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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/9483.txt b/9483.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5a9ff10 --- /dev/null +++ b/9483.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2185 @@ +Project Gutenberg's The Story and Song of Black Roderick, by Dora Sigerson + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Story and Song of Black Roderick + +Author: Dora Sigerson + +Posting Date: October 14, 2012 [EBook #9483] +Release Date: December, 2005 +First Posted: October 5, 2003 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORY AND SONG OF BLACK RODERICK *** + + + + +Produced by Clare Boothby and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + + + + + + + THE + STORY AND SONG OF + BLACK RODERICK + + + By + Dora Sigerson + + + + 1906 + + + + +This is the story of Black Earl Roderick, the story and the song of his +pride and of his humbling; of the bitterness of his heart, and of the love +that came to it at last; of his threatened destruction, and the strange +and wonderful way of his salvation. + +So shall I begin and tell. + +He left his gray castle at the dawn of the morning, and with many a knight +to bear him company rode, not eager and swift, like a prince who went to +find a treasure, but steady and slow, as we should go to meet sorrow. Not +one of the hundred men who followed dared to lilt a lay or fling a +laughing jest from his mouth. All rode silent among their gay trappings, +for so saith a song: + + _It was the Black Earl Roderick + Who rode towards the south; + The frown was heavy on his brow, + The sneer upon his mouth._ + + _Behind him rode a hundred men + All gay with plume and spear; + But not a one did lilt a song + His weary way to cheer._ + + _So stern was Black Earl Roderick + Upon his wedding-day, + To none he spake a single word + Who met him on his way._ + +And of those that passed him as he went there were none who dared to bid +him God-speed, and only one whispered at all; she was Mora of the +Knowledge, who was picking herbs in a lonely place and saw him ride. + +"There goeth the hunter," said she; "'tis a white doe that thou wouldst +kill. High hanging to thee, my lord, upon a windy day!" + +And of all the flying things he met in his going, one only dared to put +pain upon him, and she was a honeybee who stabbed his cheek with her +sword. + +"Would I could slay thee," she cried, "ere thou rob the hive of its +honey!" + +And of all the creeping things that passed him on his way, only one tried +to stay him; she was the bramble who cast her thorn across his path so his +steed wellnigh stumbled. + +"Would I could make thee fall, Black Earl, who now art so high, ere thou +rob fruit from the branch!" + +Only one living thing upon the mountains saw him go without mourning, and +he was the red weasel who took the world as he found it. + +"Tears will not heal a wound," saith he, "but they will quench a fire. Thy +hive is in danger, bee," quoth he. "Bramble, thy flowers are scattered and +thy fruit lost." + +But the Black Earl did not heed or hear anything outside his own thoughts. +They were sharper than the bee's sword and less easy to cast aside than +the entrapping bramble. + +When he reached the castle wherein his bride did dwell, he blew three +blasts upon the horn that hung beside the gate, and in answer to his call +a voice cried out to him. But what it said I shall sing thee, lest thou +grow weary of my prose: + + _"Come in, come in, Earl Roderick, + Come in or you be late; + The priest is ready in his stole. + The wedding guests await."_ + + _And then the stern Earl Roderick + From his fierce steed came down; + The sneer still curled upon his lip, + His eyes still held the frown._ + + _He strode right haughtily and quick + Into the banquet-hall, + And stood among the wedding guests, + The greatest of them all._ + + _He gave scant greeting to the throng, + He waved the guests aside: + "Now haste! for I, Earl Roderick, + Will wait long for no bride!_ + + _"And I must in the saddle be + Before the night is gray; + So quickly with the marriage lines, + And let us ride away."_ + +And now shall I tell thee how, as he spoke thus proud and heartlessly, his +little bride came into the hall? So white was she, and so trembled she, +that many wondered she did not sink upon the marble floor and die. + +Her mother held her snow-white hand, weeping bitterly the while. + +"If I had my will," thought she, "this thing should never be. Oh, sharp +sorrow," sobbed she, "this for a woman: my trouble thou art, and my +thousand treasures." + +Her father, seeing the frowning Earl, muttered in his beard: + +"Would there were some other way. Stern is he and hard, to wear a young +maid's heart." And then aloud he spoke, laying his hands upon the yellow +curls of his child: "This is the golden link that binds the clans. God's +sweet love be upon her head, for she hath healed a cruel and evil quarrel +between the two houses. Lift up your voices, my comrades, and make ye +merry; it is a good deed you have helped in to-day." + +Now, when the guests turned with their laughter and gentle jesting to the +newly married pair, the Black Earl relented not his frown. With scant +courtesy and brief good-bye he mounted upon his fretting steed, vowing he +could no longer stay. Up before him they lifted the young bride. + +"'Tis a rough place to carry the child," wept the sad mother. + +But her father smiled upon the Black Earl. + +"Where but upon his heart should she rest? Is that not so, my son?" + +"If it be not cold," muttered the sullen bridegroom, drawing his rein. + +"Wrap thy cloak about her," cried the father, waving farewell. + +"Wrap thy love about her," wept the mother, hiding her face. + +So rode the Black Earl and his bride, followed by his sullen men-at-arms, +gay with their wedding favors. + +To his weary little bride he spoke no gentle word, though she fluttered +weeping upon his breast like to some wounded thing. + +For in his heart the gloomy Earl spake bitterly, and said he: + +"Not upon thy hand did I hope to place my golden ring; I have put my own +true love aside, to keep the clans together, and wedding thee thus have I +been false to the desires of my heart, so do I turn from thee who art my +bride." + +Thus did he take her to his castle in silence, and, lifting her from his +steed, bid her enter the strong gates before him. + +So shut they with a clang upon her youth and her merry heart, and she +became the neglected mistress of the gray towers she had looked on from +afar, and bride of the great Earl she had dreamed of so long. + +But to the Black Roderick she was as nothing; he sought her not, neither +did he speak of her; she was but the cruel small hand that closed upon his +heart and drew it from its love, claiming him in honor her own. And to her +claim was he faithful, turning even his thoughts away, lest he should be +false to his vow. But no more than this did he give her. + +So was she left alone, the young bride who did not understand a man's +ways, and, fearing where she loved, hid from his presence lest he should +look upon her in hate. Oft had she dreamed of the wonder of being the wife +of this proud Earl, in trembling desire and hope, hearing her parents +speak of him and of the troth. Oft had she listened to their murmured +words, as they spoke of the clans and the peace these two could bring. + +"Stern he is, and black for the young child," said her mother, "and I am +afraid"; but the child stole away to the hill behind her father's castle, +and there looked into the valley of Baile-ata-Cliat to watch the white +towers of the Black Earl glistening in the sun, to dream and to tremble. + +And as she gazed a honey-bee hummed in her ear, "Go not to the great +city." + +And as she smiled she raised her hand between her eyes and the far-off +towers so she could not see. + +"Nay," quoth she, "it is a small place; my hand can cover it." + +"Ring a chime," saith she to the heather shaking its bells in the wind, +"ring for me a wedding chime, for I am to be the bride of the Earl +Roderick." + +She kissed the wild bramble lifting its petals in the sun. + +"I shall return to thee soon." + +And so, springing to her feet, she ran laughing down the hill, and as she +ran the spirit of the hills was with her, blowing in her eyes and lifting +her soft hair. + +"I shall return to thee soon," she said again, and so entered her father's +house and prepared herself for her betrothed. + +What of her dream was there now? She was indeed the Earl's bride, but, +alack! she was divorced from his heart and was naught to his days. + +Never did she sit by his knee when he drew his chair by the fire, weary +from the chase, nor lean beside him while he slept, to wonder at her +happiness. Down the great halls she went, looking through the narrow +windows on the outside world, as a brown moth flutters at the pane, weary +of an imprisonment that had in its hold the breath of death. + +Weary and pale grew she, and more morose and stern the Black Earl, and of +their tragedy there seemed no end. But when a year had nigh passed, one +rosy morning a servant-lass met Black Roderick as he came from his +chamber, her eyes heavy with tears. + +And of what she said I shall sing, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _"Alas!" she said, "Earl Roderick, + 'Tis well that you should know + That each gray eve, lone wandering, + My mistress dear doth go._ + + _"She comes with sorrow in her eyes + Home in the dawning light; + My lord, she is so weak and young + To travel in the night."_ + + _Now stern grew Black Earl Roderick, + But answered not at all; + He took his hunting harness down + That hung upon the wall._ + + + _Then quickly went he to the chase, + And slowly came he back, + And there he met his old sweetheart, + Who stood across his track._ + +So shall I tell how she, sighing and white of face, laid her soft hand +upon his bridle-rein so he could not go from her. Her breath came out of +her like the hissing of a trodden snake, poisoning the ear of the +horseman. + +"Bend to me thy proud head, Black Earl," quoth she, "for it shall be low +enough soon. This is a tale I bring to thee of sorrow and shame. Bend me +thy proud neck, Black Roderick, for the burden I must lay upon it shall +bow thee as the snow does the mountain pine. Bend to me thine ear." + +To him then she said: + +"Where goeth your mistress?" + +"What care I?" said the Black Earl, "since she be not thou." + +"If she were I," said his lost love, "she would seek no other save thee +alone." + +"What sayest thou?" said the Black Earl, pale as death. + +"Each night she goeth through the woods of Glenasmole to the hill of brown +Kippure, and there lingereth until the dawn be chill." + +"Who hath her love?" saith the Black Earl. + +"A shepherd, or mayhap a swineherd--who knoweth?" quoth the serpent voice. +"By no brave prince art thou supplanted." + +At this the Black Earl struck his hand upon his breast. + +"Lord pity me," quoth he, "that in my time should come the stain upon our +honored house! My name, that was so white, shall now blush red. My proud +ancestors will curse me from their tomb. Let thou go my rein, that I may +seek this wanton and give her ready punishment." + +So quick he drew the rein from her hand that she wellnigh stumbled. And +like one bereft of mind he rode through the woods and up the hill seeking +his false bride. High and low he searched, but no sign of his lost +mistress did he discover. Out in the distance he saw the shining city of +Baile-ata-Cliat, on the near wood side of which his gray towers stood. He +could see the flag on its topmost turret waving in the breeze like a +beckoning finger calling him back from his futile search. He turned him +about, and on every side of him were the shadowy mountains watching him +and appalling him with their mystery. Impatient he turned his eyes upon +the ground; a bramble moving in the wind cast itself about his feet. He +crushed it under his heel. A bee darting from one of the trodden flowers +made a battle-cry, and bared her sting for his neck. He struck it down +among the leaves; following its fall, his eyes, drawn by some other eyes, +rested on a hollow by a stone. There he saw gazing at him the whiskered +face of a red weasel, looking without pity, without fear. + +"Evil beast!" said the Black Earl, glad to speak, for the silence of all +the listening things who watched him made his heart beat with unwonted +quickness, and he knew they were so many silent judges reading the evil of +his soul. "Get thee gone," quoth the Black Earl. "Darest thou gaze upon me +without fear?" + +But the red weasel, resting at the doorway of his hole, did not blink a +lid of his sharp eyes. + +"Who art thou that evil should droop ashamed before thee?" said a voice, +and the Black Earl turned as though a stone had struck him. + +Now, when he looked east and west, no one could he see, but when he turned +him south, there among the trees he saw an old, bent woman gathering +herbs. He turned his horse and, full of rage, drove it towards her. + +"Was it not thy voice that hurt my ears as I stood upon the hill?" quoth +the Black Earl, his tongue silken in his rage. + +"Nay," said the ancient crone; "I heard but the linnet's song upon the +tree, and the sound of running water that is murmuring in the grove. +Listen, and thou, too, shalt hear." + +"Nay," quoth she again, for the Black Earl scowled so at her that she +feared to be silent. "If I said this thing, why should it vex the ear of +so proud a knight? Yonder black rook did look into my face with an +inquisitive eye as I plucked my herbs and harmed no man, so I, angry at +the wicked one, cursed him begone. As he flew affrighted at my hand, I +turned my eyes into my own heart. The birds and I, do we not both root in +the cold earth, seeking to draw from it our desires? Black and ill-looking, +we dig all day. 'Who art thou,' quoth I to myself, 'that evil should fly +before thee?' Wicked that I am," cried the witch, "and sorrow upon me that +my words have vexed thine ears!" + +Now the Black Earl did look upon her in anger, and but half believed her +tale. His trouble being heavy upon him, he bade her leave her lamenting +and answer his question. + +"There is one," quoth he, "who doth wander upon the hill-side, far from +her home, a lady of high degree; sawest thou any such," saith he, "for I +have sought her long?" + +Now will I sing thee what was said and what happened, lest thou grow weary +of my prose: + + _"I have not seen your lady here," + The withered dame replied; + "But I have met a little lass + Who wrung her hands and cried._ + + _"She was not clad in silken robe, + Nor rode a palfrey white, + She had no maidens in her train, + Behind her rode no knight._ + + _"But she crept weary up yon hill + And crouched upon the sward; + I dare not think that she could be + Spouse to so great a lord."_ + + _Now darkly frowned Earl Roderick, + He turned his face away; + And shame and anger in his heart + Disturbed him with their sway._ + + _For he had never cared to know + What his young bride would wear; + He gave her neither horse nor hound, + Nor jewels for her hair._ + +Now shall I tell how the Black Earl clapped his hand upon his dagger, and +said in a great rage: "Where went this little lass, and whom hath she by +her side? for whoever he be, I shall show to him no pity. Neither shall +her tears save her. Nor shall thy age serve thee, witch, if thou hast +spoken not the truth. Whither went they, so I may follow, as the hound +goes on the trail of the deer?" + +"Oh, sharp sorrow thy anger is!" cried the old crone; "what can I say, +save what my eye hath seen and my ear hath heard? The little lass passed +me as I gathered my herbs under the dew. She hath by her side no lord nor +lover. She went sad and alone. Here climbed she the height of the hill, +and there sat she making her lament." + +"And what lament made she?" said the Black Earl, putting his dagger into +its sheath. + +"Once called she on her father, as one who drowns in deep waters would +call upon a passing ship. Twice called she upon her mother, as one would +call upon a house of rest or of hospitality. Thrice called she upon Earl +Roderick, as one would call at the gates of paradise, there to find rescue +and love." + +"And said she naught else?" said the Black Earl, his head upon his breast. + +"Yea," quoth the crone, "when she called upon her father, she smiled +through her tears. 'Didst thou know I perish,' quoth she, 'thy arms would +reach to save me!' + +"And when she called twice upon her mother, her mouth smiled even the +same, 'for didst thou learn my hunger, thy heart would warm me to life +again'; but when she called three times upon Earl Roderick, she paused as +though for an answer, and smiled no more. 