, to draw nearer, and stood close to him at the very moment that, +struck with stupor, the Emperor of the Franks stopped, motionless.</p> + +<p>Profoundly asleep, and stretched out upon the floor with his unsheathed +sword beside him, Vortigern barred the entrance to the hut. In order to +enter it, an intruder would have been compelled to walk over his body +that lay across the threshold. In the depth of the retreat, stretched on +a bed of moss and carefully wrapped in the lad's tunic, Thetralde +enjoyed a slumber as profound as her guardian at the entrance. The +girl's head and face, charming in their candor, rested on one of her +arms that lay folded beneath. So deep was the sleep of the two, that +neither the young girl nor Vortigern was at first awakened by the glare +of the torch.</p> + +<p>Thick drops of perspiration rolled down from the forehead of the Emperor +of the Franks. The stupor that first seized him at finding his daughter +in a solitary hut in the company of the young Breton, was soon followed +by an expression of undefinable agony. Presently the cruel doubts +concerning the chastity of his youngest daughter made room for hope when +he noticed the serenity of the slumber of the two children. The Emperor +gathered additional comfort from the precaution that Vortigern had taken +in laying himself athwart the entrance, obedient, no doubt, to a thought +of respectful and chivalrous solicitude.</p> + +<p>Thetralde was the first to open her eyes. The glare of the torch fell +upon her face. She half raised her head; still half asleep, carried her +hand to her eyes, and sat up. In a second, seeing her father before her, +she uttered a cry of such sincere joy, her charming features expressed a +happiness so utterly free from all embarrassment, that, bounding to her +father's<a name="page_095" id="page_095"></a> neck, she was pressed by Charles to his heart with delirious +rapture:</p> + +<p>"Oh!" the Emperor exclaimed, "I fear naught, her forehead is free from +shame."</p> + +<p>The words of the enraptured father reached the ears of Amael, who had +remained motionless behind the Emperor, whose life was soon in no slight +danger, seeing that, in her first and spontaneous outburst of joy to +fall on her father's neck, Thetralde had struck Vortigern with her feet +as she bounded forward. The young Breton, thus awakened with a start, +his eyes dazzled by the glare of the torch, and his mind still clouded +with sleep, grasped his sword and jumped up. At the sight of the two men +at the entrance of the hut, one of them tightly holding Thetralde in his +arms, the lad imagined that violence was being attempted upon her. He +seized Charles by the throat with one hand and, raising his sword in the +other, cried: "I will kill you!" Immediately, however, recognizing the +father of Thetralde, Vortigern dropped his weapon, rubbed his eyes, and +exclaimed:</p> + +<p>"The Emperor of the Franks!"</p> + +<p>"Himself, my lad!" replied the Emperor in a cheerful voice, while he +again kissed the forehead and head of his daughter with almost frantic +delight. "The vigor of your clutch proves to me that ill would he have +fared who should have entertained any evil designs against my little +girl!"</p> + +<p>"We are your enemies, and still you received my grandfather and myself +with kindness," answered the young Breton ingenuously and without +lowering his eyes before the penetrating looks that Charles shot at him. +"I have watched over your daughter—as I should have watched over my own +sister."<a name="page_096" id="page_096"></a></p> + +<p>Vortigern emphasized the words 'my own sister' in such a manner that +Amael, fully sharing the confidence of Charles, whispered at the +latter's ear:</p> + +<p>"I have no doubt of the purity of these children."</p> + +<p>"And you here?" exclaimed the Emperor astonished. "Be welcome, my +esteemed guest!"</p> + +<p>"You looked for your daughter—I also set out in search of my grandson."</p> + +<p>"And I have found her, the dear child!" exclaimed Charles with ineffable +tenderness, again and again kissing the forehead of Thetralde. "Oh, how +I do love her—more than ever before!" And holding the girl close to his +breast the Emperor moved toward the interior of the hut, and threw +himself down upon the moss-bench, broken with fatigue. There he seated +Thetralde upon his knees, and contemplating her with looks of +unspeakable happiness, said: "Come now, my little one, tell me all about +your adventure. How did you lose track of the hunt? How did you resign +yourself to spend the night in this hut?"</p> + +<p>"Father," answered the girl, lowering her eyes and hiding her face on +Charles' breast, "let me collect my thoughts—I want to tell you all +that happened, absolutely everything, without concealing aught."</p> + +<p>After a short interval that followed Thetralde's answer, Vortigern drew +near Amael, who tenderly pressed him to his heart, while, standing at a +little distance, the torch in his hand lighting the scene, the young +Roman, it must be admitted, looked more astonished than enthusiastic at +the continence of Vortigern.</p> + +<p>"Father," Thetralde resumed, raising her head and attaching her candid +looks upon the Emperor of the Franks, "I<a name="page_097" id="page_097"></a> must tell you everything. Not +so? Everything—absolutely everything?"</p> + +<p>"Yes, my little darling, without omitting anything." But after a +second's reflection, Charles said to Octave: "Plant that torch in the +ground, and watch our horses with this young lad."</p> + +<p>The Roman bowed and obeyed; accompanied by Amael's grandson he stepped +out of the hut.</p> + +<p>"What, father, you send Vortigern out?" remarked Thetralde in an accent +of sweet reproach. "I would on the contrary, have wished him to remain +near us, in order to confirm or complete my story, my dear father."</p> + +<p>"All you tell me, my dear daughter, I shall believe. Speak, speak +without fear before me and the grandfather of the worthy lad."</p> + +<p>"Yesterday," Thetralde began, "I was on the balcony of the palace when +Vortigern rode into the courtyard. Learning that he came hither as a +prisoner, so young, and wounded, besides, I immediately took an interest +in him. When shortly after, he came near being thrown from his horse, +perhaps even killed, I was so frightened that I uttered a cry of dread. +But when Hildrude and myself saw that he proved himself an intrepid +horseman, we threw our nose-gays to him."</p> + +<p>"You both told me how you admired the skilfulness of the lad's +horsemanship, but you said nothing about the throwing of your bouquets. +Well, let us proceed—continue."</p> + +<p>"I certainly was very happy at your return home, good father. Yet, I +must confess to you, it seems to me that my thoughts turned as much on +Vortigern as on yourself. All night my sister and I talked about the +young Breton, about<a name="page_098" id="page_098"></a> his gracefulness, about his comely face that was at +once sweet and bold—"</p> + +<p>"That is all very well—that is all very well. Let us skip all that, my +daughter. Let us drop the details concerning the lad's looks."</p> + +<p>"Then you object, father, to my telling you all? He made a deep +impression upon us."</p> + +<p>"Let us come to the episode of the chase."</p> + +<p>"It was dawn before I fell asleep, but only to dream about Vortigern. We +saw him again at church. When I was not contemplating his bold and sweet +face, I was praying for the safety of his soul. After mass, when I +learned that there was to be a hunting party, my only fear was that he +might not be one of the party. Judge, then, of my joy, father, when I +saw him in your retinue. Suddenly his horse took fright and carried him +off! Before I could reflect I plied the whip upon my palfrey to join +him. Hildrude followed and tried to pass me. That irritated me. I struck +her horse on the head. The animal bolted and carried her off in another +direction. I was alone when I overtook Vortigern. The mist, then the +rain and thereupon the night fell upon us. We noticed this woodcutter's +hut and a brasier that was almost extinct. We then said to each other: +'It is impossible to find our way back, let us spend the night here.' +Happily we noticed some chestnuts that had dropped on the ground from +the trees. We gathered them, roasted them under the cinders—but we +forgot to eat them—"</p> + +<p>"Because, I suppose, you were both tired, no doubt—and, in order to +take rest, you lay down on this moss-bench, and the lad across the +threshold?"</p> + +<p>"Oh, no, no, my father! Before falling asleep we chatted<a name="page_099" id="page_099"></a> a good deal, +we disputed a good deal. It was due to our discussion that Vortigern and +myself forgot all about the chestnuts. Thereupon sleep overtook us and +we stretched ourselves to rest."</p> + +<p>"But what was the subject, my child, of the discussion between you and +the lad?"</p> + +<p>"Alack! I had wicked thoughts—those thoughts were combatted by +Vortigern with all his might. It was upon that that our dispute ran. But +I must admit that, after all, he was right. You will never believe me. I +wanted to flee from Aix-la-Chapelle and go to Brittany with +Vortigern—to marry him."</p> + +<p>"To leave me—my daughter—abandon your father—me, who love you so +much?"</p> + +<p>"Those were the very arguments of Vortigern. 'Thetralde, dost thou think +well,' he said to me, 'to leave thy father who loves thee? Wouldst thou +have the regrettable courage to cause him so deep a grief? And as to +myself, whom, as well as my grandfather, he has treated with kindness, +should I be thy accomplice? No! No! Moreover, I am here a prisoner on +parole. To flee would be to disgrace myself. My mother would refuse to +see me.' 'Thy mother loves thee too much not to pardon thee,' I said to +Vortigern; 'my father also will pardon me; he is so good! Did he not +show himself indulgent towards my sisters, who have their lovers as he +has his mistresses? To love can neither hurt nor injure others. Once +married, we shall return to my father. Happy at seeing us again, he will +forget everything else, and we shall live near him as do Eginhard and my +sister Imma.' But Vortigern, ever inflexible, returned incessantly upon +his word as a prisoner and the grief that his flight would cause his +mother<a name="page_100" id="page_100"></a> and grandfather. His warm tears mingled with mine as he consoled +and chide me for the child that I was. Finally, after our dispute had +lasted a long while, and we had wept a good deal, he said to me: +'Thetralde, it is now late; thou surely must feel fatigued; thou +shouldst lie down on this bed of moss; I shall lay myself across the +entrance with my bare sword at my side, to defend thee, if need be.' I +did begin to feel sleepy; Vortigern covered me with his tunic; I fell +asleep and was dreaming about him when I was awakened by you, my +father."</p> + +<p>The Emperor of the Franks listened to the naïve recital with a mixture +of tenderness, apprehension and grief. At its close he heaved a sigh of +profound relief that seemed to issue from the silent reflection: "What a +danger did not my daughter escape!" This thought soon dominated all the +others that crowded to his mind. Charles again embraced Thetralde +effusively, and said:</p> + +<p>"Dear child, your candor charms me. It makes me forget that even for a +moment you could entertain the thought of running away from your father, +which would have been a mean thing to do."</p> + +<p>"Oh! Vortigern made me renounce the wicked project. And, now, as a +reward to him, you will be good, you will marry us, will you not, +father?"</p> + +<p>"We shall talk later about that. For the present we must think of +regaining the pavilion, where you will rest awhile. We shall depart to +Aix-la-Chapelle. Stay here a moment I have a few words to exchange with +this good old man."</p> + +<p>Charles stepped out of the hut with Amael, and as soon as they were a +few paces away, he turned towards the aged Breton<a name="page_101" id="page_101"></a> with a radiant face +on which, however, deep concern was depicted:</p> + +<p>"Your grandson is a loyal lad; yours is a family of worthy and brave +people. You saved my grandfather's life; your grandson has respected the +honor of my daughter. I know but too well the dangers that lie, at the +age of these children, in the wake of the first impulse of love. Had +Vortigern yielded, he would have had to pay for it with his life. I am +happy and by far prefer to praise than to punish."</p> + +<p>"Charles, when a few hours ago I expressed to you my uneasiness +concerning Vortigern's absence, you answered me: 'Good! He will have run +across some pretty woodcutter's daughter. Love is meet for his years. +You do not mean to make a monk of the lad?' What, now, if he had treated +your daughter like a woodcutter's child?"</p> + +<p>"By the King of the Heavens! Vortigern would not have left the hut +alive!"</p> + +<p>"Accordingly, it is permissible to dishonor the daughter of a slave, and +yet shall the dishonor of the daughter of an emperor be punished with +death? Both are the children of God, alike in His eyes. Why the +difference in your mind?"</p> + +<p>"Old man, these words are senseless!"</p> + +<p>"You pretend to be a Christian, and you treat us as pagans! My grandson +has conducted himself like an honest man; that is all. Honor is dear to +us Gauls of old Armorica, whose device is: <i>Never did Breton commit +treason.</i> Will you render me a favor? I shall be eternally grateful to +you."</p> + +<p>"Speak! What do you wish of Charles?"</p> + +<p>"A short while ago you seemed struck with the beauty of a poor slave +girl. You mean to make her one of your concubines. Be magnanimous +towards the unhappy creature; do<a name="page_102" id="page_102"></a> not corrupt her; render their freedom +to her and her family; give those people the means to live industriously +and honorably."</p> + +<p>"It shall be so, by the faith of Charles; I promise you. Besides, I +consent to withdraw my troops from your country, provided you pledge to +me your faith as a Breton that, during my life, you will not make any +incursions beyond your own frontiers. Give me your hand, Amael—your +loyal hand in sign of acceptance."</p> + +<p>"Here it is, Charles," promptly answered Amael, grasping the hand +proffered by the Emperor. "Let it be the hand of a traitor, and that it +fall under the axe if our people break the promise! We shall live at +peace with you. If your descendants respect our liberties, we shall live +at peace with them."</p> + +<p>"Amael, it is sworn!"</p> + +<p>"Charles, it is accepted and sworn!"</p> + +<p>"Instead of returning to Aix-la-Chapelle, you and your grandson shall +spend the night in the pavilion of the forest. To-morrow, at early +daybreak, I shall have your baggage forwarded to you, together with an +escort, charged to accompany you as far as the frontiers of Armorica. +You shall depart without delay."</p> + +<p>"Your directions will be followed to the letter."</p> + +<p>"I shall now return to the pavilion alone with my daughter. I shall tell +my courtiers that I found her in the hut. Alack! the calumnies of the +court are cruel. People will not believe in the innocence of Thetralde, +and if, besides, they should learn that she spent a part of the night +with your grandson in that obscure retreat, they will take for granted +all that they now impute to her sisters. Oh! My father's heart<a name="page_103" id="page_103"></a> bleeds +strangely. I have loved my daughters too much. I have been too indulgent +towards them! And then also, my continuous wars beyond my own kingdom, +together with the affairs of state, have prevented me from watching over +my children. And yet, during my absence, I always left them in the +charge of priests. Neither were they left idle; they embroidered +chasubles for the bishops! But, it seems that our Lord God, who has ever +and otherwise stood at my side, has willed it so, that I be struck in my +family. His will be done! I am an unhappy father!" Charles thereupon +called to the Roman:</p> + +<p>"Octave, nobody—do you understand me, nobody—must know that my +daughter spent a part of the night in this hut with that young man. Evil +tongues do not spare even the chastest and most admirable souls. The +secret of this night is known only by me, my daughter, and these two +Bretons. I am as certain of their discretion as of my own and +Thetralde's. You are lost if but a word of this adventure circulates at +court. It is from you alone that it can have proceeded. If, on the +contrary, you help me to keep the secret, you may rely upon increasing +favors from me."</p> + +<p>"August Emperor, I shall carry that secret with me into my grave."</p> + +<p>"I rely upon it. Fetch me my horse and my daughter's. You are to +accompany us to the hunting pavilion, and thence to Aix-la-Chapelle. I +will place you in command of the escort that I give these two hostages +to return to their own country. I shall furnish you with an order to the +commander of my army in Brittany. You will start to-morrow, early, with +the escort to the pavilion of the forest, and you will thence depart for +Armorica."<a name="page_104" id="page_104"></a></p> + +<p>Octave bowed, and the Emperor proceeded, addressing Amael:</p> + +<p>"The moon has risen. It sheds sufficient light upon the route. Jump upon +your horse, with your grandson. Follow this avenue of trees until you +reach a clearing. Wait there. You will shortly be sent for. I shall +despatch my messengers to take you to the pavilion, where you are to +stay until your departure early to-morrow morning. And now, Adieu!"</p> + +<p>Amael returned to his grandson, whom he found in a deep study, seated on +the stump of a tree that bordered the route. The lad was silently +weeping with his face hidden in his hands, and heard not the steps of +his grandfather approaching him.</p> + +<p>"Come, my boy," said Amael to him in a mild and grave voice. "Let us to +horse, and depart."</p> + +<p>"Depart!" exclaimed Vortigern, with a tremor, rising impetuously to his +feet and wiping with his hand the tears that moistened his face.</p> + +<p>"Yes, my boy! To-morrow we start for Brittany, where you will see again +your mother and sister. The nobility of your conduct has borne its +fruit. We are free. Charles recalls his troops from Brittany."</p> + +<p class="dots">* * * * * * *</p> + +<p>Shortly after our return home from Aix-la-Chapelle, my grandfather, +Amael, wrote the above narrative, which I have faithfully joined to the +preceding ones of our family. Myself, Vortigern, buried my grandfather +not long after at the ripe age of one hundred and five years, shortly +after my own marriage with the loving Josseline. Charles the Great died +at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 814.<a name="page_105" id="page_105"></a></p> + +<h2 class="top15"><a name="PART_II" id="PART_II"></a>PART II.<br /><br /> +THE CONQUEST OF BRITTANY</h2> + +<p><a name="page_107" id="page_107"></a><a name="page_106" id="page_106"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_Ia" id="CHAPTER_Ia"></a>CHAPTER I.</h3> + +<h4>IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS.</h4> + +<p>In the year 818, seven years after Amael and his grandson Vortigern left +the court of Charles, the Emperor of the Franks, to return to their home +in Brittany, three riders, accompanied by a footman, were one evening +painfully climbing one of the steep hills of the ridge of the Black +Mountains, that raise their rugged ribs to the southwest of Armorica. +When, having reached the top of the rocky pile over which the path wound +its way, the travelers looked below, they saw at their feet a long chain +of plains and hillocks, some covered with rye and wheat ready for the +harvesters, others running northward like vast carpets of heather. Here +and yonder, vast moors also were perceived stretching out as far as the +eye could follow. A few straggling villages, reached by an avenue of +trees, raised the roofs of their houses in the midst of impassible bogs +that served for natural defences. The panorama was enlivened by herds of +black sheep that browsed over the ruddy heath or the green valleys, +watered by innumerable running streams. Among the green were also seen +steers and cows, and especially a large number of horses of the Breton +stock, strong for the plow, fiery in war.</p> + +<p>The three riders, preceded by the footman, now proceeded to descend the +further slope of the rugged hill. One of the three, clad in +ecclesiastical robes, was Witchaire, considered<a name="page_108" id="page_108"></a> one of the richest +abbots of Gaul. The vast lands of his almost royal abbey bordered on the +frontiers of Armorica. His two companions, on horseback like himself, +were monks belonging to his dependency, and both wore the garb of the +religious Order of St. Benoit. The two monks rode behind the abbot at a +little distance, leading between them a packsaddle mule loaded with the +baggage of their superior, a man of short stature, sharp eye, and a +smile that was at times pious, at other times cunning. The mountain +guide, a robust, thick-set man in the vigor of life, wore the antique +costume of the Breton Gauls—wide breeches of cloth held at the waist by +a leather belt, a jacket of wool, and, hanging from his shoulders on the +same side with his wallet, a cloak of goat-skin, although the season was +summer. His hair, only partly covered with a woolen cap, fell over his +shoulders. From time to time he leaned upon his <i>pen-bas</i>, a long staff +made of holly and terminating in a crook.</p> + +<p>The burning August sun, now at its hottest, darted its rays upon the +guide, the two monks and Abbot Witchaire. Reining in his horse, the +latter said to the guide:</p> + +<p>"The heat is suffocating; these granite rocks radiate it upon us as hot +as if they issued from a furnace; our mounts are exhausted. I decry +yonder, at our feet, a thick forest; could you not lead us to it? We +could then take rest in the shade."</p> + +<p>Karouer, the guide, shook his head, and answered, pointing with his +<i>pen-bas</i> in the direction of the dense woods: "To reach them we would +have to make a leap of two hundred feet, or a circuit of nearly three +leagues over the mountains. Which shall it be?"</p> + +<p>"Let us, then, pursue our route, my trusty guide. But tell<a name="page_109" id="page_109"></a> us how long +will it take us to arrive in the valley of Lokfern?"</p> + +<p>"Look yonder, below, away below, close to the horizon. Do you see the +last of those bluish crests? That is the Menez-c'Hom, the highest peak +of the Black Mountains. The other peak towards the west, and lying +somewhat nearer, is Lach-Renan. It is between those two peaks that lies +the valley of Lokfern, where Morvan, the husbandman and Chief of +Brittany lives."</p> + +<p>"Are you certain that he will be at his farm-house?"</p> + +<p>"A husbandman always returns to his farm-house after sunset. We shall +find him there."</p> + +<p>"Do you know Morvan personally?"</p> + +<p>"I am of his tribe. I fought under him at the time of our last struggles +against the Franks, when Charles, the Emperor, lived."</p> + +<p>"Is this Morvan married, do you know?"</p> + +<p>"His wife Noblede is the worthy spouse of Morvan. She is of the stock of +Joel. That says everything. We honor and venerate her."</p> + +<p>"Who is that Joel, whom you mentioned?"</p> + +<p>"One of the worthiest men, whose memory Armorica has preserved green. +His daughter, Hena, the Virgin of the Isle of Sen, offered her own life +in sacrifice for the safety of Gaul when the Romans invaded these +parts."</p> + +<p>"I have been told that your people apprehend an invasion of the Franks +in Brittany, and that you are making ready for a declaration of war from +Louis the Pious, son of the great Charles."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen any preparations for war since you crossed our frontier?"</p> + +<p>"I have seen the husbandmen in the fields, the shepherds<a name="page_110" id="page_110"></a> leading their +flocks, the cities open and tranquil. But it is known that in your +country, woodmen, husbandmen, shepherds and town folks transform +themselves into soldiers at a moment's notice."</p> + +<p>"Yes, when our country is threatened with invasion."</p> + +<p>"And do you apprehend such an invasion?"</p> + +<p>Karouer looked at the abbot fixedly, smiled sarcastically, made no +answer, whistled, and presently broke out into a Breton song, +mechanically whirling his <i>pen-bas</i> as he strode rapidly forward in the +lead of the three monks.</p> + +<p>Night drew on. Karouer and the dignitaries whom he guided, having been +all day on the march, were now approaching one of the highest points on +the mountain path that they had been following, when, struck by an +unexpected spectacle, Witchaire suddenly reined in his horse.</p> + +<p>The sight that took the abbot by surprise was, indeed, startling. A +flame, hardly distinguishable by reason of its great distance, and yet +perceptible on the horizon, whose outlines the dusk had not yet wholly +blotted out, had barely arrested his attention, when, almost +instantaneously, similar tongues of fire gradually shot up from the +distant tops of the long chain of the Black Mountains. The fires gained +in brilliancy and size in the measure that they broke out nearer and +nearer to the spot where the abbot stood. Suddenly, only twenty paces +away from him, the startled prelate perceived a bluish gleam through a +dense smoke. The gleam speedily changed into a brilliant flame, that, +shooting upwards toward the starry sky, spread a light so bright that +the abbot, his monks, his guide, the rocks round about and a good +portion of the crag of the mountain stood illumined as if at noon. A few +minutes later similar bonfires continued to<a name="page_111" id="page_111"></a> be kindled from hill to +hill, tracing back, as it seemed, the route that the travelers had left +behind, and losing themselves in the distance in the evening haze. The +abbot remained mute with stupefaction. Karouer emitted three times a +gutteral and loud cry resembling that of a night bird. A similar cry, +proceeding from behind the plateau of rocks where the nearest bonfire +was burning, responded to the signal from Karouer.</p> + +<p>"What fires are these that are springing up from hill-top to hill-top?" +the abbot inquired with intense curiosity the moment he recovered from +his astonishment. "It must be some signal."</p> + +<p>"At this moment," answered Karouer, "similar fires are burning from all +the hill-tops of Armorica, from the mountains of Arres to the Black +Mountains and the ocean."</p> + +<p>"But to what purpose?"</p> + +<p>As was his wont, Karouer made no answer to such pointed interrogatories, +but striking up some Breton song, quickened his steps, while he whirled +his <i>pen-bas</i> in the air.<a name="page_112" id="page_112"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IIa" id="CHAPTER_IIa"></a>CHAPTER II.</h3> + +<h4>THE BRETON CHIEF.</h4> + +<p>The home of Morvan, the husbandman, who was chosen Chief of the Chiefs +of Brittany, was located about the middle of the valley of Lokfern, and +nestled among the last spurs of the Black Mountains. A strong system of +palisades, constructed of tough trunks of oak fastened together by means +of stout cross-beams, and raised on the near side of deep ditches, +defended the approaches of the farm-house. Outside of the fortified +enclosure, a forest of centenarian oaks extended to the north and east; +to the south, green meadows sloped gently towards the windings of a +swift running river that was bordered with beeches and alders.</p> + +<p>The house of Morvan, its contiguous barns, kennels and stables, had the +rough exterior of the Gallic structures of olden days. A sort of rustic +porch shaded the main entrance to the house. Under this porch, and +enjoying the close of the delightful summer day, were Noblede, the +spouse of Morvan, and Josseline, the young wife of Vortigern. The +latter, a radiant woman of smiling beauty, was suckling her latest born, +with her other two children, Ewrag and Rosneven, respectively four and +five years of age, at her side. Caswallan, a Christian druid, an aged +man of venerable appearance, whose beard vied in whiteness with his long +robe, smiled tenderly upon little Ewrag, whom he held on his knees. +Noblede,<a name="page_113" id="page_113"></a> Morvan's wife and sister of Vortigern, now about thirty years +of age, was a woman of rare comeliness, although her features bore the +stamp of a rooted sadness. Ten years a wife, Noblede had not yet tasted +the sweets of motherhood. Her grave aspect and her high stature recalled +those matrons, who, in the days of Gaul's independence, sat loyally by +the side of their husbands at the supreme councils of the nation.<a name="FNanchor_C_3" id="FNanchor_C_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_C_3" class="fnanchor">[C]</a> +Noblede and Josseline were spinning, while the other women and daughters +of Morvan's household busied themselves with the preparations for the +evening meal, or in the other domestic occupations, such as replenishing +with forage the stalls that the cattle were to find ready upon their +return from the fields. The Christian druid Caswallan, with Ewrag, the +second child of the blonde Josseline, on his knees, had just finished +making the boy recite his lesson in religion under the following +symbolic forms:</p> + +<p>"White child of the druid, answer me, what shall I tell you?"</p> + +<p>"Tell me the parts of the number three," the child would answer, "make +them known to me, that I may learn them to-day."</p> + +<p>"There are three parts of the world—three beginnings and three ends to +man as to the oak—three celestial kingdoms, fruits of gold, brilliant +flowers and little children who laugh. These three kingdoms, where the +fruits of gold, the brilliant flowers and the children who laugh are +found, my little Ewrag, are the worlds in which those, who in this world +have<a name="page_114" id="page_114"></a> performed pure and celestial acts, will be successively born again +and will continue to live with ever increasing happiness. Now, what must +we be in order to perform such acts?"</p> + +<p>"We must be wise, good and just," the child would reply. "Furthermore +death must not be feared, because we are born again and again, from +world to world with an ever renewed body. We must love Brittany like a +tender mother—and bravely defend her against her enemies."</p> + +<p>"Yes, my child," broke in Noblede, drawing her brother's child to +herself. "Always remember those sacred words: 'To love and defend +Brittany';" and Morvan's wife tenderly embraced Ewrag.</p> + +<p>"Mother! mother!" cried up little Rosneven, joyfully clapping his hands +and rushing out of the porch followed by his brother Ewrag: "Here is +father!"</p> + +<p>Caswallan, Noblede and Josseline rose at the gladsome cries of the child +and walked out towards two large wagons heavily laden with golden +sheaves, and drawn by a yoke of oxen.</p> + +<p>Morvan and Vortigern were seated in front of one of the wagons +surrounded by a considerable number of men and lads belonging to the +household, or to the tribe of the Chief of the Chiefs, carrying in their +hands the sickles, the forks and the rakes used by the harvesters. At a +little distance behind them came the shepherds with their flocks whose +bells were heard clinking from the distance. Morvan, in the vigor of +life, robust and thick-set, like most of the inhabitants of the Black +Mountains, wore their rustic garb—wide breeches of coarse white +material, and a linen shirt that exposed his sunburnt chest and neck. +His long hair, auburn like his thick beard, framed his manly face. His +forehead was<a name="page_115" id="page_115"></a> high; his eyes intrepid and piercing. As to Vortigern, the +maturer gravity of manhood, of husband and father, had succeeded the +flower of youth. His looks were expressive of sweet delight at the sight +of the two boys who had ran out to meet him. He jumped down from the +wagon and embraced them affectionately while he looked for his wife and +sister, who, accompanied by Caswallan, were not long in joining him.</p> + +<p>"Dear wife, the harvest will be plentiful," said Morvan to Noblede, and +pointing to the overloaded wagons, he added: "Have you ever seen more +beautiful wheat, or more golden sheaves? Look at them and wonder!"</p> + +<p>"Morvan," put in Josseline, "you are this year harvesting earlier than +customary. We, of the region of Karnak would leave our wheat to ripen on +the stalk fully two weeks longer. Not so, Vortigern?"</p> + +<p>"No, my sweet Josseline," answered her husband, "I shall follow Morvan's +example. We shall return home to-morrow, so as to start taking in the +harvest as soon as possible."</p> + +<p>"I am going to furnish you with still more matter for astonishment," +Morvan proceeded. "Instead of leaving the sheaves in the barn that the +grain may ripen, this wheat that you see there, and that was cropped +only to-day, will be threshed this very night. Vortigern and myself will +not be the only ones to ply the flails on the threshing-floor of the +barn. So, then, Noblede, let us have supper early, and then to work!"</p> + +<p>"What, Morvan!" exclaimed Josseline, "after this tiring day's work, +spent in gathering in the crop, do you and Vortigern mean to spend the +night at work, and threshing, at that?"</p> + +<p>"It will be a cheerful night, my Josseline," put in Vortigern.<a name="page_116" id="page_116"></a> "While +we shall be threshing the wheat, you will sing us some songs, Caswallan +will recite to us some old legend, and we shall stave in a barrel of +hydromel to cheer the laborers who have come to join us. Work goes hand +in hand with pleasure."</p> + +<p>"Vortigern," the Christian druid said, smiling, "do you, perchance, +think that my arms are so much enfeebled by old age that I could no +longer wield a flail? I mean to help you at work."</p> + +<p>"And we?" put in Josseline, laughing merrily, "we, the daughters and +wives of the field-laborers, did we, perchance, lose the skill of +carrying the wheat to the threshing-floor, or of bagging the grain?"</p> + +<p>"And we?" Ewrag and his brother Rosneven cried in turn, "could not we +also carry a stalk, six stalks, twenty stalks?"</p> + +<p>"Oh! you are brave boys, my little ones," exclaimed Vortigern, embracing +his children, while Morvan said to his wife:</p> + +<p>"Noblede, do not forget to have the guest's chamber in order and +supplied with food."</p> + +<p>"Do you expect any guests, Morvan?" inquired Josseline, with great +curiosity. "They will be welcome; they will assist us at the threshing +to-night."</p> + +<p>"My beloved Josseline," answered the Chief of the Chiefs, smiling, "the +guests whom I expect eat the choicest of wheat, but never take the +trouble of either sowing or harvesting. They belong to a class of people +who live on the fat of the land."</p> + +<p>"The guest's chamber is always ready," replied Noblede; "the floor is +strewn with fresh leaves. Alack! No one occupied it since it was last +occupied by Amael."</p> + +<p>"Worthy grandfather!" exclaimed Vortigern with a sigh.<a name="page_117" id="page_117"></a></p> + +<p>"He came to us only to languish a few weeks and pass away."</p> + +<p>"May his memory be blessed, as was his life," said Josseline. "I knew +him only a very short while, but I loved and venerated him like my +father."</p> + +<p>The family of Morvan, together with the rest of his tribe who cultivated +his lands in common with himself, men, women and children, about thirty +in all, presently sat down to a long table, placed in a large hall that +served at once for kitchen, refectory and a place of assembly during the +long nights of the winter. From the walls hung weapons of war and of the +hunt, fishing nets, bridles and horse saddles. Although it was +midsummer, such was the coolness of that region of woods and mountains, +that the heat of the hearth, before which the meats for the supper were +broiled, felt decidedly comfortable to the harvesters. Its flamboyant +light mingled with that cast by the torches of resinous wood, that were +fastened in iron clamps along the four walls. After the industrious +group had finished their repast, Morvan was the first to rise.</p> + +<p>"And now, my boys, to work! The night is clear, we shall thresh the +wheat on the outside floor. Two or three torches planted between the +stones on the edge of the well will give us light until the moon rises. +We shall be through with our task by one o'clock in the morning, we +shall sleep until daybreak, and we shall then return to the fields and +finish taking in the crop."</p> + +<p>The torches, placed at Morvan's orders around the edge of the well, cast +their bright light upon a portion of the yard and buildings that were +within the fortified enclosure. Several men, the women and the children, +took a hand in unloading the wagons, while those who were to do the +threshing,<a name="page_118" id="page_118"></a> Morvan, Vortigern and the old Caswallan among them, stood +waiting for the grain to be brought to them, their flails in their +hands, having for the sake of comfort, stripped themselves of all their +superfluous clothing and keeping only their breeches and shirts on. The +first bundles of grain were placed in the center of the floor, whereupon +the rapid rhythm of the flails, vigorously wielded by robust and +experienced arms, resounded through the air. Apprehending a speedy war, +the Bretons were hastening to take in their crops and place them under +cover in order to save them from the ravages of the enemy, as well as to +deprive these of food. The grains were to be concealed in underground +caves covered with earth. Morvan, whose forehead began to be moistened +with perspiration, said, while rapidly handling the flail:</p> + +<p>"Caswallan, you promised us a song. Take a little rest and sing. It will +inspire us in our work."</p> + +<p>The Christian druid sang "Lez-Breiz," an old national song that ever +sounded sweet on the ears of the Bretons. It began thus:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"Between a Frankish warrior and Lez-Breiz</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">A combat was arranged;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">It was arranged with due formalities.—</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">May God give the victory to the Breton,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">And gladsome tidings to his county.—</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">That day Lez-Breiz said to his young attendant:</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">Rise, furbish up my handsome casque; my lance and my sword;</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">I mean to redden them in the blood of the Franks.—</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">I shall make them jump this day!"</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p>"Old Caswallan," said one of the laborers when the druid had finished +the long and inspiring strain that warmed the blood of his hearers with +martial ardor, "let the accursed<a name="page_119" id="page_119"></a> Franks come again, and we shall say, +like Lez-Breiz: 'With the aid of our two arms, let us make them jump +again to-day'—"</p> + +<p>A furious barking of the shepherd dogs, that for some little time had +been emitting low and intermittent growls, interrupted at this moment +the remarks of the laborers, and all turned their eyes towards the gate +of the enclosure, whither the dogs had precipitated themselves +furiously.<a name="page_120" id="page_120"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IIIa" id="CHAPTER_IIIa"></a>CHAPTER III.</h3> + +<h4>ABBOT AND BRETON.</h4> + +<p>The strangers whose approach the dogs announced were Abbot Witchaire, +his two monks and his guide Karouer. Preceded by the guide, who pacified +the alarm of the watchful animals, the clerical cavalcade rode into the +enclosure, while Karouer informed the abbot:</p> + +<p>"This is the house of Morvan. We have arrived at our destination. You +may now dismount."</p> + +<p>"What are those torches yonder for?" asked the prelate descending from +his horse, the reins of which he threw over to one of his monks. "What +is that muffled sound I hear?"</p> + +<p>"It is the sound of the flails. Doubtlessly Morvan is threshing the +grain that he has harvested. Come, I shall lead you to him."</p> + +<p>Abbot Witchaire and his guide approached the group of laborers, upon +whom the torches cast a clear light. Morvan, intently at work, and the +noise of the flails deafening the sound of the steps and voices of the +new arrivals, failed to hear them. Not until Karouer had tapped the +Chief of the Chiefs upon the shoulder in order to draw the latter's +attention to him, did Morvan turn to look. Recognizing Karouer, the +Chief of the Chiefs stopped a moment and said:</p> + +<p>"Oh! Is that you, Karouer? What tidings do you bring from our man?"<a name="page_121" id="page_121"></a></p> + +<p>"I bring him to you in person," answered Karouer, pointing to his +traveling companion. "He stands before you in flesh and bone."</p> + +<p>"Are you the Abbot Witchaire?" asked Morvan, slightly out of breath with +the heavy work that he had been performing; and crossing his robust arms +over the handle of his flail, he added: "As I expected your visit, I +have had supper prepared for you. Come to table."</p> + +<p>"I prefer first to speak to you."</p> + +<p>"Noblede," said Morvan, wiping the perspiration that inundated his +forehead with the back of his hand, "a torch, my dear wife!" And turning +to the abbot: "Follow me."</p> + +<p>Taking up one of the torches that were stuck at the edge of the well, +Noblede preceded her husband and Abbot Witchaire to the chamber that was +reserved for guests. Two large beds stood ready, as also a big table +furnished with cold meats, milk, bread and fruit. After placing the +torch into one of the iron clamps fastened in the wall, Noblede was +about to withdraw when Morvan said to her in a significant tone:</p> + +<p>"Dear wife, come and kiss me good night when the threshing is done."</p> + +<p>A look from Noblede informed her husband that he was understood, and she +stepped out of the guest's chamber where Morvan remained alone with +Abbot Witchaire. The abbot immediately addressed the Chief of the +Chiefs:</p> + +<p>"Morvan, I greet you. I am the bearer to you of a message from the King +of the Franks, Louis the Pious, son of Charles the Great."</p> + +<p>"And what is that message?"</p> + +<p>"It is couched in but few words:—The Bretons occupy a<a name="page_122" id="page_122"></a> province of the +Empire of the King of the Franks, and refuse to pay him tribute in +homage to his sovereignty. Besides, the Breton clergy, generally +infected with a leaven of old druidic idolatry, denies the supremacy of +the Archbishop of Tours. Such are the consequences of that regrettable +heresy, of which Lambert, Count of Nantes, wrote to King Louis the Pious +as follows: 'The Breton nation is proud and indomitable; all that there +is Christian about them is the name; as to the Christian faith, its cult +and works, they would be searched for in vain in Brittany.' Wishing to +put an end to a rebellion so outrageous both to the Catholic Church and +the royal authority, King Louis the Pious orders the Breton people to +pay the tribute that they owe to the sovereignty of the Frankish Empire, +and to submit themselves to the apostolic decisions of the Archbishop of +Tours. In case of failure to comply, King Louis the Pious will, by means +of his invincible arms, ruin the country and compel the obedience of the +Breton people."</p> + +<p>"Abbot Witchaire," Morvan answered after a few moments' reflection, +"Amael, the grandfather of Vortigern, my wife's brother, entered into an +agreement with the Emperor Charles to the effect that, provided we held +ourselves within our own borders, there never would be any war between +us and the Franks. We kept our promise, so did Charles. His son, whom +you call 'The Pious,' has not troubled us until now. If to-day he +demands tribute from us, he violates the provisions of the compact."</p> + +<p>"Louis the Pious is King by divine right, sovereign master of Gaul. +Brittany is part of Gaul, consequently Brittany belongs to him and must +pay him tribute."</p> + +<p>"We will pay tribute to no king. As to what regards the<a name="page_123" id="page_123"></a> clergy, I have +this to say to you: Before their arrival in Brittany the country never +was invaded. Since a century ago, all that has changed. It was to be +expected. Whoever sees the black robe of a priest, soon sees the glint +of a Frank's sword."</p> + +<p>"You speak truly. The Catholic priest is everywhere the precursor of +royalty."</p> + +<p>"We now have but too many of these precursors. Despite their continuous +quarrels with the Archbishop of Tours, the good priests are rare, the +bad ones numerous. At the time of the last war, several of your +churchmen acted as guides to the Franks, while others seduced some of +our tribes into treason by making them believe that to resist your kings +was to incur the anger of heaven. Despite such acts of treason, we +defended our liberty then; we will defend it again both against the +machinations of the clergy and the swords of the Franks."</p> + +<p>"Morvan, you look like a sensible man. Is it proposed to enslave you? +No! To dispossess you of your lands? No! What is it that Louis the Pious +demands? Merely that you pay him tribute in homage to his sovereignty. +Nothing more!"