The Poniard's Hilt Part 36

"And why would you have shed more?"

"Oh, King, I would have wept all the tears in my head over those unhappy Bretons whose detestable druid idolatry condemns them to the everlasting flames, as our holy bishop used to say: unhappy blind men who shut their eyes to the divine light of the faith! unhappy rebels, who dare turn their arms against our good seigneurs and masters, the Frankish Kings, whom our blessed bishops order us to obey in the name of the Church! Oh, Prince, I repeat it to you, but for that the eyes of an old man are stingy of tears, mine would flow in torrents at the thought of the d.a.m.nable error of those unhappy heretics!"

"Mountebank, you are a pious man," said Cautin; "kneel down and kiss my hand."

"Holy bishop, blessed be the favor you grant me."

"Rise, my son, and preserve your faith in our Church; have also confidence in the future; the accursed idolaters and rebellious Bretons will not much longer escape the just punishment that is in store for them."

"Oh, no! As true as scissors have never touched my hair, I, Chram, son of Clotaire, King of France, I shall never rest so long as those Armorican demons are not crushed and drowned in their own blood. Too long have they resisted our arms. We shall soon make short work of them."

"May the Almighty hear your vow, great Prince, and may He grant me, a poor old man, enough days to witness the submission of that Brittany that has so long remained stiffnecked and indomitable."

"Now, mountebank, let us return to your bear; we had almost forgotten all about him, the wild fellow who was born in one of the lairs of the accursed Vagres."

"Nothing strange in that, glorious King! Are not those accursed fellows wolves? Have not bears and wolves the same dens? Come Mont-Dore, up my lad, show your skill to our holy bishop, who is present, and to the ill.u.s.trious King Chram; also to the very renowned count and the n.o.ble audience. Take this cane--it shall be your mount; get on horseback and gallop around this table as gracefully as you can, and with the gentlest airs that you can put on. Come, Mont-Dore, to horse, the courser will not run away with you. Make room, there, make room, there, n.o.ble seigneurs--above all, do not approach the animal too closely.

Come, Mont-Dore, start galloping, my daring knight!"

The lover of the beautiful bishopess straddled the cane which he held between his two fore paws, and led by the chain which Karadeucq held he commenced to prance with grotesque clumsiness around the hall amid the loud laughter of the a.s.sembled leudes.

As he led him, the Vagre said to himself:

"I came dangerously near betraying myself when I heard the Frankish King speak of the bravery of the Breton race; my heart beat with pride fit to crack my ribs; then, besides, I thought of good old grandfather Araim, who used to call me his pet! I thought of my father Jocelyn, of my mother Madalen--both no doubt dead in the country that I ran away from more than forty years ago, and where my brother Kervan and my dear sweet sister Roselyk still live. At these thoughts tears came to my eyes despite myself. Oh, my sons! Ronan! Loysik! here I am near to you, but shall I manage your delivery! Hesus! Hesus! inspire me."

The Master of the Hounds pranced all along astride of the cane, encouraged in his antics by the laughter that it provoked in the Franks.

Remembering the success that had crowned his efforts during the nights of the calends of January, he indulged in gambols that delighted the blockish leudes and that carried their hilarity to the pitch of hysterics. Above all the count held his sides and laughed and laughed, fit to burst his dalmatica of silver cloth. Suddenly he checked his laughter and said to Chram:

"King, would you see still better sport?"

"Yes, count, what have you to propose? Your face is red to suffocation.

You breathe like an ox. What new thought has just sprouted in your head?"

"It is this: I have a plan--we have in the burg enormous and ferocious mastiffs that we use to hunt wolves and wild boars with. We shall chain the bear to one of the beams of the hall."

"And let loose some of your mastiffs against him? The idea is delicious."

"Yes, Chram; I want to offer you a royal treat."

"Long live Count Neroweg! Come, fetch the dogs! The more ferocious they are and sharp their teeth, all the more amusing will be the sight."

