Tales from the German Volume II Part 17

The damsels embraced their kind foster-mother, while tears of affection and grat.i.tude eloquently spoke their thanks. 'Enough,' said Hiorba, withdrawing herself from their embraces; 'you know not, as yet, whether I deserve your thanks. That will be discovered hereafter, when the roses and thorns of this life shall have been weighed and balanced by the immortal G.o.ds. I must be brief, for already do I hear the approaching steeds of Ryno and Idallan, and I cannot look upon the men who are about to pluck, and perhaps to crush and destroy, the two sweetest roses of my garden. I now take my leave. I shall always act a mother's part by you,--but, only three times is it allowed me to become visible to the wives of Ryno and Idallan; at the moments of their greatest happiness, of their deepest misery, and of their untimely deaths. Preserve the same purity of soul which I have so carefully nurtured, so that in your last sad hour I may kiss the dews of death from your foreheads, and conduct your liberated spirits to the elysian fields of Walhalla.'

A soft and heavenly light overspread Hiorba's countenance, the wrinkles of age disappeared, and golden locks surrounded her clear forehead like a halo. Azure and purple wings unfolded from her shoulders, a robe of light enveloped her tall, majestic form, and on an amber cloud she floated away from the sisters, who watched her disappearance with speechless awe.

The tuneful Immo now fluttered through the castle gate with Aliande's veil. The draw-bridge fell, and the two knights, who had closely followed her, leaped from their horses, bounded up the steps, and threw themselves at the feet of the maidens; whilst Immo, perched upon the highest castle tower, sweetly warbled forth the bridal song.

CHAPTER VII.

A crystal lamp, suspended from the arched ceiling of a lofty chamber, shed a soft moonlight over the silken tapestry of the bridal bed where Ryno was slumbering upon the bosom of the happy Aliande. The beauteous bride was watching the peaceful slumber of her beloved partner with mingled and undefinable feelings of joy and sorrow, when she suddenly heard a rustling of the drapery, and immediately the well known form of the sorceress stood before her.

'You are happy, Aliande?' she asked.

'Unspeakably!' murmured Aliande, hiding her blushing cheek in the bosom of her faithful foster-mother.

'Does your heart suggest no wish yet ungratified?'

'Only one!' timidly answered the lovely bride.

'Yet one?' rejoined the astonished Hiorba. 'Thus it is with poor mortals. Upon the highest pinnacle of earthly happiness they are still tormented by insatiable aspirations. Confide your secret wish to me, my daughter.'

'During the bridal supper, as my husband was giving a rapid sketch of his knightly adventures, and painting the charms of the various damsels he had saved, in glowing colors, I began to fear that I--perhaps soon--might be no longer the _only_ object of his love.'

'Already jealous, Aliande, on this your bridal night!....'

'Death, rather than a rival!'

'What is your wish of me?' asked Hiorba.

'To relieve me from the torture of uncertainty, I desire a faithful monitor which shall inform me when Ryno kneels before strange altars, that I may win back the idol of my heart with redoubled love, or,--learn to despise and scorn the inconstant.'

'An unfriendly star rules over both you and me,' said Hiorba in a desponding tone. 'I am convinced that the fulfilment of this wish will make you most miserable, and yet I am constrained by a power greater than my own to grant it.'

She stamped upon the floor, and immediately two hideous gnomes appeared with a time-piece made of the most costly materials, curiously wrought into the form of a temple of Venus.

'Take this production of magic art,' said Hiorba, 'but conceal it carefully from your husband, lest in the exasperation of conscious guilt he should destroy his innocent accuser. This clock will always stand still, this bell will always remain silent, and this mirror will reflect only your own features, so long as Ryno remains true to his vows; but should he ever yield to the common vice of his s.e.x, voluptuous melodies will issue from the temple, the index will indicate the time, and the crystal mirror will reflect the image of the favored rival.'

Aliande was about to express her grat.i.tude, but Hiorba interrupted her.

'Thank me not,--for with this present you receive enduring sorrow and late repentance. Soon shall I greet you a second time, but then it will be in tears.' She spoke, and disappeared.