</p> + +<p>"That is too much—and it is iniquitous!"</p> + +<p>"Consider the frightful misfortunes to which Brittany will expose +herself if she refuses to acknowledge the sovereignty of Louis the +Pious. Can you prefer to see your fields laid waste, your crops +destroyed, your cattle led away, your own house torn down, your fellows +reduced to slavery—can you prefer that to the voluntary payment of a +few gold sous contributed by you into the treasury of the King of the +Franks?"</p> + +<p>"I certainly would prefer to pay even twenty gold sous, rather than be +ruined."<a name="page_124" id="page_124"></a></p> + +<p>"It is not merely your own earthly possessions that are at stake. You +have a wife, a family, friends. Would you, out of vain pride, expose so +many beings, dear to your heart, to the horrible dangers of war, of a +war of extermination, of a war without mercy, all the more when, as you +must admit, you can no longer find in the Breton people the indomitable +spirit that once was its distinctive feature?"</p> + +<p>"No," answered Morvan with a somber and pensive mien, his elbows resting +on his knees and his forehead hidden in his hands; "no, the Breton +people are no longer what they once were."</p> + +<p>"To my mind, the change is one of the triumphs of the Catholic Church. +In your eyes it is an evil. But, if evil it be, it is a fact, and you +are bound to recognize it. Brittany, once invincible, has been several +times invaded by the Franks during the last century. What has happened +before will happen again. And yet, notwithstanding the mistrust that you +entertain of your own powers of resistance, notwithstanding the +certainty of succumbing, could you still wish to engage in the struggle +in lieu of paying a tribute that curtails in nothing, either your own +liberty or that of your people?"</p> + +<p>Shaken by the insidious arguments of the priest, Morvan remained silent +for a moment; after a short struggle with himself, he asked: "How high +will be the tribute that your King demands?"</p> + +<p>Witchaire thrilled with joy at Morvan's question. He concluded the +Breton had decided in favor of base submission. At that juncture Noblede +entered the apartment to give her husband the good-night kiss. At sight +of her the Breton blushed. He allowed his wife to approach him without +affectionately advancing to meet her, as was his wont. The<a name="page_125" id="page_125"></a> Breton woman +almost guessed the cause of the embarrassed manner of Morvan, and of the +triumphant looks of the Frankish abbot. Concealing her grief, the woman +walked to her husband, who remained seated, and kissed his hand. A +tremor shook the Breton chief's frame; his will, shaken for a moment, +regained its own command; he leaped up and passionately clasped his wife +to his breast. Happy and proud at feeling the throbbing of her own heart +answered by her husband's, the Gallic woman cried, casting a look of +contempt at the priest:</p> + +<p>"Whence comes this stranger? What does he want? Is he a messenger of +peace or of war? Race of priests, race of vipers."</p> + +<p>"This monk is sent by the King of the Franks," answered the Breton +chief; "I do not yet know whether he brings peace or war."</p> + +<p>Noblede looked at her husband with increasing astonishment, when the +abbot, considering the moment favorable to obtain the desired answer +from Morvan, said:</p> + +<p>"I am to return immediately. What answer shall I carry to Louis the +Pious?"</p> + +<p>"You cannot resume your journey without taking some rest," Noblede +hastened to observe, while, with her eyes, she interrogated her husband, +who seemed to have relapsed into incertitude. "It will be time enough to +depart early in the morning. Remain here over night to recover your +strength."</p> + +<p>"No, no!" exclaimed the abbot with impatience, fearing the influence of +the Gallic woman upon her husband. "I return immediately. Shall I take +to Louis the Pious words of peace or of war? I must have a categoric +answer."<a name="page_126" id="page_126"></a></p> + +<p>The Breton chief, however, rose from his seat, and walking towards the +door of the apartment answered Witchaire:</p> + +<p>"I shall use the few remaining hours of the night to think the matter +over; to-morrow you will have my answer." Saying this, and despite the +insistence of the abbot upon an immediate answer, Morvan left the +guest's room, accompanied by Noblede.</p> + +<p>A few minutes later, Morvan, his wife, Vortigern and Caswallan, +assembled at a secluded spot, under the spreading branches of a tall oak +tree not far from the house, to consider the subject of Abbot +Witchaire's errand to Brittany.</p> + +<p>"What does this messenger of the King of the Franks want?" asked +Vortigern of Morvan.</p> + +<p>"If we consent to pay tribute to Louis the Pious and to recognize him as +our sovereign, we shall escape an implacable war. I know not what answer +to make. I hesitate before the prospect of the disasters that will +attend a new struggle—the massacres, the fires."</p> + +<p>"Hesitate! Yield to threats!"</p> + +<p>"Brother," answered Morvan with deep sadness, "the Breton people are no +longer what they once were."</p> + +<p>"You are right!" put in Caswallan. "The breath of the Catholic Church, +so deadly to the freedom of the people, has passed over this unhappy +country also. The patriotism of a large number of our tribes has cooled. +But, on the other hand, should you consent to submit to a shameful +peace, then Brittany will be peopled with slaves before a century shall +have rolled away."</p> + +<p>"Brother," added Vortigern, "would you yield to threats, instead of +reviving the spirit of Brittany in a sacred war against the foreigner? +That would be to debase ourselves<a name="page_127" id="page_127"></a> forever! To-day we would pay tribute +to the king of the Franks, in order to avoid a war; to-morrow we would +have to yield to him one-half of our patrimony, in order that he may +allow us to retain the rest; after that we would have to submit to +slavery with all its degradation and wretchedness, in order to be +allowed to preserve our lives. The chain will have been riveted to our +limbs, and our children will have to drag it during all the centuries to +come!"</p> + +<p>"Unhappy Brittany!" exclaimed Noblede. "Have we fallen so low as to +begin to measure the length of our chains? Look at these three brave, +wise and tried men, wasting their time in discussing the insolence of a +Frankish king! There is but one word you can answer with—WAR! Oh, +degenerate Gauls! Eight centuries ago, Caesar, the greatest captain of +the world, and at the head of a formidable army, also sent messengers to +summon Brittany to pay him tribute. The Roman messengers were answered +with a beating, and chased with contempt out of the city of Vannes. That +same evening, Hena, our ancestress, offered her blood to Hesus for the +deliverance of Gaul, and the cry of war resounded from one end of the +country to the other! Albinik the sailor, together with his wife Meroë, +performed a journey of more than twenty leagues across the most fertile +regions of Gaul, but then burnt down by a conflagration that the people +themselves had kindled. Caesar saw before him only a waste of +smouldering ruins, and on the day of the battle of Vannes our whole +family—women and young girls, children and old men—fought or died like +heroes! Oh! These ancestors of ours worried their heads little about the +'dangers of battle'! To live free or die—such was their simple faith, +and they<a name="page_128" id="page_128"></a> sealed it with their blood, and winged their flight to those +unknown worlds where they continue to live!"</p> + +<p>Noblede was addressing Morvan, Vortigern and Caswallan in these terms, +when the abbot, who had left his apartment and inquired after Morvan +from the people about the house, approached the oak under which the +Breton family was in council. Although the moon was shining in all her +splendor, the first glimmerings of the dawn, always early in the end of +August, already began to crimson the horizon.</p> + +<p>"Morvan," said Abbot Witchaire, "day is about to dawn. I can wait no +longer. What is your answer to the messenger of Louis the Pious?"</p> + +<p>"Priest, my answer will not burden your memory: <span class="smcap">Return and tell the king +that we will pay him tribute—in iron</span>."</p> + +<p>"You want war! Very well, you shall have it without mercy or pity!" +cried the abbot furiously, and leaping on his horse which the monks held +ready for him he added, turning again to the Chief of the Chiefs: +"Brittany will be laid waste with fire and sword! Not a house will be +left standing! The last day of this people has arrived!"</p> + +<p>As the priest uttered these words, his gestures seemed to call down +curses and anathemas upon the Breton chief. Angrily putting the spurs to +his horse and followed by the two monks, the prelate rode rapidly away.</p> + +<p>The abbot had hardly been a quarter of an hour on the road, when he +heard the gallop of an approaching horse behind him. Turning, he saw a +rider coming towards him at full speed. It was Vortigern. The abbot drew +in his reins, yielding to a last ray of hope. "May your coming be +propitious.<a name="page_129" id="page_129"></a> Morvan regrets, I hope, the insensate resolution that he +took?"</p> + +<p>"Morvan regrets that in your hurry you and your two monks should have +departed without a guide. You might easily lose your way in our +mountains. I am to accompany you as far as the city of Guenhek. There I +shall furnish you with a safe guide for the rest of the journey; he will +take you to our frontiers."</p> + +<p>"Young man, you are, I am told, the brother of Morvan's wife. I conjure +you, in the name of the safety of Brittany, to endeavor to change the +insensate and fatal resolution of this man who happens to be the chief +of your nation."</p> + +<p>"Monk, the fires lighted last night on our mountains, and which, no +doubt, you must have seen, were the signals of alarm, given to our +tribes to prepare for war. Your King wants war—let his will be done. +But, now, answer me a question. You come from the court at +Aix-la-Chapelle. Could you tell me what has become of the daughters of +the Emperor Charles?"</p> + +<p>The abbot cast a look of surprise at Vortigern: "What is it to you what +may have become of the Emperor's daughters?"</p> + +<p>"It is now about eight years ago that I accompanied my grandfather to +Aix-la-Chapelle. I there saw the daughters of Charles. That is the +reason for my curiosity concerning them."</p> + +<p>"The daughters of Charles have been consigned to nunneries by order of +their brother, Louis the Pious,"<a name="FNanchor_D_4" id="FNanchor_D_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_D_4" class="fnanchor">[D]</a> was the<a name="page_130" id="page_130"></a> sententious answer of +Witchaire. "May they, by dint of repentance, merit the pardon of heaven +for their past and abominable libertinage."</p> + +<p>"And Thetralde, the youngest of Charles' daughters, did she share the +fate of her sisters?"</p> + +<p>"Thetralde died long ago."</p> + +<p>"She died!" exclaimed Vortigern, unable to conceal his emotion. "Poor +child! So beautiful—and to die so young!"</p> + +<p>"She, at least, never gave Charles cause to blush."</p> + +<p>"And what was the cause of the death of that child? Could you tell me?"</p> + +<p>"It is not known. Up to her fifteenth year she enjoyed a nourishing +health. Suddenly she began to languish, grew ill, and barely in her +sixteenth year, her light went out, in the arms of her father, who never +ceased weeping for her. But this is quite enough about the daughters of +Charles the Great. Once more, will you or will you not, endeavor to +cause Morvan to abandon a resolution that can have for its only effect +the ruin of this country? You are silent—do you refuse?"</p> + +<p>Absorbed in the thoughts that the fate of the ill-starred Thetralde had +started in his mind, Vortigern remained mute and melancholy. His +thoughts flew to the young girl who died so young, and the touching +remembrance of whom had long remained alive with him. Impatient at the +prolonged silence of the Breton, the abbot put his hand on Vortigern's +shoulder, and repeated his question:<a name="page_131" id="page_131"></a></p> + +<p>"I ask you, yes or no, will you endeavor to cause Morvan to renounce his +insensate resolution?"</p> + +<p>"Your King wants war; he shall have war."</p> + +<p>And Vortigern, relapsing into his own meditations, rode silently beside +Witchaire until the two reached the city of Guenhek. There Vortigern +entrusted the guidance of the abbot to an experienced guide, and while +the messenger of Louis the Pious proceeded towards the frontier of +Brittany, the brother of Noblede hastened back and rejoined his wife +Josseline at the house of Morvan.<a name="page_132" id="page_132"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_IVa" id="CHAPTER_IVa"></a>CHAPTER IV.</h3> + +<h4>THE DEFILE OF GLEN-CLAN.</h4> + +<p>The defile of Glen-Clan is the only practicable passage across the last +links of the Black Mountains—a mountain chain that constitutes a +veritable girdle of granite as a natural protection to the heart of +Brittany. The defile of Glen-Clan is so narrow that a wagon can barely +thread it; it is so steep that six yoke of oxen are barely able to drag +a wagon up its craggy incline, from the top of which a stone of +considerable size would roll rapidly down to the bottom of the pass—a +pass cut, like the bed of a mountain torrent, at the feet of immense +rocks that rise on either side perpendicular over a hundred feet in the +air.</p> + +<p>A distant rumbling noise, confused at first, and becoming more and more +distinct as it draws nearer and nearer, disturbs one day, shortly after +the angry departure of Abbot Witchaire from Brittany, the otherwise +profound silence of the solitude. By little and little the dull tramp of +cavalry is distinguished; presently also the clanking of iron arms upon +iron armor, and finally the rythmic tread of large troops of foot +soldiers, the lumbering of wagon wheels jolting upon the stony ground, +the neighing of horses and the bellowing of yoke-oxen. All these various +sounds draw nearer, grow louder, and are finally blended into one steady +roar. They announce the approach of an army corps of considerable +proportions.<a name="page_133" id="page_133"></a> Suddenly the mournful and prolonged cry of a night bird is +heard from the crest of the rocks that overhang the defile. Other +similar, but more distant cries answer the first signal, like an echo +that loses itself in the distance. Silence ensues thereupon—except for +the tumultuous din of the advancing army corps. A small troop appears at +the entrance of the tortuous passage; a monk on horseback guides the +scouting party. At the monk's side rides a warrior of tall stature, clad +in rich armor. His white buckler, on which three eagle's talons are +designed, hangs to one side from the pommel of his saddle, while an iron +mace dangles from the other. Behind the Frankish chief ride several +cavalrymen accompanied by about a score of Saxon archers, +distinguishable by their long quivers.</p> + +<p>"Hugh," says the chief of the warriors to one of his men, "take with you +two horsemen, and let five or six archers precede you to make certain +that there is no ambush to fear. At the slightest sign of an attack fall +back upon us and give the alarm. I do not wish to entangle the gross of +my troop in this defile without the necessary precautions."</p> + +<p>Hugh obeys his chief. The little vanguard quickens its step and soon +disappears beyond one of the windings of the pass.</p> + +<p>"Neroweg, the measure is wise," observes the monk. "One could not +advance with too much precaution into this accursed country of Brittany, +where I have lived long enough to know that it is extremely dangerous."</p> + +<p>"At the end of this defile, I am told, we enter upon even ground."</p> + +<p>"Yes, but before that we shall have to cross the marsh of Peulven and +the forest of Cardik; we then arrive at the vast<a name="page_134" id="page_134"></a> moor of Kennor, the +rendezvous of the two other armed bodies of Louis the Pious, who are +marching to that point across the river Vilaine and over the defile of +Mount Orock, as we are to penetrate through this one. Morvan will be +attacked from three sides, and will not be able to resist our forces."</p> + +<p>"I marvel that so important a pass as this is not defended."</p> + +<p>"I furnished you the reason when I delivered to you Morvan's plan of +campaign, that was forwarded to me by Kervor, a pious Catholic who came +over to the Frankish side and submitted to the authority of our King. He +is the chief of the southern tribes whose territory we have just +crossed."</p> + +<p>"I loved to see those people so docile to the priests; they furnished us +with supplies, and at your voice knelt down as we passed."</p> + +<p>"At the time of the other wars you would have dropped fully one-half of +your troops in this region so cut up with bogs, hedges and woods. The +change between now and then is great. The Catholic faith penetrates +little by little these people, formerly so intractable. We have preached +to them submission to Louis the Pious, and menaced them with the fires +of hell if they attempted to resist your arms."</p> + +<p>"Indeed, more than one of the troopers of the old bands who fought here +at the time of Charles the Great, have told me they could no longer +recognize the Bretons, who, in their days, were almost invincible. But +for all your explanations, monk, I cannot understand how this pass comes +to be abandoned."</p> + +<p>"And yet nothing is simpler. According to his plan of campaign, Morvan +counted with the resistance of the tribes that we have just crossed. In +one day, without drawing your sword, you have cleared a track that would +otherwise have<a name="page_135" id="page_135"></a> cost you three days' hard fighting, and a fourth of your +troops. Morvan, never apprehending your early arrival at the defile of +Glen-Clan, will not think of having it occupied until this evening, or +to-morrow. He has not enough forces at his disposal to place them where +they would lie idle while he himself is being attacked from two other +sides by as many army corps."</p> + +<p>"To that argument I have nothing to say, my father in Christ, you know +the country better than I. If this war succeeds, I shall have my share +of the conquered territory; and, according to the promise of Louis the +Pious, I shall become a powerful seigneur in Brittany, as my elder +brother, Gonthran, is in Auvergne."</p> + +<p>"And you will not forget to endow the Church."</p> + +<p>"I shall not be ungrateful to the priests, good father. I shall employ a +part of the booty in building a chapel to St. Martin, for whom our +family has ever entertained a particular devotion. Could you, who are +well acquainted with the customs of the Bretons, tell me what corners +they hide their money in? It is claimed that they remove all their +treasures when they are forced to flee from their houses, and that they +bury them in inaccessible hiding places. Is that so?"</p> + +<p>"When we shall have arrived in the heart of the country, I shall +acquaint you with the means to discover those treasures, which are, +almost always, concealed at the foot of certain druid stones, for which +these pagans preserve an idolatrous reverence."</p> + +<p>"But where shall we find those stones? By what signs are they to be +recognized?"</p> + +<p>"That is my secret, Neroweg. It will become <i>ours</i> after we shall have +reached the heart of the country."<a name="page_136" id="page_136"></a></p> + +<p>Thus conversing, the monk and the Frankish chief slowly ascend the +craggy slope of the defile. From time to time, some of the horsemen, or +foot soldiers, detached as scouts, ride back to acquaint Neroweg with +their observations. Finally, Hugh himself returns and informs his master +that there is nothing to cause any apprehension on the score of an +ambuscade. Completely reassured by these reports, and by the +explanations of the monk, Neroweg gives the order for the advance of his +troops, the footmen first, the horsemen next, then the baggage, and last +of all a rear corps of foot soldiers.</p> + +<p>The army corps breaks up and enters the pass that is so narrow as to +allow a passage to only four men abreast. The long and winding column of +men covered with iron, crowded together, and moving slowly, presents a +strange spectacle from the top of the rocks that dominate the narrow +route. It might be taken for some gigantic serpent with iron scales, +deploying its sinuous folds in a ravine cut between two walls of +granite. The misgivings of the Franks, somewhat alarmed when they first +began threading their way through a passage so propitious to an ambush, +are presently removed and make place for unquestioning confidence. +Already the vanguard that precedes Neroweg and the monk is drawing near +the issue of the defile, while at the other end the baggage wagons, +drawn by oxen, begin to set themselves in motion followed by the rear +guard that consists of Thuringian horsemen and Saxon archers. The last +wagons and the rear guard have barely entered the defile, when suddenly +the lugubrious cry of the night bird, resembling that which had greeted +the first arrival of the Frankish army, resounds again, and is echoed +from peak to peak, along the whole length<a name="page_137" id="page_137"></a> of the overtopping rocks. +Immediately thereupon, pushed by invisible arms, several enormous +boulders detach themselves from the surrounding rocks that an instant +before seemed a solid part of themselves, roll and bound with the rattle +of thunder from the top of the crest down to the foot of the mountain, +and fall crashing upon the wagons, crushing a large number of soldiers +to death, mutilating many more and disabling the train. In their +paroxysms of death, or rendered furious by their wounds, the oxen crowd +upon or roll over one another, and throw the rear guard of the Franks +into such frightful disorder that it is wholly unable to make another +step in advance; it is cut off from the gross of the troops by the +lumber in its way; it is reduced to utter impotence. All along the rest +of the length of the defile of Glen-Clan the Franks are in similar +plight. All along the line, fragments of rocks roll down from the +overtopping crests, crushing and decimating the compact mass of soldiers +below. The gigantic serpent of iron is mutilated, cut into bleeding +sections; it writhes convulsively at the bottom of the ravine, while +from the summits on either side, now crowned with a swarm of Bretons, +who kept themselves until then concealed, a hailstorm of arrows, +boar-spears and stones rains down upon the bewildered, panic-stricken +and impotent Frankish cohorts, caught and hemmed in between the two +granite walls, from whose tops our men deal prompt and unavoidable death +to their invaders. Vortigern is in command of these resolute and +watchful Bretons. His bow in one hand, his quiver by his side, not one +of his bolts misses its mark.</p> + +<p>The butchery is frightful! The carnage superb! The Gallic war-songs and +cries of triumph from above answer the imprecations of the Franks from +below. A frightful butchery!<a name="page_138" id="page_138"></a></p> + +<p>A superb carnage! It lasts as long as our men have a stone to throw, a +bolt or a spear to hurl at the foe. His own, and the munitions of his +companions being exhausted, Vortigern cries down from the summit of the +rocks to the frantic Franks below, accompanying the cry with a gesture +of defiance:</p> + +<p>"We will thus defend our soil, inch by inch; every step you take will be +marked by your blood or our own; all our tribes are not like those of +Kervor!"</p> + +<p>Saying this, Vortigern struck up the martial song of his ancestor +Schanvoch:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"This morning we asked:</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">'How many are there of these Franks?</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">How many are there of these barbarians?'</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">This evening we say:</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">'How many were there of these Franks?</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">How many were there of these barbarians?'"<a name="FNanchor_E_5" id="FNanchor_E_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_E_5" class="fnanchor">[E]</a></span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><a name="page_139" id="page_139"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_Va" id="CHAPTER_Va"></a>CHAPTER V.</h3> + +<h4>THE MARSH OF PEULVEN.</h4> + +<p>Vast is the marsh of Peulven. To the east and the south its shape is +like a bay. From that side its edges are bordered by the skirts of the +dense forest of Cardik. To the north and west, it waters the gentle +slopes of the hills that succeed upon the last spurs of the Black +Mountains, whose tops, empurpled by the rays of the westering sun, rise +in the distant horizon. A jetty, or tongue of land that runs into the +edge of the forest, traverses the marsh through its whole length. +Silence is profound in this desert place. The stagnant waters reflect +the inflamed tints of the ruddy twilight. From time to time flocks of +curlews, herons and other aquatic birds, rise from amidst the reeds that +cover the marsh in spots, hover about and fly upward, emitting their +plaintive cries. Several Frankish horsemen appear from the side of the +mountain. They climb the hill, reach its top, and rein in their horses. +They sweep the marsh with their eyes, examine it for a moment, then turn +their horses' heads and ride back to join Neroweg and the monk, whose +forces, decimated shortly before in the defile of Glen-Clan, have been +subsequently harassed without let on their further march by little +Breton bands, who, placed in ambush behind hedges, or in ditches covered +with dry wood, unexpectedly fell upon either the vanguard or the rear +guard of the Franks, and,<a name="page_140" id="page_140"></a> after bloody encounters, again vanished in +that region so interspersed with obstacles of all sorts, impracticable +for cavalry, and with which the Frankish foot soldiers are so utterly +unfamiliar that they ventured not to separate themselves from the main +column, ever fearing to fall into some fresh ambush. On horseback behind +the monk, Neroweg stands on the summit of a hill not far behind the one +that the scouts have just ascended. He awaits their return in order to +continue his march. The vanguard has halted at a little distance from +the chief. Further away rest the bulk of his troops. A small detachment +of the rear guard was ordered to take its stand about a league further +back in order to guard the baggage, the wagons and the wounded of the +sorely harassed army.</p> + +<p>The lines on the face of the Frankish chief denote deep concern. He says +to the monk:</p> + +<p>"What a war! What a war! I have fought against the Northmans, when they +attacked our fortified camps at the confluence of the Somme and the +Seine. Those accursed pirates are terrible foes. They are as dashing in +attack as they are cautious in retreat, and they ever find a safe +shelter in the light craft in which they come over the seas of the North +as far south as Gaul. But by St. Martin! these accursed Bretons are +fuller of the devil, and harder to get at than even the pirates! They +were a source of trouble to Charles the great Emperor; they have become +the desolation of his son!" And Neroweg repeats dejectedly: "What a war! +What a war!"</p> + +<p>The monk turns upon his saddle, and stretching out his hand in the +direction traversed by the Frankish troop, says to Neroweg:<a name="page_141" id="page_141"></a></p> + +<p>"Look toward the west!"</p> + +<p>Turning his eyes in the direction indicated by the priest, the Frankish +chief notices behind him tall columns of ruddy smoke rising at intervals +from the hills that the army has left behind it. "Look yonder! +Everywhere a conflagration marks our passage. The burgs and villages, +abandoned by the fleeing inhabitants, have, at my orders, been delivered +to the flames. The Bretons have not, like the Northman pirates, the +resource of vessels on which to flee with their booty back to the ocean. +We are driving the fleeing population before us. The two other army +corps of Louis the Pious are, from their side, following similar +tactics. Accordingly, we and they will meet to-morrow morning at the +village of Lokfern. There we will find, driven back and heaped together, +the populations that have been attacked from the south, the east and the +north during these last days. There, surrounded by a circle of iron, +they will be either annihilated or reduced to slavery! Ah! This time +without fail, Brittany, never before overcome, will be subjected to the +Catholic Church and to the power of the Franks. What if your soldiers +have been decimated in the struggle for the triumph of the faith and +royalty! The troops that you still have, will, when joined to the other +army corps, suffice to exterminate the Bretons!"</p> + +<p>"Monk," answers Neroweg impatiently, "your words do not console me for +the death of so many brave Frankish warriors whose bones have been left +to bleach in the defile of Glen-Clan and on the hills of this accursed +country!"</p> + +<p>"Rather envy their fate. They have died for religion; they are now in +paradise, in the midst of a chorus of seraphim."</p> + +<p>Neroweg shrugs his shoulders with an air of incredulity, and after a +moment of silence proceeds: "You promised to<a name="page_142" id="page_142"></a> point out to me where +these pagans conceal their treasures."</p> + +<p>"On the other side of the marsh of Peulven which we are now to traverse, +lies a vast forest in which a large number of druid stones are found. +Have the earth removed at their foot, and you will find large sums of +money in silver and gold, and many precious articles that have been +hidden there since the beginning of the war."</p> + +<p>"When will we arrive at that forest?"</p> + +<p>"This evening before nightfall."</p> + +<p>"I do not wish to risk my troops in that forest, and fall into another +ambush like the one of the defile!" cries Neroweg. "The day is drawing +to its close. We shall encamp to-night in the midst of the bare hills +where we now are, and where no surprise is to be feared."</p> + +<p>"Here are your scouts back," observes the monk to the Frankish chief. +"Interrogate them before you make up your mind definitely."</p> + +<p>"Neroweg," reports one of the riders who had scouted to the edge of the +marsh, "as far as the eye reaches, nothing is seen on the marsh; there +is no sign of any men; there is not a boat in sight. On the shores there +is not a single hut, and there is no evidence of any entrenchment."</p> + +<p>Impatient to judge by himself of the nature of the field, the Frankish +chief, followed by the monk, immediately rides forward and reaches the +top of the hill shortly before occupied by the scouts. From the eminence +Neroweg beholds a vast expanse of marshy ground in whose numerous pools +of stagnant water the last rays of the sinking sun are mirrored. The +jetty, covered with sward and lined with a thick fringe of reeds, +reaches clear to the other side, and is lost on the edge of the forest. +"There is not the slightest fear of an ambush<a name="page_143" id="page_143"></a> in crossing this +solitude," says Neroweg with visible mental relief. "The march across +can only take up half an hour, at the most."</p> + +<p>"We have about an hour more of daylight left us," observes the monk. +"The forest you see yonder is called the forest of Cardik. It stretches +far away to the right and left of the marsh, seeing that, towards the +west, it reaches the borders of the Armorican Sea. But that portion of +the forest that faces the jetty is at the utmost a quarter of a league +long. We could easily put it behind us before night, and we would then +be on the moor of Kennor, an immense plain where you could encamp in +absolute security. To-morrow at daybreak if it should please you, we can +ride back into the forest and rummage at the foot of the druid stones +for the treasures hidden there by the Bretons. Glory to your arms, and +may the booty be large!"</p> + +<p>After a few minutes of hesitation, Neroweg, tempted by cupidity, sends a +man of his escort to give to his troops the order to march and traverse +the jetty, a narrow walk of about three feet wide, perfectly even, +covered with thin grass, and lying in plain view from one end to the +other. Neroweg feels easy in mind. Nevertheless, remembering the rocks +of Glen-Clan, he prudently orders several horsemen to precede the troops +by about a hundred paces. Marching behind their chief, Neroweg's troops +begin to defile along the jetty, which soon is covered with soldiers +from end to end. Massed from the foot to the top of the hill, behind the +advancing column, are the last detachments of Neroweg's army. They break +ranks as fast as it is their turn to enter upon the passage.</p> + +<p>Suddenly, from the midst of the clumps of reeds that rise at irregular +intervals along the length of the tongue of land,<a name="page_144" id="page_144"></a> the cry of +night-birds goes up—cries identical with those that had resounded from +the summits of Glen-Clan. Upon the signal, the muffled sounds of rapid +hatchet strokes are heard. They teem to be the answer given to the cries +of the night-birds. Instantly the seemingly solid walk sinks at scores +of places under the feet of the marching soldiers. Woe is those who +happen to find themselves over these hidden traps, that are constructed +of wooden beams and strong chains concealed under a layer of sward! The +scheme, devised by Vortigern, proves successful. The movable bridges +can, at will, either support the weight of the troops that march over +them, or tip over under their tread, by the dexterous knocking from +under the loose boards the wooden pegs that are their only support.</p> + +<p>Plunged in the water up to their necks, Vortigern and a large number of +stout-hearted men of his tribe have held themselves motionless, mute and +invisible in the center of the clumps of reeds that border the jetty +near each of the traps. When the jetty is entirely covered with Frankish +soldiers, the hatchets are, at a signal, plied with energy; the pegs +drop out; and the passage is suddenly cut up by scores of gaps twenty +feet wide. Pell-mell foot soldiers, cavalrymen and their horses tumble +to the bottom of these suddenly opened ditches, and are received +thereupon by the sharp points of piles providently sunk at the bottom.</p> + +<p>At the sight of these death-dealing traps, suddenly gaping before them +at their feet, and at the sound of the wild cries and imprecations +uttered by the wounded and by those who are being pushed forward into +the abysses by the crowding ranks behind, a tremendous disorder, +followed by a panic, spreads among the Franks. Fearing the path to be +everywhere undermined, the soldiers crowd back and forward upon<a name="page_145" id="page_145"></a> one +another in a frenzy of despair. The frightened horses rear, tumble down, +or rush furiously into the marsh where they vanish together with their +riders. The confusion and rout being at its height, the Bretons rise +from their places of concealment among the reeds, and hurl promiscuously +a shower of bolts upon the confused heaps of soldiers, now rendered +insane with fear, and in their panic either trampling upon one another, +or themselves being trampled upon by their uncontrollable steeds. Other +war-crys respond from a distance to the war-cries struck up by Vortigern +and his men. A troop of Bretons issues from the forest and ranks itself +in battle array at the border of the marsh ready to dispute the passage +if the Franks dare to attempt it The sight of these fresh foes carries +the panic of Neroweg's troops to its acme. Instead of marching onward +towards the edge of the forest, the front rank faces about, anxious only +to join the body of the army that still finds itself massed at the +entrance of the fatal causeway. The rush is effected with such fury that +the deep trenches are speedily filled with the bodies of a mass of +wounded, dead and dying warriors. The heaped-up corpses soon serve as a +bridge to the fleeing Franks, whose rear the Breton bolts assail +unpityingly. At the spectacle of the routed Franks, Vortigern and his +braves strike up anew the war song with which they had assailed the ears +of the distracted Franks at the defile of Glen-Clan:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"This morning we asked:</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">'How many are there of these Franks?</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">How many are there of these barbarians?'</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">This evening we say:</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">'How many were there of these Franks?</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">How many were there of these barbarians?'</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Victory and Glory to Hesus!"</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><a name="page_146" id="page_146"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIa" id="CHAPTER_VIa"></a>CHAPTER VI.</h3> + +<h4>THE FOREST OF CARDIK.</h4> + +<p>"What a war! What a war!" exclaim the warriors of Louis the Pious, +leaving at every step some of their companions behind among the rocks +and the marshes of Armorica. "Every hedge of the fields, every ditch in +the valleys conceals a Breton of steady eye and hand. The stone of the +sling, the arrow of the bow whiz everywhere through the air, nor miss +their aim. The pits of the precipices, and the bottoms of the stagnant +waters swallow up the bodies of our soldiers. If we penetrate into the +forests, the danger redoubles. Every copse, the branches of every tree, +conceal an enemy!"</p> + +<p>Neroweg, having barely escaped with his life from the disaster of the +marsh of Peulven, spends the night upon the hill with the remaining +fragment of his army. At early dawn the next morning he orders the +trumpets and clarions to call his men to their ranks. At the head of his +warriors he again steps upon the narrow jetty of the marsh. He is +determined to force his way into the forest of Cardik. Footmen and +horses again trample over the heaped-up corpses in the wide trenches. No +ambush now retards the passage of the Franks. By sunrise the last +detachments have crossed the marsh, and all the forces still at the +command of Neroweg are deployed along the skirts of the forest that is +now serving as<a name="page_147" id="page_147"></a> a retreat to the Gauls of Armorica, and where they have +taken their next stand.</p> + +<p>The primeval forest extends, towards the west, as far as the steep banks +of a river that runs into the sea, and towards the east, up to a chain +of precipitous hills. Furious at the defeat he suffered on the previous +evening, the Frankish chief is hardly able to restrain his ardor. Always +accompanied by the monk, he advances into the forest. The oaks, the +elms, the ash trees, the birch trees, raise their gigantic trunks and +interlace their spreading branches. Between these trunks, all is +underwood, bramble and briar. Only one narrow and tortuous path presents +itself to Neroweg's sight. He enters it. Daylight barely penetrates the +walk through the dense vault of verdure, shaped overhead by the foliage +of the stately trees. Thickets of holly seven or eight feet high fringe +the way. Their prickly leaves render them impenetrable.</p> + +<p>Unable to wander off either to the right or to the left, the soldiers +are compelled to follow the defile of verdure. Laboring under the shock +of their recent disasters, they march with mistrust through the somber +forest of Cardik, speaking only in undertones, and from time to time +interrogating with uneasy looks the leafy branches of the trees, or the +thicket that borders the route. For a while nothing justifies the +apprehensions of the Frankish cohorts. The silence of the forest is +disturbed only by the rhythmic and muffled sound of their steps, and the +clank of their arms. But even the silence itself nourishes the vague +fears of the Franks. The defile of Glen-Clan and the marsh of Peulven +also were silent! More than one-half of the rest of the army now left to +Neroweg has entered the forest, when, reaching one of the turns of the +winding path, the Frankish chief, who marches at the head<a name="page_148" id="page_148"></a> of his +horsemen accompanied by the monk, suddenly stops short. The path has +vanished. Gigantic oaks and elms, a hundred feet tall and from fifteen +to twenty feet in circumference, and bearing the evidence of having only +freshly fallen under the axe of the woodman, lie heaped upon each other +and so tangled in their fall across the route that their enormous +branches and colossal trunks present an impassible barrier to the +cavalry. Only foot soldiers might possibly scale the obstruction, and +cut their way across with hatchets.</p> + +<p>"Oh! What a war!" cries out Neroweg, clenching his fists. "After the +defile, the marsh! After the marsh, the forest! I shall have barely +one-third of my forces left by the time I join the other chiefs! +Accursed Bretons, may the fires of hell consume you!"</p> + +<p>"Yes, these heathens will burn! They shall burn until the last day of +judgment!" responds the monk with deep vexation. "Courage, Neroweg! +Courage! This last obstacle being overcome, we shall arrive at the moor +of Kennor. There we shall join the other two army corps of Louis the +Pious, and we shall all jointly penetrate into the valley of Lokfern, +where we will exterminate these accursed Bretons to the last man."</p> + +<p>"Have you seen me falter in courage? By the great St. Martin, it looks +as if you were in league with the enemy, judging by the route you have +guided us on! Already have you twice led us into an ambush, you +miserable priest!"</p> + +<p>"Have I not braved all the dangers at your side?" observes the priest, +holding up his left arm, that is wound in a bloodstained bandage. "Was I +not myself wounded last evening when we attempted to cross the marsh of +Peulven? Can you question my courage or fidelity?"</p> + +<p>"How are we to find another route? The one barred is the<a name="page_149" id="page_149"></a> only one, you +told me, that crosses this forest, otherwise impracticable to an army."</p> + +<p>The monk looks around; he reflects; but no answer proceeds from his +lips. A prey to discouragement and increasing terror, the soldiers begin +to grumble, when suddenly three quickly succeeding cries of the +night-bird pierce the air. Immediately the Breton slingers and archers, +ambushed behind the breast-work of fallen trees, assail the Franks with +a volley of stones and arrows. Enormous oak branches, previously +prepared, detach themselves from the tops of their trunks, and come down +crashing upon the heads of the soldiers, killing or mutilating them. +Anew, panic seizes the Franks; a fresh carnage decimates them. +Cavalrymen thrown from their horses, foot soldiers trampled under the +hoofs of the frightened steeds, all blinded, their flesh torn as in +their fright they precipitate themselves into the thick of the prickly +holly hedges—such is this day's spectacle presented to the delighted +Breton eyes by the invading army of Neroweg. What an inspiring spectacle +to the Armorican Gauls! The air is filled with the moans of the dying, +the imprecations of the wounded, the threats hurled at the monk, now +roundly charged with treason.</p> + +<p>The carnage and the panic are at their height when, climbing to the top +of the breast-work of trees whence he can gain a full view of the +distracted foe, Vortigern appears before the Franks and calls out to +them defiantly:</p> + +<p>"Now you may try to cross the forest. Our quivers are empty. We shall +retreat to replenish them and shall be ready to meet you in the valley +of Lokfern."</p> + +<p>Vortigern has barely uttered these words when his eyes catch sight of +the chief of the Franks, who, having descended<a name="page_150" id="page_150"></a> from his horse, holds up +against the stones and bolts of his assailants, his white buckler, on +which three eagle's talons are seen painted. At the sight of the device +of his own stock's ancestral foe, Vortigern places his last arrow upon +the string of his bow.</p> + +<p>"The descendant of Joel sends this to the descendant of the Nerowegs."</p> + +<p>The arrow whizzes. It grazes the lower border of the Frank's buckler, +and penetrates his knee just above the jointure.</p> + +<p>Neroweg falls upon the other knee, points out the Gaul to several +archers in his vicinity, and cries:</p> + +<p>"Take aim at that bandit! Kill him!"</p> + +<p>The Saxon arrows fly through the air; two strike, and quiver where they +strike, in the upturned branches of the tree on which Vortigern has +mounted; the third enters his left arm.</p> + +<p>The descendant of Joel quickly draws out the sharp-edged iron, throws it +back at the Franks with a defiant gesture, and disappears behind the +twisted branches of the improvised barricade.