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diff --git a/34504.txt b/34504.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..cbb54bb --- /dev/null +++ b/34504.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3618 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Seven Legends, by Gottfried Keller + +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: Seven Legends + +Author: Gottfried Keller + +Translator: Martin Wyness + +Release Date: November 29, 2010 [EBook #34504] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SEVEN LEGENDS *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Bowen, from page scans provided by the Web Archive + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + 1. Page scan source: + http://www.archive.org/details/sevenlegends00kelle + + 2. The diphthong oe is represented by [Oe] and [oe]. + + + + + + THE CAVIARE SERIES + + +This series, of which Keller's "Seven Legends" is the opening volume, +will contain books that have become standard in the literatures of +foreign countries. + +The title which has been chosen is not intended to convey the +impression that none of the books in the series will make a general +appeal (for it is hoped that some of them will become as well-known in +this country as the standard works of our own literature); but rather +to suggest that they will have characteristics and beauties, which can +be most fully enjoyed by the reader of wide culture and cultivated +taste. + +The series will be issued at varying prices, according to number of +pages, and the forthcoming appearance of each new volume will be +announced through the usual medium of the literary periodicals. + + + + + + + The Caviare Series, No. 1 + + + + + + SEVEN LEGENDS + + + + + + + SEVEN LEGENDS + + + + GOTTFRIED KELLER + + + +AUTHORIZED (AND FIRST) TRANSLATION FROM THE 56TH GERMAN EDITION BY +MARTIN WYNESS, WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY RICHARD M. MEYER, PROFESSOR OF +GERMAN LITERATURE IN BERLIN UNIVERSITY + + + + + + GOWANS & GRAY, Ltd. + 5 Robert St., Adelphi, London, W.C. + 58 Cadogan St., Glasgow + 1911 + + + + + INTRODUCTION + + +Gottfried Keller, the greatest German narrative writer of recent times, +was born in a suburb of Zurich on 19th July, 1819. The life of this +remarkable man suggests comparisons with novels of development, such as +Goethe taught him to write: from the romantic confusion of youthful +dilettantism he brought himself, by strict self-discipline, to take his +place in everyday social life. Left, together with his mother and +sister, in poverty by a hard-working but unsuccessful father, the child +dreamed away the first years of his development, and the youth was +still a stranger to the world of reality when, with the aid of some +friends in his native place, he went as an art-student to Munich. +There, after a promising start, he sank into hopeless lethargy, which +continued even after his return home. Prudent helpers then took the +half painter, half poet, once more in hand, recognizing that his +deficiency consisted in imperfect education and knowledge of the world. +He went to study at Heidelberg (1848-50), and received an important +stimulus from the well-known literary historian Hettner; thence he +proceeded to Berlin (1850-55), where Varnhagen von Ense, the admirer of +Goethe and husband of the prophetess Rahel, made him welcome. Here the +germs of his most important works awoke within him. He had already, at +an early age, published poems, which showed the influence of the +revolutionary _Tendenzlyrik_; now there appeared the romantic +autobiographical novel "Green Henry" (1854-5) which he afterwards +recast in very characteristic fashion (1879-80). This was followed in +1856 by the first part of the charming, fantastically instructive +tales, "Seldwyla People" (the second part, 1874). In spite of praise +from many competent judges, success did not come immediately. Keller +once more sat at home a dreamer, although now in intellectual +correspondence with the best minds; still, it was a bold resolution +when, in 1861, the writer, who had never followed any definite +avocation, was chosen by his canton as Staatsschreiber, or Secretary +to the Canton, and an important and well remunerated office was +entrusted to an untried man. However, he proved a thorough success, and +felt the acceptance of the post a deliverance from the occupation of +"writing-man" so much despised by the Romantics. He filled this office +for seventeen years (till 1878); a period during which his imaginative +productivity unavoidably slackened. Then when, with the well merited +recognition of the authorities, he had retired into private life, or +had begun to prepare for retiral, there appeared, in addition to a +noble volume of poems, the collection of stories, "Zurich Tales" +(1877), the cycle of stories in novel-form, "The Epigram" (1882), and +the novel, "Martin Salander" (1886), which continued the paedagogic +purpose of his earlier writings in almost too pronounced a fashion. +Meanwhile Keller's reputation had at last been established, a +consummation to which the zealous endeavours of writers and critics, +such as Fr. Th. Vischer, Berthold Auerbach and Theodor Storm, had +contributed in no small degree. His seventieth birthday was celebrated +with affectionate interest. But the writer, who lived with his +eccentric old sister in deadening domestic loneliness, and whom +evenings with good friends in an inn could not compensate for the total +lack of comforts, had early turned old and ailing; although any great +question always found him armed and at his post. He died 15th July, +1890. + +None of Gottfried Keller's works seems better suited to secure him +admirers among foreign readers than the charming collection of the +"Seven Legends." True, it offers peculiar difficulties to the +translator, since it afforded Keller an opportunity, such as he met +with nowhere else, of indulging the (for him) convenient fondness for +very individual modes of expression. At the same time, these little, +highly finished works of art imposed a check on his unbounded passion +for fabulizing, and are not so likely to bewilder the foreign reader by +sheer overabundance of invention as, say, "Seldwyla People," or even +the inexhaustible "Green Henry." Yet even they shew his wealth, and +that to an astonishing degree. + +In his preface to this little masterpiece of his fiction, Gottfried +Keller very justifiably draws attention to "the traces of an older and +more profane art of fiction" which are to be found in the old Legends. +No doubt their primary purpose was edification; but at the same time +psychological interest in the famous saints had to be gratified, and +mere human curiosity was eager to hear tales of wonder. Very special +interest was devoted to "conversion," that inward process which +transforms a dweller in the "world" into a citizen of the heavenly +city. The history of the conversion of the apostle St. Paul had already +indicated its course, along which, still earlier, among Christ's own +parables, that of the Prodigal Son runs. After long-continued contempt +of the "priestly lie-gends," Herder brought this religious fiction +once more to the light of day; but delight in this popular form of +story-telling was his immediate motive for presenting a few of them in +a modern shape. The Lutheran preacher Kosegarten, however, when he +followed with whole volumes of retold legends, was largely influenced +by interest in their matter. Romanticism went into ecstasies over +their childish tone and their believing spirit, as it had done over +folk-songs and chap-books. Kosegarten's book fell into Keller's hands +in 1854, when he was seeking subjects for his collection of stories +"The Epigram"; but he allowed his scheme of modern legends to drop for +the time being. It was not until 1871, when a publisher asked him for +manuscript, that he returned to his happy thought and speedily put it +into execution. The little volume appeared in 1872, and had a great +success, both with the general public and with the foremost German +critics of the day, such as Ferdinand Kuernberger and Wilhelm Scherer. + +Even from this sketch of its origin, the fact emerges that the +"Kulturkampf" mood of those years had little or nothing to do with this +little work, as was readily acknowledged, even by the Liberal Catholics +Kuernberger and Scherer. Keller had absolutely no intention of +caricaturing the Catholic adoration of saints, like Wilhelm Busch, for +example, in his "St. Antony" (1870). On the contrary, when sometimes he +turns the faces of the figures of the Church Legends "to another +quarter of the heavens than that towards which they looked in their +extant forms," this positive confession is the important thing to his +mind; for the great Swiss writer has no more intention of denying a +paedagogic purpose here than anywhere else in his epic work. Gottfried +Keller, like his friends Storm and Heyse, regarded asceticism as a +tendency detrimental to the healthy development of humanity. And with +this conviction he accordingly devoted himself to the conversion of the +converted. Like his Naughty Saint Vitalis, he makes a point of seeking +out the most difficult cases, self-sacrificing devotion even unto +death: Eugenia who flees from worldly success into the rigorous quiet +of the cloister, Vitalis who, in glad self-humiliation, accepts the +disgrace of evil repute, are safely piloted by him into the everyday +contentment of happy wedlock. For this is the author's meaning, that on +this very account they become the more worthy of our honour. Just as he +relates how a beautiful ancient statue of the goddess Juno was fitted +with a golden nimbus and set up as an image of Mary, so he himself now +endeavours to take the nimbus off again, that the pure marble beauty of +simple humanity may be restored once more. It cannot be denied that his +unflinching adherence to this point of view is not maintained without +poking a good deal of fun at piety and asceticism, but it is always +good-tempered and likeable. After all, the principal thing is the +edifying admonition: + + + Arise! Arise! Shake free thyself + From dumpish, idle sorrow. + + +Even the Virgin Mary has become above all things an active, warlike, +and resourceful woman, more like Frau Salander in Keller's last novel +than the far-off, heavenly Virgin; and one has the feeling that it is +not without regret that she refrains from the worldly doings of Beatrix +or Bertrade. But highest of all is represented a joyous piety, at once +declaring for and surrendering the world, represented, more +realistically in "Dorothea's Flower-Basket," and more symbolically in +the wonderful "Legend of the Dance," the crown of the collection; for +this last tale contains the writer's own confession veiled in the most +recondite allegory. As the Muses' singing, so splendid and upbuilding +to earlier generations, sounded "dismal, almost defiant and harsh, yet +so wistful and mournful," so, in the heaven of the present day as +Gottfried Keller built it up for himself, the saints' devout hymn of +praise to the laud and honour of the Most Holy Trinity sounds gloomy +and melancholy, even defiant. And Keller retorts to it with his own +song: + + + To thee, thou wondrous World, + Thou beauty without end, + I also have my vows of love + Upon this parchment penned. + + +It is this world which is the source of his joys and sorrows. The Devil +is introduced as he is on earth: "A silly devil is the rogue, for he is +cheated in the end!" And just because Keller reconquers this world +whole and entire, full of strange adventures and transformations, for +the earth and human understanding, he revels merrily here, because it +is here, in the luxuriant opulence of his imaginings great and small, +from that Heavenly concerto of the Muses to the nose-pigtails of the +doughty knight. His language plays in a kindly, roguish way with the +human blunders of the saintly beings who take a loving and loveable +human child for a very "Devil's tit-bit," yet find it offered to +themselves as a savoury "pasty." His style ranges from the playful +picture of the rococo angel-minstrels to the serious painting of the +knight riding up to the church with his eight noble sons; and, despite +the difference of his conception of life, his sympathies find something +congenial in Dorothea's Christian heroism. For these reasons, Keller in +this Legendary, most wisely restricted in number, and grouped in most +masterly fashion, has surpassed all those who have ventured on to the +same enticing ground since him. Even Anatole France equals him but +seldom; for Keller has sought to overcome piety with another piety, +with that "world-piety" of which Goethe is our greatest prophet. + + RICHARD M. MEYER. + +Berlin, 27/1/11. + + + + + + + SEVEN LEGENDS + + + + + PREFACE + + +During his perusal of a number of legends, the author of this little +book was pleased to imagine that, in the bulk of the tales which have +been handed down to us, not only the art of the churchly fabulist, but +also, upon attentive consideration, traces of a more primitive and more +profane love of story-telling, or art of fiction, are perceptible. + +As the painter is incited by a fragmentary patch of cloud, an outline +of a mountain, an etched scrap by some forgotten master, to fill a +whole canvas, so the author experienced a desire to reproduce those +broken, elusive images; although it must be owned that in the process +their faces have often been turned to another quarter of the heavens +than that towards which they looked in their extant forms. + +The huge mass of material available would have made it possible to spin +the book out to very great length; but it could only hope to be granted +the modest space which it demands if the innocent pleasantry was kept +within very moderate limits. + + + + + EUGENIA + +The woman shall not wear that which pertaineth unto a man, neither +shall a man put on a woman's garment: for all that do so are +abomination unto the Lord thy God. + + Deut. xxii. 5. + + +When women renounce their ambition of beauty, grace, and womanly charm +in order to distinguish themselves in other directions, it often ends +in their disguising themselves in men's clothes and disappearing from +the scene. + +The desire to ape the man often emerges even in the pious legendary +world of early Christianity, and more than one female saint of those +days was impelled by the desire to free herself from the common round +of home and society. + +The refined Roman maiden Eugenia offers an example of this kind, with, +it must be owned, the not unusual result, that, reduced to the greatest +extremity by her masculine predilections, she was forced after all to +summon up the resources of her proper sex in order to save herself. + +She was the daughter of a Roman gentleman who resided with his family +at Alexandria, a city which swarmed with philosophers and learned men +of every description. Accordingly, Eugenia was very carefully educated +and instructed, and this was so much to her taste that, as soon as ever +she began to grow up, she frequented all schools of philosophers, +grammarians and rhetoricians as a student. In those visits she was +always attended by a body-guard of two good-looking lads of her own +age. They were the sons of two of her father's freedmen, who had been +brought up in her company and made to share in all her studies. + +Meanwhile she became the fairest maiden that could be found, and her +youthful companions, who, strangely enough, were both named Hyacinth, +grew likewise to two graceful flowers of youth. Wherever the lovely +rose Eugenia appeared, the two Hyacinths were always to be seen +rustling along on her right hand and her left, or following gracefully +in her train while their mistress maintained a discussion with them as +they followed. + +Never were there two better bred companions of a blue-stocking; for +they were never of a different opinion from Eugenia, and they always +kept a shade behind her in learning, so that she was in the right in +every instance, and was never uneasy lest she should say something less +clever than her companions. + +All the bookworms of Alexandria composed elegies and epigrams on this +apparition of the Muses, and the good Hyacinths had to inscribe these +verses carefully in golden tablets, and carry them after her. + +Every season she became more beautiful and more accomplished, and she +had even begun to stray in the mysterious labyrinths of Neoplatonic +doctrines, when the young proconsul Aquilinus became enamoured of +Eugenia and demanded her of her father to wife. But the latter +entertained such a respect for his daughter that, despite his authority +as a Roman father, he did not venture to make the slightest suggestion +to her, but referred the suitor to her own decision, although no +son-in-law could have been more welcome to him than Aquilinus. + +But Eugenia herself had had her eye upon him secretly for many a long +day; for he was the most stately, most illustrious, and most gallant +man in Alexandria, and, what was more, had the reputation of a man of +intelligence and heart. + +Yet she received the enamoured consul in complete calm and dignity, +with her parchment rolls about her, and her Hyacinths behind her chair. +The one wore an azure-blue, the other a rose-red, robe, and she herself +one of dazzling white. A stranger would have been uncertain whether he +saw three fair, tender boys, or three fresh, blooming maidens before +him. + +Before this tribunal the manly Aquilinus now came in the simple toga of +his rank. He would much rather have uttered his passion in more +intimate and tender fashion; but, when he saw that Eugenia did not +dismiss the young men, he took his seat on a chair facing her, and made +his request for her hand in words which it cost him an effort to make +few and simple, for he kept his eyes fixed immovably upon her, and +beheld her great beauty. + +Eugenia smiled imperceptibly, and never even blushed, so tightly had +learning and culture fettered all the finer impulses of ordinary life +in her. Instead, she assumed a serious, profound expression, and made +answer to him, "Thy wish, O Aquilinus, to have me for thy wife, honours +me in a high degree, but is powerless to induce me to an act of +unwisdom; and such it would justly be termed, if we were to follow the +first crude impulse without examining ourselves. The first condition +which I have to demand from a husband, whoever he be, is that he +understand and honour and participate in my intellectual life and aims. +So thou wilt be welcome to me if thou choosest to be often in my +society, and to exercise thyself in emulation with these my young +companions in the investigation of the highest things along with me. By +this means we shall not fail to ascertain whether we are suited for +each other or not, and, after a period of intellectual activity in +common, we shall know each other so as beseems god-created beings who +are meant to walk not in the darkness, but in the light." + +To this high-flown demand Aquilinus answered, not without secret +indignation, but still with proud tranquillity, "If I did not know +thee, Eugenia, I would not desire thee for my wife; and, as to myself, +great Rome knows me, as well as this province. If thy learning does not +suffice to recognize what I am by this time, I fear it will never +suffice. Besides, I did not come here to go to school again, but to +find a helpmeet; and, as for these two children, my first request, if +thou gavest me thy hand, would be that thou wouldest let them go and +restore them to their parents at last, that they might help them and be +of use to them. Now I entreat thee, give me thy decision, not as a +person of learning, but as a woman of flesh and blood!" + +This time the fair she-philosopher had indeed turned red, red as a +carnation, and said with fast-beating heart, "My answer is soon given, +for I gather from thy words that thou dost not love me, Aquilinus. That +might be a matter of indifference to me, were it not an outrage for the +daughter of a noble Roman to be lied to!" + +"I never lie!" said Aquilinus coldly. "Farewell!" + +Eugenia turned her back without returning his farewell, and Aquilinus +walked slowly out of the house to his own abode. She tried to take up +her books as if nothing had happened; but the letters grew blurred +before her eyes, and the two Hyacinths had to read to her while she, +full of hot indignation, wandered with her thoughts elsewhere. + +For, although up to that day she had regarded the consul as the only +one among all her suitors whom she might have taken for a husband, +supposing she had been so inclined, he was now become a stone of +stumbling which she could not get over. + +Aquilinus for his part attended calmly to his affairs of state, and +sighed in secret over his strange folly, which would not suffer him to +forget the pedantic beauty. + +Almost two years passed, during which Eugenia became, if possible, more +and more notable and a positively brilliant personage, while the two +Hyacinths were now two sturdy rustic figures with growing beards. +Although people everywhere began to take notice of this strange +attachment, and, instead of the admiring epigrams, others in a more +satiric vein began to appear, still she could not bring herself to part +with her body-guard; for Aquilinus, who had presumed to order her to do +so, was still there. He went quietly on his own way, and appeared to +concern himself no more about her; but he looked at no other woman, and +no other wooing was heard of, so that he also came in for censure, +because, being so high an official, he remained unmarried. + +Eugenia refrained all the more obstinately from offering any outward +sign of reconciliation by dismissing her obnoxious companions. Besides, +she was charmed to set ordinary custom and public opinion at defiance +and be responsible to herself alone, and to preserve the consciousness +of a pure life in circumstances which would have been perilous and +impossible for any other woman. + +Such eccentricities were in the air just at that time. + +All the time Eugenia felt herself anything but well and happy. Her +well-trained servitors must needs philosophize through heaven and earth +and hell, only to be suddenly interrupted and forced to wander about in +the country with her for hours together without being favoured with a +single word. One day she was seized with the desire to make an +excursion to a country-seat. She herself drove the carriage, and was in +an amiable mood, for it was a bright spring day, and the air was full +of balmy fragrance. The Hyacinths were delighted at her good humour. So +they made their way through a country suburb where the Christians were +permitted to hold their worship. They were in the act of celebrating +Sunday; from the chapel of a monastery came the tones of a devout hymn. +Eugenia checked her horses to listen, and caught the words of the +psalm, "Like as the hart desireth the water-brooks: so longeth my soul +after thee, O God. My soul is athirst for the living God." + +At the sound of these words, sung by humble pious lips, her artificial +life was made simple at last; her heart was touched, and seemed to +realize what it desired; and slowly, without a word, she went on her +way to the country-house. There she secretly put on men's clothes, +signed to the two Hyacinths to come with her, and left the house +unobserved by the menials. She went back to the convent, knocked at the +door, and presented herself and her companions to the abbot as three +young men who desired to be received into the convent that they might +bid farewell to the world and live for eternity. Thanks to her good +training, she was able to answer the abbot's searching questions so +cleverly that he received all three, whom he could not help taking for +refined and distinguished persons, into the convent, and permitted them +to assume the monastic habit. + +Eugenia made a beautiful, almost angelic, monk, and was called Brother +Eugenius, while the two Hyacinths found themselves transformed for +better or worse into monks; for they were never even consulted, and +they had long been accustomed only to live according to the will of +their female paragon. Still, they did not find the monkish life amiss; +they enjoyed incomparably more peaceful days, did not require to study +any more, and found no difficulty in surrendering themselves entirely +to a passive obedience. + +Brother Eugenius, on the other hand, did not remain idle, but became a +notable monk, his visage white as marble, but with glowing eyes and the +presence of an archangel. He converted many heathen, tended the sick +and destitute, became profound in the Scriptures, preached in a golden +bell-like voice, and on the abbot's death was actually chosen to be his +successor. So now the tender Eugenia became abbot over seventy good +monks, great and small. + +During the time that she and her companions were thus mysteriously +vanished and were nowhere to be found, her father had made enquiries at +an oracle as to what had become of his daughter, and it answered that +Eugenia had been taken away by the gods and placed among the stars. For +the priests utilized the event to contrive a miracle as a counterblast +to the Christians, who all the time had the bird safely caged. They +went so far as to point out a star in the firmament with two smaller +stars adjacent as the new constellation, and the Alexandrians stood in +the streets and on their house-tops to gaze at it, while many, who had +formerly seen her going in and out, recalled her beauty, became +enamoured of her memory, and looked up with moist eyes to the star, +which swam placidly in the purple sky. + +Aquilinus too looked up; but he shook his head and was not altogether +satisfied about the business. The father of the vanished maiden was all +the more obstinate in his credence, felt himself not a little exalted, +and contrived, with the support of the priests, to have a statue +erected and divine honours decreed to Eugenia. Aquilinus, from whom +official sanction had to be obtained, granted it subject to the +condition that the image should be made an exact likeness of the +ravished one. That was easily accomplished, as there was quite a +collection of busts and portraits of her in existence, and so her +statue in marble was set up in the fore-court of the temple of Minerva, +and challenged the inspection of gods and mortals, for, in spite of +being a speaking likeness, it was an ideal work in features, pose, and +drapery. + +When this news was discussed among the seventy monks of the convent, +they were bitterly chagrined at the trump card played by the heathen, +as well as at the erection of a new idol and the shameless worship of a +mortal woman. Their most violent objurgations were showered upon the +woman herself as a runagate and juggling impostor, and they made a most +unaccustomed noise during their midday meal. The Hyacinths, who had +become two good little priestlings and had their abbot's secret +concealed in their hearts, glanced significantly towards him, but he +signed to them to keep silence, and suffered the outcry and abuse to +pass as a penance for his former heathenish sinful mind. + +But when that night was half run, Eugenia rose from her couch, took a +heavy hammer, and went softly out of the convent to find the statue and +break it in pieces. She easily found her way to the quarter of the +city, all glistening with marble, where the temples and public +buildings were situated, and where she had passed her youth. Not a soul +stirred in the silent world of marble. Just as the female monk ascended +the steps to the temple, the moon rose above the shadows of the +city, and cast her beams as bright as day among the pillars of the +fore-court. There Eugenia saw her statue, white as new-fallen snow, +standing in wonderful grace and beauty, the finely-folded draperies +chastely drawn over the shoulders, and looking straight forward with +rapt eye and gently-smiling mouth. + +Full of curiosity the Christian advanced towards it, the hammer +uplifted in her hand; but a sweet shudder went through her heart when +she obtained a clear view of the statue. She let the hammer sink, and +breathlessly fed her gaze on the vision of her own former existence. A +bitter regret took possession of her, a feeling as if she had been +thrust out of a fairer world and was now wandering an unhappy shade in +the wilderness. For although the image was elevated to the ideal, still +the very ideal represented Eugenia's genuine inner nature, which had +only been obscured by her pedantry, and it was a nobler emotion than +vanity which now led her to recognize her better self by the magical +moonlight. She suddenly felt as if she had played the wrong card--to +use a modern expression; for, of course, there were no cards in those +days. + +Suddenly the quick step of a man was heard. Eugenia hid herself +involuntarily in the shadow of a pillar, and saw the tall form of +Aquilinus approaching. She saw how he stationed himself before the +statue, gazed long upon it, and finally flung his arm about its neck to +imprint a light kiss upon the marble lips. Then he wrapped himself in +his mantle and slowly departed, more than once turning round to gaze at +the gleaming image. Eugenia trembled so violently that she could feel +her agitation. Full of wrath and violence, she gathered herself +together and once again advanced toward the statue with uplifted hammer +to make an end of the sinful maumet; but, instead of shattering the +beauteous head, she burst into tears as she too imprinted a kiss upon +its lips, then hastened away, for she could hear the steps of the +night-watch. With heaving bosom, she slipped into her cell, and slept +none that night until the sun arose, when, absenting herself from early +prayers, she dreamt in rapid succession of things which had nothing in +common with her devotions. + +The monks respected their abbot's sleep as the result of spiritual +vigils. But at last they were obliged to interrupt Eugenia's slumbers, +as there was important business for her to attend to. A widow of rank, +who professed to be lying sick and in need of Christian aid, had sent +requesting the ghostly comfort and counsel of abbot Eugenius, whose +deeds and person she had long revered. The monks did not wish to let +slip this conquest, which would help the fame of their church, and they +wakened Eugenia. Half dazed, with handsomely reddened cheeks, such as +she had not been seen with for many a day, she set out, her thoughts in +her morning dreams and the pillars of the midnight temple rather than +in the business before her. She entered the heathen lady's house, and +was conducted to her room and left alone with her. A beautiful woman, +not yet thirty years old, was lying stretched upon a couch; but, so far +from being sick and contrite, she was full of assurance and vitality. +She could scarcely behave herself with bare quietness and modesty until +the supposed monk, at her direction, had taken his seat close beside +her; then she caught both his white hands, pressed her brow upon them, +and covered them with kisses. Eugenia, who, absorbed in far other +thoughts, had not observed the woman's unsaintly appearance, and had +taken her behaviour for humility and pious devotion, let her have her +way; and the heathen, thus encouraged, flung her arms about Eugenia's +neck, imagining that she was embracing the handsomest of young monks. +In short, before he was aware, he found himself clasped tight by the +amorous creature, and felt his mouth the target for a storm of +passionate kisses. Completely dumbfounded, Eugenia awoke at last from +her reverie; and even then it was some minutes before she could +disengage herself from that wild embrace and rise to her feet. + +But at the same instant the heathen Satan's tongue began to wag. In a +storm of words the she-devil declared her love and desire to the +indignant abbot, and sought by all manner of means to impress upon him +that it was the duty of his youth and loveliness to assuage her +desires, and that he was there for no other purpose. She did not fail +to accompany her words with fresh assaults and tender allurements, so +that Eugenia was scarcely able to defend herself. At last she rallied +herself in indignation, and with flaming eyes read the shameless woman +such a lesson and so answered her with such vigorous denunciations as +only a monk has at command, that the latter recognized that her wicked +intentions had failed, changed her tone in a twinkling, and took the +way of escape which was once taken by Potiphar's wife, and has been +taken a hundred and a thousand times since. She sprang like a tigress +on Eugenia, clasped her again with arms like steel, pulled her down to +her upon the couch, and at the same time set up such an outcry that her +maids came running into the room from all quarters. + +"Help! Help!" she screamed. "This man will force me!" And at the same +time she released Eugenia, who got to her feet breathless, confused and +horrified. + +The women who had rushed to the rescue straightway screamed more +desperately than their mistress, hastened hither and thither, and +called for male assistance. Eugenia could not utter a word for horror; +but made her escape from the house full of shame and disgust, followed +by the outcries and curses of the infuriated rabble. + +The fiendish widow lost no time in proceeding at once with a goodly +following to the consul Aquilinus, and accusing the monk of the most +disgraceful crime, to wit that he had come hypocritically to her house, +first of all to molest her with efforts for her conversion, and, when +these failed, to rob her of her honour by violence. Since all her +following testified to the truth of her assertion, the indignant +Aquilinus immediately caused the convent to be surrounded by troops, +and the abbot along with his monks to be brought before him for trial. + +"Is this what you do, you low hypocrites?" he said in severe tones. +"Are you so high-fed, you who are barely tolerated, that you must needs +assault our women-folk, and prowl about like ravening wolves? Did your +Master, whom I honour more than I do you liars, teach or command you +such things? Not at all! You are a gang, a horde of wretches, who +assume a name in public that you may abandon yourselves to corruption +in secret. Defend yourselves against the charge, if you can!" + +The infamous widow then repeated her lying tale, interrupted by +hypocritical sighs and tears. When she had finished and had wrapped +herself again demurely in her veil, the monks glanced fearfully at one +another and at their abbot, of whose virtue they had no doubt, and they +raised their voices with one accord to repel the false accusation. But +not only the numerous menials of the lying woman, but also several +neighbours and passers-by, who had seen the abbot leaving the house +full of shame and confusion and who had thereupon taken him for guilty, +now came forward and testified one after the other with loud voices to +the fact of the crime, so that the poor monks were shouted down ten +times over. + +Now they glanced once more, this time full of doubt, at their abbot, +and his very youth suddenly appeared suspicious to the greybeards among +them. They exclaimed that, if he were guilty, God's judgement would not +be backward, no more than they were backward in abandoning him there +and then to the secular arm! + +The eyes of all were now directed upon Eugenia, who stood forsaken amid +the throng. She had been lying weeping in her cell when she was +arrested with the monks, and had stood all that time, her eyes downcast +and her cowl drawn deep down over her head, and felt herself in a most +awkward predicament. For, if she preserved the secret of her family and +sex, she would succumb to this false testimony, while, if she revealed +it, the storm would break out against the convent more furiously than +ever, and she would devote it to destruction, since a convent which had +a beautiful young woman for abbot was bound to become the butt of the +most unholy suspicion and mockery on the part of the malicious heathen +world. She would not have experienced this timidity and indecision had +she still had a pure heart, according to monkish notions; but the +events of the previous night had already made a division in her mind, +and her unfortunate encounter with the wicked woman had only increased +her wavering, so that she no longer possessed the courage to step +forward with determination and bring about a miracle. + +Yet, when Aquilinus called upon her to speak, she remembered his former +tenderness for her, and, as she had confidence in him, she hit upon a +way of escape. In gentle and modest tones she said that she was not +guilty and would prove it to the consul, if she might speak with him +alone. The sound of her voice moved Aquilinus, though he knew not why, +and he acceded to her request to speak with him in private. He +accordingly had her conducted into his house, and repaired alone with +her into a room. Then Eugenia fixed her eyes upon him, threw back her +cowl and said, "I am Eugenia, whom you once desired for your wife." + +He recognized her at once, and was convinced that it was she; but at +the same time a great anger and a burning jealousy rose up within his +breast to think that the lost one so suddenly recovered should make her +appearance as a woman who had been living all that time in secrecy with +seventy monks. He therefore restrained himself with a violent effort +and scrutinized her narrowly, while he made as if he did not believe +her assertion in the slightest, and said, "You certainly do seem rather +like that infatuated young woman. But that does not concern me; I am +much more anxious to know what you did to the widow!" + +Eugenia shyly and anxiously told all that had passed, and from the +whole tone of her story Aquilinus perceived the falsehood and malice of +the accusation, yet he answered with apparent indifference, "But if you +are Eugenia, then how did you contrive to become a monk? What was your +intention, and how was it possible?" + +At these words, Eugenia blushed and looked on the ground in +embarrassment. Still, it seemed to her not so unpleasant after all to +be there, and to be talking once again with a good old acquaintance +about herself and her adventures. So she lost no time, but told in +unstudied words all that had happened to her since her disappearance, +except, strangely enough, that she never uttered a syllable about the +two Hyacinths. Her hearer found the story not unsatisfactory, only +every minute made it harder for him to conceal his appreciation of the +recovered fair one. But nevertheless he controlled himself, and +determined to see the matter out to the end and to ascertain from her +subsequent behaviour whether he had the old Eugenia before him, with +her chaste and pure manners. + +So he said, "All that is a well told story: still, in spite of her +eccentricities, I do not consider that the maiden you pretend to be was +capable of such very astonishing adventures. At least, the real Eugenia +would certainly have preferred to become a nun. For how in the world +can a monk's cowl and living among seventy monks be a merit and +salvation for any woman, even the most learned and pious? No, I still +hold to my opinion that you are a smooth-faced beardless fellow of an +impostor, whom I don't trust in the slightest! Besides, Eugenia has +been proclaimed as deified and dwelling among the stars; her image +stands where it was dedicated in the temple, and it will go hard enough +with you if you persist in your slanderous assertion." + +"A certain man kissed that image last night," retorted Eugenia in a low +voice, casting a curious look at the disconcerted Aquilinus, who gazed +upon her as upon one inspired with superhuman wisdom. "How can the same +man torture the original?" + +But he mastered his confusion, appeared not to hear her words, and +continued, coldly and severely, "In one word, for the honour of the +poor Christian monks, who appear to me to be innocent, I cannot and +will not believe that you are a woman. Prepare yourself for judgement, +for your statements have not satisfied me." + +At that Eugenia exclaimed, "Then God help me!" and, rending her monk's +frock in twain, pale as a white rose, she collapsed in shame and +despair. But Aquilinus caught her in his arms, pressed her to his +heart, and wrapped her in his mantle, while his tears fell upon her +lovely head; for he was convinced that she was an honourable woman. He +carried her into the next room, where there was a richly furnished +guest-bed, laid her gently down in it and covered her to the chin with +purple coverlets. Then he kissed her on the lips, perhaps three or four +times, went out, and locked the door securely. Next he picked up the +monk's frock, which lay still warm on the floor, and betook himself +again to the waiting throng outside, and addressed them thus, "These +are strange happenings! You monks are innocent and may go to your +convent. Your abbot was a demon who would have ruined you or seduced +you. Here! Take his frock with you and hang it somewhere for a +memorial; for, after he had changed his form in the oddest fashion +before my eyes, he dissolved into nothing before these same eyes, and +vanished without a trace. As for this woman of whom the demon made use +in order to ruin you, she is under suspicion of witchcraft and must be +put in prison. Now begone all of you to your homes, and behave +yourselves!" + +All were astounded at this allocution, and gazed fearfully at the +demon's garment. The widow turned pale and veiled her face, and by so +doing made ample betrayal of her bad conscience. The good monks +rejoiced over their victory and retired most thankfully with the empty +husk, little suspecting what a sweet kernel had been hidden within it. +The widow was cast into prison, and Aquilinus summoned his most +faithful servant and went through the city, sought out merchants, and +purchased a perfect load of the most expensive female attire, which the +slave had to convey to the house as secretly and quickly as possible. + +Softly the consul slipped into the chamber where Eugenia lay, seated +himself on the edge of her bed, and saw that she was sleeping quite +contentedly, like one recovering from difficulties undergone. He could +not help laughing at the black pile of her shorn monk's head, and +passed a gentle hand over the thick, short hair. Thereupon she awoke +and opened her eyes. + +"Will you be my wife now, at last?" he enquired gently; whereupon she +said neither Yes nor No, but shivered a little beneath the purple +coverlets in which she lay wrapped. + +Then Aquilinus brought in all the clothes and ornaments that a fine +lady required in those days to array herself from head to foot, and +left her. + +After sundown that same day, he took her with him, attended