CHAPTER VIII.

Transporting herself to the splendid seven-towered palace of the other sister, the sorceress entered Daura's chamber and awoke her from her sweet dreams of happiness with a kiss. Then came the same questions, and the same protestations of unspeakable happiness; yet the quiet and contented Daura, also, seemed to have _one_ wish concealed in the secret recesses of her bosom. After Hiorba's long and tender entreaties for her confidence, she finally said: 'through repeated and pressing inquiries of both Ryno and Idallan, I have learned of the exhibition of savage rage by my husband in the b.l.o.o.d.y contest for the lost veil, which Ryno would have resigned for the sake of peace and friendship, refusing to fight until he was compelled to do so in his own defence. I fear that Idallan's violence, which did not spare even his beloved brother-in-arms, will also rend my heart and prepare many sad days and tearful nights for me. Oh that I were in possession of a charm which, like David's harp, would allay the demon of anger! What then could be wanting to my happiness?'

'Immo!' cried Hiorba, with a complacent smile, opening the window. In came the delicate bird, bearing about its neck a radiant diamond chain to which a small ivory flute was attached. 'Take this flute, my gentle Daura,' said the sorceress; 'pa.s.s this chain about your neck, and let your faithful mother's gift remain always upon your bosom. When Idallan's wild pa.s.sions begin to kindle, when his inconsiderate bursts of anger threaten to wound the peace of my gentle daughter, then will the soothing tones of this instrument soften his rage and shed balm upon his mind.'

With glad surprise Daura extended her fair hand for the talisman, and Hiorba vanished.

CHAPTER IX.

A year had pa.s.sed from the stream of time into the ocean of eternity since the marriage of the two sisters, when Hiorba arose out of the rocks in the oak forest between the two palaces. The proud edifices yet shone in all their original splendor, and their majestic walls cast long shadows over the vale below; but the rock upon which the sorceress was standing had changed its appearance. Instead of being bare, as formerly, it was now shaded by tall cedars, lofty pines, and trembling poplars, and encircled with blooming rose-hedges, A gilded dome, supported by nine Corinthian pillars of alabaster, adorned the summit.

The sorceress inquisitively examined the temple, and with surprise and pleasure encountered her own statue crowned with fresh cypress and faded roses. Tears of joyful emotion filled Hiorba's eyes, and her first impulse was to fly immediately to her foster-daughters, that she might, invisible to them, impress a kiss of grat.i.tude upon their unconscious foreheads; but while hesitating which of the happy brides she should first visit, she discerned two female forms approaching from opposite directions. Discovering that they were her two daughters, she wrapped herself in impenetrable clouds, that she might be a secret witness of their interview. Their appearance gave her no pleasure.

Their pale cheeks were not lighted by the sun of matrimonial peace,--their lingering steps and downcast eyes spoke not of happiness,--and with fear and sorrow Hiorba leaned against the altar which supported her statue. At length the sisters reached the place and rushed sobbing into each other's arms.

'My sufferings have reached their utmost limit!' exclaimed Aliande.

'My last hope is annihilated!' sighed Daura.

'How ineffably miserable,' said Aliande, 'has our good mother's last gift made me! With almost every change of the moon does the warning voice of my magic clock rend my poor betrayed heart. My fatal mirror is constantly reflecting new faces which seldom indicate delicate feminine charms, never mental elevation. All my tears have hitherto been able to obtain but empty promises of amendment from the faithless one; and my just reproaches only exasperate him. To-day I see the hated features of my last waiting maid, the light and impudent Rosa! No, I will bear these mortifications, these repeated insults, no longer!'