</p> + +<p>Three times the cry of the night bird is again heard in the forest, and +the Bretons disperse along paths known only to them, again singing as +they go, the ancient war-song, the sound of whose refrain is gradually +lost in the distance:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"This morning we asked:</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">'How many are there of these Franks?</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">How many are there of these barbarians?'</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .5em;">This evening we say:</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.25em;">'How many were there of these Franks?</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">How many were there of these barbarians?'</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: 1.5em;">Victory, Victory for Gaul!"</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p><a name="page_151" id="page_151"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIIa" id="CHAPTER_VIIa"></a>CHAPTER VII.</h3> + +<h4>THE MOOR OF KENNOR.</h4> + +<p>About four leagues in width and three in length—such is the expanse of +the moor of Kennor. It constitutes a vast plateau that slopes to the +north toward the valley of Lokfern, and is bounded on the west by a wide +river that pours its waters into the Sea of Armorica only a little +distance away. The forest of Cardik and the last spurs of the mountain +chain of Men-Brez border on the moor. The moor is covered throughout its +extent by heather two or three feet high and almost burned out by the +scorching sun of the dog-days. Level as a lake, the immense barren and +desert plain presents a desolate aspect. A violent east wind causes the +tall heather, now of the color of dead leaves, to undulate like a +peaceful sheet of water. Above, the sky is of a bright blue on this +sultry and windy day. An August sun inundates with its blinding light +the desert expanse of heather, whose silence is disturbed only by the +sharp chirp of the grasshopper, or the low moan of the gale.</p> + +<p>Presently a new element enters upon the scene. Skirting the bank of the +river, a black and confused mass heaves into sight, stretches out its +length, and moves toward the centre of the plain. It is the one of the +three army corps led in person by Louis the Pious against the Breton +Gauls. Long before its appearance, other troops, formed in compact +cohorts, have<a name="page_152" id="page_152"></a> been descending on the east the last slopes of Men-Brez. +They, likewise, are advancing toward the plain—the place agreed upon +for the junction of the three armies that had invaded Armorica, burning +and ravaging the country upon their passage, and driving the population +back towards the valley of Lokfern. The only division absent from the +rendezvous is the contingent captained by Neroweg, which, since morning, +has been struggling in the forest of Cardik. Finally it has issued in +disorder from the woods, and re-formed its ranks. After incalculable +labor, hewing, axe in hand, a passage through the thickets, leaving +their cavalry behind, and forced to retreat upon their steps back to the +marsh of Peulven, the troops of Neroweg at last succeed in crossing the +forest. These troops now number barely one-half their original strength. +They are reduced, not only by the losses sustained in the passage of the +defile of Glen-Clan, of the marsh of Peulven, and the forest of Cardik, +but also by the defection of large numbers of men, who, being more and +more terror stricken by the resistance that they encountered, refused to +listen to the orders of their chief, and followed the cavalry in its +retreat. Neroweg's greatly reduced contingent now also appears in sight +from the opposite side. The three army corps have descried one another. +Their march converges towards the centre of the plain. The distance +between them becomes so small that they are able to see one another's +armor, casques and lances, glistening in the sun. The division of Louis +the Pious, having been the first to descend into the plain over the +hills of Men-Brez, halts, in order to wait for the other divisions. The +troops under Louis the Pious himself are no less demoralized and reduced +in numbers than the division under Neroweg. They have undergone similar +vicissitudes during<a name="page_153" id="page_153"></a> their long march, having had to cut their way +across a seemingly endless series of ambushes. The sight of their +companions arriving from the opposite side revives their courage. +Henceforth they expect to fight in the open. As far as the eye can +reach, the vast plain that they now have entered upon lies fully exposed +to view. It can conceal no trap. The last struggle is now at hand, and +with it the close of the war. The Bretons, crowded together just beyond +in the valley of Lokfern, are to be crushed by a combined armed force +that is still three times stronger than theirs.</p> + +<p>The vanguards of the three converging divisions are about to join when +suddenly, from the east, whence a dry and steady gale is blowing, little +puffs of smoke, at first almost imperceptible, are seen to rise at +irregular distances from one another. The puffs of smoke are going up +from the extreme eastern edge of the moor; they spread; they mingle with +one another over an area more than two leagues in length; by little and +little they present the aspect of one continuous belt of blackish smoke +rising high and spreading into the air, and from time to time breaking +out into lambent flames.</p> + +<p>The fire has been kindled at a hundred different spots by the Breton +Gauls with the dry heather of the moor. Driven by the violent gale the +girdle of flame soon embraces the horizon from the east to the south, +from the slopes of Men-Brez to the skirt of the forest. It advances with +rapid strides like the waves of the incoming tide lashed by a furious +wind. Terrified at the sight of the burning waves that are rushing upon +them from the right with the swiftness of a hurricane, the Frankish +ranks waver for a moment. To their left, runs a deep river; behind them, +rises the forest of Cardik; before them the plateau slopes towards the +valley of Lokfern. Himself<a name="page_154" id="page_154"></a> running for life towards the valley, Louis +the Pious thereby gives to his troops the signal to flee. They follow +their king tumultuously, anxious only to leave the moor behind them +before the flames, that now invade the plateau from end to end, entirely +cut off their retreat. Impatient to escape the danger, the cavalry +breaks ranks, follows the example set by the king, traverses the cohorts +of the infantry, throws them down, and rides rough-shod over them. The +disorder, the tumult, the terror are at their height. The soldiers +struggle with the horsemen and with one another. The fiery wave advances +steadily; it advances faster than it can be run away from. The swiftest +steed cannot cope with it. The all-embracing sheet of fire reaches first +the soldiers whom the cavalry has thrown down and left wounded behind; +it speedily envelopes the bulk of the army. In an instant the distracted +cohorts are seen up to their waists in the midst of the flames.</p> + +<p>By the valor of our fathers, it is the hell of the damned in this world! +Frightful! torture! Excruciating pain! A cheering sight for the eyes of +a Breton Gaul, harassed by invaders, to behold his merciless assailers +in. Frankish horsemen cased in iron and fallen from their steeds, roast +within their red-hot armor like tortoises in their shell. The footmen +jump and leap to withdraw their nether extremities from the embrace of +the caressing flames. But the flames never leave them; the flames gain +the lead. Their feet and legs are grilled, refuse their support, and the +men drop into the furnace emitting cries of despair. The horses fare no +better despite their breathless gallop; they feel their flanks and +buttocks devoured by the flames; they become savage. They are seized +with a vertigo; they rear, plunge and fall over upon their riders. +Horses and riders roll down into the brasier at their feet. The<a name="page_155" id="page_155"></a> horses +neigh piteously, the riders moan or utter curses. An immense concert of +imprecations, of fierce cries of pain and rage rises heavenward with the +flames of the magnificent hecatomb of Frankish warriors!</p> + +<p>Oh! Beautiful to the eye is the moor of Kennor, still ruddy and smoking +an hour after it is set on fire and consumed to the very root of its +heather! Splendid brasier three leagues wide, strewn with thousands of +Frankish bodies, shapeless, charred. Warm quarry above which already +flocks of carrion-crows from the forest of Cardik are hovering! Glory to +you, Bretons! More than a third of the Frankish army met death on the +moor of Kennor.</p> + +<p>"What a war! What a war!" also exclaims Louis the Pious.</p> + +<p>Aye, a merciless war; a holy war; a thrice holy war, waged by a people +in defence of their freedom, their homes, their fields, their hearths; +Oh, ancient land of the Gauls! Oh, old Armorica, sacred mother! +Everything turns into a weapon in the hands of your rugged children +against their barbarous invaders! Rocks, precipices, marshes, woods, +moors on fire! Oh, Brittany, betrayed by those of your own children who +succumbed to the wiles of the Catholic priests, stabbed at your heart by +the sword of the Frankish kings, and pouring out the generous heart +blood of your children, perchance, after all, you will feel the yoke of +the conquerer on your neck! But the bones of your enemies, crushed, +burned and drowned in the struggle, will tell to our descendants the +tale of a resistance that Armorica offered to her casqued and mitred +invaders!<a name="page_156" id="page_156"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="CHAPTER_VIIIa" id="CHAPTER_VIIIa"></a>CHAPTER VIII.</h3> + +<h4>THE VALLEY OF LOKFERN.</h4> + +<p>Decimated by the conflagration of the moor of Kennor, the Frankish army +flees in disorder in the direction of the valley of Lokfern, that lies +slightly below the vast plateau on which an hour before the three +Frankish divisions have joined, confident that their trials are ended. +Escaped from the disaster of the conflagration and carried onward by the +impetuosity of their steeds, a portion of the Frankish cavalry that +follows Louis the Pious in his precipitate flight, arrives at the +confines of the plateau. Driven by a terror that left them no thought +but to outstrip one another, the fleeing riders seem to give no heed to +the sight that unfolds before them. At the foot of the slope that they +are about to descend, stands the numerous Breton cavalry, drawn up in +battle array, under the command of Morvan and Vortigern. It is only a +cavalry of rustics, yet intrepid, veterans in warfare, perfectly +mounted. Carried by the headlong course of their horses beyond the edge +of the plateau and down the slope to the valley, the Franks rush in +confused order upon the Breton cavalry that is drawn up as if to bar +their passage; they rush onward, either unable to restrain their still +frightened steeds, or conceiving a vague hope of crushing the opposing +Bretons under the irresistible violence of their impetuous descent. The +Breton cavalry, however, instead of waiting for the Franks, quickly +parts in two corps, one commanded by Morvan, the other by Vortigern.<a name="page_157" id="page_157"></a> +One corps seems to flee to the right, the other to the left. The space +from the foot of the hill to the river Scoer being thus left free by the +sudden and rapid manœuvre of the Gauls, most of the Frankish horsemen +find themselves hardly able to rein in their horses in time to escape +falling into the water. A moment of disorder follows. It is turned to +advantage by Morvan and Vortigern. The Frankish riders being dispersed +and engaged with their steeds, Vortigern and Morvan turn about and fall +upon them. They take the foe upon the flanks, right and left; charge +upon them with fury; make havoc among them. Most of them are sabred to +death, or have their heads beaten in with axes, others are driven into +the river. During the fierce melee, the remnant of the infantry of Louis +the Pious, still fleeing from the furnace of the moor of Kennor, arrives +upon the spot in disorder. Trained in the trade of massacre, they +promptly reform their ranks and pour down upon the Breton cavalry. At +first victorious, these are finally crushed, overwhelmed by vastly +superior numbers. On the other side of the river the rustic Gallic +infantry still continue to hold their ground—husbandmen, woo-men and +shepherds armed with pikes, scythes and axes, and many of them supplied +with bows and slings. Behind this mass of warriors, and within an +enclosure defended by barricades of heaped up trunks of trees and +ditches, are assembled the women and children of the combatants. All +their families have fled distracted before the invaders, carrying their +valuables in their flight, and now await with indescribable agony the +issue of this last battle.</p> + +<p>Weep! Weep, Brittany! and yet be proud of your glory! Your sons, crushed +down by numbers, resisted to their last breath; all have fallen wounded +or dead in defence of their freedom!<a name="page_158" id="page_158"></a></p> + +<p>The river is fordable for infantry at only one place. The monk who +accompanies Neroweg points out the passage to the troops of Louis the +Pious. They cross it immediately after the annihilation of the cavalry +of Morvan. The Armoricans who are drawn up on the opposite bank of the +Scoer heroically defend the ground inch by inch, man to man, ever +falling back toward the fortified enclosure that is the last refuge of +our families. Marching over heaps of corpses, the soldiery of Louis the +Pious finally assail the fortified enclosure, all its defenders having +been killed or wounded. The enclosure is taken. According to their +custom, the Franks slaughter the children, put the women and maids to +the torture of infamous treatment, and lead them away captive to the +interior of Gaul. Ermond the Black, a monk and familiar of Louis the +Pious in this impious war, wrote its account in Latin verse. The death +of Morvan is narrated in the poem as follows:</p> + +<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="poetry"> +<tr><td align="left">"Then presently the cry runs through the ranks</td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">That Morvan's head, the Breton chieftain's head,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">Has been brought in unto the Frankish King:</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">To see it haste the Franks; they shout with joy</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">At prospect to behold the grisley sight.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">From hand to hand the bloody head is passed,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">Marred with the sword that hewed it from its trunk.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">Witchaire the Abbot next is called upon</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">T’ identify the member, if it be</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">The head of Morvan, that redoubted chief.</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">He pours some water on the matted front,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">He laves it, wipes the hair from off its brow,</span></td></tr> +<tr><td align="left"><span style="margin-left: .35em;">And cries '‘Tis Morvan—‘tis his Gallic lour!'"</span></td></tr> +</table> + +<p>Thus Brittany, once lost to the Franks, is placed anew under their +sway.<a name="page_159" id="page_159"></a></p> + +<h3><a name="EPILOGUE" id="EPILOGUE"></a>EPILOGUE</h3> + +<p>Vortigern, the grandson of Amael, wrote this account of the war of the +Franks against Brittany. Left for dead on the banks of the Scoer, he did +not recover his senses until a day and a night had passed after the +defeat of the Bretons. Some Christian druids, led to the spot by +Caswallan, who had escaped the massacre, came to the field of battle to +gather the wounded who might still be alive. Vortigern was of the +number. From them he learned that his sister Noblede, the wife of +Morvan, together with other women and young girls who took refuge in the +fortified enclosure, had stabbed themselves to death in order to escape +being outraged by the Franks and led into slavery. After Abbot Witchaire +left the house of Morvan on his return trip to announce to Louis the +Pious the refusal of the Armorican Gauls to pay the tribute demanded +from them, Vortigern returned with his wife and children to Karnak in +order to gather in the crops from his fields. The harvest being in, he +left his family at the house of his parents, and returned to Morvan in +order to join the latter's forces, and oppose the army of Louis the +Pious. Immediately after his wounds were healed, Vortigern returned to +Karnak, where he rejoined his wife and children. The Franks had not +dared push their invasion beyond the valley of Lokfern. They contented +themselves with leaving Armorica devastated and stripped of her bravest +defenders. Yet is she not subdued. She but waits the moment to revolt +anew.<a name="page_160" id="page_160"></a></p> + +<p>Vortigern joined this narrative to the other narratives of his family, +and he accompanied his own account with the two Carlovingian coins, the +gift of Thetralde, one of the daughters of Charles the Great. These +relics of the family of Joel now consist of Hena's little gold sickle, +Guilhern's little brass bell, Sylvest's iron collar, Genevieve's silver +cross, Shanvoch's casque's lark, Ronan the Vagre's poniard's hilt and +his branding needle, Bonaik's abbatial crosier and Vortigern's +Carlovingian coins, together with the narratives that accompany them.</p> + +<p>Myself, Rosneven, the oldest son of Vortigern, who make this entry at +the foot of my father's narrative, can only record here my father's +death on the fifth day of February of 889. These have been sad years for +Brittany, and also for our own family in particular. Our special sorrows +proceed from the estrangement of my younger brothers, one of whom left +Gaul and sailed to the country of the Northman pirates. I lack both the +spirit and the will to recite these lamentable events. Perhaps my +youngest brother Gomer, gifted with more energy, ability and +perseverance than myself, may some day undertake the task.</p> + +<p class="c sml">THE END.</p> + +<div class="footnotes"><h3 class="top5">FOOTNOTES:</h3> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> "The daughters of the Emperor Charles always accompanied +him on his trips into the interior of Gaul. They were handsome beauties; +he loved them passionately; he never allowed them to marry, and kept +them all with him till his death. Although happy in everything else, +Charles experienced in them the malignity of adverse fortune; but he +buried his chagrin, and behaved towards them as if they had never given +cause for evil suspicions, and as if rumor had never been busy with +their names."—<i>Chronicles of Eginhard, p. 145, Collected History of +France.</i></p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> For Amael's story, see "The Abbatial Crosier," the +preceding book of the series.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_C_3" id="Footnote_C_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_C_3"><span class="label">[C]</span></a> "The Gallic woman equalled her husband in courage and +strength. She sat in his councils of war with him. Her eyes were more +furious when she was angered, and she swung her arms, as white as snow, +and dealt blows as heavy as if they came from an engine of +war."—Ammienus Marcellinus, <i>Notes of the Martyrs</i>, vol. XVIII, book +IX.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_D_4" id="Footnote_D_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_D_4"><span class="label">[D]</span></a> "The heart of Louis the Pious (Charlemagne's son) was, +naturally, long indignant at the conduct indulged in by his sisters +under the paternal roof, the only blot upon its name. Desiring, then, to +amend these disorders, he sent before him Walla, Warnaire, Lambert and +Ingobert, with the order to watch carefully, as soon as they should +arrive at Aix-la-Chapelle, that no new scandal should occur; and to put +under heavy guard those who had soiled the majesty of the empire with a +criminal commerce (with the daughters of the Emperor). Certain ones, +guilty of these crimes, came before Louis the Pious to obtain pardon, +which they received. Audoin alone resisted. He smote Warnaire that he +died, wounded Lambert in the thigh, and slew himself with one blow of +his sword.... Whereupon Louis the Pious decided to drive out of the +palace all that multitude of women which occupied it in the time of his +father."—L'Astronome, <i>Life of Louis the Pious</i>, pp. 345-346, +<i>Collected History of France</i>.</p></div> + +<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_E_5" id="Footnote_E_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_E_5"><span class="label">[E]</span></a> See "The Casque's Lark."</p></div> + +</div> + +<hr /> + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Carlovingian Coins, by Eugène Sue + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS *** + +***** This file should be named 33021-h.htm or 33021-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/0/2/33021/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. + + +</pre> + +</body> +</html> diff --git a/33021-h/images/ill_mysteries.png b/33021-h/images/ill_mysteries.png Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..a09dc36 --- /dev/null +++ b/33021-h/images/ill_mysteries.png diff --git a/33021.txt b/33021.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..208a06b --- /dev/null +++ b/33021.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5313 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Carlovingian Coins, by Eugene Sue + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Carlovingian Coins + Or The Daughters of Charlemagne. A Tale of the Ninth Century + +Author: Eugene Sue + +Translator: Daniel De Leon + +Release Date: June 29, 2010 [EBook #33021] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS *** + + + + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + + + + + + + + +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS + +THE FULL SERIES OF + +The Mysteries of the People + +OR + +History of a Proletarian Family Across the Ages + +By EUGENE SUE + +_Consisting of the Following Works_: + +THE GOLD SICKLE; or, _Hena the Virgin of the Isle of Sen_. + +THE BRASS BELL; or, _The Chariot of Death_. + +THE IRON COLLAR; or, _Faustine and Syomara_. + +THE SILVER CROSS; or, _The Carpenter of Nazareth_. + +THE BASQUE'S LARK; or, _Victoria, the Mother of the Camps_. + +THE PONIARD'S HILT; or, _Karadeucq and Ronan_. + +THE BRANDING NEEDLE; or, _The Monastery of Charolles_. + +THE ABBATIAL CROSIER; or, _Bonaik and Septimine_. + +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS; or, _The Daughters of Charlemagne_. + +THE IRON ARROW-HEAD; or, _The Buckler Maiden_. + +THE INFANT'S SKULL; or, _The End of the World_. + +THE PILGRIM'S SHELL; or, _Fergan the Quarryman_. + +THE IRON PINCERS; or, _Mylio and Karvel_. + +THE IRON TREVET; or, _Jocelyn the Champion_. + +THE EXECUTIONER'S KNIFE; or, _Joan of Arc_. + +THE POCKET BIBLE; or, _Christian the Printer_. + +THE BLACKSMITH'S HAMMER; or, _The Peasant Code_. + +THE SWORD OF HONOR; or, _The Foundation of the French Republic_. + +THE GALLEY SLAVE'S RING; or, _The Family Lebrenn_. + +Published Uniform With This Volume By + +THE NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO. + +28 CITY HALL PLACE NEW YORK CITY + + + + +THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS + +OR + +THE DAUGHTERS OF CHARLEMAGNE + +A Tale of the Ninth Century + +By EUGENE SUE + +TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL FRENCH BY + +DANIEL DE LEON + +NEW YORK LABOR NEWS COMPANY. 1908 + +Copyright 1908, by the + +NEW YORK LABOR NEWS CO. + + + + +INDEX + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE. v + +PART I--AIX-LA-CHAPELLE. + +CHAPTER. + +I. AMAEL AND VORTIGERN. 3 + +II. THE COURTYARD OF THE PALACE. 18 + +III. IN THE GALLERIES OF THE PALACE. 24 + +IV. CHARLEMAGNE. 29 + +V. THE PALATINE SCHOOL. 40 + +VI. THE BISHOP OF LIMBURG. 44 + +VII. TO THE HUNT. 54 + +VIII. THE FOREST OF OPPENHEIM. 58 + +IX. AT THE MORT. 71 + +X. EMPEROR AND HOSTAGE. 77 + +XI. FRANK AND BRETON. 88 + + +PART II--THE CONQUEST OF BRITTANY. + +I. IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS. 107 + +II. THE BRETON CHIEF. 112 + +III. ABBOT AND BRETON. 120 + +IV. THE DEFILE OF GLEN-CLAN. 132 + +V. THE MARSH OF PEULVEN. 139 + +VI. THE FOREST OF CARDIK. 146 + +VII. THE MOOR OF KENNOR. 151 + +VIII. THE VALLEY OF LOKFERN. 156 + +EPILOGUE. 159 + + + + +TRANSLATOR'S PREFACE + + +The Age of Charlemagne is the watershed of the history of the present +era. The rough barbarian flood that poured over Western Europe reaches +in that age a turning point of which Charlemagne is eminently the +incarnation. The primitive physical features of the barbarian begin to +be blunted, or toned down by a new force that has lain latent in him, +but that only then begins to step into activity--the spiritual, the +intellectual powers. The Age of Charlemagne is the age of the first +conflict between the intellectual and the brute in the principal +branches of the races that occupied Europe. The conflict raged on a +national scale, and it raged in each particular individual. The colossal +stature, physical and mental, of Charlemagne himself typifies the epoch. +Brute instincts of the most primitive and savage, intellectual +aspirations of the loftiest are intermingled, each contends for +supremacy--and alternately wins it, in the monarch, in his court and in +his people. + +_The Carlovingian Coins; or, The Daughters of Charlemagne_ is the ninth +of the brilliant series of historical novels written by Eugene Sue under +the title, _The Mysteries of the People; or, History of a Proletarian +Family Across the Ages_. The age and its people are portrayed in a +charming and chaste narrative, that is fittingly and artistically +brought to a close by a veritable epopee--the Frankish conquest of +Brittany, and, as fittingly, serves to introduce the next epopee--the +Northman's invasion of Gaul--dealt with in the following story, _The +Iron Arrow Head; or, The Buckler Maiden_. + +DANIEL DE LEON. + +New York, May, 1905. + + + + +PART I. + +AIX-LA-CHAPELLE + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +AMAEL AND VORTIGERN. + + +Towards the commencement of the month of November of the year 811, a +numerous cavalcade was one afternoon wending its way to the city of +Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of the Empire of Charles the Great--an +Empire that had been so rapidly increased by rapidly succeeding +conquests over Germany, Saxony, Bavaria, Bohemia, Hungary, Italy and +Spain, that Gaul, as formerly during the days of the Roman Emperors, was +again but a province among the vast domains. The ambitious designs of +Charles Martel had been realized. Childeric, the last scion of the +Merovingian dynasty, had been got rid of. Martel's descendants took his +seat, and now the Hammerer's grandson wielded the sceptre of Clovis over +an immensely wider territory. + +Eight or ten cavalry soldiers rode in advance of the cavalcade. A little +apart from the smaller escort, four cavaliers ambled leisurely. Two of +them wore brilliant armor after the German fashion. One of these was +accompanied by a venerable old man of a martial and open countenance. +His long beard, snow white as his hair that was half hidden under a fur +cap, fell over his chest. He wore a Gallic blouse of grey wool, held +around his waist by a belt, from which hung a long sword with an iron +hilt. His ample hose of rough white fabric reached slightly below his +knees and left exposed his tightly laced leather leggings, that ended in +his boots whose heels were armed with spurs. The old man was Amael, who +under the assumed Frankish name of Berthoald had, eighty years before, +saved the life of Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers against the +Arabs, had declined the post offered him by Charles, as jailer of the +last descendant of Clovis, and, finally, smitten by conscience, had +renounced wealth and dignity under the Frankish enslavers of Gaul, and +returned to his people and country of Brittany, or Armorica, as the +Romans named it. Amael now touched his hundredth year. His great age and +his somewhat portly stature notwithstanding, he still looked full of +vigor. He handled with dexterity the black horse that he rode and whose +spirit seemed no wise abated by the long road it had traveled. From time +to time, Amael turned round upon his saddle in order to cast a look of +paternal solicitude upon his grandson Vortigern, a lad of hardly +eighteen years, who was accompanied by the other of the two Frankish +warriors. The face of Vortigern, of exceptional beauty for a man, was +framed in long chestnut ringlets, that, escaping from his scarlet coif, +tumbled down below a chin that was as dainty as a woman's. His large +blue eyes, fringed with lashes black as his bold arched eyebrows, had an +air at once ingenuous and resolute. His red lips, shaded by the down of +adolescence, revealed at every smile two rows of teeth white as enamel. +A slightly aquiline nose, a fresh and pure complexion somewhat tanned by +the sun, completed the harmonious make-up of the youth's charming +visage. His clothes, made after the fashion of his grandfather's, +differed from them only in a touch of elegance that bespoke a mother's +hand, tenderly proud of her son's comely appearance. Accordingly, the +blue blouse of the lad was ornamented around the neck, over the +shoulders and at the extremities of the sleeves with embroideries of +white wool, while a calfskin belt, from which hung a sword with +polished hilt, encircled his supple waist. His linen hose half hid his +deerskin leggings, that were tightly laced to his nervy limbs and +rejoined his boots, made of tanned skin and equipped with large copper +spurs that glistened like gold. Although his right arm was held in a +scarf of some black material, Vortigern handled his horse with his left +hand with as much ease as skill. For traveling companion he had a young +warrior of agreeable mien, bold and mercurial, alert and frolicsome. The +mobility of his face recalled in nothing the stolidity of the German. +His name was Octave. Roman by birth, in appearance and character, his +inexhaustible Southern wit often succeeded in unwrinkling the brow of +his young companion. The latter, however, would soon again relapse into +a sort of silent and somber revery. Thus for some time absorbed in +sadness, he walked his horse slowly, when Octave broke in gaily in a +tone of friendly reproach: + +"By Bacchus! You still are preoccupied and silent." + +"I am thinking of my mother," answered the youth, smothering a sigh. "I +am thinking of my mother, of my sister and of my country." + +"Come now; you should, on the contrary, chase away, such saddening +thoughts. To the devil with sadness. Long live joy." + +"Octave, gayness ill beseems a prisoner. I cannot share your +light-heartedness." + +"You are no prisoner, only a hostage. No bond binds you but your own +word; prisoners, on the contrary, are led firmly pinioned to the slave +market. Your grandfather and yourself ride freely, with us for your +companions, and we are escorting you, not to a slave market, but to the +palace of the Emperor Charles the Great, the mightiest monarch of the +whole world. Finally, prisoners are disarmed; your grandfather as well +as yourself carry your swords." + +"Of what use are our swords now to us?" replied Vortigern with painful +bitterness. "Brittany is vanquished." + +"Such are the chances of war. You bravely did your duty as a soldier. +You fought like a demon at the side of your grandfather. He was not +wounded, and you only received a lance-thrust. By Mars, the valiant god +of war, your blows were so heavy in the melee that you should have been +hacked to pieces." + +"We would not then have survived the disgrace of Armorica." + +"There is no disgrace in being overcome when one has defended himself +bravely--above all when the forces that one resisted and decimated, were +the veteran bands of the great Charles." + +"Not one of your Emperor's soldiers should have escaped." + +"Not one?" merrily rejoined the young Roman. "What, not even myself? Not +even I, who take such pains to be a pleasant traveling companion, and +who tax my eloquence to entertain you? Verily, you are not at all +grateful!" + +"Octave, I do not hate you personally; I hate your race; they have, +without provocation, carried war and desolation into my country." + +"First of all, my young friend, I am not of the Frankish race. I am a +Roman. Gladly do I relinquish to you those gross Germans, who are as +savage as the bears of their forests. But, let it be said among +ourselves, this war against Brittany was not without reason. Did not you +Bretons, possessed of the very devil as you are, attack last year and +exterminate the Frankish garrison posted at Vannes?" + +"And by what right did Charles cause our frontiers to be invaded by his +troops twenty-five years ago? His whim stood him instead of right." + +The conversation between Vortigern and Octave was interrupted by the +voice of Amael, who, turning in his saddle, called his grandson to him. +The latter, anxious to hasten to his grandfather, and also yielding to +an impulse of anger that the discussion with the young Roman had +provoked, brusquely clapped his spurs to the flanks of his charger. The +animal, thus suddenly urged, leaped forward so violently that in two or +three bounds it would have left Amael behind, had not Vortigern, +restraining his mount with a firm hand, made the animal rear on its +haunches. The youth then resumed his walk abreast of his grandfather and +the other Frankish warrior, who, turning to the old man, remarked: + +"I do not marvel at the superiority of your Breton cavalry, when a lad +of the age of your grandson, and despite the wound that must smart him, +can handle his horse in such a manner. You yourself, for a centenarian, +are as firm in your saddle as the lad himself. Horns of the devil!" + +"The lad was barely five years old when his father and I used to place +him on the back of the colts raised on our meadows," answered the old +man. The recollection of those peaceful happy days now ended, cast a +shadow of sorrow upon Amael's face. He remained silent for a moment. +Thereupon, addressing Vortigern, he said: + +"I called you to inquire whether your wound had ceased smarting." + +"Grandfather, I hardly feel it any longer. If you allow me, I would free +my arm of the embarrassing scarf." + +"No; your wound might open again. No imprudence. Remember your mother, +and also your sister and her husband, both of whom love you like a +brother." + +"Alas! Will I never see that mother, that sister, that brother whom I +love so dearly?" + +"Patience!" answered Amael in an undertone, so as not to be heard by the +Frankish warrior at his side. "You may see Brittany again a good deal +sooner than you expect--prudence and patience!" + +"Truly?" inquired the youth impetuously. "Oh, grandfather, what +happiness!" + +The old man made a sign to Vortigern to control himself, and then +proceeded aloud: "I am always afraid lest the fatigue of traveling +inflame your wound anew. Fortunately, we must be approaching the end of +our journey. Not so, Hildebrad?" he added, turning to the warrior. + +"Before sunset we shall be at Aix-la-Chapelle," answered the Frank. "But +for the hill that we are about to ascend, you could see the city at a +distance." + +"Return to your companion, my child," said Amael; "above all, place your +arm back in its scarf, and be careful how you manage your horse. A +too-sudden lurch might re-open the wound that is barely closed." + +The young man obeyed and gently walked his horse back to Octave. Thanks +to the mobility of the impressions of youth, Vortigern felt appeased and +comforted by the words of his grandfather that had made him look forward +to a speedy return to his family and country. The soothing thought was +so visibly reflected in his candid features that Octave met him with the +merry remark: + +"What a magician that grandfather of yours must be! You rode off +preoccupied and fretful, angrily burying your spurs into the flanks of +your horse, who, poor animal, had done nothing to excite your wrath. +Now, behold! You return as placid as a bishop astride of his mule." + +"The magic of my grandfather has chased away my sadness. You speak +truly, Octave." + +"So much the better. I shall now be free, without fear of reviving your +chagrin, to give a loose to the increasing joy that I feel at every +step." + +"Why does your joy increase at every step, my dear companion?" + +"Because even the dullest horse becomes livelier and more spirited in +the measure that he approaches the house where he knows that he will +find provender." + +"Octave, I did not know you for such a glutton!" + +"In that case, my looks are deceptive, because a glutton, that am +I--terribly gluttonous of those delicate dainties that are found only at +court, and that constitute my provender." + +"What!" exclaimed Vortigern ingenuously. "Is that great Emperor, whose +name fills the world, surrounded by a court where nothing is thought of +but dainties and gluttony?" + +"Why, of course," answered Octave gravely and hardly able to refrain +from laughing outright at the innocence of the young Breton. "Why, of +course. And what is more, more so than any of the counts, of the dukes, +of the men of learning, and of the bishops at court, does the Emperor +himself lust after the dainties that I have in mind. He always keeps a +room contiguous to his own full of them. Because in the stillness of the +night--" + +"He rises to eat cakes and, perhaps, even sweetmeats!" exclaimed the lad +with disdain, while Octave, unable longer to contain himself, was +laughing in his face. "I can think of nothing more unbecoming than +guzzling on the part of one who governs empires!" + +"What's to be done, Vortigern? Great princes must be pardoned for some +pecadillos. Moreover, with them it is a family failing--the daughters of +the Emperor--" + +"His daughters also are given to this ugly passion for gormandizing?" + +"Alas! They are no less gluttonous than their father. They have six or +seven dainties of their own--most appetizing and most appetized." + +"Oh, fie!" cried Vortigern. "Fie. Have they perhaps, also next to their +bed-chambers, whole rooms stocked with dainties?" + +"Calm your legitimate indignation, my boiling-over friend. Young girls +can not allow themselves quite so much comfort. That's good enough for +the Emperor Charles, who is no longer nimble on his legs. He is getting +along in years. He has the gout in his left foot, and his girth is +enormous." + +"That is not to be wondered at. Bound is the stomach to protrude with +such a gourmand!" + +"You will understand that being so heavy on his feet, this mighty +Emperor is not able, like his daughters, to snatch at a stray dainty on +the wing, like birdies in an orchard, who nibble lovingly here at a red +cherry, there at a blushing apple, yonder at a bunch of gilded grapes. +No, no; with his august paunch and his gouty foot, the august Charles +would be wholly unable to snap the dainties on the wing. The attention +due to his empire would lose too much. Hence the Emperor keeps near at +hand, within easy reach, a room full of dainties, where, at night, he +finds his provender--" + +"Octave!" exclaimed Vortigern, interrupting the young Roman with a +haughty mien. "I do not wish to be trifled with. At first, I took your +words seriously. The laughter that you are hardly able to repress, and +that despite yourself breaks out at frequent intervals, shows me that +you are trifling with me." + +"Come, my brave lad, do not wax angry. I am not bantering. Only that, +out of respect for the candor of your age, I have used a figure of +speech to tell the truth. In short, the dainty that I, Charles, his +daughters, and, by Venus! everybody at court lusts after more or less +greedily is--love!" + +"Love," echoed Vortigern, blushing and for the first time dropping his +eyes before Octave; but as his uneasiness increased, he proceeded to +inquire: "But, in order to enjoy love, the daughters of Charles are +surely married?" + +"Oh, innocence of the Golden Age! Oh, Armorican naiveness! Oh, Gallic +chastity!" cried Octave. But noticing that the young Breton frowned at +hearing his native land ridiculed, the Roman proceeded: "Far be it from +me to jest about your brave country. I shall tell you without further +circumlocution--I shall tell you that Charles' daughters are not +married; for reasons that he has never cared to explain to anyone, he +never has wanted them to have a husband."[A] + +"Out of pride, no doubt!" + +"Oh, oh, on that subject many things are said. The long and short of it +is that he does not wish to part with them. He adores them, and, except +he goes to war, he always has them near him during his journeys, along +with his concubines--or, if you prefer the term, his 'dainties.' The +word may be less shocking to your prudery. You must know that after +having successively married and discarded his five wives, Desiderata, +Hildegarde, Fustrade, Himiltrude and Luitgarde, the Emperor provided +himself with an assortment of dainties, from which assortment I shall +mention to you incidentally the juicy Mathalgarde, the sugary +Gerswinthe, the tart Regina, the toothsome Adalinde--not to mention many +other saints on this calendar of love. For you must know that the great +Charles resembles the great Solomon not in wisdom only; he resembles him +also in his love for _seraglios_, as the Arabs call them. But, by the +way of the Emperor's daughters. Listen to a little tale. Imma, one of +these young princesses, was a charming girl. One fine day she became +smitten with Charles' archchaplain, named Eginhard. An archchaplain +being, of course, arch-amorous, Imma received Eginhard every night +secretly in her chamber--to discuss chapel affairs, I surmise. Now, +then, it so happened that during one winter's night there fell so very +much snow that the ground was all covered. A little before dawn, +Eginhard takes his departure from his lady-love; but just as he is about +to climb down from the window--an ordinary route with lovers--he beholds +by the light of a superb full moon that the ground is one sheet of white +snow. To himself he thinks: 'Imma and I are lost! I cannot get out +without leaving the imprint of my steps in the snow'--" + +"And what did he do?" asked Vortigern, more and more interested in the +story that threw an undefined sense of uneasiness in his heart. "How +did the two escape from their perilous plight, the poor lovers!" + +"Imma, a robustious doxy, a girl both of head and resolution, descends +by the window, bravely takes the archchaplain on her back, and, without +tripping under the beloved burden, crosses a wide courtyard that +separates her quarters from one of the corridors of the palace. Although +weighted down by an archchaplain, Imma had such small feet that the +traces left by them could not choose but keep suspicion away from +Eginhard. Unfortunately, however, as you will discover when you arrive +at Aix-la-Chapelle, the Emperor is possessed of a demon of curiosity, +and has had his palace so constructed that, from a kind of terrace, +contiguous to his own room and which dominates the rest of the +buildings, he is able to discover as from an observatory, all who enter, +go out, or cross the open space. Now, then, the Emperor, who frequently +rises at night, saw, thanks to the brilliant moonlight, his daughter +crossing the yard with the amorous fardel." + +"Charles' anger must have been terrible!" + +"Yes, terrible for an instant. Soon, however, no doubt greatly elated at +having procreated a maid who was able to carry an archchaplain on her +back, the august Emperor pardoned the guilty couple. After that they +lived lovingly in peace and joy." + +"And yet that archchaplain was a priest? What of the sanctity of the +clergy!" + +"Ho, ho! my young friend. The Emperor's daughters are far from failing +in esteem for priests. Bertha, another of his daughters, desperately +esteems Enghilbert, the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier. Fairness, +nevertheless, compels me to admit that one of Bertha's sisters, named +Adeltrude, esteemed with no less vehemence Count Lambert, one of the +most intrepid officers of the imperial army. As to little Rothailde, +another of the Emperor's daughters, she did not withhold her lively +esteem from Romuald, who made his name glorious in our wars against +Bohemia. I shall not speak of the other princesses. It is fully six +months that I have been away from court. I would be afraid to do them +injustice. Nevertheless, I am free to say that the Crosier and the Sword +have generally contended with each other for the amorous tenderness of +the daughters of Charles. Yet I must except Thetralde, the youngest of +the set. She is still too much of a novice to esteem any one. She is +barely fifteen. She is a flower, or rather, the bud of a flower that is +about to blossom. I never have seen anything more charming. When I last +departed from the court Thetralde gave promise of eclipsing all her +sisters and nieces with the sweetness and freshness of her beauty, +because, and I had forgotten this detail, my dear friend, the daughters +of Charles' sons are brought up with his own daughters; and are no less +charming than their aunts. You will see them all. Your admiration will +have but to choose between Adelaid, Atula, Gonarade, Bertha or +Theodora." + +"What! Do all these young girls inhabit the Emperor's palace?" + +"Certainly, without counting their servants, their governesses, their +chambermaids, their readers, their singers and innumerable other women +of their retinue. By Venus! My Adonis, there are more petticoats to be +seen in the imperial palace than cuirasses or priests' gowns. The +Emperor loves as much to be surrounded by women as by soldiers and +abbots, without forgetting the learned men, the rhetoricians, the +dialecticians, the instructors, the peripatetic pedagogues and the +grammarians. The great Charles, as you must know, is as passionately +fond of grammar as of love, war, the chase, or choir chants. In his +grammarian's ardor, the Emperor invents words--" + +"What!" + +"Just as I am telling you. For instance: How do you call in the Gallic +tongue the month in which we now are?" + +"The month of November." + +"So do we Italians, barbarians that we are! But the Emperor has changed +all that by virtue of his own sovereign and grammatical will. His +peoples, provided they can obey him without the words strangling them, +are to say, instead of November, 'Herbismanoth'; instead of October, +Windumnermanoth.'" + +"Octave, you are trying to make merry at my expense." + +"Instead of March, 'Lenzhimanoth'; instead of May--" + +"Enough! enough! for pity's sake!" cried Vortigern. "Those barbarous +names make me shiver. What! can there be throats in existence able to +articulate such sounds?" + +"My young friend, Frankish throats are capable of everything. I warn +you, prepare your ears for the most uncouth concert of raucous, +guttural, savage words that you ever heard, unless you have ever heard +frogs croaking, tom-cats squalling, bulls bellowing, asses braying, +stags belling and wolves howling--all at once! Excepting the Emperor +himself and his family, who can somewhat handle the Roman and the Gallic +languages, the only two languages, in short, that are human, you will +hear nothing spoken but Frankish at that German court where everything +is German, that is to say, barbarous; the language, the customs, the +manners, the meals, the dress. In short, Aix-la-Chapelle is no longer +in Gaul. It now lies in Germany absolutely." + +"And yet Charles reigns over Gaul!