Complete Works of Henryk Sienkiewicz

by Henryk Sienkiewicz

  Having risen with difficulty, he leaned on Zbyszko, who conducted him to the alcove.

  The next day Zbyszko went to Zgorzelice, because Macko urged him. He also insisted that he take two servants with him for ostentation, and that he dress in his best clothes, to show respect and gratitude to Zych. Zbyszko did as he was asked and went attired as if for a wedding, in his jaka made of white satin, bordered with gold fringe and embroidered with gold griffins. Zych received him with open arms, with joy and with singing; as for Jagienka, when she entered, she stopped as if she were rooted to the ground and almost dropped the bucket of wine which she was carrying; she thought that a son of some king had arrived. She became timid and sat silently, rubbing her eyes from time to time as if she would like to awaken from a dream. The inexperienced Zbyszko thought that, for some reason unknown to him, she did not wish to talk to him; therefore he conversed only with Zych, praising his munificence and admiring the house at Zgorzelice, which in fact was quite different from that in Bogdaniec.

  Everywhere comfort and wealth were evident. In the rooms there were windows with panes made of horn, cut in thin slices and polished so that it was as transparent as glass. Instead of fireplaces in the centre, there were large chimneys in the corners. The floors were made of larch tree planks, while on the walls were hung suits of armor and many polished dishes, also silver spoons. Here and there were costly rugs brought from the wars. Under the tables there were enormous urus’ skins. Zych showed his riches willingly, saying that it was Jagienka’s household. He conducted Zbyszko to the alcove, fragrant with rosin and peppermint, in which were hanging from the ceiling, large bunches of wolf skins, fox skins, beaver skins and marten skins. He showed to him the provisions of cheese, honey, wax, barrels of flour, pails of dried bread, hemp and dried mushrooms. Then he went with him to the granaries, barns, stables, cow houses, and to the sheds filled with plenty of hunting implements and nets. Zbyszko was so dazzled by all this wealth that during supper, he could not refrain from admiration.

  “What a pleasure to live in Zgorzelice!” exclaimed he.

  “In Moczydoly, there is almost the same wealth,” answered Zych. “Do you remember Moczydoly? It is not far from Bogdaniec. Formerly our forefathers quarreled about the boundaries and challenged each other; but I shall not quarrel.”

  Here he filled Zbyszko’s goblet with mead and said:

  “Perhaps you would like to sing?”

  “No,” answered Zbyszko; “but I shall listen to you with pleasure.”

  “Zgorzelice will belong to the young bears.”

  “What do you mean by ‘young bears?’”

  “Why, Jagienka’s brothers.”

  “Hej! they will not have to suck their paws during the winter.”

  “No; but Jagienka will also have plenty in Moczydoly.”

  “That is true!”

  “Why don’t you eat and drink? Jagienka, pour for him and for me.”

  “I am drinking and eating as much as I can.”

  “Ungird your belt; then you will be able to eat and drink more. What a beautiful girdle you have! Yon must have taken rich booty in Lithuania!”

  “We cannot complain,” answered Zbyszko, gladly seizing the opportunity to explain that the heirs of Bogdaniec were no longer wlodykas. “A part of our booty, we sold in Krakow and received forty silver grzywiens for it.”

  “You don’t say so! Why, one can buy an estate for that.”

  “Yes. There was one Milanese armor which my uncle, expecting to die, sold for a good price.”

  “I know! Well, it is worth while to go to Lithuania. I wanted to go there also; but I was afraid.”

  “Of what? Of the Knights of the Cross?”

  “Ej, who would be afraid of Germans? I was afraid of those heathenish gods or devils. It seems there are plenty of them in the woods.”

  “They do not have any other place for shelter, because their temples have been burned. Formerly they were well-to-do; but now they live on mushrooms and ants.”

  “Did you see them?”

  “No, I did not see any myself; but I heard of people who had seen them. Sometimes one of them sticks out a hairy paw from behind a tree and shakes it, begging for something.”

  “Macko told me the same,” answered Jagienka.