'Thee,' quoth she, 'I perish +for, I hunger for. Thou lovest me not at all.' + +"So did she sit and make her moan upon the hill, and here watched she the +lights in the far windows of her lost home quench themselves one by one. +'Now,' quoth she, 'my mother sleepeth, and now my father. And now by all +am I forgotten.' Then did she steal, in the dim light, down from the hill, +and I saw her no more." + +"What didst thou tell to her, old witch?" quoth the Black Earl, "as she +passed weeping? Didst thou speak to her no word?" + +"I stopped her as she passed me, proud Earl," quoth the crone, "for she +was gentle, and held her head not too high to look upon one old and near +unto death. + +"'Weep not,' said I, 'but spread to me thy fingers, so I may read what +fate thou holdest in thy palm.' And like a child she smiled between her +tears. + +"'Look only on luck,' quoth she, 'oh, ancient one, lest my heart break +even now.' I spread her pink fingertips out as one would unruffle a rose, +and read therein her fate." + +"And what read you there?" said the Black Earl, impatient with her delay. + +"I read," quoth the crone, "and if I say, thou must keep thy anger from +me, for what I read I had not written: + + _"I traced upon her slender palm + That luck was changing soon; + I swore that peace would come to her + Before another moon._ + + _"I said that he who loved her well + Would robe her all in silk, + And bear her in a coach of gold, + With palfreys white as milk._ + + _"I told, before three suns had set + He'd kneel down by her side; + That he she loved would love her well, + And she would be his bride._ + +"'This before three suns have set,' so read I," quoth the crone. + +Now, when the Black Earl heard so much, he would hear no more. Pallid grew +his angry cheek, and his eyes were full of fire; he flung himself upon his +horse, and, sparing not the beast, galloped home. + +"In the highest tower shall I lock the jade," quoth he, "lest she bring me +shame; for what her palm had writ upon it one must believe, and who dare +love her, save I who will not? And should I die, wherefore should she not +be another's? And should I not die--but this no man dare, for I shall tear +his tongue from his mouth, his ear from his cheek, his heart from his +body, ere he speak or listen to a word to my dishonor." + +Now, when he reached his castle, no man ventured to speak to him, or look +upon him with too inquisitive an eye, for his anger was such that one +trembled to approach him. + +And at the gate of his castle sat his old love upon her palfrey, with a +stern face and grim; behind her, resting upon their way, came her +followers, knight and lady, gay with banner and spear, whispering in their +telling of the story. + +"A curse upon the wandering feet that have brought disgrace upon thy +house," quoth his old love, her hand so tight upon the rein that the two +pages could hardly keep the horse from rearing. + +But the proud Earl to her made no answer, neither to bid her welcome, nor +to bid her go, nor to speak of his fears. Into his breast he locked his +grief so that none might know the strain wellnigh broke the stony casket +of his heart. + +When he leaped from his horse there came to him his little brother. + +"My grief!" said the boy, "what has happened in the night, for I heard the +banshee sobbing so bitterly through the dark?" + +No answer made the Black Earl to the boy, neither did he lift him in his +arms nor chide him for his weeping, but passed silent into his own +chamber, and crouched within his chair. When after a time he raised his +eyes, he seemed to see his young bride gazing upon him from the open door. +And in his anger he sprang to seize her, but only the empty air came to +his hands. + +He mounted the marble stairs to her chamber to seek her there, but only +found a sewing-maid, pale and deadly faint. + +"Oh, sharp sorrow," quoth she, "from what I have seen this night, Mary +protect me! A white ghost have I seen--evil it may bring to me--a white +ghost with dim eyes of the dead!" + +"Whither went she?" said the Black Earl, angry in his need. + +"Into thy chamber, great Earl!" cried the maid; "I saw her at thy bed-head +weeping piteously." + +"It was thy lady," quoth the Earl; "lead me her way, and stop thy +lamentation." + +"My grief!" the girl said, "her way I know not; when I, deeming her my +mistress, reached her side, she was no more. It is an evil day that cometh +upon us." + +Now, when the proud Roderick saw the girl so full of fear, he chid her +cruelly and bade her go. Yet when she had left him he felt a strange and +unwonted coldness settle upon his heart. + +The anger against his young bride was quenched, and a dewlike fear grew +upon him. But of what befell him I shall now sing to thee, lest thou grow +weary of my prose: + + _All silent Black Earl Roderick + Went to his room away, + Full angry, with his throbbing heart + And fitful fancy's play._ + + _He sat him by the bright hearth-side, + And turned towards the door; + And there upon the threshold stood + His lady, weeping sore._ + + _He chased her down the winding stair, + And out into the night, + But only found a withered crone, + With long hair, loose and white._ + + _"Come hither now, you sly-faced witch; + Come hither now to me. + Say if a lady all so pale + Your evil eyes did see?"_ + + _"Oh, true, I saw a little lass, + She went all white as snow; + She crossed my hands with silver crown + Just two short hours ago."_ + + _"What did you tell the foolish wench, + Who must my lady be? + The false tale you did tell to her + You now must tell to me."_ + + _"I hate you, Black Earl Roderick, + You're cruel, hard, and cold; + Yet you shall grieve like a young child + Before the moon is cold._ + + _"This did I tell her, like a queen + She'd ride into the town; + And every man who met her there + Would on his knees go down._ + + _"I said that he who followed none + Would walk behind her now, + And in his trembling hand the helm + From his uncovered brow._ + + _"Then he should walk, while she would ride, + Through all the town away; + And greater than Earl Roderick + She would become that day."_ + +And now shall I tell how laughed the Black Earl aloud and scornful at the +witch's tale. + +"No lady in the land," quoth he, "could so enslave me, and no woman yet +was born who hath my honor and glory." + +So spoke Earl Roderick, and by these words shalt thou hold him, heart-whole +and vain withal, for the hour of his sorrow had not yet struck. + +Now turned he to the dame, and, chiding her, bade her begone. + +"Thy tale," saith he, "is full of weariness. It hath neither wisdom nor +truth." + +Turning from her in anger, home went he, and flung himself before the +dying fire in his chamber, a frown between his brows. And again a cold +fear turned closely about his heart. Raising his eyes, he saw no more +terrible a thing than his young bride, with a face of grievous pain, +looking upon him from the door. Then he spoke her gently. + +"Come," quoth he, "sad-faced one, why dost thou torment me? One question +only shall I ask thee, and this must thou answer. Whom hast thou met upon +the hill? For the witch woman hath told me a wearisome tale, which I shall +not lend my ear to." + +Now, when he spoke, his young bride neither answered nor came, but gazed +from the threshold upon him in silence. So he got up in anger and went her +way. Through the chamber strode he, and she was yet before him, and +without sound went she down the hall and stair. So out through the open +door, and the men-at-arms let her pass, though the Black Earl bid them +stay her feet, and gazed bewildered, seeing only their stern master +running alone, with fierce eyes, such as a hound doth cast upon a young +hare. Quick as the Black Earl ran, the little bride was before. + +Through sleepy woods and honey-perfumed plains, all through the night did +he chase her, but never once did he reach her, nor ever once did she pause +to rest. + +When the morning sun was high, she led him up to the lights of Brown +Kippure, and there vanished from his sight. + +Now, when the Black Earl perceived this wondrous thing, he felt his heart +sink with utter weariness, and without more seeking fell upon the moss. +Had his eyes been not so hot with anger, slow tears of sorrow would have +forced their way upon his cheeks, for now that he had her not his desire +was strong upon him to behold his bride. + +As he lay upon the heather, he heard the shrill voice of his little +brother clamoring by his side. + +"Be still," quoth he, "for thou hast frightened away a fair dream that I +fain would follow." + +"But I would tell thee," said the little brother, "of a strange thing, and +one to set thee full of laughter." + +"Nay," quoth the Black Earl, "of that I have no desire, lest thou place +upon my head a cap and bells, and call me fool Roderick." + +"And wherefore," said the little brother, "shouldst thou laugh at fool +Roderick?" + +"Because," quoth the Black Earl, "he hath found a strange jewel when he +hath lost it." + +"Thy words I do not understand," saith the little brother. "What was the +strange jewel that he hath and yet hath not?" + +"Love," quoth the Black Earl. + +"That neither do I understand," saith the little brother, "but now thou +must listen to my story." + +And of what he saith shall I sing, for his voice was sweeter than prose: + + _"Oh, brother, brother, come up to the lake waters gray, + Come up to the shore where I play; + For, oh! I saw on the bank asleep + A fair white nymph, and the slow waves creep, + To bear her away, away._ + + _"Oh, brother, brother, I watched her through the day, + Saw her hair grow jewelled with spray. + Once her cheek was brushed by a robin's wing, + And a finch flew down on her hand to sing, + And was not afraid to stay._ + + _"Oh, brother, brother, will she soon awaken be? + I would that she laugh with me. + She sleeps, and the world so full of sound; + She's deaf, like the deaths that are under the ground, + That I laugh and laugh to see."_ + +Now shall I tell how the Black Earl heeded not the story of the little +brother, nor the tragedy that lay therein, for his ear was busy with +another sound. + +"Hush," said the Black Earl, "for hearest thou not a voice in trouble?" + +"Nay," cried the little brother; "I hear naught save the laughing stream +that comes from the lake where my water-nymph lieth." + +"Hush!" said the Black Earl again, "for hearest thou not the voice of my +mistress making a lamentation?" + +"Nay," saith the little brother; "I hear naught save the moving of the +reeds in the pushing waters, and thou wilt not listen to my story." + +Now went the little brother away in his anger, and found himself a play +among the heather. + +But the Black Earl bent above the stream and gazed long into its shallow +turbulence with wonder and fear, for the words the stream said to him in +its whisperings were as though spoken in the voice of his young bride. + +He laid his hand in the flowing waters. + +"Why art thou troubled, little stream?" quoth he. + +But the little stream stayed not its whispering. + +"Sainted Mother, oh, pray for me!" it murmured, in piteous prayer, "and +leave sweet mercy upon my soul." + +Now, when the Black Earl heard the voice of his lady coming from the +waters in such sorrow, he rose with a cry, and, his heart being full of +fear, he knew at last the greatness of his love. + +"Where art thou, then?" he cried, in his woe. "Whither shall I seek thee?" + +But the little stream passing his feet murmured its prayer in going; no +other sound did he hear save the far-away laughter of his little brother. + +"Oh, Mary, Mother, pray my soul to rest! Take mercy, Lord, on a soul +afraid." + +"Where are the lips from which thou hast stolen that cry?" said the Black +Earl; and, like an old man bent with trouble, he sought the banks, seeking +for the white form of his bride. "Now," quoth he, "well do I know this +stream hath carried her last cry to my feet, and her drowning lips have +been forced to sinful death to-night by my long cruelty." + +He went up the hill as a man goeth to despair, slow and afraid; and when +he reached the little wood in whose bosom the lake was enshrined, he +paused and looked around. + +Of this shall I sing, for so sad and piteous it is that my harp would fain +soothe me from tears: + + _He looked into the deep wood green, + But nothing there did see; + He looked into the still water + Beneath, all white, lay she._ + + _He drew her from her cold, cold bed, + And kissed her cheek and chin; + Loosed from his neck his silken cloak, + To wrap her body in._ + + _He took her up in his two arms-- + His grief was deep and wild; + He knelt beside her on the sod, + And sorrowed like a child._ + + _He blew three blasts upon his horn; + His men did make reply, + And came all quickly to his call, + Through brake and brier so high._ + + _And every man who saw her there + Went down upon his knee; + Behind her came Earl Roderick, + All pitiful to see._ + + _And in his trembling hand the helm + From his uncovered brow; + And "Oh," he said, "to love her well, + And know it only now!"_ + + _So he did walk while she did ride + Through all the town away, + For greater than Earl Roderick + She did become that day._ + +Now have I said how the heart of the Black Earl woke to love, and then was +humbled, as the ancient crone had foretold; but of his sorrowful years, +his desperate danger of eternal loss and his after-salvation, must I +likewise tell, if the story would be pitiful in the ending. + +Therefore shall I lay my harp aside, and so go back in my telling. + +And I bid thee remember how the little pale bride was wont to sit upon the +mountain and watch the far lights in her father's home quench themselves +one by one. + +So now of how she died shall I tell thee, and of what came to her in her +passing, lest thou thinkest so innocent a child had laid violent hands +upon her life, who only had met death through the breaking of her heart. + +Here sat she on the mountain, and the wild things spoke of her in her +silence. The red weasel, the bee, and the bramble, and many others, moved +to watch her. Well have they known her in her young joyfulness; here had +she made the place she loved best--the high brow of the hill where she sat +as a child and watched--on the one side the far-off city and the white +towers that held the wonder-knight of her dreams. Here had she sat and +seen the gleam of his spear as he went with his hunters through the +valley; and here, too, had her mother come to tell her of her betrothal, +so she had nigh fainted in her happiness, in looking upon the white tower +that was to be her home. + +Here had she learned the sweet language of the birds and flowers, and +they, too, had partaken of her joys; but of her sorrows they would not +understand, for our joys and our laughter, are they not as the singing of +the bird and the dancing of the fly, who weep only when they meet death? +In our griefs do we not stand alone, who have in our hearts the fierce +desires of love and all the tragedies of despair? + +Now, as the young bride turned her slow feet up the mountain, down where +her glad feet had turned as a maid, she sat her there by the lake. + +The little creatures she was wont to love and understand gathered about +her and wondered at her state. + +"She hath returned," said the red weasel; "see where she sitteth, her head +upon her hand. I slew a young bird at her feet, and she spake no word, nor +did she care." + +"It is not she," said a linnet, swaying on a safe spray, "for had it been +she her anger would have slain thee." + +"It is she," said the red weasel, laughing in his throat; "but her eyes +are hidden by her fingers, and she cannot see." + +"It is not she," said a brown wren. "Her cheek was full and rosy and her +song loud. This one sitteth all mute and pale." + +"It is she," said the red weasel, "who sitteth upon the mountain, her face +hidden between her hands. She sitteth in silence, and who can tell her +thoughts? She hath been to the great city." + +"It is a small place," hummed a honey-bee. "Once, long ago, she raised her +white palm between her eyes and its smoke. 'See,' she laughed, 'my little +hand can cover it.'" + +"It is so great," said the red weasel, "that those who leave the mountains +for love of it return to us no more." + +"Yet she hath returned," said a lone lark hanging in the sky, "and I +myself have sung beside her ear." + +"She came, yet she came not," said the red weasel. "What did she answer +when thou saidst that I had slain thy mate?" + +"She sighed, 'Thou singest a gay song, O bird!'" hummed a golden beetle. +"My grief! that she cannot understand." + +"She is lost to us indeed!" said a honeysuckle swaying in the wind, "for +she trod me beneath her feet when I held my sweet blossoms for her lips." + +"And she tore me aside," cried the wild bramble, "when I did but reach +towards her for embrace." + +"She will know thee no more," said the red weasel; "she hath been to the +great city." + +"She laid her lips upon me ere she went," spake the wild bramble, "and +said she would return to us soon." + +"She bid me ring a merry chime," whispered the heather, "and I move my +many bells now for her welcome, but she will not hear." + +"She will speak with thee no more," said the red weasel; "she hath walked +in the city, like one goeth upon the fairy sleeping grass, and her soul +hath forgotten us." + +"She is still and cold," said a shining fly glancing through the air. "I +have danced a measure under her eyes, and she did not see." + +"She is dead," said the honey-bee, "for when she would not look upon me as +before, I drew my sword and stung her sharply, but she did not stir. She +sat and gazed into the distance where the smoke like a great gray web +lieth heavy. She is surely dead." + +"She is not dead," said the red weasel; "she hath been to the great city." + +"Maybe there she hath found Death," said the shining fly, "for his web +reacheth far, and he loveth the dark places and hidden ways. He hideth, +too, in the cool arbors of the wood, stretching a gray chain for our +undoing. Maybe she found Death. He spreadeth ropes of pearls across our +path, and looketh upon us from the shade; when the dance is gayest he +creepeth to spring. Maybe she hath reached for the pearls or hath danced +into his net." + +And so the fly sang of the watcher in the wood, and his song I shall sing +thee, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _Deep in the wood's recesses cool + I see the fairy dancers glide, + In cloth of gold, in gown of green, + My lord and lady side by side._ + + _But who has hung from leaf to leaf, + From flower to flower, a silken twine, + A cloud of gray that holds the dew + In globes of clear enchanted wine,_ + + _Or stretches far from branch to branch, + From thorn to thorn, in diamond rain? + Who caught the cup of crystal wine + And hung so fair the shining chain?