--is not that enough of a disgrace for +my country? The Emperor who governs us by no right other than conquest, +is surrounded with a Frankish court, and with officers and generals of +the same stock, who do not deign even to speak our tongue. Shame and +disgrace to us!" + +"There you are at it again, plunging anew into sadness. Vortigern! By +Bacchus! Why do you not imitate my philosophy of indifference? Does, +perchance, my race not descend from that haughty Roman stock that made +the world to tremble only a few centuries ago? Have I not seen the +throne of the Caesars occupied by hypocritical, ambitious, greedy and +debauched Popes, with their black-gowned and tonsured militia? Have not +the descendants of our haughty Roman Emperors gone in their imbecile +idleness to vegetate in Constantinople, where they still indulge the +dreams of Universal Empire? Have not the Catholic priests chased from +their Olympus the charmful deities of our fathers? Have they not torn +down, mutilated and ravished the temples, statues, altars--the +master-works of the divine art of Rome and Greece? Go to, Vortigern, and +follow my example! Instead of fretting over a ship-wrecked past, let's +drink and forget! Let our fair mistresses be our Saints, and their +couches our altars! Let our Eucharist be a flower-decked cup, and for +liturgy, let's sing the amorous couplets of Tibullus, of Ovid, and of +Horace. Yes, indeed, and take my advice: let's drink, love and enjoy +life! That's truly to live! You will never again come across such an +opportunity. The gods of joy are sending you to the Emperor's court." + +"What do you mean?" queried Vortigern almost mechanically, and feeling +his inexperienced sense, though not perverted, yet dazzled by the facile +and sensuous philosophy of Octave. "What would you have one become in +the midst of that court so strange to me, who have been brought up in +our rustic Brittany?" + +"Child that you are! A swarm of beautiful eyes will be focused upon +you!" + +"Octave, you are mocking again. Am I to be taken notice of? I, a field +laborer's son? I, a poor Breton prisoner on parole?" + +"And do you think your reputation for a bedevilled Breton goes for +nothing? More than once have I heard told of the furious curiosity with +which, about twenty-five years ago, the hostages taken to +Aix-la-Chapelle, at the time of the first war against your country, +inspired everyone at court. The most charming women wished to behold +those indomitable Bretons whom only the great Charles had been able to +vanquish. Their haughty and rude mien, the interest centred in their +defeat, everything, down to their strange costumes, drew upon them the +looks and the sympathy of the women, who, in Germany, are ever strongly +prone to love. The fascinating enthusiasts of then are now become +mothers and grandfathers. But, happily, they have daughters and +grand-daughters who are fully able to appreciate you. I can assure you +that I, who know the court and its ways, had I only your youth, your +good looks, your wound, your graceful horsemanship and your renown as a +Breton, would guarantee myself the lover of all those beauties, and that +within a week." + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE COURTYARD OF THE PALACE. + + +The conversation between the young Roman and Vortigern was at this point +interrupted by Amael, who, turning back to his grandson and extending +his arm towards the horizon said to him: + +"Look yonder, my child; that is the Queen of the cities of the Empire of +Charles the Great--the city of Aix-la-Chapelle." + +Vortigern hastened to join his grandfather, whose eyes he now, perhaps +for the first time, sought to avoid with not a little embarrassment. +Octave's words sounded wrong on his ears, even dangerous; and he +reproached himself for having listened to them with some pleasure. +Having reached Amael, Vortigern cast his eyes in the direction pointed +out by the old man, and saw at still a great distance an imposing mass +of buildings, close to which rose the high steeple of a basilica. +Presently, he distinguished the roofs and terraces of a cluster of +houses dimly visible through the evening mist and stretching out along +the horizon. It was the Emperor's palace and the basilica of +Aix-la-Chapelle. Vortigern contemplated with curiosity the, to him, new +panorama, while Hildebrad, who had cantered ahead to make some inquiries +from a cartman coming from the city, now returned to the Bretons, +saying: + +"The Emperor is hourly expected at the palace. The forerunners have +announced his approach. He is coming from a journey in the north of +Gaul. Let's hasten to ride in ahead of him so that we may salute him on +his arrival." + +The riders quickened their horses' steps, and before sunset they were +entering the outer court of the palace--a vast space surrounded by many +lodges of variously shaped roofs and architecture, and furnished with +innumerable windows. Agreeable to a unique plan, with many of these +structures the ground floor was wholly open and had the appearance of a +shed whose massive stone pillars supported the masonry of the upper +tiers of floors. A crowd of subaltern officers, of servants, and slaves +of the palace, lived and lodged under these sheds, open to the four +winds of heaven and heated in winter by means of large furnaces that +were kept lighted night and day. This bizarre architecture was conceived +by the ingenuity of the Emperor. It enabled him, from his observatory, +to see with all the greater ease all that happened in these wall-less +apartments. Several long corridors, profusely ornamented with richly +sculptured columns and porticos after the fashion of Rome, connected +with another set of buildings. A square pavilion, raised considerably +above ground, dominated the system of structures. Octave called +Vortigern's attention to a sort of balcony located in front of the +pavilion. It was the Emperor's observatory. Everywhere a general stir +announced the approaching arrival of Charles. Clerks, soldiers, women, +officers, rhetoricians, monks and slaves crossed one another in great +haste, while several bishops, anxious to present the first homages to +the Emperor, were speeding towards the peristyle of the palace. So +instantly was the Emperor expected and such was the hurly at the event, +that when the cavalcade, of which Vortigern and his grandfather were a +part, entered the court, several people, deceived by the martial +appearance of the troupe, began to cry: "The Emperor!" "Here is the +Emperor's escort!" The cry flew from mouth to mouth, and in an instant +the spacious court was filled with a compact mass of servitors and +pursuivants, through which the escort of the two Bretons was hardly able +to break its way in order to reach a place near the principal portico. +Hildebrad had chosen the spot in order to be among the first to meet +Charles and to present to him the hostages whom he brought from +Brittany. The crowd discovered its mistake in acclaiming the Emperor, +but the false rumor had penetrated the palace and immediately the +concubines of Charles, his daughters and grand-daughters, their servants +and attendants, rushed out and grouped themselves on a spacious terrace +above the portico, near which the two Bretons, together with their +escort, had taken their stand. + +"Raise your eyes, Vortigern," Octave said to his companion. "Look and +see what a bevy of beauties the Emperor's palace contains." + +Blushing, the young Breton glanced towards the terrace and remained +struck with astonishment at the sight of some twenty-five or thirty +women, all of whom were either daughters or grand-daughters of Charles, +together with his concubines. They were clad in the Frankish fashion, +and presented the most seductive variety of faces, color of hair, shapes +and beauty imaginable. There were among them brunettes and blondes, +women of reddish and of auburn hair, some tall, others stout, and yet +others thin and slender. It was a complete display of Germanic feminine +types--from the tender maid up to the stately matron of forty years. The +eyes of Vortigern fell with preference upon a girl of not more than +fifteen, clad in a tunic of pale green embroidered with silver. Nothing +sweeter could be imagined than her rosy and fresh face crowned and set +off by long and thick strands of blonde hair; her delicate neck, white +as a swan's, seemed to undulate under the weight of her magnificent head +of hair. Another maid of about twenty years--a pronounced brunette, +robust, with challenging eyes, black hair, and clad in a tunic of +orange--leaned on the balustrade, supporting her chin in one hand, close +to the younger blonde, on whose shoulders she familiarly rested her +right arm. Each held in her hand a nose-gay of rosemary, whose fragrance +they inhaled from time to time, all the while conversing in a low voice +and contemplating the group of riders with increasing curiosity. They +had learned that the escort was not the Emperor's, but that it brought +the Breton hostages. + +"Give thanks to my friendship, Vortigern," Octave whispered to the lad. +"I am going to place you in evidence, and to display you at your true +worth." Saying this, Octave covertly gave Vortigern's horse such a sharp +touch of his whip under the animal's belly that, had the Breton been +less of a horseman, he had been thrown by the violence of the bound made +by his mount. Thus unexpectedly stung, the animal reared, poised himself +dangerously for a moment and then leaped so high that Vortigern's coif +grazed the bottom of the terrace where the group of women stood. The +blonde young girl grew pale with terror, and hiding her face in her +hands, exclaimed: "Unhappy lad! He is killed! Poor young man!" + +Yielding to the impulse of his age as well as to a sense of pride at +finding himself the object of the attention of the crowd that was +gathered around him, Vortigern severely chastised his horse, whose leaps +and bounds threatened to become dangerous. But the lad, preserving his +presence of mind and drawing upon his skill, displayed so much grace and +vigor in the struggle, despite his right arm's being held in the scarf, +that the crowd wildly clapped its hands and cried: "Glory to the +Breton!" "Honor to the Breton!" Two bouquets of rosemary fell, at that +moment, at the feet of the horse that, brought at last under control, +champed his bit and pawed the ground with his hoofs. Vortigern raised +his head towards the terrace whence the bouquets had just been thrown at +him, when a formidable din arose from a distance, followed immediately +by the cry, echoed and re-echoed: "The Emperor!" "The Emperor!" + +At the announcement, all the women forthwith left the balcony to descend +and receive the monarch under the portico of the palace. + +While the crowd swayed back and forward, crying: "Long live Charles!" +"Long live Charles the Great!" the grandson of Amael saw a troop of +riders approaching at a gallop. They might have been taken for +equestrian statues of iron. Mounted upon chargers caparisoned in iron, +their own iron casques hid their faces; cuirassed in iron and gloved in +iron, they wore leggings of iron, and bucklers of the same metal. The +last rays of the westering sun shone from the points of their iron +lances. In short, nothing was heard but the clash of iron. At the head +of these cavaliers, whom he preceded, and, like them, cased in iron from +head to foot, rode a man of colossal stature. Hardly arrived before the +principal portico, he alighted slowly from his horse and ran limping +towards the group of women who there awaited him, calling out to them, +as he ran, in a little shrill and squeaky voice that contrasted +strangely with his enormous build: + +"Good-day, little ones. Good-day, dear daughters. Good-day to all of +you, my darlings." Without giving any heed to the cheers of the crowd +and to the respectful salutations of the bishops and other dignitaries, +who hurried to meet him, the Emperor Charles, that giant in iron, +disappeared within the palace, followed by his feminine cohort. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +IN THE GALLERIES OF THE PALACE. + + +Amael and his grandson were lodged in one of the upper chambers of the +palace, whither they were conducted by Hildebrad to rest after the +fatigue of their recent journey. Supper was served to them and they were +left to retire for the night. + +At break of day the next morning, Octave knocked at the door of the two +Bretons and informed them that the Emperor wished to see them. The Roman +urged Vortigern to clothe himself at his best. The Breton lad had not +much to choose from. He had with him only two suits of clothes, the one +he wore on the journey, another, green of color and embroidered with +orange wool. This notwithstanding, thanks to the fresh and new clothes, +in which the colors were harmoniously blended and which enhanced the +attractiveness of the charming face as well as the gracefulness of his +supple stature, Vortigern seemed to the critical eyes of Octave worthy +of making an honorable appearance before the mightiest Emperor in the +world. The centenarian could not restrain a smile at hearing the praises +bestowed upon the figure of his grandson by the young Roman, who advised +him to draw tighter the belt of his sword, claiming that, if one's +figure is good, it was but right to exhibit it. While giving his +advices to Vortigern in his wonted good humor, Octave whispered in his +friend's ear: + +"Did you notice yesterday the nose-gays that fell at the feet of your +horse? Did you notice who the girls were from whom the bouquets came?" + +"I think I did," stammered the young Breton in answer, and he blushed to +the roots of his hair, while despite himself, his thoughts flew to the +charming young blonde. "It seems to me," he added, "that I saw the two +bouquets fall." + +"Oh, it seems to you, hypocrite! Nevertheless, it was my whip that +brought down the two bouquets! And do you know what imperial hands it +was that threw them down in homage to your address and courage?" + +"Were the bouquets thrown down by imperial hands?" + +"Yes, indeed, seeing that Thetralde, the timid blonde child and +Hildrude, the tall and bold brunette, are both daughters of Charles. One +of them was dressed in a green robe of the color of your blouse, the +other in orange of the color of your embroidery. By Venus! Are you not a +favored mortal? Two conquests at one clap!" + +Engaged at the other end of the chamber, Amael did not overhear the +words of Octave that were turning Vortigern's face as scarlet as the +color of his chaperon's cloak. The preparations for the presentation +being concluded, the two hostages followed their guide to appear before +the Emperor. After crossing an infinite number of passages and mounting +and descending an equal number of stairs, in all of which they +encountered more women than men, the number of women lodged in the +Imperial Palace being prodigious, the Bretons were led through vast +halls. To describe the sumptuous magnificence of these galleries would +be no less impossible than to enumerate the pictures with which their +halls were ornamented. Artisans, brought from Constantinople, where, at +the time, the school of Byzantine painting flourished, had covered the +walls with gigantic designs. In one place the conquests of Cyrus over +the Persians were displayed; at another, the atrocities of the tyrant +Phalaris, witnessing the agonies of his victims, who were led to be +burned alive in a brass caldron red with heat; at still another place, +the founding of Rome by Romulus and Remus was reproduced; the conquests +of Alexander and Hannibal, and many other heroic subjects. One of the +galleries of the palace was consecrated wholly to the battles of Charles +Martel. He was seen triumphing over Saxons and Arabs, who, chained at +his feet, implored his clemency. So striking was the resemblance that +while crossing the hall Amael cried out: + +"It is he! Those are his features! That was his bearing! He lives again! +It is Charles!" + +"One would think you recognize an old acquaintance," observed the young +Roman, smiling. "Are you renewing your acquaintance with Charles +Martel?" + +"Octave," answered the old man melancholically, "I am one hundred years +old--I fought at the battle of Poitiers against the Arabs." + +"Among the troops of Charles Martel?" + +"I saved his life," answered Amael, contemplating the gigantic picture; +and speaking to himself, he proceeded with a sigh: "Oh, how many +recollections, sweet and sad, do not those days bring back to me! My +beloved mother, my sweet Septimine!" + +Octave regarded the old man with increasing astonishment, but, suddenly +collecting himself, he grew pensive and hastened his steps, followed by +the two hostages. Dazzled by the sights before him Vortigern examined +with the curiosity of his age the riches of all kinds that were heaped +up all around him. He could not refrain from stopping before two objects +that attracted his attention above all others. The first was a piece of +furniture of precious wood enriched with gilt mouldings. Pipes of +copper, brass and tin, of different thicknesses rose above each other in +tiers on one side of the wooden structure. "Octave," asked the young +Breton, "what kind of furniture is this?" + +"It is a Greek organ that was recently sent to Charles by the Emperor of +Constantinople. The instrument is truly marvelous. With the aid of brass +vessels and of bellows made of ox-hides, which are concealed from view, +the air enters these tubes, and, when they are played upon, one time you +think you hear the rumbling of thunder, another time, the gentle notes +of the lyre or of cymbals. But look yonder, near that large table of +massive gold where the city of Constantinople is drawn in relief, there +you see no less ingenious an object. It is a Persian clock, sent to the +Emperor only four years ago by Abdhallah, the King of Persia." Saying +this, Octave pointed out to the young Breton and his grandfather, who +became no less interested than Vortigern himself, a large time-piece of +gilt bronze. Figures denoting the twelve hours surrounded the dial, +which was placed in the centre of a miniature palace made of bronze, and +likewise gilt. Twelve gates built in arcades were seen at the foot of +the monumental imitation. "When the hour strikes," Octave explained to +the Bretons, "a certain number of brass balls, equal in number to the +hour, drop upon a little cymbal. At the same moment, these gates fly +open, as many of them as the corresponding hour, and out of each a +cavalier, armed with lance and shield, rides forth. If it strikes one, +two or three o'clock, one, two or three gates open, the cavaliers ride +out, salute with their lances, return within, and the gates close upon +them." + +"This is truly a marvelous contrivance!" exclaimed Amael. "And are the +names of the men known who fashioned these prodigies around us, these +magnificent paintings, that gold table where a whole city is reproduced +in relief, this organ, this clock, in short, all these marvels! Surely +their authors must have been glorified!" + +"By Bacchus, Amael, your question is droll," answered Octave smiling. +"Who cares for the names of the obscure slaves who have produced these +articles?" + +"But the names of Clovis, of Brunhild, of Clotaire, of Charles Martel +will survive the ages!" murmured the centenarian bitterly to himself, +while the young Roman remarked to Vortigern: + +"Let us hurry; the Emperor is waiting for us. It will take whole days, +months and years to admire in detail the treasures that this palace is +full of. It is the favorite resort of the Emperor. And yet, as much as +his residence at Aix-la-Chapelle, he loves his old castle of Heristal, +the cradle of his mighty stock of mayors of the palace, where he has +heaped miracles of art." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CHARLEMAGNE. + + +Following their guide, the two hostages left the sumptuous and vast +galleries, and ascended, closely behind Octave, a spiral staircase that +led to the private apartment of the Emperor, the apartment around which +wound the balcony that served as observatory to Charles. Two richly +dressed chamberlains stood in the outer vestibule. "Stay for me here," +Octave said to the Bretons; "I shall notify the Emperor that you await +his pleasure, and learn whether he wishes to receive you at this +moment." + +Despite his race and family hatred for the Frankish Kings or Emperors, +the conquerors and oppressors of Gaul, Vortigern experienced a thrill of +emotion at the thought of finding himself face to face with the mighty +Charles, the sovereign of almost all Europe. This first emotion was +speedily joined by a second--that mighty Emperor was the father of +Thetralde, the entrancing maid, who, the evening before, had thrown her +bouquet to the youth. Vortigern's thoughts never a moment fell upon the +brunette Hildrude. An instant later Octave reappeared and beckoned to +Amael and his grandson to step in, while in an undertone he warned them: +"Crook your knees low before the Emperor; it is the custom." + +The centenarian cast a look at Vortigern with a negative sign of the +head. The youth understood, and the Bretons stepped into the bed-chamber +of Charles, whom they found in the company of his favorite Eginhard, the +archchaplain whom Imma had one night bravely carried on her back. A +servitor of the imperial chamber awaited the orders of his master. + +When the two hostages entered the room, the monarch, whose stature, +though now unarmed, preserved its colossal dimensions, was seated on the +edge of his couch clad only in a shirt and hose that set off the +pre-eminence of his paunch. He had just put on one shoe and held the +other in his hand. His hair was almost white, his eyes were large and +sparkling, his nose was long, his neck short and thick like a bull's. +His physiognomy, of an open cast and instinct with joviality, recalled +the features of his grandfather, Charles Martel. At the sight of the two +Bretons the Emperor rose from the edge of the couch, and keeping his one +shoe in his hand, took two steps forward, limping on his left foot. As +he thus approached Amael he seemed a prey to a concealed emotion +somewhat mingled with a lively curiosity. + +"Old man!" cried out Charles in his shrill voice that contrasted so +singularly with his giant stature, "Octave tells me you fought under +Charles Martel, my grandfather, nearly eighty years ago, and that you +saved his life at the battle of Poitiers." + +"It is true," and carrying his hand to his forehead where the traces of +a deep wound were still visible, the aged Breton added: "I received this +wound at the battle of Poitiers." + +The Emperor sat down again on the edge of his bed, put on the other shoe +and said to his archchaplain: "Eginhard, you who compiled in your +chronicle the history and acts of my grandfather, you whose memory is +ever faithful, do you remember ever to have heard told what the old man +says?" + +Eginhard remained thoughtful for a moment, and then answered slowly: "I +remember to have read in some parchment scrolls, inscribed by the hand +of the glorious Charles and now preserved in your august archives, that, +indeed, at the battle of Poitiers"--but interrupting himself and turning +to the centenarian he asked: "Your name? How are you called?" + +"Amael is my name." + +The archchaplain reflected for a moment, and shaking his head observed: +"While I can not now recall it, that was not the name of the warrior who +saved the life of Charles Martel at the battle of Poitiers--it was a +Frankish name, it is not the name which you mentioned." + +"That name," rejoined the aged Amael, "was Berthoald." + +"Yes!" put in Eginhard quickly. "That is the name--Berthoald. And in a +few lines written in his own hand, the glorious Charles Martel commended +the said Berthoald to his children; he wrote that he owed him his life +and recommended him to their gratitude if he ever should turn to them." + +During the exchange of these words between the aged Breton and the +archchaplain, the Emperor had continued and finished his toilet with the +aid of his servitor of the chamber. His costume, the old Frankish +costume to which Charles remained faithful, consisted in the first place +of a pair of leggings made of thick linen material closely fastened to +the nether limbs by means of red wool bandelets that wound criss-cross +from below upwards; next of a tunic of Frisian cloth, sapphire-blue, and +held together by a silk belt. In the winter and the fall of the year the +Emperor also wore over his shoulders a heavy and large otter or +lamb-skin coat. Thus clad, Charles sat down in a large armchair placed +near a curtain that was meant to conceal one of the doors that opened +upon the balcony which served him for observatory. At a sign from +Charles the servitor stepped out of the chamber. Left alone with +Eginhard, Vortigern, Amael and Octave, Charles said to the elder Breton: +"Old man, if I understood my chaplain correctly, a Frank named Berthoald +saved my grandfather's life. How does it happen that the said Berthoald +and you are the same personage?" + +"When fifteen years of age, driven by the spirit of adventure, I ran +away from my family of the Gallic race, and then located in Burgundy. +After many untoward events, I joined a band of determined men. I then +was twenty years of age. I took a Frankish name and claimed to be of +that race in order to secure the protection of Charles Martel.[B] To the +end of interesting him all the more in my lot I offered him my own sword +and the swords of all my men, just a few days before the battle of +Poitiers. At that battle I saved his life. After that, loaded with his +favors, I fought under his orders five years longer." + +"And what happened then?" + +"Then--ashamed of my imposition, and still more ashamed of fighting on +the side of the Franks, I left Charles Martel to return into Brittany, +the cradle of my family. There I became a field laborer." + +"By the cape of St. Martin, you then turned rebel!" exclaimed the +Emperor in his squeaky voice, which then assumed the tone of a +penetrating treble. "I now see the wisdom of those who chose you for an +hostage, you, the instigator and the soul of the uprisings and even wars +that broke out in Brittany during the reign of Pepin, my father, and +even under my own reign, when your devil-possessed countrymen decimated +my veteran bands!" + +"I fought as well as I could in our wars." + +"Traitor! Loaded with favors by my grandfather, yet were you not afraid +to rise in arms against his son and me?" + +"I felt remorse for only one thing--and that was to have merited the +favor of your grandfather. I shall ever reproach myself for having +fought on his side instead of against him." + +"Old man," cried the Emperor, purple with rage, "you have even more +audacity than years!" + +"Charles--let us stop here. You look upon yourself as the sovereign of +Gaul. We Bretons do not recognize your claims. These claims you hold, +like all other conquerors, from force. To you might means right--" + +"I hold them from God!" again cried the Emperor, this time stamping the +floor with his foot and breaking in upon Amael. "Yes! I hold my rights +over Gaul from God, and from my good sword." + +"From your sword, from violence, yes, indeed. From God, not at all. God +does not consecrate theft, whether a purse or an empire be involved. +Clovis captured Gaul. Your father and grandfather plundered of his crown +the last scion of that Clovis. Little does that matter to us, Bretons, +who refuse to obey either the stock of Clovis or that of Charles Martel. +You dispose over an innumerable army; already have you ravished and +vanquished Brittany. You may ravage and vanquish her over again--but +subjugate her, never. And now, Charles, I have spoken. You shall hear +not another word from me on that subject. I am your prisoner, your +hostage. Dispose of me." + +The Emperor, who more than once was on the point of allowing his +indignation to break loose, turned to Eginhard and, after a moment of +silence, said to him in a calm voice: "You, who are engaged in writing +the history and deeds of Charles, the august Emperor of Gaul, Caesar of +Germany, Patrician of Rome, Protector of the Suevians, the Bulgarians +and the Hungarians, I command you to write down that an old man held to +Charles a language of unheard-of audacity, and that Charles could not +prevent himself from esteeming the frankness and the courage of the man +who had thus spoken to him." And suddenly changing his tone, the +Emperor, whose features, for a moment stern in anger, now assumed an +expression of joviality shaded with shrewdness, said to Amael: "So, +then, Breton seigneurs of Armorica, whatever I may do, you want none of +me at any price for your Emperor. Do you so much as know me?" + +"Charles, we know you in Brittany by the unjust wars that your father +and yourself have waged against us." + +"So that, to you, gentlemen of Armorica, Charles is only a man of +conquest, of violence, and of battle?" + +"Yes, you reign only through terror." + +"Well, then, follow me. I may perhaps cause you to change your mind," +said the Emperor after a moment's reflection. He rose, took his cane and +put on his cap. His eyes then fell upon Vortigern, whom, standing +silently at a distance, he had not noticed before. "Who is that young +and handsome lad?" he asked. + +"My grandson." + +"Octave," the Emperor remarked, turning to the young Roman, "this is +rather a young hostage." + +"August Prince, this lad was chosen for several reasons. His sister +married Morvan, a common field laborer, but one of the most intrepid of +the Breton chieftains. During this last war he commanded the cavalry." + +"And why, then, was not that Morvan brought here? That would have been +an excellent hostage." + +"August Prince, in order to bring him we would have first had to catch +him. Although severely wounded, Morvan, thanks to his heroine of a wife, +succeeded in making his escape with her. It has been impossible to reach +them in the inaccessible mountains whither they both fled. For that +reason two other chiefs and influential men of the tribe were chosen for +hostages; we left them on the road on account of their wounds, and +proceeded only with this old man, who was the soul of the last wars, and +also this youth, who, through his family connections, is related to one +of the most dangerous chieftains of Armorica. I must admit that in +taking him, we yielded also to the prayers of his mother. She was very +anxious that he should accompany his grandfather on this long journey, +which is very trying to a centenarian." + +"And you," resumed the Emperor, addressing Vortigern, whom, during the +account given by Octave, he had been examining with attention and +interest, "no doubt also hate inveterately that Charles, the conqueror +and devastator?" + +"The Emperor Charles has white hair; I am only eighteen years old," +retorted the young Breton, blushing. "I can not answer." + +"Old man," observed Charles, visibly affected by the lad's +self-respecting yet becoming modesty, "the mother of your grandson must +be a happy woman. But coming to think of it, my lad, was it not you who +yesterday evening, shortly before my arrival, came near breaking your +neck with a fall from your horse?" + +"I!" cried Vortigern, blushing with pride; "I, fall from my horse! Who +dared to say so!" + +"Oh! Oh! my lad. You are red up to your ears," the Emperor exclaimed, +laughing aloud. "But, never mind. Be tranquil. I do not mean to wound +your pride of horsemanship. Far from it. Before I saw you to-day my ears +have rung with the interminable praises of your gracefulness and daring +on horseback. My dear daughters, especially little Thetralde and the +tall Hildrude, told me at least ten times at supper that they had seen a +savage young Breton, although wounded in one arm, manage his horse like +the most skilful of my equerries." + +"If I deserve any praise, it must be addressed to my grandfather," +modestly answered Vortigern. "It was he who taught me to ride on +horseback." + +"I like that answer, my lad. It shows your modesty and a proper respect +for your elders. Are you lettered? Can you read and write?" + +"Yes, thanks to the instruction of my mother." + +"Can you sing mass in the choir?" + +"I!" cried Vortigern in great astonishment. "I sing mass! No, no, by +Hesus! We do not sing mass in my country." + +"There they are, the Breton pagans!" exclaimed Charles. "Oh, my bishops +are right, they are a devil-possessed people, those folks of Armorica. +What a pity that so handsome and so modest a lad should not be able to +sing mass in the choir." Saying this, the Emperor pulled his thick cap +close over his head and leaning heavily on his cane, said to the aged +Breton: "Come, follow me, seigneur Breton. Ah, you only know of Charles +the Fighter; I shall now make you acquainted with another Charles whom +you do not yet know. Come, follow me." Limping, and leaning on his cane, +the Emperor moved towards the door, making a sign to the others to +follow; but stopping short at the threshold, he turned to Octave: "You, +go to Hugh, my Master of the Hounds, and notify him that I shall hunt +deer in the forest of Oppenheim. Let him send there the hounds, horses +and all other equipments of the chase." + +"August Prince, your orders will be executed." + +"You will also say to the Grand Nomenclator of my table that I may take +dinner in the pavilion of the forest, especially if the hunt lasts long. +My suite will dine there also. Let the repast be sumptuous. You will +tell the Nomenclator that my taste has not changed. A good large joint +of roast venison, served piping hot, is now, as ever, my favorite +treat." + +The young Roman again bowed low; Charles stepped out first from the +chamber. He was followed by Eginhard, then by Amael. As Vortigern was +about to follow his grandfather, he was retained for an instant by +Octave, who, approaching his mouth to the lad's ear, whispered to him: + +"I shall carry to the apartments of the Emperor's daughters the news +that he intends to hunt to-day. By Venus! The mother of love has you +under her protecting wings, my young Breton." + +The lad blushed anew, and was about to answer the Roman when he heard +Amael's voice calling out to him: "Come, my child, the Emperor wishes to +lean on your arm in order to descend the stairs and walk through the +palace." + +More and more disturbed in mind, Vortigern stepped towards Charles as +the latter was saying to the chamberlains: "No, nobody is to accompany +me except the two Bretons and Eginhard;" and nodding to the lad he +proceeded: "Your arm will be a better support to me than my cane; these +stairs are steep; step carefully." + +Supported by Vortigern's arm the Emperor slowly descended the steps of a +staircase that ran out at one of the porticos of an interior courtyard. +When the bottom was reached Charles dropped the young man's arm, and +resuming his cane, said: "You stepped cleverly; you are a good guide. +What a pity that you do not know how to sing mass in the choir!" While +thus chattering, Charles followed a gallery that ran along the +courtyard. The men who accompanied him marched a few steps behind. +Presently the Emperor noticed a slave crossing the courtyard with a +large hamper on his shoulders. "Halloa! You, there, with the basket!" +the Emperor called out in his piercing voice. "You, there, with the +basket! Come here! What have you in that basket?" + +"Eggs, seigneur." + +"Where are you taking them to?" + +"To the kitchen of the august Emperor." + +"Where do those eggs come from?" + +"From the Muhlsheim farm, seigneur." + +"From the Muhlsheim farm?" the Emperor repeated thoughtfully, and almost +immediately added: "There must be three hundred and twenty-five eggs in +that basket. Are there not?" + +"Yes, seigneur; that's the exact rent brought in every month from the +farm." + +"You can go--and be careful you do not break the eggs." The Emperor +stopped for a moment, leaned heavily upon his cane, and turning to +Amael, called out to him: "Halloa, seigneur Breton, come here, draw +near me." Amael obeyed, and the Emperor resuming his walk proceeded to +say: "Charles the Fighter, the conqueror, is at least a good +husbander--does it not strike you that way? He knows to an egg how many +are laid by the hens on his farms. If you ever return to Brittany, you +must not fail to narrate the incident to the housekeepers of your +country." + +"If I ever again see my country, I shall tell the truth of what I have +seen." + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE PALATINE SCHOOL. + + +Thus chatting, the Emperor Charles the Great arrived before a door that +opened on the gallery. He knocked with his cane, and a clerk dressed in +black opened. Struck with surprise, the clerk bent the knee and cried: +"The Emperor!" And as he seemed to be about to rush to the door of a +contiguous hall, the Emperor ordered him to stop: + +"Do not budge! Master Clement is giving his lessons, is he?" + +"Yes, my august Prince!" + +"Remain where you are," and addressing Amael: "Seigneur Breton, you +shall now visit a school that I have founded. It is under the direction +of Master Clement, a famous teacher, whom I have summoned from Scotland. +The sons of the principal seigneurs of my court come here, in obedience +to my orders, to study at this school, together with the poorest of my +attendants." + +"This is well done, Charles--I congratulate you on that!" + +"And yet it is Charles the Fighter that has done this good thing--let us +go in;" and turning to Vortigern: "Well, my young man, you who cannot +sing mass, open your eyes and ears at their widest; you are about to see +pupils of your own age, and of all conditions." + +The Palatine school, directed by the Scotchman Clement, into whose +precincts the two Bretons followed the Emperor, held about two hundred +pupils. All rose at their benches at the sight of Charles, but he +motioned to them to resume their seats, saying: + +"Be seated, my boys; I prefer to see you with your noses in your books, +than in air, under the pretext of respect for me." And seeing that +Master Clement, the director of the school, was himself about to descend +from his high desk, Charles cried out to him: "Remain on your throne of +knowledge, my worthy master; here I am only one of your subjects. I only +wanted to cast a glance over the work of these boys, and to learn from +you whether they have made any progress during my absence. Let the boys +come forward, one by one, with the copy-books in which to-day's work is +being done." + +The Emperor prided himself not a little on his literacy. He sat down on +a stool near the chair of Master Clement, and carefully examined the +copy-books brought to him. It appeared that the pupils who were the sons +of noble or rich parents, exhibited to the Emperor mediocre, or even +poor work, while, on the other hand, the poorer pupils, or those whose +parents were of lower rank, exhibited such excellent work that Charles, +turning to Amael, said: "If you were as proficient in letters as myself, +seigneur Breton, you would be able to appreciate, as I do, these +manuscripts that I have just been looking over. The sweetest flavor of +science is exhaled by these writings." Thereupon addressing the scholars +who had distinguished themselves, the Emperor said impressively: "I give +you great praise, my children, for the zeal you display in carrying out +my wishes; strive after perfection, and I shall endow you with rich +bishoprics and magnificent abbeys." The Emperor stopped and turned +towards the lazy noblemen's sons and the sons of the idle rich; his brow +puckered, and casting upon them an angry look, he cried out: "As to you, +the sons of my Empire's principal men, as to you, dainty and prim lads, +who, resting upon your birth and fortune, have neglected my orders and +your studies, preferring play and idleness--as to you," the Emperor +proceeded in a voice of ever heightening anger, and smiting the table +with his cane, "as to you, look for admiration from other quarters than +mine. I care nothing for your birth and your fortune! Listen to my words +and keep them firm in your minds: if you do not hasten to make amends +for your negligence by constant application, you will never receive +aught from me!" + +The rich idlers dropped their eyes all of a tremble. The Emperor rose +and said to a young clerk, named Bernard, barely twenty years of age, +the excellence of whose work had attracted Charles' attention: "And you, +my lad, you may now follow me. I appoint you from to-day a clerk in my +chapel, nor will the evidence of my protection end there." + +The Emperor looked satisfied with himself. With a complaisant air he +turned to Amael: "Well now, seigneur Breton, you have seen Charles the +Fighter, emulating in his humble capacity of man, the acts of our Lord +God when on earth. He separates the wheat from the chaff, he places the +just at his right, the wicked at his left. If you ever return to +Brittany, you will tell the school-masters of your country that Charles +is not altogether a bad superintendent of the schools that he has +founded." + +"I shall say, Charles, that I saw you officiating in the midst of the +pupils with wisdom, justice, and kindness." + +"I wish letters and science to shed splendor upon my reign. Were you +less of a barbarian, I would have you assist at a sitting of our +academy. We there assume the illustrious names of antiquity. Eginhard is +called 'Homer,' Clement 'Horace,' and I 'King David.' These immortal +names fit us as giants' armors do pigmies. But, at least, we do honor, +at our best, to those geniuses. Now, however," said the Emperor, rising +and breaking off the thread of his discourse on his academy, "let us, +like good Catholics, proceed to church, and hear mass upon our knees." + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE BISHOP OF LIMBURG. + + +Preceding his suite, that consisted of Eginhard, Amael, Vortigern and +the newly-created clerk Bernard, the Emperor left the school-room and +hobbled his way along a winding gallery. Encountering at one of the +sharp and rather dark turns a young and handsome female slave, Charles +addressed her with the same familiarity that he ever used towards the +innumerable women of all conditions that stocked the palace. The Emperor +chucked her under the chin, put his arm around her waist, and was about +to carry his libertine freedom even further when, recollecting that, +despite the darkness of the spot, he might be seen by the men in his +suite, he motioned to the female slave that she withdraw, and laughing, +observed to Amael: "Charles likes to show himself accessible to his +subjects." + +"And above all to the female ones," retorted the aged Breton. "But I +know that the priest's holy-water sprinkler will readily absolve you of +all your sins." + +"Oh, the pagan of a Breton; the pagan of a Breton!" murmured the Emperor +as he hobbled along and presently entered the basilica of +Aix-la-Chapelle, contiguous to the palace. + +Vortigern and his grandfather were both dazzled by the indescribable +magnificence of the