only by his +faithful servant, to one of his country-houses, which lay in a secluded +and charming situation amid the shade of thick trees. + +In the country-house, the pair now celebrated their nuptials with the +utmost privacy; and, for as long as it had been until they found each +other again, still no time seemed to have been lost, rather they felt +the most hearty thankfulness for the good fortune which had preserved +them for each other. Aquilinus devoted the days to his official +business, and at night drove as fast as horses could take him home to +his wife. Only now and again on unkindly, stormy, wet days, he loved to +hasten back earlier than he was expected to the country-house to cheer +Eugenia. + +Without making many words about it, she now devoted herself to the +study of connubial love and fidelity, with the same thoroughness and +perseverance which she had formerly spent upon philosophy and Christian +discipline. But, when her hair had grown again to its proper length, +Aquilinus, having devised a cunning fable, took his spouse at last back +to Alexandria, brought her to her astonished parents, and celebrated a +brilliant wedding. + +Her father was certainly surprised to find his daughter again, not as +an immortal goddess and a heavenly constellation, but as a beloved, +earthly, wedded wife, and it was with regret that he saw the +consecrated statue removed from the temple; but, to his praise, his +disappointment was overcome by his fondness for his living daughter, +who now proved fairer and more lovable than ever. The marble statue +Aquilinus set in the finest room in his house; but he refrained from +kissing it again, now that he had the warm, living original to his +hand. + +After Eugenia had investigated the nature of marriage to her +satisfaction, she applied her experience to converting her spouse to +Christianity, which she still continued to profess; and she did not +rest until Aquilinus had made public acknowledgement of his adhesion to +her faith. The legend goes on to relate how the whole family returned +to Rome about the time when that enemy of the Christians, Valerian, +came to the throne; and how, during the persecutions which then broke +out, Eugenia added to her fame that of a famous heroine of the faith +and martyr, and then only made full manifestation of her great strength +of soul. + +Her influence over Aquilinus had become so great that she was able to +bring the two clerics, the Hyacinths, with her from Alexandria to Rome, +where they also won the martyr's crown at the same time as she. Her +intercession is said to be specially efficacious for dull school-girls +who are backward in their studies. + + + + + THE VIRGIN AND THE DEVIL + + Friend! watch and look about, the Devil is always prowling; + If thou triest a bout with him, thou'lt get a thorough towelling. + + Angelus Silesius, _Cherub. Wandersmann_, Book vi. 206. + + +There was a certain Count Gebizo, who possessed a wondrously beautiful +wife, a magnificent castle and town, and so many valuable possessions +that he was esteemed one of the richest and most fortunate nobles in +the country. He seemed to be aware of and thankful for his reputation, +for he not only kept a splendid and hospitable board, at which his fair +and virtuous wife warmed the hearts of his guests like a sun, but he +also practised Christian beneficence in the most comprehensive fashion. + +He founded and endowed convents and hospitals, beautified churches and +chapels, and on every high-day gave clothing, meat and drink to a great +number, often hundreds, of poor; and several dozen must needs be seen +every day, almost every hour, about his courtyard, regaling themselves +and praising him, otherwise his dwelling, fair as it was, would have +seemed to him deserted. + +But by such unbounded liberality even the greatest wealth is exhausted, +and so it came to pass that the Count was obliged to mortgage all his +properties one after the other in order to indulge his passion for +grandiose beneficence; and the more he got into debt the more eagerly +he redoubled his almsgiving and feasts to the poor, hoping thereby, as +he imagined, to turn the blessing of Heaven once more in his favour. In +the end he impoverished himself entirely; his castle became deserted +and ruinous; ineffective and foolish foundations and deeds of gift, +which from force of habit he could not desist from writing, brought him +nothing but ridicule; and any tattered beggar, whom he might now and +again lure to his castle, threw the meagre pittance at his benefactor's +feet, and took himself off with scornful words of abuse. + +One thing only was left to him unimpaired, the beauty of his wife +Bertrade; nay, the barer things looked in the house, the more brilliant +did her beauty seem to grow. She increased too in grace, love and +goodness the poorer Gebizo became, so that all the blessings of Heaven +seemed to be comprehended in his wife, and thousands of men envied the +Count this one treasure which still remained to him. He alone was blind +to all this, and the more the fair Bertrade exerted herself to cheer +him and sweeten his poverty the less he prized that jewel, and he fell +into a bitter and obstinate dejection and hid himself from the world. + +One day, when a glorious Easter-morning dawned, a day on which he had +once been wont to see joyous throngs making pilgrimage to his castle, +he felt so ashamed of his downfall that he had not even heart to go to +church, and was perplexed how to pass the bright sunny feast-days. In +vain his wife, with pearly tears and smiling lips, begged him not to +vex himself, but come with her to church undismayed; he tore himself +away crossly, and took himself off to hide in the woods until Easter +were over. + +Up hill and down dale he wandered, until he came to a primeval +wilderness, where monstrous bearded firs surrounded a lake whose depths +reflected the gloomy trees in all their length so that everything +looked dismal and black. The ground about the lake was thickly carpeted +with strange long-fringed moss, in which no footfall could be heard. + +Here Gebizo sat himself down and complained to God of his wretched ill +fortune, which no longer enabled him to still his own hunger +sufficiently, his who had once gladly satisfied thousands, and, worst +of all, which recompensed his efforts with the scorn and ingratitude of +the world. + +On a sudden he observed in the middle of the lake a skiff, and in it a +man of lofty stature. As the lake was small and one could easily see +across it, Gebizo could not comprehend where the boatman could have +come from so suddenly, for he had not observed him anywhere before. +Enough, he was now there, gave one stroke of his oar and immediately +was on the shore beside the knight, and, before the latter could give a +thought to the affair, had enquired of him why he turned such a rueful +face to the world. In spite of his extremely handsome exterior, the +stranger had an expression of deep-seated discontent about his mouth +and eyes; yet this was the very thing which gained Gebizo's confidence, +and without any reserve he poured out the tale of his misfortunes and +grievances. + +"You are a fool," the other responded, "for you possess a treasure +greater than all that you have lost. If I had your wife, I should never +give a thought to all the riches and churches and convents, nor to all +the beggar-folk in the world." + +"Give me back those things, and you are welcome to my wife in +exchange!" retorted Gebizo with a bitter laugh, and the other exclaimed +quick as lightning. "A bargain! Look under your wife's pillow; there +you will find what will suffice for all your lifetime to build a +convent every day, and feed a thousand people, though you should live +to a hundred. In exchange, bring me your wife here to this spot without +fail the evening before Walpurgis!" + +With these words, such a fire spurted from his dark eyes that two +reddish beams glanced over the Count's sleeve, and thence over moss and +fir-trees. Then Gebizo saw whom he had before him, and accepted the +man's offer. The latter plied his oar, and sailed back to the middle of +the lake, where he and his boat sank into the water with a din which +resembled the laughter of many brazen bells. + +Gebizo, all in a goose-skin, hastened back by the nearest way to his +castle, searched Bertrade's bed at once, and found under her pillow an +old, shabby book which he could not decipher. But, as he turned over +the leaves, one gold piece after another fell out. As soon as he +observed this, he betook himself with the book to the deepest vault of +a tower, and there, in the utmost secrecy, set to work and spent all +the rest of Easter in turning out an ample heap of gold from the pages +of this most interesting work. + +Then he appeared in the world once again, redeemed all his possessions, +summoned workmen who restored his castle more magnificently than ever, +and dispensed benefactions on every hand like a prince who has been +newly crowned. The principal of his works, however, was the foundation +of a great abbey for five hundred capitulars of the utmost piety and +distinction, a regular town of saints and scholars, in the centre of +which his burial-place was one day to be. He considered this provision +requisite for his eternal salvation. But, as his wife was otherwise +provided for, no burial-place was prepared for her. + +The midday before Walpurgis he gave the order to saddle, and bade his +fair wife mount her white hunter, as she had a long journey to ride in +his company. At the same time he forbade a single squire or servant to +attend them. A great dread seized the poor woman; she trembled in every +limb, and for the first time in her life she lied to her husband, +pretending that she was unwell, and begging him to leave her at home. +As she had been singing to herself only a little time before, Gebizo +was incensed at the falsehood, and considered that he had now acquired +a double right over her. She was forced therefore to mount her horse, +dressed too in her best finery, and she rode away sadly with her +husband, not knowing whither she was going. + +When they had accomplished about half their journey, they came to a +little church which Bertrade had happened to build in former days and +had dedicated to the Mother of God. She had done it for the sake of a +poor master-mason whom no one would employ, because he was so surly and +disagreeable, that even Gebizo, whom others could not help approaching +in a pleasant and respectful fashion, could not tolerate him, and sent +him away empty-handed, for all the work which he had to give out. She +had caused the little church to be built secretly, and in his gratitude +the despised master-mason had with his own hands wrought a remarkably +beautiful image of Mary in his spare time, and set it over the altar. + +Bertrade now craved to enter this church for a moment and say her +prayers, and Gebizo allowed her; for he thought she might have much +need of them. So she dismounted from her horse, and, while her husband +waited outside, went in, knelt before the altar, and commended herself +to the protection of the Virgin Mary. Thereupon she fell into a deep +sleep; the Virgin sprang down from the altar, assumed the form and +garments of the sleeper, went gaily out by the door and mounted the +horse, on which she continued the journey at Gebizo's side and in +Bertrade's stead. + +The wretch thought to continue to deceive his wife, and, the nearer +they came to the journey's end, to lull her and hoodwink her by an +increase of friendliness. Accordingly he talked with her of this and +that, and the Virgin chatted pleasantly and gave him confiding answers, +and behaved as if she had lost all her timidity. So they reached the +gloomy wilderness about the lake, over which dun evening clouds hung; +the ancient firs bloomed purple with buds, as only happens in the most +luxuriant spring-tides; in the thicket a ghostly nightingale sang as +loud as organ-pipes and cymbals; and out from among the fir-trees rode +the man ye wot of, mounted on a black stallion, in rich knightly array, +with a long sword at his side. + +He approached very courteously, although he suddenly shot such a +ferocious look at Gebizo that his flesh crept; still, the horses did +not appear to scent anything dangerous, for they stood quiet. +Trembling, Gebizo flung his wife's reins to the stranger and galloped +off alone without so much as a glance back to her. But the stranger +grasped the reins with a hasty hand, and away they went like a +whirlwind through the firs, so that the fair rider's veil and garments +fluttered and waved, away over mountain and valley, and over the +flowing waters so that the horses' hoofs scarcely touched the foam of +their waves. Hurried along by the boisterous storm, a rosy, fragrant +cloud, which shone in the twilight, was wafted in front of the steeds; +and the nightingale flew invisible before the pair, settling here and +there upon a tree and singing until the air rang again. + +At last all hills and all trees came to an end, and the two rode into +an endless heath, in the midst of which, as if from afar off, the +nightingale throbbed, although there was no sign of bush or bough on +which it could have sat. + +Suddenly the rider halted, sprang from his horse, and helped the lady +out of the saddle with the manner of a perfect cavalier. Scarcely had +her foot touched the heath, when round about the pair there sprang up a +garden of rose-bushes as tall as a man, with a splendid fountain and +seat, above which a starry firmament shone so brilliantly that one +could have seen to read by its light. But the fountain consisted of a +great round basin in which, like modern _tableaux vivants_, a number of +devils formed, or represented, a seductive group of nymphs in white +marble. They poured shimmering water from their hollowed hands--whence +they got it, their lord and master only knew. The water made the most +lovely harmony; for every jet gave out a different note, and the +whole seemed in concert like string-music. It was, so to say, a +water-harmonica, whose chords were thrilled through and through with +all the deliciousness of that first night of May, and melted into +unison with the charming forms of the group of nymphs; for the living +picture did not stand still, but changed and turned imperceptibly. + +Not without tender emotion, the strange cavalier conducted the lady to +the seat and invited her to be seated; but then he gripped her hand +with a violent tenderness, and said in a voice that pierced to the +marrow, "I am the Eternally Forlorn who fell from Heaven! Nothing but +the love of a good mortal woman on May-night can make me forget +Paradise and give me strength to endure my eternal discomfiture. Be but +my helpmeet, and I will make thee eternal, and grant thee the power of +doing good and preventing evil to thy heart's content!" + +He flung himself passionately on the bosom of the beauteous woman, who +smilingly opened her arms. But at the same instant the Blessed Virgin +assumed her Heavenly form, and enclosed the entrapped Deceiver in her +radiant arms with all her might. In a twinkling, the garden had +vanished with its fountain and nightingale; the cunning demons, who had +formed the tableau, took flight in the form of evil spirits, uttering +cries of anguish, and left their lord in the lurch; while he, never +uttering a sound, wrestled with titanic strength to free himself from +the torturing embrace. + +But the Virgin held on bravely and did not let him go, though indeed +she had to summon all her strength. She purposed nothing less than to +bring the outmanoeuvred Devil before Heaven, and there expose him bound +to a gate-post in all his wretchedness to the laughter of the blessed. + +But the Evil One changed his tactics, kept still for a brief space, and +assumed the beauty which he had once possessed as the fairest among the +angels, so that he almost rivalled the celestial beauty of Mary. She +exalted herself as much as possible; yet, if she was radiant as Venus +the fair Evening-star, he shone like Lucifer the Son of the Morning, so +that it began to be as bright on that dusky heath as if the heavens +themselves had descended upon it. + +When the Virgin perceived that she had undertaken too much, and that +her strength was failing, she contented herself with releasing the +Fiend on condition that he renounced the Count's wife, and the +celestial and infernal beauties forthwith separated with great +violence. The Virgin, somewhat wearied, betook herself back to her +little church; the Evil One, incapable of any further disguise and +mauled in every limb, crawled away over the sand in horrid, degraded +form, the very embodiment of long-tailed sorrow. So badly had his +purposed hour of dalliance turned out for him. + +Meantime Gebizo, after abandoning his lovely wife, had gone astray in +the darkening night, and horse and rider had fallen into a chasm, where +his head was dashed against a stone so that he promptly departed this +life. + +As for Bertrade, she remained in her sleep until the sun rose on the +first of May; then she awoke, and was surprised to see how the time had +flown. Still, she quickly said her Ave Maria, and, when she came out of +the church hale and hearty, her horse was standing before the door as +she had left it. She did not wait long for her husband, but rode home +blithely and quickly, for she guessed that she had escaped from some +great peril. + +Soon the Count's body was found and brought home. Bertrade had it +entombed with all honour, and founded innumerable masses for him. But +all love for him was in some inexplicable way eradicated from her +heart, although it remained as kind and tender as ever. Accordingly, +her exalted patroness in Heaven looked about for another husband for +her, who should be more worthy of such gracious love than the deceased +Gebizo had been. How this business came about is written in the next +legend. + + + + + THE VIRGIN AS KNIGHT + + Mary is named a Throne, the Lord's own Tabernacle, + An Ark, Keep, Tower, House, a Spring, Tree, Garden, Mirror, + A Sea, a Star, the Moon, a Hill, the Blush of Morning. + All these how can she be? She is another world! + + Angelus Silesius, _Cherub. Wandersmann_, Book iv. 42. + + +Gebizo had acquired so much wealth over and above his former +possessions that Bertrade found herself mistress of a noble earldom, +and became famous throughout the Empire for her wealth as well as her +beauty. As, withal, she was very unassuming and friendly with every +one, the jewel of her person appeared an easy conquest to all the +nobility, shy and enterprising, bold and timid, great and small alike, +and every one who had seen her a few times was surprised that he did +not already have her in his possession. Yet more than a year passed, +and no one knew of any who had acquired real grounds for hope. + +Even the Emperor heard of her, and, as he was desirous that such a +splendid fief should pass into the hands of a suitable husband, he +determined to pay the celebrated widow a visit in the course of a +journey, and signified his intention to her in a most gracious and +friendly letter. This he entrusted to a young knight Zendelwald, whose +road lay that way. He was favourably received by Bertrade, and +entertained handsomely, as was every one who resorted to her castle. He +beheld with admiration the lordly halls, battlements and gardens, and +incidentally fell violently in love with their mistress. Still, he did +not linger an hour longer in the castle on that account; but, when he +had delivered his message and seen all that there was to see, he took a +brief farewell of the lady and rode away, the only one of all those who +had ever been there who did not think himself competent to win that +prize. + +The fact was that he was sluggish in word and deed. Even when his mind +and heart had mastered any matter, which they always did with +thoroughness and fire, Zendelwald could never bring himself to take the +first step to a realization, for the thing seemed to him as good as +finished when once he saw his way clearly to it in his mind. Although +he was ready enough to talk when there was nothing to be gained by +doing so, he never uttered the opportune word which would have brought +him fortune. Not only his tongue, but his hand too, was so far behind +his thought that in battle he was often all but overcome by his +opponent, because, seeing in his mind's eye his enemy already at his +feet, he delayed giving the decisive stroke. Thus his manner of +fighting excited surprise at every tournament; for he always began by +scarcely exerting himself, and it was not until he was in the utmost +extremity that he gained the victory by some masterly stroke. + +His mind in full play on the subject of the fair Bertrade, our +Zendelwald now rode home to his little castle, which lay in a lonely +mountain forest. A few charcoal-burners and woodmen were all his +subjects, and so his mother always awaited his return in bitter +impatience to know whether he had at last brought home fortune. + +Zendelwald's mother was as handy and determined as he was indolent, +though not any more successful; for on her side she had carried her +qualities to excess, and they had twined into fussiness. In her youth +she had been eager to find a husband as soon as possible, and had +overpressed several opportunities so hastily and eagerly that in her +haste she had made the very worst possible choice