Henryk Sienkiewicz

“ And the blood began to storm in the veins of those strong nobles from Sieradz, Konietspole, Kresnia, Bogdanets, Rogov, and Brozova, as well as from other Polish lands, at the thought that they would have soon to join battle with the Germans, and with all that brilliant knighthood of Europe. The faces of the older men grew stern and serious, for they knew how dreadful and merciless that work would be; while the hearts of the young men began to whine, just as hunting dogs whine when, held on a leash, they see the wild beast at a distance. ”

“ Then old Matsko rejoiced his eyes and delighted his heart in gazing at Zbyshko and Yagenka, they looked so dignified and lordly. Zbyshko had become more manful in appearance; he had grown, and though with his powerful and tall figure his face seemed always too young, still when he fastened his abundant hair with a purple band, arrayed himself in splendid garments embroidered with silver and gold threads, not only Matsko, but many a noble said to himself in soul: "God be merciful! He is really a prince sitting in his own castle." ”

“ Then she shed tears, thinking of the uncertain lot of the young knight, and Danusia accompanied her forthwith. Zbyshko bent again to their feet, for his heart grew as soft as heated wax at those tears. He did not love Danusia as a man loves a woman, but he felt that he loved her with all his soul, and at sight of her something took place in his breast, as if there were in it another man, less harsh, less impulsive, breathing war less, and at the same time thirsting for sweet love. ”

“ Love, sorrow, and vengeance put fire in his veins. The heart whined in him from suddenly roused pain, and the rage of battle seized him directly. Rotgier could not catch now the terrible blows which were like those of a tempest, nor could he avoid them. Zbyshko struck his shield against the shield of the German with such force that the German's arm was benumbed that instant, and dropped without control. He retreated in terror and bent back, but the glitter of an axe flashed in his eyes, and its edge fell on his right shoulder like a thunderbolt. ”

“ Here Povala looked quickly at Zbyshko, and added: "This is difficult for men of noble birth—I understand, but I must forewarn thee that if thou wilt not do this it is unknown what awaits thee, perhaps the sword of the executioner."
The faces of Matsko and Zbyshko became as of stone. Silence followed a second time.
"Well, and what?" asked Povala.
"Only this," answered Zbyshko, calmly, and with such dignity as if in one moment twenty years had been added to his age: "The power of God is above people." ”

“ Zbyshko listened in silence, and Matsko, as if urged by his own words, continued,—
"It is not for thee to die in youth, but to return to Bogdanets. When there, take a wife at once, so that our race may not perish. Only when thou hast children wilt thou be free to challenge Lichtenstein to mortal combat; but before that see that thou keep from revenge, for they would shoot thee somewhere in Prussia, as they did me, then there would be no help for thee. Take the coat, take the cowl, and move in God's name." ”

“ Now came a moment of silence, after which Danveld turned to the prisoner,—
"Like a mad dog thou hast bitten the Order, and God has brought thee to stand like a dog before us, with a rope around thy neck, waiting for pardon and favor."
"Compare me not to a dog, comtur," answered Yurand, "for thou art belittling the honor of those who have met me, and fallen by my hand." ”

“ In that chamber a great fire was burning in the chimney, and by its abundant but uneven light, Zbyshko beheld Danusia, somewhat pale from lack of sleep, in white, with a garland of immortelles on her temples, dressed in a stiff robe which reached the floor. Her eyelids were closed from emotion, her arms were dropped at her sides, and she looked like a painting on window-panes. There was something church-like about her, so that Zbyshko wondered at the sight; for it seemed to him that that was not an earthly maiden, but some heavenly soul which he was to take in marriage. ”

“ May the hand of God defend us; what power, what strength! The hands of our knights are itching, and they wish to strike the Germans at the earliest; but they do not know that all nations and kings are helping the Order, that Knights of the Cross have more money, that they are better trained, that their castles are stronger and their battle weapons better. May God's hand defend us! Both among us, and here, people say that it must come to a great war, and will come; but when it comes may God have mercy on our kingdom and our people! ”

“ He, as if unconsciously, moved forward with his horse, then in one instant the lumps of snow ceased to fly, the voices stopped, and even some heads disappeared behind the wall. Terrible indeed must have been Yurand's name. But even the most cowardly recollected that a moat and a wall divided them from the terrible Mazovian, so the rude soldiery began again to hurl not only balls of snow, but ice, rubbish, and small stones, which rebounded with a noise from his armor and the horse-trappings.
"I have sacrificed myself for my child," repeated Yurand to himself. ”

“ Zbyshko blushed, but casting his eyes around, he said: "The ground is even here, if it were a little trampled. Rather than pray the German, I should prefer to meet him on horseback or on foot to the death, or to slavery."
"Thou art stupid!" said Matsko. "How couldst thou do battle with an envoy? It is not for thee to do battle with him, or him with thee, a beardless youth."
"Forgive, noble lord," said he, turning to Povala. "The boy has become insolent because of the war. Better not let him talk to the German, for he would offend him a second time. ”