_ + + _'Tis death the spider, in his net, + Who lures the dancers as they glide, + In cloth of gold, in gown of green, + My lord and lady side by side._ + +But a dragon-fly rattling his armor said, without heed of the singer, "She +is dead," for when she came among the heather the joyous spirit of the +mountain met her and blew upon her hair and eyes. He kissed her worn cheek +that he had known so fair, and the soft rain of his sorrow fell to see the +pity of her brow. She passed all stiff and cold; she did not hear nor +understand. + +"Wind," quoth she, "blow not so fierce." + +"She is not dead," saith the red weasel; "she hath been to the great +city." + +Now, when the young bride raised her white face from her hands and looked +about her, she could neither hear the speaking of the birds nor see the +beauty of the wild flowers, yet in her heart she had a memory of both. +Turning to the little flying things that came about her with soft, beating +wings, she said: + +"Once ye spake to me, and could give comfort with your counsel and love. +Now ye are lost in the voices of the city that ring forever in my ears." + +Gazing upon the flowers, she said: + +"Ye, too, your beauty hath faded. The gaudy flowers of the city have +flashed their color in my eyes, so ye I cannot see or understand." + +Then she rose to her feet, though she scarce could stand, and, stretching +her arms towards the great purple hills that surrounded her father's far +home, she said towards it: + +"Why didst thou call me back since thou hast let me go from the sight of +the heights that would have been always a prayer to uplift my soul? Ahone! +that thy voice was loud enough to follow and give me unrest, that +whispered always of my father's house and the valley of my home. So must I +come each eve upon this hill to look upon it from my loneliness. + +"Unloved am I, and unwished for, by him whom I have wedded. So my heart +dieth within my breast, and my soul trembleth on the brink of my grave. + +"Here upon the mountains, unprayed for and uncoffined, shall my body lie, +for thy voice hath called me forth. + +"Here my black sins shall see and pursue me even to destruction; but in +the city I could have escaped with the crowding souls that confuse Death +to count." + +Then, as a remembrance of her sins came heavy upon her, she gave a loud +cry and covered her face with her hands. + +So she stood without help upon the mountains, and because she was blind +with the city dust and deafened with its cries, she stood alone. The +pitying wild flowers blew their fragrance to her eyes, but they would not +open; the gentle birds spoke comforting whispers to her ears, but she +could not hear; the great hills held their arms about her and breathed +their peace upon her brow. But this she did not know, and so stood alone +to face Death. + +First turned she her face to where her father's castle stood on a far +hill, and again turned she to see the white towers where she had lived and +loved so vainly. And when her eyes met the glisten of the walls, her heart +broke with a little sigh, and she fell upon the ground. And she laid her +weary body down beside the waters of the mountain lake. Her head with its +loosened hair lay in the waters, so her lips, covered by the murmuring +ripples, breathed a prayer as she died for her passing soul. And the +little stream that ran from the lake down the hill-side carried the prayer +upon its breast as thou hast been told. + +Now, when the ghost of the little bride stood upright beside her fallen +body, she was sore afraid, and trembled much to leave the habitation she +had known in life. + +She laid her spirit-hands upon the cold dead, and clung to it as though +she would not be driven forth. Many and terrifying were the sights that +met her when she opened her eyes, after passing through the change of +death. Many and terrifying were the sounds that came to her ears, and she +feared she would be whirled away with the great clouds that passed her and +went like smoke into the skies. Cold she was and drenched with the rain +that fell everywhere around her; gray and misshapen were the moving masses +under her gaze; and only where her hands lay holding to her dead body did +she see aught of the world she had left behind. There the sweet green +grass lifted itself and a brier rose cast its blossom apart. There a bee +sang, calling to her a little comfort among all the strange sounds that +filled her ears. + +As she listened, she found the noises that troubled her were the cries of +many voices, and as she began to see more clearly in the great change that +had come to her, she knew the shadowy clouds rushing upward were the +spirits of the dead on their dangerous swift way to heaven. And as she +raised her face to follow their flight the rain fell salt into her mouth, +so she knew it was the repentant tears of the passing ghosts. + +So crouched she in that misty world, seeing not the green earth and the +purple hills, but only the whirling shapes about her on every side, flying +from earth to heaven, pursued by their black sins. + +And one in the valley of Baile-ata-Cliat, looking towards the mountains, +said: + +"See how the clouds fly black and fearful!" But it was the hosts of +spirits flying upward. "See," quoth he, "how the lightning flashes!" But +it was the opening of God's High Paradise to receive some spirit wellnigh +spent. "Hark," said he, "how the wind moans and the rain beats upon the +window!" But it was the cry of the passing ghosts and their falling tears +as their black sins fought and kept them from heaven. + +But one who was a singer took his harp and sang, for he understood. Here +is his song: + + _They say it is the wind in midnight skies, + Loud shrieking past the window, that doth make + Each casement shudder with its storm of cries, + And the barred door with pushing shoulder shake._ + + _Ah no, ah no, it is the souls pass by, + Their lot to run from earth to God's high place, + Pursued by each black sin that death let fly + From their sad flesh, to break them in the chase._ + + _They say it is the rain from leaf to leaf + Doth slip and roll into the thirsting ground, + That where the corn is trampled sheaf by sheaf + The heavy sorrow of the storm is found._ + + _Ah no, ah no, it is repentant tears, + By those let fall who make their direful flight, + And drop by drop the anguish of their fears + Comes down around us all the awful night._ + + _They say that in the lightning-flash, and roar + Of clashing clouds, the tempest is about; + And draw their chairs the glowing hearth before, + And casement close to shut the danger out._ + + _Ah no! the doors of Paradise they swing + A moment open for a soul nigh spent, + Then come together till the thunder's ring + Leaves us half blinded by God's element._ + +Now, the spirit of the young bride was not yet called upon to join their +terrible flight, for until her body was laid beneath the clay the soul had +power to stay beside it. So stayed the spirit of the young bride by her +dead body till her ghostly eyes grew accustomed to the change which had +come to her. And when she found she could see the brown earth again and +the things thereon, she rose to her feet, and ran down the mountains to +the castle of Black Roderick, and there called thrice beside the gate, and +for her it was opened by the little brother, who gazed affrighted and ran +from her. + +"What hath come to thee?" quoth she, and came upon him in his fear. + +And he looked not to her, but spake to a knight-at-arms, saying thus: + +"Three times cried the voice of my brother's wife at the gates, and when I +opened for her there was none outside." + +So the little bride, hearing, cried out in her despair, for she had +forgotten that she was no longer as these others. + +And when the two heard the cry, they were affrighted, and made the cross +upon their foreheads. + +"It is the banshee," quoth the knight, "who weeps for some death." + +Seeing they feared her, the little bride passed sadly into the castle, and +timidly sought the chamber where the Black Earl was gone to crouch by the +glowing fire. + +Now, when Black Roderick looked up and saw her, he sprang towards her so +she was afraid, and flitted before him like a shadow. And when he followed +up the stair and into his own chamber, she faded like a shadow in the +sunshine that came through the window, and the wind, coming down from the +mountains and passing through the casement, drew her out upon its breast, +and bore her back to the hills where her body lay awaiting its burial. + +And seeing it there, a misery fell upon her, so she raised her head and +wept. + +"Ahone!" quoth she, "poor body that hath no one to weep over thy +loneliness, that must lie uncoffined and unprayed for, who wast so +tenderly cared for in thy life! Where art thou, my father, where art thou, +my mother, that this should be? And where is he to whom this poor body was +given to cherish and to love?" + +And again she went to the castle of Black Roderick, and stood beside his +door, the tears undried upon her cheek. And again sprang he towards her, +so she was afraid, and flew before him down the winding stair and out into +the night, so he could no longer see her. + +And again the spirit of the young bride went back to the dead upon the +hill-side, and, seeing it unburied and uncoffined, fell into tears. + +"Never," saith she, "shall I now reach heaven, if my body lieth without a +grave!" + +And so sad was her soul at the thought that she went in her despair to the +castle of the Black Earl, and stood again upon his threshold full of +tears. + +And when he looked up and saw her he was no longer fierce, but spake to +her gently. + +"Come hither," quoth he, "my sad-faced bride. I would but ask thee one +question. Come beside my chair." + +But she answered him not at all, but withdrew from his presence, as though +bidding him follow. + +Out into the night he followed, and pursued her without rest, till she +almost reached the high hill where her body lay uncoffined. + +And when they came in the morning to the little grove upon the side of the +mountain, she felt a hand touch the poor, unmourned-for dead, and, with a +great fear upon her, vanished from his eyes; so he fell upon the moss in +his disappointment and weariness. + +But the spirit of the little bride flew to the side of her uncoffined body +to protect it from desecration ere her lord had looked upon it. And there +she saw the little brother playing by the dead. + +And as she came he turned and ran down the mountain, for he had heard the +voice of Black Roderick calling; so the spirit of the little bride knew +her task was done. And of how the Black Earl found her, and of what he +said and did, have I told thee; but of how the spirit of the young bride +enwrapped herself about the dead I have not spoken, nor of how she +thrilled beneath the embraces of her lord, whose love she had at the last. + +When he stood beside her deep grave, that was dug in the little church-yard +nigh to the castle, her spirit rose again from her body, and knew her hour +of trial had come. + +And when the grave was closed and the mourners gone, the spirit stayed by +the grave, afraid. + +When evening came, the spirits of the dead rose in a white mist, each +above his grave, and all prepared for their swift and dangerous flight +towards the dark heavens. + +"Now," saith she, "my body can no longer protect me with its earthly +presence. I am separated from the world, and am no more of it. I must +arise and meet death alone." + +The first thing she knew of the great presence was a loud whirring of +wings; she raised her head, and saw around her a crowd of evil birds. So +afraid was she that she gave a loud and sudden cry, and at the sound the +ill birds rose and hovered in the air between her and heaven. + +"My sins have discovered me," she cried, "and now I fear death!" + +And because she knew that before dawn she would have to account for her +evil deeds, she lifted up her voice in loud keening. So sad was her cry +that the pitying wind bore it down upon his wings into the little village +at the foot of the mountain, that the people might hear and pray for a +soul in its passing. + +But the people in the village were busy even so late with the harvest, and +did not hear; only in one house where a mother sat with her sick child did +the cry come, and she closed the shutter and fell to prayer. + +"'Tis the banshee who crieth," she whispered, "and my Conneen so ill! 'Tis +the banshee, and Sheila with the cheek of snow. God bid the fairy pass, +and set the angels at my door! Whisht!" she cried to the playing young +ones, "come beside my chair and pray." + +And of her fear shall I sing, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _Oh, whisht! I hear the banshee keen, + All woful is her cry. + She comes along the gray boreen-- + Pray God she pass us by._ + + _My wee Conneen is pale and weak, + I hold him to my side; + The rose is white on Sheila's cheek + Since her young lover died._ + + _The little children from their play + Creep to me full of fear; + "Oh, whisht! the banshee comes," they say: + "Whom does she weep for here?"_ + + _But Sheila leaves my chair to go, + And flings the shutter wide; + "Be it for me," she whispers low, + "The banshee keened and cried."_ + + _God be between our house and harm, + For trouble comes full fleet. + I hold the babe close in my arm; + The fairy in the street._ + +But the wind that blew from the hill-side carried the keening of the +little bride past the village, and blew it about the windows of the castle +wherein Black Roderick dwelt. And as the cry keened and called, so did the +sleepers turn in their beds and moan uneasily in their dreaming. + +When the cry passed the windows of the east, it went to the windows of the +west, and there it tapped softly with fingers of the wind and called three +times: + +"Roderick! Roderick! Roderick!" + +And at the first call Black Roderick turned in his bed and groaned. And at +the second call he rose from his couch and said, in his anger: + +"Who calleth, and will not let me rest?" + +But at the third call he rose and went to the window in wonder, and seeing +nothing he crept cold and trembling to his bed, muttering the +half-forgotten prayers of his childhood; so long he lay in fear and +amazement that he did not sleep till the lark hung singing in the heavens, +and then he knew the night was gone and with it the ghosts that hide in +the darkness. So he turned his face to the wall and slept. But the spirit +of the little bride was speeding on her swift and terrible race to +Paradise, and round her whirled three great black birds seeking for her +destruction. And as she flew, one caught her by the long hair that swept +behind her in the wind and drew her backward. + +"Now," quoth she with a cry, "I can fly upward no longer; some evil thing +draws me back from heaven." + +And as she spoke a voice came out of the dark skies, and said: + +"Who holdeth back the passing soul?" + +And the voice of the dark bird replied: + +"Her anger, for she hath not submitted to her trials, but held herself +rebellious; therefore do I draw her down." + +And the voice from high paradise called out, saying: + +"Is there none to come to her succor, lest she be brought to her +destruction?" + +And a bee humming on the hillside, hearing the voice, flew upward and +stung the evil bird so it fell away into the darkness and was seen no +more. + +And the voice from the heavens cried again, saying: + +"Who hath let the little soul go free?" + +And the bee answered: + +"Her gentleness, for she loveth all things, great and small, and hath fed +the honey-bee when the earth refused him its sweets." + +Now, as the spirit of the little bride flew upward, freed from the grasp +of the evil bird, there came upon her again the cruel claws of one of +those two others that circled round her, holding her back upon her way. + +"Now," quoth she, "I shall never see the kingdom of heaven, and cannot +reach the doors of paradise," and bitter exceedingly was her crying. + +But again a voice came from the dark night, saying: + +"Who holdeth back the coming soul from her place in heaven?" + +And the black, evil bird answered: + +"Her despair, for she hath not held her head high above her sorrows, nor +hath borne in patience her griefs, but hath mourned the afflictions that +were put upon her till her heart hath broken under her grief. Therefore do +I draw her down." + +And the voice from high paradise called out, saying: + +"Is there none, then, to save her from eternal destruction?" + +And a wild bramble upon the mountain, hearing the voice, lifted itself +upward, and, throwing a long spray about the evil bird, tore it so with +its thorns that it loosed its claws from the wrist of the young bride and +flew into the gloom. + +And the voice from the heavens cried again, saying: + +"Who hath let the soul go free?" + +And the bramble answered, wafting the perfume of her flowers upward: + +"Her sweetness, for her mind is beautiful as the song of the linnet, and +she turneth her foot aside to spare the lowly blossoms." + +Now, when once more the spirit of the little bride flew upward, the last +and greatest of the evil birds fell upon her, and so strong was he and so +evil that she had no strength to go farther. + +"Now," quoth she, "I am lost forever, and shall see not the fair place in +paradise that was prepared for me." And she gave a loud and despairing +cry. But a voice came again from the night, and saith: + +"What evil thing keepeth the flying soul upon its way?" + +And the dark bird answered: + +"Her jealousy, for bitter was her heart against one whom Black Roderick +had loved ere she became his bride; and for this do I drag her down to her +destruction." + +And the voice from the high heavens spoke, saying: + +"Is there none, then, to save her?" + +And there looked up from the hillside the bright eyes of the red weasel, +but he crouched in the grasses without reply. And the grasp of the evil +bird became stronger on the quivering soul that could no longer fly upon +its way to heaven. And from the great wings of the bird black feathers, +wrenched out in the struggle, flew down upon the earth, spreading evil +where they fell. + +And the voice from heaven cried out again in sorrow exceedingly: + +"Is there none, then, to save this soul from destruction?" + +And the bee and the bramble, seeing the red weasel was loath to stir from +the grasses where he sat watching the desperate battle, fell upon him in +their fury and forced him to rise. + +"Never," quoth they, "shalt thou have rest, nor thy children's children +peace, while there's a bee in the air or a flower upon the thorn, if thou +goest not to the succor of her we love so well." + +Then the red weasel sprang into the air and seized the evil bird by the +throat; so he let go his hold on the spirit of the young bride and flew +away into the darkness. + +And the voice from heaven cried out, saying: + +"Who hath let the frail ghost free to enter the gates of paradise?" + +And the red weasel answered: + +"Her strength, for she hath conquered her own evil thoughts, and put them +away forever." + +So the spirit of the young bride reached the gates of paradise spent and +wounded, and there upon the threshold stood an angel holding his hand to +draw her in. + +When his holy touch fell upon her, she rose whole and beautiful, and her +breast was full of joy for the moment. + +Now, the spirit of the young bride had been but a brief day in the golden +place of paradise, when she heard a far voice call upon her name in +anguish; three times did it call upon her, and at each cry a sharp sorrow +struck her heart, as though a knife had entered therein. + +Now went she to the golden bar of heaven, and, leaning forth, looked down +upon the earth, and she turned her north, and naught did she see save the +cold face of the night with its millions of worlds whirling in the dark. +And she looked south, and naught could she see but the gray of clouds +heavy with storm; and she turned her east, and naught did she see save the +shimmering blue of a summer sky. But when she turned her westward, she saw +the green earth, and of all upon it she sought none save Black Roderick, +who had used her so ill. And there upon his bed he lay in danger of death, +and as he turned in his anguish he called ever upon her name, so her heart +knew no longer the peace of paradise, and she became as one of the lost. + +Therefore did she rise up and approach the throne where the saints and +angels knelt in continual devotion. But she could not see the golden seat, +nor HIM who sat thereon. For around and above, and circling ever with +rainbow wings, went the seraphim and cherubim in eternal worship, so it +was as though a great wheel of light turned continually. + +Now, when the spirit of the little bride saw this wonder, she was full of +fear and dared not approach, but turned away weeping; and there, as she +wept, she saw before her the seat of Mary, the Queen of Heaven, and ran +towards it with unfaltering feet. + +"For," quoth she, "she, too, had but one love, and, being woman, will +understand." + +So she knelt at the feet of Mary, and cried to her: "Pray for me, Mother +of Christ." And the Virgin turned to her in wonder at her tears. + +"Art thou not happy," said she, "in heaven?" + +And the spirit of the little bride said: "Nay, for the cries of my beloved +come upward from the earth and call to me in his anguish, so I fear he is +in danger of death." + +"And why doth thou fear death for him," said the Virgin Mary, "since it +may bring to him the happiness of heaven?" + +"Alas!" said the little bride, "were it thus, his cries would not hurt my +heart so that I cannot hear the song of the angels. I fear he is lost +forever." + +"And what canst thou do, little soul," said the Blessed Mary, "to save him +if he cannot save himself?" + +"I can be with him in his destruction." + +Now, as the little soul said this terrible thing she fell forward upon her +face, so afraid was she and so despairing. + +"I can stand between him and the flames," said she, "and hold my hand +beneath the burning waters that would fall upon his body." + +And then she lay silent. + +Then the Virgin looked upon her with eyes that were all pitiful and had +much understanding. + +"Thou wilt suffer," saith she, as though remembering something, "to walk +by his side and see his anguish, but thou wouldst suffer more wert thou +forbidden this." + +So Mary rose from her high place and went towards the high throne of +heaven, and as she passed the whirling wings of the seraphim and cherubim +ceased to circle, but flew towards her from the throne. And to the little +bride, who crouched afraid on the fragrant floor, it seemed as though a +great wonder of bees had settled on some hidden sweet; countless wings +glistened and flashed in the strange light that glowed from the opening +flowers that formed the floor about the throne. + +In and out, striking together in their eagerness to get nearer their +desire, went the countless wings of the angel hosts. + +And from the throne all the time there came forth a low singing like the +humming of bees. As the little bride listened there came to her ears the +voice of the Virgin praying for her before the throne of God, and in the +pauses of the prayer the countless voices of the fluttering seraphim and +cherubim took up the refrain, "Hear us, O Christ." + +Now suddenly all sound ceased, and the fluttering wings moved aside, and +from their midst strode out a mighty angel of the Lord; and when he came +upon the frightened soul of the little bride he took her by the hand, and, +leading her to the gates of heaven, opened them that she might go forth. + +But ere she could pass out he said, with great sadness: + +"Thy little hands and feet are soft with the fragrant places of heaven; +much wilt thou suffer if thou goest forth." + +And again he said: + +"How canst thou leave the beauty and love of paradise, wherein thou mayst +enter no more save thou art strong enough to conquer great dangers?" + +But the little soul listened not to him, but passed through the gates in +eager hurry. And as she went the angel followed her with his gaze; and so +great was his pity--for he thought she might not re-enter the kingdom of +heaven--that tears fell from his eyes upon her hand. Now, when the little +bride went forth from the gates of heaven a chill wind blew upon her, so +she wellnigh fell upon the earth in anguish; but she took the two tears +that had fallen from the angel's eyes and hid them in her heart, and she +became warm, and the sharp earth did not hurt her feet, nor did the wind +of the cold world harm her. + +Now, when the spirit of the little bride came to the gates of the castle +wherein dwelt Black Roderick, she saw the great changes that had come to +pass therein, for the day that had fallen to her in paradise was as seven +years on earth. + +With her death had come strife and disunion among the clans, and now at +the walls stood the soldiers of her father, and within on his death-bed +the Black Earl who was dying, a prisoner in their hands. + +And as the little bride came to the gates of the garden without the +courtyard, she saw before them a strange and horrible coach. And the only +light that came from this dark carriage was from the red eyes of the six +horses who drew it, and their trappings swept the ground, black and +mouldy. Now, the body of this coach was shaped like a coffin, and at the +head sat the driver. + +When the little bride gazed upon him in wonder who he could be, she saw +through the misty winding-sheet that enfolded him a death's head. But when +she looked at him who sat at the foot of the coffin, she hid her face, for +it was an evil creature who crouched here. + +Now, as the little bride paused at the gate of the garden a voice came +from inside, and said: + +"Wherefore comest thou?" + +And he who sat at the foot of the coffin answered: + +"Open, for I claim the soul of Black Roderick." + +And the voice that was within answered: + +"Thou shalt come, for his cruelty hath driven my young daughter to her +grave, wherein she lieth while the birds sing, and the flowers blossom, +and the earth is glad with youth and spring." + +So he dropped the bolt and the door swung open, so the coach and its six +horses entered. + +Now, when the driver reached the door of the court-yard, he found it +closed against him, and he drew his coach up beside it and called in a +hollow voice for entrance. + +And one cried from inside: + +"Wherefore comest thou?" + +And he who was inside answered: + +"I claim the soul of Black Roderick." + +And the voice replied: + +"Willingly do I open, for he hath slain my sweet sister with his chill +heart and cruel ways, so she lieth in the dark earth who was the sunshine +of our house." + +Then the door swung open so the black coach and its six horses could +enter. + +Again the strange coach drove on, till it came to the castle door, and +there the evil being who was inside cast himself upon the ground, and, +going to the door, knocked thereon three times, and a woman's voice +answered, saying: + +"Who art thou?" + +And the evil one replied: + +"I am he who claims the soul of Black Roderick." + +And the woman said: + +"Welcome thou art, then, for he hath destroyed my heart's treasure and +buried it in the ground; so I go sorrowing all my days for the suffering +he caused her on earth, and for her young and unready death." + +Then the bolts and the bars fell from the door with a great noise, and the +evil thing entered the castle. + +Now, as Black Roderick lay upon his death-bed tossing and turning in his +fever, there rushed unto him one of the serving-men in a great terror and +fear. + +And of what they spoke together shall I sing thee, lest thou grow weary of +my prose: + + _There is one at the door, O my master, + At the door, who is bidding you come! + Who is he that wakes me in the darkness, + Calling when all the world's dumb?_ + + _Six horses has he to his carriage, + Six horses blacker than the night; + And their twelve red eyes in the shadows + Twelve lamps he carries for his light._ + + _And his coach is a coffin black and mouldy, + A huge oak coffin open wide; + He asks for your soul, God have mercy! + Who is calling at the door outside._ + + _Who let him through the gates of my garden, + Where stronger bolts have never been? + 'Twas the father of the fair little lady + You drove to her grave so green._ + + _And who let him pass through the court-yard, + By loosening the bar and chain? + Oh, who but the brother of your mistress + Who lies in the cold and the rain!_ + + _Then who drew the bolts at the portal + And into my house bade him go? + She, the mother of the poor little colleen + Who lies in her youth so low._ + + _Who stands that he dare not enter + The door of my chamber between? + Oh, the ghost of the fair little lady + Who lies in the church-yard green._ + +Now, when the evil one saw the spirit of the young bride at the door, her +arms spread out in the form of a cross, he did not know what to do. And +had not Black Roderick, in his joy and desire, sprung from his bed on +hearing the voice of his mistress bidding him fear not, all perchance had +gone well. + +But Roderick, sick and eager for the sight of his bride, flung open the +door, and was seized by the evil one and carried away. Now, the spirit of +the little bride followed the horrible coach that contained her love, even +to the flaming gates of hell, and there the evil one stopped and looked +upon her with desire. + +"Better," quoth he, "a thousand times to let go this wretched fellow, who +will surely return to me later, if I can gain this soul who hath come even +out of the kingdom of heaven." + +And, turning to the poor little bride, he said: "Give thou thyself to me, +and I will let this love of thine return to the world to work out his +redemption." + +But the little soul, weeping, saith: + +"Nay, my soul belongeth to Christ in heaven, and I must not give it to +thee; but for seven years shall I be thy slave if thou givest this dear +one to me at the end." + +So the evil one thought to himself: "Would I could steal this white soul +from heaven to be the greatest gem in my crown of triumph, and to serve me +seven years. At the end of that time her heart will incline to evil, and +she will become mine." + +And again she spoke to him, and of what she said I shall sing thee, lest +thou grow weary of my prose: + + _If you will let his young soul go free, + I will serve you true and well, + For seven long years to be your slave + In the bitterest place of hell._ + + _"Seven long years if you be my slave + I will let his soul go free." + The stranger drew her then by the hand, + And into the night went he._ + + _Seven long years did she serve him true + By the blazing gates of hell, + And on every soul that entered in + The tears of her sorrow fell._ + + _Seven long years did she keep the place + To open the doors accurst, + And every soul that her tear-drops knew, + It would neither burn nor thirst._ + + _And once she let in her father dear, + And once her brother through. + Once came a friend she had loved full well: + Oh, bitter it was to do!_ + +Now, no toil in the great halls of the evil one could have been more +bitter to endure than to unbar the door for the lost souls; for her sweet +tenderness was tortured most of all by the despairing ghosts that passed +to their eternal perdition, and her hands felt guilty at letting them go +through. + +But of all the sorrows none was so great as for her eyes to see the +tortures of Black Roderick, who stood beside her in his anguish, for the +tears that fell upon him from her eyes gave him no relief, since he had +injured her on earth. She held her hands to hold the fiery waters that +fell upon him, and her tender body strove to stand between him and his +tortures in vain. Seeing her so endeavoring, the evil one spoke, saying: + +"What hast thou about thee, little soul, that thou art free from my fire +and torments?" + +Then the little bride remembered the tears she had hidden in her heart, +that had fallen upon her in heaven from the angel's eyes, and she drew +them forth. + +And the tears spoke to her, saying: + +"Put us not away, lest the torments overpower thee, so thou mayst never +come to the kingdom of heaven." + +But the little bride lifted them upon the heart and mouth of Black +Roderick, so he suffered no more the cruel tortures of the lost. Now, when +the evil one saw this, he smiled to himself, "For," quoth he, "now will +she know temptations, since she hath put away the angel's tears, and hath +no protection save her own strength." + +And so bitter were her sufferings that the little bride cried out it was +more than she could bear. + +And the evil one, hearing her, said: + +"Give thyself to me, and thou shalt suffer no more." + +But she turned her face away, and made him no answer. + +Then Black Roderick, looking upon her, saw her anguish, and to his soul +came such bitter repentance that great tears fell from his eyes upon her, +and every tear was as balm upon her sad and suffering flesh. So that when +the seven years were over she stood whole and without pain. + +Now, when the seven long years were at an end, she found the naming doors +opened of themselves for her and Black Roderick to go forth. But when she +took her love by the hand, a great cry rose from the lost souls she had +let into the burning place during her seven years of trial. And in her +heart was such grief she could not go. She heard her father's voice call +to her, and the voice of her brother. Therefore went she to the throne of +the evil one, and begged him to grant her a boon. + +"For I have worked long for thee and well," quoth she, "and I beg of thee +to let me carry forth as much treasure as my strength can bear." + +"That," saith he, "thou shalt have; all thou canst carry thou mayst take +forth, if thou wilt give me for payment seven more years of service." + +Now, when the little bride heard this she bowed her head and wept. + +"Seven long years," saith she, "shall I serve thee more." She took Black +Roderick by the hand, and stood by him at the open doors. "Go thou +upward," saith she, "and await me in heaven." + +Then she closed the flaming gates, and took her place behind them. But the +soul of Black Roderick crouched outside, as a dog lieth on the threshold +of his master. For seven long years he let no one approach the naming +gates, so that not once were they opened during the last seven years of +her trial. And when the day came for her to go forth, the little bride +flung the gates apart with a loud cry of joy. She knew the evil one could +but grant the promise she had extorted, for she had served him well. + +And of the further trials and temptations that came to her shall I sing +thee, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _Seven long years did she serve him well + Until the last day was done; + And all the souls she had let in. + They clung to her one by one._ + + _And all the souls she had let through, + They clung to her dress and hair, + Until the burden that she brought forth + Was heavy as she could bear._ + + _The first who stopped upon her way + Was a Saint all fair to see, + And "Sister, your load is great," she said, + "So give it, I pray, to me."_ + + _"Brigit I am; God sent me forth + That you to your love might go"-- + The woman she drew the fair robe aside, + And a cloven hoof did show._ + + _"And I will not give it to you," she said, + Quick grasping her burden tight; + And all the souls that surrounded her + Clung closer in dire affright._ + + _The next who stopped her upon her way + Was an angel with sword aflame; + "The Lord has sent for your load," he said: + "St. Michael it is my name."_ + + _The woman drew back his gown of white, + And the cloven hoof did see. + "Oh, God be with me this day," she said, + "For bitter my sorrows be."_ + + _"And I will not give it to you," she said, + And wept full many a tear. + And all the souls that her burden made + Cried out in desperate fear._ + +Now, the spirit of the poor little bride stopped upon her way, and feared +to go farther, for she knew not what to do nor where to go, and it seemed +as though there were none to trust. And as she stood, with the trembling +souls clinging to her, from the far-off earth came the sweet singing of a +robin; and as the bird sang he came nearer and nearer, till the little +bride could see his red throat pulsing with his song. And the song he bore +upon his beak was her mother's prayer. + +Now, when the soul of the little bride heard this sweet singing, she +became strong, and followed the bird even to the gates of heaven; and +there she paused, trembling, afraid to knock, for she had gone forth of +her own free will, and she had returned with a burden that she had no +leave to bring. + +"And without these dear ones how could I enter?" saith she; and the souls +trembled with her in her fear. + +But the robin tapped upon the golden gates three times with his beak, and +flung his song into the shining blue of the skies. + +Then a voice came forth, saying: + +"By what right comest thou, of all birds, to disturb the peace of paradise +with thy singing?" + +And the robin answered: + +"Because I alone, of all birds, strove to draw forth the cruel nails in +Calvary; so my breast is ever red with the sacred blood." + +"And what song bearest thou upon thy bill," saith the voice, "that would +be welcome here?" + +"The prayer of a mother for the soul of her little child," quoth the +robin. + +When he saith this the doors of paradise were opened, and upon the +threshold stood one of the archangels of the Lord, and his face was glad +and glorious as the sun. And when he saw the little bride, with her burden +of trembling souls clinging to her dress and hair, he bade her enter. + +"Thou hast done well," saith he, "and there is joy in heaven over thy +return." + +And as he led her by the hand the souls dropped from her and flew through +the golden gates with loud cries of joy. + +So brought she to heaven the soul of Black Roderick, that had been lost +but for her great and suffering love. And from the closed gates none came +forth save the little robin. + +Now must I end my tale, lest thou grow weary of the telling. + +And if more thou requirest, listen thou to the robin, who alone of all +birds hath seen the glories of paradise, and who telleth to all men, if +they would but hear, his pride and his joy. Even in winter, when snow and +hunger chill him almost to death, when all other birds are silent with +discontent, he sitteth upon a low bough and telleth the story of Black +Roderick and his little bride, and of many things good to the heart of +man. Listen thou and hearken. + + +THE END + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story and Song of Black Roderick, by +Dora Sigerson + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK STORY AND SONG OF BLACK RODERICK *** + +***** This file should be named 9483.txt or 9483.