in the shape of a +disreputable, foolhardy fellow, who ran through all his inheritance, +came to a premature end, and left her nothing but a long widowhood, +poverty and one son who would not take the trouble to bestir himself to +grasp at fortune. + +The little household's only fare consisted of the milk of some goats, +forest-fruits, and game. Zendelwald's mother was an accomplished +sportswoman, and shot wild pigeons and grouse with the cross-bow as she +pleased. She also caught trout in the brooks, and with her own hands +repaired the little castle with stone and lime where it became decayed. +At that moment she had just returned home with a hare which she had +knocked over, and, as she hung the animal from the window of her +high-perched kitchen, she gave another look out into the valley and saw +her son riding along the road. She let down the drawbridge with joy, +for he had been absent for months. + +She at once began to enquire whether he had got hold of any tuft or +feather of luck to bring home and make the most of, and, as he +recounted the usual unprofitable experiences of his most recent +campaign, she shook her head in wrath. But, when he came to tell her +all about his mission to the rich and captivating Bertrade, and lauded +her kindness and beauty, she scolded him for a lazy-bones and a +faint-heart to run away so basely. She was not long in perceiving that +Zendelwald could think of nothing else than the far-off lady, and she +began to be downright impatient with him to think that with such a +praiseworthy passion in his heart he failed utterly to make anything of +it, since in his case to be so head and ears over in love was a +hindrance rather than an incentive to action. + +His days were not of the happiest. His mother was sulky with him, and +in her irritation sought to divert herself by mending the damaged roof +of the tower, so that the good Zendelwald was in fear and trembling as +he saw her clambering about aloft. In her ill temper she would pitch +down broken tiles, and wellnigh knocked out the brains of a stranger +knight as he was about to enter the door to request a night's lodging. + +The latter, however, managed to win the ungracious lady's friendship +during supper, as he related many pleasant things, and in particular +that the Emperor was then staying at the pretty widow's great castle +where one feast was followed by another, and the fortunate lady was +unceasingly besieged by the Emperor and his lords to choose a husband +from among them. She, however, had found a way of evasion by convoking +a great tournament and promising her hand to the victor, in the firm +belief that her patron the Blessed Virgin would intervene and direct +the arm of the right man, who was destined for her, to victory. + +"Now, that would be something for you to try," the guest concluded, +turning to Zendelwald; "such a handsome young knight ought to go +straight for it and try to win the best fortune of these days, +according to worldly estimation. Besides, it is commonly said that the +lady hopes that in this way some unknown luck may turn up, perchance +some poor but honest hero, whom she can kiss and coll, and that she has +an aversion to all the great and famous counts and idle wooers." + +When the stranger had ridden away, Zendelwald's mother said, "Now, I'll +wager that no less a person than Bertrade herself sent that messenger +to put you on the right track, my dear Zendelwald! It's as clear as +daylight; what other business had the fellow, who has drunk our last +flagon of wine, to bring him travelling in this forest?" + +Her son began to laugh mightily at her words, and went on laughing more +and more heartily, partly at the manifest impossibility of his mother's +fancies, partly because he found those said fancies rather agreeable. +The mere thought that Bertrade could possibly wish to take possession +of him kept him laughing uncontrollably. But his mother, who thought +that he was laughing in derision of her, flew into a rage, and cried, +"Listen! My curse be upon you if you do not obey me and set out on your +way at once to win that fortune. Do not come back without it, else I +never wish to see you again! Or, if you do come back, I'll take my bow +and arrows and go out to seek a grave where I can have peace from your +stupidity!" + +So now Zendelwald had no choice; for the sake of peace and quietness, +he furbished his weapons, sighing the while, and rode as Heaven might +guide him in the direction of Bertrade's dwelling, without being +convinced that he should really go there. Nevertheless he stuck pretty +close to the road, and the nearer he came to his destination, the more +clearly the thought took shape that, after all, he might undertake the +adventure as well as another, and that, when he had settled matters +with his rivals, it would not cost him his head to try conclusions with +the fair lady. The adventure now developed stage by stage in his mind, +and came to the happiest issue; indeed, all day long, as he rode +through the green summer landscape, he held sweet dialogues with his +beloved, in which he told her most beautiful conceits, so that her face +became rosy for gratification and joy--all this in his imagination. + +As he was in the act of inwardly depicting one more happy event, he saw +in good earnest, on a distant blue ridge, the towers and battlements of +the castle shining in the morning sun, with its gilded balustrades +gleaming from afar, and was so startled at the sight that all the +fabric of his dreams was dissolved, and left nothing but a faint, +irresolute heart behind. + +Involuntarily he reined in his horse and looked around, as laggards +will, for a place of refuge. Whereupon he became aware of a pretty +little church, the same which Bertrade had once built to the Mother of +God, and in which she had slept that sleep. He at once resolved to go +in and collect his thoughts somewhat before the altar, the more so as +it was the day on which the tournament was to be held. + +The priest was in the act of singing Mass, which was attended only by +two or three poor people, so that the knight contributed no small +ornament to the little congregation. When all was over, and priest and +sacristan had left the church, Zendelwald felt so comfortable in those +quarters that he fell sound asleep, and forgot tournament and beloved +one, unless indeed he dreamt about them. + +Thereupon the Virgin Mary stepped down once again from her altar, +assumed his form and accoutrements, mounted his horse, and rode with +closed visor, a bold Brunhilda, all the way to the castle in +Zendelwald's stead. + +When she had ridden a while, she came across a heap of dried rubbish +and withered brushwood lying by the wayside. It seemed suspicious to +the watchful Virgin, and she noticed something like the tail-end of a +serpent peeping out of the confusion. She saw then that it was the +Devil, who, still as enamoured as ever, was also prowling about the +neighbourhood of the castle, and had hurriedly hid himself from the +Virgin in the rubbish. She rode past without appearing to notice him, +but cleverly made her horse spring to the side, so that he came down +with his hind hoofs on the suspicious tail-end. With a hiss the Evil +One made out and away, and never more showed himself again in this +connection. + +Amused by the little adventure, she rode, full of good humour, to +Bertrade's castle, where she arrived just when only the two stoutest +jousters remained to fight the deciding contest. + +Slowly and carelessly, for all the world like Zendelwald, she rode into +the lists, and appeared undecided whether she should take part in the +contest or not. + +"Here comes lazy Zendelwald," the word went round, and the two stout +champions said, "What does he want with us? Just a minute, and let us +get him out of the way before we settle matters between ourselves." + +One of the champions called himself "Guhl the Speedy." He was in the +habit of turning himself and his horse about like a whirlwind, and +trying to bewilder and outwit his opponents by a hundred tricks and +stratagems. The supposed Zendelwald had to engage him first. He wore a +coal-black moustache, the ends of which were twisted and turned up in +the air so stiffly that two little silver bells, which were attached to +them, could not bend them down, and tinkled incessantly whenever he +moved his head. He described this as a peal of terror for his foes and +of delight for his lady! His shield glittered, now with this colour, +now with that, according to the direction in which he turned it, and he +could effect this change so rapidly that the eye was blinded by it. His +plume was formed of an enormous cock's tail. + +The other stout champion dubbed himself "Mouse the Innumerable," by +which he meant to convey that he was as good as an innumerable army. In +token of his prowess, he had allowed the hair of his nostrils to grow +out about six inches, and had plaited it into two tresses, which hung +over his mouth and were adorned at the ends with neat little red +favours. Over his armour he wore a great spreading mantle, which almost +enveloped himself and his horse, and was cunningly sewed together from +a thousand mouseskins. For a crest, he was overshadowed by the mighty +outspread wings of a bat, from under which he darted threatening +glances out of his slits of eyes. + +When the signal was given for the fight with Guhl the Speedy, he rode +against the Virgin and encircled her with ever-increasing rapidity, +seeking to dazzle her with his shield, and directing a hundred thrusts +at her with his lance. All the time, the Virgin stuck to the same spot +in the middle of the lists, and appeared to do no more than defend +herself with shield and spear, skilfully turning her horse about on its +hind-legs so that she always presented her front to her opponent. When +Guhl observed this, he suddenly rode some distance back, then turned +and ran upon her with his lance in rest, intending to thrust her over +the crupper. The Virgin awaited him without stirring; but man and horse +seemed of bronze, so firm they stood, and the poor fellow, unaware that +he was contending against superhuman power, flew unexpectedly out of +his saddle, and lay upon the ground, when he ran upon her spear, while +his own was shattered like a straw upon her shield. Without delay the +Virgin dismounted, knelt on his breast so that he could not move under +the mighty pressure, and with her dagger cut away his moustaches and +their silver bells, and fastened them in her sword-belt, while fanfares +proclaimed her, or rather Zendelwald, the victor. + +Next, Sir Mouse the Innumerable came into the dance. He galloped +forward with such violence that his mantle floated in the air like a +threatening grey cloud. But the Virgin-Zendelwald, who only now +appeared to be beginning to warm up to the fray, galloped as stoutly to +meet him, threw him with ease from the saddle at the first thrust, and +when Mouse rose at once and drew his sword, she dismounted at the same +instant to engage him on foot. He was soon dazed by the rapid strokes +with which her sword fell upon his head and shoulders, and he held out +his mantle with his left hand to shelter beneath it, and wait a +favourable opportunity to throw it over his opponent's head. At that, +the Virgin caught a tip of the mantle with the point of her sword, and +enveloped Mouse the Innumerable in it from head to foot so dexterously +and swiftly that he was soon like an enormous wasp entangled in a +spider's web, and lay struggling on the ground. + +Then the Virgin belaboured him with the flat of her sword so vigorously +that the mantle was resolved into its component parts, and a shower of +mouse-skins darkened the air amid the universal laughter of the +spectators, while the knight gradually emerged again to view, and +limped away a beaten man, after his conqueror had cut away his +beribboned pigtails. + +Thus the Virgin under the guise of Zendelwald remained victor of the +field. + +She now opened her visor, strode up to the Queen of the Festival, and +on bended knee laid the trophies of victory at her feet. Then she rose, +and offered the spectacle of a Zendelwald such as he was usually too +shy to be. Without, however, compromising his modesty too much, she +greeted Bertrade with a look, whose effect on the female heart she well +knew. In a word, she proved that she could play, not only the champion, +but the lover, so well, that Bertrade did not take back her word, but +lent a willing ear to the advice of the Emperor, who after all was glad +to see so gallant and noble a man prevail. + +Then there was a great festive procession to the gardens, with their +tall lime-trees, where the banquet was spread. There Bertrade sat +between the Emperor and her Zendelwald. But it was as well that the +former was occupied with another pleasant lady; for the latter did not +give his bride much time to converse with others, so politely and +tenderly did he entertain her. He said the nicest things to her on the +spur of the moment, so that time after time she reddened with pleasure. +Joy and contentment prevailed everywhere; up in the green vault of the +trees the birds sang, vying with the instruments of music; a butterfly +settled on the Emperor's crown; and, as if by a special blessing, the +wine-cups gave forth a fragrance like violets and mignonette. + +But Bertrade, above all, felt so happy, that, while Zendelwald held her +by the hand, she thought in her heart of her celestial protectress, and +made her a fervent, silent thanksgiving. + +The Virgin Mary, who all the time was sitting at her side as +Zendelwald, read the prayer in her heart, and was so well pleased at +her ward's pious gratitude that she embraced Bertrade tenderly, and +imprinted a kiss on her lips, which, as may be imagined, filled the +fair woman with heavenly bliss; for when the celestials take to baking +sweet-stuff, it is sweet indeed. + +As for the Emperor and the rest of the company, they shouted approval +to the supposed Zendelwald, raised their goblets, and drank to the +health of the handsome couple. + +Meanwhile, the real Zendelwald waked out of his unseasonable sleep, and +found the sun so far on its course that the tournament must certainly +be over. Although he was now well out of the business, still he felt +very unhappy and sad; for he would have been only too glad to wed the +lady Bertrade. Besides, he did not dare to go back to his mother now. +So he determined to set out on an endless, joyless wandering, until +death should release him from his useless existence. Only, before doing +so, he wished to see his beloved one once again, and imprint her image +on his mind for the remainder of his days, that he might always +remember what he had thrown away. + +He accordingly went back all the way to the castle. When he reached the +throng, he heard everywhere proclaimed the praises and good fortune of +a poor knight Zendelwald who had attained the prize, and, bitterly +curious to know who this fortunate namesake might be, he dismounted +from his horse, and forced his way through the crowd until he found a +station at the edge of the garden, on an elevated place from which he +could overlook the whole feast. + +There he beheld in all her finery, not far from the sparkling crown of +the Emperor, the radiant, happy face of his beloved; but side by side +with her--his astonishment turned him pale--the living image of his own +person. As he stood petrified, he saw his double embrace and kiss the +pious bride. Thereupon, without delay, he stepped, unnoticed amid the +universal joy, through the ranks until he stood, racked by a strange +jealousy, close behind the couple. At the same moment, his counterfeit +vanished from Bertrade's side, and she looked about for him in dismay. +But when she saw Zendelwald behind her, she laughed joyfully, and said, +"Where are you off to? Come, stay beside me!" And she took his hand and +drew him to her side. + +So he sat down, and, to test the seeming dream thoroughly, he seized +the beaker which stood before him and emptied it at one draught. The +wine stood the test, and an unmistakable life streamed through his +veins. Quite in the mood, he turned to the smiling woman and looked +into her eyes; whereupon she joyously resumed the intimate conversation +which had been interrupted the moment before. But Zendelwald could not +imagine what had happened to him, when he found Bertrade address him in +familiar words, to which he several times unthinkingly answered in +others which he had already used somewhere else. Sure enough he +discovered after a little that his predecessor must have been carrying +on the very same conversation with Bertrade which he had devised in his +imagination during the days of his journey, and which he now continued +deliberately, in order to see what end the play would have. + +But it did not have an end. Instead, it became more and more edifying; +for when the sun went down, torches were lighted, and the whole +assembly made for the largest hall in the castle to engage in dancing. +After the Emperor had danced the first round with the bride, Zendelwald +took her on his arm and danced three or four times with her round the +hall until, all aglow, she suddenly took him by the hand and drew him +aside to a quiet turret-chamber flooded with moonlight. There she flung +herself on his breast, stroked his fair beard, and thanked him for his +coming and for his affection. Honest Zendelwald, however, wished to +ascertain whether he were dreaming or waking, and questioned her about +how matters really stood, especially about his double. For a long time, +she did not understand him; but one word led to another. Zendelwald +said this and that had happened to him, and told her all about his +journey, about his turning in to the little church, and how he had +fallen asleep there and been too late for the tournament. + +At that the affair became so far clear to Bertrade that she recognized +for the second time the hand of her gracious patroness. But now at last +she had opportunity to regard the valiant knight boldly as a gift from +Heaven, and she was grateful enough to press the substantial present to +her heart in good earnest and return him full measure for the luscious +kiss which she had received from Heaven itself. + +But, from that time forth, Sir Zendelwald lost all his sluggishness and +dreamy irresolution. He said everything and did everything at the right +time before the tender Bertrade and before the rest of the world, and +he became a great man in the Empire, so that the Emperor was as well +content with him as was his wife. + +As for Zendelwald's mother, she appeared at the wedding mounted on +horseback, and as proud as if she had been enthroned in fortune all her +life long. She looked after money and estates, and hunted in the +extensive forests to an advanced age. Bertrade never failed to have +Zendelwald take her once a year to the lonely little castle which was +his home, where she cooed in the grey tower with her darling as +tenderly as the wild doves in the trees round about. But they never +omitted to enter the little church on their way, and address their +prayers to the Virgin, who stood there as prim and saintly as if she +had never once come down from her altar. + + + + + THE VIRGIN AND THE NUN + + O that I had wings like a dove: for then would I + flee away, and be at rest. + Psalm lv. 6. + + +A convent lay on a mountain overlooking a wide prospect, and its walls +gleamed across the land. Within, it was full of women, beautiful and +unbeautiful, who all served the Lord and his Virgin Mother after a +strict rule. + +The most beautiful of the nuns was called Beatrix, and was sacristan of +the convent. Of tall and commanding presence, she went about her duties +with stately carriage, saw to choir and altar, looked after the +sacristy, and rang the bell before the first flush of dawn and when the +evening-star arose. + +Yet amid it all she cast many a tear-dimmed glance at the busy loom of +the blue distance. There she saw weapons glancing, heard the horn of +the hunters in the woods, and the clear shout of men, and her breast +filled with longing for the world. + +At last she could control her desire no longer, and one clear, moonlit +night in June she rose, dressed herself, and put on stout new shoes, +and went to the altar, equipped for a journey. "I have served thee +faithfully these many years," she said to the Virgin Mary, "but now +take the keys thyself; for I can endure the heat in my heart no +longer!" With that she laid her bundle of keys upon the altar, and went +forth from the convent. She made her way down amid the solitude of +the mountain, and wandered on until she came to a cross-road in an +oak-forest, where, uncertain which way to take, she sat down by the +side of a spring, which was provided with a stone basin and a bench for +the benefit of wayfarers. Until the sun rose, she sat there, and was +drenched with the falling dew. + +Then the sun came over the tops of the trees, and the first rays which +shot through the forest-road fell on a glittering knight who came +riding in full armour all alone. The nun stared with all her lovely +eyes, and did not lose an inch of the manly apparition; but she kept so +still that the knight would never have seen her had not the murmur of +the fountain caught his ear and guided his eyes. He at once turned +aside to the spring, dismounted from his horse and let it drink, while +he greeted the nun