by Felix Dahn
CHAPTER IV.
As he finished speaking, and was bending to examine the snake, the girlsuddenly placed the wreath which she had made upon his curly auburnhair.
"Hail, hero and helper! Look! the victor's wreath was ready for thee.Ah! how well the blue flowers become thee!" And she clapped her handsjoyfully.
"Thy foot is bleeding!" said Adalgoth anxiously; "let me suck thewound. If the poisonous snake has bitten thee!"
"It was only a sharp stone. Thou wouldst better like to die thyself?"
"For thee, Gotho, how gladly! But the poison is harmless in the mouth.Now let me wash thy wound. I have still some vinegar and water left inmy gourd. And then I will put sage-leaves upon it, and healing endive."
Thus saying, he gently made her sit down upon a stone, lifted her nakedfoot and dropped the mixture out of the gourd upon it. This done, hesprang up, looked about in the grass, and presently returned with somesoothing herbs, which he tied carefully over the wound with the leatherstrap which he loosened from his own foot.
"How kind thou art, dear boy!" said the girl, stroking his hair.
"Now let me carry thee--only up the hill?" he begged; "I should so liketo hold thee in my arms!"
"Indeed thou shalt not!" she laughed, as she sprang up; "I am nowounded lamb! See how I can run. But where are thy goats?"
"There they come out from the juniper-trees. I will call them."
And putting his shepherd's-pipe to his mouth, he blew a shrill note,swinging his stick round his head.
The sturdy goats came leaping towards him--fearing punishment.
And now, laying his arm tenderly about the girl's neck, and strewing astripe of salt from his pocket upon the earth, which the goats,following, eagerly licked up, Adalgoth went up the slope.
"But tell me, dearest," said Gotho, when they had arrived at the top ofthe hill, and she was gathering her lambs together, "why thy cry wasagain 'Alaric! Alaric!' just as when thou madest the eagle leave mylittle White Elf, which it had already seized in its talons?"
"That is my battle-cry."
"Who taught it thee?"
"Grandfather; the first time he took me with him to hunt wolves. Thetime when I got this skin from Master Isegrim's ribs. As I sprang atthe wolf, which could not escape and turned to attack me, crying'Iffa,' just as I had always heard grandfather cry, he said, 'Thou mustnot cry "Iffa," Adalgoth. When thou attackest a hero or a monster, cry"Alaric!" it will bring thee luck.'"
"But none of our ancestors are so named, brother. We know all theirnames."
They had now reached the stalls, into which they drove the animals, andthen seated themselves before an open window upon a wooden bench, whichran round the front of the house on each side of the door.
"There are," counted Gotho, "first Iffamer, our father; and UncleWargs, who was buried by the mountain; then Iffa, our grandfather;Iffamuth, our other uncle; Iffaswinth, his son; and Iffarich, ourgreat-grandfather; and Iffa again--but no Alaric."
"And yet I feel as if I had often heard that name at the time when Iused first to run about the mountain; when the great landslip killedUncle Wargs. And I like the name. Grandfather has told me about ahero-king who was called so; who was first of all the heroes to conquerthe fortress of Roma--thou knowest, it is the city from which fatherand Uncle Iffamuth and Cousin Iffaswinth never returned. And that herodied young, like Siegfried, the dragon-killer, and Balthar, the heathengod. And his grave is in a deep river. There he lies on his goldenshield, under his treasures, and tall reeds bend and wave above him.And now another king has arisen, who is called Totila, as the warriorswho relieved the garrison over there in the Castle of Teriolis told me.They say he is just like that Alaric, and like Siegfried and theSun-god. And grandfather says that I also shall become a warrior and godown to King Totila and rush into the fray with the cry of 'Alaric!Alaric!' Long ago I got tired of climbing about and keeping goats hereon the mountains, where there is nothing to fight but wolves, or atmost a bear which eats up the grapes and honey-combs. You all praise myharp-playing and my songs, but I feel that they are not worth it, andthat I cannot learn much more from the old man. I should like to singbetter things. I am never tired of listening to the soldiers' storiesabout the victories of glorious King Totila. Lately I gave the bestchamois I ever shot to old Hunibad--whom the King sent up here to nursehis wounds--so that he might tell me, for the third time, all about thebattle at the bridge across the Padus, and how King Totila himselfoverthrew that black devil, the dreadful Cethegus. And I have made asong about it, which begins:
"Tremble, thou traitor, Cunning Cethegus; Tricks will not serve thee; Teja the terrible Daunts thy defiance. And brightly arises, Like morning and May-time, Like night from the darkness, The favourite of Heaven, The bright and the beautiful King of the Goths.
"But it goes no further; and I can make no more poetry alone. I need amaster for the words and the harp. I should like to finish a song thatI have began about the spear-hurler Teja, whom they call the 'BlackEarl,' and who is said to play the harp wonderfully. And long ago--butthis I tell to thee alone--I should have run away without askinggrandfather, who always says I am too young yet, if _one_ thing did notkeep me back."
He sprang hastily up.
"What is that, brother?" asked Gotho, who sat quite still and lookedfull at him with her large blue eyes.
"Nay, if thou dost not guess it," he answered almost angrily, "I cannottell thee. But now I must go and forge some new arrow-points in thesmithy. First give me one more kiss--there! And now let me kiss each ofthine eyes, and thy fair hair. Good-bye, dear sister, untilsupper-time."