  “Yes! He told me about it on the road,” said Zych. “Well, no wonder! In our country also, although it has been a Christian country for a long time, one can hear laughter in the marshes; and although the priests scold about it in the churches, it is always good policy to put a dish filled with something to eat, for the little devils; otherwise they will scratch on the walls so much that one can hardly sleep. Jagienka, my dearest! put a dish at the threshold.”

  Jagienka took an earthen porringer full of noodles and cheese, and placed it at the threshold. Zych said:

  “The priests scold! But the Lord Jesus will not be angry about a dish of noodles; and a god, as soon as his hunger is satisfied, will protect one from fire and from thieves.”

  Then he turned to Zbyszko:

  “But will you not ungird yourself and sing a little?”

  “You had better sing, or perhaps Panna Jagienka will sing.”

  “We will sing by turns,” exclaimed Zych. “We have a servant who will accompany us on a wooden fife. Call the boy!”

  They called the servant who sat down on the bench and put the fife to his mouth, waiting to learn whom he was to accompany.

  None of them wanted to be first. Finally Zych told Jagienka to begin; therefore Jagienka, although bashful because Zbyszko was present, rose from the bench and having put her hands under her apron, began:

  “If I only could get The wings like a birdie, I would fly quickly To my dearest Jasiek.”

  Zbyszko opened his eyes wide; then he jumped up and shouted:

  “Where did you learn that song?”

  Jagienka looked at him astonished.

  “Everybody sings that. What is the matter with you?”

  Zych thinking that Zbyszko was a little intoxicated, turned his jovial face toward him and said:

  “Ungird! It will relieve you!”

  But Zbyszko stood for a while with astonishment on his face; then, having recovered from his emotion, said to Jagienka:

  “Excuse me, I suddenly remembered something. Sing further.”

  “Perhaps it makes you sad?”

  “Ej, not at all!” he answered, with a quivering voice. “I could listen to it the whole night.”

  Then he sat down, covered his face with his hand, and listened.

  Jagienka sang another couplet; but when she finished, she noticed a big tear rolling down Zbyszko’s fingers.

  Then she sat down beside him, and began to touch him with her elbow.

  “What is the matter with you? I do not want to make you cry. Tell me what is the matter with you?”

  “Nothing! Nothing!” answered Zbyszko, sighing. “I could tell you much. But it is over. I feel merry now.”

  “Perhaps you would like to have some sweet wine?”

  “Good girl!” exclaimed Zych. “Call him ‘Zbyszko,’ and you call her ‘Jagienka.’ You have known each other since you were children.”

  Then he turned toward his daughter:

  “Do not mind because he struck you when you were children. He will not do it now.”

  “I will not!” answered Zbyszko, mirthfully. “If she wishes, she may beat me now for it.”

  Then Jagienka, wishing to cheer him up, began to play that she was striking him with her little fist.

  “Give us some wine!” shouted the merry Pan of Zgorzelice.

  Jagienka sprang to the closet and brought out a jug of wine, two beautiful silver goblets, engraved by a silversmith of Wroclaw and a couple of cheese.

  Zych, being a little intoxicated, began to hug the jug and said to it as if he were talking to his daughter:

  “Oj, my dear girl! What shall I do, poor man, when they take you from Zgorzelice; what shall I do?”

 
; “And you must give her up soon!” said Zbyszko.

  Zych began to laugh.

  “Chy! Chy! The girl is only fifteen; but she is already fond of boys! When she sees one of them, she begins immediately to rub knee with knee!”

  “Tatusiu if you don’t stop, I will leave you,” said Jagienka.

  “Don’t go! It’s better with you here.” Then he continued to say to Zbyszko:

  “Two of them visit us. One of them is young Wilk, the son of old Wilk of Bizozowa; the other is Cztan of Rogow. If they meet you here, they will gnash their teeth, as they do at each other.”

  “Owa!” said Zbyszko. Then he turned to Jagienka and asked:

  “Which do you prefer?”

  “Neither of them.”

  “Wilk is a great boy,” said Zych.

  “Let him go in another direction!”

  “And Cztan?”