respectfully. He was a crusader who, after long +absence, was making his way home alone, for he had lost all his men. + +In spite of his respectfulness, he never once removed his eyes from the +charms of Beatrix, who held hers just as steady, and gazed as fixedly +as ever on the warrior; for he was no inconsiderable part of that world +for which she had longed so in secret. But suddenly she cast down her +eyes and felt bashful. At last the knight asked her which way she was +going, and whether he could be of any service to her. The full tones of +his voice startled her; she looked at him once more, and, fascinated by +his glances, acknowledged that she had run away from the convent to see +the world, but that she was frightened already and did not know which +way to turn. + +At that the knight, who had all his wits about him, laughed heartily, +and offered to conduct the lady so far on the right way, if she would +trust herself to him. His castle, he added, was not more than a day's +journey from where they were; and there, if she chose, she could make +her preparations in security, and after more mature reflection could +proceed on her way into the fair, wide world. + +Without replying, but yet without opposition, she allowed herself, +trembling somewhat nevertheless, to be lifted up on horseback. The +knight swung himself up after her, and, with the rosy-blushing nun +before him, trotted joyously through woods and meadows. + +For two or three hundred lengths, she held herself erect and gazed +straight before her, her hands clasped over her bosom. But soon she had +laid her head back on his breast, and submitted to the kisses which +the stalwart lord imprinted thereon. And by another three hundred +lengths she was returning them as fervidly as if she had never rung a +convent-bell. In such circumstances, they saw nothing of the bright +landscape through which they journeyed. The nun, who once had longed to +see the wide world, now shut her eyes to it, and confined herself to +that portion of it which the horse could carry on its back. + +The knight Wonnebold also scarcely gave a thought to his father's +castle, until its towers glittered before him in the moonlight. But all +was silent without the castle, and even more silent within, while never +a light was to be seen. Wonnebold's father and mother were dead and all +the menials departed, save an ancient castellan, who after long +knocking made his appearance with a lantern, and almost died for joy +when he saw the knight standing at the painfully-opened door. In spite +of his solitude and his years the old man had maintained the interior +of the castle in habitable condition, and especially had kept the +knight's chamber in constant readiness, so that he might be able to go +to rest the moment he should return from his travels. So Beatrix rested +with him and appeased her longing. + +Neither had any thought now of separating from the other. Wonnebold +opened his mother's chests. Beatrix clad herself in her rich garments +and adorned herself with her jewels, and so they lived for the moment +splendidly and in joy, except that the lady remained without rights or +title, and was regarded by her lover as his chattel; she desired +nothing better for the mean time. + +But one day a stranger baron and his train turned into the castle, +which by this time was again staffed with servants, and great cheer was +made in his honour. At length the men fell to dicing, at which the +master of the house had such constant good luck that, flushed with good +fortune and confidence, he risked his dearest possession, as he called +it, to wit the fair Beatrix as she stood, with the costly jewels she +was wearing, against an old, melancholy mountain-keep which his +opponent laughingly staked. + +Beatrix, who had looked on at the game well contented, now turned pale, +and with good reason; for the throw which ensued left the presumptuous +one in the lurch, and made the baron the winner. + +He wasted no time, but at once took his leave with his fair prize and +his attendants. Beatrix barely found time to appropriate the unlucky +dice and hide them in her bosom, and then with streaming tears followed +the unfeeling winner. + +After the little cavalcade had ridden some miles they reached a +pleasant grove of young beeches, through which a clear brook flowed. +Like a light-green silken tent, the tender foliage waved aloft, +supported on the slender silvery stems, between which the spacious +summer landscape was seen in glimpses. Here the baron meant to rest +with his booty. He ordered his people to go a little farther ahead, +while he got down in the pleasant greenwood with Beatrix, and made to +draw her to his side with caresses. + +At that she drew herself up proudly, and darting a flaming glance upon +him exclaimed that he had won her person, but not her heart, which was +not to be won against an old ruin. If he were a man, he would set +something worth while against it. If he would stake his life, he might +cast for her heart, which should be pledged to him for ever and be his +own if he won; but if she won, his life should be in her hand, and she +should be absolute mistress of her own person once again. + +She said this with great gravity; but all the time looked at him with +such a strange expression that his heart began to thump, and he +regarded her in bewilderment. She seemed to become more and more +beautiful as she continued in a softer voice, and with a searching +look, "Who would choose to woo a woman when she returns not his wooing, +and has received no proof of his courage? Give me your sword, take +these dice, and risk it; then we may be united as two true lovers!" At +the same time she pressed into his hand the ivory dice warm from her +bosom. Bewitched, he gave her his sword and sword-belt, and forthwith +threw eleven at one throw. + +Next Beatrix took the dice, rattled them vigorously in her hollowed +hands with a secret sigh to the Holy Mary the Mother of God, and threw +twelve, so that she won. + +"I make you a present of your life!" she said, bowed gravely to the +baron, picked up her skirts and put the sword under her arm, and +rapidly took her departure in the direction whence she had come. As +soon as she was out of view of the still quite nonplussed and +bewildered baron, she slyly proceeded no farther, but fetched a circuit +about the grove, walked quietly back into it, and hid herself not fifty +paces from the disappointed lover behind the beech-stems, which at that +distance grew sufficiently closely to hide the prudent lady, if need +were. She kept quite still; only a sunbeam fell upon a noble gem at her +neck, so that it flashed through the grove unknown to her. The baron +indeed saw the gleam, and stared at it a moment in his bewilderment. +But he took it for a shining dewdrop on a tree-leaf, and never gave it +a second thought. + +At last he recovered from his stupefaction, and blew lustily upon his +hunting-horn. When his people came, he sprang upon his horse, and +pursued after the eloping lady to secure her again. It was the best +part of an hour before the riders returned, and despondently and slowly +made their way through the beech-trees, this time without halting. When +the lurking Beatrix saw the coast clear, she rose and hastened home +without sparing her shoes. + +During all this time Wonnebold had passed a very bad day, racked by +remorse and anger; and, as he understood that he had disgraced himself +in the eyes of his love, whom he had gambled away so lightly, he began +to realize how highly he had unconsciously esteemed her, and how +difficult it was to live without her. So, when she unexpectedly stood +before him, without ever waiting to utter his surprise, he opened his +arms to her, and she hastened into them without complaint or reproach. +He laughed loudly as she related her stratagem, and he began to ponder +over her fidelity; for the baron was a very comely and pretty fellow. + +Accordingly, to guard against all future mischances, he made the fair +Beatrix his lawful wedded wife in presence of all his peers and +vassals, so that henceforth she ranked as a knight's lady and took her +place among her equals at chase, feast and dance, as well as in the +cottages of their dependents and in the family seat at church. + +The years passed with their changes, and in the course of twelve +fruitful harvests she bore her husband eight sons, who grew up like +young stags. + +When the eldest was eighteen years old, she rose one autumn night from +her Wonnebold's side unperceived by him, laid all her worldly array +carefully in the same chests from which it had once been taken, closed +them, and laid the keys at the sleeper's side. Then she went barefooted +to the bedside of her sons, and kissed them lightly one after the +other. Last of all, she went again to her husband's bed, kissed him +too, and then shore the long hair from her head, once more put on the +dark nun's frock, which she had preserved carefully, and so left the +castle by stealth, and made her way amid the raging wind of the autumn +night and the falling leaves back to that convent from which she had +once run away. Indefatigably she passed the beads of her rosary through +her fingers, and as she prayed she thought over the life which she had +enjoyed. + +So she went on her pilgrimage uncomplaining, until she stood again +before the convent-door. When she knocked, the door-keeper, who had +aged somewhat, opened and greeted her by name as indifferently as if +she had only been absent half an hour. Beatrix went past her into the +church, and fell on her knees before the altar of the Holy Virgin, who +began to speak and said, "Thou hast stayed away rather long, my +daughter. I have seen to thy duties as sacristan all the time; but now +I am very glad that thou art returned and canst take back thy keys!" + +The image leaned down, and handed the keys to Beatrix, who was both +alarmed and delighted at the great miracle. Forthwith she set about her +duties, saw to this and that, and when the bell rang for dinner she +went to table. Many of the nuns had grown old, others were dead, young +ones were newly come, and another abbess sat at the head of the table; +but no one suspected what had happened to Beatrix, who took her +accustomed seat; for Mary had filled her place in the nun's own form. + +But another day, when some ten years had passed, the nuns were to +celebrate a great festival, and agreed that each of them should bring +the Mother of God the finest present she could devise. So one +embroidered a rich church-banner, another an altar-cloth, and another a +vestment. One composed a Latin hymn, and another set it to music. A +third wrote and illuminated a prayer-book. Whoever could do nothing +else stitched a new shirt for the Christ-child, and sister cook made +him a dish of fritters. Only Beatrix had prepared nothing, for she was +rather weary of life, and she lived with her thoughts more in the past +than in the present. + +When the feast-day came, and she had no gift to dedicate, the other +nuns were surprised and reproached her so that she sat humbly aside as +all the pretty things were being borne in festal procession and laid +before the altar of the church, which was adorned with flowers, while +the bells rang out and the incense-clouds rose on high. + +Just as the nuns were proceeding to sing and play right skilfully, a +grey-headed knight passed by on his way, with eight armed youths as +lovely as pictures, all mounted on proud steeds and attended by a like +number of tall squires. It was Wonnebold with his sons, whom he was +taking to the Imperial army. + +Perceiving that high Mass was being celebrated in God's house, he +called to his sons to dismount, and entered the church with them to +offer a devout prayer to the Holy Virgin. Every one was lost in +admiration at the noble spectacle, as the iron greybeard knelt with the +eight youthful warriors, who looked like so many mail-clad angels; and +the nuns were so put off their music that for a moment it ceased +altogether. But Beatrix recognized them all for her children, from her +husband, gave an exclamation and hastened to them, and, recalling +herself to their memory, disclosed her secret, and declared the great +miracle which she had experienced. + +Then all were forced to admit that she had brought the Virgin the +richest gift of the day. That it was accepted was testified by eight +wreaths of fresh oak-leaves which suddenly appeared on the young men's +heads, placed there by the invisible hand of the Queen of Heaven. + + + + + THE NAUGHTY SAINT VITALIS + + Be not familiar with any woman: but in general + commend all good women to God. + + Thomas a Kempis, _Imitatio_ i. 8. + + +At the beginning of the eighth century there lived in Alexandria of +Egypt an extraordinary monk, by name Vitalis, who had made it his +particular task to reclaim the souls of lost women from the ways of sin +and lead them back to virtue. But the method which he pursued was so +peculiar, and the fondness, nay enthusiasm, with which he unceasingly +prosecuted his ends, was alloyed with such remarkable self-abasement +and simulation, that the like was scarcely ever known in the world. + +He kept an exact roll of all those wantons on a neat slip of parchment, +and, whenever he discovered a new quarry in the city or its environs, +he immediately noted her name and dwelling on it; so that the naughty +young patricians of Alexandria could have found no better guide than +the industrious Vitalis, had he been disposed to harbour less saintly +aims. As it was, the monk wormed out much news and information for his +business from his sly and frivolous conversations with them; but he +never suffered the scamps to pick up any information of the sort from +him. + +He carried this directory in his cowl, rolled up in a silver case, and +drew it out repeatedly to add a newly-discovered light name, or to run +over those already inscribed, count them, and reckon which of the +occupants should have her turn next. + +Then he would seek her hurriedly and half ashamed, and say hastily, +"Keep the night after to-morrow for me, and promise no one else!" When +he entered the house at the appointed time, he would leave the fair one +standing, and betake him to the farthest corner of the room, fall on +his knees, and pray fervently and at the pitch of his voice all night +long for the occupant of the house. In the early morning he would leave +her, and charge her strictly not to tell any one what had passed +between them. + +So he went on for a good while, and got himself into very ill odour +indeed. For while in secret, behind the closed doors of the wantons, he +alarmed and touched many a lost woman by his fiery words of thunder and +the fervent sweetness of his murmured prayers, so that she came to +herself and began to lead a holy life; in the public eye, on the +contrary, he appeared to have laid himself out of set purpose to merit +the reputation of a vicious and sinful monk, who wallowed gleefully in +all the debaucheries of the world, and flaunted his religious habit as +a banner of shame. + +If he found himself of an evening at dusk in respectable company, he +would exclaim abruptly, "Oh! what am I about? I had almost forgotten +that the brunette Doris is waiting for me, the little dear! The deuce! +I must be off, or she will be vexed!" + +If any one reproached him, he would cry out as if incensed, "Do you +think that I am a stone? Do you imagine that God did not create a +little woman for a monk?" If any one said, "Father, you would be better +to lay aside your frock and marry, so as not to offend others," he +would answer, "Let them be offended if they choose, and run their heads +against a wall! Who is my judge?" + +All this he used to say with great vehemence and all the address of an +actor, like one who defends a bad cause with a multitude of bold words. + +And he would go off and quarrel with the other suitors before the +girls' doors. He would even come to blows with them, and administered +many a rude buffet when they said, "Away with the monk! Does the cleric +mean to dispute the ground with us? Get out, bald-pate!" + +But he was so obstinate and persistent that in most cases he got the +better of them, and slipped into the house before they knew where they +were. + +When he returned to his cell in the grey of the morning, he would cast +himself down before the Mother of God, to whose sole honour and praise +he undertook those adventures and drew down on himself the world's +blame; and, did he succeed in bringing back some lost lamb and placing +her in some holy convent, he felt more blissful in the presence of +Heaven's Queen than if he had converted a thousand heathen. For this +was his very remarkable taste, to endure the martyrdom of appearing in +the eye of the world as an unclean profligate, while all the time Our +Undefiled Lady in Heaven was well aware that he had never touched a +woman, and that he wore an invisible crown of white roses on his +much-maligned head. + +Once he heard of a peculiarly dangerous person, who by her beauty and +unusual charms had occasioned much trouble, and even bloodshed, +inasmuch as a ferocious military dandy laid siege to her door, and +struck down all who attempted to dispute her possession with him. +Vitalis immediately proposed the attack and conquest of this hell. He +did not wait to write the fair sinner's name in his list, but went +straight off to the notorious house, and at the door, sure enough, +encountered the soldier, who was stalking along, clad in scarlet, and +with a javelin in his hand. + +"Dodge aside, monkling!" he shouted contemptuously to the pious +Vitalis. "How dare you come sneaking about my lion's den? Heaven is +your place; the world is ours!" + +"Heaven and earth and all that therein is," said Vitalis, "belong to +the Lord, and to his merry servants! Pack! you gaudy lout, and let me +go where I choose." + +The warrior wrathfully raised the shaft of his javelin to bring it down +on the monk's pate; but he suddenly pulled out a peaceful olive-branch +from beneath his frock, parried the blow, and smote the bully so +roughly on the crown that he wellnigh lost his senses, after which the +fighting cleric gave him several raps on the muzzle, until the soldier, +completely dumbfounded, made off cursing. + +Thereupon Vitalis forced his way triumphantly into the house, where, at +the head of a narrow staircase, the woman stood with a light in her +hand, listening to the noise and shouting. She was an uncommonly fine +figure of a woman, with beautiful, strong but rather defiant, features, +about which her reddish hair floated in abundant loose waves, like a +lion's mane. + +She looked down contemptuously on Vitalis as he ascended, and said, +"Where are you going?" "To you, my dove!" he answered. "Have you never +heard of the tender monk Vitalis, the jolly Vitalis?" But she answered +harshly, as she blocked the staircase with her powerful figure, "Have +you money, monk?" Disconcerted, he said, "Monks do not carry money +about with them." "Then trot off," she said, "or I'll have you beaten +out of the house with firebrands!" + +Vitalis scratched his head, completely nonplussed, for he had never +reckoned on this happening. The creatures whom he had hitherto +converted had naturally thought no more of the price of iniquity, and +those whom he failed to convert contented themselves with hard words in +compensation for the precious time which he had made them lose. But +here he could get no footing inside to begin his pious work; and yet +there was something hugely attractive in the prospect of breaking in +this red-haired daughter of Satan; for large and beautiful figures of +men and women always mislead the judgement, so that we attribute +greater qualities to them than they really possess. In desperation he +searched through his frock, and came upon the silver case, which was +adorned with an amethyst of some value. "I have nothing but this," he +said; "let me in for it!" She took the case, examined it carefully, +then bade him come with her. Arrived at her bedchamber, he did not +favour her with another glance; but knelt down in a corner after his +custom, and began to pray aloud. + +The harlot, who believed that from force of habit the holy man meant to +begin his worldly performance with prayer, broke into uncontrollable +laughter, and sat down on her couch to look at him, for his behaviour +amused her monstrously. But as the business never came to an end, and +was beginning to weary her, she bared her shoulders immodestly, went up +to him, clasped him in her strong, white arms, and pressed the good +Vitalis with his shorn and tonsured head so roughly against her breast +that he was like to choke, and began to gasp as if the flames of +purgatory had taken hold of him. But it did not last long; he began to +kick out in all directions like a young horse in a smithy, until he +freed himself from the hellish embrace. Then he took the long cord +which he wore about his waist, and caught hold of the woman, to bind +her hands behind her back, and have peace from her. He had to wrestle +hard with her before he succeeded in tying her up. He bound her feet +together as well, and threw the whole bundle with a mighty heave upon +the bed; after which he betook himself to his corner again, and +continued his prayers as if nothing had happened. + +The captive lioness at first turned about angrily and restlessly, +endeavouring to release herself, and uttered a hundred curses. Then