“ Strength and vigor were boiling in him, as liquid in a caldron; invigorated by continence and long rest, life was coursing through his bones like blazing fire. He, not knowing what this meant, thought himself sick yet, and continued to lie in bed, glad that Matsko and Yagenka nursed him, cared for him, and divined his wishes. At moments it seemed to Zbyshko that he was as happy as if in heaven; at moments, especially when Yagenka was not there, existence appeared wretched, sad, unendurable ”

“ Many of those whose wisdom had effected the marriage of the Grand Prince of Lithuania with the marvellous young Queen of Poland had died, but some were still living, and on them people looked with uncommon respect. The youthful knight could not gaze enough at the noble figure of Yasko of Tenchyn, the castellan of Cracow, in which severity and dignity were blended with uprightness; he admired the wise and dignified faces of other counsellors, and the strong visages of knights with hair cut straight above their brows and falling in long locks at the sides of their heads and behind. ”

“ I saw the measureless strength of the Order, supported by all kings and all nations, and which is such that I know not whether anything on earth has power to conquer it. I saw a castle which no one save perhaps the Roman Cæsar can equal. I saw treasures beyond calculation, I saw arms, I saw armored monks, knights, and soldiers as numerous as ant-swarms, and relics as many as the Holy Father in Rome has. ”

“ Zbyshko sprang from his horse, and cried,—
"Give me the crossbow! Mayhap a beast will run out of the forest. Quick! quick!"
And seizing the crossbow from the hands of an attendant, he pushed it against the ground, pressed it with his stomach, bent, stretched his back into the form of a bow, and grasping the string in both hands pulled it up in the twinkle of an eye to an iron notch, then he put in an arrow and sprang forward into the pine wood.
"He stretched the string without a crank!" whispered Zyh, astonished at the sight of strength so uncommon.
"Ho! he is a deadly fellow!" ”

“ Eyes were dazed by the glitter of spears and the shining of sword-blades. Horses whined, bit, and stood on their hind-legs. The boyars of Jmud rushed in with Zbyshko, Hlava, and the Mazovians. Under their heavy blows the "circle" bent and swayed, like a forest in a strong wind, while they, like woodmen chopping where trees are thick, pushed forward slowly in the heat and the hard work.
Matsko gave command now to collect on the battle-field the long German halberds, and arming with these, about thirty warriors broke a way with them through the crowd to the Germans. ”

“ Zbyshko climbed higher in a twinkle of an eye, and looked through the branches at the water. The beaver was diving, and coming to the surface, plunging, and showing at moments his belly more than his back.
"He has got it well! He will be quiet soon!" said Yagenka.
She had told the truth, for the movements of the animal grew fainter and fainter, and at the end of one Hail Mary he came to the surface belly upward,
"I will go to bring him," said Zbyshko.
"Go not. Here at this shore is an ooze as deep as the height of many men. Whoever does not know how to manage will be drowned surely." ”

“ But now from the direction of the forest new shouts sounded suddenly. This was Zyndram, who had led out and sent the country people to battle. Soon was heard the biting of scythes on iron and the hammering of flails on armor; bodies began to fall more and more densely; blood flowed in a stream on the trampled earth; and the battle became like one immense flame, for the Germans, seeing salvation only in the sword, defended themselves desperately. ”

“ Nothing was heard save blows on the shields from the edges and backs of the axes, now dull, and now piercing. To the prince, princess, knights, and damsels such sights were not novel; still a feeling akin to terror pressed all hearts as with vices. They knew that there was no question then of showing strength, skill, or bravery, but that there was a greater rage in that combat, a deeper despair, a harder, a keener resolve, and a deadlier vengeance. ”

“ Next day came the moment of Zbyshko's departure. He was sitting high on a large war-horse, and his friends had surrounded him. Yagenka, standing near the stirrup, raised her sad blue eyes to the young man in silence, as if wishing to look at him sufficiently before parting. Matsko and Father Kaleb were at the other stirrup, and near them stood Hlava and Anulka. Zbyshko turned his face first toward one side, then toward the other, exchanging such brief words as are said usually before a long journey: "Be well!" "May God conduct thee!" "It is time!" "Hei! it is time! it is time!" ”

“ Damsels bent their faces often toward the crossbows, for the ardor of hunting had seized every person.
Zbyshko alone had no thought for hunting, but leaning his elbow on Danusia's knees, and his head on his palm, he gazed into her eyes; and she, half smiling, half abashed, tried to close his eyelids with her fingers, as if unable to endure such a glance.
De Lorche's attention was occupied by a bear, enormous, with gray legs and shoulders, which had come out of the weeds unexpectedly near the hunters. The prince sent a bolt from his crossbow, and then attacked the beast with a spear. ”