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/9/4/8/9483/ + +Produced by Clare Boothby and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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Not +one of the hundred men who followed dared to lilt a lay or fling a +laughing jest from his mouth. All rode silent among their gay trappings, +for so saith a song: + + _It was the Black Earl Roderick + Who rode towards the south; + The frown was heavy on his brow, + The sneer upon his mouth._ + + _Behind him rode a hundred men + All gay with plume and spear; + But not a one did lilt a song + His weary way to cheer._ + + _So stern was Black Earl Roderick + Upon his wedding-day, + To none he spake a single word + Who met him on his way._ + +And of those that passed him as he went there were none who dared to bid +him God-speed, and only one whispered at all; she was Mora of the +Knowledge, who was picking herbs in a lonely place and saw him ride. + +"There goeth the hunter," said she; "'tis a white doe that thou wouldst +kill. High hanging to thee, my lord, upon a windy day!" + +And of all the flying things he met in his going, one only dared to put +pain upon him, and she was a honeybee who stabbed his cheek with her +sword. + +"Would I could slay thee," she cried, "ere thou rob the hive of its +honey!" + +And of all the creeping things that passed him on his way, only one tried +to stay him; she was the bramble who cast her thorn across his path so his +steed wellnigh stumbled. + +"Would I could make thee fall, Black Earl, who now art so high, ere thou +rob fruit from the branch!" + +Only one living thing upon the mountains saw him go without mourning, and +he was the red weasel who took the world as he found it. + +"Tears will not heal a wound," saith he, "but they will quench a fire. Thy +hive is in danger, bee," quoth he. "Bramble, thy flowers are scattered and +thy fruit lost." + +But the Black Earl did not heed or hear anything outside his own thoughts. +They were sharper than the bee's sword and less easy to cast aside than +the entrapping bramble. + +When he reached the castle wherein his bride did dwell, he blew three +blasts upon the horn that hung beside the gate, and in answer to his call +a voice cried out to him. But what it said I shall sing thee, lest thou +grow weary of my prose: + + _"Come in, come in, Earl Roderick, + Come in or you be late; + The priest is ready in his stole. + The wedding guests await."_ + + _And then the stern Earl Roderick + From his fierce steed came down; + The sneer still curled upon his lip, + His eyes still held the frown._ + + _He strode right haughtily and quick + Into the banquet-hall, + And stood among the wedding guests, + The greatest of them all._ + + _He gave scant greeting to the throng, + He waved the guests aside: + "Now haste! for I, Earl Roderick, + Will wait long for no bride!_ + + _"And I must in the saddle be + Before the night is gray; + So quickly with the marriage lines, + And let us ride away."_ + +And now shall I tell thee how, as he spoke thus proud and heartlessly, his +little bride came into the hall? So white was she, and so trembled she, +that many wondered she did not sink upon the marble floor and die. + +Her mother held her snow-white hand, weeping bitterly the while. + +"If I had my will," thought she, "this thing should never be. Oh, sharp +sorrow," sobbed she, "this for a woman: my trouble thou art, and my +thousand treasures." + +Her father, seeing the frowning Earl, muttered in his beard: + +"Would there were some other way. Stern is he and hard, to wear a young +maid's heart." And then aloud he spoke, laying his hands upon the yellow +curls of his child: "This is the golden link that binds the clans. God's +sweet love be upon her head, for she hath healed a cruel and evil quarrel +between the two houses. Lift up your voices, my comrades, and make ye +merry; it is a good deed you have helped in to-day." + +Now, when the guests turned with their laughter and gentle jesting to the +newly married pair, the Black Earl relented not his frown. With scant +courtesy and brief good-bye he mounted upon his fretting steed, vowing he +could no longer stay. Up before him they lifted the young bride. + +"'Tis a rough place to carry the child," wept the sad mother. + +But her father smiled upon the Black Earl. + +"Where but upon his heart should she rest? Is that not so, my son?" + +"If it be not cold," muttered the sullen bridegroom, drawing his rein. + +"Wrap thy cloak about her," cried the father, waving farewell. + +"Wrap thy love about her," wept the mother, hiding her face. + +So rode the Black Earl and his bride, followed by his sullen men-at-arms, +gay with their wedding favors. + +To his weary little bride he spoke no gentle word, though she fluttered +weeping upon his breast like to some wounded thing. + +For in his heart the gloomy Earl spake bitterly, and said he: + +"Not upon thy hand did I hope to place my golden ring; I have put my own +true love aside, to keep the clans together, and wedding thee thus have I +been false to the desires of my heart, so do I turn from thee who art my +bride." + +Thus did he take her to his castle in silence, and, lifting her from his +steed, bid her enter the strong gates before him. + +So shut they with a clang upon her youth and her merry heart, and she +became the neglected mistress of the gray towers she had looked on from +afar, and bride of the great Earl she had dreamed of so long. + +But to the Black Roderick she was as nothing; he sought her not, neither +did he speak of her; she was but the cruel small hand that closed upon his +heart and drew it from its love, claiming him in honor her own. And to her +claim was he faithful, turning even his thoughts away, lest he should be +false to his vow. But no more than this did he give her. + +So was she left alone, the young bride who did not understand a man's +ways, and, fearing where she loved, hid from his presence lest he should +look upon her in hate. Oft had she dreamed of the wonder of being the wife +of this proud Earl, in trembling desire and hope, hearing her parents +speak of him and of the troth. Oft had she listened to their murmured +words, as they spoke of the clans and the peace these two could bring. + +"Stern he is, and black for the young child," said her mother, "and I am +afraid"; but the child stole away to the hill behind her father's castle, +and there looked into the valley of Baile-ata-Cliat to watch the white +towers of the Black Earl glistening in the sun, to dream and to tremble. + +And as she gazed a honey-bee hummed in her ear, "Go not to the great +city." + +And as she smiled she raised her hand between her eyes and the far-off +towers so she could not see. + +"Nay," quoth she, "it is a small place; my hand can cover it." + +"Ring a chime," saith she to the heather shaking its bells in the wind, +"ring for me a wedding chime, for I am to be the bride of the Earl +Roderick." + +She kissed the wild bramble lifting its petals in the sun. + +"I shall return to thee soon." + +And so, springing to her feet, she ran laughing down the hill, and as she +ran the spirit of the hills was with her, blowing in her eyes and lifting +her soft hair. + +"I shall return to thee soon," she said again, and so entered her father's +house and prepared herself for her betrothed. + +What of her dream was there now? She was indeed the Earl's bride, but, +alack! she was divorced from his heart and was naught to his days. + +Never did she sit by his knee when he drew his chair by the fire, weary +from the chase, nor lean beside him while he slept, to wonder at her +happiness. Down the great halls she went, looking through the narrow +windows on the outside world, as a brown moth flutters at the pane, weary +of an imprisonment that had in its hold the breath of death. + +Weary and pale grew she, and more morose and stern the Black Earl, and of +their tragedy there seemed no end. But when a year had nigh passed, one +rosy morning a servant-lass met Black Roderick as he came from his +chamber, her eyes heavy with tears. + +And of what she said I shall sing, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _"Alas!" she said, "Earl Roderick, + 'Tis well that you should know + That each gray eve, lone wandering, + My mistress dear doth go._ + + _"She comes with sorrow in her eyes + Home in the dawning light; + My lord, she is so weak and young + To travel in the night."_ + + _Now stern grew Black Earl Roderick, + But answered not at all; + He took his hunting harness down + That hung upon the wall._ + + + _Then quickly went he to the chase, + And slowly came he back, + And there he met his old sweetheart, + Who stood across his track._ + +So shall I tell how she, sighing and white of face, laid her soft hand +upon his bridle-rein so he could not go from her. Her breath came out of +her like the hissing of a trodden snake, poisoning the ear of the +horseman. + +"Bend to me thy proud head, Black Earl," quoth she, "for it shall be low +enough soon. This is a tale I bring to thee of sorrow and shame. Bend me +thy proud neck, Black Roderick, for the burden I must lay upon it shall +bow thee as the snow does the mountain pine. Bend to me thine ear." + +To him then she said: + +"Where goeth your mistress?" + +"What care I?" said the Black Earl, "since she be not thou." + +"If she were I," said his lost love, "she would seek no other save thee +alone." + +"What sayest thou?" said the Black Earl, pale as death. + +"Each night she goeth through the woods of Glenasmole to the hill of brown +Kippure, and there lingereth until the dawn be chill." + +"Who hath her love?" saith the Black Earl. + +"A shepherd, or mayhap a swineherd--who knoweth?" quoth the serpent voice. +"By no brave prince art thou supplanted." + +At this the Black Earl struck his hand upon his breast. + +"Lord pity me," quoth he, "that in my time should come the stain upon our +honored house! My name, that was so white, shall now blush red. My proud +ancestors will curse me from their tomb. Let thou go my rein, that I may +seek this wanton and give her ready punishment." + +So quick he drew the rein from her hand that she wellnigh stumbled. And +like one bereft of mind he rode through the woods and up the hill seeking +his false bride. High and low he searched, but no sign of his lost +mistress did he discover. Out in the distance he saw the shining city of +Baile-ata-Cliat, on the near wood side of which his gray towers stood. He +could see the flag on its topmost turret waving in the breeze like a +beckoning finger calling him back from his futile search. He turned him +about, and on every side of him were the shadowy mountains watching him +and appalling him with their mystery. Impatient he turned his eyes upon +the ground; a bramble moving in the wind cast itself about his feet. He +crushed it under his heel. A bee darting from one of the trodden flowers +made a battle-cry, and bared her sting for his neck. He struck it down +among the leaves; following its fall, his eyes, drawn by some other eyes, +rested on a hollow by a stone. There he saw gazing at him the whiskered +face of a red weasel, looking without pity, without fear. + +"Evil beast!" said the Black Earl, glad to speak, for the silence of all +the listening things who watched him made his heart beat with unwonted +quickness, and he knew they were so many silent judges reading the evil of +his soul. "Get thee gone," quoth the Black Earl. "Darest thou gaze upon me +without fear?" + +But the red weasel, resting at the doorway of his hole, did not blink a +lid of his sharp eyes. + +"Who art thou that evil should droop ashamed before thee?" said a voice, +and the Black Earl turned as though a stone had struck him. + +Now, when he looked east and west, no one could he see, but when he turned +him south, there among the trees he saw an old, bent woman gathering +herbs. He turned his horse and, full of rage, drove it towards her. + +"Was it not thy voice that hurt my ears as I stood upon the hill?" quoth +the Black Earl, his tongue silken in his rage. + +"Nay," said the ancient crone; "I heard but the linnet's song upon the +tree, and the sound of running water that is murmuring in the grove. +Listen, and thou, too, shalt hear." + +"Nay," quoth she again, for the Black Earl scowled so at her that she +feared to be silent. "If I said this thing, why should it vex the ear of +so proud a knight? Yonder black rook did look into my face with an +inquisitive eye as I plucked my herbs and harmed no man, so I, angry at +the wicked one, cursed him begone. As he flew affrighted at my hand, I +turned my eyes into my own heart. The birds and I, do we not both root in +the cold earth, seeking to draw from it our desires? Black and ill-looking, +we dig all day. 'Who art thou,' quoth I to myself, 'that evil should fly +before thee?' Wicked that I am," cried the witch, "and sorrow upon me that +my words have vexed thine ears!" + +Now the Black Earl did look upon her in anger, and but half believed her +tale. His trouble being heavy upon him, he bade her leave her lamenting +and answer his question. + +"There is one," quoth he, "who doth wander upon the hill-side, far from +her home, a lady of high degree; sawest thou any such," saith he, "for I +have sought her long?" + +Now will I sing thee what was said and what happened, lest thou grow weary +of my prose: + + _"I have not seen your lady here," + The withered dame replied; + "But I have met a little lass + Who wrung her hands and cried._ + + _"She was not clad in silken robe, + Nor rode a palfrey white, + She had no maidens in her train, + Behind her rode no knight._ + + _"But she crept weary up yon hill + And crouched upon the sward; + I dare not think that she could be + Spouse to so great a lord."_ + + _Now darkly frowned Earl Roderick, + He turned his face away; + And shame and anger in his heart + Disturbed him with their sway._ + + _For he had never cared to know + What his young bride would wear; + He gave her neither horse nor hound, + Nor jewels for her hair._ + +Now shall I tell how the Black Earl clapped his hand upon his dagger, and +said in a great rage: "Where went this little lass, and whom hath she by +her side? for whoever he be, I shall show to him no pity. Neither shall +her tears save her. Nor shall thy age serve thee, witch, if thou hast +spoken not the truth. Whither went they, so I may follow, as the hound +goes on the trail of the deer?" + +"Oh, sharp sorrow thy anger is!" cried the old crone; "what can I say, +save what my eye hath seen and my ear hath heard? The little lass passed +me as I gathered my herbs under the dew. She hath by her side no lord nor +lover. She went sad and alone. Here climbed she the height of the hill, +and there sat she making her lament." + +"And what lament made she?" said the Black Earl, putting his dagger into +its sheath. + +"Once called she on her father, as one who drowns in deep waters would +call upon a passing ship. Twice called she upon her mother, as one would +call upon a house of rest or of hospitality. Thrice called she upon Earl +Roderick, as one would call at the gates of paradise, there to find rescue +and love." + +"And said she naught else?" said the Black Earl, his head upon his breast. + +"Yea," quoth the crone, "when she called upon her father, she smiled +through her tears. 'Didst thou know I perish,' quoth she, 'thy arms would +reach to save me!' + +"And when she called twice upon her mother, her mouth smiled even the +same, 'for didst thou learn my hunger, thy heart would warm me to life +again'; but when she called three times upon Earl Roderick, she paused as +though for an answer, and smiled no more. 