temple, where all the attendants at the imperial +palace were now gathered. At a distance Vortigern discerned, seated near +the choir and among the numerous concubines of Charles, the Emperor's +daughters and grand-daughters, clad in brilliant apparel, with the +blonde and charming Thetralde close to her sister Hildrude. The Emperor +took his accustomed seat at the chanter's desk among the sumptuously +dressed choristers. One of these respectfully offered the Emperor an +ebony baton, with which he beat time and gave the signal for the several +chants in the liturgy. A little before the end of each stanza Charles, +by way of signal, would raise his shrill voice and emit a gutteral cry, +so strange and weird, that, on one of these occasions, Vortigern, whose +eyes had accidentally encountered the large blue eyes of Thetralde +obstinately fixed upon him, could hardly keep from laughing outright. So +ridiculous was the figure cut by the Emperor, that despite the imposing +appearance of the ceremony and despite the embarrassment into which the +glances of Thetralde threw him, the youth's sense of decorum was +severely taxed. + +The mass being over, Charles said to Amael: "Well, now, seigneur Breton, +admit that, at a pinch, however much of a fighter I may be, I would make +a passable clerk and a good chaunter." + +"I am not skilled in such matters. Yet I am free to tell you that, as a +singer, the cries you uttered were frequently more discordant than those +of the sea-gulls along our Brittany beach. Moreover, to me it looks as +if the head of an Empire should have better things to do than to sing +mass." + +"You will ever remain a barbarian and an idolater," cried the Emperor, +stepping out of the basilica. At that moment, and still under the +portico of the monumental building, a dignitary of the court pushed +himself forward and bowing low, said to Charles: + +"August Prince, magnanimous Emperor, tidings have just been received of +the death of the Bishop of Limburg." + +"Oh! Oh! Only now? That surprises me greatly. People are so hot after +the quarry of bishoprics that the death of a bishop is always announced +two or three days in advance. Did the deceased bishop die in the odor of +sanctity? Did he commend himself to the next world by the founding of +pious establishments, or by rich bequests to the poor?" + +"August Prince, it is said that he bequeathed only two pounds of silver +to the poor." + +"How light a viaticum for so long a journey!" exclaimed a voice. It +proceeded from Bernard, the poor and learned pupil whom Charles had just +appointed clerk of his own chapel, and who, agreeable to the orders of +the Emperor, had kept close to his master since they left the Palatine +school. + +Charles turned abruptly towards the young man, who, crimson with +confusion, already regretted the boldness of his language and was +trembling at every limb. "Follow me!" said Charles with severity; and +observing that other dignitaries of the court took the call as if +addressed to themselves, he added: "No, only the two Bretons, Eginhard +and the young clerk. The rest of you may keep yourselves in readiness +for the hunt that we shall start upon in a few minutes." + +The brilliant crowd kept itself aloof, and the Emperor regained the +gallery of the palace accompanied only by Vortigern, Amael, Eginhard and +the poor Bernard, the last more dead than alive. The clerk walked last, +fearing that he had angered the Emperor by his stinging sally on the +niggardliness of the deceased bishop. The surprise of the young clerk +was, accordingly, great when, arrived at the extremity of the gallery, +Charles half turned to him, and with beaming eyes, said: + +"Draw near, draw near! Do you really think the Bishop of Limburg left +too little money for the poor?" + +"Seigneur, pardon my inadvertent boldness!" + +"Answer. If I bestow that bishopric upon you, would you, the day you +appear before God, have a better record for liberality than the Bishop +of Limburg?" + +"August Prince," answered the clerk, his head swimming at the thought of +such unheard-of good fortune, and dropping on his knees: "It rests with +God and your will to decide my fate." + +"Arise. I appoint you Bishop of Limburg. But follow me. It will be well +for you to learn, from personal observation, the greed with which +bishoprics are striven for. The riches that they entail may be judged +from the ardor with which their possession is pursued. And yet, once +won, the cupidity of the incumbents, so far from being assuaged, seems +whetted. Do you remember, Eginhard, that insolent Bishop of Mannheim? +When, at the time of one of my campaigns against the Huns, I left him +near my wife Hildegarde, did not the worthy feel so inflated with the +friendship that my wife showed him, that he carried his audacity to the +point of demanding from her as a gift the gold wand that I use as a +symbol of my authority, for the purpose, as that impudent bishop +declared, of using it for a cane? By the King of the Heavens! The +sceptre of Charles, of the Emperor, is not so readily to be converted +into a walking stick for the bishops of his empire!" + +"You are in error, Charles," put in Amael. "Sooner or later, the bishops +will use your sceptre for a baton by means of which to drive peoples +and kings as may suit themselves." + +"By the hammer of my grandfather! I will break the bishops' mitres on +their own heads if ever they dare to usurp my power!" + +"No; you will do no such thing, and for the simple reason that you stand +in fear of them. As a proof, behold the vast estates and the flatteries +that you shower upon them." + +"I, fear the bishops!" cried the Emperor; and turning to Eginhard: "Is +that matter of the rat settled with the Jew?" + +"Yes, seigneur," answered Eginhard, smiling. "The bishop closed the +bargain yesterday." + +"That happens in time to prove to you that I am not afraid of the +bishops, seigneur Breton--I, flatter them? When, on the contrary, I miss +no opportunity to give them severe or gentle lessons wherever they +deserve reproof. As to the worthy ones, I enrich them; and even then I +look twice before bestowing upon them lands and abbeys belonging to the +imperial domains. And the reason is plain. With this or that abbey or +farm I am certain of securing to myself some soldier vassal greatly more +faithful than many a count or bishop." + +Thus pleasantly chatting, the Emperor regained his palace, and in the +company of Vortigern, Amael, Eginhard and the freshly appointed Bishop +of Limburg, re-ascended the steep spiral staircase that led to his +private apartment. Hardly had Charles entered his observatory when one +of his chamberlains announced to him: + +"August Emperor, several of the leading officers in the palace have +solicited the honor of being admitted to your presence in order to lay a +pressing request before you--the noble lady, Mathalgarde (she was one of +the numerous concubines of Charles) also called twice on the same +errand. She awaits your orders." + +"Let the petitioners come in," answered Charles to the chamberlain, who +immediately left the room. Addressing the young clerk, now bishop, with +a jovial yet impressive air, Charles pointed to the curtain of the door, +near which his usual seat was located, and said: "Hide yourself behind +that curtain, young man; you are about to learn the number of rivals +that the death of a bishop raises. It will aid your education." + +The young clerk had barely vanished behind the curtain, before the +chamber was invaded by a large number of the palace familiars, officers +and seigneurs at court. Urging their own claims, or the claims of the +clients whom they recommended, the mob deafened the Emperor's ears with +their clamor. Among these was a bishop magnificently robed, and of +haughty, imperious mien. He elbowed himself forward into Charles' +presence as fast as he could. + +"This is the bishop of the rat," Eginhard whispered to the Emperor. "The +price he paid the Jew was ten thousand silver sous. The Jew scrupulously +reported the amount to me, as you ordered." + +"Bishop of Bergues, have you not enough with one bishopric?" Charles +cried out to the haughty prelate. "Do you come to solicit a second?" + +"August Prince--I have come to pray you that you grant me the bishopric +of Limburg, just vacant, in exchange for that of Bergues." + +"Because the former is richer?" + +"Yes, seigneur; and if I obtain it, the share of the poor will only be +all the larger." + +"Now, all of you, listen to me attentively," the Emperor cried, pointing +his finger at the bishop and in a tone of severity: "Knowing the +passionate love of this prelate for frivolous and ruinous curiosities, +which he purchases at prodigious prices, I ordered the Jew Solomon to +catch a rat in his house, the vilest looking rat ever caught in a +rat-trap, to embalm the beast in precious aromatics, to wrap it up in +oriental materials embroidered in gold, to offer it to the Bishop of +Bergues as a most rare rat imported from Judea upon a Venetian vessel, +and to sell it to the prelate as the most prodigious and miraculous of +rats." + +A loud outburst of laughter broke from the throats of all the +dignitaries in the audience, except the Bishop of Bergues, who +shamefacedly cast down his eyes. "Now, then," proceeded Charles, "do you +know what price the Bishop of Bergues paid for that prodigious rat? _Ten +thousand silver sous!_ The Jew reported to me the amount--which will be +distributed among the poor!" Charles stopped for a moment, and presently +resumed with heightened severity: "Ye bishops, have a care! It should be +your duty to be the fathers, the purveyors of the poor, and not to show +yourselves greedy of vain frivolities. Yet here you are, doing exactly +the opposite. More than all other mortals are you given to avarice and +idle cupidity! By the King of the Heavens, take a care! The Emperor's +hand raised you, it may also pull you down. Keep that in mind." + +As Charles was uttering these last words, the courtiers were seen to +part and make way for Mathalgarde, one of the Emperor's concubines. The +woman, a dame of surpassing beauty, approached Charles with a confident +air and said to him gracefully: + +"My kind Seigneur, the bishopric of Limburg is vacant. I have promised +it to a clerk who is under my protection, not doubting your kind +approval." + +"Dear Mathalgarde, I have bestowed the bishopric upon a young man--a +very learned and deserving young man; I could not think of taking it +back from him." + +Mathalgarde was not disconcerted. Assuming the most insinuating voice at +her command, she seized one of the Emperor's hands and proceeded +tenderly: "August Prince, my gracious master, why bestow the bishopric +so ill by giving it to a young man, perhaps a child. I conjure you, +grant the bishopric to my clerk." + +Suddenly a plaintive voice that proceeded from behind the curtain fell +upon the startled ears of the attendants: "Seigneur Emperor, be +firm--allow not that a mortal tear from your hands the power that God +has placed in them. Be firm, Seigneur." It was the voice of poor +Bernard, who, fearing Charles was about to allow himself to be seduced +by the caressing words of Mathalgarde, wished to remind him of his +promise. The Emperor immediately rolled back the curtain, behind which +the clerk stood, took him by the hand, drew him forward, and presenting +him to the audience, said: "This is the new Bishop of Limburg!" Before +the audience could recover from their stupor Charles said to Bernard in +a voice loud and piercing enough to be heard by all present: "Do not +forget to distribute abundant alms--it will some day be your viaticum on +that long journey from which man never returns." + +The beautiful Mathalgarde, whose hopes had thus been rudely dashed, +reddened with anger and abruptly left the apartment. The other +courtiers, along with the Bishop of Bergues, speedily followed the +chagrined woman, no less disappointed than herself. + +"Seigneur Breton," the Emperor said, as soon as the chamber was cleared, +and motioning Amael to approach the door, which he opened wider to step +out upon the balcony and enjoy the pleasant warmth of the autumn sun, +"do you still think Charles is of a mood to allow the bishops to use his +sceptre for a baton with which to drive him and his people?" + +"Charles, should it please you this evening, the experiences of the day +being over, to accord me a short interview, I shall then express to you +sincerely my thoughts upon all that I have seen here. I shall praise +what seems good to me--and I shall censure the evil." + +"Then you see evil here!" + +"Here--and elsewhere." + +"How 'elsewhere'?" + +"Do you imagine that your palace and your city of Aix-la-Chapelle, this +favorite residence of yours, is all there is of Gaul?" + +"What do you say of Gaul! I have just traversed the North of those +regions. I have been as far as Boulogne, where I had a lighthouse +erected for the protection of the ships. Moreover--" but breaking off, +the Emperor pointed in the direction of that portion of the courtyard +that the balcony commanded, saying: "Look yonder--listen!" + +Amael saw near one of the galleries a young man, robust and tall of +stature, wearing a thick black beard, and clad in the robes of a bishop. +Two of his slaves had just brought out to him a gentle horse, as befits +a prelate, and led the animal near a stone bench in order to aid their +master in mounting. But the young bishop, having noticed two women +looking at him from a nearby casement, and no doubt wishing to give +them a proof of his agility, impatiently ordered his attendants to take +the horse from the bench. Thereupon, disdaining even the help of a +stirrup, he seized the animal's mane with one hand and gave so vigorous +a jump that he had great difficulty to keep his saddle, lest he fall +over on the other side. The perilous leap attracted the Emperor's +attention to the prelate, and he called out to him in his shrill, +squeaky voice: "Eh! Eh! You, there, my nimble prelate. One word with +you, if you please!" The young man looked up, and recognizing Charles, +respectfully bowed his head. + +"You are quick and agile; you have good feet, good arms and a good eye. +The quiet of our empire is every day disturbed by wars. We stand in +great need of 'clerks' of your kidney. You shall stay with us and share +with us our fatigues, seeing you can mount a horse so nimbly. I shall +bestow your bishopric upon someone who is less sprightly. You shall take +your place among my men-at-arms." + +The young bishop lowered his head in confusion. He looked at the Emperor +with a suppliant eye. But the latter's attention was speedily drawn from +the discomfited prelate by the distant barking of a large pack of +hounds, and the reveille of hunting trumps. + +"It is my hunting-train," exclaimed the Emperor. "We shall depart for +the hunt, seigneur Breton. This evening we shall continue our chat. +Return with your grandson to your apartment. You will be served the noon +meal. After that you will both join me. I am curious to see whether this +youngster is as good a horseman as report makes him. Moreover, although +the exercise of the chase is a frivolous pastime, you may, perhaps, find +that Charles the Fighter makes good use even of frivolities. Be off now +to dinner--and then, to horse!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +TO THE HUNT. + + +Octave had come to take Amael and his grandson to the noon meal. While +they walked towards one of the courtyards of the palace, in order to +join the hunting suite of the Emperor, the young Roman, profiting by a +moment when the aged Breton could not overhear him, said in a low voice +to Vortigern: + +"Lucky boy. I am convinced that two pairs of eyes, one black as ebony, +the other of azure blue, have been peering through the crowd of +courtiers--" but interrupting the flow of his words at the sight of the +deep crimson that suffused the lad's visage, he proceeded to say: "Wait +till I have finished before you grow purple. Well, as I was saying, two +beautiful blue eyes and two equally beautiful black ones have, more than +once, sought to detect in the crowd of courtiers--Whom?--the venerable +figure of your grandfather, because there is nothing so attractive as a +long white beard. So much is that so that this forenoon, at mass, the +blonde Thetralde and the brunette Hildrude quite forgot the thread of +the divine service in order to contemplate incessantly--your +grandfather, who was seated next to you. Come, now, you are blushing +again. Are you, perchance, afraid lest the fascinating daughters of the +Emperor fall in love with the centenarian?" + +"Your jokes are becoming insupportable." + +"Oh, how contagious is the court air. Hardly is this Breton away from +his native fogs than he has become as full of wiles as an old clerk." + +More and more embarrassed by the banterings of Octave, Vortigern only +stammered a few words. The noon meal was disposed of. The aged Breton, +his grandson and the young Roman were presently mounted upon their +spirited horses that they found held ready for them by slaves in the +courtyard of the palace, and they rode briskly out to join the Emperor. + +Two of the sons of Charles, Carloman and Louis, or Luthwig as the Franks +pronounced it, had arrived that same morning from their castle of +Heristal and now accompanied their father, together with five of his +daughters and four of his concubines, the other women of the palace +being this time excluded from the hunt. Among the huntresses was Imma, +the paramour who had so bravely borne Eginhard, the archchaplain, upon +her back. Still handsome, she now bordered on the full ripeness of +womanhood. Near her rode Bertha, searching with her eyes for Enghilbert, +the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier. A little behind the couple came +Adelrude, who, from afar, smiled upon Audoin, one of Charles' most +daring captains. Last of all trotted the brunette Hildrude, together +with the blonde Thetralde, both endeavoring to detect, no doubt, the +Breton centenarian, as Octave had told Vortigern. Most of the seigneurs +of Charles' suite wore singular costumes, brought at great expense from +Pavia, whither commerce unloaded the riches of the Orient. Among the +Emperor's courtiers, some were clad in tunics of Tyrian purple furnished +with broad capes, ornamented with facings of embroidered Phoenician +birds'-skin, while feathers of Asiatic peacocks' tail, neck and back, +caused their rich vestments to glitter in all the shades of blue, gold, +and emerald. Others of the courtiers wore precious jackets of Judean +dormouse, or weasel--gowns much prized and as dainty and delicate as the +skin of a bird. Finally caps with floating feathers, leggings of silk, +boots of oriental red or green leather, embroidered with gold or silver, +completed the splendid accoutrement of these people of the court. + +The rude rusticity of the Emperor's costume stood off in marked contrast +with the magnificence of his courtiers. His coarse and large leather +boots, furnished with iron spurs, reached up to his thighs; under his +tunic he wore a broad sheep-skin coat with the fleece on the outside, +and his head was covered with a cap of badger-skin. In his hand the +Emperor carried a short-handled whip which he used to stir up the +hunting dogs with. Thanks to his tall stature, which greatly exceeded +that of any of his officers, Charles was able to detect Vortigern and +Amael from afar, whereupon he cried out to the grandfather: + +"Eh, seigneur Breton. Come, if you please, to my side, with your +grandson. I wish to ascertain whether, indeed, he is as good a horseman +as my little girls claim." + +The ranks of the courtiers parted in order to allow a passage to Amael +and his grandson, the latter of whom modestly followed his grandfather, +not daring to raise his eyes lest they should fall upon the group of +women that surrounded the Emperor. Charles watched Vortigern +attentively, and the gracefulness with which the youth handled his +horse, drew from the Emperor the remark: + +"Old Charles can judge at a glance of the skill of a rider. I am +satisfied. But I suspect you love the hunt better than you do the mass, +and a horse's saddle better than a church bench." + +"I do prefer the hunt to the mass," frankly responded Vortigern; "but I +prefer war to the hunt." + +"Though your answer is not that of a good Catholic, it is the answer of +a sincere lad. What do you think, my little ones?" added the Emperor, +turning towards the group of huntresses. "Are you not of my mind?" + +"You asked the young man for his opinion, and he spoke out with +sincerity. He says what he does; he will do what he says. Valor and +loyalty are written upon his face," was the prompt answer that came from +Hildrude. + +The blonde Thetralde, not daring to speak after her elder sister, grew +cherry-red, and cast a look of intense jealousy, almost of rage, upon +the brunette Hildrude, whose quick repartee she envied. + +"There is nothing left to me but to join in the praise of the young +pagan's frankness, lest I get into trouble with my little girls. Come +forward," and leaning over towards Amael, he pointed angrily with his +whip at the crowd of courtiers who shimmered in their costly finery, and +prinked in their flowing plumes. "Look at that bevy of richly +caparisoned customers. Look at them well. You will presently wish to +remember the figures they are now cutting," saying which, the Emperor +rode off at a gallop, followed by all his court, and calling out to the +courtiers as well as to the Bretons: + +"Once in the forest, each to himself, and at the mercy of his own horse. +At the hunt there is neither Emperor nor courtier. There are only +hunters and huntresses!" + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE FOREST OF OPPENHEIM. + + +The hunt to which Charles the Emperor had galloped off with the buoyancy +of youth, took place in a vast forest located at the very gate of +Aix-la-Chapelle. The autumn sky, at first radiant, had been gradually +overcast by one of the mists that are so frequent at the season and in +that northern region. Obedient to the Emperor's orders, none of his +courtiers attached himself to his steps. The hunters scattered. The more +daring and venturesome did not quit the pack, now fretting in their +leashes to start in pursuit of the deer across the thickets. The less +daring and less enthusiastic sportsmen contented themselves with +following at a distance the sound of the horns or the barking of the +hounds; they straggled behind, or waited to see the deer dash across +their path with the hounds and hunters at his heels. From the very start +of the hunt, Charles, carried away by his ardor for the sport, left his +daughters to themselves, unable as they were to follow him through the +thickest of the jungle, into which the Emperor of the Franks plunged +like the hottest of his huntsmen. For an instant, separated from his +grandfather in the rush and crush of the tumultuous assembly, where +nearly a hundred horses, gathered in a small space, were excited by the +din of the horns, to which they added their own impatient neighing, +champed their bits and reared wildly, Vortigern raised himself in his +stirrups and searched with his eyes for Amael, when suddenly his own +horse took the bit in his mouth and galloped off rapidly with his rider. +When the young Breton finally succeeded, by dint of violent efforts, to +master his mount, he found himself at a considerable distance from the +chase. Seeking to penetrate with his eyes the mist that spread ever +further and thicker over the forest, the young man perceived that he was +on a long avenue whose issues it was impossible to distinguish. He +listened, expecting to hear from the distance the noise of the chase, +which would have guided him in his efforts to joint it. The profoundest +silence reigned in this part of the forest. A moment later, however, the +tramp of two horses rapidly approaching from behind, struck his ears, +and immediately after, a cry, uttered in anger rather than fear. An +instant later, Vortigern detected a vague form across the mist. By +degrees the form became distinct, and soon the blonde Thetralde was +disclosed to the wondering eyes of the young Breton, urging on her +horse, and clad in a long robe of sapphire blue cloth, trimmed with +ermine, white as the coat of her palfrey. On her blonde tresses +Thetralde wore a small cap, also of ermine. A sash of Tyrean silk of +lively colors, the long ends of which fluttered behind her in the air, +was wound around her delicate waist. The childlike and charming visage +of the Emperor's daughter, now enhanced by the ardor of her run, shone +with the flush of health. Blushing at the sight of Vortigern, Thetralde +dropped her large blue eyes, while the tight corsage of her robe rose +and sank under the throbs of her maidenly bosom. Vortigern's disturbance +equalled Thetralde's. Like her, he remained mute and embarrassed. His +eyes also were lowered, and he felt his heart beat violently. The silent +embarrassment of the two children was broken by Thetralde. In a timid +and diffident voice she said to the young Breton without daring to raise +her eyes to him: + +"I thought I would never be able to join thee. Thy horse had such a long +lead of my palfrey--" + +"My horse carried me away--" + +"Oh, I noticed it--my sister Hildrude also," Thetralde added frowning +with her pretty eyebrows. "Both of us thereupon rushed in thy +pursuit--we feared that in thy unacquaintance with the paths of our +forest thou mightest lose thy way." + +"It did seem to me that I heard the gallop of two horses--" + +"My sister wished to run ahead of me; but I struck her horse on the head +with my whip. The frightened animal bolted to one side, carrying +Hildrude along. She was angry and uttered a cry of rage." + +"Perhaps she runs some danger!" + +"No, my sister will be able to master her horse. But as the mist is very +thick, she will not be able to meet us again. I am so happy about that!" + +Vortigern felt on the rack. Nevertheless, an ineffable sense of joy +mingled with his agony. Anew the two children remained silent, and again +the daughter of the Emperor of the Franks was the one to break the +silence: + +"Thou dost not speak--art thou annoyed that I have joined thee?" + +"Oh, no, lovely princess--" + +"Perhaps thou thinkest me wicked because I struck my sister's horse? +When I saw her striving to pass me, I no longer could control myself." + +"I hope that no ill may have befallen your sister." + +"I hope so too." + +For a moment Thetralde and Vortigern again relapsed into silence. With a +slight touch of vexation the young girl once more resumed the +conversation: + +"Thou art very quiet--" + +"I know not what to say--" + +"Nor I either; and yet I was dying with the wish to speak to thee--what +is thy name?" + +"Vortigern." + +"I am called Thetralde--pronounce my name." + +"Thetralde--" + +"I love to hear thee pronounce my name." + +"Where do you think the hunt is now?" asked the young Breton with +increasing uneasiness. "It will be difficult to find the hunters. The +mist grows ever denser." + +"Should we lose ourselves," Thetralde replied laughing, "I do not know +the paths of the forest." + +"Why did you not, then, remain near the people of the court and the +seigneurs of the escort?" + +"I saw thee running off rapidly, and I followed thee." + +"That throws both you and me into a great perplexity." + +"Art thou sorry to find thyself alone here with me?" + +"Not at all!" cried Vortigern, "only I fear that this dense mist may +change into rain towards evening, and that you may get wet. We should +try and join the chase. Do you not think so?" + +"In what direction shall we go?" + +"It seemed to me a moment ago I heard the feeble sound of horns at a +great distance." + +"Let us listen again," said Thetralde, bending her charming head to one +side, while Vortigern sought to listen from the opposite side. + +"Dost thou hear anything?" queried the Emperor's daughter raising her +sweet voice and addressing Vortigern, who stood at a little distance. "I +can hear nothing." + +"Nor I either," rejoined the young Breton. + +"Here we are lost!" cried the young girl laughing merrily. "And if night +overtakes us, what a terrible thing!" + +"And you laugh at such a plight?" + +"Is it that thou art afraid, and thou a soldier?" But immediately the +handsome face of Thetralde assumed an uneasy look and she observed: +"Does thy wound hurt thee, my brave companion?" + +"I am not thinking of my wound. I am only uneasy at perceiving that the +mist grows still thicker. How can we regain our route? Whither could we +go?" + +"But I do wish to speak of thy wound," replied Charles' daughter with +infantine impatience. "Why is not thy arm any longer protected by a +scarf, as it was yesterday?" + +"It would have incommoded me in the chase." + +Thetralde quickly detached her long belt of Tyrean silk and held it out +to Vortigern. "Take this, my belt will take the place of thy scarf, and +sustain thy arm." + +"It is unnecessary, I assure you." + +"Bad boy!" cried Thetralde, holding out her belt to Vortigern; and +fixing upon him her beautiful blue eyes, almost imploringly said: "I beg +of thee; do not refuse me!" + +Vanquished by the timid and loving look, the young Breton accepted the +scarf; but as he held the reins of his horse with one hand he found it +difficult to fasten the belt into a scarf-band around his neck. + +"Wait," and Thetralde approached her palfrey close to Vortigern's horse, +leaned over in her saddle, took the two ends of the belt and tied them +behind the lad's neck. The touch of the young girl's hand sent so wild a +thrill through his frame that Thetralde, noticing the circumstance, +said, as she finished the knot: "Thou tremblest--is it out of fear, or +out of cold?" + +"The mist is becoming so thick, so wet," answered Vortigern, with +increasing uneasiness. "Are not you yourself cold? I very much fear for +you in this icy mist--" + +"Fear not for me. But seeing thou art cold, we can walk our horses. It +would be useless to move any faster. Perhaps the chase that we are in +search of will come our way." + +"So much the better!" + +"I am delighted to learn that thy grandfather and thyself will remain a +long time with us." + +"May we be fortunate enough to do so!" + +The two children continued their way, walking their horses side by side +in the long avenue, where one could see not twenty paces ahead, so thick +had the mist become. Night presently began to draw near. After a short +interval of mutual silence, Thetralde resumed: + +"We Franks are the enemies of the people of thy country; and yet I feel +no enmity whatever towards thee; and thou, dost thou entertain any +hatred for me?" + +"I could not feel hatred for a young girl." + +"Thou must feel very sorry for being far away from thy own country. +Wouldst thou wish me to ask the Emperor, my father, to render grace to +thy grandfather and thyself?" + +"A Breton never asks for grace!" proudly cried Vortigern. "My +grandfather and I are hostages, prisoners on parole; we shall submit to +the law of war." + +A fresh interval of silence followed upon this exchange of words. But +soon, as Vortigern had foreseen, the dense mist changed into a fine and +penetrating rain. + +"The rain is upon us!" exclaimed the young Breton. "Not a sound is +heard. This route seems to be endless. No! here is a side path to the +left. Shall we take it?" + +"As it may please thee," answered Thetralde with indifference. + +The girl was about to turn her horse's head, agreeable to the suggestion +of Vortigern, when the latter suddenly leaped down from his mount, +detached the belt of his sword, took off his blouse, remaining in his +thick jacket of the material of his breeches, and said to Thetralde: + +"I consented to accept your scarf. It is now your turn. You must now +consent to cover yourself with my blouse. It will serve you for a +mantle." + +"Place it on my shoulders," answered Thetralde blushing; "I dare not +drop the reins of my palfrey." + +No less agitated than his girl companion, Vortigern drew near her and +laid his garment on the shoulders of Thetralde. But when it came to +tying the sleeves of the blouse around her neck and almost upon the +palpitating bosom of the young girl, who, with her eyes lowered and her +cheeks burning, raised her little pink chin in order to afford Vortigern +full ease in the accomplishment of his kindly office, the hands of the +lad shook so violently, that his mission was not accomplished until +after repeated trials. + +"Thou art cold; thou art shivering worse than thou didst before." + +"It is not the cold that makes me shiver--" + +"What ails thee then?" + +"I know not--the uneasiness that I feel on your behalf, seeing that +night approaches. We have lost our way in the forest. The rain is coming +down heavier. And we know not what road to take--" + +Interrupting her companion with a cry of joy, Thetralde pointed with her +finger to one side of the avenue of trees that they were on, and +exclaimed: "There is a hut down yonder!" + +So there was. Vortigern perceived in the center of a cluster of +centenarian chestnut trees a hut constructed of thick layers of peat +heaped upon one another. A narrow opening gave entrance to the bower, +before which the remnants of some dry wood recently lighted were still +seen smouldering. "It is one of the huts in which the woodcutter slaves +take refuge during the day when it rains," explained Thetralde. "We +shall be then under cover. Tie thy horse to a tree and help me alight." + +At the bare thought of sharing the solitary retreat with the young girl, +Vortigern felt his heart thump under his ribs. A flush of burning fever +rose to his face while, nevertheless, he shivered. After a moment's +hesitation, the lad complied with the orders of his companion. He tied +his horse to a tree, and, in order to assist the young girl to alight +from her mount, he extended to her his arms and received within them the +supple and nimble body of Thetralde. So profound was the emotion +experienced by Vortigern at the touch of the maid, that he was almost +overcome. But the daughter of Charles, running towards the hut with +pretty curiosity, cried out merrily: + +"I see a moss-bank in the hut and a supply of dry wood. Let's light a +fire. There are still some embers burning. Hurry. Hurry." + +The lad hastened to join his companion and stumbled over a large log of +wood that rolled at his feet. Stooping, he saw strewn about it a large +number of burrs that had dropped down from the tall chestnut trees +overhead. At once forgetting his embarrassment, he exclaimed with +delight: + +"A discovery! Chestnuts! Chestnuts!" + +"What a find," responded Thetralde, no less delighted. "We shall roast +the chestnuts. I shall pick them up while thou startest the fire." + +The young Breton did as suggested by his girl companion, all the more +readily seeing that he hoped to find in the sport a refuge from the +vague, tumultuous and ardent thoughts, big at once with delight and +anxiety, that he had been a prey to from the moment of his meeting with +Thetralde. He entered the hut, took up several bunches of dry wood and +rekindled the brasier into flame, while the daughter of Charles, running +hither and thither, gathered a large supply of chestnuts which she +brought into the hut in a fold of her dress. Letting herself down upon +the moss-bank that lay at the further end of the hut, the interior of +which was now brightly lighted by the glare of the fire which burned +near the entrance, she said to Vortigern, motioning him to a seat near +her: + +"Sit down here, and help me shell these chestnuts." + +The lad sat down near Thetralde and entered with her into a contest of +swiftness in the shelling of chestnuts, during which, like herself, he +more than once pricked his fingers in the effort to extract the ripe +kernels from their burrs. Presently, looking into her face, he said +archly: + +"And here you have the daughter of the Emperor of the Franks; seated +inside of a peat hut and shelling chestnuts like any woodchopper and +slave's daughter." + +"Vortigern," answered Thetralde, returning the look of her companion +with a radiant face, "never was the daughter of the Emperor of the +Franks more happy than at this moment." + +"And I, Thetralde, I swear to you that since the day I left my mother, +my sister and Brittany, I have never been more pleased than to-day, than +now, near you." + +"And if to-morrow should resemble to-day? and if it should be thus for a +long time, a very long time--wouldst thou always be pleased?" + +"And you, Thetralde?" + +"Say 'thou' to me. We address one another with 'thou' in Germany. Say to +me: 'And thou, Thetralde?'" + +"But the respect--" + +"I say 'thou' to you, and do not respect you the less for it," rejoined +the maid laughing. "Say to me: 'And thou, Thetralde?'" + +"And thou, Thetralde?" + +"So thou wishest to know whether I would be happy at the thought of all +our days resembling this one, and our living together?" + +"Yes, my charming Princess!" + +The young maid remained pensive, holding in her delicate fingers a half +opened chestnut husk. Presently she raised her head and broke the +silence with the question: "Vortigern, is it far from here to thy +country?" + +"It took us more than a month to come here from Brittany." + +"Vortigern, what a beautiful journey that would make!" + +"What sayest thou?" + +Thetralde made a charming gesture commanding silence: "Hast thou any +money about thee?" + +And proceeding to detach from her belt a little embroidered purse, she +emptied its contents into her lap. There were several heavy pieces of +gold and a large number of smaller pieces of silver and copper. Two of +the latter, one of silver and one of copper, and both of about the size +of a denier, were pierced and tied together by a thread of gold. "This +is all my treasure," the girl observed. + +"Why are these two pieces tied together?" inquired Vortigern, with a +look of curiosity. + +"Oh, these two must never be spent. We must preserve them carefully. One +of them, the copper one, was struck the year of my birth; the other, the +silver one, was struck this year, when I shall be fifteen. Fabius, my +father's astronomer, has engraved upon these pieces certain magical +signs corresponding to planets of happy influence. The Bishop of +Aix-la-Chapelle blessed them. They are a talisman." + +"If it were not that they are a talisman, Thetralde, I would have +requested these two little pieces from thee as a souvenir of this day." + +"To what purpose wouldst thou keep a souvenir of this day rather than of +the next days to follow? Dost thou not desire that all should resemble +one another? If thou desirest these two little pieces, here, take them; +I give them to thee. A talisman is a useful thing on a journey. Place +them in the pocket of thy jacket." + +Vortigern obeyed almost mechanically, while the young girl, after +ingenuously counting up her little hoard, resumed, saying: "We here have +five gold sous, eight silver deniers, and twelve copper deniers; +besides my bracelets, my necklace and my earrings. With that we shall +have money enough to journey as far as Brittany. Night is upon us; we +shall spend it under the shelter of this hut. To-morrow we shall have +the woodcutter slave lead us to Werstern, a little burg situated on the +skirt of the forest, about two leagues from Aix-la-Chapelle. We shall +buy some simple clothing for myself, a traveling cloak of cloth. +To-morrow at daybreak we shall start on our route. Do not fear that I +shall recoil before fatigue. I am neither as tall nor as strong as my +sister Hildrude, and yet, if thou shouldst be tired or wounded, I am +sure I could carry thee on my back, just as my sister Imma once carried +her lover Eginhard on hers. But our chestnuts are now all shelled. Come +and help me to put them under the hot ashes. We shall eat them when +roasted." + +Raising with one hand the fold of her robe in which lay the nuts, +Thetralde ran to the brasier. Vortigern followed her. He felt as in a +dream. At times his reason gave way under the spell of an ardent and +intoxicating vertigo. He knelt down silently, disturbed in mind, beside +Thetralde before the brasier, into which the girl, steeped in thought, +was slowly throwing the chestnuts one by one. Without, the rain had +stopped; but the mist, now thickened to a fog with the approach of +night, rendered the darkness complete. The reflection of the brasier +only lighted up the charming faces of the two children on their knees +beside each other. When the last chestnut had followed the others under +the cinders, Thetralde rose, and leaning with familiar candor on +Vortigern's shoulders said to him, taking his hand: + +"And now, while thy supper is cooking, let us go back and sit down upon +the bench of moss for me to finish telling thee my prospects. I have +thought over what we are to do." + +The night became profound. The flickering, vacillating flame in the +expiring brasier seemed to cry for fresh fuel. The chestnuts, that had +been consigned to its warmth, snapped noisily from their hulls into the +air, announcing that their toothsome pulp was ready to be partaken of. +Without, the horse and the palfrey of Vortigern and Thetralde pawed the +ground and neighed impatiently, as if calling for their provender. The +fire finally went out. The chestnuts changed to charcoal. The neighings +of the horses resounded ever louder in the midst of the nocturnal +silence of the forest. Thetralde and Vortigern did not issue from the +hut. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +AT THE MORT. + + +From the start of the hunt, the Emperor of the Franks had rushed +headlong on the heels of the hounds. Amael, at first somewhat uneasy at +the disappearance of his grandson in the midst of so large a concourse +of cavaliers, was taken by accident towards that part of the forest +whither the stag was leading the hounds from cover to cover. Amael even +had the opportunity to assist, shortly before nightfall, at the killing +of the stag, which, exhausted with fatigue after four hours of +breathless running, turned at bay before the hounds when they had +reached him at last, and strove to defend himself against them with the +aid of the magnificent spread of antlers that crowned his head. The +Emperor had not for a moment lost track of the hounds. He followed them +speedily at the mort, together with a few others of the hunters. Jumping +from his horse, he ran limping towards the animal at bay that already +had gored several hounds with his sharp horns. Choosing with an +experienced eye the opportune moment, Charles drew his hunting knife, +and, rushing upon the desperate animal, plunged the weapon into the stag +just above its shoulder, threw it down and then abandoned it to the +hounds, that fiercely precipitated themselves upon the warm quarry and +devoured it amidst the sonorous fanfare of the hunters' horns that thus +announced the close of the chase and called their scattered fellows to +reassemble. With his bloody knife in his hand, and after having +contemplated with lively satisfaction the wild pack now red at their +nozzles and contending with one another for the shreds of the stag's +flesh, the Emperor's eyes fell upon Amael, to whom he called out gaily: + +"Eh, seigneur Breton--am I not a bold hunter?" + +"You will pardon my sincerity, but I find that at this moment the +Emperor of the Franks, with his long knife in his hand, and his boots +and coat spattered with blood, looks more like a butcher than like an +illustrious monarch." + +"I feel happy, nevertheless, and consequently inclined to be indulgent, +seigneur Breton," replied the Emperor, laughing; then, lowering his +voice, he observed to Amael: "Now, see how the clothes of the seigneurs +of my court look." + +In fact, most of the Emperor's seigneurs and officers, now hastening in +on horseback to his presence from all sides of the thickets in response +to the horns, presented an appearance that contrasted sadly with that +which they had presented a few hours before. Magnificently attired at +the start of the hunt, those seigneurs, who looked so resplendent in +their rich tunics of silk, now presented a sight that was as ridiculous +as it was pitiful. The embroideries on their tunics, at first so rich in +color, were now frayed, soiled with mud, and torn by the branches of the +trees and the thorns of the briars; the feathers that floated proudly +from their caps, now drooped, wet, broken and draggled, resembling long, +dislocated, and limp fish-bones; the boots of oriental leather had +vanished under a thick coat of slush, and not a few of them, torn by the +thorns, exposed their owners' hose, not infrequently also their skin +itself. They shivered and looked distressed. Charles, on the contrary, +simply and warmly dressed in his thick sheep-skin coat, which reached +down over his boots of rough leather, and his head covered with his +badger-skin bonnet, rubbed his hands with a cunning look of satisfaction +in his eyes at the sight of his courtiers shivering with the cold and +the wet. After contemplating the spectacle for a moment, Charles made a +sign of intelligence to Amael and said to him in an undertone: + +"Just before breaking ranks for the hunt, I recommended you to observe +the magnificence of the costumes of these coxcombs, who are as vain as +Asiatic peacocks, and even more devoid of brains than the bird whose +spoils they wear. Look at them now--the fine fellows!" Amael smiled +approvingly, while the Emperor, shrugging his shoulders, turned to the +seigneurs with his squalling voice: "Oh, ye most foolish of people, +which is at this moment the most precious and useful of all our raiment? +Mine, which I bought with barely a sou? Or yours, which you have had to +pay for through the nose?" + +At this judicious raillery, the courtiers remained silent and confused, +while the Emperor, placing both his hands on his spacious paunch, roared +out aloud. + +"Charles," Amael said to him unheard by the others, "I prefer to hear +you speak with that sly wisdom than to see you disemboweling stags." + +But the Emperor did not answer the aged Breton. He suddenly interrupted +the discourse, extending his hand towards a group of nearby serfs, and +crying out: + +"Oh! Look at that pretty girl!" + +Amael followed with his eyes the direction indicated by Charles and saw +amid several of the woodcutter slaves of the forest who had been +attracted by curiosity to see the hunt, a young girl barely covered in +rags, but of remarkable beauty. A much younger child of about ten or +eleven years held her by the hand. A poor old woman, as wretchedly clad +as the girl, was in the company of the two. The Emperor of the Franks, +whose large eyes glistened like carbuncles with the fire of lust, +repeated, addressing Amael: + +"By the cape of St. Martin! The girl is beautiful. Is it that your +hundred years on your back render you insensible to the sight of such +rare beauty, seigneur Breton? What a beautiful girl!" + +"Charles, the misery of that creature strikes me more strongly than her +beauty." + +"You are very commiserate, seigneur Breton--so am I. Linen and silk +should clothe so charming a figure. No doubt she is the daughter of some +woodman slave. I can tell you, one runs at times across wonderfully +beautiful girls in the forest. More than once I have dropped the chase +in the middle of the heat to pursue another scent. But in honor to +truth, I have never seen such a charmer before. It must be her good star +that brought her across the path of Charles." Without removing his eyes +from the young girl, Charles called to one of the seigneurs in his +suite: "Eh! Burchard. Come here; I have orders for you." + +The seigneur Burchard quickly alighted from his horse and hastened to +obey the call of the Emperor. The latter, moving a few steps away from +Amael, whispered a few words in the ear of the seigneur, who, showing +himself greatly honored with the mission given him by his master, bowed +respectfully, and, leading his horse by the bridle, approached the old +woman and the two younger girls who stood by her, motioned to them to +follow him, and vanished with his charge behind the group of hunters. A +deep flush colored the cheeks of Amael; he puckered his brows, and his +features became expressive of as much indignation as disgust. At that +same instant Amael noticed that the Emperor was looking about him with a +certain degree of uneasiness and calling out aloud: + +"Where are my little girls? Can they have lost track of the hunt?" + +"August Emperor," said one of the officers, "Richulff, who accompanied +your august daughters, told me that when the rain began to fall some of +them concluded to return to Aix-la-Chapelle, while the others decided to +seek the shelter of the pavilion, where you ordered supper to be held +ready." + +"Think of the timorous bodies! I wager that my little Thetralde is not +among the Amazons who are afraid of a drop of water, and who hastened +back to the palace. As they are all safe, I shall not worry. Let us +hasten to the pavilion ourselves, because I am ravenously hungry." And +remounting his horse, the Emperor added: "We shall find at the pavilion +the damsels who have preferred to sup with their father. The +stout-hearted lasses shall be well feasted, and I shall bestow rich +presents upon them." + +Seeing that Charles was manifesting some slight uneasiness on the score +of his daughters, Amael, in turn, began to feel preoccupied with regard +to Vortigern, whom, for some time, he had been searching for with his +eyes among the groups of the approaching knights. As his eyes fell upon +Octave, who just then came running in at a gallop, the aged Breton +inquired from him with no little anxiety: + +"Octave, have you seen my grandson anywhere?" + +"We parted company almost at the very start of the hunt." + +"He is not with us," proceeded Amael with increasing uneasiness. "Night +is here and he is not familiar with the paths of the forest." + +"Oh! Oh! seigneur Breton," put in the Emperor of the Franks, who, +immediately upon remounting his horse, had drawn near the aged man and +overheard his question to the young Roman, "you seem to feel uneasy +about your youngster. Well, what if he should have lost his way this +evening? He will find it again to-morrow. Do you fear he will die of one +night spent in the forest? Is not hunting the school of war? Come, come! +Be at ease. Besides, who knows," added Charles with a roguish air. +"Mayhap he encountered some pretty woodcutter's daughter in some of the +huts of the forest. It is like his years. You surely do not mean to make +a monk of him? Pretty lassies are meant for handsome lads." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +EMPEROR AND HOSTAGE. + + +Led by the Emperor of the Franks, the cavalcade of hunters rode towards +the pavilion where supper was to be partaken of before the return to +Aix-la-Chapelle. Charles called Amael to his side, and noticing, as they +rode, that the aged Breton continued preoccupied about Vortigern, the +Emperor turned to the centenarian with a merry twinkle in his eye: + +"What do you think of this day? Have you recovered from your prejudices +against Charles the Fighter? Do you think me at all worthy to govern my +Empire, a domain as vast as the old Empire of Rome? Do you deem me +worthy of reigning over the population of Armorica?" + +"Charles, in my youth your grandfather proposed to me that I be the +jailer of the last descendant of Clovis, an ill-starred boy, then a +prisoner in an abbey, and having barely one suit of clothes to cover +himself with. That boy, when grown to man's estate, was, upon orders of +Pepin, your father, tonsured and locked up in a monastery, where he died +obscure and forgotten. Thus do royalties end. Such is the expiation, +prompt or late, reserved for royal stocks that issue from conquest." + +"Then the stock of Charles, whom the whole world calls the Great," +rejoined the Emperor with an incredulous and proud smile, "is, +according to your theory, destined to run out obscurely in some +do-nothing king?" + +"It is my firm conviction." + +"I took you at first for a man of good judgment," replied the Emperor +shrugging his shoulders; "I must now admit that I was mistaken." + +"This very morning, in your Palatine school, you observed that the +children of the poor studied with zeal, while the children of the rich +are lazy. The reason is plain. The former feel the need of work to +insure their well-being; the latter, being provided with and in +possession of ample fortunes, make no effort to acquire knowledge. It is +to them superfluous. Your ancestors, the stewards of the palace, have +done like the children of the poor. Your descendants, however, being no +longer in need of conquering a crown, will imitate the children of the +rich." + +"Despite a certain appearance of logic, your argument is false. My +father usurped a crown, but he left to me at the most the Kingdom of +Gaul. To-day Gaul is but one of the provinces of the immense empire that +I have conquered. Obviously, I did not remain idle and torpid like the +rich boys in your comparison." + +"The Frankish Kings, together with their leudes, who later became great +landed seigneurs, and the bishops, plundered Gaul, divided her territory +among them, and reduced her people to slavery. But after a period, be it +short or long, learn this, Oh, great Emperor, the people will rise in +their strength, glorious, terrible, and they will know how to reconquer +their patrimony and their independence!" + +"Let us drop the future and the past. What think you of Charles?" + +"I think that you are mistakenly proud of having almost reconstructed +the administrative edifice of the Roman emperors, and of causing, like +them, your will to weigh upon the whole domain, from one end to the +other. Of all that, nothing will be left after you are gone! All the +peoples that have been conquered and subjugated by your arms will rise +in revolt. Your boundless empire, composed of kingdoms that no common +bond of origin, of customs, or of language holds together, will fall to +pieces; it will crumble together and will bury your descendants under +its ruins." + +"Do you mean to imply that Charles the Great will have passed over the +world like a shadow without leaving behind him any lasting monument of +his glory?" + +"No, your life will not have been worthless. By ceaselessly warring +against the Frisians, the Saxons and other peoples who wished to invade +Gaul, you have checked, if not forever, at least for a long time, the +maraudings of those hordes that ravaged the north and east of our +unhappy country. But if you have barred the entrance of the barbarians +into Gaul over land, the sea remains open to them. The Northman pirates +almost every day make descents upon the coasts of your Empire, and their +boldness increases to the point that ascending in their vessels the +Meuse, the Gironde and the Loire, they threaten the very heart of your +dominion." + +"Oh, old man! This time, I fear me, your misgivings do not lead you +astray. The Northmans are the only source of disquiet to my sleep! The +bare thought of the invasions of those pagans causes me to be overcome +with involuntary and unexplainable apprehensions. One day, during my +sojourn at Narbonne, several vessels of those accursed people extended +their piratical incursion into the very port. A sinister presentiment +seized me; despite all I could do to restrain them, the tears rolled out +of my eyes. One of my officers asked me the reason for my sudden fit of +sadness. 'Do you wish to know, my faithful followers,' I answered, 'do +you wish to know why I weep so bitterly? Certes, I do not fear that +these Northmans may injure me with their piracies; but I feel profoundly +afflicted at the thought that, in my very lifetime, they have the +audacity of touching upon the borders of my Empire; and great is my +grief because I have a presentiment of the sufferings that these +Northmans will inflict upon my descendants and my peoples;'" and the +Emperor remained for several minutes as if overpowered by the sinister +premonition that he now recalled. + +"Charles," Amael resumed with a grave voice, "all royalty that issues +from conquest, or from violence, carries within itself the germ of +death, for the reason that its principle is iniquitous. Perchance those +Northman pirates may some day cause your stock to expiate the original +iniquity of the royal sway that you hold from conquest." + +Whether, absorbed in his own thoughts, the Emperor failed to hear the +last words of the Gaul, or whether he could make no answer to them, he +suddenly cried out: + +"Let us forget the accursed Northmans. Speak to me of the good that I +have done. Your words of praise are rare; I like them all the more for +that." + +"You are not cruel out of wilfulness, although you might be reproached +for the massacre of more than four thousand Saxon prisoners." + +"I remember the event perfectly," Charles said with emphasis. "I had to +terrify those barbarians by a signal example. It was a fatal +necessity!" + +"Your heart is accessible to certain promptings of justice and humanity. +In your capitularies you made an effort to improve the condition of the +slaves and the colonists." + +"It was my duty as a Christian, as a Catholic. All men are brothers." + +"You are no more Christian than your friends, the bishops. You have +simply yielded to an instinct of humanity, natural to man, whatever his +religion may be. But still you are not a Christian." + +"By the King of the Heavens! Perhaps I am a Jew?" + +"Christ said, according to St. Luke the Evangelist: _The Lord hath sent +me to preach deliverance to the captives--to set at liberty them that +are bruised._ Now, then, your dominions are full of prisoners carried by +conquest from their own homes; the estates of your bishops and your +abbots are stocked with slaves. Accordingly, neither you nor your +priests are Christians. A Christian, according to the words of the +Christ, must never hold his fellowman in bondage. All men are equal." + +"Custom so wills it; I merely conform myself thereto." + +"What is there to hinder you, and the bishops as well as you, all-mighty +Emperor that you are, from abolishing the abominable custom? What is +there to hinder you from emancipating the slaves? What is there to +hinder you from restoring to them, along with their liberty, the +possession of the land that they themselves render fruitful with the +sweat of their brow?" + +"Old man, from time immemorial there have been slaves, and there ever +will be slaves. What would it avail to be of the conquering race if not +to keep the fruits of conquest? By the King of the Heavens! Do you take +me for a barbarian? Have I not promulgated laws, founded schools, +encouraged letters, arts and sciences? Is there in the whole world a +city comparable with Aix-la-Chapelle?" + +"Your gorgeous capital of Aix-la-Chapelle, the capital of your Germanic +possessions, is not Gaul. Gaul has remained to you a strange country. +You love forests that lend themselves to your autumn hunting parties, +and the rich domains, whence every year the revenues are carted to your +residences on the other side of the Rhine. But you do not love Gaul, +seeing that you exhaust her resources in men and money in order to carry +on your wars. Frightful misery desolates our provinces. Millions of +God's creatures, deprived almost of bread, shelter and clothes, toil +from dawn to dusk, and die in slavery--all in order to sustain the +opulence of their masters. If you cause instruction to be given to some +pupils in your Palatine school, you allow, on the other hand, millions +of God's creatures to live like brutes! Such is the condition of Gaul +under your reign, Charles the Great!" + +"Old man," rejoined the Emperor, with a somber face and rising anger, +"after treating you as a friend this whole day, I looked for different +language. You are more than severe, you are unjust." + +"I have been sincere towards you, the same as I was towards your +grandfather." + +"Mindful of the service that you rendered my grandfather at the battle +of Poitiers, I meant to be generous towards you. I meant to do the right +thing by myself, by your people, and by you. I hoped to see you, after +this day spent in close intimacy with me, drop your prejudices, and to +be able to say to you: I have vanquished the Bretons by force of arms; I +desire to affirm my conquest by persuasion. Return to your country; +report to your countrymen the day that you spent with Charles; they will +trust your words, seeing that they place implicit confidence in you. You +were the soul of the last two wars that they sustained against me. Be +now the soul of our pacification. A conquest founded on force is often +ephemeral; a conquest cemented in mutual affection and esteem is +imperishable. I trust in your loyalty to gain the hearts of the Bretons +to me. Such was my hope. The bitter injustice of your words dashes it. +Let us think of it no more. You shall remain here as a hostage. I shall +treat you as a brave soldier, who saved my grandfather's life. Perhaps +in time you will judge me more justly. When that day shall have come, +you will be allowed to return to your own country, and I feel sure you +will then tell them what is right, as to-day you would only tell them +what is wrong. All things will come in due season." + +"Although your hopes can not realize the object that you proposed, they, +nevertheless, are an evidence of a generous soul." + +"By the cap of St. Martin! You Bretons are a strange people. What! If +you should believe that I deserve esteem and affection, and if your +countrymen should share your opinion, would neither you nor they accept +with joy the authority that you now submit to by force?" + +"With us it is no question of having a more or less worthy master. We +want no master." + +"And yet I am your master, ye pagans!" + +"Until the day when we shall have reconquered our independence by a +successful insurrection." + +"You will be crushed to dust, exterminated! I swear it by the beard of +the eternal Father." + +"Exterminate the last of the Breton Gauls, strangle all the children, +and you will then be able to reign over the desert of Armorica. But so +long as there lives a single man of our race in our country, you may be +able to vanquish, but never to subjugate it." + +"But tell me, old man, is it that my rule is so terrible, and my laws so +hard?" + +"We want no foreign domination. To live according to the laws of our +fathers, freely and as becomes free men, to choose our chiefs, to pay no +tribute, to lock ourselves up within our own frontiers and to defend +them--these are our aspirations. Accept them and you will have nothing +to fear from us." + +"To dictate conditions to me! to me, who reign as sovereign master over +all Europe! To have a miserable population of shepherds and husbandmen +impose conditions to me! to me, whose arms have conquered the world! +Impudence can reach no further!" + +"I might answer you that, in order to vanquish that miserable population +of shepherds, of woodmen and husbandmen entrenched in their mountain +fastnesses, behind their rocks, their marshes and their forests, your +veteran bands had to be requisitioned for Gaul--" + +"Yes," cried the Emperor in a vexed voice, "in order to keep your +accursed country in obedience, I am forced to leave there my choicest +troops, troops that I may need at any moment here in Germany, where I +have hard battles to fight." + +"That must be an unpleasant thing to you, Charles, I admit. Without +mentioning the maritime invasions of the Northmans, there are the +Bohemians, the Hungarians, the Bavarians, the Lombards and so many other +people whom your arms have overcome, the same as they overcame us, the +Bretons--all vanquished, but none subjugated. From one moment to the +other they may rise anew, and, what is graver still, menace the very +heart of your Empire. As to us, on the contrary, all that we demand is +to live free; we never think of going beyond our frontiers." + +"Who guarantees to me that, once my troops, are out of your infernal +country, you will not forthwith resume your armed excursions and attacks +against the Frankish forces that are bivouacked on this side of your +borders?" + +"The other provinces are Gallic like ourselves. Our duty bids us to +provoke them, and to aid them to break the yoke of the Frankish kings. +But the thoughtful people among us are of the opinion that the hour for +revolt has not yet come. For the last four centuries the Catholic +priests have moulded the minds of the people to slavery. Alas, centuries +will pass before they re-awaken from their present stupor. You admit +that it is dangerous for you to be compelled to keep a portion of your +best troops tied up in Brittany. Recall your army. I give you my word as +a Breton, and I am, moreover, authorized to make the pledge in the name +of our tribes, that, so long as you live, we shall not go out of our +frontiers." + +"By the King of the Heavens! The joke is rather too harsh. Do you take +me for a fool? Do I not know that, if I grant you a truce by withdrawing +my troops, you will take advantage of it to prepare anew for war after +my death? But we shall always know how to suppress your uprisings." + +"Yes, we shall certainly take up arms if your sons fail to respect our +liberties." + +"And you really expect me--me, the vanquisher, to consent to a shameful +truce? To consent to withdraw my forces from a country that it has cost +me so much trouble to overcome?" + +"Very well; leave, then, your army in Brittany, but depend upon it that, +within a year or two, new insurrections will break out." + +"Insane old man! How dare you hold such language to me when you, your +grandson, and four other Breton chiefs are my hostages! Oh! I swear by +the everlasting God, your head will drop at the first sign of an +insurrection. Do not lean too heavily upon the good nature of the old +Charles. The terrible example I made of the four thousand prisoners whom +I took from the revolted Saxons should be proof enough to you that I +recoil before no act of necessity. Only the dead are not to be feared." + +"The Breton chiefs who remained on the way by reason of their wounds, +and who will speedily join me and my grandson at Aix-la-Chapelle, would, +no more than my grandson and myself, have accepted the post of hostages +had the same been without danger. Whatever the fate may be that awaits +us, we shall not falter in our duty. We are here in the very center of +your Empire, and well in condition to judge of the opportuneness for an +uprising. From this very place we will give the signal for a fresh war, +the moment we think the time is favorable." + +"By the King of the Heavens! This audacity has gone far enough!" cried +the Emperor, pale with rage. "To dare tell me that these traitors, +according to what they may see and spy near my court, will themselves +send to Brittany the order to revolt! Oh, I swear by God, from +to-morrow, from this very evening, both you and your grandson will be +cast into a dungeon so dark that you will need lynx's eyes to find out +what goes on around here. By the cap of St. Martin! Such insolence is +enough to turn one into a ferocious beast. Not another word, old man! +Here we are at the pavilion. I shall now join my daughters. The sight of +them will console me for your ingratitude!" + +Uttering these last words with mingled rage and sorrow, the Emperor put +his horse to the gallop in order to reach all the quicker the hunting +pavilion, where he expected to meet his daughters, and satisfy his +growing hunger. The seigneurs in Charles' suite were about to follow +their master's example and quicken the steps of their mounts, when the +Emperor, suddenly turning around, cried out to them, with an imperious +voice: + +"No one shall follow me. I want to be alone with my daughters! You shall +await my orders near the pavilion." + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +FRANK AND BRETON. + + +The Emperor rode rapidly forward toward the hunting pavilion. The +seigneurs of his suite received the angry order of their master with +silent obedience, and, reining in their horses, proceeded at a slower +gait towards the rendezvous. Lost among them, Amael rode along, steeped +in thought, revolving the recent conversation he had with Charles, and +at the same time more and more a prey to anxiety at the prolonged +absence of Vortigern. The Emperor's courtiers shivered under their robes +of silk and drabbled feathers, and silently grumbled at the whim of +their Emperor, whereby the looked-for time was retarded when they might +warm themselves at the fire of the pavilion, and revive their spirits +with supper. Arrived in the close neighborhood of the pavilion, they +alighted from their horses. They had been conversing together about a +quarter of an hour, when Amael, who had also alighted and leaned +pensively against one of the nearby gigantic trees of the forest, +noticed Octave hastening in his direction and calling out to him: + +"Amael, I was looking for you--come quick!" + +The aged Breton tied his horse to the tree and followed Octave. When +both had walked a little distance away from the group of the Frankish +seigneurs, the young Roman proceeded: + +"I feel mortally uneasy on the score of Vortigern. Your grandson having +been carried away by his horse early in the hunt, Thetralde and +Hildrude, two of the Emperor's daughters, followed him on the spot. What +may have happened? I can not guess. I am told positively that Hildrude, +who seemed greatly irritated, rode back to Aix-la-Chapelle with two +other sisters and all the concubines of the Emperor who had come to the +chase. Thetralde must have remained alone behind with Vortigern in some +part of the forest." + +"Finish your account." + +"I know from experience how easy-going are the morals of this court. +Thetralde has taken notice of your grandson. She is fifteen, has been +brought up amidst her sisters, who have as many paramours as their own +father has mistresses. Despite himself, Vortigern has made a lively +impression upon the heart of Thetralde. The two are children. They have +vanished together, and must have been lost together, seeing that three +of the Emperor's daughters have returned to the palace and the other two +are at the pavilion. Only Thetralde is not to be found. If she lost her +way in the company of Vortigern--I would this morning have been of the +opinion that it was to be hoped--" + +"Heaven and earth!" broke in the aged Breton, growing pale. "How dare +you joke on such a matter!" + +"This morning I would have considered the adventure highly amusing. This +evening it seems to me redoubtable. A minute ago, angered at something +or other, the Emperor clapped both his spurs to his horse's flanks, +ordered that none should follow him, and rushed towards the pavilion. +Rothaide and Bertha, daughters of Charles, notified of their father's +approach by the clatter of his horse, and believing that his whole +suite was with him, sped away to the upper chambers of the +pavilion--Bertha with Enghilbert, the handsome Abbot of St. Riquier, +Rothaide with Audoin, one of the Emperor's officers." + +"And then?" + +"The Emperor arrives all alone and dismounts. 'Where are my daughters?' +he calls out impatiently to the Grand Nomenclator of his table who +happens to be superintending the preparations for the supper. The Grand +Nomenclator answers in great embarrassment: 'August Emperor, allow me to +go and announce your arrival to the Princesses; they have withdrawn to +the upper chambers in order to take some rest while waiting for supper.' +'I shall go myself and see them,' replies Charles, saying which, he +clambers up the stairs. Old Vulcan surprising Venus and Mars at their +amorous escapade, could not have been more furious than was the august +Emperor when he surprised his daughters in the arms of their gallants. +The Grand Nomenclator having remained near the door of the staircase +soon heard an infernal racket in the chambers above. The irate Charles +was plying his hunting whip right and left over the two amorous couples. +A profound silence ensued thereupon. The Emperor having the habit of not +noising such things about came down again, calm in appearance, but pale +with rage, and--" + +Octave's narrative was at this point suddenly interrupted by tumultuous +cries that proceeded from the pavilion. Slaves were seen rushing out of +the building with lighted torches in their hands, and immediately the +shrill voice of Charles himself was heard calling out: + +"To horse! My daughter Thetralde has lost her way in the forest! She has +not returned to the palace--and she is not here in the pavilion. Take +the torches--and to horse! To horse!" + +"Amael, in the name of your grandson's welfare," whispered Octave +precipitately in the Breton's ear, "follow me at a distance. There is +just one chance left to us of saving Vortigern from the Emperor's rage." +Saying this, the young Roman disappeared among the seigneurs of the +court who were hastening towards their horses, while Charles, whose +rage, restrained for a moment, now exploded with renewed fierceness, +screeched at them: + +"Look at them, gaping open-mouthed, like a herd of startled sheep! Let +each one take a torch and follow one of the avenues of the forest, all +the while calling out to my daughter as loud as he can. Halloa +there--let someone take up a torch and ride ahead of me!" + +At these words, Octave seized a torch and approached the Emperor, while +other seigneurs rode rapidly off in several directions in search of the +lost Thetralde. The meaning of the hurried recommendation that Octave +had addressed to him a minute before flashed at this moment clear +through Amael's mind. Mounting his horse at the same time that Charles +and the young Roman who bore the torch did theirs, he allowed the two to +take somewhat the lead of him, and then followed them at a distance, +guided by the torch that Octave held aloft. + +As Octave later narrated to him, the Emperor alternated between fits of +rage, provoked by the freshest proof of the libertinage to which his +daughters were addicted, and uneasiness at the disappearance of +Thetralde. These several sentiments were given vent to by broken words +that from time to time reached the ears of the young Roman who preceded +Charles by only a few paces. + +"My poor child!--where can she be?--Perhaps dying of cold and fear--at +the bottom of some thicket, perhaps!" murmured the Emperor. Presently he +would call out at the top of his voice: "Thetralde! Thetralde! Oh, she +does not hear me! King of the Heavens, have pity upon me. So young--so +delicate--a chilly night like this is enough to kill her. Oh, my unhappy +old age, that this child might have served to console--she would not +have resembled her sisters! Her fifteen year forehead was never +crimsoned with an evil thought. Oh, dead! Dead, perhaps! No, no--youth +is full of pranks! Besides, these daughters, all of whom I have brought +up like boys, are all accustomed to fatigue. They accompany me during my +long journeys. But yet, the night is so dark--and it is so chilly!" +Whereupon the Emperor would again call out: "Thetralde!" and suddenly +reining in his horse and listening, the Emperor of the Franks broke the +silence with the sudden question: "Did you not hear a sound like the +neighing of a horse?" + +"I did, august Prince," answered the young Roman. + +"Listen! Listen again!" + +Octave kept silent. Soon again the sound of distant neighing broke upon +the stillness of the forest. + +"No doubt any longer. Despairing of finding her way, my daughter must +have tied her palfrey to a tree!" exclaimed the Emperor, his heart +bounding with hope. Calling out to Octave, he ordered: "Gallop! Gallop +faster!" and himself increasing his own speed to the utmost cried out +uninterruptedly: "Thetralde! Thetralde! Thetralde, my daughter!" + +Amael, who followed Charles at a goodly distance, keeping himself well +in the shadow, also fell into a gallop the moment he noticed the +torchlight that guided him suddenly move with increased swiftness into +the darkness. The Emperor and Octave were close upon the spot where, +before entering the woodcutter's hut, Vortigern and Thetralde had tied +their mounts. The glimmer of the torch fell upon and lighted the white +body of Thetralde's palfrey, throwing into the shade Vortigern's horse +that was tied a few steps further away. The Emperor recognized his +daughter's favorite mount, and cried out: + +"Thetralde's palfrey!" and immediately thereupon perceiving the hut +itself by the light of the torch borne by Octave, he added: "Oh, King of +the Heavens! Thanks be to you!" The Emperor quickly dismounted and +walking precipitately towards the hut which lay about twenty paces from +the path, he called back to Octave: "Walk faster! My daughter is there. +Precede me!" + +Gifted with an eye even more piercing than Charles', Octave had +recognized with a shudder the horse of Vortigern close to Thetralde's +palfrey. Foreseeing the outburst of fury that the Emperor was about to +fall into at the spectacle that Octave surmised awaited his aged eyes, +the Roman resorted to an extreme measure. Affecting to stumble, he +dropped the torch in the hope of extinguishing it at his feet, as if by +accident. But Charles quickly stooped down, as quickly raised it and +rushed forward towards the entrance of the hut. Trembling with fear, the +young Roman followed closely behind the Emperor. Charles suddenly stood +still as if petrified at the threshold of the hut, whose interior was +now brilliantly lighted by the torch in the Emperor's hand. Having also +dismounted, Amael was enabled, without his steps being heard by +Charles, to draw nearer, and stood close to him at the very moment that, +struck with stupor, the Emperor of the Franks stopped, motionless. + +Profoundly asleep, and stretched out upon the floor with his unsheathed +sword beside him, Vortigern barred the entrance to the hut. In order to +enter it, an intruder would have been compelled to walk over his body +that lay across the threshold. In the depth of the retreat, stretched on +a bed of moss and carefully wrapped in the lad's tunic, Thetralde +enjoyed a slumber as profound as her guardian at the entrance. The +girl's head and face, charming in their candor, rested on one of her +arms that lay folded beneath. So deep was the sleep of the two, that +neither the young girl nor Vortigern was at first awakened by the glare +of the torch. + +Thick drops of perspiration rolled down from the forehead of the Emperor +of the Franks. The stupor that first seized him at finding his daughter +in a solitary hut in the company of the young Breton, was soon followed +by an expression of undefinable agony. Presently the cruel doubts +concerning the chastity of his youngest daughter made room for hope when +he noticed the serenity of the slumber of the two children. The Emperor +gathered additional comfort from the precaution that Vortigern had taken +in laying himself athwart the entrance, obedient, no doubt, to a thought +of respectful and chivalrous solicitude. + +Thetralde was the first to open her eyes. The glare of the torch fell +upon her face. She half raised her head; still half asleep, carried her +hand to her eyes, and sat up. In a second, seeing her father before her, +she uttered a cry of such sincere joy, her charming features expressed a +happiness so utterly free from all embarrassment, that, bounding to her +father's neck, she was pressed by Charles to his heart with delirious +rapture: + +"Oh!" the Emperor exclaimed, "I fear naught, her forehead is free from +shame." + +The words of the enraptured father reached the ears of Amael, who had +remained motionless behind the Emperor, whose life was soon in no slight +danger, seeing that, in her first and spontaneous outburst of joy to +fall on her father's neck, Thetralde had struck Vortigern with her feet +as she bounded forward. The young Breton, thus awakened with a start, +his eyes dazzled by the glare of the torch, and his mind still clouded +with sleep, grasped his sword and jumped up. At the sight of the two men +at the entrance of the hut, one of them tightly holding Thetralde in his +arms, the lad imagined that violence was being attempted upon her. He +seized Charles by the throat with one hand and, raising his sword in the +other, cried: "I will kill you!" Immediately, however, recognizing the +father of Thetralde, Vortigern dropped his weapon, rubbed his eyes, and +exclaimed: + +"The Emperor of the Franks!" + +"Himself, my lad!" replied the Emperor in a cheerful voice, while he +again kissed the forehead and head of his daughter with almost frantic +delight. "The vigor of your clutch proves to me that ill would he have +fared who should have entertained any evil designs against my little +girl!" + +"We are your enemies, and still you received my grandfather and myself +with kindness," answered the young Breton ingenuously and without +lowering his eyes before the penetrating looks that Charles shot at him. +"I have watched over your daughter--as I should have watched over my own +sister." + +Vortigern emphasized the words 'my own sister' in such a manner that +Amael, fully sharing the confidence of Charles, whispered at the +latter's ear: + +"I have no doubt of the purity of these children." + +"And you here?" exclaimed the Emperor astonished. "Be welcome, my +esteemed guest!" + +"You looked for your daughter--I also set out in search of my grandson." + +"And I have found her, the dear child!" exclaimed Charles with ineffable +tenderness, again and again kissing the forehead of Thetralde. "Oh, how +I do love her--more than ever before!" And holding the girl close to his +breast the Emperor moved toward the interior of the hut, and threw +himself down upon the moss-bench, broken with fatigue. There he seated +Thetralde upon his knees, and contemplating her with looks of +unspeakable happiness, said: "Come now, my little one, tell me all about +your adventure. How did you lose track of the hunt? How did you resign +yourself to spend the night in this hut?" + +"Father," answered the girl, lowering her eyes and hiding her face on +Charles' breast, "let me collect my thoughts--I want to tell you all +that happened, absolutely everything, without concealing aught." + +After a short interval that followed Thetralde's answer, Vortigern drew +near Amael, who tenderly pressed him to his heart, while, standing at a +little distance, the torch in his hand lighting the scene, the young +Roman, it must be admitted, looked more astonished than enthusiastic at +the continence of Vortigern. + +"Father," Thetralde resumed, raising her head and attaching her candid +looks upon the Emperor of the Franks, "I must tell you everything. Not +so? Everything--absolutely everything?" + +"Yes, my little darling, without omitting anything." But after a +second's reflection, Charles said to Octave: "Plant that torch in the +ground, and watch our horses with this young lad." + +The Roman bowed and obeyed; accompanied by Amael's grandson he stepped +out of the hut. + +"What, father, you send Vortigern out?" remarked Thetralde in an accent +of sweet reproach. "I would on the contrary, have wished him to remain +near us, in order to confirm or complete my story, my dear father." + +"All you tell me, my dear daughter, I shall believe. Speak, speak +without fear before me and the grandfather of the worthy lad." + +"Yesterday," Thetralde began, "I was on the balcony of the palace when +Vortigern rode into the courtyard. Learning that he came hither as a +prisoner, so young, and wounded, besides, I immediately took an interest +in him. When shortly after, he came near being thrown from his horse, +perhaps even killed, I was so frightened that I uttered a cry of dread. +But when Hildrude and myself saw that he proved himself an intrepid +horseman, we threw our nose-gays to him." + +"You both told me how you admired the skilfulness of the lad's +horsemanship, but you said nothing about the throwing of your bouquets. +Well, let us proceed--continue." + +"I certainly was very happy at your return home, good father. Yet, I +must confess to you, it seems to me that my thoughts turned as much on +Vortigern as on yourself. All night my sister and I talked about the +young Breton, about his gracefulness, about his comely face that was at +once sweet and bold--" + +"That is all very well--that is all very well. Let us skip all that, my +daughter. Let us drop the details concerning the lad's looks." + +"Then you object, father, to my telling you all? He made a deep +impression upon us." + +"Let us come to the episode of the chase." + +"It was dawn before I fell asleep, but only to dream about Vortigern. We +saw him again at church. When I was not contemplating his bold and sweet +face, I was praying for the safety of his soul. After mass, when I +learned that there was to be a hunting party, my only fear was that he +might not be one of the party. Judge, then, of my joy, father, when I +saw him in your retinue. Suddenly his horse took fright and carried him +off! Before I could reflect I plied the whip upon my palfrey to join +him. Hildrude followed and tried to pass me. That irritated me. I struck +her horse on the head. The animal bolted and carried her off in another +direction. I was alone when I overtook Vortigern. The mist, then the +rain and thereupon the night fell upon us. We noticed this woodcutter's +hut and a brasier that was almost extinct. We then said to each other: +'It is impossible to find our way back, let us spend the night here.' +Happily we noticed some chestnuts that had dropped on the ground from +the trees. We gathered them, roasted them under the cinders--but we +forgot to eat them--" + +"Because, I suppose, you were both tired, no doubt--and, in order to +take rest, you lay down on this moss-bench, and the lad across the +threshold?" + +"Oh, no, no, my father! Before falling asleep we chatted a good deal, +we disputed a good deal. It was due to our discussion that Vortigern and +myself forgot all about the chestnuts. Thereupon sleep overtook us and +we stretched ourselves to rest." + +"But what was the subject, my child, of the discussion between you and +the lad?" + +"Alack! I had wicked thoughts--those thoughts were combatted by +Vortigern with all his might. It was upon that that our dispute ran. But +I must admit that, after all, he was right. You will never believe me. I +wanted to flee from Aix-la-Chapelle and go to Brittany with +Vortigern--to marry him." + +"To leave me--my daughter--abandon your father--me, who love you so +much?" + +"Those were the very arguments of Vortigern. 'Thetralde, dost thou think +well,' he said to me, 'to leave thy father who loves thee? Wouldst thou +have the regrettable courage to cause him so deep a grief? And as to +myself, whom, as well as my grandfather, he has treated with kindness, +should I be thy accomplice? No! No! Moreover, I am here a prisoner on +parole. To flee would be to disgrace myself. My mother would refuse to +see me.' 