she +became quieter as the monk never ceased to pray, to preach, to adjure +her, and towards morning she uttered manifest sighs, which, as it +seemed, were soon followed by contrite sobbing. In short, when the sun +rose, she was lying like a Magdalene at his feet, released from her +bonds, and bedewing the hem of his garment with tears. With dignity, +yet with gladness, Vitalis stroked her head, and promised to pay her +another visit as soon as it was dark, to inform her in what convent he +had found a penitent's cell for her. Then he left, not forgetting first +to impress upon her that she was to say nothing in the meantime about +her conversion, but only tell any one who might enquire, that he had +been very merry with her. + +But judge of his surprise, when he reappeared at the appointed time, +and found the door shut fast, and the female freshly bedizened in all +her glory looking out of the window. + +"What do you want, priest?" she cried down. And in astonishment he +answered in an undertone, "What does this mean, my lamb? Put away those +sinful baubles, and let me in to prepare you for your penance." "You +want in to me, you naughty monk?" she said with a smile, as if she had +misunderstood him. "Have you money, or money's worth, about you?" +Vitalis stared up open-mouthed, then shook the door desperately; but it +remained shut as fast as ever, and the woman too disappeared from the +window. + +At last the laughter and imprecations of the passersby drove the +apparently depraved and shameless monk away from the door of the house +of ill fame. But his thought and endeavour ran entirely upon making his +way into the house again, and finding some means or other to overcome +the devil by which the woman was possessed. + +Absorbed in such thoughts, he turned his steps to a church, where, +instead of praying, he thought over ways and means by which he might +contrive to gain access to the lost woman. While thus engaged, his eye +fell upon the box in which the charitable offerings were kept, and +scarcely was the church deserted (it had become dark), when he burst +the box violently open with his fist, poured the contents, which +consisted of a lot of small silver coins, into his tucked-up frock, and +hastened faster than any lover to the sinful woman's abode. + +A foppish admirer was about to slip in at the opening door. Vitalis +seized him from behind by his perfumed locks, flung him into the +street, slammed the door in his face as he sprang in himself, and in +another instant found himself once again in the presence of the +disreputable person, who glared at him with flaming eyes when he +appeared instead of her expected admirer. But Vitalis promptly poured +the stolen money out on the table, saying, "Is that enough for +to-night?" Without a word, but carefully, she counted the sum, said "It +is enough!" and put it away. + +Now they confronted each other in the strangest fashion. Biting her +lips to restrain a laugh, she looked at him with a simulated air of +utter ignorance; while the monk scrutinized her with undecided and +anxious glances, not knowing how he should begin to bring her to book. +But when she suddenly proceeded to alluring gestures, and made to +stroke his dark, glossy beard, the storm of his saintly character broke +out in all its fury, he struck her hand indignantly away, and flung her +upon the couch so that it shook. Then kneeling upon her, and grasping +her hands, unaffected by her charms, he began to speak home to her in +such fashion that at last her obduracy seemed to soften. + +She desisted from her violent struggles to free herself. Copious tears +flowed over her strong and lovely features, and, when at length the +zealous man of God released her, and stood erect beside her sinful +couch, the great form lay upon it with weary, relaxed limbs, as if +broken by repentance and remorse, sobbing and turning her tear-dimmed +eyes upon him, as if in astonishment at her unwilling transformation. + +Then the tempest of his eloquent wrath changed likewise to tender +emotion and deep sympathy. In his heart he gave praise to his Heavenly +protectress, in whose honour this hardest of all his victories had been +gained; and now his words of forgiveness and consolation flowed like +the mild breath of spring over the broken ice of her heart. + +More delighted than if he had enjoyed the sweetest favours of love, he +hastened thence, not to snatch a brief slumber on his hard bed, but to +throw himself down before the Virgin's altar, and pray for the poor +repentant soul until the day had fully dawned. Then he vowed not to +close an eye until the strayed lamb was finally safe within the shelter +of the convent-walls. + +The morning was scarcely astir when he was again on the way to her +house. But he saw approaching at the same moment from the other end of +the street the fierce warrior, who, after a riotous night, had taken it +into his half-drunken head to wind up with a fresh conquest of the +harlot. + +Vitalis was the nearer to the unhallowed door, and he sprang nimbly +forward to reach it. Thereupon the other hurled his spear at him, which +buried itself just beside the monk's head in the door so that its shaft +quivered. But, before it had ceased quivering, the monk wrenched it out +of the wood with all his force, faced the infuriated soldier as he +sprang towards him brandishing a naked sword, and quick as lightning +drove the spear through his breast. The man sank in a heap, dead, and +Vitalis was almost instantly seized and bound by a troop of soldiers, +who were returning from the night-watch and had seen his deed, and he +was led away to gaol. + +In genuine anguish he looked back to the house, where he could no +longer accomplish his good work. The watch thought that he was simply +deploring his evil star which had baulked him of his wicked purpose, +and treated the apparently incorrigible monk to blows and hard words +until he was safely in ward. + +He had to lie there for many days, and was several times brought before +the judge. True, he was at length discharged without punishment, seeing +that he had killed the man in self-defence. But nevertheless he came +out of the affair with the reputation of a homicide, and every one +cried out that now, surely, they must unfrock him. But Bishop Joannes, +who was then chief at Alexandria, must have had some inkling of the +real state of affairs, or else have cherished some deeper design; for +he declined to expel the disreputable monk from the clergy, and ordered +that for the present he was to be allowed to continue his extraordinary +career. + +He lost no time in returning to the converted sinner, who in the +interval had gone back to her old ways, and would not admit the +horrified and distressed Vitalis until he had appropriated another +object of value and brought it to her. She repented and converted a +third, and likewise a fourth and fifth time, for she found these +conversions more lucrative than anything else, and moreover the evil +spirit in her found an infernal satisfaction in mocking the poor monk +with an endless variety of devices and inventions. + +As for him, he now became a veritable martyr inwardly and outwardly; +for, the more cruelly he was deceived, the more he felt compelled to +exert himself, and it seemed to him as if his own eternal welfare +depended on the reformation of this one person. He was already a +homicide, a violator of churches, a thief; but he would rather have cut +off his hand than part with the least portion of his reputation as a +profligate; and, though all this became harder and harder for his heart +to bear, he strove all the more eagerly to maintain his wicked exterior +in the world's eye by means of frivolous speech. For this was the +special form of martyrdom which he had elected. All the same, he became +pale and thin, and began to flit about like a shadow on the wall, +though always with a laughing face. + +Now over against that house of torment dwelt a rich Greek merchant who +had an only daughter called Iole, who could do what she liked, and +consequently never knew what to do with herself all the live-long day. +For her father, who was retired from business, studied Plato, and when +tired of him he would compose neat epigrams on the ancient engraved +gems of which he had a large collection; but Iole, when she had laid +aside her music, could think of no outlet for her lively fancies, and +would peep out restlessly at the sky and at the distance, from every +peep-hole she found. + +So it came about that she discovered the monk's coming and going in the +street, and ascertained how matters stood with the notorious cleric. +Startled and shy, she peeped at him from her safe concealment, and +could not help commiserating his handsome form and manly appearance. +When she learned from one of her maids, who was intimate with a maid of +the wicked strumpet, how Vitalis was being deceived by her, and what +was the real truth about him, she was amazed beyond measure, and, far +from respecting his martyrdom, was overcome by a strange indignation, +and considered this sort of holiness little conducive to the honour of +her sex. She dreamed and puzzled over it a while, and became always the +more displeased, while, at the same time, her partiality for the monk +increased and conflicted with her wrath. + +All of a sudden she resolved that if the Virgin Mary had not sense +enough to lead the erring monk back to more respectable ways, she would +undertake the task herself, and lend the Virgin a hand in the business, +little dreaming that she was the unwitting instrument of the Queen of +Heaven, who had now begun to intervene. Forthwith she went to her +father, and complained bitterly to him of the unseemly proximity of the +lady of pleasure, and adjured him to employ his wealth in getting her +out of the way immediately, at any price. + +In obedience to her directions, the old gentleman addressed himself to +the person, and offered her a certain sum for her house, on condition +that she handed it over at once, and left the neighbourhood entirely. +She desired nothing better; and that same forenoon she had disappeared +from the quarter, while the old merchant was sitting once more over his +Plato and had dismissed the whole affair from his mind. + +Not so Iole, who was in the utmost eagerness to rid the house from top +to bottom of every trace of its former occupant. When it was all swept +and garnished, she had it fumigated with rare spices so that the +fragrant clouds poured out from all the windows. + +Then she furnished the empty room with nothing but a carpet, a +rose-bush, and a lamp, and, as soon as her father, who went to bed with +the sun, was asleep, she went across, with a wreath of roses adorning +her hair, and took her seat alone on the outspread carpet, while two +trusty old servants kept watch at the door. + +They turned away several night-revellers, but, whenever they saw +Vitalis approach, they hid themselves and allowed him to pass in +unhindered by the open door. With many sighs, he climbed the stair, +full of fear lest he should see himself made a fool of once again, full +of hope that he might be freed at last from this burden by the genuine +repentance of a creature who was hindering him from rescuing so many +other souls. But judge of his astonishment, when he entered the room, +and found it stripped of all the wild red lioness's trumpery, and +instead of her a sweet and tender form sitting on the carpet with the +rose-bush opposite her on the floor. + +"Where is the wretched creature, who used to live here?" he exclaimed, +looking about him in wonder, and finally letting his eyes rest on the +lovely apparition which he saw before him. + +"She has gone out into the Desert," answered Iole, without looking up. +"There she means to live as an anchorite and do penance. It came upon +her suddenly this morning, and broke her like a straw, and her +conscience is awakened at last. She cried out for a certain priest +Vitalis, who could have helped her. But the spirit which had entered +into her would not suffer her to wait. The fool gathered all her +possessions together, sold them, and gave the money to the poor, then +went off hot-foot with a hair-cloth shift, and shorn hair, and a staff +in her hand, the way of the Desert." + +"Glory to thee, O Lord, and praise to thy Gracious Mother!" cried +Vitalis, his hands folded in glad devotion, while a burden as of stone +fell from his heart. But at the same time he looked more narrowly at +the maiden with her rose-wreath, and said, "Why do you call her a fool? +and who are you? and where do you come from? and what are you about?" + +At that the lovely Iole cast her dark eyes to the ground lower than +ever. She hung her head, and a bright flush of modesty spread over her +face, for she thought shame of herself for the sad things she was going +to say before a man. + +"I am an outcast orphan, who have neither father nor mother. This lamp +and carpet and rose-bush are the last remnants of my inheritance, and I +have settled in this house with them to take up the life which my +predecessor here has abandoned." + +"Ah, so you would--!" the monk exclaimed, and clapped his hands. "Just +see how busy the Devil is! And this innocent creature says the thing as +indifferently as if I were not Vitalis! Now my kitten, how do you mean +to do? Just tell me!" + +"I mean to devote myself to love and serve the men as long as this rose +lives!" she said, pointing hastily at the flower-pot. Still, she could +hardly get the words out, and almost sank on the floor for shame, so +deeply did she droop her head. This natural modesty served the little +rogue well; for it convinced the monk that he had to do this time with +a childish innocent, who was possessed by the Devil and was on the +point of jumping plump into the abyss. He caressed his beard in +satisfaction at having arrived on the scene so opportunely for once, +and, to enjoy his satisfaction still longer, he said slowly and +jestingly, "Then afterwards, my dove?" + +"Afterwards I will go, a poor lost soul, to Hell where beauteous Dame +Venus is; or perhaps, if I meet a good preacher, I may even enter a +convent later on, and do penance!" + +"Better and better!" he cried. "That is an orderly plan of campaign, +indeed, and not badly thought out. For, so far as the preacher is +concerned, he is here now, he is standing before you, you black-eyed +Devil's tit-bit! And the convent is all ready rigged up for you, like a +mousetrap, only you'll go into it without having sinned, do you see? +Without having sinned in anything but the pretty intention, which after +all may make a very toothsome bone of repentance for you to gnaw all +your days, and may serve your turn. For without it, you little witch, +you would be too comical and light-hearted for a real penitent! But +now!" he continued seriously, "first off with the roses, and then +listen attentively!" + +"No!" answered Iole, somewhat more pertly. "I will listen first, and +then see whether I'll take off the roses. Now that I have once overcome +my womanly feelings, mere words will not suffice to restrain me until I +know the sin. And, without sin, I can know nothing about repentance. I +give you this to think over before you begin your efforts. But still I +am willing to hear you." + +Then Vitalis began the finest exhortation he had ever delivered. The +maiden listened good-naturedly and attentively, and the sight of her +had, unknown to him, a considerable influence on his choice of +language; for the beauty and daintiness of the prospective convert were +themselves enough to evoke a lofty eloquence. But, as she was not the +least bit in earnest about the project which she had so outrageously +advertised, the monk's oration could not have any very serious effect +upon her. On the contrary, a charming laugh flitted about her mouth, +and, when he had concluded, and expectantly wiped the sweat from his +brow, Iole said, "I am only half moved by your words, and cannot decide +to give up my project; for I am only too curious to know what it is +like to live in sin and pleasure!" + +Vitalis stood as if petrified, and could not get so much as one word +out. It was the first time that his powers of conversion had failed so +roundly. Sighing and thoughtful, he paced up and down the room, and +took another look at the little candidate for Hell. The power of the +Devil seemed to have combined in some bewildering fashion with the +power of innocence to thwart him. But he was all the more passionately +anxious to overcome them. + +"I do not leave this place until you repent," he cried at length, "not +though I should spend three days and three nights here!" + +"That would only make me more obstinate," responded Iole. "But I will +take time to think, and will hear you again to-morrow night. The day +will soon be dawning now. Go your way. Meantime I promise to do nothing +in the matter, and to remain in my present condition; in return for +which you must promise on no account to mention me to anybody, and to +come here only under cover of darkness." + +"So be it!" exclaimed Vitalis, and took his departure, while Iole +slipped quickly back into her father's house. + +She did not sleep long, and awaited the coming evening with impatience. +For the monk, now that he had been so close to her throughout the +night, pleased her better than he had done at a distance. She saw now +what a fire of enthusiasm glowed in his eyes, and how resolute all his +movements were, despite his monkish garments. And when she represented +to herself his self-abnegation, his perseverance in the course he had +once chosen, she could not help wishing that those good qualities were +utilized to her own pleasure and profit, in the shape of a cherished +and faithful husband. Her project, accordingly, was to make a brave +martyr into a still better husband. + +The next night she found Vitalis at her carpet in good time, and he +continued his exertions on behalf of her virtue with undiminished zeal. +He had to stand all the time, except when he knelt to pray. Iole, on +the contrary, made herself comfortable. She laid herself back on the +carpet, clasped her hands behind her head, and kept her half-closed +eyes steadily fixed upon the monk as he stood and preached. Sometimes +she closed them as if overcome by drowsiness, and, as soon as Vitalis +saw this, he pushed her with his foot to waken her. But this harsh +measure always turned out milder than he intended; for, as soon as his +foot neared the maiden's slender side, it spontaneously moderated its +force, and touched her tender ribs quite gently; not to mention that a +most unusual sensation ran along the whole length of the monk, a +sensation which he had never before experienced in the slightest degree +from any of the numerous fair sinners with whom he had had to deal. + +As morning approached, Iole nodded more and more frequently, till at +last Vitalis exclaimed indignantly, "Child, you are not listening! I +can't keep you awake. You are utterly sunk in sloth!" + +"Not so!" she said, as she suddenly opened her eyes, and a sweet smile +flitted across her face, as if the approaching day were already +reflected in it. "I have been paying attention; I am beginning to hate +that wretched sin, which is all the more repulsive to me that it causes +you vexation, dear monk; for nothing could be pleasing to me that is +displeasing to you." + +"Really?" he queried, full of joy. "So I have really succeeded? Come +away to the convent at once, that we may make sure of you. This time +we'll strike while the iron's hot." + +"You do not understand me aright," Iole answered, and, blushing, cast +her eyes again to the ground. "I am enamoured of you, and have +conceived a tender inclination towards you!" + +For a moment, Vitalis felt as if a hand had smitten his heart; yet he +did not feel that it caused him pain. Paralysed, he opened wide his +mouth and eyes, and stood stock-still. + +But Iole, blushing redder than ever, went on to say gently and softly, +"You must now lecture me and charm away this new mischief from me, in +order to deliver me entirely from the malady, and I hope you may +succeed!" + +Vitalis, without saying a word, turned tail and ran out of the house. +Instead of seeking his bed, he rushed out into the silvery grey +morning, and debated whether he should leave this dangerous young woman +to her fate and have done with her, or should endeavour to cast out +this latest whim also, which appeared to be the most reprehensible of +all her notions, and not altogether without danger to himself. But a +wrathful flush of shame flew to his head at the thought that anything +of the sort could be perilous for him. Then again it occurred to him +that the Devil might have set a snare for him, in which case it were +best to avoid it betimes. But to become a deserter in the face of such +a wisp of a temptress! And supposing the poor creature were in earnest, +and could be cured of her latest unseemly delusion by a few rough +words? In short, Vitalis could not settle within himself, all the more +that at the bottom of his heart a dim wave was beginning to cause the +skiff of his reason to be unsteady. + +In his perplexity he slipped into a little chapel where a beautiful +ancient marble statue of the goddess Juno had recently been set up with +a golden nimbus as an image of the Virgin Mary, so as not to waste such +a gift of divine art. He cast himself down before this Mary, and laid +his doubts fervently before her, and prayed