'Thee,' quoth she, 'I perish +for, I hunger for. Thou lovest me not at all.' + +"So did she sit and make her moan upon the hill, and here watched she the +lights in the far windows of her lost home quench themselves one by one. +'Now,' quoth she, 'my mother sleepeth, and now my father. And now by all +am I forgotten.' Then did she steal, in the dim light, down from the hill, +and I saw her no more." + +"What didst thou tell to her, old witch?" quoth the Black Earl, "as she +passed weeping? Didst thou speak to her no word?" + +"I stopped her as she passed me, proud Earl," quoth the crone, "for she +was gentle, and held her head not too high to look upon one old and near +unto death. + +"'Weep not,' said I, 'but spread to me thy fingers, so I may read what +fate thou holdest in thy palm.' And like a child she smiled between her +tears. + +"'Look only on luck,' quoth she, 'oh, ancient one, lest my heart break +even now.' I spread her pink fingertips out as one would unruffle a rose, +and read therein her fate." + +"And what read you there?" said the Black Earl, impatient with her delay. + +"I read," quoth the crone, "and if I say, thou must keep thy anger from +me, for what I read I had not written: + + _"I traced upon her slender palm + That luck was changing soon; + I swore that peace would come to her + Before another moon._ + + _"I said that he who loved her well + Would robe her all in silk, + And bear her in a coach of gold, + With palfreys white as milk._ + + _"I told, before three suns had set + He'd kneel down by her side; + That he she loved would love her well, + And she would be his bride._ + +"'This before three suns have set,' so read I," quoth the crone. + +Now, when the Black Earl heard so much, he would hear no more. Pallid grew +his angry cheek, and his eyes were full of fire; he flung himself upon his +horse, and, sparing not the beast, galloped home. + +"In the highest tower shall I lock the jade," quoth he, "lest she bring me +shame; for what her palm had writ upon it one must believe, and who dare +love her, save I who will not? And should I die, wherefore should she not +be another's? And should I not die--but this no man dare, for I shall tear +his tongue from his mouth, his ear from his cheek, his heart from his +body, ere he speak or listen to a word to my dishonor." + +Now, when he reached his castle, no man ventured to speak to him, or look +upon him with too inquisitive an eye, for his anger was such that one +trembled to approach him. + +And at the gate of his castle sat his old love upon her palfrey, with a +stern face and grim; behind her, resting upon their way, came her +followers, knight and lady, gay with banner and spear, whispering in their +telling of the story. + +"A curse upon the wandering feet that have brought disgrace upon thy +house," quoth his old love, her hand so tight upon the rein that the two +pages could hardly keep the horse from rearing. + +But the proud Earl to her made no answer, neither to bid her welcome, nor +to bid her go, nor to speak of his fears. Into his breast he locked his +grief so that none might know the strain wellnigh broke the stony casket +of his heart. + +When he leaped from his horse there came to him his little brother. + +"My grief!" said the boy, "what has happened in the night, for I heard the +banshee sobbing so bitterly through the dark?" + +No answer made the Black Earl to the boy, neither did he lift him in his +arms nor chide him for his weeping, but passed silent into his own +chamber, and crouched within his chair. When after a time he raised his +eyes, he seemed to see his young bride gazing upon him from the open door. +And in his anger he sprang to seize her, but only the empty air came to +his hands. + +He mounted the marble stairs to her chamber to seek her there, but only +found a sewing-maid, pale and deadly faint. + +"Oh, sharp sorrow," quoth she, "from what I have seen this night, Mary +protect me! A white ghost have I seen--evil it may bring to me--a white +ghost with dim eyes of the dead!" + +"Whither went she?" said the Black Earl, angry in his need. + +"Into thy chamber, great Earl!" cried the maid; "I saw her at thy bed-head +weeping piteously." + +"It was thy lady," quoth the Earl; "lead me her way, and stop thy +lamentation." + +"My grief!" the girl said, "her way I know not; when I, deeming her my +mistress, reached her side, she was no more. It is an evil day that cometh +upon us." + +Now, when the proud Roderick saw the girl so full of fear, he chid her +cruelly and bade her go. Yet when she had left him he felt a strange and +unwonted coldness settle upon his heart. + +The anger against his young bride was quenched, and a dewlike fear grew +upon him. But of what befell him I shall now sing to thee, lest thou grow +weary of my prose: + + _All silent Black Earl Roderick + Went to his room away, + Full angry, with his throbbing heart + And fitful fancy's play._ + + _He sat him by the bright hearth-side, + And turned towards the door; + And there upon the threshold stood + His lady, weeping sore._ + + _He chased her down the winding stair, + And out into the night, + But only found a withered crone, + With long hair, loose and white._ + + _"Come hither now, you sly-faced witch; + Come hither now to me. + Say if a lady all so pale + Your evil eyes did see?"_ + + _"Oh, true, I saw a little lass, + She went all white as snow; + She crossed my hands with silver crown + Just two short hours ago."_ + + _"What did you tell the foolish wench, + Who must my lady be? + The false tale you did tell to her + You now must tell to me."_ + + _"I hate you, Black Earl Roderick, + You're cruel, hard, and cold; + Yet you shall grieve like a young child + Before the moon is cold._ + + _"This did I tell her, like a queen + She'd ride into the town; + And every man who met her there + Would on his knees go down._ + + _"I said that he who followed none + Would walk behind her now, + And in his trembling hand the helm + From his uncovered brow._ + + _"Then he should walk, while she would ride, + Through all the town away; + And greater than Earl Roderick + She would become that day."_ + +And now shall I tell how laughed the Black Earl aloud and scornful at the +witch's tale. + +"No lady in the land," quoth he, "could so enslave me, and no woman yet +was born who hath my honor and glory." + +So spoke Earl Roderick, and by these words shalt thou hold him, heart-whole +and vain withal, for the hour of his sorrow had not yet struck. + +Now turned he to the dame, and, chiding her, bade her begone. + +"Thy tale," saith he, "is full of weariness. It hath neither wisdom nor +truth." + +Turning from her in anger, home went he, and flung himself before the +dying fire in his chamber, a frown between his brows. And again a cold +fear turned closely about his heart. Raising his eyes, he saw no more +terrible a thing than his young bride, with a face of grievous pain, +looking upon him from the door. Then he spoke her gently. + +"Come," quoth he, "sad-faced one, why dost thou torment me? One question +only shall I ask thee, and this must thou answer. Whom hast thou met upon +the hill? For the witch woman hath told me a wearisome tale, which I shall +not lend my ear to." + +Now, when he spoke, his young bride neither answered nor came, but gazed +from the threshold upon him in silence. So he got up in anger and went her +way. Through the chamber strode he, and she was yet before him, and +without sound went she down the hall and stair. So out through the open +door, and the men-at-arms let her pass, though the Black Earl bid them +stay her feet, and gazed bewildered, seeing only their stern master +running alone, with fierce eyes, such as a hound doth cast upon a young +hare. Quick as the Black Earl ran, the little bride was before. + +Through sleepy woods and honey-perfumed plains, all through the night did +he chase her, but never once did he reach her, nor ever once did she pause +to rest. + +When the morning sun was high, she led him up to the lights of Brown +Kippure, and there vanished from his sight. + +Now, when the Black Earl perceived this wondrous thing, he felt his heart +sink with utter weariness, and without more seeking fell upon the moss. +Had his eyes been not so hot with anger, slow tears of sorrow would have +forced their way upon his cheeks, for now that he had her not his desire +was strong upon him to behold his bride. + +As he lay upon the heather, he heard the shrill voice of his little +brother clamoring by his side. + +"Be still," quoth he, "for thou hast frightened away a fair dream that I +fain would follow." + +"But I would tell thee," said the little brother, "of a strange thing, and +one to set thee full of laughter." + +"Nay," quoth the Black Earl, "of that I have no desire, lest thou place +upon my head a cap and bells, and call me fool Roderick." + +"And wherefore," said the little brother, "shouldst thou laugh at fool +Roderick?" + +"Because," quoth the Black Earl, "he hath found a strange jewel when he +hath lost it." + +"Thy words I do not understand," saith the little brother. "What was the +strange jewel that he hath and yet hath not?" + +"Love," quoth the Black Earl. + +"That neither do I understand," saith the little brother, "but now thou +must listen to my story." + +And of what he saith shall I sing, for his voice was sweeter than prose: + + _"Oh, brother, brother, come up to the lake waters gray, + Come up to the shore where I play; + For, oh! I saw on the bank asleep + A fair white nymph, and the slow waves creep, + To bear her away, away._ + + _"Oh, brother, brother, I watched her through the day, + Saw her hair grow jewelled with spray. + Once her cheek was brushed by a robin's wing, + And a finch flew down on her hand to sing, + And was not afraid to stay._ + + _"Oh, brother, brother, will she soon awaken be? + I would that she laugh with me. + She sleeps, and the world so full of sound; + She's deaf, like the deaths that are under the ground, + That I laugh and laugh to see."_ + +Now shall I tell how the Black Earl heeded not the story of the little +brother, nor the tragedy that lay therein, for his ear was busy with +another sound. + +"Hush," said the Black Earl, "for hearest thou not a voice in trouble?" + +"Nay," cried the little brother; "I hear naught save the laughing stream +that comes from the lake where my water-nymph lieth." + +"Hush!" said the Black Earl again, "for hearest thou not the voice of my +mistress making a lamentation?" + +"Nay," saith the little brother; "I hear naught save the moving of the +reeds in the pushing waters, and thou wilt not listen to my story." + +Now went the little brother away in his anger, and found himself a play +among the heather. + +But the Black Earl bent above the stream and gazed long into its shallow +turbulence with wonder and fear, for the words the stream said to him in +its whisperings were as though spoken in the voice of his young bride. + +He laid his hand in the flowing waters. + +"Why art thou troubled, little stream?" quoth he. + +But the little stream stayed not its whispering. + +"Sainted Mother, oh, pray for me!" it murmured, in piteous prayer, "and +leave sweet mercy upon my soul." + +Now, when the Black Earl heard the voice of his lady coming from the +waters in such sorrow, he rose with a cry, and, his heart being full of +fear, he knew at last the greatness of his love. + +"Where art thou, then?" he cried, in his woe. "Whither shall I seek thee?" + +But the little stream passing his feet murmured its prayer in going; no +other sound did he hear save the far-away laughter of his little brother. + +"Oh, Mary, Mother, pray my soul to rest! Take mercy, Lord, on a soul +afraid." + +"Where are the lips from which thou hast stolen that cry?" said the Black +Earl; and, like an old man bent with trouble, he sought the banks, seeking +for the white form of his bride. "Now," quoth he, "well do I know this +stream hath carried her last cry to my feet, and her drowning lips have +been forced to sinful death to-night by my long cruelty." + +He went up the hill as a man goeth to despair, slow and afraid; and when +he reached the little wood in whose bosom the lake was enshrined, he +paused and looked around. + +Of this shall I sing, for so sad and piteous it is that my harp would fain +soothe me from tears: + + _He looked into the deep wood green, + But nothing there did see; + He looked into the still water + Beneath, all white, lay she._ + + _He drew her from her cold, cold bed, + And kissed her cheek and chin; + Loosed from his neck his silken cloak, + To wrap her body in._ + + _He took her up in his two arms-- + His grief was deep and wild; + He knelt beside her on the sod, + And sorrowed like a child._ + + _He blew three blasts upon his horn; + His men did make reply, + And came all quickly to his call, + Through brake and brier so high._ + + _And every man who saw her there + Went down upon his knee; + Behind her came Earl Roderick, + All pitiful to see._ + + _And in his trembling hand the helm + From his uncovered brow; + And "Oh," he said, "to love her well, + And know it only now!"_ + + _So he did walk while she did ride + Through all the town away, + For greater than Earl Roderick + She did become that day._ + +Now have I said how the heart of the Black Earl woke to love, and then was +humbled, as the ancient crone had foretold; but of his sorrowful years, +his desperate danger of eternal loss and his after-salvation, must I +likewise tell, if the story would be pitiful in the ending. + +Therefore shall I lay my harp aside, and so go back in my telling. + +And I bid thee remember how the little pale bride was wont to sit upon the +mountain and watch the far lights in her father's home quench themselves +one by one. + +So now of how she died shall I tell thee, and of what came to her in her +passing, lest thou thinkest so innocent a child had laid violent hands +upon her life, who only had met death through the breaking of her heart. + +Here sat she on the mountain, and the wild things spoke of her in her +silence. The red weasel, the bee, and the bramble, and many others, moved +to watch her. Well have they known her in her young joyfulness; here had +she made the place she loved best--the high brow of the hill where she sat +as a child and watched--on the one side the far-off city and the white +towers that held the wonder-knight of her dreams. Here had she sat and +seen the gleam of his spear as he went with his hunters through the +valley; and here, too, had her mother come to tell her of her betrothal, +so she had nigh fainted in her happiness, in looking upon the white tower +that was to be her home. + +Here had she learned the sweet language of the birds and flowers, and +they, too, had partaken of her joys; but of her sorrows they would not +understand, for our joys and our laughter, are they not as the singing of +the bird and the dancing of the fly, who weep only when they meet death? +In our griefs do we not stand alone, who have in our hearts the fierce +desires of love and all the tragedies of despair? + +Now, as the young bride turned her slow feet up the mountain, down where +her glad feet had turned as a maid, she sat her there by the lake. + +The little creatures she was wont to love and understand gathered about +her and wondered at her state. + +"She hath returned," said the red weasel; "see where she sitteth, her head +upon her hand. I slew a young bird at her feet, and she spake no word, nor +did she care." + +"It is not she," said a linnet, swaying on a safe spray, "for had it been +she her anger would have slain thee." + +"It is she," said the red weasel, laughing in his throat; "but her eyes +are hidden by her fingers, and she cannot see." + +"It is not she," said a brown wren. "Her cheek was full and rosy and her +song loud. This one sitteth all mute and pale." + +"It is she," said the red weasel, "who sitteth upon the mountain, her face +hidden between her hands. She sitteth in silence, and who can tell her +thoughts? She hath been to the great city." + +"It is a small place," hummed a honey-bee. "Once, long ago, she raised her +white palm between her eyes and its smoke. 'See,' she laughed, 'my little +hand can cover it.'" + +"It is so great," said the red weasel, "that those who leave the mountains +for love of it return to us no more." + +"Yet she hath returned," said a lone lark hanging in the sky, "and I +myself have sung beside her ear." + +"She came, yet she came not," said the red weasel. "What did she answer +when thou saidst that I had slain thy mate?" + +"She sighed, 'Thou singest a gay song, O bird!'" hummed a golden beetle. +"My grief! that she cannot understand." + +"She is lost to us indeed!" said a honeysuckle swaying in the wind, "for +she trod me beneath her feet when I held my sweet blossoms for her lips." + +"And she tore me aside," cried the wild bramble, "when I did but reach +towards her for embrace." + +"She will know thee no more," said the red weasel; "she hath been to the +great city." + +"She laid her lips upon me ere she went," spake the wild bramble, "and +said she would return to us soon." + +"She bid me ring a merry chime," whispered the heather, "and I move my +many bells now for her welcome, but she will not hear." + +"She will speak with thee no more," said the red weasel; "she hath walked +in the city, like one goeth upon the fairy sleeping grass, and her soul +hath forgotten us." + +"She is still and cold," said a shining fly glancing through the air. "I +have danced a measure under her eyes, and she did not see." + +"She is dead," said the honey-bee, "for when she would not look upon me as +before, I drew my sword and stung her sharply, but she did not stir. She +sat and gazed into the distance where the smoke like a great gray web +lieth heavy. She is surely dead." + +"She is not dead," said the red weasel; "she hath been to the great city." + +"Maybe there she hath found Death," said the shining fly, "for his web +reacheth far, and he loveth the dark places and hidden ways. He hideth, +too, in the cool arbors of the wood, stretching a gray chain for our +undoing. Maybe she found Death. He spreadeth ropes of pearls across our +path, and looketh upon us from the shade; when the dance is gayest he +creepeth to spring. Maybe she hath reached for the pearls or hath danced +into his net." + +And so the fly sang of the watcher in the wood, and his song I shall sing +thee, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _Deep in the wood's recesses cool + I see the fairy dancers glide, + In cloth of gold, in gown of green, + My lord and lady side by side._ + + _But who has hung from leaf to leaf, + From flower to flower, a silken twine, + A cloud of gray that holds the dew + In globes of clear enchanted wine,_ + + _Or stretches far from branch to branch, + From thorn to thorn, in diamond rain? + Who caught the cup of crystal wine + And hung so fair the shining chain?