'Thy mother loves thee too much not to pardon thee,' I said to +Vortigern; 'my father also will pardon me; he is so good! Did he not +show himself indulgent towards my sisters, who have their lovers as he +has his mistresses? To love can neither hurt nor injure others. Once +married, we shall return to my father. Happy at seeing us again, he will +forget everything else, and we shall live near him as do Eginhard and my +sister Imma.' But Vortigern, ever inflexible, returned incessantly upon +his word as a prisoner and the grief that his flight would cause his +mother and grandfather. His warm tears mingled with mine as he consoled +and chide me for the child that I was. Finally, after our dispute had +lasted a long while, and we had wept a good deal, he said to me: +'Thetralde, it is now late; thou surely must feel fatigued; thou +shouldst lie down on this bed of moss; I shall lay myself across the +entrance with my bare sword at my side, to defend thee, if need be.' I +did begin to feel sleepy; Vortigern covered me with his tunic; I fell +asleep and was dreaming about him when I was awakened by you, my +father." + +The Emperor of the Franks listened to the naive recital with a mixture +of tenderness, apprehension and grief. At its close he heaved a sigh of +profound relief that seemed to issue from the silent reflection: "What a +danger did not my daughter escape!" This thought soon dominated all the +others that crowded to his mind. Charles again embraced Thetralde +effusively, and said: + +"Dear child, your candor charms me. It makes me forget that even for a +moment you could entertain the thought of running away from your father, +which would have been a mean thing to do." + +"Oh! Vortigern made me renounce the wicked project. And, now, as a +reward to him, you will be good, you will marry us, will you not, +father?" + +"We shall talk later about that. For the present we must think of +regaining the pavilion, where you will rest awhile. We shall depart to +Aix-la-Chapelle. Stay here a moment I have a few words to exchange with +this good old man." + +Charles stepped out of the hut with Amael, and as soon as they were a +few paces away, he turned towards the aged Breton with a radiant face +on which, however, deep concern was depicted: + +"Your grandson is a loyal lad; yours is a family of worthy and brave +people. You saved my grandfather's life; your grandson has respected the +honor of my daughter. I know but too well the dangers that lie, at the +age of these children, in the wake of the first impulse of love. Had +Vortigern yielded, he would have had to pay for it with his life. I am +happy and by far prefer to praise than to punish." + +"Charles, when a few hours ago I expressed to you my uneasiness +concerning Vortigern's absence, you answered me: 'Good! He will have run +across some pretty woodcutter's daughter. Love is meet for his years. +You do not mean to make a monk of the lad?' What, now, if he had treated +your daughter like a woodcutter's child?" + +"By the King of the Heavens! Vortigern would not have left the hut +alive!" + +"Accordingly, it is permissible to dishonor the daughter of a slave, and +yet shall the dishonor of the daughter of an emperor be punished with +death? Both are the children of God, alike in His eyes. Why the +difference in your mind?" + +"Old man, these words are senseless!" + +"You pretend to be a Christian, and you treat us as pagans! My grandson +has conducted himself like an honest man; that is all. Honor is dear to +us Gauls of old Armorica, whose device is: _Never did Breton commit +treason._ Will you render me a favor? I shall be eternally grateful to +you." + +"Speak! What do you wish of Charles?" + +"A short while ago you seemed struck with the beauty of a poor slave +girl. You mean to make her one of your concubines. Be magnanimous +towards the unhappy creature; do not corrupt her; render their freedom +to her and her family; give those people the means to live industriously +and honorably." + +"It shall be so, by the faith of Charles; I promise you. Besides, I +consent to withdraw my troops from your country, provided you pledge to +me your faith as a Breton that, during my life, you will not make any +incursions beyond your own frontiers. Give me your hand, Amael--your +loyal hand in sign of acceptance." + +"Here it is, Charles," promptly answered Amael, grasping the hand +proffered by the Emperor. "Let it be the hand of a traitor, and that it +fall under the axe if our people break the promise! We shall live at +peace with you. If your descendants respect our liberties, we shall live +at peace with them." + +"Amael, it is sworn!" + +"Charles, it is accepted and sworn!" + +"Instead of returning to Aix-la-Chapelle, you and your grandson shall +spend the night in the pavilion of the forest. To-morrow, at early +daybreak, I shall have your baggage forwarded to you, together with an +escort, charged to accompany you as far as the frontiers of Armorica. +You shall depart without delay." + +"Your directions will be followed to the letter." + +"I shall now return to the pavilion alone with my daughter. I shall tell +my courtiers that I found her in the hut. Alack! the calumnies of the +court are cruel. People will not believe in the innocence of Thetralde, +and if, besides, they should learn that she spent a part of the night +with your grandson in that obscure retreat, they will take for granted +all that they now impute to her sisters. Oh! My father's heart bleeds +strangely. I have loved my daughters too much. I have been too indulgent +towards them! And then also, my continuous wars beyond my own kingdom, +together with the affairs of state, have prevented me from watching over +my children. And yet, during my absence, I always left them in the +charge of priests. Neither were they left idle; they embroidered +chasubles for the bishops! But, it seems that our Lord God, who has ever +and otherwise stood at my side, has willed it so, that I be struck in my +family. His will be done! I am an unhappy father!" Charles thereupon +called to the Roman: + +"Octave, nobody--do you understand me, nobody--must know that my +daughter spent a part of the night in this hut with that young man. Evil +tongues do not spare even the chastest and most admirable souls. The +secret of this night is known only by me, my daughter, and these two +Bretons. I am as certain of their discretion as of my own and +Thetralde's. You are lost if but a word of this adventure circulates at +court. It is from you alone that it can have proceeded. If, on the +contrary, you help me to keep the secret, you may rely upon increasing +favors from me." + +"August Emperor, I shall carry that secret with me into my grave." + +"I rely upon it. Fetch me my horse and my daughter's. You are to +accompany us to the hunting pavilion, and thence to Aix-la-Chapelle. I +will place you in command of the escort that I give these two hostages +to return to their own country. I shall furnish you with an order to the +commander of my army in Brittany. You will start to-morrow, early, with +the escort to the pavilion of the forest, and you will thence depart for +Armorica." + +Octave bowed, and the Emperor proceeded, addressing Amael: + +"The moon has risen. It sheds sufficient light upon the route. Jump upon +your horse, with your grandson. Follow this avenue of trees until you +reach a clearing. Wait there. You will shortly be sent for. I shall +despatch my messengers to take you to the pavilion, where you are to +stay until your departure early to-morrow morning. And now, Adieu!" + +Amael returned to his grandson, whom he found in a deep study, seated on +the stump of a tree that bordered the route. The lad was silently +weeping with his face hidden in his hands, and heard not the steps of +his grandfather approaching him. + +"Come, my boy," said Amael to him in a mild and grave voice. "Let us to +horse, and depart." + +"Depart!" exclaimed Vortigern, with a tremor, rising impetuously to his +feet and wiping with his hand the tears that moistened his face. + +"Yes, my boy! To-morrow we start for Brittany, where you will see again +your mother and sister. The nobility of your conduct has borne its +fruit. We are free. Charles recalls his troops from Brittany." + + * * * * * + +Shortly after our return home from Aix-la-Chapelle, my grandfather, +Amael, wrote the above narrative, which I have faithfully joined to the +preceding ones of our family. Myself, Vortigern, buried my grandfather +not long after at the ripe age of one hundred and five years, shortly +after my own marriage with the loving Josseline. Charles the Great died +at Aix-la-Chapelle in the year 814. + + + + +PART II. + +THE CONQUEST OF BRITTANY + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +IN THE BLACK MOUNTAINS. + + +In the year 818, seven years after Amael and his grandson Vortigern left +the court of Charles, the Emperor of the Franks, to return to their home +in Brittany, three riders, accompanied by a footman, were one evening +painfully climbing one of the steep hills of the ridge of the Black +Mountains, that raise their rugged ribs to the southwest of Armorica. +When, having reached the top of the rocky pile over which the path wound +its way, the travelers looked below, they saw at their feet a long chain +of plains and hillocks, some covered with rye and wheat ready for the +harvesters, others running northward like vast carpets of heather. Here +and yonder, vast moors also were perceived stretching out as far as the +eye could follow. A few straggling villages, reached by an avenue of +trees, raised the roofs of their houses in the midst of impassible bogs +that served for natural defences. The panorama was enlivened by herds of +black sheep that browsed over the ruddy heath or the green valleys, +watered by innumerable running streams. Among the green were also seen +steers and cows, and especially a large number of horses of the Breton +stock, strong for the plow, fiery in war. + +The three riders, preceded by the footman, now proceeded to descend the +further slope of the rugged hill. One of the three, clad in +ecclesiastical robes, was Witchaire, considered one of the richest +abbots of Gaul. The vast lands of his almost royal abbey bordered on the +frontiers of Armorica. His two companions, on horseback like himself, +were monks belonging to his dependency, and both wore the garb of the +religious Order of St. Benoit. The two monks rode behind the abbot at a +little distance, leading between them a packsaddle mule loaded with the +baggage of their superior, a man of short stature, sharp eye, and a +smile that was at times pious, at other times cunning. The mountain +guide, a robust, thick-set man in the vigor of life, wore the antique +costume of the Breton Gauls--wide breeches of cloth held at the waist by +a leather belt, a jacket of wool, and, hanging from his shoulders on the +same side with his wallet, a cloak of goat-skin, although the season was +summer. His hair, only partly covered with a woolen cap, fell over his +shoulders. From time to time he leaned upon his _pen-bas_, a long staff +made of holly and terminating in a crook. + +The burning August sun, now at its hottest, darted its rays upon the +guide, the two monks and Abbot Witchaire. Reining in his horse, the +latter said to the guide: + +"The heat is suffocating; these granite rocks radiate it upon us as hot +as if they issued from a furnace; our mounts are exhausted. I decry +yonder, at our feet, a thick forest; could you not lead us to it? We +could then take rest in the shade." + +Karouer, the guide, shook his head, and answered, pointing with his +_pen-bas_ in the direction of the dense woods: "To reach them we would +have to make a leap of two hundred feet, or a circuit of nearly three +leagues over the mountains. Which shall it be?" + +"Let us, then, pursue our route, my trusty guide. But tell us how long +will it take us to arrive in the valley of Lokfern?" + +"Look yonder, below, away below, close to the horizon. Do you see the +last of those bluish crests? That is the Menez-c'Hom, the highest peak +of the Black Mountains. The other peak towards the west, and lying +somewhat nearer, is Lach-Renan. It is between those two peaks that lies +the valley of Lokfern, where Morvan, the husbandman and Chief of +Brittany lives." + +"Are you certain that he will be at his farm-house?" + +"A husbandman always returns to his farm-house after sunset. We shall +find him there." + +"Do you know Morvan personally?" + +"I am of his tribe. I fought under him at the time of our last struggles +against the Franks, when Charles, the Emperor, lived." + +"Is this Morvan married, do you know?" + +"His wife Noblede is the worthy spouse of Morvan. She is of the stock of +Joel. That says everything. We honor and venerate her." + +"Who is that Joel, whom you mentioned?" + +"One of the worthiest men, whose memory Armorica has preserved green. +His daughter, Hena, the Virgin of the Isle of Sen, offered her own life +in sacrifice for the safety of Gaul when the Romans invaded these +parts." + +"I have been told that your people apprehend an invasion of the Franks +in Brittany, and that you are making ready for a declaration of war from +Louis the Pious, son of the great Charles." + +"Have you seen any preparations for war since you crossed our frontier?" + +"I have seen the husbandmen in the fields, the shepherds leading their +flocks, the cities open and tranquil. But it is known that in your +country, woodmen, husbandmen, shepherds and town folks transform +themselves into soldiers at a moment's notice." + +"Yes, when our country is threatened with invasion." + +"And do you apprehend such an invasion?" + +Karouer looked at the abbot fixedly, smiled sarcastically, made no +answer, whistled, and presently broke out into a Breton song, +mechanically whirling his _pen-bas_ as he strode rapidly forward in the +lead of the three monks. + +Night drew on. Karouer and the dignitaries whom he guided, having been +all day on the march, were now approaching one of the highest points on +the mountain path that they had been following, when, struck by an +unexpected spectacle, Witchaire suddenly reined in his horse. + +The sight that took the abbot by surprise was, indeed, startling. A +flame, hardly distinguishable by reason of its great distance, and yet +perceptible on the horizon, whose outlines the dusk had not yet wholly +blotted out, had barely arrested his attention, when, almost +instantaneously, similar tongues of fire gradually shot up from the +distant tops of the long chain of the Black Mountains. The fires gained +in brilliancy and size in the measure that they broke out nearer and +nearer to the spot where the abbot stood. Suddenly, only twenty paces +away from him, the startled prelate perceived a bluish gleam through a +dense smoke. The gleam speedily changed into a brilliant flame, that, +shooting upwards toward the starry sky, spread a light so bright that +the abbot, his monks, his guide, the rocks round about and a good +portion of the crag of the mountain stood illumined as if at noon. A few +minutes later similar bonfires continued to be kindled from hill to +hill, tracing back, as it seemed, the route that the travelers had left +behind, and losing themselves in the distance in the evening haze. The +abbot remained mute with stupefaction. Karouer emitted three times a +gutteral and loud cry resembling that of a night bird. A similar cry, +proceeding from behind the plateau of rocks where the nearest bonfire +was burning, responded to the signal from Karouer. + +"What fires are these that are springing up from hill-top to hill-top?" +the abbot inquired with intense curiosity the moment he recovered from +his astonishment. "It must be some signal." + +"At this moment," answered Karouer, "similar fires are burning from all +the hill-tops of Armorica, from the mountains of Arres to the Black +Mountains and the ocean." + +"But to what purpose?" + +As was his wont, Karouer made no answer to such pointed interrogatories, +but striking up some Breton song, quickened his steps, while he whirled +his _pen-bas_ in the air. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE BRETON CHIEF. + + +The home of Morvan, the husbandman, who was chosen Chief of the Chiefs +of Brittany, was located about the middle of the valley of Lokfern, and +nestled among the last spurs of the Black Mountains. A strong system of +palisades, constructed of tough trunks of oak fastened together by means +of stout cross-beams, and raised on the near side of deep ditches, +defended the approaches of the farm-house. Outside of the fortified +enclosure, a forest of centenarian oaks extended to the north and east; +to the south, green meadows sloped gently towards the windings of a +swift running river that was bordered with beeches and alders. + +The house of Morvan, its contiguous barns, kennels and stables, had the +rough exterior of the Gallic structures of olden days. A sort of rustic +porch shaded the main entrance to the house. Under this porch, and +enjoying the close of the delightful summer day, were Noblede, the +spouse of Morvan, and Josseline, the young wife of Vortigern. The +latter, a radiant woman of smiling beauty, was suckling her latest born, +with her other two children, Ewrag and Rosneven, respectively four and +five years of age, at her side. Caswallan, a Christian druid, an aged +man of venerable appearance, whose beard vied in whiteness with his long +robe, smiled tenderly upon little Ewrag, whom he held on his knees. +Noblede, Morvan's wife and sister of Vortigern, now about thirty years +of age, was a woman of rare comeliness, although her features bore the +stamp of a rooted sadness. Ten years a wife, Noblede had not yet tasted +the sweets of motherhood. Her grave aspect and her high stature recalled +those matrons, who, in the days of Gaul's independence, sat loyally by +the side of their husbands at the supreme councils of the nation.[C] +Noblede and Josseline were spinning, while the other women and daughters +of Morvan's household busied themselves with the preparations for the +evening meal, or in the other domestic occupations, such as replenishing +with forage the stalls that the cattle were to find ready upon their +return from the fields. The Christian druid Caswallan, with Ewrag, the +second child of the blonde Josseline, on his knees, had just finished +making the boy recite his lesson in religion under the following +symbolic forms: + +"White child of the druid, answer me, what shall I tell you?" + +"Tell me the parts of the number three," the child would answer, "make +them known to me, that I may learn them to-day." + +"There are three parts of the world--three beginnings and three ends to +man as to the oak--three celestial kingdoms, fruits of gold, brilliant +flowers and little children who laugh. These three kingdoms, where the +fruits of gold, the brilliant flowers and the children who laugh are +found, my little Ewrag, are the worlds in which those, who in this world +have performed pure and celestial acts, will be successively born again +and will continue to live with ever increasing happiness. Now, what must +we be in order to perform such acts?" + +"We must be wise, good and just," the child would reply. "Furthermore +death must not be feared, because we are born again and again, from +world to world with an ever renewed body. We must love Brittany like a +tender mother--and bravely defend her against her enemies." + +"Yes, my child," broke in Noblede, drawing her brother's child to +herself. "Always remember those sacred words: 'To love and defend +Brittany';" and Morvan's wife tenderly embraced Ewrag. + +"Mother! mother!" cried up little Rosneven, joyfully clapping his hands +and rushing out of the porch followed by his brother Ewrag: "Here is +father!" + +Caswallan, Noblede and Josseline rose at the gladsome cries of the child +and walked out towards two large wagons heavily laden with golden +sheaves, and drawn by a yoke of oxen. + +Morvan and Vortigern were seated in front of one of the wagons +surrounded by a considerable number of men and lads belonging to the +household, or to the tribe of the Chief of the Chiefs, carrying in their +hands the sickles, the forks and the rakes used by the harvesters. At a +little distance behind them came the shepherds with their flocks whose +bells were heard clinking from the distance. Morvan, in the vigor of +life, robust and thick-set, like most of the inhabitants of the Black +Mountains, wore their rustic garb--wide breeches of coarse white +material, and a linen shirt that exposed his sunburnt chest and neck. +His long hair, auburn like his thick beard, framed his manly face. His +forehead was high; his eyes intrepid and piercing. As to Vortigern, the +maturer gravity of manhood, of husband and father, had succeeded the +flower of youth. His looks were expressive of sweet delight at the sight +of the two boys who had ran out to meet him. He jumped down from the +wagon and embraced them affectionately while he looked for his wife and +sister, who, accompanied by Caswallan, were not long in joining him. + +"Dear wife, the harvest will be plentiful," said Morvan to Noblede, and +pointing to the overloaded wagons, he added: "Have you ever seen more +beautiful wheat, or more golden sheaves? Look at them and wonder!" + +"Morvan," put in Josseline, "you are this year harvesting earlier than +customary. We, of the region of Karnak would leave our wheat to ripen on +the stalk fully two weeks longer. Not so, Vortigern?" + +"No, my sweet Josseline," answered her husband, "I shall follow Morvan's +example. We shall return home to-morrow, so as to start taking in the +harvest as soon as possible." + +"I am going to furnish you with still more matter for astonishment," +Morvan proceeded. "Instead of leaving the sheaves in the barn that the +grain may ripen, this wheat that you see there, and that was cropped +only to-day, will be threshed this very night. Vortigern and myself will +not be the only ones to ply the flails on the threshing-floor of the +barn. So, then, Noblede, let us have supper early, and then to work!" + +"What, Morvan!" exclaimed Josseline, "after this tiring day's work, +spent in gathering in the crop, do you and Vortigern mean to spend the +night at work, and threshing, at that?" + +"It will be a cheerful night, my Josseline," put in Vortigern. "While +we shall be threshing the wheat, you will sing us some songs, Caswallan +will recite to us some old legend, and we shall stave in a barrel of +hydromel to cheer the laborers who have come to join us. Work goes hand +in hand with pleasure." + +"Vortigern," the Christian druid said, smiling, "do you, perchance, +think that my arms are so much enfeebled by old age that I could no +longer wield a flail? I mean to help you at work." + +"And we?" put in Josseline, laughing merrily, "we, the daughters and +wives of the field-laborers, did we, perchance, lose the skill of +carrying the wheat to the threshing-floor, or of bagging the grain?" + +"And we?" Ewrag and his brother Rosneven cried in turn, "could not we +also carry a stalk, six stalks, twenty stalks?" + +"Oh! you are brave boys, my little ones," exclaimed Vortigern, embracing +his children, while Morvan said to his wife: + +"Noblede, do not forget to have the guest's chamber in order and +supplied with food." + +"Do you expect any guests, Morvan?" inquired Josseline, with great +curiosity. "They will be welcome; they will assist us at the threshing +to-night." + +"My beloved Josseline," answered the Chief of the Chiefs, smiling, "the +guests whom I expect eat the choicest of wheat, but never take the +trouble of either sowing or harvesting. They belong to a class of people +who live on the fat of the land." + +"The guest's chamber is always ready," replied Noblede; "the floor is +strewn with fresh leaves. Alack! No one occupied it since it was last +occupied by Amael." + +"Worthy grandfather!" exclaimed Vortigern with a sigh. + +"He came to us only to languish a few weeks and pass away." + +"May his memory be blessed, as was his life," said Josseline. "I knew +him only a very short while, but I loved and venerated him like my +father." + +The family of Morvan, together with the rest of his tribe who cultivated +his lands in common with himself, men, women and children, about thirty +in all, presently sat down to a long table, placed in a large hall that +served at once for kitchen, refectory and a place of assembly during the +long nights of the winter. From the walls hung weapons of war and of the +hunt, fishing nets, bridles and horse saddles. Although it was +midsummer, such was the coolness of that region of woods and mountains, +that the heat of the hearth, before which the meats for the supper were +broiled, felt decidedly comfortable to the harvesters. Its flamboyant +light mingled with that cast by the torches of resinous wood, that were +fastened in iron clamps along the four walls. After the industrious +group had finished their repast, Morvan was the first to rise. + +"And now, my boys, to work! The night is clear, we shall thresh the +wheat on the outside floor. Two or three torches planted between the +stones on the edge of the well will give us light until the moon rises. +We shall be through with our task by one o'clock in the morning, we +shall sleep until daybreak, and we shall then return to the fields and +finish taking in the crop." + +The torches, placed at Morvan's orders around the edge of the well, cast +their bright light upon a portion of the yard and buildings that were +within the fortified enclosure. Several men, the women and the children, +took a hand in unloading the wagons, while those who were to do the +threshing, Morvan, Vortigern and the old Caswallan among them, stood +waiting for the grain to be brought to them, their flails in their +hands, having for the sake of comfort, stripped themselves of all their +superfluous clothing and keeping only their breeches and shirts on. The +first bundles of grain were placed in the center of the floor, whereupon +the rapid rhythm of the flails, vigorously wielded by robust and +experienced arms, resounded through the air. Apprehending a speedy war, +the Bretons were hastening to take in their crops and place them under +cover in order to save them from the ravages of the enemy, as well as to +deprive these of food. The grains were to be concealed in underground +caves covered with earth. Morvan, whose forehead began to be moistened +with perspiration, said, while rapidly handling the flail: + +"Caswallan, you promised us a song. Take a little rest and sing. It will +inspire us in our work." + +The Christian druid sang "Lez-Breiz," an old national song that ever +sounded sweet on the ears of the Bretons. It began thus: + + "Between a Frankish warrior and Lez-Breiz + A combat was arranged; + It was arranged with due formalities.-- + May God give the victory to the Breton, + And gladsome tidings to his county.-- + That day Lez-Breiz said to his young attendant: + Rise, furbish up my handsome casque; my lance and my sword; + I mean to redden them in the blood of the Franks.-- + I shall make them jump this day!" + +"Old Caswallan," said one of the laborers when the druid had finished +the long and inspiring strain that warmed the blood of his hearers with +martial ardor, "let the accursed Franks come again, and we shall say, +like Lez-Breiz: 'With the aid of our two arms, let us make them jump +again to-day'--" + +A furious barking of the shepherd dogs, that for some little time had +been emitting low and intermittent growls, interrupted at this moment +the remarks of the laborers, and all turned their eyes towards the gate +of the enclosure, whither the dogs had precipitated themselves +furiously. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ABBOT AND BRETON. + + +The strangers whose approach the dogs announced were Abbot Witchaire, +his two monks and his guide Karouer. Preceded by the guide, who pacified +the alarm of the watchful animals, the clerical cavalcade rode into the +enclosure, while Karouer informed the abbot: + +"This is the house of Morvan. We have arrived at our destination. You +may now dismount." + +"What are those torches yonder for?" asked the prelate descending from +his horse, the reins of which he threw over to one of his monks. "What +is that muffled sound I hear?" + +"It is the sound of the flails. Doubtlessly Morvan is threshing the +grain that he has harvested. Come, I shall lead you to him." + +Abbot Witchaire and his guide approached the group of laborers, upon +whom the torches cast a clear light. Morvan, intently at work, and the +noise of the flails deafening the sound of the steps and voices of the +new arrivals, failed to hear them. Not until Karouer had tapped the +Chief of the Chiefs upon the shoulder in order to draw the latter's +attention to him, did Morvan turn to look. Recognizing Karouer, the +Chief of the Chiefs stopped a moment and said: + +"Oh! Is that you, Karouer? What tidings do you bring from our man?" + +"I bring him to you in person," answered Karouer, pointing to his +traveling companion. "He stands before you in flesh and bone." + +"Are you the Abbot Witchaire?" asked Morvan, slightly out of breath with +the heavy work that he had been performing; and crossing his robust arms +over the handle of his flail, he added: "As I expected your visit, I +have had supper prepared for you. Come to table." + +"I prefer first to speak to you." + +"Noblede," said Morvan, wiping the perspiration that inundated his +forehead with the back of his hand, "a torch, my dear wife!" And turning +to the abbot: "Follow me." + +Taking up one of the torches that were stuck at the edge of the well, +Noblede preceded her husband and Abbot Witchaire to the chamber that was +reserved for guests. Two large beds stood ready, as also a big table +furnished with cold meats, milk, bread and fruit. After placing the +torch into one of the iron clamps fastened in the wall, Noblede was +about to withdraw when Morvan said to her in a significant tone: + +"Dear wife, come and kiss me good night when the threshing is done." + +A look from Noblede informed her husband that he was understood, and she +stepped out of the guest's chamber where Morvan remained alone with +Abbot Witchaire. The abbot immediately addressed the Chief of the +Chiefs: + +"Morvan, I greet you. I am the bearer to you of a message from the King +of the Franks, Louis the Pious, son of Charles the Great." + +"And what is that message?" + +"It is couched in but few words:--The Bretons occupy a province of the +Empire of the King of the Franks, and refuse to pay him tribute in +homage to his sovereignty. Besides, the Breton clergy, generally +infected with a leaven of old druidic idolatry, denies the supremacy of +the Archbishop of Tours. Such are the consequences of that regrettable +heresy, of which Lambert, Count of Nantes, wrote to King Louis the Pious +as follows: 'The Breton nation is proud and indomitable; all that there +is Christian about them is the name; as to the Christian faith, its cult +and works, they would be searched for in vain in Brittany.' Wishing to +put an end to a rebellion so outrageous both to the Catholic Church and +the royal authority, King Louis the Pious orders the Breton people to +pay the tribute that they owe to the sovereignty of the Frankish Empire, +and to submit themselves to the apostolic decisions of the Archbishop of +Tours. In case of failure to comply, King Louis the Pious will, by means +of his invincible arms, ruin the country and compel the obedience of the +Breton people." + +"Abbot Witchaire," Morvan answered after a few moments' reflection, +"Amael, the grandfather of Vortigern, my wife's brother, entered into an +agreement with the Emperor Charles to the effect that, provided we held +ourselves within our own borders, there never would be any war between +us and the Franks. We kept our promise, so did Charles. His son, whom +you call 'The Pious,' has not troubled us until now. If to-day he +demands tribute from us, he violates the provisions of the compact." + +"Louis the Pious is King by divine right, sovereign master of Gaul. +Brittany is part of Gaul, consequently Brittany belongs to him and must +pay him tribute." + +"We will pay tribute to no king. As to what regards the clergy, I have +this to say to you: Before their arrival in Brittany the country never +was invaded. Since a century ago, all that has changed. It was to be +expected. Whoever sees the black robe of a priest, soon sees the glint +of a Frank's sword." + +"You speak truly. The Catholic priest is everywhere the precursor of +royalty." + +"We now have but too many of these precursors. Despite their continuous +quarrels with the Archbishop of Tours, the good priests are rare, the +bad ones numerous. At the time of the last war, several of your +churchmen acted as guides to the Franks, while others seduced some of +our tribes into treason by making them believe that to resist your kings +was to incur the anger of heaven. Despite such acts of treason, we +defended our liberty then; we will defend it again both against the +machinations of the clergy and the swords of the Franks." + +"Morvan, you look like a sensible man. Is it proposed to enslave you? +No! To dispossess you of your lands? No! What is it that Louis the Pious +demands? Merely that you pay him tribute in homage to his sovereignty. +Nothing more!" + +"That is too much--and it is iniquitous!" + +"Consider the frightful misfortunes to which Brittany will expose +herself if she refuses to acknowledge the sovereignty of Louis the +Pious. Can you prefer to see your fields laid waste, your crops +destroyed, your cattle led away, your own house torn down, your fellows +reduced to slavery--can you prefer that to the voluntary payment of a +few gold sous contributed by you into the treasury of the King of the +Franks?" + +"I certainly would prefer to pay even twenty gold sous, rather than be +ruined." + +"It is not merely your own earthly possessions that are at stake. You +have a wife, a family, friends. Would you, out of vain pride, expose so +many beings, dear to your heart, to the horrible dangers of war, of a +war of extermination, of a war without mercy, all the more when, as you +must admit, you can no longer find in the Breton people the indomitable +spirit that once was its distinctive feature?" + +"No," answered Morvan with a somber and pensive mien, his elbows resting +on his knees and his forehead hidden in his hands; "no, the Breton +people are no longer what they once were." + +"To my mind, the change is one of the triumphs of the Catholic Church. +In your eyes it is an evil. But, if evil it be, it is a fact, and you +are bound to recognize it. Brittany, once invincible, has been several +times invaded by the Franks during the last century. What has happened +before will happen again. And yet, notwithstanding the mistrust that you +entertain of your own powers of resistance, notwithstanding the +certainty of succumbing, could you still wish to engage in the struggle +in lieu of paying a tribute that curtails in nothing, either your own +liberty or that of your people?" + +Shaken by the insidious arguments of the priest, Morvan remained silent +for a moment; after a short struggle with himself, he asked: "How high +will be the tribute that your King demands?" + +Witchaire thrilled with joy at Morvan's question. He concluded the +Breton had decided in favor of base submission. At that juncture Noblede +entered the apartment to give her husband the good-night kiss. At sight +of her the Breton blushed. He allowed his wife to approach him without +affectionately advancing to meet her, as was his wont. The Breton woman +almost guessed the cause of the embarrassed manner of Morvan, and of the +triumphant looks of the Frankish abbot. Concealing her grief, the woman +walked to her husband, who remained seated, and kissed his hand. A +tremor shook the Breton chief's frame; his will, shaken for a moment, +regained its own command; he leaped up and passionately clasped his wife +to his breast. Happy and proud at feeling the throbbing of her own heart +answered by her husband's, the Gallic woman cried, casting a look of +contempt at the priest: + +"Whence comes this stranger? What does he want? Is he a messenger of +peace or of war? Race of priests, race of vipers." + +"This monk is sent by the King of the Franks," answered the Breton +chief; "I do not yet know whether he brings peace or war." + +Noblede looked at her husband with increasing astonishment, when the +abbot, considering the moment favorable to obtain the desired answer +from Morvan, said: + +"I am to return immediately. What answer shall I carry to Louis the +Pious?" + +"You cannot resume your journey without taking some rest," Noblede +hastened to observe, while, with her eyes, she interrogated her husband, +who seemed to have relapsed into incertitude. "It will be time enough to +depart early in the morning. Remain here over night to recover your +strength." + +"No, no!" exclaimed the abbot with impatience, fearing the influence of +the Gallic woman upon her husband. "I return immediately. Shall I take +to Louis the Pious words of peace or of war? I must have a categoric +answer." + +The Breton chief, however, rose from his seat, and walking towards the +door of the apartment answered Witchaire: + +"I shall use the few remaining hours of the night to think the matter +over; to-morrow you will have my answer." Saying this, and despite the +insistence of the abbot upon an immediate answer, Morvan left the +guest's room, accompanied by Noblede. + +A few minutes later, Morvan, his wife, Vortigern and Caswallan, +assembled at a secluded spot, under the spreading branches of a tall oak +tree not far from the house, to consider the subject of Abbot +Witchaire's errand to Brittany. + +"What does this messenger of the King of the Franks want?" asked +Vortigern of Morvan. + +"If we consent to pay tribute to Louis the Pious and to recognize him as +our sovereign, we shall escape an implacable war. I know not what answer +to make. I hesitate before the prospect of the disasters that will +attend a new struggle--the massacres, the fires." + +"Hesitate! Yield to threats!" + +"Brother," answered Morvan with deep sadness, "the Breton people are no +longer what they once were." + +"You are right!" put in Caswallan. "The breath of the Catholic Church, +so deadly to the freedom of the people, has passed over this unhappy +country also. The patriotism of a large number of our tribes has cooled. +But, on the other hand, should you consent to submit to a shameful +peace, then Brittany will be peopled with slaves before a century shall +have rolled away." + +"Brother," added Vortigern, "would you yield to threats, instead of +reviving the spirit of Brittany in a sacred war against the foreigner? +That would be to debase ourselves forever! To-day we would pay tribute +to the king of the Franks, in order to avoid a war; to-morrow we would +have to yield to him one-half of our patrimony, in order that he may +allow us to retain the rest; after that we would have to submit to +slavery with all its degradation and wretchedness, in order to be +allowed to preserve our lives. The chain will have been riveted to our +limbs, and our children will have to drag it during all the centuries to +come!" + +"Unhappy Brittany!" exclaimed Noblede. "Have we fallen so low as to +begin to measure the length of our chains? Look at these three brave, +wise and tried men, wasting their time in discussing the insolence of a +Frankish king! There is but one word you can answer with--WAR! Oh, +degenerate Gauls! Eight centuries ago, Caesar, the greatest captain of +the world, and at the head of a formidable army, also sent messengers to +summon Brittany to pay him tribute. The Roman messengers were answered +with a beating, and chased with contempt out of the city of Vannes. That +same evening, Hena, our ancestress, offered her blood to Hesus for the +deliverance of Gaul, and the cry of war resounded from one end of the +country to the other! Albinik the sailor, together with his wife Meroe, +performed a journey of more than twenty leagues across the most fertile +regions of Gaul, but then burnt down by a conflagration that the people +themselves had kindled. Caesar saw before him only a waste of +smouldering ruins, and on the day of the battle of Vannes our whole +family--women and young girls, children and old men--fought or died like +heroes! Oh! These ancestors of ours worried their heads little about the +'dangers of battle'! To live free or die--such was their simple faith, +and they sealed it with their blood, and winged their flight to those +unknown worlds where they continue to live!" + +Noblede was addressing Morvan, Vortigern and Caswallan in these terms, +when the abbot, who had left his apartment and inquired after Morvan +from the people about the house, approached the oak under which the +Breton family was in council. Although the moon was shining in all her +splendor, the first glimmerings of the dawn, always early in the end of +August, already began to crimson the horizon. + +"Morvan," said Abbot Witchaire, "day is about to dawn. I can wait no +longer. What is your answer to the messenger of Louis the Pious?" + +"Priest, my answer will not burden your memory: RETURN AND TELL THE KING +THAT WE WILL PAY HIM TRIBUTE--IN IRON." + +"You want war! Very well, you shall have it without mercy or pity!" +cried the abbot furiously, and leaping on his horse which the monks held +ready for him he added, turning again to the Chief of the Chiefs: +"Brittany will be laid waste with fire and sword! Not a house will be +left standing! The last day of this people has arrived!" + +As the priest uttered these words, his gestures seemed to call down +curses and anathemas upon the Breton chief. Angrily putting the spurs to +his horse and followed by the two monks, the prelate rode rapidly away. + +The abbot had hardly been a quarter of an hour on the road, when he +heard the gallop of an approaching horse behind him. Turning, he saw a +rider coming towards him at full speed. It was Vortigern. The abbot drew +in his reins, yielding to a last ray of hope. "May your coming be +propitious. Morvan regrets, I hope, the insensate resolution that he +took?" + +"Morvan regrets that in your hurry you and your two monks should have +departed without a guide. You might easily lose your way in our +mountains. I am to accompany you as far as the city of Guenhek. There I +shall furnish you with a safe guide for the rest of the journey; he will +take you to our frontiers." + +"Young man, you are, I am told, the brother of Morvan's wife. I conjure +you, in the name of the safety of Brittany, to endeavor to change the +insensate and fatal resolution of this man who happens to be the chief +of your nation." + +"Monk, the fires lighted last night on our mountains, and which, no +doubt, you must have seen, were the signals of alarm, given to our +tribes to prepare for war. Your King wants war--let his will be done. +But, now, answer me a question. You come from the court at +Aix-la-Chapelle. Could you tell me what has become of the daughters of +the Emperor Charles?" + +The abbot cast a look of surprise at Vortigern: "What is it to you what +may have become of the Emperor's daughters?" + +"It is now about eight years ago that I accompanied my grandfather to +Aix-la-Chapelle. I there saw the daughters of Charles. That is the +reason for my curiosity concerning them." + +"The daughters of Charles have been consigned to nunneries by order of +their brother, Louis the Pious,"[D] was the sententious answer of +Witchaire. "May they, by dint of repentance, merit the pardon of heaven +for their past and abominable libertinage." + +"And Thetralde, the youngest of Charles' daughters, did she share the +fate of her sisters?" + +"Thetralde died long ago." + +"She died!" exclaimed Vortigern, unable to conceal his emotion. "Poor +child! So beautiful--and to die so young!" + +"She, at least, never gave Charles cause to blush." + +"And what was the cause of the death of that child? Could you tell me?" + +"It is not known. Up to her fifteenth year she enjoyed a nourishing +health. Suddenly she began to languish, grew ill, and barely in her +sixteenth year, her light went out, in the arms of her father, who never +ceased weeping for her. But this is quite enough about the daughters of +Charles the Great. Once more, will you or will you not, endeavor to +cause Morvan to abandon a resolution that can have for its only effect +the ruin of this country? You are silent--do you refuse?" + +Absorbed in the thoughts that the fate of the ill-starred Thetralde had +started in his mind, Vortigern remained mute and melancholy. His +thoughts flew to the young girl who died so young, and the touching +remembrance of whom had long remained alive with him. Impatient at the +prolonged silence of the Breton, the abbot put his hand on Vortigern's +shoulder, and repeated his question: + +"I ask you, yes or no, will you endeavor to cause Morvan to renounce his +insensate resolution?" + +"Your King wants war; he shall have war." + +And Vortigern, relapsing into his own meditations, rode silently beside +Witchaire until the two reached the city of Guenhek. There Vortigern +entrusted the guidance of the abbot to an experienced guide, and while +the messenger of Louis the Pious proceeded towards the frontier of +Brittany, the brother of Noblede hastened back and rejoined his wife +Josseline at the house of Morvan. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +THE DEFILE OF GLEN-CLAN. + + +The defile of Glen-Clan is the only practicable passage across the last +links of the Black Mountains--a mountain chain that constitutes a +veritable girdle of granite as a natural protection to the heart of +Brittany. The defile of Glen-Clan is so narrow that a wagon can barely +thread it; it is so steep that six yoke of oxen are barely able to drag +a wagon up its craggy incline, from the top of which a stone of +considerable size would roll rapidly down to the bottom of the pass--a +pass cut, like the bed of a mountain torrent, at the feet of immense +rocks that rise on either side perpendicular over a hundred feet in the +air. + +A distant rumbling noise, confused at first, and becoming more and more +distinct as it draws nearer and nearer, disturbs one day, shortly after +the angry departure of Abbot Witchaire from Brittany, the otherwise +profound silence of the solitude. By little and little the dull tramp of +cavalry is distinguished; presently also the clanking of iron arms upon +iron armor, and finally the rythmic tread of large troops of foot +soldiers, the lumbering of wagon wheels jolting upon the stony ground, +the neighing of horses and the bellowing of yoke-oxen. All these various +sounds draw nearer, grow louder, and are finally blended into one steady +roar. They announce the approach of an army corps of considerable +proportions. Suddenly the mournful and prolonged cry of a night bird is +heard from the crest of the rocks that overhang the defile. Other +similar, but more distant cries answer the first signal, like an echo +that loses itself in the distance. Silence ensues thereupon--except for +the tumultuous din of the advancing army corps. A small troop appears at +the entrance of the tortuous passage; a monk on horseback guides the +scouting party. At the monk's side rides a warrior of tall stature, clad +in rich armor. His white buckler, on which three eagle's talons are +designed, hangs to one side from the pommel of his saddle, while an iron +mace dangles from the other. Behind the Frankish chief ride several +cavalrymen accompanied by about a score of Saxon archers, +distinguishable by their long quivers. + +"Hugh," says the chief of the warriors to one of his men, "take with you +two horsemen, and let five or six archers precede you to make certain +that there is no ambush to fear. At the slightest sign of an attack fall +back upon us and give the alarm. I do not wish to entangle the gross of +my troop in this defile without the necessary precautions." + +Hugh obeys his chief. The little vanguard quickens its step and soon +disappears beyond one of the windings of the pass. + +"Neroweg, the measure is wise," observes the monk. "One could not +advance with too much precaution into this accursed country of Brittany, +where I have lived long enough to know that it is extremely dangerous." + +"At the end of this defile, I am told, we enter upon even ground." + +"Yes, but before that we shall have to cross the marsh of Peulven and +the forest of Cardik; we then arrive at the vast moor of Kennor, the +rendezvous of the two other armed bodies of Louis the Pious, who are +marching to that point across the river Vilaine and over the defile of +Mount Orock, as we are to penetrate through this one. Morvan will be +attacked from three sides, and will not be able to resist our forces." + +"I marvel that so important a pass as this is not defended." + +"I furnished you the reason when I delivered to you Morvan's plan of +campaign, that was forwarded to me by Kervor, a pious Catholic who came +over to the Frankish side and submitted to the authority of our King. He +is the chief of the southern tribes whose territory we have just +crossed." + +"I loved to see those people so docile to the priests; they furnished us +with supplies, and at your voice knelt down as we passed." + +"At the time of the other wars you would have dropped fully one-half of +your troops in this region so cut up with bogs, hedges and woods. The +change between now and then is great. The Catholic faith penetrates +little by little these people, formerly so intractable. We have preached +to them submission to Louis the Pious, and menaced them with the fires +of hell if they attempted to resist your arms." + +"Indeed, more than one of the troopers of the old bands who fought here +at the time of Charles the Great, have told me they could no longer +recognize the Bretons, who, in their days, were almost invincible. But +for all your explanations, monk, I cannot understand how this pass comes +to be abandoned." + +"And yet nothing is simpler. According to his plan of campaign, Morvan +counted with the resistance of the tribes that we have just crossed. In +one day, without drawing your sword, you have cleared a track that would +otherwise have cost you three days' hard fighting, and a fourth of your +troops. Morvan, never apprehending your early arrival at the defile of +Glen-Clan, will not think of having it occupied until this evening, or +to-morrow. He has not enough forces at his disposal to place them where +they would lie idle while he himself is being attacked from two other +sides by as many army corps." + +"To that argument I have nothing to say, my father in Christ, you know +the country better than I. If this war succeeds, I shall have my share +of the conquered territory; and, according to the promise of Louis the +Pious, I shall become a powerful seigneur in Brittany, as my elder +brother, Gonthran, is in Auvergne." + +"And you will not forget to endow the Church." + +"I shall not be ungrateful to the priests, good father. I shall employ a +part of the booty in building a chapel to St. Martin, for whom our +family has ever entertained a particular devotion. Could you, who are +well acquainted with the customs of the Bretons, tell me what corners +they hide their money in? It is claimed that they remove all their +treasures when they are forced to flee from their houses, and that they +bury them in inaccessible hiding places. Is that so?" + +"When we shall have arrived in the heart of the country, I shall +acquaint you with the means to discover those treasures, which are, +almost always, concealed at the foot of certain druid stones, for which +these pagans preserve an idolatrous reverence." + +"But where shall we find those stones? By what signs are they to be +recognized?" + +"That is my secret, Neroweg. It will become _ours_ after we shall have +reached the heart of the country." + +Thus conversing, the monk and the Frankish chief slowly ascend the +craggy slope of the defile. From time to time, some of the horsemen, or +foot soldiers, detached as scouts, ride back to acquaint Neroweg with +their observations. Finally, Hugh himself returns and informs his master +that there is nothing to cause any apprehension on the score of an +ambuscade. Completely reassured by these reports, and by the +explanations of the monk, Neroweg gives the order for the advance of his +troops, the footmen first, the horsemen next, then the baggage, and last +of all a rear corps of foot soldiers. + +The army corps breaks up and enters the pass that is so narrow as to +allow a passage to only four men abreast. The long and winding column of +men covered with iron, crowded together, and moving slowly, presents a +strange spectacle from the top of the rocks that dominate the narrow +route. It might be taken for some gigantic serpent with iron scales, +deploying its sinuous folds in a ravine cut between two walls of +granite. The misgivings of the Franks, somewhat alarmed when they first +began threading their way through a passage so propitious to an ambush, +are presently removed and make place for unquestioning confidence. +Already the vanguard that precedes Neroweg and the monk is drawing near +the issue of the defile, while at the other end the baggage wagons, +drawn by oxen, begin to set themselves in motion followed by the rear +guard that consists of Thuringian horsemen and Saxon archers. The last +wagons and the rear guard have barely entered the defile, when suddenly +the lugubrious cry of the night bird, resembling that which had greeted +the first arrival of the Frankish army, resounds again, and is echoed +from peak to peak, along the whole length of the overtopping rocks. +Immediately thereupon, pushed by invisible arms, several enormous +boulders detach themselves from the surrounding rocks that an instant +before seemed a solid part of themselves, roll and bound with the rattle +of thunder from the top of the crest down to the foot of the mountain, +and fall crashing upon the wagons, crushing a large number of soldiers +to death, mutilating many more and disabling the train. In their +paroxysms of death, or rendered furious by their wounds, the oxen crowd +upon or roll over one another, and throw the rear guard of the Franks +into such frightful disorder that it is wholly unable to make another +step in advance; it is cut off from the gross of the troops by the +lumber in its way; it is reduced to utter impotence. All along the rest +of the length of the defile of Glen-Clan the Franks are in similar +plight. All along the line, fragments of rocks roll down from the +overtopping crests, crushing and decimating the compact mass of soldiers +below. The gigantic serpent of iron is mutilated, cut into bleeding +sections; it writhes convulsively at the bottom of the ravine, while +from the summits on either side, now crowned with a swarm of Bretons, +who kept themselves until then concealed, a hailstorm of arrows, +boar-spears and stones rains down upon the bewildered, panic-stricken +and impotent Frankish cohorts, caught and hemmed in between the two +granite walls, from whose tops our men deal prompt and unavoidable death +to their invaders. Vortigern is in command of these resolute and +watchful Bretons. His bow in one hand, his quiver by his side, not one +of his bolts misses its mark. + +The butchery is frightful! The carnage superb! The Gallic war-songs and +cries of triumph from above answer the imprecations of the Franks from +below. A frightful butchery! + +A superb carnage! It lasts as long as our men have a stone to throw, a +bolt or a spear to hurl at the foe. His own, and the munitions of his +companions being exhausted, Vortigern cries down from the summit of the +rocks to the frantic Franks below, accompanying the cry with a gesture +of defiance: + +"We will thus defend our soil, inch by inch; every step you take will be +marked by your blood or our own; all our tribes are not like those of +Kervor!" + +Saying this, Vortigern struck up the martial song of his ancestor +Schanvoch: + + "This morning we asked: + 'How many are there of these Franks? + How many are there of these barbarians?' + This evening we say: + 'How many were there of these Franks? + How many were there of these barbarians?'"[E] + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +THE MARSH OF PEULVEN. + + +Vast is the marsh of Peulven. To the east and the south its shape is +like a bay. From that side its edges are bordered by the skirts of the +dense forest of Cardik. To the north and west, it waters the gentle +slopes of the hills that succeed upon the last spurs of the Black +Mountains, whose tops, empurpled by the rays of the westering sun, rise +in the distant horizon. A jetty, or tongue of land that runs into the +edge of the forest, traverses the marsh through its whole length. +Silence is profound in this desert place. The stagnant waters reflect +the inflamed tints of the ruddy twilight. From time to time flocks of +curlews, herons and other aquatic birds, rise from amidst the reeds that +cover the marsh in spots, hover about and fly upward, emitting their +plaintive cries. Several Frankish horsemen appear from the side of the +mountain. They climb the hill, reach its top, and rein in their horses. +They sweep the marsh with their eyes, examine it for a moment, then turn +their horses' heads and ride back to join Neroweg and the monk, whose +forces, decimated shortly before in the defile of Glen-Clan, have been +subsequently harassed without let on their further march by little +Breton bands, who, placed in ambush behind hedges, or in ditches covered +with dry wood, unexpectedly fell upon either the vanguard or the rear +guard of the Franks, and, after bloody encounters, again vanished in +that region so interspersed with obstacles of all sorts, impracticable +for cavalry, and with which the Frankish foot soldiers are so utterly +unfamiliar that they ventured not to separate themselves from the main +column, ever fearing to fall into some fresh ambush. On horseback behind +the monk, Neroweg stands on the summit of a hill not far behind the one +that the scouts have just ascended. He awaits their return in order to +continue his march. The vanguard has halted at a little distance from +the chief. Further away rest the bulk of his troops. A small detachment +of the rear guard was ordered to take its stand about a league further +back in order to guard the baggage, the wagons and the wounded of the +sorely harassed army. + +The lines on the face of the Frankish chief denote deep concern. He says +to the monk: + +"What a war! What a war! I have fought against the Northmans, when they +attacked our fortified camps at the confluence of the Somme and the +Seine. Those accursed pirates are terrible foes. They are as dashing in +attack as they are cautious in retreat, and they ever find a safe +shelter in the light craft in which they come over the seas of the North +as far south as Gaul. But by St. Martin! these accursed Bretons are +fuller of the devil, and harder to get at than even the pirates! They +were a source of trouble to Charles the great Emperor; they have become +the desolation of his son!" And Neroweg repeats dejectedly: "What a war! +What a war!" + +The monk turns upon his saddle, and stretching out his hand in the +direction traversed by the Frankish troop, says to Neroweg: + +"Look toward the west!" + +Turning his eyes in the direction indicated by the priest, the Frankish +chief notices behind him tall columns of ruddy smoke rising at intervals +from the hills that the army has left behind it. "Look yonder! +Everywhere a conflagration marks our passage. The burgs and villages, +abandoned by the fleeing inhabitants, have, at my orders, been delivered +to the flames. The Bretons have not, like the Northman pirates, the +resource of vessels on which to flee with their booty back to the ocean. +We are driving the fleeing population before us. The two other army +corps of Louis the Pious are, from their side, following similar +tactics. Accordingly, we and they will meet to-morrow morning at the +village of Lokfern. There we will find, driven back and heaped together, +the populations that have been attacked from the south, the east and the +north during these last days. There, surrounded by a circle of iron, +they will be either annihilated or reduced to slavery! Ah! This time +without fail, Brittany, never before overcome, will be subjected to the +Catholic Church and to the power of the Franks. What if your soldiers +have been decimated in the struggle for the triumph of the faith and +royalty! The troops that you still have, will, when joined to the other +army corps, suffice to exterminate the Bretons!" + +"Monk," answers Neroweg impatiently, "your words do not console me for +the death of so many brave Frankish warriors whose bones have been left +to bleach in the defile of Glen-Clan and on the hills of this accursed +country!" + +"Rather envy their fate. They have died for religion; they are now in +paradise, in the midst of a chorus of seraphim." + +Neroweg shrugs his shoulders with an air of incredulity, and after a +moment of silence proceeds: "You promised to point out to me where +these pagans conceal their treasures." + +"On the other side of the marsh of Peulven which we are now to traverse, +lies a vast forest in which a large number of druid stones are found. +Have the earth removed at their foot, and you will find large sums of +money in silver and gold, and many precious articles that have been +hidden there since the beginning of the war." + +"When will we arrive at that forest?" + +"This evening before nightfall." + +"I do not wish to risk my troops in that forest, and fall into another +ambush like the one of the defile!" cries Neroweg. "The day is drawing +to its close. We shall encamp to-night in the midst of the bare hills +where we now are, and where no surprise is to be feared." + +"Here are your scouts back," observes the monk to the Frankish chief. +"Interrogate them before you make up your mind definitely." + +"Neroweg," reports one of the riders who had scouted to the edge of the +marsh, "as far as the eye reaches, nothing is seen on the marsh; there +is no sign of any men; there is not a boat in sight. On the shores there +is not a single hut, and there is no evidence of any entrenchment." + +Impatient to judge by himself of the nature of the field, the Frankish +chief, followed by the monk, immediately rides forward and reaches the +top of the hill shortly before occupied by the scouts. From the eminence +Neroweg beholds a vast expanse of marshy ground in whose numerous pools +of stagnant water the last rays of the sinking sun are mirrored. The +jetty, covered with sward and lined with a thick fringe of reeds, +reaches clear to the other side, and is lost on the edge of the forest. +"There is not the slightest fear of an ambush in crossing this +solitude," says Neroweg with visible mental relief. "The march across +can only take up half an hour, at the most." + +"We have about an hour more of daylight left us," observes the monk. +"The forest you see yonder is called the forest of Cardik. It stretches +far away to the right and left of the marsh, seeing that, towards the +west, it reaches the borders of the Armorican Sea. But that portion of +the forest that faces the jetty is at the utmost a quarter of a league +long. We could easily put it behind us before night, and we would then +be on the moor of Kennor, an immense plain where you could encamp in +absolute security. To-morrow at daybreak if it should please you, we can +ride back into the forest and rummage at the foot of the druid stones +for the treasures hidden there by the Bretons. Glory to your arms, and +may the booty be large!" + +After a few minutes of hesitation, Neroweg, tempted by cupidity, sends a +man of his escort to give to his troops the order to march and traverse +the jetty, a narrow walk of about three feet wide, perfectly even, +covered with thin grass, and lying in plain view from one end to the +other. Neroweg feels easy in mind. Nevertheless, remembering the rocks +of Glen-Clan, he prudently orders several horsemen to precede the troops +by about a hundred paces. Marching behind their chief, Neroweg's troops +begin to defile along the jetty, which soon is covered with soldiers +from end to end. Massed from the foot to the top of the hill, behind the +advancing column, are the last detachments of Neroweg's army. They break +ranks as fast as it is their turn to enter upon the passage. + +Suddenly, from the midst of the clumps of reeds that rise at irregular +intervals along the length of the tongue of land, the cry of +night-birds goes up--cries identical with those that had resounded from +the summits of Glen-Clan. Upon the signal, the muffled sounds of rapid +hatchet strokes are heard. They teem to be the answer given to the cries +of the night-birds. Instantly the seemingly solid walk sinks at scores +of places under the feet of the marching soldiers. Woe is those who +happen to find themselves over these hidden traps, that are constructed +of wooden beams and strong chains concealed under a layer of sward! The +scheme, devised by Vortigern, proves successful. The movable bridges +can, at will, either support the weight of the troops that march over +them, or tip over under their tread, by the dexterous knocking from +under the loose boards the wooden pegs that are their only support. + +Plunged in the water up to their necks, Vortigern and a large number of +stout-hearted men of his tribe have held themselves motionless, mute and +invisible in the center of the clumps of reeds that border the jetty +near each of the traps. When the jetty is entirely covered with Frankish +soldiers, the hatchets are, at a signal, plied with energy; the pegs +drop out; and the passage is suddenly cut up by scores of gaps twenty +feet wide. Pell-mell foot soldiers, cavalrymen and their horses tumble +to the bottom of these suddenly opened ditches, and are received +thereupon by the sharp points of piles providently sunk at the bottom. + +At the sight of these death-dealing traps, suddenly gaping before them +at their feet, and at the sound of the wild cries and imprecations +uttered by the wounded and by those who are being pushed forward into +the abysses by the crowding ranks behind, a tremendous disorder, +followed by a panic, spreads among the Franks. Fearing the path to be +everywhere undermined, the soldiers crowd back and forward upon one +another in a frenzy of despair. The frightened horses rear, tumble down, +or rush furiously into the marsh where they vanish together with their +riders. The confusion and rout being at its height, the Bretons rise +from their places of concealment among the reeds, and hurl promiscuously +a shower of bolts upon the confused heaps of soldiers, now rendered +insane with fear, and in their panic either trampling upon one another, +or themselves being trampled upon by their uncontrollable steeds. Other +war-crys respond from a distance to the war-cries struck up by Vortigern +and his men. A troop of Bretons issues from the forest and ranks itself +in battle array at the border of the marsh ready to dispute the passage +if the Franks dare to attempt it The sight of these fresh foes carries +the panic of Neroweg's troops to its acme. Instead of marching onward +towards the edge of the forest, the front rank faces about, anxious only +to join the body of the army that still finds itself massed at the +entrance of the fatal causeway. The rush is effected with such fury that +the deep trenches are speedily filled with the bodies of a mass of +wounded, dead and dying warriors. The heaped-up corpses soon serve as a +bridge to the fleeing Franks, whose rear the Breton bolts assail +unpityingly. At the spectacle of the routed Franks, Vortigern and his +braves strike up anew the war song with which they had assailed the ears +of the distracted Franks at the defile of Glen-Clan: + + "This morning we asked: + 'How many are there of these Franks? + How many are there of these barbarians?' + This evening we say: + 'How many were there of these Franks? + How many were there of these barbarians?' + Victory and Glory to Hesus!" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE FOREST OF CARDIK. + + +"What a war! What a war!" exclaim the warriors of Louis the Pious, +leaving at every step some of their companions behind among the rocks +and the marshes of Armorica. "Every hedge of the fields, every ditch in +the valleys conceals a Breton of steady eye and hand. The stone of the +sling, the arrow of the bow whiz everywhere through the air, nor miss +their aim. The pits of the precipices, and the bottoms of the stagnant +waters swallow up the bodies of our soldiers. If we penetrate into the +forests, the danger redoubles. Every copse, the branches of every tree, +conceal an enemy!" + +Neroweg, having barely escaped with his life from the disaster of the +marsh of Peulven, spends the night upon the hill with the remaining +fragment of his army. At early dawn the next morning he orders the +trumpets and clarions to call his men to their ranks. At the head of his +warriors he again steps upon the narrow jetty of the marsh. He is +determined to force his way into the forest of Cardik. Footmen and +horses again trample over the heaped-up corpses in the wide trenches. No +ambush now retards the passage of the Franks. By sunrise the last +detachments have crossed the marsh, and all the forces still at the +command of Neroweg are deployed along the skirts of the forest that is +now serving as a retreat to the Gauls of Armorica, and where they have +taken their next stand. + +The primeval forest extends, towards the west, as far as the steep banks +of a river that runs into the sea, and towards the east, up to a chain +of precipitous hills. Furious at the defeat he suffered on the previous +evening, the Frankish chief is hardly able to restrain his ardor. Always +accompanied by the monk, he advances into the forest. The oaks, the +elms, the ash trees, the birch trees, raise their gigantic trunks and +interlace their spreading branches. Between these trunks, all is +underwood, bramble and briar. Only one narrow and tortuous path presents +itself to Neroweg's sight. He enters it. Daylight barely penetrates the +walk through the dense vault of verdure, shaped overhead by the foliage +of the stately trees. Thickets of holly seven or eight feet high fringe +the way. Their prickly leaves render them impenetrable. + +Unable to wander off either to the right or to the left, the soldiers +are compelled to follow the defile of verdure. Laboring under the shock +of their recent disasters, they march with mistrust through the somber +forest of Cardik, speaking only in undertones, and from time to time +interrogating with uneasy looks the leafy branches of the trees, or the +thicket that borders the route. For a while nothing justifies the +apprehensions of the Frankish cohorts. The silence of the forest is +disturbed only by the rhythmic and muffled sound of their steps, and the +clank of their arms. But even the silence itself nourishes the vague +fears of the Franks. The defile of Glen-Clan and the marsh of Peulven +also were silent! More than one-half of the rest of the army now left to +Neroweg has entered the forest, when, reaching one of the turns of the +winding path, the Frankish chief, who marches at the head of his +horsemen accompanied by the monk, suddenly stops short. The path has +vanished. Gigantic oaks and elms, a hundred feet tall and from fifteen +to twenty feet in circumference, and bearing the evidence of having only +freshly fallen under the axe of the woodman, lie heaped upon each other +and so tangled in their fall across the route that their enormous +branches and colossal trunks present an impassible barrier to the +cavalry. Only foot soldiers might possibly scale the obstruction, and +cut their way across with hatchets. + +"Oh! What a war!" cries out Neroweg, clenching his fists. "After the +defile, the marsh! After the marsh, the forest! I shall have barely +one-third of my forces left by the time I join the other chiefs! +Accursed Bretons, may the fires of hell consume you!" + +"Yes, these heathens will burn! They shall burn until the last day of +judgment!" responds the monk with deep vexation. "Courage, Neroweg! +Courage! This last obstacle being overcome, we shall arrive at the moor +of Kennor. There we shall join the other two army corps of Louis the +Pious, and we shall all jointly penetrate into the valley of Lokfern, +where we will exterminate these accursed Bretons to the last man." + +"Have you seen me falter in courage? By the great St. Martin, it looks +as if you were in league with the enemy, judging by the route you have +guided us on! Already have you twice led us into an ambush, you +miserable priest!" + +"Have I not braved all the dangers at your side?" observes the priest, +holding up his left arm, that is wound in a bloodstained bandage. "Was I +not myself wounded last evening when we attempted to cross the marsh of +Peulven? Can you question my courage or fidelity?" + +"How are we to find another route? The one barred is the only one, you +told me, that crosses this forest, otherwise impracticable to an army." + +The monk looks around; he reflects; but no answer proceeds from his +lips. A prey to discouragement and increasing terror, the soldiers begin +to grumble, when suddenly three quickly succeeding cries of the +night-bird pierce the air. Immediately the Breton slingers and archers, +ambushed behind the breast-work of fallen trees, assail the Franks with +a volley of stones and arrows. Enormous oak branches, previously +prepared, detach themselves from the tops of their trunks, and come down +crashing upon the heads of the soldiers, killing or mutilating them. +Anew, panic seizes the Franks; a fresh carnage decimates them. +Cavalrymen thrown from their horses, foot soldiers trampled under the +hoofs of the frightened steeds, all blinded, their flesh torn as in +their fright they precipitate themselves into the thick of the prickly +holly hedges--such is this day's spectacle presented to the delighted +Breton eyes by the invading army of Neroweg. What an inspiring spectacle +to the Armorican Gauls! The air is filled with the moans of the dying, +the imprecations of the wounded, the threats hurled at the monk, now +roundly charged with treason. + +The carnage and the panic are at their height when, climbing to the top +of the breast-work of trees whence he can gain a full view of the +distracted foe, Vortigern appears before the Franks and calls out to +them defiantly: + +"Now you may try to cross the forest. Our quivers are empty. We shall +retreat to replenish them and shall be ready to meet you in the valley +of Lokfern." + +Vortigern has barely uttered these words when his eyes catch sight of +the chief of the Franks, who, having descended from his horse, holds up +against the stones and bolts of his assailants, his white buckler, on +which three eagle's talons are seen painted. At the sight of the device +of his own stock's ancestral foe, Vortigern places his last arrow upon +the string of his bow. + +"The descendant of Joel sends this to the descendant of the Nerowegs." + +The arrow whizzes. It grazes the lower border of the Frank's buckler, +and penetrates his knee just above the jointure. + +Neroweg falls upon the other knee, points out the Gaul to several +archers in his vicinity, and cries: + +"Take aim at that bandit! Kill him!" + +The Saxon arrows fly through the air; two strike, and quiver where they +strike, in the upturned branches of the tree on which Vortigern has +mounted; the third enters his left arm. + +The descendant of Joel quickly draws out the sharp-edged iron, throws it +back at the Franks with a defiant gesture, and disappears behind the +twisted branches of the improvised barricade. + +Three times the cry of the night bird is again heard in the forest, and +the Bretons disperse along paths known only to them, again singing as +they go, the ancient war-song, the sound of whose refrain is gradually +lost in the distance: + + "This morning we asked: + 'How many are there of these Franks? + How many are there of these barbarians?' + This evening we say: + 'How many were there of these Franks? + How many were there of these barbarians?' + Victory, Victory for Gaul!" + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE MOOR OF KENNOR. + + +About four leagues in width and three in length--such is the expanse of +the moor of Kennor. It constitutes a vast plateau that slopes to the +north toward the valley of Lokfern, and is bounded on the west by a wide +river that pours its waters into the Sea of Armorica only a little +distance away. The forest of Cardik and the last spurs of the mountain +chain of Men-Brez border on the moor. The moor is covered throughout its +extent by heather two or three feet high and almost burned out by the +scorching sun of the dog-days. Level as a lake, the immense barren and +desert plain presents a desolate aspect. A violent east wind causes the +tall heather, now of the color of dead leaves, to undulate like a +peaceful sheet of water. Above, the sky is of a bright blue on this +sultry and windy day. An August sun inundates with its blinding light +the desert expanse of heather, whose silence is disturbed only by the +sharp chirp of the grasshopper, or the low moan of the gale. + +Presently a new element enters upon the scene. Skirting the bank of the +river, a black and confused mass heaves into sight, stretches out its +length, and moves toward the centre of the plain. It is the one of the +three army corps led in person by Louis the Pious against the Breton +Gauls. Long before its appearance, other troops, formed in compact +cohorts, have been descending on the east the last slopes of Men-Brez. +They, likewise, are advancing toward the plain--the place agreed upon +for the junction of the three armies that had invaded Armorica, burning +and ravaging the country upon their passage, and driving the population +back towards the valley of Lokfern. The only division absent from the +rendezvous is the contingent captained by Neroweg, which, since morning, +has been struggling in the forest of Cardik. Finally it has issued in +disorder from the woods, and re-formed its ranks. After incalculable +labor, hewing, axe in hand, a passage through the thickets, leaving +their cavalry behind, and forced to retreat upon their steps back to the +marsh of Peulven, the troops of Neroweg at last succeed in crossing the +forest. These troops now number barely one-half their original strength. +They are reduced, not only by the losses sustained in the passage of the +defile of Glen-Clan, of the marsh of Peulven, and the forest of Cardik, +but also by the defection of large numbers of men, who, being more and +more terror stricken by the resistance that they encountered, refused to +listen to the orders of their chief, and followed the cavalry in its +retreat. Neroweg's greatly reduced contingent now also appears in sight +from the opposite side. The three army corps have descried one another. +Their march converges towards the centre of the plain. The distance +between them becomes so small that they are able to see one another's +armor, casques and lances, glistening in the sun. The division of Louis +the Pious, having been the first to descend into the plain over the +hills of Men-Brez, halts, in order to wait for the other divisions. The +troops under Louis the Pious himself are no less demoralized and reduced +in numbers than the division under Neroweg. They have undergone similar +vicissitudes during their long march, having had to cut their way +across a seemingly endless series of ambushes. The sight of their +companions arriving from the opposite side revives their courage. +Henceforth they expect to fight in the open. As far as the eye can +reach, the vast plain that they now have entered upon lies fully exposed +to view. It can conceal no trap. The last struggle is now at hand, and +with it the close of the war. The Bretons, crowded together just beyond +in the valley of Lokfern, are to be crushed by a combined armed force +that is still three times stronger than theirs. + +The vanguards of the three converging divisions are about to join when +suddenly, from the east, whence a dry and steady gale is blowing, little +puffs of smoke, at first almost imperceptible, are seen to rise at +irregular distances from one another. The puffs of smoke are going up +from the extreme eastern edge of the moor; they spread; they mingle with +one another over an area more than two leagues in length; by little and +little they present the aspect of one continuous belt of blackish smoke +rising high and spreading into the air, and from time to time breaking +out into lambent flames. + +The fire has been kindled at a hundred different spots by the Breton +Gauls with the dry heather of the moor. Driven by the violent gale the +girdle of flame soon embraces the horizon from the east to the south, +from the slopes of Men-Brez to the skirt of the forest. It advances with +rapid strides like the waves of the incoming tide lashed by a furious +wind. Terrified at the sight of the burning waves that are rushing upon +them from the right with the swiftness of a hurricane, the Frankish +ranks waver for a moment. To their left, runs a deep river; behind them, +rises the forest of Cardik; before them the plateau slopes towards the +valley of Lokfern. Himself running for life towards the valley, Louis +the Pious thereby gives to his troops the signal to flee. They follow +their king tumultuously, anxious only to leave the moor behind them +before the flames, that now invade the plateau from end to end, entirely +cut off their retreat. Impatient to escape the danger, the cavalry +breaks ranks, follows the example set by the king, traverses the cohorts +of the infantry, throws them down, and rides rough-shod over them. The +disorder, the tumult, the terror are at their height. The soldiers +struggle with the horsemen and with one another. The fiery wave advances +steadily; it advances faster than it can be run away from. The swiftest +steed cannot cope with it. The all-embracing sheet of fire reaches first +the soldiers whom the cavalry has thrown down and left wounded behind; +it speedily envelopes the bulk of the army. In an instant the distracted +cohorts are seen up to their waists in the midst of the flames. + +By the valor of our fathers, it is the hell of the damned in this world! +Frightful! torture! Excruciating pain! A cheering sight for the eyes of +a Breton Gaul, harassed by invaders, to behold his merciless assailers +in. Frankish horsemen cased in iron and fallen from their steeds, roast +within their red-hot armor like tortoises in their shell. The footmen +jump and leap to withdraw their nether extremities from the embrace of +the caressing flames. But the flames never leave them; the flames gain +the lead. Their feet and legs are grilled, refuse their support, and the +men drop into the furnace emitting cries of despair. The horses fare no +better despite their breathless gallop; they feel their flanks and +buttocks devoured by the flames; they become savage. They are seized +with a vertigo; they rear, plunge and fall over upon their riders. +Horses and riders roll down into the brasier at their feet. The horses +neigh piteously, the riders moan or utter curses. An immense concert of +imprecations, of fierce cries of pain and rage rises heavenward with the +flames of the magnificent hecatomb of Frankish warriors! + +Oh! Beautiful to the eye is the moor of Kennor, still ruddy and smoking +an hour after it is set on fire and consumed to the very root of its +heather! Splendid brasier three leagues wide, strewn with thousands of +Frankish bodies, shapeless, charred. Warm quarry above which already +flocks of carrion-crows from the forest of Cardik are hovering! Glory to +you, Bretons! More than a third of the Frankish army met death on the +moor of Kennor. + +"What a war! What a war!" also exclaims Louis the Pious. + +Aye, a merciless war; a holy war; a thrice holy war, waged by a people +in defence of their freedom, their homes, their fields, their hearths; +Oh, ancient land of the Gauls! Oh, old Armorica, sacred mother! +Everything turns into a weapon in the hands of your rugged children +against their barbarous invaders! Rocks, precipices, marshes, woods, +moors on fire! Oh, Brittany, betrayed by those of your own children who +succumbed to the wiles of the Catholic priests, stabbed at your heart by +the sword of the Frankish kings, and pouring out the generous heart +blood of your children, perchance, after all, you will feel the yoke of +the conquerer on your neck! But the bones of your enemies, crushed, +burned and drowned in the struggle, will tell to our descendants the +tale of a resistance that Armorica offered to her casqued and mitred +invaders! + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE VALLEY OF LOKFERN. + + +Decimated by the conflagration of the moor of Kennor, the Frankish army +flees in disorder in the direction of the valley of Lokfern, that lies +slightly below the vast plateau on which an hour before the three +Frankish divisions have joined, confident that their trials are ended. +Escaped from the disaster of the conflagration and carried onward by the +impetuosity of their steeds, a portion of the Frankish cavalry that +follows Louis the Pious in his precipitate flight, arrives at the +confines of the plateau. Driven by a terror that left them no thought +but to outstrip one another, the fleeing riders seem to give no heed to +the sight that unfolds before them. At the foot of the slope that they +are about to descend, stands the numerous Breton cavalry, drawn up in +battle array, under the command of Morvan and Vortigern. It is only a +cavalry of rustics, yet intrepid, veterans in warfare, perfectly +mounted. Carried by the headlong course of their horses beyond the edge +of the plateau and down the slope to the valley, the Franks rush in +confused order upon the Breton cavalry that is drawn up as if to bar +their passage; they rush onward, either unable to restrain their still +frightened steeds, or conceiving a vague hope of crushing the opposing +Bretons under the irresistible violence of their impetuous descent. The +Breton cavalry, however, instead of waiting for the Franks, quickly +parts in two corps, one commanded by Morvan, the other by Vortigern. +One corps seems to flee to the right, the other to the left. The space +from the foot of the hill to the river Scoer being thus left free by the +sudden and rapid manoeuvre of the Gauls, most of the Frankish horsemen +find themselves hardly able to rein in their horses in time to escape +falling into the water. A moment of disorder follows. It is turned to +advantage by Morvan and Vortigern. The Frankish riders being dispersed +and engaged with their steeds, Vortigern and Morvan turn about and fall +upon them. They take the foe upon the flanks, right and left; charge +upon them with fury; make havoc among them. Most of them are sabred to +death, or have their heads beaten in with axes, others are driven into +the river. During the fierce melee, the remnant of the infantry of Louis +the Pious, still fleeing from the furnace of the moor of Kennor, arrives +upon the spot in disorder. Trained in the trade of massacre, they +promptly reform their ranks and pour down upon the Breton cavalry. At +first victorious, these are finally crushed, overwhelmed by vastly +superior numbers. On the other side of the river the rustic Gallic +infantry still continue to hold their ground--husbandmen, woo-men and +shepherds armed with pikes, scythes and axes, and many of them supplied +with bows and slings. Behind this mass of warriors, and within an +enclosure defended by barricades of heaped up trunks of trees and +ditches, are assembled the women and children of the combatants. All +their families have fled distracted before the invaders, carrying their +valuables in their flight, and now await with indescribable agony the +issue of this last battle. + +Weep! Weep, Brittany! and yet be proud of your glory! Your sons, crushed +down by numbers, resisted to their last breath; all have fallen wounded +or dead in defence of their freedom! + +The river is fordable for infantry at only one place. The monk who +accompanies Neroweg points out the passage to the troops of Louis the +Pious. They cross it immediately after the annihilation of the cavalry +of Morvan. The Armoricans who are drawn up on the opposite bank of the +Scoer heroically defend the ground inch by inch, man to man, ever +falling back toward the fortified enclosure that is the last refuge of +our families. Marching over heaps of corpses, the soldiery of Louis the +Pious finally assail the fortified enclosure, all its defenders having +been killed or wounded. The enclosure is taken. According to their +custom, the Franks slaughter the children, put the women and maids to +the torture of infamous treatment, and lead them away captive to the +interior of Gaul. Ermond the Black, a monk and familiar of Louis the +Pious in this impious war, wrote its account in Latin verse. The death +of Morvan is narrated in the poem as follows: + + "Then presently the cry runs through the ranks + That Morvan's head, the Breton chieftain's head, + Has been brought in unto the Frankish King: + To see it haste the Franks; they shout with joy + At prospect to behold the grisley sight. + From hand to hand the bloody head is passed, + Marred with the sword that hewed it from its trunk. + Witchaire the Abbot next is called upon + T' identify the member, if it be + The head of Morvan, that redoubted chief. + He pours some water on the matted front, + He laves it, wipes the hair from off its brow, + And cries ''Tis Morvan--'tis his Gallic lour!'" + +Thus Brittany, once lost to the Franks, is placed anew under their +sway. + + + + +EPILOGUE + + +Vortigern, the grandson of Amael, wrote this account of the war of the +Franks against Brittany. Left for dead on the banks of the Scoer, he did +not recover his senses until a day and a night had passed after the +defeat of the Bretons. Some Christian druids, led to the spot by +Caswallan, who had escaped the massacre, came to the field of battle to +gather the wounded who might still be alive. Vortigern was of the +number. From them he learned that his sister Noblede, the wife of +Morvan, together with other women and young girls who took refuge in the +fortified enclosure, had stabbed themselves to death in order to escape +being outraged by the Franks and led into slavery. After Abbot Witchaire +left the house of Morvan on his return trip to announce to Louis the +Pious the refusal of the Armorican Gauls to pay the tribute demanded +from them, Vortigern returned with his wife and children to Karnak in +order to gather in the crops from his fields. The harvest being in, he +left his family at the house of his parents, and returned to Morvan in +order to join the latter's forces, and oppose the army of Louis the +Pious. Immediately after his wounds were healed, Vortigern returned to +Karnak, where he rejoined his wife and children. The Franks had not +dared push their invasion beyond the valley of Lokfern. They contented +themselves with leaving Armorica devastated and stripped of her bravest +defenders. Yet is she not subdued. She but waits the moment to revolt +anew. + +Vortigern joined this narrative to the other narratives of his family, +and he accompanied his own account with the two Carlovingian coins, the +gift of Thetralde, one of the daughters of Charles the Great. These +relics of the family of Joel now consist of Hena's little gold sickle, +Guilhern's little brass bell, Sylvest's iron collar, Genevieve's silver +cross, Shanvoch's casque's lark, Ronan the Vagre's poniard's hilt and +his branding needle, Bonaik's abbatial crosier and Vortigern's +Carlovingian coins, together with the narratives that accompany them. + +Myself, Rosneven, the oldest son of Vortigern, who make this entry at +the foot of my father's narrative, can only record here my father's +death on the fifth day of February of 889. These have been sad years for +Brittany, and also for our own family in particular. Our special sorrows +proceed from the estrangement of my younger brothers, one of whom left +Gaul and sailed to the country of the Northman pirates. I lack both the +spirit and the will to recite these lamentable events. Perhaps my +youngest brother Gomer, gifted with more energy, ability and +perseverance than myself, may some day undertake the task. + +THE END. + + +FOOTNOTES: + +[A] "The daughters of the Emperor Charles always accompanied him on his +trips into the interior of Gaul. They were handsome beauties; he loved +them passionately; he never allowed them to marry, and kept them all +with him till his death. Although happy in everything else, Charles +experienced in them the malignity of adverse fortune; but he buried his +chagrin, and behaved towards them as if they had never given cause for +evil suspicions, and as if rumor had never been busy with their +names."--_Chronicles of Eginhard, p. 145, Collected History of France._ + +[B] For Amael's story, see "The Abbatial Crosier," the preceding book of +the series. + +[C] "The Gallic woman equalled her husband in courage and strength. She +sat in his councils of war with him. Her eyes were more furious when she +was angered, and she swung her arms, as white as snow, and dealt blows +as heavy as if they came from an engine of war."--Ammienus Marcellinus, +_Notes of the Martyrs_, vol. XVIII, book IX. + +[D] "The heart of Louis the Pious (Charlemagne's son) was, naturally, +long indignant at the conduct indulged in by his sisters under the +paternal roof, the only blot upon its name. Desiring, then, to amend +these disorders, he sent before him Walla, Warnaire, Lambert and +Ingobert, with the order to watch carefully, as soon as they should +arrive at Aix-la-Chapelle, that no new scandal should occur; and to put +under heavy guard those who had soiled the majesty of the empire with a +criminal commerce (with the daughters of the Emperor). Certain ones, +guilty of these crimes, came before Louis the Pious to obtain pardon, +which they received. Audoin alone resisted. He smote Warnaire that he +died, wounded Lambert in the thigh, and slew himself with one blow of +his sword.... Whereupon Louis the Pious decided to drive out of the +palace all that multitude of women which occupied it in the time of his +father."--L'Astronome, _Life of Louis the Pious_, pp. 345-346, +_Collected History of France_. + +[E] See "The Casque's Lark." + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Carlovingian Coins, by Eugene Sue + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE CARLOVINGIAN COINS *** + +***** This file should be named 33021.txt or 33021.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/3/0/2/33021/ + +Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was +produced from scanned images of public domain material +from the Google Print project.) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH F3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. diff --git a/33021.zip b/33021.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..86476c7 --- /dev/null +++ b/33021.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..84bc608 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #33021 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33021) |