  Jagienka began to laugh:

  “Cztan,” said she, turning toward Zbyszko, “he has hair on his face like a goat; one can hardly see his eyes; and he has as much grease on him as a bear.”

  Zbyszko now touched his head with his hand as if he had just remembered something important, and said:

  “I must ask you for one thing more; have you any bear’s grease? I want to use it for medicine for my uncle; and I could not find any in Bogdaniec.”

  “We used to have some,” answered Jagienka; “but the boys have used some to grease their bows, and the dogs have eaten the rest.”

  “Is there none left?”

  “Not a bit!”

  “Well, then, I must find some in the forest.”

  “Have a hunting party for bears; there are plenty of them; and if you want some hunting implements, we will lend you some.”

  “I cannot wait. I will go some night to a barcie.”

  “Take a few men with you.”

  “No, I shall not do that, for they will frighten the beast.”

  “But you will take a crossbow!”

  “What can I do with a crossbow during the night? There is no moon now! I will take a fork and a strong axe, and I will go alone to-morrow.”

  Jagienka was silent for awhile; but great uneasiness was reflected on her face.

  “Last year,” said she, “the huntsman, Bezduch, was killed by a bear. It is dangerous, because as soon as the bear sees a man near the barcie, he immediately stands up on his hind feet.”

  “If he ran away, I could not get him,” answered Zbyszko.

  At that moment Zych who had been dozing, suddenly awakened and began to sing:

  “Thou Kuba, of toil I Maciek of pleasure, Go then in the morning with the yoke in the field, While I amuse myself with Kasia.”

  Then he said to Zbyszko:

  “You know? There are two of them, Wilk of Brzozowa and Cztan of Rogow; and you?”

  But Jagienka being afraid that Zych would say too much, swiftly approached Zbyszko, and began to inquire:

  “When are you going? To-morrow?”

  “To-morrow after sunset.”

  “And to which barcie?”

  “To ours in Bogdaniec, not far from your boundaries, near the marshes of Radzikow. They tell me it is very easy to get a bear there.”

  CHAPTER V.

  Zbyszko went for the bear as he proposed, because Macko became worse. At first when he reached Bogdaniec, he was sustained by joy and the first cares about the house; but on the third day, the fever returned, and the pain was so great that he was obliged to go to bed. Zbyszko went to the barcie during the day, and while there he perceived that there were the footprints of a bear in the mud. He spoke to the beehive keeper, Wawrek, who slept in a shed not far away, with his two faithful Podhalan dogs; but he intended to return to the village on account of the cold.

  They destroyed the shed, and Wawrek took the dogs with him. But first they smeared the trees here and there with honey, so that the smell of it would attract the animal. Zbyszko returned home and began to prepare for the expedition. He dressed himself in a warm reindeer jacket without sleeves; on the top of his head, he put a bonnet made of iron wire; finally he took a strong fork and a steel axe. Before sunset he had taken his position; and having made the sign of the cross, he sat down and waited.

  The red beams of the setting sun were still shining between the branches of the gigantic pines. In the tops of the trees, the crows were flying, croaking and beating the air with their wings; here and there the hares were leaping toward the water, making a noise on the dried leaves; some times a swift marten passed by. In the thickets, the chirping of the birds was at first heard — but gradually ceased.

  After sunset the noises of the forest began. Immediately a pack of boars passed near Zbyszko with a great bustle and snorting; then elks galloped in a long row, each holding his head on the tail of the one in front of him. The dried branches crackled under their feet and the forest resounded; but on they rushed toward the marshes where during the night, they were cool and safe. Finally the twilight was reflected on the sky, and the tops of the pine trees illuminated by it seemed to burn, as if on fire; then little by little everything began to be quieted. The forest was still. Dusk was rising from earth toward the gleaming twilight, which began finally to grow fainter, then gloomy, blacker and then was quenched.

  “Now, everything will be quiet, until the wolves begin to howl,” thought Zbyszko.