_ + + _'Tis death the spider, in his net, + Who lures the dancers as they glide, + In cloth of gold, in gown of green, + My lord and lady side by side._ + +But a dragon-fly rattling his armor said, without heed of the singer, "She +is dead," for when she came among the heather the joyous spirit of the +mountain met her and blew upon her hair and eyes. He kissed her worn cheek +that he had known so fair, and the soft rain of his sorrow fell to see the +pity of her brow. She passed all stiff and cold; she did not hear nor +understand. + +"Wind," quoth she, "blow not so fierce." + +"She is not dead," saith the red weasel; "she hath been to the great +city." + +Now, when the young bride raised her white face from her hands and looked +about her, she could neither hear the speaking of the birds nor see the +beauty of the wild flowers, yet in her heart she had a memory of both. +Turning to the little flying things that came about her with soft, beating +wings, she said: + +"Once ye spake to me, and could give comfort with your counsel and love. +Now ye are lost in the voices of the city that ring forever in my ears." + +Gazing upon the flowers, she said: + +"Ye, too, your beauty hath faded. The gaudy flowers of the city have +flashed their color in my eyes, so ye I cannot see or understand." + +Then she rose to her feet, though she scarce could stand, and, stretching +her arms towards the great purple hills that surrounded her father's far +home, she said towards it: + +"Why didst thou call me back since thou hast let me go from the sight of +the heights that would have been always a prayer to uplift my soul? Ahone! +that thy voice was loud enough to follow and give me unrest, that +whispered always of my father's house and the valley of my home. So must I +come each eve upon this hill to look upon it from my loneliness. + +"Unloved am I, and unwished for, by him whom I have wedded. So my heart +dieth within my breast, and my soul trembleth on the brink of my grave. + +"Here upon the mountains, unprayed for and uncoffined, shall my body lie, +for thy voice hath called me forth. + +"Here my black sins shall see and pursue me even to destruction; but in +the city I could have escaped with the crowding souls that confuse Death +to count." + +Then, as a remembrance of her sins came heavy upon her, she gave a loud +cry and covered her face with her hands. + +So she stood without help upon the mountains, and because she was blind +with the city dust and deafened with its cries, she stood alone. The +pitying wild flowers blew their fragrance to her eyes, but they would not +open; the gentle birds spoke comforting whispers to her ears, but she +could not hear; the great hills held their arms about her and breathed +their peace upon her brow. But this she did not know, and so stood alone +to face Death. + +First turned she her face to where her father's castle stood on a far +hill, and again turned she to see the white towers where she had lived and +loved so vainly. And when her eyes met the glisten of the walls, her heart +broke with a little sigh, and she fell upon the ground. And she laid her +weary body down beside the waters of the mountain lake. Her head with its +loosened hair lay in the waters, so her lips, covered by the murmuring +ripples, breathed a prayer as she died for her passing soul. And the +little stream that ran from the lake down the hill-side carried the prayer +upon its breast as thou hast been told. + +Now, when the ghost of the little bride stood upright beside her fallen +body, she was sore afraid, and trembled much to leave the habitation she +had known in life. + +She laid her spirit-hands upon the cold dead, and clung to it as though +she would not be driven forth. Many and terrifying were the sights that +met her when she opened her eyes, after passing through the change of +death. Many and terrifying were the sounds that came to her ears, and she +feared she would be whirled away with the great clouds that passed her and +went like smoke into the skies. Cold she was and drenched with the rain +that fell everywhere around her; gray and misshapen were the moving masses +under her gaze; and only where her hands lay holding to her dead body did +she see aught of the world she had left behind. There the sweet green +grass lifted itself and a brier rose cast its blossom apart. There a bee +sang, calling to her a little comfort among all the strange sounds that +filled her ears. + +As she listened, she found the noises that troubled her were the cries of +many voices, and as she began to see more clearly in the great change that +had come to her, she knew the shadowy clouds rushing upward were the +spirits of the dead on their dangerous swift way to heaven. And as she +raised her face to follow their flight the rain fell salt into her mouth, +so she knew it was the repentant tears of the passing ghosts. + +So crouched she in that misty world, seeing not the green earth and the +purple hills, but only the whirling shapes about her on every side, flying +from earth to heaven, pursued by their black sins. + +And one in the valley of Baile-ata-Cliat, looking towards the mountains, +said: + +"See how the clouds fly black and fearful!" But it was the hosts of +spirits flying upward. "See," quoth he, "how the lightning flashes!" But +it was the opening of God's High Paradise to receive some spirit wellnigh +spent. "Hark," said he, "how the wind moans and the rain beats upon the +window!" But it was the cry of the passing ghosts and their falling tears +as their black sins fought and kept them from heaven. + +But one who was a singer took his harp and sang, for he understood. Here +is his song: + + _They say it is the wind in midnight skies, + Loud shrieking past the window, that doth make + Each casement shudder with its storm of cries, + And the barred door with pushing shoulder shake._ + + _Ah no, ah no, it is the souls pass by, + Their lot to run from earth to God's high place, + Pursued by each black sin that death let fly + From their sad flesh, to break them in the chase._ + + _They say it is the rain from leaf to leaf + Doth slip and roll into the thirsting ground, + That where the corn is trampled sheaf by sheaf + The heavy sorrow of the storm is found._ + + _Ah no, ah no, it is repentant tears, + By those let fall who make their direful flight, + And drop by drop the anguish of their fears + Comes down around us all the awful night._ + + _They say that in the lightning-flash, and roar + Of clashing clouds, the tempest is about; + And draw their chairs the glowing hearth before, + And casement close to shut the danger out._ + + _Ah no! the doors of Paradise they swing + A moment open for a soul nigh spent, + Then come together till the thunder's ring + Leaves us half blinded by God's element._ + +Now, the spirit of the young bride was not yet called upon to join their +terrible flight, for until her body was laid beneath the clay the soul had +power to stay beside it. So stayed the spirit of the young bride by her +dead body till her ghostly eyes grew accustomed to the change which had +come to her. And when she found she could see the brown earth again and +the things thereon, she rose to her feet, and ran down the mountains to +the castle of Black Roderick, and there called thrice beside the gate, and +for her it was opened by the little brother, who gazed affrighted and ran +from her. + +"What hath come to thee?" quoth she, and came upon him in his fear. + +And he looked not to her, but spake to a knight-at-arms, saying thus: + +"Three times cried the voice of my brother's wife at the gates, and when I +opened for her there was none outside." + +So the little bride, hearing, cried out in her despair, for she had +forgotten that she was no longer as these others. + +And when the two heard the cry, they were affrighted, and made the cross +upon their foreheads. + +"It is the banshee," quoth the knight, "who weeps for some death." + +Seeing they feared her, the little bride passed sadly into the castle, and +timidly sought the chamber where the Black Earl was gone to crouch by the +glowing fire. + +Now, when Black Roderick looked up and saw her, he sprang towards her so +she was afraid, and flitted before him like a shadow. And when he followed +up the stair and into his own chamber, she faded like a shadow in the +sunshine that came through the window, and the wind, coming down from the +mountains and passing through the casement, drew her out upon its breast, +and bore her back to the hills where her body lay awaiting its burial. + +And seeing it there, a misery fell upon her, so she raised her head and +wept. + +"Ahone!" quoth she, "poor body that hath no one to weep over thy +loneliness, that must lie uncoffined and unprayed for, who wast so +tenderly cared for in thy life! Where art thou, my father, where art thou, +my mother, that this should be? And where is he to whom this poor body was +given to cherish and to love?" + +And again she went to the castle of Black Roderick, and stood beside his +door, the tears undried upon her cheek. And again sprang he towards her, +so she was afraid, and flew before him down the winding stair and out into +the night, so he could no longer see her. + +And again the spirit of the young bride went back to the dead upon the +hill-side, and, seeing it unburied and uncoffined, fell into tears. + +"Never," saith she, "shall I now reach heaven, if my body lieth without a +grave!" + +And so sad was her soul at the thought that she went in her despair to the +castle of the Black Earl, and stood again upon his threshold full of +tears. + +And when he looked up and saw her he was no longer fierce, but spake to +her gently. + +"Come hither," quoth he, "my sad-faced bride. I would but ask thee one +question. Come beside my chair." + +But she answered him not at all, but withdrew from his presence, as though +bidding him follow. + +Out into the night he followed, and pursued her without rest, till she +almost reached the high hill where her body lay uncoffined. + +And when they came in the morning to the little grove upon the side of the +mountain, she felt a hand touch the poor, unmourned-for dead, and, with a +great fear upon her, vanished from his eyes; so he fell upon the moss in +his disappointment and weariness. + +But the spirit of the little bride flew to the side of her uncoffined body +to protect it from desecration ere her lord had looked upon it. And there +she saw the little brother playing by the dead. + +And as she came he turned and ran down the mountain, for he had heard the +voice of Black Roderick calling; so the spirit of the little bride knew +her task was done. And of how the Black Earl found her, and of what he +said and did, have I told thee; but of how the spirit of the young bride +enwrapped herself about the dead I have not spoken, nor of how she +thrilled beneath the embraces of her lord, whose love she had at the last. + +When he stood beside her deep grave, that was dug in the little church-yard +nigh to the castle, her spirit rose again from her body, and knew her hour +of trial had come. + +And when the grave was closed and the mourners gone, the spirit stayed by +the grave, afraid. + +When evening came, the spirits of the dead rose in a white mist, each +above his grave, and all prepared for their swift and dangerous flight +towards the dark heavens. + +"Now," saith she, "my body can no longer protect me with its earthly +presence. I am separated from the world, and am no more of it. I must +arise and meet death alone." + +The first thing she knew of the great presence was a loud whirring of +wings; she raised her head, and saw around her a crowd of evil birds. So +afraid was she that she gave a loud and sudden cry, and at the sound the +ill birds rose and hovered in the air between her and heaven. + +"My sins have discovered me," she cried, "and now I fear death!" + +And because she knew that before dawn she would have to account for her +evil deeds, she lifted up her voice in loud keening. So sad was her cry +that the pitying wind bore it down upon his wings into the little village +at the foot of the mountain, that the people might hear and pray for a +soul in its passing. + +But the people in the village were busy even so late with the harvest, and +did not hear; only in one house where a mother sat with her sick child did +the cry come, and she closed the shutter and fell to prayer. + +"'Tis the banshee who crieth," she whispered, "and my Conneen so ill! 'Tis +the banshee, and Sheila with the cheek of snow. God bid the fairy pass, +and set the angels at my door! Whisht!" she cried to the playing young +ones, "come beside my chair and pray." + +And of her fear shall I sing, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _Oh, whisht! I hear the banshee keen, + All woful is her cry. + She comes along the gray boreen-- + Pray God she pass us by._ + + _My wee Conneen is pale and weak, + I hold him to my side; + The rose is white on Sheila's cheek + Since her young lover died._ + + _The little children from their play + Creep to me full of fear; + "Oh, whisht! the banshee comes," they say: + "Whom does she weep for here?"_ + + _But Sheila leaves my chair to go, + And flings the shutter wide; + "Be it for me," she whispers low, + "The banshee keened and cried."_ + + _God be between our house and harm, + For trouble comes full fleet. + I hold the babe close in my arm; + The fairy in the street._ + +But the wind that blew from the hill-side carried the keening of the +little bride past the village, and blew it about the windows of the castle +wherein Black Roderick dwelt. And as the cry keened and called, so did the +sleepers turn in their beds and moan uneasily in their dreaming. + +When the cry passed the windows of the east, it went to the windows of the +west, and there it tapped softly with fingers of the wind and called three +times: + +"Roderick! Roderick! Roderick!" + +And at the first call Black Roderick turned in his bed and groaned. And at +the second call he rose from his couch and said, in his anger: + +"Who calleth, and will not let me rest?" + +But at the third call he rose and went to the window in wonder, and seeing +nothing he crept cold and trembling to his bed, muttering the half- +forgotten prayers of his childhood; so long he lay in fear and amazement +that he did not sleep till the lark hung singing in the heavens, and then +he knew the night was gone and with it the ghosts that hide in the +darkness. So he turned his face to the wall and slept. But the spirit of +the little bride was speeding on her swift and terrible race to Paradise, +and round her whirled three great black birds seeking for her destruction. +And as she flew, one caught her by the long hair that swept behind her in +the wind and drew her backward. + +"Now," quoth she with a cry, "I can fly upward no longer; some evil thing +draws me back from heaven." + +And as she spoke a voice came out of the dark skies, and said: + +"Who holdeth back the passing soul?" + +And the voice of the dark bird replied: + +"Her anger, for she hath not submitted to her trials, but held herself +rebellious; therefore do I draw her down." + +And the voice from high paradise called out, saying: + +"Is there none to come to her succor, lest she be brought to her +destruction?" + +And a bee humming on the hillside, hearing the voice, flew upward and +stung the evil bird so it fell away into the darkness and was seen no +more. + +And the voice from the heavens cried again, saying: + +"Who hath let the little soul go free?" + +And the bee answered: + +"Her gentleness, for she loveth all things, great and small, and hath fed +the honey-bee when the earth refused him its sweets." + +Now, as the spirit of the little bride flew upward, freed from the grasp +of the evil bird, there came upon her again the cruel claws of one of +those two others that circled round her, holding her back upon her way. + +"Now," quoth she, "I shall never see the kingdom of heaven, and cannot +reach the doors of paradise," and bitter exceedingly was her crying. + +But again a voice came from the dark night, saying: + +"Who holdeth back the coming soul from her place in heaven?" + +And the black, evil bird answered: + +"Her despair, for she hath not held her head high above her sorrows, nor +hath borne in patience her griefs, but hath mourned the afflictions that +were put upon her till her heart hath broken under her grief. Therefore do +I draw her down." + +And the voice from high paradise called out, saying: + +"Is there none, then, to save her from eternal destruction?" + +And a wild bramble upon the mountain, hearing the voice, lifted itself +upward, and, throwing a long spray about the evil bird, tore it so with +its thorns that it loosed its claws from the wrist of the young bride and +flew into the gloom. + +And the voice from the heavens cried again, saying: + +"Who hath let the soul go free?" + +And the bramble answered, wafting the perfume of her flowers upward: + +"Her sweetness, for her mind is beautiful as the song of the linnet, and +she turneth her foot aside to spare the lowly blossoms." + +Now, when once more the spirit of the little bride flew upward, the last +and greatest of the evil birds fell upon her, and so strong was he and so +evil that she had no strength to go farther. + +"Now," quoth she, "I am lost forever, and shall see not the fair place in +paradise that was prepared for me." And she gave a loud and despairing +cry. But a voice came again from the night, and saith: + +"What evil thing keepeth the flying soul upon its way?" + +And the dark bird answered: + +"Her jealousy, for bitter was her heart against one whom Black Roderick +had loved ere she became his bride; and for this do I drag her down to her +destruction." + +And the voice from the high heavens spoke, saying: + +"Is there none, then, to save her?" + +And there looked up from the hillside the bright eyes of the red weasel, +but he crouched in the grasses without reply. And the grasp of the evil +bird became stronger on the quivering soul that could no longer fly upon +its way to heaven. And from the great wings of the bird black feathers, +wrenched out in the struggle, flew down upon the earth, spreading evil +where they fell. + +And the voice from heaven cried out again in sorrow exceedingly: + +"Is there none, then, to save this soul from destruction?" + +And the bee and the bramble, seeing the red weasel was loath to stir from +the grasses where he sat watching the desperate battle, fell upon him in +their fury and forced him to rise. + +"Never," quoth they, "shalt thou have rest, nor thy children's children +peace, while there's a bee in the air or a flower upon the thorn, if thou +goest not to the succor of her we love so well." + +Then the red weasel sprang into the air and seized the evil bird by the +throat; so he let go his hold on the spirit of the young bride and flew +away into the darkness. + +And the voice from heaven cried out, saying: + +"Who hath let the frail ghost free to enter the gates of paradise?" + +And the red weasel answered: + +"Her strength, for she hath conquered her own evil thoughts, and put them +away forever." + +So the spirit of the young bride reached the gates of paradise spent and +wounded, and there upon the threshold stood an angel holding his hand to +draw her in. + +When his holy touch fell upon her, she rose whole and beautiful, and her +breast was full of joy for the moment. + +Now, the spirit of the young bride had been but a brief day in the golden +place of paradise, when she heard a far voice call upon her name in +anguish; three times did it call upon her, and at each cry a sharp sorrow +struck her heart, as though a knife had entered therein. + +Now went she to the golden bar of heaven, and, leaning forth, looked down +upon the earth, and she turned her north, and naught did she see save the +cold face of the night with its millions of worlds whirling in the dark. +And she looked south, and naught could she see but the gray of clouds +heavy with storm; and she turned her east, and naught did she see save the +shimmering blue of a summer sky. But when she turned her westward, she saw +the green earth, and of all upon it she sought none save Black Roderick, +who had used her so ill. And there upon his bed he lay in danger of death, +and as he turned in his anguish he called ever upon her name, so her heart +knew no longer the peace of paradise, and she became as one of the lost. + +Therefore did she rise up and approach the throne where the saints and +angels knelt in continual devotion. But she could not see the golden seat, +nor HIM who sat thereon. For around and above, and circling ever with +rainbow wings, went