'Ah, how much more miserable am I, good sister!' sobbed Daura. 'It was but the intoxication of the senses which led Idallan to my arms; and in addition to my other sorrows I now feel that he has never, never loved me. The first week of our honey-moon had scarcely pa.s.sed when he found himself annoyed by the gentle tones of my flute, which, against his will, moderated the severity of his fierce disposition. In a confiding moment, after he had successfully feigned the tenderest affection, he succeeded in drawing from me the secret of the maternal gift. With pleasant jests and agreeable trifling he unwound the chain from my neck; but no sooner was the delicate instrument in his hands, than his brow became clouded, his eyes flashed with an unnatural fire, and with a voice of thunder he denounced me as a vile sorceress who had disgraced his knightly bed. Then with furious rage he dashed the flute to the earth. Yet once more were heard its soft and tranquilizing tones. Too late! Idallan's foot was already raised, and trampling it in his anger, he annihilated its sweet melody forever. What, what have I not suffered since that unhappy hour!....'

'His heart is depraved--forget him!' cried Hiorba, stepping visibly between the sisters, who threw themselves at her feet in glad surprise.

'You both decided too rashly!' continued the weeping foster-mother. 'I warned you in vain. In vain did I entreat permission to prove your lovers. The evil is done,--and requires help, not reproaches. Your case, Aliande, may possibly be remedied; yours, poor Daura--never! That you may not doubt the truth of my words, I will now commence the trial of both husbands, and wo to him who shall prove base!'

She concluded with a voice of thunder, and disappeared. The unhappy sisters silently embraced each other, and then slowly returned to their splendid prisons.

CHAPTER X.

Idallan was restlessly tossing upon his solitary bed on the first anniversary of his marriage night, whilst the repudiated and suffering Daura rested in a distant chamber, steeping her pillow with her tears.

Idallan's heart was radically bad, as might be inferred from his conduct in the contest for the veil. Savage and boisterous pa.s.sions tarnished the splendor of the many knightly virtues which adorned his nature; and his real character appeared, when fortune, from her cornucopia, suddenly poured the full stream of love, wealth and splendor upon him. This unexpected and overabundant fulfilment of all his wildest hopes, gave the finishing touch to his temperament. The beauteous woman, whom unreflecting love had conducted to his arms, he valued merely as the slave of his rough and savage will. The princely treasures which Hiorba's generosity had heaped in his coffers, had only excited his thirst for gold. Hundreds of families who had sought the protection of his castle, and converted the surrounding forest into fruitful fields, were happy to be considered his subjects, and thus ministered to his love of power and dominion. Schemes of ambition disturbed his brain. He already in imagination saw himself a prince, perhaps of the whole earth, with Ryno his va.s.sal, and an emperor's daughter for his wife; but he looked upon his gentle and faithful Daura as the greatest obstacle in the way of his success. His undisguised scorn and contempt had taught her to weep the rash choice made during the brief intoxication of love. There lay Idallan, disturbed by dreams which naturally took the tone of his daily thoughts and the color of the black soul whence they emanated. A glimmering light suddenly disturbed his uneasy sleep. Idallan leaped wildly from his bed, and before him stood the monster Rasalkol, surrounded by a pale sulphurous light, and horribly disfigured by the wound which Ryno gave him in the oak forest.

'Your first matrimonial year is ended!' said the fearful phantom in a sepulchral tone, 'and thank the G.o.ds! you are unhappy. Your great soul must feel the pressure of the chains which bind you forever to a lowly bride. Daura suffices not for a man of n.o.ble ambition, and fate has destined you for greater things. Three crowns are waiting to grace your brow, when you shall have rendered yourself worthy of them.'

'Messenger of Heaven!' cried Idallan in ecstasies.

'You must know,' continued the spectre, 'that since the day when you and Ryno attacked me with such inconsiderate zeal, I have been condemned through Hiorba's cruelty, to wander about among the subterranean caves of this mountain, until some firm and courageous adventurer deliver me from the power of that ugly witch. The brave man who shall accomplish this, I will raise to the first throne in the world, give him the daughter of the most powerful ruler for a wife, and lay my inexhaustible treasures open to him.'

'O that it may be my destiny to end your sorrows, wise magician!' said Idallan, sighing.

'You alone can do it, brave and n.o.ble knight,' answered Rasalkol. 'You alone have the means in your hands, to destroy Hiorba, deliver me, and procure unspeakable happiness for yourself; but he who would serve Rasalkol must not fear to shed blood!'