  He regretted that he had not taken his crossbow, because he could easily have killed a boar or an elk. In the meanwhile, from the marshes came muffled sounds similar to heavy panting and whistling. Zbyszko looked toward that marsh with some apprehension, because the peasant, Radzik, who used to live here in an earth-hut, disappeared with his whole family, as if devoured by the earth. Some people said they were seized by robbers; but there were others who saw some strange footprints, neither human nor of beasts, round the cabin. The people shook their heads very much about that, and they even spoke about bringing a priest from Krzesnia, to bless the hut. But they did not do it because nobody was willing to live in that hut, which from that time, had an evil reputation. It is true that the beehive keeper, Wawrek, did not pay any attention to these reports.

  Zbyszko being armed with the fork and axe, was not afraid of the wild beasts; but he thought with some uneasiness about the evil forces, and he was glad when that noise stopped.

  The last reverberation ceased, and there was complete silence. The wind stopped blowing and there was not even the usual whispering in the tops of the pine trees. From time to time, a pine cone fell, making quite a noise amidst the deep silence; but in general, everything was so quiet that Zbyszko heard his own respirations.

  Thus he sat quietly for a long time, thinking first about the bear, and then about Danusia. He recollected how he seized her in his arms when bidding the princess farewell, and how she cried; he remembered her fair head and bright face, her wreaths of bachelor buttons, her singing, her red shoes with long tips, and finally everything that happened from the moment he first saw her. Such a longing to see her, filled his heart, that he forgot that he was in the forest waiting for the bear; instead of that he began to talk to himself:

  “I will go to see you, because I cannot live without you.”

  He felt that he must go to Mazowsze; that if he remained in Bogdaniec, he would become good for nothing. He recollected Jurand and his strange opposition; then he thought that it was even more necessary he should go, and learn what that obstacle was, and if a challenge to combat could not remove it. Finally it seemed to him that Danusia stretched her bands toward him and cried:

  “Come, Zbyszku! Come!” How could he refuse?

  He was not sleeping, but he saw her as distinctly as in a dream. There she was, riding beside the princess, thrumming on her little lute, humming and thinking of him. Thinking that she would soon see him, and perhaps looking back.

  Hero Zbyszko aroused himself and listened, because he heard a rustling behind him. Then he grasped the fork in his hand more tightly, stretched his neck and listened again. />
  The rustling approached and then it became very distinct. Under some careful foot, the dried branches were crackling, the fallen leaves were rustling. Something was coming.

  From time to time the rustling ceased, as if the beast halted beneath the trees; then there was such quietude that Zbyszko’s ears began to ring; then again slow, careful steps were heard. That approach was so cautious that Zbyszko was surprised.

  “I am sure ‘the old’ must be afraid of the dogs which were here in the shed,” said he to himself; “but it may be a wolf that has scented me.”

  Now the footsteps were no longer heard. Zbyszko, however, was sure that something had stopped twenty or thirty feet behind him.

  He turned around once or twice; but although he could see the trunks of the trees quite well, he could not perceive anything else. He was obliged to wait.

  He waited so long, that he was surprised a second time.

  “A bear would not come here to stop under the barcie; and a wolf would not wait until morning.”

  Suddenly a shiver ran through his body as he thought:

  “Suppose it is something dreadful that comes from the marshes and is trying to surprise me from the rear! Suppose the slippery arms of a drowned man seize me, or the green eyes of a ghost look into my face; suppose a blue head on spider’s legs comes out from behind the tree and begins to laugh!”

  He felt his hair begin to rise under his iron bonnet.

  But after a while, a rustling sounded in front of him, more distinct this time than formerly. Zbyszko breathed more freely; he thought that the same “wonder” had gone around him, and now approached from the front; but he preferred that. He seized his fork firmly, arose quietly and waited.

  Now he noticed over his head the rustling of the pine trees, and he felt the wind blow in his face, coming from the marsh, and he smelt the bear.

  There was not the slightest doubt that a mys was coming!

  Zbyszko was afraid no longer, and having bent his head, he strained to the utmost his hearing and his sight. Heavy, distinct steps were coming; the smell grew stronger; soon the snore and groaning were heard.

  “I hope there are not two of them!” thought Zbyszko.