the seraphim and cherubim in eternal worship, so it +was as though a great wheel of light turned continually. + +Now, when the spirit of the little bride saw this wonder, she was full of +fear and dared not approach, but turned away weeping; and there, as she +wept, she saw before her the seat of Mary, the Queen of Heaven, and ran +towards it with unfaltering feet. + +"For," quoth she, "she, too, had but one love, and, being woman, will +understand." + +So she knelt at the feet of Mary, and cried to her: "Pray for me, Mother +of Christ." And the Virgin turned to her in wonder at her tears. + +"Art thou not happy," said she, "in heaven?" + +And the spirit of the little bride said: "Nay, for the cries of my beloved +come upward from the earth and call to me in his anguish, so I fear he is +in danger of death." + +"And why doth thou fear death for him," said the Virgin Mary, "since it +may bring to him the happiness of heaven?" + +"Alas!" said the little bride, "were it thus, his cries would not hurt my +heart so that I cannot hear the song of the angels. I fear he is lost +forever." + +"And what canst thou do, little soul," said the Blessed Mary, "to save him +if he cannot save himself?" + +"I can be with him in his destruction." + +Now, as the little soul said this terrible thing she fell forward upon her +face, so afraid was she and so despairing. + +"I can stand between him and the flames," said she, "and hold my hand +beneath the burning waters that would fall upon his body." + +And then she lay silent. + +Then the Virgin looked upon her with eyes that were all pitiful and had +much understanding. + +"Thou wilt suffer," saith she, as though remembering something, "to walk +by his side and see his anguish, but thou wouldst suffer more wert thou +forbidden this." + +So Mary rose from her high place and went towards the high throne of +heaven, and as she passed the whirling wings of the seraphim and cherubim +ceased to circle, but flew towards her from the throne. And to the little +bride, who crouched afraid on the fragrant floor, it seemed as though a +great wonder of bees had settled on some hidden sweet; countless wings +glistened and flashed in the strange light that glowed from the opening +flowers that formed the floor about the throne. + +In and out, striking together in their eagerness to get nearer their +desire, went the countless wings of the angel hosts. + +And from the throne all the time there came forth a low singing like the +humming of bees. As the little bride listened there came to her ears the +voice of the Virgin praying for her before the throne of God, and in the +pauses of the prayer the countless voices of the fluttering seraphim and +cherubim took up the refrain, "Hear us, O Christ." + +Now suddenly all sound ceased, and the fluttering wings moved aside, and +from their midst strode out a mighty angel of the Lord; and when he came +upon the frightened soul of the little bride he took her by the hand, and, +leading her to the gates of heaven, opened them that she might go forth. + +But ere she could pass out he said, with great sadness: + +"Thy little hands and feet are soft with the fragrant places of heaven; +much wilt thou suffer if thou goest forth." + +And again he said: + +"How canst thou leave the beauty and love of paradise, wherein thou mayst +enter no more save thou art strong enough to conquer great dangers?" + +But the little soul listened not to him, but passed through the gates in +eager hurry. And as she went the angel followed her with his gaze; and so +great was his pity--for he thought she might not re-enter the kingdom of +heaven--that tears fell from his eyes upon her hand. Now, when the little +bride went forth from the gates of heaven a chill wind blew upon her, so +she wellnigh fell upon the earth in anguish; but she took the two tears +that had fallen from the angel's eyes and hid them in her heart, and she +became warm, and the sharp earth did not hurt her feet, nor did the wind +of the cold world harm her. + +Now, when the spirit of the little bride came to the gates of the castle +wherein dwelt Black Roderick, she saw the great changes that had come to +pass therein, for the day that had fallen to her in paradise was as seven +years on earth. + +With her death had come strife and disunion among the clans, and now at +the walls stood the soldiers of her father, and within on his death-bed +the Black Earl who was dying, a prisoner in their hands. + +And as the little bride came to the gates of the garden without the +courtyard, she saw before them a strange and horrible coach. And the only +light that came from this dark carriage was from the red eyes of the six +horses who drew it, and their trappings swept the ground, black and +mouldy. Now, the body of this coach was shaped like a coffin, and at the +head sat the driver. + +When the little bride gazed upon him in wonder who he could be, she saw +through the misty winding-sheet that enfolded him a death's head. But when +she looked at him who sat at the foot of the coffin, she hid her face, for +it was an evil creature who crouched here. + +Now, as the little bride paused at the gate of the garden a voice came +from inside, and said: + +"Wherefore comest thou?" + +And he who sat at the foot of the coffin answered: + +"Open, for I claim the soul of Black Roderick." + +And the voice that was within answered: + +"Thou shalt come, for his cruelty hath driven my young daughter to her +grave, wherein she lieth while the birds sing, and the flowers blossom, +and the earth is glad with youth and spring." + +So he dropped the bolt and the door swung open, so the coach and its six +horses entered. + +Now, when the driver reached the door of the court-yard, he found it +closed against him, and he drew his coach up beside it and called in a +hollow voice for entrance. + +And one cried from inside: + +"Wherefore comest thou?" + +And he who was inside answered: + +"I claim the soul of Black Roderick." + +And the voice replied: + +"Willingly do I open, for he hath slain my sweet sister with his chill +heart and cruel ways, so she lieth in the dark earth who was the sunshine +of our house." + +Then the door swung open so the black coach and its six horses could +enter. + +Again the strange coach drove on, till it came to the castle door, and +there the evil being who was inside cast himself upon the ground, and, +going to the door, knocked thereon three times, and a woman's voice +answered, saying: + +"Who art thou?" + +And the evil one replied: + +"I am he who claims the soul of Black Roderick." + +And the woman said: + +"Welcome thou art, then, for he hath destroyed my heart's treasure and +buried it in the ground; so I go sorrowing all my days for the suffering +he caused her on earth, and for her young and unready death." + +Then the bolts and the bars fell from the door with a great noise, and the +evil thing entered the castle. + +Now, as Black Roderick lay upon his death-bed tossing and turning in his +fever, there rushed unto him one of the serving-men in a great terror and +fear. + +And of what they spoke together shall I sing thee, lest thou grow weary of +my prose: + + _There is one at the door, O my master, + At the door, who is bidding you come! + Who is he that wakes me in the darkness, + Calling when all the world's dumb?_ + + _Six horses has he to his carriage, + Six horses blacker than the night; + And their twelve red eyes in the shadows + Twelve lamps he carries for his light._ + + _And his coach is a coffin black and mouldy, + A huge oak coffin open wide; + He asks for your soul, God have mercy! + Who is calling at the door outside._ + + _Who let him through the gates of my garden, + Where stronger bolts have never been? + 'Twas the father of the fair little lady + You drove to her grave so green._ + + _And who let him pass through the court-yard, + By loosening the bar and chain? + Oh, who but the brother of your mistress + Who lies in the cold and the rain!_ + + _Then who drew the bolts at the portal + And into my house bade him go? + She, the mother of the poor little colleen + Who lies in her youth so low._ + + _Who stands that he dare not enter + The door of my chamber between? + Oh, the ghost of the fair little lady + Who lies in the church-yard green._ + +Now, when the evil one saw the spirit of the young bride at the door, her +arms spread out in the form of a cross, he did not know what to do. And +had not Black Roderick, in his joy and desire, sprung from his bed on +hearing the voice of his mistress bidding him fear not, all perchance had +gone well. + +But Roderick, sick and eager for the sight of his bride, flung open the +door, and was seized by the evil one and carried away. Now, the spirit of +the little bride followed the horrible coach that contained her love, even +to the flaming gates of hell, and there the evil one stopped and looked +upon her with desire. + +"Better," quoth he, "a thousand times to let go this wretched fellow, who +will surely return to me later, if I can gain this soul who hath come even +out of the kingdom of heaven." + +And, turning to the poor little bride, he said: "Give thou thyself to me, +and I will let this love of thine return to the world to work out his +redemption." + +But the little soul, weeping, saith: + +"Nay, my soul belongeth to Christ in heaven, and I must not give it to +thee; but for seven years shall I be thy slave if thou givest this dear +one to me at the end." + +So the evil one thought to himself: "Would I could steal this white soul +from heaven to be the greatest gem in my crown of triumph, and to serve me +seven years. At the end of that time her heart will incline to evil, and +she will become mine." + +And again she spoke to him, and of what she said I shall sing thee, lest +thou grow weary of my prose: + + _If you will let his young soul go free, + I will serve you true and well, + For seven long years to be your slave + In the bitterest place of hell._ + + _"Seven long years if you be my slave + I will let his soul go free." + The stranger drew her then by the hand, + And into the night went he._ + + _Seven long years did she serve him true + By the blazing gates of hell, + And on every soul that entered in + The tears of her sorrow fell._ + + _Seven long years did she keep the place + To open the doors accurst, + And every soul that her tear-drops knew, + It would neither burn nor thirst._ + + _And once she let in her father dear, + And once her brother through. + Once came a friend she had loved full well: + Oh, bitter it was to do!_ + +Now, no toil in the great halls of the evil one could have been more +bitter to endure than to unbar the door for the lost souls; for her sweet +tenderness was tortured most of all by the despairing ghosts that passed +to their eternal perdition, and her hands felt guilty at letting them go +through. + +But of all the sorrows none was so great as for her eyes to see the +tortures of Black Roderick, who stood beside her in his anguish, for the +tears that fell upon him from her eyes gave him no relief, since he had +injured her on earth. She held her hands to hold the fiery waters that +fell upon him, and her tender body strove to stand between him and his +tortures in vain. Seeing her so endeavoring, the evil one spoke, saying: + +"What hast thou about thee, little soul, that thou art free from my fire +and torments?" + +Then the little bride remembered the tears she had hidden in her heart, +that had fallen upon her in heaven from the angel's eyes, and she drew +them forth. + +And the tears spoke to her, saying: + +"Put us not away, lest the torments overpower thee, so thou mayst never +come to the kingdom of heaven." + +But the little bride lifted them upon the heart and mouth of Black +Roderick, so he suffered no more the cruel tortures of the lost. Now, when +the evil one saw this, he smiled to himself, "For," quoth he, "now will +she know temptations, since she hath put away the angel's tears, and hath +no protection save her own strength." + +And so bitter were her sufferings that the little bride cried out it was +more than she could bear. + +And the evil one, hearing her, said: + +"Give thyself to me, and thou shalt suffer no more." + +But she turned her face away, and made him no answer. + +Then Black Roderick, looking upon her, saw her anguish, and to his soul +came such bitter repentance that great tears fell from his eyes upon her, +and every tear was as balm upon her sad and suffering flesh. So that when +the seven years were over she stood whole and without pain. + +Now, when the seven long years were at an end, she found the naming doors +opened of themselves for her and Black Roderick to go forth. But when she +took her love by the hand, a great cry rose from the lost souls she had +let into the burning place during her seven years of trial. And in her +heart was such grief she could not go. She heard her father's voice call +to her, and the voice of her brother. Therefore went she to the throne of +the evil one, and begged him to grant her a boon. + +"For I have worked long for thee and well," quoth she, "and I beg of thee +to let me carry forth as much treasure as my strength can bear." + +"That," saith he, "thou shalt have; all thou canst carry thou mayst take +forth, if thou wilt give me for payment seven more years of service." + +Now, when the little bride heard this she bowed her head and wept. + +"Seven long years," saith she, "shall I serve thee more." She took Black +Roderick by the hand, and stood by him at the open doors. "Go thou +upward," saith she, "and await me in heaven." + +Then she closed the flaming gates, and took her place behind them. But the +soul of Black Roderick crouched outside, as a dog lieth on the threshold +of his master. For seven long years he let no one approach the naming +gates, so that not once were they opened during the last seven years of +her trial. And when the day came for her to go forth, the little bride +flung the gates apart with a loud cry of joy. She knew the evil one could +but grant the promise she had extorted, for she had served him well. + +And of the further trials and temptations that came to her shall I sing +thee, lest thou grow weary of my prose: + + _Seven long years did she serve him well + Until the last day was done; + And all the souls she had let in. + They clung to her one by one._ + + _And all the souls she had let through, + They clung to her dress and hair, + Until the burden that she brought forth + Was heavy as she could bear._ + + _The first who stopped upon her way + Was a Saint all fair to see, + And "Sister, your load is great," she said, + "So give it, I pray, to me."_ + + _"Brigit I am; God sent me forth + That you to your love might go"-- + The woman she drew the fair robe aside, + And a cloven hoof did show._ + + _"And I will not give it to you," she said, + Quick grasping her burden tight; + And all the souls that surrounded her + Clung closer in dire affright._ + + _The next who stopped her upon her way + Was an angel with sword aflame; + "The Lord has sent for your load," he said: + "St. Michael it is my name."_ + + _The woman drew back his gown of white, + And the cloven hoof did see. + "Oh, God be with me this day," she said, + "For bitter my sorrows be."_ + + _"And I will not give it to you," she said, + And wept full many a tear. + And all the souls that her burden made + Cried out in desperate fear._ + +Now, the spirit of the poor little bride stopped upon her way, and feared +to go farther, for she knew not what to do nor where to go, and it seemed +as though there were none to trust. And as she stood, with the trembling +souls clinging to her, from the far-off earth came the sweet singing of a +robin; and as the bird sang he came nearer and nearer, till the little +bride could see his red throat pulsing with his song. And the song he bore +upon his beak was her mother's prayer. + +Now, when the soul of the little bride heard this sweet singing, she +became strong, and followed the bird even to the gates of heaven; and +there she paused, trembling, afraid to knock, for she had gone forth of +her own free will, and she had returned with a burden that she had no +leave to bring. + +"And without these dear ones how could I enter?" saith she; and the souls +trembled with her in her fear. + +But the robin tapped upon the golden gates three times with his beak, and +flung his song into the shining blue of the skies. + +Then a voice came forth, saying: + +"By what right comest thou, of all birds, to disturb the peace of paradise +with thy singing?" + +And the robin answered: + +"Because I alone, of all birds, strove to draw forth the cruel nails in +Calvary; so my breast is ever red with the sacred blood." + +"And what song bearest thou upon thy bill," saith the voice, "that would +be welcome here?" + +"The prayer of a mother for the soul of her little child," quoth the +robin. + +When he saith this the doors of paradise were opened, and upon the +threshold stood one of the archangels of the Lord, and his face was glad +and glorious as the sun. And when he saw the little bride, with her burden +of trembling souls clinging to her dress and hair, he bade her enter. + +"Thou hast done well," saith he, "and there is joy in heaven over thy +return." + +And as he led her by the hand the souls dropped from her and flew through +the golden gates with loud cries of joy. + +So brought she to heaven the soul of Black Roderick, that had been lost +but for her great and suffering love. And from the closed gates none came +forth save the little robin. + +Now must I end my tale, lest thou grow weary of the telling. + +And if more thou requirest, listen thou to the robin, who alone of all +birds hath seen the glories of paradise, and who telleth to all men, if +they would but hear, his pride and his joy. Even in winter, when snow and +hunger chill him almost to death, when all other birds are silent with +discontent, he sitteth upon a low bough and telleth the story of Black +Roderick and his little bride, and of many things good to the heart of +man. Listen thou and hearken. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Story and Song of Black Roderick +by Dora Sigerson + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SONG OF BLACK RODERICK *** + +This file should be named brodk10.txt or brodk10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, brodk11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, brodk10a.txt + +Produced by Clare Boothby and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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