“ The bear gave a short roar, as if frightened by the unexpected vision, but was too near to save itself by flight, so in one instant it rose on its hind legs, opening its forelegs, as if to embrace. This was just what Zbyshko was waiting for; so, collecting himself, he sprang like lightning, and with all the power of his strong arms, together with his own weight, drove the fork into the bosom of the beast. ”

“ Diedrich was dumb, he could make no confession, and though he could explain to the chaplain he would not do so from very terror. Then what? Then who could learn that Yurand had not received all those wounds in battle? He might easily have lost his tongue from a spear thrust between the teeth; a sword or an axe might have cut his right hand off; and he had only one eye, hence what wonder that that eye was knocked out when he hurled himself in madness on the whole garrison of Schytno? Ah, Yurand! The last delight of his life shook up for a moment the heart of old Siegfried. ”

“ When they heard the Latin, Zyh and Matsko and Zbyshko grew silent and bent their heads before the wisdom of the abbot, for not a man understood one word of it; he looked around a while longer with angry eyes, and said at last,—
"Who knows that he will not attack me here?"
"Oh, just let him come!" said the wandering clerics, grasping their sword hilts.
"Let him attack! It is dreary for me too without a battle."
"He will not attack," said Zyh; "he will come with obeisance and peace rather. He has renounced the forest; he is thinking now of his son—you understand. ”

“ When all around seemed full of strength, splendor, inexhaustible wealth, invincible power; when the envoys of the emperor and of kings of the west shouted with enthusiasm that the Order could stand by itself for all kingdoms, and the strength of the world,—he alone was not deceived, he alone remembered the ominous words in the vision of the saint: "The time will come when their teeth will be broken, and their right hand cut from them, when their right leg will be lame, so that they will confess their offences." ”

“ Yagenka knelt, Yurand dropped from the bench to his knees, and they continued in a chorus,—
"Kyrie eleison! Chryste eleison!—O Father in Heaven, O God, have mercy on us! O Thou Son, the Redeemer, Lord of the world, have mercy on us!"
The voices of people and the imploring words: "Have mercy on us!" were mingled with the trilling of the nightingales.
All at once the tame she-wolf rose from the bearskin lying near Yurand's bench, approached the open window, rested her forepaws on it, and raising her triangular face toward the moon, began to howl in a low, plaintive voice. ”

“ For a moment death was hanging over the old knight, but, experienced in all struggles and every adventure, he drew his foot out of the stirrups and grasped with his strong hand the sharp German spear, which, instead of entering his bosom, was used to support him; next he sprang out among the horses, and drawing his sword, struck right and left at spears and halberds, just as a keen falcon dashes savagely at a flock of long-billed storks. Zbyshko's horse was stopped in its speed and almost stood on its hind-legs. Zbyshko leaned on his spear for support and broke it, so he too took his sword. ”

“ Only yesterday I said to her, 'Danusia, but wilt thou hold to Zbyshko?' and she answered: 'I shall be Zbyshko's, or no one's.' That is a green berry yet, but whatever she says she will hold to, for she is a noble's child, not some wanderer. And her mother was of the same kind."
"May God grant!" replied Zbyshko.
"But remember that thou hold to her; for more than one man is giddy; he promises to love faithfully, and directly he rushes to another, so that thou couldst not hold him on a rope! ”

“ So they went to Nedzborz, and stopped before a residence in which an old noble, named Jeleh, received them. Yurand they did not find, but the old man gave good news.
"We rubbed him with snow to the bones almost," said he, "and poured wine into his mouth; then we steamed him in a bath, where he regained breathing."
"Is he alive?" inquired Zbyshko, with delight; for at this news he forgot his own affairs.
"He is alive, but God knows if he will recover; for the soul is not glad to turn back when it has made half the journey." ”

“ The Polish armies shouted as one man, in desperation at sight of the falling banner, but in that shout, and in that desperation there was no fear, only rage. One might have said that living fire had fallen on their armor; the most formidable men of both armies, not thinking of rank, without order, each from where he stood, rushed to one spot like raging lions. That was not a battle now around the banner, but a storm let loose. Warriors and horses were packed into one monstrous whirl, and in that whirl men's arms moved like whips, swords clanked, axes bit, steel gritted against steel ”

“ But now, when Siegfried entered the chapel a second time, and, kneeling down at the coffin, laid Yurand's bloody hand at the feet of Rotgier, the joy which had quivered in him a moment earlier was reflected on his face for the last time.
"Seest thou," said he, "I have done more than we decided, for King Yan of Luxemburg, though blind, appeared in battle, and died with glory, but Yurand will not rise again; he will perish like a dog near some fence." ”