"Yes, yes," cried the Franks with shouts of joy; "the dogs--the dogs--a combat between the bear and the dogs."

"h.e.l.lo! my master of the hounds, Gondolf! fetch in Mirff and Morff--if they leave a shred of skin and flesh on the bones of the bear I wish this goblet of wine may be poison to me."

"Seigneur, I shall run to the kennel and bring the mastiffs Mirff and Morff."

When he heard the count's proposition, which was received with universal acclaim by the leudes, the lover of the bishopess, who, faithful to his role, was riding l.u.s.tily on his cane around the table suddenly interrupted his antics and was on the point of expressing with some compromising gesture his refusal to serve as quarry for the fangs of Mirff and Morff. Fortunately by means of a gentle tug given at the chain, Karadeucq recalled the Vagre to prudence and the latter continued his gambols with the most indifferent air in the world; but his conductor, without letting the chain slip from his hands, threw himself at the feet of Neroweg and said:

"Seigneur count, ill.u.s.trious seigneur!"

"What would you of me, old mountebank?"

"My bear is my bread winner--you will have him killed."

"And I, do not I also run the risk of seeing the best two dogs of my pack hugged to death--or torn to pieces by your bear's claws? You said yourself, your animal was ferocious."

"Seigneur, you do not earn your living with your dogs; but my bear is my bread winner."

"Dare you resist my will?"

"Oh, great Prince," said Karadeucq on his knees, but turning towards Chram: "A poor old man addresses him to your glory; one word from you to this ill.u.s.trious seigneur, who respects you as the son of his King, and he will renounce his project. I swear to you by my salvation, the other tricks of my bear which I have not exhibited will amuse a hundredfold more than the b.l.o.o.d.y combat that will deprive me of my bread winner."

"Come, rise old mountebank, I shall not hinder you in the making of your living."

"Thanks to you, great King, my bear is saved!"

Chram's words provoked violent murmurs from the count's leudes; not only did they see themselves deprived of a spectacle that was to delight their eyes, but they imagined themselves humiliated anew, now in the person of the master of the house, their count. The murmurs grew louder.

"Chram is not King in this burg, Neroweg," cried Sigefrid, one of the princ.i.p.al starters of the quarrel that was allayed just as Karadeucq entered the hall with his bear. "No, King Chram cannot by a word deprive us of an amus.e.m.e.nt that it pleases you to afford us. Neroweg is King in his burg."

"No, no," loudly chimed in the other warriors of the count, "we want to see the fight with the bear. The dogs! the dogs! Neroweg alone commands here."

"Yes, and to the devil with the King!" cried Sigefrid.

"The devil take Chram if he opposes our enjoyment! We are masters here."

"Only brutes of rustics send their guest to the devil when he is the son of their King," put in the Lion of Poitiers with a threatening air. "Is that the example in courtesy that you set to your men, Neroweg? It seems so, judging by the conduct of your steward, who is hastening now, when the banquet is hardly over, to carry away your gold and silver vessels out of fear, I suppose, lest we steal them."

"My sons! My dear sons in Christ! Are you about to start quarreling anew? I order peace, my sons--in the name of heaven, keep the peace!"

"Bishop, you are right to preach peace; these brave leudes who fear that I am interfering with their amus.e.m.e.nt did not understand me. I told the mountebank that I would not hinder him from earning his living."

"Thanks again, thanks again, great King."

"How much is your bear worth?"

"He is priceless to me."

"Whatever sum you may fix will be counted out to you, in case your bear is killed."

The King's words were received by the acclamations of the Franks, and allayed the quarrel that was on the point of breaking out. Karadeucq, however, without rising from his knees, cried:

"Great King, no sum can repay me for my bear; mercy, beg the count to desist from his project."

"The dogs! Here are the dogs!"

"In all my life I have not seen such mastiffs!" exclaimed Chram with admiration. "Count, if your whole pack is similarly fitted out, it will rival mine, which I considered matchless."