his patroness for a token. +If she nodded, he would complete Iole's conversion; if she shook her +head, he would desist. + +But the image left him in the most cruel uncertainty, and did neither +one thing nor the other; it neither nodded nor shook its head. Only +when the red gleam of some flying morning clouds passed over the +marble, its face seemed to smile most propitiously; whether it was that +the ancient goddess, as guardian deity of connubial love and chastity, +was giving a sign, or that the new one could not refrain from smiling +at her adorer's troubles; for both were women at heart, and such are +always tickled when a love-affair is in train. But Vitalis knew nothing +of all this. On the contrary, the beauty of the expression raised his +courage amazingly, and, still more remarkable to relate, the statue +appeared to assume the features of the blushing Iole, who was +challenging him to expel her love of him from her mind. + +Meantime, at the same hour, Iole's father was strolling beneath the +cypresses of his garden. He had acquired some very fine new gems, the +engraving on which had brought him out of bed at that early hour. He +was handling them rapturously, and making them play in the beams of the +rising sun. There was a dark amethyst, on which Luna drove her car +through the heavens, unwitting that Love was squatted behind her, while +flying Cupids called to her the Greek for "Whip behind!" A handsome +onyx showed Minerva lost in meditation, holding Love on her knee, who +was busy polishing her breast-plate with his hand to see his own +reflection. + +And lastly, on a cornelian, Love, in the form of a salamander, was +tumbling about in a vestal fire and throwing its guardian virgins into +perplexity and alarm. + +These scenes tempted the old man to compose some distichs, and he was +considering which he should attack first when his daughter Iole came +through the garden, pale and unslept. Anxious and surprised, he called +her to him and enquired what had robbed her of her slumbers. But, +before she could answer, he began to show her his gems and explain them +to her. + +At that she heaved a deep sigh and said, "Ah, if all those great +powers, Chastity herself, Wisdom, and Religion, could not defend +themselves against Love, how is a poor insignificant creature like me +to fortify herself against him?" + +The old gentleman was not a little astonished at these words. "What do +I hear?" he said. "Is it that the dart of mighty Eros has smitten +thee?" + +"It has pierced me to the heart," she responded, "and, if I am not in +possession of the man whom I love within a day and a night, I shall be +the bride of Death!" + +Although her father was accustomed to let her have her own way in +everything she desired, this haste was rather too violent for him, and +he recommended repose and reflection to his daughter. But she had no +lack of the latter, and she employed it so well that the old man +exclaimed, "So I must discharge the most unpleasant of all a father's +duties, I must go to your choice, to your man, and lead him by the nose +up to the best that I can call mine, and beg him to be so kind as to +take possession? Here is a tidy little woman, my dear sir! I pray you, +don't despise her! I had much rather give you a box or two on the ear, +but my little daughter will die, so I must be civil! So be graciously +pleased, for Heaven's sake, to taste the pasty which is offered you. It +has been well baked, and will fairly melt in your mouth!" + +"All that is spared us," said Iole, "for, if you will only allow me, I +hope to bring him to it that he will come himself and ask for my hand." + +"And what if this man, whom I know nothing of, turns out to be a +wastrel and a good-for-nothing?" + +"Then let him be driven away with scorn! But he is a saint!" + +"Then run away, and leave me to the Muses," said the good old man. + +When evening came, the night did not follow the dusk so promptly as +Vitalis appeared at Iole's heels in the familiar house. But he had +never entered the house in the same fashion as now. His heart beat, and +he was forced to feel what it meant to see again a person who had +played such a trump. It was another Vitalis than the one who had +descended in the early morning, who now came up the steps, although he +himself was the most unconscious of the fact; for the poor converter of +frail women and monk of evil renown had never learned the difference +between the smile of a harlot and that of an honourable woman. + +Yet he came with the best of intentions, and with the old purpose of +driving all the idle notions out of the little monster's head for good +and all. Only he had a vague idea that once his task was accomplished +he might be permitted a pause in his martyr activity; all at once he +began to be very tired of it. + +But it was determined that some new surprise should always await him in +that enchanted dwelling. When he entered the room, he found it +beautifully decorated, and furnished with all usual furniture. A +delicate, insidious odour of flowers pervaded the room, and was in +keeping with a certain modest worldliness. On a snow-white couch, not a +fold out of place in its silk coverings, sat Iole, splendidly arrayed, +in sweet troubled melancholy, like an angel in meditation. Under the +trim pleats of her robe her bosom heaved like the foam on a milking +pail, and, though the white arms, which she folded beneath her breast, +shone so fair, yet all those charms looked so lawful and permissible in +the order of things that Vitalis's accustomed eloquence stuck in his +throat. + +"You are amazed, my pretty monk," began Iole, "to find all this show +and finery here! Know that this is the farewell which I mean to take of +the world, and, at the same time, I will lay aside the inclination +which, unfortunately, I cannot help feeling for you. But you must help +me to this end to the best of your ability, and after the fashion that +I have devised and request of you. I mean that when you address me in +these garments and as a cleric it is always the same. The bearing of a +churchman fails to convince me, for I belong to the world. I cannot be +cured of love by a monk, who is unacquainted with love, and does not +know what he is talking about. If you really mean to afford me rest and +put me on the way to Heaven, go into that closet, where you will find +secular clothes laid out ready for you. Exchange your monk's clothes +there for them, array yourself like a man of the world, then seat +yourself beside me to partake of a little repast with me, and in such +worldly externals exert all your acuteness and understanding to wean me +from you and incline me to piety." + +Vitalis made no reply, but bethought himself a while. Then he decided +to end all his difficulties at one stroke, and to put the devil of this +world to flight with his own weapons by acceding to Iole's eccentric +proposal. + +So he actually betook himself into an adjoining closet, where a couple +of servants awaited him with splendid garments of purple and fine +linen. Scarcely had he put them on, when he looked a good head taller, +and it was with a noble mien that he strode back to Iole, who could not +take her eyes off him, and clapped her hands for joy. + +Now, however, a real miracle and a strange transformation was wrought +on the monk. For scarcely had he sat down in his worldly array beside +the charming woman, when the immediate past was blown away like a dream +from his mind, and he forgot all about his purpose. Instead of speaking +so much as a word, he listened eagerly to what was said by Iole, who +had taken possession of his hand and begun to tell him her true story, +who she was, where she lived, and how it was her most heart-felt desire +that he should give over his strange manner of life, and ask her father +for her hand, so that he might become a good husband, well-pleasing to +God. She also said many wonderful things in the most beautiful words +about the history of a happy and chaste love, but concluded with a sigh +that she saw well how hopeless her desire was, and that he was now at +liberty to argue her out of all those ideas, but not before he had +fortified himself duly for his task with meat and drink. + +Then at her signal the servants set drinking-vessels on the table +together with a basket of cakes and fruits. Iole mixed a goblet of wine +for the silent Vitalis, and affectionately handed him something to eat, +so that he felt quite at home, and was reminded of his childhood, when +as a little boy he was tenderly fed by his mother. He ate and drank, +and, when he had done so, it seemed to him as if he might now venture +to rest from his long, weary toil, and lo! our Vitalis leant his head +to one side, towards Iole, and without more ado fell asleep, and lay +till sunrise. + +When he awoke, he was alone, and no one was to be seen or heard. He +sprang up hastily, and was horrified at the splendid garment in which +he was dressed. He rushed madly through the house from top to bottom, +seeking for his monk's frock. But not the smallest trace of it could he +find, until he chanced to see a little heap of cinders and ashes, on +which a sleeve of his priest's dress was lying half consumed, whereupon +he rightly concluded that there it had been solemnly burned. + +Next he put his head out cautiously, first at one, then at another of +the windows which looked on to the street, drawing it in every time +that any one approached. At last he flung himself down upon the silken +couch as comfortable and at ease as if he had never lain on a monk's +hard bed. Then he roused himself, put his dress straight, and stole in +high excitement to the street-door. There he still hesitated a moment; +but suddenly he flung it wide open, and went out into the world a +magnificent and imposing figure. No one recognized him; every one took +him for some fine gentleman from abroad, who was enjoying a few gay +days at Alexandria. + +He looked neither to right nor left, else he would have seen Iole on +her house-top. So he went straight back to his convent, where, however, +all the monks and their superior had just resolved to expel him from +their fellowship; for the measure of his iniquities was now full, and +he contributed only to the scandal and disgrace of the Church. The +sight of him, actually coming among them in his worldly gallant's +attire, knocked the bottom out of the tub of their patience; they +drenched him and doused him with water from all sides, and drove him +with crosses, besoms, pitchforks and kitchen-ladles out of the convent. + +Once on a time this rough handling would have been the height of +felicity to him, and a triumph of his martyrdom. True, he laughed +inwardly even now, but for a somewhat different reason. He took one +more stroll round about the city-walls, and let his red cloak wave in +the wind. A fine breeze from the Holy Land blew across the sparkling +sea; but Vitalis was becoming more and more worldly-minded. Suddenly he +retraced his steps into the bustling streets of the city, sought the +house where Iole dwelt, and did what she wished. + +He now made as excellent and complete a layman and husband as he had +been a martyr. The Church, however, when she understood the real facts +of the case, was inconsolable over the loss of such a saint, and made +every endeavour to recall the fugitive to her bosom. But Iole held him +fast and gave it to be understood that he was in very good hands with +her. + + + + + DOROTHEA'S FLOWER-BASKET + + To lose oneself so is rather to find oneself. + + Franciscus Ludovicus Blosius, + _Spiritual Instruction_, c. 12. + + +On the south coast of the Euxine sea, not far from the mouth of the +river Halys, a Roman country-house lay in the light of the brightest of +spring mornings. From the waters of the sea a north-east wind wafted a +refreshing coolness through the gardens, as grateful to the pagans and +to the secret Christians as it was to the trembling leaves upon the +trees. + +In a summer-house by the sea-shore, shut off from the rest of the +world, stood a young couple, a handsome young man with the daintiest +maiden imaginable. She was holding out a large, beautifully-shaped bowl +of translucent, warm-hued marble for the youth to admire, and the +morning sun shone with great effect through the bowl, so that its ruddy +glow concealed the blush on the maiden's visage. + +She was Dorothea, a patrician's daughter, to whom Fabricius, governor +of the province of Cappadocia, was paying assiduous court. But as he +was a bigoted persecutor of the Christians, and Dorothea's parents felt +attracted by the new philosophy of life and were making diligent +endeavours to adopt it, they were offering the best resistance they +could to the powerful inquisitor's importunity. Not that they wished to +involve their children in religious controversies, or that they would +condescend to barter their hearts for a faith--they were too noble and +liberal for that; but they were of opinion that a religious persecutor +would never make a good heart's consoler. + +Dorothea for her part had no need of such considerations, since she +possessed another safeguard against the governor's attentions in the +shape of her liking for his private secretary, Theophilus, who was +standing beside her at that moment, and looking with interest at the +rosy bowl. + +Theophilus was an exceedingly refined, cultivated man of Greek descent, +who had risen in spite of adverse circumstances and was held in high +esteem by all. But the hardships of his early years had left him +somewhat suspicious and reserved, and, while he was satisfied with what +he owed to his own exertions, he was loth to believe that any one +attached himself to him from disinterested motives. The sight of the +young Dorothea was dear to him as his life, but the very fact that the +chief man in Cappadocia was paying court to her prevented him from +cherishing any hopes for himself, and he would not at any price have +run the risk of cutting a ridiculous figure beside his lordship. + +Nevertheless, Dorothea sought to conduct her desires to a happy issue, +and in the meantime to assure herself of his presence as often as +possible. Because he always appeared calm and indifferent, her passion +provoked her to dangerous little stratagems, and she tried to move him +by means of jealousy by pretending to be interested in the governor +Fabricius, and to be on friendly terms with him. But poor Theophilus +was an innocent in such tricks, and, even if he had understood them, +was far too proud to show any jealousy. Yet by degrees he became +distracted and perplexed, and sometimes betrayed himself, but always +promptly recollected himself and recovered his reserve, so that his +tender sweetheart had nothing for it but to proceed somewhat forcibly, +and pull in her net unexpectedly when opportunity offered. + +He was out in Pontus on state business, and Dorothea, who was aware of +this, had accompanied her parents from Caesarea to the country-house for +the spring, which had just begun. Thus she had managed, after +painfully-devised and ingenious man[oe]uvres, to get him into the +arbour that morning, partly as if by accident, partly as if with +friendly intent, so that both his good luck and her good graces should +make him happy and confiding, as indeed they did. + +She wished to show him the vase, which a kind uncle had sent her as a +birthday present from Trebizond. Her countenance was radiant from sheer +joy at having her beloved beside her alone, and at being able to show +him something pretty, and he too was genuinely happy. Besides, there +was sunshine in his heart at last, so that he could no longer keep his +lips from smiling trustfully nor his eyes from sparkling. + +But the ancients have forgotten to give a name to the envious divinity, +the rival of gentle Eros, who, at the critical moment when good fortune +is closest at hand, throws a veil over lovers' eyes, and twists the +word in their mouth. + +As she gave the bowl trustfully into his hands, and he asked who had +sent it to her, a merry rashness misled her into the jest of answering +"Fabricius." She felt sure that Theophilus could not fail to see the +joke. But, as she was unable to give her merry excited smile that shade +of mockery at the mention of the absent one, which would have made the +jest evident, Theophilus was firmly convinced that her sweet and +genuine joy was due to the present and its giver, and that he had +fallen into a nasty trap by intruding into a circle which was forbidden +and strange to him. Confounded and ashamed, he cast down his eyes, +began to tremble, and let the glittering ornament fall to the ground, +where it was shivered to pieces. + +In her first dismay, Dorothea forgot all about her joke, and almost +forgot Theophilus, and could only stoop aghast to pick up the pieces, +exclaiming "How clumsy!" without bestowing a look upon him; so that she +did not see the alteration in his features, and had no suspicion that +he had misunderstood her. + +But, when she had risen, and, recovering herself quickly, turned +towards him, Theophilus had already regained his proud self-command. He +looked at her inscrutably and indifferently, begged almost mockingly +for pardon, promising her full restitution for the vase which had come +to grief, then bowed and left the garden. + +Pale and sorrowful she looked after his slim figure, with the white +toga wrapped closely about it, and his black curly head bent to one +side as if his thoughts were already far away from her. + +The waves of the silvery sea lapped soft and lazy against the marble +steps on the beach, all else around was still, and Dorothea's little +devices were at an end. + +Weeping, she slipped away with the collected fragments of the vase to +hide them in her room. + +They did not see each other again for many months. Theophilus returned +at once to the capital, and when Dorothea went back there in the +autumn, he sedulously avoided encountering her; for the mere +possibility of meeting her alarmed and excited him. So all their +happiness was gone for the nonce. + +The natural result was that she sought consolation in the new faith of +her parents, and as soon as they observed this, they lost no time in +deciding their child in her resolution, and initiating her fully into +their faith and practice. + +Meanwhile, Dorothea's assumed friendliness for the governor had also +its unfortunate effect, in that Fabricius considered himself justified +in renewing his courtship with redoubled energy. He was all the more +surprised, therefore, when Dorothea could scarcely endure the sight of +him, and he seemed to have become more repugnant to her than Misfortune +herself. But he did not draw back on that account; rather, he increased +his importunity and began to quarrel with her because of her new +faith, and to assail her conscience as he mingled flatteries with +thinly-veiled threats. + +Dorothea, however, acknowledged her faith openly and fearlessly, and +turned away from him as from an unsubstantial shadow which cannot be +seen. + +Theophilus heard of all this, and how the good maiden was not having +the happiest life of it. What surprised him most was the news that she +would have nothing whatever to do with the proconsul. Although he was +old-world or indifferent in the matter of religion, he was not offended +at the maiden's new faith, and with his partiality for her he began to +be more in her company again, the better to see and hear how she was +faring. But in her present mood, she could speak of nothing except in +the tenderest and most languishing accents of a Heavenly Bridegroom +whom she had found, who was awaiting her in immortal beauty, to take +her to His radiant breast, and give her the rose of eternal life, and +so forth. + +He could make neither head nor tail of this language. It offended and +annoyed him, and filled his heart with a strange, painful jealousy of +the unknown God who perverted a weak woman's mind; for he could not +understand and interpret the excited and enthusiastic Dorothea's +expressions otherwise than in the old mythological fashion. Jealousy of +a superhuman being did not hurt his pride, but it blunted his sympathy +with the woman who boasted of being united to deities. Yet it was +nothing else than her unrequited love for himself that put such +language into her mouth, just as he himself had the thorn of passion +always fixed in his heart. + +Matters had dragged on thus for some little time, when Fabricius +suddenly pounced down. Taking advantage of renewed Imperial orders for +a persecution of Christians, he had Dorothea and her parents +imprisoned. The daughter, however, was placed in a separate gaol, and +put to the question about her faith. Full of curiosity, he went in +person and heard her loudly repudiating the ancient gods, and +confessing as the only Lord of the world Christ, whose betrothed bride +she was. At that, a savage jealousy took possession of the governor +also. He resolved on her destruction, and ordered her to be tortured +and, if she still persisted, to be put to death. Then he departed. She +was laid on a gridiron, under which coals were fanned to a glow in such +a fashion that the heat only increased slowly. Still, it hurt her +tender frame. She uttered stifled screams for a time, while her limbs, +which were chained down to the gridiron, quivered, and tears flowed +from her eyes. Theophilus, who usually refrained from taking any part +in such persecutions, had heard of the business, and hastened to