He left her and ran to a side building, before the door of which stooda grind-stone and various implements.
Gotho rested her cheek upon her hand, and looked thoughtful. Then shesaid aloud:
"I cannot guess it; for of course he would take me with him. We couldnot live apart."
She rose with a slight sigh, and went to a field near the house, tolook after the linen which was lying there bleaching.
But now old Iffa rose from his seat behind the open window, where hehad heard all that had passed.
"This will not do," he cried, rubbing his head hard. "I never yet hadthe heart to separate the children--for they were but children! Ialways waited and waited; and now I think I have put it off a littletoo long. Away with thee, young Adalgoth!"
He left the dwelling-house, and walked slowly to the smithy. He foundthe boy working busily. With puffed-out cheeks, he blew into the fireon the hearth, and held the already roughly-prepared arrow-points init, in order to make them red-hot and fit for the hammer. Then he tookthem out with a pair of pincers, laid them on an anvil, and hammeredout neat points and hooks. Without pausing in his work, he noddedsilently to his grandfather, striking sturdily upon the anvil till thesparks flew.
"Well," thought the old man, "just now, at least, he thinks of nothingbut arrows and iron."
But suddenly the young smith finished his work with a tremendousstroke, threw away the hammer, passed his hand across his hot forehead,and asked, turning sharply to the old man:
"Grandfather, where do men come from?"
"Jesus, Woden, and Maria!" exclaimed the old man, starting back. "Boy,how comest thou to such thoughts?"
"The thoughts come to me, not I to them. I mean the first men--the veryfirst. That tall Hermegisel over there in Teriolis, who ran away fromthe Arian church at Verona, and can read and write, says that theChristian God made a man in a garden out of clay, and, while he slept,took one of his ribs and made a woman. That is ridiculous; for out ofthe longest rib that ever was, one could not make ever so small agirl."
"Well, I don't believe it either," the old man thoughtfully confessed."It is difficult to imagine. And I remember that my father once said,as he was sitting by the hearth, that the first men grew upontrees. But old Hildebrand, who was his f
riend, although he was mucholder--and who stopped here on his way back from an expedition againstthe savage Bajuvars, and who was sitting near father, for it was earlyin the year, and very rough and cold--_he_ said that it was all rightabout the trees; only that men did not grow on them, but that twoheathen gods--Hermegisel called them demons--once found an ash and analder lying on the sea-shore, and from them they framed a man and awoman. They still sing an old song about it. Hildebrand knew a fewwords of it, but my father could not remember it."
"I would rather believe that. But, at all events, there were very fewpeople at the beginning?"
"To be sure."
"And at first there was only _one_ family?"
"Certainly."
"And the old ones generally died before the young ones?"
"Of course."
"Then I tell thee what, grandfather. Either the race of men must havedied out, or, as it still exists--and thou seest that is what I amcoming to--brothers and sisters must often have married each other,until more families were formed."
"Adalgoth, the fairies are riding thee! Thou speakest nonsense!"
"Not at all. And, in short, if it could happen before, it can happennow; and I will have my sister Gotho for my wife."
The old man ran to stop the boy's mouth by force; but the lad evadedhim and said:
"I know all that thou wouldst say. The priests from Tridentum wouldsoon get to know of it here, and tell the King's Earl. But I can gowith her to some distant land, where no one knows us. And she will gowith me, I know."
"Indeed! Thou knowest that already?"
"Yes; I am sure."
"But this thou dost not know, Adalgoth," the old man now said, gravelyand decidedly: "that to-night is the last which thou wilt spend uponthe 'Iffinger.' Up, Adalgoth! I command thee--I, thy grandfather andguardian! Thou hast a sacred duty to perform--the duty of revenge! Thouwilt fulfil it at the court, and with the army of Totila. A dutybequeathed to thee by thine uncle Wargs--bequeathed to thee bythine ancestor. Thou art now old and strong enough to undertake it.To-morrow, at dawn of day, thou wilt start for the south--for Italia,where King Totila punishes evil-doers, helps the good cause, and fightsagainst that wretch, Cethegus. Follow me to my chamber. I have to handover to thee a jewel, which was left for thee by thine uncle Wargs, andto give thee many a word of counsel. But do not speak about it toGotho; do not make her heart heavy. If thou obeyest thine uncle'sorders and my counsel, thou wilt become a mighty and joyous hero inKing Totila's court. And then, but only then, thou shalt again seeGotho!"
Very grave and pale, the youth followed his grandfather into the house.There, in the old man's chamber, they talked in low voices for a longtime.
At supper, Adalgoth was missing.
He sent word to Gotho by their grandfather that he had gone to bed,being more tired than hungry.
But at night, when Gotho slept, he went into her room on tiptoe. Themoon threw a soft light upon her angel face.
Adalgoth stopped upon the threshold, and only stretched out his righthand towards her.
"I shall see thee again, my Gotho," he cried, and signed a farewell.
Presently he crossed the threshold of the simple alpine cottage.
The stars had scarcely begun to pale; fresh and exhilarating thenight-wind blew from the mountains around his temples.
He looked up at the silent sky.
All at once a falling star shot in a bright semicircle over his head.It fell towards the south.
The youth raised his shepherd's staff, and cried:
"The stars beckon thither! Now beware, Cethegus the traitor!"