“ On the snow lay black before him the penitential bag and the rope, but he stood there long, feeling that something in his soul was unhinging, something breaking, something coming to an end, something dying, and that soon he would be no longer a knight, no longer Yurand of Spyhov, but a wretch, a slave without name, without fame, without honor. ”

“ There was nothing earthly in her now; to his mind she had become a spirit so pure and disembodied that when at times he remembered how Danusia had served the princess at the hunting-lodge, how she had laughed and conversed, how she had sat down at the table with others, he was filled as it were with wonder that such things could be. During his expedition with Vitold, when questions of warfare and battles had swallowed his attention, he ceased to yearn for his celestial one as a man yearns for a woman, and thought of her only as a devotee thinks of his patron saint. ”

“ They knew that Vitold, the Grand Prince, liked the experienced Polish nobility, who were as stubborn in battle as the Lithuanians and Jmud men, and besides, better armed and better disciplined. Some were urged on by hatred for the ancient foes of the Polish race, and still others by compassion. "Listen to us, listen!" cried the Jmud people to kings, princes, and all nations. "We have been free and are people of good blood, but the Order wants to turn us into captives! They are not working for our souls, but for our land and our property. Our misery is such that we must beg or become robbers! ”

“ Meanwhile Yagenka was riding with little Yasko along the forest road homeward, and Hlava was dragging on in silence behind them, his heart filled with love and with sorrow. He had seen the girl's tears; now he was looking at her dark form, barely visible in the gloom, and he divined her pain and sorrow. It seemed to him also that at any moment the robber hands of Stan or Vilk might reach out after her from the forest darkness and density, and at this thought a wild desire for conflict seized him. ”

“ From afar were visible among Mazovian caps the waving peacock-plumes of the Knight of the Cross, and his bright helmet gleaming in the sun.
"The Knights of the Cross have a wonderful nature," said Povala of Tachev, as if roused from meditation. "When a Knight of the Cross is in trouble he is as reasonable as a Franciscan, as mild as a lamb, and as sweet as honey, so that a better man thou wilt not find in the world; but let him once feel strength behind him, none is more swollen with pride, with none wilt thou find less mercy. ”

“ Zbyshko hesitated a while whether to take the sick woman to the saddle, and hold her before him on the road, or put her in the cradle. He decided finally for the cradle, thinking that it would be easier for Danusia to travel lying down. Then approaching his uncle, he bent to kiss his hand in parting. Matsko, who loved him as the apple of his eye, though he had no wish to show emotion before Germans, did not restrain himself, but embraced Zbyshko firmly, pressing his lips to his rich golden hair.
"God go with thee," said he; "but think of the old man, for captivity is bitter in every case." ”

“ To him this thought was bitter; for his immense pain and sorrow turned first of all to desire for blood and struggle. To him even the rescue of Danusia presented itself as a series of battles, either alone or in company; meanwhile he saw that it might be needful to chain down desire of revenge and head-breaking as he would a bear, and seek new ways entirely of finding and saving Danusia. ”

“ The Polish-Lithuanian circle enclosed that ring, as a serpent encloses the body of a bull, and became narrower and narrower. Again arms thrashed, flails thundered, scythes bit, swords cut, spears pierced, and axes hewed. The Germans were cut down as a forest is cut and they died in silence, gloomy, immense, unterrified. Some raising their visors, took farewell of comrades, giving one to another the last kiss before death; some hurled themselves blindly into the seething battle, as if seized by insanity, others struggled as in a dream ”

“ A thunderbolt struck with an awful explosion in the middle of the road, as if the earth had sunk in its foundations. The whole forest bent under a whirlwind. The roar, the whistle, the noise, the crashing of tree-trunks, and the crack of breaking limbs filled the depth of the forest. Torrents of rain, driven by wind, hid the light, and only during brief bloody lightning-flashes was the corpse of Siegfried visible, whirling wildly above the road. ”

“ Zbyshko was not thinking at that moment of vengeance, but only of Danusia. He lived amid glimpses of hope when the sick woman seemed better for a moment, and in dull despair when her condition grew worse to appearance. As to the last, he could not deceive himself longer. At the beginning of the journey the superstitious thought flew through his head frequently, that perhaps somewhere in those long, roadless places through which they were passing, Death was following step by step after them, just lurking for the moment to rush at Danusia and suck the remnant of life from her. ”

“ Zbyshko rushed toward him, placed Yagenka on the floor, and both wished to kneel down, but before they could do so Matsko seized them in his bony arms and pressed them with all his strength to his breast.
"Praised be He!" said the old man. "I knew that it would come to this, but still my delight! God bless you! It will be easier for me to die now. The girl is like the purest of pure gold. Before God and the world! In truth! Let come now what may, since I have lived to this delight. God has visited, but He has comforted us. ”