her +full of horror and disquiet. Forgetful of his own safety, he thrust his +way through the gaping populace, and, when with his own ears he heard +Dorothea's low moans, he snatched a sword from a soldier's hand, and +stood at one bound before her bed of torture. + +"Does it hurt, Dorothea?" he enquired with a bitter smile, intending to +cut her fastenings. But she answered, feeling suddenly as if all pain +had left her and she were filled with the most perfect bliss, "How +could it hurt me, Theophilus? It is the roses of my well-beloved +Bridegroom that I am lying upon. See! To-day is my wedding-day!" + +Her lips played as if it were one of her favourite dainty jests, while +her eyes looked at him blissfully. An unearthly radiance seemed to +illumine her and her couch, a triumphant calm settled upon her. +Theophilus lowered his sword, threw it from him, and once again +retreated ashamed and confounded as on that morning in the garden by +the sea. + +Then the coals glowed red again. Dorothea sighed and longed for death. +And her desire was granted; she was led away to the place of execution, +to be beheaded. + +She went to her fate with a light step, followed by the unthinking, +shouting mob. Standing by the roadside she saw Theophilus, who never +took his eyes off her. Their eyes met. Dorothea stood still an instant, +and said cheerfully, "Theophilus, if you only knew how beautiful and +splendid are my Lord's rose-gardens, where I shall soon be walking, and +how sweet his apples taste which grow there, you would come along with +me!" + +Theophilus responded with a bitter smile: "I'll tell you what, +Dorothea! Send me some of your roses and apples for a sample when you +get there!" + +She gave a friendly nod, and went on her way. + +Theophilus followed her with his eyes until the cloud of dust, golden +in the evening sunshine, which accompanied the procession, had vanished +in the distance, and the street was empty and silent. Then with +shrouded head he went home, and ascended with faltering steps to the +house-top, from which there was a view out to the Argeus mountains. The +place of execution was situated on one of the foot-hills. He could +easily make out a dark cluster of humanity there, and he stretched out +his longing arms in its direction. He fancied that in the light of the +departing sun he could see the flash of the falling axe, and he dropped +down and lay prone on the terrace. And, as a matter of fact, Dorothea's +head did fall about that time. + +But he had not long lain thus motionless, when a clear shining +lightened the twilight, and pierced with blinding radiance beneath +Theophilus's hands in which his face lay buried, and poured itself into +his closed eyes like liquid gold. At the same time a rare fragrance +filled the air. The young man arose as if pervaded by some new and +unknown life. Before him stood a wondrous lovely boy, with golden +ringlets, clad in a star-spangled garment, and with radiant naked feet, +bearing a small basket in no less radiant hands. The basket was filled +with the most beautiful roses, the like of which were never seen, and +among the roses lay three apples of Paradise. + +With an infinitely true-hearted and frank childish smile, yet not +without a certain pleasant roguishness, the child said, "This is from +Dorothea!" put the basket in his hands with the question, "Have you got +it?" and vanished. + +The basket did not vanish, and Theophilus had really got it in his +hands. He found the three apples lightly marked by two tiny teeth, as +was the custom among lovers in ancient times. He ate them slowly, with +the blazing starry heavens above him. A mighty longing permeated him +with a sweet fire, and, clasping the basket to his breast and +concealing it with his mantle, he hastened down from the house-top, +through the streets and into the palace of the governor, who was +sitting at table endeavouring to drown his wild rage in untempered +Colchian wine. + +With flashing eyes, Theophilus advanced towards him, without uncovering +the basket, and exclaimed before the whole company, "I declare that I +am of the same faith as Dorothea, whom you have just now murdered. It +is the only true faith!" + +"Then go after the witch!" retorted the governor, who, racked by sudden +wrath and consuming jealousy, sprang to his feet, and had his secretary +beheaded that same hour. + +Thus Theophilus was, after all, united for ever to Dorothea on that +same day. She welcomed him with the restful look of the blessed. Like +two doves, separated by the tempest, who have found each other again, +and first fly in a wide circuit round their home, so the united pair +swept hand in hand swiftly, swiftly, and unceasingly around the outmost +circles of Heaven, freed from every weight, yet still themselves. Then +they separated sportively and lost themselves in wide infinity, while +each knew where the other tarried, and what the other thought, and +joined with him in embracing every creature and all existence in sweet +love. Then they sought each other again with waxing desire, which knew +no pain and no impatience. They found each other, and once more eddied +about, or reposed in contemplation of themselves and gazed near and far +into the world of infinitude. But once in blissful forgetfulness they +ventured too near the crystal habitation of the Holy Trinity, and +entered within. There they lost all consciousness, and like twins +beneath a mother's heart they fell on sleep, and no doubt are sleeping +still, unless meantime they have been able to make their way out. + + + + + A LEGEND OF THE DANCE + + O virgin of Israel: thou shalt again be adorned + with thy tabrets, and shalt go forth in the dances.... + Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both + young men and old together. + + Jeremiah, xxxi. 4, 13. + + +According to Saint Gregory, Musa was the dancer among the saints. The +child of good people, she was a bright young lady, a diligent servant +of the Mother of God, and subject only to one weakness, such an +uncontrollable passion for the dance, that when the child was not +praying she was dancing without fail, and that on all imaginable +occasions. Musa danced with her playmates, with children, with the +young men, and even by herself. She danced in her own room and every +other room in the house, in the garden, in the meadows. Even when she +went to the altar, it was to a gracious measure rather than at a walk, +and even on the smooth marble flags before the church-door she did not +scruple to practise a few hasty steps. + +In fact, one day when she found herself alone in the church, she could +not refrain from executing some figures before the altar, and, so to +speak, dancing a pretty prayer to the Virgin Mary. She became so +oblivious of all else that she fancied she was merely dreaming when she +saw an oldish but handsome gentleman dancing opposite her, and +supplementing her figures so skilfully that the pair got into the most +elaborate dance imaginable. The gentleman had a royal purple robe, a +golden crown on his head, and a glossy black curled beard, which the +silvery streaks of age had touched as with distant starlight. At the +same time music sounded from the choir, where half-a-dozen small angels +stood or sat with their chubby little legs hanging over the screen, and +fingered or blew their various instruments. The urchins were very +pleasant and skilful. Each rested his music on one of the stone angels +with which the choir-screen was adorned, except the smallest, a +puffy-cheeked piper, who sat cross-legged, and contrived to hold his +music with his pink toes. He was the most diligent of them all. The +others dangled their feet, kept spreading their pinions, one or other +of them, with a rustle, so that their colours shimmered like doves' +breasts, and they teased each other as they played. + +Musa found no time to wonder at all this until the dance, which lasted +a pretty long time, was over; for the merry gentleman seemed to enjoy +himself as much as the maid, who felt as if she were dancing about in +Heaven. But when the music ceased, and Musa stood there panting, she +began to be scared in good earnest, and looked in astonishment at the +ancient, who was neither out of breath nor warm, and who now began to +speak. He introduced himself as David, the Virgin Mary's royal ancestor +and her ambassador. And he asked if she would like to pass eternal +bliss in an unending pleasure-dance, compared with which the dance they +had just finished could only be called a miserable crawl. + +To this she promptly answered that there was nothing she desired +better. Whereupon the blessed King David said again that in that case +she had nothing more to do than to renounce all pleasure and all +dancing for the rest of her days on earth, and devote herself wholly to +penance and spiritual exercises, and that without hesitation or +relapse. + +The maiden was taken aback at these conditions, and she asked whether +she must really give up dancing altogether. She questioned, indeed, +whether there was any dancing in Heaven; for there was a time for +everything: this earth looked very fit and proper for dancing; it stood +to reason that Heaven must have very different attractions, else death +were a superfluity. + +But David explained to her that her notions on this subject were quite +erroneous, and proved from many Bible texts, and from his own example, +that dancing was most assuredly a sanctified occupation for the +blessed. But what was wanted just now was an immediate decision, Yes or +No, whether she wished to enter into eternal joy by way of temporal +self-denial or not. If she did not, then he would go farther on; for +they wanted some dancers in Heaven. + +Musa stood, still doubtful and undecided, and fumbled anxiously with +her finger-tips in her mouth. It seemed too hard never to dance again +from that moment, all for the sake of an unknown reward. + +At that David gave a signal, and suddenly the musicians struck up some +bars of a dance of such unheard-of bliss and unearthliness that the +girl's soul leapt in her body, and all her limbs twitched; but she +could not get one of them to dance, and she noted that her body was far +too heavy and stiff for that tune. Full of longing she struck her hand +into the king's, and made the promise which he demanded. + +Forthwith he was no more to be seen, and the angel-musicians whirred +and fluttered, and crowded out and away through an open window; but, in +mischievous, childish fashion, before going, they dealt the patient +stone angels a sounding slap on the cheeks with their rolled-up music. + +Musa went home with devout step, carrying that celestial melody in her +ears; and, having laid all her dainty raiment aside, she got a coarse +gown made and put it on. At the same time, she built herself a cell at +the bottom of her parents' garden, where the deep shade of the trees +lingered, made a scant bed of moss, and from that day onwards separated +herself from all her kindred, and took up her abode there as a penitent +and saint. She spent all her time in prayer, and often disciplined +herself with a scourge. But her severest penance consisted in holding +her limbs stiff and immovable; for whenever she heard a sound, the +twitter of a bird, or the rustling of the leaves in the wind, her feet +twitched, as much as to tell her they must dance. + +As this involuntary twitching would not forsake her, and often seduced +her to a little skip before she was aware, she caused her tender little +feet to be fastened together by a light chain. Her relatives and +friends marvelled day and night at the transformation, rejoiced to +possess such a saint, and guarded the hermitage under the trees as the +apple of their eye. Many came for her counsel and intercession. In +particular, they used to bring young girls to her who were rather +clumsy on their feet; for it was observed that every one whom she +touched at once became light and graceful in gait. + +So she spent three years in her cell; but, by the end of the third +year, Musa had become almost as thin and transparent as a summer cloud. +She lay continually on her bed of moss, gazed wistfully into Heaven, +and was convinced that she could already see the golden sandals of the +blessed, dancing and gliding about through the azure. + +At last, one harsh autumn day, the tidings spread that the saint lay on +her death-bed. She had taken off her dark penitential robe, and caused +herself to be arrayed in bridal garments of dazzling white. So she lay +with folded hands, and smilingly awaited the hour of death. The garden +was all filled with devout persons, the breezes murmured, and the +leaves were falling from the trees on all sides. But suddenly the +sighing of the wind changed into music, which appeared to be playing in +the tree-tops, and, as the people looked up, lo! all the branches were +clad in fresh green, the myrtles and pomegranates put out blossom and +fragrance, the earth decked itself with flowers, and a rosy glow +settled upon the white, frail form of the dying saint. + +That same instant, she yielded up her spirit. The chain about her feet +sprang asunder with a sharp twang, Heaven opened wide all around, full +of unbounded radiance, so that all could see in. Then they saw many +thousands of beautiful young men and maidens in the utmost splendour, +dancing circle upon circle farther than the eye could reach. A +magnificent king, throned on a cloud with a special band of six small +angels seated on its edge, bore down a little way towards earth, and +received the form of the sainted Musa from before the eyes of all the +beholders who filled the garden. They saw, too, how she sprang into the +opened Heaven, and immediately danced out of sight among the jubilant, +radiant circles. + +That was a high feast-day in Heaven. Now the custom--to be sure, it is +denied by Saint Gregory of Nyssa; but it is stoutly maintained by his +namesake of Nazianza--the custom on feast-days was to invite the Nine +Muses, who sat for the rest of their time in Hell, and to admit them to +Heaven, that they might be of assistance. They were well entertained; +but, once the feast was over, had to go back to the other place. + +When now the dances and songs and all the ceremonies had come to an +end, and the Heavenly company sat down, Musa was taken to a table +where the Nine Muses were being served. They sat huddled together +half-scared, glancing about them with their fiery black or dark-blue +eyes. The busy Martha of the gospels was caring for them in person; she +had on her finest kitchen-apron and a tiny little smut on her white +chin, and was pressing all manner of good things on the Muses in the +friendliest possible way. But when Musa and Saint Caecilia and some +other artistic women arrived, and greeted the shy Pierians cheerfully +and joined their company, they began to thaw, grew confidential, and +the feminine circle became quite pleasant and happy. Musa sat beside +Terpsiehore, and Caecilia between Polyhymnia and Euterpe, and all took +one another's hands. Next came the little minstrel urchins, and made up +to the pretty women, with an eye to the bright fruit which shone on the +ambrosial table. King David himself came and brought a golden cup, out +of which all drank, so that gracious joy warmed them. He went round the +table in high good-spirits, not omitting, as he passed, to chuck pretty +Erato under the chin. While things were going on so famously at the +Muses' table, our Gracious Lady herself appeared in all her beauty and +goodness, sat down a few minutes beside the Muses, and kissed the +august Urania with the starry coronet tenderly upon the lips, when she +took her departure, whispering to her that she would not rest until the +Muses could remain in Paradise for ever. + +But that never came about. To declare their gratitude for the kindness +and friendliness which had been shown them, and to prove their good +will, the Muses took counsel together and practised a hymn of praise in +a retired corner of the under-world. They tried to give it the form of +the solemn chorals which were the fashion in Heaven. They arranged it +in two parts of four voices each, with a sort of principal part which +Urania took, and they thus produced a remarkable piece of vocal music. + +The next time that a feast-day was celebrated in Heaven, and the Muses +again rendered their assistance, they seized what appeared to be a +favourable moment for their purpose, took their places, and commenced +their song. It began softly, but soon swelled out mightily. But in +those regions it sounded so dismal, almost defiant and harsh, yet so +wistful and mournful, that first of all a horrified silence prevailed, +and next the whole assembly was seized with a sad longing for earth and +home, and broke into universal weeping. + +A sigh without end throbbed through Heaven. All the Elders and Prophets +hastened up in dismay, while the Muses, with the best of intentions, +sang louder and more mournfully, and all Paradise with the Patriarchs +and Elders and Prophets, and all who ever walked or lay in the green +pastures, lost all command of themselves. Until at last, the High and +Mighty Trinity Himself came to put things right, and reduced the +too-zealous Muses to silence with a long, reverberating peal of +thunder. + +Then quiet and composure were restored to Heaven. But the poor Nine +Sisters had to depart, and never dared enter it again from that day. + + + + THE END + + + + + CONTENTS + + + Introduction + + Eugenia + + The Virgin and the Devil + + The Virgin as Knight + + The Virgin and the Nun + + The Naughty Saint Vitalis + + Dorothea's Flower-Basket + + A Legend of the Dance + + + + GLASGOW: PRINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS BY ROBERT MACLEHOSE + AND CO. LTD. + + + + + + + MEISTERWERKE + IN TASCHENAUSGABEN + + + With Introductions by Richard M. Meyer, + Professor at Berlin University. + +This series is intended to supply readers of German with some of the +greatest works of German literature, and these only, printed in an +attractive, handy, and cheap form in accordance with English tastes, +but edited by a great German critic. + +The volumes are printed in Roman type; as there is no doubt the study +of German in this country has been much hindered hitherto by fear of +damage to the eyes from reading Gothic type. + + + _Ready_. + + +1.--Goethe. Die Wahlverwandschaften. +2.--Ludwig. Zwischen Himmel und Erde. + + + _In Preparation_. + + +3.--Schiller. Der Geisterseher und andere Erzaehlungen. + + + _Others will follow_. + + + _Price of each volume:_ + + _cloth, gilt top, 1s. net; leather limp, gilt top, 2s. net_; + _postage 2d. extra_. + + + LONDON & GLASGOW; GOWANS & GRAY, LTD. + + + + + + + DIE MEISTERSTUeCKE + DER DEUTSCHEN LYRIK + + With Introductions and Notes by + + Richard M. Meyer, + + Professor at Berlin University. + + +This new series will contain only the finest lyrics in the German +language. Believing that, other things being equal, a native critic is +the best judge of his country's writers, the publishers have entrusted +the editing of the series to Dr. Meyer, of Berlin University, one of +the most eminent living authorities on German literature. The _format_ +is uniform with that of "Les Chefs-d'[Oe]uvre de la Poesie lyrique +francaise," which have already proved very successful, not least in +France itself. + + + _Ready_. + + +1.--Die Meisterstuecke des deutschen Volks- und Kirchenliedes. + +2.--Die Meisterstuecke der vorgoethischen Lyrik. + +3-4.--Die lyrischen Meisterstuecke von Goethe. _Zwei Baende_. + + + _In Preparation_. + + +5.--Die lyrischen Meisterstuecke von Schiller. + + + _Price of each volume_: + + _in parchment cover, 6d. net; in cloth, 1s. net_; + _in leather, 2s. net; postage, 1d. extra_. + + + LONDON & GLASGOW; GOWANS & GRAY, LTD. + + + + + + + LES CHEFS-D'[Oe]UVRE DE LA + POESIE LYRIQUE FRANCAISE + + + Selected, with Biographical Introductions, by + + Auguste Dorchain, + + the well-known French Poet and Critic. + + + _In Preparation_. + + +1.--Les Chefs-d'[Oe] uvre lyriques de Villon, de Marot, et des autres +Poetes anterieurs a Ronsard. + + + _Ready_. + + +2.--Les Chefs-d'[Oe]uvre lyriques de Ronsard et de son Ecole. + +3-4.--Les Chefs-d'[Oe]uvre lyriques de Malherbe et de l'Ecole classique +[de Ronsard a Chenier]. _Deux volumes_. + +5.--Les Chefs-d'[Oe]uvre lyriques d'Andre Chenier. + +6.--Les Chefs-d'[Oe]uvre lyriques de Marceline Desbordes-Valmore. + +12.--Les Chefs-d'[Oe]uvre lyriques d'Alfred de Musset. + + + _Others will follow_. + + +These pretty little volumes contain the best poems, and those only, of +the authors included. + + + _Price of each volume_: + + + _in parchment cover, 6d. net; in cloth, 1s. net_; + _in leather, 2s. net; postage, 1d. extra_. + + + LONDON & GLASGOW; GOWANS & GRAY, LTD. + + + + + + + CHEFS-D'[Oe]UVRE DE POCHE + + + Edited by + + Auguste Dorchain. + + +This series has been inaugurated with the object of providing readers +of French all the world over with some of the great masterpieces of +French literature in an attractive form. The cheap reprints that are +published in France are not always neat, according to British tastes, +and the publishers believe that their attempts to supply reprints at +once cheap and pretty will be appreciated. + + + _Ready_. + + +1.--Balzac. Eugenie Grandet. + +2.--A. de Musset. La Confession d'un Enfant du Siecle. + +3.--Balzac. Ursule Mirouet. + + + _In Preparation_. + + +4.--Mme de La Fayette. 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